Don’t Ask, Don’t Follow by Mary Keliikoa

 Mystery thriller full of family drama, secrets, and lies.

Beth Ralston works as a paralegal at her father’s law firm. On the night of a party, she finds her boss dead in his office. Even more shocking, however, is that she sees her sister, Lindsay, running from the scene. Later, Beth finds her sister’s phone in her purse along with a note telling her not to ask and not to follow. Now Beth is on a mission to find out what her investigative reporter sister was working on. And to find Lindsay who has now completely disappeared.

Oh my. I’m feeling generous tonight with the star rating although this book barely held my interest. There were too many improbable scenarios and Beth, the main character, was running around doing all sorts of detecting and snooping and the usual amateur sleuth activity. Her job lost, she has plenty of time to figure out stuff. I never took to her. The rest of the characters were stereotypes and none were well developed. I figure out where it was going quickly but it took the author a long time to get me there. The epilogue was a complete laugh out loud, and not in a good way, ending. Really. 

I listened to the audiobook while also following along in the e-book ARC provided by the publisher. I did not care for the voice of the narrator, especially the tone and inflection for some of the characters. I almost quit listening to the audio completely due to it getting on my nerves. I’ll make sure I avoid this one in the future.

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Tags - sisterhood, family secrets and lies, adoption, illegal activity, drama, romance, murder, kidnapping

A Serial Killer’s Guide to Marriage by Asia Mackay

 This was a totally unexpected and fun to read thriller.

Snarky humor about a husband and wife serial killer duo who is feeling some pangs when they put their bloody murder adventures on hold after getting married and having a baby. They don’t find the quiet suburban life anything as expected. Their outlet is gone and it all seems like their passion and joy went away. They miss hunting down the bad men and killing them. What to do?

I enjoyed this far more than expected and it was a nice change of pace. The story is told in a then and now format with both Fox and Haze narrating their before and present day lives. Even though by most standards neither are good people, the way they approach their new parenthood and now really boring grind is humorous and relatable. Typically I’m not a fan of vigilantism regardless of reason, but the author does a good job of making these killers almost sympathetic. 

I was able to listen to the audiobook while also following along in the e-book ARC provided by the publisher. I enjoyed the female and male narrators who brought the story to life and gave such great inflection and drama to the production. It definitely enhanced my enjoyment of the book. 

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Tags - couple kills bad men, murder, dark humor

The Crash by Freida McFadden

 Trying to think of a way I can give this any kind of spin, but I can’t. It was terrible. 

Let me count the ways:

1. Calling the baby little Tuna and the number of times she used her baby voice. That seems a crime against literature. 

2. Hideous characters - all of them. And yes, our main character was the worst of them all despite the fact that Polly was actually mentally ill. Majorly delusional and stupid. The neighbors. 

3. Completely unrealistic basement scenes with 8 month pregnant Tegan with her post crash injuries and the repetition of the injuries.

4. How convenient to have a Jackson.

5. Predictable denouement and unsurprising climax. 

6. The conclusion. Just no.

I have said it before but this time I really mean it. No more McFadden. I like a good thriller with some surprises and twists that fit the situation and make sense. I like clever writing and dangling clues. Chilling suspense. I don’t like crazy over the top scenarios and dramas with unlikeable characters. I hate a fairy tale ending. I see all these glowing and gushing reviews for her books and I just don’t get it. It was a waste of a couple of hours. Definitely not for me.

I listened to the audiobook while following along in the e-book ARC. I didn’t really care for the narrator’s voice and the way she spoke the different characters. But, honestly, it may have been more that the lines were so bad that I maybe shouldn’t blame her.

This is a standalone and not part of any series.

Tags - drama, pregnancy, unmarried mom, mental illness, murder

Famous Last Words by Gillian McAlister

 Basically a love story disguised as a thriller.

I should have read more of the reviews before leaping into this because I thought it was going to be more of a fast paced nail-biter instead of a slow burn domestic drama. Even though it started off with a literal bang, the hostage crisis, it quickly became something else when the focus shifted to Camilla dragging through the years because her husband disappeared. I found it repetitive and the whole scenario required a great deal of suspension of disbelief. The revelations about Luke and the very tedious investigation were not surprising twists. 

The other issue was that I was not able to appreciate the characters nor really feel much for either Camilla nor Niall. I often actively disliked her with her brain on constant repeat and stuck in a state of suspended animation most of the time. Sure, I get it — she missed her husband. The expected truth comes out and everything ended just about exactly as I had anticipated. No surprises. The narrative was quite convoluted though the actual plot was very simple.

I listened to the audio book while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The narrator was OK but the production would have benefited from a larger cast, especially for the male voices. At times her pronunciation of certain words got on my nerves and I have found when that happens it takes away some of my enjoyment of the book. 

Ultimately, this was an OK book. 

This was a standalone and not part of any series.

Genre - domestic drama

The Perfect Marriage by Jeneva Rose

 This is the craziest most over the top ridiculous book I’ve read in a long while. I could not put it down because I was waiting to see what the author would throw at me next. I’m giving it 3 stars because it had everything I love to hate within the pages.

The characters were deplorable in every way. Not one in the bunch seemed to have a double digit IQ and behaved so badly. Without giving spoilers, I can’t go into more detail. So many cliches and tropes in the narrative — sometimes I had to laugh out loud saying to myself that surely we weren’t going to go there — and then we did! 

Ostensibly about a lawyer, Sarah, defending her cheating husband, Adam, on a murder charge, this takes incredulity to a whole new level. If you’re looking for accurate attorney client relationships, this is not what you should read. Yes, spent most of the book trying to figure out why anyone would want to be in the same room with Adam much less try to help him. The ending was quite satisfying in a perverse sort of way. Suffice to say, hideous people doing hideous things. The end.

I listened to the audiobook while following along in the ebook and I enjoyed the production. I was quite irritated, however, because often the performer’s words did not match the text in the book. The voices did add a nice bit of dramatic flair to the whole farce. I gave this 3 stars because it did entertain me as I alternated between flipping pages and contemplating throwing the book across the room.

And yeah, I can’t help myself. I do plan to read the sequel. 

This is the first of two books featuring same characters. Read in order!

Genre - crazy psychological thriller, lawyer, murder, adultery

Murder on the Cornish Coast (Miss Underhay #19) by Helena Dixon

 I’ve been spending a couple of days with Kitty and Matt at an estate on the Cornish coast. They were invited by Lady Cordelia when she hired them to find out who was trying to kill her. Last summer after a birthday party for her sister, Rachel, Lady Cordelia was attacked and her father was killed. No perpetrator was found yet Lady Cordelia claims that several attempts have been made on her life now that she’s starting to remember what happened on that fateful night.

Well the other guests greet the arrival of Matt and Kitty as the locked room mystery deepens. It’s clear that someone in the big old house has murder on the mind. The red herrings are plenty and the suspects twist and turn with the events. A breakthrough occurs when a noted therapist arrives to help Lady Cordelia by hypnotizing her.

This was quite enjoyable and I had fun seeing my suspicions play out as I helped Matt and Kitty solve their case. I think most fans will appreciate the unexpected. I’ve read all previous books in this series and it’s always great that the stories stay fresh. Definitely recommend any new reader start with the first installment and read all of the books in order for maximum pleasure.

Thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend to anyone who enjoys historical cozy mysteries.  The period details are spot on and the descriptions take me back to another place and time.

This is #19 in a series that I have read from the beginning and recommend.

Genre - historical mystery, 1930s, England, cozy

House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen

 Unevenly paced psychological thriller left me disappointed.

I started this book with high anticipation. The premise was intriguing — a female attorney, Stella Hudson, is assigned as guardian ad litem for a nine year old girl in the center of a custody battle because her parents are going through a contentious divorce. The situation is complicated by a few things that immediately start setting off some alarms for me: the girl has traumatic mutism (same as our MC did as a child) and recently her nanny died from a fall out of a window of the family home. Right away I start thinking that somebody murdered the nanny and am on the hunt for the culprit. 

All of a sudden there are like twenty different things going on that start to irritate me. I don’t care about the MC’s past or her mother. I want to know the deal with Rose, the child, and if she’s being sheltered or if she’s like the bad seed. So many uninteresting side plots that involve Stella that I honestly didn’t care about. When things start to become way to coincidental and unbelievable is when I start to turn off. All I wanted was to read about Rose’s situation and the role of a best interest attorney in a custody case. Now Stella’s trying to solve the murder, meanwhile she’s fixating on her mother’s death, and also starting to doubt her relationship with Charles. And then her flirtation? It was all just too much.

My main problem with this story was that it meandered all over the place and Stella’s behavior and responses just seemed too much over the top. All these tangents that had nothing to do with anything and just drew out a simple straightforward plot. I didn’t like any of the characters. And I really don’t enjoy reading about kids and nasty parents. So many cliches in the book. The last couple of chapters were completely ridiculous. Glad I never have to hear about any of them again. 

I listened to the audiobook while also following along in the e-book ARC. The narrator was OK but some of her voices for characters didn’t work for me. I think I should have just put the audio aside and read the book and could have been done that much faster. Definitely not a favorite.

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Tags: divorce, custody, murder, adultery, parents, mutism, drugs

Nothing Ever Happens Here by Seraphina Nova Glass

 Solid mystery thriller with a cozy type touch.

In a small Minnesota town two best friends are reeling from events that took place over a year ago. Shelby interrupted what might have been a burglary inside her friend’s cafe and was left to die. Suffering some frostbite amputations and trying to get herself back into a good place mentally, she’s shaken when a threatening note appears on the windshield of her car. Is he back?  Meanwhile, Mack, the best friend, is broken and haunted because her husband, Leo, vanished the same night of Shelby’s attack. Bad things start happening to Shelby and the seniors at the rest home she manages rally around but no one knows who is responsible. 

I liked the setting and the characters, especially the seniors. What a hoot. They interjected some fun moments and snarky humor into the story making the situation seem less ominous even though some seriously nasty stuff, including murder, was going on. I really liked those interactions. The story was a bit predictable and it was easy to guess who the bad guy was despite the red herrings and the dangled hints. The narrative shifted in point of view and the pace was fast. 

I was able to listen to the audiobook while also following along in the e-book ARC, both provided by the publishers. The 3 female narrators did a nice job voicing their character parts with the appropriate dramatic flair and this enhanced my enjoyment of the book. 

This is a standalone and is not part of any series.

Tags - mystery, cozy, senior sleuths, murder, betrayal, obsession