Review: Woman 99 by Greer Macllister

Woman 99

by Greer Macallister

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark

Pages: 368

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Charlotte Smith's future is planned to the last detail, and so was her sister's - until Phoebe became a disruption. When their parents commit Phoebe to a notorious asylum, Charlotte knows there's more to the story than madness. Shedding her identity to become an anonymous inmate, "Woman Ninety-Nine," Charlotte uncovers dangerous secrets. Insanity isn't the only reason her fellow inmates were put away - and those in power will do anything to keep the truth, or Charlotte, from getting out. 


Kritters Thoughts:  Charlotte Smith decides to get herself admitted to an asylum so she can free the older sister that stood up for her throughout her life and quite possibly could be there because of Charlotte's own doings.  With an unfiltered view of an asylum of the time, this book had a few difficult parts that made me thank goodness for the time and place that I live in!

I love when a historical fiction book makes me do some looking to find out where the truth and the fiction are.  I was so intrigued by this asylum's make up and the different wards and how things were organized, I truly wondered if such a place existed and how a doctor came to decide to organize these women this way.

The main character in this book mentions Nellie Bly a few times and this has prompted me to want to do some research and read a few books about her, have any of you read anything that centers around Nellie Bly and her story?  I am inspired to go pick up something fiction or non fiction to get a little more of Nellie Bly's story.

In the end, I enjoyed this book, but didn't love it as much as some other historical fictions reads that I have read recently.


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Ebook 2019 Challenge: 13 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Netgalley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Beyond the Garden by Ashley Farley

Beyond the Garden

by Ashley Farley

Publisher: Kindle Press

Pages: 236

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  All is right in Ellie Pringle Hagood’s world. Recently married to the man of her dreams and in anticipation of the big family she’s always wanted, she focuses on restoring the large home she inherited from her grandmother on Charleston’s prestigious Battery. Abbott, the father she adores, lives just down the street from her. She treasures her beloved housekeeper, Maddie, who offers wise counsel and loving support, and is the closest thing to a mother she’s ever known. Two days a week, she volunteers for an art program she piloted at an elementary school. But then, in the midst of all her happiness, comes news that throws Ellie’s life into a tailspin. Her brother-in-law has been murdered in Key West, and her sister, Lia, is wanted for questioning in the investigation. No one in Ellie’s family has seen or heard from Lia in the seven months since she disappeared and left her twin three-year-old daughters in Ellie and Julian’s care. The newlyweds, with several questions nagging at them, fly off to Key West in search of the missing sister. Where is Lia? How is she connected to her husband’s murder? What will become of her twin daughters? The two are only at the beginning of their quest for answers and solutions, and the path they take turns out to be far more torturous and complicated than expected.


Kritters Thoughts:  Ellie Pringle is back and if you haven't read book one, I would hesitate reading further as I am going to completely spoil some of the plot of book one in my review of book two!

Ok, you have been warned.

Ellie Pringle is back and married and housing her long lost sister's twin daughters.  In the beginning of this book her life is in a pretty good spot, but of course in a fiction book, life can't stay all sunshine and rainbows for long!  Quite a few things go wrong and there are a few storylines going on at the same time in this book, they are very different storylines so easy to keep them straight, but this book had quite a bit jammed into few pages.  

The storyline that I loved the most was watching Ellie piece together a new kind of family.  With the help that is hired in her home, to the girls that she "collects" she is able to create a new family that works just right for her and her husband.  I loved that it was so far from conventional but seemed just so right for her.  

After finishing this book, I was ready for another book with Ellie and the antics that are her life.  I hope there is more after this one, maybe a time jump that centers around Lia's twins and maybe the good and evil twin storyline can be repeated in an interesting way . .

Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Ebook 2019 Challenge: 11 out of 100


Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Netgalley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Magnolia Nights by Ashley Farley

Magnolia Nights

by Ashley Farley

Publisher: Kindle Press

Pages: 294

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Ellie Pringle has spent endless hours and countless dollars working with a therapist to remember the lost years of her childhood. She’s baffled and more than a little intrigued when the grandmother she hasn’t seen in thirty-four years dies and leaves her a fortune. The time has come to face her past in person. Still reeling from a recent breakup of a long-term relationship, and with nothing to keep her in San Francisco, Ellie packs her meager belongings and boards a plane for the South Carolina Lowcountry.

Standing in the entryway of her grandmother’s antebellum home on South Battery Street in Charleston, Ellie faces the first of many ghosts who will soon haunt her. On her first night in the creepy, creaking mansion, as she’s perusing the titles in a dusty bookcase, she comes across her deceased mother’s leather-bound journal. Her mother’s words create more unanswered questions and send her on a quest to find more journals. As Hurricane Lorene bears down on the South Carolina coast, Ellie encounters Julian Hagood, a handsome architect who has the talent to restore her dilapidated mansion and the charm to mend her broken heart. But as Ellie reads her mother’s diaries, they dislodge a stone in the wall that safeguards her memories, causing her world to come crumbling down. Revelations about her childhood lead Ellie on a harrowing journey of discovery that will hold readers spellbound until the dramatic conclusion.

Kritters Thoughts:  Ellie Pringle has been left a house in Charleston by a grandmother who she hasn't spoken to in years.  By returning to that house she is going to end up bringing back memories of her past and just may learn about her and her family things that she never knew.  But will she end up in a better place after making such a big change in her life?

From the start I loved Ellie.  She was such a great character and I was excited to go on this journey with her to find out the truth about her past and maybe to send her down a different future.  I loved how the truth came out in bits and pieces and how it felt really honest each time Ellie learned something new and her reactions were just spot on.  I of course don't want to say too much to spoil the plot points of the book, but there were quite a few times where I just couldn't believe what she had gone through and what she had mentally blocked from her past.  

This book set up for the second one in just the right way that I immediately wanted to read it and find out what was going to happen next.  I love it when after the first book in the series, I want to immediately grab the second and not take any sort of breather in between.  Tomorrow I will review the second in the series.  



Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Ebook 2019 Challenge: 9 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Netgalley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

It's Monday, What are you Reading?

Last weekend ended up being extra busy, so I didn't get to post this, so this is two weeks worth of reading.  

A meme hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. 

Finished this past week:

The Goodbye Cafe by Mariah Stewart
Woman 99 by Greer Macallister
The Beautiful Strangers by Camille Di Maio
The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner
In the Blink of an Eye by Jesse Blackadder
The Winter Sister by Megan Collins

Currently Reading:

Say You're Sorry by Karen Rose

Next on the TBR pile:

Little Lovely Things by Maureen Joyce Connolly

Review: The Quintland Sisters by Shelley Wood

The Quintland Sisters

by Shelley Wood

Publisher: William Morrow

Pages: 464

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: HarperCollins

Goodreads:  Reluctant midwife Emma Trimpany is just 17 when she assists at the harrowing birth of the Dionne quintuplets: five tiny miracles born to French farmers in hardscrabble Northern Ontario in 1934. Emma cares for them through their perilous first days and when the government decides to remove the babies from their francophone parents, making them wards of the British king, Emma signs on as their nurse.

Over 6,000 daily visitors come to ogle the identical “Quints” playing in their custom-built playground; at the height of the Great Depression, the tourism and advertising dollars pour in. While the rest of the world delights in their sameness, Emma sees each girl as unique: Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Marie, and Émilie. With her quirky eye for detail, Emma records every strange twist of events in her private journals.

As the fight over custody and revenues turns increasingly explosive, Emma is torn between the fishbowl sanctuary of Quintland and the wider world, now teetering on the brink of war. Steeped in research, Quintland™ is a novel of love, heartache, resilience, and enduring sisterhood—a fictional, coming-of-age story bound up in one of the strangest true tales of the past century.

Kritters Thoughts:  My absolute favorite genre is historical fiction that takes a narrow focus on a time, place or event and educates me without me even knowing it - The Quintland Sisters was just that.  

Five identical daughters are born to a small town farming couple who already have five children to their name and the doctor that helped bring them into the world sees them as a cash crop.  He sequesters the girls in name of keeping them healthy and safe and ends up selling them as an exhibit in this small town in Canada.  It was so interesting to see how they could make a profit on children and thinking about that in the modern sense.  

I read in a review after reading this book about someone saying that this was almost the first reality family as they were made famous just for being the family that they were and I sat and thought on that and how these girls didn't have a hope for a "normal" future because of the way their childhood was so not normal.  

I had no clue about this family and loved that I had taken a peak at the author's note in the end to know from the beginning that this was a true family and close to the truth story.  How interesting that these five girls were born at this moment in time and were able to get the attention of both Canada and America and really became famous just for being born.  I loved how there were interesting historical moments peppered within the story to give it a little more perspective.  

I loved this book and wouldn't mind a sequel that gives a glimpse of this family a little later in life and see how the girls go through puberty, college and adulthood.  


Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: A Killer's Alibi by William Meyers Jr.

A Killer's Alibi

by William Meyers Jr.

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Pages: 426

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  For attorney Mick McFarland, the evidence is damning. And so are the family secrets in this twisty legal thriller from the Amazon Charts bestselling author of A Criminal Defense.

When crime lord Jimmy Nunzio is caught, knife in hand, over the body of his daughter’s lover and his own archenemy, he turns to Mick McFarland to take up his defense. Usually the courtroom puppeteer, McFarland quickly finds himself at the end of Nunzio’s strings. Struggling to find grounds for a not-guilty verdict on behalf of a well-known killer, Mick is hamstrung by Nunzio’s refusal to tell him what really happened.

On the other side of the law, Mick’s wife, Piper, is working to free Darlene Dowd, a young woman sentenced to life in prison for her sexually abusive father’s violent death. But the jury that convicted Darlene heard only part of the truth, and Piper will do anything to reveal the rest and prove Darlene’s innocence.

As Mick finds himself in the middle of a mob war, Piper delves deeper into Darlene’s past. Both will discover dark secrets that link these fathers and daughters—some that protect, some that destroy, and some that can’t stay hidden forever. No matter the risk.

Kritters Thoughts:  The third in a series and each are so different from the other.  This book brings it back to the lawyer of book one - Mick McFarland and a major character of book two - Jim Nunzio, a big mob boss in Philadelphia.  Jim Nunzio is caught with the murder weapon in hand and the deceased and his daughter in a warehouse.  At the same time Susan from the law firm and Mick's wife Piper have started an Innocence Project and are dealing with another father daughter storyline trying to free from prison a daughter who was found guilty years ago for the murder of her father.  

There were two cases going on in this book, but it was really easy to keep the details of each apart.  Yes there are daughters and fathers in each, but the details of each case were so far from each other that I had no confusion.  And I didn't realize until the end all the connections between the book and I am saying that now because I wish I had paid more attention - not spoiling just wish I had been a little more aware!  

It was entertaining to dive deep into the mob world in this book.  The one thing that bothered me was seeing it from Mick's point of view and Mick not being in the know as to how Jimmy was going to play his case.  I didn't enjoy walking in the courtroom with him and him not having a plan in place - that was unnerving for me, the reader.  

I loved having Mick and Piper in a good place and enjoyed having her interact with his team at work.  I would love to read more about cases that she takes with her Innocence Project and wouldn't mind a whole book that focuses on her cases and her mission.  


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: An Engineered Injustice by William Meyers Jr.

An Engineered Injustice

by William Meyers Jr.

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Pages: 320

Format: ebook

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads: What if the deadliest train wreck in the nation’s history was no accident?

When a passenger train derails in North Philadelphia with fatal results, idealistic criminal defense attorney Vaughn Coburn takes on the most personal case of his young career. The surviving engineer is his cousin Eddy, and when Eddy asks Vaughn to defend him, he can’t help but accept. Vaughn has a debt to repay, for he and his cousin share an old secret—one that changed both their lives forever.

As blame for the wreck zeros in on Eddy, Vaughn realizes there’s more to this case than meets the eye. Seeking the truth behind the crash, he finds himself the target of malicious attorneys, corrupt railroad men, and a mob boss whose son perished in the accident and wants nothing less than cold-blooded revenge. With the help of his ex-con private investigator and an old flame who works for the competition, Vaughn struggles to defeat powerful forces—and to escape his own past built on secrets and lies. 

Kritters Thoughts:  The second in series that takes place in a law firm in Philadelphia, PA.  This book centers around a more junior lawyer at the law firm who is brought into a train crash due to his relationship with the engineer of the train that crashes.  Unlike the first book, this one centers more around the investigation of what happened to cause the train instead of solely taking place in the courtroom - there are definitely courtroom scenes, but much more happens outside than inside.  

Vaughn, the lawyer was raised in Philadelphia and I loved his unique view and love for the city and its people.  I liked him as a character and his drive to get to the bottom of what happened to help his family.  There is an interesting conflict with him taking this case and I enjoyed how this law firm handled it.  

You know how everyone says it's like watching a train wreck, well this book was.  There was a metro train crash in DC shortly after I moved to the area and seeing all the agencies that have to work together and the impact it has on the community was just interesting and then to read this book reminded me of that time.  The interesting thing about train as a mode of transportation that stuck with me from this book was that there isn't a co pilot in a train like there is in a plane and maybe there should be for medical emergency situations.  Of course, I also have this in top of mind because I will be on a train to NYC and the safety wasn't something I thought about before this book!!

I liked this one more than the second and my review of the third in the series will be up tomorrow.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2019 Challenge: 10 out of 100

Review: A Criminal Defense by William Meyers Jr.

A Criminal Defense

by William Meyers Jr.

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Pages: 380

Format: ebook

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Losing the trial of his life could mean losing everything.

When a young reporter is found dead and a prominent Philadelphia businessman is accused of her murder, Mick McFarland finds himself involved in the case of his life. The defendant, David Hanson, was Mick’s close friend in law school, and the victim, a TV news reporter, had reached out to Mick for legal help only hours before her death.

Mick’s played both sides of Philadelphia’s courtrooms. As a top-shelf defense attorney and former prosecutor, he knows all the tricks of the trade. And he’ll need every one of them to win.

But as the trial progresses, he’s disturbed by developments that confirm his deepest fears. This trial, one that already hits too close to home, may jeopardize his firm, his family—everything. Now Mick’s only way out is to mastermind the most brilliant defense he’s ever spun, one that will cross every legal and moral boundary. 

Kritters Thoughts:  Mick McFarland is a defense attorney in Philadelphia, PA and he is known to be one of the best.  He frequents in the higher circles in Philadelphia and even has quite the contacts from his law school days.  One of his previous classmates comes to him for help as he is being charged for murder of a woman who was getting ready to take down a corrupt police ring.  There are a few people who would have reason to want Jennifer Yamura dead . . . 

It had been a very long time since I had read a legal thriller.  With a heavy focus on the court case and not the true intricacies of the murder, this book leaned heavy on the courtroom drama.  There were a few times where the pacing didn't work for me and that may because I felt that the law was weighing down the book, but readers who love the legal thrillers may just enjoy this more than me.  I definitely had to read a lighter fiction story after this one before I ventured to book two and book three.  

BUT the twists and turns were great.  I read a few reviews after finishing this book and I can understand the frustration with the outcome as the victim definitely gets jipped in the end, but it is fiction and sometimes the bad guy wins.  I thought the ending was different and interesting and I enjoyed how it all came together at the end.  

I am intrigued as to the next two books in the series and will be reviewing them over the next two days.  


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2019 Challenge: 8 out of 100

Review: Game of Pies by Heather Wardell

Game of Pies

by Heather Wardell

Pages: 223

Format: ebook

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Thirty-somethings Brittany and Kyle have only been together four months, but she knows he's the one. Hosting Thanksgiving dinner at their Toronto apartment, with the food catered since neither of them are good cooks, will be a perfect way for their relatives to meet and become one big happy family.

Marilyn and Virginia have hated each other for nearly sixty years, since Virginia got herself pregnant by Marilyn's boyfriend then married him. Both too stubborn to leave their small Ontario town and let the other one win, their feud rages on whenever they encounter each other and particularly at the town's annual pie-making contest, which only they enter because nobody else dares to get caught in their crossfire.

When the relatives arrive on Thanksgiving, the truth comes out: Marilyn is Brittany's grandmother, and Virginia is Kyle's. And for once Marilyn and Virginia agree on something: no relation of that horrible woman is good enough for my grandchild.

Desperate to stop the unending guilt trips but not willing to cut the grandmothers they love from their lives, Brittany and Kyle accept an invitation to the ultimate battle: the pie-making contest. If they win, the grandmothers agree to accept their relationship, or at least pretend to, and be civil to each other. Lose? The grandmothers will never again be in the same room, so Brittany and Kyle will spend every holiday separately while listening to their grandmothers criticize their partners.

With only two months to learn to bake a better pie than women who've been at it for decades, can Brittany and Kyle win "The Game of Pies" and save their relationship?

Kritters Thoughts:  Brittany and Kyle have been dating for a short amount of time, but they have decided to host a meal for their families just after Thanksgiving.  Both of them hold in high regard their grandmothers, so when the family dinner begins and long held grudges are revealed, Brittany and Kyle have to decide relationship or family.

This was one of those short and sweet romantic comedy books.  At just over 200 pages, this was a bit more than a novella and a great length for a perfectly sweet romantic story.  Now it wasn't too too sweet, they definitely had ups and downs and some hard decisions to make, so I liked that it was a little close to reality.  

I have become a fan of Heather Wardell and her books are great escapes from some of the hard and intense reading that is happening.  I like to curl up with her books on a quiet afternoon and just escape into the story.


Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Ebook 2019 Challenge: 4 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from the author.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

February - for the love of books

source

February ended up being a busy month, so I am proud of my reading, but slipping behind just a bit on my yearly goal, so need to pick it up a bit!

1. The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen
2. Map of the Heart by Susan Wiggs
3. The Secret of Clouds by Alyson Richman
4. The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley
5. The Quintland Sisters by Shelley Wood
6. Dark Blossom by Neel Mullick
7. A Criminal Defense by William Meyers, Jr.
8. Magnolia Nights by Ashley Farley
9. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
10. Beyond the Garden by Ashley Farley
11. An Engineered Injustice by William Meyers, Jr.
12. A Killer's Ailbi by William Meyers, Jr.
13. The Woman in the Lake by Nicola Cornick
14. The Goodbye Cafe by Mariah Stewart
15. Woman 99 by Greer Macallister
16. The Beautiful Strangers by Camille Di Maio

Total pages read, clicked and flipped:  5,522

Where having I been Reading?:
Devonshire, England
Bethany Bay, DE
Long Island, NY
Scottish HIghlands
Ontario
New York City, NY
Philadelphia, PA (3)
Charleston, SC (2)
London
Pennsylvania
San Francisco, CA
San Diego, CA

Review: The Moon Sister by Lucinda Riley

The Moon Sister

by Lucinda Riley

Publisher: Atria Books

Pages: 544

Format: ARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Tiggy D’Aplièse spends her days experiencing the raw beauty of the Scottish Highlands doing a job she loves at a deer sanctuary. But when the sanctuary is forced to close, she is offered a job as a wildlife consultant on the vast and isolated estate of the elusive and troubled laird, Charlie Kinnaird. She has no idea that the move will not only irrevocably alter her future, but also bring her face-to-face with her past.

At the estate, she meets Chilly, a gypsy who fled from Spain seventy years before. He tells her that not only does she possess a sixth sense passed down from her ancestors, but it was foretold long ago that he would be the one to send her back home…

In 1912, in the poor gypsy community outside the city walls of Granada, Lucía Amaya-Albaycin is born. Destined to be the greatest flamenco dancer of her generation—and named La Candela, due to the inner flame that burns through her when she dances— Lucía is whisked away by her ambitious and talented guitarist father at the tender age of ten to dance in the flamenco bars of Barcelona. Her mother is devastated by the loss of her daughter and as civil war threatens in Spain, tragedy strikes the rest of her family. Now in Madrid, Lucía and her troupe of dancers are forced to flee for their lives, their journey taking them far across the water to South America and eventually, to North America and New York—Lucía’s long-held dream. But to pursue it, she must choose between her passion for her career and the man she adores. The Moon Sister follows these two women on their journey to discover their true futures—but at the risk of potentially losing the men they had hoped to build futures with. 

Kritters Thoughts:  Tiggy is the fifth sister in a very interesting family.  A man adopts 6 girls and names them after the stars and each girl is from a different country with a different story.  This book is the fifth in the series where each book centers around a different sister as they go looking for their past as their adopted father has left interesting clues for each daughter.  

I have loved this series from the beginning, some more than others and I have to admit that this one was not one of my favorites.  The thing that I missed in this book was a check in or a glimpse of the other sisters.  It was so brief that I didn't feel as though I got to get a peek into their lives while reading Tiggy's story.  

I did overall like Tiggy's adventure and thought it was interesting that it felt as if the book was more than just her search for the past but also a search for her path in the present.  I actually enjoyed her trying to find her passion in her career path a bit more than her search for her heritage.

I am excited to read the next book, it is the last known sister, so I am intrigued to see where it goes!  


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Atria Books.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Friend Request by Laura Marshall

Friend Request

by Luara Marshall

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Pages: 385

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Maria Weston wants to be friends. But Maria Weston is dead. Isn't she?

1989. When Louise first notices the new girl who has mysteriously transferred late into their senior year, Maria seems to be everything the girls Louise hangs out with aren't. Authentic. Funny. Brash. Within just a few days, Maria and Louise are on their way to becoming fast friends.

2016. Louise receives a heart-stopping email: Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook. Long-buried memories quickly rise to the surface: those first days of their budding friendship; cruel decisions made and dark secrets kept; the night that would change all their lives forever.

Louise has always known that if the truth ever came out, she could stand to lose everything. Her job. Her son. Her freedom. Maria's sudden reappearance threatens it all, and forces Louise to reconnect with everyone she'd severed ties with to escape the past. But as she tries to piece together exactly what happened that night, Louise discovers there's more to the story than she ever knew. To keep her secret, Louise must first uncover the whole truth, before what's known to Maria--or whoever's pretending to be her--is known to all. 

Kritters Thoughts:  Louise has secrets from high school that still haunt her and they will come to impact her current life years later and she may have to be honest with what happens so she can maybe finally live with some peace.  There are two time periods in this book.  1989 in the middle of the high school years when the original drama happened and Louise's story comes out in bits and pieces.  The other time period is 2016 and Louise is currently a single mom with an ex husband who has created a family and a life with another woman and she must balance work, home life and all while still milling on the moments of the past.

I love when a book makes me question things I do in my real life.  With Facebook at the center of this book, I immediately thought of what I put online and make sure that it keeps me and my family safe.  There were many things that Louise put online that endangered her family and she wasn't even aware of who was looking at all of the clues in every post.

There are interesting chapters included in italics and for the first few the reader doesn't know who is narrating those chapters, once the secrets came out, I went back and read them through a different set of eyes and was amazed at how they fit into the story.

What I critique about a mystery mostly is who in the end is the culprit and if I am satisfied with who the author has picked and how it is divulged to the reader.  I was completely happy with who dun it in this book and how it all unfolded.  It did give me the creeps because I wasn't expecting all of the things that they did, but I was satisfied with how it was all explained in the end.

I have now read both of Laura Marshall's books and am a fan.  I hope that continues to write stories of mystery that keep me guessing about characters until the end.  


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Grand Central Publishing.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.