Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney

 

My thoughts

I received an audio from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I loved this audio. Both narrators were so good. Both portrayed the characters supremely. Both gave me exactly what I expected in a great audio. 

To me this is the best book Alice Feeney has written. She's a great thriller writer and this one had it all going on. Had me guessing and on the edge. I could not figure out exactly who did what. I loved it. I loved the why they did it too. Especially now. Especially when so many men have taken over again and said some of the things they say. Read this book and you will understand...

When a woman goes missing, presumed dead, her husband spends all of his time trying to get his life back. He can't eat. He can't sleep. He can't write. He is a bestselling author. Or was. When his publisher gives him the use of her cabin on a very remote island and a large check to help him get by he takes it. He is trying to do what he needs to survive alone. To write another best seller. To live without his wife. He loved his wife. But was she truly the love of his life or was it his books?

Once Grady gets to the island he starts seeing his wife. Or he thinks it's his wife. Or is it the lack of sleep. He's been going on hardly any sleep for about a year. He has lost everything and just wants to write another book and try to get his life back. He's about to embark on something that he didn't see coming. He's about to find something that he didn't expect. He will get that best seller done or die trying. 

This book has everything that I love in a good thriller. It's almost a horror story. Maybe it is a horror story. It's definitely one to keep you guessing what's going on. Keep you wondering who is who and why are they doing this... Excellent book. This was a BOTM choice for me. 

Thank you #NetGalley, #MacmillanAudio, #BOTM, for this audio ARC. 

Five big stars.

About

The million-copy bestselling Queen of Twists Alice Feeney returns with a gripping and deliciously dark thriller about marriage. . .
. . . and revenge.

Author Grady Green is having the worst best day of his life.

Grady calls his wife to share some exciting news as she is driving home. He hears Abby slam on the brakes, get out of the car, then nothing. When he eventually finds her car by the cliff edge the headlights are on, the driver door is open, her phone is still there. . . but his wife has disappeared.

A year later, Grady is still overcome with grief and desperate to know what happened to Abby. He can’t sleep, and he can’t write, so he travels to a tiny Scottish island to try to get his life back on track. Then he sees the impossible – a woman who looks exactly like his missing wife.

Wives think their husbands will change but they don’t.
Husbands think their wives won’t change but they do.

Babylonia by Costanza Casati

My thoughts

I loved this author's debut novel, Clytemnestra. It was a favorite of mine. This one, her second novel,  is just as good. I will be looking for more by this author. 

A woman of low means, Semiramis, has lived with a man and his son all of her life. She was an infant when her mother killed her father and then drowned herself. Leaving Semiramis to whatever fate came her way. It is said that her mother was a very beautiful woman. 

Semiramis has been abused and treated horrifically by the man who raised her. She endured it all until she just could not take it any longer. She knew that one day he would kill her. She left with the governor of Assyria, Onnes, to become his bride. To hopefully have a much better and safer life. 

The timeframe of this book is the ninth century BC. Ultimately Semiramis rises to become the ruler of an empire. She married the king after the governor, who was the king's brother, killed himself. Together the king, Ninus and queen, Semiramis, could have done such great things. But alone Semiramis did. Ninus died after a great battle leaving her alone to bear his son. She was queen for five years. Until her son became of age to take over. 

There are a few characters in this book. Some likable and some to detest greatly. This book was so good. So lyrical in places. There was war. Lots of bloody scenes. There was love. Some hatred also. Two brothers. One king and one governor. One woman who loved them both. Or one king who loved them both. Both his brother and his brother's wife.

It was filled with so much. I can't imagine topping it but I do look forward to this author's next book.

Do not miss the Author's Note at the end. It tells a lot. I had no idea. This story is based on truths. It's a great one about the strength of a woman who was born poor and rose to greatness.

Thank you #NetGalley, #SourcebooksLandmark, #RBmediaRecordedBooks, for this ARC. 

Five big stars.

About

From the author of the bestselling Clytemnestra comes another intoxicating excursion into ancient history, as Casati reimagines the rise to power of the Assyrian empire's only female ruler, Semiramis.

When kings fall, queens rise.

Nothing about Semiramis's upbringing could have foretold her legacy or the power she would come to wield. A female ruler, once an orphan raised on the outskirts of an empire - certainly no one in Ancient Assyria would bend to her command willingly. Semiramis was a woman who knew if she wanted power, she would have to claim it.

There are whispers of her fame in Mesopotamian myth- Semiramis was a queen, an ambitious warrior, a commander whose reputation reaches the majestic proportions of Alexander the Great. Historical record, on the other hand, falls eerily quiet.

In her second novel, Costanza Casati brilliantly weaves myth and ancient history together to give Semiramis a voice, charting her captivating ascent to a throne no one promised her. The world Casati expertly builds is rich with dazzling detail and will transport her readers to the heat of the Assyrian Empire and a world long gone.

The Perfect Home by Daniel Kenitz

 

My thoughts

I was very pleasantly surprised with this book. A new to me author and a very exciting book. It was filled with a lot of action and some edge of your seat tension. 

While I would not call this a book about fixing up houses or a girl truly gone missing, it is about a tv personality who remodels homes and a woman who takes her twins and leaves. 

The main couple, Dawn and Wyatt Decker have been married five years. They are part of a reality tv show called The Perfect Home. It's Wyatt's life. He loves the show more than anything. He loves being the center of attention. He loves money. He will do anything to get what he wants. Dawn is more down to earth. She was raised by her mother after her dad left when she was eleven. When she met Wyatt she fell in love and wanted a family. He does something he should not have to help ensure that they have a baby. Illegal in the US but not in Germany, he orders and takes a drug that is suppose to enhance fertility. Seems he was the cause of them not being about to have a baby. How dare the universe do that to Wyatt Decker...

The story is about their life and how things went from good to horrible after the birth of their twins. Wyatt turned into a stranger. A threat to his wife and their babies. Who can she trust now? Her two best friends. One who is sleeping with Wyatt. If you can't trust your best friends just who can you trust. Dawn goes through a lot to keep her babies safe. The world loves Wyatt. The world thinks Wyatt has been wronged. 

This book has you going along with Dawn on a trip trying to keep not only her twins but herself alive. When she read what Wyatt had written she knew she had to get away. With nowhere to go and no one to turn too she leaves Tennessee. Someone from her past comes to her aide just in time to keep her from being arrested. Together they try to find answers to clear her and make the world see what Wyatt truly is.

I enjoyed this book. It was a quick read and had me guessing in a few places. One surprise and then all the tension of facing Wyatt kept me on the edge. Overall this book is very good. I recommend it to anyone that likes a good edge of your seat with a couple of not huge twists. 

Thank you #NetGalley, #Scribner, for this ARC. 

4 stars.

About

Fixer Upper meets Gone Girl in this suspenseful and witty domestic thriller set in the world of home renovation TV—featuring a woman who becomes public enemy #1 after a horrifying discovery prompts her to flee her celebrity husband with their twin babies.

Dawn Decker is an American everywoman and the salt to her husband Wyatt’s sweet, media-friendly charm on their Tennessee-based home renovation reality TV show, The Perfect Home. While Dawn bristles at the trappings of their D-list celebrity status, Wyatt hungers for greater fame. The couple also faces infertility issues stemming from Wyatt’s low sperm count. He secretly orders experimental fertility drugs, and they conceive, but his personality takes a dark turn—he becomes moody, withdrawn, and even cruel.

When Dawn discovers his horrifying plot to manufacture a tragedy in order to skyrocket their celebrity status, she takes their infant twins and goes on the run. Wyatt appears on national television to turn the public against her, painting Dawn as an unstable kidnapper suffering from postpartum psychosis. His charm is so compelling that even Dawn’s closest friends doubt her. She will have to dig deep into the past—both hers and Wyatt’s—to find allies, protect her children, and beat this beloved all-American celebrity at his own game.

Told in dual perspectives from both husband and wife, this smart, captivating, and twisty thriller is a fun, addictive read from the very first page.

So This Is Christmas by Kay Bratt

 

My thoughts

This book was even better than the last. Each seems to get better. 

The Hart's Ridge series is so good. Each book has a mystery wrapped around a true to life crime. Also more about the Gray family and all that entails. 

Taylor just had her baby and is home on leave from her job while recuperating from almost dying and from having her daughter. Sam, her husband, insists on her doing nothing that relates to her job as a deputy. She needs no stress. Of course that is not easy for Taylor.

As you get to know each of the Grays you also read about a horrific murder. A family who were shot and killed on Christmas Eve. Who would do such a horrible thing to this very nice and loving family. 

This book kept me turning the pages and wanting more. It held me captive until the last sentence. Kay weaves enough of a real life crime into the story that you keep trying to figure out who did it. Who the killer or killers were. I had my suspicions and was half right. 

There is also a bit of mental illness in this story. Of course with such a horrific murder I believe the killer suffered deeply from a mental illness but this was about Taylor's sister. Lucy has so many problems and you hear from her again in this story. Her problems seem to escalate until she just can't deal. Taylor of course wants to fix it but this time she can't. 

I was so happy to read the part about Lydia and Caleb after her return. That is from the book Hello Little Girl. Lydia had been kidnapped and held for a long time. I wondered what became of them and was so happy that Kay added this part in the ending. Maybe an upcoming book about them??

I love this series and hope it can continue for a while. There are a few characters that I'd like to hear more about.

Another winner. Five big stars.

About

The quaint town of Hart's Ridge glistens with holiday magic each Christmas, as festive lights and holiday attractions draw visitors to its charming streets. This year, Deputy Taylor Gray is enjoying a quieter holiday at home, fully embracing her new role in the midst of family festivities.

But peace and goodwill are shattered on Christmas Eve when four bodies are discovered and two children are left as orphans. Taylor finds herself walking a fine line between her desire to please her husband, Sam, who insists she stay out of the investigation, and her passion for keeping the town safe. As she navigates her restrictions, she must find a way to contribute without jeopardizing her promise to Sam.

“So This Is Christmas” is book eleven of the bestselling Hart's Ridge small-town mystery series, written by Kay Bratt, million-copy best-selling author.

The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict

 

My thoughts

This is my first book by Marie Benedict. It was very enjoyable. 

The power of a group of females is pretty strong. Even when men would have stood in the way. 

My favorite line from this book is: "You saw what I wanted you to see and what you expected to see. Things are not always as they appear."

The main characters in this book are: Dorothy Sayers, Agatha Christie, Baroness Emma Orczy, Margery Allingham, and Ngaio Marsh. Five authors from 1931. Five female authors.

The five women decide to participate The Detection Club, an organization of mystery writers, primarily men. They are soon drawn into a real life murder. A young nurse who went missing and was found murdered and lying in a big pool of blood. These women decide to find out exactly what happened to her. Though the papers have made this woman to look like a loose women with a drug problem the Queens of Crime do not believe that. They are about to embark on a journey to find the killer and prove this young woman's fate.

What happens is a rivitating story of females on the hunt for the truth. For justice. For women to be listened to. They are determined to show that May Daniels was murdered and that it had nothing to do with a drug deal. It was from a lover who didn't want her to reveal any secrets.

This book keeps you wanting to know more and guessing along the way. It's a great mystery. Most of the characters are so likable and the history in it is great. Well written. A real page turner. I enjoyed it from start to finish. There are several things that happen to keep you on edge.

Thank you #NetGalley, #StMartinsPress, #MacmillanAudio, for this ARC. 

4 stars.

About

The New York Times bestselling author of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie returns with a thrilling story of Christie’s legendary rival Dorothy Sayers, the race to solve a murder, and the power of friendship among women.

London, 1930. The five greatest women crime writers have banded together to form a secret society with a single goal: to show they are no longer willing to be treated as second-class citizens by their male counterparts in the legendary Detection Club. Led by the formidable Dorothy L. Sayers, the group includes Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham and Baroness Emma Orczy. They call themselves the Queens of Crime. Their plan? Solve an actual murder, that of a young woman found strangled in a park in France who may have connections leading to the highest levels of the British establishment.

May Daniels, a young English nurse on an excursion to France with her friend, seemed to vanish into thin air as they prepared to board a ferry home. Months later, her body is found in the nearby woods. The murder has all the hallmarks of a locked room mystery for which these authors are famous: how did her killer manage to sneak her body out of a crowded train station without anyone noticing? If, as the police believe, the cause of death is manual strangulation, why is there is an extraordinary amount of blood at the crime scene? What is the meaning of a heartbreaking secret letter seeming to implicate an unnamed paramour? Determined to solve the highly publicized murder, the Queens of Crime embark on their own investigation, discovering they’re stronger together. But soon the killer targets Dorothy Sayers herself, threatening to expose a dark secret in her past that she would do anything to keep hidden.

Inspired by a true story in Sayers’ own life, New York Times bestselling author Marie Benedict brings to life the lengths to which five talented women writers will go to be taken seriously in the male-dominated world of letters as they unpuzzle a mystery torn from the pages of their own novels.

The Lost House by Melissa Larsen

 

My thoughts

This is my first book by this author. I look forward to reading more.

This book was slow to start for me but it did pick up and the ending was great. The author definitely wrapped it up great. 

A murder was committed in 1979 in a small town in Iceland. A woman and her baby girl. The baby was frozen and the mother's throat was slit. Everyone suspected the husband did it. He took their son and left. 

In 2019 Agnes goes to Iceland to meet a podcaster, Nora, who is investigating the deaths of Agnes's grandmother and aunt all those years ago. A girl has gone missing and of course there has been a search for her now. The house that Agnes's grandfather and father lived in has become a place for people to hang out and gawk about what happened back in 1979. That is where the other girl went missing from too. 

You get a lot with this story. A murder or two. A missing young woman. A drug addiction. A kidnapping. You uncover the truth as you read but that last part is the best. When most of the actual action and the reveal happens. 

The setting of this story is great and the timeframes. It goes back to what happened in 1979 only a few times to keep you knowing what happened and then who did it. You meet several of the townspeople and most are very likable. This book was good but not great. I do say it's worth reading, You may love it more than I did. I did like it. It kept me guessing for sure. Parts kept me on edge too. I believe it was well written. It was a quick read for me. 

Thank you #NetGalley, #StMartinsPress, #MacmillanAudio, for this ARC. This is my true thoughts about this book. 

3 stars

About

In Melissa Larsen's The Lost House comes the mesmerizing story of a young woman with a haunting past who returns to her ancestral home in Iceland to investigate a gruesome murder in her family.

Forty years ago, a young woman and her infant daughter were found buried in the cold Icelandic snow, lying together as peacefully as though sleeping. Except the mother’s throat had been slashed and the infant drowned. The case was never solved. There were no arrests, no conviction. Just a suspicion turned into a the husband did it. When he took his son and fled halfway across the world to California, it was proof enough of his guilt.

Now, nearly half a century later and a year after his death, his granddaughter, Agnes, is ready to clear her grandfather’s name once and for all. Still recovering from his death and a devastating injury, Agnes wants nothing more than an excuse to escape the shambles of her once-stable life—which is why she so readily accepts true crime expert Nora Carver’s invitation to be interviewed for her popular podcast. Agnes packs a bag and hops on a last-minute flight to the remote town of Bifröst, Iceland, where Nora is staying, where Agnes’s father grew up, and where, supposedly, her grandfather slaughtered his wife and infant daughter.

Is it merely coincidence that a local girl goes missing the very same weekend Agnes arrives? Suddenly, Agnes and Nora’s investigation is turned upside down, and everyone in the small Icelandic town is once again a suspect. Seeking to unearth old and new truths alike, Agnes finds herself drawn into a web of secrets that threaten the redemption she is hell-bent on delivering, and even her life—discovering how far a person will go to protect their family, their safety, and their secrets.

Set against an unforgiving Icelandic winter landscape, The Lost House is a chilling and razor-sharp thriller packed with jaw-dropping twists that will leave you breathless.

Leave No Trace by Jo Callaghan

 

My thoughts

This is the second book in the Kat and Lock series. Jo Callaghan has created very likable characters with these two. One is a female DI and the other is an AI who they are trying to use in the course of investigations. 

In this book Kat and Lock are looking for a suspect who has hung a man on a cross and removed his ears. Who would do such a thing. His fiance possibly? Maybe his best friend? Or is something much more sinister at play?

When Kat gets the call about a man being found hung on a cross she immediately starts trying to figure out what happened and why it happened. Before it happens again. In four days it does happen though. Her boss of course doubts her ability to solve the case but she doesn't give up. Kat has a wonderful team and they are all working overtime to solve these murders. 

A reporter is letting people know things before Kat can get a handle on things. Kat wants this solved before another murder can happen. Her partner, the AI, is working with her by looking at videos and reading everything as fast as he can. 

I have to say that this was an excellent book. A first rate follow of the first book, In The Blink of An Eye. You get to know more about each character and how they work. How well they all get along. While I did figure out who the killer was and why it certainly did not take away from the story. Not in the least. I was on the edge of my seat when things came to a head and Lock(AI) was talking to the murderer. And at a few other times I found myself holding my breath. I also cried a few times. This book was so good but also needs to come with a trigger warning for sure. It contains talk of a rape, a drug induced rape. Date rape drug use and other things. But it's still a wonderful book and well written.

This author has a series here that I believe will keep getting better and better. I'm looking forward to the next installment already. 

Be sure and read the Acknowledgments at the end as it contains some info. My heart goes out to this author and her family. 

Thank you #NetGalley, #RandomHousePublishing, for this ARC. 

Five big stars.

About

When the body of a man is found crucified at the top of a hill in the British midlands, AIDE Lock—the world’s first AI Detective—and Detective Kat Frank are thrust into the spotlight as they are given their first live case. When a second body is found the police issue an extraordinary warning to local males aged between 30 and 40 years old:

• Avoid drinking in pubs
• If you must go to a pub, do not leave alone
• And definitely do not leave a pub with a stranger

With the national media and local men in an uproar, Kat and Lock have to combine their instincts and algorithms to catch the killer before they can strike again.