The Anniversary by Alex Finlay

 

My thoughts

I've read and loved so quite a few of this author's books. This one is great. I was on the edge during most of it. I did know who the serial killer was though. I figured that out fairly early. It did not take away from the story and I did not see that ending coming. I would not have guessed the other part....

This was a quick read for me.

Jules is a high school cheerleader. She's from the more prominent part of town and is very beautiful. She is of course dating a football player. She also has detention with a boy. Quinn is his name and you will love him.

Quinn is also a high school kid. He's from the poor side of town and is very quite. He wants to go to college but does not see that happening as he has to be there for his little brother. His mom works and has a fairly sorry excuse for a boyfriend. Quinn's dad is dead. His little brother is disabled and the only other family is his Uncle Pat. 

There is a serial killer who abducts girls on May First. Always on May first. He's called the May Day killer. Sometimes he lets his victims go. He calls them "One of the lucky ones." But he keeps their license. He tells them if they say anything he will come back and get them. He took Jules. He did horrible things to her. Then he let her go. She could not identify him. She also could not tell anyone. Her life was forever changed.

This story goes from year to year. Each told by alternating characters of Quinn and Jules. How their lives intersect. What each does in life. What they go through. How they end up. 

I thought this story was truly great. It was truly awful at the same time. Awful because of the things that happened to the girls. To Quinn's mother. To Jules's sister. To all the families who lost someone. I adored Quinn. I also loved Jules. Both of these characters made it into my heart. What each went through was so sad. How they ended up after all of it was great. 

There was a couple of things that felt a bit rushed, or not explained before hand, but it was still a great story. The other two characters, Lucy and Carrie, were victims also. I thought both were portrayed perfectly. One a bit goth and the other a preacher's daughter. 

This author always captures my attention and keeps me wanting more. 

The books comes out in May. Be sure and grab it. It's very good.

The audio is perfect. The two narrator's did a great job. Ari Fliakos and Brittany Pressley.

Thank you NetGalley, Macmillan Audio,  and, St Martin's Press, for this ARC.

4.75 stars 

About

Every Year He Comes For Them.

On one fateful night in 1992, the lives of two seventeen-year-olds are changed and intertwined forever. Quinn Riley, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, is arrested after he innocently tries to break up a fight but ends up nearly killing someone. Jules Delaney, high school royalty, survives an attack by the elusive and terrifying May Day Killer—a serial predator who strikes every May 1st in midwestern small towns.

A year later, Jules is struggling with trauma and guilt, tormented by one question: Why was I spared? Quinn is newly released from juvenile detention and returns home to fresh the unsolved murder of his mother.

Over the next decade, their lives are revisited on a single day each year—May 1st. As secrets unravel and the paths of Quinn and Jules collide, two mysteries edge closer to the truth. All the while, the May Day Killer is still out there—and the clock is racing toward another May 1st.

The Anniversary is an utterly compelling story of the hunt for a serial killer. But it’s also a heartfelt—and heartrending—novel about fate, innocence lost, and two souls who find that sometimes being broken is the only way for the light to get in.

Blade by Wendy Walker

 

My thoughts

I'm a huge fan of Wendy Walker's books. I've not read one yet that disappointed me. There is always an edge. Always a thrill. And always tears to be shed. This one is excellent. A real page turner. I usually shy away from books about sports. This one drew me in and didn't let go until I turned that last page.


A book about ice skaters. Where they stayed and what they did. The competitions and the friendships made. Even enemies made. There is always a bit of jealousy in any competition. This story puts it all out there. How children are treated when away from home. When staying with an adult who can pick and choose whatever and whoever she wants. This is a very complex story about girls competing for championships and hopeful olympic placement. Girls who compete against each other but are still there for each other in so many ways.

The author takes you into the depths of the ice skating world. The trials each puts on themselves. How lies can ruin a life. How doing good can make you or break you. What happens when you are away from family. When tragic events take shape. Girls who are truly not ready to take on the tasks of acting grown up. Partying. Having grown ups put up barriers for them. These girls are just children who want to skate. Yes they want to win but mostly they just want to be loved and accepted as they are. Whether they pass of fail.

You get to know some of these girls and yes this is fiction but loosely based on things that do happen. Adults who take advantage of these kids. Both women and men. Seems there is a lot of abuse. In most every way.

My heart broke for these young girls. Yes they wanted to skate but they didn't want to be hurt. Lied too. Taken advantage of.

This is about a murder. A young girl who is accused of this murder. It looks bad for her. Of course it does. Her lawyer went to this same school fourteen years earlier. Ana knows what it was like. As does this girl's mother. Grace is in so much trouble. Accused of murder. Murder of a well liked man. Her mother, also lived here before. Back when the girls were training to be olympic ice skaters. Now Grace and Ana have to fight to find out who did what and why. Grace doesn't want to say anything. She doesn't trust anyone. Least of all Ana...

This story goes from before to now. From before to after. Told mainly from Ana's POV. You will find out all you need to know.

I was immersed in this book. Couldn't look away. I throughly enjoyed it. I cried. I cringed. I even laughed a bit. I never figured out who the killer was.

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer for this ARC.

4.75 stars.

About

From USA Today bestselling author—and former competitive skater—Wendy Walker comes a chilling psychological thriller set in the cutthroat world of elite figure skating.

Ana Robbins was an Olympic star in the making—until tragedy forced her to leave that world behind. At the age of sixteen, she gave up her dream and never looked back. Fourteen years later, she’s a successful defense attorney, revered for her work with minors. But when her former coach turns up dead, Ana lands right back where it all began, and abruptly The Palace, a world-renowned skating facility nestled high in the mountains of Colorado.

Ana returns to The Palace to defend the young skater accused of the brutal crime—Grace Montgomery. Despite her claims of innocence, all evidence points squarely at Grace’s guilt, and she’s days away from facing charges of first-degree murder.

But Ana’s investigation dredges up childhood memories of her own, triggering the fear that permeates this place where she once lived and trained far from home as an “Orphan.” With a blizzard raging outside, and time running out for Grace, Ana is determined to uncover the truth—even if it means exposing her own secrets that she buried here long ago.

Family Drama by Rebecca Fallon

 

My thoughts

I almost didn't finish this one. It was not a fast paced book at all. It was intense and did keep pulling at me. I just didn't want a DNF. I am glad I finished it now. The ending truly made up for so much. I did think this book was well written. The author put her heart and soul into it I'm sure. For anyone to say it is poorly written is just wrong. It's slow for the first several chapters but interesting.

This family is definitely troubled. A man who raised his twin children almost alone. Their mother died of cancer when they were very young. Before that, she was not really there. She was a soap star. She was away for most of their lives. I do believe she loved her children and her husband. I know he loved her. No doubt about it. Al was a good guy. He supported his wife's career even though he truly wanted her to stay home. Not to travel. To be his wife and their children's mother. But she wanted to be a star so he supported it. Al was truly a keeper.

This one starts out with the twins watching as their mother's body is lowered into the sea. She wanted to be buried that way and Al was doing just that. 

This story takes you back and forth between when the twins, Viola and Sebastian, experience their mother's burial and when their mother is in California working on a soap opera. All that happens in those years is told. It's definitely a drama but not a bad one. 

I think the author really did a good job. This one kept me reading. I never thought about putting it down. I did start to DNF it a couple of times. That was just crazy though. I highly recommend this book. It's got so much to keep you reading. It's family. It's drama. It's twin crazy. A mom and dad problem. A soap opera. A love between an older man and younger woman. Actually that is twice. Al is several years older than Susan. But it seemed like their love was at first sight, in a way. Al really flipped over her. Susan's sister, Sadie, didn't much like Al but she was crazy over the twins. 

The last few chapters of this one made me weep. I was crying so hard while reading about Susan's death. How the twins were with her while she was sick. How her son seemed to love his mom more than anything. They didn't know their mom was a star. They had no idea she was ever in a soap opera. 

Yes this book started out a bit slow but it did grow on me. I am glad I read it. I liked the characters. Mostly. I was angry at Susan for leaving her family for a soap opera but that was what she wanted. Her career. She had a right to do that. Her children could be selfish but that was understandable too. They lost their mother at such a young age. This is one to make you think...

A debut novel. I give this author a lot of credit for writing such a heartfelt story. 

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for this ARC.

4 stars. 

About

A vibrant debut and powerful meditation on family, motherhood, and the cost of holding on to your dreams, reminiscent of Ann Napolitano.

In New England, Susan Bliss is a young mother married to a professor.
In LA, Susan Byrne stars in a soap opera beloved coast to coast.
Decades after she’s gone, her twins have no idea of their mother’s fame. But the past can’t stay hidden forever.

It’s 1997, and snow is blanketing a New England beach. Two befuddled seven-year-olds watch as their mother’s body is tipped overboard a crumbling boat. A Viking funeral, followed by a raucous wake. A send-off fit for soap opera Susan Bliss.

Fifteen years earlier, Susan is a blazing, beautiful young woman, passionate about her art. It’s impossible not to fall in love with her, and so Alcott, a practical professor, does—hopelessly. And so begins the love story of Susan’s two-paneled an unconventional, jetlag-filled arrangement that takes her back and forth between her life in New England as a wife and mother to young twins to the bright lights of Los Angeles, where she becomes the beloved star of a daytime soap.

In the present, Susan’s twins grow up in the shadow of her all-consuming absence. Sebastian, a sensitive artist, cleaves to her memory, fascinated with the artifacts of her starry past. Viola, resentful of her mother’s torn allegiances, distances herself from the memories of her. But when Viola runs into her mother’s old costar Orson Grey—now a renowned Hollywood star—she finds herself falling deeply in love with him and begins to put together the pieces of a mother she never really knew.

Sharp, assured, and beautifully written, Family Drama is a story told in double-helix, with intertwined timelines that explore the different versions of ourselves we share with the world and with each other.

The House Of Hidden Letters by Izzy Broom

 

My thoughts

If you read one historical this year this is the one. It's so good. It has it all. History of course. A love story. Two timelines. Possibly murder. An abusive(albeit not in great detail.) A Greek island. A lottery winner. A group of people who come together for each other. No. Matter. What.

This is a book that will capture your heart. It will also leave you on pins and needles in places. Things happen to make you think. To make you appreciate what you have. Always keep your friends close. Even the ones you might have just met.

When Skye wins a lottery she knows it's her chance. Her chance to get out of a horrible relationship. Her husband, Martyn, is awful. He is not who she thought he was. They had a whirlwind relationship and marriage. He wanted her and he got her. 

Skye wins a house on a Greek Island. It's an older place that needs a lot of repair. It only cost her the price of a lottery entry. There are a few others who won houses too. Skye doesn't share any private things with the new neighbors. She keeps it to herself. Skye and her mother have problems also. 

When Skye finds letters hidden in her house and starts reading them you get to know more about the history of the island. What happened to the previous owners. 

Then we go to 1940 and meet Katerina. Katerina and Stefanos. They lived on the Greek island as the war starts. When Mussolini started taking over and started wars it was coming to Greece. To their peaceful island. Stefanos had to leave. He had to go defend their country. Katerina's sister's husband goes with him leaving the women behind. 

A lot happens in both timelines. It's very easy to keep straight though. This is such a good book. It has so many things to keep you turning the pages. Some edge of your seat things too. A few mysteries. The love story was beautiful. 

This book gave me a few feelings. Tears. Anger. Expectations. Hope. Love. Loss. It had it all. The writing was wonderful. This story will hold your heart. 

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishers for this ARC.

Five stars 

About

“A joy from start to finish.”—Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Silent Patient

A beautiful and escapist novel full of heart, for fans of Elin Hilderbrand and readers who love book club fiction.

For Greek cottage. One euro.

Skye MacKinnon is desperate for an escape. When she wins a lottery to buy a run-down cottage on a Greek island for only one euro, Skye jumps at the chance to get out of England and start over. As she unlocks the tattered blue door of her whitewashed new cottage, the sun-kissed sea glinting in the bay outside her windows, Skye immediately feels like she’s found her true home.

Skye and the other lottery winners—the first residents in these houses since the 1940s—form a tight-knit group, finding in one another the strong relationships they’d been missing in their own lives. When Skye and local contractor Andreas find a set of mysterious letters, they begin to unravel the history of the prior residents, and the truth about life on Folegandros during World War II.

Sweeping, escapist, and full of heart, The House of Hidden Letters reminds us of the importance of human connection. Izzy Broom has written a poignant and hopeful novel for those who have found love and family in unexpected places.

The Last Daughter by Soraya M. Lane

 

My thoughts

This is the last in the series of Lost Daughters by this author. It's like the beginning that came at the end. The one that started the whole thing. It's beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. A story of love and loss. 

When Mia's Aunt dies she is left to close up Hope's House. Mia is Hope's great niece. This is the story of how Hope House started. Who helped Hope when she was at her very lowest. When she needed someone more than ever. It's also the story of Mia. How Mia goes searching for answers but finds love instead. Mia was the one who gave each box to each of seven young ladies whose grandmother's had left them behind. Each with a clue as to who they were and why they had to give up their baby.

Hope had to leave home because of her cruel dad. He was abusive to her mother and in time to her also. This was in the early 1920s. Before the war. Before women could have a say whether they got an education or married or had families. Hope left home because she didn't want to marry a stranger. She didn't want the kind of life her mother had. She wanted to paint. To live. To learn about life. She had hopes and dreams. 

Mia was going through her own sadness. She was somewhat of a reclusive young lady. She had lost the love of her life and didn't know how to move on without him. Even after so many years had passed. But when Mia had a chance to find out more about her Aunt Hope she jumped at the chance. 

Both of these women had a destiny of sorts. Hope to help unwed mothers. Mia to find love again. You get to know more about Hope and all she went through and it's heartbreaking. I hoped all the way for one thing to happen. Up to the very end I held on to that hope. Mia went on this journey and found a guy. Joe. Joe was a good man. He had his own bar and worked hard. He had some hardships he dealt with also. Maybe together they can find peace. Maybe they can find each other and the happiness each deserves.

This is the last in this series and it's so good. After reading the previous books and knowing this one had to come eventually it was kind of hard to see it end. I adored Hope. She was such a good person to do what she did. After all she lost she was still so kind to other women who came to Hope's House for help. Opening the house to help others helped Hope in so many ways too. 

A well written book about a subject that is so sad. How horrible women and girls were treated for simply having a baby and not a husband. What they had to go through. 

Thank you Bookouture and NetGalley for this ARC.

4.70 stars. 

About

Hope looked up at Gus, his fingers linked with hers as he smiled down at her. The wind whipped at her hair, cool against her skin, but all she cared about was the man standing in front of her. ‘I choose you, Hope,’ he whispered. ‘A thousand times over, I choose you.’

London, Present Mia clutches the last remaining box found at Hope’s House in her hands. For months she has been determined to reunite every box with its rightful owner. But now it’s time for her to discover Hope’s own heartbreaking story.

France 1938: When Hope meets Gus in the lively streets of Paris, she finally feels that she has met her kindred spirit. But as they plan their dream future together, it is clear that Gus’s father will never allow their romance to develop. Defying his wishes, Gus promises Hope that they will be together after his army training.

But with France on the brink of war, Hope travels back to London for safety, cradling a life-changing secret. Then devastating news arrives which threatens Hope’s future and shatters her heart. In the darkest days of war, will Hope find the courage to give others the chance of a brighter future? And will her own story of strength inspire Mia to follow her heart?

The utterly gorgeous and heartbreaking final novel in the Lost Daughters series will leave you spellbound and is the perfect read for fans of Santa Montefiore, Lucinda Riley and Victoria Hislop.