Nancy Lavelle lies still on the floor. With her eyes looking towards her children’s rooms, her hands are clasped in prayer, as if the last thing she wished for was her children to be saved…

When Detective Abby Pearce is called to the Beach House, a holiday home in the most affluent part of Martha’s Vineyard, she finds five bodies. An entire family has been killed in a frenzied attack… all except one. Fifteen-year-old Karin is the only survivor. Sitting in the house, surrounded by her family, she stares into the distance and doesn’t say a word.

When Karin’s grandparents fly in to take her home, Abby’s investigation takes a shocking turn. Taking one look at the traumatised girl, they recoil—the girl curled up in a hospital bed isn’t their granddaughter. So who is she? And where is the real Karin Lavelle?

Abby fears the missing girl is in serious danger, and with local residents worried that the killer is still on the island and the press questioning her every move, she’s under pressure to solve both crimes fast. But when she uncovers a link between Thomas Lavelle’s New York office and her previous job at the NYPD, she begins to fear that these brutal murders are a sign… and that she’s next. Can she find the killer before another life is taken, or is she walking into a trap?

This fast-paced thriller is perfect for fans of Lisa Regan, Kendra Elliot and Mary Burton, but be warned—you won’t want to put it down!

Caveat: Dana Perry is on my “authors to read” list so I know when I peel back that cover, I’m going to be experiencing an exceptional read…….

With that being said, let me catch my breath. I feel like I just ran a marathon reading this story.

This is the 2nd book in the Detective Abby Pearce series but can easily read as a stand alone. You can see my review for the 1st book Her Ocean Grave

A dream vacation on the iconic island of Martha’s Vineyard. But the entire Lavelle family has been murdered in their hotel room not long after arriving. From there, the action doesn’t diminish with each page that is turned.

Mr. Perry has a gift of writing stories within stories, mysteries within mysteries, which this book had, which was gripping and tense. I was so engrossed that I felt that I was also on the island and trailing Det. Abby Pearce on her hunt for the killer or killers.

A nail biter of a read!!! Chilling and riveting!!!!

A totally entertaining read from start to finish!!! Now I’m ready for the sequel!!!!

I received a complimentary copy from Bookouture via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Barnes & Noble 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗

Palmer Lewis married a liar.
But just how deadly are his lies?

Shortly after marrying her soulmate and the birth of their son, the lies begin.

First, it’s the phone calls, always held in secret, always deleted from his phone.
Then it’s his odd disappearances and the little nagging voice in her head screaming: something is not right.

When Palmer follows her gut — and her husband — she catches him with an unfamiliar woman in the park and in his biggest lie thus far. Learning from her past, she hatches a plan to protect herself and their child.

But when her husband and son disappear one afternoon and don’t return, Palmer must retrace her steps and dig deep to discover the truth before it’s too late.

Who is the mysterious woman her husband lied about meeting? Who knows what happened to her family? Who’s lying? In this twisted psychological thriller, the better question is, who isn’t?

How does she do it????

Another superior read penned by Ms. Modglin!!!!

In one of my earlier reviews, see below, I encouraged you to pick up a book by her, and like me, I promise you, you will become a fan.

I don’t want to reiterate what is written in the synopsis only because I am afraid that I would slip and maybe mention a possibility of a spoiler.

So with that said, let me tell you what will happen if you take my recommendation to pick up one of her books. I started with The Mother-In-Law and I was hooked!!

Let me tell you a little bit about her books and her writing style. She pulls you in within the first few pages and there is no turning back. It’s like you are on a rollercoaster, so enjoy the ride. Her books have short chapters, which means you will be saying just one more and you then realize you have read 10. And her books are less than 300 pages and within those pages is an intense story filled with suspense and a profound ending.

Also in an earlier review, I mentioned that I want to read all of her books. Now all I need is a month of no adulting and sitting on a beach in Aruba with all of her books under the palapa and a frozen mudslide or two. I’m sure that if you pick up one of her books, you will want to join me on that beach!!!!!

Previous books read and reviewed:

I Said Yes
Just Married
The Mother-In-Law

Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗

My family gathers around the large oak table in our beautifully renovated home. I’ve put on a dress and lit candles, and there’s a wonderful aroma coming from the dinner you’ve so lovingly prepared. I feel your hand squeeze mine as you top up my glass and ask about my day as a doctor in our small town. It’s the perfect domestic scene, except for one tiny fact: I think my husband is dead, and you are just another patient of mine…

I had no choice but to let you in. If I laugh at your jokes and run my fingers through your hair, maybe I can delete the photos on your phone and find the truth about the night I can’t remember, just before my husband left on the trip he never returned from. Perhaps my son and I will have a chance at a normal life again.

But as I carefully piece together the shards of what really happened that fateful night, only one thing can possibly be true: everyone is lying, even me…

After reading The Liar’s Wife I was excited to see that Ms. Hayes had a new book out and that I had to get my hands on a copy.

I found the first third of the book to be very slow. And I have to be honest that a couple of times, I was thinking of putting this one aside. But my gut told me to keep going, especially after checking out some reviews that had been posted.

Then the second third of the book I felt that I had figured the plot out, but I had to keep reading to see if I was right. Was I?

Then BAM!!! The last third of the book was so suspenseful that I couldn’t read, nor turn the pages fast enough!!! The story continued at breakneck speed that I found myself holding my breath

The conclusion was hair raising that I finished reading it with my mouth wide open because it was so unexpected.

Ms. Hayes has written another great read!!! Now I wait for her next novel!!

Would I recommend this book? Absolutely!!!

Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Barnes & Noble 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗

I received a complimentary copy from XXX via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Everyone knows Lily Atwood–and that may be her biggest problem. The beloved television reporter has it all–fame, fortune, Emmys, an adorable seven-year-old daughter, and the hashtag her loving fans created: PerfectLily. To keep it all she has to do is protect one life-changing secret.

Her own.

Lily has an anonymous source who feeds her story tips–but suddenly, the source begins telling Lily inside information about her own life. How does he–or she–know the truth?

Lily understands that no one reveals a secret unless they have a reason. Now she’s terrified someone is determined to destroy her world–and with it, everyone and everything she holds dear.

How much will she risk to keep her perfect life?

YES!! YES!! YES!!! Another ingenious read by the brilliant author of psychological thrillers!! Ms. Ryan is definitely in the top 5 on my “authors to read “list.

In my review of her previous book, The FIrst To Lie, I recommended that the reader try not to figure the story out but just enjoy the ride. I went into reading Her Perfect Life thinking that’s what I would do, well maybe I might try to figure it out just a little bit. That changed as soon as I was pulled in and became so engrossed that I was soon on a breakneck ride!!! Totally transported into the story!!!

The suspense was nonstop and palpable. At times I was breathless and other times holding on for dear life. Matter of fact, I was lucky that I had a waterproof Kindle case because I almost dropped it in the pool when the truth came out.

Talking about the pool, it seems that I have started a tradition. Every summer, I get on my pool float, grab my Hank Phillippi Ryan newest book, and get swept away. No pressure Ms. Ryan, but please allow me to keep the tradition going in 2022!!

Did I mention that she is one of my top 5 authors??!!

This book was an exceptional and thrilling read!!! Hated to see it end!!

Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗

Synopsis:

Imagine a forest so dense and so filled with trees that you cannot see anything but darkness. The smell of the dead leaves, the creatures that lived there, and the stench they created.

Imagine smashed windows and abandoned satellite dishes and blocks of plaster all over the ground.

Imagine… What might the world be like if humans were suddenly to disappear?

In Population Zero by Fran Lewis, we experience several post-human worlds through the eyes of people who were allowed to visit for one day. A world covered in ice, a world in complete darkness, a world where deserts are plentiful, and others…

Get a glimpse of what our planet would look like if humans stopped existing. Get a glimpse of the future.

Book Praise:

“Fran Lewis’s newest offering is a polished, razor-sharp double-edged sword. On one hand, it is reminiscent of the old Twilight Zone series and just as chilling. On the other, it is a poignant reminder of just how precious and fragile human life on this planet truly is. A riveting read.”
— Vincent Zandri, New York Times and USA Today bestselling Thriller and Shamus Award winning author of The Girl Who Wasn’t There and the Dick Moonlight PI series.

“Population Zero creatively focuses on the damage being done by Covid 19 as it ravages the human race, and our inability to deal with climate change.”
— Allan Topol, national best selling author of The French Revenge

Who would have thought, or even imagined, how we had to live in 2020 with COVID-19? Having to quarantine, wearing masks, not seeing family and/or friends outside of our own house, and the number of deaths around the world.

I have spoken to some people in the medical field and their take was that there are going to be long-term conditions like PTSD and physical ailments to those that were lucky enough to beat the virus and even luckier, to those that evaded the illness.

Some people felt that this was the start of the end of the world. Maybe it was or wasn’t but we still aren’t 100% back to normal. We did receive hopeful news that vaccines were available the efficacy was promising. But what if there were no vaccines? What if the virus won and there was no one left behind?

The author creates those worlds and what it would be like if a human was allowed to return for just 24 hours to experience what life would be like. No sun, darkness, ice-covered terrains, and/or just deserts with no water.

A short story where we are allowed to visit the worlds that the author has created. And those are terribly eerie and chilling!!! A scary read!!!

Book Details:

Genre: Science Fiction
Published by: Atmosphere Press
Publication Date: June 26th 2021
Number of Pages: 76
ISBN: 163752868X (ISBN13: 9781637528686)
Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Read an excerpt:

Author Bio:

‪Fran worked in the NYC Public Schools as the Reading and Writing Staff Developer for over 36 years. She has three master’s degrees and a PD in Supervision and Administration. Currently, she is a member of Who’s Who of America’s Teachers and Who’s Who of America’s Executives from Cambridge. In addition, she is the author of three children’s books and a fourth that has just been published on Alzheimer’s disease in order to honor her mom and help create more awareness for a cure.‪

Fran is the author of 19 titles and completed by the titled A Daughter’s Promise. Fran has 6 titles in her Faces Behind the Stones series and her magazine is MJ magazine. She was the musical director for shows in her school and ran the school’s newspaper. Fran writes reviews for authors upon request and for several other sites.

Her network if MJ network on Blog Talk Radio. You can also find her reviews on just reviews on WordPress. Her latest titles are Sisters : two sisters from the Bronx, What If? and Silent Voices in her Faces Behind the Stones series and the present one Population Zero. ‬ ‪

Catch Up With Our Author:
Tillie49.wordpress.com
Goodreads
BookBub
Instagram – @berthatillie49
Twitter – @franellena
Facebook

Tour Participants:

Visit these other great hosts on this tour for more great reviews & guest posts!

Get More Great Reads at Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours

A devastating explosion.
Three best friends are at the venue to hear their favorite band. Only one makes it out alive.

A trunk full of evidence.
When police stop Dustin Webb with a warrant to search his trunk, he knows there’s been a mistake. He’s former military and owns a security firm. But he’s horrified when the officers find explosives, and he can’t fathom how they got there.

An attorney who will risk it all for an old friend.
Criminal attorney Jamie Powell was Dustin’s best friend growing up. They haven’t spoken since he left for basic training, but she’s the first person he thinks of when he’s arrested. Jamie knows she’s putting her career on the line by defending an accused terrorist, but she’d never abandon him. Someone is framing Dustin to take the fall for shocking acts of violence . . . but why?

Caveat #1: This title toured via Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours (PICT), of which I am a partner, back in May 2021. Due to ethical issues, I can not post my review to any retail sites because we received a fee to organize the tour and it could be construed that I was paid for this review, which is not the case. I received a complimentary review copy via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.
Caveat #2: This is the first book that I have read by this author.

During the tour, there were rave reviews one after the other and it was then that I knew that one of these days I would read this book. Well…that day has come!!!

Ms. Blackstock pulled me in from the very first pages to the last word. I was so engrossed with the plot and the characters that I felt as if I was one with the story. I was so immersed in the story that I had trouble putting it down and read it in 2 days.

The narrative had me actually feeling an array of emotions throughout. The story was captivating!!!

Now the hard part, which is trying to figure out why this is the first book that I have read by this author. It looks like I have a lot of catching up to do with reading all of her other books!

Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Barnes & Noble 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗

From the USA Today bestselling author of Little Deadly Secrets comes a gripping story about the frailty of family and a battle of wills between a wife and a sister-in-law, bent on revenge.

She stole my husband. So I’d steal her life.

The Wife
Lane won Candace’s heart over chocolate martinis and karaoke. But weeks into their whirlwind marriage, Candace realized Lane came with burdensome baggage in the form of his possessive live-in sister and her eerily watchful six-year-old son. Lane had a secret that seemed to hold him hostage, and Candace would do anything to uncover it.

The Sister-in-Law
Harper was the kind of woman who cooked homemade meals and dusted under the furniture. It was the least she could do for her brother after her husband’s mysterious death, and Lane took her and her kids in. Then Candace showed up like a tornado passing through, threatening and destructive. But Harper had other plans for her new “sister,” plans Lane could never find out about.

The Husband
All Lane had ever wanted was a white-picket-fence life. The wife. The two-point-five kids. The happy little family. Everything seemed to be falling into place with Candace … until Harper’s jealous streak got in the way, again. But choosing between his sister and wife would be costly … and knowing Harper, the price would be blood.

After I read Little Deadly Secrets, Ms. Crane was instantly added to my “authors to read” list. I just knew that her books would be the perfect match for me and I was right!!!!

The narrative alternates between Candace, Lane’s wife, Lane, and Lane’s sister Harper.

I was hooked on page one and this book had a vice grip on me until the final word. If it wasn’t for adulting, it would have been read in no more than 2 sittings.

When reading suspense thrillers, I always try to figure out the plot but after a few chapters, I threw that idea to the wind because there was so much happening with twists, turns, murder(s), red herrings, lies, secrets, and betrayals that I was afraid I would miss something. So I just went with it and enjoyed the ride. And it was one heck of a ride!!!!

The cast was three-dimensional and believable. With each new chapter and the character’s account of their POV, my suspicion would be with that person. After multiple chapters going back and forth, my head was spinning. I didn’t know who to believe, who to trust, and who to be fearful of.

The crafting of the profound plot and the descriptive writing style made this book exceptional!!

What’s next? I need to get my hands on her next book, Little Does She Know!!!!

Purchase Links: Amazon 🔗 | Barnes & Noble 🔗 | Goodreads 🔗

I received a complimentary copy from William Morrow Books via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.