Mailbox Monday

Mailbox Monday

According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

Click on title for synopsis via GoodReads.

Monday: (08/09/21)

We Are The Brennans by Tracey Lange~ TPB from Margaret Yelton via Novels N Latte Christmas In July swap
The Trapped Wife by Samantha Hayes ~ Kindle from Bookouture via NetGalley

Wednesday: (08/11/21)

Silent Island by Dana Perry~ Kindle from Bookouture via NetGalley

 

#Review | The Sister-In-Law by Pamela Crane

The Sister-In-Law by Pamela Crane
Genre: Domestic Thriller, Suspense
Published by William Morrow
Publication Date: August 10, 2021
ASIN: ‎ B08GKR7NB5
Pages: 368
Review Copy From: Publisher via NetGalley
Edition: Kindle
My Rating: 5+

Synopsis (via GR)

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.

My Thoughts

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.

REVIEW DISCLAIMER

  • This blog was founded on the premise to write honest reviews, to the best of my ability, no matter who from, where from and/or how the book was obtained, and will continue to do so, even if it is through PICT or PBP.
  • I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
  • I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. I am providing link(s) solely for visitors that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.
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    The Ninth Session by Deborah Serani | #Showcase #Giveaway

    The Ninth Session by Deborah Serani Banner

    The Ninth Session

    by Deborah Serani

    August 9-27, 2021 Audiobook Review Tour

    Synopsis:

    The Ninth Session by Deborah Serani

    An edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller that brings a unique mix of psychotherapy and sign language and Coda culture. Just when you think you have it figured out, think again!

    Dr. Alicia Reese takes on a new patient. Lucas Ferro suffers with crippling anxiety, and as sessions progress, he begins to share the reasons why he’s struggling. As Ferro’s narrative becomes more menacing, Reese finds herself wedged between the cold hard frame of professional ethics and the integrity of personal truth. And, finally, when Ferro reveals his secrets, Reese learns how far she’s willing to go, willing to risk and willing to lose to do the right thing.

    The Ninth Session Audiobook Details:

    Genre: Suspense Thriller
    Published by: TouchPoint Press
    Publication Date: September 26th 2019
    Length: 6 hrs and 52 mins
    Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | Goodreads

    Visit Audible to listen to a sample!

     

    Author Bio:

    Deborah Serani, Psy.D.

    Deborah Serani, Psy.D. is psychologist in practice 30 years. She is also a senior professor at Adelphi University and has been published in academic journals on the subjects of depression and trauma. Dr. Serani is a go-to expert for psychological issues. Her interviews can be found at ABC News, CNN, The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, Forbes, Reader’s Digest, The Washington Post and USA Today, and affiliate radio station programs at CBS and NPR, just to name a few. She is also a TEDx speaker and has lectured nationally and internationally. Dr. Serani has worked as a technical advisor for the NBC television show, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit – where a recurring character, Judge D. Serani, was named for her. Dr. Serani is an award-winning author, writing about psychological topics in many genres.

    Catch Up With Deborah:
    www.DrDeborahSerani.com
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    Twitter – @DeborahSerani
    Facebook – @Dr. Deborah Serani

    & Find out what’s new on Instagram – #deborahserani

     

     

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    Loser Baby by Jason Bovberg | #Showcase #Interview #Giveaway

    Loser Baby by Jason Bovberg Banner

    Loser Baby

    by Jason Bovberg

    August 1-31, 2021 Tour

    Synopsis:

    Loser Baby by Jason Bovberg

    Jasmine Frank is missing.

    It’s a humid summer morning in Santa Ana, California, and her twin brother Jordan abruptly finds himself on a desperate search—fearing the worst. The party last night got way out of hand, and his brain is still chemically fried. But this is Jasmine’s story. She’s awakened far from home to her own mystery: She’s unwittingly stolen something from the most dangerous person she’s ever known. Tommy Strafe. And now Tommy is raging through the sunbaked streets, gathering illicit forces to seek brutal retribution. But all Jasmine really wants is to get out of Orange County, escape her past, and find a measure of redemption.

    Loser Baby is a propulsive blast through the streets of the SoCal melting pot, a breakneck dark-comic neo-noir populated by misfits and malefactors, criminals and innocents, down-and-outers and spun-out dreamers. Prepare yourself for an adrenaline rush of rat-a-tat he-said-she-said narrative twists—all in service of a giddily slam-bang shock ending.

    Book Praise:

    “Jason Bovberg’s Loser Baby is a beautiful noir novel for the 21st century! It’s a wild, frantic ride through shady Southern California, a desperate drug-fueled search for a girl who only wants to escape a sordid life.”
    —Scott Phillips, author of THE ICE HARVEST and THAT LEFT TURN AT ALBUQUERQUE

    Loser Babyis the real deal for hardcore crime fiction fans. This one grinds with the engine over the red line all the way. Hang on tight!”
    —Eric Beetner, author of ALL THE WAY DOWN

    Loser Baby is one cool book! Bovberg writes characters who get into your head and under your skin. You won’t shake this one easily: It’ll stay with you long after you read it!”
    —Terrill Lee Lankford, author of SHOOTERS and ANGRY MOON

    “Jason Bovberg’s Loser Baby is a high-octane thriller that moves like greased lightning! The beauty of this book is its motley collection of despicable characters whom you come to love by the end. Loser Baby is Bovberg’s greatest book and one of the best of the year.
    —Gary Phillips, author of BLOOD AND ASPHALT and BIRDS OF FIRE

    Book Details:

    Genre: Suspense
    Published by: Dark Highway Press
    Publication Date: August 2nd 2021
    Number of Pages: 322
    ISBN: 9780966262988
    Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

    Read an excerpt:

    0 Jasmine

    Smack in the middle of Santa Ana on a Friday night, gang-funk psychedelia, the animal snarl and faint butane odor of nitrous-juiced import cars, the streets undulating and ratcheting like a grungy arcade game—rumble, whoosh, clickety-clack. The city was still new to Jasmine Frank, this sprawling expanse of damp concrete, swaying palms, salty beach sweat, and steaming antifreeze. The japchae and the spicy fish tacos and the pulsating afro grooves, the cackling Chicano rap, the cacophony of indecipherable shouts coming at her along Westminster Boulevard—yes! She got off on the staccato ghetto thrill of it all, closing her eyes, lost in the jagged rhythms, the music and the traffic, crisscrossing like a spastic radio dial. A constantly moving mobile night life.

    Sooooo different from what she and Jordy were used to back home in that deadened whitebread cul-de-sac, north Garden Grove. In their new life, it felt as if there were raging pool parties around every cinder-block corner, drugs and condoms handed out like candy, cool kids as far as the eye could see. Plenty of assholes, too, but who cared about them? You just ignored them, and they went away, bothered someone else.

    Jordy’s voice whispered hot in her ear, but he wasn’t in the car with her now, he was back at Tommy’s party. She couldn’t catch her brother’s words. It was as if they were buffeting on the humid wind outside her window. Or maybe she didn’t want to hear him. She tuned him out, left him back at Tommy’s house. She laughed at that, then felt a little bad. Just a little.

    The inside of the car looked new—it even had a spiffy aftermarket audio deck with a touchscreen—but it was an older ride, some kind of Volkswagen according to the steering wheel. The driver (what was his name, again?) had let her thumb down her window to let the night in. She’d made him turn off his USB stick full of sugary pop right away, in favor of the nightsong. The hazy world swirled, and her body with it. She grooved in the contoured seat.

    Jasmine glanced over at the dude, caught him ogling her legs, which she knew looked fabulous beneath the hem of her blue dress. His gaze both mortified and delighted her. Dude was OK looking but nothing special, and of course she knew what he was after. But she aimed higher, deserved better. Deserved more. That’s what Jordy told her, and that’s what her mom used to say, too.

    Hell, the guy was good for a ride, anyway.

    “How much farther, my duuuuude?” she sang out, full-throated, and she swore she could see her voice splay out colorfully and blast out the window into the night.

    LOL, she thought, like actually conjuring the individual letters. She giggled, loving it. What’s wrong with me?

    “Few miles,” he said, smirk-voiced.

    He was wearing a silly dark fedora that he thought made him look sophisticated or something, but she knew it was only there to hide his thinning hair. She remembered him from the vitamin store a few days ago, when this all started. He was harmless, like a puppy dog. If you’d told her then that she’d end up alone with him, shotgun in his VW a few days later, high as shitballs, rushing through the late-late Santa Ana night in search of burgers, she’d have laughed in your face. Nice eyes, though. A good set of blue eyes could take a guy a long way.

    She found herself balling up her fists and drumming the dash and screaming, “Fuuuuuck iiiiiiiit!”

    Holy crap, something was in her system, gooey and euphoric, making her feel as if her head was twisting up and away like some fancy warm firecracker. Everything exaggerated, everything spinning out, like just now this hopped-up neon-yellow Toyota ahead of them, its tires chirping on the concrete of the intersection, couple of teenagers’ hands waving frantically out the sunroof. Heading toward the beach, probably, the bonfires, the giddy drunken dancing at the shore. Jasmine squealed laughter, wanting to go with them.

    But she was hungry, Jesus Christ! Whooaaa hooooooo!

    Food first.

    “Well, hurry up, then!” she said nonsensically, realizing after she said it that she was responding to whatever the driver said a few minutes ago.

    They were stopped at a light, and she was tapping her foot.

    “This probably isn’t the greatest idea, you know,” he said, right hand resting on his short-throw gearshift. “Tommy’s gonna be pissed. At both of us.”

    “Jeez, man, you’re bringin’ me down.”

    “You don’t want Tommy pissed at you.”

    “Awww, he’s a big ol’ softie.”

    “I’m serious.”

    “He’s cool.”

    He gave her a look. “Girl, you’re thinkin’ of someone else.”

    “Sheesh, I’ve known Tommy forever.”

    “Be that as it may, you don’t—”

    “Hold up, did you just say, ‘Be that as it may’?”

    A pause. “Shut up.”

    Jasmine started laughing so hard that she could barely breathe. After a while, her leaking eyes opened blurrily on the car next to them, and she saw a large Hispanic man staring at her as if he couldn’t figure her out. That was fine with her. She waved goofily at the dull-faced man, and then he pulled away when the light turned green. A few moments later, someone passed them in an underlit red Subaru WRX, sound system booming, windows tinted so black that it was like looking into the devil’s eyes. The rally car swerved liquidly around the traffic ahead of them and was gone as if it had never been.

    “Oooooh,” she breathed.

    Her laughter had run its course. It seemed like they were hitting every goddamn signal, and it was harshing her chill.

    “What’s your name again?” Lolling her head toward the driver.

    “Mark.” He looked annoyed, and that made her start laughing again. “It’s Mark.”

    When she caught her breath, she said, sighing, “Let’s fetch those burgers and then go right back to Tommy’s, all right, Mark? Sound like a plan? If I don’t get something to eat, I’m gonna faint dead away.”

    Jasmine hardly knew what she was coming out of her mouth. She sounded like her mom, she realized distantly. Every once in a while she’d blink hard and fall into a clarity gap in which she could curse Tommy and that guy who’d given her the pills, Derek, the weirdo with the tats. She was surprised Jordy’d let that guy get within twenty feet of her. But shit, who cared, she felt gooooood. Although she could sense that she was approaching the end of it—fuck!

    She gripped the straps of her purse tightly, like holding on to the lapbar at the top of one of the insane rollercoasters at Magic Mountain, way up I-5, north of Los Angeles. That’s what she felt like right now. She remembered her mom taking her and Jordan up there to Valencia years ago, blitzing on so many goddamn coasters and so much candy and funnel cake that they’d felt nauseated and lightheaded for days after. That was before Karl came into the picture, before the fun drained out of the world.

    The purse straps felt funny. Slippery. She glanced down and found she was holding on to a Safeway grocery bag. It was heavy.

    Whatever.

    But then all of a sudden, beneath the chemical bliss of whatever she’d ingested, her throat was raw, and she felt like crying. It was as if she were catching intermittent glimpses of an abyss that was beneath her at all times. The sensation was all wrapped up in Jordy, her twin brother who she both loved and hated, and what they’d done months ago. Sometimes she knew for sure that they’d made the right decision and were on their way to a future that meant something—like, absolutely. Other times, she was certain that there was no future, at least along this path … and nothing but doom lay on the horizon.

    And now she knew she’d done something extra stupid, and she was heading toward an immediate future she wasn’t prepared for at all. She knew these things, but her body wouldn’t let her feel their full import. It left her fingers sweaty and shaking, barely holding on to this slippery Safeway bag. She pictured her mother’s face, and then the tears were closer than ever. She felt as if her lips were on the verge of murmuring—Mommy.

    “Here it is, coming up on the left,” Mark said. “Yeah, I can definitely go for a Double-Double. This was a good call.”

    Jasmine perked up, leaned forward, took a look around, wanting to squeeze every last drop of whatever was vibrating in her veins.

    Westminster Boulevard seemed abruptly empty now, desolate almost, and it felt like seven hours had passed since she’d gotten in this stranger’s car.

    “Where’d everyone go?” she whispered. “I mean, where’d everyone go?”

    As the car slowed and eased into the turn lane, Jasmine felt a twitch of hollow nausea, and the eternal abyss—the one that was always beneath her—began to widen. She turned back to the open window, sucked in the night air in huge gasps, forced a beatific smile, tried to lose herself again.

    It wasn’t working.

    Mark turned into the dark, empty parking lot and immediately began shouting.

    Jasmine’s head felt like a gob of Hubba Bubba. She felt Mark’s frustrated temper like a soft pummeling up there, and she brought disembodied hands to her face to massage her temple. Without realizing it, her head had fallen against her door, and she was idly watching the dead-of-night traffic continue to drift down Westminster Boulevard toward the 405 overpass. It was an endless procession of vehicles even at this ungodly hour, and why was she even out here at the edge of nowhere with this Mark person? The Safeway bag was even more slippery now, and it felt wrong in her grip, unnatural, and somewhere deep down she knew she was in trouble because of it.

    Mark was still yelling, and now he was asking her a question, a repeated question, but all she could do was listen to the lonely night, the cars and vans and trucks whooooshing past. She closed her eyes, locked onto the repetition, the endless mournful sighs and howls of tires on asphalt, rising and then fading into the distance, one by one. That was really what Santa Ana was all about—a bunch of restless people on the move, all the time, on their way to anywhere else.

    Except her.

    Except Jasmine Frank.

    She would always be here, trapped in SoCal amber, looking outward and yearning for the other side. Even if she found someone to take her to Santa Ana’s edge, like Mark had just done, she’d always be left gazing out into a great unknown, like a fish staring out of a murky bowl, and there’d always be someone yelling at her and telling her what to be or where to go.

    As exhaustion began to press down on her, as well as increased nausea, Jasmine’s awareness fractured, and Jordy’s voice came into the mix, and then her mom’s, and she just wanted to go home. Home! Not the little hovel in Santa Ana that she shared with her brother, but her real home, where her mom was, when the world was good and promising.

    She lifted her heavy head from the door, and she turned toward Mark.

    He stopped yelling abruptly.

    “Hey, are you all right? Are you crying?” His expression was one of genuine concern, and she felt a sudden warmth toward him.

    “I don’t feel so hot,” she said, smacking her lips with distaste.

    “Let’s get you home.”

    Every once in a while, someone said just the right thing. Today it was this guy’s turn. Mark. That was his name. The man with the hat.

    Jasmine smiled at him.

    “Really?”

    ***

    Excerpt from Loser Baby by Jason Bovberg. Copyright 2021 by Jason Bovberg. Reproduced with permission from Jason Bovberg. All rights reserved.

     

     

    Author Bio:

    Jason Bovberg

    Jason Bovberg is the author of the Blood trilogy—Blood Red, Draw Blood, and Blood Dawn—as well as The Naked Dame, a throwback pulp noir novel. His forthcoming books include Tessa Goes Down, a border noir, and A Small Poisonous Act, a suburban crime novel. He is editor/publisher of Dark Highway Press, which published the controversial, erotic fairy tale Santa Steps Out and the weird western anthology Skull Full of Spurs.

    He lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, with his wife Barb, his daughters Harper and Sophie, and his canines Rocky and Rango. You can find him online at www.jasonbovberg.com.

    Q&A with Jason Bovberg

    What was the inspiration for LOSER BABY?

    I grew up in Southern California in the ’70s and ’80s, from Garden Grove to Santa Ana to Orange to Irvine, and one thing I loved about the area—even back then—was the sprawling, multicultural, car-obsessed, beach-sweat vibe of it all. Music in the air all the time, the wet heat, the swaying palms … it made for a great childhood, especially the summers, body-surfing in the morning, scarfing drive-through burgers for lunch, listening to music while wandering the wide streets. There’s always been a yummy idyllic quality to SoCal, for sure, but there’s also always been a scuzzy underbelly of crime and drugs and lower-class ennui, and that’s what I wanted to explore in LOSER BABY, that dichotomy.

    I’ve also always loved vintage pulp fiction, so my primary inspiration was to combine that sense of noir with the sunniness of Orange County’s lowest-brow city, Santa Ana. In essence, contrast the dark with the light.

    What has been the biggest challenge in your writing career?

    The beginning of it! I was sidelined early thanks to a bout of Hodgkin’s Disease (a type of lymphoma) when I was 19. Man, that really put a dent in my trajectory, and it took a long while to recover. It’s probably for that reason that I feel as if I only started writing seriously late in life. (In fact, a big part of my writing output in my forties was to tackle my feelings about my “cancer period” in my horror trilogy Blood Red, Draw Blood, and Blood Dawn, a collective study of a blood anomaly that threatens existence.)

    I’ll occasionally read success stories about writers getting their big break out of college, and that just ain’t me. Maybe I never really had anything exciting to write about back then, or I didn’t know the right people, but only now—past 50—do I feel like I have some really good, fun stuff to share. Now I’m facing a new challenge: finding an audience. And in the end, that may be the biggest challenge of all.

    What do you absolutely need while writing?

    Music! And I don’t mean songs with lyrics. Lyrics get all jumbled up with the words flowing out of my head. What I require are instrumental pieces, and my favorites of those are soundtracks. While writing LOSER BABY, I kept going back to propulsive film scores like Ennio Morricone’s The Untouchables and John Williams’ Raiders of the Lost Ark. I also love putting on some instrumental jazz, my favorites being by people like Sidney Bechet.

    Do you adhere to a strict routine when writing or write when the ideas are flowing?

    When I have a book in progress, I stick to a routine of a thousand words per day. Sometimes those thousand words pour out in a couple hours, and sometimes I have to exhaustively yank them out one lousy letter at a time, and it takes all day. But I don’t give myself a break if it’s tough. Gotta get those words out! By doing that, I train the mind to get the work done, and over time it has become easier.

    I think regular word flow is important, however a writer can manage it. If you have an irregular pace, and you’re taking long breaks between sessions, that’s going to inevitably affect the flow of the narrative, the characterizations, the structure …. You lose momentum. You forget stuff! I wrote LOSER BABY relentlessly, nearly a hundred thousand words, written in a hundred days, and I think that shows in the finished product.

    Who is your favorite character from LOSER BABY and why?

    I gotta say, the character that has stuck with me the most is a little girl named Sarah, who gets one chapter from her perspective in the middle of the book, and it may be the book’s strongest emotional punch. She’s really the book’s only true innocent, and I admit to getting a little choked up writing about her problems in the midst of everything else that went down.

    Tell us why we should read LOSER BABY.

    LOSER BABY is a timely look at the upcoming generation as much as it calls back to the pulpy traditions of dime-store paperbacks. You might say this is the book I came up with after my daughters went through high school. I got a close look at what these kids are like, mostly the friends they hung out with, and although I saw a lot of flippant, foul-mouthed, social-media influenced narcissism and entitlement—which you’ll see in LOSER BABY—I also saw a lot of opinionated smarts, and powerful interest in justice, and hope for the future. (I wanted my book to touch on those notes, too.) So think of LOSER BABY as both a crime-fiction thrill ride AND a gut-punch of a timely social commentary!

    Give us an interesting fun fact or a few about LOSER BABY.

    One of the more interesting aspects of LOSER BABY for me is the use of multiple, perhaps unreliable narrators. I wanted to explore a single event—over the course of a single day—from the points of view of many characters. Call it Rashomon meets Jim Thompson! As I drove a pounding, straight-ahead narrative, I also wanted to give all those characters back stories, to flesh them out, and to show how their idiosyncratic histories have affected key plot events from moment to moment, and how they have ultimately impacted the resolution of the story. I know some readers (including my wife!) don’t really like multiple narrators, but I feel strongly that when it’s done RIGHT, a novel told from multiple perspectives can be the very opposite of disorienting. Perspective switching can be strategic, seamless, and even thrilling in and of itself. I think LOSER BABY achieves that.

    Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

    There’s recently been a nostalgic renaissance of pulp fiction. I’m talking about those classic, vintage crime paperbacks with the lurid covers. Those books are FANTASTIC (I have a prized collection of them), but what I’m trying to do is use those books as inspiration for a new, more relevant kind of pulp fiction. With LOSER BABY and another book I have in the pipeline, I’m trying to write pulpy page-turners that are pertinent to the day. I want to tackle today’s world but use a retro style.

    Tell us a little about yourself and your background.

    I’m originally from southern California, where LOSER BABY takes place, but I moved to northern Colorado in the early ’90s because I’m more of a mountain person than a beach person. I also prefer the pace of Colorado.

    I fell in love with Fort Collins way back then, everything about it this groovy college town. The place is so idyllic that I wrote a trilogy of apocalyptic horror novels, the BLOOD trilogy, in which I laid waste to it. Around the turn of the millennium, I found work as a writer/editor for a tech publication, where I tinkered with language for fifteen years. When print magazines died, I went freelance for several tech companies, and that’s what I’m still doing. I’ve raised two daughters who are about to enter the world as adults, and I just celebrated twenty-five years married to an awesome lady. Life is good.

    What’s next that we can look forward to?

    I have two more crime novels on the horizon, actually. The first is TESSA GOES DOWN, what you might call a “border noir” crossed with a “Midnight Run” chase narrative crossed with a race-tinged “One False Move” showdown thriller. For this book, I’ve combined that noir style with the atmosphere of politicized rage and hate out there today. It deals with post-pandemic attitudes, and the bewildering rise of bad guys over the past five years, and how optimism can die if you don’t nurture it on a big scale.

    The other book is called A SMALL POISONOUS ACT, and this is my epic suburban crime story. Like LOSER BABY, it plays with multiple points of view, looking at a neighborhood from disparate perspectives. A little girl, an old man, a cheerleader type, a corrupt local businessman. And what happens when a small crime on a tiny suburban cul-de-sac can escalate into something deadly.

    Catch Up With Our Author:
    JasonBovberg.com
    Goodreads
    BookBub
    Instagram – @jasonbovbergauthor
    Twitter – @JasonBovberg
    Facebook – @CriminalVintage

     

     

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    This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Jason Bovberg. There will be 1 winner of one (1) Amazon.com Gift Card (U.S. ONLY). The giveaway runs August 1st through September 2, 2021. Void where prohibited.

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    #Review | Such A Good Wife by Seraphina Nova Glass

    Such A Good Wife by Seraphina Nova Glass
    Genre: Suspense, Psychological Thriller
    Published by Graydon House
    Publication Date: August 10, 021
    ISBN-10: ‎ 1525896016
    ISBN-13: ‎ 978-1525896019
    Pages: 336
    Review Copy From: Publisher
    Edition: ARC/eARC
    My Rating: 4

    Synopsis (via GR)

    Betrayal was just the beginning…

    Melanie Hale is a devoted mother to her two children, a diligent caregiver to her ailing mother-in-law and a trusted neighbor in their wealthy Louisiana community. Above all, she’s a loving partner to her wonderful husband, Collin.

    Then there are the parts of herself that Mel keeps hidden. She’s exhausted, worried and unfulfilled. So much so that one night, after a writers’ group meeting, Mel begins an affair with a successful local author named Luke. Suddenly she’s transformed into a role she doesn’t recognize—a woman who deceives with unseemly ease. A woman who might be capable of just about anything.

    When Mel finds Luke’s dead body in his lavish rented house, she realizes just how high the stakes have become. Not only does she have to keep her affair a secret in order to preserve her marriage, but she desperately needs to avoid being implicated in Luke’s death. But who would want to kill him? Who else in her life is keeping secrets? And most terrifying of all, how far will they—and she—go to keep those secrets hidden?

    My Thoughts

    This is the first book I have read by this author.

    The synopsis intrigued me especially since I have been reading nothing but psychological thrillers. The Prologue had me hooked, but then it felt like it was a slow burn for quite a few chapters. However, the author’s writing style captivated me. I felt that I could actually feel the fear and panic of the main character, Melanie. This technique had me turning the pages as fast as I could read them.

    Even though I figured out the plot and who the killer was, and it being a bit slow, I would read more books by this author because it was an enjoyable and entertaining read.

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

    REVIEW DISCLAIMER

  • This blog was founded on the premise to write honest reviews, to the best of my ability, no matter who from, where from and/or how the book was obtained, and will continue to do so, even if it is through PICT or PBP.
  • I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
  • I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. I am providing link(s) solely for visitors that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.
  •  

    Mailbox Monday

    Mailbox Monday

    According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

    Click on title for synopsis via GoodReads.

    Monday: (08/02/21)

    No One Will Miss Her by Kat Rosenfield~ Kindle from William Morrow/Scene Of The Crime via NetGalley
    All Our Darkest Secrets by Martyn Ford ~ Kindle from Amazon Prime

    Saturday: (08/07/21)

    My Darling Husband by Kimberly Belle~ ARC from Park Row Books

     

    #Review | Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens

    Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens
    Genre: Serial Killer Thrillers, Murder Thrillers
    Published by St. Martin’s Press
    Publication Date: August3, 2021
    ISBN-10: 1250133572
    ISBN-13: 978-1250133571
    Pages: 384
    Review Copy From: Publisher/NetGalley
    Edition: ARC/Kindle
    My Rating: 3.5

    Synopsis (via GR)

    The Cold Creek Highway stretches close to five hundred miles through British Columbia’s rugged wilderness to the west coast. Isolated and vast, it has become a prime hunting ground for predators. For decades, young women traveling the road have gone missing. Motorists and hitchhikers, those passing through or living in one of the small towns scattered along the region, have fallen prey time and again. And no killer or abductor who has stalked the highway has ever been brought to justice.

    Hailey McBride calls Cold Creek home. Her father taught her to respect nature, how to live and survive off the land, and to never travel the highway alone. Now he’s gone, leaving her a teenage orphan in the care of her aunt whose police officer husband uses his badge as a means to bully and control Hailey. Overwhelmed by grief and forbidden to work, socialize, or date, Hailey vanishes into the mountainous terrain, hoping everyone will believe she’s left town. Rumors spread that she was taken by the highway killer—who’s claimed another victim over the summer.

    One year later, Beth Chevalier arrives in Cold Creek, where her sister Amber lived—and where she was murdered. Estranged from her parents and seeking closure, Beth takes a waitressing job at the local diner, just as Amber did, desperate to understand what happened to her and why. But Beth’s search for answers puts a target on her back—and threatens to reveal the truth behind Hailey’s disappearance

    My Thoughts


    Years ago I read books by Ms. Stevens, which I thoroughly enjoyed. So when I saw that she had a new book being published, I knew I had to have it.

    There is someone who is killing young girls on the Colf Creek Highway. The book has three subdivisions.

    Hailey: A 17 year old who lost her mother at an early age and was super close to her dad, who was a wilderness guide. Then tragedy strikes again when her father is killed in a motor vehicle accident. Being a minor, she ends up living with her maternal aunt, her aunt’s husband Vaughn, and their son Cash. Vaughn is the Sherriff of the RCMP and is quite controlling. But even worse, Hailey finds something quite disturbing about him that she runs away into the woods, in hopes that her family thinks she was one of the victims of the serial killer.

    Beth: A year ago, her sister was a victim of the highway killer and has not been able to move forward from it. She leaves the life she knows and travels to Cold Creek in hopes of finding answers about her sister.

    Hailey and Beth: The 2 girls team up to unmask the killer.

    The storyline kept my interest. The suspense and action were palpable.

    Even though I enjoyed this read, there were 2 issues, at least for me, that took away from the story and the reason for my rating.

    The settings in the first 2 parts were mainly in the woods and were quite in-depth about surviving there. Not being a camping person, I found myself skimming over a lot of it because it was so detailed that at times, it just took away from the story for me. The other issue was that it was obvious from the beginning as to who had involvement in the killings. And because of those 2 reasons, and the fact that I had a mindset of setting the bar so high because of her previous books, that I was just a bit disappointed.

    Would I recommend it? Yes! Just because this wasn’t a read that I didn’t 100% enjoy, I’m sure many will. And now, I wait patiently for her next book. I just hope that I don’t have to wait as long as I did for this one.

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

    REVIEW DISCLAIMER

  • This blog was founded on the premise to write honest reviews, to the best of my ability, no matter who from, where from and/or how the book was obtained, and will continue to do so, even if it is through PICT or PBP.
  • I received a copy of this book, at no charge to me, in exchange for my honest review. No items that I receive are ever sold…they are kept by me, or given to family and/or friends.
  • I do not have any affiliation with Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble. I am providing link(s) solely for visitors that may be interested in purchasing this Book/EBook.
  •  

    Mailbox Monday

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    Mailbox Monday

    According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.

    Click on title for synopsis via GoodReads.

    Monday: (07/26/21)

    The Last House On The Street by Diane Chamberlain~ Kindle from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley
    Woman In Shadow by Carrie Stuart Parks ~ ARC swap from Margaret Yelton

    Tuesday: (07/27/21)

    The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen ~ Kindle from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley
    Black Label by James L’Etoile ~ ARC from book swap from Quiet Fury Books
    An Ambush Of Windows by Jeff Abbott ~ ARC from book swap from Quiet Fury Books

    Friday: (07/30/21)

    The Unheard by Nicci French ~ ARC from Harper Collins
    The Lying Club by Annie Ward~ eBook from Harlequin Books