booklistqueen's Reviews (634)

 Gabe and Pippa love their perfect little cottage on the edge of a sleepy coastal town. Yet the tall cliffs bordering their property are a magnet for jumpers. Usually, Gabe talks them off the edge, until one woman falls to her death. Was she jumped or was she pushed? When Pippa realizes the victim was Amanda, the wife of Gabe's former boss, she begins to question everything about her marriage.

Hepworth is the queen of domestic thrillers and her latest book on marriage and murder is a bit more focused on marriage than murder. Chronicling the ups and downs of Pippa and Amanda's marriages, Hepworth hits all the hot topics - love and passion but also mental illness and infidelity. While not as suspenseful as some of her other thrillers, The Soulmate is still an enjoyable weekend read.

 Former poet laureate Dorothy Moy has always channeled her dissociative episodes and mental health into her work. When her daughter starts showing similar behaviors and remembering items from the lives of past ancestors, Dorothy worries she'll lose custody. So she undergoes an experimental treatment to alleviate inherited trauma, becoming intimately connected with the past generations of women in her family.

Jamie Ford's premise is an ambitious undertaking, but he succeeds in giving each time period a distinct feel. 
Quickly, you'll become attached to each character's short story, which was a bit depressing when you realize that each ancestor's story will end badly, hence the inherited trauma. Dorothy's timeline was not as intriguing as the rest since she was a foil to dive into the accumulated weight of trauma, but overall the story really makes you stop and think. 

 Coming off her hit bestseller, Hamnet, Maggie O'Farrell returns with another gorgeous historical fiction novel set in Renaissance Italy. When her sister dies, Lucrezia de Medici unexpectedly marries her late sister's fiance, a man desperate for an heir. As Lucrezia ponders her new husband's nature - whether he is a kind sophisticate or a ruthless politician - she begins to suspect he is planning to kill her.

Maggie O'Farrell is a gorgeous writer, painting a striking portrait of Lucrezia's life. Highlighting the constrictions of life for medieval women, The Marriage Portrait's plot was slow to build, but the descriptive writing was captivating to read. An excellent read for anyone who loves literary historical fiction. 

 A weekend getaway turns into a nightmare when three couples rent a remote luxury cabin in the woods. With a storm brewing and a rather persistent host, Hannah's birthday weekend is off to a terrible start when the cabin's personal chef reveals the cabin's spooky history. As long-buried secrets come to light, the friends must decide how much they can trust each other.

If you want a good fall thriller to curl up on the couch with as the weather starts to cool, Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six delivers a fun, yet unmemorable, read. The plot is over-the-top and complicated, with backstories of mystery characters involving DNA testing and a serial rapist. By the end, you basically hate everyone. Still, the twists and turns keep you guessing and provide some mindless entertainment to enjoy.

 During the New Year's Day polar swim, the body of wealthy real estate developer Rhys Lloyd washes up in a small Welsh town. After an awkward one-night stand together, local detective Ffion Morgan must work with English detective Leo Brady to discover how killed Rhys. But the more they discover about Lloyd's life, the more they realize that almost everyone has a reason to want him dead.

I attended a murder mystery event hosted by Clare Mackintosh and when I learned she is a former detective, I knew I needed to read her latest thriller. In my American ignorance, the Welsh names were impossible to pronounce and I wish I had listened to the audiobook version instead of reading it. I loved the setting, but as a whole, the book ended up being an underwhelming boiler plate mystery with glacially slow pacing and a murder victim who turned out to be too evil, the absolute scum of the earth.

 On the day of her father's funeral, Lily meets Ryle, a handsome neurosurgeon, and sparks immediately fly. Although Ryle is notoriously commitment-phobic, he can't seem to stay away from Lily. As Lily and Ryle's relationship goes through ups and downs, Lily takes to reading her journals about her first love, Atlas. When Atlas reappears in her life, everything Lily has built with Ryle threatens to come tumbling down.

It Ends with Us has been all over TikTok for ages, so I thought I'd finally pick up Hoover's infamous love story. Hoover hits all romance bases as the first half of the novel contrasts her ultra-steamy romance with her husband against her sweet young adult romance with Atlas. Yet the brilliance of It Ends with Us is when the novel shifts from a steamy romance to a tale of domestic violence.

As Lily struggles with the shifting line in the sand as her husband's actions become increasingly abusive, Hoover humanizes domestic violence victims, helping you understand why we shouldn't judge women because it doesn't always feel so black and white for the woman involved. Based on her own parents, It Ends with Us is a journey about stopping the cycle of domestic abuse. 

 Growing up a tomboy on her father's Kenyan estate, Beryl Markham has always shunned the traditional limitations placed on women. Blazing a trail as both a renowned horse trainer and a female pilot, she was the first person to fly nonstop from Europe to America. Circling the Sun details the tempestuous life of a fierce woman, from her wild childhood to her series of failed relationships as she struggles against society's conventions.

I have mixed feelings of McLain's historical novel based on the real life of Beryl Markham. I loved the first half detailing 1920s Kenya and Beryl's unconventional childhood. The painful transition as Beryl grew older and the world tried to tame her would make a great book club discussion. However, the entire second half of the book was entirely about a series of doomed love affairs, with a little horse racing mixed in. And just so you know, expect to hear more about horses than airplanes, since flying doesn't enter the story until the last fifteen pages or so. 

 With one foot in both worlds, biracial teen Daunis Fontaine has never fully fit in with the wealthy white residents of her hometown or with the members of the nearby Ojibwe reservation. Daunis's eye gets caught by her brother's new hockey teammate, who isn't whom he seems. When Daunis witnesses a shocking murder, she gets pulled into a drug investigation that could tear her community apart.

I went into Firekeeper's Daughter without knowing much about the premise, so the shocking twist about a quarter of the way in really caught me off-guard. Suddenly, I went from being lukewarm about the book to enthralled by the story, though Boulley went a little over-the-top with the ending. This fast-paced young adult thriller had the perfect blend of love story and action while still showcasing the issues facing Native communities. 

 Alex's unexpected rise as a social media influencer would never have been possible without the help of her personal assistant AC. Just as a controversial post she swear she didn't write turns her audience against her, Alex's assistant disappears. As things keep getting worse for Alex's family, she digs into the identity of the woman who knew everything about her life. But when a woman is found murdered, Alex and her husband find themselves the prime suspects.

<i>The Personal Assistant</i> is the perfect thriller to read this winter. Belle's gripping story twists your expectations and keeps you wondering How awful is the husband? As the internet trolls turn from online harassment to in-person threats, Alex experiences the worst nightmare of any influencer. My biggest complaint is that Alex is slightly more clueless than I'd like, but overall, it was a fast can't stop turning the pages read.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Harlequin Trade Publishing through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own. 

 Five years ago, Nora Wilder disappeared leaving behind her two daughters, Zadie and Finn. Even though she's a psychic, Zadie didn't foresee her mother's disappearance. When Finn seizes an echo of a memory of Nora, she believes their mother is still alive and convinces Zadie to accompany her on a journey into their mother's past. But as Finn starts losing herself in Nora's memories, Zadie must decide where to draw the line or risk losing them both.

Ruth Emmie Lang employs subtle magical realism in The Wilderwomen. Instead of X-Men-like powers, Zadie and Finn have slightly useless flashes of abilities. The plot focuses on the estranged sisters discovering their past, but I had difficulty staying engaged with the meandering story. Plus, the strange ending made the whole novel feel pointless to me.