In a super-solid domestic suspense debut by Nora Murphy, Leah and McKenna are strangers in the same town leading paralell lives, married with high-paying careers. But they both know that what's seen on the outside of a home isn't really the whole picture.

I really enjoyed how this storyline unfolded, as told from multiple points of view. It was fun to see Leah and Mckenna's POVs train of thought for some of the same scenes, and then see the detective work back through what he thought was happening. This book deals with some very difficult situations, so check trigger warnings, but also be sure to read the afternote from the author, which was very well written. I can't wait to see what Nora writes next!

Thank you to Minotaur Books for the copy of this book!

Do you ever have a recurring bad dream or worst-case scenario that you think about over and over? Mine is what I would do if I had the kids in the car and we went over a cliff and we landed in a lake. How would I get them out? Which kid would I start with? Well, that’s the premise of this book: Lizzie is swerves off the road with her two girls in the back seat, and only has time to get one girl out of the car as it starts to fill with water. Then, the police want to investigate the crash, adding more devastation to Lizzie’s life. This premise was so interesting to me and held my attention for the whole book. I also loved taking a look at the various forms that grief can take and how it can affect people’s actions. I did have an issue with the language used to talk about a specific type of person in this book, but it’s a spoiler, so i won’t say more in this review. This is a short thriller at 288 pages and worth picking up for a beach read or weekend trip.

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark for the gifted ARC!

The Bergmans back! This time we have a grumpy/sunshine romance with Oliver Bergman and his teammate Gavin Hayes, who throws out some strong Roy from Ted Lasso vibes. Not only is this book full of pranks and witty banter, but there are also the sweetest moments (the panic attack scene on the plane

"Love rarely follows the rules."

Liv always follows the rules... even when she starts learning to say "no" and make the decisions she wants to make, she's convinced something terrible will happen for not following the plan. One night, she finally gives in to cocktails with a work friend and ends up booking a flight to South Africa to join the rest of her college friend group. She starts spending more 1:1 time with Deiss, who quickly moved to the top of my "book boyfriend" charts. While they've been friends for 11 years, they're finally getting to know each other through forced proximity and the development is just fantastic. Watching Liv drop she expectations of what she "should" be doing for what she wanted was cathartic. I love that Lacie Waldon gave us some characters we knew were going to cause trouble (Simone and Zoe), and they added complications to the storyline really well. The ending was absolute perfection and I was legitimately giddy. Couldn't put this one down and highly recommend!

Thank you so much to Putnam for the copy of this ARC!