sarahsbookstack's Reviews (2.55k)

In a small England town, Olivia and her 3 friends are in an accident. Olivia loses consciousness and when she regains it, her 3 friends and their stuff are nowhere to be found. 20 years later, podcaster Jenna comes to cover the case as it's seemingly reopened.  

I love how Claire writes, it just captivates me and it flows really well. There are two stories in here that you know have to do with each other but it's not clear until close to the end and I just couldn't predict it. Jenna stumbles onto a story that's more twisted than it already seems on the outside. There was a lot that surprised me. I liked Olivia a lot and hated Wes. I liked that a lot of the town thought there were supernatural forces at work. 

I quickly fell in love with this American actress, Drue Leyton, who is married to a Frenchman and radio broadcasts the true horrors of Hitler to her American home country. She does this under cover of night and is backed by the French government (eventually and always a bit reluctantly). For this, she is put under a death warrant.

I just thought she was so strong. She had so much love for this adopted country of hers. She was brave and helped out while her husband was away doing his part for the war. There are so many other women that are in her life that help and are so strong too. 

I like when I can learn new things about WW2. This book was so well researched (as much as the author could/was allowed to find) and my heart would thump harder each time Drue was in a situation that could have gone totally another way.

Oh man. Finlay and Vero just keep getting tangled further into an already very tangled web. 
I'm glad Finlay finally let Nick in (as much as she could). It was interesting having them go to a police training academy for a week. This really helped them yet to narrow down who they might suspect of being EasyClean.

The ending was so abrupt and came to me out of nowhere. Talk about a cliffhanger though!

I would probably have more to say if I didn't read this during a hard week but I liked it enough.

The thing I liked the most about the second chance romance is that the girl broke it off with a guy. I usually feel it's the other way around. I love that Hank actually got to pursue his wanting to be a musician. I feel that even though Sandy didn't leave her hometown, she still could have pursued her dream of being an artist. It sounds like the place that she lived in would have had a lot of inspiration for her to paint.

As always in small towns I love the supporting characters.. especially Hotpants Ed and Burger. Edith at the cafe is pretty funny too, always going on about her husband and his cowboy butt 😂 . I love how devoted Hank is to his son Henry also and that Henry just take Sandy into their lives with no questions! I like that they are forced into working with each other to have a successful town fair so that they can reconnect.

Billie is the positive soul I want to be when I'm her age! She is known as the Heartbreak Bunny- helping poor souls let go of people they were in love with that left. She's pretty much "Marie Kondo"ing breakups. She's been married 3 times and knows some of the pitfalls of marriage so she's got great advice!

This book made me laugh and was just so heartwarming! I think I finished it at the right time (started it and then didn't pick it up for a long while....
I think my heart just knew when I would need it and it was right)

While accidental pregnancy is my least favorite trope, at least the two MCs were cute together. I love that Ethan was in love with Lauren for so long even if they both didn't know or admitted it. 
I really liked how strong Ethan was and how excited he was about the baby.

I think my favorite character was Grams. She had such a spunk about her. She was super knowledgeable and could ascertain details about her granddaughters without their knowledge. I would love to see her (in one of the next books) get her ultimate happy ending

What to say about this book? Exciting for Anastasia (PLEASE remember this is a loose retelling... If you didn't know, Anastasia Romanov didn't live past age 17)  to get a happy ending, it's a magical world, lots of Russian history (not all accurate but that's what you get with a fantasy), and a little bit of romance (that doesn't even happen until closer to the end of the book) that gets a bit spicy.

Rasputin is such a crazy person and the way that he's shown in this story made me and my husband laugh (I won't spoil it but he said when I told him what Rasputin was "that seems the closest description of what he felt like he might have actually been").

It took me about 350ish pages (the time you find out what the actual deal with Rasputin is) to really get into it. I almost DNFed just because there wasn't a lot happening and it wasn't very exciting, but I'm glad I stuck with it.

I'm not really big into fae reads and haven't read a book with a demon but I liked it all right.

Leo is the demon prince and he (secretly) is trying to save fae from being slaves to humans.  He buys Vera, a fae who at 21 years old, should have her wings but doesn't. She might be the key to unlocking the fae slaves freedom.

I liked Vera. She was so spunky and fun. Leo had such a sweet side that not many get to see. Leo's cousin Rand is, well besides being what his name implies 😈, a great side character! 

The way this book starts out had me laughing and I knew I was in for a fun ride!

Nic is a "chicken influencer" on Youtube. When a relationship goes sour (stupid arrogant and ignorant Brian), she flees to the town her grandma came from.

Will is her hot (and very grumpy/scowly) neighbor who is the small town vet and helps Nic with one of her precious chicks in an emergency. His practice is struggling but he can't let anyone know because he doesn't want to fail.

This book deals with a toxic relationship, depression (which the MC gets diagnosed and has help with), fear of failure and drive to make the best of circumstances. 

Will and Nic have undeniable chemistry and there are fade to black scenes that are both sweet and super charged! I loved the town's characters and their nudges towards Nic to break Will's grumpy exterior (and I found him to be a softie inside!). I hated the sides we saw (and heard) about Brian. 

Steph is an auditor for a trading company in the UK when she is asked to go to the US to help her counterpart Melissa as she had an accident. Steph takes her daughter with her and they both find some men that they fall for. But soon, tragedy hits and a ball of deceit and lies gets rolling and traps them in a terrifying couple of weeks.

This was the perfect, fast paced thrilling book I've read in a while! So many moments of holding my breath, waiting for the next twist to come. I was on the edge of my seat and finished this book in two sittings. I felt for Steph and all she went through in this book. Here she is just being a good auditor in her work and being a good mother to her daughter, Ellie, and seeing them get tangled in this deceit/web of lies and cover ups was intense. I'm so glad that two of the characters I didn't think would turn out to be part of the baddies didn't, but I was neither that surprised if who the top baddie was...i just had a feeling.