⭐⭐⭐⭐ Chilling Stars

Ok then, who's up for a dark, twisted thriller??

**Holds hand up**

"Good afternoon, you've reached the End of the Line, this is Laura speaking. May I ask your name?"

Laura is a soft spoken woman, she will listen to you as you discuss your problems, you will discuss what is making you feel so sad, and of course you wouldn't be calling the End of the Line helpline, if you wasn't contemplating ending your own life.

She will not try and talk you out of committing suicide, or tell you that there are better things, no, she is just there to listen to you, and not judge.

Laura is a very well liked colleague in the office, always bringing in her gorgeous hand-baked goods, she keeps herself to herself, and doesn't mix much, but she always gets involved with charitable volunteering, and always raises lots of money for good causes.

What the people she works with don't see, is that actually Laura is Bat-Shit-Crazy!

If you are feeling that you are loosing your way and are contemplating ending your life, the worst possible person that you could get through to in the call centre would be Laura!

You see, Laura likes the fact that you want to end your life, in fact, she's banking on it!

Ryan doesn't know why his pregnant girlfriend would kill herself, and who was the man she was seen holding hands with before they both jumped? he can't understand why she would want to do this to him and their unborn child, perhaps he needs to do a little investigating?

A cracking thriller to keep you on your toes, with a Good Ol' baddie you'll hate-to-love-to-hate.

🎧🎧 – Narrated expertly by Elizabeth Knowelden, who is a new to me narrator.

Elizabeth’s voice was perfect for Laura and she made this fantastic read even better.

Buckle yourself in, it's a bumpy ride

Vicci

Follow my reviews at www.audiokilledthebookmark.com

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Southern Stars

What a beautiful story

I have to say that I tried to listen to this one...twice and struggled, I'm not sure what it was but it just didn't grab me straight away.

This time I forced myself to carry on and listen, and I'm so glad I did because this book was just GORGEOUS!

The descriptions that the author uses are just stunning, I want to hug them all

“The morning burned so August-hot, the marsh’s moist breath hung the oaks and pines with fog.”

Kya is a happy child mostly, she lives in the Marsh area and is 'at one' with nature, she lives in her shack with her parents and siblings and doesn't really see the bad in anything...until her family starts getting smaller.

One by one her siblings leave, and then it is her Mothers turn, she just leaves one day without looking back.

After a while she realises that it is because of her fathers alcoholic and abusive ways, and she is left to look after him.

She learns to live with her father, and they even become 'friends' for a while, but most of the time she is left for days at a time to fend for herself, while he goes out spending money they don't have, and drinking to excess.

She learns that you don't get 'nothing for free', so starts to sell what she can to the storekeeper in town, and soon makes a firm friend in him and his wife.

Kya is an incredibly knowledgeable girl, she could tell you what the weather was going to be like, just by the sound of the birds, but the one thing she cannot do is read, or write, until she meets Tate.

Gahhh, the friendship between Tate and Kya was just lovely, he really took the time to know her and help her, and I was really disappointed in him at certain points in the book!
Friends are something that Kya holds very dear, because she doesn't have any, most of the townspeople are snobby toward her and look down their noses at her.

In 1969 Chase Andrews a local football legend is found dead in the marsh area, the rumours start to fly, and The Marsh Girl's name keeps being linked to his, but why?

This was an absolute joy to listen to, and the author Delia Owens certainly knows her stuff, she is a wildlife scientist, and this shows in her beautiful poetic writing.
I'm not at all surprised that Reece Witherspoon has chosen it to be in her Sunshine reads club, or that it will be coming to a movie theatre soon, I can't wait to see it!!

🎧🎧 - Totally AMAZING narration by Cassandra Campbell, she made this listening experience even better.

Save a credit for this one it is a cracker

Follow my reviews at www.audiokilledthebookmark.com

4 Dystopian Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I do love myself a Dystopian story, most of mine that I have read have been Young Adult, and I haven't really thought about reading any others.

Nora Roberts isn't really an author that i have picked up, which is strange because her other book The Witness is one of my favourite books (Which i still need to review) It isn't a secret that Nora's pseudonym is J.D. Robb and her hugely successful 'In Death' series is something that keeps getting recommended time and time again, but quite frankly the size intimidates me (insert joke here)

Anyhoo, Audible UK had a Boxing Day sale, and I may (or may not) have seen all of the books for £2.99 and went a bit crazy...12 books crazy! This was one of my bargain buys, so I thought let's try it.

Looking at the cover picture, I honestly thought that this was going to be a fantasy book...and it is, but it also isn't, clear as mud right?

I was crossing my fingers that this wasn't going to be a high fantasy book, I've tried so many times to read them, and each time I've failed...HUZZAH...It isn't!

The story starts on New Years Eve, and starts toward the end!

After the Doom Virus is contracted, it soon starts to spread, first through the hospital, then to the streets, then to the rest of the world, wiping out EVERYONE!

Well, almost everyone, you see some people seem to be immune to the virus, a good thing right? But some of these people also seem to have developed a side effect of the virus, giving different magical powers to those left alive that varies from person to person.

Some have developed wings (Fairies) some have 'The sight' some can also Shape-Shift, these people are now known as Uncannies, and are very unwelcome.

We watch three separate groups, coming to realise that they are probably the only people left, until they are not. We see how people help each other out, and how power hungry others can get when faced with certain decisions.

🎧🎧 - Narrated by Julia Whelan

You won't be surprised to hear that Julia Whelan is one of my favourite narrators, in fact, if I hadn't seen that she was narrating this book, then I probably wouldn't have picked it up, because as I mentioned earlier, I though this was going to be a High Fantasy book.

As usual, Julia gives a fantastic performance, her narration always makes me feel comfortable, and wraps me up in her gorgeous warm blanket voice.

If you are thinking about trying a new genre and are a little worried about it, then give this one a shot, I'm so glad I did, and will be adding book 2 to my Audible wishlist

4.5 Crazy WTF Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Another late addition to my best of 2018 reads.

Well, Colleen Hoover released another book



If you don't already know it by now CoHo is the queen of romance, her books (if you haven't read them) always have a romance element to them, even if the story line deals with some heavy (and important) topics, and is one of my absolutely favourite authors.

But then she decides to just move away from the genre that everyone knows and loves, and self publish a psychological thriller, I mean WHO DOES THAT??

COLLEEN FREAKING HOOVER THAT'S WHO!!

This book shouldn't work, looking at her back catalogue, you would expect to find Love, Despair and happiness, all wrapped with a kind of awkwardly placed bow.

But this book WORKS PEOPLE!!!

I'm not sure whether she popped to Tarryn Fisher's house and they somehow managed to have some weird Seance-Ouija board party, where their minds were mixed together, but CoHo went to the dark side people!!



I was really worried about reading this book, I love a Psychological Thriller, and have read some great...and not so great ones, so for CoHo to even attempt to do this deserves a high five.

Verity follows the story of Lowen Ashleigh, an author who is hired by Jeremy Crawford, to complete the remaining books in a hugely successful series by his wife, the bestselling author Verity Crawford, who, after an accident, is unable to finish them on time.

Although Lowen is struggling financially, she doesn't feel like she should be the one taking on this monumental task, however when the dollar signs are waved in front of her face, the idea of being able to pay off her debts is too large, and she takes the job.

She is advised to stay at Verity's house for a few days to sort through the outlines and notes for the new books, considering she has never read any of the books by the author, it is a huge task to take on.

Finding years worth of notes and boxes of files in Verity's office, Lowen realises what a massive task this will be.....and then she finds the autobiography!

“What you read will taste so bad at times, you’ll want to spit it out, but you’ll swallow these words and they will become part of you, part of your gut, and you will hurt because of them.”

And that my friends is all I am going to tell you about this book, yes you could have gotten all of this from the blurb, but this is one that you need to go in blind!

I haven't read a book that had me hating every character for a long time, I mean I LOVED them, but Gahh do they have any redeeming qualities...Nope!

You know when you are watching a thriller / horror film, and you start shouting at the TV? The music is taking a turn, and you know something is about to happen, and the BAM, your popcorn goes flying, and your heart starts racing?

THIS is the book that did that to me!
Prepare yourself for a dark, brilliant read.

Available on Kindle Unlimited:

Grab your copy here:

Kindle U.S - https://amzn.to/2RsGC1p

Kindle UK - https://amzn.to/2TkJiM0

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5 Naughty John Stars

Well colour me surprised!

I have seen a few people recently mention this audiobook, and saying that the narration is great. I had a spare credit, so I thought 'what the hell' and clicked the purchase button, hoping that I wasn't going to be disappointed.

Judging by my 5 ⭐ rating, you can see that it was a credit well spent!

"Naughty John, Naughty John, does his work with his apron on. Cuts your throat and takes your bones, sells 'em off for a coupla stones.”

Set in the 1920's, New York City the time of Flapper girls and prohibition, Evie O'Neill is desperate to visit there.
She is a bit of a misfit, and manages to get herself into trouble wherever she goes.

After a drunken mistake at a party one evening, she manages to rat out the local Lothario by showing everyone her 'party trick'
Unfortunately this doesn't go down too well with her father, who is sick and tired of her antics, so his punishment is to send her to New York to stay with her weird Uncle Will.

Pretending to be oh so sorry, Evie can't wait to get to NYC, in fact she thinks it is Pos-i-tute-ly the Cat's Pajamas!

After arriving in New York, she is promptly pick-pocketed, and arrives at her Uncles house, which also doubles up as The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult, or as the locals call it, 'The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies'.

Then the murders start happening, horrible, gruesome murders! But who is doing it?

Memphis is a 'runner', he gets everyone's numbers to put on the draw (like a lottery)
He also looks out for his little brother Isaiah, who seems to have a strange 'gift' that he doesn't want anyone else knowing about.

“The time is now. They are coming... Diviners

You see, there are rumours around that there are people with 'powers' they call them Diviners, and they are not wanted around there.

This book was so character driven, there are so many brilliant characters that I fell in love with, from Evie's good friend Mabel, to Theta Knight, a glamorous Ziegfeld girl, to the the smooth talking Sam.

If you are thinking about reading this book, I would highly recommend the Audio Version, if you've never listened to one before, this one would be a great starter, simply because of the fantastic narration.

🎧🎧 - Narrated by January LaVoy, a new narrator for me, but certainly is going to be added to my favourites.

Her narration was Pos-i-tute-ly AMAZING! All of the characters has their own voices, I was not confused at any point, we also had a little bit of singing, and her Naughty John voice was just downright terrifying!

This was not a scary book, it is Young Adult after all, but it was I suppose a little creepy, but all in all it was a fantastic read, and I have book 2 lined up when my next credit drops in!

Grab your copy here:

Audible US - https://amzn.to/2RsJlIi

Audible UK - https://amzn.to/2BQN3BD

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Scary Stars

Wow, this one is going to be a hard one to review because it is real, real scary, real horrid, really really sad!

You may already be aware of this story as it hit the headlines last year after the real Golden State Killer was caught, after 40 years!!!

This audio book reads more like a pod cast in that it has interviews with all of the people involved in the investigation.

Paul Holes was the chief investigator, stumbling across the case completely by accident as it was stored away in an old filing cabinet under "Unsolved"

Paul was training and wanted to further himself in the force, so in his spare time he started studying old "Cold" and Unsolved cases, this one caught his eye, and it soon became his project, and his life!

The Golden State Killer was not always know by this name, he has also been known as The Visaila Ransacker, The Original Night Stalker and The East Area Rapist, finally working his way up the Psycho Tree to The Golden State Killer.

This mans known crimes involve at least 120 burglaries, at least 53 rapes, and at least 13 murders, and the most chilling thing about this is that he got away with it for so very long, for over 10 years, this predator broke in to houses, raped and then eventually started killing his victims.

You hear from some of his victims themselves, who amazing call themselves lucky, and also from some of the families of the victims who unfortunately were not so lucky. Some of the descriptions are very graphic, so be warned if  "little ears" are listening with you!

Paul became obsessed with this case, even up to his last day when he retired, he thought he had his "Last Lead" and even sitting with his boxes of belongings and a borrowed car went to check it out, and thank goodness he did!

With the help of another lady that he met by chance (a blogger) Michelle McNamara, they both became firm friends, and immersed themselves in the case, sharing tips and information with each other.

Sadly Michelle died recently, but Paul gives a lovely talk about her and how she helped him.

We now know that The Golden State Killer is 72 year old Joseph James DeAngelo and this would never have been possible without Paul Holes using Genealogical DNA, something he tried as a last resort, much to the sneers and laughs of the others, by tracing the family tree back generations.

Paul Holes and his team caught the killer that was stuffed in a filing cabinet from 1976 - 1986 and the killer that was free to roam the streets for the next 40 years.

20 years of investigations and a man that never gave up.

Evil now has a name, that name is Joseph James DeAngelo.



If you like True Crime reads then you will love this one, although it was difficult sometimes to listen to the heartbreak of others, it was also a great Audio Book.

 

Oh my goodness, this is every mothers nightmare!

Imagine you take your little girl to the park to play, she is only 4 years old, and her favourite thing to do while you are there is to play Hide-and-Seek.

You are the person hiding, and she finds you, but wants one more go so that she gets to hide too, "just one more go Mummy, don't forget to count to 100, and make sure you close your eyes!"

One...

Two....

....

.....

One Hundred......................................

Only you can't find her, even when you shout that she is the winner....

And all of your nightmares come true!

This book made me hold my breath for a lot of it as I know that feeling, you know that feeling when you turn around and they are not there, only to breathe out the big sigh of relief when they appear around the corner, but what happens when they don't?

Switching between the mothers story, and the point of view of the abductor, this cleverly written story had me on the edge of my seat for the whole time.

🎧🎧 - Fabulously narrated by Emma Gregory, Maggie Mash and Gareth Bennett-Ryan who did an excellent job. i got this in the Audible sale, but it is well worth spending a credit on.

If you know me at all, then you will know that Historical books are not my usual go-to reads, but it seems that i have missed out on a lot of fantastic reads, so I am aiming to rectify that and change my reading habits.

The reason for me picking this one up? 1. it was the Audible Daily Deal, I couldn't say no to it. 2. Bahni Turpin, I will literally listen to anything she narrates!

This is a story set in the 19th century, an enslaved girl called Mattie is taken away from her 3 month old baby son, and moved to the "big house" to become a wet nurse for the newly born Lisbeth (Elizabeth)

(A wet nurse is a woman who breast feeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, or if she is unable or elects not to nurse the child herself.)

Mattie takes to the job, and the baby, and they both learn to love each other very much. Mattie gets to see her son and her family occasionally, even though they all live on the same plantation.

Lisbeth is brought up by Maddie to question things, even though she doesn't say them out loud, she gets taught to not really see all of the problems that can arise when a white girl is friendly with a black family, but her Mother and Father, and the rest of the family certainly make their thoughts known!

Some of the things in this book just made me shake my head and think how shocking it was that people got treated this way, how "slaves are only three-fifths of a man. They are not entitled to the same rights" and they honestly believed this!

Lisbeth is very naive, she doesn't see the anger and the cruelty that the slaves have to endure, she believes as her family has always told her, that they are lucky, and that they are doing a kindness by owning them.

Until one day she sees something that isn't kind at all, and she questions everything.

All Maddie wants is to be free, she wants to be with her family, she wants to be with her son who doesn't even recognise her really anymore, what can she do, the only thing she knows, Run............

🎧🎧 - Narrated by the AMAZING Bahni Turpin, this one will have you shaking your head, and on the edge of your set, a fantastic listen