I am a little late as usual for my book review, but I wanted to be sure to share a selection of books that I read in March! It was a crazy month, but I had a couple of books that I just could not put down. A great escape after – and during! – a busy day. I also love taking my Kindle with me when traveling!
My Review: ✮✮✮✮
This was my first book from my new “Book of the Month” club! I joined this fun online club in March and then this was sent right to my doorstep! It is actually not released until April 4th, but that is the fun of the club, sometimes they have access to a pre-release! If you have any interest, you can join it here. This is not sponsored; but they do have a referral program, and I get a free book credit from anyone that joins from my link! So come have some fun with me! I am on my 3rd month now and I get so excited when my blue box arrives.
The Soulmate was so good! The chapters in this book are super short and it makes it feel like an easy, quick read which I loved. The suspense happens right out the gate and it kept me guessing the whole time. I loved this story line.
Amazon Summary
Get ready for a thrilling, addictive novel about marriage, betrayal, and the secrets that push us to the edge in Sally Hepworth’s The Soulmate.
There’s a cottage on a cliff. Gabe and Pippa’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Night after night Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge. Until he doesn’t.
When Pippa discovers Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral…Did the victim jump? Was she pushed?
And would Gabe, the love of Pippa’s life, her soulmate…lie? As the perfect facade of their marriage begins to crack, the deepest and darkest secrets begin to unravel.
My Review: ✮✮✮✮
This is the 2nd novel to the The Housemaid. I loved the Housemaid so I was so excited for the release of this new novel. It did not disappoint. I would say this one could definitely be read as a stand alone, but I think it is worth going back to the first one to learn all about Millie, our housemaid. Like the first novel, this book has plot twist after plot twist and will keep you guessing the entire time. Millie is a young, single gal with a rap sheet. She spent 10 years in prison and fears that her chances of becoming employed could be slim and none… that is until she finds an employer that doesn’t ask too many questions. When your employer is uber wealthy with an incredible NYC penthouse, what could they possibly have to hide??
Amazon Summary
“Don’t go in the guest bedroom.” A shadow falls on Douglas Garrick’s face as he touches the door with his fingertips. “My wife… she’s very ill.” As he continues showing me their incredible penthouse apartment, I have a terrible feeling about the woman behind closed doors. But I can’t risk losing this job—not if I want to keep my darkest secret safe…
It’s hard to find an employer who doesn’t ask too many questions about my past. So I thank my lucky stars that the Garricks miraculously give me a job, cleaning their stunning penthouse with views across the city and preparing fancy meals in their shiny kitchen. I can work here for a while, stay quiet until I get what I want.
It’s almost perfect. But I still haven’t met Mrs Garrick, or seen inside the guest bedroom. I’m sure I hear her crying. I notice spots of blood around the neck of her white nightgowns when I’m doing laundry. And one day I can’t help but knock on the door. When it gently swings open, what I see inside changes everything…
That’s when I make a promise. After all, I’ve done this before. I can protect Mrs Garrick while keeping my own secrets locked up safe.
Douglas Garrick has done wrong. He is going to pay. It’s simply a question of how far I’m willing to go…
My Review: ✮✮✮
I will go ahead and start by saying this was not one of my favorite Co Ho novels. The plot is okay and there are a few twists and turns throughout the novel but this one just left me feeling, meh. It shares the story of a mother -daughter relationship through the years – a mother daughter that couldn’t be more different and go through love, heartbreak, trust issues and resentment.
Amazon Summary
Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike.
Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.
With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris—Morgan’s husband, Clara’s father, and the family anchor. But that peace is shattered when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. The heartbreaking and long-lasting consequences will reach far beyond just Morgan and Clara.
While struggling to rebuild everything that crashed around them, Morgan finds comfort in the last person she expects to, and Clara turns to the one boy she’s been forbidden to see. With each passing day, new secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings make mother and daughter fall further apart. So far apart, it might be impossible for them to ever fall back together.
My Review: ✮✮✮1/2
This one took me at least half way through the book to get into. I mean I was literally ready to give up about 45% through the book because I was just bored but I decided to push through it and I am so glad I did. Things finally ramped up for me the second half of the book and had me excited to read it again and glad that I didn’t toss it.
Amazon Summary
As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.
Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album––and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder.
As Emily digs into the villa’s complicated history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful summer in 1974. That perhaps Pierce’s murder wasn’t just a tale of sex, drugs, and rock & roll gone wrong, but that something more sinister might have occurred––and that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind.
Yet the closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more tension she feels developing between her and Chess. As secrets from the past come to light, equally dangerous betrayals from the present also emerge––and it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.
Inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders, and the infamous summer Percy and Mary Shelley spent with Lord Byron at a Lake Geneva castle––the birthplace of Frankenstein––The Villa welcomes you into its deadly legacy.
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Have you read any of these? What have you been reading lately? Drop me a line and let me know – I’m always looking for new books to add to my list!
