Audiobook Review: The Outsider by Stephen King

Publisher: Simon Schuster Audio

Pub. Date: May 22nd, 2018

Length: 18 hours, 41 minutes

Genres: Fiction / Horror / Mystery / Thriller

Synopsis

An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories.


An eleven-year-old boy’s violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City’s most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. Maitland has an alibi, but Anderson and the district attorney soon add DNA evidence to go with the fingerprints and witnesses. Their case seems ironclad.


 As the investigation expands and horrifying answers begin to emerge, King’s propulsive story kicks into high gear, generating strong tension and almost unbearable suspense. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy, but is he wearing another face? When the answer comes, it will shock you as only Stephen King can.

What Did I Think About the Story?

I always know when I pick up a Stephen King novel that I'm in for a hell of a wild ride. The Outsider is no different, taking this graphic and horrific murder in small town America and turning it on it's head with a supernatural element that I couldn't have guessed at if I tried.

The story initially presented seems impossible: a much beloved local hero is accused of viciously murdering and violating a boy, something that seems to be backed up by eyewitness testimony and DNA evidence no matter how much the accused swears he didn't do it and that he was actually out of town at the time. Then video corroborating his story shows up. How is this possible? How can a man seemingly be in two places at once? Here begins the real fun as Detective Ralph Anderson and others work to decipher what went on and who the real killer is. I won't say anything else about the plot as this is definitely one you'll want to see unfold for yourself.

I listened to this story as an audiobook and I think the narrator (Will Patton) did a good job of keeping the tension tight and the listener engaged throughout the many twists and turns the story took. He also did a great job of changing his voice to differentiate between characters and to give us some particularly unique voices, especially Holly Dibney, a character who appears in other installments of this "Finders Keepers" series. I actually didn't even realize this was part of a series until after I read The Outsider, but I've now added the rest of the series to my listening lineup. And Will Patton is again the narrator, so that's a wonderful surprise!

The Outsider has quite a lot more interesting aspects that I want to discuss but I'm wary to do so in case I give anything away. Just know that it's graphic at times but also filled with really interesting and relatable characters. The supernatural aspect is delicious and really takes this story down an unusual road that's entertaining to say the least. If you are already a fan of Stephen King's novels you will most likely really enjoy this one as well.

What Did I Think About the Cover?

It's definitely unsettling! It's also intriguing to see the world turned on it's head, making someone just picking it up wonder why that might be, and why the man's shadow has red eyes. Simple but effective for sure!


My Rating: 4.0/5.0

I borrowed a copy of the audiobook version of The Outsider from my library's Overdrive account. All opinions are mine alone. To find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, see Goodreads HERE.

 

 



The Tip Of My Wishlist: More to Come in 2018!

If you're anything like me you've got a book wish list so long there is no way you will ever be able to read through it all. And, on top of that, it's never ending because you just can't stop adding more books to it! To try and organize myself I'm sharing 5 books from my wish list that I'm most excited to get to, usually with a common theme, on the last Friday of each month. I know a number of excellent bloggers who will be doing similar posts and I'll be sure to link to their posts as well so you can see all the goodies we're excited about and, hopefully, add a few new books to your own wish list. I'll also link the titles to Goodreads where you can read reviews and find the various ways to purchase a copy of the books if they sound like your style. I really hope you enjoy and let me know if you've read any of these or have others you would add to the list.

This month I decided to share 5 books that sound amazing and that will be releasing before the end of the year. I so often find myself looking ahead to 2019 already and forgetting that there are still a ton of great books coming out in 2018. So here's to the rest of this year...there's still lots of excitement to come!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bridge of Clay

The breathtaking story of five brothers who bring each other up in a world run by their own rules. As the Dunbar boys love and fight and learn to reckon with the adult world, they discover the moving secret behind their father’s disappearance. At the center of the Dunbar, family is Clay, a boy who will build a bridge—for his family, for his past, for greatness, for his sins, for a miracle. The question is, how far is Clay willing to go? And how much can he overcome?



Lady of a Thousand Treasures


Miss Eleanor Sheffield is a talented evaluator of antiquities, trained to know the difference between a genuine artifact and a fraud. But with her father’s passing and her uncle’s decline into dementia, the family business is at risk. In the Victorian era, unmarried Eleanor cannot run Sheffield Brothers alone.

The death of a longtime client, Baron Lydney, offers an unexpected complication when Eleanor is appointed the temporary trustee of the baron’s legendary collection. She must choose whether to donate the priceless treasures to a museum or allow them to pass to the baron’s only living son, Harry—the man who broke Eleanor’s heart.

Eleanor distrusts the baron’s motives and her own ability to be unbiased regarding Harry’s future. Harry claims to still love her and Eleanor yearns to believe him, but his mysterious comments and actions fuel her doubts. When she learns an Italian beauty accompanied him on his return to England, her lingering hope for a future with Harry dims.

With the threat of debtor’s prison closing in, Eleanor knows that donating the baron’s collection would win her favor among potential clients, saving Sheffield Brothers. But the more time she spends with Harry, the more her faith in him grows. Might Harry be worthy of his inheritance, and her heart, after all? As pressures mount and time runs out, Eleanor must decide whom she can trust—who in her life is false or true, brass or gold—and what is meant to be treasured. 

The Ragged Edge of Night

For fans of All the Light We Cannot See, Beneath a Scarlet Sky, and The Nightingale comes an emotionally gripping, beautifully written historical novel about extraordinary hope, redemption, and one man’s search for light during the darkest times of World War II.

Germany, 1942. Franciscan friar Anton Starzmann is stripped of his place in the world when his school is seized by the Nazis. He relocates to a small German hamlet to wed Elisabeth Herter, a widow who seeks a marriage—in name only—to a man who can help raise her three children. Anton seeks something too—atonement for failing to protect his young students from the wrath of the Nazis. But neither he nor Elisabeth expects their lives to be shaken once again by the inescapable rumble of war.

As Anton struggles to adapt to the roles of husband and father, he learns of the Red Orchestra, an underground network of resisters plotting to assassinate Hitler. Despite Elisabeth’s reservations, Anton joins this army of shadows. But when the SS discovers his schemes, Anton will embark on a final act of defiance that may cost him his life—even if it means saying goodbye to the family he has come to love more than he ever believed possible.

The Visitors

Marion Zetland lives with her domineering older brother, John in a decaying Georgian townhouse on the edge of a northern seaside resort. A timid spinster in her fifties who still sleeps with teddy bears, Marion does her best to shut out the shocking secret that John keeps in the cellar.

Until, suddenly, John has a heart attack and Marion is forced to go down to the cellar herself and face the gruesome truth that her brother has kept hidden.

As questions are asked and secrets unravel, maybe John isn't the only one with a dark side.

When the Lights Go Out

A woman is forced to question her own identity in this riveting and emotionally charged thriller by the blockbuster bestselling author of The Good Girl, Mary Kubica 

Jessie Sloane is on the path to rebuilding her life after years of caring for her ailing mother. She rents a new apartment and applies for college. But when the college informs her that her social security number has raised a red flag, Jessie discovers a shocking detail that causes her to doubt everything she’s ever known.

Finding herself suddenly at the center of a bizarre mystery, Jessie tumbles down a rabbit hole, which is only exacerbated by grief and a relentless lack of sleep. As days pass and the insomnia worsens, it plays with Jessie’s mind. Her judgment is blurred, her thoughts are hampered by fatigue. Jessie begins to see things until she can no longer tell the difference between what’s real and what she’s only imagined.

Meanwhile, twenty years earlier and two hundred and fifty miles away, another woman’s split-second decision may hold the key to Jessie’s secret past. Has Jessie’s whole life been a lie or have her delusions gotten the best of her?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check out these lovely blogs for more books to add to your wish list(updated as they become available):

Holly at 2 Kids and Tired

Stephanie at Layered Pages

Heather at The Maiden's Court

Erin at Historical Fiction Reader

Magdalena at A Bookish Swede

Cover Crush: Summer at the Garden Cafe by Felicity Hayes-McCoy

Hello, my name is Colleen and I am a cover slut. I know, I know....you aren't supposed to judge a book by it's cover. I just can't help myself! A beautiful cover draws my eye every single time and I can't help but pick up the book it's dressing and see if the inside seems as intriguing as the outside. Sometimes it does, and sometimes a pretty cover is just a pretty cover. Either way, I love getting an eyeful!

One of my favorite bloggers, Erin at Historical Fiction Reader, created a weekly blog post called Cover Crush and she and some other blogger friends are sharing their favorite covers each Thursday. You'll find my Cover Crush selection below and I'll link to everyone else's at the end of the post.

So, without further ado, my Cover Crush this week is.....

Isn't this a great cover to sort of wrap up the summer months? It has so many components I find eye-catching: an old, musty book, a beautifully decorated china cup and saucer, and a fuzzy yet bright and GORGEOUS landscape of what I can only guess is somewhere in Britain. It's just bright and full of promise!

Keep reading to find out what readers have in store when they turn this cover over and start reading the story behind it....

A heart-warming story about secrets between four generations of women and the healing power of books, love and friendship.

The Garden Café, in the town of Lissbeg on Ireland's Finfarran Peninsula, is a place where plans are formed and secrets shared ...
But Jazz - still reeling from her father's disclosures about the truth of his marriage to her mother, Hanna - has more on her mind than the comings and goings at the café. Now isolated from friends and family and fixating on her new job at a local guesthouse, she's started to develop feelings for a man who is strictly off limits . . .
Meanwhile Hanna, Lissbeg's librarian, is unaware of the turmoil in her daughter's life - until her ex-husband Malcolm makes an appearance and she begins to wonder if the secrets she's carried for him might have harmed Jazz more than she'd realised.

As things heat up in Lissbeg, can the old book Hanna finds buried in her own clifftop garden help Jazz?

Don't forget to check out what covers my blogger buddies are drooling over this week (updated as they become available):



Magdalena at A Bookaholic Swede
Erin at Flashlight Commentary
Heather at The Maiden's Court
Stephanie at Layered Pages
Holly at 2 Kids and Tired



Created by Magdalena of A Bookaholic Swede



Release Day Review: The Other Woman by Sandie Jones

Pub. Date: August 21st, 2018
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Pages: 304

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Psychological Thriller / Mystery / Suspense

Synopsis

A deliciously disturbing, compulsively readable debut domestic suspense--prepare to meet The Other Woman: there’s nothing she won’t do to keep you away from her son ...



Emily thinks Adam’s perfect; the man she thought she’d never meet.

But lurking in the shadows is a rival; a woman who shares a deep bond with the man she loves.

Emily chose Adam, but she didn’t choose his mother Pammie. There’s nothing a mother wouldn’t do for her son, and now Emily is about to find out just how far Pammie will go to get what she wants: Emily gone forever.


The Other Woman is an addictive, fast-paced psychological thriller about the destructive relationship between Emily, her boyfriend Adam, and his manipulative mother Pammie.

What Did I Think About the Story?

Oh my oh my oh my...what will we ever do with Pammie? She truly is the mother-in-law every woman has nightmares about and one, thankfully, most people never have to deal with. She's  manipulative, sneaky, and just plain mean and, while things are definitely not exactly as they seem for much of the novel, she does make Emily's life a living hell from the moment she enters it. So is all the vitriol between these two women worth a read? Most definitely! Does it live up to the designation of a "fast-paced psychological thriller"? Well, yes and no.

What I initially enjoyed about this story was how, if not relatable than understandable, the story begins. While most women don't end up going down this terror ride of a relationship with their soon-to-be mother-in-laws, I think many can relate to at least experiencing themselves or witnessing some sort of rocky encounters with them. There is one encounter in particular - where Pammie purposely leaves Emily out of "family pictures" to make her feel like an outsider - that I can particularly relate to. However, thankfully, most mother- and daughter-in-laws find some sort of healthy balance between loving their shared human and not stepping into each other's territory. Well, not in this case! Pammie cranks it up to unimaginable heights, all the while making it seem like Emily is the mean/crazy one and somehow keeping Adam believing she's the one being wronged. Herein lies my problem: as the deception continues to grow so did my frustration with these characters, especially Emily.

As Pammie continued to ramp up her campaign against Emily, Emily continued to seem surprised and disappointed by what was being thrown at her and at a complete lose at what to do. Really, Emily? I kept wanting to scream at her "set up a camera or record your conversations so you have proof against her!!". Or, probably even more to the point of things, "demand your fiancée, who professes to love you over all things, support you more or get out!". She kept either letting mean things slide or trying to catch Pammie out and failing horribly and it just became too much to believe. She also acted like something of a doormat for Adam and forgave him every infraction until she clearly presented herself as all talk with so very little action.

Now, there is a twist in the last few pages that I kind of saw coming but still enjoyed. While it did end up explaining a lot of what happened in the rest of the story it still felt somewhat far-fetched. There are so many better ways the characters could have handled the situation that would have resulted in less hurt (mentally, emotionally, and physically) for just about everyone involved. I do get that this would not have made as interesting or "thrilling" a story but it would have definitely made it more believable.

The Other Woman was definitely a ride through crazy town and (sort of) back out again. While not filled with overly sympathetic or relatable characters I still couldn't help but keep reading how far they would all go to get what they wanted. Given the crazy antics in this story I'm really excited to see what the author might come up with next!   

What Did I Think About the Cover?

The cover on the advance copy I received is a little darker around the edges but still focuses on this wedding dress in the window. It's a nice image - representing what should be a happy time for our couple - but I prefer the darkness of my cover to really show that malevolence lurking just at the edges. On this cover I like the slash running through "other", giving me, at least, that same sense of malice. It's a nice cover over all.


My Rating: 4.0/5.0

I received an ARC (advanced reader copy) of The Other Woman from Minotaur Books. All opinions are mine alone. For more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, see Goodreads HERE.

 

 



Review: The Fireman by Joe Hill

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Pub. Date: January 3rd, 2017
Pages: 768

Genres: Science Fiction / Horror / Thriller / Dystopian

Synopsis

From the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of NOS4A2 and Heart-Shaped Box comes a chilling novel about a worldwide pandemic of spontaneous combustion that threatens to reduce civilization to ashes and a band of improbable heroes who battle to save it, led by one powerful and enigmatic man known as the Fireman.


The fireman is coming. Stay cool.


No one knows exactly when it began or where it originated. A terrifying new plague is spreading like wildfire across the country, striking cities one by one: Boston, Detroit, Seattle. The doctors call it Draco Incendia Trychophyton. To everyone else it’s Dragonscale, a highly contagious, deadly spore that marks its hosts with beautiful black and gold marks across their bodies—before causing them to burst into flames. Millions are infected; blazes erupt everywhere. There is no antidote. No one is safe.

Harper Grayson, a compassionate, dedicated nurse as pragmatic as Mary Poppins, treated hundreds of infected patients before her hospital burned to the ground. Now she’s discovered the telltale gold-flecked marks on her skin. When the outbreak first began, she and her husband, Jakob, had made a pact: they would take matters into their own hands if they became infected. To Jakob’s dismay, Harper wants to live—at least until the fetus she is carrying comes to term. At the hospital, she witnessed infected mothers give birth to healthy babies and believes hers will be fine too. . . if she can live long enough to deliver the child.

Convinced that his do-gooding wife has made him sick, Jakob becomes unhinged, and eventually abandons her as their placid New England community collapses in terror. The chaos gives rise to ruthless Cremation Squads—armed, self-appointed posses roaming the streets and woods to exterminate those who they believe carry the spore. But Harper isn’t as alone as she fears: a mysterious and compelling stranger she briefly met at the hospital, a man in a dirty yellow fire fighter’s jacket, carrying a hooked iron bar, straddles the abyss between insanity and death. Known as The Fireman, he strolls the ruins of New Hampshire, a madman afflicted with Dragonscale who has learned to control the fire within himself, using it as a shield to protect the hunted . . . and as a weapon to avenge the wronged.

In the desperate season to come, as the world burns out of control, Harper must learn the Fireman’s secrets before her life—and that of her unborn child—goes up in smoke.

What Did I Think About the Story?

At this point, if you follow my blog at all, you are probably aware that I've become somewhat of a fangirl of Joe Hill. Over the last year or so I've been trying to read my way through his novels, short stories, and his comic book series (seriously, I'll say it again, listen to the audiobook of Locke and Key for the best audiobook I've still ever listened to), and if I haven't yet experienced them all I've at least purchased copies to read when I can. With all this being said I've now got pretty high hopes for any of his work I pick up, which can sometimes be a good thing and can sometimes lead to disappointment. Well, I'm happy to say that, with The Fireman, he exceeded everything I was expecting and gave me my favorite of his novels yet.

The synopsis above gives a pretty good overview of what the novel is about. What it doesn't describe is how well thought out and drawn this apocalyptic world Harper finds herself in is, with people reacting and acting just as you'd probably imagine. The world becomes a burning nightmare, full of scared people made vicious and often heartless by this fear, or simply by the fact that they are now able to let their inner monsters out without fear of reprisals. Balanced against this are a few people who stay true to at least part of their goodness, trying to survive without succumbing to the evilness around them. It's all just a completely immersive experience that is simply terrifying for how real it feels and how easily you could see something like this happening (at least the people's reactions).

All of the characters, whether you like them or not, are phenomenal as well. Harper, in particular, was a favorite. She's somehow gritty and mild-mannered at the same time...think of a Disney character as written by a horror novelist. She loves to sing and keep positive and find the light at the end of each tunnel, even when it's obscured by fire and smoke. She is determined to find a safe place for her baby at any cost, all while also retaining her humanity as much as possible. Even the spore itself becomes its own character, controlling it's hosts and making many of them display a mob-like behavior as a sort of mechanism for survival. We get to learn so much about this spore, along with all of the characters, that I couldn't help but be completely invested in how this madness could possibly end (which I found pretty realistic and somewhat sad).

The Fireman is a hefty tome of realistic terror and one that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. At it's core it is an epic journey of one woman's search for a safe place for her child and the remarkable people (good and bad) that she encounters along the way. It's full of hope, humor, horror, and sadness. It's a look at humanity, as well as the loss of it, and the idea that, no matter how hard life gets, it can continue with a lot of determination and a little bit of singing. Highly recommend!

What Did I Think About the Cover?

It's absolutely perfect for this story. Clearly the fire shown is prevalent and important to the overall story (I especially love the charred outlines) and I love how it is incorporated throughout the cover, including in the title and the author's name.


My Rating: 5.0/5.0

I purchased a copy of The Fireman for my own library. All opinions are mine alone. To find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, see Goodreads HERE.

 

 

Reviews of Other Books by Joe Hill

 

 

Heart-Shaped Box

Strange Weather

Locke & Key

Horns

 



Audiobook Review: Dark Water by Robert Bryndza

Pub. Date: October 20th, 2016

Publisher: Bookouture

Length: 8 hours, 55 minutes

Genres: Contemporary Fiction / Crime Drama / Thriller / Mystery

Book Series: Erika Foster #3

Synopsis

Beneath the water the body sank rapidly. She would lie still and undisturbed for many years but above her on dry land, the nightmare was just beginning.


When Detective Erika Foster receives a tip-off that key evidence for a major narcotics case was stashed in a disused quarry on the outskirts of London, she orders for it to be searched. From the thick sludge the drugs are recovered, but so is the skeleton of a young child.

The remains are quickly identified as seven-year-old Jessica Collins. The missing girl who made headline news twenty-six years ago.

As Erika tries to piece together new evidence with the old, she must dig deeper and find out more about the fractured Collins family and the original detective, Amanda Baker. A woman plagued by her failure to find Jessica. Erika soon realises this is going to be one of the most complex and demanding cases she has ever taken on.

Is the suspect someone close to home? Someone is keeping secrets. Someone who doesn’t want this case solved. And they’ll do anything to stop Erika from finding the truth.


From the million-copy bestselling author of The Girl in the Ice and The Night Stalker, comes the third heart-stopping book in the Detective Erika Foster series.

What Did I Think About the Story? 

The Detective Erika Foster series has made it's way to the top of my "I really need an exciting audiobook listen" list and, with Dark Water, the third story in the series, the mystery and drama jumps up a notch. As the synopsis says, Erika is again presented with a historic case that will test every fiber of her resolve and abilities, a case that could bring her and those she cares about closer and closer to danger. At the same time the reader/listener has a front row seat to Erika's continuing process of mourning her husband (who died in the field as part of an investigation that Erika led) while also craving companionship and contact. She's tough as nails, always ready to act first and ask for forgiveness later, but also funny and vulnerable and caring. She's the full package and the exact sort of character I can't help but go back to over and over again.

I think what I love most about this series is that the same characters you begin enjoying in book one come back in subsequent installments, with a few added here and there to expand your appreciation of this world that author Robert Bryndza has built. The team that Erika has built around herself is excellent, each adding their own personality to the mix and giving you a little bit of everything - drama, humor, aggravation - all within the scope of a strict and ordered law enforcement system. There are rules to be followed, but that doesn't mean Erika doesn't create a little wiggle room when needed for her team to solve the case.

I also really enjoy learning more about British crime procedures. For this particular case, Erika and her team are forced to cypher through boxes upon boxes of evidence from the original Jessica Collins disappearance case, something that, while absolutely necessary in case there are clues hidden within that information, takes an incredible amount of time, time which wears on Jessica's family and the media at large as everyone is desperate to know how Jessica ended up in that quarry. It's fascinating and the author does a great job of showing you the police work that is actually behind these sensational sorts of cases.

I can't forget to mention how wonderful the narrator of the Detective Foster series is. Jan Cramer gives personality and differentiation to each of the characters, making it so I'm not sure I would want to experience an Erika Foster novel without her. Her skills at narration combined with Robert Bryndza's excellent writing just make this such an enjoyable experience.

Dark Water is a wonderful edition to Erika Foster's story. It advanced her personal story - and those of her team - while also presenting a new case for the reader/listener to puzzle over. I will fully admit that I did not guess at what happened to Jessica Collins or who was involved in her disappearance and death. I am itching to listen to the next installment and see what kind of excitement Erika (and Bryndza) will bring to us next.

 

What Did I Think About the Cover?

It's perfect, as are the other covers in this series! I seem to be drawn to covers with people under water, so this one in particular is eye-catching for me. Whoever is in charge of coming up with these covers is excellent.


My Rating: 4.5/5.0

I purchased a copy of Dark Water for my own library. All opinions are mine alone. To find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, see Goodreads HERE.

 

 

Reviews of Other Books in the Erika Foster Series

 

 

The Girl in the Ice (Book One)

The Night Stalker (Book Two)

 

 

 

 





Audiobook Review: After Anna by Lisa Scottoline

Publisher: Macmillan Audio

Pub. Date: April 10th, 2018

Length: 10 hours, 51 minutes

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Mystery / Suspense / Family Drama

Synopsis

Nobody cuts deeper than family...


Noah Alderman, a doctor and a widower, has remarried a wonderful woman, Maggie, and for the first time in a long time he and his son are happy. But their lives are turned upside down when Maggie’s daughter Anna moves in with them. Anna is a gorgeous seventeen-year-old who balks at living under their rules though Maggie, ecstatic to have her daughter back, ignores the red flags that hint at the trouble that is brewing. Events take a deadly turn when Anna is murdered and Noah is accused of the crime. Maggie must face not only the devastation of losing her only daughter, but the realization that her daughter's murder was at the hands of a husband she loves. New information sends Maggie searching for the truth, leading her to discover something darker than she could have ever imagined.

What Did I Think About the Story?

After Anna is an interesting mystery, one that starts after the main situation - Anna's murder - has already occurred. Going back and forth in time, the reader is at first led to see what happened through the eyes of Anna's mother, as well as the trial and aftermath through Noah's point of view. The reader is then exposed to a twist that turns everything on its head, leading to a shocking discovery that I never saw coming.

Each chapter of the first two-thirds of the book alternates between Maggie "before" - when her estranged daughter reaches out to Maggie after her father's death - and Noah "after" - when he is charged with Anna's murder. I thought this was a great way to develop the story as it almost gives it the feeling of two separate stories converging into one. In Maggie's storyline we get to see how her ex-husband used her post partum psychosis against her, lying and keeping her daughter from her even after she had recovered. This leads Maggie, once she has Anna back in her life, to ignore red flags and put her daughter above everyone else, even her husband and her step-son. In Noah's story we see his trial unfold and have to determine if his statements of innocence are true, even when the evidence against him seems to be mounting and mounting. Then that twist I mentioned starts the final one-third of the story, changing everything and leaving me, at least, wondering how I didn't see it coming (and I really didn't!). It's quite a twist, one that keeps twisting until an ending that was satisfying, if a bit unrealistic.

The narrators of the story - we get two, one for Maggie's portions and one for Noah's - did a pretty good job of keeping the two storylines flowing towards each other and keeping me engaged. I have to admit that the narrator for Maggie, at times, somewhat grated on me, but I still can't decide if that is mainly due to her actual voice or the actions and dialogue written for her. Maggie, as a character, did some things that really got on my nerves and seemed pretty unrealistic. For example, at one point she's at a police station getting some unexpected information (this is a big understatement but I don't want to give anything away) and she demands to go along on what will surely be a very dangerous police matter....and the police let her tag along! This felt so far-fetched (along with some other actions) that I lost some appreciation for the story. The big twist that we discover seems somewhat unlikely by itself, adding Maggie's wild behavior to it doesn't help it feel at all like something relatable or something that would actually happen. Part of what I first enjoyed about the story was how these ordinary people had their lives completely destroyed by what happened to Anna, something that could, inevitably, happen in real life. Adding situations and reactions that I can't conceive of ever happening just took away from some of that enjoyment.   

After Anna is definitely a twisty tale. While I didn't love it I did enjoy being surprised by the big revelations. This might be a case of a story that would have been better read and not listened to, I've still not decided. I've read another book by Lisa Scottoline and remember really enjoying it, so I'll definitely give her another try in the future! I'd recommend this to anyone who likes twists and turns that don't necessarily need to be too realistic.

What Did I Think About the Cover?

I think it's a pretty great cover for the story. The girl turned away and against a darkening backdrop gives it a sense of eeriness, and the fact that she's walking away from the lit-up houses makes her seem separate from that world (all of which fits). I love the slash down the middle as well, giving it texture and even more of a sinister feeling.


My Rating: 3.5/5.0

I borrowed a copy of the audiobook version of After Anna from my library's Overdrive account. All opinions are mine alone. You can find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, on Goodreads HERE. 

Release Day Review: Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage

Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pub. Date: July 17th, 2018
Pages: 320

Genres: Contemporary Fiction / Suspense / Family Drama

Synopsis

Sweetness can be deceptive.


Meet Hanna.

She’s the sweet-but-silent angel in the adoring eyes of her Daddy. He’s the only person who understands her, and all Hanna wants is to live happily ever after with him. But Mommy stands in her way, and she’ll try any trick she can think of to get rid of her. Ideally for good.

Meet Suzette.

She loves her daughter, really, but after years of expulsions and strained home schooling, her precarious health and sanity are weakening day by day. As Hanna’s tricks become increasingly sophisticated, and Suzette's husband remains blind to the failing family dynamics, Suzette starts to fear that there’s something seriously wrong, and that maybe home isn’t the best place for their baby girl after all.

 

What Did I Think About the Story?

Baby Teeth is quite a unique work of fiction. I don't think I've ever come across a character like Hannah before. The reader knows from the beginning that there's something kind of off about her, but it takes turning page after page to discover just how sinister this little girl really is. And while I can't say that this was as 'thrilling" as I was expecting I can say that it took me on an interesting ride that went places I never would have thought possible given that one of our main characters is a small child.

The story alternates between Hannah and Suzette's points of view and I can easily say that Hannah's were the most interesting. Her portions are terrifying for their simplistic and honest insanity...she simply wants her mother to go away and leave her and her daddy alone and will do anything to make that happen. It comes across as almost a game to her and she doesn't see any problem with harming someone else to get what she wants (which isn't only her mother by the way...there is a particularly horrid incident at a school that results in an injured mentally handicapped child). Her mind is just so twisted and the author did an excellent job of getting into that mind and voicing the inner monologue in an age-appropriate way.

I unfortunately didn't find Suzette's voice nearly as interesting. At first it was intriguing watching her battle between her maternal instincts and hopes for her relationship with her daughter and the little monster she actually had, but after a while this back and forth dilemma grew a little tiresome. I kept wondering why Suzette didn't set up a hidden camera to catch her daughter in action, or, when she would growl or pretend she was possessed by the spirit of a dead witch (the only time she talked, by the way), why Suzette didn't record her daughter to prove to her husband that she wasn't making her daughter's bad behavior up. I won't even go into how annoying I found the husband as he wish-washed his way through his interactions with both his wife and his daughter. It's pretty bad that things had to progress to the level they did before he believed that his daughter was, in fact, a psychopath.

Towards the end the action really picks up and I was excitedly waiting to see how everything would resolve itself....to come to the end of what felt more like a cliffhanger than any real ending. I really hope there is a sequel because, if not, the ending left me really disappointed.   

All in all, Baby Teeth is, as I said in the beginning, really unique. I love when an author comes up with something different, something that makes me remember why I like reading. Hannah is definitely a character to remember, I just wish her mother and father were as dynamic as she was. I will definitely pick up the sequel if it comes out because I need to know what surprises Hannah might have in store next!

What Did I Think About the Cover?

I think it's subtle but great! The advanced copy I received actually had the lollipop intact on the cover and, once you turned the cover over, you saw the image of the shattered candy. I love this as it perfectly represents something that looks so innocent, but that can be shattered into a million pieces - as is occurring with this family.


My Rating: 3.5/5.0

I received an ARC (advanced readers copy) of Baby Teeth from St. Martin's Press. All opinions are mine alone. To find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, see Goodreads HERE.

 

 



Audiobook Review: Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

Pub. Date: October 20th, 2015

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Length: 17 hours, 58 minutes

Series: Cormoran Strike #3

Genre: Fiction / Mystery / Thriller / Crime Drama

Synopsis

When a mysterious package is delivered to Robin Ellacott, she is horrified to discover that it contains a woman's severed leg.

Her boss, private detective Cormoran Strike, is less surprised but no less alarmed. There are four people from his past who he thinks could be responsible - and Strike knows that any one of them is capable of sustained and unspeakable brutality.

With the police focusing on the one suspect Strike is increasingly sure is not the perpetrator, he and Robin take matters into their own hands and delve into the dark and twisted worlds of the other three men. But as more horrendous acts occur, time is running out for the two of them....


Career of Evil is the third in the highly acclaimed series featuring private detective Cormoran Strike and his assistant, Robin Ellacott. A fiendishly clever mystery with unexpected twists around every corner, it is also a gripping story of a man and a woman at a crossroads in their personal and professional lives.

What Did I Think About the Story?

Career of Evil is my favorite Cormoran Strike novel yet! I feel like I can't get enough of Strike or Robin and love seeing each of their characters, as well as their relationship together, develop and grow from book to book. In this novel we really get to see further into their personal histories and how those experiences have influenced the development of their personalities. Both of them have gone through some very dark situations, situations that, in Strike's case, lead around to the case at the center of this story.

As you can read from the synopsis, there is a serial killer/body mutilator sending body parts to Robin along with taunting messages that tie back to Blue Oyster Cult lyrics. Strike's mother, an infamous rock groupie who died of a drug overdose years before, was a fan of the group and this instantly puts Strike on alert that the killer is somehow tied to his and his mother's past. As Strike searches for the various men who he sees as suspects we get to peek into his sad and torturous childhood with his mother and her rotating group of "boyfriends" who, often, treat Cormoran, his sister, and his mother horribly. For me this really solidified Strike's personality and why he's often somewhat withdrawn and impersonal with those that get too close to him. He's built a wall up around his heart and it isn't easy for him to let people in, even when he does, deep down, care for them and want to protect them.

While this is all going on we get to know Robin Ellacott better as well. We learn the shocking and devastating reason she quite college and the dark secret she's been trying to hide from Strike, scared that, if he knew, he'd fire her from the only job she's ever truly loved.  We see why she fights so hard to be strong and independent, and seen as such by those around her. We see her relationship with her fiancée take some unexpected turns, turns that kept me personally glued to the page as much as the investigation.

The narrator once again did an exceptional job of giving all these characters distinct voices, voices I'm very much going to miss as I wait for the (fingers crossed) next installment in this series. I should mention that Career of Evil, as well as the rest of the series, is filled with quite a bit of graphic imagery, situations, and profanity. While this doesn't bother me I wanted to mention it so people who do have a problem with those sorts of situations are aware.

I really do hope there are more books in this series to come out. I've listened to each audiobook this year and I'm now a little sad that I don't have another to listen to. I definitely recommend this series for those that enjoy a gritty murder mystery and ones that have characters that are both humorous and troubled in particular.

What Did I Think About the Cover?

Much like the cover of The Silkworm, it doesn't really represent this story very well. However, it does add that touch of mystery you'd expect from this sort of story, so I do like that.


My Rating: 4.5/5.0

I borrowed a copy of the audiobook version of Career of Evil from my library's Overdrive account. All opinions are mine alone. You can find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, on Goodreads HERE.

 

 

 

 



Release Day Review: Somebody's Daughter by David Bell

Pub. Date: July 10th, 2018
Publisher: Berkley Books
Pages: 432

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Mystery / Thriller / Family Drama

Synopsis

In the pulse-racing new suspense novel from the bestselling and acclaimed author of Bring Her Home and Since She Went Away, the life of a little girl rests in the hands of the father who never even knew she existed...


When Michael Frazier's ex-wife, Erica, shows up on his doorstep pleading for help, she drops a bombshell that threatens to rip his family apart: Erica's nine-year-old daughter is missing--and Michael is the father. Unable to quickly determine if Erica is telling the truth, and unwilling to leave the little girl's fate to chance, Michael has no choice but to follow the elusive trail of the child he has always wanted and never knew he had.

But finding Felicity comes at a price--the closer Michael gets to the truth, the further into jeopardy his marriage falls and the faster his family begins to unravel. As lies that span a decade bubble to the surface and the window for Felicity's safe return closes, Michael will have just a few short days to decide who can be trusted and who is hiding the truth.

What Did I Think About the Story?

While I have a number of David Bell books on my shelves, Somebody's Daughter is, in fact, the first I've read. The synopsis makes it sound so mysterious - is Felicity Michael's daughter? Where is the girl? Why did her mother never tell Michael about her before she disappeared? - that I jumped in and entered the Goodreads giveaway for an advanced reader copy. Lo and behold I won! The story ended up being quite an interesting and twisty mystery, even though there were some aspects of it that kept me from loving the book overall.

The book is divided up into short chapters that alternate between the POV's of Michael, his wife, Angela, and one of the detectives on the case, Detective Griffin. I did very much enjoy the short chapters as they made for easy stopping places and always seemed to leave off with a little cliffhanger that made you want to keep reading. With this being said, while both Michael and Angela's chapters flowed well and felt essential to the storyline, I wasn't as captivated by Griffin's chapters. She has her own current issues that, while they make her sympathetic to what the characters are experiencing, felt, to me, like extra storyline that could have been left out of what I felt was an already too long book. So much extraneous detail and so many characters were involved that I just kept thinking that this would have been more thrilling to me if it was edited down a bit.

I don't want it to sound like I didn't enjoy the story at all, because I really did. There were a lot of delicious twists along our way to discovering where Felicity was, who had taken her, and whether or not Michael was actually her father. I, for one, was completely surprised when the characters found Felicity and discovered not only who took her but why she was taken. I always love when a book can surprise me and this one definitely did! I also really liked that the story was nicely wrapped up in the end, with all the answers I had remaining answered and a nice little hint at what the characters could look forward to in the future.

Somebody's Daughter, while not a page-turning thrill-fest for me, was a well thought out, twisting mystery that I enjoyed getting to the eventual bottom of.  I liked the ending and, by the last page, enjoyed my overall time spent with the characters. I'm still very much looking forward to my other David Bell books and am curious to see how they stack up to this one. 

What Did I Think About the Cover?

I think it's very cool. I'm not positive who the woman is, but I love how we're seeing her through a sort of kaleidoscope, giving you a sinister sort of feeling of confusion and mystery. It's a great cover for a story such as this!


My Rating: 3.0/5.0

I received an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of Somebody's Daughter from Goodreads and Berkley Books. All opinions are mine alone. For more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, see Goodreads HERE.

 

 

  

The Tip of My Wish List: It's Pre-Order Madness!

If you're anything like me you've got a book wish list so long there is no way you will ever be able to read through it all. And, on top of that, it's never ending because you just can't stop adding more books to it! To try and organize myself I'm sharing 5 books from my wish list that I'm most excited to get to, usually with a common theme, on the last Friday of each month. I know a number of excellent bloggers who will be doing similar posts and I'll be sure to link to their posts as well so you can see all the goodies we're excited about and, hopefully, add a few new books to your own wish list. I'll also link the titles to Goodreads where you can read reviews and find the various ways to purchase a copy of the books if they sound like your style. I really hope you enjoy and let me know if you've read any of these or have others you would add to the list.

 

I very rarely pre-order books as I never seem to find the time to read the books right when they come out. However I recently noticed that I had in fact pre-ordered a number of books from some of my favorite authors, and thus a wish list post was born! I am so excited for these books to come in and am counting down the days for all of them!

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

Just Before I Died

 

 

Why did you do that to me Mummy, don’t you love me?


Kath lives with her husband Adam and daughter Lyla in a desolate stone longhouse deep in Dartmoor National Park. She likes her life the moors are beautiful, if bleak and she counts herself as happy, even if they struggle with money, and work, and her daughter's shyness.

But one day Kath wakes up from a coma, with a vague memory of a near-fatal car accident. She hugs her daughter close, likewise her husband Adam. But there’s something wrong. Adam seems furious with her and Lyla is acting evermore strangely. They should be delighted to see her alive, snatched from certain death. But they won't meet her gaze

Then Kath learns that the car crash wasn't an accident, and her whole life collapses into a world of panic, and danger.



Watching You


Gripping psychological suspense from the number one bestselling author of Then She Was Gone, as what begins as an innocent crush develops into a dangerous infatuation.


You’re back home after four years working abroad with a brand new husband in tow.

You’re keen to find a place of your own. But for now you’re living with your big brother, camped out in his spare bedroom.

And then – quite unexpectedly – you meet the man next door.

He’s the head teacher of the local high school. He’s twice your age. And he’s devastatingly attractive.
Soon you find you’re watching him. All the time.

But what you don’t know is that someone is watching you.

Or that what has started as an innocent crush is quickly turning into an obsession as dark as it is deadly.


Family secrets, illicit passion and an unexplained murder lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell’s gripping new novel. 

The Clockmaker's Daughter


A rich, spellbinding new novel from the author of The Lake House—the story of a love affair and a mysterious murder that cast their shadow across generations, set in England from the 1860's until the present day.


My real name, no one remembers.
The truth about that summer, no one else knows.

In the summer of 1862, a group of young artists led by the passionate and talented Edward Radcliffe descends upon Birchwood Manor in rural Oxfordshire. Their plan: to spend a secluded summer month in a haze of inspiration and creativity. But by the time their stay is over, one woman has been shot dead while another has disappeared; a priceless heirloom is missing; and Edward Radcliffe’s life is in ruins.

Over one hundred and fifty years later, Elodie Winslow, a young archivist in London, uncovers a leather satchel containing two seemingly unrelated items: a sepia photograph of an arresting-looking woman in Victorian clothing, and an artist’s sketchbook containing the drawing of a twin-gabled house on the bend of a river.

Why does Birchwood Manor feel so familiar to Elodie? And who is the beautiful woman in the photograph? Will she ever give up her secrets?


Told by multiple voices across time, The Clockmaker’s Daughter is a story of murder, mystery, and thievery, of art, love and loss. And flowing through its pages like a river, is the voice of a woman who stands outside time, whose name has been forgotten by history, but who has watched it all unfold: Birdie Bell, the clockmaker’s daughter.

Daughters of the Lake


The ghosts of the past come calling in a spellbinding heart-stopper from the “Queen of the Northern Gothic.”


After the end of her marriage, Kate Granger has retreated to her parents’ home on Lake Superior to pull herself together—only to discover the body of a murdered woman washed into the shallows. Tucked in the folds of the woman’s curiously vintage gown is an infant, as cold and at peace as its mother. No one can identify the woman. Except for Kate. She’s seen her before. In her dreams…

One hundred years ago, a love story ended in tragedy, its mysteries left unsolved. It’s time for the lake to give up its secrets. As each mystery unravels, it pulls Kate deeper into the eddy of a haunting folktale that has been handed down in whispers over generations. Now, it’s Kate’s turn to listen.

As the drowned woman reaches out from the grave, Kate reaches back. They must come together, if only in dreams, to right the sinister wrongs of the past.


A Spark of Light


The warm fall day starts like any other at the Center—a women’s reproductive health services clinic—its staff offering care to anyone who passes through its doors. Then, in late morning, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage.

After rushing to the scene, Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, sets up a perimeter and begins making a plan to communicate with the gunman. As his phone vibrates with incoming text messages he glances at it and, to his horror, finds out that his fifteen-year-old daughter, Wren, is inside the clinic.

But Wren is not alone. She will share the next and tensest few hours of her young life with a cast of unforgettable characters: A nurse who calms her own panic in order save the life of a wounded woman. A doctor who does his work not in spite of his faith but because of it, and who will find that faith tested as never before. A pro-life protester disguised as a patient, who now stands in the cross hairs of the same rage she herself has felt. A young woman who has come to terminate her pregnancy. And the disturbed individual himself, vowing to be heard.

Told in a daring and enthralling narrative structure that counts backward through the hours of the standoff, this is a story that traces its way back to what brought each of these very different individuals to the same place on this fateful day.


Jodi Picoult—one of the most fearless writers of our time—tackles a complicated issue in this gripping and nuanced novel. How do we balance the rights of pregnant women with the rights of the unborn they carry? What does it mean to be a good parent? A Spark of Light will inspire debate, conversation . . . and, hopefully, understanding.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Check out these lovely blogs for more books to add to your wish list(updated as they become available):


Holly at 2 Kids and Tired
Stephanie at Layered Pages
Heather at The Maiden's Court
Erin at Flashlight Commentary
Magdalena at A Bookish Swede

 



Cover Crush (Summertime Edition): Secrets in Summer by Nancy Thayer

Hello, my name is Colleen and I am a cover slut. I know, I know....you aren't supposed to judge a book by it's cover. I just can't help myself! A beautiful cover draws my eye every single time and I can't help but pick up the book it's dressing and see if the inside seems as intriguing as the outside. Sometimes it does, and sometimes a pretty cover is just a pretty cover. Either way, I love getting an eyeful!

One of my favorite bloggers, Erin at Flashlight Commentary, created a weekly blog post called Cover Crush and she and some other blogger friends are sharing their favorite covers each Thursday. You'll find my Cover Crush selection below and I'll link to everyone else's at the end of the post.

For the month of June I've decided to gear my Cover Crushes towards all things Summer. I just can't think of much else right now and each of the covers I'll share this month will make you long to dip your toes in the water as much as I do!

So, without further ado, my Cover Crush this week is.....

 

 

 

 

Can't you just feel the wind whipping through your hair?? This is such a pretty picture, with the lovely-dressed woman on her pink bike with her basket full of brightly-colored flowers! And that blue sky...not a cloud to taint the day. This looks like my ideal vacation spot and I very much wish I could just climb right in!

 

Let's see what summer secrets this story is hiding....

 

 

The queen of beach books (The Star-Ledger) returns to the shores of Nantucket in a novel about one memorable summer when flirtations flourish, family dramas play out, and scandalous secrets surface.

Memorial Day weekend means that seasonal visitors have descended on the glamorous island of Nantucket. For year-round resident Darcy Cotterill, it means late-night stargazing in the backyard of the beautiful house she grew up in and inherited from her beloved grandmother. It s also Darcy s chance to hit the beach and meet her new summertime neighbors. But the last person the thirty-year-old librarian expects to see staying next door is her ex-husband, Boyz, along with his wife, Autumn, and stepdaughter, Willow.

Darcy must also navigate the highs and lows of a new romantic relationship with local carpenter Nash Forester even as she becomes smitten with handsome vacationer Clive Rush, a musicologist in town to write a book and visit family. And she finds herself pulled into the concerns of Boyz, Autumn, a charming elderly neighbor, and an at-risk teen.

As the season nears its end, Darcy must decide her next move: retreating to the comforts of her steady and secure island life, or risking it all for a chance at true happiness. 

Don't forget to check out what covers my blogger buddies are drooling over this week (updated as they become available):


Magdalena at A Bookaholic Swede
Erin at Flashlight Commentary
Heather at The Maiden's Court
Stephanie at Layered Pages
Holly at 2 Kids and Tired




Created by Magdalena of A Bookaholic Swede

 

Cover Crush (Summertime Edition): The House on Mermaid Point by Wendy Wax

Hello, my name is Colleen and I am a cover slut. I know, I know....you aren't supposed to judge a book by it's cover. I just can't help myself! A beautiful cover draws my eye every single time and I can't help but pick up the book it's dressing and see if the inside seems as intriguing as the outside. Sometimes it does, and sometimes a pretty cover is just a pretty cover. Either way, I love getting an eyeful!

One of my favorite bloggers, Erin at Flashlight Commentary, created a weekly blog post called Cover Crush and she and some other blogger friends are sharing their favorite covers each Thursday. You'll find my Cover Crush selection below and I'll link to everyone else's at the end of the post.

For the month of June I've decided to gear my Cover Crushes towards all things Summer. I just can't think of much else right now and each of the covers I'll share this month will make you long to dip your toes in the water as much as I do!

So, without further ado, my Cover Crush this week is.....

 

 

 

 

There isn't anything that I DON'T love about this cover! The view from that porch is obviously breathtaking and I can so picture myself sitting right there with a book and a glass of wine. I love the pop of color in the pin shirt/scarf (not sure what it is) and the overlapping palm tree in the corner. This cover just screams "Florida Beach Vacation!" and I'm all for it!

 

You might ask "What's going on at Mermaid Point", so.... 

 

 

Maddie, Avery, and Nikki first got to know one another—perhaps all too well—while desperately restoring a beachfront mansion to its former grandeur. Now they’re putting that experience to professional use. But their latest project has presented some challenges they couldn’t have dreamed up in their wildest fantasies—although the house does belong to a man who actually was Maddie’s wildest fantasy once. . . .

Rock-and-roll legend “William the Wild” Hightower may be past his prime, estranged from his family, and creatively blocked, but he’s still worshiped by fans—which is why he guards his privacy on his own island in the Florida Keys. He’s not thrilled about letting this crew turn his piece of paradise into a bed-and-breakfast for a reality show . . . though he is intrigued by Maddie. Hard as that is for her to believe as a newly single woman who can barely manage a dog paddle in the dating pool.

But whether it’s an unexpected flirtation with a bona fide rock star, a strained mother-daughter relationship, or a sudden tragedy, these women are in it together. The only thing that might drive them apart is being trapped on a houseboat with one bathroom. . . .

 

Don't forget to check out what covers my blogger buddies are drooling over this week (updated as they become available):


Magdalena at A Bookaholic Swede
Erin at Flashlight Commentary
Heather at The Maiden's Court
Stephanie at Layered Pages
Holly at 2 Kids and Tired




Created by Magdalena of A Bookaholic Swede

 

Review: The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy

Pub. Date: May 1st, 2018
Publisher: Harper
Pages: 336

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / Mystery / Thriller

Synopsis

Vanity Fair calls it one of the most anticipated books of the summer. Soon to be a major motion picture starring Scandal's Kerry Washington.


An addictive psychological thriller about a group of women whose lives become unexpectedly connected when one of their newborns goes missing.


They call themselves the May Mothers—a collection of new moms who gave birth in the same month. Twice a week, with strollers in tow, they get together in Prospect Park, seeking refuge from the isolation of new motherhood; sharing the fears, joys, and anxieties of their new child-centered lives.

When the group’s members agree to meet for drinks at a hip local bar, they have in mind a casual evening of fun, a brief break from their daily routine. But on this sultry Fourth of July night during the hottest summer in Brooklyn’s history, something goes terrifyingly wrong: one of the babies is abducted from his crib. Winnie, a single mom, was reluctant to leave six-week-old Midas with a babysitter, but the May Mothers insisted that everything would be fine. Now Midas is missing, the police are asking disturbing questions, and Winnie’s very private life has become fodder for a ravenous media.

Though none of the other members in the group are close to the reserved Winnie, three of them will go to increasingly risky lengths to help her find her son. And as the police bungle the investigation and the media begin to scrutinize the mothers in the days that follow, damaging secrets are exposed, marriages are tested, and friendships are formed and fractured.  

What Did I Think About the Story?

I started reading The Perfect Mother with reserved expectations. Whenever a book is touted as the "next big thing" (for god's sake it's already being made into a movie and it just came out!), I'm wary of getting too excited in case I end up feeling let down. I'm happy to say that I enjoyed this story quite a bit, even if I didn't find the mystery of who took the baby that hard to figure out.

The story shifts back and forth between various "May Mothers", sometimes even within the same chapter. While I know this can sometimes be confusing or annoying, I actually didn't find that it hurt the narrative or flow at all, but actually gave a nice variety of perspectives on the same situations that were happening. As the story unfolds and the mothers get themselves further and further involved in the investigation into what happened to baby Midas their own secrets begin to be exposed and their lives are thrown into disarray during the ensuing media storm. As these secrets keep being revealed the reader can't help but wonder what else they might be hiding.

The best part of the story, in my opinion, was actually learning the backstories of each of the May Mothers as well as the various ways they are dealing with the ups and downs of pregnancy and motherhood - even when they don't fully admit these problems to each other. Collectively the mothers are dealing with issues as far ranging as infertility, surprise pregnancies, colic, breast feeding difficulties and shame, sleepless nights, not wanting sex, wanting a life of one's own, not wanting to go back to work or, on the flipside, wanting to go back to work and feeling guilty about it, and so much more. They are each, in their own way, trying to balance all of the aspects of life, marriage, and kids and feeling like they are failing miserably, as every single person who has gone through it does at one time or another. This made the story, and it's characters, feel very relatable and kept me turning the pages to see what else they'd face along their journey. On top of all this, the media throws the mothers into the spotlight, highlighting and vilifying all of those things that made them feel like bad mothers, including just going out for drinks and trying to unwind without the demands and expectation of husbands and children. It's a fascinating dynamic that so many people will be able to relate to, at least on some level.

The mystery aspect I didn't find quite as intriguing. I have to be honest that I figured out who had taken Midas long before it was revealed, although I will admit that I could not have guessed at the why's or how's. It wasn't that it was a particularly bad reveal - it actually firmed up some of the other aspects of the story that I loved - I just, for whatever reason, honed in on the clues dropped throughout the story and saw it coming a mile away. Now, for those that don't figure it out, it will be a pretty interesting discovery. However, I have a feeling I won't be alone in figuring it out pretty early on.

The Perfect Mother is, in fact, a pretty perfect story for any mother to read. It will not only be quite relatable to anyone who's doubted their abilities at one time or another, but it will also hit that core fear we all have when our children are small and helpless: what if I fail to keep my child safe? It's a quick, enjoyable read and I can see why it's getting so much buzz this summer.

What Did I Think About the Cover?

I think it's quite beautiful, even with all of it's chaos. It took me the longest time to realize that it was a bouquet of flowers that had been absolutely destroyed. This fits the story well as these mothers, with seemingly perfect lives, are thrown into such turmoil and upheaval by the kidnapping of one of their babies. I really like it!


My Rating: 4.0/5.0

I purchased a copy of The Perfect Mother for my own library. All opinions are mine alone. You can find more information about the book, including other reviews and links to where you can purchase a copy, on Goodreads HERE.