The Nowhere Child by Christian White

Thank you Minotaur Books for sending me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. 

Kim’s life gets flipped upside-down really fast in this book. An American walks up to her as she’s living in Australia and tells her that she may be connected to a kidnapping that happened 26 years ago. In fact, he tells her that he’s certain that she IS the girl that was kidnapped 26 years ago! Told through two timelines – the current time period and back to the past when the toddler was kidnapped – you will learn how Kim learns to cope with the life-changing news and what truly happened to her. 

This book captured my attention real quick! What a fast-past read with cliff-hangers at the end of each chapter. The author did a great job and expressing the emotions felt by all the characters. I mean, can you imagine being told that you were kidnapped when you were a toddler?! There were a little too many characters in this book for me to keep track of. That lead to some confusing parts, along with the dual storyline. Other than that, it was a solid thrilling read! I would totally recommend adding it to your list!

4/5 Stars

Broken Promise by Tara Thomas

I love romance, and I love a good mystery. As soon as I read this I knew it was going to be RIGHT up my alley!

A huge thank you to St Martins Press for sending me a copy of the book in exchange for my review.

This is book three of the Sons of Broad Series. This story takes place in Charleston, South Carolina. Officer Alyssa had lost her sister multiple years ago and has sworn to join the force to bring justice to women. Jade, a recent acquaintance of the Benedict brothers and Alyssa, has been kidnapped. Come to find out, Jade is a long lost half-sibling of Kipling (the Benedict brother gaining close relations with Alyssa). Alyssa agrees to help find Jade, and along the way, starts to piece together the mystery of her sisters death. There are pretty crazy coincidences that come about that leave your jaw on the floor multiple times.

Okay, I have a confession to make. I just discovered Tara through seeing this book so I have not read her previous books. Having said that, I was completely nervous going into this book not having known any true backstory. Thank you Tara for writing with such detail so I could jump right in and follow along! Yeah, there were a few things that, as I was reading, I wish I had known more about, but even that was few and far between. She did a wonderful job recapping past events that are important to the current storyline. On the other hand, Alyssa started off as not one of my favorite characters. She openly shared deep dark emotions to a guy she portrays to be annoyed by. Whyyyyy would you do thatttttt, Alyssa!

I loved the steamy romance aspect to the mystery and crime; it’s not something you see done too often and I highly enjoyed it. It gave me a nice break from my typical thriller suspense adrenaline rush. Regardless, this story is very suspenseful in itself and kept me on the edge of my seat as each chapter progressed. All the clues to the disappearance of Jade came from previous mysteries from the other books which wrapped up the story quite nicely. As the story went on, the relationship between Kipling and Alyssa just went together so perfectly, I almost forgave Alyssa for making those stupid mistakes in the beginning. Yeah, some parts were a bit too cheesy for my liking, but it kept me entertained. I really enjoyed reading this and can’t wait to go back and read her other books (sorry for working backwards haha!)

4/5 Stars

Grab a copy of the latest book in the series here! 

 

Bring Me Back by B.A. Paris

A huge thanks to St Martin Press and Lindsay’s Books for allowing me to read this in exchange for my honest review!

Happy Publication Day to Bring Me Back! Isn’t the cover gorgeous?!

This novel flips back and forth between past and present, focusing in on a missing person’s case. Finn and Layla are driving on vacation and stop at a rest stop. Finn felt weird about the stop (felt unsafe), but figured he would go to the bathroom as quick as possible and head back on the road. As he was gone, his girlfriend Layla went missing, living behind a small Russian stacking doll (something Layla had ever since she was little). Flash forward a couple of years to where Finn is trying to recover from the incident, having been excused of murdering her. He is now dating Layla’s sister Ellen, something quite scandalous by most. They are to get married soon, although Finn doesn’t feel 100% about the decision. In fact, signs that Layla is still alive start to happen. More Russian dolls start appearing, people are seeing her on the streets, Finn starts to get emails from her, it’s getting werid. Is she still alive? Is Ellen hiding something? What truly happened to Layla that day? Is Finn all he’s cracked up to be?

To be honest, I have other books by B.A. Paris, but I haven’t read them yet. I know, I know, I need to get on that right away. I have seen mixed reviews about this book…I feel like I’m in the middle. The book is short and super fast paced. It’s literally the most perfect summer read. Even if things seemed to be dragging out (the past storylines of his love for Layla, or the current storylines of his relationship with Ellen), you don’t want to put the book down. That, to me, is a sign of a good book! The ending…I’m still unsure what to make of it! Most people have said it’s “ludicrous”. I can’t say that, but it sure is pretty wild. Honestly, I highly suggest reading it and see for yourself. I don’t think you will regret it! I may not read it a second time, but I look forward to reading more by Paris in the near future!

3.5/5 Stars

 

The Disappearing by Lori Roy

Surprisingly, I have not read a book by Lori Troy before! Shocking, I know, considering the genre I normally gravitate towards. I found this while looking at upcoming books and was completely honored for letting Dutton books let me read it in exchange for my honest review.

Lane never thought she would return back to home state, but soon enough finds herself there working behind a bar. She’s cautious about town as she is known for her father’s supposed abuse of the boys at the school he was a director at. She stays even more cautious for her two daughters that she lives with. Sure enough, Lane’s oldest daughter goes missing. Is Lane willing to put family differences behind her in order to be successful in finding her missing daughter? Including even her younger daughter?

You may already know by following my reviews that I’m not a fan of multiple points of view. Honestly? They’re growing on me! This one, on the other hand, has a LOT. I’m not one to read more than one book at a time, and having so many different points of view makes me feel like I am. I really focus in on the characters when I’m reading and I had a hard time doing this with so many characters. In all honesty, this was much needed for this book because of the conclusion the storylines all come to in the end. I had a hard time getting into the story at first because I was spending a lot of time trying to keep the characters in line and the timeline that matched it. I really had to pull myself to stay dedicated. The switch from first person to third person point of view was also way too distracting for me and a bit of a turn-off. The twist at the end of the book grabbed my attention back for sure (the twist is worth the read if anything!) I thought it was super cool that the story was based off true life events, something that makes it all the more relatable. In the end, I do need to go read more of Lori’s books!

2.5/5 Stars

Murder on Millionaires’ Row by Erin Lindsey

Lately I’ve been on not only a murder/mystery kick, but a historical novel kick! This book covers both of those attractions for me.

Thank you netgalley, st martins press, and minotaur books for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Rose is a maid for a very attractive young bachelor named Mr. Thomas Wiltshire. In fact, she is completely attracted to him herself. The book starts off with Thomas gone missing. Rose becomes a detective on her own, trying to find him missing in New York City. She not only finds him, but digs up deeper mysteries, incountering a ghost along the way. Now, Rose is knee deep in detective work alongside Thomas, trying to figure out if this paranormal activity has anything to do with murders happening around town.

Oh my gosh, I love this book! I did NOT expect any of it! It started as your typical murder mystery, but it gets crazy! When I started reading it, I had totally forgotten about the ghost aspect until it creeps up on you. That made this book reach to a whole new level of amazing for me. The character development is phenominal and I fell in love with each and every one of them. You NEED to read this book when it comes out in the fall. Honestly, I can’t wait to read it again I had so much fun with it!

5/5 Stars

The Ex-Wife by Jess Ryder

Thank you netgalley and Bookouture for the read for my honest review. I greatly appreciate it!

Natasha is happily married to Nick with a beaufitul daughter named Emily. The only thing starting to stand in the way is Nick’s ex-wife Jennifer. Jen is starting to come back into Nick’s life, and you find out that truly began when Nick and Natasha had their baby. You see, Nick had an affair with Natasha, got pregnant, and divorced Jen to be with her. The thing is, Nick and Emily show up missing one day and Natasha is desperate to find out what happened to them. Was it Jen? Was it Nick? Was it Nick’s family who despise Natasha from ruining a perfect marriage? Was it someone else completely?

There were surely a ton of twists in this novel! Not too many, not too little. My favorite!! I am not a huge fan of multiple point of view reads, but this one was different because it had a past and present viewpoint which was something I could easily follow. I was confused about the plot at first, but it quickly picked up around chapter 4 and just went nuts from there. I caught on to the story, but still couldn’t manage to predict the ending. WHEW! It’s prettttty crazy! Even if you read one of the last chapters, you still wouldn’t manage to get the whole picture of what really happened. Every detail in this is crucial and it blows your mind! If you like Girl on the Train, you will surely enjoy this. I would totally read this one again.

5/5 Stars

The Perfect Mother by Aimee Molloy

Happy Mother’s Day to all my fellow mothers out there (animal mommas included because they can’t live without you either)! This is my first true mother’s day with my baby girl and I cuddled her extra tight while I relaxed with this read. Okay, relax may be an understatement with this novel.

The Perfect Mother starts off introducing the May Mothers, a group of women who have met online due to the fact that they are having a baby in the same month. They all meet up in person at the park towards the end of their pregnancies and after. On July 4th night, they all decide to get babysitters and go out for drinks. While they are at the bar, one of the mother’s (Winnie) baby (Midas) goes missing. They are devastated and obsessed with trying to find out who kidnapped him. Was it the babysitter? Was it Winnie’s baby daddy whom they never hear about? A random stranger causing ruckus near her house? Someone closer to them then they think?

I wanted to read this book because I knew I could relate to most of it (not the stealing baby part). I, too, have a mom group that I am in for the month my daughter was born. We also met online. I love them dearly and talk with them often and totally wish I could hang out with them in person, but we are from all over the globe so we just chat and send each other photos. I also loved the references about newborns because it’s so relevant to me where I am in my life and it was very well done. I was not a huge fan of the multiple narrating perspectives. You never truly know who is talking until you keep reading and really have to think about it. Sometimes you do truly have no idea who is talking. It was all over the place and hard for me to follow. I stayed confused quite often which was fun because it kept me from figuring out the ending, but really annoying at times because I just wanted to know what was going on! There are a lot of characters in this book, but the author does a great job at touching on each of their lives. This read is very “The Couple Next Door” -esque which is great, but it’s all I kept thinking about. There are certainly many differences, but there is a resemblance I couldn’t seem to get out of my head. I definitely was biting my nails hoping for a safe return for baby Midas, which also kept me reading for more.

3.5/5 Stars