ARC Review: The Secret of the Mansion by Julie Campbell

The Secret of the Mansion
Author: Julie Campbell
Series: Trixie Belden (Book 1)
Publication: Random House Books for Young Readers (June 24, 2003)

Description: Trixie’s summer is going to be sooo boring with her two older brothers away at camp. But then a millionaire’s daughter moves into the next-door mansion, an old miser hides a fortune in his decrepit house, and a runaway kid starts hiding out in Sleepyside!

My Thoughts: Trixie Belden is back again. Originally written in 1948, this story returns the reader to an earlier time. 

Thirteen-year-old Trixie is looking forward to a boring summer with her two older brothers away at camp. But things turn around quickly when poor little rich girl Honey Wheeler moves into the mansion next door to the Belden's modest home. 

The two girls become fast friends as Trixie teaches Honey how to ride a bike and Honey's stable man teaches Trixie how to ride a horse. The girls have a couple of accidents as each falls from her new form of transportation, but they also enjoy exploring and swimming and boating and hanging out together. 

The two girls also explore the decrepit mansion next door when old Mr. Frayne is taken to the hospital with pneumonia. They discover that fifteen-year-old Jim Frayne has taken refuge in the home after running away from a stepfather who is constantly beating him. Rumor has it that old Mr. Frayne has hidden a fortune in the mansion. The kids explore but don't find money. They do find an old bible with a will inside confirming that Jim is Mr. Frayne's heir but that doesn't solve the problem of the stepfather determined to control Jim and Jim's money. 

I enjoyed this sweet story complete with the original illustrations. I enjoyed the growing friendships among the kids and the age-appropriate mystery. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Making Friends Can Be Murder by Kathleen West

Making Friends Can Be Murder 
Author: Kathleen West
Publication: Berkley (June 10, 2025)

Description: Thirty-year-old Sarah Jones gets caught up solving a murder after unknowingly befriending a dangerous con artist (who’s nothing like what she seems) in this playful, twisty mystery from acclaimed author Kathleen West.

It feels like kismet when Sarah Jones, newly relocated to Minneapolis after abruptly calling off her engagement, gets invited to join a group of women who share her same (very common) name. For years Sarah has received all types of correspondence intended for different Sarah Joneses, but now it seems that this mistake has given her the opportunity for an instant community.

What starts as a low-stakes meet-up called “The Sarah Jones Project” soon turns sinister when another local Sarah Jones is found dead, under suspicious circumstances, at the base of the downtown Minneapolis bridge. After fielding numerous calls from concerned loved ones ruling out their Sarah as the victim, the surviving Sarahs decide to take matters into their own hands.

Aided by the dead woman’s nanny, a newly commissioned (and very handsome and eligible) FBI agent, and a cloistered nun with a complicated past, the motley crew of unlikely friends are determined to get to the bottom of the murder of one of their own.

My Thoughts: Seventeen-year-old Sarah Jones conceives of The Sarah Jones Project as a way of redeeming herself at her Catholic High School after some episodes of cyberbullying. She recruits five other Sarah Jones of various ages from 69 to her own 17. They get together, get to know each other, and plan an event which gives them newspaper recognition. 

Among the Sarah Jones are a pair of elementary school teachers who teach next door to each other, a new transplant to Minneapolis, and a nanny who is working for still another Sarah Jones who isn't part of the group. 

The transplant, 30 to distinguish her from the others, and 27 who is the nanny become best friends. But all is not well. 27 is a con woman who is in town to con money from her boss and 30 to pay to drug dealers who are threatening her young brother. 

But things go fatally wrong when Fed Sarah, 27's boss, falls from a Minneapolis bridge and dies. It's murder. And 27 is somehow involved. 

Then there is new FBI Special Agent George Nightingale who has requested assignment in Minneapolis and is put on the fraud squad. His assignment is to get close to 30 in order to find evidence to convict 27 of fraud. He doesn't expect to fall for 30. Nor does he expect to find himself in a murder investigation. 

George has a reason to leave his family business - a summer camp in Northern Minnesota - and join the FBI. When he was in fifth grade, his best friend Henry disappeared with George being the last to see him alive. The case remains unsolved, and George is determined to finally solve it. Coincidentally, 30's mother who died when 30 was eleven was a counselor at the camp for three summers.

This was an engaging story filled with interesting characters. I liked the way the story was told. There were multiple viewpoints with 17's being the one that provides the framework detailing how a social project goes from a yarn-bombing to solving a murder. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: Making Friends Can Be Murder by Kathleen West

 Happy Friday!

Book Beginnings is hosted by Gillion at Rose City Reader. She asks that the first sentence is posted along with the author and title of the book and the reader's initial thoughts on the sentence, the book, or anything else it inspires. 

Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower.org also provides a linky for sharing first lines and connecting with others. This meme asks that the chosen books be PG or marked as Mature if they are not. 

Beginning:

By the time the group met up for the long-anticipated yarn-bombing, Sarah had netted four new personal training clients via The Sarah Jones Project Instagram account. Not bad for the brainchild of a kid she'd met in her first week after moving to Minneapolis.

Friday 56:

A couple of tears migrated into Sarah's eyes, Whitehook had disappeared into darkness outside, and instead of the lake, Sarah could see their reflection in the window, 

This week I am spotlighting Making Friends Can Be Murder by Kathleen West. This one is on my review stack. I was interested because of the setting - Minneapolis - which is a city I lived in for a while in my early 20s. Here is the description from Amazon:

Thirty-year-old Sarah Jones gets caught up solving a murder after unknowingly befriending a dangerous con artist (who’s nothing like what she seems) in this playful, twisty mystery from acclaimed author Kathleen West.

It feels like kismet when Sarah Jones, newly relocated to Minneapolis after abruptly calling off her engagement, gets invited to join a group of women who share her same (very common) name. For years Sarah has received all types of correspondence intended for different Sarah Joneses, but now it seems that this mistake has given her the opportunity for an instant community.

What starts as a low-stakes meet-up called “The Sarah Jones Project” soon turns sinister when another local Sarah Jones is found dead, under suspicious circumstances, at the base of the downtown Minneapolis bridge. After fielding numerous calls from concerned loved ones ruling out their Sarah as the victim, the surviving Sarahs decide to take matters into their own hands.

Aided by the dead woman’s nanny, a newly commissioned (and very handsome and eligible) FBI agent, and a cloistered nun with a complicated past, the motley crew of unlikely friends are determined to get to the bottom of the murder of one of their own.

ARC Review: The Busybody Book Club by Freya Sampson

The Busybody Book Club
Author: Freya Sampson
Publication: Berkley (May 27, 2025)

Description: They can’t even agree on what to read, so how are they going to solve a murder?

Having recently moved from London to a small Cornish seaside village, Nova Davies started a book club at the local community center, but so far it’s a disaster. The five members disagree on everything, and to make matters worse, a significant sum of money is stolen during one of the meetings, putting the much-loved community center at risk.

Suspicion for the theft falls on book club member Michael, especially when he disappears and a dead body turns up at his house. But the book club has their own theories. Agatha Christie superfan Phyllis is determined to prove Michael’s been framed, while romance reader Arthur believes there’s a mystery woman involved, and teenage sci-fi fan Ash thinks dark forces are at play.

While trying to locate Michael, solve the murder and recover the stolen money, each of them has their own secrets to protect. But despite the danger closing in, they won’t rest until they’ve cracked the case and gotten everyone safe at home with a book, where they belong.

My Thoughts: After the death of her beloved father, Nova Davies moves from London to a small village on the seaside in Cornwall. She's come to her fiance's hometown where they are living with his parents, and his mother has taken over plans for the wedding setting Nova's wishes aside.

Nova works for the local community center which is in financial difficulty. She also runs a book club through the center. Her readers are a small, eclectic mix. Phyllis is an elderly Agatha Christie fan who sees mysteries everywhere and who has been warned off by the local constabulary for her excessive "help." Athur is an elderly farmer who reads a lot of romances aloud to his housebound, blind wife of sixty years. Ash is a quiet teenager who is a science fiction fan. Michael is a new member of the group and somewhat mysterious. 

When Michael gets a text and rushes out of the meeting one Wednesday night. Next, the theft of 10,000 pounds is discovered. It had been kept in the petty cash drawer intended as a payment to the roofers who were set to begin fixing the leaky roof the next day. Nova is being blamed for allowing the theft because she didn't lock the office door. 

The book club decides to track down Michael because they are certain he was the only one who could have taken the money. When they get to his house, the find the police and an ambulance and see a body being removed from the premises. But it is Michael's mother who has died, and no one can find Michael. 

Our amateur sleuths are undaunted though Nova tries to reign them in since she should be working on her wedding plans for her rapidly nearing wedding date. However, she's having some second thoughts about getting married and she's being plagued with other mistakes at work. 

This was an engaging story filled with quirky but lovable characters. I liked the mystery. But what I liked most of all was getting to know the members of the Busybody Book Club.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: The Vineyard at Painted Moon by Susan Mallery

The Vineyard at Painted Moon
Author: Susan Mallery
Narrator: Tanya Eby
Publication: Harlequin Audio (February 9, 2021)
Length: 10 hours and 34 minutes

Description: Step into the vineyard with Susan Mallery’s most irresistible novel yet, as one woman searches for the perfect blend of love, family and wine.

Mackenzie Dienes seems to have it all — a beautiful home, close friends and a successful career as an elite winemaker with the family winery. There’s just one problem — it’s not her family, it’s her husband’s. In fact, everything in her life is tied to him — his mother is the closest thing to a mom that she’s ever had, their home is on the family compound, his sister is her best friend. So when she and her husband admit their marriage is over, her pain goes beyond heartbreak. She’s on the brink of losing everything. Her job, her home, her friends and, worst of all, her family.

Staying is an option. She can continue to work at the winery, be friends with her mother-in-law, hug her nieces and nephews — but as an employee, nothing more. Or she can surrender every piece of her heart in order to build a legacy of her own. If she can dare to let go of the life she thought she wanted, she might discover something even more beautiful waiting for her beneath a painted moon.

My Thoughts: Mackenzie Dienes is living the life she has always wanted. She's a winemaker for an excellent and established winery. She's married into the Barcellona family which gives her family which she didn't have as an orphan. She is best friends with her sister-in-law Stephanie. 

But her perfect life comes tumbling down when Rhys, her husband of sixteen years, asks for a divorce. Sure, Mackenzie knew that she and her husband weren't in love anymore and were more like friends and roommates, but the family and the job were enough for her. 

Mackenzie doesn't know what to do. Divorce, even an amicable one, will cost her the job she loves and the family she has built. And, to pile on, farewell sex has left her pregnant with a baby her husband doesn't want. 

As Mackenzie is trying to rebuild her life, her sister-in-law Stephanie is also at a crisis point. She wants a new job that will take her away from the family vineyard where she can never seem to please her perfectionist mother. And she doesn't want to start over with her ex-husband even though they are getting along better as they parent their two children.

When Mackenzie partners up with a man who wants to develop a vineyard, she has a chance to rebuild her life, but her ex-mother-in-law Barbara is doing everything she can to sabotage her. And things don't really improve with her ex-mother-in-law when they recruit Stephanie to do the marketing for the new vineyard.

Barbara is also a viewpoint character, and she doesn't come off well. Her complete focus on her vineyard has ruined her relationships with all of her children but she isn't accepting any of the blame for the way things are turning out. She manages to alienate the man who loves her and asks her to marry him.

This was an interesting story. I liked the way Mackenzie and Stephanie managed to rebuild their lives once they got out from under Barbara's thumb. 

I bought this one May 21, 2021. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: A Map to Paradise by Susan Meissner

A Map to Paradise
Author: Susan Meissner
Publication: Berkley (March 18, 2025)

Description: 1956, Malibu, California: Something is not right on Paradise Circle.

With her name on the Hollywood blacklist and her life on hold, starlet Melanie Cole has little choice in company. There is her next-door neighbor, Elwood, but the screenwriter’s agoraphobia allows for just short chats through open windows. He’s her sole confidante, though, as she and her housekeeper, Eva, an immigrant from war-torn Europe, rarely make conversation.

Then one early morning Melanie and Eva spot Elwood’s sister-in-law and caretaker, June, digging in his beloved rose garden. After that they don’t see Elwood at all anymore. Where could a man who never leaves the house possibly have gone?

As they try to find out if something has happened to him, unexpected secrets are revealed among all three women, leading to an alliance that seems the only way for any of them to hold on to what they can still call their own. But it’s a fragile pact and one little spark could send it all up in smoke…

My Thoughts: This story, which takes place mainly in December of 1956, tells the story of three women who though outwardly very different find that they have a lot in common.

Melanie Cole is hiding out in a house supplied by her lover after both were blacklisted in Hollywood having been accused of being Communists. Melanie had just had her first success as a movie actress and received rave reviews for her performance. Now, she is distraught that her career has ended and that she has been wrongly accused of being a Communist.

Eva is a housemaid and a refugee from Europe after the second World War. She is claiming to be Polish but is actually a Volga German. Her family for some generations has kept their German language and culture while living in Russia. Eva was almost sixteen when her father, older brother, and sweetheart were arrested and sent to a gulag. She flees with her sweetheart's mother and sister to Germany and spends some years in camps for displaced persons until she finds a sponsor to help her emigrate to the United States. 

June Blankenship lives next to Melanie's house where she cares for her agoraphobic brother-in-law who makes his living writing film scripts. Unknown to most, June has been her brother-in-law Elwood's script doctor for years while Elwood shuts himself in dwelling on the car accident that severely injured him and killed the woman he had fallen in love with. 

When Elwood commits suicide, June panics at the thought of losing her only home and source of income and buries him in his beloved rose garden. Melanie, who has been using Elwood as a sounding board for her troubles, gets suspicious when he stops communicating with her. She sends her maid Eva to find out what is going on in the Blankenship home.

The three women agree to work together once they understand each other's needs. All of them are displaced in one way or another and all of them are looking for a home filled with love and security. 

This was engaging historical fiction and was a great story of women's friendships. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

Book Review: The Book Club Hotel by Sarah Morgan

The Book Club Hotel
Author: Sarah Morgan
Publication: Canary Street Press (September 19, 2023)

Description: "The Book Club Hotel is a gift...the perfect escape-and-find-yourself novel."—Susan Wiggs, New York Times bestselling author

This summer, let USA Today bestselling author Sarah Morgan transport you with another heartfelt exploration of change, the power of books to heal, and the enduring strength of female friendship. Perfect for fans of Emily Henry and Jennifer Weiner.

With its historic charm and picture-perfect library, the Maple Sugar Inn is considered the ultimate vacation destination. But widowed far too young, and exhausted from juggling the hotel with being a dedicated single mom, Hattie Coleman dreams only of making it through each day.

When Erica, Claudia and Anna—lifelong friends who seem to have it all—check in for a girlfriends’ book club holiday, it changes everything. Their close friendship and shared love of books have carried them through life's ups and downs. But Hattie can see they're also packing some major emotional baggage, and nothing prepares her for how deeply her own story is about to become entwined in theirs.

In the span of a week, can these four women come together to improve each other’s lives and make this the start of a whole new chapter?

Find out what happens when a career-driven woman exchanges her briefcase for a Christmas-kissed cottage in USA Today bestselling author Sarah Morgan's heartwarming story, The Holiday Cottage!

My Thoughts: This story is about four women who are each at a crisis point in their lives and who rely on each other to help each make decisions about their lives. 

It is Christmas time and innkeeper Hattie Coleman is dealing with a temperamental chef, an unpleasant housekeeper, and her own grief at the death of her husband. She's also raising a five-year-old daughter. She feels way over-stressed and under pressure to make her husband's dreams for the inn come true. 

Then three friends from college turning forty check in for their annual book club vacation. Erika has picked the place which seems way out of her comfort zone being much more at home in big cities than in rural Vermont. She's a high-powered executive who does crisis management for big businesses and travels more than she's at home in Manhattan.

Claudia has had her live-in lover of ten years walk out on her for a younger woman and then has lost her job in a high-end restaurant. She's hoping time with friends will help her choose a new direction for her life. 

Anna is a stay-at-home mother who is facing empty nest syndrome as her twins are about ready to go off to college leaving her wondering what to do with the rest of her life. She's loved marrying her college sweetheart, raising her twins, and making a home. She's trying to hold on to all the traditions she and her husband Pete have built up over the years.

But Erika has been keeping a secret. She has recently learned that the father who abandoned her and her mother when she was born had raised a new family. Hattie is the half-sister she never knew she had. Hattie is pleased when she recognizes Erika since her father had talked about her frequently and talked about his regrets at leaving her. Erika's feelings are mixed. She's as ferociously independent as her mother could make her, but she's finding that living alone and not making commitments is a lonely way to live. 

I loved this story. Each of the characters found a way to change with the help of the others. I loved the caring relationships among the college friends. The setting was wonderful. This was a great holiday romance. 

I bought this one December 29, 2023. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Author's Guide to Murder by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig & Kate White

The Author's Guide to Murder
Author: Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Kate White
Publication: William Morrow (November 5, 2024)

Description: Agatha Christie meets Murder, She Wrote in this witty locked room mystery and literary satire by New York Times bestselling team of novelists: Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White.

There’s been a sensational murder at historic Castle Kinloch, a gothic fantasy of grey granite on a remote island in the Highlands of Scotland. Literary superstar Brett Saffron Presley has been found dead—under bizarre circumstances—in the castle tower’s book-lined study. Years ago, Presley purchased the castle as a showpiece for his brand and to lure paying guests with a taste for writerly glamour. Now it seems, the castle has done him in…or, possibly, one of the castle’s guests has. Detective Chief Inspector Euan McIntosh, a local with no love for literary Americans, finds himself with the unenviable task of extracting statements from three American lady novelists.

The prime suspects are Kat de Noir, a slinky erotica writer; Cassie Pringle, a Southern mom of six juggling multiple cozy mystery series; and Emma Endicott, a New England blue blood and author of critically acclaimed historical fiction. The women claim to be best friends writing a book together, but the authors’ stories about how they know Brett Saffron Presley don’t quite line up, and the detective is getting increasingly suspicious.

Why did the authors really come to Castle Kinloch? And what really happened the night of the great Kinloch ceilidh, when Brett Saffron Presley skipped the folk dancing for a rendezvous with death?

A crafty locked-room mystery, a pointed satire about the literary world, and a tale of unexpected friendship and romance—this novel has it all, as only three bestselling authors can tell it!

My Thoughts: THE AUTHOR'S GUIDE TO MURDER is the latest collaboration by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White. The story takes place in Scotland and doesn't seem to miss any opportunity to explore Scottish themes - from plaid to whisky to accents. 

Three authors are at Castle Kinloch for a writing workshop. They have convinced their editor to send them so that they can write a story about the death of the notorious Naughty Ned who died at a house party in 1900. 

The three women are claiming to be best friends, but that assertion falls apart quite quickly since they are so different from one another and so prone to bickering. Kat de Noir writes paranormal erotica; Cassie Pringle writes a number of cozy series; and Emma Endicott writes detailed and annotated historical biographies of obscure women. But they do have one thing in common. Each was victimized by best-selling author Brett Saffron Presley who is renting the Castle and is the host (though an unseen one) of the writing workshop. 

When Brett Saffron Paisley is found dead, it is not leap for the police to center their suspicions on the three women. In fact, they briefly even doubt each other but then decided to work together to find out what happened to BSP and, incidentally, clear their own names. 

The story was filled with romance tropes. It also had interesting and well-developed characters in the three authors. The story was also filled with humor both in the characters of the authors and the estate manager with the pet sheep. 

This was a fun reading experience. Readers of romance and mystery will enjoy this one. 

Favorite Quote:

Kat has a theory that it was mutual incomprehension that fueled attraction; once you figured out who the other person was -- well, it didn't last long. 

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers

The Book Swap
Author: Tessa Bickers
Publication: Graydon House; Original edition (September 3, 2024)

Description: “A love letter to books and reading. This debut is catnip for any book geek. I just loved it.” —Cesca Major, author of Maybe Next Time, a Reese’s Book Club Pick

A story of second chances and new beginnings, this is a love letter to books—and a love letter to life

Still reeling from a recent tragedy, Erin Connolly knows she needs to start living, but has no idea how. When she accidentally donates her favorite book—a heavily annotated copy of To Kill a Mockingbird containing a memento she can’t be without—to a local little community library, she’s devastated. But then the book turns up a week later, back in the library with fresh notes in the margins, along with an invitation in a copy of Great Expectations to meet her newfound pen pal.

A life-changing conversation, written only in the margins of beloved classic books, begins between Erin and her Mystery Man. Following each other through the pages of their favorite novels as the book exchange continues, they both begin to open up, falling into a friendship…and maybe something more.

But Erin and her pen pal have a shared history that neither of them has guessed. Faced with painful reminders of the past—and the one person she swore never to forgive—Erin finds herself at a crossroads. One that could change her life forever.

My Thoughts: Erin Connolly is still grieving the death of her best friend three years earlier. She doesn't know how to move on. When she accidentally donates her favorite book to a little free library, she is desperate to get it back. When she does find it again, she finds that the person who had it added to her many margin notes and began a conversation with her. 

James Parr found To Kill a Mockingbird and became intrigued by the person he names Margin Girl. He is dealing with a job at which he is successful but which he doesn't enjoy and a bipolar mother who often needs help. He has long had the dream of becoming a writer but had let everyday responsibilities with his work and family situation to derail his dreams. 

Erin has recently quit her job when her controlling boss wouldn't let her attend her friend's memorial and is now trying to decide what her new future should be. She seems to be living in sweats and staying in bed. Only her walks to the little library to see if her pen pal has left more notes or recommended another book to share gets her out of her depressed state. Until a man looking for a book for his daughter hires Erin to help the girl prepare for her school exams. 

Erin is gradually beginning a new career as a teacher and James is finally writing the book that he's wanted to write for years. But will their shared past with its shared hurts derail each of their new brighter futures?

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: Nosy Neighbors by Freya Sampson

Nosy Neighbors
Author: Freya Sampson
Publication: Berkley (April 2, 2024)

Description: Nothing brings neighbors together like someone else’s secrets… At Shelley House, the walls have ears, and they’re attached to a ragtag duo of busybodies ready to pry, snoop, and generally annoy their neighbors into solving a crime.

Seventy-seven-year-old Dorothy Darling has lived in Shelley House longer than any of the other residents, and if you take their word for it, she’s as cantankerous as they come. But Dorothy has her reasons for spying. And none of them require justifying herself to Kat Bennett.

Twenty-five-year-old Kat has never known a place where she felt truly at home, and crumbling Shelley House is no different. Her neighbors find her prickly and unapproachable, but beneath her tough exterior, Kat’s plagued by a guilty secret from her past.

When their apartments face demolition, sworn enemies Kat and Dorothy agree on just one thing: they must save their historic building. But when someone plays dirty—and one of the residents is viciously taken down—Dorothy and Kat seek justice. The police close the investigation too soon, leaving it up to the unlikely amateur sleuths—with a playful Jack Russell terrier at their side—to restore peace in their community.

My Thoughts: This quiet mystery, told in two voices, was as much about coming to terms with the past as it was a mystery to be solved.

Dorothy Darling is seventy-seven and has lived in Shelly House for more than thirty-four years. She prides herself, and irritates her neighbors, by her constant watching and noting of infractions to all the various rules of the place. She is also something of a recluse preferring own company. 

Kat Bennett is a twenty-five-year-old complete with pink hair and tattoos - and secrets. She has come to Shelley House renting a room in Joseph Chamber's apartment. She just wants a look around the town where she has some happy memories of time spent with her grandfather until things all blew up and her mother took her away. She has been feeling guilty about those events ever since. 

When Shelley House, which has been neglected for years, becomes the site of a new development, Dorothy, Joseph and Kat are all determined to stop the new development planned by a shady builder who is most known for the dirty tricks he uses to get others to sell him their property. 

Told alternately by Kat and Dorothy, the story gradually unfolds, and we learn more about each main character's past. 

If you are looking for fast-paced excitement and danger, look elsewhere. However, if you are looking for characters who are coming to terms with their past and a slow-growing friendship, you have come to the right place. 

Favorite Quote:

"Dorothy, can you hear me?"

The women let out another soft rasp but didn't move. Kat knelt down, not daring to touch her.

"I'll call an ambulance," she heard Vince say behind her. 

"I'll get her a blanket," Tomasz called.

I received this one in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. You can buy your copy here.