ARC Review: Hot Girl Murder Club by Ashley Winstead

Hot Girl Murder Club
Author: Ashley Winstead
Publication: Minotaur Books (July 14, 2026)

Description: From national bestselling author Ashley Winstead comes a buzzy, bloody new thriller about success, sisterhood, and demanding justice…by any means necessary.

What’s a girl got to do to get some fame, a few million record sales, and justice for murder?

Ten years ago, aspiring singer-actress Scout Sage lost the only thing that mattered: her sister, Georgia. Ever since Georgia’s mysterious death at a Hollywood party, Scout’s done her best to honor her memory, clawing her way through the industry and collecting a network of climbers along the way, fellow hot girls in stilettos with cutthroat ambition, a new Hollywood order.

But when a slew of targeted murders makes headlines across L.A., all pointing to Scout as the killer, she turns overnight from a mid-tier pop star into the world’s most famous (alleged) murderer. Now everything she’s worked to build―including the justice she wants for Georgia―will fall apart unless Scout can prove she’s not guilty.

Meanwhile, the young and unusual detective assigned to her case, herself no stranger to tragedy, begins to unearth secrets not even Scout knows, let alone her millions of new fans. Particularly about the ways Georgia’s death connects to an even older pattern of crimes long hushed over in Hollywood―an old reign of terror that, if brought to light, could be the fuel that ignites a reckoning the world over.

My Thoughts: HOT GIRL MURDER CLUB hits all the tropes in a fascinating and compelling story of women's power, ambition, and murder. It is told from multiple viewpoints including excerpts from a PhD dissertation about a group of young women known as Our Ladies of the Dark.

Grey Holloway is a LAPD detective whose father was fired for his obsession that someone at the LAPD sabotaged his investigation into his daughter's disappearance. Grey's older sister Alice disappeared ten years earlier while working one night at the Serpent Room, a club that was popular with the in-crowd then and still attracts the current in-crowd. Grey is determined to solve her sister's case and moonlights herself as a bottle girl at the Serpent Room. 

Grey's current case is investigating the murder of a woman who looks just like her. Elizabeth Drake had worked for a number of Hollywood movers and shakers. There is a quotation written on the wall in her blood which turns out to be an excerpt from the lyrics of a song written by Scout Sage.

Scout Sage and her best friend Isabel came from New Jersey to become stars. Scout's sister Georgia came a year later to attend UCLA. In a flashback from ten years ago, we see Scout, Isabel, and Georgia attending a party at an influential man's home. They were looking for contacts and maybe a break, but when Georgia was found murdered, Scout and Isabel have a new goal. They need to find her killer. 

Over the ten years, Scout gains some minor fame as a musician and Isabel becomes her assistant. But their real purpose is to find Georgia's killer and help other young women who are being done wrong by men. They have gathered a posse of influential women that they have helped over the years but have come no closer to finding Georgia's killer. 

However, in the present storyline things are finally breaking open. 

I enjoyed this twisty story with all its various themes. I liked all of the viewpoint characters and the way their lives intertwined. It was an intriguing story filled with memorable characters. 

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

ARC Review: Pretty Dead Things by Kelsey Cox

Pretty Death Things
Author: Kelsey Cox
Publication: Minotaur Books (July 7, 2026)

Description: Secrets emerge as a Texas beauty pageant turns dealy in this rich and addictive novel with a jaw-dropping twist from psychological suspense author Kelsey Cox.

2000: Isabelle Whitmore vanishes at Sherman Ranch in Anhalt, Texas, without a trace.

2025: The Lone Star Princess Pageant is about to begin, but this year it’s offering more than an annual dose of rhinestone heels and plunging necklines. Competition is stiffer than ever ―and long standing grudges are about to resurface. Ingrid fled Anhalt in the wake of her sister Isabelle’s disappearance and has now returned, just in time for a construction crew to start digging up Sherman Ranch; the pageant brings up past traumas that Melanie can't forget; Cat, newly sober, starts to feel threatened in ways that bring back old demons; and Sarah Lynn, who comes from a long line of pageant winners, knows that losing is not an option.

When old resentments and new confrontations reach their boiling point, temperatures drop to deadly degrees as a record-setting storm brings down the state’s power grid. With everyone trapped under one roof, scores will be settled, and more than one person will end up dead.

Beauty dies. Secrets never do.

My Thoughts: Secrets are revealed and rivalries rekindled at the 2025 Lone Star Princess Pageant in Anhalt, Texas. 

Ingrid Whitmore is back home in Anhalt after many years in Colorado. Her mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer, and she wants to help her. Besides, her marriage has fallen apart, and she still has questions about her sister's disappearance when the twins were seventeen.

Her mother's nurse is Melanie who was also one of Ingrid and Isabelle's classmates. One Ingrid and Kennedy Claire and their social set bullied including the time they left her naked on the river as a prank. 

There are four main viewpoint characters in this story. Their viewpoints alternate. The story also has flashbacks to 2000 and 2017 along with the main timeline of 2025. The 2025 timeline is centered around the latest Lone Star Princess Pageant.

Viewpoints include Ingrid's, Melanie's, Sarah Lynn's (Kennedy Claire's daughter and current Lone Star Princess contestant), and Cat's who was another of Ingrid, Isabelle, and Melanie's classmates and whose daughter Olivia is also a pageant contestant as is Melanie's daughter. 

As each chapter unfolds, we learn more about the rivalries and we learn more about Isabelle's disappearance and what it meant to all the characters. At first, the story was a little confusing to me. It improved greatly once I had managed to build a mental timeline and family trees. 

This was a twisty thriller with a number of twists and surprises. 

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

ARC Review: The Last Time We Saw Her by Jaclyn Goldis

The Last Time We Saw Her
Author: Jaclyn Goldis
Publication: Atria/Emily Bestler Books (June 16, 2026)

Description: Ten years ago, a teenage summer camper disappeared while searching for a rumored treasure on a remote island. Now, the long-buried truth of what happened to her and the long-lost gold threatens the lives of her friends in this thriller from the critically acclaimed author of The Chateau.

Ten years ago, a group of American teenage summer campers went to a lush and isolated Azores island for a hiking and heritage trip. But when a clue to a local legend of buried treasure emerged, the summer devolved into a frenzied hunt and culminated in the disappearance—and rumored murder—of “it girl” camper, Sydney. She was never seen again and the treasure never found.

Now, a decade later, Sydney’s closest circle returns to honor her memory: Sydney’s sister and fellow camper, Olivia; a group of childhood camp friends; and their beloved counselors. They’ve all agreed to participate in a documentary probing what really happened to Sydney.

The group reunites in paradise and retraces their old haunts, hiking along crater lakes and submerging in thermal hot springs. But not everyone has innocent motives for returning to the island. And when the documentary filming reveals explosive truths and fresh hints resurrect the tantalizing treasure hunt, the group begins to implode. Old feuds reignite—and then one of them turns up dead.

Which means that a murderer has surfaced...again.

My Thoughts: This mystery takes place on the Azores. Ten years after Sydney disappeared, her fellow campers and their counselors gather the remember her and, maybe, finally learn what happened to her. 

Olivia was Sydney's sister. She was accused, at the time, of killing her sister but there wasn't enough evidence to try her. She's spent the past ten years becoming a bestselling author who writes mysteries loosely based on that summer trip. She also suffers from anxiety and sometimes has blackouts which means she doesn't know what she knows about Sydney's death. 

Lexa was Sydney's best friend. Over the past ten years, she's married Olivia's rich former boyfriend and built a life for herself. 

Eli is the rich boyfriend. He's an easy-going type and what his wife refers to as a Happy Baby.

Reuben was another scholarship kid at the camp. He is a failed businessman keeping up appearances.

Jules was one of the counselors. Now, she's trying to secure her financial future by making a documentary about the events of the past ten years and her efforts to find out what happened.

Aiden was the other counselor on the trip. He's a marine biologist now who is studying sharks,

Cass was Reuben's little sister who tagged along with the older teens when she could. Now, she is a medaled Olympic gymnast training for the next Olympics.

Ten years earlier, the camping trip turned into a treasure hunt when one of the campers found a clue that had them all running all over the island and dreaming of being rich. The treasure was never found but that doesn't mean that some of them are still looking.

This is a story of tangled relationships and secrets. It is told from multiple viewpoints and includes sections of the documentary. This was a twisty story. I enjoyed the setting and the information about a Jewish presence on the Azores. 

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

ARC Review: Man of My Dreams by Olivia Worley

Man of My Dreams
Author: Olivia Worley
Publication: Minotaur Books (June 2, 2026)

Description: A romance author is shocked when one of her characters-in-progress seemingly comes to life… but is he too good to be true, in this dramatic and twisty thriller perfect for fans of Ashley Winstead and Kate Alice Marshall, where the truth really is stranger than fiction.

Read this if you like:

*Meet cutes gone wrong (like, really, really wrong).

*Your boyfriends as unreliable as your narrators.

*Bringing him to meet your family, Murder Edition.

Bestselling romance author Ivy Harcourt has been as unlucky in love as she’s been successful in writing—as her sad relationship track attests, there are no good dating options left in New York . . . Until she rescues an escaped dog in the park, and runs into Liam. Charming, British, hot architect Liam. The exact description of the love interest in her next book.

When an instant connection leads to a whirlwind relationship, Ivy is convinced she’s found the dream man. Except he may be too perfect. He may be hiding something.

And Ivy may have secrets of her own.

My Thoughts: Ivy Harcourt is a successful author of romances but very unsuccessful in her personal romance department. However, when she stops a dog from dashing into the street, she meets Liam who is the embodiment of the hero of her latest romance. But is he too good to be true?

It seems that Ivy is having stalker issues which don't combine well with her sleepwalking. There are also allusions to secrets from her past which might have something to do with the stalker.

I found this book to be confusing since I was expecting a romance and found myself in the middle of a psychological thriller with unreliable narrators and unreliable characters too. 

If you are looking for "twisty." this one certainly will satisfy. 

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

ARC Review: The Final Target by Nora Roberts

The Final Target
Author: Nora Roberts
Publication: St. Martin's Press (May 26, 2026)

Description: A young author becomes the object of a fan’s desire―and rage―in the gripping thriller by the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Hidden Nature.

He showed up at Arden Bowie’s debut author appearance with a copy of her novel and an eager smile. He showered her with compliments and got her autograph. Then he came to her next event. And the one after that.

Dustin was just an aspiring writer who wanted advice, Arden reassured herself. But after giving in to one of his incessant invitations and chatting with him over coffee, she discovered that ignoring her inner alarm bell had been a terrible mistake…

An introvert at heart, Arden had long craved solitude―but now, after a harrowing assault, she finds herself hiding behind locked doors and startling at every sound. And her relief at his imprisonment is tempered by anxiety when Dustin’s wealthy mother helps to get him a paltry five-year sentence at a psychiatric facility.

Arden decides to write a new story for herself, moving to a tiny Oregon town and befriending Gideon, an ex-LAPD detective. But while she learns to thrive, Dustin remains his delusional, twisted self, as fixated as ever and now seething with anger. He still believes Arden's purpose on earth is to serve and please him. And his job is to protect her. But who will protect her from him?

My Thoughts: Arden Bowen has written her first book and is at a signing at the bookstore where she works when she signs a book for Dustin. He shows up at her next signing and the one after that too. He wants to take her for coffee or a meal. She agrees to a coffee just to appease him and that ends things for her.

It doesn't end things for Dustin who becomes fixated on her. He breaks into her apartment and takes trophies. Then he arrives with flowers, forces his way in, and attacks her. Luckily her downstairs neighbors hear the noise and rescue her. 

While Dustin is sentenced to five years in a psychiatric facility because of the influence of his rich mother, Arden in left with fear of going outside. She's determined to overcome her anxiety, but it is a slow process with lots of backsliding. She has the support of her loving family and friends.

Arden leaves Ohio and moves to Riverbend, Oregon, to be near her family and to get away from Dustin. She is making a new life including a new relationship with Gideon who is working in his grandfather's hardware store and doing woodworking after his career as a Los Angeles detective implodes. She's moving on a building a new life.

But Dustin isn't willing to move on. He has spent his five years building fantasies about Arden and planning revenge on those he feels did him wrong including his mother, his lawyer, the judge and the police officers who arrested him. When he's released early because his father is dying, he begins his revenge by killing his mother and heading to Oregon for Arden.

This was an excellent thriller filled with memorable characters. I love the way Roberts writes relationships from friendship to love. The villain was a counterpoint to Arden's life and his viewpoint sections extremely creepy. 

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

ARC Review: The Anniversary by Alex Finlay

The Anniversary
Author: Alex Finlay
Publication: Minotaur Books (May 12, 2026)

Description: Every May 1st, a serial killer stalks a small town. Every year he comes for them . . .

On May 1, 1992, Jules Delaney and Quinn Riley hardly know each other.

Jules is high school queen bee in a small Midwestern town when she survives a brutal attack by the elusive May Day Killer―a predator who strikes every May 1st and then vanishes without a trace. Quinn, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, is arrested the same night after trying to break up a fight and nearly killing someone.

By morning, their lives are forever connected.

A year later, Jules is haunted by trauma and guilt, tormented by one question: Why was she spared? Quinn is newly released from juvenile detention and returns home to devastating news―the unsolved murder of his mother.

Over the next decade, their lives are revisited on a single day each year: May 1st.

As the years pass, secrets surface, lies unravel, and the paths of Jules and Quinn draw closer together. Two mysteries edge toward the truth―what really happened the night Jules was attacked, and who murdered Quinn’s mother? All the while, the May Day Killer is still out there.

And the clock is racing toward another anniversary.

Twisty, high-concept, and emotionally charged, The Anniversary is an addictive murder mystery and nail-biting thriller―but it’s also a tender, heartrending story about fate, innocence lost, and two people bound by a single day. With its masterful structure and propulsive tension, The Anniversary reaffirms Alex Finlay as one of the leading thriller writers today.

My Thoughts: May 1 is the anniversary. This story begins in 1992 when Jules and Quinn meet in high school study hall. They are from different cliques. Jules is upper class and Quinn comes from the wrong side of the tracks. They do begin a tentative friendship though. Events come to a head on May Day when Jules is abducted and raped after ditching her cheating boyfriend at a concert and Quinn takes part in a fight that almost kills a guy. Jules doesn't tell anyone, but her life is disrupted. Quinn finds himself in Juvie and also has his life disrupted when his mother is murdered.

The next May Day Jules is discovered by a model agency and Quinn joins the Army. And the May Day Killer continues to take and kill young girls.

And the years go on. Jules has a successful career as a fashion model and masks her pain with drugs and alcohol. Quinn is invalided out of the Army after action in Somalia and, with a career in law enforcement impossible because of his injuries, becomes a private investigator in Omaha. Between his cases, he continues to investigate his own mother's murder because he doesn't believe the boyfriend did it. He is also working on the case of missing 8-year-old that the police have given on and put in the cold cases file. 

Then Jules younger sister is taken by the May Day Killer. She finally tells her parents that she was one of the lucky ones the killer didn't kill. She opens a nonprofit which searches for the missing. The May Day Killer is not the only source of missing persons.

Through the years, Jules and Quinn do keep running into each other, but it never seems like the right time for them. She's modeling in New York. He has a girlfriend. 

This was an excellent mystery. It was also an excellent story about friendship and love, lost innocence, and lost opportunities. I really enjoyed it. 

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

Audiobook Review: Trust No One by Jayne Ann Krentz

Trust No One
Author: Jayne Ann Krentz
Narrator: Amanda Cobb
Publication: Recorded Books (January 6, 2015)
Length: 9 hours and 43 minutes

Description: A New York Times bestselling masterpiece of romantic suspense from the author of Promise Not to Tell...

When Grace Elland finds her boss, motivational speaker Sprague Witherspoon, murdered, a vodka bottle on his nightstand is a terrifying reminder of the horrors of her past—one that can be no coincidence.

To regroup, Grace retreats to her childhood home, Cloud Lake, where she meets venture capitalist Julius Arkwright, a man who lives to make money, by any means necessary. But the intense former Marine has skills that Grace can use—to figure out her future. And he’s the perfect man to help Grace when it becomes clear she is being stalked.

As Witherspoon’s financial empire continues to crumble around them, taking a deadly toll, Julius will walk Grace step by step into her past to uncover a devious plan to destroy not only Grace, but everyone around her as well...

My Thoughts: Grace Elland's plans for her future change abruptly when she finds her boss - motivational speaker Sprague Witherspoon - murdered. The vodka bottle on the nightstand brings back some trauma from Grace's own troubled past. 

She decides to regroup and come up with a new career plan in her hometown of Cloud Lake. She meets venture capitalist Julius Arkwright at a dinner planned by her childhood friend who has a blind date in mind. Julius was recruited by Grace's friend's husband who is the local police chief to see if Grace might actually have murdered Witherspoon. 

Julius and Grace begin a relationship when it seems that Grace might have some use for him in her future plans. She has also attracted a stalker which also makes Julius who was a former Marine useful. It also seems to be apparent that Witherspoon's death might have some connection to that long ago event when she rescued a kidnapped boy and killed his abductor with a broken vodka bottle. 

Grace and Julian build their relationship as they try to untangle the threads that tie the two events together. I enjoyed Grace's positive attitude and the way it contrasts nicely with Julius's more cynical viewpoint. I also enjoyed the banter between the characters. 

I bought this one December 3, 2025. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: You Did Nothing Wrong by CG Drews

You Did Nothing Wrong
Author: CG Drews
Publication: St. Martin's Press (March 17, 2026)

Description: Domestic suspense meets haunted house horror in this adult debut from the New York Times bestselling author of Don’t Let the Forest In.

The walls are closing in on her perfect new life.

Single mother Elodie’s life has become a fairy tale. She’s met Bren, equal parts Golden-retriever-devoted and sinfully handsome. He’s whisked her and her autistic son, Jude, to the crumbling family house he’s renovating. She has a new husband, a new house, and a new baby on the way. Everything is perfect.

Until Jude claims he can hear voices in the walls. He says their renovations are “hurting” the house. Even Elodie can’t ignore it―something strange is going on.

The question is, Is it with the house, or with her son?

And what is Elodie hiding?

My Thoughts: YOU DID NOTHING WRONG is a tightly focused thriller. It is told from the viewpoint of Elodie. She's twenty-two, has recently married and moved from Australia to the United States, and is the mother of six-year-old autistic son. 

While she loves Bren who swept her off her feet, she is less enamored with the construction project they are living in. Bren has taken her home to his deceased parents' house which he is gradually remodeling and updating. 

Things are chaotic. When her son Jude begins talking about hearing voices in the walls and how the remodeling is hurting the house, things get even stranger. Soon Elodie who is about four months pregnant is also hearing things in the house. 

Elodie's focus on caring for her son who has frequent tantrums and meltdowns conflicts with her desire to hold on to her new husband. Her mental health seems to deteriorate with each page of this story. Each flashback gives some indication of why. 

This was a hard story to read because of its emotional intensity. The tight focus on Elodie made the story seem almost claustrophobic. And the twists in the story gave me a sort of mental whiplash. Fans of the horrific will enjoy this exploration into the mind of a young woman.

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

ARC Review: A Lie for a Lie by Ren DeStefano

A Lie for a Lie
Author: Ren DeStefano
Publication: Berkley (March 10, 2026)

Description: A deadly game of cat and mouse unfolds when a housewife with a secret life takes on a tech billionaire with secrets darker than her own . . . from the author of How I'll Kill You.

Margaux leads a double life that would make most people dizzy. By day, she's a seemingly ordinary interior decorator with a picture-perfect marriage. By night, she works for a mysterious employer known only as Mr. X. Her specialty: infiltrating the lives of dangerous targets, gaining their trust, and ultimately exposing their crimes.

Her latest assignment: unraveling the reclusive life of Bertram Casimir, a billionaire tech CEO whose career is as mysterious as his past. His sister claims he stole her app to build his fortune. Not only that, his girlfriend may or may not have recently gone missing.

Bertram sees through Margaux’s carefully constructed facade, matching her move for move. As the lines between hunter and prey blur, Margaux finds herself unexpectedly drawn to Bertram. They share more than she'd like to admit—a dangerous intelligence, a taste for high-stakes manipulation. When the evidence begins to shift, threatening to destroy everything she knows, Margaux realizes this is far more than just another job.

Her hidden past—and her life—are now on the line. One lie remains, and it might just save her.

My Thoughts: A LIE FOR A LIE was an engaging and twisty thriller. Margaux is leading a double life. By day, she's an interior decorator with a ten-year-old daughter and a devoted husband. By night, she's a vigilante working for the mysterious Mr. X to bring down criminals who got away with their crimes. 

Her latest case has her investigating whether or not tech billionaire Bertram Casimir stole the app the made him his billions from his sister who didn't get any of the proceeds. But there is also a question about what happened to his latest girlfriend who seems to have disappeared.

Margaux is teamed up with Elodie whom she knows as the officious parking manager at her daughter's school. Elodie proves to be an unexpected partner with hidden depths and a desire to be Margaux's friend. Since Margaux has been living a life of lies since her childhood, she isn't quite sure what to do with a friend. 

The case quickly gets complex. Bertram doesn't fit the mold of a man who'd stiff his sister or murder his fiancée. And their client is proving elusive and very shifty. Then Mr. X goes off the radar adding more stress to Margaux who is already dealing with a husband who wants her to give up her vigilantism. 

Tensions build as does the danger before a satisfying resolution. I enjoyed this twisty thriller.

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

Audiobook Review: Don't Open the Door by Allison Brennan

Don't Open the Door
Author: Allison Brennan

Narrator: Amy McFadden
Series: Regan Merritt (Book 2)
Publication: Mira (January 24, 2023); Harlequin Audio (January 24, 2023)

Length: 11 hours and 11 minutes

Description: A family torn apart. A botched investigation. She’ll stop at nothing to get answers.

US Marshal Regan Merritt never bought the FBI’s theory that her ten-year-old son’s murder was tied to her job. Yet as leads went cold, she’d had to walk away from the marshals, the case and her now ex-husband, Grant, who blamed her for Chase’s death.

After Regan receives a chilling voice mail from her former boss, Tommy, claiming new information about Chase’s murder, she can no longer stay away from her pain-filled past. Especially when Tommy’s murdered before she can return his call.

Now more than ever, Regan’s determined to find the truth, but the more she digs, the more evidence points to Grant as the killer’s true target. But Grant isn’t talking. As she tries to pin down her ex, Regan discovers something much bigger and far more sinister is at play—and she’s running out of people she can trust.

My Thoughts: Regan Merritt left her career as a US Marshal after her son was murdered in their home. She and her husband divorced, and he blamed her and her work for their son Chase's death. She left the DC area and returned to her home in Arizona.

Regan's partner Tommy never gave up on investigating Chase's murder. He took a leave of absence around the time of the one-year anniversary of the murder. He left a message on Regan's phone that he had found something and was going to his bosses to lay out the facts. Before he could, a sniper shot and killed him outside his home. They took his files leaving Regan with only his cryptic message.

Regan comes back to Virginia to bury her friend - and continue his investigation. She soon learns that her ex was in communication with Tommy but is very reluctant to meet with Regan to tell her what he knows. It seems his law firm was into something really shady. 

There are lots of clues and lots of suspects in this story which might start with a bank robbery and the murder of a teller. The teller's sister has some information that she didn't know was important until Tommy tracked her down. Now the sister is on the run from fake FBI agents and Regan is trying to find her to learn what she knows.

This was a fast-paced and twisty thriller.

I bought this one May 12, 2025. You can buy your copy here.

ARC Review: The Ghost Women by Jennifer Murphy

The Ghost Women
Author: Jennifer Murphy
Publication: Dutton (February 24, 2026)

Description: A mysterious art academy in the woods, a deck of ancient tarot cards, a centuries-old secret

On a hot August morning in 1972, the body of Abel Montague, a student at St. Luke’s Institute of the Arts, is found hanging from a tree in the forest. An ancient Hanged Man tarot card is found in the back pocket of his pants and his body has been positioned into the exact pose illustrated on the card.

When Detective Lola Germany arrives at St. Luke’s—a former monastery that once housed a secret order of monks who carried out witch trials and executions—she believes they are dealing with a ritualistic murder. While interviewing school administrators and Abel’s classmates, Lola discovers Abel’s live-in girlfriend, Pearl, seems shaken but also might be hiding something—along with her group of friends who call themselves witches.

When more students are found dead, each body arranged like a tarot card, Lola realizes she is trapped in a web of power and ambition that spans centuries. Soon the lines between past and present, spiritual and tangible, begin to blur, and the only way to survive is to seek answers from places she never imagined.

My Thoughts: This twisty mystery is filled with ghosts, tarot cards, and murders at a secretive art college on a South Carolina island. 

Detective Lola Germany, with a secret past of her own, is called to St. Luke's when the body of a young student is found hanging from the infamous ghost tree. His body has been posed like that of the Hanged Man from the tarot deck. Frustrated by the lack of cooperation given by the head of the school, Lola tries to investigate and interview the students who know Abel Montgomery. 

Then there are more deaths. Two students jump from a burning tower like the deaths depicted on The Tower tarot card. Hemlock poisoning and accelerants indicate that the deaths were murder, not the accident to school's dean is claiming.

The story is told from multiple points of view. Lola and Pearl who was Abel's live-in and who is a seer carry the bulk of the story. Other characters include Krista who is also a student and a green witch and Esme who is the dean's snitch and a victim.

The story is a twisted tale of murders over centuries, ghosts of wronged women, and young artists with witchy talents. Surrounding all of it is Lola who is back home and working as a police detective after a career as a prima ballerina which ended in tragedy.

I enjoyed the dreamy prose and the mysticism. I also liked the way the past was woven into the story. 

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

ARC Review: The Storm by Rachel Hawkins

The Storm
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Publication: St. Martin's Press (January 6, 2026)

Description: New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins is back with a thrilling new gothic suspense set in a Gulf Coast beach motel where hurricane season can be murder.

St. Medard’s Bay, Alabama is famous for three things: the deadly hurricanes that regularly sweep into town, the Rosalie Inn, a century-old hotel that’s survived every one of those storms, and Lo Bailey, the local girl infamously accused of the murder of her lover, political scion Landon Fitzroy, during Hurricane Marie in 1984.

When Geneva Corliss, the current owner of the Rosalie Inn, hears a writer is coming to town to research the crime that put St. Medard’s Bay on the map, she’s less interested in solving a whodunnit than in how a successful true crime book might help the struggling inn’s bottom line. But to her surprise, August Fletcher doesn’t come to St. Medard’s Bay alone. With him is none other than Lo Bailey herself. Lo says she’s returned to her hometown to clear her name once and for all, but the closer Geneva gets to both Lo and August, the more she wonders if Lo is actually back to settle old scores.

As the summer heats up and another monster storm begins twisting its way towards St. Medard’s Bay, Geneva learns that some people can be just as destructive―and as deadly―as any hurricane, and that the truth of what happened to Landon Fitzroy may not be the only secret Lo is keeping…

My Thoughts: This suspense novel was a compelling read. Composed of excerpts from books, magazines, tabloids, and other sources, the story of what happened in 1984 in St. Medard's Bay, Alabama, when Hurricane Marie whipped threw and left Landon, the scion of the wealthy Fitzoy, dead. 

Pressure from the governor who happened to be Landon's father caused Landon's local lover Lo Bailey to be accused and tried for his murder. There was a hung jury but that didn't mean the Lo wasn't convicted by the court of public opinion. 

Now, it is 2025 and Lo has come back to St. Medard's Bay to stay at the Rosalie Inn along with the man who is writing the book about what happened all those years ago. Geneva Corlis is the current owner of the inn. Her mother who was one of Lo's best friends suffers from early-onset Alzheimer's and is in a nursing home. 

Geneva is struggling to hold on to the inn. Every guest is a blessing and will help with her maxed out credit cards. A writer who wants to stay for at least a month and is willing to pay double her normal rates seems like a gift from heaven. 

Flashbacks fill in the reader on what happened in the past and Geneva learns all sorts of family secrets through the course of the story. And a new hurricane has St. Medard's Bay in its sights just as the most damning secrets are set to be revealed. 

This was a twisty story the was the ultimate page-turner. I couldn't put it down.

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

ARC Review: Beyond Her Reach by Melinda Leigh

Beyond Her Reach
Author: Melinda Leigh
Series: Bree Taggert (Book 10)
Publication: Montlake (September 16, 2025)

Description: In the wake of a woman’s savage murder, the suspects and motives are only mounting for Sheriff Bree Taggert in a twisting novel of suspense by #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh.

In a quiet suburban neighborhood in upstate New York, single mom Kelly Gibson is slain in her home—the victim of a rage killing. Right away, Sheriff Bree Taggert has three persons of interest: an angry soon-to-be ex-husband, a furtive rebound boyfriend, and an obsessive neighbor.

But as Bree and investigator Matt Flynn work together to narrow the field, there’s a shocking twist in the case: a second woman is murdered in the same brutal fashion.

While investigating, Bree is attacked and left for dead. When another woman is kidnapped, Bree and Matt must act quickly to unravel the deceptions in Kelly’s life and death and find a killer before someone else dies.

My Thoughts: The tenth Bree Taggert mystery has her investigating the brutal murder of a woman in her home in upstate New York. Kelly Gibson was in the middle of a divorce and a home renovation project when her throat was slit by a box cutter. 

Bree and her live-in and part time investigator Matt Flynn quickly identify three potential suspects. The almost-ex-husband who wanted her to sell the house so that he could start a new life with her replacement is a good candidate. So is the guy she met on a dating app. Then there is the overly interested and possibly stalkerish guy who lives across the street. 

As Bree and Matt investigate, they are also dealing with Matt's sister's impending birth which will put Bree's chief deputy on the sidelines since he's the father. Then there's Turbo who is supposed to be in training as a police dog but who is already an accomplished escape artist with lots and lots of energy.

Bree has her favorite suspect, but another woman is murdered in the same way as Kelly while she is interviewing him. They only thing the two women seem to have in common is that both dated the same potential suspect who also has an airtight alibi.

Then Bree is attacked by having a concrete block dropped on her patrol car and having the car run over a strip which blows out her tires. Only the presence of Turbo saves her when the potential killer comes to finish her off. 

The case finally comes together when a third woman is kidnapped.

This was an excellent addition to the series. I love the relationship between Bree and Matt. The side characters are also interesting people. 

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

ARC Review: All This Could Be Yours by Hank Phillippi Ryan

All This Could Be Yours
Author: Hank Phillippi Ryan
Publication: Minotaur Books (September 9, 2025)

Description: Is a debut author's blockbuster bestseller about to ruin her life? A glamorous book tour becomes a deadly cat-and-mouse chase in this new and captivating thriller by "master of suspense" (Publishers Weekly) and USA Today bestselling author Hank Phillippi Ryan.

Debut sensation Tessa Calloway is on a whirlwind book tour for her instant bestseller, All This Could Be Yours. In a different city every night, Tessa receives standing ovations from adoring fans while her husband Henry and their two children cheer her on from their brand-new dream house.

But there's a chilling problem with Tessa's triumphant book tour―she soon discovers she is being stalked by someone who's obsessed not only with sabotaging her career, but also with destroying her perfect family back home.

Tessa fears the fallout from an impossible decision she once made―what felt like a genuine deal with the devil―appears to be coming due. And she’s realizing that every high-stakes bargain comes with a high-stakes price. If Tessa can't untangle who's threatening to expose her darkest secrets, she'll lose her career, her family―and possibly her life.

My Thoughts: Debut author Tessa Calloway is on an extensive book tour with her instant bestseller All This Could Be Yours when she begins to experience odd things. She finds a locket in a hotel room drawer with a picture inside. Being social media savvy, she posts and asks for help from her many followers in locating the owner of the locket. 

As she travels from one exhausting event to another, she begins to feel as if she is being stalked. Odd questions about her hometown and her teenage years are following her from city to city. She has a secret about those earlier years that not even her husband knows and her publisher certainly does not know. Tessa fears that the secret will come out and ruin her new career.

Meanwhile back at home, her husband Henry is settling into their new home with their two children and Tessa is feeling that she's losing track of what is going on with her family. She only spent one night in the new home before the book tour began and now Henry's making friends with the neighbors.

This was a tense and suspenseful thriller. I liked Tessa even when her author's imagination seemed to be magnifying the suspicious events. There was a great feeling of creepiness that permeated the story that sent some shivers up my spine as I was reading it. 

I recommend this story for those who attend author events and wonder about the author off the stage. 

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

Audiobook Review: River's End by Nora Roberts

River's End
Author: Nora Roberts
Narrator: Sandra Burr
Publication: Brilliance Audio (June 10, 2008)
Length: 14 hours and 10 minutes

Description: #1 New York Times bestselling author Nora Roberts presents a seductively suspenseful tale of one woman’s shattered innocence, the terrifying search for truth and a heart’s journey toward healing...

Olivia’s parents were among Hollywood’s golden couples - until the night a monster came and took her mother away forever. A monster with the face of her father...

Sheltered from the truth, an older Olivia only dimly recalls her night of terror - but her recurring nightmares make her realize she must piece together the real story. Now, assisted by Noah Brady, the son of the police detective who found her cowering in her closet so many years before, she may have her chance. Noah wants to reconstruct the night that has become an infamous part of Hollywood history. He also wants to help Olivia and heal the longing in her lonely heart. But once the door to her past is opened, there’s no telling what’s waiting on the other side. For somewhere, not too far away, the monster walks again...

My Thoughts: Olivia was only four when her mother, an actress, was brutally murdered. Her actor father was arrested and convicted of the crime. Olivia saw him holding the murder weapon and having hands covered with blood. Her video testimony went a long way toward convicting her father.

Olivia was taken by her grandparents to be raised at a resort in the Pacific Northwest. They put her in a bubble to protect her from the interest of those who want to write about or sensationalize the murder.

Noah Brady is the son of the police officer who found Olivia hiding in a closet. He met Olivia when his parents took him to the resort when Olivia was twelve. He was drawn to her but as a going-to-college teen they didn't really get to know each other.

Olivia and Noah met again when Olivia was nineteen and a college student studying to be a naturalist. Noah who had always been fascinated by the murder case was determined to leave his newspaper career and write a book about it. Olivia falls in love but feels betrayed when she learns Noah plans to write a book about a subject that is still painful to her and her family. 

Some years pass again until Noah, now a successful author of true crime books, is contacted by the person convicted of murdering Olivia's mother. He's dying of brain cancer and wants to tell his story. The main problem is that he was high and alcohol and drugs and doesn't know what truly happened the night his wife died.

Reconnecting with Olivia and her family is necessary if Noah wants his book to tell the whole story. He's never gotten over Olivia nor has she gotten over him. But someone doesn't want the story told and does a number of things including destroying Noah's home and attacking Noah's best friend to try to discourage the project.

This was another excellent Nora Roberts standalone romantic suspense title. It was full of suspense and had a nice amount of romance too. And it's set in the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

I bought this one September 15, 2021. You can buy your copy here.

Audiobook Review: The Librarian by Judith A. Barrett

The Librarian
Author: Judith A. Barrett

Narrator: Virtual Voice
Series: Maggie Sloan Thriller Series (Book 1)
Publication: Wobbly Creek, LLC (February 4, 2019)

Length: 10 hours and 20 minutes

Description: Vigilante Justice: Librarian Style

Maggie was a quiet librarian until a heartbreaking murder woke something dangerous inside her. Now she’s out for blood, not for herself, but for those who deserve justice.

She survives an explosion and begins the slow process of healing with the help of her unusual team. When her world is shattered by a heart-wrenching murder, Maggie's team trains her to fight to win, whatever the cost.

Her grief and rage transform her from prey to relentless hunter, and her brilliant observational talents threaten a complex criminal scheme.

As Maggie closes in on the truth, she realizes she's on the trail of a mastermind, a dark puppeteer of serial killers, whose intellect threatens to match her own. It all comes down to kill or be killed.

My Thoughts: The first Maggie Sloan thriller begins when she is a small child who wants to grow up to be a spy. She wants to wear black - an unusual color choice for a young child - and have her hair dyed black too which her mother doesn't allow. 

She grows up, gains a Library and Information Sciences degree, and begins hunting for a job. But Maggie is a bit of an odd duck being quite literal minded but very observant. With library jobs thin on the ground, Maggie finds herself applying for a wide variety of other positions including work as a bank teller. 

When a library job opens up, Maggie, now in her grey phase, leaps at the chance to work in her own field. But she saw something, or heard something, in the interview process and now someone wants her dead. 

She barely escapes dying in the explosion that ruins her library and kills her fellow librarian. She manages to work her way through rehab with the help of two imaginary companions - Palace Guard and Spike - and gains the attention of a police detective and his FBI Agent sister who befriend her. 

When her police detective boyfriend is murdered, she and his sister are determined to find the killers who murdered him and want Maggie dead too. 

The narration for this audiobook was Virtual Voice which made it an interesting listening experience. Mostly it sounded very human, but there were some things that didn't work quite as well. I think that some of the dialog should have been humorous but came out as a virtual deadpan. 

This is the first book in a series. 

I got this one May 24 via BookBub when the Kindle book was free. I added on the audiobook for $1.99. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: The Librarian by Judith A. Barrett

 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:

My eyes snapped open. I glanced around my room. The light of breaking dawn scattered the shadows. A sound. From the kitchen.

Friday 56:

"Oh, Maggie. I expected you to take longer. You know, at the church." Olivia spoke in short bursts, and her hands fluttered. "There's an investigator. In my office. He wants to talk to all the staff. Go on in."

This week I am spotlighting The Librarian by Judith A. Barrett. As a retired librarian, I am drawn to books about people in my former profession. Here's the description from Amazon:

Vigilante Justice: Librarian Style
Maggie was a quiet librarian until a heartbreaking murder woke something dangerous inside her. Now she’s out for blood, not for herself, but for those who deserve justice.

She survives an explosion and begins the slow process of healing with the help of her unusual team. When her world is shattered by a heart-wrenching murder, Maggie's team trains her to fight to win, whatever the cost.
Her grief and rage transform her from prey to relentless hunter, and her brilliant observational talents threaten a complex criminal scheme.
As Maggie closes in on the truth, she realizes she's on the trail of a mastermind, a dark puppeteer of serial killers, whose intellect threatens to match her own. It all comes down to kill or be killed.

ARC Review: Dead of Summer by Jessa Maxwell

Dead of Summer
Author: Jessa Maxwell
Publication: Atria Books (July 22, 2025)

Description: Years after her best friend mysteriously disappeared from a remote New England island, a young woman returns in search of answers in this atmospheric and scintillating thriller from Jessa Maxwell, nationally bestselling author of the “deliciously entertaining” (Sarah Penner, New York Times bestselling author) The Golden Spoon.

Orla O’Connor hasn’t been to the isolated New England enclave of Hadley Island since she graduated from high school a decade ago. As a teenager, her best friend Alice disappeared from its shores without a trace—but with plenty of rumors.

Now, Orla returns to her family’s beachfront home to clean it out before her parents sell it. The island and her best friend’s house next door, abandoned after her family left in grief, are stirring up memories she would like to avoid. Then there are the locals, always gossiping and watching Orla’s every move. Worst of all, David, Orla’s childhood crush and son of a wealthy Manhattan family, is back for the summer with his new, impossibly pretty girlfriend, Faith.

Faith suspects that David is going to propose but as soon as she settles into his family’s sprawling Hadley Island estate, she feels out of place. She anticipated a luxurious summer of fun and romance, but David is never around—lured into business conversations with his entrepreneur father from dawn to dusk. With nothing else to do, Faith begins to investigate the island’s dark past, curious about what really happened to Alice all those years ago.

Meanwhile, local Henry hasn’t left his house since the young girl went missing, in an attempt to let the accusations against him die down. Except they never have. For years, Henry has had an endless supply of time to pursue his only hobby, watching the island from his telescope and recording the activities of its inhabitants. But Orla’s return has shaken him and lately he’s been seeing strange things: shadowy figures walking on the beach in the middle of the night and a light on in the upstairs window of the long-abandoned house of the missing girl.

When there’s another disappearance on the island, all three find themselves pulled into an eerie and twisty mystery that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

My Thoughts: DEAD OF SUMMER takes place on Hadley Island. It is a playground for the rich with all sorts of buried secrets.

Faith comes to the island as the girlfriend of David Clarke who is the son of billionaire Geoffrey Clarke. She's expecting to soon become his fiancée but finds his behavior on the island troubling. All of a sudden, he seems to have no time for her and is constant meetings with his father. 

Orla comes back to the island where she grew up to prepare her parents' home for sale. She fled after high school and had an excellent career as an artist in New York City until her last show failed spectacularly. She's home living on Xanax and trying not to be overwhelmed with the memories of her lost best friend. 

Henry has never left the island. He and his wife became recluses after being accused of the murder of Orla's best friend Alice. Now he spends his days with his telescope watching the town and making notes in his logbooks. 

Alice is the thread that ties all three characters together and is the mystery that needs to be solved. 

David, Alice and Orla were summer friends while they were children and teens. Alice and Orla had dreams of leaving the island for New York City, attending art school, and then becoming famous artists. But she disappears and is presumed drowned during the Clarke's famous 4th of July party. 

Years have passed but this year Geoffrey Clarke plans to renew the annual party and another young girl disappears. 

The story is woven between Orla, Faith and Henry's viewpoints and the secrets of the past and their own secrets are gradually revealed. It was an engaging story with interesting characters. 

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

Audiobook Review: Her First Mistake by Kendra Elliot

Her First Mistake
Author: Kendra Elliot
Narrator: Stephanie Nemeth-Parker
Series: Noelle Marshall (Book 1)
Publication: Brilliance Audio (June 10, 2025)
Length: 10 hours and 7 minutes

Description: When a very personal cold case murder is reopened, a detective’s secrets come to light in a novel of shocking twists and suspense by a Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

Thirteen years ago, Assemblyman Derrick Bell was murdered in his home by an intruder. His wife, Noelle Marshall, was left for dead. The crime was unsolved, but it wasn’t forgotten.

Today the FBI is tackling a fresh perspective on the case and looking to Noelle, now a detective for the Deschutes County sheriff’s office, for new clues. It is reopening everything Noelle thought was behind her. Memories of her escape from a traumatic childhood. A marriage that wasn’t the perfect love story she’d been promised. And a husband whose charm and privilege hid a dark side. But Noelle has been hiding something too: a secret about the night Derrick died that she has never told anyone.

As past and present and leads and misleads collide, one thing is frighteningly clear. Derrick’s murder wasn’t just unsolved. It’s unfinished. And only the truth—no matter the risk—can save the next victim.

My Thoughts: A side character from the author's Mercy Kilpatrick series gets her own story in this new series starter. Noelle Marshall is a Deschutes County sheriff's detective who has a hidden past that is now being revealed.

Thirteen years earlier, Noelle was the wife of politician Derrick Bell. Bell was murdered in his home and Noelle severely injured. She doesn't remember what happened when her husband was killed and she was attacked. She still has memory issues to the present day. Those past memories have never surfaced. 

Now the FBI is reinvestigating the case in the hopes of finally being able to solve it. FBI special agent Max Rhodes and his partner have come to reinterview Noelle, her sisters, her brother-in-law, and her great aunt who had all moved to the area from Sacramento where the crime was committed. 

Much of the story is told in flashbacks from the time of the murder of Derrick Bell and for the five years preceding it charting the relationship between Noelle and Derrick. It's a story of a hardworking, poor woman who meets a rich man with political ambitions. They fall in love and Noelle finds herself in a relationship where she can never be accepted by her in-laws and Derrick's siblings and where she finds herself compromising herself for her husband's sake. It was sad watching the hopeful new romance devolve into a situation where Noelle becomes an emotionally abused wife. 

These flashbacks are in direct contrast to Noelle's present life where she is a successful woman and detective even though she is wary about any new relationship. 

I enjoyed this story very much and look forward to more in the series. 

I bought this one. You can buy your copy here.

Friday Memes: Her First Mistake by Kendra Elliot

 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:

"Did you vote for him?"

"I don't remember." FBI special agent Alice Patmore paused outside the impressive country home, studying the huge porch with its columns and heavy beams.

Friday 56:

"That's just temporary," he said. "You've got the presence of a queen and the intelligence of a rocket scientist. You're perfect."

She snorted. "More like model rockets."

This week I am spotlighting Her First Mistake by Kendra Elliot. I just bought this new book by a favorite author. It stars a new character. Here is the description from Amazon;

When a very personal cold case murder is reopened, a detective’s secrets come to light in a novel of shocking twists and suspense by a Wall Street Journal bestselling author.

Thirteen years ago, Assemblyman Derrick Bell was murdered in his home by an intruder. His wife, Noelle Marshall, was left for dead. The crime was unsolved, but it wasn’t forgotten.

Today the FBI is tackling a fresh perspective on the case and looking to Noelle, now a detective for the Deschutes County sheriff’s office, for new clues. It is reopening everything Noelle thought was behind her. Memories of her escape from a traumatic childhood. A marriage that wasn’t the perfect love story she’d been promised. And a husband whose charm and privilege hid a dark side. But Noelle has been hiding something too: a secret about the night Derrick died that she has never told anyone.

As past and present and leads and misleads collide, one thing is frighteningly clear. Derrick’s murder wasn’t just unsolved. It’s unfinished. And only the truth—no matter the risk—can save the next victim.