Picture taken by me
Title: The Better Sister
Author: Alafair Burke
Pages: 311
Publication Date: 2019
Version: Hardcover
Genre: Adult Fiction, Mystery
Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"From Alafair Burke—New York Times bestselling author of the runaway hit, The Wife—comes another twisty tale of domestic noir. When a prominent Manhattan lawyer is murdered, two estranged sisters—one the dead man’s widow, the other his ex—must set aside mistrust and old resentments . . . but can they escape their past?
Though Chloe was the younger of the two Taylor sisters, she always seemed to be in charge. She was the honor roll student with big dreams and an even bigger work ethic. Nicky was always restless . . . and more than a little reckless—the opposite of her ambitious little sister. She floated from job to job and man to man, and stayed close to home in Cleveland.
For a while, it seemed like both sisters had found happiness. Chloe earned a scholarship to an Ivy League school and moved to New York City, where she landed a coveted publishing job. Nicky married promising young attorney Adam Macintosh, and gave birth to a baby boy they named Ethan. The Taylor sisters became virtual strangers.
Now, more than fifteen years later, their lives are drastically different—and Chloe is married to Adam. When he’s murdered by an intruder at the couple’s East Hampton beach house, Chloe reluctantly allows her teenaged stepson’s biological mother—her estranged sister, Nicky—back into her life. But when the police begin to treat Ethan as a suspect in his father’s death, the two sisters are forced to unite . . . and to confront the truth behind family secrets they have tried to bury in the past"
My Review:
If there was ever a book that was a real doozey to read, it was this one! What a plot!! I found the whole book beyond amusing to me just on the basis of the complex relationships there were. I mean come on, one sister married her sister's ex husband and helps him raise the son he had with the sister....who now calls her Mom, even though technically she is his Aunt, but also is now his stepmother. WHOA!!! Then throw in the fact that the sister's husband (the other sister's ex) is murdered and they think his own son did it. This book was a wild ride and an amazing read that was so thrilling I just hated to stop reading and not read it all in one sitting. I loved the pace of the entire book. I loved the characters and the complexity of, not only the characters, but the dimensions of them also. I feel like I was completely blindsided by the conclusion of this book. I can't share much, as anything would give too much away. I highly recommend this book though to anyone looking for a great read and great mystery with an amazing family dynamic and lots of character secrets that get told along the way.
5 out of 5 Stars
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Title: I Will Find You
Author: Detective Lt. Joe Kenda
Pages: 271
Publication Date: 2017
Version: Hardcover
Genre: Adult Non-Fiction
Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"Detective Lt. Joe Kenda, star of Homicide Hunter, shares his deepest, darkest, and never before revealed case files from his 19 years as a homicide detective.Are you horrified yet fascinated by abhorrent murders? Do you crave to know the gory details of these crimes, and do you seek comfort in the solving of the most gruesome? In I WILL FIND YOU, the star of Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda shares his deepest, darkest, and never-before-revealed case files from his two decades as a homicide detective and reminds us that crimes like these are very real and can happen even in our own backyards. Gruesome, macabre, and complex cases. Joe Kenda investigated 387 murder cases during his 23 years with the Colorado Springs Police Department and solved almost all of them. And he is ready to detail the cases that are too gruesome to air on television, cases that still haunt him, and the few cases where the killer got away. These cases are horrifyingly real, and the detail is so mesmerizing you won't be able to look away. The tales in I WILL FIND YOU will shock you like the best horror stories-divulging insights into the actions, motivations, and proclivities of nature's most dangerous species. Don't mind the blood."
My Review:
I simply love Lt. Joe Kenda! I have watched all of his TV shows, every season. He has a way of making things take on a humor edge without belittling the situation or the fact that he is talking about murder cases. When I saw he wrote a book I was beyond excited to pick it up and read it. I will say that a lot of the book for me was repeated stories due to me having watched all his shows and seasons. He wrote the book a few seasons ago, so I wasn't surprised to find cases in there that were in later seasons of his show. They may have been repeats, but each had a little bit of extra information included too. So, I guess you could say, yes it wasn't new per say to me, but parts of it were new because it wasn't shared on the show. So I didn't mind reading them at all, repeat and all. Course I love re-watching his shows too, I always seem to catch something I missed before in them. This book also goes into more detail of his personal life and stories from his family's view too. I loved how the chapters were broken down into parts too, for easier stopping points if needed while reading. I loved the more personal touch this book had from him about his personal life as well as his detective life. I had no trouble at all reading this book, in fact I read it in a matter of a couple days. I found myself sucked in, feeling like I was sitting with Kenda and listening to him tell me of his past, both cases and personal life. I liked seeing the behind the curtain Kenda and family. Some day I would LOVE to meet Kenda in person. Him and his wife, Kathy, just seem like the kind of people you just would love to sit down with and have coffee with just to hear them talk about their experiences in life. I'm sure Kathy has just as many as Joe does too, having been a nurse. I just think they make the perfect pair and after reading this book I think that even more. What amazing people who did so much good in their careers! I highly recommend this book!!! Especially if you are a Kenda lover.
5 out of 5 Stars!!
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Title: The Mother-In-Law
Author: Sally Hepworth
Pages: 340
Publication Date: 2019
Version: Hardcover
Genre: Adult Fiction, Mystery
Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"Someone once told me that you have two families in your life - the one you are born into and the one you choose. Yes, you may get to choose your partner, but you don't choose your mother-in-law. The cackling mercenaries of fate determine it all.
From the moment Lucy met Diana, she was kept at arm's length. Diana is exquisitely polite, but Lucy knows, even after marrying Oliver, that they'll never have the closeness she'd been hoping for.
But who could fault Diana? She was a pillar of the community, an advocate for social justice, the matriarch of a loving family. Lucy had wanted so much to please her new mother-in-law.
That was ten years ago. Now, Diana has been found dead, leaving a suicide note. But the autopsy reveals evidence of suffocation. And everyone in the family is hiding something...
From the bestselling author of The Family Next Door comes a new page-turner about that trickiest of relationships. "
My Review:
I found this book to be an amazing read, but also a surprisingly emotional read for me. This book was filled with high emotions from start to finish and I found myself relating to almost all of them. From parents dying to in-laws hating you, to family secrets...this book has it all. I quickly got sucked into the book and the characters. I was feeling the emotions of the characters quickly and found them easy to relate to, especially Lucy...the daughter in law that had lost her mother early in life and had high hopes of having a great relationship with her mother in law, only to learn that was not to be. The chapters were short, which I love because I am one that likes to stop at the end of a chapter and not in the middle of one, when I need to stop reading. I was worried at first because the chapters are not only set in past and present formats, but are also told per character (Lucy or Diana). I was concerned that this would cause me confusion, and to be honest it did at first, but it was due to me not paying attention to the label of the chapter (ex: Lucy Past), so once I got into the habit to really pay attention to that it went great and I had no issues what so ever. Reading this book, it makes it easy to see that all families have secrets, no matter what kind of family they are...be it a well to do family or a barely making it family. Everyone has struggles and everyone responds to those struggles in different ways. The family in this book was amazing to watch throughout the book. They may have been one family, but they all were very different in their personalities and their thinking about matters. I must say that I absolutely loved this book and would highly recommend it to anyone that is looking for a read that is easy and fast to read through because it is such a great read. Great book that keeps you guessing from page one to the last page of the book.
5 out of 5 Stars!
Picture taken by me
Title: The Chocolate Bunny Brouhaha
Author: JoAnna Carl
Pages: 227
Publication Date: 2016
Version: Hardcover
Genre: Adult Fiction, Mystery
Summary Via Goodreads.com:
"From the national bestselling author of The Chocolate Falcon Fraud comes an Easter candy caper featuring chocolatiers Lee Woodyard and her Aunt Nettie, and a killer who’s hopping mad...
The approach of Easter means a rush of business at TenHuis Chocolade, and Lee and her Aunt Nettie need all the help they can get to make their famous chocolate bunnies and eggs. Unfortunately, new hire Bunny Birdsong is a clutzy basketcase dropping everything she picks up. But to Lee’s surprise, she’s a whiz with computers and fixing the store’s website so they decide to keep her.
However, Bunny receives a few visitors they could do without: her ex-husband Beau, his wealthy aunt Abigail, his new girlfriend, and her brother all descend on the shop one day and have a bitter argument. Lee hopes they can find a peaceful way to settle their dispute and not bring any more trouble to TenHuis. But when Abigail’s body is discovered in the vacant store next door, it’s clear to Lee there’s a bad egg in her midst. Now she’s on the hunt to find out who it is..."
My Review:
I had picked up a book by this author once before, but just couldn't get into it. When I saw this book though, I figured I would give it a try seeing it was Easter based and it is Easter time. I may have been leary, but I am very glad that I decided to give it a try. It may be number 16 in the series, but it was a great stand alone book! I found this book to be very fast paced and always had something happening in it. It was very well written and I was hooked after chapter one and was guessing until the very last page of the book on the solution to the mystery. Usually I can figure out the mystery well ahead of the end of the book, but this time I was just as confused as the main character who was trying to figure out the mystery too. There were multiple mysteries by the time the book was rolling along, so I was left to try and decide if all were connected or if they were just happening to be all going on at the same time. I was so sure I had the answers, but then I found that I was all confused and unsure all over again as I would read on. The characters in this book were very well developed and I found them to be so much fun to read about and watch throughout the book. I found myself relating to components of many of them. I loved the characters, the mystery, and the speed of the book. I would recommend this book to any mystery lover. The little tidbits of information here or there throughout the book also were interesting. They were little true facts written up to read after some of the chapters. Was kind of neat.
5 out 5 Stars
