"The Turnout" by Megan Abbott

“Every girl wants to be a ballerina…”

It’s true; I did, too. The beautiful costumes and graceful dancers balancing on the tips of those satiny pointe shoes are enough to sway every little girl’s mind from veterinarians and nurses.

Most often, that dream is short-lived. Any true dancer can tell you that it takes a love few have. It requires a dedication and sacrifice of time, money, food, and even your body. All that beauty sometimes hides a darkness.

You aren’t raised by a Mother who runs a successful dance school, raises twin ballerinas, and pulls off yearly productions of The Nutcracker without learning something. Without understanding exactly what it takes: a sacrificial love most of us cannot fathom. Sometimes love does not bind but tears apart. And sometimes it takes much more. Something darker; something not everyone would even consider.

“The Turning” begins with the twin sisters running their deceased mother’s dance school. With just weeks until the yearly production of The Nutcracker, their perfect routine begins to crumble and secrets threaten everything they know and cherish.

So far, this is my favorite book by Megan Abbott. I loved ballet as the backdrop and how the author wove the dance theme throughout the story. This one definitely kept me reading; I had to find out what was really going on in this twisted family, what happened to the parents so many years ago, and would the sisters be able to make it out of this. 

And if you don’t know what turnout is, google it!

Publication Date: August 3, 2021

Format: Paperback

Genre: Thriller, mystery, suspense, family drama

Cover: Perfect

Rating: 4.5 stars rounded up to 5

Source:  I received this book from the publisher via GoodReads. Thank you for the opportunity to read this fabulous book!

#TheTurning #MeganAbbott #Goodreads #GoodreadsGiveaways

"Don't Look for Me" by Wendy Walker

Molly disappears during a terrible storm while driving home from her son’s high school football game (in another town). Her car is abandoned on the side of the road with her cell phone inside. A few days later, a note is found in a nearby hotel room telling her family that she has left and “don’t look for me”. After an exhausting community/police search, no trace of her can be found. The search is called off and everyone goes back to their lives as best they can.

We are taught from an early age to be polite to strangers, our elders, teachers, law enforcement. But we are also taught not to get in the car with someone we don’t know; don’t be lured away from the playground with candy or the promise of petting a puppy. When do you cross that line from being polite to being more concerned about a situation and being rude if necessary? 

 

What would you do? Would you continue to look or obey her wishes and let her go? After all, her entire family is still reeling from her youngest child’s death a few years ago. A death that was her fault.

 

“Don’t Look for Me” by Wendy Walker is a twisted tale of lies, deceit, hatred, anger, obsession, and guilt. The story unfolds as a witness comes forward after the search for Molly has ended. Everyone believes that the witness is simply after the reward money; one million is a nice nest egg. Nicole, Molly’s daughter, does not believe that her Mother would just walk away from their family even though they have all treated her very badly as they blame her for Annie’s accidental death. Nicole decides to meet with the eyewitness to determine if she might just be telling the truth.

 

As Nicole tries to track down exactly what happened the night her mother disappeared, she finds that no one in the town is telling the truth and they all have something to hide.

 

This story made me quite uncomfortable sometimes. But aren’t those the best kind? The ones that make us ugly cry, ache for something more, make us uncomfortable? That doesn’t mean it was not a good book, it was. Some of the dialog/scenes just disturbed me.

 

As for me, I can tell you what I would do. My husband, daughter, sister, niece, or someone else I love disappears… you’d better hide well if that is your intent because I am never giving up!

 

Publication Date: September 15th 2020

Format: eBook

Genre: Thriller, mystery, suspense

Cover: Perfect

Rating: 4 stars

Source:  I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to listen to this great book!

#/DontLookForMe #NetGalley 

Mean girls. Queen bees. We all know one. Perhaps, you are one

Let’s move on. Karma. What comes around goes around. Reap what you sow.

 

OK, enough with the idioms.

 

“His & Hers” by Alice Feeney begins with Anna Andrews losing her dream job as a TV presenter in London. The presenter that she replaced has finally returned from extended maternity leave and she has just been demoted to an on-site TV reporter. The first story that she is sent to cover is a murder in Blackdown. Unbeknownst to those who know her at the TV station, it just so happens that Blackdown is the town in which Anna grew up. And the murder victim is someone she knows. Someone who has been carrying on with her ex-husband, DCI Jack Harper.

 

Not only does Anna know the victim, but she knows those closest to the case including the suspects. Things get even more dicey when Jack begins investigating the crime.

 

The book is told from three points of view; his (Jack), hers (Anna), and whoever has decided that the time to pay for past sins has arrived. It has some great lines.

 

“Sometimes we choose not to believe the things we don’t want to. I do it all the time. Hide my regrets inside boxes at the back of my mind and choose to forget the bad things I’ve done. Just like my Mother taught me. Denying the truth, doesn’t change the facts.”;

 

“The lies we tell ourselves are always the most dangerous.”; and

 

“People tend to see what they want in the people they love. They reshape them inside their heads, twisting them into the people they wish they were instead of the people they are.”

 

That is so true… I think that is especially accurate of loved ones we have lost. We choose to remember the good about that person and the pleasant memories.

 

But this time, someone has chosen to remember the not so good things. The mean, spiteful, ugly things. And it is time to pay! This is a great thriller with lots of twists and turns.

 

And if you’re a mean girl… watch out. Someone may be coming for you. After all, karma’s a bitch.

 

Publication Date: July 28, 2020

Format: Audiobook

Genre: Thriller, police procedural

Cover: OK

Rating: 4.5 stars (rounded to 5)

Source:  I received this audiobook from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to listen to this great book!

#His&Hers #NetGalley

“Evil Thing” by Serena Valentino

I do not want to feel sorry for Cruella, yet here I am saying to myself, “It’s no wonder she turned into a puppy-stealing, dog-murdering, canine-fur-coat-making, maniacal villain and sovereign of Hell Hall””

“Evil Thing” by Serena Valentino explains just how the sweet young girl turned into the evil, penniless Cruella De Vil. The author also explains her trademark black/white hair, black slip dress, red lipstick and heels, fur coat, and jade earrings. Oh, those earrings!

This is the 7^th book in the series. Although it is not my favorite in the series (I have read a couple of the others), it is fun to read especially if you are a fairy tale or Disney fan. In all fairness, Cruella is not my favorite villain, either. I specifically like that these are not just rehashings of the classic fairy tale or beloved Disney movie, but the fresh, backstory of the villain. These are all standalone books, but the author does recommend reading in order.

I especially love these covers; they look great on a bookshelf. Her tagline for the series if perfect, “Evil is made, not born.” In these cases, she is undeniably correct; life plays a huge part of who we are and what we become!

Publication Date: July 7, 2020

Genre: Fairy tale, fantasy, young adult, retelling, fiction

Cover: Perfect

Rating: 4 stars

Source:  I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this great book!

#EvilThing #NetGalley

"The Girl From Widow Hills" by Megan Miranda

We have all seen those iconic pictures on the news, magazines and book covers, and social media: the fireman carrying the baby after the Oklahoma City bombing, Jaycee Dugard, Baby Jessica, Madeleine McCann. But do we ever stop to think about how their lives changed? Not by the event that catapulted them into the news, but by being in the limelight forevermore. And not only their lives, but the lives of their spouse, children, parents, and/or friends. Just about the time things may return to some semblance of normalcy for them, the ten; twenty; or even thirty-year anniversary creeps up on them and they are thrown into the media again. It is never ending. 

“The Girl from Widow Hills” by Megan Miranda delves into just what happens to someone who is thrust into the limelight and how it affects everyone involved.

Arden Maynor, the girl from Widow Hills, was only six when she was swept away during a flash flood while sleepwalking. Miraculously, she was found three days later by a member of a search party; she was clinging to the inside of a storm drain. What happened to her during that time? How had she survived? How did she receive the odd injuries?

Flash forward almost twenty years. Arden has changed her name to Olivia, moved from Kentucky to North Carolina, and managed to create a life separate from that event. She lives in a remote area with only one neighbor nearby. Strangely, she remembers nothing from the event other than being found.

However, with the twenty-year anniversary looming in the back of her mind, and the recent death of her estranged mother, she begins sleepwalking again. She feels like someone is watching her, hears strange noises, and also has more night terrors. She awakens late one night in her yard and stumbles over a body. A body that she later finds is connected to her past as Arden Maynor.

The story is told with a mixture of current events and old transcripts, interviews, and press conferences from 2000 and shortly after. Loved the mixture that gave the reader background info.

“The Girl from Widow Hills” is a great thriller that kept me up late into the night to find out just what happened to Arden when she was six and what was happening to her now.  As with Megan Miranda’s books, she weaves a excellent story and ties everything up satisfyingly at the end.

Publication Date: June 23, 2020

Genre: Suspense, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers, Family Secrets

Cover: Perfect

Rating: 4.5 stars

Source:  I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this great book!

#TheGirlFromWidowHills #NetGalley

"The Caretakers" by Eliza Maxwell

Sisters! If you’ve got one, you know what I’m talking about. As for me, I ruined mine’s life when I was born. She continually tried to get rid of me. Seriously. Locked me in the refrigerator back in the olden days when they locked when closed (you couldn’t just push them open from the inside). Apparently, I fit inside perfectly. She pushed me down a hill in a cardboard box into rush hour traffic. Told me Indians were in the barn and waiting for darkness to come scalp me. Anyway, you get the point. Sisters can be huge pains in the you know what.

Don’t want to lead you astray. This book is not a comedy. Sisters can be many things.

Tessa Shepherd has just made a mistake. A big one. She filmed a documentary about a murderer who was wrongly accused. After her film helps to get him released, he kidnaps the daughter of the police officer who convicted him and implies that Tessa knew the plan all along. She is hounded by the press but cannot call the one person she needs to share her side of the story with… her twin sister. They have not spoken in years.

Tessa’s mother dies suddenly. During the reading of the will, she and her sister find that their Mother was not who they thought she was. They now own a once beautiful, magnificent home that is now ruined and decaying.  A home where her Mother’s entire family was murdered when she was just a baby.

In an attempt to hide from the press and the murderer, Tessa goes there only to find that the caretakers are two elderly sisters. One of them does not want her there and they don’t seem to be telling Tessa the truth about her family. Tessa vows to get to the bottom of the story, but will she be able to find the truth about her family before time runs out?

“The Caretakers” was a great story that blended old, family secrets with new ones and had a touch of the supernatural. Great imagery of the old house, forest and care taker’s cottage. It had some good twists and turns while getting to the end.

Oh, and by the way, it’s all good now. We laugh about my sister’s attempts to strike me from her life. She is my best friend.

Publication Date: April 14, 2020

Genre: Suspense, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers, Kidnapping, Family Secrets, Supernatural
Cover: Perfect

Rating: 4 stars

Source:  I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this great book!

#TheCaretakers #NetGalley

"Invisible Girl" by Lisa Jewell

We think we can do things and no one will notice. That we are sly. That we can meet a lover, shower afterwards, and no one will question why that second shower of the day. Sneak a cigarette, spray perfume, and no one will catch a whiff of that underlying scent. Perhaps we slip a shot or two of vodka into our juice, brush our teeth after, and believe no one will be the wiser. We are just fooling ourselves. Our spouse knows; our children know. Eventually, they will get tired of keeping our secrets.

 “Invisible Girl” begins on Valentine’s Night 2019; the night seventeen-year-old Saffyre Maddox literally vanishes from the streets of London. Everyone is concerned as there have been several attacks on women that seem to have escalated; the last sending the target to the hospital. Is Saffyre a victim of the unknown assailant or did she simply run away?

During a series of flashbacks, we learn the last several years have been hard ones for Saffyre. She lives with her uncle who is only ten years older. She has a secret. A secret that causes her to harm herself and has kept her in therapy for years. Her therapist, Roan, believes that she has been healed and quit seeing her. But Saffyre is far from healed. She cannot sleep, eat, or even stay indoors. She roams the streets of London where she eventually sees Roan from afar. Unbeknownst to him, she begins stalking both him, his family, and his lover.

While doing so, she encounters Roan’s creepy neighbor who lives across the street with his elderly aunt. She also befriends Roan’s son,

But what happened to Saffyre?

I love to think about why authors give a book a certain title. Why “Invisible Girl”? Who is the invisible girl and does she choose or try to be invisible or is it just the way life unfolds. All interesting questions to ask while reading this book!

I have read several Lisa Jewell books and this is one of my favorites! Great ending… twisty, turning read to get there.

Publication Date: June, 2020

Genre: Suspense, Mystery, Psychological Thrillers, Kidnapping, Incel,
Cover: Good
Rating: 5 stars
Source:  I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review. Thank you for the opportunity to read this great book!

#InvisibleGirl #NetGalley