We Both Liked "Cold, Cold Heart" by Tami Hoag, She Does It Again!

In Cold, Cold Heart by Tami Hoag, Dana gets away from a serial killer by killing him which got me hooked right from the start.  After spending a year in the hospital trying recover from what he did to her, she returns home, hoping to get some of her memory back.  Unfortunately, home proves not to be a safe haven and thoughts of how her best friend died haunt her.

You can never go wrong with a Tami Hoag book, and this one is no exception.  I LOVED it and always wanted to return to it to read more.  It has a great story line, even includes a dog which I loved as well as a good ending.
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

Cold, Cold Heart by Tami Hoag is an unusual thriller in that the majority of the book deals with Dana trying to solve the mystery of her best friend's disappearance that happened seven years ago which makes the killer nervous.  Dana was a beautiful news anchor on TV until she was abducted by a serial killer who she managed to kill, but escaped with lots of side effects from her trauma including brain damage. 

I liked this book and agreed with its message, although it was somewhat redundant:  "Anyone could be a killer under the right circumstances" and "Where there's life, there's hope."  At the beginning, I'm wondering where the big mystery is since Dana kills the serial killer.    This book kept me guessing who killed Casey until near the end.  I really liked John who was nice to the stray dog who became his best friend.  Although there were several murders in this book, it is not full of gruesome details.  Mostly it's all about Dana trying to remember and putting together the pieces to find out what happened to her best friend with only a little action. 
(Karen's review, 5 stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

Our Favorite Reads For 2014

As usual, we both read a lot of good books this year.  Those we both liked a lot are listed with links to our reviews, but we each chose our top favorites to include in our videos.  If you want to read a review of one not listed below, you can search for it using the search box in the upper left corner at the top of our blog.

There were quite a few books we both liked a lot which we highly recommend.  Here's that list with links to our reviews:

Think Twice and Keep Quiet by Lisa Scottoline (Karen's favorites)
That Night by Chevy Stevens (Karen's favorite)
The Winter Horses by Philip Kerr (Karen's Favorite)
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriary (Both our Favorite)
Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer (Both our Favorite)
What She Saw by Sheila Lowe (Karen's Favorite)
A Letter to My Dog by Robin Layten (Gerard's favorite)
Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin
Five Days Left by Julie Lawson Timmer (Gerard's Favorite)
A Dog Named Slugger by Leigh Brill (Must read for dog lovers!)
Weekends With Daisy by Sharron Kahn Luttrell
Heaven Sent Rain by Lauraine Snelling (Karen's Favorite)
Eyes on You by Kate White (Gerard's favorite)
Tuesday Tucks Me In by Luis Carlos Montalvan (children's book) (Karen's Favorite)
Graduation Day by Joelle Charbonneau (Karen's Favorite)
Those Who Wish Me Dead by Michael Koryta (Karen's Favorite)
In the Blood by Lisa Unger (Gerard's Favorite)
 
Karen read 88 books this year and many were very good. Here is a video showing her top favorites in fiction and non-fiction categories.



Gerard read 120 books in 2014.  This video shows his top 16 fiction and top 12 non-fiction:


Correction:
I included the wrong bible in Gerard's video by mistake.  It should be this one:

Feel free to share your link to your favorite reads for 2014 in the comments. Read on in 2015!

"Think Twice" by Lisa Scottoline is a Doozy We Both Likded! (Updated)

Think Twice by Lisa Scottoline is about identical twin girls, but other than looks, they are very different!  When the one twin does unspeakable acts to the other, this novel takes off!  Think Twice is really good with plenty of action and a great ending.  
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars) 

Think Twice by Lisa Scottoline is full of unbelievable cruelty from Bennie Rosato’s identical twin, Alice, who was raised in foster care and made a mess of her life.  Bennie is a successful attorney who owns her own firm but when she accepts a dinner invitation from Alice, she wakes up in a box buried alive!  Alice goes on to impersonate her twin and take over her life in the hopes of getting a new start.  It’s hard to believe anyone could really be this cruel, and I even wonder how authors can think up this stuff.  The book has plenty of action including gun play, chase scenes and even some sweetness tossed in for good measure.  I found myself thinking, “Oh, wow!” over and over as Alice continued to be a real piece of work in making her sister’s life miserable.

Although Think Twice isn’t realistic at all, I enjoyed reading it because I wanted to see Alice get caught—she was so bad!  I really liked Bennie’s boyfriend, Grady, and her co-worker, Judy, but thought the psychic cousin made this seem more like fantasy than real life.  The ending was pretty good with a bit of a surprise thrown in which I liked!    This book showed me how important it is to keep any written passwords away from my computer—I’m going to move mine!
(Karen's review, 5 stars) 

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"Big Little Lies" by Liane Moriarty is GREAT! (UPDATED)

Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty is realistic contemporary fiction about school politics, parenting, bullying, secrets, friendship, and domestic violence.  The novel primarily focuses on four couples and one single mother who all have children starting kindergarten at Pirriwee Public School.  The mothers are all very involved at the school and have a lots of interesting interaction.   The whole book leads up to the climax at the School’s annual Parent Trivia Night when one of the parents is killed.  Here is a teaser from pg. 637 that really sums up this whole book spoken by one of the mothers:

It occurred to her that there were so many levels of evil in the world.  Small evils like her own malicious words.  Like not inviting a child to a party.  Bigger evils like walking out on your wife and newborn baby or sleeping with your child’s nanny.  And then there was the sort of evil of which Madeline had no experience:  cruelty in hotel rooms and violence in suburban homes and little girls being sold like merchandise, shattering innocent hearts.

Right from the start the reader finds out there is a murder investigation and interspersed throughout the book are snippets of different people telling the detective what happened.  The writing is outstanding and cleverly done with a surprise ending, at least for me.  This is a page turner that I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys family drama and a good mystery.  I think this would be a great book for a book club!

If you have read this one, who were your favorite characters?  Gerard liked all the mothers in the book.  I liked Ed most and Celeste second.  I loved how generous she was with her husband’s money!

(Karen's review-10/24/14, 5 stars)

Gerard's review, 5++ stars:
Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty is told by three women:  Madeline, Celeste and Jane.  They all have children attending the same grade school.  This is a fantastic read!  I loved all the women and their different story lines along with plenty of action!  This novel builds up to one night when all the story lines finally come together.  I LOVED the ending!  Do not miss this one--it's a must read!  It does not get any better than this.  This is my new book of the month without a doubt!

We both liked The Husband's Secret by this author, but this one is way better than that even!

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

Our August Favorite Reads - A Dog Book and an Historical Romance

Gerard's favorite read for August is:

Merle's Door by Ted Kerasote

 Karen's favorite read for August is: 

Rekindled by Tamera Alexander

What were your favorite reads in August?

Have you read these? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

We Both Liked "The Good Girl" by Mary Kubica and so did our Cats! (UPDATED)

The Good Girl by Mary Kubica is about a young girl named Mia, who is kidnapped by Colin and is to be turned over to other people to be held for ransom.  That is the plan, but in life as in this book, things do not always go as planned.  What happened?  You have to read the book to find out.  You will read about Mia’s mom and dad and the detective who will stop at nothing to find her.  Mia and Colin have their own story to tell.  This is the author’s first novel and a fantastic read with a shocking ending you will not see coming at all!  Books do not get much better than this!
(Gerard's review, 8/8/14,  5++ stars)

Karen's review (4 stars):
The Good Girl by Mary Kubica is a book that moves along quickly because of the way it unfolds.  Each chapter is written from a different character's perspective and it jumps back and forth between the present and the past, not revealing the big surprise until the very end.  (No cheating and looking ahead now!)  It is about a wealthy Judge's daughter who is kidnapped and falls in love with her kidnapper!  This is a very good read with interesting characters--read it and see if you like the kidnapper.  My husband liked him but I didn't.  I thought giving the cat an important part in this novel was a nice touch.       

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

Our Favorite Reads for July

Gerard's:

 Actually, Say What You Will is one we both read and liked.

Karen's:

What She Saw is very good, Gerard will be reading this one too!

What was your favorite read in July?

"What She Saw" by Sheila Lowe was one we Both Liked! (UPDATED)

image source:  Amazon

What She Saw by Sheila Lowe got me hooked right from the start with the woman having amnesia trying to figure out who she is and why she was on a train.  The more she discovers, the more puzzling and scary things get, like why she has two drivers licenses and two homes in different cities.   That's is all I'm saying because I don't want to spoil any surprises by revealing too much.

This is a very good story with lots of twists and turns throughout the book and a surprise ending.  I really enjoyed reading What She Saw.  It was so much fun reading how she figured out who she was that I found myself thinking about it even when I wasn't reading it!  There are some misspelled words, but the mystery and suspense kept my interest.  I highly recommend this one because it was hard to put down!
(Karen's review posted 7/24/14, 5 stars) 

Gerard read this too, here's his review:
What She Saw by Sheila Lowe is about a woman who finds herself on a train but does not know why she is on it or even her name!  This is a fantastic read!  There is plenty of twists and turns, especially near the end.  Excellent writing got me drawn in from the get go.  This is a must read--doesn't get any better than this!  (5++ stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"That Night" by Chevy Stevens is Great! (Updated)

That Night by Chevy Stevens is a fantastic read that kept me turning pages to find out what would happen next.  Although Toni, the main character and narrator, is a teen who smokes pot, drinks has pre-marital sex with her boyfriend, and fights with her mom constantly, I couldn't help but sympathize with her throughout the book.  She was being bullied by a group of mean girls for a long time and they just wouldn't let up.  When her "goody two shoes" sister, Nicole (her mother's favorite), is murdered, Toni and her boyfriend are wrongfully convicted.  That Night is about the truth coming out about what really happened the night Nicole was killed.  It is a fascinating read that shows how people have more than one side sometimes and are not always what they seem to be.

This book is so well written, that even though it jumps back and forth between the present and the past, it was still easy to follow.  I found Toni's life both in and out of prison interesting and was pulling for her to get to live a normal life after having lost so much and been through so many struggles.  We highly recommend this one!  It's a must read!  LOVED IT!
(Karen's review 7/10/14, 5 stars)

Gerard's review 6/29/14, 5++ stars):
That Night by Chevy Stevens is told by a young teen girl named Toni.  She was found guilty of killing her younger sister and sent to prison.  This book goes back and forth between what led up to that night her sister got killed and her prison life.

To me, Chevy Stevens is two for two.  I loved her first book, Still Missing, and I loved this one maybe more! This is a real page turner for sure.  I always wanted to get back to it and the ending came as a complete surprise.  I am looking forward to her next book.


NOTE:  This is the July Book Club Selection at She Reads where you can find more reviews of this great thriller!

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"Keep Quiet" by Lisa Scottoline is One We Both Liked (UPDATED)

Keep Quiet by Lisa Scottoline is a good book because the family it is about has likeable characters that I could easily identify with.  When the dad who is trying to get closer to his teenage son uses poor judgment by acting like a friend rather than a responsible parent, it starts a whirlwind of trouble.  This book is about how far parents will go to protect their loved ones and how things aren't always as bad as they may seem.  Although I liked the ending, it seemed too neat and not very believable.

I loved this book because it moved along quickly and held my interest all through.  I couldn't help but ask myself what I would do in their situation and was pleasantly surprised by the ending.
(Karen's review, 5 stars)

In this novel, a father looks to have bonding time with his son, but a tragic accident brings them together like never before. This is a real page turner with very good twists and turns that I did not see coming. It goes fast and it does not take long to get hooked into it. Lisa always puts out great books and this one is no exception! Do not miss it!
(Gerard's review posted 5/30/14, 5++ stars)

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

Our Favorite Reads for April 2014

Gerard's Favorite:

Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell 

Gerard thought it was GREAT; I thought it was CREEPY.

Karen's Favorite:

 The Winter Horses by Philip Kerr

We both liked this one and even discuss it on a video in our review!

The links will take you to our reviews.

What was your best read in April? Happy Reading!