"The Wife Upstairs" by Rachel Hawkins Is One We Both Liked

In The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins, Jane is trying to make her life better so she takes a job as a dog walker in a rich neighborhood.  By chance she meets Eddie who is rich, charming and good looking.  Things are looking up for Jane and when they decide to get married, Jane is on Easy Street, or is she?  This is a wild read with a good storyline that kept me interested.  The characters were good too with a make-up-your-own ending.  (Gerard's review, 4 stars)

Karen's review 2/22/23:
The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins is a strange murder mystery/romance.  Jane, a broke dog walker with wealthy clients steals from them and falls for Eddie, a rich widower who expresses interest in her as well.  His wife was presumed dead but he has his wife stashed away in an upstairs hidden panic room!  Jane works to be accepted by the bored housewives in the neighborhood and finally is once she gets engaged to Eddie. 

This one is a crazy read, with a strange storyline and deceptive characters.  I enjoyed this book because it had an unusual storyline that kept my interest with no idea how it would end.  The people were pretty creepy.  As usual with these mysteries, the police don't do a very good job.  This book did make me want to keep reading and get back to it.  The only thing I didn't care for was the ending--I would have liked some more details.  (4 stars)     

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"Hawk Mountain" by Conner Habib

In Hawk Mountain by Conner Habib, Todd is at a beach relaxing with his son.  He sees a man coming toward his son and cannot believe his eyes.  It is Jack, who made his life hell in his high school years.  It has been 15 years since he last saw Jack.  What is going on?  

I thought this book was good. I liked the story line and the characters.  It kept me turning pages for sure!  (Gerard's review, 5 stars)

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"Beautiful Bad" by Annie Ward

Beautiful Bad by Annie Ward is a slow developing dark, twisted thriller about Maddie, mother of a little boy named Charlie and wife of Ian, a military guy who has PTSD. Maddie met Ian at a fund-raiser for the Red Cross that her friend, Joanna invited her to. Joanna worked with women and children in refugee camps around Macedonia. The book begins 12 weeks before the day of the killing and goes back and forth between the present and the past to give the reader background information. Also, when Maddie sees psychologist who uses writing therapy, Maddie’s past events are also revealed.

This is a book of lies, deception and manipulation! Charlie is a sweet little boy and the only reason I kept reading this book. The flashbacks to the past I found very boring. So boring, in fact, that halfway through the book I skipped over them and just focused on the present chapters! I would get into a present chapters and then find myself being disappointed when the next chapter jumped back to the past. I found it very annoying. Of Maddie, Joanna and Ian, I disliked Ian the least from the start. The only characters I really liked were Charlie and a cop named Diane. I did not care for this one at all, but at least did not give up on it; although, I did put it aside three times to read something better. To be fair; however, this one has been compared to Girl on the Train and Woman in the Window, neither of which read because they didn’t appeal to me. (Karen’s review, 2 stars)

Teaser from page 17: It was messy, almost as if mopped, and Diane imagined someone crawling on hands and knees before managing to haul up on his or her feet for one more staggering go at life. She had an irrational urge to start running through the house calling out for the child, but she’d already broken one rule just be entering.


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"Blood Song" by Anthony Ryan--Husband Loved It, Wife Hated It!

In Blood Song by Anthony Ryan, Vaelin is only ten when his father takes him to join the sixth order.  The sixth Order is devoted to battle to protect the realm and the faith!  The book is told by the point of view of Vaelin.  I really enjoyed the first part of the book when he goes through training exercises with his band of brothers.  There is good action in this book with some twists that surprised me.  At 575 pages, this is no light read to say the least, but I was caught up in it and pretty much enjoyed it all!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

Karen's review, 4/25/18:
Blood Song by Anthony Ryan is like a marathon; I was so glad when I finally finished it! This is a fantasy that I really did not like much at all—only a few parts. It’s about Vaelien who is sent to the Sixth Order to learn to kill, supposedly to defend the faith and the realm. Part I was the best in my opinion, and then it went downhill from there. It is filled with fighting, murder, betrayal, and war.

Here are the few things I liked:

1) The training at the Sixth Order.
2) Vaelien’s relationship with sister Sherin, Snowdance (a huge cat that was in it very little).
3) Vaelien’s Valarian slave-hound named Scratch, and his horse named Spit.

Here are the things I did not like:

1) The writing was hard to follow because it kept going back and forth from present to past and often I had to reread passages to figure out who was speaking.
2) Too many characters and then some even were called by several different names!
3) Characters I really liked got killed.
4) The names were hard to remember.
5) I had a hard time understanding how the magic worked.
6) The whole plot was hard for me to follow.
7) Lots of different countries to keep straight and I didn’t really understand what the war was all about—it made no sense to me.
8) The ending was horrible! I felt so let down and that I wasted so much time reading this.  The only good part of the ending was when he let Spit run free!

I know I am in the minority on this book, it got lots of very good reviews. However, I was extremely disappointed in it and therefore give it just 2 stars. I will not be continuing on with this series.


Teaser from pg. 29:  "Your first day in the Order is over," he told them.  "It is a rule of the Order that you can leave in the morning if you wish.  It will only get harder from now on so think carefully."

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"The Breakdown" by B. A. Paris (Mystery)

In The Breakdown by B. A. Paris, on a stormy night Cass passes a car off the road in the woods.  She thinks about stopping to help, but after thinking about worst case scenarios, decides to drive on.  The next day she finds out the woman is dead and that she knew her  Does she tell the police what she saw?  Can she stop blaming herself for not stopping?  Will she tell anyone?

I thought this book was very good!  The pace is well done and the story is believable.  I enjoyed this author's first book, Behind Closed Doors and this book is just as good, if not better!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

The Breakdown by B. A. Paris is full of mystery.  Cass, the main character, last sees her new friend through her car window on a dark road during a storm on her way home from a party.  Her friend's car is stopped on the side of the road but does not appear to be in need of help.  The next day though, Cass hears on the news that her friend was killed!  Then the silent phone calls start up and Cass gets freaked out.  Plus, not only is Cass upset about the murder but she notices she keeps forgetting things and is afraid she has early dementia!  

This book is a disturbing read because strange things keep happening with Cass.  I can't say too much without giving things away but it is a very good mystery.  I got into it right away and looked forward to getting back to it.  Things really picked up and got interesting in the second half, so don't give up on it!  I highly recommend this book and only gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because the turning point was far-fetched and pretty unbelievable.  
(Karen's review, 4 stars)     

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"The Heart of Betrayal" (Book 2 of Remnant Chronicles) by Mary E. Pearson (UPDATED)

The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson is book two in the Remnant Chronicles series, the sequel to Kiss of Deception, which I LOVED. Lia and Kaden are taken as prisoners by the barbarians of Vaden and deception is prevalent in this book throughout, but not for the reader as it was in book one. Lia continues to be both feisty, brave and deceptive. She pretends not to care for Kaden in order to save his life while relying on Rafe, the assassin, to protect her. Tension between Kaden and Rafe continues to escalate, but they both love Lia. Lia and Kaden catch short times together to hatch an escape plan, that is even more urgent as Lia’s wedding to the Komizar fast approaches. There is some brutality in this book with lots of interesting characters and relationships. Will Rafe betray the Komizar to protect Lia? Will he kill Kaden? Will Griz get his revenge? Will Kaden and Lia be successful in their escape?

I LOVED this book so much! It moved along quickly and was as much fun to read as Kiss of Deception. I thought the funniest part was when Lia beat Griz at cards, but the saddest was when the Komizar killed the little girl. This is a good series that I’d recommend to anyone who enjoys adventure, romance and fantasy with royalty. I look forward to the next book to find out what happens! (Karen's review 8/1/15, 5 stars)

Gerard read this too 12/8/16, but didn't like it as much as I did:
This book is the follow up to Kiss of Deception which I liked better.  Lia is being held captive in the city of Venda and Kaden is keeping an eye on her, making sure no harm comes to her.  Rafe is also captured and is waiting for his army to come and rescue him and Lia.  As in book one, the part that Lia tells were the highlight for me.  She is really good!  There is some action finally near the end which sets up the final book.
(4 stars)

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