"The way I see it, you mostly stop loving a person the same way you stop respecting them. It can happen all at once if something enormous and terrible falls over the two of you. But for the most part, it happens in inches. In a thousand tiny moments of contempt that unravel the image you had of the person you thought you knew." - The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

Bree Van de Kamp is my new favorite psychopath. Like obviously she has a lot of problems, but it's just so satisfying seeing her finally rip her asshole husband to shreds after she spent so long pining after him.

Secrets Never Die by Vincent Ralph [x]

My Murder, by Katie Williams

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Lou has been murdered. Along with the four other women a local serial killer murdered, she has been given new life by a government project, cloned from a tissue sample into a new body. Acclimating to her previous life, a life that feels as if it belonged to some other woman, is a struggle, but with the help of her loving husband and infant child Lou is beginning to find her place. But something about the story of how she died doesn't add up, and before long Lou finds herself investigating her own murder.

I don't typically read domestic thrillers, in part because I have a distaste for some of the tropes common in recent years. I picked this one up because of the sci-fi twist, but I wasn't sure how well I'd like it. I'm happy to say that I really enjoyed it! The front half of the novel is a medium-pace set up, introducing the characters, the world — it's futuristic, but in an everyday sort of way — and the crime; the second half is a page-turner, accelerating through the mystery as the stakes get higher.

What I loved the most is how the story examines victimhood in our society, questioning the fairness of people — especially women — being expected to conform to a narrow range of acceptable recovery behaviors. I also appreciated the parts dealing with true crime voyeurism, explored both traditionally through an amateur detective society and experimentally through a virtual reality game allowing you to step into the shoes of the victim.

All in all, I think this is very readable for both people who don't typically read domestic thrillers — though it might not hit the same way if you're not familiar with common tropes — and for people who don't read speculative fiction.

“But more than any proof she has, is a feeling. She’d once heard them described as the whispers—the moments that are trying to tell you something isn’t right here. The problem is that some women aren’t listening to what their lives are trying to tell them. They don’t hear the whispers until they’re looking back with hindsight. Feeling blindsided. Desperate to see the truth for what it is.”

- The Whispers by Ashley Audrain

Book Review #26 of 2023--

Not a Happy Family by Shari Lapena. Rating: 3 stars.

Read from March 2nd to 4th.

The best place to start this review is by admitting that I don’t read a ton of Mysteries and that the ones I read and really enjoy tend to be YA, not Adult. See the Truly Devious series, the Naturals series, the Inheritance Games series. So, maybe take this review with a pinch of salt. I will still try to explain this middle of the road rating from me.

I felt like the author intentionally put the reader at a distance from their characters. I never felt like I really got to know or get emotionally invested with any characters despite the fact that there are a lot of them and that we get everyone’s point of view at least once in this story. I am such a character based reader that this put the story at a disadvantage almost immediately. But I like murder mysteries and seeing how the information is uncovered. The problem extends to that aspect of the story as well. It felt like each new piece of evidence was delivered with a whimper instead of a bang. The characters have bounced back and forth about who they think did it so many times that nothing felt shocking anymore. Even when we found out who the murderer was it felt like no big deal.

I will say that something I didn’t expect, but absolutely loved, in this novel was how the different relationships in this family were tested. When you have such a strong bond but have to wonder if your spouse murdered their own parents. And how the relationships grew stronger or more estranged as the investigation went on. And how it changed as new evidence was brought to light. That was all really fun to explore in this one. Also, this was such a quick and easy read. It felt like I was flying through this novel. I think the writing style is just so straight forward that it helps propel the reader further into the story.

Overall, I’m not impressed, but I’m not so let down that I would never pick up another book by this author. I think it’ll just have to be a synopsis that I’m really excited about.

Starting Woman On The Edge by Samantha M. Bailey

I re-read Agatha Christie’s short story Philomel Cottage again (it’s one of my favourites) and I got a thought, damn, this would have made a great Alfred Hitchcock film!

Agatha should have written more domestic thrillers, she’d absolutely slay that genre. Read it for free here.

#BlogTour ~ The Family Home by Lorraine Mace @lomace @rararesources

About The Book IS BLOOD ALWAYS THICKER THAN WATER? Sally has lived in fear of her husband long enough. But after twenty years of suffering, she has been left with nothing of her own and no one to turn to – except her estranged sister, Alison.When Alison agrees to help Sally escape, she knows she must return to the one place she was told never to show her face again – the family home – and…

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"It was one of the only truly useful things she ever taught me: Stress stimulates growth. Sometimes, in order to make something develop in the right direction, you have to hurt it." - The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

Book #9 of the year: a solid 4/5.

Her: I just enjoy liking guys. It's my hobby. Each man is a potential doorway leading me out of my boring life and into theirs.

Me:

Someone Else's Life, Lyn Liao Butler

[thoughts here | book sleeve here]

"Has Anyone Seen Charlotte Salter?" by Nicci French - Book Review @HarperCollins @Morrow_PB @FrenchNicci #HasAnyoneSeenCharlotteSalter #BookReview

Niall Salter is the only one of the siblings to stay in the area. He married and took over the family’s landscaping business. Paul Salter, deeply affected by his mother’s disappearance, took his own life five years after she was last seen… Oliver Salter is the artistic one. He too left the area for pastures new. Etty Salter, the youngest of the family, is despondent and grieving her mother. As…

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Audiobook Review: A Welcome Reunion

A Welcome Reunion by Lucinda Berry Blurb: From the bestselling author of The Perfect Child comes a short thriller about a couple faced with the terrifying return of a girl they once called their own who threatens everything they hold dear. Janie is the last person Hannah and Christopher Bauer want to see again. But Janie’s moved back to Clarksville. She’s no longer the frail child Hannah and…

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#Blogtour My Husband's Lies by Liz Lawler

It’s a pleasure to take part in the Blogtour My Husband’s Lies by Liz Lawler. About the Author Liz Lawler grew up sharing pants, socks, occasionally a toothbrush, sleeping four to a bed. Born in Chatham and partly raised in Dublin, she is one of fourteen children. She spent over twenty years as a nurse and has since fitted in working as a flight attendant, a general manager of a five star…

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