Review: The Therapist

The Therapist by B.A. Paris
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

When Alice and Leo move into a newly renovated house in The Circle, a gated community of exclusive houses, it is everything they’ve dreamed of. But appearances can be deceptive…

As Alice is getting to know her neighbours, she discovers a devastating secret about her new home, and begins to feel a strong connection with Nina, the therapist who lived there before.

Alice becomes obsessed with trying to piece together what happened two years before. But no one wants to talk about it. Her neighbors are keeping secrets and things are not as perfect as they seem.

ABOVE is the description of the book. In reality Alice and Leo are going to move in together and Leo finds a house that he really likes in London. He knows the history of the house but decides to keep from Alice the fact that a horrific murder had occurred in the house. He also kept other important information from her such as his real identity and that he had spent time in prison leaving her vulnerable.

Also, unbelievable is that as soon as Alice moved into the new house she made friends with all her neighbours, having coffee and visiting as though they had known each other forever.

Alice "feels" that someone is in her house, or has been in her house constantly and things are being moved and other items added.

I just don't believe that any woman would be that naive to carry on in a house that had danger written all over it and had a partner that was completely untrustworthy.

Review: Oh William!

Oh William! by Elizabeth Strout
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Through her careful words and reverberating silences (The New York Times), Elizabeth Strout has long captured readers' hearts with her spare, exquisite insights on family, relationships, and loss. And never has her perfect attunement to the human condition (Hilary Mantel) been so evident as in these pages, as Strout's iconic heroine Lucy Barton, of My Name Is Lucy Barton, recounts her complex, tender relationship with William, her first husband--and longtime, on-again-off-again friend and confidant. Recalling their college years, through the birth of their daughters, the painful dissolution of their marriage, and the lives they built with other people, Strout weaves a portrait, stunning in its subtlety, of a decades-long partnership.

A masterful exploration of human empathy, Oh William! captures the joy and pain of watching children grow up and start families of their own; of discovering family secrets, late in life, that rearrange everything we think we know about those closest to us; and the way people live and love, despite the variety of obstacles we face in doing so. And at the heart of this story is the unforgettable, indomitable voice of Lucy Barton, who once again offers a profound, lasting reflection on the very nature of existence. This is the way of life, Lucy says. The many things we do not know until it is too late.

Review: Hostage

Hostage by Clare Mackintosh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A claustrophobic thriller set over twenty hours on one airplane flight, with the heart-stopping tension of The Last Flight and the wrenching emotional intensity of Room, Hostage takes us on board the inaugural nonstop flight from London to Sydney.

Mina is trying to focus on her job as a flight attendant, not the problems of her five-year-old daughter back home, or the fissures in her marriage. But the plane has barely taken off when Mina receives a chilling note from an anonymous passenger, someone intent on ensuring the plane never reaches its destination. Someone who needs Mina's assistance and who knows exactly how to make her comply.

It's twenty hours to landing. A lot can happen in twenty hours.

Terrific read with a shocker ending.

Review: The Searcher

The Searcher by Tana French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Retired detective Cal Hooper moves to a remote village in rural Ireland. His plans are to fix up the dilapidated cottage he's bought, to walk the mountains, to put his old police instincts to bed forever.

Then a local boy appeals to him for help. His brother is missing, and no one in the village, least of all the police, seems to care. And once again, Cal feels that restless itch.

Something is wrong in this community, and he must find out what, even if it brings trouble to his door.

I loved the setting of this book especially. The descriptions made me feel that I was in Ireland and truly getting to know the Irish people. 

An excellent read.

Review: The One

The One by John Marrs
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A simple DNA test is all it takes. Just a quick mouth swab and soon you’ll be matched with your perfect partner the one you are genetically made for.

That’s the promise made by Match Your DNA. A decade ago, the company announced that they had found the gene that pairs each of us with our soul mate. Since then, millions of people around the world have been matched. But the discovery has its downsides: test results have led to the breakup of countless relationships and upended the traditional ideas of dating, romance and love.

Now five very different people have received the notification that they’ve been “Matched.” They’re each about to meet their one true love. But “happily ever after” isn’t guaranteed for everyone. Because even soul mates have secrets. And some are more shocking than others…

A word-of-mouth hit in the United Kingdom, The One is a fascinating novel that shows how even the simplest discoveries can have complicated consequences.

An excellent read.

Review: 'Til Morning Light

'Til Morning Light by Ann Moore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars


With her two children, Gracelin O’Malley travels to post–Gold Rush San Francisco to meet the sea captain who has proposed marriage to her. But when she arrives, he is nowhere to be found. Destitute in a city filled with gangs, disillusioned soldiers, and professional gamblers, Grace takes a position as a cook for one of the city’s most prominent doctors—only to become caught up in a tangled web of blackmail and betrayal. Determined to make a secure life for her children and find her brother, Sean, Gracelin sets in motion a series of events that change the future of everyone around her, never dreaming that the man she thought she’d lost forever is still alive and determined to find his way back to her.

Dickensian in scope, with a full cast of riveting characters, Ann Moore’s ’Til Morning Light is the stunning conclusion to the enthralling story of Gracelin O’Malley, a heroine for the ages.

An excellent read.

Review: The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II

The Last Bookshop in London: A Novel of World War II by Madeline Martin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Inspired by the true World War II history of the few bookshops to survive the Blitz, The Last Bookshop in London is a timeless story of wartime loss, love and the enduring power of literature.

August 1939: London prepares for war as Hitler’s forces sweep across Europe. Grace Bennett has always dreamed of moving to the city, but the bunkers and blackout curtains that she finds on her arrival were not what she expected. And she certainly never imagined she’d wind up working at Primrose Hill, a dusty old bookshop nestled in the heart of London.

Through blackouts and air raids as the Blitz intensifies, Grace discovers the power of storytelling to unite her community in ways she never dreamed—a force that triumphs over even the darkest nights of the war.

A great story.

Review: The Wife Upstairs

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Meet Jane. Newly arrived to Birmingham, Alabama, Jane is a broke dog-walker in Thornfield Estates––a gated community full of McMansions, shiny SUVs, and bored housewives. The kind of place where no one will notice if Jane lifts the discarded tchotchkes and jewelry off the side tables of her well-heeled clients. Where no one will think to ask if Jane is her real name.

But her luck changes when she meets Eddie­ Rochester. Recently widowed, Eddie is Thornfield Estates’ most mysterious resident. His wife, Bea, drowned in a boating accident with her best friend, their bodies lost to the deep. Jane can’t help but see an opportunity in Eddie––not only is he rich, brooding, and handsome, he could also offer her the kind of protection she’s always yearned for.

Yet as Jane and Eddie fall for each other, Jane is increasingly haunted by the legend of Bea, an ambitious beauty with a rags-to-riches origin story, who launched a wildly successful southern lifestyle brand. How can she, plain Jane, ever measure up? And can she win Eddie’s heart before her past––or his––catches up to her? 

Review: The Judge's List

The Judge's List by John Grisham
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In The Whistler, Lacy Stoltz investigated a corrupt judge who was taking millions in bribes from a crime syndicate. She put the criminals away, but only after being attacked and nearly killed. Three years later, and approaching forty, she is tired of her work for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct and ready for a change.

Then she meets a mysterious woman who is so frightened she uses a number of aliases. Jeri Crosby’s father was murdered twenty years earlier in a case that remains unsolved and that has grown stone cold. But Jeri has a suspect whom she has become obsessed with and has stalked for two decades. Along the way, she has discovered other victims.

Suspicions are easy enough, but proof seems impossible. The man is brilliant, patient, and always one step ahead of law enforcement. He is the most cunning of all serial killers. He knows forensics, police procedure, and most important: he knows the law.

He is a judge, in Florida—under Lacy’s jurisdiction.

He has a list, with the names of his victims and targets, all unsuspecting people unlucky enough to have crossed his path and wronged him in some way. How can Lacy pursue him, without becoming the next name on his list?

Love everything Grisham.