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Reviews

Reviews

by Marie Benedict - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Mystery

In December 1926, Agatha Christie goes missing. Investigators find her empty car on the edge of a deep, gloomy pond, the only clues some tire tracks nearby and a fur coat left in the car --- strange for a frigid night. Her World War I veteran husband and her daughter have no knowledge of her whereabouts, and England unleashes an unprecedented manhunt to find the up-and-coming mystery author. Eleven days later, she reappears, just as mysteriously as she disappeared, claiming amnesia and providing no explanations for her time away. The puzzle of those missing 11 days has persisted. Acclaimed author Marie Benedict brings us into the world of Agatha Christie, imagining why such a brilliant woman would find herself at the center of such murky historical mysteries.

by Colleen Hoover - Fiction, Paranormal Romance, Romance

When Leeds meets Layla, he’s convinced he’ll spend the rest of his life with her --- until an unexpected attack leaves Layla fighting for her life. After weeks in the hospital, Layla recovers physically, but the emotional and mental scarring has altered the woman Leeds fell in love with. In order to put their relationship back on track, Leeds whisks Layla away to the bed-and-breakfast where they first met. Once they arrive, Layla’s behavior takes a bizarre turn. Feeling distant from Layla, Leeds soon finds solace in Willow, another guest of the B&B with whom he forms a connection through their shared concerns. As his curiosity for Willow grows, his decision to help her find answers puts him in direct conflict with Layla’s well-being.

by Kia Abdullah - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Zara Kaleel, one of London's brightest legal minds, has exchanged her high-profile career for a job at a sexual assault center, helping victims who need her the most. When Jodie Wolfe, a 16-year-old girl with facial deformities, accuses four boys in her class of an unthinkable crime, the community is torn apart. After all, these four teenage defendants are from hard-working immigrant families, and they all have proven alibis. Even Jodie's best friend doesn't believe her. But Zara does, and she is determined to fight for Jodie to find the truth in the face of public outcry. And as issues of sex, race and social justice collide, the most explosive criminal trial of the year builds to a shocking conclusion.

by Tessa Wegert - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

After leaving the NYPD following her abduction by serial killer Blake Bram, Shana Merchant hoped for a fresh start in the Thousand Islands of Upstate New York. Her former tormentor has other plans. When the decades-old skeleton of Shana's estranged uncle is uncovered, Bram issues a challenge: Return home to Vermont and solve the cold case, or the blood he spills next will be on her hands. As Shana interviews members of her family and the community, mining for secrets that could help her solve her uncle's murder, she begins to realize how little she remembers of her childhood. And when Bram kidnaps again, leaving a trail of clues Shana alone can understand, she knows his new victim will only survive if she wins the psychopath’s twisted game.

by Denise Williams - Comedy, Fiction, Humor, Romance

When her flailing department lands on the university's chopping block, Professor Naya Turner’s friends convince her to shed her frumpy cardigan for an evening on the town. That night she meets Jake, a charming stranger who is in town on business. He makes her laugh and challenges her to rebuild her confidence, which was left toppled by her abusive ex-boyfriend. Soon she’s flirting with the chance at a more serious romantic relationship, but the complicated strings around her dating Jake might destroy her career. Naya has two options. She can protect her professional reputation and return to her old life, or she can flirt with the unknown and stay with the person who makes her feel like she's finally living again.

by Kate Moretti - Fiction, Gothic, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

When Hannah Maloney’s aunt dies in a car accident, she returns to her family’s castle in the Catskills and the epicenter of a childhood trauma: her sister’s unsolved disappearance. It’s been 17 years, and though desperate to start a new life with her fiancé, Hannah is compelled to question the events of her last summer at Brackenhill. When a human bone is found near the estate, Hannah is convinced it belongs to her long-lost sister. She launches her own investigation into that magical summer that ended in a nightmare. As strange happenings plague the castle, Hannah uncovers disturbing details about the past and startling realizations about her own repressed childhood memories.

by Alexandria Bellefleur - Comedy, Fiction, Romance

After a disastrous blind date, Darcy Lowell is desperate to stop her well-meaning brother from playing matchmaker ever again. So she fibs and says her latest set up was a success. Elle Jones, an astrologer, dreams of finding her soul mate but knows it is not Darcy, who is way too analytical, punctual and skeptical for someone as free-spirited as herself. When Darcy’s brother --- and Elle's new business partner --- expresses how happy he is that they hit it off, Elle is baffled. Darcy begs Elle to play along, and she agrees to pretend they’re dating. But Darcy must help Elle navigate her own overbearing family during the holidays, and their arrangement expires on New Year’s Eve. The last thing they expect is to develop real feelings during a faux relationship.

by Wendy Webb - Fiction, Gothic, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

After a devastating loss, Brynn Wilder escapes to Wharton, a tourist town on Lake Superior, to reset. Checking into a quaint boardinghouse for the summer, she hopes to put her life into perspective. In her fellow lodgers, she finds a friendly company of strangers. But in this inviting refuge, where a century of souls has passed, a mystery begins to swirl. The frail Alice knows things about Brynn, about all of them, that she shouldn’t. Bad dreams and night whispers lure Brynn to a shuttered room at the end of the hall, a room still heavy with a recent death. And now she’s become irresistibly drawn to Dominic --- even in the shadow of rumors that wherever this unsettlingly handsome man goes, suspicious death follows.

by Rachel Joyce - Fiction, Historical Fiction

It is 1950. London is still reeling from World War II, and Margery Benson, a schoolteacher and spinster, is trying to get through life. One day, she reaches her breaking point and sets out on an expedition to the other side of the world in search of her childhood obsession: an insect that may or may not exist --- the golden beetle of New Caledonia. When she advertises for an assistant to accompany her, the woman she ends up with is the last person she had in mind. Fun-loving Enid Pretty seems to attract trouble wherever she goes. But together these two British women find themselves drawn into a cross-ocean adventure that exceeds all expectations and delivers something neither of them expected to find: the transformative power of friendship.

by Cecily von Ziegesar - Fiction, Women's Fiction

Welcome to Cobble Hill. In this eclectic Brooklyn neighborhood, private storms brew amongst four married couples and their children. There’s ex-groupie Mandy, so underwhelmed by motherhood and her current physical state that she fakes a debilitating disease to get the attention of her husband, Stuart. There’s the unconventional new school nurse, Peaches, on whom Stuart has an unrequited crush, and her disappointing husband Greg, who wears noise-cancelling headphones everywhere. Roy, a newly transplanted British novelist, has lost the thread of his next novel and his marriage to Wendy. Around the corner, Tupper, a nervous, introverted industrial designer, struggles to pin down his elusive artist wife, Elizabeth.