Thriller

Rating: 8/10

A stay-at-home mom with a past she can’t escape, no matter how hard she tries. A has been rock star with a drinking problem prone to making poor decisions. A reality TV producer who owes a lot of money to the wrong sort of people, for all the wrong reasons. They have been keeping a secret for twenty five years, one someone is threatening to reveal to the world and now they must come together, no matter how much they don’t want to!

Thriller

Rating: 8.5/10

The first murder takes place in 1999 as employees at Blockbuster close up for the night. As I worked for over ten years at Blockbuster, I enjoyed reliving the store descriptions. Not so much, as that might be unseemly, given the blood letting and all. Gives a whole new meaning to “make it a Blockbuster night”.

Humorous Essays

Rating: 7.5/10

I have news for you. Are you sitting down? Maybe grab a cocktail. If you are in your forties, you have reached middle age. It’s a mathematical fact that cannot be disputed. You can smooth out the edges by adding the word “early” in front of it, but facts are facts my friends. This hilarious book brings it all front and centre in the best possible way!

Fiction

Rating: 7.5/10

When Shelby and Gibson join two separate therapy groups, they instantly connect with the same woman, Cammie. She’s perfect, giving them both exactly what they need at this point in their lives. Only she is not what she appears to be, seemingly not the same woman at all. A brilliant and irresistible novel that bravely casts a morally bereft character and upends the expected scammer narrative.

Thriller

Rating: 8.5/10

An immersive, outstanding thriller that will sweep you away from its action packed first page to its last. When her husband’s car is found abandoned and burned out, physicist Eve becomes suspect number one. When Jonah, a psychic, appears on her doorstep with an offer to help, she is just desperate enough to accept. I loved the dichotomy of these two characters, not to mention their chemistry!

Thriller

Rating: 7/10

Olivia has been missing for one day and counting. Last seen entering a dead-end alley and not coming out again. Julia, a veteran investigator, expects the pressure of the ticking clock she is up against. What she doesn’t expect is to find a masked man in her backseat, threatening to expose a secret that could blow up her entire life unless she plants evidence. And not just her own life either.

Thriller

Rating: 7/10

Dave Gurney has never taken retirement very seriously, despite repeated vows to family to slow down. Always up for puzzling out whatever mystery someone brings to him. Even when he commits to only giving it a cursory look, he will immerse himself in no time. However, his latest foray into crime solving might put him on the other side of the law.

Fiction

Rating: 7/10

Dani needs a distraction. Being a wife and mother is not as fulfilling as she expected it to be. Then she discovers the Temple. Ostensibly a yoga center but possibly a house of ill repute, Dani might have found a side hustle she is good at. Only time will tell.

Speculative Horror

Rating: 8/10

A group of strangers wake up on a blood soaked boat with a dead guy, and none remember who they are or how they got there. When a phone rings with certain instructions, they realize they are on a mission of some kind. One that they volunteered for. One that requires that they eradicate an infestation of some sort. One that will likely cost them their lives. If you are feeling Last Of Us vibes, you are not wrong!

Fiction

Rating: 8/10

Henri and Louise are two strangers at a crossroads in their lives when they meet on a train travelling across Europe. The thing is, this isn’t the first time they have met. Yet there seems to be an unspoken agreement between them that for this moment, in this place, the past does not exist. Pretending that their fates are not inextricably entwined. I loved the untangling of their story.

Horror

Rating: 7/10

This tale of wonder and terror follows a creepy reunion of the cast of a magical kids show that exists only in its viewers memories. A twist of fate brings all the surviving cast members back together, and someone, or something wants them to recreate the magic. Problem is that it might be bad magic.

Speculative Crime

Rating: 8.5/10

What if the murder you had to solve was your own? Lou is a happily married mother of a cutie pie baby girl. She is also the victim of a serial killer. Recently resurrected by a secret cloning project, she is struggling to reconnect. I inhaled this speculative and smart twist on the crime novel, one with an ending I never in my wildest dreams, even the darker ones, could have imagined.

Sci-Fi/Thriller

Rating: 9/10

What if you discovered your husband was having an affair with his wife? Yes, you read that properly. The author spins the extramarital and domestic strife tropes in some intriguingly unique directions. This book has a lot to love; weird science, murder, bad romance and the unspooling of enough twists to leave the reader with a serious case of whiplash.

Fantasy

Rating: 8.5/10

This ambitious and meticulously crafted book is a celebration of stories that outlive the paper they are written on and the libraries where they rest on shelves to be read. Unquestionably a love letter to books and the buildings that house them, this has a far greater reach to be explored for the reader. Beautifully woven with magic, adventure, intrigue and even love.

Hitting The Shelves-September 2023

I’m a planner in every way you could imagine, a particular quirk that benefits my reading life. And now you dear reader, will reap the rewards with my new monthly post that will feature three of the most interesting books coming out in the next month as well as a few extra just for fun. Happy Reading!

Horror/Thriller

Rating: 6.5/10

Laura is a journalist tasked with writing a piece on the remake of a ‘90’s horror flick that she starred in as a child. One that was cursed. One that had eight cast and crew dying in ways that eerily mirrored the movie’s on-screen deaths. And now? People are dying again. You get all the tropes, a slasher, final girl, cursed movie within a movie all in one.

Fiction

Rating: 8/10

The story starts off with the husband whispering in his wife’s ear, “we need to find a moment to talk. It’s important.” The potential implications of this send her spiraling while she takes the reader back through her week in the hopes of finding an inkling as to what this chat might be about. Her devotion, or maybe obsession is a better word, is unsettling and impossible to look away from!

Thriller

Rating: 8/10

It would be hard to dispute that Ware has a knack for writing propulsive plots and casting them with female protagonists that you will root for. And her latest does not disappoint, especially when you layer on the technological angle to the story. Jack and her husband are penetration specialists, people who find ways around company security systems. After their latest job, she gets home to find her beloved husband brutally murdered. Soon she will be both on the hunt and the hunted!

Mystery

Rating: 7/10

Miranda, once known for playing the crime solving church pastor she was cast as on television, has hit hard times. No matter how flagrantly she ignores this fact at every opportunity. Now she finds herself in the thick of a real life mystery, so to speak. A cozy whodunnit chock full of quirky characters, imagine a murder mystery set on the series Corner Gas or Schitt’s Creek. Pure Canadiana!

Fiction

Rating: 8/10

In the last few years, I have seen an influx of books that are willing to tell stories that are brave enough to forgo niceties, cast unlikable characters, and mine the depths of messy and disturbing lives. This is one such book. Our narrator is unnamed and possibly unhinged. The narrative itself is vitriolic, tortuous, fractured and a perfect fit for the story it sets out to tell. A story I recommend you read!