Tuesday, February 21, 2017

#NEW #RELEASE #NEW #REVIEW "I See You" by Clare Mackintosh


Description:

The author of the New York Times bestseller I Let You Go propels readers into a dark and claustrophobic thriller, in which a normal, everyday woman becomes trapped in the confines of her normal, everyday world…

Every morning and evening, Zoe Walker takes the same route to the train station, waits at a certain place on the platform, finds her favorite spot in the car, never suspecting that someone is watching her…

It all starts with a classified ad. During her commute home one night, while glancing through her local paper, Zoe sees her own face staring back at her; a grainy photo along with a phone number and a listing for a website called FindTheOne.com.

Other women begin appearing in the same ad, a different one every day, and Zoe realizes they’ve become the victims of increasingly violent crimes—including murder. With the help of a determined cop, she uncovers the ad’s twisted purpose…A discovery that turns her paranoia into full-blown panic. Zoe is sure that someone close to her has set her up as the next target.


And now that man on the train—the one smiling at Zoe from across the car—could be more than just a friendly stranger. He could be someone who has deliberately chosen her and is ready to make his next move…

MY TAKE:
5 Stars!!!
You all know my favorite genre for quite a while anymore has been and still is Thrillers. This Thriller/Murder Mystery had me hooked from the very first sentence to the very last, and through everything that happens in-between. This is one of my favorites this year so far! This is this author’s second thriller, and her writing has NO problem immediately sucking us up into this book and keeping us on the edge of our seats until the very last page is turned! Get ready to lose sleep, everyone! It’s time to say, “Bravo”, again, to Clare Mackintosh for a second time in a row! You will NOT put this one down until the very end! I guarantee you this. I don’t care what you have planned the next day, but you WILL be reading well into the night!!! Plan accordingly.
Imagine someone you don’t know happens to know your every single move you make every second of your life, but you have NO CLUE as to WHO this person is! Imagine seeing your OWN photo being advertised in the local newspaper in personals website called findtheone.com! Yep! Zoe has a stalker. Someone is after her, and thankfully she does call the police into the scene, thankfully using her better judgement and not allowing her friends and family try to convince her it’s only a photo that looks like her because she knows it’s not. She knows she has a stalker after her. This person knows too many of her personal details for it to not be her. Zoe is looking over her shoulder at every twist and turn. No one knows who this stalker is, and each person she looks at could be the one. She is unnerved.
As you are reading this book, it alternates between Zoe, the Investigator who is Kelly Swift, and the stalker.
This was an excellent thriller. I enjoyed it very much.
I believe this book is being weighed too heavily against this author’s debut thriller, I Let You Go. I wish people weren’t comparing each book against the other, but I understand it. Her debut novel was so strong, very strong, but an author writes each book to stand alone and have their own merits. I believe everyone was expecting to get the same thing out of this second book that they got out of the first. Sure, I admit her first book was stronger, but it was a different book, a different story. Her next book will be different than these two books. This is the beauty of an author and how they write. They leave us wanting for more!! We WILL get more, too! Clare Mackintosh is here to stay and has a LOT of writing left inside of her to put down on the page for us! I truly do look forward to more from her! I highly recommend this book, and I am rating this book on it’s own merits as a stand-alone and am not comparing it to her previous book.
Enjoy your read!!
I want to thank Penguin/Random House/Berkley and NetGalley for providing this book to me for the privilege to read this book and write a review of my own opinion.







ebook:  $11.99
print:    $15.29





This Author's first thriller, below, I Let You Go - click the link to take you to Amazon if you are interested in this book as well! 


ebook: $11.99
print:   $  9.52

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

#REVIEW "The Good Daughter" by Alexandra Burt - #NEW #RELEASE today, Feb 7th, 2017


Description:
From the author of Remember Mia comes the tale of a young woman in search of her past, and the mother who will do anything to keep it hidden...

What if you were the worst crime your mother ever committed?

Dahlia Waller's childhood memories consist of stuffy cars, seedy motels, and a rootless existence traveling the country with her eccentric mother. Now grown, she desperately wants to distance herself from that life. Yet one thing is stopping her from moving forward: she has questions.

In order to understand her past, Dahlia must go back. Back to her mother in the stifling town of Aurora, Texas. Back into the past of a woman on the brink of madness. But after she discovers three grave-like mounds on a neighboring farm, she’ll learn that in her mother s world of secrets, not all questions are meant to be answered...
From the author of Remember Mia comes the tale of a young woman in search of her past, and the mother who will do anything to keep it hidden...

My Take:
2 Stars
This could have been an excellent book, but all the things that were written into this book to sidetrack the reader completely ruined this story. For the first 12 years of Dahlia’s life, her mother had the two of them living their lives on the run, practically out of their vehicle, and also at other times when a hotel needed help and her mother could get paid for working there they would get a motel room to stay at. Dahlia did not even go to school until she was much older. Nothing is ever referred to as to ‘why’ all of this this is in the book, but we get the general idea that something is up and there is a reason for it, which is why when Dahlia had to return home, to fill in the holes of her life because she can’t even get a job since she does not have a social security number, and this even interferes with her ability to attend college! No social security number, NO job OR college! The only problem with this is is that she waited 15 years to return home and confront her mother. We don’t know why she waited so long? At least Dahlia thinks smart and runs into a friend of hers when she gets home, a guy she went to High School with, Bobby. He happens to be a policeman, and their thinking is he can help fill in the gaps if any are needed, at least legally, but at 75% of the book, Bobby has not needed to do a thing. The two of them have even missed clues that stand out like a sore thumb to the reader!  
So much of this book just does not make sense in the way the story is told. The timeline of the story, the characters in the story, the secrets that are kept and the FEW that get told about. We, the reader, are left with our heads just spinning with these. Why the author wrote it the way she did just does not make sense, and this truly makes for a not so enjoyable read.
There are some other crazy characters as well. There is another character who seems to be into new age spirituality is called Aella. She is a trip! Then we have a fourth female character named Quinn who was brutally gangraped as a teenager which we get to read the details about that rape over and over again. This is something that is not great reading material. Why is this in this book? HOW does it relate to the story? I don’t know???
For example, there is even a little story about a woman who is comatose that Dahlia stumbles over as she is out jogging, and this little event ends up becoming huge, but it turns out not having anything to do with the story in this book. Why?
Dahlia had had enough of things the way they were, and she because she wanted to improve her life, ended up going through heck trying to do so. Her only way to fix things and make them clear so she could move ahead with her future was to do what she is did with her mother, which resulted in this odd story, and it just confused the heck out of readers.
I cannot give this book a recommendation to read it, I’m sorry, and I am really sad about this, too, because Remember Mia was SO good! Although as a saving grace for this author and for this book, The Good Daughter was not set at such a fast pace as Remember Mia was set at, so that should be taken into consideration if you are going into this book with expectations to read it. This book is set at a very much slower pace, and also has a lot of plot to it which does get confusing for the reader. Perhaps knowing that might make for a more enjoyable read? I hope so! Enjoy!
I would like to thank Berkley and NetGalley for the wonderful opportunity to get to read and review this book for free. No payment of any type was provided in order for me to read this book and write this review, but it was provided to me for free of charge for the sole purpose of reading it to write a review of my own opinion. Thank you for coming by to read this review!



ebook:  $11.99
print:    $10.77

Saturday, February 4, 2017

#StackingtheShelves #63 plus blog updates, new books and week's end for FEB 4TH, 2017


Thanks to our Sponsor, Tynga's Reviews!

How Stacking the Shelves works! 

Hello everyone! It's that time of week again, that time to do an awesome "SHOW AND TELL" of the books I have been given, from authors, from publishers, I bought, borrowed, or received somehow, the library, a yard sale, or some way this past week! I LOVE showing books off like this! This is one of MY favorite posts to write!!
I also use THIS POST EACH WEEK to do somewhat of a wrap-up AND to post my NEW REVIEWS, NEW GIVEAWAYS, and whatever else I should bring to your attention!
After you are done reading HERE, click on the Sponsor's name up above and see THEIR post for Stacking the Shelves, too! They have a link-up with OVER 100-200 other blogs that also participate!
I'm also finding OTHER PLACES TO LINK UP TO AS WELL! I'm finding these places from other blogs, and they are GREAT ideas! The following NEW one is Talk of the Town where we can add ALL THINGS BOOKISH! Check it out! 

I will also be linking this post AND my reviews to Saturday Situation (WHICH IS NOW HELD AT "PURE IMAGINATION" JUST CLICK ON THE NAME AND IT WILL TAKE YOU THERE) as well from now on, too! That is a place to link ALL THINGS BOOKISH! I'm anxious to start posting there!! Check it out, too!

Welcome everyone! 
It is LATE in the year ALREADY to be talking about goal setting, but I AM going to talk about it! Ahhhhh, the fresh start of a new year! HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!! 2017!!! So have you set your goals yet? I have set a few, very few, but a few!!! You all know I have been swimming 3-4 times per week for exercise, to lose weight and for my physical therapy, and my doctor is ELATED it is working!!! YEAH!!! I've made her happy, and that makes ME happy!! You know how MUCH I LOVEEEEE swimming!!! How convenient that swimming is the ONLY type of workout I am able to do! I LOVEEEEE it!!! I have ALWAYS loved swimming, and I am able to take advantage of this GREAT SPORT to help my neurological muscle disease, Stiff Person Syndrome! Speaking of that:


Rare Disease Day IS COMING UP ON FEBRUARY 28th!!! I WILL HAVE ALL THE INFORMATION YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IT POSTED THAT DAY TO HELP YOU OUT AS MUCH AS I CAN! Scientists AND DOCTORS are learning that these so-called "rare diseases" are being under diagnosed because the doctors flat-out don't know about them. Oh, they DID see them in their textbooks while in Medical School, but NO TIME IS SPENT ON LEARNING ABOUT "ANY" OF THESE! I FEEL THAT IS SO WRONG! By having days like this one that is coming, Rare Disease Day, it helps bring awareness to these what are known as orphan diseases. You'll learn about that name, too! Perhaps by bringing MORE awareness, doctors will learn more and be WILLING to learn more! That is a whole other problem! Not ALL doctors are willing and open to learning about NEW diseases. That is a calamity! I wish that NEVER happens to ANY one of you! 
Oh!!! One more thing I need to tell you!!! I have joined the 50 Mile Club!! It's a competition against yourself! You pay $10 to join, then you MUST swim 50 miles! I currently have 19 miles swam! Yes! I have a year to do it, (just in case the spasms set in) and I WILL do this! When you complete the 50 miles, you WIN A T-SHIRT!!!! I will be a part of a select FEW who have participated this year - so far! Speaking of that, it IS a GOAL!
How are your goals you have set for yourself for the NEW YEAR SO FAR??? How about for the month of January so far? Still keeping to those goals you set at the beginning of the year? I HOPE so!! I'm just checking in with you because usually by now, the end of January, many of you are off track! Recheck your goals and make sure you are on track!
Back to the books! I still have to post 5 more reviews to reach my goal of books read for 2016! It's been HARD since I've been working SO HARD swimming! The fatigue has been TREMENDOUS! It's getting better and better ALL the time! I try. That is the BEST I can say! I will never be like everyone else, but WHO wants to be like everyone else? NOT ME!!! I want to be my OWN individual, and I am! It takes me double the time that it takes everyone else to do things, but that's okay! I'm DOING IT! YOU CAN, TOO! GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR GOALS!

GIVEAWAYS:  ROMANCE IS IN THE AIR $250 #CASH #GIVEAWAY! Yes! Another excellent entry form for a chance to win $250 CASH!!! Read the fine print for MORE details!! These are always fun and a GREAT WAY to find NEW blogs you'll enjoy reading!! To enter this go ahead and CLICK HERE!!! GOOD LUCK!!!!!

RELEASING THIS TUESDAY AND I WILL HAVE A REVIEW!!!!


The Good Daughter by Alexandra Burt - RELEASES TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 7th, 2017! Also the author of Remember Mia! You do NOT want to miss this! See you Tuesday for the Review!


NEWEST AND GREAT BOOKS RECEIVED FOR REVIEW:
(Some books may be repeats, but require to be seen again!)



The Marriage Lie by Kimberly Belle - Released:  12-27-16



Things We Have in Common by Tasha Kavanagh - Releases: 1-31-17



The Echo of Twilight by Judith Kinghorn Released - Jan 3rd, 2017



The Twilight Wife by A J Banner - Released 12-27-17



Everything You Want Me To Be by Mindy Mejia Released Jan 3, 2017



I See You by Clare Mackintosh - Releases April 4th, 2017




The Girl Who Knew Too Much by Amanda Quick - Releases May 16th, 2017



The Young Wives Club by Julie Pennell - Releases Feb 14th, 2017

Have an EXCELLENT WEEKEND!!! I AM! I'M OFF TO A PARTY!!! Enjoy your reading this week! See you next week!
Laurie