When looking back on previous years’ January book lists, I noticed that I tend to start each year with a memoir (and typically one I got for Christmas). Following suit, I did follow the trend this year, though it’s one I’ve had on my TBR since it first came out. Then I decided to pick up a couple series (on Audible, my Kindle app, and books from my actual bookshelf). All series I was into, and books that had 400+ pages. It was tough to know which series to pick up at times!
Also, I put myself on a spending freeze this month. The details of this self-inflicted torture were that I was only allowed to spend money on groceries. It was VERY difficult not to buy books all month, and I even accompanied someone toTarget twice - leaving with nothing! That being said, we all know that BUYING books and READING books are two different hobbies - this month I stuck to the latter hobby! (But I’ve been counting the days until I can partake in the BUYING BOOKS hobby!)
Book 1 of 2025 🎧 Now or Never: Thirty-One on the Run (Stephanie Plum #31) by Janet Evanovich (3.5/5⭐️)
📚GENRE: Fiction
🗓PUBLISHED: 19 November 2024
She said yes to Morelli. She said yes to Ranger. Now Stephanie Plum has two fiancés and no idea what to do about it. But the way things are going, she might not live long enough to marry anyone.
While Stephanie stalls for time, she buries herself in her work as a bounty hunter, tracking down an unusually varied assortment of fugitives from justice. There’s Eugene Fleck, a seemingly sweet online influencer who might also be YouTube star Robin Hoodie, masked hero to the homeless, who hijacks delivery trucks and distributes their contents to the needy. She’s also on the trail of Bruno Jug, a wealthy and connected man in the wholesale produce business who is rumored to traffic young girls alongside lettuce and tomatoes. Most terrifying of all is Zoran—a laundromat manager by day and self-proclaimed vampire by night with a taste for the blood of pretty girls. When he shows up on Stephanie’s doorstep, it’s not for the meatloaf dinner.
With timely assists from her stalwart supporters Lula, Connie, and Grandma Mazur, Stephanie uses every trick in the book to reel in these men. But only she can decide what to do about the two men she actually loves. She can’t hold Ranger and Morelli at bay for long, and she’s keeping a secret from them that is the biggest bombshell of all. Now or never, she’s got to make the decision of a lifetime.
Honestly I don’t have anything new to say that I haven’t said about every other book in this series. Is it great literature? No. Is it enjoyable? Absolutely. The shenanigans Stephanie and Lula get into make me chuckle, and occasionally full on laugh out loud. I love listening to these books on audio because the performer does an amazing job with her portrayal of the characters’ voices.
Book 2 of 2025 📖 Free Cyntoia: My Search for Redemption in the American Prison System by Cyntoia Brown-Long & Bethany Mauger (5/5🌟)
📚GENRE: Memoir
🗓PUBLISHED: 15 October 2019
At the age of sixteen, Cyntoia Brown, a survivor of human trafficking, was arrested for killing a man who had picked her up for sex. Two years later, she was sentenced to life in prison.
Brown reflects on the isolation, low self-esteem, and sense of alienation that drove her straight into the hands of a predator. Once in prison, she attempts to build a positive path and honor the values her beloved adoptive mother, Ellenette, taught her, but Cyntoia succumbs to harmful influences that drive her to a cycle of progress and setbacks. Then, a fateful meeting with a prison educator turned mentor offers Cyntoia the opportunity to make the pivotal decision to strive for a better future, even if she’s never freed.
In these pages, Cyntoia shares the details of her transformation, including a profound encounter with God, an unlikely romance, an unprecedented outpouring of support from social media advocates and A-list celebrities, and her release from prison. A coming-of-age memoir set against the shocking backdrop of a life behind bars, Free Cyntoia takes you on a spiritual journey as Cyntoia struggles to overcome a lifetime of feeling ostracized and abandoned by society.
This was a tough read, not because it was poorly written, but because of the content itself. I was living in Tennessee at the time Cyntoia was granted clemency by our then governor, Bill Haslam, and I was aware of the case, though I’m not sure what brought my attention to it? Perhaps because I was living in her hometown, the news outlets reported on it? I genuinely have no idea. I know it became big with celebrities sharing her case on social media, but I don’t really follow celebrities on social media. Regardless, I just could not imagine living a life like this. On one hand, I said to myself more than once that I wish I had half the guts Cyntoia has to call people out, but on the other, those guts got her into troubling situations over and over again.
I really apppreciated her candor regarding her circumstances. She didn’t shy away from owning up to her behavior. It was not an easy road to rehabilitation, and she was honest about every set back.
I’d love to read a second memoir, a few years from now, about her life in the free world and how she has helped other girls who are in, or are leading themselves to, her former situation.
Book 3 of 2025 📖 Year One (Chronicles of The One #1) by Nora Roberts (4/5⭐️)
📚GENRE: Fantasy/Dystopian Fiction
🗓PUBLISHED: 5 December 2017
It began on New Year’s Eve.
The sickness came on suddenly, and spread quickly. The fear spread even faster. Within weeks, everything people counted on began to fail them. The electrical grid sputtered; law and government collapsed―and more than half of the world’s population was decimated.
Where there had been order, there was now chaos. And as the power of science and technology receded, magick rose up in its place. Some of it is good, like the witchcraft worked by Lana Bingham, practicing in the loft apartment she shares with her lover, Max. Some of it is unimaginably evil, and it can lurk anywhere, around a corner, in fetid tunnels beneath the river―or in the ones you know and love the most.
As word spreads that neither the immune nor the gifted are safe from the authorities who patrol the ravaged streets, and with nothing left to count on but each other, Lana and Max make their way out of a wrecked New York City. At the same time, other travelers are heading west too, into a new frontier. Chuck, a tech genius trying to hack his way through a world gone offline. Arlys, a journalist who has lost her audience but uses pen and paper to record the truth. Fred, her young colleague, possessed of burgeoning abilities and an optimism that seems out of place in this bleak landscape. And Rachel and Jonah, a resourceful doctor and a paramedic who fend off despair with their determination to keep a young mother and three infants in their care alive.
In a world of survivors where every stranger encountered could be either a savage or a savior, none of them knows exactly where they are heading, or why. But a purpose awaits them that will shape their lives and the lives of all those who remain.
The end has come. The beginning comes next.
This book was like The Walking Dead meets Covid-19 with an added dash of light and dark magick. This isn’t a genre I typically pick up, but I’ve read a couple of Nora Roberts’s fantasy-esque trilogies and really enjoyed them, so when I found the first two books of this series at McKays, I decided to try out another one.
I liked the varied stories within the book. All experiencing the same pandemic and its effects, but different storylines. I was anxiously awaiting for the characters stories to come together. When I got to the end, I didn’t feel like there was a big event that happened, just a lot of little events. Different from what I usually read, but I’m intrigued and ready to start the next book!
Book 4 of 2025 🎧 Dark Highway (Jessica Shaw #3) by Lisa Gray (4/5⭐️)
📚GENRE: Mystery
🗓PUBLISHED: 19 November 2020
An isolated highway in the middle of the desert―the perfect place to hide a secret.
LA-based artist Laurie Simmonds disappeared two months ago, her campervan abandoned on the isolated Twentynine Palms Highway, miles from anything―or anyone. With the police investigation stalled, her parents put all their faith in private investigator Jessica Shaw to find out the truth of what happened.
Jessica and her partner Matt Connor discover that two other women are missing, their disappearances connected to the same highway. When a link emerges between these women and a group of former college friends, Jessica feels certain they’re closing in on their target.
But no sooner do they follow this up than Laurie’s parents get spooked and drop the case. Jessica is blindsided but determined not to give up: three women are missing, and many more may be at risk. She can’t turn her back on them. But the more she pulls at the threads of the truth, the closer she comes to danger. Can she find out who’s behind these crimes before they come for her?
I read the first two books in this series on Kindle half a decade ago, and while I enjoyed them, it wasn’t enough to keep this third book on my TBR. That being said, this ended up being like a buck on Audible, so I decided to give it a whirl. I’m glad I did - I was very captivated by this book!
There were many strands to the mystery, and I was constantly curious as to how they’d intertwine together to finish the book. It wasn’t super fast-paced, but not slow either, with just enough suspense to keep me trying to put the pieces together before the book told me.
You can read this as a stand alone book. It only connects to the previous two stories via the PI who is one of the main characters in each book. The cases do not connect.
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Book 5 of 2025 📖 Of Blood and Bone (Chronicles of The One #2) by Nora Roberts (4/5⭐️)
📚GENRE: Fantasy/Dystopian
🗓PUBLISHED: 4 December 2018
They look like an everyday family living an ordinary life. But beyond the edges of this peaceful farm, unimaginable forces of light and dark have been unleashed.
Fallon Swift, approaching her thirteenth birthday, barely knows the world that existed before―the city where her parents lived, now in ruins and reclaimed by nature since the Doom sickened and killed billions. Traveling anywhere is a danger, as vicious gangs of Raiders and fanatics called Purity Warriors search for their next victim. Those like Fallon, in possession of gifts, are hunted―and the time is coming when her true nature, her identity as The One, can no longer be hidden.
In a mysterious shelter in the forest, her training is about to begin under the guidance of Mallick, whose skills have been honed over centuries. She will learn the old ways of healing; study and spar; encounter faeries and elves and shifters; and find powers within herself she never imagined. And when the time is right, she will take up the sword, and fight. For until she grows into the woman she was born to be, the world outside will never be whole again.
I’ve said more than I can count that fantasy isn’t a genre that interests me, but then I read fantasy books such as this one and am absolutely captivated.
I liked how this book jumped ahead a decade from the previous book. I loved seeing how the characters’ lives have evolved over the years and more about how the magick works.
Though I rarely relate to her, I find myself continuously rooting for the Fallon, whether it be in love or battle. That statement probably applies to most of the main and supporting characters. Reading about Fallon’s growth during her training was more intriguing than I would have guessed it to be.
I had only bought the first two books because that was all the used bookstore had, but I went to the library to get the third because I knew I wouldn’t want to wait after finishing book 2 to begin book 3!
Book 6 of 2025 🎧 Lonely Hearts (Jessica Shaw #4) by Lisa Gray (3.5/5⭐️)
📚GENRE: Mystery
🗓PUBLISHED: 9 November 2021
She found love on Death Row with her prison pen pal. She’s been missing ever since. Can Jessica Shaw track her down?
A missing persons case should be pretty straightforward for private investigator Jessica Shaw. After all, it’s what she does best. But this latest case proves to be anything but straightforward.
Christine Ryan is desperate to find her childhood friend Veronica Lowe. Veronica disappeared more than fifteen years ago, not long after having a child with a Death Row inmate, notorious serial killer Travis Dean Ford. When Ford’s widow, Jordana, is murdered in the same way as his victims, Christine fears Veronica and her daughter will be next. If they’re even still alive…
Discovering that both Veronica and Jordana were members of the Lonely Hearts Club, a pen pal service for women who want to write to men in prison, Jessica realizes she needs to find Veronica before the killer does. But as Jessica follows the leads it begins to feel like someone is following her. Travis has been dead for years, so who is hunting the Lonely Hearts?
This one was just okay for me. I think so far in the series I liked the third book the best. I did figure this mystery out before the resolution was revealed, but I think it took a big enough twist in the storyline for me to get there. Overall the pacing was spot on - the story kept moving, but not so fast that the suspense didn’t last.
I’d like to see some more character growth in Jessica. This book ended like maybe there would be some in a future book, but I didn’t really see it in this story, nor the previous one.
Book 7 of 2025 📖 The Rise of Magicks (Chronicles of the One #3) by Nora Roberts (4.5/5⭐️)
📚GENRE: Fantasy/Dystopian
🗓PUBLISHED: 26 November 2019
After the sickness known as the Doom destroyed civilization, magick has become commonplace, and Fallon Swift has spent her young years learning its ways. Fallon cannot live in peace until she frees those who have been preyed upon by the government or the fanatical Purity Warriors, endlessly hunted or locked up in laboratories, brutalized for years on end. She is determined to save even those who have been complicit with this evil out of fear or weakness―if, indeed, they can be saved.
Strengthened by the bond she shares with her fellow warrior, Duncan, Fallon has already succeeded in rescuing countless shifters and elves and ordinary humans. Now she must help them heal―and rediscover the light and faith within themselves. For although from the time of her birth, she has been The One, she is still only one. And as she faces down an old nemesis, sets her sights on the enemy’s stronghold, and pursues her destiny―to finally restore the mystical shield that once protected them all―she will need an army behind her…
This trilogy has consumed my life for the last week and a half, and while I was anxious to see how it ended, I’m a little bit sad it’s over.
The books were long, and probably could have been shorter, but honestly I liked all the extra details. Fallon was such a fun character to root for. I loved reading about all the relationships with the characters grow and change.
This is not a series I would normally pick up, which is why it sat on my shelf for so long. I’m so glad I decided to pick it up this month, but I kind of wish I could read it all over again with fresh eyes.
Book 8 of 2025 📱 Mile High (The Windy City #1) by Liz Tomforde (4/5⭐️)
📚GENRE: Hockey Romance
🗓PUBLISHED: February 2023
Zanders
Chicago hockey isn’t complete without me—everyone’s favorite player to hate. I know my role, and I play it well. In fact, I thoroughly enjoy spending the majority of my game time in the penalty box before leaving the arena with a new girl on my arm each night.
What I don’t like is the new flight attendant on our team’s private plane. She works for me, not the other way around. But I’ll be sure to remind her of that, and I can guarantee, by the end of the season, she’ll be begging to quit her job.
But every road trip blurs the lines, and I can’t quite figure out if I keep pushing that flight attendant call button in order to push her buttons or if it’s more than that.
Stevie
I’ve been a flight attendant for years. I thought I’d see it all, but when my new job lands me onboard working for the most egotistical and self-righteous diva in the NHL, I start to second guess everything. Including the promise I made to myself of never hooking up with an athlete again…no matter how annoyingly tempting he may be.
Evan Zanders is unfiltered, unapologetic, and too attractive for his own good. He loves his image, but I hate everything about it.
Everything but him.
I had originally tried this on audiobook, but I couldn’t follow the performer narrating, so I returned it and thought maybe I’d try the kindle version at a later date. Honestly, I was not excited to pick it back up again. But of my zillion kindle books, only a handful are on my actual TBR; this is one of them. I needed a Kindle book to read, and figured I’d give it another go ‘round.
I’m glad I did! I enjoyed the banter between the male and female main characters, and even with the supporting characters. I cried at least twice, maybe three time - both sad and happy tears. I like a book that draws real emotion!
It was a little long, and probably could have been condensed a bit, but at no point did I feel like it was dragging. Im ready to start the second book already!
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Book 9 of 2025 📖 Taken to the Grave (Detective Jo Fournier #2) by M.M. Chouinard (3.5/5⭐️)
📚GENRE: Police Procedural
🗓PUBLISHED: 19 September 2019
In a town full of secrets, the truth won’t stay buried…
It’s a sleepy morning in suburbia when Britney Ratliffe’s body is discovered by a running trail in the town of Oakhurst. Local detective Jo is shocked to the core. Because Britney is the second innocent victim to turn up dead in three days. And just like the first, a tarot card has been left by the body. The meaning of the card: betrayal.
Jo soon discovers that the girl was a student at the local college, the same college where the first victim, Professor Michael Whorton, taught. When Jo uncovers a secret affair between Britney and Michael, her suspicions immediately fall upon Michael’s wife, Camilla. Camilla’s suffered the ultimate betrayal, and her motive for killing the couple is strong.
But then a third body is found and Jo’s theory unravels. The victim is a sweet and vulnerable woman, who Camilla clearly liked. Why would anyone want to kill her? Jo knows she’s running out of time to crack the code and bring the killer to justice, and she knows how it feels to lose someone. Her failure to protect her fiancé on the night he was murdered has always haunted her, and she’ll do whatever it takes to stop more innocent lives being lost. Can Jo find the twisted murderer sending the town into a panic before another life is lost? Or this time, will the dangerous killer find her first?
Another book in my book pile that I have no idea where it came from!! This is the second in a series (apparently), but I didn’t feel like I was missing anything while reading it, so I think I can successfully be read as a stand alone.
I was captivated enough to read this within a couple days. I’ve never read this author before, so I didn’t know if the villain of the story would be who I expected it to be, or if there would be a twist. I won’t give away which (if either!) it was!
I enjoyed the female MC, and though I didn’t get to know her by reading the first book in the series, I enjoyed the growth she made throughout this one.
Book 10 of 2025 🎧 Everything You Want Me To Be by Mindy Mejia (3.5/5⭐️)
📚GENRE: Mystery
🗓PUBLISHED: 3 January 2017
No one knows who she really is…
Hattie Hoffman has spent her whole life playing many parts: the good student, the good daughter, the good girlfriend. But Hattie wants something more, something bigger, and ultimately something that turns out to be exceedingly dangerous. When she’s found brutally stabbed to death, the tragedy rips right through the fabric of her small-town community.
It soon comes to light that Hattie was engaged in a highly compromising and potentially explosive secret online relationship. The question is: Did anyone else know? And to what lengths might they have gone to end it? Hattie’s boyfriend seems distraught over her death, but had he fallen so deeply in love with her that she had become an obsession? Or did Hattie’s impulsive, daredevil nature simply put her in the wrong place at the wrong time, leading her to a violent death at the hands of a stranger?
I’m not sure how this one ended up on my TBR. That being said, it is set in Minnesota, and I’m a sucker for any story set in my home state, so maybe that’s why. It’s just fun to hear name of cities you frequent and places you’ve been to.
The varied perspectives threw me off for a little bit, specifically keeping straight the male characters. The performers were different in the audio version, but it was still mildly hard for me to follow in the beginning.
I was over halfway through when I realized I had no idea who I thought was the murderer. Usually I suspect someone, and then someone else, and then back to my first someone. With this one, I had zero thoughts, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. It definitely lessens the suspense.
(vague) Spoiler to follow: Then, when I got close to the end, I thought I was going to be disappointed by who did it, as I thought it would have made the resolution quite dull. I did appreciate the twist, and I wasn’t let down in the end!
Book 11 of 2024 📖 Shelter in Place by Nora Roberts (4.5/5⭐️)
📚GENRE: Romance/Mystery
🗓PUBLISHED: 29 May 2018
It was a typical evening at a mall outside Portland, Maine. Three teenage friends waited for the movie to start. A boy flirted with the girl selling sunglasses. Mothers and children shopped together, and the manager at the video-game store tended to customers. Then the shooters arrived.
The chaos and carnage lasted only eight minutes before the killers were taken down. But for those who lived through it, the effects would last forever. In the years that followed, one would dedicate himself to a law enforcement career. Another would close herself off, trying to bury the memory of huddling in a ladies’ room, helplessly clutching her cell phone―until she finally found a way to pour the emotions of that night into her art.
But one person wasn’t satisfied with the shockingly high death toll at the DownEast Mall. And as the survivors slowly heal, find shelter, and rebuild, they will discover that another conspirator is lying in wait―and this time, there might be nowhere safe to hide.
When I think of Nora Roberts, I think of nice, sweet stories. The ones I have picked up this month have been anything but. I suppose there were some nice and sweet parts to this book, but it began with something tragic and continued with a murder plot throughout. It reminded me of Jodi Picoult’s style at first.
I was completely captivated by the story the whole time I was reading it. It was a random purchase and one that’s been on my shelf for a while, and I’m glad I finally picked it up. I really liked to see the character growth throughout the story of the main characters, and even some of the less prominent side characters. If you would’ve told me that this book spanned a decade in years, I would’ve questioned how good it could possibly be. That being said, it was done really well, and despite the vast amount of time it covered, there was plenty of detail about each bit of time.
While reading, I simultaneously wanted this book to be over, because I wanted to know how it ended, and also never end because I enjoyed these characters so much!
Book 12 of 2025 📱 The Truth You Told (Raisa Susanto #2) by Brianna Labuskes (4/5⭐️)
📚GENRE: Mystery
🗓PUBLISHED: 10 December 2024
Forensic psychologist Callum Kilkenny lost his wife, Shay, to the very serial killer he’d hunted for five years. When Nathaniel Conrad―known as the Alphabet Man, for his love of tattooing codes onto his victims’ bodies―was condemned to death row, Callum thought the game of cat and mouse was over. But just before execution, Nathaniel drops a bombshell: he’s not the one who murdered Shay.
After analyzing the killer’s taunting, coded letters to authorities―one for each victim―FBI forensic linguist Raisa Susanto believes him. The discrepancies bear it out. So was it a copycat? A partner in crime? Or something more sinister? If Nathaniel knows the answer, Raisa fears he’ll be taking that closely guarded secret to his grave.
As Raisa and Callum are pulled into an investigation to solve Shay’s murder, it reopens old traumas that cut deeper than they could imagine. Before someone else dies, Raisa must decipher the unbelievable truth in an ever-twisting case built on a foundation of lies.
💭 FAVORITE QUOTE: “Human curiosity was a dangerous and beautiful thing. It was why people binged television shows and stayed up until 3:00 a.m. reading a page-turner, the words blurring beneath their eyes. Everyone felt that driving need to know.”
This is the third series that I’ve read from Labuskes, and I’ve enjoyed every one of them.
This story was told from two perspectives, with one perspective being in the present, and the other in the past. There was also random bits of other material in the story - clips from articles, message boards, etc. I really liked this set up to the story. It sprinkled all the important information in a steady pace until the very end. I had guessed as to how this would turn out, but it could have gone so many ways that I wasn’t confident in any of my predictions!
Book 13 of 2025 🎧 Unmissing by Minka Kent (3/5⭐️)
📚GENRE: Thriller
🗓PUBLISHED: 15 February 2022
Merritt Coletto and her husband, Luca, have the life they dreamed of: a coastal home, a promising future, and a growing family. That dream ends with a late-night knock on the door.
Weak, broken, and emaciated, it’s Luca’s first wife, Lydia. Missing for ten years, presumed dead, and very much alive, she has quite a story. Her kidnapping. A torturous confinement that should’ve ended with her dead. And finally, escape. Racked with guilt over the beautiful life they’ve built, Merritt and Luca agree to help get Lydia back on her feet—it’s the least they can do.
But the more enmeshed Lydia becomes in Merritt’s family, the more questions Merritt has. What is it about Lydia that’s especially unnerving? Why hasn’t she gone to the police with her harrowing tale? What does she really want of them? The answers, when they come, are terrifying.
Because Lydia isn’t the only one with secrets.
I’m a little conflicted on how I feel about this one. I was engaged the whole story, so that’s a positive. But parts of it just didn’t hit the mark. There were some good twists, and this story was told with dual-perspective which I always like. That being said, the twists were kind of predictable and a lot was glossed over that would have been interesting had it dug a little deeper.
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Book 14 of 2025 📖 The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly (4/5⭐️)
📚GENRE: Legal Thriller
🗓PUBLISHED: 10 November 2020
On the night he celebrates a big win, defense attorney Mickey Haller is pulled over by police, who find the body of a former client in the trunk of his Lincoln. Haller is immediately charged with murder but can’t post the exorbitant $5 million bail slapped on him by a vindictive judge.
Mickey elects to represent himself and is forced to mount his defense from his jail cell in the Twin Towers Correctional Center in downtown Los Angeles. All the while he needs to look over his shoulder—as an officer of the court he is an instant target, and he makes few friends when he reveals a corruption plot within the jail.
But the bigger plot is the one against him. Haller knows he’s been framed, whether by a new enemy or an old one. As his trusted team, including his half-brother, Harry Bosch, investigates, Haller must use all his skills in the courtroom to counter the damning evidence against him.
Even if he can obtain a not-guilty verdict, Mickey understands that it won’t be enough. In order to be truly exonerated, he must find out who really committed the murder and why. That is the law of innocence.
It has been a hot minute since I have read a Michael Connelly novel, and I don’t know why because I always enjoy them!
I read this book in less than two days, and probably would have finished in one had a migraine not set in. The Harry Bosch universe is fabulous, and I need to spend more time there. This story pulled me in, and though I assumed there would be a happy ending, it wasn’t a guarantee.
This book was written at the beginning of the pandemic, and I liked how that was referenced, but didn’t take over the story.
While reading this, I realized I have another Connelly book in my physical TBR pile, and I think I’m going to have to crack that one open sooner rather than later!
Book 15 of 2025 📱 Under Lying by Janelle Harris (4/5⭐️)
📚GENRE: Mystery
🗓PUBLISHED: 1 November 2019
Susan has everything she ever wanted. A loving husband, an angelic daughter and the cottage of her dreams in County Cork. Her picture-perfect life seems too good to be true. And it is.
At a housewarming party with their new neighbours, her daughter Amelia goes missing. As friends become suspects, Susan’s life spirals out of control. And when Amelia’s yellow cardigan is dredged from the lake, every parent’s worst nightmare suddenly seems horribly real.
In the aftermath of Amelia’s disappearance Susan and her husband Paul are not themselves. Someone is hiding something. What if Susan and Paul’s entire relationship was built on lies stretching back years?
Some secrets may be best left buried in the past, but uncovering the truth could be the only way to find Amelia ― before it’s too late.
This story was told from different parts on the same timeline - THEN and NOW. It was mildly infuriating because I’d get really onto one part of the timeline, then it would leave me at a cliffhanger and jump to the other part of the timeline, wash-rinse-repeat. That being said I did enjoy this layout and was very into the story for this reason.
One thing that irked me was that the child in the story was not written age-appropriately. (There is a more accurate way to say that, but it is slipping my mind). She was doing things and saying things that weren’t typical for her age. I recognize this happens, but she wasn’t portrayed as gifted or anything. A minor thing, but it felt off enough that I constantly noticed it.
Overall, it was consistently paced and constantly moving. (Spoilers to follow) I rooted for the FMC the whole time. Even when she was a villain in her own story, I still wanted her to have a happy ending. In terms of the ending, I loved it. I was worried it wouldn’t end well, and I was surprised with the result, but surprisingly pleased!
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(Summaries are from Amazon, but all thoughts about them are my own!)
Reading Challenge: 15/100 books read in 2025
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