(There is an Amazon link to each book. If you are interested in more information, click on the link. I am an Amazon Affiliate. If you click on the link and buy anything at all, I get a percent of the sale at no cost to you…thanks:-)
Wealthy Washington suburbanites Marissa and Matthew Bishop seem to have it all—until Marissa is unfaithful. Beneath their veneer of perfection is a relationship riven by work and a lack of intimacy. She wants to repair things for the sake of their eight-year-old son and because she loves her husband. Enter Avery Chambers.
Avery is a therapist who lost her professional license. Still, it doesn’t stop her from counseling those in crisis, though they have to adhere to her unorthodox methods. And the Bishops are desperate.
When they glide through Avery’s door and Marissa reveals her infidelity, all three are set on a collision course. Because the biggest secrets in the room are still hidden, and it’s no longer simply a marriage that’s in danger.
My Thoughts After I Read the Book
Oh my, and what “a collision course” this was! I would call this book a domestic drama with mystery and thriller components.
First off, the character development was so good that I felt I knew each personality in the book. Having a personal connection with the characters made me want to dig deeper into the book.
Marissa and Matthew seemed like the perfect couple. When Marissa confesses to infidelity while she and her husband are in a counseling session, the drama begins. Avery, an unorthodox therapist, throws herself into trying to help the couple.
There are many actors in this cast. Everyone has a part to play, whether good or bad, and they all are headed into possible danger. There are twists that I did not see coming, which made it the perfect thriller as the book was coming to a close.
I listened to this book on audio, and I loved it.
Book Trailer/Movie/Book Trailer
I could not find a book trailer or anything on an upcoming movie.
This would make a great suspense movie.
The 5-star and 1-star reviews I found on Goodreads.
5-star review…
To use an analogy from the great movie Shrek-this book was like an onion, there were multiple layers. The Golden Couple has multiple plots that were interwoven beautifully. I feel like some thrillers are basic-you have a murder, and the characters must figure out who did it. This book was much more advanced. There was a betrayal, a murder, a stalker (several), and so so many lies. You are on your edge of your seat while trying to understand what really is going on in these people’s lives.
1 Star Review
I’m surprised I finished this book. I think I thought it would get better and wanted to keep reading, but it never did. It was truly awful.
There was nothing thrilling, suspenseful, or dramatic about it. It really fell flat with the “big reveal” during the last few chapters. The ending felt out of place. There was no good lead up or foreshadowing throughout the book that would have made the ending justified. If that had been a thing, maybe I would have liked it.
Me
I loved this book, so I agree with the 5-star review. Because the characters were so well developed, I never lost interest, even at the slowest points in the book.
Housemaid wanted. Skills required: Discretion, and the willingness to go the extra mile.
It seems like the perfect job. Great wages, accommodation provided, and all located within the walls of Highwood Hall, a stunning stately home owned by the Howard family. Not many little girls dream of becoming a maid, but this is an opportunity for me to get back on my feet. And for me to revisit my past…
But I soon realise I’ve made a mistake. The strict housekeeper, Mrs Huxley, watches my every move, emerging from the shadows when least expected. Lord Howard’s son, Alex, takes an interest in me, and as a former addict, I find myself drawn to him because I know he’s bad for me.
There’s a general atmosphere of unease at Highwood Hall, from the narrow tunnels laced throughout the sprawling house, to the abandoned north wing, rumoured to be haunted. It’s easy to imagine the secrets hidden within these walls, like the secrets I hold close.
On my first day, I receive a mysterious package. I open up the pretty gift box to find a miniature doll version of me trapped inside a dollhouse. In this scene I’m dead, lying in a pool of red paint at the bottom of the perfectly recreated staircase. Someone sent this threatening diorama to me, but who even knows I work at the hall? And what do they want?
I know only one truth: my perfect job is turning into my perfect nightmare.
Quote
I don’t have a favorite quote.
My Thoughts After Reading the Book
As I went back to write a review on this book, I must confess that I had no memory of what happened. I started to read reviews to refresh my memory, and I did begin to recall some of what happened. This is a mystery with a very dark twist. The descriptions in this book seem gothic, but it occurs in the present time.
One thing I did not realize as I read the book is that the protagonist was nameless. I knew her character and what she did, but I did not even know she did not have a name. As I tried to find her name to write this review, I discovered she had no name. I assume she remained nameless because she was not seen as an essential person to many because she was a recovering addict and a maid.
In this book, you have a wealthy family. They feel privileged and beyond reproach. Then you have the opposite in the ones that serve them. I realized as I was reading that it was a difficult place to work. As I continued to read, I became aware of the darkness and depravity hidden in this place.
I liked the nameless main character, but she sometimes got on my nerves. She was so naive. I wanted to reach into the book, shake her, and tell her to stop playing dangerous games with one man. She would soon know the danger of her naivety. That is all I am going to say about that.
Is there a Movie or Book Trailer?
I could not find anything regarding a book trailer or a movie.
5-star and 1-star reviews I found on Goodreads.
5-Star Review-Took a while to get invested into this one, but the mystery soon darkened & it was fast paced all the way through. An edge of your seat, creepy thriller that will leave you the reader with a sense of unease. Twists & turns aplenty with a killer of an ending!
1-Star Review-The book should have been called highwood hall. It has intricate details about the house that I really didn’t were important. I hate unnecessary climaxes and this book had a couple of these. So was the house haunted or were the men in the family just mentally messed up ? The ending was thrilling, I would say that’s the only part of the book I enjoyed.
Although it was very disturbing.
Me-It did have a killer ending, as stated in the 5-star review. And yes, as the one-star review states, there are intricate details about the house, but personally, I liked that part. And yes, it was disturbing.
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Book 3
“Impact Winter”
by Travis Beacham
Horror, Fantasy, Vampires, Audio
4.97stars on Goodreads out of 5 stars
I gave this book a 3.75/5
This is an audiobook only available on Audible
Book overview as found on GoodReads
“They came after the impact and the firestorms. When the sun went dark. Like they’d been there all along. Just waiting.”
From executive producers of The Walking Dead and Travis Beacham, the writer of Pacific Rim, comes a heart-stopping Audible Original featuring a brilliant British cast. It’s the near future and seven years since a comet hit the earth and blotted out the sun. The world is a dark, frozen landscape. And then, beastly creatures emerge and take over. Can they really be vampires?
In the British countryside, a band of survivors forms a resistance in the fallout shelter of a medieval castle. Darcy is a battle-tested vampire hunter who is at the front line leading the charge to save humanity. Meanwhile, her younger sister Hope wants life to return normal so she can go above ground and know what it’s like to live again. And she just might be willing to risk it all.
A story of apocalypse, horror, and adventure, Impact Winter is a wholly original new saga created just for Audible with immersive 3D audio that dares you to pop in your earbuds and listen in the dark. Venture into an eternally sunless world of swords and crossbows; primal hunters and shape-shifters; leaders and lovers. Hear how a brave few fight to survive the impact winter.
Book Quote
I don’t have a favorite quote.
My Thoughts After Reading the Book
I think the main reason I enjoyed this book was that it was like listening to the old-time radio shows that my mom used to talk about. There were multiple actors, sound effects, and background music, which made for a very entertaining listen.
You have people living in a post-apocalyptic world. They live in hiding from the many forms of vampires that roam the land. These people have learned how to govern their new world and survive in a world where there are many dangers just outside their door.
I will just tell you that the humans and vampires come together, making for an exciting story.
At times, I rolled my eyes as the vampires and humans collide, but I was intrigued by these encounters. There were points I nearly DNF’d this book, but I am glad I pushed on. The ending is conclusive but leaves the door wide open for a sequel. I found I wanted to know more and began to look to see if a second book did exist, but I could not find one.
I did a bit more searching, and I found a sequel called Impact Winter Book Two. Sadly it is not a show as the first one was. I will think about reading it.
Book Trailer or Movie
I found a book trailer.
I could not find anything about a movie based on this book.
A Five and One Star Review as Found on Good Reads
Five Star Review–BEST AUDIO EVER! Amazing! This really scared the sh*t out of me, so I’m giving you a fair WARNING: You are risking a heart attack if you listen to it in the dark… alone… on your headphones… 😱😱😱Can’t wait for more episodes to come!
One Star Review- Vampires and a post-apocalyptic world, and yet this was just so boring. Even with the full cast of actors doing a great job, it dragged. I’m baffled by all the positive reviews.
Me-It did not scare the “blank” out of me like the five-star reviewer, but it was suspenseful, and I wondered where it was going. As mentioned by the one-star review, I know there were slow parts, but it did pick up. I think I am somewhere in the middle of the reviews.
In a series of online posts, Parker H., a young psychiatrist, chronicles the harrowing account of his time working at a dreary mental hospital in New England. Through this internet message board, Parker hopes to communicate with the world his effort to cure one bewildering patient.
We learn, as Parker did on his first day at the hospital, of the facility’s most difficult, profoundly dangerous case—a forty-year-old man who was originally admitted to the hospital at age six. This patient has no known diagnosis. His symptoms seem to evolve over time. Every person who has attempted to treat him has been driven to madness or suicide.
Desperate and fearful, the hospital’s directors keep him strictly confined and allow minimal contact with staff for their own safety, convinced that releasing him would unleash catastrophe on the outside world. Parker, brilliant and overconfident, takes it upon himself to discover what ails this mystery patient and finally cure him. But from his first encounter with the mystery patient, things spiral out of control, and, facing a possibility beyond his wildest imaginings, Parker is forced to question everything he thought he knew.
A Quote
“He was a harassed-looking, barrel-chested bear of a man with a shaved head and a beard so wild that it looked like it could have concealed the corpses of several small animals. His eyes, a pair of bored, piggish slits, emanated sourness so intractable that I doubt even winning the lottery would’ve made him happy.”
My Thoughts After Reading the Book
This, to me, was a very strange book. It begins with a young doctor working in a psychiatric hospital. In this hospital, mystery shrouds one patient. His parents committed this patient as a child, and he is now an adult. No one has figured out how to cure this patient, and strange happenings occur if you spend too much time with him. Enter the new Dr. He is sure he can cure this patient and gets permission to try. Everything goes downhill as the Dr. becomes convinced they are holding the patient to collect money from his family. You will only find out if you read the book.
At the beginning of the book, I was interested, and this interest held my attention. I thought the outcome was a bit ridiculous. That being said, it did hold my attention, so I gave it 3 stars.
Book Trailer/Movie
I could not find a book trailer or anything related to a movie.
A Five Star and A-One Star Review as Found on GoodReads
The Five Star Review– Told in a fascinating and stark manner through online journal entries, a young, brilliant psychiatrist recounts his experiences with a mysterious asylum patient, one he thought he was talented enough to “cure.’ Little did he know, he will be unable to control the events that would creep from the shadows like a monster of one’s worst nightmares.
The One-Star Review-Reads the blurb: this sounds interesting.
Starts: – hmm sounds bit ridiculous but well it is an ok start.
Continues – well this is a bit ludicrous but you know it may get…
Continues – oh wait no that main character is dumber than a box of rocks
Continues – what really that is your big reveal? The plot is also dumber than a box of rocks.
Finishes – can I please exchange this book for a box of rocks?
Me-I do agree with the 5-star review that the story was told in an interesting manner. I also believe, like the one-star review, that the big reveal was a bit disappointing.
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Book 5
“Statue of Limiitations”
by Kate Collins
Genre-Fiction, Mystery, Cozy Mystery
3.89 out of 5 stars on Good Reads
I give this book3.5/5
Click on the photo below to go to amazon.
Book Description found on GoodReads.
In this delightful new series by the New York Times bestselling author of the Flower Shop Mysteries, Athena Spencer comes back home to work with her crazy big Greek family at their garden center. But she never expected a return to her roots would mean protecting her family from murder . . .
After her divorce, Athena has returned to coastal Michigan to work in her family’s garden center and raise her son, while also caring for a mischievous wild raccoon and fending off her family’s annoying talent for nagging. Working alone at the garden center one night, Athena is startled by a handsome stranger who claims to be the rightful owner of a valuable statue her grandfather purchased at a recent estate sale.
But she has even bigger problems on her plate. The powerful Talbot family from whom her papous bought the statue is threatening to raze the shops on Greene Street’s “Little Greece” to make way for a condo. The recent death of the family’s patriarch already seemed suspicious, but now it’s clear that a murderer is in their midst. Athena will have to live up to her warrior goddess namesake to protect her family from a killer and save their community from ruin
Quote
I don’t recall a favorite quote.
My thoughts after reading the book
After her divorce, Athena moves back with her son to her family’s home in Michigan. She is moving back to a very large Greek community. This community includes her family and their garden business and other greek families and their businesses.
Most would have been content with the way things were in this town, but a few people have other ideas. There is a threat to the family businesses and their homes in this town, and there is also murder.
Athena tries to solve the murders while also trying to save life as they know it in this Greek community.
Athena is also busy writing a blog, taking care of her son, and developing a friendship with a suspicious stranger. Oh, did I mention there is a raccoon? His name is Oscar.
I will say what I always say about cozy mysteries,…it was cute. I cared about the characters.
Book Trailer
I could not find a book trailer.
Movie
I did not find anything on a movie or tv show for this book.
A Five and One Star Review as Found on Amazon
A Five-Star Review– “Statue of Limitations, the first book in Kate Collins’s A Goddess of Greene St. Mystery series, is so much fun. Picture Nancy Drew as the focal point of a big, fat, Greek family, and there you have it, with Athena Spencer as the intrepid sleuth and the ever-meddling members of her crazy family as the foil. Sounds nutty, but it works!”
One-Star Review-A vapid story with static characters. I found the main character to be foolish and irritating. It was a chore to read, but I wanted to get to the end to see if there was some type of plot twist. There was not.
Me-I gave this book 3 stars, so I am in the middle of these reviews; although I thought it was cute, I lean more toward the 5-star review.