Audiobook Review: The Housemaid is Watching by Freida McFadden
The Housemaid is Watching
Series: The Housemaid #3
Author: Freida McFadden
Narrators:
Lauryn Allman
Ina Marie Smith
Published: June 11, 2024
Audiobook: 11 hours 42 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: July 1-17, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Audiobook Description:
“You must be our new neighbors!” Mrs. Lowell gushes and waves across the picket fence. I clutch my daughter’s hand and smile back: but the second Mrs. Lowell sees my husband a strange expression crosses her face. In that moment I make a promise. We finally have a family home. My past is far, far behind us. And I’ll do anything to keep it that way…
I used to clean other people’s houses—now, I can’t believe this home is actually mine. The charming kitchen, the quiet cul-de-sac, the huge yard where my kids can play. My husband and I saved for years to give our children the life they deserve.
Even though I’m wary of our new neighbor Mrs. Lowell, when she invites us over for dinner it’s our chance to make friends. Her maid opens the door wearing a white apron, her hair in a tight bun. I know exactly what it’s like to be in her shoes.
But her cold stare gives me chills…
The Lowells’ maid isn’t the only strange thing on our street. I’m sure I see a shadowy figure watching us. My husband leaves the house late at night. And when I meet a woman who lives across the way, her words chill me to the bone: Be careful of your neighbors.
Did I make a terrible mistake moving my family here?
I thought I’d left my darkest secrets behind. But could this quiet suburban street be the most dangerous place of all?
Jessica’s Review:
This is the final book in The Housemaid series and I have enjoyed getting to know Millie over the course of the three novels. This final book is unlike the other two. The focus is Millie’s family. It is also a bit slower paced, but still enjoyable with of course: twists that only McFadden can deliver.
We had a good ending to the series and I liked seeing a character from book one return all these years later! In some way this character helped to move along the story and bring back the first novel.
This final book wasn’t as strong as the other two and was it really needed? No, it wasn’t. Am I glad I read it? Yes. I adore Millie and Enzo and enjoyed saying goodbye to these characters that you grew to love over these three novels.
I started out reading it on kindle but then saw that Lauryn Allman was a narrator again! I was excited for that as she really is Millie for me. Her narration is just brilliant. We also had a second narrator: Ina Marie Smith. I won’t say who her character is as it might be a bit of a spoiler, but she also brought it on 1000% with her narration!
McFadden is one I will keep on reading! Eventually, I will get a copy of this one to add to my library!
Audiobook Review: Love Letters to a Serial Killer by Tasha Coryell
Love Letters to a Serial Killer
Author: Tasha Coryell
Narrator: Andi Arndt
Published: June 25, 2024
Audiobook: 8 hours 59 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: July 9-16, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Audiobook Description:
An aimless young woman starts writing to an accused serial killer while he awaits trial and then, once he’s acquitted, decides to move in with him and take the investigation into her own hands in this dark and irresistibly compelling debut thriller.
Recently ghosted and sick of watching her friends fade into the suburbs, thirty-something Hannah finds community in a true-crime forum that’s on a mission to solve the murders of four women in Atlanta. After William, a handsome lawyer, is arrested for the killings, Hannah begins writing him letters. It’s the perfect outlet for her pent-up frustration and rage. The exercise empowers her, and even feels healthy at first.
Until William writes back.
Hannah’s interest in the case goes from curiosity to obsession, leaving space for nothing else as her life implodes around her. After she loses her job, she heads to Georgia to attend the trial and befriends other true-crime junkies like herself. When a fifth woman is discovered, the jury has no choice but to find William not guilty, and Hannah is the first person he calls upon his release. The two of them quickly fall into a routine of domestic bliss.
Well, as blissful as one can feel while secretly investigating their partner for serial murder…
Jessica’s Review:
This was an intriguing one! It is a twisty and creepy novel with a very messed up main character. I did not like Hannah at all or agree with the decisions she made, but I found myself not being able to stop listening to this one. It was such a popcorn type thriller; a really bad car accident: You know you shouldn’t look, but can’t help it and do!
Love Letters was an addicting and ‘fun’ read. Hannah writes to William in jail as he awaits trial as a killer. He’s not just a killer but an accused serial killer of women! But Hannah keeps writing and getting caught up in the case and forming a ‘relationship’ with William without having even met him yet! She becomes so caught up in the case that she makes her way to Georgia to watch it and even becomes connected with William’s family.
I just wanted to see where it was going to go. Will Hannah become another victim? Is William a serial killer or not? You’ll have to read this one to find out.
The narrator Andi Arndt did a very good job with her portrayal or Hannah. The audiobook was a good one!
This is another book where I love the cover. Even though this cover is pretty and pink, the novel itself isn’t!
I will be looking to see what else Ms. Coryell writes!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
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Audiobook Review: One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware
One Perfect Couple
Author: Ruth Ware
Narrator: Imogene Church
Published: May 21, 2024
Audiobook:14 hours 25 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: May 30, 2024
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
A high-tension and ingenious thriller following five couples trapped on a storm-swept island as a killer stalks among them.
Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, she’s pretty sure they won’t extend her contract, and things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren’t going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show, The Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him. A whirlwind audition process later, Lyla find herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the Indian Ocean towards Ever After Island, where the two of them will compete against four other couples—Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana—in order to win a cash prize.
But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. Cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean, deprived of their phones, and unable to contact the crew that brought them there, the group must band together for survival. As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla finds that this game show is all too real—and the stakes are life or death.
Jessica’s Review:
If you have enjoyed reality show competitions, then this will be a book for you! It’s like a mix of Survivor and Lord of the Flies. We have a large cast, 5 couples competing and one narrator: Lyla. Luckily, I was able to keep everyone straight. Lyla is a virologist and her partner Nico is an aspiring actor…So you know who wanted to go on the show! Each couple is unique, which is what helped to differentiate the characters.
We get a lot of buildup in regards to the reality show, and I really enjoyed the ‘behind the scenes’ on how the show was going to be put together. Our five couples are on an island in the Indian Ocean and after the first competition they all realize how things are actually going to go… Until a storm hits overnight and they are left stranded. Then people start dying.
I really enjoyed this one and how it all came together with the villain worked for me.
As always with Ruth Ware novels, Imogene Church is the narrator! Ruth Ware’s books are ones I always have to listen to as Church is just brilliant in her narration!
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK