The Other Woman by Sandie Jones
Author: Sandie Jones
Published: August 21, 2018
304 Pages/Audiobook
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: August 13-23, 2018
Jessica’s Rating: 3 stars
Book Description:
Emily thinks Adam’s perfect; the man she thought she’d never meet. But lurking in the shadows is a rival; a woman who shares a deep bond with the man she loves.
Emily chose Adam, but she didn’t choose his mother Pammie. There’s nothing a mother wouldn’t do for her son, and now Emily is about to find out just how far Pammie will go to get what she wants: Emily gone forever.
The Other Woman is an addictive, fast-paced psychological thriller about the destructive relationship between Emily, her boyfriend Adam, and his manipulative mother Pammie.
Jessica’s Review:
We have had an evil child this summer with Hanna (See my review for Baby Teeth) and now we have the evil future mother-in-law with Pammie! I wonder what evil will be next….
I had one opinion of Pammie at the beginning of the novel and it changed throughout. At first maybe it is Emily with the issue then Pammie does something and then you think, “Oh yeah, she IS Evil!” I did not really connect with Emily so, I did not really have empathy for her. Some of the decisions she makes I couldn’t agree with, at times I found myself shaking my head as I listened to the audiobook.
Then we have that twist and ok, I was not expecting that! I would love to see this story via Pammie’s perspective!
Though not for me, maybe this one will be for you.
Thank you Minotaur books for my arc copy and St. Martin’s Press for my audio arc copy that I received at Mary Kay Andrews book launch for The High Tide Club.
Survive the Night by Danielle Vega
Author: Danielle Vega
Published: May 24, 2016
288 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Stephen King meets Pretty Little Liars in this pulse-pounding novel from the author of The Merciless.
Just back from rehab, Casey regrets letting her friends Shana, Julie, and Aya talk her into coming to Survive the Night, an all-night, underground rave in a New York City subway tunnel. Surrounded by frightening drugs and menacing strangers, Casey doesn’t think Survive the Night could get any worse…
…until she comes across Julie’s mutilated body in a dank, black subway tunnel, red-eyed rats nibbling at her fingers. Casey thought she was just off with some guy—no one could hear her getting torn apart over the sound of pulsing music. And by the time they get back to the party, everyone is gone.
Desperate for help, Casey and her friends find themselves running through the putrid subway tunnels, searching for a way out. But every manhole is sealed shut, and every noise echoes eerily in the dark, reminding them they’re not alone.
They’re being hunted.
Trapped underground with someone—or something—out to get them, Casey can’t help but listen to Aya’s terrified refrain: “We’re all gonna die down here.”
Kim’s Review:
Danielle Vega is the queen of creepy fiction! The Merciless Series was awesome and this book was almost as good. To be honest, I think I understood this one a little better than I did the Merciless Series. Survive the Night is a great metaphor for the dangers of drugs. Vega took a serious problem facing teens and turned it into an ominous story. The teens are all believable and realistic. I hated Shana so much because she is that typical teen who does whatever she wants and does things just because she can; I wouldn’t even mind it, except she drags everyone down with her. I really dislike selfish teens . . . if y’all didn’t already get that. One thing that I really liked was the fact that Vega was so meticulous and specific with her details that it just added another level of frightening. All the mud and murky water, and sludge; it was like I could feel the dirt and muck while I was reading! This was a really great read! I would reserve it for older teens because of the language, but I think it would make a good, cautionary tale.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
The Fifth to Die #4MK
Author: J.D. Barker
Published: July 10, 2018
416 pages
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: July 2- 15, 2018
Jessica’s Rating: 4.5 stars
Book Description:
In the thrilling sequel to The Fourth Monkey, a new serial killer stalks the streets of Chicago, while Detective Porter delves deeper into the dark past of the Four Monkey Killer.
Detective Porter and the team have been pulled from the hunt for Anson Bishop, the Four Monkey Killer, by the feds. When the body of a young girl is found beneath the frozen waters of Jackson Park Lagoon, she is quickly identified as Ella Reynolds, missing three weeks. But how did she get there? The lagoon froze months earlier. More baffling? She’s found wearing the clothes of another girl, missing less than two days. While the detectives of Chicago Metro try to make sense of the quickly developing case, Porter secretly continues his pursuit of 4MK, knowing the best way to find Bishop is to track down his mother. When the captain finds out about Porter’s activities, he’s suspended, leaving his partners Clair and Nash to continue the search for the new killer alone.
Obsessed with catching Bishop, Porter follows a single grainy photograph from Chicago to the streets of New Orleans and stumbles into a world darker than he could have possibly imagined, where he quickly realizes that the only place more frightening than the mind of a serial killer is the mind of the mother from which he came.
Jessica’s Review:
My review of The Fourth Monkey, the first in the series is here.
J.D. Barker is back with The Fifth to Die, sequel to The Fourth Monkey (4MK). This is another brilliant novel in the series. Be warned in advance: there is a cliffhanger to this one…. I need the third (and possibly final??? ) book now! I really like Detective Porter and Bishop is just frightening and now we see where he gets it from: His mother!
I would say you could read The Fifth to Die before 4MK, but I would not recommend it at all! You would see what’s going on as this novel goes into the past some, BUT you would miss so many of the details and you NEED to know 4MK’s gruesome background! You will not understand the brutality or how extreme of a sociopath Bishop is without reading 4MK.
There is quite the punch of activities that occur in a short amount of time in Fifth. We have multiple POVs and more than one bad guy. The mystery with what is going on with the girls keeps you reading wondering what will happen next. And thank you J.D. Barker for totally freaking me out by the overdose one character dies of: I am currently taking that medication!!
Bishop is fast becoming a favorite serial killer of mine and I look forward to see what Barker brings us next in this series. I just hope it isn’t too long!
The reason I rated The Fifth to Die 4.5 stars (rounded up to five for Goodreads, Amazon, etc) was that I personally wanted more of Bishop in the novel. His presence wasn’t as high in this one as I wanted. BUT we do get another frightening serial killer! J.D. Barker, how do you come up with these characters in your mind?????
Special thanks to the publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and J.D. Barker for my arc copies!
The Fifth to Die is highly recommended!
Giveaway Alert!!!:
**Be sure to go to Jessica’s Reading Room on Facebook for a chance to win a SIGNED arc copy of The Fifth to Die sent to me by J.D. Barker!! It runs through Saturday morning!!!!
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