No One Needs to Know - Lindsay Cameron

 

This domestic suspense follows a group of people living in the Upper East Side of NYC where keeping up appearances is paramount. But when the anonymous confession site UrbanMyth is hacked, all secrets are released - including some worth killing for. 

I loved the set up and premise for this book, but overall the execution wasn't for me.  Domestic suspense are real hit or miss for me and but I think for fans of the genre, this would be a fun read.  I do think this book stays true to the premise, but I was just expecting it to go darker than it did. I'd categorize this as mild suspense, at best.  All the pieces were there, in theory, but the spark was missing.  I didn't believe that there was anything really at stake with these characters so the suspense elements fell flat for me. I spent a lot of the book guessing what twist would happen next only to have almost none of those twisty moments actually happened. There were some fun moments - but mostly this was just a middle of the road domestic suspense for me.

The characters in this are perfect for the setting and premise.  They are all a little over the top when it comes to their actions and reactions to some of these situations.  To be fair, I've never been anywhere close to being in this world so maybe these characters are 100% accurate.  However, reading from the outside - this book felt like the definition of Rich People Problems. We have it all from the parent overly involved in their child's school to ensure they get into the best boarding schools to the bored socialite.  The character interactions were by far my favorite part of this story - especially the ones where there's a lot of subtext to the conversation happening.  These were exactly the type of interactions I was expecting based on the premise and I thought they were really well done. I would sometimes get the characters a little mixed up at the beginning of the book because the characters didn't have very distinct voices.  

I liked the way the UrbanMyth site was used in the plot, but wish it had played an even bigger role. I wanted to see all levels of secrets revealed and wanted to see how the characters react to them.  We see a lot of characters using and checking the site before it was hacked and I was expecting even more of that once the hack happened.  However, the hacking reveal was a little anti-climatic for me. From the premise, I was expecting major fall out and consequences from these secrets no longer being anonymous but I didn't feel like that was used to the biggest impact it could have been.  We do get some blackmail threats, but I didn't feel like the characters were developed enough for me to actually care about the potential fallout of the blackmail.

The ending felt a little haphazard and scattered.  I think the pieces all came together alright, but the execution didn't feel tight enough for a domestic suspense.  I really like my suspense reads to be super twisty and have all the threads be very interconnected so we get a ton of surprise reveals.  The ending to this felt like it wanted to go in that direction, but I didn't think it had nearly enough substance to work with.  I don't think we had enough characters or enough character development for there to be enough twists to reveal to the reader. 

Overall, I would categorize this as a light domestic suspense.  I thought the premise sounded great but just had different expectations that what it provided.  This felt low stakes and fun enough to be a vacation read but it just wasn't exactly what I was looking for. 

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the ARC

Publication date was May 9, 2023

Romance Catch-Up 2/16/23 - 5/31/23

 Cups of You - Karmen Lee

This is the first in the Coffee Shops of Love series and follows Amber and Benjamin. Amber returns to her small hometown temporarily but when she finds a lot of what she's looking for there instead of in the big city, she's tempted to stay.  While I generally liked Amber and Benjamin together, the structure of this book lost me.  The romance is a slow burn but the book is only 207 pages so there were numerous time jumps.  IT makes sense from a plot perspective why the romance took so long to gain traction. However, it felt more like reading a highlight reel of the relationship rather than the full development.  We do get a good view of who Amber and Benjamin are as separate people and there is a great cast of side characters which is always a big plus for these small town romances.  For me, I think I would have liked this better if it was closer to 300 pages and didn't skip around time so much.

Off the Map - Trish Doller 

This is the third book in the Beck Sisters series and follows honorary Beck sister Carla as she arrives in Dublin for her best friend's wedding. The plan is to meet up with the best man, Eamon, and the two will drive to the wedding destination together.  But when Carla, who has spent her life following her wanderlust, finds out that Eamon has similar interests - the two end up taking a few detours.  Along the way, they end up giving into their chemistry and both end up finding something they didn't know they were looking for.  I really enjoyed Carla and Eamon's romance from the very beginning.  Their chemistry was popping off the page from their first interaction.  And while the two did have sexual chemistry for days, they also had the type of chemistry where they really felt like they belonged together.  This is the type of feeling that I absolutely love when romance books can pull off, but it is also one where I can't put my finger on exactly what makes me feel like this.  I generally prefer my contemporary romances on the lighter side and this takes a pretty sharp turn when Carla returns home to help take care of her ailing father.  

TW/CW: death of a parent (on page), dementia, parental abandonment

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date was March 7, 2023

Mr & Mrs Witch - Gwenda Bond

This paranormal romance follows Savannah and Griffin.  The two had a whirlwind romance and are getting ready to get married.  The day is going perfectly until their secret identities are revealed - Savannah is a witch and Griffin is a witch hunter.  The two are tasked by their governing agencies to eliminate the other, but when they find an even bigger secret, they have to team up in order to survive.  I enjoyed this read but I wish I had a better sense of who Savannah and Griffin were as individuals and as a couple before the inciting incident.  We do get flashbacks of significant moments in their relationship sprinkled throughout the current plot line but it wasn't enough for me.  I think this world was really well built out and I would have enjoyed this as a duology so we could see the world even more as well as seeing Savannah and Griffin's relationship.  This story took a turn to sort of romantic suspense which I wasn't expecting but very much enjoyed.

Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press for the ARC.  Publication date was March 7, 2023

Astrid Parker Doesn't Fail - Ashley Herring Blake

This is the second book in the Bright Falls series and follows Astrid a year after she broke off her engagement in the first book in the series.  In an effort to turn her interior design business around, Astrid agrees to be lead designer on the renovation of the Everwood Inn as it is filmed for a popular home improvement show.  While Astrid was expecting the pressure and cameras, she wasn't expecting Jordan Everwood - granddaughter of the Inn's ower and lead carpenter.  I absolutely loved this book from beginning to end.  It was an effortless continuation of the previous book (and while not strictly necessary, I would highly recommend reading them in order). I loved that we get to see more of Astrid's inner thoughts which make her such a more interesting character.  Jordan and Astrid's chemistry was built fantastically and I really liked how the characters both knew themselves enough to take a step back, at times, and evaluation how they're feeling and what they want.  We get a great cast of side characters in this and a ton of that small town feel that I just love.

Soul Eater - Lily Mayne

This MM fantasy romance is the first in the Monstrous series and follows Danny, a human, and Wyn, a Soul Eater. In this post-apocalyptic setting, Danny is a soldier in the military dedicated to capturing creatures like Wyn.  When the two come face to face in the field, Danny is the one soldier Wyn doesn't kill.  This starts a curious bond between the two and, once Wyn escapes his military captors and takes Danny with him, they start to travel and Danny finds out the truth of Wyn's monstrous ways. This book kept popping up in various recommendation lists and I'm so glad I finally tried it out.  Fantasy/paranormal romances aren't my go-to subgenre but I'll be reading the rest in this series for sure.  The reader is dropped right into this world without much explanation but Mayne does such a fantastic job of getting the reader the information we need at just the right time. The actual plot I did find a little repetative, especially in the middle, when it is just days of them walking, then encountering something, then more walking.  But there was enough character/relationship development along the way that I didn't mind too much.  I loved the way their relationship evolved over their time together and how each of them found what they didn't know they were looking for.  I did feel like the ending was a little too open in terms of their long term potential - but there is a novella follow-up that seems to cover that.

Knot My Type - Evie Mitchell

This is the first book in the All Access series and follows Frankie and Jay. Frankie is a sexologist and the host of the All Access Podcast.  When a viewer writes in asking for advice for accessible rope play, she connects with Jay - carpenter and rigger.  The two have an instant connection, but Jay isn't looking for a relationship and Frankie isn't looking for something casual.  But after an intense rope play demonstration and podcast recording session - the two decide to try and see if they can work out a relationship together.  This was such a fun romance and kinkier than I was expecting which is a big win.  I loved Frankie so much - she was such a well developed and fun character.  Her disability and wheelchair was seamlessly integrated into the story in big and small ways. I thought Jay had an interesting backstory that while it did come into play later in the book, I wanted more from his character in current day.  While the two did have sexual chemistry for days, I didn't get enough of the personality chemistry that would have made an actual relationship feel realistic.  These two felt like great friends with benefits but I needed like 50 more pages to build up that more personal connection.

 

Role Playing - Cathy Yardley

This romance follows Maggie and Aiden.  Forty eight year old Maggie just had her son leave for college and as part of an agreement to not be a complete hermit, she joins an online gaming guild.  She assumes she is the oldest in the group so when one of the members is under the weather, she offers to bring over some soup. But instead of a college student, she ends up at 50-year old Aiden's house.  The two are both shocked at the IRL reveal of their online gaming friend, and strike up a somewhat unlikely friendship.  As time goes on, the two grow closer and while both had written off relationships for their own reasons, they both start thinking that maybe this is too good to give up.  But while their relationship is going well, there is more friction going on in their lives.  When I initially saw the premise of this, I was instantly interested and I think the book stayed true to the premise and what I was expecting.  I loved Maggie and Aiden as their own characters and we get a really good sense of who each character is on their own.  One of my favorite things about these 40+ romances is that the characters have a good sense of who they are and what they are looking for in relationships.  I do feel like the romance was put on the back-burner for a bit in the last 1/4 of the book to deal with some of the family friction that has been brewing for the majority of the book.  I thought it was really powerful to have those conversations on-page, but it did take away from the romance aspect and it took Maggie and Aiden most of the book to actually get together so I was looking forward to seeing them together.

TW/CW: homophobia, disowned by parent, malicious outing

Thanks to Montlake and NetGalley for the ARC.  Expected publication date is July 1, 2023.

Finally Mine - Lucy Score

This is the second book in the Benevolence series and follows Gloria and Aldo. Gloria has just gotten out of her abusive relationship and is trying to get back on her feet and find herself again.  Aldo doesn't want to get in her way of healing but he also doesn't want to risk her not knowing about his feelings for her any longer.  Only problem is that Aldo is getting ready for another deployment so he asks Gloria to save him a date for when he returns in 6 months.  She spends 6 months finding and growing in her new life but when Aldo's deployment is cut short due to an injury, the two of them have to choose to come together and support each other. Gloria and Aldo are one of those couple who just are meant to be together.  They are both such fun characters and have such great relationships with their friends and family.  They both have such major life events to adjust to but they are both focused on getting what they want out of life.  This book takes place during the same time period as the first book in the series and it did feel like some scenes were put in just as little Easter eggs to the reader but don't feel like they move the current plot forward. 

TW/CW: domestic violence (on page), injury from war, rape

Where We Left Off - Roan Parrish

This MM romance is the third book in the Middle of Somewhere series and follows Leo and Will. Leo met Will a year ago and was instantly smitten with him so when Leo moves to NYC for college, he reconnects with Will in hopes they can spark up a relationship.  But Leo is a romantic and Will isn't so these two seem as mismatched as they could be.  However, as they spend more time together, their lives blend together in ways neither of them expected so maybe there is a chance to be together after all.  I very much enjoyed this read and finally getting to see Leo and Will's story after meeting them in book 1 of the series.  We only get Leo's POV in this story but Parrish does a great job of giving us enough details of Will that he was still a very full character.  Since Leo and Will are so different, I do wish we got Will's POV as well - I always prefer to see all sides of the romances.  I loved the amount of side characters we get with Will's friends as well as some cameos from Daniel and Rex from book 1. We get a good amount of the more mundane, quiet relationship moments such as Will helping Leo study for finals.  I feel like these quiet moments are often overlooked or left out of most romances in favor of bigger moments/declarations.  But these sort of quiet moments are the ones that really hit me as special. 

The Broken Places - Blaine Daigle

 

This isolation horror follows Ryne Burdette after the deaths of his uncle and father.  His uncle left him the family cabin located in the Yukon wilderness and although he hasn't been back since he was a child, recent events in his life have drawn him back.  He brings along his two friends for a weekend trip to each recuperate from their own traumas.  But as a winter storm rolls in, the animals and people start acting strange.  Then when voices seem to be coming from the trees, the three men feel like they are being watched from the forest.  In order to figure out the truth behind what is happening, they must uncover the dark history of the Burdette family. 

On NetGalley, this was compared to The Ritual, which is actually a movie I've seen and 100% agree.  I'd say this is the same sort of folklore horror, medium gore, trauma/grief themes.  I absolutely loved both the movie and this book so if you like one, I really think you'd like the other.  Both are folk horrors with isolated forest settings and both follow a group of friends that have an undercurrent of tension.  The Broken Places does get to the gore more quickly than The Ritual, but overall I think the two are still very similar. 

The characters were fantastic and I loved how much we got to see of their friend dynamic as well as them as individuals.  Their backstories are gradually given to the reader as we go through the story and I enjoyed how each new detail we got felt like it became immediately relevant to the current plot.  I never felt like we were getting a lot of 'fluff' details.  Each of the men had gone through their own sort of trials recently and had their own fears to work through. The way these fears manifested during the story was really impactful and did a good job of developing the characters.

The pacing for the first 75% was perfect.  We get into the spooky parts pretty early on and the eerie dread just increases over time.  We also see the physical threats increase as the characters spend more time in this wilderness and try to escape.  There's a nice balance of backstory with all 3 characters and we get to see how these details impact the current plot. The last 25%, however, seemed to stagnate for me.  The plot was technically moving forward, but it didn't feel like the stakes were being raised any longer.  I loved the way the horror was ramping up throughout the story and I wanted that ramp up to keep happening.  

TW/CW: animal death, miscarriage, domestic violence, animal mutilation, suicide, death of a parent

Thanks to NetGalley and Wicked House Publishing for the ARC. Publication date was March 24, 2023