⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Flashpoint hooked me from the get-go. I went in cold, never having read the previous books in the series, and still felt right at home. Catherine Coulter wastes no time. The danger is real, the stakes are high, and the characters have that lively spark that keeps you leaning in, waiting to see what they’ll try next. Elizabeth Palmer is trying to rebuild her life after surviving a bombing, but someone clearly didn’t get the memo. Attempts on her life start piling up, and MI5 steps in before she can take a breath. Meanwhile, we follow Autumn Backman and Tash Navarro, two kids pulled into trouble through their strange “gift.” […]
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Small Town, Big Hearts, Impossible to Forget
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fredrik Backman has a way of writing that makes you feel like you’ve known his characters your whole life. The Winners brings us back to Beartown, a place weighed down by old wounds, fierce loyalty, and hockey that means more than a game. It’s the final chapter in this world, and it lands with real force. Backman understands what makes people tick. He doesn’t dress up feelings or try to impress. He simply lays them out, and somehow they go straight to your chest. The way he writes about grief, pride, fear, and love feels so true you almost forget you’re reading fiction. There were moments that made me […]
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Krueger at His Best in Apostle’s Cove
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ rounded up to 5 After reading all twenty installments of the Cork O’Connor series, I can honestly say Apostle’s Cove might be my favorite yet. William Kent Krueger has once again struck that perfect balance between taut suspense and heartfelt storytelling. When Cork’s son reopens a decades-old case—one Cork himself helped close—it forces father and son to confront guilt, justice, and the murky space between right and wrong. Krueger’s signature blend of mystery, spirituality, and small-town Minnesota atmosphere shines here. The northwoods come alive with his evocative prose, and the characters—flawed, loyal, and deeply human—carry the emotional weight of the story. The dual timeline keeps the tension sharp, revealing secrets one […]
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Frankie Elkin Takes the Heat in Tucson
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Lisa Gardner’s Kiss Her Goodbye takes Frankie Elkin to Tucson, Arizona, where the desert heat is matched only by the chaos surrounding a missing Afghan refugee. Sabera Ahmadi vanished three weeks ago, leaving behind her young daughter and a husband who seems oddly unbothered. When Frankie starts digging, the case quickly turns into a tangled web of murder, espionage, and family secrets. Gardner’s trademark pacing and grit are here in full force, and parts of the story are as sharp and entertaining as ever. But the book also has its share of head-scratchers. Frankie’s hallucinations were overdone and distracting, pulling me out of the action rather than deepening her character. The […]
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Office Politics Turn Deadly in This Twisty Psychological Thriller
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Freida McFadden’s The Coworker takes a simple setup—a missing employee—and turns it into a devious psychological maze. Dawn Schiff is the office oddball: awkward, punctual to a fault, and obsessed with routines. When she suddenly vanishes, her bubbly coworker Natalie Farrell is the first to notice—and the first to realize something’s very wrong. As police and colleagues start digging, Natalie’s version of events begins to crack, and the truth becomes far murkier than anyone expected. McFadden keeps the tension high with alternating points of view and short, punchy chapters that make it nearly impossible to stop reading “just one more.” The twists land hard, especially the mid-book reveal that flips everything […]
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A Thrilling Ride with Fade In by Kyle Mills
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Kyle Mills delivers high-octane action, global stakes, and a protagonist who’s as broken as he is dangerous. In Fade In, ex-Navy SEAL Salam “Fade” al-Fayed wakes from a coma to find himself recruited by a shadowy billionaire-run outfit and thrown into a race against a viral catastrophe that could wipe out civilization. The pace is relentless, the action cinematic, and the villainy chilling. Mills adds emotional depth too—Fade’s inner turmoil and his willingness to keep walking into danger make him a fascinating hero. The writing is taut, the plot twists sharp, and the moral gray zones deliciously murky. On the downside, some of the side characters could’ve used more flesh, […]
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Waves of Regret and Renewal: A Quiet, Haunting Debut
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Set against the mesmerizing Croatian coastline, Slanting Towards the Sea by Lidija Hilje is a cinematic and emotionally resonant debut about love, loss, and the fragile nature of possibility. The novel follows Ivona, a woman whose life has stalled while her ex-husband, Vlaho, has moved on. Despite the passing years, she remains tethered to the past—until a new relationship forces her to confront what she’s lost, what she left behind, and what she might still reclaim. Hilje, writing in English as her second language, crafts prose that is crisp, atmospheric, and quietly powerful. The Croatian coast becomes more than a backdrop—it reflects Ivona’s inner tides of longing and regret. Reading it […]
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Fredrik Backman’s My Friends Shines Bright in Small-Town Sweden
WOW!!! This book is extraordinary. Fredrik Backman never misses. My Friends is a funny, heartbreaking, and deeply human story about friendship, art, grief, and the ties that refuse to let go. From the first page, I was swept into Louisa’s world—a young artist haunted by a mysterious painting and the summer that changed everything. Backman’s gift has always been his ability to make readers laugh one minute and ugly cry the next, and this novel is no exception. The four friends—Louisa, Joar, Ted, and Ali—feel so real it’s like you grew up with them. They fight, forgive, and carry one another through tragedy in ways that are both messy and […]
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A Killer Wedding Gets Lost in Its Own Drama
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Joan O’Leary’s A Killer Wedding serves up luxury, lies, and lethal secrets at an Irish castle where the elite gather for the society wedding of the year. Christine Russo, a reporter for Bespoke Weddings, thinks she’s landed the assignment of a lifetime covering the nuptials of the Ripton dynasty—until the family matriarch, Gloria Beaufort, turns up dead before the ceremony. Instead of calling the police, the Riptons make the mind-boggling choice to hide her death and let the wedding proceed. It’s a juicy premise, dripping with privilege and dysfunction, and O’Leary’s sharp humor pokes fun at influencer culture and the absurdity of the ultra-rich. But the book gets bogged down by too […]
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In The Unraveling of Julia Logic Takes a Holiday
⭐️⭐️ (2 stars) I usually enjoy Lisa Scottoline’s work, but The Unraveling of Julia just wasn’t for me. Gothic literature and astrology aren’t my cup of tea, and this novel dives headfirst into both. The story follows Julia Pritzker, a grieving widow who inherits a mysterious Tuscan villa from a stranger. Once she arrives in Italy, strange things start happening—ghostly visions, eerie coincidences, and a possible family link to a Renaissance duchess obsessed with astrology. It sounds intriguing on paper, but the story quickly spirals into something so far-fetched I had trouble suspending disbelief. Scottoline does a lovely job painting the Tuscan landscape—you can almost feel the sun on the vineyards and […]
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