PASSERBY By Britney King
Release Date: July 22
“Roils with passion, rancor, and greed wrapped in Southern politesse… King’s intricately woven mystery is sure to please fans of the thriller and suspense genre far and wide.”
Jester Falls has always been an idyllic town. Perfect for a getaway. And what better place to stay than Magnolia House, the tourist trap’s most popular bed and breakfast, run by the eccentric Channing family.
Ruth Channing loves her family—at least what’s left of it. She’d do anything to protect them.
But it isn’t until her brother picks up a mysterious woman on the side of Route 78 that Ruth realizes how many definitions the word anything can have.
Everything about Ashley Parker rings false: her past, her profession, even her name. Most worryingly of all, her reluctance to leave. When guests start disappearing, it’s clear there’s more at stake than just the family business… a lot more.
MY REVIEW
I will always grab a chance to read a Britney King novel…the reason…she manages to surprise me, keeping me guessing what is to come. She continues her magic in Passerby.
Beginning: She finds two bodies. What would you do? Call the police? Not Ruth Channing. Why? That is what I want to know. Even more than the fact of why they are dead to begin with. And who they are…Surprise!
Ruth Channing lives in the small town of Jester Falls, but her life is no joke. We all know about small towns…there are no secrets…or, at least, they don’t stay secret for long. She was born with the umbilical cord around her neck and it seems that same luck follows her throughout her life.
All that is left of Ruth’s family is her two brothers, Johnny and Davis. Davis seems to be the golden child and it is no surprise to Ruth when he leaves on a cross country trip, leaving her and Johnny to run Magnolia House, a bed and breakfast. She works her fingers to the bone, sacrificing any kind of personal life to keep Magnolia House going.
Davis arrives home, but he is not alone. He brings Ashley with him. I am not sure what’s up with her, but I feel she has an agenda, especially after she and Davis announce their wedding plans so soon after arriving.
The Holts…seems like the Holts and Channings have a Hatfield and McCoy feud going on and not only fists are flying. In small towns,, there is always a ”history’ and there are many undercurrents running through Jester Falls.
Ruth is the fixer in the family and I wouldn’t blame her if she washed her hands of the messes she is constantly cleaning up, especially when it comes to Davis.
Ruth…OMG…it seems the world is against her, even her own family. You never know what people will do when money is involved. I can’t figure out why…Davis, the glorified loser and Johnny….Does no one see? I am sooooo angry FOR Ruth…and very worried. I am angry at how she is treated, but she does have one ally, who will drop everything to come to her aid.
White knuckled, edge of the seat suspense, and Britney King does not make it easy to unravel the mystery, pushing and pulling me in different directions, throwing out red herrings and misleading me, all while the pacing and suspense build to an intolerable level. I HAVE TO KNOW! Read faster…My only complaint is that I felt confused in the beginning. I have to remember this is an ARC and all questions will be answered, even if they are not what I was expecting…That is why I love Britney King’s creative writing, with storylines that get my emotions roiled up.
I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of Passerby by Britney King.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Jester Falls has always been an idyllic town. Perfect for a getaway. And what better place to stay than Magnolia House, the tourist trap’s most popular bed and breakfast, run by the eccentric Channing family.
Ruth Channing loves her family—at least what’s left of it. She’d do anything to protect them.
But it isn’t until her brother picks up a mysterious woman on the side of Route 78 that Ruth realizes how many definitions the word anything can have.
Everything about Ashley Parker rings false: her past, her profession, even her name. Most worryingly of all, her reluctance to leave. When guests start disappearing, it’s clear there’s more at stake than just the family business… a lot more.
MEET BRITNEY KING Hello. I’m Britney. I live in Austin, Texas with
my husband, children, a dog named Gatsby, one ridiculous cat, and a partridge
in a pear tree. When I’m not wrangling the
things mentioned above, I write psychological, domestic, and romantic thrillers
set in suburbia. Currently, I’m writing three
series and several standalone novels. The Bedrock
Series features an unlikely heroine who should have known better. Turns
out, she didn’t. Thus she finds herself tangled in a messy, dangerous,
forbidden love story and face-to-face with a madman hell-bent on revenge. The
series has been compared to Fatal Attraction, Single White Female,
and Basic Instinct. The Water Series follows
the shady love story of an unconventional married couple—he’s an assassin—she
kills for fun. It has been compared to a crazier book version of Mr. and
Mrs. Smith. Also, Dexter. Around The Bend is a
heart-pounding standalone, which traces the journey of a well-to-do suburban
housewife, and her life as it unravels, thanks to the secrets she keeps. If she
were the only one with things she wanted to keep hidden, then maybe it wouldn’t
have turned out so bad. But she wasn’t. The With You Series at
its core is a deep love story about unlikely friends who travel the world;
trying to find themselves, together and apart. Packed with drama and adventure
along with a heavy dose of suspense, it has been compared to The Secret Life of
Walter Mitty and Love, Rosie. The Social Affair is an
intense standalone about a timeless couple who find themselves with a secret
admirer they hadn’t bargained for. For fans of the anti-heroine and stories
told in unorthodox ways, the novel explores what can happen when privacy is
traded for convenience. It is reminiscent of films such as One Hour Photo and
Play Misty For Me. Classics. 🙂 Without a doubt, connecting
with readers is the best part of this gig. If you’d like to connect, shoot me
an email. You can also find
me on Facebook, Instagram,
and occasionally on Twitter. Connect with Britney King: MY BRITNEY KING REVIEWS
Review – This Love Kills Me by A B Whelan @AuthorABWhelan
Isn’t this a fabulous cover?
MY REVIEW
The media, the gossipmongers, and the rich disparage the reputation of Julia Rose after she is declared lost at sea during a cruise, but Annie Adams is determined to get the facts…and…maybe…revenge for her.
A terrible mistake as a fourteen year old girl left Annie broken and afraid, her desire for making it right for Julia has become her driving force. What is left for her, if her need to avenge Julia is taken from her?
I love that the blurb is vague about Annie and gives nothing away, so I will try not to either. Many questions will be answered early in the book, but others….
There are trigger situations, but I don’t want to share them, because I loved that the book was more than I thought it would be and had characters that still managed to care, though their pasts were so damaging and they have suffered so much.
Our age isnt measured in years but how heavy our heart is.
Life isn’t about what you’ve done in the past, but how you overcome your failures and move forward from them.
I love an author that can surprise me with all the details of the story and obstacles the characters must overcome, and A B Whelan does that very well.
Revenge and redemption.
My favorite character has to be Annie, but Brooke is right up there. Both women are psychologically damaged, unable to move on with their lives, but they are both stronger than they believe, diligent and persistent in their effort to solve the mystery of Julia. Maybe they will find peace of mind, or at least a chance of healing.
If you pick up This Love Kills Me by A B Whelan, I wish you luck putting it down before the last page is read. I couldn’t…and it kept me fully engrossed until I got there.
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of This Love Kills Me by A B Whelan.
GOODREADS BLURB
Trusting her in-laws was her first mistake.
Julia Rose, an acclaimed millionaire fantasy author, wife, and mother to a young boy, disappears on a family cruise. Did someone push her overboard? Or did she fall?
Three years after the incident, a beautiful young woman shows up in Manhattan, calling herself Annie Adams. With the help of Julia’s former attorney, Annie establishes herself as the new estate manager of the Rose family. But Annie didn’t take the job to make Julia’s widower richer. She is in the city to find out who tried to kill Julia and why, and make them pay.
When her dedication turns into obsession, Annie has to decide if she is willing to pay the high price for bringing justice.
ABOUT A B WHELAN
New release: This Love Kills Me a domestic psychological thriller about obsession, toxic love, and resilience is coming on June 1st.
Whelan is an Amazon bestselling author of domestic psychological thrillers.
She currently resides in California with her husband and two children. When she isn’t writing, editing, marketing, or researching her next book, you can find her walking her two rescue dogs, socializing online, coaching soccer, or doing another DIY project with her husband.
Find me on:
* Facebook (AuthorABWhelan)
* Instagram (authorabwhelan)
* Goodreads (A.B. Whelan)
* Twitter (AuthorABWhelan)
* Bookbub: A.B. Whelan
MY A B WHELAN REVIEW
- You can see my Giveaways HERE.
- You can see my Reviews HERE.
- If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
- Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
- Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
- I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
- Thanks for visiting fundinmental!
The Forbidden Door by Dean Koontz @deankoontz #librarylove
.
Amazon / Audiobook / Goodreads
MY REVIEW
The Forbidden Door takes a wicked turn and proves that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Now the real Dean Koontz shows his face.
‘They’ have been unable to capture Jane. Even when they catch up to her, she is quick and manages to escape by the skin of her teeth. So…they have set their sites on her five year old son. I love the character that is introduced here…Cornell…is absolutely fabulous.
Dean Koontz brings his characters to life and I root for the good guys who lay it all on the line. Regardless of what could happen to them, they feel compelled to do the right thing.
This is the fourth book in the Jane Hawk series. I am so disappointed I will have to wait for the next one from the library, The Night Window, the finale. I have been binge reading them and I sooooo much want to know what happens next. This is a 5 book series and needs to be read in order. The books are looooong but I have been devouring them.
GOODREADS BLURB
“We’re rewriting the play, and the play is this country, the world, the future. We break Jane’s heart, we’ll also break her will.”
She was one of the FBI’s top agents until she became the nation’s most-wanted fugitive. Now Jane Hawk may be all that stands between a free nation and its enslavement by a powerful secret society’s terrifying mind-control technology. She couldn’t save her husband, or the others whose lives have been destroyed, but equipped with superior tactical and survival skills—and the fury born of a broken heart and a hunger for justice—Jane has struck major blows against the insidious cabal.
But Jane’s enemies are about to hit back hard. If their best operatives can’t outrun her, they mean to bring her running to them, using her five-year-old son as bait. Jane knows there’s no underestimating their capabilities, but she must battle her way back across the country to the remote shelter where her boy is safely hidden . . . for now.
As she moves resolutely forward, new threats begin to emerge: a growing number of brain-altered victims driven hopelessly, violently insane. With the madness spreading like a virus, the war between Jane and her enemies will become a fight for all their lives—against the lethal terror unleashed from behind the forbidden door.
ABOUT DEAN KOONTZ
Acknowledged as “America’s most popular suspense novelist” (Rolling
Stone) and as one of today’s most celebrated and successful writers,
Dean Ray Koontz has earned the devotion of millions of readers around
the world and the praise of critics everywhere for tales of character,
mystery, and adventure that strike to the core of what it means to be
human.
Dean R. Koontz has also published under the names Leigh Nichols, Brian Coffey, David Axton, Owen West, Deanna Dwyer and Aaron Wolfe.
Dean,
the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern
California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the
enduring spirit of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.
MY DEAN KOONTZ REVIEWS
- The City
- Ashley Bell
- The Silent Room (Jane Hawk)
- The Whispering Room (Jane Hawk)
- The Crooked Staircase ( Jane Hawk)
- You can see my Giveaways HERE.
- You can see my Reviews HERE.
- If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
- Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
- Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
- I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
- Thanks for visiting fundinmental!
The Crooked Staircase by Dean Koontz @deankoontz #librarylove
.
The Crooked Staircase by Dean Koontz is the third book in the Jane Hawk series.
Amazon / Audiobook / Goodreads
MY REVIEW
I have been binge reading the Jane Hawk series, checking them out from the library.
The danger increases for Jane Hawk. ‘They’ dog her every step. In this day of the digital footprint, she strives to stay off the grid, but even burner phones could lead to her destruction.
She finds some unlikely allies along the way, always on the run.
Jane Hawk is a character that hits all the high marks for me. To say she is strong is putting it mildly. It takes all the skills she possesses to stay one step ahead of those who want to take her down. She does not want to kill, but will do so when necessary. She plots and plans each step she takes, but when she has to make a quick decision, her mind quickly runs through her options and she commits to her course of action.
The books are loooooong and richly detailed. Sometimes I just wanted to skim through to get to the action, but as I walked…or ran…step by step with Jane, I felt it also increased my anticipation, knowing something wicked this way comes.
GOODREADS BLURB
Jane Hawk — who dazzled readers in The Silent Corner and The Whispering Room — faces the fight of her life, against the threat of a lifetime in this electrifying new thriller by #1 New York Times bestselling suspense master Dean Koontz. “I could be dead tomorrow. Or something worse than dead.” Jane Hawk knows she may be living on borrowed time. But as long as she’s breathing, she’ll never cease her one-woman war against the terrifying conspiracy that threatens the freedom–and free will–of millions. Battling the strange epidemic of murder-suicides that claimed Jane’s husband, and is escalating across the country, has made the rogue FBI agent a wanted fugitive, relentlessly hunted not only by the government but by the secret cabal behind the plot. Deploying every resource their malign nexus of power and technology commands, Jane’s enemies are determined to see her dead . . . or make her wish she was. Jane’s ruthless pursuers can’t stop her from drawing a bead on her prey: a cunning man with connections in high places, a twisted soul of unspeakable depths with an army of professional killers on call. Propelled by her righteous fury and implacable insistence on justice, Jane will make her way from southern California to the snow-swept slopes of Lake Tahoe to confront head-on the lethal forces arrayed against her. But nothing can prepare her for the chilling truth that awaits when she descends the crooked staircase to the dark and dreadful place where her long nightmare was born.
ABOUT DEAN KOONTZ
Acknowledged as “America’s most popular suspense novelist” (Rolling
Stone) and as one of today’s most celebrated and successful writers,
Dean Ray Koontz has earned the devotion of millions of readers around
the world and the praise of critics everywhere for tales of character,
mystery, and adventure that strike to the core of what it means to be
human.
Dean R. Koontz has also published under the names Leigh Nichols, Brian Coffey, David Axton, Owen West, Deanna Dwyer and Aaron Wolfe.
Dean,
the author of many #1 New York Times bestsellers, lives in Southern
California with his wife, Gerda, their golden retriever, Elsa, and the
enduring spirit of their goldens, Trixie and Anna.
MY DEAN KOONTZ REVIEWS
- You can see my Giveaways HERE.
- You can see my Reviews HERE.
- If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
- Look on the right sidebar and let’ talk.
- Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
- I am an Amazon affiliate/product images are linked.
- Thanks for visiting fundinmental!
Free Book – Choosy Bookworm Holiday Extravaganza
Choosy Bookworm has partnered with eNovel Authors at Work to bring you a month long celebration with great books, great book deals, and let’s not forget the great giveaways!
Check out today’s featured authors and books, then head on over to the event page and enter to win one of two $250 Amazon Gift Cards or Paypal Cash!
Be sure to check out the featured books and the awesome author sponsored giveaway below!
Genre: YA Mystery/Thriller/Humor
Fifteen years ago Darcy Walker’s parents thought it was a good idea to give her a unique name: Darcy, meaning “dark walker.” Whether that was a stroke of genius or stroke of stupid, they nailed the irony. She lacks direction, her grades stink despite a high IQ, she’s boringly average–although admirers claim otherwise–and heaven help her she’s infatuated with a bad-boy.
With her life spiraling out of control, things change when she finds a dead body. It jumpstarts her inner-verb, and she gets caught up in a situation she can’t let go.
Trouble is, will she live to see sixteen?
Meet A.J. Lape
A. J. Lape is the Amazon bestselling author of the Darcy Walker Series. She lives in Cincinnati with her husband, two daughters, an ADD dog, a spoiled hamster, and an unapologetic and unrepentant addiction to Coca-Cola–and a lifelong love affair with bacon she has no plans to sever. If the FBI ever checks her computer, she’ll be wearing prison orange due to the various “”wiki”” articles she looks up…all in the name of career research, of course.
When Mazie Reynolds was a young girl, she believed monsters lived under her bed. Now a grown, married woman, she discovers one sleeps in her bed.
Mazie schemes to save herself and her daughter. Her plan will work, if she can out-maneuver the monster who is a master of manipulation and control. She’s got one thing going for her, the one thing she truly owns. Mazie has moxie to the bone. But will it be enough?
Meet Julie Frayn
Julie Frayn is a Canadian multi-award-winning author of novels and short stories that pack a punch. And a few stabs. Her books include Goody One Shoe, Romeo Is Homeless, It Isn’t Cheating If He’s Dead, and Mazie Baby, the 2015 Kindle Book Award winner for horror/suspense, among other awards.
Phevos and his sister Daphne are time travelers from ancient Greece. Their enigmatic father sends them to modern-day Athens without telling them the reason. Teaming up with two orphaned siblings, the four set out to discover their terrible family secrets. When they find a cave in the Acropolis foothills, a precious finding helps them to realize they’ve been caught up in a conflict between two Gods; one is a protector, the other, their worst nemesis. Who will prevail when the rival Gods meet again and will the mortal bystanders survive to tell the tale?
Meet Effrosyni Moschoudi
Effrosyni Moschoudi was born and raised in Athens, Greece. As a child, she often sat alone in her granny’s garden scribbling rhymes about flowers, butterflies and ants. She lives in a quaint seaside town near Athens with her husband Andy and a naughty cat called Felix.
Choosy Bookworm
Holiday Extravaganza
event page to learn more and enter to win one of two $250 Amazon Gift Cards or Paypal Cash!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
To see all my Reviews, go HERE.To see all my Giveaways, go HERE.If you like what you see, why don’t you follow me?
Look on the right sidebar and let’s talk.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Leave your link in the comments and I will drop by to see what’s shakin’.
If you have a problem commenting, look for the twitter, facebook…buttons.
Thanks for visiting fundinmental!