AUDIOBOOK REVIEW - Unmarried

Title:  Unmarried

Author:  Emily Shiner

Publisher:  Bookouture

Genre:   Psychological Thriller 

Series:   Perfect Couples #2

Format:  Audiobook ALC 

Length:  8 hrs 26 mins

Narrator:  Ashley Rose Kaplan

No. of Pages:  330

Date of Publication:  November 19, 2025

My Rating:   4 Stars

DESCRIPTION:

He killed his first wife. But I married him to protect my own secrets…

I never expected to find my happily ever after with Dr Mitch Ellis. I wore a lace dress with an extravagant train to our wedding at the biggest church in town. Mitch wanted to be sure everything was flawless. Now I can see I’ve made a grave mistake. Mitch wants me to be his quiet, perfect little wife, just like his last one. He doesn’t know who he is dealing with this time.

He thinks I haven’t noticed her jewellery still tucked away in our room. And that the details on her death certificate don’t add up. He believes I’m happily under his thumb, sunning myself all day by his pool where his staff can keep an eye on me.

Mitch should pay for what he did to the woman before me, and I won’t let him get away with it this time…

Unmarried is a totally gripping psychological thriller packed with twists, perfect for fans of Freida McFadden, The Perfect Marriage and Gone Girl .

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MY THOUGHTS:

Aimee is preparing to marry Mitch, but she’s bringing far more to this union than a simple “I do.” Behind her poised exterior lies a plan—one that promises happiness for her, but for deeply sinister reasons. This isn’t a marriage built on love or trust; it’s a union forged by a contract and bound by a dark, buried secret. Mitch may walk into the relationship with high hopes, but he quickly discovers he hasn’t married a sweet, compliant wife. Aimee has plenty of surprises in store, and none of them are good.

To fully appreciate the tension and twisted dynamics at play, I strongly recommend reading Uninvited by Emily Shiner first. It sets the stage beautifully and provides the context that makes Unmarried even more gripping.

Ashley Rose Kaplan delivers an outstanding narration, adding intensity and atmosphere to every chapter. This psychological thriller never lets thanks to tight pacing, with sharp twists. It just might keep you on tenterhooks right through the final page.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Emily Shiner always dreamed of becoming an author. After spending years devouring stacks of thrillers, she decided to try her hand at writing them herself. Now she gets to live out her dream of writing novels and sharing her stories with people around the world. She lives in the Appalachian Mountains and loves hiking with her husband, daughter, and their two dogs.

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AUDIOBOOK REVIEW - Vanishing Hour

Title:  Vanishing Hour

Author:  Laura Griffin

Publisher:  Berkley

Genre:   Romantic Suspense

Format:  Audio ALC and Kindle ARC

Narrator:  Julia Atwood

Length:  9 hrs 17 mins

No. of Pages:   322

Date of Publication:   October 25, 2022

My Rating:   5 Stars

DESCRIPTION:

When a cold case in Texas leads to a sinister string of disappearances, a newcomer to the small town helps a detective piece together the clues in this new romantic thriller from New York Times bestselling author Laura Griffin.

Corporate lawyer Ava Burch has had enough of the big city and the daily grind. She grew up with her father, who raised search-and-rescue dogs, in rural Texas and has moved to the small town of Cuervo to spend time in the dry, rugged wilderness near Big Bend National Park. When she and her dog, Huck, discover an abandoned campsite on a volunteer search-and-rescue mission, she's perplexed, but she carefully photographs it all the same.

All Grant Wycoff can see when he looks at Ava is a city slicker--with her designer jeans and shiny car--who has no business on a serious team made of seasoned outdoorsmen and retired cops. But when she tells him of her findings on the trail, he sees there's more to her than meets the eye.

Ava's discovery reminds Grant of the unsolved case of a young woman who went missing two years ago. As they look into the campsite further, another woman disappears under odd circumstances. With time running out, Ava and Grant must work against the brutal heat from both the Texas sun and their own electric chemistry to solve the case.

Link to purchase the book

MY THOUGHTS:

Ava Burch’s life may have been spiraling, but her bold decision to walk away from her corporate law career leads her somewhere unexpected—and far more dangerous. Hoping to reinvent herself as a nature photographer, she’s out capturing the Texas wilderness when she finds evidence of a gruesome crime. Soon her path crosses with Deputy Sheriff Grant Wycoff. Grant is ready to dive into what just might be a troubling case, and he’s stunned to discover that someone has already taken dozens of detailed photographs of his crime scene—someone who definitely isn’t on his team.

His initial irritation with Ava quickly fades once he realizes she’s far more than an overcurious bystander. Not only does her camera capture crucial clues others have missed, but her instincts and persistence open new angles on both the active investigation and a lingering cold case. Ava also brings along Hank, a Search and Rescue dog inherited from her estranged father, and together they become indispensable to Grant’s work. As more than one woman goes missing, Ava and Grant find themselves in a race against time, each discovery raising the stakes.

As a romantic suspense, Vanishing Hour delivers on both fronts. The slow-burn chemistry between Ava and Grant blends naturally with the escalating tension of the investigation. And Julia Atwood’s excellent narration adds depth and atmosphere, making the story even more immersive. With its excellent pacing, this gripping book will definitely keep the reader invested from the first chapter to the last.

Many thanks to Berkley and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Laura Griffin is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty books and novellas. She is a two-time RITA Award winner, as well as the recipient of the Daphne du Maurier Award. Laura got her start in journalism before venturing into the world of suspense fiction. Her books have been translated into fourteen languages. Laura lives in Austin, Texas, where she is working on her next novel.

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AUDIOBOOK REVIEW - Good, Bad Girl

Title:   Good, Bad Girl

Author:  Alice Feeney

Publisher:  Flatiron Books/Macmillan Audio

Genre:   Mystery & Thrillers

Format:  Audio ALC

Narrator:  Katherine Press; 

  Stephanie Racine

Length:  9 hrs 21 mins

No. of Pages:  400

Date of Publication:  August 29, 2023

Rating:   5 Stars

DESCRIPTION:

Sometimes bad things happen to good people, so good people have to do bad things.

Our Queen of Twists, bestselling author of Daisy Darker and Rock Paper Scissors Alice Feeney, returns with another thrilling mystery filled with drama and her trademark surprises.

Twenty years after a baby is stolen from a stroller, a woman is murdered in a care home. The two crimes are somehow linked, and a good bad girl may be the key to discovering the truth.

Edith may have been tricked into a nursing home, but at eighty-years-young, she’s planning her escape. Patience works there, cleaning messes and bonding with Edith, a kindred spirit. But Patience is lying to Edith about almost everything.

Edith’s own daughter, Clio, won’t speak to her. And someone new is about to knock on Clio’s door…and their intentions aren’t good.

With every reason to distrust each other, the women must solve a mystery with three suspects, two murders, and one victim. If they do, they might just find out what happened to the baby who disappeared, the mother who lost her, and the connections that bind them.

In the style of Daisy Darker and Rock Paper Scissors, Good Bad Girl is a thriller in which nobody can be trusted and the twists come fast and furious.

Link to purchase the book

MY THOUGHTS:

“People say there’s nothing like a mother’s love. Take that away, you’ll find there’s nothing like a daughter’s hate.”

“I wish my daughter would disappear.”

“When you lose a child, you see them everywhere forever.”

Alice Feeney delivers yet another spellbinding psychological thriller with Good Bad Girl, a story packed with complicated and dysfunctional women, tangled motives, and more than a few deliciously disorienting twists.

At the center of the novel is Frankie, a woman who has learned to survive the life she was born into by sheer determination. She calls herself a “good bad girl”. A woman doing the best she can despite the circumstances and the internal battles she fights daily. Her OCD shapes almost every decision she makes, creating a constant push and pull between what she wants and what her mind will allow.

Then there’s Clio, whose strained relationship with her mother, Edith, adds an emotional layer that simmers throughout the book. Edith resents being placed in a nursing home, a decision she blames entirely on Clio. But once there, she forms an unexpected bond with a staff member named Patience, yet another character whose role unfolds with increasing intrigue.

As I am definitely an Alice Feeney fan, I love how she delivers each and every one of her books. This book is a perfect example of what we can expect from her. The beauty of Feeney’s storytelling lies in how she makes us question everyone. Frankie, Clio, Patience. Are any of them truly reliable? The shifting truths and subtle misdirections keep you guessing from start to finish.

Feeney has earned her reputation as the “Queen of Twists,” and Good, Bad Girl is a prime example of why. The title itself is an oxymoron, and that contradiction sets the tone for a novel filled with a high level of suspense and as well as being full of twists.

Smartly written and impossible to predict, this book is a must-read for anyone who loves psychological suspense served with heart, depth, and Feeney’s signature flair for surprise. The bonus for me was the dual narration given to the voice of each of the characters.

Many thanks to Flatiron Books/Macmillan Audio and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Alice Feeney is a New York Times million-copy bestselling author. Her books have been translated into over thirty-five languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations. Including His & Hers which is being made into major TV series by Netflix. 

Alice was a BBC journalist for fifteen years, and now lives in Devon with her family. 

Beautiful Ugly is her seventh novel.

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AUDIOBOOK REVIEW - The Chase

Title:   The Chase

Author:  Candice Fox

Publisher:  Macmillan-Tor/Forge

Genre:   Mystery/Thrillers

Format:  Audiobook ARC

Narrator:  David de Vries; Lisa Negron

No. of Pages:   327

Date of Publication:   March 30, 2021

My Rating:   Stars

DESCRIPTION:

The Chase is a modern The Fugitive with characters only #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling author Candice Fox can write.

“Are you listening, Warden?”
“What do you want?”
“I want you to let them out.”
“Which inmates are we talking about?”
“All of them.”

With that, the largest manhunt in United States history is on. In response to a hostage situation, more than 600 inmates from the Pronghorn Correctional Facility, including everyone on Death Row, are released into the Nevada Desert. Criminals considered the worst of the worst, monsters with dark, violent pasts, are getting farther away by the second.

John Kradle, convicted of murdering his wife and son, is one of the escapees. Now, desperate to discover what really happened that night, Kradle must avoid capture and work quickly to prove his innocence as law enforcement closes in on the fugitives.

Death Row Supervisor, and now fugitive-hunter, Celine Osbourne has focused all of her energy on catching Kradle and bringing him back to Death Row. She has very personal reasons for hating him – and she knows exactly where he’s heading...

Link to purchase the book

MY THOUGHTS:

The United States is currently undertaking the most extensive manhunt in its history. This unprecedented situation arose from a hostage situation, resulting in the release of over 600 high-risk and even brutal inmates from a secure prison. Some of these individuals are on death row. The situation was untenable, and now hundreds of dangerous prisoners must be located and returned to custody. 

Throughout their escape, their cold-blooded crimes resurface, serving as both reminders of their true nature and the dangerous situations they put others in. It’s a stark display of savagery at its worst. 

This latest book by Candice Fox is a high-octane read, one that grabs the reader in its grip without letting go. The Fugitive came to mind more than once as police and agents tried to round up the criminals. 

Death Row supervisor Celine Osborne is under immense pressure as she leads a team of investigators in capturing these notorious criminals. She faces dangers she never anticipated, making this book an exhilarating thriller, especially due to the excellent audio narration. I eagerly anticipate the next installment from this talented author. 

Many thanks to Macmillan-Tor/Forge and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Candice Fox is the middle child of a large, eccentric family from Sydney's western suburbs composed of half-, adopted and pseudo siblings. The daughter of a parole officer and an enthusiastic foster-carer, Candice spent her childhood listening around corners to tales of violence, madness and evil as her father relayed his work stories to her mother and older brothers.

As a cynical and trouble-making teenager, her crime and gothic fiction writing was an escape from the calamity of her home life. She was constantly in trouble for reading Anne Rice in church and scaring her friends with tales from Australia's wealth of true crime writers.

Bankstown born and bred, she failed to conform to military life in a brief stint as an officer in the Royal Australian Navy at age eighteen. At twenty, she turned her hand to academia, and taught high school through two undergraduate and two postgraduate degrees. Candice lectures in writing at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, while undertaking a PhD in literary censorship and terrorism.

Hades is her first novel, and she is currently working on its sequel. 

AUDIOBOOK REVIEW - Daisy Darker

Title:   Daisy Darker

Author:  Alice Feeney

Publisher:  Flatiron Books/Macmillan Audio

Genre:   Mystery & Thrillers

Format:  Audio ALC

Narrator:  Stephanie Racine

Length:  10 hrs 51 mins

No. of Pages:   352

Date of Publication:  August 30, 2022

My Rating:   5 Stars

DESCRIPTION:

Author Alice Feeney reads the acknowledgments on this program.

The New York Times bestselling Queen of Twists returns…with a family reunion that leads to murder.

After years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in Nana’s crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. Finally back together one last time, when the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.

The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. Then at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows…

Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide comes in and all is revealed.

With a wicked wink to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, Daisy Darker’s unforgettable twists will leave readers reeling.

“Wow! Echoes of Christie's And Then There Were None but turned into something wonderfully original and wrapped in a genuinely creepy dysfunctional family fairy-tale of a novel, this takes Feeney to the next level. I LOVED IT!”
—Sarah Pinborough, bestselling author of Behind Her Eyes and Insomnia

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books.

Link to purchase the book

MY THOUGHTS:

A living nightmare. Or is it something far more sinister? The Darker family has been estranged for years. But Nana Darker’s 80th birthday is coming up, and the three Darker girls—Daisy, Rose, and Lily—as well as their now-divorced parents, Nancy and Frank, will all be there. There is one other guest invited, and that is old family neighbor and friend, Conor Kennedy. With a nod to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, the stage is set. This locked-room story takes place in a span of eight hours.

Once the tide is in, the family can leave. As long as the tide is out, they are trapped. However, there might not be any survivors. So, who will be alive at the end of such an ominous story? This chilling story reveals things about the family, both past and present. With the dual-timeline narrative, the family dynamic presents itself. 

Having read two five-star books by Alice Feeney— His & Hers and Beautiful Ugly— I knew that I would be headed to an excellent reading journey with Daisy Darker. Let’s just say that I never picked up on one of the biggest twists I have ever come upon while reading a thriller. Now that I know the twist, I want to go back and try to figure out how I missed the sneaky tidbits along the way. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

Many thanks to Flatiron Books/Macmillan Audio and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Alice Feeney is a New York Times million-copy bestselling author. Her books have been translated into over thirty-five languages, and have been optioned for major screen adaptations. Including His & Hers which is being made into major TV series by Netflix. 

Alice was a BBC journalist for fifteen years, and now lives in Devon with her family. 

Beautiful Ugly is her seventh novel.

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BLOG TOUR - Murder at Midwinter Farm

DESCRIPTION:

A frosty country lane, snow-dusted Devon hills as far as the eye can see… and a local farmer vanished without trace. Can Kitty Underhay solve this chilling mystery?

Devon, 1937. Kitty Underhay is enjoying a crisp winter morning walk with her best friend, Alice, and her fiancé, Robert, who have recently bought the mysterious Midwinter Farm. The previous owner vanished one night, his dinner still on the table and the front door left wide open. But as work is carried out on the farm, a body is found in the grounds. How was the man murdered—and who is responsible?

Robert trusts the local police even less than Kitty does, so she is immediately on the case, with her husband Matt by her side. As the pair take the bull by the horns and begin to gather clues, several suspects emerge. Though he seems gentle as a lamb, is the victim’s son as innocent as he appears? Why does the local pub landlord have an axe to grind, and does his daughter seem suspicious?

The waters become muddied by a robbery, with valuable jewels stolen at neighbouring Seacliffe Hall. Is the thief also the murderer Kitty is looking for? Or are the two crimes entirely unconnected?

With the weak winter sun setting over the fields and danger mounting fast, Kitty and Matt need to find the killer, before they meet their own icy end in the dead of winter…

Fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey or Verity Bright will adore this totally charming murder mystery. The perfect treat for cozy crime fans!

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Title:   Murder at Midwinter Farm

Author:  Helena Dixon

Series:  Miss Underhay #22
Publisher:  Bookouture 

Genre:   Cozy Mystery

Format:  Kindle ARC 

No. of Pages:  263

Date of Publication:   November 24, 2025

My Rating:  5 Stars 

MY THOUGHTS:

It’s the winter of 1938, and Kitty Underhay and her husband, Captain Matt Bryant, are looking forward to a quiet season—until trouble finds them once again. Her dear friend and former maid Alice is preparing to marry her fiancé, Robert. The couple will then move into the home he recently purchased: the picturesque but rather notorious Midwinter Farm.Though Alice was initially uneasy about the property’s grim reputation, she’s finally warming to the idea of making it their family home. That is, until the workers installing a new telephone line make a shocking discovery—a skeleton buried on the grounds.

Midwinter Farm’s dark past soon becomes impossible to ignore. Whispers of tragedy, a missing man, and tales of deceit swirl around the estate. As Kitty and Matt, both seasoned private investigators, are drawn into the case, they uncover a tangle of secrets involving fraud, stolen jewels, and betrayal. The victim, it seems, was not well liked—and many believed he’d left the area nearly a decade ago. But as Kitty and Matt dig deeper, it becomes clear that his disappearance was far more sinister than anyone imagined.

Helena Dixon once again delivers a masterful blend of Golden Age atmosphere and compelling mystery. The snowy countryside, the creaking old farmhouse, and the undercurrent of unease all add to the story’s charm and tension. Kitty is as spirited and clever as ever—a heroine whose warmth and wit balance the story’s darker elements beautifully.

Murder at Midwinter Farm is a wonderfully atmospheric addition to the Kitty Underhay series—perfect for fans of Agatha Christie-style whodunits. Full of intrigue, period detail, and heart, it’s an ideal read for a winter evening by the fire.

Many thanks to Bookouture and to NetGalley for this ARC for review. This is my honest opinion. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Helena Dixon is the author of the internationally bestselling Miss Underhay cozy mystery series. She is a Black Country girl living in Devon. Married to the same man for over thirty-five years she has three daughters, a cactus called Spike, and a crazy cockapoo. She was the winner of the RNA Romance Prize in 2007 and the RNA Love Story of the Year 2010.

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