Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life–until the unthinkable happens.

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After some so so novels (Washington Black, Educated), our book club picked a winner! Where the Crawdads Sing wasn’t the novel that I thought it was. It was so much more than I thought – more mystery and more emotion.

It took me a bit to get into the novel. The novel flips between 1969 where a dead body has just been discovered and the early 1950s where Kya is a young girl. I wasn’t a huge fan of the early scenes. I found that I was eagerly waiting to see what would happen with the murder. Then the 2 storylines meet in 1969 and I was hooked. I needed to know what happened and everyone in my book club was shocked by the ending.

4 calculators out of a potential 5. Highly recommend that you pick this one up for your next book club (or on your own)!

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I can’t wait for … The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell (Can’t-Wait Wednesday)

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a meme hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we are excited about that we have yet to read. The book I can’t wait to read is this week is:

Be careful who you let in.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

What novel are you excited to read? Let me know in the comments below!

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Top 5 Tuesday – Top 5 creepy atmospheres

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme that Bionic Bookworm hosts.  Today’s topic is Top 5 creepy atmospheres. 

What is your top book with a creepy atmosphere?

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Believe Me by J.P. Delaney

A struggling actor, a Brit in America without a green card, Claire needs work and money to survive. Then she gets both. But nothing like she expected.

Claire agrees to become a decoy for a firm of divorce lawyers. Hired to entrap straying husbands, she must catch them on tape with their seductive propositions. The rules? Never hit on the mark directly. Make it clear you’re available, but he has to proposition you, not the other way around. The firm is after evidence, not coercion. The innocent have nothing to hide.

Then the game changes.

When the wife of one of Claire’s targets is violently murdered, the cops are sure the husband is to blame. Desperate to catch him before he kills again, they enlist Claire to lure him into a confession.

Claire can do this. She’s brilliant at assuming a voice and an identity. For a woman who’s mastered the art of manipulation, how difficult could it be to tempt a killer into a trap? But who is the decoy . . . and who is the prey?

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I’m so torn on this novel. In some ways, I really liked it and in others, I really didn’t like it at all. It’s definitely an unique concept so I’ll give it that.

I really like stories that have people who are uncover. I like seeing their interactions and how they react in certain situation. So I was really enjoying seeing Claire con husbands who are cheating on their wives. Then the plot picked up and a murder happened. Claire is now working undercover for the police to try to catch the husband of the woman killed.

I got a bit lost half way since the novel takes a turn and goes a bit darker. I really didn’t understand the scenes between Claire and Patrick and by the end of the novel I was tired of their relationship and didn’t care who the killer ended up being.

3 calculators out of a potential 5. I’m going to go right down the middle with my rating and give it a 3. Wasn’t a big fan, but it was entertaining.

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The Other Wife by Claire McGowan

She’s a total stranger. But she knows who you are…

Suzi did a bad thing. She’s paying for it now, pregnant, scared, and living in an isolated cottage with her jealous husband, Nick.

When Nora moves into the only house nearby, Suzi is delighted to have a friend. So much so that she’s almost tempted to tell Nora her terrible secret. But there’s more to Nora than meets the eye. It’s impossible—does she already know what Suzi did?

Meanwhile, Elle spends her days in her perfect home, fixated on keeping up appearances. But when her husband betrays her, it unravels a secret going all the way back to her childhood. She’ll do whatever it takes to hold on to him, even if that means murder. After all, she’s done it before…

Caught up in their own secrets and lies, these strangers will soon realise they have more in common than they could ever have imagined. When a shocking event brings them together, their lives will never be the same again.

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Available Today – October 24, 2019!

Just when you think you have it figured out, things change! That’s how I felt when I was reading The Other Wife. I thought I knew what was going on and then something happens and I’m totally thrown off!

The novel flips between Suzi, Nora and Elle, but mostly focuses on Suzi and Nora who have just become next door neighbours. Everyone has their secrets, but not all secrets stay secret for very long. I quickly guessed what the relationship was between the three women, but was surprised on what had happened at the end. There is a murder (there’s always a murder!) and I was so torn on who the victim was and who the killer was. I didn’t guess that part right!

3 calculators out of a potential 5. If you are looking for a twisty ride with a couple of unlikeable characters, then you should check this out!

Thank you to Netgallery and Amazon Publishing UK for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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