REVIEW: What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena

What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena

Genre: Psychological thriller

Read: 10th August 2024

Goodreads

Amazon

Published: 18th July 2024

★★★★ 4 stars

DESCRIPTION:

Nothing ever happens in sleepy little Fairhill, Vermont.

The teenagers get their kicks telling ghost stories in the old graveyard. The parents trust their kids will arrive home safe from school. Everyone knows everyone. Curtains rarely twitch. Front doors are left unlocked.

But this morning all of that will change.

Because Diana Brewer isn’t lying safely in her bed where she belongs. Instead she lies in a hayfield, circled by vultures, discovered by a local farmer.

How quickly a girl becomes a ghost. How quickly a town of friendly, familiar faces becomes a town of suspects, a place of fear and paranoia.

Someone in Fairhill did this. Everyone wants answers.

And one innocent question could be deadly.

MY THOUGHTS:

Nothing ever happens in Fairhill, Vermont...until it does...

Not your average thriller by Shari Lapena but a pageturner just the same. This time we're taken to Fairhill, a sleepy little town in Vermont where everyone knows each other and nothing ever happens...until it does.

A farmer is working his fields when he notices the circling of vultures over one of his fields and thinking he may have a dead cow or some other animal on his land, he goes to investigate. Nothing prepares him for the horror that assails him. The visceral disemboweled remains of teenager Diana Brewer, her eyes pecked out by the feathered ferals.

The days starts off as normal for teenagers in Fairhill as they head off to school, avoid their parents at all costs and basically anything that is everything to a teenager. Riley Mead is worried though. She has texted Diana several times this morning and she has not responded...which is unlike Diana. She wants to know how she got on with boyfriend Cameron the night before. And then when Riley gets to school, she discovers that Diana is not there. And she does not arrive, making Riley worry more.

And then the principal knocks on their classroom door. The police are here. Diana has been found murdered. Riley's world falls apart. She and her friend Evan, Diana's two best friends, work to support each other and Diana's mother through this terrible ordeal. Who could have done this? And why?

Investigations reveal a creepy customer at the Home Depot where Diana worked, who gave her an inordinate amount of attention which made her uncomfortable. Is he responsible for Diana's death? And some inappropriate behaviour by someone in authority - someone who should be trusted - is also revealed. Could they be responsible for Diana's demise? Who would do such a thing? Diana was popular and well liked. She would do anything for anybody. Why would somebody kill her?

The story unfolds from various third person perspectives - from Riley to Evan to Diana's mother to Cameron and his parents  to Diana's various teachers to the police and persons of interests. It has a touch of supernatural to it with Diana suspended between her life and her untimely death as she struggles to recall what happened to her on that night and watches with pain the heartache her loved ones are going through.

While it is not one of Shari Lapena's best, it was a pageturner all the same and I devoured it in good time. It was a fast paced read with short snappy chapters that kept it moving nicely. Despite it dragging a little, I love Shari's writing style which made the story such an addictive read.

I would like to thank #ShariLapena, #Netgalley and #TransworldDigital for an ARC of #WhatHaveYouDone in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Shari Lapena is the #1 internationally bestselling author of six suspense novels including The Couple Next Door, A Stranger in the House, An Unwanted Guest, Someone We Know, The End of Her, and Not a Happy Family. Everyone Here is Lying is coming in July 2023.

A former lawyer and English teacher, Shari now writes full time from a farm in Ontario, where she lives with her husband.

Her first thriller, The Couple Next Door, was a runaway global bestseller, selling  4 million copies worldwide. It was WHSmith’s “Book of the Year” in 2016 and the #1 Adult Fiction Title in the UK for 2017. All of Shari’s novels have been New York Times, UK Sunday Times, and Globe and Mail bestsellers. Three of her books have been Richard & Judy Book Club Picks. Her books have sold into forty territories around the world and have been optioned for film and TV.

She doesn’t want you to be able to put her books down.

Social media links:

Wesbite | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

REVIEW: Melissa, If One Life by Janette Henning and Melissa Camp

Melissa: If One Life by Janette Henning and Melissa Camp

Genre: Biography, Memoir

Read: 7th August 2024

Amazon

Kindle

Hardback

Published: 4th May 2020

★★★★★ 5 stars

DESCRIPTION:

The story that helped inspire the new movie I Still Believe.

Melissa, If One Life ... is the real-life love story of Melissa Camp, first wife of recording artist Jeremy Camp. Her heartrending story is told through her journals and reveals her intimate conversations with God, her extraordinary love story with Jeremy, her walk-through cancer and her supernatural responses to life’s hardest trials. The film, I Still Believe, is based on Melissa’s fun and emotional love story with Jeremy Camp. It is more than inspiring! It is transformational! It restores faith that great love does exist and is worth sacrificing everything for. This book expands the dialog, shows Melissa’s reactions and fills in the details of her remarkable life. It also reveals the mystery of living a courageous life filled with love, joy and hope no matter what the circumstances are.

MY THOUGHTS:

"If one life comes to faith in Jesus Christ because of what I go through - my cancer, my suffering and even my death - it will all be worth it!"

WOW! This has to be one of the most convicting and yet encouraging and inspiring books I have ever read. I don't read a lot of non-fiction because I find it very hard to connect with what is being written and being able to absorb it (as opposed to fiction which is easy to read). But this book was such a beautiful and inspiring read. I felt by the end that I had actually known Melissa, such was her passion and love felt throughout the pages.

I came across this book when purchasing her husband's, Jeremy Camp, own book "I Still Believe". When I read the premise for it I just had to have it and went out to buy, purchasing a copy for a friend of mine who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer also. My hope is that she will be encouraged through Melissa's journals which fill this book with such love and passion like none I have ever seen.

Melissa speaks constantly of her desire for a greater intimacy with Jesus and her prayers tell of her selfishness at times and I'm thinking...I have never seen a more selfless person than Melissa! She was the epitome of selflessness and shone with love. I can only ever see her smiling and love Jeremy's favourite photo of her which he included in his book saying...

"How I will always remember Melissa"

Melissa's journals coupled with her mother Janette's telling of Melissa's story are both convicting and encouraging, inspiring those read it into a greater intimacy and love for Jesus also.

Despite cancer ravaging her body, she continued to praise God and worship Him, knowing that He had a greater plan for her. I would have loved to have known Melissa. She is truly an inspiration. Her story is an inspiration. The title of the book sums her desire up perfectly...in her words:

Melissa's total sacrificial love for others as well as Jesus is her legacy that continues to live long after she breathed her last two decades ago. She wanted everyone to know the great love she had and she was willing to go through pain, suffering and even death so that others would come to know the Saviour she loved so much. She was and continues to be an inspiration. I could only hope to reflect some of what she did. I dare anyone not to be be moved to tears by Melissa's journals. 

You can purchase the book on Kindle but you will miss out on the beautiful illustrations that is in the hardback. The quote above I snapped from the book but really, it doesn't do it justice (my scanner isn't working so had to use my phone). These pictures below will give you a better idea (I hope).

This is truly one of the most beautiful books I have ever read. And it is beautifully illustrated too. It was lovely to see Melissa's smiling face in the photos at the end. You could just see the joy that radiated from her. She truly was beautiful...even after chemo took her beautiful hair.

Thank you Melissa for living and loving. Thank you for the love that is your legacy.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Janette Henning is first and foremost a follower of Jesus Christ born out of the Jesus Movement of the 1970's. She is a wife, a mother of four and a grandmother of eight. She has been a pastor's wife, a church planter, a women's minister, a Bible Study teacher and writer, as well as a real estate agent teaming with her husband Mark in San Diego county. They live in the beach community of Encinitas, California.

Social Media links:

Website | Janette Henning | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Goodreads

REVIEW: The Nurse's Lie by Daniel Hurst

The Nurse's Lie (The Perfect Nurse #2) by Daniel Hurst

Genre: Psychological thriller

Read: 28th July 2024

Goodreads

Amazon

Published: 1st August 2024

★★★★ 4 stars

DESCRIPTION:

Nurse. Mother. Wife. Killer…?

Only a few months ago, my life was simple. I spent most of my time caring for patients in brightly lit hospital wards. Then I’d pick up my son from kindergarten before cooking a meal for my husband. I’d drink in every precious moment with them. Now everything has changed…

I don’t recognise the woman I’ve become. I’m a liar. Nurses are supposed to save lives. Instead, I helped to take one.

I did it to protect my family. No one can find out what I’ve done because I’d lose everything: my marriage, my gorgeous baby boy – even my life.

Then one day I step through the front door to find a woman with long, blonde hair and perfect white teeth in my family home. My heart pounds in my chest. We used to work at the same hospital. She’s the only one who knows my biggest secret and my darkest lie.

It’s clear she’s back for revenge. But she’s underestimated me. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep my loved ones safe.

It’s time to finish what I started.

It’s my life or hers…

From the number one bestselling author of The Doctor’s Wife, this intense, nail-biting psychological thriller will have you gasping in shock! Perfect for fans of T.M. Logan, Freida McFadden and John Marrs.

MY THOUGHTS:

Nurse...mother...wife...killer...?

Now THIS is more like it! After struggling through the first book "The Perfect Nurse" (which was anything but perfect), I dived into this second book with higher hopes...and I'm thrilled to say I was not disappointed. This is more like the Daniel Hurst I've come to know and love. The fast pace, the thrill-ride-a-minute, the twists...I'm happy to say I thoroughly enjoyed this one that I easily finished it within a few hours.

A few chapters into this one, I then realised what was missing from the first book that found it lacking. Most of Hurst's thrillers (in fact all of those I've read I believe) have unfolded through various perspectives of those involved - sometimes two, sometimes many more. But it's that aspect that keeps the story fresh and the pace moving at a rapid rate. But the first book was told solely through Darcy's eyes which thus made it slow moving and uninteresting. Then in this one, Pippa's perspective is introduced, changing things up a bit and keeping the pace moving at a rapid rate. Thus, this second book was far better than the first.

Now, firstly I must add that you need to read book one before delving into this one as it throws a ton of spoilers from the first book your way throughout. Should you decide to read this one, then I really wouldn't bother with the first one as this one gives enough backstory and is far more interesting to keep you engaged.

The story picks up a few months after the first book left off, seeing Darcy in the sunnier climes of Florida. With her are a few meagre possessions, most importantly a notebook Pippa put together for her with photos of their parents and herself along with their names and their relationship to her, as well as a letter explaining everything with two very important instructions for her - never watch the news and never come home.

It has been three months since Darcy left Chicago, and with her retrograde amnesia, anything that happened beyond two weeks has been completely wiped from her memory unless she has constant reminders to keep those memories fresh and alive. Hence, the notebook Pippa put together for her instructing her to read it every day...so Darcy will remember them. But beyond that, she has no recollection of anything.

So when she's given the job of caring for a man with early dementia, Darcy feels like she was born for this role. Maybe that's why his son Parker chose her because he could see that in her as well. Her first introduction with Joe, Parker's father, is somewhat shaky when Joe comes across as brash and blunt. And it isn't long before he sees something in Darcy...that maybe she has a secret from which she's running. For someone with dementia, Joe is certainly very astute. But then he is only in the early stages so he hasn't completely lost his marbles yet.

And then Joe says something that gives Darcy reason to pause and wonder if she should really be here. Joe lets slip that she's not the only one with secrets here. And that she could be in danger if she doesn't leave...

Meanwhile, things are hotting up in Chicago when someone comes looking for Darcy. Pippa uses all her resources to dissuade the person from their mission...but it only ends in disaster. Now Pippa has an even bigger mess to clean up and her parents are demanding that Darcy return home. Pippa tries to put them off citing she doesn't know where she is but they don't believe her. She's a nurse, a mother, a wife...not a killer. How did her life become this?

The worlds between Darcy and Pippa's are on a collision course but will they collide with each other? Or something or someone else?

As I said at the beginning, this second book is so much better than the first (which is unusual because sequels usually aren't as good). So much so that you could not bother with the first one as this one gives you enough backstory anyway. Though the first one does give more of Darcy's story and how she came to have such a debilitating condition and why. If not for that, I would say don't bother with the first book and go straight to this one.

I much prefer the format of different perspectives. It keeps the pace moving and the story fresh, surprising the reader along the way. Sure, there are some eye-rolling moments in which you need to suspend belief but none of that matters in this one because the equilibrium that makes a Hurst thriller is back on track with the entertainment factor to keep us enthralled from the very first page.

I look forward to the third book "The Nurse's Mistake" coming in November, where we pick up Darcy and Pippa's story to see where it leads us. Let's hope that's not a mistake and is just as thrilling as this one has been.

I would like to thank #DanielHurst, #Netgalley and #Bookouture for an ARC of #TheNursesLie in exchange for an honest review.

MEET THE AUTHOR:

Daniel Hurst was born in the northwest of England, a part of the world famous for its comedians, pasties and terrible weather.

He has been employed in several glamorous roles in his lifetime, including bartending, shelf stacking and procurement administration, all while based in some of the most exotic places on the planet, like Bolton, Preston and South London.

Daniel writes psychological thrillers and loves to tell tales about unusual things happening to normal people. He has written all his life, making the progression from handing scribbled stories to his parents as a boy to writing full length novels in his thirties. He lives in the North West of England and when he isn’t writing, he is usually watching a game of football in a pub where his wife can’t find him.

Since following his lifelong passion for writing in 2020, he has amassed a loyal and devoted set of readers, and regularly has several books in the top 100 of the Psychological Thriller Charts on Amazon. His title The Passenger became the #1 selling psychological thriller in the UK in October 2021. The Doctor's Wife is his first publication with Bookouture.

A prolific writer, Daniel likes to keep readers on their toes by self publishing even more books in between those released through his publisher.

Social Media links:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads