thriller

Heartless Hunter: Exploring blood magic

by Stefani

Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli

Published: February 20, 2024 by Wednesday Books

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.

Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can’t help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

Rating:

Rating:

This book was another recommendation by friends and luckily this one was much more successful than the first. I really loved this book. Rune was a fascinating character. She felt like a real person. She tried to make the right decisions and she was trying to do the right things, but she didn’t always succeed. It was really refreshing to read a young adult female heroine who isn’t absolutely amazing and perfect at literally everything. That’s a very annoying trope in the young adult space and I am ready for it to stop. But Rune was different and I appreciated that.

The magic system in this book was fantastic. I loved the idea of magic having a price. You may be a witch and be able to wield magic, but you have to pay for it with blood and scars. And the more complex the spell is, the higher the price. Some spells are outlawed because they required the unwilling sacrifice of someone else’s blood.

We learn early on in the book that this world used to be ruled by three witch queens, sisters. They were evil and abused the non-magic citizens horribly and used their magic to make the general public their slaves in every sense of the word. So, they overthrew the witch queens. Killed them. And outlawed witchcraft. Then we institute the Bloodguard. Their job is to hunt down witches and then execute them.

One thing that didn’t make a lot of sense to me was Rune’s insistence on saving all witches. She knows that some witches are evil and corrupted by their power. But she insists on saving all captured witches as the witch version of Robin Hood. She doesn’t even know these women but is convinced that she should save all of their lives. Why> How does she know that these women are innocent? Most of them likely are but not all. But this book doesn’t really delve into that moral gray area, which disappointed me. I hope that might be a bigger theme in the second book.

The big reveal at the end was also a bit predictable. I knew it was coming a long way off. The payoff of the reveal was still really good though. Overall this was a great book and I immediately jumped into book two.

The Twists of Behind Her Eyes: Expectations vs. Reality

by Stefani

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough

Published: January 31, 2017 by Flatiron Books

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

Louise is a single mom, a secretary, stuck in a modern-day rut. On a rare night out, she meets a man in a bar and sparks fly. Though he leaves after they kiss, she’s thrilled she finally connected with someone.

When Louise arrives at work on Monday, she meets her new boss, David. The man from the bar. The very married man from the bar…who says the kiss was a terrible mistake but who still can’t keep his eyes off Louise.

And then Louise bumps into Adele, who’s new to town and in need of a friend, but she also just happens to be married to David. David and Adele look like the picture-perfect husband and wife, but then why is David so controlling, and why is Adele so scared of him?

As Louise is drawn into David and Adele’s orbit, she uncovers more puzzling questions than answers. The only thing that is crystal clear is that something in this marriage is very, very wrong, but Louise can’t guess how wrong―and how far a person might go to protect their marriage’s secrets.

Rating:

Review:

This book came highly recommended. Several friends of mine read it recently and absolutely raved about it. The ending left them floored, they said. It was spectacular, they said. You’ll never guess the ending, they told me. They were right, I never would have guessed the ending. Because it was utterly nonsensical.

Everything about this book was great all the way up until the end. Louise was a little boring. I couldn’t understand what David saw in her because I found her very dull. But I was drawn into the story and the mystery. Was David an abuser? Was Adele mentally unstable? What exactly is going on with this couple?

Then we got to the ending. It came out of nowhere but not in a good way. All of a sudden this typical domestic thriller threw in a paranormal element that had never been hinted at previously. It was bizarre. While other people really loved it as a “twist”, I found it jarring. It made no sense in the context of the book. It made no sense in the context of this world. Don’t worry about missing this “hidden gem”, you’re not missing anything.

The God of the Woods: Why do people love this?

by Stefani

The God of the Woods by Liz Moore

Published: July 2, 2024 by Riverhead Books

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Review:

When a teenager vanishes from her Adirondack summer camp, two worlds collide

Early morning, August 1975: a camp counselor discovers an empty bunk. Its occupant, Barbara Van Laar, has gone missing. Barbara isn’t just any thirteen-year-old: she’s the daughter of the family that owns the summer camp and employs most of the region’s residents. And this isn’t the first time a Van Laar child has disappeared. Barbara’s older brother similarly vanished fourteen years ago, never to be found.

As a panicked search begins, a thrilling drama unfolds. Chasing down the layered secrets of the Van Laar family and the blue-collar community working in its shadow,

Rating:

Review:

This book was one of the biggest examples of “everyone loved it but me” that I have ever seen. EVERYONE loves this book. It feels like everyone on the planet has rated this one five stars. And I hated it. I stopped about 40% of the way through because I just couldn’t wait for something to happen anymore.

I would tell you what happened in this book but I can’t. Because nothing actually happened. There are 1, 001 characters and we get to hear all of their POVs. And some of them even have multiple names, oh joy! I was so confused. All of the characters seemed exactly the same and I had no idea who was who. I hoped that we’d get past the constantly shifting POV to some actual story but alas, all that happened was to add in another timeline too. I had the most difficult time following along of any other book I’ve ever read. And there’s a lot of meandering in this plot that doesn’t accomplish anything.

After about 8 hours of nonsense I asked myself if I was willing to listen to this for 10 more hours. And I quickly decided that I was not willing to do that. So, I Googled the ending. It didn’t get better, but I saved myself a bunch of time.

Podcast Confessions: A Deep Dive into Tell Me What You Did

by Stefani

Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson

Published: January 28, 2025 by Poisoned Pen Press

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Review:

She gets people to confess their crimes for a living. He knows she’s hiding a terrible secret. It’s time for the truth to come out…

Poe Webb, host of a popular true crime podcast, invites people to anonymously confess crimes they’ve committed to her audience. She can’t guarantee the police won’t come after her “guests,” but her show grants simultaneous anonymity and instant fame—a potent combination that’s proven difficult to resist. After an episode recording, Poe usually erases both criminal and crime from her mind.

But when a strange and oddly familiar man appears on her show, Poe is forced to take a second look. Not only because he claims to be her mother’s murderer from years ago, but because Poe knows something no one else does. Her mother’s murderer is dead.

Poe killed him.

Rating:

Review:

This book was perfect for an audiobook. I liked having two voice actors, especially when it came to the chapters that were transcripts of the livestream podcast. It created a lot of great tension because it actually felt like a conversation, not just reading a conversation. I love that. And the male voice actor had a perfect voice to sound arrogantly menacing.

The pacing on this book was literally perfect. In one narrative we are following Poe, who had an odd encounter with a man who claims to be her mother’s murderer. She ends the podcasts recording immediately, upset by the interaction because she knows that her mother’s murderer is dead. But, Ian doesn’t go away. He wants to do another podcast together. He wants to tell his story. But he wants to do it live, not pre-recorded. And it needs to be two parts. This narrative is interspersed with transcripts of the livestream show that Poe and Ian are doing together. But, the podcast portions never spoil the good parts. They tease the good parts, which creates a wonderful tension as the plot moves forward. You know that this interaction isn’t going to go well, but you also need Poe to figure out the answers before any else horrifying happens!

I really enjoyed this book. I couldn’t stop listening to it, I wanted to know how it ended. The ending was rather weak, much to my dismay. Poe was a very smart character who inexplicably decides to just stop using her brain for the ending. That was frustrating. And the “twist” was not very twisty. In hindsight it was rather predictable and I would have preferred that the author go a different direction. But, lackluster ending aside, this was a fun ride.

The Hitchcock Hotel: A Suspenseful Reunion Gone Wrong

by Stefani

The Hitchcock Hotel by Stephanie Wrobel

Published: September 24, 2024 by Berkley

Buy this book: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

A Hitchcock fanatic with an agenda invites old friends for a weekend stay at his secluded themed hotel in this fiendishly clever, suspenseful new novel.

Alfred Smettle is not your average Hitchcock fan. He is the founder, owner, and manager of The Hitchcock Hotel, a sprawling Victorian house in the White Mountains dedicated to the Master of Suspense. There, Alfred offers his guests round-the-clock film screenings, movie props and memorabilia in every room, plus an aviary with fifty crows.

To celebrate the hotel’s first anniversary, he invites his former best friends from his college Film Club for a reunion. He hasn’t spoken to any of them in sixteen years, not after what happened.

But who better than them to appreciate Alfred’s creation? And to help him finish it.

After all, no Hitchcock set is complete without a body.

Rating:

Review:

I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I am about this book. I went into this book with high expectations. After I thoroughly enjoyed Darling Rose Gold by Stephanie Wrobel (review found here), I was really excited to read this one. Once I reached the end however it was….meh. I can’t say anything too great about it. Nor can I saw anything too bad about it. It was just mediocre.

The idea of the hotel was a great once. I am a fan of Hitchcock and so the ambiance and reference to his films was perfect. I loved the setting. It felt like a Hitchcock film. The characters were very Hithcockian, the setting, the plot, the intrigue. It was all lining up to be an absolute joy to read!

The setup to the murder and the beginning of the reveal of the story was wonderfully done too. I found myself sitting on the edge of my seat to see where things went after the great set up. Unfortunately that’s also where this story took a downturn for me.

Alfred does so much monologuing. So much. He monologues to us as the audience, he monologues to his friends, he monologues to the housekeeper. Honestly, at a certain point I had decided that whatever his former friends did to him in college was probably deserved. He was just insufferable after awhile. But, his former friends weren’t much better. They were equally as unsufferable. But, unlike with the author’s previous book, these were not bad people that you could feel a bit of sympathy for. They were just bad people. And then I was certain that whatever Alfred did to them was entirely deserved also. This entire story was a story of insufferable people getting what’s coming to them.

After the initial set up of the mystery, things got a bit too predictable in my opinion. It wasn’t hard to figure out what was going on, the only question was who the culprit was. And once the villain was revealed I expected some fireworks, a grand finale, a final ah-ha! But alas, the villain monologued too. The entire last quarter of the book was one big monologue. And it was so desperately boring.

I liked Darling Rose Gold enough to give Stephanie Wrobel a shot in the future, but this one was a miss. And I couldn’t be more upset that it was. I really wanted this one to be a home run.

Upcoming Releases – November 10, 2024

by Stefani

The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson

Expected publication: February 25, 2025 by Random House

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

In the first year after her child is born, Jane suffers a series of strange episodes: amnesia, premonitions, hallucinations, and an inexplicable sense of dread. As her psychiatrist struggles to solve the mystery of what is happening to Jane’s mind, she suddenly goes missing. A day later she is found unconscious in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, in the midst of what seems to be an episode of dissociative fugue; when she comes to, she has no memory of what has happened to her.

Are Jane’s strange experiences related to the overwhelm of single motherhood, or are they the manifestation of a long-buried trauma from her past? Why is she having visions of a young man who died twenty years ago, who warns her of a disaster ahead? Jane’s symptoms lead her psychiatrist ever-deeper into the furthest reaches of her mind, and cause him to question everything he thought he knew about so-called reality—including events in his own life.

Why this caught my eye:

This book sounds really good as a psychological trauma. The period after having a baby is such an intense time, and even if everything is going normally it’s very common to feel like you are a stranger to yourself. When it goes badly, it goes really badly.

The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor

Expected publication: February 25, 2025 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

Seven years ago, Maeve Abenthy lost her world, her father, even her name. Desperate to escape the stain of her father’s crimes, she lives under a fake name, never staying in one place long enough to put down roots.

Then she receives a mysterious letter with four impossible words Your father was innocent.

To uncover the truth, she poses as an apprentice for the Otherwhere Post, where she’ll be trained in the art of scriptomancy—the dangerous magic that allows couriers to enchant letters and deliver them to other worlds. But looking into her father’s past draws more attention than she’d planned.

Her secretive, infuriatingly handsome mentor knows she’s lying about her identity, and time is running out to convince him to trust her. Worse, she begins to receive threatening letters, warning her to drop her investigation—or else. For Maeve to unravel the mystery of what happened seven years ago, she may have to forfeit her life.

Why this caught my eye:

I love magical worlds, they are so much fun to immerse yourself into. I like the sound of this one with the blend of a magical fantasy and a mystery.

The Beasts We Bury by D.L. Taylor

Expected publication: February 4, 2024 by Henry Holt & Co

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

Daughter and heir to the throne, Mancella Cliff yearns for a life without bloodshed. But as a child, she emerged from the Broken Citadel with the power to summon animals—only after killing them with her bare hands. Her magic is a constant reminder of the horrors her father, the ruler of the realm, has forced upon her to strengthen their power.

Silver is a charming thief struggling to survive in a world torn apart by Mancella’s father’s reign. When a mysterious benefactor recruits him for the heist of a lifetime, a chance to rob the castle, Silver relishes the opportunity for a real future—and revenge. But he’ll have to manipulate Mance and earn her trust to pull it off.

As the deception and carnage mount, Mance must find a way to save her realm without becoming the ruthless monster she’s been bred to be. And when Silver discovers that his actions are fueling the violence that Mance wants to prevent, he’ll have to choose between his ambition and the girl he’s falling for.

Why this caught my eye:

For the most part this sounds like a typical young adult book about an heir to a magical throne who falls in love with a potential usurper. I’ve read lots of books like that, but they can be very entertaining. And I like this idea of the magical heir being able to summon animals, that’s a unique idea that I haven’t seen before. Also this cover is very beautiful and complex, it took me a few looks to notice the creature in the flowers.

Upcoming Releases – November 3, 2024

by Stefani

This month I’m highlighting books expected to publish in February 2025. These are the ones that piqued my curiosity. What ones did I miss? What is calling your name from the future?

We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes

Expected publication: February 11, 2025 by Pamela Dorman Books

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

Lila Kennedy has a lot on her plate. A broken marriage, two wayward daughters, a house that is falling apart, and an elderly stepfather who seems to have quietly moved in. Her career is in freefall and her love life is . . . complicated. So when her real dad—a man she has barely seen since he ran off to Hollywood thirty-five years ago—suddenly appears on her doorstep, it feels like the final straw. But it turns out even the family you thought you could never forgive might have something to teach about love, and what it actually means to be family.

Why this caught my eye:

In the frantic pace of the world we live in, sometimes it’s nice to just relax with the story of a family. This sounds intricate and heartwarming.

Something in the Walls by Daisy Pearce

Expected publication: February 25, 2025 by Minotaur Books

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

Newly-minted child psychologist Mina has little experience. In a field where the first people called are experts, she’s been unable to get her feet wet. Instead she aimlessly spends her days stuck in the stifling heat wave sweeping across Britain, and anxiously contemplating her upcoming marriage to careful, precise researcher Oscar. The only reprieve from her small, close world is attending the local bereavement group to mourn her brother’s death from years ago. That is, until she meets journalist Sam Hunter at the grief group one day. And he has a proposition for her.

Alice Webber is a thirteen year old girl who claims she’s being haunted by a witch. Living with her family in their crowded home in the remote village of Banathel, Alice’s symptoms are increasingly disturbing, and money is tight. Taking this job will give Mina some experience; Sam will get the scoop of a lifetime; and Alice will get better, Mina is sure of it.

But instead of improving, Alice’s behavior becomes increasingly inexplicable and intense. The town of Banathel has a deep history of superstition and witchcraft. They believe there is evil in the world. They believe there are ways of…dealing with it. And they don’t expect outsiders to understand.

As Mina races to uncover the truth behind Alice’s condition, the dark cracks of Banathel begin to show. Mina is desperate to understand how deep their sinister traditions go–and how her own past may be the biggest threat of all.

Why this caught my eye:

I really enjoy a good horror book. This format of believing that a character has a mental illness but…do they really?, is a common theme in horror and it is often successful. I also like the tie in to witchcraft.

Famous Last Words by Gillian McAllister

Expected publication: February 25, 2025 by William Morrow

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

It is June 21, the longest day of the year, and the life of new mother Camilla is about to change forever. After months of maternity leave, she will drop off her infant daughter at daycare for the first time and return to her job as a literary agent. Finally. But when she wakes, her husband Luke isn’t there, and in his place is a cryptic note.

Then it starts. Breaking news: A hostage situation is developing in London. The police tell her Luke is involved—but he isn’t a hostage. Her husband—doting father, eternal optimist—is the gunman.

Why this caught my eye:

I have a fascination with books where characters are not who they seem. The idea of waking up one day to find that the person you married has done something absolutely inexplicable

Secrets and Thrills in The Bitter Truth by Shanora Williams

by Stefani

The Bitter Truth by Shanora Williams

Published: June 25, 2024 by Dafina

Buy this book at: Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo

Synopsis:

For Jolene “Jo” Baker, the least she can do for her adoring husband, Dominic, is give unwavering support for his North Carolina gubernatorial run. He is not only the love of her life, he’s also helping her prove that she’s far more than just a pampered trophy wife. With huge crowds showing up at Dominic’s speeches and the polls consistently in his favor, she’s never been happier to stand proudly by his side . . .

Until she and Dominic start seeing the same, strangely ominous woman turning up all along the campaign trail. Until their tour starts becoming a nightmare of botched events, crucial missed information, and increasingly dangerous “accidents.” Suddenly Jo can’t get any answers from Dominic—or understand why he is acting so paranoid and terrified . . .

What Jo can do is start digging into his past—one she’s never really questioned beyond his perfect image and dazzling accomplishments. What results is an alarming series of events that leave her baffled: Good friends turn into enemies, truths are revealed to be lies, and all clues lead back to one secret, shattering weekend that changes Jo’s entire life. With her world splintering into pieces, can Jo risk trying to set things right? Or will hiding the bitter truth by any means necessary destroy her as well?

Rating:

Review:

***Disclaimer*** I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Dafina and Edelweiss!***

This book was a fun little popcorn thriller. Like I said in one of my progress update posts, if you wants to read this in an afternoon then you easily could. I also like that the book delivers exactly what this synopsis sells. That doesn’t always happen so I appreciate it even more when it does. Political thriller, check. Shocking secrets, double check. Revenge on the bad guy, check.

The characters in this book were well fleshed out and felt like real, genuine people. Jo was smart and canny, you got the sense from her early on that while she may trust easily she isn’t going to be anyone’s fool. I liked that about her. Of course, we know from the beginning that her husband is a piece of garbage, that’s the whole point, but I also felt like we got a glimpse of why Jo loved him enough to marry him. At this point in the story she is finished with the marriage, but recognizes that they need to remain a united front for the sake of his political office. The political marriage in full display. She spends her time focusing on her tea shop, in between campaign events. Dominic spends his time campaigning. At least until the threatening messages start arriving.

This book sold me on secrets, and boy, are there secrets! A lot of them. And some of them get really dark. Frankly, I didn’t quite expect how dark this book went. But I loved it. It made things much more sinister and desperate. No wonder Dominic got so desperate to cover up the past. However, I did feel like some of the twists and secrets were easy to guess. To avoid giving away too big of a spoiler, typically if a character can narrate it means they aren’t really gone. Typically.

The only other thing that brought down this rating for me was the ending. It was just rather unnecessarily complicated. The “stalkers” had a plan, Jo had a plan, everyone had a plan. And the plans were intertwined, but then at a certain point there was an entirely different secret plan. It was too much. After everything in the book, Dominic isn’t that smart. We didn’t need a CIA level takedown here. That and the obvious twists brought this to a 3 star or me. I enjoyed it, and it was exactly what it was supposed to be as a popcorn thriller.

Progress Update Friday – October 11, 2024

by Stefani

The Bitter Truth by Shanora Williams

Progress: 254 of 320 pages

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

An upstanding political candidate. A determined stalker. A shattering lost weekend. Now, when his worst secret comes calling, how far will one man’s elegant, all-too-devoted wife go to uncover the truth . . . or bury it?

For Jolene “Jo” Baker, the least she can do for her adoring husband, Dominic, is give unwavering support for his North Carolina gubernatorial run. He is not only the love of her life, he’s also helping her prove that she’s far more than just a pampered trophy wife. With huge crowds showing up at Dominic’s speeches and the polls consistently in his favor, she’s never been happier to stand proudly by his side . . .

Until she and Dominic start seeing the same, strangely ominous woman turning up all along the campaign trail. Until their tour starts becoming a nightmare of botched events, crucial missed information, and increasingly dangerous “accidents.” Suddenly Jo can’t get any answers from Dominic—or understand why he is acting so paranoid and terrified . . .

What Jo can do is start digging into his past—one she’s never really questioned beyond his perfect image and dazzling accomplishments. What results is an alarming series of events that leave her Good friends turn into enemies, truths are revealed to be lies, and all clues lead back to one secret, shattering weekend that changes Jo’s entire life. With her world splintering into pieces, can Jo risk trying to set things right? Or will hiding the bitter truth by any means necessary destroy her as well?

How it’s going:

This book is really cooking now and I am completely invested. I wouldn’t be surprised if I finish it in one sitting. I am really hoping for a strong ending where the bad guy gets his comeuppance. Fingers crossed.

Playground by Richard Powers

Progress: 9:18 of 13:51

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

Twelve-year-old Evie Beaulieu sinks to the bottom of a swimming pool in Montreal strapped to one of the world’s first aqualungs. Ina Aroita grows up on naval bases across the Pacific with art as her only home. Two polar opposites at an elite Chicago high school bond over a three-thousand-year-old board game; Rafi Young will get lost in literature, while Todd Keane’s work will lead to a startling AI breakthrough.

They meet on the history-scarred island of Makatea in French Polynesia, whose deposits of phosphorus once helped to feed the world. Now the tiny atoll has been chosen for humanity’s next adventure: a plan to send floating, autonomous cities out onto the open sea. But first, the island’s residents must vote to greenlight the project or turn the seasteaders away.

How it’s going:

This is my current audiobook. With the craziness of kids and work lately I have found audiobooks a lot easier to get through because I can multitask. So expect quite a few audiobook reviews in the near future. The writing of this book is beautiful. Powers weaves these stories together so flawlessly. The main two narrators (there are 6 altogether) are wonderful too. They have distinct voices but at the same time their voices mesh very well. It’s an interesting dynamic that not all audiobooks get right. As for the story, I am really loving it. There was a portion of the book that dragged quite a bit and I felt myself tuning out, but it pulled me back in and has been very compelling ever since.

Upcoming Releases Sunday – October 6, 2024

by Stefani

A Serial Killer’s Guide to Marriage by Asia Mackay

Expected publication: January 14, 2025 by Bantam

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

The couple that kills together stays together…

Hazel and Fox are an ordinary married couple with a baby. Except for one small they’re ex-serial killers.

They had it all. An enviable London lifestyle, five-star travels, and plenty of bad men to kill. Not many power couples know how to get away with murder.

Then Hazel fell pregnant and they gave it all up for life in the suburbs; dinner parties instead of body disposal.

But recently Hazel has started to feel that itch again. When she kills someone behind Fox’s back and brings the police to their door, she must do anything she can to protect her family.

This could save their marriage – unless it kills them first.

Why this caught my eye:

This sounds like a kooky blend between a romance and a thriller, and I am here for it. It brings a different kind of aspect to the idea of betrayal in a marriage.

Strike and Burn by Taylor Hutton

Expected publication: January 28, 2025 by Berkley

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

A breathless romantic thriller that doesn’t just toe the line between danger and desire—it burns it to the ground.

Honor Stone is all alone in this world. No family, no money, no future. So when she locks eyes with Strike Madden—in the morgue of all places—she’s not in the mood to be seduced. Sure, he’s drop-dead gorgeous, and the sizzle of attraction between them is undeniable, but she’s reeling from her identical twin sister’s murder. It’s the wrong time, wrong place, wrong everything.

Still, the enigmatic billionaire hires Honor as an artist to spearhead his carefully curated erotic animation studio—a job they soon find to be a dangerous mix of business and pleasure.

But when her twin’s obsessive killer targets Honor, the painful secrets of Honor’s traumatic past will finally be exposed with devastating consequences. Strike will stop at nothing to protect her, uncovering his own bone-chilling demons—a beautifully broken, dark side that doesn’t scare Honor…

Why this caught my eye:

First of all, the name are terrible. Just terrible. I laughed myself silly at them for a good few minutes. But, that aside, it sounds like a pretty standard unexpected romance with thriller side plot. I’m noticing a pattern about the January books this week….

Mask of the Deer Woman by Laurie L. Dove

Expected publication: January 21, 2025 by Berkley

Check this book out at: Goodreads

Synopsis:

To find a missing young woman, the new tribal marshal must also find herself. At rock bottom following her daughter’s murder, ex-Chicago detective Carrie Starr has nowhere to go but back to her roots. Starr’s father never talked much about the reservation that raised him, but they need a new tribal marshal as much as Starr needs a place to call home. In the last decade, too many young women have disappeared from the rez. Some dead, others just… gone. Now, local college student Chenoa Cloud is missing, and Starr falls into an investigation that leaves her drowning in memories of her daughter—the girl she failed to save. Starr feels lost in this place she thought would welcome her. And when she catches a glimpse of a figure from her father’s stories, with the body of a woman and the antlers of a deer, Starr can’t shake the feeling that the fearsome spirit is watching her, following her. What she doesn’t know is whether Deer Woman is here to guide her or to seek vengeance for the lost daughters that Starr can never bring home.

Why this caught my eye:

Thrillers are evidently “in” for the start of 2025. The plight of real life Indigenous women and girls who go missing and precious little resources are spared to find them has gained some traction in the media over the last few years. Books like these are important pieces to the puzzle of raising awareness. And it sounds like a good book too, which is always a bonus.