Category: Fiction

Title: The Last Guest House
Author: Megan Miranda
Genre: Thriller, Fiction
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback
Release Date: June 18, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Littleport, Maine is like two separate towns: a vacation paradise for wealthy holidaymakers and a simple harbour community for the residents who serve them. Friendships between locals and visitors are unheard of – but that’s just what happened with Avery Greer and Sadie Loman.

Each summer for a decade the girls are inseparable – until Sadie is found dead. When the police rule the death a suicide, Avery can’t help but feel there are those in the community, including a local detective and Sadie’s brother Parker, who blame her. Someone knows more than they’re saying, and Avery is intent on clearing her name before the facts get twisted against her.

Review:

This is a great new thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat until the end.

I was so excited to read this book because I love Megan Miranda’s thrillers.
Like in All the Missing Girls, this story flashes back to revisit a mysterious death of a young girl in town. Sadie’s death was ruled a suicide, but her friend Avery never felt comfortable with that conclusion. While searching for answers about Sadie’s death, Avery learned more about herself and her family.

I couldn’t figure out the solution until the end. I love it when a book surprises me, and this one definitely did. There isn’t really enough evidence given until the end to figure it out, because the reader discovers the clues along with Avery. I loved the way that the new clues she found pointed at Avery as being Sadie’s murderer. It really kept up the suspense! Though she would be an unlikely suspect, since she’s the narrator, I couldn’t rule her out with all the evidence pointing to her.

I loved this thriller!

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Have you read The Last Guest House? What did you think of it?

Title: The Last Resort
Author: Marissa Stapley
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: June 18, 2019
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

From bestselling author Marissa Stapley comes a gripping novel about marriage, loyalty, and the deadly secrets that unravel over the course of a two-week couples’ therapy retreat in Mexico.

We all have thirteen secrets. Five stay buried forever, but the rest will be revealed.

Miles Markell is missing, and everyone is a suspect.

To the guests at The Harmony Resort, Doctors Miles and Grace Markell appear to be a perfect power couple. They run a couples’ therapy retreat in a luxurious resort in the Mayan Riviera where they help spouses deal with their marriage struggles.

Johanna and Ben’s relationship looks great on the surface, but in reality, they don’t know each other at all. Shell and Colin fight constantly—Colin is a workaholic, and Shell always comes second—but what has really torn them apart is too devastating to talk about. When both couples begin Harmony’s intensive therapy program, it becomes clear that Harmony is not all that it seems—and neither are Miles and Grace. What are they hiding, and what price will these couples pay for finding out their secrets?

As a powerful hurricane descends on the coast, trapping both the hosts and their guests, confidences are revealed, loyalties are tested, and not one single person—or marriage—will ever be the same.

A gripping exploration of relationships and trust, The Last Resort is a propulsive read about all the big truths we hide, even from ourselves.

Review:

I loved this book! It was a gripping thriller that reminded me of Big Little Lies. I’ve only watched the TV adaptation of Big Little Lies, but this story had a lot of the same elements of mystery.

The story opens with the report of a character’s death, and possible murder. The mystery throughout the story was finding out who killed him. It was so difficult to figure out because most characters had a motive.

Secrets played an important part in this story. All the characters had secrets, which were slowly revealed. At the beginning, they seemed like ordinary people, but their secrets revealed dark pasts. I was pretty shocked, but looking back on hints given through the book, it all makes sense.

The setting played an important part in the story. It was descriptive, with details of the beach and villa, so I could picture the resort vividly. This will be a great beach read for the summer!

I highly recommend this shocking thriller!

Thank you Simon and Schuster Canada for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

What to read next:

Have you read The Last Resort? What did you think of it?

Title: Social Misconduct
Author: S.J. Maher
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format: Ebook
Release Date: April 23, 2019
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

A timely and shocking thriller about a young woman who is the target of a social-media smear campaign.

“Smart, sardonic, sexy, suspenseful—and scary, because it’s probably true.” —Lee Child, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Jack Reacher series

Her perfect job becomes the perfect nightmare when a stalker hacks her phone.

Candace Walker is thrilled when she lands a new job at a hip Manhattan tech company and gets a brand-new iPhone. She’s more than ready to move on from creating clickbait ads for weight-loss pills and herbal erection boosters, and is determined to dazzle the startup team she joins.

A week later, though, everything is at risk: Candace is the target of a mysterious harasser and an online smear campaign. She tosses her new phone into the Hudson River, begins hiding out in her sister’s storage locker in New Jersey, and can’t think of a single person she can trust. But Candace hasn’t come this far—and gone to such lengths—to submit to what is happening without a fight.

Review:

This was a creepy thriller. I started reading it before bed, and I was getting so creeped out that I had to put it down. The way that Candace’s phone was hacked and she was harassed was so disturbing, yet it seemed realistic. There are so many ways to hack into technology and really affect people’s lives.

This story gave an inside look at the way social media can be used to promote companies. The ads that we see online are not always random, but are often targeted for the user. It was creepy to see how we can be manipulated through social media to purchase goods and services.

I can’t say much about this story without giving away the ending. It didn’t end the way I had predicted. I thought I had figured it out, but I was wrong. It was actually the solution that made the most sense, but I had ruled it out because of that.

The only problem is that I still had so many questions at the end. I would have loved to know more about Candace’s past, because there were hints to things that had happened to her, but it wasn’t explored in detail. I would also love to see what happens next.

This chilling thriller will keep you on the edge of your seat! 

What to read next:

Have you read Social Misconduct? What did you think of it?

Title: The Au Pair
Author: Emma Rous
Genre: Fiction, Thriller
Publisher: Berkley Books
Source: Publisher
Format: Paperback
Release Date: January 8, 2019
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Synopsis:

Seraphine Mayes and her twin brother Danny were born in the middle of summer at their family’s estate on the Norfolk coast. Within hours of their birth, their mother threw herself from the cliffs, the au pair fled, and the village thrilled with whispers of dark cloaks, changelings, and the aloof couple who drew a young nanny into their inner circle.

Now an adult, Seraphine mourns the recent death of her father. While going through his belongings, she uncovers a family photograph that raises dangerous questions. It was taken on the day the twins were born, and in the photo, their mother, surrounded by her husband and her young son, is beautifully dressed, smiling serenely, and holding just one baby.

Who is the child and what really happened that day?

One person knows the truth, if only Seraphine can find her.

Review:

I was so excited about this book! I love thrillers like this. It was kind of a mystery but very suspenseful like a thriller.

I was so intrigued throughout the story. It was hard to stop reading, because I wanted to figure out what happened. There were dual narratives. It alternated between Seraphine’s perspective in 2017 where she’s trying to figure out who the baby in the picture is, and Laura’s perspective in 1992 where she was an au pair for Seraphine’s family before her birth.

I love it when books surprise me at the end, and this one definitely did. However, it was impossible to guess the ending because some information is left out until the end. I don’t like when this happens, but it was necessary to hold the suspense until the end.

I really enjoyed this story!

What to read next:

Have you read The Au Pair? What did you think of it?