Book Review: The Siren by Katherine St. John

December 19, 2022February 26, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★
Audience: Thriller/Mystery
Length: 416 pages
Author: Katherine St. John
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Release Date: May 4th, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

From Katherine St. John, author of The Lion’s Den, comes another sublimely escapist thriller: When dangerously handsome megastar Cole Power hires his ex-wife, Stella Rivers, to act in his son’s film, he sparks a firestorm on an isolated island that will unearth long-buried secrets — and unravel years of lies.

In the midst of a sizzling hot summer, some of Hollywood’s most notorious faces are assembled on the idyllic Caribbean island of St. Genesius to film The Siren, starring dangerously handsome megastar Cole Power playing opposite his ex-wife, Stella Rivers. The surefire blockbuster promises to entice audiences with its sultry storyline and intimately connected cast.

Three very different women arrive on set, each with her own motive. Stella, an infamously unstable actress, is struggling to reclaim the career she lost in the wake of multiple, very public breakdowns. Taylor, a fledgling producer, is anxious to work on a film she hopes will turn her career around after her last job ended in scandal. And Felicity, Stella’s mysterious new assistant, harbors designs of her own that threaten to upend everyone’s plans.

With a hurricane brewing offshore, each woman finds herself trapped on the island, united against a common enemy. But as deceptions come to light, misplaced trust may prove more perilous than the storm itself.

WILD RIDE.

Goodness this book took me in so many directions I could hardly keep a handle on everything happening. Which definitely kept the pages turning.

What I did realize though is that this type of thriller isn’t my favorite? The writing is great, the story is intense and disturbing, but something about it just didn’t click for me in the end. Maybe some of the subject matter was a bit too much. I can’t quite pinpoint the vibe.

I liked that this kept me guessing at every turn. The flashback scenes added to the history and built up to the reveals well. As the hurricane rocked the island and crap really started to hit the fan I HAD to know where things were going.

I’m glad everything worked out in the end and that there was an epilogue. This kind of story had to have that closure. An intense tale for sure.

Overall audience notes:

Thriller/Mystery
Language: strong
Romance: multiple brief open door
Violence: mild-strong
Trigger/Content Warnings: suicide, murder, physical altercations, gun violence, kidnapping, drug use, rape, forced miscarriage, substance abuse, nonconsensual drugging

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Book Review: Shattered Sea (Tattered & Torn #4) by Catherine Cowles

December 18, 2022October 19, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★☆
Audience: Romantic Suspense
Length: 316 pages
Author: Catherine Cowles
Publisher: Pagesmith LLC
Release Date: September 13th, 2022
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

I’ve known every kind of pain. Of the heart. Of the body. Of the soul. All I want now is the freedom that comes from making my art.

The last thing I expected was Hollywood royalty to waltz into my gallery in a small town in the middle of nowhere and see me.

A man like Boden Cavanaugh shouldn’t understand me. Shouldn’t be able to soothe my most ragged edges. Even worse, he makes me want the one thing I can’t have. Him.

All it takes is one spark, and friendship catches flame. But as our attraction burns bright, there are forces desperate to send us back into the darkness. And they’ve already killed before.

LOVED.

Catherine Cowles owns me when it comes to romantic suspense. The way I binge read this would astound some, I could NOT put it down.

I loooove these characters. And that the love interest was new and got added into the mix. Boden was so dang sweet and I am always here for a protective hero and yet never forces Laiken into any sort of a box. I love watching two people get to be.

The plot got intense?! I naively thought I had everything nailed down and didn’t see the blindside. The darkness leaking out from Wolf Gap was palpable and seeing these friends and family come together to help one of their own is my favorite.

It was a touch too insta-y love for me. Luckily Laiken and Boden’s relationship grew on me and I found myself begging the pages to turn quicker so we could get to their HEA.

Another great read, READY FOR THE NEXT.

Overall audience notes:

Romantic Suspense
Language: some
Romance: 2 brief open; medium explicit
Violence: high
Trigger/Content Warnings: gun violence, murder, kidnapping, physical violence, loss of loved one from a car wreck, depictions of grief and depression, loss of a loved one from drug overdose

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Book Review: My Own Best Enemy (Apple Valley Love Stories #2) by Julie Christianson

December 16, 2022February 25, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★☆ (2.5)
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 313 pages
Author: Julie Christianson
Publisher: Self published
Release Date: September 23rd, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

This isn’t a wedding. This is war …

I get it. We were in elementary school. Just a couple of kids on the playground. But after Nash Hendrix called me Enemy instead of Emily, his stupid nickname ruined my life.

Now our best friends are getting married, and they expect me to stand across the aisle from Nash the Ruiner without killing him?

Whatever. I can survive being maid of honor. It’s only for one weekend.

Until it’s not.

When I get roped into wedding planning at the same places Nash is fundraising, I’m ready to blow up our temporary truce.

All I wanted was to start over. New job. New permanently-single status.

But the more time we spend together, the more I feel like … not murdering him.

Is it possible Nash and I don’t hate each other?

No way. He’s still my enemy.

My big, dumb enemy.

My big, dumb, gorgeous, sweet-talking, dog-loving —

Emi, you’re doomed.

DIDN’T CLICK.

You know when you don’t get off on the right foot with a romance and then it just never clicks into place as you keep going? That’s basically what happened here.

My biggest issue was that the “enemies” aspect of my favorite trope wasn’t the strongest. I thought it was kind of a weak excuse for why Emi didn’t like Nash for 20+ years. To hold a petty grudge THAT long didn’t work. And I never recovered.

I spent most of my time wishing Emi had some growth sooner rather than later. Randomly kissing Nash and then deciding she was still angry with him sent me through whiplash. One of the few times I don’t think this trope worked in the most favorable way.

I’ll stop here, because my star rating indicates exactly how I felt about this one. I hope to try another book by this author because I adored book one, but we’ll see!

Overall audience notes:

Contemporary romance
Language: none
Romance: kisses

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Book Review: Call Me Maybe (Love Lines #1) by Cara Bastone

December 14, 2022February 21, 2022 GoodeyReadsLeave a comment

Rating: ★★★★
Audience: Contemporary Romance
Length: 220 pages
Author: Cara Bastone
Publisher: Audible Originals
Release Date: October 20th, 2020
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

Paint your toes. Pick up the wrong coffee and bagel order. Drive from Brooklyn to Jersey in traffic so slow you want to tear your hair out. It’s amazing all the useless things I can accomplish while on hold for three hours with customer service. Three hours when I should be getting the Date-in-a-Box website ready to launch at the big business expo in a few days. Except my shiny new website is glitching, and my inner rage-monster is ready to scorch some earth…when he finally picks up. Not the robot voice I expected but a real live human named Cal. He’s surprisingly helpful and really knows his stuff, even if he’s a little awkward…in an adorable way.

And suddenly I’m flirting with him? And I think he’s flirting back.

And suddenly it’s been hours, and we’re still on the phone talking and ordering each other takeout while he troubleshoots my website.

And suddenly we’re exchanging numbers and sending texts and DMs every day, leaving voice mails (who even does that anymore?!).

And suddenly I’m wondering if it’s possible for two people to fall in love at first talk.

Because I’m falling…hard.

THAT WAS CUTE.

Another good read in this series. I read the “second” book first, but these could easily be read in any order and you won’t miss a thing. I did love Sweet Talk more than Call Me Maybe, but both had amazing narration and the production was top notch. Definitely grab these on audio if you can!

This was such a spontaneous, never would have thought of, meet-cute. A customer service call? Who knew! I liked that stretch of reality of these two getting to know each other over the hours spent diagnosing website issues. It was sweet, and I found myself laughing and smiling with Vera and Cal.

I didn’t love Vera as much as I would have liked. I ended up really being here for the quiet and kind nature of Cal. This was without a doubt, an opposites attract scenario. There’s a few minor plot hole and connection issues that sometimes come with the territory of a short read. Not really pressing issues as this was a nice, lighthearted, heart melting read.

Overall audience notes: