Bring Me Back – ARC Review

Publish Date : 6/19/18
Author: B.A Paris
Started: 5/23/18
Finished: 5/27/18
Rating : ⭐⭐⭐

Thanks to Netgalley, the author B.A Paris, and St. Martin’s Press for sending me a copy of the book to review. All opinions are my own.

Summary from Goodreads:

A young British couple are driving through France on holiday when they stop for gas. He runs in to pay, she stays in the car. When he returns her car door has been left open, but she’s not inside. No one ever sees her again.

Ten years later he’s engaged to be married; he’s happy, and his past is only a tiny part his life now. Until he comes home from work and finds his new wife-to-be is sitting on their sofa. She’s turning something over in her fingers, holding it up to the light. Something that would have no worth to anyone else, something only he and she would know about because his wife is the sister of his missing first love.

As more and more questions are raised, their marriage becomes strained. Has his first love somehow come back to him after all this time? Or is the person who took her playing games with his mind?

My Review:

In part one, the story is told in two parts, “Now” and “Before,”. Both of them are significant to understand the story but I was most interested in the “Now” plot as it was always filled with drama and twists. The plot is the star of this show as our characters are a little dry. Ellen and Finn have very little detail. Layla has the most but it’s because every section pretty much revolves around her life. Finn was unreliable right from the start as well other other characters. Some of the other characters were a bit vague and I think the author sometimes left out important details and then just wrote details of important events that happened into a dialogue. That can be a bit annoying sometimes but it can also lead to a longer unnecessary book that a short dialogue can fix. I get it; but, it did feel a little incomplete in this particular book. I didn’t quite like Ellen because she seemed too complacent. Finn’s friends also were unlikable for me. Ruby was the most redeeming to me. A subplot between her and another character that I won’t mention in order to steer clear of spoilers also felt unfinished and unnecessary to the story.

I had a hard time putting this down when I picked it up. Thrillers always intrigue me and I actually like being surprised so I don’t often like having the story be solvable. This story seemed to me like I had solved it very quickly but I was wrong which is always pleasant. There is nothing I like better than being shocked and surprised when reading.

As I started onto part two, I started picking up on character traits from others that seem naive and innocent but surprisingly occur too often and are creepy. That is where I started to look more into characters more and I’m glad that I did because my hunch was correct.

As with most thrillers, I cannot say much more about the plot or story without giving it away but it is well worth a read. The title is very fitting in hindsight and I enjoy when titles have such a significance that you don’t know of until you’re reading. It’s a mystery within the mystery in this case.

I am in love with thrillers so I’m also beginning to think that I have too high expectations of things going in hence the 3 stars. It’s been a bit of time since I found something I loved and raved about. However, I did enjoy this read as I said already. It was a read that I did have a hard time putting down when I got the chance to pick it up and was shocking.

The Good Twin

Publish Date : 5/15/18
Author: Marti Green
Started: 5/20/18
Finished: 5/23/18
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Netgalley, the author Marti Green, and Thomas & Mercer for sending me a copy of the book to review. All opinions are my own.

Summary from Goodreads:

Mallory Holcolm is an unfulfilled waitress and aspiring artist living in a Queens boardinghouse when she learns something astonishing about her past: she has an identical twin sister named Charly she never knew existed.

Charly is a Princeton graduate, a respected gallery owner, and an heiress married to her handsome college sweetheart, Ben. Charly got everything she ever wanted. Everything Mallory wanted, too. And now it might be easier than Mallory ever imagined. Because Ben has reasons of his own for wanting to help her.

It begins with his startling proposal. All Mallory has to do is say yes.

But as their devious plan falls into place, piece by piece, Mallory learns more about her sister and herself than she ever meant to—a discovery that comes with an unexpected twist. A chilling deception is about to become a dangerous double cross. And it’s going to change the rules of Ben and Mallory’s game to the very end.

Love and Ruin

Publish Date : 5/1/18
Author: Paula McLain
Started: 5/5/18
Finished: 5/20/18
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to Netgalley, the author Paula McLain, and Random House Publishing for sending me a copy of the book to review. All opinions are my own.

Summary from Goodreads:

The bestselling author of The Paris Wife returns to the subject of Ernest Hemingway in a novel about his passionate, stormy marriage to Martha Gellhorn—a fiercely independent, ambitious young woman who would become one of the greatest war correspondents of the twentieth century

In 1937, twenty-eight-year-old Martha travels alone to Madrid to report on the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War and becomes drawn to the stories of ordinary people caught in devastating conflict. She also finds herself unexpectedly—and uncontrollably—falling in love with Hemingway, a man already on his way to becoming a legend. In the shadow of the impending Second World War, and set against the tumultuous backdrops of Madrid, Finland, China, Key West, and especially Cuba, where Martha and Ernest make their home, their relationship and professional careers ignite. But when Ernest publishes the biggest literary success of his career, For Whom the Bell Tolls, they are no longer equals, and Martha must make a choice: surrender to the confining demands of being a famous man’s wife or risk losing Ernest by forging a path as her own woman and writer. It is a dilemma that will force her to break his heart, and her own.

Before I Let Go

Publish Date : 1/2/18
Author: Marieke Nijkamp
Started: 4/29/18
Finished: 5/5/18
Rating : ⭐️⭐️

I feel like I’ve been recently slowing down on my reading. I think it’s because it’s been a few books since I’ve been in love with something I couldn’t put down. Even smaller books are taking me a little longer than normal. However; I have high hopes for what I’m reading now and I’m thoroughly enjoying it so far so look out for that with the next review!

As for this review, we’re talking about Before I Let Go by Mariele Nijkamp. First of thanks to Netgalley, the author, and HarperCollins for sending me a copy of the book to review. All opinions are my own.

Summary from Goodreads:

Best friends Corey and Kyra were inseparable in their snow-covered town of Lost Creek, Alaska. When Corey moves away, she makes Kyra promise to stay strong during the long, dark winter, and wait for her return.

Just days before Corey is to return home to visit, Kyra dies. Corey is devastated―and confused. The entire Lost community speaks in hushed tones about the town’s lost daughter, saying her death was meant to be. And they push Corey away like she’s a stranger.

Corey knows something is wrong. With every hour, her suspicion grows. Lost is keeping secrets―chilling secrets. But piecing together the truth about what happened to her best friend may prove as difficult as lighting the sky in an Alaskan winter…

Birds of Wonder

Publish Date : 2/20/18
Author: Cynthia Robinson
Started: 4/18/18
Finished: 4/29/18
Rating : ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Hey guys! I’ve been so MIA because like I said, I’ve been finishing my last couple weeks of grad school and it’s been busy! I didn’t read quite as much as I wanted to this month because of that but now that things are winding down, I’m hoping to adopt some more regular posts on the page and definitely some more book reviews! I was able to squeeze one last book in the month so here it all is!

I received an advanced copy of Birds of Wonder from Netgalley, Standing Stone Books, and author Cynthia Robinson in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by those mentioned above.

Summary from Goodreads:

One August morning while walking her dog, high-school English teacher Beatrice Ousterhout stumbles over the dead body of a student, Amber Inglin, who was to play the lead in Beatrice’s production of John Webster’s Jacobean tragedy, The Duchess of Malfi. Barely able to speak, Beatrice calls the police. That is to say, she calls her daughter. Jes is a detective with two years of experience under her belt and a personal life composed primarily of a string of one-night-stands, including the owner of the field in which Beatrice has found Amber. In addition to a house and a field, Child Services lawyer Liam Walsh owns a vineyard, where Amber Inglin, along with a handful of other teens who’ve had difficulty negotiating the foster system, was an intern. Set among the hills and lakes of upstate New York and told in six vibrantly distinct voices, this complex and original narrative chronicles the rippling effects of a young girl’s death through a densely intertwined community. By turns funny, fierce, lyrical and horrifying, Birds of Wonder probes family ties, the stresses that break them, and the pasts that never really let us go.