Review: Beautiful Maids All in a Row by Jennifer Harlow

Beautiful Maids All in a Row (Iris Ballard #1) by Jennifer Harlow
Publisher: Alibi
Publication date: October 11th 2016
My rating: 4.5 stars 
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Dr. Iris Ballard’s glory days are behind her, so when Luke Hudson, her former FBI partner and onetime lover, asks for help constructing a psychological profile of an elusive serial killer who murders single mothers and dumps their bodies in the woods, Iris turns him away. She just wants to be left alone with her infomercials, her German Shepherd, and her vodka. That is, until she gets a peek at the case files.

The media has dubbed him “the Woodsman.” But after Iris learns the sickening details held back from the press, and as she sets foot onto the scene of his latest crime, she assembles a portrait of a more complicated, enigmatic, meticulous man. Control is his motivation. He thrives on it. Soon he even tries to manipulate the investigation by contacting Iris, hoping to rattle the woman he considers an intellectual equal.

The game is on. Iris thinks she has a read on her target, enough to push his buttons, to make him lose control. But when the Woodsman gains the upper hand, Iris faces the most painful reckoning of all—with her own violent past. 

My Thoughts:

I’ve always been drawn to crime drama/mysteries, piecing together the evidence, outsmarting a killer, finding out what makes them tick.  But what made this story were Iris, a troubled ex-FBI profiler and her past partner, Luke who still works for the Bureau.  Their history and relationship was just as interesting as catching the killer to me. The two reunite to track down The Woodsman, a sicko who abducts, rapes, and tortures his female victims until he finishes them off by strangulation. It was ugly and brutal! There is a fight against the clock to find and stop this murderer before he abducts his next victim, and I felt Iris and Luke’s urgency and desperation as they hunt him.  Iris’ involvement in the case catches the attention of this horrible man, and I was very worried for her safety!

At first Iris is a self-destructive mess , something that frustrates me to no end, even if she did have plenty of good reasons to be a mess, I just find it hard to witness that kind of behavior.  Thankfully, investigating The Woodsman snapped her right out of that.  Being with Luke again, even though they pushed each other’s buttons a lot, seemed to help her get back into the land of the living, too.  I was fascinated by Iris’ ability to nail down so many things about the killer just by examining the evidence.  Some of her instincts seemed uncanny, which is why she’s pulled into this world all over again.

Luke and Iris must sort through their feelings for each other, in the midst of this pressure cooker!  Even though they’ve been apart for a couple of years, being together again makes it seem like they never parted. They spent so many hours together as partners in the past, knew each better than anyone else, and now they contend with the old feelings that led to a night of passion neither can forget.  Lust and attraction spark between these two and I just wanted more! I was pleased with how it ended, but I’m eager for the next installment to see how it all works out!

Beautiful Maids All in a Row was an exciting thriller guaranteed to keep you on the edge of your seat, biting your nails, and hoping this monster is caught or *better yet* dead by the end of this roller coaster ride! I can’t wait for the next book!

Connect with Jennifer Harlow

Website | Facebook | Goodreads

Cover Reveal and Giveaway: How to Disappear by Sharon Huss Roat.

 

Hi everyone, today I'm excited to share the cover for Sharon Huss Roat's new book How to Disappear, let me just say this book sounds absolutely fantastic! This lovely book isn't our until 2017, :( but worry not, we have a giveaway for one lucky winner to win an ARC copy! But without further ado here's the cover to How to Disappear! 

 

Vicky Decker has perfected the art of hiding in plain sight, quietly navigating the halls of her high school undetected except by her best (and only) friend, Jenna. But when Jenna moves away, Vicky’s mother starts getting worried . . . and desperate for Vicky to make friends, even if it means forcing her daughter to meet people.

And that’s the last thing Vicky wants. So she decides to invent a social life by photoshopping herself into other people’s photos, posting them on Instagram under the screen name Vicurious. Instantly, she begins to get followers, so she adds herself to more photos from all over the world with all types of people. And as Vicurious’s online followers multiply, Vicky realizes she can make a whole life for herself without ever leaving her bedroom. But the more followers she finds online, the clearer it becomes that there are a lot of people out there who feel like her—#alone and #ignored in real life.

To help them, and herself, Vicky must find the courage to face her fear of being “seen,” because only then can she stop living vicariously and truly bring the magic of Vicurious to life.

In this beautiful and illuminating narrative, Sharon Huss Roat shines a light on our love of social media and how sometimes being the person you think you want to be isn’t as great as being the person you truly are.

What do you guys think? I absolutely love it, the minimalist look of it and that teasing tag line has me super curious for more! I need it right away!  

Author Bio: 
Sharon Huss Roat grew up in Lancaster County, Pa., and now lives in Delaware with her husband and two children. She worked in public relations for 20 years before deciding what she really wanted to be when she grew up. Her debut novel, BETWEEN THE NOTES, was published by HarperTeen in June 2015. HOW TO DISAPPEAR, also from HarperTeen, will be released in summer 2017.

Instagram | Twitter | Website | Facebook

And now for the giveaway, Sharon was lovely enough to giveaway one winner the chance to win an Arc copy of How to Disappear, you can enter by filling out the rafflecopter below. The giveaway is International. Good luck everyone! 

Short & Tweetish Reviews #9 & Giveaway: A Study in Scarlet Women & The Purloined Poodle

I'm back to doing Short & Tweetish Reviews (There's no way I can keep it to 140 characters!).  This style of reviewing was introduced to me by Mary@The Book Swarm  and Karen's @For What It's Worth. 

A Study in Scarlet Women(Lady Sherlock #1) by Sherry Thomas
Publisher: Berkley Romance
Publication date: October 18th 2016
My rating:  3.5 stars  
Links: Amazon | B&N | TBD | GRs
 

My Thoughts:

This took me a little to get into, but I was in awe of Charlotte Holmes' deductive skills, just like the legend! Love the idea that it's a woman! There was more than one mystery in play here, one major and several little with Ms. Holmes consulting, and all had me thoroughly captivated! Was less than delighted with Charlotte's initial action she thought would remove the inevitability of accepting any unwanted marriage proposals, but I think her skills don't always translate into common sense. The romance is bittersweet at this point; hoping for a better situation and more in the next book.

The Purloined Poodle(The Iron Druid Chronicles #8.5) by Kevin Hearne
Pubulisher: Subterranean Press
Publication date: September 30th 2016
My rating:  4 stars  
Links: Amazon | B&N | GRs

My Thoughts:

Atticus' hilarious hound, Oberon, narrates this latest adventure and it was a load of fun! Oberon's observations never fail to make me laugh. It this installment we have a case where prize winning hounds have been doggie-napped and Oberon is determined (with Atticus at his side, of course) to get these "purloined" pets back to their respective owners.  I was immediately sucked into the investigation!

I received a review copy, but I can never resist the audio version of this series so I bought a copy and ended up "reading" it that way.  Luke Daniels is an amazing narrator, bringing the characters to life! His comedic timing is spot on making me laugh throughout the story!

 
The lovely people of Berkley generously provided a Paperback Copy of A Study in Scarlet Women by Sherry Thomas to giveaway to one lucky reader.  The giveaway is open to US or CA residents only. Just fill in the rafflecopter for a chance to win!

Review: The Boy is Back (Boy #4) by Meg Cabot

The Boy is Back (Boy #4) by Meg Cabot
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks 
Publication Date: October 18th 2016
My rating: 5 stars 

Sometimes to move forward, you have to go back… One post. That’s all it took to destroy the care free, glamorous life of pro golfer Reed Stewart. One tiny post on the Internet. Then again, it’s not like Reed’s been winning many tournaments lately, and his uncle isn’t the only one who says it’s because of the unfinished business he left behind back home in Bloomville, Indiana—namely Reed’s father, the Honorable Judge Richard P. Stewart, and the only girl Reed ever loved, Becky Flowers. But Reed hasn’t spoken to either his father or Becky in over a decade. Until that post on the Internet. Suddenly, Reed’s family has become a national laughingstock, his publicist won’t stop calling, his siblings are begging for help, and Reed realizes he has no other choice: He’s got to go home to face his past . . . the Judge and the girl he left behind. Becky’s worked hard to build her successful senior relocation business, but she’s worked even harder to forget Reed Stewart ever existed—which hasn’t been easy, considering he’s their hometown’s golden boy, and all anyone ever talks about. It was fine while they were thousands of miles apart, but now he’s back in Bloomville. She has absolutely no intention of seeing him—until his family hires her to help save his parents. Now Reed and Becky can’t avoid one another…or the memories of that one fateful night. Can the quirky residents of Bloomville bring these two young people back together, or will Reed and Becky continue to allow their pasts to deny them the future they deserve? This warm, thought-provoking book, told entirely in texts, emails, and journal entries, is as much about the enduring bond of families as it is about second chances at love, and will delight as much as it entertains.

Time and time again I have to pick up a book by Meg Cabot, she’s my go to author when I’m feeling down and had a crappy day, when I need to lose myself in her crazy funny worlds with her bubbly characters. She always guarantees a laugh out loud read that you find yourself up until the early hours finishing off even though you have to get up early the next day. I’ve lost count from the times that one of her books has become my new favourite, it was originally the Princess Diaries series, then Queen of Babble, then the Heather Wells series, but now Meg’s Boy series has become my favourite once more. I adored these books when they first came out, and so when Meg announced that there would be a new addition to this series, I was over the moon and once again Meg didn’t let me down with The Boy is Back. I love the format Cabot gives us with the emails, text messages and group chats, you would think this sort of format would be difficult to get into, but once you get stuck into the story it seems to flow so well. Of course Cabot creates characters that you’re rooting for from the very beginning.  I love it when characters are reunited under awkward circumstances and try to hide their feeling away from 10 years ago. We’re never given the full story of what happened between Reed and Becky 10 years ago, but just given snippets over the course of the story and I really liked this. I’d made my guesses of what really went down, but was glad to be surprised that I was wrong. It was obvious from the beginning that there was still something between Reed and Becky and I adored the build up to their relationship, the misunderstandings and mistakes that they had to endure along the way. Reed was such an adorable character, watching him try and make sense of how to make things right was so cute. It was clear that even though Reed had messed up in the past, he was trying his best to make things right now.

Once again Cabot gives us a great set of quirky characters which bring so much entertainment to the story with their colourful personalities. I loved the interactions between them, how they were there for each other to offer extra encouragement and support when needed. But they were also those characters who you loved to hate, that were so infuriating, but also so entertaining at the same time. Even though I had inkling about how things would end I absolutely loved this book. The Boy is Back couldn’t have come at a better time for me; I was in the biggest reading funk ever, and feeling quite down to coming back home from holiday. So I welcomed these vibrant characters into my life with open arms. I also liked the small cross references that Cabot included to other characters in the rest of the Boy series, just this small amount of it made me want to re-read the entire series once more. I’m not normally a big book pusher, but if I can recommend one book that everyone should pre-order this year it is The Boy is Back. Cabot weaves a wonderful story of missed chances, family, friendships and love. It’s full with many scenes which will have you laughing out loud and swooning throughout! 

Monthly Recap: September

Hi all! It feels like ages since Rachel and I have shared a monthly recap post with you, we've been trying to keep on top of our fitness, manage work and fit in all the glorious books too! Hopefully we'll be sharing a lot more posts with you guys too!

What we've been up to.

Jasprit:

Allie and I had another one of our adventures, of course it involved lots of traipsing around London, food hopping and we even had a fantastic sleepover! I was of course in a food coma all day, but that didn't stop me from eating at Shake Shack and Laduree! Why did no one tell me these places existed just at Convent Garden! 

I'm so grateful to have become friends with Allie, we can be our usual jokey selves around each other and just make our days to be totally memorable ones! We're already planning our next trip together, hopefully around Christmas time. 

I went to a high tea/baby shower with my friends, the food was absolutely incredible! We were treated with beautiful sandwiches, pastries, macaroons, scones and heavenly orange and nutella hot chocolates! We even made our friend a pretty little hamper, can't wait until the little one arrives later this month!

I have a new Instagram! You can now find me on _liveboldly, I love seeing all the book challenges around and have been meaning to post more book posts, so thought that I would make my jas_kaur14 instagram more personal and keep my _liveboldly for my bookish and food photos! So if you've seen a _liveboldly liking all your photos and thinking who the heck is this person, its just me!!

Rachel:

I've had a busy summer. I went on vacation a few places: Vancouver and Victoria in British Columbia.  Had tea at the Empress Fairmont in Victoria, lovely! Then I did some more local getaways like Santa Barbara and Laguna Beach out here in California.  

Empress Fairmont Tea, Victoria BC

 Hatley Castle, Victoria, BC

Santa Barbara, California


I've also been training for a 1/2 Marathon (13.1 miles) for the last 2 months.  I run next Sunday and I'm a little nervous because I haven't been able to train for the last week because of getting sick. I've had the cough from hell, but I managed to run 6 miles this morning. I guess we'll see how it goes next Sunday!

What we've been watching. 

Jasprit:

I remember Keertana in a post telling us that she loved watching Jane the Virgin and when I stayed over at Allie's we thought we'd give it a go and honestly it's become one of my all time favourite shows! Allie and I binge watched Season 1 in four days, it was that addictive and now we're just loyally waiting for Netflix to get Season 2 already! 

Rachel:

I've been watching The Wine Show with Matthew Goode and Matthew Rhys and Joe Fattorini where they taste wines all over the globe. The wineries and scenery is beautiful! It's quite a fun show, too!

Music we've been listening to.

Jasprit:

Calvin Harris ft. Rihanna This is What You Came For.

I've always been a huge fan of Calvin Harris, so this collaboration with Rihanna is one song I could never tire of, I've been listening to it on repeat for the last few weeks now!

DJ Snake ft. Justin Bieber Let Me Love You.

Yep its Justin Bieber again, this guy in my eyes can't be stopped giving us hit after hit!



Reading

Jasprit:

Number of books read: 5 and two of these were Audiobooks! I'm becoming quite the audiobook listener as of late! 

Best read of last month: 

(Click on Book for Goodreads link). 

  

I'm going to have to choose two as Lauren's Layne's To Have and to Hold was a fantastic read, I loved being with this wonderful set of characters and the romance was everything that I like it to be! And then I loved Empire of Storms on Audio, it was 25 hours long, but exceptionally done well, especially as I wasn't even considering going back to this series after the last book. 

Rachel:

 (click on cover for Goodreads link)
 

Number of books read: 14 books, 5 were audiobooks. I'll just show my favorites:

Best read of last month:

Three Books I'm looking forward to reading next month. 

(Click on Book for Goodreads link). 


Jasprit:

I've been seriously having so much fun with Layne's Wedding Belles series, I can't wait to be back with these characters once more in To Love and to Cherish. I actually got my copy of The Deal on audio this week, I had been hearing great things about this series and finally decided to give it a go, I started it yesterday and I'm enjoying it so far. My copy of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child finally came through in my library, the two month waiting time was agonisingly long, but I can'r wait to get stuck in! 

Rachel: 
(click on cover for Goodreads link)

   

I'm looking forward to all of these. The Hating Game seems like a fun romance. Hunted is a Beauty and the Beast re-telling, can't wait! Repressed sounds exactly like the kind of romantic suspense/mystery I love! 

I hope you've all had a great September too, and here's to a fantastic October filled with cosy blankets, warm drinks and wonderful reads!