EVERYTHING WE NEVER SAID........LOVE BORN OUT OF GRIEF REVEALS DARK SECRETS AND TWISTS....(*****)

 Everything We Never Said by Sloan Harlow (2024)

     This book really takes you on a ride.......through a passionate, guilt-ridden YA romance to start out with and then veering into twisty thriller territory filled with real danger and surprises in store for its lead character.

     Back in school after physically recovering from a tragic car accident, Ella's consumed with guilt over death of her best friend Hayley, who was in the car with her. Hayley's body, hurled into a river's strong currents, was never recovered and Ella's amnesia of that moment torments her always.

     It's not surprising that Ella and Hayley's boyfriend Sawyer, find solace in each other's company as a way to deal with their mutual grief. But it doesn't take long for that solace to develop into an overpowering attraction to each other........until Ella's left stunned and fearful at revelations about both Sawyer and Hayley. She's not only a witness to Sawyer's sudden bouts of explosive anger, she discovers even more alarming secrets that Hayley had kept from her.

     From this point on, the book revs itself up into full page turning mode, with the burning hot romance competing with the suspense and those 'whoa!' twists that comprise the final chapters. And in addition to the swoony stuff and the jeopardy Ella's faced with, the book also details the heartbreaking repercussions of families enduring domestic violence.

      Quite a package for one single book, which is why it gets my 5 stars.(*****)

IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO ME.......A GIRL'S ABDUCTION LEADS TO MULTIPLE DIRECTIONS....(*****)

 If Something Happens to Me by Alex Finlay (2024)

      As a thriller fan, there's nothing I love more than a multi-faceted story that unfolds using seemingly multiple disparate places and people. The kind of book that grips you immediately as you wonder out loud, "wait a sec......what do this these people and this place have anything to do with the other characters and locations?"

     The fun, of course, comes from the author drawing you deeper into the mysteries and surprising you with the skill of gradually putting all the puzzle pieces together......not to mention knocking your socks off with some huge twists.

     Alex Finlay does a truly masterful job of that here. In Leavenworth, Kansas, a feisty new deputy Sheriff tries to make sense of a once cold case turned hot - the disappearance of a young girl and her boyfriend's suspicious claim that they were pulled out of their car by an unseen abductor with some missing fingers. Ryan, the disbelieved and reviled boyfriend, is now a law student vacationing in Italy when he's contacted by.......possibly the abductor himself.

     Somehow, all of these threads lead back to Philadelphia, home of the much feared O'Leary family, an organized crime dynasty infamous for their murderous retribution against whoever they think wronged them. And this scary bunch is feeling seriously wronged.

This book more than delivered everything I hope for when I start a new thriller........a book that makes you put everything you're doing on hold so you can zip through the pages to see what happens, figure how everything fits together, and then makes you raise your eyebrows in surprise as the twists and reveals start to pile up.

     "If Something Happens To Me" checked all those boxes for me, which explains the 5 stars I'm giving it. Move this one up to the top of any TBR thriller list you're compiling.

ATTACHED AT THE HIP.....CAN A ROMANTIC TRIANGLE SURVIVE A REALITY GAME SHOW?.....(*****)

 Attached At The Hip by Christine Riccio (2024)

       To start, let me credit Christine Riccio right away for drawing me into this book, even though I am no great fan of reality game shows and never bothered to watch any of them.

        But if I ever came across one these shows that actually featured characters and situations depicted in this book, I'd be sprawled on the couch with a tub of buttered popcorn.

         The adorable lead contestant, Orie Lennox, is beset with a host of relatable issues and worries. Unable to break out of the status quo she dwells in at 23, she's aware of the second-hand life she's settled for. With a longtime boyfriend she's more comfortable with than passionate about and a dead end job assisting her influencer sister, Orie longs to figure out what she wants for herself and how to achieve it.

       Impulsively to seek out new adventures, she applies for and is selected for a season of 'Survivor'.
But it's not that show she finds herself on, but a romance spinoff version 'Attached at the hip', where couples endure similar tropical island abandonment.......but tethered to each other to see how much chemistry sparks fly.

        Under the endlessly complicated reality show rules (one of the reasons I never watched them), contestant partners change based on their various wins and losses.......and Orie ends up in a romantic triangle with Remy, an unrequited high school crush and Osprey, a fierce competitor. That makes playing the game quite a challenge since Orie's fallen hard for the boys and they with her. Especially since they're forced to use Machiavellian strategies to outlast the other players and claim the million dollar prize that can only go to one of them.

        Christine Riccio somehow makes all of this fun and exciting even for a reader (like me) who wouldn't touch a reality show with a ten foot coconut tree. You can't help cheering on Orie, not just for the sometimes hilarious ways she soldiers through the game's challenges, but for her own personal quest for a future to call her own.

 
          So it came as a total surprise as to how much I enjoyed this book. Never thought I'd cozy up to a romance featuring tarantulas, crab hunting and tethered sweethearts stuck together with no bathrooms anywhere in sight. What can I say.....I got attached to "Attached".  5 stars (*****)  (and I wouldn't dare reveal who gets who....or who gets voted off the island...)

LOCKED IN PURSUIT.....AN ODDLY MATCHED TEAM HUNT DOWN NAZI SPIES IN WAR TORN LONDON (*****)

Locked In Pursuit by Ashley Weaver (2024)

      While this thriller is fourth in a series, it's the first one of them I've read. First off, it works just fine as a stand-alone and author Ashely Weaver deftly brings a new reader up to speed about the characters and how the aftermath of their last harrowing adventure has affected them.

       And most importantly, it succeeds in what authors of series novels hope to achieve with readers who've encountered a later book in the ongoing saga...........to make you want to immediately go back and start reading the other books from the beginning.

       In that regard, mission accomplished. Upon finishing 'Locked In Pursuit', I can't wait to get my hands on the first three books and can't wait for the next one.....(which 'Locked In Pursuit' leaves you panting for....)
The book had me right away, dealing with one of the most fascinating historical periods - wartime London, bedeviled by the nightly onslaught of Nazi bombing raids. Fighting nefarious espionage on the homefront is an odd pairing of spy-busters.......stiff upper lip Major Ramsey of Military Intelligence and his unlikely recruit from a family of criminals, professional safecracker-thief Electra McDonnell.

       When Ellie suspects there's more than meets the eye to a series of strange burglaries all over town, she and the Major waste no time tracing the crimes back to a Lisbon spy ring.. And before long, everyone involved is hunting down a stolen secret that could aid the Nazi war machine.......a secret that Ellie and the Major need to desperately keep from falling into the wrong hands.

 
        Not only does danger lurk everywhere, there's another elephant-in-the-room. - the unspoken but unmistakable romantic tension between Ellie and her boss, especially touched off by their last near fatal mission.

     Loved everything about this book as the pages flew by. Suspenseful espionage the romance struggling to make itself known, the evocation of England at war and Ellie's resourceful, fearless courage in dealing with spies, London criminals, and anyone who makes the mistake of underestimating her.

 
      Now if you'll all please pardon me while I go find the first three books of Ellie's exploits.....and anxiously await the next one.  For "Locked In Pursuit", 5 stars (*****).
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THE BALLAD OF DARCY AND RUSSELL......INSTANT LOVERS END UP TAKING UNEXPECTED TURNS.......(*****)

 The Ballad Of Darcy And Russell by Morgan Matson (2024)

      Now here's a love-at-first-sight book that after a third of the way through, surprised me by swerving into what looked like an entirely different direction. But before long, I was thoroughly entertained and impressed by author Morgan Matson's ambitious way of using this plot turn to amplify the young lovers' deepest issues......and somehow bring things to one of those 'all-the-feels' conclusions a reader hoped for.

       And I loved how the book takes its lead girl's dreams of living movie rom-com tropes and turns them inside out and backwards., taking her on much more convoluted, unexpected journey to her HEA than she ever imagined.

      Days away from her college freshman year, Darcy's trip home from a Nevada music festival has gone awry due to a broken down bus. She's stuck overnight at a tiny Nevada town's bus terminal with little money and no phone charger. But things take a sudden turn when she strikes up a friendship turned insta-romance with Russell Henrion, who was also returning from the same festival. As they wander through the town, it doesn't take long for rom-com repartee to turn into heart-pumping kisses.

       Even as head-over-heels as they are with each other, they're both holding on to some deep family secrets, all of which come crashing into view, which takes their story careening into a whole new set of circumstances.........none of which I'd ever dream of detailing here.

      Sometimes humorous, sometimes swoony, but all the time heartfelt, it's impossible not to root for Darcy and Russell as they navigate their romance, their problems and that young adult quest to figure out who they are and what they want.

      A familiar journey, sure. But for this reader, anyway, it's a story I never tire of.......especially when it's handled as well as Morgan Matson does here. (And anyone on the verge of their pre-college summer should shove this one to the very top of their 'fun books to read before I'm swamped in textbooks' list'.      

       5 stars (*****).

SUMMERS AT THE SAINT.....AN EXCLUSIVE RESORT PLAYS HOST TO A MURDER MYSTERY....FOR REAL. (*****)

 Summers At The Saint by Mary Kay Andrews (2024)

      What an engrossing package of multiple genres gets served up here like a ten course meal. And you'd expect nothing less at Saint Cecilia, (or "The Saint'), a luxurious, legendary beach resort and country club situated on the Georgia coast. Whatever a reader might want to sample in this novel, leave it to author Mary Kay Andrews to supply it. A large cast of characters engaged in family dramas brimming with dark secrets, a tragic death of a child in the resort's past, a clash of the Saint's wealthy clientele with its struggling, working class employees, a slow burn romance....and a murder touching off further dangers and some startling reveals.

       Wow, that's some summer, huh? Can't wait to see what Christmas there might be like.

       All the action swirls around the Saint's manager-CEO Traci Eddings, who inherited the resort from her late husband Hoke, a member of the powerful wealthy family that owns the rest of the sprawling property. A lower class townie (or in Saint slang,, an 'Ain't') Traci has always been despised and denigrated by her uppercrust in-laws, especially her heinous brother-in-law Ric. And her make-or-break summer season is afflicted with a full compliment of woes, both personal and business related.......and topped off with that murder that threatens the security and safety more than a few people in her orbit.

       As I said before, there's something for everybody here and it's a fast paced, never less than compelling mixture of drama, mystery and even some romance thrown in, all leading up to a more than satisfying ending. I had plenty of vicarious fun checking in to the 'Saint/.....a 5 star read taking place in a 5 star hotel I could never afford to stay at.  (*****)

THE RETURN OF ELLIE BLACK....A SURVIVOR ABDUCTEE WITH DANGEROUS SECRETS....(*****)

 The Return Of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean (2024)

     Fully agree with other reviewers that wow' is the operative word for this book.

     The kind of thriller that delivers everything you want and expect in a breathless page-turner.......and then gives you even more.

      The evil at work here is overwhelmingly vile, cruel and terrifying - the serial abductions and murders of young girls. The baffling, horrific case falls to Washington State detective Cheney Calhoun. She's already haunted and tormented by death of her younger sister. Her sibling's body was never found but judged a murder victim of her boy-next-door boyfriend before he committed suicide.

      This makes Cheney driven and determined to unlock the dark memories and secrets of Ellie Black, who's come back as a survivor of her abduction several years earlier. Exhausted, emotionally drained and suffering severe PTSD, Ellie's incapable of cooperating with Cheney who senses there's far more to the girl's terrible ordeal than anyone can yet perceive.....and she's right.

     Be forewarned that the interspersed chapters of Ellie narrating her captivity are harrowing and heartbreaking, which makes Cheney's relentless hunt for whoever's responsible all the more urgent. And when those final chapters start racing to the conclusion, you'll abandon anything else that gets in the way of reading. The suspense and reveals are dialed up the max, along with one guaranteed eye-popping/mouth-wide-open twist.     

     So congratulations and lots of gratitude to author Emiko Jean for the very definition of a 5 star, up-all-night, couldn't-put-down read. (*****)  SQ says grab this one ASAP.