My book club chose this for the month of June. I was hesitant when I first started as the writing style was very different than what I am used too but before long I was hooked!! The most hilarious, ridiculous, far fetched things happen to this family and I couldn't get enough!! This book has so many story lines and plot twists that revolve around social class, racism, religion, crime, family, abuse, sex, etc. that it will spark many good discussions in your book club!!

The Legacy opens in England, 1905 with Caroline Calcott, Lady of Stourton Manor mysteriously leaving the house and then running through the woods, carrying something in a white pillowcase over her shoulder. As soon as I read this opening chapter I knew I was in for a great mystery!

The story then switches to present day sisters Erica and Beth. They have inherited the old Manor house from their grandmother, Meredith (Caroline’s daughter). It’s the house where they spent their childhood summers, until one hot day in 1986 when their cousin Henry vanished and was never found. Erica has many memories from their childhood summers at the manor but strangely she can’t recall any from the day Henry disappeared. Her sister Beth refuses to talk about that day and has been haunted by his disappearance ever since, suffering from adulthood depression. Soon, Erica becomes convinced that Beth knows what really happened that day to Henry and she’s determined to get to the bottom of it once and for all. While sorting through her grandmother’s things, Erica stumbles upon a letter and a mysterious photo of Caroline. These items clearly indicate to Erica that her great-grandmother had secrets of her own and now she’s determined to bring those secrets to light.

The chapters alternate between the sisters’ story in the present and Caroline's own story set in 1903. There was so much complexity to these characters and I found myself being sucked right into both mysteries and their many layers. I couldn’t wait to find out how Caroline’s past affected her family throughout the generations and how it ultimately tied to both Erica and Beth in the present day.

In most dual-timeline books I usually prefer one timeline over the other; this was not the case in The Legacy. I found both timeline’s characters and mysteries equally engrossing and fascinating! I did guess Caroline’s secret before it was revealed but this did not detract from her story in any way. I did not however guess the present day mystery surrounding Henry’s disappearance and was shocked once it was revealed! Praise to Katherine Webb for crafting such a beautifully written story; I could not put this book down.

When I first began Stolen Child, I thought I was going to be reading a Psychological Thriller about a stolen baby and the hunt to find her kidnapper. This book was less a “thriller” and more of a psychological character study of two very different women, their families, and the tragedy that shaped all of their lives. I absolutely loved this book and found it utterly fascinating. As a mother, some parts were really hard for me to read; I kept placing myself in Carla’s shoes, wondering how I would have dealt with the kidnapping of my child. My emotions were running so high at the beginning of this book that a few times I actually slammed my kindle down and yelled (to no one in particular), “Enough! I can’t read this anymore!” Of course, a few minutes later I was stealthily sneaking back towards said kindle - I just had to find out what happened next! I love books that can invoke this type of emotion from me and I can honestly say it doesn’t happen very often!

Stolen Child begins from the viewpoint of Susanne and we quickly learn that her body has failed and betrayed her yet again, she’s just miscarried her fifth baby. I instantly felt for her and connected deeply with her heartache and despair. Laura Elliot, the author, was brilliant in starting the story this way; allowing the reader to both sympathize with and despise Susanne as she plots out her evil plan. Carla on the other hand is initially portrayed as having it all; she’s beautiful, has a loving husband, an easy pregnancy, and is becoming more famous every day. This celebrity like status puts Carla on the outskirts of the “everyday” mom and I actually didn’t connect with her character right away.

Of course, this all changes as the story progresses. Carla’s devastating loss and never-ending determination to find her daughter Isobel made me fall absolutely in love with her! Even when everyone else gives up and believes her daughter is dead she pushes on; starting her own investigation and ultimately choosing to continue in her search rather than saving her marriage. Susanne on the other hand becomes cold and distant as her paranoia of being “found out” eats away at her. At times she even becomes physically and emotionally abusive with not just her daughter Joy, but also her husband and this ultimately destroys their marriage.

I love how Laura Elliot developed Carla and Susanne’s characters; they both took massive U-turns and I was pleasantly surprised. It was this character development that really kept me reading! I also thought the character of Joy/Isobel was wonderful and Elliot captured the emotions of a teenager whose life has been torn to shreds perfectly. Throughout the story we’re introduced to several secondary characters whose relevance is not initially clear. Slowly, these characters and their storylines become intertwined with the main plotline in the most unexpected ways. The author does a fantastic job pulling these interweaving plotlines together and giving the story a very plausible ending that left me thoroughly satisfied!

The Stolen Child would make an excellent choice for any book club and there are reading group questions provided at the back of the book. I will definitely be recommending this to my book club for our May reading selection. Highly recommend and anxiously waiting to read Laura Elliot’s next book!

**I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher, Bookouture and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review**

Serena, by Ron Rash, chronicles the lives of a North Carolina couple and their rise to power in the 1929 logging industry. When Serena and George Pemberton marry they return to North Carolina and to Pemberton’s already established logging camp where they intend to build their empire. Pemberton has already fathered an illegitimate child; the pregnant girl and her father are waiting at the train station when he and Serena arrive. Serena quickly dismisses the young girl by telling her she was lucky to have had such a fine sire for her child but that she would never be so lucky again. The girl’s father wants to settle matters, so Serena calmly tells Pemberton that he should get his knife out and do exactly that. It’s in this moment that the reader gets their first glimpse of the powerhouse that is Serena!

Serena is one of the most ruthless female characters I’ve ever read about; she fears absolutely nothing and I loved her for it! Her father was a timber man in Colorado before she became an orphan and he taught her all the in’s-and-out’s of the industry. She proves she can stand up against even the best of men with her logging knowledge- as well as her hunting and riding skills. This would have been extremely unusual for a woman of this era and I loved reading the men’s reactions to her in this regard. When Serena learns she is unable to bear children, she formulates a dark and seedy plan to destroy her husband’s only son, as well as anyone else who stands in her way. This is the ultimate tale of power and corruption!

With his fluid writing and realistic descriptions, Ron Rash pulled me right into the logging town and its beautifully lush, North Carolina landscapes. I enjoyed learning all the historical facts about the logging industry, it’s such an iconic part of American History and truly fascinating! I had never read anything by this author before and I’m glad I chose Serena as my introduction. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who loves American history; told from the perspective of dark, greedy characters. I believe this would also make a fantastic choice for Book Clubs, especially with the movie just recently released. There is so much about Serena, Pemberton and their ending that could be discussed and dissected for hours, truly a great read!

Little Black Lies is a prime example in why I’m glad I don’t give up on books. A lot of people find my habit of always finishing books to be bizarre, why would you want to read something you’re not enjoying? My main answer to that is that I actually like most everything I read and really read up on a book’s description & reviews before I dig into it. But we aren’t all going to love every book that we read and when I start to feel that way for some reason I have this compelling need to read on and see if maybe the story gets better but mostly it’s to find out how the story will end. This happened to me with Little Black Lies, I just wasn’t connecting to the opening chapters. It was really puzzling to me too because this was a book that I had wanted to read for a VERY long time and it fit the mold perfectly for the types of books I love to read. I think it all boiled down to bad timing, I recently read 3 very fast past crime thrillers & I think the switching of pace caught me off guard & left me feeling not connected to this story. This is a slow, dark, psychological thriller (which are my fav) but like I said, I don’t think I was prepared for that switch in pace. If I’d been like most other readers I would have put this book down after a certain page but I didn’t, because I can’t and OMG I am sooooo glad I’m stubborn like that because otherwise I would have missed out on one hell of a whopper!!! This book was fantastic! Just be prepared for a slower start and you’ll really appreciate it in the end :)

This book is really split up into three sections, each one being told in first person POV by one of its three main characters. I loved this style for this book, it worked perfectly and we’re never given duplicate information when the POV switches, instead gaps are filled in pertaining to certain events as the story moves along. The first section is told through Catrin’s POV; three years ago her two sons were killed in a tragic accident, an accident that was caused by her best friend Rachel. Catrin has never recovered from her grief and lives a sad and lonely life, obsessed with a plan to carry out revenge. The second section is told through Callum’s POV, he’s a soldier who fought in the Falklands war and suffers from PTSD as well as some pretty scary flashbacks. It’s evident by how much he tries to help Catrin that the two have some sort of history together but it’s not initially clear what the history entails. This is where the story really picked up for me, I really enjoyed Callum’s character and felt connected to him in a way that I didn’t with Catrin. He’s just such a good guy and really wants to help figure out what’s happening to all these missing boys. The third part of the story is told from Rachel’s POV & oh boy, some of her chapters were hard to read! When you initially see her through Catrin’s eyes you don’t like her, Rachel still has everything while Catrin lost everything because of her. But once you’re inside Rachel’s head you see how tortured she is knowing that it was her negligence that led to the death of her best friend’s children.

Since the death of Catrin’s sons several boys have gone missing from the islands. Most of the locals believe these disappearances were due to tragic, unrelated accidents but when a cruise ship docks on the island and another child goes missing questions start to arise as to whether or not something more sinister is going on. Cullum is the first person to suspect there may be a killer among them and so he leads Catrin on a search for answers that ends up leading them to more questions. When one of the missing boys is found just as Rachel’s young son goes missing, many locals start looking at and pointing fingers at Catrin, could this all have been some elaborate plot of revenge??

Little Black Lies has so many twists and turns that I NEVER saw coming! I was convinced that I’d figured it all out halfway through the book. All the evidence thereafter even lined up correctly with my theory so I raced through, rather smugly, thinking I knew exactly where the story was headed but OMG was I ever wrong! Sharon Bolton lands one power house of a punch when it comes to revealing a twist and just when you’re starting to catch your breath, she lands another one, and another one and then concludes her novel with one of the most shocking final paragraphs I’ve ever read! My head was spinning so fast while my fingers we’re gripped so tightly to my Kindle my knuckles turned white! Sometimes when a book has too many twists it all starts becoming a little over the top and unbelievable, this never happened in Little Black Lies, each reveal made perfect sense and seemed totally plausible, until she pulled the rug out from under me again of course :) This is a novel I would highly recommended for anyone who loves psychological thrillers, but more than a thriller this is also a study of what happens to the human character when it’s surrounded by loss, grief, guilt and revenge therefore making this an excellent choice for Book Clubs as well.

Thank you to the publishers, St. Martin’s Minotaur Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary, advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review! Full review can be found at http://mysocalledbookreviews.blogspot.com/

The Secrets We Keep is one women’s story of coming to terms with the fact that her husband wasn’t who she thought he was. But don’t be fooled into thinking this is a storyline you’ve read many times before because it isn’t. Elizabeth's husband, Mike has just died while saving a young girl from potentially drowning. Everyone now sees Mike as a hero who tragically died but Elizabeth still can’t understand why her husband was even at the river to save this girl in the first place. Then she meets Kate, the young girl Mike saved, and pieces to a puzzle that Elizabeth could have never fathomed start fitting into place. I don’t want to say anything more about the plot because this is one of those stories where it’s best to go into knowing as little as possible.

I loved how this book deals with grief which is then compounded by hurt and betrayal. I’ve never been through anything like Elizabeth has, thank God, but it felt very realistic to me. Even if you find out someone you loved wasn’t who you thought they were or that they did something terrible it doesn’t mean you stop loving them or mourning their loss. I thought this was beautifully portrayed by the author, Stephanie Butland. I especially loved Elizabeth’s letters to Mike and how this formed a type of therapy for her; it was brilliant and added such a unique element to the storyline. This isn’t just a story about loss & grief though, there’s also much suspense surrounding the night Mike died. You’ll want to know just as much as Elizabeth does what really happened that night. Did Mike really die why trying to save Kate or did something more sinister go down?

The Secrets We Keep is a wonderful, compelling read; a complex story surrounding secrets and relationships and the one that I believe readers will connect with whether they’ve been through a heavy loss or not. Elizabeth is such a beautiful, strong and intelligent woman who’s had to deal with the life given to her as best as she can, you can’t help but admire and want to root for her to find peace. But fair warning, you’ll need to keep a box of tissues close at hand for this one! I highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy a psychological thriller with an emotional, deep vibe woven in. This would also make a fantastic Book Club read. This is the first book I’ve read by Stephanie Butland and I look forward to reading what she has in store for us next ?

Thank you to the publishers, Sourcebooks Landmark and to NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary, advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. And a special thank you to Michelle Podberezniak, Publicity Intern at Sourcebooks for inviting me to join The Secrets We Keep official Blog Tour.

Blacked-Eyed Susans is a phenomenal, fast-paced psychological thriller that I couldn’t put down, not even once. As soon as I started it I knew I was in trouble and quickly bribed my daughter’s boyfriend to go pick up pizza for dinner, I knew I’d be pulling an all-nighter :) And the mystery behind the killer? Well of course I’m not going to give that away or give any clues for that matter but I will say that I had a theory at about the 30% mark. Then as the story moved towards the 75% mark I saw another potential theory start to unfold but I was still pretty certain that I’d already figured it out, that my original theory was right. Now, I’m not going to share with you whether or not I got it right because it’s seriously best to go into this one with as little info as possible and to form your own theory. I will tell you though that I was just blown away by this book and I can’t wait to read one of Heaberlin’s previous books. I’d also love to know if Heaberlin has teenage daughters of her own because each one; young Tessa, young Lydia and Charlie, Tessa’s daughter, were written beautifully and totally spot on!

This is absolutely a book I’d recommend to anyone who loves an original, fast-paced psychological thriller. This would also make a great Book Club choice if your members are into reading thrillers! And just like the book advertises; if you love authors like Gillian Flynn, Laura Lippman and I’m going to include a personal fav, Lisa Unger then you’ll love Black-Eyed Susans, just be prepared to get absolutely nothing done around your house for at least 24 hours!