Blog Tour ~ A Highlander Walks Into a Bar by Laura Trentham ~ Review & Excerpt

Book: A Highlander Walks Into a Bar (Highland, Georgia #1)

Author: Laura Trentham

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release: St. Martin’s Press | July 30, 2019

The timeless romance, soaring passion—and gorgeous men—of Scotland comes to modern-day America. And the rules of love will never be the same…

Isabel Buchanan is fiery, funny, and never at a loss for words. But she is struck speechless when her mother returns from a trip to Scotland with a six-foot-tall, very handsome souvenir. Izzy’s mother is so infatuated by the fellow that Izzy has to plan their annual Highland Games all by herself. Well, not completely by herself. The Highlander’s strapping young nephew has come looking for his uncle…

Alasdair Blackmoor has never seen a place as friendly as this small Georgia town—or a girl as brilliant and beguiling as Izzy. Instead of saving his uncle, who seems to be having a lovely time, Alasdair decides he’d rather help Izzy with the Highland Games. Show her how to dance like a Highlander. Drink like a Highlander. And maybe, just maybe, fall in love with a Highlander. But when the games are over, where do they go from here?

Blog Tour ~ The Escape Room by Megan Goldin ~ Review, Excerpt + Q & A with Author

Book: The Escape Room

Author: Megan Goldin

Genre: Psychological Thriller, Mystery

Published: St. Martin’s Press | July 30, 2019

In Megan Goldin’s unforgettable debut, The Escape Room, four young Wall Street rising
stars discover the price of ambition when an escape room challenge turns into a lethal game of revenge.

Welcome to the escape room. Your goal is simple. Get out alive.

In the lucrative world of finance, Vincent, Jules, Sylvie, and Sam are at the top of their game. They’ve mastered the art of the deal and celebrate their success in style—but a life of extreme luxury always comes at a cost.

Invited to participate in an escape room as a team-building exercise, the ferociously competitive co-workers crowd into the elevator of a high rise building, eager to prove themselves. But when the lights go off and the doors stay shut, it quickly becomes clear that this is no ordinary
competition: they’re caught in a dangerous game of survival.

Trapped in the dark, the colleagues must put aside their bitter rivalries and work together to solve cryptic clues to break free. But as the game begins to reveal the team’s darkest secrets, they realize there’s a price to be paid for the terrible deeds they committed in their ruthless climb up the corporate ladder. As tempers fray, and the clues turn deadly, they must solve one final chilling puzzle:

Which one of them will kill in order to survive?

Book Review ~ Click by L. Smyth

Book: Click

Author: L. Smyth

Genre: Thriller

Published: Killer Reads | March 29, 2019

STRANGER.FRIEND.OR ENEMY?Who is it really hiding behind the screen?

A gripping read that will stay with you long after the final page, perfect for fans of FRIEND REQUEST and HE SAID/SHE SAID.

Eva arrives at university ready to escape her past. She wants a new life, a new personality. But old habits creep in and she finds herself alone, online, watching the digital lives of others.

One profile in particular captures Eva’s attention: that of her glamorous classmate, Marina. As Eva’s obsession builds, she becomes drawn into a web of lies, danger and suspicion. Because Marina’s perfectly filtered life isn’t what it seems.

What is Marina hiding? And behind the screen, who is Eva really – her friend, a stranger, or an enemy?

It only takes a click to find out.

I find the concept of the use of social media as a creep factor quite interesting in my reads. Not only do we hear so many terrible stories from others, but we can see ourselves how the possibilities are endless with technology that grants you anonymity. It’s a different kind of scary world.

Having said all that, my main reason for picking up this story was the social media angle. The obsession and stalking that can be done by just about anyone. Our lives are open for anyone to see, as much as we allow it maybe, but what seems harmless can turn around and hurt you in a way you couldn’t have imagined in the first place.

Book Review ~ Don’t Even Breathe by Keith Houghton

Book: Don’t Even Breathe

Author: Keith Houghton

Genre: Thriller

Published: Thomas & Mercer | April 18, 2019

From the bestselling author of Crash comes a riveting thriller rife with murder, misdirection, and ghosts from the past.

Florida homicide detective Maggie Novak has seen hundreds of brutal murder cases, but when she is called out to investigate the charred remains of a young woman one Halloween night, she is confronted with a twenty-year-old secret. The body is formally identified as that of school counselor Dana Cullen, but a distinguishing mark makes Maggie look again. She believes it is the body of her school friend Rita, who perished in a fire twenty years ago.

Maggie’s hunt for the truth behind the murder takes her back to a cruel high school trick she’s desperate to forget. And when another body turns up, Maggie realizes she too may be the target of a sinister plot creeping toward its final act.

Maggie needs emotional distance to do her job, but she’s so close to this case that she can’t even breathe. Will Maggie be able to uncover the truth of who wanted Rita dead? Or will her past mistakes catch up with her first?

I found the premise of this book very interesting. A detective is called to a crime scene on Halloween, with the scene seeming like from a horror movie, only to discover that the true horror lies in the victim. With a secret from twenty years ago, and a victim that should never even been alive to this day, this story was promising.

Book Review ~ Without A Trace by Carissa Ann Lynch

Book: Without A Trace

Author: Carissa Ann Lynch

Genre: Thriller

Published: Killer Reads | April 5, 2019

Lily’s gone.
Someone took her.
Unless she was she never there…

A little girl has gone missing.

Lily was last seen being tucked into bed by her adoring mother, Nova. But the next morning, the bed is empty except for a creepy toy rabbit.

Has Nova’s abusive ex stolen his “little bunny” back for good?

At first, Officer Ellie James assumes this is a clear custody battle. Until she discovers that there are no pictures of the girl and her drawers are full of unused toys and brand new clothes that have never been worn…

Is Ellie searching for a missing child who doesn’t actually exist?

 

This book had one of the most intriguing plot lines I’ve ever encountered in thrillers, at least from what I could tell in the synopsis. It is about a mother who reports her daughter missing, and when the cop that’s one of the main characters gets there, she sees no trace of a child ever having lived there. Is the mother lying, or is there more to this story? What a plot.