ChaosHappinessBookMama

⭐⭐⭐ Loved the writing - predictable plot.  Lauren and Adam have known each other since childhood- family friends with vacations. Including the tragic death of Lauren's parents.  Someone is out to ruin their wedding- a card with a creepy message arrives in the mail. Could it be Adam's best friend, Kiera? Or a patient who wants to be intimate with Adam?  A love story of Adam and a mysterious young woman unfolds- from the last family trip to Thailand,  the trip Lauren's parents died.   Great writing- kept me interested even though the plot was quite transparent.  

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Two twenty somethings with issues find each other - and acceptance.   Hollyn has major anxiety and awkwardness- she is obsessed her facial tics and what people think of her. Tourettes has been a major obstacle- but Hollyn keeps pushing herself past her fears.   With the super hot barista, Jasper.  Coming off an intense breakup after following his girlfriend to LA, Jasper is rebuilding his life. Especially his improv group,  Hail Yes.  Together Jasper and Hollyn strick an agreement - and the fun begins.  Laughs.  Cringe moments.  Steamy sex. Love the characters.   Great story about real life romance.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Nail bitting suspense! I read this book in a day - it is that good.  I received a free ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.   Please note I have not read previous books in this series - did not hold me back , but maybe become my next obsession.  Amber's body is found beside a lake. Clearly she had been held captive,  stabbed in the heart. As a young woman attending university,  Amber was living her life. And was murdered.  Gina is trying to grasp a lead - but everyone is lying. Her philandering lecturer. Over protective father.  Smitten neighbor.  Gina and her team struggle through the stories.   Fast paced,  amazing suspense.  Did not guess the killer.  Great book! 

⭐⭐⭐ I want to visit Beacon Harbor! A vintage lighthouse renovated, a bakeshop and a ghost? Count me in!  Lindsey leaves behind a lucrative financial job after finding her chef fiancé and his pastry chef naked on his desk. She buys a lighthouse in desperate need of a renovation with the dream of opening her own bakeshop - using the internet.  Opening day - her bestie, Kennedy, a trendsetter with thousands of followers, has inspired not only New Yorkers to attend the grand opening, but also Jeffery with his tart, Mia. Protesters and Mia's squad wreck havoc - until Mia is found dead on the grass.  I did not guess the killer - complete surprise. Loved the friendship, town, budding romance and of course the dog.  

⭐⭐⭐⭐ This author's descriptive writing will keep anyone up at night.  Finally it's graduation- and the students have the party of the year planned. After a video spliced to implicate teachers of breaking conduct rules, the staff are ready to drink their booze.  Until the teachers are drugged and the real games begin.   A very creative, chilly and graphic tale - who doesn't have horror stories of humiliation at the hands of their teachers? 

⭐⭐⭐ An infant is stolen from his mother and held for ransom.  Bree must drug her husband's partner,  Spencer, to get him home. But Spencer dies. And still no Robert.  Bree works with Marshall,  a long time friend of Bree and investigator for her husband's law firm. Together they research the dying woman who is seeking revenge.  Her daughter was a victim in college- Bree has no idea what her husband could have done.   Good twits. Tragic story about a young woman eager to be liked and explore freedom in college.  

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ I got up at 630 am today to finish this book! Worth it!  Madison returns to Lost Creek - desperate to prove her innocence and wrongfully convicted for her friend and fellow officer's death.   As well as the vicious murder of her ex girlfriend,  Stephanie.  Nate and Brody drive her to Colorado- lending much needed support and assistance in solving the mystery.   Not to mention what happened to Madison's son?  Excellent suspense.  Family drama. Twists.   Highly recommend.  

⭐⭐⭐ Rosie left home to attend university and never looked back.  Until her mother died.  In her early thirties,  Rosie goes home. Her brothers and sister are distant - understandably so.  Her best friend from university,  Danny, has been assigned a horrendous murder.  Five recent university graduates are slaughtered in their rented cabin - one survivor walks to the police station claiming she killed them all.  Danny asks for Rosie's help with a cold case - graffiti on the cabin wall demanding Who Took Eden Mulligan? In the 80s, one night Eden just disappeared.  The police gave little attention.  She left five young children- pulled apart and placed in care.  What ties the two cases together?  This book could have been shorter.  The relationships and complexity were emphasized too much.  Otherwise great plot,  kept me interested for the most part.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Excellent thriller!  Kjeld is on suspension due to a complicated case involving his best friend who happened to be a murderer.  After twelve years of no communication,  his dad, Stenar, call him, rambling about a murder in his barn.  Kjeld drives home convinced Stenar, suffering from Alzheimer's had a moment of clarity. The local police brush it aside - an old friend from childhood and the police academy.  Yet Kjeld finds a tooth in an old crow's nest. Someone is lurking in the barn - trying to dig up a body.  Family secrets and dynamics drive this addictive plot.  Loved the characters - descriptions,  interactions,  sibling relationships,  marriage. Spot on. Great suspense and twists.  

3.75 I'm kind of in love with this book but not.  Loved the writing style- fast, easy,  relatable crazy chaos.  Excellent description of motherhood- absolutely yes that's what it is like as a single mom of small children.  Yes Dad always does everything better.  Yes single moms think about all kinds of exotic jobs to pay bills - even murder for hire.  The deaths were so crazy - a little too corny for me.  Very enjoyable.  That ending - little predictable but gasp out loud.  

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Sci-fi thriller set a few decades ahead of today.   5 people solve a puzzle requiring an alternative thought process. Five people willing to cut all ties to their life, their family and friends.  Four of the five are desperate for a new start,  a new chance at life.  Hackers are holding countries hostage - breaking protections in their covered up crimes,  historical data, etc. With a new medical procedure, data is implanted in these five people for five years. They must live isolated yet blend in.  Will they be hacked?  Some very shocking moments, great twists and concepts for our potential future lives. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ I can't wait for the next book!  A pregnant teenager's body is found in a barrel of sand, mummified after 35 years. Who was she? What could have happened?  Deck and his partner JB investigate,  taking Deck back to San Francisco and his family.  Olivia's dad is up for parole - found hanging from a pipe in a holding cell minutes after the hearing ends. Olivia refuses to believe the suicide ruling.   Together Deck and Olivia work to solve the murder of the pregnant teen,  their personal lives weaving on the edges.  Excellent plot,  fast paced. Great characters,  humor and twists.  I did not read the first book in the series- didn't hold me back. 

⭐ DNF at 45%, 3 hours left to read.  Gracie has built an empire for herself.  Cook books, cafe, tv show. After returning to her London suburb award winning house, her husband confesses a drunken one night stand on their house. After serious consideration,  they decide to sell the house and move closer to both their jobs.  Juliet can't keep it together.  Smoking and drinking,  freelance PR jobs are not paying the bills. Her daughter, Freya, simply goes along.  Gracie and Juliet meet- for the second time. When Juliet was trying to get work after leaving her abusive husband,  she pitched ideas to Gracie at a conference. Gracie chose a different firm.  Juliet wants revenge.  So long. Subplots all over the place. Just didn't hold my interest.  

⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Nothing will change if we stay quiet." Bram is forced out of New York City. Escaping her mother, Bram's only choice is her Uncle James.  Years before, James bought the old manor in Louth, NY - a very small community on the Hudson.   The manor is shrouded in legend - Grace Louth's suicide, missing young women- the Dead Girls.  A few months prior, James' step daughter Lark sents fire to a wing,  placed in a hospital for mental health issues.  Bram knows Lark doesn't have issues- though she has never met her. Bram also hears the footsteps in the house, sees a young woman in a white wedding dress, feels the Dead Girls in the house.  Excellent story. I read it in one day - amazing writing,  great characters and chilling reality for women. 

⭐⭐⭐ What happens to your friendships 20 years later? After marriages, kids, work, real life?  Four college friends get together for a long weekend. A vacation from their lives to reconnect.  Elise - mother of three, stay at mom who does it all and has it all. She kept a secret from her husband- he found out. Is her marriage over?  Ivy - mother of two, living in San Francisco and falling hard into debt. A friend recommended becoming an escort - has Ivy hit bottom?  Libby - widowed single mother of two, school counselor. Her family was shattered at the sudden death her husband. Will they ever move on?  Libby - mother to a nine month old boy, struggling with all of it.  Will she ever feel like a person again?  Many women can relate to all of these scenarios.  And the reality that our friendships stop and start. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ This book grabbed my attention on page one. Maya doesn't remember her childhood- her dad told her stories at bedtime. As an adult, Maya is desperate to learn more about her mother.  And her mysterious death.  Teresa's life is falling apart. She's afraid of her husband.  Her teenage soon could not withdraw further away.  Her aging mom's dementia needs attention.   Great family drama that sucks you in.  Good twists and suspense.  Enjoyable read. 

⭐⭐⭐ Great start to a new series.  Slow build thriller with some good twists.  Nadine has been hiding from her past for years. As the daughter of a vicious female serial killer, Nadine has no friends or relationships, suspicious of all people and struggles with feeling safe.  Assigned by her supervisor to be a profiler on a homicide, Nadine is terrified her past will be discovered.   And it is.  Nadine realizes she isn't the only child of a serial killer working for the county and city.  Ohhhh gave me chills.  Love the characters.  Nadine doesn't depend on her love interest to progress her research into the case - she definitely struggled with her insecurities but did a great job pulling it together herself.  Great book, looking forward to the next. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐ #netgalley  #serpentine  What a ride! Read in one day.  Alex, a psychologist, and Milo, a homicide lieutenant, often team up to solve crimes.  Ellie's mother was murdered in her early twenties,  when Ellie was three.  Ellie knows nothing about her mother - over thirty-five years later, she mentions her mother's death to a politician - and now it's assigned to Milo.  Together Milo and Alex delve deep into 1980s Los Angeles - a shady night club, a man who collected blondes, and a daughter simply wondering who she is.  Excellent plot. Lenghty descriptions to lend the sense of a femme fatale noir.