PLBR Book Reviews 2018 - ELLES BOOK BLOG

ELLES BOOK BLOG

HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT BY LAURA HANKIN

11/15/2020

Happy and You Know It was an unexpected pleasure! It's a scandalous read, and one perfect for fans of Liane Moriarty and Sarah Pekkanen. I can't wait to read more from the author!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: May 19, 2020
Genre: Women's Fiction
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 383 pages
Format: Hardcover from Book of the Month Box

A dark, witty page-turner about a struggling young musician who takes a job singing for a playgroup of overprivileged babies and their effortlessly cool moms, only to find herself pulled into their glamorous lives and dangerous secrets....

After her former band shot to superstardom without her, Claire reluctantly agrees to a gig as a playgroup musician for wealthy infants on New York's Park Avenue. Claire is surprised to discover that she is smitten with her new employers, a welcoming clique of wellness addicts with impossibly shiny hair, who whirl from juice cleanse to overpriced miracle vitamins to spin class with limitless energy.

There is perfect hostess Whitney who is on the brink of social-media stardom and just needs to find a way to keep her flawless life from falling apart. Caustically funny, recent stay-at-home mom Amara who is struggling to embrace her new identity. And old

HE STARTED IT BY SAMANTHA DOWNING

7/22/2020

He Started It is a slow moving domestic drama/thriller. While it wasn't really my cup of tea I think many readers would love the buildup and the way everything ended...

Rating: ★★★
Release Date: July 21, 2020
Genre: Domestic Drama. Domestic Thriller.
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 384 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

From the twisted mind behind mega hit My Lovely Wife comes the story of a family—not unlike your own—just with a few more violent tendencies thrown in....

Beth, Portia, and Eddie Morgan haven't all been together in years. And for very good reasons—we'll get to those later. But when their wealthy grandfather dies and leaves a cryptic final message in his wake, the siblings and their respective partners must come together for a cross-country road trip to fulfill his final wish and—more importantly—secure their inheritance.

But time with your family can be tough. It is for everyone.

It's even harder when you're all keeping secrets and trying to forget a memory, a missing person, an act of revenge, the man in the black truck who won't stop following your car—and especially

THE SWAP BY ROBYN HARDING

6/29/2020

The Swap is another amazing domestic thriller by Robyn Harding. She's one of my favorite crime authors and this book is everything I wanted and more. I highly recommend it.

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: June 23, 2020
Genre: Domestic Thriller.
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 352 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

“No list of thrillers is complete without Robyn Harding,” proclaims Real Simple. Now the USA TODAY bestselling author of The Party delivers a riveting tale about the toxic relationship between two couples after a night of sexual shenanigans, and the manipulative teenager with an explosive secret at the center of it all.

Low Morrison is not your average teen. You could blame her hippie parents or her looming height or her dreary, isolated hometown on an island in the Pacific Northwest. But whatever the reason, Low just doesn’t fit in—and neither does Freya, an ethereal beauty and once-famous social media influencer who now owns the local pottery studio.

After signing up for a class, Low quickly falls under Freya’s spell. And Freya, buoyed by Low’s adoration, is compelled to share her darkest secrets and deepest desires. Finally, both feel a sense of belonging...that is, until Jamie walks through the studio door.

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE BY MEG MITCHELL MOORE

6/14/2020

Two Truths and a Lie is a delectable beach read and should be in every readers bags this summer! This book is similar to Liane Moriarty's books so if you like those ones you'll love this one!

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: June 16, 2020
Genre: Women's Fiction. Domestic Drama.
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 396 pages
Format: eBook. ARC

From the author of The Islanders comes a warm, witty and suspenseful novel filled with small-town secrets, summer romance, big time lies and spiked seltzer, in the vein of Liane Moriarty.

Truth: Sherri Griffin and her daughter, Katie, have recently moved to the idyllic beach town of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Rebecca Coleman, widely acknowledged former leader of the Newburyport Mom Squad (having taken a step back since her husband’s shocking and tragic death eighteen months ago), has made a surprising effort to include these newcomers in typically closed-group activities. Rebecca’s teenage daughter Alexa has even been spotted babysitting Katie.

Truth: Alexa has time on her hands because of a recent falling-out with her longtime best friends for reasons no one knows—but everyone suspects have to do with Alexa’s highly popular and increasingly successful YouTube channel. Katie Griffin, who at age

THE WIFE STALKER BY LIV CONSTANTINE

5/26/2020

WOW! This book, while extremely frustrating in some aspects, was such a fantastic read! The big twist towards the end if one of the best twists I've seen in a long time! I now need more by the author asap!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: May 19, 2020
Genre: Domestic Thriller & Suspense
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 316 pages
Format: eBook. ARC

The bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish returns with a psychological thriller, filled with chilling serpentine twists, about a woman fighting to hold onto the only family she’s ever loved—and how far she’ll go to preserve it.

Breezing into the upscale seaside paradise of Westport, Connecticut, gorgeous thirtysomething Piper Reynard sets down roots, opening a rehab and wellness space and joining a local yacht club. When she meets Leo Drakos, a handsome, successful lawyer, the wedding ring on his finger is the only thing she doesn’t like about him. Yet as Piper well knows, no marriage is permanent.

Meanwhile, Joanna has been waiting patiently for Leo, the charismatic man she fell in love with all those years ago, to re-emerge from the severe depression that has engulfed him. Though she’s thankful when Leo returns to his charming, energetic self,

THE PERFECT NEIGHBORS BY SARAH PEKKANEN

5/10/2020

The Perfect Neighbors by Sarah Pekkanen is an awesome women's fiction novel and I devoured it from beginning to end. I highly recommend it if you enjoy Liane Moriarty books.

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: July 5, 2016
Genre: Women's Fiction
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 353 pages
Format: Paperback. Purchased.

How well do you ever really know the family next door?

Bucolic Newport Cove, where spontaneous block parties occur on balmy nights and all of the streets are named for flowers, is proud of its distinction of being named one the top twenty safest neighborhoods in the US. It’s also one of the most secret-filled.

Kellie Scott has just returned to work after a decade of being a stay-at-home mom. She’s adjusting to high heels, scrambling to cook dinner for her family after a day at the office—and soaking in the dangerous attention of a very handsome, very married male colleague. Kellie’s neighbor Susan Barrett begins every day with fresh resolutions: she won’t eat any carbs, she’ll go to bed at a reasonable hour, and she’ll stop stalking her ex-husband and his new girlfriend. Gigi Kennedy seems to have it all together—except her teenage daughter has turned into a hostile stranger and her husband is running for Congress, which means her old skeletons are in danger of being brought into the light.

DARLING ROSE GOLD BY STEPHANIE WROBEL

3/14/2020

Darling Rose Gold is a ripped from the headlines thriller and I enjoyed every single minute of it. This is the authors debut novel and I am so excited to see her career take off because of it!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: March 17, 2020
Genre: Domestic Thriller. Based on a true story.
Series: None. Complete standalone.
Pages: 319 pages
Format: eBook. ARC

Mothers never forget. Daughters never forgive.

In her compulsive, sharply-drawn debut, Stephanie Wrobel peels back the layers of the most complicated of mother-daughter relationships.

For the first eighteen years of her life, Rose Gold Watts believed she was seriously ill. She was allergic to everything, used a wheelchair and practically lived at the hospital. Neighbors did all they could, holding fundraisers and offering shoulders to cry on, but no matter how many doctors, tests, or surgeries, no one could figure out what was wrong with Rose Gold.

Turns out her mom, Patty Watts, was just a really good liar.

After serving five years in prison, Patty gets out with nowhere to go and begs her daughter to take her in. The entire community is shocked when Rose Gold says yes.

REGRETTING YOU BY COLLEEN HOOVER (REVIEW + GIVEAWAY)

12/10/2019

Colleen Hoover proves her skill with each and every book she writes whether it be romance, young adult, thriller, or women's fiction. This book falls in the women's fiction category and has all the fillings of an ugly cry read!

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: December 10, 2019
Genre: Women's Fiction
Series: None. Complete Standalone.
Pages: 365 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Ends with Us comes a poignant novel about family, first love, grief, and betrayal that will touch the hearts of both mothers and daughters.

Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike.

Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.

With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris—Morgan’s husband,

THE AU PAIR BY EMMA ROUS

8/16/2019

The Au Pair is a compelling read- one I had a hard time putting down! It has a Gothic feel to it and left me excited as each twist and turn hit! I highly recommend this one!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: January 8, 2019
Genre: Domestic Thriller. Gothic Literature.
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 360 pages
Format: Paperback. Purchased.

If V. C. Andrews and Kate Morton had a literary love child, Emma Rous' USA Today bestseller The Au Pair would be it.

One of the most anticipated books of 2019 from Pop Sugar, Bustle, Cosmo, Parade, and Goodreads!

Seraphine Mayes and her twin brother, Danny, were born in the middle of summer at their family's estate on the Norfolk coast. Within hours of their birth, their mother threw herself from the cliffs, the au pair fled, and the village thrilled with whispers of dark cloaks, changelings, and the aloof couple who drew a young nanny into their inner circle.

Now an adult, Seraphine mourns the recent death of her father. While going through his belongings, she uncovers a family photograph that raises dangerous questions. It was taken on the day the twins were born, and in the photo, their mother, surrounded

THE MOTHER-IN-LAW BY SALLY HEPWORTH

4/23/2019

This is my first Sally Hepworth novel and it WON'T be my last! This is an amazing domestic drama/thriller. I was glued to the pages and didn't want to put this book down. I am so excited to read more books by the author- her stories remind me of Liane Moriarty's books.

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: April 23, 2019
Genre: Domestic Drama
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 352 pages
Format:eBook. ARC.

Someone once told me that you have two families in your life - the one you are born into and the one you choose. Yes, you may get to choose your partner, but you don't choose your mother-in-law. The cackling mercenaries of fate determine it all.

From the moment Lucy met Diana, she was kept at arm's length. Diana is exquisitely polite, but Lucy knows, even after marrying Oliver, that they'll never have the closeness she'd been hoping for.

But who could fault Diana? She was a pillar of the community, an advocate for social justice, the matriarch of a loving family. Lucy had wanted so much to please her new mother-in-law.

That was ten years ago. Now, Diana has been found dead, leaving a suicide note. But the autopsy reveals evidence of suffocation. And everyone in the family is hiding something...

THE STILLWATER GIRLS BY MINKA KENT

4/9/2019

The Stillwater Girls is an excellent domestic drama/thriller that I devoured in one day! I was so invested in this book that I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: April 9, 2019
Genre: Domestic Drama/Thriller
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 256 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

Two sisters raised in fear are about to find out why in a chilling novel of psychological suspense from the author of The Thinnest Air.

Ignorant of civilization and cautioned against its evils, nineteen-year-old Wren and her two sisters, Sage and Evie, were raised in off-the-grid isolation in a primitive cabin in upstate New York. When the youngest grows gravely ill, their mother leaves with the child to get help from a nearby town. And they never return.

As months pass, hope vanishes. Supplies are low. Livestock are dying. A brutal winter is bearing down. Then comes the stranger. He claims to be looking for the girls’ mother, and he’s not leaving without them.

To escape, Wren and her sister must break the rule they’ve grown up with: never go beyond the forest.

THE NIGHT OLIVIA FELL BY CHRISTINA MCDONALD

2/12/2019

Woah! This book blew me away! I devoured it in a day because I simply couldn't take my eyes off the pages. I think this is one of the best domestic thrillers I have read in a long time.

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: February 5, 2019
Genre: Domestic Thriller.
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 368 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

In the vein of Big Little Lies and Reconstructing Amelia comes an emotionally charged domestic suspense novel about a mother unraveling the truth behind how her daughter became brain dead. And pregnant.

A search for the truth. A lifetime of lies.

In the small hours of the morning, Abi Knight is startled awake by the phone call no mother ever wants to get: her teenage daughter Olivia has fallen off a bridge. Not only is Olivia brain dead, she’s pregnant and must remain on life support to keep her baby alive. And then Abi sees the angry bruises circling Olivia’s wrists.

When the police unexpectedly rule Olivia’s fall an accident, Abi decides to find out what really happened that night. Heartbroken and grieving, she unravels the threads of her daughter’s life. Was Olivia’s fall an accident? Or something far more sinister?

THE TEMP BY MICHELLE FRANCES

1/29/2019

The Temp is an absorbing domestic drama/thriller that I devoured in a day. I really enjoyed and am looking forward to reading more books by the author in the future.

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: January 29, 2019
Genre: Domestic Thriller.
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 432 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

Wanted: Assistant to provide maternity cover for high-powered TV producer. Must be bright, creative, with killer instincts.

Emma would do anything to work for the woman who has the job she wants. Carrie is at the top of her game, with a dream career, a baby on the way, and a handsome screenwriter husband. For Emma, with parents who don’t understand her ambition and a serious misstep behind her, this temp position might be her last chance.

Carrie has given up more than anyone knows to get to the top of a ruthless business. She won’t give up this baby too. But with Emma filling in for her at the office, her perfect life starts to unravel. Her bank account is inexplicably overdrawn, her husband seems strangely distant and colleagues are all too happy to take Emma’s creative direction. Carrie finds herself dying to get back to work . . . until a letter left at her door changes everything.

WINTER IN PARADISE BY ELIN HILDERBRAND

10/9/2018

This book is equal parts mystery, women's fiction, and domestic drama. Being a huge fan of the author I was stocked to read an early copy of this book. That said, while I didn't expect it to end the way it did, I liked the book overall and am looking forward to the next one! Fans of the author, grab this one!

Rating: ★★★★
Release Date: October 9, 2018
Genre: Chick Lit
Series: Paradise series #1
Pages: 320 pages
Format: eBook. ARC.

Spend the coldest days of winter on a Caribbean beach with New York Times Bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand.

Join New York Times Bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand on the stunning beaches of St. John for the beginning of her thrilling new winter series-The Paradise. Winter in Paradise, the first book in the Paradise series, has everything that readers have come to know and love about an Elin Hilderbrand novel, plus a healthy dose of intrigue. Irene Steele's idyllic life-house, husband, family-is shattered when she is woken up by a late-night phone call. Her beloved husband has been found dead, but before Irene can process this tragic news, she must confront the perplexing details of her husband's death. He was found on St. John island, a tropical paradise far removed from their suburban life. Leaving the cold winter behind, Irene flies down to the beautiful Caribbean beaches of St. John only to make another shocking discovery: her husband

THE REPLACEMENT WIFE BY BRITNEY KING

9/26/2018

This is only the second book I have read from Britney King and I can say that I am totally addicted! If you are a fan of domestic thrillers and twisted endings, you need to grab this one!

Rating: ★★★★★
Release Date: May 3, 2018
Genre: Domestic Thriller
Series: None. Standalone.
Pages: 269 pages
Format: eBook. Purchased.

From the bestselling author of The Social Affair comes a new riveting, powerful psychological thriller which offers a savage look into a utopian cultish society where beauty and perfection are valued at all costs.

For readers of Gillian Flynn and Paula Hawkins, The Replacement Wife offers a peek into the lives of a married couple up against impossible odds and the notion that history has a way of repeating itself.

Statistically speaking, fifty percent of marriages end up in divorce. What are the odds formurder?

Widower Tom Anderson is a savant with more affinity for numbers than people. Problem is, one is a lonely number. Thankfully, he solved for X by finding the perfect woman. It wasn't easy. Tom is very specific. He has to be.

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