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Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – The Perfect Marriage (Jeneva Rose)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

Okay, so I’m in a weird binge with books lately, and honestly, I’m glad I did! So, The Perfect Marriage came up as a recommendation in my Kindle Unlimited, and my friend highly recommended it as well.

I honestly flew right through this book! I was so drawn in by not just the author’s writing style, but the mystery of trying to find out if her husband actually did kill his own mistress. It throws you in so many directions, twists, and turns that who you think is the killer changes every time.

Anyway, the book starts out with Sarah and Adam about to celebrate their 10th anniversary of being married. To give you a little backstory on these two people: Sarah and Adam met in college and eventually got married. Adam is a writer who has only had one bestseller and is struggling to get back out there, while Sarah is a lawyer for a law firm that she just became a partner of.

Adam wanted Sarah to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary at their lake cabin, but because Sarah is a famous lawyer, she ended up canceling their plans since work took priority. However, this is when you find out that Adam has a mistress, Kelly, whom he has been seeing for over a year.

Kelly met Adam when she was working as a waitress at a cafe where Adam wanted to get to know her more, and from there, they started an affair. Adam knows Kelly’s married, too; however, he doesn’t know that he is a cop.

So, since he knows that Sarah isn’t going to end up showing up, he invites Kelly over to the lake cabin. At this time, Adam also has his mind set that he wants to be with Kelly more than Sarah, especially since she barely makes time for him.

Adam ends up leaving the lake cabin late in the night since he promised Sarah he would be home to at least be with her, and that’s when she tells him that she is finally ready to have a baby, so they make love together and that is when Adam wants to end the affair with Kelly since Sarah is going to give him the one thing he’s been waiting for.

Well, the following day is when it starts to go downhill for Adam.

Before he left the cabin, he left Kelly a note, not only saying he would leave his wife for her, but to also have her make sure she leaves before 9am because their maid will be there to clean the cabin. The maid ends up finding Kelly, but she isn’t alive.

This is when Sarah finds out that her husband has been arrested for the murder of his mistress. Of course, this is a complete shock to her; finding out her husband had an affair is one thing, but to find out that he murdered her is another thing.

Sarah takes on her husband’s case to try to prove her husband is innocent. While also dealing with Adam’s mother, who is the mother-in-law from hell. I swear that mother-in-law drove me absolutely NUTS! Adam is definitely a mama’s boy, no doubt.

I wanted to throw Adam and his mother out! Sarah’s trying her best to prove her husband is innocent, while her mother-in-law is BLAMING her for her son having an affair when her son was the one who started the affair!

Thankfully, Sarah does stand up against her and puts her in her place, finally, but man, I was glad that she did because it was so needed. With everything going on, I’m surprised Sarah even wanted to take the case on, especially knowing that she would have to prove whether her husband actually did it or not.

Anyway, without giving up too much of the book, it was like reading an episode of Criminal Minds, but from the lawyer’s point of view. You do get the points of view from both Sarah and Adam, just to see what is going on in their minds during the time of all of this.

Overall, I loved how zoned into this book I got! I finished it in almost 24 hours! It keeps you on your toes for sure, and honestly, I was stuck on who I thought it was who murdered Kelly, but when you find out who it was, it blows your mind!

Oh, and there is a second book to this called The Perfect Divorce. I also plan on reading this one as well because I really loved the author’s writing style. Not to mention, I had to find out what happened when I finished the second book!

What did you think about this book? Did you finish it as quickly as I did? Who did you suspect was the murderer, and were you right or were you shocked to find out who it was in the end? Let me know in the comments down below!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – The Happy Family (Daniel Hurst)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

This is the last book of the thriller series that has caught me on the edge of my seat. The way the last one ended, I had to know if Luna is actually getting away with all this. I will be recapping the second book.

If you haven’t read that one, a spoiler alert is needed!

So, the second book starts off with Sadie trying to figure out who had done all this, and the only reason she could think of was Reid. He was the closest to her who would make the most sense to cause all of this.

She meets Gemma in prison, and they decide that they both agree that Reid had to be the one to falsely put her in prison and cause Sadie to get a DUI. They start working together to see if Reid will slip up and reveal he did this it all.

However, they are looking at the wrong person.

Luna is living her best life as she got what she wanted, but the man who saw her start the fire, she’s still sleeping with him, and comes up with the idea to murder him. In her first attempt, she tries to give him sleeping pills so that once he is out, she can pour alcohol down his throat to make it seem like he has drunk himself to death.

When that fails, she tries again by giving him these sex pills that will supposedly help with making sex more “pleasurable”, but she makes him take 4 dosages in one pill that she crushes up. He gets a heart attack while in the middle of having sex, and he dies right there.

Luna then finds his phone and erases all his contacts with her so it won’t be traced back to her when they find him dead. She thought all was well, but someone saw her leave his apartment. Reid’s son, Arthur, did, and he ended up telling his mom.

Sadie found it strange that she was leaving a man’s apartment and thought that Luna might be cheating on Reid, but she started to think something else had happened when it came out in the news that he was found dead in his apartment. She ends up telling the same detective who helped with the fire at her parents’ house.

Luna was able to talk out of it by saying she was a friend of his and that they used to go to AA meetings, and before he died, he checked in on him, saying he was heavily drinking again. Of course, she walks away from that scot-free, but she was pissed when she realized that Sadie was the one who told the detective to check her out.

What do you think this crazy woman ends up thinking she needs to do next? If you guessed murdering her, you are right on the money.

While Luna is planning on coming up with a way to get rid of Sadie, Reid caves and visits Gemma in prison. Gemma also tells Reid that she and Sadie are onto him about everything he’s done lately. Of course, Reid is too stupid to believe Gemma since he still thinks she is the one who started the fire.

Then he tells her she needs to leave him alone for the sake of his family and new girlfriend. Gemma is shocked by this information and tries to question if Luna had anything to do with this all, but he leaves before she can get any more information.

Meanwhile, Luna tries to lure Sadie into the forest in the middle of the night, claiming Reid and the kids wanted to go looking for foxes. Sadie doesn’t come alone and ends up leaving because of the bad feeling she has about this whole situation, but she wants to make sure Reid is telling the truth, so she decides to stop by and see the kids.

However, Luna gets there as soon as she pulls up and asks her how the trip with the kids and Reid was in the forest, before Sadie can knock on the door, since Reid and the kids are all inside and it would’ve blown up in her face if Sadie saw them all inside.

That’s not even the craziest part! Reid finds a positive pregnancy test in the bathroom trash. You read that right, Luna is pregnant! Reid gets all excited to have another baby, which shocks me because little did he know that the mother of his new unborn son is a complete and crazy monster!

That same night, Sadie gets a message from Gemma saying why didn’t she tell her about Reid dating someone new so quicky and then everything starts to make sense to Sadie that Reid wasn’t the one to do this, but Luna.

Sadie goes to confront Luna and get both her kids and her ex-husband out of the house. Little did she know that Luna was up, and they got into this fight, which ended with Luna being stabbed in the arm and Sadie falling down the stairs and hitting her head.

The way the second book ends, Luna gets stitched up at the hospital, and Sadie had a bad head trauma, so she ended up in a coma so her brain could heal.

So, the third book starts out after Luna has had the baby, a son. Sadie is still in a coma, and Ruby, Reid, and Sadie’s daughter, isn’t handling it well. I felt so heartbroken for those kids because they have been through so much stuff in the past 2 years.

Anyway, Luna thinks she is in the clear until a month after she had her baby, the doctors let Reid and Sadie’s parents know that she has started to show brain activity and might wake up any day now. This puts Luna in a panic because she’s afraid Sadie will tell everyone about what she has done.

Gemma finds out that Sadie’s been in a coma and knows that Luna did it. She gets help from one of the prison guards to try and tell Reid that this was all Luna’s doing, but of course, Reid doesn’t believe them because Luna has him wrapped around her finger.

Not only does Luna have to worry about Sadie, but she also finds out Gemma is onto her. Luna is willing to do anything and everything to protect what she’s gotten so far. I mean, anything, she’s already gotten away with killing one person, so fair.

She tries to kill Sadie when she gets admitted to the hospital, but when she unplugs everything that is attached to Sadie, Sadie wakes up. Of course, the nurses rush in; they question why Luna is in there, but they are attending to Sadie. So far, Sadie doesn’t remember anything that happened before she went into the coma.

Of course, Reid, the kids, and Sadie’s parents come to the hospital when they find she’s awake. Luna also sees that her luck hasn’t quite run out yet, as she sees Gemma visiting one of the patients with a guard. Turns out Gemma’s mother is dying from cancer and was released so she could say her goodbyes.

The amount of luck Luna gets at that happens is ridiculous. Nurses don’t really question her about Sadie or the fact that she had a pillow in her hand that she was going to smother Sadie with. Then, to be in the same place as the other person who suspects you, it was like she was handed this golden opportunity.

I won’t say anything else because I really don’t want to ruin it, but the way the story ends, it’s just shocking how dumb Reid is about all this. It’s like he doesn’t believe that Luna would do what she did just to get him and his kids. Karma is a bitch, and boy, she delivers at the end of it.

Overall, this series kept me on my toes, waiting to see what the next crazy thing she is going to do next. It just blows my mind how unhinged she gets, even towards the end. This series was also a quick read for me; I pretty much read the last two books in less than a day.

I also honestly didn’t think I would be able to get into a thriller, but it was more enjoyable than I thought! Plus, with books like these being page-turners, I will no doubt be on my way to completing my reading goal for the year!

What did you think of this unhinged character? Were you just as shocked as I was with some of the stuff she did? Let me know in the comments down below!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – Mistakes Were Made (Lucy Score)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

So, this book is actually the sequel to Story of My Life, the one I reviewed last week. Instead of the story continuing on with Hazel and Cam, this actually focuses on Zoey and Gage. Zoey is Hazel’s publisher and best friend, while Gage is Cam’s younger brother.

The book starts out right when the first one ended, which I’m going to put a spoiler alert out to everyone, especially those who haven’t read the first book yet.

It starts with Cam and Hazel planning their wedding at the same time Zoey is relaunching Hazel’s new book series. Of course, Hazel is worried that it won’t do well, but Zoey encourages her to push on and get started on a sequel to her new series. There’s just one problem: Hazel used herself for the last one as an example to work through and needs inspiration from another couple.

This is where Zoey comes in; however, Zoey doesn’t know if she is going to live out here in Story Lake because she wants to go back to New York, but everything starts falling apart for her. Zoey finds out that she either needs to move out of her apartment or buy it, as the new owners are turning it into a condominium.

However, Gage, knowing that Zoey is Hazel’s best friend and had the extra space above where his law office is, cleaned it out and offered it to Zoey to live there for the time being until she finds something else. Of course, grumpy Cam tells Gage right away that Zoey is off limits as it’s his fiancée’s best friend.

One thing I love about romance novels is that when a character is told not to do something, especially like “don’t date or sleep with my future wife’s best friend”, it ends up happening anyway! Nothing wrong with a forbidden love affair!

Anyway, both Gage and Zoey start to realize they have an attraction to each other, but make it very clear they don’t want to be in a relationship. More like a “friends with benefits” situation since they both are clearly opposites from each other.

Zoey doesn’t want a relationship because she’s not ready to settle down and has been burned before by an ex. Plus, she is very focused on getting her career back on track after being fired for helping Hazel get back on her feet.

While Gage does want a relationship, he wants to get married and start a family, but hasn’t had the best of luck finding a woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. It also didn’t help that his oldest grumpy brother, Cam, was able to find love when they never thought he would find anyone to begin with.

With all that going on, Zoey is offered to help the town of Story Lake become more of a tourist destination, especially with Hazel’s new book launch, she creates a Readers Weekend. Not to mention, she ropes in all the help she can get from the town and sees if it can be a complete success for not only Hazel but for the town as well.

Of course, as in most “friends with benefits” situations, both of them start to develop feelings towards each other, and Zoey debates whether she wants to actually leave Story Lake, but also makes it known to Gage that she can’t ever have kids. She knows that one of his wishes was to have kids, but Gage is already thinking ahead of her and still wants her regardless because she has changed his wishes and wants her in his life.

There is also the “big fight” or some type of problem that separates them, this one being Zoey throwing herself out there to protect one of Gage’s clients/friends, but I’ll let you find out what happens without me spoiling it for you.

Overall, I love the chemistry between the two! Just like the last book, Hazel and Cam were complete opposites. Gage and Zoey are different in that sense since Gage is very organized, while Zoey is a mess, but she later finds out in the book that there was a reason why she has been like this; she finds out she is diagnosed with ADHD.

Not only does she learn how to handle it, but Gage is already experienced with knowing how to handle someone with ADHD, and even helps her when she feels like her life is getting out of control again. Which I honestly think makes her fall even more in love with him.

You know if you have found someone truly incredible when they can handle and show they love you more, even on your very worst days. That to me is true love! Don’t get me wrong, Hazel was in a dark place when she met Cam, but I think Zoey’s situation is a little bit different since she didn’t know she had ADHD. Gage, without question, didn’t judge her or anything; instead helped her with what he knew about ADHD that helped others.

There are a few smutty scenes, but it’s just the right amount, nothing that overdoes it. The first book was just right with them; however, I actually liked the second book a little bit more. Don’t get me wrong, I loved how the first books’ smutty scenes were with Hazel and Cam; however, I liked Zoey and Gage a bit more.

I honestly liked the sequel a bit more than the first one, but they share equal love from me! Now the real problem is waiting until the third book comes out, which won’t be until March 2027! Which I know seems like forever away, but I know that it will be here faster than we know!

Let me know how you liked this one versus the first one, and if you are excited and can’t wait for the third one to come out, let me know down below!

Also, who are we guessing the third one will be about? I did look it up and came to find out it is going to focus on the last Bishop brother, Levi! I thought for sure it might focus on their sister, but it makes sense that it’s only a 3-book series and there are only 3 Bishop brothers. I’m just curious who the author is going to pair him with!

Posted in Books, Reviews

Book Review – If Only I Had Told Her (Laura Nowlin)

Posted on by Katie Night

Hey Dearies!

This book is actually the sequel to If He Had Been With Me. If you haven’t read the first one, I highly recommend you do so, as this post contains spoilers from the first book.

So, a spoiler alert is in effect.

At the end of the first book, If He Had Been With Me, Finn and Autumn confess their feelings for each other. They slept with each other, and Finn had planned to see Sylvie the next day to end things with her so he could be with Autumn.

However, he got into a car crash and was fine, but he saw that Sylvie didn’t have her seat belt on and was launched through the window when they crashed. He went to go help her and got electrocuted, as it was also downpouring in the rain. Finn didn’t make it, but Sylvie did.

Autumn, of course, is heartbroken about this and tries to end her life. She did get saved in time and was taken to the hospital to recover, and also found out she is pregnant with Finn’s baby. This was a month after Finn had died that she tried to take her life.

That’s how the book ends, and when I read that, I had so many questions about what would happen after that. You just can’t end a book at a cliffhanger like that, not know what happens next!

The sequel pretty much starts from Finn’s POV, I want to say right before the accident. So, he’s helping Autumn with the breakup with Jamie. Spoiler alert: he dumped her to go be with her best friend, Sasha. I saw something sort of happening because Jamie was spending more one-on-one time with Sasha, and I guess they had better chemistry.

I honestly think that because Autumn never slept with him, I think that’s why he sort of went to Sasha, because before Autumn and Jamie started dating, Sasha also liked Jamie, but Jamie was more interested in Autumn than Sasha.

Anyway, Finn and Autumn spend the summer together, spending time like they did when they were best friends and before the distance had happened. Finn was starting to pull away from Sylvie, but he did tell Autumn he wanted to break up with her in person, since that’s what his best friend, Jack, suggested that he do.

I really liked that we got more of how Finn was feeling because you didn’t really know until towards the end of the book when he confessed he’s always been in love with her. I honestly wish the first book were a mix of both Finn and Autumn’s POV, but having him in this POV definitely showcased his feelings for her.

Plus, you also have to read about what the fight between Sylvie and Finn was about. Apparently, Sylvie already had a feeling that Autumn and he were getting closer while she was away on a trip to Europe. She confronted him while he was driving in the rain, which led to the accident.

However, after Finn’s POV ends, it goes to his best friend, Jack’s POV. I really had a hard time reading his POV, I really did. I swear I was falling ASLEEP trying to get through his point of view. I’m not kidding, I read during my breaks at work, and my co-workers saw me dozing off while reading his POV.

First of all, you only hear about him and meet him once in Autumn’s POV. Which is why I really wished the author did it in both POV’s because you only get Autumns and only really get to know about Jack’s in Finn’s POV. If we knew more about him BEFORE in the first book, I could relate to him more, but he’s just a stranger, and honestly, not really necessary to have in this book.

It also doesn’t make any sense to have his POV, I’d rather Sylvie’s POV be in there instead of his! You guys, I really almost gave up on this book completely because of his POV. However, I made it through, thankfully, which brings us back to Autumn’s POV.

Thankfully, her POV was her coming with the terms that she’s pregnant and both Finn and her mother, or the Mothers, as Autumn calls them, are helping her cope with not only the loss of Finn, but preparing her to become a new mother so young.

She also gets some help from one of her friends, Angie, who ended up getting pregnant while in high school, just to understand how different your life is after having a child so young. It also makes me feel better that she still goes to therapy and group therapy, too.

You do find out she’s having a girl as well, but the book ends before she gives birth, which I was bummed about because it would be nice to see her raise their child and that scrapbook she wanted to create for the baby, with memories that they had with Finn when he was alive.

Honestly, I’d like the book more if it went into details and skipped to when their daughter is older and can react to seeing what her dad was like. I’d probably get more tearful about those verses when he died, since I figured that is what had happened.

Overall, it wrapped up the book okay. It wouldn’t be something I’d read again, honestly. Jack’s POV just ruined it for me. It was okay to know how his other best friend was dealing with it, but Jack is so emotionless that it’s hard to relate to or sympathize with him.

I did like how it showed the aftermath of how difficult it was to lose a loved one very suddenly, and learning how to cope with the loss. Again, I really wish the original book were in both Finn’s and Autumn’s POV. Then again, the name of the sequel would definitely have to change. It would’ve been interesting to switch Jack’s POV with Sylvie’s POV.

Anyway, what did you guys think about the sequel? Did you struggle to get through Jack’s POV as much as I did, or did it wrap up loose ends from the first book? Let me know down below!