Review: Shocking Crimes - Book #14 Detective Sophie Allen Series - Michael Hambling - November 2025 There's something uniquely unsettling about discovering a child's body in a suitcase which made me think of the New Zealand case, a couple of years ago when the two asian children were found dead in suitcases and left in a storage shed, and Michael Hambling doesn't pull any punches in this latest Detective Sophie Allen mystery. From the moment I opened Shocking Crimes, I knew I was in for a dark, compelling ride. The premise grabbed me immediately: a mummified child's body hidden in a loft, accompanied only by a heartbreaking, badly-spelled note – "Im Jan. im only 10. plees help me." Those simple words haunted me throughout the entire read. Hambling has a gift for making you feel the weight of every tragedy his characters uncover. What could have been a straightforward cold case investigation takes on layers of complexity when a young student, Holly Evans, ends...

Review: Fear of Flames - Aleatha Romig - October 2025 Years ago, I devoured Aleatha Romig's cult thriller series and absolutely loved every page-turning moment. So when I spotted Fear the Flames available through Hambright PR, I practically pounced on it. There's something about Aleatha Romig's writing that just hooks me, and I couldn't wait to dive back into her world. I wasn't disappointed – I tore through this one faster than you can say "one more chapter." The story opens with protagonist Michelle, who writes thrillers under the pen name D.Valentine. While staying at her father's house, she hears an unsettling noise downstairs. What she discovers is absolutely devastating  her father's body and flames about to engulf everything. It's a heart-wrenching, explosive start that immediately grabbed me by the throat. Enter Fletch, also known as Arrow, who appears seemingly out of nowhere with intimate knowledge of Michelle and her family. In thi...

Review: The Missing Witness - Book #5 Quinn and Costa Series - Allison Brennan - January 2024 This was one book I had been excited for as I am normally a big fan of Allison Brennan's books, however this one was very close to doing my head in. Yes, overall it was a great thriller but it just felt like there was way tooo much happening for my little brain to process. I also didn't like the way Kara Quinn was portrayed and acted in this book, we know that she often does things her way and despite being out of the box and outside the lines of the law - she does get results and her cases get solved. In this book, we start with the David Chen case - the Chinese trafficking ring and Kara has been in hiding as she is testifying in the case. However, this ends up having a pin put in it as David is shot. Violet Halliday is the missing witness, she works as an IT geek for City Hall and we learn she has been helping with another case that involves pilfering homeless grants and funding. Sh...

Review: The Art of Being Friends - Book #1 The Art of Being Friends Series - Jessica Sorensen - April 2020 I am always left with mixed emotions when I finish any book by Jessica Sorensen, the first is excitement as I know that before I start any of her books I will love it and end up enjoying it and feeling for her damaged and broken characters. She was one of the first New Adult authors that I read many moons ago and an author, I will always love. The second is sadness as I also know that she is similar to the author Scarlett Haven who write a great first book and then they don't end up finishing the darn series and writes book 2 or a conclusion and you as a reader is left hanging and just hoping or in my case making up your ending of the series and conclusions. Years ago, we learn that Raven's parents were killed or murdered and Raven for some reason blames herself for it, she now lives with her uncle who is the sheriff, and his wife and child. The uncle is a sadistic brut...

Calling Quarters Jen Stevens (Beacon Grove, #1) Publication date: October 7th 2021 Genres: Contemporary, New Adult I was raised to believe that towns full of witches were only in movies, and those spell books my aunt studied were just a silly pastime. I had no idea of the important role I play in a coven with zero knowledge of my existence, or the sacrifice my parents made by leaving behind everything they knew to protect me. In the wake of my aunt’s mysterious death, I have no other choice but to return to my birthplace for answers. But Beacon Grove is a twisted place where distrust spreads like cancer, lies fester, and the truth is nearly impossible to find. One thing I’m sure of is the danger that Remy Winters and our inexplicable connection pose to me as one of the Quarters of the Watchtower coven. Through painstaking research and placing my trust in this man who has been trained since birth to hunt me, I learn that my family is far more intertwined with the tight-knit ...

Title: The Dead Girl’s Stiletto Author: Quinn Avery Genre: Mystery Thriller Cover Designer: Najla Qamber Publication Date: April 2 nd , 2019 Hosted by: Lady Amber's PR Blurb: Nearly a decade after moving across the country, journalist Bexley Squires returns home when one of Hollywood’s brightest stars makes her an offer she can’t refuse. After all, it’ll take more than the chump change in her bank account to find her missing sister. But the elite seaside community of Papaya Springs has become more corrupt than she imagined, and she soon stumbles into a web of twisted games played by the rich and famous. With time running out, can she save her sister before it's game over? Buy Links: Amazon US  |  Amazon UK  |  iBooks  |  Nook  |  Kobo QUINN AVERY is a bestselling and award winning author from the Midwest with 27 novels published under various pen names. The Bexley Squires Mystery series is the first mystery/...

Review: The Sound of Rain - Gregg Olsen - December 2016 After recently reading one of Gregg Olsen's books, I was hooked on his writing and when I saw that he had a new one out called The Sound of Rain. I knew I had to read it and I was more than certain that I would enjoy it. In The Sound of Rain, we meet Detective Nicole Foster whom just before Christmas season is called to a crime scene where a little girl has been abducted from her mother's car while out shopping with the family. This was a weird case from the beginning with the mother coming across as cold and the answers not matching up with the questions and then when evidence goes missing and suspects turn up dead. Nicole knows something is seriously wrong and suspects corruption, but due to her past, she is dismissed and eventually ends up losing everything and becoming homeless. Months later, this case continues to haunt Nicole, and she decides to do some more digging into it and finds a similar ...