Review: A Thousand Perfect Lies - Monica Murphy - March 2026 Last year, I decided it was going to be my Monica Murphy year, and I happily worked my way through her Lancaster Prep series. Oh, how I fell in love with her writing! So when I spotted a brand new release from her, there was no question that it was going straight onto my reading pile, and I’m delighted to say it didn’t disappoint. If you’re a fan of Karen McManus and Sara Shepard and their twisty YA thrillers, pop the kettle on and settle in, because A Thousand Perfect Lies is right up your street. The story centres on Billie, whose parents divorced when she was young. Billie stayed in the US with her mum, while her sister Izzy went off to the UK with their dad. The sisters built separate lives, but they kept their bond alive through phone calls, weaving in and out of each other’s days. Now Izzy needs her sister more than ever. She’s lying in a coma, her best friend is dead, and the police believe Izzy is the murderer. Bil...

VBT# Good Twin, Bad Twin - Renita D'Silva - October 2026 I’ll admit it straight away: I have a soft spot for stories about twins. There’s something endlessly fascinating about two people who start out so alike and end up so different, and Good Twin, Bad Twin gave me plenty to chew on. It opens with a chilling hook. A postcard arrives bearing a pretty Cotswold village and a nickname only one person ever used, a person who, by rights, shouldn’t be able to send it. If she’s alive, then whose body is buried under the patio? I was hooked by the end of the first chapter. Our narrator was the shy, bookish twin, forever living in the shadow of her golden sister. Now she has what she always wanted: a stunning home on the Dorset cliffs, a handsome husband and a beautiful teenage daughter. But her husband vanishes at night, and the family dog seems to be the only one who truly loves her. Cosy it is not, and I loved every unsettling minute. This is very much an unreliable narrator story, and...

Review: My Twin Sister - Alesha Dykema - August 2026 There are some thriller tropes that I just can’t resist, and long-lost family members, missing people and someone coming back from the dead are definitely high on my list. So when I picked up My Twin Sister by Alesha Dykema, I was immediately intrigued. Because how would you react if the twin sister you believed had died eighteen years ago suddenly walked into your father’s funeral? That is exactly what happens to Gen. Grace was supposed to have drowned when the sisters were just nineteen. Gen has spent nearly two decades believing that her twin is gone, so seeing Grace standing there, alive and well, is understandably a huge shock. But the surprises don’t stop there. Grace reveals that she suffered from amnesia and has only just remembered who she really is. Except Gen doesn’t believe her. And there’s a very good reason for that. Grace was once in love with Gen’s husband, Wyatt. Suddenly, Gen is living the life that Grace once dream...

VBT Review - She Stole My Baby - Jessica Huntley - July 2026 Grab a cuppa and get comfy, because I have another one for you from an author who has fast become one of my absolute favourites  Jessica Huntley. I've had the pleasure of being part of a few of her book tours now, and every single time I come away thinking "how does she keep doing this to me?" She Stole My Baby is no exception, and honestly, it might just be one of her best yet. If you've hung around this blog for any length of time, you'll know my weakness. Found family ? Yes please. Identical twins ? Sign me up. Mistaken identity that spirals into absolute chaos? I am there. This book ticks every single one of those boxes and then wraps them up in a thriller so tense I had to keep reminding myself to breathe. We meet Poppy first,  a woman who did the thing so many of us dream of doing and quietly worry we can't: she built a career and became a mum. A one night stand left her with her daughter ...

Review: The Half Sister - Sandie Jones - June 2020 There are certain themes that will always pull me straight off the shelf, and this book had two of them: a secret sibling, and DNA testing. I'm a sucker for both, but the second one hits especially close to home. A few years ago, I did my own DNA test on a whim, never expecting it to lead anywhere. It ended up leading me to my dad's family , people we had no idea existed, uncovered after 65 years of not knowing. One test, a lot of late-night rabbit-hole searching, and suddenly a whole branch of family history opened up that had been hiding in plain sight all along. So when a novel promises a knock on the door and a DNA result that turns a family upside down, I'm already sitting down with a cup of tea, ready to be pulled in. That's exactly how The Half Sister opens. Kate and Lauren have their Sunday lunch ritual down to a comforting art , a tradition that's meant even more since losing their dad. It's the kind ...

Review: The Secrets Next Door - Sally Royer-Derr - March 2024 Happy birthday to me  and what better way to celebrate than curled up with a twisty thriller and a cup of tea? Today feels like the perfect day to share my thoughts on The Secrets Next Door by Sally Royer-Derr, because honestly, this book gave me the kind of gift only a great story can: the thrill of not seeing it coming (well, almost). There's something so unsettling and delicious about a thriller that asks, "How well do we really know the people closest to us?" That question sits at the heart of this story, and Sally Royer-Derr uses it like a scalpel. Talia thinks she knows her life inside and out , her marriage to Zach, her bond with her identical twin Tabitha, even the sprawling generosity of Tabitha and her husband, who bought Talia and Zach the house right next door. Sounds cozy, right? Like something out of a dream where family stays close and life is sweet. But then Anne moves in. Anne, a thriller wr...

Review: The Other Sister - Book #2 Family Secrets - Donna Hill - June 2020 You know how sometimes you end up reading a book completely by accident? That's exactly what happened with The Other Sister by Donna Hill – my first read of 2026! I was scrolling through my Kindle looking for another book with the same title, but when that one turned into a DNF, I just stayed on the search results page and clicked on Donna Hill's version instead. Best accidental click ever! Even though this is Book #2 in a series, you can absolutely read it as a standalone,  I had no trouble jumping right in. The story opens with Kimberly, who's just had her entire world turned upside down. Imagine discovering that your parents are actually your grandparents, your brother is really your father, and you're half Black when you've spent your whole life as a white Southern belle in high society. Talk about an identity crisis! What makes things even more complicated is Kimberly's husband, w...

Review: Got You - Erik Therme - October 2025 There's something unsettling about family dynamics we can't quite fix, and Erik Therme captures this perfectly in Got You. When I picked up this psychological thriller for the 3Ps Virtual Book Tour with Zooloos Book Tours, I wasn't prepared for how personally it would resonate. Leah has never been close to her younger half-sister Amanda , a reality that hit close to home for me as I am not close to my half-brother . Amanda's life is a chaotic tangle of poor decisions and toxic relationships, and Leah has learned to expect late-night crisis calls. But when Amanda phones frantically demanding a ride to Belmont, insisting her son is in danger, Leah is confused. Amanda doesn't have any children. Before Leah can unravel the truth, Amanda runs into traffic and is killed. What follows is a masterfully crafted descent into paranoia and grief that had me questioning everything alongside Leah. The coroner's report reveals ha...

VBT# Long Lost Sister - NL Hinkens - September 2025 Long Lost Sister by NL Hinkens explores the dangerous territory of family secrets and misplaced trust, delivering a psychological thriller that kept me turning pages even when I wasn't entirely convinced by every plot point. Piper's journey resonates on a deeply personal level with me right now. As someone who recently discovered through Ancestry.com that my father has a half-sister named Lisa Phillips, I found myself drawn into Piper's desperate search for belonging and family connection. The yearning to understand where you come from, to find that missing piece of your identity, is something that hits close to home. Like Piper, I've been reaching out to a long-lost relative (though Lisa hasn't been active on the platform for over a year), hoping to bridge decades of separation and discover new family stories. NL Hinkens crafts an intriguing premise: Piper, fresh out of prison for vigilante justice against those ...