The Phantom Paragrapher

Eva is Waiting Romola Farr Publication date: February 14th 2025 Genres: Adult, Historical, Thriller Following the death of her mother, Lily is sent to a remote girls’ boarding school, tearing her away from all the excitement of London in the Swingin’ Sixties. Bereft, she develops a relationship with Rainer, the husband of Sylvia, the headmistress. One day, Bella, the school Collie, goes missing whilst playing on the shore below sheer cliffs. Despite a rising tide, Lily is determined to find the beautiful dog and discovers her trapped between rocks in a cave. Deepening water swirls around them as her fingertips dig into the sand and touch the smooth surface of what she believes to be an animal skull. From that moment on, she is haunted by a young girl pleading for help. Lily speaks to her headmistress and learns that eleven years previously a pupil went missing. Eva was a refugee from Hungary, and it was assumed by the police that she had run away. Forced to stay on at schoo...

Time Travel Swap Connie Lacy Publication date: February 26th 2025 Genres: Adult, Romance, Time-Travel A unique time travel romance With her star rising and her rock band about to hit the big time, Carly Munro is infuriated to find herself whisked thirty years into the future. Her band needs her. So does her guitarist boyfriend – her partner in the band. But the doorway that transported her to 2054 seems to be a one-way street. A guy named Ian takes her in and becomes her ally as she tries find her way home. They discover her trip through time may have been more than just a random accident of nature. There’s something suspicious about how it all went down. Stuck in the future, she can’t help feeling that her life has been stolen. When Carly and Ian develop feelings for one another, it comes as bad news since she has no intention of giving up the music career she worked so hard to build. To her ears, the pop music of 2054 sounds like it’s straight off an Artificial Intellige...

Review: Want - Book #2 Men of Inked: Sinners Series - Chelle Bliss - March 2025 After a string of DNF reads, Want by Chelle Bliss swooped in like a warm hug on a cold day—and what a perfect choice it turned out to be. As someone who’s read and enjoyed a few books from the original Gallo Brothers series, I was beyond excited to dive into this spin-off. The moment I saw it featured Santino (Tino) and Betty’s extended family, I was all in. The story kicks off with Brax, who’s working behind the bar when Iris walks in, having just been stood up on a blind date. Cue the snowstorm of the century—classic Chicago vibes—and a very generous offer from Brax’s sister Tate to let Iris crash in the apartment above her tattoo shop. What starts as a night of awkward but cute proximity soon becomes the beginning of something real between Brax and Iris. Iris, however, comes with baggage. Her ex not only broke her heart, but also left her with a dangerous mess—he owes some very bad people a lot of mon...

Review: The Perfect Cheerleader - Cole Baxter - October 2022 Cole Baxter, best known for his adult psychological thrillers, delivers a darkly addictive YA offering with The Perfect Cheerleader—a razor-sharp high school thriller aimed at the 16-30 crowd that asks: how far would you go to get rid of the most popular girl in school? Set against the backdrop of Sherman Oaks High School, this book plunges readers into a world where popularity is power and cruelty is currency. At the top of the food chain sits Bea Ardent—rich, stunning, untouchable, and utterly ruthless. She’s the kind of queen bee who rules through intimidation, and when she feels threatened by new girl Melanie Glass, the claws come out. Melanie is everything Bea isn’t: warm, kind, and genuinely liked. But being the “nice girl” doesn’t make her safe. As Bea’s schemes grow more twisted, readers are taken on a breathless ride through jealousy, manipulation, and psychological warfare. If you love books with unreliable friendsh...

Review: If We Ever Meet Again - Book #1 If Love Series - Ana Huang - June 2020 With the popularity of Ana Huang's Twisted and Kings series, I decided to hop on the Ana Huang bandwagon and of course being the type of person I am, I brought all of her series in its entirety and then what happened is that they ended up on my bookshelf, till the spark occurs to read them. I needed something that felt like a quick romance read as the other ones I had tried were just blah and boring. Ana Huang's If Love series is not too big so I grabbed the first one and started reading. The first chapter was a break-up scene so we already get the idea that this book will not end in HEA and it's a book that we all can relate to as most of us have had that one love that we have fallen hard in, only to be left hurt and the one standing on the sidelines while the other person walks away. The love that should be forever, but for some reason, it can never happen that way.  Farrah and Blake, both met ...

Review: Witchcraft for Wayward Girls - Grady Hendrix - January 2025 Set against the haunting backdrop of a 1970s unwed mothers home in St. Augustine, Florida, Witchcraft for Wayward Girls is Grady Hendrix at his most chilling—and most heartbreaking. Combining the author’s signature horror-tinged storytelling with a devastating slice of social history, this novel struck an especially personal chord with me. Like the girls in this story, my own mother had her child taken from her as a teenager under the guise of “what’s best,” a story so many women in that era know too well. We follow 15-year-old Fern, frightened, pregnant, and utterly alone as she enters the rigid confines of the Wellwood Home. Girls like Fern are labelled “loose” and “troubled,” stripped of their autonomy and made to follow a life path dictated by shame and control. But what begins as a bleak narrative of conformity slowly morphs into something powerful, strange—and even a little magical. When a mysterious Mobile Libra...

lush Tinia Montford Publication date: March 31st 2025 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Suspense Laurene King had it all: beauty, wealth, and a sexy secret affair with Reese Ashbourne— the brooding heir of her family’s sworn enemy. But one reckless night shattered everything. Tragedy struck. Laurene disappeared. And Reese was left with betrayal, unanswered questions, and scars he’ll never forget. Now, Laurene is back, forced to return to the life she fled, but her homecoming comes with a cruel twist. Their families, teetering on the edge of ruin, have resurrected an old deal to save themselves: an Ashbourne and a King must marry—or lose everything. Only this time, Reese is the groom. Not his brother. Haunted by the past, Reese craves revenge as much as he still craves her. Trapped in a forced proximity neither can escape, their chemistry ignites—and so do their secrets. But someone knows the truth about that night. The lies that tore them apart are unraveling, and th...

Review: The Good Samaritan - Toni Halleen - March 2025 The Good Samaritan by Toni Halleen is a chilling psychological thriller that delves into the complexities of redemption, moral choices, and the consequences of helping others—even when it might be the wrong thing to do. Matthew Larkin, a sociology professor whose life has unraveled in the wake of his toddler son’s death, is barely holding it together. After a messy divorce, the estrangement of his daughter, and the loss of his job, Matthew is clinging to the last thread of stability with a new tenure-track position at a small college. But life has a way of testing you when you're already at your breaking point, and that test comes on a desolate stretch of road one stormy evening. Caught in a hailstorm, Matthew’s attention is drawn to a small child huddled under a tarpaulin. The boy is unconscious, soaked, and potentially hypothermic. In a split-second decision, Matthew makes the choice to rescue him, even though it means putt...

Review: Return to Wyldcliffe Heights - Carol Goodman - July 2024 Reading Return to Wyldcliffe Heights felt like stepping into a world of eerie deja vu. Even though Goodreads told me I hadn’t read it before, there was something about this book that felt so familiar—perhaps because it taps into a beloved trope of mine: the unreliable narrator. It’s a type of story I can never resist, and this one absolutely delivered. Agnes Corey, a junior editor, is hired to transcribe the long-awaited sequel to The Secret of Wyldcliffe Heights , a 1993 literary hit by the reclusive author Veronica St. Clair. St. Clair’s life has been shrouded in mystery since the release of her book, which was followed by a tragic fire that left her scarred and blind. When Agnes arrives at St. Clair’s crumbling estate, once a psychiatric hospital for “wayward women,” she expects a routine project. But as St. Clair dictates the sequel, Agnes uncovers chilling details that blur the line between fiction and reality, h...

Review: A Tempest of Tea - Book #1 Blood and Tea Series - Hafsah Faizal - February 2024 A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal is a whirlwind of steampunk vibes, danger, and deceit, with a twist of romance and intrigue that will keep you hooked from start to finish. Set in the vibrant city of White Roaring, the story centers on Arthie Casimir, a criminal mastermind who runs a seemingly innocent tearoom by day, which secretly transforms into an underground bloodhouse catering to the city's feared vampires by night. When her empire is at risk, Arthie must forge an unlikely alliance with a dangerous adversary to protect her world—one that balances precariously between the living and the undead. Faizal’s world-building is exceptional. Picture the elegance and intrigue of The Parasol Protectorate series combined with the high-stakes action of Heist Royale, and you’ll get a glimpse into the dazzling yet perilous life of White Roaring. Arthie is a force to be reckoned with, balancing power, wi...