The Phantom Paragrapher

VBT# Review - Siblings: Emma's Story - Book #1 The Siblings Books - Hilary Coombes - June 2025 Sometimes the best reads come from the most unexpected places. When Zoe at Zooloos Book Tours put out a call for extra bloggers, I found myself raising my hand for Siblings: Emma's Story – definitely not something I would have picked up on my own. But isn't that the beauty of book tours? They push us out of our comfort zones and into stories we never knew we needed. Emma's journey hit me harder than I expected. Here's a woman who, despite not always recognizing it herself, embodies strength and resilience in ways that honestly reminded me of myself. Watching her navigate life's curveballs felt deeply personal, especially as she grappled with the fundamental question of identity after discovering her entire life had been built on lies. The story kicks off with Emma in a messy friendship fallout over a guy – we've all been there, right? When she sides with their n...

Review: Love Fast - Book #1 Colorado Club Billionaires - Louise Bay - April 2025 When I found myself staring at my Kindle with that familiar "what should I read next?" feeling, I decided it was time to tackle my ever-growing ARC pile. Thanks to Hambright PR for providing this advance copy! Knowing Louise Bay's track record for delivering swoon-worthy romance, I dove into "Love Fast" – and honestly, it was exactly what I needed. The story kicks off with Rosey literally running away from her wedding day. She's about to marry Frank, an older man who represents security rather than love, all to help her struggling family. But when push comes to shove, Rosey can't go through with sacrificing her happiness for financial stability. Instead, she becomes a runaway bride and somehow ends up in Star Falls, Colorado – a small town that immediately captured my heart with its cozy charm. Here's where the plot thickens: the local inn is completely booked because of...

Review: Out for Blood - Book #1 Private Investigator Logan Fox - Adam Nicholls - May 2022 There's something deeply satisfying about finding a crime thriller that doesn't just tick all the boxes but manages to surprise you along the way. Adam Nicholls' "Out for Blood" did exactly that for me, delivering a gritty serial killer story that had me glued to the pages well past my usual bedtime. The story follows Logan Fox, a former detective turned private investigator who's been running from his demons for six years. When his family was brutally murdered during a serial killer case, Logan's world imploded. He left the force, turned to private investigation, and built walls around himself that would make a fortress jealous. But when a new serial killer emerges, one who's carving up female victims and stealing body parts, Logan finds himself reluctantly pulled back into the darkness he's been trying to escape. What hooked me immediately was the personal...

Review: The Summer We Forgot - Caroline George - March 2022 Starting a new job this week has completely thrown my reading routine off balance. Between the longer days, shorter breaks, and the mental exhaustion that comes with learning everything from scratch, I've barely had time to crack open a book. Yet somehow, I managed to squeeze in three reads this past week, and The Summer We Forgot by Caroline George was one of them – a testament to how gripping this YA thriller turned out to be. The premise immediately hooked me: a group of teenagers who attended summer camp two years ago have absolutely no memory of what happened there, especially regarding their teacher who mysteriously vanished. It's like someone took an eraser to that entire summer in their minds. Some kids remember fragments – fleeting images, half-formed feelings – but the rest is a complete void they've learned to live with. That is, until their teacher's body surfaces, clearly murdered, and suddenly t...

Review: Another Girl Lost - Mary Burton - September 2024 You know that feeling when you're scrolling through your Kindle, completely over romance novels that just aren't hitting the mark anymore? That's exactly where I found myself recently, desperately hunting for something with more edge and suspense. That's when I stumbled across Mary Burton's "Another Girl Lost," and honestly, it had a couple of my absolute favorite thriller tropes right there in the description – I was sold before I even cracked it open. The book kicks off with one of those classic "Ten Years Later" moments that immediately hooks you. Construction workers are renovating a house when they make a grisly discovery: a body hidden in the walls. The remains belong to a young girl who vanished a decade ago, presumed to be another victim of a predator named Tanner. Here's where it gets interesting – Tanner's been dead for ten years, killed by Detective Kevin Dawson during a...

Review: Breaking Promises - Book #1 B-Boy Series - S.Briones Lim -2016 Life has been pulling me in a million directions lately, and I'll be honest—reading has definitely taken a backseat to everything else that's been happening. But when I was scrolling through my Kindle at the end of June, desperately searching for something to dive into, I stumbled across this gem I'd picked up way back in 2016. Sometimes the best discoveries are the ones that have been patiently waiting for you. "Breaking Promises" hit me like a wave of pure nostalgia. Remember those dance movies that dominated the late 90s and early 2000s? Step Up, Save the Last Dance, Stomp the Yard—the whole glorious bunch that had us all secretly practicing moves in our bedrooms? This book brought every single one of those memories flooding back, and I was absolutely here for it. S. Briones Lim introduces us to Aurora, a character who immediately grabbed my heart. After a devastating gymnastics accident t...

Review: Great and Precious Things - Rebecca Yarros - February 2020 Rebecca Yarros has yet to disappoint me when it comes to her romance novels, and while I'm still working my way through her catalog (yes, Fourth Wing is on my list—I promise I'll get there as a somewhat fantasy fan!), I decided to tackle another one from my ever-growing physical TBR pile. I snagged this gem secondhand from Facebook Marketplace, and honestly, it couldn't have come at a better time. Lately, life has been pulling me in different directions, and I haven't been in the headspace for romance reads. But something about Great and Precious Things just hit differently. I finished it with this overwhelming "WOW" feeling that reminded me of walking out of the cinema after watching A Star is Born with Lady Gaga—you know that powerful, emotionally stirring sensation that's hard to put into words but stays with you for days. The story follows Cal, who returns home after six years in th...

Review: The Woman at No. 3 - Rebecca Collomosse - July 2025 After being given the news of being made redundant, a week ago I found myself on an unexpected thriller mission, desperately seeking stories that could cut through the fog of uncertainty that redundancy brings. Romance novels felt impossibly frivolous when my own life had been turned upside down. That's when I discovered Zooloos Book Tours PR Company, a literary lifeline offering thriller books that promised the kind of edge-of-your-seat distraction I desperately needed. Today's selection, The Woman at No. 3, delivers exactly the kind of psychological unraveling that mirrors the disorientation of sudden life changes. The story follows Clara and Mike, a couple who believe they've found their dream home with their toddler Poppy, only to discover that dreams can quickly transform into nightmares when the foundation beneath your feet proves unstable. From the moment they arrive to find mysterious damage left by previ...