Review: Little Lies - Book #0 - Little Mercies Series - Heather Gudenkauf - March 2014 Heather Gudenkauf has been one of my favourite thriller authors for years now, and there's something so comforting about picking up her books like settling into a well-worn armchair, except the story inside might keep you up past bedtime. Little Lies, a prequel to her novel Little Mercies, is exactly the kind of quick, absorbing read I reach for when I want to be pulled in fast and not let go until the last page. The premise hooks you immediately: the body of a woman is found in a local park, her bewildered four-year-old son sitting quietly beside her, too young to understand what's happened. It's a gut-punch of an opening image, the kind that makes your chest tighten even before you know any of the details. Veteran social worker Ellen Moore is brought in to help the police, and I loved having her as our guide through this one. There's something grounding about a protagonist whose jo...

Review: Forget You Saw Her - Book #0 Ask For Andrea Series - Noelle W. Ihli - November 2025 Lately, I’ve found myself completely captivated by the works of Noelle W. Ihli . If you are a fan of fast-paced, "unputdownable" thrillers like those by Freida McFadden or Faith Gardner , then Ihli needs to be at the absolute top of your TBR pile. Her latest release , Forget You Saw Her , has been sitting on my desk for a while, and before I even opened the first page, I had a massive cover crush . It is stunning, moody, and perfectly sets the tone for the story withi n. For those who have read Noelle W. Ihli’s previous hit, Ask For Andrea , you’ll remember the haunting premise of ghostly women banding together in the afterlife to take down the man who ended their lives. It was a unique, chilling concept. Forget You Saw Her serves as the prequel , diving deep into Andrea’s personal story. What I found most fascinating was finally learning the "origin story" of the famous ba...

Review: So We Lie - Book #17 Eva Rae Thomas Series - Willow Rose - October 2021 Willow Rose has done it again with So We Lie , a riveting addition to the Eva Rae Thomas series that takes us back to where it all began. Published as Book #17 in the series, this prequel is a brilliant standalone that offers readers a glimpse into Eva Rae’s early days as an FBI profiler with the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU). Fans of Criminal Minds will find themselves right at home with this gripping, psychological thriller. The story kicks off with the mysterious death of Arlene Wood, a mother of two who crashes her car into a tree at four in the morning. While the accident seems cut-and-dry, the discovery of unusual evidence in the car’s wreckage casts doubt on the initial findings. When Arlene’s husband is convicted of her murder, the case appears closed—but questions linger. What drove Arlene to leave her home in the dead of night? Was she meeting someone? And if so, who? Fast-forward six years, a...

              Review: Sinclair - Book #0.5 Acquisition Series - Celia Aaron - January 2016 Clearing the Kindle of old books can be an exciting journey as you stumble across gems that you had forgotten about or books that are part of a series you read and you are suddenly reunited with your favourite characters. This series is one of those where the main male characters are villains but also you can't help but fall in love with them as you know that deep down there is some spark of niceness inside of them somewhere, they just need the right person to help them release it. Sinclair is the prequel quick read for the Acquisition series by Celia Aaron. In this book, we read about how Sinclair witnessed the transformation of his mother as she turned into a Sovereign and then the beginning of Stella and how she came to be part of the Vinemont's property with her father's downfall. Like most prequels, Sinclair is a very quick read and one of those books that...

Pretend R.L. Mathewson (Neighbor from Hell, #14) Publication date: March 3rd 2023 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance From New York Time’s bestselling author R.L. Mathewson comes the prequel to the disturbingly funny romantic comedy series, Neighbor from Hell. She couldn’t do this anymore. After watching her best friend and the man that she’d been in love with her entire life propose to another woman, Morgan decided that it was time to finally move on. She made plans, plans that Eric didn’t know about and she planned to keep it that way, but unfortunately for her, one bet destroyed everything, leaving her with no choice but to be there for her best friend one last time. He was done. After catching his fiancée cheating on him, Eric Bradford was done wasting his time on women that he had absolutely no hope of falling in love with. He just needed time, a chance to get away, and he just needed… Her. Determined to figure out how he kept screwing up his life, Eric takes his...

Queen of the Underworld Felicity Heaton (A Guardians of Hades Series Prequel) Publication date: January 31st 2023 Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance Hades, the wickedly dark god-king of the Underworld, needs a queen… And he’s chosen Persephone. All Persephone has ever desired is control of her own life, and someone noticing her once in a while. Kept in her mother’s shadow, and overlooked by the entirety of Olympus, her dream seems impossible… and now she’s doomed to wed a dull god of her mother’s choosing… Until she crosses paths with a handsome, dark warrior who rouses wildfire heat in her veins—a male whose immense power is unmistakable, and who matches the fearful tales whispered in Olympus—stories of a cruel, heartless king who rules his realm of death with an iron fist. When Hades abducts her and imprisons her in the depths of the Underworld, a dormant part of her awakens. And as she slowly discovers the truth about him, Persephone isn’t sure whether the snarling, dar...

Review: Family of Liars - Book #0.5 We Were Liars Series - E. Lockhart - May 2022 It has been a week since I read this book and to be honest, I still don't know exactly what to write in this review as the book just felt like a confusing mess. It felt like it was all over the place, yet it followed a linear timeline. I wasn't sure what to expect but had been putting it off as I remembered that the original read, We Were Liars was a crazy twisted ride and left you feeling WTF did I read? Family of Liars was the same as I felt like I was left hanging. The book goes back to when our main protagonist in We Were Liars was a child and the first death of her sister and the crazy summer that followed one year later. Family of Liars is a story of family loyalty, betrayal, secrets, and lies. I have to admit, only read this book if you have read, We Were Liars and feel a strong passion to read the prequel as, to be honest, it did feel disjointed and unnecessary to a point. In a way, this ...

Review: 20 Minutes Earlier - Book # 0.5 20 Minutes Series - Daniel Hurst - February 2020 After reading the first book in this series, I came to the last page and it had a link to reading the prequel for free. As I enjoyed this book, I thought why not and set to reading it. The prequel is a nice quick read and features 4 of the main characters. This series is a parallel universe/parallel storyline where the book is set around the same theme of what can happen in 20 minutes. In this book, we have Jelena - the Serbian who ended up in a human sex trafficking ring, Harry - the young lad who is keen to finally meet his dad, Bodgan - another Serbian who we learn knows Jelena and sadly working a cleaning job to meet ends meet and April who is getting ready for a date just after her gym. I was surprised that April ended up in this prequel as her story to me wasn't that interesting. I probably would have chosen Harry's dad as he ended up embezzling the company, going on benders and th...