The Farm - Joanne Ramos

A clever premise with a story line that will make you turn the pages, this book is a pleasure to read. It will fill your heart with love and empathy, it'll uplift your mood and leave you with food for thought: is charity always selfless? or can it be a win-win for the one giving as well as the one receiving?

Blurb:
Life is a lucrative business, as long as you play by the rules…

Ambitious businesswoman Mae Yu runs Golden Oaks - a luxury retreat transforming the fertility industry. There, women get the very best of everything: organic meals, fitness trainers, daily massages and big money. Provided they dedicate themselves to producing the perfect baby. For someone else. 

Jane is a young immigrant in search of a better future. Stuck living in a cramped dorm with her baby daughter and her shrewd aunt Ate, she sees an unmissable chance to change her life. But at what cost?

Pretty Guilty Women by Gina LaManna

"Pretty Guilty Women by Gina LaManna" is an extremely readable book that digs into deep issues such as what success looks like versus what it actually is, domestic violence, motherhood in all its shapes and forms.

I liked that the characters were women of all ages, from twenty to seventy: the breadth provided a variety of perspectives and voices and points of view.

A fast moving plot twisted and turned to a satisfying conclusion.

Blurb:

Why would four women admit to committing the same murder?

Four different women offer four very different confessions to the death of a man found in the midst of a rehearsal dinner at an luxurious resort, each insisting they acted alone. Their stories are contradicting and confusing, posing a conundrum for the detective who must untangle their secrets.

Truth and friendship surface in surprising ways, but who is the guiltiest of them all and what really happened on that rooftop?

29 Seconds - TM Logan

"29 Seconds" by TM Logan is an important book. Within the framework of a psychological suburban thriller, the author examines the - unfortunately - still very current issues of sexual harassment at work and glass ceilings. 

The question that might stay with the reader long after they put down the novel: should you fight criminal behaviour by resorting to criminal actions?

Blurb:
When Sarah Haywood rescues a young girl in trouble, she expects nothing in return. But her instinctive act of bravery puts her in the debt of a powerful and dangerous man, and he has other ideas. He lives by his own brutal code, and all debts must be repaid - in the only way he knows how. He offers Sarah a way to solve an impossible situation with her intolerable boss. A once-in-a-lifetime deal that could turn her life around and make all her problems disappear. No consequences. No comeback. No chance of being found out. All it takes is a 29-second phone call ... Because everyone has a name to give. Don't they?

Never Tell - Lisa Gardner

"Never Tell" by Lisa Gardner is the 10th book in the D.D. Warren series. As usual, it explores the themes of survivors of crime, motherhood, independent women - all within the framework of a thriller.

As usual, a well-paced read with 3D characters. It was good to see Flora Dane return to the pages and to have her story fleshed out. I look forward to that thread continuing in future books.

The blurb:
A man is dead, shot three times in his home office. But his computer has been shot twelve times, and when the cops arrive, his pregnant wife is holding the gun. 

D.D. Warren arrives on the scene and recognizes the woman--Evie Carter--from a case many years back. Evie's father was killed in a shooting that was ruled an accident. But for D.D., two coincidental murders is too many. 

Flora Dane sees the murder of Conrad Carter on the TV news and immediately knows his face. She remembers a night when she was still a victim--a hostage--and her captor knew this man. Overcome with guilt that she never tracked him down, Flora is now determined to learn the truth of Conrad's murder. 

But D.D. and Flora are about to discover that in this case the truth is a devilishly elusive thing. As layer by layer they peel away the half-truths and outright lies, they wonder: How many secrets can one family have?

Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson

Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson is a thriller, literary fiction and women's contemporary fiction all at once. Take the best characteristics of those genres, add the author's uniquely beautiful voice, mix in her beautifully unique protagonists, a role-model heroine (with a very imperfect past), a high-adrenaline plot and deep issues, and there you have it. A book that's shaping up to be the best one I've read in the last 12 months.

Joshilyn Jackson's writing voice is so ensnaring, that it almost doesn't matter what she chooses to write about: adoption, racial issues, quilting, mysterious boxes in the attic or, as is the case with Never Have I Ever, a small town mothers' book club and the guilty secrets its members hide.

The premise is straight-forward: what if you had a secret so big that exposing it would risk losing everything, from your children through your husband to your best friend? What if someone blackmailed you?

I know what you think. You expect the next line to be: How far would you go to silence them? Right? And yet, that's not the point of the book at all.

Never Have I Ever is about families, dysfunctional parents and good stepmoms. It's about friendships and eating disorders and first love. It's about scuba diving and forgiveness.

And yes, it's also about playing the game. The action moves at a truly thriller-like pace, with many unexpected-yet-in-hind-sight-totally-logical twists.

You will fall in love with the characters. You will wish the book were a lot longer. And if this is your first Joshilyn Jackson, you will be reaching for another one. Guaranteed.

An interview with Harlan Coben

Read about Harlan Coben's latest book, Runaway, in his own words, here!

Eight Lives by Susan Hurley

Wow, what a book! Clever yet immensely accessible, written in a fresh voice (or is it voices?) of very diverse characters - no matter whose head you're in, you like that character, even if it's only for the duration of their narrative. A psychological thriller, a why-dunnit, call it what you will, but be sure to read it. Un.Put.Down.Able.