The First Mistake Review

Title:  The First Mistake
Author:  Sandie Jones
Genre:  Suspense Thriller
Release Date:  June 11, 2019
Publisher:  Minotaur Books
Purchase Link:  Amazon

My Rating:  5 Highly-Addictive Hearts


*With many thanks to the publisher for an arc of this book via Netgalley

From Sandie Jones, the author of the Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick and USA Today Bestseller The Other Woman, comes an addictively readable new domestic suspense about a wife, her husband, and the woman who is supposedly her best friend.

Synopsis:
THE WIFE: For Alice, life has never been better. With her second husband, she has a successful business, two children, and a beautiful house.

HER HUSBAND: Alice knows that life could have been different if her first husband had lived, but Nathan’s arrival into her life gave her back the happiness she craved.

HER BEST FRIEND: When Alice met Beth, her best friend, it was the icing on the cake. A friend without judgement, to celebrate with, commiserate with, Beth is the most trustworthy and loyal person that Alice knows. So when Nathan starts disappearing for stretches of time, Alice turns to Beth. But soon, she begins to wonder whether her trust has been misplaced…

Review:
From the moment I read the first page until the moment I read the last (3 times over!), The First Mistake held me captive.  Real life ceased to exist as my heart rate picked up, my stomach got that funny kind of impending doom feeling, and I'm pretty sure I held my breath until this twisted story ended.  And then, I sat there stunned - book in hand, staring at the final words . . . thinking "what the h*ll just happened"?!  I'll say it right now . . . Carve out enough time to read this book beginning to end in one sitting because once you start, there's no going back.

Alice is a content, wealthy businesswoman, mother, and wife.  Life is good . . . until suddenly it isn't.  Nathan rode into Alice's life three months after she lost her first husband Tom.  She'd been lost in the depths of her grief and despair, and he pulled her up out of the darkness into the light once again.  No one need know she still depends on a couple of anti-depressants to get through her day.  It's normal with all she's been through, right?  Nathan is a charmer with a killer smile - a loving husband and father who works by Alice's side in the successful design firm she and Tom started.  Alice, Nathan, and the two children are the picture perfect family.  Rounding out Alice's inner circle is her best friend and confidante Beth.  Their daughters are playmates and when Alice makes a couple of disturbing discoveries that give her cause to question her marriage, Beth is the one she turns to for advice.  As this story plays out, dark revelations pile up, one after another, threatening to destroy life as Alice knows it.  With her heart, gut, and the evidence pointing in different directions, Alice has to figure out who's telling the truth and who's lying.  That's all I can say about the story without spoilers, and trust me folks, you do not want to read any spoilers before diving into this masterpiece of suspense.

A sinister yet mesmerizing story, The First Mistake is highly addictive - simply impossible to put down.  I ignored the phone, doorbell, my husband, and even the dog as I frantically burned through the pages of this book.  My "need to know" level was off the chart, and I can say it's one of very few books I've read lately where I wasn't even close to 100% certain of the outcome by the end.  And oh that ending!  How I wish I could talk about the shocking ending, but of course I can't.  Some will love it and some won't, but I think it's brilliant!  The author sets a menacing tone within the first few pages and then elevates it and the pace throughout as she masterfully manipulates characters and readers - withholding the final piece of the puzzle until the very end.  Through strong, real-to-life characters, Jones delivers a relatable plotline that could mirror the life of any average citizen, making it that much more believable and terrifying.  Beautifully written and delivered, The First Mistake is one I'll be thinking about for some time to come.  An absolutely riveting "Are you kidding me?!" Must Read Suspense Thriller!

My Rating:  5 Highly Addictive Hearts . . . And that's the truth!

Cross My Heart . . . xxx

Sandra

Criminal Behavior Review

Title:  Criminal Behavior
Series:  Twilight's Children #1
Author:  Amanda Stevens
Genre:  Romance/Suspense Thriller
Publisher:  Harlequin Intrigue
Release Date:  May 1, 2019/ April 16, 2019
Purchase Link:  Amazon


My Rating:  4 Atmospheric Hearts


*With many thanks to the author for a review copy of this book.

Synopsis:
Together, can they find the Twilight Killer…

Before he finds them?

Special Agent Ethan Barrow’s father was the most brilliant FBI profiler of all time. Now he’s in a psychiatric ward, committed for the very crimes he cased. But new evidence leads Ethan straight to Detective Adaline Kinsella—the woman he had a past with ten years earlier. Addie can trust evidence…even if she can’t trust the emotions Ethan elicits. Can she now put the past aside to bring the real Twilight Killer to justice? Together, can they find the Twilight Killer…

Before he finds them?

Special Agent Ethan Barrow’s father was the most brilliant FBI profiler of all time. Now he’s in a psychiatric ward, committed for the very crimes he cased. But new evidence leads Ethan straight to Detective Adaline Kinsella—the woman he had a past with ten years earlier. Addie can trust evidence…even if she can’t trust the emotions Ethan elicits. Can she now put the past aside to bring the real Twilight Killer to justice? Together, can they find the Twilight Killer…

Before he finds them?

Special Agent Ethan Barrow’s father was the most brilliant FBI profiler of all time. Now he’s in a psychiatric ward, committed for the very crimes he cased. But new evidence leads Ethan straight to Detective Adaline Kinsella—the woman he had a past with ten years earlier. Addie can trust evidence…even if she can’t trust the emotions Ethan elicits. Can she now put the past aside to bring the real Twilight Killer to justice? Together, can they find the Twilight Killer…

Before he finds them?

Special Agent Ethan Barrow’s father was the most brilliant FBI profiler of all time. Now he’s in a psychiatric ward, committed for the very crimes he cased. But new evidence leads Ethan straight to Detective Adaline Kinsella—the woman he had a past with ten years earlier. Addie can trust evidence…even if she can’t trust the emotions Ethan elicits. Can she now put the past aside to bring the real Twilight Killer to justice?

Review:

Criminal Behavior is the first book in a new romance suspense thriller series titled "Twilight's Children" by author Amanda Stevens.  This author's books are always highly atmospheric (remember The Graveyard Queen series?!), and she sets the creepy, ominous tone early and builds on it from beginning to end in this new one.  

Agent Ethan Barrow has never given up on exonerating his father from a murder conviction in a case that sent him over the edge and into a psychiatric ward.  Now ten years later, Ethan has new evidence he's sure will clear his father's name . . . if he can convince his ex-love Det. Adaline Kinsella to team up with him once again.  The only issue is Adaline is convinced of Ethan's father's guilt and believes the right man is locked away.  A man guilty of murdering her mother.  But - someone is taunting and threatening Adaline.  Is the right...or wrong man in prison?

Criminal Behavior is a twisted suspense story that unfolds with a creepy, impending doom kind of vibe.  The setting is masterfully woven into the scenes setting a mood and causing this reader to stay on the edge of her seat throughout.  Well-developed characters carry this story through several twists and turns and kept me guessing until the end.  The romance is secondary and pretty low-key as the case is the focus of this book.  I will say I felt that the ending was a bit rushed after all the time spent building the suspense, but it in no way diminished my enjoyment of this story.  I can't wait for the release of book 2!  A Must Read!

My Rating:  4 Highly Atmospheric Hearts . . . And that's the truth!

Cross My Heart . . . xxx

Sandra

  

IWSG: Touching Lives with the Power of Language

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group is a website media business with affiliates to enhance our service to visitors. We are a home for writers in all stages; from unpublished to bestsellers. Our goal is to offer assistance and guidance. We want to help writers overcome their insecurities, and by offering encouragement we are creating a community of support. Visit IWSG to learn more about this great writing community!

  

IWSG posts the first Wednesday of every month. It's a great writer's resource that I'm sure you'll find well worth your time. Be sure to stop by and visit with other IWSG Members.  

Many thanks to this month's co-hosts - Lee Lowery,  Juneta Key,  Yvonne Ventresca, and T. Powell Coltrin!  Make sure to stop by to visit each of them and thank them personally!

Hey Everyone!  Just a quick note to say I'm currently on a short, working mini-vacation so my post is short & sweet this month.  I'll return next month hopefully fresher both mentally, spiritually, and physically while sporting a tan and a renewed outlook and enthusiasm for writing!

IWSG Question of the Month:  

What was an early experience where you learned that language had power?

A thought-provoking question for sure!  The great examples of the power of language are endless.  When I think of the powerful voices of men like the late great Rev. Billy Graham and the masses of people whose lives he changed, my own seems quite small and humble.  But, I'll quickly share one of my first personal experiences of sharing the power of language (as a child) through my own writing.

My fifth grade elementary class put on our school's Christmas play, and I was chosen by our teacher to write a poem about a personal experience involving holiday traditions.  After an afternoon of frustration and non-production, I wandered into the kitchen to find my mother making her family and neighborhood famous fruitcake.  I began chopping nuts, fruits, and candies (mom's secret recipe) and sharing memories and somewhere along the way, an idea began to form.  I could write about one of our family's favorite holiday traditions - the baking and sharing of mother's fruitcake which was cooked several weeks ahead of time, stored in a tin in a cool room, and soaked with wine every few days until the big family reveal, cutting, and tasting.  (It probably should have come with a warning label that read no one under the age of eighteen is allowed to partake!)  

I returned to my room that evening and wrote a long, personal poem about a favorite holiday tradition and what it meant to our family.  It was simply titled, "My Mother's Fruitcake".  And after I stood on the stage and read it aloud to a room full of parents, friends, and family, I received a standing ovation.  I still remember being in awe while thinking, "Wow!  They liked it!"  (My mother cried)  I think the power of language hit me that night in that I knew as people stood and clapped that I had touched them by sharing my heartfelt words on a simple holiday tradition.  I think it's the moment I knew that writing was what I wanted to do with my life - my way of touching lives through the power of language.

How about you?  Share an experience that demonstrated the power of language to you.