The Ferryman’s Daughter — Yasmin Angoe

Title: The Ferryman’s Daughter
Author: Yasmin Angoe
Genre: Psychological Thriller | Mystery | Crime | Serial Killer Thriller
Format: eARC
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ — 4/5

---

Synopsis

Sanaa Karrem has spent eighteen years trying to escape her past.

Her father was the infamous serial killer known as the Ferryman, and after his disappearance, Sanaa changed her identity and built an entirely new life. Now a forensic science teacher and former medical examiner, she's engaged to Detective Marcus Morelli and has successfully kept the darkest part of her history buried.

Until bodies begin appearing with pennies placed over their eyes.

It's the Ferryman's signature.

As more victims are discovered, Sanaa begins receiving threatening messages and disturbing gifts from someone who clearly knows exactly who she is.

There's just one rather significant problem.

Marcus isn't merely a detective.

He's the detective leading the investigation.

And he has absolutely no idea that his fiancée is the daughter of the serial killer whose crimes appear to be happening all over again.

---

My Thoughts

I really enjoyed Yasmin Angoe's Nena Knight series, so naturally I jumped into this one immediately.

And TBH? The Ferryman's Daughter managed to be both super bingeable and super frustrating at the exact same time.

The premise itself immediately grabbed me.

Sanaa is the daughter of a serial killer known as the Ferryman, who disappeared eighteen years ago. She changed her identity, built a completely new life, got engaged and tried to leave that part of herself behind.

Well...

That clearly doesn't work out.

Because suddenly murders matching her father's style start happening again.

Then weird things begin happening around Sanaa.

Someone is stalking her.

Someone is threatening her.

And eventually, it starts looking like someone might actually be trying to frame her for murder.

Basically, the entire situation becomes completely unhinged in the best thriller way possible.

---

So... Who Is Doing This?!

One of my favorite things about this book was that I genuinely didn't know who was responsible for most of the story.

And that's something I REALLY appreciate in a thriller.

Give me suspects.

Make everybody look suspicious.

Let me construct increasingly ridiculous theories in my head.

And then prove me wrong. 

The mystery kept me hooked because the situation surrounding Sanaa continued escalating, and I wanted to understand not only who was targeting her but why.

Is her father somehow involved?

Is somebody deliberately copying him?

Why Sanaa?

And how much does this person actually know about her past?

The pacing was strong, and as the threats became increasingly personal, the suspense kept building.

It made this a very easy book to binge.

---

Sanaa...

Now...

Sanaa herself?

Oh boy.

I understood why she was scared.

Her childhood was incredibly traumatic, and she has spent most of her adult life trying to separate herself from her father's crimes. She changed her name and essentially rebuilt herself from scratch.

So I completely understood why telling people the truth would be terrifying.

BUT.

Ma'am.

Your fiancé is literally leading the investigation into murders that appear to be connected to your serial-killer father.

Perhaps...

And I'm merely brainstorming here...

TELL HIM?!

This drove me insane at times.

It wasn't just that Sanaa had kept her past secret when they originally met. I could understand why she wouldn't exactly introduce herself with:

Hi, nice to meet you! Fun fact: my father was an infamous serial killer.

Probably not ideal first-date conversation.

But once murders matching the Ferryman's signature started happening and Sanaa herself was being targeted, that secret became rather relevant to Marcus's investigation.

Just a tiny bit.

What frustrated me even more was that it didn't really feel like she was ever planning to tell him if circumstances hadn't eventually forced everything into the open.

I understood the trauma behind her choices, but that didn't stop me from occasionally wanting to reach through the pages and shake her.

---

The Forensic Elements

I also liked that Sanaa wasn't completely out of her depth once the investigation began.

She's a forensic science teacher and a former medical examiner, so she has knowledge and experience that are directly relevant to what's happening.

That made her connection to the mystery even more interesting because she isn't simply the daughter of the original killer or the person being targeted by the copycat.

She actually has expertise that can help her understand the evidence and try to figure out what is happening around her.

Of course...

That would perhaps be even MORE useful if she told her detective fiancé everything she knew.

Sorry.

I'm apparently not over it.

---

Final Thoughts

Despite wanting to shake Sanaa over some of her decisions, I had a really good time with The Ferryman's Daughter.

The central mystery kept me guessing, the pacing made it extremely bingeable, and the increasingly personal threats against Sanaa kept raising the stakes.

Most importantly, I genuinely didn't have the culprit figured out for the majority of the story, and the ending left me satisfied.

Sanaa's secrecy frustrated me (deeply), but it never stopped me from wanting to know what happened next.

If you enjoy serial-killer thrillers involving family secrets, copycat murders, forensic investigation, stalking and protagonists making decisions that occasionally make you want to yell at your Kindle, this one is definitely worth checking out.

4⭐

---

ARC Disclaimer

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley and Thomas & Mercer for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Dahlia Suite — Carinn Jade

Title: The Dahlia Suite
Author: Carinn Jade
Genre: Mystery | Thriller | Suspense
Format: eARC
Publisher: Atria Books
Rating: ⭐⭐¾ — 2.75/5

---

Synopsis

Welcome to Sueños, an exclusive luxury resort located on the Caribbean's Beck Island, where three women arrive at very different points in their lives.

Paige, a former lawyer turned writer, hopes her time away will help her overcome the writer's block threatening her new career.

Hollywood actress Lindsay Law is recovering from an Oscar loss and becomes fascinated by Mara Morgan, the legendary actress who once owned Beck Island before her death.

Meanwhile, resort concierge Gabby is grieving the loss of a former coworker while confronting mysteries of her own, including the troubling disappearances of women connected to the island.

As secrets surrounding Sueños and its history begin to surface, their seemingly separate stories gradually become connected.

---

My Thoughts

I really wanted to like this one, but unfortunately The Dahlia Suite just wasn't for me.

We're on Beck Island at Sueños, an incredibly luxurious Caribbean resort, following several different characters.

Paige is a former lawyer turned writer who is struggling with both writer's block and the fact that she desperately wants another child but has suffered multiple miscarriages.

Lindsay is a Hollywood actress whose career isn't exactly going according to plan after losing an Oscar, and she's become fascinated by Mara Morgan, the famous actress who once owned the island.

Then there's Gabby, a concierge at the resort who is dealing with something considerably more sinister involving a former employee and women disappearing.

And this is where my biggest problem started.

For the majority of the book, I felt like I was reading two completely different novels that happened to take place at the same resort.

---

When Are These Stories Going to Meet?

On one side, I had Paige and Lindsay dealing with motherhood, pregnancy, careers, writing, Hollywood and Mara's history, eventually deciding to work on a movie about her.

On the other side, Gabby is dealing with disappearances, death and an actual mystery.

And I'm sitting there like...

So, when are the stories going to meet?

Because based on the premise, I expected these three women to come together and investigate what was happening on the island.

And they do eventually converge.

The problem for me was how long it took to get there.

Until then, the different threads didn't feel connected enough, and unfortunately I found myself considerably more interested in one side of the story than the other.

Rather than feeling like different pieces of the same mystery gradually moving toward each other, they often felt like separate stories competing for my attention.

---

The Pacing

This was probably the biggest issue for me alongside the structure.

The book moved incredibly slowly.

And that's particularly difficult for me with a thriller because look at what we have here:

Murders.

Disappearances.

Secrets.

A dead Hollywood actress with a mysterious history.

An exclusive Caribbean resort where something clearly isn't right.

Those are all ingredients that should have had me glued to the page.

Instead...

I was bored.

Which is probably the saddest thing I can say about a thriller. 

I kept waiting for the tension to build and for that moment where everything suddenly clicked into place and I couldn't put the book down.

Unfortunately, it never really happened for me.

---

Some Interesting Ideas

There were individual elements that I liked.

In particular, I thought the contrast between Paige desperately wanting another child and Lindsay finding herself facing a very different situation regarding motherhood was interesting.

Both women are confronting complicated questions about motherhood, identity and what they actually want from their lives, but they're approaching them from very different directions.

I also thought Mara's history and her connection to Beck Island had a lot of potential.

The problem was that there were so many individual character struggles and storylines competing for attention that the actual mystery never grabbed me the way I wanted it to.

And when I'm reading a thriller or mystery, I really need that central question pulling me forward.

---

That Final Stretch...

I made it to around 84% before finally accepting that I wasn't suddenly going to connect with the book.

By that point, I should have been racing toward the ending and desperately wanting answers.

Instead...

I was mostly desperate to be finished. :(

The final portion does bring the different storylines together, but for me it simply happened too late.

I needed that connection much earlier to make the whole thing feel like one cohesive story rather than two books that eventually realized:

Oh. Right. We're supposed to merge.

And unfortunately, once I'd spent that much of the book feeling disconnected from the mystery, the ending couldn't completely pull me back in.

---

Final Thoughts

The Dahlia Suite had several individual ideas that interested me, but the overall structure and pacing didn't work for me.

I wanted the three women's stories to become intertwined much sooner, particularly because that was one of the things that initially attracted me to the premise. Instead, I spent most of the novel waiting for the separate threads to finally come together.

There are definitely readers I can see enjoying this much more than I did—particularly those who prefer slower, character-driven mysteries that spend significant time exploring the characters' personal lives before bringing the different storylines together.

Unfortunately, I went in expecting more of a thriller, and I never found the tension or momentum I was looking for.

Interesting ideas.

Gorgeous resort setting.

Plenty of secrets.

Just, unfortunately, not the mystery for me.

2.75⭐

---

ARC Disclaimer

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. All opinions are my own.

 

Doomsdate — Laura Piper Lee

Title: Doomsdate
Author: Laura Piper Lee
Genre: Zombie Romance | Horror Comedy | Paranormal Romance | Contemporary Romance
Format: eARC
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ — 4.5/5

---

Synopsis

Maisie Bennett has spent most of her life preparing for disaster.

So when another virus begins spreading and lockdowns appear increasingly likely, Maisie has one very important item she wants to cross off her bucket list before her upcoming birthday: lose her virginity.

After meeting someone online, she finally works up the courage to go on a date.

There's just one problem.

Everett Greer isn't actually the man she's been talking to.

Still grieving a devastating loss and having withdrawn from life, Everett has absolutely no interest in dating. His best friend, however, has other ideas and secretly arranges the date for him.

Their awkward evening doesn't exactly go according to plan, but that soon becomes the least of their problems.

Because the virus is changing.

People are dying.

And then they're getting back up.

Suddenly, Maisie's lifetime of survival preparation is extremely useful, and she and the considerably less apocalypse-ready Everett find themselves trying to survive together; with Everett's cat, Chicken, along for the ride.

---

My Thoughts

Some people prepare for a first date by choosing a cute outfit.

Maisie prepares by making the difficult decision to leave her taser at home.

You know.

Normal first-date preparations.

The world is already dealing with another nasty virus, people are getting sick, and things aren't exactly looking fantastic.

Maisie, however, has something considerably more personal on her mind: she wants to lose her virginity before her upcoming birthday.

She's been talking to a guy online, they've finally agreed to meet, and she has A PLAN.

Except the man she's been talking to isn't exactly the man who shows up.

Everett has spent the last few years pretty much shutting himself away from life after suffering a devastating loss, and dating is absolutely NOT on his agenda.

Unfortunately for him, his best friend has decided otherwise and secretly sets him up.

So yup.

Our Maisie has basically been catfished into a blind date.

And their date is awkward.

Like...

Painfully awkward.

Somehow they still make it back to Maisie's house, where things continue to be spectacularly awkward. Eventually, it's pretty clear that Maisie's carefully constructed plan is NOT happening, and they go their separate ways.

Goodbye.

Have a nice life.

We shall never speak of this evening again.

Except...

You know...

ZOMBIES.

---

Resident Evil Has Entered the Chat

At the same time Maisie and Everett are suffering through their dating disaster, the mysterious illness is getting considerably worse.

The sick people start dying.

And then...

They don't exactly stay dead.

Well.

Resident Evil has entered the chat.

Which was particularly funny for me because I also happened to watch Resident Evil at the cinema around the same time.

Right on schedule, apparently...

Suddenly Maisie goes from slightly unusual woman with a suspicious amount of survival equipment to possibly the BEST person you could have beside you during the apocalypse.

She was raised by an extremely paranoid prepper mother and spent most of her life preparing to survive basically every catastrophe imaginable.

It was only after losing her mom that Maisie really started trying to live instead of simply survive.

Everett, meanwhile...

Cough.

After their date, Maisie rescues Everett from a tree.

Sir!

The apocalypse has barely started. 

---

Zombies, Road Trips & Romance

From there, Doomsdate turns into a wonderfully chaotic zombie road trip.

There are plenty of zombie encounters, escapes and ridiculous situations, but what I really enjoyed was the relationship developing underneath all of that.

Maisie and Everett talk.

They learn about each other.

They slowly open up about their losses and the lives they've been living, and both bring their own heartbreak and baggage into the relationship.

And THANK YOU for not immediately going:

Attraction!

Pew pew!

Zombies!

Sex!

OMG WE'RE SOULMATES!

There's attraction, obviously, and the circumstances throw them together very quickly, but their emotional connection still gets room to grow.

Maisie may be teaching Everett how to survive, but in his own way, Everett is re-learning and also helping Maisie learn how to actually live.

I really liked that balance between them.

Underneath all the ridiculousness, they're also both grieving.

Their experiences are different, but they've both responded to loss by withdrawing from life in their own ways. That gave what could easily have been purely a goofy zombie rom-com a surprisingly sweet emotional core.

And it made their growing relationship feel more meaningful to me.

---

Most Important Character: Chicken

Obviously, we need to discuss the most important character.

Chicken.

The cat.

NOT POULTRY!!!

Chicken is adorable.

Chicken must be protected at all costs.

Nothing bad is allowed to happen to Chicken.

Those are the rules.

Unfortunately, however, the name immediately made my brain go:

"Chicken wings, chicken wings, hot dog and baloney, chicken and macaroni..."

So THAT was periodically playing in my head while these people were desperately trying not to be eaten by zombies.

You're welcome.

Now it can live in your head too. 

---

Final Thoughts

I had such a good time with Doomsdate.

It's ridiculous and chaotic when it needs to be, but there's also a genuinely sweet story underneath all the zombie mayhem.

Maisie and Everett are two emotionally bruised people who have both spent a long time existing without really living. Throwing them together during a zombie apocalypse might be a slightly extreme method of getting them out of their respective shells...

But apparently it works. 

We have zombies, survivalist chaos, a disastrous first date, road-trip adventures, romance, grief, two people slowly learning how to live again AND one extremely important cat.

What else do you need?

Well...

Maybe a movie.

Pair this book with Resident Evil and you're all set. 

4.5⭐

---

ARC Disclaimer

Thank you to Ballantine Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. All opinions are my own.

The Alibi Club — Carrie Talick

Title: The Alibi Club
Author: Carrie Talick
Genre: Contemporary Fiction | Mystery | Romance | Heist Fiction
Format: eARC
Publisher: Alcove Press
Publication Date: September 29, 2026
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ — 4/5

---

Synopsis

Jamie Frisco is forty-one, single, and perfectly capable of remaining that way.

Her mother, unfortunately, has other plans.

With another wedding approaching, Jamie receives an ultimatum: bring a suitable date or risk losing her inheritance. After the horrors of online dating prove less than promising, Jamie finds herself invited to Dinner for Six, an exclusive matchmaking experience organized by the successful Lorna Gray.

Meanwhile, Cliff Weston has recently been released from prison and is determined to leave his career as a talented thief behind. He wants to build a legitimate security business using his rather unique expertise to identify weaknesses in homes and businesses.

After briefly crossing paths with Jamie, Cliff is separately recruited for the same Dinner for Six.

Six singles gather for what should be an unusual but relatively straightforward matchmaking dinner.

Instead, explosions rock the town, the restaurant descends into chaos, everyone is trapped together, and one of the biggest heists in Manhattan Beach history is unfolding somewhere beyond their disastrous dinner.

And someone at the table might know considerably more than they're admitting.

---

My Thoughts

I have absolutely no logical explanation for this, but somewhere during The Alibi Club, my brain started playing "Thé à la Menthe"  from Ocean's Twelve and...

That became the soundtrack. 

Jamie is 41, single and perfectly capable of continuing to be single, thank you very much.

Unfortunately, her mother, who is getting remarried and is, from the little we see of her, absolutely delightful...

Cough.

...has other ideas.

Jamie needs to bring a suitable date to the wedding or she can basically wave goodbye to her inheritance.

So Jamie tries dating apps.

They go about as wonderfully as you would expect, until she gets roped into something considerably more exclusive: a private matchmaking dinner for six singles, organized by a woman with quite the reputation for successfully pairing people.

Then we have Cliff, who has just been released from prison.

He's a VERY talented thief who is determined to stay on the legal side of things this time and start his own security business.

His idea is actually pretty clever: break into homes and businesses, with permission, find the weaknesses in their security and then tell the owners exactly what needs fixing.

Jamie and Cliff cross paths a couple of times before the dinner but never manage to exchange much more than five words.

Then, through completely separate circumstances, Cliff also gets recruited for Dinner for Six.

Six singles.

One fancy dinner.

What could possibly go wrong?

Apparently...

EVERYTHING.

---

Dinner for Six Goes Horribly, Horribly Wrong

Because while our six unsuspecting singles are trying to determine whether they've found love, or at least someone they can tolerate for the duration of dinner, something considerably bigger is happening elsewhere in town.

And then the restaurant itself descends into absolute CHAOS.

There's an explosion.

A food critic rather inconveniently...

stops reviewing things permanently.

Everyone is trapped together.

People start arguing.

Potential couples start bickering.

Secrets come out.

Meanwhile, somewhere beyond this increasingly disastrous matchmaking experiment, one hell of a heist is unfolding.

And this was where I had the most fun with the book.

---

The Heist

I really enjoyed discovering how the heist worked and gradually seeing why certain people were there and what role everyone had to play.

There was a purpose behind so many seemingly random things, and watching everything eventually come together was incredibly entertaining.

This is also where that completely unsolicited Ocean's Twelve soundtrack in my head became increasingly appropriate. 😂

The more pieces that fell into place, the more fun I had seeing how everything connected.

Well...

Almost everyone had a purpose.

You know who you are!!!

I'm saying NOTHING ELSE because that was hilarious and I refuse to ruin it.

---

Jamie & Cliff

I also enjoyed Jamie and Cliff's romance.

Their earlier little encounters made it even more fun when they finally ended up at the same dinner, and I liked watching their relationship develop in the middle of what may possibly be the worst first-date environment imaginable.

I mean...

Explosion.

Lockdown.

Death.

Massive criminal activity.

Potentially suspicious dinner companions.

Nothing says romance quite like it.

My main frustration was Jamie's tendency to jump the gun whenever something suspicious happened.

I completely understand why Cliff's history would make her cautious. The man is literally a convicted thief and they're caught in the middle of some extremely suspicious circumstances.

I would be giving him some serious side-eye too. But there were a few times when it felt like Jamie went from:

Hmm... that's suspicious.

to

IT MUST BE CLIFF.

...a little too quickly.

I wanted her to give him slightly more benefit of the doubt, particularly as they got to know each other better.

---

Final Thoughts

Overall, though, I had a really good time with The Alibi Club.

The matchmaking premise was fun, the restaurant was an absolute disaster in the best possible way, Jamie and Cliff's romance worked for me, and I especially enjoyed seeing the different pieces of the heist gradually fall into place.

There are a lot of moving parts, and discovering how seemingly unrelated details connected was easily my favorite part of the story.

And now, unfortunately, whenever I think about this book, my brain is probably going to go:

 Thé à la Menthe... 

...while imagining an elaborate robbery happening somewhere off-page.

Thanks, brain.

4⭐

---

ARC Disclaimer

Thank you to Alcove Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. All opinions are my own.

 

Hawk & Sparrow — Ayana Gray

Title: Hawk & Sparrow
Author: Ayana Gray
Genre: Historical Fantasy | Mystery | Romantasy | YA Fantasy
Format: eARC
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — 5/5

---

Synopsis

Vesper Evans has little love for Basalton's wealthy elite, or the sorcery that allows them to live lives of luxury while others struggle.

Orphaned as a child and raised by the editor of The Basalton Globe, Vesper has grown into an ambitious young reporter determined to keep the struggling newspaper alive.

While covering an extravagant society gala, Vesper discovers the body of a man she had spoken to only minutes earlier.

And one of the prime suspects is wealthy industrialist Maximilian Kite.

Max insists he's innocent and makes Vesper an offer: investigate the murder and clear his name, and he'll provide enough money to help save the Globe.

There's just one small complication.

To gain access to the highest levels of Basalton society during their investigation, Vesper and Max will have to pretend they're courting.

As their search for the killer leads them through both the glittering world of Basalton's elite and the city's darker corners, their fake relationship begins feeling considerably less fake.

---

My Thoughts

I loved this book.

I'm not usually a big historical reader, but lately I've been slowly getting into the genre, and Hawk & Sparrow worked really well for me.

Set in the late 1800s, the story combines historical fiction with mystery, magic and romance, and I really enjoyed how everything came together.

The world-building was solid, the setting was interesting, and most importantly for me, the investigation kept me fully engaged.

Actually...

This was VERY bingeable.

I read the entire thing in one go. 

That's usually a pretty good indication that something is working.

---

Vesper & Max

I loved both main characters.

Vesper is strong, ambitious and determined, and I enjoyed following her investigation, especially because her work as a reporter gives her a natural reason to keep digging into things that perhaps certain people would rather she leave alone.

And Max...

I have to say, I really liked him.

He's wealthy, privileged and can absolutely be arrogant, so initially he has all the ingredients necessary for Rich Infuriating Man™.

But there was considerably more to him than that.

He's also kind and supportive, and most importantly, he actually shows up when it matters.

We appreciate a man who can back up his words with his actions.

And then, of course, there's the little matter of Vesper and Max having to pretend they're courting.

Oh no.

Fake dating for investigative purposes.

How terribly inconvenient.

I thought the trope was handled really well because their relationship didn't suddenly jump from reluctant partners to completely in love.

Instead, they actually had time to develop a connection.

Reluctant partners...

Then friends...

Aaaand eventually...

Something more.

I particularly liked that progression because it made their feelings feel natural rather than rushed.

---

Mystery, Magic & Romance

The mystery takes the lead throughout the book, which worked really well for me.

Vesper and Max's investigation kept the plot moving, while their relationship developed naturally in the background.

I never felt like the romance was taking attention away from the mystery, but I also got enough interaction between them to become invested in their relationship.

The historical setting combined with the magical elements also made the world more interesting than a straightforward historical mystery would have been for me.

My one small complaint?

I would've liked a little more magic.

The magical elements are there and they're important to the world, but considering how much I enjoyed that aspect, I wouldn't have complained if we'd gotten even more of it.

Give me the magic. I can handle it!!

---

Final Thoughts

Hawk & Sparrow ended up being such an enjoyable surprise for me.

I loved Vesper and Max, the murder investigation kept me engaged, the historical setting worked even though it's not normally the genre I reach for first, and the fake-dating romance developed at exactly the kind of pace I wanted.

I also appreciated how mature both Vesper and Max felt, particularly considering their ages.

The mystery remained the main focus, the romance built nicely alongside it, and the ending left me satisfied.

And considering I sat down with this book and apparently decided I simply wasn't going to stop until I'd finished the entire thing...

Yeah.

I think it's safe to say I had a good time.

5⭐

---

ARC Disclaimer

Thank you to Macmillan Children's Publishing Group and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. All opinions are my own.

It’s Not What You Think — Clare Mackintosh

Title: It’s Not What You Think
Author: Clare Mackintosh
Genre: Psychological Thriller | Mystery | Crime | Suspense
Format: eARC
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ — 4/5

---

Synopsis

Nadeeka is convinced her husband, Jamie, is having an affair.

He's lying about working late, she recognizes the signs, and she's determined to finally confront him.

But when Nadeeka returns home, she doesn't find Jamie with another woman.

She finds him murdered.

The police arrive. A detective questions her. Her phone is taken as evidence. The crime scene is processed and eventually cleaned.

And then the next day arrives...

And apparently none of it happened.

With Jamie gone and no investigation seemingly taking place, Nadeeka is left trying to understand what she actually witnessed and how an entire murder can seemingly disappear overnight.

---

My Thoughts

Sooo...

Imagine coming home expecting to confront your husband because you're pretty sure he's cheating on you...

And instead you find him murdered in your house.

Blood everywhere. Police arrive. You're interviewed by a detective. Crime scene investigators come through the house. Your phone is taken as evidence. Eventually, cleaners arrive and deal with the aftermath.

Absolutely horrific, but there's no question about what happened.

Except...

The next day, apparently none of it happened.

And THAT was the moment It's Not What You Think properly got me!

Nadeeka wakes up to discover that something is very, very wrong. Her husband is gone, but so is practically every indication that he was murdered.

When she starts asking questions, things become even stranger.

The detective she spoke to?

Not a detective.

The investigation she thought was underway?

Nope.

And the phone she handed over as evidence?

Gone too.

Basically, Nadeeka is standing there going:

"MY HUSBAND WAS MURDERED?!"

While reality seems to be responding:

Are you sure about that?

Excuse me?!

From there, she has to start investigating for herself, following whatever clues she can find and trying to understand not only what happened to Jamie, but how someone could possibly make an entire murder scene disappear.

And this story went places I absolutely did not expect.

Every time I thought I had some idea of what was happening, another piece of information changed the picture.

What begins as a woman suspecting her husband of having an affair becomes something considerably bigger and darker, and I really liked how the truth unraveled little by little.

---

A Mystery That Kept Changing

One of the things that worked best for me was how difficult it was to understand exactly what Nadeeka had stumbled into.

We start with something relatively straightforward: she believes Jamie is cheating.

Then...

Murder.

Okay. Now we're solving a murder.

Except...

What murder?

Suddenly we're questioning the supposed detective, the crime scene, Jamie's disappearance, the people involved and how on earth somebody could orchestrate something this elaborate.

Every new piece of information seemed to shift the story slightly, and the eventual direction caught me completely by surprise.

Looking back at where we started compared with where we ended, it's almost ridiculous how much the story transforms, and yet the pieces gradually begin fitting together.

And I'm very glad I didn't know too much about where the story was heading beforehand.

---

The Pacing

There were definitely moments in the middle where I wanted Nadeeka to move a little faster.

Some of the back-and-forth started making me impatient because by that point I was basically sitting there thinking:

Okay, okay, I understand. NOW GIVE ME MORE INFORMATION.

So the pacing wasn't quite consistent enough for this to reach five stars for me.

But the mystery itself absolutely kept me curious, and whenever another piece of the puzzle appeared, I wanted to know what it meant and how it connected to everything else.

---

Final Thoughts

It's Not What You Think took me on a considerably different journey than the one I expected when I started reading.

What initially looks like a domestic mystery about a potentially unfaithful husband quickly turns into something much stranger, darker and more elaborate.

There were portions where I wanted the story to move faster, but the central mystery kept me invested, and I genuinely did not anticipate where everything was ultimately heading.

I also think the title is rather perfect because...

No.

It is definitely not what you think.

I went into this expecting one kind of mystery and ended up somewhere entirely different.

And honestly?

That's probably the best way to read this one.

4⭐

---

ARC Disclaimer

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this ARC. All opinions are my own.

 

Holding Ground — Piper Rayne

Title: Holding Ground
Author: Piper Rayne
Series: The Mercer Family #1
Genre: Contemporary Romance | Small-Town Romance | Enemies to Lovers | Forced Proximity | Single Dad Romance
Format: eARC + Audiobook
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ — 5/5

---

Synopsis

Emelia Greene grew up in a small Alaskan town but left small-town life behind to build a career in the city.

Now her job has brought her to Echo Lake, where she'll spend several months getting to know the community before her company moves forward with a proposed development project. She's there to listen to residents, understand what local businesses need and determine how the project could benefit a town that thrives during the summer but slows considerably during winter.

Unfortunately, not everyone believes her company has Echo Lake's best interests at heart.

Especially Elliot Mercer.

A devoted single father, Elliot has spent the past five years building a stable life for himself and his daughter, Baylor. The last thing he wants is an outsider arriving and changing the town they love.

It doesn't help that Emelia is renting the guest cabin on his property.

And when a storm makes that cabin temporarily unlivable, keeping their distance becomes considerably more difficult.

---

My Thoughts

Sometimes I finish a romance and have approximately seventeen things I need to discuss.

And sometimes I finish one and I'm just like...

Yep. That was cute. I had a great time. Give me the next books, ASAP!!!

Holding Ground was definitely the second kind for me.

Emelia grew up in a small Alaskan town but left for the big city and eventually built a career working for a development company. Her job brings her to Echo Lake for a few months, where she's supposed to actually get to know the community before her company moves forward with a new project.

She needs to talk to the locals, learn what businesses need, figure out what's missing and basically determine how they can help a town that thrives during the summer but becomes considerably quieter during the winter.

Sounds reasonable, right?

Right???

Well, try explaining that to a small town where approximately nobody wants an outsider arriving with the word DEVELOPMENT anywhere near her job description.

And the loudest person against everything Emelia represents just happens to be the man whose guest cabin she's renting.

Elliot is a single dad who has spent the last five years raising his daughter Baylor, and he is VERY protective of the life they've built together.

He's convinced Emelia and her company are going to change the town for the worse, so these two aren't exactly exchanging friendship bracelets when she arrives.

But Emelia slowly starts becoming part of the community, and somewhere along the way, the line between I don't like you and okay, maybe you're not completely terrible starts getting a little blurry.

It doesn't help that Baylor likes Emelia too.

The little moments between those two were adorable, especially Baylor wanting Emelia to help with her hair before school.

And then...

A storm damages Emelia's cabin and makes it temporarily unlivable.

Oh no!

gasps... lol

Where EVER could she possibly stay?

Certainly not inside the house of the attractive man she's absolutely supposed to maintain a professional relationship with.

That would be terrible.

Anyway... Forced Proximity Strikes Again (cough) ...

This is where I really started having fun with them.

They're suddenly eating together, spending considerably more time around each other, bantering, getting to know one another properly and discovering that the attraction they've been trying to ignore is becoming rather difficult to...

Well... Ignore.

I also liked that their relationship didn't exist in a little romance bubble.

Emelia genuinely gets involved with Echo Lake and starts caring about the people she's supposed to be working with, while Baylor becoming attached to her adds another layer because Elliot has very understandable reasons for being careful about who he lets into his daughter's life.

Things eventually get more complicated on both sides.

His past brings some unexpected emotions back into their lives, while Emelia starts questioning some things surrounding the project she's been working on.

I'm staying intentionally vague because I don't want to spoil either storyline, but I really liked seeing what Emelia chose to do once she had to decide what and who actually mattered to her.

And I especially loved seeing Elliot stand beside her when it counted.

---

Audiobook Experience

I listened to the audiobook while working on my paint-by-numbers and honestly?

Excellent life choices were made. 

This was exactly the kind of romance I love listening to while doing something relaxing. I could settle into Echo Lake, enjoy Emelia and Elliot's banter and chemistry, and happily continue painting away while their supposedly antagonistic relationship became increasingly less antagonistic.

Was I productive?

Yes.

Did I get my romance fix at the same time?

Also yes.

We love multitasking. 

---

Final Thoughts

Overall, this was just such an enjoyable small-town romance.

We have enemies-to-lovers-ish vibes, forced proximity, a single dad, a sweet relationship with his daughter, plenty of banter and chemistry, small-town shenanigans and enough outside conflict to keep things interesting without taking away from the romance.

I had a ridiculously relaxing time with it and honestly don't have much to complain about.

Sometimes that's exactly what I want from a romance.

And since this is only the beginning of the Mercer family...

Yes, hello. I'll be needing the next couple immediately.

Did I mention this already?

Anyway... :D

5⭐

---

ARC/ALC Disclaimer

Thank you to Hambright PR and Piper Rayne for the opportunity to read and listen to Holding Ground. All opinions are my own.