Objects in Lakes

 

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A body in the lake on the Fourth of July. Again. 

Seven years ago, Olive and Richie’s four-year-old daughter drowned during their neighborhood’s big Fourth of July party on Duck Lake, Michigan. Olive has spent every day since numb with grief and pills while her oncologist husband thrives in the spotlight. Now it’s the Fourth of July again, and another body comes out of the lake. This time it’s a neighbor, a former NFL star with demons of his own. And suddenly Olive can’t stop asking questions about the night her daughter died.

My honest take as a retired librarian who has read a LOT of these: this is a solid debut. Entertaining, well paced, twisty, with a satisfying ending. Olive is a complex lead, and the backstories in this picture perfect neighborhood kept me interested. Did it break new ground? No. There were a couple of slow spots, and Richie is your standard issue pompous doctor.  But for a debut? Impressive. I’ll be watching what Ramas does next.

The dual narration by Rob Brinkman and Megan Tusing really made this one pop on audio. If you’re deciding between formats, go audio.

This one perfect for readers who love psychological thrillers, domestic suspense, and family drama. Fans of Shari Lapena and Stacy Willingham, this is one you should check out. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Simon Audio for the gifted early listen. Objects in Lakes by Rachael Ramas is out July 21. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org and support an indie store while you're at it.

If you enjoyed this review, you might be interested in my review of Before I Go to Sleep.

About the Author

Rachael Ramas is an American author, producer, and Michigan native who writes gripping thrillers rooted in emotional truth and moral complexity. A member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers, she co-owns a law firm with her husband in Boca Raton, Florida, where the legal world offers endless story inspiration. Living with a rare autoimmune disease and partial hearing loss, Ramas advocates for authentic disability representation in literature. Objects in Lakes is her debut novel. Follow Rachael on Instagram and visit her website for more news and information about her work.

Don't Look Away

 

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This is a pure popcorn thriller, and sometimes that’s exactly what I’m in the mood for.

Leslie Woodhouse, a former defense attorney, is living a quiet life as Florida retiree. She and her husband Robert have a condo on the beach and are enjoying their time together. Their lives are shattered when Robert is arrested and accused of being the Gulf Coast Killer, the man who’s been terrorizing the coast for months. She’s certain it’s a mistake, so she comes out of retirement to defend him herself. Problem is, his DNA was at one of the crime scenes.

Leslie carries this whole book. She’s smart, vivacious, down to earth, exactly the woman you’d want on your side of a courtroom. Robert, I’ll be honest, bored me a little. But the secrets and lies stacking up between him, Leslie, and his son Weston kept me locked in. The ending got a touch more complicated than it needed to be, but it still landed somewhere satisfying.

I did this one on audio and the full cast made it. Nancy Linari, Frederick Sanders, and Gary Tiedemann voice the three POV characters, and those three distinct voices really made the story pop.

Domestic suspense, serial killer, and legal thriller all rolled into one. Perfect for the pool or the beach bag. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Simon Audio for the gifted listen. Don't Look Away is out now. 

grab a copy on Bookshop.org and support an indie store while you're at it.

If you enjoyed this review, you may be interested in Two Kinds of Stranger, a legal thriller by Steve Cavanagh.

About the Author

Daniel Kenitz is the author of The Perfect Home and several short stories, including the Pushcart Prize–nominated “A Hand to the Plow” (2022, Red Rock Review). He lives in southeastern Wisconsin within jogging distance of dairy cows. Don’t Look Away is his second novel. Follow Daniel on Instagram and visit his website for more news and information about his books.

IG Live | a conversation with author John Fram (writing as Jack Friday)

 

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I just wrapped my Live with John Fram (writing as Jack Friday) and I’m still turning over half the things he said.

The whole conversation is right here, so if you missed us live, hit play. John writes some of the eeriest queer horror out there (The Bright Lands, The Midnight Knock), and now he’s stepped into crime fiction as Jack Friday with a series that’s funny, sexy, and soaked in Austin. We got into why he picked up a new name, how Peter Key showed up on the page, and what it actually takes to switch lanes from horror to mystery without losing the readers who came for the scares.

Quick refresher on the book if it’s new to you: Killer Vibes (out July 14) introduces Peter Key, a broke, bisexual, dedicated stoner who inherits a rundown house in one of Austin’s nicest neighborhoods from an uncle he barely knew. Then comes the half a million in debt, a bag of cash, and a growing suspicion that the death wasn’t an accident. Before he knows it he’s calling himself the laziest PI in Texas.

He was a fantastic guest. Warm, quick, and clearly having a blast building this world. Hit this link to pop over to my IG to watch the replay before you forget, and put this one on your July list.

Killer Vibes is out now — grab a copy on Bookshop.org and support an indie store while you're at it.

About the Author

Jack Friday is the pen name of John Fram, the author of several queer supernatural thrillers such as The Bright Lands and The Midnight Knock. He lives in Austin. Follow John on Instagram and visit his website for more news and information about hsi books.

Hot Girl Murder Club

 

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There is so much going on in Hot Girl Murder Club that I sometimes needed a flow chart to keep it straight.

Scout and Isabel have been best friends since childhood, and they move to Hollywood together to chase acting careers. Scout's younger sister Georgia follows them out to California for college. When Georgia's socially awkward classmate, the creepy son of a rich guy, develops a crush on her and invites the girls to his father's party, it should be the night of their lives. Instead Georgia is killed there. Ten years later Scout is still clawing through the industry looking for justice, collecting a network of ambitious women along the way. Then a string of targeted murders hits LA and every arrow points at Scout, and the detective on her case is carrying some tragedy of her own that ties right into it.

There is a lot to love here. Winstead's writing is sharp and the twists come out of nowhere. I was all in for the story of rich powerful men doing terrible things and women who were done waiting around for justice. Scout and her girl gang looking out for other women in need? Yes. Grey, the relentless LAPD detective? Loved her.

Here is where it lost me a little. Once Luca and her agenda entered the picture, the whole thing started to feel bloated. Winstead pulls it all together, but the heart of the story got convoluted and Grey basically vanishes when the plot shifts. Sometimes less really is more.

Brittany Pressley does a phenomenal job with the narration, but this is a book crying out for a full cast. Another voice or two would have made the dual timeline and the parade of characters so much easier to follow.

Bingeable, entertaining, and it has real things to say about grief, abuse, female rage, and vigilante justice. I just wish the message had not gotten a little lost in all that plot. 3.5⭐ rounded up to 4.

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the gifted early listen. Hot Girl Murder Club is out now. Grab a copy on Bookshop.org and support an indie store while you're at it.

If you enjoyed this review, you might be interested in my review of Ashley's book This Book Will Bury Me.

About the Author

Ashley Winstead is the national bestselling author of many beloved thrillers, including This Book Will Bury Me, The Last Housewife, In My Dreams I Hold a Knife, and Midnight Is the Darkest Hour. In addition to being an acclaimed thriller writer, Ashley is also the author of two romantic comedies, Fool Me Once and The Boyfriend Candidate, with more on the way. Her novels have been optioned for television; chosen as Book of the Month, Best of Amazon, LibraryReads, Indie Next, Apple Books, and Lone Star picks; and received attention from major outlets, from The New York Times to The Washington Post. Follow Ashley on Instagram. Find more news and information about Ashley's books at her website.

Killer Vibes

 

This post contains an affiliate link. If you buy through it, I earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It just helps keep this blog going.

I think I found my favorite new detective of the year, and he’s a broke, bisexual stoner who trips into the case completely by accident.

Meet Peter Key. When we first find him, he’s a charming, aimless weed dealer living about an hour away from being either homeless or dead. Then a lawyer tells him he’s inherited a big rundown house in one of Austin’s swankiest neighborhoods from an uncle he barely knew. Good news, right? Except the uncle borrowed half a million dollars right before he died, the money’s vanished, and now the debt lands squarely on Peter. 

Everyone from the lawyer to a very intense real estate broker next door wants him to sell, pay up, and disappear. But Peter wants to keep the house. His only shot is finding the missing money before someone else does, and before he becomes the next body.

This one is a total romp and I loved every second, especially Peter’s laid-back charm, the quirky supporting cast, and the twisty hunt for the cash. It went places I never saw coming and stayed fun the whole way through. John Fram, writing here as Jack Friday, keeps the plot moving and the Keep Austin Weird energy cranked all the way up. On audio, narrator Max Meyers is fantastic. He runs the full range of Peter’s emotions and gives every character in the cast their own distinct voice.

If you like your mysteries offbeat, with great lgbtq+ representation and enough twists to keep any armchair detective guessing, bump this to the top of your summer list. It’s already one of my favorite reads of the year, and I’m thrilled it’s the first in a planned series. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the gifted early listen. Killer Vibes is out July 14.

One more thing: come hang out with us live. I’m interviewing Jack Friday himself this Thursday, July 9 at 4pm EST / 3pm CST. Join us!

Killer Vibes is out now — grab a copy on Bookshop.org and support an indie store while you're at it.

Jack Friday is a new pen name for horror writer John Fram. Check out my review of his previous book The Midnight Knock.

About the Author

Jack Friday is the pen name of John Fram, the author of several queer supernatural thrillers such as The Bright Lands and The Midnight Knock. He lives in Austin. Follow John on Instagram and visit his website for more news and information about hsi books.

Revolutionary War Reads for the Fourth of July

 

Four books that drop you right into the Revolution, no fireworks required. I was a school librarian for twenty years, and the Revolutionary War shelf was sometimes a hard sell until I figured out which books actually pull kids in. These four hold up whether you are twelve or seventy.

Johnny Tremain is the one I read as a kid and never shook. A young silversmith's apprentice in Boston badly burns his hand, falls in with the Sons of Liberty, and ends up tangled in the Tea Party and the first shots at Lexington. It won the Newbery in 1943, and it still moves.

My Brother Sam Is Dead is the one that gutted me. A Connecticut family torn down the middle, a father who wants no part of the fight, an older son who runs off to join the Patriots, and the younger brother left watching it all come apart. It is not the tidy version of the Revolution. It is the real cost of it. Fair warning, the title is not a bluff.

A Girl Called Samson is the grown up pick, and it is based on a true story. Deborah Samson bound her chest, called herself Robert Shurtliff, and enlisted in the Continental Army. Amy Harmon goes deep on the history with a slow burn romance running underneath.

Chains is the one I wish I could have handed every single student. Isabel is thirteen, enslaved in New York City in 1776, promised her freedom and then sold to a Loyalist family instead. She spies for the Patriots hoping it buys her liberty and learns neither side is really fighting for hers. It is upper middle grade, and it does not soften the violence of slavery, so go in knowing that. It will stay with you.

A little nostalgia, a little history they skipped in school, and a reminder that independence looked very different depending on who you were.

Deborah Sampson isn't the only woman who hid who she was to fight. Here's my review of Code Name Hélène.

How the Penguins Saved Veronica

 

I showed up to book club as a full penguin. Everyone else wore black and white and called it a day.

That felt fitting for this one, because How the Penguins Saved Veronica by Hazel Prior is all about actually showing up for something.

Veronica McCreedy is 85, rich, and cranky enough to clear a room. She’s estranged from everyone, so when a penguin documentary catches her eye, she decides the Antarctic research team studying them should inherit her fortune. But first she has to see the penguins herself, which means flying to Antarctica against everyone’s advice and parking herself at a research station where three scientists absolutely do not want to babysit her. She also goes looking for living family and turns up Patrick, a directionless grandson she does not click with even a little.

Then she talks the team into rescuing an orphaned chick, and the whole thing cracks open. Veronica finally has something to love, and her friendship with Terry, one of the scientists, gives her somewhere to put all that armor down.

Here’s what got the whole book club: Veronica is not likable for a good chunk of this book. But once you learn where the hardness came from, losing her parents in the Blitz, losing a child, decades of nobody, you stop wanting to shake her and start rooting for her. That’s hard to pull off and Prior does it.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ from me and a unanimous yes from the group. Bring tissues for the backstory.

If you enjoyed this review, you may be interested in another cantankerous old woman, Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth.

About the Author

Hazel Prior lives on Exmoor with her husband and a huge ginger cat. As well as writing, she works as a freelance harpist. Hazel is the author of Ellie and the Harp-Maker, the #1 ebook and audiobook bestseller Away with the Penguins and its follow-up, Call of the Penguins. Life and Otter Miracles is her fourth novel.

Follow Hazel on Instagram and visit her website for more news and information about her books.