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Hazel (2934 KP) rated The Narrator in Books

Dec 31, 2022  
The Narrator
The Narrator
K.L. Slater | 2023 | Thriller
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is a twisty and intriguing thriller that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Eve narrates books for a living and when a book surfaces from an author that disappeared months ago and Eve is asked to narrate it, she jumps at the chance. Having received the book by email, Eve realises something's not quite right with it and so begins Eve's quest to find out just what happened to the missing author but what she finds, is far more than she expected.

With excellent characters, an enthralling plot and twists that surprise, this is a great book and Ms Slater is fast becoming one of my go-to authors.

A twisty, psychological thriller that I devoured in quick time and thanks must go to Bookouture and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of The Narrator.
  
The Bridge (Detective Louise Blackwell #6)
The Bridge (Detective Louise Blackwell #6)
Matt Brolly | 2023 | Crime, Thriller
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
What a great book! Although this is number 6 in the series, I think it can be read as a standalone quite successfully.

The story starts with the discovery of a young woman's body in a shipping container. Initial thoughts are this is a tragic case of human trafficking gone wrong but when a camera is discovered and the investigation delves deeper, the case turns into something else altogether and when more people start to go missing, Detective Blackwell and her team know they are running out of time.

Written at a good pace, with fantastic characters, a great storyline full of tension, this is a great addition to the series and I must thank the author, Amazon Publishing UK, Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for enabling me to read and share my thoughts of The Bridge.
  
Schoolgirl Missing
Schoolgirl Missing
Sue Fortin | 2019 | Contemporary, Mystery, Thriller
10
9.0 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
Having read some of Sue Fortin’s books before, I was very keen to get my hands on a copy of SCHOOLGIRL MISSING as it was a must-read for me. I liked this book very much, The level of suspense she manages to create in her writing is awesome and she is one of my favourite authors in this genre.

SCHOOLGIRL MISSING is an engrossing, psychological thriller set in Ambleton, a lovely quiet village with a river running through it.

What’s really likeable about it straight-away are the opening chapters that draw you into the main characters, Neve and Kit Masters and their daughter, Poppy. Neve is impulsive and unreliable. She was someone who I could empathise with, but she also had me losing patience with her. Kit had a deep-rooted fear of loss as a result of previous life experiences which I could fully understand.

Because Poppy is Kit's daughter and not Neve's, she cannot hide her all-consuming need to have a child of her own. Kit, however, doesn't share her desires which have put a strain on their relationship, and when Poppy vanishes, the cracks begin to deepen. Would either Neve or Kit harm Poppy to achieve their own aims? Are those around them completely as they seem?

One of the highlights of the book was following the many twists and turns of the plot and I absolutely loved the way in which this story developed. Both the plot and character development are excellent, and the story is captivating and engaging. I found that I was regularly pondering where the story was going to next.

This was an interesting novel particularly for the interplay of the different secondary characters as well as the primary ones- a handsome suitor, a supportive best friend, an unpleasant ex-husband, and a dodgy past acquaintance, to name but a few. I thought that all of the characters were very cleverly written - resulting in my constant changes of opinion about whether or not I trusted them.

I loved Sue Fortin’s writing style which I found to be so vivid and very easy to read. She portrayed the characters’ feelings incredibly well as the story unfolded and Neve's past was particularly well told.

SCHOOLGIRL MISSING is a story full of secrets, suspicion and lies that held my interest from start to finish and the way in which Sue Fortin brought everything to a conclusion was just fabulous. I loved it and it has left me eager to read more from this author.

{Thank you to NetGalley, HarperCollins and Sue Fortin for a free ARC of this book in exchange for a voluntary, honest review.}
  
Marvin (Assassin's To Order #1)
Marvin (Assassin's To Order #1)
JP Sayle, Lisa Oliver | 2023 | LGBTQ+, Paranormal, Romance
8
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
did not see the DNA twist coming!
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted my copy of this book.

This s a spin series, from the Tangled Tentacles series. While not necessary to have read all 5 books, you should at least read book 5, Kelvin. But then again, I said in my review for THAT book, you need to read them all first, so read them all, then!

We met Marvin in Kelvin's book. He surprised everyone, even me. I loved his sweet nature then, his fierce protectiveness of all the Thalassa babies and of those boys who are still missing. It's one of those boys, Ajani, who especially calls to Marvin. Given as Ajani is his soul mate, hardly surprising, but what did surprise me was how little Ajani thought of himself, how he thinks that MArvin does not deserve someone like him.

The lost boys have been trained as assassins. And that's all they know. Revealing themselves, as they are being called to do, opens a whole can of worms no one saw coming, least of all Marvin but he rallies and manages to keep Ajani and the others safe for a time. What that does do, though, it put a target on Marvin's head. Finding out WHO becomes everyone's sole focus.

I loved who all the Thalassa Kracken are here, along with their mates and the babies!

I did NOT see the twist as to what Marvin's DNA might contain, til that was thrown at me!

Marvin and Ajani's tale is a tad sweeter than the Thalassa books, but mostly cos of Marvin. Changing it a smexier book would lose a little of the sweetness Marvin brings to this world and I'd hate that. It is a little darker too, if that makes any sense. These boys are trained assassins and they make no bones about it. It's talked about, what they do and you need to know that.

The epilogue leads very nicely into book 2, as all these books do.

HOWEVER!

Something was missing for me, and Sayle has a knack of serious pushing my book brain with questions, questions, SO MANY FREAKING QUESTIONS! I can't voice those questions either and it equally pisses me off and strives me to dig deeper in my book brain to get them out! I said, in a review for another of Sayle's books " If I cannot voice the questions, how can the author answer them??"

And that's exactly what we have here. Something was missing and I gotta dig DEEP to figure out what.

Still, a very engaging read, that kept me fully engrossed for the whole single sitting I read it in.

4 stars

*same worded review will appear elsewhere