Book Review: The Perfect Child by Lucinda Berry @lucindaberry22 @AmazonPub #ThePerfectChild #ThePerfectChildBook #lucindaberry #bookreview #bookreviewer #bookblog #bookblogger #partner #booksonthebookshelf

PUBLISHER: Thomas & Mercer

PUBLICATION DATE: March 1st, 2019

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Thank you to Amazon Publishing for gifting me a beautiful hardcover copy of this book to read and share my review with my followers. Can we take a few moments to just admire the beauty of this book cover? Absolutely beautiful I LOVE IT!!

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

A page-turning debut of suspense about a young couple desperate to have a child of their own—and the unsettling consequences of getting what they always wanted.

Christopher and Hannah are a happily married surgeon and nurse with picture-perfect lives. All that’s missing is a child. When Janie, an abandoned six-year-old, turns up at their hospital, Christopher forms an instant connection with her, and he convinces Hannah they should take her home as their own.

But Janie is no ordinary child, and her damaged psyche proves to be more than her new parents were expecting. Janie is fiercely devoted to Christopher, but she acts out in increasingly disturbing ways, directing all her rage at Hannah. Unable to bond with Janie, Hannah is drowning under the pressure, and Christopher refuses to see Janie’s true nature.

Hannah knows that Janie is manipulating Christopher and isolating him from her, despite Hannah’s attempts to bring them all together. But as Janie’s behavior threatens to tear Christopher and Hannah apart, the truth behind Janie’s past may be enough to push them all over the edge.

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MY REVIEW:

Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it!!

Oh my goodness! Just WOW!!! This book is simply amazing! This novel will have you sitting on the edge of your seat, gasping and breathless over the craziness and goings-on in this novel! I loved how dark and twisty this novel was and you will NOT be disappointed!!

Christopher and Hannah are a happily married couple. One is a doctor and one is a nurse. The only thing missing in their happy lives is a child of their own. They desperately want a child and then as luck would have it young Janie comes into their lives. She needs a place to live, they want a child in their home… PERFECT! Talk about great timing! They decide to take her into their home until more permanent arrangements can be made.

This novel is told in alternating POV’s – Christopher’s and Hannah’s. There is much suspicion as to the way Janie came into their lives. Where does she come from? Where are her parents? As the mystery of Janie begins to unfold, not everything is as it first appeared to be, and it is clear there are way more dark and sinister parts at play here. Janie becomes manipulative, often pitting Christopher and Hannah against one another, and shows favouritism.

Without giving too much away this is definitely a must read that you need to add to your TBR list right now!! You will not regret it.

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MY RATING: 5/5 stars

Book Review: A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult @jodipicoult @PenguinRandomCA #ASparkOfLight #ASparkOfLightBook #bookblog #bookblogger #bookreview #bookreviewer #booksonthebookshelf #partner

PUBLISHER: Random House Canada

PUBLICATION DATE: October 2nd, 2018

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Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for gifting me a beautiful hardcover copy of this book to read and share my review with others. Just look at the cover of this book!! Totally amazing!

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

At Mississippi’s sole remaining women’s reproductive services clinic, a gunman bursts in and takes its patients and staff hostage. The stories that brought these individuals to the clinic vary, from a woman awaiting cancer screening results to a protestor hoping to catch the clinic in a scandal that could be used in a pro-life campaign. Then there is the police hostage negotiator, whose daughter is also trapped inside the facility, and the gunman himself, who has a vendetta to carry out. Meanwhile, across the state, a seventeen-year-old woman lands in the hospital after an attempt to self-terminate her pregnancy and is subsequently charged by the pro-life DA for the murder of her unborn child. They, too, are connected to the events unfolding in the clinic.

As the book moves backward in time, each chapter set one hour earlier than the last, we learn how all these people and their stories are unwittingly connected–and that none of these characters’ reasons for being where they are at this fateful place and time are exactly what it appears at first glance.

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MY REVIEW:

Wow! Just wow! This novel is heartbreaking, thought-provoking, and incredible! Jodi Picoult has done it yet again with another pulse-pounding novel that will leave readers thinking about this novel long after they have finished reading it!

I absolutely loved how uniquely written this book was – written in reverse timeline. Every chapter was written an hour previous to the last chapter, and it was unique and I loved it. It allowed us the reader to slowly gain more pieces of the puzzle and get a clearer picture of what is going on and the events that lead to where the book started (the ending). We slowly learn what brought each person to the clinic and their individual stories.

This book will have you sitting on the edge of your seat as you read chapter after chapter, biting your nails and frantically flipping through the pages to see which direction this story will take next. You will feel many different emotions while reading this novel, so be sure to have a box of tissues handy.

We get glimpses into the lives and thoughts of each of the hostages that day as well as a glimpse into their lives beforehand, and experience their thoughts and emotions while they are held hostage in the clinic. We also get an understanding of what brought each of them into the clinic on that fateful day and the factors in their lives that have led them to make the decisions that they have made.

A book you will surely love! Be sure to grab your copy today if you haven’t already read this novel! You will love it!

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MY RATING:

5/5 stars

Book Review: Someone We Know by Shari Lapena @sharilapena @doubledayca @doubledaybooks #SomeoneWeKnow #SomeoneWeKnowBook #bookblog #bookblogger #bookreview #bookreviewer #booksonthebookshelf

PUBLISHER: Doubleday Canada

PUBLICATION DATE: July 30th, 2019

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ABOUT THE BOOK: 

Maybe you don’t know your neighbours as well as you thought you did. . . .

“I’m so sorry. My son has been getting into people’s houses. He’s broken into yours.”

In a quiet, leafy suburb in upstate New York, a teenager has been sneaking into houses–and into the owners’ computers as well. Learning their secrets, and maybe sharing some of them, too.

Who is he, and what might he have uncovered? As whispers start to circulate, suspicion mounts. And when a woman down the street is found murdered, the tension reaches its breaking point. Who killed her? Who knows more than they’re telling? And how far will all these very nice people go to protect their little secrets?

In this neighbourhood, it’s not just the husbands and wives who play games. Here, everyone in the family has something to hide.

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MY REVIEW:

I have read (and LOVED) all of Shari Lapena’s novels and was thrilled to hear about this newest release! I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy. I was not disappointed. I loved how this book was filled with suspicions, lies, deception, betrayal and secrets. Spouses keeping secrets from one another, parents keeping secrets from their children and vice versa. Everyone has something to hide and I loved that about this book!

Imagine receiving a note in your home anonymously from someone claiming their son has broken into houses in the community and that yours might be one of them. I mean what would you think? What would you do? I love how no one in this novel is innocent, everyone has something to hide, and all the adults are connected in some sinister way. I love it!

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MY REVIEW:

5/5 stars

Book Review: Woman on the Edge by Samantha M. Bailey @sbaileybooks @SimonSchusterCA #WomanOnTheEdge #bookreview #bookblogger #bookblog #bookreviewer #partner #booksonthebookshelf

PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster

PUBLICATION DATE: November 26th, 2019

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Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada for gifting me a beautiful paperback ARC copy of this book to read and share my review.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

A moment on the subway platform changes two women’s lives forever—a debut thriller that will take your breath away.

A total stranger on the subway platform whispers, “Take my baby.”

She places her child in your arms. She says your name.

Then she jumps…

In a split second, Morgan Kincaid’s life changes forever. She’s on her way home from work when a mother begs her to take her baby, then places the infant in her arms. Before Morgan can stop her, the distraught mother jumps in front of an oncoming train.

Morgan has never seen this woman before, and she can’t understand what would cause a person to give away her child and take her own life. She also can’t understand how this woman knew her name.

The police take Morgan in for questioning. She soon learns that the woman who jumped was Nicole Markham, prominent CEO of the athletic brand Breathe. She also learns that no witness can corroborate her version of events, which means she’s just become a murder suspect.

To prove her innocence, Morgan frantically retraces the last days of Nicole’s life. Was Nicole a new mother struggling with paranoia or was she in danger? When strange things start happening to Morgan, she suddenly realizes she might be in danger, too.

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MY REVIEW:

Addictive, thrilling, and edgy (see what I did there!). This book will have you sitting on the edge of your seat as you flip through the pages to see how the story unfolds and see what will happen next. Imagine you are standing and waiting for your train to come, and a stranger approaches you saying “take my baby” then places the baby in your arms and falls in front of an oncoming train. Wow!

I love how this book dives right into the heart-pulsing drama from the very beginning of this story. Woman on the Edge is told from alternating POV’s – Morgan in the now, and Nicole from before. I loved how it was written this way to show both sides of the entire story from each woman’s point of view. and also reading from Nicole in the “before” helps us to understand what was going on in her life that led to the events in the here and now.

I enjoyed reading about both Nicole and Morgan’s characters, and they were both likeable and fun to read about. I loved learning about their individual lives, and the events that led to their fateful meeting that day on the subway platform.

Full of twists and turns, darkness and secrets, this book will draw you in to the very end! Way to go Samantha, I look forward to reading your other novels!

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MY RATING: 5/5 stars

Book Review: The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA @lisajewelluk @netgalley #TheFamilyUpstairs #bookreview #bookreviewer #bookblog #bookblogger #booksonthebookshelf

 

PUBLISHER: Atria

PUBLICATION DATE: November 5th, 2019

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Thank you to the publisher for the eARC of this book via NetGalley.

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ABOUT THE BOOK:

Be careful who you let in.

Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am.

She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them.

Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

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MY REVIEW:

This book was an entertaing, addictive read. This was the first book by Jewell that I have read and I am looking forward to reading her other books after reading this one. I loved how slowly the mystery of what happened in the house at 16 Cheyne Walk all those years ago are revealed to us, and it leaves you wanting more as we learn piece by chilling piece. Such a dark, edgy past, that leaves you with a lot of questions, but fear not. All your questions will be answers as you read the chapters. So many secrets and lies, hidden truths and drama. Libby is excited to find out who her true parents are. When she turns 25 she finally receives the letter she has been waiting for all these years.

I enjoyed reading about Libby. She was an interesting and likeable character, and I enjoyed learning about her past and her birth family, and learning their secrets and their lies all those years ago. It was fun to read about Libby’s growth as a character in the book and I enjoyed reading about her encounter with the other characters in this novel as well.

Without giving too much away you’ll have to read this book! A definite must add to your TBR!

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MY RATING: 4 stars