Contemporary Reads

Reviews & recommendations of contemporary books.
Literary Fiction, Thrillers, Feel Good Books, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction & more…

5 September 2024 | Thursday · 5:19 PM

The Bluff: Bonnie Traymore

The Bluff | Bonnie Traymore | Book Review
Title:
The Bluff
Series:
NA
Genre:
Thriller
Publisher:
Pathways Publishing
Release Date:
Format:
Netgalley ARC
Pages:
259

Plot Summary
The Bluff by Bonnie Traymore bases it’s plot in the town of Crest Lake on Lake Michigan. The shoreline houses are facing a threat from the crumbling bluff on which they are situated. And the owners are divided in their opinion on how to save their houses.

The main characters of the book are Kate Breslow (Sullivan), Claudia Mitchell, Ryan Breslow, Dough Mitchell, Margaret Brenner, Daisy Parker and the investigating team – Travis Whittaker, Sloane Davis & Chief Thompson. Kate & Claudia live two houses apart and have opposing views on the issue. While Kate lost her husband Ryan a year ago under mysterious circumstances, Dough Mitchell is killed right before the vote on the issue. And there begins the whodunnit case (actually …

Leave a Comment

Filed under Contemporary Reads

Tagged as

6 July 2024 | Saturday · 5:47 PM

I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue

I Hope This Finds You Well | Book Review | Natalie Sue
Title:
I Hope This Finds You Well
Series:
NA
Genre:
Literary Fiction, Romance
Release Date:
Format:
Google Play Books
Pages:
352

Plot Summary
The story of I Hope This Finds You Well revolves around a corporate employee Jolene, socially awkward and unable to gel with her office colleagues. The central characters being Rhonda, Caitlin, Armin as her coworkers and Gregory their creepy boss. Frustrated with their habits & whims, she vents it out to them through texts in emails that she hides out with white fonts. On one such occasion, she forgets to white out her rant to Caitlin and gets into deep trouble casting a shadow over her job.

As a result, she is put to a training course that she must pass to retain her job, wherein she comes close to the HR guy Clifford. In her bid to save her job, …

Leave a Comment

Filed under Contemporary Reads

Tagged as , ,

23 January 2024 | Tuesday · 1:39 PM

The Heiress

Title:
The Heiress
Series:
NA
Genre:
Thriller; Mystery
Publisher:
Headline
Release Date:
Format:
Kindle
Pages:
Pages: 305
Source:
BookForums 2024

Plot Summary

Ruby McTavish, the infamous heiress of the Ashby House, Tavistock, leaves behind her inheritance to her adopted son Camden who is least interested in the money, estate or any of the McTavishes left and decides to stay away. 10 years later, a sequence of events draws Cam & has wife Jules back to Ashby House. And as they do so, there are revealed dark secrets that each of them had been guarding from the others. Ruby herself had her past – a kidnapping & 4 times widowed with an air of mystery surrounding it all. What was the truth behind her kidnapping, the truth about her husbands’ deaths, why did she adopt Camden, the reason for Cam & Jules returning are few …

Leave a Comment

Filed under Contemporary Reads

Tagged as

15 January 2024 | Monday · 4:46 PM

First Lie Wins

First Lie Wins | Book Review
Title:
First Lie Wins
Series:
NA
Genre:
Thriller
Publisher:
Headline
Release Date:
Format:
Kindle
Pages:
340
Source:
BookForums 2024

Plot Summary

Lucca Marino lives with her mother in a trailer sewing dresses for wealthy women. When her mother falls ill, she picks up odd jobs to support her ailing mother and survive. She starts pilfering the wealthy clients and is spotted by a mysterious Mr. Smith who picks her for his devious, criminal activities. For each job that she is assigned by Mr. Smith, she is given a new identity and a mark with instructions on what is to be carried out. As she chances upon the mysterious deaths of others working for Mr. Smith, there starts a twisty tale of uncovering the real identity of Mr. Smith and to set herself free from Mr. Smith’s unassailable grip.

Pluses
* Enthralling plot & uncommon …

Leave a Comment

Filed under Contemporary Reads

Tagged as

3 January 2024 | Wednesday · 5:42 PM

The Berry Pickers

The Berry Pickers | Amanda Peters | Book Review
Title:
The Berry Pickers
Series:
NA
Genre:
Literary Fiction
Publisher:
Penguin
Release Date:
Format:
Kindle
Pages:
295
Source:
BookForums 2024

Plot Summary

Four-year-old Ruthie goes missing from the blueberry fields where the family works. On the other side, we have a young girl Norma growing up haunted by recurring dreams and faint memories which are hushed away by her parents as her imagination. This is the story of two families and two mothers, where one keeps losing child after child to some mishappening while the other loses them before birth. As it turns out, Ruthie and Norma are the same girl and it was the pain & suffering of the mother that led her to kidnap someone else’s child. The story brings life full circle when the grown woman Ruthie is reunited with her birth family and the instant bond she strikes with them. …

Leave a Comment

Filed under Contemporary Reads

Tagged as

21 December 2023 | Thursday · 4:34 PM

Alex Cross Must Die

Title:
Alex Cross Must Die
Series:
Alex Cross
Genre:
Thriller
Publisher:
Penguin
Release Date:
Format:
Kindle
Pages:
389
Source:
BookForums 2024

Plot Summary
A mystery man shoots down American Airlines flight 839 at Reagan Airport. Alex Cross & his associate John Sampson – who are working on another case of Dead Hour Killings – are summoned to investigate the shooting. There are other parallel stories where Cross’s wife Bree is working on the mysterious disappearance of her boss’s friend and business woman Leigh Anne Asher.

Pluses
* Interesting initial premise of a passenger jet being brought down
* Ali. The star of the book! The little detective who actually helps crack the Dead Hour Killings

Minuses
* Too many simultaneous cases (I counted them to be 5) – makes it a hotch-potch book with too many stories stuffed in
* Suspense in all these …

Leave a Comment

Filed under Contemporary Reads

Tagged as