The Woman in the Window. A.J. Finn. 2018. 448 pages. William Morrow. [Source: Public Library.] I picked up The Woman in the Window mostly on a whim. My local library has a program titled “My Lucky Day,” which features new and/or trending titles. They’re given placement right in the center of attention — at the checkout desk so you can’t miss them. The catch? You only get them for 2 weeks, no renewals, and a $1 a day fine. It’s a brilliant program, and I’ve experienced some pretty good reads through their selections. Reading this book will immediately bring to mind Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film Rear Window.  I suspect the these similarities are, in part, intentional.  Throughout the book, I felt like I was reading a book that borrowed slivers from the most successful in the classic suspense genre. And it works in setting a tone in which you know better than to accept everything at face value. Anna Fox lives a largely solitary life. A psychologist suffering from agoraphobia, she spends much of her time essentially spying on her neighbors in her upscale New York neighborhood.  The monotony is broken by the conversations with her husband and daughter, and occasional…

Coveted. Christina C. Jones. 2019. 107 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.] I am so pleased that Christina C. Jones is back with the second installment in the “Eternally Tethered” series, Coveted. With this book, she focuses on younger sister Ancelin and further explorers the ties between her and Nasir that were introduced in 2015’s Haunted. Ancelin is known as a bit of a wild child; her reputation for hedonism is well-known. She, like Khalida in Haunted, is loath to commit to one person for fear of getting hurt or making the wrong choice in partner. However, when a series of odd and forboding coincidences keep occurring in relation to Ancelin, she’s forced to accept Nasir as a bodyguard. As Aram’s right-hand man, Nasir is unquestionably loyal to Ancelin and will guard her life at all costs. The reasons run deeper for him, but Ancelin takes a while to get to a point of truly understanding his motivations. Along the way, though, the two have a deliciously tense chemistry that has Ancelin doing all she can to tempt Nasir. I enjoyed Coveted even more than Haunted, which I was a bit shocked to realize. I’m still not into paranormal, so these two…

A Spark of Light. Jodi Picoult. 2018. Ballatine Books. 384 pages. [Source: Public Library.]  It’s hard to temper your expectations when you know a book starts off with what many consider a worst-case scenario – a hostage situation at a women’s reproductive health care center. I came into this book bracing myself for the worst, but still clinging to hope that there could be a happily ever after … of sorts … for the characters. The book presents a great deal of tension, obviously. There is, of course, the suspense of wondering how the hostage situation will resolve and how many casualties will lie in its wake? But more than that, there’s the tension of a divisive topic – abortion rights — what perspectives will be presented, and how, if at all, that impacts the overall narrative. This was my first foray into Picoult’s writing, and I have to say I was impressed. What became immediately apparent to me was how balanced her writing felt in the face of such a polarizing topic. I expected to read this book and just know I’d be able to pick out any pro-life or pro-choice leanings. I’m glad to say I couldn’t because…

Before I Let Go. Marieke Nijkamp. 2018. Sourcebooks Fire. 372 pages. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley.] Small towns don’t often take kindly to outsiders. Sometimes, they don’t even take kindly to their own. Such is the story of Before I Let Go, which follows Corey as she seeks the truth about the sudden — and suspicious — death of her best friend, Kyra.  Corey grew up in the small town of Lost Creek, Alaska, and was nearly inseparable from Kyra. When Corey’s family moves away, the two girls make a promise to stay connected; while Kyra writes regularly, Corey leaves the letters unanswered. Nonetheless, she’s distraught when she learns just seven months later, that Kyra fell through what is normally a frozen over lake.  In returning to Lost Creek, she can sense that things have changed, but just how far these changes have gone aren’t anything she’s ready for.

  Anonymous Acts. Christina C. Jones. 2017. 364 pages. [Source:Kindle Unlimited.] ​As always, I devoured a great new book from CCJ. I had been reading samples leading up to its release, but was still pleasantly surprised with the plot twists and turns of Anonymous Acts. The book focuses in Monica Stuart’s legal woes, both for her once-thriving cosmetics company and for herself, as she faces murder charges in the death of her estranged husband. As much control as she exerts over the quality of her nail polishes, she can’t figure out why she’s getting nothing but bad reviews for her upcoming “Wicked Widow” line. This is followed, coincidentally, by the vicious murder of her philandering husband, leaving people to guess whether she took her new product line a little too literally. To make matters worse, her virtual friend with benefits, whom she’s never met, is arrested on suspicion of the murder.