Everything We Keep. Kerry Lonsdale. 2016. 306 pages. Lake Union Publishing. [Source: Kindle First.] On our wedding day, my fiance, James, arrived at the church in a casket. Well, that’s certainly a way to start a book. Everything We Keep is a poignant story that follows Aimee as she seeks to find some sense of normalcy after her fiancee goes missing for nearly two months, then suddenly washes ashore, dead.  When a mysterious woman approaches her after the funeral with enigmatic messages that allude to James still being alive, Aimee is wary and keeps her distance, too stricken with grief to process whether the woman means well or wants to exploit her. But when the woman returns after more than a year with evidence that seems to back up her claims, it’s impossible for Aimee to ignore. Reading Everything We Keep is an emotional roller-coaster. The journey Aimee goes on is definitely interesting, and finds her leaving the cocoon of her hometown to explore a seaside town in Mexico.  

Mine to Keep. Ashley Nicole. 2016. 201 pages. [Source: Amazon Kindle Unlimited.] Noelle has terrible luck with men. That’s why when she begins to fall for her next door neighbor Jaylen, she’s hesitant with good reason. Too bad her hesitance is well-founded: the man has a stalker. Jaylen didn’t think much of the creepy notes that were being left on his windshield.  Signed SA,  he simply thought it was a secret admirer who’d reveal themselves and keep it moving. That changed when the notes became more angry and “coincidences” in his life became more violent.

The Couple Next Door. Shari Lapena. 2016. 320 pages. Pamela Dorman Books. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley.] Like playing a game of Clue, minus the board, the players, and the hope that when it gets to the end it’ll make sense … Ironically, the book reminded me of a notable case from Colorado where nothing makes sense and there’s a bunch of missing pieces to even the most trained eye. However, the mystery and crazy degrees of separation didn’t distract from a well written book.

Evelyn After. Victoria Helen Stone.  2016. 258 pages. Lake Union Publishing. [Source: Kindle First Program.] A girl was dead. A marriage was ruined. And the world just kept going on as if that were all okay, when it wasn’t okay. She wasn’t okay. Evelyn lived a tidy, suburban life. Until the one evening when her husband revealed that he’d been in an accident, one of his patients was involved, and nobody could know a thing about it.  That evening sparked a change in Evelyn and the way she interacted with the world around her. Once a super-PTA parent, she becomes a sulking shell of herself, bent on finding out truth about the husband she thinks she knows.

Outbreak: The Zombie Apolocalypse. 2015. 236 pages. Pants on Fire Press. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of Library Thing Early Reviewers Program.] I’ll cut to the chase – I really enjoyed this book. I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of “doomsday” literature, but this one grabbed me and had me on the edge of my seat for the entire time. I was admittedly wary of reading this because it’s about a zombie apocalypse. They’re kind of all the same, whether in film or book, right? Not so much. I appreciated this one because you get a first-person perspective about how someone copes with being in the midst of such a terrifying situation. You see first-hand the fear, the contemplation, the desperation … the entire range of emotions one must feel while staring at what could be the end of days.