Between the Lies by Michelle Adams
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Chloe Daniels wakes up in the hospital, she has no recollection of how she ended up there, or even who she is.

Surrounded by people claiming to be her family, Chloe remains unsure. She has no remembrance of any of them. Soon they are whisking her home and setting her up in a room they say is hers but still, nothing seems familiar.

The man who says that he is her Father also happens to be a psychiatrist and he begins holding sessions with her to help regain her memories. As the story unfolds, Chloe does begin to get flashbacks, both of the night of her accident and her before. Through recollections, and speaking with those around her, the story of her life ‘before’ begins to be pieced together.

I found Between the Lies to be a fast-paced and compelling read. It is intense right from the very beginning. You know there has to be a ‘baddie’ in this story and I suspected everyone, including Chloe herself!

When I wasn’t reading this book, I was thinking about it and to me, that is a sign of a good one. I did eventually guess the baddie prior to the reveal but it was still a hecka’ ton of fun. Additionally, there was a twist I wasn’t expecting that left me on the final page with a sinister smile on my face.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and felt it to be a solid, absorbing psychological thriller. Thank you so much to the publisher, St. Martin’s Press, for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review. As always, I appreciate the opportunity and look forward to reading more by Michelle Adams in the future.

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Hunting Annabelle by Wendy Heard
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Unfortunately, Hunting Annabelle wasn’t the story for me. I did not like this. It started out promising, as the author’s writing is actually quite strong, but the story, yeah, just did not do it for me.

Around the 50% mark was where it seemed to turn for me and I never got my interest back. Our protagonist, Sean Suh, is a Korean-American in his early 20s who you discover early on has some pretty strong urges to hurt and kill young women. In fact, you learn that he acted on these urges at least once in a severe enough manner to have him sentenced to a psychiatric prison. However, at the point where we meet him, he is living with his overbearing and severe mother in a different state from where he committed his crime(s).

As I mentioned, I enjoyed the beginning. It started off strong. It is revealed to you overtime the extent of Sean’s illness and resulting actions and I enjoyed the way that was slowly unfolded for us. He is very much an unreliable narrator and it is unclear early on how much of his thoughts you can actually believe as the truth.

After a certain point however it just got to be too much. Then plot twists occurred where my eyes legit almost rolled out of my head. I just didn’t buy what the author was trying to sell. It completely lost me on the story.

By the final 20% I just couldn’t. I had to push to make it through. However, just because this story wasn’t for me, in no way makes this a bad book. The author’s writing style is very fluid and easy to read. The suspense and uncertainty at the beginning definitely kept me turning the pages. If you are okay with the plot twists, this could probably be a really strong book for you. It is very violent, very messy, very over-the-top but also explores some interesting topics of identity and mental health.

There are readers for every story but unfortunately, this one just didn’t work for me. I want to thank the publisher, Harlequin – MIRA, for providing me with a copy of this book to read and review. I always appreciate the opportunity and I would read more books by Wendy Heard in the future.

**Please note, the protagonist in this has been diagnosed with schizophrenia but he doesn’t self-identify as such and I in no way can comment on how the rep was for that.

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