The Hunting Party

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley

In a remote hunting lodge, deep in the Scottish wilderness, old friends gather.

The beautiful one
The golden couple
The volatile one
The new parents
The quiet one
The city boy
The outsider

The victim.

While I enjoyed this book it is by no means something we've not seen before. A group of old friends have gone to a remote Scottish lodge for New Years Eve and end up being trapped by a snowstorm when one of them is murdered. 

It is started with the finding of the body and it then goes back to 3 days before from when the friends first arrived and switches backwards and forwards every couple of chapters. During the 3 days we find out more about each person their past relationships with each other but not really what they are like so much now.
 It's written from the perspective of 3 of the female friends and even thought he same moments are shown through each persons eyes at times at no point does it feel repetitive. 

The main story, apart from the murder of course, is can you really stay friends with people for that long. The characters have been friends since university and are now well into their 30's. The have changed and grown, They are each at different points in their life and don't necessarily know each other that well any more. 

This book was slightly predictable and I could see the ending coming but that doesn't mean i didn't enjoy it or wouldn't read it again.

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The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley 

Only Daughter

Only Daughter by Sarah Denzil

‘Your daughter is dead.’

When Kat Cavanaugh hears the words every mother dreads, her perfect world shatters. She takes in the beautiful long blonde hair, torn yellow dress and chipped blue nail-varnish. It can’t be real.

And then the police add the word ‘suicide’. But Kat refuses to believe them.

Even when they show her the familiar looping handwriting and smudged ink on the note her little girl left behind. She knows her bubbly, vivacious daughter would never take her own life.

As she searches Grace’s perfume scented room, filled with smiling photos, she uncovers secrets her little girl had been hiding. Secrets that could put her in terrible danger too.

But Kat’s determined to find out what really happened to Grace on the night she died, whatever it takes…

I received a ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book gripped me from the first page and it didn't let go. It tells the story of Kat trying to find out what happened to her  daughter when she supposedly committed suicide never believing for a second that she did. I loved the ongoing mystery of what happened of course but I also enjoyed the journey of self revelation that Kat took, not only as a mother but accepting what her life was before that. 
 It made me question how well we know our children at all and do we want to, especially as it turned out Kat didn't know hers as much as she thought she did. It explores themes of nature vs nurture are you the way you are because you were born that way or do your parents make you act and feel the way you do. Nearly every character in this book was affected by the way their parents acted around them and treated them.
 How far would you go to protect or discover things about someone you love is the main story line though and will you like what you find at the end.

No Exit

No Exit.

A KIDNAPPED LITTLE GIRL LOCKED IN A STRANGER'S VAN. NO HELP FOR MILES. WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Darby Thorne is a college student stranded by a blizzard at a highway rest stop in the middle of nowhere. She’s on the way home to see her sick mother. She’ll have to spend the night in the rest stop with four complete strangers. Then she stumbles across a little girl locked inside one of their parked cars.

There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, no way out because of the snow, and she doesn’t know which one of the other travellers is the kidnapper.

WARNING! Do not start this book in bed when you need to get up the next day and get 2 lazy teenagers up for school/college! This is such a tense read. Everything happens over one night in one place with only 6 people. As it's set in such a short space of time you keep reading to see what could possibly happen next and how will the main character Darby get out of it. It's full of suspense and it grips you pretty early on.

 Taylor Adams did an amazing job of conveying the feeling of being trapped and not knowing who to trust. You can feel how scared Darby is throughout the book and how unsure she is of what to do and who to trust. You feel hope when you think she has a plan and you equally feel her dismay and terror when you realise its not going to work.

 The fact that its set in such a short space of time in such a small place with so few people is what makes this book as good as it is. It adds to the suspense as you know nobody can escape, not even the bad guys can escape and make a break for it. It makes everyone feel desperate and willing to do things they definitely usually wouldn't. 

I recommend this book to anyone who likes suspenseful books you wont be disappointed.

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No Exit by Taylor Adams

Beware of nice men!

It's All About You.

When aspiring writer Guinevere Beck strides into the bookstore where Joe works, he is instantly smitten.

But there's more to Joe than Beck realises and much more to Beck than her perfect facade. And the obsessive relationship quickly spirals into a whirlwind of deadly consequences...

Firstly I loved it, but I'm not sure I'll read it again. Secondly Joe is creepy as hell and makes my skin crawl. He is however such a good character, Caroline Kepnes did such a good job in creating the main character and managing to keep him from ever gaining your sympathy. I admit I kept waiting for a redeeming moment as is normally the case with a main character but I'm also glad that one never came because that would have taken away from the whole creepy feeling that was present throughout the book.
  The whole book is from his point of view and to hear his thoughts, his process and his reasoning of why he does what he does is fascinating, disturbing but fascinating. His justifications about why he acts the way he does and his inability to see that he's wrong most of the time is what makes this such a compelling read.The way he manages to hide who he is and perform with the people around him is what makes him especially disturbing. He comes across as charming, witty and extremely likeable to those he meets and that is a big part of how he gets away with things for so long. 
 I cant wait for the show!

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You by Caroline Kepnes

Hello!

Hello fellow bookworms!

Hi, welcome to the musings of someone who feels  like everyone should know about what she reads. I  like talking about books so that means everyone else likes hearing about them right?

 This is a short but sweet post to introduce my self to you all. 

Hi, I'm Rachel I'm 37 and I'm a book addict. I enjoy all different genres I don't necessarily have a favourite but i do find that I read the same of one kind for a while before I switch. I don't like the term"guilty Pleasure" as i don't believe you should feel guilty about liking a book, film or music just because its seen as bad writing or cheesy. You do you! 

 I hope you all enjoy my random ramblings and if you don't then you don't have to read.

Bye for now xx