in a dark, dark wood by Ruth Ware

What should be a cozy and fun-filled weekend deep in the English countryside takes a sinister turn in Ruth Ware’s suspenseful, compulsive, and darkly twisted psychological thriller.

Leonora, known to some as Lee and others as Nora, is a reclusive crime writer, unwilling to leave her “nest” of an apartment unless it is absolutely necessary. When a friend she hasn’t seen or spoken to in years unexpectedly invites Nora (Lee?) to a weekend away in an eerie glass house deep in the English countryside, she reluctantly agrees to make the trip. Forty-eight hours later, she wakes up in a hospital bed injured but alive, with the knowledge that someone is dead. Wondering not “what happened?” but “what have I done?”, Nora (Lee?) tries to piece together the events of the past weekend. Working to uncover secrets, reveal motives, and find answers, Nora (Lee?) must revisit parts of herself that she would much rather leave buried where they belong: in the past.

In the tradition of Paula Hawkins's instant New York Times bestseller The Girl On the Train and S. J. Watson’s riveting national sensation Before I Go To Sleep, this gripping literary debut from UK novelist Ruth Ware will leave you on the edge of your seat through the very last page.

My Thoughts 
Where do I begin...I wasn't actually sure what to expect.  But I can honestly say that I LOVED this book.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who's looking for a dark psychological thriller.
Leonora never leaves her home, and for good reason, can anyone truly trust the crazy, suspicious outside world?
Then one day she's invited to a bridal shower hen weekend, are these girls crazy?  Why would she go to the middle of no where to a glass house surrounded by trees...OK that does sound a little fun but in the end I wouldn't be able to do it, I would feel like I'm on show to the creepy people outside looking in.
Within in 48 hours someone is injuring in the hospital and someone else is dead, what the heck is going on?
I would honestly say that book is so good you may read it in one of two sittings!

Drink Selection
With all the crazy suspense that lies ahead for you in this book, I would have a delish bottle of Red Cat Halloween Label Red - SOOOO Goood!

Rating
5 wine glasses all the way!

 

About the Author
Ruth Ware grew up in Sussex, on the south coast of England. After graduating from Manchester University she moved to Paris, before settling in North London. She has worked as a waitress, a bookseller, a teacher of English as a foreign language and a press officer. She is married with two small children, and In a Dark, Dark Wood is her début thriller.

Find her on twitter at www.twitter.com/ruthwarewriter, on facebook at www.facebook.com/ruthwarewriter or via her website - www.ruthware.com

Link to Purchase
Amazon 

 
 

Where We Fall by Rochelle B. Weinstein

By all accounts, Abby Holden has it all. She’s the mother of a beautiful teenager and the wife of a beloved high school football coach. And all it took to achieve her charmed life was her greatest act of betrayal.

Coach Ryan can coax his team to victory, but he can’t seem to make his wife, Abby, happy. Her struggles with depression have marred their marriage and taken a toll on their daughter, Juliana. Although this isn’t the life he’s dreamed of, he’s determined to heal the rifts in his family.

Chasing waterfalls and documenting their beauty has led photographer Lauren Sheppard all around the world. Now it has brought her back home to the mountains of North Carolina—back to the scene of her devastating heartbreak.

For the first time in seventeen years, a trio of once-inseparable friends find themselves confronting past loves, hurts, and the rapid rush of a current that still pulls them together.

My Thoughts 
I just randomly went and picked a book off my shelf a few weeks back and I was so happy that this fall beauty fell into my hands.
Such a sad, tragic love story that has its moments of pure joy along with its moments of utter misery when you see how the pain has hit each individual character of this book.
Abby seems to have the makings of a perfect life - the handsome husband, the beautiful daughter, the house - basically the cookie cutter perfect life.  Not all things are as perfect as what they seem when you are on the outside looking in.
But what if that "perfect" family came at a price?  At the downfall and heartache of your best friend?
Abby always wanted Ryan but....he was in love with Lauren - Abby's best friend.
But one day Lauren took an amazing opportunity and went to see the world and photograph some of the most amazing waterfalls...but little did she know that her "best friend" would take advantage of her boyfriend in his time of need and rope him in by...you guessed it...getting pregnant.
How could Lauren deal with that?  She couldn't go back and watch their lives unfold together so she stayed away for what seemed like an eternity.
One day she came back...Abby was in the midst of a breakdown...what will happen at this end of this mess?   Will Lauren get her lost love back?  Will Abby get better and keep her family in tact?

Drink Selection
Every tragic love story needs to have a drink to go along with the rough times and that wine is known as Scandelicious!  Deep, bold and sultry! 

Rating
I really enjoyed the story and thought the characters wove an interesting web and I give it 5 wine glasses!

About the Author
Hi readers and friends! I'm Rochelle Weinstein, and I love to read as much as I love to write. Check out my women's fiction novels, WHERE WE FALL, THE MOURNING AFTER, & WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND, or visit my shelf to see what I've been enjoying. If you're an aspiring author, please contact me with any questions you might have regarding the writing process. Happy Reading!

Link to Purchase
Amazon 

Review - The Hideaway by Lauren K Denton

When her grandmother’s will wrenches Sara back home from New Orleans, she learns more about Margaret Van Buren in the wake of her death than she ever did in life.

After her last remaining family member dies, Sara Jenkins goes home to The Hideaway, her grandmother Mags's ramshackle B&B in Sweet Bay, Alabama. She intends to quickly tie up loose ends then return to her busy life and thriving antique shop in New Orleans. Instead, she learns Mags has willed her The Hideaway and charged her with renovating it—no small task considering Mags’s best friends, a motley crew of senior citizens, still live there.

Rather than hurrying back to New Orleans, Sara stays in Sweet Bay and begins the biggest house-rehabbing project of her career. Amid Sheetrock dust, old memories, and a charming contractor, she discovers that slipping back into life at The Hideaway is easier than she expected.

Then she discovers a box Mags left in the attic with clues to a life Sara never imagined for her grandmother. With help from Mags’s friends, Sara begins to piece together the mysterious life of bravery, passion, and choices that changed Mags’s destiny in both marvelous and devastating ways.

When an opportunistic land developer threatens to seize The Hideaway, Sara is forced to make a choice—stay in Sweet Bay and fight for the house and the people she’s grown to love or leave again and return to her successful but solitary life in New Orleans.

My Thoughts 
Have I ever said how much I LOVE Southern Lit?  There is something special about the love, life and adventure that the characters lead down south that draws me in and I want to live there and experience it all for myself.
This story is no different.  It takes place in New Orleans and and Sweet Bay, Alabama.  Lauren does such an amazing job in her descriptions of the characters from their personalities to their lives.  I couldn't get enough and I wished for more.
Sara was raised by her crazy grandmother and her eclectic friends.  She never really enjoyed her upbringing and wanted to leave as soon as she could.  And she did.  All the way to New Orleans where she would opened her own consignment shop of gorgeous antique finds that she recreated.  She talks to her grandmother when she can and the last place she wants to travel to is Sweet Bay Alabama.  
Then the unthinkable happens...her grandmother passes away and she never got to say goodbye.  
Her best friend agrees to take care of her shop while she goes home to tie up loose ends and meet with the attorney.
And then it happens.  She gets sucked back into the charms of Sweet Bay and wonders if she can ever leave again?
So much happens while she's home - the reading of the will, repairs to Mags's house, meeting a charming man, meeting family she didn't know existed and falling in love with Mags friends just to name a few.
What will happen at the end of Sara's stay in Sweet Bay?  Will she get rid of it all and head back to the city she fell in love with years ago?

Drink Selection
Southern drinking at its finest, I always find the most delicious drinks come from the south!  Try this one, sounds delish - Bulleit Southern Belle! 

1 1/4 ounces bourbon whiskey (Bulleit)

1/2 ounce triple sec

12 ounces pineapple juice

1 tablespoon grenadine

2 ounces orange juice

It wouldn't be a southern drink without a little bit of Bourbon now would it?


Rating 
This book was true southern lit from the first page and I give it at least 5 wine glasses!  It was THAT good!

About the Author
Born and raised in Mobile, Alabama, Lauren now lives with her husband and two young daughters in Homewood, just outside Birmingham. In addition to her fiction, she writes a monthly newspaper column about life, faith, and how funny (and hard) it is to be a parent. On any given day, she’d rather be at the beach with her family and a stack of books. The Hideaway is her first novel.

I'd love to connect! Visit me at www.laurenkdenton.com, www.facebook.com/lauren.kofflerdenton, www.twitter.com/LaurenKDenton,
or www.instagram.com/laurenkdentonbooks/ 

Link to Purchase

Amazon