Book Review: She's Not Sorry

 Title: She's Not Sorry

Author: Mary Kubica

Publisher: Harlequin Trade Publishing

Publication Date: April 2, 2024

Rating: 5 out of 5

This psychological thriller centers on an ICU nurse, Meghan Michaels, and a coma patient, Caitlyn. Caitlyn has jumped from a bridge and fallen 20 feet onto train tracks and arrives at the Chicago Hospital where Meghan works with barely a 50:50 chance of living. And Meghan becomes her nurse. Nothing special so far. Until we find out Caitlyn may have been pushed, and Meghan becomes emotionally involved with Caitlyn's care. In parallel with this, there is a man preying on woman which keeps Meghan and her teenage daughter worried.

There seems to be two or three stories going on at the same time, all related to these two central females. But who is the heroine and
who is the villain? It is only when the stories collide at the end of part 1, that a huge ball drops. With plot twists spiralling on plot twists, this is a really clever thriller that sucked me in and kept me reading. I was not sorry to have read this book!

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley. I received an advanced reader copy of this book in return for an honest review. 

Book Review: Twenty-Seven Minutes

Title: Twenty-Seven Minutes

Author: Ashley Tate

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Publication Date: January 30, 2024

Rating: 3 out of 5

The premise of the book is great: a car crash on an isolated bridge, three high school students hurt, but the driver takes 27 minutes to call 911 for help. Why did Grant wait so long? As a result, his sister Phoebe died. And their small town is stuck in the aftermath of the tragedy, with lives disrupted and forever altered. 

The story takes place 10 years later. Chapters alternate between four points of view: Grant, the other passenger, Becca, and siblings June and Wyatt. Also interspersed are flashbacks to that tragic night , exposing the events of that night little by little.

I found the story to be too slow, and strangely I got lost in the characters, having a hard time keeping track of who was who. I kept having to rethink who Becca and June were, and what their relationship to Grant was. I don't know why. The pace did accelerate as the end approached, and the climax was a surprise. But I probably would have stopped reading far earlier if I had not committed to writing a review. The book did not live up to its premise and potential. 

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley. I received an advanced reader copy of this book in return for an honest review. 

Book Review: My Retirement My Way

 Title: My Retirement My Way

Author: Veronica McCain

Publisher: Zeitgeist

Publication Date: April 25, 2023

Rating: 5 out of 5

This workbook is intended for recent retirees, to help them through the first year of retirement and beyond. I am just over a year away from retirement, so not quite the target audience, but I found it hugely helpful in thinking ahead. To get the most out of the book, it does require active involvement, working through the various exercises which are intended to help you maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle in retirement.. I found myself completing them in my own journal, rather than in the book itself, since I plan to come back to them later, when I have just retired and probably a year or two into retirement. 

Divided into three parts, I found the first part (retirement starts here and now) most useful. It helped me to define a future vision for my retirement. The second part deals with creating meaning and passion, and although some of the exercises were applicable, some will have to wait till I am in retirement. The third part, goals, was the least useful for me right now. That part includes exercises for defining goals, building plans, making/breaking habits, and I am familiar enough with these concepts not to need much of them. But if they are new to you, they would be extremely helpful.

I've read a number of books about retirement, and hence much of the material was not new. But being put into valuable exercise form, I think this is a great addition to the group. I recommend this if you are heading into retirement.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley. I received an advanced reader copy of this book in return for an honest review. 

Book Review: Betrayal

Title: Betrayal

Author: Phillip Margolin

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Publication Date: November 7 2023

Rating: 5 out of 5

As with most of his prior 6 Robin Lockwood legal thrillers, this seventh in the series is set in Portland, my home town. (It is great to rea
d about locations I travel weekly, or even daily.) Lockwood is a defense attorney and former MMA up-and-comer. And here, Margolin meshes the MMA and the legal aspects of Lockwood's life explicitly.

This story involves Mandy Kerrigan a former MMA world champion and the fighter who ended Lockwood's fighting career ten years previously. In fact, we get some insight into the backstory of that bout and how it turned Lockwood towards her legal ambitions. In present day, after a fight in Portland that Lockwood attends with her new boyfriend, an assitant DA, Kerrigan finds herself accused of a multiple homicide. With no money and no one else to turn to, she asks Lockwood to be her lawyer. With Lockwood's boyfriend prosecuting the case, these two face off with only possible winner.

Margolin does a great job of character development throughout, and a solid plot that keeps things interesting, through the courtroom dazzle, right up to the last minute reveal at the 13th hour. Mixing drugs, Russian mobsters, and murder, even throwing in a little special forces action, this is a great read and a deserved addition to the Lockwood canon.

Many thanks to the publisher and NetGalley. I received an advanced reader copy of this book in return for an honest review.