Carla Kovach

On a Quiet Street was a definite page turner for me. I was offered an audio ARC version from Net Galley and I finished in one day. Super suspenseful, lots of plot twists and the of course there is the final gift of revenge. I liked the way this story was told from different characters points of view. I love it when you get to see what characters actually think of each other and how through plot twists these opinions can change.

Leah and Caine have a troubled marriage. Leah is sure Caine is cheating on her... again. But her whole attention is grabbed in another direction when a young woman, Charlotte shows up on her front door step one night claiming to be her daughter. Lots of secrets, lots of crazy stuff and lots of fun for the reader. Recommended. Thank you to Net Galley for the chance to read and review an advanced copy of this audio book.… (mehr)

Kate was a little girl on holiday with her parents and baby sister Jess, her father was left in charge of Jess while their mum and Kate went to get ice cream, in those short minutes Jess disappeared and was thought to have drowned in the sea.
Twenty-five years on, Kate still wants to find out what really happened to Jess, her body was never found. A message is sent to her telling her they know what happened to Jess and it isn’t long before Kate returns to Looe to find out the truth and finds herself risking her life in the process.
Wow! what can I say about this book? It had me on the edge of my seat, it was so intense in places. It was certainly a page-turner. There were a lot of secrets, twists and turns along the way.
I have not been to Looe myself but the description of it had me imagining it perfectly, the harbour, the shops, the cottage, the author did a fantastic job in describing it.
I must admit, I did shed a tear or two at the end. Yes, even psychological thrillers can do this!
Find Me was beautifully written, it was the first I have read from the author Carla Kovach but now I want to read all of her previous titles. Amazing!
… (mehr)

CW: Infant loss, child disappearance, stalking

Firstly, this book is addicting. It is easy to read and sucks you in quickly. Kate's anxiety literally runs her life and you can feel the frustration it causes within herself and those around her. I felt for her and her family. As she gets the message that leads her to dig deeper into her sister's disappearance, you are introduced to a lot of new characters that are tricky to remember at times. Their different love triangles would be easier to understand with some notes, so it would be helpful to have them written down somewhere.

While the plotline is intriguing, I think the pacing and confusing character backgrounds prevented it from reaching its full potential. There were times when I felt a bit of a drag that was replaced with a sudden burst of action. I enjoyed the bursts of suspense and mystery but the drags in between were hard to get through. The character backgrounds, as I mentioned earlier, are a little difficult to keep straight. I had to keep going back and figure out which person was being talked about.

These aside, the ending was surprising and I did not see it coming. Several times, I swore I had the mystery figured out. I did not at all. The ending was a good one, although I would've loved to see more redemption from Kate's father. It felt unfair to me given his progress. All in all, this is a fun thriller that you can sit and read quickly. I would love to see this made into a thrilling movie!… (mehr)

Cherie needed to die.

I won't indulge too much into it, but damn. The bitch had to go and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

What happened to Lucy. What happened to Gina. Should not have happened to anyone.

Nuff said.

Now to move back to the review, there were strong ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ vibes from this suspense thriller and I was loving every single moment of it. The anticipation of what was to follow after the first grave was found had me sitting on the edge of my seat. The characters were real and raw, and the triggering topics such as abuse, alcoholism, drug addiction, and (minor) bullying were well touched on. And despite this being the seventh installment of the ‘Detective Gina Harte’ series, it could be considered a standalone as it’s easy to follow and as a reader, you can pretty much get the gist of what’s happening.

With that being said, there were a few things that prevented this from being a 4 star read, such as the pacing. It was a bit wishy washy for me. The constant fast and slow pacing that vary from scene to scene could have been slightly tweaked to make the read smooth sailing. It seemed with that issue alone, the story at times dragged on and on. Additional to that issue, the predictability of the storyline and whodunit mystery was easy to find out. Despite how much I enjoyed this, I do wish there were more twists and turns to make this a much more enthralling read.

… (mehr)