Three Perfect Liars by Heidi Perks

A special thank you to Edelweiss, NetGalley, and Simon and Schuster Canada for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When an office fire ends in murder, Laura, Mia, and Janie are first in line for questioning. Meet our Three Perfect Liars.

When Laura returns to work at Morris and Wood after her maternity leave, she learns that the woman she hired to replace her isn't going anywhere. Not only is Laura feeling outsmarted, but she is also struggling with being a working mother.

Mia was only supposed to be temporary but has managed to make herself indispensable to everyone, including the agency's CEO, Harry Wood. Even though Laura has always had a close relationship with Harry, she can't help but feel snubbed.

Janie, Harry's wife, gave up everything to support her husband and his business. But she has a secret to protect and will do anything to keep it hidden.

Perks latest work is a psychological thriller that contains its fair share of shocking twists and turns. She masterfully tells the story using multiple points of view, the police interviews conducted by DC Emily Marlow, and alternating timelines. This was an effective way to tell the story; there was an edge of intensity created as well shocking revelations that were a result of the police interviews.

Laura, Mia, and Janie all had distinct voices and personalities. They were fully developed characters with fleshed out backstories that provided context for their motives. These are clever women, each with their own brand of deception.

Three Perfect Liars is a riveting thriller about revenge and the complexities of secrets and lies.

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HEIDI PERKS has been writing since she was small and now writes full time having left her career in marketing. Her first novel, Her One Mistake (Now You See Her), was a Sunday Times bestseller and a Richard and Judy Book Club pick. Heidi is a voracious reader of crime fiction and thrillers and endlessly interested in what makes people tick.

Perks lives in the seaside town of Bournemouth, on the south coast of England, with her husband and and two children.

Good Girl: A Memoir by Sarah Tomlinson

A special thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Oh Sarah...  I really wanted to like your book so much more than I actually did. I kept waiting for something to happen, some epiphany but nothing really happened.

Her accolades and experience are impressive.  I'm sure she's a gifted writer, in fact I would actually like to read some of her music reviews which are probably fantastic, but I really didn't care for her style.  Her story is told so rapidly, like one giant conversation that makes your head spin.  You know when you haven't seen someone for a long time, and you talk incessantly, cramming in a lifetimes worth of conversation into one evening?  That's how I felt reading this.  I didn't feel like she had found her voice or her place in life, perhaps that is why she wrote the book like this?  I just craved more detail from her not the staccato storytelling.

I was also waiting for a proper conclusion; I thought that the ending would mark something monumental but there was no build up and it just ended.  It was as if her goal was to cover off as as much as possible without going into any detail.

The Mountain Story by Lori Lansens

A special thank you to NetGalley and Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

Four lost hikers are about to discover they’re capable of something extraordinary.

Nola, recently widowed, has gone up the mountain to commemorate the first wedding anniversary without her husband. Bridget, thin and fit, is training for a triathalon. Vonn, a rebellious teenager, is trying to sort herself out and escape her family at eight thousand feet. Wolf, reeling from the death of his best friend in a tragic accident, is the only one of them with hiking experience—he has come to the cliffs with no supplies because he plans to commit suicide.

After a series of missteps strands them in the wilderness together, the group realizes that their only chance of survival is to depend on one another. The four broken individuals form an incredible bond that pushes each other further than they ever thought possible. But only three make it home alive, yet all are forever changed by their days on the mountain.

I am thrilled to be an early reviewer of The Mountain Story, especially since I've been a huge fan of Lansen's writing after reading Rush Home Road years ago for a book club selection. 

Lori is a brilliant writer and has created more unforgettable characters in Wolf, Vonn, Bridget, and Nola. This story is moving, heart-stopping, enthralling, and brilliantly penned—it is a huge undertaking and she pulled it off.

The Mountain Story is a page-turner that is filled with hope and resilience of the human spirit.  I knew this story would linger and I wanted to savour it, but I simply couldn't put it down. Lansens' writing never disappoints and I highly recommend! 

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LORI LANSENS was a successful screenwriter before releasing her first highly successful novel, Rush Home Road. Her follow-up novel, The Girls, was also an international success. Lori's third novel, The Wife's Tale, has become a national bestseller.

Born and raised in Chatham, Ontario, Lansens now makes her home in the Santa Monica Mountains with her husband and 2 children.

Inside the O'Briens by Lisa Genova

A special thank you to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I can understand why Lisa Genova is an award-winning author. I have devoured her other books, and was thrilled to receive this ARC.

Genova's novel does for Huntington’s Disease what her debut Still Alice did for Alzheimer’s. Joe O’Brien is a forty-four-year-old Irish Catholic police officer from Massachusetts. He is a devoted husband, and proud father of four grown children.

In the early chapters, it is clear something is amiss with Joe—he begins to experience the early symptoms of Huntington's Disease, a lethal neurodegenerative disease with no treatment and no cure. Joe receives the devastating diagnosis that he does indeed have Huntington's Disease, inherited from his mother. The story evolves though Joe's journey with the disease, and with the probability that some, if not all, of Joe and Rosie's children will inherit Huntington's. Genova changes gears and we experience what Katie, Joe's twenty-one-year-old daughter is going through.  Will she get tested?  Does she want to know if she has inherited this disease?  How will she live her life?

I adored the family and the family dynamic. Genova writes characters you care about and can relate to, while educating her readers at the same time.

LISA GENOVA graduated valedictorian from Bates College with a degree in Biopsychology and holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Harvard University. She is a member of the Dementia Advocacy, Support Network International and DementiaUSA and is an online columnist for the National Alzheimer's association.

Genova is also the New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice, Left Neglected, and Love Anthony. Still Alice was adapted into an Oscar-winning film starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, and Kristen Stewart.