Review: The Night Sister

Title: The Night Sister
Author: Jennifer McMahon
Page Count: 322
My Rating:  4 TURTLES: A great read, I definitely recommend.
*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Amazon

Description:
Once the thriving attraction of rural Vermont, the Tower Motel now stands in disrepair, alive only in the memories of Amy, Piper, and Piper's kid sister, Margot. The three played there as girls until the day that their games uncovered something dark and twisted in the motel's past, something that ruined their friendship forever.

Now adult, Piper and Margot have tried to forget what they found that fateful summer, but their lives are upended when Piper receives a panicked midnight call from Margot, with news of a horrific crime for which Amy stands accused. Suddenly, Margot and Piper are forced to relive the time that they found the suitcase that once belonged to Silvie Slater, the aunt that Amy claimed had run away to Hollywood to live out her dream of becoming Hitchcock's next blonde bombshell leading lady. As Margot and Piper investigate, a cleverly woven plot unfolds—revealing the story of Sylvie and Rose, two other sisters who lived at the motel during its 1950s heyday. Each believed the other to be something truly monstrous, but only one carries the secret that would haunt the generations to come.

Review:

This was a bit of a departure from what I usually read (I don’t typically read many mysteries or thrillers) but I’m really glad I took the chance! Jennifer McMahon wrote an incredibly suspenseful mystery. I had to read the last sixty pages or so in one sitting because I had to find out what happened! I love how the story is told through different points of views in three set eras to trace the mystery over three generations. The pacing that new information about the mystery is revealed is perfectly timed. Slow enough that the suspense continues to mount, but quick enough to keep the story moving.

I also thought the characters were super compelling. Some likable and sympathetic, others less so, but the nature of the mystery always had me questioning whether or not some characters were who they were presented as being (some yes and some no). The casual queer representation in this book was also a big plus for me. I love it when characters’ queerness is a present part of their identity but it isn’t the most important thing about them. Don’t get me wrong, I love coming out type stories too, but getting to read characters who just happen to be queer is really exciting for me. The one character that felt a little flat to me was Jason. He was always there, but kind of pushed to the background and underdeveloped. I would have liked to have seen a bit more of who he was, because what was there was interesting.  

One things that seems incredibly difficult about writing mystery to me is coming up with the ending. How do you come up with a conclusion that lives up to the suspenseful build up? I think the book came up a bit short in this department. The suspense was so thrilling that even though the reveal at the end explained all the mysterious elements well and tied up all the loose threads, it did not feel as dramatic as everything that came before it.

Overall, though,  The Night Sister is an incredibly entertaining, enthralling, creepy novel and I would definitely recommend it.

Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases.

Blog Tour: The Fireproof Girl

The Fireproof Girl
Loretta Lost
(Sophie Shields, #1)
Publication date: September 29th 2016
Genres: Mystery, New Adult, Romance

Abandoned at birth, Sophie Shields grew up in abusive foster homes, escaping into books and computers for solace. When the constant danger became too much to bear, she ran away, thinking she could survive on her hacking skills alone.
That was until she met Cole Hunter. He became the only person she could trust: her family, her friend, her partner-in-crime. Her everything. After struggling through college and starting their lives together, she believed that nothing could ever tear them apart.
Until it did.
And she'll do everything in her power to fix what is broken. If it isn't too late…
---
When Cole was nine years old, he watched his whole family burn to death in a house fire. Fueled by years of obsession, he started one of the world's leading architectural firms, with a mission to design homes resistant to fire, earthquakes, floods, and every threat known to man.
Sophie was his secret weapon. She was his purpose. Since they were teenagers, he was determined to build a better life for her, so she could finally be safe, and they could be together.
But disaster has always followed Cole around, ripping away everything he loves. This time, if he isn't careful…
His enemies might just take him down.

Excerpt 

“Why?” she demands to know, jutting her chin out defiantly. “Why on earth shouldn’t I die? Give me a reason. Give me one good fucking reason.” 

Those eyes of hers. Heaven help me. My hand lifts from her elbow to rest on her cheek, and I hold my palm there for a second before letting my fingers drift down to get tangled up in her hair. I brush my thumb over her ear as I stare down into her angry, but innocent eyes. They pierce directly into me, seeking. They pull me closer. Her lips part slightly and soften, and my pulse quickens. My heart begins to pound so loudly that I can feel it in my ears. Every part of my body feels awake and alive and tingling with sensation. 

She wants me to kiss her. 

She is so close that our breath mingles. I can already taste her. She is challenging me, daring me, and asking me all at the same time. It’s impossible to refuse. 

Our lips barely brush, so barely that it might not even have happened. But I summon a bit of inhuman strength so that I can pull away. 

“Because,” I tell her through my heavy breathing. “Because things are going to get better now.”

“Cole,” she whispers brokenly, gripping a handful of my shirt to pull me closer. 

She arches her body a little to press against mine, and I groan at the sensation of her softness and warmth against me. My head falls a little, until our noses are touching. 

I need to kiss her. I nearly do. 

Her eyelids flutter closed halfway in anticipation, and I grow dizzy with how much I want this. I want to kiss her until she knows how I feel—how much I care. I want to wrap my arms around her body and hold her close, and promise her everything. I want to promise her the world. I want to promise her forever. 

But then I see it all going up in flames. I see the whirlwind romance. I see us making love, and I see how passionately and desperately we would cling to each other. I see me getting lost inside her. I see me growing addicted to her. I see her begging me for more, until I become her escape, and I become her death. 

She did not seem to care much for heroin, but no one is immune to the simultaneous opiate, narcotic, and stimulant that is love. 

I see us bleeding each other dry. I see us both sacrificing our goals for one more moment together. One more mind-numbing and soul-crushing moment of bliss. We will erase each other. We will blend into each other until we forget who we used to be. Who we could have been. 

I see how broken she is, how afraid and insecure, and I see me wanting to do anything to make her whole. I see my own brokenness, and the way I would use her body to try and forget my own pain and loss. I see me expecting her to nurture me enough to replace my mother and father; I see me endlessly asking her for more, and more, and more. I see me leaning on her a little too much every time it becomes difficult to stand on my own two feet and become a man out there in the real world. 

I see us drowning in a love of overwhelming power, and both of us unable to breathe or come up for air. I see us being consumed, and eventually incinerated.

This love is a dangerous one. I can feel it now, as I teeter on the edge of falling in. It is a flame that burns so white-hot it could only destroy everything it touches. It would destroy us. 

We’re not strong enough yet.

We are just two frightened kids who have nothing, and no one. If we had each other, we would tear each other to shreds. We would devour each other, looking for all the things that we’re missing, and all the things that we were supposed to find in ourselves first. 

I see it all so clearly, and it gives me the courage to pull away from her—even though it feels like I am ripping off my own flesh. It gives me the courage to stop before I can kiss her—because once I do, there’s no going back. 

“Scarlett,” I say as tenderly as I can. “No.”

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Author Bio:
USA Today bestselling author Loretta Lost writes to experience all the love and excitement that can often be lacking from real life. She finds it therapeutic to explore her issues through the eyes of a different person. She hopes to have a family someday, but until then her characters will do nicely.
Follow @loretta.lost on Instagram for cute photos of her cat reading books. He refuses to cooperate unless they are really good books.
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