Little Secrets by Anna Snoekstra

An arsonist is on the loose in Colmstock, Australia, most recently burning down the town’s courthouse and killing a young boy who was trapped inside.

An aspiring journalist desperate for a story…

The clock is ticking for Rose Blakey. With nothing but rejections from newspapers piling up, her job pulling beers for cops at the local tavern isn’t enough to even cover rent. Rose needs a story - a big one.

A bizarre mystery…

In the weeks after the courthouse fire, porcelain replicas of Colmstock’s daughters begin turning up on doorsteps, terrifying parents and testing the limits of the town’s already fractured police force.

Rose may have finally found her story. But as her articles gain traction and the boundaries of her investigation blur, Colmstock is seized by a seething paranoia. Soon, no one is safe from suspicion. And when Rose’s attention turns to the mysterious stranger living in the rooms behind the tavern, neighbour turns on neighbour and the darkest side of self-preservation is revealed.

It didn't grab me. It felt like it could have been good but just missed the mark.

6/10

The Neighbour by Julie Proudfoot

An Australian suburb , a stupid error, a child dies.
The ramifications in the lives of those involved are huge.

A chilling story with lots of twists that are gradually revealed.

7/10

Sins of the Wolf by Anne Perry

Nurse Hester Latterly finds herself well-suited for the position of accompanying the elderly Mary Farraline on a short train journey to London. Hester's sole duty on the trip will be to make certain that her charming patient remembers to take her heart medicine. But once aboard the train, Hester finds herself not so well-suited after all. Her patient dies during the night -- of natural causes, it is assumed. Then a piece of the dead woman's jewelry turns up in Hester's possession, and she is arrested for common theft. Then an autopsy reveals that the old woman was poisoned. And suddenly Hester is charged with murder. 

A bit slow moving. It was the eldest daughter and her husband who killed the nice old lady.

7/10

The Woman In The Window by A J Finn

It's been ten long months since Anna Fox last left her home. Ten months during which she has haunted the rooms of her old New York house like a ghost, lost in her memories, too terrified to step outside.

Anna's lifeline to the real world is her window, where she sits day after day, watching her neighbours. When the Russells move in, Anna is instantly drawn to them. A picture-perfect family of three, they are an echo of the life that was once hers.

But one evening, a frenzied scream rips across the silence, and Anna witnesses something no one was supposed to see. Now she must do everything she can to uncover the truth about what really happened. But even if she does, will anyone believe her? And can she even trust herself? 

It started strong, then went all over the place in the middle. I finished it because I did want to see what happened.

7/10

Mistress Mine by Gabrielle Dubois

In 1876, Louise St Quentin was sixteen. She was an orphan and the rich owner of a huge estate. Her future seemed all mapped out; a marriage of convenience would be arranged for her so that she would have someone to help her manage her estate. But Louise had the rather unfortunate tendency of listening to her heart rather than her reason.

The end of the nineteenth century was terribly exciting, and Louise wanted to discover everything – the adventure lying at the end of the railway track, romantic music, the modern cuisine in the new Parisian restaurants, and impressionist painting. Was her artistic, cultural and above all sensual upbringing going to lead the young girl to her ruin or to love? A native of the Selle valley, would Louise find the grass greener on the other side of the world? 

Ignored by her father and older brother, she grew up lonely. At 16 her father dies and she hadn't seen her brother for 4 years and din't know where he was. She just wanted to be loved and of importance to somebody. She was taken advantage of and manipulated by men. She ended up marrying a man in Sydney. Overall I found it a rather depressing book for something that was supposed to be a romance.

7/10

Bound In Moonlight by Louisa Burton

For centuries the Castle of the Hidden Grotto, tucked into the French countryside, has provided its guests with a captivating haven where no fantasy is taboo and any erotic dream can be indulged. Seduced into this world by the chateau's beautiful immortal residents, the latest crop of visitors cast off their inhibitions and surrender to their deepest longings?

This is book 2 in a trilogy. I enjoyed the first a while ago. In this second instalment of 3 shorter stories there is just enough detail to get to know the main characters of the Grotto but enough mystery and allure when guests come to visit to not grow tired of them. My favourite was the story of a rector's daughter agreeing to be sold as a sex slave for a week. A sexy, sizzling read.

8/10

The House In The cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Linus Baker leads a quiet life. At forty, he has a tiny house with a devious cat and his beloved records for company. And at the Department in Charge of Magical Youth, he’s spent many dull years monitoring their orphanages.

Then one day, Linus is summoned by Extremely Upper Management and given a highly classified assignment. He must travel to an orphanage where six dangerous children reside, including the Antichrist. There, Linus must somehow determine if they could bring on the end of days. But their guardian, charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, will do anything to protect his wards. As Arthur and Linus grow ever closer, Linus must choose between duty and his dreams. 

 This book is a warm hug in a cold scary world.  On the surface a very simple story of magical beings living on a lovely island  told beautifully, but it’s so much more. It’s about acceptance. It’s about unconditional love. It’s about bravery in the face of bigotry, fear and hatred.

I smiled all the way through and was left feeling just....WOW

10/10

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova

One typical morning, Sarah Nickerson, a woman in her mid-thirties, is late for work, racing in her car after dropping her kids off at school and daycare. She tries to phone in to a meeting she should already be at when she takes her eye off the road for a second too long. In that blink of an eye, all the rapidly moving parts of her over-scheduled life come to a screeching halt. Sarah suffers a traumatic head injury. Her memory and intellect are intact, but she has lost all interest in, and the ability to perceive, information coming from the left side of space. The left side of her world has gone. Sarah only eats the food from the right side of her plate. She can't see her watch, or her engagement diamond or her wedding ring. 

Who knew there was even such a thing as a brain not acknowledging anything on the left? Very weird and, I imagine, awful to live with. Lots of how important her job was, how stressed she was. It was almost halfway through the book before the accident happened. Of course she had an epiphany at the end about the importance of family.

7/10

The Spotted Dog by Kerry Greenwood

When a distraught Scottish veteran from Afghanistan is knocked unconscious, waking up to find his beloved ex-service dog missing, Corinna and her lover, Daniel, find themselves inextricably drawn into the machinations of a notorious underworld gang of drug runners.

Corinna and Daniel need to pull together all the strings to find the connections between their wandering Scottish veteran, his kidnapped dog, a student dramatic society that's moved into Corinna's building, burglaries, and the threatening notes that begin to mysteriously appear in her apartment. 

Between her forays into danger, there is still time in Corinna's life for tender encounters while the delicious aromas of newly baked breads, muffins and treats waft out of her bakery, Earthly Delights. 

This was a convoluted storyline that was hard to follow at times. Lots of unnecessary red herrings, rambling off shoots that added nothing to the story. Disappointing overall, though I ma looking forward to trying a couple of the recipes that were included at the back of the book.

6/10