The Tenant by Freida McFadden

The Tenant

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(5/5 stars)

Review:

A thrilling story with a shock of unexpected turns of events. The book starts with a suicide attempt at the office where Blake (the main character) works, an interesting foreshadow and hint towards the darkness of the story.

After Blake Porter was wrongfully fired from his high-end job, living in an expensive house in New York and living with his Fiancé Krista, who works at the dry cleaners, they decide to rent a room and share their house with a new tenant. They struggle to find the right person until Whitney Cross comes to visit. The perfect tenant, it seems, or will she?

As sweet and innocent as Whitney may be, all sorts of problems occur. Blake becomes known as insane with neighbours, friends, and even Krista starting to distrust him, bringing concern to his mentality, all because of what is happening in his house. He notices all of his cereal and hygiene products have been completely used up, rotten food in the kitchen. It must be Whitney. 

However, no one believes his assumptions, even his Fiancé. As everything gets worse, Blake must find a way to get rid of Whitney without becoming crazy himself.

Overall, this story was amazing. The truth about Whitney was unexpected, and I never thought that would happen. Figuring everything out and the multiple perspectives near the end of the book was an interesting route. I thoroughly enjoyed the plot, although it was creepy in some instances. 

Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. Mcmanus

Two Can Keep a Secret

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(5/5 stars)

Book Review: 

An unexpected twist of events story, with full filled characterisation. We are introduced to the vocal point of the book, which are the two perceptives from Malcolm and Ellery. Malcolm has grown up with a brother, who everyone suspects murdered Lacey Kilduff five years before. He has not seen his brother in ages until Declan returns to Echo Ridge again. However, Ellery and her twin brother have just moved to the town after her mother was taken to a psychiatric hospital. She now lives with her grandmother, who is still missing one of her daughters, Sarah Corcoran, who vanished in 1995. Both victims were named homecoming queens. But now the killer is back for more.

The relationship between the characters, especially Ellery and Malcolm are great, having a fun and interesting dynamic. I enjoy reading how each relationship, especially Malcolm’s family, becomes intriguing and effective once tensions rise in the story, not knowing the unknown and how events will unfold.

I really liked how the book ended, knowing who but showing how the police handled the investigation, showing the errors towards what each character said. Some of the answers gave unexpected twists, which I didn’t follow until each character figured out the answers. The mystery was very fun and wanted me to carry on reading.

Overall, the book was well laid out and written. Each moment was important for the story, bringing the characters to life and scenery to life at Echo Ridge. Additionally, I thoroughly enjoyed the small town mystery, making the stakes even higher.

Surprise Me by Sophie Kinsella

 Surprise Me

Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐(5/5 stars)

Review:

A wonderful book, full of life and adventure!

A big surprise indeed! We live through the main viewpoint of Sylvie, sharing her struggles after finding out her and her husband Dan has over 68 years of marriage with each other. I thought this story was going to be a sloppy love story, something I’m not really interested in, but it was a rather fun surprise. The story shows the life of Sylvie and Dan, a happy married couple, nervous to live with each other for so long, so Sylvie thought about how they could make their love life unique whilst caring for her twin daughters, a bunch of surprises!

Sylvie comes from a “perfect” life with wealthy parents, well, one after her loving father tragically passed away, and a perfect partner, making everything entertaining, but deep down, the cracks are breaking. What is going on with Dan? Why is he leaving secrets everywhere, abandoning their love life for work, or more, it seems.

I love how the perfection gradually breaks, showing what happiness is for the couple and their lively twin girls. We discover that Sylvie’s life isn’t exactly perfect, struggling for acceptance. Something is going on in the background, especially with her husband. Dan was never fond of Sylvie’s dad, for unknown reasons, Sylvie starts suspecting something is going on when Dan and her mother start discussing secretly.

The entire book has distinct inclusions and details making the story feel realistic and full of life, with the parents or each character in between having a struggle to conquer, especially the main character: Sylvie. Although I struggle to enjoy romance books, this was an outlier with a fun and surprising story, I wouldn’t expect the author would take.

The Ghost House by Helen Phifer

 The Ghost House

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐(3/5 stars)

Review:

After moving near the woods for a break away from the tragedy, Annie Graham is the new caretaker to a wonderful, but ruined, mansion filled with many stories. An old diary owned by a Victorian girl, Alice, was found sharing the love and darkness of the house.

This book was interesting to read, especially the investigation of finding a missing girl. The police inspectors had fun chapters, bringing the office to life through small talk and showing how the place can quickly grow to chaos, showing how the police officers have to stay calm. It felt realistic to how I imagine the town’s police office would be with a tragedy unfolding.

The characters were great, and I enjoyed how Annie’s closest friends kept checking in on her. It wasn't until they couldn’t when disaster happened, although being a police inspector herself. I liked how courageous and adventurous Annie was in finding out what happened to Alice in the house full of mystery, tying into the kidnapping.

It was creative to use an old murder investigation in the story, but personally, I didn’t enjoy who it was based upon due to what happened to the victims. I found it intriguing, but it was difficult to read.

Overall, I enjoyed the story showing Annie recovering from past events and finding out about Alice, as well as the police investigations towards the missing girl, all stories tying into one in the end, making the book satisfying. However, certain plot points I would have wanted to adapt due to confusion of certain characters and the paranormal.