Review: The Retreat By Sherri Smith

Four women. Four secrets. A weekend that will change them forever...if they survive. Katie Manning was a beloved child star until her mid-teens when her manager attacked and permanently scarred her face, effectively ending her career and sending her on a path of all-too-familiar post-Hollywood self-destruction. Now twenty-seven, Katie wants a better answer to those clickbait "Where Are They Now?" articles that float around online. An answer she hopes to find when her brother's too-good-to-be-true fiancé invites her to a wellness retreat upstate. Together with Katie's two best friends--one struggling with crippling debt and family obligations, one running away from a failed job and relationship--Katie will try to find the inner peace promised at the tranquil retreat. But finding oneself just might drudge up more memories than Katie is prepared to deal with. Each woman has come to the retreat for different reasons. Each has her secrets to hide. And at the end of this weekend, only one will be left standing.

A masterful mystery, full of intrigue and red herrings which kept my mind buzzing with possible perpetrators throughout. All of the characters had major flaws which indicated they could have been the murderer depicted at the beginning of the book and I constantly swayed from one to the other as I endeavored to “soooolve the case” before it was revealed who-done-it! My only criticism is that the ending felt rushed but it didn’t affect my enjoyment.

Review: The Shadowy Horses

The Invincible Ninth Roman Legion Marches from York to Fight The Northern Tribes. and then Vanishes from the Pages of History. Archaeologist Verity Grey has been drawn to the dark legends of the Scottish Borderlands in search of the truth buried in a rocky field by the sea. Her eccentric boss has spent his whole life searching for the resting place of the lost Ninth Roman Legion and is convinced he's finally found it—not because of any scientific evidence, but because a local boy has "seen" a Roman soldier walking in the fields, a ghostly sentinel who guards the bodies of his long-dead comrades. Here on the windswept shores, Verity may find the answer to one of the great unsolved mysteries of our time. Or she may uncover secrets someone buried for a reason.

I feel like I would have enjoyed this more if I had read the book instead of listening on Audible. I really didn’t like the narrator’s voice. That being said, it was a good story with a (mostly) strong female lead. She had her more wimpish moments.

I had expected a bit more of a spook factor and it mostly came across as a love story but archaeological themes get me every time and I was able to indulge my inner archaeologist with it.

Review: Through the Wall by Caroline Corcoran

Lexie’s got the perfect life. And someone else wants it…

Lexie loves her home. She feels safe and secure in it – and loved, thanks to her boyfriend Tom.

But recently, something’s not been quite right. A book out of place. A wardrobe door left open. A set of keys going missing…

Tom thinks Lexie’s going mad – but then, he’s away more often than he’s at home nowadays, so he wouldn’t understand.

Because Lexie isn’t losing it. She knows there’s someone out there watching her. And, deep down, she knows there’s nothing she can do to make them stop…

Nothing particularly original or earth shattering here. A formulaic story of stalking and mental health issues which suffers slightly from the unlikable characters. I finished the book and found I just didn’t care how it ended. Predictable but mildly interesting at best. #NetGalley