whatsleahreading

  Beware the Dagger Man. These were the words that echoed through Wilder Harlow's teenage years on the remote New England town of Whistler Bay. He's returned to the solemn Whistler Bay one final time to write one final book--a memoir of his childhood, the rampant killer amongst them, and the betrayal of his college best friend Sky, who stole Wilder's memoir & turned it into a bestselling work of fiction: Looking Glass Sound. As time runs out to finally reveal the truth of Whistler Bay, Wilder finds that his grip on reality is slipping. Whistler Bay and Looking Glass Sound begin to take each other's form, and with them, Wilder finds characters from his past coming to life and haunting his present. What's worse: he's found notes around his lonely cottage on Whistler Bay that suggest some of his past refuses to stay buried. Somehow, some way, readers, Cat Ward has done it again. "Looking Glass Sound" in many ways may be her most complex and most ...

  For twenty-six year-old Lucy Hart, the "Clock Island" children's book series by Jack Masterson was the saving grace of her childhood. During years otherwise marked by neglect and profound loneliness, Lucy escaped to Clock Island when she needed it most, and found solace in the stories about wishes, bravery, and children triumphing over evil. As an adult, Lucy only has one wish: to adopt seven year-old Christopher Lamb, a young boy in her school without parents of his own after tragedy struck. But for Lucy, it'll take nothing short of a miracle to make her last wish come true; mounting credit card debt, no car, and a less-than-ideal living situation has left her in no position to adopt. But then, the mysterious Jack "The Mastermind" Masterson announces that, after a years-long hiatus, he's writing a final book. And just like that, memories of Clock Island come rushing back to Lucy along with the once-in-a-lifetime chance to return to Jack's home ...

  Summer and Leo are inseparable. Joined together by dark pasts, family that has--in one way or another--checked out of their lives for good, and the fact that in California, there's no shortage of the 1% to pickpocket when their bills come due, they spend their days traveling the open road in Summer's Land Cruiser. Part con-artists and part free spirits, the girls are more than happy roaming nightclubs and cocktail hours to relieve L.A.'s wealthiest of a bit of weight from their wallets. Together, Summer and Leo just work. That is, until Leo sets her sights on tech billionaire Michael Forrester. When Michael convinces Leo to accompany him offshore to his own private island, Summer is of course just a few steps behind. But, when Summer arrives at the island with her own unsuspecting date, Leo has vanished into thin air, begging the question: has something terribly wrong in their latest scheme, or is Leo following the tug of wanderlust and finally going her own way? From ...

  To say that Sam is prepared for returning home to her grandmother's house in North Carolina would be the understatement of the century. But, now that her Gran Mae has passed, what could possibly be awry in that quiet neighborhood? Her mother, after all, has been living in the house alone for awhile now. There does, however, seem to be something unsettling about Gran Mae's house, now that Sam thinks about it. Why is there a vulture on the mailbox? The walls painted a lifeless white? Gran Mae's creepy and morally-problematic artwork still hanging on the walls? Most of all, why does Sam's mom seem to think something, or someone, is watching them? "A House with Good Bones," though marketed as a general fiction/horror novel, is really just a pile of hilarious, suspense-laden fun. Readers going into this hoping for the true horror that they found in T. Kingfishers retelling "What Moves the Dead" may find themselves let down by this one, but having ca...

  After just three years, Daisy and Craig's marriage is fragile at best. As a final attempt to salvage what once was an exhilarating relationship, Daisy surprises Craig with a seven day cabin retreat in rural New York for their anniversary: the Eden Test. The test is simple; seven question over the course of seven days. Swayed by glittering promises of a restored marriage and renewed sense of connection, Daisy is entranced by the idea of the Eden Test and can hardly wait for Craig to arrive at their cabin. What she also can't wait for is the real test that she's arranged for Craig. With an intriguing--albeit a bit been-there-done-that--premise and a well-executed sense of tingling suspense throughout, "The Eden Test" is a domestic thriller that begs the question: how well do can you really hope to know someone, even your life partner? While I found Daisy and Craig's characters dimensional enough, I felt that the chapters toward the end of the story revealed...

  For as long as she can remember, Cara has been an island girl. More comfortable on Martha's Vineyard and its waters than possibly anywhere else in the world, the New England shores have beckoned her back time and time again, even after her recent graduation from college. Days on the island are quiet and comfortable, until a handsome--and quite brazen--stranger quite literally emerges from the waters and enters into Cara's life. As Cara tumbles headfirst into a whirlwind romance with special forces solider Brendan, life becomes increasingly more surreal, especially when she learns he has a secret: he too is drawn to the sea, because he can breathe underwater. As tourist-season-summer fades to fall and gives way to the hushed New England winter, Cara is pregnant and Brendan mysteriously comes and goes from Martha's Vineyard. And once their son is born, one night, he and the baby leave and don't return. "At Sea" is an atmospheric and truly genre-defying st...

  Alex is a drifter. Put up in an older man named Simon's glamorous New York estate, her every need is seen to, so long as she can maintain the role that is expected of her. When an otherwise unassuming dinner party at Simon's takes a turn, Alex is suddenly turned out back onto the streets with nothing but her broken phone and a history of long-burned bridges behind her. For Alex, it's not just a question of where she'll go next: it's who she'll be next. And that, to put it simply, is whoever she needs to be to get by. Set against the backdrop of summer on the East End of Long Island, "The Guest" was utterly spring-loaded with potential, but sadly failed to make anything imaginative out of Alex's story. Her drawn-to-glamour, morally-grey character felt very been-there-done-that, and despite the story being overall easy to fly through, by the end not much had happened from my perspective. Cline introduces peripheral characters throughout the s...

  William Waters' life has been irrevocably marred by loss. Meandering through his college years with a fractured sense of purpose, he finds that things change overnight when a headstrong young woman named Julia Padavano bursts into his life and simply refuses to leave. Flash forward several years, and William has discovered a sense of place. This sense of comfortable familiarity that he's never known in his life comes from the infectious warmth that is the Padavano sisters: ambitious Julia, bookworm Sylvie, spirited Cecelia, and caretaker Emeline. Together, the sisters are almost a single entity, and may just be enough to keep the darkness of William's past at bay. But then, tragedy strikes. Again. And before he knows it, William's life is fracturing around him once more, only this time the repercussions will ripple throughout the Padavano family too and the generations of it to come. "Hello Beautiful" is a book I almost hesitated to start because of its ...