A string of seemingly random murders shocks a little English town. Fridge Letters connect the victims. They also went to the same school, but that was over 25 years ago. Sure, that can not be the solution?

Follow the Leader is the second DS Allie Shenton book, but was my introduction to the series. I felt I could easily join in on this point, and had no problem following the different police officers around. The killer is known from the start but this doesn't mean there is no interesting chase. The pace was rather quick right from the start with a high body count. It was an easy and entertaining read but I missed something that made it stand out among all small-English-town-detectives. I mean, looking at all the books, it is terribly unsafe to go anywhere near small English towns since the murder rates are astonishing.

Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

One warm spring evening, five teenagers meet in a local park. Only four will come out alive.

Six months after the stabbing of sixteen-year-old Deanna Barker, someone is coming after the teenagers of Stockleigh, as a spate of vicious assaults rocks this small community. Revenge for Deanna? Or something more?

Detective Eden Berrisford is locked into a race against time to catch the twisted individual behind the attacks – but when her own niece, Jess Mountford, goes missing, the case gets personal.

With the kidnapper threatening Jess’s life, can Eden bring back her niece to safety? Or will the people of Stockleigh be forced to mourn another daughter…?

Definitely quite the plot twists going on in this book and there was absolutely no way I could put it down. The night of attacks were certainly creative and humiliating to the victims. They were also very creepy and spine tingling.

This was my first book by this author, but it won't be my last!

Thanks Bookouture and Net Galley for providing me with a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review

I thought I had the plot figured out while reading this book when everything suddenly takes a turn I did not expect and I was really taken by surprise about the change. That pretty much summons up my feeling about this book. That and that Mel Sherratt really knows how to write an intriguing story which pulls you in right from the start. This is, by the way, the first book I have read by Mel Sherratt and I'm quite looking forward to reading her other books.

The Girls Next Door is a book about women, that's how I feel, sure there are men in the book, both good and bad. But, I strongly felt that this story was about mothers, sisters, cousins, best friends. We have the mother who has lost a daughter, the other mother who is waiting to know the faith of her daughter. The sisters that are joined in heartache when one of their daughters is kidnapped. Cousins that were one's close, but then a secret tore them apart. And we have the two best friends that share secrets and now has to live with the consequences of their actions.

I found this book to be intriguing to read, and I like that not everything is how it seemed and I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series to find out more about the characters, and what the actions in this book will do to their lives.

I want to thank Bookouture for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!

Read this review and others on A Bookaholic Swede

This is the first Marcie Steele book that I have read and I really enjoyed it. It is a book about friendships, love, lies and betrayal and it most definitely NOT fluffy chick lit.  The story starts quite slowly but rapidly picks up and develops a quite complex set of stories which inter-weave with a complexity that is both interesting and engaging. The twists in the story as the secrets are revealed mark this out as a read that has more depth than much of the women’s romantic fiction out there. However, given that the author Marcie Steel is a pen name of Mel Sherratt this comes as no surprise!

In all this was engaging and enjoyable read with enough substance to keep it interesting, well-developed characters and Marcie/Mel’s excellent writing style.

Many thanks go to Netgalley and Bookouture who allowed me a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.