Category Archives: William Morrow Paperbacks

July 11, 2023 · 12:02 am

Review: Windfall by Wendy Corsi Staub

Title: Windfall by Wendy Corsi Staub
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 333 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher (GoodReads Win)

Summary:

In this newest suspense novel from New York Times bestselling author Wendy Corsi Staub, three friends’ lives terrifyingly unravel when they win a billion-dollar lottery jackpot—and one goes missing. Perfect for fans of novels like Taylor Adams’ No Exit and The Club by Ellery Lloyd.

It was the girls’ weekend they’d never forget.

J.J., Molly, and Leila had once been inseparable, but it’s been a long time since college, and life—not to mention distance—have disrupted the former roommates’ friendship. When the three reunite for a birthday weekend in Las Vegas, the lottery ticket they buy on a whim has the winning numbers—giving them a billion-dollar windfall. Shell-shocked, they turn to Shea Daniels, a “sudden wealth manager,” who promises to guide them through the pitfalls of having more money than they’d ever imagined.

It was the girls’ weekend they’d live to regret.

The trio travels to a secluded California mansion, where Shea and her staff cater to their every whim, promising to teach them to navigate their newfound wealthy lifestyles with ease. The house is luxurious beyond their wildest dreams—and purportedly cursed, the last place a missing movie star was seen alive. Their weekend turns to terror when they discover they are trapped—roads blocked and communication disrupted by the wildfires raging around them. And when history repeats itself and one of them disappears—the one who’s holding the billion-dollar ticket—the others must face the fact that either their friend has betrayed them…or a predator is lurking.

Review:

Windfall by Wendy Corsi Staub is a tension-filled mystery.

Three college roommates who were once inseparable reunite in Las Vegas to celebrate their fortieth birthdays. They also go in together and purchase a lottery ticket that ends up being the winning ticket. Leila contacts her friends, J.J. and Molly, after hiring Shea Daniels to help them navigate their billion-dollar win.

Shea hosts them at her cliffside mansion, Windfall, but Santa Ana winds and huge wildfires cast an eerie pall over what should a celebration of their newfound wealth. After one of the friends vanishes without a trace, the other two realize they really do not know one another any longer. With the incessant winds blowing and smoke becoming heavier, will they uncover their friend’s fate before it is too late?

Windfall has a troubled history and the still unsolved disappearance of the previous owner, actress Chantal Charbonneau, remains a subject of speculation. Listening to a recent podcast about Chantal proves to be unsettling. Suspicions plague them. Uncertainty about who can be trusted continues to grow.  Patchy cellphone service cuts them off from the rest of the world. Can they escape before falling victim to Windfall’s curse?

Windfall is a riveting mystery that is incredibly atmospheric. The characters are complex and vividly drawn. The excerpts from the podcast ratchet up the suspense. With secrets galore, the storyline is fast-paced and edgy. Wendy Corsi Staub keeps readers on the edge of their seats from beginning to end.

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Filed under Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Suspense, Wendy Corsi Staub, William Morrow Paperbacks, Windfall

May 2, 2022 · 12:02 am

Review: The Patient by Jane Shemilt

Title: The Patient by Jane Shemilt
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Genre: Contemporary, Domestic Mystery, Suspense
Length: 320 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

A shocking and twisty novel of psychological suspense about a boundary-breaking love affair between a doctor and her patient, by Jane Shemilt, Edgar-nominated, #1 international bestselling author of The Daughter.

What price would you pay for falling in love?

Rachel is a respected doctor who lives in a picturesque and affluent English village where her husband Nathan teaches at an elite private school. Competent, unflappable, and nearing 50, Rachel has everything in her life firmly in her control, even if some of its early luster has worn off. But one day a new patient arrives at her practice for emergency treatment. Luc is a French painter married to a wealthy American woman who’s just bought and restored a historic home on the edge of Rachel’s posh neighborhood. The couple has only recently arrived, but Luc is struggling with a mental disorder, and so he goes to the nearest clinic…to Rachel.

Their attraction is instant, and as Rachel’s sense of ethics wars with newly awakened passion, the affair blinds her to everything else happening around her. A longtime patient appears to be following her every movement, turning up unexpectedly wherever she goes. Her somewhat estranged adult daughter Lizzie is hiding a secret—or at least, hiding it from Rachel. Nathan has grown sour and cold as well—or is that merely Rachel’s guilty conscience weighing on her? But when one of her colleagues winds up murdered and Luc is arrested for the crime, everything Rachel didn’t know about her life explodes into the open—along with her affair with her patient—a disgrace and scandal that will have consequences no one could have predicted.

Review:

The Patient by Jane Shemilt is a riveting domestic mystery.

Local GP Rachel Goodchild is mostly content with her life until her path crosses with new patient Luc Lefevre. The cracks in her marriage become more obvious as she realizes how attracted she is to Luc, who is also married with a stepson. Rachel has always felt safe in her town but she cannot shake the feeling that someone is watching and following her. She becomes more fearful after she and Luc embark on a whirlwind affair and people close to her are murdered. With suspicion falling to Luc, can Rachel trust her instincts about the man she has fallen in love with?

The storyline weaves back in forth in time over the course of several months. From her sizzling first meeting with depressed Luc to their passionate affair, Rachel gradually emerges from her colorless life. As she faces increasingly hostile questions after Luc’s arrest, her mistaken suppositions become clear in hindsight. With this new self-awareness, can Rachel now trust her judgment as she learns new information?

The Patient is a clever mystery that is quite atmospheric. The characters are well-drawn but not all of them are likable. Rachel is a bit of an unreliable narrator as she begins questioning certain events. The storyline is engaging and the tension builds with every chapter. With one shocking plot twist after another, Jane Shemilt brings this suspense-laden domestic mystery to an unanticipated conclusion.

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Filed under Contemporary, Domestic Mystery, Jane Shemilt, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Suspense, The Patient, William Morrow Paperbacks

February 7, 2022 · 12:02 am

Review: The Other Family by Wendy Corsi Staub

Title: The Other Family by Wendy Corsi Staub
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Genre: Contemporary, Domestic Mystery, Suspense
Length: 380 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

New York Times bestselling author Wendy Corsi Staub makes her trade paperback debut with a fast-paced thriller in the vein of Lisa Jewell’s The Family Upstairs and Megan Collins’ The Winter Sister. Here, a family making a fresh start moves into a house which was the site of an unsolved triple homicide—and are watched by an unknown person…

The watcher sees who you are…and knows what you did. 

It’s the perfect home for the perfect family: pretty Nora Howell, her handsome husband, their two teenage daughters, and lovable dog. As California transplants making a fresh start in Brooklyn, they expected to live in a shoebox, but the brownstone has a huge kitchen, lots of light, and a backyard. The catch: its previous residents were victims of a grisly triple homicide that remains unsolved.

Soon, peculiar things begin happening. The pug is nosing around like a bloodhound. Nora unearths a long-hidden rusty box in the flowerbed. Oldest daughter Stacey, obsessed with the family murdered in their house, pokes into the bloody past and becomes convinced that a stranger is watching the house. Watching them.

She’s right. But one of the Howells will recognize his face. Because one of them has a secret that will blindside the others with a truth that lies shockingly close to home—and to this one’s terrifying history.

Review:

The Other Family by Wendy Corsi Staub is a thrilling domestic mystery.

Nora Howell, husband Keith, daughters Stacey and Piper have just moved cross country from California to New York. Instead of a spacious home with lots of amenities, the family is moving into a historical brownstone. Seventeen-year-old Stacey is looking forward to a new beginning and she has high hopes for making friends. Fourteen-year-old Piper is bubbly and outgoing so neither Nora nor Keith is concerned about her. Keith works long hours so Nora devotes her time to gardening in their backyard. She makes a discovery that proves to be incredibly distracting even though she has made friends with neighbors Heather Tamura, her wife Jules and their two kids, Lennon and Courtney. Lennon and Stacey are soon hanging out together and Piper and Courtney become fast friends. The more Nora learns about the history of their temporary home, the more apprehensive she becomes. And Stacey is hiding her suspicion that someone is watching her. How long will it take fora  long-held secret to be uncovered?

Nora and Keith have hit a rough patch in their twenty-year marriage. Both are hopeful the move will bring them closer together, but so far, things remain tense between them. Under other circumstances, Nora would be delighted with their newfound friends, but she is having trouble focusing on anything after finding out the tragic history of the rental house. Her distraction does not help her relationship with Keith and Nora is not as attentive to Piper or Stacey as she should be.

Stacey is an introvert but she is  pleased with her friendship with Lennon.  He is intense but they have a lot in common. Stacey is fascinated by the unsolved murders and previous owners of their house and so is Lennon. When their friendship turns into a romance, she is a little uneasy about how much time he wants to spend together. Stacey is also anxious about the person who is watching her and she is uncertain whom she can trust.

The Other Family is a suspense-laden domestic mystery. The plot is well-developed and the short chapters build the tension to a fever pitch. The characters are well-drawn with intriguing backstories. The chapters alternate between three different perspectives and each narrator’s reliability grows increasingly questionable.  With a shocking dénouement, Wendy Corsi Staub brings this atmospheric mystery to an abrupt conclusion.

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Filed under Contemporary, Domestic Mystery, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Suspense, The Other Family, Wendy Corsi Staub, William Morrow Paperbacks

January 31, 2022 · 12:01 am

Review: The Family You Make by Jill Shalvis

Title: The Family You Make by Jill Shalvis
The Sunrise Cove Series Book One
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 383 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

Beloved New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis begins a new series—Sunrise Cove—set near beautiful Lake Tahoe, with a heartwarming story of found family and love.

During the snowstorm of the century Levi Cutler is stranded on a ski lift with a beautiful stranger named Jane. After strong winds hurl the gondola in front of them into the ground, Levi calls his parents to prepare them for the worst…but can’t bring himself to say goodbye. Instead, wanting to fulfill his mother’s lifelong wish, he impulsively tells her he’s happily settled and Jane is his girlfriend—right before his phone dies.

But Levi and Jane do not.

Now Levi’s family is desperate to meet “The One.” Though Jane agrees to be his pretend girlfriend for just one dinner, she’s nervous. After a traumatic childhood, Jane isn’t sure she knows how to be around a tight-knit family that cherishes one another. She’s terrified, and a little jealous. But an unexpected series of events and a host of new friends soon show Jane that perhaps this is the life she was always meant to have.

As Jane and Levi spend more time together, pretend feelings quickly turn into real ones. Now all Jane has to do is admit to herself she can’t live without the man she’s fallen in love with and the family she has always dreamed of.

Review:

The Family You Make by Jill Shalvis is a cute fake relationship romance.

Levi Cutler loves his quirky family but he does not fit in with them.  They run a sporting goods store near Lake Tahoe and he prefers to work with data and computers. Levi lives in San Francisco but he is currently  in Sunrise Cove on a rare visit back home when he finds himself in a freak snowstorm on top of a ski slope. He shares a gondola with traveling nurse Jane Parks and he tries his best to reassure her when their situation becomes dangerous. Afterward, Levi talks Jane into being his pretend girlfriend for an upcoming family event. As they spend time together, he realizes his feelings for her are deepening into love. But will Levi convince Jane to put down roots with him?

Jane is content to never settle in one place for very long. The only town she has any ties to is Sunrise Cove and she returns every winter. She rents a room from her best friend, Dr. Charlotte Dixon, who understands what motivates Jane’s continually roaming. Jane’s tumultuous childhood left an indelible mark and she closely guards her heart. Despite her reservations about her unexpected time with Levi, she enjoys his company. As their relationship takes a serious turn, will Jane give love a chance?

The Family You Make is a heartfelt romance with a wonderful small-town atmosphere. Levi and Jane are well-rounded appealing characters who are absolutely perfect for each other. The storyline is engaging but the pacing is slow to gain momentum. A lovely secondary story arc with Charlotte and Levi’s best friend Dr. Mateo Moreno adds dimension to the plot. The Sunrise Cove series is off to an entertaining beginning that old and new fans of Jill Shalvis are sure to enjoy.

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Filed under Contemporary, Jill Shalvis, Rated B, Review, Romance, The Family You Make, The Sunrise Cove Series, William Morrow Paperbacks

January 18, 2022 · 12:02 am

Review: The Replacement Wife by Darby Kane

Title: The Replacement Wife by Darby Kane
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Genre: Contemporary, Domestic Suspense
Length: 412 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

The #1 International bestselling author of Pretty Little Wife returns with another thrilling domestic suspense novel that asks, how many wives and girlfriends need to disappear before your family notices?

Elisa Wright is a mom and wife, living a nice, quiet life in a nice, quiet town. She’s also convinced her brother-in-law is a murderer. Josh has one dead wife and one missing fiancée, and though he grieved for them he starts dating someone new. Elisa fears for that woman’s safety, and she desperately wants to know what happened to her friend, Josh’s missing fiancée.

Searching for clues means investigating her own family. And she doesn’t like what she finds. A laptop filled with incriminating information. Other women.

But when Elisa becomes friends with Josh’s new girlfriend and starts to question things she thinks are true, Elisa wonders if the memories of a horrible incident a year ago have finally pushed her over the edge and Josh is really innocent. With so much at stake, Elisa fights off panic attacks and a strange illness. Is it a breakdown or something more? The race is on to get to the truth before another disappearance because there’s a killer in the family…or is there?

Review:

The Replacement Wife by Darby Kane is a fast-paced domestic mystery.

Elisa Wright is happily married and mother of one energetic seven-year-old son. Husband Harris is a veterinarian and the family is close to his brother Josh. For all the years she has known Josh, she has always liked and trusted him. But when his fiancé and her best friend Abby Greene goes missing, doubts begin to creep in. A shocking discovery leaves her even less trusting of Josh and then there is the introduction to his new girlfriend, Rachel…

Elisa is still struggling to come to terms with a tragic event that leaves her fearful of leaving her home. But once she begins to believe that Josh is behind Abby’s disappearance, she forces herself to search for the truth. When strange events begin occurring around her own home, Elisa is shocked when Harris sides with Josh in questioning her mental health. Hurt and angry, Elisa sets out to find the evidence she needs to prove her suspicions about Josh.

The Replacement Wife is an engrossing domestic mystery with a clever storyline. Elisa’s fears are relatable as she struggles with her newfound discoveries about Josh. She is shocked and dismayed by Harris’s lack of faith in her when Josh voices his doubts about her. As Elisa comes closer to learning the truth about Josh, she begins to view her marriage in a more realistic manner. With stunning plot twists,  Darby Kane brings this suspenseful mystery to a jaw-dropping conclusion.

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Filed under Contemporary, Darby Kane, Domestic Suspense, Rated B+, Review, Suspense, William Morrow Paperbacks

December 6, 2021 · 12:01 am

Review: All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris

Title: All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery, Suspense
Length: 384 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through Edelweiss

Summary:

In this fast-paced thriller, Wanda M. Morris crafts a twisty mystery about a black lawyer who gets caught in a dangerous conspiracy after the sudden death of her boss . . . A debut perfect for fans of Attica Locke, Alyssa Cole, Harlan Coben, and Celeste Ng, with shades of How to Get Away with Murder and John Grisham’s The Firm.

Everyone has something to hide…

Ellice Littlejohn seemingly has it all: an Ivy League law degree, a well-paying job as a corporate attorney in midtown Atlanta, great friends, and a “for fun” relationship with a rich, charming executive, who just happens to be her white boss. But everything changes one cold January morning when Ellice arrives in the executive suite and finds him dead with a gunshot to his head.

And then she walks away like nothing has happened. Why? Ellice has been keeping a cache of dark secrets, including a small-town past and a kid brother who’s spent time on the other side of the law. She can’t be thrust into the spotlight—again.

But instead of grieving this tragedy, people are gossiping, the police are getting suspicious, and Ellice, the company’s lone black attorney, is promoted to replace her boss. While the opportunity is a dream-come-true, Ellice just can’t shake the feeling that something is off.

When she uncovers shady dealings inside the company, Ellice is trapped in an impossible ethical and moral dilemma. Suddenly, Ellice’s past and present lives collide as she launches into a pulse-pounding race to protect the brother she tried to save years ago and stop a conspiracy far more sinister than she could have ever imagined…

Review:

All Her Little Secrets by Wanda M. Morris is a fast-moving mystery.

Ellice Littlejohn buried her past once she left Chillecothe, GA. Now a successful attorney at a family-owned Atlanta business, she is keeping secrets in her present. Ellice has been in a long-term affair with her boss Michael Sayles. So when she discovers his body one morning, she does not report his death. Certain he committed suicide, Ellice is less than forthcoming when Detective Shelly Bradford questions her about Michael. With a deep-seated mistrust of law enforcement, Ellice’s evasive answers raises the detective’s suspicions.

The only saving grace from Ellice’s dysfunctional childhood with an alcoholic mother is Vera Henderson. She is a mother figure who fought to get Ellice out of their small town and into a school that set her on her path to a career she loves. Ellice makes the decision to continue keeping her secrets, but she soon realizes that her past is not buried as deeply as she believes it to be.

Immediately after Michael’s death, Ellice is hurriedly promoted to his position. She definitely does not fit in with her all-White, all male co-workers but she is determined to make this promotion a success. But some of the business owner’s decisions do not make sense and she starts to wonder exactly what is going on. Ellice discovers shocking details that Michael kept hidden from everyone, including her. She then uncovers even more troubling information about the business. Unable to stop herself from digging deeper, Ellice endangers herself and the people she loves.

All Her Little Secrets is a compelling mystery that is incredibly suspenseful. Ellice’s secrets are slowly revealed through flashbacks to her difficult childhood. She is an intelligent woman who still harbors guilt about some of her past decisions. The storyline is quite engaging and takes many unanticipated twists and turns. With a diabolical plot coming into clear focus, Wanda M. Morris brings this multi-layered debut to a satisfying conclusion.

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Filed under All Her Little Secrets, Contemporary, Mystery, Rated B+, Review, Suspense, Wanda M Morris, William Morrow Paperbacks