House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen

 

About

The next thrilling novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Sarah Pekkanen, House of Glass.

On the outside they were the golden family with the perfect life. On the inside they built the perfect lie.

A young nanny who plunged to her death, or was she pushed? A nine-year-old girl who collects sharp objects and refuses to speak. A lawyer whose job it is to uncover who in the family is a victim and who is a murderer. But how can you find out the truth when everyone here is lying?

Rose Barclay is a nine-year-old girl who witnessed the possible murder of her nanny - in the midst of her parent's bitter divorce - and immediately stopped speaking. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. She never accepts clients under thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood, but Stella's mentor, a revered judge, believes Stella is the only one who can help.

From the moment Stella passes through the iron security gate and steps into the gilded, historic DC home of the Barclays, she realizes the case is even more twisted, and the Barclay family far more troubled, than she feared. And there's something eerie about the house itself: It's a plastic house, with not a single bit of glass to be found.

As Stella comes closer to uncovering the secrets the Barclays are desperate to hide, danger wraps around her like a shroud, and her past and present are set on a collision course in ways she never expected. Everyone is a suspect in the nanny's murder. The mother, the father, the grandmother, the nanny's boyfriend. Even Rose. Is the person Stella's supposed to protect the one she may need protection from?

My Thoughts

This book was a mystery thriller that followed Stella a BIA attorney with a strange case and a past. She works for the best interest of children. Her latest case is a high profile one where a nanny working for a rich family mysteriously fell out of a glass window to her untimely death.

The Barclays are a family with secrets, this Stella realises and their daughter Rose who is suffering from traumatic mutism seems to be the most strange of them all. Stella is drawn to this case for more personal reasons as she too suffered from a similar situation to that of Rose. Where her past and present collide takes the reader on a path to want to read on.

This book had some shocking twists and was enjoyable.

Book Review: The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine

 

About:

Some women get everything. Some women get everything they deserve.

Amber Patterson is fed up. She’s tired of being a nobody: a plain, invisible woman who blends into the background. She deserves more—a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted.

To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne—a socialite and philanthropist—and her real-estate mogul husband, Jackson, are a couple straight out of a fairy tale.

Amber’s envy could eat her alive . . . if she didn't have a plan. Amber uses Daphne’s compassion and caring to insinuate herself into the family’s life—the first step in a meticulous scheme to undermine her. Before long, Amber is Daphne’s closest confidante, traveling to Europe with the Parrishes and their lovely young daughters, and growing closer to Jackson. But a skeleton from her past may undermine everything that Amber has worked towards, and if it is discovered, her well-laid plan may fall to pieces. 

With shocking turns and dark secrets that will keep you guessing until the very end, The Last Mrs. Parrish is a fresh, juicy, and utterly addictive thriller from a diabolically imaginative talent.

My Thoughts 

Wow!! This book was an emotional rollercoaster.

Amber was a young woman with a mission to be riçh no matter what it takes. She wanted the life she craved for since childhood. Daphne Parrish had that life. Daphne had the rich handsome Jackson and two perfect children.

Amber wanted.that by any means neccessary.
Amber befriended Daphne and little by little got her hooks into Jackson. She thought that she hit the jackpot. Little does she know everything is not as it seems.

This story had me on edge. I went through varying stages of anger, sadness and even happiness especially towards the end. A lot of women are like Amber. They are hell bent on destroying a marriage. When you read the story you will definitely get a new meaning to the phrase the grass isnt always greener.

Jackson....well you will definitely have a lot to.say about him. I dont want to give any spoilers.

This is a good book. I'm off to read the new release. The Next Mrs. PARRISH

Book Review: A Trace of Sun by Pam Williams

 

About:

‘Don’t go Mammy please.’ Stuttered words filled her ears, sent frissons of guilt through her as she bent over him; held him to her thumping chest. Tears sliding from her face to his.Raef is left behind in Grenada when his mother, Cilla, follows her husband to England in search of a better life. When they are finally reunited seven years later, they are strangers – and the emotional impact of the separation leads to events that rip their family apart. As they try to move forward with their lives, his mother’s secret will make Raef question all he’s ever known of who he is.

A Trace of Sun is, in part, inspired by the author’s own family experiences.

My Thoughts

This book was interesting to me for a number of reasons. First, some of the best Caribbean novels for me are the ones that speak to migration. In A Trace of Sun we meet Cilla, from Grenada who is patiently waiting for the day that her husband sends for her and the kids to join him in England. When the letter comes she is excited, however upon realizing that she had to leave her eight year old son Raef behind meets her with sadness. Raef could not understand why his younger brother Davey and not him could go.

The second thing I loved about this book is how the story follows the family from the 1960s all the way to the 1990s. We experience their triumphs and many sorrows as they navigate life in a foreign land. This aspect of the book was well written.

Raef's character was a lot to deal with. The reader really felt for him. I also felt for Luci the younger sister and Cilla. This family grappled with a lot. And the explosive secret really added to the intrigue of this family saga.

All in all it was a good book.