Monthly Reads: July 2018

Hello everyone, and welcome back to The Bookworm’s Fantasy! I hope you’re all doing well. Just as a side-note – I’ve just made an official Instagram account for this site! If you’d like to follow me, find me at: @thebookwormsfantasy. Today I’m posting my Monthly Reads for July 2018. I started my new job in July and also moved house, so it’s been a very busy month! I only managed to read 3 books this month, which I’m not very pleased with … but now that I’m settling in to my new house and job, I hope to get more reading done! Keep reading to find out which books I read in the month of July…

 

 

---

No Further Questions by Gillian McAllister.

The police say she’s guilty.

She insists she’s innocent.

 

She’s your sister.

You loved her.

You trusted her.

But they say she killed your child.

 

Who do you believe?

.5

(I was sent an ARC by Penguin.) I love Gillian McAllister’s books and was thrilled to have the opportunity to take part in the blog tour for this book – you can find that here. I really liked this book, but I have to say that I prefer her two previous books. This is more of a courtroom drama, and I personally think that McAllister’s psychological thrillers are better (perhaps an unpopular opinion?) This book was really good, but definitely not her best work.

 

 

---

An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena.

We can’t choose the strangers we meet.

As the guests arrive at beautiful, remote Mitchell’s Inn, they’re all looking forward to a relaxing weekend deep in the forest, miles from anywhere. They watch their fellow guests with interest, from a polite distance.

Usually we can avoid the people who make us nervous, make us afraid.

With a violent storm raging, the group finds itself completely cut off from the outside world. Nobody can get in – or out. And then the first body is found . . . and the horrifying truth comes to light. There’s a killer among them – and nowhere to run.

Until we find ourselves in a situation we can’t escape. Trapped.

(I was sent an ARC by Bantam Press.) I loved Lapena’s ‘The Couple Next Door’, so I had high hopes for this book – but I was left feeling slightly disappointed. I feel like this just wasn’t really my kind of book – it’s a murder-mystery rather than a psychological thriller, so not my usual genre. It felt very Agatha Christie-like to me. Of course, Agatha Christie’s books are really good, but my issue is that this kind of book has been written a million times before so it wasn’t particularly fresh or exciting. This book is good at what it does, but it’s nothing original in my opinion.

 

 

---

Bad Sister by Sam Carrington.

Then

When flames rip through their family home, only teenager Stephanie and her younger brother escape unhurt. Brett always liked to play with fire, but now their dad is dead and someone has to pay the price.

Now

Psychologist Connie Summers wants to help Stephanie rebuild her life. She has a new name, a young son and everything to live for. But when Stephanie receives a letter from someone she’d hoped would never find her, Connie is forced to question what really happened that night. But some truths are better left alone . . .

This book was quite good, but not great. I did really enjoy some aspects of it, and I liked that the story was narrated from the perspective of the psychologist, as she offers a unique take on the story. But the problem is that I didn’t warm to her as a character, and just didn’t really like her. The plot also had a fair few holes, and the fact that the book is titled ‘Bad Sister’ just gives away the twist, in my opinion. A fairly good read, but definitely not the best.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy reading 🙂