RoroblusMumReadsReviews/Rants

 5* Good catch-up with the characters, although a sad tale.  I'm not sure how much time has lapsed since the previous book, but Jayden and Cat have a 1yo son and a 3yo daughter now. An former teen love is trying to become a more permanent fixture in Ally's life, but she's still stuck on her late husband Bill, and there's her good old friend Gus, who's finally stopped talking about finishing his novel and has gotten there, and is doing edits. Add in DS Mullins and the café owner whose name I forget, and the same characters all muck in to make a going tale. Even Mullins's 'I hate the Shell House detectives' boss seems a tad more likeable and on-board.  There's a sad tale of inheritance, of trying to right 'wrongs'; of living with PTSD and loss; of dysfunctional families; of the price of war; of betrayal by a loved one - or more - and lies. The dovetailing is excellent and the flawed but understandably so characters, I warmed to. Except one who ...

 4* Decent, if predictable. Violent guy in private, suave operator in public, commits suicide because his ponzi scheme is about to unravel and he can't face it. Supposedly. The abused wife takes herself off and makes a quiet life for herself, until a year on, life isn't so quiet anymore.  It's not badly done, with enough suspense and build-up but it's very predictable on her name change, not being in witness protection, the lodger she takes in, the things that start to appear. She doesn't even have the common sense to change her locks once she's spooked, resulting in the death of someone looking out for her. And there's time for a new romance. Hmm.  A decent one-time read. ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Storm Publishing for my reading pleasure. 

5* Not a book with nice characters you feel for, but flippin' eck, what a good murder-mystery with twists and reveals I didn't see coming. This isn't a book with a single character that I liked, cared about or empathised with. It's told from Courtney's POV for the most - she's the sister and sister-in-law of the so-far vics; mother to Cass and wife to Elliott, and possibly once an 'the other woman', as he was married when he met her. It's revealed that she doesn't trust him, and I was really hoping that lawyer-him would be clever enough to know that and confront her.  The second person whose voice we hear is spoilt, woe-is-me and my 1st-world problems, whiny, bitchy, unpleasant, selfish, with anger issues Reese, 'like the candy'. She's a piece of work who's lucky not to end up being raped or killed, though she's not clever enough to fully embrace that. The tale itself is well done. Little reveals about the characters make you ...

3* it almost felt like this tale was more about the female lead's libido and closure on the failed marriage than the blurb. And goodness, the woman barely showered! This is readable but the female lead isn't likeable and being in her head is tiresome. She's a lot me, me, me and she doesn't deserve Sebastien after cheating on him with her ex. Yes, she does come clean and he's understanding of it, expecting of it, almost, but ick.  She's paranoid, I'd say, not with the good instincts that the book tries to make you think, with reason. Her sleuthing at the end is what results in a tragedy, but she doesn't seem all that bothered by it. The result is that she discovers her daughter's killer's identity but it feels quite a bit of a stretch and quite weak after a tale with several red herrings. An OK read but not what I was expecting. 

4* Good red herrings in a tale with multiple characters, any number of which could've killed the awful Ellen.  Ellen seems to be a very twisted Hyacinth Bucket-type character; keeping tabs on everyone and their - in her eyes, misdemeanours - making threats; interfering in their business; reporting them; spreading rumours and more. We don't fully learn what motivates her, as she's killed in the first few pages. She seems to have been a half-decent sleuth, with a very unchristian heart, sadly. Did she deserve her ending? For most of the tale I thought she did, but when the killer was revealed, perhaps Ellen had been trying to do a form of...not quite good, maybe, but the right thing? I mean, she'd have still had an ego boost out of it had she succeeded in unmasking the killer, but some people got the closure they needed after far too many years.  The characters in this were decent as was most of the police work. I'm not sure that some of the police should've been ...

4* Another good outing for Liam and Maya. It just seems a tad tiresome and unbelievable that the almost personality-less Liam is so sought after by so many females... So, the last part of my title - Liam's given a number by a female tech he casually knows, in an awkward scene for them both; it jarred. He's sleeping with Grace, an ex, because it's something to do. He'd have us think he's still got a thing for Millie, his son's former teacher who he just happens to bump into and can't get out of his mind despite knowing she had a new boyfriend in book 2, and was traumatised at what happened to her because of her connection to Liam. Kinda doesn't really ring true, as the guy lacks personality, social skills and is a workaholic. But, at the end, there might be hope for him in book 4. That aside, the book was decent, although he has almost no tine to be a part-time dad to George who's growing up fast and seems mature beyond his years, and is a pretty dece...