Book and Product Reviews by Roundtable Reviews

 Release Date - February 2, 2021 What a timely book to have hitting the market! I've loved Kristin Hannah over the years as her novels always have characters I want to get to know. I get drawn into the town or neighborhood and want to be a part of that setting. The Four Winds does that, only I will say this time I preferred being the outsider looking in. It's 1921. Elsa Wolcott is part of a prominent family, but she's not as pretty as others feel she should be. For that reason, she's on her way to being a spinster with no hopes of finding a husband. She longs to be more. She wants to explore the world, go to college, and reinvent what her parents believe is her future. When she meets a handsome boy from Italian immigrants, one moment changes her path in ways she never would have imagined. Her reputation is in tatters. Her parents want nothing to do with her, and she's forced to marry a man she barely knows. She's taken in by Rafe's family and finds hers

 Release Date - March 2019 Starting this week, I want to go back to a book that you may have overlooked. RTR's Throwback Thursday Review takes a look at a psychological suspense released almost three years ago. Samantha Downing's My Lovely Wi fe looks at the serial killings of a murderous couple from their point of view.  From the day he met Millicent, he was head over heels in love. They've gone on to have children together, create a wonderful life in a tight-knit community, and keep a pretty serious secret. Killing women brings them closer as a couple. It's what keeps their marriage alive and keeping it secret from those closest to them is about to become challenging. My Lovely Wife is a gripping novel, but it's also kind of disturbing to find yourself rooting for a serial killer. I never found the shocking revelation that comes to be all that surprising. Yet, even though I saw the twist coming in two places, I still couldn't stop reading. I had to see how

 Release Date - January 26, 2021 As a fan of crime podcasts, Sera can't help but notice when her favorite podcast host vanishes. Sera relates to Rachel and cannot stand the thought of letting Rachel's disappearance go unnoticed. She heads to Rachel's remote town, lands a job working at Rachel's parents' ranch, and starts digging into what happened. The more Sera digs, the more she realizes that someone is genuinely wrong at that ranch. She finds a list of women that Rachel created. Many of them have also disappeared. Sera must find out what happened to these women and see how it ties into Rachel's disappearance. The remote ranch in Northern California is certainly a creepy setting for this suspense novel. I couldn't imagine Sera's obsession with what happened to Rachel overpowering the need to escape that dreadful place. Not only is the ranch desolate and spooky, but Rachel's parents evoke the same chills that the characters in The Stepford Wives d

 Release Date - January 26, 2021 Jillian Coleman likes her life on the mountains in New York. She's close to many within the town, but she also has plenty of privacy. As she suffers from intense panic attacks, her ability to escape and isolate herself is important to her. Enter Matt Danzer. The developer buys the vacant, run-down ski resort that neighbors her property. He's planning to renovate it and sell it. That's the last thing Jillian needs, and she's determined to do everything she can to keep him and his crew off the access road that goes onto her land.  What Jillian doesn't expect is to start falling for Matt. It's not going to be easy changing her life and letting someone else in, but he might be too good to let go. Having grown up near ski resorts, I found it very easy to picture Jillian's home and land. I'm also more familiar with panic attacks than a person should be. They were created using a lot of realism. The tunnel vision sensation. The

 Release Date - January 1, 2021 Ellie Canning is lucky to have survived being held captive in the basement of a remote farmhouse. She manages to escape and only remembers small details. The woman who kidnapped her has dark hair and lived with an elderly mother in a farmhouse. It was a woman she didn't know, but the nation is focused on Ellie's tale of survival and is turning this teen into an overnight celebrity. Soon, Ellie identifies an area school teacher as her abductor. Suzannah Wells doesn't seem to have any motive. She's an esteemed former actress who now teaches drama. Suzannah assures those closest to her that she's innocent and has been wrongly named, but those on her side are few and far between.  Neither Ellie or Suzannah have any reason or motive for lying, but clearly one of them must be. An Accusation is based on the true story of Elizabeth Canning, an 18th century maid who disappeared and later reappeared in poor health. She claimed to have been k

 Release Date - January 12, 2021 Fourteen-year-old Beth's life changes when her parents and brother are killed in a car crash. Her aunt seems to have no time for her, so she's given the chance to live with a girl close to her age at the lakeside estate Raven Hall. At Raven Hall, Beth is treated as one of the family. That is until her foster parents ask her to play a harmless game where she poses as their real daughter every time their father arrives from the U.S. That changes everything. Fast forward almost 30 years to 2019. Struggling actress Sadie Langton is offered a part pretending to be a guest at a murder mystery weekend being held at Raven Hall. As the evening begins, Sadie realizes there is something more going on. This game she's been hired to be part of is far more sinister than she could have imagined. The Perfect Guests switches back and forth from 1988 to 2019. As the people in each time period are different, it's easy to keep up with the different chara

 Release Date - January 21, 2021 Abby is tired of her parents' relentless need for her to be the best. She's tired of constant tutoring sessions, essays, and pressure to get her grades up. It's her friends, Leo and Connie, that allow her a break from the craziness that is her life. When Leo decides to take a DNA test to uncover his family history, he asks Connie and Abby to join him. Abby is stunned when the results show that she has a sister. This sister isn't just a half-sister either. Her sister's birth parents are 100% Abby's parents. That's just the start of a crazy summer to follow. Abby and her new sister plot to attend camp together to figure out the real reason Savannah was given up by her birth parents. Savannah's been told her birth parents were too young, but Abby was born within two years of Savannah's birth, so it doesn't make sense. Abby arrives at camp to find Leo is there. He's been attending this camp for years. The kiss

 Do you love finding bargains? I know I do and the offer on Christina McDonald's second novel is too good to pass up! For a limited time, save $10 on Behind Every Lie . This mystery/suspense tells the tragic story of a young woman who is found unconscious in the street. She's been hit by lightning and remembers very little. She especially doesn't remember killing her mother, though authorities believe that's exactly what she did. Eva has no choice but to clear her name and unravel the truth.  I loved The Night Olivia Fell .  It was a rare gem that had me on the edge of my seat with tears in my eyes at the same time. The author does a great job with emotional appeal tied into a chilling mystery. I have this second novel on my radar and will be reading it soon. Join me!  @christinamac79  @GalleryBooks

Release Date - January 12, 2021 A woman wakes up in the hospital. She has no idea who she is or how she got there. All her doctors and nurses know is that she was attacked and left with a head injury. Her only clue is her iPhone. Siri informs her her name is Mia, but the numbers in her contact list are proving to be useless. Mia's Prada dress and stylish haircut seem to suggest she's wealthy, but she doesn't remember a thing. Tracking down her identity is going to take a lot of investigative work and the help of a man who is house sitting at the home she finds shown in several of her online posts. As she learns more about her past, she starts to realize this may be the chance to start anew. Siri, Who Am I? takes an amnesia plot to a new level. In this case, there are no apparent friends or family members to help Mia figure out who she is and why she was attacked. The mystery is just as much fun as the romance that slowly blooms between her and her supposed home