Reading Excursions

MY REVIEW Hardcover:  384 pages Publisher:  St. Martin's Press (April 9, 2019) Language:  English ISBN-10:  1250107458 ISBN-13:  978-1250107459 “ Can you love someone to death? Some would say Becky Gerard is a devoted mother and would do anything for her only child. Others, including her husband Carl, claim she's obsessed and can't stop the vicious circle of finding a cure at her daughter's expense. Fifteen-year-old Meghan has been in and out of hospitals with a plague of unexplained illnesses. But when the ailments take a sharp turn, clashing medical opinions begin to raise questions about the puzzling nature of Meghan’s illness. Doctors suspect Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a rare behavioral disorder where the primary caretaker seeks medical help for made-up symptoms of a child. Is this what's going on? Or is there something even more sinister at hand? As the Gerards grow more and more suspicious of each other a...

MY REVIEW Hardcover:  384 pages Publisher:  St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (January 8, 2019) Language:  English ISBN-10:  1250133734 ISBN-13:  978-1250133731 Click Photo for Purchase Link  “ Looking to earn some easy cash, Jessica Farris agrees to be a test subject in a psychological study about ethics and morality. But as the study moves from the exam room to the real world, the line between what is real and what is one of Dr. Shields’s experiments blurs. Dr. Shields seems to know what Jess is thinking… and what she’s hiding. Jessica’s behavior will not only be monitored, but manipulated. Caught in a web of attraction, deceit and jealousy, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly .” I received an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) from the publisher – St. Martin’s Press – in exchange for an honest review.  [ARC and promotional materials] [A "gift" and beauty tool from "Jessica"...

MY REVIEW Hardcover:  320 pages Publisher:  St. Martin's Press (July 17, 2018) Language:  English ISBN-10:  1250170753 ISBN-13:  978-1250170750 Click Photo for More Information “ MEET HANNA:  Seven-year-old Hanna is a sweet-but-silent angel in the eyes of her adoring father Alex. He’s the only person who understands her. But her mother Suzette stands in her way, and she’ll try any trick she can think of to get rid of her. Ideally for good. MEET SUZETTE:  Suzette loves her daughter, but after years of expulsions and strained home schooling, her precarious health and sanity are weakening day by day. She’s also becoming increasingly frightened by Hanna’s little games, while her husband Alex remains blind to the failing family dynamics. Soon, Suzette starts to fear that maybe their supposedly innocent baby girl may have a truly sinister agenda. A battle of wills between mother and daughter reveals the frailty and fal...

MY REVIEW Hardcover:  384 pages Publisher:  St. Martin's Press (June 5, 2018) Language:  English ISBN-10:  1250086086 ISBN-13:  978-1250086082 “ Look, I was doing OK. I got through the oil spill on the road that is turning forty. Lost a little control, but I drove into the skid just like the driving instructors tell you to and afterwards things were fine again, no, really, they were better than fine . Kate Reddy had it all: a nice home, two adorable kids, a good husband. Then her kids became teenagers (read: monsters). Richard, her husband, quit his job, taking up bicycling and therapeutic counseling: drinking green potions, dressing head to toe in Lycra, and spending his time―and their money―on his own therapy. Since Richard no longer sees a regular income as part of the path to enlightenment, it’s left to Kate to go back to work. Companies aren’t necessarily keen on hiring 49-year-old mothers, so Kate does what she must: kn...