Book Review: No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall

 


Welcome to my book review of No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall. This dark and disturbing murder mystery will leave you second guessing yourself.

Title: No One Can Know

By: Kate Alice Marshall

Genre: Murder Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 325

Release Date: January 23rd, 2024

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Rating: ★★★★☆

 

Summary from Goodreads:

Emma hasn't told her husband much about her past. He knows her parents are dead and she hasn't spoken to her sisters in years. Then they lose their apartment, her husband gets laid off, and Emma discovers she's pregnant―right as the bank account slips into the red.

That's when Emma confesses that she has one more asset: her parents' house, which she owns jointly with her estranged sisters. They can't sell it, but they can live in it. But returning home means that Emma is forced to reveal her secrets to her husband: that the house is not a run-down farmhouse but a stately mansion, and that her parents died there.

Were murdered.

And that some people say Emma did it.

Emma and her sisters have never spoken about what really happened that night. Now, her return to the house may lure her sisters back, but it will also crack open family and small-town secrets lots of people don’t want revealed. As Emma struggles to reconnect with her old family and hold together her new one, she begins to realize that the things they have left unspoken all these years have put them in danger again.

 

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Review:

Oh my goodness, I was so deeply wrapped up in this book I couldn't put it down. By the end I felt so thoroughly manipulated and dirty.


This multiple point of view story is a slow burn at first, but once the story is in full swing, there is no stopping it. These pages lure you into the messed up lives of three sisters who's lives changed after their parents were murdered when they were children.


Throughout the whole book, the author hints on who might have done it as fingers are pointed at one sister and then the next, only to land on Emma. Everyone thinks she brutally killed her parents, but she doesn't even know what happened that night. Or does she? As the truth unfolds, your mind will be twisted. Didn't even see that one coming.


You are going to love this thrilling ride. Just read it. I dare you.

Book Review: Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty

 


My book review of Apples Never Fall by Laine Moriarty. An intense mystery full of family drama.

Title: Apples Never Fall

By: Liane Moriarty

Genre: Fiction, Mystery

Pages: 467

Release Date: September 14th, 2021

Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.

Rating: ★★★★☆

 

Summary from Goodreads:

The Delaney family love one another dearly—it’s just that sometimes they want to murder each other . . .

If your mother was missing, would you tell the police? Even if the most obvious suspect was your father?

This is the dilemma facing the four grown Delaney siblings.

The Delaneys are fixtures in their community. The parents, Stan and Joy, are the envy of all of their friends. They’re killers on the tennis court, and off it their chemistry is palpable. But after fifty years of marriage, they’ve finally sold their famed tennis academy and are ready to start what should be the golden years of their lives. So why are Stan and Joy so miserable?

The four Delaney children—Amy, Logan, Troy, and Brooke—were tennis stars in their own right, yet as their father will tell you, none of them had what it took to go all the way. But that’s okay, now that they’re all successful grown-ups and there is the wonderful possibility of grandchildren on the horizon.

One night a stranger named Savannah knocks on Stan and Joy’s door, bleeding after a fight with her boyfriend. The Delaneys are more than happy to give her the small kindness she sorely needs. If only that was all she wanted.

Later, when Joy goes missing, and Savannah is nowhere to be found, the police question the one person who remains: Stan. But for someone who claims to be innocent, he, like many spouses, seems to have a lot to hide. Two of the Delaney children think their father is innocent, two are not so sure—but as the two sides square off against each other in perhaps their biggest match ever, all of the Delaneys will start to reexamine their shared family history in a very new light.

 

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Review:

With the new show by the same name coming out, I wanted to find out what the big deal about this story was before watching a show that will be altered.

This was a dark and drama filled mystery. One that involved the whole family. Everyone seems to have a secret and no one wants to admit it. When a stranger shows up at the Delaney's door one night, a series of strange events are put into motion that will ultimately come to the disappearance of Joy Delaney, the mother.

I loved how Liane Moriarty laid out the story. She never gave away the ending, not even a little bit. I loved that. More often than not, I'm able to figure things out before hand, but I really didn't see this one coming.

To find out what happens to Joy, read this book before you watch the show. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Weekly Menu #549 And The Book Of The Week

 


Hello Monday! Welcome back to my weekly menu where I share are the delicious recipes we will be making this week.

Well, the weather in the PNW decided it was going to be cold and rainy again. I really wish it would have kept the warmer spring sunshine, but we are a wet climate and do need the rain. Not that I'm going to like it.

We are on spring break this week as well. Planning some fun with my kids, but also wanting to finish the Boys in the Boat and then watching the movie right after that for comparison. This book is the read of the week. Comment below what you're in the middle of reading below.

Lets get to this weeks menu. Enjoy!

WEEKLY MENU

Monday

Steak Diane

Kids - Beef Ramen

 

Tuesday

Italian Wedding Risotto

Kids - Cheesy Rice

 

Wednesday

Beefy Melt Burritos

Kids - Cheese Quesadilla

 

Thursday

Air Fryer Chicken Stir Fry

Kids - Chicken and Carrots

 

Friday

Baked Chicken Feta

Kids - Mac and Cheese

 

Saturday

Sriracha Tuna Wraps

Kids - Flatbread Pizza

 

Sunday

Leftovers Night


Sunday Confessions #242

 


Hello Sunday! I'm finding the book community on Instagram to be welcoming and extraordinary. They love books as much as I do and have wonderful ways of sharing their reads. I'm loving it. If you would like to join me, my screen name is @Sara_reads_things.

Lets recap the blog from last week.


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Weekly Menu #549 And The Book Of The Week
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Book Review: Apples Never Fall by Laine Moriarty
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Book Review: No One Can Know by Kate Alice Marshall
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Sunday Confessions #243








Everything I thought it was, the new album by Justin Timberlake. To tell you the truth, I only bought it for the Nsync song. It brings me back to my childhood.



Currently catching up on the latest season of Halo. I love this series and am thinking about diving into the books as well.


25/100 2024 Reading Challenge


A wonderful week full of books, characters and sunshine. Happy reading my friends!

Book Review: Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli


My book review of the Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli. An intense story of love, betrayal and sacrifice.

 

Title: Heartless Hunter

By: Kristen Ciccarelli

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 416

Release Date: February 20th, 2024

Publisher: Wednesday Books

Rating: ★★★★★

 

Summary from Goodreads:

A steamy game of cat and mouse between witch and witch-hunter, played out against a backdrop of opulence, secrets, and bloody history.

On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.

Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe - a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution - who she can't help but find herself falling for.

Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

Kristen Ciccarelli’s Heartless Hunter is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch...is falling in love.

 

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Review:

I fell in love with this story and the characters within. There was so much color and depth to this world, I could see it clearly in my mind as I read each word. A wonderful place that would be hard to forget.

The story of magic woven throughout the pages is wonderful. I've never heard a tale like this. Witches are forbidden, if discovered they are put to death. A fate of many women and girls. Rune has managed to slip through the fingers of the witch hunters, but at a great cost. She has found a way to hid any trace of her blood magic.

Of course, any good fantasy isn't complete without a well strategized love triangle. I really couldn't tell you how many times I wondered how this story would end. Which brother would Rune end up with, or would the whole thing fall apart. A poorly written love triangle can ruin a whole book, but this one was amazing. Don't worry, I won't spoil it for you. You will have to read it for yourself.

This book has gone on my favorites shelf. It was wonderful. I couldn't put it down and devoured it within one day. A must read for spring.

Book Review: The Stolen Heir by Holly Black

 


My book review of The Stolen Heir by Holly Black. A runaway queen. A reluctant prince. And a quest that may destroy them both.

Title: The Stolen Heir

By: Holly Black

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 356

Release Date: January 3rd, 2023

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Rating: ★★★★☆

 

Summary from Goodreads:

Eight years have passed since the Battle of the Serpent. But in the icy north, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth has reclaimed the Ice Needle Citadel. There, she is using an ancient relic to create monsters of stick and snow who will do her bidding and exact her revenge.

Suren, child queen of the Court of Teeth, and the one person with power over her mother, fled to the human world. There, she lives feral in the woods. Lonely, and still haunted by the merciless torments she endured in the Court of Teeth, she bides her time by releasing mortals from foolish bargains. She believes herself forgotten until the storm hag, Bogdana chases her through the night streets. Suren is saved by none other than Prince Oak, heir to Elfhame, to whom she was once promised in marriage and who she has resented for years.

Now seventeen, Oak is charming, beautiful, and manipulative. He’s on a mission that will lead him into the north, and he wants Suren’s help. But if she agrees, it will mean guarding her heart against the boy she once knew and a prince she cannot trust, as well as confronting all the horrors she thought she left behind.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black returns to the opulent world of Elfhame in the first book in a thrilling new duology, following Jude's brother Oak, and the changeling queen, Suren.

 

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Review:

I've not read the previous books in this world, so I went into this story with fresh eyes not knowing a whole lot about the characters or the world I was stepping into.

I found the characters to be easy to fall in love with and the story to be entertaining. This world is wonderful, but sadly unmemorable. Although I enjoyed the read, It's been hard for me to recall the details on the pages as I'm writing this review.

Maybe I should read the first books in this world and see how they make me fee.