{I've Been Reading} The Business Trip

 The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia 

Stephanie and Jasmine share a brief encounter on a flight to San Diego. The two women have nothing in common, but before long both have vanished after sending eerily similiar text messages about a man named Trent, alarming their friends at home. I absolutely loved this thriller with its unique, fast paced structure. It switches frequently between characters so you absolutely have to read the name at the top of each chapter, but it's absolutely worth keeping track of who is talking. I couldn't put it down and definitely didn't guess at what had happened to the two women. 

Disclosure -- The publisher provided me with an advance review copy. 

{I've Been Reading} Missing in Flight

 Missing in Flight by Audrey J Cole

Makayla left her infant son sleeping alone in the bassinet just long enough to dash to the airplane's restroom, afraid that if she took him with her he'd take ages to settle back down. She asked the girl in the pink headphones to keep an eye on him and was as quick as she could possibly be, but when she returned  to her seat Liam was gone. I wasn't sure how this one was going to work -- how long could it take to search a plane? The author manages to stretch the concept into a full length thriller, partially by switching point of view back and forth between every possible character including Makayla, her husband, the pilot, and the officers investigating the case.  At first the premise made sense, but things got less and less plausible as the book progressed.

Death Among the Stitches by Betty Hechtman

I can see a lot of potential in this new mystery series, but it took time for this first book to get going. Annie Hart is a very young protagonist who works in a Los Angeles boutique as assistant to a movie star's daughter. When she inherits a building from her uncle, she's excited to have something of her own and immediately flies across the country to see it, not realizing that the old schoolhouse was actually a yarn shop. (It's an amazing coincidence that the building her uncle bought to convert to a restaurant just happens to be full of supplies for Annie's favorite hobby.) The local knitters are delighted  that the shop has a new owner, but Annie plans to sell the building and its contents and head back to California as soon as she can. It's a fun read if you don't worry about things like whether Annie owns the business or just the building, or how the bugs that destroyed half othe yarn in the shop left the rest in good enough condition to sell. The mystery behind the death of the original shop owner is great and I really enjoyed trying to piece together the clues, but a lot of the plot is focused on Annie's determination to sell the shop -- which doesn't leave a whole lot of suspense if this is the first book in the series. 

The Apartment Across the Hall by Jack Dane 

Affordable apartments are hard to find in New York, so Salem Ripley takes what she can get, especially after potential landlords see her background check. The place has a lot of problems, but she needs a place to live, as unpleasant as the building is. One neighbor plays deafeningly loud cop shows all night long. The guy across the hall brings new women to his apartment one after another -- and no matter how closely she watches his door, she never sees a single one of them leave. This short, fast paced thiller is absolutely wild. I found Salem hard to like, but it was an interesting read. 

The Book of Witching by C. J. Cooke

This book is an atmospheric slow burn that weaves together two stories -- a nineteen year old girl suffers in a burn unit after a hiking trip with friends went horribly wrong and the a woman is accused of witchcraft four hundred years earlier. It took a while for me to get into this one and I definitely found the historical scenes more interesting than the contemporary ones even if I didn't know enough about the daily life of the Orkneys in the sixteenth century to fully understand what was going on. (The author's note at the end cleared a lot of things up for me.) 

The Perfect Home by Daniel Kenitz

This domestic thriller immediately caught my attention and held it the whole way through. Dawn Decker is the less beloved half of the celebrity couple behind the reality show A Perfect Home. Everyone adores Wyatt and his easy smile and charming personality. She's less comfortable in the spotlight, less adept at manipulating public opinion. When she finds handwritten notes outlining his plans to exploid a family tragedy - one that hasn't actually happened yet - she packs up their newborn twins and runs, knowing that she's instantly recognizable and that the public will be firmly on Wyatt's side. I loved this book. The plot might not be plausible, but it was definitely entertaining. 

Disclosure -- The publisher provided me with an advance review copy. 

{I've Been Reading} Porcelain

Porcelain by Jesse Sprague 

I'm not sure how I feel about this one. It starts with the protagonist, Gabrielle, in an extremely uneasy situation, stuck alone with a guy she really shouldn't have gone home with. Then he's dead and her childhood doll is there soaked in blood and she can't remember what happened. It's a repeat of how her parents died, and her foster father. The book reminds me of a slumber party story we used to tell back in the early 80s and it had a lot of promise, but I don't feel like it quite delivered. 

The Beauty Queen by Sally-Anne Martyn

Forty years after her sister's diseappearance, Zoe Kincade has returned to the seaside town of Sunshine Sands. Officially, she's there to report on this year's beauty pageant, but what she really wants is to find out what happened to Jane after she was crowned the winner. I loved the setting, with its aging buildings and faded attractions. Even in the flashbacks to the 80s, the place is far past its prime. The locals are determined to protect their secrets and Zoe and her prying questions aren't welcome. Unfortunately, I felt like by the end the plot was slowly dragging along to a less than satisfying conclusion. 

Disclosure -- The publishers provided me with advance review copies. 

{I've Been Reading} The Getaway

 The Serial Killer Guide to San Francisco by Michelle Chouinard

Capri Sanzio's tours of San Francisco focus on murder sites. People are fascinated by true crime and she's the granddaughter of "Overkill Bill," which gives her a unique perspective on the whole thing and just a bit of notoriety. When two copycat murders strike far too close to home, she uses her training as a journalist in an attempt to discover what's actually happening and to investigate her long held belief that her grandfather is innocent. I really enjoyed this one. Snippets of Capri's tour scripts are included, which provide an intriguing glimpse into the city's history. The character's background as a journalist helps the whole investigation to feel plausible and I appreciated her sensitivity when dealing with true crime. I'd love to read more about Capri and her world. 

Cabin by Patrick Hutchison

This memoir had me immediately planning a day trip to the Washington mountains and if I hadn't known the roads were almost definitely frozen, I would've been trying to talk the family into it. The author's descriptions make you feel like you're in the woods and at the same time make you want to head for the woods. (Granted, I'm practically in the woods already and a fifteen or twenty minute drive would get me into actual national forest...) As he's describing his impulsive purchase of the cabin as a fort or clubhouse, it just sounds so appealing. He's in over his head and knows it, but he learns from his mistakes and builds his skills. The enthusiasm that fills ever page of this memoir is contagious. 

The Perfect Ex-Wife by Winter K. Willis 

Even though she's constantly living in the shadow of Natasha, her husband's first wife who went missing more than a decade ago, Ramona is a fantastic spouse and stepmother. She's there for her new family, living in a basement bedroom without complaint while the house's original master suite sits as an empty shrine. Then the plot switches to Natasha and she seems to be an equally likeable character. What happened and how did things go so tragically wrong? I enjoyed this domestic thriller. The plot structure felt a little different than most and even though it's a slow burn, it kept me turning pages. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about the ending. 

The Getaway by Mina Hardy

Every month, Claire leaves her husband and daughter to spend the weekend at an isolated cabin. It's her time to enjoy herself and recharge, but this time things won't go as she planned. The storm that strands her at the cabin is only the beginning. I didn't find Claire to be a sympathetic character, but the author immediately creates a feeling that something awful is about to happen.  I know...it's a thriller and OF COURSE something bad is going to happen, but I kept wanting to yell at the character not to do what she was doing. Whatever I was expecting based on the book's description, this wasn't it. Every new bit of information that the author reveals is wilder than the last. 

Disclosure -- The publisher provided me with an advance review copy.