{I've Been Reading} The Honeymoon

The Honeymoon by Rona Halsall

After their romantic whirlwind of a wedding, Chloe and her new husband are rushing to board their flight. It's not until Dan hands over the tickets that she realizes he's changed their honeymoon destination from the one she's spent her whole life dreaming of. The Spanish island where he's booked their stay will be better he assures her, quieter and more romantic. It quickly becomes obvious that Dan's new honeymoon plan is nothing like the one she dreamed of. Then he reveals that they won't be going back home.

I read this one almost straight through. It's fast paced, with a twisting plot that sometimes felt kind of over-the-top. Chloe is in a bad situation, but some of the things that she seems willing to accept are such huge red flags that I don't know how she could explain them away for an instant.



Love You Gone by Rona Halsall

As soon as I finished The Honeymoon and realized that Love you Gone was sitting in my to-be-read pile, I pulled up that one on my Kindle app....and read it almost straight through. (The family was watching a marathon of old Godzilla movies and didn't miss me at all.)

In this one, a woman arrives late at the rental cottage where she's supposed to meet her husband and children. They've left things strewn all over the rooms and a note saying they went out for a walk and will be back soon. It's several hours before Mel runs out of potential explanations and decides to start calling local emergency rooms and restaurants to see if she can find them on her own. Finally, she calls the local police. She doesn't tell them everything about her family, not at first. With two unreliable narrators, this one kept me guessing and unsure whose version of the events to trust.

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