Nightcap Books

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BOOK INFO

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BOOK BLURB

A husband, a father, a son, a business owner…And the best getaway driver east of the Mississippi.

Beauregard “Bug” Montage is an honest mechanic, a loving husband, and a hard-working dad. Bug knows there’s no future in the man he used to be: known from the hills of North Carolina to the beaches of Florida as the best wheelman on the East Coast.

He thought he’d left all that behind him, but as his carefully built new life begins to crumble, he finds himself drawn inexorably back into a world of blood and bullets. When a smooth-talking former associate comes calling with a can’t-miss jewelry store heist, Bug feels he has no choice but to get back in the driver’s seat. And Bug is at his best where the scent of gasoline mixes with the smell of fear.

Haunted by the ghost of who he used to be and the father who disappeared when he needed him most, Bug must find a way to navigate this blacktop wasteland…or die trying.

Like Ocean’s Eleven meets Drive, with a Southern noir twist, S. A. Cosby’s Blacktop Wasteland is a searing, operatic story of a man pushed to his limits by poverty, race, and his own former life of crime.

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MY REVIEW

Beauregard, aka Bug, is a former criminal who has gone straight. He owns an auto body shop, but business is down. He’s worried about how he will provide for his wife and kids, keep his business open, and pay for his mother’s nursing home care. He needs money… and he is the best wheelman around. When a former associate tracks him down, he decides to take one last job.

Bug is a complex character. He is haunted by memories of his father, who was also a wheelman, and left when Bug was a boy. Bug doesn’t know if his father is dead or alive, but he knows he wants to be the man that his father never was. He wants to be a good husband and father, and provide well for his family. Bug has tried to leave the old days as a wheelman behind him, but he is drawn back when he sees no other way to get the money he needs for his family.

While Blacktop Wasteland has wonderful character development, it also has plenty of action and suspense to keep the reader wanting more. Of course, Bug’s “one last job” isn’t as simple as that, and he is pulled in so deep that it puts his family in harms way.

A novel about one man’s struggles with family, poverty, and crime. Recommended for fans of literary fiction and crime fiction. Gritty, compelling, and authentic.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Books by S.A. Cosby:

1. Blacktop Wasteland
2. Razorblade Tears

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more info, read my Disclosure Policy.

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BOOK INFO

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BOOK BLURB

Their reunion just became a crime scene . . .

June Moody, a thirty-something English professor, just wants to get away from her recent breakup and reunite with girlfriends over summer break. Her old friend and longtime nemesis, Sadie MacTavish, a mega-successful author, invites June and her college friends to a baby shower at her sprawling estate in the San Juan Islands. June is less than thrilled to spend time with Sadie–and her husband, June’s former crush–but agrees to go.

The party gets off to a shaky start when old grudges resurface, but when they wake the next morning, they find something worse: Sadie is missing, the house is in shambles, and bloodstains mar the staircase. None of them has any memory of the night before; they wonder if they were drugged. Everyone’s a suspect. Since June had a secret rendezvous with Sadie’s husband, she has plenty of reason to suspect herself. Apparently, so do the cops.

A Celtic knot of suspense and surprise, this brooding, atmospheric novel will keep you guessing as each twist reveals a new possibility. It will remind you of friendships hidden in the depths of your own past, and make you wonder how well you really know the people you’ve loved the longest.

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MY REVIEW

June reunites with four old college friends (Sadie, Amy, Kimi, and Em). They gather for a baby shower for Amy, hosted by Sadie at her estate in the San Juan Islands. Things are a bit shaky between the old friends when everyone arrives. After a night that no one remembers well, Sadie is missing and everyone is a suspect.

The characters are a group of women in their late thirties. They haven’t been in close contact for years, but decide to reunite when one of them is expecting a baby. Told from June’s point of view. She is not looking forward to the weekend. Sadie is an old frenemy, and is married to an ex-boyfriend of June’s. Amy is Sadie’s cousin, and the pregnant friend. She’s also single and hasn’t told the others who the father is. Em has a secret she doesn’t want revealed. Kimi likes her drugs and booze. An eclectic group for sure.

Tension is high between the women. When they awaken to discover Sadie is missing, they aren’t sure what happened or who could have been responsible. There are a few other characters on the island, but it makes for a small group of suspects in this locked-room type mystery.

This mystery isn’t too difficult to solve, but it’s still a fun read. The Girls Weekend is an atmospheric and dramatic thriller.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Books by Jody Gehrman:

1. Watch Me
2. The Girls Weekend
3. The Summer We Buried
4. The Protégé

This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. For more info, read my Disclosure Policy.

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BOOK INFO

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BOOK BLURB

Everyone knows the story of “the girl from Widow Hills.”

Arden Maynor was just a child when she was swept away while sleepwalking during a terrifying rainstorm and went missing for days. Strangers and friends, neighbors and rescue workers, set up search parties and help vigils, praying for her safe return. Against all odds, she was found, alive, clinging to a storm drain. The girl from Widow Hills was a living miracle. Arden’s mother wrote a book. Fame followed. Fans and fan letters, creeps, and stalkers. And every year, the anniversary. It all became too much. As soon as she was old enough, Arden changed her name and disappeared from the public eye.

Now a young woman living hundreds of miles away, Arden goes by Olivia. She’s managed to stay off the radar for the last few years. But with the twentieth anniversary of her rescue approaching, the media will inevitably renew its interest in Arden. Where is she now? Soon Olivia feels like she’s being watched and begins sleepwalking again, like she did long ago, even waking up outside her home. Until late one night, she jolts awake in her yard. At her feet is the corpse of a man she knows—from her previous life, as Arden Maynor.

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MY REVIEW

As a child, Arden Maynor was rescued after being caught up in a rainstorm. She was missing for days, and it was a miracle when she was found alive. Now, Arden is an adult, living far away from her home town and going by a different name. She wanted to get away from her past, but it catches up with her when a man she knew from her childhood is found dead outside her home.

Arden changed her name to Olivia and lives where no one knows about her past. As a child, she was the focus of a lot of media attention after her miracle rescue. She lived through a traumatic event in her childhood, and she wants to leave it in the past. Olivia is an intriguing character. She’s independent and determined. She’s also a little bit unreliable, since she occasionally sleepwalks and doesn’t remember things from her sleepwalking episodes. When a man from her past ends up dead outside her home, she is forced to face her past and find the truth about what really happened years earlier.

The Girl from Widow Hills is a suspenseful mystery that slowly unravels. Well-paced story with interesting characters. A good read for fans of mysteries and thrillers. Atmospheric and captivating.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Books by Megan Miranda:

1. All the Missing Girls
2. The Perfect Stranger
3. The Last House Guest
4. The Girl from Widow Hills
5. Such a Quiet Place
6. The Last to Vanish
7. The Only Survivors
8. Daughter of Mine