Review: The Retreat by Elisabeth De Mariaffi

Goodreads Blurb

She came looking for inspiration.
Instead, disaster strikes.

Maeve Martin arrives at the High Water Center for the Arts, a gorgeous lodge nestled deep in the Rocky Mountains, determined to do one thing: begin her own dance company. A retired performer and mother of two, time is running out for her to find her feet again after the collapse of her disastrous—and violent—marriage. And at first, there’s a thrill to being on her own for the first time in years. Isolated in the snowy beauty of the retreat, Maeve can forget the ghost of her past for an hour, for a day.

But when an avalanche strikes, Maeve finds herself trapped with six other guests. They’ve lost all power, phone service, heat, and the road back to town. At first, there’s a sense of camaraderie—the fire is warm, the freezer well-stocked. But as the days pass and the storm rages on outside, tensions start to run high. Help is coming, so they just have to hold on, right?

Then the first guest meets an unspeakable death.

Followed by another.

Soon Maeve must admit how little she knows about these strangers . . . and how useless a locked door is if the darkness is already inside.

My Review: Rated 2 out of 5 stars

A retreat is supposed to bring you peace and harmony, but what Maeve finds is the fight to survive. Being locked away in a retreat with strangers while being snowed in makes for a perfect murder scene. Maeve was trying to make a comeback and open her own dance studio. She was scarred from her prior marriage of abuse and has been fighting to be free for some time. This was supposed to be a new beginning and not one that might end her life. This thriller picks up speed in the last 100 pages. I wasn’t really excited about how slow the build-up took to get me thrilled and scared. The story didn’t grab my attention right away, so it took me a long time to finish reading it. I loved that this book has a strong female who fights to survive to be able to see her children. Being stucked in a mountain with an avalanche, bear, and a murderer will make anyone scared to join a retreat like this one.

Author Biography

Elisabeth de Mariaffi is the author of a new collection of short stories, How To Get Along With Women (Invisible Publishing, 2012).

Her poetry and short fiction have been widely published in magazines across Canada, and she’s one of the wild minds behind the highly original Toronto Poetry Vendors, a small press that sells single poems by established Canadian poets through toonie vending machines.

Elisabeth works as a marketing coordinator for Breakwater Books and is currently based in St. John’s, where she lives with the poet George Murray and their combined brood of four children — making them CanLit’s answer to the Brady Brunch.’

Review: The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell

GoodReads Blurb:

Early one morning on the shore of the Thames, DCI Samuel Owusu is called to the scene of a gruesome discovery. When Owusu sends the evidence for examination, he learns the bones are connected to a cold case that left three people dead on the kitchen floor in a Chelsea mansion thirty years ago.Rachel Rimmer has also received a shock—news that her husband, Michael, has been found dead in the cellar of his house in France. All signs point to an intruder, and the French police need her to come urgently to answer questions about Michael and his past that she very much doesn’t want to answer.After fleeing London thirty years ago in the wake of a horrific tragedy, Lucy Lamb is finally coming home. While she settles in with her children and is just about to purchase their first-ever house, her brother takes off to find the boy from their shared past whose memory haunts their present.As they all race to discover answers to these convoluted mysteries, they will come to find that they’re connected in ways they could have never imagined.In this masterful standalone sequel to her haunting New York Times bestseller, The Family Upstairs, Lisa Jewell proves she is writing at the height of her powers with another jaw-dropping, intricate, and affecting novel about the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love and uncover the truth.

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Another fabulous continuation to this story. Revenge comes in many forms. Sometimes bad things will happen to evil characters and those victims will live freely from their revenge. I loved that the characters got closure and were able to move on from their terrible pass. Lisa knows how to tangle the reader in these true life situations that will transport them to the horrors people live behind closed doors. Can you fight your way free?

Author Biography

LISA JEWELL was born in London in 1968.Her first novel, Ralph’s Party, was the best- selling debut novel of 1999. Since then she has written another twenty novels, most recently a number of dark psychological thrillers, including The Girls, Then She Was Gone, The Family Upstairs and The Night She Disappeared.Lisa is a New York Times and Sunday Times number one bestselling author who has been published worldwide in over twenty-five languages. She lives in north London with her husband, two teenage daughters and the best dog in the world.

Review: Beachdaze by T. W. Lawless

Goodreads Blurb

He’d been given enough warnings…

Only a heart attack could make Peter Clancy leave his beloved London and the excitement of his work as an investigative journalist. He moves to a quiet coastal town in Australia, the perfect place to write a new book while avoiding all bad influences.

Serenity Bay turns out to be anything but quiet-the neighbours are noisy or nosy, getting under his skin or into his pants. Not even a surprise reunion with an old friend can turn this nightmare into the peaceful retreat Peter was seeking, intent as she is on reuniting him with at least one bad influence.

Of course, Peter doesn’t need much persuasion to resume his vices-old habits die hard, and before long Peter is poking his nose into the affairs (in all senses) of not only his neighbours but the local council, property developers and even aged-care proprietors.

But with the authorities showing no interest in investigating reports by concerned citizens of illegal dumping, vandalism, break-ins and threats-not even after a number of sudden and unexplained deaths-who else can they turn to, but Peter the Perennially Energetic Journalist?

My Review: Rated 5 Out of 5 Stars

Serenity is synonymous with tranquility and peace. If you move to an area surrounded by water, you want to enjoy the views and tranquility of the waves crashing into the sand. Well, Peter Clancy moved to the perfect coastal town in Australia that was far from peaceful. Trouble always finds its way to Peter, and he can’t ignore an opportunity to help people. His investigative reporting is important especially when people are dumping illegally and taking over farms. Whenever trucks flew down the street and dug holes, his neighborhood was far from peaceful. His neighbor ruined Peter’s tranquility, and Peter was ready for revenge. His investigative reporting helped him reveal the culprits of the illegal dumping and saved twin seniors from losing their home and money. I loved that Peter isn’t scared of getting in the middle of trouble but walks straight into it with no fear. I was happy that all the evil characters got what they deserved. It’s always money that makes people turn a blind eye to what is right. Check out Peter’s not-so-serene neighborhood.

Author Biography

Best-selling author of the Peter Clancy series.

After initially studying journalism at university, T.W. Lawless worked as a registered nurse for many years before turning his hand to writing fiction. T.W. is the author of six thrillers, including two Amazon Kindle best-sellers (Homecountry and Thornydevils), as well as the co-writer with Kay Bell of the murder-mystery, Furey’s War.

A new Peter Clancy book is about to be released. It will be the sixth in the series.

Raised on his family’s cattle stations in remote North Queensland, T.W. now lives on the New South Wales Central Coast with his wife, who is also a writer.

His passion is writing, and when he’s not writing a book, he’s planning the next one.

His wife, Kay Bell, is also a best-selling author and we operate an independent publisher named Campanile Publishing P/L.

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