Author: Mama

I'm 35 years old and new to motherhood. I'm a creative by nature and love working with my hands. Sarcastic on a daily basis and a bit of a perfectionist. Love being out in nature and try to be healthy the best that I can. Also, toss in a bit of anxiety and you've got me! Can't reveal everything about me in this section, so come along for the roller coaster ride and find out more! Check out my photography at https://www.instagram.com/dlightfulsnapshots/
Posted in Mystery, Thrillers

The Manor House

Posted on by Mama

Original post from my Mom blog here – https://mamaonthemove1.wordpress.com/2025/06/21/book-review-the-manor-house/

Title: The Manor House


Author: Gilly Macmillan


Genre: Psychological Thriller, Mystery


Number of Pages: 327


My Rating: 💋💋💋💋


Book Summary:

Be careful what you wish for…

Childhood sweethearts Nicole and Tom are a normal, loving couple—until a massive lottery win changes their lives overnight.

Soon they’ve moved into a custom-built state-of-the-art Glass Barn on the stunning grounds of Lancaut Manor in Gloucestershire. They have fancy cars, expensive hobbies, and an exclusive lifestyle they never could have imagined.

But this dream world quickly turns into a nightmare when Tom is found dead in the swimming pool.

Nicole is devastated. Tom is her rock. And their beautiful barn —with all its smart features that never seem to work for her—is beginning to feel very lonely. But she’s not entirely by herself out there in the country. There’s a nice young couple who live in the Manor itself along with their middle-aged housekeeper who has the Coach House. And an old friend of Tom’s from school has turned up to help her get through her grief.

But big money can bring big problems and big threats. Was Tom’s death a tragic accident or was it something worse? And is her life in danger as well?

Nicole’s beginning to feel like a little fish in a big glass fishbowl.

Surrounded by piranhas.


My Thoughts:

I know this review is a touch over-do, but better late than never!

First, I enjoyed the premise of the novel and the twists and turns that it takes. It was almost a mystery inside a mystery which was pretty fun.

However, I found the start of the book to be a little bit slow, but then it picked up about halfway through. Which the second half of the novel I just couldn’t put down and my armchair detective skills were in full swing.

The characters were well developed, balanced and intriguing in their own ways. It is essentially two very different homes that play a role in the story line, which creates tension, manipulation and a bit of a spark among the two households.

The Manor is exactly what you would imagine: a majestic older home, shrouded in history and complete with secret passages ways. The patrons who live within these glorious halls are Olly, a novelist, and Sasha, a yoga instructor. The Manor comes complete with a Coach House, which is home to their housekeeper, Kitty.

Whereas it’s counterpart The Glass Barn is an super-modern home that was constructed from the ruins of an old barn building, the dream home of lottery winners Tom and Nicole. Which would eventually just become Nicole.

Tom’s oldest friend, Patrick, comes into play pretty rapidly in this tale, masquerading as a mournful friend and moral support for Nicole. Though his intentions are deceitful and manipulative to say the least. Not a fan of Patrick from the start to be honest and my assumption was confirmed as to why I wasn’t a fan. No spoilers though!

I do have to admit that I was a fan of Hal Steen and his partner Jen Walsh are two characters you kind of fall in love with almost immediately, at least I did. You have Hal; older and slightly rough around the edges cop who prides himself on being one-step ahead in the investigation and to play things extremely intelligently. He kind of plays his cards close to his chest, but he’s an absolutely gem of a character! His partner Jen is a younger cop who is bright, compassionate, sweet and full of gumption. She follows Hal’s lead, but it almost seems like they know what the other is thinking when it’s required, they play off of one another in a sense. And the slight romantic attraction between the two was adorable, kind of lightened things up a bit. But these two definitely have their hands full with this investigation; it becomes more twisted, tangled and complex as the days go by.

The conclusion is captivating to be sure and truly comes together beautifully. Let’s just say everyone got their just desserts.

I thoroughly enjoyed it none the less, and would recommend, but it’s not five Baci for me due to the fact that it was a fairly slow start at the beginning of the book. But I will definitely have to read more from Gilly Macmillan! Have to thank my cousin for lending me this read, so thank you!

Next review is a kind of a set of novels, a prequel and sequel which I’m excited to write. So please keep an eye out!

Hope you enjoyed and I’m currently reading The Countess by Rebecca Johns & The Graveyard Shift by Maria Lewis.

Hope you enjoyed the review!

Ciao!!

Posted in Thrillers

Drowned

Posted on by Mama

Original post from my Mom blog here – https://mamaonthemove1.wordpress.com/2024/10/09/book-review-drowned/

Title: Drowned


Author: Therese Bohman


Genre: Fiction, Thriller


Number of Pages: 217


My Rating: 💋💋💋


Book Summary:

Marina has left behind her stalled relationship and floundering academic career in Stockholm and travels to rural Skåne to visit her sister, Stella. They haven’t seen each other in some time and Stella now lives with a much older, quite famous author, Gabriel. The couple resides in a beautiful old house full of books, gorgeous flowers and, as Marina soon learns, plenty of secrets. Despite herself, Marina becomes more and more enthralled by the enigmatic and unpredictable Gabriel even as she becomes convinced that something isn’t right about her sister’s new love.

Set in the idyllic countryside during a fleeting Swedish summer and autumn, nothing is as it seems in this spellbinding novel of psychological suspense. Combining hothouse sensuality with ice-cold fear on every page, Drowned heralds the emergence of a major new talent on the international scene.


My Thoughts:

I was sucked into the novel almost instantly, reading the first 50 or so pages with ease. The story was intriguing from the start; the sisterly dynamic, the mysterious famous boyfriend, the loss of interest Marina was battling with her academics and all wrapped up in the beautiful country side in Sweden. How could you not be enthralled?

As the book progressed, though I was still reading with ease, but it started to dwindle my interest slightly. The best way I could describe it is, if you’ve ever watched a tea kettle begin to boil and then you pull it off the burner before it begins to whistle. It’s mildly disappointing when you get to the peak and it just….stops.

I won’t spoil anything but the relationship dynamics were interesting, somewhat realistic to a degree, especially that of Stella and Marina and of Stella and Gabriel. You never really know what’s occurring in a romantic relationship behind closed doors. But the story took a turn for the boring and frankly, almost abusive in the second act. The mystery of Stella wasn’t fully solved and it only hinted, strongly, that Gabriel had a hand in it. But you kind of have to make your own conclusions and assumptions about that and his past.

Marina, Stella’s younger sister, who the book’s perspective is set, seems lost in her life. She craves romance, confidence and to be something or someone better. She admired her sister and looked up to her quite a lot. However, it begs the question if she herself wanted to step into her sister’s life and not live her own. Gabriel gladly obliges by giving her the attention she desires.

The descriptions of the scenery, florals and everything in between was spectacular, however the ending was, let’s just say, boring and lack-lustre at best. To me it felt like it was missing something, more substance, but it just ends abruptly.

It was translated from Swedish, so it was kind of funny when I would see grammatical errors, or at least I thought so, but that was rare. If you want a quick read, it’s something to get through in about a day or two, I’m a slow reader though. It’s good for what it was, but I’ll be passing this one along.

FYI, I shelved Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman for the time being. I was struggling with the writing style, but enjoy the story. I just needed a break.

Up next is The Manor House by Gilly Macmillan!

Hope you enjoyed the review!

Ciao!!

Posted in Thrillers

The Perfect Neighbors

Posted on by Mama

Original post from my Mom blog here – https://mamaonthemove1.wordpress.com/2024/09/04/book-review-the-perfect-neighbors/

Title: The Perfect Neighbors


Author: Sarah Pekkanen


Genre: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller


Number of Pages: 339


My Rating: 💋💋💋💋


Book Summary:

How well do you ever really know the family next door?

Bucolic Newport Cove, where spontaneous block parties occur on balmy nights and all the streets are named for flowers, is proud of being named one of the top-twenty safest neighborhoods in the United States.

It’s also one of the most secret-filled.

Kellie, Susan, and Gigi are long-time residents and close friends. But behind closed doors, each woman is hiding something. Kellie has just returned to work after a decade at home, and she finds herself relishing the attention of her very handsome, very married male colleague. Susan is a single mom and a small-business owner, but late at night, she’s stalking her ex-husband and his new girlfriend. Gigi is poised to become the perfect politician’s wife – except she has skeletons in her closet, which are in danger of being brought into the light now that her husband is running for Congress.

Then a new family moves to the neighborhood. Tessa seems friendly enough to the other mothers, if a bit reserved. But when no one is ever invited to Tessa’s house, it becomes clear that she is hiding the biggest secret of all.


My Thoughts:

I picked this one up at a local library in town, which was raising funds to be able to help the library stock the shelves with new books and this gem happened to be in the pile.

I found this to be a bit of a slow burn, but once the novel started getting more into the characters and shining a light on their lives and secrets, well I had a hard time putting it down.

Kellie was a woman entering back into the workplace after a decade of being at home; intelligent, motivated and driven to do well in her job. She ultimately wanted to be noticed, however that attention ended up coming from the wrong source in the way of her colleague Miller. Kellie and her husband were high-school sweethearts and being with someone for that long, you sometimes feel unnoticed, frumpy and underappreciated. She ultimately lost her way when she started getting attention from an outside source, only to realize what she nearly lost at home. Her story was sad, frustrating, but also relieving because it shows how much the love she has in her marriage truly was all that she really needed and love does conquer all!

Susan’s story was sad and a bit bitter sweet. She was the character you rooted for and really hoped would find her way out of the darkness. She was a full-time mom and business owner and man was she constantly on the go! Reading about her navigating her life after divorce was heartbreaking, and stalking your ex-husband is never a good idea in my opinion. But people grieve in different ways, right? Watching her grow throughout the novel, though slowly, was wonderful to see and it made it even sweeter to see how her story ended.

Gigi was my absolute favourite in the book to be honest, just from her care-free, supportive, hippy persona, now sadly trapped behind the facade of a politician’s wife. Behind closed doors you saw the real woman; whose trying to keep up the picture perfect family for the public, struggling to connect with her rebelling teenage daughter, dealing with her husband’s annoying campaign manager, being a good friend and hiding who she really is deep down.

Tessa was an interesting character, you begin to understand her reserved and protective nature near the end of the book. Anyone with children will most likely relate to the fear a parent has and when your alarm bells begin to go off. You will do anything to protect your children, no matter the cost.

I will say I liked it quite a bit, however I feel like the wrap up near the end was a little too neat for my liking. Life doesn’t always end up in a happy ending, it’s a sad reality, but in this novel it was. Overall I really enjoyed the novel as a whole, minus the perfect ending to each story. Each woman has their secrets and the trials and tribulations that go along with it. Relatable to a degree, but worth the read if you like Chick Lit!

Up next is Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman!

Hope you enjoyed the review!

Ciao!!