Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris - 4 Stars

 Book 9 of the Sookie Stackhouse series

The vamps have been outed for some time and now the weres and shapeshifters have decided to reveal themselves as well. But when someone close to Sookie is murdered in a violent way, she fears it's backlash. She also finds herself in danger when she becomes a pawn in the battle between yet another non-human race.

I enjoyed this book in the series, but then I've enjoyed all of them. LOL! It was fun and quick to read (if I hadn't been trying to move in the middle of reading I could have finished it faster. LOL)

The Secrets of Us by Lucinda Berry-4 Stars (rounded up)

 "Foster sisters Krystal and Nichole have always been there for each other, so when Nichole is committed to a psychiatric hospital after trying to kill her husband, Krystal drops everything to defend her.

Scarred by a hard upbringing, Nichole and Krystal managed to construct comfortable lives for themselves. Krystal became a respected lawyer, and Nichole was happily married to an architect—until Nichole starts raving that her husband isn’t her husband, believing that he’s an imposter.

Driven by fierce loyalty, Krystal starts asking questions, but she’s not sure she can bear the answers. Her investigation leads to the sisters’ dark shared past…to a horrible tragedy and a well-guarded lie that cemented their sisterly bond.

But that lie can’t kill the truth—the battered, gasping, clawing truth that’s coming for them both. Now Krystal and Nichole must both fight for the lives they’ve built before they’re consumed by the one they left behind."

The first 3/4 of this book was really good and then it started going down hill really fast. There was one twist at the end that rounded it up for me, but the last part of the book was kind of disappointing to me.

Deconstructed by Liz Talley - 4 Stars

 Cricket's life drastically changes when she finds out her husband is cheating on her. Cricket's plans are to hire a private investigator and an attorney and dish out what her husband deserves. But Cricket's plans go awry and she finds herself, along with her new assistant at work, as the PI, trying to catch her husband in the act. 

This was a cute, funny beach read (even if I didn't read it on the beach...lol). The story was fast paced and was told between the POVs of Cricket and her assistant, Ruby. I felt that Ruby's story intertwined with Cricket's well, too. 

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - 5 Stars

 "For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.

But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world—until the unthinkable happens."

I surprisingly loved this book. I wasn't sure when I first started if it would be one I'd enjoy, but I did. The author keeps you wanting to know what is going to happen next. The story alternates from past to "present" until both timeframes intersect. I flew through the ending of the book, anxious to see what happened. 

Her Pretty Face by Robyn Harding - 4 Stars

 "Frances Metcalfe is struggling to stay afloat.

A stay-at-home mom whose troubled son is her full-time job, she had hoped that the day he got accepted into the elite Forrester Academy would be the day she started living her life. Overweight, insecure, and lonely, she is desperate to fit into the Forrester world. But after a disturbing incident at the school causes the other children and their families to ostracize the Metcalfes, she feels more alone than ever before.

Until she meets Kate Randolph.

Kate is everything Frances is not: beautiful, wealthy, powerful, and confident. And for some reason, she’s not interested in being friends with any of the other Forrester moms—only Frances. As the two bond over their disdain of the Forrester snobs and the fierce love they have for their sons, a startling secret threatens to tear them apart—one of these women is not who she seems. Her real name is Amber Kunik. And she’s a murderer."

This was a pretty fast paced read and pulled me in from the beginning. I rated it 3 1/2 stars and rounded up. Mostly because I was waiting for something explosive to happen and it didn't. The ending fell flat for me
It took a bit to put some of the characters into the places that they played in the story, but when they did fall into place it made more sense.

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum - 3 Stars

 "Suburbia. Shady, tree-lined streets, well-tended lawns and cozy homes. A nice, quiet place to grow up. Unless you are teenage Meg or her crippled sister, Susan. On a dead-end street, in the dark, damp basement of the Chandler house, Meg and Susan are left captive to the savage whims and rages of a distant aunt who is rapidly descending into madness. It is a madness that infects all three of her sons and finally the entire neighborhood. Only one troubled boy stands hesitantly between Meg and Susan and their cruel, torturous deaths. A boy with a very adult decision to make."

This was a really hard book to get through and I found myself skimming through the end just so I could finish it. It was rough to read about everything that was happening,

A Day Like This by Kelley McNeil - 3 Stars

 "Annie Beyers has everything—a beautiful house, a loving husband, and an adorable daughter. It’s a day like any other when she takes Hannah to the pediatrician…until she wakes hours later from a car accident. When she asks for her daughter, confused doctors tell Annie that Hannah never existed. In fact, nothing after waking from the crash is the same as Annie remembers. Five happy years of her life apparently never happened.

Annie’s marriage is coming to an end. Now a successful artist living in Manhattan, she’s no longer home in their beloved upstate farmhouse. Her long-estranged sister is more like a best friend, and her recently deceased dog is alive and well. With each passing day, Annie’s remembered past and unfamiliar present begin to blur. Haunted by visions of Hannah, and with knowledge of things she can’t explain, Annie wonders…is everyone lying to her?

The search for answers leads Annie down an illuminating path far from home, to reconcile the memories with reality and to discover the truth about the life she’s living."

I thought this book started out really well and was headed in a good direction. Then a little over half way through it, it took a turn that I didn't care for at all.