214 Palmer Street: a psychological suspense thriller with one house, one secret, and a woman with nothing to lose

214 Palmer Street by Karen McQuestion is psychological suspense thriller about one house with a secret and a woman with nothing to lose. Sarah Aden tells Maggie Scott, the elderly neighbor of the Caldwells’ at 214 Palmer Street, that she’s the housesitter. At the last minute, Cady asks Sarah to stay for the month that she’s gone. Since she’s warm and pleasant, Maggie is happy that the house won’t be empty for so long but inside Sarah’s panicking. No one was supposed to see her there. Sarah is on a mission. There’s a secret buried with the house and she is determined to discover the truth. What Sarah doesn’t know is that someone else knows that she’s in the house. Someone else suspects that the house holds the key to a mystery that she has spent decades trying to unravel. Will the truth be revealed? 

Psychological suspense thrillers have grown in popularity and Karen McQuestion has found a new genre to explore. From the opening chapter, I am intrigued with the idea of a mysterious person inside a house that’s supposed to be empty. With alternating points of view, the story takes the reader on the twists and turns of a wild roller coaster. I enjoyed that the story wasn’t so complicated that my head was buzzing with so many details and red herrings that I failed to pick up on the clues but it wasn’t too simple that I figured out the secret before it was revealed. It had characters to like, characters to hate and characters that you aren’t sure you can or should trust. Even right to the end, you weren’t sure if all was truly well with how the events played out. Overall, I really enjoyed and recommend 214 Palmer Street. 

214 Palmer Street is available in eBook and audiobook

Last Summer: should some memories remain lost?

Last Summer by Kerry Lonsdale is a story of love, lies and deceit. Ella Skye is a lifestyle journalist who remembers every celebrity she interviewed, every politician she has charmed and every envious socialite. The chance meeting with Damien Russell, their intense whirlwind romance and an intimate wedding are locked in her memory. However, she cannot remember the fact that she was pregnant or the accident which took her child from her. Hoping to unlock her memories, she begins to search her past for clues, hoping to trigger a hint of a memory. She is assigned to an exclusive story about Nathan Donovan, a retired celebrity adventurer who seems to know more about her than she does about him. Maybe he is the key to unlocking her memory loss, Ella follows Nathan from the snowcapped Sierra Nevada to the frozen slopes of Alaska, she is drawn to the deeply wounded man. Soon she will discover that the ones who she trusts the most are the only ones keeping secrets, she is keeping secrets from herself as well. Will she uncover her memories? Does she really want to? 

Wow! What a story! Kerry Lonsdale has a talent for giving the reader a story that is more than what it seems. On the surface, Last Summer seems to be a story about memory loss and the journey to recover from trauma. However, this story twists and turns leaving the reader wondering what is real and who to trust. At first I was sympathetic toward Ella as she struggles with her memory loss; but as the story progressed that sympathy dwindled. She is torn between two men and I noticed a difference in the language used by Ella. She describes sex with Damien as f**king or mind blowing while sex with Nathan was described as wild or intense “lovemaking.” Very interesting choice of words. What man will she choose? Neither man is particularly likable so it was hard to cheer for either man. Last Summer is a story that keeps the reader guessing even if you don’t fully understand or agree with the characters’ motivations or choices. The book certainly didn’t end the way I thought it would. I highly recommend Last Summer. 

Last Summer is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook.