The Guests

I selected this book for the Key Word Reading Challenge this month. The plot is interesting. Six guests are invited to the private Stonecliffe Island in Lake Michigan for the reading of a will and some of them are going to die.

The story opens with Ryleigh, a struggling artist whose been invited by her best friend, Kerrigan, to spend a week on Kerrigan's family’s private island on Lake Michigan. Kerrigan is a housewife with a perfect life. She has a seemingly loving husband, Kip, and a glamorous downtown Chicago apartment. However, her husband hates her. Their marriage is a sham. Cole is the caretaker of the estate and his job is to make sure the guests of the estate have everything they want but he has private aspirations that he needs to accomplish before the summer is over. Also in attendance are newlyweds Stavros and Mika.

On the estate each guest has their own villa. There are staff on-call twenty-four hours a day, including a masseuse, chefs to make dinner every night, and waiters pouring endless champagne. Their stay is expected to be perfect. However, a violent storm arrives and there is no way off of the island. Then one of the guests disappears.

The story started off well but for half of the book there was mainly bickering among the characters. The first disappearance didn't happen until halfway through the story so I tired of this dialogue. The story took off though and the pace kept ratcheting up until the final pages. The guests pointed fingers at each other, accusing everyone of commandeering the disappearance of Mika and later the disappearance of Kerrigan. This back and forth continued to the end of the story which had me reeling from the frequent twists and turns.

Despite the slow start this was an exciting novel and I am glad that I stuck with it. 4 out of 5 stars.

First Lie Wins

First Lie Wins is my selection this month for the Key Word Challenge. It is an exciting, page-turning read that keeps you hooked until the end.

The publisher's summary:

Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence, a tight group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist.

The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job.

Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job isn't like the others. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time.

Evie Porter must stay one step ahead of her past while making sure there's still a future in front of her. The stakes couldn't be higher—but then, Evie has always liked a challenge. . . .

It took a few chapters for me to engage in this book. I needed to understand what Evie was about before getting hooked. The story took off around the third chapter. Evie steals high end items such as jewelry and paintings for her boss Mr. Smith. Another character, Devon, assists Evie in planning and executing her jobs. The story has the feel of a spy thriller. No one knows the identity of Mr. Smith or why he is interested in obtaining these goods. Sometimes he just wants information to be stolen. 

Evie uses a different name for each job. These jobs are sometimes quick but can last for months and be in different locales. While she is with Ryan, Evie is introduced to a woman who is using her real name and life history which throws her off her game. Evie cannot imagine why this woman, claiming to be Lucca Marino, was in her path.

The novel is more of a whydunit than a whodunit. I was surprised by the big reveal (how all of the characters were related) and then by the ending. None of it was anticipated.

First Lie Wins is a  fun read. 4 out of 5 stars.

The Vanishing Hour

The Vanishing Hour is my selection for January's Monthly Key Word Reading Challenge. It's author Seraphina Nova Glass's fourth novel but the first of hers that I have read. She is known for writing tightly woven suspense stories. The book was published in May 2023. 

The publisher's summary:

Grace Holloway keeps to herself. Since narrowly escaping death at the hands of the man who kidnapped her, she’s thrown herself into the small inn she runs in Rock Harbor, Maine. It’s quiet, quaint and, in the off-season, completely isolated—the perfect place for Grace to keep her own secrets.

But Grace isn’t the only one with something to hide, and Rock Harbor isn’t just a sleepy vacation town. Someone is taking young women—girls who look an awful lot like Grace did when she was kidnapped so many years ago.

When a surge of disappearances brings the investigation to her door, Grace finds herself unwillingly at the center of it all and doing everything she can to keep her distance. Because Grace knows something…something that could change everything. And when the truth comes to light, getting justice for the vanished might be more than Grace can handle alone…

This book was soooo good! I was hooked from the first chapter. The suspense was built up nicely throughout the story all the way to the end. The story is told through a triple narrative. We read from the perspectives of Grace, Kira Everett (whose daughter is missing) and Aden Coleman (whose father is missing). The book opens with Kira looking for her daughter Brooke. Then we see Aden visiting his mother who is upset that she cannot get a hold of her husband. Aden rents a room at a local hotel that is run by Grace. The Coleman family learns a few days later that the father is actually missing. Each chapter alternates between the viewpoints of these three characters. 

The police aren't sure if the crimes are connected. Kira decides to investigate herself because she doesn't believe that the police are on the ball. Kira soon meets Aden and Grace and together they try to piece together what has happened to their loved ones. Their friends and family are secondary characters who provide twisty turns in the plot. Almost every character becomes a suspect.

What is the vanishing hour? It is 10 pm. Each family had their relative last seen at 10 pm in the same seedy part of town. The media, who has been reporting on these cases, made up the phrase "vanishing hour."

The Vanishing Hour is a thriller with a satisfying ending. Mystery lovers will want to read this one. 5  out of 5 stars.

2025 Key Word Reading Challenge

 

Kim and Tanya at the Chapter Adventure blog are once again hosting the Key Word Reading Challenge. It is one of my favorite challenges so I will be rejoining the challenge in 2025.

The challenge Rules are simple: 

1) Read a book each month with one (or more) of the key words in the title. Variations of key words are allow. For example: Drown, Drowning, Drowned are all okay for the key word ‘drown’.

2) Follow @chapter_adventure on Instagram and Threads if you’re on there. And/or join our Goodreads Group (GXO Reading Challenges). The challenge has also been added to Storygraph if you prefer to track your progress there! Post about your read for that month on our monthly check-in post here or at any of the platforms previously mentioned with the hashtag #keywordreadingchallenge⁠.

3) The challenge runs the calendar year.

4) Link your book reviews on the Chapter Adventure site.

The 2025 key words are below:

JAN– Storm, Time, Know, Return, Break, Hour, Twist, Silence

FEB– Art, Golden, Dream, First, Club, Went, Stay, Live

MAR– Deep, Clever, Sand, Little, Happy, Date, Guest, Over

APR– Rest, Days, Upstairs, Sing, Shell, Starlight, Life, Couple

MAY– Lost, City, Wind, Hide, Lie, Fan, Room, Clear

JUN– Great, Wander, Child, Mine, Book, Watch, Heart, Save 

JUL– Sunrise, Deepen, Story, Sweet, Resort, Good, Left, Ever

AUG– Side, World, Sound, Trial, Word, Hotel, Now, Say⁠

SEP– Borrow, Survive, Listen, Where, Sleeping, Crash, Please, Count

OCT– Bury, Ghost, Chain, Glass, Moon, Last, One, Street

NOV– Tale, Final, Feast, Bloom, Cliff, Wide, Memory, Always

DEC– Fable, Flirt, Truly, Shop, Winter, Yours, Warm, Love