jbronderbookreviews

False Step by Victoria Helen Stone

Stay calm, keep smiling, and watch your step. In this marriage of secrets and lies, nothing is what it seems.

For days, all of Denver, Colorado, has worried over the fate of a missing child, little Tanner Holcomb. Then, a miracle: handsome, athletic Johnny Bradley finds him, frightened but unharmed, on a hiking trail miles from his wealthy family’s mountain home.

In a heartbeat, his rescuer goes from financially strapped fitness trainer to celebrated hero. The heat of the spotlight may prove too much for Johnny’s picture-perfect family, however. His wife, Veronica, despises the pressure of the sudden fame, afraid that secrets and bitter resentments of her marriage may come to light. And she’s willing to do anything to keep them hidden.

But when a shocking revelation exposes an even darker side to Tanner’s disappearance, Veronica realizes that nothing in her life can be trusted. And everything should be feared.

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About the Author

Victoria Helen Stone is the nom de plume for USA Today bestselling author Victoria Dahl. After publishing more than twenty-five novels, she has taken a turn toward the darker side of genre fiction. Born and educated in the Midwest, she finished her first manuscript just after college. In 2016, the American Library Association awarded her the prestigious Reading List Award for outstanding genre fiction. Having escaped the plains of her youth, she now resides with her family in a small town high in the Rocky Mountains, where she enjoys hiking, snowshoeing, and not skiing (too dangerous).

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My Review

3 Stars

Tanner Holcomb is a missing child in Denver. Everyone is worried until Johnny. A fitness trainer happens to find him on a run in the woods. Of course Johnny becomes an instant hero and things look like they are finally looking up for him. Then you meet his wife Veronica. She does not want to be in the spotlight because she is afraid that the dark parts of her marriage to Johnny are going to come to light. Then she learns that there may have been more to Tanner’s disappearance in the first place.

As we all know, not all marriages are perfect and some have more troubles than others. I have to say that on the surface Johnny and Veronica seemed like a good couple with a great daughter. But the more you read the more you realize how selfish they both are. But like a house of cards one movement will bring the whole thing down.

I have to say that I didn’t like Johnny and Veronica from the start and felt sorry for their poor daughter. Of course I guessed what was going to happen with the story so that didn’t really peak my curiosity. This is more of a drama that you see on television and books more and more.

I admit that I’m not really a big fan of this genera so I’m sure that has something to do with my feeling about this book. It was a decent read and I’m sure many would like the book. Unfortunately it’s not my thing and it felt like other family drama stories to be. I do recommend checking it out, you may find your next new, favorite author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. I voluntarily chose to read to post an honest review.

I would like to thank Little Bird Publicity for the opportunity to read and share this book.

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The Last Thing She Told Me by Linda Green

Even the deepest-buried secrets can find their way to the surface…

Moments before she dies, Nicola’s grandmother Betty whispers to her that there are babies at the bottom of the garden.

Nicola’s mother claims she was talking nonsense. However, when Nicola’s daughter finds a bone while playing in Betty’s garden, it’s clear that something sinister has taken place.

But will unearthing painful family secrets end up tearing Nicola’s family apart?

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Praise for The Last Thing She Told Me

‘Emotionally moving. A thought-provoking page turner with a poignant three-generational link.’ Jane Corry, author of The Dead Ex, The Sunday Times Bestseller.

About the Author

I was born in North London in 1970 and brought up in Hertfordshire. I wrote my first novella, the Time Machine, aged eight, shortly after which I declared that my ambition was to have a novel published (I could have been easy on myself and just said ‘to write a novel’ but no, I had to consign myself to years of torture and rejections). I was frequently asked to copy out my stories for the classroom wall (probably because my handwriting was so awful no one could read my first draft), and received lots of encouragement from my teachers Mr Roberts, Mrs Chandler (who added yet more pressure by writing in my autograph book when I left primary school that she looked forward to reading my first published novel!) and Mr Bird.

My first publication came when I was thirteen and my Ode to Gary Mabbutt won second prize in the Tottenham Weekly Herald ‘My Favourite Player’ competition. At fifteen I won the Junior Spurs Football Reporter of the Year Competition and got to report on a first division football match from the press box at White Hart Lane (I got lots of funny looks and none of the journalists spoke to me.)

At sixteen I embarked on ‘A’ levels and a journalism course at De Havilland College, Hertfordshire, and my college magazine interview about football hooliganism with local MP and football club chairman David Evans made a double page spread in Shoot! magazine (they never paid me) and back page headlines in several national newspapers (only a nice man at the Daily Star bothered to check the story with me).

I joined my local newspaper, the Enfield Gazette, as a trainee reporter at eighteen. During a ten year career in regional journalism I worked as a reporter on the Birmingham Daily News, news editor on the Birmingham Metro News and Chief Feature Writer on the Coventry Evening Telegraph, winning Highly Commended in the Feature Writer of the Year category of the 1997 Press Gazette Regional Press Awards.

I loved working on regional newspapers but by 1998 my features were getting too long and the urge to write a novel had become too great so I left my staff job to write my first novel and work as a freelance journalist. I have written for The Guardian, The Independent on Sunday, The Times Educational Supplement, The Big Issue, Wanderlust and Community Care Magazine. I’ve also had a short story published in Best magazine

I found the writing and working from home a very solitary process so also worked as co-ordinator of the Birmingham Bureau of Children’s Express, a national charity which runs a learning through journalism programme for young people and taught journalism to schoolchildren for the National Academy of Writing. After I moved north in 2001 I qualified as an adult education tutor and taught creative writing classes to students aged between 18 and 82 for the Workers Educational Association across Calderdale, West Yorkshire.

After more than a hundred rejections from agents for my first novel (and more rewrites than I care to remember) I finally got an agent but still couldn’t get a publisher. I started work on my second novel I DID A BAD THING in 2003, finished the first draft and gave birth to my son Rohan in 2004, rewrote the novel and got a new agent in 2005, obtained a two-book deal with Headline Review in 2006.

I Did a Bad Thing was published in paperback in October 2007, made the top thirty official fiction bestsellers list (and number 3 in Tesco!) and has so far sold more than 77,000 copies. 10 Reasons Not to Fall in Love was published in paperback in March 2009, reached no 22 in the official fiction bestseller charts (and no 4 in Tesco) and has so far sold more than 80,000 copies. Both novels were also long-listed for the RNA Romantic Novel of the Year Award.

Following the success of my first two novels I got another two-book deal from Headline Review, with Things I Wish I’d Known being the first of these. I am currently working on my fourth novel.

I enjoy travelling.

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My Review

5 Stars

Betty’s story starts in the 1940’s but we start the book in present day as she is dying. Just before she goes, she tells her granddaughter, Nicola, to take care of the baby’s in the bottom of the garden. When Nicola asks her mother who tells her it was just the ramblings of a dying woman. Then Maisie, Nicola’s daughter finds a bone while playing in the garden which prompts Nicola to call in the police.

What follows is generations of women going through live with relationships, rapes, teenage pregnancy, and so much more. Each generation keeping secrets from the next but causing more pain for themselves. This is truly a heartbreaking story.

I will be the first to admit that I don’t really rush to pick up stories like these. But this one sounded good and I wanted a change. This story pulled me in from the beginning with Betty dying and Nicola’s mother essentially brushing it off. I could just tell that there was more to this story than a simple falling out.

I don’t want to give away too many details but I will say that you will need some Kleenex when you are done reading this book. The last part finished tearing up my heart when I didn’t think I could take much more. This is a great, sad, read and one I recommend checking out.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. I voluntarily chose to read and post an honest review.

I would like to thank Quercus for the opportunity to read and share this book.

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