Review of FREE FROM SIN by Karen Ann Hopkins * * * * *

 

                                      Title: FREE FROM SIN

Series: Possum Gap #1

Author: Karen Ann Hopkins

Genre: Crime Mystery

Rating: 5*

Publishers: Independently published

(Feb 9, 2022)

Paperback: 280 pages

ISBN: 979-8799900489

FTC Disclosure: Free copy provided by the publisher via Goodreads

Copy provided for the purpose of providing an honest review.

 This does not affect my opinion of this book.

FREE FROM SIN is a gripping psychological crime thriller/mystery story about the intertwining lives of three unlikely women in the hills of Kentucky, and the explosive results when a troubled teenager has her day of reckoning.

Sheriff Sadie Mills navigates the challenges of single motherhood while solving crimes in the rural community of Possum Gap, Kentucky. The recent trailer shootings in her jurisdiction have her on edge, and the new coroner, a Yankee transplant from the east coast, is still adjusting to life in the wilderness when all hell breaks loose. Cases stemming from an out-of-control hillbilly clan, sex trafficking, and a murder in the nearby Amish community collide, and Sheriff Mills finds herself in a race to stop a serial killer before they strike again.

Lucinda Coblentz is a devoted wife, mother, and member of a strict religious order. Her kind and generous ways make her the perfect target of a master manipulator and has put her beloved family in grave danger. Can she make matters right before it’s too late?

Charlie Baker endured years of torment by a wicked stepfather and a coldhearted mother before she finally escaped her suffering. Now eighteen, her powerful journey takes her between two worlds, one good and the other evil. Struggling to cope with buried secrets and the demons from her past, she’ll stop at nothing in her search for the one thing that has always eluded her—happiness.

When I first started this book, I thought it was going to be a bust as I hate books told from different points of view. In fact, I often avoid a book written in this manner. However, the story managed to drag me in. I loved the location, the hills of Kentucky, and was surprised to realize there were Amish communities in Kentucky. Being from the foothills of North Carolina, I can't believe I hadn't run across this fact before. In fact, there are nearly 8000 Amish in the state of Kentucky.

I loved the pacing of the story and was back and forth about my feelings for Charlie. The story was so compeling that I managed to complete it in several hours and I'm already looking forward to the next story in this series and checking out her Serenity's Plain Secrets series.

You can visit Karen Ann Hopkins at her website: www.karenannhopkinsfiction.com.

Karen Ann Hopkins resides in northern Kentucky with her family on a farm that boasts a menagerie of horses, goats, sheep, peacocks, chickens, ducks, rabbits, pigs, dogs, and cats. Karen rescues and fosters a variety of pets and farm animals, but she also finds time to give riding lessons, coach a youth equestrian drill team, and of course, write. She was inspired to create her first book, Temptation, by the Amish community she lives in. The experiential knowledge she gained through her interactions with her neighbors drove her to create the story of the star-crossed lovers, Rose and Noah.

Karen grew up about a mile from Lake Ontario in Upstate New York. She was bitten by the horse bug at the age of five, and after diligently taking riding lessons for several years, was rewarded with her first horse at the age of eleven. The feisty horse's name was Lady, a Quarter Horse-Thoroughbred cross, who became Karen's steadfast companion. Through the years, the constant force in her life was horses. Eventually, Karen found her place as a riding instructor herself. Before accepting her fate in the barnyard, she worked a short stint as a paralegal, traveled abroad, and guided tourists on horseback riding tours in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee.

Karen is currently working on her Amish mystery series, Serenity's Plain Secrets, along with several new projects.

Review- SOMETIMES I LIE By Alice Feeney -5 *

Title: SOMETIMES I LIE 

Author: Alice Feeney

Genre: Psychological Mystery

Rating: * * * * *

Publishers: Flatiron Books 

(Mar 13, 2018)

Paperback: 272 pages

ISBN: 978-1250144843

FTC Disclosure: Borrowed from public library

My name is Amber Reynolds. 
There are three things you should know about me: 
1. I’m in a coma. 
2. My husband doesn’t love me anymore. 
3. Sometimes I lie. 

Amber wakes up in a hospital. She can’t move. She can’t speak. She can’t open her eyes. She can hear everyone around her, but they have no idea. Amber doesn’t remember what happened, but she has a suspicion her husband had something to do with it. Alternating between her paralyzed present, the week before her accident, and a series of childhood diaries from twenty years ago, this brilliant psychological thriller asks: Is something really a lie if you believe it's the truth?

This is one of those books that once started you won't want to put down and hours, nay, days afterwards you are going to question what you think happened. I won't rehash the storyline as I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but seriously this is one twisty, turny book! If you like a good psychological mystery, put your life on hold and ban everyone from your home for the day and go for the ride of your life.

I'm still questioning what I think I know and it's been a week since I finished it and read everyone else's opinion of what they think happened (here). I keep having to remind myself though that the title was "Sometimes I Lie". I can so see this as the next great "Big Little Lies" type of TV drama.

View all my reviews

Alice Feeney is a writer and journalist. She spent 15 years at the BBC, where she worked as a Reporter, News Editor, Arts and Entertainment Producer and One O’clock News Producer.​

Alice has lived in London and Sydney and has now settled in the Surrey countryside, where she lives with her husband and dog.

​

Sometimes I Lie is her debut thriller and is being published around the world. 

Website

https://www.alicefeeney.com

Twitter

alicewriterland

Review For POINCIANA ROAD by Margaret Way-4*

Title: Poinciana Road
Author: Margaret Way
Genre: Women's Fiction

Rating: * * * * 

Publishers: Zebra

(Oct 25,2016)

Paperback: 320 pages

ISBN: 978-1420141702

FTC Disclosure: ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

It's been six years since Mallory James left Moonglade, a former sugar plantation in the shadow of Australia's magnificent rain forest. Now love and loyalty have called her home - but unspeakable secrets may compel her to flee once more...

A successful child psychologist, Mallory has no wish to return to the tropical hideaway where she experienced so much pain. But her Uncle Robert is ailing and it's only right that she be there for the man who came to her rescue when she was a lost, lonely child. At least he is not alone - his protege, and Mallory's rival for his affections, is also at his side. Blaine Forrester hasn't lost his knack for getting under Mallory's skin, taking her breath away and leaving her unsettled at the same time.

While Robert recuperates, Mallory is shocked to learn that Jason Cartwright is on the payroll of his estate - the very man whose humiliating betrayal led her to leave North Queensland on the eve of her wedding. Confronting him - along with his wife and his manipulative twin sister - is a trial, though she can't help forming a bond with little Ivy, Jason's sickly daughter. But as tragedy strikes Moonglade, Mallory and Blaine will discover a darkness hidden within this deceptively beautiful world and their enigmatic circle - one that will either unite them at last, or tear apart the promise of paradise...

"If you've never read Margaret Way before, you're in for a treat!" --New York Times bestselling author Diana Palmer

Though Amazon listed this as Women's Fiction, I'd classify it as  more of a Mystery with a bit of Paranormal undertone. I saw that several reviewers gave it less than a favorable rating due to it's incest story-line. While I'm  not sure that I'd have picked up the book knowing this, it definitely made sense to the story. I honestly read the book expecting it to be an Australian western simply because of the author's name on it. Should have read the blurb but I often will read a book based on the author's earlier books. The blurb tends to point to a psychological mystery more than anything else which is a genre I enjoy. 
That said, I did enjoy the book. It was definitely different from Way's average book but I thought it was well done and would recommend it to any of my friends that enjoy a good  psychological mystery and would not be uncomfortable with the incest angle. 

Margaret Way was born and educated in the river city of Brisbane, Australia. Before her marriage she was a well-known pianist, teacher, vocal coach and accompanist, but her hectic musical career came toa halt when her son was born and the demands of motherhood dictated a change of pace.

On a fortuitous impulse she decided to try her hand at romance writing and was thrilled when Mills & Boon accepted her first effort, Time of theJacaranda, which they published less than a year later in 1970; a feat that brought tears to her father's eyes. Some seventy odd books have followedresulting in a loyal readership whose letters provide a source of support and encouragement. A driving force in all her writing has been the promotion of her much loved country, Australia. She delights in bringing it alive for her readers; its people, way of life, environment, flora and fauna. Her efforts so far have not excited official recognition, but she expects oneday she will be awarded the "Order of Australia."

Her interests remain with the arts. She still plays the piano seriously, but her "top Cs" have gone. She is still addicted to collecting antiques and paintings and browsing through galleries. She now lives within sight and sound of beautiful Moreton Bay and its islands, inspiration for some of her books. Her house is full of books, spectacular plants, Chinese screens andpots. She is devoted to her garden and spends much time "directing the design and digging and providing cold drinks and chocolates."