Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

When a mother disappears, everyone’s a suspect: She Didn’t See It Coming by Shari Lapena

Mandy Webster

What if your spouse vanished in the middle of an ordinary day, leaving behind their car, keys, phone—and no trace of where they went? That’s the unsettling setup of She Didn’t See It Coming by Shari Lapena, a novel that blends true crime grit with domestic suspense.

Get your copy of She Didn’t See It Coming from my independent online bookstore today!

Lapena’s latest reads differently than her earlier thrillers. This one feels more like a police procedural with a true crime edge, pulling readers into the investigation from both the detectives’ perspective and the world of amateur sleuths. I was especially intrigued by the way she wove in the true crime ecosystem—neighbors rushing to post their theories in Facebook groups, family members consuming crime podcasts for clues. Bryden’s sister, Lizzie, is a true crime addict who inserts herself into the search, raising an uncomfortable question: do amateur sleuths actually help an investigation, or do they only spread speculation that leads investigators off track?

Continue reading “When a mother disappears, everyone’s a suspect: She Didn’t See It Coming by Shari Lapena” →
Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Facing the long shadows: A review of Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker

Mandy Webster

Some novels get under your skin. Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker goes even deeper—straight into your bones—where it sits heavy, resonating with truths too often ignored.

Get your copy of Madwoman from my independent online bookstore today!

At its heart, Madwoman is a story about the devastating, lifelong impact of domestic violence, especially on children. Clove has carefully built a life meant to erase her past: a loving husband, two children, a safe home in Portland. She believes that with enough self-help tools, supplements, and daily gratitude meditations, she can outrun the terror of her childhood in a Waikiki high-rise.

Continue reading “Facing the long shadows: A review of Madwoman by Chelsea Bieker” →
Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Facing the demons we inherit: a review of This Is My Body by Lindsay King-Miller

Mandy Webster

Shame is a demon—and sometimes it takes more than holy water to drive it out. In This Is My Body, Lindsay King-Miller delivers a gut-punch of a horror novel that fuses family trauma, queer identity, and religious extremism into a story that’s as unsettling as it is compulsively readable. At its core, this is a book about how the shame we inherit can twist us, haunt us, and, if left unchecked, destroy us.

Get your copy of This is My Body from my independent online bookstore today!

Brigid, a gay single mom, has spent years keeping her daughter Dylan far from the influence of her fanatically Catholic family. But when Dylan begins experiencing violent, terrifying fits that seem eerily familiar to an incident from Brigid’s childhood, she does the unthinkable—she goes back. Back to the home she swore she’d never return to. Back to her manipulative, self-righteous Uncle Angus, the priest who once “saved” a girl through exorcism.

Continue reading “Facing the demons we inherit: a review of This Is My Body by Lindsay King-Miller” →
Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Finding power in the dirt: A review of The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt

Mandy Webster

In The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt by Chelsea Iversen, a woman’s solitude, survival, and subtle rebellion are rooted—quite literally—in the soil beneath her feet.

Get your copy of The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt from my independent online bookstore today!

Set in Victorian London, this gorgeously atmospheric novel tells the story of Harriet Hunt, a woman left to tend her crumbling family estate and the lush, almost sentient garden that surrounds it. Her father has mysteriously disappeared, and society has all but cast her aside. Her only companions are the magical plants she lovingly tends: wild vines, blooming plums, and a pulse of earth-bound power that seems to know her better than anyone else ever has.

Continue reading “Finding power in the dirt: A review of The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt” →
Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

The Dead Husband Cookbook is a wickedly satisfying feast of justice

Mandy Webster

Some recipes call for salt, sugar, and spice—but in Danielle Valentine’s The Dead Husband Cookbook, the secret ingredient is retribution. When infamous chef and TV personality Maria Capello’s husband vanishes under suspicious circumstances, the whispers never stop. The media paints her as a murderer, a woman who cooked up her culinary empire on the bones of her missing spouse. But Maria never talks. Not for decades. Not until now.

Get your copy of The Dead Husband Cookbook from my independent online bookstore today!

Thea Woods, an up-and-coming writer, gets the job of a lifetime: working with Maria on her explosive memoir. She’s whisked away to the Capello family’s secluded farm, where the air smells faintly of nostalgia—and something far more unsettling. It doesn’t take long before Thea realizes that Damien Capello isn’t the only man who has gone missing in this family’s orbit. And the deeper she digs, the more she begins to understand that Maria’s perfect “coastal grandmother” persona hides a recipe of equal parts love, loyalty, and something darker.

Continue reading “The Dead Husband Cookbook is a wickedly satisfying feast of justice” →
Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

The Witch of Willow Sound is a haunting tale of memory, superstition, and the danger of silence

Mandy Webster

If you lived beneath a rock that might crush you at any moment, would you believe in witches? In The Witch of Willow Sound, debut author Vanessa F. Penney weaves a chilling and fast-paced gothic tale that blends feminist themes with East Coast folklore, offering a story that’s as unsettling as it is poignant. When Fade returns to the shadowy forests of Willow Sound, Nova Scotia, in search of her missing aunt Madeline, she finds only a rotting cottage and a community eager to assign blame. The villagers of nearby Grand Tea have always called Madeline a witch—but now, as misfortunes pile up and a hurricane approaches, their fear is turning violent.

Get your copy of The Witch of Willow Sound from my independent online bookstore today!

The worldbuilding in this novel is both original and deeply atmospheric. At the heart of Grand Tea’s folklore and fear is a massive rock perched above the town, a looming presence that could fall at any moment. You can feel the weight of it as you read—how its threat presses down on the villagers, shaping their beliefs, their behaviors, even their cruelty. The psychological tension it creates is masterful. It makes perfect, eerie sense that a place so precariously positioned would invent scapegoats and spin stories about curses and witches. The mob mentality that develops is reminiscent of The Crucible, complete with paranoia and projection.

Continue reading “The Witch of Willow Sound is a haunting tale of memory, superstition, and the danger of silence” →
Author Interview

Author interview with historical novelist Adelina Leo

Mandy Webster

When author Adelina Leo set out to write River of Silence, she didn’t just craft a novel—she built a bridge across time, memory, and identity. Released June 11th, Leo’s debut explores love, loss, and the scars of Argentina’s past with a lyrical touch shaped by her passion for storytelling and her love of Latin dance. In this interview, she shares the literary influences that shaped her voice, the emotional discoveries she made while writing, and why family and identity are themes she returns to again and again. Whether you’re a fan of historical fiction or stories that stir empathy, you’ll find something to connect with in her thoughtful reflections.

In River of Silence, Isabel Hartley returns to Buenos Aires decades after her mother vanished under Argentina’s dictatorship, determined to uncover the truth. As political unrest surges and buried secrets surface, her search leads to a heartbreaking revelation—and the possibility of healing through love.

Get your copy today!

Q: What’s a memory of a story or book that made you realize you wanted to be a writer?
A: I spent months thinking about Cesar Castillo, the protagonist in The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos. He was so tragically grand, full of spirit and musical genius, but his childhood trauma led to spectacular self-sabotage. All of Hijuelos’s characters were crafted so carefully and sensitively that I re-read the book almost immediately after I had finished it. I started writing soon after. The passion in his writing inspired me to create worlds that absorb the reader. I wanted to draw my audience in so that they walk in the shoes of somebody that they would be unlikely to meet in their own lives. These kinds of experiences sow the seeds of empathy and human connection in our everyday lives and that’s why I write.

Continue reading “Author interview with historical novelist Adelina Leo” →
Book Reviews

How to review a book (and how many stars to give it)

Mandy Webster

If you’ve ever stared at a review box after finishing a book and thought, I liked it… but was it a three-star read or a four-star one?, you’re not alone. Book reviews, especially those with a star rating attached, can feel deceptively simple—but they deserve some real thought. After all, your review might influence someone else’s decision to read (or skip) a book.

How do you decide which books merit five stars vs. three or even one?

So how do you decide what to say? And how many stars should you give?

Let’s start with the most important question: Why review books at all?

Continue reading “How to review a book (and how many stars to give it)” →
Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

Would you move in with a man you suspect is a serial killer? Love Letters to a Serial Killer asks why so many women say yes

Mandy Webster

Tasha Coryell’s Love Letters to a Serial Killer is a gripping character study disguised as a thriller—and just when you think it’s about to go full Dateline, it pivots into something stranger, sadder, and, at times, even a little cozy. Yes, cozy.

Get your copy of Love Letters to a Serial Killer from my independent online bookstore today!

The setup sounds ripped from a true-crime podcast: Hannah, a thirty-something woman drifting through life, starts writing letters to William, an accused serial killer awaiting trial. When he’s acquitted, she doesn’t just meet him—she moves in with him. Not because she believes in his innocence. She doesn’t. She just— can’t resist.

Continue reading “Would you move in with a man you suspect is a serial killer? Love Letters to a Serial Killer asks why so many women say yes” →
Book Reviews, Find Your Next Read

It Was Her House First by Cherie Priest is a chilling ghost story with a smart, skeptical heroine—and a lesson in listening to your gut

Mandy Webster

Cherie Priest’s It Was Her House First is a fresh take on the haunted house novel, blending magical realism with classic ghost story suspense and a smart, wary heroine you can’t help but root for. When Ronnie Mitchell inherits enough money to finally buy her dream home, she snaps up a dilapidated cliffside mansion sight unseen—only to discover it comes with a terrible legacy and a very possessive spirit.

Get your copy of It Was Her House First from my independent online bookstore today!

That spirit is Venita Rost, a former silent film star who may look like a cat now, but still has claws—and a long memory. Venita’s fury radiates through the house, where she is eternally bound with her nemesis, Bartholomew Sloan, a ghost shackled by his own complicity. Their presence lingers not only in creaking floorboards and flickering lights, but also in eerie, unforgettable moments—like when a man named Hugh shows up at the back door to “work” on the house. Ronnie knows he’s not living. She also knows better than to pretend otherwise. The way Priest blends these surreal moments into the everyday is one of the book’s most magical and eerie strengths.

Continue reading “It Was Her House First by Cherie Priest is a chilling ghost story with a smart, skeptical heroine—and a lesson in listening to your gut” →