REVIEW: The Bitter Season by Tami Hoag

Title: The Bitter Season (Kovac and Liska #5)
Author: Tami Hoag
Narrator: David Colacci
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
Publication Date: January 2016
Genre: Thriller
Buy the Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: EVERY FAMILY HAS A SECRET. THEIRS WILL CHILL YOU TO THE CORE.

A murder from the past. A murder from the present. And a life that was never meant to be... As the dreary, bitter weather of late fall descends on Minneapolis, Detective Nikki Liska is restless. After moving to the cold case squad in order to spend more time with her sons, she misses the rush of pulling an all-nighter, the sense of urgency of hunting a murderer on the loose. Most of all she misses her old partner, Sam Kovac.

Sam is having an even harder time adjusting to Nikki's absence, saddled with a green new partner younger than pieces of Sam's wardrobe. Sam is distracted from his troubles by an especially brutal double homicide: a middle-aged husband and wife bludgeoned and hacked to death in their home with a ceremonial Japanese samurai sword. Nikki's case, the unsolved murder of a family man, community leader, and decorated sex crimes detective for the Minneapolis PD, is less of a distraction: Twenty years later, there is little hope for finding the killer who got away.

On the other end of the spectrum, Minneapolis resident Evi Burke has a life she only dreamed of as a kid in and out of foster homes: a beautiful home, a family, people who love her, a fulfilling job. Little does she know that a danger from her past is stalking her perfect present. A danger powerful enough to pull in both Kovac and Liska and destroy the perfect life she was never meant to have.

My Thoughts: Because The Bitter Season was published in 2016 and, as of 2026, no additional books have featured Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska, it seems reasonable to view this as the likely final installment in the series. That gives the story a bittersweet quality, especially after the events of the previous book.

Nikki and Sam are no longer partners in this book, and that shift is felt throughout the story. Nikki misses working with Sam, but her move to the cold case unit gives her more time with her sons and keeps her away from the immediate danger of chasing active killers. I was glad to see that they still cross paths, and their scenes together continue to deliver the camaraderie and banter I enjoy so much.

Nikki’s twenty-five-year-old murder investigation eventually connects to the new case Kovac and his inexperienced partner are working, though not in the way I expected. That connection added tension and kept me invested as the two storylines began to overlap.

Because this series is so character driven, I recommend reading the books in order. Doing so makes it easier to understand the characters’ personalities, appreciate their growth, and notice the nuances in their relationships. This installment is also intense and violent at times, so readers may want to check content warnings before diving in.

Several jaw-dropping twists genuinely surprised me and heightened my apprehension as the story unfolded. David Colacci’s excellent audio narration added to that tension and made the suspense feel even sharper. My only real disappointment was the lack of closure around Sam and Nikki’s personal lives, especially if this is the final book in the series. The author may have left that door open intentionally in case she wants to revisit these characters, but I also do not want to hold on to false hope.

My Final Verdict: The Bitter Season is a gripping, character-driven thriller that blends a chilling cold case with a brutal present-day investigation. While I wish the ending had offered more personal closure for Sam and Nikki, the suspense, twists, and emotional weight make this a strong and bittersweet installment in the Kovac and Liska series. Recommended for readers who enjoy dark police procedurals with layered relationships and tense, unsettling mysteries.

REVIEW: A Witch in Time by Constance Sayers

Title: A Witch in Time
Author: Constance Sayers
Narrator: Courtney Patterson, Claire Christie, Brittany Wilkerson, Stephanie Willis
Publisher: Redhook Books
Publication Date: February 2020
Genre: Fantasy / Women’s Fiction
Buy the Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: A young witch is cursed to relive a doomed love affair through many lifetimes, as both troubled muse and frustrated artist, in this haunting debut novel.

In 1895, sixteen-year-old Juliet LaCompte has a passionate, doomed romance with the married Parisian painter Auguste Marchant. When her mother -- a witch -- attempts to cast a curse on Marchant, she unwittingly summons a demon, binding her daughter to both the artist and this supernatural being for all time. Juliet is fated to re-live her affair and die tragically young lifetime after lifetime as the star-crossed lovers reincarnate through history.

The demon -- who appears to Juliet in all her reincarnations as a mysterious, handsome, and worldly benefactor -- has been helplessly in love with her since 19th century France, even though she forgets him each time she dies. He falls for her in 1930s Hollywood, in 1970s Los Angeles, and finally in present-day Washington D.C. -- where she begins to develop powers of her own.

In this life, she starts to remember her tragic past lives. But this time, she might have the power to break the cycle...

My Thoughts: A Witch in Time by Constance Sayers is spectacular: heartbreaking, atmospheric, and ultimately hopeful. The story introduces a woman bound by a witch’s curse to live many lives across more than a century, repeatedly drawn toward the wrong man while the love that may truly be meant for her remains just out of reach.

What makes the novel even more remarkable is that it is Sayers’s debut. The plotting and pacing are so assured that the book reads like the work of a seasoned author with several titles already to her credit. Her attention to historical detail gives each time period a vivid sense of place, making it easy to feel fully immersed in the world of the story.

Following Helen as she begins to remember her past lives as Juliet, Nora, and Sandra took me through a wide range of emotions. While a few moments were somewhat triggering for me, they never disrupted the story’s flow or diminished my overall enjoyment of the book.

My Final Verdict: Overall, A Witch in Time is a beautifully written and emotionally rich debut that blends romance, history, and fantasy into a haunting, memorable story. Constance Sayers creates an immersive reading experience through vivid historical settings, a layered curse, and characters whose choices echo across lifetimes. The novel’s mix of heartbreak, longing, and quiet hope makes it especially compelling for readers who enjoy atmospheric, character-driven stories with a touch of magic.

I highly recommend this book to anyone drawn to reincarnation, doomed love, historical fiction, and emotional fantasy with strong storytelling at its center.

Thank you to the publisher, Redhook Books, who provided an advance reader copy of this book via NetGalley.

REVIEW: The Date by Louise Jensen

Title: The Date
Author: Louise Jensen
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: June 2018
Genre: Thriller
Buy the Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: One night can change everything.

‘I know it as soon as I wake up and open my eyes... Something is wrong.’

Her Saturday night started normally. Recently separated from her husband, Ali has been persuaded by her friends to go on a date with a new man. She is ready, she is nervous, she is excited. She is about to take a step into her new future. By Sunday morning, Ali’s life is unrecognizable. She wakes, and she knows that something is wrong. She is home, she is alone, she is hurt and she has no memory of what happened to her.

Worse still, when she looks in the mirror, Ali doesn’t recognize the face staring back at her…

My Thoughts: This was a true nail-biter and an excellent choice for thriller fans. Newly separated from her husband, Ali agrees to go on a date with a man she has been talking to online. When she wakes the next morning, she has no memory of the night before, but she is injured and covered in blood.

As if that were not terrifying enough, Ali no longer recognizes her own face in the mirror—or anyone else’s. That detail immediately raises the stakes and makes her situation feel even more vulnerable and unsettling. I would love to see this story adapted for the screen.

As the story unfolds, the reader learns that the person who hurt Ali is stalking her and knows about something terrible from her past. That thread made the tension especially effective because Ali’s prosopagnosia—face blindness—means the danger could be standing directly in front of her, and she still would not know who to fear.

The structure and pacing are excellent. I was invested in Ali’s situation from the beginning and stayed on edge, eager to see how everything would play out. The finale and big reveal were genuinely shocking and took me through a wide range of emotions.

The supporting characters also added to the suspense. Many of them felt unreliable, which kept suspicion shifting and made Ali’s fear more convincing. I felt tremendous empathy for her and, like Ali, was never sure who could be trusted.

My Final Verdict: The Date is a gripping, twist-filled thriller that kept me turning the pages from start to finish. Louise Jensen builds tension beautifully, using Ali’s fear, confusion, and vulnerability to create a story that feels both unsettling and impossible to put down. With its fast pacing, unreliable characters, and shocking reveal, this is a strong recommendation for readers who enjoy psychological thrillers with emotional impact and plenty of suspense.

Thank you to the publisher, Bookouture, who provided an advance reader copy of this book via NetGalley.

REVIEW: The Lion's Den by Katherine St. John

Title: The Lion’s Den
Author: Katherine St. John
Narrator: Christine Lakin
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: June 2020
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Buy the Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: Belle likes to think herself immune to the dizzying effects of fabulous wealth. But when her best friend, Summer, invites her on a glamorous getaway to the Mediterranean aboard her billionaire boyfriend's yacht, the only sensible answer is yes. Belle hopes the trip will be a much-needed break from her stalled acting career and uniquely humiliating waitressing job, but once she's aboard the luxurious Lion's Den, it soon becomes clear this jet-setting holiday is not as advertised.

Belle's dream vacation quickly devolves into a nightmare as she and the handful of other girls Summer invited are treated more like prisoners than guests by their controlling host-and in one terrifying moment, Belle comes to see Summer for who she truly is: a vicious gold digger who will stop at nothing to get what she wants.

Belle realizes she's going to have to keep her wits about her -- and her own big secret closely hidden -- if she wants to make it off the yacht alive.

My Thoughts: The Lion’s Den blends thriller elements with women’s fiction, pulling the reader into a world of extreme wealth, luxury, and excess. It is a world filled with lavish, materialistic temptations, but beneath the glamour is a darker current of corruption, manipulation, and desperation.

The story is a very slow burn, moving between Belle and Summer’s past and present in a way that made me question how they ever became friends in the first place. I liked Belle, even though she often comes across as naïve and gullible. I kept hoping she would find her backbone and finally tell Summer where to go.

At first, being invited to cruise around the Mediterranean on a super-yacht for Summer’s birthday sounds exciting. But after seeing so clearly how selfish Summer has been—and continues to be—I struggled to understand why Belle would accept the invitation at all.

The final quarter of the book takes a dramatic turn, pulling the story together in a way that gave me the answers I had been looking for. At the same time, the shift was so sharp that I briefly wondered whether I was reading two different books. Somehow, though, the approach works. By the end, I was completely invested—hands fisted and white-knuckled—waiting to see how everything would play out.

Readers who are not fans of slow-burn plots should be prepared to exercise patience. The payoff is there, but getting to it felt tedious at times. Most of the characters are deeply unlikable, yet they are written well enough that it was easy to form strong impressions and assumptions about who they really were.

I do wish the ending had been more fleshed out after the major plot twist. I finished the book wanting a little more closure—perhaps even an epilogue—to show what ultimately happens to all the players.

My Final Verdict: The Lion’s Den is a slow-burn, character-driven thriller wrapped in sun-soaked luxury and simmering tension. While the pacing requires patience and the ending could have offered more closure, the final twists are compelling enough to make the journey worthwhile. Readers who enjoy messy friendships, glamorous settings, and secrets that unravel piece by piece will likely find this an entertaining and suspenseful read.

Thank you to the publisher, Grand Central Publishing, who provided an advance reader copy of this book via NetGalley.

REVIEW: Don't You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane

Title: Don’t You Forget About Me
Author: Mhairi McFarlane
Narrator: Madeline Gould
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication Date: September 2019
Genre: Contemporary Romance / Women’s Fiction
Buy the Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: You always remember your first love... don’t you?

If there’s anything worse than being fired from the lousiest restaurant in town, it’s coming home early to find your boyfriend in bed with someone else. Reeling from the humiliation of a double dumping in one day, Georgina takes the next job that comes her way—bartender in a newly opened pub. There’s only one problem: it’s run by the guy she fell in love with years ago. And—make that two problems—he doesn’t remember her. At all. But she has fabulous friends and her signature hot pink fur coat... what more could a girl really need?

Lucas McCarthy has not only grown into a broodingly handsome man, but he’s also turned into an actual grown-up, with a thriving business and a dog along the way. Crossing paths with him again throws Georgina’s rocky present into sharp relief—and brings a secret from her past bubbling to the surface. Only she knows what happened twelve years ago, and why she’s allowed the memories to chase her ever since. But maybe it’s not too late for the truth... or a second chance with the one that got away?

My Thoughts: This book had far more depth than the description suggests. At first, the premise sounds like an engaging second-chance romance: Georgina crosses paths with Lucas, her first love, after twelve years, only to discover that he does not seem to remember her. That question alone creates instant tension—does he truly not remember, or is he pretending? And if he is pretending, why?

The story took me in directions I did not see coming, and those unexpected turns made it even more captivating. I wanted to understand both Georgina and Lucas, and McFarlane does an excellent job of filling in the gaps by revisiting their teenage years. Learning why they did not end up together back then was heartbreaking, and the way McFarlane slowly revealed the truth drew out real emotion.

McFarlane blends humor and romance beautifully with more serious subject matter, including infidelity, toxic relationships, death, and other sensitive topics. Readers may want to be mindful of potential triggers. Even when the story moved in directions I did not expect, those choices ultimately brought everything full circle, and I absolutely loved how it all came together.

Georgina was easy to like right away, and her warmth, humor, and vulnerability made her immediately relatable. I also enjoyed the energy and support of her friends, who helped round out her world, as well as Lucas’s brother, Devlin, who was instantly likable.

Lucas took longer for me to warm up to, largely because I knew he had broken Georgina’s heart. That made me cautious about him at first, but as the story unfolded, McFarlane gave him enough depth and context for me to see him differently.

My Final Verdict: Don’t You Forget About Me is a witty, emotional, and ultimately satisfying read that delivers much more than a simple second-chance romance. With relatable characters, heartfelt revelations, and McFarlane’s sharp blend of humor and vulnerability, this is a story that lingers after the final page. I would recommend it to readers who enjoy contemporary romance with emotional depth, complicated pasts, and a strong sense of hope.

Thank you to the publisher, HarperCollins Publishing, who provided an advance reader copy of this book via NetGalley.

REVIEW: She's Bad News by Elle Spellman

Title: She’s Bad News
Author: Elle Spellman
Publisher: Elle Spellman
Publication Date: November 2017
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Buy the Book: Amazon

Description: What would you do if you woke up with super powers?

For Bella Brown, life hasn't gone according to plan. She's almost thirty, still living in her uneventful hometown, and her dreams of becoming an investigative reporter have fallen by the wayside.

That is, until she wakes up one morning to find she's been gifted with some amazing new abilities. What’s a girl to do with heightened senses, super speed and the ability to lift a truck one-handed? Bella quickly discovers that her new powers can easily help her land front-page leads at local newspaper, The Hartleybourne Gazette.

Soon Bella's out every night chasing down local criminals for stories, while keeping her powers a secret from everyone besides flatmate Chloe. But when a burglary-gone-wrong accidentally turns her into the mysterious Hartleybourne Heroine, Bella finds herself on the front page for the wrong reasons. Her secret becomes harder to keep as she tries to track down the source of her powers, and especially when crime reporter Matt Gilmore is intent on unmasking the town's new vigilante...

Suddenly, having an extraordinary life is far more dangerous than she ever imagined.

My Thoughts: She’s Bad News by Elle Spellman is campy and over the top, but a lot of fun.

Bella Brown is a features writer at a local newspaper who dreams of becoming a major investigative journalist in London. Instead, her awful boss assigns her dull, menial stories that drain her creativity. Assigned to cover an up-and-coming diet pill, Bella is disgusted by the body-shaming trend behind it. After defiantly taking one, she wakes up with heightened speed, vision, strength, and hearing—like Supergirl without the cape or flying.

Bella becomes an anonymous vigilante, but her actions draw attention from the people behind the pill, who want to keep its effects hidden.

I enjoyed Bella and her escapades. The plot moves well, and the characters are easy to know. The ending feels implausible, especially Bella’s confrontation with the villains, but it fits the story’s over-the-top tone.

Overall, She’s Bad News is an entertaining, fast-paced story with a playful superhero twist and an easy-to-root-for main character. While the ending stretches believability, the book’s humor, energy, and campy charm make it an enjoyable read.

REVIEW: The Bestseller by Jenny Knightsby

Title: The Bestseller
Author: Jenny Knightsby
Publisher: Headline
Publication Date: September 2026
Genre: Thriller
Buy the Book: Amazon | BN | Audible

Description: YOU TOLD HER YOUR DARKEST SECRETS. NOW MILLIONS WILL READ THEM . . .

Therapist Helena Salve knows that client confidentiality is the number one unbreakable rule of her job. But the constant stories of coercive control and threat she hears from her client Belle about her dangerous husband have been wearing her down. One night over too many glasses of wine, she tells her best friend Tala everything that Belle has told her.

The problem is, Tala is a down-on-her-luck novelist who is looking for an idea for her new thriller.

Months later, Tala is excitedly telling Helena that her publisher is saying this is going to be her biggest book ever. The story is Belle's story. Not only is Helena's job on the line, but if Belle's husband is as dangerous as she says, her life is too...

Why would Tala do this to Helena? She knows what's at stake.

Your friends are meant to protect you... aren't they?

My Thoughts: Jenny Knightsby does an excellent job of drawing the reader into the story with intensity, tension, and genuine shock. I was surprised more than once, especially because the direction and heart of the story were nothing like I expected. Although The Bestseller is Knightsby’s debut novel, it reads with the confidence and polish of an author with many published books behind her.

From the beginning, Knightsby pulled me in without revealing the full impact the story would eventually deliver. Like many readers, I quickly made assumptions about the characters and where the plot was headed, only to discover that I was completely off the mark.

I struggled to understand how Tala could betray Helena by writing the book, and I felt a great deal of anger toward her for doing so. At the same time, I was shocked that Helena had broken client confidentiality in the first place. That moral tension made the story even more compelling, because there was blame, fear, and uncertainty on more than one side.

I also found myself trying to understand the complicated dynamic between Tala, Helena, and Helena’s husband, Dylan. The shifting timeline—moving between the present and their university years—helped fill in important gaps while making the story even more intriguing.

I had suspicions about Helena’s client, Belle, and Belle’s husband, Julius. My mind kept returning to the possibility that the entire situation was a setup designed to discredit Helena, but I could not figure out who would do such a thing—or why. As the story unfolded, every character began to feel unreliable. Not knowing who I could trust, or even who I should empathize with, made the reading experience far more thrilling.

The character development is excellent, and I enjoyed getting to know Tala, Helena, and Dylan both in the present and through the events of the past. The story delivers several jaw-dropping twists, and what I initially thought might be just an okay read ended up completely blowing me away.

My Final Verdict: The Bestseller is a gripping, twist-filled thriller that kept me questioning everyone’s motives until the very end. With strong character development, layered tension, and surprises that genuinely caught me off guard, Jenny Knightsby delivers an impressive debut that I would highly recommend to readers who enjoy psychological thrillers built on secrets, betrayal, and unreliable loyalties.

Thank you to the publisher, Headline, who provided an advance reader copy of this book via NetGalley.