#Don’tOpentheDoor – Rosepoint Publishing

Rosepoint Reviews - July Recap

July was indeed a record-setting month for temps around here and apparently for most of you as well. You can always tell a dip in temperatures by the number of people scampering outside to catch up on yard work. No exception here, with mowing, weeding, and harvesting ripening veggies. Apparently a banner year for cucumbers; they’ve overgrown the melons. A decent year for tomatoes though, they do like it hot.

My experiment with the lotus seeds pretty much got taken over with the other invasive water plant I put in the tub and the other one won. My best crop may still end up being mosquitoes. Still with the number of cucumbers ripening, there is no shortage of the stuff for making juice, which is actually quite tasty. And with the number of cherry tomatoes, perhaps we can try drying them again—little nuggets of tomato candy.

Still doing our Y classes three times a week. Those giant blue exercise balls are the new drums, and we are beating those drums to some great 50s-60s music. Fun classes and a great way to get out and move!

We reviewed fifteen books in July—still trying to catch up with audiobooks I’ve listened to. The source of our books is our library, NetGalley, author and publisher requests. As always, the links on titles are to our reviews that include purchase information.

Don’t Open the Door by Allison Brennan (audiobook)
Silent Creek by Tony Wirt (CE review)
Random Run: The Boston Clairvoyants by Annabelle Lewis
Red Shadows at Saugatuck by Randy Overbeck (CE review)
Beartown by Fredrik Backman (audiobook for book club)

Audiobooks Mini-Reviews
Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride by Will Leitch
Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey
Hell is Empty and Return to Sender by Craig Johnson

The Promise of Unbroken Straw by Ken Steele (CE review)
Good Days Bad Days by Emily Bleeker
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (audiobook)
Only Way Out by Tod Goldberg (CE review)
The River’s Daughter by Bridget Crocker
Bits and Pieces: My Mother, My Brother, and Me by Whoopi Goldberg (audiobook)

Favorite Book of the Month

Maybe it’s not fair, maybe she had help with writing, I don’t know. But it’s an emotional, heartfelt tribute to her mother. I enjoyed the whole thing.

Favorite for July – Bits and Pieces by Whoopi Goldberg

My Reading Challenges page…behind again. I need a day—one whole day just to work on the blog. Uninterrupted.

The Goodreads landing page shows 114 of a goal of 150 or 76%, but the book count widget is still way off. Any way to get that corrected?

I do appreciate your visits and I love your comments! Enjoy the last month of summer—soon the kiddies will be returning to school! (Yeah, already.)

A little light summer reading.

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Book Blurb:

A family torn apart. A botched investigation. She’ll stop at nothing to get answers.

US Marshal Regan Merritt never bought the FBI’s theory that her ten-year-old son’s murder was tied to her job. Yet as leads went cold, she’d had to walk away from the marshals, the case and her now ex-husband, Grant, who blamed her for Chase’s death.

After Regan receives a chilling voice mail from her former boss, Tommy, claiming new information about Chase’s murder, she can no longer stay away from her pain-filled past. Especially when Tommy’s murdered before she can return his call.

Now more than ever, Regan’s determined to find the truth, but the more she digs, the more evidence points to Grant as the killer’s true target. But Grant isn’t talking. As she tries to pin down her ex, Regan discovers something much bigger and far more sinister is at play—and she’s running out of people she can trust.

My Review:

I tried another book by this author last year, You’ll Never Find Me, Book 1 of another series. This is Book 2 of the Regan Merritt series. This series features ex-US Marshall Regan Merritt whose own ten-year-old son was murdered, thought by ex-husband related to her job. She never accepted that theory.

Still doesn’t.

So she’s quickly embroiled in the cold case again when her former boss calls with what he feels is new information. I think one of my problems with this writing style is a plot point that is repeating ad nauseum.

The pacing is uneven for me and there are twists that throw the plot off-course, becoming convoluted. Regan decides she must determine what her former boss uncovered with hopes of finally getting to the truth. The path begins to lead to ex-husband Grant, but he’s uncooperative.

As she gradually uncovers more bits and pieces, it’s obvious the plot gets into the higher echelons of wealth and that she’s dealing with some powerful people.

The conclusion gets strung out a bit much for me, not sure I needed all the minutiae. Perhaps you read Book 1 and will be thoroughly happy to learn that the reason for the death of Chase has been resolved. Or, maybe I’m just bored easily.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Crime Thrillers
Publisher: Harlequin Audio
ASIN: B09V98R2PJ
Listening Length: 11 hrs 11 mins
Narrator: Amy McFadden
Publication Date: January 24, 2023
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: Don’t Open the Door – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK

The Author: Allison Brennan is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of more than forty thrillers and numerous short stories. She was nominated for Best Paperback Original Thriller by International Thriller Writers, had multiple nominations and two Daphne du Maurier Awards, and is a five-time RITA finalist for Best Romantic Suspense. Allison believes life is too short to be bored, so she had five kids and writes three books a year. Originally from northern California, in 2019 she and her husband relocated to Arizona where they enjoy baseball Spring Training, hiking, and spending time with their kids, grandson, and assorted pets.