#MeganMiranda – Rosepoint Publishing

Daughter of Mine: A Novel by Megan Miranda – #AudiobookReview – #psychologicalthrillers

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A USA TODAY BESTSELLER

Book Blurb:

When Hazel Sharp, daughter of Mirror Lake’s longtime local detective, unexpectedly inherits her childhood home, she’s warily drawn back to the town—and people—she left behind almost a decade earlier. But Hazel’s not the only relic of the past to return: a drought has descended on the region, and as the water level in the lake drops, long-hidden secrets begin to emerge…including evidence that may help finally explain the mystery of her mother’s disappearance.

Riveting and suspenseful, Daughter of Mine is Megan Miranda’s best novel yet, filled with “delicious twists, dark secrets, and a deadly past” (Ashley Elston, New York Times bestselling author of First Lie Wins) that will keep you listening late into the night.

My Review:

Not my first dance with Megan Miranda and her style of writing–slow burn dark family secrets held tightly to the chest with closed fists and set determined jaw. I found much the same in The Last to Vanish.

The first and most obvious twist in this novel is the way the author sets out the timeline and chapters, fusing Hazel Sharp’s story with an area-wide ongoing drought and beginning each chapter with the number of days without rain. Indeed, it’s changing the landscape of her childhood home and Mirror Lake is now revealing secrets that directly impact her.

Hazel has returned after her father dies to discover, and to her brother’s shock, that he left his home and property to her—not them. She is bewildered; they are disgusted. It’s not as if they were ever close as step-siblings.

Her father was a respected law enforcement officer of the community when her mother up and left—never to return. The devastation and feelings of abandonment have never really left. But the cars being exposed by receding waters have opened a shocking new twist to the story—what really happened to her mother?

Clever, the way the chapters add atmospheric tension to the plot as Hazel grapples with her brothers over the home and now whether or not her dad might have had something to do with her mother’s disappearance. The heat causes rise to short tempers; everyone is on edge.

While there was interest in the storyline, I could not fully engage with Hazel nor wrap my head around the backstories of her brothers…(I don’t remember them ever being designated as “step”). So many family secrets, not much of a bond. She and her mother came rather late in their family story.

Lose attention until the next little twist, then re-engage. It’s a weird family dynamic. Once the rain begins the pace rushes into denouement and it’s over. Eh, okay. If you are an MM fan, then you may find this of interest with the way she’s noted chapter headings or you appreciate her build of tension. I just needed it to move a little faster, I guess.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Thrillers, Suspense
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
ASIN: B0C7YD57GS
Listening Length: 10 hrs 27 mins
Narrator: Inés del Castillo
Publication Date: April 9, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Daughter of Mine [Amazon-US]
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Megan Miranda is the New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls; The Perfect Stranger; The Last House Guest, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick; The Girl from Widow Hills; Such a Quiet Place; and The Last to Vanish. She has also written several books for young adults. She grew up in New Jersey, graduated from MIT, and lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children.

Her next book, The Only Survivors, will be published on April 11th, 2023.

Follow @MeganLMiranda on Instagram, @AuthorMeganMiranda on Facebook, or visit http://www.meganmiranda.com

Audiobook Review

Headphones courtesy Racool Studio

The Last to Vanish by Megan Miranda – #AudiobookReview – #TBT

Book Blurb:

Ten years ago, Abigail Lovett fell into a job she loves, managing The Passage Inn, a cozy, upscale resort nestled in the North Carolina mountain town of Cutter’s Pass. Cutter’s Pass is best known for its outdoor offerings—rafting and hiking, with access to the Appalachian trail by way of a gorgeous waterfall—and its mysterious history. As the book begins, the string of unsolved disappearances that has haunted the town is once again thrust into the spotlight when journalist Landon West, who was staying at the inn to investigate the story of the vanishing trail, then disappears himself.

Abby has sometimes felt like an outsider within the community, but she’s come to view Cutter’s Pass as her home. When Landon’s brother Trey shows up looking for answers, Abby can’t help but feel the town closing ranks. And she’s still on the outside. When she finds incriminating evidence that may bring them closer to the truth, Abby soon discovers how little she knows about her coworkers, neighbors, and even those closest to her.

Megan Miranda brings her best writing to The Last to Vanish, a riveting thriller filled with taut suspense and shocking twists that will keep you guessing until the very end.

My Review:

A fascination for me from the time we rode motorcycles and the hope of some day riding the Blue Ridge Parkway (469 miles) which apparently parallels the Appalachian (hiking—not riding—2,190+ miles) Trail for a few miles—another fascination and a bucket list item I may have to give up. The AT is scenic, wooded, and wild. And no, hadn’t planned to hike the whole thing but there are sections you can drop in and off (doable).

So this blurb was a hook for me as I tend to read what I can find regarding the fascinating and popular hiking trail, this time located off the fictional Cutter’s Pass, North Carolina. Abigail Lovett has lived here for ten years working at the inn. Their little town has had seven unexplained disappearances off the trail at their location and now the brother of the last missing person is seeking answers.

It’s a small mountain community, close knit, and someone living and working there ten years can still be viewed as an outsider. She is not privy to the circumstances, nor has she really investigated. The owner of the inn is the widow Celeste, who with her husband, built the inn and is now a mother figure to Abby and a respected member of the village.

The town has gained an unwelcome reputation and is now subject to not just hikers and campers but those morbidly looking for incite, each thinking they might figure it out when local law enforcement couldn’t.

The storyline, however, turns out to be a slow burn—sometimes aggravatingly so—stuck in mud. I couldn’t engage with Abby, though she doggedly works on the secrets, picking at them until she gleans another little tidbit. No one is going to tell her anything, they close ranks.

Not an accident—no bodies—no bones—no trace.

There is tension and it builds albeit slowly and the apprehension carries through each hiker—obviously no connection and the timing doesn’t work.

Once a reveal happens, it all falls into place, a satisfying conclusion with a twist you probably predicted—and one I saw coming as well. Still, there are some interesting revelations about the trail, some shared history.

Part of my problem might have been the narrator who seemed hard-pressed to vary her inflection. I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Psychological Thrillers, Women’s Fiction, Suspense
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
ASIN: B09KHFVWMT
Listening Length: 9 hrs 23 mins
Narrator: Alex Allwine
Publication Date: July 26, 2022
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Last to Vanish [Amazon]
Barnes & Noble
Kobo