Luckiest girl alive - Jessica Knoll

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Published: May 2015

ISBN: 9781476789637

HER PERFECT LIFE
IS A PERFECT LIE.
As a teenager at the prestigious Bradley School, Ani FaNelli endured a shocking, public humiliation that left her desperate to reinvent herself. Now, with a glamorous job, expensive wardrobe, and handsome blue blood fiancé, she’s this close to living the perfect life she’s worked so hard to achieve.

But Ani has a secret.
There’s something else buried in her past that still haunts her, something private and painful that threatens to bubble to the surface and destroy everything.

With a singular voice and twists you won’t see coming, Luckiest Girl Alive explores the unbearable pressure that so many women feel to “have it all” and introduces a heroine whose sharp edges and cutthroat ambition have been protecting a scandalous truth, and a heart that's bigger than it first appears.
The question remains: will breaking her silence destroy all that she has worked for—or, will it at long last, set Ani free?

My review 
If you see the black rose on the cover, you can already guess that the luckiest girl alive maybe isn't so very lucky after all. On the first page we meet TifAni FaNelli and you can hear her thinking if she can use the Shun (knife) she is holding to plunge it into the belly of her fiance. Well, definitely not a very lucky girl...
In the first part of the book, the author gives you an insight of the current life of Ani (this is how TifAni calls herself lately) and her fiance Luke. The story alternates between the current life and the years of TifAni at the Bradley School. These flashes forward and backward are a bit confusing. Mainly because the author uses a lot of examples to subsribe how Ani is feeling about people and circumstances. It gets a bit confusing now and then and it's hard to keep on reading. It is clear that TifAni had a very rough time at school. The author shows you the desperate teenager, who will do practically anything to be accepted by her classmates and to ensure she doesn't get excluded. You can see how boundaries are crossed and how teenagers are crushed under group pressure and therefore end up doing very stupid things. It makes you wonder if your own teenager, currently sitting on your couch, is not doing something stupid like that.
The second part of the story is more easy to read. The story has more depth and action. You read about all the things that happened at Bradley and just as you think you understand TifAni and what caused her actions, the story just twists again. So up untill the last page, the story keeps unfolding and you finally realize the burdens TifAni is carrying. So, instead of the spoiled girl you give her for in the first part of the story, you realize she has a lot of moral issues to deal with and that she is actually very considerate towards some other people of her past. So, definitely worth reading, although you have to get through the first part. The story will be turned into a film by Reese Witherspoon. If they see a way to speed up the first part, without all the confusion, this will probably become a very nice film. I received an ARC from Hebban.nl in exchange of an honest review.

Find her - Lisa Gardner

Publisher: Dutton

Publication: February 2016

ISBN: 9780525954576 

Flora Dane is a victim.

Seven years ago, carefree college student Flora was kidnapped while on spring break. For 472 days, Flora learned just how much one person can endure.

Flora Dane is a survivor. 

Miraculously alive after her ordeal, Flora has spent the past five years reacquainting herself with the rhythms of normal life, working with her FBI victim advocate, Samuel Keynes. She has a mother who’s never stopped loving her, a brother who is scared of the person she’s become, and a bedroom wall covered with photos of other girls who’ve never made it home.

Flora Dane is reckless. . . . or is she? 

When Boston detective D. D. Warren is called to the scene of a crime—a dead man and the bound, naked woman who killed him—she learns that Flora has tangled with three other suspects since her return to society. Is Flora a victim or a vigilante? And with her firsthand knowledge of criminal behavior, could she hold the key to rescuing a missing college student whose abduction has rocked Boston? When Flora herself disappears, D.D. realizes a far more sinister predator is out there. One who’s determined that this time, Flora Dane will never escape. And now it is all up to D. D. Warren to find her.

My review

Although I'm not a true thriller-fan, occasionally I like to read a suspense novel. So when I read the synopsis of Find Her, I just had to request an advanced reading copy. When I read that Flora Dane was kidnapped for 472 days, I was intrigued. But when I received my ARC (yay, thank you FirsttoRead!) and started reading, I just fell face first into the nightmare of Flora Dane's kidnapping. Lisa Gardner takes the reader seven years back in time and let you relive the abduction of Flora. I was stunned, I was shocked, I was aghast... and I really had to keep reading. Throughout the book, Lisa takes you through 472 days of nightmares, in a multitude of flashbacks. You can feel the despair, the anguish and the self loathing of Flora. But these are only the flashbacks. The story of detective D.D. Warren and her case with the missing girls is the main course of the book. D.D. is a strong willed female, who has been hurt during a previous assignment. She can't perform her normal duties, but that doesn't mean she just sits back during desk duties. Lisa has done a well job in describing the frustration of a dedicated woman, who can't do her job in the way she wants to do. In the chapters from D.D.'s point of view, you understand her distrust of Flora and you wonder with her if Flora is indeed only a victim or maybe something more. And although some parts are a bit unrealistic (I mean: to kill a man, when you are totally naked, with you hands bound, and only using garbage, that is a tiny bit unrealistic, don't you think?!), the plot just keeps turning and just as you think you know what Flora's role is in the assaults and abductions, Flora gets taken herself. At that point in the book I was totally confused. Flora had just killed her assaulter and they were finding the evidence of his kidnapping of the other girls and now Flora is missing? I was tempted to re-read part of the book to see if I had missed an important clue. But no, after reading on, and siding with detective D.D. I still couldn't phantom who was behind the kidnapping. But when reading the chapters from Flora's point of view, the story just gets scarier and scarier. I'm not a fan of small spaces, but after reading this book, I don't think I'm stepping into a small room again. And you realize time is running out. Detective D.D. is realizing this also. So you just have to keep on reading, to find out if D.D. will make it in time to save Flora and to discover who is behind the horrors. Off course, I won't tell you "Who Dunnit", but you will be surprised! So, in all a very well written story. Afterwards I found out that detective D.D. has a total series of stories. So maybe, when I'm recovered from my fears of small spaces, I'll try another thriller of Lisa Gardner. Well done, four stars. 

Secret Sisters - Jayne Ann Krentz

Publisher: Berkley

Publication: December 2015

ISBN: 9780399174483

No one does romantic suspense better than Jayne Ann Krentz. Now, the New York Times bestselling author of Trust No One and River Road delivers a novel that twists and turns into a read that will leave you breathless.

Madeline and Daphne were once as close as sisters—until a secret tore them apart. Now it might take them to their graves.

They knew his name, the man who tried to brutally attack twelve-year-old Madeline in her grandmother's hotel. They thought they knew his fate. He wouldn't be bothering them anymore...ever. Still their lives would never be the same.


Madeline has returned to Washington after her grandmother's mysterious death. And at the old, abandoned hotel—a place she never wanted to see again—a dying man’s last words convey a warning: the secrets she and Daphne believed buried forever have been discovered.


Now, after almost two decades, Madeline and Daphne will be reunited in friendship and in fear. Unable to trust the local police, Madeline summons Jack Rayner, the hotel chain’s new security expert. Despite the secrets and mysteries that surround him, Jack is the only one she trusts...and wants.


Jack is no good at relationships but he does possess a specific skill set that includes a profoundly intimate understanding of warped and dangerous minds. With the assistance of Jack's brother, Abe, a high-tech magician, the four of them will form an uneasy alliance against a killer who will stop at nothing to hide the truth....

My review

Since I didn't know what to expect from a romantic suspense, I asked for a ARC of the book Secret Sisters of Jayne Ann Krentz. I started the first page and I was immediately drawn into the story. From the first page the suspense is on a high level and throughout the book there are several twists and turns which you don't suspect and they keep you wondering. Fortunately I started the book early in the evening, so I could finish it the same day. Otherwise it would have kept me up all night! From the brutal attack on the girls Madeline and Daphne up until the latest murder attempt there are secrets lurking in the dark and people trying to cover up twenty years of mystery. So the suspense part was really brilliantly written and I felt the anguish and the shocks after every occurence (I don't want to spoil the entire story). The romantic part? Well, not overly romantic to be honest. Yes, there are some sparks between Jack and Madeline, but it's not an totally-of-the-charts romance (which I can fully appreciate, so therefore this romance was a bit tame). So, no badass romance, a little romantic scenery yes. And the second romance, between Abe and Daphne was even less exciting. So yeah, it had a high feel good factor (which you really need to compensate for all the shocks of the suspense-part), but further not very interesting. However, because the story was well written, the suspense had an awfully good build up and because the feel-good factor was just enough to leave a happy memory: 4,5 out of 5 stars for Secret Sisters!