Book Review - Rearview Mirror by Stephanie Black

I recently finished reading Rearview Mirror by Stephanie Black. I've read one other of her books, Cold As Ice  and loved it. It made its way around my office where I'm the resident library. Rearview Mirror  is now making the rounds as well. As a disclaimer, the author provided me with a free copy of this book, but it didn't impact my review. I would definitely purchase it.

So what's it about?

On a rainy night eight years ago, Fiona Claridge lost control of her car and crashed, injuring herself and killing her roommate, Mia Hardy. Now, she strives to keep the painful past at bay by staying burrowed beneath the demands of her job as a college professor in a small New England town. But when someone starts leaving her gift-wrapped boxes containing malicious reminders of Mia’s death, Fiona’s guilt and grief come flooding back.

She assumes her stalker is Kimberly Bailey, a disgruntled student, and enlists the help of fellow professor James Hampton. But when Fiona encounters the angry wife of an old flame, it becomes clear her student isn’t the only one with an eye for revenge. Cruel messages escalate to danger, then murder. As past and present become horribly entangled, Fiona struggles to unravel the truth about a determined killer—before she becomes the next victim.

What did I think? I loved it. I really haven't been that much of a mystery/suspense reader, but I'm finding myself being pulled into this genre thanks to Stephanie. My heart went out to poor Fiona who already bears so many scars--both physically and emotionally--from the accident all those years ago.

I thoroughly enjoyed the characters that Stephanie created in this story because they were believably flawed. You're only given a part of each character's story and left to guess the rest. I found myself getting really nervous as the end of the book approached because I was emotionally invested in so many characters ... and I knew one of them was the villain. I kept thinking, "No, it can't be ***; I like *** too much." or "No, it can't be *** because if it is *** then **** will be devastated, and I don't want **** to be hurt."

Stephanie messed with my head so much that toward the end of the book, when things were getting really tense, I had a nightmare where my own romantic interest in the WIP I'm editing right now ended up turning into a villain. O_o Mine is not even a mystery/suspense!

If you're interested in reading the first chapter of Rearview Mirror, you can check it out here.

Well, it's Halloween, and tomorrow is the first day of NaNoWriMo.

I decided to be a Zombie but, man, they're sure a lot more bloodthirsty than when I was a girl. I'm going to be a Vegan Zombie.






Are you dressing up?

#PoetrySummer and Books, Books, and More Books

Week 8: #PoetrySummer

(This is from Dan Well's Summer Poetry Challenge.)

 My poem this week is another lyrics selection. It's from the book These Happy Golden Years by Laura Ingalls Wilder. As a girl I absolutely loved this books series and especially this book.

Golden years are passing by,

Happy, happy golden years,

Passing on the wings of time,

These happy golden years.

Call them back as they go by,

Sweet their memories are,

Oh, improve them as they fly,

These happy golden years.

Books, Book, and Books

I've been taking a break from writing, while my critique group and some betas read through a revision. As a result, I've actually had time to read. Imagine that! 

Here are some of the books I've either finished reading or am currently reading:

I have pages of notes that I've taken as I slowly listened to the tale again. Brandon Sanderson is one of those authors who, like Jo Rowling, likes to throw in unexpected twists that he's warned you about but you probably didn't realize you were being warned. He's got a complex storyline going here, and he has a wonderful gift of making me care about the characters.

Fun Romantic Suspense with a nice twist at the end.Stephanie received a Whitney Award for her book this year. It was well deserved. Click here for more details about this book and her other works.

1st book in the Saint Squad Series, a squad of Navy Seals who also happen to be LDS. I'm reading Traci's books to my hubby, and I swear every one of them makes him cry. Click here for more about Traci's books.

2nd Book in the Saint Squad Series

Book 1 in a series with characters from Freefall.

Book 2 in the series.

Something that I enjoy is when we're introduced to characters we love and get to see them again in other books. When we read Freefall we were introduced to a storyline that was back story and only hinted at. It was fun to realize when we began Under Currents that this was that story and involved a younger version of one of the main characters in Freefall. 

Listening to

Fun YA suspense. Click here for a write up.

 I've only got a couple more weeks of no writing (I think), and I've got several more books I'm hoping to get to. *sigh* I suffer from the librarian's lament even though I'm not a librarian.

So many books.

So little time.

So what have you been reading?