Review: Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson

Never Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson

Published: July 30, 2019

Publisher: William Morrow

Format: via Edelweiss

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

Amy Whey is proud of her ordinary life and the simple pleasures that come with it--teaching diving lessons, baking cookies for new neighbors, helping her best friend, Charlotte, run their local book club. Her greatest joy is her family: her devoted professor husband, her spirited fifteen-year-old stepdaughter, her adorable infant son. And, of course, the steadfast and supportive Charlotte. But Amy's sweet, uncomplicated life begins to unravel when the mysterious and alluring Angelica Roux arrives on her doorstep one book club night.

Sultry and magnetic, Roux beguiles the group with her feral charm. She keeps the wine flowing and lures them into a game of spilling secrets. Everyone thinks it's naughty, harmless fun. Only Amy knows better. Something wicked has come her way--a she-devil in a pricey red sports car who seems to know the terrible truth about who she is and what she once did.

When they're alone, Roux tells her that if she doesn't give her what she asks for, what she deserves, she's going to make Amy pay for her sins. One way or another.

To protect herself and her family and save the life she's built, Amy must beat the devil at her own clever game, matching wits with Roux in an escalating war of hidden pasts and unearthed secrets. Amy knows the consequences if she can't beat Roux. What terrifies her is everything she could lose if she wins.

My Thoughts

In Never Have I Ever we met Amy who lives a pretty ideal life, she married a man who loves her, stepmom to a teen and new mother of a baby boy. She has a good circle of friends and one night during book club the new neighbor makes her presence known. Roux is unlike any of the other moms on the block, but she came to play and Amy is her target. Unknown to anyone else Roux has a secret about Amy that could truly blow up Amy’s life but little does Roux know that Amy isn't one just to lay down and be exposed.

Amy has made a new life for herself after years of running from her past. She did something in her teens she isn't proud about and someone else took the blame for it and she hasn't gotten over it. She has made it her mission to help and protect the ones she hurt and although she wants to do right she doesn't want her past to claim her present.

Roux has come to town with the sole purpose to ruin Amy’s life. She has something that Amy has and she wants it now. However, Roux has no idea that Amy is doing a little background check of her own and soon she discovers who Roux really is and the devastating secret(s) Roux has. Roux is sick, twisted and a master manipulator but she has met her match with Amy who isn't backing down and wants Roux to pay for all her wrongdoings.

Never Have I Ever is pure genius, this book had me on my toes from the first page. I love the banter between Roux and Amy and how they always one-upped each other. Just when one thought they were winning the other comes back with something stronger. This is a game that at the end no one really wins, but the reveals are masterpieces. Joshilyn Jackson has outdone herself with this novel of twist and turns and with each revelation, you are bound to be amazed. If you want an honest to god amazing read look no further than this jaw-dropping story.

Review: Sunset Beach by Mary Kay Andrews

Sunset Beach by Mary Kay Andrews

Expected Publication: May 7, 2019

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Format: via Publisher

Rating: 4/5    

Synopsis

Drue Campbell’s life is adrift. Out of a job and down on her luck, life doesn’t seem to be getting any better when her estranged father, Brice Campbell, a flamboyant personal injury attorney, shows up at her mother’s funeral after a twenty-year absence. Worse, he’s remarried – to Drue’s eighth-grade frenemy, Wendy, now his office manager. And they’re offering her a job.

It seems like the job from hell, but the offer is sweetened by the news of her inheritance – her grandparents’ beach bungalow in the sleepy town of Sunset Beach, a charming but storm-damaged eyesore now surrounded by waterfront McMansions.

With no other prospects, Drue begrudgingly joins the firm, spending her days screening out the grifters whose phone calls flood the law office. Working with Wendy is no picnic either. But when a suspicious death at an exclusive beach resort nearby exposes possible corruption at her father’s firm, she goes from unwilling cubicle rat to unwitting investigator and is drawn into a case that may – or may not – involve her father. With an office romance building, a decades-old missing person case re-opened, and a cottage in rehab, one thing is for sure at Sunset Beach: there’s a storm on the horizon.

My Thoughts

In Sunset Beach the newest novel by Mary Kay Andrews we met Drue who is basically down on her luck and estranged from her father ever since her mother’s death. She is working at a bar to make ends meet but she soon reconnects with her father who offers her a job and gives her the house that belonged to her grandparents. As much as she doesn't want anything from him she does need a job so she accepts and as soon as she gets there she realizes he has remarried [again] to her ex-best friend from childhood.

Brice is a lawyer and takes up all kinds of lawsuits so when a woman comes in wanting more money from the death of her daughter Drue realizes that there is something there to check out. She feels like someone tried to cover up something and this poor woman deserves justice for her daughter so she makes it her mission to uncover the truth. In time Drue discovers not only this truth but also another that she will regret finding out. We get dual storylines in Sunset Beach, we also get a mystery of sorts that took place decades before and the players in this one hit closer to Drue than she ever expected.

I really enjoyed this novel I loved how we got two storylines and how they slowly came together in a nice way. The pace was perfect and you definitely got caught up in all the mystery that this book had to offer. I went into thinking this was a light fluffy beach read but this one had a lot of depth to it and as a fan of mystery, I really liked that she played this element to perfection here. This is one Summer read that will have you hooked from the very beginning and will leave you completely satisfied.