Book 14 – The Wife Stalker by Liv Constantine

• Started: January 31, 2021
• Finished: January 31, 2021
• Pages: 306
• Multiple POV, Connecticut
• Rating: 4/5

REVIEW

W0w, this one threw me for a real loop. I finished it a few hours ago and am still processing it. There were so many annoying characters that I had a hard time pushing through it, but I am glad I did because the ending pulled everything together so well. Normally by the time I have 50 pages left, I can get a good sense of how I want the book to end. It doesn’t necessarily mean it’s realistic or what I think will happen, but just a general idea of what would need to transpired in order for me to be happy with the ending. No such case here. I kept getting closer and still was just lost! So many little things from throughout the book that I thought were odd finally clicked once there was the big reveal and I can’t believe it was never even on my radar. This is the third book I’ve read by authors (it’s two sisters writing under one pen name) and I’ve enjoyed them all about the same. I’ll add some more thoughts after the spoilers so I can really expand on all my feelings towards this book.

SUMMARY

This book switches between two points of view: Piper and Joanna. Piper relocates to the East Coast after the death of her husband in California. She is running from her past and sets up shop at a rehabilitation/meditation center, Phoenix Recovery Center. It is there she meets Leo, a handsome lawyer and father of two (Evie and Stelli), looking for some background for a case. Joanna has been with Leo for a long time and is hoping that he will emerge from his depression as he begins to frequent Phoenix Recovery Center. She quickly changes her mind and becomes frustrated when it becomes apparent that Leo’s relationship with Piper extends beyond business. As they decide to move forward with their relationship, Joanna feels forced out of their house and, more importantly, forced out of Evie and Stelli’s lives. Piper settles into her new life with Leo and the kids, struggling to gain their trust and keep her past behind her. Joanna, enraged and in mourning over the loss of her relationship, becomes convinced that Piper is hiding a dangerous past and will stop at nothing to expose Piper and save her family.

SPOILERS BELOW

Piper is immediately enamored with Leo and flirts aggressively with him.  Joanna starts spying on them a bit and tries to ward Piper off but to no avail.  Unfortunately, things get worse when she is forced back home to take care of her mother who suffers a fall.  Her mother is a dependent curmudgeon, blaming all of her issues on her ex-husband who left over 20 years ago and taking out her anger on Joanna.  While she is at her mother’s, Leo has all of her belongings dropped off and she is served papers.  She is a mess and consults a lawyer who advises her to sign, otherwise there is a chance she’ll never see the kids again.  Joanna explains all this to her therapist, Celeste, who is sympathetic but firmly recommends that Joanna starts thinking about her life’s next steps.

Meanwhile, Piper and Leo begin publically dating, spending more and more time together.  Leo slowly introduces Evie and Stelli to her; Evie is polite and reserved while Stelli is much more rebellious and vocal about his dislike for her.  Piper struggles with accepting his children as well, never having wanted any for herself and having had such a poor relationship with her late husband’s daughter, Mia.  She hopes that it will be better with the Leo’s kids as they are younger and will have more time to accept her.  She slowly insinuates herself more into their lives, moving in after she and Leo get married.  Their wedding day is not at all what they had hope for as Joanna takes the kids out beforehand and they end up at the police station after Joanna swatted Stelli after he ran away and is arrested for child endangerment.  Leo tells her it is the last time she will see the kids and she is heartbroken.

After following Piper around town one day, Joanna learns that she used to go by the name Pamela Dunn.  She begins researching this other identity and learns that Piper/Pamela’s ex-husband died in a boating accident that also claimed the life of his teenage daughter, Mia.  Joanna is suspicious and travels out to California to meet his first wife, Ava.  There she meets a woman scorned and in mourning who fosters all the same ill will for Piper that Joanna does.  She attempts to get a copy of their marriage certificate but has to wait due to bureaucratic reasons.  Ava promises to assist and send her a copy as soon as she can.

Piper is overjoyed with her marriage with Leo but finds that the kids are a sore spot.  She feels he continually places them over her and struggles with their outbursts, especially after Stelli gets in trouble at school for telling another child that soon her mother would die.  We learn that both Evie and Stelli have been told their mother is dead, but Stelli hopes that, like Jesus, she can return to them.  Piper also butts heads with Rebecca, the live in nanny, over everything from the food the kids eat to whether or not Piper is trying to replace their mother.  She also clashes with his large, Greek family, when they come over for Thanksgiving.  She already knew Leo’s mother felt the marriage was too soon but feels especially put out when she works all day making a feast only for it to be replaced by all the food his family brings.  Both Piper and his mother make barbed remarks towards each other and the evening remains awkward. 

Once Ava sends Joanna a copy of the marriage license, the women learn that Piper had been married before as well to Evan.  Piper still thinks back to Evan and their young love sporadically through her chapters.  Evan died in a hiking accident after which Piper inherited his trust fund (she also received a healthy sum after her second husband died as well).  Joanna drives to meet his parents who still speak fondly of Piper (or Pamela as they knew her) and afterwards meets Piper’s mom.  Piper’s mother is a cold woman who holds no interest in Piper’s current life and wrote her off the day she ran away from home to elope with Evan.  Joanna becomes more convinced that she Piper’s background turned her into a vicious black widow.

Joanna brings all this information to Celeste who is increasingly frustrated with the lack of progress Joanna is making.  She tries to focus on Joanna’s feelings of abandonment from her father, who left the day after her graduation to be with the other family he had secretly on the side.  His departure left her unable to attend college and stuck with her miserable mother.  Meanwhile, she learned that is new daughter was much more doted on and he never even revealed that he had had a family before.  Joanna continually turns the questions back on Celeste, asking if she has any idea what it’s like to be a parent or if her father helped paid for her college.  The sessions overall do not go well.

Things come to a head after Joanna tracks down Rebecca at the grocery store and asks her to please keep her updated on the children.  Rebecca reaches out one day noting that Stelli has been getting more stomach aches and they tend to be after he’s had a green smoothie from Piper.  This echoes one of Ava’s stories about Piper’s complaints and Joanna is worried that Piper is getting ready to eliminate the children.

THE REVEAL

After Christmas, it had been a tradition for the family to go down to St. Bart’s but Piper convinces Leo it is time for a new tradition and they should go to the vacation house in Maine where they can go hiking and enjoy the family time together.  The kids are not thrilled but the family makes the long drive up.  Joanna is already there, having been tipped off by Rebecca.  She feels this is her last shot to be reunited with Evie and Stelli.  She confronts them on the trail and ends up pulling a stun gun in order to get Stelli to go with her.  They briefly get away and she ends up pulling a real gun and shooting at Stelli.  Piper takes the bullet in her arm as she tackles him out of harm’s way.  Joanna is arrested and Piper is taken to the hospital.  Joanna was not Leo’s ex-wife or the kids’ mother.  Their mother was actually dead, thought to have killed herself after suffering from extended postpartum depression but she was actually pushed off a cliff outside the vacation house by Joanna.  Joanna was Leo’s former assistant and became too wrapped up in his and his family’s life, convinced that even though they were not biologically her, the children belonged to her.  When she was served papers, it was actually Leo terminating her services.  Piper is finally fully accepted into Leo’s family by both Stelli and his mother, so grateful that she finally has the chance to experience the loving home she never had growing up.

Joanna is in jail for her crimes, which include sending Celeste a Trojan horse e-mail and publishing her confidential files to the internet.  It is revealed that Celeste was the daughter of the woman Joanna’s father left for and that Joanna has harbored a grudge against both Celeste and her mother ever since. 

---

Okay, so now you can see why I was so shook.  Liv Constantine did an amazing job of portraying Piper in the worst light and making her seem like a cold-blooded killer.  Knowing now that she wasn’t trying to hurt the kids or Leo does portray her chapters in a different light but I still think that her complaints about Leo putting the kids first over her show a bit of ugly selfishness/naïveté, especially when you consider he is a recent widower and they just lost their mom.  So many things made more sense – namely how abrupt Leo seemed to be with the “divorce” and the fact that the kids thought their mom was dead because, well, she was! The clues were right there but I was completely blind.

Book 13 – The Devil and Sherlock Holmes by David Grann

• Started: January 22, 2021
• Finished: January 30, 2021
• Pages: 334
• Non-fiction
• Rating: 4/5

REVIEW

I’ve decided to read more non-fiction (which means any non-fiction really) in 2021 and this was my first go at it. I decided to read something with an overall tie to crime and murder since that is the type of non-fiction I prefer. Each chapter was as standalone article diving into a specific topic which made the book easy to pick up and put down as I decided I wanted to read something else. The full title is The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession so not all of the articles exactly had the thread of violence through them. Grann is an artful writer, often switching back and forth to his interviews and the his subject’s background in a way that never feels confusing. He is able to travel all over the world to interview his subjects and it allows him to add his own observations and character to his writing. I thought some of the articles were more captivating than others – I found “City of Water,” focused on the water tunnels below New York City’s streets and the men who forge them, particularly interesting. There are some short updates at the end of each chapter/article, noting if anything relevant had happened between the initial publishing and the publishing of the book (in 2010). I looked up some of the main players as I went along, curious as to how much had changed in the past ten years. I would recommend this book, best enjoyed in bits as the mood hits.

January 29, 2021

Top – Patagonia Fuzzy Funnelneck (White)

Bottoms – Paige Jeans (Hemmed)

Shoes – LL Bean Wicked Good Moccasins (Brown) (I wore my white Nikes to work but these felt like the move for the pic)

Earrings – J. Crew Heart Hoops

I had CPR training all day so I just wanted to be comfortable and man did this fit the bill. I received this shirt from my in-laws for Christmas and it’s been on a constant rotation for my lazy days.

Book 12 – Two Can Keep A Secret by Karen M. McManus

• Started: January 28, 2021
• Finished: January 28, 2021
• Pages: 323
• Timelined, Multiple POV, Vermont
• Rating: 4.5/5

REVIEW

I can’t put into words why this book gets a whole half point less than The Cousins, but I just did not like it quite as much. Again, McManus does a great job of evoking the familiarity of being a teenager; the stubbornness, the constant feeling that you are ridiculously smarter than any of the adults around you, and the crazy hormones (one of the main characters gets butterflies in her stomach over her crush’s collar?? Which feels silly at my age but I do remember when even the smallest things felt like so much more). One thing that factored into this book more than her others was how the main characters feel like they are ahead of the cops, but end up putting themselves – and the case – at risk. I thought that felt very real, instead of having everyone over the age of 18 acting like a bumbling idiot. Also, the last line was absolutely fantastic and gave me the chills. So, again, not 100% sure why I didn’t give it a full 5/5, something about the story just didn’t fit as perfectly to me. Very much still enjoyed it and would recommend.

SUMMARY

Ellery and Ezra are twins and are forced to move to Echo Ridge to live with their grandma for four months after their mother checks into rehab. They barely know their grandma – their mom kept her and their small town at arm’s length since her twin disappeared after Homecoming. That’s not the only tragedy that struck Echo Ridge; five years before the Homecoming Queen was murdered, her case never officially solved. Malcom knows all about that – his brother was the victim’s boyfriend and the main suspect. He’s tried to stay out of the spot life since, settling in with his his new family after his mother married one of the most prominent businessmen in town. He and the twins quickly become friends, bonding over being outsiders. Ellery is quickly thrust into the spotlight as she is nominated for Homecoming court and she – and the other female nominees -are threatened with graffiti around town. It feels like a big prank until one of the girls go missing. Switching between the points of view of Ellery and Malcom, the two join forces to work through the most recent disappearance and how it is connected to the past crimes that have haunted their lives.

SPOILERS BELOW

The twins’ misadventures begin before they even make it home from the airport; they, along with their grandma and neighbor, find a dead body. They learn it was a hit-and-run incident which lead to the death of local high school teacher, Mr. Bowman. They are interviewed the next day by nearby policeman, Officer Rodriguez. Ellery, a true crime aficionado, is immediately disappointed by his youth and inexperience but her interest is piqued when she learns he was in the same grade as Lacey, the Homecoming queen who was murdered five years before.

Meanwhile, we also get to meet Malcom. He is still adjusting to his new life and family. Things haven’t been the same since his brother, Declan, was accused of Lacey’s murder. His stepsister, Katrin, is decidedly more popular and their social lives barely overlap. His stepfather, Peter, also barely shows any interest in him, but he is pleased with his mom’s newfound happiness and their acceptance back into Echo Ridge’s folds. He, and the rest of his family, are at a fundraiser in honor of Lacey when he discovers the first big of chilling graffiti, “MURDERLAND / THE SEQUEL / COMING SOON” It is here that he also runs into Ellery for the first time.

Murderland was the name of the annual fall festival, changed to Fright Farm after Lacey’s body was found on the grounds. Ellery and Ezra both get jobs there as there isn’t much else to do in town. Their reputation – or rather that of their mom and her sister – precedes them and everyone around town is intrigued by their return. The twins become friends with Malcolm and Mia, another outlier to the the Echo Ridge norm. Her older sister, Daisy, was friends with Lacey and has recently returned home after abruptly quitting her job out of college. More ominous signs appear around town and begin to hit too close to home when Ellery, Katrin, and Brooke (a close friend of Katrin’s) are nominated to Homecoming Court and are more specifically called out by the taunts. It culminates at the school’s pep rally, that takes place at Fright Farm, when the video feed is hacked and the candids of the three are flashed across the screen.

The next night is the end of the season party for the Fright Farm workers and even Malcolm makes an appearance as he promised to drive Ellery and Ezra home after their shift; it’s past their grandma’s bedtime but she doesn’t want them walking alone late at night. There, the sparks continue to fly between Ellery and Malcolm, though their first kiss is postponed when they run into a drunk Brooke. She seems upset over something and asks Malcolm if he’s ever, “made a really bad mistake?” He doesn’t fully understand what she’s getting at and ends up dropping her off after the twins.

The next day, all three are questioned by the cops: Brooke is missing. Malcolm suffers from serious deja vu, finally fully understanding what his brother had gone through years ago. He’s even more stressed out due to the fact that he knows his brother was in town at the time, but for reasons unknown. When Mia confronts her sister about her comings-and-goings, they find out it is because Daisy and Declan are dating. She admits that they started to fall in love back in school, but didn’t want to do anything that would hurt Lacey. Daisy also states that Lacey alluded to having a new boyfriend on the side, but she didn’t know the details. The guilt over her friend’s death and the fact that she never truly let herself grieve lead to a nervous breakdown which is why she is back in Echo Ridge. This all makes sense to the others, but Ellery begins to wonder if Officer Rodriguez was the other man, especially after her mom claims he was a mess at Lacey’s funeral.

Since Brooke’s disappearance, Ellery hasn’t just been coming up with theories, she’s been investigating. One of the things she looks into is what Brooke was doing the night of the staff party. They realize that she was attempting to unlock the recycling bin but wasn’t able to. Ellery is and she takes the content back to sort through with Ezra, Mia, and Malcolm. They discover only one thing that stands out: the receipt for Katrin’s car after a collision. It was taken to a repair shop well outside of town. None of it makes sense until they realize the date is the same as when Ellery and Ezra first made it to Echo Ridge and, more importantly, the same night Mr. Bowman was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Now they are suspicious of Katrin, especially after Malcolm catches her sneaking out to put up more graffiti.

Ellery has no idea what to think and continues to look into Officer Rodriguez. She and Ezra bring some things over to his house at their grandmother’s request and stumbles upon a family picture. It doesn’t make sense though because his dad looks exactly like Ezra. Officer Rodriguez’s awkwardness at their first meeting makes sense; it wasn’t that he was struggling to conduct police business, it was the fact he realized he had half siblings. Ellery confronts her mother about his – and all the other secrets she’s kept from them – over Facetime. She admits that her guilt over losing her sister had completely overtaken her life and that things were never the same after.

Brooke’s body is found and the whole town is in mourning. Declan is interviewed by the police after his class ring – the one he gave Lacey and was never recovered – is found near the body. Ellery, convinced it isn’t Declan after his relationship with Daisy was revealed, turns her sights to bully Kyle McNulty, Brooke’s ex. His older sister was Declan’s girlfriend before Lacey and fostered a huge grudge against the couple. She brings this theory to Office Rodriguez, who is exasperated with her continued insertion into the case.

THE REVEAL

Ellery and Malcolm are hanging out at his place on a quasi-not date, as teenagers with crushes tend to have, both baffled by all the information they have collected and how none of it adds up. Katrin and Brooke killed Mr. Bowman but there’s no way Katrin killed Brooke? Is it possible Brooke and Lacey’s murders are completely unrelated? And how does Ellery’s aunt factor into all of this? They have no idea and can’t look into Katrin anymore since she’s been sent to stay with her aunt for a bit. Peter stops by to check on them and offhandedly remarks that Katrin and the aunt are close – they were together just back at the end of August.

Then it hits them – Katrin could not have been driving the car that killed Mr. Bowman. But that means it was Peter. And why would he have been with Brooke? He was in a relationship with her, and probably Lacey too. Peter realizes that they’ve put the pieces together and grabs a gun, pushing them into a closet. He admits to being in a relationship with both the young women and framing Declan. He and Brooke were together when they hit Mr. Bowman and the guilt over the accident was causing her to threaten to go public with their relationship. Ellery asks about her aunt and he whisper a response in her ear. Peter locks them in a room and turns up the carbon monoxide. The two frantically try to escape but both pass out.

Ellery awakes in the hospital, having been rescued by Officer Rodriguez. Both she and Malcolm will make full recoveries and Peter has been caught. Officer Rodriguez tells Ellery that they were already making a case against Peter, having put together the pieces after tracking down a unique piece of jewelry that he had given both Lacey and Brooke. Katrin had realized her father was involved when she found Brooke’s phone case in his study and continued the graffiti to bring attention away from him. The vandalism and pep rally hack had originally been orchestrated by a girl in their grade, trying to drum up a story for the school newspaper.

Malcolm and Ellery start dating and she and Ezra slowly begin forging a relationship with their new step-siblings. Malcolm asks her if she had a better idea of what happened to her aunt after Peter whispered in her ear, but she claims she couldn’t hear him. We learn that she did, but she’ll never share what he said in worries of further damaging her slowly-recovering mother. In fact, she’ll take it to the grave, knowing that the mistake that costs her aunt’s life allowed her to have her’s.

Peter told her “I thought she was your mother.”

January 27, 2021

Top – J. Crew Factory Sleeveless Turtleneck (Black)

Bottoms – Loft Trousers (Black)

Shoes – Sarah Flint Rosie (Cheetah)

Accessories – Braided Belt (Black), Large Hoop Earrings (Gold), Square Scarf (Cheetah)

January 25, 2021

Top – J. Crew Tissue Turtleneck (Black)

Dress – Hillhouse Ellie Nap Dress (Tai Check)

Shoes – Franco Sarto Trent Bootie (Black)

Big Bow (not pictured but in my hair) – Madewell Oversized Bow (Black)

Ugh another great outfit, if I do say so myself. I accidentally ordered the wrong size in my nap dress so it tends to pull down a bit due to all the stretch (I might get straps taken in) so I knew I couldn’t wear it out unless I had something underneath. There is black in the check pattern and I’ve seen other people do the the turtleneck and I thought it was so cute. Definitely a whole look. I knew I would see a lot of people at work today and that it’d be busy so I wanted to look good and be comfortable at the same time. This fit the bill! I will definitely repeat this again.

Book 11 – Pretty Little Wife by Darby Kane

• Started: January 24, 2021
• Finished: January 24, 2021
• Pages: 400
• Timeline Jumps, Third Person Narrator, New York
• Rating: 4.75/5

REVIEW

It was a busy week and it was nice to get back into some reading, especially with a book as engrossing as this one. I have been reading a bit of non-fiction, right now a compilation of articles that have some relation to crime, and the structure makes it easy to pick up and put down since each chapter/article is standalone. Today, I had enough of real life and dove into this thriller, as recommended by a former high school classmate turned GoodReads companion. I liked it a lot! There were connections and conclusions I had jumped to just from the back cover and I was happily surprised by the twists the author incorporated throughout. I wasn’t floored by the ending – at a certain point it was the only possible solution – but I did not seeing going that way for the majority of the book. My biggest issue with the book was the very ending; the very end and last two chapters seemed incongruous with the rest of the book regarding the main character’s motivations. Don’t get me wrong, she was an incredible character, but it seemed to imply that she was even more methodical than she was (which was very!). Maybe that’s just my interpretation of it.

SUMMARY

Lila Ridgefield leads a quiet, solitary life with her husband, Aaron Payne. The book starts off with them getting into a huge argument and then fast forwards to six weeks later, when Lila has taken care of her husband, for good. She is ready to play the role of the grieving wife when she learns her husband is not dead – he’s just missing. All of a sudden, she realizes her plan has been foiled – but by who? As Lila attempts to calm both her own nerves and those of the inquisitive police she starts receiving notes hinting that someone knows what she did. Switching back and forth in time through the investigation and the weeks leading up to Aaron’s disappearance, Lila finds that someone has been one step ahead of her the whole time.

SPOILERS BELOW

The investigation is spearheaded by Ginny and Lila realizes that she has met a worthy opponent.  As the police dig into Lila’s past it is revealed that Lila Ridgefield has only existed for the past thirteen years.  With her former colleague and lawyer, Tobias, by her side Lila final submits to a police interview.   She admits that she changed her name to get away from the shadow of her past; her father kidnapped, raped, and killed her best friend when they were teenagers, convinced they were in love.  The police are still suspicious of her detached demeanor, even though her background helps to explain it.  She continues to tell them she has no idea where her husband is and sows the seeds of suspicion towards others in his life.  Aaron’s brother, Jared, had the true financial incentive as he would be able to claim the entirety of the trust left to the brothers after their mother was accidentally shot by a group of hunters.  His best friend and the principal at the high school Aaron taught, Brent, also had a financial incentive as he asked Aaron for a loan after his divorce. 

Even though she told the police about Aaron and Jared’s trust, Jared and Lila remain close throughout the investigation, always having had an easygoing relationship.  Brent does accuse her of being cold, both to her face and to the investigators, telling them something had been off between Aaron and Lila since their fight six weeks earlier, the one that starts the book off.  The public turns against Lila as she is continually disinterested in finding Aaron, not even showing up to one of the major searches.  Her only solace is an ongoing podcast, covering the disappearance of three local women over the past three years.  She is frustrated when Aaron’s disappearance joins the coverage – he continues to dominate another woman’s narrative, even in absentia.

It is revealed to the reader that Aaron had a second phone on which he had recordings of him having sex with his high school students.  Since that argument, they had reached an uncomfortable détente and been sleeping in separate bedrooms.  Lila had killed him and left the phone in the car with him; it was to look like a suicide and the videos would have been his “note.”  Lila would have been able to fade into the background as outrage over his predatory nature took hold.  Unfortunately, more days pass without his body being found.  Even worse, Lila has started receiving notes alluding to the fact that someone knows what she did.  She is in a constant panic, thinking Aaron might still be out there.  Things get worse as her affair with a former client and criminal professor, Ryan, becomes public.  She denies it at first, but decides to come clean to the cops, telling them it was just sex and that it never meant anything to her.  She claims that Aaron knew nothing of Ryan and that the two men’s paths never crossed but the cops doubt that after they find Aaron’s phone at Ryan’s home. 

With the phone in police custody, videos of Aaron with his students become common knowledge.  Lila is forced to admit she was aware of them, but not for very long.  She tells them she was keeping her cards close to the chest because she wasn’t sure if anyone else was involved.  The public still believes Lila took part in her husband’s disappearance but now they are grateful for her vigilante intervention.  With Aaron’s phone, they are also able to track his car’s GPS.  They find him, stabbed, outside a cabin.  There they also find the body of the most recent missing girl from the podcast.  While they feel confident he killed her, the question remains: who killed him? Even Lila is no longer sure if it was her after hearing about the stabbing, but the ME determines that he was killed, froze, and then stabbed after the fact.  At the cabin, pieces of jewelry from the other two women on the podcast are found, along with the other, unclaimed pieces.  It seems as though Aaron kept the house as some sort of secret murder home.  Ginny’s boss considers the cases closed, not willing to bring charges against Lila, especially without any strong evidence. 

THE REVEAL

Something still feels off to Lila and she heads to the cabin, having almost followed Aaron all the way there weeks before, stopping only as the road narrowed and her cover dissipated.  There she is attacked by Jared.  He reveals that he was the real serial killer; his father was a part of group of men who hunted women and he continued the tradition as he got older.  Their mother was killed by the same group after piecing together too much about their excursions.  While Aaron grew up in the same community, he preferred sexually preying on his students more than the hunt.  Jared had been keeping an eye on the couple since their big fight and saw when Lila abandoned Aaron’s body and car.  He had been sending Lila the notes, teasing her throughout the investigation, and planted Aaron’s phone at Ryan’s house.  He attacks her but she fights back and kills him, just as Ginny’s partner arrives.  She, too, was convinced there was more to the story and had her partner tail Lila.  They are still not able to prove that Lila took part in Aaron’s death but Ginny is finally able to make peace with it, knowing that Lila will not kill again. 

---

If you are interested a book that focuses more on the horrors that Jared was a part of, I would recommend Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter which explores a similar topic.  Please note this book is extremely graphic and disturbing.  Trigger Warnings for: torture, rape, mutilation, and snuff films. 

January 21, 2021

Top – Everlane Cashmere Shirt (Navy)

Bottoms – J. Crew Straight Legged Cords (Gray)

Shoes – Franco Sarto Bootie (Brown)

Headband – Amazon Knot (Red)

I just had to run into work so I put together something simple. I can’t wait until more people show up so there’s a greater incentive to get dressed up. Sometimes I try to do it just for me but it’s not the same.

January 20, 2021

Top – Madewell Scoop Neck Stripe (Zipper at neckline, has a pocket)

Blazer – J. Crew Camel

Pants – J. Crew Tapered Trouser (Navy)

Shoes – M. Gemi Scuola 70MM (Navy, Luggage, and Sand)

I wanted to wear some blue and white stripes for inauguration today. My best friend gave me this shirt forever ago after she shrunk it in the wash and it became too small for her. The stripes are bleeding a bit bit it’s a nice, thick material and always reminds me of her when I wear it.

Book 10 – The Wife Who Knew Too Much by Michele Campbell

• Started: January 19, 2021
• Finished: January 19, 2021
• Pages: 322
• Timeline Jumps, Multiple POV, New York
• Rating: 4/5

REVIEW

This book was a perfect example of “good, not great.” It is the third book I’ve read by the author and I think that kind of worked against me as I read this one. Both of the others, It’s Always The Husband and Stranger on the Beach employ the use of an unreliable narrator to great effect and I was expecting the same thing here. I found the “reveal” kind of predictable (though I had not worked out all of the details) and was waiting for the other shoe to drop but it never did. I guess a simple ending is its own sort of twist for some thrillers. The GoodReads description is much different than the inside cover and had me thinking the book would have gone in a different direction with more revealed to the main character, instead just of just us, the reader. The main character, Tabitha, was annoyingly sweet and while I don’t doubt at all that there are many equally naive people out there, it makes for a frustrating lead in a thriller.

SUMMARY

Nina Levitt thinks her husband is going to kill her. She writes as much in her diary the day of her death, detailing his betrayal and the fact that he has been planning it with a female accomplice for some time. Tabitha Girard is working as a waitress in the town she grew up in when her teenage summer love walks in: Connor Ford. She is absolutely enamored in his presence and the feeling seems to be reciprocated. Unfortunately, they can’t be together: he is married to Nina and she has an ironclad prenup hanging over his head. They’re both distraught until Nina dies and Tabitha realizes she’s pregnant. Tabitha is quickly swept into the world of the ultra rich and realizes her husband has been keeping secrets from her. Tensions rise as Nina’s death is ruled a murder and Tabitha becomes the number one suspect.

SPOILERS BELOW

Tabitha goes to Windswept, Nina’s estate, on the July 4^th in order to tell Connor that she is pregnant; not realizing it is the night of Nina’s annual Gala.  She attempts to crash the party, briefly getting in when security is distracted by her unruly ex-husband who followed her there.  Steve Kovacs, head of Security, finds her and escorts her out.  Nina is upset with him – he is supposed to be watching over her and Connor before she serves him divorce papers, not dealing with trespassers.  Tabitha is back the next day when she learns Nina is dead.  Connor calls her informing her that, in order to avoid suspicions, they need to keep their relationship on the back burner for a bit.  That will not be possible, Tabitha shares, as she is pregnant.

They quietly get married at town hall and go on their honeymoon.  Tabitha returns to Windswept while Connor continues on with Levitt business abroad.  Tabitha is overwhelmed by her new home and wealth, but is assisted by Juliet, Nina’s former personal assistant.  She and Connor butt heads for the first time as the press catches wind of their marriage, which doesn’t bode well for him in the lawsuit over Nina’s estate, as brought on by her estranged sister.  The sister is arguing that it was not a suicide and that Connor took part in his death, nullifying is claim to the estate.  Tabitha says the money is not important to her, but still tries to stay out of the public eye. 

Throughout the book, we see things from Nina’s point of view: her meeting Connor and their subsequent romance.  She had a private investigator look into him before they got married and only one thing came up: he was a person of interest in the disappearance of his college girlfriend, Lissa Davila, even though she went missing years after they broke up.  Nina is satisfied that he took no part of it and decides to move forward with Connor, marrying him. 

As Tabitha joins the folds of Connor’s inner circle, she realizes that she is in completely over her head.  Everyone seems to have a hidden agenda, including Connor.  She hears Connor and Juliet arguing and begins to think there is something going on between the two of them.  Arriving at the airport after accompanying Connor on an overseas business trip, Tabitha is arrested in the murder of Nina.  She is whisked away, shocked.  Connor does not appear at her bail hearing where she is greeted by an overwhelmed corporate lawyer.  She quickly hires a new, criminal attorney, with whom she pleads her innocence.  They go to police for an informational interview where Tabitha claims she was framed, but she’s not sure by whom.  They agree to send her home with an ankle monitor that doubles as a recording device, but warn her that she might end up incriminating herself – or Connor.

THE REVEAL

When Tabitha returns home she is met with suspicion from Kovacs, now leading their home security team.  She feels lost and hopeless until she runs into Gloria, the housekeeper.  Gloria tells Tabitha she knows she is innocent and that she left proof for her in her room.  Tabitha finds Nina’s diary, the relevant entries acting as earlier chapters of the book.  In it, we learn that Nina never knew of Tabitha – the woman she knew to be Connor’s accomplice was Juliet.  Julissa Maria Davila, was also the Lissa of Connor’s past and illegitimate child of her first husband, born after he raped Gloria.  Tabitha is startled by Connor’s arrival, unsure of his role in Nina’s death.  He admits his involvement with Juliet, but claims that he never wanted to hurt Nina and that he does truly love Tabitha.  He tells her Juliet planned it from the start and has been blackmailing Connor to keep it quiet as she has his fingerprints on the drugged glass Nina drank before drowning.  It is at this point that Juliet arrives with a gun.  She and Kovacs hold the two hostage, shooting Connor when he tries to help Tabitha escape.  They travel back to Tabitha’s small town, refusing to drop Connor off at a hospital or get any medical help due to the questions that would arise.  Tabitha fears for both his life, and that of their unborn daughter.  She is briefly left alone and able to escape.  Chased by Juliet and Kovacs she waves down a driver who takes her to the hospital.  While she was able to escape the situation relatively unscathed, the others were not so lucky.  Connor succumbed to his injuries and the bodies of Juliet and Kovacs were found shortly thereafter, the latter killed in a shootout with the police.  Tabitha settles the estate with Nina’s sister, donating the bulk to charity.  She returns to her small town to raise her daughter, happy knowing in her heart that Connor was a good man who loved her deeply.