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Review: Swan Song by Katy Regnery

★★★★★ 🌶🌶 Series: A Modern Fairytale, Book 9 Review: This review was written for Reedsy Discovery Beautifully damaging, a romantic fairy tale retelling of the beauty within, second chances, and healing Vaughn has lost the will to live after a life of abuse and cruelty. Kidnapped and sold at four years old, only to be rejected by his adopted family and subjected to torment in the foster care system, he plans his death. The kindness of Sasha, a talented ballerina, sparks hope, and soon, their cautious friendship blossoms into something more. But when Vaughn discovers the identity of his birth parents, solving a lifelong mystery and filling a gaping hole in his heart, he knows he must reconnect with the family he lost, even if it means he must leave the love of his life behind. When I started reading Swan Song , I never expected to find such a beautiful and emotional story in a retelling of The Ugly Duckling . Sasha can see beyond Vaughn’s coarse exterior t...

Review: One Night at the Lake by Bethany Chase


★★★★★

Review:

First, I would like to thank Ballantine Books publishing and NetGalley for providing me with a free Kindle ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. 

I was completely swept away by this novel. There was so much emotion that poured out of each of the characters. The book is written on two timelines, alternating with each chapter: when Leah visited the lake with Ollie, and seven years later. From the beginning, we quickly realize that Leah died at the lake, and seven years later, her best friend June is struggling with the emotional toll of taking a visit to this dreaded location with Ollie, who is now her boyfriend. She is flooded with guilt for loving Ollie and living the life that she believes Leah should have lived. As we alternate between timelines, the tension builds. How did Leah die? How will June and Ollie’s relationship recover after revisiting their tragic past? Did Ollie’s brother have any involvement in Leah’s death? This book was very emotional, and I cried along with the characters. I lost my best friend last year, so I felt a lot of empathy for June. I would highly recommend this book and will likely purchase a print copy so that I, too, can revisit the lake. 

#netgalley #onenightatthelake

Audience: adult
Recommended for fans of: suspense, mystery, split timeline
Trigger warnings: death, mourning, sexual content

Publisher's Synopsis

Past and present collide in an atmospheric mystery about two best friends and the man whose lake house means something different to them both--from "a great new voice in fiction" (Emily Giffin).

This is the moment that Leah Tessaro has been waiting for: her boyfriend, Ollie, is taking her and her best friend, June, to his family's lake house for a week of lazy summer bliss, boating and barbequing. Leah can feel in her bones that this vacation will be the moment he finally proposes. And she can't wait to share that joy with June, whose presence will make everything feel more real.

Seven years later, the moment June Kang has been dreading has finally arrived: her fiancé, Ollie, is taking her to his family's house on New York's Seneca Lake. But this is not an ordinary house, on an ordinary lake; it is haunted by June's long-buried memories of her lost friend, Leah, and by all that Leah meant to the man June loves more than anything.

Alternating between the two women's vibrant voices, one in the present and one trapped in the past, Seneca Lake explores a complex tangle of friendship, loyalty, and betrayal, all driving toward one question: what exactly happened to Leah on that hot summer night?

Source:

NetGalley

©Ballantine Books: June 18, 2019
Edition: Kindle ARC
289 pages

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