The Intruder – Book Review

Title:- The Intruder

Author:- Freida McFadden

Date published:- October 7th 2025

No. of pages:- 279 pages

Genre:- Thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 4/5 Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 4/5

Who knows what the storm will blow in…

Casey’s cabin in the wilderness is not built for a hurricane. Her roof shakes, the lights flicker, and the tree outside her front door sways ominously in the wind. But she’s a lot more worried about the girl she discovers lurking outside her kitchen window.

She’s young. She’s alone. And she’s covered in blood.

The girl won’t explain where she came from or loosen her grip on the knife in her right hand. And when Casey makes a disturbing discovery in the middle of the night, things take a turn for the worse.

The girl has a dark secret. One she’ll kill to keep. And if Casey gets too close to the truth, she may not live to see the morning.

In this taut, deadly tale of survival and desperation, #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden explores how far one girl will go to save herself.

The Intruder is another fast-paced thriller written by one of my favorite thriller authors, Freida McFadden, which was actually released only two months’ ago.

Casey is living in a remote cabin in the woods. There is a storm coming on the way and the roof of the cabin is questionable. However, Casey remains in the cabin until she sees a light coming from the tool shed. When she goes out to see the tool shed, she sees a young girl covered in blood cowering in the corner. Casey manages to pry the girl from the tool shed and asks her to come into her cabin. But Casey notices blood coming out of the young girl’s bag and that when Casey found a notebook, that covered with disturbing pictures of a woman getting tortured. Has Casey done a terrible mistake inviting a complete stranger in the middle of the storm with no power? Can Casey survive in the storm?

Like all Freida McFadden books, the book is a page turner. The story is told in the POVs of Casey and another girl who seems to be enduring abuse from her own mother. There are twists and turns, just like in most of McFadden books. This book will almost put you on the edge of the seat as you read through the books. The ending was BAM quite unexpected ending.

If I rant on about the review, I may give a lot of spoilers. But be aware, there are some sensitive content to some readers which include mostly parental abuse.

Overall this book was great and I give this book four stars.

Most Favorite and Least Favorite books by month

I saw a trend on Instagram where each of them label out their most and least favorite of books in each month so I thought I will also do the same. Here are my most favorite and least favorite books of each month.

Least Favorite

Most Favorite

Most Favorite

Least Favorite

Most Favorite

Least Favorite

Most Favorite (I had two in April)

Least Favorite

Most Favorite

Least Favorite

Again I have two books that are my most favorite in June

Most Favorite

Least Favorite

Most Favorite

Least Favorite

I didn’t give any books less than four stars so there is no least favorite book in the month of July

Most Favorite

Least Favorite

Most Faorite

Least Favorite

Most Favorite

Least Favorite

Most Favorite

Least Favorite

December still reading and will update the list afterwards.

The Gingerbread Bakery – Book Review

Title:- The Gingerbread Bakery

Author:- Laurie Gilmore

Date published:- Septembe 16th 2025

No. of pages:- 358 pages

Genre:- Romance

Rating:-

Plot:- 4/5 Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 4/5

As owner of her beloved Gingerbread Bakery, Annie Andrews should have a love life to match her business; sugary and sweet. But instead, she’s locked in a game of words with the irritatingly upbeat bar owner down the street.

Mac Sullivan has everything he wants, except the girl he dreams of. It’s easier to argue with Annie than get her to talk to him but with Jeanie and Logan’s wedding coming up, they’re about to spend a lot more time together.

As the snowflakes fall and with romance in the air, will Annie see that the one she loves to hate might just be her perfect match after all?

The Gingerbread Bakery is a cozy romantic novel with an enemies to lovers dynamic, small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed!

Tropes:

• Enemies to lovers
• Found family
• Small Town
• Forced Proximity

The Gingerbread Bakery is the fifth book of the Dream Harbor series. Now this time, the story follows Annie Andrews who owns the Gingerbread Bakery and Mac Sullivan who owns the Sullivan pub. The two cannot stand each other due to the history between them. As their friends’ wedding is itching closer, Annie must get along with Mac for the sake of Jeanie and Logan. Logan’s grandmother Estelle goes missing along with Jeanie’s aunt and so Annie had to reluctantly work with Mac to find Estelle before the bride and bridegroom finds out.

I have gotten addicted with Dream Harbor series and so always make sure to buy the latest book. Dream Harbor series are quite popular in my country Sri Lanka as well. The story changes between past (then) when Annie and Mac were teenagers and now when they were both adults and few days before their friends’ wedding. In the past, both Annie and Mac have graduated from high school and Annie thinks Mac is a jerk. There are some funny parts in the book as well when all their other friends are suspecting that there is something between the two. Of course, Annie and Mac get together in the end.

Overall, I rate this book as four stars.

You can read this book as a standalone but then it will be better if you can read all the books before reading this one. Also since this is set during Christmas, perfect to read during Christmas time.

Forget You Saw Her – Book Review

Title:- Forget You Saw Her

Author:- Noelle W Ihli

Date published:- November 4th 2025

No. of pages:- 370 pages

Genre:- Thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 5/5 Writing:- 5/5

Overall rating:- 5/5

A missing girl. A frantic mother. A desperate search.

Across the country, notes taped to restroom stalls read, “On a date that isn’t going well? Ask for Andrea at the bar. We’ll make sure you get home safe.”

But Andrea—the girl behind the campaign—didn’t make it home safe. 

She disappeared without a trace at seventeen. The police labeled her a runaway, and the case went cold. That is, until her mother, Sabina, starts digging for answers.

But the closer she gets to the truth, the clearer it becomes that not everyone wants Andrea to be found. A predator is hiding in plain sight, keeping close tabs on the search. And he’ll do whatever it takes to make sure his secrets stay buried. 

Forget You Saw Her is the chilling standalone prequel to the international bestseller Ask for Andrea.

This is the prequel of Ask for Andrea although you can read both the books as standalone.

Forget You Saw Her follows the story of Sabina who when she was sixteen had to give her own daughter up fo adoption. Now Sabina receives a letter from the police requesting DNA from Sabina to ensure that the body at the morgue does not belong to her daughter Andrea Beaumont. Now Sabina decides to find answers about her daughter that she drives all the way from Oregon to the small town called Ogden Utah.

This book contains sensitive topics such as sexual abuse, domestic abuse and child abuse. Readers are cautioned.

I enjoyed this one. The story is actually emotional and heartbreaking to reading, particularly reading Isabel’s part. Like Ask for Andrea, both Andrea and Isabel are ghosts who were both murdered by Andrea’s adopted father Dennis Beaumont and they try to seek revenge and justice. We also have Sabina’s POV where she describes her emotions and determination to find answers about her daughter’s whereabouts. The story itself is fast paced, with some twists and turns and also a page turner. As I mentioned earlier, the story is sad and heartbreaking. The ending was expected but it was a satisfactory ending in my opinion.

Another thing is I really like this author’s style of writing. The whole story was written flawlessly and smoothly and I like how the author managed to get the reader into the story. Not to mention that even though it is a work of fiction, this story is apparently based on real life events.

This is the third book I have read from this author and so far, this book is one of my favorites. I highly recommend her books and for this book I give five stars.

The Favorites – Book Review

Title:- The Favourites

Author:- Layne Fargo

Date published:- January 14th 2025

No. of pages:- 464 pages

Genre:- Sports Romance

Rating:-

Plot:- 5/5 Writing:- 5/5

Overall rating:- 5/5

To the world, they were a scandal. To each other, an obsession.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating, starring a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice

“Part Wuthering Heights and part Daisy Jones & The Six, this novel is as brilliantly choreographed as a gold medal performance and will keep you guessing until its last page.”—Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name

She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family’s support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating—and each other—to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and roller-coaster relationship.

Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end.

As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the “real story” through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she can’t stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy. So, after a decade of silence, she’s telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.

This is one of the best books I have read so far this year.

I am not normally a fan of sports romance but this book was quiet unputdownable. The Favorites follow the story of Katarina Shaw and Heath Rocha. Katarina has one dream–to become a professional ice skater and an Olympic winner like her idol, Sheila Lin. In a chance encounter, Katarina meets Sheila who invited her and Heath to train at her academy in California. They meet the Lin twins–Bella and Garrett–Bella is Katarina’s frenemy who like Katarina wants to follow her mother’s footsteps while Garrett is a sweet guy. Katarina and Heath somewhat shows a passionate yet dysfunctional love relationship between them–and this love story takes them all the way from the US, to Japan to Russia.

I like the tits and bits of documentary parts where they interview all the people who were affiliated with Katarina and Heath from the coaches to the people who competed against them. Katarina is determined, and would do anything to get her goal–even if it include straining relationship with the people she loved. Heath and Katarina somewhat have a strong chemistry–where at times it was passionate and at the other times it could be dysfunctional. The story itself is very realistic with the things that are happening in the sports world and how the media are very much interested in Katarina and Heath scandal. There is so much drama, so much scandal, passion and suspense that you simply wouldn’t want to put this book down.

Very rare I would give a romance book a five star but this is a whopping five stars for me. Can’t wait to read more books from this author.

Layne Fargo has a background in theater, women’s studies, and library science, so it’s only fitting that she now writes deliciously dramatic, unapologetically feminist stories for a living. She’s the author of the novels THE FAVORITES, THEY NEVER LEARN, and TEMPER, as well as co-author on the bestselling YOUNG RICH WIDOWS series, and her work has been translated into over a dozen languages. Layne lives in Chicago with her partner, their pets, and an ever-expanding collection of books she’s definitely going to read before she dies.

One Perfect Couple – Book Review

Title:- One Perfect Couple

Author:- Ruth Ware

Date published:- May 21st 2024

No. of pages:- 385 pages

Genre:- Thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 3/5 Writing:- 3/5

Overall rating:- 3/5

Harkening to Agatha Christie’s classic And Then There Were None, this high-tension and ingenious thriller follows five couples trapped on a storm-swept island as a killer stalks among them.

Lyla is in a bit of a rut. Her post-doctoral research has fizzled out, she’s pretty sure they won’t extend her contract, and things with her boyfriend, Nico, an aspiring actor, aren’t going great. When the opportunity arises for Nico to join the cast of a new reality TV show, The Perfect Couple, she decides to try out with him. A whirlwind audition process later, Lyla find herself whisked off to a tropical paradise with Nico, boating through the Indian Ocean towards Ever After Island, where the two of them will compete against four other couples—Bayer and Angel, Dan and Santana, Joel and Romi, and Conor and Zana—in order to win a cash prize.

But not long after they arrive on the deserted island, things start to go wrong. After the first challenge leaves everyone rattled and angry, an overnight storm takes matters from bad to worse. Cut off from the mainland by miles of ocean, deprived of their phones, and unable to contact the crew that brought them there, the group must band together for survival. As tensions run high and fresh water runs low, Lyla finds that this game show is all too real—and the stakes are life or death.

A fast-paced, spellbinding thriller rife with intrigue and characters that feel so true to life, this novel proves yet again that Ruth Ware is the queen of psychological suspense.

This book was one of my most anticipated Ruth Ware books and I have to say, I am a bit disappointed with the book.

One Perfect Couple follows the story of Lyla Santiago, who is a scientist. Her boyfriend Nico is a struggling actor and he gets a part to act in a reality TV show One Perfect Couple. Lyla follows Nico along to an island just off from Indonesia. There are other couples as –Joel and Romi, Santana and Dan, Bayer and Angel and Connor and Zana. A storm comes into the island leaving the others stranded in the island. As they are struggling to survive in the island, there is someone who would want to get rid of them one by one and Lyla must find out who before she herself become the victim.

I had a very hard time finishing the book. The pacing wasn’t great, not much of twists and turns that you would expect normally in a thriller and above all, it wasn’t great. None of the characters are likable in my opinion and I skimmed through the book in the end as I am someone who doesn’t want to DNF the books. The book sounds like Lost TV series except they are in a part of a reality TV show. However, this was OK compared to her last year novel Zero Days which in my opinion wasn’t great.

Just because this book wasn’t great doesn’t mean I am going to stop read Ruth Ware’s books. My favorite to this date is Death of Mrs. Westaway, Turn of the Key and The Woman in Cabin 10 which made me read almost all Ruth Ware’s books. I hope her next book will be better than this one.

Overall worth three stars.

The Wife Upstairs – Book Review

Title:- The Wife Upstairs

Author:- Freida McFadden

Date published:- March 23rd 2020

No. of pages:- 420 pages

Genre:- Psychological thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 3/5 Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 3.5/5

An alternative cover edition can be found here

Victoria Barnett has it all.

A great career. A handsome and loving husband. A beautiful home in the suburbs and a plan to fill it with children. Life is perfect—or so it seems.

Then she’s in a terrible accident… and everything falls apart.

Now Victoria is unable to walk. She can’t feed or dress herself. She can’t even speak. She is confined to the top floor of her house with twenty-four-hour care.

Sylvia Robinson is hired by Victoria’s husband to help care for her. But it turns out Victoria isn’t as impaired as Sylvia was led to believe. There’s a story Victoria desperately wants to tell… if only she could get out the words.

Then Sylvia discovers Victoria’s diary hidden away in a drawer.

And what’s inside is shocking.

I am reading all Freida McFadden’s books and this is one of the books that I got my hands on.

The Wife Upstairs talks about this girl Sylvie who was unexpectedly given a job by a best selling author Adam–the job is look after his wife, the paralyzed Victoria. Sylvie readily accepts the job as she is in desperate need for money but she has to move into their almost mansion house located in the middle of nowhere. As Sylvie moves in, she comes across Victoria’s diary and starts reading it.

Victoria used to have it all–a perfect career as an ER nurse and of course her budding romance with handsome Adam. But as the relationship progressed, Victoria couldn’t help but realize that Adam isn’t picture perfect as he seemed. In fact, Adam is jealous, obsessive and controlling. As Sylvie reads her diary, the Adam she knew sounded different from what Victoria is saying. Did Sylvie make a right decision to accept the job? Is she in danger?

Like all her books, The Wife Upstairs is fast paced and page turning. That was the only thing. However, unlike some of her books, this was far too predictable. We already know who the villain is, we know what the ending is going to be (well mostly I did) so as a result, I didn’t really enjoy this book as much as I did with the others. The ending was too predictable and the twists were all predictable in my opinion as well. I could safely say that in my opinion, the Wife Upstairs might not really be her best–although it is a lot better than her recently released novel The Co-Worker, which by far in my opinion is her not best.

And this book also reminded me of Verity by Colleen Hoover–I may not be a fan of Colleen Hoover but Verity is by far my favorite Colleen Hoover novel. The plot line is exactly the same although the main protagonist’s stay in the house is the only difference. If you haven’t read the Verity, go ahead and read and then you can read this book.

Overall, this book is worth 3.5 stars.

The Last One At the Wedding – Book Review

Title:- The Last One At the Wedding

Author:- Jason Rekulak

Date published:- October 8th 2024

Genre:- Thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 4/5 Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 4/5

From the bestselling author of Hidden Pictures comes a breathtaking work of suspense about a father trying to save his daughter from a life-altering decision that will put everything he loves on the line.

Frank Szatowski is shocked when his daughter, Maggie, calls him for the first time in three years. He was convinced that their estrangement would become permanent. He’s even more surprised when she invites him to her upcoming wedding in New Hampshire. Frank is ecstatic, and determined to finally make things right.

He arrives to find that the wedding is at a private estate—very secluded, very luxurious, very much out of his league. It seems that Maggie failed to mention that she’s marrying Aidan Gardner, the son of a famous tech billionaire. Feeling desperately out of place, Frank focuses on reconnecting with Maggie and getting to know her new family. But it’s difficult: Aidan is withdrawn and evasive; Maggie doesn’t seem to have time for him; and he finds that the locals are disturbingly hostile to the Gardners. Frank needs to know more about this family his daughter is marrying into, but if he pushes too hard, he could lose Maggie forever.

An edge-of-your-seat thriller that delves deep into the heart of one family, The Last One at the Wedding is a work of brilliant suspense from a true modern master.

If you have not read Jason Rekulak’s debut book, The Hidden Pictures, you must grab your hand on the book before reading this one. Well, this book has nothing to do with the first book but then this book wasn’t great as the first book. With that being said, I am not saying this wasn’t great–it was in my opinion somewhat a good thriller. But a bit unreliastic.

Frank Szatowski is a dedicated and hardworking employee at the UPS having worked at UPS for over twenty years. He was also a former US army officer. Frank gets a surprise when his daughter, Maggie calls him unexpectedly. Maggie and Frank had been estranged for three years and so it was a bit of surprise and a shock to Frank when Maggie tells Frank that she is getting married to Aiden Gardner, who is the son of the wealthy tycoon and is inviting him and Frank’s sister Tammie for her wedding. The wedding will be held at none other than the Gardener’s own estate in New Hampshire, known as Osprey Cove.

As Frank is happy for his daughter, he couldn’t help but notice how distant his future-son-law Aiden is–not to mention how Aiden looks as if he keeps dark secrets to himself. Frank then receives an anonymous letter with a picture of a girl and Aiden together. The girl is Dawn Toggart who mysteriously went missing and was supposedly last seen with Aiden, although Aiden denied his involvement. As Frank goes to celebrate his daughter’s wedding, he couldn’t help but notice that the Gardener family is hiding secrets…

This was well written but then I feel the thrill wasn’t that great in the book. The story is told in Frank’s POV completely. There are some twists and turns in the story and the pacing of the story was moderate. However, the story gets more interesting towards the end of the book and the most unexpected ending is found at the end. However, it wasn’t as great as the Hidden Pictures, which kept me up all night and that it wasn’t that fast paced or page turning like the previous book. Nevertheless, it was a good thriller though–the plot was OK.

I do like the mention of estranged relationship with Frank and his daughter Maggie and the fact about Maggie which is revealed at the end. Frank is obviously a caring father while Maggie could be manipulative. Then we have sweet Abigail who is a sweetest child and Tammie who is oblivious about Maggie’s character.

Overall this book is worth four stars.

Sounds Like Love – Book Review

Title:- Sounds Like Love

Author:- Ashley Poston

Date published:- June 17th 2025

No. of pages:- 384 pages

Genre:- Romance

Rating:-

Plot:- 3/5 Writing:- 3/5

Overall rating:- 3/5

A hitmaking songwriter and a bitter musician share a startling and inexplicable connection that they’ll do anything to shake, in the next sparkling, magical book from Ashley Poston.

Joni Lark is living the dream. She’s one of the most coveted songwriters in LA…and she can’t seem to write. There’s an emptiness inside her, and nothing seems to fill it.

When she returns to her hometown of Vienna Shores, North Carolina, she hopes that the sand, the surf, and the concerts at The Revelry, her family’s music venue, will spark her inspiration. But when she gets there, nothing is how she left it. Her best friend is avoiding her, her mother’s memories are fading fast, and The Revelry is closing.

How can she think about writing her next song when everything is changing without her?

Until she hears it. A melody in her head, lyric-less and half-formed, and an alluring and addictive voice to go with it—belonging, apparently, to a wry musician with hangups of his own.

Surely, he’s a figment of her overworked imagination.

But then the very real man attached to the voice shows up in Vienna Shores. He’s aggravating and gruff on the outside—nothing like the sweet, funny voice in Joni’s head—and he has a plan:

They’ll finish the song haunting them both, break their connection, and hope they don’t risk their hearts in the process.

Because that song stuck in their heads? Maybe it’s there for a reason.

Sounds Like Love is Ashley Poston’s latest novel. Seven Year Slip was my favorite of hers but I always make it a point to read all her latest novels (even though it is romance)

Joni Lark is one of the coveted song writers in LA but recently, Joni couldn’t write a single song. While attending Willa Gray’s concert, she meets a former boy band member, Sebastian. When the video cam focuses on them, Joni was supposed to kiss Sebastian. They kiss but then they go in separate ways. The next day, Joni goes back to her hometown in South Carolina. Her parents are running a successful restaurant/bar/theater. When her parents give a devastating news, Joni could a melody being hummed in her mind. Joni realizes that she can hear someone else’s thoughts and that someone else can also hear her thoughts. They meet and it was none other than Sebastian. Joni gets to know more about Sebastian and at the same time a love blossom between the two.

Ashley Poston always write romance books with a taste of magical realism in it. Each of her books seem to have a theme and in this case, the theme is music. Joni and Sebastian seem to be having a strong chemistry between them and Joni is a strong female lead in the story. I also liked the family dynamics mentioned in the story.

Although I didn’t like this book as much as I did with Seven Year Slip, nonetheless the story was funny with laugh out loud scenes and of course filled with music. Overall this is wth four stars.

The New Neighbors – Book Review

Title:- The New Neighbours

Author:- Claire Douglas

Date published:- March 13th 2025

No. of pages:- 360 pages

Genre:- Thriller

Rating:-

Plot:- 4/5 Writing:- 4/5

Overall rating:- 4/5

You know your neighbours are plotting a crime but no one believes you . . .

When Lena helps her teenage son gather sounds for his media studies project, she doesn’t expect her boom-microphone to pick up a conversation between her neighbours, the Morgans.

And she’s certain they are planning a crime.

Her family and friends tell her that she must have misheard. After all, the Morgans are a well-respected, upstanding couple in their early sixties. They’ve never been in trouble with the law.

Yet Lena can’t stop thinking about it. Because what if she hasn’t misheard? What if she can prevent something awful happening?

After all, stopping it could help ease her conscience about her own dark past . . .

The New Neighbours is Claire Douglas’s latest book.

In this book, Lena gets new neighbors–an older couple named Marielle and Henry. They both looked decent–Marielle used to be a professor at a university while Henry was a doctor. Lena’s son, Rufus was doing a college project with a boom set. So when Lena tries to take the boom set, she accidentally hears her neighbors talking–about getting rid of someone. Now Lena gets obsessed of finding out what her neighbors are up to even though it may even open a dark past that Lena wants to forget about.

The story is entirely told in the POV of Lena, Henry and a woman named Natalie, although Natalie’s POV is less. There is also a time shift when Henry met Marielle in the 80’s, young Lena working as a midwife in a hospital in late 90’s and getting embroiled in a case. The pacing of the story is overall fast and the reader gets curious about what Lena’s neighbors are really up to.

Not only this story talks about the neighbors–we also see the fact that Lena is trying to get along with the loneliness–being alone in the house as she is separated from Charlie and her son Rufus will be off to college soon. And because of her loneliness, soon she gets involved in the case which she should have not involved. The ending was for me a little expected but then a part of the ending was unexpected.

I enjoyed reading this author’s The Couple At No. 9 which prompts me to read more books from this author. This book in my opinion was OK though not s great as The Couple at No. 9 or The Wrong Sister. The pacing was good, some twists and turns are there and the ending was kind of unexpected.

Overall this book is worth four stars.