What She Forgot -Cole Baxter

I’ve been contemplating for over a week on how, or even if I was going to review this book. I tend to only review books that I’ve truly enjoyed. However, my fiance pointed out that I need to post not just the good, but also the bad and the mediocre. And this book, my friends, fits into the last category. It had so much potential as a psychological thriller, but the plot twist and ending fell flat.

Hannah wakes up in the hospital after an auto accident with no memories. She doesn’t even know who she is. Both vehicles caught fire and the person who was driving her, as well as the other driver, were both killed. She has no idea who the woman in the car with her was, and recognizes no-one, even her beloved husband who is there for her the entire way. He and the kids even assemble a binder to remind her of all of her favorite things and how to work most of the household appliances that we take for granted every day. Hannah slowly adapts in to life as a wife and mother. However, the other school moms say that she has changed. Her favorite color, she now hates. A once-hated hobby of baking becomes her favorite thing to do. As a former jewelry-maker, she can no longer work out how to fit the pieces together to form the beautiful jewelry she was well known for and had made a career of.

Little things start to happen that even her children notice she’s not the same Hannah she was before the accident, and yet, her husband says nothing, while her doctor says it’s normal for someone who survived a major trauma. Even Hannah’s mother knows something is up.

Weeks after her awakening, she suddenly regains all of her memories. Here comes the plot twist. I can’t say much without giving it all away, but it was unexpected. There was no foreshadowing other than the “differences” that everyone noticed. The introduction to the twist fell flat. Almost as if the author just suddenly decided that this is what would happen. As I said, the twist and the ending fell flat. It wasn’t bad for a quick read if you want something that’s not too deep, decent for reading before bed because I didn’t mind putting it down to go to sleep. The story had wonderful potential, and it was interesting during the beginning and middle, but the author tried entirely too hard to make the plot twist into a shock-worthy moment, but it wasn’t. Even with the lack of foreshadowing, it just didn’t hold a candle to other books in the psych thriller genre. Honestly, I give it a 6/10. It interested me, but I was never fully captivated by the author’s words. Like I stated, it’s a good read if you want something that’s not too hard to put down and doesn’t require a stay-up-all-night-and-finish kind of book.

The Perfect Son – Freida McFadden

So, I know I talked it up on Facebook, but honestly, this book deserves every single one of it’s 4.5 stars, if not a full 5 stars on Amazon.

Liam Cass is not your typical 16-year-old. He’s handsome, well-liked, straight-A student, star of the debate team, and a complete and utter sociopath. It’s no wonder that when his fellow student Olivia Mercer goes missing, he’s the top suspect. Her friends warned her to stay away from him, but that doesn’t stop her from swooning over him throwing pebbles at her window at two am and kissing her passionately in the back yard of her home.

The next thing she knows, she’s in a dirt hole with a skeleton and barely enough food or water to sustain life. She’s being kept alive for a reason only known to him, but he makes it clear she will die down there.

Told from viewpoints of his mother, Olivia Mercer, and transcripts from police interviews, this book had me on the edge of my seat for hours. I couldn’t even sleep, because I absolutely had to know what was going to happen. Why would he kidnap the girl he liked? What were his plans for her? How did this handsome, charming young man fool so many people into thinking he was a good person? And to what lengths will a mother go to protect her son from himself?

There’s a major plot twist near the end of the story that literally made me exclaim outloud, “PLOT TWIST!” even though my toddler son and fiance were asleep right next to me. I could not put it down until I reached the end. Trust me, this is one you don’t want to read when you have obligations the next day, because it quickly sucks you in and you just have to know. Personally, I give it a full 5 star rating for being a creative psychological thriller. The only part I disliked was the epilogue. I’ll warn you, there’s a cliffhanger.

Be that as it may, I highly recommend this one for anyone who likes a good psych thriller! And a bonus, if you have Kindle Unlimited, it’s free!