Summer and Leo would do anything for each other. Inspired by the way each has had to carve her place in a hostile and unforgiving world, and united by the call of the open road, they travel around sunny California in Summer’s tricked-out Land Cruiser. It’s not a glamorous life, but it gives them the freedom they crave from the painful pasts they’ve left behind. But even free spirits have bills to pay. Luckily, Summer is a skilled pickpocket, a small-time thief, and a con artist–and Leo, determined to pay her own way, has learned a trick or two.
Eager for a big score, Leo catches in her crosshairs Michael Forrester, a self-made billionaire and philanthropist. When her charm wins him over, Leo is rewarded with an invitation to his private island off the California coastline for a night of fabulous excess. She eagerly anticipates returning with photos that can be sold to the paparazzi, jewelry that can be liquidated, and endless stories to share with Summer.
Instead, Leo disappears.
On her own for the first time in years, Summer decides to infiltrate Michael’s island and find out what really happened. But when she arrives, no one has seen Leo–she’s not on the island as far as they know. Plus, there was only one way on the island–and no way off–for the coming days. Trapped in a scheme she helped initiate, could Summer have met her match?
YOU CAN TRUST ME
Wendy Heard
Pick-pocket Summer is friends with free spirit con artist Leo.
When you combine Summer’s short game with Leo’s long haul these women together do their best to float above the system, and live a life no one can make up for them all the while conning men and women out of their IDs, their credit cards, and hopefully their riches.
It’s not a bad life.
Until one day they make a mark that will land Leo an invitation to a private island by billionaire businessman Michael Forrester. It sounds like the ultimate game and Leo and Summer are ready for big gains.
Except Leo doesn’t show up where she is supposed when she was supposed to which sends Summer on an independent quest to find Leo on Michael Forrester’s private island.
YOU CAN TRUST ME is bad but fun. Pointless yet soul-enriching. I need these characters and I need these books every once in a while.
YCTM is the perfect summer read and I didn’t want to put it down. The pacing is quick and the writing is cheeky but smart. I read most of it while working in the garden and around the house doing chores.
It made the tedious tasks fly by in a snap.
YOU CAN TRUST ME reminded me of the Netflix movie The Weekend Away starring Leighton Meister.
If you’re looking for a quick, can’t put it down beach read consider YOU CAN TRUST ME by Wendy Heard.
I gave YOU CAN TRUST ME four stars. It’s out now where books are sold.
YOU CAN TRUST ME…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Thanks to Netgalley, Penguin Random House Audio, and Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine, Bantam for the advance copies!
SYNOPSIS.
At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope
Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.
Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life
It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer—I want to tell you everything.“It wasn’t me,” Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead
As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know. But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.
THE ONLY ONE LEFT
Riley Sager
If you haven’t heard of Riley Sager you might be THE ONLY ONE LEFT.
Let’s pretend that you haven’t heard of his fast-paced thrillers that sometimes verge on horror. Or his writing that is both what you expect it to be and always so much more than you anticipate. Or that his characters run wild and free in your imagination.
Kind of like Kit!
In THE ONLY ONE LEFT, we are following Kit. Kit needs a job and there is a position at HOPES END that needs filling.
The Hope House is well known for being the house on the cliff where Lenora allegedly murdered her entire family. It is hard to get someone in position to care for Lenora considering its history, her history, and for some reason people who do get hired keep disappearing.
Kit thinks she’s up for the task though and actually, she finds herself particularly apt for this position. Once hired she forms a bond with Lenora and one day Lenora starts to confess to Kit all of the bad things she has done including that infamous incident where her entire family ended up dead.
I love Riley’s books mostly for what they are and for what they aren’t. They are dark enough to be interesting and light enough that you fly through them. I think if you go into one of his books you should expect a steady pace, characters to hate, and reliable twists that are sometimes a little far-fetched.
If you’re anything like me sometimes you’re willing to go there for a good time. That’s exactly what THE ONLY ONE LEFT is.
THE ONLY ONE LEFT by Riley Sager comes out on June 20th, 2023. Get your copy!
Thanks to Penguin Random House Audio for the advanced copy!
THE ONLY ONE LEFT…⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Coming soon: Have you read it? Riley Sager
All of us knew him. One of us killed him…
Seven women stand in shock in a seedy hotel room; a man’s severed head sits in the centre of the floor. Each of the women – the wife, the teenager, the ex, the journalist, the colleague, the friend, and the woman who raised him – has a very good reason to have done it, yet each swears she did not. In order to protect each other, they must figure out who is responsible, all while staying one step ahead of the police.
Against the ticking clock of a murder investigation, each woman’s secret is brought to light as the connections between them converge to reveal a killer.
A dark and nuanced portrait of love, loyalty, and manipulation, Speak of the Devil explores the roles in which women are cast in the lives of terrible men…and the fallout when they refuse to stay silent for one moment longer.
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL
Rose Wilding
LEVITICUS 2:19
..”An eye for an eye”
That is the name of the game here with SPEAK OF THE DEVIL by Rose Wilding.
In SPEAK OF THE DEVIL, we have a cast of characters. One of them killed the man in question and all of them have a lot to lose if the police find out. We follow along as the characters try to stay one step ahead of the case to figure out which one of them did it.
This book starts out fast and immediately I find it hard to filter out unnecessary information. There are a lot of characters to keep straight and they’re all sneaky and hiding something.
It felt a bit tiring and what you get in return for keeping everyone straight is not worth it in the end. I gave this one three stars and although it was well constructed there was never enough tension to keep me turning pages.
Thanks to Netgalley, St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copies!
This one comes out tomorrow, June 13th, 2023!
SPEAK OF THE DEVIL…⭐️⭐️⭐️
