Title: The Boyfriend
Author: Friday McFadden
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
Length: 368 pages
Release Date: October 1, 2024
Source: Library (Audiobook)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads

She's looking for the perfect man. He's looking for the perfect victim.

Sydney Shaw, like every single woman in New York, has terrible luck with dating. She’s seen it men who lie in their dating profile, men who stick her with the dinner bill, and worst of all, men who can't shut up about their mothers. But finally, she hits the jackpot.

Her new boyfriend is utterly perfect. He's charming, handsome, and works as a doctor at a local hospital. Sydney is swept off her feet.

Then the brutal murder of a young woman―the latest in a string of deaths across the coast―confounds police. The primary suspect? A mystery man who dates his victims before he kills them.

Sydney should feel safe. After all, she is dating the guy of her dreams. But she can’t shake her own suspicions that the perfect man may not be as perfect as he seems. Because someone is watching her every move, and if she doesn’t get to the truth, she’ll be the killer’s next victim...

A dark story about obsession and the things we’ll do for love, #1 New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden proves that crimes of passion are often the bloodiest…

My review: 

I am a big fan of Frida McFadden and I have listened to many of her audio books. I really enjoyed listening to The Boyfriend and found myself listening on the edge of my seat (the driver's seat because I was always driving while I was listening!). 

I really enjoyed the back and forth format of the book, Tom's perspective from when he was a teenager and Sydney's present time point of view. I really though I knew what was happening and how the characters were correlating from past to present but it turns out, as usually, I was very wrong! 

Sydney was a god character but I felt like she was dramatized at times. It was almost like I was watching a horror movie in my head and I would be yelling at the main character, "why did you set down your phone!!!" She was dumb at time, especially since she knew there was a killer out there and the killer was somewhat close to her. She didn't' have a very good gut instinct and she didn't make very smart decision. 

Overall, it was a pretty entertaining book! My only criteria for mystery/thriller type books is that they are fast-paced and that the ending surprises me. The Boyfriend by Friday McFadden has both of those checked off so it was four stars in my book!

Book Review: None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell

Title: None of This Is True
Author: Lisa Jewell
Genre: Thriller
Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date: August 08, 2023
Length: 380 pages
Source: Purchased
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Find it here: Amazon // Goodreads

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

My Review: 

Lisa Jewell is one of my auto buy authors and I'm trying to read all the books she has written. I love the way she weaves a thrilling story together and has me guessing the whole time. I really never know how her books are going to end.

None of This Is True is the perfect title for this book because by the time I was finished reading it, I really didn't know which part of the story was true or who the liars were. 

I love the way Alix and Josie meet in the beginning because it is very realistic. How many times have I been out at a restaurant somewhere and my attention is sucked into the big birthday party a couple table over? Being an introverted person, I can understand the draw Josie had to Alix. Like a month to a flame. Josie was craving something different in her life that she just put it all out there and basically became a stalker. I love how characters change throughout books. Even if the book is taking place over a short period of time. Josie seems super nice and introverted and then becomes something completely different by the end. 

The parts of None of This Is True that intrigued me the most were the backstory parts about the daughters. But she didn't flesh out the characters enough for me and I would really have liked to know more about them. I think the daughters were very important to knowing more about Josie and her husband Walter and the whole family dynamic. 

None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell is a great thriller and a mind-binding what is going on type of book. I highly recommend this read if you love Lisa Jewell's other books and enjoying reading light thrillers.