BLOG TOUR: Sun Trap - Rachel Wolf

BE CAREFUL

Ellie has wanted to be an actor since she was a child so, when a role in a blockbuster film presents itself, she grabs it.

WHAT YOU

On the plane to Abu Dhabi to begin filming, Ellie overhears something she shouldn't - two people discussing plans for murder.

WISH FOR

Unsure if it's a misunderstanding, and not wanting to ruin her big break, Ellie remains quiet. Then ten members of the cast become nine...

Ellie needs to be careful - it's more than just her career on the line.

Because she isn't who she says she is.

And liars are always the prime suspect.

 

What did I think?

Sun Trap is a very addictive book set in the stifling desert heat of Abu Dhabi, where a movie is being filmed.  With a group of actors as the main characters, you are never sure who is being sincere and who is hiding something and this book is filled with secrets and lies.

Ellie and Phoebe look so much alike that people mistake them for twins, although they are not actually related.  Is it pure chance that the pair meet at an acting class or is something more sinister going on?  That's the hook that kept me riveted throughout the book as I wanted to know why they looked so similar that one could step into the other one's life.

It's like all of Ellie's dreams have come true when Phoebe is too sick to travel to Abu Dhabi for her debut acting role and Phoebe asks Ellie to take her place.  My spidey sense was tingling at this fortuitous coincidence that Ellie happened to be in the right place at the right time.  Although how right that place might be is thrown into doubt when the bodies start piling up...

The shocks and surprises keep on coming as the pages turn as fast as you can read them.  I was completely hooked and incredibly entertained throughout this wild rollercoaster ride of a book. 

Gripping, addictive and surprising, Sun Trap is a page-turning thriller that is well worth a read.  

I chose to read a digital ARC for the blog tour and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

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Every Exquisite Thing - Laura Steven

A feminist YA horror-thriller-romance retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray by the TikTok sensation and author of The Society for Soulless Girls…

Penny Paxton is the daughter of an icon. Her supermodel mother has legions of adoring fans around the world, and Penny is ready to begin her journey to international adoration, starting with joining the elite Dorian Drama School.

When Penny’s new mentor offers her an opportunity she cannot refuse, to have a portrait painted by a mysterious artist who can grant immortal beauty to all his subjects, Penny happily follows in the footsteps of Dorian’s most glittering alumni, knowing that stardom is sure to soon be hers.

But when her trusted mentor is found murdered, Penny realises she’s made a terrible mistake – a sinister someone is using the uncanny portraits to kill off the subjects one by one. As more perfectly beautiful students start to fall, Penny knows her time is running out . . .

A seductive and searing exploration of beauty, identity, and what the pursuit of perfection can truly cost.

 

What did I think?

Every Exquisite Thing is an incredibly thought-provoking and powerful novel that really makes you question why we strive for what we perceive as perfection.  It’s a modern day retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray and although I haven’t read Oscar Wilde’s classic novel, I know the premise. 

Penny Paxton is following in her mother’s footsteps when she enrols at the Dorian Drama Academy.  Penny just wants her mother to be proud of her but her mother doesn’t seem to have a maternal or caring bone in her body.  Penny strives to be perfect and when she gets the chance to freeze her image, just as she is now, she jumps at the chance.

It’s incredibly thought-provoking and really rather sad to think about what is beneath the surface of the perfect images we see on screen.  Would you rather be happy or appear to be perfect but be miserable inside?

We are all perfect in our own way and we shouldn’t listen to anyone who tells us we’re not.  There’s an incredible line in the book that is very powerful and I can’t stop thinking about it:

“I was so perfect before the world told me otherwise.”

As well as being a powerful warning about obsession with self-image, Every Exquisite Thing is a very compelling, dark and captivating story.  It’s a fantastic retelling that brings a classic novel bang up to date and into the hands of a new audience.

An unforgettable book and a highly recommended read.

My rating:

Buy it from:

UK.Bookshop.org

Amazon

Everything You Want Me To Be - Mindy Mejia

Full of twists and turns, Everything You Want Me to Be reconstructs a year in the life of a dangerously mesmerizing young woman, during which a small town's darkest secrets come to the forefront...and she inches closer and closer to her death.

High school senior Hattie Hoffman has spent her whole life playing many parts: the good student, the good daughter, the good citizen. When she is found brutally stabbed to death on the opening night of her high school play, the tragedy rips through the fabric of her small town community. Local sheriff Del Goodman, a family friend of the Hoffmans, vows to find her killer, but trying to solve her murder yields more questions than answers. It seems that Hattie's acting talents ran far beyond the stage. Told from three points of view Del, Hattie, and the new English teacher whose marriage is crumbling Everything You Want Me to Be weaves the story of Hattie s last school year and the events that drew her ever closer to her death. 

Evocative and razor-sharp, Everything You Want Me to Be challenges you to test the lines between innocence and culpability, identity and deception. Does love lead to self-discovery or destruction?

What did I think?

Now renamed The Last Act of Hattie Hoffman, Everything You Want Me to Be was a recommendation from Chelsea, a fellow book blogger, and I can see why she recommended it.  I felt as if Hattie was actually speaking to me through the book, the real Hattie and not one of the personas she adopts to please those around her.

Hattie is dead.  There is no happy ending, but the reader is taken on a journey as Hattie is unmasked and we find out what actually happened on the night she died.  Hattie is a budding actress and dreams of leaving school and moving to New York.  Dreams that will never be fulfilled.

Hattie joins an online forum to share her love of literature and acting and meets someone who shares the same interests as her. Unbeknown to her, this person is her English teacher, unhappily married Peter.  When they finally realise the real identity of each other, the conflicting emotions are palpable, but ultimately the attraction they have for each other cannot be ignored.

Hattie's life unfurls before us like the petals of a delicate flower, but we are constantly brought back to the present day like a herd of elephants stamping over the flowerbed with Del, the local sheriff and close family friend, investigating her murder.

Told from Hattie, Peter and Del's point of view, in such clear and distinct voices, it is a story that had my eyes glued to the page and I pointed my virtual finger at several of the characters before finding out what actually happened on the night that Hattie died.

Everything You Want Me to Be is an absorbing piece of fiction that had me questioning the masks that people wear and scratching the surface to see who the real person is beneath.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon