Watching Edie

   Watching Edie

              by Camilla Way        


Edie is  pregnant and alone when suddenly Heather is back in her life. And for Edie, this is not a good thing. Sixteen years earlier,  Edie escaped from the small town of Frenton to get away from Heather and the memory of one terrible night.

Heather meets Edie in high school when she moves to Frenton, the town where Heather lives with her parents.  Edie, the wild child, is nice to overweight, studious, socially awkward Heather and soon Heather is obsessed with her. In the beginning, the reader learns that Heather's parents moved to Frenton to escape gossip in their former town.. Something happened to Heather's little sister and somehow Heather was involved. Edie lives with her mother who doesn't seem to care what Edie does. Heather is thrilled to have beautiful Edie as her only friend and fantasizes that they will always be together.  But as Edie starts making new friends and becomes involved with Connor, she begins to ignore Heather.  Connor is bad news. He is abusive to Edie and soon Edie is involved with sex, drinking and drugs. Heather  will do anything to save Edie from Connor and soon the story takes a dark turn.

The story alternates viewpoints from "Before", when they were teenagers, to "After", the present time. As it slowly unfolds, we begin to see how obsessed Heather really is with Edie.  When she suddenly contacts Edie after sixteen years, Edie is distraught and ignores her phone calls and letters. However, Heather seems to have the knack of showing up when Edie needs help. After the birth of her baby, Edie is sick and Heather is only too happy to help. It is easier for Edie to let her help because she is too sick to cope. Suddenly Heather is taking care of her baby and taking over her life. As Edie slowly gets better, she begins to see what Heather is doing and she wants her to leave. Heather says that she has nowhere to go because her parents have kicked her out but Edie insists that she must leave.  When Edie's apartment is ransacked and she sees Heather following her, she is terrified for the safety of her baby.

What really happened all those years ago that caused Edie to flee from Heather and Frenton? Is Heather as mentally unstable as her mother tells Edie she is?  Did Heather harm her little sister? The author pulled me into the story with its twists and turns and I didn't expect the ending. If you like psychological thrillers,  you will enjoy Watching Edie.

Thanks to NetGalley and  the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book to review.

Watching Edie

   Watching Edie

              by Camilla Way        


Edie is  pregnant and alone when suddenly Heather is back in her life. And for Edie, this is not a good thing. Sixteen years earlier,  Edie escaped from the small town of Frenton to get away from Heather and the memory of one terrible night.

Heather meets Edie in high school when she moves to Frenton, the town where Heather lives with her parents.  Edie, the wild child, is nice to overweight, studious, socially awkward Heather and soon Heather is obsessed with her. In the beginning, the reader learns that Heather's parents moved to Frenton to escape gossip in their former town.. Something happened to Heather's little sister and somehow Heather was involved. Edie lives with her mother who doesn't seem to care what Edie does. Heather is thrilled to have beautiful Edie as her only friend and fantasizes that they will always be together.  But as Edie starts making new friends and becomes involved with Connor, she begins to ignore Heather.  Connor is bad news. He is abusive to Edie and soon Edie is involved with sex, drinking and drugs. Heather  will do anything to save Edie from Connor and soon the story takes a dark turn.

The story alternates viewpoints from "Before", when they were teenagers, to "After", the present time. As it slowly unfolds, we begin to see how obsessed Heather really is with Edie.  When she suddenly contacts Edie after sixteen years, Edie is distraught and ignores her phone calls and letters. However, Heather seems to have the knack of showing up when Edie needs help. After the birth of her baby, Edie is sick and Heather is only too happy to help. It is easier for Edie to let her help because she is too sick to cope. Suddenly Heather is taking care of her baby and taking over her life. As Edie slowly gets better, she begins to see what Heather is doing and she wants her to leave. Heather says that she has nowhere to go because her parents have kicked her out but Edie insists that she must leave.  When Edie's apartment is ransacked and she sees Heather following her, she is terrified for the safety of her baby.

What really happened all those years ago that caused Edie to flee from Heather and Frenton? Is Heather as mentally unstable as her mother tells Edie she is?  Did Heather harm her little sister? The author pulled me into the story with its twists and turns and I didn't expect the ending. If you like psychological thrillers,  you will enjoy Watching Edie.

Thanks to NetGalley and  the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book to review.

        The Girl Is Murder

                          by Kathryn Miller Haines

Fifteen-year-old Iris Anderson is dealing with a lot of life changing events. It is 1942 in New York City  and her father, “Pops”, has returned from Pearl Harbor with only one leg,  Her mother has committed suicide and she and Pops have moved from the Upper East Side to the Lower East Side because of their finances.  Iris had to give up her private school and enroll in the public high school, with boys! She has lost touch with her old friends and has no one to talk to about her grief.  Pops was in the Navy and usually gone, so Iris and her mother were very close, and he has no idea how to parent a teenage daughter.  Pops has a private detective agency but he can no longer do the strenuous physical work that it requires due to his war injury. When Iris overhears a client cancelling his business unless Pops can show him that he is making progress on his case, and she realizes that Pops can’t pay the rent, she decides to take action.   She snoops through his files and follows a suspect to gets pictures with her Brownie camera that will help her dad keep his client.  Iris expects her dad to be pleased with her but that is not the case. Pops is less than thrilled to find out that his daughter has put herself in danger and he forbids her to continue. When one of her classmates goes missing and Pops is investigating, Iris knows that, no matter what, she must help her dad.

The Girl Is Murder has an atmospheric setting and the author draws the reader into 1942 with the war raging, food rationing, zoot suits and period slang. The ending is unexpected. This teenage noir is reminiscent of Nancy Drew but Iris, unlike Nancy, sneaks around to do her detecting.  Iris is a typical teen who is a fish out of water in her new environment. She thinks about boys, worries about fitting in and making friends but she is smart and resourceful.  This book will appeal to teens as well as adults and anyone who likes mysteries and historical fiction.  In the back of the book there is a glossary explaining the slang and also a question and answer section with the author.

Iris continues her adventures in The Girl Is Trouble.

Teen Historical Mystery
Grade 10-Adult

Recommended Read-a-Likes:

What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

Ten Cents A Dance by Christine Fletcher

        The Girl Is Murder

                          by Kathryn Miller Haines

Fifteen-year-old Iris Anderson is dealing with a lot of life changing events. It is 1942 in New York City  and her father, “Pops”, has returned from Pearl Harbor with only one leg,  Her mother has committed suicide and she and Pops have moved from the Upper East Side to the Lower East Side because of their finances.  Iris had to give up her private school and enroll in the public high school, with boys! She has lost touch with her old friends and has no one to talk to about her grief.  Pops was in the Navy and usually gone, so Iris and her mother were very close, and he has no idea how to parent a teenage daughter.  Pops has a private detective agency but he can no longer do the strenuous physical work that it requires due to his war injury. When Iris overhears a client cancelling his business unless Pops can show him that he is making progress on his case, and she realizes that Pops can’t pay the rent, she decides to take action.   She snoops through his files and follows a suspect to gets pictures with her Brownie camera that will help her dad keep his client.  Iris expects her dad to be pleased with her but that is not the case. Pops is less than thrilled to find out that his daughter has put herself in danger and he forbids her to continue. When one of her classmates goes missing and Pops is investigating, Iris knows that, no matter what, she must help her dad.

The Girl Is Murder has an atmospheric setting and the author draws the reader into 1942 with the war raging, food rationing, zoot suits and period slang. The ending is unexpected. This teenage noir is reminiscent of Nancy Drew but Iris, unlike Nancy, sneaks around to do her detecting.  Iris is a typical teen who is a fish out of water in her new environment. She thinks about boys, worries about fitting in and making friends but she is smart and resourceful.  This book will appeal to teens as well as adults and anyone who likes mysteries and historical fiction.  In the back of the book there is a glossary explaining the slang and also a question and answer section with the author.

Iris continues her adventures in The Girl Is Trouble.

Teen Historical Mystery
Grade 10-Adult

Recommended Read-a-Likes:

What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell

Ten Cents A Dance by Christine Fletcher

  The Woman in Cabin 10 

                by Ruth Ware                                                                                        

Travel writer,  Lo Blacklock,  has been given a dream assignment. She will get to spend one week on the maiden voyage of a  luxury ship that is headed for the North Sea. There are only ten cabins on this ship and some important people will be on it, including the very wealthy owner and his wife. Lo is hoping that she will be able to meet new influential people and further her career as a journalist. Unfortunately, the trip doesn't start out too well.  The night before her trip, an intruder breaks into her apartment and burglarizes it, injuring Lo in the process. She has a fight with her boyfriend and she boards the ship being sleep deprived, exhausted and upset. To make matters worse, the WiFi on the ship isn't working, so she can't call or get messages on her phone, and her old flame, Ben, is also on the boat.  As Lo is dressing for dinner, she realizes that she has forgotten to pack her mascara so she asks the young woman in the room next to her, Cabin 10, if she can borrow some mascara.  The unfriendly woman tells her to keep the mascara and closes the door on her.  At dinner that night, she meets the other passengers and everyone is drinking but the woman from Cabin 10 isn't at the dinner. The sleep deprived Lo becomes very drunk. In the middle of the  night she wakes up to a scream and a splash.  When she runs out onto her balcony, she sees blood on the partition that separates her cabin from Cabin 10.

Panicking, Lo calls the security officer on the ship but he doesn't seem to believe her. He says that the person who was supposed to be in Cabin 10  cancelled and that cabin is empty.  When she shows him the bloody partition, the blood is gone. She has been drinking he says, so perhaps she has imagined the incident? Lo won't let it drop and begins to question and suspect everyone on the ship even though every crew member agrees that there was no one in Cabin 10. 

This book is being compared to some of Agatha Christie's books. Like some of her books, this story also has a small group trapped together in a confined area with a murderer. Or was there a murder?  Lo has some issues, so did she imagine that someone was thrown overboard? There are twists and turns in this book and I didn't figure out the ending.  I enjoyed the first book by this author, In A Dark, Dark,Wood and enjoyed this one, too.  If you enjoy a suspenseful, atmospheric story, with an unreliable narrator, you will like The Woman in Cabin 10.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book for review.

Adult Fiction: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Grade B+

  The Woman in Cabin 10 

                by Ruth Ware                                                                                        

Travel writer,  Lo Blacklock,  has been given a dream assignment. She will get to spend one week on the maiden voyage of a  luxury ship that is headed for the North Sea. There are only ten cabins on this ship and some important people will be on it, including the very wealthy owner and his wife. Lo is hoping that she will be able to meet new influential people and further her career as a journalist. Unfortunately, the trip doesn't start out too well.  The night before her trip, an intruder breaks into her apartment and burglarizes it, injuring Lo in the process. She has a fight with her boyfriend and she boards the ship being sleep deprived, exhausted and upset. To make matters worse, the WiFi on the ship isn't working, so she can't call or get messages on her phone, and her old flame, Ben, is also on the boat.  As Lo is dressing for dinner, she realizes that she has forgotten to pack her mascara so she asks the young woman in the room next to her, Cabin 10, if she can borrow some mascara.  The unfriendly woman tells her to keep the mascara and closes the door on her.  At dinner that night, she meets the other passengers and everyone is drinking but the woman from Cabin 10 isn't at the dinner. The sleep deprived Lo becomes very drunk. In the middle of the  night she wakes up to a scream and a splash.  When she runs out onto her balcony, she sees blood on the partition that separates her cabin from Cabin 10.

Panicking, Lo calls the security officer on the ship but he doesn't seem to believe her. He says that the person who was supposed to be in Cabin 10  cancelled and that cabin is empty.  When she shows him the bloody partition, the blood is gone. She has been drinking he says, so perhaps she has imagined the incident? Lo won't let it drop and begins to question and suspect everyone on the ship even though every crew member agrees that there was no one in Cabin 10. 

This book is being compared to some of Agatha Christie's books. Like some of her books, this story also has a small group trapped together in a confined area with a murderer. Or was there a murder?  Lo has some issues, so did she imagine that someone was thrown overboard? There are twists and turns in this book and I didn't figure out the ending.  I enjoyed the first book by this author, In A Dark, Dark,Wood and enjoyed this one, too.  If you enjoy a suspenseful, atmospheric story, with an unreliable narrator, you will like The Woman in Cabin 10.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book for review.

Adult Fiction: Mystery/Thriller/Suspense

Grade B+