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(Note:  Although this review will not contain spoilers for A Bitter Truth, it may inadvertently reveal plot surprises from earlier novels in the Bess Crawford series.  These mysteries stand alone better than most, but, as always, I recommend reading books in a series in order.)

After nursing the wounded on the front lines in France, Bess Crawford travels home to London for a much-needed Christmas break.  A long winter's nap is the only thing on her mind as she heads to her flat.  Startled to find a battered woman shivering in her doorway, Bess does the Christian thing—she ushers her inside, out of the freezing December night.  

Soon, Bess discovers that her houseguest is not the vagrant she first appeared to be.  In fact, Lydia Ellis is an upperclass officer's wife, on the run from her angry husband.  She admits that fleeing her home may have been a mistake and begs Bess to accompany her back to her estate in Sussex.  Reluctantly, Bess agrees.  Spending the night at Vixen Hill assures her that Lydia is safe enough, in spite of her husband's brooding, impatient manner.  But just as Bess is preparing to take her leave, another of the Ellis' overnight visitors is found dead.  Detained by the local police, Bess finds herself stuck at Vixen Hill, where she's dismayed to discover just how entangled she's become in the family's affairs.  

Even when the police allow her to leave Sussex, Bess is haunted by what she's learned at Vixen Hill.  She can't stop thinking about the Ellis Family's biggest secret, one that has her scouring France in search of answers.  When the mystery follows her back to England, Bess once again finds herself running for her life while trying to solve a puzzle that could change one family forever. 

If you've read the first two books in the Bess Crawford series by Charles Todd, this plot may sound familiar.  Without a doubt, A Bitter Truth follows the formula laid out in its predecessors.  But, wait!  There's a twist—an intriguing subplot that turned this third book into my favorite of the series.  While Bess continues to get on my nerves a little and I'm (im)patiently waiting for sparks to fly between our heroine and the loyal Simon Brandon, I'm still quite enjoying these mysteries.  Clean, entertaining and well-researched, the series continues to delight.

(Readalikes:  A Duty to the Dead; An Impartial Witness; and An Unmarked Grave by Charles Todd; also reminds me of the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear)

Grade:  B

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  PG for mild language (no F-bombs) and violence

To the FTC, with love:  I received a finished copy of A Bitter Truth from the generous folks at Harper Collins.  Thank you!    

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It's bad enough that 16-year-old Sylvia "Vee" Bell can fall asleep at any time, in any place and with very little warning.  What's worse is that her narcolepsy isn't really narcolepsy at all.  When Vee has one of her "episodes," she's actually sliding—slipping into someone else's mind, seeing the world through their eyes.  Her freaky little "gift" has shown her myriad images she wishes she could forget, like her sister cheating on a test, her teacher sipping booze before class and her best friend betraying her with chilling indifference.  She doesn't want to see anymore, but she can't stop herself from sliding.  Worse, she can't tell anyone about her ability.  Not unless she wants to spend the rest of her life in a straight jacket.  

When Vee slides into the mind of a cold-blooded killer, she's so freaked out she doesn't know what to do.  Everyone thinks Sophie Jacobs committed suicide; only Vee knows the truth.  But how can she tell the police what she knows without getting herself thrown into the loony bin?  There's only one thing to do:  she has to find the murderer herself.  She can't tell anyone what she's doing, not even her best friend, Rollins.  He's been acting strange lately, anyway.  When a hot new guy walks into her life, though, Vee wonders—has she finally found someone in whom she can confide?  Can she trust Zane Huxley enough to divulge her deepest, darkest secret?  Can he help her find Sophie's killer before it's too late?  Or will Vee have to watch helplessly as more of her friends die?

Although there are plenty of teen-girl-solves-crimes-with-freaky-mind-tricks books out there, I still find such premises intriguing.  Which is why I liked the sound of Slide, a debut novel by Jill Hathaway.  Unfortunately, the story didn't really deliver to me.  The action moved along swiftly enough to keep me turning pages, but the plot quickly became too predictable and melodramatic for me.  As much as I wanted to love this one, I just didn't.  Will I give the sequel a try when it comes out?  Meh.  Maybe, maybe not.  There are plenty of other series that do the freaky mind tricks thing better than this one—I'll probably just stick with them.

(Readalikes:  the Wake series [Wake; Fade; Gone] by Lisa McMann and The Body Finder trilogy [The Body Finder; Desires of the Dead; The Last Echo] by Kimberly Derting; also reminded me a little of Evermore by Alison Noel)

Grade:  C

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  PG-13 for language (no F-bombs that I remember), sexual innuendo/content, and depictions of underage drinking and illegal drug use

To the FTC, with love:  I received an ARC of Slide from the generous folks at Balzer and Bray (an imprint of Harper Collins).  Thank you!

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Kaelyn Weber's lived most of her 16 years on a small island in Canada and she's never had any real desire to leave.  Until now.  With a mysterious virus sweeping through the coastal community, felling everyone in its path, her home no longer feels safe or comforting.  It's become not just dangerous, but deadly.  Especially when the government decides to quarantine the island, blocking all residents—sick or healthy—from leaving.  Anyone who tries, the people soon find out, will be shot.  

As the crisis rages on, food supplies dwindle, medication runs out, and tempers blaze as hot as wildfire.  Before long, the island—once an idyllic vacation spot—looks like a war zone.  It's so bad that Kaelyn doesn't dare go outside without a face mask and a weapon.  The safest thing, she knows, would be to stay inside and pray for a miracle, but Kaelyn's desperate to do something.  She can't just stand by while everyone she loves dies.  She has to help her microbiologist father find a way to stop the epidemic from killing everyone on the island.  But how?  What can she do, especially when something as simple as leaving her house can mean instant death?  When the virus hits too close to home, she must risk everything to save the people she loves.

Told in letters Kaelyn writes to a friend in New York City, The Way We Fall by Megan Crewe tells a tense, harrowing tale.  The story's nothing we haven't seen before, but the setting's a little different and the characters are vivid enough to make the novel compelling.  Although it's not the most original book in the world, I enjoyed The Way We Fall and am definitely looking forward to the sequels (it's the first in a planned trilogy).     

(Readalikes:  Reminds me a lot of The Last Survivors series [Life As We Knew It; The Dead and the Gone; This World We Live In] by Susan Beth Pfeffer; the Gone series [Gone; Hunger; Lies; Plague; Fear; Light] by Michael Grant; and Empty by Suzanne Weyn)

Grade:  B-

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  R for strong language (a handful of F-bombs, plus milder invectives), violence and scenes of peril

To the FTC, with love:  I received a finished copy of The Way We Fall from the generous folks at Disney/Hyperion.  Thank you!

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(Note:  While this review will not contain spoilers for An Impartial Witness, it may inadvertently reveal plot surprises from its predecessor, A Duty to the Dead.  Novels in the Bess Crawford series stand alone better than most, but I still advise—as always—reading books in a series in order.) 

As the summer of 1917 begins, nurse Bess Crawford comes home to England with a convoy of wounded soldiers.  Among them is Lt. Meriwether Evanson, a pilot who's been severely burned.  Despite his extensive injuries, he clings to life, holding fast to the photograph of his wife that is pinned to his shirt.  The depth of Lt. Evanson's hope and love touches Bess, who knows the man will need every ounce of tenderness he can get in order to heal.  

When Bess steps off her train and spies a distraught young woman bidding a tearful goodbye to a handsome officer, she's shocked.  Not because it's an unfamiliar scene—in fact, it's an all too common one—but because the woman is Lt. Evanson's wife.  Bess has seen the pilot's photograph too many times to be  mistaken.  But what is Marjorie Evanson doing here with another man when she should be at the clinic, comforting her suffering husband?  Bess tries to shake the whole thing off, knowing such things happen often enough when men are at war and their wives are left alone and lonely, sometimes for years at a time.  With only 36 hours in England, Bess plans to spend her time resting, not sticking her nose into other people's business.

Bess returns to the trenches in France only to see Marjorie's face again, this time in a newspaper story asking for information about a murder in London.  It seems Bess may have been the last person to see Marjorie Evanson alive.  When Scotland Yard arranges for her to come back to England to help with the case, Bess becomes entangled in the dead woman's world.  As she questions Marjorie's friends and family members, creeping ever closer to the truth behind the woman's murder, Bess puts her own life in jeopardy.  If she can't figure out who the killer is—and fast—she may not live long enough to see him/her brought to justice.  And if there's one thing Bess can't abide, it's loose ends.  She'll track down Marjorie's murderer if it's the last thing she does.  And, with a cold-blooded killer on the loose, it just might be the last thing she does.  

Although I thoroughly enjoyed A Duty to the Dead, the first Bess Crawford mystery, I wasn't as impressed with the second, An Impartial Witness.  I'm not sure why, exactly, except that the cast wearied me a little.  Not Bess.  I still like her, even though she's a bit cold and she uses people (especially the long-suffering Simon Brandon) in a way that's efficient, but often callous.  Her passion makes her admirable.  Rather, it was Marjorie's cronies that bugged me.  Still, the story kept me entertained, if not enthralled.  An Impartial Witness is, so far, my least favorite installment in this series, but it was still intriguing enough to keep me wanting more Bess Crawford.  I like her—did I mention that?  And I'm pretty sure her adventures are just going to keep getting better and better.    

(Readalikes:  Other books in the Bess Crawford series, including A Duty to the Dead; A Bitter Truth; and An Unmarked Grave; also reminds me of the Maisie Dobbs series by Jacqueline Winspear)

Grade:  B-

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  PG for mild language (no F-bombs) and violence

To the FTC, with love:  I received a finished copy of An Impartial Witness from the generous folks at Harper Collins.  Thank you!