#Helen Phifer

[bargainsleuthbooks]

The Vanishing Bookstore by Helen Phifer #BookReview #BookoutureAudio #ARCReview #MagicalRealism #Witchcraft

Historical fiction with dual timelines, books, and witches? Who wouldn't want to dive into The Vanishing Bookstore? This audiobook was a great start to 2025! #BookReview #BookSky #BookBlogger #TheVanishingBookstore #NetGalley #Bookouture #AudiobookReview

Historical fiction with dual timelines, books, and witches? Who wouldn’t want to dive into The Vanishing Bookstore? Most books mentioned in my reviews can be found at the affiliate links below. (Amazon US) (Kindle Unlimited) (Amazon CA) (Amazon UK)  (AbeBooks) (Booksamillion)  (Audible.com) (Audiobooks.com) (Biblio.com) Want to help some of my local indie bookstores? Try Bookshop.org–Book Stop…

[amaliazeichnerin]

Random Book Club I am currently reading "One Left Alive" by Helen Phifer, a mystery/thriller novel set in the Lake District in England. This is the first book in a series. It's well written and quite suspenseful. I am reading the German translation ("Die Überlebende").

[herwordslikebutterflywings]

CW: Violence, suggestive content, any triggers surrounding the Salem Witch Trials.

My Rating: 3

I was given a free e-galley in exchange for an honest review

So I’m gonna change up my usual style of review and break this into impressions by section

First 25%

Here’s the thing.

This section of the book isn’t awful, or the worst, but it just didn’t feel like it knew what it was doing. It didn’t feel like it knew it’s setting, nor did it feel like it knew it’s audience. All the characters are adults, but the writing is very Middle Grade/YA to me. In addition, the book just comes off as overly simplistic and not complex.

The characters don’t really stick out for me, I just didn’t get a lot from this book to be honest. I didn’t think this book was the worst, but I expected more out of it. I expected the characters to be a little better formed, they weren’t, they just weren’t.

The writing style wasn’t super complex, or pretty, or evocative, or fast paced. I really just didn’t find this book to be terribly remarkable. It wasn’t especially bad, but it wasn’t especially good. It was terribly meh.

For the setting, it just felt bland. Nothing about the setting stood out, the plot felt like it was dragging, and the setting dragged with it. There wasn’t anything that felt distinguishable about the setting, which I get isn’t always a focus but I like there being something to hold onto in the world building. I got the impression that the author didn’t know a lot about the states, and it seemed that she could’ve (should’ve) done more research into the place she was setting her novel.

I do think the George and Dora story line had potential, I did think the way I felt about Katie was substantive. I actually cared about her and her well being, and I disliked George almost immediately upon his introduction, which raised my star rating for sure-being able to communicate a character without writing much about him deserves praise. I just wish she’d done that for her protagonists.

And some of it is just cringy, there’s a line that a character “like pink only second to black” and would’ve painted her house black if she could. It just came off cringy and like the author was trying to have this gothic character who was into death and darkness, and it didn’t feel natural.

25 to 33%

This is where I felt it began to pick up a bit, the language and writing was still clunky, but the plot got a bit better for sure.

The characters seemed to be a bit more fully realized, I got the impression that Dora was more of a person than she was in the first fourth of the book. I think that’s a disservice, Dora should’ve been fully realized, or at least somewhat realized, from the get-go, but she took way too long to get there. Sephy and Lucine were overly bland too. I get that they’re supposed to have lived for a long time, and were brought up in a puritan household when they were initially born (they’re immortal, I think, or at least close to it). I did mix up Lenny and Lucine

The world building and setting still felt a bit cluttered, it was more realized but it wasn’t completely clear how things worked. I was still confused at that point on what was going on with Ambrose and Isadora. I think maybe there was reincarnation, or some kind of descendant, but it’s not well done, I think there could’ve been a better way for the author to lay out the plot and leave hints. This jsut felt like it was confusingly leading with the twist.

At this point, I surmised George was the man “chasing across lifetimes” and that Dora and Ambrose were a separate couple away from George. But if George was the bad guy, and Lenny knew that, then why did she allow Katie to run the shop and possibly be a victim? Why not close the shop and say “we’re out for the month” or something? That just felt felt reckless with an innocent woman’s life. And I wouldn’t think Lenny would do that as a character we’re supposed to root for.

34% to 60%

This is where things finally started to make actual sense.

Thank god.

This is also where Dora actually shows concern for Katie, which no one else has by this point, and it’s unclear why. Like, did they not think George would come for Katie? Dora still only worries about Katie being in the shop, and handling it on her own, but that’s okay because she doesn’t know anything. Once she does, she wants to go to London to help Katie, she wants to protect Katie, but her aunts are perfectly willing to allow Katie to possibly die.

So, the explanation seems to be that they’re immortals, and they’re all reborn over and over again, and dies over and over, because of a curse. Which I think honestly should’ve been revealed earlier on in the book rather than a third of the way in, but whatever.

I also did actually start to want to pick up the book at this point. Just to see what happens, the setting is a bit more realized and made the book more readable. But I still found that the book felt like it was written like a YA novel, or maybe even a mid fanfiction. It was just so simplistic that it felt like it was the author’s first novel, which it wasn’t. She didn’t seem to know where her setting was (with how the characters from the US talked, in particular).

60% to End

Things did pick up more, but all the problems were still present.

And I really didn’t believe in Ambrose and Dora’s relationship, I mean they had their cute moments, for sure, but it just wasn’t that great or that convincing. Everything just felt as hollow as the rest of it did.

In the end, it just felt like the premise promised wasn’t really delivered on. The reason I picked up the book was not the real and true plot and I felt a bit cheated.

[blogbibliophilia]

ARC Book Review: The Haunting on West 10th Street by Helen Phifer

•

Book Length: 280 pages

•

🤩 Many thanks to Storm Publishing, NetGalley, and Helen Phifer for this advanced copy of the book!

•

My Review: This book will be released in mid-October, just in time for spooky season! If you're a lover of a dynamic crime-fighting detective team, an eccentric cast of supporting characters, a haunted house that had multiple murders occurring in it over the years, an Ouija board, and a copycat killer, this is the book for you! Maria and Frankie’s working and personal relationship are intertwined as they figure out how to stop the killing. I think their relationship and Maria’s relationship with her neighbor, Missy, added some elements of humor to this spooky tale. I liked the dual timeline in the 1950s and the current day. If you are squeamish, this is an advanced warning because the story does have some gory parts.

•

💵📖 Preorder now! It will be released on October 19, 2023.

[nights-in-white-satin-yo]

The Hiding Place: (Detective Morgan Brookes Book 3)

When nine-year-old Charlotte Standish goes missing from her street, it sparks a media frenzy in her small Lake District town. Her distraught parents are desperate to have their little blonde darling back, and Detective Morgan Brookes leads a frantic hunt for the girl. But Charlotte seems to have vanished into thin air. Chasing up a lead at Charlotte’s school, Morgan is chilled to learn that another girl disappeared from the same street fifteen years ago. But the moment she begins to investigate the link, another local child goes missing. Ten-year-old Macy loves chocolate, her mum and her dog in that order, and Morgan’s heart twists at the thought of anyone harming this precious child. The missing girls all lived close to each other so Morgan is sure that someone in this tight-knit community must know something. Going door to door, she is closing in on the truth when she gets a call that fills her with guilt; Charlotte’s lifeless body has been found in a local park, with distinctive scratches on her pale arms. Morgan has let one girl down, but she cannot give up on Macy and she’ll tear this town apart to find the final clue in her disappearance. But can Morgan solve this case before any more innocent lives are taken?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08XVYDCLJ?_encoding=UTF8&linkCode=ib1&tag=hanouthwaitex-21&linkId=3b2921a0ac7910bc587a8d3eeb7189cb&ref_=ihub_sa-ts_B08XVYDCLJ

[iandroideu]

The Girls within the Lake by means of Helen Phifer #Mystery&Thriller https://t.co/KBcWlYTjBL http://twitter.com/iAndroideu/status/1206205032737067010

The Girls within the Lake by means of Helen Phifer #Mystery&Thriller https://t.co/KBcWlYTjBL

— iAndroid.eu (@iAndroideu) December 15, 2019

[fayereadsblog]

My Thoughts On... Last Light by Helen Phifer

My Thoughts On... Last Light by Helen Phifer [@helenphifer1 @bookouture]

My Thoughts On… Last Light by Helen Phifer

Hi All! Today is my stop on the blog tour for Last Light and I am here today with a review of this brilliant book!

Title: Last Light Author: Helen Phifer Publisher: Bookouture Published: 16th November 2018 Pages: 294 Format: ebook Source:: Review Copy from Netgalley Add It: Amazon UK Goodreads. Summary:Lucy watches the pathologist leave, then turns to the…

[johnsbookshelf]

📕 𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞 𝗧𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 📕 𝗟𝗔𝗞𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 𝗛𝗢𝗨𝗦𝗘 by Helen Phifer ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 𝗦𝘆𝗻𝗼𝗽𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀 Today I'm sharing my thoughts about Lakeview House, as part of the Bookouture book tour. My thanks to Bookouture and Netgalley for my choir of the book in exchange for an honest review. 𝗠𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 As a fairly new fan of the author, I was looking forward to reading this book. I found it to be suspenseful and hard to put down. I always had to read that little bit further. I liked the different plots on the go at the same time. What impressed me was that none threatened to ruin the others until the inevitable clash. There were some good twists throughout that I didn’t see coming, and a couple which almost telegraphed their approach enough for Chris Rock to have had time to grab his crash helmet before Will walked onto that stage. Maddy is escaping her violent ex Connor, so taking on a caretaker role in the Lake District hundreds of miles away made sense. I think she was the only character I liked. I didn’t know what to make of some of the characters though. I didn’t necessarily dislike the them, although Connor was clearly scum so I won’t spare him another word, and Maddy’s alleged best friend Stella proves to be a bad friend at best, and at worst she withheld information putting Maddy’s life in danger. No character felt superfluous, and they were all three dimensional, although one or two and their actions stretched credibility. My “suspension of disbelief” did take a mild battering. I’ve seem some reviews criticising grammar or spelling. In fact the two examples I read of poor spelling used were actually proper English and quite correctly spelled. What I didn’t do was let anyone influence my personal experience of this book, which was one of enjoyment. Overall, I think this was a gripping read, which I’m happy to recommend to readers of thrillers and mysteries. I gave Lake View House, by Helen Phifer, four stars. My blog with additional book and author info is live. 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗕𝗶𝗼 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗻 𝗤𝗥 𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗲. #ad #gifted #lakeviewhouse #helenphifer #bookouture #mystery #thriller #johnsbookshelf (at Southampton, England, U.K.) https://www.instagram.com/p/CcJdbILKL5C/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[marybrown211988-blog]

Dark House

[jenmedsbookreviews]

Me this week. Definitely a case of least said, soonest mended. What was an already stressful week took a massive downward turn on Thursday and I will be completely honest and say I have been struggling since then to turn the frown upside down. Or stop my face from leaking.

I am searching for positives to stop this from being a completely depressing post and if there is one that I can draw upon it is the support I received from my wonderful booky and none booky friends. It really means a lot guys. I’m not usually one to publicise the darkness on FB, I’m pretty adept at keeping it to myself 24/7, but I think I was at a point of being pretty well broken and you gave me the lift I needed. I’m still not fully there, but looking forward to First Monday Crime tonight as a distraction.

Failing that I have chocolate. Oh and I went to Manchester Christmas Market on Wednesday. Had some lovely cannoli, a giant bratwurst and saw Zippy Santa again …

So. The good news. Well, this week I started my bookvent countdown. Narrowing down my nearly 200 reads to a top 25 list has been virtually impossible so I have taken some liberties. My blog, my rules. Get over it. 🙂 By now, day four should be in the public domain and only 20 days left to go …

I received some lovely book post at the start of the week – the second book in the Hendrik Groen series – On The Bright Side. Can’t wait to start reading this. He’s like the granddad I never knew.

Ebook post wise, on Thursday night, a very much needed treat, I got my hands on a copy of Dark Skies by LJ Ross, the seventh book in the DCI Ryan series. Earlier this year I won a charity auction giving me the chance to be a named character in the book. I was desperate to see what my namesake had been up to. Oh boy did I chuckle when I started to read it.

Netgalley wise, I was approved for a copy of Hell Bay, the new thriller from Kate Rhodes which is published next year. There will be a bit of a surprise for anyone reading this too …

Purchase wise I pre-ordered Hangman the second book in the Ragdoll series by Daniel Cole, Anything For Her by GJ Minett, and The Liar’s Promise by Mark Tilbury. Audio book wise I was a very lucky lady, gifted four Bookouture titles from the publisher – Don’t Tell A Soul by DK Hood; The Secret Mother by Shalini Boland; Mother by SE Lynes and Dying Breath by Helen Phifer. I also purchased Cragside by LJ Ross, just because I didn’t have it and my collection needed completing, and A Game of Ghosts by John Connolly, just because.

Reading wise I managed three books and a novella which I think isn’t bad in a bad week.

Books I have read

The Silent Children by Carol Wyer

The boy studied the bruise turning yellow at the base of his neck. With quick fingers his mother tightened his tie, and pulled his collar high above it. Her eyes alone said, We will not speak of this…

Years later, a man is found shot dead in a local park. On his phone is a draft text: I can’t keep this secret any longer. The recipient is unnamed.

Detective Robyn Carter knows this secret is the key to the case, but his friends and family don’t offer any clues, and all her team have to go on is a size-ten footprint. 

Then a nurse is found in a pool of blood at the bottom of her staircase, and a seemingly insignificant detail in her friend’s statement makes Robyn wonder: are the two bodies connected, and has the killer only just begun?

When another body confirms Robyn’s worst fears, she realises she’s in a race against time to stop the killer before they strike again. But just as she thinks she’s closing in, one of her own team goes missing.

Buried in the past is a terrible injustice. Can Robyn uncover the truth before another life is lost?

Loved this book. Absolutely loved it. So many secrets and lies it was hard to know who to trust. There are some difficult subjects touched upon and some disturbing links between the suspects. The deaths are swift and violent but this story goes beyond just looking at victims and killers. And as for Robyn’s story – well that is even more complicated and I am thoroughly intrigued. I’ll be reviewing for the blog tour next week, but you can pre-order a copy of the book here.

…

Follow the Snowflake by Angelina Kerner

At 28, it’s bad to be single. After four years of relationship struggles, Cat is ready to try anything.

That’s when her friend tells her about her class’ Dear Santa letters. One little boy asked for a new mommy, and she suggests Cat meets the kid’s dad, just to see where things go. Cat figures it can’t hurt…until she meets a stranger in the midst of a car accident. The man is handsome with a sad look in his eyes. He still wears a wedding band and she’s not sure his heart’s available, even if he makes her heart race. But, maybe he’s a widower? Cat wonders if she should resign herself to being an old maid, or whether she could possibly be the answer to a little boy’s Christmas wish, unless there’s a third option – a future with the stranger. 

A quick and romantic read, this novella certainly excels in the Christmas spirit. Told partly in a journal/diary style and partly following our heroine, Cat, as she tries to navigate a disastrous love life and organising the Bank’s Christmas party, this is a tale which will warm your cockles. I’ll be reviewing next week but you can order a copy of the book here.

…

Dark Skies by LJ Ross

Beware what lies beneath…

One fateful, starry night, three friends embark on a secret camping trip but only two return home. Thirty years later, the body of a teenage boy rises from the depths of England’s biggest reservoir and threatens to expose a killer who has lain dormant…until now. 

Detective Chief Inspector Ryan returns from honeymoon to face danger from all sides. In the depths of Kielder Forest, a murderer has escaped justice before and will do anything to protect the secrets of the past. Meanwhile, back at Northumbria CID, an old foe has taken the helm as Superintendent and is determined to destroy Ryan at any cost. 

Who will prevail in Ryan’s most dangerous case yet?

Murder and mystery are peppered with romance and humour in this fast-paced crime whodunit set amidst the spectacular Northumbrian landscape.

Firstly – ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Secondly – love it, love it, love it, love it, love it. The seventh book in the DCI Ryan series and every bit as thrilling and intriguing as all of its predecessors. It is the setting which really makes these books for me, that and a crime fighting team who are engaging and exciting. You really root for them. And that new DCS … Did I mention I loved it? The book is released on Sunday but you can join all o=the other sensible souls who preordered sending the book straight to number one by following the link here.

…

Anything for Her by GJ Minett

A devilish psychological thriller from the widely loved GJ Minett, for fans of The Girl Before and Lie with Me.

You’d do anything for the one that got away . . . wouldn’t you?

When Billy Orr returns home to spend time with his dying sister, he bumps into his ex-girlfriend Aimi, the love of his life. He might not have seen her in eleven years, but Billy’s never forgotten her. He’d do anything for her then, and he’d do anything for her now.

When Aimi tells him that she wants to escape her abusive husband, Billy agrees to help her fake her own death. But is she still the Aimi that Billy remembers from all those years ago? 

Once Aimi disappears, Billy has to face the possibility that perhaps she had different reasons for disappearing – reasons that might be more dangerous than she’s led him to believe . . .

Sometimes trusting the one you love is the wrong thing to do.

What a twisted story. I didn’t know quite who to believe. Drawn into a complex family situation, poor Billy Orr has every reason to step away but the allure of Aimi and the memories she evokes of his childhood are just too great. I loved the twistiness of this book, the complexities of Billy’s childhood which coloured his present. You can purchase a copy of the book here and my review will be out, alongside an extract from the book, on Thursday.

…

That was it. I’ve had worse weeks reading wise but I’ve also had better. I do admit I’m on a bit of a slow down now as we head towards Christmas, so I’m guessing that three books will be my new normal.

Full week on the blog though with some original reviews and some #bookvent.

#BlogBlitz: Now You See Me by Kierney Scott

#BlogBlitz: Her Best Friend by Sarah Wray

#FirstMonday: Q&A with Chris Whitaker

#Blogtour: The Last Post by BK Duncan

#FirstMonday: Q&A with Louise Jensen

#FestiveReads: Twelve Slays of Christmas by Jacqueline Frost

The #Bookvent Calendar 2017: Day 1

The #Bookvent Calendar 2017: Day 2

The #Bookvent Calendar 2017: Day 3

The week ahead sees more of my #bookvent countdown alongside a blog tour post for Anything For Her on Thursday and a review fo Dark Skies on Sunday. Hope you can stop by.

Have a fabulous week all. I’m off to First Monday Crime this evening and hoping for a better week overall this week. Wish me luck

Jen

Rewind, recap: Weekly update w/e 03/12/17 Me this week. Definitely a case of least said, soonest mended. What was an already stressful week took a massive downward turn on Thursday and I will be completely honest and say I have been struggling since then to turn the frown upside down.

[jillsreviews]

Helen Phifer: The Lost Children

Helen Phifer: The Lost Children

The Lost Children by Helen Phifer

Amazon.co.uk    Amazon.com

Lizzy pulled the covers over her head. Then she realised what was being dragged behind the person with the torch. She rammed her fist into her mouth to stop herself from screaming…

For decades, The Moore Asylum was home to the forgotten children of Brooklyn Bay. But ever since a scandal forced its closure, the abandoned building has…

[beanosfighter]

One Left Alive by Helen Phifer

My review

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3475182151

[calturnerreviews]

#BlogTour - #BookReview of #TheGirlsInTheLake by Helen Phifer @helenphifer1 @nholten40 @bookouture #BooksOnTour

#BlogTour - #BookReview of gripping thriller #TheGirlsInTheLake by Helen Phifer @helenphifer1. Thanks to @nholten40 and @bookouture for the opportunity. #BooksOnTour #bookreviewer #bookblogger #wordpress #bookrec

I’m delighted to welcome you today to my stop on the blog tour for gripping thriller The Girls in the Lake, second book in the Beth Adams series of books by Helen Phifer. Thank you to Noelle Holten and Bookouture for giving me the opportunity to read and review this fabulous book.

About the book:

Peering over the side of the boat, the glare of early morning sun catches on something pale in the…

[honolulubelle]

Book Review:  THE HIDING PLACE (Detective Morgan Brookes #3) by Helen Phifer @helenphifer1 @Bookouture

Book Review:  THE HIDING PLACE (Detective Morgan Brookes #3) by Helen Phifer @helenphifer1 @Bookouture

 THE HIDING PLACE    (Detective Morgan Brookes #3) by Helen Phifer Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP Publication Day: June 1, 2021 The little girl peered down the dark alleyway. She knew she wasn’t supposed to take this shortcut and her mother would kill her if she found out, but it was raining and all she wanted was to get home quickly. She stepped forward, not seeing the silent figure following her…

[lenorawalter30-blog]

Dark House

[michaelmcgee302-blog]

Dark House