Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six by Lisa Unger (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

 

Title: Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six 

Author: Lisa Unger 

Publication: 8 November 2022 

Format: hardcover, eARC from NetGalley & Park Row

Amazon Description: 

Three couples rent a luxury cabin in the woods for a weekend getaway to die for in this chilling locked-room thriller.

What could be more restful than a weekend getaway with family and friends? An isolated luxury cabin in the woods, spectacular views, a hot tub and a personal chef. Hannah’s generous brother found the listing online. The reviews are stellar. It'll be three couples on this trip with good food, good company and lots of R & R.

But the dreamy weekend is about to turn into a nightmare. 

A deadly storm is brewing. The rental host seems just a little too present. The personal chef reveals that their beautiful house has a spine-tingling history. And the friends have their own complicated past, with secrets that run blood deep.

How well does Hannah know her brother, her own husband? Can she trust her best friend? Meanwhile, someone is determined to ruin the weekend, looking to exact a payback for deeds long buried. Who is the stranger among them?

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

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23 February 2023

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It has taken me entirely too long to start this. 

 

I had (still have) an advanced digital copy, for crying out loud. 

 

I bought the hardcover shortly after it was released.

 

In November. 

 

Early November.

 

I suppose there were probably a lot of reasons to put it off, but those are mostly over and done and now I can devote the proper amount of energy ... I hope. I've picked it up several times over the past few months but then stuff would get in the way in my brain and I knew this probably wouldn't be a book I would be willingly distracted from. I have an hour and a half left to my work week and then nothing but hanging out with my kid for the weekend and he is perfectly willing to avoid the cold and snow and stay tucked inside the house with a book for me and the ipad, iphone, laptop, tv, kitchen, etc for him 😉

 

By the way, I have had the "Friday 56" picked out since I picked up the hardcover in our favorite little bookstore. I had no intention of buying it that day, I was just curious about the options for the 56es. I could have easily just stuck with the free eARC .... but the blip from page 256 made the hardcover a "keeper" and the receipt has been holding the page this entire time.

 

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27 February 2023

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So much horribly unexpected life got in the way of reading as much as I wanted to over the weekend .... and then came the Sunday night-Monday morning work shift which, blessedly, was only a hassle for the first hour or so.

And then came the book .... and everything else just sort of disappeared.

I was completely entranced and awestuck and bewildered and a million other feelings that I really never expected even though I probably should have. This isn't my first Unger, after all. Even though it had so many elements that I typically cringe over like time jumps, storylines that don't seem to go together at all, and the dreaded multiple POVs. This is Lisa Unger, though, and I really can't imagine the book working quite so well, or being nearly as gripping, without those dreaded elements. I also can't can't imagine those elements working quite so well by anybody else's hand (or keyboard .... or however Lisa does her thing).

So many amazing pieces jig-sawed together into a book I will most definitely reread and would give a million and two stars to if I could .... and page 256 is still my favorite.

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Friday 56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice 

& Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader

Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger (Book Beginnings & Friday 56)

Title: Beautiful Lies

Author: Lisa Unger

Publication: 5 December 2006

Format: ebook

Amazon Description

What if your family was a lie? What if your name was a lie? What if your whole life was just a pack of Beautiful Lies?

If Ridley Jones had slept ten minutes later or had taken the subway instead of waiting for a cab, she would still be living the lie she used to call her perfect life. Instead, she's in the wrong place at the right time to unleash a chain of events that begins with a mysterious package on her doorstep. A package that informs her that her entire world is just an illusion. Forced to question everything she knows about herself, Ridley wanders into dark territory, where everyone is hiding something.

Sexy and fast-paced, Beautiful Lies is a true literary thriller. Lisa Unger takes us on a breathtaking ride in which every choice Ridley makes creates a whirlwind of consequences that are impossible to imagine.

Ramble-y Teaserish Stuff

Lisa Unger has been popping up in my "You May Also Like...." recommendations for years and I finally decided to take the plunge thanks, in large part, to still needing a "U" author for my alphabet reading challenge for the year. 

Whatever gets me to grab the book, right?

I was immediately pulled in by the description and the prologue had the "edge-of-your-seat" feel that I tend to gravitate towards ... when I'm not gravitating towards rom-coms, historicals, cozies, satires ...

Okay, I tend to gravitate in a lot of different directions.

Unfortunately, maybe ... but maybe not ... so does Beautiful Lies. 

That glorious "edge-of-your-seat" thriller feeling shifts drastically once the Prologue ends and the main story begins. I'm not used to the protagonist/narrator of a so-called thriller being quite as chatty as Ridley is and I'm not entirely sure that I like it. Hence, the "unfortunately, maybe." Then again, it's just so different than the norm that I've felt myself somehow sucked in to the one-sided conversation with Ridley. Sometimes it has felt like an actual conversation as I nod in agreement with whatever she's saying. Hence, the "but maybe not."

It has taken me almost an entire week to do so, but I've finally reached 80%. It hasn't been the "edge-of-your-seat" thriller that I was hoping, and at times it was a bit too easy to put down and forget about. I'll see it through to the end, though, because I'm spite of it lacking what I was looking for, it's still a good story and there are still some questions I hope will be answered.

Hopefully I won't put it down again before I get those answers because I do look forward to gravitating in another direction soon. After all, I've got other letters still yet to tackle, a shipment of Jason Pargin books on the way, all of those Bernard Cornwells already sitting on my shelf, at least half a dozen Austen-inspired whatnots calling my name, over thirty NetGalleys waiting and, hopefully, some thrillers that may actually keep me on the edge. 

Of course, there is also another Ridley book already in my Kindle cloud so I may just continue the conversation we've been having sooner than later ...

 

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Friday 56 (share a blurb from the 56th page or 56% mark) is hosted at Freda's Voice 

& Book Beginnings (share the first few sentences) is at Rose City Reader