These tours with Kate Rocks Book Tours are predominantly on Instagram, but I figured it would be nice to share the reviews here, too. I have so many reviews coming your way this week so that I can get caught up before April.
Thanks to Kate Rocks Book Tours for the gifted copies!
THIS VIOLENT HEART – Heather Levy (Released February 11th, 2025)
IN THE BEAUTIFUL DARK – Melissa Payne (Releasing April 22nd, 2025)
THIS VIOLENT HEART – Heather Levy (Released February 11th, 2025)
In this haunting journey into the confusion and desires of growing up, a therapist reluctantly returns to her hometown, where she revisits the memories that could reveal what really killed her best friend all those years ago.
Devon Mayes thought she was done with the small conservative town she once called home. She fled when she was eighteen after her best friend Summer took her own life, leaving Summer’s twin brother, Keaton, lost in his grief. But when tragedy strikes again, Devon has nowhere to turn but back to the place that first broke her heart.
Being back in Arkana means struggling with the old guilt that shrouds her bisexuality and her feelings for Keaton. There’s so much she’s still hiding from him—and so much of their shared past that’s now resurfacing.
It’s not long before Devon has reason to believe Summer’s tragic death wasn’t suicide after all. Summer had secrets, too…and she wasn’t the only one who didn’t want them exposed.
As Devon and Keaton piece together the mystery of what happened that fateful summer, they must reckon with their own truths before they can move forward. But one person will do whatever it takes to stop them.
My Thoughts: 3.5/5 stars
Do you like a dash of romance with your thrillers? Some hometown mysteries surrounding the death of a childhood best friend? Grief and struggling with identity are both very present themes in This Violent Heart, and I think they added an incredible depth to Devon and Keaton as they continue to navigate Summer’s apparent suicide.
When she was 18, Devon left the small town she grew up in after the suicide of her best friend. Summer’s twin brother, Keaton, is consumed by his grief and has never been able to truly move on. Upon Devon’s return to Arkana, the two rekindle their friendship and both suspect that there was something more to Summer’s death and that it wasn’t truly suicide.
As we all know, when you start digging into the past, you might discover things you shouldn’t. Or at least something someone wanted buried and forgotten. Everyone has their secrets, and no one wants them to come to light.
You truly feel for Devon and her struggles with her identity and confronting her demons in this journey. Growing up in a small conservative town with very religious parents meant that she had to keep her bisexuality to herself and was one of the reasons she left and never looked back. This book is more than just a thriller – it’s full of drama and emotion, and even though I had guessed the ending, it didn’t take away from the entertainment!
IN THE BEAUTIFUL DARK – Melissa Payne (Releasing April 22nd, 2025)
A woman investigates a friend’s long-ago murder in a haunting and hopeful novel about the weight of secrets and regrets by the bestselling author of The Wild Road Home and A Light in the Forest.
At Sunny Pines Retirement Community, where the “Sixty-Two and Better!” share their golden years, secrets abound. Some scandalous, some haunting, and some dangerous. For Birdie Allen, a retired business owner and grandmother, her secret is the only thing she’s got left. Getting old isn’t the hardest part about life. It’s the memories from more than fifty years ago of the death of her unrequited love. And Birdie’s abandoned quest to root out the killer.
With retirement comes a lot of time to revisit old ghosts, so when Birdie ties together a string of recent murders, and a woman disappears, she’s drawn into the same chase she gave up decades earlier. But this time she has the help of an eccentric community of eager new friends. And they’re not alone. Restless souls are watching, including Birdie’s lost love, and they sense the danger that lies ahead. They’re not leaving Birdie’s side until she finishes what she set out to do. But will Birdie’s pursuit of a killer finally free her of regrets and allow her to embrace the beauty of the life she’s created?
My Thoughts: 4/5 stars
Who knew I needed a book with a wonderfully hilarious and eclectic group of residents at the Sunny Pines Retirement Community? I had some DNFs and have quite a bit of horror coming up, so this was a breath of fresh air with a hint of murder mystery and secrets galore.
Birdie Allen is the newest resident, and she’s been holding onto a secret and grief for the past 50 years – that her friend and unrequited love died. They ruled it a suicide, but Birdie knows better, she’s knows it was murder and her whole life she’s been trying to find the person who killed her. When a woman disappears, she is drawn back into investigating, and her new group of friends are ready and eager to help!
While I know this isn’t the typical dark thriller or murder mystery I would normally pick up, there is just something so endearing about this group of retirees all banding together to solve some murders. Everyone has their secrets and lived experiences – some more scandalous and dangerous than others – but they all bring something useful and insightful to the investigation.
It does start out slower than I anticipated, but with each chapter, you get more and more invested and curious about if they’ll find this killer! The pace really picked up, and I couldn’t stop. Come for the murder mystery, stay for the fun cast of characters. And make sure to check out the Author’s Note at the end!
Jessicamap Reviews 