Reading Between the Wines book review #32/115 for 2023:
Rating: 3 🍷 🍷 🍷
Book 🎧: The Summer House
Author: Keri Beevis
Genre: General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers
Available now!

Sipping thoughts: Another great Keri Beevis book. I really like her writing style. This one is another dark thriller where you may think you have it figured out, but you don’t. I liked the background and the reveal. I cannot wait to read a new release hopefully coming out soon.

Cheers and thank you to @NetGalley and @BoldwoodBooks for an advanced copy of @TheSummerHouse.

#TheSummerHouse #KeriBeevis #BoldwoodBooks #NetGalley #advancedreadercopy #ARC #Kindle #Booksofinstagram #readersofinstagram #bookstagram #nicoles_bookcellar #bookworm #bookdragon #booknerd #booklover #bookstagrammer #bookaholic #bookreview #bookreviewer #IHaveNoShelfControl #ReadingBetweenTheWines #fiction #thriller #suspense #mystery #MysteryAndThrillers #GeneralFictionAdult

Wow, what a great book, with a brilliant storyline.
Keri definitely has a way with words and knows how to keep her readers wanting more.
There is plenty of tension in this story and definitely one that I recommend reading.

A murder occurred 17 years ago at Mead House, staining its memory for twins Lana and Ollie. They had lived there with their older sister Camille when she was brutally tortured and killed. When their grandmother suddenly dies Lana and Ollie are forced back to where it all happened. Lana’s grandmother tried reaching her the day of her death – and something isn’t sitting well with her being back here 17 years later. Someone’s in jail for Camille’s murder but is it the right person? Did Lana's testimony put the wrong person behind bars?

This is a fast-paced thriller that hooks you from the start. With alternating timelines I feel the story gets bogged down just a tad. But, I’ve never been a fan of split timeliness in a story unless they’re done in a creative way – rather than a back and forth. There were also a lot of characters to keep track of. This was another story that needed one of my character cheat-sheets to keep track of them all. The mysterious “G” who could have been any one of the G characters was one thing I did enjoy. Although it meant adding more characters into the story it didn’t feel bogged down in that way.

With all the twist and turns – this book is written in a way that keeps you invested in it. What mysteries would you uncover if you had to clean out your childhood summer house?

I would recommend to anyone who likes psychological thrillers.

I received an ARC version of this book and leave this review of my own accord. Thanks Boldwood and NetGalley.
#NetGalley #TheSummerHouse #Boldwood

READ THIS BOOK!! I loved it so much! From what I can gather all Keri Beevis' books are this well written and all the reviews are amazing so I will be buying her back catalogue asap.
There were so many clever clues and red herrings throughout the book that added to the tension and pace. It was well thought out and lots of attention to detail. I loved how it kept me guessing and I changed my mind many times as I read, I was convinced every time that I knew the outcome....I did not!! But I don't mind because it was so enjoyable to read.

Thank you to #NetGalley, #Boldwood Books and Keri Beevis for the opportunity to read an advance copy of THE SUMMER HOUSE, This domestic thriller was fast-paced and included numerous twists and turns throughout the novel. The murder the plot was about was gruesome and sexually-oriented, so if that is disturbing to you, this will not be your cup of tea. However, if you enjoy a good book with twists galore, you'd probably enjoy it.

The Summer House by Keri Beevis

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This was a seriously chilling read, I loved every minute of it.

After the death of Lana Grandmother, Kitty, Lana returns to her childhood home. She and her twin brother have been left her house. This house holds so many memories for them both, especially considering their sister was murdered right there in the summer house.
As they are packing up the house, more secrets seem to come to light about her sister......what actually happened???
Soon enough, we read that Lana has the feeling she's being watched.
It was an incredibly suspenseful and suffocating feeling when someone seemed to be closing in on Lana.
Seemed like a few of people were harbouring secrets, which makes it difficult to know who to trust.

Fantastic read, loved the whole plot. A must read.

The Summer House – Keri Beevis

Lana is forced to return to a place she dreaded going back to, the Mead House. A house that was once filled with happy memories, was quickly turned into a house of horrors when her sister was brutally murdered.

When Lana’s grandmother passes away, her and Ollie, her twin brother, must return to get the house ready to be sold. As Lana tries to power through the packing, with Ollie being no help, she discovers a hidden journal of her sisters. Up until that moment, Lana had been confident with what she saw that night, with her evidence sending a man to jail, but this journal changes everything. It contains her sisters’ darkest secrets, and now she is second guessing everything.

As Lana dives deeper into trying figure out the truth, who her sister may have been entwined with, she finds herself in constant danger. The more danger she finds herself in, the closer to the truth she knows she is.

She will push herself until the very end, determined to get justice for her sister.

The Summer House was a shocker for me. It initially reminded me of the much lighter books, Love and Other Words, and Every Summer After, but with a dark twist. I think I was as invested as Lana was, trying to figure out who could have brutally murdered her sister in the manner that they did. I enjoyed all the characters and their dynamics together, watching them come together to find the truth with the hopes and freeing an innocent man. This will easily be one of my favorites of 2023, and can’t recommend it enough if you’re looking for a book that will shock the hell out of you.
Thank you Netgalley for the incredible ARC that easily deserves ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5!

I really enjoyed reading this thriller. It was exciting, shocking and entertaining all at the same time. The prologue fully hooked me and i could never imagine what actually happened until it was revealed at the end. This book includes multiple POVs and a dual timeline. I loved how certain elements were revealed in the past timeline but some parts were still kept until the end.

The characters in this book were really good. Some of them came across as untrustworthy but hadn’t don’t anything but others appeared innocent but were not. The book being set when the characters were younger made them seem very vulnerable even when they were revisiting events as adults. There were a lot of characters but I felt I got to know them quickly.

I enjoyed the structure of the book especially with the multiple POVs and dual timeline. It gave the book and plot more dimension. I do love thrillers where adults revisit events that happened in their childhood. There are a lot of secrets that are revealed and which help to find the truth of what happened in the past.

Overall, this was a good psychological thriller with some gripping elements. I read this book in one sitting so it was a quick read for me. I have read other books by this author and I highly recommend reading those.

Gripping, a raw psychological thriller that will have you looking behind you when you’re walking alone at night. It should be a simple case to solve, it seems very evident of the guilty party. An open and closed case, but not so fast. Trust no one, because when you start to trust, you will take the fall.
I couldn’t sleep until I finished this, it kept me reading until the wee hours of the morning.
I am addicted to these thrillers, it’s a rush, even though there are so many subplots I can never see them coming.

I was given a complimentary copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are my own.

EXCERPT: I am scared now. 'I want to stop. I don't like this game.'
Ignoring me, you lean in close, your warm breath against my ear as finally you speak.
'This isn't a game.'
Realisation is followed by horror. Finally I understand just how much trouble I am in.

ABOUT 'THE SUMMER HOUSE': Mead House was once our childhood home.

Despite my fears, I always knew we would have to return to face the demons of our past.

Back to the place where it happened, to where, as carefree teenagers, we lost our elder sister in the most brutal of circumstances.

As executors of our grandmother’s will, my twin brother, Ollie, and I needed to empty the house for resale.

What I didn’t expect to discover was my sister’s secret journal that contained her most private thoughts and shocking dark secrets.

Now I am questioning everything that I saw that night. Did I get it wrong, who I saw?

Did my evidence send an innocent man, my then boyfriend's brother, to jail for the last 17 years?

I know I have no choice. If I want to find answers, I will have to go back to that fateful night my sister died. When she made her last visit to the summer house.

MY THOUGHTS: The Summer House starts out strongly with the murder of Camille in 2005, then moves to the present day when Camille's sister Lana Hamilton returns to Mead House with her brother Ollie to ready it for sale following their grandmother's death.

The story is told from many points of view, some of them unknown characters. This doesn't always work, although some do, but a lot of the revelations are irrelevant and merely 'filler'.

I couldn't really relate to or become invested in any of the characters, although there was one in particular that I loved to hate - Ollie's fiancee, Elise.

The plot, with its myriad of twists, kept me interested until the final 10% of the book when the author seemed to be in a hurry to finish and, all of a sudden, we're being told the story rather than experiencing it as we had earlier.

The author does a great job of muddying the field of suspects, so I never knew quite who to trust.

However, the great denouement was completely OTT, and combined with the change of context ruined what had been a good reading experience.

⭐⭐⭐.1

#TheSummerHouse #NetGalley

I: @keri.beevis @bookandtonic

T: @keribeevis @BoldwoodBooks

#contemporaryfiction #crime #domesticdrama #mystery #romance #thriller

THE AUTHOR: Born in the village of Old Catton, less than a mile from where Anna Sewell was living when she wrote Black Beauty, Keri had a passion for reading and writing from a young age, though her tastes veered more to the macabre.

Today she still lives in Norfolk, along with her two naughty kitties, Ellie and Lola, and a plentiful supply of red wine (her writing fuel), where she writes a comedic lifestyle column for the Iceni Magazine. She loves Hitchcock movies, exploring creepy places, and gets extremely competitive in local pub quizzes. She is also a self-confessed klutz.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Boldwood Books via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Summer House by Keri Beevis for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions.

For an explanation of my rating system please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

This review is also published on Twitter, Amazon, Instagram and my webpage

The Beev is back with another knockout of a thriller!

It's all going on at Mead House right now, but does the summer house hold the answers, or does someone closer to home know more than they're letting on?

The Summer House has such a cleverly woven plot, with every one coming under suspension and much scrutiny from me, and it was game on as I began my journey to catch a killer!

Moving at a moderate pace Beevis has written another engaging, addictive read. Her characters are credible, complex and pretty adept at harbouring the truth...yep, I still didn't work it out.

Absolutely loved it, roll on the next book!

Many thanks to Rachel's Random Resources for my tour spot.

Rating ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Lana returns to her childhood home years after sending her sisters murderer to jail but did she have the right suspect? The suspense is absolutely boiling and I was literally holding my breath so several times I had to remind myself to breathe before I passed out.What a outstanding physcological thriller, the suspense just keeps building and I had every character as a suspect at some stage but what is revealed is mind blowing and shocking. The characters are superbly crafted and the atmospheric vibes had the hairs on my arms standing up.

This was absolutely brilliant! I’ve just had the best weekend reading it, struggled to get anything else done. Total page turner, red herrings galore, couldn’t recommend it more!!

Just finished The Summer House. I would recommend if you like thrillers. This kept me guessing and questioning.

Not my first read by this author but I think it’s just about my favourite. Set in Norfolk in an area where I used to go on holiday as a child; I don’t know if that added to my enjoyment or not but who cares - the description of the area & Mead House are fabulous.

Opening with a shocking chapter set in the summer house of the title, the timeline then moves to the present day & the surroundings in which the summer house is set. Twins Lana & Ollie Hamilton return to sell their grandmother’s house following her death. It is 17 years since their elder sister was sadistically murdered & emotions are still raw. Ollie finds her secret diary & Lana begins to think that the wrong person was convicted all those years ago.

A brilliant read with so many hints & curve balls. I was completely on the wrong track &, considering the number of crime books I read, that was some feat.
Do yourself a favour & read this tense thriller.

Good grief The Summer House starts out full on and just doesn’t stop! Its an incredible psychological thriller with so many artful twists that you do not lose attention at all. To coin a phrase, a total page turner.

Keri is a brilliant creator of suspense. One minute you’re thinking “phew that’s over” then bam! she hits you with another little snippet of information that turns all your senses upside-down. A truly terrific read with characters that you either love or instantly hate. Lana is strong and opinionated. She is not happy to return to Mead House where her sister Camille died in an horrific manner. However when she does return things begin to go wrong for Lana, so very very long. Her twin brother Ollie comes across as a bit entitled and just wants to sell up and go back to his London life. He arrives with the rather dreadful Elise, his Fiancée.

Lana discovers facts about her dead sister that could throw the whole case on its head and prove that Sebastian is after all innocent. Lana meets with Sebs brother Xav who she dated all those years ago. He is hostile and doesn’t want to be near her. Then he witnesses a shocking incident and he comes to Lana’s rescue. The proverbial knight in shining armour. I’m saying no more, no spoilers here.

The Summer deserves 5 stars it is fascinating and creative, full of suspects, twists and turns that leave you drained of all energy after being fully immersed in this epic thriller. Just BRILLIANT!

"The Summer House" is described as a psychological thriller, so I expected an intense and dark novel. Conversely, I felt the book was a light read. The author gradually introduces all the characters and delves into their backstories one at a time. I loved how the author paced the introduction of multiple characters.

The ending, for me, was predictable as the author uses the process of elimination in her climax. While I could guess the killer, the motive was a different ball game. The grounds of the murder is where the author packs a punch. The book is well-paced with moments of rapid page-turning.

There were multiple plotlines to explore in the book and the author didn't leave any loose ends. If you love psychological thrillers that are not too intense, this one is for you!!

Twins Lana and Ollie were just seventeen when their nineteen-year-old sister Camille was murdered in the summer house at their Gran’s home where they had lived since their parents’ death. Lana was a key witness to the fact that Camille’s angry boyfriend Sebastian Landry was there that night and despite protesting his innocence, he was convicted of murder, putting an end to her blossoming romance with his younger brother and Ollie’s best friend Xavier. Now seventeen years later, the twins have returned to clear out the house following Gran Kitty’s death. Lana finds a secret diary written and hidden by her sister, detailing a dark and dangerous affair with someone called G and wonders if they were all wrong about Sebastian. It’s not long before Lana is deliberately hit by a car. The reader is privy to words from the person who killed Camille, someone very worried that the truth will come out and someone who will keep that truth buried, whatever it costs.
This is a great twisty journey of a story, with lots of opportunity to wonder just who can be trusted as Lana and Xav reconnect and set out to prove Sebastian innocent, and so well written and totally engrossing that it can easily be lapped up in one sitting. Another huge hit from an author who never ever disappoints!

Lana, has to go back to her grandmothers home to clear it out after her death, however it is also the sight of her sisters murder many years ago. Travelling back and bringing all the memories to the forefront make Lana question the truth of what actually happened that day. One day she finds her sisters diary and she begins to question everything.

This features multiple POV's and dual timelines, which I always love, I think it adds to the suspense and another element of mystery. I also loved that there was so many likely suspects, I never guessed who the culprit was till the end it was an actual shock. The only thing I did not like is I found it dragged at parts and I expected there to be more diary entries after reading the synopsis, however I still enjoyed it and found it to be a really unique and interesting dark psychological thriller. There's plenty of secrets and twists and turns to keep anyone reading till the end.

The book is written mostly from the point of view of Lana, twin sister of Ollie. Growing up with their grandmother in an idyllic Norfolk setting the children had a carefree existence until the murder of their older sister Camille 17 years ago. The aftermath of the murder affected the twins relationship and the estrangement of their best friend / Lana’s boyfriend Xav. Throughout the story we learn more about the family and some of the locals. What starts out as a short stay in their childhood home to pack up the house in preparation for selling, following the death of their grandmother, ends up as an investigation into the death of Camille and a terrifying ordeal for the twins as they uncover hidden secrets. As the story progresses we are given snippets of information from the killer.

The Summer House is one of those books that constantly has you guessing and flip flopping between ideas and theories, with questions even once the killer has been revealed. A twisty and suspenseful thriller, this also has an engaging theme of family life, relationships and well developed characters. There are subplots and mysteries as well as a bit of romance. It’s a book that keeps you turning the pages, wanting to find out more. There’s some pretty grim subject matter but it’s written really well. Keri Beevis definitely knows how to weave a tale of intrigue and I loved the Norfolk setting, with which I am pretty familiar. I did feel sorry for the continuous onslaught poor Lana had to deal with and I was even questioning the hero at one point! A gripping, twisty page turner that will keep you guessing even after the killer has been revealed!

A solid 4 stars from me ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5