This was my first book by Kimberly Belle, and it was very solid thriller. It was not the most original thriller I’ve ever read, but it was not too predictable either. The too-good-to-be-true marriage to a rich husband is nothing new to the genre, but I appreciated that Charlotte was a smart and decisive main character who had more agency than many women in thrillers. I also enjoyed the atmospheric setting of a wintry, secluded lake in a small town and the mystery of a series of deaths in the lake that may or may not be connected.

However, I struggled to connect with the characters, so I never felt fully invested in the story. Every few chapters were written as flashbacks from the POV of a different character, but the purpose was not apparent until about halfway through the book. Paul was not what I expected.

I think a lot of readers will enjoy this book. It was suspenseful and surprising, and it avoided many tropes I’ve gotten sick of in the thriller genre. I of course had my suspicions throughout the book, but I was shocked when the whole truth was revealed at the end. This was very well-written and I enjoyed many aspects of the story, but it never quite sucked me in like I wanted.

This is a solid, engaging mystery. I enjoyed the concept of a poor woman thinking she was changing her life by marrying a rich man, only to discover it could be worse.

What a ride. What I loved most about this book is that it was a slow yet anxious build up. It wasn't boring at all. It reminded me of a roller coaster...slow going up the hill and then the ride takes off.

Charlotte was fantastic. She meets an older man (Paul) winds up pregnant and marries him. Paul is a widow and right from the start I felt like something was off with Paul. Charlotte is a force to be reckoned with to be honest. Shes a small town girl who is obviously from the wrong side of the tracks. I was shocked that people (especially Paul's family) believed that she got pregnant on purpose to land Paul.

Like I said, I felt like something was off about Paul from the getgo. Was it the rumors that he played a part in his first wife's death? Especially as we find more out about his first wife. Weird things just surround Paul. Then someone else winds up dead in a very similiar way as Paul's first wife and things just run off from there.

This is my first Kimberly Belle novel and I have to get her other one!

Thank you so much to Park Row, Kimberly Belle and NetGalley for the arc!

Paul is a wealthy widower and his marriage to Charlotte generates plenty of gossip in their small town. Nevertheless, the couple seem to have a perfect life, despite rumors about her past and his first marriage. All is well, until Charlotte finds the body of a young woman in the lake. And, the circumstances are eerily similar to the death of Paul’s first wife. Even though Paul denies knowing the dead woman, Charlotte is sure that she saw him talking to her just the day before she found the body. Now, suddenly, their marriage seems to be hiding some dark secrets.

The Stranger in the Lake is a very satisfying read. The plot is solid, the characters interesting, the dialog believable, and the story has a steady pace. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, with its unexpected twists. It is an atmospheric thriller that can be hard to put down.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.

I don’t know about you, but I LOVE reading thrillers in the summertime. They’re quick, entertaining, and can hold my attention quite easily. When the novel has a lake or beach setting, it’s even better. It’s the icing on the cake! Stranger in the Lake by Kimberly Belle fits the bill perfectly. Set on the town of Lake Crosby, with a beautiful home near the water, complete with glass walls, and a private dock; Belle paints the picture perfectly. I felt like I was right there with the characters. Charlotte, the protagonist in the novel, is a breath of fresh air. She’s relatable, likable, and clever. Sometimes that’s hard to find in a thriller. They normally have me cringing, pulling my hair out, and screaming obscenities at them! Ha! I especially enjoyed reading about her backstory and learning more about her childhood. Belle did a fantastic job describing her past, weaving it with the present, and creating a binge-worthy thriller. Definitely put this one on your summer stack!

This was a quick read that kept me engaged, but seemed to be lacking the suspense I was expecting from it. I think a little more development of the characters and relationships would have helped too.

When Charlotte sees the body of the woman floating in the water by her dock, she immediate thinks of her husband Paul. Charlotte immediately recognizes the woman as the one Paul was talking to in town just the day before. But that’s not the only problem right now, Paul’s first wife died in the exact same manner a few years prior. He was looked at then, but nothing ever came of the case. Now he’s married to Charlotte, a new marriage, and there’s another body floating in the lake. Another woman that Paul knew. When Paul lies about knowing this woman, Charlotte grows even more curious, and even more concerned.
Then a secret pact from his teenage years comes to light, one that revolves around a drug dealer that had been found dead in his car, at the bottom of a lake. What does the now dead woman have to do with that case? What does the missing necklace that she had in her possession have to do with Paul, his mother, and Paul’s two best friends? What’s the Sheriff covering up?
With so many questions swirling, and Paul taking off in the midst of the police investigation, Charlotte needs to figure out what’s going on, who to trust, and if her husband is a killer. One wrong move can and will put not only her life in jeopardy, but that of her unborn child.
Ms. Belle has created a stirring mystery, it drew me in, and I couldn’t stop reading. With great writing, a wonderful, yet well mixed cast of characters, and a plot that keeps you reading well past your bedtime, this book has it all for those fans of mysteries and thrillers.
**I received an ARC of this story from Netgalley and this is my honest and voluntary review.

Charlotte is in love with a man that she really doesn’t know that well but we all have pasts. That is until a woman turns up dead under their dock and he blantantly lies to the police. Things are not adding up for her and she begins to truly wonder what she got herself into.

There are a few twists and turns but it’s not too hard to figure out who the guilty party is but just because you don’t cause the accident doesn’t mean you aren’t guiltily on some level.

I really enjoyed Dear Wife by Kimberly Belle, so I was excited to start her new book.
Charlotte or "Charlie" as she was called until she changed her name at sixteen, grew up poor in a trailer park in Lake Crosby, North Carolina. Raising her brother Chet,while her drug addicted mother left them alone, sometimes without any food to eat.
She falls in love with architect Paul Keller, a wealthy widow whose first wife Katherine drowned in the lake, even though she was a champion swimmer.
They marry and are now expecting their first child.
When the body of a young woman is found at the same spot as Paul's first wife, suspicions arise. Paul denies knowing the victim, but Charlotte is sure that she saw them in town speaking to each other the day before.
Why is Paul lying, can she trust him anymore? And what secrets from the past is he hiding with his childhood friends Jax and Micah?
It started off well for me. Creepy, atmospheric and mysterious. A slow burn thriller setting up. But it dragged a bit in the middle, until it perked up again with a great twisty ending.
Thank you Harlequin Park Row Books for the e-ARC via NetGalley.
3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 stars.

Stranger in the Lake was such a great summer read and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to pick up a thriller this summer. Charlotte, or Charlie in her childhood, grew up in lower income session of a Lake Crosby. She ends up marrying Paul, a wealthy architect and widower. Many in the small town believes Charlie married for money but her and Paul really are in love. However, one snowy morning Charlie finds a female body floating in the lake by their dock, the same lake Paul's wife died in four years ago. What makes the scene even more terrifying is that the day before, Charlie saw Paul talking to the lady in town.

I have to admit that about half-way through the book I began to have my suspicions about who was actually responsible for the woman's death. However, I had no idea how it all fell into place and I couldn't read fast enough to find out what happened. And that doesn't mean that Belle didn't blindside me with a few things. The story alternates between current time and Paul's high school days when he and his two best friends would run the town with nothing to worry about other than who they would party with on the weekends. His life was much different than Charlie, who grew up with a father in prison and an addict mother. She spent her days struggling to take care of her younger brother. And the differences between Charlie and Paul's childhood become more evident as the plot progresses.

And speaking of Charlie's brother, the relationship between Charlie and Chet is probably one of my favorite things about the book. Chet is the typical younger brother who jumps from job to job and seems to wander aimlessly through life. Yet Chet is utterly devoted to his sister and his devotion shows in the support and assistance he provides his sister throughout the book. I can't help but compare them to Sookie and her brother Jason from the HBO series True Blood - minus the supernatural elements of course.

I'm so glad I picked up this book and I really thing it will be one of the big hits of the summer. Other than being a tad predictable, I have no real complaints with Stranger in the Lake and I will definitely pick up more from Belle in the future.

𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝗺𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝗼𝐧𝐬: This book felt more like a mystery than a thriller. It did not have the wild twists and turns thrillers are known for. I still enjoyed it and liked the flashes of the former lives of the characters. It added an extra layer to the story which helped the overall plot along.

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬: Charlotte’s background made her the most relatable character for me and made the story more believable. I enjoyed her growth as the story progressed. Paul felt a bit flat to me – a millionaire with secrets. Nothing new there really.

𝐌𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝗼𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: This was an enjoyable read; perfect for reading this summer by the lake. I figured it the “twist” early on but I wasn’t disappointed by that. There was still plenty to consider and for me this book turned towards Charlotte’s past, her family, and the stark differences between the marginalized and the wealthy in their community.

Charlie Charlotte Charlie. She is the kind of character that I have a hard time with. She knows everything she is doing is wrong but she keeps doing it. She even talks about fixing them, but doesn’t follow through. She goes on and on about how much her husband has, food, money, furniture. But it’s her husbands you can feel the divide, but she loves him so much. Then when push comes to shove she’s a total hypocrite. Meh wasn’t my kind of book, the main story was good but I felt like there was a lot of filler in the pages.

I keep hearing about this author but I just don’t think she’s one for me

I received this book for free in exchange for my honest review.

Charlotte – or Charlie as she was known when she lived on the “wrong side of the hill” – married in money when she met and fell in love with Paul. Recognising that his emotional scars from their pasts matched her own, she thought she found a home, love and security in her marriage.

The question is though, how far would you be willing to go to keep a secret that would destroy your life? When Charlotte finds the body of a woman in the lake by her house – only 4 years after Paul’s ex-wife dies in the same spot – she just can’t let it go. Especially when Paul lies about knowing who she is. That small lie grows until Charlotte is left uncovering even more lies that leave her wondering when and where it will stop.

Told in two narratives – Charlotte in the present and Jax in the past – both draw together until the events of one single night are finally uncovered. The impact of which lasted for 20 years.

I loved Charlie as a narrator. Bright, funny, curious and open about her flaws, I found her to be engaging and informative. Her brother Chet and their relationship a welcome balm to the toxic relationships which seem to be woven throughout Lake Crosby.

Easily my favourite thriller of this year so far, Stranger in the Lake drew me in with a brilliantly planned out plot which was wonderfully written. Some twists you could see coming whereas others really did come out of nowhere which was a nice plus. I would say a few of the characters could have played a bigger part – Sam and the Sheriff to name two – but then I understand that it would be easy to get distracted which would have impacted the pace and the story on a whole. This is my first Kimberly Belle book, but I have no doubt that I will be reading more.

I love that synopsis and couldn’t wait to jump into this story.

I liked Charlie well enough. She’s had a rough childhood and is a bit uncomfortable in her new role as a wife to an uber-rich husband. Paul appears to be loving, but he’s definitely off the page for most of the book. There are several other characters floating around the story, but we didn’t really get to know them.

Plot wise it was okay. It’s mostly telling and not showing, with loads of inner monologue and repetitive thoughts. One thing that continuously came up were the facts that Charlie was poor and Paul was rich. And when I say constantly, it’s mentioned at least once a chapter. The multiple time lines and plot threads didn’t add the tension I was expecting it to, although I did appreciate getting a bit of the backstory.

Overall, I loved the idea of this one and something kept me reading, but I likely could have set it down unfinished.

**Huge thanks to Park Row for providing the arc free of charge**

A psychological thriller about murder in a small town where nothing or no one is quite what it seems. ⁣

Stranger in the Lake was a quick read which was unfortunately predictable and overall left me feeling meh about it. In all honesty, I was turned off early on and just couldn’t switch it back on. Others may fare much better with this one than I did, especially if you’re under 40. Let me explain! 😉⁣
⁣
This book is about a woman and her wealthy, older husband. She is in her mid 20s and he is in his late 30s. There is an 11 year age difference. Much mention is made of this age difference in the book. Even more mention is made of how “old” the poor husband is. He's in his LATE 30s! Really - so that's OLD now? This got irritating to me as a reader - 𝘍𝘈𝘚𝘛! I’m over 40 and I couldn’t help but feel it was ridiculous and unfortunately ruined much of the reading experience for me. 🤷🏻‍♀️⁣
⁣
That being said, the mystery was interesting and although I had it partially figured out - there was an unexpected curveball of a twist that I appreciated. I’d have definitely enjoyed the book more if part of the plot hadn’t made me feel geriatric. 😉⁣

What happens when the girl from the wrong side of the tracks falls in love and marries the man from the right side of the tracks in a small town? He comes with secrets and a dead ex-wife, she comes from a horrible background and the whole town is watching and talking. Enter a pretty stranger that is going to blow the top off of a cold case. Not the one you might think.

I’m a huge Kimberly Belle fan. Love her writing, plot twists, story lines. This wasn’t my favorite though. But, it was an enjoyable thriller and held my attention. I did find this read more straight forward, figuring out the ‘Who Done Its’ pretty early. The descriptive scenery is top notch...beautiful and scary at the same time. The relationships described between friends and family members is excellent. I thought the character development was excellent, revealing to us a little at a time, the true nature of the characters.

Thanks to Ms Belle, Harlequin, and NetGalley for this ARC. Opinion is mine alone.

This was a fun mystery / thriller wrapped up in the history of a lake town. Multiple bodies have been found in the lake and Charlotte wants to know if her husband is involved in them being there. The book kept me guessing and flipping the pages until the end.

“Everything’s fine.” Of all my lies, this one’s the most absurd. ~Charlotte

Stranger In The Lake is one of the most binge-worthy books I've read this year. And it has been quite a year on books. On the whole, it's one of the smartest character-driven suspense books I've ever read. As my first by Kimberly Belle, I'm now ready to hole up for weeks reading everything else by her.

Our main character, Charlotte, turns out to be the most sensible and smartest narrators. I absolutely loved being in her head and she reasons out her observations, emotions, and the facts. She's a bit flawed, but as she recognizes a glaring truth about herself and the relationship she has with her husband, she shows us a genuine altruistic quality. Once known as Charlie she grew up on the wrong side of the "hill". But when we meet her she's made it to the other side and happily married to local real-estate mogul Paul Keller. The story unfolds over the course of a week and the pace is perfect. At the center of the mystery are three men, Paul, Micah, and Jax, who long ago made choices that are very bad, deadly even. After all, there's a stranger in the lake.

Everyone is guarded, but none more than Paul. Charlotte quickly catches on that she's not getting the whole story from him, possible from any of them, and she is wise enough to see her situation through a new lens: "We see what we want to see, and we disregard the rest. I know this better than anyone."

She does have great support in brother Chet, and also a one time friend Sam. He clearly has ulterior motives and they are slowly exposed. Misgivings are bolstered by a crazy interesting cast operating under false assumptions and blatant lies. The story is set in the present, but we learn so much about these characters in flashbacks and reflections. No one seems to be on the up and up here.

I really enjoyed this read. The story made my mind spin as I kept guessing and second-guessing what was really going on in this small town. Ultimately, I never saw THAT end coming. 5 Stars and recommendation!

This story has dual timelines told in alternating chapters. One being the present, and the other timeline is 20 years prior and focuses on Paul Keller and his two best friends Jax and Micah. Charlie grew up in a trailer park with a crackhead mom who abandoned her frequently, leaving her to take care of her baby brother Chet. Once she's old enough, she legally changed her name to Charlotte, and now she's married to one of the wealthiest men in town, Paul. 

As kids, Paul, Jax, and Micah were inseparable. But something happened to Jax when they were teens and he is now known around town as "Batty Jax" who just wonders the woods and spouts nonsense. Micah and Paul are neighbors and still best friends, and Micah is seemingly the only one who doesn't judge Charlotte for leaving her old trailer park life behind for riches and love. 

Paul came under scrutiny among the town after his first wife was found dead in the lake below their house. Now, a stranger has been found dead, but it's not really a stranger, is it? Charlotte knows she saw Paul talking to the dead woman the day before, so why does he lie and say he doesn't know her? Better yet, why does Charlotte lie for him and continue to lie? As revelations about this stranger come to light, once buried secrets are exposed and Charlotte begins to wonder if she can trust her husband. 


Thank you to Harlequin Trade and Park Row books for my copy and for letting me take part in this blog tour!

This is the first book I've read from Kimberly Belle and based on her writing style alone I will be picking up other books from her. I enjoyed the way the story slowly unwound through both modern day and flashbacks, though there were some portions that I felt were a little slow.

I loved the setting and the descriptions of the environment, town and their house. I definitely had a creepy shiver when thinking about those big windows that weren't covered in any way. So many secrets and moments of deception wove things together and really were the meat of the story, it definitely kept me wondering and on my toes.

All in all I really enjoyed this psychological thriller and will definitely be checking out more of Belle's writing in the future.