As Night Falls by Jenny Milchman
My Rating:  5 of 5 Stars

Title:  As Night Falls
Author:  Jenny Milchman
Series:  Stand Alone
Narrator:  Susie Berneis
Length:  eBook - 385 pages; Unabridged; 12 hours and 17 minutes (Audio)
Publisher:  Ballentine Books (eBook); Dreamscape Media, LLC (Audio)
Published: June 30, 2015 (eBook) July 21, 2015 (Audio)
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
Format:  eBook & Audio
Genres:  Fiction; Psychological Fiction; Mystery; Suspense
Subjects:  Escaped Prisioners; Brothers and Sisters; Family Secrets

Sandy Tremont has always tried to give her family everything. But as the sky darkens over the Adirondacks and a heavy snowfall looms, an escaped murderer with the power to take it all away draws close.

In her isolated home in the shadowy woods, Sandy prepares dinner after a fight with her daughter, Ivy. Upstairs, the fifteen-year-old - smart, brave, and with every reason to be angry tonight - keeps her distance from her mother. Sandy’s husband, Ben, a wilderness guide, arrives late to find a home simmering with unease.

Nearby, two desperate men on the run make their way through the fading light, bloodstained and determined to leave no loose ends or witnesses. After almost twenty years as prison cellmates, they have become a deadly team: Harlan the muscle, Nick the mind and will. As they approach a secluded house and look through its windows to see a cozy domestic scene, Nick knows that here he will find what he’s looking for...before he disappears forever.

Opening the door to the Tremont home, Nick brings not only a legacy of terror but a secret that threatens to drag Sandy with him into the darkness.

©2015 Jenny Milchman (P)2015 Dreamscape Media, LLC  

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Disclaimer:  This book was provided to me by the Publisher, Ballentine Books (Random House), via NetGalley, in return for an honest and unbiased review.

Ruin Falls by Jenny Milchman
My Rating:  4 of 5 Butterflies

Title:  Ruin Falls
Author:  Jenny Milchman
Series:  Stand Alone
Length:  352 pages
Publisher:  Ballantine Books (Random House, LLC)
Published:  April 22, 2014
Source:  Publisher via Edelweiss
Format:  Kindle
Genres:  Fiction; Psychological Fiction; Suspense Fiction
Subjects:  Parental Kidnapping; Mothers of Kidnapped Children; Missing Persons; Family Secrets

Synopsis:

In a suspenseful follow-up to her critically acclaimed Cover of Snow, Jenny Milchman ratchets up the tension with this edge-of-your-seat story of a mother determined to find her missing children.

Liz Daniels has every reason to be happy about setting off on a rare family vacation, leaving behind her remote home in the Adirondack Mountains for a while. Instead, she feels uneasy. Her children, eight-year-old Reid and six-year-old Ally, have met their paternal grandparents only a handful of times. But Liz’s husband, Paul, has decided that, despite a strained relationship with his mother and father, they should visit the farm in western New York where he spent his childhood.

On their way to the farm, the family stops at a hotel for the night. In the morning, when Liz goes to check on her sleeping children, all her anxiety comes roaring back: Ally and Reed are nowhere to be found. Blind panic slides into ice-cold terror as the hours tick by without anyone finding a trace of the kids. Soon, Paul and Liz are being interviewed by police, an Amber Alert is issued, and detectives are called in.

Frantic worry and helplessness threaten to overtake Liz’s mind—but in a sudden, gut-wrenching instant she realizes that it was no stranger who slipped into the hotel room that night. Someone she trusted completely has betrayed her. Though she knows that Ally and Reid are safe, Liz will stop at nothing to find them and get them back. From her guarded in-laws’ unwelcoming farmhouse to the deep woods of her own hometown, Liz follows the threads of a terrible secret to uncover a hidden world created from dreams and haunted by nightmares.

I do want to start out by saying that I absolutely am closer to a 5 star rating rather than a four star rating, and would definitely give Ruin Falls a solid 4.5 rating, if only any rating systems gave you halves!

In my opinion, Jenny Milchman has introduced herself into the fiction world with a bang!  I read her first novel, Cover of Snow, about a year ago, and absolutely fell in love with her writing.  When I saw the opportunity to read Ruin Falls, I jumped on it as quick as I could.  Let me tell you, I was not disappointed.  I am impressed with Milchman's writing abilities, especially as a new author.  She definitely has phenomenal talent, especially when it comes to writing about twisted plots that leave you guessing until the very end.

The synopsis of this book drew me in, and each chapter that I read, left me deeper and deeper into the book, making each time I had to stop reading harder and harder to stop!  I thought that the plot was very unique and original!  I also learned a lot of new words while reading Ruin Falls!

I felt myself identifying with Liz, the main character.  I know if my children came up missing, I would stop at nothing to get them back, which is exactly what she does, even when she feels like she can no longer go on!  This book is definitely full of twisted relationships and outcomes that you wouldn't expect!

I must say that the more I read of Jenny Milchman, the more it leaves me craving more of her writing. I think that she certainly has proved herself to be an amazing writer that deserves the attention of anyone who enjoys a good suspense/psychological novel!  I know that I certainly will recommend this book to everyone I can!


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Disclaimer:  I was provided an ARC copy of Ruin Falls by the Publisher in return for an honest and unbiased review.

Cover of Snow by Jenny Milchman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I randomly came across this book browsing the online library content, and boy am I glad that I did! This debut novel by Jenny Milchman was such a jewel to find!

I listened to this on audio and the narrator did such a great job reading the story from Nora's point-of-view! I felt like I was literally listening to Nora tell her story! It normally takes me a good while to get into an audio book, if I ever can at all, but not only was I able to "get into" this book, it captured me from the very beginning and held and maintained my attention throughout the entire story!

I thought that the story flowed nicely and that Milchman did a wonderful job of telling her story, through Nora's eyes. She was thorough with her characters, creating a wide variety of great characters, which gave the book plenty of flare and flavor! The story provided plenty of mystery and "who dun it?" and kept me reading to the very end, delivering a good, solid ending.

Overall, I think that Jenny Milchman certainly has a bright future writing many more books to come and I can't wait to see what she comes out with next!

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