Every Vow You Break by Peter Swanson

Abigail Baskin never thought she’d fall in love with a millionaire. Then she met Bruce Lamb. But right before the wedding, Abigail has a drunken one-night stand on her bachelorette weekend. She puts the incident—and the sexy guy who wouldn’t give her his real name—out of her mind, and now believes she wants to be with Bruce for the rest of her life.

 

Then the mysterious stranger suddenly appears—and Abigail’s future life and happiness are turned upside down. He insists that their passionate night was the beginning of something special and he’s tracked her down to prove it.

 

Does she tell Bruce and ruin their idyllic honeymoon—and possibly their marriage? Or should she handle this psychopathic stalker on her own? To make the situation worse, strange things begin to happen. She sees a terrified woman in the night shadows, and no one at the resort seems to believe anything is amiss… including her perfect new husband.

Publisher: William Morrow | Genre: Contemporary Mystery/Thriller | Source: Publisher  | Rating: 2.5 

I’ve had this one sitting on my shelf since 2021 and finally decided to pick it up and give it a go. I’ve heard that you’ll love this one or hate it and, to be honest, I’m more in the middle with a meh.

This one had the potential to be great. A woman has a one-night stand during her bachelorette party with a mysterious stranger who follows her to her honeymoon on a remote island where she encounters a terrified woman who has disappeared. Sadly, instead of being a page-turner, the book was repetitive and predictable. I also found Abigail to be an unlikable character.

Unlikable characters don’t bother me if the plot is sound. Lucy Foley writes unlikable characters but I enjoy her books immensely. In this one, I struggled with the plot, the pacing, the characters, and the believability. There’s so much time spent mentioning Abigail’s love for horror movies, but she never once questioned the things going on around her. She also has a lot of doubts about her husband, who is basically a stranger but, hey, he’s rich and going to pay off her student loans so why not marry him. Then there’s the stranger that comes along and, again, why is she not suspicious of the fact he know so much about her then followed her to an island that’s just for tech billionaires.

Overall, I struggled from the start of this one. The first third of the book is exceedingly slow and repetitive. While it did pick up the pace, it didn’t hold steady. As a mystery/thriller lover, I needed more to satisfy me as a reader. If you’re new to mysteries and thrillers, this one could work for you and I do see why that some readers loved it and others hated it. I’ve also heard that this is not Peter Swanson’s best, so if you’ve read, and enjoyed, his other books just be aware when you start this one.

 

Wisteria by Adalyn Grace

Blythe Hawthorne has never let anyone tell her what to do—not society, not her overprotective father, and certainly not the man she’s bound herself to, no matter how rude and insufferable he is. In fact, she’s determined to be a thorn in his side for the rest of her days, even as he ensures that her life in his palace is anything but a fairytale. But as Blythe discovers a new side of herself linked to his past, she’ll have to decide if she’s willing to let an unexpected spark ignite…and to discover the truth about who she really is.

 

Series: Belladonna #3 | Publisher: Little, Brown |  Genre: Romantasy | Source: Purchased | Rating: 3.25

Due to Blythe tricking Fate, she and Aris are married. They’re living, unhappily, together, bound by the rings the Fate bestowed upon them. When Blythe’s father arrives at Wisteria to check in on his daughter and her new husband, Fate/Aris must keep up the ruse that they are a happily married couple but there’s something going on with Blythe’s father and soon they find themselves back at Blythe’s childhood home and the chaos that’s going on.

This is the third and final full-length book in the Belladonna Series and I was apprehensive going into this book as the main characters have shifted from Signa and Death to Blythe and Fate/Aris. If you’ve read my previous reviews (Belladonna and Foxglove), you’ll know that Blythe wasn’t my favorite character. In the first two books she’s immature, slightly annoying, and didn’t seem a strong enough character to hold her own book. While the ending of Foxglove shown potential for Blythe’s growth, I feel like Blythe was still too weak of a character to hold her own book and I didn’t feel as though she experienced any type of character growth.

Fate/Aris was a fun and interesting character. He has a story to tell, one that’s very layered and intriguing but I don’t feel as though the author allowed him to fully tell his story. So much could have been done with Fate/Aris and I feel as though his surface was barely scratched.

I did enjoy the banter between Fate/Aris and Blythe. This was something that was formed in the second book and continued on in the third book. While their interactions were great, their chemistry was lacking. I was waiting for the moment when Fate/Aris realized just what Blythe meant to him and, when it finally came, it was lackluster.

Another thing that threw me with this book was the change in tone. The series has changed as it progressed. The first book was a solid Gothic mystery. The second was a little more on the mild side of Gothic and featured more romance and mystery. This book, the third, completely changed and I feel as though it dove headfirst into a Regency Romantasy and completely forgot that it had Gothic roots.

I feel as though the change in tone caused this book to have a slow, rough start.

As this is the final full-length book in the series, there’s a lot that this book needed to address. Unfortunately, a lot of questions went unanswered and the conclusion of the series mystery arc seemed like half an answer.

Overall, this one left me wanting more. I wanted more of the Gothic feel, more of the mystery, more chemistry, more growth, more of Fate’s story, more of everything really.

There is a novella, Holly, coming out in October, which I hope addresses more of these questions but I have a feeling it’s not going to happen. 

The Sunday Post: September 28, 2025

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly or for a monthly wrap up.

Hello, Lovelies, and Happy Sunday, I hope you’re all doing fantastic. Can you believe it’s the last Sunday of September? Where did the month go? My goodness, this year is flying by.

 

I’ve been away from the blog for a bit due to health things. I thought that I was going to be back to blogging in July, but that didn’t happen. To make a long story short, I was diagnosed with Hypermobile Ehlers Danlos syndrome at the end of the last year. The last few months I’ve been having something other issues and extreme allergies along with chronic hives. Turns out, I also have Mast Cell Activation Syndrome, which goes along with HEDS. Between the doctor appointments, lab visits, and the flares, I’ve been exhausted. And let me tell you, the brain fog is real. So, that’s what’s been going on with me, I’ll probably write up a longer post sometime in the near future going into more detail.

 

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s move on to the fun stuff.

 

I stopped in at Wheatberry Books, my favorite indie bookshop. Chelsea, the owner, is so friendly and always has the best recommendations. She recommended Darcy Coates, so I picked up a copy of Gallows Hill, which was the perfect choice to kick off my spooky season reading. I also purchased Fall I Want by Lyra Parish and The League of Lady Poisoners: Illustrated True Stories of Dangerous Women by Lisa Perrin. And they’ve recently started a rewards program, so I cashed in my first reward and only paid $6 for Gallows Hill.

 

Grandpa Joe’s Candy Shop was my next visit. I went in to pick up a few of my favorite British candy bars (Flake, Curly-Wurly, and an Aero bar). Unfortunately, they didn’t have the dark chocolate Aero bar (just milk and peppermint) so I settled for the milk chocolate and forgot just how sweet they were. I think I’ll wait until I find the dark chocolate before buying an Aero bar again. I also picked up some wine gums, which I haven’t had in ages. They have a massive wall of mostly imported sodas, so I picked up a few new ones to try and some favorites. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they sold Fentimans Victorian Lemonade. If you’re a fan of tarte lemonade, I highly recommend their Victorian Lemonade. It’s very tarte but has a slight hint of pear, which gives it a hint of sweetness. It also contains an interesting blend of herbs, including juniper berries.

 

I’m also one-step closer to finishing my front yard. I ordered the decorative brick for the retaining wall, and it was promptly delivered, which surprised me. I’m just waiting on the landscaper. Because the job is relatively small, he’s going to do it in-between jobs as it shouldn’t take more than a few hours.

In cooking news, I’ve restarted my sourdough journey. It’s been a few years since I’ve went down this rabbit hole and now I have two jars of starter sitting on my counter. Today is the fourth day, and because my house is always cold, I’ve never had my starters to take off as fast as these ones have so I have a feeling I’m either going to have to stir the smaller jar down, or move it into a bigger jar. Because they were active earlier, I think I’m going to get usable discard sooner so I need to pull up a few seasonal recipes. I’m also hoping that I can find a family member or friend who will want to ‘adopt’ a jar of starter because I generally take the discard that’s not ready to be used in a recipe and turn it into another jar of starter. Two jars of sourdough starter sitting on my counter seems reasonable. Three is one jar too many. If you’ve also went down the sourdough rabbit hole, what do you do with your early discard? Do you start another starter or just toss it?

 

I’ve also been cooking a lot of fresh veggies because my great-aunt and uncle’s garden was overflowing and she keeps bringing me boxes of carrots, squash, zucchini, radishes, green beans, and bell peppers. I generally make a big roasting pan or skillet then what’s leftover I’ll blend up and freeze to use as a pasta sauce. I’ve also frozen several bags of veggies and made several containers of soup starters.

 

 

Here’s What I’m Currently Reading

 

I started The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston, and I should be finished with it by the end of today. While I’ve been enjoying Poston’s writing, I needed something to satisfy my mystery craving, so I started Dying Falls by Elly Griffiths. I’m also reading an e-arc of Witches of Dubious Origin by Jenn McKinlay and I’m loving it.

 

On audio, I have Voice of Fear by Heather Graham and Don’t Let Him In by Lisa Jewell going. I should be done with Don’t Let Him In by Monday at the latest. I think I’m going to switch to the paperback of Voice of Fear because I can’t seem to get into the audiobook.

 

I’m also re-reading A Discovery of Witches as part of the ‘real time’ readalong that Deborah Harkness is hosting. I’m really enjoying this because you read the chapters on the day that the events are occurring. I don’t often read a book over, but there’s so much going on in this series that you almost have to read the books over to catch everything that’s going on and how the events tie together.

 

What am I going to read in October?

I know that I’m going to read Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman because my Mom wants to do a buddy read, since it’s been a minute since we’ve read the same book. I also have a few arcs that I need to read but, other than that, I think I want to mood read this month.

 

What have you been up to?