I chose two books for my September book of the month picks – Fashion Victim and Cross Her Heart. I was not a fan at all of Fashion Victim (I don’t ever review books I don’t like, but since it was one of my BOTM picks, I thought I would just mention it briefly), but I really enjoyed Cross Her Heart by Sarah Pinborough. It is a super dark thriller.
Lisa is a single mother who lives a very quiet life. Her entire world revolves around her 16-year-old daughter Ava. And she has a best friend Marilyn, who is also her co-worker. All Lisa wants to do is protect herself and her daughter from the outside world, because Lisa’s life is a lie. But when a handsome client shows interest in her, she allows herself to dream about what could be and letting her guard down just a bit.
Ava is 16, and she wants her mother to stop smothering her. Her mother is always hovering, asking where she has been, what she is doing, who she was with. Ava just wants to be a normal teenager. Luckily for Ava, she has three best friends who help her to escape her mother. And while her mother has secrets from Ava, Ava has secrets that she is keeping from her mother as well.
Suddenly, Lisa’s world comes crashing down when Ava rescues a boy who was drowning in the river and their pictures are in the newspaper. Lisa’s life is exposed, and she is left trying to figure out who she can trust, and how to survive.
This book was so good. It was really dark – I feel like I really need to stress that it was dark – and really psychological. It was also pretty creepy and somewhat disturbing. I don’t want to say why it was disturbing because I feel like it will give some of it away but let’s just go with this is not a light read at all and you need to mentally prepare yourself. I loved that I didn’t see the end coming. Like you think you know but then you don’t.
With that being said, if you like crazy thrillers that are super psychological, Cross Her Heart is definitely for you! I really enjoyed it (apparently I like disturbing?). Another win for Book of the Month!
If you want to know more about Book of the Month (which I highly recommend), I wrote about my first month here. And you can get a free book if you use this link and use code SUGARHIGH.