Top Ten Tuesday/ Spring TBR

At the time, I have about 29 books on my TBR, so I doubt I can read them all in March. Most of them I got for the Male/Male readathon, but since the hosts are only on YouTube, I haven’t looked at how much progress I made prompts-wise. Plus, if you saw any of my most recent bookish posts, you know I have an endless list of WWII historical fiction, which I will try to read as my guilty pleasure; my idea was to read five books from Kindle before I pick up one of them. Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by thatartsyreadergirl, which has a new weekly topic.

March 18: Books on My Spring 2025 to-Read List. I’m sharing ten books from my Kindle, even if I downloaded 12.

Goodreads Blurb:

After being cleared of his wife’s murder, Todd Norman returns to her small Connecticut hometown in order to finish building their dream house by the lake. He is eager to restart his life and cast aside any remaining suspicious…but all of that is dashed when a young woman’s body washes up on the beach next door.

When Tracy Somerset, divorced mother from the small town of Covenant, CT, meets a handsome stranger in a midnight Wal-Mart, she has no idea she is speaking with Todd Norman, the former Wall Street financier dubbed “The Banker Butcher” by the New York tabloids. The following morning, on the beach by Norman’s back-under-construction lakehouse, another young woman’s body is discovered. Sheriff Duane Sobczak’s investigation leads him to town psychiatrist Dr. Meshulum Bakshir, whose position at a troubled girls’ group home a decade ago yields disturbing ties to several local, prominent players, including a radical preacher, a disgraced politician, a down-and-out PI―and Sobczak’s own daughter.

Unfolding over the course of New England’s distinct four seasons, The Lakehouse is a domestic psychological thriller about the wayward and marginalized, the lies we tell those closest to us, and the price of forbidden love in an insular community where it seems everyone has a story to tell―and a past they prefer stay buried.

Goodreads Blurb:

Sometimes life doesn’t go exactly to plan . . .

London accountant Sophie unexpectedly becomes the stand-in mum for her estranged sister’s eight-month-old baby, Alana. She didn’t even know she had a niece! She’s wildly out of her depth.

Then her life is turned upside down all over again by the appearance of a Thor lookalike on her doorstep. Apparently, six-foot surfer Samson is Alana’s father. And he also just discovered the existence of this adorable baby.

Sophie is not prepared to hand over her niece to an equally clueless stranger, so they come up with a plan: Sophie and Alana will move into Samson’s spare bedroom in Brighton until they work out what to do.

As they settle into changing nappies and nighttime feeds, Sophie finds it hard to ignore the way her heart somersaults whenever Samson looks at her. But he already has a girlfriend, who’s made it very clear that Sophie and Alana are in the way.

The more Samson and Sophie bond with little Alana, they can’t ignore the obvious attraction between them. But can they put their feelings aside and stick to the plan?

Goodreads Blurb:

In late summer, sixteen-year-old Dan and his recently divorced mother head to a Norfolk seaside town’s holiday park for a vacation.

Shy Dan soon strikes up a friendship with a girl of his age, quirky and pretty Charlie, and his mother is swept off her feet by a suave local property developer.

Yet a shadow is cast over their stay when one of the camp attendants, Mia, goes missing. And things go from bad to worse when her body turns up near the town’s derelict lido.

Charlie draws Dan into her efforts to discover the truth about Mia’s death. But as the locals close ranks, cracks begin to show in their new friendships, and he’ll soon find himself in deep water.

This could turn out to be a holiday that mother and son will remember for all the wrong reasons, if they survive.

Goodreads Blurb:

What if the person you try to save is the one who saves your heart?

It’s official. I’m totally hopeless at love, parenting and life.

Single mom? Check.

Massive debt? Check.

A sassy daughter who inherited my gift of snark?

Ugh. Check.

I work three jobs, go to school, and do my best to be in my kid’s life. Men are the last thing on my mind. I wouldn’t have time to look at a man even if he fell into my lap.

Until he does. Thanks to my spawn who keeps calling some famous relationship expert, airing my disastrous life in her podcast.

That’s when Zach, my brother’s best friend in high school appears. I used to have a major crush on him, but I figured he forgot about me.

Zach who tragically lost his wife some time ago, and now, he’s looking to save everyone—including me.

A super hot fling with my old flame, with a broken man?

Double check.

Goodreads Blurb:

Do you love gripping and hard-boiled crime thrillers? Then try GB Williams’ unmissable Locked In.

Ariadne Teddington is having a bad day. Then she finds herself staring down the barrel of a gun.

Stuck in a bank robbery turned hostage situation, Ariadne keeps her head down and her mouth shut; because if there is one thing criminals hate more than the police it’s prison guards.

Trapped with a child, a policeman, and a robber on the edge, Ariadne desperately searches for a way out for them.

Can they all escape unharmed?

And when everyone is locked in, will anyone get out alive?

Goodreads Blurb:

Ozzie is pulled into to help prove the egomaniac’s innocence. Early on, the evidence seems irrefutable — until it isn’t. Could who this man knows determine who lives and who dies?

Forced to make a deal with the devil, Ozzie must determine how to out think the king of rainmakers. And that’s when Ozzie realizes this isn’t just a one-lane game.

Ozzie flexes his own power of persuasion to fight through the haze of threats and outright danger. With everything on the line, Ozzie’s instincts take him to the brink of death.

In the end, innocent people will die. Can Ozzie save his family from something he can’t see?

Goodreads Blurb:

A shocking crime unleashes a bloodthirsty killer! Miami’s seasoned homicide lieutenant, Nash Harrington, has seen it all… or so he thought. And while his latest crime scene is blood-soaked, it’s only the beginning. As the body count rises, Harrington races to catch a killer whose brutality is only growing with each new victim. But, as the pieces fall into place, the investigation takes a terrifyingly personal turn, edging dangerously close to home. Will Harrington make the arrest before someone close to him falls victim to this relentless killer’s rage? Or will they suffer the culmination of this madman’s wrath? 

Goodreads Blurb:

The wife of a gangster is accused of offing him. Damien soon finds that nobody is who they seem – quite literally. But to defend his client, he must break every ethical rule. Damien Harrington is fresh off his come from behind victory when he’s thrust into yet another harrowing scenario. Gina Degrazio, wife to Vittorio Degrazio, notorious gangster, stands accused of Vittorio’s murder. Gina’s a tough-talking native New Yorker who was transplanted to Kansas City. She swears she didn’t do it. She was with her boyfriend, Enzo Degrazio, Vittorio’s twin brother, at the time of the murder. Or so she says. However, bit by bit, her story falls apart. Damien doubts that Gina was anywhere near Enzo at the time of the murder, yet he must use that alibi excuse if he is to win Gina’s case. In the meantime, Damien and Harper together work several wrongful death suits that were the result of toxic mold in various homes on the East Side. The plaintiffs are all poor and minority, the landlords are all slumlords and scummy, and Damien works these cases with a passion that he has not felt for the law in many years. With all the hairpin curves and twists you’ve come to expect from a Rachel Sinclair legal thriller, this first installment featuring Damien Harrington in the lead is not to be missed!

Goodreads Blurb:

Two days. Fourteen dead. The next victim could be you.

The first bullet punches through the windshield of an SUV. A head shot. The driver’s death is instantaneous.

And it’s only the beginning.

By the time Special Agent Violet Darger arrives in Atlanta, the city teeters toward panic. The vacant streets and restaurants paint an eerie picture. No one dares to venture out.

A killer walks among them. A shadow. And the public cowers just the way he wants them to.

A sniper along I-20 kills eight and causes a 36 car pileup. Brutal. Efficient.

The next morning, the same individual stalks through a grocery store parking lot with a handgun. He takes out six innocent shoppers along with the store’s front window before fleeing without a trace.

Once more Agent Darger must identify with a murderer, must stare into the darkness to anticipate his next move. Putting herself in his head may be the only way to stop him.

The longer she takes, the higher the death toll. He will kill again and again.

But what hatred drives a man to such desperate, violent acts?

And what price must one pay to invite that chaos inside themselves?

Goodreads Blurb:

What’s done in the dark will be brought to the light…

The silhouette stood at the edge of the woods like a spider watching a fly enter its carefully crafted web. Only a few more steps and she’d be within its grasp.

Stacy Shaw has her whole life ahead of her. New job, new house and now a baby on the way—everything she’s ever hoped for is finally coming true. But on a warm summer night on the way home from work, she vanishes. The police race to find her, but the clues don’t add up. Conflicting facts emerge as her story twists and turns, sending the trail spiraling in all directions.

A hometown hero with a heart of gold, Jack Stratton was raised in a whorehouse by his prostitute mother. Jack seemed destined to become another statistic, but now his life has taken a turn for the better. Determined to escape his past, he’s headed for a career in law enforcement. When his foster mother asks him to look into the girl’s disappearance, Jack quickly gets drawn into a baffling mystery. As Jack digs deeper, everyone becomes a suspect—including himself. Caught between the criminals and the cops, can Jack discover the truth in time to save the girl? Or will he become the next victim?

Alex