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Friday, February 26, 2021

Up The Creek by Alissa Grosso (VBT: Book Review / Contest Giveaway)

In association with Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours, Jersey Girl Book Reviews is pleased to host the virtual book tour event for Up The Creek by author Alissa Grosso!







Book Review




Up The Creek by Alissa Grosso
Book #1: Culver Creek Series
Publisher: Glitter Pigeon Press
Publication Date: January 12, 2021
Format: Hardcover - 342 pages
               Paperback - 356 pages
               Kindle - 1539 KB /358 pages
               Nook- 643 KB
ISBN (Hardcover): 978-1949852097
ISBN (Paperback): 978-1949852080
ASIN: B08JJD4X97
BNID: 2940162818168
Genre: Mystery / Thriller


Buy The Book: Up The Creek


Buy The Series: Culver Creek Series
Book #1: Up The Creek
Book #2: Factory Girls
Book #3: Haunted Houses (Pub Date: March 9, 2021)
Book #4: Blood Answer (Pub Date: April 13, 2021)



Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author / publisher in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tours.


Book Description:

An unsolved murder. Disturbing dreams. A missing child.

Caitlin Walker hasn’t had a dream in nine years. But now nightmares torture her son Adam and awaken in Caitlin buried memories and a dark secret. Her husband Lance has a secret of his own, one that his son’s nightmares threaten to reveal.

In Culver Creek newly hired detective Sage Dorian works to unravel the small town’s notorious cold case, the grisly murder of a young girl.

How are Caitlin and Lance connected to the horrific crime? And how far will they go to make sure their secrets stay hidden? Find out in this riveting thriller.



Book Excerpt:


Caitlin emerged from a black, dreamless sleep to screams. Adam’s tortured cries sounded almost otherworldly. They turned her blood to ice and made her heart race. She sat straight up, then bolted from bed, blinking sleep from her eyes as she raced toward the door, banging her shin on the dresser as she went. She yanked on the doorknob and almost toppled over when it didn’t yield as she expected. Goddammit. Lance had locked the door again.

She spared a glance toward the bed, but her husband wasn’t there. Instead he was standing, looking out the window. For a moment she thought she was mistaken. Were the screams coming from outside?

“Lance?” she asked.

He turned to her, but his eyes looked past her at some point on the wall.

“What’s going on?” he mumbled, barely awake.

“Adam’s having a nightmare,” she said.

“Again?” he asked. “Maybe we should just let him sleep it off.”

The screams had subsided now, but she could still hear her son’s whimpers from down the hall. Sleep it off? Could Lance really be that clueless? She unlocked the door and flung it open. It bounced almost silently off the rubber doorstopper, which didn’t really give her the dramatic exit she was hoping for.

She still couldn’t quite wrap her head around her husband just standing there looking out the window while Adam cried for them. Usually Lance was the one who woke up first. Maybe he had already gone to comfort Adam and came back to their bedroom by the time she awoke. He seemed so out of it, though. Well, that’s what a lack of sleep could do to a person.

Adam sat on his bed in a nest of tangled sheets. His face was damp with tears and sweat, his dark hair plastered to his forehead. The hippo nightlight cast large, ominous shadows when she stepped into his room. He looked up with a start, then relaxed when he saw it was her.

She sat down beside him and pulled his small body to her, wrapping her arms around him and rocking him gently back and forth. The tears subsided, but he still felt tense.

“Mommy, I’m scared of the bad boy,” he said. “The bad boy’s going to hurt me.”

“Nobody’s going to hurt you,” she assured him. “You’re safe. It was just a dream. Look, you’re safe in your bedroom.”

At this, Adam pulled away from her a little to study the dimly lit bedroom. Maybe they should get a different nightlight. She had never realized how spooky that hippo light made everything look.

“There were trees,” Adam said, “and a river. She was playing in the river.”

Caitlin stiffened. Adam noticed it and looked up at her. She smiled at him.

“It was just a dream,” she said, as much to reassure herself as him. “It wasn’t real.”

There were lots of rivers out there, and wasn’t Adam just watching a cartoon show with cute animals that had to get across a river? That was probably where that detail came from. Plus, she reminded herself, it hadn’t been a river. It had been a creek. She wasn’t sure Adam knew the difference between a river and a creek, though. But a little girl playing in a river? No, wait, was that what he had said? He said only “she.” For all Caitlin knew, this she could have been a girl river otter. Maybe he had been having a cute dream about river creatures.

And a “bad boy,” she reminded herself. She remembered his bloodcurdling screams. There was nothing cute about the dream he had. Still, she clung to the “bad boy” detail. Was he talking about a child? If so, then the river was just a coincidence. She wanted to ask him more about the bad boy, but this was the worst thing she could do. He was already starting to calm down, starting to forget the details of his nightmare. She couldn’t go dredging things back up again.

“Mommy, can I sleep in your room?” Adam asked.

#

Lance was fully awake and in bed when Caitlin returned with Adam in her arms.

“Hey there, champ,” Lance said. “Have a bad dream?”

“Daddy, he hurt her,” Adam said. “He hurt her head. She was bleeding.”

Her son’s tiny body stiffened again in Caitlin’s arms, and she gave Lance an exasperated look as she set Adam down in the middle of the bed.

“We’d already gotten past that,” she said in a whispered hiss.

“Obviously,” Lance said with a roll of his eyes, “which is why he’s sleeping in our bed. Again.”

She slid into the bed beside Adam and adjusted the covers, ignoring her husband. She petted Adam’s head and made soft, soothing noises.

“Remember, that wasn’t real, just make believe, like a movie.” She didn’t want him to get himself worked up again talking about the dream, but it wasn’t just that. She didn’t want to hear any more details from the nightmare because the bit about the bad boy hurting the girl’s head and the blood felt a touch too familiar.

She stroked his face, and his eyelids slowly drooped closed. He looked so calm and peaceful when he slept.

“I thought we said we weren’t going to do this anymore,” Lance said. Even whispering, his voice was too loud. She held her finger to her lips. He continued more quietly, “I’m just saying, I think it would be better for him if he sleeps in his own bed.”

“It’s already after three,” she said. “It’s only for a few hours.”

“That’s not the point,” Lance said. “He’s nearly five years old. We can’t keep babying him.”

It was like the school argument all over again, and Caitlin didn’t want to get into it. Not now. She was still tired and groggy and needed more sleep.

“I want to get him a new nightlight,” she said to change the subject. “The one he has makes these creepy shadows.”

“A new nightlight,” Lance repeated in a skeptical voice. “Sure, that will solve everything.”

“The important thing,” she said, “is that we have to remind him that his dreams are not real. That they’re make believe. We have to be united on this.”

Lance made a dismissive noise and lay back down on his pillow, turning his body away from her and Adam. He muttered something, but his voice was muffled by the pillow.

“Lance, this is important,” she said. “We have to make it clear that his dreams are not real. He has to know they aren’t true.”

He sighed. “What kind of moron do you think I am? Do you really think I’m going to start telling him his dreams about boogeymen are real?” He squirmed around and pulled the covers up in an attempt to get comfortable. She thought he was done, but he stopped shifting around long enough to add, “It’s not exactly like you’re the foremost expert in dreams.”

***

Excerpt from Up the Creek by Alissa Grosso. Copyright 2021 by Alissa Grosso. Reproduced with permission from Alissa Grosso. All rights reserved.




My Book Review:

In Up The Creek, book one of the Culver Creek Series, author Alissa Grosso takes the reader behind the scenes of a riveting thriller as Culver Creek Detective Sage Dorian tries to solve a nineteen year old unsolved cold murder case, while Caitlin and Lance Walker deal with deep dark secrets and disturbing dreams that has an affect on their four year old son Adam.

Up The Creek is a riveting thriller that easily draws the reader in from the start. The author provides the reader with a fascinating, multi-layered, and richly detailed story set in the small factory town of Culver Creek, Pennsylvania. This exciting story takes the reader on an exhilarating roller coaster ride as the intertwined connection between Caitlin, Lance, and Sage unfolds. There is enough drama, secrets, deception, tension, and surprising twists and turns that definitely will keep the reader sitting on the edge of their seat, and guessing how this story will turn out. I loved how the interweaving of tension, drama, and suspense kept me turning the pages as this complexed and intriguing story unfolded. Just when you think you knew how the story would end, the author does a wonderful job of mixing in twists and turns that definitely keeps the reader sitting on the edge of their seat until the surprising conclusion. 

Up The Creek is a well-written, slow-building story that left me interested in finding out what drama and suspense happens in the rest of the books in the Culver Creek Series.



RATING: 4 STARS  





About The Author



Alissa Grosso is the author of several books for adults and teens. Originally from New Jersey, she now resides in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.






Contest Giveaway

Win A $20 Amazon Gift Card



This is a rafflecopter giveaway hosted by Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tours for Alyssa Grosso. There will be two (2) winners each receiving one (1) Amazon.com Gift Card. The giveaway begins on January 11, 2021 and runs through March 14, 2021. Void where prohibited. 







Virtual Book Tour Event




Tour Participants:


01/12 Showcase @ Im Into Books

01/13 Guest post @ Author Elena Taylors Blog

01/14 Guest post @ Novels Alive

01/14 Review @ Jane Pettit Reviews

01/15 Interview @ A Blue Million Books

01/18 Review @ Book Reviews From an Avid Reader

01/20 Showcase @ Reading A Page Turner

01/21 Interview @ BooksChatter

01/22 Showcase @ Trailer Trash Diva Reads

01/25 Guest post @ The Book Divas Reads

01/28 Showcase @ The Pulp and Mystery Shelf

02/03 Review/showcase @ Our Town Book Reviews

02/05 Showcase @ Sara In Bookland

02/10 Showcase @ nanasbookreviews

02/11 Review @ Avonna Loves Genres

02/17 Interview/showcase @ CMash Reads

02/22 Review @ Margaret Yelton

02/24 Review @ Spookys Maze Of Books

02/26 Review @ Jersey Girl Book Reviews

02/28 Showcase @ EienCafe

03/02 Review @ Lynchburg Reads

03/02 Review @ sunny island breezes

03/04 Review @ The Bookwyrm

03/05 Review @ Quiet Fury Books

03/06 Review @ Geauxgetlit

03/07 Review @ One More Book To Read

03/08 Review @ Nesies Place

03/08 Review @ Quirky Cats Fat Stacks

03/09 Review @ Wall-to-wall Books

03/10 Showcase @ 411 ON BOOKS, AUTHORS, AND PUBLISHING NEWS

03/11 Review @ A Room Without Books is Empty

03/11 Review @ Novels Alive

03/12 Review @ Just Reviews






3 comments:

  1. 5 stars!!! I need to check this book out!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Replies
    1. Hi Alissa! Thank you for the opportunity to feature your book on my blog. I look forward to reading the rest of the books in the series.

      Delete