WHO’S KILLING THE GIRLS OF WILLOW BAY?When the body of a missing girl washes up on the banks of the Willow River, the killing is linked to two cold case murders, and the investigation must uncover the twisted motive of a serial killer before he kills again. Still reeling after her sister’s brutal murder, grief-stricken Eden Winthrop has returned to Willow Bay, where she runs the Mercy Harbor … has returned to Willow Bay, where she runs the Mercy Harbor Foundation, a safe haven for victims of violence.
When a teenage trafficking victim disappears from a shelter run by her foundation, Eden is drawn into the search for the sadistic killer. The hunt becomes personal when Eden’s niece is abducted just as the body of yet another victim is discovered in a local river.
In a desperate effort to save her niece, Eden must partner with the small-town police force that had failed to save her sister. And to catch the killer, she realizes she must trust the one man she vowed to never forgive and summon the strength to face her deepest fears.
The gripping first book in the page-turning Mercy Harbor Thriller Series will keep you up at night.
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The River Girls by Melinda Woodall
This is the first book in this series and the first I have read from this author. There is alot going on with this story and all the players, it held my attention and kept me invested, overall a good book and story that I am happy I had the chance to read. Thank you to the Author, the Publishers and BookSirens for giving me the opportunity to read this and leave my opinion.
The River Girls by Melinda Woodhall
Published: November 13, 2018
Creative Magnolia
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.
Melinda Woodhall is the author of the page-turning Mercy Harbor Thriller series. After leaving a career in corporate software sales to focus on writing, Melinda now spends her time writing romantic thrillers and police procedurals. She also writes women’s contemporary fiction as M.M. Arvin.
“But when you face down death, you start saying all the things you always wanted to say but were too scared to say.”
Eden is trying to process the murder of her little sister as she raises her niece and nephew and runs a very elaborate series of shelters designed to help women escape abusive situations. Nessa is worried about her partner, major heart surgery is no joke, and she wants to do an excellent job in his absence. As paths cross, lies get exposed, and girls end up dead- Willow Bay May never recover.
One aspect I loved with this novel is meeting Nessa and her fellow officers earlier in the Willow Bay universe. It was awesome getting a glimpse into Frankie Dawson as a struggling character and seeing Nessa and Barker before the Veronica Lee series.
This read much like a Veronica Lee novel, only replace Veronica with Eden. The storyline was fast-paced, and the characters were well done, safely expected with a Woodhall novel.
The twist was unexpected, though I saw it coming after something another character said in passing. The lead-up was well played, and the suspicion bounced from character to character until the big reveal.
Overall I enjoyed the storyline, characters and found the book entertaining. After reading all the Veronica Lee books (to date), I enjoyed this flashback.
The River Girls is the.first in the Mercy Harbor series. It is a great read. There’s lots of crime, excitement, and characters. It also deals with current day issues, such as stalking, domestic abuse, human trafficking, addiction and greed. It is partly a police procedural but also individuals seeking answers and justice. I recommend this book.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I am a big fan of Melinda Woodhall. She has a wonderfully warm writing style that draws the reader in and makes the reader care about the characters. Many of the characters show up over and over again in her other books and series. This carefully builds the relationships you come to know.
The River Girls is the first book in the Mercy Harbor thriller series. Eden Winthrop who runs a shelter for abused women in honor of her sister Mercy who died at the hands of her abusive husband. Eden believes she is to blame since she was unable to protect her sister. “Star” a troubled teen shows up at the shelter, and suddenly disappears. Eden reports the girl missing to the police. She wants to help find the teen but quickly panics suffering from PTSD when a friend of the same teen turns up dead in the Willow River. Detective Nessa Ainsley receives a call from an inmate at the local detention center who was calling to report her daughter missing. Girls will definitely start turning up missing while Eden and Det. Nessa as well as a host of others pull together in an effort to locate the missing girls.
I received and ARC from Book Sirens for an unbiased review.
Disclaimer: I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
This was a real page turner. I hated to have to set it a side for work and bed. Past events create interesting interactions and I was left wanting to know more about how the characters did after the events of the book, and what has happened in the past to cause so many complications in solving the issue that is the focus of this book.
Anyone who likes murder mysteries with relatable characters would enjoy this thriller.
The MC Eden is both fragile and incredibly strong this fittingly flawed character is looking for peace and possibly a bit of redemption and this book takes us on her harrowing journey.
Eden is surrounded by a number of interesting characters that are all well developed and help support Eden in her quest to save women in danger.
Great plot I truly loved it!
The River Girls, book one in the Mercy Harbor series, is an exciting mystery thriller debut!
Five years ago, successful software developer, Eden Winthrop, discovered the body of her younger sister, who her abusive husband had murdered. Now she’s watching the front desk of one of the safe houses for abused women that she’s set up in her small Florida hometown of Willow Bay when a teenage girl named Star shows up looking for refuge. Against protocol and proper vetting, Eden allows her inside, listening to her desperate story that men have killed her friend, Jess, and now they’re after her! Getting her settled in a room for the night, Eden calls the foundation’s executive director for guidance, but when the other woman arrives, they discover Star has slipped out the back door and headed down to the river nearby. Fearing the girl may have drowned, Eden goes to the police department to report her as missing.
Police Detective Vanessa ‘Nessa’ Ainsley takes Eden’s report, and days later, when she’s called to the river where a teenage girl’s body has been found in the water where she’d been dumped after having been strangled. The crime and the victim’s details are similar to a previous scene weeks earlier, and the department fears a serial killer is at work. Nessa contacts Eden to view the body to see if it is Star.
Leo Steele is a successful criminal defense attorney. Some, like Eden, would say too successful. He’s the lawyer that got her sister’s husband off charges of violating a protective order the week before he murdered her. He’s been contacted by one of his clients who was not so lucky and is currently serving time while her teenage daughter is on her own and being passed from one foster situation to another. The daughter, Jess, has dropped out of sight, and she wants Leo to try and locate her. He is also contacted to help identify the body, and it is his client’s daughter, Jess.
Eden and Leo overcome their differences and begin to work together to find Star, who they feel is in danger and holds the key to Jess’s murder. When another teenage girl’s body is found in the river, Detective Ainsley heads up a team of veteran investigators to work the evidence from the crime scenes and stop this killer before another girl is murdered.
“The River Girls” is a fast-paced and gripping thriller of a mystery. The characters are a diverse group of people, each with their own lives and problems, who come together to solve this horrific series of murders of teenage girls. The bad guys are very bad and easy to despise, and some are tantalizingly hidden in plain sight. The main characters felt like real people to me, and I particularly appreciated seeing things through the eyes of the teenage girls involved. I was surprised and pleased with how the story is resolved and look forward to more books in the series.
THE RIVER GIRLS is a violent story with murders of teenage victims. It has several plot lines to follow, but they are straight-forward and easy to follow. The story also features a character with an anxiety disorder with an emotional support animal that I found very interesting and different in mystery/thrillers. I would recommend this book to those who would like to read a small-town thriller or mystery.
I received an advance review copy for free from Book Sirens, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
The leading character Eden has experienced a very emotional loss when her sister was killed. Eden is coping and raising her niece and nephew. She changed her life and opened a foundation to help abused women and children. In the same town, there are a couple missing persons cases that are stumping the police. This book is the first in a series. The book introduces several characters that will continue in the series. The mystery in this book is resolved completely, but there are pieces that are unresolved that will carry on to the next in the series. The end is satisfying so if you don’t want to continue, you aren’t left hanging. The story was well paced and had enough twists to keep it interesting. The characters are likable and have depth. Overall, I enjoyed the story and would read the next book to see how the characters develop relationships further. I received a copy through BookSirens and am voluntarily leaving a review.
The River Girls is a good beginning to the Mercy Harbor series set in the town of Willow Bay where Eden Winthrop runs the Mercy Harbor Foundation to help abused women. Since the murder of her sister five years before Mercy suffers from debilitating panic attacks and memory loss from the time of the murder. When a young girl shows up at one of her safe houses, Eden tries to help her but the girl disappears. Then bodies of young girls begin showing up in the river and Eden is drawn into the case. Several plot lines concerning cold cases run through the book and they are all nicely tied together, perhaps a little too neatly but hey, this is fiction. The connections had me stumped until nearly the end. The character development of most of the characters was very good. A little more of the back story of the detectives might have been nice but that may have given things away before the author wanted them revealed. The book highlighted the plight of those who suffer from panic attacks and the reality of human trafficking while giving us a hint of romance and a Golden Retriever Emotional Support Dog named Duke. What more could we ask for? I received a copy of this book from the author through Book Sirens. I enjoyed reading it and hope to read the others in the series.
This was an intense and gritty read. It addresses several issues in today’s world that are prominent and important. The characters are well developed and totally realistic. I like that the main characters in this book are strong women with everyday challenges plus some. The diversity of the male characters is interesting. The fact that the awful happenings in this novel can and do happen in our backyards is part of what makes this such and exceptional emotionally charged journey. The end of the book contains a twist I did not see coming and even though I had already decided to continue the series the ending sealed that decision. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Wow, what an amazing read! Ms. Woodhall has so much intense action and suspense wrapped up in her story the reader is almost breathless by the time it is over. I found myself letting other things wait in order to keep reading, especially in the last half. I couldn’t wait to find out what happened next. I was really glad that the book ended on an almost epilogue feeling so that I had a chance to wind down and be able to sleep. I highly recommend this one and will be checking to see if Ms. Woodhall has any further books I can scarf up. Don’t miss it. I received an advance review copy through BookSirens and thank them for the opportunity to read it. This is my honest and voluntary review.
This was a fast paced book that grabbed me from the first page! I enjoyed the story and look forward to reading more in the series. Thanks to BookSirens for the free copy
3.5 Stars
At a rundown seedy motel, he sneaks into a particular room. She’s sick, she needs a fix. Someone has abducted her and is holding her, along with several other women, at their mercy .. keeping her doped up until they ship her far away.
He wants to help this girl … to save her. And when he’s done saving her, he dumps her body into the cold, dark, dirty river.
This is not the first time he has saved someone … nor will it be the last.
Detective Nessa Ainsley is called by an inmate in the local detention center from a woman who says her daughter is missing. This makes two missing women .. the other reported as missing by Eden Winthrop, founder of Mercy Harbor, a woman’s shelter.
When a body turns up on the shore of the river, Nessa knows it is probably one of the two missing women. Are they connected to a previous unsolved case .. another young woman found in the river.
Who’s killing the women of Willow Bay … and why? And who’s next?
This is a solidly written mystery with memorable characters. Nessa is the only female detective and often is ignored by her colleagues.
Eden Winthrop is a woman who suffers from PTSD and extreme anxiety arising from her sister’s death from domestic violence. Not only has she adopted her nieve and nephew, she founded Mercy Harbor, a shelter named after her sister, a shelter for abused women and their children.
I felt that Eden’s health issues, while important to the story, was used as a battering ram. It seemed that every chapter held several pages describing her symptoms over and over and over again.
Trigger warnings include sexual assault, domestic violence, kidnapping, murder, human trafficking, forcible use of illegal drugs.
This is the first book in a 2-book series.
Many thanks to the author / BookSirens for the digital copy of this suspenseful mystery. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.
Eden Winthrop’s sister was murdered. The police never did find the person responsible for the killing. Eden moves back to Willow Bay to open up a safe haven for victims of violence, The Mercy Harbor Foundation. When a teenager is missing from one of the places the foundation is running, Eden puts herself in the middle of it all to find the girl. While doing so, she has to trust the one man she said she would never trust, the policeman who never found her sister’s killer. Now she has placed herself in the sites of the killer. Will she be able to survive? You will have to read the book to find out. I voluntarily reviewed a copy of this book from BookSirens.
If you like actiom and thrills, you wil love The River Girls. This is the first in the series. There are three more, which are sitting on my table waiting!! This has intrigue with a serial killer on the loose. I really like Nessa, the detective and the attorney who fights for the down trodden. Eden is a fierce woman who fights for women who cannot or will not fight for their own lives and rights. I read this book in a few hours because I simply couldn’t put it down!!
Wonderful book! The character are well thought out and the dynamics between them make the story very appealing. Plot is good and the ending was great and one that was a complete surprise. Well worth the time to read.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I received an ebook from the author and this is my voluntary review. This is the first book from this author for me and will probably be my last. I felt like the story jumped all over the place, besides being difficult to get into the story. I’m sure there are others who will enjoy the book but I did not. I was totally confused reading the same pages over and over to try to get “into” the story but I was unable.