Stranger is the Lake is a wonderful mystery that will keep you guessing until the very end. It's a novel that is ultimately about trust. Do you really know the people around you or are there parts of them that they have kept hidden from you? Charlie grew up on the wrong side of town and lost most of her friends when she married Paul. Paul is an rich older gentleman whom was married previously. He lost his previous wife when she mysteriously drowned in the lake. Now, Charlie discovers another body by the dock of her new home. What happened to this lady and is Paul involved? Charlie begins to question everything and everyone around her while trying to uncover the mystery of what happened to the stranger in the lake.

What did I just read and why does this author always manage to shock my socks off?! Fast faced with a unique plot, this book was extremely enjoyable and I highly recommend it.

Thank you Net Galley for this advavce copy of Kimberly Belle's newest book in exchange for my honest review. First I want to say I highly reccommend this book, I found it interesting and just convoluted and twisty enough to keep you guessing. Yes it is a murder mystery, but it started as a Cinderella story...how will it end??? Read it and find out.

4.5b stars
Charlie is happily married to Paul and recently discovered she's pregnant. However, Paul and his two best friends have secrets that go back years to when they were kids. When a woman's body is found at the dock outside Paul's house, it brings back memories of his first wife's drowning, also found at his dock. Did he have anything to do with the drowning? Charlie isn't sure what to believe- and neither will you. Very good read.

Wow! What a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. Isn’t that how the saying goes?! It applies to this book.
She really knocked this out of the park! This was a real page turner! Full of lies and twists! I couldn’t put it down! Definitely recommend! Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the early copy

Kimberly Belle has written another great book. Charlotte marries a very wealthy widower and gets caught up in the town gossip. Her new husband’s former wife drowned in the lake by their house and as in most small towns, folks talk. To make things worse, Charlotte is from the “wrong side of town” so people think she’s a gold digger. Just as Charlotte is settling in to her new marriage, another woman ends up dead under their dock on the lake. Is her husband somehow involved?

Loved it and thanks to Netgalley for the advanced copy!

One of my most anticipated books for 2020 and it did not disappoint! Belle knows how to grab your attention and before you know it you can't pry the book from your hands! An Engrossing, unpredictable, and un-put-down-able thriller. Fabulous, complex characters and an ending that will have you gasping audibly! Twisty goodness and her best yet! I loved it! 5 stars.

Summary:

I was lucky enough to receive an early copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Charlotte comes from an upbringing in a trailer court with an unfit mother and recently has married a wealthy widower named Paul. Charlotte lives in a mansion on the lake that he previously lived in with his deceased wife who drowned while swimming in the lake one morning.

Strangely enough, Charlotte finds an unknown woman floating in the lake one morning in the exact spot that Paul’s wife was found. Can this be a coincidence?? Maybe not since Charlotte sported Paul conversing with this stranger one day prior in town.

What happens next is an exposure of many secrets and a twisted past in their small town…….Charlotte doesn’t know who to trust.

My Thoughts:

Kimberly Belle does it again!! Another intricately mastered thriller that will be released June 9, 2020. Kimberly Belle has been one of my favorite authors since I discovered her after reading The Marriage Lie a few years ago.

I loved the twists and turns that this book took me on through Charlotte’s doubts about her husband and her quick choice to marry Paul.

This will definitely be a big hit this summer! It will be a great vacation read.

I definitely recommend this book, and if you haven’t read any of Kimberly Belle’s other books, you need to pick them up too!

Thank you to NetGalley and Park Row Books for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The story takes place in Lake Crosby, North Carolina. One could say it's a story about the 'right' and the 'wrong' side of the tracks - where money or the lack thereof speaks the loudest.

Everything revolves around three men who are best friends - Paul Keller, Jax Edwards and Micah Hunt. Paul is a 37 year-old, very wealthy widower who sells custom house designs and owns Keller Architecture. His wife Katherine died under what some would consider suspicious circumstances that were never fully investigated. Her body washed up under their dock. Paul has remarried and his current wife Charlotte (Charlie) is 26 years old, a former gas station clerk, who grew up in a trailer park. Her life revolved around caring for her baby brother Chet and being embarrassed by her crazy mother. Jax is the town loon, better known as 'Batty Jax'. He's considered by townsfolk to be a crazy man who lives in the woods. Micah is the son of the police chief and works as an underwater criminal investigator.

Something links these three men together and it's more than just simple friendship. Something happened and there is a massive cover-up happening for the past 20 years. When another body washes up under Paul's dock, the threads start to unravel and the person who has been doing the covering up is not who one would think.

As with her previous books, this was an excellent read from Ms. Belle.

This is one of those stories that almost could have been ripped from the headlines. Charlotte doesn't come from much and she thinks her life is perfect when she marries the rich widower Paul. But was his wife's death really an accident? And what about that dead woman in the lake? A classic tale of be careful what you wish for and quite the page-turner.

Stranger in the Lake is yet another example of Belle's ability to weave mystery and suspense into a page-turning tale of love, friendship, marriage, and betrayal. From the deep waters of Lake Crosby, a body turns up -- casting suspicion, doubt, and mistrust throughout the community, from the richest of rich to the poorest of poor. Charlie, her husband and his childhood friends, her brother, and their families all seem connected in some way to this case. Belle once again keeps the reader guessing almost to the very end. Just like all her other novels, I couldn't put this one down! Highly recommend!!

Charlotte (Charlie) finally found her way out of the trailer park and into the best house on the other side of the mountain by marrying local millionaire, Paul. Unfortunately, Charlie found that the grass was not greener on the other side, but actually red with the blood of murders that somehow entangle her new, loving husband. Stranger in the Lake will have you guessing at the murder of today by looking into those of the past and has twists and turns to the very end.

I never in a million years thought I'd say this about a Kimberly Belle novel, but I was underwhelmed. In fact, I'll dare say I was legit bored through the entirety of the story.

Unlike her two previous works, Dear Wife and The Marriage Lie, both of which I absolutely LOVED, Stranger in the Lake felt slow and humdrum. Even worse, I figured out WAY, WAY early on how the book was going to end...every.single.twist.

The bulk of the book takes place in a lakeside mansion inhabited by Charlotte and her brother, Chet. (Am I the only one who thinks of the movie 'Weird Science,' and a big pile of poo, when I hear that name?) Charlotte's husband, Paul, is never around, as he's avoiding her. Chet cooks, Charlotte eats and brags about his cooking, after which she tries to unravel the mystery surrounding Paul, his friends, Jax and Micah, and three suspicious deaths. Despite the murders, it all seemed very mundane.

The timeline jumps from the present to the year 1999, when Paul, Jax, and Micah are partying their summer away before college.

This isn't a bad book by any means...it just doesn't stand up to the awesomeness of Ms. Belle's previous works. Not even close.

This book will be available for purchase June 9, 2020.

**My sincere thanks to the publisher for providing my review copy.

Marry a man for love. A man whose rich. Who's older. Whose first wife died in a tragic drowning. Have the entire town thinks it's for money. But Charlotte will ignore the town's whispers and enjoy her good fortune and new, loving marriage..........until another woman washes up under their pier. Then her husband suddenly disappears for days, leaving her alone and trying desperately to figure out what's going on.

A suspenseful tale with just enough twists and turns to keep you fully engaged all the way through.

This was an interesting read by one of my favorite suspense authors. The story moves along with a twisted plot that keeps you guessing. Charlie, the wife from the poor side of town married to Paul, the millionaire. There are definitely some dark secrets the husband is keeping from his wife and they are slowly unraveled as the story moves along. #StrangerInTheLake #KimberlyBelle #NetGalley

Thanks to Netgalley and Harlequin for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Charlotte and Paul are newly married. He is older and super rich. She is from the wrong side of the tracks. There is some suspicion about him around town because his first wife, a competitive swimmer, drowned and washed up at his dock. Now a second woman that he claims not to know has washed up, but Charlotte saw him talking to the woman the day before. Why is he lying and what is he hiding?

I thought this was a good and entertaining read. I wanted to know what Paul was hiding and the answer was unexpected, I did not piece this one together. Overall another solid effort from this author, though The Marriage Lie is still my favorite. Looking forward to her next one.

4 town secret stars

Charlie grew up on the “wrong” side of the tracks in town with a terrible home life. As an adult, Charlotte meets and marries the wealthy widow and architect Paul. You can guess what her childhood friends thought of that! Not only that there are mysterious circumstances surrounding the drowning death of his first wife.

Charlotte and Paul live in a gorgeous lake house that Paul designed, and Charlotte is living a dream life. All that is shattered when another body is found in the lake and the questions and doubts creep in. Throw in Paul’s mysterious childhood friend Jax who now lives in the woods and you’ve got a delicious creepy recipe!

Who can Charlotte trust and just who is the mysterious stranger who has washed up under their dock? This Kimberly Belle tale is full of secrets and lies and I never quite knew who to trust.

There are flashbacks to Paul’s high school days with Jax and neighbor Micah, but I preferred the modern-day story much better. My favorite part of the book was Charlotte’s relationship with her brother Chet. With their terrible childhood, the two are quite close and I always felt that Chet had her back. We need more strong brother-sister relationships in books!

This one was a quick read and Kimberly Belle crafted another good thriller here!

Kimberly Belle is an auto-buy for me. The setting for this story--the mountains above a town that has been flooded and lost to a lake--is what drew me in particularly. It just added that extra eerie element and then it turned out to be significant to the plot. (I won't say more for fear of spoilers.) I also found the main character extremely relatable in the description of her upbringing and the belated recognition of how that may have affected her choices later in life for security, safety, and even things like food hoarding.

Recommend for patrons who enjoy Mary Kubica, Wendy Wax, etc.

I enjoyed this insightful and thrilling novel very much. The storyline flows at a great pace, and the characters are well fleshed out. Highly recommended!

This book was a little slow to start but i continued and enjoyed reading it. Not one of my favorite mysteries/who done it but it kept me interested. Totally did not see the ending coming; a family mystery with hidden secrets. Would recommend to my friends.