This sampler was fun to read! Several of these books are ones I have been anticipating, and some I had never heard of. One book in particular that was new to me, So Happy Together, intrigued me enough to pick up the book to read! I also really enjoyed reading previous from my anticipated books, Parents Weekend and Forget Me Not!

I loved this little sampling! My interest is definitely piqued and I can’t wait for the books to be released. I would definitely recommend, especially if you don’t normally read this genre, so you can get just enough of each story to know if you’d enjoy reading the full book.

this is a sampler of several stories, it makes you want to read them all. some new authors for me and some favorites.

As someone who only reads books in first person because the third person is hard for me as English is my second language, this is amazing. The authors unfortunately don’t put in blurbs how the book is written so this is really helpful - check it out and see is the writting is good for you.

All look great and have intriguing beginnings! Authors I am familiar with and some I am not. I will give full reviews of books after I read them. Looking forward to reading each in their entirety!

Thanks to the authors, publisher and Net Galley for providing a free ebook ARC of these sneak peeks.

This is a great assortment of samples! I found a few a few that I'm really looking forward to, a few I HAVE to find the end of, and a few that I'm ok with not knowing how it ends, but might pick up if I see them at the library.

3 stars

This sampler did what it was intended to do: pique my interest! I have added all these books to my personal TBR. Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur for the "tasting"!

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a free copy of the E-ARC in exchange for my honest review!

I love these samplers as you get a few chapters of multiple books that will be releasing soon. I always find new authors this way as well! I actually loved all of these and will be picking them up very soon! I highly recommend these samplers!!!

I love getting teasers for these books. I'm looking forward to reading them all and have a few on preorder and a few galleys I'll be starting soon. Thank you Minotaur Books for the sneak peeks for these thrillers.

I was happy to have the opportunity to review The Minotaur Sampler from NetGalley featuring six upcoming releases. I definitely have more on my TBR list after this!!

I will go in order of how the books were in the sampler:

- Parent's Weekend by Alex Finlay. I have enjoyed quite a few by this author & am quick to reserve a copy when I see a new release coming out so I was excited to get a sneak peek. There does seem to be a rather large cast of characters most likely due to the nature of the story - it involves parents/families visiting their college age children for Parent's Weekend. The initial chapters are a brief introduction to the families and gives the reader a glimpse of the "puzzle pieces" as the plot unfolds. I look forward to getting this book to see how it all plays out!

- Marguerite By the Lake by Mary Dixie Carter. I had never read anything by this author. The book description tells of Marguerite, a lifestyle icon, Phoenix, the gardener for the family, and Geoffrey, Marguerite's husband. An accident occurs which draws two characters together. I didn't feel as though I understood how or why in such a short time - not much was really known or understood/developed about those characters. Perhaps more is explained in later chapters.

- So Happy Together by Olivia Worley. I immediately got "You" vibes from this one & I'm sure that I will not be the only one saying that lol. I want to go into this saying Jane is the one we need to be afraid of, but with plot twists and all of the true crime docs I watch... it could be any one of them!! And I can't wait to read it all and go along on what I believe is going to be a crazy ride!!

- The Bachelorette Party by Camilla Sten. I feel like I've read quite a few similar to this. If the plot/story line works dual timelines are outstanding. I'm hoping that there is more explanation between what connects the two groups.

- Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox. it's just that I love when we know something is going to go down and then the following chapters are just filled to the brim with shady people that we instantly suspect or doubt!! This is probably the only sixteenth birthday party I'm looking forward to and it's strictly for the drama!!

-Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham. I've enjoyed other books by this author.. This sampler felt like a tease - enough to get you into it and ready for the next chapter only to remind you that it's a sampler and you have to wait for the book.

Thank you NetGalley & Minotaur for the ARC!

Glad I got the chance to check out The Minotaur Sampler from NetGalley—it featured six upcoming releases and now my TBR is now totally out of control...... I want to read them all!!!

I absolutely loved previewing each book and I am super excited to read Alex Finley, Stacy Willingham, and Olivia Worleys novels. Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for this sampler.

this is a great way to get a taste of several books before buying them. I like to read these samplers as they seem to suggest books that I may not have found otherwise. This one had two books that I found interesting.

I look forward to these samplers! I already had four of these books on my TBR pile and I added the last two! This is a great way to start your summer reading list.

I always love getting to sample chapters of upcoming mysteries in these Minotaur Samplers!

When I started this I had only been approved for like 2 or 3 of these but as of finishing the sampler I've been approved or grabbed Read Nows for all these books! Can't explain my excitement for these stories! :-D

Let's go in order of appearance in the sampler:

Parent's Weekend by Alex Finlay: This seems like it will have this author's signature multi-POV of seemingly unrelated (less so in this story) characters that will eventually all come together. This one I say is slightly different as we know the families will all be at the Parent's Weekend at their children's college. Each of the families initial chapters gives a glimpse into the dynamics that might come into play for that family and that they each have their own "stuff" going on. I cant wait to dive into this one!

(Actually, I can't wait to dive into all of these stories but I'll probably put this sentence at the end of each one LOL sorry in advance)

Marguerite by the Lake by Mary Dixie Carter: the beginning of this one started with a strong scene of a woman saving many people from a massive tree falling on a tent where an event is taking place. I didn't get enough in these two chapters to get any idea of who Phoenix is as a person. Hopefully there will be lots more substance given to her character throughout the book as I couldn't connect in just this short preview. I love the descriptions of the plants and feel that will play a large part in this story. It drew me in with the premise that Marguerite is not a character to be trusted.

So Happy Together by Olivia Worley: I recently grabbed this one on Read Now specifically after reading this preview. WOW THIS ONE started out sooo good! It gets recommended to fans of "You" and 1000% I can see Joe vibes from Jane. She truly seems like a wackadoodle and I'm HERE FOR IT. I cannot wait to see how her delusions progress and get her (and probably moreso those around her) into trouble. This one completely drew me in.

The Bachelorette Party by Camilla Sten: This one also drew me in right away. This has a decade old mystery and current timeline at the same location where 4 women went missing. If done well, multi-timeline is a favorite trope of mine so I REALLY hope we get more chapters from the POV of the original 4 women! Tessa seems like a hot mess and this group of women heading out for a Bachelorette trip seemed like they will make for a good group with lots of drama. I was on pending for a while for this one, recently got approved so I'm excited to see where this story goes!

Party of Liars by Kelsey Cox: first of all, there's a character named Dani! Love to see that :-) Let's just hope she's not the big baddie or dies early on or anything LOL. I can already tell she seems a little looney toons (I am not making light of mental illness, she is clearly struggling with something) and she's got some seemingly big secrets, so we shall see. 😈 This has multi POV which I tend to love when done well. In just a few chapters I have liked the different perspectives. Knowing these characters will all come together at the party where something tragic happens makes me excited to see where this story leads.

Forget Me Not by Stacy Willingham: If you know this author's writing you know it'll be similes every few paragraphs lol. This is super descriptive as her writing style usually is. The story seems interesting too and again, our FMC seems like a hot mess but I'm excited to see what she gets up to when she heads back home to stay with her mom for a bit.

Thank you for the sampler. With so many books to choose from and so little time, this sampler helps me to choose which books I would enjoy most.

I always enjoy these samplers. This one in particular had some pretty good choices. I really appreciate these samplers helping me to decide if I think these books would be a good fit for my reading preferences. Thanks Minotaur and Netgalley!

This was such a fun sampler! I loved each book. I’m excited to order all of them and my favorite was probably the Olivia Worley one. With Stacy willinghan being a close second. Will recommend

I enjoyed using this as a palate cleanser between some of my other books. It was nice to get some new books on my TBR. I do think I prefer to just get each book at a time.

Thank you for the sampler! Most of the excerpts sounded really intriguing, and I can't wait to read them in full.