Shelley's Book Nook

Kindle Edition, 296 pages Published April 2nd 2015 by Amazon Digital Services, Inc. Original Title: Brailling for Wile ☆☆☆1/2 About the Book: One year after his father's suicide, Carson Long feels cheated. He hates his father for leaving him and his sister, Georgie, alone. He hates him for turning his mother into a young widow who hasn't left the house in months. And he hates his father for leaving behind his stupid tree. Four of them are planted outside the restaurant, one for each family member. That is until Carson's mother, no longer able to stand the sight of the tree, hires a local landscaper to remove it in the middle of the night. This seemingly unremarkable act soon sets in motion of series of events in the small Colorado ski town that leaves more than just young Carson groping in the dark for answers.  The Roadrunner Café is a unique novel told from multiple points of view about loss and the lengths some will go to heal the human heart. Ultimately, it is a s...

Kindle Edition, 283 pages Published July 16th 2018 by Avon ☆☆ About the Book: You’ve only just met. But she already knows you so well. When Rachel moves into the spare room in Mary’s flat, everyone is quick to jump to the conclusion that there’s something strange about her. Everyone apart from Mary. And when Rachel starts sleepwalking, everyone’s fears grow. But there’s something about the new girl that Mary can’t help but trust, and having recently escaped a toxic relationship, she needs the support. Rachel becomes a friend and an ally, and Mary soon discovers that they have more in common than she ever could have imagined. As we read Mary's diary we learn of her violent, volatile relationship with Mark. We also learn she has started a new life, in a new flat, with her friends Ben and Cat. They have an extra room to rent out and that is where Rachel enters the picture, and something seems just a tad familiar. I’m tired. I can’t think tonight, don’t have the energy. I jus...

ebook, 419 pages Published August 9th 2018 ☆☆☆☆ About the Book: Nova is 32 years old and she is about to see the world for the very first time. Nova can do many things. She can speak five languages. She can always find a silver lining. And as an interpreter for the Metropolitan Police, she can tell when someone is lying just from the sound of their voice. But there’s one thing Nova can’t do. She can’t see. When her brother convinces her to have an operation that will restore her sight, Nova wakes up to a world she no longer understands. Until she meets Kate. As Kate comes into focus and their unlikely friendship blossoms, Kate’s past threatens to throw them into a different kind of darkness. Can they both learn to see the world in a different way? As someone who is deaf, I could relate to someone who is blind, it was also very eye opening. Learn to see. Realize that everything is connected to everything else. I loved this story, the emotions are deep and the narrative flows ...

Kindle Edition, 400 pages Published August 2nd 2018 by Penguin ☆☆☆☆ About the Book: Vicki's husband David once promised to love her in sickness and in health. But after a brutal attack left her suffering with epilepsy, he ran away with his mistress. So when Vicki gets a call one day to say that he's missing, her first thought is 'good riddance'. But then the police find evidence suggesting that David is dead. And they think Vicki had something to do with it. What really happened on the night of David's disappearance? And how can Vicki prove her innocence, when she's not even sure of it herself? I ignore the question because the true answer would make me look like one of those pathetic divorcees who can’t get over their exes. Which I suppose I am. The story starts out with Vicki in February 2018 and flips back and forth with Scarlet in 2006. Half way through a story line with Helen stars in 2017. I liked reading about young Scarlet and her problems and ad...

Kindle Edition, 267 pages Published August 1st 2018 by Lake Union Publishing ☆☆☆☆ About the Book: A double life with a single purpose: revenge. Jane’s days at a Midwest insurance company are perfectly ordinary. She blends in well, unremarkably pretty in her floral-print dresses and extra efficient at her low-level job. She’s just the kind of woman middle manager Steven Hepsworth likes—meek, insecure, and willing to defer to a man. No one has any idea who Jane really is. Least of all Steven. But plain Jane is hiding something. And Steven’s bringing out the worst in her. Nothing can distract Jane from going straight for his heart: allowing herself to be seduced into Steven’s bed, to insinuate herself into his career and his family, and to expose all his dirty secrets. It’s time for Jane to dig out everything that matters to Steven. So she can take it all away. Just as he did to her. People cause pain. Even good people hurt those they love. We all do it because we can’t help it. Mo...

Kindle Edition, 384 pages Published August 1st 2018 by Headline Review ☆☆☆☆ About the Book: 1956: When Ivy Jenkins falls pregnant she is sent in disgrace to St Margaret's, a dark, brooding house for unmarried mothers. Her baby is adopted against her will, and Ivy will never leave. Present day: Samantha Harper is a journalist desperate for a break. When she stumbles on a letter from the past, the contents shock and move her. The letter is from a young mother, begging to be rescued from St Margaret's. Before it is too late. Sam is pulled into the tragic story and discovers a spate of unexplained deaths surrounding the woman and her child. With St Margaret's set for demolition, Sam has only hours to piece together a sixty-year-old mystery before the truth, which lies disturbingly close to home, is lost for ever. The chapters in this story alternate between 1956, telling Ivy's story and 2017, following Sam's research for an article. While this is a story about ...

ebook, 368 pages Published August 21st 2018 by St. Martin's Griffin ☆☆☆ About the Book: Emma Grace Townsend. Five years old. Gray eyes. Brown hair. Missing since June. Emma Townsend is lonely. Living with her cruel mother and clueless father, Emma retreats into her own world of quiet and solitude. Sarah Walker. Successful entrepreneur. Broken-hearted. Abandoned by her mother. Kidnapper. Sarah has never seen a girl so precious as the gray-eyed child in a crowded airport terminal—and when a second-chance encounter with Emma presents itself, Sarah takes her, far away from home. But if it’s to rescue a little girl from her damaging mother, is kidnapping wrong? Amy Townsend. Unhappy wife. Unfit mother. Unsure she wants her daughter back. Amy’s life is a string of disappointments, but her biggest issue is her inability to connect with her daughter. And now she’s gone without a trace. As Sarah and Emma avoid the nationwide hunt, they form an unshakeable bond. But her real mother is ...

ebook, 480 pages Published August 21st 2018 by William Morrow ☆☆☆☆ About the Book: What if the person you thought you knew best turns out to be someone you never knew at all? Andrea knows everything about her mother, Laura. She knows she’s spent her whole life in the small beachside town of Belle Isle; she knows she’s never wanted anything more than to live a quiet life as a pillar of the community; she knows she’s never kept a secret in her life. Because we all know our mothers, don’t we? But all that changes when a trip to the mall explodes into violence and Andrea suddenly sees a completely different side to Laura. Because it turns out that before Laura was Laura, she was someone completely different. For nearly thirty years she’s been hiding from her previous identity, lying low in the hope that no one would ever find her. But now she’s been exposed, and nothing will ever be the same again. The police want answers and Laura’s innocence is on the line, but she won’t speak to a...

Kindle Edition, 320 pages Published January 22nd 2015 by Dutton Adult ☆☆☆1/2 About the Book: Millie Bird, seven years old and ever hopeful, always wears red gumboots to match her curly hair. Her struggling mother, grieving the death of Millie’s father, leaves her in the big ladies’ underwear department of a local store and never returns. Agatha Pantha, eighty-two, has not left her house—or spoken to another human being—since she was widowed seven years ago. She fills the silence by yelling at passersby, watching loud static on TV, and maintaining a strict daily schedule. Karl the Touch Typist, eighty-seven, once used his fingers to type out love notes on his wife’s skin. Now that she’s gone, he types his words out into the air as he speaks. Karl’s been committed to a nursing home, but in a moment of clarity and joy, he escapes. Now he’s on the lam. Brought together at a fateful moment, the three embark upon a road trip across Western Australia to find Millie’s mother. Along th...

Kindle Edition, 234 pages Published July 18th 2018 by Bloodhound Books ☆☆☆ About the Book: What causes a woman to murder her whole family? Jo's idyllic life would make most people jealous. Until one day her daughter is abducted and the only way to find her is to unravel her dark past. Ellie is a devoted wife... until she discovers the pain of betrayal. Now vengeance is all she can think about. Party-girl Shayla knows how to hide her demons. But when she's confronted with a life-shattering choice, it will cost her everything. June knows suffering intimately, though the smile she wears keeps it hidden. Soon the lives of these four women intersect and one of them is about to snap. A chilling look at the secrets mothers will hide for the sake of their families, and the gruesome reality of what can break an everyday woman. Sorry isn’t enough anymore. Sorry can’t fix what’s broken. Sometimes a sacrifice is the only way to start over again. This is one of those times. I found...

ebook, 384 pages Published August 14th 2018 by G.P. Putnam’s Sons ☆☆☆☆☆ About the Book: For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life–until the unthinkable happens. Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature ...

ebook, 464 pages Published March 8th 2018 by Penguin ☆☆☆1/2 About the Book: Waking up after an emergency caesarean, you demand to see your son. But it's someone else's child. No one believes you - not the hospital, not your father, not your loyal husband. They say you're delusional. Dangerous. They suspect you want to steal another baby. All you know is that you must find your own child before he's out of reach forever. And you're a doctor - you would know if you were losing your mind. Right?  Wow, what an utterly gripping, chilling and thought provoking read this was! I like twisty books that keep me guessing and this book certainly did that. I thought this was well written and it kept my interest from the first page to the last, all I can say is, it makes you wonder what is really going on in other people's lives and minds. As a parent myself, having read the synopsis, I knew this book would be a "must read" for me. I was drawn in right from...

ebook, 320 pages Published August 14th 2018 by Margaret K. McElderry Books ☆☆☆1/2 About the Book: Then: They were four—Bex, Jenni, Ellory, Ret. (Venus. Earth. Moon. Sun.) Electric, headstrong young women; Ellory’s whole solar system. Now: Ellory is alone, her once inseparable group of friends torn apart by secrets, deception, and a shocking incident that changed their lives forever. Then: Lazy summer days. A party. A beautiful boy. Ellory met Matthias and fell into the beginning of a spectacular, bright love. Now: Ellory returns to Pine Brook to navigate senior year after a two-month suspension and summer away—no boyfriend, no friends. No going back. Tormented by some and sought out by others, troubled by a mysterious note-writer who won’t let Ellory forget, and consumed by guilt over her not entirely innocent role in everything and everyone she’s lost, Ellory finds that even in the present, the past is everywhere. The path forward isn’t a straight line. And moving on will mean so...

Kindle Edition, 384 pages Expected publication: January 8th 2019 by St. Martin's Press ☆☆☆☆1/2 About the Book: When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her money, and leave. But as the questions grow more and more intense and invasive and the sessions become outings where Jess is told what to wear and how to act, she begins to feel as though Dr. Shields may know what she’s thinking…and what she’s hiding. As Jess’s paranoia grows, it becomes clear that she can no longer trust what in her life is real, and what is one of Dr. Shields’ manipulative experiments. Caught in a web of deceit and jealousy, Jess quickly learns that some obsessions can be deadly. I think instead about the guy who just texted, and how he stared after me when I walked toward the museum. With him, I can just be an anonymous girl. Without a doubt this is one unputdownable read. I made ...