Shelley's Book Nook

☆☆☆☆☆ Kindle Edition, 400 pages Expected publication: January 14th 2020 by St. Martin's Press About the Book: North Carolina, 2018: Morgan Christopher's life has been derailed. Taking the fall for a crime she did not commit, she finds herself serving a three-year stint in the North Carolina Women's Correctional Center. Her dream of a career in art is put on hold—until a mysterious visitor makes her an offer that will see her released immediately. Her assignment: restore an old post office mural in a sleepy southern town. Morgan knows nothing about art restoration, but desperate to leave prison, she accepts. What she finds under the layers of grime is a painting that tells the story of madness, violence, and a conspiracy of small town secrets. North Carolina, 1940: Anna Dale, an artist from New Jersey, wins a national contest to paint a mural for the post office in Edenton, North Carolina. Alone in the world and desperate for work, she accepts. But what she doesn't

☆☆☆1/2 ebook, 448 pages Expected publication: January 7th 2020 by Sourcebooks Landmark About the Book: A charming tale of the folks who reunite at a ramshackle roadside motel in Pine Creek, Oregon, after the unfortunate death of Henny, a local who worked at the cabins all her life, and who isn't going to let a tiny thing like death stop her from living fully — not when her friends and her little town need her the most. I am surprised this book doesn't have a higher rating. The characters are well-formed and distinct, with meaningful arcs and none of their stories are resolved magically or in ways that feel cheap. This was much more than I expected. Death, grief, love, regrets, hope....sounds deep and depressing, but this was told with humor. Never preachy, but engaging and uplifting. This was a very enjoyable read. The place we arrive at with each character feels earned. There are so many funny, touching, sad, and straight up happy moments in this book that it was trul

☆☆☆☆ Kindle Edition, 320 pages Expected publication: December 31st 2019 by Kensington Books About the Book: In the last year, Meg Mackworth's beautiful hand-lettering skills have seen her rocket to social media fame, and now she has a booming business crafting stationery for the stars. But she has a secret: sometimes, she just can't resist hiding messages in her work. Slightly unprofessional, maybe - but harmless. Right? Analyst Reid Sutherland and his gorgeous fiancée had their future mapped out. Until he noticed a pattern in his wedding invitation that made him think twice. When Meg looks up from her desk one day and sees Reid standing in front of her with no wedding ring, holding the invitation she created, she thinks that her career is over. But her life may be about to begin. I have never been one for mushy romantic books or movies, but I saw the description for this book and thought, why not? At worst it would probably be a cute book, at best it would make me glad

☆☆☆☆☆ ebook, 352 pages Expected publication: March 3rd 2020 by St. Martin's Press About the Book: You probably know someone like Shay Miller. She wants to find love, but it eludes her. She wants to be fulfilled, but her job is a dead end. She wants to belong, but her life is so isolated. You probably don’t know anyone like the Moore sisters. They have an unbreakable circle of friends. They live the most glamorous life. They always get what they desire. Shay thinks she wants their life. But what they really want is hers. Who's fooling who? It was a delight to start this one as this book grabbed me immediately and never faltered. I very much liked the different characters and it was easy to tell them apart. Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen write books that are fast paced, fascinating, and terrifying in their glimpses of the evil side of human nature. This was a pretty ambitious project for the authors since they had to weave together a lot of characters but they manag

☆☆☆1/2 ebook, 399 pages Expected publication: December 31st 2019 by Penguin Random House Canada & Viking About the Book: When Alice Hale reluctantly leaves a promising career in New York, following her husband to the suburbs, she is unaccustomed to filling her days alone in a big, empty house. However, she is determined to become a writer--and to work hard to build the kind of life her husband dreams of. At first, the old house seems to resent Alice as much as she resents it, but when she finds an old cookbook tucked away in the basement, she becomes captivated by its previous owner: 1950s housewife Nellie Murdoch. As Alice cooks her way through the past, she begins to settle into her new surroundings, even as her friends and family grow concerned that she has embraced them too fully and drifted away from her usual self. Alice justifies the changes as research for her novel...but when she discovers clues to Nellie's life within the cookbook's pages--and in a series of

☆☆☆☆☆ 352 pages Expected publication: February 18th 2020 by Forever (Grand Central Publishing) About the Book: When Ava Green turns twenty-eight, she discovers this will be her last birthday. The cancer she thought she'd beaten three years ago is back, only now it's terminal and she's not going to waste any of the time she has left. All she truly wants is the one thing she's been dreaming of since she was a little girl: a wedding. There's only one problem. She doesn't have a groom. Ava's friends and family rally around her to help throw the wedding of her dreams -- without the husband-to-be. As word spreads on social media, the bridal planning goes viral, attracting the attention of a prominent women's magazine. And when a photographer volunteers to help document the whole event, it becomes heartbreakingly clear that it's never too late to discover the love of your life. This book stabbed me in the heart. The reason I loved this book so much i

☆☆☆1/2 ebook, 384 pages Expected publication: December 30th 2019 by HARLEQUIN - MIRA About the Book: Perched atop a hill in the tiny town of Marchburg, Virginia, The Goode School is a prestigious prep school known as a Silent Ivy. The boarding school of choice for daughters of the rich and influential, it accepts only the best and the brightest. Its elite status, long-held traditions and honor code are ideal for preparing exceptional young women for brilliant futures at Ivy League universities and beyond. But a stranger has come to Goode, and this ivy has turned poisonous. In a world where appearances are everything, as long as students pretend to follow the rules, no one questions the cruelties of the secret societies or the dubious behavior of the privileged young women who expect to get away with murder. But when a popular student is found dead, the truth cannot be ignored. Rumors suggest she was struggling with a secret that drove her to suicide. But look closely…because ther

☆☆1/2 Kindle Edition, 304 pages Expected publication: December 30th 2019 by HARLEQUIN - Graydon House Books About the Book: Twenty-nine-year-old Charlotte Rosen has a secret: she’s a widow. Ever since the fateful day that leveled her world, Charlotte has worked hard to move forward. Great job at a hot social media analytics company? Check. Roommate with no knowledge of her past? Check. Adorable dog? Check. All the while, she’s faithfully data-crunched her way through life, calculating the probability of risk—so she can avoid it. Yet Charlotte’s algorithms could never have predicted that her late husband’s ashes would land squarely on her doorstep five years later. Stunned but determined, Charlotte sets out to find meaning in this sudden twist of fate, even if that includes facing her perfectly coiffed, and perfectly difficult, ex-mother-in-law—and her husband’s best friend, who seems to become a fixture at her side whether she likes it or not. But soon a shocking secret surfaces,

☆☆☆☆1/2 ebook, 272 pages Expected publication: March 30th 2020 by Simon & Schuster Canada & Atria Books About the Book: Where do you see yourself in five years? When Type-A Manhattan lawyer Dannie Cohan is asked this question at the most important interview of her career, she has a meticulously crafted answer at the ready. Later, after nailing her interview and accepting her boyfriend’s marriage proposal, Dannie goes to sleep knowing she is right on track to achieve her five-year plan. But when she wakes up, she’s suddenly in a different apartment, with a different ring on her finger, and beside a very different man. The television news is on in the background, and she can just make out the scrolling date. It’s the same night—December 15—but 2025, five years in the future. After a very intense, shocking hour, Dannie wakes again, at the brink of midnight, back in 2020. She can’t shake what has happened. It certainly felt much more than merely a dream, but she isn’t the kind

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 49 pages Expected publication: December 19th 2019 by Amazon Original Stories About the Book: For Jack Cho, a fortysomething gay man, being able to marry someone he loves is so unfamiliar it’s terrifying. Then a wedding invitation from a college friend brings about a collision with those fears—and his own secret history. Jack and his new boyfriend, Caleb, are attending the wedding of Jack’s estranged straight friend Scott. No sooner do the guests start to mingle than questions arise about relationships, tradition, Jack’s feelings for the groom, and what’s at stake as he navigates daunting territory, both new and old. In this wry and surprising short story, award-winning author Alexander Chee extends an invitation to the party—and awakening—of a lifetime. While there is much about this short story that is universal, the story stays squarely in its lane. At its heart, this tale is about how we forge relationships between lovers and parents and children and colleagues an

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 28 pages Expected publication: December 19th 2019 by Amazon Original Stories About the Book: Exposing his father’s transgressions in a tell-all was the ethical, righteous—and profitable—thing to do. What’s left but to slink back home for a humbling face-to-face with the man whose secrets he sold? He was a notorious government whistle-blower. Depending on whom you ask, he’s a treasonous felon, a folk hero, a validated patriot, or a national disgrace. To his son, Michael, he’s the father who threw his family into upheaval. Now, having moved back home at the age of thirty-four, Michael is getting to know him as a man. And getting nearer to understanding his motivations that have remained a mystery in this darkly humorous short story of sacrifice and betrayal by New York Times bestselling author Anthony Marra. Not just a poignant tale but a timely one as well. Human, compassionate, touching and witty, splendidly written...and believable. It is a quick read, which is both

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 23 pages Expected publication: December 19th 2019 by Amazon Original Stories About the Book: Whatever had been going on behind the closed doors of the shuttered old house, the couple who lived there kept it to themselves. Among the locals, there’s only chilling speculation. Neighbors are shocked when Harold Pardee reports his wife dead. No one even knew the eccentric TV repairman was married. Within hours, horrible rumors spread about what that poor woman must have endured for thirty years. Until the Pardees’ carefully guarded world is exposed. New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Haigh delivers an endearing short story about our misguided perception of strangers, the nature of love, and the need for secrets. The story has an interesting little plot, but not much character development or interaction due to the length of the short story. However, Ms. Haigh does a good job of getting you interested in the character - this really could have been the outline of a f

☆☆☆☆1/2 ebook, 28 pages Expected publication: December 19th 2019 by Amazon Original Stories About the Book: In this haunting short story of loyalty and betrayal, a young woman in early 1900s Massachusetts discovers that in navigating her treacherous coming-of-age, she must find her voice first. For fatefully observant Adeline, growing up carries an ominous warning from her adulterous mother: don’t say a word. Adeline vows to never speak again. But that’s not her only secret. After her mother takes a housekeeping job at a lighthouse off the tip of Cape Ann, a local woman vanishes. The key to the mystery lies with Adeline, the silent witness. New York Times bestselling author of The Rules of Magic Alice Hoffman crafts a beautiful, heart-wrenching short story. Everything My Mother Taught Me is one of those stories that make the emotions that flow throughout as you read on. You are pulled in multiple directions and I loved the roller coaster ride. As you read you realize how easily

☆☆☆☆1/2 Kindle Edition, 253 pages Expected publication: January 17th 2020 by Bookouture About the Book: For Tabitha, the day that changed everything started like any other. She woke up, slid her feet into fluffy slippers, wrapped herself in a dressing gown and tiptoed out of her bedroom, leaving her husband Andy sleeping. Downstairs, she boiled the kettle and enjoyed a cup of tea as the sun rose. Upstairs, Andy’s alarm sounded, and Tabitha took him a freshly brewed coffee, like every other morning. Except today, the incessant beeping rang out and her husband hadn’t stirred. She called his name, she nudged his shoulder. But Andy wouldn’t wake up. Three years later Tabitha is trying her hardest to get by in the shadow of her grief. She may have lost the love of her life but she won’t give up on the family they dreamed of. Fostering troublesome teenage girls and a newborn baby is a chance to piece together her broken heart. But being a mother isn’t easy, and neither is healing the he

☆☆☆☆1/2 ebook, 33 pages Expected publication: December 19th 2019 by Amazon Original Stories About the Book: In the chaos of a maternity ward, memories of tragedy and grief come flooding back for an anxious mother-to-be as she struggles to balance her child’s needs with her own healing. Rushed into an emergency cesarean section, a woman finds herself in the same hospital where her suicidal mother died. She’s buried the trauma of her mother’s last hours—and also the dread that she might be just as vulnerable to breaking. As the new mother relives one crisis in the midst of another, prize-winning author Julie Orringer turns the joyous event of birth into a harrowing, poignant short story. This is a little gem, I found this short story to be mesmerizing and to contain a brilliant character study of a mother before and after giving birth. Quiet, unassuming writing can sometimes wield great power and beauty, and this is exactly what I found in the pages of Can You Feel This?. The writ

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 319 pages Published August 8th 2019 by Pan Macmillan About the Book: Getting pregnant as a teenager was never part of Kate's plan, but when it happens she's determined to do right by her daughter, showing her the love she never had as a child. Life as a single mother is hard, sometimes impossible, but it only brings Kate and Becky closer together. By the time Becky is making her own way in the world as a tenacious trainee journalist, Kate couldn't be prouder. But when the unthinkable happens, Kate's life is changed forever. Desperately trying to understand, Kate stumbles across a story Becky was researching. Is it possible that this cruel twist of fate wasn't an accident? This book starts off slowly, building up rich, shrewdly observed characterization, tension and momentum as it goes along. We are drawn first of all into the dynamics of family relationships, and none quite so powerful as the one a mother has with her daughter. I'm not going

☆☆☆☆ Kindle Edition, 352 pages Expected publication: January 6th 2020 by Random House Publishing & The Dial Press About the Book: One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Among them is a Wall Street wunderkind, a young woman coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy, an injured vet returning from Afghanistan, a septuagenarian business tycoon, and a free-spirited woman running away from her controlling husband. And then, tragically, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor. Edward's story captures the attention of the nation, but he struggles to find a place for himself in a world without his family. He continues to feel that a piece of him has been left in the sky, forever tied to the plane and all of his fellow passengers. But then he makes an unexpected discovery--one that will lead him to the answers of some of life's most profound ques

☆☆1/2 ebook, 291 pages Expected publication: December 14th 2019 by One More Chapter About the Book: The Cotswolds, Christmastime 1946: A young widow leaves behind the tragedy of her wartime life, and returns home to her ageing aunt and uncle. For Lucy – known as Mrs P – and the people who raised her, the books that line the walls of the family publishing business bring comfort and the promise of new beginnings. But the kind and reserved new editor at the Kershaw and Kathay Book Press is a former prisoner of war, and he has his own shadows to bear. And when the old secrets of a little girl’s abandonment are uncovered within the pages of Robert Underhills’s latest project, Lucy must work quickly if she is to understand the truth behind his frequent trips away. For a ghost dwells in the record of an orphan girl’s last days. And even as Lucy dares to risk her heart, the grief of her own past seems to be whispering a warning of fresh loss. There are no white shrouded spectres here, no

☆☆☆☆☆ ebook, 321 pages Expected publication: December 17th 2019 by Amazon Publishing UK About the Book: From the outside, Alice’s marriage looks successful. It’s true that Ken was never her first choice, but four decades in, she’s learned to tolerate him. Their two sons have chosen their own paths, Tim as a successful banker and Matt a carefree globetrotter she can’t keep up with. But when circumstances collide to make her question the life she’s quietly accepted, Alice realises she’s been lying to herself for years. It’s time to stand up and put her own happiness first, but where do you begin when you’ve turned your back on everything? Alice craves the support of someone who understands her, but Tim won’t take sides and his trophy wife won’t give her the time of day. It seems the only person she can really rely on in her new start is herself. Unless … Can her other son come through for her? Matt’s been travelling so long that she barely knows which continent he’s on. But could hi

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 320 pages Expected publication: January 7th 2020 by Wednesday Books About the Book: Seven months. That’s how long I was kept captive. Locked in a room with a bed, refrigerator, and adjoining bathroom, I was instructed to eat, bathe, and behave. I received meals, laundered clothes, and toiletries through a cat door, never knowing if it was day or night. The last time I saw the face of my abductor was when he dragged me fighting from the trunk of his car. And when I finally escaped, I prayed I’d never see him again. Now that I’m home, my parents and friends want everything to be like it was before I left. But they don’t understand that dining out and shopping trips can’t heal what’s broken inside me. I barely leave my bedroom. Therapists are clueless and condescending. So I start my own form of therapy—but writing about my experience awakens uncomfortable memories, ones that should’ve stayed buried. How far will I have to go to uncover the truth of what happened—and will

☆☆☆ ebook, 272 pages Expected publication: February 18th 2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Mariner Books About the Book: Twenty-one-year-old Mallie Williams—scrappy, headstrong, and wise beyond her years—has just landed on her feet following a tumultuous youth when the unthinkable happens: she is violently assaulted. The crime leaves her comatose, surrounded by friends and family who are hoping against hopes for a full recovery. But soon Mallie's small community finds themselves divided. The rape has left Mallie pregnant, and while some friends are convinced that she would never keep the pregnancy, others are sure that a baby would be the only good thing to come out of all of this pain. Who gets to decide? How much power, in the end, do we have over our own bodies? Mallie, her family, and her town find themselves at the center of a media storm, confronting questions nobody should have to face. And when Mallie emerges from the fog, what will she think of the choices that w

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 489 pages Expected publication: January 9th 2020 by Random House UK, Transworld Publishers & Bantam Press About the Book: It’s been 192 days, seven hours and fifteen minutes since her last drink. Now Astrid is trying to turn her life around. Having reluctantly moved back in with her mother, in a quiet seaside town away from the temptations and painful memories of her life before, Astrid is focusing on her recovery. She's going to meetings. Confessing her misdeeds. Making amends to those she's wronged. But someone knows exactly what Astrid is running from. And they won't stop until she learns that some mistakes can't be corrected. Some mistakes, you have to pay for. What an absolutely wonderful read this was. I knew from the first chapter this was going to be a good one and I certainly wasn’t disappointed. This is a book that had me surprised at times. The novel moves quickly and I became addicted to the characters you truly become part of their w

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 327 pages Expected publication: December 12th 2019 by Avon Books UK About the Book: Everyone’s welcome at The Afternoon Tea Club. Marjorie, Stacy, Raymond and Dora each hold a different story to their chest – lost loves, abandoned dreams, crippling self-confidence issues, and simply feeling invisible. For each of them, the thought of letting those stories out is almost as terrifying as letting strangers in, and that makes for a very lonely life indeed. But when these four strangers who have struggled to “fit in” end up on the same table for an event at their local community centre, little do they know that their lives are about to be entwined and changed forever because of an Afternoon Tea club. Jane Gilley has the ability to understand the inner self of people, consequently she has written another fine book. Maybe it is even my favourite. She has made the characters endearing and it is filled with tenderness and this book really moved me. I thought this was a deligh

☆☆☆ Kindle Edition, 235 pages Expected publication: December 10th 2019 by Bookouture About the Book: It happens to every mother. One day, the daughter whose whole world you once were, becomes someone you barely know. And you don’t know the secrets she’s hiding. One hot summer night, 15-year-old Olivia comes home late from a party she was strictly forbidden from going to, and she and her mother, Hannah, start arguing. Soon Olivia speaks the words that every parent has heard from their teenage child: ‘I hate you. You’ve ruined my life. And I’m never speaking to you again.’ Olivia has never been an easy child, a sharp contrast to her easy-going, happy-go-lucky little sister. But Hannah thinks Olivia’s outburst is the end of a normal family argument. In fact, it’s only the beginning of a nightmare. After one day of silence, Hannah thinks Olivia is taking a teenage sulk too far. After two days, she starts to feel anxious that something more serious could be going on. After a week, when

☆☆☆☆1/2 Kindle Edition, 298 pages Published December 3rd 2019 by Lake Union Publishing About the Book: In the summer of 1969, fourteen-year-old Lucas Painter carries a huge weight on his shoulders. His brother is fighting in Vietnam. His embattled parents are locked in a never-ending war. And his best friend, Connor, is struggling with his own family issues. To find relief from the chaos, Lucas takes long, meandering walks, and one day he veers into the woods. There he discovers an isolated cabin and two huge dogs. Frightened, he runs. And the dogs run with him. Lucas finds unusual peace in running with the dogs, and eventually he meets their owner, Zoe Dinsmore. Closed off and haunted by a tragic past, Zoe has given up. She doesn’t want to be saved. She wants out. But Lucas doesn’t want her to go, and he sees an opportunity to bring more than one friend back into the light. It’s either the best or worst idea he’s ever had, but Lucas isn’t giving up on Zoe or Connor. Their unexpec

☆☆☆☆ Kindle Edition, 412 pages Published November 29th 2019 by Avon Books UK About the Book: Two little girls were out playing a game of dares. Only one returned home. The ten-year-old told police what she saw: village loner Bill ‘Creepy’ Cawley dragged her friend into his truck and disappeared. No body was found, but her testimony sent Cawley to prison for murder. An open and shut case, the right man behind bars. The village could sleep safe once again. Anna thought she had left Mapledon and her nightmares behind but a distraught phone call brings her back to face her past. 30 years ago, someone lied. 30 years ago, the man convicted wasn’t the only guilty party. Now he’s out of prison and looking for revenge. The question is, who will he start with? This is a very good mystery. The attention to detail is what draws you into this book. There are layers pulled back slowly to determine who murdered whom, building the tension in a way you just have to keep reading. The connections

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 283 pages Expected publication: December 10th 2019 by Crooked Lane Books About the Book: Six-year-old Aoife knows better than to talk to people no one else can see, like her best friend Teddy who her mother says is invisible. He's not, but Mama says it's rude anyways. So when Mama starts talking to Aoife's older brother Theo, Aoife is surprised. And when she stops the car in the middle of an intersection, crying and screaming, Aoife gets a bad feeling--because even if they don't talk about it, everyone knows Theo died a long time ago. He was murdered. Eventually, Aoife is taken home by her Uncle Donny who says he'll stay with her until Mama comes home from the hospital, but Aoife doesn't buy it. The only way to bring Mama home is to find out what really happened to Theo. Even with Teddy by her side, there's a lot about the grown-up world that Aoife doesn't understand, but if Aoife doesn't help her family, who will? From the first f

☆☆☆☆ Kindle Edition, 367 pages Expected publication: December 4th 2019 by Bookouture About the Book: Thirty years ago, Nicola Watson lived with her parents and older brother in a respectable suburb. At ten years old, she didn’t yet understand why her stomach tightened when she heard her father’s heavy tread as he returned home late at night, or why it made her brother Graham’s stammer get worse, or why one night her mother Carol woke them both, wide-eyed and whispering, and took them out of their home and into the unknown. Now a successful lawyer in the city, with a life poles apart from her dark beginnings, Nicola has returned home for her mother’s funeral. But as she stands in her mother’s house, remembering the woman who sacrificed everything for her children, Nicola has to confront the guilt that she feels for leaving her family behind. And the belief that she played a part in the events that led to her brother going to prison for murder. All Carol wanted was to protect her ch

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 583 pages Expected publication: December 10th 2019 by Crooked Lane Books About the Book: In 1991, Heather Cole and her friends were members of the Dead Girls Club. Obsessed with the macabre, the girls exchanged stories about serial killers and imaginary monsters, like the Red Lady, the spirit of a vengeful witch killed centuries before. Heather knew the stories were just that, until her best friend Becca began insisting the Red Lady was real--and she could prove it. That belief got Becca killed. It's been nearly thirty years, but Heather has never told anyone what really happened that night--that Becca was right and the Red Lady was real. She's done her best to put that fateful summer, Becca, and the Red Lady, behind her. Until a familiar necklace arrives in the mail, a necklace Heather hasn't seen since the night Becca died. The night Heather killed her. Now, someone else knows what she did...and they're determined to make Heather pay. This book was

☆☆ Kindle Edition, 377 pages Published November 28th 2019 by Avon Books UK About the Book: Claire lives with her family in a beautiful house overlooking the water. But she feels as if she’s married to a stranger – one who is leading a double life. As soon as she can get their son Joe away from him, she’s determined to leave Duncan. But finding out the truth about Duncan’s secret life leads to consequences Claire never planned for. Now Joe is missing, and she’s struggling to piece together the events of the night that tore them all apart. Alone in an isolated cottage, hiding from Duncan, Claire tries to unravel the lies they’ve told each other, and themselves. Something happened to her family … But can she face the truth? As I sit here and process the story I reflect back to the opening chapters. This set what I thought would be a fast pace thriller. Instead the execution of building the personal lives of the characters was slow and tedious. I just couldn’t get into them. I cou

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 399 pages Published November 25th 2019 by Bookouture About the Book: When single mother Darcy’s son falls from a rope bridge at a local playground, life stands still. She clutches his small, limp body, frozen, until a pair of strong hands push her aside, and she watches as George, a local doctor, saves her son’s life. George is a single parent too, and with his twinkling hazel eyes, easy charm, and lack of wedding band is almost too good to be true, but coffee becomes lunch, lunch becomes dinner, and soon they can’t go an evening without seeing each other. When he invites her to move into his beautiful home with its sprawling garden for her boys, Darcy doesn’t hesitate. But as Darcy is settling in, she receives a bunch of flowers with a chilling message. George says they’re from an obsessed ex-girlfriend, Opal, and days later Opal turns up at Darcy’s son’s football match. She claims to have shocking information that could threaten George’s custody of his daughter. Darc

☆☆☆☆☆ ebook, 395 pages Published November 22nd 2019 by Bookouture About the Book: Why would you walk away from the one person you can’t live without? As a child, Vicky Hall never had the sort of family she wanted. The least important person in her new step-family, ignored by her mother in favour of her two younger half-siblings, Vicky was always an afterthought. Sitting alone at her graduation ceremony at the age of twenty-one, she vows to create her own family and her own life, one which is full of the love and attention she has always craved. When Vicky meets William and falls pregnant in Greece that summer, it isn’t planned. But the two of them believe they can make it work, showering their child with the love which they believe should be enough. But when her son Theo is two, Vicky leaves him in the care of her mother-in-law, walks out of her front door and drives to a hotel where she takes a room for the night. She doesn’t return. It’s unthinkable. What kind of mother does tha

☆☆☆ ebook, 397 pages Published November 21st 2019 by Aria About the Book: Her husband says it's suicide. The police say it's murder. Liam Buckley was a married man with two teenage children when he moved out of the family home to start a new life with his lover. His wife Jennifer never forgave him, but now she needs him to come back: she's been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and the kids can't cope alone. One day after Liam moves home, Jennifer is found dead. Liam thinks it's suicide. But the police, led by DS Louise Kennedy, are convinced it's murder. Liam hires a retired detective to help prove his innocence, but it's no easy task. The children are distraught, and Jennifer's best friend, Sarah, is waging a campaign against Liam, determined to expose him for a liar and a cheat. As secrets surface from the complex web of Buckley family life, DS Kennedy must decide. Did Jennifer Buckley end her own life, or did Liam take it from her? The answer,

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 311 pages Published November 21st 2019 by BHC Press About the Book: When eight-year-old Harry Spencer’s father returns from WWI with a missing arm, his father’s bitterness shatters their relationship. Though confused and brokenhearted, Harry is determined to make something of himself. Endeavoring with heart and sometimes-humorous results, he sets out on his path in life, working in his granddad’s store, selling medicinal salves, washing windows, and falling in love. This historical coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of small-town life will tug at your heartstrings as Harry discovers who he is, who his father is, and how to heal the past. It takes a great writer to be able to write about a boy coming of age so well, especially when the writer is female. Ms. Wolff demonstrates so much depth and emotional intelligence in her depiction of both sexes across all age groups in this riveting novel. Her exceptionally vivid imagery is intoxicatingly beautiful. This i

☆☆☆☆☆ ebook, 304 pages Published November 19th 2019 by Random House About the Book: It all started as a supper club, a group gathering monthly to share homemade dinners, until the night one woman made a startling revelation. After that, the "Confession Club" decided to meet weekly to feast not only on dinner, but on admissions of misdeeds, embarrassments, and insecurities. When Iris Winters and Maddy Harris are invited to the club, they find that it's just what each of them needs. Iris hasn't yet told anyone about the unlikely man who has captured her attention, and Maddy has come back home to escape a problem too big for her to confront. Love is like a butterfly—you do better letting it land on you than trying to capture it. So I began reading Ms. Berg's The Confession Club and found myself drawn in right from the start. Elizabeth Berg is a character-oriented writer who is absolutely brilliant in her ability to create personalities that are vibrant and be

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 352 pages Published November 14th 2019 by Hodder & Stoughton and Mulholland Books About the Book: Ava's life is the kind other people envy: loving husband; great kids; beautiful house. Until the night that a violent home invasion plunges her world into chaos. In the aftermath of the attack, Ava needs answers to two questions. Who has targeted her family? And why? But things aren't adding up. She is starting to suspect that someone knows more than they are letting on. That everything she thought she knew about the people closest to her was a lie. Ava needs to know what happened that night. And to do that she must decide who she can really trust. Because she's about to discover that her family is in more danger than she ever imagined. I really enjoyed this book. It was creative, well thought out and well written. I loved how each chapter ended leaving me not able to stop there. The characters were real and fully developed. I shared their fears, joys, su

☆☆☆☆☆ Kindle Edition, 336 pages Published November 12th 2019 by Bookouture About the Book: Maria Birch is seventy years old and, for her, every week is the same. On Monday, she does her weekly shop. On Tuesday, she goes for a blow-dry. On Wednesday, she visits the laundrette. But Thursday is her favourite day of all – everything hurts less on a Thursday. Every Thursday Maria walks to her local café. Waiting for her at one of the red gingham-topped tables is Albie Young, a charming man with a twinkle in his eye and an impressive collection of tweed flat caps. Every week, the pair share a slice of marble cake and a pot of tea. Except, one week, Albie doesn’t turn up. When Maria finds out what has happened, her perfectly ordered life is ripped apart at the seams. Suddenly, she is very lonely. Without her Thursday friend – her only friend – she no longer has the energy to circle the weekly TV listings, she has no reason to leave her apartment, no reason to laugh. Then she discovers th

☆1/3 ebook, 448 pages Published November 12th 2019 by AmazonCrossing About the Book: Mona’s demanding mother ruled their home until a car crash took her life and changed their family forever. Left to tend to a distant father and a needy younger brother, Mona finds her new role almost too much to bear. And when a new stepmother, troubled and depressed, adds yet another crack to the family portrait, Mona’s forced to shoulder an even greater share of the emotional burden. Somewhere between her responsibility to her family and to her own life, Mona finds a route of escape: in a theater career she craves. But for every challenge ahead—romantic, professional, sexual, and familial—Mona wonders how much of her future has already been defined by the challenges of her past. I really enjoyed the first act of Mona's life but once she grew up her life, and the book, became quite boring and mundane. The story felt like it was written by a first time author who had trouble with the plot, a