Shelley's Book Nook

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 260 pages Expected publication: July 7th 2020 by Berkley Publishing Group About the Book: Chloe Sanderson is an optimist, and not because her life is easy. As the sole caregiver for her father, who has early-onset Alzheimer’s, she’s pretty much responsible for everything. She has no time—or interest—in getting swept up in some dazzling romance. Not like her best friend, Annie, who literally wrote a rom-com that’s about to premiere in theaters across America . . . and happens to be inspired by Chloe and her cute but no-nonsense boss, Nick Velez. As the buzz for the movie grows, Chloe reads one too many listicles about why Nick is the perfect man, and now she can’t see him as anything but Reason #4: The scruffy-bearded hunk who’s always there when you need him. But unlike the romance Annie has written for them, Chloe isn’t so sure her own story will end in a happily-ever-after. The way he’s staring at me makes me feel hot and tingly. What an excellent follow-up! Not ...

Good Girl, Bad Girl by Michael Robotham My rating: 5 of 5 stars People might not believe in God, or ghosts or man-made climate change, but they believe in forensic evidence. Michael Robotham brings this story alive. There are times when you find yourself thinking what would I do if this was me. You turn page after page and find yourself holding your breath. You turn each page thinking OK I have this figured out, only to find you have no idea. What a wonderfully dark, somewhat depressing book with a character whom I can empathize with on one hand, and want to beat over the head with the other. A few twists I saw coming, and most importantly, a couple I didn't, especially at the end. It's not often I get caught that flat footed, but overall a thoroughly gripping book. View all my reviews

☆☆☆ ebook, 500 pages Expected publication: July 7th 2020 by Grand Central Publishing About the Book: After a scandalous secret turns their fairy-tale wedding into a nightmare, Rebecca "Bex" Porter and her husband Prince Nicholas are in self-imposed exile. The public is angry. The Queen is even angrier. And the press is salivating. Cutting themselves off from friends and family, and escaping the world's judgmental eyes, feels like the best way to protect their fragile, all-consuming romance. But when a crisis forces the new Duke and Duchess back to London, the Band-Aid they'd placed over their problems starts to peel at the edges. Now, as old family secrets and new ones threaten to derail her new royal life, Bex has to face the emotional wreckage she and Nick left behind: with the Queen, with the world, and with Nick's brother Freddie, whose sins may not be so easily forgotten -- nor forgiven. I did not like this book as much as the first one. Heather Cocks ...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 232 pages Expected publication: July 7th 2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Mariner Books About the Book: On a hot July night on Cape Cod when Adrienne was fourteen, her mother, Malabar, woke her at midnight with five simple words that would set the course of both of their lives for years to come: Ben Souther just kissed me. Adrienne instantly became her mother’s confidante and helpmate, blossoming in the sudden light of her attention, and from then on, Malabar came to rely on her daughter to help orchestrate what would become an epic affair with her husband’s closest friend. The affair would have calamitous consequences for everyone involved, impacting Adrienne’s life in profound ways, driving her into a precarious marriage of her own, and then into a deep depression. Only years later will she find the strength to embrace her life—and her mother—on her own terms. Wild Game is a brilliant, timeless memoir about how the people close to us can break our hearts simply bec...

☆☆☆☆1/2 ebook, 196 pages Expected publication: July 7th 2020 by Mascot Books About the Book: Under the surface, danger lurks... Twelve-year-old Grace believes that all adults are trustworthy and good. So begins a coming-of-age story full of laughter and tears that takes place one hot summer in upstate New York in the 1950s. On the surface, Stillwater seems an idyllic place, but danger lurks underneath. Grace and her best friends, Maggie and Louanne, grapple with divorce, domestic violence, and mental illness. Grace is devastated when she finds out her father committed suicide when she was eight. Several suspicious fires break out in the area, and Louanne's schizophrenic uncle Tony, the town bogeyman, is accused of setting them. Grace believes he's unfairly targeted because he's mentally ill and convinces her friends to help her find the real arsonist. None of us had a perfect life, but we did have each other. A fantastic and well written story of survival, lonelin...

☆☆☆ ebook, 282 pages Expected publication: July 7th 2020 by HarperCollins Publishers, Ecco About the Book: Abigail Willard first spots her from the back of a New York cab: the spitting image of Abby herself at age twenty-two—right down to the silver platforms and raspberry coat she wore as a young artist with a taste for wildness. But the real Abby is now forty-six and married, with a corporate job and two kids. As the girl vanishes into a rainy night, Abby is left shaken. Was this merely a hallucinatory side effect of working-mom stress? A message of sorts, sent to remind her of passions and dreams tossed aside? Or something more explosive and life-altering? As weeks go by, Abby continues to spot her double around her old New York haunts—and soon, despite her better instincts, Abby finds herself tailing her look-alike. She is dogged by a nagging suspicion that there is a deeper mystery to figure out, one rooted far in her past. All the while, Abby’s life starts to slip from her c...

☆☆1/2 ebook, 326 pages Expected publication: July 7th 2020 by Scribner About the Book: Who is Wendy Doe? The woman, found on a Peter Pan Bus to Philadelphia, has no money, no ID, and no memory of who she is, where she was going, or what she might have done. She’s assigned a name and diagnosis by the state: Dissociative fugue, a temporary amnesia that could lift at any moment—or never at all. When Dr. Benjamin Strauss invites her to submit herself for experimental observation at his Meadowlark Institute for Memory Research, she feels like she has no other choice. To Dr. Strauss, Wendy is a female body, subject to his investigation and control. To Strauss’s ambitious student, Lizzie Epstein, she’s an object of fascination, a mirror of Lizzie’s own desires, and an invitation to wonder: once a woman is untethered from all past and present obligations of womanhood, who is she allowed to become? To Alice, the daughter she left behind, Wendy Doe is an absence so present it threatens to t...

Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey My rating: 4 of 5 stars 3.5 Stars A little cheesy, a little unbelievable, but still full of heart. I really enjoyed this story. Annie is such a strong woman but at the same time she has such high expectations when it comes to relationships. Drew is the perfect catch and the perfect match for her. Together they balanced each other well and I just adored their happy ending that they did finally get. I also really loved the supporting cast...especially Mick and Chloe....They brought some fun humor to the story. Overall, this was a quick read with characters who were easy to root for. I look forward to Waiting for Tom Hanks #2. View all my reviews

☆☆☆1/2 ebook, 295 pages Expected publication: June 30th 2020 by Affirm Press About the Book: Even paradise has a dark side. For struggling actress Emily Proudman, life in London is not working out as planned - in fact, it's falling apart. So when she is offered a live-in job working for a wealthy family on their luxurious coastal property in France, she jumps at the opportunity to start over. The estate is picture-perfect, and its owners exude charisma and sophistication. But as Emily gets to know the family, their masks begin to slip, and what at first appears to be a dream come true turns out to be a prison from which none of them will ever escape - unless Emily can find a way to set them all free. The Safe Place is page-turner from Anna Downes and one that, if you are anything like me, will have you back and forth wondering what you would do in the characters’ shoes. The book is an intense and heartbreaking family drama about marriage, parenting, friendship, love and los...

☆ ebook, 223 pages Expected publication: June 25th 2020 by Avon Books UK About the Book: One summer. One stranger. One killer…Two bad things happened that summer: A stranger arrived. And the first girl disappeared. In the wake of the crime that rocked her community, Felicity fled, knowing more than she let on. But sixteen years later, her new life is shattered by the news that a second girl has gone missing in her hometown. Now Felicity must go back, to face the truth about what happened all those years ago. Only she holds the answers – and they’re more shocking than anyone could imagine. The heatwave is back. And so is the killer. I requested this book because I heard a lot of good things about the author...BUT...This book was very repetitive and the writing was so pedestrian. The same thoughts and words were regurgitated over and over to the point of boredom. I really tried to like this book, I read the whole thing, willing to give it a chance, but it was just not for me. The ...

☆☆☆☆1/2 ebook, 338 pages Expected publication: June 23rd 2020 by Doubleday Books About the Book: In Japan, a covert industry has grown up around the "wakaresaseya" (literally "breaker-upper"), a person hired by one spouse to seduce the other in order to gain the advantage in divorce proceedings. When Satō hires Kaitarō, a wakaresaseya agent, to have an affair with his wife, Rina, he assumes it will be an easy case. But Satō has never truly understood Rina or her desires and Kaitarō's job is to do exactly that--until he does it too well. While Rina remains ignorant of the circumstances that brought them together, she and Kaitarō fall in a desperate, singular love, setting in motion a series of violent acts that will forever haunt her daughter's life. The pain burned in her chest, so searing it should be an end in itself, but it was not. He was looking to the future, a future she could not be part of, and suddenly she wished she had not pushed him away....

Dear Child: A Novel by Romy Hausmann My rating: 5 of 5 stars This book was was phenomenal! I couldn't read it fast enough or put it down and read it in one sitting. I went into this book knowing absolutely nothing about it, which is how I would recommended others do when considering reading this book. This story is heavy, intense, and remarkable. This book ran me through a wide range of emotions - crying, disgust, anger and finally admiration. I felt personally invested in the characters lives and felt the tightness of their anxieties. That alone says to me that it's a great book. Romy Hausmann is a rare talent in a world filled with mediocre authors and their books, especially thrillers. The story is a true gem and one that will stay with me. The book is not so much about whether you can predict how it will end: It’s all about seeing the world from an angle we can’t even begin to comprehend. This, in itself, is a gift...All. The. Stars! View all my reviews

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 260 pages Expected publication: June 23rd 2020 by Berkley Publishing Group About the Book: It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. When Eliza Hunt created The Hudson Valley Ladies’ Bulletin Board fifteen years ago she was happily entrenched in her picture-perfect suburban life with her husband and twin preschoolers. Now, with an empty nest and a crippling case of agoraphobia, the once-fun hobby has become her lifeline. So when a rival parenting forum threatens the site’s existence, she doesn’t think twice before fabricating a salacious rumor to spark things up a bit. It doesn’t take long before that spark becomes a flame. Across town, new mom and site devotee Olivia York is thrown into a tailspin by what she reads on the Bulletin Board. Allison Le is making cyber friends with a woman who isn’t quite who she says she is. And Amanda Cole, Eliza’s childhood friend, may just hold the key to unearthing why Eliza can’t step out of her front door. In all this chaos, one thing ...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 247 pages Expected publication: June 19th 2020 by HQ Digital About the Book: The Nightingale House is a new beginning for widower Daniel Price and his young daughter Caitlyn. After months of grief, this will be the place where they start their life as a family of two. But something is wrong—Daniel can’t settle. There’s an odd, cold feeling in the master bedroom, and a mysterious dripping noise that seems to move from room to room. Whispers of I can’t sleep echo through the corridors, long into the night. And then Daniel uncovers the chilling story of the family who lived in the house years before, of betrayal, tragedy, and murder. Could the Nightingale House be not the home Daniel dreamed of for his daughter—but a place that will bring their worst nightmares to life? The skin on my arm ripples with goosebumps. There’s a sound. Breathing. It’s quiet but intense. I look around but it’s only me down here. I clear more debris from the hole. The breathing continues to gro...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 297 pages Expected publication: June 11th 2020 by Avon Books UK About the Book: You can’t have a rainbow, without a little rain…The world has thrown its very worst at Luke recently. So when a stranger narrowly saves him from a fatal accident, it feels like the final straw. But instead, Luke makes up his mind to live his life to the fullest. He’s been given a second chance, and he’s going to make it count– and so he starts by saying yes to everything life has to offer. But when Luke’s new resolve is tested, will he return to his old ways? Or can one fateful moment truly save a life? Luke Craven is a likable character, idiosyncrasies and all. I enjoyed his journey to owning his life. It was a great story, but a little heavy with the similes, metaphors and analogies. Perhaps that was part of the humor, or just the author's style, but I found it a little distracting. Well worth the time to read it though as I found myself laughing, sighing and even tearing up. I al...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 268 pages Expected publication: June 9th 2020 by Amazon Publishing UK About the Book: After the tragic loss of his wife, Helen, Luke Hansard is desperate to keep her memory alive. In an effort to stay close to her, he reaches out to an online friend Helen often mentioned: a reclusive photographer with a curious interest in beautiful but broken objects. But first he must find her—and she doesn’t want to be found. Orla Kendrick lives alone in the ruins of a remote Suffolk castle, hiding from the haunting past that has left her physically and emotionally scarred. In her fortress, she can keep a safe distance from prying eyes, surrounded by her broken treasures and insulated from the world outside. When Luke tracks Orla down, he is determined to help her in the way Helen wanted to: by encouraging her out of her isolation and back into the world. But Orla has never seen her refuge as a prison and, when painful secrets and dangerous threats begin to resurface, Luke’s good de...

☆☆☆☆☆ ebook, 334 pages Expected publication: July 28th 2020 by Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine About the Book: Pete Riley answers the door one morning and lets in a parent’s worst nightmare. On his doorstep is Miles Lambert, a stranger who breaks the devastating news that Pete’s son, Theo, isn’t actually his son—he is the Lamberts’, switched at birth by an understaffed hospital while their real son was sent home with Miles and his wife, Lucy. For Pete, his partner Maddie, and the little boy they’ve been raising for the past two years, life will never be the same again. The two families, reeling from the shock, take comfort in shared good intentions, eagerly entwining their very different lives in the hope of becoming one unconventional modern family. But a plan to sue the hospital triggers an official investigation that unearths some disturbing questions about the night their children were switched. How much can they trust the other parents—or even each other? What secr...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 296 pages Expected publication: June 2nd 2020 by Thomas Nelson About the Book: Sometimes it takes losing everything to find yourself again. Lily Bishop wakes up one morning to find a good-bye note and divorce papers from her husband on the kitchen counter. Having moved to Alabama for his job only weeks before, Lily is devastated, but a flyer at the grocery store for a hair stylist position in a local retirement community provides a refuge while she contemplates her next steps. Rose Carrigan built the small retirement village of Safe Harbor years ago—just before her husband ran off with his assistant. Now she runs a tight ship, making sure the residents follow her strict rules. Rose keeps everyone at arm’s length, including her own family. But when Lily shows up asking for a job and a place to live, Rose’s cold exterior begins to thaw. Lily and Rose form an unlikely friendship, and Lily’s salon soon becomes the place where residents share town gossip, as well as a few s...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 365 pages Expected publication: July 14th 2020 by Grand Central Publishing About the Book: In a quiet neighborhood in the wealthy Austin suburb of Lakehaven, the body of Danielle Roberts is discovered on a park bench. Danielle was a beloved member of the community, an adoption consultant who delivered the joy of parenthood to a number of local families. Her murder shocks Lakehaven. Perhaps no other family is as crushed as the Pollitts, who lived two houses down from Danielle and thought of her almost like family. Her death becomes the catalyst for a maelstrom of suspicion and intrigue. You have been told a huge lie, an anonymous email charges the son, Grant. No one can learn the truth now, thinks the father, Kyle. Never ask me what I'd do to protect my family, resolves the wife, Iris. I'll do whatever it takes to save him, vows the daughter, Julia, of Danielle's grieving teenage son. The Pollitts always thought they'd always be there for each other. Whe...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 288 pages Expected publication: June 1st 2020 by Lake Union Publishing About the Book: It’s 1894. Jordan Wallace and Sadie Wagoner appear to have little in common. Jordan, a middle-aged black teacher, lives in segregated Chicago. Two thousand miles away, Sadie, the white wife of an ambitious German businessman, lives in more tolerant Oakland, California. But years ago, their families intertwined on a plantation in Virginia. There, Jordan’s and Sadie’s mothers developed a bond stronger than blood, despite the fact that one was enslaved and the other was the privileged daughter of the plantation’s owner. With Jordan’s mother on her deathbed, Sadie leaves her disapproving husband to make the arduous train journey with her mother to Chicago. But the reunion between two families is soon fraught with personal and political challenges. As the harsh realities of racial divides and the injustices of the Gilded Age conspire to hold them back, the women find they need each other ...

☆☆☆☆☆ ebook, 224 pages Expected publication: July 7th 2020 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt About the Book: In a series of online posts, Parker H., a young psychiatrist, chronicles the harrowing account of his time working at a dreary mental hospital in New England. Through this internet message board, Parker hopes to communicate with the world his effort to cure one bewildering patient. We learn, as Parker did on his first day at the hospital, of the facility’s most difficult, profoundly dangerous case—a forty-year-old man who was originally admitted to the hospital at age six. This patient has no known diagnosis. His symptoms seem to evolve over time. Every person who has attempted to treat him has been driven to madness or suicide. Desperate and fearful, the hospital’s directors keep him strictly confined and allow minimal contact with staff for their own safety, convinced that releasing him would unleash catastrophe on the outside world. Parker, brilliant and overconfident, takes ...

Mustard Seed by Laila Ibrahim My rating: 4 of 5 stars I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it would move. First reading Yellow Crocus I was drawn immediately in to love the characters of the book. It takes place during the years of slavery and plantation life. When I finished the book I instantly wanted more and I got it. The book Mustard Seeds takes us right where Yellow Crocus left off. The twists and turns this family takes is hear warming and with drama and fear. This book is a residue of hope faith and horror. It reminds us of things we would like to forget about the past but throughout it is a testament to love and honor. At times hard to read because of the truth inside, but a truly wonderful book. I cannot wait to sink my teeth into the third book. View all my reviews

Yellow Crocus by Laila Ibrahim My rating: 5 of 5 stars It is difficult to use the right words to explain what a touching story this is. It was not only well written, but has that rare spark which pulls a reader into its world. First let me start by saying how much I loved this book. It was a thoroughly rich story that took me back in time and made me a silent witness in these characters lives. This book took me on an emotional ride, I laughed, cried, became angry or felt triumphant at every turn. I would highly recommend it and hope you take time to read it and allow yourself to be transported in time and allow yourself to be immersed in this beautifully written tale. View all my reviews

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 288 pages Expected publication: June 1st 2020 by Lake Union Publishing About the Book: When Mackenzie, Sunna, and Maude move into a converted rental house, they are strangers with only one thing in common—important people in their lives have “ghosted” them. Mackenzie’s sister, Sunna’s best friend, and Maude’s fiancé—all gone with no explanation. So when a mangled, near-indecipherable letter arrives in their shared mailbox—hinting at long-awaited answers—each tenant assumes it’s for her. The mismatched trio decides to stake out the coffee shop named in the letter—the only clue they have—and in the process, a bizarre kinship forms. But the more they learn about each other, the more questions (and suspicions) they begin to have. All the while, creepy sounds and strange happenings around the property suggest that the ghosts from their pasts might not be all that’s haunting them…Will any of the housemates find the closure they are looking for? Or are some doors meant to rem...

☆☆☆☆1/2 ebook, 280 pages Expected publication: June 2nd 2020 by Skyhorse Publishing and Arcade Crimewise About the Book: In 1995, six university students moved into the house at 215 Caldwell Street. Months later, one of them was found dead on the sofa the morning after their end-of-year party. His death was ruled an accident by the police. The remaining five all knew it wasn’t, and though they went on with their lives, the truth of what happened to their sixth housemate couldn’t stay buried forever. Twenty years later, all five of them arrive—lured separately under various pretenses—at Wolfheather House, a crumbling, secluded mansion on the Scottish isle of Doon. Trapped inside with no way out and no signal to the outside world, the now forty-somethings fight each other—and the unknown mastermind behind their gathering—as they confront the role they played in their housemate’s death. They are given one choice: confess to their crimes or die. I saw mixed reviews for this book but...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 323 pages Expected publication: May 26th 2020 by Lake Union Publishing About the Book: Marnie MacGraw and Patrick Delaney have been in love for a few years now, enough to realize that they are imperfectly perfect together. Still, there are some things that maybe need a little attention. Marnie’s ebullient; he’s brooding. She thrives on change; he prefers stability. She sees marriage and parenthood in their future, but he can’t see beyond the shadow of an earlier tragedy. Then an eight-year-old surprise from Patrick’s past shows up on their doorstep, cartwheeling into their lives and spinning things in all directions. While it’s not exactly the change she envisioned, it looks like instant family to Marnie. But Patrick, afraid of being hurt again, retreats further into himself. Suddenly, two very different pieces of a beautiful puzzle find it harder and harder to fit. How can Marnie trust in the magic of the universe when it seems to be doing its best to knock her off he...