Shelley's Book Nook

☆☆ .ePUB, 326 pages Expected publication: October 15th 2020 by Amazon Publishing UK About the Book: Eve and Leah are identical twins—but beyond that, they’re polar opposites. Struggling journalist Leah envies Eve’s seemingly perfect life—the loyal husband, the beautiful twin daughters, the stellar career—little knowing that what Eve longs for most is Leah’s independence. When a shocking event upends their world, one woman seizes a split-second chance to change everything and follow her sister down a different life path. It’s a spontaneous choice, but there’s no going back. How will she deal with the fallout when covering up one untruth means lying to everyone—about everything? One thing is clear: both twins have secrets, and both just want to be happy. But what price will they pay to live the life they’ve always wanted? My Review: The idea of this book really intrigued me, twins with different personalities and family secrets. I just felt that the beginning of the book didn't live...

☆☆☆ .ePUB, 299 pages Expected publication: October 15th 2020 by Avon Books UK About the Book: Two weeks before her wedding, a stranger stops Amy in the street and warns her she’s in danger. Then that night, Matt, her fiancé, doesn’t come home. Desperate, Amy calls the police – but when Matt fails to emerge, she’s forced to call off her wedding day. Then another man is reported missing, by a woman called Fiona – a man meeting Matt’s description, who was about to leave his fiancée for her. He was supposed to be moving in with her – but instead, he’s vanished. Amy refuses to believe Fiona’s lover can be her Matt – but photos prove otherwise, and it soon becomes clear that Matt has been leading a double life. As the police dig deeper, two conflicting, yet equally plausible stories emerge from two women who allegedly have never met. The wedding day never happened. But the funeral might. My Review: This book wasn't bad. I enjoyed the writing and the plot was interesting enough. There wa...

☆☆☆☆ ☆ ebook, 309 pages Expected publication: October 13th 2020 by Harper 360/HQ About the Book: Ben’s always loved the month of December, but this year, with his relationship with Daphne on the rocks, it’s missing its usual magic. And then his old friend Alice gets back in touch. Ben’s always thought of Alice as the one that got away, and he can’t help but wonder: what if he’d done things differently all those years ago? He never imagines he might get to find out… but when a stranger sells Ben a mysterious watch one freezing winter’s night, he’s astonished to wake up the next morning on 5th December 2005: the day he first kissed Daphne, leaving Alice behind. Now Ben must make the biggest decision of his life, all over again. But this time around, will he finally find the courage to follow his heart? My Review: A modern-day reworking of A Christmas Carol? Yes please!  I absolutely love this type of book, romantic time travel, and getting the story from the man's point of view was s...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 389 pages Expected publication: October 13th 2020 by Boldwood Books About the Book: On a normal day, in a normal house, on a normal street, wife and mother Fran has had enough. She packs a case, leaves a note for her bullying husband Pete, and one for her beloved twenty-year-old son Harry, and heads to the airport - and freedom. In another house, on another street, Helena is desperately baiting her husband Jack into a fight. These days it feels like the only way to get Jack to take notice of her. Passionate, volatile, increasingly fragile, Helena is fast running out of hope. What Helena and Fran don’t know, is that soon their lives are going to collide in ways neither expect nor understand. And if Fran and Helena are going to change their own futures, then first they will have to change each other’s. My Review: We were two random married people having a random coffee. This is my first book by Amanda Brookfield and I went into this thinking it was a thriller. I don...

☆☆☆☆ .PDF, 239 pages Expected publication: October 6th 2020 by She Writes Press About the Book: Eve Prince is done—with college, with her mom, with guys, and with her dream of fashion design. But when her best friend goes MIA, Eve must gather together the broken threads of her life in order to search for her. When Eve’s grandmother, Boop, a retiree dripping with Southern charm, finds out about the trip, she—desperate to see her sister, and also hoping to alleviate Eve’s growing depression—hijacks her granddaughter’s road trip. Boop knows from experience that healing Eve will require more than flirting lessons and a Garlic Festival makeover. Nevertheless, Boop is frustrated when her feeble efforts yield the same failure that her sulfur-laced sip from the Fountain of Youth wrought on her age. She knows that sharing the secret that’s haunted her for sixty years might be the one thing that will lessen Eve’s growing depression—but she also fears that if she reveals it, she’ll lose her famil...

Halfway to Free by Emma Donoghue My rating: 4 of 5 stars I am not a big fan of science fiction but I love Emma Donoghue so I thought I'd give this short story a go. Halfway to Free is set in a future where having children is for the rich or "drop outs". Miriam and Ned start to discuss if they should have a child together. I won't give anything away but I will say I enjoyed the plot and the writing style so much I wish it was longer, I could have read a whole novel about this...but...Donoghue really packs a punch in twenty-seven pages. Sweet Virginia by Caroline Kepnes My rating: 3 of 5 stars It seems to me that Shelby hates everything about her life...lack of ability to write, being a mother, her husband and her own mother. I guess that's what the "out of line" reference is. She is also a liar and a lover of Hallmark movies. When someone starts messaging her he sounds too good to be true. Then one day Shelby goes to check the mail and all hell bre...

  Snowflakes by Ruth Ware  My rating: 3.5  of 5 stars With vibes of The Village by M. Night Shyamalan this is the kind of story that will make you think. The reader is never quite sure what will be over that wall and that is what makes this short story so great. I felt for most of the characters and was pleased with the happy ending. The Gift by Alison Gaylin My rating: 5 of 5 stars Wow, this was a pretty powerful read as a short story and it had me enthralled from beginning to end and I was totally surprised by the twist...I didn't see it coming. I've only read one book by Alison Gaylin but after enjoying this story so much I will have to check out more. I highly recommend this one...my favourite of the collection so far. Treasure by Oyinkan Braithwaite My rating: 1 of 5 stars Oh this was not for me. I couldn't get past the Nigerian language (slang?). I know the dangers of social media is a timely topic but I couldn't care for the characters and did not enjoy ...

☆☆☆☆☆ ebook, 255 pages Expected publication: October 6th 2020 by HarperCollins Publishers/Ecco About the Book: Amanda and Clay head out to a remote corner of Long Island expecting a vacation: a quiet reprieve from life in New York City, quality time with their teenage son and daughter, and a taste of the good life in the luxurious home they’ve rented for the week. But a late-night knock on the door breaks the spell. Ruth and G. H. are an older couple—it’s their house, and they’ve arrived in a panic. They bring the news that a sudden blackout has swept the city. But in this rural area—with the TV and internet now down, and no cell phone service—it’s hard to know what to believe. Should Amanda and Clay trust this couple—and vice versa? What happened back in New York? Is the vacation home, isolated from civilization, a truly safe place for their families? And are they safe from one other. Suspenseful and provocative, Rumaan Alam’s third novel is keenly attuned to the complexities of paren...

☆☆☆1/2 ebook, 283 pages Expected publication: October 6th 2020 by Amazon Publishing UK About the Book: Darcy Hogan’s perfect life is all over social media. She’s beautiful, she’s successful, and she and her childhood sweetheart are about to become parents for the first time. But behind all the followers and the superficial likes lurks a darker truth…In reality, Darcy feels isolated and afraid. Her difficult pregnancy has her confined to the house, she’s being harassed online, and out-of-control debt threatens to ruin everything she’s worked so hard for. When her husband is summoned away on business, Darcy’s cabin fever soon spirals into fear. Who is making mysterious phone calls and knocking on her door? Is it an old friend trying to reach out—or a stranger determined to push in? As her due date creeps closer, Darcy feels ever more certain that someone is out to get her. She’s desperate to get away—but is she running from the right person? My Review: This was a slow burn until the last...

☆☆☆☆.25 All four novellas are vintage Joyce Carol Oates, classic literary fiction. These stories are perfect for a cold, rainy night or a Halloween read...I highly recommend them...and that cover is so beautiful and haunting. The theme here seems to be that males are predators and the females have had enough...how very timely. Cardiff, by the Sea: ☆☆☆☆ This is the way a story should be...creepy, suspenseful and entertaining. I love everything about the novella...creepy house, weird relatives, bumps in the night. I could see it in my head happening in every chilling detail. Great story with great writing, excellent plot and characterization. I was completely immersed in this one. Miao Dao: ☆☆☆☆☆ This story is narrated by 13 year old Mia. Her parents have divorced, her father has moved away and she is developing into a young lady. She is being bullied at school and becomes friends with a bunch of feral cats. Someone complains about the cats and they are removed but for one white kitten, ...

☆☆ ebook, 259 pages Expected publication: November 10th 2020 by Titan Books About the Book: Five-year-old Ava Boone vanished without a trace six months ago. No witnesses, no sightings or arrests. But Grace Wright just moved in next door to the only suspect the case had: quiet, middle-aged Leland Ernest. Recently divorced, Grace uprooted her two small children to start again and hopes the move will reset her crippling insomnia. With whispered neighborhood gossip and increasingly sleepless nights, Grace develops a fierce obsession with Leland and the safety of her children. Could she really be living next door to a child-kidnapper? A murderer? With reality and dream blurring more each day, Grace desperately pursues the truth - following Ava's family, demanding answers from the police - and then a body is discovered. This book drove me mad. The descriptions of what could go wrong... My neighbor will be deemed harmless, but will still move away. I will not die of rabies. The childr...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 296 pages Expected publication: October 1st 2020 by Avon Books UK About the Book: Watching sunrises together should have been romantic. But you were always inside with your wife, and I sat in your garden, in the shadows. I thought you’d never know how I felt about you. Until one night, I witnessed a terrible crime. I wanted it to bring us closer together. But now the secrets are tumbling out. And they could tear everything apart… Oh this is such a slow burner of a book, in the best way possible. Then all of a sudden you're half way through and it takes off. This book was everything I hoped it would be, great writing, lots of suspense, excellent characters, family drama, old school mean girls/boys...the list goes on! The characters were well-developed and easy to envision. I was drawn into the story and there were enough unanswered questions to keep me hooked. The book is told in the first person point of view of the main character, Fran and the author really mad...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 266 pages Expected publication: October 1st 2020 by Lake Union Publishing About the Book: Out of love. Out of protection. Out of fear. Everyone has a reason to lie. Everyone in Raleigh, North Carolina, is talking about Norah Ramsey, the single mother accused of being a suburban madam. But Norah’s not the only one keeping secrets. After her mother’s arrest, Norah’s teenage daughter, Violet, is devastated and alone. She has no one to turn to until her grandmother Polly arrives. Polly, long estranged from Norah, is running from her own troubles. Down the street, Bess, once Norah’s best friend, desperately tries to hide secrets while Casey, Bess’s daughter, flees college after a traumatic event, only to find that home isn’t the safe haven she expected. And Nico, the detective who has doggedly pursued Norah Ramsey in hopes that she will lead him to his missing brother, is drawn further into these women’s lives while facing his own domestic disturbance. Scandal has brought e...

☆☆☆☆☆ ebook, 390 pages Expected publication: October 1st 2020 by Nimbus Publishing-Vagrant Press About the Book: Born into a basket of clean sheets—ruining a perfectly good load of laundry—Emmeline never quite fit in on her family's rural Nova Scotian farm. After suffering multiple losses in the First World War, her family became so heavy with grief, toxicity, and mental illness that Emmeline felt their weight smothering her. And so, she fled across the Atlantic and built her life in England. Now she is retired and living in a small coastal town with her best friend, Vera, an excellent conversationalist. Vera is also a small white dog, and so Emmeline is making an effort to talk to more humans. When she joins a memoir-writing course at the library, her classmates don't know what to make of her. Funny, loud, and with a riveting memoir, she charms the lot. As her past unfolds for her audience, friendships form, a bonus in a rather lonely life. She even shares with them her t...

☆☆☆ ebook, 222 pages Expected publication: September 22nd 2020 by Polis Books About the Book: After being cleared of his wife’s murder, Todd Norman returns to her small Connecticut hometown in order to finish building their dream house by the lake. He is eager to restart his life and cast aside any remaining suspicious...but all of that is dashed when a young woman’s body washes up on the beach next door. When Tracy Somerset, divorced mother from the small town of Covenant, CT, meets a handsome stranger in a midnight Wal-Mart, she has no idea she is speaking with Todd Norman, the former Wall Street financier dubbed “The Banker Butcher” by the New York tabloids. The following morning, on the beach by Norman’s back-under-construction lakehouse, another young woman’s body is discovered. Sheriff Duane Sobczak’s investigation leads him to town psychiatrist Dr. Meshulum Bakshir, whose position at a troubled girls’ group home a decade ago yields disturbing ties to several local, prominen...

☆☆1/2 ebook, 338 pages Expected publication: September 22nd 2020 by Macmillan-Tor/Forge Books About the Book: Isabel Lincoln is gone. But is she missing? It’s up to Grayson Sykes to find her. Although she is reluctant to track down a woman who may not want to be found, Gray’s search for Isabel Lincoln becomes more complicated and dangerous with every new revelation about the woman’s secrets and the truth she’s hidden from her friends and family. Featuring two complicated women in a dangerous cat and mouse game, Rachel Howzell Hall's And Now She’s Gone explores the nature of secrets — and how violence and fear can lead you to abandon everything in order to survive. This story is told by two points of view via Gray and Isabel. Gray's story has a before and after, non-linear timeline. This format is usually my favourite but was a big miss for this time around. There were some twists in this story but the majority was completely inadequate. I found Gray's story-line so...

☆☆☆ ebook, 423 pages Expected publication: September 22nd 2020 by Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine Books About the Book: Everything changes in a single moment for Dawn Edelstein. She’s on a plane when the flight attendant makes an announcement: Prepare for a crash landing. She braces herself as thoughts flash through her mind. The shocking thing is, the thoughts are not of her husband but of a man she last saw fifteen years ago: Wyatt Armstrong. Dawn, miraculously, survives the crash, but so do all the doubts that have suddenly been raised. She has led a good life. Back in Boston, there is her husband, Brian, their beloved daughter, and her work as a death doula, in which she helps ease the transition between life and death for her clients. But somewhere in Egypt is Wyatt Armstrong, who works as an archaeologist unearthing ancient burial sites, a career Dawn once studied for but was forced to abandon when life suddenly intervened. And now, when it seems that fate is offe...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 607 pages Expected publication: October 20th 2020 by Simon & Schuster About the Book: Born Archibald Leach in 1904, he came to America as a teenaged acrobat to find fame and fortune, but he was always haunted by his past. His father was a feckless alcoholic, and his mother was committed to an asylum when Archie was eleven years old. He believed her to be dead until he was informed she was alive when he was thirty-one years old. Because of this experience Grant would have difficulty forming close attachments throughout his life. He married five times and had numerous affairs. Despite a remarkable degree of success, Grant remained deeply conflicted about his past, his present, his basic identity, and even the public that worshipped him in movies such as Gunga Din, Notorious, and North by Northwest. Drawing on Grant’s own papers, extensive archival research, and interviews with family and friends, this is the definitive portrait of a movie immortal. Cary Grant is my...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 310 pages Expected publication: September 17th 2020 by Avon Books UK About the Book: Her life was perfect. Until the video. Scarlett’s golden life suddenly unravels when someone sends a shocking video of her to everyone she knows. The only people who claim they haven’t seen it are the friends in her new mothers’ group: Fiona, Emma and Asha. Scarlett is forced to delve into her past to discover who is out to get her. But as her circle of trust gathers around her, she has to ask – are her friends as innocent as they seem? It’s weird, what sex does. To a lot of people I’m different now. I really enjoyed this book. There is a small suspect pool and I loved how I kept changing my mind about who the culprit was. This story is so readable as it sucks you right in. Scarlett had a rough time of it when she was younger and I really felt for her. I have never made a sex tape but who of us hasn't done something stupid in our youth? This was a great psychological thriller...

☆☆☆☆☆ ebook, 230 pages Expected publication: October 13th 2020 by Incorgnito Publishing Press About the Book: Olive Abernathy is a silver-tongued tomboy with a mean right hook, a fierce little spirit, and an inability to fit in. Her uncle mistook the Mayor's toupee for a bigfoot pelt. Her Aunt found the baby Jesus in a bowl of cornflakes. Her Mama’s holding a paddle in one hand and the world’s biggest secret in the other. Olive feels her little Louisiana town closing up around her like a pill bug and she yearns for freedom; she yearns for adventure . . . she yearns to shed the Abernathy surname that everyone in town inexplicably detests and to strike out on her own. But when Olive convinces her besotted best friend Henry, "the world's oldest living 12-year-old" to strike out and ride the rails like a starry-eyed hobo, the big city proves to her that while the grass over there might be greener, the dog in the yard's also meaner. Olive’s forced to grow up hard ...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 275 pages Expected publication: December 10th 2020 by HarperCollins Publishers Australia-One More Chapter About the Book: Windsor Castle, 1943...As war rages across the world, Princess Elizabeth comes face to face with the dashing naval officer she first met in London nine years before. One of the youngest first lieutenants in the Royal Navy, Philip represents everything she has always been taught to avoid. Instability. Audacity. Adventure. But when the king learns of their relationship, the suitability of the foreign prince is questioned by all at court. He is the risk she has never been allowed to take. The risk not even the shadow of the crown will stop her from taking…Step through the palace gates and discover a captivating historical novel of royal secrets and forbidden love exploring the tempestuous courtship between Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip in the wake of WWII. A Love Story For The Ages This book had me gripped. Flora Harding brings both the plot ...

☆☆☆1/2 ebook, 283 pages Expected publication: September 21st 2020 self published by Julianna Keyes About the Book: Reese Carlisle hates her life. Three years after her father's arrest for one of the largest embezzlement schemes in history, twenty million dollars is missing, and the world believes she knows where it is. Two years after her brother's death, they still think she killed him. One year later, she's still hiding. When the loneliness is too much, she seeks out strangers for one dark night, no questions asked. She makes up a name, puts on a disguise, and tries to forget. One night she meets a new man. She tells him her name is Denise, she's a dental assistant, and she loves dogs. He tells her she's smart, she's pretty, she's funny. Things she hasn't heard in too long. Things that are too good to be true... Are you ready for this provocative, suspenseful read? I don't even really know where to start with this one. I will say this...Any...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 244 pages Expected publication: September 15th 2020 by Amazon Publishing UK About the Book: When Mary met Will Jordan online, she was a single mother who’d given up trying to find Mr Right. And yet here he suddenly was: articulate and attractive, with a fascinating background. Soon they were in love, and when he proposed after a month it seemed recklessly romantic. Caught up in a whirlwind, Mary accepted that Will’s work often took him away from home, out of contact. She was his rock, supporting him emotionally when a misunderstanding led to criminal charges, and even selling everything when blackmailers threatened to kidnap their children. Together, they took on the world. And then one day the phone rang, and a woman introduced herself as ‘the other Mrs Jordan’. In this raw account of deception on a grand scale, Mary Turner Thomson recounts what happened after she discovered every word he’d said, from the very first moment, was a lie. This is her painful, humiliating ...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 342 pages Expected publication: September 1st 2020 by Lake Union Publishing About the Book: They say everything is fun and games until someone gets hurt. Well, someone did—and now the game has changed…Emily Bennett works as a therapist in Pennsylvania, helping children overcome their troubled pasts—even as she struggles to forget her own. Once upon a time, Emily was part of a middle school clique called the Harpies—six popular girls who bullied the new girl to her breaking point. The Harpies took a blood oath: never tell a soul what they did to Grace Farmer. Now, fourteen years later, it seems karma has caught up to them when one member of that vicious circle commits suicide. But when a second Harpy is discovered dead shortly after, also from apparent suicide, the deaths start to look suspicious. And when Emily starts seeing a woman who looks a lot like Grace Farmer lurking in the shadows, she’s forced to wonder: Is Grace back for revenge? Or is Emily’s guilt driving h...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 255 pages Expected publication: November 10th 2020 by Diamond Book Distributors - Ablaze About the Book: Collecting every (terrible) Grumpy Cat comic book story ever -- in one giant (overhyped) comics collection! The World's Grumpiest Cat -- and the world's most adorable internet sensation -- continues to delight fans of all ages. With her ever-present pout and sassy disposition, Grumpy Cat has won the hearts of people everywhere. Now, her unbearable cuteness and infectious sourpuss are featured in a collection of comic stories. If you love the memes, the videos, and that irresistible scowl, then get ready for the wildly fun antics of Grumpy Cat. Her comic book escapades are guaranteed to make you smile... even if she's scowling! I am so not the target audience for this book but I loved it. The animation is wonderful, the stories funny and relatable and I think kids of all ages will enjoy this romp! I was literally laughing out loud at this silly cat and ...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 247 pages Expected publication: September 15th 2020 About the Book: There are those who claim the ghosts walking the corridors of Sfântul Mihail are not ghosts at all. During a midnight journey snaking through the Carpathian Mountains, these are the words whispered to Cath Fenwick. It is the warning she will later wish she'd taken more seriously. When Cath receives her invitation to The Event--a monetised retreat for social media influencers--she can't believe her luck. Irene Jobert is the most famous influencer in the world, and now Cath will be one of the five participants chosen to stay with Irene in a renovated Transylvanian monastery. The catch? Their every move will be live-streamed to millions of people around the world. Patrons pay for constant access to their favourite social media stars: Irene, the model; Nathan, the gamer; Jules, the blogger; Daniel, the fitness guru; and Cath, the writer. Nestled halfway up a mountain, surrounded by forests teeming ...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 249 pages Expected publication: September 8th 2020 by Blackbird Digital Books About the Book: Every betrayal has a consequence. One family... one summer... one woman. The Bonds are, seemingly, a tight family unit, until one fateful summer when the temptations of lust and love come for them all. Tiger mum Anna, who gave up her career to build the perfect home life in London's leafy Chiswick, is shocked to the core when she discovers that her husband of 20 years is having an affair. Her daughter meanwhile is is transforming into a tricky teen chopping at the apron strings. Then Jack walks into their lives. Sophie’s first boyfriend is a breath of fresh air for the whole family, and Anna gradually discovers new purpose for herself. But when more deceit creeps in, tensions soar, and Anna is propelled through a tangled web of secrets and lies towards a devastating climax. This is a book about marriage, love, motherhood, friendship, first love and sex. It is told in the...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 256 pages Expected publication: September 8th 2020 by Mulholland Books About the Book: Amy has only ever known what life is like in the Clearing. She knows what's expected of her. She knows what to do to please her elders, and how to make sure life in the community remains happy and calm. That is, until a new young girl joins the group. She isn't fitting in; she doesn't want to stay. What happens next will turn life as Amy knows it on its head. Freya has gone to great lengths to feel like a 'normal person'. In fact, if you saw her go about her day with her young son, you'd think she was an everyday mum. That is, until a young girl goes missing and someone from her past, someone she hasn't seen for a very long time, arrives in town. As Amy and Freya's story intertwines the secrets of the past bubble up to the surface. This rural Aussie town's dark underbelly is about to be exposed and lives will be destroyed. If you pick up this boo...

☆☆☆☆1/2 ebook, 166 pages Expected publication: September 1st 2020 by Tiller Press About the Book: If you had the chance to live your life over again, knowing everything that you know now, would you take it? Would you still take it if it meant losing everything you have today? Would a second chance to correct every mistake and missed opportunity be worth giving up the world you know and the life you have built? In Fifty in Reverse, fifteen-year-old Peter Wyatt does just that. In the spring of 1970, Harvard psychologist Terry Canyon is introduced to Peter, a quiet kid from a wealthy family who has been suspended from ninth grade for stripping off his clothes in Algebra class. When Terry asks Peter why he did it, the boy explains that he was trying to “shock myself awake.” It turns out that Peter believes he is a sixty-five-year-old man who went to sleep in his home in New York in the year 2020 and woke up in his childhood bedroom fifty years earlier. Hilariously depicting Peter’s at...