Shelley's Book Nook

  ☆☆☆ ☆ ☆ .ePUB, 398 pages Expected Publication: May 18th 2021 by Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine About the Book: Kerry Smith is going to save lives—and so is her best friend, Tim Palmer. After years of working toward medical school, they are about to take their entrance exams. But on the eve of the new millennium, a classmate goes into cardiac arrest, changing everything. For nearly eighteen minutes, rising soccer star Joel Greenaway is dead. For nearly eighteen minutes, Kerry performs CPR on her longtime crush. And for nearly eighteen minutes, Tim is too shocked to help. Though they don’t yet know it, those eighteen minutes will change the next eighteen years of their lives. Because, as it turns out, saving a life doesn’t always guarantee a happy ending. With his soccer career cut short, Joel lashes out and breaks Kerry’s heart by ending their burgeoning relationship with a cruelty that derails her future, while Tim struggles to reconcile his dream of becoming a doctor...

☆☆1/2 .PDF, 168 pages Expected Publication: May 25th 2021 by Tiller Press About the Book: Craft delicious, creative mixed drinks using pantry staples with this essential recipe book guaranteed to satiate any cocktail craving. We all want to be the type of host who can put together a tasty meal or a delicious appetizer for unexpected company by creatively using the odds and ends from our pantry or fridge. That same improvisational approach can be applied to home bartending with impressive (and tasty!) results. Knowing how to enlist the everyday basics cluttering up your kitchen, like condiments, jams, pickles, and sauces, means you can craft inventive, flavorful cocktails on the fly, satisfying cravings and fulfilling your guest’s requests. Pantry Cocktails is an organized, easy-to-follow guide that not only includes cocktail recipes but accompanying themed food boards (such as The Warming Hut Board inspired by New Mexico flavors), helpful tips and hacks, and useful pantry sug...

☆☆☆☆ .ePUB, 205 pages Expected Publication: May 25th 2021 by St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books About the Book: As a photographer, Delta Dawn observes the seemingly perfect lives of New York City’s elite: snapping photos of their children’s birthday parties, transforming images of stiff hugs and tearstained faces into visions of pure joy, and creating moments these parents long for. But when Delta is hired for Natalie Straub’s eleventh birthday, she finds herself wishing she wasn’t behind the lens but a part of the scene—in the Straub family’s gorgeous home and elegant life. That’s when Delta puts her plan in place, by babysitting for Natalie; befriending her mother, Amelia; finding chances to listen to her father, Fritz. Soon she’s bathing in the master bathtub, drinking their expensive wine, and eyeing the beautifully finished garden apartment in their townhouse. It seems she can never get close enough, until she discovers that photos aren’t all she can manipulate. My Review: Whe...

☆☆☆ ☆ ☆ .PDF, 301 pages Expected Publication: May 18th 2021 by Tin House About the Book: At fifty-one years old, twins Jeanie and Julius still live with their mother, Dot, in rural isolation in the English countryside. The cottage they have shared their entire lives is their only protection against the modernizing world around them. Inside its walls, they make music, and in its garden, they grow everything they need to survive. To an outsider, it looks like poverty; to them, it is home. But when Dot dies unexpectedly, the world they’ve so carefully created begins to fall apart. The cottage they love, and the security it offered, is taken back by their landlord, exposing the twins to harsh truths and even harsher realities. Seeing a new future, Julius becomes torn between the loyalty he feels towards his sister and his desire for independence, while Jeanie struggles to find work and a home for them both. And just when it seems there might be a way forward, a series of startling secrets...

☆☆☆☆ ebook, 456 pages Published May 18th 2021 by Harper 360/HQ Digital About the Book: Melissa Slade had it all: beauty, money, a successful husband and beautiful twin babies. But, in the blink of an eye, her perfect life became a nightmare – when she found herself on trial for the murder of her little girls. Jonathan Hunt covered the original Slade Babies' case for the local newspaper. Now that new evidence has come to light, Jon's boss wants him back on the story to uncover the truth. With Melissa's appeal date looming, time is running out. And, as Jon gets drawn deeper into a case he’d wanted to forget, he starts to question Melissa's guilt. Is Melissa manipulating Jon or telling him the truth? Is she a murderer, or the victim of a miscarriage of justice? And if Melissa Slade is innocent, what really happened to Ellie and Amber Slade? Whoa. This was NOT what I expected. It enticed and cajoled, had me skipping blissfully down the path and then turned everything...

☆☆☆1/2 .ePUB, 319 pages Expected Publication: May 18th 2021 by Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine/Del Rey About the Book: Goblin seems like any other ordinary small town. But with the master storyteller Josh Malerman as your tour guide, you’ll discover the secrets that hide behind its closed doors. These six novellas tell the story of a place where the rain is always falling, nighttime is always near, and your darkest fears and desires await. Welcome to Goblin. . . . My Review: Beautifully written suspenseful horror like only Josh Malerman can. Six novellas in this book that will send shivers up your spine and is a quick read that is hard to put down, the stories here can be disturbing but not gratuitously. The suspense at times is palpable and you'll find yourself pulling for the protagonists.  These haunting stories have a dreamlike quality to them, heightening the sense of unreality. Malerman proves once again that he is one of the best writers of the horror genre. The ...

☆☆☆☆ .PDF, 300 pages Expected Publication: May 18th 2021 by Berkley Publishing Group About the Book: In its heyday, The Golden Hotel was the crown jewel of the hotter-than-hot Catskills vacation scene. For more than sixty years, the Goldman and Weingold families – best friends and business partners – have presided over this glamorous resort which served as a second home for well-heeled guests and celebrities. But the Catskills are not what they used to be – and neither is the relationship between the Goldmans and the Weingolds. As the facilities and management begin to fall apart, a tempting offer to sell forces the two families together again to make a heart-wrenching decision. Can they save their beloved Golden or is it too late? Long-buried secrets emerge, new dramas and financial scandal erupt, and everyone from the traditional grandparents to the millennial grandchildren wants a say in the hotel’s future. Business and pleasure clash in this fast-paced, hilarious, nostalgia-filled...

☆☆☆1/2 .ePUB, 270 pages Expected Publication: May 2nd 2021 by Inkubator Books About the Book: Hadley is one of those rare people who feels she's living the perfect life. She has a husband she loves, a charming daughter, and a job that is deeply fulfilling. Sometimes it almost seems like a fairytale. Then, little by little, things start to go wrong. There's the creepy guy from down the street who keeps staring at her teenage daughter, there's the strangely needy woman who moves in next door…Just little wrinkles, but then Hadley's world is turned upside down when someone close to her is murdered. And Hadley begins to suspect that the killing is linked to something from her own past. A terrible secret she has never shared with anyone…As she digs deeper, Hadley realises there is someone out there who knows what she did, someone who is planning to take her perfect life - and turn it into a perfect nightmare. My Review: I really enjoyed The Other Couple by this author so I t...

  ☆☆☆ ☆ ☆ .PDF, 313 pages Expected Publication: May 11th 2021 by Amazon Publishing UK About the Book: At thirty-three, nurse Heather is desperately waiting for her romantic life to begin. Then she meets handsome, strong Anthony and is sure she’s found the one. Brushing any doubts aside, she projects all her hopes for true love onto him. Meanwhile, at a yoga retreat in Spain, happy-go-lucky Joe can’t believe his luck when he meets vivacious, witty Amy. She’s the sharpest, most beautiful woman he has ever dated, and the fact that she’s interested in him feels like a dream come true. But new love can be blind, and when the two couples meet, the cracks are easy to see. Will their crossed paths lead the way to happiness? Or are they all destined for heartbreak? My Review: Sometimes, in order to build something new, you first have to break something old into pieces. This is my third book by Nick Alexander and he is quickly becoming a favourite author, I inhale his books I don't read them...

☆☆ ☆☆1/2 .ePUB, 292 pages Expected Publication: May 11th 2021 by Celadon Books About the Book: Jacob Finch Bonner was once a promising young novelist with a respectably published first book. Today, he’s teaching in a third-rate MFA program and struggling to maintain what’s left of his self-respect; he hasn’t written—let alone published—anything decent in years. When Evan Parker, his most arrogant student, announces he doesn’t need Jake’s help because the plot of his book in progress is a sure thing, Jake is prepared to dismiss the boast as typical amateur narcissism. But then . . . he hears the plot. Jake returns to the downward trajectory of his own career and braces himself for the supernova publication of Evan Parker’s first novel: but it never comes. When he discovers that his former student has died, presumably without ever completing his book, Jake does what any self-respecting writer would do with a story like that—a story that absolutely needs to be told. In a few short ye...

☆☆ .PDF, 257 pages Expected Publication: May 4th 2021 by St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books About the Book: Una wants nothing more than to teach, but she has been unable to secure steady employment in Reykjavík. Her savings are depleted, her love life is nonexistent, and she cannot face another winter staring at the four walls of her shabby apartment. Celebrating Christmas and ringing in 1986 in the remote fishing hamlet of Skálar seems like a small price to pay for a chance to earn some teaching credentials and get her life back on track. But Skálar isn’t just one of Iceland’s most isolated villages, it is home to just ten people. Una’s only students are two girls aged seven and nine. Teaching them only occupies so many hours in a day and the few adults she interacts with are civil but distant. She only seems to connect with Thór, a man she shares an attraction with but who is determined to keep her at arm’s length. As darkness descends throughout the bleak winter, Una finds hersel...

☆☆☆☆ .ePUB, 199 pages Expected Publication: May 11th 2021 by Grand Central Publishing About the Book: Most people know Andrew McCarthy from his movie roles in Pretty in Pink, St. Elmo's Fire, Weekend at Bernie's, and Less than Zero, and as a charter member of Hollywood's Brat Pack. That iconic group of ingenues and heartthrobs included Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, and Demi Moore, and has come to represent both a genre of film and an era of pop culture. In his memoir Brat: An '80s Story, McCarthy focuses his gaze on that singular moment in time. The result is a revealing look at coming of age in a maelstrom, reckoning with conflicted ambition, innocence, addiction, and masculinity. New York City of the 1980s is brought to vivid life in these pages, from scoring loose joints in Washington Square Park to skipping school in favor of the dark revival houses of the Village where he fell in love with the movies that would change his life. Filled with personal re...

☆☆☆1/2 .ePUB, 319 pages Expected Publication: May 4th 2021 by Harper 360/One More Chapter About the Book: A year ago, Gemma met the love of her life, Danny. Since then, their relationship has been perfect. But one evening, Danny doesn’t return home. Gemma turns to the police. She is horrified by what she discovers – a serial killer is on the loose in Bristol. When she sees photos of the victims she is even more stunned…they all look just like Danny. But the police are suspicious. Why has no one apart from Gemma heard from Danny in weeks? Why is there barely a trace of him in their flat? Is she telling them the truth, or is this marriage hiding some very dark secrets? My Review: This was my first book by Jackie Kabler and it was a wild ride. I was really liking the first half of the book and was sucked in by the missing husband plot...But then things kinda got a little crazy and hard to believe....And just when I thought it couldn't get any crazier...It did. But in a really weird w...

☆☆☆☆ .ePUB, 266 pages Expected Publication: May 6th 2021 by Aria & Aries About the Book: Three women, three different stages of life, united by one thing: the chance to start again. When Elizabeth's husband dies, leaving her with crippling debt, she must turn to her friend, Jo for help, who calls in her daughter, Lucy to run the village surgery. Leaving her city life, and past demons, behind, Lucy is determined to make the most of her fresh start. As life slowly begins to resemble something normal for the three women, Jo's world is turned upside down when she receives some shocking news. In search of some solace, Jo and Elizabeth find themselves enjoying midnight dips in the freezing Irish sea. Here they can laugh, cry and wash away all their fears. As well as conjure a fundraising plan for the local hospice; to take a dip in the nip. My Review: What a lovely surprise to read a very engaging book, which kept me wanting to know what happens next, without making it too obvio...

☆☆☆☆ .ePUB, 346 pages Expected Publication: April 13th 2021 by Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine About the Book: Anna Hart is a seasoned missing persons detective in San Francisco with far too much knowledge of the darkest side of human nature. When tragedy strikes her personal life, Anna, desperate and numb, flees to the Northern California village of Mendocino to grieve. She lived there as a child with her beloved foster parents, and now she believes it might be the only place left for her. Yet the day she arrives, she learns that a local teenage girl has gone missing. The crime feels frighteningly reminiscent of the most crucial time in Anna’s childhood, when the unsolved murder of a young girl touched Mendocino and changed the community forever. As past and present collide, Anna realizes that she has been led to this moment. The most difficult lessons of her life have given her insight into how victims come into contact with violent predators. As Anna becomes obsessed wit...

☆☆1/2 .ePUB, 276 pages Expected Publication: April 18th 2021 by Inkubator Books About the Book: The Hendriksen family, Bram, Kirsty and their two kids, are living the dream. They have left the rat race of the big city and moved into a gorgeous, custom-built house in the Scottish Highlands. Bram has already planted up a vegetable plot and is planning to create a wildflower meadow and keep chickens and goats. But then a dead crow appears on their washing line, their vegetables are weed-killed and someone shoots at Bertie, a gentle guide dog belonging to Kirsty’s mother. The police say it’s nothing to worry about, it’s just bored local teenagers hanging out in the woods. But Bram is sure that more sinister forces are at work, that these events may be connected to a terrible secret in Kirsty’s past. And he’s right. As the campaign against them escalates, the family is pulled down into a relentless spiral of terror and violence until the home they always dreamed of becomes a nightmare from...

☆☆ .PDF, 293 pages Expected Publication: May 4th 2021 by Text Publishing About the Book: Every 179 days Robbie forgets everything. He knows this because last time it happened he wrote himself a letter explaining it. The disorientation. The fear. The bizarre circumstances imposed by the rare neurological condition he lives with. To survive the forgetting—to cope with his recurring loss of identity—Robbie leads a solitary, regimented life. Lives alone. Speaks to no one if he can avoid it. Works to complete a strange herculean task set for him by his former self. And then, with twelve days left before his next forgetting, Julie invades his life. Young, beautiful—the only woman he can ever remember meeting. As the hour draws near, Robbie is forced to confront the fact that his past is very different from how he had imagined it. And when Julie reveals her own terrible secret, he must find a way to come to terms with the truth about himself. My Review: I really wanted to love this book but ...

☆☆☆ ☆ ☆ .ePUB, 283 pages Expected Publication: June 1st 2021 by Atria Books About the Book: Jennifer Barnes never expected the shocking news she received at a routine doctor’s appointment: she has a terminal brain tumor—and only six weeks left to live. While stunned by the diagnosis, the forty-eight-year-old mother decides to spend what little time she has left with her family—her adult triplets and twin grandsons—close by her side. But when she realizes she was possibly poisoned a year earlier, she’s determined to discover who might have tried to get rid of her before she’s gone for good. Separated from her husband and with a contentious divorce in progress, Jennifer focuses her suspicions on her soon-to-be ex. Meanwhile, her daughters are each processing the news differently. Calm medical student Emily is there for whatever Jennifer needs. Moody scientist Aline, who keeps her mother at arm’s length, nonetheless agrees to help with the investigation. Even imprudent Miranda, who has r...

☆☆☆ ☆ ☆ .PDF, 255 pages Expected Publication: May 4th 2021 by Lake Union Publishing About the Book: Thirteen-year-old Abby Hubble lives in an unhappy home in the Sierra Nevada foothills where her father makes life miserable for her and her mother, Mary. One day Abby witnesses a man dump a litter of puppies into the nearby river. Diving in to rescue all seven, she knows she won’t be able to bring them home. Afraid for their fate at the pound, she takes them to an abandoned cabin, where all she can offer is a promise that she’ll be back the next day. To grieving widower Elliot Colvin, life has lost meaning. Looking for solace, he retreats to the hunting cabin he last visited years ago, before his wife’s illness. What he discovers is not at all what he expected: seven puppies and one determined girl with an indomitable heart. As Abby and Elliot’s friendship deepens, Abby imagines how much better her life—and the puppies’ lives—would be if her mother were married to Elliot instead of her ...

☆☆☆ .ePUB, 311 pages Expected Publication: April 6th 2021 by Atria Books About the Book: The widowed Diana, Lady Templeton and Jeremy, Marquess of Willingham are infamous among English high society as much for their sharp-tongued bickering as their flirtation. One evening, an argument at a ball turns into a serious wager: Jeremy will marry within the year or Diana will forfeit one hundred pounds. So shortly after, just before a fortnight-long house party at Elderwild, Jeremy’s country estate, Diana is shocked when Jeremy appears at her home with a very different kind of proposition. After his latest mistress unfavorably criticized his skills in the bedroom, Jeremy is looking for reassurance, so he has gone to the only woman he trusts to be totally truthful. He suggests that they embark on a brief affair while at the house party—Jeremy can receive an honest critique of his bedroom skills and widowed Diana can use the gossip to signal to other gentlemen that she is interested in taking ...

☆☆☆☆ .ePUB, 252 pages Expected Publication: May 4th 2021 by Simon & Schuster About the Book: Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers: Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother. As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered; as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss; as a US Marshal and FBI agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared. Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth, together. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they are also building a new future. One neither Hannah nor Bailey could h...

☆☆☆☆ .ePUB, 285 pages Expected Publication: March 25th 2021 by Hodder & Stoughton About the Book: When Alex pulls up to meet "Max", he expects everything but a ninety-year-old lady who has her heart set on getting to Brussels by carpool. As for 'Max', who is actually called Maxine, she could not be more ill at ease when settling into the seat next to this young man with bloodshot eyes. God help her if he turned out to be a drug addict who hasn't slept in days! When it becomes clear that Maxine is suffering from Alzheimer's and wants to take matters in her own hands while she still can, and that Alex battles severe depression, a wonderful friendship starts to form between the unlikely pair. Before long, their travel plans take an unexpected turn. My Review: As you get older, I think the most difficult thing to accept is that there are no more prospects.  There are no more big projects, no more goals to attain, no more dreams.  The only goal is to delay the...