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Showing posts from January, 2022

Moment in Time by Suzanne Redfearn

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☆☆☆☆ .PDF, 311 pages Expected Publication: 08 Mar 2022 By: Lake Union Publishing About The Book: It’s been eight years since a tragic accident changed Mo Kaminski’s and Chloe Miller’s lives forever. Now in their mid twenties, they’re sharing an apartment in San Francisco and navigating the normal challenges of early adulthood. Along with their roommate, Hazel, they are making their marks on the world—Mo revolutionizing the news with her media start-up, Hazel using her big brain to anticipate the future, and Chloe rescuing abandoned strays in the city. But when Hazel disappears after being sexually assaulted, Mo’s and Chloe’s lives are again suddenly ripped apart. And when the perpetrator turns up drugged and beaten, the mystery of where Hazel is deepens. Intensely worried and desperate to discover the truth, they set out to find Hazel and bring her home. Mo and Chloe are no strangers to tragedy, but this journey will test them in ways they never imagined. The stakes are high; the futu

Listening Still by Anne Griffin

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  ☆☆☆☆ .ePUB, 252 pages Expected Publication: 01 Mar 2022 By: St. Martin's Press About The Book: Jeanie Masterson has a gift: she can hear the last words of the dead. Passed down from generation to generation, this gift means she is able to make wrongs right, to give voice to unspoken love and dying regrets. She and her father have worked happily alongside each other for years, but now he's unexpectedly announced that he wants to retire early and leave the business to her and her life is called into question. Does she really want to be married to the embalmer, or does she want to be with her childhood sweetheart, off in London? Does she want to have children, and pass this gift on to them? And does she want to be stuck in this small town, or is there more of the world she wants to see - like the South of France, where she's discovered a woman who shares her gift? Tied to her home by this unusual talent, she begins to question: what if what she's always thought of as a g

The Nurse by Claire Allan

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☆☆☆☆   .ePUB, 287 pages Expected Publication: 17 Mar 2022 By: Avon Books UK About The Book: Someone is watching her. She just doesn’t know it yet. The unputdownable new book from the bestselling author of Her Name Was Rose. Everyone has a secret. But some are worse than you could ever imagine. Nell Sweeney has led an ordinary life. Every day she walks to and from the hospital where she works as a nurse, believing that no harm can befall her. Until one day she is taken. Because someone out there has a secret. Someone out there has been watching Nell – and they’ve been watching others like her too. Nell is the unlucky one – she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. And if she isn’t found soon, someone will make sure that she isn’t the last woman to be taken My Review: I enjoyed both Forget Me Not and Ask No Questions by Claire Allan and she continues to impress me with The Nurse. Claire Allan writes what I call intelligent thrillers and doesn't use formulas or banal plots. Y

The Whispers by Heidi Perks

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☆☆☆☆ .ePUB, 283 pages Expected Publication: 08 Mar 2022 By: Simon & Schuster Canada, Gallery Books About The Book: Anna loves Girls’ Night with her friends. With the kids safely in bed, it’s a chance for the women to let loose, enjoy some wine, and just laugh. But after one lively evening, Anna doesn’t arrive for school drop-off the next morning—or the next, or the next. Everyone, especially her husband and young son, are frantic with worry but none more so than Grace, her childhood best friend. Grace is certain that someone is hiding the truth about Anna’s unexplained disappearance. As rumors fly and accusations are whispered among neighbors, Grace decides to take matters into her own hands and find out what happened to Anna…or die trying. My Review: Both Her One Mistake and Three Perfect Liars by this author were hits for me and Heidi Perks continues her clever psychological thriller streak with The Whispers.  I started this just before bed last night, at ten o'clock, and

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

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☆☆☆☆ .ePUB, 201 pages Expected Publication: 01 Mar 2022 By: Simon & Schuster Canada, Atria Books About The Book: When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mom, but her best friend and first phone call. She had all the answers and now, when Katy needs her the most, she is gone. To make matters worse, their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: two weeks in Positano, the magical town Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone. But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. Buoyed by the stunning waters, beautiful cliffsides, delightful residents, and, of course, delectable food, Katy feels herself coming back to life. And then Carol appears—in the flesh, healthy, sun-tanned, and thirty years old. Katy doesn’t understand what is happening, or how—all she can focus on is that

Truth and Other Lies by Maggie Smith

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☆☆1/2 .ePUB, 260 pages Expected Publication: 08 Mar 2022 By: Ten16 Press About The Book: Three women's careers hang in the balance: a famous journalist, a fledgling politician, and the young reporter with ties to each who must navigate the tricky terrain between secrets and lies. Megan Barnes' life is in free fall. After losing both her job as a reporter and her boyfriend in the same day, she retreats to Chicago and moves in with Helen, her over-protective mother. Before long, the two are clashing over everything from pro-choice to #MeToo, not to mention Helen's run for US Congress which puts Megan's career on hold until after the election. Desperate to reboot her life, Megan gets her chance when an altercation at a campus rally brings her face to face with Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist Jocelyn Jones, who offers her a job on her PR team. Before long, Megan is pulled into the heady world of fame and glamour her charismatic new mentor represents. Until an anonymous t

Just The Way You Are by Beth Moran

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☆☆☆☆ .ePUB, 326 pages Expected Publication: 17 February 2022 By: Boldwood Books About The Book: When Olivia Tennyson – or Ollie to her friends – was sixteen, she wrote a Dream List of all the things she wanted for her life, including a happy marriage and a family. But at twenty-nine, Ollie is single, living at home with her over-protective and manipulative mother, and is feeling like her dreams are getting further out of reach. It’s time for a change. It’s time to take matters into her own hands. Without telling her mum, or more importantly, asking her permission, Ollie finds the perfect place to start her new life. End Cottage has a duck-egg blue front door, a garden that leads to acres of forest, and definitely counts as her dream home. Now all Ollie has to do is complete the rest of her list and find out who she really is, before she can imagine any romance coming into her life. After all, how is she going to find her dream man in the middle of a forest. My Review: 🎵🎶 I said I l

Sundial by Catriona Ward

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☆☆☆☆  .ePUB, 289 pages Expected Publication: 01 March 2022 By: Macmillan-Tor/Forge, Tor Nightfire About The Book: All Rob wanted was a normal life. She almost got it, too: a husband, two kids, a nice house in the suburbs. But Rob fears for her oldest daughter, Callie, who collects tiny bones and whispers to imaginary friends. Rob sees a darkness in Callie, one that reminds her too much of the family she left behind. She decides to take Callie back to her childhood home, to Sundial, deep in the Mojave Desert. And there she will have to make a terrible choice. Callie is worried about her mother. Rob has begun to look at her strangely, and speaks of past secrets. And Callie fears that only one of them will leave Sundial alive…The mother and daughter embark on a dark, desert journey to the past in the hopes of redeeming their future. My Review: This book was creepy AF and truly weird as all hell. I kinda knew what I was getting into from other reviews I have read but I was still left thin

The Life You Left Behind by Debbie Howells

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☆☆☆☆ .ePUB, 311 pages Expected Publication: 23 February 2022 By: Boldwood Books About The Book: One year ago Casey Cassidy was happy. She had great friends, a wonderful teaching job and a busy life - until with one missed flight, everything changes. One year later Casey knows what it means to find that once-in-a-lifetime love people dream of. But when Ben leaves, her heart is shattered. Left facing a year of firsts without him, piecing her life back together seems impossible. But then a friend offers her a home in rural France. In the solitude and emptiness, Casey needs to comes to terms with what’s happened and find a way to move forward. She has no idea where that will take her one year later. My Review: Casey meets Ben at the airport when she forgets her passport. He decides to help a gal out and after their meet cute they form a romantic relationship. This story of love lost and found broke my heart. Told from Casey's point of view, with alternating chapters of before and afte

Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth Macneal

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☆☆☆☆ .ePUB, 323 pages Expected Publication: 15 February 2022 By: Simon & Schuster Canada About The Book: When Jasper Jupiter’s Circus of Wonders pitches its tent in a poor coastal town, the life of one young girl changes forever. Sold to the ringmaster as a “leopard girl” because of the birthmarks that cover her body, Nell is utterly devastated. But as she grows close to the other performers, she finds herself enchanted by the glittering freedom of the circus, and by her own role as the Queen of the Moon and Stars. Before long, Nell’s fame spreads across the world—and with it, a chance for Jasper Jupiter to grow his own name and fortune. But what happens when her fame begins to eclipse his own, when even Jasper’s loyal brother Toby becomes captivated by Nell? No longer the quiet flower-picker, Nell knows her own place in the world, and she will fight for it. My Review: This book is told from three different points of view. We have Nell the new performer, Jasper the circus owner an

The Appeal by Janice Hallett

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☆☆☆☆ .ePUB, 368 pages Expected Publication: 25 January 2022 By: Atria Books About The Book: The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals for an Arthur Miller play, when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Haywood and his wife Helen, the play’s star. Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their fellow castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival. But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy—nor of the good intentions of those involved. New actress Sam, a former NGO worker, raises doubts. But are her suspicions justified? Or does she have a history with the doctor involved? As tension grows within the community, things come to a shocking head the night of the dress rehearsal. The next day, a dead body is found, and soon, an arrest is made. In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers sift through the mate

The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner

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☆☆☆ ☆ ☆ .ePUB, 405 pages Expected Publication Date: 10 May 2022 By: Atria Books About The Book: When her twenty-two-year-old stepdaughter announces her engagement to her pandemic boyfriend, Sarah Danhauser is shocked. But the wheels are in motion. Headstrong Ruby has already set a date (just three months away!) and spoken to her beloved safta, Sarah’s mother Veronica, about having the wedding at the family’s beach house in Cape Cod. Sarah might be worried, but Veronica is thrilled to be bringing the family together one last time before putting the big house on the market. But the road to a wedding day usually comes with a few bumps. Ruby has always known exactly what she wants, but as the wedding date approaches, she finds herself grappling with the wounds left by the mother who walked out when she was a baby. Veronica ends up facing unexpected news, thanks to her meddling sister, and must revisit the choices she made long ago, when she was a bestselling novelist with a different life

Ocean State by Stewart O'Nan

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☆☆☆ ☆ ☆ .PDF, 240 pages Expected Publication: 08 Mar 2022 By: Grove Atlantic, Grove Press About The Book: In the first line of Ocean State, we learn that a high school student was murdered, and we find out who did it. The story that unfolds from there with incredible momentum is thus one of the build-up to and fall-out from the murder, told through the alternating perspectives of the four women at its heart. Angel, the murderer, Carol, her mother, and Birdy, the victim, all come alive on the page as they converge in a climax both tragic and inevitable. Watching over it all is the retrospective testimony of Angel's younger sister Marie, who reflects on that doomed autumn of 2009 with all the wisdom of hindsight. Angel and Birdy love the same teenage boy, frantically and single mindedly, and are compelled by the intensity of their feelings to extremes neither could have anticipated. My Review: At just 240 pages Ocean State sure does pack a wallop for such a short book. I am a huge S

Josh and Gemma Make a Baby by Sarah Ready

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☆☆☆☆ .ePUB, 307 pages Expected Publication: 25 Jan 2022 By: Swift & Lewis Publishing, LLC About The Book: Meet Gemma Jacobs. She’s driven, energetic, and a positive thinker. She has a great career working for famed self-help guru Ian Fortune, she lives in a cute studio apartment in Manhattan, and her family is supportive and loving (albeit a little kooky). Her life is perfect. Absolutely wonderful. Except for one tiny little thing. After a decade of disastrous relationships and an infertility diagnosis, Gemma doesn’t want a Mr. Right (or even a Mr. Right Now), she just wants a baby. And all she needs is an egg, some sperm, and IVF. So Gemma makes a New Year’s resolution: have a baby. Josh Lewenthal is a laid back, relaxed, find-the-humor-in-life kind of guy. The polar opposite of Gemma. He’s also her brother’s best friend. For the past twenty years Josh has attended every Jacobs’ family birthday, holiday, and event – he’s always around. Gemma knows him. He’s nice (enough), he’s fu

The Book Woman's Daughter (The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek #2) by Kim Michele Richardson

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☆☆☆☆☆ .ePUB, 316 pages Expected Publication: 03 May 2022 By: Sourcebooks Landmark About The Book: In the ruggedness of the beautiful Kentucky mountains, Honey Lovett has always known that the old ways can make a hard life harder. As the daughter of the famed blue-skinned, Troublesome Creek packhorse librarian, Honey and her family have been hiding from the law all her life. But when her mother and father are imprisoned, Honey realizes she must fight to stay free, or risk being sent away for good. Picking up her mother's old packhorse library route, Honey begins to deliver books to the remote hollers of Appalachia. Honey is looking to prove that she doesn't need anyone telling her how to survive. But the route can be treacherous, and some folks aren't as keen to let a woman pave her own way. If Honey wants to bring the freedom books provide to the families who need it most, she's going to have to fight for her place, and along the way, learn that the extraordinary women