Shelley's Book Nook

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ .ePUB, 270 pages Published: 07 June 2022 By: McClelland & Stewart About The Book: Kiara Johnson and her brother Marcus are barely scraping by in a squalid East Oakland apartment complex optimistically called the Royal-Hi. Both have dropped out of high school, their family fractured by death and prison. But while Marcus clings to his dream of rap stardom, Kiara hunts for work to pay their rent—which has more than doubled—and to keep the 9-year-old boy next door, abandoned by his mother, safe and fed. One night, what begins as a drunken misunderstanding with a stranger turns into the job Kiara never imagined wanting but now desperately needs: nightcrawling. And her world breaks open even further when her name surfaces in an investigation that exposes her as a key witness in a massive scandal within the Oakland police department. My Review: This book was so crushingly heartbreaking and so difficult to read, especially since it is based on true events. The author was just sev...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ .ePUB, 246 pages Published: 21 July 2022 By: Zaffre About The Book: Tabitha is stuck. She still lives in the small town she grew up in...the town she's barely ever left. So, when her dad drops a bombshell over their weekly Sunday dinner, Tabitha takes a look at her own life. She lives firmly in her comfort zone and doesn't know how to break out. Sometimes she wishes she should go back and start it all again. When she meets Bea, a free spirit like no one else she's ever known with an 'interesting' sense of style, Tabitha quickly befriends her, recognising in Bea the change she's been craving. But soon it becomes clear that more has changed than her new friend. Somehow Tabitha has been transported back to the 1980s. With the chance to reinvent herself in another time, will Tabitha finally manage to move forward? My Review: Wow, the nostalgia is heavy in this one and I loved it. I was a teenager in the 80s' so I was very familiar with the goings on wh...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ .ePUB, 307 pages Expected Publication: 01 Nov 2022 By: Simon & Schuster Canada, Atria Books About The Book: When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she expects to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its medieval art collection and its group of enigmatic researchers studying the history of divination. Desperate to escape her painful past, Ann is happy to indulge the researchers’ more outlandish theories about the history of fortune telling. But what begins as academic curiosity quickly turns into obsession when Ann discovers a hidden 15th-century deck of tarot cards that might hold the key to predicting the future. When the dangerous game of power, seduction, and ambition at The Cloisters turns deadly, Ann becomes locked in a race for answers as the line between the arcane and the modern blurs. My Review: This was a slow burn of...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ .ePUB, 340 pages Expected Publication: 11 Oct 2022 By: Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Dell About The Book: Cassie and Tom lost their parents at a young age and relied on each other--as well as a community of friends--to get through it. Especially Tom's best friend, Sam, who always made sure Tom and Cassie were surrounded with love. But now, twenty years later, Cassie has lost Tom as well. And in a way, she's also lost Sam; over the years they've drifted apart, and now the man she always had a crush on is someone she doesn't even recognize anymore. She's never felt more alone. Then she finds an envelope with her name on it, written in Tom's terrible handwriting, and she knows immediately what it is. It's the first clue in the Christmas scavenger hunt Tom made for her every year; he'd promised her for months that this year's would be the grandest one yet. At first, she's too scared to open it--what if she can't figure ou...

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .ePUB, 237 pages Expected Publication: 01 Nov 2022 By: Simon & Schuster Canada, Avid Reader Press About The Book: Lucas Goodgame lives in Majestic, Pennsylvania, a quaint suburb that has been torn apart by a recent tragedy. Everyone in Majestic sees Lucas as a hero—everyone, that is, except Lucas himself. Insisting that his deceased wife, Darcy, visits him every night in the form of an angel, Lucas spends his time writing letters to his former Jungian analyst, Karl. It is only when Eli, an eighteen-year-old young man whom the community has ostracized, begins camping out in Lucas’s backyard that an unlikely alliance takes shape and the two embark on a journey to heal their neighbors and, most important, themselves. My Review: This book's blurb says it is a humorous, soul-baring story and I couldn't agree more. As usual Quick deals with mental health themes with humour and wit but also with sensitivity while not holding any punches, I admire this. I loved that ...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ .ePUB, 276 pages Published: November 1st, 2021 By: Lake Union Publishing About The Book: Annie Beyers has everything—a beautiful house, a loving husband, and an adorable daughter. It’s a day like any other when she takes Hannah to the pediatrician…until she wakes hours later from a car accident. When she asks for her daughter, confused doctors tell Annie that Hannah never existed. In fact, nothing after waking from the crash is the same as Annie remembers. Five happy years of her life apparently never happened. Annie’s marriage is coming to an end. Now a successful artist living in Manhattan, she’s no longer home in their beloved upstate farmhouse. Her long-estranged sister is more like a best friend, and her recently deceased dog is alive and well. With each passing day, Annie’s remembered past and unfamiliar present begin to blur. Haunted by visions of Hannah, and with knowledge of things she can’t explain, Annie wonders…is everyone lying to her? The search for answers lead...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ .ePUB, 303 pages Expected Publication: 05 Sep 2022 By: Boldwood Books About The Book: It’s summer and holidaymakers are flocking to the idyllic Brittany coast. But when first an old traveller woman dies in suspicious circumstances, and then a campaign of hate seemingly drives another victim to take his own life, events take a very dark turn. Mila Shepherd has come to France to look after her niece, Ani, following the accident in which both Ani’s parents were lost at sea. Mila has moved into their family holiday home - The Sea House - as well as taken her sister Sophie’s place in an agency which specialises in tracking down missing people, until new recruit Carter Jackson starts. It’s clear that malevolent forces are at work in Morranez, but the local police are choosing to look the other way. Only Mila and Carter can uncover the truth about what’s really going on in this beautiful, but mysterious place before anyone else suffers. But someone is desperate to protect a terrib...

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .ePUB, 266 pages Expected Publication: 01 Nov 2022 By: Atria Books / Emily Bestler Books About The Book: When she arrived in New York on her 18th birthday carrying nothing but $600 cash and a stolen camera, Alice Lee was looking for a fresh start. Now, just one month later, she is the city's latest Jane Doe, an unidentified murder victim. Ruby Jones is also trying to start over; she travelled halfway around the world only to find herself lonelier than ever. Until she finds Alice's body by the Hudson River. From this first, devastating encounter, the two women form an unbreakable bond. Alice is sure that Ruby is the key to solving the mystery of her life - and death. And Ruby - struggling to forget what she saw that morning - finds herself unable to let Alice go. Not until she is given the ending she deserves. My Review: This story was utterly unique and totally gripping. Told from the point of view of a dead girl and the jogger who finds her Before You Knew My Na...

⭐️⭐⭐️⭐️⭐️ .ePUB, 221 pages Published: March 22, 2022 By: Bond Street Books About The Book: The Garretts take their first and last family vacation in the summer of 1959. They hardly ever leave home, but in some ways they have never been farther apart. Mercy has trouble resisting the siren call of her aspirations to be a painter, which means less time keeping house for her husband, Robin. Their teenage daughters, steady Alice and boy-crazy Lily, could not have less in common. Their youngest, David, is already intent on escaping his family's orbit, for reasons none of them understand. Yet, as these lives advance across decades, the Garretts' influences on one another ripple ineffably but unmistakably through each generation. My Review: You can never take it for granted that family members will like each other.  Oh!  Families love each other! Love, well, sure. I’m talking about like. This book promised a freshly observed, funny, joyful, brilliantly perceptive journey deep into one...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ .ePUB, 305 pages Published June 16th 2022 By: Viper About The Book: Ed Truman's family is falling apart. His daughter Ally is being targeted by an alt-right incel organisation, Men Together. His house is being picketed, former clients are accusing him of sexual assault, his son won't speak to him. And then Ally disappears. Frantic, Ed suspects that Men Together have abducted her. But before he can go to the police, his DNA is found on the body of a young woman. Suddenly he's the subject of a nationwide manhunt, led by the tenacious DCI Jackie Rose. Ed finds himself on the run with Ally's friend, Phoenix, who claims to know where Ally is. But what is the truth? Is Ed a violent sexual predator? Or is he the victim of a ruthless conspiracy? The answers are in The Box. But not everyone who goes in, comes out alive. My Review: This book started with a bang and did not let up the entire time I was reading it. I was gripped from the get-go and that ending surprised m...

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2 .ePUB, 319 pages Expected Publication: 15 Sep 2022 By: Head of Zeus, Apollo About The Book: Molly Black has disappeared. She's been a bit flighty since her parents died (sure, hadn't she run off with a tree surgeon that time?) but this time, or so says her hastily written leaving note, she's gone for good. That's why the whole Black clan – from Granny perched on the printer all the way through to Killian on Zoom from Sydney – is huddled together in the back room of Uncle John's semi-D in the Dublin suburbs, arguing over what to do. Cousin Bobby's having a hard enough time of it as it is, convincing his family he's happy single and childless. Lady V reckons this is all much too much fuss over a thirty year old. And Uncle Danny knows all too well how it feels to be lost with no one trying to find you. But Uncle John is determined never to lose anyone again. Especially not his niece, who is more like her mum than she realises. My Review: It took me a...

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .ePUB, 322 pages Expected Publication: 04 Aug 2022 By: Head of Zeus, Aria About The Book: Maine, 1997. As the people of Fort Meadow Beach celebrate the Fourth of July, four-year-old Daisy Wright disappears and is never seen again. Maine, 2022. Fired from her job and heart-broken, Peyton Winchester moves back home for the summer. Bored and aimless, she finds a renewed sense of purpose when an ad for a journalism course reminds her of a path not taken. Returning to life in her home town brings back all kind of memories – including Daisy's disappearance when she was a young girl herself. As Peyton begins to search for answers about Daisy's disappearance, she finds that they might be closer to home than she thinks – and their lives become intertwined with irreversible consequences. My Review: Told in two different timelines The Shimmer on the Water is a historical mystery that is both emotional and totally absorbing. We get chapters from both Peyton and Eualla's poi...

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .ePUB, 247 pages Publication Date: 04 August 2021 By: Bookouture About The Book: Everybody wants to live on Hogarth Street, the pretty, tree-lined avenue with its white houses. The new family, The Wests, are a perfect fit. Katherine and John* seem so in love and their gorgeous five-year-old twins race screeching around their beautiful emerald-green lawn. But soon people start to notice: why don’t they join backyard barbecues? Why do they brush away offers to babysit? Why, when you knock at the door, do they shut you out, rather than inviting you in? Every family has secrets, and on the hottest day of the year, the truth is about to come out. As a tragedy unfolds behind closed doors, the dawn chorus is split by the wail of sirens. And one by one the families who tried so hard to welcome the Wests begin to realise: Hogarth Street will never be the same again. My Review: I absolutely loved The Boy in the Photo and really enjoyed My Daughter's Secret by this author, Ni...

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .ePUB, 402 pages Expected Publication: 07 July 2022 By: Head of Zeus/Aria About The Book: Nineteen-year-old Michelle has had a tough life, to say the least. Then she gets pregnant. She is convinced she would be a terrible mother but having grown up in care, she cannot bring herself to subject her child to the same fate. Amelia and her husband have dreamed of having a family for years, but have lost all hope after the worst kind of tragedy. Then they are offered the chance to adopt baby Grace, and it feels like they finally have everything they've ever wanted. But then Michelle decides she wants her daughter back, and it's up to the courts to decide. What is best for Grace – a mother's love, or a stable home? Whatever the ruling, one thing is certain: neither woman's life will ever be the same again. My Review: I loved Victoria Scott's Patience   so last winter when I saw she had a new book coming out I was very excited. I can say with 100% certainty ...

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .ePUB, 402 pages Expected Publication: 10 Aug 2022 By: Boldwood Books About The Book: Two decades on from a passionate courtship and marriage, Lucas and Esther are getting divorced. For Esther, it’s proving hard not to feel bitter watching Lucas enjoying his successful career, not to mention the attentions of his gorgeous, intelligent, and predictably younger lover. She meanwhile is struggling to forge a new life for herself, navigating the pitfalls of modern dating, while trying not to despair at the cost of living as a single woman of a certain age. Then Lucas faces a shattering accusation at the same time as their children Dylan and Lily, start to implode. When Dylan runs away, and as his father fights to save his reputation, Lucas and Esther find themselves back in each other’s lives, whether they like it or not. Has too much water passed under the bridge, or will long-forgotten loyalties and feelings bring the family back together, just when they need each other the mo...

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .ePUB, 654 pages Expected Publication: 27 Sep 2022 By: Simon & Schuster Canada, Atria Books About The Book: Two years have passed since the events that no one wants to think about. Everyone has tried to move on, but there’s something about this place that prevents it. The residents continue to grapple with life’s big questions: What is a family? What is a community? And what, if anything, are we willing to sacrifice in order to protect them? As the locals of Beartown struggle to overcome the past, great change is on the horizon. Someone is coming home after a long time away. Someone will be laid to rest. Someone will fall in love, someone will try to fix their marriage, and someone will do anything to save their children. Someone will submit to hate, someone will fight, and someone will grab a gun and walk towards the ice rink. So what are the residents of Beartown willing to sacrifice for their home? Everything. My Review: This was a long book to get through, 650+ p...

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .ePUB, 320 pages Expected Publication: 04 Oct 2022 By: Simon & Schuster Canada About The Book: In the far west of Cornwall lies the White Valley, which cuts deeply through bluebell woods down to the sea at White Cove. The valley has a long and bloody history, laced with folklore, and in it sits a house above the beach that has lain neglected since the war. It comes with a reputation and a strange atmosphere, which is why mother and daughter Magdalena and Mila manage to acquire it so cheaply in the fateful summer of 1954. Magda has grand plans to restore the house to its former glory as a venue for glittering parties, where the rich and celebrated gathered for cocktails and for bracing walks along the coast. Her grown daughter, Mila, just wants to escape the scandal in her past and make a safe and happy home for her little girl, Janey, a solitary, precocious child blessed with a vivid imagination, much of which she pours into stories about her magical plush toy, Rabbit. ...

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .ePUB, 217 pages Expected Publication: 03 Jan 2023 By: St. Martin's Press About The Book: As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend. Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album––and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder. As Emily digs into the villa’s complicated history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful summer in 19...

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .ePUB, 400 pages Publication Date: April 25th 2017 By: Simon & Schuster About The Book: People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semi-finals, and they actually have a shot at winning. All the hopes and dreams of this place now rest on the shoulders of a handful of teenage boys. Being responsible for the hopes of an entire town is a heavy burden, and the semi-final match is the catalyst for a violent act that will leave a young girl traumatized and a town in turmoil. Accusations are made and, like ripples on a pond, they travel through all of Beartown, leaving no resident unaffected. My Review: Having loved ...

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ .ePUB, 359 pages Publication Date: 21 May 2021 By: Headline About The Book: Albert Entwistle is a private man with a quiet, simple life. He lives alone with his cat Gracie. And he’s a postman. At least he was a postman until, three months before his sixty-fifth birthday, he receives a letter from the Royal Mail thanking him for decades of service and stating he is being forced into retirement. At once, Albert’s sole connection with his world unravels. Every day as a mail carrier, he would make his way through the streets of his small English town, delivering letters and parcels and returning greetings with a quick wave and a “how do?” Without the work that fills his days, what will be the point? He has no friends, family, or hobbies—just a past he never speaks of, and a lost love that fills him with regret. And so, rather than continue his lonely existence, Albert forms a brave plan to start truly living. It’s finally time to be honest about who he is. To seek the happi...