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An online marketing consultant, an avid reader of 400 + books a year. Professional reader, reviewer, and blogger. Enjoy ARCs and new releases.
Higher is Waiting
By: Tyler Perry
ISBN: 9780812989342
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: 11/14/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars
From the hilarious creation of Madea, Perry delivers an inspiring memoir and words of encouragement in HIGHER IS WAITING —with a combination of his own unique blend of spiritual hope and southern humor over a ten-year period of his personal journals. Top Memoir of 2017.
From the multi-talented author, writer, actor, director, producer, filmmaker, playwright, songwriter, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, Tyler Perry is the mastermind behind nineteen theatrically released feature films, twenty stage plays, nine television shows, and a #1 New York Times bestselling book.
The author once again demonstrates how tragedy turns into triumph, both in the hearts and minds of individuals and sets sparks of change within communities.
There is an entire world out there waiting for those who "want it." Cherish your dreams and keep them safe. From hard work, positive energy, and self-encouragement. Prov. 19:21.
We are worthy, despite our histories. God gave us breath and life. Jeremiah 29:11.
Who doesn’t love Tyler Perry? Being an Atlanta gal, I am a huge fan and have seen all his movies, a few of his plays, and read his books. (loved the references to Atlanta’s Silver Comet Trail which was my inspiration and logged in many hours on my bike for years). It brings solace.
In addition to his witty warm-hearted stories, he is a powerful spiritual leader. The essence of power, faith, and the grace of God and how it has worked in his own life.
In HIGHER IS WAITING, the author tells his own story. His own struggles with money, abuse, his career, and his unwavering love for his mother. His dreams. He never gave up on his dream and encourages others to do the same, no matter where they are in their journey or the climb.
Higher is divided into four sections that revolve around the metaphor of a tree.
The Tree of Life. Taking a tree, he compares to the various stages of spiritual growth from his early childhood years to the present.
• Planting the Seeds
• Nourish the Roots
• Branching Out
• Harvesting the Fruit
It is the author’s hope, readers will spark God within and ignite a flame to go higher. From those who are struggling or are angry. Those who need forgiveness. A desire for a better life. For all humanity.
From his own mom’s time growing up in the Jim Crow South when black people were not allowed to dream big. Tyler had big dreams. It meant reaching higher and taking chances.
On a personal note: When I served on the board of directors for YES! Atlanta, this was an important topic and message we stressed to this group of at-risk teens. "To dream big." To see beyond their current surroundings which may appear dismal, and unattainable.
God’s words can be of service. From your own thoughts, finances, love, career, or family; that love and compassion will be waiting in every single part of your life and step of your journey.
“Sometimes in life, dreams are hard to follow. Just like that climb, you’re not aware of how high you’re going or if you’re even moving. But every step, even when you can’t see what’s behind you for what’s in front of you, brings you closer to your goal. . . "
Faith.
Easy to read, well laid out, this powerful book could be utilized as a daily devotional. From tidbits of real life from Tyler, wise lessons, and a special call out section with questions, thoughts, and meditations, with related scripture.
“Look how far you’ve come. God has brought you here. You won’t be abandoned. Stay in the climb.”
Perry vividly and movingly describes his growing awareness of God's presence in his life, how he learned to tune in to His voice— to persevere through hard times, and to choose faith over fear.
I particularly enjoyed his personal stories and how he connects with nature. Especially, Chapter 6. Relating trees to people.
Leaf People: people in your life for only a season. You can’t depend on them. They have their own weaknesses and are only able to offer shade. Like the leaves, they blow away.
Branch People: They are stronger than Leaf People. However, they need care. They are often fragile and unreliable. If a storm rolls in, they may break. Their strength has to be tested.
Root People. Someone very special. They do their work underground. Quietly without fanfare. They provide help, support, and nourishment. They are happy when we thrive. They are strong, resilient, and powerful. Be sure and water them with love, appreciation, and gratitude. Treasure these folks.
The leaf, branch, and root people in our own lives.
Perry reiterates his soul-filled experiences have taught him to embrace disappointments, knowing deeper lessons will be revealed.
They have shown him time and time again God’s hand in closing some doors and opening others. Helping him to release the past and create a future of hope. The tools for forgiveness and placed him back on his path, when he lost his way.
I also enjoyed Chapter 13. Discovering the Gift. We all ponder our higher purpose. Our hidden gifts. We must look for them.
HIGHER IS WAITING is a beautifully written spiritual guidebook (thought-provoking and soul-searching) one to treasure. Highly recommend and an ideal choice for the gift giving and the holiday season as well as book clubs or small groups.
This is not a one time read. HIGHER IS WAITING is a memorable book you want to use, bookmark, and reference daily, to enrich your life. A reminder of how far we have come, and heights yet to attain. Buy two copies. Give one away to someone who needs "hope and faith," this Christmas season.
A special thank you to Random House for an advance reading copy and also purchased a hardcover copy for my personal library.
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Disturbed
By: Jennifer Jaynes
ISBN: 1542046386
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: 11/7/2017
Format: Paperback
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
Talented Jennifer Jaynes returns following The Stranger Inside with her latest twisty psychological thriller DISTURBED — a gritty fast-paced standalone page-turner, both chilling and emotional with a mind-blowing conclusion.
“You Made Me.”
Those were the words on Nov 1, 2010, the morning after Halloween. Three women who attended Springfield College. 911 was called. The young officer Brandon was the first responder.
One girl was left alive in the tub. Multiple stab wounds. One of them deep in the side of her abdomen. Blood everywhere.
Now, Oct 4, 2015 —Four years and eleven months later.
Twenty-three-year-old Chelsea Dutton is safe and sane. She is still paranoid and fearful. No one is out to get her. Not anymore. These words had been her mantra for almost five years.
The Halloween night that her college roommates (Christine and Amy) had been murdered and she had been carved up and left for dead.
Since then, she had merely existed. She had been diagnosed with psychogenic amnesia, which made life even more confusing and frightening.
There were no guarantees whether she would recover any of her lost memories. A few had come back over the years but nothing of real significance. A flash here, and there. Some scents and settings brought back some memories of the horrible night.
Her biological parents had been dead since she was six years old. There were a long string of foster families whom she had lived with until she turned eighteen and started college.
The night of the murders clung to her.
There had been a boy, Ethan whom Chelsea had invited and his roommate Boyd. Ethan was from a wealthy family. He was gorgeous. What caused him to start the brutal killings?
She had left Springfield and moved ninety miles east of Boston after the murders. She would be safer there. However, she had wondered why he had spared her. Would he return to finish the job?
She did not want to play the victim anymore.
Chelsea has a close friend Elizabeth. She had been her salvation. They had met nearly five years ago in the Springfield psychiatric hospital where Chelsea had been held for three months after following the attacks.
Elizabeth had been one of the nurses assigned to her pod. She was older, but they had stayed connected and when she had transferred to a Boston hospital, Chelsea tagged along. With her scars, she had a fresh start. Elizabeth was her rock.
When she runs into Boyd she thinks it may be nice to be around someone who was there that night. Even though Elizabeth was great, she was intimated by her. With Boyd, she was on more of an even playing field.
However, shortly afterward, there is a message left at a murder scene with the same message. Lang (detective) takes up temporary residence at a motel in Southie.
He remembered Boyd. The kid had been a drug user. He is determined to solve the case. Was it Ethan? Why come back to torment Chelsea now after all these years?
Who was the message meant for? One of the victims? Were the killings retribution for something? Motive?
Another message: “You’re going to make me do it again, aren’t you”?
Detectives Lang and Garcia are on the case and Chelsea is worried her attacker is back. Who can she trust?
Halloween, the fifth anniversary of the murders, takes on a new twist. Who is really the killer (then and now)? Or is there something more dark and sinister at play?
As always, Jaynes keeps her readers in suspense with twists and turns. A thrilling ride to very dark places of the human psyche. Disturbing, intense, and suspenseful to the final mind-blowing shocking conclusion.
From beginning to end, Jennifer creates a sense of foreboding, paranoia, fear, distrust, and lurking darkness. You know there is something beneath the surface.
Chelsea is a complex character. She continues to live with the consequences of her violent and painful past, which continue to plague her. However, is she an unreliable narrator?
As a reader, you will question everyone.
The author does an exceptional job in keeping you glued to the pages. She knows how to emotionally hook the reader. Without any spoilers . . . nothing is as it appears. Jaynes’ fans will enjoy another twisty, edgy psychological thriller to add to their collection.
Highly recommend all of the author's books. She never disappoints. For fans of James Hankins, Jennifer Hillier, and Lisa Unger.
Read my reviews here:
The Stranger Inside
Don’t Say a Word
Ugly Young Thing
Never Smile at Strangers
A special thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Thomas & Mercer for an advanced reading copy.
About the Author
#1 USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Jaynes graduated from Old Dominion University with a bachelor’s degree in health sciences and a certificate from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
She made her living as a content manager, webmaster, news publisher, medical assistant, editor, publishing consultant, and copywriter before finally living her dream as a full-time novelist. Jennifer is the author of Never Smile at Strangers, Don’t Say a Word, Ugly Young Thing, and The Stranger Inside.
When she’s not writing or spending time with her husband and twin boys, Jennifer loves reading, cooking, and studying nutrition.
Visit Jennifer at www.jenniferjaynes.net. Read More
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A Bella Flora Christmas
Ten Beach Road Novella
By: Wendy Wax
ASIN: B0719NWD4S
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: 11/7/2017
Format: Kindle
My Rating: 5 Stars
Wendy Wax returns with her popular Ten Beach Road Series, following (2017) One Good Thing with A BELLA FLORA CHRISTMAS.
Read all my reviews of the Ten Beach Road Series
Love catching up with my favorite gals in Florida for A BELLA FLORA CHRISTMAS. This go around Kyra has some difficult decisions to make and the adorable beach cottages at Sunshine Hotel are getting occupied quickly by the ladies for new beginnings. (Enjoy novellas and a fan of cottages).
Things are tense this Christmas season with the approaching deadline of New Years Day.
Kyra is less than happy with the idea of Dustin (her son), portraying Daniel and his real-life moe star wife, Tonja Kay's son. There is no more time for hedging. She has to commit or refuse by New Year's Day.
She agreed to rent Bella Flora to a mystery tenant for an amount that gives Kyra the option of turning down the million dollars Daniel and his wife offered for Dustin to play their son. She does not want to ruin their holiday.
The idea of strangers living in the house the women have worked so hard to hang onto is devastating; however, renting it out seems a better solution than losing her completely.
The anonymity is making everyone anxious.
If she cannot find a way to pay off the entire loan she took out, it could be the last holiday they would get to spend in Bella Flora.
Love these ladies and totally invested in the series. Best of all, we get a preview of BEST BEACH EVER Coming May 22, 2018 —with more Maddie, Kyra, Avery, Nikki and the crew! (Maddie is still my favorite of the women, even though I love them all.)
Wendy Wax, "you are killing me!" Talk about tempting . . . I was swiping, dying to find out the mystery tenant of Bella Flora. Talk about a cliffhanger . . . . Could not pre-order this one fast enough.
Please, someone, grant me an ARC for Christmas. Not sure I can wait until May for the unveiling. Seriously, I LOVE the cover and this series. Please do not let it end!
Highly recommend (one of my favorite authors) — if you have not read the series, start with book one and read them all. Even though the author does a great job of catching you up, you do not want to miss a thing!
A special thank you as always to Berkley and NetGalley for an early reading copy. Also purchased the e-book and audible book narrated by Amy Rubinaqte.
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Praise for Wendy Wax and her novels
"[A] sparkling, deeply satisfying tale."—New York Times bestselling author Karen White
"Reading Wendy Wax is like discovering a witty, wise, and wonderful new friend."—New York Times bestselling author Claire Cook
"Fans of Jane Green and Mary Alice Monroe will adore Wax's lively characters, witty dialogue, and heartfelt prose."—Booklist
“Wax’s Florida titles [the Ten Beach Road novels] are terrific for lovers of women’s fiction and family drama, especially if you enjoy a touch of suspense and romance.”—Library Journal
"If you're a sucker for plucky women who rise to the occasion, this is for you."—USA Today
"[Wax] writes with breezy wit and keen insight."—The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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 - Wendy Wax)
Stillhouse Lake
Stillhouse Lake Series #1
By: Rachel Caine
ISBN: 978-1477848661
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: 7/1/2017
Format: Kindle
My Rating: 5 Stars
WOW! STILLHOUSE LAKE by Rachel Caine is A riveting heart-pounding psychological thriller . . . My first book by the author and anxiously awaiting #2! What an incredible writer - an addictive, deliciously evil new series. I can see this playing out on Amazon Video.
Meet Gina Royal from Wichita, Kansas.
Gina never asked about the garage. That thought would keep her awake every night for years. “I should have asked. Should have known. But she had never asked. She didn’t know. In the end, that was what destroyed her.
Her husband, Mel was charming. Their children Brady and Lily. That day, her husband called with an emergency. She needed to pick up the kids. Mel loved their family life. His second-favorite thing: wood-working in his shop. More than wood-working going down in the garage.
“Normal life. Comfortable life. Not perfect, of course. Nobody had a perfect marriage, did they? But Gina was satisfied at least most of the time.”
However, that day when she arrived home there were police cars, an ambulance, and a fire truck. Their mailbox. Their lawn. Their house.
An SUV had crashed into their garage. (Mel’s workshop). Before she knew what was happening Detective Salazar was arresting her.
They were victims. Someone had crashed into their home. Why were the cops mistreating her in front of her own children? This had to be a mistake. Embarrassing. The neighbors were taking videos. They would be uploaded to the internet.
Handcuffs. This could not be happening. She could not understand why someone was driving drunk and now she is being arrested.
The garage. The cops wondered if she knew about the garage. She does not park in the garage. Her husband was going to be upset.
However, the detective wants her to explain the life-size naked doll hanging from a hook in the center of the garage. Except, it was not a doll. It was real.
The day her life changed forever. Her husband was a serial killer.
Fast forward four years later.
Gwen Proctor and her children are living at Stillhouse Lake in Tennessee. Since leaving Wichita, they have changed their identity four times. The weak creature she had left behind. One who had aided and abetted; however, unconsciously. That woman is long dead and she does not mourn her.
Her kids are now Connor and Atlanta (Lanny for short). She has tried to keep them safe from predators and all the hate mail. Their father was a monster. The “good” father with a mask.
If it had not been for the drunk driver, their lives would have gone on the same. It was her fault his true depth of evil had been finally unmasked. He had taken out a storage locker in the name of her long-dead brother. The journal. Each victim had a section.
From abduction, torture, murder. The man will kill again.
There had been a trial. All the women. Mel had infected her like a virus. Then there was the hacker which goes by the name of Absalom. But he helped with the false identities. Finding them safe havens. He controls the online harassment. Strictly business. She pays him.
Ugly, cruel things about her and her children online. Like they had known was a monster Mel was. She keeps a gun. She will not let anyone hurt her kids or her ever again. Alarms, computers, security systems, burner phones. Their lives are spent looking over their shoulders. She is committed to their survival.
Absalom communicates with them (computer guy). Her husband writes letters. There is a mailing address elsewhere. How does he know where she is?
He writes from prison. He describes what he will do to her if given the chance. He’s inventive. Descriptive. Repellently direct. Mel is a contagious, fatal disease.
People think she is guilty. His hobby. The garage. Little did she know what he was doing in the garage and what he was hiding. She knew he used bleach, but it was always a logical reason. She had believed every word.
Then there is a murder at Stillhouse Lake.
The rustic retreat. Upper-middle-class families. Second homes. A woman weighed down. The description sounds familiar to Mel’s victims. Does it have anything to do with Mel’s crimes? Murder practically at her front door?
She owes her children a stable upbringing and safety. From trading cars to houses, always on the move.
Mel had liked his stupid games. “Breath Play.” Cords around her neck. She hated it. She had seen something dark. She had refused. He had never choked her hard enough to pass out, but close. Little did she know while he was starving her for oxygen during sex, he was imagining his women in the garage, fighting the noose as he raised and lowered them off the ground.
He was using her to play out his murders. Chilling and sickening.
Now she had to protect her family with more than a gun. Mentally, emotionally, and logically. She cannot trust anyone. She must break the trail.
Sam Cade. He is new to town. He is supposed to do some work on the house. They both have secrets.
She has money that was Mel’s escape money. The inheritance from his parents’ estate; in the storage shed. It had been a year before she was acquitted. She had spent it on their safety, shelter, and identities before Stillhouse Lake. For their new life.
Slowly she learns to trust Sam Cade and her son likes him. Even Lanny (with her goth and edge). Her son wants to be an architect so he and Sam hit it off. She wants to fall for this guy, but she is cautious. However, does he have a hidden agenda?
Gina has a mailing service. Mel writes her. He has seen her and Sam at the lake house. How is this possible?
She must go to the prison and confront the monster.
From Javier, Sam, Absalom, Lance Graham, Detective Prester— who can she trust? Enemy or ally?
“Mel is worse than a monster. He’s a smart monster. Mel disposed of women in the water. Now, one trusts her.
Another dead girl found floating in the lake.
People are learning about her past. She will be arrested and she will lose her kids. Her murdering ex-husband. Who is doing this? Who else is keeping secrets? Does Gwen (Gina) have a stalker?Has she fallen for a serial killer twice?
Now there are horrible words on their windows. A life she cannot escape. She has to fix it. But how. The safe room. Threats. Has Mel broken out of death row and someone made his way to Stillhouse Lake without a soul seeing him?
Someone has her kids. . . She needs help, but who can she trust?
The suspense is riveting! Nerve-racking, heart-pounding! Does Mel have followers? (Mel reminds me of Joe Carroll - The Following - when watching I have to keep one eye closed)
Highly recommend the audiobook narrated by Emily Sutton-Smith (Narrator) for an outstanding and entertaining performance. I purchased the book and audio version.
I can see why STILLHOUSE LAKE has received rave reviews and included in the Goodreads Opening Round of Best Mystery and Thriller as well as climbing the Amazon charts.
So excited to receive an ARC of #2 Stillhouse Lake, Killman Creek (currently reading), coming Dec 12, 2017. For fans of psychological thrillers—compelling, well-written, and twisty plots. Love the covers and titles.
With #2, we catch up with Gwen. Mel has escaped from prison with the warning: “You’re not safe anywhere now.”
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Stillhouse Lake Series #2
By: Rachel Caine
ISBN: 1542046416
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: 12/12/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: Currently Reading (ARC)
Every time Gwen closed her eyes, she saw him in her nightmares. Now her eyes are open, and he’s not going away.
Gwen Proctor won the battle to save her kids from her ex-husband, serial killer Melvin Royal, and his league of psychotic accomplices. But the war isn’t over. Not since Melvin broke out of prison. Not since she received a chilling text…
You’re not safe anywhere now.
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A Tangled Mercy
By: Joy Jordan-Lake
ASIN: B01M7XPCYE
Publisher: Lake Union
Publication Date: 11/1/2017
Format: Kindle
My Rating: 5 Stars
A TANGLED MERCY by Joy Jordan-Lake interweaves the painful stories of two different time periods and two different sets of characters. A captivating tale. A place of contrasts. Pain and beauty. A city both vulnerable and resilient.
A hauntingly beautiful story of dual-timelines— a moving Southern tale: 1822 dark family secrets of slavery, and present-day Charleston, SC. From the Denmark Vesey slave revolt, and those who courageously fought for freedom.
The strong and courageous characters who stood out to take a stand against slavery to the more recent tragic shooting at Emanuel AME in Charleston —of rage, injustice, discrimination, and violence.
“A time for every season, you know —a time to mourn and a time to dance. Only here in the Low Country, we sometimes do both at the same time.”
Kate Drayton’s mother has passed and as a struggling Harvard grad student in New England, she decides to return to Charleston, SC — the place where her parents met. There are unanswered questions plus she needs to salvage her career in academia using her mom’s research.
Kate’s attempts to discover what drove her mother’s dangerous obsession with Charleston’s tumultuous history are derailed by a horrific massacre in the very same landmark church. In the unimaginable aftermath, Kate discovers a family she never knew existed as the city unites after horror and outrage.
A well-researched meticulous blending of fact and fiction, the author eloquently outlines why this story is so important to her. Her passion shines through each word on the page. It is critical to be tuned into how the “past bleeds through the present at every corner.”
As the author reiterates, it is her hope that this story of tragedy, brutality, beauty, and courage across two hundred years might be a least a small part of a conversation to have between our races.
Where not talking is also dangerous. “Make some noise” on behalf of those whose voices aren’t being heard. Promote respectful conversations.
I appreciate the author’s specific notes how she loved American history and the South. I can envision her packing up her eight-month daughter and her adventurous husband and driving to Charleston where she fell in love with the city. There was a story to be told. And back again later with three children and a husband to finish her work.
Engrossing! It is important to show the historical characters have changed the course of American history and why their message still matters today, particularly in a cultural moment in which people of common goodwill but different racial, ethnic and political backgrounds and perspectives are trying to be heard, and understood while attempting to move forward together.
Astounding, the author began this journey some twenty years ago; however, rings true today in our complex world of understanding people, their roots, their past, and their hearts.
As a reader, I find these components of fact and fiction make for a powerful and insightful read. The reason I myself find historical fiction so fascinating, you have a foundation of real people, vivid places, and experiences rich in history and character.
The skill of the author is to be able to put themselves in the minds and hearts of their characters —portray which could have happened or their most intimate thoughts. Feel what they are feeling.
Joy-Jordan Lake and her words will empower you. You cannot read this tale and not be moved in some way. A story of hope, forgiveness, and redemption. (have you read her bio)? Highly impressive.
If you have grown up or spent time in the Low Country, you may know of its historical architecture, beauty, and charm today.
However, as depicted in the novel, beneath the façade, there has been a turbulent history. Darkness and ugliness in contrast to the beauty. Even today in our world and cultural climate of today, we see the pain of racial injustice and a world of violence. We cannot read any news feed without devastation.
As the author mentions her intent is not only to tell a story worth reading (which she does masterfully); but equally and more importantly to honor the memory of those in the nineteenth and twenty-first-century Charleston who have set an example of courage, conviction, and a spirit of love far stronger than hate. They need a voice.
From outrage, pain, and horror to love, unity, forgiveness, and strength. A poignant and inspiring story of how people come together, even in their darkest hours. Crossing lines of race, income, social class, and religion. Seeking justice.
I loved the author’s reference to a foundation from a portion of the proceeds of the novel to go towards serving the families of victims, administered by Mother Emanuel.
Beyond the harrowing depths of human brutality and betrayal, their lives redemption, freedom, and forgiveness.
A highly recommended choice for book clubs and further discussions (Reading Group Questions Included).
For fans of well-researched historical and Southern fiction and readers who enjoy Jodi Picoult, Diane Chamberlain, Charles Martin, Karen White, Lisa Wingate and Susan Meissner. (all favorites of mine).
My first book by the author, and look forward to reading more (and her backlist of those I missed) from this talented and gifted writer! My Top Books of 2017 and my featured Top 20 Books for Nov.
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Two Kinds of Truth
Harry Bosch #22
By: Michael Connelly
ISBN: 0316225908
Publisher: Little Brown & Co.
Publication Date: 10/31/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars ++
Michael Connelly returns following The Late Show and the introduction of his new Renee Ballard series with the highly anticipated gripping crime thriller — TWO KINDS OF TRUTH featuring Detective Harry Bosch #22.
Picking up from The Wrong Side of Goodbye landing on my Top Books of 2016, Bosch finds himself between two kinds of truth and two different cases.
For all Connelly fans, readers will get their Bosch and Haller fix in one action-filled suspense (cop procedural) thriller with courtroom drama. Add in Titus Welliver to the mix, as audio narrator – "Solid Gold!"
From corruption, opioids, and murder— Bosch has seen it all and once again the stakes are high.
Retired from the LAPD, Bosch works cold cases with the San Fernando Police Department, while still balancing his personal life with his daughter Mattie, now in college.
One is an older case with a guy sent to death row at San Quentin over thirty years ago. Harry and his partner (now deceased) help put away Preston Borders. Now new DNA testing reveals he was not the killer. Could someone have planted evidence?
The present case involves the murder of father and son pharmacists, José Esquivel Sr. and Jr. Bosch goes undercover as homeless regarding fraudulent oxycodone prescriptions. An opioid pill mill conspiracy. (ripped from today’s headlines).
From the misuse of Opioids, a class of drugs that include heroin, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, and pain relievers available legally by prescription, such as oxycodone (OxyContin®), hydrocodone (Vicodin®), codeine, morphine, and many others. While some are safe when taken for a short time, prescribed by a doctor, but they can be misused when those offer them illegally for resale, which can lead to overdose and deaths.
From intense courtroom scenes with (Lincoln Lawyer) Mickey Haller (Bosch’s half-brother) regarding the old case- defending Bosch. Bosch is accused of planting evidence. In the meantime, Bosch is in the middle of a crime ring regarding Opioids and the homeless.
Bosch refuses to sit back and watch Preston Borders walk free, but he has just nine days to prove Borders was the real killer. Bosch cannot allow this guy to go free. Poor Bosch, working out of a small office in the former drunk tank of the county jail, and then his reputation is on the line.
Then an active present-day case with the pharmacy which is far-reaching, enslaving homeless addicts. Loved the uncover scene, though dangerous. Of course, everything Bosch touches is dangerous.
"[Bosch] knew there were two kinds of truth in this world. The truth that was the unalterable bedrock of one’s life and mission. And the other, malleable truth of politicians, charlatans, corrupt lawyers, and their clients, bent and molded to serve whatever purpose is at hand.”
A top crime thriller of the year, Connelly is dynamite!. Titus Welliver is a perfect narrator (after all, he is Bosch)! You cannot get any better. Connelly and Welliver. Bosch and Haller. Plus we pick up a few other characters from previous books
Bosch is deep and emotional. Connelly has created a complex character which sees life and his cases from many angles. Connelly makes him come alive on the pages as well as the Prime series.
Both haunted by his past, and a devoted father nothing seems simple for Bosch. As sharp as ever, he is still going strong in his sixties. My hero! Looking forward to #23.
"He is highly impatient and often skirts the rules to get faster results. On the other hand, he sometimes shows surprising compassion for other people, especially crime victims and young people. He believes that all murder cases deserve the best effort by himself and the department, whether the victim is a prostitute or a wealthy, powerful person." . . . His greatest strength is his relentless pursuit of the truth.
Avid fans will devour —with a powerful takeaway message. Highly Recommend!
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The Late Show
Renée Ballard #1
By: Michael Connelly
ISBN: 978-0316225984
Publisher: Little Brown & Co.
Publication Date: 7/18/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars
Master storyteller, Michael Connelly returns following (Harry Bosch) The Wrong Side of Good-Bye landing on my Top Books of 2016 with THE LATE SHOW.
While reading Connelly’s latest, Two Kinds of Truth realized I had read and failed to post my review of THE LATE SHOW (Renee Ballard #1) —his 30th novel; where we meet his newest and tough detective, Renee Ballard in this top-notch gritty LA cop procedural crime thriller with a perfect balance of drama and suspense.
A brilliant new series with an unstoppable new female detective.
LAPD Renee Ballard, a strong-willed complex female detective had previously filed a sexual harassment complaint against her former boss, Lt. Robert Olivas.
The outcome, she has been handed the night shift (a definite downgrade) in Hollywood known as the Late Show. This is her punishment. This definitely will not be good for her career. However, she will give it her all.
Her relentless refusal to back down, prompted (demoted) the move to the late show, by Olivas and her partner, Ken Chastain, who witnessed the incident but did not support her.
She is a bit of a loner with a bohemian flair (almost homeless); loves nature, the beach, and her rescue dog, Lola.
Like a “dog with a bone”, Ballard is handed three assignments and she is more than willing to dive in full force.
One, an elderly woman with credit card fraud. Second a transgender prostitute, brutally beaten and left for dead, and the killing of a young woman in a nightclub shooting. She works around the clock. She is relentless. Five people dead.
However, while dealing with the cases, against orders and her partner’s advice, they continue to pull her closer to her own past and demons.
Do we have a dirty cop in the midst? Career suicide?
Ballard may be the sole witness and with her own personal history with the department and her creditability would come under withering assault, as well.
Will she be able to prove her worth? ? Will she remain on the late show or be allowed to go back to the team?
Wow, an avid fan (have read every book and watched every movie and series), Connelly a master at creating crime fiction, well-developed plot and complex forensics. A pro at creating intriguing sharp characters with staying power— like Bosch and Haller, hoping we will see more of Renee Ballard for the long haul.
Ballad is mysterious yet tenacious. Looking forward to seeing more of her character. THE LATE SHOW is fast-paced and non-stop action with a smart, driven and tough leading lady. Hope we see #2 Renee Ballard in 2018.
“It’s like the laws of physics—for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. If you go into darkness, the darkness goes into you. You then have to decide what to do with it. How to keep yourself safe from it. How to keep it from hollowing you out.” ― Michael Connelly, The Late Show
Bosch fans (I am at the top of the list), you cannot miss, TWO KINDS OF TRUTH. Currently listening to the audiobook. I love Titus Welliver (so sexy) on screen and as a narrator. I would follow him anywhere. Bosch is back in the middle of prescription drug abuse, murder, and uncover with a Medicare card. (Yes, I have recently been awarded one too).
Haller and Bosh have proven themselves and looks like we have a new kick-ass female to add to the list. Renee Ballard—there is much more to uncover for the future.
Connelly just keeps getting better (if that is even possible). Love the Amazon Prime series. One of the main reasons for continuing the Prime subscription.
South Florida fans "love you", Mr. Connelly. Keep them coming. Never stop writing or producing. One of the best crime writers of today. No one does it better.
A special thank you to Little Brown & Co. for an advanced reading copy. Also purchased the audiobook narrated by Katherine Moennig.
JDCMustReadBooks
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The Rooster Bar
By: John Grisham
ISBN: 0385541171
Publisher: Doubleday
Publication Date: 10/24/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 4.5 Stars
#1 New York Times bestselling author, John Grisham returns following Camino Island with his 25th novel THE ROOSTER BAR — a legal thriller exploring conspiracies inside for-profit law schools and the lives it destroys in this modern-day scandal ripped from today’s headlines.
Inspired by an article in the Atlantic called “The Law-School Scam,” a lengthy investigation of for-profit law schools, the author takes off an inside look at corruption in the legal field and student loans.
Gordy, Mark, Todd, and Zola each have their own stories and how they landed at Foggy Bottom— a third-tier for-profit law school. Each has borrowed heavily and student loans are enormous, there is no way they will ever attain a job to begin paying back this debt.
Each of the three is drowning in student debt, which it would seem will be impossible to ever pay off. Mark owes $266,000; Todd, $195,000; Zola, $191,000.
Foggy Bottom had enticed them to take out huge federally backed loans — from an equally disreputable bank that offered easy money with the false prospect that they would get high-paying jobs immediately upon being graduated and passing the bar.
They each had high expectations as well as their families. Soon they realize there is more to the story. Gordy (bi-polar), is engaged to be married (to wealthy white girl from his hometown); however, seeing Zola on the side. She is black Muslim-American.
Gordy has done much research and lays out all the players for the group. His obsession turns to madness quickly and they all are concerned.
Their school is owned by a corrupt New York hedge-fund operator Hinds Rackley, who also happens to own a bank specializing in student loans, and connected with various law firms. He is a billionaire and using thousands of students to bankroll his lifestyle. A scam. However, what will they do with this information? Who will believe them?
They are in their third year and the $$$ and interest are mounting daily. Drowning in debt, pressures from debt collectors, and no promise of a job, they set out on a dangerous course to try and outsmart the conman. They will never be able to repay this debt.
Gordy cannot take it anymore. After he is gone, they decide they will honor him by fighting back the best way they can to survive.
Taking a page from SUITS, (even though I think Michael Ross is smarter); they decide they will practice law without a law degree. Going rogue is a little difficult when they do not have the funds to make this work, or will they?
Will they be able to pull off their own scam to con a con, (David vs. Goliath) without being sent to prison before they are found out? In the meantime, who will bring down the bigger scam that drove them to desperate measures?
With only Mark, Todd, and Zola remaining, they will have to stay one step ahead of the impending danger, in order to beat the system.
Mixed with legal-drama, suspense, action, and humor, THE ROOSTER BAR uncovers greed, conspiracies and throws Zola’s family issues (deportation) for added conflict in this compelling
"More than 44 million Americans who have borrowed money to pay for college owe over $1.4 trillion in student loan debt."
More fact than fiction — we are well aware, the significant number of real-life American millennials duped by unscrupulous banks and businesses today, is astounding.
I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Ari Fliakos for an entertaining listening experience.
The entire time I was reading/listening kept thinking about Roosters, the popular gay bar here in West Palm Beach, FL with the Best Drag Show and has been around for over 30 yrs.
Love the Cover and the Title!
JDCMustReadBooks
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Top 20 Must Read Books Coming Nov 2017
Click on Image above to go to My Main Blog JDCMustReadBooks
Tags: Fiction, mystery, suspense, thriller, Will Robie, action, crime
End Game
Will Robie Series
By: David Baldacci
ISBN: 1455586609
Publisher: Grand Central
Publication Date: 11/14/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: TBR (Pre-ordered)
Lethal government assassin Will Robie returns in David Baldacci's #1 New York Times bestselling series.
Will Robie returns home from a mission overseas to discover that his boss--codenamed Blue Man--has vanished. His last known location was in remote Colorado, and there have been no other sightings or communications since. But there is violence brewing in this small town, and Robie and his sometime-partner Jessica Reel will be lucky if they make it out alive, with or without Blue Man... Read More
Tags: Jack Reacher, crime fiction, war & military, adventure, action, suspense, mystery
The Midnight Line
Jack Reacher #22
By: Lee Child
ISBN: 0399593489
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication Date: 11/7/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: TBR
#1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Child returns with a gripping new powerhouse thriller featuring Jack Reacher, “one of this century’s most original, tantalizing pop-fiction heroes” (The Washington Post).
Reacher takes a stroll through a small Wisconsin town and sees a class ring in a pawn shop window: West Point 2005. A tough year to graduate: Iraq, then Afghanistan. The ring is tiny, for a woman, and it has her initials engraved on the inside. Reacher wonders what unlucky circumstance made her give up something she earned over four hard years. He decides to find out. And find the woman. And return her ring. Why not?
So begins a harrowing journey that takes Reacher through the upper Midwest, from a lowlife bar on the sad side of small town to a dirt-blown crossroads in the middle of nowhere, encountering bikers, cops, crooks, muscle, and a missing persons PI who wears a suit and a tie in the Wyoming wilderness.
The deeper Reacher digs, and the more he learns, the more dangerous the terrain becomes. Turns out the ring was just a small link in a far darker chain. Powerful forces are guarding a vast criminal enterprise. Some lines should never be crossed. But then, neither should Reacher. Read More
Tags: Jane Hawk, Psychological thriller, suspense, mystery, action, adventure, fiction
The Whispering Room
A Jane Hawk Novel #2
By: Dean Koontz
ISBN: 9780345546807
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: 11/21/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 4 Stars
Jane Hawk—fiction’s most relentless, resourceful, stunning new heroine—continues her battle against a murderous conspiracy in the riveting sequel to The Silent Corner.
“No time to delay. Do what you were born to do. Fame will be yours when you do this.”
These are the words that ring in the mind of mild-mannered, beloved schoolteacher Cora Gundersun—just before she takes her own life, and many others’, in a shocking act of carnage. When the disturbing contents of her secret journal are discovered, it seems certain that she must have been insane. But Jane Hawk knows better.
In the wake of her husband’s inexplicable suicide—and the equally mysterious deaths of scores of other exemplary individuals—Jane picks up the trail of a secret cabal of powerful players who think themselves above the law and beyond punishment. But the ruthless people bent on hijacking America’s future for their own monstrous ends never banked on a highly trained FBI agent willing to go rogue—and become the nation’s most wanted fugitive—in order to derail their insidious plans to gain absolute power with a terrifying technological breakthrough.
Driven by love for her lost husband and by fear for the five-year-old son she has sent into hiding, Jane Hawk has become an unstoppable predator. Those she is hunting will have nowhere to run when her shadow falls across them. Read More
Tags: Humor, Women's Fiction, mystery, suspense, Women Sleuths, Stephanie Plum
Hardcore Twenty Four
Stephanie Plum #24
By: Janet Evanovich
ISBN: 0399179194
Publisher: Putnam
Publication Date: 11/14/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: TBR (Pre-Ordered)
Janet Evanovich’s #1 New York Times bestselling sensation Stephanie Plum returns in her latest captivating thriller where mutilated corpses litter the streets of New Jersey.
Trouble comes in bunches for Stephanie Plum. First, professional grave robber and semi-professional loon, Simon Diggery, won’t let her take him in until she agrees to care for his boa constrictor, Ethel. Stephanie’s main qualification for babysitting an extremely large snake is that she owns a stun gun--whether that’s for use on the wandering serpent or the petrified neighbors remains to be seen.
Events take a dark turn when headless bodies start appearing across town. At first, it’s just corpses from a funeral home and the morgue that have had the heads removed. But when a homeless man is murdered and dumped behind a church Stephanie knows that she’s the only one with a prayer of catching this killer.
If all that’s not enough, Diesel’s back in town. The 6-foot-tall, blonde-haired hunk is a man who accepts no limits--that includes locked doors, closed windows and underwear. Trenton’s hottest cop, Joe Morelli isn’t pleased at this unexpected arrival nor is Ranger, the high-powered security consultant who has his own plans for Stephanie.
As usual Jersey’s favorite bounty hunter is stuck in the middle with more questions than answers. What’s the deal with Grandma Mazur’s latest online paramour? Who is behind the startling epidemic of mutilated corpses? And is the enigmatic Diesel’s sudden appearance a coincidence or the cause of recent deadly events? Read More
Tags: Crime fiction, thriller, suspense, mystery, cop procedural, Florida
Killing Pace
ISBN: 9781250120557
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: 11/21/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
“Engrossing...It’s a tribute to criminal lawyer Schofield’s persuasive powers that his characters, procedural elements, and atmosphere are convincing enough to keep those pages turning without logic getting in the way.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) on Time of Departure
In Killing Pace, Douglas Schofield, author of Time of Departure and Storm Rising, delivers a heart-pounding tale set in Everglades City, Florida and Sicily, Italy with three important questions: Where am I?... How did I get here?... and most importantly… Who am I?
It’s been two months since Lisa Green crawled barefoot and bleeding out of a terrible car accident. Her boyfriend Roland has been nursing her back to health under close watch. Lisa has amnesia. They both know that, but only Lisa knows that she hasn’t lost her ability to reason. And reason tells her that she is not Roland’s girlfriend. She is his prisoner. Gradually, Lisa remembers training and skills that she didn’t know she had and is able to make her escape. When a sheriff’s deputy finds her, she tells him she wants to report a missing person: herself.
What follows is a high-octane international chase, which involves US Border Control, the Sicilian mafia, and a shadowy organization specializing in trafficking infants taken from Syrian refugees and made available for adoption to wealthy American couples. Lisa, whose real name is Laura Pace, must figure out who she can trust and how to stay alive. Read More
Tags: Southern, coming-of-age, literary, women's fiction, family life, Kentucky
The Sisters of Glass Ferry
ISBN: 1496709551
Publisher: Kensington
Publication Date: 11/29/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: Currently Reading (ARC)
"An emotionally resonant tale of secrets, regret, and absolution that held me spellbound. You simply have to read it.” —Sara Gruen, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Water for Elephants
Spanning several decades and written in an authentic voice both lyrical and wise, The Sisters of Glass Ferry is a haunting novel about small-town Southern secrets, loss and atonement, and the unbreakable bond between siblings.
Glass Ferry, Kentucky, is bourbon country. Whiskey has been a way of life for generations, enabling families to provide and survive even in the darkest times. Flannery Butler’s daddy, Beauregard “Honey Bee” Butler, was known for making some of the best whiskey in the state, aged in barrels he’d take by boat up and down the Kentucky River until the rocking waters turned the spirits smooth and golden. Flannery is the only person Honey Bee ever entrusted with his recipes before he passed on, swearing her to secrecy as he did so.
But Flannery is harboring other secrets too, about her twin sister Patsy, older by eight minutes and pretty in a way Flannery knows she’ll never be. Then comes the prom night when Patsy—wearing a yellow chiffon dress and the family pearls—disappears along with her date. Every succeeding year on the twins’ birthday, Flannery’s mother bakes a strawberry cake, convinced that this is the day Patsy will finally come home. But it will be two tumultuous decades until the muddy river yields a clue about what happened that night, compelling Flannery to confront the truth about her sleepy town, her family’s past, and the choices she and those closest to her have made in the name of love and retribution . . . Read More
Tags: Domestic, Family Life, Suspense, Women's Fiction
Little Broken Things
By: Nichole Baart
ISBN: 1501133608
Publisher: Atria
Publication Date: 11/21/2017
Format: Paperback
My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC)
An engrossing and suspenseful novel for fans of Liane Moriarty and Amy Hatvany about an affluent suburban family whose carefully constructed facade starts to come apart with the unexpected arrival of an endangered young girl.
I have something for you. When Quinn Basset receives that cryptic text message from her older sister Nora, she doesn’t think much of it. They haven’t seen each other in nearly a year and thanks to Nora’s fierce aloofness, their relationship consists mostly of infrequent phone calls and an occasional email or text. But when a haunted Nora shows up on Quinn’s doorstep just hours later, a chain reaction is set into motion that will change both of their lives forever.
Nora’s “something” is more shocking than Quinn could have ever imagined: a little girl, cowering, wide-eyed, and tight-lipped. Nora hands her over to Quinn with instructions to keep her safe, and not to utter a word about the child to anyone, especially not their buttoned-up mother who seems determined to pretend everything is perfect. But before Quinn can ask even one of the million questions swirling around her head, Nora disappears, and Quinn finds herself the unlikely caretaker of a girl introduced simply as Lucy.
While Quinn struggles to honor her sister’s desperate request and care for the lost, scared Lucy, she fears that Nora may have gotten involved in something way over her head—something that will threaten them all. But Quinn’s worries are nothing compared to the firestorm that Nora is facing. It’s a matter of life and death, of family and freedom, and ultimately, about the lengths a sister will go to protect the ones she loves. Read More '
Tags: Domestic, Contemporary, Women's Fiction
Left to Chance
By: Amy Sue Nathan
ISBN: 9781250091116
Publisher: St Martin's Press
Publication Date: 11/21/2017
Format: Paperback
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
No one knows why Teddi Lerner left her hometown, but everyone knows why she’s back.
Twelve-year-old Shayna— talented, persistent, and adorable—persuaded "Aunt Tee" to return to Chance, Ohio, to photograph her father’s wedding. Even though it's been six years since Shay's mother, Celia, died, Teddi can hardly bear the thought of her best friend's husband marrying someone else. But Teddi’s bond with Shay is stronger than the hurt.
Teddi knows it’s time to face the consequences of her hasty retreat from family, friends, and, her old flame, but when she looks through her viewfinder, nothing in her small town looks the same. That’s when she truly sees the hurt she's caused and—maybe—how to fix it.
After the man she once loved accuses Teddi of forgetting Celia, Teddi finally admits why she ran away, and the guilt she’s carried with her. As Teddi relinquishes the distance that kept her safe, she’ll discover surprising truths about the people she left behind, and herself. And she'll finally see what she overlooked all along. Read More
A Bella Flora Christmas
Ten Beach Road Novella
By: Wendy Wax
ASIN: B0719NWD4S
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: 11/7/2017
Format: Kindle
My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC)
The ladies of Ten Beach Road are home for the holidays in this brand-new novella.
Although their lives have changed since their first desperate renovation of Bella Flora, friends Madeline, Avery, and Nicole have always been there for each other. Now they're returning to Bella Flora for Christmas—where Maddie’s daughter Kyra isn’t feeling particularly celebratory.
Kyra was hoping for a peaceful holiday at Bella Flora—a last gathering before a wealthy, mystery tenant moves into the home she’s been forced to rent out. Instead, she must make a life altering decision by New Year’s -- a decision that becomes even more difficult when unexpected guests arrive at Ten Beach Road on Christmas Eve. Now Kyra, Maddie, Avery and Nikki will need to pull together to secure Bella Flora’s future, as well as their own. Read More
Tags: Domestic life, family life, literary, women's fiction
The Story of Arthur Truluv
By: Elizabeth Berg
ISBN: 1400069904
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: 11/21/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars (ARC)
An emotionally powerful novel about three people who each lose the one they love most, only to find second chances where they least expect them.
“Fans of Meg Wolitzer, Emma Straub, or [Elizabeth] Berg’s previous novels will appreciate the richly complex characters and clear prose. Redemptive without being maudlin, this story of two misfits lucky to have found one another will tug at readers’ heartstrings.”—Booklist
For the past six months, Arthur Moses’s days have looked the same: He tends to his rose garden and to Gordon, his cat, then rides the bus to the cemetery to visit his beloved late wife for lunch. Sometimes in the evening he’ll take a walk and stop to chat with his nosy neighbor, Lucille. It’s a quiet routine not entirely without its joys. The last thing Arthur would imagine is for one unlikely encounter to utterly transform his life.
Eighteen-year-old Maddy Harris is an introspective girl who often comes to the cemetery to escape the other kids at school and a life of loss. She’s seen Arthur sitting there alone, and one afternoon she joins him—a gesture that begins a surprising friendship between two lonely souls. Moved by Arthur’s kindness and devotion, Maddy gives him the nickname “Truluv.” As Arthur’s neighbor Lucille moves into their orbit, the unlikely trio bands together, helping one another, through heartache and hardships, to rediscover their own potential to start anew.
Wonderfully written and full of profound observations about life, The Story of Arthur Truluv is a beautiful and moving novel of compassion in the face of loss, of the small acts that turn friends into family, and of the possibilities to achieve happiness at any age. Read More
Tags: Psychologically thriller, suspense, mystery, women's fiction, domestic suspense
Poison
ISBN: 9781250085290
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: 11/21/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
Cass and Ryan Connor have achieved family nirvana. With three kids between them, a cat and a yard, a home they built and feathered, they seem to have the Modern Family dream. Their family, including Cass' two children from previous relationships, has recently moved to Seattle—a new start for their new lives. Cass and Ryan have stable, successful careers, and they are happy. But trouble begins almost imperceptibly.
First with small omissions and white lies that happen daily in any marital bedroom. They seem insignificant, but they are quickly followed by a series of denials and feints that mushroom and then cyclone in menace.
With life-or-death stakes and irreversible consequences, Poison is a chilling and irresistible reminder that the closest bond designed to protect and provide for each other and for children can change in a minute. Read More
Tags: Contemporary, historical fiction, mystery, women's fiction, Southern
Tangled Mercy
By: Joy Jordan-Lake
ASIN: B01M7XPCYE
Publisher: Lake Union
Publication Date: 11/1/2017
Format: Kindle
My Rating: 5 Stars
Told in alternating tales at once haunting and redemptive, A Tangled Mercy is a quintessentially American epic rooted in heartbreaking true events examining the harrowing depths of human brutality and betrayal, and our enduring hope for freedom and forgiveness.
After the sudden death of her troubled mother, struggling Harvard grad student Kate Drayton walks out on her lecture—and her entire New England life. Haunted by unanswered questions and her own uncertain future, she flees to Charleston, South Carolina, the place where her parents met, convinced it holds the key to understanding her fractured family and saving her career in academia. Kate is determined to unearth groundbreaking information on a failed 1822 slave revolt—the subject of her mother’s own research.
Nearly two centuries earlier, Tom Russell, a gifted blacksmith and slave, grappled with a terrible choice: arm the uprising spearheaded by members of the fiercely independent African Methodist Episcopal Church or keep his own neck out of the noose and protect the woman he loves.
Kate’s attempts to discover what drove her mother’s dangerous obsession with Charleston’s tumultuous history are derailed by a horrific massacre in the very same landmark church. In the unimaginable aftermath, Kate discovers a family she never knew existed as the city unites with a powerful message of hope and forgiveness for the world.
Tags: Crime Fiction, Murder, Suspense, Historical
The Unclaimed Victim
By: D.M. Pulley
ISBN: 1542046432
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: 11/14/2017
Format: Paperback
My Rating: TBR (ARC)
In 1938, at the height of the Great Depression, a madman hunts his victims through the hobo jungles of Cleveland, terrorizing the city.
Ethel Harding, a prostitute struggling to survive both the cold streets and the Torso Killer, takes refuge with a devout missionary sect—only to find that its righteous facade conceals the darkest of secrets.
Sixty years later, the police find the butchered body of Alfred Wiley in the woods. But before his daughter, Kris, can even identify the remains, things he never told her begin to surface one by one—a mysterious private eye who’d been tracking him, an eerie website devoted to the unsolved “Torso” murders, missing archives, stolen books, and an abandoned Bible factory harboring vagrants. The more she learns about her father’s obsession with the Torso Killer, the more Alfred’s death appears to be related, pulling Kris further into Cleveland’s hellish past.
Living decades apart, Ethel and Kris must unravel the truth behind the city’s most notorious serial killer…or die trying. Read More
Tags:Teens, death & dying, social & family issues, domestic, mystery, romantic, suspense
Fragments of the Lost
By: Megan Miranda
ISBN: 0399556729
Publisher: Crown
Publication Date:11/14/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: TBR
From the New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls and The Perfect Stranger comes a suspenseful psychological mystery about one girl's search to uncover the truth behind her ex-boyfriend's death. Perfect for fans of We Were Liars and 13 Reasons Why.
Jessa Whitworth knew she didn't belong in her ex-boyfriend Caleb's room. But she couldn't deny that she was everywhere--in his photos, his neatly folded T-shirts, even the butterfly necklace in his jeans pocket . . . the one she gave him for safekeeping on that day.
His mother asked her to pack up his things--even though she blames Jessa for his accident. How could she say no? And maybe, just maybe, it will help her work through the guilt she feels about their final moments together.
But as Jessa begins to box up the pieces of Caleb's life, they trigger memories that make Jessa realize their past relationship may not be exactly as she remembered. And she starts to question whether she really knew Caleb at all.
Each fragment of his life reveals a new clue that propels Jessa to search for the truth about Caleb's accident. What really happened on the storm-swept bridge? Read More
Tags: Psychological thriller, suspense, mystery, cop procedural, crime thriller
Disturbed
By: Jennifer Jaynes
ISBN: 1542046386
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Publication Date: 11/7/2017
Format: Paperback
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
A captivating psychological thriller from #1 USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Jaynes.
On Halloween night five years ago, Chelsea Dutton’s college roommates were viciously stabbed to death, and Chelsea was critically injured. She was found hiding in her apartment’s bathtub, barely clinging to life.
With only fragments of shattered memory, she’s been trying her best to move past the nightmares ever since. Now in Boston, she lives a somewhat reclusive life, working from home as a medical transcriptionist and bingeing on mindless television shows.
She can’t shake the fear that her attacker is out there, waiting to finish what he started, and Elizabeth, a nurse she met after the murders, is the only person she can trust.
When someone from her past reemerges, Chelsea starts receiving disturbing messages and worries that her every move is being watched. As the messages mount and her memories begin to return, she’s led to a very terrifying and lonely place. But she needn’t be afraid. She won’t be alone there for long.
Tags: Psychological thriller, crime, mystery, suspense
Mother
By: S.E. Lynes
ISBN: 9781786812209
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 11/22/2017
Format: e-book
My Rating: TBR (ARC)
Christopher would never hurt anyone. Not intentionally. Even after everything that’s happened I still believe that…
Christopher Harris is a lonely boy. A boy who has never fitted in to his family. Who has always felt something was missing from his life.
Until one day, when he discovers a suitcase in his family’s attic. And a secret about his mother that changes everything...
Mother will hold you breathless until the very last page and leave you reeling. Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train, The Sister and Apple Tree Yard. Read More
Tags: Author, memoir, travel, arts, photography, non-fiction, historical, coastal, Souther, South Atlantic, small town
A Small Town Love Story: Colonial Beach, Virginia
By: Sherryl Woods
ISBN: 0778360989
Publisher: MIRA
Pub Date: 11/14/2017
Format: Paperback
My Rating: TBR (Pre-Ordered)
Part memoir, part oral history, #1 New York Times bestselling author Sherryl Woods gives us a rare and intimate look at Colonial Beach, Virginia.
Rich in narrative history and local color, A Small Town Love Story: Colonial Beach, Virginia is an homage to the town of Sherryl Woods’s summers, a place that stole her heart long ago and provided the basis for the many fictional small towns in her bestselling novels.
True to Woods’s signature style of focusing on characters who are at the center of their communities, here she has woven together the stories of the very real people who helped shape this seaside Virginia town. She takes us back to the days of her own family gatherings, artfully capturing the unique essence of Colonial Beach and making us yearn for small-town life.
Woods’s own memories frame the true stories she features—from the unique history of Colonial Beach itself to some firsthand accounts of the Oyster Wars that once consumed the community, to the stories of neighborhood merchants who made it a point to know just about every customer by name. From farmers to restauranteurs and hoteliers, from pastors to librarians and military folk, Woods’s research and interviews give life to the personalities of a very special place. Read More
Tags: Religion & Spirituality, Worship & Devotion, Inspirational, Christian Books & Bibles, self-help, Christian living, devotional, humor, entertainment, memoir, biography, movies, Southern
Higher Is Waiting
By: Tyler Perry
ISBN: 9780812989342
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: 11/14/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars + (ARC)
Biographies & Memoirs, Christian
An intimate book of inspiration by one of the great cultural icons of our time.
Higher Is Waiting is a spiritual guidebook, a collection of teachings culled from the experiences of a lifetime, meant to inspire readers to climb higher in their own lives and pull themselves up to a better, more fulfilling place. In this intimate book, Tyler Perry writes of how his faith has sustained him in hard times, centered him in good times, and enriched his life.
Beginning with his earliest memories of growing up a shy boy in New Orleans, Perry recalls the moments of grace and beauty in a childhood marked by brutality, deprivation, and fear. With tenderness he sketches portraits of the people who sustained him and taught him indelible lessons about integrity, trust in God, and the power of forgiveness: his aunt Mae, who cared for her grandfather, who was born a slave, and sewed quilts that told a story of generations; Mr. Butler, a blind man of remarkable dignity and elegance, who sold penny candies on a street corner; and his beloved mother, Maxine, who endured abuse, financial hardship, and the daily injustices of growing up in the Jim Crow South yet whose fierce love for her son burned bright and never dimmed. Perry writes of how he nurtured his dreams and discovered solace in nature, and of his resolute determination to reach ever higher.
Perry vividly and movingly describes his growing awareness of God’s presence in his life, how he learned to tune in to His voice, to persevere through hard times, and to choose faith over fear. Here he is: the devoted son, the loving father, the steadfast friend, the naturalist, the philanthropist, the creative spirit—a man whose life lessons and insights into scripture are a gift offered with generosity, humility, and love. Read More
Tags: Christian Books & Bibles, Literature & Fiction, Romance, Western & Frontier, Baxter family, Religious & Inspirational, Romance, Family Life, Domestic
In This Moment
By: Karen Kingsbury
ISBN: 9781451687620
Publisher: Howard Books
Publication Date: 11/7/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury comes a brand-new Baxter Family novel about a beloved high school principal who starts a Bible Study to improve the lives of his struggling students, only to become the national focus of a controversial lawsuit.
Hamilton High Principal Wendell Quinn is tired of the violence, drug abuse, teen pregnancies, and low expectations at his Indianapolis school. A single father of four, Quinn is a Christian and a family man. He wants to see change in his community, so he starts a voluntary after-school Bible Study and prayer program. He knows he is risking his job by leading the program, but the high turnout at every meeting encourages him.
A year later, violence and gang activity are down, test scores are up, and drug use and teen pregnancy have plummeted. The program is clearly working—until one parent calls the press. Now Quinn faces a lawsuit that could ruin everything.
With a storm of national attention and criticism, Quinn is at a crossroads—he must choose whether to cave in and shut down the program or stand up for himself and his students. The battle comes with a high cost, and Quinn wants just one attorney on his side for this fight: Luke Baxter. In This Moment is an inspiring, relevant story about the nuances of religious freedom and how a group of determined people just might restore the meaning of faith in today’s culture. Read More
Tags: Holidays, Christmas, Christian, Religious, Inspirational
The Noel Diary
The Noel Collection
ISBN: 1501172034
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date:11/7/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: TBR
In this new holiday-themed novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Mistletoe Promise and The Walk, a man receives the best Christmas present he could ask for: the chance to re-write the past.
Jason Chercher is not doing well in love or life. Just two weeks after his wife leaves him he receives a phone call that his estranged mother has passed away, days before Christmas—leaving her home and all her belongings to him. Frankly, he would like to see everything just burned. But curiosity about his past and anxiety about his future fuels him to make the drive from Salt Lake City to her home in Medford, Oregon. Maybe cleaning out her house will be slightly less depressing than spending the holidays, alone, watching re-runs of Christmas classics.
While going through her things he comes upon her diary and the record of his childhood. He learns that his mother suffered from severe depression and during that difficult time he was taken care of by a young, unwed mother who was living with his family. The only clue he has to the woman’s identity is her name: Noel, which is an eerily fitting discovery on Christmas Eve. As Jason reads the diary he begins to uncover the source of his pain in relationships and understand that what he believed to be the truth of his past was actually a lie. That’s when he begins a journey to find Noel, wondering if she might hold the truth he needs to bring him peace and love. Read More
Get ready for the holiday season with a collection of must-read books for
every reader.
From fiction: crime, suspense, southern gothic, mystery, psychological, cop procedural,
action, domestic suspense to:
Holiday humor, Christmas, nostalgia, historic, women's fiction, and inspirational. Non-fiction: Christian, inspirational, travel, memoirs, and biographies.
Start shopping early and pre-order now!
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3
Camino Island
By: John Grisham
ISBN: 978-0385543026
Publisher: Doubleday
Publication Date: 6/6/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 4 Stars
John Grisham returns following The Whistler landing on my Top Books of 2016 to (my Sunshine state, Florida) a small island beach town. Steering away from his typical legal thrillers and courtroom scenes, with CAMINO ISLAND — thieves, priceless manuscripts, a heist, rare books, bookstores, and writers.
A little trouble in paradise. . .
A sophisticated gang of thieves pulls off a daring heist with a campus shooting that causes widespread panic. A secure vault deep below Princeton University’s Firestone Library containing. (F. Scott Fitzgerald’s manuscripts). Princeton has insured it for twenty-five million dollars.
As the FBI and a secret underground agency hunt them down, a young writer embarks on her own investigation into a prominent bookseller who is believed to have the precious documents.
Mercer Mann grew up spending summers on Florida’s Camino Island, where the mysterious insurance company representative, believes the stolen manuscripts are located.
Bruce has a popular and successful bookstore in the resort laid back town on Camino Island and deals in rare books. However, there is much more behind the storefront. He occasionally deals in the black market of stolen books and manuscripts.
Mercer Mann is a writer and in debt with plenty of student loans. She jumps at the chance when approached mysteriously about going undercover. She will be able to pay off her debt. She must learn secrets. Of course, she loves digging deep in the literary world, with a little sleuthing.
She is to get the goods on Bruce. Did Bruce who pulled off the literary crime of the century? Mann may not be the only one trying to get the goods. Will she take one for the team?
If you love “books about books”, rare bookshops, and enjoy revisiting the past with literary icons, like F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hemingway, mixed in with some booze (Key West style), a heist, and humor —this one is for you.
A multilayered game of cat-and-mouse with mystery, suspense, and ample entertainment.
I enjoy how Grisham is mixing things up a bit with his last few books. I listened to the audiobook and January LaVoyadded the right spice with flair. Listen to Clip.
A huge Grisham fan — always a treat to read anything he pens. I read this book back in the summer; however, failed to post my review at that time.
Grisham conceived of the subject with his wife on a lengthy road trip to Florida when they discussed a work incorporating "stolen books, stolen manuscripts, bookstores, and booksellers.
No need to worry, legal thriller fans. (my favorite genre) . . . I just finished The Rooster Bar Grisham's 25th legal thriller, where he explores the world of for-profit law schools through a group of students who learn their school is owned by a shady hedge fund operator — inspired by a true story.These law students are also in deep debt, with no way out and no job opportunities — so they devise a scheme to "con a con."
Highly Recommend both books.
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The Ghostwriter
By: Alessandra Torre
ISBN: 1940941946
Publisher: DCA
Publication Date:10/2/2017
Format: Paperback
My Rating: 5 Stars ++
WOW! THE GHOSTWRITER is the author's best yet!
Alessandra Torre has found her groove! Please, more of this genre-contemporary fiction. (Listen to your character's advice). A ripping riveting drama, domestic suspense, thriller, literary fiction, plus much more.
A perfect husband. A perfect daughter. A perfect lie. Simon is gone. Bethany is gone. She is alone.
Bestselling romance author, Helena Ross (age 32) is dying.Cancer. She has three months to live. She has no friends and no family to speak of. An empty house.
“I have only this countdown, a dark ominous chant of days, sunrises and sunsets before my body gives up and my mind shuts down.”
She has a story which needs to be told. The truth. One which she has avoided for the last four years.
Helena does not have decades. She does not have years. Three months. The deadline is the tightest she has ever faced. Three months to write a story that deserves years.
. . . "I've always been a liar. Maybe that's why writing came so naturally. A thousand lies, disguised in a character's voice, bits of my life sprinkled through the pages, the perfect camouflage for whatever it is I feel the urge to say."
She notifies Kate, her agent of thirteen years she is retiring. No more outstanding deadlines. She wants to walk away from all her commitments. She wants to write a new book with a different editor. The hottest editor in publishing.
"There is something soothing about the act of writing, a drug that lures you into another world, but then forgets to stop, and sometimes carries you all of the way into sleepdom."
This editor does not do romance. Helena has no outline. Everyone will need to trust her.
She needs a ghostwriter.
Not just any ghostwriter. She wants her arch-enemy, Marka Vantly (pen name). International bestselling author. She hates her. She would almost rather die than ask her. Helena needs her. She is terrified of her.
This will be no normal manuscript. Once the story is written it will be real. She will be exposed. Two thousand words a day. One million dollars.
An impossible task. However, Helena is determined. She knows the writer who writes smut; deep down, a highly talented author and one which will be able to help write her story.
However, she never thought that possibly contemporary fiction with heart, may not sell as well as the smut. She cannot imagine an author hating the novels they spend months writing. Ones they do not respect.
Kate, nor anyone would understand why this book was so important. The most critical book of her career. She cannot die with this book unwritten. Word count is her everything.The truths buried among her bones. It needs to come out. The real truth.
She is fearful of how her final novel will come across. She is terrified, yet almost giddy with liberation. Soon her final story will come out, and everyone will know the truth. Life and death.
However, her ghostwriter may prove to be the one person to get her through her dying days. In the process, they may learn something from one another. Her agent may see a side of her she has never seen.
Instead of "entertaining" like her usual books. This final book would be both her punishment and her absolution.
Loved the Epilogue!
The relationship with THE GHOSTWRITER is as equally powerful as Helena's story. Raw, emotional, heart wrenching, and touching - we hear from Kate, Helena, and Mark’s POV.
Intense, riveting, and suspenseful. Readers will not know how or why the deaths occurred until later in the book, as her story unravels — writing each chapter and hands off to THE GHOSTWRITER. You know Helena carries guilt. She has pushed everyone away, until now.
Get out the Kleenex. "How quickly a life can change."
Torre is dynamite! The writing is superb. I would not change "one" word. A must-read for every writer, author, publicist, and reader out there today.
THE GHOSTWRITER is on my Top Books of 2017!. Readers, you will have a new respect for authors. I cannot imagine how difficult this was to write.
Buy this book now! You will not be able to put it down. Award-winning. A big turning point for this author. If this is a beta test, then scratch the test and go for it, Torre. Top of the chart's quality. This is my kind of book and hits all the spots. This is the "real deal" and she is a master! Ultimately no sleep, but it was worth every single word.
Poignant, beautifully written, lyrical, raw, soul-searching, suspenseful, emotional, and heartbreaking.
I was hanging on every word. Tried to go to bed about 4 am and could not sleep thinking about Helena. Had to know what happened. The suspense and intensity . . . so back up, espresso in hand and dove back in until the final heart-pounding conclusion. This is a true test of how absorbing a great novel should be.
At 90% this scene was intense. Readers will be dying to know the circumstances surrounding Simon and Bethany. I bookmarked so many pages; it is one of the most highlighted books I have ever read. THE GHOSTWRITER would be perfect for a TV mini-series.
Younger TV Series would love this one (could you imagine??) . . . Ideal for book clubs and further discussions. I am not an erotica or romance fan; however, I am a lover of this genre. Hits on all cylinders. The author has a God-given talent for intimate words and gut-wrenching feelings of the heart.
I loved the Deanna Madden (suspense-psychological thriller) series; however, THE GHOSTWRITER to me is so far beyond her other books, and really allows the author to really showcase her writing. She shines without the sex, erotica, romance, and violence. THE GHOSTWRITER opens up an entirely new reader base for her (more my style).
For fans of Jo Jo Moyes, Colleen Hoover, Liane Moriarty, Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Weiner, Amy Hatvany, and Renee Carlino . . . with Torre's unique unstoppable witty style.
For some reason, I am strongly reminded of Blake Crouch's Good Behavior. Even though different, two unlikely souls find strength, clarity, and redemption in one another. A huge Mark fan!
OMG . . . I have Helena's list on my door too— for the last two years. Laminated and regular. (too funny).
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Silent Lies
By: Kathryn Croft
ASIN: B074YGZTPB
Publisher: Bookouture
Publication Date: 10/25/2017
Format: Kindle
My Rating: 4 Stars (ARC)
Kathryn Croft returns following While You Were Sleeping (2016) with SILENT LIES — a twisty psychological thriller of big secrets and silent lies, with an ending you do not see coming.
As the novel opens to five years earlier, at a funeral. Zach. The husband of Mia and father of Freya. This is no normal funeral. There are angry people. A monster. Suicide. They were married for ten years.
People are asking her if she knew what her husband was up to? How could she have comprehended what he was capable of? She never really knew the man she married.
Presently we hear from Mia Hamilton. Her daughter now is seven years old. Mia owns a counseling business and is dating Will. He would like for them to move in together. She is not ready. He is the kindest man she could ever meet and so good with Freya.
She thinks someone is watching her. Her world as she knows will never be the same.
Mia is meeting a client, Alison Cummings (a young woman). She works from her home office. However, she tells Mia that her husband did not kill himself. Alison is Josie’s former roommate and Alison’s partner is Dominic Bradford. She says he is a violent man.
Alternating from past to present we hear from Josie Carpenter (past) and Mia (present).
Josie was a student of Zachs at the university. Dominic was Zach’s colleague. At the time he never believed Zach was capable of the things people said.
Zach’s parents (Pam and Graham) love their granddaughter and they even like Will. They think it is time for her to move on.
Mia has been unable to tell them for the last five years, that she does not think Zach was innocent. The evidence stacked against him was too compelling to ignore. They think he was just depressed and nothing to do with that girl.
But why would Alison say he did not kill himself, now five years later? Why would Zach risk his life and family for this girl?
Josie supposedly had an affair with her college professor. However, Zach committed suicide while in Josie’s apartment. Or did he? Innocent or guilty of an affair.
Josie disappeared. The police could never determine what happened to her. There was blood. Did Zach kill her, or what really went down that evening?
What does her former roommate Alison know about that night?` What did Zach do to that girl?
Who is telling the truth and who is lying?
Mia has fought so hard to start over and build a new life for herself and her daughter. Now she feels she is getting sucked back into the past. She will not involve Will. She will not allow Alison or Dominic to ruin it for her.
Mia has a strong feeling Alison knows exactly what happened to Josie. Josie is one troubled, messed up gal with a past of horrors; abuse, both verbally and physically. Zach sympathized. Alison and Mia— your feeling will change from the beginning to the ending.
“Who knows what is within us?”
Unreliable narrator (s) and red herrings. A tangled web of deceit and lies. From obsession, jealousy, suspicion, mental illness to justice. The author keeps you guessing until you are not sure if any character is trustworthy. Nothing is as it appears.
Do not ever think you have gotten away with something. Karma is a bitch. The silence and the past will come back to haunt you. You are not safe.
No real likable characters here. Not one of my favorites of Crofts; however, entertaining. Some readers may come away feeling a little cheated or let down while some may like the 360-degree twist.
If you have read Alessandra Torre's The Ghost Writer, you may see a similarity, with a different twist.
A special thank you to Bookouture and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy.
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Lilac Lane
A Chesapeake Shores Novel #14
By: Sherryl Woods
ISBN: 9780778331339
Publisher: MIRA
Publication Date: 10/17/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 4 Stars
Sherryl Woods returns with her popular Chesapeake Shores series following (2015) Willow Brook Road Chesapeake Shores, #13 with LILAC LANE (#14) —From Ireland to Chesapeake Shores – A magical place for healing and a little romance.
This time around we catchup with Moira and Luke O’Brien and their baby girl, Kate. Of course, with Nell and many of the familiar characters and places we love.
Moira is concerned about her mom, Kiera. Her husband Peter’s unexpected death was shocking after her second chance and raising her children on her own. Moria wants her to come and live in Chesapeake.
A steady dose of the O’Briens will restore her spirits. She had wasted years of bitterness and regrets after Moira’s dad left. She had taken a chance on love and now he was gone.
Maybe she could tell her she needs help with the baby, but possibly she can get her a job at the Irish pub, keeping an eye on the chef and making sure he does not stray too far from the proper Irish recipes.
Her mom needed the family. With much persuasion, she agrees to come to charming Chesapeake Shores as a consultant. She can always return to Dublin.
She rents a lovely cottage on Lilac Lane and is feeling good being part of a family. However, soon learns her neighbor is none other than Bryan Laramie, the not so pleasant and annoying chef at the pub, with whom Kiera is constantly at war with.
Moira soon sees the electricity between her mom and Bryan (similar to the relationship between her own relationship with Luke), when they first met.
However, Kiera thinks he is infuriating.
Of course, if you know the O’Briens they never mind their own business and the clan is always meddling to make sure everyone is happy.
Bryan, on the other hand, has his own past. He had enough broken hearts to last a lifetime and was still recovering from this last one.
Then his long-lost daughter shows up and both Bryan and Keira may have more in common than they may know. Plus, as always, there is always a community-wide event to ignite the flames.
With two complex personalities, it was time for the annual Fall Festival Irish Stew cook-off. And this town does nothing better than “stir the pot.”
With some competition, stubbornness, clever planning, Irish recipes, sacrifices, meddling, bets, some risks, and of course a little romance, to demonstrate love conquers all.
If you enjoy heartwarming stories of strong family bonds and authentic characters, Chesapeake Shores will draw you into their world with open arms. For fans of Debbie Macomber, Joanne Demaio, Mariah Stewart, and Susan Wiggs.
LOVE the Chesapeake Shores series (TV series and have read all the books in the series)— among many of her other books. A longtime fan of Sherryl Woods, starting in my younger years (before Goodreads) thru today. I love the idyllic settings, vivid descriptions, and intriguing characters.
Looking forward to hopefully Season 3 since Season 2 just wrapped up. Always look forward to the Sunday show. It makes me want to return to these books and read them for the second time. Sherryl allows you to escape and travel without leaving your home. It is the next best thing to being there. An ah moment.
Many thanks to MIRA and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy. I also listened to the audiobook, narrated by Christina Traister for an engaging listening experience.
In addition, I am very excited about the highly anticipated A Small Town Love Story: Colonial Beach, Virginia Coming Nov 14, 2017, on my Top 20 Books coming Nov. Part memoir, part oral history. The author gives us a rare and intimate look at Colonial Beach, Virginia.
Readers you will want to add this to your library collection and your must-read list.
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 - Sherryl Woods)
Before We Were Yours
By: Lisa Wingate
ISBN: 9780425284681
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: 6/6/2017
Format: Hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars +++
Master storyteller, Lisa Wingate returns following her heartwarming Carolina Series The Sea Keeper's Daughters with her best yet, BEFORE WE WERE YOURS Top Books of 2017— A powerful story within a story inspired by one of American’s most horrific real-life adoption scandals. (stunning front cover)!
A haunting, beautifully written and emotional story of family, sisters, human connections and the strong bonds of love. From good versus evil, deeply-buried secrets, and injustice, to triumph in the face of adversity.
With two storylines, two families generations apart— the bridge between past and present. Before We Were Yoursalternates between the historical story of the Foss Children and the modern-day story of Avery Stafford.
Present day: We meet Avery Stafford. 30 years-old, graduated top of her class from Columbia Law and works for US attorney’s office. A successful career as a federal prosecutor, a fiance’ and an upcoming wedding.
She returns home to South Carolina to help her father, a high-profile politician. He is up for re-election and has some health problems (cancer) and undergoing chemo. Of course, he wants Avery to step into his shoes with a political career.
Avery’s grandmother, Judy is a ghost of her former self. They are keeping it from the media due to the fact they have moved her to an upscale luxury facility. They are currently dealing with a scandal of wrongful death and abuse cases involving eldercare, so they do not want people pointing fingers. Of course, the decision to move to her this facility was not political—her doctor recommended.
They are heartsick about her cruel descent into dementia. Before they moved her to the nursing home, she escaped her caretaker and staff and was found wandering at a business complex near a mall where she formerly shopped. Ironically, since she cannot even remember their names.
While touring on the nursing homes (not as luxurious as Judy's), Avery encounters a woman. She calls Avery, Fern. The nurse called the woman, May Crandall.
Through the mind and voice of May, she has triggers from the past. She thinks of Queenie her mother and Camellia. Thinking back to the Mississippi riverbank to Memphis. The night there was no returning.
Past: Memphis 1939. A twelve-year-old girl Rill. She lives on a riverboat and helps take care of her four young siblings. Life is difficult. However, there are complications during the birth at the hospital and the children are snatched, while Rill was in charge.
They are thrown into an orphanage. They are told they will be returned to their parents. Rill must keep her siblings together. However, they find evil and something more sinister than they could ever imagine.
“I want a pain that has a beginning and an end, not one that goes on forever and cuts all the way to the bone.”
From past to present, Avery is haunted by this woman in the nursing home. Is there a connection? She had on her grandmother’s bracelet. Her curiosity has been piqued by her sad story. Does this woman May, know her grandmother Judy?
There is no way Avery can let this drop. Secrets from the past. She goes back to her grandmother’s letters and notes.
Who is Trent Turner in Edisto? He does not seem helpful. What is he hiding?
Amidst the suspense and intensity while Avery tries desperately to piece together the mystery of her family’s past, we hear the heartbreaking story of sisters and children taken against their will. Ripped from their biological parents.
A true to life story of Georgia Tann, the director of a Memphis-based adoption organization which basically kidnapped and sold children to wealthy families for many years. Thousands of birth families would never know what became of their children.
“But the love of sisters needs no words. It does not depend on memories, or mementos, or proof. It runs as deep as a heartbeat. It is as ever-present as a pulse.”
If you have read any of Lisa Wingate’s stories, you know she writes of family, love, and deep connections. A master storyteller, her books are thought-provoking, inspiring, emotional, and deeply moving. Her passion shines through as she shares her stories from the heart to her readers.
Normally when reading a dual time timeline story, I find the historical one the most intriguing. However, in this case, both stories are equally as compelling, since the present-day story still revolves around its own past family history.
As in sex and child trafficking today, the abuse and devastation continue to destroy lives and futures of innocent children. The monsters target the poor, single mothers, or those on welfare. In this haunting yet true story of babies and children being kidnapped and abused, molested, and mistreated while waiting for the big payday. Some were stolen from birth and siblings and parent’s lives forever to be ripped apart.
Well-researched, the author offers details as to the number of children who vanished under Georgia Tann’s management range as high as five hundred. Thousands more disappeared into adoptions for profit in which names, birth dates, and birth records were altered to prevent biological families from finding their children. This went on from the 1920s-1950s and was not fully brought to justice until 1996.
From the author: “If there is one overarching lesson to be learned from the Foss children and from the true-life story of the Tennessee Children’s Home Society, it is that babies and children, no matter what corner of the world they hail from, are not commodities, or objects, or blank slates, as Georgia Tann so often represented her wards; they are human beings with histories and needs, and hopes, and dreams of their own.”
Lisa Wingate is at the top of her game. Having read all 8 total works in the Carolina Heirlooms’ series, have been an avid fan of the author’s writing.
However, BEFORE WE WERE YOURS, really showcases her strength to blend both historical with modern-day stories in a powerful way to capture the heart and most intimate feelings of her characters and the dual timelines. Resilience and the power of love.
“The heart never forgets where we belong.”
I had the opportunity of reading this book well before its publication date in June; however, I was dealing with my dad’s illness in North Carolina, his death, funeral, and executor of his estate. Playing catch up with reviews/postings I missed this summer. A special thank you to Random House and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy.
I enjoyed this book so much, purchased the audiobook for my personal library and listened again this past week. Emily Rankin and Catherine Taber are ideal narrators and in sync with Lisa Wingate’s poignant story.
“Do we carry the guilt from the sins of past generations? If so, can we bear the weight of that burden? Trent” ― Lisa Wingate, Before We Were Yours
Highly recommend! If you can only read one book this year, this would be the one. Wingate fully understands the power of story. If this does not win Historic Fiction of the Year, I will be shocked. Ideal for book clubs and further discussions.
If you have not viewed the The Book Club Kit, by Random House— highly recommend, to enhance your reading experience. Well done!
For fans of Charles Martin, Susan Meissner, Kristin Hannah, Sally Hepworth, Nicholas Sparks and Diane Chamberlain.
As the author mentions in an interview, “In the end, both the modern-day and historical characters in Before We Were Yours are willing to risk everything else for one all-important thing—a place to be authentic and people to be authentic with. That’s what I love most about the book.”
Your fans agree. Cannot wait to see what’s next from this talented author. No wonder it still ranks today as #7 Most Read book on Amazon. Totally captivating!
“No matter how much we may love the melody of a bygone day or imagine the song of a future one, we must dance within the music of today, or we will always be out of step, stumbling around in something that doesn’t suit the moment.” ― Lisa Wingate, Before We Were Yours
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Little Secrets
By: Anna Snoekstra
ISBN: 9780778331094
Publisher: MIRA
Publication Date: 10/17/2017
Format: Paperback
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Anna Snoekstra returns following her dark and edgy debut, Only Daughter, with her second psychological suspense thriller, LITTLE SECRETS — an arsonist, a cop, porcelain dolls, a stranger, dark secrets, mystery, and a journalist are all part of a dying town.
Rose Blakey is living in the small town of Colmstock, Australia. a small town. She is tired of the dead-end job at the Eamon’s Tavern Hotel and her dead-end life.
After the car factory shut down the town had quickly lost its sense of purpose. Small enough to have a strong community, but big enough that you could walk down the street without recognizing every person you passed.
Everything and everyone seemed broken and ugly. People were not friendly. Crime was up. People had meth habits. She wanted out. She is a journalist.
The local paper had closed with all the setbacks. She was still on a list for a larger national paper. It had been a wealthy town with its grand buildings. Now cracked and weathered.
The mines closed in the eighties. The newspaper closing, had been the worst for her.
A boy had died. Ben Riley. He had been only thirteen and was brain damaged. He acted like a kid instead of a teen but everyone liked him. His parents owned the local grocery store.
A fire at the courthouse. Bored teens or a psycho? Since the high school had been closed down, the crime was worse.
Then there was Senior Sergent Frank Ghirardello. He was hot for Rose since she started working there. His partner Bazza was a good looking buy. Frank could picture them double dating. Mia, Rose’s friend with Bazza and he with Rose.
She had written about everything including the search for the arsonist. Regardless of the topic, there were endless rejections.
Rose wonders about the mysterious newcomer, Will.
Then someone was leaving porcelain dolls on the doorsteps of houses. Plus the dolls looked like the little girls in the respective home. Creepy.
If she does not get a good paying job, she will never escape this dark town. She was living on borrowed time. Most people in the town had given up, trying to escape. She would not give up on her dreams.
She would write about the “Porcelain Terror in Colmstock.”After all, everyone loved a good mystery. Is there a link to child molesters and pedophiles?
There is also the mum, stepfather, and the younger siblings. If she could learn more about the fire and person behind the dolls, it would help her stories.
Rose gets caught up in the stories. She may be making things worse. She needs to dramatize the stories for flair. The person who had left the dolls was marking his victims. Some monster had her sister.
“Hack journalist wanting their piece of the pie, religious groups looking for a cause, children’s groups trying to find a new level of outrage, they were all here.”
The entire town felt changed, paranoid and suspicious. It was her fault. Did the truth matter?
. . . "People didn’t care about human life like she’d thoughts they did. People cared about purity, they cared when something unexpected happened, something that confirmed the deep-seated fears they already held. They wanted black and white, someone was good or someone was bad and nothing in between."
If something didn’t sound good in a headline, it wasn’t news.
From a bleak remote town pulled down by its economic misfortunes and crime, there is a sense of ongoing claustrophobic darkness infiltrating the town.
Gloom and doom. A town of devastation. From police misconduct, an old mine, desperation, drug trafficking, as well as being overwhelmed by arson attacked and the highly publicized porcelain doll case.
On an emotional level, there is betrayal, dark secrets, revenge, tension, domestic abuse, anger, rage, friendship, menace, evil, lust, unhappy families, and envy. A need to protect. A means of survival. Fear. Coverups.
The author creates Rose, a complex woman who wants nothing more than to escape this Aussie town. She is desperate. However, how far will she go?
Not a "feel good" kind of book; however, some intriguing twists and turns you do not see coming. Several of the characters had plans, with good intentions in the beginning, but their plans unravel and ignite a spark which spirals out of control. Creating havoc for many. The butterfly effect.
The author does a good job of creating that “Noir” feeling and a sense of dark foreboding lurking with mystery, suspense, and tragedy — throughout the book.
A lot of tug-and-pull between characters; at war, with one another and themselves. The characters are deeply flawed and everyone seems to wear a mask. A good pick for Halloween.
A town full of little secrets and big lies. For those who enjoyed Big Little Lies and The Blackbird Season, in a rural darker Australian remote setting.
A special thank you to MIRA and NetGalley for an advanced reading copy.
I also purchased the audiobook, narrated by Saskia Maarleveld(love her accent) for an engaging listening experience.
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Cardinal Cabin
By: Joanne DeMaio
ISBN: B074DZSDFS
Publisher: Joanne Demaio
Publication Date: 9/12/2017
Format: Kindle
My Rating: 5 Stars
Blog Tour Host Oct 18
Congrats, the author's 10th Novel!
CARDINAL CABIN A magical nostalgic holiday escape —with an ideal New England snowy rustic storybook setting! Great to catch up with familiar characters from DeMaio's previous books. Join me Oct 18 Blog Tour Host.
Bestselling author, Joanne Demaio returns to magical New England following The Beach Inn (summer) and her famous Christmas editions: Wishing on Snowflakes, a holiday collection of two books—Snowflakes and Coffee Cakes and Snow Deer and Cocoa Cheer with her latest holiday getaway to CARDINAL CABIN — another enchanting holiday adventure of unexpected love and humor, surrounded by a magical snowy rustic setting.
"Making the birds even more special, folklore has it that cardinals grant wishes . . . When you see a cardinal, make a wish. But the important part. . . After making the wish, close your eyes, tight. . . If the cardinal is still there when you open your eyes, legend has it your wish will come true."
Frank Lombardo (33) and his sister Gina own Addison Boathouse, the crown jewel of Addison. Serving a dual purpose, the summer months it is the main attraction for outdoor events with kayaks and canoes.
During the winter months, it is known for its weddings and Christmas party season as a premier waterfront venue at Snowflake Lake. With weeks of decorating the final touches are being completed. The brother-sister team carry out the legacy of their dad's business, turning it over to them to carry on.
Gina is married with a son and wants her brother to find love. He does not like discussing his single-status with his prying sister. He has purchased the large English Tudor home from his parents and she is bugging him about not decorating it for Christmas. Why bother? What for?
In addition to this business, he also is a part-time lumberjack at the cabin rentals.
Gus Haynes, the owner in his seventies, and getting older and with his wife’s passing, needs help with the rustic cabins nestled in the snowy woods among the silver and sugar maples, willows, birch and elm trees.
From splitting logs to keep the wood burning stoves, snow clearing, and the seasonal chores of the property.
Of course, his sister reminds him he is taking himself "off the market" by working out in the woods for Gus on the weekends. After all, “who do you ever expect to meet out in the woods?” She urges him to be spontaneous. “Find yourself a girl for the holidays.”
The last thing Frank wants is holidays and weddings. He enjoys escaping in the woods to keep his mind occupied away from match-making and his sister pushing him into a romance.
Little does Frank know he may stumble upon the girl of his dreams in these same woods.
Penny Hart has never ridden on a snowtorcycle before; however, appears this is the only way around in the woods to her rented cabin, driven by Gus.
Cardinal Cabin is among the small little charming rustic A-frame cabins and bungalows surrounding a secluded lake. She is here for a two-week stay and no one knows her whereabouts, except for Gus, the driver.
Penny Hart, (33) is single and in marketing with a travel company— Addison’s Suitcase Escapes. She is hiding out for two weeks for a merry mystery. A secret undisclosed destination even to her coworkers.
She must furnish clues and people will need to guess her location. The winner will receive a getaway to the respective location. She must keep a low profile while here so her secret stays safe during the promotion.
“Guess Travel Agent’s Holiday Hideaway for a Chance to Win the Getaway.” On Christmas Eve one lucky entrant will be drawn to win an all expense weekend getaway at Hart’s secret New England locale.
‘Tis the season for adventure and Yuletide surprises, plus an unexpected romance.
As much as she treasures her own cozy apartment, she is excited when she sees her cabin all decorated for Christmas with even a tree. She has the feeling she has stepped into a woodland fairy tale.
The true beauty and magic were the many cardinals. . . "Each one looked like pretty red ornaments on the soft, snow-laden pines."
Then she spots a handsome lumberjack. Just like an old-fashioned movie or a nostalgic wintry postcard. She slips and falls on the ice and her cocoa travel mug and journal goes flying along with her blanket. Guess who spots her and picks her up?
Frank even kisses her before he thinks about what he is doing. Spontaneity? All he knows is that her name is Penny and she fell in the snow. They both are shocked and delighted at the same time. A mystery woman? A mystery man? They are embarrassed but excited. However, both decide they will get back to work and pretend this never happened. But can they?
Penny has to start with clues. She needs to keep her mind on her work, not a romance with a man she just met. She has to be creative with photos so as not to give too much away.
In the meantime, readers get to reacquaint themselves with characters from previous books at Whole Latte Life coffee shop and catch up with Wes and Jane and their upcoming wedding, among others.
Frank soon learns Penny’s identity as well as Gus. Gus is a true romantic at heart and his wife loved the Cardinal Cabin. With a little "added help" and creative planning from Gus (he reminds me of Santa), the two lovebirds are pushed towards one another.
We also catch up with Greg (Wes' brother from a previous book) the doctor, which is not a welcome visit from Frank’s perspective. He always is after the ladies.
However, pictures are worth a thousand words. Appears there is a spark of romance in the woods. But can the magic of this quaint New England town keep these snowy sweethearts together? Will cardinal wishes come true?
. . . "The magic of travel isn't always about how far you roam. It's about keeping your curiosity and sense of adventure even while close to home. Life can then take you in new and surprising directions."
From the hush of the woods, soft and calming, to the sparkling white snow, twinkling lights, and crackling fire, Joanne transports readers to a picturesque setting for her annual holiday edition with vivid imagery, descriptive holiday delights, and lovable characters.
With a little magic, romance, nostalgia, silver bells, and holiday cheer another heartwarming story! (loved Gus's character)
Being from South Florida, where it is sunny and warm year round, I look forward to my annual trip to wintry New England without the costly travel expense and extensive planning. Just turn down the A/C, close the shutters, grab a throw and a cup of tea or espresso and the author takes you on a magical adventure from the comfort of your own home.
I am especially fond of rustic, and miss my log cabin in Big Canoe, GA surrounded by deer, trees, lakes, and blankets of snow. This charming story took me back to those fond memories of past Christmases in the mountains.
If you have not read Joanne Demaio books, you are missing a rare treat. I have read all her books and anxiously await the next. I continue to say, her series are prime for the Hallmark Channel! Still looking forward to each of them "coming alive" on the big screen.
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