#BookReview Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll @SimonSchusterCA #JessicaKnoll #BrightYoungWomen #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll @SimonSchusterCA #JessicaKnoll #BrightYoungWomen #SimonSchusterCA Title: Bright Young Women

Author: Jessica Knoll

Published by: Simon and Schuster on Sep. 19, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

An extraordinary novel inspired by the real-life sorority targeted by America’s first celebrity serial killer in his final murderous spree.

January 1978. A serial killer has terrorized women across the Pacific Northwest, but his existence couldn’t be further from the minds of the vibrant young women at the top sorority on Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee. Tonight is a night of promise, excitement, and desire, but Pamela Schumacher, president of the sorority, makes the unpopular decision to stay home—a decision that unwittingly saves her life. Startled awake at 3 a.m. by a strange sound, she makes the fateful decision to investigate. What she finds behind the door is a scene of implausible violence—two of her sisters dead; two others, maimed. Over the next few days, Pamela is thrust into a terrifying mystery inspired by the crime that’s captivated public interest for more than four decades.

On the other side of the country, Tina Cannon has found peace in Seattle after years of hardship. A chance encounter brings twenty-five-year-old Ruth Wachowsky into her life, a young woman with painful secrets of her own, and the two form an instant connection. When Ruth goes missing from Lake Sammamish State Park in broad daylight, surrounded by thousands of beachgoers on a beautiful summer day, Tina devotes herself to finding out what happened to her. When she hears about the tragedy in Tallahassee, she knows it’s the man the papers refer to as the All-American Sex Killer. Determined to make him answer for what he did to Ruth, she travels to Florida on a collision course with Pamela—and one last impending tragedy.

Bright Young Women is the story about two women from opposite sides of the country who become sisters in their fervent pursuit of the truth. It proposes a new narrative inspired by evidence that’s been glossed over for decades in favor of more salable headlines—that the so-called brilliant and charismatic serial killer from Seattle was far more average than the countless books, movies, and primetime specials have led us to believe, and that it was the women whose lives he cut short who were the exceptional ones.


Review:

Unsettling, insightful, and intricate!

Bright Young Women is a compelling, disturbing thriller that takes us into the lives of two main characters. Pamela Schumacher, a sorority president at Florida State University, who after being awoken by a disturbance at 3 a.m. on the night of January 15, 1978, becomes an eyewitness to a horrific crime that leaves two of her sisters dead and two brutally beaten, and Ruth Wachowsky, a young woman who is struggling with familial drama and secrets who never returns home one day in 1974, and whose girlfriend fights tirelessly over the years to prove was an earlier victim of the same killer.

The writing is brisk and sharp. The characters are tormented, vulnerable, and scarred. And the plot, told from alternating POVs and using a back-and-forth style, is an eerie tale of life, loss, tragedy, grief, injustice, depravity, misogyny, rage, strong emotions, negligence, sensationalism, violence, and murder.

Overall, Bright Young Women is a taut, tense, gripping tale inspired by real-life events that packs a real punch and is a spine-chilling reminder of what’s really important to remember when it comes to serial killers and that’s not the killers themselves but their victims, the ones whose lives they took, the ones whose lives they shattered, and the ones whose lives they have irrevocably changed and will haunt forever.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Jessica Knoll

Jessica Knoll is the New York Times bestselling author of The Favorite Sister and Luckiest Girl Alive—now a major motion picture from Netflix starring Mila Kunis. She has been a senior editor at Cosmopolitan and the articles editor at Self. She grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and graduated from the Shipley School in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their bulldog, Franklin.

Photo by Sabrina Lantos.

#BookReview A Storm of Infinite Beauty by Julianne MacLean @FireflyDist @AmazonPub #AStormofInfiniteBeauty #JulianneMacLean #LakeUnion #FireflyDist

#BookReview A Storm of Infinite Beauty by Julianne MacLean @FireflyDist @AmazonPub #AStormofInfiniteBeauty #JulianneMacLean #LakeUnion #FireflyDist Title: A Storm of Infinite Beauty

Author: Julianne MacLean

Published by: Lake Union Publishing on Sep. 12, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 300

Format: Paperback

Source: Firefly Distributed Lines

Book Rating: 9/10

From the bestselling author of Beyond the Moonlit Sea comes an atmospheric tale of how one woman’s search for the truth uncovers long-hidden secrets and rocks the very foundation of her world.

Scarlett Fontaine is a true Hollywood legend—a singer, actress, and beloved fashion icon. But Scarlett dies tragically at just thirty-six years old, leaving behind no children. Or so the story goes…

Gwen Hollingsworth is the curator at a museum dedicated to Scarlett’s life. She’s also sole heir to Scarlett’s fortune as a descendant of the star. But all is not well in Gwen’s world. She’s dealing with a messy marital separation and is struggling to move forward. So when Peter Miller, a biographer and photojournalist, comes to the museum with shocking claims about Scarlett—a life of exile in Alaska, a baby born in secret—Gwen’s whole world is turned upside down.Again.

Determined to uncover the truth, Gwen and Peter set out for Alaska together but soon find themselves on a path toward something far deeper and more meaningful than either of them ever expected.

A Storm of Infinite Beauty takes readers on a breathtaking journey from a lush vineyard in Nova Scotia to a rustic lodge in Alaska where old family secrets are revealed and the quest for true happiness begins.


Review:

Immersive, emotional, and vivid!

A Storm of Infinite Beauty is set in Valdez, Alaska and Wolfville, Nova Scotia, in both 1964 and 2017, and is told from two different perspectives; Gwen, a young woman who spends her days running a museum dedicated to Scarlett Fontaine until a biographer shares some intriguing information that sees her travelling to Alaska to unravel the secrets surrounding one year of her late, legendary family member’s life, and Valerie/Scarlet, a young girl whose life is changed forever after she spends a year of heartache, loss, and tragedy in Valdez before heading to LA to follow her dream of becoming an actress/songwriter.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are resilient, brave, and scarred. And the plot is a moving tale about life, loss, family, secrets, desperation, friendship, survival, grief, marital discord, and the devastation of the Great Alaskan earthquake.

Overall, A Storm of Infinite Beauty is a heartfelt, sentimental, affecting read by MacLean that does a lovely job of interweaving historical facts and compelling fiction into an insightful, heart-tugging tale that is atmospheric and highly absorbing.

 

This novel is available now.

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Thank you to Firefly Distributed Lines for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Julianne MacLean

Julianne MacLean is a USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including the contemporary women’s fiction Color of Heaven Series. Readers have described her books as “breathtaking,” “soulful” and “uplifting.” MacLean is a four-time Romance Writers of America RITA finalist and has won numerous awards, including the Booksellers’ Best Award and a Reviewers’ Choice Award from Romantic Times. Her novels have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been published in over a dozen languages.

MacLean has a degree in English literature from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a degree in business administration from Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. She loves to travel and has lived in New Zealand, Canada, and England. MacLean currently resides on the east coast of Canada in a lakeside home with her husband and daughter.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

#BookReview The Land of Lost Things by John Connolly @jconnollybooks @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #JohnConnolly #TheLandofLostThings #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview The Land of Lost Things by John Connolly @jconnollybooks @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #JohnConnolly #TheLandofLostThings #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Land of Lost Things

Author: John Connolly

Series: The Book of Lost Things #2

Published by: Atria Books on Sep. 19, 2023

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Pages: 368

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

The redemptive power of stories and family is revealed in New York Times bestselling author John Connolly’s atmospheric tale set in the same magical universe as The Book of Lost Things.

“Twice upon a time—for that is how some stories should continue…”

Phoebe, an eight-year-old girl, lies comatose following a car accident—a body without a spirit. Ceres, her mother, can only sit by her bedside and read aloud the fairy stories Phoebe loves in the hope they might summon her back to this world.

But an old house on the hospital grounds, a property connected to a book written by a vanished author, is calling to Ceres. Something wants her to enter, to journey to a land colored by the memories of childhood, and the folklore beloved of her father—a land of witches and dryads, giants and mandrakes; a land where old enemies are watching and waiting…

The Land of Lost Things.


Review:

Magical, memorable, and fresh!

The Land of Lost Things is a creative, moving, adventurous novel that takes you into the life of Ceres, a young mother who, after her daughter is involved in a tragic accident that leaves her in a coma and struggling for life, finds herself spending her days reading out loud the fairy tales her daughter once loved until a visit to an old property on the grounds sends her to another world, Elsewhere, where the crooked man once reigned, the fae hide patiently in wait, the dwarfs diligently work, the giants are friends to some and foe to others, and where Ceres will have to fight all kinds of wickedness to find her way back to the light and her ever-sleeping daughter.

The writing is eloquent and expressive. The characters are resourceful, dependable, and fearless. And the plot, using stories within a story, sweeps you away into an engaging, action-packed, heartfelt tale about life, loss, friendship, family, power, heartbreak, parenthood, tragedy, action, loneliness, danger, the magic of books, and love.

Overall, The Land of Lost Things is a unique, immersive, fantastical tale by Connolly that is a beautiful reminder that life is a story, and whether it’s short, long, light, dark, filled with joy or filled with pain, it always has spirit and hope.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

             

 

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About John Connolly

John Connolly is the author of the #1 internationally bestselling Charlie Parker thrillers series, the supernatural collection Nocturnes, the Samuel Johnson Trilogy for younger readers, and (with Jennifer Ridyard) the Chronicles of the Invaders series. He lives in Dublin, Ireland.

#BookReview The Golden Gate by Amy Chua @amychua @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #TheGoldenGateBook #AmyChua #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview The Golden Gate by Amy Chua @amychua @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #TheGoldenGateBook #AmyChua #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers Title: The Golden Gate

Author: Amy Chua

Published by: Minotaur Books on Sep. 19, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: eBook, Paperback

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Amy Chua’s debut novel, The Golden Gate, is a sweeping, evocative, and compelling historical thriller that paints a vibrant portrait of a California buffeted by the turbulent crosswinds of a world at war and a society about to undergo massive change.

In Berkeley, California, in 1944, Homicide Detective Al Sullivan has just left the swanky Claremont Hotel after a drink in the bar when a presidential candidate is assassinated in one of the rooms upstairs. A rich industrialist with enemies among the anarchist factions on the far left, Walter Wilkinson could have been targeted by any number of groups. But strangely, Sullivan’s investigation brings up the specter of another tragedy at the Claremont, ten years the death of seven-year-old Iris Stafford, a member of the Bainbridge family, one of the wealthiest in all of San Francisco. Some say she haunts the Claremont still.

The many threads of the case keep leading Sullivan back to the three remaining Bainbridge heiresses, now Iris’s sister, Isabella, and her cousins Cassie and Nicole. Determined not to let anything distract him from the truth―not the powerful influence of Bainbridges’ grandmother, or the political aspirations of Berkeley’s district attorney, or the interest of China’s First Lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek in his findings―Sullivan follows his investigation to its devastating conclusion.

Chua’s page-turning debut brings to life a historical era rife with turbulent social forces and groundbreaking forensic advances, when race and class defined the very essence of power, sex, and justice, and introduces a fascinating character in Detective Sullivan, a mixed race former Army officer who is still reckoning with his own history.


Review:

Rich, twisty, and unpredictable!

The Golden Gate is a mysterious, gripping tale set in Berkeley, California, during 1944 that sees Homicide Detective Al Sullivan investigating the bizarre murder of presidential candidate Walter Wilkinson in the Claremont Hotel which, as it unfolds, also seems strangely entangled with the death of a seven-year-old girl in the same hotel ten years previous, China’s first lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, and a whole slew of mischief, mayhem, and long-buried secrets.

The prose is sharp and brisk. The characters are multilayered, flawed, and persistent. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel seamlessly into a menacing tale full of corruption, coercion, politics, racism, inequality, deduction, suspicious motivations, criminal behaviour, dangerous endeavours, familial drama, red herrings, lies, and murder.

Overall, The Golden Gate is an ominous, atmospheric, sophisticated read by Chua that I hope is only the start of what could be an entertaining series with its noir-type feel, colourful characters, abundance of action, and straight-up detective work.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Amy Chua

AMY CHUA is the John M. Duff, Jr. Professor of Law at Yale Law School. She is an internationally bestselling author of several non-fiction titles, including her 2011 memoir Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, which was a runaway international bestseller that has been translated into over 30 languages. Chua graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and cum laude from Harvard Law School. After practicing on Wall Street for a few years, she joined the Yale Law School faculty in 2001. The Golden Gate is her fiction debut.

#BookReview The Enemy Beside Me by Naomi Ragen @StMartinsPress #TheEnemyBesideMe #NaomiRagen #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview The Enemy Beside Me by Naomi Ragen @StMartinsPress #TheEnemyBesideMe #NaomiRagen #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Enemy Beside Me

Author: Naomi Ragen

Published by: St. Martin's Griffin on Sep. 12, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 400

Format: Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

Inspired by true events, Naomi Ragen’s The Enemy Beside Me is a powerful, provocative novel about two people fighting for reconciliation over unforgivable crimes of the past.

Taking over from her father and grandfather as the head of the Survivor’s Campaign, an organization whose purpose is to bring Nazi war criminals to justice, Milia Gottstein has dedicated her life to making sure the voices of Holocaust victims will never be silenced. It is an overwhelming and heartbreaking mission that has often usurped her time and energy being a wife to busy surgeon Julius, and a mother and grandmother. But now, just as she is finally ready to pass on her work to others, making time for her personal life, an unexpected phone call suddenly explodes all she thought she knew about her present and her future.

In the midst of this personal turmoil, Milia receives an invitation to be the keynote speaker at a Holocaust conference in Lithuania from Dr. Darius Vidas, the free spirited, rebellious conference head. Despite suspecting his motives―she is, after all, viewed as a ‘public enemy’ in that country for her efforts to have them try war criminals and admit their historic responsibility for annihilating almost their entire Jewish community, including her own family―she nevertheless accepts, having developed a secret agenda of her own. But as Milia and Darius begin their mission, shared experiences profoundly alter their relationship, replacing antagonism and suspicion with a growing intimacy. However, this only ramps up the hostile forces facing them, threatening their families, livelihoods, and reputations, and forcing them into shocking choices that will betray all they have achieved and all that has grown between them.


Review:

Thought-provoking, moving, and immersive!

The Enemy Beside Me is an insightful, poignant tale that takes you into the life of Milia Gottstein, a Jewish woman and current head of the Survivors’ Campaign, an organization previously run by her father and grandfather, who reluctantly heads to Lithuania to speak at a Holocaust conference to make sure that the Lithuanian people of today have a clear understanding of the actual role their citizens played and the atrocious acts they committed against their own neighbours and community members contrary to what they’ve always been taught to believe.

The prose is sobering and expressive. The characters are troubled, brave, and strong. And the plot is an enthralling, hopeful tale about life, love, strength, deception, injustice, guilt, loss, shame, respect, passion, truth, understanding, and acknowledgement.

Overall, The Enemy Beside Me is ultimately a heart-wrenching, affecting, pensive tale by Ragen based on real-life events that highlights the extreme hardships, suffering, and horrors endured during a heinous time in history when millions of lives were violated, taken, and senselessly lost, and reminds us that our greatest power against such evil, truly, is knowledge and never, ever to forget.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Naomi Ragen

Naomi Ragen is an award-winning novelist, journalist and playwright. Her first book, Jephte’s Daughter, was listed among the one-hundred most important Jewish books of all time. Her bestselling novels include Sotah, The Covenant, The Sisters Weiss, and Devil in Jerusalem. An outspoken advocate for women’s rights, and an active combatant against anti-Israel and anti-Semitic propaganda through her website, she has lived in Jerusalem since 1971. An Observant Wife is her thirteenth novel.

Photo Credit: Alex Ragen

#BookReview A Very Lively Murder by Katy Watson @Mobius_Books #AVeryLivelyMurder #DahliaLively #KatyWatson #MobiusBooksUS

#BookReview A Very Lively Murder by Katy Watson @Mobius_Books #AVeryLivelyMurder #DahliaLively #KatyWatson #MobiusBooksUS Title: A Very Lively Murder

Author: Katy Watson

Series: Dahlia Lively #2

Published by: Mobius on Sep. 12, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover

Source: Mobius Books US

Book Rating: 8.5/10

One murder mystery movie. Three Dahlias. And a whole cast of suspects…

Ex-child star Posy Starling is finally filming her dream role – Dahlia Lively in The Lady Detective movie. But things take a nightmare turn when a prop weapon is replaced with the real thing – with almost fatal consequences for her fellow Dahlia, Rosalind King. There’s something very wrong on the set of The Lady Detective – which means it’s time to call in Caro Hooper, so the three Dahlias can investigate.

In between filming scenes, signing autographs for locals, photoshoots in London, talk show appearances and jetting off to France for an impromptu party, the three Dahlias do what they do best – surrupticiously sleuth. And very soon the evidence starts to point towards one particular co-star…

But before they can prove it, another murder rocks the production. And this time, with a storm raging, the river flooded and the bridge washed out, there are no police to rely on so it’s up to the three Dahlias to stop a murderer in their tracks… before another victim is claimed.


Review:

Cosy, suspenseful, and well-paced!

In this latest addition to the Dahlia Lively series, A Very Lively Murder, the three Dahlias, Caro, Rosalind, and Posy, are reunited once again and back sleuthing on the set of The Lady Detective when it quickly becomes apparent that there’s a murderer amongst the cast when threats, victims, accidents, and dead bodies all start piling up.

The writing is playful and fluid. The characters are unique, persistent, and clever. And the plot is a light, quirky tale full of misdirection, deduction, clues, mishaps, drama, friendship, amateur sleuthing, red herrings, and murder.

Overall, A Very Lively Murder is another mysterious, amusing, enjoyable treat by Watson that had just the right amount of suspicious personalities, zany antics, and abundance of drama to keep me engaged and entertained from start to finish.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you to Mobius Books US for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Katy Watson

Growing up in a family of murder mystery addicts, KATY WATSON learned early to look for means, motive and opportunity.

After studying English Literature - with a sideline in crime fiction - at Lancaster University, she set about teaching herself to write her own stories, while also experiencing enough of the world to have things to write about.

Two careers, a lot of air miles, one husband, two children, three houses and forty five published books for children and adults later, lockdown finally gave her the means, motive and opportunity to create her own murder mystery - with the aid of her scientist husband's knowledge of potions. Three Dahlias is the result.

#BookReview This Is How We End Things by R. J. Jacobs @sbkslandmark #ThisIsHowWeEndThings #RJJacobs #bookmarkedbylandmark

#BookReview This Is How We End Things by R. J. Jacobs @sbkslandmark #ThisIsHowWeEndThings #RJJacobs #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: This Is How We End Things

Author: R. J. Jacobs

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Sep. 12, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 300

Format: Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 8/10

Campus is empty, a winter storm is blowing in, and someone is lurking in the shadows, waiting for their chance to kill again.

Forest, North Carolina. Under the instruction of enigmatic Professor Joe Lyons, five graduate students are studying the tedious science behind the acts of lying. But discovering the secrets of deception isn’t making any of the student’s more honest though. Instead, it’s making it easier for them to guard their own secrets – and they all have something to hide.

When a test goes awry and one of them is found dead, the students find themselves trapped by a snowstorm on an abandoned campus with a local detective on the case. As harbored secrets begin to break the surface, the graduates must find out who’s lying, who isn’t, and who may have been capable of committing murder. It turns out deception is even more dangerous than they thought…

A foreboding new dark academia thriller of deception and suspense, This is How We End Things follows the unraveling of a close group of students as they contend with what it means to lie, and be lied to.


Review:

Intense, dark, and suspenseful!

This Is How We End Things is a fast-paced, menacing thriller that sweeps you away to Shepard, North Carolina and into the lives of five graduate psychology students and one renowned professor as they try to survive a snowstorm that leaves them stranded on a deserted campus and a killer amongst them who seems determined to do whatever it takes to keep his secrets hidden at all costs.

The prose is brisk and tight. The characters are multilayered, self-absorbed, and secretive. And the plot is an ominous tale full of unforeseen twists, well-timed surprises, deception, manipulation, lies, desperation, tension, unease, violence, and murder.

Overall, This Is How We End Things is a devious, atmospheric, eerie tale by Jacobs that kept me guessing from the very first page and left me entertained, satisfied and, without a doubt, eager to read whatever his deliciously sinister mind manages to come up with next.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

         

 

 

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About R. J. Jacobs

R.J. Jacobs has practiced as a psychologist since 2003. He maintains a private practice in Nashville, focusing on a wide variety of clinical concerns.
After completing a post-doctoral residency at Vanderbilt, he has taught Abnormal Psychology, presented at numerous conferences, and routinely performs PTSD evaluations for veterans.
His novel, titled: And Then You Were Gone, was published in 2019. His second novel: Somewhere In the Dark, was published in 2020.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

#FeaturePost The Last True Templar by Boyd & Beth Morrison @boydmorrison @KayePublicity @HoZ_Books #TheLastTrueTemplar #BoydMorrison #BethMorrison #TalesoftheLawlessLand #KayePublicity

#FeaturePost The Last True Templar by Boyd & Beth Morrison @boydmorrison @KayePublicity @HoZ_Books #TheLastTrueTemplar #BoydMorrison #BethMorrison #TalesoftheLawlessLand #KayePublicity Title: The Last True Templar

Author: Boyd Morrision, Beth Morrison

Series: Tales of the Lawless Land #2

Published by: Head of Zeus on Sep. 14, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 432

Format: Hardcover

Source: Kaye Publicity

A Perilous Quest. A Deadly Legacy.

Italy, 1351. English knight Gerard Fox and the resourceful Willa have come through a death-defying journey across war-torn Europe. Now looking towards their future together, they must first find a way to reconcile with their difficult pasts.

In a small village between Florence and Siena, Fox and Willa are caught up in a deadly ambush. After rescuing the enigmatic woman who is the target of the attack, they take refuge in her opulent villa and learn her heartbreaking story – a tale of loss, deception… and a burning desire for freedom.

Soon, Fox and Willa are involved in a perilous quest to save her family’s legacy… and to do so, they will have to solve a mystery that points the way to the fabled lost treasure of the Knights Templar.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

       

 

 

Thank you to Kaye Publicity and Head of Zeus for gifting me a copy.

 

About Beth Morrison

Beth Morrison is Senior Curator of Manuscripts at the J. Paul Getty Museum. A leader in her field, she has curated several major exhibitions, including ‘Imagining the Past in France, 1250-1500,’ and ‘Book of Beasts: The Bestiary in the Medieval World’. She has a PhD in the History of Art from Cornell University. She lives in Los Angeles.

About Boyd Morrision

Boyd Morrison is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twelve thrillers, including six collaborations with Clive Cussler in the Oregon Files adventure series. His first novel, The Ark, was an Indie Next Notable pick and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. He has a PhD in industrial engineering from Virginia Tech.

Credit: Kenneth Dolin Photography.

#BookReview If I Let You Go by Charlotte Levin @tinycharlotte72 @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #IfILetYouGo #CharlotteLevin #PGCBooks

#BookReview If I Let You Go by Charlotte Levin @tinycharlotte72 @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #IfILetYouGo #CharlotteLevin #PGCBooks Title: If I Let You Go

Author: Charlotte Levin

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Sep. 5, 2023

Genres: General Fiction

Pages: 384

Format: Hardcover

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

If I Let You Go by Charlotte Levin is a deeply moving and gripping portrayal of a woman coming to terms with loss.

Every morning Janet Brown goes to work cleaning offices. It calms her, cleanliness, neatness. All the things she’s unable to do with her soul can be achieved with a damp cloth and a splash of bleach. However, the guilt she still carries about a devastating loss that happened eleven years ago, cannot be erased.

Then, Janet finds herself involved in a train crash and, recognising the chance to do what she couldn’t all those years ago, she makes a decision. As news spreads of Janet’s actions, her story inspires everyone around her, and for the first time her life has purpose and the future is filled with hope.

But Janet’s story isn’t quite what it seems, and as events spiral out of control, she soon discovers that coming clean isn’t an option. Because if Janet washes away the lies, what long-buried truths will she finally have to face.


Review:

Nuanced, gripping, and tight!

If I Let You Go is an unsettling, character-driven novel that introduces us to Janet, a young woman who, after a tragic accident eleven years ago, has spent her life in the shadows, performing her cleaning job to the best of her abilities, keeping house and placating her domineering husband, and visiting her elderly father as often as possible, until one night she decides she’s had enough and by morning her life will be irrevocably changed forever when she wakes to discover she’s a heroine of a train crash she can’t actually remember.

The writing is crisp and edgy. The characters are anxious, tormented, and flawed. And the plot is a tense, unpredictable tale full of twists, turns, revelations, insecurities, deception, grief, manipulation, lies, and tragedy.

Overall, If I Let You Go is an intriguing, intense, immersive tale by Levin that does a wonderful job of highlighting just how devastating and all-consuming guilt and grief can be and reminds us to savour every moment because life can often change in a heartbeat.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Publishers Group Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Charlotte Levin

Charlotte Levin has been shortlisted for the Andrea Badenoch Award, part of the New Writers North Awards, and for the Mslexia Short Story Competition. Charlotte lives in Manchester and If I Can't Have You is her first novel.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

#BookReview The Second Chance Hotel by Sierra Godfrey @sierragodfrey @KayePublicity @sbkslandmark #KayePublicity #TheSecondChanceHotel #SierraGodfrey #womensfiction #contemporaryromance

#BookReview The Second Chance Hotel by Sierra Godfrey @sierragodfrey @KayePublicity @sbkslandmark #KayePublicity #TheSecondChanceHotel #SierraGodfrey #womensfiction #contemporaryromance Title: The Second Chance Hotel

Author: Sierra Godfrey

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Sep. 12, 2023

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 374

Format: Paperback

Source: Kaye Publicity

Book Rating: 8/10

It’s all fun and games until you accidentally marry a stranger in Greece and inherit a hotel.

Amelia Lang’s life is kind of a mess. She’s stuck living at home with her narcissistic mother. Her tech bro ex-boyfriend deliberately sabotages her at work, and she gets fired after throwing a mug at his head (it’s okay! She missed.) Then she has a major falling out with her best friend. So Amelia does what Amelia does best: She runs away.

After traveling around Europe for three months, she settles on a small Greek island to reset her life and figure out what’s next. But after too much retsina, she gets tricked into marrying James, another guest at the hotel, who is perfectly nice—but perfectly boring. To top it off, they are gifted the very hotel they’re staying in—a hotel they don’t want that is in desperate need of some TLC. They agree to keep the hotel open through the busy summer season for the sake of the island’s quirky but well-meaning residents, after which Amelia plans to return home to start rebuilding her disastrous life.

Amelia and James must work together to determine how to get out of their situation—easier said than done for Amelia, who’s started to feel a strong spark of attraction for James. But Amelia is sure her real life is waiting for her back in San Francisco. Is it time for Amelia to return home or could this be the second chance at a new life she didn’t know she wanted?


Review:

Breezy, hopeful, and romantic!

The Second Chance Hotel is a delightfully charming, touching tale that takes us into the life of Amelia Lang at a time when her love life is in tatters, her career is stalling, and she finds herself at the end of a European vacation on a small Greek Island waking from a night of festivities with a pounding headache, an unexpected husband, and a co-ownership in a local rundown hotel that needs more than just a little TLC.

The writing is light and tender. The characters are independent, hardworking, and caring. And the plot is an uplifting tale of life, love, friendship, family, community, starting over, taking chances, old hurts, new beginnings, spirited shenanigans, humorous mishaps, following one’s dreams, and contentment.

Overall, The Second Chance Hotel is a heartwarming, engaging, escapist read by Godfrey that reminds us to always surround ourselves with those we love, stay open-minded, and be excited for whatever comes next.

 

This book is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from one of the following links.

        

 

 

Thank you to Kaye Publicity & Sourcebooks Landmark for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Sierra Godfrey

Sierra Godfrey is a technical writer, graphic designer, and a former credentialed sportswriter covering Spanish soccer. When she’s not writing about messy families, she’s taking long walks, reading, and being cozy. Originally from Santa Cruz, California, she has lived all over the world including Santorini, Greece, but now resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family, which includes a dog, two cats, and a turtle, all of which seemed like a good idea at the time.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

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