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#BookReview The Finish Line by Kate Stewart @authorklstewart @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #TheFinishLine #TheRavenhoodSeries #KateStewart #PGCBooks

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#BookReview The Finish Line by Kate Stewart @authorklstewart @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #TheFinishLine #TheRavenhoodSeries #KateStewart #PGCBooks Title: The Finish Line

Author: Kate Stewart

Series: The Ravenhood #3

Published by: Pan Macmillan on May 2, 2023

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Erotica, New Adult

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

The third and final steamy novel in #BookTok sensation Kate Stewart’s bestselling Ravenhood Trilogy, following Flock and Exodus.

The only love I’ve ever known or craved is the kind that keeps me sick, sick with longing, sick with lust, sick with need, sick with grief. The distorted kind that leaves scars and jaded hearts.

Tobias King has lived most of his life in the shadows. A loner, and ruthless thief, he would never deny that he’s a villain. As the enigmatic leader of the band of vigilantes known as The Ravenhood, his life’s ambition has always led in one direction: revenge.

But his path is disrupted when he falls for the one woman who could destroy what he has spent two decades plotting. His all-consuming passion for Cecelia Horner comes at a great cost, including the loss of all he holds dear.

But Tobias is nothing, if not a fighter, and he’s determined to have it all: to settle old scores and win back the woman he loves.

Review:

Romantic, emotional, and charged!

The Finish Line is a dramatic, suspenseful tale that picks up right where Exodus left off, taking us back into the lives of Cecelia and Tobias as they continue to struggle with all the death, heartache, and destruction that has affected their journey over the past several years and finally grasp that happy-ever-after they so desperately deserve.

The writing is gritty and intense. The characters are wary, hurt, and committed. And the plot is an enticing mix of friendship, family, danger, drama, heartbreak, desire, reconciliation, and love.

Overall, The Finish Line is the third and final story in The Ravenhood Trilogy by Stewart, and even though it’s a little bittersweet to say goodbye to the characters I’ve come to know and love over these past three novels, it is nevertheless a satisfying ending to an alluring, entertaining series that I will undoubtedly always remember and sorely miss.

 

This book is available now.

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

        

 

 

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

 

About Kate Stewart

Bestselling author and Texas native, Kate Stewart, lives in North Carolina with her husband, Nick. Kate is a lover of all things '80s and '90s, especially John Hughes films and rap. She dabbles a little in photography, can knit a simple stitch scarf for necessity, and on occasion, does very well at whiskey.
Her series, The Ravenhood Trilogy, consisting of Flock, Exodus, and The Finish Line, has become an international bestseller, TikTok phenomenon, and reader favourite.

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#BookReview The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon @Clemence_Mcl @AAKnopf @PenguinRandomCA #TheQuietTenant #ClemenceMichallon #PenguinReads

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#BookReview The Quiet Tenant by Clémence Michallon @Clemence_Mcl @AAKnopf @PenguinRandomCA #TheQuietTenant #ClemenceMichallon #PenguinReads Title: The Quiet Tenant

Author: Clémence Michallon

Published by: Knopf Canada on Jun. 20, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 303

Format: Paperback

Source: Penguin Random House

Book Rating: 9/10

A pulse-pounding psychological thriller about a serial killer narrated by those closest to him: His 13-year-old daughter, his girlfriend—and the one victim he has spared

Aidan Thomas is a hard-working family man and a somewhat beloved figure in the small upstate New York town where he lives. He’s the kind of man who always lends a hand and has a good word for everyone. But Aidan has a dark secret he’s been keeping from everyone in town and those closest to him. He’s a kidnapper and serial killer. Aidan has murdered eight women and there’s a ninth he has earmarked for death: Rachel, imprisoned in a backyard shed, fearing for her life.

When Aidan’s wife dies, he and his thirteen-year-old daughter Cecilia are forced to move. Aidan has no choice but to bring Rachel along, introducing her to Cecilia as a “family friend” who needs a place to stay. Aidan is betting on Rachel, after five years of captivity, being too brainwashed and fearful to attempt to escape. But Rachel is a fighter and survivor, and recognizes Cecilia might just be the lifeline she has waited for all these years. As Rachel tests the boundaries of her new living situation, she begins to form a tenuous connection with Cecilia. And when Emily, a local restaurant owner, develops a crush on the handsome widower, she finds herself drawn into Rachel and Cecilia’s orbit, coming dangerously close to discovering Aidan’s secret.

Told through the perspectives of Rachel, Cecilia, and Emily, The Quiet Tenant explores the psychological impact of Aidan’s crimes on the women in his life—and the bonds between those women that give them the strength to fight back. Both a searing thriller and an astute study of trauma, survival, and the dynamics of power, The Quiet Tenant is an electrifying debut thriller by a major talent.

Review:

Unsettling, unique, and intricate!

The Quiet Tenant is a skillfully plotted, sinister tale that takes you into the life of Aidan Taylor, a hardworking, handsome widower who appears to be an honest, loyal, single father in need of a little help, but behind that friendly smile lies a depraved secret and a dark impulse to confine, violate, and murder that only a few know about, most of whom are already dead, one of whom desperately needs to escape, and one of whom may just become his next victim.

The writing is sharp and crisp. The characters are secretive, cunning, and vulnerable. And the plot, told from multiple perspectives, builds quickly, creating intensity and suspense as it unravels all the relationships, motivations, personalities, deception, and devious behaviours within it.

Overall, The Quiet Tenant is a fast-paced, unnerving, impressive debut by Michallon that does an exceptional job of eerily reminding us that even the most heinous of evil often live comfortably amongst us merely hidden behind masks of normality.

 

This novel is available now.

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

        

 

 

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Clémence Michallon

CLÉMENCE MICHALLON was born and raised near Paris. She studied journalism at City University of London, received a master's in Journalism from Columbia University, and has written for The Independent since 2018. Her essays and features have covered true-crime, celebrity culture, and literature. She moved to New York City in 2014 and recently became a US citizen. She now divides her time between New York City and Rhinebeck, NY.

Photo by Gabrielle Malewski

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#BookReview Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapena @sharilapena @doubledayca @PenguinRandomCA #EveryoneHereisLying #ShariLapena #PenguinReads

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#BookReview Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapena @sharilapena @doubledayca @PenguinRandomCA #EveryoneHereisLying #ShariLapena #PenguinReads Title: Everyone Here is Lying

Author: Shari Lapena

Published by: Doubleday Canada on Jul. 25, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, eBook

Source: Penguin Random House

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Welcome to Stanhope! A safe neighborhood. A place for families.

William Wooler is a family man, on the surface. But he’s been having an affair, an affair that ended horribly this afternoon at a motel up the road. So when he returns to his house, devastated and angry, to find his difficult nine-year-old daughter, Avery, unexpectedly home from school, William loses his temper.

Hours later, Avery’s family declares her missing.

Suddenly Stanhope doesn’t feel so safe. And William isn’t the only one on his street who’s hiding a lie. As witnesses come forward with information that may or may not be true, Avery’s neighbors become increasingly unhinged.

Who took Avery Wooler?

Nothing will prepare you for the truth.

Review:

Unsettling, intricate, and tortuous! 

Everyone Here is Lying is a twisty, disturbing mystery that takes you into the lives of a handful of residents of the Stanhope community, including the Wooler family, as their worlds get turned upside down when one afternoon, nine-year-old Avery Wooler vanishes without a trace leaving some residents eager to help however they can, some pointing fingers at anyone they don’t get along with, and all of them scrambling to keep their darkest secrets hidden for good.

The writing is brisk and sharp. The characters are manipulative, secretive, and unlikeable. And the plot is an eerie, suspenseful tale full of twists, turns, secrets, surprises, lies, betrayal, familial drama, neurodiversity challenges, adultery, and suspicious personalities.

Overall, Everyone Here is Lying is another ominous, gripping, sophisticated tale by Lapena that kept me guessing from the very first page and ultimately left me chilled, satisfied, and curious to see what her devious mind could possibly come up with next.

 

This novel is available now.

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

        

 

 

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Shari Lapena

Shari Lapena is the internationally bestselling author of the thrillers The Couple Next Door, A Stranger in the House, An Unwanted Guest, Someone We Know, The End of Her, and Not a Happy Family, which have all been New York Times and The Sunday Times (London) bestsellers. Her books have been sold in forty territories around the world. She lives on a farm outside of Toronto. Everyone Here Is Lying is her seventh thriller.

Photo by Tristan Ostler

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#BookReview The Rebel King by Gina L. Maxwell @Gina_L_Maxwell @entangledpub @angelamelamud #TheRebelKing #GinaLMaxwell #DeviantKingsSeries

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#BookReview The Rebel King by Gina L. Maxwell @Gina_L_Maxwell @entangledpub @angelamelamud #TheRebelKing #GinaLMaxwell #DeviantKingsSeries Title: The Rebel King

Author: Gina L. Maxwell

Series: Deviant Kings #2

Published by: Entangled Publishing on Jul. 25, 2023

Genres: Paranormal Romance

Pages: 352

Format: Paperback

Source: Angela Melamud, Entangled Publishing

Book Rating: 8.5/10

All work and no wicked play makes Tiernan a very unsatisfied king…

Of all the Verran brothers, Tiernan is the least suited to wear the Night Court crown. The Rebel Prince is happy with no responsibilities or accountability―just the freedom to pursue his own dark, lush pleasures in Sin City. Including his secret hunger for a certain smart-mouthed, fiery redhead.

Only, the possibility of having Fiona is stripped away when Tiernan is thrust into the one role he never king . As king of the Dark Fae, wanting―let alone pursuing―anything with a lower-caste fae like Fiona would shift from fun…to forbidden.

Now war is emerging from the shadows of Vegas, and Tiernan is caught between who he’s meant to be and who he wants . And somewhere in this maelstrom of lust, love, and rebellion is the key to the Dark Fae’s survival…even if the cost is more than he can imagine.

Review:

Charged, action-packed, and steamy!

The Rebel King is a dramatic, spicy tale that takes you on a journey into the life of Tiernan Verran, the future ruler of the Dark Fae who, after hunting down the people responsible for the recent spate of fae murders, will have to finally accept his new responsibilities and be officially crowned king while also giving up the one woman, Fiona Jewel, who makes his blood boil and stirs him like no other.

The writing is sultry and smooth. The characters are consumed, witty, and intense. And the plot is a tight, tantalizing tale full of desire, temptation, chemistry, mystique, danger, deception, violence, secrets, and sizzling romance.

Overall, The Rebel King is a magical, seductive, suspenseful addition to the Deviant Kings series by Maxwell that has all the elements I’ve come to know and love in her novels, including a fierce heroine, an attentive alpha male, and a fast-paced, seductive storyline.

 

This novel is available now!

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

 

       

 

Thank you to Entangled Publishing and Angela Melamud for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Gina L. Maxwell

Gina L. Maxwell is a New York Times, USA Today, and #1 International bestselling author living in the upper Midwest, despite her scathing hatred of snow and cold weather. As a lifelong romance novel addict, she began writing as another way of enjoying the Happily Ever After stories she's always loved. Her debut novel in 2012, SEDUCING CINDERELLA, hit the bestseller lists within the first month of its release and continues to be a favorite with readers a full decade later. When she’s not reading, writing, or spending way too much money on planners and office supplies, she enjoys hanging out with her son and daughter who’ve left the nest, snuggling with her fur babies, and dreaming of her someday-move to someplace tropical.

Photo courtesy of Entangled Publishing Website.

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#BookReview The Shadow Girls (Natalie Lockhart #4) by Alice Blanchard @AliceBooks333 @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #AliceBlanchard #TheShadowGirls #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Shadow Girls (Natalie Lockhart #4) by Alice Blanchard @AliceBooks333 @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #AliceBlanchard #TheShadowGirls #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers Title: The Shadow Girls

Author: Alice Blanchard

Series: Natalie Lockhart #4

Published by: Minotaur Books on Jul. 25, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 9/10

Someone is playing deadly games. Lieutenant Luke Pittman lies in the hospital in a coma after being attacked by one of their own. Veronica Manes, Burning Lake’s most respected modern-day witch, is dead, her murder left unsolved. Natalie Lockhart has become embroiled in a case with threads that become increasingly difficult to untangle.

Now, a new horror is uncovered, one that shocks the town as never before, and the dark, shadowy path forward for Natalie is paved with challenges that haunt her past―Veronica’s unsolved case. Her sister’s traumatic murder. The long-lost disappearance of her old best friend. Natalie’s obsession with finding the truth leads to a twisted, elemental struggle between good and evil―and nothing will ever be the same again.

The woods have secrets.

The trees are carved with curses.

There’s something wicked in Burning Lake.

Review:

Mesmerizing, dark and spine-chilling!

The Shadow Girls is an unpredictable, sinuous thrill ride that takes us back to Burning Lake, NY, where Detective Natalie Lockhart and her team now find themselves not only keeping their fingers crossed that Lt. Pittman will quickly awake from his coma but also investigating the death of a local employee of Murray’s Halloween Costumes, Randolph Holmes, who unbeknownst to most, seems to have had a penchant in the past for kidnapping, confining, and murdering young girls.

The writing is seamless and fluid. The characters are tough, determined, and flawed. And the engrossing plot is a tightly-paced, ominous tale full of twists, turns, surprises, violence, manipulation, depravity, and murder.

Overall, The Shadow Girls is a highly entertaining, gripping, eerie thriller by Blanchard that highlights her exceptional ability to write police procedurals that have well-drawn characters and disturbingly realistic storylines. It is the fourth novel in the Natalie Lockhart series, and if you’re not already reading this series, you really should be!

 

This book 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 Alice Blanchard

Alice Blanchard is an award-winning author. She has received a PEN Award, a New Letters Literary Award, a Centrum Artists-in-Residence Fellowship, and a Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction. Her debut novel, Darkness Peering, was a New York Times' Notable Book and a Barnes & Noble Best Mystery book. Her work has been published in 17 countries.

Photo Credit: DH Dowling.

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#BookReview A Stolen Child by Sarah Stewart Taylor @SSTaylorBooks @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #AStolenChild #SarahStewartTaylor #MaggieDArcy #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview A Stolen Child by Sarah Stewart Taylor @SSTaylorBooks @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #AStolenChild #SarahStewartTaylor #MaggieDArcy #SMPInfluencers Title: A Stolen Child

Author: Sarah Stewart Taylor

Published by: Minotaur Books on Jun. 20, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Sarah Stewart Taylor is known for her atmospheric portrayal of an American detective in Ireland, and her critically acclaimed series returns with A Stolen Child.

After months of training, former Long Island homicide detective Maggie D’arcy is now officially a Garda. She’s finally settling into life in Ireland and so is her teenage daughter, Lilly. Maggie may not be a detective yet, but she’s happy with her community policing assignment in Dublin’s Portobello neighborhood.

When she and her partner find former model and reality tv star Jade Elliot murdered—days after responding to a possible domestic violence disturbance at her apartment—they also discover Jade’s toddler daughter missing. Shorthanded thanks to an investigation into a gangland murder in the neighborhood, Maggie’s friend, Detective Inspector Roly Byrne, brings her onto his team to help find the missing child. But when a key discovery is made, the case only becomes more confusing—and more dangerous. Amidst a nationwide manhunt, Maggie and her colleagues must look deep into Jade’s life—both personal and professional—to find a ruthless killer.

Review:

Meticulous, sinister and sharp!

In this fourth instalment in the Maggie D’Arcy series, A Stolen Child, we head back to Dublin where former Long Island Detective and now Garda police officer Maggie D’Arcy finds herself working once again with DI Byrne as a part-time detective when she suddenly becomes immersed in a tricky investigation involving a murdered model, a missing toddler, a father with something to hide, and a few family members who don’t seem to be as concerned or helpful as one would expect them to be.

The writing is seamless and precise. The characters are flawed, diligent, and persistent. And the plot is a menacing tale full of twists, turns, deception, mayhem, lies, secrets, suspicious personalities, revelations, familial dysfunction, mental illness, and murder.

Overall, A Stolen Child is an ominous, sophisticated, entertaining tale by Taylor that had just the right amount of mystery, intrigue, atmosphere, and intensity to keep me engaged from start to finish and left me, a huge fan of this series, more than satisfied and eager for more.

 

This book 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 Press for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Sarah Stewart Taylor

Sarah Stewart Taylor grew up on Long Island and was educated at Middlebury College and Trinity College, Dublin. She lives with her husband and three children on a farm in Vermont where they raise sheep and blueberries.

Sarah is the author of THE MOUNTAINS WILD, an atmospheric thriller about a Long Island homicide detective named Maggie D'Arcy who returns to Ireland twenty-three years after the unsolved disappearance of her beloved cousin Erin in the Wicklow Mountains. When a young woman disappears and new evidence from Erin’s case is found, Maggie will have to uncover the truth about the Irish man she's never stopped loving and, in order to help Irish police save the missing woman, the truth about who Erin was and what happened to her.

It will be published by Minotaur Books on June 23, 2020.

Sarah is also the author of the Sweeney St. George mystery series, about an art historian who studies funerary art, "the art of death," from Minotaur Books. The first book in the series, O’ Artful Death, was nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel.

Her non-fiction has been published in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and many other publications.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

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#BookReview Queen Wallis by C. J. Carey @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #QueenWallis #CJCarey #bookmarkedbylandmark

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#BookReview Queen Wallis by C. J. Carey @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #QueenWallis #CJCarey #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: Queen Wallis

Author: C. J. Carey

Series: Rose Ransom #2

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Jul. 18, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction

Pages: 416

Format: Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 8/10

The thrilling sequel to Widowland, a feminist dystopian novel set in an alternative history that terrifyingly imagines what a British alliance with Germany would look like if the Nazis had won WWII.

London, 1955. The Leader has been dead for two years. His assassination, on British soil, provoked violent retribution and intensified repression of British citizens, particularly women. Now, more than ever, the Protectorate is a place of surveillance and isolation―a land of spies.

Every evening Rose Ransom looks in the mirror and marvels that she’s even alive. A mere woman, her role in the Leader’s death has been miraculously overlooked. She still works at the Culture Ministry, where her work now focuses on poetry, which has been banned for its subversive meanings, emotions, and signals that cannot be controlled.

A government propaganda drive to promote positive images of women has just been announced ahead of a visit from Dwight D. Eisenhower, the first American president to set foot on English soil in two decades. Queen Wallis Simpson will be spearheading the campaign, and Rose has been tasked with visiting her to explain the plan. When Rose arrives at the palace, she finds Wallis in a state of paranoia, desperate to return to America and enjoy the liberty of her homeland following her husband’s death. Wallis claims she has a secret document so explosive that it will blow the Protectorate apart. But will the last queen of England pull the trigger on the Alliance?

Review:

Unique, mysterious, and pensive!

Queen Wallis is a dark, sinister tale that picks up two years after Widowland left off, taking us back to a dystopian London during 1955 where the German Protectorate is still in rule and working hard to create his perfect society, espionage and repression are both still in abundance, Edward Vlll is dead, Queen Wallis remains though with little power or position, the American President and First Lady are set to make a surprise visit, women are still segregated based on attractiveness, reproductive capabilities, and age, and higher-caste Rose Ransom is still rewriting literature while doing whatever she can to empower women to fight for the respect and freedom they rightly deserve.

The prose is intense and rich. The characters are passionate, sly, and resilient. And the plot is a gripping tale of surveillance, segregation, courage, social injustice, politics, manipulation, control, suppression, and power.

Overall, Queen Wallis is an intricate, thought-provoking, creative sequel by Carey that incorporates a compelling mix of historical figures, atmospheric settings, and what-if fiction into an entertaining tale that’s bursting with feminism, intrigue, and action.

 

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

 

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

 

About C. J. Carey

C. J. Carey is a novelist, journalist, and broadcaster. She has worked at the Sunday Times, the Daily Telegraph, and the BBC, among others. She also writes novels under the name Jane Thynne and lives in London. Widowland is the first novel she has written as C. J. Carey.

Photo Credit: Charles Kerr

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#BookReview The Connellys of County Down by Tracey Lange @CeladonBooks #TheConnellysofCountyDown #TraceyLange #CeladonBooks #CeladonReads

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#BookReview The Connellys of County Down by Tracey Lange @CeladonBooks #TheConnellysofCountyDown #TraceyLange #CeladonBooks #CeladonReads Title: The Connellys of County Down

Author: Tracey Lange

Published by: Celadon Books on Aug. 1, 2023

Genres: General Fiction

Pages: 288

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Celadon Books

Book Rating: 9/10

From Tracey Lange, the New York Times bestselling author of We Are the Brennans, comes The Connellys of County Down: a story about fierce family loyalty, good intentions gone awry, and the consequences of improbable love.

When Tara Connelly is released from prison after serving eighteen months on a drug charge, she knows rebuilding her life at thirty years old won’t be easy. With no money and no prospects, she returns home to live with her siblings, who are both busy with their own problems. Her brother, a single dad, struggles with the ongoing effects of a brain injury he sustained years ago, and her sister’s fragile facade of calm and order is cracking under the burden of big secrets. Life becomes even more complicated when the cop who put her in prison keeps showing up unannounced, leaving Tara to wonder what he wants from her now.

While she works to build a new career and hold her family together, Tara finds a chance at love in a most unlikely place. But when the Connellys’ secrets start to unravel and threaten her future, they all must face their worst fears and come clean, or risk losing each other forever.

The Connellys of County Down is a moving novel about testing the bounds of love and loyalty. It explores the possibility of beginning our lives anew, and reveals the pitfalls of shielding each other from the bitter truth.

Review:

Sincere, immersive, and insightful!

The Connellys of County Down is a tender, engaging tale that sweeps you away to Port Chester, NY and into the lives of three siblings, Tara, Eddie, and Geraldine, as they each grapple with all the secrets, wounds, trauma, tragedy, hurt, shame, guilt, tears, and discontent that surrounds them.

The prose is heartfelt and raw. The characters are complex, scarred, and loyal. And the plot is a beautifully written, affecting tale about life, loss, friendship, family, secrets, jealousy, guilt, pain, anger, denial, resentments, familial drama, forgiveness, miscommunication, and self-reflection.

Overall, The Connellys of County Down is a hopeful, absorbing, multi-generational saga by Lange that reminds us where there’s love, there’s a way and that when it comes to family, life is a combination of all the messy, frustrating, challenging, heartbreaking, complicated moments, as well as all the lovely, wonderful, touching times that happen in-between.

This novel is available on August 1, 2023.

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

         

 

 

 

Thank you to Celadon Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Tracey Lange

Born in the Bronx and raised in Manhattan, Tracey Lange comes from a large Irish family with a few secrets of its own. She headed west and graduated from the University of New Mexico before owning and operating a behavioral healthcare company with her husband for fifteen years. While writing her debut novel, We Are the Brennans, she completed the Stanford University online novel writing program. Tracey currently lives in Bend, Oregon, with her husband, two sons and their German Shepherd.

Photo courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

Goodreads

#BookReview Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent @lizzienugent @SimonSchusterCA #StrangeSallyDiamond #LizNugent #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent @lizzienugent @SimonSchusterCA #StrangeSallyDiamond #LizNugent #SimonSchusterCA Title: Strange Sally Diamond

Author: Liz Nugent

Published by: Simon & Schuster on Jul. 18, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

The internationally bestselling author of the “dark, captivating psychological thriller” (People) Lying in Wait returns with a wickedly dark, twisted, and brilliantly observed new novel about an enigmatic woman confronting her unknown past.

For Sally Diamond, people are confusing, unpredictable, and hard to read. She has always preferred routines to spontaneity, silence to noise, and forthright communication to small talk. Adopted at the age of seven by a psychiatrist, she cannot remember any details of her childhood before that age. Now, at forty-three years old, the truth comes into sharp focus when Sally’s past becomes headline news: she endured something unthinkable as a child, and now, the entire world knows exactly who she is…and was.

Suddenly, Sally finds herself in the spotlight. People everywhere are digging into her past, ravenous for details, and Sally herself is learning things about herself and her family that she never knew before. Soon, a stranger from New Zealand sends her a familiar teddy bear in the mail, but why does he insist on addressing her as Mary? And why is her new neighbor so obsessed with her?

Told from the alternating perspectives of Sally in the present-day and a boy named Peter in the past, this is a novel that confronts the trauma of family secrets and explores one woman’s brave decision to define herself and her future.

Review:

Thrilling, haunting, and highly unnerving!

Strange Sally Diamond is a dark, perceptive, mysterious tale that takes you into the life of Sally Diamond, a socially inept, middle-aged woman with PTSD from childhood trauma and a tendency to take things literally who, after recently losing the only father she’s ever known, begins to struggle with living alone when long-buried secrets come to light, memories begin flooding back, someone is intent on tormenting her about the past, and danger now seems to lurk around every corner.

The prose is meticulous and tight. The characters are scarred, selfish, eccentric, and dangerous. And the plot, told from alternating perspectives, unfolds methodically into a seedy tale full of twists, turns, surprises, familial drama, lies, secrets, deception, self preservation, wickedness, tragedy, and murder.

Overall, Strange Sally Diamond is a nuanced, sinister, unpredictable tale by Nugent that once again highlights her innate ability to showcase the scheming, despicable, demoralizing, evil side of human nature while also reminding us of the devastating, enduring consequences of living in environments fraught with excessive control, manipulation, violence, and forced captivity.

 

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 Liz Nugent

Liz Nugent has worked in Irish film, theater, and television for most of her adult life. She is an award-winning writer of radio and television drama and has written critically acclaimed short stories both for children and adults, as well as the novels Unraveling Oliver and Lying in Wait. She lives in Dublin.

Photograph by Beta Bajgartova.

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#BookReview The Summer Girl by Elle Kennedy @ElleKennedy @smpromance @StMartinsPress #TheSummerGirl #ElleKennedy #AvalonBaySeries #SMPRomance #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Summer Girl by Elle Kennedy @ElleKennedy @smpromance @StMartinsPress #TheSummerGirl #ElleKennedy #AvalonBaySeries #SMPRomance #SMPInfluencers Title: The Summer Girl

Author: Elle Kennedy

Series: Avalon Bay #3

Published by: St. Martin's Griffin on Jul. 18, 2023

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 400

Format: Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

College student Cassie Soul hasn’t spent an entire summer in Avalon Bay in years, not since her parents divorced and her mother spitefully whisked her away to Boston. Now that her grandmother is selling the boardwalk hotel that’s been in their family for five decades, Cassie returns to the quaint beach town to spend time with family, ring in her twenty-first birthday… and maybe find herself a summer fling.

On her first night in town, she finds the perfect candidate: Tate Bartlett, Avalon Bay’s fun-loving golden boy.

Tate, sailing instructor and lovable player, is no stranger to flings. In fact, he’s always down for a good time. But the moment he meets Cassie, he knows she’s not the girl you play games with. Cassie is gorgeous, hilarious, and, frankly, the coolest person he’s ever met. The last thing he wants to do is risk breaking her heart, and so he reluctantly puts her in the friend-zone… only to realize he made a huge mistake. Soon, his attraction to Cassie becomes impossible to ignore. He wants that fling now. Big-time.

And maybe even something more.

As Cassie and Tate walk the line between friends and lovers, they’re about to discover that their situation is the least complicated part of this equation. Because Avalon Bay is full of secrets—and their relationship might not survive when those secrets come to light.

Review:

Steamy, sassy, and tender!

The Summer Girl is a cute, sweet, delightfully charming rom-com featuring the kind, dependable Cassie Soul, who, after returning to Avalon Bay for the summer to celebrate her twenty-first birthday, spend some time with her maternal grandmother, visit with her father, and perhaps have a little fling, quickly discovers that as time goes on, and secrets are uncovered she may have more than just a passing fancy for life on the island and local boy Tate Bartlett.

The writing is witty and smooth. The characters are easygoing, supportive, and dependable. And the plot is an enchanting mix of life, friendship, tension, chemistry, self-discovery, emotion, familial drama, special moments, summer fun, happiness, taking chances, and unconditional love.

Overall, The Summer Girl is an amusing, lighthearted, perfect summer read by Kennedy that can definitely be picked up as a standalone novel, but as someone who absolutely adores this Avalon Bay series, I highly recommend you read them all.

 

This book is available now.

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

       

 

 

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

 

About Elle Kennedy

A New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Elle Kennedy grew up in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario, and holds a B.A. in English from York University. From an early age, she knew she wanted to be a writer, and actively began pursuing that dream when she was a teenager.

Elle currently writes for various publishers. She loves strong heroines and sexy alpha heroes, and just enough heat and danger to keep things interesting!

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