Category: 8.5/10

#BookReview Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor @SSTaylorBooks @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #AgonyHill #SarahStewartTaylor #FranklinWarrenSeries #MinotaurInfluencers

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#BookReview Agony Hill by Sarah Stewart Taylor @SSTaylorBooks @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #AgonyHill #SarahStewartTaylor #FranklinWarrenSeries #MinotaurInfluencers Title: Agony Hill

Author: Sarah Stewart Taylor

Series: Franklin Warren #1

Published by: Minotaur Books on Aug. 6, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320

Format: Hardcover

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Set in rural Vermont in the volatile 1960s, Agony Hill is the first novel in a new historical series full of vivid New England atmosphere and the deeply drawn characters that are Sarah Stewart Taylor’s trademark.

In the hot summer of 1965, Bostonian Franklin Warren arrives in Bethany, Vermont, to take a position as a detective with the state police. Warren’s new home is on the verge of monumental change; the interstates under construction will bring new people, new opportunities, and new problems to Vermont, and the Cold War and protests against the war in Vietnam have finally reached the dirt roads and rolling pastures of Bethany.

Warren has barely unpacked when he’s called up to a remote farm on Agony Hill. Former New Yorker and Back-to-the-Lander Hugh Weber seems to have set fire to his barn and himself, with the door barred from the inside, but things aren’t adding up for Warren. The people of Bethany—from Weber’s enigmatic wife to Warren’s neighbor, widow and amateur detective Alice Bellows — clearly have secrets they’d like to keep, but Warren can’t tell if the truth about Weber’s death is one of them. As he gets to know his new home and grapples with the tragedy that brought him there, Warren is drawn to the people and traditions of small town Vermont, even as he finds darkness amidst the beauty.

Review:

Astute, sinister, and immersive!

Agony Hill is an engrossing, gritty novel that takes us to Bethany, Vermont, in 1965, where newly hired state police detective Franklin Warren suddenly finds himself mixed up in a complex investigation involving the death of a local farmer that may be the result of suicide, arson, or just plain murder.

The prose is authentic and rich. The characters are flawed, intelligent, and tenacious. And the plot unfolds and unravels quickly into a compelling mix of family, community, intrigue, drama, secrets, mayhem, and murder.

Overall, Agony Hill is a suspenseful, absorbing, atmospheric tale by Taylor that is a thoroughly enjoyable read and a fantastic start to this new Franklin Warren series.

 

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 House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen @sarahpekkanen @StMartinsPress #HouseOfGlass #SarahPekkanen #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen @sarahpekkanen @StMartinsPress #HouseOfGlass #SarahPekkanen #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: House of Glass

Author: Sarah Pekkanen

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Aug. 6, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

On the outside they were the golden family with the perfect life. On the inside they built the perfect lie.

A young nanny who plunged to her death, or was she pushed? A nine-year-old girl who collects sharp objects and refuses to speak. A lawyer whose job it is to uncover who in the family is a victim and who is a murderer. But how can you find out the truth when everyone here is lying?

Rose Barclay is a nine-year-old girl who witnessed the possible murder of her nanny – in the midst of her parent’s bitter divorce – and immediately stopped speaking. Stella Hudson is a best interest attorney, appointed to serve as counsel for children in custody cases. She never accepts clients under thirteen due to her own traumatic childhood, but Stella’s mentor, a revered judge, believes Stella is the only one who can help.

From the moment Stella passes through the iron security gate and steps into the gilded, historic DC home of the Barclays, she realizes the case is even more twisted, and the Barclay family far more troubled, than she feared. And there’s something eerie about the house itself: It’s a plastic house, with not a single bit of glass to be found.

As Stella comes closer to uncovering the secrets the Barclays are desperate to hide, danger wraps around her like a shroud, and her past and present are set on a collision course in ways she never expected. Everyone is a suspect in the nanny’s murder. The mother, the father, the grandmother, the nanny’s boyfriend. Even Rose. Is the person Stella’s supposed to protect the one she may need protection from?

Review:

Ominous, edgy, and intricate!

House of Glass is a fast-paced, compelling thriller that takes you on a journey into the life of best-interest lawyer Stella Hudson as she juggles a new case involving a philandering husband, an extremely wealthy wife, a doting grandmother, a pregnant nanny who may or may not have accidentally fallen to her death, and a nine-year-old client who hasn’t uttered a word since the tragic event.

The prose is crisp and tight. The characters are secretive, protective, and vulnerable. And the plot is a complex, menacing tale of family, friendship, deception, lies, drama, manipulation, secrets, revelations, suspicious personalities, violence, and murder.

Overall, House of Glass is another suspenseful, twisty, intense tale by Pekkanen that does a remarkable job of highlighting that people aren’t always who they seem to be and that desperate people often do desperate things.

 

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

 

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

 

About Sarah Pekkanen

SARAH PEKKANEN is the #1 New York Times bestselling co-author of four novels of suspense including The Golden Couple and The Wife Between Us, and the solo author of the thriller Gone Tonight. A passionate volunteer for rescue animals, she serves as an Ambassador for RRSA India and works hands-on in India to heal and vaccinate street dogs. She lives just outside of Washington, D.C., with her family.

Photo Credit: Kristina Sherk

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#BookReview Fire and Bones by Kathy Reichs @SimonSchusterCA #FireAndBones #KathyReichs #TemperanceBrennanSeries #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview Fire and Bones by Kathy Reichs @SimonSchusterCA #FireAndBones #KathyReichs #TemperanceBrennanSeries #SimonSchusterCA Title: Fire and Bones

Author: Kathy Reichs

Series: Temperance Brennan #23

Published by: Scribner on Aug. 6, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 288

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs returns with a twisty, surprise-packed thriller featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan, who finds herself at the center of an arson investigation, a deepening mystery, and a stunning culmination of violence and deception.

It’s never easy working fire scenes, Tempe thinks. Called to Washington, DC to analyze the victims of a building set ablaze amid mysterious circumstances, she sees all of her misgivings justified. The building site is in Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood with a colorful past and present, and the residence’s ownership becomes even more suspicious when Tempe delves into the building’s past.

The pieces start falling into place strangely and quickly, and, sensing a good story, Tempe teams with a new ally, telejournalist Ivy Doyle. Soon the duo learns that back in the thirties and forties the property belonged to a member a group of bootleggers and racketeers known as the Foggy Bottom Gang. Though interesting, this fact seems irrelevant—until the son of a Foggy Bottom gang member is shot dead at his farm in Fairfax County, Virginia. Coincidence? Targeted attacks? So many questions.

As Tempe and Ivy dig deeper, an arrest is finally made. Then another Foggy Bottom Gang-linked property burns to the ground, claiming one more victim. Slowly, Tempe’s instincts begin raising flags. Have too many of her moves while in Washington been anticipated in advance?

Long after that first fire is extinguished its flames of consequence spread outward, and eventually Tempe finds herself fighting for her life.

Review:

Intricate, sharp, and sinister!

Fire and Bones is a menacing, disturbing tale that sees esteemed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan heading to Washington, DC to help out on an investigation into a building fire involving multiple casualties and a history of nefarious dealings.

The writing is tight and clever. The characters are meticulous, diligent, and driven. And the plot is an ominous, compelling mix of twists, turns, red herrings, resentments, secrets, deduction, mayhem, retribution, violence, and murder.

Overall, Fire and Bones is a taut, tense, gripping tale inspired by real-life events that is unbelievably the twenty-third book in the Temperance Brennan series. I have yet to read a novel by Reichs that isn’t suspenseful, pacey, and extremely satisfying, and this one, once again, didn’t disappoint.

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 Kathy Reichs

Kathy Reichs’s first novel Déjà Dead, published in 1997, won the Ellis Award for Best First Novel and was an international bestseller. Fire and Bones is Reichs’s twenty-third novel featuring forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan. Reichs was also a producer of Fox Television’s longest running scripted drama, Bones, which was based on her work and her novels. One of very few forensic anthropologists certified by the American Board of Forensic Anthropology, Reichs divides her time between Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina.

Photograph © Marie-Reine

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#BookReview The Stranger in Her House by John Marrs @johnmarrs1 @FireflyDist @AmazonPub #TheStrangerInHerHouse #JohnMarrs #FireflyDist

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#BookReview The Stranger in Her House by John Marrs @johnmarrs1 @FireflyDist @AmazonPub #TheStrangerInHerHouse #JohnMarrs #FireflyDist Title: The Stranger in Her House

Author: John Marrs

Published by: Thomas & Mercer on Feb. 13, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 347

Format: Paperback

Source: Firefly Distributed Lines

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A stranger has infiltrated your family…and now he’s taking over.

Paul’s just here to help, or so he claims—sent by a charity for vulnerable people to do odd jobs for elderly widow Gwen. But for Gwen’s daughter Connie, there’s just something about Paul that rings alarm bells from day one. He’s a little too kind, a little too involved…Worse still, Gwen seems to have fallen under his spell.

The last thing Connie wants is a stranger meddling in the safe routine she’s built around Gwen. She loves being the one Gwen turns to for cooking, cleaning and company. But the more Paul visits, the more Gwen is relying on him. By the time he conveniently finds himself between homes and has no choice but to move in, Connie is certain he’s trying to push her out completely.

It’s her word against his, though, and as her attempts to unmask him become ever more desperate she’s not the only one left wondering if she’s lost her grip on reality. But when events start spiralling rapidly out of her control, should Connie wage all-out war on Paul and risk losing Gwen forever—or has that been his plan all along?

Review:

Ominous, intense, and absorbing!

The Stranger in Her House is an eerily gripping, suspenseful tale that takes you into the life of Connie, a young woman taking care of her elderly, declining mother who, after accepting the help of a local handyman, suddenly finds her life turned upside down when it quickly becomes apparent that his motivations are not as honest and pure as they first appeared and he’ll do whatever it takes, even kill, to get what he wants.

The prose is tight and edgy. The characters are secretive, consumed, and duplicitous. And the plot is a twisty tale full of drama, deception, lies, obsession, manipulation, tragedy, childhood trauma, dark secrets, violence, and murder.

Overall, The Stranger in Her House is another engrossing, sinister, tortuous novel by Marrs that kept me riveted from the very first page and is definitely the perfect choice for anyone who loves a menacing, highly entertaining, tension-filled read.

 

This novel is available now.

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

     

 

 

Thank you to Firefly Distributed Lines for providing me with a copy in exchange for a review.

 

About John Marrs

John Marrs is the author of #1 Best Sellers The One, The Good Samaritan, When You Disappeared, The Vacation, Her Last Move, The Passengers, The Minders and What Lies Between Us. Keep It In The Family and The Marriage Act are released soon.
What Lies won the International Thriller Writers' Best Paperback of 2021 award.
The One has been translated into 30 different languages and is to be turned into an eight-part Netflix series starting in autumn 2020.
After working as a journalist for 25-years interviewing celebrities from the world of television, film and music for national newspapers and magazines, he is now a full-time writer.

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#BookReview Return to Blood by Michael Bennett @PGCBooks @groveatlantic #ReturnToBlood #MichaelBennett #HanaWestermanThriller #PGCBooks

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#BookReview Return to Blood by Michael Bennett @PGCBooks @groveatlantic #ReturnToBlood #MichaelBennett #HanaWestermanThriller #PGCBooks Title: Return to Blood

Author: Michael Bennett

Series: Hana Westerman Thriller #2

Published by: Atlantic Monthly Press on May 31, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

From the author of Better the Blood, the gripping second novel in a crime series starring Maori detective Hana Westerman, in which the discovery of human bones in the dunes of New Zealand upends a long-ago murder conviction.

After the perils of a case that landed much too close to home, Hana Westerman turned in her badge and abandoned her career as a detective in the Auckland CIB. Hoping that civilian life will offer her the opportunity to rest and recalibrate, she returns to her hometown of Tata Bay, where she moves back in with her beloved father, Eru. Yet the memories of the past are everywhere, and as she goes for her daily run on the beach, Hana passes a local monument to Grace, a high school classmate who was murdered more than twenty years ago and hidden in the dunes overlooking the sea. A Maori man with a previous record was convicted of the crime, although Eru never believed he was guilty. When her daughter finds another young woman’s skeleton in the sands, Hana soon finds herself awkwardly involved. Investigators suspect that this is Kiri Thomas, a young Maori woman who disappeared four years earlier, after battling years of drug addiction. Hana and her daughter Addison are increasingly captivated by the story behind this unsolved crime, but without the official police force behind her, Hana must risk compromising her own peace and relationships if justice is to be served.

Expanding the range of vivid characters who made Michael Bennett’s first book, Better the Blood, so appealing, and offering a shocking twist at the end, Return to Blood takes readers further into Maori culture and traditions as it engages us more deeply into the story of Hana Westerman.

Review:

Shrewd, menacing, and gritty!

In this latest novel by Bennett, Return to Blood, we head back to New Zealand where Hana Westerman, now retired from the Auckland police force and living a quieter life back in her hometown of Tātā Bay, finds herself quickly immersed in a murder investigation when her daughter stumbles across the bones of a young woman on the exact stretch of beach where one of Hana’s high school classmates was found dumped more than twenty years ago.

The writing is sharp and tight. The characters are vulnerable, complex, and intriguing. And the plot is a sinister tale full of deception, manipulation, misdirection, secrets, mayhem, revelations, Maori culture, and murder.

Overall, Return to Blood is an ominous, sophisticated, entertaining addition to a series that, with its flawed characters, great pace, and constant sense of urgency, has now found a permanent place on my must-read list.

 

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 gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Michael Bennett

Michael Bennett (Ngati Pikiao, Ngati Whakaue)is an award-winning screenwriter, director, and author whose films have been selections at major festivals, including Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, and New York. His nonfiction book, In Dark Places, which explored an infamous miscarriage of justice, won awards, and his young adult graphic novel, Helen and the Go-Go Ninjas, was a finalist for the 2019 New Zealand Book Awards.

Photo courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

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#BookReview Bad Tourists by Caro Carver @SimonSchusterCA #BadTourists #CaroCarver #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview Bad Tourists by Caro Carver @SimonSchusterCA #BadTourists #CaroCarver #SimonSchusterCA Title: Bad Tourists

Author: Caro Carver

Published by: Avid Reader Press on Jul. 9, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Three tight-knit friends embark on an extravagant divorce trip to the Maldives where they can unwind and celebrate a new chapter in midlife—until they realize the resort of their dreams is harboring a killer.

Best friends Darcy, Camilla, and Kate escape for a post-divorce retreat in the Maldives, the perfect place to relax, reset, and embrace a fresh start in life. Darcy is learning how to be a free woman at forty-two. Camilla has found the perfect calling as a fitness and wellness influencer with a devoted following. And Kate is finally working on the book she was meant to write after years of telling other people’s stories.

Their dream getaway? The exclusive and isolated Sapphire Island Resort. With luxurious private villas, crystal-clear waters, and sun-drenched white sand beaches, relaxation is guaranteed. But this is no ordinary friendship, and they’re not the only guests on the island with secrets. Who left the body on the beach—and who’s next?

A propulsive and deliciously dark tale about female friendship, loyalty, and lies, Bad Tourists is a white-hot thriller from the first page to its mind-blowing finish.

Review:

Intense, chilling, and complex!

Bad Tourists is a layered, unsettling thriller that delves into the devastating emotional, psychological, and physical effects caused by violence on its victims, as well as their loved ones and highlights just how easily the most heinous of evil can live comfortably amongst us merely hidden behind masks of normality.

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, Bad Tourists is, ultimately, a story of lies, secrets, revelations, depravity, manipulation, friendship, violence, and murder. It’s a tight, clever, disturbing thrill ride by Carver that had just the right amount of twists, turns, and surprises to keep me absolutely engrossed from start to finish.

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 Caro Carver

Caro Carver lives in Scotland with her husband and four children. She is Reader in Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow, teaches for the Faber Academy and the Curtis Brown Academy, and regularly speaks on panels and hosts events on writing. Caro is happiest when traveling and takes inspiration from her travels to write her books. Bad Tourists is her first book written under the pseudonym of Caro Carver. She is also published as C.J. Cooke for her gothic thrillers.

Photo by Jared Jess-Cooke.

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#BookReview Boss Lady by Alli Frank & Asha Youmans @OverTheRiverPR @alliandasha @AmazonPub #BossLady, #AlliandAsha #comrom #Blackfiction #Jewishfiction #BlackWhiteDuo #funnyfiction #Montlake #MontlakeAuthors #SummerReads #OTRPR

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#BookReview Boss Lady by Alli Frank & Asha Youmans @OverTheRiverPR @alliandasha @AmazonPub #BossLady, #AlliandAsha #comrom #Blackfiction #Jewishfiction #BlackWhiteDuo #funnyfiction #Montlake #MontlakeAuthors #SummerReads #OTRPR Title: Boss Lady

Published by: Montlake Romance on Jul. 2, 2024

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 317

Format: Hardcover

Source: Amazon Publishing, OTRPR

Book Rating: 8.5/10

In this funny and inspiring novel from the authors of The Better Half, a mess of a heroine is desperate to resolve her past so she can finally rediscover who she was always meant to be.

Antonia “Toni” Arroyo’s protective mother has outdated notions for her daughter’s life: employ her natural beauty and marry young. But Toni has wholly different aspirations.

A promising inventor and budding entrepreneur, she fights to keep her passions alive as a financially strapped mother of twins with a job in airport transportation services that has her going in circles. One treasured frequent passenger is elderly traveler Sylvia Eisenberg, Toni’s sage but unofficial adviser and cheerleader. When Toni meets Sylvia’s grandson, Ash, a striking venture capitalist, luck just might bend her way.

With a game-changing new business endeavor in development, Toni hustles an opportunity to pitch her idea on TV’s Innovation Nation. Toni’s unexpected challenger? Her very own recently resurfaced, self-aggrandizing not-quite-ex-husband. As Toni’s interrupted past collides with her tenuous future, she is more determined than ever to follow through on her delayed dreams. Toni’s been clinging to “maybe” for so long—it’s finally time for “absolutely.”

Review:

Clever, humorous, and inspiring!

Boss Lady is a flirty, charming tale about the hardworking, driven Antonia Arroyo who, after her husband walks out and doesn’t return for more than a year learns to juggle her love of science, her extreme creativity and drive to succeed, the raising of her twin teen girls, her monotonous job in airport transportation, and the reappearance of a crush from a lifetime ago.

The prose is smooth and sharp. The characters are focused, amusing, and dependable. And the plot is a lighthearted, funny blend of life, love, introspection, friendship, awkward situations, embarrassing moments, taking chances, and the ups and downs of being a single mother and an entrepreneur.

Overall, I found Boss Lady to be a smart, simmering, entertaining read by Frank & Youmans that’s brimming with empowerment, female friendships, and delectable romance.

 

This novel is available now.

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

     

 

 

Thank you to OTRPR and Amazon Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Alli Frank & Asha Youmans

ALLI FRANK: The robustness of a farm girl, the honed sophistication of a city woman, a dash of Jewish chutzpah, and a heaping cup of endurance athlete and voila, you have Alli Frank. Alli was raised in Yakima, WA, the only child of two parents who instilled in her that hard work coupled with a resilient spirit will take you far. So, up some of the highest mountains Alli climbed, down insanely steep terrain she skied and across long swathes of land she ran. To pay for all this adventure, Alli has worked in education for over 20 years in San Francisco and Seattle - from an overcrowded, cacophonous public high school to a pristine private girl’s school. She has been a teacher, curriculum leader, coach, college counselor, assistant head, private school co-founder, sometimes pastor, often mayor, and de facto parent therapist. A graduate of Cornell and Stanford Universities, Alli can still be found during the day skiing or running down mountains and by night with her nose deep in a book or hunkered down watching movies, never one to miss a great story. Alli lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, two daughters and a terribly cute mini-Bernedoodle. When she needs good food (cause she really hates to cook) she turns to her co-author Asha Youmans. Read Alli's essays in the Moms Don't Have Time to: A Quarantine Anthology, Frolic and Medium.

ASHA YOUMANS: Raised in Seattle, WA, Asha Youmans was among the first wave of girls to integrate Little League in Washington. She was also a member of a two-time city champion Double Dutch team and rode a unicycle, tumbled, and juggled as a member of a traveling circus acrobatics team. Asha is the middle child of two dedicated community service people. Her father, TJ Vassar, was a pioneer in education in Seattle and across the globe, making such an impact in diversity curriculum and inclusive practices in schools that President Obama honored his life’s work in 2012. Her mother, Lynda, was a children’s hospital administrator who insisted on her kids participating in community volunteer work. Enrolled in gifted programs while attending public school, Asha went on to graduate from one of America’s premier private academies, Lakeside School, from which her father earned a diploma as the school’s first Black graduate. After writing her own major program and graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, Asha returned to Seattle where she taught in public and private schools for 20 years. Asha is a fabulous home cook who loves storytelling and connecting with others by making them smile. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband. Together they have two adult sons and a feisty, senior Yorkshire Terrier.

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#BookReview The Seaside Sisters by Pamela Kelley @PamelaMKelley @smpromance @StMartinsPress #TheSeasideSisters #PamelaKelley #StMartinsPress #smpromance #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Seaside Sisters by Pamela Kelley @PamelaMKelley @smpromance @StMartinsPress #TheSeasideSisters #PamelaKelley #StMartinsPress #smpromance #SMPInfluencers Title: The Seaside Sisters

Author: Pamela M. Kelly

Published by: St. Martin's Griffin on Jun. 4, 2024

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 320

Format: Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

One summer can change everything.

Brooklyn-based Hannah is a bestselling author struggling to write her second book after personal losses. Her older sister, Sara, still lives in Chatham, Cape Cod, where they grew up, and is married with four children. Once a dedicated librarian, Sara dreams of reviving her love affair with literature, but instead, she is stuck with too many family responsibilities and a fizzling marriage.

When Hannah gets the chance to retreat to her aunt’s oceanfront house in Chatham for the summer, it seems like just the thing to get her creative juices flowing. And she’ll be able to spend more time with Sara, who is eager to find her way back into the workforce, to do something rewarding and book-related. The pair will spend the summer making friends, rekindling romance― especially Spencer, an old acquaintance from high school-turned very hot grump― and opening themselves up to the magic of books and the beach.

Perfect for fans of Mary Kay Andrews, Susan Mallery and Brenda Novak, The Seaside Sisters will delight and charm you as easily as an ocean breeze.

Review:

Quaint, tender, and sweet!

The Seaside Sisters is a lighthearted, engaging tale that takes you on a journey to Cape Cod and into the lives of two sisters; Hannah, a successful writer who, since the loss of her mother, is struggling to pen her next tale, and Sara, a married mother of four boys who is ready for just a little bit more in her life than laundry, carpooling, and taking care of those she loves.

The prose is light and smooth. The characters are hesitant, determined, and multilayered. And the plot is a heartfelt, hopeful tale full of life, love, family, friendship, community, self-discovery, embracing change, taking chances, and finding happiness.

Overall, The Seaside Sisters is another charming, absorbing, heartwarming tale by Kelley with characters I couldn’t help but root for and an ending that left me more than a little satisfied.

 

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 Pamela M. Kelly

Pamela Kelley is a USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of women's fiction, family sagas, and suspense, such as The Restaurant and The Hotel. Readers often describe her books as feel-good reads with people you'd want as friends. She lives in a historic seaside town near Cape Cod. She has always been an avid reader of women's fiction, romance, mysteries, thrillers and cook books. There's also a good chance you might get hungry when you read her books as she is a foodie, and occasionally shares a recipe or two.

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#BookReview Swift River by Essie Chambers @SimonSchusterCA #SwiftRiver #EssieChambers #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview Swift River by Essie Chambers @SimonSchusterCA #SwiftRiver #EssieChambers #SimonSchusterCA Title: Swift River

Author: Essie J. Chambers

Published by: Simon & Schuster on Jun. 4, 2024

Genres: General Fiction, Historical Fiction

Pages: 304

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

It’s the summer of 1987 in Swift River, and Diamond Newberry is learning how to drive. Ever since her Pop disappeared seven years ago, she and her mother hitchhike everywhere they go. But that’s not the only reason Diamond stands out: she’s teased relentlessly about her weight, and since Pop’s been gone, she is the only Black person in all of Swift River. This summer, Ma is determined to declare Pop legally dead so that they can collect his life insurance money, get their house back from the bank, and finally move on.

But when Diamond receives a letter from a relative she’s never met, key elements of Pop’s life are uncovered, and she is introduced to two generations of African American Newberry women, whose lives span the 20th century and reveal a much larger picture of prejudice and abandonment, of love and devotion. As pieces of their shared past become clearer, Diamond gains a sense of her place in the world and in her family. But how will what she’s learned of the past change her future?

A story of first friendships, family secrets, and finding the courage to let go, Swift River is a sensational debut about how history shapes us and heralds the arrival of a major new literary talent.

Review:

Raw, atmospheric, and insightful!

Swift River is a descriptive, moving novel that sweeps you away to New England in 1987 and into the life of biracial teen Diamond Newberry, the only young girl of colour in her whole small town who, after her father suddenly disappears in 1980, struggles to come to grips with her burgeoning weight and a constant sense of being adrift and disconnected due to a lack of relationship and any knowledge into her paternal ancestry.

The prose is vivid and expressive. The characters are vulnerable, lonely, and adrift. And the plot is a heart-tugging, compelling tale of life, love, loss, family, friendship, poverty, prejudice, racism, community, courage, desperation, self-reflection, and coming of age.

Overall, Swift River is a rich, gritty, absorbing tale by Chambers that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly into the feelings, lives, and personalities of the characters you can’t help but be enthralled, emotional, and invested from start to finish.

 

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 Essie J. Chambers

Essie Chambers earned her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University and has received fellowships from the MacDowell Vermont Studio Center, and Baldwin for the Arts. A former film and television executive, she was a producer on the documentary Descendant, which was released by the Obamas’ Higher Ground production company and Netflix in 2022. Swift River is her debut novel.

Photograph by Christine Jean Chambers.

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#BookReview A Good Life by Virginie Grimaldi (translated by Hildegarde Serle) @EuropaEditions @PGCBooks #AGoodLife #VirginieGrimaldi #PGCBooks #EuropaEditions

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#BookReview A Good Life by Virginie Grimaldi (translated by Hildegarde Serle) @EuropaEditions @PGCBooks #AGoodLife #VirginieGrimaldi #PGCBooks #EuropaEditions Title: A Good Life

Author: Virginie Grimaldi

Published by: Europa Editions on Jun. 7, 2024

Genres: General Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 288

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Full of humor and compassion, a profound exploration of sisterhood, healing, and the ineffable beauty of life from France‘s most beloved contemporary novelist

Laughter, tears, the transformative power of love, unexpected revelations, and striking natural these are the ingredients that combine to make best-selling author Virginie Grimaldi’s American debut the feel-good read of 2024. Grimaldi is among France’s top ten contemporary authors and her uplifting, unputdownable literary novels have quickly garnered her millions of adoring fans. This, her American debut, is among her most delicately wrought and emotionally compelling novels to date. 

Emma and Agathe are sisters. They were thick as thieves when they were young but have always been as different as can be. Agathe, the younger sister, is disorderly, chaotic, and fiery. Five years older, Emma has always been the more mature sister, the defender, the protector, the worrier. Their relationship as adults is scarred by a tragedy that transformed their happy, ordinary childhoods into something much more complex and challenging. For a long time, Emma hasn’t wanted to be involved in Agathe’s life. But then they must return together to the Basque Country, to the house of their adored grandmother, to empty out her home and in the process to reconcile, to remember, and to pour out what is in their hearts. 

The story alternates between Agathe and Emma’s childhood and their present day, with everything in between, and readers see them as young girls, teenagers, young women, mothers, wives, partners, individuals, sisters. This is a story that encompasses whole lives, complex lives, women’s lives, asking all the while how the scars of the past can be healed and what, in the end, is a good life.

Review:

Tender, sincere, and memorable!

A Good Life is an intimate, poignant tale that sweeps you away to France and immerses you into the lives of two sisters, Emma and Agathe, as after being estranged for several years, they come together to clean out their late grandmother’s home and discover how to accept the things they cannot change, confront a past littered with tragedy and heartbreak, acknowledge and repair long-strained relationships, and ultimately learn to savour every moment.

The writing is effortless and polished. The characters are multi-layered, genuine, and scarred. And the plot, including all the subplots, skillfully intertwines and unravels into a delightfully touching tale about life, love, loss, guilt, grief, family drama, secrets, happiness, self-discovery, and sisterhood.

Overall, A Good Life is a beautiful mix of hope, heart, and healing that is not only a humorous, emotive, lovely novel by Virginie Grimaldi but one which I don’t think anyone could possibly read and not be completely absorbed and moved.

 

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 gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Virginie Grimaldi

Virginie Grimaldi was born in 1977 in Bordeaux, where she still lives. She is the author of nine novels and was the most read French writer for three consecutive years (in 2019, 2020, and 2021). Her novels have been bestsellers in Europe and have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Photo Pascal Ito © Flammarion.

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