8/10

#BookReview Livid by Patricia Cornwell @1pcornwell @GrandCentralPub #PatriciaCornwell #Livid #KayScarpetta #GCPInsider

#BookReview Livid by Patricia Cornwell @1pcornwell @GrandCentralPub #PatriciaCornwell #Livid #KayScarpetta #GCPInsider Title: Livid

Author: Patricia Cornwell

Series: Kay Scarpetta #26

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Oct. 25, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover

Source: Grand Central Publishing

Book Rating: 8/10

In this thrilling new installment of Patricia Cornwell’s #1 bestselling series, chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta finds herself a reluctant star witness in a sensational televised murder trial causing chaos in Old Town Alexandria with the threat of violent protests.

Forensic pathologist Kay Scarpetta has just inherited one of the most notorious cases of her career. Two years ago, a former beauty queen’s body washed up on the shore of Wallops Island, Virginia. She was last seen on a boat with her fiancé, who has since been held in jail while awaiting trial.

Scarpetta must act as the expert witness for the case—an investigation previously botched by another forensic pathologist. After a grueling cross-examination by the prosecutor, Scarpetta leaves the court only to discover that the sister of the judge on her case has been found dead.

Scarpetta ultimately finds herself facing a powerful, invisible enemy who’s planning the unthinkable.


Review:

Intricate, menacing, and sophisticated!

In this twenty-sixth instalment in the Kay Scarpetta series, Livid, Cornwell has written an ominous thriller that sees Virginia’s Chief Medical Examiner Kay Scarpetta not only testifying in the April Tupelo volatile trial but also investigating the bizarre murder of CIA employee Rachael Stanwyck, sister of her close friend Judge Annie Chilton, that as it unfolds also seems strangely connected to a failed assassination attempt on the President, the brutal murder of a beloved local market owner and the suicide of a Tidewater medical examiner.

The writing is descriptive and brisk. The characters are intuitive, knowledgeable, and persistent. And the plot is a well-paced, cleverly plotted tale full of mischief, mayhem, coercion, corruption, criminal behaviours, dangerous endeavours, crime scene analysis, secrets, deduction, lies, terrorists, and murder.

Overall, Livid is another action-packed, intriguing, sinister tale by Cornwell that I am sure will be a solid, satisfying, entertaining read for any long-standing fans of the series.

 

This book is available now.

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

                

 

 

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Patricia Cornwell

In 1990, Patricia Cornwell sold her first novel, Postmortem, while working at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Virginia. An auspicious debut, it went on to win the Edgar, Creasey, Anthony, and Macavity Awards, as well as the French Prix du Roman d’Aventures—the first book ever to claim all these distinctions in a single year. Growing into an international phenomenon, the Scarpetta series won Cornwell the Sherlock Award for best detective created by an American author, the Gold Dagger Award, the RBA Thriller Award, and the Medal of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters for her contributions to literary and artistic development. Today, Cornwell’s novels and iconic characters are known around the world. Beyond the Scarpetta series, Cornwell has written the definitive nonfiction account of Jack the Ripper’s identity, cookbooks, a children’s book, a biography of Ruth Graham, and three other fictional series based on the characters Win Garano, Andy Brazil, and Captain Callie Chase. In recent years, Cornwell has been researching space-age technologies at NASA facilities, the U.S. Space Force, and Secret Service. She’s visited Scotland Yard and Interpol, always keeping up with what’s current. Cornwell was born in Miami. She grew up in Montreat, North Carolina, and now lives and works in Boston.

Photo Credit: Patrick Ecclesine

#BookReview The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings by Joanna Nadin @joannanadin @PGCBooks @MantleBooks #TheDoubleLifeofDaisyHemmings #JoannaNadin #PGCBooks

#BookReview The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings by Joanna Nadin @joannanadin @PGCBooks @MantleBooks #TheDoubleLifeofDaisyHemmings #JoannaNadin #PGCBooks Title: The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings

Author: Joanna Nadin

Published by: Mantle Books on Sep. 5, 2022

Genres: General Fiction

Pages: 384

Format: Hardcover

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

The characters in this book are works of fiction. But, then, isn’t everyone . . . ?

1988, Pencalenick, Cornwall.
At seventeen, Jason wants much more from life than working at his father’s pub and when fate, in the form of twins Daisy and Bea and their small circle of friends, offers him a glimpse of another, more glamorous, world, he’s determined to become a part of it. It’s Daisy who Jason is most entranced by, though. Everyone is: she’s the sun around which others orbit.
The trouble with the sun, of course, is that those who get too close risk getting burned – and by the end of the summer, one of the group will be dead.

2018, Camberwell, London.
When famous actress Daisy Hemmings decides it’s time to publish her autobiography, she chooses James Tate to write it. James is a ghost writer: it’s his job to step into other people’s shoes; to tell their stories for them. And he’s good at it. Very good. After all, he’s had years of practice at pretending to be someone he’s not.
But what happens when past and present – and truth and lies – collide?

Joanna Nadin’s The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings is an unflinching, unforgettable novel about the people we are, the people we’d like to be, and the price we pay for getting what we want . . .


Review:

Intricate, intriguing and twisty!

The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings is an intense, complex tale set in Cornwall during 1988, as well as 2018, that takes you into the life of Jason Pengelly, a.k.a. James Tate, a working-class teen who, after getting swept up with a group of wealthy visitors, including twins Daisy and Bea Hicks, has his life irrevocably changed one night when an accident leaves one twin dead and Jason himself presumed dead.

The writing is tense and tight. The characters are secretive, self-involved, and troubled. And the plot, using a past/present, back-and-forth style, unfolds slowly into a simmering tale full of emotion, manipulation, deception, desperation, jealousy, obsession, overindulgence, social status, and competition.

Overall, The Double Life of Daisy Hemmings is a captivating, eerie, bewildering tale by Nadin that does a wonderful job of delving into the dynamic relationship between sisters, especially twins, and reminds us that we only see what people want us to see, and even then we only see what we want to see.

 

This novel 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 Joanna Nadin

A former broadcast journalist, Downing Street political adviser and government speechwriter, Joanna Nadin is the author of more than eighty books for children and teenagers, including the Flying Fergus series with Sir Chris Hoy, the bestselling Rachel Riley diaries, based on the author’s teenage years, and the Carnegie Medal-nominated Joe All Alone, which is now a BAFTA-winning BBC drama. She is also a lecturer on the MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.

The Talk of Pram Town is her second novel for adults; her first was The Queen of Bloody Everything.

Photo courtesy of Pan Macmillan's Website.

#BookReview Standing Alone by Stephen Leather @Mobius_Books @HodderBooks #StandingAlone #StephenLeather #MattStanding #MobiusBooksUS

#BookReview Standing Alone by Stephen Leather @Mobius_Books @HodderBooks #StandingAlone #StephenLeather #MattStanding #MobiusBooksUS Title: Standing Alone

Author: Stephen Leather

Series: Matt Standing #2

Published by: Hodder And Stoughton Ltd. on Apr. 4, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320

Format: Hardcover

Source: Mobius Books US

Book Rating: 8/10

How can you follow orders if those orders are to kill a friend?

A Navy SEAL has gone rogue, selling his skills to the highest bidder as a professional assassin.

Ryan French no longer cares who he kills so long as the price is right.

His former bosses want him taken down, but they’re not prepared to get their hands dirty so they need a Brit to do the job.

SAS trooper Matt “Lastman” Standing is a lethal killing machine with experience in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Plus he’s worked with French in the past. It’s not a mission he wants, but Standing made a bad choice in his past and it has come back to haunt him.

Now he’s hunting French in the lawless Wild West forests of Humboldt County, where the US produces most of its legal – and illegal – cannabis.

But French isn’t the only predator in the wilderness – there are Mexican cartels, Russian Mafia and Hungarian gangsters – and Standing has to overcome them all to get to his target.


Review:

Adrenaline-pumping, suspenseful, and fast-paced!

In this second instalment in the Matt Standing series, Standing Alone, Leather has written an action-packed thrill ride that sees the cocky, talented SAS trooper Standing being blackmailed into taking a side mission for “The Pool, a shady organization headed by Charlotte Button that sees him hunting down ex-Navy Seal Ryan French in rural California where organized crime is rife, people live wild and free, and cannabis grows in abundance.

The writing is brisk and tight. The characters are ruthless, persistent, and experienced. And the plot keeps you on the edge of your seat as it submerges you in a menacing tale full of violence, deception, mayhem, danger, control, power, and murder.

Overall, Standing Alone is another tortuous, pacey, exciting tale by Leather that, with its well-drawn characterization, creative storyline, and thrilling conclusion, is sure to be a big hit with longtime fans of this author’s previous novels.

 

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 gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Stephen Leather

Stephen Leather was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Mail and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. His bestsellers have been translated into more than ten languages. He has also written for television shows such as London's Burning, The Knock and the BBC's Murder in Mind series. For much of 2011 his self-published eBooks - including The Bestseller, The Basement, Once Bitten and Dreamer's Cat - dominated the UK eBook bestseller lists and sold more than half a million copies. The Basement topped the Kindle charts in the UK and the US, and in total he has sold more than two million eBooks. His bestselling book The Chinaman was filmed as The Foreigner, starring Jackie Chan and Pierce Brosnan and grossing more than $100 million.

#BookReview Big Red: A Novel Starring Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles by Jerome Charyn @jeromecharyn @LiverightPub @OverTheRiverPR #BigRed #JeromeCharyn #LiveRightPub #OTRPR

#BookReview Big Red: A Novel Starring Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles by Jerome Charyn @jeromecharyn @LiverightPub @OverTheRiverPR #BigRed #JeromeCharyn #LiveRightPub #OTRPR Title: Big Red: A Novel Starring Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles

Author: Jerome Charyn

Published by: Liveright Publishing on Aug. 23, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 304

Format: Hardcover

Source: OTRPR

Book Rating: 8/10

It’s 1943. The Germans rule Europe, and the moguls rule Hollywood. Attendance is better than ever. Not even radio can compete with the Saturday matinee. The heart of America has become Hollywood Boulevard. And Rusty Redburn, a feisty lesbian visionary who works as a lowly servant to Harry Cohn at Columbia’s publicity department, lives right on the boulevard at the Hollywood Hotel.

Harry is worried about his biggest star, Rita Hayworth, who has moved in with the “Boy Genius” Orson Welles. He’s never had a star before Rita arrived. He schemes to have Rusty pretend to work as Rita’s private secretary while spying on her. Rusty is far more clever than Harry Cohn. She worships Orson and Citizen Kane. And thus the story begins.

Nothing will last, neither the war, nor Harry Cohn, nor the marriage of Rita and Orson. And it’s Rusty who tells their tale.

BIG RED is Jerome Charyn at his very best and promises to consume both Hollywood cinephiles and neophytes alike. 


Review:

Scandalous, nostalgic, and entertaining!

Big Red is the intriguing, dramatic tale of two of the most famous actors of the 20th century, Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles and their on-again, off-again relationship with each other and Hollywood, told from the perspective of Rusty Redburn, a young woman working in Columbia Pictures’ publicity department who is hired by top executive Harry Cohn to take on the role of Rita’s PA in order to spy on the couple and let him know what goes on behind closed doors.

The writing is informative and light. The characters are talented, driven, and unique. And the novel is a compelling tale of one couple’s personal and professional successes and heartaches both on and off the screen, including a past littered with childhood abuse and a tumultuous marriage grounded in love but consistently strained by infidelity, differing visions, and crippling insecurities.

Overall, Big Red is a captivating, descriptive, fascinating tale by Charyn that highlights his considerable knowledge and impressive research into these renowned historical figures whose lives and work have had a tremendous impact on the motion picture industry.

 

This book is available now.

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

            

 

 

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

 

About Jerome Charyn

Jerome Charyn is the award-winning author of more than fifty works, including The Secret Life of Emily Dickinson. A renowned scholar of twentieth-century Hollywood, he lives in Manhattan.

#BookReview Always the First to Die by R. J. Jacobs @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #AlwaystheFirsttoDie #RJJacobs #bookmarkedbylandmark

#BookReview Always the First to Die by R. J. Jacobs @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #AlwaystheFirsttoDie #RJJacobs #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: Always the First to Die

Author: R. J. Jacobs

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Sep. 13, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 8/10

For fans of Riley Sager with a classic slasher twist, Always the First to Die follows a former horror movie actress as she returns to the set of her most iconic film, only to find that the strange circumstances begin to resemble the plot of her most famous film.

After her husband’s death, Lexi has refused to return to the Pinecrest Estate on the Florida Keys, too many hard memories on that strip of land. Memories of meeting her husband on the set of an iconic horror movie. Of being cast as an extra, of watching herself get killed on screen. And of scoffing at the rumors of the Pinecrest Estate “curse,” until she witnessed a cast member die that very summer. But when her daughter sneaks away to visit her grandfather, legendary horror movie director Rick Plummer, Lexi is forced to face her past. That’s when a Category Four hurricane changes course, and hits the southern coast.

Unable to get through to her daughter, Lexi drives to the Keys in the wake of the storm. What she finds is an island without cell service, without power, and with limited police presence. A desolate bit of land, with only a few remaining behind: the horror director, the starlet once cast as the final girl, the young teenager searching for clues of her father, the mother determined to get off the island, and…the person picking them off one-by-one.

Soon enough Lexi’s life begins to resemble Rick’s most famous horror film, and she must risk her life to save her daughter before someone, or something, destroys them all.


Review:

Creepy, fast-paced, and entertaining!

Always the First to Die is an intense, engrossing thriller that takes you to the Pinecrest Estate in Key West, the set of the iconic horror movie Breathless which seemed cursed from the very start, and now where twenty-five years later, the original director and father-in-law of widowed librarian Lexi Kennedy is hoping to film a sequel featuring his seventeen-year-old granddaughter that hopefully won’t encounter the same mishaps, tragedies, and deaths that the first one did.

The writing is brisk and tight. The characters are multilayered, persistent, and vulnerable. And the plot is a suspenseful, gripping tale full of twists, turns, secrets, deception, revenge, danger, greed, familial drama, red herrings, mayhem, and murder.

Overall, Always the First to Die is a dark, ominous, crafty tale by Jacobs that kept me engaged from the very first page and is the perfect choice for anyone who enjoys a story laced with those eerie characteristics found in all the best classic horror movies.

 

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 providing me with 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.

#BookTour #BookReview A Woman in Time by Bobi Conn @BobiConn @AmazonPub @TLCBookTours #amazonpublishing #BobiConn #AWomaninTime #tlcbooktours

#BookTour #BookReview A Woman in Time by Bobi Conn @BobiConn @AmazonPub @TLCBookTours #amazonpublishing #BobiConn #AWomaninTime #tlcbooktours Title: A Woman in Time

Author: Bobi Conn

Published by: Little A on Aug. 30, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 334

Format: Hardcover

Source: TLC Book Tours

Book Rating: 8/10

A woman challenges the constraints of life in Prohibition-era Appalachia in this sweeping and richly rewarding novel about endurance, survival, and redemption.

The McKenzie women, empowered with a formidable history rooted in the foothills of Appalachia, have passed down their folk healing wisdom through generations. Rosalee, the last living headstrong daughter in Granny McKenzie’s line, soaked up everything she could about the secrets of the forest before a series of tragedies left her alone, without the protection of the women who came before her.

The close-knit ties of Rosalee’s childhood are long gone. Now, at her eastern Kentucky farm, she bears a marriage with a volatile bootlegger. She struggles with the demands of motherhood. And her independence is relegated to its “proper place”: under the thumb of men. Her optimism dimming, Rosalee finds solace in the Kentucky woods, a place that holds secret powers of protection from a life Rosalee can no longer control. At the graves of her female ancestors, beside the waters of an enchanting spring, Rosalee returns time and again to consider her future—and discovers a mysterious connection to her past.

As Rosalee wrestles with her isolation, being a wife in an increasingly dangerous marriage, and being a woman of her time, she must draw on her strength and resilience to survive—and to protect—on her own terms.


Review:

Atmospheric, sensitive, and sobering!

A Woman in Time is a moving, multi-generational story that transports you to rural Kentucky between 1899 and 1939 and into the lives of the McKenzie family, especially the women, and all the secrets, smiles, tears, misery, abuse, compassion, strength, powerful emotions, and unimaginable tragedy that has tied them together through the years.

The prose is expressive and fluid. The characters are vulnerable, tormented, and resilient. And the plot is a heart-tugging, compelling tale of life, love, loss, family, friendship, poverty, misogyny, courage, desperation, self-preservation, motherhood, violence, and survival.

Overall, A Woman in Time is a gritty, astute, promising fictional debut by Conn that is a wonderful reminder that even after suffering the most unimaginable hardships and cruelty, humanity still has the innate ability to hope for better and still be kind and compassionate to others.

 

This book is available now.

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

        

 

 

Thank you to TLC Book Tours & Amazon Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Bobi Conn

Bobi Conn is the author of the memoir In the Shadow of the Valley. Born in Morehead, Kentucky, and raised in a nearby holler, Bobi developed a deep connection with the land and her Appalachian roots. She obtained her bachelor’s degree at Berea College, the first school in the American South to integrate racially and to teach men and women in the same classrooms. She attended graduate school, where she earned a master’s degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing. In addition to writing, Bobi loves playing pool, telling jokes, cooking, being in the woods, attempting to grow a garden, and spending time with her incredible children.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

#BookReview Would I Lie To You? by Aliya Ali-Afzal @AAAiswriting @GrandCentralPub #AliyaAliAfzal #WouldIIieToYou #GCPInsider

#BookReview Would I Lie To You? by Aliya Ali-Afzal @AAAiswriting @GrandCentralPub #AliyaAliAfzal #WouldIIieToYou #GCPInsider Title: Would I Lie to You?

Author: Aliya Ali-Afzal

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Feb. 2, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 480

Format: Paperback

Source: Grand Central Publishing

Book Rating: 8/10

When money and lies come between Faiza and her husband, Faiza will do anything to fix it, even if it means taking risks that could ruin their lives forever–if she’s caught.

At the school gates, Faiza fits in. It took a few years, but now the snobbish white mothers who mistook her for the nanny treat her as one of their own. She’s learned to crack their subtle codes, speak their language of fashion and vacations and haircuts. You’d never guess, seeing her at the trendy kids’ parties and the leisurely coffee mornings, that her childhood was spent being bullied and being ashamed of her poor Pakistani immigrant parents. When her husband Tom loses his job in finance, he stays calm. Something will come along, and in the meantime, they can live off their savings. But Faiza starts to unravel. Creating the perfect life and raising the perfect family comes at a cost – and the money Tom put aside has gone. Faiza will have to tell him she spent it all.  

Unless she doesn’t…

It only takes a second to lie to Tom. Now Faiza has mere weeks to find $100,000. If anyone can do it, Faiza can.  She’s had to fight for what she has, and she’ll fight to keep it. But as the clock ticks down and Faiza desperately tries to put things right, she has to ask herself: how much more should she sacrifice to live someone else’s idea of the dream life?


Review:

Simmering, tight, and intriguing!

Would I Lie to You? is an intense, ominous, domestic drama that takes you into the life of Faiza Saunders, a mother of three who has secretly blown through her family’s emergency fund making sure that she and her family fit in and look like they belong in their upper-class Wimbledon neighbourhood but when Faiza’s husband Tom suddenly loses his job Faiza’s life spirals more and more out of control as she decides to do whatever it takes to keep her spending and their financial ruin a secret.

The writing is brisk and tight. The characters are secretive, troubled, and deceptive. And the plot is an intricate, immersive tale full of lies, deception, drama, jealousy, betrayal, competition, revelations, racism, manipulation, mayhem, mental illness, and bad decisions.

Overall, Would I Lie to You? is a complex, suspenseful, promising debut by Ali-Afzal that I found a tad too long but was nevertheless a fast-paced page-turner that kept me engaged 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 Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Aliya Ali-Afzal

Aliya Ali-Afzal lives in London and is studying for an MA in Creative Writing at Royal Holloway, University of London. Her writing has been longlisted for The Bath Novel Award, The Mslexia Novel Competition, The Mo Prize Hachette UK, and The Primadonna Prize. Aliya has a degree in Russian and German from the University of London. She has always lived in London, since moving there from Pakistan as a young child. Aliya worked as a head-hunter and then retrained as an Executive MBA career coach.

Photo by Kimberely Archer.

#BookReview The Beachside Bed and Breakfast by Hope Ramsay @readforeverpub @grandcentralpub #ReadForever #ReadForever2022 #HopeRamsay #TheBeachsideBedandBreakfast #MoonlightBay

#BookReview The Beachside Bed and Breakfast by Hope Ramsay @readforeverpub @grandcentralpub #ReadForever #ReadForever2022 #HopeRamsay #TheBeachsideBedandBreakfast #MoonlightBay Title: The Beachside Bed and Breakfast

Author: Hope Ramsay

Series: Moonlight Bay #5

Published by: Forever on Aug. 23, 2022

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 331

Format: Paperback

Source: Forever

Book Rating: 8/10

The local quilting club has matchmaking in mind in this enchanting small‑town romance perfect for fans of Debbie Mason, Sheila Roberts, and RaeAnne Thayne.

Innkeeper Ashley Howland Scott inherited Howland House and the adjacent Rose Cottage from her grandmother. Her grandmother hosted weekly meetings of the local quilting club, and those ladies know all the gossip in town.
 
The new minister, Micah St. Pierre, is the subject of more than his fair share of that gossip. Micah has spent a decade as a Navy Chaplain and his experience in combat has deeply challenged his faith. He’s come back home because he also feels guilty about the way he abandoned his younger brothers and father when they needed him most. 
 
The Quilting Club thinks Micah’s problems can be solved by finding him a wife.  And they have a woman in mind. But despite the fact that Ashley finds him attractive, she closely guards her heart. She loved her husband very much, but his early death has left its mark. She’s also deeply worried about her young son. Jackie clearly needs a male role model, but is Micah St. Pierre the right one?


Review:

Cosy, sentimental, and sweet!

The Beachside Bed and Breakfast is a magical, heartfelt tale set in the idyllic Moonlight Bay that takes you into the lives of two main characters. Ashley Howland Scott, a young mother and widow whose main focus is raising her son and taking care of the visitors who stay at the inn she recently inherited from her grandmother, and Micah St. Pierre, a former Navy Chaplain turned small-town minister who seems to be the newest project for the local quilting club to find a wife and who unfortunately has a forbidden crush on one of his parishioners.

The prose is light and hopeful. The characters are lonely, supportive, and considerate. And the plot is a tender, engaging tale about life, loss, love, marriage, parenthood, family, friendship, attraction, self-discovery, heartfelt moments, taking chances, happiness, a sliver of the paranormal, and small-town life.

Overall, The Beachside Bed and Breakfast is another winsome, charming, uplifting tale by Ramsay that I think is a lovely addition to the Moonlight Bay series with its endearing characters and heartening storyline.

 

This book is available now.

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

            

 

 

Thank you to Forever & Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Hope Ramsay

Hope Ramsay is a USA Today bestselling author of heartwarming contemporary romances set below the Mason-Dixon Line. Her children are grown, but she has a couple of fur babies who keep her entertained. Pete the cat, named after the cat in the children’s books, thinks he’s a dog, and Daisy the dog thinks Pete is her best friend except when he decides her wagging tail is a cat toy. Hope lives in the medium-sized town of Fredericksburg, Virginia, and when she’s not writing or walking the dog, she spends her time knitting and noodling around on her collection of guitars.

#BookReview The Last Karankawas by Kimberly Garza @HenryHolt #TheLastKarankawas #KimberlyGarza #HenryHoltBooks

#BookReview The Last Karankawas by Kimberly Garza @HenryHolt #TheLastKarankawas #KimberlyGarza #HenryHoltBooks Title: The Last Karankawas

Author: Kimberly Garza

Published by: Henry Holt and Co. on Aug. 9, 2022

Genres: General Fiction

Pages: 288

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Henry Holt and Co.

Book Rating: 8/10

Welcome to Galveston, Texas. Population 50,241.

Carly Castillo has only ever known Albacore Avenue. Abandoned as a child by her Filipina mother and Mexican-American father, Carly returns each morning from her nursing shift to the house she shares with her grandmother, Magdalena. But when Magdalena slips into dementia, Carly begins to imagine a life elsewhere. Jess Rivera, her boyfriend and all-star shortstop turned seaman, treasures the salty, familiar island air. Years ago, he had a chance to leave Galveston for a bigger city with more possibilities. But he didn’t then, and he sure as hell won’t now. Deftly moving through these characters’ lives and those of the individuals who circle them—Mercedes, Jess’s undocumented cousin; Kristin, Magdalena’s daytime nurse; Luz, the wife of Carly’s best friend; Schafer, Jess’s coworker out on the gulf—Garza presents a mosaic depiction of everyday survival in Southern Texas. As word spreads of a storm gathering strength offshore, building into Hurricane Ike, they each must make a difficult decision: board up the windows and hunker down, or flee inland and abandon their hard-won home.

Unflinching, lyrical, and singular, The Last Karankawas is a portrait of America scarcely witnessed, where browning palm trees and oily waters mark the forefront of ecological change. It is a deeply imagined exploration of familial inheritance, human perseverance, and the histories we assign to ourselves, establishing Kimberly Garza as a brilliant new literary voice.


Review:

Compelling, absorbing, and complex!

The Last Karankawas is an intriguing, tender tale that sweeps you away to Galveston, Texas during 2008 as the city braces for Hurricane Ike and immerses you into the joy, heartbreak, struggles, and lives of multiple generations of people from the Filipino and Mexican communities, especially one young girl, Carly Castillo, who yearns to live anywhere else, even though her grandmother who raised her believes they are descendants of the Karankawa Indigenous tribe and thus naturally have strong ties to the land they inhabit.

The prose is expressive and smooth. The characters are multilayered, conflicted, and kind. And the plot told from multiple POVs is an affecting tale about life, loss, love, community, regrets, acceptance, forgiveness, familial drama, and friendship.

Overall, The Last Karankawas is a touching, astute, lovely debut by Garza that does a wonderful job of delving into all the messy emotional and psychological entanglements that exist between family members, friends, our histories and the places we call home.

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

 

Thank you to Henry Holt and Company for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Kimberly Garza

Kimberly Garza is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the University of North Texas, where she earned a PhD in 2019. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Copper Nickel, DIAGRAM, Creative Nonfiction, TriQuarterly, and elsewhere. A native Texan—born in Galveston, raised in Uvalde—she is an assistant professor of creative writing and literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The Last Karankawas is her first novel.

#BookReview Can You See Me Now? by Trisha Sakhlecha @TrishaSakhlecha @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #TrishaSakhlecha #CanYouSeeMeNow #PGCBooks

#BookReview Can You See Me Now? by Trisha Sakhlecha @TrishaSakhlecha @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #TrishaSakhlecha #CanYouSeeMeNow #PGCBooks Title: Can You See Me Now?

Author: Trisha Sakhlecha

Published by: Pan Macmillan on May 3, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 416

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

From Trisha Sakhlecha,Can You See Me Now? is a gripping psychological suspense thriller about a young Indian woman, now a government minister, whose past secrets are about to reverberate into the present and shatter her life. Perfect for fans of Lisa Jewell and Erin Kelly.

Fifteen years ago, three sixteen-year-old girls meet at Wescott, an exclusive private school in India.
Two, Sabah and Noor, are the most popular girls in their year. One, Alia, is a new arrival from England, who feels her happiness depends on their acceptance.

Before she knows it, Sabah and Noor’s intoxicating world of privilege and intimacy opens up to Alia and, for the first time, after years of neglect from her parents, she feels she is exactly where, and with whom, she belongs.

But with intimacy comes jealousy, and with privilege, resentment, and Alia finds that it only takes one night for her bright new world to shatter around her.

Now Alia, a cabinet minister in the Indian government, is about to find her secrets have no intention of staying
buried . . .


Review:

Unpredictable, gripping, and dark!

Can You See Me Now? is a compelling, dual timeline thriller set fifteen years ago, as well as present-day that takes you into the life of successful government minister Alia as her world is about to be turned upside down when the past collides with the present and all the destructive behaviours, inexcusable actions, and long-buried secrets involving herself and her two best friends from school, Sabah and Noor, are finally unearthed.

The writing is intense and tight. The characters are self-involved, secretive, and insecure. And the plot using flashbacks and a back-and-forth, past/present style intertwines and unravels effortlessly into a sinister tale of lies, deception, drama, jealousy, obsession, competition, secrets, revelations, mayhem, and manipulation.

Overall, Can You See Me Now? is a cunning, disturbing, edgy whodunit by Sakhlecha that does a wonderful job of delving into the complex dynamics that exist between friends and family members and highlights just how toxic and parasitic some of those relationships can truly be.

 

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 providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Trisha Sakhlecha

Trisha Sakhlecha grew up in New Delhi and now lives in London. She works in fashion and is a graduate of the acclaimed Faber Academy writing course. In the past, Trisha has worked as a designer, trend forecaster, and lecturer. Your Truth or Mine? is her first novel.

Photograph courtesy of Goodreads Author Page.