#BookReview Long Shot by Kennedy Ryan @kennedyrwrites @Read_Bloom #ReadBloom #KennedyRyan #LongShot #HoopsSeries #SourcebooksCasa

#BookReview Long Shot by Kennedy Ryan @kennedyrwrites @Read_Bloom #ReadBloom #KennedyRyan #LongShot #HoopsSeries #SourcebooksCasa Title: Long Shot

Author: Kennedy Ryan

Series: Hoops #1

Published by: Bloom Books on Aug. 8, 2023

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 480

Format: Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Book Rating: 10/10

*Reader Advisory: Please be aware of the content warning in the beginning of the book.

From award-winning author Kennedy Ryan comes the soul-gripping, unforgettable first installment of the Hoops trilogy.

Iris DuPree meets August West in a sports bar during her last semester of college. It’s the conversation of a lifetime and sends sparks flying in every direction. The connection is undeniable…but the timing is all wrong. August is poised for the NBA draft, and Iris belongs to another man—basketball’s “golden boy” and August’s long-time rival.

The two go their separate ways, but they often recall that electric night and what could have been. While August has embarked on his all-star life, studded with wealth and fame, Iris’s perfect public relationship has become a nightmare behind closed doors. A tarnished dream of fool’s gold.

When August re-enters her life, the world seems briefly bright again, but Iris’s darkest nights are not over yet. To survive, she must build her own strength and trust that her bond with August can endure after all this time.

Even when her fraudulent prince has vowed never to let her go.


Review:

Powerful, consuming, and heartbreaking!

Long Shot is an immersive, emotional, heart-wrenching tale that takes us into the life of the intelligent, driven Iris DuPree as she struggles to survive a surprise pregnancy, broken dreams, a daughter she loves more than life itself, a boyfriend who was once loving but is now always angry, controlling, and brutally violent, a strained relationship with a cousin who always had her back, and a complicated attraction with a man who somehow has been stealing her heart piece by piece since the day they first met.

The writing is tender and expressive. The characters are genuine, vulnerable, and resilient. And the plot, told from alternating POVs, is a haunting tale of life, loss, secrets, perseverance, power, shame, self-blame, violence, denial, pain, healing, hope, empowerment, sexual assault, new beginnings, and unconditional love.

Overall, Long Shot is not for lovers of the lighthearted. It’s dark, gritty, raw, at times disturbing, but it’s also tragic, memorable, beautiful, and romantic. It made my heart smile, shatter, and then put it all back together again in 480 pages, and I can guarantee that even though it’s shockingly the first novel I’ve read by Kennedy, it definitely won’t be my last.

This novel is available now.

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

     

 

 

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

 

About Kennedy Ryan

A RITA® and Audie® Award winner, USA Today bestselling author Kennedy Ryan writes for women from all walks of life, empowering them and placing them firmly at the center of each story and in charge of their own destinies. Her heroes respect, cherish, and lose their minds for the women who capture their hearts. Kennedy and her writings have been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, TIME, O magazine, and many others. She is a wife to her lifetime lover and mother to an extraordinary son.

#BookReview The President’s Wife by Tracey Enerson Wood @TraceyEnerson @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #ThePresidentsWife #TraceyEnersonWood #bookmarkedbylandmark

#BookReview The President’s Wife by Tracey Enerson Wood @TraceyEnerson @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #ThePresidentsWife #TraceyEnersonWood #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: The President's Wife

Author: Tracey Enerson Wood

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Aug. 15, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 336

Format: Hardcover

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 8/10

The incredible story of the First Lady who clandestinely assumed the presidency, from the USA Today bestselling author of The Engineer’s Wife and The War Nurse.

Socialite Edith Bolling has been in no hurry to find a new husband since she was widowed, preferring to fill her days with good friends and travel. But the enchanting courting of President Woodrow Wilson wins Edith over and she becomes the First Lady of the United States. The position is uncomfortable for the fiercely independent Edith, but she’s determined to rise to the challenges of her new marriage—from the bloodthirsty press to the shadows of the first World War.

Warming to her new role, Edith is soon indispensable to her husband’s presidency. She replaces the staff that Woodrow finds distracting, and discusses policy with him daily. Throughout the war, she encrypts top- secret messages and despite lacking formal education becomes an important adviser. When peace talks begin in Europe, she attends at Woodrow’s side. But just as the critical fight to ratify the treaty to end the war and create a League of Nations in order to prevent another, Woodrow’s always-delicate health takes a dramatic turn for the worse. In her determination to preserve both his progress and his reputation, Edith all but assumes the presidency herself.

Now, Edith must contend with the demands of a tumultuous country, the secrets of Woodrow’s true condition, and the potentially devastating consequences of her failure. At once sweeping and intimate, The President’s Wife is an astonishing portrait of a courageous First Lady and the sacrifices she made to protect her husband and her country at all costs.


Review:

Informative, sentimental, and intriguing!

The President’s Wife is a vivid, captivating tale that sweeps you away to the early 1900s and into the life of successful entrepreneur Edith Bolling who, after befriending the President’s cousin and meeting President Woodrow Wilson while attending a dinner at the White House, quickly becomes his friend, confidant, wife, and subsequent decision maker when during the latter part of his presidency he suffers a debilitating stroke which leaves him unable to fulfil all of his head-of-state duties.

The prose is evocative and rich. The characters are multilayered, engaging, and intelligent. And the plot, infused with love letters, is a fascinating tale about life, loss, family, friendship, history, emotion, determination, decisions, obligations, passion, war, secrets, alliances, and the intricacies of world politics during the early twentieth century.

Overall, The President’s Wife is a well-written, enlightening, exceptionally researched story by Tracey Enerson Wood that incorporates an engaging mix of real-life historical figures, insightful information, and plausible fiction into a comprehensive tale about the life, loves, losses, actions, and accomplishments of Edith Bolling Wilson both individually and in her role as the First Lady of the United States.

 

This novel is available now.

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

 

About Tracey Enerson Wood

Tracey Enerson Wood has always had a writing bug. While working as a Registered Nurse, starting her own Interior Design company, raising two children, and bouncing around the world as a military wife, she indulged in her passion as a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. She has authored magazine columns and other non-fiction, written and directed plays of all lengths, including Grits, Fleas and Carrots, Rocks and Other Hard Places, Alone, and Fog.

Her screenplays include Strike Three and Roebling’s Bridge.

Other passions include food and cooking, and honoring military heroes. Her co-authored anthology/cookbook Homefront Cooking, American Veterans share Recipes, Wit, and Wisdom, was released by Skyhorse Publishing in May, 2018, and all authors’ profits will be donated to organizations that support veterans.

A New Jersey native, she now lives with her family in Florida and Germany.

#BookReview Dark Corners by Megan Goldin @megangoldin @StMartinsPress #DarkCornersBook #MeganGoldin #RachelKrall #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview Dark Corners by Megan Goldin @megangoldin @StMartinsPress #DarkCornersBook #MeganGoldin #RachelKrall #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Dark Corners

Author: Megan Goldin

Series: Rachel Krall #2

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Aug. 8, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

Rachel Krall, the true crime podcaster star of Megan Goldin’s acclaimed The Night Swim, returns to search for a popular influencer who disappears after visiting a suspected serial killer.

Terence Bailey is about to be released from prison for breaking and entering, though investigators have long suspected him in the murders of six women. As his release date approaches, Bailey gets a surprise visit from Maddison Logan, a hot, young influencer with a huge social media following. Hours later, Maddison disappears, and police suspect she’s been kidnapped—or worse. Is Maddison’s disappearance connected to her visit to Bailey? And why was she visiting him in the first place?

When they hit a wall in the investigation, the FBI reluctantly asks for Rachel Krall’s help in finding the missing influencer. Maddison seems to only exist on social media; she has no family, no friends, and other than in her posts, most people have never seen her. Who is she, really? Using a fake Instagram account, Rachel goes undercover to BuzzCon, a popular influencer conference, where she discovers a world of fierce rivalry that may have turned lethal.

When police find the body of a woman with a tattoo of a snake eating its tail—identical to a tattoo Rachel had seen on Bailey’s hand—the FBI must consider a chilling possibility: Bailey has an accomplice on the outside and a dangerous obsession with influencers, including Rachel Krall herself. Suddenly the target of a monster hiding in plain sight, Rachel is forced to confront the very real dangers that lurk in the dark corners of the internet.


Review:

Dark, ominous, and unnerving!

Dark Corners is an intense, well-crafted tale that takes us back into the life of podcaster Rachel Krall as she heads to Florida to help the FBI with a case involving a missing influencer with ties to a convicted killer that will see her using her talents to infiltrate BuzzCon, a cutthroat convention of influencers, where everyone is willing to do anything they have to in order to be the next big thing.

The writing is sharp and crisp. The characters are sly, self-obsessed, and competitive. And the plot is an intricate, gripping tall full of twists, turns, secrets, deception, manipulation, obsession, greed, jealousy, gossip-mongering, red herrings, malicious intentions, and murder.

Overall, Dark Corners is an unpredictable, eerie, entertaining tale by Goldin that didn’t have as much of that podcast feel as the first novel in the series, The Night Swim, but was nevertheless still an intricate, creepy, fantastic thrill ride.

 

This novel is available now.

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

             

 

 

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

 

About Megan Goldin

MEGAN GOLDIN worked as a correspondent for Reuters and other media outlets where she covered war, peace, international terrorism and financial meltdowns in the Middle East and Asia. She is now based in Melbourne, Australia where she raises three sons and is a foster mum to Labrador puppies learning to be guide dogs. THE ESCAPE ROOM was her debut novel.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

#BookReview The Playground by Michelle Frances @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #ThePlayground #MichelleFrances #PGCBooks

#BookReview The Playground by Michelle Frances @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #ThePlayground #MichelleFrances #PGCBooks Title: The Playground

Author: Michelle Frances

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Aug. 15, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Looking to escape her old life, Nancy and her ten-year-old daughter Lara move to Ripton. A quiet, picturesque village in the rolling Derbyshire countryside, it seems like the perfect place to settle down.

But when Nancy reaches the school gates, she learns that beneath the quaint village atmosphere is a minefield. And after her daughter clashes with her school friends, Nancy quickly finds herself outside the whispering circle of parents.

As much as Nancy finds the playground politics absurd, they soon become impossible to ignore when Lara is accused of hurting another girl.

Desperate to clear Lara’s name, Nancy is about to learn just what lengths a parent will go to for their child . . .


Review:

Fast-paced, twisty, and captivating!

The Playground is a brisk, suspenseful thriller that introduces us to Nancy, a young mother who, after losing her husband in a tragic accident, decides to move to the Derbyshire countryside in hopes of a fresh start. But when her ten-year-old daughter is accused of trying to drown her popular classmate and the bullying and toxicity seems to just keep escalating from there, it quickly becomes apparent that life is going to be anything other than safe and peaceful in this village where everyone knows everyone and loyalties are long set.

The prose is sharp and crisp. The characters are manipulative, vulnerable, and cunning. And the plot is a menacing tale full of danger, deception, adultery, jealousy, gossip, obsession, negligence, and small-town drama.

Overall, The Playground is a cleverly plotted, eerie, intricate page-turner by Frances that had just enough twists, turns, and surprises to keep me on the edge of my seat 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 Publishers Group Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Michelle Frances

Michelle Frances graduated from Bournemouth Film School and then from the Masters programme at the American Film Institute, Los Angeles. Returning to London, she has worked for several years in film and TV as a script editor and producer for both the independent sector and the BBC.

Her first novel, The Girlfriend, became an international best seller.

#BookReview Ritual of Fire by D. V. Bishop @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #RitualofFire #DVBishop #CesareAldoSeries #PGCBooks

#BookReview Ritual of Fire by D. V. Bishop @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #RitualofFire #DVBishop #CesareAldoSeries #PGCBooks Title: Ritual of Fire

Author: D. V. Bishop

Series: Cesare Aldo #3

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Aug. 14, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 416

Format: Hardcover

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

Florence. Summer, 1538.

A night patrol finds a rich merchant hanged and set ablaze in the city’s main piazza. More than mere murder, this killing is intended to put the fear of God into Florence. Forty years earlier on this date, puritanical monk Girolamo Savonarola was executed the same way in the same place. Does this new killing mean Savonarola’s vengeful spirit has risen again?

Or are his fanatical disciples plotting to revive the monk’s regime of holy terror? Cesare Aldo has his suspicions but is hunting thieves and fugitives in the Tuscan countryside, leaving Constable Carlo Strocchi to investigate the ritual killing. When another important merchant is slain even more publicly than the first, those rich enough to escape the summer heat are fleeing to their country estates. But the Tuscan hills can also be dangerous places.

Soon growing religious fervor combines with a scorching heatwave to drive the city ever closer to madness, while someone is stalking powerful men that forged lifelong alliances during the dark days of Savonarola and his brutal followers. Unless Aldo and Strocchi can work together to stop the killer, Florence could become a bonfire of the vanities once more . . .


Review:

Dark, alluring, and suspenseful!

Ritual of Fire, the third novel in the Cesare Aldo series, takes us back to Renaissance Florence in the summer of 1538, where Cesare Aldo and Constable Stocchi find themselves having to finally confront the rift that’s been straining their relationship in order to work to together to catch a ruthless killer who seems to have a very specific target list and a penchant for reenacting a ritualistic killing from the past.

The prose is descriptive and tight. The characters are driven, fearless, and conscientious. And the plot is a complex, absorbing tale full of danger, deception, corruption, politics, religion, friendship, savagery, terror, and murder.

Overall, Ritual of Fire is an addictive, engrossing, thrilling addition to what has become a must-read series for me with its flawed characters, rich historical setting, and action-packed, gritty storylines.

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 D. V. Bishop

D. V. Bishop is the author of the Cesare Aldo mysteries set in Renaissance Florence, and published by Pan Macmillan.

An award-winning screenwriter and TV dramatist, his love for the city of Florence and the Renaissance period meant there could only be one setting for his crime-fiction debut.

City of Vengeance won the Pitch Perfect competition at the Bloody Scotland crime fiction festival in 2018, and D. V. Bishop was awarded a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship by the Scottish Book Trust while writing the novel.

He is currently finishing the second novel in the Cesare Aldo mysteries.

Photo by Paul Reich.

#BookReview Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley & Harry Whittaker @lucindariley @HarryTwittaker @PGCBooks #AtlasTheStoryofPaSalt #LucindaRiley #HarryWhittaker #TheSevenSistersSeries #PGCBooks

#BookReview Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt by Lucinda Riley & Harry Whittaker @lucindariley @HarryTwittaker @PGCBooks #AtlasTheStoryofPaSalt #LucindaRiley #HarryWhittaker #TheSevenSistersSeries #PGCBooks Title: Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt

Author: Lucinda Riley, Harry Whittaker

Series: The Seven Sisters #8

Published by: Pan Macmillan on May 11, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 784

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Spanning a lifetime of love and loss, crossing borders and oceans, Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt, co-authored by her son Harry Whittaker, draws Lucinda Riley’s saga to its stunning, unforgettable conclusion.

1928, Paris. A boy is found, moments from death, and taken in by a kindly family. Gentle, precocious, talented, he flourishes in his new home, and the family show him a life he hadn’t dreamed possible. But he refuses to speak a word about who he really is.

As he grows into a young man, falling in love and taking classes at the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris, he can almost forget the terrors of his past, or the promise he has vowed to keep. But across Europe an evil is rising, and no-one’s safety is certain. In his heart, he knows the time will come when he must flee once more.

2008, the Aegean. The seven sisters are gathered together for the first time, on board the Titan, to say a final goodbye to the enigmatic father they loved so dearly.

To the surprise of everyone, it is the missing sister who Pa Salt has chosen to entrust with the clue to their pasts. But for every truth revealed, another question emerges. The sisters must confront the idea that their adored father was someone they barely knew. And even more shockingly: that these long-buried secrets may still have consequences for them today.

In this epic conclusion to the Seven Sisters series, everything will be revealed.


Review:

Fascinating, heartfelt, and absorbing!

Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt is the eighth instalment in The Seven Sisters series, set from 1928 to 2008, that sweeps you away into the life of Pa Salt, the loving father of seven girls who, after gathering together for the first time in a long time to celebrate his life, finally have the opportunity with the journal he left behind to unravel the secrets of his past and discover how they all came together to become one big family.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are considerate, caring, and troubled. And the plot is a beautifully written, heart-wrenching tale of life, loss, familial drama, self-discovery, grief, friendship, forgiveness, unconditional love, courage, hope, selflessness, revenge, and survival.

Overall, Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt is the brilliant conclusion to an extraordinary saga that is a testament to the amazing storytelling abilities of the late Lucinda Riley, as well as what must have been an incredibly difficult yet unbelievable literary achievement by her son Harry Whittaker. It is hard to believe that this fascinating, mysterious, exceptionally absorbing series has come to an end, but what a way to end. It doesn’t get much better than this. And even though it’s a little bittersweet to say goodbye to these characters I’ve come to know and love over these past eight books, it’s been a true pleasure and sheer delight to have been able to immerse myself in the histories, lives, loves and losses of them all.

 

 

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 Harry Whittaker

Harry Whittaker grew up in the 1990s and spent the first few years of his life on the rural west coast of Ireland. The son of the author Lucinda Riley, Harry became a storyteller himself, as an award-winning radio presenter for the BBC and a member of one of the UK’s most renowned improv troupes. In 2019, Harry and Lucinda co-authored the Guardian Angels series for children – four reassuring, timeless stories addressing worries that a small child may have.

After Lucinda’s death in 2021, it was announced that Harry would complete the Seven Sisters series on behalf of his late mother. Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt publishes globally in May 2023.

Harry lives in Yorkshire, England.

About Lucinda Riley

Lucinda Riley was born in Ireland and, after an early career as an actress in film, theatre and television, wrote her first book aged twenty-four.

Her books have been translated into thirty-seven languages and sold thirty million copies worldwide. She is a New York Times and Sunday Times number one bestseller.Lucinda's Seven Sisters series, which tells the story of adopted sisters and is inspired by the mythology of the famous star cluster, has become a global phenomenon. The series is a number one bestseller across the world and is currently in development with a major TV production company.

Though she brought up her four children mostly in Norfolk in England, in 2015 Lucinda fulfilled her dream of buying a remote farmhouse in West Cork, Ireland, which she always felt was her spiritual home, and indeed this was where her last five books were written. Lucinda was diagnosed with cancer in 2017 and died in June 2021

#BookReview Hotel Laguna by Nicola Harrison @NicolaHAuthor @StMartinsPress #HotelLaguna #NicolaHarrison #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview Hotel Laguna by Nicola Harrison @NicolaHAuthor @StMartinsPress #HotelLaguna #NicolaHarrison #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Hotel Laguna

Author: Nicola Harrison

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jun. 20, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 288

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

In 1942, Hazel Francis left Wichita, Kansas for California, determined to do her part for the war effort. At Douglas Aircraft, she became one of many “Rosie the Riveters,” helping construct bombers for the U. S. military. But now the war is over, men have returned to their factory jobs, and women like Hazel have been dismissed, expected to return home to become wives and mothers.

Unwilling to be forced into a traditional woman’s role in the Midwest, Hazel remains on the west coast, and finds herself in the bohemian town of Laguna Beach. Desperate for work, she accepts a job as an assistant to famous artist Hanson Radcliff. Beloved by the locals for his contributions to the art scene and respected by the critics, Radcliff lives under the shadow of a decades old scandal that haunts him.

Working hard to stay on her cantankerous employer’s good side, Hazel becomes a valued member of the community. She never expected to fall in love with the rhythms of life in Laguna, nor did she expect to find a kindred spirit in Jimmy, the hotel bartender whose friendship promises something more. But Hazel still wants to work with airplanes—maybe even learn to fly one someday. Torn between pursuing her dream and the dream life she has been granted, she is unsure if giving herself over to Laguna is what her heart truly wants.


Review:

Nostalgic, romantic, and intriguing!

Hotel Laguna is a vivid, compelling tale that takes you into the life of Hazel Francis, an independent young woman who, after moving from Kansas to California to help in the war effort, finds herself settling in the artsy city of Laguna Beach after the war ends working as a girl Friday for the temperamental, eccentric Hanson Radcliff and developing a budding attraction for Jimmy, the handsome, helpful bartender at the Hotel Laguna.

The prose is rich and sentimental. The characters are complex, talented, and kind. And the plot is an engaging tale about life, loss, friendship, determination, kindness, romance, happiness, self-discovery, and community.

Overall, Hotel Laguna is a sweet, tender, delightful summer read by Harrison, complete with strong, endearing characters, a touching storyline, and an insightful look into life in 1940s California.

 

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

 

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

 

About Nicola Harrison

Born in England, Nicola Harrison moved to CA where she received a BA in Literature at UCLA before moving to NYC and earning an MFA in creative writing at Stony Brook. She is a member of The Writers Room, has short stories published in The Southampton Review and Glimmer Train and articles in Los Angeles Magazine and Orange Coast Magazine. She was the fashion and style staff writer for Forbes, had a weekly column at Lucky Magazine and is the founder of a personal styling business, Harrison Style.

Photo by Erwin List.

#BookReview Cruel Seduction by Katee Robert @katee_robert @SourcebooksCasa #KateeRobert #CruelSeduction #DarkOlympus #SourcebooksCasa

#BookReview Cruel Seduction by Katee Robert @katee_robert @SourcebooksCasa #KateeRobert #CruelSeduction #DarkOlympus #SourcebooksCasa Title: Cruel Seduction

Author: Katee Robert

Series: Dark Olympus #5

Published by: Sourcebooks Casablanca on Aug. 8, 2023

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Fantasy

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Book Rating: 8.5/10

He was my enemy. My lover. My husband.

And the one man I swore by all Olympus I would destroy.

Aphrodite has never flinched at getting her perfectly manicured hands dirty, and she’s not about to start now—even if that means marrying Olympus’s enemy number one, the new Hephaestus. She has a wicked plan to keep her deadly new husband off-balance, seducing the one person he seems to care about most in this world: Pandora, a woman as beautiful as she is sweet.

Two can play the seduction game, however, and Hephaestus is all too happy to put his new wife in her place. Her ex, Adonis, seems like he’ll do the trick. It doesn’t hurt that he’s gorgeous in the way of fallen angels, either.

The only problem with using seduction as a weapon? Hearts are all too quick to get involved. With Hephaestus and Aphrodite trading venomous strikes that feel a whole lot like foreplay, lines become blurred and emotions entangled. But a broken heart may be the least of their worries. With unrest in Olympus reaching new heights, these bedroom games may have deadly consequences for themselves, their city, and everyone they’ve come to love.


Review:

Action-packed, tantalizing, and risqué!

Cruel Seduction is an alluring, edgy tale that features the beautiful, seductive Aphrodite who, after having no choice but to give up her own wishes to do what she must as a member of The Thirteen, finds herself in the precarious position of having to marry the one man she’d rather kill than wed, Hephaestus, saying goodbye to the only man she’s ever truly loved, Apollo, and restraining her ongoing attraction to a woman who is totally off limits, Pandora.

The writing is passionate and enticing. The characters are stubborn, vulnerable, and demanding. And the plot is a scorching tale full of friendship, family, danger, deception, attraction, romance, scheming behaviour, and spicy (MF/MM/FF) sex scenes.

Overall, Cruel Seduction is a tantalizing, dramatic, sexy addition to the Dark Olympus series by Robert that has all the elements you look for in a mythological retelling and more with its heat, danger, fantastical elements, sexual tension, and happy-ever-after ending.

 

This novel is available now.

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

       

 

 

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

 

About Katee Robert

Katee Robert is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Entertainment Weekly calls her writing “unspeakably hot.” Her books have sold over a million copies. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, children, a cat who thinks he’s a dog, and two Great Danes who think they’re lap dogs.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

#BookReview None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell @lisajewelluk @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #LisaJewell #NoneofThisIsTrue #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview None of This Is True by Lisa Jewell @lisajewelluk @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #LisaJewell #NoneofThisIsTrue #SimonSchusterCA Title: None of This Is True

Author: Lisa Jewell

Published by: Atria Books on Aug. 8, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Lisa Jewell returns with a scintillating new psychological thriller about a woman who finds herself the subject of her own popular true crime podcast.

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realise that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?


Review:

Multilayered, tense, and guileful!

None of This Is True is a meticulous, compelling thriller that takes us into the life of Alix Summers, a successful podcaster who finds her life turned upside down when on her forty-fifty birthday she bumps into a seemingly unremarkable woman also celebrating the same birthday whom she decides to feature in her next series. But Josie isn’t as ordinary as she first appears, and underneath all the subterfuge and denim lies some deep, dark secrets that once they come to light will expose a history of unimaginable terror and violence that will ultimately shatter Alix’s comfortable family life forever.

The prose is intricate and raw. The characters are secretive, manipulative, and consumed. And the plot using a mix of narration, scripts, and interviews, intertwines and unravels seamlessly into a creepy tale about life, loss, family, manipulation, obsession, abuse, deception, jealousy, mind games, violence, and murder.

Every year I’m always excited to read the latest Lisa Jewell release, and this year I have to say I think it might be one of her best. None of This Is True is one of the most spine-chilling, tragic, menacing tales I’ve read, and is without a doubt one of my new all-time faves.

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 Lisa Jewell

Lisa Jewell is the internationally bestselling author of sixteen novels, including the New York Times bestseller Then She Was Gone, as well as I Found You, The Girls in the Garden, and The House We Grew Up In. In total, her novels have sold more than two million copies across the English-speaking world and her work has also been translated into sixteen languages so far. Lisa lives in London with her husband and their two daughters.

Photograph by Andrew Whitton.

#BookReview Dead and Gone by Joanna Schaffhausen @slipperywhisper @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #JoannaSchaffhausen #DeadandGoneBook #DetectiveAnnalisaVega #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview Dead and Gone by Joanna Schaffhausen @slipperywhisper @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #JoannaSchaffhausen #DeadandGoneBook #DetectiveAnnalisaVega #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers Title: Dead and Gone

Author: Joanna Schaffhausen

Series: Detective Annalisa Vega #3

Published by: Minotaur Books on Aug. 8, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Police Procedural

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 10/10

The next installment of Joanna Schaffhausen’s critically acclaimed Detective Annalisa Vega series.

For Chicago police detective Annalisa Vega, Sam Tran’s death presents an ominous puzzle. The ex-cop turned PI is found hanging from a cemetery tree with a message across his chest that suggests someone holds a murderous grudge against the police. Annalisa suspects the real answer lies in one of Tran’s open cases. She believes he stumbled on a dark secret during his investigations and someone killed him to keep him quiet. Her own family harbors plenty of secrets, something Annalisa is reminded of when her brother turns out to be one of Sam’s last clients.

Vinny Vega hired Tran to find a dangerous stalker on his daughter’s college campus. Now Sam is dead and the stalker remains at large, with Annalisa’s niece Quinn firmly in his sights.

To protect Quinn, Annalisa begins tracing Sam’s steps back through his open cases, which include not only the campus stalker but also a brutal double homicide from twenty years ago. Did Sam finally find the killer? Did he uncover the stalker’s identity? Annalisa must figure out which secret got Sam killed, and fast, or someone else will die. Every move she makes brings her closer to the truth of Sam’s death, and closer to a murderer who will stop at nothing to remain free.


Review:

Relentless, sinister, and intricate!

Dead and Gone is an intense, unpredictable thrill ride that takes us back to Chicago, where Detective Annalisa Vega now finds herself delving into the open cases of murdered former CPD officer turned private detective Sam Tran, which include the investigation into a missing mother from the late 1980s, a man looking for justice into the slaying of his wife and her lover, and the protection of Annalisa’s own niece who seems to have become the latest object of fascination for a stalker on her college campus.

The writing is eerie and tight. The characters are diligent, attentive, and flawed. And the plot builds quickly into an ominous tale full of twists, turns, red herrings, secrets, lies, danger, obsession, violence, mayhem, and murder.

I’ve been a huge fan of Joanna Schaffhausen since I read The Vanishing Season in 2017, and whether it’s one of her Ellery Hathaway novels or another saga in the Detective Annalisa Vega series, such as this latest release, Dead and Gone, I am always riveted, entertained, satisfied and highly impressed.

 

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

 

About Joanna Schaffhausen

JOANNA SCHAFFHAUSEN wields a mean scalpel, skills developed in her years studying neuroscience. She has a doctorate in psychology, which reflects her long-standing interest in the brain—how it develops and the many ways it can go wrong. Previously, she worked for ABC News, writing for programs such as World News Tonight, Good Morning America, and 20/20. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and daughter. She is also the author of The Vanishing Season and No Mercy.