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#BookReview Exodus by Kate Stewart @authorklstewart @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #Exodus #TheRavenhoodSeries #KateStewart #PGCBooks

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#BookReview Exodus by Kate Stewart @authorklstewart @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #Exodus #TheRavenhoodSeries #KateStewart #PGCBooks Title: Exodus

Author: Kate Stewart

Series: The Ravenhood #2

Published by: Pan Macmillan on May 2, 2023

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Erotica, New Adult

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

The second steamy book in the Ravenhood Trilogy by #BookTok sensation and bestseller Kate Stewart.

I did what thieves do. I stole you…

What Cecilia Horner had expected to be a dull year has already been the most exciting summer of her life after she met local bad boys Sean and Dominic and their relationship developed into something altogether more dangerous.

But she is left reeling from the discovery that they are members of The Ravenhood, a secret group of vigilantes. At the head of the society is a man known as the Frenchman and he doesn’t want Cecilia anywhere near his men or his mission.

She has every reason to hate him but there’s a fine line between love and hate. And if her time in Triple Falls has taught her anything, it’s one she’s more than willing to cross.

Review:

Provocative, edgy, and sinful!

Exodus is a dramatic, sultry tale that picks up right where Flock left off, taking us back into the life of nineteen-year-old Cecilia Horner as she juggles her feelings for Sean and Dominic, two members of the Ravenhood gang who are determined to right the wrongs of the past and take her father down, and the enigmatic leader of the group, The Frenchman, Tobias King who she wants to hate with everything she has but who she’s unconsciously drawn to like a moth to a flame.

The prose is tight and steamy. The characters are impulsive, multilayered, and consumed. And the plot is a deliciously salacious tale filled with temptation, desire, danger, deception, mystique, familial drama, palpable attraction, sizzling romance, violence, and malicious intentions.

Overall, Exodus is another dark, intriguing, titillating tale by Stewart that has certainly left me more than eager to now get my hands on the last book in this Ravenhood trilogy series, The Finish Line, to see just how dramatic and sexy this could possibly get before it comes to an end.

 

This book is available now.

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

           

 

 

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

 

About Kate Stewart

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

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#BookReview The Nigerwife by Vanessa Walters @SimonSchusterCA @AtriaBooks #TheNigerwife #VanessaWalters #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview The Nigerwife by Vanessa Walters @SimonSchusterCA @AtriaBooks #TheNigerwife #VanessaWalters #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Nigerwife

Author: Vanessa Walters

Published by: Atria Books on May 2, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

This twisty and electrifying debut novel about a young woman who goes missing in Lagos, Nigeria, and her estranged auntie who will stop at nothing to find the truth is perfect for fans of My Sister, the Serial Killer and The Last Thing He Told Me.

Nicole Oruwari has the perfect life: a handsome husband, a palatial house in the heart of glittering Lagos, Nigeria, and a glamorous group of friends. She left gloomy London and a dark family past behind for sunny, moneyed Lagos, becoming part of the Nigerwives—a community of foreign women married to wealthy Nigerian men.

But when Nicole disappears without a trace after a boat trip, the cracks in her so-called perfect life start to show. As the investigation turns up nothing but dead ends, her Auntie Claudine decides to take matters into her own hands. Armed with only a cell phone and a plane ticket to Nigeria, she digs into her niece’s life and uncovers a hidden side filled with dark secrets, isolation, and even violence. But the more she discovers about her niece, the more Claudine’s own buried history threatens to come to light.

An inventively told and keenly observant thriller where nothing is as it seems, The Nigerwife is a razor-sharp look at the bonds of family, the echoing consequences of secrets, and whether we can ever truly outrun our past.

Review:

Sinister, simmering, and engrossing!

The Nigerwife is a sharp, slow-burning mystery that takes you into the life of Claudine as she heads to Lagos, Nigeria, to once and for all discover the fate of her missing, estranged niece, Nicole Oruwari, whose life in the past few years seems to have included a controlling extended family, a strained marriage, friends who liked to indulge in all the finer things of life, and a group of foreign women married to Nigerian men, known as the Nigerwives, who seem to be involved in much more than just charity work.

The writing is tight and intense. The characters are secretive, troubled, and multilayered. And the plot, told from alternating perspectives and using before and after timelines, is an ominous tale full of twists, turns, familial drama, secrets, lies, deception, infidelity, community, culture, societal expectations, relationship dynamics, reckless behaviour, swirling emotions, abuse, violence, vengeance, and murder.

Overall, The Nigerwife is an intricate, crafty, atmospheric read by Walters that captivated, satisfied, and highly entertained me and was a good reminder that things are never quite what they seem.

 

This book 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 Vanessa Walters

Vanessa Walters was born and raised in London and has a background in international journalism and playwriting and is a Tin House resident and a Millay Colony resident. She is the author of two previous YA books and The Nigerwife. She currently lives in Brooklyn.

Photograph © Jerrie Rotimi

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#BookReview The Stolen Hours by Karen Swan @KarenSwan1 @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #TheStolenHours #TheWildIsleSeries #KarenSwan #PGCBooks

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#BookReview The Stolen Hours by Karen Swan @KarenSwan1 @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #TheStolenHours #TheWildIsleSeries #KarenSwan #PGCBooks Title: The Stolen Hours

Author: Karen Swan

Series: The Wild Isle #2

Published by: Pan Macmillan on May 2, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 432

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

A reluctant bride. A forbidden romance. An island full of secrets . . .

It’s the summer of 1929 and Mhairi MacKinnon is in need of a husband. As the eldest girl among nine children, her father has made it clear he can’t support her past the coming winter. On the small, Scottish island of St Kilda, her options are limited. But the MacKinnons’ neighbour, Donald, has a business acquaintance on distant Harris also in need of a spouse. A plan is hatched for Donald to chaperone Mhairi and make the introduction on his final crossing of the year, before the autumn seas close them off to the outside world.

Mhairi returns as an engaged woman who has lost her heart – but not to her fiancé. In love with the wrong man yet knowing he can never be hers, she awaits the spring with growing dread, for the onset of calm waters will see her sent from home to become a stranger’s wife.

When word comes that St Kilda is to be evacuated, the lovers are granted a few months’ reprieve, enjoying a summer of stolen hours together. Only, those last days on St Kilda will also bring trauma and heartache for Mhairi and her friends, Effie and Flora. And when a dead body is later found on the abandoned isle, all three have reason enough to find themselves under the shadow of suspicion . . .

Review:

Absorbing, passionate, and thrilling!

The Stolen Hours is a compelling tale that sweeps you away to 1929 and into the life of Mhairi MacKinnon, one of Effie’s best friends and another one of the thirty-six inhabitants of the small island of St. Kilda, who, on her brief travels to Harris to meet the man she will likely become engaged to, realizes the one she truly loves but who is already sworn to another has always been living right beside her, and when the government decides to evacuate the island villagers and move them permanently to the mainland, time is running out, her new married life is about to begin, and with a heart shattered to pieces and the life she always wanted merely now but a dream she may also have more than one reason to want the de facto ruler of the island, Frank Mathieson, dead.

The writing is expressive and rich. The characters are hardworking, fierce, and loyal. And the plot is an enchanting tale of life, loss, family, friendship, community, drama, mystery, intrigue, responsibilities, expectations, heartbreak, and forbidden love.

Overall, The Stolen Hours is another mysterious, captivating, highly immersive tale by Swan that kept me engaged from start to finish with its rugged depictions of island living and layered, complex, romantic entanglements and even though it’s only the second book in The Wild Isle trilogy, I can already tell this is definitely going to be one of my favourite historical fiction series of all time.

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 Karen Swan

Karen Swan began her career in fashion journalism before giving it all up to raise her three children and a puppy, and to pursue her ambition of becoming a writer. She lives in the forest outside Sussex, England, writing her books in a treehouse overlooking the Downs.

An internationally bestselling author, her numerous books include The Rome Affair, The Paris Secret, Christmas Under the Stars, and The Christmas Secret. 

Photograph by Alexander James

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#BookReview The Next Girl by Pip Drysdale @SimonSchusterCA #TheNextGirl #PipDrysdale #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview The Next Girl by Pip Drysdale @SimonSchusterCA #TheNextGirl #PipDrysdale #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Next Girl

Author: Pip Drysdale

Published by: Simon & Schuster on May 2, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

For fans of The Perfect Girlfriend, The Flight Attendant, and Promising Young Woman, a compulsively readable suspense novel about a woman who will stop at nothing to expose the dark secrets of a powerful man—with shocking results.

A bad day at work. A drunken night. A rogue Instagram follow. That’s all it takes to ruin a life…but whose life will be ruined?

When Billie wakes up in a strange guy’s bed, her first thought What happened last night? She can’t even remember meeting him. And how the hell did she get to Coney Island?

Then reality bites and the memories flood in—the reason she was in that bar drinking to start with was because today she’s going to get fired. Yesterday, her law firm lost a high-profile assault Samuel Grange v Jane Delaney. And it looked like it was her fault.

It wasn’t.

Yet now Samuel Grange is free to drive off into the sunset in his Porsche and do it all again to another woman. And all Billie can think What about the next girl? And the one after that?

But there is nothing she can do to stop him.

Unless…She could expose the truth about him on her own. Then everyone would see what he is really like. She could make sure he’ll never be able to do it again.

The problem is, the only way to protect the next girl is to become the next girl.

And, well, that could be a little risky…even deadly.

Review:

Dark, tight, and complex!

The Next Girl is an intense, edgy thriller that takes you into the life of Billie Spencer-Tate, a young paralegal with a knack for losing her day job, who after losing her mother to suicide due to an online troll, spends the majority of her time and effort using her high-tech knowledge and social media skills to hunt down, identify, select, and hand out her own style of justice to those men who abuse, prey, and gaslight women, with her latest target being the arrogant, despicable, dangerous Dr. Samuel Grange who she is determined to expose.

The prose is taut and gritty. The characters are consumed, unpredictable, and secretive. And the plot builds quickly as it twists, turns, shocks, surprises, and unravels all the personalities, behaviours, relationships, and motivations within it.

Overall, The Next Girl, at its core, is a novel about secrets, manipulation, friendship, coercion, obsession, control, cunning behaviour, tragedy, violence, and vengeance. It’s a highly suspenseful, exceptionally clever tale by Drysdale that highlights everything is not always as it appears and is definitely one of the most gripping page-turners I’ve been lucky enough to read this year.

 

This novel is available in paperback 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 Pip Drysdale

Pip Drysdale is a writer, musician and actor who grew up in Africa and Australia. At 20 she moved to New York to study acting, worked in indie films and off-off Broadway theatre, started writing songs and made four records. After graduating with a BA in English, Pip moved to London where she played shows across Europe and started writing books. Her debut novel, The Sunday Girl, was a bestseller and has been published in the United States, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The Strangers We Know was also a bestseller and is being developed for television. The Paris Affair is her third book.

Photo courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

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#BookReview Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner @SusanMeissner @uplitreads #onlythebeautiful #authorsusanmeissner #uplitreadscampaign

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#BookReview Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner @SusanMeissner @uplitreads #onlythebeautiful #authorsusanmeissner #uplitreadscampaign Title: Only the Beautiful

Author: Susan Meissner

Published by: Berkley Books on Apr. 18, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 400

Format: ARC, eBook

Source: Uplit Reads

Book Rating: 10/10

A heartrending story about a young mother’s fight to keep her daughter, and the winds of fortune that tear them apart by the New York Times bestselling author of The Nature of Fragile Things and The Last Year of the War.

California, 1938—When she loses her parents in an accident, sixteen-year-old Rosanne is taken in by the owners of the vineyard where she has lived her whole life as the vinedresser’s daughter. She moves into Celine and Truman Calvert’s spacious house with a secret, however—Rosie sees colors when she hears sound. She promised her mother she’d never reveal her little-understood ability to anyone, but the weight of her isolation and grief prove too much for her. Driven by her loneliness she not only breaks the vow to her mother, but in a desperate moment lets down her guard and ends up pregnant. Banished by the Calverts, Rosanne believes she is bound for a home for unwed mothers, and having lost her family she treasures her pregnancy as the chance for a future one. But she soon finds out she is not going to a home of any kind, but to a place far worse than anything she could have imagined.

Austria, 1947—After witnessing firsthand Adolf Hitler’s brutal pursuit of hereditary purity—especially with regard to “different children”—Helen Calvert, Truman’s sister, is ready to return to America for good. But when she arrives at her brother’s peaceful vineyard after decades working abroad, she is shocked to learn what really happened nine years earlier to the vinedresser’s daughter, a girl whom Helen had long ago befriended. In her determination to find Rosanne, Helen discovers that while the war had been won in Europe, there are still terrifying battles to be fought at home.

Review:

Poignant, insightful, and incredibly absorbing!

Only the Beautiful is a heart-wrenching, compelling tale that sweeps you away to California between the late 1930s to late 1940s and into the lives of Rosanne, a young girl who, after falling pregnant, is sent by her wards to an institute to not only have her baby removed from her care and adopted out when it’s born, but also where for the good of society they perform forced sterilization, and Helen Calvert, a kind, generous woman who after spending the entirety of the war overseas trying to save children with disabilities from Hitler’s horrifying T4 program returns home only to discover she has a niece she’s never met and thus a new mission to find where she ended up and provide her with the best life possible.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are genuine, sympathetic, and vulnerable. And the plot is a masterfully woven, captivating tale about life, loss, love, heartbreak, courage, hope, manipulation, power, ethics, morality, motherhood, and the unconscionable theory of eugenics.

Overall, Only the Beautiful is an emotional, heartbreaking, beautifully written tale by Meissner that immerses you so thoroughly into the lives, feelings, and personalities of the characters you never want it to end. It is, without a doubt, one of my favourite novels of the year, and it really shouldn’t be missed.

 

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

 

Thank you to Uplit Reads for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Susan Meissner

Susan Meissner is a USA Today bestselling novelist with more than half a million books in print in fifteen languages. Her critically acclaimed works of historical fiction have been named to numerous lists including Publishers Weekly’s annual roster of 100 best books, Library Reads Top Picks, Real Simple annual tally of best books, Goodreads Readers’ Choice awards, Booklist’s Top Ten, and Book of the Month.

She attended Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego and is a former managing editor of a weekly newspaper. Susan’s expertise as a storyteller and her thoroughly researched topics make her a favorite author of book clubs everywhere. Her engaging and warm speaking style appeal to all manner of women’s groups, literary organizations, libraries and learning institutions, and service clubs.

When she is not working on a new novel, she enjoys teaching workshops on writing and dream-following, spending time with her family, music, reading great books, and travelling.

Photo courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

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#BookReview The Golden Doves by Martha Hall Kelly @marthahallkelly @doubledayca @PenguinRandomCA #TheGoldenDoves #MarthaHallKelly

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#BookReview The Golden Doves by Martha Hall Kelly @marthahallkelly @doubledayca @PenguinRandomCA #TheGoldenDoves #MarthaHallKelly Title: The Golden Doves

Author: Martha Hall Kelly

Published by: Doubleday Canada on Apr. 18, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 528

Format: Paperback

Source: Penguin Random House

Book Rating: 9/10

Two former female spies, bound together by their past, risk everything to hunt down an infamous Nazi doctor in the aftermath of World War II—an extraordinary novel inspired by true events from the New York Times bestselling author of Lilac Girls

American Josie Anderson and Parisian Arlette LaRue are thrilled to be working in the French resistance, stealing so many Nazi secrets that they become known as the Golden Doves, renowned across France and hunted by the Gestapo. Their courage will cost them everything. When they are finally arrested and taken to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, along with their loved ones, a reclusive Nazi doctor does unspeakable things to Josie’s mother, a celebrated Jewish singer who joined her daughter in Paris when the world seemed bright. And Arlette’s son is stolen from her, never to be seen again.

A decade later the Doves fall headlong into a dangerous dual mission: Josie is working for U.S. Army intelligence and accepts an assignment to hunt down the infamous doctor, while a mysterious man tells Arlette he may have found her son. The Golden Doves embark on a quest across Europe and ultimately to French Guiana, discovering a web of terrible secrets, and must put themselves in grave danger to finally secure justice and protect the ones they love.

Martha Hall Kelly has garnered acclaim for her stunning combination of empathy and research into the stories of women throughout history and for exploring the terrors of Ravensbrück. With The Golden Doves, she has crafted an unforgettable story about the fates of Nazi fugitives in the wake of World War II—and the unsung females spies who risked it all to bring them to justice.

Review:

Compelling, intense, and atmospheric!

The Golden Doves is a charged, intriguing tale that takes you into the lives of Josie Anderson, an American Intelligence Officer, and Arlette LaRue, a French waitress, both former spies and Ravensbrück prisoners whose lives intersect and collide once again seven years post-WWII when the hunt for the illusive, evil Dr. Snow and the search for a missing, but cherished child find them both in the tropics of French Guiana hoping to heal their hearts, unravel the secrets from the past, and finally find some justice for it all.

The writing is eloquent and expressive. The characters are layered, dependable, and resourceful. And the plot is a captivating mix of life, love, loss, secrets, passion, heartbreak, betrayal, tragedy, survival, danger, friendship, espionage, and war.

Overall, The Golden Doves is an absorbing, heart-tugging, beautifully written tale by Kelly inspired by real-life events, Operation Paperclip, that does an exceptional job of reminding us of the enduring devastating consequences of war while highlighting her impressive research into an intelligence program that brought Nazis chemists, physicists and other specialists to America after WWII, allowing them to escape justice for their previous horrific crimes, in order to use their knowledge to benefit US government agencies while also subsequently preventing that knowledge from falling into Soviet hands.

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

 

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

 

About Martha Hall Kelly

Martha Hall Kelly is the New York Times bestselling author of Lilac Girls, Lost Roses, and Sunflower Sisters. With more than two million copies of her books sold and her books translated in fifty countries, she lives in Connecticut and New York City.

Photo by Jeffrey Mosier Photography.

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#BookReview Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler @geeewheeler @StMartinsPress #Adelaide #GenevieveWheeler #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler @geeewheeler @StMartinsPress #Adelaide #GenevieveWheeler #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Adelaide

Author: Genevieve Wheeler

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Apr. 18, 2023

Genres: Women's Fiction

Pages: 304

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

For twenty-six-year-old Adelaide Williams, an American living in dreamy London, meeting Rory Hughes was like a lightning bolt out of the blue: this charming Englishman was The One she wasn’t even looking for.

Is it enough?

Does he respond to texts? Honor his commitments? Make advance plans? Sometimes, rarely, and no, not at all. But when he shines his light on her, the world makes sense, and Adelaide is convinced that, in his heart, he’s fallen just as deeply as she has. Then, when Rory is rocked by an unexpected tragedy, Adelaide does everything in her power to hold him together—even if it means losing herself in the process.

When love asks too much of us, how do we find the strength to put ourselves first?

With unflinching honesty and heart, this relatable debut from a fresh new voice explores grief and mental health while capturing the timeless nature of what it’s like to be young and in love—with your friends, with your city, and with a person who cannot, will not, love you back.

Review:

Introspective, poignant, and timely!

Adelaide is a passionate, thoughtful tale that sweeps you away to London and into the life of the young American, Adelaide Williams, as she navigates her goals, dreams, expectations, and mental health, all while consistently giving her all to a love affair littered with disappointments, one-sided effort, lack of communication, and heartbreak.

The prose is sincere and evocative. The characters are kind, multi-layered, and vulnerable. And the tightly crafted, effortless plot unfolds in a back-and-forth style, unravelling all the actions, motivations, personalities, desires, needs, tragedy, and complex relationships within it.

Overall, Adelaide is a sensitive, fresh, reflective debut by Wheeler that does a remarkable job of highlighting all the universal struggles of growing up, acquiring self-confidence, battling depression, anxiety, and worthlessness, forging friendships, experiencing an all-consuming love that isn’t reciprocated, and ultimately realizing that everyone is entitled to always be loved fully.

 

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 for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Genevieve Wheeler

Genevieve Wheeler is an American writer and communications manager. Her bylines have appeared in publications like VICE, Vogue Business, Teen Vogue, Elite Daily, and POPSUGAR, with her work and words cited in The New York Times, Vox, the BBC World Service, Cheddar News, Jezebel, and beyond. She holds an MA in marketing communications from the University of Westminster in London and a BS in Advertising from Boston University. She's currently based in London. Adelaide is her debut novel.

Photo Credit: Chelsea Lesser

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#BookReview Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paige Toon @PaigeToonAuthor @PutnamBooks @penguinrandom #OnlyLoveCanHurtLikeThis #PaigeToon

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#BookReview Only Love Can Hurt Like This by Paige Toon @PaigeToonAuthor @PutnamBooks @penguinrandom #OnlyLoveCanHurtLikeThis #PaigeToon Title: Only Love Can Hurt Like This

Author: Paige Toon

Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons on Apr. 25, 2023

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction

Pages: 400

Format: Paperback

Source: Penguin Random House

Book Rating: 10/10

In the spirit of Colleen Hoover and Jojo Moyes’s Me Before You, an unforgettable and heartbreaking love story with an earth-shattering secret at its core that asks the question: is love worth risking everything for?

An earth-shattering secret. A life-changing love story.

When Wren realizes her fiancé is in love with someone else, she thinks her heart will never recover.

On the other side of the world, Anders lost his wife four years ago and is still struggling to move on.

Wren hopes that spending the summer with her dad and step-family on their farm in Indiana will help her to heal. There, amid the cornfields and fireflies, she and Anders cross paths and their worlds are turned upside-down again.

But Wren doesn’t know that Anders is harboring a secret, and if he acts on any feelings he has for Wren it will have serious fall-out for everyone. Walking away would hurt Wren more than she can imagine. But, knowing the truth, how can she possibly stay?

Review:

Addictive, pensive, and heart-wrenching!

Only Love Can Hurt Like This is an immersive, emotional, heartwarming tale that takes us into the life of the sweet, vulnerable Wren as she struggles to juggle a broken engagement, a strained relationship with a father she hardly sees, a newly budding friendship with a half-sister she always slightly resented, and a complicated relationship with a man who is stealing her heart piece by piece but who may unfortunately already be emotionally shackled to another.

The writing is sentimental and engaging. The characters are layered, supportive, and generous. And the plot is a touching tale of family, friendship, self-discovery, happiness, heartbreak, taking chances, growth, healing, revelations, tender moments, light drama, selflessness, romance, and new beginnings.

For the past few years, Paige Toon’s books have topped my must-read, favourites list, and even though I didn’t think it was possible to love her books any more than I already did, she proved me wrong once again. Only Love Can Hurt Like This made my heart smile, shatter, and then put it all back together again in 400 pages, and not only did I absolutely adore it, but it might just be, dare I say it, one of my 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 G. P. Putnam’s Sons – Penguin Random House for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Paige Toon

Paige Toon grew up between England, Australia and America and has been writing books set in sun-drenched locations around the world since 2007. She has written fourteen women's fiction novels, a three-part spin-off series for young adults and a collection of short stories. Her novels have sold 1.5 million copies worldwide.

In Spring 2021, Paige and her publishing team launched ‘feel it all’ branding for her novels, which is inspired directly by her readers and what they have been telling her for years: that when they read a Paige Toon novel, they experience a myriad of emo>ons, from love, heartache and passion, to grief, happiness and hope. The message is simple: get lost in one of Paige’s stories and you really will feel it all.

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#BookReview Yours Truly, The Duke (Say I Do #1) by Amelia Grey @smpromance #SayIDoSeries #YoursTrulyTheDuke #AmeliaGrey #SMPRomance #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview Yours Truly, The Duke (Say I Do #1) by Amelia Grey @smpromance #SayIDoSeries #YoursTrulyTheDuke #AmeliaGrey #SMPRomance #SMPInfluencers Title: Yours Truly, The Duke

Author: Amelia Grey

Series: Say I Do #1

Published by: St. Martin's Griffin on Mar. 28, 2023

Genres: Historical Romance

Pages: 368

Format: Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

Yours Truly, The Duke is the first novel in the historical romance Say I Do trilogy about dukes needing to wed to tap into their wealth by New York Times bestselling author Amelia Grey.

Fredericka Hale needs a husband, and fast. She’s been caring for her deceased sister’s three young children, and now a childless cousin has petitioned the court for custody. Fredericka is powerless to stop her, but having a husband might sway the ruling. The last thing Fredericka wants is a hurried-up marriage to a man she doesn’t know—much less love, but she’ll do it for the children. So when the handsome Duke of Wyatthaven shows up with a proposal, she accepts. He’ll help her, and in return, they’ll lead separate lives. But distance cannot keep them from their powerful attraction.

At the top of his game in London, the Duke of Wyatthaven has no interest in marriage. However, if Wyatt doesn’t marry by week’s end, he’ll lose a sizable inheritance from his grandmother. When Wyatt’s solicitor finds Miss Fredericka Hale, Wyatt considers this little hiccup solved. Miss Hale is lovely, and intelligent. Most importantly, she prefers country life to London, so he’s free to continue his life as usual. But when circumstances force Fredericka and the children to show up at the duke’s door, Wyatt can’t deny he’s always been under her spell. Will the duke give up his bachelor lifestyle and give into the fiery passion growing between them?

Review:

Entertaining, engaging, and romantic!

Yours Truly, The Duke is a passionate, playful tale that sweeps you away to England during the early nineteenth century and into the lives of the sweet, kind Fredericka Hale who may have just unexpectedly found the short-term solution to secure the custody of her nieces and nephews, and the roguishly handsome Duke of Wyatthaven who may have conveniently discovered the perfect woman to help him secure his substantial inheritance without having to give his heart away.

The prose is amusing and light. The characters are loyal, charming, and supportive. And the plot is an enchanting tale full of family, friendship, societal expectations, tricky situations, desire, trust, romance, and love.

Overall, Yours Truly, The Duke is another charming, seductive, delightful tale by Grey that is certainly an enjoyable, promising start to a series Say I Do I’m really looking forward to reading more of.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following link.

             

 

 

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

 

About Amelia Grey

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Amelia Grey read her first romance book when she was thirteen and she's been a devoted reader of love stories ever since. Her awards include the Booksellers Best, Aspen Gold, and the Golden Quill. Writing as Gloria Dale Skinner, she won the coveted Romantic Times Award for Love and Laughter, and the prestigious Maggie Award. Her books have sold to many countries in Europe, Indonesia, Turkey, Russia, and Japan. Several of her books have also been featured in Doubleday and Rhapsody Book Clubs. Amelia is the author of more than twenty-five books, including the Heirs' Club trilogy and the Rakes of St. James series. She's been happily married to her high school sweetheart for over thirty-five years and she lives on the beautiful gulf coast of Northwest Florida.

Photograph by Marcia Reynolds.

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#BookReview Simply Lies by David Baldacci @davidbaldacci @GrandCentralPub #DavidBaldacci #SimplyLies #GCPInsider

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#BookReview Simply Lies by David Baldacci @davidbaldacci @GrandCentralPub #DavidBaldacci #SimplyLies #GCPInsider Title: Simply Lies

Author: David Baldacci

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Apr. 18, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 432

Format: Hardcover

Source: Grand Central Publishing

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A twisting new psychological thriller in which two women—one a former detective, the other a dangerous con artist—go head-to-head in an electrifying game of cat and mouse.

Mickey Gibson, single mother and former detective, leads a hectic life similar to that of many moms: juggling the demands of her two small children with the tasks of her job working remotely for ProEye, a global investigation company that hunts down wealthy tax and credit cheats.

When Mickey gets a call from a colleague named Arlene Robinson, she thinks nothing of Arlene’s unusual request for her to go inventory the vacant home of an arms dealer who cheated ProEye’s clients and fled. That is, until she arrives at the mansion to discover a dead body in a secret room—and that nothing is as it seems.

Not only does the arms dealer not exist but the murder victim turns out to be Harry Lancaster, a man with mob ties who used to be in Witness Protection. What’s more, no one named Arlene Robinson works at ProEye.

In the blink of an eye, Gibson has become a prime suspect in a murder investigation—and now her job is also on the line until she proves that she was set up. Before long, Gibson is locked in a battle of wits with a brilliant woman with no name, a hidden past, and unknown motives—whose end game is as mysterious as it is deadly.

Review:

Captivating, intelligent, and well-crafted!

Simply Lies is an elaborately plotted, suspenseful tale that takes you into the life of Mickey Gibson, a former police officer, now data analyst and single mother of two whose monotonous life is suddenly turned upside down when she finds herself embroiled in the investigation of a murdered man with a dark, devious, dangerous past when she is deceptively sent out to inventory the contents of a vacant estate.

The writing is sharp and tight. The characters are persistent, resourceful, and multilayered. And the plot, including all the subplots, seamlessly intertwine and unravel into a gripping tale full of twists, turns, surprises, revelations, manipulation, abuse, vengeance, mischief, mayhem, and murder.

Overall, Simply Lies is an exceptionally menacing, intricately woven, highly entertaining mystery that has a nice amount of suspense, good character development, and great pace. It’s currently a standalone novel by Baldacci, but something tells me this could quickly turn out to be another must-read series I need to add to my list.

 

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 gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About David Baldacci

David Baldacci is a global #1 bestselling author, and one of the world’s favorite storytellers. His books are published in over 45 languages and in more than 80 countries, with over 130 million worldwide sales. His works have been adapted for both feature film and television. David Baldacci is also the cofounder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across America. Still a resident of his native Virginia, he invites you to visit him at DavidBaldacci.com and his foundation at WishYouWellFoundation.org.

Photograph by Allen Jones.

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