#BookReview Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne @StMartinsPress #LennyMarksGetsAwayWithMurder #KerrynMayne #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder by Kerryn Mayne @StMartinsPress #LennyMarksGetsAwayWithMurder #KerrynMayne #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder

Author: Kerryn Mayne

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jul. 9, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

Lenny Marks is excellent at not having a life.

She bikes home from work at exactly 4pm each day, buys the same groceries for the same meals every week, and owns thirty-six copies of The Hobbit(currently arranged by height). The closest thing she has to a friendship is playing Scrabble against an imaginary Monica Gellar while watching Friendsreruns.

And Lenny Marks is very, very good at not remembering what happened the day her mother and stepfather disappeared when she was still a child. The day a voice in the back of her mind started whispering, You did this.

Until a letter from the parole board arrives in the mail–and when her desperate attempts to ignore it fail, Lenny starts to unravel. As long-buried memories come to the surface, Lenny’s careful routines fall apart. For the first time, she finds herself forced to connect with the community around her, and unexpected new relationships begin to bloom. Lenny Marks may finally get a life–but what if her past catches up to her first?

Equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming, Kerryn Mayne’s stunning debut is an irresistible novel about truth, secrets, vengeance, and family lost and found, with a heroine who’s simply unforgettable.


Review:

Surprising, captivating, and sweet!

Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder is a heartfelt, absorbing tale that takes you into the life of Lenny Marks, a socially awkward, Hobbit-loving teacher who, after receiving a letter from a parole board, struggles to come to grips with a past she thought she knew with the darker one that seems to be slowly seeping into her consciousness from memories she has suppressed for a very long time.

The writing is tender and light. The characters are quirky, endearing, and well-developed. And the plot is a compelling, hopeful tale of life, loss, secrets, resilience, abuse, friendship, revelations, childhood trauma, violence, self-identification, and moving on.

Overall, Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder is a twisty, charming, moving tale by Mayne that is a wonderful reminder that even after suffering the most unimaginable cruelty and tragedy, humanity still has the innate ability to hope, heal, and live healthy lives.

 

This book is available now. 

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

 

       

 

 

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

 

About Kerryn Mayne

Kerryn Mayne is an author, former wedding photographer, and current police officer. When not at work attempting to solve crime, she is writing about it or preparing an endless stream of snacks for her four children. Kerryn lives in the bayside suburbs of Melbourne with her husband, children and a highly suspect lovebird. She only owns 11 copies of The Hobbit (for now). Lenny Marks Gets Away With Murder is her debut novel.

Photo Credit: Kelly Dwyer Portraiture

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

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

Author: Caro Carver

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

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

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

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

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

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


Review:

Intense, chilling, and complex!

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

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

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

This novel is available now.

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

        

 

 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Caro Carver

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

Photo by Jared Jess-Cooke.

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

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

Published by: Montlake Romance on Jul. 2, 2024

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 317

Format: Hardcover

Source: Amazon Publishing, OTRPR

Book Rating: 8.5/10

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

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

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

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


Review:

Clever, humorous, and inspiring!

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

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

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

 

This novel is available now.

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

     

 

 

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

 

About Alli Frank & Asha Youmans

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

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

 

#BookReview The Spoiled Heart by Sunjeev Sahota @PenguinRandomCA #SunjeevSahota #TheSpoiledHeart #PenguinReads

#BookReview The Spoiled Heart by Sunjeev Sahota @PenguinRandomCA #SunjeevSahota #TheSpoiledHeart #PenguinReads Title: The Spoiled Heart

Author: Sunjeev Sahota

Published by: Knopf Canada on Apr. 16, 2024

Genres: General Fiction

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Penguin Random House Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

A brilliant and riveting story of ambition, love, family secrets, and unintended consequences, from “bold storyteller” (The New Yorker) and two-time Booker Prize nominee Sunjeev Sahota

Nayan Olak keeps seeing Helen Fletcher around town. She’s returned with her teenage son to live in the run-down house at the end of the lane, and—though she’s strangely guarded—Nayan can’t help but be drawn to her. He hasn’t risked love since losing his young family in a terrible accident twenty years earlier.

In the wake of the tragedy, Nayan’s labor union, long a cornerstone of his community, became the center of his life: a way for him to channel his energies into making the world a better—fairer, as he sees it—place. Now, he’s decided to mount a run for the leadership. But his campaign pits him against a newcomer, Megha, who quickly proves to be a more formidable challenger than he anticipated.

As Nayan’s differences with Megha spin out of control, complicating the ideals he’s always held dear, he grows closer to Helen—and unknowingly barrels toward long-held secrets about how their pasts might be connected. Suddenly, much more is threatened than his chances of winning.

In one sense a tragedy in the classic mold, tracing one man’s seemingly inexorable fall, The Spoiled Heart is also an explosively contemporary story of how a few words or a single action—to one person careless, to another, charged—can trigger a cascade of unimaginable consequences. A vivid and multi-layered exploration of the mysteries of the heart, how community is forged and broken, and the shattering impact of secrets and assumptions alike, it is a blazing achievement from one of Britain’s foremost living writers.


Review:

Nuanced, tragic, and compelling!

The Spoiled Heart is an intriguing, heart-tugging tale set in modern-day Britain that takes you into the life of Nayan Olak, a middle-aged man of Indian descent who is struggling with the continued grief of losing his mother and son in a fire years ago, the ongoing care of a father who he despises but also loves, a run for the union general secretary position that has turned into a fiery, mudslinging affair, and a blossoming romance with a white woman who has troubles and secrets of her own.

The prose is effortless and tender. The characters are multilayered, scarred, and vulnerable. And the plot is an absorbing tale of life, loss, love, reputation, familial dynamics, class division, race, societal prejudices, and tragedy.

Overall, The Spoiled Heart is a tense, captivating, sobering tale by Sahota that reminds us that families are complicated and messy, the choices we make often have far-reaching consequences, and long-buried secrets somehow always find their way to the surface.

 

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 Sunjeev Sahota

Sunjeev Sahota is the author of three novels: China Room, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize and a finalist for the American Library Association's Carnegie Medal; The Year of the Runaways, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Dylan Thomas Prize, and was awarded a European Union Prize for Literature; and Ours are the Streets. In 2013, he was named one of Granta’s twenty Best of Young British Novelists of the decade. He lives in Sheffield, England, with his family.

Photo by GL Portrait / Alamy Stock Photo.

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

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

Author: Pamela M. Kelly

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

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 320

Format: Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

One summer can change everything.

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

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

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


Review:

Quaint, tender, and sweet!

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

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

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

 

This book is available now.

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

       

 

 

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

 

About Pamela M. Kelly

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

#BookReview Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles @skesliencharles @SimonSchusterCA #MissMorgansBookBrigade #JanetSkeslienCharles #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade by Janet Skeslien Charles @skesliencharles @SimonSchusterCA #MissMorgansBookBrigade #JanetSkeslienCharles #SimonSchusterCA Title: Miss Morgan's Book Brigade

Author: Janet Skeslien Charles

Published by: Atria Books on Apr. 30, 2024

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

1918: As the Great War rages, Jessie Carson takes a leave of absence from the New York Public Library to work for the American Committee for Devastated France. Founded by millionaire Anne Morgan, this group of international women help rebuild devastated French communities just miles from the front. Upon arrival, Jessie strives to establish something that the French have never seen—children’s libraries. She turns ambulances into bookmobiles and trains the first French female librarians. Then she disappears.

1987: When NYPL librarian and aspiring writer Wendy Peterson stumbles across a passing reference to Jessie Carson in the archives, she becomes consumed with learning her fate. In her obsessive research, she discovers that she and the elusive librarian have more in common than their work at New York’s famed library, but she has no idea their paths will converge in surprising ways across time.

Based on the extraordinary little-known history of the women who received the Croix de Guerre medal for courage under fire, Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, the power of literature, and ultimately the courage it takes to make a change.


Review:

Insightful, rich, and absorbing!

Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade is an alluring dual-timeline tale set in France and New York City during WWI, as well as 1987, that takes you into the lives of two main characters; Jessie, a librarian who joins the American Committee for Devasted France to bring books and the love of reading to those families trying to carry on in a land ravished by war, and Wendy, a young writer and librarian who after stumbling upon information about another employee of the esteemed NYPL from the distant past, is driven to discover everything she can about this woman’s life, achievements and ultimate fate.

The prose is smooth and fluid. The characters are genuine, innovative, and determined. And the plot, including all the subplots, unravel and intertwine seamlessly into an intriguing tale of life, loss, hardship, courage, devastation, hope, friendship, adversity, self-discovery, wartime living, survival, and ultimately the power of books.

Overall, Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade is a well-written, vivid, informative tale inspired by real-life events that does an exceptional job of highlighting her considerable knowledge and impressive research into a real-life historical figure that was determined to show the power and importance of the written word to uplift and provide hope in even the most dire of situations.

 

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 Janet Skeslien Charles

Janet Skeslien Charles is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of The Paris Library. Her work has been translated into thirty-seven languages. She has spent a decade researching Jessie Carson (Miss Morgan’s Book Brigade) at The Morgan Library, the NYPL, and archives across France. Her shorter work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, The Sydney Morning Herald, LitHub, and the anthology Montana Noir.

Photograph by Krystal Kenney.

#BookReview A Happier Life by Kristy Woodson Harvey @kristywharvey @uplitreads #AHappierLife #kristywoodsonharvey #gifted #uplitreads

#BookReview A Happier Life by Kristy Woodson Harvey @kristywharvey @uplitreads #AHappierLife #kristywoodsonharvey #gifted #uplitreads Title: A Happier Life

Author: Kristy Woodson Harvey

Published by: Gallery Books on Jun. 25, 2024

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction

Pages: 384

Format: Hardcover

Source: Uplit Reads

Book Rating: 10/10

A tender and touching novel about a young woman who discovers the family she has always longed for when she spends a life-changing summer in North Carolina.

Present Keaton Smith is desperate for a fresh start. So when her mother needs someone to put her childhood home in Beaufort, North Carolina, on the market—the home that Keaton didn’t know existed until now—she jumps at the chance to head south. Keaton’s grandparents died in a tragic car accident before she was born, so she’s eager to learn more about the family she never met. But even though she has help from her charming next-door-neighbor, his precocious ten-year-old son, and a flock of endearingly feisty town busybodies, Keaton soon finds that she has more questions than answers.

1976: After meeting her adoring husband Townsend, Rebecca “Becks” Saint James abandoned the life she knew and never looked back. Forty years later, she’s made a name for herself as the best hostess North Carolina has ever seen. Her annual summer suppers have become the stuff of legend, and locals and out-of-towners alike clamor for an invitation to her stunning historic home. But she’s struggling behind the façade. Becks strives to make the lives of those around her as easy as possible, but this summer she is facing a dilemma that even she can’t solve. And as the end of the season looms, she is brought to a decision she never wanted to make.

As both Keaton and Becks face new challenges and chapters, they are connected through time by the house on Sunset Lane, which has protected the secrets, hopes, and dreams of the women in their family for generations. For fans of Summer of ‘69 and The Notebook , Last Summer on Sunset Lane explores the power of family, the bonds of friendship, and the boundless nature of love.


Review:

Touching, sentimental, and bittersweet!

A Happier Life is a beautiful, heartwarming, affecting story that sweeps you away to Beaufort, North Carolina, and into a tale where friendships are developed, mysteries are solved, memories are cherished, secrets are unearthed, tears are shed, lives are remembered, and love is forged and savoured.

The writing is smooth and heartfelt. The characters are sincere, genuine, and lovable. And the plot is a delightful blend of heart, hope, humour, nostalgia, drama, and emotion.

Overall, A Happier Life is, ultimately, a story about life, love, loss, dreams, heartbreak, friendship, family, ageing, and finding happiness, and I absolutely loved it. It made me laugh, it made me cry, and in the end, it reminded me once again why Kristy Woodson Harvey is one of my all-time favourite authors.

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 Kristy Woodson Harvey

Kristy Woodson Harvey is the USA TODAY bestselling author of six novels, including Feels Like Falling, The Peachtree Bluff series, and Under the Southern Sky. A Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s school of journalism, her writing has appeared in numerous online and print publications including Southern Living, Traditional Home, USA TODAY, Domino, and O. Henry. Kristy is the winner of the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing and a finalist for the Southern Book Prize. Her work has been optioned for film and television, and her books have received numerous accolades including Southern Living’s Most Anticipated Beach Reads, Parade’s Big Fiction Reads, and Entertainment Weekly’s Spring Reading Picks. Kristy is the co-creator and co-host of the weekly web show and podcast Friends & Fiction. She blogs with her mom Beth Woodson on Design Chic, and loves connecting with fans on KristyWoodsonHarvey.com. She lives on the North Carolina coast with her husband and son where she is (always!) working on her next novel.

Photo by Jay Ackerman.

#BookReview The Outlaw Noble Salt by Amy Harmon @aharmon_author @FireflyDist @AmazonPub #TheOutlawNobleSalt #AmyHarmon #LakeUnion #FireflyDist

#BookReview The Outlaw Noble Salt by Amy Harmon @aharmon_author @FireflyDist @AmazonPub #TheOutlawNobleSalt #AmyHarmon #LakeUnion #FireflyDist Title: The Outlaw Noble Salt

Author: Amy Harmon

Published by: Lake Union Publishing on Apr. 9, 2024

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 367

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Firefly Distributed Lines

Book Rating: 10/10

From New York Times bestselling author Amy Harmon comes a sweepingly romantic tale of risk, redemption, and what happens when America’s most famous outlaw falls in love.

When infamous outlaw Butch Cassidy decides to go straight, he discovers that too many of the powerful men he crossed won’t let bygones be bygones. To have a chance at a new life, he’ll have to become someone else entirely.

A brief, fateful encounter with the celebrated singer Jane Touissant on the eve of his escape offers a glimpse of what might have been, but Butch disappears, leaving her behind, until their paths unexpectedly converge again in Paris.

Despite having discovered his true identity, Jane trusts the outlaw and enlists his protection on her upcoming American tour. Although Butch is reluctant to agree, fearing his sordid past may put the woman and her young son in danger, the salvation she offers is too hard to resist.

As they set forth on their journey, Butch’s past and Jane’s secrets put them at risk from threats far greater than the law, and this legend of the American West will have to decide what matters most—his life, his legacy, or the woman he loves.


Review:

Unique, tender, and thrilling!

The Outlaw Noble Salt is a fresh, intricate tale that sweeps you away to the early 1900s and into the life of the infamous Butch Cassidy, who after years of robbing trains and staying just ahead of the authorities, decides to try and live a more lawful life in order to be worthy of a special woman and child who have managed to steal his heart.

The prose is rich and expressive. The characters are strong, determined, and loyal. And the plot is an intense, captivating tale of life, loss, love, bravery, strength, loyalty, danger, gunslinging, violence, and murder.

Overall, The Outlaw Noble Salt is a moving, evocative, beautifully written tale by Harmon inspired by real-life historical figures that I devoured from start to finish and is the perfect choice for anyone who enjoys a classic western story intermingled with a high dose of romance.

This novel is available now.

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

          

 

 

Thank you to Firefly Distributed Lines for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Amy Harmon

Amy Harmon is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and New York Times Bestselling author. Amy knew at an early age that writing was something she wanted to do, and she divided her time between writing songs and stories as she grew. Having grown up in the middle of wheat fields without a television, with only her books and her siblings to entertain her, she developed a strong sense of what made a good story. Her books are now being published in eighteen languages, truly a dream come true for a little country girl from Levan, Utah.

Amy Harmon has written fourteen novels including the USA Today Bestsellers, Making Faces and Running Barefoot, as well as The Law of Moses, Infinity + One and the New York Times Bestseller, A Different Blue. Her fantasy novel, The Bird and the Sword, was a Goodreads Book of the Year finalist. Her newest release, What the Wind Knows, is an Amazon charts bestseller.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

#BookReview When Cicadas Cry by Caroline Cleveland @MandaGroup @UnionSqandCo #WhenCicadasCry #CarolineCleveland #MandaGroup #UnionSqandCo

#BookReview When Cicadas Cry by Caroline Cleveland @MandaGroup @UnionSqandCo #WhenCicadasCry #CarolineCleveland #MandaGroup #UnionSqandCo Title: When Cicadas Cry

Author: Caroline Cleveland

Published by: Union Square & Co. on May 7, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Manda Group

Book Rating: 8/10

A high-profile murder case— A white woman has been bludgeoned to death with an altar cross in a rural church on Cicada Road in Walterboro, South Carolina. Sam Jenkins, a Black man, is found covered in blood, kneeling over the body. In a state already roiling with racial tenson, this is not only a murder case, but a powder keg.

A haunting cold case— Two young women are murdered on quiet Edisto Beach, an hour southeast of Walterboro, and the killer disappears without a trace. Thirty-four years later the mystery remains unsolved. Could there be a connection to Stander’s case?

A killer who’s watching— Stander takes on Jenkins’s defense, but he’s up against a formidable solicitor with powerful allies. Worse, his client is hiding a bombshell secret. When Addie Stone reopens the cold case, she discovers more long-buried secrets in this small town. Would someone kill again to keep them?

Ideal for fans of mystery, suspense, and thrillers in the vein of Karin Slaughter’s Pretty Girls and Stacy Willingham’s A Flicker in the Dark, as well as for readers who followed the high-profile Murdaugh murder trial, held in the same small town as in When Cicadas Cry.


Review:

Duplicitous, intense, and atmospheric!

When Cicadas Cry is a fast-paced, sinister tale that finds small-town attorney Zach Stander defending Sam Jenkins, a local Black man who, after being found near the body of a white woman covered in the victim’s blood, suddenly becomes the number one suspect until Zach’s partner, PI Addie Stone manages to stumble across some strange connections between this present case an unsolved cold case from three decades ago.

The prose is fluid and tight. The characters are multilayered, relentless, and resourceful. And the plot unfolds quickly into a menacing tale of mischief, mayhem, corruption, manipulation, racism, coercion, deception, heinous violence, and murder.

Overall, When Cicadas Cry is a tight, intricate, engrossing debut by Cleveland that is highly entertaining and the perfect choice for anyone who enjoys a good mystery threaded with ongoing social issues and injustices.

 

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

 

Thank you to Manda Group for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Caroline Cleveland

Caroline Cleveland is a labor and employment lawyer. A native South Carolinian, Caroline grew up in the Lowcountry and earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of South Carolina School of Law in 1991. This is her first novel.

#BookReview The Secret History of Audrey James by Heather Marshall @HMarshallAuthor @SimonSchusterCA #HeatherMarshall #TheSecretHistoryOfAudreyJames #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview The Secret History of Audrey James by Heather Marshall @HMarshallAuthor @SimonSchusterCA #HeatherMarshall #TheSecretHistoryOfAudreyJames #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Secret History of Audrey James

Author: Heather Marshall

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

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 432

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Sometimes the best place to hide is the last place anyone would look.

Northern England, 2010

After a tragic accident upends her life, Kate Mercer leaves London to work at an old guest house near the Scottish border, where she hopes to find a fresh start and heal from her loss. When she arrives, she begins to unravel the truth about her past, but discovers the mysterious elderly proprietor is harbouring her own secrets…

Berlin, 1938

Audrey James is weeks away from graduating from a prestigious music school in Berlin, where she’s been living with her best friend, Ilse Kaplan. As she prepares to finish her piano studies, Audrey dreads the thought of returning to her father in England and leaving Ilse behind. Families like the Kaplans are being targeted as war in Europe threatens.

When Ilse’s parents and brother suddenly disappear, two high-ranking Nazi party members confiscate the Kaplans’ upscale home, believing it to be empty. In a desperate attempt to keep Ilse safe, Audrey becomes housekeeper for the officers while Ilse is forced into hiding in the attic—a prisoner in her own home. Tensions rise in the house and the chance of survival diminishes by the day. When a shocking turn of events pushes Audrey to become embroiled in cell of the anti-Hitler movement – clusters of resisters working to bring down the Nazis from within Germany itself – Audrey must decide what matters most: saving herself, protecting her friend, or sacrificing everything for the greater good.

Inspired by true stories of courageous women and the German resistance during WWII, this is a captivating novel about the unbreakable bonds of friendship, the sacrifices we make for those we love, and the healing that comes from human connection.


Review:

Immersive, memorable, and moving!

The Secret History of Audrey James is predominantly set in Berlin and Northern England during 1938, as well as 2010, and is told from two different perspectives; Kate, a young woman who, after a tragic accident that leaves her marriage in tatters and her parents both deceased, decides to make a change and move out of London in order to visit a place her parents once loved and somehow start to heal, and Audrey, an elderly woman who, as her life is quickly coming to an end, finally shares her life story that was full of commitment, passion, heartache, courage, selflessness, pain, horrifying conditions, and unrequited love.

The prose is eloquent and rich. The characters are tenacious, resilient, and determined. And the plot is an exceptionally touching tale about life, loss, family, secrets, separation, desperation, regret, grief, love, tragedy, survival, friendship, the horrors of war, and the power of music.

Overall, The Secret History of Audrey James is an absorbing, poignant, beautifully written novel by Marshall that does a wonderful job of showcasing the hard work, bravery, and danger involved in being a resister in Germany during WWII. It’s now the second novel I’ve had the pleasure to read and absolutely love by Marshall, and I can guarantee that whatever she decides to write next will always hold a top spot on my TBR list.

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 Heather Marshall

Heather Marshall lives with her family near Toronto. She completed master’s degrees in Canadian history and political science, and worked in politics and communications before turning her attention to her true passion: storytelling. Looking for Jane is her debut novel.

Photograph by Amanda Kopcic.