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So one of my favourite things happened to me yesterday…
I had a return to drop off at my local public library, and like a truly avid reader I couldn’t just drop off without popping in to see what might be out on the shelves.
That is when it occurred. First, the door from the back opened, then I saw the cart full of brand new, just received books.
Really, what could I do? I couldn’t resist.
Needless to say, even though I have piles and piles of books around my house just waiting to be read, I had to pick up a few. (Reviews to follow soon!)
I mean who wouldn’t. Brand new books. The pages crisp. The covers pristine and that new book smell. There’s only one word to describe it.
AWESOME!
Eat your heart out Neil Pastiche. Maybe you should put that in your next Book of Awesome!
A forgotten childhood. A discovered life.
What if you only had one day to find out who you really were?
When Sabrina Boggs stumbles upon a mysterious collection of her father’s possessions, she discovers a truth where she never knew there was a lie. The familiar man she grew up with is suddenly a stranger to her.
An unexpected break in her monotonous daily routine leaves her just one day to unlock the secrets of the man she thought she knew. A day that unearths memories, stories and people she never knew existed. A day that changes her and those around her forever.
The Marble Collector is a thought-provoking novel about how the most ordinary decisions we make can have the most extraordinary consequences for how we live our lives. And how sometimes it’s only by shining on a light on someone else, that you can truly understand yourself.
I really liked this book.
It was a heartwarming story that engrossed you from the get-go. And like most Cecilia Ahern’s books, it made you laugh, made you cry, and also made you cheer.
It has a wonderful cast of characters. Uses a past/present, back and forth, style to give depth into the father/daughter relationship between Sabrina and Fergus. And ultimately, it showcases the long-lasting effects secrets can have on those we love, and the importance of finding one’s true identity for happiness.
I’m certainly glad I picked it up. It’s definitely worth reading.
This book is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following links.
Investigative reporter Maxine Revere has a theory: that the five New York City murders for which Adam Bachman is being tried are just part of his killing spree. In probing the disappearance of a retired couple who vanished the prior summer, Max uncovers striking similarities to Bachman’s MO and develops a theory that Bachman wasn’t working alone.
Max wins a coveted pre-trial interview with the killer, whose disarming composure in the face of her questions is combined with uncomfortable knowledge of Max’s own past. She leaves the room convinced, but unable to prove, that Bachman knows exactly what happened to the missing couple. The D.A. wants nothing to jeopardize his case against Bachman and refuses to consider Max’s theory. With no physical evidence, Max has to rely on her own wits and investigative prowess to dig deep into Bachman’s past. The picture that Max puts together is far darker and more deadly than she ever imagined.
As Max gets closer to the truth, she doesn’t realize that she’s walking down a road that has been paved just for her. That every step she takes brings her one step closer to a brilliant, methodical sociopath who has been waiting for her to make just one small mistake.
And when she does, he’ll be there waiting.
Max Revere returns in another gripping, pulse-pounding thriller from New York Times bestseller Allison Brennan.
“Compulsion is a gripping, pulse-pounding thriller that readers will not want to put down.”-Crimespree magazine
Allison Brennan has written numerous books and once again has produced a great mystery that’s full of suspense and intrigue. This story is the second book in the Max Revere series.
As in the first novel in the series, Notorious, the characters are complex and interesting and are further evolved throughout this story.
The plot is action-packed, well written, with numerous twists and turns and sub-plots that intermingle to leave you guessing till the end.
This was another great read and I highly recommend it.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following Amazon links.
Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada
For more information on Allison Brennan, visit her website at: allisonbrennan.com
or follow her on Twitter at: @Allison_Brennan
The first rule of afternoon tea: never rush. Take time to savor it. Just like friendship…
The Seafront Tearoom is an insider secret in small-town Scarborough – a beach-front haven with the best tea and cakes in town – and journalist Charlie Harrison would love to put it on the map with a feature in her magazine. But single mom Kat Murray doesn’t want to see her favorite sanctuary overrun by tourists, and begs Charlie to seek out other options. She offers her help, as a “tea obsessive,” and so does French au pair Séraphine Moreau, whose upbringing makes her a connoisseur of everything sweet and indulgent.
Together the three women will scour the countryside for quaint hideaways and hidden gems, sharing along the way their secrets, disappointments, and dreams – and discovering that friendship, like tea, takes time to steep. But learning too that once you open your heart, the possibilities are endless.
This is a warm, sweet story about family, friendship, heartbreak, and love.
It has lovable characters, exquisite description, a wonderful seaside setting, and lots of tea and cakes.
It is a light, easy read. Perfect for a day at the beach or a cool day snuggled up on the couch.
This book is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following Amazon links.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Red Tent and Day After Night, comes an unforgettable coming-of-age novel about family ties and values, friendship and feminism told through the eyes of a young Jewish woman growing up in Boston in the early twentieth century.
Addie Baum is The Boston Girl, born in 1900 to immigrant parents who were unprepared for and suspicious of America and its effect on their three daughters. Growing up in the North End, then a teeming multicultural neighborhood, Addie’s intelligence and curiosity take her to a world her parents can’t imagine – a world of short skirts, movies, celebrity culture and new opportunities for women. Addie wants to finish high school and dreams of going to college. She wants a career and to find true love.
Eighty-five-year-old Addie tells the story of her life to her twenty-two-year-old granddaughter, who has asked her “How did you get to be the woman you are today?” She begins in 1915, the year she found her voice and made friends who would help shape the course of her life. From the one-room tenement apartment she shared with her parents and two sisters, to the library group for girls she joins at a neighborhood settlement house, to her first, disastrous love affair, Addie recalls her adventures with compassion for the naïve girl she was and a wicked sense of humor.
Written with the same attention to historical detail and emotional resonance that made Anita Diamant’s previous novels bestsellers, The Boston Girl is a moving portrait of one woman’s complicated life in twentieth-century America, and a fascinating look at a generation of women finding their places in a changing world.
I really enjoyed this book.
This is the life story of Addie, an eighty-five-year-old woman, who was born and raised in Boston in the early 1900s to Jewish immigrants. It is a sentimental story that touches on the importance of friendship, family relationships, the fight for women to be educated and employed outside the home, love, loss, disappointment, frustration, and success.
I thought this story was extremely interesting and captivating, and I really liked the way it was narrated.
I would definitely recommend this for book clubs.
This book is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following Amazon links.
Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada
One single mom. One chaotic family. One quirky stranger. One irresistible love story from the New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You.
Suppose your life sucks. A lot. Your husband has done a vanishing act, your teenage stepson is being bullied and your math whiz daughter has a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that you can’t afford to pay for. That’s Jess’s life in a nutshell—until an unexpected knight-in-shining-armor offers to rescue them. Only Jess’s knight turns out to be Geeky Ed, the obnoxious tech millionaire whose vacation home she happens to clean. But Ed has big problems of his own, and driving the dysfunctional family to the Math Olympiad feels like his first unselfish act in ages… maybe ever.
This book captured my attention from the very start and kept it.
It is a charming story with flawed, quirky, lovable characters you can’t help but root for.
The story is rich in humour, hardship, heartbreak, and romance. The writing is poetic and flows effortlessly.
This is a great way to spend an afternoon. I highly recommend it.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following Amazon links.
Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada
“It’s amazing that there are so many different ways to die in a hospital that have nothing to do with being sick…”
Steve Mitchell, happily married with a wife and two kids, is in line for a coveted position at Boston’s University Hospital when his world goes awry. His over-reaching ambition causes him to botch a major surgery, and another of his patients mysteriously dies. Steve’s nightmare goes from bad to worse when he learns that the mysterious death was no accident but the act of a sociopath. A sociopath he knows and who has information that could destroy Steve’s career and marriage. A sociopath for whom killing is more than a means to an end: it’s a game. Because he is under a cloud of suspicion and has no evidence, he knows that any accusations he makes won’t be believed. So he must struggle to turn the tables, even as the killer skillfully blocks his every move. Detailing the politics of hospitals, the hierarchy among doctors and the life and death decisions that are made by flawed human beings, Doing Harm marks the debut of a major fiction career.
I thought this was a great medical thriller.
The writing was incredibly detailed and descriptive.
The characters are intelligent, chilling, and egotistical. And the plot is intense, action-packed and suspenseful with twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.
I really enjoyed this book and definitely look forward to picking up the next Kelly Parsons book.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following Amazon links.
Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada
‘Is there really such a thing as a perfect proposal?
Over the next hundred days I intend to find out. I will find one hundred ways to propose to our Chief Proposer Suzie McKenzie and post the results here for your enjoyment. One thing’s for sure, not one of my proposals will be on top of the Eiffel Tower with a dozen red roses.’
Best friends Suzie and Harry are partners in romance. That is, they run the.PerfectProposal.com, coming to the aid of would-be grooms to create the ultimate marriage proposal.
But when Harry decides to catapult the business into the big leagues with a PR stunt all Suzie can see is a hundred days of heartbreak stretching ahead of her. But however exotic the location, or breath-takingly romantic the setting, Suzie has to keep remembering that ‘Marry Me?’ is the one question she can’t say yes to.
This business proposal should come with one hundred broken heart warnings…
One hundred proposals, one hundred chances to say yes.
This is my first Holly Martin book and it definitely won’t be my last. I love “English” contemporary romance and this one didn’t disappoint.
This story is very sweet and funny. The characters are real, lovable and quirky, and you can’t help but root for them. I mean who wouldn’t say yes to Harry?
This is a delightful, easy read that you don’t want to miss.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following Amazon links.
Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada
Ellie Calvin is caught in a dying marriage, and she knows this. With her beloved daughter away at college and a growing gap between her and her husband, she doesn’t quite seem to fit into her own life. But everything changes when her controlling mother, Lillian, passes away. Ellie sees her ex-boyfriend, Hutch, at the funeral, and learns that he is in charge of a documentary that involved Lillian before her death – and he wants answers to questions that Ellie’s not sure she can face.
As Ellie and Hutch start digging into Lillian’s history and speaking for the first time in years, Ellie’s closed heart slowly begins to open. Using both a hidden diary that Ellie found in her mother’s things and a trip to the Summer House, a mysterious and seductive bayside home, they gamble that they can work together and not fall in love again. But in piecing together a decades-old unrequited-love story, they just might uncover the secrets in their own hearts…
I enjoyed this book.
It was an interesting story that delved into mother/daughter relationships, secrets, heartbreak, love lost, love found and ultimately finding one’s self.
It was well written, easy to read, thought-provoking, and a generally nice story.
It’s definitely worth a read.
This novel is available now.
Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or from the following Amazon links.
Amazon UK, Amazon US, Amazon Canada