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#BookReview April Storm by Leila Meacham @harperbooks #AprilStorm #LeilaMeacham #HarperBooks

Title: April Storm

Author: Leila Meacham

Published by: Harper Books on Nov. 12, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 256

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Harper Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A seemingly perfect suburban housewife is being pursued by a private detective . . . and hunted by a murderer in this riveting, much-anticipated posthumous novel from the beloved author of Roses and Dragonfly.

Katherine Walker enjoys an enviable life. Her husband is an accomplished doctor, her children are bright and successful, and she devotes herself to charity work that uplifts her Suburban Colorado community. Settling into a new year, her life couldn’t be better. . .

Until April.

For Katherine, April has always rained trouble—but this time may be even stormier than the fraught past she’s trying to overcome. Already distraught over the child she miscarried in this same cursed month many years ago, the emotionally fragile woman isn’t ready to consider the overwhelming evidence that someone may be trying to take her husband—and her life.

Featuring the complex characters and powerful storytelling that are the beloved hallmarks of Leila Meacham’s novels beginning with her breakout debut Roses, April Storm is a page-turning triumph that caps a remarkable literary career.

Review:

Intricate, compelling, and sharp!

April Storm is a captivating, suspenseful tale that takes us into the life of devoted wife and mother Kathryn Walker as her life suddenly gets turned upside down when it quickly becomes apparent that someone is watching her every move and is more than willing to do whatever it takes, even resort to murder, to be rid of her forever.

The writing is sharp and tight. The characters are vulnerable, troubled, and multilayered. And the plot is an ominous, twisty tale filled with manipulation, familial drama, deception, lies, jealousy, obsession, secrets, revelations, mayhem, and murder.

The passing of Leila Meacham in September 2021 was a tremendous loss for the literary world, and it’s an honour to be able to read anything she wrote. April Storm is not the typical novel we’ve seen from Meacham in the past several years, as she swept us away into stories taking place in the past, such as Dragonfly and Roses. Still, it is nevertheless a clever, tortuous, cunning page-turner that kept me guessing from the very first page and ultimately left me surprised, satisfied, and thoroughly entertained.

This novel is available now.

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

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

About Leila Meacham

Leila Meacham (1938–2021) was a writer and former teacher from San Antonio, Texas, who came to writing later in life. Her many successful novels include the bestselling Roses, Somerset, Tumbleweeds, and Dragonfly.

Photograph by Marie Langmore/Langmore Photography.

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#BookReview #GoodreadsGiveaways Dragonfly by Leila Meacham @LeilaMeacham @GrandCentralPub @HBGCanada @goodreads

Title: Dragonfly

Author: Leila Meacham

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Jul. 9, 2019

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 576

Format: Paperback, ARC

Source: Grand Central Publishing, Goodreads Giveaways

Book Rating: 10/10

At the height of WWII, five idealistic young Americans receive a mysterious letter from the OSS, asking them if they are willing to fight for their country. The men and women from very different backgrounds–a Texan athlete with German roots, an upper-crust son of a French mother and a wealthy businessman, a dirt-poor Midwestern fly fisherman, an orphaned fashion designer, and a ravishingly beautiful female fencer from Princeton — all answer the call of duty, but each for a secret reason of his or her own. They bond immediately, in a group code-named DRAGONFLY.

Soon after their training, they are dropped behind enemy lines and take up their false identities, isolated from one another except for a secret drop-box, but in close contact with the powerful Nazi elite who have Paris under siege.

Thus begins a dramatic and riveting cat-and-mouse game, as the young Americans seek to stay under the radar until a fatal misstep leads to the capture and the firing-squad execution of one of their team. But…is everything as it seems, or is this one more elaborate act of spycraft?

Review:

Poignant, absorbing, and incredibly affecting!

Dragonfly is an immersive, suspenseful tale set in Nazi-Occupied Paris during WWII that follows five young American spies as they use their own unique skillsets to infiltrate, befriend, and acquire special intelligence from the enemy to aid Resistance and Allied Forces.

The prose is eloquent and polished. The characters are driven, courageous, and resilient. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel into a sweeping saga of life, loss, family, self-discovery, heartbreak, betrayal, determination, isolation, survival, tragedy, and friendship.

Overall, Dragonfly is an evocative, rich, beautifully written novel by Meacham that grabs you from the very first page, and is sure to be a big hit with book clubs and historical fiction fans everywhere. I absolutely devoured it, and it is hands down one of my favourite reads of the year!