Format: ARC, Paperback

#BookReview The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper @ElodieITV @UnionSqandCo #TheWolfDen #ElodieHarper #UnionSqandCo

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#BookReview The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper @ElodieITV @UnionSqandCo #TheWolfDen #ElodieHarper #UnionSqandCo Title: The Wolf Den

Author: Elodie Harper

Series: Wolf Den Trilogy #1

Published by: Union Square & Co. on Mar. 29, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 488

Format: ARC, Paperback

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Sold by her impoverished mother. Enslaved in an infamous brothel in Pompeii. Determined to fight for her freedom at all costs. . . . Enter into the Wolf Den.

Amara was once the beloved daughter of a doctor in Greece, until her father’s sudden death plunged her mother into destitution. Now Amara is a slave and prostitute in Pompeii’s notorious Wolf Den brothel or lupanar, owned by a cruel and ruthless man. Intelligent and resourceful, she is forced to hide her true self. But her spirit is far from broken. Buoyed by the sisterhood she forges with the brothel’s other women, Amara finds solace in the laughter and hopes they all share. For the streets of the city are alive with opportunity—here, even the lowest-born slave can dream of a new beginning. But everything in Pompeii has a price. How much will Amara’s freedom cost her? The Wolf Den is the first in a trilogy of novels about the lives of women in ancient Pompeii.

Review:

Fascinating, raw, and alluring!

The Wolf Den is a captivating, immersive, tragic tale that takes you back to Southern Italy during A.D. 74 and to the life of Amara, the educated daughter of a doctor from Greece who, after being sold by her mother and ending up the slave of a barbaric pimp in Pompeii, is determined to do whatever it takes to regain her freedom, body and soul, once and for all.

The prose is rich and vivid. The characters are bold, ambitious, vulnerable, and shrewd. And the plot is an absorbing saga of all the hopes, fears, sacrifices, struggles, treachery and entangled relationships faced by one group of enslaved women.

The Wolf Den is, ultimately, a story about life, loss, love, politics, power, corruption, greed, riches, desires, sacrifice, friendship, savagery, abuse, violence, and early prostitution. It’s an atmospheric, compelling, insightful tale by Harper that does a beautiful job of highlighting her impressive research and considerable knowledge of the Roman city of Pompeii and the lifestyles, hardships, and treatment women most likely endured during that time.

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

Thank you to Union Square & Co. for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Elodie Harper

Elodie Harper is a journalist and prize-winning short story writer. Her story 'Wild Swimming' won the 2016 Bazaar of Bad Dreams short story competition, which was judged by Stephen King.

She is currently a reporter at ITV News Anglia, and before that worked as a producer for Channel 4 News. Her job as a journalist has seen her join one of the most secretive wings of the Church of Scientology and cover the far right hip hop scene in Berlin, as well as crime reporting in Norfolk where her first two novels were set – The Binding Song and The Death Knock.

Elodie studied Latin poetry both in the original and in translation as part of her English Literature degree at Oxford, instilling a lifelong interest in the ancient world. The Wolf Den is the first in a trilogy of novels about the lives of women in ancient Pompeii.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

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#BookReview The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford @JamieFord @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #JamieFord #TheManyDaughtersofAfongMoy

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#BookReview The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford @JamieFord @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #JamieFord #TheManyDaughtersofAfongMoy Title: The Many Daughters of Afong Moy

Author: Jamie Ford

Published by: Atria Books on Aug. 2, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 384

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

The New York Times bestselling author of the “mesmerizing and evocative” (Sara Gruen, author of Water for Elephants) Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet returns with a powerful exploration of the love that binds one family across the generations.

Dorothy Moy breaks her own heart for a living.

As Washington’s former poet laureate, that’s how she describes channeling her dissociative episodes and mental health struggles into her art. But when her five-year-old daughter exhibits similar behavior and begins remembering things from the lives of their ancestors, Dorothy believes the past has truly come to haunt her. Fearing that her child is predestined to endure the same debilitating depression that has marked her own life, Dorothy seeks radical help.

Through an experimental treatment designed to mitigate inherited trauma, Dorothy intimately connects with past generations of women in her family: Faye Moy, a nurse in China serving with the Flying Tigers; Zoe Moy, a student in England at a famous school with no rules; Lai King Moy, a girl quarantined in San Francisco during a plague epidemic; Greta Moy, a tech executive with a unique dating app; and Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to set foot in America.

As painful recollections affect her present life, Dorothy discovers that trauma isn’t the only thing she’s inherited. A stranger is searching for her in each time period. A stranger who’s loved her through all of her genetic memories. Dorothy endeavors to break the cycle of pain and abandonment, to finally find peace for her daughter, and gain the love that has long been waiting, knowing she may pay the ultimate price.

Review:

Sentimental, thought-provoking, and memorable!

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy is an intriguing novel that takes you into the lives of seven generations of Moy women over a two hundred and fifty-year span, from Afong Moy, the first Chinese woman to live on American soil, to Dorothy, a young woman determined to do whatever it takes, even experimental research, to discover the source of her distress and hallucinations in order to protect her daughter from suffering a similar fate.

The prose is expressive and eloquent. The characters are conflicted, fragile, and raw. And the plot told in a back-and-forth, past/future style is a compelling tale of life, loss, love, family, friendship, tragedy, mental illness, discrimination, self-discovery, desperation, heartbreak, self-preservation, anamnesis, and epigenetics.

Overall, The Many Daughters of Afong Moy made me think, made me feel, and resonated long after the final page. It’s a unique, emotional, absorbing tale by Ford that raises some interesting questions about what emotional trauma on top of our physical traits we may actually be inheriting as well as passing down.

 

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

 

About Jamie Ford

Jamie Ford is the great-grandson of Nevada mining pioneer Min Chung, who emigrated from Hoiping, China to San Francisco in 1865, where he adopted the western name Ford, thus confusing countless generations. His debut novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, spent two years on the New York Times bestseller list and went on to win the 2010 Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature. His work has been translated into thirty-five languages. Having grown up in Seattle, he now lives in Montana with his wife and a one-eyed pug.

Photo by Eric Heidle.

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#BookReview The Last Karankawas by Kimberly Garza @HenryHolt #TheLastKarankawas #KimberlyGarza #HenryHoltBooks

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#BookReview The Last Karankawas by Kimberly Garza @HenryHolt #TheLastKarankawas #KimberlyGarza #HenryHoltBooks Title: The Last Karankawas

Author: Kimberly Garza

Published by: Henry Holt and Co. on Aug. 9, 2022

Genres: General Fiction

Pages: 288

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Henry Holt and Co.

Book Rating: 8/10

Welcome to Galveston, Texas. Population 50,241.

Carly Castillo has only ever known Albacore Avenue. Abandoned as a child by her Filipina mother and Mexican-American father, Carly returns each morning from her nursing shift to the house she shares with her grandmother, Magdalena. But when Magdalena slips into dementia, Carly begins to imagine a life elsewhere. Jess Rivera, her boyfriend and all-star shortstop turned seaman, treasures the salty, familiar island air. Years ago, he had a chance to leave Galveston for a bigger city with more possibilities. But he didn’t then, and he sure as hell won’t now. Deftly moving through these characters’ lives and those of the individuals who circle them—Mercedes, Jess’s undocumented cousin; Kristin, Magdalena’s daytime nurse; Luz, the wife of Carly’s best friend; Schafer, Jess’s coworker out on the gulf—Garza presents a mosaic depiction of everyday survival in Southern Texas. As word spreads of a storm gathering strength offshore, building into Hurricane Ike, they each must make a difficult decision: board up the windows and hunker down, or flee inland and abandon their hard-won home.

Unflinching, lyrical, and singular, The Last Karankawas is a portrait of America scarcely witnessed, where browning palm trees and oily waters mark the forefront of ecological change. It is a deeply imagined exploration of familial inheritance, human perseverance, and the histories we assign to ourselves, establishing Kimberly Garza as a brilliant new literary voice.

Review:

Compelling, absorbing, and complex!

The Last Karankawas is an intriguing, tender tale that sweeps you away to Galveston, Texas during 2008 as the city braces for Hurricane Ike and immerses you into the joy, heartbreak, struggles, and lives of multiple generations of people from the Filipino and Mexican communities, especially one young girl, Carly Castillo, who yearns to live anywhere else, even though her grandmother who raised her believes they are descendants of the Karankawa Indigenous tribe and thus naturally have strong ties to the land they inhabit.

The prose is expressive and smooth. The characters are multilayered, conflicted, and kind. And the plot told from multiple POVs is an affecting tale about life, loss, love, community, regrets, acceptance, forgiveness, familial drama, and friendship.

Overall, The Last Karankawas is a touching, astute, lovely debut by Garza that does a wonderful job of delving into all the messy emotional and psychological entanglements that exist between family members, friends, our histories and the places we call home.

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

 

Thank you to Henry Holt and Company for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Kimberly Garza

Kimberly Garza is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and the University of North Texas, where she earned a PhD in 2019. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Copper Nickel, DIAGRAM, Creative Nonfiction, TriQuarterly, and elsewhere. A native Texan—born in Galveston, raised in Uvalde—she is an assistant professor of creative writing and literature at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The Last Karankawas is her first novel.

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#BookReview All the Lies They Did Not Tell by Pablo Trincia (translated by Elettra Pauletto) @pablotrincia @AmazonPub @OverTheRiverPR #AlltheLiesTheyDidNotTell #PabloTrincia #AmazonCrossing #OTRPR

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#BookReview All the Lies They Did Not Tell by Pablo Trincia (translated by Elettra Pauletto) @pablotrincia @AmazonPub @OverTheRiverPR #AlltheLiesTheyDidNotTell #PabloTrincia #AmazonCrossing #OTRPR Title: All the Lies They Did Not Tell

Author: Pablo Trincia, Elettra Pauletto

Published by: Lake Union Publishing on Aug. 1, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Nonfiction

Pages: 236

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Amazon Publishing, OTRPR

Book Rating: 8/10

In 1997 a six-year-old boy questioned by authorities relayed disturbing stories of abuse. The more he talked, the more people were implicated in his shocking revelations. And he was only the first child to come forward. 

Within a year, in two towns of the Bassa region of Italy, fifteen more children with similar tales were taken from their families and transferred to protected locations. Their parents were accused of belonging to a sect of satanic pedophiles who performed nighttime rituals in cemeteries under the guidance of a well-known local priest, Don Giorgio Govoni. With each child’s confession, the network of monsters they described grew and involved fathers, mothers, brothers, uncles, and acquaintances.  

Except there were no adult witnesses and only circumstantial evidence. No one ever saw or heard anything. What was really happening in the Bassa Modenese? Italian investigative journalist Pablo Trincia returned to the scene of the crimes to find the answer. Together with his colleague Alessia Rafanelli, Trincia spent three years examining court records, interviewing experts and people involved, and visiting the places where the events took place. And the truth he uncovered is as terrifying as the lies. 

“I quickly realized that this was not a story about pedophilia or Satanism,” Trincia explains. “It was much bigger than that. It had to do with mass hysteria, false memories, the justice system, the foster care system and much more.”

Review:

Complex, disturbing, and dark!

All the Lies They Did Not Tell is the inconceivable, eye-opening investigation of one of the most horrifying miscarriages of justice to ever rock the country of Italy that started with the poorly substantiated testimony of torture, sexual abuse, and satanic violence from one young boy, Dario, and which quickly escalated into the removal of a multitude children from their homes, shattered families, imprisonments, suicides, acquittals, and a community forever shattered by fear and scandal.

The writing is detailed and precise. And the novel is an absorbing, compelling tale of one man’s dogged determination to uncover and expose the true story of the satanic panic of the late 1990s, known as “the Devils of the Bassa Modenese.”

Overall, All the Lies They Did Not Tell is a tragic, frightening, exceptionally well-researched novel by Trincia that is a scary reminder that things are not always as they seem and those in authority often coerce, act unprofessionally, make mistakes, see what they want to see, and intentionally or unintentionally, especially when it comes to children, fall prey to confirmation bias.

 

This book 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 Elettra Pauletto

Elettra Pauletto translates from Italian and French into English. Her writing and translations have appeared in Harper’s, Guernica, and Quartz, while her book translations have spanned a range of subjects, including music, art, and narrative nonfiction. She earned her MFA in creative writing and translation from Columbia University and now divides her time between Italy and western Massachusetts.

Website

About Pablo Trincia

Pablo Trincia has worked as an award-winning correspondent and writer for print media, TV, and the web. In 2017, he and his colleague Alessia Rafanelli wrote the podcast Veleno, a highly acclaimed investigative audio series released in eight episodes on repubblica.it. The investigation reopened the case of the Devils of the Bassa Modenese, one of the darkest and most controversial cases the Italian legal system has tackled in recent years.

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#BookReview The Double Life of Katharine Clark by Katharine Gregorio @ktu48 @Sourcebooks #KatharineGregorio #Sourcebooks #TheDoubleLifeofKatharineClark

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#BookReview The Double Life of Katharine Clark by Katharine Gregorio @ktu48 @Sourcebooks #KatharineGregorio #Sourcebooks #TheDoubleLifeofKatharineClark Title: The Double Life of Katharine Clark

Author: Katharine Gregorio

Published by: Sourcebooks on Apr. 15, 2022

Genres: Nonfiction

Pages: 384

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks

Book Rating: 8.5/10

In 1955, Katharine Clark, the first American woman wire reporter behind the Iron Curtain, saw something none of her male colleagues did. What followed became one of the most unusual adventure stories of the Cold War.

While on assignment in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Clark befriended a man who, by many definitions, was her enemy. But she saw something in Milovan Djilas, a high-ranking Communist leader who dared to question the ideology he helped establish, that made her want to work with him. It became the assignment of her life.

Against the backdrop of protests in Poland and a revolution in Hungary, she risked her life to ensure Djilas’s work made it past the watchful eye of the Yugoslavian secret police to the West. She single-handedly was responsible for smuggling his scathing anti-Communism manifesto, The New Class, out of Yugoslavia and into the hands of American publishers. The New Class would go on to sell three million copies worldwide, become a New York Times bestseller, be translated into over 60 languages, and be used by the CIA in its covert book program.

Meticulously researched and written by Clark’s great-niece, Katharine Gregorio, The Double Life of Katharine Clark illuminates a largely untold chapter of the twentieth century. It shows how a strong-willed, fiercely independent woman with an ardent commitment to truth, justice and freedom put her life on the line to share ideas with the world, ultimately transforming both herself―and history―in the process.

Review:

Intriguing, informative, and descriptive!

The Double Life of Katharine Clark is the insightful, meticulous story of Katharine Clark’s personal and professional successes, frustrations, experiences, sacrifices, and accomplishments as an International News Service journalist stationed in Eastern Europe during the early stages of the Cold War.

The writing is clear and precise. And the novel is a compelling, absorbing tale of one woman’s dedication and passion, under extremely dangerous circumstances, to help record and have published a manuscript and a series of articles dictated and written by a high-ranking communist officer, Milovan Djilas, who was subsequently arrested and jailed for his criticism of the Yugoslavia government.

The Double Life of Katharine Clark is, ultimately, a valuable, suspenseful, insightful biography by Gregorio inspired by real-life events that does an exceptional job of highlighting her impressive research into her great aunt’s plight as a female journalist during the 1950s and her extraordinary courage and determination to do whatever it took to have an important story told and heard.

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

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

 

About Katharine Gregorio

Katharine Gregorio was inspired to write The Double Life of Katharine Clark when she uncovered a family secret about her great-aunt who worked as a foreign correspondent in Europe during the height of the Cold War. Years in the making, Katharine leveraged her degrees in history from Dartmouth College and international relations from The London School of Economics & Political Science in her quest to unravel the story. She also holds a masters in business administration from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Katharine resides with her family in San Francisco.

Photo by Lacey Khiev.

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#BookReview The Wedding Plot by Paula Munier @PaulaSMunier @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #MercyCarr #TheWeddingPlot #PaulaMunier #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Wedding Plot by Paula Munier @PaulaSMunier @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #MercyCarr #TheWeddingPlot #PaulaMunier #SMPInfluencers Title: The Wedding Plot

Author: Paula Munier

Series: Mercy & Elvis #4

Published by: Minotaur Books on Jul. 19, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

The Wedding Plot, USA Today bestselling author Paula Munier’s fourth Mercy Carr mystery, finds Mercy and Elvis at a deadly Vermont wedding.

Love never dies a natural death…

When Mercy’s grandmother Patience marries her longtime beau Claude Renault at the five-star Lady’s Slipper Inn, it promises to be the destination wedding of the year. Just as the four-day extravaganza is due to begin, the inn’s spa director Bodhi St. George disappears—and Mercy’s mother Grace sends Mercy and Elvis to find him. But what they discover instead is a stranger skewered by a pitchfork in the barn on the goat farm where St. George lived.

As Mercy tries to figure out who the victim is and where St. George is hiding, the bride and groom’s estranged relations gather for the first of the pre-wedding festivities. Long-buried rivalries and resentments surface—and Mercy realizes that they’re all keeping secrets that could tear both families apart. When Elvis interrupts the escalating melodrama to alert Mercy to an intruder on the estate, she finds a wounded St. George in the cottage where she and Troy are staying. St. George is not who he says he is—but when he escapes from the hospital and disappears again, Mercy thinks he’s gone for good. With the wedding imminent and the families at each other’s throats, she decides finding St. George will have to wait.

The big day arrives—but the danger is far from over. With the families and the festivities still under threat, it’s up to Mercy and Elvis together with Troy and Susie Bear to stop the killer and save the bride and groom—before death do they part.

Review:

Mysterious, cosy, and intricate!

In this satisfying fourth instalment in the Mercy & Elvis Mysteries, The Wedding Plot, Munier has written an amusing, sinister thriller that finds former MP Mercy Carr having more than just her hands full with pre-wedding mayhem at the location of her grandmother’s upcoming nuptials, the Lady’s Slipper Inn when the spa director goes missing, an unidentified person is found dead on the property of the local goat farm, and her special sidekick Elvis accidentally uncovers the skeletal remains of a woman who seems to have been murdered and buried more than twenty years ago.

The prose is fluid and smooth. The characters are persistent, resourceful, and clever. And the plot is an engaging tale full of twists, turns, surprises, red herrings, familial drama, danger, tension, a smidge of romance, and murder.

Overall, The Wedding Plot is a clever, fun, easy read by Munier that is absorbing, entertaining, and the perfect choice for anyone who enjoys a lighthearted mystery featuring some very intelligent, helpful, four-legged friends. 

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Paula Munier

PAULA MUNIER is a literary agent and the USA TODAY bestselling author of the Mercy Carr mysteries. A Borrowing of Bones, the first in the series, was nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award and named the Dogwise Book of the Year. Blind Search was inspired by the real-life rescue of a little boy with autism who got lost in the woods. The Hiding Place debuted in March 2021. Paula credits the hero dogs of Mission K9 Rescue, her own rescue dogs, and a deep love of New England as her series’ major influences. Paula has also written the popular books on writing: Plot Perfect, The Writer’s Guide to Beginnings, and Writing with Quiet Hands, as well as Fixing Freddie and Happier Every Day. She lives in New England with her family and Bear the Newfoundland-retriever rescue, Bliss the Great Pyrenees-Australian cattle dog rescue, pandemic puppy Blondie, a Malinois rescue (much like Elvis in her books), and Ursula The Cat, a rescue torbie tabby who does not think much of the dogs.

Photo by Lynne Wayne.

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#BookReview The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell @lisajewelluk @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #LisaJewell #TheFamilyRemains

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#BookReview The Family Remains by Lisa Jewell @lisajewelluk @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #LisaJewell #TheFamilyRemains Title: The Family Remains

Author: Lisa Jewell

Series: The Family Upstairs #2

Published by: Atria Books on Aug. 9, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Jewell comes an intricate and affecting novel about twisted marriages, fractured families, and deadly obsessions in this standalone sequel to The Family Upstairs.

Early one morning on the shore of the Thames, DCI Samuel Owusu is called to the scene of a gruesome discovery. When Owusu sends the evidence for examination, he learns the bones are connected to a cold case that left three people dead on the kitchen floor in a Chelsea mansion thirty years ago.

Rachel Rimmer has also received a shock—news that her husband, Michael, has been found dead in the cellar of his house in France. All signs point to an intruder, and the French police need her to come urgently to answer questions about Michael and his past that she very much doesn’t want to answer.

After fleeing London thirty years ago in the wake of a horrific tragedy, Lucy Lamb is finally coming home. While she settles in with her children and is just about to purchase their first-ever house, her brother takes off to find the boy from their shared past whose memory haunts their present.

As they all race to discover answers to these convoluted mysteries, they will come to find that they’re connected in ways they could have never imagined.

In this masterful standalone sequel to her haunting New York Times bestseller, The Family Upstairs, Lisa Jewell proves she is writing at the height of her powers with another jaw-dropping, intricate, and affecting novel about the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love and uncover the truth.

Review:

Suspenseful, gripping and intense!

The Family Remains is a well-executed, intricate thriller that takes us back into the lives of the Lamb family, specifically Lucy, Harry, and Libby, as they continue to struggle with the actions, scars, repercussions, and tragedy from their childhoods and they endeavour to find Libby’s birth father and Harry’s childhood obsession, Phin, whom they haven’t seen since he managed to escape the mansion of horrors more than twenty years ago.

The writing is brisk and tight. The characters are troubled, devious, and vulnerable. And the plot told from various timelines and multiple perspectives unfolds and unravels quickly into a compelling tale of twists, turns, lies, secrets, manipulation, obsession, loyalty, extortion, vengeance, family, and the long-lasting effects of childhood trauma.

Overall, The Family Remains is a creepy, engrossing, complex sequel by one of my favourite authors that once again showcases her exceptional ability to not only delve into the psychological and behavioural actions of the most depraved of society but also those of the victims who have suffered and been permanently damaged by their hands.

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

 

About Lisa Jewell

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

Photograph by Andrew Whitton.

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#BookReview Three by Valérie Perrin (translated by Hildegarde Serle) @EuropaEditions @PGCBooks #Three #ValeriePerrin #PGCBooks #EuropaEditions

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#BookReview Three by Valérie Perrin (translated by Hildegarde Serle) @EuropaEditions @PGCBooks #Three #ValeriePerrin #PGCBooks #EuropaEditions Title: Three

Author: Valérie Perrin

Published by: Europa Editions on Jun. 17, 2022

Genres: General Fiction

Pages: 512

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

From the international bestselling author of Fresh Water for Flowers, a beautifully told and suspenseful story about the ties that bind us and the choices that make us who we are.

1986: Adrien, Etienne and Nina are 10 years old when they meet at school and quickly become inseparable. They promise each other they will one day leave their provincial backwater, move to Paris, and never part.

2017: A car is pulled up from the bottom of the lake, a body inside. Virginie, a local journalist with an enigmatic past reports on the case while also reflecting on the relationship between the three friends, who were unusually close when younger but now no longer speak. . As Virginie moves closer to the surprising truth, relationships fray and others are formed.

Valérie Perrin has an unerring gift for delving into life. In Three, she brings readers along with her through a sequence of heart-wrenching events and revelations that span three decades. Three tells a moving story of love and loss, hope and grief, friendship and adversity, and of time as an ineluctable agent of change.

Review:

Raw, vivid, and sophisticated!

Three is a poignant, nostalgic, character-driven tale that sweeps you away to La Comelle, Burgundy between 1986 and 2017 and into the lives of Adrien, Etienne and Nina, three best friends since fifth grade who are seemingly inseparable until adulthood takes them in different directions, only to be brought back together again, along with fellow classmate, Virginie, who was always on the outside desperately looking in, when a car, potentially containing the body of a girl missing since 1994 is dredged from the local lake.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are multilayered, vulnerable, and scarred. And the plot is an astute, captivating tale about life, loss, friendship, family, secrets, jealousy, guilt, pain, anger, death, emerging sexuality, self-identity, and first loves.

Overall, Three is, ultimately, a beautifully written coming-of-age tale interwoven with a thread of mystery that does a remarkable job of delving into the complex dynamics between friends and is a wonderful reminder of just how complicated, challenging, memorable and emotionally wrenching growing up can truly be.

 

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 Valérie Perrin

Valérie Perrin was born in 1967 in Remiremont, in the Vosges Mountains, France. She grew up in Burgundy and settled in Paris in 1986. Her novel The Forgotten Sunday (2015) won the Booksellers Choice Award and the paperback edition has been long-selling best-seller since publication. Her English-language debut, Fresh Water for Flowers (Europa, 2020) won the Maison de la Presse Prize, the Paperback Readers Prize, and was named a 2020 ABA Indies Introduce and Indie Next List title. It has been translated into over thirty languages. Figaro Littéraire named Perrin one of the ten best-selling authors in France in 2019, and in Italy, Fresh Water for Flowers was the best selling book of 2020. Perrin now lives in Normandy.

Photo © Valentin Lauvergne

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#BookReview Bend Toward the Sun @kisscrafter @smpromance @StMartinsPress #JenDevon #BendTowardtheSun #SMPRomance #SMPInfluencers #StMartinsPress

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#BookReview Bend Toward the Sun @kisscrafter @smpromance @StMartinsPress #JenDevon #BendTowardtheSun #SMPRomance #SMPInfluencers #StMartinsPress Title: Bend Toward the Sun

Author: Jen Devon

Published by: St. Martin's Griffin on Aug. 9, 2022

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 384

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 10/10

Two imperfect people. One year under the sun. A love story you won’t ever forget.

Rowan McKinnon doesn’t believe in love. With a botany PhD, two best friends who embrace her social quirkiness, and some occasional no-strings sex, she has everything she needs. But she hides deep wounds from the past—from a negligent mother, and a fiancé who treated her like a pawn in a game. When an academic setback leads Rowan to take on the restoration of an abandoned vineyard, she relishes the opportunity to restore the grapes to their former glory.

She does not expect to meet a man like Harrison Brady.

An obstetrician profoundly struggling after losing a patient, Harry no longer believes he is capable of keeping people safe. Reeling, Harry leaves Los Angeles to emotionally recover at his parents’ new vineyard in Pennsylvania.

He does not expect to meet a woman like Rowan McKinnon.

As their combative banter gives way to a simmering tension, sunlight begins to crack through the darkness smothering Harry’s soul. He’s compelled to explore the undeniable pull between them. And after a lifetime of protecting herself from feeling anything, for anyone, Rowan tries to keep things casual.

But even she can’t ignore their explosive connection.

Review:

Alluring, intimate, and sweet!

Bend Toward the Sun is a heart-tugging, enchanting tale that takes you into the lives of two main characters. Rowan, a young woman who is thoughtful and hardworking but much more comfortable surrounded by plants than other people, and Harry, a caring obstetrician who is struggling to overcome a professional loss that has left him traumatized and emotionally astray.

The writing is heartfelt and tender. The characters are supportive, layered, and loving. And the plot is a touching tale of family, friendship, self-discovery, happiness, taking chances, growth, healing, tender moments, light drama, community, and new beginnings.

Overall, Bend Toward the Sun is an uplifting, absorbing, magical debut by Devon that was so much more than I ever expected and one which I undoubtedly highly recommend.

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 Jen Devon

Jen Devon wrote her first romance when she was eight. Now she writes vivid, cinematic love stories about imperfect people finding their perfect match. A former biology academic and lecturer, she currently works in the tech industry and dreams of writing full-time. She’s an avid gardener, photographer, and boardgamer, a thrift store enthusiast and unapologetic nerd. She’s a mom of six (three kids, three rescue mutts) and lives in central Ohio with her engineer husband. Bend Toward the Sun is her first book.

Photo Credit: Maya D Photography

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#BookReview The Unkept Woman by Allison Montclair @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #AllisonMontclair #TheUnkeptWoman #SparksAndBainbridgeMysteries #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Unkept Woman by Allison Montclair @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #AllisonMontclair #TheUnkeptWoman #SparksAndBainbridgeMysteries #SMPInfluencers Title: The Unkept Woman

Author: Allison Montclair

Series: Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery #4

Published by: Minotaur Books on Jul. 26, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 9/10

Allison Montclair returns with the fourth Sparks & Bainbridge mystery, The Unkept Woman: London, 1946, Miss Iris Sparks–currently co-proprietor of the Right Sort Marriage Bureau–has to deal with aspects of her past exploits during the recent war that have come back around to haunt her.

The Right Sort Marriage Bureau was founded in 1946 by two disparate individuals – Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge (whose husband was killed in the recent World War) and Miss Iris Sparks who worked as an intelligence agent during the recent conflict, though this is not discussed. While the agency flourishes in the post-war climate, both founders have to deal with some of the fallout that conflict created in their personal lives. Miss Sparks finds herself followed, then approached, by a young woman who has a very personal connection to a former paramour of Sparks. But something is amiss and it seems that Iris’s past may well cause something far more deadly than mere disruption in her personal life. Meanwhile, Gwendolyn is struggling to regain full legal control of her life, her finances, and her son – a legal path strewn with traps and pitfalls.

Together these indomitable two are determined and capable and not just of making the perfect marriage match.

Review:

Suspenseful, immersive, and engaging!

The Unkept Woman is a clever, mysterious tale set in London post-WWII that takes you into the lives of two main characters. Miss Iris Sparks, the former intelligence agent, now partner in a matchmaking service whose previous personal life may make her the primary suspect in the murder of a young woman with a complicated past, and Mrs. Gwendolyn Bainbridge, a young mother and widow who’s ongoing accidental associations with the criminal underworld may once again set back her struggle to regain the legal independence she so desperately desires

The prose is vivid and smooth. The characters are sharp, plucky, and intriguing. And the plot is a well-paced, entertaining mystery full of secrets, suspicions, espionage, duty, friendship, flirtation, duplicity, and fun.

Overall, The Unkept Woman is a rich, atmospheric, highly entertaining tale by Montclair that is the fourth title in the Sparks & Bainbridge Mystery series and is also, in my opinion, the perfect choice for anyone who is looking for an amusing, lighthearted historical whodunit to pick up.

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press – Minotaur Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Allison Montclair

ALLISON MONTCLAIR grew up devouring hand-me-down Agatha Christie paperbacks and James Bond movies. As a result of this deplorable upbringing, Montclair became addicted to tales of crime, intrigue, and espionage. She now spends her spare time poking through the corners, nooks, and crannies of history, searching for the odd mysterious bits and transforming them into novels of her own. She is the author of the Sparks & Bainbridge historical mystery series, which begins with The Right Sort of Man.

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