Format: ARC

#BookReview All the Perfect Days by Michael Thompson @mcwthompson @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #AllThePerfectDays #MichaelThompson #bookmarkedbylandmark

#BookReview All the Perfect Days by Michael Thompson @mcwthompson @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #AllThePerfectDays #MichaelThompson #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: All the Perfect Days

Author: Michael Thompson

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on May 20, 2025

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Fantasy

Pages: 352

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Family doctor Charlie Knight is in his late thirties, still playing tennis against the same people every Friday night. Still jogging the same streets every morning. Still treating the same patients every day—fixing the high blood pressure and arthritic knees of folks who’ve known him since he was a kid. But Charlie has a secret plan to escape. A plan to live the life he wants, even if the woman he was meant to do it with has left him behind.

But then Genevieve Longstaff comes back to their hometown, just as something extraordinary happens. Charlie begins to have a vision of the exact number of days a person has left until they die.

Charlie believes it’s a gift. It certainly seems like one—after all, he’s using it to help his patients, family and friends make the most of their to mend relationships, to travel, to retire. But this gift comes with awful consequences, and soon Charlie realizes there are things he doesn’t want to know—especially about the woman he still loves.


Review:

Pensive, heartwarming, and hopeful!

All the Perfect Days is a charming, captivating tale that takes you into the life of Charlie Knight, a young doctor who after years of doing the same thing in the same town finally decides it’s time to move on until he’s suddenly struck with the ability to see the number of days a person has left to live, and the love of his life, the one he let get away all those years ago, returns home.

The prose is fluid and smooth. The characters are troubled, complex, and genuine. And the plot is an absorbing tale of life, loss, love, family, guilt, grief, friendship, forgiveness, compassion, support, community, and romance all interwoven with a thread of magical realism.

Overall, All the Perfect Days is a compelling, emotional, thought-provoking novel by Thompson that reminds us that even the little choices we make often have far-reaching consequences, and sometimes, perhaps, things are truly just fated to happen. 

 

This book is available now.

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

        

 

 

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

 

About Michael Thompson

Michael Thompson has been a journalist, producer and media executive for the last fifteen years. He now co-owns a podcast production company called Fear and Greed – home of Australia’s most popular business podcast. He lives in Sydney with his wife, two young children, two cats and his beloved lawn. How to Be Remembered is Michael’s first novel.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

#BookReview No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding by Catherine Mack @CEMcKenzie1 @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #NOWSTDATW #TheVacationMysteries #CatherineMack

#BookReview No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding by Catherine Mack @CEMcKenzie1 @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MinotaurInfluencers #NOWSTDATW #TheVacationMysteries #CatherineMack Title: No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding

Author: Catherine Mack

Series: The Vacation Mysteries #2

Published by: Minotaur Books on May 13, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 8.5/10

The second in a witty, USA Today bestselling series following author Eleanor Dash as she goes from wedding guest to murder mystery investigator at her best friend’s wedding on Catalina Island.

Attending your best friend’s wedding should be a piece of (wedding) cake, but not for Eleanor Dash, bestselling author of the Vacation Mysteries series. Because murder seems to follow her every time she goes on vacation and is definitely her uninvited plus-one to the special occasion.

Emma Wood, Eleanor’s best friend since childhood, is starring in the movie adaptation of When in Rome, Eleanor’s first novel. Emma is also marrying Fred Winters, a major movie star and Emma’s co-star, who just happens to be playing Connor Smith, Eleanor’s ex and leading man of the series.

Filming wraps and they invite the whole cast and crew to their wedding at nearby Catalina Island. There may be a storm headed their way—because of course there is—but nothing will stop their nuptials . . . that is until Emma receives a note that says “Someone is going to die at the wedding.”

Eleanor is a professional at this point, and she’ll do everything she can to uncover the murderer so true love can prevail . . . before it’s too late for her and the rest of the storm-trapped wedding party.


Review:

Mysterious, intriguing, and atmospheric!

No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding is a cosy, amusing tale that takes us back into the life of writer Eleanor Dash as while taking a break from the set of the movie adaptation of her book to attend the wedding of her best friend on Catalina Island, somehow annoyingly finds herself once again in the company of a murderer.

The writing is descriptive and light. The characters are sharp, creative, and quirky. And the plot is a well-paced, witty whodunit full of misdirection, clues, suspects, red herrings, solid deduction, and drama.

Overall, No One Was Supposed to Die at This Wedding is a fun, twisty, easy read by Mack that’s refreshing and highly entertaining.

 

This book is available now.

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

          

 

 

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

 

About Catherine Mack

CATHERINE MACK (she/her) is the pseudonym for the USA Today and Globe & Mail bestselling author of over a dozen novels. Her books are approaching two million copies sold worldwide and have been translated into multiple languages including French, German, Portuguese, and Polish. Television rights to Every Time I Go on Vacation, Someone Dies and its forthcoming sequels sold in a major auction to Fox TV for development into a series, with Mack writing the pilot script. A dual Canadian and US citizen, she splits her time between Canada and various warmer locations in the US.

Photo Credit: Fany Ducharme

#BookReview The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li @AvidReaderPress @SimonSchusterCA #TheManorOfDreams #ChristinaLi #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview The Manor of Dreams by Christina Li @AvidReaderPress @SimonSchusterCA #TheManorOfDreams #ChristinaLi #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Manor of Dreams

Author: Christina Li

Published by: Avid Reader Press on May 6, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Mexican Gothic meets Everything I Never Told You in Christina Li’s haunting novel about the secrets that lie in wait in the crumbling mansion of a former Hollywood starlet, and the intertwined fates of the two Chinese American families fighting to inherit it.

They say what you don’t know can’t hurt you. But silence can be deadly.

Vivian Yin is dead. The first Chinese actress to win an Oscar, the trailblazing ingénue rose to fame in the eighties, only to disappear from the spotlight at the height of her career and live out the rest of her life as a recluse.

Now her remaining family members are gathered for the reading of her will and her daughters expect to inherit their childhood Vivian’s grand, sprawling Southern California garden estate. But due to a last-minute change to the will, the house is passed on to another family instead—one that has suddenly returned after decades of estrangement.

In hopes of staking their claim, both families move into the mansion. Amidst the grief and paranoia of the families’ unhappy reunion, Vivian’s daughters race to piece together what happened in the last weeks of their mother’s life, only to realize they are being haunted by something much more sinister and vengeful than their regrets. After so many years of silence, will the families finally confront the painful truth about the last fateful summer they spent in the house, or will they cling to their secrets until it’s too late?

Told in dual timelines, spanning three generations, and brimming with romance, betrayal, ambition and sacrifice, The Manor of Dreams is a thrilling family gothic that examines the true cost of the American dream—and what happens when the roots we set down in this country turn to rot.


Review:

Gothic, mysterious, and unsettling!

The Manor of Dreams transports you to Southern California between 1975 and 2024, and immerses you into the ongoing, complex, multi-generational relationships between the wealthy, successful Yin-Lowell family and the loyal, hardworking Deng family complete with all the powerful emotions, broken hearts, long-buried secrets, and unimaginable tragedy that has tied them together for more than twenty five years.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are distressed, vulnerable, and conflicted. And the plot is an enthralling, sinister tale filled with life, loss, familial drama, betrayal, abuse, tragedy, manipulation, revenge, guilt, and heartbreak, all interwoven with a sliver of the supernatural.

Overall, The Manor of Dreams is a heart-tugging, absorbing, haunting tale by Li that reminds us that the choices we make often have far-reaching consequences, and skeletons usually find their way to the surface no matter how well they’re buried.

 

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 Christina Li

Christina Li is the award-winning author of children’s and young adult books Clues to the Universe, Ruby Lost and Found, and True Love and Other Impossible Odds, which have been selected as a Washington Post summer book club pick, one of the NPR and New York Public Library Best Books of the Year, and recognized for the Asian Pacific American Librarians’ Award for Best Children’s Literature. She graduated from Stanford University with degrees in Economics and Public Policy. She grew up in the Midwest and California, but now resides in New York. The Manor of Dreams is her adult literary debut.

Photograph by Therese Santiago

#BookReview My Friends by Fredrik Backman @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #MyFriends #FredrikBackman #SimonSchusterCA

#BookReview My Friends by Fredrik Backman @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #MyFriends #FredrikBackman #SimonSchusterCA Title: My Friends

Author: Fredrik Backman

Published by: Atria Books on May 6, 2025

Genres: General Fiction

Pages: 448

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an artist herself, knows otherwise and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.

Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their difficult home lives by spending their days laughing and telling stories out on a pier. There’s Joar, who never backs down from a fight; quiet and bookish Ted who is mourning his father; Ali, the daughter of a man who never stays in one place for long; and finally, there’s the artist, a boy who hoards sleeping pills and shuns attention, but who possesses an extraordinary gift that might be his ticket to a better life. These four lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream.

Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be put into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. As she struggles to decide what to do with this bequest, she embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn the story of how the painting came to be. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more she feels compelled to unleash her own artistic spirit, but happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this fresh testament to the transformative power of friendship and art.


Review:

Pensive, poignant, and witty!

My Friends is an emotionally charged, moving tale that takes you into the lives of four friends as the painting that captured their last moment of innocence all those years ago is put up for sale, triggering a series of events that will ultimately change one teenage girl’s life forever.

The prose is lyrical and expressive. The characters are complex, scarred, and conflicted. And the plot is a compelling, sobering tale of life, loss, family, grief, guilt, denial, secrets, abuse, neglect, self-preservation, loneliness, the importance of learning to love and be loved, and the power of friendship.

Overall, My Friends made me think, made me cry, and resonated with me long after I turned the final page. It’s an enthralling, impactful, hopeful story by Backman that interweaves exceptional character development with a bittersweet, immersive, heart-wrenching story, all steeped in an abundance of pain and tragedy.

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 Fredrik Backman

Fredrik Backman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (soon to be a major motion picture starring Tom Hanks), My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Britt-Marie Was Here, Beartown, Us Against You, as well as two novellas, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer and The Deal of a Lifetime. His books are published in more than forty countries. He lives in Stockholm, Sweden, with his wife and two children.

#BookReview A Thousand Natural Shocks by Omar Hussain @BlackstoneAudio #OmarHussain #AThousandNaturalShocks #BlackstonePublishing #BlackstoneInsiders

#BookReview A Thousand Natural Shocks by Omar Hussain @BlackstoneAudio #OmarHussain #AThousandNaturalShocks #BlackstonePublishing #BlackstoneInsiders Title: A Thousand Natural Shocks

Author: Omar Hussain

Published by: Blackstone Publishing on May 6, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Blackstone Publishing

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Omar Hussain’s dazzling debut, A Thousand Natural Shocks, is a mesmerizing meditation on trauma, memory, and identity wrapped in a high-octane thriller.

Dash, a reporter in Monterey, California, is desperate to outrun his past. During the day, he investigates the reemergence of a long-dormant serial killer. At night, he has become entangled with a criminal cult that promises a pill to erase his traumatic memory.

But as Dash begins to lose his memories—and his sense of self—he discovers a dark secret about the cult, one that would horrify its members. And soon he finds himself in a race against time to evade the cult, unveil the killer, and reconcile his past before his own memories fade away …


Review:

Intricate, gritty, and unsettling!

A Thousand Natural Shocks is a dark, compelling tale that takes you into the life of reporter Dash Hassan as his life begins to spiral out of control when he joins a wellness cult whose intentions are not quite what they seem, he overindulges in memory-erasing pills, and he triggers a serial killer to come out of retirement when he makes up a story in order to save his career.

The writing is tight and intense. The characters are vulnerable, impulsive, and tormented. And the plot is an engrossing tale full of desperation, manipulation, family, troubled pasts, haunting memories, trauma, paranoia, death, and murder.

Overall, A Thousand Natural Shocks is a dark, atmospheric, promising debut by Hussain that kept me enthralled from the very first page and left me entertained, satisfied, and eager to read whatever his deliciously sinister mind manages to come up with next. 

 

This novel is available now.

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

        

 

 

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

 

About Omar Hussain

Omar Hussain is a writer from the San Francisco Bay Area currently living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He holds an MFA in creative writing from NYU. A Thousand Natural Shocks is his first novel.

#BookReview Climbing in Heels by Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas @StMartinsPress #ClimbingInHeels #ElaineGoldsmithThomas #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview Climbing in Heels by Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas @StMartinsPress #ClimbingInHeels #ElaineGoldsmithThomas #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Climbing in Heels

Author: Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Apr. 29, 2025

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 384

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

Climbing in Heels, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas’s debut novel, is a fictional tale of the rise of three secretaries at the hottest agency in 1980’s Hollywood, giving you a glimpse into the boys-will-be-boys club and the women who wanted a seat at a table where they were expected to serve. It’s the story of friendship, betrayal, survival, standing up when they pass you by, and saying I won’t go when they want you gone. And it’s also a story about how some of those women became very much like the monsters who trained them.

Meet Beanie Rosen, the fast-talking and even faster-thinking Valley girl who knows where she wants to go, and doesn’t care if she doesn’t look the part.

Mercedes Baxter, who learned early on how to leverage the monied friends of her monied friends’ parents until she found a foothold in Hollywood.

And Ella Gaddy, a sexy free-spirit anti-debutante from a white-glove Kentucky home who shakes up any room she walks into.

Read Climbing in Heels and watch these women meet, meld, fight, strategize and climb their way into your heart.

A rollicking tale of sex, drugs, and power – in heels.


Review:

Addictive, salacious, and entertaining!

Climbing in Heels is an immersive, provocative tale that takes you into the lives of the rich, glamorous, and famous, as well as the not-so-important people of 1980s Hollywood and reminds us that not everything is always as it seems and amongst all the designer clothes and extravagant mansions there’s also an abundance of sex, power, ambition, temptation, rivalry, jealousy, and deception.

The writing is effortless and fun. The characters are self-obsessed, relentless, and driven. And the plot is a captivating mix of life, love, fame, fortune, secrets, despicable behaviours, friendship, drama, and the intricacies of movie-making.

Overall, Climbing in Heels is an exciting, seductive, amusing tale by Goldsmith-Thomas that highlights her impressive behind-the-scenes knowledge of the motion picture industry.

 

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

 

About Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas

ELAINE GOLDSMITH THOMAS began her career at the William Morris Agency and rose by the late 1980’s to become the Senior Vice President of the WMA, and later the Senior Vice President of ICM, guiding the careers of, among others, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, Nicholas Cage, and Madonna. More recently, she has produced a broad, successful slate of films and television series including Maid in Manhattan, Mona Lisa Smile, Hustlers, Marry Me, Emily in Paris, The Fosters and many others.

Photo Credit: Ian Buiosi

#BookReview Favourite Daughter by Morgan Dick @PenguinCanada @PenguinRandomCA @doubledayca #FavouriteDaughter #MorganDick #PenguinReads #PenguinCanada

#BookReview Favourite Daughter by Morgan Dick @PenguinCanada @PenguinRandomCA @doubledayca #FavouriteDaughter #MorganDick #PenguinReads #PenguinCanada Title: Favourite Daughter

Author: Morgan Dick

Published by: Doubleday Canada on Apr. 29, 2025

Genres: General Fiction

Pages: 352

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Penguin Random House Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

After her father abandoned Mickey and her mother for his new family, Mickey resolved never to think of him again. Years later, she’s fine without him. Yes, she drinks, but only sometimes—and, really, she can’t not. But with only $181 to her name, she’s not above attending some mandated therapy to access the not-insignificant inheritance he’s left her in the wake of his death. She’ll happily kneel at the Kleenex altar if it means she’ll soon be bingeing Bridgerton with a bottle of Russian Standard, five million dollars richer.

One town over, Arlo has more issues than most of her clients. Being a therapist has not prepared her for grief. She adored her father—his laughter, his charm, the smell of his cologne. She thought he adored her, too, but now he’s given his inheritance to a daughter no one knows, and Arlo is at a loss.

But unbeknownst to either woman, their problematic father had one dying wish, throwing them together on a crash course that will either break—or save—them both.


Review:

Intense, sobering, and thought-provoking!

Favourite Daughter is a perceptive, compelling tale that takes you into the lives of Mickey and Arlo, two young women who are both struggling to come to grips with the loss of their father, pasts filled with secrets and abuse, familial relationships that are strained and fractured, and a half-sister they’ve never met.

The prose is sombre and raw. The characters are complex, damaged, and burdened. And the plot uses a sensitive, reflective style to unravel all the personalities, motivations, and relationships within it.

Favourite Daughter is ultimately a novel about life, loss, family, secrets, grief, abuse, alcoholism, addiction, forgiveness, and the long-lasting effects of a dysfunctional childhood. It’s a well-written, emotional debut by Dick that does a great job of reminding us that everyone who enters our lives, no matter the length of time, impacts, shapes, and defines it.

 

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

 

 

Thank you to Penguin Canada for providing me with a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Morgan Dick

Morgan Dick is a writer from Calgary, Canada. Her short fiction has appeared in Grain, Geist, CAROUSEL, Cloud Lake Literary, The Prairie Journal, Vagabond City Lit, and The Humber Literary Review. Her debut novel draws from her time working in the mental health field.

#BookReview Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry @BerkleyRomance @PenguinRandomCA #GreatBigBeautifulLife #EmilyHenry #Berkley #BerkleyPartner #PenguinReads

#BookReview Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry @BerkleyRomance @PenguinRandomCA #GreatBigBeautifulLife #EmilyHenry #Berkley #BerkleyPartner #PenguinReads Title: Great Big Beautiful Life

Author: Emily Henry

Published by: Berkley on Apr. 22, 2025

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 384

Format: ARC, eBook

Source: Berkley Publishing

Book Rating: 9/10

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years–or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century.

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad…depending on who’s telling it.


Review:

Addictive, charming, and fun!

Great Big Beautiful Life is an amusing, feel-good romance that takes you into the lives of both Alice Scott, a young aspiring novelist who is determined to finally get her big break writing the biography of the infamous Margaret Ives, and the broody, handsome Hayden Anderson who has the career of his dreams and is looking to write one more successful book until he’s required to compete for the job against a woman who may finally challenge his long-standing views on life and love.

The writing is light and tender. The characters are supportive, intelligent, and kind. And the plot is an entertaining, alluring mix of life, love, family, friendship, guilt, trust, regrets, happiness, self-reflection, tricky moments, undeniable attraction, surprising revelations, and romance.

Overall, Great Big Beautiful Life is another enchanting, optimistic, delightful tale by Henry that is the perfect blend of heart, hope, humour, and heat and is undoubtedly one of the must-read novels for summer 2025.

 

This novel is available now.

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

        

 

 

 

Thank you to Berkley Romance for this free copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Emily Henry

Emily Henry is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of People We Meet on Vacation and Beach Read. She studied creative writing at Hope College, and now spends most of her time in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the part of Kentucky just beneath it.

Photo by Devyn Glista/St. Blanc Studios.

#BookReview The Sideways Life of Denny Voss by Holly Kennedy @FireflyDist @AmazonPub #TheSidewaysLifeOfDennyVoss #HollyKennedy #LakeUnion #FireflyDist

#BookReview The Sideways Life of Denny Voss by Holly Kennedy @FireflyDist @AmazonPub #TheSidewaysLifeOfDennyVoss #HollyKennedy #LakeUnion #FireflyDist Title: The Sideways Life of Denny Voss

Author: Holly Kennedy

Published by: Lake Union Publishing on Apr. 8, 2025

Genres: General Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 330

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Firefly Distributed Lines

Book Rating: 10/10

In this poignant and funny novel, a man who is defined by his limitations sets out to fight a murder charge—and discovers unexpected truths about himself, his family, and the world at large.

On the surface, Denny Voss’s life in rural Minnesota is a quiet one. At thirty years old, he lives at home with his elderly mother and his beloved blind and deaf Saint Bernard, George. He cleans up roadkill to help pay the bills. Though his prospects are limited by a developmental delay—the result of an accident at birth—Denny has always felt that he has “a good life.”

So how did he wind up being charged with the murder of a mayoral candidate—after crashing a sled full of guns into a tree?

As Denny awaits trial, his court-appointed therapist walks him through the events of the past year. Denny’s had other scuffles with the law, the first for kidnapping a neighbor’s cantankerous goose. And then there was the time he accidentally assisted in a bank robbery. It seems like whenever Denny tries to do the right thing, chaos ensues.

Untangling the events around the murder reveals even more painful truths about his family’s past. He’s always been surrounded by people who love him, but now it’s up to Denny to set his life on a new course.


Review:

Memorable, sincere, and humorous!

The Sideways Life of Denny Voss is an intimate, thought-provoking novel that immerses you into the life of Denny Voss, a thirty-year-old man with intellectual difficulties who, through his genuine, innocent desire to always do the right thing, triggers an unravelling of family secrets when he ends up in jail after he’s found in possession of a murder weapon.

The prose is evocative and sincere. The characters are multi-layered, unique, and vulnerable. And the plot is a touching tale of life, love, friendship, desires, needs, dreams, goals, community, complex relationships, family drama, and secrets.

Overall, The Sideways Life of Denny Voss is a beautiful mix of hope, heart, and healing that is not only a lovely, funny, tender novel by Kennedy but one which I don’t think anyone could possibly read and not be completely absorbed and exceptionally moved.

 

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 Holly Kennedy

Holly was born and raised in Alberta, Canada. Today, she lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with her family and their Newfoundland dog, Wallace.​​

She is the author of four novels and her books have been translated into multiple languages. When she’s not writing, you’ll typically find her reading, spending time with family, or (her not-so-secret obsession) watching true crime TV shows like Dateline

#BookReview The Maid’s Secret by Nita Prose @NitaProse @PenguinCanada #TheMaidsSecret #NitaProse #PenguinReads #PenguinCanada

#BookReview The Maid’s Secret by Nita Prose @NitaProse @PenguinCanada #TheMaidsSecret #NitaProse #PenguinReads #PenguinCanada Title: The Maid's Secret

Author: Nita Prose

Series: Molly the Maid #3

Published by: Viking on Apr. 8, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 326

Format: ARC, eBook

Source: Penguin Random House Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A wedding. A heist. A secret.

Molly Gray’s life is about to change in ways she could never have imagined. As the esteemed Head Maid and recently promoted Special Events Manager of the Regency Grand Hotel, good things are just around the corner, including her marriage to her beloved fiancé, Juan Manuel, only two months away. 

But Molly’s entire existence is upended when a film crew descends upon the hotel to shoot the hit reality TV show Hidden Treasures, starring popular art appraisers Brown and Beagle. On a whim, Molly brings in a shoebox containing a few of her gran’s old things for appraisal, and much to everyone’s surprise, one item turns out to be a rare and priceless treasure. Instantly, Molly is both a multi-millionaire and a media sensation—the world’s rags-to-riches darling—until the priceless piece vanishes from the hotel in the boldest, brashest antiquities heist in recent memory.

The key to the mystery lies in the past, in a long-forgotten diary written by Molly’s gran. For the first time ever, Molly learns about Gran’s true-to-life fairytale, a young girl to the manor born, the only child of a wealthy magnate. But when Gran falls head over heels in love with a young man her parents deem below her station, her life is thrown into turmoil. As fate would have it, the greatest love of Gran’s life is someone Molly knows quite well….

Together with her friends, Molly combs the past and the present to catch the thief before looming threats against her become real.

A spirited heist caper and an epic love story, The Maid’s Secret is a spellbinding whodunnit that will capture and warm your heart.


Review:

Mysterious, sentimental, and fun!

The Maid’s Secret is a suspenseful, engaging tale that takes us back into the life of Molly Gray, a charming young maid who, after learning of the reality show Hidden Treasures filming at the hotel, decides to take some of her gran’s extraordinary things to be appraised only to discover that one of them is priceless and something somebody is really eager to steal, and the other is an item that will give her invaluable insight into a life once filled with wealth and betrayal.

The writing style is intricate and light. The characters are curious, supportive, and intriguing. And the plot is a well-paced, compelling tale of life, love, family, friendship, tricky situations, awkward moments, ruthless behaviour, deduction, and amateur sleuthing.

Overall, The Maid’s Secret is an immersive, satisfying, wonderful addition to the Molly the Maid series by Prose that once again confirms why this is and always will be a must-read series for me.

 

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

 

 

Thank you to Penguin Canada for providing me with a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Nita Prose

NITA PROSE is a longtime editor, serving many bestselling authors and their books. She lives in Toronto, Canada, in a house that is only moderately clean.…

Photo by Dahlia Katz Photography.