#BookReview The Last Mona Lisa by Jonathan Santlofer @jsantlofer @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #TheLastMonaLisa #JonathanSantlofer #bookmarkedbylandmark

#BookReview The Last Mona Lisa by Jonathan Santlofer @jsantlofer @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #TheLastMonaLisa #JonathanSantlofer #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: The Last Mona Lisa

Author: Jonathan Santlofer

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Aug. 17, 2021

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 400

Format: Hardcover

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 9/10

August, 1911: The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincent Peruggia. Exactly what happens in the two years before its recovery is a mystery. Many replicas of the Mona Lisa exist, and more than one historian has wondered if the painting now in the Louvre is a fake, switched in 1911.

Present day: art professor Luke Perrone digs for the truth behind his most famous ancestor: Peruggia. His search attracts an Interpol detective with something to prove and an unfamiliar but curiously helpful woman. Soon, Luke tumbles deep into the world of art and forgery, a land of obsession and danger.

A gripping novel exploring the 1911 theft and the present underbelly of the art world, The Last Mona Lisa is a suspenseful tale, tapping into our universal fascination with da Vinci’s enigma, why people are driven to possess certain works of art, and our fascination with the authentic and the fake.


Review:

Rich, absorbing, and remarkably atmospheric!

The Last Mona Lisa is an alluring, fascinating tale predominantly set in Paris during 1911, as well as present-day Florence, that takes us into the lives of Vincent Peruggia, a young man who, after losing his wife suddenly to illness, will do whatever it takes to earn enough money to be reunited with his son, as well as his great-grandson Luke Perrone, an art historian who is consumed with all things Mona Lisa who heads to Italy to find his great grandfather’s long-lost journal to discover once and for all why he stole the painting, where it was kept for the two years before it was returned, and ultimately, before everyone who knows about the journal, including himself, ends up dead, finally discover whether the original or merely a fake is now actually hanging in the infamous museum.

The writing is polished and descriptive. The characters are flawed, vulnerable, and driven. And the plot, alternating between timelines, unravels and intertwines quickly into an ominous tale of life, loss, family, self-discovery, secrets, lies, deception, greed, friendship, heartbreak, addiction, obsession, murder, as well as the beautiful, intricate details involved in creating, forging, and restoring artwork.

Overall, The Last Mona Lisa is an evocative, immersive, thrilling novel by Santlofer that’s not only a love letter to Renaissance art and the cities of Florence and Paris but a suspenseful tale steeped in historical fact and compelling fiction that I absolutely devoured and 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 Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me with a copy in an exchange for an honest review.

 

About Jonathan Santlofer

Jonathan Santlofer is a writer and artist. His debut novel, THE DEATH ARTIST, was an international bestseller translated into 17 languages, a People Magazine "Page-Turner of the Week" and is currently in development at Fox, along with his second and third novels. His fourth novel, ANATOMY OF FEAR, won the Nero Award for best crime novel of 2009. Jonathan created the Crime Fiction Academy as The Center for Fiction. As an artist, Jonathan has been making replications of famous paintings for wealthy clients for more than 20 years.

Photo by Clarke Tolton.

#BookReview My Amy: The Life We Shared by Tyler James @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #TylerJames #MyAmy

#BookReview My Amy: The Life We Shared by Tyler James @PGCBooks @panmacmillan #TylerJames #MyAmy Title: My Amy: The Life We Shared

Author: Tyler James

Published by: Pan Macmillan on Aug. 17, 2021

Genres: Nonfiction

Pages: 336

Format: Hardcover

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Written with a searing honesty and published for the tenth anniversary of Amy Winehouse’s death, My Amy is an evocative portrait of unbreakable lifelong friendship – and a devastating study into fame, addiction and self-sabotage.

Only one person knows what really happened to Amy, other than Amy herself. He is Tyler James, Amy’s best friend from the age of thirteen. They met at stage school as two insecure outsiders, formed an instant connection and lived together from their late teenage years right up until the day she died, aged just twenty-seven.

Tyler was there by her side through it all. From their carefree early years touring together to the creation of the multiple Grammy-winning Back To Black, which she wrote on their kitchen floor. From her volatile marriage to Blake Fielder-Civil through her escalating addictions, self-harm and eating disorders as the toxic nature of fame warped Amy’s reality. For the last three years of her life, Tyler was with her every day when she’d beaten drugs and was close to beating alcoholism too. He also knew better than anyone the real Amy Winehouse who the tabloid-reading public rarely saw – the hilarious, uncompromising force-of-nature busy taking care of everyone else.

We all think we know what happened to Amy Winehouse, but we don’t. This definitive insider’s story tells us all, finally, the truth.


Review:

Raw, genuine, and affecting!

My Amy: The Life We Shared is a heart-wrenching, touching memoir that takes you into the life of Tyler James and the special, somewhat dependent relationship between his best friend, famous jazz singer, Amy Winehouse and himself from the moment they met in their early teens at the Sylvia Young Theatre School until her tragic death in 2011.

The prose is emotional and sincere. And the novel is a poignant tale of one men’s personal struggles and experiences loving, supporting, and caring for an extremely talented friend tortured by demons and lost in a demanding world that took her soul and freedom, and left her struggling to cope in a toxic environment rife with drugs, addiction, eating disorders, public scrutiny, alcohol abuse, and parasitic relationships.

Overall, My Amy: The Life We Shared is a candid, heartfelt, informative tale by James that reminds us that loving someone means loving them for the good, the bad, and the ugly, and highlights that fame is not always fortunate, and sometimes being surrounded by many can actually be the loneliest existence of all.

 

This novel is available now.

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

        

 

 
 

 

Thank you to PGC Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Tyler James

Tyler James grew up in the East End of London and met Amy Winehouse at the Sylvia Young Theatre School. He became a singer/songwriter and was signed to Island Records in 2003. By early 2009, after many chaotic years for both himself and Amy, he successfully overcame severe addiction problems of his own. Today, he lives and farms in Ireland, having swapped gigging for lambing. My Amy is his first book.

#BookReview Ice and Stone by Marcia Muller @GrandCentralPub #MarciaMuller #IceandStone #SharonMcConeMystery

#BookReview Ice and Stone by Marcia Muller @GrandCentralPub #MarciaMuller #IceandStone #SharonMcConeMystery Title: Ice and Stone

Author: Marcia Muller

Series: Sharon McCone #34

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Aug. 10, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 272

Format: Hardcover

Source: Grand Central Publishing

Book Rating: 8/10

Private Investigator Sharon McCone goes undercover to investigate the murders of two Indigenous women in remote Northern California in this gripping, atmospheric mystery in the New York Times bestselling series.  

When the bodies of two Indigenous women are found in the wilderness of northern California, it is only the latest horrific development in a string of similar crimes in the area. Despite all evidence to the contrary, officials rule the deaths isolated incidents, which soon join the ranks of countless other unsolved cases quickly dismissed by law enforcement.
 
In a town where too many injustices are tolerated or brushed under the rug, only a few people remain who refuse to let a killer walk free. But Private Investigator Sharon McCone is one of those few. She is hired by an organization called Crimes against Indigenous Sisters to go undercover in Meruk County—a community rife with secrets, lies, and corruption—to expose the truth.
 
In an isolated cabin in the freezing, treacherous woods, McCone must work quickly to unravel a mystery that is rooted in profound evil—before she becomes the killer’s next target.


Review:

Duplicitous, intense, and atmospheric!

In this intriguing, thirty-fourth instalment in the Sharon McCone series, Ice and Stone, Muller has written a fast-paced, sinister thriller that finds San Francisco PI Sharon McCone going undercover in the town of Meruk at the request of the Crimes Against Indigenous Sisters to investigate the murders of two native woman that seem to have slipped through the cracks of the local justice system due to ongoing battles over jurisdictions, but when two more native women go missing, and some of the richer, white folk in the area start acting shadier than usual, the case may be a little more complex and dangerous than anyone could have imagined.

The prose is smooth and rich. The characters are strong, relentless, and resourceful. And the plot unfolds quickly into a menacing tale of mischief, mayhem, corruption, manipulation, racial tension, abuse, sexual assault, coercion, greed, heinous violence, and murder.

Overall, Ice and Stone is a tight, intricate, engrossing thrill ride by Muller that is highly entertaining, a little disturbing, and the perfect choice for anyone who enjoys a good mystery threaded with ongoing social issues and injustices.

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Marcia Muller

Marcia Muller has written many novels and short stories. She has won six Anthony Awards, a Shamus Award, and is also the recipient of the Private Eye Writers of America's Lifetime Achievement Award as well as the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award (their highest accolade). She lives in northern California with her husband, mystery writer Bill Pronzini.

Photo courtesy of Grand Central Publishing Website.

#BookReview Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens @ChevyStevens @StMartinsPress #DarkRoads #ChevyStevens #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens @ChevyStevens @StMartinsPress #DarkRoads #ChevyStevens #SMPInfluencers Title: Dark Roads

Author: Chevy Stevens

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Aug. 3, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

The acclaimed and beloved author of Still Missing is back with her most breathtaking thriller yet.

The Cold Creek Highway stretches close to five hundred miles through British Columbia’s rugged wilderness to the west coast. Isolated and vast, it has become a prime hunting ground for predators. For decades, young women traveling the road have gone missing. Motorists and hitchhikers, those passing through or living in one of the small towns scattered along the region, have fallen prey time and again. And no killer or abductor who has stalked the highway has ever been brought to justice.

Hailey McBride calls Cold Creek home. Her father taught her to respect nature, how to live and survive off the land, and to never travel the highway alone. Now he’s gone, leaving her a teenage orphan in the care of her aunt whose police officer husband uses his badge as a means to bully and control Hailey. Overwhelmed by grief and forbidden to work, socialize, or date, Hailey vanishes into the mountainous terrain, hoping everyone will believe she’s left town. Rumors spread that she was taken by the highway killer—who’s claimed another victim over the summer.

One year later, Beth Chevalier arrives in Cold Creek, where her sister Amber lived—and where she was murdered. Estranged from her parents and seeking closure, Beth takes a waitressing job at the local diner, just as Amber did, desperate to understand what happened to her and why. But Beth’s search for answers puts a target on her back—and threatens to reveal the truth behind Hailey’s disappearance…


Review:

Unsettling, twisty, and intricate!

Dark Roads is a tortuous, disturbing mystery that introduces us to Beth Chevalier as she heads to Cold Creek, British Columbia, to investigate the horrific murder of her younger sister, Amber, after her body is found brutalized on the side of Cold Creek Highway, a lonely stretch of road where multiple women have suspiciously disappeared, including local Hailey McBride, over the past several decades.

The writing is brisk and sharp. The characters are tormented, vulnerable, and scarred. And the plot told from alternating POVs and using a back-and-forth style is an eerie whodunit full of twists, turns, lies, deception, familial drama, depravity, violence, and murder.

I can honestly say I have yet to read a novel by Stevens that I didn’t really enjoy, and Dark Roads is no exception. It’s a taut, tense, gripping tale that packs a real punch and is a spine-chilling reminder, especially for those of us who grew up hearing about this real-life crime this tale is loosely based on, that evil can often live comfortably amongst us, merely hidden behind masks of normality.

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

 

About Chevy Stevens

CHEVY STEVENS lives on Vancouver Island with her husband and daughter. When she isn’t working on her next book, she’s hiking with her two dogs on her favorite mountain trails and spending time with her family. Chevy's current obsessions are vintage Airstreams, Hollywood memoirs, all things mid-century modern, and stand-up comedians--not necessarily in that order. Her books, including Still Missing, a New York Times bestseller and winner of the International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel, have been published in more than thirty countries.

 

Photo by Poppy Photography.

#BookReview What’s Mine and Yours by Naima Coster @zafatista @GrandCentralPub #NaimaCoster #WhatsMineandYours

#BookReview What’s Mine and Yours by Naima Coster @zafatista @GrandCentralPub #NaimaCoster #WhatsMineandYours Title: What's Mine and Yours

Author: Naima Coster

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Mar. 2, 2021

Genres: General Fiction

Pages: 341

Format: Hardcover

Source: Grand Central Publishing

Book Rating: 8/10

From the author of Halsey Street, a sweeping novel of legacy, identity, the American family-and the ways that race affects even our most intimate relationships.

A community in the Piedmont of North Carolina rises in outrage as a county initiative draws students from the largely Black east side of town into predominantly white high schools on the west. For two students, Gee and Noelle, the integration sets off a chain of events that will tie their two families together in unexpected ways over the span of the next twenty years.

On one side of the integration debate is Jade, Gee’s steely, ambitious mother. In the aftermath of a harrowing loss, she is determined to give her son the tools he’ll need to survive in America as a sensitive, anxious, young Black man. On the other side is Noelle’s headstrong mother, Lacey May, a white woman who refuses to see her half-Latina daughters as anything but white. She strives to protect them as she couldn’t protect herself from the influence of their charming but unreliable father, Robbie.

When Gee and Noelle join the school play meant to bridge the divide between new and old students, their paths collide, and their two seemingly disconnected families begin to form deeply knotted, messy ties that will shape the trajectory of their adult lives. And their mothers-each determined to see her child inherit a better life-will make choices that will haunt them for decades to come.

As love is built and lost, and the past never too far behind, What’s Mine and Yours is an expansive, vibrant tapestry that moves between the years, from the foothills of North Carolina, to Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Paris. It explores the unique organism that is every family: what breaks them apart and how they come back together.


Review:

Graceful, thought-provoking, and moving!

What’s Mine and Yours is a beautifully written, affecting tale that takes you back and forth in time and immerses you into the lives of two single-mother families as they grapple with all the secrets, wounds, smiles, tears, strength, discontent, and compassion that life seems to have handed them.

The prose is effortless and rich. The characters are authentic, angry, and raw. And the story is a touching, coming-of-age tale about life, loss, love, grief, forgiveness, familial drama, friendship, race, discrimination, marital discord, courage, hope, socioeconomic disparities, and the complex dynamics that exist between family members.

Overall, What’s Mine and Yours is an insightful, nuanced, multi-generational family saga by Coster that reminds us that life is complicated, messy, challenging, short, heartbreaking, as well as all those other special moments and lovely times that happen in-between.

 

This book is available now.

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

           

 

 

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Naima Coster

Naima Coster is the author of Halsey Street, and a finalist for the 2018 Kirkus Prize for Fiction. Naima's stories and essays have appeared in the New York Times, Kweli, the Paris Review Daily, Catapult, the Rumpus, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University, as well as degrees from Fordham University and Yale. She has taught writing for over a decade, in community settings, youth programs, and universities. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.

Photo courtesy of grandcentalpublishing.com

#BookReview Catch the Rabbit by Lana Bastašić @PGCBooks @picadorbooks #CatchtheRabbit #LanaBastasic

#BookReview Catch the Rabbit by Lana Bastašić @PGCBooks @picadorbooks #CatchtheRabbit #LanaBastasic Title: Catch the Rabbit

Author: Lana Bastašić

Published by: Picador on May 27, 2021

Genres: General Fiction

Pages: 272

Format: Hardcover

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 7.5/10

A moving story about loss, forgetting and female friendship: two women on a road trip across Bosnia head towards a lost brother and a collision with the lies they’ve told themselves about where they’re from.

Sara hasn’t seen or heard from Lejla in years. She’s comfortable with her life in Dublin, with her partner, their avocado plant, and their naturist neighbour. But when Lejla calls and demands she come home to Bosnia, Sara finds that she can’t say no.

What begins as a road trip becomes a journey through the past, as the two women set off to find Armin, Lejla’s brother who disappeared towards the end of the Bosnian War. Presumed dead by everyone else, only Lejla and Sara believed Armin was still alive.

Confronted with the limits of memory, Sara is forced to reconsider the things she thought she understood as a girl: the best friend she loved, the first experiences they shared, but also the social and religious lines that separated them, that brought them such different lives.

In Catch the Rabbit, Lana Bastašic tells the story of how we place the ones we love on pedestals, and then wait for them to fall off, how loss marks us indelibly, and how the traumas of war echo down the years.


Review:

Frank, pensive, and melancholic!

Catch the Rabbit is a dark, gritty, nostalgic novel that takes us into the life of Sara, a young woman who is more than content with her current life in Dublin and how she’s managed to reinvent herself after growing up in Bosnia during the 1990s, until her childhood best friend, Lejla contacts her out of the blue after more than a decade to ask her to drive from Mostar to Vienna in order to find her brother who has been missing for more than twenty years, and whose disappearance has had a lasting impact on both of their lives.

The prose is perceptive and expressive. The characters are scarred, multilayered, and self-absorbed. And the plot, using a past-present style, is a reflective tale about life, loss, tragedy, family, friendship, coming-of-age, shared experiences, differing perspectives, and elusive memories, all interwoven with an undercurrent of the ongoing dread and tension experienced by those who must live and grow up in war zones.

Overall, Catch the Rabbit is a poignant, weighty, toxic tale by Bastašić that delves into all the messiness of life and highlights all the enduring psychological and emotional ties that exist between friends.

 

This novel is available now.

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

           

 

 

Thank you to Publishers Group Canada for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Lana Bastašić

Lana Bastašic is a Yugoslavborn writer. She has published two collections of short stories and one of poetry. Catch the Rabbit, her debut novel, was published in 2018 in Belgrade and was shortlisted for the NIN Award. Her short stories have been included in major regional anthologies and have won numerous awards throughout former Yugoslavia. She lives and works in Barcelona.

#BookReview The Therapist by B.A. Paris @BAParisAuthor @StMartinsPress @RaincoastBooks #TheTherapist #BAParis #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview The Therapist by B.A. Paris @BAParisAuthor @StMartinsPress @RaincoastBooks #TheTherapist #BAParis #SMPInfluencers Title: The Therapist

Author: B.A. Paris

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jul. 13, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: Hardcover

Source: Raincoast Books, St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

When Alice and Leo move into a newly renovated house in The Circle, a gated community of exclusive houses, it is everything they’ve dreamed of. But appearances can be deceptive…

As Alice is getting to know her neighbours, she discovers a devastating secret about her new home, and begins to feel a strong connection with Nina, the therapist who lived there before.

Alice becomes obsessed with trying to piece together what happened two years before. But no one wants to talk about it. Her neighbors are keeping secrets and things are not as perfect as they seem…

The multimillion-copy New York Times bestselling author B.A. Paris returns to her heartland of gripping psychological suspense in The Therapist–a powerful tale of a house that holds a shocking secret.


Review:

Brisk, eerie, and intense!

The Therapist is a suspenseful, psychological thriller that introduces us to Alice, a young woman who is excited to move into a new home with her long-distance boyfriend Leo, that is until the murder-suicide of the previous homeowners is learned, the neighbours of this coveted gated community seem distant and unfriendly, a PI appears out of nowhere asking for help in identifying the true killer, and danger seems to be lurking around every corner inside and out.

The writing is edgy and tight. The characters are obsessed, consumed, and flawed. And the plot is an unnerving, suspenseful tale of deception, manipulation, suspicions, revelations, mayhem, violence, and murder.

Overall, The Therapist is a twisty, atmospheric, sinister page-turner that does a wonderful job of highlighting just how easily people can be psychologically and emotionally exploited, and reminds us that even those we think we know so well often have deep, dark secrets they choose to hide.

This book is available now.

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

            

 

 

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

 

About B.A. Paris

B. A. PARIS is the internationally bestselling author of Behind Closed Doors, The Breakdown, and Bring Me Back. She grew up in England but has spent most of her adult life in France. She has worked both in finance and as a teacher and has five daughters. The Dilemma is her fourth novel.

Photograph by Philippe Matsas.

#BookReview The Rehearsals by Annette Christie @MsAnnetteMC @littlebrown @HBGCanada #TheRehearsals #AnnetteChristie

#BookReview The Rehearsals by Annette Christie @MsAnnetteMC @littlebrown @HBGCanada #TheRehearsals #AnnetteChristie Title: The Rehearsals

Author: Annette Christie

Published by: Little Brown and Company on Jul. 13, 2021

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction

Pages: 320

Format: Hardcover

Source: Forever, HBG Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

Have you ever made a life-changing decision and then wondered if you made the right one…? A clever, captivating and bittersweet story of what might have been. Perfect for the fans of Jojo Moyes and Marian Keyes.

When Liv and Nate walked up the aisle, Liv knew she was marrying the one, her soul mate and her best friend.

Six years later, it feels like routine and friendship is all they have left in common. What happened to the fun, the excitement, the lust, the love?

In the closing moments of 1999, Liv and Nate decide to go their separate ways, but at the last minute, Liv wavers. Should she stay or should she go?

Over the next twenty years we follow the parallel stories to discover if Liv’s life, heart and future have been better with Nate… Or without him?


Review:

Creative, thought-provoking, and delightfully optimistic!

The Rehearsals is a moving, time-loop tale that takes you into the lives of Megan and Tom, as after a disastrous rehearsal day, when difficult families, long-buried secrets, and thoughts of what-if leave them tired, confused, heartbroken, and calling the whole thing off fate magically intervenes leaving them reliving that same day over and over again in order to change, forgive and potentially rekindle the love they once shared.

The writing is sensitive and sincere. The characters are flawed, genuine, and weary. And the multi-layered plot is a heartfelt, absorbing tale about life, love, family, friendship, secrets, betrayal, compassion, romance, happiness, destiny, and second chances.

Overall, The Rehearsals is an emotional, pensive, brilliant debut by Christie that reminds us that life is complicated, things happen for a reason, secrets always have a way of coming to light, often the choices we make have far-reaching consequences, and love is, ultimately, always worth fighting for.

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

Thank you to HBG Canada and Forever for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Annette Christie

Annette Christie is a Canadian-American hybrid with a BFA in Theatre and a history of very odd jobs. Her writing has been published in HelloGiggles and The Guardian, and the back of her head is featured prominently in the film Mean Girls. She currently resides in Alberta with her husband and two children.

Photo courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

#BookReview The War Nurse by Tracey Enerson Wood @TraceyEnerson @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #TheWarNurse #TraceyEnersonWood #bookmarkedbylandmark

#BookReview The War Nurse by Tracey Enerson Wood @TraceyEnerson @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #TheWarNurse #TraceyEnersonWood #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: The War Nurse

Author: Tracey Enerson Wood

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Jul. 6, 2021

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 304

Format: Hardcover

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 9/10

She asked dozens of young women to lay their lives on the line during the Great War. Can she protect them?

Superintendent of Nurses Julia Stimson must recruit sixty-five nurses to relieve the battle-worn British, months before American troops are ready to be deployed. She knows that the young nurses serving near the front lines of will face a challenging situation, but nothing could have prepared her for the chaos that awaits when they arrive at British Base Hospital 12 in Rouen, France. The primitive conditions, a convoluted, ineffective system, and horrific battle wounds are enough to discourage the most hardened nurses, and Julia can do nothing but lead by example―even as the military doctors undermine her authority and make her question her very place in the hospital tent.

When trainloads of soldiers stricken by a mysterious respiratory illness arrive one after the other, overwhelming the hospital’s limited resources, and threatening the health of her staff, Julia faces an unthinkable choice―to step outside the bounds of her profession and risk the career she has fought so hard for, or to watch the people she cares for most die in her arms.

Based on a true story, The War Nurse is a sweeping historical novel by international bestselling author Tracey Enerson Wood that takes readers on an unforgettable journey through WWI France.


Review:

Evocative, affecting, and incredibly absorbing!

The War Nurse is an immersive, fascinating tale set in German-Occupied France during WWI that takes you into the life of Julia Stimson, a young woman who recruits, trains, mentors, and guides sixty-four American nurses as they embark on a mission for the American Red Cross to take over the day-to-day duties of the Rouen base hospital from the departing British Expeditionary Force.

The prose is seamless and vivid. The characters are driven, courageous, and dependable. And the plot is an insightful, moving tale of life, loss, insecurities, self-discovery, heartbreak, determination, innovation, emerging medical practices, hope, loyalty, survival, and friendship.

Overall, The War Nurse is an alluring, rich, compelling novel by Tracey Enerson Wood that does a spectacular job of highlighting her incredible knowledge and research into this pioneering, historical figure whose remarkable life and contribution to the nursing field of medicine are often unknown, overlooked, or unfortunately long forgotten.

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

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

 

About Tracey Enerson Wood

Tracey Enerson Wood has always had a writing bug. While working as a Registered Nurse, starting her own Interior Design company, raising two children, and bouncing around the world as a military wife, she indulged in her passion as a playwright, screenwriter and novelist. She has authored magazine columns and other non-fiction, written and directed plays of all lengths, including Grits, Fleas and Carrots, Rocks and Other Hard Places, Alone, and Fog.

Her screenplays include Strike Three and Roebling’s Bridge.

Other passions include food and cooking, and honoring military heroes. Her co-authored anthology/cookbook Homefront Cooking, American Veterans share Recipes, Wit, and Wisdom, was released by Skyhorse Publishing in May, 2018, and all authors’ profits will be donated to organizations that support veterans.

A New Jersey native, she now lives with her family in Florida and Germany.

#BookReview Runner (Cass Raines #4) by Tracy Clark @tracypc6161 @KayePublicity @KensingtonBooks #Runner #TracyClark #CassRaines

#BookReview Runner (Cass Raines #4) by Tracy Clark @tracypc6161 @KayePublicity @KensingtonBooks #Runner #TracyClark #CassRaines Title: Runner

Author: Tracy Clark

Series: Cass Raines #4

Published by: Kensington Books on Jun. 29, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: Hardcover

Source: Kaye Publicity

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Chicago in the dead of winter can be brutal, especially when you’re scouring the frigid streets for a missing girl. Fifteen-year-old Ramona Titus has run away from her foster home. Her biological mother, Leesa Evans, is a recovering addict who admits she failed Ramona often in the past. But now she’s clean. And she’s determined to make up for her mistakes—if Cass can only help her find her daughter.

Cass visits Ramona’s foster mother, Deloris Poole, who is also desperate to bring the girl home. Ramona came to Deloris six months ago, angry and distrustful, but was slowly opening up. The police are on the search, but Cass has sources closer to the streets, and a network of savvy allies. Yet it seems Ramona doesn’t want to be found. And Cass soon begins to understand why.

Ramona is holding secrets dark enough to kill for, and anyone who helps her may be fair game. And if Ramona can’t run fast enough and hide well enough to keep the truth safe, she and Cass may both be out of time.


Review:

Gritty, engaging, and propulsive!

In this engrossing fourth instalment in the Cass Raines series, Runner, Clark has written a fast-paced thrill ride that takes us into the life of the tenacious PI Cassandra Raines as she takes on a new case to find a fifteen-year-old foster care runaway who seems to have a lot of concerned people out on the icy Chicago streets looking for her, but as clues start to surface, and motivations don’t seem to be quite as altruistic as they first appeared, it will quickly become a race against time to find and protect Ramona from those who supposedly care.

The writing is tight and intense. The characters are raw, vulnerable, and resourceful. And the plot unravels quickly into a suspenseful mix of twists, turns, manipulation, familial drama, lies, secrets, corruption, coercion, violence, and murder.

Overall, Runner is a fast-paced, tortuous, complex tale by Clark that does an exceptional job of reminding us that money and greed can easily sway perspective and is, in fact, often the root of all evil.

 

This book is available now.

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

           

 

 

Thank you to Kaye Publicity & Kensington Books for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Tracy Clark

Tracy Clark is the author of the highly acclaimed Chicago Mystery Series featuring ex-homicide cop turned PI Cassandra Raines, a hard-driving, African-American protagonist who works the mean streets of the Windy City dodging cops, cons, killers, and thugs. She received Anthony Award and Lefty Award nominations for her series debut, Broken Places, which was also shortlisted for the American Library Association’s RUSA Reading List, named a CrimeReads Best New PI Book of 2018, a Midwest Connections Pick, and a Library Journal Best Books of the Year. In addition to her Cass Raines novels, Tracy’s short story “For Services Rendered,” appears in the anthology Shades of Black: Crime and Mystery Stories by African-American Authors. A native of Chicago, she works as an editor in the newspaper industry and roots for the Cubs, Sox, Bulls, Bears, and Blackhawks equally. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, PI Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and a Mystery Writers of America Midwest board member.

Photo courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.