Format: Paperback

#BookReview Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda @MeganLMiranda @SimonSchusterCA #DaughterofMine #MeganMiranda #SimonSchusterCA

Published on by ZoeLeave a comment
#BookReview Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda @MeganLMiranda @SimonSchusterCA #DaughterofMine #MeganMiranda #SimonSchusterCA Title: Daughter of Mine

Author: Megan Miranda

Published by: Marysue Rucci Books on Apr. 9, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 368

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

The new thrilling novel from Megan Miranda, the instant New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls, The Last to Vanish, and The Only Survivors.

When Hazel Sharp, daughter of Mirror Lake’s longtime local detective, unexpectedly inherits her childhood home, she’s warily drawn back to the town—and people—she left behind almost a decade earlier. But Hazel’s not the only relic of the past to a drought has descended on the region, and as the water level in the lake drops, long-hidden secrets begin to emerge…including evidence that may help finally explain the mystery of her mother’s disappearance.

Review:

Intricate, unsettling, and gritty!

Daughter of Mine is a compelling, absorbing tale that transports you to Mirror Lake, North Carolina, and into the lives of the Holt family as the past suddenly collides with the present when, soon after the patriarch passes, an automobile is found submerged at the bottom of the lake, and at least one person is on edge and threatened by the long-buried secrets it may finally bring to light.

The writing is intense and tight. The characters are vulnerable, impulsive, and scarred. And the plot intertwines and unravels seamlessly into a riveting tale full of lies, deception, secrets, desperation, manipulation, familial drama, troubled pasts, suspicious behaviours, violence, and murder.

Overall, Daughter of Mine is a dark, atmospheric, engrossing tale by Miranda that kept me enthralled from the very first page and left me entertained, satisfied, and more than a little eager to read whatever her 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 Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Megan Miranda

Megan Miranda is the New York Times bestselling author of ALL THE MISSING GIRLS and THE PERFECT STRANGER. She has also written several books for young adults, including FRACTURE, THE SAFEST LIES, and FRAGMENTS OF THE LOST. She grew up in New Jersey, graduated from MIT, and lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children.

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram

#BookReview How to Plot a Payback by Melissa Ferguson @our_friendly_farmhouse @uplitreads #HowToPlotAPayback #melissaferguson #uplitreads

Published on by ZoeLeave a comment
#BookReview How to Plot a Payback by Melissa Ferguson @our_friendly_farmhouse @uplitreads #HowToPlotAPayback #melissaferguson #uplitreads Title: How to Plot a Payback

Author: Melissa Ferguson

Published by: Thomas Nelson on Apr. 2, 2024

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 320

Format: Paperback

Source: Uplit Reads

Book Rating: 8/10

He crossed an ocean, and it still wasn’t enough to escape his lifelong nemesis. Now he has to work with her.

Successful screenwriter Finn Masters just landed his dream job writing for Neighbors, one of Hollywood’s highest-rated, longest-running sitcoms. The only downside? It will put him back in proximity of the show’s universally adored, optimistic, altruistic star, Lavender Rhodes, who has been inadvertently ruining his life since they were school chums in England. But she doesn’t even know she destroyed his acting career and wrecked his relationship with the love of his life.

He’s not about to let this woman yank yet another dream out from under his feet. In fact, he realizes he’s been given the ideal opportunity to plot his payback: spinning her character in shocking new directions.

What could go wrong? Only everything. As Finn’s not-so-brilliant plot backfires one scene after the next, catching him in the blasts, he’s forced to think about this impossible, infuriating… and maybe even lovable woman in an entirely new light.

Review:

Engaging, charming, and fun!

How to Plot a Payback is an amusing, feel-good, enemies-to-lovers romance that takes you into the lives of both Lavender Rhodes, a young woman who loves being a celebrity on one of the most popular shows on TV but who may be ready for something more, and the kind, handsome Finn Masters who may finally have the career of his dreams but with the unfortunate twist of having to work with the one woman who has been wreaking havoc on his life since adolescence.

The writing is humorous and light. The characters are hardworking, passionate, and lively. And the plot is a push-pull tale full of tricky situations, tender moments, humorous mishaps, workplace drama, self-discovery, witty banter, friendship, expectations, chemistry, and love.

Overall, How to Plot a Payback is another sweet, spirited, highly entertaining read by Ferguson with characters I couldn’t help but root for and a happy-ever-after ending that left me smiling, smitten, and more than satisfied.

 

This book is available now.

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

        

 

 

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

 

About Melissa Ferguson

Melissa Ferguson lives in Bristol, Tennessee, where she enjoys chasing her children and writing romantic comedies full of humor and heart. Her favorite hobby is taking friends and acquaintances and turning them into characters in her books without their knowledge. She is confident you should read all her novels, starting with this one.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | Pinterest | Bookbub

#BookReview The Secret Keeper by Genevieve Graham @GenGrahamAuthor @SimonSchusterCA #TheSecretKeeper #GenevieveGraham #CanadianHistory

Published on by ZoeLeave a comment
#BookReview The Secret Keeper by Genevieve Graham @GenGrahamAuthor @SimonSchusterCA #TheSecretKeeper #GenevieveGraham #CanadianHistory Title: The Secret Keeper

Author: Genevieve Graham

Published by: Simon & Schuster Canada on Apr. 2, 2024

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 448

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

From USA TODAY and internationally bestselling author Genevieve Graham comes a gripping World War II novel about two sisters who join the war effort—one as a codebreaker and the other as a pilot—and the secrets that threaten to tear them apart. Perfect for fans of The Rose Code and The Nightingale .

Twin sisters Dot and Dash Wilson share many things, and while they are practically inseparable, they are nothing alike. Dot is fascinated by books, puzzles, and Morse code, a language taught to both girls by their father, a WWI veteran. Dash’s days are filled with fixing engines, dancing with friends, and dreaming of flying airplanes. Almost always at their side is their best friend Gus—until war breaks out and he enlists in the army, deploying to an unknown front.

Determined to do their duty, both girls join the WRENS, Dash as a mechanic and Dot as a typist. Before long, Dot’s fixation on patterns and numbers takes her from HMCS Coverdale , a covert listening and codebreaking station working with Bletchley Park in England, to Camp X, a top-secret spy school. But when personal tragedy strikes the family, Dot’s oath of secrecy causes a rift between the sisters.

Eager to leave her pain behind, Dash jumps at the opportunity to train as a pilot with the Air Transport Auxiliary, where she risks her life to ferry aircraft and troops across the battlefields of Europe. Meanwhile Dot is drawn into the Allies’ preparations for D-Day. But Dot’s loyalties are put to the test once more when someone close to her goes missing in Nazi-occupied territory. With everyone’s eyes on Operation Overlord, Dot must use every skill at her disposal to save those she loves before it’s too late.

Inspired by the real-life stories of women in World War II, The Secret Keeper is an extraordinary novel about the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood and the light of courage during the darkest of nights.

Review:

Immersive, evocative, and affecting!

The Secret Keeper is a rich, alluring tale predominantly set in Canada during WWII that follows two sisters, Dash, a thrill seeker who enlists as a WREN working as a mechanic before she receives her dream posting as a pilot for the ATA in England, and Dot, a whiz with puzzles and codes that once enlisted is recruited to hold an invaluable position at Camp X, a top-secret spy school.

The prose is vivid and smooth. The characters are dependable, courageous, and resilient. And the plot is a moving tale of life, loss, secrets, self-discovery, determination, hope, loyalty, survival, friendship, sisterhood, war, love, and Canadian history.

Overall, The Secret Keeper is an emotive, rich, absorbing tale by Graham inspired by real-life stories that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly into the feelings, lives, and personalities of the characters you can’t help but be enthralled and fully invested from start to finish.

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 Genevieve Graham

Genevieve Graham is the #1 bestselling author of The Forgotten Home Child, Tides of Honour, Promises to Keep, Come from Away, and At the Mountain’s Edge. She is passionate about breathing life back into Canadian history through tales of love and adventure. She lives near Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Photo by Bryghton Towns.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

 

#BookReview Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun @SimonSchusterCA #HereWeGoAgain #AlisonCochrun #SimonSchusterCA

Published on by ZoeLeave a comment
#BookReview Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun @SimonSchusterCA #HereWeGoAgain #AlisonCochrun #SimonSchusterCA Title: Here We Go Again

Author: Alison Cochrun

Published by: Atria Books on Apr. 2, 2024

Genres: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA

Pages: 368

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

The author of Kiss Her Once for Me returns with a new queer rom-com following once childhood best friends forced together to drive their former teacher across the country.

A long time ago, Logan Maletis and Rosemary Hale used to be friends. They spent their childhood summers running through the woods, rebelling against their conservative small town, and dreaming of escaping. But then an incident the summer before high school turned them into bitter rivals. After graduation, they went ten years without speaking.

Now in their thirties, Logan and Rosemary find they aren’t quite living the lives of adventure they imagined for themselves. Still in their small town and working as teachers at their alma mater, they’re both stuck in old patterns. Uptight Rosemary chooses security and stability over all else, working constantly, and her most stable relationship is with her label maker. Chaotic and impulsive Logan has a long list of misguided ex-lovers and an apathetic shrug she uses to protect herself from anything real. And as hard as they try to avoid each other—and their complicated past—they keep crashing into each other. Including with their cars.

But when their beloved former English teacher and lifelong mentor tells them he has only a few months to live, they’re forced together once and for all to fulfill his last a cross-country road trip. Stuffed into the gayest van west of the Mississippi, the three embark on a life-changing summer trip—from Washington state to the Grand Canyon, from the Gulf Coast to coastal Maine—that will chart a new future and perhaps lead them back to one another.

Review:

Heartwarming, tender, and affecting!

Here We Go Again is a timely, romantic story that sweeps you away into a bittersweet tale where truths are acknowledged, grievances are aired, truces are made, friendships are savoured, tears are shed, memories are created, last requests are honoured, lives are celebrated, and lost loves are found.

The writing is smooth and heartfelt. The characters are sincere, genuine, and lovable. And the plot is a delightful blend of heart, hope, humour, nostalgia, drama, and emotion.

Overall, Here We Go Again is, ultimately, a story about life, love, loss, dreams, heartbreak, friendship, family, and finding happiness, and I absolutely adored it.

 

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 Alison Cochrun

Alison Cochrun is a former high school English teacher and a current writer of queer love stories, including The Charm Offensive and Kiss Her Once for Me. She lives outside of Portland, Oregon, with two giant dogs, her small wife, and too many books.

Photo by Hayley Downing-Fairless.

Website | Goodreads | Instagram

#BookReview Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez @HBGCanada @readforeverpub @grandcentralpub #ReadForever #ReadForever2024 #AbbyJimenez #JustForTheSummer #HBGCanada

Published on by ZoeLeave a comment
#BookReview Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez @HBGCanada @readforeverpub @grandcentralpub #ReadForever #ReadForever2024 #AbbyJimenez #JustForTheSummer #HBGCanada Title: Just for the Summer

Author: Abby Jimenez

Published by: Forever on Apr. 2, 2024

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 432

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: HBG Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it’s now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They’ll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other’s out, and they’ll both go on to find the love of their lives. It’s a bonkers idea… and it just might work.

Emma hadn’t planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

It’s supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma’s toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they’re suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected–including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?

Review:

Enchanting, heartwarming, and brilliantly crafted!

Just for the Summer is a tender, witty, romantic tale that takes you into the lives of Emma and Justin, two twenty-somethings who, after connecting through a funny Reddit post, agree to temporarily date in order to try and break the curse they both seem to be living under.

The prose is well-turned and fluid. The characters are sweet, flawed, genuine, and lovable. And the story is an exceptionally absorbing tale about life, love, healing, forgiveness, hope, self-reflection, familial drama, weighty issues, friendship, courage, taking chances, happiness, and new beginnings.  

For the past few years Abby Jimenez’s books have been some of my all-time favourites, and even though I didn’t think it was possible to love another one of her books more than the ones I’ve already read, she proved me wrong. Just for the Summer is an unbelievable story that captured my heart from the very first page, and not only did I devour it, I absolutely loved it!

This book is available now.

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

         

 

 

Thank you to HBG Canada & Forever for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Abby Jimenez

Abby Jimenez is a Food Network champion, motivational speaker, and contemporary romance novelist living in Minnesota. Abby founded Nadia Cakes out of her home kitchen in 2007. The bakery has since gone on to open multiple locations in two states, won numerous Food Network competitions and amassed an international cult following. Abby has since turned her talents to penning novels. She loves a good book, coffee, doglets, and not leaving the house.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

Website | Facebook | Instagram

#BookReview Clear by Carys Davies @ScribnerBooks @SimonSchusterCA #CarysDavies #Clear #SimonSchusterCA

Published on by ZoeLeave a comment
#BookReview Clear by Carys Davies @ScribnerBooks @SimonSchusterCA #CarysDavies #Clear #SimonSchusterCA Title: Clear

Author: Carys Davies

Published by: Scribner on Apr. 2, 2024

Genres: Historical Fiction, LGBTQIA

Pages: 208

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

A stunning, exquisite novel from an award-winning writer about a minister dispatched to a remote island off of Scotland to “clear” the last remaining inhabitant, who has no intention of leaving—an unforgettable tale of resilience, change, and hope.

John, an impoverished Scottish minister, has accepted a job evicting the lone remaining occupant of an island north of Scotland—Ivar, who has been living alone for decades, with only the animals and the sea for company. Though his wife, Mary, has serious misgivings about the errand, he decides to go anyway, setting in motion a chain of events that neither he nor Mary could have predicted.

Shortly after John reaches the island, he falls down a cliff and is found, unconscious and badly injured, by Ivar who takes him home and tends to his wounds. The two men do not speak a common language, but as John builds a dictionary of Ivar’s world, they learn to communicate and, as Ivar sees himself for the first time in decades reflected through the eyes of another person, they build a fragile, unusual connection.

Unfolding in the 1840s in the final stages of the infamous Scottish Clearances—which saw whole communities of the rural poor driven off the land in a relentless program of forced evictions—this singular, beautiful, deeply surprising novel explores the differences and connections between us, the way history shapes our deepest convictions, and how the human spirit can survive despite all odds. Moving and unpredictable, sensitive and spellbinding, Clear is a profound and pleasurable read.

Review:

Poignant, immersive, and affecting!

Clear is a raw, vivid tale that sweeps you away to 1840s Scotland and into the life of John Ferguson, a young minister who, after recently breaking away from an established church and in desperate need of money, agrees to travel to an isolated island for a landowner to expel the last remaining inhabitant living there. But things don’t turn out exactly as planned, and after sustaining an injury shortly after his arrival he awakes to find himself not only at the mercy of this larger-than-life man who speaks a language he doesn’t understand but forming an unlikely friendship that will test everything he ever knew about love and himself.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are kind, vulnerable, and strong. And the plot is an exceptionally tender tale about life, loss, friendship, strength, language, isolation, loneliness, self-discovery, revelations, belonging, and love.

Overall, Clear is a powerful, pensive, well-written story by Davies where the space between the words resonates as loudly as the words themselves and is a beautiful reminder that to love and be loved is truly one of humanity’s most fundamental needs.

 

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 Carys Davies

Carys Davies’s debut novel West was shortlisted for the Rathbones Folio Prize, runner-up for the Society of Authors’ McKitterick Prize, and winner of the Wales Book of the Year for Fiction. She is also the author of The Mission House, which was The Sunday Times (London) 2020 Novel of the Year, and two collections of short stories, Some New Ambush and The Redemption of Galen Pike, which won the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize. Her other awards include the Royal Society of Literature’s V.S. Pritchett Prize, the Society of Authors’ Olive Cook Short Story Award, and a Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library. Born in Wales, she lived and worked for twelve years in New York and Chicago, and now lives in Edinburgh. Clear is her most recent novel.

Website | Goodreads

#BookReview The Unquiet Bones by Loreth Anne White @Loreth @AmazonPub @FireflyDist @AmazonPub #TheUnquietBones #LorethAnneWhite #Montlake #FireflyDist

Published on by ZoeLeave a comment
#BookReview The Unquiet Bones by Loreth Anne White @Loreth @AmazonPub @FireflyDist @AmazonPub #TheUnquietBones #LorethAnneWhite #Montlake #FireflyDist Title: The Unquiet Bones

Author: Loreth Anne White

Published by: Montlake Romance on Mar. 5, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 351

Format: Paperback

Source: Firefly Distributed Lines

Book Rating: 9/10

A shocking discovery of human bones reopens an almost fifty-year-old cold case—and rips apart the lives of a group of friends—in a riveting novel by Loreth Anne White, the Amazon Charts and Washington Post bestselling author of The Maid’s Diary.

When human bones are found beneath an old chapel in the woods, evidence suggests the remains could be linked to the decades-old case of missing teen Annalise Jansen.

Homicide detective Jane Munro—pregnant and acutely attuned to the preciousness of life—hopes the grim discovery will finally bring closure to the girl’s family. But for a group of Annalise’s old friends, once dubbed the Shoreview Six by the media, it threatens to expose a terrible pledge made on an autumn night forty-seven years ago.

The friends are now highly respected, affluent members of their communities, and none of them ever expected the dark chapter in their past to resurface. But as Jane and forensic anthropologist Dr. Ella Quinn peel back the layers of secrets, the group begins to fracture. Will one cave? Will they turn on each other?

The investigation takes a sharp turn when Jane discovers a second body—that of the boy long blamed for Annalise’s disappearance. As the bones tell their story, the group learns just how far each will go to guard their own truth.

Review:

Intricate, deft, and suspenseful!

The Unquiet Bones is a chilling, engrossing tale that takes us into the life of the grieving, pregnant homicide detective Jane Munro as she and her team suddenly find themselves investigating the tragic decades-old cold case of a missing teen who seemingly vanished without a trace one night after partying with some of her closest friends.

The writing is meticulous and tight. The characters are intuitive, relentless, and committed. And the plot unravels briskly into a sinister tale full of twists, turns, heartbreak, lies, secrets, desperation, suspicious personalities, familial drama, abuse, misdirection, and tragedy.

Overall, The Unquiet Bones is an atmospheric, gripping, highly entertaining thriller that once again highlights White’s exceptional ability to write menacing, sophisticated mysteries that have well-drawn characters and edgy storylines.

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 Loreth Anne White

Loreth Anne White is an award-winning, bestselling author of romantic suspense, thrillers, and mysteries.

A three-time RITA finalist, she has also won the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the National Readers’ Choice Award, and the Romantic Crown for Best Romantic Suspense and Best Book Overall, in addition to being a Booksellers’ Best finalist, a multiple Daphne Du Maurier Award finalist, and a multiple CataRomance Reviewers’ Choice Award winner.

A former journalist and newspaper editor who has worked in both South Africa and Canada, she now resides in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest with her family. When she’s not writing, you will find her skiing, biking, or hiking the trails with her Black Dog.

Website | Facebook

#BookReview A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda @PenguinRandomCA #ShilpiSomayaGowda #AGreatCountry #PenguinReads

Published on by ZoeLeave a comment
#BookReview A Great Country by Shilpi Somaya Gowda @PenguinRandomCA #ShilpiSomayaGowda #AGreatCountry #PenguinReads Title: A Great Country

Author: Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Published by: Doubleday Canada on Mar. 26, 2024

Genres: General Fiction

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Penguin Random House Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

From the New York Times bestselling author, a novel in the tradition of Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, exploring the ties and fractures of a close-knit Indian-American family in the aftermath of a violent encounter with the police.

Pacific Hills, California: Gated communities, ocean views, well-tended lawns, serene pools, and now the new home of the Shah family. For the Shah parents, who came to America twenty years earlier with little more than an education and their new marriage, this move represents the culmination of years of hard work and dreaming. For their children, born and raised in America, success is not so simple.

For the most part, these differences among the five members of the Shah family are minor irritants, arguments between parents and children, older and younger siblings. But one Saturday night, the twelve-year-old son is arrested. The fallout from that event will shake each family member’s perception of themselves as individuals, as community members, as Americans, and will lead each to consider: how do we define success? At what cost comes ambition? And what is our role and responsibility in the cultural mosaic of modern America?

For readers of The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett and Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid, A Great Country explores themes of immigration, generational conflict, social class and privilege as it reconsiders the myth of the model minority and questions the price of the American dream.

Review:

Astute, fast-paced, and thought-provoking!

A Great Country is a nuanced, absorbing tale set in Pacific Hills, California that takes you into the lives of the Indian American Shah family as their lives get turned upside down when the youngest member of the family, twelve-year-old Ajay, is brutally arrested and they must each individually confront their conflicting feelings and experiences with systemic racism, prejudice, privilege, controversy, reputation, and ableism.

The prose is well-turned and fluid. The characters are flawed, troubled, and confused. And the plot is a moving tale of life, loss, shame, reputation, ostracism, class division, suffering, friendship, affluence, culture, and familial drama.

Overall, A Great Country is a hopeful, compelling, multi-generational saga by Gowda that is a good reminder that family can be frustrating, messy, secretive, and sometimes hard to love, but they can also be surprising, supportive, loyal, and the only true place that feels like home.

 

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

 

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Shilpi Somaya Gowda

SHILPI SOMAYA GOWDA was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. Her previous novels, Secret Daughter, The Golden Son and The Shape of Family became international bestsellers, selling over two million copies worldwide, in over 30 languages. She holds degrees from Stanford University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she was a Morehead-Cain scholar. She lives in California with her husband and children.

Photo by Alissa Rose Photography

Website | Facebook | Instagram

#BookReview Still See You Everywhere by Lisa Gardner @LisaGardnerBks @HBGCanada @GrandCentralPub #LisaGardner #StillSeeYouEverywhere #FrankieElkin #GrandCentralPub #HBGCanada

Published on by ZoeLeave a comment
#BookReview Still See You Everywhere by Lisa Gardner @LisaGardnerBks @HBGCanada @GrandCentralPub #LisaGardner #StillSeeYouEverywhere #FrankieElkin #GrandCentralPub #HBGCanada Title: Still See You Everywhere

Author: Lisa Gardner

Series: Frankie Elkin #3

Published by: Grand Central Publishing on Mar. 12, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 416

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: HBG Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner comes a harrowing new thriller:

Frankie Elkin is an expert at finding the missing persons that the rest of the world has forgotten, but even she couldn’t have anticipated this latest request—to locate the long-lost sister of a female serial killer facing execution in three weeks’ time.

She has called herself “death,” but people called her the devil.

The case was sensational. Kaylee Pierson had confessed from the very beginning, waived all appeals. Despite the media’s chronicling of her tragic circumstances—the childhood spent with a violent father—no one could find sympathy for “the Beautiful Butcher” who had led eighteen men home from bars before viciously slitting their throats.
Now, with only twenty-one days left to live, Pierson has finally received a lead on the whereabouts of the sister who was kidnapped over a decade ago, and she needs Frankie’s help to find her. The Beautiful Butcher’s offer:

When was the last time your search ended with finding the living?

Unable to resist the chance for a rescue, Frankie takes on Pierson’s request. Twelve years ago, five-year-old Leilani went missing in Hawaii. The main suspect? Pierson’s tech mogul ex-boyfriend, Sanders MacManus. Now, on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific—the site of MacManus’s latest vanity project—fresh evidence has appeared. In order to learn the truth and possibly save a young woman’s life, Frankie must go undercover at the isolated base camp. Her challenge: A dozen strangers. Countless dangerous secrets. Zero means of calling for help. And then the storm rolls in…

Review:

Simmering, gripping, and atmospheric!

Still See You Everywhere is an ominous, character-driven thriller that takes us back into the life of Frankie Elkin as she now finds herself heading to the remote Hawaiian island of Pomaikai at the request of a deranged, convicted serial killer on death row who is hoping to find her missing teenage sister whom she believes is being groomed by her ex-boyfriend and tech billionaire, Sanders MacManus, before her execution.

The prose is brisk and tight. The characters are stubborn, damaged, and impulsive. And the plot is a darkly menacing tale of twists, turns, action, intrigue, power, corruption, duplicity, manipulation, danger, terror, suspicion, survival, and murder.

Overall, Still See You Everywhere is another tortuous, addictive, unnerving tale by Gardner that is deliciously relentless, excessively deceptive, and bursting with misdirection.

 

This book is available now.

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

           

 

 

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

 

About Lisa Gardner

New York Times bestselling crime novelist Lisa Gardner began her career in food service, but after catching her hair on fire numerous times, she took the hint and focused on writing instead. A self-described research junkie, she has parlayed her interest in police procedure, cutting edge forensics and twisted plots into a streak of eleven bestselling suspense novels.

Lisa lives in the White Mountains of New Hampshire with her family, as well as two highly spoiled dogs and one extremely neurotic three-legged cat. Lisa graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in international relations.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Bookbub

#BookReview Good Material by Dolly Alderton @PenguinRandomCA #GoodMaterial #DollyAlderton #PenguinReads

Published on by Zoe1 Comment
#BookReview Good Material by Dolly Alderton @PenguinRandomCA #GoodMaterial #DollyAlderton #PenguinReads Title: Good Material

Author: Dolly Alderton

Published by: Doubleday Canada on Jan. 30, 2024

Genres: Contemporary Romance, General Fiction

Pages: 336

Format: Paperback

Source: Penguin Random House Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

From the bestselling author of Ghosts and Everything I Know About Love: a story of heartbreak and friendship and how to survive both.

Andy’s story wasn’t meant to turn out this way. Living out of a suitcase in his best friends’ spare room, waiting for his career as a stand-up comedian to finally take off, he struggles to process the life-ruining end of his relationship with the only woman he’s ever truly loved.

As he tries to solve the seemingly unsolvable mystery of his broken relationship, he contends with career catastrophe, social media paranoia, a rapidly dwindling friendship group and the growing suspicion that, at 35, he really should have figured this all out by now.

Andy has a lot to learn, not least his ex-girlfriend’s side of the story.

Warm, wise, funny and achingly relatable, Dolly Alderton’s highly-anticipated second novel is about the mystery of what draws us together – and what pulls us apart – the pain of really growing up, and the stories we tell about our lives.

Review:

Witty, tender, and authentic!

Good Material is a snappy, insightful tale that takes you into the life of the disillusioned, thirty-five-year-old comedian Andy as he struggles to juggle a lacklustre career, life as a single thirtysomething, a sudden end to a relationship he thought was going well, the intricacies of dating younger women, and a friend group that all seem to have their stuff together and are getting married and having babies.

The writing is genuine and direct. The characters are lonely, quirky, and adrift. And the plot is a lighthearted, touching blend of life, love, introspection, friendship, self-depreciating humour, awkward situations, sweet moments, dating woes, misunderstandings, intimacy, and moving on.

Overall, Good Material is a layered, astute, clever tale by Alderton that is the first novel I’ve read by this author, but certainly won’t be my last.

 

This novel is available now.

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

        

 

 

Thank you to Penguin Random House Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Dolly Alderton

DOLLY ALDERTON is an award-winning author, screenwriter and journalist based in London. She is a columnist for The Sunday Times Style and has also written for GQ, Red, Marie Claire and Grazia. She is the former co-host and co-creator of the podcast The High Low. Her first book, Everything I Know About Love, became a top five Sunday Times best-seller in its first week of publication, won a National Book Award (UK) for Autobiography of the Year and was made into a BBC One TV Series. Ghosts, her first novel, was published in 2021. Dear Dolly, a collection of her agony aunt columns from the Sunday Times Style magazine, was published in 2022 and was also a Sunday Times best-seller.

Photo by Alexandra Cameron.

Website | Instagram