Format: Paperback

#BookReview The Lost English Girl by Julia Kelly @The_Julia_Kelly @SimonSchusterCA @GalleryBooks #TheLostEnglishGirl #JuliaKelly #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview The Lost English Girl by Julia Kelly @The_Julia_Kelly @SimonSchusterCA @GalleryBooks #TheLostEnglishGirl #JuliaKelly #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Lost English Girl

Author: Julia Kelly

Published by: Gallery Books on Mar. 7, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 320

Format: Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

The acclaimed author of the “sweeping and beautifully written novel” (Woman’s World) The Light Over London weaves an epic saga of love, motherhood, and betrayal set against World War II.

Liverpool, 1935: Raised in a strict Catholic family, Viv Byrne knows what’s expected of her: marry a Catholic man from her working-class neighborhood and have his children. However, when she finds herself pregnant after a fling with Joshua Levinson, a Jewish man with dreams of becoming a famous Jazz musician, Viv knows that a swift wedding is the only answer. Her only solace is that marrying Joshua will mean escaping her strict mother’s scrutiny. But when Joshua makes a life-changing choice on their wedding day, Viv is forced once again into the arms of her disapproving family.

Five years later and on the eve of World War II, Viv is faced with the impossible choice to evacuate her young daughter, Maggie, to the countryside estate of the affluent Thompson family. In New York City, Joshua gives up his failing musical career to serve in the Royal Air Force, fight for his country, and try to piece together his feelings about the family, wife, and daughter he left behind at eighteen. However, tragedy strikes when Viv learns that the countryside safe haven she sent her daughter to wasn’t immune from the horrors of war. It is only years later, with Joshua’s help, that Viv learns the secrets of their shared past and what it will take to put a family back together again.

Telling the harrowing story of England’s many evacuated children, bestselling author Julia Kelly’s The Lost English Girl explores how one simple choice can change the course of a life, and what we are willing to forgive to find a way back to the ones we love and thought lost.

Review:

Immersive, moving, and sweet!

The Lost English Girl is a captivating, heart-wrenching tale set in Liverpool during WWII that takes you into the life of Viv Byrne, a young catholic girl who, after making a mistake with a local Jewish boy whom she marries in name only to protect her family’s reputation, struggles to raise her child alone under the roof of her cruel, judgemental parents until she is coerced into sending her daughter to the British countryside to live for the duration of the war leaving her wracked with heartbreak, guilt, and a determination to do whatever she can to build a new life for them for when she returns.

The prose is vivid and smooth. The characters are resilient, brave, and endearing. And the plot is a poignant, compelling tale about life, loss, family, secrets, separation, desperation, tragedy, grief, parenthood, friendship, duplicitous behaviours, and the horrors and hardships of war.

Overall, The Lost English Girl is a hopeful, heartwarming, affecting tale by Kelly inspired by true-life events that is a wonderful choice for anyone who loves to be swept away into a well-written historical fiction novel that delves into the unimaginable sacrifices and deeply emotional choices people often must make during times of war.

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 Julia Kelly

Julia Kelly is the award-winning author of women's fiction and historical romance books about the extraordinary stories of the past. She also writes fast-paced contemporary sports romance as Julia Blake. In addition to writing, she’s been an Emmy-nominated producer, journalist, marketing professional, and (for one summer) a tea waitress. Julia called Los Angeles, Iowa, and New York City home before settling in London.

Photograph by Scott Bottles.

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#BookReview Rogue by Elle Kennedy @ElleKennedy @Read_Bloom #ReadBloom #RogueBook #SandoverPrep #ElleKennedy #SourcebooksCasa

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#BookReview Rogue by Elle Kennedy @ElleKennedy @Read_Bloom #ReadBloom #RogueBook #SandoverPrep #ElleKennedy #SourcebooksCasa Title: Rogue

Author: Elle Kennedy

Series: Prep #2

Published by: Bloom Books on Mar. 7, 2023

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Young Adult

Pages: 430

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Book Rating: 9/10

From New York Times bestselling author Elle Kennedy comes the return to Sandover Prep, where secrets lurk in the dark and no one is safe when they come into the light.

It’s been a long time since Casey Tresscott has felt like her life was her own. After the car accident that nearly cost her everything, she’s used to her family’s coddling and the relentless whispers at school, no matter how much they sting. After all, she’s found a safe harbor in her budding relationship with Sandover’s golden boy, Fenn Bishop…or so she thinks.

Beneath Fenn’s pretty, party-boy surface is a dangerous truth about the night Casey almost died. He thought lying to her was the right thing to do, but when the secret shakes loose, he just might lose her for good.

Because Casey is done being taken advantage of.

Grasping for the control she’s been missing, Casey finally snaps―telling off her bullies, gallivanting with rebels and playboys, and shirking her headmaster father’s strict curfews, despite the consequences. A desperate Fenn must ally with his stepbrother RJ and the other Sandover delinquents to uncover the full story of Casey’s accident and the ones responsible if he hopes to win her back.

But what happens if Casey is no longer the same girl he first fell for? Is there any hope for their future if she’s gone rogue for good?

Review:

Mysterious, scandalous, and spicy

Rogue is an addictive, alluring tale that transports you back to Sandover Prep right where Misfit leftover and into the life of Headmaster Tresscott’s youngest daughter Casey as she struggles to discover what really happened the night she almost died, finally confronts the bullies who taunt her day in and day out, and must decide if the boy of her dreams is worth giving a second chance.

The writing is intriguing and smooth. The characters are tormented, hedonistic, and impulsive. And the plot is a clever, captivating mix of mayhem, mischief, friendship, family, heartbreak, desire, teenage drama, first loves, and introspection.

Overall, Rogue is a highly entertaining, delectable treat that is another fantastic addition to what is ultimately turning out to be an absolutely binge-worthy, scandalous Prep series by Kennedy.

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

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

 

About Elle Kennedy

A New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Elle Kennedy grew up in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario, and holds a B.A. in English from York University. From an early age, she knew she wanted to be a writer, and actively began pursuing that dream when she was a teenager.

Elle currently writes for various publishers. She loves strong heroines and sexy alpha heroes, and just enough heat and danger to keep things interesting!

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#BookReview A Death at the Party by Amy Stuart @AmyfStuart @SimonSchusterCA #ADeathattheParty #AmyStuart #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview A Death at the Party by Amy Stuart @AmyfStuart @SimonSchusterCA #ADeathattheParty #AmyStuart #SimonSchusterCA Title: A Death at the Party

Author: Amy Stuart

Published by: Simon and Schuster on Mar. 7, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

In this tense, spellbinding thriller set over the course of a single day, a woman prepares for a party that goes dreadfully wrong—for fans of Ashley Audrain and Lisa Jewell.

Nadine Walsh’s summer garden party is in full swing. The neighbors all have cocktails, the catered food is exquisite—everything’s going according to plan.

But Nadine—devoted wife, loving mother, and doting daughter—finds herself standing over a dead body in her basement while her guests clink glasses upstairs. What happened? How did it come to this?

Rewind to that morning, when Nadine is in her kitchen, making last-minute preparations before she welcomes more than a hundred guests to her home to celebrate her mother’s birthday. But her husband is of little help to her, her two grown children are consumed with their own concerns, and her mother—only her mother knows that today isn’t just a birthday party. It marks another anniversary as well.

Still, Nadine will focus just on tonight. Everyone deserves a celebration after the year they’ve had. A chance for fun. A chance to forget. But it’s hard to forget when Nadine’s head is swirling with secrets, haunting memories, and concerns about what might happen when her guests unite.

Review:

Simmering, sinister, and seductive!

A Death at the Party is a character-driven, domestic thriller that takes you into the life of Nadine Walsh, a mother of two who, after ending the night of her mother’s sixtieth birthday party and the thirtieth anniversary of her aunt’s tragic death standing over the body of a dead man, takes us back to the start of the day and into all the deception, infidelities, suspicions, and deviant behaviours that led her there.

The prose is intricate and intense. The characters are unreliable, secretive, and consumed. And the plot unfolds and unravels briskly into a murky tale full of twists, turns, surprises, familial drama, manipulation, resentments, scandal, wickedness, depravity, vengeance, and murder.

Overall, A Death at the Party is a tight, devious, relentless tale by Stuart that delves into the complex bonds that exist between friends and family members and reminds us that behind all those happy, smiling faces often lies an abundance of destructive lies and devastating secrets.

 

This book 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 Amy Stuart

Amy Stuart is the #1 bestselling author of three novels: Still Mine, Still Water, and Still Here. Shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Best First Novel Award and winner of the 2011 Writers’ Union of Canada Short Prose Competition, Amy is the founder of Writerscape, an online community for hopeful and emerging writers. Amy lives in Toronto with her husband and their three sons.

Photograph by Joey Stuart.

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#BookReview The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Labuskes @brilabuskes @HarperCollinsCa @Bookclubbish #BooksofHCC #TheLibrarianofBurnedBooks #BriannaLabuskes #Paid #Ad #Sponsored

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#BookReview The Librarian of Burned Books by Brianna Labuskes @brilabuskes @HarperCollinsCa @Bookclubbish #BooksofHCC #TheLibrarianofBurnedBooks #BriannaLabuskes #Paid #Ad #Sponsored Title: The Librarian of Burned Books

Author: Brianna Labuskes

Published by: William Morrow on Feb. 21, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 416

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: HarperCollins Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Berlin 1933. Following the success of her debut novel, American writer Althea James receives an invitation from Joseph Goebbels himself to participate in a culture exchange program in Germany. For a girl from a small town in Maine, 1933 Berlin seems to be sparklingly cosmopolitan, blossoming in the midst of a great change with the charismatic new chancellor at the helm. Then Althea meets a beautiful woman who promises to show her the real Berlin, and soon she’s drawn into a group of resisters who make her question everything she knows about her hosts–and herself.

Paris 1936. She may have escaped Berlin for Paris, but Hannah Brecht discovers the City of Light is no refuge from the anti-Semitism and Nazi sympathizers she thought she left behind. Heartbroken and tormented by the role she played in the betrayal that destroyed her family, Hannah throws herself into her work at the German Library of Burned Books. Through the quiet power of books, she believes she can help counter the tide of fascism she sees rising across Europe and atone for her mistakes. But when a dear friend decides actions will speak louder than words, Hannah must decide what stories she is willing to live–or die–for.

New York 1944. Since her husband Edward was killed fighting the Nazis, Vivian Childs has been waging her own war: preventing a powerful senator’s attempts to censor the Armed Service Editions, portable paperbacks that are shipped by the millions to soldiers overseas. Viv knows just how much they mean to the men through the letters she receives–including the last one she got from Edward. She also knows the only way to win this battle is to counter the senator’s propaganda with a story of her own–at the heart of which lies the reclusive and mysterious woman tending the American Library of Nazi-Banned Books in Brooklyn.

As Viv unknowingly brings her censorship fight crashing into the secrets of the recent past, the fates of these three women will converge, changing all of them forever.

Inspired by the true story of the Council of Books in Wartime–the WWII organization founded by booksellers, publishers, librarians, and authors to use books as “weapons in the war of ideas”–The Librarian of Burned Books is an unforgettable historical novel, a haunting love story, and a testament to the beauty, power, and goodness of the written word.

Review:

Insightful, rich, and affecting!

The Librarian of Burned Books is an absorbing, intense tale set during prewar Berlin and Paris, as well as New York City during the latter part of WWII, that takes you into the lives of three women who all come from different backgrounds and with completely different motivations but whose worlds become uniquely connected and intertwined when they all find themselves working together to stop the censorship of books being sent to the troops fighting overseas.

The prose is polished and expressive. The characters are vulnerable, intriguing, and strong. And the plot is a compelling tale of life, loss, love, family, friendship, sacrifice, courage, secrets, deception, betrayal, oppression, resistance, and survival.

Overall, The Librarian of Burned Books is a well-written, vivid, informative tale by Labuskes inspired by real-life events that does an exceptional job of highlighting her considerable knowledge and impressive research into an organization that was determined to show the power and importance of the written word to uplift and provide hope in even the most horrific situations.

 

This novel is available now.

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

             

 

 

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

 

About Brianna Labuskes

Wall Street Journal, Amazon Charts and Washington Post best-selling author.

Bri loves reading and writing in two of her favorite genres: psychological thrillers and historical fiction. She got her start in romance with a small publisher and still adores swoon-worthy meet-cutes. You can find that strong sense of relationship-building in all of Bri’s work. She spent the first decade-plus-change of her career in D.C. journalism and thus knows too much about the Ways & Means Committee as well as the best way to avoid traffic on the Beltway. She now lives in Asheville, N.C., with her pup, Jinx.

Her last name is pronounced La-bus-kiss (it’s okay, no one gets it right!)

You can find Bri on Twitter, where she’ll most likely be recommending her latest read, or on Instagram posting pictures of her pup.

She loves hearing from readers most of all, so feel free to send her a message.

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com.

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#FeaturePost The Foreign Exchange by Veronica G. Henry @veronicawrites @KayePublicity @AmazonPub #TheForeignExchange #VeronicaGHenry #MamboReina #KayePublicity

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#FeaturePost The Foreign Exchange by Veronica G. Henry @veronicawrites @KayePublicity @AmazonPub #TheForeignExchange #VeronicaGHenry #MamboReina #KayePublicity Title: The Foreign Exchange

Author: Veronica G. Henry

Series: Mambo Reina #2

Published by: 47North on Feb. 28, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 288

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Kaye Publicity

A Vodou priestess turned amateur sleuth investigating a ritual murder is embroiled in an insidious case of corruption that reaches beyond the shadows of New Orleans.

After solving a crime blamed on Vodou in New Orleans’ French Quarter, Vodou priestess turned amateur detective Reina Dumond has returned to her benevolent work as a healer. But when her friend and enigmatic client Evangeline “Vangie” Stiles comes to her for a spell, Mambo Reina quickly realizes what Vangie really needs is a sleuth.

Something is amiss in the Stileses’ marriage. Five thousand dollars has inexplicably appeared in the bank account Vangie shares with her scam-artist husband, Arthur, and she smells trouble. So does Reina. Especially when her investigation into Arthur’s likely new con leads to murder. Considering the manner of death and the signs on the victim’s body, Reina recognizes it for what it is: ritual magic of the vodouisant kind.

As Reina digs deeper, she encounters a conspiracy exploiting vulnerable youth—one of whom may have abilities just like hers. With the help of her friends Darryl and Tyka, Reina must hone her ever-evolving skills to uncover a mystery that reaches further than she imagined.

 

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

 

Thank you to Kaye Publicity and Amazon Publishing for gifting me a copy.

 

About Veronica G. Henry

Veronica G. Henry is the author of Bacchanal, The Quarter Storm, and The Foreign Exchange in the Mambo Reina series.

Her work has debuted at #1 on multiple Amazon bestseller charts, was chosen as an editors’ pick for Best African American Fantasy, and shortlisted for the Manly Wade Wellman Award.

She is a Viable Paradise alum and a member of SFWA and MWA. Her stories have appeared, or are forthcoming, in the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and FIYAH Literary Magazine.

She writes from North Carolina, where she eschews rollerballs for fountain pens and fine paper. Other untreated addictions include chocolate and cupcakes.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

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#BookReview The Angel Maker by Alex North @CeladonBooks #alexnorth #alexnorthauthor #theangelmaker #CeladonBooks #CeladonReads #partner

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#BookReview The Angel Maker by Alex North @CeladonBooks #alexnorth #alexnorthauthor #theangelmaker #CeladonBooks #CeladonReads #partner Title: The Angel Maker

Author: Alex North

Published by: Celadon Books on Feb. 28, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Celadon Books

Book Rating: 8/10

A dark, suspenseful new thriller about the mysteries of fate, the unbreakable bond of siblings, and a notorious serial killer who was said to know the future.

Growing up in a beautiful house in the English countryside, Katie Shaw lived a charmed life. At the cusp of graduation, she had big dreams, a devoted boyfriend, and a little brother she protected fiercely. Until the day a violent stranger changed the fate of her family forever.

Years later, still unable to live down the guilt surrounding what happened to her brother, Chris, and now with a child of her own to protect, Katie struggles to separate the real threats from the imagined. Then she gets the phone call: Chris has gone missing and needs his big sister once more.

Meanwhile, Detective Laurence Page is facing a particularly gruesome crime. A distinguished professor of fate and free will has been brutally murdered just hours after firing his staff. All the leads point back to two old cases: the gruesome attack on teenager Christopher Shaw, and the despicable crimes of a notorious serial killer who, legend had it, could see the future.

Review:

Dark, gritty, and spine-chilling!

The Angel Maker is a layered, unsettling, psychological thriller that delves into all the devastating emotional, psychological, and physical effects caused by violence on its victims, as well as their families, and highlights just how easily the most heinous of evil can often live comfortably amongst us merely hidden behind masks of normality.

The writing is sharp and crisp. The characters are secretive, cunning, and vulnerable. And the plot, told from multiple perspectives, builds quickly creating intensity and suspense as it unravels all the relationships, motivations, personalities, deception, and devious behaviours within it.

Overall, The Angel Maker is, ultimately, a story of lies, revelations, jealousy, obsession, familial drama, mental illness, depravity, guilt, manipulation, violence, and murder. It’s a tight, clever, disturbing thrill ride by North that had just the right amount of twists, turns, and surprises to keep me thoroughly engrossed 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 Celadon Books for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Alex North

Alex North is the internationally bestselling author of The Whisper Man and The Shadows. He lives in Leeds, England, with his wife and son, and is a British crime writer who has previously published under another name.

Photo by Charlotte Graham.

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#BookReview Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall @HMarshallAuthor @SimonSchusterCA #LookingforJane #HeatherMarshall #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall @HMarshallAuthor @SimonSchusterCA #LookingforJane #HeatherMarshall #SimonSchusterCA Title: Looking for Jane

Author: Heather Marshall

Published by: Simon & Schuster on Mar. 1, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

For readers of Joanna Goodman and Genevieve Graham comes a masterful debut novel about three women whose lives are bound together by a long-lost letter, a mother’s love, and a secret network of women fighting for the right to choose—inspired by true stories.

Tell them you’re looking for Jane.

2017

When Angela Creighton discovers a mysterious letter containing a life-shattering confession in a stack of forgotten mail, she is determined to find the intended recipient. Her search takes her back to the 1970s when a group of daring women operated an illegal underground abortion network in Toronto known only by its whispered code name: Jane…

1971

As a teenager, Dr. Evelyn Taylor was sent to a home for “fallen” women where she was forced to give up her baby for adoption—a trauma she has never recovered from. Despite harrowing police raids and the constant threat of arrest, she joins the Jane Network as an abortion provider, determined to give other women the choice she never had.

1980

After discovering a shocking secret about her family history, twenty-year-old Nancy Mitchell begins to question everything she has ever known. When she unexpectedly becomes pregnant, she feels like she has no one to turn to for help. Grappling with her decision, she locates “Jane” and finds a place of her own alongside Dr. Taylor within the network’s ranks, but she can never escape the lies that haunt her.

Weaving together the lives of three women, Looking for Jane is an unforgettable debut about the devastating consequences that come from a lack of choice—and the enduring power of a mother’s love.

Review:

Absorbing, poignant, and heartrending!

Looking for Jane is a harrowing, moving novel set in Toronto between 1960 to 2017 that introduces you to three young women as they navigate the torment and fallout of a world where unwed mothers are sent to homes, deprived of basic necessities, coerced into relinquishing their parental rights, and unnecessarily punished viciously, babies are bought, adoption information is sealed, abortion is not legal and expensive back alley butchering is often the only choice, and an incredible network of caring professionals endanger themselves in order to provide safe options while rallying for change.

The prose is vivid and rich. The characters are strong, vulnerable, determined, and brave. And the plot told from multiple perspectives, is a compelling blend of life, loss, secrets, surprises, heartbreak, abuse, survival, motherhood, female friendships, pregnancy, infertility, and the history and legalities of abortion.

Overall, Looking for Jane is a compassionate, enlightening, timely tale inspired by true-life events that is a haunting reminder of just how much physical, psychological, and emotional abuse young unwed women endured and shockingly highlights that even though we’ve come so far in respect to women’s rights and body autonomy, in some respects, we still have a long way to go. It’s a book that ultimately needs to be read to appreciate just how well-researched, beautifully written, and extremely memorable it truly is.

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 Heather Marshall

Heather Marshall lives with her family near Toronto. She completed master’s degrees in Canadian history and political science, and worked in politics and communications before turning her attention to her true passion: storytelling. Looking for Jane is her debut novel.

Photograph by Amanda Kopcic.

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#BookReview Her Unexpected Match by Lacey Baker @LaceyBakerbook @entangledpub @angelamelamud #HerUnexpectedMatch #LaceyBaker

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#BookReview Her Unexpected Match by Lacey Baker @LaceyBakerbook @entangledpub @angelamelamud #HerUnexpectedMatch #LaceyBaker Title: Her Unexpected Match

Author: Lacey Baker

Series: Crescent Island #1

Published by: Entangled Publishing on Feb. 21, 2023

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 352

Format: Paperback

Source: Angela Melamud, Entangled Publishing

Book Rating: 8/10

Travel writer Allie Sparks has one goal: to find the story that will save her career. So here she is, visiting her bestie on picturesque Crescent Island—with sun-warmed beaches, the briny smell of the ocean, and rumors of a secret astrologer-matchmaker who guarantees love. Of course, Allie doesn’t believe in any of that stuff. If anything, she’ll prove it’s a total scam.

Ryan Parker believes in love—just not right now. He’s focused on expanding his family’s barbeque business, finding investors, and keeping his too-big Great Dane puppy from jumping on everyone, including his sister’s pretty, whiskey-eyed best friend. Besides, falling for a tourist is definitely not in his astrological forecast.

Allie is doing everything she can to resist the charm of the town and its beauty, not to mention her attraction to Ryan. But there’s a lot more happening on Crescent Island than anyone knows…and when her story goes to print, this tiny, close-knit town might never be the same.

Review:

Sweet, hopeful, and engaging!

Her Unexpected Match is an enchanting, tender tale that features the dependable, handsome Ryan who, after meeting his little sister’s best friend, may discover that now is the right time for love, and the driven, hardworking travel writer Allie who may finally learn there’s a lot more to life than just work and that the true meaning of home is somewhere you feel cared for, supported and loved.

The prose is effortless and smooth. The characters are spirited, kindhearted, and amusing. And the plot is a delightful mix of family, friendship, tension, attraction, self-discovery, special moments, happiness, taking chances, and swoon-worthy romance.

Overall, Her Unexpected Match is a heartfelt, romantic, uplifting treat by Baker that’s a wonderful start to the Crescent Island series with its idyllic setting, affable characters, and little sliver of magic.

 

This novel is available now!

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

 

       

 

 

Thank you to Entangled Publishing and Angela Melamud for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Lacey Baker

Lacey Baker, a Maryland native, lives with her husband, three children, two grandchildren and English Bulldog in what most would call Suburban America--a townhouse development where everybody knows each other and each other's kids. Family cook-outs, reunion vacations, and growing up in church have all inspired Lacey to work towards her dreams and to write about the endurance of family and the quest to find everlasting love. To date she has written in several genres including small town romance, YA paranormal (as Artist Arthur), a cozy mystery series titled Rumors and adult paranormal (as A.C. Arthur).

Photo courtesy of Amazon.com.

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#BookReview The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson @katethompson380 @HBGCanada @readforeverpub @grandcentralpub #ReadForever #ReadForever2023 #KateThompson #TheLittleWartimeLibrary #HBGCanada

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#BookReview The Little Wartime Library by Kate Thompson @katethompson380 @HBGCanada @readforeverpub @grandcentralpub #ReadForever #ReadForever2023 #KateThompson #TheLittleWartimeLibrary #HBGCanada Title: The Little Wartime Library

Author: Kate Thompson

Published by: Forever on Feb. 21, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 480

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: HBG Canada

Book Rating: 10/10

An uplifting and inspiring novel based on the true story of a librarian who created an underground shelter during World War II, perfect for readers of The Paris Library or The Last Bookshop in London. 

London, 1944: Clara Button is no ordinary librarian. While war ravages the city above her, Clara has risked everything she holds dear to turn the Bethnal Green tube station into the country’s only underground library. Down here, a secret community thrives with thousands of bunk beds, a nursery, a café, and a theater—offering shelter, solace, and escape from the bombs that fall upon their city.

Along with her glamorous best friend and assistant Ruby Munroe, Clara ensures the library is the beating heart of life underground. But as the war drags on, the women’s determination to remain strong in the face of adversity is tested to the limits when it may come at the price of keeping those closest to them alive.

Review:

Captivating, rich, and inspirational!

The Little Wartime Library is a heartwarming, tragic, uplifting tale set in England during 1944 that takes you into the lives of Clara Button, a young, plucky librarian with a kind heart, and Ruby Munroe, a loyal friend and hardworking assistant, who after both suffering unimaginable personal loss work tirelessly to give the people and children of East London a sanctuary and source of escapism by moving the library destroyed by bombs at the start of the Blitz seventy feet underground into the haven and community created on the unused tracks of the Bethnal Green tube station.

The prose is evocative and rich. The characters are genuine, determined, and courageous. And the plot, including all the subplots, unravel and intertwine seamlessly into an alluring tale of life, loss, love, family, devastation, hardship, hope, friendship, adversity, self-discovery, wartime living, survival, and ultimately the power of books.

The Little Wartime Library is an insightful, poignant, engrossing read by Thompson that does a wonderful job of interweaving historical facts and compelling fiction into an absorbing, heart-tugging tale that is exceptionally atmospheric, beautifully entertaining and a true love letter to libraries and librarians everywhere.

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

 

About Kate Thompson

Kate Thompson was born in London and worked as a journalist for women's magazines and national newspapers before becoming a novelist. Over the past ten years, Kate has written twelve fiction and nonfiction titles, three of which have made the Sunday Times top ten bestseller list. She now lives in Sunbury with her husband, two sons, and two rescued Lurcher dogs, Ted and Saphhie.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

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#BookReview Murder at Haven’s Rock by Kelley Armstrong @KelleyArmstrong @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MurderatHavensRock #KelleyArmstrong #HavensRock #HavensRockNovels #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview Murder at Haven’s Rock by Kelley Armstrong @KelleyArmstrong @MinotaurBooks @StMartinsPress #MurderatHavensRock #KelleyArmstrong #HavensRock #HavensRockNovels #MinotaurInfluencers #SMPInfluencers Title: Murder at Haven's Rock

Author: Kelley Armstrong

Series: Haven's Rock #1

Published by: Minotaur Books on Feb. 21, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Minotaur Books

Book Rating: 9/10

New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong’s Rockton Novels had one of the most unique towns in crime fiction. Murder at Haven’s Rock is a spinoff, a fresh start… with a few new dangers that threaten everything before it even begins.

Haven’s Rock, Yukon. Population: 0

Deep in the Yukon wilderness, a town is being built. A place for people to disappear, a fresh start from a life on the run. Haven’s Rock isn’t the first town of this kind, something detective Casey Duncan and her husband, Sheriff Eric Dalton, know first hand. They met in the original town of Rockton. But greed and deception led the couple to financing a new refuge for those in need. This time around, they get to decide which applicants are approved for residency.

There’s only one rule in Haven’s Rock: stay out of the forest. When two of the town’s construction crew members break it and go missing, Casey and Eric are called in ahead of schedule to track them down. When a body is discovered, well hidden with evidence of foul play, Casey and Eric must find out what happened to the dead woman, and locate the still missing man. The woman stumbled upon something she wasn’t supposed to see, and the longer Casey and Eric don’t know what happened, the more danger everyone is in.

Review:

Menacing, atmospheric, and absorbing!

Murder at Haven’s Rock is a dark, intricate tale that takes us back to the Yukon, where Casey Duncan and Sheriff Eric Dalton have begun building a new community, a hidden refuge surrounded by miles of forest that they’re hoping will escape the pitfalls, deception and danger that began to ravage their last home of Rockton but their not the only ones staking a claim to this rugged wilderness and before the final building is complete workers will start to go missing, bodies will begin to surface, and greed will once again rear its ugly head.

The prose is brisk and tight. The characters are secretive, troubled, and multilayered. And the plot is an intense, gripping tale full of twists, turns, surprises, secrets, suspects, malevolence, deduction, revelations, lies, desperation, avarice, violence, and murder.

Kelley Armstrong is the author of one of my all-time favourite mystery series, Rockton, so when I heard she was writing a spinoff series, I was super excited, and Murder at Haven’s Rock did not disappoint. It’s a suspenseful, eerie, action-packed read by Armstrong and a fantastic start to what is sure to be another must-read series for me.

 

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

 

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

 

About Kelley Armstrong

Kelley Armstrong has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers' dismay. All efforts to make her produce "normal" stories failed.

Today, she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves, while safely locked away in her basement writing dungeon. She's the author of the NYT-bestselling "Women of the Otherworld" paranormal suspense series and "Darkest Powers" young adult urban fantasy trilogy, as well as the Nadia Stafford crime series. Armstrong lives in southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids and far too many pets.

Photograph by Kathryn Hollinrake.

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