Genre: Women's Fiction

#BookReview Moment in Time by Suzanne Redfearn @SuzanneRedfearn @AmazonPub @LUAuthors #MomentinTime #SuzanneRedfearn

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#BookReview Moment in Time by Suzanne Redfearn @SuzanneRedfearn @AmazonPub @LUAuthors #MomentinTime #SuzanneRedfearn Title: Moment in Time

Author: Suzanne Redfearn

Published by: Lake Union Publishing on Mar. 8, 2022

Genres: Women's Fiction

Pages: 288

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Amazon Publishing

Book Rating: 8/10

From the bestselling author of In an Instant comes a heartrending story about the power of friendship during the most challenging moments in life.

It’s been eight years since a tragic accident changed Mo Kaminski’s and Chloe Miller’s lives forever. Now in their midtwenties, they’re sharing an apartment in San Francisco and navigating the normal challenges of early adulthood. Along with their roommate, Hazel, they are making their marks on the world—Mo revolutionizing the news with her media start-up, Hazel using her big brain to anticipate the future, and Chloe rescuing abandoned strays in the city.

But when Hazel disappears after being sexually assaulted, Mo’s and Chloe’s lives are again suddenly ripped apart. And when the perpetrator turns up drugged and beaten, the mystery of where Hazel is deepens. Intensely worried and desperate to discover the truth, they set out to find Hazel and bring her home.

Mo and Chloe are no strangers to tragedy, but this journey will test them in ways they never imagined. The stakes are high; the future uncertain; the need for justice essential.

Will their commitment to their friend bring them closer together—or ultimately drive them apart?

Review:

Intricate, compelling, and dark!

Moment in Time is a complex, sobering novel that takes you into the lives of Mo and Chloe, two young women who, after their roommate is drugged and sexually assaulted, careen down a path of retribution, revenge, and recovery that involves a misogynistic police officer with aggressive and obsessive tendencies, a perpetrator with no conscious and a history littered with allegations, and a victim running to find peace and quiet after her world has been violently shattered.

The writing is tight and intense. The characters are impulsive, troubled, and naive. And the plot is a taut, twisty tale of life, love, friendship, grief, guilt, drama, tragedy, justice, and introspection.

Overall, Moment in Time allowed me to step back into the lives of some of the characters from Redfearn’s other books, and even though it didn’t pack the emotional punch of In An Instant, which was one of my favourite books of 2020, it still tackled some difficult themes and kept me engaged and entertained from start to finish.

 

This book is available now. 

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

         

 

 

Thank you to Suzanne Redfearn for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Suzanne Redfearn

Suzanne Redfearn is the award-winning author of three novels: Hush Little Baby, No Ordinary Life, and In an Instant. In addition to being an author, she’s also an architect specializing in residential and commercial design. She lives in Laguna Beach, California, where she and her husband own two restaurants: Lumberyard and Slice Pizza and Beer.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

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#BookReview One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle @RebeccaASerle @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #OneItalianSummer #RebeccaSerle

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#BookReview One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle @RebeccaASerle @AtriaBooks @SimonSchusterCA #OneItalianSummer #RebeccaSerle Title: One Italian Summer

Author: Rebecca Serle

Published by: Atria Books on Mar. 1, 2022

Genres: Women's Fiction

Pages: 272

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mom, but her best friend and first phone call. She had all the answers and now, when Katy needs her the most, she is gone. To make matters worse, their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: two weeks in Positano, the magical town Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone.

But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. Buoyed by the stunning waters, beautiful cliffsides, delightful residents, and, of course, delectable food, Katy feels herself coming back to life.

And then Carol appears—in the flesh, healthy, sun-tanned, and thirty years old. Katy doesn’t understand what is happening, or how—all she can focus on is that she has somehow, impossibly, gotten her mother back. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman before her. She is not exactly who Katy imagined she might be, however, and soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue.

Review:

Charming, touching, and hopeful!

One Italian Summer is a tender, uplifting tale that takes you into the life of grief-stricken Katy Silver as she embarks on a journey to Positano, Italy, the place her mother loved, and where she will have a chance to revisit the past, face some truths she’d rather not, discover her true self, and start to come to grips with moving on without the one person who has always been her everything.

The prose is heartfelt and smooth. The characters are multilayered, conflicted, and genuine. And the plot is an absorbing tale about life, loss, love, grief, family, friendship, marriage, relationship dynamics, introspection, heartbreak, and the special bonds that exist between a mother and daughter, all interwoven with a thread of magical realism.

Overall, One Italian Summer is one of those books that tugs at the heartstrings, makes you dream of sandy beaches, lazy days, and crystal blue water, and reminds you that love is powerful and everlasting, and that life should always be lived to the fullest.

 

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

 

About Rebecca Serle

Rebecca Serle is the New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years, The Dinner List, and the young adult novels The Edge of Falling and When You Were Mine. Serle also developed the hit TV adaptation Famous in Love, based on her YA series of the same name. She is a graduate of USC and The New School and lives in Los Angeles.

Photo by Ann Molen.

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#BookReview Free Love by Tessa Hadley @randomhouseca #FreeLove #TessaHadley #RandomHouseCanada

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#BookReview Free Love by Tessa Hadley @randomhouseca #FreeLove #TessaHadley #RandomHouseCanada Title: Free Love

Author: Tessa Hadley

Published by: Random House Canada on Feb. 1, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 328

Format: Paperback

Source: Random House Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

A compulsive new novel about one woman’s sexual and intellectual awakening in 1960s London.

1967. While London comes alive with the new youth revolution, the suburban Fischer family seems to belong to an older world of conventional stability: pretty, dutiful homemaker Phyllis is married to Roger, a devoted father with a career in the Foreign Office. Their children are Colette, a bookish teenager, and Hugh, the golden boy.

But when the twenty-something son of an old friend pays the Fischers a visit one hot summer evening, and kisses Phyllis in the dark garden after dinner, something in her catches fire. Newly awake to the world, Phyllis makes a choice that defies all expectations of her as a wife and a mother. Nothing in these ordinary lives is so ordinary after all, it turns out, as the family’s upheaval mirrors the dramatic transformation of the society around them.

With scalpel-sharp insight, Tessa Hadley explores her characters’ inner worlds, laying bare their fears and longings. Daring and sensual, Free Love is an enthralling, irresistible exploration of romantic love, sexual freedom and living out the truest and most meaningful version of our lives.

Review:

Sophisticated, astute, and passionate!

Free Love is an intimate, sentimental tale that sweeps you away to London in the late 1960s and into the life of Phyllis Fischer, a middle-aged married mother of two who, after feeling mostly content as a housewife for years, suddenly has a reawakening when she embarks on a love affair with Nicholas, the twenty-something-year-old son of family friends.

The prose is lyrical and descriptive. The characters are authentic, honest, and multi-layered. And the plot sweeps you away into a compelling, greek tragedy-like saga about motherhood, independence, responsibility, age disparity, adultery, seduction, desire, secrets, freedom, independence, compromise, and love.

Overall, Free Love is an atmospheric, pensive, provocative tale by Hadley that does a wonderful job of highlighting all the challenges and changes women experienced both personally and professionally during that time, and although I don’t think it will be everybody’s cup of tea, it is abundantly clear from the outset that Hadley is an exquisite literary writer with an uncanny ability to lay bare the lengths and sacrifices humanity will go to all for the sake of love.

 

This novel is available now.

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

           

 

 

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

 

About Tessa Hadley

TESSA HADLEY is the author of seven highly praised novels, Accidents in the Home, which was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, Everything Will Be All Right, The Master Bedroom, The London Train, Clever Girl, The Past and Late in the Day, and three collections of stories, Sunstroke, Married Love and Bad Dreams. The Past won the Hawthornden Prize for 2016, and Bad Dreams won the 2018 Edge Hill Short Story Prize. She lives in London and is Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. Her stories appear regularly in the New Yorker and other magazines.

Photo by Mark Vessey.

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#BookReview Where I Can’t Follow by Ashley Blooms @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #WhereICantFollow #AshleyBlooms #bookmarkedbylandmark

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#BookReview Where I Can’t Follow by Ashley Blooms @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #WhereICantFollow #AshleyBlooms #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: Where I Can't Follow

Author: Ashley Blooms

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Feb. 15, 2022

Genres: Fantasy, Women's Fiction

Pages: 352

Format: Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 9/10

Walk through the door and leave all your problems behind…but you don’t know what’s on the other side. And once you leave, you’ll never come back. Will you go through?

Maren Walker told herself she wouldn’t need to sell pills for long, that it was only means to an end. But that end seems to be stretching as far away as the other side of Blackdamp County, Kentucky. There’s always another bill for Granny’s doctor, another problem with the car, another reason she’s getting nowhere.

She dreams of walking through her little door to leave it all behind. The doors have appeared to the people in her mountain town for as long as anyone can remember, though no one knows where they lead. All anyone knows is that if you go, you’ll never come back.

Maren’s mother left through her door when Maren was nine, and her shadow has followed Maren ever since. When she faces the possibility of escaping her struggles for good, Maren must choose just what kind of future she wants to build.

From critically acclaimed author Ashley Blooms, Where I Can’t Follow explores the forces that hold people in place, and how they adapt, survive, and struggle to love a place that doesn’t always love them back.

Review:

Heart-wrenching, thought-provoking, and memorable!

Where I Can’t Follow is an incredibly moving novel that takes us to small-town Kentucky where emotions run high, tragedy seems to strike, poverty is the norm, opioid addiction is rampant, hope appears futile, and the door to an easier, happier place always seems to be floating nearby.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are raw, fragile, and conflicted. And the plot is a sobering, compelling tale of life, love, loss, family, friendship, addiction, mental illness, suicidal ideation, socioeconomic depression, desperation, self-preservation, survival and a touch of magical realism.

Overall, Where I Can’t Follow made me think, made me feel, and resonated with me long after the final page. It’s a unique, emotional, absorbing tale by Blooms that is an excellent reminder that thorns can prick, roots can turn rotten, growth requires nurturing and love, and believing you’re worthy goes a long way when the road ahead seems hopeless and daunting.

 

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 exchange for an honest review.

 

About Ashley Blooms

Ashley Blooms is the author of Where I Can’t Follow, which was named a Most Anticipated novel by Good Housekeeping, Gizmodo, and Tor.com, among others. Her debut novel, Every Bone a Prayer, was long-listed for the Crook’s Corner Book Prize. She’s a graduate of the Clarion Writer’s Workshop and received her MFA as a John and Renee Grisham Fellow from the University of Mississippi. Her fiction has appeared in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction, and Strange Horizons, among others.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

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#BookReview Annie Stanley, All At Sea by Sue Teddern @PGCBooks @MantleBooks #AnnieStanleyAllAtSea #SueTeddern

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#BookReview Annie Stanley, All At Sea by Sue Teddern @PGCBooks @MantleBooks #AnnieStanleyAllAtSea #SueTeddern Title: Annie Stanley, All At Sea

Author: Sue Teddern

Published by: Mantle Books on Feb. 1, 2022

Genres: Women's Fiction

Pages: 368

Format: Hardcover

Source: Publishers Group Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

Will losing her dad be the thing that finally prompts Annie Stanley to find herself?

Only she could decide to say goodbye by stealing her father’s ashes and taking him on one last adventure . . .

Annie Stanley is single, unemployed and just a bit stuck when her beloved father dies unexpectedly. Furious at her stepmother’s plans to scatter his ashes somewhere of no emotional significance, Annie seizes the urn and, on a whim, decides to take it on a tour of the thirty-one sea areas that make up the shipping forecast, which her father used to love, despite spending his life in landlocked St Albans.

Travelling around the coastline of Britain searching for the perfect place to say goodbye, Annie meets a unique cast of characters and reconnects with various figures from her past. As she works through her grief and tries to fix her combative relationship with both her stepmother and her sister, she starts to wonder if it might be time to re-think some of the other decisions in her life – including breaking up with her ex . . . but is it too late for a second chance?

A novel about love, loss and the importance of living life to the full, Annie Stanley, All at Sea by Sue Teddern is proof that it’s often the most difficult moments in life that show us what really matters.

Review:

Charming, witty, and uplifting!

Annie Stanley, All At Sea is a sweet, hopeful, delightfully moving tale that takes you into the life of the lonely, grief-stricken Annie Stanley as she unexpectedly embarks on a journey with her father’s ashes to the coastal towns featured in the shipping forecast her father loved and where along the way she’ll end up confronting the past, facing some tough truths, finding peace and contentment, and ultimately discovering her true self.

The prose is smooth and light. The characters are quirky, endearing, and genuine. And the plot is a touching, adventurous tale about life, loss, family, friendship, independence, heartbreak, grief, self-discovery, and love.

Overall, Annie Stanley, All At Sea is one of those books that snuck up and caught me by surprise and was much better than I ever expected. It’s a lovely, emotive, absorbing read by Teddern that reminds us to always live life to the fullest and never be afraid to try something new.

 

This book is available now.

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

            

 

 

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

 

About Sue Teddern

Sue Teddern has been a window dresser, a secretary, a feature writer and a university lecturer. She has over twenty years' scriptwriting experience from episodes of Birds of a Feather for TV and Cooking in a Bedsitter for radio. Annie Stanley, All At Sea is her first novel. She is married and lives in Hove.

Photo courtesy of panmacmillan.com

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#BookReview The Marvelous Monroe Girls by Shirley Jump @readforeverpub @grandcentralpub #ReadForever #ReadForeverPub #ReadForever2022 #TheMarvelousMonroeGirls #ShirleyJump

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#BookReview The Marvelous Monroe Girls by Shirley Jump @readforeverpub @grandcentralpub #ReadForever #ReadForeverPub #ReadForever2022 #TheMarvelousMonroeGirls #ShirleyJump Title: The Marvelous Monroe Girls

Author: Shirley Jump

Series: Harbor Cove #1

Published by: Forever on Jan. 11, 2022

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction

Pages: 336

Format: Paperback

Source: Forever

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A heartwarming story of sisterhood, second chances, and falling in love

Gabriella Monroe is doing her best to pretend that everything is fine, but her life is a mess. Sales are down at her vintage dress shop, her beloved grandmother isn’t her usual spunky self, and Gabby desperately misses the closeness she had with her sisters, Margaret and Emma—who were once so inseparable that their family called them the Monroe Musketeers.  

When the sisters stumble across a stash of letters that reveals their grandmother’s secret life, Gabby sees an opportunity to bring the sisters back together again and best of all, raise her grandmother’s spirits. And sure, this new project makes it easier to pretend her own life isn’t crashing around her, but concentrating on helping everyone else and ignoring her own feelings is what Gabby does best.

Except when it comes to Jake Maddox. Once the boy next door she crushed on—hard—he’s grown into an even more intriguing man, and her attraction to him isn’t so easy to hide. It’s clear he’s just as interested in her, but dating Jake would only muddy up her already complicated life. Or is it finally time to put herself first and risk it all for a chance at happiness?

Review:

Optimistic, warm, and sweet!

The Marvelous Monroe Girls is a winsome, compelling tale that takes us to the small town of Harbor Cove and into the life of the unsettled, troubled Gabriella Monroe as she meanders through all sorts of highs and lows from struggling to keep her vintage dress shop open and solvent, recovering from a disastrous love affair that shattered her self esteem, working on the strained relationships she seems to have with her sisters, secretly trying to help those in the community in order to raise her grandmother’s spirits, and navigating the new blossoming feelings she’s having for her handsome, best friend, Jake.

The writing is smooth and polished. The characterization is spot on with a whole slew of characters that are genuine, multi-layered and intriguing. And the plot unravels and intertwines effortlessly into a tender tale about life, love, loss, family, secrets, friendship, grief, sisterhood, romance, and finding happiness.

Overall, The Marvelous Monroe Girls is an uplifting, quaint, entertaining tale by Jump that is the first novel I’ve read by this author, but it certainly won’t be my last. It’s a wonderful start for this new Harbor Cove series with its well-developed characters and refreshing storyline, and I can’t wait to read what will happen next.

 

This novel is available now.

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

           

 

 

 

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

 

About Shirley Jump

When she's not writing books, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Shirley Jump competes in triathlons, mostly because all that training lets her justify mid-day naps and a second slice of chocolate cake. She's published more than 75 books in 24 languages, although she's too geographically challenged to find any of those countries on a map.

Photo courtesy of read-forever.com

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#BookReview Night Road by Kristin Hannah @StMartinsPress #NightRoadNovel #KristinHannah #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview Night Road by Kristin Hannah @StMartinsPress #NightRoadNovel #KristinHannah #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Night Road

Author: Kristin Hannah

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jan. 4, 2022

Genres: General Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 416

Format: Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 10/10

Life comes down to a series of choices.

To hold on…

To let go…to forget…to forgive…

Which road will you take?

For eighteen years, Jude Farraday has put her children’s needs above her own, and it shows—her twins, Mia and Zach, are bright and happy teenagers. When Lexi Baill moves into their small, close-knit community, no one is more welcoming than Jude. Lexi, a former foster child with a dark past, quickly becomes Mia’s best friend. Then Zach falls in love with Lexi and the three become inseparable.

Jude does everything to keep her kids out of harm’s way. But senior year of high school tests them all. It’s a dangerous, explosive season of drinking, driving, parties, and kids who want to let loose. And then on a hot summer’s night, one bad decision is made. In the blink of an eye, the Farraday family will be torn apart and Lexi will lose everything. In the years that follow, each must face the consequences of that single night and find a way to forget…or the courage to forgive.

Vivid, universal, and emotionally complex, Night Road raises profound questions about motherhood, identity, love, and forgiveness. It is a luminous, heartbreaking novel that captures both the exquisite pain of loss and the stunning power of hope. This is Kristin Hannah at her very best, telling an unforgettable story about the longing for family, the resilience of the human heart, and the courage it takes to forgive the people we love.

Review:

Beautiful, tragic, and incredibly heart-wrenching!

Night Road is a pensive, poignant, emotionally-charged novel that takes you into the lives of a handful of people, including eighteen-year-old Lexi Baill, whose worlds become irrevocably changed and shattered one summer day when a fatal accident leaves some devastated by loss, some overwhelmingly consumed with guilt, and some haunted and struggling to survive the inevitable repercussions and fallout that follows.

The prose is sobering and expressive. The characters, including all the supporting characters, are complex, consumed, and tormented. And the plot is an exceptionally absorbing tale of life, loss, love, family, friendship, grief, guilt, denial, secrets, heartache, parenthood, and redemption.

Overall, Night Road made me think, it made me cry, and it resonated with me as a daughter, sister, and mother long after I turned the final page. It’s an enthralling, impactful, hopeful story by Hannah that once again interwove her signature exceptional character development with a bittersweet, immersive, heartbreaking love story steeped in an abundance of tragedy and pain.

This new paperback copy is available now.

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

                

 

 

Thank you to St. Martins Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Kristin Hannah

KRISTIN HANNAH is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty novels, including The Nightingale, The Great Alone, and The Four Winds. A former lawyer turned writer, she lives with her husband in the Pacific Northwest.

Photo by Kevin Lynch.

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#BookReview The Family She Never Met by Caridad Piñeiro @SourcebooksCasa #TheFamilySheNeverMet #CaridadPineiro #SourcebooksCasa

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#BookReview The Family She Never Met by Caridad Piñeiro @SourcebooksCasa #TheFamilySheNeverMet #CaridadPineiro #SourcebooksCasa Title: The Family She Never Met

Author: Caridad Piñeiro

Published by: Sourcebooks Casablanca on Feb. 1, 2022

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 288

Format: Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Casablanca

Book Rating: 8/10

Jessica Russo knows nothing about her mother’s family or her Cuban culture. Every time she’s asked about it, her mother has shut down. But when the Cuban grandmother she’s never met sends her right-hand man, Luis, to offer Jessica the chance to come to Miami and meet her estranged family, she can’t help but say yes, even as she knows it will pain her mother.

The woman that Jessica meets is nothing like what she expected. Her grandmother is successful, intelligent, determined, and all too willing to take blame for what has happened to cause the estrangement, and, more importantly, to try and set things right. As Jessica spends time with her grandmother i,n her beautiful island home, she learns about her family’s history and what caused the schism between her mother and grandmother.,

As days with her grandmother turn to weeks, Jessica is determined to find a way to heal her fractured family. And in the end, Jessica might just learn something about herself and what it means to embrace the many facets of her identity.

Review:

Absorbing, romantic, and heartfelt!

The Family She Never Met is an uplifting, engaging tale that takes you into the life of furniture restorer Jessica Russo who, after years of secrets and misunderstandings, journeys to Miami to meet the grandmother she’s never met and to uncover her mother’s past that unfortunately seems to be littered with a multitude of hurts and regrets.

The prose is vivid and rich. The characters are multi-layered, torn, and sympathetic. And the plot is a well-crafted, heartwarming tale full of mystique, heartbreak, familial drama, secrets, history, culture, hard work, courage, forgiveness, self-discovery, hope, romance, and the struggles faced by Cubans under Castro rule to endure oppression, rebellion, economic instability, and forced exilement.

Overall, The Family She Never Met is a lovely blend of historical facts and compelling fiction. It’s a delightfully touching tale that’s nostalgic, interesting, heartbreaking, and sweet and does a wonderful job of highlighting Piñeiro’s passion for her familial heritage.

 

This book is available now.

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

            

 

 

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

 

About Caridad Piñeiro

Caridad Pineiro is a transplanted Long Island girl who has fallen in love with the Jersey Shore. When Caridad isn’t taking long strolls along the boardwalk, she’s also a NY Times and USA Today bestselling author with over a million romance novels sold worldwide. Caridad is passionate about writing and helping others explore and develop their skills as writers. She is a founding member of the Liberty States Fiction Writers and has presented workshops at the RT Book Club Convention, Romance Writers of America National Conference as well as various writing organizations throughout the country.

Photo courtesy of Authors Goodreads Page.

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#BookReview Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson @shaunarobs @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #MustLoveBooks #ShaunaRobinson #bookmarkedbylandmark

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#BookReview Must Love Books by Shauna Robinson @shaunarobs @Sourcebooks @sbkslandmark #MustLoveBooks #ShaunaRobinson #bookmarkedbylandmark Title: Must Love Books

Author: Shauna Robinson

Published by: Sourcebooks Landmark on Jan. 18, 2022

Genres: Women's Fiction

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Sourcebooks Landmark

Book Rating: 8/10

The Bookish Life of Nina Hill meets Younger in a heartfelt debut following a young woman who discovers she’ll have to ditch the “dream job” and write her own story to find her happy ending.

Meet Nora Hughes—the overworked, underpaid, last bookish assistant standing. At least for now.

When Nora landed an editorial assistant position at Parsons Press, it was her first step towards The Dream Job. Because, honestly, is there anything dreamier than making books for a living? But after five years of lunch orders, finicky authors, and per my last emails, Nora has come to one grand conclusion: Dream Jobs do not exist.

With her life spiraling and the Parsons staff sinking, Nora gets hit with even worse news. Parsons is cutting her already unlivable salary. Unable to afford her rent and without even the novels she once loved as a comfort, Nora decides to moonlight for a rival publisher to make ends meet…and maybe poach some Parsons’ authors along the way.

But when Andrew Santos, a bestselling Parsons author no one can afford to lose is thrown into the mix, Nora has to decide where her loyalties lie. Her new Dream Job, ever-optimistic Andrew, or…herself and her future.

Review:

Heartwarming, engaging, and introspective!

Must Love Books is a lighthearted, thoughtful tale that takes you on a journey into the life of editorial assistant Nora Hughes as she navigates career uncertainty, financial struggles, demanding expectations, mental illness, and a budding new relationship.

The prose is sincere and light. The characters are multi-layered, kind, and lonely. And the plot is a genuine, soul-searching tale filled with hope, friendship, awkward moments, depression, suicidal ideation, contentment, happiness, and the ups and downs of life in the publishing world.

Overall, Must Love Books is a sweet, tender, delightful story by Robinson that, for the most part, kept me captivated and invested in both the characters and the situations and was a good reminder that life is about taking chances, moving on, discovering one’s true self at any age, and most importantly asking for help whenever we need it.

 

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 exchange for an honest review.

 

About Shauna Robinson

Shauna Robinson’s love of books led her to try a career in publishing before deciding she’d rather write books instead. Originally from San Diego, she now lives in Virginia with her husband and their sleepy greyhound. Shauna is an introvert at heart—she spends most of her time reading, baking, and figuring out the politest way to avoid social interaction. Must Love Books is her debut novel.

Photo by Rachel E.H. Photography.

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#BookReview The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain @D_Chamberlain @StMartinsPress #TheLastHouseontheStreet #DianeChamberlain #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

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#BookReview The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain @D_Chamberlain @StMartinsPress #TheLastHouseontheStreet #DianeChamberlain #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Last House on the Street

Author: Diane Chamberlain

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jan. 14, 2020

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller, Women's Fiction

Pages: 352

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 10/10

From bestselling author Diane Chamberlain comes an irresistible new novel that perfectly interweaves history, mystery, and social justice.

When Kayla Carter’s husband dies in an accident while building their dream house, she knows she has to stay strong for their four-year-old daughter. But the trophy home in Shadow Ridge Estates, a new development in sleepy Round Hill, North Carolina, will always hold tragic memories. But when she is confronted by an odd, older woman telling her not to move in, she almost agrees. It’s clear this woman has some kind of connection to the area…and a connection to Kayla herself. Kayla’s elderly new neighbor, Ellie Hockley, is more welcoming, but it’s clear she, too, has secrets that stretch back almost fifty years. Is Ellie on a quest to right the wrongs of the past? And does the house at the end of the street hold the key? Told in dual time periods, The Last House on the Street is a novel of shocking prejudice and violence, forbidden love, the search for justice, and the tangled vines of two families.

Review:

Thought-provoking, ominous, and highly absorbing!

The Last House on the Street is an alluring, mysterious tale that sweeps you away to Round Hill, North Carolina during 1965, as well as 2010, and into the lives of Ellie Hockley and Kayla Carter, two intelligent, young women whose strength, tenacity, and compassion will be tested when the ones they love are lost and the long-buried history of a town steeped with strong underlying racist mentalities, longstanding alliances, hidden betrayals, and dark secrets is finally brought to light.

The writing is effortless and eloquent. The characters are empathetic, vulnerable, and endearing. And the plot, alternating between timelines, unravels and intertwines seamlessly into a beautifully tragic tale about life, loss, love, family, friendship, self-discovery, regret, deception, cruelty, manipulation, power, privilege, racism, politics, mayhem, violence, and murder.

Overall, The Last House on the Street is another sincere, thought-provoking, incredibly affecting tale by one of my all-time favourite authors that does an incredible job of highlighting the weakness and ugliness of group mentality and the ease with which it allows one to participate in the most unforgivable of crimes, while also reminding us that compassion and kindness is the base of humanity that should ultimately always transcend socioeconomic status and skin colour.

This novel is available now.

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

                

 

 

Thank you to St. Martins Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Diane Chamberlain

Diane Chamberlain is the New York Times, USA Today and Sunday Times bestselling author of 25 novels published in more than twenty languages. Some of her most popular books include Necessary Lies, The Silent Sister, The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes, and The Keeper of the Light Trilogy. Diane likes to write complex stories about relationships between men and women, parents and children, brothers and sisters, and friends. Although the thematic focus of her books often revolves around family, love, compassion and forgiveness, her stories usually feature a combination of drama, mystery, secrets and intrigue. Diane's background in psychology has given her a keen interest in understanding the way people tick, as well as the background necessary to create her realistic characters.

Diane was born and raised in Plainfield, New Jersey and spent her summers at the Jersey Shore. She also lived for many years in San Diego and northern Virginia before making North Carolina her home.

Diane received her bachelor's and master's degrees in clinical social work from San Diego State University. Prior to her writing career, Diane worked in hospitals in San Diego and Washington, D.C. before opening a private psychotherapy practice in Alexandria Virginia specializing in adolescents. All the while Diane was writing on the side. Her first book, Private Relations was published in 1989 and it earned the RITA award for Best Single Title Contemporary Novel.
Diane lives with her partner, photographer John Pagliuca, and her sheltie, Cole. She has three stepdaughters, two sons-in-law, and four grandchildren. She's currently at work on her next novel.

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