Publisher: St. Martin's Press

#BookReview The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale @RKapelkeDale @StMartinsPress #TheBallerinas #RachelKapelkeDale #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

Published on by Zoe1 Comment
#BookReview The Ballerinas by Rachel Kapelke-Dale @RKapelkeDale @StMartinsPress #TheBallerinas #RachelKapelkeDale #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Ballerinas

Author: Rachel Kapelke-Dale

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Dec. 7, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 304

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 7/10

Dare Me meets Black Swan and Luckiest Girl Alive in a captivating, voice-driven debut novel about a trio of ballerinas who meet as students at the Paris Opera Ballet School.

Fourteen years ago, Delphine abandoned her prestigious soloist spot at the Paris Opera Ballet for a new life in St. Petersburg––taking with her a secret that could upend the lives of her best friends, fellow dancers Lindsay and Margaux. Now 36 years old, Delphine has returned to her former home and to the legendary Palais Garnier Opera House, to choreograph the ballet that will kickstart the next phase of her career––and, she hopes, finally make things right with her former friends. But Delphine quickly discovers that things have changed while she’s been away…and some secrets can’t stay buried forever.

Moving between the trio’s adolescent years and the present day, The Ballerinas explores the complexities of female friendship, the dark drive towards physical perfection in the name of artistic expression, the double-edged sword of ambition and passion, and the sublimated rage that so many women hold inside––all culminating in a twist you won’t see coming, with magnetic characters you won’t soon forget.

Review:

Gloomy, consuming, and tragic!

The Ballerinas is an ominous, gritty, character-driven tale that takes you into the lives of three friends, Delphine, Lindsay, and Margaux, as they each struggle to find some semblance of control, power, and love in a life littered with competition, dysfunction, self-obsession, and insecurities.

The prose is tight and intense. The characters are disciplined, secretive, and damaged. And the plot is a slow-burning, immersive tale full of life, loss, deception, desperation, friendship, drama, manipulation, jealousy, obsession, dedication, betrayal, and ruthless ambition.

Overall, The Ballerinas is a dark, ominous, astute tale by Kapelke-Dale that I found a little slow to start but, ultimately, did a remarkable job of delving into the complex dynamics between friends and highlighting just how gruelling, parasitic and toxic the world of ballet can truly be.

 

This book is available on December 7, 2021.

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

            

 

 

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

 

About Rachel Kapelke-Dale

Rachel Kapelke-Dale is the co-author of GRADUATES IN WONDERLAND (Penguin 2014), a memoir about the significance and nuances of female friendships. The author of Vanity Fair Hollywood's column "Advice from the Stars," Kapelke-Dale spent years in intensive ballet training before receiving a BA from Brown University, an MA from the Université de Paris VII, and a PhD from University College London. She currently lives in Paris.

Photo by author.

Website | Goodreads | Instagram

#BookReview A Summer to Remember by Erika Montgomery @erikamwriter @StMartinsPress #ASummertoRemember #ErikaMontgomery #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

Published on by ZoeLeave a comment
#BookReview A Summer to Remember by Erika Montgomery @erikamwriter @StMartinsPress #ASummertoRemember #ErikaMontgomery #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: A Summer to Remember

Author: Erika Montgomery

Published by: St. Martin's Press on May 11, 2021

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction

Pages: 320

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

For thirty-year-old Frankie Simon, selling movie memorabilia in the shop she opened with her late mother on Hollywood Boulevard is more than just her livelihood–it’s an enduring connection to the only family she has ever known. But when a mysterious package arrives containing a photograph of her mother and famous movie stars Glory Cartwright and her husband at a coastal film festival the year before Frankie’s birth, her life begins to unravel in ways unimaginable.

What begins is a journey along a path revealing buried family secrets, betrayals between lovers, bonds between friends. And for Frankie, as the past unlocks the present, the chance to learn that memories define who we are, and that they can show us the meaning of home and the magic of true love.

Experience the salty breeze of a Cape Cod summer as it sweeps through this sparkling, romantic, and timeless debut novel tinged with a love of old Hollywood.

“The perfect read for summer. A novel with depth, real emotions, lyrical writing, and flawed characters with whom to fall in love.”–New York Times bestselling author Karen White

Review:

Poignant, romantic, and nostalgic!

A Summer to Remember is a refreshing, moving tale that sweeps you away to the idyllic island of Cape Cod and into the life of Frankie Simon, a thirty-year-old movie memorabilia Hollywood shop owner who, after her mother’s death, journeys to the east coast to unravel the secrets of her mother’s past and to potentially finally discover the identity of the father she’s never known.

The prose is reflective and sweet. The characters are easygoing, intriguing, and likeable. And the plot using a past/present, back-and-forth style, intertwines and unravels effortlessly into a touching tale of life, loss, family, friendship, drama, emotion, secrets, heartbreak, passion, old Hollywood, self-discovery, and love.

Overall, A Summer to Remember is a heartfelt, sentimental, escapist debut by Montgomery that was so much more than I ever expected, and I look forward to reading whatever lovely story she 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 St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Erika Montgomery

A card-carrying cinephile and native New Englander, novelist Erika Montgomery lives with her family in the Mid-Atlantic where she teaches creative writing and watches an unspeakable amount of old movies. A Summer to Remember is her debut novel.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

Website | Facebook | Instagram

#BookReview Legacy by Nora Roberts @smpromance @StMartinsPress #Legacy #NoraRoberts #smpromance #smpinfluencers

Published on by Zoe1 Comment
#BookReview Legacy by Nora Roberts @smpromance @StMartinsPress #Legacy #NoraRoberts #smpromance #smpinfluencers Title: Legacy

Author: Nora Roberts

Published by: St. Martin's Press on May 25, 2021

Genres: Romantic Suspense

Pages: 434

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

The #1 New York Times bestselling author presents a new novel of a mother and a daughter, of ambition and romance, and of a traumatic past reawakened by a terrifying threat…

Adrian Rizzo was seven when she met her father for the first time. That was the day he nearly killed her—before her mother, Lina, stepped in.

Soon after, Adrian was dropped off at her grandparents’ house in Maryland, where she spent a long summer drinking lemonade, playing with dogs, making a new best friend—and developing the stirrings of a crush on her friend’s ten-year-old brother. Lina, meanwhile, traveled the country promoting her fitness brand and turning it into a billion-dollar business. There was no point in dwelling on the past.

A decade later, Adrian has created her own line of yoga and workout videos, following in Lina’s footsteps but intent on maintaining creative control. And she’s just as cool-headed and ambitious as her mother. They aren’t close, but they’re cordial—as long as neither crosses the other.

But while Lina dismisses the death threats that Adrian starts getting as a routine part of her daughter’s growing celebrity, Adrian can’t help but find the vicious rhymes unsettling. Year after year, they keep arriving—the postmarks changing, but the menacing tone the same. They continue after she returns to Maryland and becomes reacquainted with Raylan, her childhood crush, all grown up and as gorgeously green-eyed as ever. Sometimes it even seems like the terrifying messages are indeed routine, like nothing will come of them. Until the murders start, and the escalation begins…

Review:

Simmering, satisfying, and suspenseful!

Legacy is a slow-burning, sinister tale that takes you into the life of Adrian Rizzo, who, after meeting and surviving her father’s attempt to murder her at the age of seven, has grown into a confident young woman with a close-knit circle of friends, a successful business, and an extended family who love her dearly, but things are not as rosy as they appear and a psychopathic poet with a long-standing fixation on Adrian seems to be getting more obsessed and dangerous by the day, and the safest place for her to be might just be in Maryland with her grandfather and childhood friend.

The writing is intricate and tight. The characters are well-developed, complex, and loyal. And the plot is an engaging mix of friendship, family, obsession, danger, secrets, love, hatred, mayhem, and romance

Overall, Legacy is another solid, enticing, charged outing by Roberts that has everything I look for in a romantic suspense novel and more.

 

This book is available now.

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

            

 

 

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

 

About Nora Roberts

Nora Roberts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including Come Sundown, The Obsession, The Liar, and coming in December 2017, Year One -- the first book in The Chronicles of The One. She is also the author of the futuristic suspense In Death series written under the pen name J.D. Robb. There are more than 500 million copies of her books in print.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Goodreads Page.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

#BookReview A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones @Darynda @smpromance @StMartinsPress #AGoodDayforChardonnay #DaryndaJones #SunshineVicram #smpromance #smpinfluencers

Published on by Zoe3 Comments
#BookReview A Good Day for Chardonnay by Darynda Jones @Darynda @smpromance @StMartinsPress #AGoodDayforChardonnay #DaryndaJones #SunshineVicram #smpromance #smpinfluencers Title: A Good Day for Chardonnay

Author: Darynda Jones

Series: Sunshine Vicram #2

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jul. 27, 2021

Genres: Mystery/Thriller, Romantic Suspense

Pages: 416

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

Running a small-town police force in the mountains of New Mexico should be a smooth, carefree kind of job. Sadly, full-time Sheriff–and even fuller-time coffee guzzler–Sunshine Vicram, didn’t get that memo.

All Sunshine really wants is one easy-going day. You know, the kind that starts with coffee and a donut (or three) and ends with take-out pizza and a glass of chardonnay (or seven). Turns out, that’s about as easy as switching to decaf. (What kind of people do that? And who hurt them?)

Before she can say iced mocha latte, Sunny’s got a bar fight gone bad, a teenage daughter hunting a serial killer and, oh yes, the still unresolved mystery of her own abduction years prior. All evidence points to a local distiller, a dangerous bad boy named Levi Ravinder, but Sun knows he’s not the villain of her story. Still, perhaps beneath it all, he possesses the keys to her disappearance. At the very least, beneath it all, he possesses a serious set of abs. She’s seen it. Once. Accidentally.

Between policing a town her hunky chief deputy calls four cents short of a nickel, that pesky crush she has on Levi which seems to grow exponentially every day, and an irascible raccoon that just doesn’t know when to quit, Sunny’s life is about to rocket to a whole new level of crazy.

Yep, definitely a good day for chardonnay.

Review:

Wacky, wild, and wonderful!

A Good Day for Chardonnay is a refreshing, highly entertaining mystery that transports you back to Del Sol, New Mexico, where police chief Sunshine Vicram now finds herself investigating another multitude of oddball events that pull her back to the past, including a potentially fatal stabbing, a hit and run involving the delicious Levi Ravinder, and a missing teenage boy.

The prose is brisk and amusing. The characterization is spot on with a wonderful cast of characters that are eccentric, sharp-witted, and endearing. And the plot is the perfect mix of suspense, humour, witty banter, familial drama, friendship, secrets, deception, community, mayhem, steamy moments, and sexy times.

Overall, A Good Day for Chardonnay is a quirky, gripping, brilliant tale by Jones that has a storyline that will make you laugh, make you smile, and most definitely leave you wanting more. I absolutely adore this Sunshine Vicram series, and I can’t wait to read A Hard Day for a Hangover when it publishes next month.

This book is available now.

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

               

 

 

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

 

About Darynda Jones

NYTimes and USA Today Bestselling Author Darynda Jones has won numerous awards for her work, including a prestigious RITA, a Golden Heart, and a Daphne du Maurier. As a born storyteller, she grew up spinning tales of dashing damsels and heroes in distress for any unfortunate soul who happened by, annoying man and beast alike. She currently has two series with St. Martin's Press, the Charley Davidson Series and the Darklight Trilogy. Darynda lives in the Land of Enchantment, also known as New Mexico, with her husband of more than 25 years and two beautiful sons, the Mighty, Mighty Jones Boys.

Photograph courtesy of Author's Website.

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest

#BookReview The Santa Suit by Mary Kay Andrews @mkayandrews @StMartinsPress #TheSantaSuit #MaryKayAndrews #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

Published on by Zoe1 Comment
#BookReview The Santa Suit by Mary Kay Andrews @mkayandrews @StMartinsPress #TheSantaSuit #MaryKayAndrews #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Santa Suit

Author: Mary Kay Andrews

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Sep. 28, 2021

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 224

Format: ARC, eBook

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

From Mary Kay Andrews, the New York Times bestselling author of Hello, Summer, comes a novella celebrating the magic of Christmas and second chances in The Santa Suit.

When newly-divorced Ivy Perkins buys an old farmhouse sight unseen, she is definitely looking for a change in her life. The Four Roses, as the farmhouse is called, is a labor of love—but Ivy didn’t bargain on just how much labor. The previous family left so much furniture and so much junk, that it’s a full-time job sorting through all of it.

At the top of a closet, Ivy finds an old Santa suit—beautifully made and decades old. In the pocket of a suit she finds a note written in a childish hand: it’s from a little girl who has one Christmas wish, and that is for her father to return home from the war. This discovery sets Ivy off on a mission. Who wrote the note? Did the man ever come home? What mysteries did the Rose family hold?

Ivy’s quest brings her into the community, at a time when all she wanted to do was be left alone and nurse her wounds. But the magic of Christmas makes miracles happen, and Ivy just might find more than she ever thought possible: a welcoming town, a family reunited, a mystery solved, and a second chance at love.

Review:

Lighthearted, sweet, and cosy!

The Santa Suit is a delightfully charming, uplifting tale that takes us into the life of Ivy Perkins as she meanders through all sorts of highs and lows, from a recent divorce, the end of her career, a handsome realtor, a new farmhouse that needs a little more TLC than she ever expected, and the mystery of a little girl’s heartfelt Christmas wish found saved in the pocket of a well-loved Santa suit.

The writing is sincere and smooth. The characters are engaging, supportive, and genuine. And the plot is a touching, somewhat nostalgic tale about life, love, family, friendship, community, taking chances, starting over, finding happiness, and the magic of the holidays.

Overall, The Santa Suit is a heartwarming, engaging, festive read by Andrews that reminds us to surround ourselves with those we love, stay open-minded, and always be excited for whatever comes next.

 

This book is available now.

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

            

 

 

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

 

About Mary Kay Andrews

Mary Kay Andrews is the pen name of American writer Kathy Hogan Trocheck, based in Atlanta, who has authored a number of best-selling books under the Andrews pen name since 2002.

Trochek graduated from the University of Georgia with a journalism degree in 1976. She worked as a reporter at a number of papers, and spent 11 years as a reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution before leaving to write fiction full-time in 1991. She published ten mystery novels under her own name between 1992 and 2000, and switched to the Andrews pen name in 2002 to author Savannah Blues, which marked a change in her style to more Southern-flavored themes.

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Pinterest

#BookReview Three Sisters by Heather Morris @StMartinsPress #ThreeSisters #HeatherMorrisAuthor #TheTattooistofAuschwitz #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

Published on by ZoeLeave a comment
#BookReview Three Sisters by Heather Morris @StMartinsPress #ThreeSisters #HeatherMorrisAuthor #TheTattooistofAuschwitz #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Three Sisters

Author: Heather Morris

Series: The Tattooist of Auschwitz #3

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Oct. 5, 2021

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 416

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

From Heather Morris, the New York Times bestselling author of the multi-million copy bestseller The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka’s Journey: a story of family, courage, and resilience, inspired by a true story.

Against all odds, three Slovakian sisters have survived years of imprisonment in the most notorious death camp in Nazi Germany: Auschwitz. Livia, Magda, and Cibi have clung together, nearly died from starvation and overwork, and the brutal whims of the guards in this place of horror. But now, the allies are closing in and the sisters have one last hurdle to face: the death march from Auschwitz, as the Nazis try to erase any evidence of the prisoners held there. Due to a last minute stroke of luck, the three of them are able to escape formation and hide in the woods for days before being rescued.

And this is where the story begins. From there, the three sisters travel to Israel, to their new home, but the battle for freedom takes on new forms. Livia, Magda, and Cibi must face the ghosts of their past–and some secrets that they have kept from each other–to find true peace and happiness.

Inspired by a true story, and with events that overlap with those of Lale, Gita, and Cilka, The Three Sisters will hold a place in readers’ hearts and minds as they experience what true courage really is.

Review:

Pensive, heartwrenching, and exceptionally absorbing!

Three Sisters is an evocative, beautifully written, touching tale predominantly set during WWII that takes you into the lives of the Meller sisters, three young Jewish women from Slovakia who, through remarkable perseverance and a long-held promise, manage to bind together to survive hell on earth, the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, and somehow still manage to go on to marry, have children, and live out the rest of their days in Tel Aviv surrounded by love.

The prose is haunting and insightful. The characters are vulnerable, strong, and brave. And the plot is a poignant tale of life, loss, love, survival, family, sacrifice, courage, selflessness, the unimaginable horrors of war, and the special bond between sisters.

Overall, Three Sisters is another thought-provoking, immersive, moving tale by Morris that does a remarkable job of reminding us of an atrocity that should never be forgotten, and the incredible ability for humanity to love and still be kind, compassionate, and resilient even in the face of unimaginable evil.

This novel is available now.

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

              

 

 

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

 

About Heather Morris

HEATHER MORRIS is a native of New Zealand, now resident in Australia. For several years, while working in a large public hospital in Melbourne, she studied and wrote screenplays, one of which was optioned by an Academy Award-winning screenwriter in the US. In 2003, Heather was introduced to an elderly gentleman who ‘might just have a story worth telling’. The day she met Lale Sokolov changed both their lives. Their friendship grew and Lale embarked on a journey of self-scrutiny, entrusting the innermost details of his life during the Holocaust to her. Heather originally wrote Lale’s story as a screenplay – which ranked high in international competitions – before reshaping it into her debut novel, The Tattooist of Auschwitz.

Photo by Tina Smigielski.

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | YouTube

#BookReview The Living and the Lost by Ellen Feldman @StMartinsPress #TheLivingAndTheLost #EllenFeldman #SMPInfluencers

Published on by Zoe1 Comment
#BookReview The Living and the Lost by Ellen Feldman @StMartinsPress #TheLivingAndTheLost #EllenFeldman #SMPInfluencers Title: The Living and the Lost

Author: Ellen Feldman

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Sep. 7, 2021

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 352

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

From the author of Paris Never Leaves You, a gripping story of a young German Jewish woman who returns to Allied Occupied Berlin from America to face the past and unexpected future

Millie Mosbach and her brother David escaped to the United States just before Kristallnacht, leaving their parents and little sister in Berlin. Now they are both back in their former hometown, haunted by ghosts and hoping against hope to find their family. Millie works in the office responsible for rooting out the most dedicated Nazis from publishing. Like most of their German-born American colleagues, the siblings suffer from rage at Germany and guilt at their own good fortune. Only Millie’s boss, Major Harry Sutton, seems strangely eager to be fair to the Germans.

Living and working in bombed-out Berlin, a latter day Wild West where the desperate prey on the unsuspecting; spies ply their trade; black markets thrive, and forbidden fraternization is rampant, Millie must come to terms with a past decision made in a moment of crisis, and with the enigmatic sometimes infuriating Major Sutton who is mysteriously understanding of her demons. Atmospheric and page-turning, The Living and the Lost is a story of survival, love, and forgiveness, of others and of self.

Review:

Thoughtful, moving, and immersive!

The Living and the Lost is an intriguing, poignant tale that sweeps you away to Berlin, post-WWII and into the life of Millie Mosbach, a young Jewish woman who, after escaping to America with her brother in 1938 and graduating from Bryn Mawr College, returns to war-torn Germany in 1945 to work for the de-Nazification program, removing Nazis from the publishing industry, and to hopefully find her missing parents and little sister who were taken as prisoners before they were able to get away.

The prose is nuanced and attentive. The characters are scarred, strong, and brave. And the plot using flashbacks and a back-and-forth style is an enthralling tale about life, love, strength, deception, bravery, injustice, hope, guilt, grief, loss, shame, survival, and the aftermath of war.

Overall, The Living and the Lost is an intriguing, heart-tugging, pensive tale by Feldman that does a lovely job of reminding us that nothing is as ever clear cut or as black and white as it may, on the surface, appear to be.

 

This novel is available now.

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

               

 

 

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

 

About Ellen Feldman

Ellen Feldman, a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow in fiction, is the author of Scottsboro, which was shortlisted for the UK’s prestigious Orange Prize, Next to Love, The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank, which was translated into nine languages, Terrible Virtue, The Unwitting, and Lucy.

In addition to her novels, she writes articles on social history and has published numerous book reviews and blogs. She has lectured extensively around the country and in Germany and England.

She grew up in northern New Jersey and attended Bryn Mawr College, from which she holds a B.A. and an M.A. in modern history. After further graduate studies at Columbia University, she worked for a New York publishing house.

She lives in New York City and Amagansett, New York, with her husband and rescue terrier Charlie.

Photograph by Laura Mozes.

Website | Goodreads

#BookReview The Show Girl by Nicola Harrison @NicolaHAuthor @StMartinsPress #ShowGirlNovel #NicolaHarrison #SMPInfluencers

Published on by ZoeLeave a comment
#BookReview The Show Girl by Nicola Harrison @NicolaHAuthor @StMartinsPress #ShowGirlNovel #NicolaHarrison #SMPInfluencers Title: The Show Girl

Author: Nicola Harrison

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Aug. 10, 2021

Genres: General Fiction, Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 400

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

It’s 1927 when Olive McCormick moves from Minneapolis to New York City determined to become a star in the Ziegfeld Follies. Extremely talented as a singer and dancer, it takes every bit of perseverance to finally make it on stage. And once she does, all the glamour and excitement is everything she imagined and more–even worth all the sacrifices she has had to make along the way.

Then she meets Archie Carmichael. Handsome, wealthy–the only man she’s ever met who seems to accept her modern ways–her independent nature and passion for success. But once she accepts his proposal of marriage he starts to change his tune, and Olive must decide if she is willing to reveal a devastating secret and sacrifice the life she loves for the man she loves.

Review:

Stylish, dramatic, and absorbing!

The Show Girl is a captivating, passionate, coming-of-age tale that takes you into the life of Olive McCormick, an unwed, determined young woman, who after being tricked into sexual relations and having to regretfully give up her baby girl for adoption, moves from Minneapolis to Manhattan to reinvent herself, forget the past, and hopefully, achieve her dreams of becoming a famous performer for a successful, vaudeville-inspired show running in NYC.

The prose is eloquent and fluid. The characters are well-drawn, genuine, and endearing. And the story sweeps you away to New York during the 1920s when women were gaining independence and cutting their hair short, prohibition was in full force, and the Ziegfeld Follies was the place to be with its lavish sets, elaborate costumes, high-class productions, and beautiful chorus girls.

Overall, The Show Girl is ultimately a story about friendship, loyalty, familial relationships, secrets, prosperity, ambition, life, loss, and love. It’s a vivid, rich, engaging tale by Harrison that has just the right amount of drama, romance, and intrigue to be a satisfying, highly entertaining treat for historical fiction lovers everywhere.

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

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

 

About Nicola Harrison

Born in England, Nicola Harrison moved to CA where she received a BA in Literature at UCLA before moving to NYC and earning an MFA in creative writing at Stony Brook. She is a member of The Writers Room, has short stories published in The Southampton Review and Glimmer Train and articles in Los Angeles Magazine and Orange Coast Magazine. She was the fashion and style staff writer for Forbes, had a weekly column at Lucky Magazine and is the founder of a personal styling business, Harrison Style.

Photo by Erwin List.

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram

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

Published on by ZoeLeave a comment
#BookReview Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens @ChevyStevens @StMartinsPress #DarkRoads #ChevyStevens #SMPInfluencers Title: Dark Roads

Author: Chevy Stevens

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

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

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

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

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

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

Review:

Unsettling, twisty, and intricate!

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

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

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

This novel is available now.

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

                

 

 

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy of this story in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Chevy Stevens

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

 

Photo by Poppy Photography.

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram

#BookReview Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy @christi_clancy @StMartinsPress #ShoulderSeason #ChristinaClancy #SMPInfluencers

Published on by ZoeLeave a comment
#BookReview Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy @christi_clancy @StMartinsPress #ShoulderSeason #ChristinaClancy #SMPInfluencers Title: Shoulder Season

Author: Christina Clancy

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Jul. 6, 2021

Genres: General Fiction, Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

The small town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is an unlikely location for a Playboy Resort, and nineteen-year old Sherri Taylor is an unlikely bunny. Growing up in neighboring East Troy, Sherri plays the organ at the local church and has never felt comfortable in her own skin. But when her parents die in quick succession, she leaves the only home she’s ever known for the chance to be part of a glamorous slice of history. In the winter of 1981, in a costume two sizes too small, her toes pinched by towering stilettos, Sherri joins the daughters of dairy farmers and factory workers for the defining experience of her life.

Living in the “bunny hutch”—Playboy’s version of a college dorm, surrounded by a twelve-foot high barbed-wire fence (to keep the men out, and the girls in)—Sherri gets her education in the joys of sisterhood, the thrill of financial independence, the magic of first love, and the heady effects of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. But as spring gives way to summer, Sherri finds herself caught up in a romantic triangle––and the tragedy that ensues will haunt her for the next forty years of her life.

Shoulder Season follows Sherri from her fledgling days as a bunny, when she tries to reinvent herself before she even knows who she is, to the woman she becomes years later. From the Midwestern prairie to the California desert, from Wisconsin lakes to the Pacific Ocean, this is a story of what happens when small town life is sprinkled with stardust, and what we lose—and gain—when we leave home. It’s about the brief but intoxicating experiences of our youth, and how they have the power to shape the rest of our lives. With a heroine to root for and a narrative to get lost in, Shoulder Season is a sexy, evocative tale, drenched in longing and desire, that captures a fleeting moment in American history with nostalgia and heart.

Review:

Engaging, dramatic, and informative!

Shoulder Season is an absorbing, intriguing tale that takes us to East Troy, Wisconsin during the 1980s when The Lake Geneva Playboy Club was the place to be, girls were excited for more than just marriage, and Sherri Taylor would quickly change from a naive, small-town girl to a bunny whose eyes would be opened wide to a world of sex, drugs, fortune, and fame.

The writing is vivid and expressive. The characters are young, impressionable, and impulsive. And the plot takes us from the 1980s to the present day and tells the story of a life filled with loss, love, loneliness, grief, coming-of-age, friendship, discontent, insecurity, and sexual awakening.

Overall, Shoulder Season is a captivating, candid, heartbreaking tale by Clancy that isn’t exceptionally exhilarating but is nevertheless an insightful tale that takes us back to a different era and does a wonderful job of reminding us that everyone who enters our lives, no matter how briefly, impacts, shapes, and defines it.

 

This novel is available now.

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

            

 

 

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

 

About Christina Clancy

CHRISTINA CLANCY is the author of The Second Home. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Sun Magazine and in various literary journals, including Glimmer Train, Pleiades and Hobart. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and lives in Madison, WI with her family.

Photo by James Bartelt.

Website | Instagram