Source: OTRPR

#BlogTour #BookReview The Artist of Blackberry Grange by Paulette Kennedy @OverTheRiverPR @AmazonPub #TheArtistOfBlackberryGrange #PauletteKennedy #lakeunion #OTRPR

#BlogTour #BookReview The Artist of Blackberry Grange by Paulette Kennedy @OverTheRiverPR @AmazonPub #TheArtistOfBlackberryGrange #PauletteKennedy #lakeunion #OTRPR Title: The Artist of Blackberry Grange

Author: Paulette Kennedy

Published by: Lake Union Publishing on May 1, 2025

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 351

Format: Paperback

Source: Amazon Publishing, OTRPR

Book Rating: 8.5/10

For a young caregiver in the Ozarks, an old house holds haunting memories in a ghostly novel about family secrets, sacrifice, and lost loves by the author of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport.

In the summer of 1925, the winds of change are particularly chilling for a young woman whose life has suddenly become unbalanced.

Devastated by her mother’s death and a cruel, broken engagement, Sadie Halloran learns that her great-aunt Marguerite, a renowned artist now in the throes of dementia, needs a live-in companion. Grasping at newfound purpose, Sadie leaves her desolate Kansas City boardinghouse for Blackberry Grange, Marguerite’s once-grand mansion sitting precariously atop an Arkansas bluff. Though Marguerite is a fading shell of the vibrant woman Sadie remembers, Marguerite is feverishly compelled to paint eerie, hallucinatory portraits of old lovers—some cherished, some regretted, and some beastly. All of them haunting.

With each passing night, time itself seems to shift with the shadows at Blackberry Grange. As truth and delusion begin to blur, Sadie must uncover the secrets that hold Marguerite captive to her past before reality—and Marguerite’s life—slips away entirely.


Review:

Dark, creative, and mysterious!

The Artist of Blackberry Grange is an eerie, captivating tale that transports you to Arkansas during 1925 and into the lives of two main characters. Sadie Halloran, a young woman who, after the end of an engagement leaves her on the edge of destitution, decides to take on the role of caregiver for her failing, affluent great-aunt, and Marguerite, an elderly woman who, as she nears the end of her life has an abundance of long-buried secrets to share, including a strange and frightening teether to those in the afterlife.

The prose is tight and gritty. The characters are vulnerable, independent, and troubled. And the plot is a menacing tale about life, loss, tragedy, desperation, lies, manipulation, familial drama, secrets, supernatural phenomena, and love.

Overall, The Artist of Blackberry Grange is an intriguing, gothic, tense novel by Kennedy that does a wonderful job of interweaving historical times and compelling fiction into a suspenseful mystery that is deliciously atmospheric and highly entertaining.

 

This novel is available now.

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Thank you to OTRPR and Amazon Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Paulette Kennedy

Paulette Kennedy is the bestselling author of The Devil and Mrs. Davenport, The Witch of Tin Mountain, and Parting the Veil, which received the HNS Review Editor’s Choice Award. She has had a lifelong obsession with the gothic. As a young girl, she spent her summers among the gravestones in her neighborhood cemetery, imagining all sorts of romantic stories for the people buried there. After her mother introduced her to the Brontës as a teenager, her affinity for fog-covered landscapes and haunted heroines only grew, inspiring her to become a writer. Originally from the Missouri Ozarks, she now lives with her family and a menagerie of rescue pets in sunny Southern California, where sometimes, on the very best days, the mountains are wreathed in fog. As a history lover, she can get lost for days in her research—learning everything she can about the places in her novels and what her characters might have experienced in the past.

#BlogTour #BookReview At the Island’s Edge by C.I. Jerez @OverTheRiverPR @AmazonPub #AtTheIslandsEdge #CIJerez #lakeunion #OTRPR

#BlogTour #BookReview At the Island’s Edge by C.I. Jerez @OverTheRiverPR @AmazonPub #AtTheIslandsEdge #CIJerez #lakeunion #OTRPR Title: At the Island's Edge

Author: C.I. Jerez

Published by: Lake Union Publishing on Mar. 18, 2025

Genres: General Fiction

Pages: 285

Format: Paperback

Source: Amazon Publishing, OTRPR

Book Rating: 9/10

An Iraq War veteran returns to Puerto Rico to reconnect with—and confront—the past in a heart-wrenching novel about duty, motherhood, and the healing power of home.

As a combat medic, Lina LaSalle went to Iraq to save the lives of fellow soldiers. But when her convoy is attacked, she must set aside her identity as a healer and take a life herself.

Although she is honored as a hero when she returns to the US, Lina cannot find her footing. She is stricken with PTSD and unsure of how to support her young son, Teó, a little boy with Tourette’s. As her attempts to self-medicate become harder to hide, Lina realizes she must do the toughest thing ask for help.

She retreats to her parents’ house in Puerto Rico, where Teó thrives under her family’s care. Lina finds kinship, too—with a cousin whose dreams were also shattered by the war and with a handsome and caring veteran who sought refuge on the island and runs a neighborhood bar.

But amid the magic of the island are secrets and years of misunderstandings that could erode the very stability she’s fighting for. Hope lies on the horizon, but can she keep her gaze steady?


Review:

Sobering, uplifting, and atmospheric!

At the Island’s Edge is a heart-tugging, engrossing tale that takes you into the life of Lina LaSalle, a former combat medic who, after taking a life in Iraq to save her convoy from a suicide bomber, moves back home to Puerto Rico with her young son, only to find herself depending more and more on alcohol to cope with her PTSD.

The prose is vivid and rich. The characters are complex, flawed, and vulnerable. And the plot is a touching mix of tragedy, heartbreak, guilt, redemption, family, community, friendship, survival, hope, mental health, self-forgiveness, and the all-encompassing, unconditional love a parent has for their child.

Overall, At the Island’s Edge is an emotional, reflective, compelling tale by Jerez that is a heartrending reminder of the enduring psychological, physiological, and emotional devastation that is caused by war.

 

This novel is available now.

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Thank you to OTRPR and Amazon Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About C.I. Jerez

C.I. Jerez is a proud Latina who was born in Miami. Her mother, a native New Yorker, blessed her with both Puerto Rican and Irish roots, while her father, a Cuban immigrant, inspired her to embrace the culture of the Caribbean. These multicultural influences, including growing up on the West Texas border in El Paso, have shaped her desire to bring Latina and Latino characters to life in her stories.

After graduating from the University of Texas at El Paso, she commissioned as a signal officer in the US Army and rose to the rank of Major before transitioning out of the military. She holds an MBA from Webster University and a doctorate in international business from Liberty University. When not writing, she serves as cofounder and vice president for Ashire Technologies & Services Inc., a cybersecurity firm specializing in securing federal information systems. She lives in central Florida.

#BlogTour #BookReview Falls to Pieces by Douglas Corleone @dougcorleone @OverTheRiverPR @AmazonPub #FallsToPieces #DouglasCorleone #thomasandmercer #OTRPR

#BlogTour #BookReview Falls to Pieces by Douglas Corleone @dougcorleone @OverTheRiverPR @AmazonPub #FallsToPieces #DouglasCorleone #thomasandmercer #OTRPR Title: Falls to Pieces

Author: Douglas Corleone

Published by: Thomas & Mercer on Apr. 1, 2025

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 285

Format: Paperback

Source: Amazon Publishing, OTRPR

Book Rating: 7.5/10

A mother and daughter in hiding are threatened by more than secrets and lies in a twisting novel of paranoia, revenge, and psychological suspense by bestselling author Douglas Corleone.

For two years, Kati Dawes and her teenage daughter, Zoe, have lived off the grid in Hawaii, hiding from a past Kati must forget as if her life depends on it. New names. Anonymous online presence. So far, safe. Until Kati’s fiancé, attorney Eddie Akana, disappears along a popular hiking trail in a Maui national park. Now all eyes are on Kati. Exposure can make a woman with so many secrets very paranoid.

Eddie’s law partner, Noah Walker, is doing everything he can to protect his new client from the press that’s hovering like a vulture and the authorities whose suspicions about Kati―and the disappearance―are rising. Then suddenly, Zoe goes missing as well. Kati will risk anything to find her. But the worst is still to come. Because Kati’s not the only one with secrets. And buried among them is a twist she never saw coming.


Review:

Simmering, sinister, and edgy!

Falls to Pieces is an ominous, twisty tale that sweeps you away to Hawaii and into the life of Kate Dawes, the mother of a teen daughter who, after fleeing an abusive husband and changing her name, finds her world turned upside down again when her new boyfriend, a local beloved lawyer goes missing, and the publicity surrounding his disappearance brings all his secrets to light as well as her own.

The prose is crisp and tight. The characters are secretive, persuasive, and vulnerable. And the plot is a complex, menacing tale of family, friendship, deception, lies, drama, manipulation, secrets, revelations, suspicious personalities, violence, and murder.

Overall, Falls to Pieces is a suspenseful, compelling, intense tale by Corleone that isn’t incredibly fast-paced but which, ultimately, does a remarkable job of highlighting that people aren’t always who they seem.

 

This novel is available now.

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Thank you to OTRPR and Amazon Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Douglas Corleone

Douglas Corleone is the international bestselling author of Gone Cold, Payoff, and
Robert Ludlum’s The Janson Equation, as well as the acclaimed Kevin Corvelli novels,
the Simon Fisk international thrillers, and the stand-alone courtroom drama The
Rough Cut. Corleone’s debut novel, One Man’s Paradise, won the 2009 Minotaur
Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award and was a finalist for
the 2011 Shamus Award for Best First Novel. A former New York City criminal
defense attorney, Corleone now resides in Honolulu, where he is currently at work
on his next novel.

#BookReview The Forgotten One by Catherine Bybee @CatherineBybee @AmazonPub #TheForgottenOne #TheHeirsSeries #CatherineBybee #Montlake

#BookReview The Forgotten One by Catherine Bybee @CatherineBybee @AmazonPub #TheForgottenOne #TheHeirsSeries #CatherineBybee #Montlake Title: The Forgotten One

Author: Catherine Bybee

Series: The Heirs #2

Published by: Montlake Romance on Nov. 12, 2024

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 384

Format: Paperback

Source: Amazon Publishing, OTRPR

Book Rating: 9/10

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Catherine Bybee spins a dazzling tale of long-lost relatives, overnight riches, and unexpected romance in the dramatic second book of The Heirs series.

Sarah McNeilly is a rare find in the tabloid industry. She won’t ignite gossip. She finds the truth. And for once, that’s what her boss wants. With her job on the line, Sarah’s latest assignment is to identify the elusive “Maximillian Smith,” unearth his connection to the billionaire Stone family, and dig up some dirt.

Yesterday Max was an ordinary workingman, concerned with little more than the price of gas. Now he suddenly has a family, jaw-dropping wealth, and an avid (if clumsy) reporter on his trail. With the press threatening to destroy his new life, he needs to release his real story strategically, and Sarah is the key—not to mention an adorable yet invaluable resource for finding his mother.

As Max and Sarah team up to peel back the ugly layers of Max’s past, they stumble heart-first into their fiery attraction. But when their research threatens their newly built trust, it’s their future that is on the line.


Review:

Absorbing, spicy, and heartfelt!

The Forgotten One is a sweet, uplifting tale that takes us into the lives of Maximillian Smith, a down-to-earth guy with a rough past who is still coming to grips with his newly inherited wealth, and Sarah McNeilly, a tabloid reporter who is determined to uncover the truth and write pieces that are meaningful and honest regardless of what her boss would prefer.

The writing is smooth and sincere. The characters are hardworking, passionate, and stubborn. And the plot is an engaging, hopeful tale full of family, drama, disappointments, tender moments, palpable chemistry, expectations, revelations, friendship, and love.

Overall, The Forgotten One is a warm, charming, addictive read by Bybee that can definitely be picked up as a standalone novel, but as someone who absolutely adores this Heirs series, I highly recommend you read them all.

 

This novel is available now.

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

     

 

 

Thank you to Amazon Publishing for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Catherine Bybee

Catherine Bybee is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of twenty-five books that have collectively sold more than three million copies and have been translated into twelve languages. Raised in Washington State, Bybee moved to Southern California in hopes of becoming a movie star. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban emergency rooms. She now writes full-time and has penned the Not Quite series, the Weekday Brides series, and the Most Likely To series.

#BlogTour #BookReview Bad Reputation by Emma Barry @AuthorEmmaBarry @OverTheRiverPR @AmazonPub #BadReputation #EmmaBarry #Montlake #MontlakeAuthors #OTRPR

#BlogTour #BookReview Bad Reputation by Emma Barry @AuthorEmmaBarry @OverTheRiverPR @AmazonPub #BadReputation #EmmaBarry #Montlake #MontlakeAuthors #OTRPR Title: Bad Reputation

Author: Emma Barry

Published by: Montlake Romance on Oct. 1, 2024

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 319

Format: Paperback

Source: Amazon Publishing, OTRPR

Book Rating: 8/10

In this whip-smart workplace romance from the author of Chick Magnet, a former teen star and an accidental intimacy coordinator have a plan to fix their images—and falling in love would ruin everything.

Cole James’s reputation as Hollywood’s favorite himbo no longer suits him. His fans can’t separate the real man from the character he played on a soapy teen drama decades ago. But that’s going to change with Waverley, the hit streaming historical romance series.

Maggie Niven hates her own notoriety. Fired for directing a divisive play, Maggie takes her fight against censorship public. When Hollywood comes calling, she becomes the new intimacy coordinator for Waverley. But it’s harder than she imagined to focus on the job.

Cole isn’t what she expected—and Maggie is more than he dreamed of. As filming gets underway, the cast’s old traumas lead to real intimacy, and Cole and Maggie struggle with feelings they shouldn’t have. Having an affair on set could destroy his comeback and her new career.

The show must go on. But if Cole and Maggie want a happy ending, they’ll have to start doing things their own way.


Review:

Appealing, tender, and sweet!

Bad Reputation is a bighearted, uplifting tale that takes you into the lives of two main characters. Cole James, an actor struggling to be known for more than just his long-running image as a teen heartthrob and himbo, and Maggie Niven, a former drama teacher turned intimacy coordinator, who is determined to fight censorship and prove just how wrong her dismissal from the school board for diverseness truly was.

The writing is touching and light. The characters are charismatic, genuine, and endearing. And the plot is an engaging mix of heart, humour, friendship, attraction, chemistry, relationship drama, romance, and the intricacies of movie making.

Overall, Bad Reputation is another charming, witty, delightful tale by Barry that has all the elements I’ve come to know and enjoy in her novels, including a fierce heroine, an attentive alpha male, and a slightly unique, swoony storyline.

 

This novel is available now.

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

     

 

 

Thank you to OTRPR and Amazon Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Emma Barry

Emma Barry is a teacher, novelist, recovering academic, and former political staffer. She lives with her high school sweetheart and a menagerie of pets and children in Virginia, and she occasionally finds time to read and write.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

#BlogTour #BookReview Daughter of Fire by Sofia Robleda @AmazonPub @OverTheRiverPR #SofiaRobleda #DaughterOfFire #AmazonCrossing #AmazonPublishing #OTRPR

#BlogTour #BookReview Daughter of Fire by Sofia Robleda @AmazonPub @OverTheRiverPR #SofiaRobleda #DaughterOfFire #AmazonCrossing #AmazonPublishing #OTRPR Title: Daughter of Fire

Author: Sofia Robleda

Published by: Amazon Crossing on Aug. 1, 2024

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 280

Format: Paperback

Source: Amazon Publishing, OTRPR

Book Rating: 8/10

Catalina de Cerrato is being raised by her widowed father, Don Alonso, in 1551 Guatemala, scarcely thirty years since the Spanish invasion. A ruling member of the oppressive Spanish hierarchy, Don Alonso holds sway over the newly relegated lower class of Indigenous communities. Fiercely independent, Catalina struggles to honor her father and her late mother, a Maya noblewoman to whom Catalina made a vow that only she can keep: preserve the lost sacred text of the Popol Vuh, the treasured and now forbidden history of the K’iche’ people.

Urged on by her mother’s spirit voice and possessing the gift of committing the invaluable stories to memory, Catalina embarks on a secret and transcendent quest to rewrite them. Through ancient pyramids, Spanish villas, and caves of masked devils, she finds an ally in the captivating Juan de Rojas, a lord whose rule was compromised by the invasion. But as their love and trust unfold, and Don Alonso’s tyranny escalates, Catalina must confront her conflicted blood heritage―and its secrets―once and for all if she’s to follow her dangerous quest to its historic end.


Review:

Absorbing, insightful, and fascinating!

Daughter of Fire is a compelling, adventurous tale that takes you into the life of Catalina de Cerrato, the young biracial daughter of Spanish colonizer Don Alonzo, who is determined at all costs to honour her late mother’s wishes to protect the sacred Popol Vuh text detailing the history of the K’iche’ people even if it means secretly working with her cousin Cristóbel and the alluring, forbidden Juan de Rojas.

The prose is rich and vivid. The characters are torn, passionate, and determined. And the plot, set in Guatemala in the early 1550s, is a captivating tale about life, love, bravery, strength, loss, loyalty, honour, danger, duty, emotion, rebellion, heartbreak, introspection, autonomy, and the ancient traditions and texts of the Mayan people.

Overall, Daughter of Fire is ultimately an enlightening, intriguing, evocative tale by Robleda that highlights the importance and empowerment of self-identity and is a sobering reminder of the cultural destruction and tremendous loss of lives incurred when invasion and tyranny are allowed to freely run amok.

 

This book is available now.

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

     

 

 

Thank you to OTRPR and Amazon Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Sofia Robleda

Sofia Robleda is a Mexican writer. She spent her childhood and adolescence in Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. She completed her undergraduate and doctorate degrees in psychology at the University of Queensland, Australia. She currently lives in the UK with her husband and son, and splits her time between writing, raising her son, and working as a clinical psychologist supporting people with brain injuries and neurological conditions.

Photo by Michael Oosthuizen.

 

#BlogTour #BookReview The Curse of the Flores Women by Angélica Lopes (translated by Zoë Perry) @AmazonPub @OverTheRiverPR #TheCurseOfTheFloresWomen #AngelicaLopes #AmazonCrossing #OTRPR

#BlogTour #BookReview The Curse of the Flores Women by Angélica Lopes (translated by Zoë Perry) @AmazonPub @OverTheRiverPR #TheCurseOfTheFloresWomen #AngelicaLopes #AmazonCrossing #OTRPR Title: The Curse of the Flores Women

Author: Angélica Lopes, Zoë Perry

Published by: Amazon Crossing on Jul. 1, 2024

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 220

Format: Paperback

Source: Amazon Publishing, OTRPR

Book Rating: 8/10

Eighteen-year-old Alice Ribeiro is constantly fighting—against the status quo, female oppression in Brazil, and even her own mother. But when a family veil is passed down to her, Alice is compelled to fight for the rights of all womankind while also uncovering the hidden history of the women in her family.

Seven generations ago, the small town of Bom Retiro shunned the Flores women because of a “curse” that rendered them unlucky in love. With no men on the horizon to take care of them, the women learned the art of lacemaking to build lives of their own. But their peace was soon threatened by forces beyond any woman’s control.

As Alice begins piecing together the tapestry that is her history, she discovers revelations about the past, connections to the present, and a resilience in her blood that will carry her toward the future her ancestors strove for.


Review:

Sentimental, heartfelt, and enchanting!

The Curse of the Flores Women is a fresh, captivating tale set in Brazil during 1918, as well as 2010, that takes you into the life of Eugênia, a young woman who dreads her upcoming nuptials and who uses her skills in lacemaking to share her thoughts, feelings and silent cries for help, and Alice, an eighteen-year-old girl struggling with a strained relationship with her mother who, after receiving an heirloom veil from a distant aunt, endeavours to learn as much as possible about her family history that up until now she’s known little about.

The prose is expressive and fluid. The characters are headstrong, independent, and loyal. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel into a charming tale of family, friendship, drama, rebellion, emotion, secrets, love, loss, duty, heartbreak, introspection, passion, tradition, and autonomy.

Overall, The Curse of the Flores Women is a compelling, evocative, illuminating tale by Lopes that was a delight to read and has just the right amount of intrigue, culture, colourful history, and palpable emotion to be a good choice for all fans of the historical fiction genre.

 

This book is available now.

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

     

 

 

Thank you to OTRPR and Amazon Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Angélica Lopes

Angélica Lopes is a novelist, screenwriter, and journalist from Rio de Janeiro with over twenty years of experience in writing fiction. Her dramatic vein came from writing Brazilian soap operas, known worldwide for attracting millions of viewers daily. She is also an award-winning author of YA novels and has written scripts for cinema, TV series, and comedy shows. The Curse of the Flores Women is her first adult novel and was sold for translation in France and Italy even before being published in her native Brazil.

About Zoë Perry

Zoë Perry has translated the work of several contemporary Brazilian authors, including Emilio Fraia, Ana Paula Maia, Juliana Leite, Clara Drummond, Veronica Stigger, and Carol Bensimon. Her translations have appeared in the Paris Review, the New Yorker, Granta, Astra, n+1, and the New York Times. Perry’s translation of Ana Paula Maia’s Of Cattle and Men was awarded an English PEN grant, and she received a PEN/Heim grant for her translation of Veronica Stigger’s Opisanie swiata (Desription of the World). She is currently based in Miami.

 

#BookReview Boss Lady by Alli Frank & Asha Youmans @OverTheRiverPR @alliandasha @AmazonPub #BossLady, #AlliandAsha #comrom #Blackfiction #Jewishfiction #BlackWhiteDuo #funnyfiction #Montlake #MontlakeAuthors #SummerReads #OTRPR

#BookReview Boss Lady by Alli Frank & Asha Youmans @OverTheRiverPR @alliandasha @AmazonPub #BossLady, #AlliandAsha #comrom #Blackfiction #Jewishfiction #BlackWhiteDuo #funnyfiction #Montlake #MontlakeAuthors #SummerReads #OTRPR Title: Boss Lady

Published by: Montlake Romance on Jul. 2, 2024

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 317

Format: Hardcover

Source: Amazon Publishing, OTRPR

Book Rating: 8.5/10

In this funny and inspiring novel from the authors of The Better Half, a mess of a heroine is desperate to resolve her past so she can finally rediscover who she was always meant to be.

Antonia “Toni” Arroyo’s protective mother has outdated notions for her daughter’s life: employ her natural beauty and marry young. But Toni has wholly different aspirations.

A promising inventor and budding entrepreneur, she fights to keep her passions alive as a financially strapped mother of twins with a job in airport transportation services that has her going in circles. One treasured frequent passenger is elderly traveler Sylvia Eisenberg, Toni’s sage but unofficial adviser and cheerleader. When Toni meets Sylvia’s grandson, Ash, a striking venture capitalist, luck just might bend her way.

With a game-changing new business endeavor in development, Toni hustles an opportunity to pitch her idea on TV’s Innovation Nation. Toni’s unexpected challenger? Her very own recently resurfaced, self-aggrandizing not-quite-ex-husband. As Toni’s interrupted past collides with her tenuous future, she is more determined than ever to follow through on her delayed dreams. Toni’s been clinging to “maybe” for so long—it’s finally time for “absolutely.”


Review:

Clever, humorous, and inspiring!

Boss Lady is a flirty, charming tale about the hardworking, driven Antonia Arroyo who, after her husband walks out and doesn’t return for more than a year learns to juggle her love of science, her extreme creativity and drive to succeed, the raising of her twin teen girls, her monotonous job in airport transportation, and the reappearance of a crush from a lifetime ago.

The prose is smooth and sharp. The characters are focused, amusing, and dependable. And the plot is a lighthearted, funny blend of life, love, introspection, friendship, awkward situations, embarrassing moments, taking chances, and the ups and downs of being a single mother and an entrepreneur.

Overall, I found Boss Lady to be a smart, simmering, entertaining read by Frank & Youmans that’s brimming with empowerment, female friendships, and delectable romance.

 

This novel is available now.

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Thank you to OTRPR and Amazon Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Alli Frank & Asha Youmans

ALLI FRANK: The robustness of a farm girl, the honed sophistication of a city woman, a dash of Jewish chutzpah, and a heaping cup of endurance athlete and voila, you have Alli Frank. Alli was raised in Yakima, WA, the only child of two parents who instilled in her that hard work coupled with a resilient spirit will take you far. So, up some of the highest mountains Alli climbed, down insanely steep terrain she skied and across long swathes of land she ran. To pay for all this adventure, Alli has worked in education for over 20 years in San Francisco and Seattle - from an overcrowded, cacophonous public high school to a pristine private girl’s school. She has been a teacher, curriculum leader, coach, college counselor, assistant head, private school co-founder, sometimes pastor, often mayor, and de facto parent therapist. A graduate of Cornell and Stanford Universities, Alli can still be found during the day skiing or running down mountains and by night with her nose deep in a book or hunkered down watching movies, never one to miss a great story. Alli lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, two daughters and a terribly cute mini-Bernedoodle. When she needs good food (cause she really hates to cook) she turns to her co-author Asha Youmans. Read Alli's essays in the Moms Don't Have Time to: A Quarantine Anthology, Frolic and Medium.

ASHA YOUMANS: Raised in Seattle, WA, Asha Youmans was among the first wave of girls to integrate Little League in Washington. She was also a member of a two-time city champion Double Dutch team and rode a unicycle, tumbled, and juggled as a member of a traveling circus acrobatics team. Asha is the middle child of two dedicated community service people. Her father, TJ Vassar, was a pioneer in education in Seattle and across the globe, making such an impact in diversity curriculum and inclusive practices in schools that President Obama honored his life’s work in 2012. Her mother, Lynda, was a children’s hospital administrator who insisted on her kids participating in community volunteer work. Enrolled in gifted programs while attending public school, Asha went on to graduate from one of America’s premier private academies, Lakeside School, from which her father earned a diploma as the school’s first Black graduate. After writing her own major program and graduating from the University of California, Berkeley, Asha returned to Seattle where she taught in public and private schools for 20 years. Asha is a fabulous home cook who loves storytelling and connecting with others by making them smile. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband. Together they have two adult sons and a feisty, senior Yorkshire Terrier.

 

#BookReview All Our Tomorrows by Catherine Bybee @OverTheRiverPR @CatherineBybee @AmazonPub #AllOurTomorrows #TheHeirsSeries #CatherineBybee #OTRPR #Montlake

#BookReview All Our Tomorrows by Catherine Bybee @OverTheRiverPR @CatherineBybee @AmazonPub #AllOurTomorrows #TheHeirsSeries #CatherineBybee #OTRPR #Montlake Title: All Our Tomorrows

Author: Catherine Bybee

Series: The Heirs #1

Published by: Montlake Romance on Jun. 18, 2024

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 416

Format: Paperback

Source: OTRPR

Book Rating: 9/10

From New York Times bestselling author Catherine Bybee comes the story of a reluctant billionaire who takes on his father’s empire, its dark secrets, and a fiery assistant he can’t get out of his head.

When Chase Stone’s estranged father dies, leaving his multibillion-dollar business to his children, no one is more surprised than him. Growing up outside of the high-stakes world filled with human vultures, Chase and his sister, Alex, are less than enthusiastic about stepping into their father’s shoes. That is until they learn of a half brother they didn’t know existed, and must find to share their inheritance with.

Piper Maddox was the elder Mr. Stone’s übercapable assistant—abruptly fired two weeks before his death. She knows everything about Stone Enterprises and the man who built it. But Piper has no desire to work for another member of the Stone family. Even one as down to earth as Chase.

Desperately needing financial security, Piper agrees to return so long as kissing up to Chase and accepting unwanted advances were not part of her job description. A task that becomes a serious hurdle for both of them. Piper and Chase scramble to find the third Stone sibling before the media does, sharing secrets along the way. Secrets that can bring them together or tear them irrevocably apart.


Review:

Sexy, sincere, and sophisticated!

All Our Tomorrows is a heartfelt, alluring tale that features the sweet, wary Piper and the handsome, capable Chase as they navigate a relationship that includes a shared secret and a common goal, a family mired in drama and troubles, smouldering tension, and undeniable attraction.

The writing is smooth and fluid. The characters are enigmatic, intelligent, and loyal. And the plot is an irresistible mix of family, friendship, revelations, deception, secrets, introspection, tender moments, passion, emotion, and swoon-worthy romance.

Overall, All Our Tomorrows is another tender, playful, charming read by Bybee that has, without a doubt, become one of my new all-time favourites and is an absolutely brilliant start for this new Heirs series.

This novel is available now.

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

     

 

 

Thank you to OTRPR and Amazon Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Catherine Bybee

Catherine Bybee is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of twenty-five books that have collectively sold more than three million copies and have been translated into twelve languages. Raised in Washington State, Bybee moved to Southern California in hopes of becoming a movie star. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban emergency rooms. She now writes full-time and has penned the Not Quite series, the Weekday Brides series, and the Most Likely To series.

#BlogTour #BookReview Playing for Freedom: The Journey of a Young Afghan Girl by Zarifa Adiba & Anne Chaon (translated by Susanna Lea Associates) @AmazonPub @OverTheRiverPR #PlayingForFreedom #ZarifaAdiba #AmazonCrossing #OTRPR

#BlogTour #BookReview Playing for Freedom: The Journey of a Young Afghan Girl by Zarifa Adiba & Anne Chaon (translated by Susanna Lea Associates) @AmazonPub @OverTheRiverPR #PlayingForFreedom #ZarifaAdiba #AmazonCrossing #OTRPR Title: Playing for Freedom: The Journey of a Young Afghan Girl

Author: Zarifa Adiba, Anne Chaon

Published by: Amazon Crossing on Apr. 16, 2024

Genres: Nonfiction

Pages: 205

Format: Paperback

Source: Amazon Publishing, OTRPR

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A passionate musician growing up in the war-torn streets of Kabul takes her forbidden talents abroad in this triumphant memoir from debut author Zarifa Adiba.

As an Afghan girl, Zarifa Adiba has big, unfathomable dreams. Her family is poor, her country mired in conflict. Walking to school in Kabul, Zarifa has to navigate suicide bombers.

But Zarifa perseveres, nurturing her passion for music despite its “sinful” nature under Taliban law. At sixteen she gains admission to the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, and at eighteen she becomes the lead violist, co-conductor, and spokesperson for Zohra, the first all-female orchestra in the Muslim world.

Despite Zarifa’s accomplishments—which include a stunning performance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland—her future in music demands a reckoning with her life back home. Many of the girls in Zohra are forced to marry, but Zarifa yearns to study, travel, and explore her independence. Her so-called “bad girl” identity puts her at odds with her culture and her family.

Playing for Freedom is the deeply compelling story of a woman who dares to compose a masterpiece even with all odds stacked against her.


Review:

Honest, informative, and inspiring!

Playing for Freedom is the insightful, intriguing story of Zarifa Adiba’s personal hardships, struggles, successes and accomplishments as a woman and musician born and raised in a country that is riddled with oppression, war and strict religious rule.

The writing is genuine and perceptive. And the novel is an introspective, compelling tale of one woman’s life from being a child raised in a blended family to believing in herself, taking chances, and following her dreams.

Overall, Playing for Freedom is a forthright, passionate, absorbing tale by Adiba that covers such an abundance of themes that, as a fellow woman, it was easy to root for her, appreciate, and be thoroughly captivated by her story.

 

This book is available now.

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

     

 

 

Thank you to OTRPR and Amazon Publishing for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Anne Chaon

Anne Chaon is a journalist and former correspondent for the Agence France-Presse. She was based in Kabul, Afghanistan, from June 2016 to September 2018 and again in June 2021.

About Zarifa Adiba

Zarifa Adiba is the lead violist and co-conductor of Zohra, Afghanistan’s first (and only) all-female orchestra. She studied at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, the only music education entity in Afghanistan in 2017. She is currently studying International Politics at both Bard College and American University of Central Asia. She is an activist for girls and education and has participated in several panels, including at the World Economic Forum in 2017. Playing for Freedom is her first book.