Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

#BookReview Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook @LizziePook @SimonSchusterCA #LizziePook #MaudeHortonsGloriousRevenge #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge by Lizzie Pook @LizziePook @SimonSchusterCA #LizziePook #MaudeHortonsGloriousRevenge #SimonSchusterCA Title: Maude Horton's Glorious Revenge

Author: Lizzie Pook

Published by: Simon & Schuster Canada on Jan. 16, 2024

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

An Arctic expedition. A mysterious death. And the lengths to which one woman will go to avenge her sister

When Maude Horton receives a letter from the British Admiralty informing her of her younger sister’s death, her world is shattered. Bold and daring, Constance had run away from her life in Victorian London two years prior, disguising herself as a boy to board the Makepeace, an expedition vessel bound for the Arctic’s unexplored Northwest Passage. The admiralty claims Constance’s death was a tragic accident, but Maude knows when she is being deceived.

Armed with Constance’s diary from her time at sea and a fiery desire for justice, Maude sets her sights on the Makepeace’s former scientist, Edison Stowe, a greedy and manipulative man whom she suspects had a hand in her sister’s death. When she learns he has a new venture, a travel company that escorts spectators across the country to witness popular public hangings, she decides to join the latest tour, determined to extract the truth from Stowe and avenge her sister—no matter the risk to herself.

From the stark beauty of the Arctic to the teeming streets of Victorian London, Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge is a mysterious, transportive tale about the unbreakable bond of sisterhood and the things we are driven to do by both love and greed.

Review:

Action-packed, alluring, and exceptionally atmospheric!

Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge is a rich, adventurous tale that sweeps you away to London in 1850 and into the life of the independent, bold Maude Horton who, after learning of her sister’s suspicious death on the Makepeace’s expedition to find the missing explorer Sir John Franklin, embarks on a secret mission of her own, attending ghastly public hangings and befriending the shady Edison Stowe in order to discover what truly happened to her.

The prose is eloquent and vivid. The characters are persistent, clever, and brave. And the plot is a fascinating tale of life, loss, family, bravery, survival, tragedy, danger, forbidden love, sisterhood, and vengeance.

Overall, Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge is an intriguing, absorbing, meticulous tale by Pook that grabs you from the very first page and does an outstanding job of blending historical facts with fiction that is both compelling and wonderfully immersive.

 

This novel is available now.

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

        

 

 

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

 

About Lizzie Pook

Lizzie Pook is a London-based travel writer and journalist whose work has taken her to some of the farthest-flung parts of the planet, from the trans-Himalayas—in search of elusive snow leopards—to the vast, uninhabited east coast of Greenland. She has written for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Times (London), Lonely Planet, and Condé Nast Traveler. Lizzie is the author of Maude Horton’s Glorious Revenge and Moonlight and the Pearler’s Daughter.

Photo by Magdalena Smolarska.

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The Search Party Book Cover

#BookReview The Search Party by Hannah Richell @hannahrichell @SimonSchusterCA #TheSearchParty #HannahRichell #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview The Search Party by Hannah Richell @hannahrichell @SimonSchusterCA #TheSearchParty #HannahRichell #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Search Party

Author: Hannah Richell

Published by: Atria Books on Jan. 16, 2024

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 352

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A spellbinding locked-room mystery about a glamping trip gone horribly wrong when a powerful storm leaves the participants stranded and forced to confront long-held secrets and a shocking disappearance.

Max and Annie Kingsley have left the London rat race with their twelve-year-old son to set up a glamping site in the wilds of Cornwall. Eager for a dry run ahead of their opening, they invite three old university friends and their families for a long-needed reunion. But the festivities soon go awry as tensions arise between the children (and subsequently their parents), explosive secrets come to light, and a sudden storm moves in, cutting them off from help as one in the group disappears.

Moving between the police investigation, a hospital room, and the catastrophic weekend, The Search Party is a propulsive and twisty destination thriller about the tenuous bonds of friendship and the lengths parents will go to protect their children—perfect for fans of Ruth Ware and Lucy Foley.

Review:

Intricate, ominous, and tight!

The Search Party is an engrossing, eerie thriller that delves into the complex bonds that exist between friends and family members and reminds us that behind all those happy, smiling faces often lies an abundance of escalating tension, simmering resentments, and devastating secrets.

The writing is taut and edgy. The characters are secretive, multilayered, and anxious. And the plot, told from alternating perspectives and using before and after timelines, is a sinister tale full of twists, turns, familial drama, secrets, lies, deception, infidelity, relationship dynamics, parenthood, reckless behaviour, swirling emotions, red herrings, vengeance, and murder.

Overall, The Search Party is a suspenseful, atmospheric, exceptionally clever tale by Richell that highlights everything is not always as it appears and is definitely one of the most gripping page-turners I’ve read in a while.

 

This book is available now.

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

        

 

 

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

 

About Hannah Richell

Before I became a writer, I worked in the publishing and film industries marketing books and movies. I began to write in 2007 while pregnant with my first child. The result was Secrets of the Tides, which was picked for the 2012 Richard & Judy Book Club, the Waterstones Book Club and was shortlisted for the Australian Independent Bookseller Best Debut Fiction Award, ABIA General Fiction Book of the Year (2013) and ABIA Newcomer of the Year (2013).

Since then I have written The Shadow Year (2013), The Peacock Summer (2018) and my latest novel, The River Home, which will be published in 2020. My work is available in twenty-two territories and has been translated into seventeen languages.

I have also written for a number of media outlets including Harper’s Bazaar, The Independent, Fairfax Media and Australian Women’s Weekly.

I am a dual citizen of the UK and Australia, though I currently live in the South West of England with my family.

Photograph by Claire Newman-Williams.

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#BookReview The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan @vanjchan @SimonSchusterCA #VanessaChan #TheStormWeMade #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan @vanjchan @SimonSchusterCA #VanessaChan #TheStormWeMade #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Storm We Made

Author: Vanessa Chan

Published by: Marysue Rucci Books on Jan. 2, 2024

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 352

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

A spellbinding, sweeping novel about a Malayan mother who becomes an unlikely spy for the invading Japanese forces during WWII—and the shocking consequences that rain upon her community and family.

Malaya, 1945. Cecily Alcantara’s family is in terrible danger: her fifteen-year-old son, Abel, has disappeared, and her youngest daughter, Jasmin, is confined in a basement to prevent being pressed into service at the comfort stations. Her eldest daughter Jujube, who works at a tea house frequented by drunk Japanese soldiers, becomes angrier by the day.

Cecily knows two things: that this is all her fault; and that her family must never learn the truth.

A decade prior, Cecily had been desperate to be more than a housewife to a low-level bureaucrat in British-colonized Malaya. A chance meeting with the charismatic General Fuijwara lured her into a life of espionage, pursuing dreams of an “Asia for Asians.” Instead, Cecily helped usher in an even more brutal occupation by the Japanese. Ten years later as the war reaches its apex, her actions have caught up with her. Now her family is on the brink of destruction—and she will do anything to save them.

Spanning years of pain and triumph, told from the perspectives of four unforgettable characters, The Storm We Made is a dazzling saga about the horrors of war; the fraught relationships between the colonized and their oppressors, and the ambiguity of right and wrong when survival is at stake.

Review:

Absorbing, harrowing, and impactful!

The Storm We Made is a poignant, immersive tale set in British-occupied Malaya that takes you into the lives of the Alcantara family, especially the matriarch, Cecily, a middle-aged mother suffering from extreme guilt over the decisions she made ten years ago, and her three children, Jujube, Abel, and Jasmin whose lives are irrevocably changed forever when their homeland is invaded and occupied by the Japanese during WWII.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are brave, tormented, and determined. And the plot is an exceptionally touching tale about life, loss, family, secrets, separation, desperation, infidelity, tragedy, and the horrors of war.

Overall, The Storm We Made is a gritty, emotional, beautifully written tale by Chan inspired by real-life familial events that reminds us that survival of any kind often involves heartbreaking choices, moral dilemmas, action, spirit, extreme loss, and beyond all else, unimaginable sacrifice and courage.

 

This novel is available now.

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

        

 

 

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

 

About Vanessa Chan

Vanessa Chan Author Photo

Vanessa Chan was born and raised in Malaysia. Her short stories have been published in Electric Lit, Kenyon Review, Ecotone, and more. She was the 2021 Stanley Elkin scholar at the Sewanee Writers Conference and has also received scholar awards to attend the Bread Loaf and Tin House writers’ conferences. The Storm We Made is her first novel.

Photograph by Mary Inhea Kang.

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#BookReview The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell @MaxwellJessa @SimonSchusterCA #TheGoldenSpoon #JessaMaxwell #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview The Golden Spoon by Jessa Maxwell @MaxwellJessa @SimonSchusterCA #TheGoldenSpoon #JessaMaxwell #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Golden Spoon

Author: Jessa Maxwell

Published by: Atria Books on Mar. 7, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 288

Format: Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8/10

For six amateur bakers, competing in Bake Week is a dream come true.

When they arrive at Grafton Manor to compete, they’re ready to do whatever it takes to win the ultimate The Golden Spoon.

But for the show’s famous host, Betsy Martin, Bake Week is more than just a competition. Grafton Manor is her family’s home and legacy – and Bake Week is her life’s work. It’s imperative that both continue to succeed.

But as the competition commences, things begin to go awry. At first, it’s small acts of sabotage. Someone switching sugar for salt. A hob turned far too high.

But when a body is discovered, it’s clear that for someone in the competition, The Golden Spoon is a prize worth killing for…

Review:

Fast-paced, atmospheric, and cosy!

The Golden Spoon is a crafty, ominous tale that sweeps you away to a dilapidated manor in Vermont where six contestants from all walks of life have gathered to film and compete in the reality TV show “Bake Week,” but in a group like this, where tensions are high, secrets are rife, winning is everything, and everyone has a hidden agenda, death is definitely not out of the question.

The prose is crafty and light. The characters are self-obsessed, quirky, and secretive. And the plot is an enticing, suspenseful mix of twists, turns, secrets, manipulation, sabotage, revelations, revenge, confessions, malicious intentions, and murder.

Overall, The Golden Spoon is a mysterious, amusing, satisfying treat by Maxwell that had just the right amount of suspicious personalities, zany antics, and abundance of drama to keep 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 Simon & Schuster Canada for gifting me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Jessa Maxwell

Jessa Maxwell is the author of The Golden Spoon and I Need You to Read This. She is also the author and illustrator of five picture books for children. Her comics and cartoons have been published in The New Yorker and The New York Times and her writing has been published in Slate, Marie Claire, and many others. She now lives in Jamestown, Rhode Island with her husband, two cats and three-legged dog.

Photo by Stephanie Ewens.

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#BookReview The Other Mothers by Katherine Faulkner @k_faulkner @SimonSchusterCA #TheOtherMothers #KatherineFaulkner #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview The Other Mothers by Katherine Faulkner @k_faulkner @SimonSchusterCA #TheOtherMothers #KatherineFaulkner #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Other Mothers

Author: Katherine Faulkner

Published by: Gallery Books on Dec. 5, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 384

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

The author of the “twisty, fast-paced” (The Sunday Times, London) Greenwich Park returns with a fresh and deftly paced thriller about murder, class, and motherhood in an exclusive London community.

When a young nanny is found dead in mysterious circumstances, new mom, Tash, is intrigued. She has been searching for a story to launch her career as a freelance journalist. But she has also been searching for something else—new friends to help her navigate motherhood.

She sees them at her son’s new playgroup. The other mothers. A group of sleek, sophisticated women who live in a neighborhood of tree-lined avenues and stunning houses. The sort of mothers Tash herself would like to be. When the mothers welcome her into their circle, Tash discovers the kind of life she has always dreamt of—their elegant London townhouses a far cry from her cramped basement flat and endless bills. She is quickly swept up into their wealthy world via coffees, cocktails, and playdates.

But when another young woman is found dead, it’s clear there’s much more to the community than meets the eye. The more Tash investigates, the more she’s led uncomfortably close to the other mothers. Are these women really her friends? Or is there another, more dangerous reason why she has been so quickly accepted into their exclusive world? Who, exactly, is investigating who?

Review:

Fast-paced, twisty, and captivating!

The Other Mothers is a brisk, suspenseful thriller that introduces us to Tash, a wife, mother and journalist who, after learning of the death of a local nanny, decides to investigate the case by befriending the mothers she’s always envied in the hopes of discovering what really happened, and Sophie, a young woman who gets in over her head when she gets a little too close to the members of the family she’s working for and discovers secrets that they’re willing to do anything to protect.

The prose is sharp and crisp. The characters are manipulative, cunning, and vulnerable. And the plot, told through alternating perspectives, is a tortuously menacing tale full of danger, deception, adultery, jealousy, manipulation, friendship, motherhood, class division, secrets, mayhem, and murder.

Overall, The Other Mothers is a cleverly plotted, unnerving, intricate page-turner by Faulkner that is surprisingly the first novel I’ve read by this author, but which will undoubtedly not be my last.

 

This book is available now.

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

        

 

 

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

 

About Katherine Faulkner

Katherine Faulkner, an award-winning journalist, studied history at Cambridge. She has worked as an investigative reporter and an editor and was formerly the joint Head of News at The Times (London). She lives in London, where she grew up, with her husband and two daughters. She is the author of The Other Mothers and Greenwich Park.

Photo by Katherine Faulkner.

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#BookReview The Only Suspect by Louise Candlish @louise_candlish @SimonSchusterCA #TheOnlySuspect #LouiseCandlish #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview The Only Suspect by Louise Candlish @louise_candlish @SimonSchusterCA #TheOnlySuspect #LouiseCandlish #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Only Suspect

Author: Louise Candlish

Published by: Simon & Schuster on Apr. 18, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 400

Format: Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

From the internationally bestselling author of The Other Passenger and The Heights comes a new explosive thriller about obsession and deadly secrets.

There’s the obvious story. And then there’s the truth.

Alex lives a comfortable life with his wife, Beth, in the leafy suburb of Silver Vale. Fine, so he’s not the most extroverted guy on the street, he prefers to keep himself to himself, but he’s a good husband and an easy-going neighbour.

That’s until Beth announces the creation of a nature trail on a local site that’s been disused for decades, and suddenly Alex is a changed man. Now he’s always watching. Questioning. Struggling to hide his dread…

As the landscapers get to work, a secret threatens to surface from years ago, back in Alex’s twenties when he got entangled with a seductive young woman called Marina, who threw both their lives into turmoil.

And who sparked a police hunt for a murder suspect that was never quite what it seemed.

It still isn’t.

Review:

Gripping, twisty, and suspenseful!

The Only Suspect is a tortuous domestic thriller that transports you between present day and 1995 and into the lives of both Alex, a husband who seemingly has it all until the development of a local nature trail causes him to become stressed and more secretive and erratic, and Rick, a twenty-something young man enjoying the single life in Camden until he obsessively falls for an enigmatic woman who might not be exactly whom she appears to be.

The prose is tight and edgy. The characters are secretive, consumed, and troubled. And the plot, using a past/present, back-and-forth style, builds and unravels into a compelling tale full of drama, deception, lies, jealousy, obsession, manipulation, infidelity, and the complex, toxic relationship that can exist between friends.

Overall, The Only Suspect is a nostalgic, devious, unnerving page-turner by Candlish that does a wonderful job of keeping you guessing from start to finish and highlighting just how easily people can sometimes allow themselves to be psychologically and emotionally manipulated.

 

This book is available now.

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

      

 

 

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

 

About Louise Candlish

Louise Candlish is the Sunday Times (London) bestselling author of fourteen novels. Our House, a #1 bestseller, won the Crime & Thriller Book of the Year at the 2019 British Book Awards, was longlisted for the 2019 Theakston Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year, and was shortlisted for the Goldsboro Books Glass Bell Award. It is now in development for a major TV series with Red Planet Pictures, producers of Death in Paradise. Louise lives in London with her husband and daughter.

Photo by Jonny Ring.

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#BookReview Betting on You by Lynn Painter @LAPainter @simonkids @SimonSchusterCA #BettingonYou #LynnPainter #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview Betting on You by Lynn Painter @LAPainter @simonkids @SimonSchusterCA #BettingonYou #LynnPainter #SimonSchusterCA Title: Betting on You

Author: Lynn Painter

Published by: Simon & Schuster BFYR on Nov. 28, 2023

Genres: Contemporary Romance, Young Adult

Pages: 432

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 9/10

When seventeen-year-old Bailey starts a new job at a hotel waterpark, she is less than thrilled to see an old acquaintance is one of her coworkers. Bailey met Charlie a year ago on the long flight to Omaha, where she moved after her parents’ divorce. Charlie’s cynicism didn’t mix well with Bailey’s carefully well-behaved temperament, and his endless commentary was the irritating cherry on top of an already emotionally fraught trip.

Now, Bailey and Charlie are still polar opposites, but instead of everything about him rubbing Bailey the wrong way, she starts to look forward to hanging out and gossiping about the waterpark guests and their coworkers—particularly two who keep flirting with each other. Bailey and Charlie make a bet on whether or not the cozy pair will actually get together. Charlie insists that members of the opposite sex can’t just be friends, and Bailey is determined to prove him wrong.

Bailey and Charlie keep close track of the romantic progress of others while Charlie works to deflect the growing feelings he’s developed for Bailey. Terrified to lose her if his crush becomes known, what doesn’t help his agenda is Bailey and Charlie “fake dating” in order to disrupt the annoying pleasantries between Bailey’s mom and her mom’s new boyfriend. Soon, what Charlie was hoping to avoid becomes a reality as Bailey starts to see him as not only a friend she can rely on in the midst of family drama—but someone who makes her hands shake and heart race. But Charlie has a secret—a secret that involves Bailey and another bet Charlie may have made. Can the two make a real go of things…or has Charlie’s secret doomed them before they could start?

Review:

Sweet, tender, and light!

Betting On You is a humorous, quirky tale that takes you on a journey into the life of Bailey and Charlie, two teenagers who, after enduring a long flight from Alaska to Nebraska and an instant dislike, spend the next several years bumping into each other until they finally find themselves as coworkers and agreeing to a little fake dating that might prove once and for all enemies can be lovers and opposites do attract.

The writing is witty and smooth. The characters are hesitant, charming, and supportive. And the plot is a delightfully engaging mix of family, friendship, awkward situations, embarrassing moments, teenage angst, dreams, secrets, friendship, and love.

Overall, Betting On You is another cute, adorable, entertaining read by Painter that, as typical when I finish any of her books, has left me smitten, satisfied, and already longing for more.

 

This book is available now.

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

       

 

 

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

 

About Lynn Painter

Lynn Painter lives in Omaha, Nebraska, with her husband and pack of wild children. She’s a biweekly contributor to the Omaha World-Herald’s parenting section, even though she is the polar-opposite of a Pinterest mom. When she isn’t chasing kids, she can be found reading, writing, and shot-gunning Red Bulls.

Photo by Jackson Okun.

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#BookReview The Jazz Club Spy by Roberta Rich @SimonSchusterCA #RobertaRich #TheJazzClubSpy #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview The Jazz Club Spy by Roberta Rich @SimonSchusterCA #RobertaRich #TheJazzClubSpy #SimonSchusterCA Title: The Jazz Club Spy

Author: Roberta Rich

Published by: Simon & Schuster Canada on Nov. 21, 2023

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 304

Format: Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A riveting historical thriller about a Jewish cigarette girl in 1930s New York who finds the soldier who burned down her Russian village years earlier only to be swept up in a political conspiracy on the eve of World War II—from the #1 bestselling author of The Midwife of Venice .

New York, 1939

Giddy Brodsky knows she’s lucky to have a job as a cigarette girl at a Manhattan jazz club, but she dreams of opening her own beauty shop and lifting her family out of poverty. The Brodskys have lived cheek to jowl in the Lower East Side tenements since they came to America nineteen years ago, fleeing a deadly pogrom in their Russian village. But they continue to face prejudice, especially with the rise of the fascist organization the American Bund.

Yet Giddy is focused on the future—until she recognizes one of the Cossacks who irrevocably changed her life and the past comes flooding back. Determined to get justice, she enlists the help of Carter van der Zalm, a regular at the jazz club who also happens to be the director with the Department of Immigration at Ellis Island. When Carter discloses that the Cossack is an “undesirable” and may be of interest to the government, Giddy agrees to moonlight as a spy for him.

Not everyone is who they appear to be, and after a shocking betrayal, Giddy finds herself embroiled in a political conspiracy that could bring America into the war in Europe.

From the gritty tenements to the glittering jazz clubs of 1930s New York, The Jazz Club Spy is a thrilling historical novel about a brash young woman who must use all her wits to save the ones she loves.

Review:

Compelling, vivid, and absorbing!

The Jazz Club Spy is a rich, engaging tale set in NYC during 1939 that takes you into the life of Giddy Brodsky, a young woman who, after immigrating to America with her family after surviving a pogrom in her Russian village, finds herself dreaming of opening a cosmetics store, working as a cigarette girl at a jazz club, and suddenly moonlighting as a spy when she accidentally bumps into the cossack who brutalized her family, and she gets mixed up with the Commissioner of Immigration at Ellis Island whom she goes to for help.

The prose is evocative and expressive. The characters are independent, spirited, and brave. And the plot is a mysterious tale of life, loss, love, self-discovery, war, politics, secrets, friendship, determination, poverty, family, betrayal, and espionage.

Overall, I found The Jazz Club Spy to be an intriguing, absorbing, atmospheric tale by Rich that did a lovely job of blending historical events, intense emotion, and thought-provoking suspense.

 

This novel is available now.

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

        

 

 

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

 

About Roberta Rich

Roberta Rich is the #1 bestselling author of The Midwife of Venice, which was published in thirteen countries, The Harem Midwife, and A Trial in Venice. She divides her time between Vancouver, British Columbia, and Colima, Mexico.

Photograph by Guy Immega.

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#BookReview Consider Me by Becka Mack @SimonSchusterCA #ConsiderMe #BeckaMack #PlayingforKeepsSeries #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview Consider Me by Becka Mack @SimonSchusterCA #ConsiderMe #BeckaMack #PlayingforKeepsSeries #SimonSchusterCA Title: Consider Me

Author: Becka Mack

Series: Playing for Keeps #1

Published by: Simon & Schuster Canada on Nov. 21, 2023

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 544

Format: Paperback

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

In the sizzling hockey romance that has taken TikTok by storm, the ultimate player turns romantic to charm the woman he is desperate to win over.

The first book in the globally popular Playing for Keeps series.

For a shot at love, he’ll do whatever it takes…

Carter Beckett is the NHL’s best player—both on and off the ice. His career is at its peak, his friends are performing better than ever, and there’s no shortage of women to spend the night with. What more could he want?

Olivia Parker isn’t new to professional hockey players, thanks to her best friend’s boyfriend, but she has no interest in dating one herself—no matter how hot he is. And anyway, she loves working as a teacher and hanging out with her best friend, drama-free. Why would she want to spend her time stroking the ego of an arrogant athlete?

But once Carter meets Olivia, he can’t think of anything else. Too bad for him, Olivia is hellbent on keeping him at arm’s length, with no intention of giving into his charms. Perhaps it’s time for Carter to up his game…after all, nobody said he had to play fair.

Sparks will fly as Carter does whatever it takes for Olivia to consider him.

Review:

Sassy, tender, and romantic!

Consider Me is a passionate, lighthearted tale about the fun-loving, feisty Olivia, who is not a one-night kind of a gal even when it comes to a hunky athlete and the hard-bodied, delicious Carter, who is more than happy being a bachelor and is confident that casual hookups are all he’ll ever need.

The writing is smooth and sweet. The characters are charismatic, hesitant, and endearing. And the plot is a playful, spicy tale filled with friendship, family, insecurity, temptation, desire, palpable chemistry, sizzling attraction, tender moments, sexy times, light drama, and hockey.

Overall, I found Consider Me to be a charming, steamy, entertaining start to this new Playing for Keeps series by Mack that I am positive will be a big hit with fans of the sports romance genre and lovers of contemporary romance that has a nice amount of heart and heat.

 

This novel is available now.

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

             

 

 

 

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

 

About Becka Mack

Becka Mack is an avid romance reader, writer, and kindergarten teacher. Becka enjoys writing swoon-worthy romances with lovable and relatable characters, loads of humor, and a healthy dose of drama on the way to a happily ever after. She lives with her husband, children, and four-legged babies in Ontario, Canada.

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#BookReview My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon @ScoutPressBooks @SimonSchusterCA #MyDarlingGirl #JenniferMcMahon #SimonSchusterCA

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#BookReview My Darling Girl by Jennifer McMahon @ScoutPressBooks @SimonSchusterCA #MyDarlingGirl #JenniferMcMahon #SimonSchusterCA Title: My Darling Girl

Author: Jennifer McMahon

Published by: Scout Press on Oct. 3, 2023

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320

Format: Hardcover

Source: Simon & Schuster Canada

Book Rating: 8.5/10

A spine-tingling psychological thriller about a woman who, after taking in her dying, alcoholic mother, begins to suspect demonic possession is haunting her family.

Alison has never been a fan of Christmas. But with it right around the corner and her husband busily decorating their cozy Vermont home, she has no choice but to face it. Then she gets the call.

Mavis, Alison’s estranged mother, has been diagnosed with cancer and has only weeks to live. She wants to spend her remaining days with her daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters. But Alison grew up with her mother’s alcoholism and violent abuse and is reluctant to unearth these traumatic memories. Still, she eventually agrees to take in Mavis, hoping that she and her mother could finally heal and have the relationship she’s always dreamed of.

But when mysterious and otherworldly things start happening upon Mavis’s arrival, Alison begins to suspect her mother is not quite who she seems. And as the holiday festivities turn into a nightmare, she must confront just how far she is willing to go to protect her family.

Review:

Atmospheric, menacing, and dark!

My Darling Girl is an eerie, gripping, multi-generational story that transports you to Vermont and into the life of Alison O’Connor, who after surviving a traumatic childhood littered with unpredictability and abuse, is wary of having her terminally ill mother come home to die but is determined to do whatever it takes to protect those she loves from the charming yet pure evil that seems to be lingering nearby while she’s living under their roof.

The prose is tight and intense. The characters are multilayered, vulnerable, and troubled. And the plot, told in a back-and-forth style, is an unsettling tale of life, loss, tragedy, desperation, familial drama, secrets, tortured souls, supernatural phenomena, and the complex relationships that exist between mothers and daughters.

Overall, My Darling Girl is a haunting, ominous, chilling tale that kept me engaged and intrigued from start to finish and is undoubtedly once again another unique, creative, frightening tale by McMahon.

 

This novel is available now.

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

         

 

 

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

 

About Jennifer McMahon

Jennifer McMahon is the author of nine novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Promise Not to Tell and The Winter People. She lives in Vermont with her partner, Drea, and their daughter, Zella.

Photograph by Zella McMahon.

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