Source: St. Martin's Press

#BookReview Under the Golden Sun by Jenny Ashcroft @Jenny_Ashcroft @StMartinsPress #UndertheGoldenSun #JennyAshcroft #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview Under the Golden Sun by Jenny Ashcroft @Jenny_Ashcroft @StMartinsPress #UndertheGoldenSun #JennyAshcroft #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Under the Golden Sun

Author: Jenny Ashcroft

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Mar. 15, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 352

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 10/10

Jenny Ashcroft’s Under the Golden Sun is a captivating World War II historical love story set against the raw beauty of Australia.

Rose Hamilton is in desperate need of a life change when she reads the want ad in the newspaper for a companion needed to escort a young orphaned child to Australia. There are so many reasons she should ignore the advertisement―the war, those treacherous winter seas, her family, her fiance… but she can’t help herself. Within weeks she is boarding an enormous convoy, already too attached to five-year-old Walter.

Unfortunately, the cattle station home of Walter’s family isn’t anything like either of them were told to expect. Rose can’t leave this little boy who she’s grown to love until he is happy and settled, and she knows the key to this is Walter’s wounded fighter pilot uncle. But how will she ever part with Walter? And what if he isn’t the only reason she wants to stay?


Review:

Captivating, memorable, and exceptionally moving!

Under the Golden Sun is a rich, absorbing tale that sweeps you away to WWII London and into the life of Rose Hamilton, a recently engaged, young British woman who, after suffering a miscarriage and being discharged from her position in the air force, answers an ad to chaperone a four-year-old boy to Australia that not only exposes her to a world unlike any she has ever known before but, ultimately, changes her life forever.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are apprehensive, multilayered, and genuine. And the plot is a heartwarming tale of life, love, loneliness, familial relationships, heartbreak, war, loss, grief, guilt, culture, hardships, hope, loyalty, romance, and self-discovery.

Overall, Under the Golden Sun is a beautifully written, exceptionally atmospheric novel by Ashcroft that transports you to another time and place and immerses you so thoroughly into the lives, personalities, and feelings of the characters you can’t help but be affected. It is undoubtedly one of my favourite novels of the year, and just like her previous novel, Meet Me in Bombay, I highly recommend it.

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or 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 Jenny Ashcroft

JENNY ASHCROFT is a British author of historical fiction books including Beneath a Burning Sky and Island in the East. Having spent many years living, working and exploring in Australia and Asia, she is now based in Brighton where she lives with her family by the sea. She has a degree from Oxford University in history, and has always been fascinated by the past—in particular the way that extraordinary events can transform the lives of normal people.

Photograph by David Myers Photography.

#BookReview The Tsarina’s Daughter by Ellen Alpsten @EAlpsten_Author @StMartinsPress #TheTsarinasDaughter #EllenAlpsten #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview The Tsarina’s Daughter by Ellen Alpsten @EAlpsten_Author @StMartinsPress #TheTsarinasDaughter #EllenAlpsten #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Tsarina's Daughter

Author: Ellen Alpsten

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Mar. 15, 2022

Genres: Historical Fiction

Pages: 512

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

Born into the House of Romanov to the all-powerful Peter the Great and his wife, Catherine, a former serf, beautiful Tsarevna Elizabeth is the envy of the Russian empire. She is insulated by luxury and spoiled by her father, who dreams for her to marry King Louis XV of France and rule in Versailles. But when a woodland creature gives her a Delphic prophecy, her life is turned upside down. Her volatile father suddenly dies, her only brother has been executed and her mother takes the throne of Russia.

As friends turn to foes in the dangerous atmosphere of the Court, the princess must fear for her freedom and her life. Fate deals her blow after blow, and even loving her becomes a crime that warrants cruel torture and capital punishment: Elizabeth matures from suffering victim to strong and savvy survivor. But only her true love and their burning passion finally help her become who she is. When the Imperial Crown is left to an infant Tsarevich, Elizabeth finds herself in mortal danger and must confront a terrible dilemma–seize the reins of power and harm an innocent child, or find herself following in the footsteps of her murdered brother.

Hidden behind a gorgeous, wildly decadent façade, the Russian Imperial Court is a viper’s den of intrigue and ambition. Only a woman possessed of boundless courage and cunning can prove herself worthy to sit on the throne of Peter the Great.

Ellen Alpsten’s stunning new novel, The Tsarina’s Daughter, is the dramatic story of Elizabeth, daughter of Catherine I and Peter the Great, who ruled Russia during an extraordinary life marked by love, danger, passion and scandal.


Review:

Vibrant, informative, and highly entertaining!

The Tsarina’s Daughter is an insightful, enthralling tale set in eighteenth-century Russia that tells the story of Elizabeth Petrovna Romanov, the second-eldest daughter of Tsar Peter the Great and Catherine I, whose life seemed to have been fated by the dark prophecy predicted by a woodland spirit when she was a child and who after bearing tragedy after tragedy, loss after loss, and survived in a world in which friends easily turned to foes, and calculated manoeuvres and political advancement were always higher on the agenda than love, became the Empress of Russia in 1741, at the age of thirty-one, and ruled until strokes led to her death in 1762.

The prose is eloquent and expressive. The characters are willful, ruthless, and cunning. And the plot is an alluring tale of life, loss, scandal, sacrifice, desires, passion, heartbreak, opulence, corruption, treachery, rivalry, and tumultuous relationships.

Overall, The Tsarina’s Daughter is another fascinating, absorbing, immersive saga by Alpsten that does a spectacular job of once again highlighting her incredible knowledge and impeccable research into the infamous House of Romanov and the remarkable life of this last direct Romanov to ever reign in Russia.

 

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 Alpsten

ELLEN ALPSTEN was born and raised in the Kenyan highlands. Upon graduating from L'Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, she worked as a news anchor for Bloomberg TV London. Whilst working gruesome night shifts on breakfast TV, she started to write in earnest, every day, after work and a nap. Today, Ellen works as an author and as a journalist for international publications such as Vogue, Standpoint and CN Traveller. She lives in London with her husband, three sons and a moody fox red Labrador. Tsarina is her debut novel.

Photograph by Andreas Stirnberg.

#BookReview The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen @greerkh @StMartinsPress #TheGoldenCouple #GreerHendricks #SarahPekkanen #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen @greerkh @StMartinsPress #TheGoldenCouple #GreerHendricks #SarahPekkanen #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: The Golden Couple

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Mar. 8, 2022

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 336

Format: ARC, eBook

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8.5/10

The next electrifying novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author duo behind The Wife Between Us.

Wealthy Washington suburbanites Marissa and Matthew Bishop seem to have it all—until Marissa is unfaithful. Beneath their veneer of perfection is a relationship riven by work and a lack of intimacy. She wants to repair things for the sake of their eight-year-old son and because she loves her husband. Enter Avery Chambers.

Avery is a therapist who lost her professional license. Still, it doesn’t stop her from counseling those in crisis, though they have to adhere to her unorthodox methods. And the Bishops are desperate.

When they glide through Avery’s door and Marissa reveals her infidelity, all three are set on a collision course. Because the biggest secrets in the room are still hidden, and it’s no longer simply a marriage that’s in danger.


Review:

Twisty, cunning, and complex!

The Golden Couple is a brisk, unpredictable psychological thriller that delves into the question of how well do you really know anyone and highlights just how many secrets and lies people keep from and tell to those who are supposed to be closest to them.

The prose is tight and intense. The characters are secretive, intrusive, and deceptive. And the plot told from multiple perspectives unravels and intertwines effortlessly into an ominous tale filled with suspicious personalities, shocking revelations, malicious behaviours, deception, manipulation, secrets, power, and mayhem.

Overall, The Golden Couple is a tortuous, sinister, unnerving tale by Hendricks and Pekkanen that kept me guessing from the very first page and was deliciously surprising, relentless and brimming with misdirection.

 

This novel is available now.

Pick up a copy from your favourite retailer or 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 Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen are the number one New York Times bestselling authors of THE WIFE BETWEEN US, AN ANONYMOUS GIRL, YOU ARE NOT ALONE, and THE GOLDEN COUPLE.

Prior to becoming a novelist, Greer obtained her master's degree in journalism at Columbia University and spent two decades as an editor at Simon & Schuster. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Allure, Publishers Weekly and other publications.

Sarah is also the author of eight internationally and USA Today bestselling solo novels. A former investigative journalist and award-winning feature writer, her work has appeared in The Washington Post, USA Today, and many other publications.

Photo by Bill Miles.

#BookReview The Damaged by Tijan @TijansBooks @smpromance @StMartinsPress #TheDamaged #Tijan #TheInsidersTrilogy #smpromance #smpinfluencers

#BookReview The Damaged by Tijan @TijansBooks @smpromance @StMartinsPress #TheDamaged #Tijan #TheInsidersTrilogy #smpromance #smpinfluencers Title: The Damaged

Author: Tijan

Series: The Insiders #2

Published by: St. Martin's Griffin on Feb. 8, 2022

Genres: Romantic Suspense, Young Adult

Pages: 320

Format: Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 9/10

No longer an outsider, Bailey has a family and love that she never could’ve imagined.

Used to living in the shadows, Kash will now do anything to protect his family and his woman.

They will take on the world together…

In the meantime, stunning motives, lies, and explosive secrets continue to unfold.

1. Quinn is in jail, awaiting trial.

2. Friends might actually be enemies.

3. And what is Calhoun plotting? More importantly, will Kash discover it before it’s too late?

Everything will come to a head as passion and danger ignite in The Damaged.


Review:

Provocative, rousing, and edgy!

The Damaged is a dramatic, seductive tale that picks up right where The Insiders left off, taking us back into the lives of Bailey and Kash as their relationship strengthens and grows and their need to support, protect, and love each other becomes even more important when danger and ruthless enemies swirl all around them.

The prose is tight and steamy. The characters, including a great cast of supporting characters, are impulsive, multilayered, and consumed. And the plot is a deliciously tortuous tale filled with temptation, desire, deception, mystique, familial drama, palpable attraction, and malicious intentions.

Overall, The Damaged is a sultry, intriguing, suspenseful tale by Tijan that kept me invested, engaged, and on the edge of my seat from the very first page, and with its shocking teaser of an ending undoubtedly left me counting down the days until the third and final novel in this trilogy becomes available, and the battle between good and evil finally comes to a head.

 

This book is available now.

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

          

 

 

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

 

About Tijan

Tijan is a New York Times bestselling author who writes suspenseful and unpredictable novels. Her characters are strong, intense, and gut-wrenchingly real with a little bit of sass on the side. Tijan began writing later in life and once she started, she was hooked. She's written multi-bestsellers including the Carter Reed Series, the Fallen Crest Series, and Ryan's Bed among others. She is currently writing to her heart's content in north Minnesota with an English Cocker Spaniel she adores.

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

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

Author: Kristin Hannah

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

Genres: General Fiction, Women's Fiction

Pages: 416

Format: Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 10/10

Life comes down to a series of choices.

To hold on…

To let go…to forget…to forgive…

Which road will you take?

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

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

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


Review:

Beautiful, tragic, and incredibly heart-wrenching!

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

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

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

This new paperback copy is available now.

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

                

 

 

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

 

About Kristin Hannah

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

Photo by Kevin Lynch.

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

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

Author: Diane Chamberlain

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

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

Pages: 352

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 10/10

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

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


Review:

Thought-provoking, ominous, and highly absorbing!

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

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

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

This novel is available now.

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

                

 

 

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

 

About Diane Chamberlain

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

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

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

#BookReview Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins @LadyHawkins @StMartinsPress #RecklessGirls #GetRecklessGirls #RachelHawkins #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins @LadyHawkins @StMartinsPress #RecklessGirls #GetRecklessGirls #RachelHawkins #StMartinsPress #SMPInfluencers Title: Reckless Girls

Author: Rachel Hawkins

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

Genres: Mystery/Thriller

Pages: 320

Format: ARC, Paperback

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs comes a deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set on an isolated Pacific island with a dark history, for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.

When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She’s also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.

Shimmering on the horizon after days at sea, Meroe Island is every bit the paradise the foursome expects, despite a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. But what they don’t expect is to discover another boat already anchored off Meroe’s sandy beaches. The owners of the Azure Sky, Jake and Eliza, are a true golden couple: gorgeous, laidback, and if their sleek catamaran and well-stocked bar are any indication, rich. Now a party of six, the new friends settle in to experience life on an exotic island, and the serenity of being completely off the grid. Lux hasn’t felt like she truly belonged anywhere in years, yet here on Meroe, with these fellow free spirits, she finally has a sense of peace.

But with the arrival of a skeevy stranger sailing alone in pursuit of a darker kind of good time, the balance of the group is disrupted. Soon, cracks begin to emerge: it seems that Brittany and Amma haven’t been completely honest with Lux about their pasts––and perhaps not even with each other. And though Jake and Eliza seem like the perfect pair, the rocky history of their relationship begins to resurface, and their reasons for sailing to Meroe might not be as innocent as they first appeared.

When it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in on them. And when one person goes missing, and another turns up dead, Lux begins to wonder if any of them are going to make it off the island alive.


Review:

Ominous, intense, and addictive!

Reckless Girls is an unsettling, locked-island thriller that sweeps you away to the infamous Meroe Island and into the lives of Lux and Nico, a young couple eager to charter two friends to a secluded island in the Pacific Ocean for a two-week vacation. Upon arrival, however, the island seems to have visitors already there, and long-buried secrets and skeletons from the past gruesomely begin to arise.

The prose is precise and clear. The characters are impulsive, secretive, and self-absorbed. And the plot unfolds and unravels quickly into a foreboding tale of lies, secrets, jealousy, deception, drama, manipulation, desperation, betrayal, violence, and murder.

Overall, Reckless Girls is a dark, taut, unnerving page-turner by Hawkins that does a wonderful job of reminding us just how easily people can often 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 St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

 

About Rachel Hawkins

Rachel Hawkins is the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs, as well as multiple books for young readers, and her work has been translated in over a dozen countries. She studied gender and sexuality in Victorian literature at Auburn University and currently lives in Alabama.

Photo by John Hawkins.

#BookReview Heard It in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves @tgarvisgraves @smpromance @StMartinsPress #HeardItInALoveSong #TraceyGarvisGraves #StMartinsPress #SMPRomance #SMPInfluencers

#BookReview Heard It in a Love Song by Tracey Garvis Graves @tgarvisgraves @smpromance @StMartinsPress #HeardItInALoveSong #TraceyGarvisGraves #StMartinsPress #SMPRomance #SMPInfluencers Title: Heard It in a Love Song

Author: Tracey Garvis Graves

Published by: St. Martin's Press on Nov. 9, 2021

Genres: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 304

Format: Hardcover

Source: St. Martin's Press

Book Rating: 8/10

Layla Hilding is thirty-five and recently divorced. Struggling to break free from the past—her glory days as the lead singer in a band and a ten-year marriage to a man who never put her first—Layla’s newly found independence feels a lot like loneliness.

Then there’s Josh, the single dad whose daughter attends the elementary school where Layla teaches music. Recently separated, he’s still processing the end of his twenty-year marriage to his high school sweetheart. He chats with Layla every morning at school and finds himself thinking about her more and more.

Equally cautious and confused about dating in a world that favors apps over meeting organically, Layla and Josh decide to be friends with the potential for something more. Sounds sensible and way too simple—but when two people are on the rebound, is it heartbreak or happiness that’s a love song away?

From the bestselling author of The Girl He Used to Know comes a love song of a story about starting over and second chances.


Review:

Understated, thoughtful, and sweet!

Heard It in a Love Song is a captivating, simmering romance that takes you into the lives of music teacher Layla Hilding and single father Josh Summers as they each navigate the end of their first marriages, learn to reconcile the past, accept the things they cannot change, rediscover their true selves, and begin to trust again.

The prose is honest and smooth. The characters are attentive, hesitant, and unique. And the plot is an absorbing tale of life, loss, love, patience, understanding, regret, acceptance, forgiveness, familial drama, friendship, loneliness, parenthood, music, and unconditional love.

Overall, Heard It in a Love Song is an immersive, tender, satisfying tale by Graves that’s perfect for fans of contemporary romance novels about second chances that are brimming with healing, heartache, and hope.

 

This book is available now. 

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

 

       

 

 

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

 

About Tracey Garvis Graves

Tracey Garvis Graves is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and international bestselling author of contemporary fiction. Her debut novel, On the Island, spent 9 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, has been translated into thirty-five languages, and is in development with MGM and Temple Hill Productions for a feature film. She is also the author of Uncharted, Covet, Every Time I Think of You, Cherish, Heart-Shaped Hack, White-Hot Hack, The Girl He Used to Know, and Heard It in a Love Song. She is hard at work on her next book.

Photo courtesy of Author's Website.

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

#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.

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

#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.

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