Summertime already?

"Last Summer" by Kerry Lonsdale - ❤❤❤❤

YOU GUYS.  One of my favorite authors, Kerry Lonsdale, was nice enough to let me have an ARC of her upcoming release, “Last Summer”.  I cannot even tell you how excited this made me, as I have read (and loved) all of Kerry’s other books.  If you haven’t read them, please go do so immediately.  I’ll wait.  And since we are still in the full swing of winter doldrums, this steamy beach read is a welcome distraction from the temperatures.  The fact that a personalized, signed postcard was included really added to my excitement.  Kerry is so nice, and that makes me like her books even more.  

Last Summer is a hard book to categorize.  There’s a mystery element, a romance component, and a whole lot of fun.  The story begins with Ella waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there, and her husband Damien refuses to tell her anything about the car accident that put her there or the events in their life leading up to it.  Since Ella writes for a prominent magazine, she’s assigned an exclusive to cover a reclusive adventurer who previously had his own wilderness reality shows and is something of a celebrity.  According to her boss, she had started the story the previous summer, but it was pulled at the last minute.  Ella has no memory of this, nor any notes or transcripts from that time. 

Hoping Nathan (the burly outdoors guy) will help her regain some of her memories, she accepts the story and tries to delve deeper with him.  Since he was unaware of her memory loss, they have to start at square one.  Nathan has recently lost his wife and young son, one to estrangement and one to death.  He is struggling with his own issues, but it quickly becomes clear to Ella that something happened between them the summer before.  She follows him to Alaska for answers, for her article, and for closure.  However, a lot of what seems to be one way is actually the other.  Kerry played a lot with perception in this one, and I really liked that.  

The fun thing about this book is it has multiple twists.  Just when you think you have things figured out, you’re thrown for another loop and you’re left grasping for real answers.  Who is telling the truth?  Who is covering up the past for their own benefit?  Who does Ella really love?  How did she find herself in this situation?

Pre-order the book now, and on July 9 you will find out for yourself! The book will also be free to read on Kindle Unlimited, but believe me when I tell you that Kerry's books are worth paying for and owning.

Also, be prepared for the very last sentence to leave you stunned, a little shaken, and incredibly curious as to whether this will remain a standalone novel.

Deep waters

Into the River by Mark Brandi - ❤❤❤

I have read a lot of buzz about Mark Brandi’s debut novel, Wimmera, but have not had the chance to read it yet.  However, being a fan of Australian crime and drama writers such as Liane Moriarty and Jane Harper, I was excited when Legend Press offered me the chance to read Mark Brandi’s upcoming crime fiction, Into the River. I don’t often read synopses of books, and therefore did not read this one before diving in.  After I was finished, I went back online and found some, because I was so shaken by the subject matter and found it wasn’t really touched upon. 

Ben and Fab are just typical young boys, fishing and pilfering beers and talking about girls.  Something as simple and everyday as a silky stocking can arouse Ben to the point of public embarrassment, so it’s immediately clear that this story is as much about coming to age as it is about the mystery.  The book opens on one of the neighborhood girls hanging herself from her family’s clothesline, so I was instantly drawn into that mystery.  The family soon moved away, and a new tenant named Ronnie took their place.  As soon as Ronnie appeared on the scene, my skin was tingling with a sick warning sensation.  The way Brandi writes is so languorous and immersive that it drew me in immediately (even though I have to admit that, as an American, I had to look up quite a few slang terms and words I hadn’t encountered before).  The story builds slowly, but pleasurably slow, taking us on a journey of friendship and boyhood into the future, when they’re grown and a body is found in the river and the real mystery begins. 

The writing was so much more focused on the characters than the mystery itself, and I enjoyed how Brandi took seemingly minute details about a person and spun them into a complete picture, almost so you felt as if you knew the characters yourself.  At times, I was so scared I felt my heart pounding.  He masterfully built the uneasy feeling and fear of what might be happening, or about to happen, to the point where I was at the edge of my seat as a reader. 

It’s hard to say you “enjoy” a book about tough subject matters, but I did thoroughly enjoy the writing style.  And, as with T. Greenwood’s Rust & Stardust, the feelings it evoked were well worth the discomfort.  Maybe the discomfort even adds to the all-consuming experience of getting lost in a book.

Thank you again, Legend Press and Mark Brandi, for allowing me to read #IntoTheRiver before release.  Please visit the other great bloggers who participated in this blog tour!

Seasonal slump

I don't know if it speaks to my mood lately, or the gloomy winter weather (which I love), but I have been reading more heartfelt and sad novels lately.  Of course, murder mysteries are always interspersed, as I generally read at least 3 books simultaneously.  I was lucky enough to get an ARC of Camille Pagan's "I'm Fine and Neither Are You" from Tall Poppy Writers (if you don't know them, you should!) and it was a beautiful read.  If you've never read anything by Camille, you definitely should.  She has a special way of weaving a heartwarming, and sometimes heartbreaking, tale even with the grimmest of subject material.  Her books touch on real life, and loss, and the issues most of us face even when we live a semi-privileged existence.

"I'm Fine and Neither Are You" by Camille Pagan - ♥♥♥♥

Penelope is a relatable character, even when you're not a mom.  She's doing her absolute best to juggle all the pieces of her life, and she feels like she's doing it alone and that she's never doing a good enough job.  In contrast, her best friend Jenny seems to be doing everything right.  Jenny is a massive success, her online lifestyle blog making her appear as though she has the perfect life and family.  When Jenny is unexpectedly found dead, secrets about her life and her demise start to rise to the surface, just as Penelope and her husband Sanjay have agreed to attempt to fix their marriage by committing to extreme, complete honesty.

Reading Camille's books is always an emotional experience, but this one will likely hit home for a lot of people as it touches on a very prevalent issue, opioid addiction and abuse.  She writes about the sensitive topic with such a gentle tone, it helps to show the unseen side of this epidemic.  That it's not just junkies or "lowlifes" that struggle with this, that sometimes it's the woman who seems to have it all together on the outside.

I found myself rooting for Penelope's marriage all while asking myself - could I personally handle complete and utter honesty in a relationship?  Especially if my best friend had just died?  Reading this was a thoughtful, introspective journey that stuck with me long after the last chapter (which required tissues for me).  I reached out to Camille to let her know how much the book meant to me, and she responded with the same kindness and thoughtfulness that shines through in her novels.  I highly recommend this one!

Publication date - April 1, 2019.  Pre-order now at Indiebound.


Some galleys I am super excited to read!

 

"Tell No One" by Barbara Taylor Sissel - Release date 3/14/19

Their desperate secret. Her desperate search. A shattering truth exposed.

Caroline Corbett wants nothing to do with her father, Hoff, a man who abandoned her as a young girl and then vanished from her life almost thirty years ago. But when her beloved aunt expresses a dying wish to see him once more, Caroline, despite her failing marriage and other personal troubles, drops everything to look for him.

Harris Fenton found the father figure he'd dreamed of when he turned eight and his mother married Hoff--but his disappearance four years later left Harris with scars he carries even now that he is a father himself. While he has a beautiful family and a great job, he's hiding a shameful secret and a nightmare from his childhood.

Caroline's search for Hoff soon uncovers a host of disturbing clues and draws a threat of violence. Her mind churns with memories of her troubled history, while Harris is losing the battle against his own demons. But for both of them, dredging up the past will be dangerous, and confronting the truth could prove life shattering.

"The Last Year of the War" by Susan Meissner - Release date 3/19/19

From the acclaimed author of Secrets of a Charmed Life and As Bright as Heaven comes a novel about a German American teenager whose life changes forever when her immigrant family is sent to an internment camp during World War II.

Elise Sontag is a typical Iowa fourteen-year-old in 1943--aware of the war but distanced from its reach. Then her father, a legal U.S. resident for nearly two decades, is suddenly arrested on suspicion of being a Nazi sympathizer. The family is sent to an internment camp in Texas, where, behind the armed guards and barbed wire, Elise feels stripped of everything beloved and familiar, including her own identity.

The only thing that makes the camp bearable is meeting fellow internee Mariko Inoue, a Japanese-American teen from Los Angeles, whose friendship empowers Elise to believe the life she knew before the war will again be hers. Together in the desert wilderness, Elise and Mariko hold tight the dream of being young American women with a future beyond the fences.

But when the Sontag family is exchanged for American prisoners behind enemy lines in Germany, Elise will face head-on the person the war desires to make of her. In that devastating crucible she must discover if she has the will to rise above prejudice and hatred and re-claim her own destiny, or disappear into the image others have cast upon her.

The Last Year of the War tells a little-known story of World War II with great resonance for our own times and challenges the very notion of who we are when who we’ve always been is called into question.

"The Last Second" by Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison - Release date 3/26/19

From New York Times bestselling authors Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison comes a riveting thriller pitting special agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine against a private French space agency that has the power to end the world as we know it.

Galactus, France’s answer to SpaceX, has just launched a communications satellite into orbit, but the payload actually harbors a frightening weapon: a nuclear-triggered electromagnetic pulse.

When the satellite is in position, Galactus’s second-in-command, Dr. Nevaeh Patel, will have the power to lay waste to the world with an EMP. A former astronaut, Patel believes she is following the directions of the Numen, aliens who saved her life when she space-walked outside the International Space Station. She is convinced that with the Holy Grail, just discovered by the owner of Galactus—eccentric treasure hunter Jean-Pierre Broussard—she can be reunited with the Numen, change the world’s destiny, and become immortal with them.

The countdown has begun when Special Agents Nicholas Drummond and Michaela Caine are thrown into the pending disaster. They must stop the EMP that would wreak havoc on communication and electronic systems on Earth, resulting in chaos and anarchy.

With their signature “nonstop action with enough realism to keep you thinking and scare the daylights out of you at the same time” (Suspense Magazine), Coulter and Ellison have created a thriller to take you on a breakneck and breathtaking journey.

"The Fragments" by Toni Jordan - Release date 9/10/19

Inga Karlson died in a fire in New York in the 1930s, leaving behind three things: a phenomenally successful first novel, the scorched fragments of a second book--and a literary mystery that has captivated generations of readers. Nearly fifty years later, Brisbane bookseller Caddie Walker is waiting in line to see a Karlson exhibition, featuring the famous fragments. A charismatic older woman quotes a phrase from the Karlson fragments that Caddie knows does not exist. Caddie is jolted from her sleepy life in 1980s Brisbane, and driven to uncover the truth about this fascinating literary mystery.

No atlas needed

I am so honored to be part of the blog tour for Sally Piper's "The Geography of Friendship"!  Thank you, Legend Press, for including me.  Please visit the other blogs on the list for more reviews!  Purchase the book from Amazon or your local bookseller.

As most people know, my primary reading consists of intense thrillers and murder mysteries.  Sally Piper has managed to create something very unique with this title.  It's got the framework of a thriller, and a mystery, but she has built the suspense in such a way that it's incredibly slow-burning and satisfying.  

Schoolyard friends Lisa, Nicole, and Samantha reunite after decades apart to revisit a hiking trail that contains ominous memories for all of them.  Although life has changed for all of them, they share an intense bonding experience.  For most of the book, we don't know exactly what that experience is, as the story is told in alternating timelines (then and now, in the same mountain setting).  As intriguing as that aspect of the book is, the most enjoyable part for me was how Piper has depicted the incomparable bonds of friendship that women form.  Our lives are often so overburdened with expectations and responsibilities that we often lose our grip on the friendships we formed when we were young and free, but the tensile strength of these friendships can be restored almost instantly once we reconnect.  Throughout the book, Piper's haunting, descriptive prose proves that no matter where life takes us, shared tragedy and love are strong enough to bring us back together again when the time is right.

If you're looking for a fast-paced thriller, this one might not be for you.  For me, the slow building of suspense is what made it compulsively readable.  Not knowing what really happened that fateful day when they were younger is unfurled so slowly and satisfyingly, while lined up against the present day events, that it left me with my heart in my throat waiting to see how the timelines and events would eventually coalesce.  The attention to detail and the thoughtful descriptions of nature were also very endearing to me, and managed to paint a complete picture so that I felt like I had stepped into the woods with these women.  What will we find?  I suppose you'll have to read it yourself to find out.

Blog tour!

So excited to be part of the @legend_press and @SallyPiper Geography of Friendship blog tour! Keep a lookout for my upcoming review.

Judging a book by its cover

The old adage "Never judge a book by its cover" does not apply to Lisa Jewell books.  The covers are each gorgeous and inviting, and the writing inside is beautiful to match.  After loving the last few titles by her, I was absolutely thrilled to receive an ARC of her newest release, Watching You: A Novel!  Despite my ever-growing TBR list, and a lot of other galleys I needed to review, I dropped everything and dove into this one.  

 

“Watching You" by Lisa Jewell
Thank you, Atria Books, for the ARC of Watching You! I am a huge fan of Lisa Jewell's writing, and I was so excited to read this title. As usual, she did not disappoint! Hugely page-turning, skillfully written. I was so thrown off the path that even when I started to suspect the real culprit, there turned out to be so much more to the story than I expected. I had a great time reading this, and I loved the way the characters were developed and how they wove together throughout the plot. Great cozy fireside read!

Currently Reading 

   

Winter is coming

With the holidays fast approaching and the swift pace that I am chopping down my TBR pile, I haven’t been updating my blog. However, I have read some really excellent books lately that I definitely feel need some reviews. Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, the public library was one of my favorite places. As I have always been a very fast reader, the weekly Sunday trips to the bookstore didn’t quite fill my needs. I was generally allowed to pick one or two books, and most of the time we arrived home from the bookstore I would go straight to my room and start reading, only to finish the book later that evening. Recently, as an adult, I have rediscovered the joy of the library. And, true to form, I found myself feeling like a kid in a candy store. Arriving to pick up 2 holds I had placed online, my eye was quickly drawn to the new releases shelf, where I grabbed 3 more. Upon returning a book the next day, I saw more. When I perused the online catalog, my list grew to epic proportions. At this juncture, my bookshelf has a towering stack of checked-out books that I am determined to read and return in time. Some have been ho-hum, making me grateful that I did not put forth my own money to read them. Others were so hauntingly good that I will be purchasing my own copies for my shelves.

“Dracul” by Dacre Stoker & J.D. Barker

I am sure I must have read Dracula in school, but it didn’t make much of an impression on me. I am not a fan of vampires, and in fact find them a little hokey. But this book kept popping up on all sorts of “best of 2018” lists, and when I saw that the library had it, I grabbed the 500 page hefty tome and gave it a shot. I was absolutely spellbound by the storytelling, which alternated between Bram Stoker in a vague room trying to ward off enemies and a timeline that started in his sickly childhood and brings you right up to the current situation in the room. Beautifully written, truly scary, and an absolute must-read (even if you’re not into vampires. 

“Bring me Back” by B.A. Paris 

This book had a lot of hype building up to the release, and then the reviews weren’t very good. However, the allure of reading something for free that I have been curious about was too strong, and I checked it out. The flashy cover didn’t hurt its chances for being chosen either. I, for one, really enjoyed this book. I can’t give an entirely accurate review of my feelings without giving away the plot twist, but trust me when I say it’s fairly hard to trick me and this one pulled the wool over my eyes for its entirety. The way it was written, and the subject matters it dealt with, left me feeling unsettled and haunted for days. If you’re tired of the predictable twists so often present in this type of story, you’ll enjoy this one. 

“Where the Crawdads Sing” by Delia Owens 

I fell deeply in love with the main character, Kya, almost immediately upon opening this book. By chapter 3, my eyes were starting to well up at the beautiful, haunting way her loneliness in the marshes of North Carolina is described. Throughout this beautiful, sprawling novel, there is a murder mystery in play, but you don’t notice it as much as the intricately woven tale of a young girl left to raise herself all alone in a secluded shack. As she grows, the story follows her trials and triumphs. I cannot say I have recently read any other books with this level of genuine humanity and beauty. Apparently, it took the author 10 years to write this book. It shows in every chapter. Haunting, lyrical, and lovely, this book made me cry so hard that I had to sit with my feelings for a while after reading the last word. I didn’t want it to end, and it affected me deeply when it did. I will be purchasing a copy of this one for my shelf, as it was one of the best books I can recall reading and I will absolutely be reading it again.

Currently Reading