tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6485288094700593102024-03-18T10:12:24.565-04:00The Baking BookwormOne blogger's quest to read all the books and cook up some delicious treats!Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.comBlogger2335125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-79153507524350851772024-03-18T10:10:00.000-04:002024-03-18T10:10:58.886-04:00The Love Wager<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT_nvRaTN1a0IWBTza8SiLE2wIxkZkhVOkNvqF6lBmhVO4uA6zutdD36DbGITLCdXqYzi1hNdiPsBMIWXz32AaQ8ZuDsdIeNBaPQkJpN4iNIuyegp7CTFLek8K3M_Nefi7emVC-nrebtTE62-ZlWh48E5ERgeYYZPGouZrB3Twtc3obySz5cLo2JH2XGcp/s1080/Copy%20of%20Love%20Wager%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT_nvRaTN1a0IWBTza8SiLE2wIxkZkhVOkNvqF6lBmhVO4uA6zutdD36DbGITLCdXqYzi1hNdiPsBMIWXz32AaQ8ZuDsdIeNBaPQkJpN4iNIuyegp7CTFLek8K3M_Nefi7emVC-nrebtTE62-ZlWh48E5ERgeYYZPGouZrB3Twtc3obySz5cLo2JH2XGcp/w640-h640/Copy%20of%20Love%20Wager%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>S</b></span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>woony and funny in equal measure, this book had my heart and my funny bone. </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Let me start off by saying that the banter and the chemistry between Hallie and Jack were </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>*chef's kiss* </i>and I absolutely </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">luuurved the tropes. There's one bed, fake dating, forced proximity, friends to lovers, and guy falls first tropes!! </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">*le swoon*</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Add in the fan-freakingtastic banter and be still my romance reader heart. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The story centres around a one-night stand that morphs into a friendship which causes some complicated feelings between Hallie and Jack. I loved how they supported and teased each other about their separate dating experiences when they make a wager about who can find true love first. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>The Love Wager</i> had me from the first page, left me giggling to myself </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">and suffering from a massive book hangover. It's a romantic and funny romp with some mild spice and a couple you won't soon forget. I </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">read a library copy and will be buying a copy for my bookshelves because I know I will be rereading this RomCom.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 5 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Lynn Painter</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: RomCom</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Series</u>: #2 in Mr. Wrong Number series</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: Paperback from public library</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Berkley</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: March 14, 2023</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;">Two people make a wager on who can find love first, not realizing what they should be betting on is each other, in this new romantic comedy by Lynn Painter, author of</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;"> </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;">Mr. Wrong Number.</i></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;">Hallie Piper is turning over a new leaf. After belly-crawling out of a hotel room (</span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;">hello, rock bottom</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;">), she decides it's time to become a full-on adult. She gets a new apartment, a new haircut, and a new wardrobe, but when she logs onto the dating app that she has determined will find her new love, she sees none other than Jack, the guy whose room she snuck out of.</span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">After the joint agreement that they are absolutely </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915;">not</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"> interested in each other, Jack and Hallie become partners in their respective searches for The One. They text each other about their dates, often scheduling them at the same restaurant so that if things don't go well, the two of them can get tacos afterward.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Spoiler: they get a lot of tacos together.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Discouraged by the lack of prospects, Jack and Hallie make a wager to see who can find true love first, but when they agree to be fake dates for a weekend wedding, all bets are off. As they pretend to be a couple, lines become blurred and they each struggle to remember why the other was a bad idea to begin with.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br /></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-39286399200988977902024-03-15T20:09:00.000-04:002024-03-15T20:09:51.639-04:00Murder Road<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEn3sQ0BcfX9iJFJaSf_czWX7fm7JMnQwbtWPxCmG2YnYlbgrYK5sYGKw5nwr7lEZIJWymhhNZ08dNR1Azq0eUG9ZUSbHhKow6WdTmyn8mRK_OVzsncU0l60DaEDY9CEeGumSheUZorMiBdR409_jFvXZf2-YxSotxv_u66OGX3gLl5bi_-kS0I2pQyDMw/s1080/Murder%20Road.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEn3sQ0BcfX9iJFJaSf_czWX7fm7JMnQwbtWPxCmG2YnYlbgrYK5sYGKw5nwr7lEZIJWymhhNZ08dNR1Azq0eUG9ZUSbHhKow6WdTmyn8mRK_OVzsncU0l60DaEDY9CEeGumSheUZorMiBdR409_jFvXZf2-YxSotxv_u66OGX3gLl5bi_-kS0I2pQyDMw/w640-h640/Murder%20Road.png" width="640" /></a></div><i><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><i><b><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></b></i></div>Chilling. Eerie. Unputdownable. </span></b></i></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This creepy thriller follows a newlywed couple as they head out on their honeymoon only to find themselves as the prime suspects in the murder of a young woman who they found on an ominous stretch of highway.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><blockquote>"If you see her, you'll be the next one found at the side of the road."</blockquote></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Murder Road</i> had me from the first page and I read it in two sittings. I was equally unnerved and captivated by St. James' writing style and her plot that is filled with an eerie vibe, secrets and long-buried pasts. The story is told through April's POV and while, at times, I wanted to shake her for her reckless decisions, her unpredictable nature benefited the story, as did the inclusion of strong secondary characters - curmudgeonly Rose and a couple of amateur sleuths a la Nancy Drew. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sinister and wonderfully unsettling, this </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">haunting and atmospheric read will have you rethinking that late night drive up to cottage country and second-guessing those bumps you hear in the middle of the night.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 5 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Simone St James</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Suspense, Canadian</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: hardcover from public library</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Berkley</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: March 5, 2024</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A young couple find themselves haunted by a string of gruesome murders committed along an old deserted road in this terrifying new novel.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915;">July 1995</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to be a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchhiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart, but take April and Eddie down with it all.</span></span><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-20880029925095771102024-03-13T21:13:00.001-04:002024-03-13T21:13:55.115-04:00Honey & Spice<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitp-QMGiR7z55fJ8ie5lM-ROG0ckBheK6j986U3Jo1bhyphenhyphen-e4P3UvEdrpZzEr8rOIFdX1ABX-94n3budFrzfcJCAATwNGENSigyWfEHzGkU729hJZ7Tz6E2w9NEsRkRy0A-DxHsUEl76Lh9CWGEabV-stRhCBUmbDxVua1aTQIEoEF0dOSGy1K3A3_v2eCH/s1080/AUDIO%20Honey%20and%20Spice.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitp-QMGiR7z55fJ8ie5lM-ROG0ckBheK6j986U3Jo1bhyphenhyphen-e4P3UvEdrpZzEr8rOIFdX1ABX-94n3budFrzfcJCAATwNGENSigyWfEHzGkU729hJZ7Tz6E2w9NEsRkRy0A-DxHsUEl76Lh9CWGEabV-stRhCBUmbDxVua1aTQIEoEF0dOSGy1K3A3_v2eCH/w640-h640/AUDIO%20Honey%20and%20Spice.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div></span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;">Honey & Spice</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> is a charming modern romance with humour and heart that takes a bit to get going but becomes a cute romance with themes of friendship, cliques, Black culture, feminism, and forgiveness. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Admittedly, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I am not the target audience for this book, so I felt like I didn't fully relate to the characters due to the age difference. Many of the popular culture references were lost on me, but I am sure younger readers will enjoy this modern romance. The story is a slow burn but eventually we get some good chemistry between the two main characters - Kiki and Malakai but it was their banter and the use of the fake dating trope (one of my favourites) that stood out the most for me.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This audiobook is narrated by the superbly talented narrator Weruche Opia. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I loved hearing the Nigerian and British accents and I think I enjoyed this book more because of her narration, to be honest.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This was an impressive and well-written story that will probably hit harder with readers in their teens and twenties than this mom who has kids in their twenties.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 3.5 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Bolu Babalola</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Teen Romance</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: eAudiobook from public library</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Narrator</u>: Weruche Opia</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Run Time</u>: 12 hours<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: HarperAudio</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: July 5, 2022</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Kiki Banjo is an expert in relationship-evasion.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">In fact, she has made it her mission to protect the women of Whitewell University from the dangers of players and heartbreak, supplying advice, tips and essentials to paying men no mind on her student radio show, Brown Sugar.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">And then Kiki meets distressingly handsome newcomer Malakai Korede, who threatens to tear apart the community of women she’s fought so hard to protect.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Kiki publicly declares Malakai the ‘Wasteman of Whitewell’ on Brown Sugar and brings a stop to her girls chasing his attentions. But when she and Malakai suddenly find themselves shackled into a fake relationship to salvage their respective reputations and save their academic futures, she is in danger of falling for the very wasteman she warned her sisters about.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">With her heart compromised and defences weakened, Kiki has to learn to open herself up to the perils of love… and face up to a past that forced her to close down in the first place.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">A funny and sparkling debut, </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915;">Honey & Spice</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"> is full of delicious tension and romantic intrigue that will make you weak at the knees.</span></span><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-43592923441441925102024-03-11T11:43:00.000-04:002024-03-11T11:43:30.774-04:00A Grave Robbery<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg1REBvO6U9725XkRk9P2T1kNTLFDGnUcpfRkKfSz6Rqa3dr6myQT76Fe9QWFn-Fti_hlPgbklEba2pIxCeW8Ko1NUC3rSMm3etPvup52EqLeu6U7Fp8_IV7u-JUqtbECXnfeVnFklwUwi_FbCqXK_sNwYbJtfdKrzUDFhdPU6fZmB79NODX6mzgsb9QIN/s1080/A%20Grave%20Robbery%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg1REBvO6U9725XkRk9P2T1kNTLFDGnUcpfRkKfSz6Rqa3dr6myQT76Fe9QWFn-Fti_hlPgbklEba2pIxCeW8Ko1NUC3rSMm3etPvup52EqLeu6U7Fp8_IV7u-JUqtbECXnfeVnFklwUwi_FbCqXK_sNwYbJtfdKrzUDFhdPU6fZmB79NODX6mzgsb9QIN/w640-h640/A%20Grave%20Robbery%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>The Veronica Speedwell historical mystery series is one of my favourites. It has solid mysteries and I love the banter between Veronica and Stoker and Raybourn's witty style of writing.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This ninth addition to the popular series has a unique crime involving murder and a wax figure (a la Madame Tussaud). With the help of two secondary characters from books past, reporter JJ Butterworth and Inspector Mornaday, Veronica and Stoker try to find out the identity of the murder victim. Not a nail-biter of a mystery, but an intriguing crime that brings readers into some interesting historical elements.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Veronica and Stoker are one of my all-time favourite couples. They are known for their sexual tension and fantastic snarky banter. Now, in book nine, they are enjoying their own version of domestic bliss. They have a strong bond and know each other so well by now, but I do hope there's a bit more snark in their banter with each other. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This was a good addition to this mystery series, and I eagerly look forward to their next adventure which I hope will include some of the secondary characters we've met in this book (I'm looking at you Spyridon). </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Disclaimer: My thanks to Berkley for the complimentary advanced copy of this book which was provided in exchange for my honest review.</i></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 3.5 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Deanna Raybourn</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Historical Mystery</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Series</u>: #9 in Veronica Speedwell series</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: ebook from publisher via NetGalley</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Berkley</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: March 12, 2024</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: <span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Veronica and Stoker discover that not all fairy tales have happy endings, and some end in murder, in this latest historical mystery from</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"> </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915;">New York Times</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">bestselling and Edgar Award–nominated author Deanna Raybourn.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Lord Rosemorran has purchased a wax figure of a beautiful reclining woman and asks Stoker to incorporate a clockwork mechanism to give the Rosemorran Collection its own Sleeping Beauty in the style of Madame Tussaud’s. But when Stoker goes to cut the mannequin open to insert the mechanism, he makes a gruesome discovery: this is no wax figure. The mannequin is the beautifully preserved body of a young woman who was once very much alive. But who would do such a dreadful thing, and why?</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Sleuthing out the answer to this question sets Veronica and Stoker on their wildest adventure yet. From the underground laboratories of scientists experimenting with electricity to resurrect the dead in the vein of Frankenstein to the traveling show where Stoker once toured as an attraction, the gaslit atmosphere of London in October is the perfect setting for this investigation into the unknown. Through it all, the intrepid pair is always one step behind the latest villain—a man who has killed once and will stop at nothing to recover the body of the woman he loved. Will they unmask him in time to save his next victim? Or will they become the latest figures to be immortalized in his collection of horrors?</span></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-59225099657644006852024-03-09T11:41:00.000-05:002024-03-09T11:41:13.612-05:00Here We Go Again<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwBFZ98TzpPwugPDJwIFpdZ15f3KRYZSTaDpHHdbu62vobkCBwrs-fsLcXTJhaKHhpDttQB0x63RflS2cD3LwWPfIp65b8WgGMnrs_Qp62AmGPUlEd0Ztci6Vm5qzilo0eWimJWDpRPBM8dNrrv6oO5bBuMn5OqpQGGElTrG7J2KeFVdxO6UNuVaVZOFuI/s1080/Here%20we%20go%20again.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwBFZ98TzpPwugPDJwIFpdZ15f3KRYZSTaDpHHdbu62vobkCBwrs-fsLcXTJhaKHhpDttQB0x63RflS2cD3LwWPfIp65b8WgGMnrs_Qp62AmGPUlEd0Ztci6Vm5qzilo0eWimJWDpRPBM8dNrrv6oO5bBuMn5OqpQGGElTrG7J2KeFVdxO6UNuVaVZOFuI/w640-h640/Here%20we%20go%20again.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>I've been a fan of Alison Cochrun since I read and adored her first book <u><a href="https://www.thebakingbookworm.ca/2021/08/the-charm-offensive.html#!" target="_blank">The Charm Offensive</a></u> and her recent book <u><a href="https://www.thebakingbookworm.ca/2024/01/kiss-her-once-for-me.html?q=kiss+her+once+for+me" target="_blank">Kiss Her Once For Me</a></u>. Her books have love, great banter and fantastic LGBTQIA2S+ representation. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Here We Go Again</i> was a cute queer RomCom that centres around two childhood BFFs who had a falling out in high school. They've both returned to their hometown to work at their former high school, but the grudges remain. When their beloved high school English teacher/father figure Joe, who is terminally ill, asks Logan and Rosemary to drive him across the country so he can die at his ocean-side home, the two women make tentative amends for Joe's sake and head across the US.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This book had all the fixin's for a good queer RomCom ... but I wanted more. More romance. More (varied) conflict. Instead, we're given a very slowly paced story that dragged in several spots and the miscommunication trope raised its ugly head. I found the conflict repetitive particularly with Logan and her repeated regressions and constant reminder that she considers herself a 'fuckboy'. Logan and Rosemary's qualms felt juvenile (the overdone pop culture exclamations didn't help) and I found myself gravitating towards Joe's storyline which felt more authentic. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Joe is the heart of this book. Ahhh, sweet Joe. He's the kind of teacher everyone should have, and I consider this book to be a love letter to the teachers who make a positive mark on their students lives. Through Joe, Cochrun explores the struggles of terminal illness on the patient and on their caregivers. This book will squeeze a tear out of even the hardest of hearts.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This book had all the right elements - a good premise, complicated characters, enemies-to-lovers trope, emotional bits, funny bits and some spice. It has its charm and beautiful messages about love, friendship, making amends while you still can, loss and grief, but the execution of the story fell a bit short for me. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Disclaimer: Thanks to Atria Books for the advanced copy of this book which was provided in exchange for my honest review.</i></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 3.5 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Alison Cochrun</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: RomCom, LGBTQ+</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: ebook from publisher via NetGalley</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Atria</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: April 2, 2024</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A long time ago, Logan Maletis and Rosemary Hale used to be friends. They spent their childhood summers running through the woods, rebelling against their conservative small town, and dreaming of escaping. But then an incident the summer before high school turned them into bitter rivals. After graduation, they went ten years without speaking.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Now in their thirties, Logan and Rosemary find they aren’t quite living the lives of adventure they imagined for themselves. Still in their small town and working as teachers at their alma mater, they’re both stuck in old patterns. Uptight Rosemary chooses security and stability over all else, working constantly, and her most stable relationship is with her label maker. Chaotic and impulsive Logan has a long list of misguided ex-lovers and an apathetic shrug she uses to protect herself from anything real. And as hard as they try to avoid each other—and their complicated past—they keep crashing into each other. Including with their cars.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">But when their beloved former English teacher and lifelong mentor tells them he has only a few months to live, they’re forced together once and for all to fulfill his last wish: a cross-country road trip. Stuffed into the gayest van west of the Mississippi, the three embark on a life-changing summer trip—from Washington state to the Grand Canyon, from the Gulf Coast to coastal Maine—that will chart a new future and perhaps lead them back to one another.</span></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-65483313120875320762024-03-07T20:04:00.001-05:002024-03-07T20:04:14.711-05:00If I Lose Her<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC8zVwWqbXhrjx4IVNZ_1fDyy3CBO2yU3JbRmT1RPEptFm1CbwPDiy29KPvYcSBuln9g-ASFekWZCftOX-2T9bOg1VaRd4HsMKjz9TeKjRHKdOKJVcKSj-qTnMcN_w9-TYqySrobFvuGVy-lSolZ-2ltBH8XCxAUNp2-fpfs_Pcj9vHjgS9R7qESEhNd7w/s1080/If%20I%20Lose%20Her.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjC8zVwWqbXhrjx4IVNZ_1fDyy3CBO2yU3JbRmT1RPEptFm1CbwPDiy29KPvYcSBuln9g-ASFekWZCftOX-2T9bOg1VaRd4HsMKjz9TeKjRHKdOKJVcKSj-qTnMcN_w9-TYqySrobFvuGVy-lSolZ-2ltBH8XCxAUNp2-fpfs_Pcj9vHjgS9R7qESEhNd7w/w640-h640/If%20I%20Lose%20Her.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>If I Lose Her </i>is the debut novel of Canadian author Brianne Sommerville. It is a domestic thriller with twists and tension that also explores important themes of new motherhood - the exhausting demands, the absolute joy, and the impact of postpartum depression.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The story is told in alternating timelines. In the present Jo is a new mom and loves her adorable four-month-old daughter but is finding motherhood challenging and often overwhelming. Her stress compounds when an anonymous caller makes a complaint to Children's Aid saying they saw Jo's daughter left outside alone in the heat of summer. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Did Jo leave her outside? Are other instances Jo's fault? Readers will question whether Jo's mental state is to blame or if there's something else going on. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The second timeline takes readers into Jo's childhood with her two sisters and their abusive mother. The verbal abuse against Jo was tough to read but gives readers a clear understanding of how those early relationships have impacted Jo's life and her view of motherhood.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">While slow to start, the secrets, lies and building tension will pull readers in and the short chapters will keep them reading 'just one more chapter'. I guessed the big twist early on, but Sommerville's red herrings made me question my initial assumption and I found the ending to be satisfying.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Twisted, dark and tense, this was an impressive debut that also brings to light the struggles some women face postpartum and will encourage great book club discussion.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> I eagerly look forward to reading more from Brianne Sommerville in the future!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Rising Action Publishing for the complimentary digital advanced copy which was provided in exchange for my honest review.</span></i></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author Event</u>: I had the pleasure of attending Brianne's book launch in Toronto last night. It is also such a joy to see this new author being supported by fellow authors, readers, and the book community. The cute cookies decorated like her book (see the picture at the top of this review) were the icing on the proverbial cake, er ... cookie.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjoHpEKbIc4Lr3O6E85oTMBkGakTWDAD0-tW0NSLVjNfNnzwj7fb53vtRV23PO9ansugOyBnH7tjrmxmKNwBYAvGpoFNUnJZ8rEnrgPO5Hln_cw7VLIvMQa9fdcprl7x9q5O8_NP8HA_D-xLHm-Ndoon6XCQwKdoJphCDHNyTGzne9w7W_N1Qt5JIyCCLn-" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="482" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjoHpEKbIc4Lr3O6E85oTMBkGakTWDAD0-tW0NSLVjNfNnzwj7fb53vtRV23PO9ansugOyBnH7tjrmxmKNwBYAvGpoFNUnJZ8rEnrgPO5Hln_cw7VLIvMQa9fdcprl7x9q5O8_NP8HA_D-xLHm-Ndoon6XCQwKdoJphCDHNyTGzne9w7W_N1Qt5JIyCCLn-=w241-h320" width="241" /></a></div><br /><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b style="font-size: small;"><i>Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy of this title which was provided in exchange for my honest review.</i></b></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 4 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Brianne Sommerville</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Domestic Suspense, Thriller, Canadian</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: ebook from publisher via NetGalley</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Rising Action Publishing</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: March 5, 2024</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Who can you trust when you can’t trust yourself?</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">The pregnancy podcasts warned Joanna Baker about the baby blues, but when a near-fatal mistake places the first-time mom under the watchful eye of Child Protective Services, she receives a serious diagnosis.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Postpartum depression. Jo hears the words, yet they don’t make sense. Nothing does. Her blackouts are increasing, and she can’t recall events she’s been accused of.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">As she fights to keep her daughter, she discovers cracks in her neighborhood, family, and her own home. With the support of her sisters, she attempts to piece together her traumatic past and uncover who is truly in control.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Jo must battle her faltering mind to save what’s most important—her daughter.</span></span><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-73599713867840592212024-03-05T08:52:00.000-05:002024-03-05T08:52:32.659-05:00The Phoenix Crown<div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDAiHR_vmfwu5wUpJh8eS87OMAuxlSvhmQZCwvKcuEjjcW45x_EBD1PBDt_D7jY2zHxP_pyyeL7rnrkdNlXeEhWY8k8qKaBhFhzpJrX-m8yLrEoHFO2lk175hOM5UuAS0hOSmqdUP_1SCK18xiwxbdGLx7fqFT0xLyHlXhEr4_hT9HCMGZG49qsSqFlatt/s1080/Phoenix%20Crown.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDAiHR_vmfwu5wUpJh8eS87OMAuxlSvhmQZCwvKcuEjjcW45x_EBD1PBDt_D7jY2zHxP_pyyeL7rnrkdNlXeEhWY8k8qKaBhFhzpJrX-m8yLrEoHFO2lk175hOM5UuAS0hOSmqdUP_1SCK18xiwxbdGLx7fqFT0xLyHlXhEr4_hT9HCMGZG49qsSqFlatt/w640-h640/Phoenix%20Crown.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>The Phoenix Crown</i> is a collaboration of two talented Historical Fiction authors who have written a story set in the days leading up to the deva</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">stating earthquake that hit San Francisco in 1906. It was one of the biggest natural disasters in US history where over 80% of the city was destroyed and more than 3,000 people perished.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The story has four central characters - an opera singer, a botanist, an artist and a Chinese seamstress - and their bond is central to the story. Each of the female characters have suffered from a lack of agency and societal restraints and are linked by one man, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Henry Thornton, a wealthy and charming businessman who plays a pivotal role in their lives.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This was an interesting read but not riveting. I felt the first half of the book was stronger as the setting was vividly described and we met </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">the main characters (I'll admit to being surprised by a revelation - or assumption on my part - about one character!) The plot is simple and the pacing a bit slow with the</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> beautiful </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Phoenix Crown playing a surprisingly minor role, but t</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">he </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">strength of this story is the historical details. I was pulled into the sights and sounds of early 20th century San Fran and now have a clearer idea of what life was like for Chinese people at that time as they lived with </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">rampant racism, hatred and misinformation which was used to vilify them within the larger society. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh29rOQjNckDzw2WWcuX6pgFOAX51NuhLsnY3-ory9naOUicShvJQe2FGGKw5lnB-SWsqpBr4VLIkN2Kb5aACIq6ULE9ngDiLj2OXqHoVx5uK-cjkvXyyGjh9LsxKk9ubb78kP0nxJDoU-BKaYiqbRh5bMyx9qLS7N7pkqyYip2HU4dTrR0FTc3DLx95O_o" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="487" data-original-width="640" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh29rOQjNckDzw2WWcuX6pgFOAX51NuhLsnY3-ory9naOUicShvJQe2FGGKw5lnB-SWsqpBr4VLIkN2Kb5aACIq6ULE9ngDiLj2OXqHoVx5uK-cjkvXyyGjh9LsxKk9ubb78kP0nxJDoU-BKaYiqbRh5bMyx9qLS7N7pkqyYip2HU4dTrR0FTc3DLx95O_o=w400-h305" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Last week, I had the pleasure (along with a group of fellow bookstagrammers) <br />of meeting Kate and Janie at an author event. It is clear the two women <br />are close friends and I enjoyed learning about their writing and research processes. </span></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><i>The Phoenix Crown</i> is an interesting blend of history, a bit of mystery and building tension due to the countdown to the earthquake at the start of each chapter. This is a story about bravery, determination, adversity and strong women set within a fascinating era. I look forward to reading what Kate Quinn and Janie Chang write next.</div></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 3.5 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Authors</u>: Kate Quinn, Janie Chang</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Historical Fiction (US)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: trade paperback, personal copy</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: William Morrow</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: February 13, 2024</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">From bestselling authors Janie Chang and Kate Quinn, a thrilling and unforgettable narrative about the intertwined lives of two wronged women, spanning from the chaos of the San Francisco earthquake to the glittering palaces of Versailles.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">San Francisco, 1906. In a city bustling with newly minted millionaires and scheming upstarts, two very different women hope to change their fortunes: Gemma, a golden-haired, silver-voiced soprano whose career desperately needs rekindling, and Suling, a petite and resolute Chinatown embroideress who is determined to escape an arranged marriage. Their paths cross when they are drawn into the orbit of Henry Thornton, a charming railroad magnate whose extraordinary collection of Chinese antiques includes the fabled Phoenix Crown, a legendary relic of Beijing’s fallen Summer Palace.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">His patronage offers Gemma and Suling the chance of a lifetime, but their lives are thrown into turmoil when a devastating earthquake rips San Francisco apart and Thornton disappears, leaving behind a mystery reaching further than anyone could have imagined . . . until the Phoenix Crown reappears five years later at a sumptuous Paris costume ball, drawing Gemma and Suling together in one last desperate quest for justice.</span></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-60391376710340529442024-03-02T12:09:00.000-05:002024-03-02T12:09:33.072-05:00The Stranger at Black Lake<div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCysHyL-A1ExbJkfcGZrNiG4RWmzK71dHtfbfEDoFFwGAXWNFBjOgNyUPBr-vu8M6za7aN1FXqmFsX1q4127LoQU4R6LdTbdICoM7mefsnfV7rxrlCozGqxNpgcyyaqjvgmFj922VUHGOAvjmKa1Tk9f67cQ630rnL2LVEzf2rWyGKc3ytr4aBgZ8y4YD/s1080/Stranger%20at%20Black%20Lake.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCysHyL-A1ExbJkfcGZrNiG4RWmzK71dHtfbfEDoFFwGAXWNFBjOgNyUPBr-vu8M6za7aN1FXqmFsX1q4127LoQU4R6LdTbdICoM7mefsnfV7rxrlCozGqxNpgcyyaqjvgmFj922VUHGOAvjmKa1Tk9f67cQ630rnL2LVEzf2rWyGKc3ytr4aBgZ8y4YD/w640-h640/Stranger%20at%20Black%20Lake.png" width="640" /></a></div><i><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></div>This is how a novella is done.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I am the first to admit that I am not an ardent lover of short stories. I find I finish short stories always wanting more, but I was enticed by the blurb of this upcoming Christina McDonald novella which is the prequel to her Jess Lambert series. A series I'm now eager to pick up.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>The Gist</u>: Jess Lambert has just moved to Black Lake, her husband's hometown, after living in New York City and working as a paramedic. One morning, Jess witnesses a concerning situation and the paramedic in her jumps in to help and she soon becomes embroiled in a murder that occurs at the notorious old house that has a dark history. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Told with a dual narrative, Jess and a mysterious 'Him', this novella has delightful creepiness that blends past and present within a story that is filled with lies, deception and building tension. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Sinister and haunting, this is a well-paced short story that provides insight into the character of Jess Lambert and a compelling and twisty mystery that will have many readers finishing this book in one sitting. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Disclaimer: My thanks to the author and publisher for the advanced copy of this book which was provided in exchange for my honest review. </i></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 4.5 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Christina McDonald</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Suspense, Novella</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Series</u>: #0.5 in Jess Lambert series</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: eBook from publisher via NetGalley</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Intrigue Ink Publishing</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: March 19, 2024</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Secrets, murder and revenge converge in this gripping prequel to Amazon charts bestselling thriller, These Still Black Waters, about a young Jess Lambert drawn into a deadly cat-and-mouse game. Because old ghosts often have old scores to settle.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Jess Lambert and her husband, Mac, have just moved to Black Lake, looking for a quieter, more peaceful life. Until one morning Jess befriends a stranger—beautiful and glamorous Annie Parker—who’s also just moved to town.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Only a few hours later, Jess finds Annie wandering naked and in shock along the lake. And at Annie’s house she encounters a gruesome scene that shows a violent attack. But then Annie disappears.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">As Jess is pulled deeper into the mystery of what happened to Annie, she learns about the house’s chilling past. And she begins to who was Annie really? Is she a witness, murderer, victim?</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">But it’s dangerous hunting down old ghosts. And Jess becomes increasingly unsure if she’s the hunter, or the prey. Who is the stranger at Black Lake?</span></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-11918068428132069882024-02-27T07:37:00.000-05:002024-02-27T07:37:28.744-05:00Peril in Pink<div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRz6ja28dLdgJRBq0Is_ugsqRk7usouAZpWICJM_rUqTeqJp1wKPmijrjhzdXKrhX6iFDPiyL94o00BsFNBPFvDmOgcC7RJSijmWzHb6gttayb1r0VnPsWaIdxABoWNxiZPwe9UZFHI8ZPoE4-ImEc9f65fARXmiOtOx7UEZtwiturpBfKshRz1dLyDOPN/s1080/Peril%20in%20Pink.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRz6ja28dLdgJRBq0Is_ugsqRk7usouAZpWICJM_rUqTeqJp1wKPmijrjhzdXKrhX6iFDPiyL94o00BsFNBPFvDmOgcC7RJSijmWzHb6gttayb1r0VnPsWaIdxABoWNxiZPwe9UZFHI8ZPoE4-ImEc9f65fARXmiOtOx7UEZtwiturpBfKshRz1dLyDOPN/w640-h640/Peril%20in%20Pink.png" width="640" /></a></div><i><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></div>Peril in Pink</i> is the debut novel for Canadian author Sydney Leigh. It's the first book in a new cozy mystery series that is set in The Pearl, a Bed and Breakfast that Jess and Kat, two BFFs, have just opened in the small-town where they grew up. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">They've invited influencers to get the buzz started and have Jess' ex-boyfriend, now a singing sensation after he won a TV talent show, play for the guests. What could go wrong? Well, a couple of murders could put a damper on things. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>What I loved</i>: As a small-town gal, I love a small-town setting and the B&B location enables lots of possible storylines and B&B guests for future books. Leigh provides bits of humour, some good, not-too-grisly-muuuurders, a handful of potential culprits and a cast of quirky residents while Jess plays amateur sleuth. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Wee Beefs</i>: The story is a little heavy on hashtag slang and, at times, I found the large cast of characters, particularly the tertiary characters who pop into the story briefly, hard to keep track of. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Overall, this was an enjoyable, quick read and an impressive debut. And </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">despite the body count, The Pearl sounds like a cool spot for a girls weekend. Where do I make my reservation?</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy of this book which was provided in exchange for my honest review.</i></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 3.5 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Sydney Leigh</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Cozy Mystery, Canadian</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Series</u>: 1st in Hudson Valley B&B mystery series</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: ebook from publisher via NetGalley</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Crooked Lane Books</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: March 5, 2024</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u><b>Book Description from GoodReads</b></u>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Schitt’s Creek meets Only Murders in the Building in this fresh debut mystery. Everything is coming up rosé for innkeeper Jess Byrne until a murder on opening weekend gives her B&B’s killer vibe a whole new meaning.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">It’s the grand opening of The Pearl B&B in Hudson Valley, and owner Jess Byrne has prepared the ultimate, Insta-worthy welcome, complete with her ex-boyfriend—reality singing sensation Lars Armstrong—performing live. As guests check in and mimosas are poured, Lars arrives with his stepdad-turned-manager Bob in tow. But things go south when Bob is found dead, and Lars is the prime suspect.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">After a desperate plea from Lars, and knowing the reputation of her B&B is at stake, Jess agrees to help clear Lars’ name, but the more she digs, the less sure she is that he’s innocent. Especially when he’s found at the scene of another murder.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">With the guests under lockdown, the B&B in the press for all the wrong reasons, and a killer on the loose, Jess is in over her head. With the help of her best friend and business partner Kat, Jess is determined to uncover the truth before Lars is put behind bars and The Pearl is permanently cancelled.</span></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-58137944274904672022024-02-24T20:33:00.001-05:002024-02-24T20:33:36.409-05:00The Catch<div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLxkR2uTOH9MmD7eyUHFnKQKSKsO0O8HeO2rPWGY3-_hoZKitjN_G-l_c8PpNx7fZD-acV2ka1hZac2R95uquQcggOMLic6PEeb5AFWSqnHCx2_Zmu02c1Z7R5u3vGeDuH5wZGCitYD2tguJPASm75zzOBnZWl2Hwa6XjLh09c6sQuGqJH8K400ORYlUv2/s1080/The%20Catch.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLxkR2uTOH9MmD7eyUHFnKQKSKsO0O8HeO2rPWGY3-_hoZKitjN_G-l_c8PpNx7fZD-acV2ka1hZac2R95uquQcggOMLic6PEeb5AFWSqnHCx2_Zmu02c1Z7R5u3vGeDuH5wZGCitYD2tguJPASm75zzOBnZWl2Hwa6XjLh09c6sQuGqJH8K400ORYlUv2/w640-h640/The%20Catch.png" width="640" /></a></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>The Catch</i> is the third book in Amy Lea's Influencer series and is an obvious blend of two iconic RomCom movies - <i>While You Were Sleeping</i> and <i>The Proposal</i>. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">One of my favourite parts of the book was the small</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">-town east coast Canadian setting, complete with a bunch of colourful, quirky locals and a few Canuck references - TimBits, poutine, flannel, free health care ... to name a few.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The story is filled with many romance tropes with the main trope - fake dating/fake fiancée giving off strong vibes of both movies mentioned above. There were a gaggle of other tropes: </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">grumpy/sunshine, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, one bed(room), and small-town/big city. There is InstaLove (admittedly not my fav) and readers will have to suspend disbelief that this all happens within 9 days, but I appreciated the addition (albeit with light handling) of issues like depression, family dysfunction and grief.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>The Catch </i>had all the ingredients for a great RomCom, but I finished it feeling like I needed a bit more. I wanted more in terms of plot, more humour, more spice, more from the secondary cast and a bit more to the plot (and less InstaLove). It's an easy read that I devoured in a day but, in my opinion, not as strong as the last book in the series, <i>Exes and Oh's.</i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 3 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Amy Lea</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: RomCom</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Series</u>: #3 in Influencer series</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: eBook from public library</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Berkley</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: February 13, 2024</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A grumpy lobster fisherman tosses a fashion influencer’s impeccably curated life overboard in the next romantic comedy from international bestselling author Amy Lea.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">In a last-ditch effort to rescue her brand from the brink of irrelevance, Boston fashion influencer Melanie Karlsen finds herself in a rural fishing village on the east coast of Canada. The only thing scarier than nature itself? The burly and bearded bed-and-breakfast owner and fisherman, Evan Whaler—who single-handedly disproves the theory that Canadians are “nice.”</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">After a boating accident lands Evan unconscious in the hospital, Mel is mistaken for his fiancée by his welcoming yet quirky family, who are embroiled in a long-standing feud over the B&B. In a bold attempt to mend family fences, Mel agrees to fake their engagement for one week in exchange for Evan’s help with her social media content.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Amid long hikes and campfire chats, reeling in their budding feelings for each other proves more difficult by the day. But is Mel willing to sacrifice her picture-perfect life in the city for a chance at a true, unfiltered love in the wild?</span></span><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-51692102626623740682024-02-20T18:28:00.000-05:002024-02-20T18:28:28.786-05:00Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5CW1LEia6scV6e5jGOre3-FJKJlhtkAsKcZt3MPzim1CGxR6j4v0vLQux8AAfnQiigZ590qSQ2-VOlGUhkqGFBQDoz4OFIIS58d71N_U8zTU_8kqctpPGwr1R5dCL0-ZtR1A-Xa3jFNiVpYD8v1xUbVc14L-MsK60WggoAxiSzNaEgiown2l8QcUmbXqa/s1080/Love,%20Lies,%20and%20Cherry%20Pie.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5CW1LEia6scV6e5jGOre3-FJKJlhtkAsKcZt3MPzim1CGxR6j4v0vLQux8AAfnQiigZ590qSQ2-VOlGUhkqGFBQDoz4OFIIS58d71N_U8zTU_8kqctpPGwr1R5dCL0-ZtR1A-Xa3jFNiVpYD8v1xUbVc14L-MsK60WggoAxiSzNaEgiown2l8QcUmbXqa/w640-h640/Love,%20Lies,%20and%20Cherry%20Pie.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>Emily </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">is a published author and part-time barista who at 33-years-old still struggles to make her parents proud. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Fed up with her meddling and opinionated mother whose main goal in life is to marry Emily off, Emily decides to pair up with Mark Chan, a bachelor her mother has been pushing on her. Mark and Emily don't like each other but hope their fake dating can benefit them both. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This was a sweet story featuring the <i>fake dating</i> (yay!) and <i>miscommunication</i> (not so yay) tropes. With Emily's POV, readers </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">get a clear picture of her experiences as an author, daughter of immigrant parents and member of a large extended family and cultural community. But her rambling inner monologue and her constant assuming the worst of Mark was irritating as was </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Emily's silly (and kinda insulting) complaints about being over-the-hill at age thirty-three. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mark seemed like a sweet and patient, if a bit uptight, guy. We get his POV halfway through but all we really learn about him is that he's reserved, has a cat, and has issues with his dad. But I enjoyed his humorous quips that helped balance the negativity coming from Emily.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Where this book shines is in the issues it raises - self-worth, extended family dynamics, first generation immigrant experience, mother-daughter relationships and the idea that marriage isn't the ultimate goal for a happy life. Overall, this was a cute read set in 'Toronno' and the icing on the proverbial cake was the late revelation that added a new perspective and motivation.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Disclaimer: ARC kindly provided by the publisher at the Ontario Library Association Super Conference 2024. All comment are my own.</i></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 3 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Jackie Lau</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: RomCom, Romance, Canadian, BIPOC author</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: Trade Paperback from publisher at OLA 2024</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Atria/Emily Bestler (S&S)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: May 7, 2024</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Jackie Lau, author of the “full of heart” (Ali Hazelwood, New York Times bestselling author) The Stand-Up Groomsman, returns with a charming rom-com about a young woman’s desperate attempts to fend off her meddling mother…only to find that maybe mother does know best.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Mark Chan this. Mark Chan that.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Writer and barista Emily Hung is tired of hearing about the great Mark Chan, the son of her parents’ friends. You’d think he single-handedly stopped climate change and ended child poverty from the way her mother raves about him. But in reality, he’s just a boring, sweater-vest-wearing engineer, and when they’re forced together at Emily’s sister’s wedding, it’s obvious he thinks he’s too good for her.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">But now that Emily is her family’s last single daughter, her mother is fixated on getting her married and she has her sights on Mark. There’s only one solution, clearly : convince Mark to be in a fake relationship with her long enough to put an end to her mom’s meddling. He reluctantly agrees.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Unfortunately, lying isn’t enough. Family friends keep popping up at their supposed dates—including a bubble tea shop and cake-decorating class—so they’ll have to spend more time together to make their relationship look real. With each fake date, though, Emily realizes that Mark’s not quite what she assumed and maybe that argyle sweater isn’t so ugly after all…</span></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-84942111836305228642024-02-18T14:04:00.000-05:002024-02-18T14:04:02.567-05:00A Man Downstairs<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6iXxWiVwagDJ7sFiKbdwdq9CF0t4kU1iL4MGuphqKPkcKN0OQpBAaCsAYM3CsfAAYJUCqQu7h4S1bIQrEffHHqGRyH-SYhZ7VgXFZKN9Pm8_0vAHqt93LckbGtEwuocVUR6Rva-_qh9tfJBHDzoDJ-0SzrRI1Vo_4X6e7Z5oLkN2bITo2UBCz0sRQOwfY/s1080/A%20Man%20Downstairs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6iXxWiVwagDJ7sFiKbdwdq9CF0t4kU1iL4MGuphqKPkcKN0OQpBAaCsAYM3CsfAAYJUCqQu7h4S1bIQrEffHHqGRyH-SYhZ7VgXFZKN9Pm8_0vAHqt93LckbGtEwuocVUR6Rva-_qh9tfJBHDzoDJ-0SzrRI1Vo_4X6e7Z5oLkN2bITo2UBCz0sRQOwfY/w640-h640/A%20Man%20Downstairs.png" width="640" /></a></div><i style="color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;"><b><div><i style="color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;"><b><br /></b></i></div></b></i></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><i style="color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;"><b>What if the childhood you remember isn’t really what happened at all?</b></i></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white;">When Molly Wynters, a therapist and mom to teenage son Alex, returns home to care for her ailing father in the hometown where she grew up, memories from her past begin to surface. These include the violent death of her mother when she was three years old and the ensuing court case where Molly testified and helped put a man in jail. Soon doubts about what really happened the night her mother died creep into Molly's mind when an unknown caller on the mental health hotline where she's volunteering reveals that Molly's account of things may not be what really happened.</span></span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="color: #1e1915; font-family: verdana;"><span style="background-color: white;">This was a slow-burn small-town mystery with a cast of </span></span><span style="font-family: verdana;">complex and flawed characters that centres around family, secrets, and the impact of lies. The story is told </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">by multiple POVs in the past and present with readers not knowing the identity of the unknown and creepy 'Him' who lurks around the Wynters family.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The story takes a bit to get going, but I enjoyed trying to figure out the identity of the sinister 'Him'. Lundrigan gives readers a few culprits and I suspected each of them at some point. And while I guessed the big reveal, I enjoyed seeing the story unfold, understanding the reasoning behind the characters' actions and seeing the pieces fall into place. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">The ending was very satisfying after the slow burn build-up and Lundrigan gives her readers one final twist, a dollop of eeriness and a jaw-dropping final reveal.</span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Don't miss this </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">engaging slow-burn mystery with a delightfully sinister vibe. I enjoyed Lundrigan's exploration of family dysfunction, mental health, the reliability of memory and love's darker side - obsession. </span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Viking Books for the advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.</i></b></span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: verdana;">My Rating: 4 stars</b></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: center;"><u>Author</u>: Nicole Lundrigan</div></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Suspense, Canadian</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: ebook and Trade Paperback from publisher</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Viking (Penguin Random House Canada)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: March 5, 2024</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What if the childhood you remember isn’t really what happened at all?</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">From the acclaimed author of An Unthinkable Thing and Hideaway, a breath-stopping novel of suspense about a woman tormented by memories of the past and threatened by long-held secrets in the present.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Molly Wynters has moved back to her small hometown to care for her father, recently felled by a stroke and no longer able to communicate. She is ready to make a fresh start with her son after her divorce, but is haunted by both old events and new realities in her childhood home.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">What Molly recalls of her young life with her father is full of love and care, even though a violent trauma defined her when she was a young girl, she witnessed her mother’s murder, and her testimony – “There was a man downstairs” – sent a teenager to prison. This tragic episode is still very much alive in the culture of the town, and the more Molly remembers, the more she fears that what she said on the stand all those years ago might not have been the whole truth.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">After Molly, a trained therapist, volunteers for a local helpline, the threats begin. At first they seem random, but soon Molly realizes that she is a target, and even those closest to her seem suspicious, especially as unsuspected links between them emerge. More than one life was destroyed on that horrific long-ago day, and now someone intends to hold Molly accountable.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">With its gripping descent into the shadowy corners of the human psyche A Man Downstairs is both an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride and a masterful exploration of the fragile nature of memory.</span></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-67170980585035624792024-02-15T10:25:00.002-05:002024-02-15T10:25:31.179-05:00I Promise It Won't Always Hurt Like This<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiByD4hc35vIsMyDfyWQkvnBlD9djdwEEmFZg-dy4qskjqVtIprAwKIx-rUr7TeA55iuSsDVcHwEKOFVQkzr-a_yVunib0rLTUfegu3TrEfW6rOftApg0N-ovV_HRMjS6DP38Isvm5Vb4n0rE-yGAls3TpFMgR7X_LwkSTiuYsGGuVHsSeICfOJGHeZQrhF/s1080/I%20Promise%20It%20Won't%20Always%20Hurt%20Like%20This.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiByD4hc35vIsMyDfyWQkvnBlD9djdwEEmFZg-dy4qskjqVtIprAwKIx-rUr7TeA55iuSsDVcHwEKOFVQkzr-a_yVunib0rLTUfegu3TrEfW6rOftApg0N-ovV_HRMjS6DP38Isvm5Vb4n0rE-yGAls3TpFMgR7X_LwkSTiuYsGGuVHsSeICfOJGHeZQrhF/w640-h640/I%20Promise%20It%20Won't%20Always%20Hurt%20Like%20This.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I requested an advanced copy of this book a couple of months ago because the anniversary of my friend Kym's death was approaching. She was the first (and only) friend I've lost, and her death hit me hard, with my grief greatly impacting my life for the first two years after her death.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Now six years later, this book comes along and it is one I wish I had read early on as I navigated my grief. The waves of sadness still hit me, but often they're more subdued. Despite my progress, I thought I could gain insight from Clare Mackintosh, a suspense author whose work I have enjoyed, who in this book shares her thoughts, feelings, and experiences after the excruciating loss of one of her children. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This book was inspired by a Twitter post made by Mackintosh on the anniversary of her son's death that went viral. From that post and the outpouring of comments, she </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">has written 18 assurances based on her own experiences with grief. She reminds readers that </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">not all of them will fit all readers' experiences or timelines in their grief journey and I found I </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">related to some assurances more than others (particularly in the first half of the book).</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><blockquote><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Grief is universal, but it’s also as unique to each of us as the person we’ve lost. It can be overwhelming, exhausting, lonely, unreasonable, there when we least expect it and seemingly never-ending. Wherever you are with your grief and whoever you’re grieving for, I Promise It Won’t Always Hurt Like This is here to support you. To tell you, until you believe it, that things will get easier.”</i></span></span></blockquote></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">As </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I read this book, I felt the ebb and flow of grief hit me. There were moments where I sat with a massive lump in my throat, others when I shed tears and others where I'd smile at the fond memories of Kym that would pop up - living together in college, the shenanigans we'd get into with friends and her amazing family who our gaggle of girls got to know and love.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">T</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">his is an emotional and no doubt, cathartic endeavour for the author and by sharing her own journey, she hopes it can help readers who are experiencing the loss of a loved one. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Thank you, Clare, for this candid and emotional book that is told with compassion, candidness and grace. <b>Heartbreaking but hopeful</b>, I highly recommend this book if </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">you've suffered a loss and strongly believe it would also benefit people who want to know how they can support a loved one who is experiencing grief. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Disclaimer: Thank you to the publisher for the advanced copy of this book which was given in exchange for my honest review.</i></b></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 5 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Clare Mackintosh</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Nonfiction, Grief</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: ebook from publisher via NetGalley</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Sourcebooks</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: March 1, 2024</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">New York Times and international bestselling mystery author Clare Mackintosh makes her nonfiction debut with this deeply felt memoir of unfathomable loss, and infinite hope.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">“Grief has run through my life like thread through fabric; at times gossamer-thin and barely there, other times weaving thick, clumsy darns across the rips. In my grief I am a mother, a child, a sister, a wife, a woman, a friend. I am also a writer.”</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">When Clare Mackintosh lost her five-week-old son, she soon discovered there are no neat, labeled stages of grief like so many books insist. The shape of each loss is different; when a parent, relative, or friend passes, we grieve the person in all their beauty, their humanity, their imperfections. For Clare, there was no preparing for the anger and excruciating ache of knowing her child’s life would remain unlived. This is the book she needed then.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Inspired by a viral Twitter thread Clare wrote on the anniversary of her son's death, this deeply honest, compassionate memoir will bring solace and encouragement to anyone who finds themselves walking with grief, whether for a season or for several years. It is for those who need a little voice saying: I Promise It Won't Always Hurt Like This, for the people who love them, and those who understand that great loss can be a window through which we see how powerful, and unending, love can be.</span></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-51136903603531474792024-02-13T18:29:00.000-05:002024-02-13T18:29:41.562-05:00What We Buried<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJi7s0df4lYGzXUOoXw6ag7-_M5MmQyUVU-bUt0RfdD94JSaRfmQ78jT7YW8WI8REJRflEn-fOSSjkzGfijIAtB8Mn-xUWnb9H8qk49TTuMqQotcWHX-K-0H-4zh6Hja8LDYWjL5oVQoRn4UH7wfjn6ne55Ok4jq_zJQEU6QN-SODcbydUVYTabiySszq/s1080/What%20We%20Buried.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSJi7s0df4lYGzXUOoXw6ag7-_M5MmQyUVU-bUt0RfdD94JSaRfmQ78jT7YW8WI8REJRflEn-fOSSjkzGfijIAtB8Mn-xUWnb9H8qk49TTuMqQotcWHX-K-0H-4zh6Hja8LDYWjL5oVQoRn4UH7wfjn6ne55Ok4jq_zJQEU6QN-SODcbydUVYTabiySszq/w640-h640/What%20We%20Buried.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><b>Wow! It's been a while since a book captivated me like Robert Rotenberg's upcoming book, <i>What We Buried</i>. </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Part historical fiction, part mystery, part police procedural, this is a fast-paced, short chaptered and unputdownable book that has multiple </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">timelines and settings in small-town Italy and here in Canada featuring recognizable Toronto neighbourhoods and beautiful Ontario cottage country.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This is a fantastic combination of well-researched history and suspense that benefits from an interesting and diverse cast of characters.</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Told using multiple POVs, a sinister plot unfolds as Toronto police detectives unearth how events that happened decades before in a small Italian town impact what was initially thought to be a simple yet tragic current-day vehicular accident. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Layered and complex without being fussy or hard to follow, <i>What We Buried</i> is strong in its characterizations, intriguing plot and suspenseful storytelling, giving readers one helluva ride that will have them reading 'just one more chapter'.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I look forward to reading Rotenberg's backlist featuring Ari Greene, starting with <i>Old City Hall</i>. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><b style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"><i>Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to Simon and Schuster Canada for the complimentary copy of this book that I received from the publisher at the Ontario Library Conference in Toronto.</i></b></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: verdana;">My Rating: 5 stars</b></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: center;"><u>Author</u>: Robert Rotenberg</div></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Suspense, Canadian</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: Trade Paperback from publisher</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Simon and Schuster Canada</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: February 27, 2024</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A Toronto homicide detective is attacked at his doorstep when his investigation into possible links between the Nazi occupation of Italy and the murder of his brother decades later gets too close to the truth—in the new crime thriller from bestselling author Robert Rotenberg. Perfect for fans of Scott Turow and David Baldacci.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">It’s been years since Daniel Kennicott’s brother, Michael, was shot and killed the night before he was about to depart for Gubbio, Italy. The case, never solved, has haunted Daniel ever since. Long suspecting the killing was tied to Michael’s planned trip but overwhelmed with grief, Daniel has put off going there—until now, the tenth anniversary of the murder.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">As he’s about to leave, Daniel learns that his two mentors, detectives Ari Greene and Nora Bering, have been more involved in the investigation of Michael’s murder than he ever knew. And they’re concerned about Daniel’s safety. But why? Is Daniel risking his life—and those of others—by trying to uncover the truth?</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">When Daniel arrives in the bucolic Italian hill town, he learns the past has not been put to rest. Residents are still haunted by the brutal Nazi occupation, the brave acts of the local freedom fighters, and the swift savagery of German retribution.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">And as Daniel delves into his family’s deadly connection to Gubbio, Ari Greene searches for a killer closer to home.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Inspired by the true story of the Forty Martyrs in Gubbio, Italy, during World War II, What We Buried is an extraordinary crime novel about troubled legacies, revenge, and the unbreakable bonds of family.</span></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-17984426023471766902024-02-11T11:29:00.001-05:002024-02-11T11:29:45.748-05:00The Rumor Game<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhubfTKJf6YbgGtjPBs5mWbn2I_6aJzvvOSd7pMU1Ka_kGE839czXbAzSpuaMVetGhnuGr1g2CrM6SSVehJ5OUDaHCnii45Zv5bRsGn8G8AbFI38Am2DGL5WPtOxKsIu6-ZX0sW72hkJNyADSgtnUQ9nQBj7A0Q3Zn6S2Dk_FYyyMp2e0xBia9_HJtXQ5Fr/s1080/The%20Rumor%20Game.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhubfTKJf6YbgGtjPBs5mWbn2I_6aJzvvOSd7pMU1Ka_kGE839czXbAzSpuaMVetGhnuGr1g2CrM6SSVehJ5OUDaHCnii45Zv5bRsGn8G8AbFI38Am2DGL5WPtOxKsIu6-ZX0sW72hkJNyADSgtnUQ9nQBj7A0Q3Zn6S2Dk_FYyyMp2e0xBia9_HJtXQ5Fr/w640-h640/The%20Rumor%20Game.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>I have been a fan of Thomas Mullen's since first reading </span><i style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.thebakingbookworm.ca/2016/09/darktown.html?m=1" target="_blank">Darktown</a></i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> and </span><i style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://www.thebakingbookworm.ca/2017/09/lightning-men.html" target="_blank">Lightning Men</a>. </i><span style="font-family: verdana;">His </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">latest book, </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">The Rumor Game</i><span style="font-family: verdana;"> is a historical mystery which is set in Boston </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">during WWII that is atmospheric, well-researched and tackles large social issues.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">strength of this story is in its historical perspective and atmosphere -- the warring factions, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">the high-running emotions and tensions of the time. Inspired by true events, this is a story about corruption, rampant anti-Semitism, fascism, domestic terrorism, sexism and disinformation about Jewish Bostonians which lead to violence in the streets. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Where the book faltered for me was its characters and pacing. I loved the idea of reporter Anne Lemire and FBI agent Devon Mulvey, who are both outsiders in their fields, but the execution of their characters fell flat with a forced feel to their bond and a superfluous romance. The very large secondary cast and slow pace added to a muddled feel and despite brief bits of tension, the story was too slowly paced to be suspenseful and I found myself skimming pages. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I continue to be a fan of Mullen's and regularly recommend his <i>Darktown</i> series and while I loved the atmosphere and appreciated learning a new perspective of the impact of WWII and how it affected people on this side of the Atlantic, the suspense fell a little short for me in this book.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><b style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"><i>Disclaimer: Thanks to Minotaur and St. Martin's Press for the complimentary advanced copy of this book which was provided in exchange for my honest review.</i></b></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 3 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Thomas Mullen</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Historical Suspense</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: eBook from publisher via NetGalley</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Minotaur Books (SMP)</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: February 27, 2024</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A determined reporter and a reluctant FBI agent face off against fascist elements in World War II-era Boston.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Reporter Anne Lemire writes the Rumor Clinic, a newspaper column that disproves the many harmful rumors floating around town, some of them spread by Axis spies and others just gossip mixed with fear and ignorance. Tired of chasing silly rumors about Rosie Riveters' safety on the job, she wants to write about something bigger.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Special Agent Devon Mulvey, one of the few Catholics at the FBI, spends his weekdays preventing industrial sabotage and his Sundays spying on clerics with suspect loyalties—and he spends his evenings wooing the many lonely women whose husbands are off at war.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">When Anne’s story about Nazi propaganda intersects with Devon’s investigation into the death of a factory worker, the two are led down a dangerous trail of espionage, organized crime, and domestic fascism—one that implicates their own tangled pasts and threatens to engulf the city in violence.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">With vibrant historical atmosphere and a riveting mystery that illuminates still-timely issues about disinformation and power, Thomas Mullen delivers another powerful thriller.</span></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-61418131061151228532024-02-08T11:34:00.000-05:002024-02-08T11:34:21.704-05:00Hypnotized by Love<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTxJsr97mQhdj7kKmqAwDoLzJ3FBNwruhRuoO7DypM9mmqKJXJWcIlAlfYmuhHR7PSbt2LZocAHGtMKw506c5fFtkYRw_obo1EB6nLM2ZdhugIj0XlGv0ngLjhByjXGno0uqBUWuwLlhIAI4fxRl_qe7t1n-60_w7fkyMusQ9_6tshCqhaOSPhwIGk9a5Y/s1080/Hypnotized%20by%20Love.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTxJsr97mQhdj7kKmqAwDoLzJ3FBNwruhRuoO7DypM9mmqKJXJWcIlAlfYmuhHR7PSbt2LZocAHGtMKw506c5fFtkYRw_obo1EB6nLM2ZdhugIj0XlGv0ngLjhByjXGno0uqBUWuwLlhIAI4fxRl_qe7t1n-60_w7fkyMusQ9_6tshCqhaOSPhwIGk9a5Y/w640-h640/Hypnotized%20by%20Love.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I was tempted by this <i>Amazon First Reads</i> RomCom pick based on the <i>teenage friends to almost-lovers</i> trope that morphs into <i>enemies-to-lovers</i> territory and the interesting addition of hypnotherapy. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">When Savannah, a hypnotherapist reluctantly has a hypnotherapy session with Mason, an old friend/love interest who she has had a falling out with, things go awry when the session gets interrupted leaving Mason more susceptible to agreeing to whatever life throws at him.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This was a cute premise with a unique twist to the popular RomCom universe with its focus on hypnotherapy, but I was surprised that this aspect quickly fell to the background while Savannah's baggage and her penchant for holding onto issues takes centre stage. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Read</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">ers will have to suspend disbelief if they're going to get on board with Savannah's character. She's a professional woman, but she is immature, and she holds grudges and jumps to conclusions like they're Olympic sports. She was a frustrating character and the reasoning behind her six-year grudge with Mason was weak compared to the intensity of her long-held and over-the-top hatred.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This almost squeaky-clean romance (aka very little spice) was a cute read if you can overlook the miscommunication (the most loathsome of all RomCom tropes) and Savannah's over-the-top character. For me, the story's saving graces were its cute </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">banter and one-liners, hunky and oh-so-patient Mason and how the author includes important issues of forgiveness, family, friendship and the effects of self-sabotage.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Disclaimer: I received a digital copy of this book as part of the Amazon First Reads program. All opinions are my own. </i></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 3 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Sariah Wilson</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: RomCom</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: eBook - Amazon First Reads program</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Montlake</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: March 1, 2024</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The power of suggestion does wonders for the heart in an absolutely captivating romantic comedy by Sariah Wilson, the bestselling author of The Chemistry of Love.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Hypnotist Savannah Sinclair is known for helping clients overcome their deep-rooted issues, from anxiety to addiction. But her nontraditional approach also attracts plenty of skeptics—including her high school nemesis and rival, Mason Beckett, who just so happens to be the boy who broke her heart.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Mason’s life hasn’t gone according to plan. His latest novel was a flop, and the only gig he can land is writing a scathing exposé of his hometown hypnotist, Savannah. But in order to write an authentic article, he has to be a willing participant. Hypnosis is the last thing he he’s shedding his negative nature and opening himself up to new experiences…and when a fire alarm interrupts their session, Mason walks out into the real world entranced and sporting a sunny disposition and a tendency to say yes.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Hypnotized Mason is fearless, revealing things he’s never told a soul, acting completely out of character, and leading Savannah on a frantic chase to keep him safe. He likes his new self. The problem is, so does Savannah. She can’t fall in love with a man who’s in a trance, but can she keep him still long enough to get him to snap out of it?</span></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-69450008399547486332024-02-06T10:26:00.000-05:002024-02-06T10:26:24.274-05:00Shadows of Pecan Hollow<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpKy7E-BKmHRN2XS4E_DlTrKCc0DTuL0i73z1wXF9QwqbGlZoMwbGFvWf8srGvHiANnmdeb-qNiYIkqwrHKgZqRgmlNTHjTqrckCcKFsx9Yhp4UN7j7lDbZeslTG4s814i8e2Ae32uOCCmswiE3RF-6LC1zhBlUl13LJlF306jV9EtOQZY3F5qZXss90Ws/s1080/Shadows%20of%20Pecan%20Hollow.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpKy7E-BKmHRN2XS4E_DlTrKCc0DTuL0i73z1wXF9QwqbGlZoMwbGFvWf8srGvHiANnmdeb-qNiYIkqwrHKgZqRgmlNTHjTqrckCcKFsx9Yhp4UN7j7lDbZeslTG4s814i8e2Ae32uOCCmswiE3RF-6LC1zhBlUl13LJlF306jV9EtOQZY3F5qZXss90Ws/w640-h640/Shadows%20of%20Pecan%20Hollow.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>This debut novel was recommended to me by a new library customer of mine. She was so passionate about this book that I immediately grabbed a copy.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This was a gritty debut that isn't tender (as the blurb says), but a story that is quite disturbing in parts, but also gives readers a glimmer of hope in the resiliency of humanity. The story is told in two timelines - 1970's when thirteen-year-old Kit, tired of living in foster homes, decides to go off with a 20-something con man named Manny, who soon grooms her for small heists. The second timeline is 20 years later in the small town of Pecan Hollow, Texas where Kit finds a home with her elderly aunt and starts a new life, without Manny and is raising her daughter, Charlie. The past comes back to wallop Kit when Manny arrives in Pecan Hollow after a stint in prison.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The characters are a varied bunch, each with their own copious amounts of baggage. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Manny is a character you'll love to hate. Ohhh, the man is wretched but powerful in his ability to manipulate those around him. Kit is a flawed and largely unlikeable character, but readers soon understand why she's so hardened and closed-off emotionally (even to her teenage daughter) when we learn of her experiences as a child and teen at the hands of the foster care system and then Manny's manipulations</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This debut skillfully shows </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">different sides of humanity -- the love, acceptance and safety Kit's aunt provides to the controlling, toxic and abusive life with Manny. This book will create good discussion, particularly about how trauma and abuse can impact lives and generations and the power of love, kindness and belonging can help in the healing process.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 4 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Caroline Frost</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Contemporary Fiction</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: Hardcover from public library</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: William Morrow<br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: February 8, 2022</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It was 1970 when thirteen-year-old Kit Walker was abducted by Manny Romero, a smooth-talking, low-level criminal. Longing for the family and security she never had, she allowed herself to be coddled and groomed into Manny's partner-in-crime. Before long, Kit and Manny became infamous for their string of gas station robberies throughout Texas, making a name for themselves as the Texaco Twosome.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">But as Manny's fatherly demeanor shifts to something darker and more violent, Kit is forced to reconsider their relationship and her own safety. In a flash decision, she leaves Manny at a holdup gone wrong.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Thirteen years after her escape, she has made a home for herself and her daughter amongst the pecan trees and muddy creeks of the claustrophobic town of Pecan Hollow. When Manny shows up at her doorstep a new man, fresh out of prison, Kit's profound and twisted attachment to him compels her to let him in. Immediately, Kit's world is transformed and her community is sent into a tailspin.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">With its rich landscape, indelible characters, and evocative language, </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915;">Shadows of Pecan Hollow </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">is a hauntingly intimate and distinctly original debut about the strength and vulnerability of womanhood and the complexity of love--both romantic and familial. This penetrating, gritty, and unexpectedly tender novel ensnares the reader in its story of resilience and the bonds that define us.</span></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-15795096443142532442024-02-03T14:45:00.000-05:002024-02-03T14:45:09.769-05:00The Girl With No Name<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh76PgHRNzRFnw1C_qz1fr1hEHIODZW6siFl6r_5K6ViDFbU1cKyquMUhU3If49atEweF43WoMniCs0Tc6bjtIV2zgko0nSKs7O_gnjzl9O_2AgN_76zgtQ6GSsCNZo8R69O66ZX6SqtHK1vffJ_QgqwZltd3AQjdHtrqJRipElSNzCRX4go5oqPyQZz4kT/s1080/The%20Girl%20With%20No%20Name.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh76PgHRNzRFnw1C_qz1fr1hEHIODZW6siFl6r_5K6ViDFbU1cKyquMUhU3If49atEweF43WoMniCs0Tc6bjtIV2zgko0nSKs7O_gnjzl9O_2AgN_76zgtQ6GSsCNZo8R69O66ZX6SqtHK1vffJ_QgqwZltd3AQjdHtrqJRipElSNzCRX4go5oqPyQZz4kT/w640-h640/The%20Girl%20With%20No%20Name.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">After recently reading and loving <u><a href="https://www.thebakingbookworm.ca/2024/01/vanishing-girls.html" target="_blank">Vanishing Girls</a></u>, the first book in the Josie Quinn series, I eagerly jumped into this second book that follows a double kidnapping, a mysterious woman with no memory and sinister corruption in the city of Denton where Josie is now Chief of Police.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Regan provides readers with many twists and red herrings. Josie remains an interesting and complicated character with emotional baggage that readers better understand, but this book didn't quite captivate me as much as the first book. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">In this second installment, the plot and the large cast of characters made for a story that felt a bit convoluted and drawn out. There is good tension and some action-packed scenes (one of which will require readers to suspend disbelief) and I enjoyed seeing characters from the first book (hey Noah Farley!), but noticed a marked change in Luke's personality from how he was portrayed in the first book.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Overall, Regan keeps readers on their toes with suspenseful scenes and a strong but flawed female main character in Josie whose past continues to intrigue me, making it a good addition to this suspense series (which I strongly recommend reading in order). </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I am excited to catch up on this long-running series' backlist and based on some comments from others readers, I am in for a wild ride. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 3.5 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Lisa Regan</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Suspense</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Series</u>: #2 in Detective Josie Quinn</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: eBook, personal copy</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Bookouture</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: April 19, 2018</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Detective Josie Quinn is horrified when she’s called to the house of a mother who had her newborn baby snatched from her arms.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">A woman caught fleeing the scene is Josie’s only lead, but when questioned it seems this mysterious girl doesn’t know who she is, where she’s from or why she is so terrified…</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Is she a witness, a suspect, or the next victim?</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">As Josie digs deeper, a letter about a mix-up at a fertility clinic links the nameless girl and the missing child to a spate of killings across the county. Josie is faced with an impossible decision: should she risk the life of one innocent child to save many others… or can she find another way?</span></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-83955867190081270682024-01-29T15:12:00.000-05:002024-01-29T15:12:37.440-05:00We Rip The World Apart<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4H7RH8CZFlip1oSHkhhROpHu1ktPYAvEsWro9IKzj0sqLetgVxqsSanTjb13m2uKLif8zc4baR5g-xbQC5xDZtOheBZYx3UZH9oTL-jDzPEzDsL7g602PSIwsD-vJ4WXb7PNpCunrhsdyMFMj9R4HxIEdZutwLm3hxeVT3YbxTgtMVHwRaJ-DIzl0oDze/s1080/We%20Rip%20The%20World%20Apart.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4H7RH8CZFlip1oSHkhhROpHu1ktPYAvEsWro9IKzj0sqLetgVxqsSanTjb13m2uKLif8zc4baR5g-xbQC5xDZtOheBZYx3UZH9oTL-jDzPEzDsL7g602PSIwsD-vJ4WXb7PNpCunrhsdyMFMj9R4HxIEdZutwLm3hxeVT3YbxTgtMVHwRaJ-DIzl0oDze/w640-h640/We%20Rip%20The%20World%20Apart.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>Charlene Carr, author of 2023's popular <u><a href="https://www.thebakingbookworm.ca/2023/08/hold-my-girl.html" target="_blank">Hold My Girl</a></u>, is back with </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">We Rip The World Apart, </i><span style="font-family: verdana;">a </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">story that is filled with </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">relevant, important and poignant themes surrounding race, family and trauma.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The story uses multiple timelines and POVs that follow the lives of three generations of one family who have roots and history in both Jamaica and Canada. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">Evelyn is a white woman who meets and marries her Black husband, Kingsley in Jamaica where they start their family with the birth of their son Antony. But with the dangerous political climate in 1980's Jamaica, they choose to move to Toronto where they add Kareela to their family many years later. Evelyn and Kingsley begin to worry about Antony as a biracial young man who is becoming more aware of racism and its impact on him, and others like him. His parents' </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">worst predictions come to pass when Antony is killed by police at a rally. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Carr shows readers how this incident and the resulting grief ripples through the family, impacting the parents, Kingsley's mother and young Kareela. Through these characters, she shows </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">complexities of biracial relationships, the impact of racism (systemic, covert and overt), identity, activism and enduring issues stemming from trauma, grief and complicated family dynamics. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">While this was a much slower read than I was expecting (not pulling me in until the 40% mark), the topics Carr explores gives readers much to think about and reflect upon and will instigate great discussion, making this a good selection for book clubs. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-small;"><b><i>Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the publisher for the advanced digital copy of this book which was provided in exchange for my honest review.</i></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 3.75 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Charlene Carr</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Historical Fiction, Contemporary Fiction, Canadian</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: eBook ARC from publisher via NetGalley</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: HarperCollins Canada</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: January 30, 2024</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: <span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111;">A sweeping multi-generational story about motherhood, race and secrets in the lives of three women, perfect for readers of Brit Bennett’s </span><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-style: italic;">The Vanishing Half</span><span class="a-text-bold" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111;"> and David Chariandy’s </span><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-style: italic;">Brother</span></span></div><div><span class="a-text-bold a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">When 24-year-old Kareela discovers she’s pregnant with a child she isn’t sure she wants, it amplifies her struggle to understand her place in the world as a woman who is half-Black and half-white, yet feels neither.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Her mother, Evelyn, fled to Canada with her husband and their first-born child, Antony, during the politically charged Jamaican Exodus of the 1980s, only to realize they’d come to a place where Black men are viewed with suspicion—a constant and pernicious reality Evelyn watches her husband and son navigate daily.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Years later, in the aftermath of Antony’s murder by the police, Evelyn’s mother-in-law, Violet, moves in, offering young Kareela a link to the Jamaican heritage she has never fully known. Despite Violet’s efforts to help them through their grief, the traumas they carry grow into a web of secrets that threatens the very family they all hold so dear.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 14px; padding: 0px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Back in the present, Kareela, prompted by fear and uncertainty about the new life she carries, must come to terms with the mysteries surrounding her family’s past and the need to make sense of both her identity and her future.</span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; margin: -4px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Weaving the women’s stories across multiple timelines, </span><span class="a-text-italic" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: italic;">We Rip the World Apart </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">reveals the ways that simple choices, made in the heat of the moment and with the best of intentions, can have deeper repercussions than could ever have been imagined, especially when people remain silent.</span></span></p><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-86979165420490762072024-01-26T08:43:00.000-05:002024-01-26T08:43:18.536-05:00Under the Light of the Italian Moon<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzrE9eHNnrccZAr1cBZbOyewQC_lW92QORk1QJtrZi3QF39KZA4R9rO7zc6c23562MzC6rbz1f8HNHrdFeusPNvBPmPieY-jz2o-evjpY_r_YvjXBjpmSm0v08ODGZ-1lNgmh2LfuZ8I5COYULiV95HNamMzZ5DknkBhOjuicFn85YQxv67D6bB-VUPo92/s1080/Under%20the%20Light%20of%20the%20Italian%20Moon.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzrE9eHNnrccZAr1cBZbOyewQC_lW92QORk1QJtrZi3QF39KZA4R9rO7zc6c23562MzC6rbz1f8HNHrdFeusPNvBPmPieY-jz2o-evjpY_r_YvjXBjpmSm0v08ODGZ-1lNgmh2LfuZ8I5COYULiV95HNamMzZ5DknkBhOjuicFn85YQxv67D6bB-VUPo92/w640-h640/Under%20the%20Light%20of%20the%20Italian%20Moon.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">This historical fiction novel spans </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">two decades and is based on the lives of the author's extended family and their experiences living in rural Italy during WWII. The bulk of the story focuses on the everyday events of a family life - births, deaths and everything in between. I liked the idea of the author writing about her family's history, but I never felt connected to the characters and despite its war setting, the story was not the emotional, tense or compelling read I had anticipated.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This book felt </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">more like a collection of personal anecdotes that were too loosely woven together with the historical romance genre in mind. I love a good WWII setting and Anton introduces a few interesting elements (midwifery, women's roles in the war, fascism, Italian migration to North America ...) but none of these topics were given enough depth. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">And the romance element quickly fell on the backburner because it's difficult to have the reader imagine a romantic bond when the couple is apart for 90% of the book. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">It felt like </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">readers were kept at arms length in terms of emotional impact with a story that was dialogue-heavy and excessively long. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">There was a pivotal moment that could have created conflict and tension (some good 'ol deception), but it was quickly forgotten with the character (and that storyline) disappearing for the remainder of the book.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'm sure it was a very satisfying and emotional process for the author to write a story that is based on her family during WWII. While I learned more about WWII and the ending was satisfying, this quieter read wasn't the sweeping love story I was expecting and fell flat for me in its pacing, tension and storytelling. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: verdana;">My Rating: 3 stars</b></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div style="text-align: center;"><u>Author</u>: Jennifer Anton</div></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Historical Fiction</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: eBook, personal copy</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Amsterdam Publishers</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: March 8, 2021</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A promise keeps them apart until WWII threatens to destroy their love forever</span></i></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915;"><i>Fonzaso, Italy, between two wars</i></span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Nina Argenta doesn’t want the traditional life of a rural Italian woman. The daughter of a strong-willed midwife, she is determined to define her own destiny. But when her brother emigrates to America, she promises her mother to never leave. When childhood friend Pietro Pante briefly returns to their mountain town, passion between them ignites while Mussolini forces political tensions to rise. Just as their romance deepens, Pietro must leave again for work in the coal mines of America. Nina is torn between joining him and her commitment to Italy and her mother. As Mussolini’s fascists throw the country into chaos and Hitler’s Nazis terrorise their town, each day becomes a struggle to survive greater atrocities. A future with Pietro seems impossible when they lose contact and Nina’s dreams of a life together are threatened by Nazi occupation and an enemy she must face alone…</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Spanning over two decades, Under the Light of the Italian Moon is an epic, emotional and triumphant tale of one woman’s incredible resilience during the rise of fascism and Italy’s collapse into WWII.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Gripping historical fiction based on a true story and heartbreaking real events.</span></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-30976308307872894552024-01-23T18:52:00.001-05:002024-01-23T18:52:12.474-05:00Practice Makes Perfect<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4YRA7jEENRqCO1woJz0UtEI2__fEomU9Gr7xPLxCWirPgkHyAwsX1HAGJ6xD6V3xY87bF-PW_XGcoSjLsOIHiaEF4hCnGyPwboNARmm6bbC0k4xUgalX1D4rQUKMxGrDaUKOo6bnd6zNiNb-z9ofOD8IgLOAZEEGKtTKW7mTRcMHGs50xRLkajYQAkeGB/s1080/Practice%20Makes%20Perfect.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4YRA7jEENRqCO1woJz0UtEI2__fEomU9Gr7xPLxCWirPgkHyAwsX1HAGJ6xD6V3xY87bF-PW_XGcoSjLsOIHiaEF4hCnGyPwboNARmm6bbC0k4xUgalX1D4rQUKMxGrDaUKOo6bnd6zNiNb-z9ofOD8IgLOAZEEGKtTKW7mTRcMHGs50xRLkajYQAkeGB/w640-h640/Practice%20Makes%20Perfect.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This was a fun RomCom with humour, heart, a great secondary cast, and a couple you will swoon over. I read the first book (<i>When in Rome</i>) and liked it but it wasn't until a coworker told me this book was was so much better that I decided to give this author another try. I'm glad I listened to Amy because I loved this book. Word of mouth books, there's nothing better!</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">For me, a RomCom needs to have great banter, a couple I'm eagerly rooting for and some spicy scenes for good measure. <i>Practice Makes Perfect</i> is all that and a bag of chips.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">First off, Will Griffin is one of my favourite leading men. <i>*sigh*</i> He's got some baggage but this tatt'd up ol' softie won me over immediately. I loved seeing his bond with Annie grow as he appreciated her for being her true self, despite Annie's feeling that she had to hide her true self from her siblings. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I've been told by one person that I'm picky when it comes to RomComs and rightfully so! We should all know what we love. I want to be swept away in a RomCom! When the story is wrapped up in a small-town setting with fantastic townsfolk, some emotional baggage, snarky banter, and swoony romance, you will have me heart and soul. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 5 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Sarah Adams</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: RomCom</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Series</u>: #2 in When in Rome</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Penguin Random House</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: May 2, 2023</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Annie Walker is on a quest to find her perfect match-someone who nicely compliments her happy, quiet life running her flower shop in Rome, Kentucky. Unfortunately, she worries her goal might be too far out of reach when she overhears her date saying she is "so unbelievably boring." Is it too late to become flirtatious and fun like the leading ladies in her favorite romance movies? Maybe she only needs a little practice...and Annie has the perfect person in mind to become her tutor: Will Griffin.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Will--the flirtatious, tattooed, and absolutely gorgeous bodyguard--is temporarily back in Rome, providing security for Amelia Rose as excitement grows for her upcoming marriage to Noah Walker. He has one personal objective during his time in town: stay away from Annie Walker. But no sooner than he gets settled, Will soon finds himself not only breaking his rule, but tasked with far more than simply providing security.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Will wants no part in changing the sweet and lovely Annie, but he can't bring himself to say no to her request, so he officially agrees to teach her how to be the next leading lady of Rome, Kentucky, and find the love of her life-even if he doesn't believe in love himself. Between faking a relationship so the meddling town doesn't catch on to what's really happening on their practice dates, and tutoring lessons that convince Annie to add </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915;">passion</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"> to her list of must-haves in a mate, it doesn't take long for the lines of their friendship to blur...</span></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-64309130751646392642024-01-21T16:44:00.000-05:002024-01-21T16:44:19.228-05:00Where Butterflies Wander<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwzyK1n9IE9ahnBzX9XkpXV8AHS_VM_auPpb9DbDLXzVfadqYBAXkKjRTOOW1Q89_14Lo5zjYo-breUhblXzCQnKAKwYi_XLlF3gvP8UvLd-CtVAvO_ol7XP31ta_CMJJq173jmrcuLufr973lg3uNGZ2RYWgahEfotoo7WtmQ1FSd2Zq_xcIgwI9j3M7Y/s1080/Where%20Butterflies%20Wander%20(1).png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwzyK1n9IE9ahnBzX9XkpXV8AHS_VM_auPpb9DbDLXzVfadqYBAXkKjRTOOW1Q89_14Lo5zjYo-breUhblXzCQnKAKwYi_XLlF3gvP8UvLd-CtVAvO_ol7XP31ta_CMJJq173jmrcuLufr973lg3uNGZ2RYWgahEfotoo7WtmQ1FSd2Zq_xcIgwI9j3M7Y/w640-h640/Where%20Butterflies%20Wander%20(1).png" width="640" /></a></div><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i><div><b style="font-family: verdana;"><i><br /></i></b></div>This book pulled me in immediately and didn't let go. </i></b></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">With a compelling story and interesting and flawed characters, Suzanne Redfearn has written a story about grief and healing that will captivate readers from its first page to its last.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The strength of this story is in its characters, a few of whom share their perspectives. These include members of the Egide family who are still reeling from a death and come to New Hampshire to renovate and sell an old family property so they can move on with their lives and Davina, the 'river witch' and war veteran, who lives on the property and has her own grief and healing to deal with.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>Where Butterflies Wander</i> is poignant, engaging and authentic. It is a story about strength and resiliency that pulls readers through many emotions. But ultimately, it is a story about hope, healing, acceptance and reconnection. May we all have a Davina to grace our lives.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Put this book on your <i>2024 must read list</i> and preorder it today so you can enjoy it on its February 6, 2024 publication day.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><b style="font-family: verdana; font-size: small;"><i>Disclaimer: My sincere thanks to the author for the complimentary copy of this book which was provided in exchange for my honest review.</i></b></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 5 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Suzanne Redfearn</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Contemporary Fiction</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: Trade Paperback from author</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Lake Union Publishing</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: February 6, 2024</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">From the bestselling author of In an Instant comes the moving story of a family grappling with grief and a woman with the power to help them through it―or stand in their way. After a tragic accident claims the life of one of her children, Marie Egide is desperate to carve out a fresh start for her family. </span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">With her husband and their three surviving children, Marie travels to New Hampshire, where she plans to sell a family estate and then, just maybe, they’ll be able to heal from their grief. Marie’s plans are thwarted when she realizes a war veteran known by locals as “the river witch” is living in a cabin on the property, which she claims was a gift from Marie’s grandfather. If Davina refuses to move on, Marie won’t be able to either. The two women clash, and battle lines are drawn within Marie’s family and the town as each side fights for what they believe is right, the tension rising until it reaches its breaking point. And the choice is no longer theirs when a force bigger than them all―fate―takes control.</span></span></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-39407381150147285542024-01-19T16:55:00.000-05:002024-01-19T16:55:49.881-05:00Kiss Her Once For Me<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc49WHV-lEJqimxyO7nwRvHbUjLHo6fgFCy6Z1PduQIe1nqBdGVzxwSXP4oOjPVTN25b7B1NBhM7iqzXDpx8AQWy-4k50TuHmO-9XA4M-lJxowRsMvuV5iGZudi1AKKIrEP9OsZEHDtZnLbXsdAFgJIAtbmS2mIq_PpHcp-DvrD428Z3ouEW7ApBxUtGyJ/s1080/Kiss%20Her%20Once%20For%20Me.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc49WHV-lEJqimxyO7nwRvHbUjLHo6fgFCy6Z1PduQIe1nqBdGVzxwSXP4oOjPVTN25b7B1NBhM7iqzXDpx8AQWy-4k50TuHmO-9XA4M-lJxowRsMvuV5iGZudi1AKKIrEP9OsZEHDtZnLbXsdAFgJIAtbmS2mIq_PpHcp-DvrD428Z3ouEW7ApBxUtGyJ/w640-h640/Kiss%20Her%20Once%20For%20Me.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">With </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">strong <i>"The Proposal"</i> and <i>"While You Were Sleeping"</i> vibes, this delightful LGBTQIA2S+ romance has a few of my favourite tropes and is a story about </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">finding love, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">friendship, messy family dynamics and the beauty of found family.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I loved the main couple and the story also benefited from a strong, amazing cast of secondary characters. I just loved 'em all - especially the grandmothers! This gaggle of characters enabled Cochrun to explore themes of </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">anxiety, fear of failure, people pleasing, perfectionism, and familial pressure. And don't worry romance lovahs, there are some spicy scenes between Jack and Ellie that are totally swoony. </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">And while I normally break out in hives at the mere thought of a romance featuring Insta-Love, in this instance it totally worked! </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I am also not a fan of characters being emotional doormats. It totally puts me off so initially, Ellie's </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">interactions with her cliched narcissist mom were hard to read but I also understand that these scenes helped explain where Ellie was coming from and how Jack's family was the polar emotional opposite. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">With high</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> marks for diverse and represented LGBTQ+ characters and the respectful way the mental health angle was handled, this was a </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">delightful (mildly) festive RomCom that has some sweet, some heat and a cute story about not being afraid to go for what you want out of life.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">After loving this book and her debut, <i><b><a href="https://www.thebakingbookworm.ca/2021/08/the-charm-offensive.html#!" target="_blank">The Charm Offensive</a></b></i>, Alison Cochrun has officially been put on my list of <i>Must Read Authors</i> for me.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 4.5 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Alison Cochrun</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: RomCom, LGBTQIA2S+</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: Trade Paperback from public library</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Atria</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: November 1, 2022</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: <span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">The author of</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"> </span><i style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915;">The Charm Offensive</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">returns with a festive romantic comedy about a woman who fakes an engagement with her landlord…only to fall for his sister.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">One year ago, recent Portland transplant Ellie Oliver had her dream job in animation and a Christmas Eve meet-cute with a woman at a bookstore that led her to fall in love over the course of a single night. But after a betrayal the next morning and the loss of her job soon after, she finds herself adrift, alone, and desperate for money.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Finding work at a local coffee shop, she’s just getting through the days—until Andrew, the shop’s landlord, proposes a shocking, drunken plan: a marriage of convenience that will give him his recent inheritance and alleviate Ellie’s financial woes and isolation. They make a plan to spend the holidays together at his family cabin to keep up the ruse. But when Andrew introduces his new fiancée to his sister, Ellie is shocked to discover it’s Jack—the mysterious woman she fell for over the course of one magical Christmas Eve the year before. Now, Ellie must choose between the safety of a fake relationship and the risk of something real.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Perfect for fans of </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915;">Written in the Stars </i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">and </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915;">One Day in December</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">, </span><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915;">Kiss Her Once for Me</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"> is the queer holiday rom-com that you’ll want to cozy up with next to the fire.</span></span><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-32075366159509575542024-01-17T18:56:00.000-05:002024-01-17T18:56:58.079-05:00Vanishing Girls<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMyMuHjVTOfrOjHLlxG4nVxmbvYna2OoyT5qfLxZ5_ySHDqQAoSeDG2GUTTne6C5q1AZ2XKyTAfr-ASw5m1X9IxeZ0LaRnoqbw9ym20pNF-uxP9-T9ttkhj8Yeu8DRy1VjnJCDWhwneAA2GKBrSS1ib18Mwkn-0HwA7SFfaVGsW_WkSnf4cHc_5kdXVJmI/s1080/Vanishing%20Girls.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMyMuHjVTOfrOjHLlxG4nVxmbvYna2OoyT5qfLxZ5_ySHDqQAoSeDG2GUTTne6C5q1AZ2XKyTAfr-ASw5m1X9IxeZ0LaRnoqbw9ym20pNF-uxP9-T9ttkhj8Yeu8DRy1VjnJCDWhwneAA2GKBrSS1ib18Mwkn-0HwA7SFfaVGsW_WkSnf4cHc_5kdXVJmI/w640-h640/Vanishing%20Girls.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>I'v</span><span style="font-family: verdana;">e had <i>Vanishing Girls</i> on my kindle for awhile and in my regularly scheduled New Years attempt to read my TBR, I finally cracked it open. I was in the mood for a suspense read and Regan hits the ground running in this </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">dark, gritty police procedural with a strong but flawed main character in small-town Detective Josie Quinn. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Josie is a memorable character and though she's not always likeable and has more than her fair share of flaws, I found her quite compelling. Readers will get to understand her better as Regan reveals the reasons for Josie's </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">emotional baggage with her failed marriage, and work and family issues that impede her professional and personal success. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The story is told from Josie's POV but also includes POVs of some of the missing girls. At first, these felt a bit confusing and the POV changes weren't clearly labelled (possibly due to the kindle format), but I got used to these changes in POV and the additional perspectives added to the eerie feel. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">The story was a lot darker and gruesome than I was anticipating, but this book was expertly paced with short chapters and strong secondary characters (I loved Grandma and Noah Farley). There were tense moments, a death that made me gasp and some red herrings, making <i>Vanishing Girls</i> become a story I struggled to put down. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This was a very strong start to a new-to-me gritty police procedural/suspense series, I look forward to reading more books from this series. This series is a good pick for fans of Melinda Leigh's </span><i style="font-family: verdana;">Bree Taggert </i><span style="font-family: verdana;">series.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 4.5 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Lisa Regan</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Suspense</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Series</u>: #1 in the Detective Josie Quinn series</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: eBook, personal copy</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Bookouture</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: January 17, 2018</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">She was close enough to see that the girl had written a word on the wall in bright, warm red blood. Not a word, actually. A name…</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Everyone in the small American town of Denton is searching for Isabelle Coleman, a missing seventeen-year-old girl. All they’ve found so far is her phone and another girl they didn’t even know was missing.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Mute and completely unresponsive to the world around her, it’s clear this mysterious girl has been damaged beyond repair. All Detective Josie Quinn can get from her is a name: Ramona.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Currently suspended from the force for misconduct, Josie takes matters into her own hands as the name leads her to evidence linking the two girls. She knows the race is on to find Isabelle alive, and she fears there may be others…</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">The trail leads Josie to another victim, a girl who escaped but whose case was labelled a hoax by authorities. To catch this monster, Josie must confront her own nightmares and follow her instinct to the darkest of places. But can she make it out alive?</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Fans of Angela Marsons, Helen Fields and Robert Dugoni will be utterly gripped and sleeping with the lights on once they discover the first in this unputdownable new crime thriller series.</span></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-648528809470059310.post-6534751127790485712024-01-15T14:55:00.000-05:002024-01-15T14:55:42.979-05:00A Death at the Party<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9aMZTouwj_heoFvHQz0rwK7MqIKrggDI7X79QledUd4akNebRy_-HjBQPjhAo6zvn40e7M444Cazuf_ySyldAOZWmDwYKcELzOUgWo5zXxuLtXSGOM-A4OSpHoAWRB2ZHE0gHRxalxYh7Y-RrNtJv7z8GA_GOas4wwMVe3u7klufheggUN30W2yDWKnp2/s1080/A%20Death%20at%20the%20Party.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9aMZTouwj_heoFvHQz0rwK7MqIKrggDI7X79QledUd4akNebRy_-HjBQPjhAo6zvn40e7M444Cazuf_ySyldAOZWmDwYKcELzOUgWo5zXxuLtXSGOM-A4OSpHoAWRB2ZHE0gHRxalxYh7Y-RrNtJv7z8GA_GOas4wwMVe3u7klufheggUN30W2yDWKnp2/w640-h640/A%20Death%20at%20the%20Party.png" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div>This thriller starts out with a bang ... and a murder. The story unfolds over the course of one day as our main character Nadine gets ready to host a 60th birthday party for her mother Marilyn Millay, a famous novelist.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Through flashbacks, we witness secrets from Nadine and Marilyn's pasts and how they impact their lives today. With a confessional tone to Nadine's POV and a building sense of dread, the story is perfectly paced with red herrings, family tragedy and long-held secrets that Stuart weaves into a compelling story. I concur with the book's blurb that <i>A Death at the Party</i> is a perfect read for fans of Lisa Jewell and Canadian author Ashley Audrain.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">This was an engrossing read with delightfully short chapters that I read in a couple of sittings and is a must read for domestic suspense fans.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>My Rating: 4.5 stars</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Author</u>: Amy Stuart</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Genre</u>: Suspense, Domestic Thriller</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Type and Source</u>: Trade Paperback from public library</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>Publisher</u>: Simon and Schuster</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><u>First Published</u>: March 7, 2023</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><u>Book Description from GoodReads</u></b>: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">In this tense, spellbinding thriller set over the course of a single day, a woman prepares for a party that goes dreadfully wrong—for fans of Ashley Audrain and Lisa Jewell.</span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Nadine Walsh’s summer garden party is in full swing. The neighbors all have cocktails, the catered food is exquisite—everything’s going according to plan.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">But Nadine—devoted wife, loving mother, and doting daughter—finds herself standing over a dead body in her basement while her guests clink glasses upstairs. What happened? How did it come to this?</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Rewind to that morning, when Nadine is in her kitchen, making last-minute preparations before she welcomes more than a hundred guests to her home to celebrate her mother’s birthday. But her husband is of little help to her, her two grown children are consumed with their own concerns, and her mother—only her mother knows that today isn’t just a birthday party. It marks another anniversary as well.</span><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><br style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1e1915; margin: 0px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e1915;">Still, Nadine will focus just on tonight. Everyone deserves a celebration after the year they’ve had. A chance for fun. A chance to forget. But it’s hard to forget when Nadine’s head is swirling with secrets, haunting memories, and concerns about what might happen when her guests unite.</span></span><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.mylivesignature.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://signatures.mylivesignature.com/54488/131/CF107413EEAE3658FA7B3082C92C2ABE.png" style="background: transparent; border: 0px;" /></a>Laurie@The Baking Bookwormhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17678146631438774221noreply@blogger.com0