From the author of A Lily in the Light comes a poignant story of innocence lost and what it means to grow up too fast.

It’s 1965, and thirteen-year-old Gia, along with her older brother and cousins, is desperate to escape their sleepy, tree-lined neighborhood where nothing ever happens. The only thing Gia would miss is the surrounding marsh, where she feels at home among sea birds and saltwater.

But when one of Gia’s cousins brings drugs into their neighborhood, it sets off a chain of events that quickly turn dangerous. Everyone will be caught in the ripples, and some may be swept away entirely. Gia is determined to keep herself and her family afloat while the world is turned upside down around her. Can she find a way to hold on to the life she was so eager to leave behind, or will she have to watch it all disappear beneath the marsh forever?

At turns heart-wrenching and hopeful, A Frenzy of Sparks explores a world where survival is the attempt to move forward while leaving pieces of your heart behind.

“A deeply atmospheric novel that will have you turning the pages deep into the night, A Frenzy of Sparks is your next must-read.” —Catherine McKenzie, bestselling author of Hidden and I’ll Never Tell

“A provocative coming-of-age in 1960s Queens. Heart-wrenching and moving, A Frenzy of Sparks boldly reveals families in crisis, brought together and torn apart. Brava Kristin Fields on a lyrical, luminous tale that sticks with the reader long after the last page.” —Rochelle Weinstein, bestselling author of This Is Not How It Ends

“A Frenzy of Sparks tells the heartbreaking truth about how quickly addiction can destroy a family and a community. Fields has a beautiful ability to shape words such that the ordinary becomes extraordinary.” —Kaela Coble, author of Friends and Other Liars

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

She had the same wiry build as Leo, the same blue eyes and slightly disheveled look, as if the wind had blown them around for a few minutes and suddenly stopped.

Window light turned dust suspended in the air to gold, making Gia almost pretty in the mirror, not movie-star pretty, but more like a mer-creature who’d surfaced to see what land was all about. She hadn’t quite grown into her nose or gotten past her fear of tweezers to fix her eyebrows, but her features were sharp and symmetrical.

“Is he sick?” Agnes scrunched her forehead. It was unusual for Leo to be home, grounded or not. Yes, Gia thought. He has an incurable case of the idiots.

The girl was chewing gum, cracking it loudly, blowing bubbles, and swallowing them back like a lizard rolling out its tongue. She was a hostess at the clam bar with Ray and liked to flirt with him even though she had more pimples than a toad, but she curled her hair and rolled a tube over her lips until they were mirror shiny. Alessandra. Gia wondered if Agnes would prefer a daughter like her instead.

“Just tell him your blood sugar’s low or you’re feeling faint. He’s too scared of women’s bodies to call you on it,” Lorraine said between bites of a fresh chocolate éclair…

My Review:

Kristin Fields hit me soundly in the feels and wrote with an astounding poignancy that put hot rocks in my throat, pressure in my chest, and sand in my eyes. She scribbled with the articulateness of a gifted wordsmith while she insightfully and perceptively imbued her cast of characters with unusual quirks and sharp edges, and detailed them with crystal clarity. She fully captured their foibles as well as the miasma of complex family personalities, unmerited favoritism, and the issues of dealing with addiction in a family member along with the accompanying complications of enabling, blind denial, and general chaos.

I was staggered by the precision and depth in which Ms. Fields molded and sufficed Gia with relatable and accessible impatience, yearning for independence, and the heightened desire for personal choices from those forced upon her by family circumstances. Gia was a thirteen-year-old tomboy who was chaffing at the constant criticism and expectations of her mother to be feminine while actively forcing her towards domestic pursuits. Gia had no interest in her mother’s womanly pursuits or indoctrination as she was interested in the environment, wanted to be outside swimming and boating, and aspired to be a scientist.

Ms. Field’s prose ingeniously inserted me into the gray matter of a sensitive thirteen-year-old who despite her naive and skewed perceptions, still saw far more clearly, realistically, and objectively than her parents. I was deeply stirred by the experiences of Gia which conjured similar feelings long buried in my own psyche of a pervasive sense of powerlessness against the rigid constraints of the strict and unquestionable expectations of gender roles and the forced adherence of odd and nonsensical beliefs as well as the resentment of undeserved male arrogance and the mindlessness of automatic female deference. And from this, a kickass feminist was born.

I was a small child in the ’60s and came of age in the ’70s and do not look back on that period with fondness.   Nor would I live through those turbulent eras again for a billion dollars. While Kristin Fields is far too young to have personally experienced those tumultuous decades, her narrative and characters’ observations, behaviors, frustrations, mindsets, and the limitations of societal roles were astoundingly authentic to the times. Color me impressed but now in need of a spa day and a vat of wine to clear all this long-repressed antipathy.

From the moment Julie sees her best friend, Gavin, in the airport, it’s like no time at all has gone by instead of months and months. No matter how long they’ve been apart, their relationship has always been steady, comfortable, and decidedly just friends. Even though their meddling parents have hung what seems like unlimited amounts of mistletoe everywhere she goes this holiday season, Julie knows some things will never change.

Kissing Lessons
(Kissing Creek Book 1)
by Stefanie London

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‘Are you sure he’s someone you can trust? We know nothing at all about him. Who is he, really?’

Susanne and her two best friends have been dreaming of a holiday. All of them need an escape. Especially Susanne, who is reeling from the news that her ex is getting remarried. They need the warm Tuscan sun, delicious Italian food and wine, and – most of all – the time to unwind with each other. What they get is Harry.

Handsome, charming, and great company, Harry soon sweeps Susanne off her feet for a holiday fling. And why not? Except that everything he’s told them is a lie.

Who is the man they’ve let into their house – who Susanne has let into her bed? They have no idea what Harry is capable of – what he’s done to get this far, and what he’s prepared to do to ensure he gets his way.

By the time they find out, it will be too late to stop their dream holiday from becoming a nightmare.

An utterly addictive, page-turning thriller with a jaw-dropping twist. If you loved The Girlfriend, The Holiday, and Something in the Water, you’ll be completely gripped by The Perfect Liar.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Harry’s accent is warm toffee sauce poured over ice cream. Everything about his demeanour drips wealth, privilege and confidence…

Evie imagines her at the tough south London school where she works, holding the rapt attention of her class. Twenty-odd hormonally charged fourteen-year-olds under her spell, the boys damp with adolescent desire, the girls in awe of her strength and urban style. Evie has never met a lesbian before –well, not that she knows of –and is a little intimidated. Then again, the sensations of wrong-footedness and embarrassment are as familiar to Evie as hunger and thirst.

‘You’re a cracking girl, Evie; I’ve always fancied you,’ Roland growls. ‘Discreet, too,’ he adds, before turning over and snoring like a warthog.

Evie saw the way they looked at each other when they thought no one was watching, like feral teenagers at a disco.

Evie’s so prim and proper, she thinks she’s being radical if she changes the parting of her hair.

My Review:

I enjoyed this well-contrived tale. There were multiple storylines with slowly unfolding yet compelling nuances and sketchy characters who were not altogether likable and difficult to fully appreciate, yet oddly managed to elicit my compassion. Other than for dear Evie I kept waffling on whom was more deserving of my empathy.

This was my introduction to the duplicitous word stylings of Beverley Harvey and I was a quick convert.   And for a bonus, Ms. Harvey has provided a new addition to my Brit Words and Phrases List with “kick into touch,” which Mr. Goggle taught me was to halt discussion when it is clear the issue cannot be achieved or solved. I plan to immediately deploy this handy phrase when anyone mentioned the ever hazardous topics of politics or religion.

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The Cornish beach house creaked in the salty sea wind and, from the weathered wooden porch, Mara watched a lone magpie circle above. It was silly to think that her mother’s spirit was still with her, but Mara felt as if there was something keeping her here. A secret that needed to be told…

When Mara Hughes inherits her late mother’s tumbledown beach house overlooking the bright, sandy sweep of Magpie Cove, it couldn’t have come at a worse time. With her marriage on the rocks and her husband threatening to take the family home, the beach house – with all the bittersweet memories it holds – might be the thing that finally sends Mara’s world crashing down around her. She tells herself she’ll only spend a few days there: sell it and move on to rebuilding her life.

When Mara arrives, the house is in a worse state than she feared – holes in the bedroom ceiling, birds’ nests in the attic, and the beautiful, wrap-around porch on the brink of collapse… but she loves it anyway. With all its history it feels like the last link to her late mother and, determined to do whatever it takes to keep it in the family, Mara strikes a deal with local handyman – and town heartthrob – Brian Oakley to save the crumbling cottage from ruin.

But when a box of unopened old letters arrives on her new doorstep – a bequest from her mother’s will – Mara’s resolve to save the beach house will be tested to the limit. Because Mara’s mother’s perfect childhood in Magpie Cove was forever spoiled by one haunting day in July, and the letters contain a secret about her family that Mara can scarcely believe to be true…

A story of secrets, family, and forgiveness, this heartfelt read set in beautiful Cornwall is perfect for fans of Susanne O’Leary, Fern Britton, and Rosanna Ley.

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