Category: 5-Stars

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 Book Review: The Woman in the White Kimono by Ana Johns

 The Woman in the White Kimono

by Ana Johns

 

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU 

 B&N / iBooks

Hardcover: 352 Pages

Publisher: Park Row; Original edition (May 28, 2019)

Oceans and decades apart, two women are inextricably bound by the secrets between them.

Japan, 1957. Seventeen-year-old Naoko Nakamura’s prearranged marriage to the son of her father’s business associate would secure her family’s status in their traditional Japanese community, but Naoko has fallen for another man—an American sailor, a gaijin—and to marry him would bring great shame upon her entire family. When it’s learned Naoko carries the sailor’s child, she’s cast out in disgrace and forced to make unimaginable choices with consequences that will ripple across generations.

America, present day. Tori Kovac, caring for her dying father, finds a letter containing a shocking revelation—one that calls into question everything she understood about him, her family and herself. Setting out to learn the truth behind the letter, Tori’s journey leads her halfway around the world to a remote seaside village in Japan, where she must confront the demons of the past to pave a way for redemption.

In breathtaking prose and inspired by true stories from a devastating and little-known era in Japanese and American history, The Woman in the White Kimono illuminates a searing portrait of one woman torn between her culture and her heart, and another woman on a journey to discover the true meaning of home.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Each step I took brought me closer to my future and farther away from my family. It was a contrast of extremes in every sense, but I had somehow found my place between them. That was what Buddha called the middle way. The correct balance of life. I called it happy. A life with love is happy. A life for love is foolish. A life of if only is unbearable. In my seventy-eight years, I have had all three.

 

“Chase two hares and you will catch neither,” says Grandmother. This is but a single parable in her arsenal of many. She releases them like arrows, but instead of one, which breaks with ease, she slings ten to a bundle.

 

I should hurry, but I’m already late, and as Grandmother says, “If you are going to eat poison, you may as well clean your plate.” I kick the gravel, causing angry puffs of loose dirt to rise in protest.

 

When I first met Hajime in Yokosuka, his eyes charmed me. They captured light and sparkled like water absorbing the sun.

 

To pick the correct one is fate. To pick the wrong one is also fate. So, you must choose your love, and be prepared to love your choice.

 

Time is a stubborn creature that delights in goading you. When happy, it sprouts wings and flies. When waiting, it drags through thick mud with heavy feet.

 

My Review:

 

Ana Johns is a bewitching storyteller. Her expertly crafted tale mesmerized and gutted me while essentially holding me transfixed to my Kindle from start to finish. How is this astounding work her first novel?!?   I rarely cry but this poignantly written book moved me to tears several times and, okay, I will even confess to ugly cry sobbing. Any author who can perform such a rare fete deserves a ten-star rating.

 

The storylines were a well-researched blend of fact and fiction while cunningly related within brilliant and highly emotive narratives.   I instantly fell right into Ms. John’s cleverly woven story as if sucked into a vortex that zipped me back and forth from post-war 1950s Japan and present-day USA – and thankfully did so with without jetlag, confusion, or motion sickness. The characters were compellingly drawn, admirable, and strong – yet struggling with limited choices and truly miserable options. I was intrigued, horrified, staggered, captivated, completely invested, heartbroken, enthralled, and totally engaged by this powerful and transportive story. It is safe to say that Ana Johns has a newly minted fangirl.

About the Author

ANA JOHNS worked over twenty years in the creative arts field, as both a creative director and business owner, before turning her hand to fiction. Born and raised in metro Detroit, she now resides in Indianapolis with her family. The Woman in the White Kimono is her first novel.

Connect with Ana

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

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Book Review, Giveaway: To the Stars and Back by Camilla Isley

 

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To the Stars and Back

by Camilla Isley

Amazon  / B&N

When Hollywood’s sexiest bachelor meets the girl next door their relationship doesn’t follow the script…

On-screen, Christian Slade is America’s favorite heartthrob. Off-screen, letting romance into his life isn’t as easy. The women he dates all seem to want a piece of his glamorous life rather than his heart, and trust doesn’t come easy for him.

Then along comes Lana. A beautiful rocket scientist who’s also sweet, smart, sexy, and has absolutely no idea who he is. But what will happen when she finds out?

Will their worlds prove too far apart or could love really be like in the movies?

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

“Two adults booking a room at the Peninsula? They’re not here to play Scrabble,” she hisses.

 

“I’m trying to find a silver lining,” Winter says. “If breaking up with Jonathan isn’t giving you the slightest chest pain, perhaps it isn’t all bad you broke up. I mean, he and my sister are two cockroaches who deserve to burn in hell forever, but maybe it was about time you took your relationship with John behind the barn and shot it.”

 

 My Review:

 

This was a fun and appealing read that was smartly written and I can boast it was also informative as well since the main character was a rocket scientist who taught me the little known fact that there is a scientific unit of measurement called a slug, which weighs 32.2 pounds.   And my mother always chided me for reading fiction – claiming it was a waste of time.

 

I adored these characters, they were easily accessible and highly likable and I wanted good things for them.   Penned in my favorite dual POV, the writing style was crisp and engaging, yet also perceptive and loaded with wry wit and clever touches such as naming identical twins Summer and Winter.   I easily fell into this tale from the very beginning and felt happily entertained and well pleased as I zipped through their star-crossed storylines.

About the Author

Camilla is an engineer turned writer after she quit her job to follow her husband on an adventure abroad.

She’s a cat lover, coffee addict, and shoe hoarder. Besides writing, she loves reading—duh!—cooking, watching bad TV, and going to the movies—popcorn, please. She’s a bit of a foodie, nothing too serious. A keen traveler, Camilla knows mosquitoes play a role in the ecosystem, and she doesn’t want to starve all those frog princes out there, but she could really live without them.

Social Media Links –

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/camillaisley/

Twitter https://twitter.com/camillaisley

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14135080.Camilla_Isley

Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/camilla-isley

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/camillaisley/

Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/camillaisley/

Giveaway

 Win a To The Stars and Back Tote Bag

(Open to UK Only)

*Terms and Conditions –  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then I reserve the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will be passed to the giveaway organizer and used only for the fulfillment of the prize, after which time I will delete the data.  I am not responsible for dispatch or delivery of the prize.

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Book Review: Montauk by Nicola Harrison

Montauk

by Nicola Harrison

 

Montauk, Long Island, 1938. 
For three months, this humble fishing village will serve as the playground for New York City’s wealthy elite. Beatrice Bordeaux was looking forward to a summer of reigniting the passion between her and her husband, Harry. Instead, tasked with furthering his investment interest in Montauk as a resort destination, she learns she’ll be spending twelve weeks sequestered with the high society wives at The Montauk Manor—a two-hundred room seaside hotel—while Harry pursues other interests in the city.
College educated, but raised a modest country girl in Pennsylvania, Bea has never felt fully comfortable among these privileged women, whose days are devoted not to their children but to leisure activities and charities that seemingly benefit no one but themselves. She longs to be a mother herself, as well as a loving wife, but after five years of marriage she remains childless while Harry is increasingly remote and distracted. Despite lavish parties at the Manor and the Yacht Club, Bea is lost and lonely and befriends the manor’s laundress whose work ethic and family life stir memories of who she once was.
As she drifts further from the society women and their preoccupations and closer toward Montauk’s natural beauty and community spirit, Bea finds herself drawn to a man nothing like her husband –stoic, plain spoken and enigmatic. Inspiring a strength and courage she had almost forgotten, his presence forces her to face a haunting tragedy of her past and question her future.
Desperate to embrace moments of happiness, no matter how fleeting, she soon discovers that such moments may be all she has, when fates conspire to tear her world apart…

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

As we drove up the tight and winding road, tree branches reached overhead toward each other like lovers’ hands desperate to connect…

 

I’d felt paranoid that everyone already knew about Harry’s philandering. How could they not? Women talked and Harry, apparently, was about as discreet with his affairs as a pack of rats going through a dumpster.

 

Sometimes I yearned for that forever feeling—those hours that stretched into days and days into a week, without a thought for tomorrow. It was simple then. We wore swimsuits all day long and we slept long and deeply at night, eager for it all to start again the next day, never thinking for a second that another day wouldn’t come.

 

“What’s important in situations like these is that you find a way to relax and nature will most certainly take its course.” … He jotted these thoughts down on a prescription pad, tore off the page and handed it to me. “Take this seriously,” he said. “It’s your duty to your husband and to America.”

 

As a kid anything seemed possible; in the real world, though, nothing was. Youth gave us an inflated sense of possibility, that you could achieve anything if you really went for it, but it felt as if you’d have to fight your whole life to get there, and most of us just got married and had children.

 

My Review:

 

This beautifully written story was taut with tension and kept me on edge while I was mesmerized by the lushly descriptive and enticing writing style.   The storylines were wincingly well crafted and easily believable. This emotive tale upended me, I was quickly sucked into a confining and misogynistic 1938 vortex, something I would typically avoid – but not this time – I couldn’t put it down. I am totally in awe; this debut author has major skills and a bright future ahead.

 

Lies, deceit, rampant infidelities, and the petty dramas of social climbing women marked the days and nights of the betrayed and deeply disappointed Beatrice, and in many ways, she was just as tarnished and culpable as the rest, although she saw the hypocrisy and at least felt some guilt about it.   Apparently the entitled wealthy and social elite still existed and lived quite well throughout the Depression.   These compelling characters were rather vile yet kept me holding my breath and gripping my kindle from the very beginning to the crescendo finish that nearly broke me and left me in definite need of a spa day.

About the Author

Amazon
Goodreads
Website                                             Facebook

Born in England, Nicola Harrison moved to CA where she received a BA in Literature at UCLA before moving to NYC and earning an MFA in creative writing at Stony Brook. She is a member of The Writers Room, has short stories published in The Southampton Review and Glimmer Train and articles in Los Angeles Magazine and Orange Coast Magazine. She was the fashion and style staff writer for Forbes, had a weekly column at Lucky Magazine and is the founder of a personal styling business, Harrison Style. Montauk is Harrison’s debut novel.
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Book Review: Just One Bite by Jack Heath

JUST ONE BITE

by Jack Heath

ISBN: 9781335952844

Publication Date: June 4th, 2019

Publisher: Hanover Square Press

 

Buy Links:

Harlequin  / Amazon  / B&N  /  B-A-M / Powell’s

Timothy Blake, ex-consultant for the FBI, now works in body disposal for a local crime lord. One night he stumbles across a body he wasn’t supposed to find and is forced to hide it. When the FBI calls Blake in to investigate a missing university professor, Blake recognizes him as the dead man in his freezer.

Then another man goes missing. And another.

There’s a serial killer in Houston, Texas, and Blake is running out of time to solve the case. His investigation takes him to a sex doll factory, a sprawling landfill in Louisiana and a secret cabin in the woods.

As they hunt the killer together, FBI agent Reese Thistle starts to warm to Blake—but she also gets closer and closer to discovering his terrible secret.

Can Blake uncover the killer without being exposed himself?

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

The rent is surprisingly high for such a crummy place. Ideally I’d split it with someone, but I ate my last roommate. It’s safest for everyone if I live alone.

 

I’m too exhausted even to dream. A small mercy— my subconscious would have made Freud vomit.

 

The government was paying her to feed and clothe us, and she was making quite a lot of money, because she never bought any food or clothing.

 

Most people know that pigs feel stress and that cows grieve when their calves are taken away. They might feel guilty, but they still eat bacon and drink milk. So what use is the guilt?

 

It’s a dangerous meal, since I still don’t know how he died… Eating people is dangerous, anyway, because of bloodborne viruses. Doesn’t mean I can make myself stop. Don’t judge me. Heart disease is the number-one killer in the USA, but you still eat donuts. Your diet is killing you, too.

 

I drive just above the speed limit. Anything less is considered suspicious in Texas.

 

The field office director comes on the radio. “We’re pursuing several leads,” she says. “We urge anyone with information to come forward.” That’s code for: We’re shitting ourselves. The news anchor is back. “The victims’ names have yet to be released,” she says, barely managing to keep the glee from her voice, “but the details of the case have been described as ‘disturbing.’”

 

 My Review:

 

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I delved into this stunningly crafted page-turner. Despite the disturbing issues, I was enthralled, mesmerized, and riveted to my kindle. I was on edge and biting my cuticles and more than a bit distressed about being so deeply invested in such a gruesome tale – what was wrong with me? But much similar to how the character in the book described his compulsion/hunger, I just couldn’t help myself. The writing was simply stellar while brilliantly paced, intriguing and unpredictable, action-packed, and unexpectedly laced with wry levity. It was also diabolically addictive; I couldn’t have stopped reading unless my kindle had been forcibly removed from my possession. Jack Heath is most certainly an evil genius; I would advise his family to keep him happy as well as to either sleep in shifts or with one eye open.

About the Author

First published as a teenager, Jack Heath is the award-winning author of more than twenty fiction titles for young adult and middle-grade readers. In the course of his research, Jack has toured morgues and prisons, performed as a street magician and traveled through eleven countries, including Russia. His previous day jobs—in which he met many interesting characters—include fry cook, music teacher, TV salesman, call center worker, and bookseller. He plays several musical instruments and lives on the land of the Ngunnawal people in Gunghalin, Australia.

Social Links:

Author Website

Twitter: @JackHeathWriter

Instagram: @JackHeathWriter.

Facebook: @JackHeathWriter

Goodreads

 

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Book Review: One Hundred Goodbyes (An Aspen Cove Romance #9) by Kelly Collins

 One Hundred Goodbyes

(An Aspen Cove Romance #9)

by Kelly Collins

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA

 

Welcome back to Aspen Cove, the town where a stranger is simply a friend you haven’t met…

Eden Webster has always been generous to a fault. The word no isn’t in her vocabulary. That’s how at twenty-eight she finds herself homeless, alone, and pregnant in Aspen Cove. Abandoned by the one person she should have been able to count on, her sister Suzanne, she’s forced to accept the generosity of strangers. The last thing she expects is to meet Mr. Right at exactly the wrong time.

Handsome firefighter Thomas Cross lives by one rule—never trust a woman with your heart. After months of waiting for his baby to be born, he’s delivered the truth of his girlfriend’s betrayal. When Doc Parker asks him to put Eden up for a few months until her baby is born, he’s certain he’ll be able to keep his distance. But the more time they spend together, the more he realizes love is not something that can be overruled by logic.

Will Thomas allow room in his heart for Eden and her baby, or will he go back to being the man who cannot trust? Find out in One Hundred Goodbyes…

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

The old man finished off his beer. “Son, there are two things I never kid about. One is hemorrhoids and the other is women. It’s time you found yourself the latter because sitting on your ass at home alone will give you the former.”

 

DNA doesn’t make you a family. It just makes you related.

 

“You’re either a friend or a friend we haven’t met. We’ve met you, so now you’re a friend. No one turns their back on a friend.” Eden let out a semi-hysterical laugh. “No, you have to be related for that kind of dismissal.”

 

My sweetheart, Agatha. Damn woman is crazy to love an old fart like me, but she does, and I’m not investing in therapy to cure her.

 

Just let me know what you’re looking for. I have two bad habits. Loose women and garage sales.

 

It’s the detours that make life exciting.

 

Yes, there’s nothing like the feel of another woman’s child. At the end of the day, I get to go home and sleep eight hours. My boobs are still where they were years ago, and I can have all the wine I want.

  

My Review:

 

I giggle-snorted my way through this delightfully amusing and tender sweet small-town romance. This was a fun and satisfying read. I typically avoid pregnancy stories but since I will gleefully pick up anything Kelly Collins cares to print (although I’d have to think long and hard if she took a turned at zombies), I was willing to give it a perusal and lucky me, it was one of her best. The storylines were relevant, topical, and thoughtfully put forth with an interesting and colorful cast of quirky small-town personalities for extra flavor. I adored this couple and enjoyed spending time with them.

 

    ABOUT KELLY COLLINS   

Kelly Collins writes with the intention of keeping the love alive.

Always a romantic, she is inspired by real-time events mixed with a dose of fiction. She encourages her readers to reach the happily ever after but bask in the afterglow of the perfectly imperfect love.

Kelly lives in Colorado with her husband of twenty-seven years. She loves hockey, shiny objects and has a new-found appreciation for green smoothies.

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Book Review: Just One of the Groomsmen (Getting Hitched in Dixie #1) by Cindi Madsen 

Just One of the Groomsmen

 (Getting Hitched in Dixie #1) 

by Cindi Madsen 

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA / B&N

 

Addison Murphy is the funny friend, the girl you grab a beer with—the girl voted most likely to start her own sweatshirt line. And now that one of her best guy friends is getting married, she’ll add “groomsman” to that list, too. She’ll get through this wedding if it’s the last thing she does. Just don’t ask her to dive for any bouquet.

When Tucker Crawford returns to his small hometown, he expects to see the same old people, feel comfort in the same old things. He certainly doesn’t expect to see the nice pair of bare legs sticking out from under the hood of a broken-down car. Certainly doesn’t expect to feel his heart beat faster when he realizes they belong to one of his best friends.

If he convinces Addie to give him a chance, they could be electric…or their break-up could split their tight-knit group in two.

Hiding the way he feels from the guys through bachelor parties, cake tastings, and rehearsals is one thing. But just as Tucker realizes that Addie truly could be the perfect woman for him—he was just too stupid to realize it—now she’s leaving to follow her own dreams. He’s going to need to do a lot of compromising if he’s going to convince her to take a shot at forever with him—on her terms this time.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

The thing about this particular group of ladies was the way they could lob implications and casually insult you, their sugary-sweet smiles never leaving their lips.

 

You know, sometimes I think it’s sad that no matter how much makeup people put on, it doesn’t make their soul any prettier. Then again, it’s always nice to spot those people right away.

 

About as subtle as a gorilla wearing high heels in a bowling alley.

 

“I’d recommend a thong, too, to avoid panty lines.” Right. Because what was missing from this whole experience was a tiny strip of fabric riding up her ass. That way, when she inevitably tripped on her heels, she could expose her bottom half to the entire wedding party. Hey, maybe then the townsfolk and her friends would acknowledge she was a girl!

 

Her sexual experience was best summed up as few and far between, and even the during was nothing to brag about.

 

If you think what we’ve been doing is convenient, you need a vocabulary lesson.

 

If great-Nonna Cavalli rolled over in her grave as much as Nonna Lucia claimed, the groundskeeper at the cemetery would’ve called in those hot brothers from Supernatural by now.

  

My Review:

 

My first experience reading and comedic words of Cindi Madsen and I picked an excellent starting point, although now I want to go backward in time and read every book she has ever put out. And, oh my, she has put out quite a long list already, where have I been? I adored this effervescent group of friends and envied their tight bonds and respect for each other. The large cast of characters was well delineated, highly endearing, and cleverly amusing as they often engaged in flinging zingers and whip-smart banter. The storylines were fresh and entertaining and sparkled with wit and irreverent levity as well as quirky small-town observations and eccentricities.   It is always a good day when I can add a new favorite to the top of my list of authors to stalk.

About the Author

Amazon
Goodreads
Website

Cindi Madsen is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and young adult novels. She sits at her computer every chance she gets, plotting, revising, and falling in love with her characters. Sometimes it makes her a crazy person. Without it, she’d be even crazier. She has way too many shoes, but can always find a reason to buy a pretty new pair.

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Book Review: An Instant Connection by Melanie Moreland

 

An Instant Connection

by Melanie Moreland

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA 

A chance meeting. An instant connection. Mitch and Mandy burn hot, but when the smoke clears, and things get real, can their feelings stay strong?

This story is a stand-alone with no cliffhanger. 

 

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

“I thought you were the prettiest woman I had ever seen. Then I saw you help that lady, which meant you were also kind. I found your whistle extremely sexy. And I love your legs. They really do it for me. Roll all that together, and I liked the package.” He sucked in a deep breath and paused. “So, Amanda, I was hoping maybe you liked my package and would have dinner with me.”

 

This isn’t the norm for me. But then again, I don’t think you’re the norm… He shook his head, pulling me closer. “I think you’re going to be the exception.” His eyes dropped to my mouth. “God knows I want to be that for you.”

 

 My Review:

 

Written in my favorite dual POV, this was a quick, light, amusing, and deliciously satisfying read full of sizzle and a perfectly swoony BBF who was a master at three-step plans. Sign me up for more of this, much, much more of this. I adored this couple.

About the Author

New York Times/USA Today bestselling author Melanie Moreland, lives a happy and content life in a quiet area of Ontario with her beloved husband of twenty-seven-plus years and their rescue cat, Amber. Nothing means more to her than her friends and family, and she cherishes every moment spent with them. 
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While seriously addicted to coffee, and highly challenged with all things computer-related and technical, she relishes baking, cooking, and trying new recipes for people to sample. She loves to throw dinner parties, and also enjoys traveling, here and abroad, but finds coming home is always the best part of any trip. 
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Melanie loves stories, especially paired with a good wine, and enjoys skydiving (free-falling over a fleck of dust) extreme snowboarding (falling down stairs) and piloting her own helicopter (tripping over her own feet.) She’s learned happily ever afters, even bumpy ones, are all in how you tell the story.
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Melanie is represented by Flavia Viotti at Bookcase Literary Agency. For any questions regarding subsidiary or translation rights please contact her at flavia@bookcaseagency.com
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Book Review: I’ll Never Tell by Catherine McKenzie

 

I’ll Never Tell

by Catherine McKenzie 

 

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA / B&N

What happened to Amanda Holmes?

Twenty years ago, she washed up on shore in a rowboat with a gash to the head after an overnight at Camp Macaw. No one was ever charged with a crime.

Now, the MacAllister children are all grown up. After their parents die suddenly, they return to Camp to read the will and decide what to do with the prime real estate it’s sitting on. Ryan, the oldest, wants to sell. Margo, the family’s center, hasn’t made up her mind. Mary has her own horse farm to run, and believes in leaving well-enough alone. Kate and Liddie—the twins—have opposing views. And Sean Booth, the family groundskeeper, just hopes he still has a home when all is said and done.

But then the will is read and they learn that it’s much more complicated than a simple vote. Until they unravel the mystery of what happened to Amanda, they can’t move forward. Any one of them could have done it, and all of them are hiding key pieces of the puzzle. Will they work together to solve the mystery, or will their suspicions and secrets finally tear the family apart?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

She leaned toward Liddie. She smelled like her father used to, a mix of coffee and marijuana. “Waking and baking these days?”

 

“Have you ever thought about what they must’ve been like before all of us? … I think about it. They met. They fell in love. They were regular people once.” “And what? We made them into irregular people?”

 

They always got the leftovers. The things left in the lost and found. If Liddie wrote a biography of her childhood, it would be called Nothing Was Ever Mine.

 

That was the bargain of being a twin. You didn’t need to talk about it; you simply knew that sometime in the not too distant future, you’d be living together in some old-age home, dressed alike the way you’d been as children.

 

He always smelled the same— slightly refrigerated. It was a smell Mary liked because it meant coolness to her. Not in a fashion sense but in the temperature way. He was calm, steady.

 

Of everyone in their family, the person she’d understood the least had been her mother. When Kate thought of her, she always seemed diaphanous. Like one of those Instagram filters had been applied to her, washing her out, smoothing away the lines. Nothing ever seemed to stick to her, not criticism or her children, not even her husband. She simply floated around, photographing it all, removed.

 

My Review:

 

Quite a clever gal, that Catherine McKenzie! This well-crafted mystery was full of simply explained yet brilliantly placed twists and turns that kept me on edge and off-center.   The storylines were highly eventful and ingeniously paced with tension and intrigue steadily ratcheting up the scale, and I was sucking it all in like the latest and greatest vacuum on the market.   I enjoyed the shrewdly discerning tale as much as the skill and cunning in the telling of it.

 

This family was well beyond quirky, they were each oddly peculiar and self-absorbed. I didn’t care for any of them by the time I finished the book, yet I was driven to know all about them. I had great empathy for the stalwart employee and held my breath for him and cringed each time evidence pointed his direction. Each character was fascinatingly flawed and I enjoyed unearthing their many secrets. This was only my second time reading her work but I am eager to see what Ms. McKenzie comes up with next, she now has a rather rabid fangirl on her hands.

About the Author

Amazon


Catherine McKenzie was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. A graduate of McGill in History and Law, Catherine practices law in Montreal. An avid runner and skier, she’s the author of numerous bestsellers including HIDDEN, SPIN, and SMOKE. Her works have been translated into multiple languages.

HIDDEN was a #1 Amazon bestseller and a Digital Bookworld bestseller for five weeks. SMOKE was a #1 Amazon bestseller and was named as a Best Book of October (Goodreads) and one of the Top 100 Books of 2015 (Amazon). FRACTURED was a Best Book of October 2016 (Goodreads). She is also the author of THE MURDER GAME under her pseudonym, Julie Apple (the protagonist of Fractured).

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Book Review: Only Ever Her by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

Only Ever Her

by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

 

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU / B&N

Paperback: 298 Pages

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (May 7, 2019)

It was to be the perfect wedding—until the bride disappeared.

Annie Taft’s wedding is four days away, and it will be one of the grandest anyone can remember in her small South Carolina town. Preparations are in order. Friends and family are gathering in anticipation. Everything is going according to plan. Except that Annie herself has vanished. Did she have second thoughts?

Or has something much worse happened to the bride-to-be?

As the days pass, the list of suspects in her disappearance grows. Could it be the recently released man a young Annie misidentified as her mother’s killer? Could it be someone even closer to her?

While her loved ones frantically try to track her down, they’re forced to grapple with their own secrets—secrets with the power to reframe entire relationships, leaving each to wonder how well they really knew Annie and how well they know themselves.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Louise is one of the richest women in town but not one of the smartest. She was once quite the beauty, but that ship has sailed. She spends most of her time standing on the dock waving a hanky, begging it to come back to her. Which means she spends a lot of time in Faye’s salon.

 

She has always respected and feared lawyers, as if they possess something she never could, some special insight into truth and justice, a gift bestowed on them at birth, like a pitching arm or a brilliant mind.

 

She is standing by Faye’s elbow, annoyingly close. Faye can smell the determination on her like alcohol on a barfly.

 

Faye has already grown to hate that word, missing, the snakelike quality of it, the way people’s tongues get stuck on the S’s. It makes her unfairly angry at Millicent for saying it just like that, a hiss instead of a word… She is already anticipating tragedy, tasting it on her tongue like the ham that comes with funerals.

 

He’s heard you don’t have to let cops in unless they have a warrant, so he has no intention of throwing open his door, of saying, Come on in, fellas. Cops are like vampires; they have to be invited in, but once you invite them in, they have the power.

 

 My Review:

 

I waffled a bit in how to rate this tautly written, absorbing, and well-crafted book. Yet when looking at my marked quotes, my indecision promptly evaporated as the sublime quality of Ms. Whalen’s writing removed all doubt. The evolution of the story was incrementally slow and told with a multiple POV, yet all the pieces proved to be necessary and an increasing level of tension and additional layers of intrigue steadily inched forward with each compelling chapter. I feared many loose ends – silly me! This cunning and cleverly perceptive wordsmith wrapped them all up rather neatly, and for the most part, unexpectedly. Lesson learned, I unswervingly pledge I will never second-guess her extraordinarily nimble skill for subterfuge again.

About the Author

Marybeth Mayhew Whalen is the author of When We Were Worthy, The Things We Wish Were True, and five previous novels. She speaks to women’s groups around the United States and is the co-founder of the popular women’s fiction site She Reads (www.shereads.org). Marybeth and her husband, Curt, have been married for twenty-seven years and are the parents of six children. Marybeth divides her time between the suburbs of Charlotte, North Carolina, and the coastline of Sunset Beach, North Carolina. You can find her at www.marybethwhalen.com.

Connect with Marybeth

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Book Review: The Wonder of Lost Causes by Nick Trout

The Wonder of Lost Causes

by Nick Trout

 

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU

B&N/ HarperCollins

Hardcover: 464 pages

 Publisher: William Morrow (April 30, 2019)

In this unforgettable novel, perfect for fans of An Unexpected Grace and A Dog’s Way Home, a single mom and her chronically ill child receive a valuable lesson from an unlikely source—a very special dog who unexpectedly enters their lives and shows them that one person’s lost cause can be another’s greatest gift . . .

Dr. Kate Blunt will do anything for her son, Jasper. Well, almost anything. Since Jasper has the incurable lung disease cystic fibrosis, Kate’s always told him he couldn’t get a dog. It’s a tough call, but she’s a single mom taking care of a kid who fights for every breath he takes. The daily medical routine that keeps Jasper alive is complicated enough. Worse still, Kate’s personal resolve runs contrary to her work as the veterinarian in charge of a Cape Cod animal shelter, where she is on a mission to find forever homes for dogs in desperate need.

The scarred, mistreated wreck of a dog that turns up doesn’t stand a chance. Named Whistler, he’s too old, too ugly. But the dog forms an instantaneous bond with Jasper. Whistler never makes a sound, yet he speaks to Jasper in a myriad of mysterious ways. The clock’s ticking, the dog’s future hangs in the balance, and Jasper would do anything to find him a home; but Whistler has chosen them—for a reason.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Mrs. Fisher is a big, bosomy woman, with wild bushy eyebrows worthy of a cold war Russian president.

 

Grandma kind of scares me. She wears bright red lipstick like a hungry vampire, never smiles, and bathes in so much old lady perfume that even I can smell it. Her feet, if she has any, are always hidden under long skirts and dresses, but I think she levitates, never making a sound, able to appear from nowhere.

 

Loving a dog is not like picking up a remote and turning a TV on or off. You’re either into dogs or you’re not. The most useful thing Martha ever told me was, “Dogs are like herpes. Once you get them, you’re infected for life.”

 

I’m critical of those who live a so-called Facebook life, skewing the truth, letting the online world see only what they want you to see… That’s why I never post. I click “like” to be polite. I’d rather click “jealous,” “you’re killing me,” “I never thought I could hate you more,” or “No one gets to live like this.”

 

I follow her gaze to the little man lost inside an oversized blazer and the mutt who can’t take his eyes off him. “They’re an odd couple,” I say. “Not at all,” says Alice, taking them in. “Just different shades of beautiful.”

 

My Review:

 

This book took me completely by surprise and was only a thousand times better than I was expecting. I was immediately taken with the high quality and deft craft of Dr. Trout’s writing and instantly fell into the vortex of Jasper and Kate’s challenging world of CF. I adored Jasper and while I had great empathy for her struggles, I often wanted to give Kate a good pinch.

Written in my favorite dual POV, the story was well paced, multi-layered, and expertly textured. While often moving and highly emotive, the emotional tone was well balanced with unexpected pockets of levity as well as providing Jasper with a comedic wit in addition to breathtakingly profound perceptions and awareness beyond his years.   The storylines were engaging and engrossing and plucked relentlessly at the heartstrings while sparklingly entertaining with thoughtful insights, colorful descriptions, and humorous observations and inner musings. Dr. Trout cleverly cast his tale with vibrant and uniquely clever and quirky characters who were more than worthy of attention.

This was one of those exceptionally rare books that held captivated and held my interest, was first class entertainment, and chaste enough to recommend to my elderly mother’s church ladies’ book club yet still garners a Bedazzled Five-Star rating from me. Which are about as common as hens’ teeth.  😉

I was provided with a review copy of this superbly written tale by TLC Book Tours and HarperCollins .

About the Author

Dr. Nick Trout works full-time as a staff surgeon at the prestigious Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston. He is the author of five previous books, including the New York Times bestseller Tell Me Where It Hurts, and his writing has been translated into sixteen different languages. He lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Kathy; their daughter, Emily; their adopted labradoodle, Thai; and Emily’s service dog, a black Labrador named Bella.

Find out more about him at his website.