Paperback: 347 Pages

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (February 1, 2021)

Needing to escape her abusive marriage, Hadley flees with her two kids, knowing it might be her only chance. A woman who can’t even kill a spider, Hadley soon finds herself pushed to the limits as she fights to protect her family.

Grace, new mother of baby Miles, desperately wants to put her rough past behind her for good, but she finds it impossible when her path crosses with Hadley’s, and her quest for a new start quickly spirals out of control and turns into a terrifying flight for survival.

Stronger together than apart, the two find their fates inextricably entwined, and as the danger closes in, each must decide how much she is willing to risk for the other.

A powerful story of self-discovery, Hadley & Grace is the heart-racing tale of two women facing insurmountable odds, racing to stay one step ahead of the trouble that is chasing them, and discovering new kinds of love and family along the way.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Handing him over to Vanessa feels a little like handing a live grenade to a known sufferer of seizures.

“You don’t need to gloat about it,” Grace says. “I’m not gloating.” “You are. You’re gloating all over the place. You’re completely covered in gloat.”

The media storm around this is going to blow up. He can already see a Lifetime Original Movie being made. Hell, the motel clerk, that scrawny kid at the desk who went white as the walls around him when Mark showed his badge, probably has six marriage proposals by now and a dozen benefactors willing to give him a new smile. Every damn person in the article is going to be a celebrity and a hero, while the FBI is being painted as the Big Bad Wolf hunting Little Red Riding Hood and taking money from little old ladies and young men who need dental work.

She looks like a Greek goddess—empowered, bold, and fearless— like she should be chiseled of marble and holding up a temple.

… rumors have been floating around about a movie being made. Grace cringes at the idea, certain someone like Angelina Jolie will be cast to play Hadley, while some actress who looks like Nanny McPhee will play her.

My Review:

I was riveted and on edge while reading this cunningly crafted book and was holding my breath that the two protagonists would survive, and it didn’t look likely. The storylines were intriguing, tragic, highly emotive, and perfectly pitched to maintain an undercurrent of tension while also balancing out the emotions with more lighthearted and amusing observations and memories of two women who by happenstance and a series of poor choices became bonded and accidental fugitives on a cross-country run from the FBI with their children in tow.

The pacing and storytelling were nothing short of brilliant and evoked a steady stream of heart clenches and keen visuals. I ached for the woman working as hard as she could to keep her head above water and wearing worn-out shoes with superglued soles while contending with a screaming inconsolable baby. Suzanne Redfearn has mad skills and a rabid new fangirl.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

There can only be one thing that can beat a buff man in uniform, and that’s one who’s taken half of it off. Oh my giddy aunt, as Mum would say. Or just cor! Okay, call me shallow, sexist and guilty of stereotyping. I don’t care. I’m allowed. He looked like he was in the SAS, but with a better haircut.

I kidded myself that Teddy and I could make a go of it, even though he was a reptilian control freak who should be cast in a weird episode of Dr Who where he will be zapped and get his just rewards.

I think my lady parts have become turbocharged. That hasn’t happened before either. They’ve been pulsating like strobe lights at a rave and I feel totally drained. In a very nice way.

My Review:

This was a fun and enjoyable read, but then Zara Stoneley is a sure bet for entertaining, wryly amusing, and highly engaging tales which she generally casts with realistically flawed and quirky characters. The storylines were crisply written in the first-person POV of Becky, an original and authentic character who was well-intentioned and had a good heart but she was also a bungler, a screw-up, inattentive, impulsive, and easily distracted.   She didn’t think things through and made irresponsible errors in judgment but thankfully, she was also endearingly kind and creatively gifted. While I wanted to smack her a few times as she was more than a bit heedless and exasperating, she was also totally knowable, and I adored her.

Love comes when you least expect it…

Tressa Buckland likes her quiet life in Port Lowdy, with its cobbled streets and colorful terraced houses overlooking the sea. Her job at the local paper allows her to pursue her art in her free time, with no one but her tabby cat Ginger Pickles to mind her in Mermaid Terrace. But then the owner of the paper is called away on an emergency, and it’s up to Tressa to run the paper for six months. Her first task: find a new part-time journalist.

Dan Byrne is the angriest man in Ireland – or so the readers of his very successful column, ‘Dan takes on the world’, think. But after a story goes south and he loses his job in Dublin, Dan has no choice but to start afresh. When an opportunity comes up in sleepy Cornwall, Dan and his Golden Retriever Ritchie set off for a new adventure.

For Tressa, Dan’s arrival to Port Lowdy changes everything. Tressa tries not to look too deeply at her own life, but Dan sees a story to uncover in absolutely everyone – even her. The two of them couldn’t be more different… yet, if they can find a way to work together, they may just breathe new life and joy into this sleepy seaside village.

Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace is a heartwarming new village romance about the power of love and kindness, from the bestselling author of Starting Over at Acorn Cottage.

What Now?
by Shari Low

Twenty years ago, Carly Cooper went on an epic quest to track down all the men she’d ever loved and lost in the hope that one of them was her Mr Right.

Now, two decades and two teenage sons later, she thinks she might have got it all wrong.

As the years have passed, lots of things have changed, leaving Carly asking ‘What Now?’

With a divorce and an empty nest on the horizon, Carly sets off once more to Los Angeles with her band of trusty girlfriends, to find the carefree, wild and adventurous Carly Cooper that she used to be.

On this latest quest, Carly discovers a few home truths and has to decide If her marriage is worth saving or is there a new happy-ever-after out there, just waiting for her…

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I realised we were both wearing the same outfit: white jumpers, ripped faded jeans. However, with my size fourteen figure and her size eight, we looked like a before and after poster advertising weight-loss shakes.

…it icked me out even to think about women lusting after my brother, but, to his credit, he only had eyes for Carol. Especially as she’d assured him that she’d take her straightening irons to his pubic hair while he slept if he dared to consider infidelity.

She could have married George Clooney and she’d still have found fault. She always had that sour expression – like her knickers were on too tight.

Christ on a bike, I wouldn’t want to have to Hoover that place. You’d just be finished and it’d be time to start again.

‘Is she the one that did that orgasm scene in the café? Our Josie once copied that at a coffee morning in the community centre. They asked us to leave.’ I turned to Carol. ‘Is it just me, or is she the gift that keeps on giving?’

‘…blame the menopause,’ Val announced, making several people around us choke on their drinks. ‘When I was going through the change, I was forever just blurting out whatever was on my mind. Although, my Don says I’m still doing it, so this must be the longest menopause in history.’

My Review:

I enjoyed every perfectly pitched word of this highly engaging and delightful book. It was definitely giggle-snort worthy. Ms. Low’s storylines and writing style were good fun and sparkled with wry wit, clever levity, and situations that resonated deeply with me. The characters were endearingly quirky, highly invested, tirelessly supportive, and interesting women whom I covet to have as my own circle of friends.   My favorite of all was of course Auntie Val. I suspect Ms. Low was following me around and taking notes, although I am not quite as well accessorized. I aspire to ascend to Val’s lofty heights of Auntiedom and colorful fashion sense. I adore Shari Low and am scheming to read all of her past and future scribblings as I am enamored with her deliciously amusing and pleasantly absorbing wordcraft.

Murder in the Bell Tower
(Miss Underhay Mysteries #5)
by Helena Dixon  

Kitty Underhay’s hymnbook is open… at murder.

Winter, 1933. Kitty Underhay is enjoying a restorative break from sleuthing on a visit to her family at Enderley Hall. The only thing marring her peace – aside from the uncomfortable sensation she has of being watched – is the obvious history between her beau, ex-army captain Matthew Bryant and another guest, the beautiful Juliet Vanderstafen. So, when the parish clerk is found dead on her front doorstep, Kitty leaps at the chance of distraction.

The police are happy to conclude that Miss Plenderleith met her unfortunate end on a patch of ice, but Kitty isn’t convinced this was a case of bad weather and worse luck. And when the Reverend Crabtree fails to show for tea the next day, she heads to the church to speak to him. But she arrives to find the clergyman hanging from the bell-rope, dead.

With Matt seemingly wrapped up with his alluring Austrian, Kitty must solve the case on her own. But as she snoops into parish affairs, she makes some less-than-saintly discoveries. Just who has broken the sixth commandment?

Meanwhile, the killer is preparing a churchyard grave for Kitty, and she’ll have to use all her wits to avoid falling in…

An addictive, absorbing, and completely unputdownable Golden Age cozy murder mystery, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey, and Lee Strauss.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Hattie was insisting I get the piano in the music room retuned and having heard her practising her scales I rather think it may be Hattie who has the tuning problem.

I heard that Miss Merriweather a singing her head off coming up the stairs last night. She in’t no Billie Holiday. Some of them notes could fair fetch the wax out your earholes.

I was not hiding. I was merely ensuring that I wasn’t seen.

Not at all like a vicar, and there’s tales abroad of him not knowing the difference between mine and thine as me dad says.

My Review:

This was a light, pleasantly entertaining, and leisurely paced cozy mystery. There was a large cast of unique characters yet it was easy to keep them straight. They were an odd grouping of international guests turned suspects in the midst of a traditional English manor house Christmas which was interrupted by a few murders, oh my. I enjoyed the author’s wry humor and especially the amusing descriptions of the characters, but my favorites involved the attention-seeking antics of the sticky-fingered, hapless, tactless, and tone-deaf cousin Hattie who couldn’t pass up anything shiny and saw herself as a creative artiste seeking culture.

I sourced one new addition to my Brit Words and Phrases list with facer – a stunning surprise or obstacle.   And this tale had a few facers in the mix.

The perfect house, the perfect husband, and the perfect life… or is she just faking it?

Life has been a bit of a rollercoaster for Ella. Growing up as the ‘less successful’ identical twin to her ‘perfectly successful’ sister, Emma, has left her feeling isolated, inadequate, and let’s face it.. a little bitter.

When Emma unexpectedly reaches out to Ella in a time of need, Ella suddenly finds herself with the opportunity to fill in for her sister and experience how the other half live.

But as Ella navigates the world of gossiping mothers, rebellious teens, and trying to play the model housewife (not to mention avoiding the temptation of attractive men at the school gates…) will she discover that all is not always as it seems on the other side?

Discover the brilliantly funny new romantic comedy from top 10 bestseller Portia MacIntosh. Perfect for fans of Mhairi McFarlane, Sophie Ranald, and Lindsey Kelk