Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Release Day! Emily, Gone by Bette Lee Crosby ~ My Thoughts #EmilyGone

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Congrats Bette
on the release today of
Emily Gone!

Emily, Gone
by Bette Lee Crosby

Paperback and e-book, 398 pages
Expected publication April 30th 2019 by Lake Union Publishing

A missing child sets the lives of three women on a collision course in this powerful and compelling novel by USA Today bestselling author Bette Lee Crosby.

1971.

When a music festival rolls through the sleepy town of Hesterville, Georgia, the Dixon family’s lives are forever changed. On the final night, a storm muffles the sound of the blaring music, and Rachel tucks her baby into bed before falling into a deep sleep. So deep, she doesn’t hear the kitchen door opening. When she and her husband wake up in the morning, the crib is empty. Emily is gone.

Vicki Robart is one of the thousands at the festival, but she’s not feeling the music. She’s feeling the emptiness over the loss of her own baby several months before. When she leaves the festival and is faced with an opportunity to fill that void, she is driven to an act of desperation that will forever bind the lives of three women.

When the truth of what actually happened that fateful night is finally exposed, shattering the lives they’ve built, will they be able to pick up the pieces to put their families back together again?


My thoughts about Emily, Gone ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)

First line—"It's been forty-seven years since the music festival took place at Harold Baker's farm, but everyone in Hesterville remembers that weekend."

I have loved all of Bette's books but this has now become my favorite. Her books are always full of wonderful and interesting characters, so much love, and so much wisdom. Emily, Gone will pull at your heart strings and make you feel all the feels. A mother's love is so, so strong. And in Emily, Gone one mother's love never forgets and another mother's love causes heartache and tears.

I loved how Bette transported me back in time to the 1970s—a time of peace and love. But that peace is shattered for Rachel when she finds her little baby missing from her crib. And will Vicki's actions give her the peace she is looking for after the loss of her own baby?

This was such a sad, but heartwarming story, a story that brought tears a few times. But at the same time, it was an uplifting story—such an amazingly beautiful story. And one that will stay with me for a long time.

I always recommend Bette's books—she is such a wonderful storyteller. Emily, Gone is definitely one you need to read!

I received and ARC of Emily, Gone from the author in exchange for my honest opinion.

About the author

Bette Lee Crosby

"Storytelling is in my blood," Crosby laughingly admits, "My mom was not a writer, but she was a captivating storyteller, so I find myself using bits and pieces of her voice in most everything I write."

USA Today Bestselling Author and Award-winning novelist Bette Lee Crosby brings the wit and wisdom of her Southern Mama to works of fiction—the result is a delightful blend of humor, mystery and romance along with a cast of quirky charters who will steal your heart away. ~ Author's website

Connect with Bette

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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Monday, April 29, 2019

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? April 29, 2019


It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are!

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I had a super busy weekend and got very little reading done. Friday, I took the day off and we went had lunch at school with our 10 yo grandson. Yay for school hot lunch! 😉 Then we ended up bringing his 2 yo sister home so they could work on getting their house ready to put on the market. After I took her home on Saturday, I went to a library event with my daughter and DIL. 

We heard Caroline Fraser talk about her Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Prairie Fires. Since we live in the middle of the Little House on the Prairies settings, it was interesting to get her perspective on Wilder's life. On Saturday night we went to the movie, The Public, starring Emilio Estevez and Alec Baldwin. It was very good, especially for those of us who have worked in public libraries. So much of the movie was relate-able. The theater full of librarians were whooping, laughing, and applauding throughout the movie! 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week. Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading

41744089
Sunset Beach
by Mary Kay Andrews
Pub date 5/7

12099007
The Last Boyfriend
(Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy #2)
by Nora Roberts
Narrated by MacLeod Andrews
(audio-book)

What I recently finished

32051912
The Alice Network
by Kate Quinn

What I am going to read next

Smoke and Mirrors
by T. J. Moore 

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

Saturday, April 27, 2019

Book Spotlight Giveaway! Don't You Marry the Mormon Boys by Janet Kay Jensen


I have sooooo many books! The Book Spotlight Giveaway feature that I post every Saturday is a way for me to clear my shelves and to share some of the many books I have. This feature is a way for my to cull my collection and to give someone else the opportunity to enjoy these treasures.

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Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!


Don't You Marry the Mormon Boys

Don't You Marry the Mormon Boys by Janet Kay Jensen
Paperback, 315 pages
Published November 5th 2007 by Bonneville Books 

When Andy McBride met Louisa Martin, he knew he had found the girl for him. There was only one problem: polygamy - a lifestyle that Louisa could not escape and Andy would not embrace. As medical students at the University of Utah, Andy and Louisa fall in love - but can a mainstream Mormon and a Fundamental polygamist overcome the cultural barriers between them? Both realize that their choices will not only affect their own lives, but will also have an impact on their family, friends, and even their communities.

Fearing that the sacrifices required of them would be too great, they go their separate ways. Yet for Andy in Kentucky and Louisa in Utah, life does not go as they'd planned. While Andy is serving as a country doctor and trying to bury his pain, Louisa is coming to terms with the fact that all is not as perfect in her tight-knit community as she'd believed. As doctors, each will have to choose between keeping the peace in their communities or doing what they know is right. 


About the author

Janet Kay Jensen

I am co-author of a literature-based cookbook, The Book Lover’s Cookbook: Recipes Inspired by Great Works of Literature and the Passages that Feature Them (Wenger & Jensen, Ballantine, 2003), and an award-winning novel, Don’t You Marry the Mormon Boys (Bonneville Books, 2007). Gabriel’s Daughters was released in January 2015 by Jolly Fish Press.

Don't You Marry the Mormon Boys won the gold medal in Cultural Fiction in the Readers Favorite International Book Award Contest (2012). Gabriel's Daughters won the silver award in Cultural Fiction in the Readers Favorite International Book Award Contest (2013). ~ Goodreads



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Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Release Day! Only One Life by Ashley Farley ~ My Thoughts #OnlyOneLife

Only One Life: A Novel by [Farley, Ashley]

Congrats Ashley
on the release today of
Only One Life!

Only One Life by Ashley Farley 
Print and e-book, 298 pages
Published April 23rd 2019 by Lake Union Publishing

A reunion between an estranged mother and daughter opens a world of secrets in a poignant novel by the bestselling author of Magnolia Nights.

Julia Martin grew up wealthy, but it wasn’t until she met her husband, Jack, that she knew true happiness. He made her feel worthy and loved. Their marriage was also an escape from her sister’s bullying, her father’s scrutiny, and her chilly and enigmatic mother. But when tragedy strikes on the night she gives birth, Julia’s happiness is shattered. She has no choice but to return home to her family’s South Carolina mansion, where the grief and guilt buried in her mother’s past await her.

As a young woman trapped in a bitter marriage, Julia’s mother, Iris, once needed her own means of escape. In Lily, she found a best friend. In the flower shop they opened, she discovered independence. Then came a transgression—unforgivable, unforgettable, and unresolved—that changed Iris’s life forever.

Now, in Iris’s most desperate hour, her only hope is to regain the trust of the daughter she loves—and to share the secrets of the heart that could rebuild a family’s broken bonds.


My thoughts about Only One Life ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)

First line—"Julia felt as though her belly might explode wide open, even though the baby wasn't dues for another two weeks."

I loved Only One Life! Ashley has written another amazing story full of emotion, secrets, turmoil, relationships, growth, forgiveness, and love. I was immediately swept away with the story-line and the range of characters that went from lovable to bullheaded and deplorable. It is a story full of interesting relationships—so many different dynamics within this dysfunctional family and their circle of friends.

This was a story that captured my heart from the start and one that I quickly devoured. Ashley writes southern fiction like no other and I was instantly transported to Beaufort, South Carolina as soon as I settled in.

I have read and loved all of Ashley's books but with Only One Life, she has really taken her story-telling to a new level. The complexity of the relationships she created and the emotions she was able to make me feel, might make this one my new favorite of all of her books.

I highly recommend Only One Life if you need to get away and escape from your own life for awhile. That's exactly what I did!

"......what you make of your life that determines whether you're happy or not."

I received a copy of Only One Life from the author via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. 

About the author

Ashley Farley

Ashley Farley writes books about women for women. Her characters are mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives facing real-life issues. Her goal is to keep you turning the pages until the wee hours of the morning. If her story stays with you long after you've read the last word, then she's done her job.

After her brother died in 1999 of an accidental overdose, she turned to writing as a way of releasing her pent-up emotions. She wrote Saving Ben in honor of Neal, the boy she worshiped, the man she could not save.

Ashley is a wife and mother of two young adult children. While she’s lived in Richmond, Virginia for the past 21 years, part of her heart remains in the salty marshes of the South Carolina Lowcountry where she grew up. Through the eyes of her characters, she’s able to experience the moss-draped trees, delectable cuisine, and kind-hearted folks with lazy drawls that make the area so unique. ~ Goodreads

Connect with Ashley


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Release Day! The Summer Cottage by Viola Shipman ~ My Thoughts #TheSummerCottage #NetGalley

Happy Release Day!

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Congrats Viola
on the release today of
The Summer Cottage!

The Summer Cottage
by Viola Shipman

Print and e-book, 386 pages
Published April 23rd 2019 by Graydon House

From the bestselling author of The Charm Bracelet and The Recipe Box comes the perfect summer escape about the restorative power of family tradition, small-town community and the feel of sand between your toes.

Adie Lou Kruger’s ex never understood her affection for what her parents called their Creaky Cottage, the charming, ramshackle summer home—complete with its own set of rules for relaxing—that she’s inherited on Lake Michigan. But despite the fact she’s facing a broken marriage and empty nest, and middle age is looming in the distance, memories of happy childhoods on the beach give her reason for hope. She’s determined not to let her husband’s affair with a grad student reduce her to a cliché, or to waste one more minute in a career she doesn’t love, so it becomes clear what Adie Lou must do: rebuild her life and restore her cottage shingle by shingle, on her terms.

But converting the beloved, weather-beaten structure into a bed-and-breakfast isn’t quite the efficient home-reno experience she’s seen on TV. Pushback from Saugatuck’s contentious preservation society, costly surprises and demanding guests were not part of the plan. But as the cottage comes back to life, Adie Lou does, too, finding support in unexpected places and a new love story on the horizon. One cottage rule at a time, Adie Lou reclaims her own strength, history and joy by rediscovering the magic in every sunset and sandcastle.

   

My thoughts about The Summer Cottage ~~ 

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)

First line—"'There it is!' I said, rolling down the car window and sticking my head out."

When Adie Lou's world falls apart, she heads back to the one place that has been a constant comfort to her—her family's Creaky Cottage. When she decides to turn it into a bed-and-breakfast as a tribute to her parents and grandparents–her past–she remembers how important it is to follow and live the cottage rules. 

I have absolutely just fallen in love with every one of Viola Shipman's stories. The author takes some ordinary item, such as in the case of his first book, a charm bracelet, and in this case, a summer cottage, and weaves a warm, beautiful tale, full of love and lots of wonderful memories. They always make me stop and think about the treasures that we have in our family and the stories that they could tell. 

The Summer Cottage is the perfect book to read right now as we are coming up on beach-read season. You will become wrapped up in the lives of Adie Lou and Creaky Cottage, just like I did. I would so love to take a vacation there after reading this book. 

I received The Summer Cottage via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. 

About the author


VIOLA SHIPMAN is a pen name for WADE ROUSE, the internationally bestselling author of nine books, which have been translated into nearly 20 languages. Wade chose his grandmother's name, Viola Shipman, as a pen name to honor the woman whose heirlooms and family stories inspire his fiction.

Wade's novels include THE CHARM BRACELET, a 2017 Michigan Notable Book of the Year; THE HOPE CHEST; and THE RECIPE BOX. NYT bestselling author Dorothea Benton Frank says of Wade and his latest novel, THE SUMMER COTTAGE: "Every now and then a new voice in fiction arrives to completely charm, entertain and remind us what matters.  Viola Shipman is that voice and The Summer Cottage is that novel.

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Welcome! I am honored to be able to write novels for readers like you that are inspired by my grandmothers’ heirlooms, lives and lessons. The stories I write are meant to serve as a universal tribute to family as well as all of our elders, whose stories and sacrifices helped shape us and make us the people we are today.

I couldn’t be prouder of my new novel, The Summer Cottage, which publishes Tuesday, April 23. Like my previous novels,The Summer Cottageis inspired by family. In this case, the novel is inspired by childhood summers spent with my grandparents at their log cabin on the water in the Ozarks. (Read an excerpt here!) 

Growing up in the Ozarks in the 1960s and ‘70s, my parents would drop me off after school ended on Memorial Day, and I would stay with my grandparents – my parents visiting on weekends – until school started again after Labor Day. That old log cabin didn’t have a TV, microwave, telephone or indoor bathroom. We bathed in the ice-cold creek, and most of the meals we caught ourselves: Bass right out of the water and fried in my grandma’s cornmeal batter. 

So why did I opt out of summers with friends to stay with my grandparents? Because while that cabin may have been short on luxuries it was long on memories. And because during our summers together my grandparents’ only rule was that we all have fun. Together.

My grandma – a hardworking seamstress – and my grandfather – a former vacuum salesman – used to say that the only things we needed were innertubes, fishing poles, books, and each other. 

The cabin had a stone fireplace that smelled of smoke, and a tiny upstairs contained 10 cots to hold all the visiting grandchildren and relatives. But the best thing about that cabin on the water is that I got to know my grandparents not only as my grandparents but as real people. My grandma and I read to each other every day – from the Bible or a dime store paperback – and she encouraged me to write. I could always feel the love my grampa had for my grandma reverberate in every log, chink and mossy steppingstone in that cabin. My grandparents taught me that even the tiniest of cottages could feel like mansions if they were only filled with love. 

Those summers on the water and that cabin so influenced me that I moved from the city as an adult and bought a knotty pine cottage in the Lake Michigan resort town of Saugatuck (where The Summer Cottageis set!). That’s where I now write novels and recreate the summers of my childhood with family and friends. There are special places all of us return in order to reunite with family and escape from the real world, and The Summer Cottage celebrates those places and memories.

I may have a TV at my cottage, but I don’t use it in the summer. I have books, innertubes, fishing poles, a screened porch and the water. And every summer day I celebrate the lessons my grandparents taught me: That the best gifts in life are truly the simplest and that all we really need is each other to be happy. 

This is a novel that is meant to be shared among generations, just like a summer cottage. I truly hope you love The Summer Cottage, and that you not only read it on the beach or in your favorite hammock on the porch but also that it brings back wonderful memories and helps start new ones. 

I truly believe that the journey of the main character, Adie Lou, to finding happiness will resonate deeply with you, especially considering that as we age we too often realize we have lost our childhood joy and that playing by adult rules is not always the best path to happiness. That's why each chapter of the novel is centered around a beloved "Cottage Rule" of my family and my friends, such as: "Leave Your Troubles at the Door!", "Soak Up the Sun!", "Wake Up Smiling!", "Go Rock Hunting!", "Ice Cream Is Required!" and "Go Jump in the Lake!", simple rules that center us, remind us of what's most important and remind us to be a kid again. ~ Goodreads

For more about the author, please visit Wade Rouse’s official website

Connect with Viola
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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

Monday, April 22, 2019

It's My Birthday! And a #Giveaway to Celebrate! [CLOSED]

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Yep, another year has come and gone. 
And I'm another year older. 


Today, April 22nd is my birthday!



I love celebrating birthdays and I want to party with you! And ... I'm going to give one of you a present.


Comment on this post with your best birthday greeting to me and you could win any book you want (up to $15) from either Amazon or The Book Depository, if they deliver to you. 

Updated with winner!


Kim's comment was #7. Kim, check your email for my message.


Be sure to leave a way for me to contact you, in case you're the winner.


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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? April 22, 2019


It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are!

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We had beautiful weather over the holiday weekend. Since Sunday was Easter and today is my birthday, most of the family got together to celebrate the two events—we were only missing a few of the grands. Saturday was exceptionally nice and I was able to get some patio reading in. I loved it and I'm looking forward to doing more of that in the future, although today is supposed to be rainy. I'm kinda okay with that though since the rain helps wash away the winter dirtiness. 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week. Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading

32051912
The Alice Network
by Kate Quinn

12099007
The Last Boyfriend
(Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy #2)
by Nora Roberts
Narrated by MacLeod Andrews
(audio-book)

What I recently finished

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The Summer Cottage
by Viola Shipman
Pub date 4/23
My thoughts will be posted tomorrow.

22301044
To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
Narrated by Sissy Spacek
(audio-book)

40103177
When Never Comes
by Barbara Davis
Narrated by Shannon McManus
(audio-book)

What I am going to read next

41744089
Sunset Beach
by Mary Kay Andrews

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

Saturday, April 20, 2019

Book Spotlight Giveaway! The Girls from Ames by Jeffrey Zaslow


I have sooooo many books! The Book Spotlight Giveaway feature that I post every Saturday is a way for me to clear my shelves and to share some of the many books I have. This feature is a way for my to cull my collection and to give someone else the opportunity to enjoy these treasures.

****************************

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

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The Girls from Ames

The Girls from Ames: A Story of Women and a Forty-Year Friendship by Jeffrey Zaslow
Paperback, 352 pages
Published April 6th 2010 by Avery

The instant New York Times bestseller, now in paperback: a moving tribute to female friendships, with the inspiring story of eleven girls and the ten women they became, from the coauthor of the million-copy bestseller The Last Lecture

As children, they formed a special bond, growing up in the small town of Ames, Iowa. As young women, they moved to eighth different states, yet they managed to maintain an extraordinary friendship that would carry them through college and careers, marriage and motherhood, dating and divorce, the death of a child, and the mysterious death of the eleventh member of their group. Capturing their remarkable story, The Girls from Ames is a testament to the enduring, deep bonds of women as they experience life's challenges, and the power of friendship to overcome even the most daunting odds. 

The girls, now in their forties, have a lifetime of memories in common, some evocative of their generation and some that will resonate with any woman who has ever had a friend. The Girls from Ames demonstrates how close female relationships can shape every aspect of women's lives-their sense of themselves, their choice of men, their need for validation, their relationships with their mothers, their dreams for their daughters-and reveals how such friendships thrive, rewarding those who have committed to them. With both universal events and deeply personal moments, it's a book that every woman will relate to and be inspired by. 


About the author


Through his Wall Street Journal column and bestselling books, Jeffrey Zaslow has told the stories of some of the most inspirational people of our time.

The Last Lecture, written with Randy Pausch, has been translated into 48 languages, and was #1 on best-seller lists worldwide. Five million copies have been sold in English alone, and the book has remained on The New York Times best-seller list for more than 112 weeks.

In 2011, Jeff collaborated with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, veteran astronaut Mark Kelly, on their memoir, GABBY: A Story of Courage and Hope. The book was launched with a cover story in People magazine, and an hour-long ABC TV special hosted by Diane Sawyer. GABBY debuted near the top of the New York Times bestseller lists for both hardcovers and e-books.

Jeff’s 2009 book about female friendship, The Girls From Ames, spent 26 weeks on The New York Times list, rising to #3. People magazine named it one of the “Ten Best Books of the Year.” Lifetime Television is adapting the book for a movie.

Also in 2009, Jeff coauthored Highest Duty, the memoir of Capt. “Sully” Sullenberger, who famously landed US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River. Highest Duty debuted at # 3 on The New York Times list.

Jeff’s final book, The Magic Room: A story about the love we wish for our daughters, was published in January 2012. The nonfiction narrative is set at a small-town Michigan bridal shop, and looks at the lives of a handful of brides (and their parents) who’ve journeyed to the store’s “Magic Room.”

Jeff died on February 10, 2012, at age 53 in a car accident while on tour promoting, The Magic Room. ~ Goodreads



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Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Release Day! Before She Was Found by Heather Gudenkauf ~ My Thoughts #BeforeSheWasFound #NetGalley

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Congrats Heather
on the release today of 
Before She Was Found!

Before She Was Found by Heather Gudenkauf
Print and e-book, 368 pages
Published April 16th 2019 by Park Row

A gripping thriller about three young girlfriends, a dark obsession and a chilling crime that shakes up a quiet Iowa town, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Weight of Silence.

For twelve-year-old Cora Landry and her friends Violet and Jordyn, it was supposed to be an ordinary sleepover--movies and Ouija and talking about boys. But when they decide to sneak out to go to the abandoned rail yard on the outskirts of town, little do they know that their innocent games will have dangerous consequences.

Later that night, Cora Landry is discovered on the tracks, bloody and clinging to life, her friends nowhere to be found. Soon their small rural town is thrust into a maelstrom. Who would want to hurt a young girl like Cora--and why? In an investigation that leaves no stone unturned, everyone is a suspect and no one can be trusted--not even those closest to Cora.

Before She Was Found is a timely and gripping thriller about friendship and betrayal, about the power of social pressure and the price of needing to fit in. It is about the great lengths a parent will go to protect their child and keep them safe--even if that means burying the truth, no matter the cost. 


My thoughts about Before She Was Found ~~ 

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)

First line—"The air is cold, but she barely notices. It's the dark that fills her chest with terror, makes her limbs heavy with dread. But she feels something else, too. Something she can't quite name."

This is a story that grabbed me from the very first chapter and didn't let go until the very end. What an intense first chapter! So much was going on in those first few words that I needed to have straightened out and explained.

The ever changing relationships of the three young girls in this story was so indicative of the lives of teens today Some days they are best friends and then the next day, they could be conspiring against one another, planning and plotting to make the outcast friend miserable.

As the mystery of what happened that night in the abandoned rail yard unfolds, the reader learns all sides of the story and has to question who is telling the truth. What really happened that night? What is the truth?

I loved Before She Was Found for it's complexity and for all of the interesting characters whose lives became so intertwined. This is a story that I will definitely read again. I am pretty sure that now that I know how all the twists resolve themselves, I will see everyone and everything in a whole different light.

I received an ARC of Before She Was Found from NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

About the author

Heather Gudenkauf

Heather Gudenkauf is the Edgar Award nominated, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Weight of Silence, These Things Hidden and Not A Sound.

Heather was born in Wagner, South Dakota, the youngest of six children. At one month of age, her family returned to the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota where her father was employed as a guidance counselor and her mother as a school nurse. At the age of three, her family moved to Iowa, where she grew up. Having been born with a profound unilateral hearing loss (there were many evenings when Heather and her father made a trip to the bus barn to look around the school bus for her hearing aids that she often conveniently would forget on the seat beside her), Heather tended to use books as a retreat, would climb into the toy box that her father’s students from Rosebud made for the family with a pillow, blanket, and flashlight, close the lid, and escape the world around her. Heather became a voracious reader and the seed of becoming a writer was planted.

Heather Gudenkauf graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in elementary education, has spent her career working with students of all ages and continues to work in education as a Title I Reading Coordinator.

Heather lives in Iowa with her family and a very spoiled German Shorthaired Pointer named Lolo. In her free time Heather enjoys spending time with her family, reading and hiking. She is currently working on her next novel. ~ Author website

Connect with Heather


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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

Release Day! Perfectly Good Crime by Dete Meserve ~ My Thoughts #PerfectlyGoodCrime #NetGalley

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Congrats Dete
on the release today of
Perfectly Good Crime!

Perfectly Good Crime by Dete Meserve
Series: Kate Bradley Mystery #2
Print and e-book, 272 pages
Published April 16th 2019 by Lake Union Publishing 

In this feel-good follow-up to the novel and Netflix film Good Sam, intrepid reporter Kate Bradley is back in a story that BuzzFeed calls “mysterious, fascinating, and inspiring.”

When burglars target the palatial estates of American billionaires in a series of high-tech heists, Kate must venture inside the world of the superrich to investigate the biggest story of the year.

But the answers don’t come easy. The Los Angeles police detective who’s helping Kate with the case has mysteriously disappeared, Kate’s senator father demands she stop investigating, and the billionaire victims refuse to talk to the media. Still, Kate uncovers clues that prove the crimes are anything but ordinary: those behind the robberies have shocking—but uplifting—motives that just may bring about powerful change.

As the heists escalate, Kate faces a momentous decision that could jeopardize her deepening relationship with fire captain Eric Hayes. Saddled with obligations to the public, her career, and her own heart, Kate must trust her instincts in a high-stakes search that will test everything she believes and force her to decide where she belongs.

Revised edition: This edition of Perfectly Good Crime includes editorial revisions.


My thoughts about Perfectly Good Crime ~~
Originally posted October 15, 2017

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)

First line—"My heels dug into the muddy ground as I clambered up the hill. Cries for help mingled with the drone of helicopters overhead, filling the early evening air. I had no idea what I would see at the top of the hill, but I suspected it would give me nightmares for a long time to come."

Perfectly Good Crime is another wonderful story from Dete Meserve! I loved the people I first met in the book #1 of this series, Good Sam, and I enjoyed spending time with them again.

I love the character of Kate. She is an honest, hard working reporter who always seems to land a story that becomes big news. As she sets to find out who is robbing the richest men in the area, she also discovers that someone is giving riches to the poor.

At the same time that Kate is researching and reporting on this compelling story, one of the biggest television networks is trying to lure her away from her current job and life. Will she be able to make the right decision? And will she be able to have the life she wants and deserves?

Dete continues to write great 'feel good' stories that show that not all news is bad. There is just the right amount of mystery and romance to keep all of her readers satisfied and I look forward to reading more of this exciting, interesting series!

I received a copy of Perfectly Good Crime from Netgally in exchange for my honest opinion.

Good Sam

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Read my thoughts here

About the author


Dete Meserve is the author of three novels including the best-selling and multi-award-winning novel Good Sam, about the search for an anonymous Good Samaritan leaving $100,000 on Los Angeles doorsteps. She adapted the novel into a screenplay and the film is in pre-production with an eye toward a Spring 2019 worldwide premiere on a network to be announced soon! The film is being produced by Wind Dancer Films and Muse Entertainment and Principal photography is set to begin in Fall 2018 in Montreal.

The sequel to Good SamPerfectly Good Crime—is about the search for the anonymous group behind several large-scale giving events for the poor and the possible connection to a series of sophisticated heists of some of the most opulent estates in America.

Meserve’s next novel, The Space Between will be published by Lake Union Publishing in July 2018. The story is about astronomer Sarah Mayfield who returns home to find that her husband of fifteen years has disappeared, leaving behind a gun in the nightstand and a video security system that’s been wiped clean.

Her first non-fiction book, Random Acts of Kindness, co-written with award-winning journalist Rachel Greco, will be published in Winter 2018.

When she’s not writing, she is a film and television producer in Los Angeles and a partner and CEO of Wind Dancer Films. Meserve has produced numerous films and TV series and has been responsible for securing over $75 million in financing for film and TV properties. Her work spans award-winning television series such as Home Improvement and Saint George with George Lopez (Executive Producer) as well as the award-winning comedy Bernie (Producer), The Keeping Room (Producer), Ready Jet Go! (Executive Producer), Good Sam (Producer), and What Men Want (2019) (Executive Producer).

Meserve lives in Los Angeles with her husband and three children—and a very good cat that rules them all.
Connect with Dete


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Monday, April 15, 2019

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? April 15, 2019


It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are!

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Well, we had another blizzard this past week. Some places north of us got up to 24 inches of the white stuff. I think we only got about 8-10. It's hard to tell with all the wind! The university actually closed for 2½ days, which they have never done before. So I got an unexpected 4 day weekend!! 

I did get some reading in but for some reason (maybe because I'm hoping spring will actually be coming) I did some closet cleaning. It's kind of nice having that under control again. Oh, and I got our taxes filed. I'm not sure why I procrastinate doing those since we usually get a refund but they are done! 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week. Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading

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The Alice Network
by Kate Quinn
This is our book club pick for later this month and since it's over 500 pages, I figure I better get started.

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When Never Comes
by Barbara Davis
Narrated by Shannon McManus
(audio-book)

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To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee
Narrated by Sissy Spacek
(audio-book)

What I recently finished

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The Way of Lessons
by Michelle Schlicher
I love this author! Read my thoughts here.

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Before She Was Found
by Heather Gudenkauf
Pub date 4/16
My thoughts will be posted tomorrow.

What I am going to read next

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The Summer Cottage
by Viola Shipman
Pub date 4/23
I love this author's stories!

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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