Monday, April 26, 2021

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? April 26, 2021 #IMWAYR

      

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 great birthday this past week and feel like I'm still celebrating! I had lunch yesterday with two of my good friends and will be having lunch with another one today. It is so good to be with people again. I am leaving Thursday to go out of state to my niece's wedding. I'm a little scared and a lot excited!

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

What I'm currently reading

The Woman with the Blue Star
by Pam Jenoff
Pub date 5/4

Devoted in Death
(In Death #41)
by J.D. Robb
Narrated by Susan Ericksen 

What I recently finished

When I Last Saw You
by Bette Lee Crosby
Pub date 5/4

Margreete's Harbor
by Eleanor Morse

Water for Elephants
by Sara Gruen
Narrated by David LeDoux & John Randolph Jones

What I am going to read next

Seven Perfect Things
by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Pub date 5/4

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Sunday, April 25, 2021

Margreete's Harbor: A Novel by Eleanor Morse ~ My Thoughts #MargreetesHarbor #NetGalley


Margreete's Harbor: A Novel by Eleanor Morse
Small Town & Rural Fiction, 374 pages
Published April 20th 2021 by St. Martin's Press

A literary novel set on the coast of Maine during the 1960s, tracing the life of a family and its matriarch as they negotiate sharing a home.

Margreete’s Harbor begins with a fire: a fiercely-independent, thrice-widowed woman living on her own in a rambling house near the Maine coast forgets a hot pan on the stovetop, and nearly burns her place down.

When Margreete Bright calls her daughter Liddie to confess, Liddie realizes that her mother can no longer live alone. She, her husband Harry, and their children Eva and Bernie move from a settled life in Michigan across the country to Margreete’s isolated home, and begin a new life.

Margreete’s Harbor tells the story of ten years in the history of a family: a novel of small moments, intimate betrayals, arrivals and disappearances that coincide with America during the late 1950s through the turbulent 1960s. Liddie, a professional cellist, struggles to find space for her music in a marriage that increasingly confines her; Harry’s critical approach to the growing war in Vietnam endangers his new position as a high school history teacher; Bernie and Eva begin to find their own identities as young adults; and Margreete slowly descends into a private world of memories, even as she comes to find a larger purpose in them. 


My thoughts about Margreete's Harbor ~~

(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—"The floorboards muttered as Margreete walked barefoot down the hallway to the stairs."

I am a cover lover and this cover really caught my eye. I just love it. I was looking forward to the story inside. I wanted to love it as well. I'm sorry to say that the story just didn't live up to my expectations after fantasizing where the cover was going take me. 

Don't get me wrong, this was a great story set in an interesting time in our history, 1955-1968. I loved reliving those times with the cast of characters, reliving the highlights of those decades, all while seeing what the everyday people also went through at the time. 

I think the flaw for me with this story was that I never really connected with the characters—I didn't fall in love with them—so at times it was hard for me to care what they were going through. Because of that, sometimes the story felt a little draggy for me. 

Because this is such an interesting story with a lot of character drama, it could be the perfect fit for some people, it just didn't do it for me. 

I received an ARC of Margreete's Harbor and this is my honest opinion.

About the author


Eleanor Morse is the author of Margreete's Harbor, the most recent of four novels. White Dog Fell from the Sky was a Publishers Weekly Pick of the Week; An Unexpected Forest won the 2008 Independent Book Publisher's Award for best regional fiction and the 2008 Maine Literary Award. She is on the faculty of Spalding University's School of Creative and Professional Writing and lives on a small island off the coast of Maine. 

Connect with Eleanor

Website | Goodreads | Amazon

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Saturday, April 24, 2021

This OR That #Giveaway Week 12 ~ Good in Bed by Jennifer Weiner OR No Man's Land by David Baldacci #GoodInBed #NoMansLand

 

I have sooooo many books! 

The This or That 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. It's a way for me to cull my collection and give someone else the chance to enjoy these treasures.

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

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This week, I have two very different books. Good in Bed is a fun, light read while No Man's Land is a more suspenseful, dramatic story. 

Good in Bed
(Cannie Shapiro #1)
by Jennifer Weiner
Paperback ~ Pub date April 2002

"At first my eyes wouldn't make sense of the letters. Finally, they unscrambled." Loving a Larger Woman, "said the headline, by Bruce Guberman. Bruce Guberman had been my boyfriend for just over three years, until we'd decided to take a break three months ago. And the larger woman, I could only assume, was me."

Cannie Shapiro never wanted to be famous. The smart, sharp, plus-sized pop culture reporter was perfectly content writing about other people's lives on the pages of the "Philadelphia Examiner." But the day she opens up a national women's magazine to find out that her ex-boyfriend has been chronicling their ex-sex life is the day her life changes forever.

Loving a larger woman is an act of courage in our world, Bruce has written. And Cannie -- who never knew that Bruce saw her as a "larger woman," or thought that loving her was an act of courage -- is plunged into misery, and into the most amazing year of her life.

For the previous twenty-eight years, things had been tripping along nicely for Cannie. Sure, her mother's come charging out of the closet, and her father's long since dropped out of her world. But she loves her job, her friends, her tiny rat terrier, Nifkin, and her life in Philadelphia. She loves her apartment, and her commodious, quilt-lined bed. She has made a tenuous peace with her non-size 6 body. And she'd even felt okay about ending her relationship with Bruce. But now this.

After finding herself publicly humiliated, with the most intimate details of her life in print, Cannie embarks on a series of hilarious and heartbreaking adventures. From showdowns with her snooping office nemesis to run-ins with her mother's less-than-lovable life partner, from trips to the glamour spots of New York City and Los Angeles to a disastrous reconciliation with the man who took her heart and tossed it onto the New Jersey Turnpike, Cannie navigates an odyssey she never planned on taking. She mourns her losses, faces the past, and figures out who she really is, and who she can become.

Radiant with wit, bursting with surprises, and written with bite and bittersweet humor, Jennifer Weiner's deliciously readable debut novel reaches beyond Cannie's story and into the heart of every woman. It features an unbelievably funny cast of supporting characters, the strangest dog you'll ever encounter, and, best of all, Cannie Shapiro -- a heroine you'll never forget.

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No Man's Land
(John Puller #4)
by David Baldacci
Paperback ~ March 2017

Special Agent John Puller, combat veteran and the army's most tenacious investigator, is back in this action-packed thriller from worldwide #1 bestselling author David Baldacci.

Two men. Thirty years.

John Puller's mother, Jackie, vanished thirty years ago from Fort Monroe, Virginia, when Puller was just a boy. Paul Rogers has been in prison for ten years. But twenty years before that, he was at Fort Monroe. One night three decades ago, Puller's and Rogers' worlds collided with devastating results, and the truth has been buried ever since.

Until now.

Military investigators, armed with a letter from a friend of Jackie's, arrive in the hospital room of Puller's father--a legendary three-star now sinking into dementia--and reveal that Puller Sr. has been accused of murdering Jackie.

Aided by his brother Robert Puller, an Air Force major, and Veronica Knox, who works for a shadowy U.S. intelligence organization, Puller begins a journey that will take him into his own past, to find the truth about his mother.

Paul Rogers' time is running out. With the clock ticking, he begins his own journey, one that will take him across the country to the place where all his troubles began: a mysterious building on the grounds of Fort Monroe. There, thirty years ago, the man Rogers had once been vanished too, and was replaced with a monster. And now the monster wants revenge. And the only person standing in his way is John Puller.

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Thursday, April 22, 2021

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

 

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Today, April 22nd is my birthday!

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

I want this cake! Look at all the fun stuff.

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

The winner is _Sandra_
Congrats!
Check your email for a message from me.


All you have to do is leave me a heartfelt birthday wish and you will be entered. In a few days, I'll draw a name using Random.org and let the winner pick any book they want (up to $15) from Amazon (US) or The Book Depository (INT). 



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

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Wednesday, April 21, 2021

New Release! The Kew Gardens Girls by Posy Lovell ~ My Thoughts #TheKewGardensGirls #NetGalley

Congrats Posy
on the release of
The Kew Gardens Girls!

The Kew Gardens Girls by Posy Lovell 
Historical World War I Fiction, 317 pages
Published April 20th 2021 by G.P. Putnam's Sons

A heart-warming novel inspired by real life events, about the brave women during WWI who worked in the historic grounds of London’s Kew Gardens.

Can the women of Kew keep the gardens alive in the midst of war?

London, 1916. England is at war. Desperate to help in whatever way they can, Ivy and Louisa enlist as gardeners at Kew, the Royal Botanic Gardens, taking on the jobs of the men who have gone to fight. Under their care, the gardens begin to flourish and become a safe haven for those seeking solace–but not everyone wants women working at Kew.

The pair begin to face challenges on the home front. When a tragedy overseas affects the people closest to them, can the women of Kew pull together to support themselves and their country through the darkest of times? 


My thoughts about The Kew Gardens Girls ~~

(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—"The bells seemed louder than usual this evening, Reverend Miller thought as he walked around the side of St. Anne's Church. Perhaps the bell ringers were feeling particularly energetic."

To be honest, I haven't really read many books based on WWI, I find myself reading more about WWII. The Kew Gardens Girls gave me an insightful look at an important time and place in London during the war. Based on true events the Gardens brought together a group of people working together to maintain the flowers and vegetables, while also nurturing a strong family bond among the strangers who found themselves working on the grounds. It was a time of great stress for everyone, but they were there for each other. 

There are many wonderful characters and relationships in this story and I found myself transported to the place and found myself among people I came to care about. The Kew Gardens Girls will be a story that I will think about long after I close the book. I highly recommend it for all readers of historical fiction for a glance at an important part of the past. 

I received an ARC of The Kew Gardens Girls and this is my honest opinion.

About the author


Posy Lovell is a pseudonym for British author and journalist Kerry Barrett. Born in Edinburgh, she moved to London as a child with her family. She has a passion for uncovering the role of women in the past. She lives in London with her family and is the author of The Kew Gardens Girls. ~ Publisher website

Connect with Posy/Kerry

Publisher Website | WebsiteGoodreads | Facebook

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Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Release Day! Under the Southern Sky by Kristy Woodson Harvey ~ My Thoughts #UnderTheSouthernSky #TallPoppyWriter

 Happy Release Day!


Congrats Kristy
on the release today of
Under the Southern Sky!

Under the Southern Sky by Kristy Woodson Harvey
Southern Fiction, 400 pages
Published April 20th 2021 by Gallery Books

Two childhood friends discover that love—and family—can be found in unconventional ways in this timely, moving novel from the USA Today bestselling author of the “beautifully Southern, evocative Peachtree Bluff series” (Kristin Harmel, internationally bestselling author of The Winemaker’s Wife).

Recently separated Amelia Buxton, a dedicated journalist, never expected that uncovering the biggest story of her career would become deeply personal. But when she discovers that a cluster of embryos belonging to her childhood friend Parker and his late wife Greer have been deemed “abandoned,” she’s put in the unenviable position of telling Parker—and dredging up old wounds in the process.

Parker has been unable to move forward since the loss of his beloved wife three years ago. He has all but forgotten about the frozen embryos, but once Amelia reveals her discovery, he knows that if he ever wants to get a part of Greer back, he’ll need to accept his fate as a single father and find a surrogate.

Each dealing with their own private griefs, Parker and Amelia slowly begin to find solace in one another as they navigate an uncertain future against the backdrop of the pristine waters of their childhood home, Cape Carolina. The journey of self-discovery leads them to an unforgettable and life-changing lesson: Family—the one you’re born into and the one you choose—is always closer than you think.

From “the next major voice in Southern fiction” (Elin Hilderbrand, #1 New York Times bestselling author), Under the Southern Sky is a fresh and unforgettable exploration of love, friendship, and the unbreakable ties that bind. 

One of Country Living’s 20 New Books You Don’t Want to Miss This Spring
One of Bookstr’s 8 Most Anticipated Reads of 2021
One of Frolic’s 12 Most Anticipated Books of 2021
One of BookTrib’s Most-Anticipated Reads of 2021
One of Brit + Co’s Books You Should Read with Your BFF

Available from: 
Your Local Bookstore, Bookshop.org | Amazon
and everywhere books are sold

Signed copies available from Oxford Exchange


My thoughts about Under the Southern Sky ~~

(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—"I found out my marriage was over the day my 'Modern Love' piece appeared in the New York Times."

I'm a huge, huge fan of Kristy's stories and have been hooked on them ever since I read her very first book. I have loved all of them, and if possible, love each one more than the previous one. She's just that good! Her storytelling is wonderful and enticing from the first words. I immediately fall in love with her characters and feel like they are my friends. 

Under the Southern Sky is an emotional, touching story of two people, a man and a women who were childhood friends, who are each now struggling with the current situations of their lives. Amelia and Parker come together again after Amelia discovers the frozen embryos that Parker and his deceased wife had had stored. 

This story is a little bit different from Kristy's previous books. It has a more serious tone to it and a little more drama. But it's still full of the beautiful storytelling that she does so well. I quickly became captivated with the lives of Amelia and Parker and struggled right along with them, as they tried to figure out the right thing to do. 

Under the Southern Sky will tug on your heartstrings and lovingly wrap itself around your soul. I loved every bit of it and highly recommend it if you are looking for a satisfying, emotional read. 

I received an ARC of Under the Southern Sky and this is my honest opinion.

About the author


Kristy Woodson Harvey is the bestselling author of Dear Carolina, Lies and Other Acts of Love, Slightly South of Simple, The Secret to Southern Charm, and The Southern Side of Paradise and Feels Like Falling. Kristy is the winner of the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing, a finalist for the Southern Book Prize, her work has been optioned for film and her books have received numerous accolades.

She blogs with her mom Beth Woodson on Design Chic about how creating a beautiful home can be the catalyst for creating a beautiful life. Design Chic is the inaugural member of the design blogger hall of fame, sponsored by Traditional Home, and winner of Amara's Best Luxury Blog, as chosen by Roberto Cavalli. She also loves connecting with readers on kristywoodsonharvey.com.

Harvey is a Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s school of journalism and holds a master’s in English from East Carolina University, with a concentration in multicultural and transnational literature. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications and websites, including Southern Living, Traditional Home, Parade, USA Today, Domino, Our State and O. Henry. She has been seen in Today.com, Women’s Health, The Washington Post, US News and World Report, The Huffington Post, Marie Claire’s The Fix, Woman’s World, Readers’ Digest, Bustle, New York Live and North Carolina Bookwatch, among others.

She is a proud member of the Tall Poppy Writers, serves on the board of Beaufort Historical Association, and is a member of the University of North Carolina’s Women’s Leadership Council. She is a frequent speaker at fundraisers, book conferences and private events. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and seven-year-old son where she is working on her next novel. ~ Amazon

Connect with Kristy


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Release Day! The Perfect Daughter by D.J. Palmer ~ My Thoughts #ThePerfectDaughter #NetGalley

Happy Release Day!


Congrats Daniel
on the release today of
The Perfect Daughter!

The Perfect Daughter by D.J. Palmer
Psychological Thrillers, 384 pages
Published April 20th 2021 by St. Martin's Press

The Perfect Daughter is a thriller that explores the truth or lies behind a teenage girl's multiple personality disorder, from D.J. Palmer, the author of The New Husband.

Grace never dreamt she’d visit her teenaged daughter Penny in the locked ward of a decaying state psychiatric hospital, charged with the murder of a stranger. There was not much question of her daughter’s guilt. Police had her fingerprints on the murder weapon and the victim’s blood on her body and clothes. But they didn’t have a motive.

Grace blames herself, because that’s what mothers do—they look at their choices and wonder, what if? But hindsight offers little more than the chance for regret.

None of this was conceivable the day Penny came into her life. Then, it seemed like a miracle. Penny was found abandoned, with a mysterious past, and it felt like fate brought Penny to her, and her husband Arthur. But as she grew, Penny's actions grew more disturbing, and different "personalities" emerged.

Arthur and Grace took Penny to different psychiatrists, many of whom believed she was putting on a show to help manage her trauma. But Grace didn’t buy it. The personas were too real, too consistent. It had to be a severe multiple personality disorder. One determined psychiatrist, Dr. Mitch McHugh, helped discover someone new inside Penny—a young girl named Abigail. Is this the nameless girl who was abandoned in the park years ago? Mitch thinks Abigail is the key to Penny’s past and to the murder. 

But as Grace and Mitch dig deeper, they uncover dark and shocking secrets that put all their lives in grave danger.


My thoughts about The Perfect Daughter ~~

(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—"At thirty minutes past eight o'clock, red and blue strobe lights lit up the sky outside Grace Francone's modest Cape house with the frenzy of a fireworks display."

D.J. Palmer's books consistently blow me away. I'm always amazed to find another psychological thriller can take me to a place that I have not gone before. The Perfect Daughter did just that. The author takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride of emotions, drama, and suspense all while tackling the topic of mental illness in the form of severe multiple personality disorder.  

This story was absolutely amazing and I completely devoured it. The subject of multiple personalities has always fascinated me and this book was satisfying with the breadth and knowledge that the author has of this particular disorder. 

The Perfect Daughter is the perfect psychological thriller that will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat to the very end. I highly recommend it, as I have all of D.J. Palmer's other books!

I received an ARC of The Perfect Daughter and this is my honest opinion.

About the author

D. J. Palmer is the author of numerous critically acclaimed suspense novels, including Delirious and Desperate. After receiving his masters degree from Boston University, he spent a decade as an e-commerce pioneer before turning his attention to writing. He lives with his wife and two children in New Hampshire. [Pseudonym for author Daniel Palmer] ~ Goodreads

Connect with Daniel

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter

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Monday, April 19, 2021

Book Blitz! The Restarting Point by Marci Bolden ~ Excerpt and Giveaway!

The Restarting Point

The Restarting Point by Marci Bolden
(Chammont Point #1)
Publication date: April 27th 2021
Genres: Women’s Fiction

Marketing executive and mother of two, Jade Kelly can now add cancer survivor to her list of successes. But while her life looks good on paper, four months out of treatment, Jade realizes she hardly knows her college-age children and she and her husband Nick are little more than housemates.

Determined to start over, Jade schedules a family vacation to a lakefront cabin. When her kids bail and Nick stays home to handle a last minute work crisis, Jade heads to Chammont Point alone, determined to dust herself off and figure out what to do with the rest of her life.

While she’s away, the life she thought she had unravels. Secrets, lies, and old wounds drive Jade into new adventures and new relationships. With the help of family and new found friends, Jade learns starting over sometimes means finding a brand new restarting point.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

iBooks | Kobo | Google Play

EXCERPT

Jade was thinking anything would be a welcomed distraction when the door swung open.

“Knock, knock,” Darby sang as she poked her head in without actually knocking. Nor did she wait for Jade to invite her in before entering. She held out a plastic container from the grocery store and lifted a bottle of wine. “I thought you might need these. I hope you like mint brownies and red wine.”

Jade had always adored both. However, she’d completely altered her diet after her diagnosis. She’d never been a heavy drinker, but as soon as she’d read that alcohol and junk food increased the risks for the type of cancer she’d had, she’d cut those indulgences from her life. She hadn’t had either in over a year. “You didn’t have to do that.”

After easing her offerings onto the table, Darby faced Jade. “Yes, I did. I am really glad your ankle didn’t get hurt worse. That’s definitely worth brownies and a moderately priced bottle of Malbec.” She grinned. “And…” She opened the door again, reached out, and then spun dramatically. “Look at these.” Darby beamed as she held up two gold-painted crutches covered in gems of varying size, shape, and color. “I dug them out of my closet for you to use as long as needed.”

Jade widened her eyes as she stared in shock. Gaudy was an understatement. The display before Jade was atrocious.

“Wow,” Jade said for lack of any other words. “Thanks.”

“I, too, sprained my ankle once.” Darby set the crutches against the coffee table and within Jade’s reach. “You should never do cartwheels on a stage. While wearing vinyl platform boots. And drinking heavily.”

Yeah,” Jade said, drawing the word out a bit. She didn’t have to think too hard to see the image Darby had created. “That sounds like it would be a bad idea.”

“Speaking of drinking, let’s get to that wine.” Darby turned toward the table where she’d left the bottle.

“Oh, thanks, but I don’t drink,” Jade said.

Darby stopped, frozen in time for a few beats, and then spun around and cupped her ear as if she hadn’t heard. “I’m sorry, what?”

“I don’t drink. I had… It’s bad for my health. I’ll take a glass of water, though.” Jade could almost see the gears in the other woman’s brain spinning as she processed the information. Jade had almost slipped in the bit about her cancer, but sometimes the words still stuck deep in her chest like a fist not ready to release its hold. The ability to share her struggles as freely as she’d heard others with major illnesses do was not something she’d mastered. She suspected she’d get there, but that was a skill she had to work on.

“You don’t drink? How do you get through the day?”

Jade giggled as Darby stared with obvious confusion. “Slowly.”

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About the author



As a teen, Marci Bolden skipped over young adult books and jumped right into reading women's fiction and romance novels.

Marci lives in the Midwest with her husband, two kiddos, and numerous rescue pets. If she had an ounce of will power, Marci would embrace healthy living but until cupcakes and wine are no longer available at the local grocery store, she'll put that ambition on hold and appease her guilt by reading self-help books and promising to join a gym "soon."

Connect with Marci

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Twitter 

 Instagram | Newsletter | Pinterest

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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? April 19, 2021 #IMWAYR

     

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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This is my birthday week, Thursday marks the day! One of my daughters is coming for a visit that day. We've seen her off and on this past year but have not gone into each other's homes and haven't had hugs. We are both fully vaccinated now and I can't wait to have her here! I'm thinking it will be the  'hug that never ends'. 💖🤗

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

What I'm currently reading

Margreete's Harbor
by Eleanor Morse
Pub date 4/20

Water for Elephants
by Sara Gruen
Narrated by David LeDoux & John Randolph Jones

What I recently finished

The Kew Gardens Girls
by Posy Lovell
Pub date 4/20

Of Kindness and Kilowatts
(Nothing is Promised Book 3)
by Susan Kaye Quinn

The Good Sister
by Sally Hepworth

What I am going to read next

When I Last Saw You
by Bette Lee Crosby
Pub date 5/4
I love Bette's stories!

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Sunday, April 18, 2021

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth ~ My Thoughts #TheGoodSister #NetGalley

The Good Sister by Sally Hepworth
Sisters Fiction, Domestic Thrillers, 320 pages
Published April 13th 2021 by St. Martin's Press

From the outside, everyone might think Fern and Rose are as close as twin sisters can be: Rose is the responsible one and Fern is the quirky one. But the sisters are devoted to one another and Rose has always been Fern's protector from the time they were small.

Fern needed protecting because their mother was a true sociopath who hid her true nature from the world, and only Rose could see it. Fern always saw the good in everyone. Years ago, Fern did something very, very bad. And Rose has never told a soul. When Fern decides to help her sister achieve her heart's desire of having a baby, Rose realizes with growing horror that Fern might make choices that can only have a terrible outcome. What Rose doesn't realize is that Fern is growing more and more aware of the secrets Rose, herself, is keeping. And that their mother might have the last word after all.


My thoughts about The Good Sister~~

(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 three months since Owen left. Left, or left me—like so many things in the adult world, it's all a bit gray."

This story enticed me from the very first chapter and I was hooked. The title alone made me question everything I learned about both of the sisters. Which one was the good one? And what made the other one 'bad'? 

I definitely preferred one sister over the other but I'm not going to say anything more and will let you come to your own conclusions. The writing was easy to read and the author really got into the heads of the characters and gave me, the reader, a clear look at the world's of the two sisters. The way the story twisted out in the end was so satisfying. And left me pondering the true end result. 

Sally Hepworth is a new author to me and I honestly loved everything about The Good Sister, her newest book. Although I have previously seen her books being talked about, this is the first one of hers I've read. I look forward to reading more!

I received a copy of The Good Sister via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

About the author


Sally Hepworth is the bestselling author of six novels, most recently The Mother In Law (2019). Her forthcoming novel, The Good Sister, will be available in early 2021.

Sally's books have been heralded “enchanting” by The Herald Sun, “smart and engaging” by Publisher’s Weekly, and New York Times bestselling authors Liane Moriarty and Emily Giffin have praised Sally’s novels as “women’s fiction at its finest” and “totally absorbing”.

Sally's novels are available worldwide in English and have been translated into 20 languages.
Sally lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband and three children. 

Connect with Sally
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Saturday, April 17, 2021

This OR That #Giveaway Week 11! Midnight at the Blackbird Café by Heather Webber OR Orphan #8 by Kim van Alkemade #Orphan8 #MidnightAtTheBlackbirdCafe

 

I have sooooo many books! 

The This or That 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. It's a way for me to cull my collection and give someone else the chance to enjoy these treasures.

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

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Midnight at the Blackbird Café was such a fun read. I found myself devouring it on my vacation last fall. It wasn't a review book, just one that was on my TBR list. I'm seriously going to read more of this author's books!

Midnight at the Blackbird Café
by Heather Webber
Paperback ~ Pub date January 2020

The USA Today Bestseller Heather Webber's Midnight at the Blackbird Café is a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town Southern charm.

Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Café.

It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the café and settle her grandmother's estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her father's side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to the quirky Southern town her mother ran away from so many years ago, and the mysterious blackbird pie everybody can't stop talking about.

As the truth about her past slowly becomes clear, Anna Kate will need to decide if this lone blackbird will finally be able to take her broken wings and fly.

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I read Orphan #8 with my book group back in 2016. We all loved it and had a great discussion. I didn't review it at the time but it would have earned 5 ⭐s from me.

Orphan #8
by Kim van Alkemade
Paperback ~ August 4th 2015

In this stunning new historical novel inspired by true events, Kim van Alkemade tells the fascinating story of a woman who must choose between revenge and mercy when she encounters the doctor who subjected her to dangerous medical experiments in a New York City Jewish orphanage years before.

In 1919, Rachel Rabinowitz is a vivacious four-year-old living with her family in a crowded tenement on New York City’s Lower Eastside. When tragedy strikes, Rachel is separated from her brother Sam and sent to a Jewish orphanage where Dr. Mildred Solomon is conducting medical research. Subjected to X-ray treatments that leave her disfigured, Rachel suffers years of cruel harassment from the other orphans. But when she turns fifteen, she runs away to Colorado hoping to find the brother she lost and discovers a family she never knew she had.

Though Rachel believes she’s shut out her painful childhood memories, years later she is confronted with her dark past when she becomes a nurse at Manhattan’s Old Hebrews Home and her patient is none other than the elderly, cancer-stricken Dr. Solomon. Rachel becomes obsessed with making Dr. Solomon acknowledge, and pay for, her wrongdoing. But each passing hour Rachel spends with the old doctor reveal to Rachel the complexities of her own nature. She realizes that a person’s fate—to be one who inflicts harm or one who heals—is not always set in stone.

Lush in historical detail, rich in atmosphere and based on true events, Orphan #8 is a powerful, affecting novel of the unexpected choices we are compelled to make that can shape our destinies. 

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