Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters by Emily Carpenter ~ My Thoughts #RevivingTheHawthornSisters

Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters

Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters by Emily Carpenter

Print & ebook, 332 pages

Published October 20th 2020 by Lake Union Publishing

The bestselling author of Burying the Honeysuckle Girls returns to uncover a faith healer’s elusive and haunted past.

Dove Jarrod was a renowned evangelist and faith healer. Only her granddaughter, Eve Candler, knows that Dove was a con artist. In the eight years since Dove’s death, Eve has maintained Dove’s charitable foundation—and her lies. But just as a documentary team wraps up a shoot about the miracle worker, Eve is assaulted by a vengeful stranger intent on exposing what could be Dove’s darkest secret: murder…

Tuscaloosa, 1934: a wily young orphan escapes the psychiatric hospital where she was born. When she joins the itinerant inspirational duo the Hawthorn Sisters, the road ahead is one of stirring new possibilities. And with an obsessive predator on her trail, one of untold dangers. For a young girl to survive, desperate choices must be made.

Now, to protect her family, Eve will join forces with the investigative filmmaker and one of Dove’s friends, risking everything to unravel the truth behind the accusations against her grandmother. But will the truth set her free or set her world on fire?

My thoughts about Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters ~~

(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 lines—"This was how she knew the end was near."

This story grabbed me from the prologue—a dying old woman facing her past. I just had to find out more about her life!

I've read several other books by Emily Carpenter and have always loved the suspense and drama that she puts into her stories. This one did not disappoint. There was plenty of intrigue, secrets, good, and evil to make this a a page-turner that you will race to get through, while not wanting it to end. 

I had not read the companion novel to this one, Burying the Honeysuckle Girls, so I did go back and read that one before I started Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters. You wouldn't have to, to enjoy this story but I'm glad I did, just to get a little bit of the back story of some of the characters. 

Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters was an exciting read and I'm always thrilled to start one of Emily's books. This one is one of her best! 

I received a copy of Reviving the Hawthorn Sisters from NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

About the author

Emily Carpenter, a former actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Auburn University. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, she now lives in Georgia with her family. You can visit Emily online at emilycarpenterauthor.com. ~ Amazon

Connect with Emily

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Amazon

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Release Day! Until the Day I Die by Emily Carpenter #UntilTheDayIDie #TallPoppyWriter

Happy Release Day!!

Congrats Emily

on the release today of 

Until the Day I Die!

Until the Day I Die by Emily Carpenter
Print and e-book, 325 pages
Published March 12, 2019 by Lake Union Publishing

If there’s a healthy way to grieve, Erin Gaines hasn’t found it. After her husband’s sudden death, the runaway success of the tech company they built with their best friends has become overwhelming. Her nerves are frayed, she’s disengaged, and her frustrated daughter, Shorie, is pulling away from her. Maybe Erin’s friends and family are right. Maybe a few weeks at a spa resort in the Caribbean islands is just what she needs to hit the reset button…

Shorie is not only worried about her mother’s mental state but also for the future of her parents’ company. Especially when she begins to suspect that not all of Erin’s colleagues can be trusted. It seems someone is spinning an intricate web of deception—the foundation for a conspiracy that is putting everything, and everyone she loves, at risk. And she may be the only one who can stop it.

Now, thousands of miles away in a remote, and oftentimes menacing, tropical jungle, Erin is beginning to have similar fears. Things at the resort aren’t exactly how the brochure described, and unless she’s losing her mind, Erin’s pretty sure she wasn’t sent there to recover—she was sent to disappear.

I read an early copy of Until the Day I Die and loved it! Read my thoughts here. You're definitely going to want to add this to your TBR list. 

About the author

Emily Carpenter, a former actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Auburn University. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, she now lives in Georgia with her family. You can visit Emily online at emilycarpenterauthor.com. ~ Amazon

Connect with Emily

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Amazon

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Until the Day I Die by Emily Carpenter ~ My Thoughts #UntilTheDayIDie #TallPoppyWriter

Until the Day I Die

Until the Day I Die by Emily Carpenter
Print and e-book, 325 pages
Expected publication: March 12th 2019 by Lake Union Publishing

If there’s a healthy way to grieve, Erin Gaines hasn’t found it. After her husband’s sudden death, the runaway success of the tech company they built with their best friends has become overwhelming. Her nerves are frayed, she’s disengaged, and her frustrated daughter, Shorie, is pulling away from her. Maybe Erin’s friends and family are right. Maybe a few weeks at a spa resort in the Caribbean islands is just what she needs to hit the reset button…

Shorie is not only worried about her mother’s mental state but also for the future of her parents’ company. Especially when she begins to suspect that not all of Erin’s colleagues can be trusted. It seems someone is spinning an intricate web of deception—the foundation for a conspiracy that is putting everything, and everyone she loves, at risk. And she may be the only one who can stop it.

Now, thousands of miles away in a remote, and oftentimes menacing, tropical jungle, Erin is beginning to have similar fears. Things at the resort aren’t exactly how the brochure described, and unless she’s losing her mind, Erin’s pretty sure she wasn’t sent there to recover—she was sent to disappear.

My thoughts about Until the Day I Die ~~

Until the Day I Die is a story that kept me wondering and guessing until the end. And then there was the ending that I wasn't expecting. All the deceit, conniving, and suspense I felt throughout the whole story made this a definite page turner. Then there was the 'drop my jaw' conclusion. Genus!

Erin gets sent away to a retreat facility when her family decides she is not handling her husband's sudden death. But things are not what they seem there and it's anything but a restful retreat. Some of the things Erin had to deal with definitely got my heart racing.

And Shoire, Erin's daughter—what a strong, smart person she is. She knows something isn't right with her mom and the company her parents founded and she just keeps digging and never gives up, even when she doesn't know who to trust.

Emily Carpenter has once again written a story that I won't soon forget. This is one you need to read!

I received Until the Day I Die via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

About the author

Emily Carpenter, a former actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Auburn University. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, she now lives in Georgia with her family. You can visit Emily online at emilycarpenterauthor.com. ~ Amazon

Connect with Emily

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Amazon

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Release Day! Every Single Secret by Emily Carpenter ~ My Thoughts

Happy Release Day!!

Every Single Secret

Every Single Secret by Emily Carpenter
Print and e-book, 313 pages
Published May 1st 2018 by Lake Union Publishing

“Every Single Secret takes you on a journey into a dark, surreal world…A true psychological thriller that will leave you breathless.” —Wendy Walker, bestselling author of All Is Not Forgotten and Emma in the Night

Emotionally guarded Daphne Amos always believed she’d found a kindred spirit in her fiancé, Heath. Both very private people, they’ve kept their pasts hidden from the world, and each other, until Heath’s escalating nightmares begin to put an undeniable strain on their relationship. Determined to give their impending marriage the best chance of succeeding, Heath insists that Daphne join him on a seven-day retreat with Dr. Matthew Cerny, a psychologist celebrated for getting to the root of repressed memories. Daphne reluctantly agrees—even though the past is the last place she wants to go.

The retreat’s isolated and forbidding location increases her unease, as do the doctor’s rules: they must relinquish their keys and phones, they’ll be monitored at all hours by hidden cameras, and they’re never to socialize with the other guests.

One sleepless night, Daphne decides to leave her room…and only then does she realize that the institute is not at all what it seems—and that whatever’s crying out from Heath’s past isn’t meant to be heard. It’s meant to be silenced.

    

My thoughts about Every Single Secret ~~

(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 are monsters all around us—people who have to hide because the world can't bear to see them for who they truly are. They're good at keeping secrets, the monsters. Sometimes too good."

When I started Every Single Secret, I knew it would be a story about secrets, maybe lots of secrets, but I was not at all prepared for the depth of the secrets. Wow! For Daphne and Heath, they come to find out that that things are not always what they seem at Baskens.

Daphne is a woman to be admired, a strong person who defies authority to get at the truth. We know right from the get-go that she is running from someone, trying to escape something, but as we get deeper and deeper into the story, there are so many questions. Why are they really there? Where are all the other people who are supposed to be there with them? Who's all in on whatever is going on? What is going on? What's real? What's for show?

So many questions! I sped through the book as I needed answers just as much as Daphne did—what an intense ride! And I loved every minute of it! 

Congratulations Emily, 

on the release today of your fabulous book, 

Every Single Secret! 

Loved it!

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About the Author

Emily Carpenter is the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of suspense novels, Burying the Honeysuckle Girls, The Weight of Lies, and Every Single Secret. After graduating from Auburn with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication, she moved to New York City. She’s worked as an actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant for the CBS shows, As the World Turns and Guiding Light. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, she now lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her family. 

Connect with Emily

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon

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