Release Day! The Body Lies by Jo Baker ~ My Thoughts #TheBodyLies

Happy Release Day!!



Congrats Jo
on the release today of
The Body Lies!

The Body Lies: A novel by Jo Baker 
Print and e-book, 288 pages
Published June 18th 2019 by Knopf

A dark, thrilling new novel from the best-selling author of Longbourn, a work of riveting psychological suspense that grapples with how to live as a woman in the world--or in the pages of a book--when the stakes are dangerously high.

When a young writer accepts a job at a university in the remote English countryside, it's meant to be a fresh start, away from the bustle of London and the scene of a violent assault she is desperate to forget. But despite the distractions of her new life and the demands of single motherhood, her nerves continue to jangle.

To make matters worse, a vicious debate about violence against women inflames the tensions and mounting rivalries in her creative-writing class. When a troubled student starts turning in chapters that blur the lines between fiction and reality, the professor recognizes herself as the main character in his book--and he has written her a horrific fate. Will she be able to stop life imitating art before it's too late?

At once a breathless cat-and-mouse game and a layered interrogation of the fetishization of the female body, The Body Lies gives us an essential story for our time that will have you checking the locks on your doors. 

    

My thoughts about The Body Lies~~

(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 lines—"The beck is frozen into silence. Snow falls. It muffles the roads, bundles up the houses, deepens the meadows, turns the river black by contrast." 

Jo Baker is a new-to-me author but this cover grabbed my attention. Then the synopsis just screamed 'Read me!!'. I'm so glad I did even though it sort of creeped me out. But since that was probably the author's purpose, she achieved her objective—mission accomplished.

I have to admit that the story seemed to start out a little slowly for me but I realize that that was just the author setting up the story. Once it got rolling, this story became a definite page-turner, clear up to the exciting end.

I received a copy of The Body Lies via First to Read and this is my honest opinion of the book.

About the author

Jo Baker is the author of six novels, most recently Longbourn and A Country Road, A Tree. She has also written for BBC Radio 4, and her short stories have been included in a number of anthologies. She lives in Lancaster, England, with her husband, the playwright and screenwriter Daragh Carville, and their two children.  ~ Goodreads

Connect with Jo

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The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner ~ My Thoughts #TheLastYearOfTheWar #TallPoppyWriter #NetGalley

The Last Year of the War

The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner
Print and e-book, 400 pages
Expected publication: March 19th 2019 by Berkley

From the acclaimed author of Secrets of a Charmed Life and As Bright as Heaven comes a novel about a German American teenager whose life changes forever when her immigrant family is sent to an internment camp during World War II.

Elise Sontag is a typical Iowa fourteen-year-old in 1943--aware of the war but distanced from its reach. Then her father, a legal U.S. resident for nearly two decades, is suddenly arrested on suspicion of being a Nazi sympathizer. The family is sent to an internment camp in Texas, where, behind the armed guards and barbed wire, Elise feels stripped of everything beloved and familiar, including her own identity.

The only thing that makes the camp bearable is meeting fellow internee Mariko Inoue, a Japanese-American teen from Los Angeles, whose friendship empowers Elise to believe the life she knew before the war will again be hers. Together in the desert wilderness, Elise and Mariko hold tight the dream of being young American women with a future beyond the fences.

But when the Sontag family is exchanged for American prisoners behind enemy lines in Germany, Elise will face head-on the person the war desires to make of her. In that devastating crucible she must discover if she has the will to rise above prejudice and hatred and re-claim her own destiny, or disappear into the image others have cast upon her.

The Last Year of the War tells a little-known story of World War II with great resonance for our own times and challenges the very notion of who we are when who we’ve always been is called into question.

My thoughts about The Last Year of the War ~~

(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've a thief to thank for finding the one person I need to see before I die."

The Last Year of the War is an amazing story which taught me a bit about US history that I knew little or nothing about. I knew of the Japanese people being moved to internment camps during the war but was unaware that Germans were as well. Susan takes that bit of history and weaves a beautiful tale of two girls from different backgrounds, who become life-long friends while living in the camp.

Circumstances pulled them in different directions but the friendship bond remained even though they didn't see or hear from each other for years. Life was hard for Elise and Mariko as they grew into womanhood, surviving the war the best way that they could.

This is a wonderful story—a story that was kind of hard to read sometimes as their lives got hard. This tale drew me in from the very start as I fell in love with these two girls and as I watched their friendship and lives unfold.

About the Author

Susan Meissner was born in San Diego, California, the second of three. She spent her childhood in just two houses.

Her first writings are a laughable collection of oddly worded poems and predictable stories she wrote when she was eight.

She attended Point Loma College in San Diego, and married her husband, Bob, who is now an associate pastor and a chaplain in the Air Force Reserves, in 1980. When she is not working on a new novel, she is directing the small groups ministries at The Church at Rancho Bernardo. She also enjoy teaching workshops on writing and dream-following, spending time with my family, music, reading great books, and traveling. ~ Goodreads

Connect with Susan

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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The Suspect by Fiona Barton ~ My Thoughts #TheSuspect #NetGalley

The Suspect

The Suspect by Fiona Barton

Series: Kate Waters #3

Print and e-book, 416 pages

Expected publication: January 22nd 2019 by Berkley Books

The new must-read standalone crime thriller from the author of Sunday Times bestseller, The Widow, and the Richard & Judy No. 1 bestseller, The Child - featuring unforgettable journalist, Kate Waters.

The police belonged to another world – the world they saw on the television or in the papers. Not theirs.

When two eighteen-year-old girls go missing on their gap year in Thailand, their families are thrust into the international spotlight: desperate, bereft and frantic with worry.

Journalist Kate Waters always does everything she can to be first to the story, first with the exclusive, first to discover the truth – and this time is no exception. But she can’t help but think of her own son, who she hasn’t seen in two years since he left home to go traveling. This time it’s personal.

And as the case of the missing girls unfolds, they will all find that even this far away, danger can lie closer to home than you might think . . .

My thoughts about The Suspect ~~

(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 call comes at three a.m. The jagged ring of the bedside telephone tearing a hole in our sleep."

I love the character of Kate Waters and I loved that I was able to go back to her world again. The story she is covering now hits pretty close to home. As she investigates the two missing girls, a connection to her son is discovered. The question is to find out how deeply he is involved, if he actually is involved. Or maybe it's just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The Suspect was a page-turner for me as the plot thickened and the mystery unraveled. Told in alternating perspectives of three of the characters, it was interesting to watch the story come together. And then the ending. Whoa, was not expecting the ending that this talented writer came up with. It's amazing what a mother's love will make some people do. 

I received an ARC of The Suspect in exchange for my honest review. 

The Widow (book #1) and The Child (book #2)

Read my thoughts about The Child here.

About the author

My career has taken some surprising twists and turns over the years. I have been a journalist - senior writer at the Daily Mail, news editor at the Daily Telegraph, and chief reporter at The Mail on Sunday, where I won Reporter of the Year at the National Press Awards, gave up my job to volunteer in Sri Lanka and since 2008, have trained and worked with exiled and threatened journalists all over the world.

But through it all, a story was cooking in my head.

The worm of this book infected me long ago when, as a national newspaper journalist covering notorious crimes and trials, I found myself wondering what the wives of those accused really knew – or allowed themselves to know.

It took the liberation of my career change to turn that fascination into a tale of a missing child, narrated by the wife of the man suspected of the crime, the detective leading the hunt, the journalist covering the case and the mother of the victim.

Much to my astonishment and delight, The Widow is available now in the UK, and around the world in the coming months.

However, the sudden silence of my characters feels like a reproach and I am currently working on a second book.

My husband and I are living the good life in south-west France, where I am writing in bed, early in the morning when the only distraction is our cockerel, Sparky, crowing. ~ Goodreads

Connect with Fiona

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Other People's Houses by Abbi Waxman ~ My Thoughts

Other People's Houses

Other People's Houses by Abbi Waxman
Paperback, 352 pages
Published April 3rd 2018 by Berkley Books

"Abbi Waxman is both irreverent and thoughtful."--#1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Giffin 

And now the author of The Garden of Small Beginnings returns with a hilarious and poignant new novel about four families, their neighborhood carpool, and the affair that changes everything.

At any given moment in other people's houses, you can find...repressed hopes and dreams...moments of unexpected joy...someone making love on the floor to a man who is most definitely not her husband...

*record scratch*

As the longtime local carpool mom, Frances Bloom is sometimes an unwilling witness to her neighbors' private lives. She knows her cousin is hiding her desire for another baby from her spouse, Bill Horton's wife is mysteriously missing, and now this...

After the shock of seeing Anne Porter in all her extramarital glory, Frances vows to stay in her own lane. But that's a notion easier said than done when Anne's husband throws her out a couple of days later. The repercussions of the affair reverberate through the four carpool families--and Frances finds herself navigating a moral minefield that could make or break a marriage.

    

My thoughts about Other People's Houses ~~

(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—"It's amazing how many children you could fit in a minivan, if you tessellated carefully and maintained only the most basic level of safety."

Other People's Houses gives us a look at a neighborhood where people sort of know each other and sort of know what is going on in those other people's lives. But as we get a glimpse of the insides of those other people's houses, we see that things are not what they seem to be or what we thought they were.

The story is mainly about the people who live in four houses, the adults as well as all of the children. At first, it seemed like a lot of characters to keep straight, but I quickly got to know them and I soon felt like I was just another neighbor on that street, finding out their secrets and lies.

This was a fascinating, sometimes hilarious, look at friends and acquaintances and what is perceived to be going on within the four walls of their houses. And how far can friends go before that friendship breaks? I thoroughly enjoyed Other People's Houses and would recommend it to those who like taking a look at the complexity of relationships or just want a fun book to get lost in.

I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily reviewing it.

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About the Author

Abbi Waxman was born in England in 1970, the oldest child of two copywriters who never should have been together in the first place. Once her father ran off to buy cigarettes and never came back, her mother began a highly successful career writing crime fiction. She encouraged Abbi and her sister Emily to read anything and everything they could pull down from the shelves, and they did. Naturally lazy and disinclined to dress up, Abbi went into advertising, working as a copywriter and then a creative director at various advertising agencies in London and New York. Clients ranged from big and traditional, (AT&T, Chase Manhattan Bank, IBM, American Express, Unilever, Mercedes-Benz) to big and morally corrupt (R. J. Reynolds) to big and larcenous (Enron). Eventually she quit advertising, had three kids and started writing books, TV shows and screenplays, largely in order to get a moment’s peace.

Abbi lives in Los Angeles with her husband, three kids, three dogs, three cats, a gecko, two mice and six chickens. Every one of these additions made sense at the time, it’s only in retrospect that it seems foolhardy.

Feel free to drop her a line, she readily welcomes any excuse to stop working and do something else.

Connect with Abbi

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The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman ~ My Thoughts

The Garden of Small Beginnings

The Garden of Small Beginnings by Abbi Waxman
Paperback and ebook, 368 pages
Expected publication: May 2nd 2017 by Berkley Books

Not since Good Grief has a book about a young widow been so poignant, funny, original, and utterly believable. A compelling debut novel about loss.

Give grief a chance . . .

Lilian Girvan has been a single mother for three years—ever since her husband died in a car accident. One mental breakdown and some random suicidal thoughts later, she’s just starting to get the hang of this widow thing. She can now get her two girls to school, show up to work, and watch TV like a pro. The only problem is she’s becoming overwhelmed with being underwhelmed.

At least her textbook illustrating job has some perks—like actually being called upon to draw whale genitalia. Oh, and there’s that vegetable-gardening class her boss signed her up for. Apparently being the chosen illustrator for a series of boutique vegetable guides means getting your hands dirty, literally. Wallowing around in compost on a Saturday morning can’t be much worse than wallowing around in pajamas and self-pity.

After recruiting her kids and insanely supportive sister to join her, Lilian shows up at the Los Angeles Botanical Garden feeling out of her element. But what she’ll soon discover—with the help of a patient instructor and a quirky group of gardeners—is that into every life a little sun must shine, whether you want it to or not…

 

My thoughts about The Garden of Small Beginnings ~~

(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—"It's been more than three years since my husband died, yet in many ways he's more useful than ever."

I enjoyed The Garden of Small Beginnings immensely. Lilian is a young widow with a small child trying to make it all work. She gets an assignment to work on the illustrations in a gardening book. Little did she know that this assignment would change her life.

Her boss makes her take a gardening class so she can be better informed about her upcoming job. I loved all the wonderful characters that she and her son meet in this class. There are a lot of misfits in the class and people with problems but they all just seem to mesh and connect with each other.

The Garden of Small Beginnings is an enjoyable story about the power of friendship and support and I loved every minute of it!

I received a copy of this book from First to Read and am voluntarily reviewing it.

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Release Day: Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee by Mary G. Thompson ~ My Thoughts

Happy Release Day!

Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee

Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee by Mary G. Thompson
Print and e-book, 304 pages
Published: October 11th 2016 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers

A bittersweet homecoming holds dark secrets in this heart-wrenching story of loss, love, and survival for readers of Room.

When sixteen-year-old Amy returns home, she can’t tell her family what’s happened to her. She can’t tell them where she’s been since she and her best friend, her cousin Dee, were kidnapped six years ago—who stole them from their families or what’s become of Dee. She has to stay silent because she’s afraid of what might happen next, and she’s desperate to protect her secrets at any cost.

Amy tries to readjust to life at “home,” but nothing she does feels right. She’s a stranger in her own family, and the guilt that she’s the one who returned is insurmountable. Amy soon realizes that keeping secrets won’t change what’s happened, and they may end up hurting those she loves the most. She has to go back in order to move forward, risking everything along the way. Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee is a riveting, affecting story of loss and hope.

My thoughts about Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee ~~

(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—'I am the last one off the bus. It was only half full to begin with, of shaggy-looking men and older ladies and one mother with two rowdy kids.'

What an amazing story! The reader gets an inside look into the life of a victim of a kidnapping as she tries to fit back into her old life after six years of being gone. Taken along with her best friend when she is only ten years, she has to grow up fast and has to witness things no ten year old should have to witness. When she escapes and makes it back home, it is not easy to slip into the life of a sixteen year old. So many questions that she can't answer, so many things she can't talk about.

This story was riveting and intense. The cover really captured my attention and the story of Amy's survival is one I will not forget. This was a wonderful read!

I received an Advance Reader Copy of this book from First to Read and am voluntarily reviewing it.

Purchase Amy Chelsea Stacie Dee

Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About the author

Mary G. Thompson was raised in Cottage Grove and Eugene, Oregon. She was a practicing attorney for more than 7 years, including almost 5 years in the U.S. Navy. She graduated from The New School's Writing for Children program in 2012 and is now a law librarian in Washington, DC. Find her on the web at http://marygthompson.com.

Connect with Mary

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With Love from the Inside by Angela Pisel ~ My Thoughts

With Love from the Inside

With Love from the Inside by Angela Pisel
Print and e-book, 320 pages
Published: August 9th 2016 by G.P. Putnam's Sons

Angela Pisel’s poignant debut explores the complex relationship between a mother and a daughter, and their quest to discover the truth and whether or not love can prevail—even from behind bars.

Grace Bradshaw knows the exact minute she will die. On death row for murdering her infant son, her last breath will be taken on February 15 at 12:01 a.m. Eleven years, five months, and twenty-seven days separate her from the last time she heard her precious daughter’s voice and the final moment she’d heard anyone call her Mom. Out of appeals, she can focus on only one thing—reconnecting with her daughter and making sure she knows the truth.

Secrets lurk behind Sophie Logan’s big house and even bigger bank account. Every day when she kisses her husband good-bye, she worries her fabricated life is about to come crumbling down. No one knows the unforgivable things her mother did to tear her family apart—not her husband, who is a prominent plastic surgeon, or her “synthetic” friends who live in her upscale neighborhood.

Grace’s looming execution date forces Sophie to revisit the traumatic events that haunted her childhood. When she returns to her hometown, she discovers new evidence about her baby brother William’s death seventeen years ago—proof that might set her mother free but shatter her marriage forever.

Sophie must quickly decide if her mother is the monster the prosecutor made her out to be or the loving mother she remembers—the one who painted her toenails glittery pink and plastered Post-it notes with inspiring quotes (“100 percent failure rate if you don't try”) all over Sophie’s bathroom mirror—before their time runs out.

My thoughts about With Love from the Inside ~~

(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 police took 'normal' away from me the moment they came rushing into William's hospital room. They dragged me from his crib while my helpless baby lay hooked up in his crib, struggling to breathe, needing his mother. I have been to doctor after doctor, but no one would listen to me when I tried to tell them something wasn't right.'

This book grabbed me from the very first chapter and I found myself not wanting to put it down. I was torn between the life Grace was living now, life on death row with other murderers and the life she lead before, as a loving wife and mother. How can this be the same person? Is she really the monster that everyone says she is?

And then there is Sophie, Grace's daughter. She is leading a secret life, so ashamed of the mother who she thought loved her. No one can know that her mom is a baby killer, not even her husband. With Love From the Inside was a story that quickly captured my attention and I devoured it. I can't wait to read more from Angela Pisel.

Thank you to First to Read for a copy of With Love from the Inside in exchange for my honest opinion.

About the Author

I love to write. When I don’t have my laptop or iPhone in front of me, I transcribe the pages of my day-to-day existence in dramatic detail that I (usually) keep confined to the few inches that live between the sides of my mostly straightened hair.

I decided to write my first novel after my obsession with TV trials led me to research women on death row. I didn’t find what I thought I’d find—how people end up where they end up continues to mesmerize me.

I was born in the Midwest, but have set up homes across the country after marrying my love who happened to be an Army physician. We have chosen to call North Carolina home.

The word I hear the most and adore more than any other is “MOM.” I have four kids who have the extraordinary gift of making me giggle, sniffle, cover my ears, and melt my heart all while attempting to get through our evening meal. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Connect with Angela

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Falling by Jane Green ~ My Thoughts

Falling

Falling by Jane Green
Print and e-book, 384 pages
Expected publication: July 19th 2016 by Berkley

The New York Times bestselling author of The Beach House, Jemima J, and Summer Secrets presents a novel about the pleasure and meaning of finding a home—and family—where you least expect them...

When Emma Montague left the strict confines of upper-crust British life for New York, she felt sure it would make her happy. Away from her parents and expectations, she felt liberated, throwing herself into Manhattan life replete with a high-paying job, a gorgeous apartment, and a string of successful boyfriends. But the cutthroat world of finance and relentless pursuit of more began to take its toll. This wasn’t the life she wanted either.

On the move again, Emma settles in the picturesque waterfront town of Westport, Connecticut, a world apart from both England and Manhattan. It is here that she begins to confront what it is she really wants from her life. With no job, and knowing only one person in town, she channels her passion for creating beautiful spaces into remaking the dilapidated cottage she rents from Dominic, a local handyman who lives next door with his six-year-old son.

Unlike any man Emma has ever known, Dominic is confident, grounded, and committed to being present for his son whose mother fled shortly after he was born. They become friends, and slowly much more, as Emma finds herself feeling at home in a way she never has before.

But just as they start to imagine a life together as a family, fate intervenes in the most shocking of ways. For the first time, Emma has to stay and fight for what she loves, for the truth she has discovered about herself, or risk losing it all.

In a novel of changing seasons, shifting lives, and selfless love, a story unfolds—of one woman’s far-reaching journey to discover who she is truly meant to be…

My thoughts about Falling ~~

(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 lovely," she lies, in her most gracious of voices, looking around at the tired wood panelling lining the walls of the living room, floor to ceiling. As she looks down, her gaze lands on well-worn salmon-pink shagpile carpeting and she quickly conceals her horror.' 

Once again, I have found another author that I had not read before but when I got done with her book, I had another 'must-read' author to add to my list. Falling is a fabulous story that enchanted me from the very beginning.

I immediately loved Emma for her independence and her desire to leave the fast life of New York as she completely uproots herself and starts a new, slower paced life on the beach. And as she and her landlord, who is also her neighbor, a single father who's not too bad looking, strike up a friendship, her life just gets all the more interesting.

Falling drew me in from the get-go and I loved it. This is a book that I did not want to put down and I did not want to end. And there were plenty of twists and turns that I was not expecting, that kept me reading. I was so completely wrapped in everyone's lives that sometimes it became a very emotional read, but I loved every minute of it!

I received a copy of this book from First to Read in exchange for my honest opinion.

About the Author

Jane Green's eighteenth novel, Falling, is soon to be released with Berkley/Penguin; she is the author of sixteen previous New York Times Bestselling novels, and known as one of the world's leading authors in women's fiction, with over ten million books in print, and translations in over 25 languages.

Previous novels have included The Beach House, Second Chance, Jemima J, and Tempting Fate.

She joined the ABC News team to write their first enhanced digital book— about the history of Royal marriages, then joined ABC News as a live correspondent covering Prince William’s wedding to Kate Middleton.

A former journalist in the UK, she has had her own radio show on BBC Radio London, and is a regular contributor on radio and TV, including as well as regularly appearing on television shows including Good Morning America, The Martha Stewart show, and The Today Show.

Together with writing books and blogs, she contributes to various publications, both online and print, including anthologies and novellas, and features for The Huffington Post, The Sunday Times, Cosmopolitan and Self. She has taught at writers conferences, and does regular keynote speaking, and has a weekly column in The Lady magazine, England’s longest running weekly magazine.

A graduate of the French Culinary Institute in New York, Green is bringing out her first cookbook: Good Taste , with Berkley in October 2016.

She is a storyteller for The Moth radio hour on NPR, and lives in Westport, Connecticut with her husband and their blended family. When she is not writing, cooking, gardening, filling her house with friends and herding chickens, she is usually thanking the Lord for caffeine-filled energy drinks.

A cancer survivor, she continues to raise awareness for Malignant Melanoma, Hashimoto's Disease, and Lyme Disease.

Connect with Jane

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Release Day: Sunshine Beach by Wendy Wax ~ My Thoughts

Happy Release Day!

Sunshine Beach

Sunshine Beach (Ten Beach Road #4) by Wendy Wax 
Series: Ten Beach Road #4
Print and e-book, 432 pages
Published: June 21st 2016 by Berkley

In this brand-new summer read by the USA Today bestselling author of The House on Mermaid Point, three women join forces to bring a historic seaside hotel back to life…

There’s nothing that a fresh coat of paint and a few glasses of wine can’t fix…

After losing their life savings in a Ponzi scheme, Maddie, Avery, and Nikki have banded together to make the most of what they have left, using their determination, ingenuity, guts, and a large dose of elbow grease. It’s Maddie’s daughter Kyra who stumbles across a once glorious beachfront hotel that has fallen into disrepair. The opportunity to renovate this seaside jewel is too good to pass up—especially when they come up with the idea of shooting their own independent television show about the restoration. What could possibly go wrong?

Everything. With the cameras rolling, Maddie’s second-chance romance with her all-too-famous new boyfriend gets complicated, Avery struggles with grief over the loss of her mother, and Nikki’s reluctance to commit to the man who loves her could leave her to face the biggest challenge of her life. Even the hotel seems to be against them, when their renovation uncovers a decades-old unsolved murder which just might bring their lives tumbling down all over again…

My thoughts about Sunshine Beach ~~

(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—'She climbed onto the diving board and waited until she has an audience. Waited for the fathers to look up from their newspapers. The mothers to stop fingering the smooth ivory mah-jongg tiles.'

I have been wanting to read the Ten Beach Road series for quite awhile. When I saw Sunshine Beach, book number 4, offered I jumped at the chance to read it. Even though it was book four and I am one who likes to read books in a series in order, I really enjoyed this look at the lives of Maddie, Avery, Nikki, and Kyra.

I have to admit that it took me a few pages to warm up to some of the characters, just because I was lacking some of the backstories that made them who they are. But once I was able to understand how all the characters related to each other, I found myself completely engaged in the story.

Now that I have spent some time in the Ten Beach Road world, I will be looking forward to another trip back. I need to go back and start with book #1 so I can really connect with these four fabulous women.

I received a copy of this book from First to Read in exchange for my honest opinion. 

About the author

I write novels that explore friendship, self-discovery and the challenges life brings us, leavened with a touch of humor. I'm proud of all my books and perhaps best known for my "Ten Beach Road" titles including the USA Today bestsellers, Ten Beach Road and The House on Mermaid Point, and for While We Were Watching Downton Abbey.

I was born in St.Petersburg, Florida and grew up on St. Pete Beach within spitting distance of the Gulf of Mexico. I went, appropriately enough, to Sunshine Elementary School where recess and art class sometimes took place on the beach, and the highlight of every school year was the annual fish broil.

It’s hard to be a type-A personality when you grow up in such a laid back environment, but I managed. Convinced that you were expected to know how to read BEFORE you showed up for school, I forced a neighbor friend to teach me to read at the age of five. I’ve been reading ever since.

Books, in all forms, are one of my greatest pleasures and best forms of escape. And they’ve had a major impact on my life.

I went to the University of Georgia after reading Gone with the Wind one too many times. For a while I re-read Margaret Mitchell’s classic yearly, saw the movie whenever it played within twenty miles, and could quote large passages from memory. Today I have a growing GWTW collection, and the time I spoke at the Margaret Mitchell House was an incredible thrill.last

After college I worked in radio, television, and film. Like Olivia in 7 DAYS AND SEVEN NIGHTS, I’ve done live talk radio. I hosted a show in the eighties called Desperate & Dateless, and while I was never locked in an apartment for a week with a webcam rolling as she was, I did fall in love. Happily, the man who swept me off my feet consults with financial types and understands the bottom line. Unlike Olivia’s nemesis, Matt Ransom, my husband has never, to my knowledge, advised anyone to ‘love the one they’re with.’ We live in Atlanta with our two sons.

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Release Day: Flight Patterns by Karen White and My Thoughts

Happy Release Day!

Flight Patterns

Flight Patterns by Karen White

Hardcover and e-book, 416 pages

Published: May 24th 2016 by NAL

The New York Times bestselling author of The Sound of Glass and coauthor of The Forgotten Room tells the story of a woman coming home to the family she left behind—and to the woman she always wanted to be...

Georgia Chambers has spent her life sifting through other people’s pasts while trying to forget her own. But then her work as an expert of fine china—especially of Limoges—requires her to return to the one place she swore she’d never revisit...

It’s been ten years since Georgia left her family home on the coast of Florida, and nothing much has changed, except that there are fewer oysters and more tourists. She finds solace seeing her grandfather still toiling away in the apiary where she spent much of her childhood, but encountering her estranged mother and sister leaves her rattled.

Seeing them after all this time makes Georgia realize that something has been missing—and unless she finds a way to heal these rifts, she will forever be living vicariously through other people’s remnants. To embrace her own life—mistakes and all—she will have to find the courage to confront the ghosts of her past and the secrets she was forced to keep...

My thoughts about Flight Patterns ~~

(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—'Dead bees fell from the bruised dusk sky, their papery bodies somersaulting in the air, ricocheting like spent shells off the azure-painted roof of the hive.'

I love this first sentence. It is so descriptive and beautiful. I knew as soon as I read it that this was going to be a wonderfully written story that was going to capture my heart. There were so many more beautiful passages all though the book and I could see and feel so much as I was reading the author's words.

Flight Patterns is a wonderful in-depth look at a family just trying to survive their dysfunction. Georgia just needs to take a trip back home to look for a piece of china for a client. It's only going to be a quick trip and then she will leave again, just like she did ten years ago. She is not interested in mending her broken relationship with her sister. Well, things don't always work out like one plans or wants. And it is amazing how important that piece of china is to everyone and everything.

The author does an excellent job of weaving all of the storylines together as everyone tries to figure out how everything is connected. The characters are forced to take a look at their lives and to decide what and who is important.

I love how the information about the bees and beekeeping is interwoven with the character's lives. There is so much we can learn from the habits of the bees. I have a very good friend who works for a honey farm so this story all about bees, earned a special place in my heart. I can't wait to share this story with her.

Flight Patterns is the first Karen White book that I have read and I truly loved it. I loved the bees, the characters, and the complexity of the story. I especially loved her beautiful writing which kept me wanting to read more. I will definitely be reading more of her work. 

I received a copy of this e-book from First to Read in exchange for my honest opinion.

About the author

After playing hooky one day in the seventh grade to read Gone With the Wind, Karen White knew she wanted to be a writer—or become Scarlett O'Hara. In spite of these aspirations, Karen pursued a degree in business and graduated cum laude with a BS in Management from Tulane University. Ten years later, after leaving the business world, she fulfilled her dream of becoming a writer and wrote her first book. In the Shadow of the Moon was published in August, 2000.  Her books have since been nominated for numerous national contests including the SIBA (Southeastern Booksellers Alliance) Fiction Book of the Year, and has twice won the National Readers’ Choice Award.

Karen is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author and currently writes what she refers to as ‘grit lit’—Southern women’s fiction—and has also expanded her horizons into writing a mystery series set in Charleston, South Carolina. Her nineteenth novel, The Sound of Glass, was published in May 2015 by New American Library, a division of PenguinRandomHouse Publishing Group.

Karen hails from a long line of Southerners but spent most of her growing up years in London, England and is a graduate of the American School in London. When not writing, she spends her time reading, scrapbooking, playing piano, and avoiding cooking.  She currently lives near Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and two children, and two spoiled Havanese dogs.

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I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh ~ My Thoughts

I Let You Go

I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh
Kindle Edition, 385 pages
Published November 6th 2014 by Sphere

A tragic accident. It all happened so quickly. She couldn't have prevented it. Could she?

In a split second, Jenna Gray's world descends into a nightmare. Her only hope of moving on is to walk away from everything she knows to start afresh. Desperate to escape, Jenna moves to a remote cottage on the Welsh coast, but she is haunted by her fears, her grief and her memories of a cruel November night that changed her life forever.

Slowly, Jenna begins to glimpse the potential for happiness in her future. But her past is about to catch up with her, and the consequences will be devastating . . .

My thoughts about I Let You Go ~~

(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 from the prologue—"The Wind flicks wet hair across her face, and she screws up her eyes against the rain. Weather like this makes everyone hurry; scurrying past on slippery pavements with chins buried in collars."

The prologue of this book grabbed me and I needed to keep reading. The worst thing that could happen to a mother happens to this woman. How can she go on?

I Let You Go is an amazing and intense story which I thoroughly enjoyed. There were twists and turns that I did not expect. I remember gasping out loud in surprise at several points in the story. The characters did things I was totally not prepared for and that completely caught me off guard. People and things were not who and what you thought they were going to be.

This is a fabulous story that will keep your attention and you just want the good guys to win. Clare Mackintosh is a new writer to me but I know I will enjoy anything else she writes. I can't wait to read more.

I received a copy of this from First to Read in exchange for my honest opinion.

About the author

Clare Mackintosh spent twelve years in the police force, including time on CID, and as a public order commander. She left the police in 2011 to work as a freelance journalist and social media consultant, and now writes full time.

Clare’s debut novel, I Let You Go, was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller for 12 weeks, and was the fastest selling title by a new crime writer in 2015. It was selected for both the Richard and Judy Book Club and ITV’s Loose Women’s ‘Loose Books’, and has been translated into almost 30 languages. It has sold more than 500,000 copies to date.

Clare’s next book, I See You, will be published in July 2016.

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