Release Day! When the Time Is Right by Kim Cano ~ My Thoughts and a #Giveaway! #WhenTheTimeIsRight

Happy Release Day!!

Congrats Kim

on the release today of

When the Time Is Right!

When the Time Is Right by Kim Cano

Print and e-book, 219 pages

Published September 14th 2020 by Kim Cano

A bond so strong that the gate to Rainbow Bridge can't hold it back.

As veterinarian Michelle Catalano helps other people's ailing animals earn their angel wings, she tries not to think about the empty cat perch in her own home. Or the empty side of her bed, grown cold since her boyfriend left town.

Then a pet psychic's uncannily accurate reading leaves Michelle with more questions than the answers she thought were set in stone. And warnings so dark, she wishes she still had her cat at her side to cuddle the fear away.

When a brutal murder devastates Michelle and her family, the detective working the case is her only anchor. And soon, she's turning to Bruce for the comfort that could heal her broken heart.

But there are too many unanswered questions about the killer, causing Michelle to secretly investigate on her own. Will Michelle's search for answers spell her doom, or deliver help from the animal afterlife above? 

My thoughts about When the Time Is Right ~~

(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 sound of rain gently tapping the window kept Dr. Michelle Catalano company as she wrote the eulogy for the Border Collie she had put to sleep earlier that day."

This story captured my heart from the first chapter. Dr. Michelle is a compassionate veterinarian who helps animals and their humans as the beloved pet transitions to Rainbow Bridge. That is always a hard thing to go through and this is a wonderful service to provide. She loves her animals.

And then the unthinkable happens. The drama and pain that Michelle had to endure drew me further into the story until I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Her life is a roller-coaster ride as the ups and downs of her search for answers keeps her motivated to move forward. 

Kim Cano is a new-to-me author but I loved the twists and turns of this story as well as the love and compassion shown to animals that is apparent throughout the whole book. This is a dramatic, emotional, engaging story while still be being beautiful and heart-warming. I'm definitely going to be checking out more of her stories! 

I received a copy of When the Time Is Right from the author and this is my honest opinion.

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Scroll down and enter the giveaway for a print copy of this touching, amazing book! 

About the author

Kim Cano is the author of five women's fiction novels: A Widow Redefined, On the Inside, Eighty and Out, His Secret Life, and When the Time Is Right. Kim has also written a short story collection called For Animal Lovers. 10% of the sale price of that book is donated to the ASPCA® to help homeless pets.

Kim's novelette, The Rescue, is available for free on her website. ~ Goodreads

Connect with Kim

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Kim has graciously offered a print copy of her book for a giveaway!

Thank you so much, Kim!!

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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? September 14, 2020

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

Happy reading!

Take care. Stay safe and healthy everyone. 

And remember to wash those hands!!

What I'm currently reading

The Book of Two Ways
by Jodi Picoult
Pub date 9/22

The Unfinished Garden
by Barbara Claypole White
Narrated by Ana Clements and Paul Heitsch

What I recently finished

Anxious People
by Fredrik Backman

Don't Look for Me

by Wendy Walker
Pub date 9/15

What I am going to read next

I have no idea! We are leaving today for a week's vacation in The Black Hills. I'm taking a stack of print books and my loaded Kindle. I'm just going to read whatever grabs my fancy.

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Book Spotlight #Giveaway! Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen #LostLake

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

I really love Sarah's stories and this is another great one. You can read my thoughts here.

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

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Lost Lake

Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen 
Paperback, 352 pages
Published May 30th 2017 by St. Martin's Paperbacks

From the author of the beloved bestseller Garden Spells comes a beautiful, haunting story of old loves and new, and the power of the connections that bind us forever...

The first time Eby Pim saw Lost Lake, it was on a picture postcard. Just an old photo and a few words on a small square of heavy stock, but when she saw it, she knew she was seeing her future.

That was half a life ago. Now Lost Lake is about to slip into Eby's past. Her husband George is long passed. Most of her demanding extended family are gone. All that's left is a once-charming collection of lakeside cabins succumbing to the Southern Georgia heat and damp, and an assortment of faithful misfits drawn back to Lost Lake year after year by their own unspoken dreams and desires.

It's a lot, but not enough to keep Eby from relinquishing Lost Lake to a developer with cash in hand, and calling this her final summer at the lake. Until one last chance at family knocks on her door.

About the author

New York Times Bestselling novelist Sarah Addison Allen brings the full flavor of her southern upbringing to bear on her fiction -- a captivating blend of magical realism, heartwarming romance, and small-town sensibility.

Born and raised in Asheville, North Carolina, in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Allen grew up with a love of books and an appreciation of good food (she credits her journalist father for the former and her mother, a fabulous cook, for the latter). In college, she majored in literature -- because, as she puts it, "I thought it was amazing that I could get a diploma just for reading fiction. It was like being able to major in eating chocolate."

After graduation, Allen began writing seriously. Her big break occurred in 2007 with the publication of her first mainstream novel, Garden Spells, a modern-day fairy tale about an enchanted apple tree and the family of North Carolina women who tend it. Booklist called Allen's accomplished debut "spellbindingly charming." The novel became a Barnes & Noble Recommends selection, and then a New York Times Bestseller.

Allen continues to serve heaping helpings of the fantastic and the familiar in fiction she describes as "Southern-fried magic realism." Clearly, it's a recipe readers are happy to eat up as fast as she can dish it out.

Her published books to date are: Garden Spells (2007), The Sugar Queen (2008), The Girl Who Chased the Moon (2010), The Peach Keeper (2011) and Lost Lake (2014) and First Frost (2015). ~ Goodreads

Connect with Sarah

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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The Paper Daughters of Chinatown by Heather B. Moore ~ My Thoughts #ThePaperDaughtersOfChinatown

The Paper Daughters of Chinatown by Heather B. Moore

Print and e-book, 384 pages
Published September 1st 2020 by Shadow Mountain

Based on true events, The Paper Daughters of Chinatown in a powerful story about a largely unknown chapter in history and the women who emerged as heroes.

In the late nineteenth century, San Francisco is a booming city with a dark side, one in which a powerful underground organization—the criminal tong—buys and sells young Chinese women into prostitution and slavery. These “paper daughters,” so called because fake documents gain them entry to America but leave them without legal identity, generally have no recourse. But the Occidental Mission Home for Girls is one bright spot of hope and help.

Told in alternating chapters, this rich narrative follows the stories of young Donaldina Cameron who works in the mission home, and Mei Lien, a “paper daughter” who thinks she is coming to America for an arranged marriage but instead is sold into a life of shame and despair.

Donaldina, a real-life pioneering advocate for social justice, bravely stands up to corrupt officials and violent gangs, helping to win freedom for thousands of Chinese women. Mei Lien endures heartbreak and betrayal in her search for hope, belonging, and love. Their stories merge in this gripping account of the courage and determination that helped shape a new course of women’s history in America.

My thoughts about The Paper Daughters of Chinatown ~~

(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—"Donaldina Cameron leaned her head against the cool glass of the window as the train slowed to a stop, its whistle mimicking the call of a mournful dove—deep and melancholy—a fitting echo of her life over the past few years."

Although this book was tough to read in spots because of the cruelty some people forced on others, it was a very informative, insightful look at a very real part of our history. The author did an amazing job of giving the reader both the heartaches and the joys in the lives of the paperback daughters.

Based on the true life of Donaldina Cameron, The Paper Daughters of Chinatown is a must-read for anyone interested in the injustices done to Chinese women at that time or in the history of Chinatown in San Francisco in the late nineteenth century. Reading about the hard life that Mei Lien had to endure woven around the wonderful things that Donaldina did for so many women made this a very compelling story.

I received a copy of The Paper Daughters of Chinatown from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

About the author

Heather B. Moore is a USA Today bestselling author of more than fifty publications. Her historical novels and thrillers are written under pen name H.B. Moore. She writes women's fiction, romance and inspirational non-fiction under Heather B. Moore. This can all be confusing, so her kids just call her Mom.

Heather attended Cairo American College in Egypt, the Anglican School of Jerusalem in Israel, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Brigham Young University in Utah. Heather is represented by Dystel, Goderich, and Bourret. ~ Goodreads

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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The Beach Cottage by Joanne DeMaio ~ My Thoughts #TheBeachCottage

The Beach Cottage by Joanne DeMaio
Print and e-book, 118 pages
Published August 16th 2020 by Joanne DeMaio

From New York Times bestselling author Joanne DeMaio comes a love story set at a tucked-away cottage by the sea.

For Mack and Avery Martinelli, the summer is their oyster. They can spend all day on the beach, or not. Cruise the dusty beach roads, or never leave their deck overlooking Long Island Sound. Fill their itinerary with excursions on the Connecticut shore, or while away the hours in a shingled cottage. Every decision this week is theirs to make.

Until it's not. Until life as they know it changes -- and suddenly the Martinellis have to face only each other. Face each other in The Beach Cottage and see what they have, or don't have, between them. 

 

My thoughts about The Beach 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—"'Not too much further', the man driving says as he turns the car off the main drag.' The beach cottage is at the end of that dirt road.'"

What a wonderful surprise to hear Joanne had a unexpected novella that has just been released. I love her stories and couldn't wait to read her new one. 

Like all of Joanne's other novels, The Beach Cottage has a wonderful, relaxing setting and warm, memorable characters. Mack and Avery are ready to spend some glorious time at the beach, celebrating their new life—and then everything changes.

As they struggle to find out what is important in life, the reader gets a close up look at the world we are living in now. The Beach Cottage will make you want to stop and think about what is important to you in your world. 

I received a copy of The Beach Cottage from the author and this is my honest opinion.

About the author

Joanne DeMaio is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary fiction. She enjoys writing about friendship, family, love and choices, while setting her stories in New England towns or by the sea.

Joanne’s books include the New York Times Bestseller Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans, the first in her ongoing and groundbreaking Seaside Saga. These eleven (and counting) novels journey with a group of beach friends, much the way a TV series does, continuing with the same cast of characters and their storylines from book-to-book.

Joanne’s winter novels have also received much acclaim. These heartwarming standalones are set in the same snowy New England town. Snowflakes and Coffee Cakes became a USA Today Bestseller, and has been featured in national magazines and Six Flags theme parks.

In addition, Joanne’s debut novel, Whole Latte Life, won first place in a competition at BookExpo America and was named a Kirkus Reviews Critics’ Pick. Her other novels have appeared in Redbook, First for Women magazine, Southern Living, USA Today and more. ~ Author's website

Connect with Joanne

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram

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