This OR That #Giveaway № 141 ~ Being Anti-Social by Leigh K. Cunningham OR Wrecked by Maria Padian #BeingAntiSocial #Wrecked

  

I have sooooo many books!

The This or That Giveaway! feature that I post every Saturday is a way for me to cull my collection and to share some of the many books I have. I get to clear off some of my shelves to make room for more books and give someone else the chance to enjoy these treasures.

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

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Being Anti-Social

by Leigh K. Cunningham

Paperback ~ May 2012

Mace Evans is single at thirty-eight. When her much unloved older sister, Shannon, declares that Mace is anti-social, she embarks on a journey to understand her condition; whether she was born that way or if it is the accumulation of thirty-eight years of unfortunate encounters with other humans and dogs. 

For reasons unbeknown to Mace, she has an affair with a work colleague, which brings an unexpected end to her perfect marriage. And as if the self-imposed torture and regret is not enough, Mace endures ongoing judgment from her older sister and mother, which further exacerbates already tenuous relationships. 

With support from her four best friends, merlot and pizza, and with guidance from her life coach and mentor, Oscar Wilde, Mace recovers to a degree, but in her quest to understand her anti-social ways, she finds herself wondering about the quality of the fabric that keeps her network of friends intact. 

When Mace's mother is diagnosed with cancer, Mace searches for common ground on which to connect before it is too late. Gold medal winner, 2012 Readers Favorite book awards

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Wrecked

by Maria Padian

Published October 2016

“Outstanding, powerful, and important . . . This is, hands down, one of the best sexual assault reads in YA.”— Book Riot

What really happened at the party that night?

Haley saw Jenny come back to the dorm, shell-shocked.

Richard heard Jordan brag about the cute freshman he hooked up with.

When Jenny accuses Jordan, Jordan claims she’s lying. Haley and Richard, who have just started dating, are pushed to opposite sides of the school’s investigation. Will the truth ever come to light? Reputations, relationships, and whole lives depend on it.

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Release Day! Murder Road by Simone St. James ~ My Thoughts #MurderRoad @BerkleyPub

Happy Release Day!

Congratulations Simone

on the release today of

Murder Road!

Murder Road by Simone St. James

Mystery, Thriller, 352 pages

Published March 5, 2024 by Berkley

A young couple find themselves haunted by a string of gruesome murders committed along an old deserted road in this terrifying new novel.

July 1995. April and Eddie have taken a wrong turn. They’re looking for the small resort town where they plan to spend their honeymoon. When they spot what appears to a lone hitchhiker along the deserted road, they stop to help. But not long after the hitchhiker gets into their car, they see the blood seeping from her jacket and a truck barreling down Atticus Line after them.

When the hitchhiker dies at the local hospital, April and Eddie find themselves in the crosshairs of the Coldlake Falls police. Unexplained murders have been happening along Atticus Line for years and the cops finally have two witnesses who easily become their only suspects. As April and Eddie start to dig into the history of the town and that horrible stretch of road to clear their names, they soon learn that there is something supernatural at work, something that could not only tear the town and its dark secrets apart, but take April and Eddie down with it all.

    

My thoughts about Murder Road ~~

(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—"That July night seemed full of possibilities, with the empty highway stretching out before us."

Do you have any authors that you'll read without even knowing what the story is about, like just give me the book, I know I'm going to be thoroughly entertained? Simone St. James is one of those authors for me. Since I first discovered her books, I have absolutely loved the weird, spooky, creepy rides that she takes me on. And I love each new book more than the previous one. How does she do that? I totally devour each and every one of her stories!

Murder Road is an exciting, breathtaking thriller with the right amount of supernatural happenings, things that could, maybe, really occur... maybe. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time and totally loved everything about it. The twist that ties it all together is mind-blowing. 

I highly recommend Murder Road but be prepared to spend some time with April and Eddie because you won't be able to rest until they do. 

I received a copy of Murder Road from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

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About the author

Simone St. James is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Book of Cold Cases, The Sun Down Motel, The Broken Girls and The Haunting of Maddy Clare, which won two RITA awards from Romance Writers of America and an Arthur Ellis Award from Crime Writers of Canada. She wrote her first ghost story, about a haunted library, when she was in high school, and spent twenty years behind the scenes in the television business before leaving to write full-time. 

She lives outside Toronto, Canada with her husband and a spoiled cat.

Connect with Simone

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram

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Release Day! Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering ~ My Thoughts #ByeBaby @carolatlovering @StMartinsPress

Happy Release Day!

Congratulations Carola

on the release today of

Bye, Baby!

Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering

Mystery Thriller, 344 pages

Published March 5, 2024 by St. Martin's Press

A missing baby. A fraught friendship. A secret that can never be told.

On a brisk fall night in a New York apartment, 35-year-old Billie West hears terrified screams. It's her lifelong best friend Cassie Barnwell, one floor above, and she's just realized her infant daughter has gone missing. Billie is shaken as she looks down into her own arms to see the baby, remembering—with a jolt of fear—that she is responsible for the kidnapping that has instantly shattered Cassie’s world.

So begins the story of Billie and Cassie's friendship--both in recent weeks, and since they met twenty-three years ago, in their small Hudson Valley hometown the summer before seventh grade. Once fiercely bonded by their secrets, including a traumatic, unspeakable incident in high school, Cassie and Billie have drifted apart in adulthood, no longer the inseparable pair they used to be. Cassie is married to a wealthy man, has recently become a mother, and is building a following as a fashion and lifestyle influencer. She is desperate to leave her past behind--including Billie, who is single and childless, and no longer fits into her world. Hurt and rejected by Cassie’s new priorities, Billie will do anything to restore their friendship, even as she hides the truth about what really happened the night the baby was taken.

Told in alternating perspectives in Lovering’s signature suspenseful style, Bye Baby confronts the myriad ways friendships change and evolve over time, the lingering echoes of childhood trauma, and the impact of women’s choices on their lifelong relationships.

      

My thoughts about Bye, Baby ~~

(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 baby stops fussing, settling into my arms like a sleepy puppy. The soft weight of her."

This book made me feel so many emotions. I loved the friendship that Billie and Cassie had when they were young, with each of them having each other's backs as they went through tough things. And then the adult versions of themselves, not so much. I got so frustrated with both of them, sabotaging their deep friendship. How could they do that to each other?

I won't go any further into the story because I don't want to give anything away but..... seriously? I had to keep going to see what was going to happen next. And I'm glad I did, but oh what a ride to get there. 

Like other books of Ms. Lovering's that I have read, this one had me on the edge of me seat, feeling it all, and racing to the end. Bye, Baby is an exciting and riveting thriller that I highly recommend.

I received a copy of Bye, Baby from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

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About the author

Carola Lovering is the author of Tell Me Lies, Too Good to Be True, Can’t Look Away, and the forthcoming Bye, Baby. She is a graduate of Colorado College, and her work has appeared in Vogue, The Cut, Marie Claire, W Magazine, National Geographic, and Yoga Journal, among other publications. Her novel, Tell Me Lies, has been adapted into a television series for Hulu. 

She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two young children.

Connect with Carola

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | Twitter

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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? March 4, 2024 #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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Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week. 

Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading

Everyone Is Watching

by Heather Gudenkauf

eARC from NetGalley

How Lucky You Are

by Kristyn Kusek Lewis

print from my collection for a challenge

Published January 2012

Next Girl to Die

(The Calderwood Cases #1)

by Dea Poirier

audio-book from my collection

Published May 2019

What I recently finished

The Trail of Lost Hearts

by Tracey Garvis Graves

eARC from NetGalley

Pub date ~ March 26

Bye, Baby

by Carola Lovering

eARC from NetGalley

Pub date ~ March 5, 2024

Barriers to Entry

(Blaze Collection)

by Ariel Lawhon

audio-book from my collection

Published February 22,2024

House on Fire

by D. Liebhart

audiobook from my collection

Published April 2023

What I am going to read next

The Liars

(The Seaside Saga #20)

Joanne DeMaio

e-book from author

Published March 4, 2024

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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This OR That #Giveaway № 140 ~ For Internal Use Only by Cari Kamm OR I Know You're There by Susan Allison-Dean #ForInternalUseOnly #IKnowYoureThere

 

I have sooooo many books!

The This or That Giveaway! feature that I post every Saturday is a way for me to cull my collection and to share some of the many books I have. I get to clear off some of my shelves to make room for more books and give someone else the chance to enjoy these treasures.

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

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

For Internal Use Only

by Cari Kamm

Paperback ~ February 2013

Chloe Kassidy has just been accepted into one of Manhattan’s most exclusive art exhibits, Love Through Light. However, with her singular dedication to her career, she soon realizes that in sacrificing her personal life, she has never been in love. A hopeless romantic who is terrified of heartbreak, Chloe begins to enlist the help of her circle of friends to learn about love through their very different stories and experiences.

In Chloe’s emotional rollercoaster to having the greatest love story ever told, she’ll learn that like her photography she must use the negatives in life to develop and prove that she’s a strong woman who found her way to love through light.

Inspired by the notion that women grow up with ideas of true love and destiny, For Internal Use Only approaches those ideas with a decidedly twenty-first century viewpoint. A humorous love story with an edgy and dramatic twist, For Internal Use Only is a vastly entertaining novel that gives each of us a new fairy tale to look forward to: our own.

Read my thoughts here

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I Know You're There

(I Know You're There #1)

by Susan Allison-Dean

Paperback ~ Published April 2013

Jill Bradley is a 24-year-old nurse whose life is going great; she’s established herself in her new career, and she’s looking forward to getting engaged to her high school sweet heart. When life’s tide changes and she is bombarded by tragedy, loss, and betrayal all at once, she can no longer cope. In a moment of despair, she books a trip to a Caribbean island in an effort to escape her problems. She finds respite and romance, but her problems have also packed their own suitcase.

Helen Bradley is Jill’s mother. Like many mothers of her time, she has dedicated her life to her life to her family. Despite her best efforts, however, she hasn’t always been able to be the type of mother she wished she could be. She has a secret she was hoping would just go away, but it won’t. If she doesn’t share it with her daughter, Jill, it might bring Jill more harm.

I Know You’re There is a mother-daughter journey, celebrating the highs and delving in to the lows of family life. Can the power of love heal all things?

Read my thoughts here

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