This OR That #Giveaway № 70 ~ The Life Before Her Eyes by Laura Kasischke OR An Unfinished Life by Mark Spragg #TheLifeBeforeHerEyes #AnUnfinishedLife

 

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.

So the two books this week have a theme. I didn't plan it that way but it makes sense. Both of these are books that have been made into movies. I've read The Life Before Her Eyes a couple of times and it blew me away. I also watched the movie and loved it. I have not read or watched An Unfinished Life but I'm sure it is amazing. With Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman, and Jennifer Lopez, how can it not be? It's definitely going on my must-watch list.

Good luck and be sure to stop back next week!

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The Life Before Her Eyes
by Laura Kasischke
Paperback ~ Published November 2002

Diana stands before the mirror preening with her best friend, Maureen. Suddenly, a classmate enters holding a gun, and Diana sees her life dance before her eyes. In a moment the future she was just imagining--a doting wife and mother at the age of forty--is sealed by a horrific decision she is forced to make. In prose infused with the dramatically feminine sensuality of spring, we experience seventeen-year-old Diana's uncertain steps into womanhood--her awkward, heated forays into sex; her fresh, fragile construction of an identity. Together with the sights and sounds of renewal, we experience the tasks of Diana's adulthood: protecting her beloved daughter and holding onto her successful husband.

An acclaimed writer and poet, Laura Kasischke has crafted a consciousness that encompasses the truth of a teenager's world and the profound transformation of that world at midlife. Resonant and deeply stirring, The Life Before Her Eyes finds piercing beauty in the midst of a nightmare from long ago that echoes like a dirge beneath each new spring.

Movie Trailer

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An Unfinished Life
by Mark Spragg
Paperback ~ Published June 2006

Jean Gilkyson is living in Iowa with yet another brutal boyfriend when she realises this kind of life has to stop, especially for her nine-year-old daughter, Griff. But the only place they can run to is Ishawooa, Wyoming, where Jean's family are dead and her father-in-law, the only person who could take them in, wishes she was too.

Einar Gilkyson blames Jean for the accident that took his son's life, and has chosen to go on living simply because without him his oldest friend, Mitch, wouldn't survive. Bound together like brothers since the Korean War, the intimacy between the two men has deepened after Mitch was crippled in a bear attack while Einar helplessly watched.

As Einar and Jean struggle with their memories, it is left to spirited and courageous Griff to turn their loss, wrath and recrimination into reconciliation, love, and, most importantly, a new life. 

Movie Trailer

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The Bodyguard by Katherine Center ~ My Thoughts #TheBodyguard #NetGalley @katherinecenter @StMartinsPress

Congrats Katherine

on the release of

The Bodyguard!

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center

Contemporary Women Fiction, 320 pages

Published July 19, 2022 by St. Martin's Press

She’s got his back.

Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she’s an Executive Protection Agent (aka "bodyguard"), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker.

He’s got her heart.

Jack Stapleton’s a household name—captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid.

They’ve got a secret.

When Jack’s mom gets sick, he comes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah—against her will and her better judgment—finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex, like a jerk, says no one will believe it.

What could possibly go wrong???

Hannah hardly believes it, herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it’s easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done.

My thoughts about The Bodyguard ~~

(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—"My mother's dying wish was for me to take a vacation."

Once again, Ms. Center has created a delightful world full of great characters, fun and interesting situations, and the right amount of chemistry to keep the reader turning the pages. I thoroughly enjoyed the tension, sexual and otherwise, between Hannah and Jack and I was totally immersed in their drama. 

The Bodyguard is a book you can lose yourself in to escape the real world for a bit. I loved it as I have loved all of Ms. Center's books. And now... I have to wait for her next one. That is always so hard. But seriously, I know you will love this book too! 

I received an ARC of  The Bodyguard from the publisher via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion of the book.

About the author

BookPage calls Katherine Center “the reigning queen of comfort reads.” She's the New York Times bestselling author of eight books, including How to Walk Away, Things You Save in a Fire, and What You Wish For. Her summer 2022 book is The Bodyguard. The movie adaptation of her novel The Lost Husband (starring Josh Duhamel) hit #1 on Netflix, and her novel Happiness for Beginners is in production as a Netflix original movie (starring Ellie Kemper and Luke Grimes) right now. 

Katherine writes laugh-and-cry books about how life knocks us down—and how we get back up. She’s been compared to both Jane Austen and Nora Ephron, and the Dallas Morning News calls her stories, “satisfying in the most soul-nourishing way.” Her books have made countless Best-Of lists, including RealSimple’s Best Books of 2020, Amazon's Top 100 Books of 2019, Goodreads' Best Books of the Year, the Indie Next Great Reads List, and many more. 

Katherine lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas, with her husband, two kids, and their fluffy-but-fierce dog.

Connect with Katherine

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Instagram

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It's Monday! What Are You Reading? ~ August 15, 2022 #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

The Secrets We Hide

by Patricia Sands

Pub date August 25, 2022

A Wild Rose

(A Point in Time #5)

by Fiona Davis

Narrated by Lisa Flanagan

What I recently finished

Please Join Us

by Catherine McKenzie

Pub date August 23

The Goodbye

(The Seaside Saga #16)

by Joanne DeMaio

We Are Bone and Earth

(A Point in Time #4)

by Esi Edugyan

Narrated by Liz Femi 

Landing

(A Point in Time #3)

by Olivia Hawker

Narrated by Scott Lange

Ash Wednesday

(A Point in Time #2)

by Paula McLain

Narrated by Malcolm Hillgartner

What I am going to read next

Daisy Darker

by Alice Feeney

Pub date August 20

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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This OR That #Giveaway № 69 ~ Faithless in Death by J.D. Robb OR Riding Shotgun by Rita Mae Brown #FaithlessInDeath #RidingShotgun

 

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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Faithless in Death

(In Death #52)

by J.D. Robb

Hardcover ~ Published February 2021

In the new Eve Dallas police thriller from #1 New York Times-bestselling author J. D. Robb, what looked like a lover's quarrel turned fatal has larger--and more terrifying--motives behind it...

The scene in the West Village studio appears to be classic crime-of-passion: two wine glasses by the bed, music playing, and a young sculptor named Ariel Byrd with the back of her head bashed in. But when Dallas tracks down the wealthy Upper East Side woman who called 911, the details don't add up. Gwen Huffman is wealthy, elegant, comforted by her handsome fiancé as she sheds tears over the trauma of finding the body--but why did it take an hour to report it? And why is she lying about little things?

As Eve and her team look into Gwen, her past, and the people around her, they find that the lies are about more than murder. As with sculpture, they need to chip away at the layers of deception to find the shape within--and soon they're getting the FBI involved in a case that involves a sinister, fanatical group and a stunning criminal conspiracy.

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Riding Shotgun

by Rita Mae Brown

Hardcover ~ Published May 1997

The author of Venus Envy takes you on a riotous ride back to one woman's future...

In a delightful contemporary farce with a riotous twist, Rita Mae Brown welcomes you to Virginia's horse country, where a fox hunt is about to lead a 1990s woman, Cig Blackwood, into a 1690s adventure of the heart.  Infidelity, single motherhood, family betrayal, and the thrill of the hunt (in many varieties) are hilariously and poignantly played out in this captivating novel of time travel and self-discovery. 

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New Release! Stay Awake by Megan Goldin ~ My Thoughts #StayAwake @StMartinsPress

Congrats Megan

on the recent release of

Stay Awake!

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin 

Psychological Thrillers, 352 pages

Published August 9, 2022 by St. Martin's Press

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a taxi with no idea where she is or how she got there. When she’s dropped off at the door of her brownstone, a stranger answers—a stranger who now lives in her apartment and forces her out in the cold. She reaches for her phone to call for help, only to discover it’s missing, and in its place is a bloodstained knife. That’s when she sees that her hands are covered in black pen, scribbled messages like graffiti on her skin: STAY AWAKE.

Two years ago, Liv was living with her best friend, dating a new man, and thriving as a successful writer for a trendy magazine. Now, she’s lost and disoriented in a New York City that looks nothing like what she remembers. Catching a glimpse of the local news, she’s horrified to see reports of a crime scene where the victim’s blood has been used to scrawl a message across a window, the same message that’s inked on her hands. What did she do last night? And why does she remember nothing from the past two years? Liv finds herself on the run for a crime she doesn’t remember committing as she tries to piece together the fragments of her life. But there’s someone who does know exactly what she did, and they’ll do anything to make her forget—permanently.

A complex thriller that unfolds at a breakneck speed, Stay Awake will keep you up all night.

My thoughts about Stay Awake ~~

(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—"Starbursts blink from streetlights like they're sharing a secret as I wake to find myself slumped in the back of a cab, without any recollection of how I got here, or where I'm going."

This story had my attention from the very first sentence. Why does Liv have no memory of the situation that she is in? Of course after that, I had to keep reading. And then the fact that she must stay awake or she loses even more of her memory.  

Stay Awake is a fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat read that you will not want to put down. Can Liv get to the bottom of her trauma before she falls asleep again or will she have to start all over, trying to figure out what is going on? 

I highly recommend Stay Awake! I can honestly say it's one of the best thrillers I've read this year. You'll get sucked in, just like I did, and you are going to love it.

I received Stay Awake from the publisher and this is my honest opinion of the book.

About the author

Megan Goldin is the bestselling author of The Escape Room, praised by Lee Child as "one of my favorite books of the year", as well as The Girl In Kellers Way, a critically-acclaimed domestic noir thriller nominated for Australia's leading crime fiction awards.

Megan worked as a journalist for Reuters, the Australian ABC and Yahoo! News before writing her debut psychological thriller The Girl In Kellers Way.

Connect with Megan

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

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