The Book Bag

Saturday, April 6, 2024

This OR That #Giveaway № 145 ~ The Belonger by Mary Kathleen Mehuron OR Into the Jungle by Erica Ferencik #TheBelonger #IntoTheJungle

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.

As this posts on Saturday, hubs and I are on our way to Phoenix, AZ. We have family there we are going to visit and we're driving from South Dakota, the whole way and back. We plan to be gone about two weeks. So, I have some posts already planned and ready to go but I'm not sure if I'll be posting any This OR That posts while we're gone. I'm not sure how much I'll be on my computer, I plan to enjoy my time away.

Never fear, I'll post more books when I get back for sure.

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The Belonger: A Novel

by Mary Kathleen Mehuron

ARC ~ Published June 2023

Read my thoughts here

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Caribbean-island innkeeper Holly Walker is hunkering down against a monster hurricane. Unfortunately, so is player Lord Anthony Bascombe, a man who excuses his bad behavior by saying he is descended from pirates. Then her grown son, Byron, and his father, Montez—the man she’s never stopped wanting—go missing. Will she ever see them again? What about the many others hurt and dying? And will help ever arrive?

With each passing day, Holly’s tumultuous past and the epic storm send her hurtling toward a shattering climax that will change the island—and Holly’s life—forever.

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Into the Jungle

by Erica Ferencik

ARC ~ Published May 2019

In this pulse-pounding thriller from the author of the “haunting, twisting thrill ride” (Megan Miranda, New York Times bestselling author) The River at Night, a young woman leaves behind everything she knows to take on the Bolivian jungle, but her excursion abroad quickly turns into a fight for her life.

Lily Bushwold thought she’d found the antidote to endless foster care and group homes: a teaching job in Cochabamba, Bolivia. As soon as she could steal enough cash for the plane, she was on it.

When the gig falls through and Lily stays in Bolivia, she finds bonding with other broke, rudderless girls at the local hostel isn’t the life she wants either. Tired of hustling and already world-weary, crazy love finds her in the form she least expected: Omar, a savvy, handsome local man who’d abandoned his life as a hunter in Ayachero—a remote jungle village—to try his hand at city life.

When Omar learns that a jaguar has killed his four-year-old nephew in Ayachero, he gives Lily a choice: Stay alone in the unforgiving city, or travel to the last in a string of ever-more-isolated river towns in the jungles of Bolivia. Thirty-foot anaconda? Puppy-sized spiders? Vengeful shamans with unspeakable powers? Love-struck Lily is oblivious. She follows Omar to this ruthless new world of lawless poachers, bullheaded missionaries, and desperate indigenous tribes driven to the brink of extinction. To survive, Lily must navigate the jungle--its wonders as well as its terrors—using only her wits and resilience.

Primal, gripping, and terrifying, Into the Jungle features Erica Ferencik’s signature “visceral, white-knuckle” (Entertainment Weekly) prose that will sink its fangs into you and not let go.

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Wednesday, April 3, 2024

The Liars by Joanne Demaio ~ My Thoughts #TheLiars @JoanneDeMaio

Congrats Joanne

on the recent release of

The Liars!

The Liars by Joanne DeMaio

Series: The Seaside Saga #20

Women's Saga, 278 pages

Published March 4, 2024 by Joanne DeMaio

From New York Times bestselling author Joanne DeMaio comes The Liars, Book 20 of The Seaside Saga.

Behind every cottage door is a liar. Look past the tended lawns and screened windows open to the sea breeze and dusky porch lights shining on waning summer nights. And listen closely. Are those whispers of swaying marsh grasses? Or hushed secrets floating in the salt air?

Walking the sandy roads, it's hard to tell. There. There's the imposing Barlow cottage on the bluff. Elsa's shingled inn by the sea. The Fenwicks' last-standing cottage on the sand. Cliff's ramshackle beach trailer. Celia's tucked-away guest cottage. And Shane's little rented bungalow. In the New England beach town of Stony Point, some of these weathered cottages hold their secrets well. In others, the lies are beginning to show.

And The Seaside Saga continues.

The Seaside Saga on Goodreads

The Seaside Saga on Amazon

My thoughts about The Liars ~~

(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—"This can't be happening. Celia stands on the craggy step. Wayward blades of dune grass grow wild there. Another twenty steps down in the sea."

I love this series so much. As I sit down with each new book, I know I am going to be treated to another wonderful glimpse into the lives of the people of Stony Point. This story was just was delightful as all of the rest.

The title, The Liars, totally sums up this book to a T. Who knew this world was so full of lies, liars, and secrets? Most of the lies and secrets are for a good reason, but what happens when the lies, and liars, are found out?

This is the 20th book in the series and after twenty books, these characters have become like family to me. I can't wait to get immersed into their lives again.

I highly recommend this series, I've loved every single one of the stories and getting to know all of the characters of this amazing community. If you have not picked up these books yet, you really should. You will come to love this community and these people as much as I do.

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

The Mistake, book #21, is scheduled to be released on

May 13, 2024!

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If new to The Seaside Saga, the reading order is below. Written like an ongoing TV show, it's a revolutionary series following the same tangled group of beach friends from book-to-book.

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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Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Release Day! Molten Death by Leslie Karst ~ My Thoughts #MoltenDeath #LeslieKarst @GoSparkPoint @severnhouse

Happy Release Day!

Congratulations Leslie

on the release today of

Molten Death!

Molten Death by Leslie Karst

(Orchid Isle Mystery)

Mystery, LGBT, 271 pages

Published April 2, 2024 by Severn House

A glimpse of a quickly melting corpse at the foot of a volcano has amateur sleuth and food enthusiast Valerie Corbin shocked. But how can she investigate a murder, when there's no evidence the victim ever existed?

The first Orchid Isle cozy mystery, set in tropical Hilo, Hawai'i, introduces a fun and feisty LGBTQ+ couple who swap surfing lessons for sleuthing sessions!

Retired caterer Valerie Corbin and her wife Kristen have come to the Big Island of Hawai'i to treat themselves to a well-earned tropical vacation. After the recent loss of her brother, Valerie is in sore need of a distraction from her troubles and is looking forward to enjoying the delicious food and vibrant culture the state has to offer.

Early one morning, the couple and their friend - tattooed local boy, Isaac - set out to see an active lava flow, and Valerie is mesmerized by the shape-shifting mass of orange and red creeping over the field of black rock. Spying a boot in the distance, she strides off alone, pondering how it could have gotten there, only to realize to her horror that the boot is still attached to a leg - a leg which is slowly being engulfed by the hot lava.

Valerie's convinced a murder has been committed - but as she's the only witness to the now-vanished corpse, who's going to believe her?

Determined to prove what she saw, and get justice for the unknown victim, Valerie launches her own investigation. But, thrown into a Hawaiian culture far from the luaus and tiki bars of glossy tourist magazines, she soon begins to fear she may be the next one to end up entombed in shiny black rock.

The amiable characters, stunning backdrop and culinary delights make this the perfect cozy of fans who enjoy a tropical vacation with a twisty murder mystery and compelling Hawai'ian culture - paired with an added bonus of recipes of local Hawai'ian dishes!

My thoughts about Molten Death ~~

(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—"This is not what she'd imagined their Hawaiian vacation would be like."

Leslie Karst is a new-to-me author so I didn't really know what to expect when I dove into this book. Set in Hawaii—how can that be anything but wonderful—Valarie sees what she believes to be a leg being engulfed in hot lava. Yikes! She spends a lot of time during the rest of their vacation trying to solve the mystery of who that leg belonged to.

As we are taken along with her and her friends as they try to solve the mystery, we also get a glimpse of the wonderfulness of Hawaii and the fun activities that there are to do there. I felt like I was on vacation with them as well.

I have to admit that I am not really a 'cozy mystery' reader, more a reader of thrillers, so I felt that this was a much slower paced story, with not as much focus on the 'mystery', from what I am used to reading. That's not to take away from this story at all, it just had a different feel to me. I ended up loving the slower pace and the character development and activities that were integrated into the storyline. And I learned a lot about Hawaii and all that it has to offer.

I will definitely be interested in reading more about Valarie and Kristen's life and adventures and will be keeping an eye out for the next installment in the Orchard Isle series. Highly recommend this to all cozy mystery readers.

I received a copy of Molten Death from SparkPoint and this is my honest opinion.

Advanced Praise

“Molten Death is one hot ticket with a gorgeous yet deadly setting, a tenacious amateur sleuth, and a real head scratcher of a mystery. Karst delivers a compelling read that will enlighten, engage, and entertain, leaving readers longing for their next trip to the Orchid Isle.” —Jenn McKinlay, New York Times bestselling author

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About the author

The daughter of a law professor and a potter, Leslie Karst learned early, during family dinner conversations, the value of both careful analysis and the arts—ideal ingredients for a mystery story. Putting this early education to good use, she now writes the Sally Solari Mysteries (Dying for a Taste, A Measure of Murder, Death al Fresco, Murder from Scratch), a culinary series set in Santa Cruz, California.

An ex-lawyer like her sleuth, Leslie also has degrees in English literature and the culinary arts. She now spends her time cooking, singing alto in her local chorus, gardening, cycling, and of course writing. Leslie and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Santa Cruz and Hilo, Hawai‘i.

Connect with Leslie

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads

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Release Day! Daughter of a Promise by Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg ~ Spotlight #DaughterOfAPromise @JeanneBlasberg @shewritespress

Happy Release Day!

Congratulations Jeanne

on the release today of

Daughter of a Promise!

Daughter of a Promise by Jeanne McWilliams Blasberg

Friendship Fiction, 344 pages

Published April 2, 2024 by She Writes Press

Days after graduating from college, Betsabé Ruiz begins her first job on Wall Street, where she plans to save enough money to eventually pursue her dreams of becoming a theatre actress. What she didn’t anticipate was that this job would allow her barely enough free time to sleep or hang out with friends, let alone take acting classes. She didn’t apprehend the magnitude of the wealth that would be swirling about her, either, or how the long hours and close quarters would infuse her professional relationships with intimacy. Still, she does her best to navigate this uncharted territory at work, where she makes an unlikely best friend and develops an unexpected attraction to her boss.

Told in the retrospective as a letter to her unborn son, Daughter of a Promise is a coming-of-age tale in which a naïve Betsabé assumed leaving her past behind was the prerequisite for succeeding as an adult. The wisdom she ultimately passes on to her child, however, is steeped in the very traditions within which her grandmother raised her back in Miami.

A modern retelling of the legend of Bathsheba and David, this novel is a reminder that the biological forces of desire and love are timeless and complicated.

I am currently reading Daughter of a Promise and will be posting my thoughts soon.

Loving it so far!

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About the author

Jeanne Blasberg is an award-winning and bestselling author and essayist. Her novel The Nine (SWP 2019) was honored with the 2019 Foreword Indies Gold Award in Thriller & Suspense and the Gold Medal and Juror’s Choice in the 2019 National Indie Excellence Awards. Eden (SWP 2017), her debut, won the Benjamin Franklin Silver Award for Best New Voice in Fiction and was a finalist for the Sarton Women’s Book Award for Historical Fiction. Her forthcoming novel, Daughter of a Promise (SWP, April 2, 2024) is a modern retelling of the legend of David and Bathsheba, completing the thematic trilogy she began with Eden and The Nine.

Jeanne cochairs the board of the Boston Book Festival and serves on the Executive Committee of GrubStreet, one of the country’s preeminent creative writing centers. Jeanne was named a Southampton Writer’s Conference BookEnds Fellow in April 2021. She reviews contemporary fiction for the New York Journal of Books.

When not in New England, she splits her time between Park City, UT, and growing organic vegetables in Verona, Wisconsin.

Connect with Jeanne

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Twitter

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Monday, April 1, 2024

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? April 1, 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