Review: The Burning Island by Hester Young

  Title: The Burning Island Author: Hester Young Series: Charlie Cates, #3 Published: February 2019, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Format: Hardcover, 416 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  The newest haunting mystery from the beloved author of The Gates of Evangeline, featuring Charlie Cates, a headstrong heroine who must confront her unwanted supernatural gift and bring dark secrets to light if she ever wants to leave the Big Island . . .   …

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Book Spotlight: The Family Next Door by Sally Hepworth — with link to Giveaway!!!

Earlier this week, Sally Hepworth’s book, The Family Next Door, was released in paperback. I read the book when it first came out in hardcover and loved it!!! And I am thrilled to be able to offer one reader a copy of this book (and bonus – it contains a sneak peak of Sally’s upcoming new novel, The Mother-In-Law, due out in April!!!)…But – the giveaway is over on my…

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Review: I Invited Her In by Adele Parks

Title: I Invited Her In Author: Adele Parks Published: February 2019, MIRA Format: ARC Paperback, 432 Source: Publisher Summary:  Imagine the worst thing a friend could ever do.   This is worse.      When Mel receives an unexpected email from her oldest friend Abi, it brings back memories she thought she had buried forever. Their friendship belonged in the past. To those carefree days at university. But Abi is…

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Review: The Beantown Girls by Jane Healey (audio)

Title: The Beantown Girls Author: Jane Healey Narrator: Sarah Mollo-Christiansen Published: February 2019 Brilliance Audio / Lake Union Publishing Length: 11 hours 14 minutes / 366 pages Source: Audio – Brilliance Audio / Print – Paperback via GetRed PR Summary: A novel of love, courage, and danger unfolds as World War II’s brightest heroines—the best of friends—take on the front lines.   1944: Fiona Denning has her entire future planned…

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Review: The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides

Title: The Silent Patient Author: Alex Michaelides Published: February 2019, Celadon Books Format: ARC Paperback, 336 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  Promising to be the debut novel of the season The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive…  Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she…

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Blog Tour & Review: Stalker by Lars Kepler

Title: Stalker Author: Lars Kepler Series: Joona Linna, #5 Published: February 2019, Knopf Publishing Group Format: ARC Paperback, 560 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  The internationally bestselling authors of The Sandman and The Hypnotist return with a terrifying new thriller: Detective Joona Linna–recently returned from compassionate leave–reunites with hypnotist Erik Maria Bark in a search for a seemingly unassailable sadistic killer.    The Swedish National Crime Unit receives a video of…

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Month in Review: January 2019

We have finally come to the end of this month. I don’t know about you, but this January felt like the longest month ever!!! Lucky for me, I had a great month of reading…it was a crazy weather month – we had some cold days, especially this past week and that made for lots of indoor time. There have been lots of good books published already this year and we…

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Book Spotlight & Guest Post: Beach Haven by Tammy L. Grace

Title: Beach Haven Author: Tammy L. Grace Series: Glass Beach Cottage Series, #1 Published: October 2018, Lone Mountain Press Format: Paperback, 259 pages Summary:  A heartbreaking loss. An unexpected inheritance. A chance for a new beginning.   Lily’s no stranger to loss, but her life takes its most tragic turn the day her husband is killed. Unable to escape the memories surrounding her, she jumps at the chance to return…

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Review: As Bright As Heaven by Susan Meissner

Title: As Bright As Heaven Author: Susan Meissner Published: February 2018, Berkley Books Format: Hardcover, 387 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  From the acclaimed author of Secrets of a Charmed Life and A Bridge Across the Ocean comes a new novel set in Philadelphia during the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, which tells the story of a family reborn through loss and love. In 1918, Philadelphia was a city teeming with…

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Review: No Exit by Taylor Adams

Title: No Exit Author: Taylor Adams Published: January 2019, William Morrow Format: Hardcover, 352 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  A brilliant, edgy thriller about four strangers, a blizzard, a kidnapped child, and a determined young woman desperate to unmask and outwit a vicious psychopath.A kidnapped little girl locked in a stranger’s van. No help for miles. What would you do? On her way to Utah to see her dying mother, college…

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Featured Post: Kristy Woodson Harvey’s Peachtree Bluff Series – with a giveaway!!!

I am so excited to help Kristy Woodson Harvey spread the news about her newest book in her Peachtree Bluff series!!! I have adored Kristy’s previous books and will be anxiously waiting until I can get my hands on this next one…Kristy writes from the heart and that definitely comes across in her writing! This is the third book in her beloved Peachtree Bluff series, and let me just tell…

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Review: The Smiling Man by Joseph Knox

Title: The Smiling Man Author: Joseph Knox Series: Aidan Waits, #2 Published: January 2019, Crown Format: ARC Paperback, 384 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  From the bestselling author of Sirens, Detective Aidan Waits is on the hunt to find the identity of The Smiling Man.    Disconnected from his history and careless of his future, Detective Aidan Waits has resigned himself to the night shift. An endless cycle of meaningless emergency…

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Book Spotlight & Giveaway: The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin

Earlier this week, Melanie Benjamin’s latest novel, The Girls in the Picture, was released in paperback with a jazzy new cover, and to help the publishers get the word out, I’m hosting a giveaway! I will be reading this book soon and will be sure to share my review as soon as I do. You can see what others have to say and then be sure to enter the giveaway…

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Review: The Boy by Tami Hoag (audio)

Title: The Boy Author: Tami Hoag Series: Broussard & Fourcade, #2 Narrator:  Hilary Huber Published: December 2018, Brilliance Audio Length: 17 hours 15 minutes Source: Publisher Summary:  An unfathomable loss or an unthinkable crime? Number one New York Times bestselling author Tami Hoag keeps you guessing in her most harrowing thriller yet. A panic-stricken woman runs in the dead of night, battered and bloodied, desperate to find help. . .…

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Short & Sweet Reviw: 15th Affair by James Patterson

Title: 15th Affair Author: James Patterson Series: Women’s Murder Club, #15 Published: May 2016, Little, Brown & Company Format: Hardcover, 351 pages Source: Personal copy Summary:  Detective Lindsay Boxer has everything she could possibly want. Her marriage and baby daughter are perfect, and life in Homicide in the San Francisco Police Department is going well. But all that could change in an instant. Lindsay is called to a crime scene…

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Review: The Wartime Sisters by Lynda Cohen Loigman

Title: The Wartime Sisters Author: Lynda Cohen Loigman Published: January 2019, St. Martin’s Press Format: ARC Paperback, 304 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  Two estranged sisters, raised in Brooklyn and each burdened with her own shocking secret, are reunited at the Springfield Armory in the early days of WWII. While one sister lives in relative ease on the bucolic Armory campus as an officer’s wife, the other arrives as a war…

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Review: The Suspect by Fiona Barton

Title: The Suspect Author: Fiona Barton Series: Kate Waters, #3 Published: January 2019, Berkley Books Format: ARC Paperback, 416 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  The New York Times bestselling author of The Widow returns with a brand new novel of twisting psychological suspense about every parent’s worst nightmare… When two eighteen-year-old girls go missing in Thailand, their families are thrust into the international spotlight: desperate, bereft, and frantic with worry. What…

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Review: The Birthday by Carol Wyer

Title: The Birthday Author: Carol Wyer Series: Detective Natalie Ward, #1 Published: September 2018, Bookouture Format: ARC E-copy, 304 pages Source: Netgalley via Publisher Summary:  One hot summer’s afternoon, five-year-old Ava Sawyer went to a party. She never came home …When five-year-old Ava Sawyer goes missing from a birthday party at a local garden centre, the police are bewildered by the lack of leads. That is until two years later,…

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Review: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Title: Anna Karenina Author: Leo Tolstoy Published: August 2004, Barnes & Noble (first published April 1877) Format: Hardcover, Barnes & Noble Classics Series, 803 pages Source: Personal copy Summary:  Married to a powerful government minister, Anna Karenina is a beautiful woman who falls deeply in love with a wealthy army officer, the elegant Count Vronsky. Desperate to find truth and meaning in her life, she rashly defies the conventions of…

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Review: The Last Lie by Alex Lake

Title: The Last Lie Author: Alex Lake Published: December 2018, HarperCollins Format: Paperback, 368 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  THE TWISTY NEW PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF AFTER ANNA, KILLING KATE AND COPYCAT Everyone lies…but some lies are deadly.    For Claire Daniels, life is good. She has everything she’s ever wanted – a career she loves, friends she can rely on and a husband who dotes on her.…

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Short & Sweet Review: 14th Deadly Sin by James Patterson

Title: 14th Deadly Sin Author: James Patterson Series: Women’s Murder Club, #14 Published: May 2015, Little, Brown & Company Format: Hardcover, 349 pages Source: Personal copy Summary:  Detective Lindsay Boxer and her three best friends are back and recovering from the events that pushed them all to the edge. After her near-death experience, Yuki is seeing her life from a new perspective and is considering a change in her law…

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Review: Schoolgirl Missing by Sue Fortin

Title: Schoolgirl Missing Author: Sue Fortin Published: January 2019, HarperCollins Format: Paperback, 432 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  HAVE YOU SEEN THIS GIRL?   When fourteen-year-old Poppy vanishes on a family boating trip, suspicion soon turns close to home – to the two people who should do everything to keep her safe, her parents, Kit and Neve. Neve has a secret. Kit is lying. Everyone is watching. Who do you believe?…

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Blog Tour & Review: The Gown by Jennifer Robson

Title: The Gown Author: Jennifer Robson Published: December 2018, William Morrow Format: ARC Paperback, 400 pages Source: Publisher via TLC Book Tours Summary:  “The Gown is marvelous and moving, a vivid portrait of female self-reliance in a world racked by the cost of war.”–Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network From the internationally bestselling author of Somewhere in France comes an enthralling historical novel about one of the most famous wedding…

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Review: The Legacy by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Title: The Legacy Author: Yrsa Sigurdardottir Series: Children’s House, #1 Published: January 2019, Minotaur Books (1st Published 2014 in Iceland) Format: Paperback, 480 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  The first in a stunning new series from the author of The Silence of the Sea, winner of the 2015 Petrona Award for best Scandinavian Crime Novel.The Legacy is the first installment in a fantastic new series featuring the psychologist Freyja and the…

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Review: The Guy Who Died Twice by Lisa Gardner

Title: The Guy Who Died Twice Author: Lisa Gardner Series: Detective D.D. Warren, #9.5 Published: January 2019, Dutton Format: ARC E-copy, 72 pages Source: Netgalley via Publisher Summary:  Sergeant Detective D. D. Warren confronts the strangest case of her career in this exclusive eBook short story by the #1 New York Times bestselling author. D. D. Warren was pretty sure she’d seen it all. Then a man walks into police…

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Book Spotlight & Giveaway: The Best of Us by Robyn Carr

Earlier this week, Robyn Carr’s latest novel, The Best of Us, was released, and because I ended up with an extra copy, I’m going to give that copy away – and it’s a finished copy! This is the latest book in her Sullivan’s Crossing series. I will be reading it soon and will be sure to share my review as soon as I do. You can see what others have…

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Review: Secrets of Cavendon by Barbara Taylor Bradford (audio)

Title: Secrets of Cavendon Author: Barbara Taylor Bradford Series: Cavendon Hall, #4 Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld Published: November 2017, Macmillan Audio / St. Martin’s Press Length: 13 hours 10 minutes / 390 pages Source: Audio – borrowed via Library / Print – Hardcover via GetRed PR Summary:  From #1 New York Times bestselling author Barbara Taylor Bradford, comes a striking, breathtaking saga featuring the aristocratic Inghams and the Swann family, who…

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Review: Cover of Snow by Jenny Milchman

Title: Cover of Snow Author: Jenny Milchman Published: December 2013, Ballantine Books Format: Paperback, 336 pages Source: Personal copy Summary:  Jenny Milchman’s Cover of Snow is a remarkable debut, a gripping tale of suspense in the tradition of Gillian Flynn, Chris Bohjalian, and Nancy Pickard.  Waking up one wintry morning in her old farmhouse nestled in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, Nora Hamilton instantly knows that something is wrong.…

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Review: The Light Over London by Julia Kelly

Title: The Light Over London Author: Julia Kelly Published: January 2019, Gallery Books Format: ARC Paperback, 304 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  Reminiscent of Martha Hall Kelly’s Lilac Girls and Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, this sweeping, entrancing story is a must-read for fans of remarkable women rising to challenges they could never have predicted. It’s always been easier for Cara Hargraves to bury herself in the past than confront the present,…

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Short & Sweet Review: Look Alive Twenty-Five by Janet Evanovich (audio)

Title: Look Alive Twenty-Five Author: Janet Evanovich Series: Stephanie Plum, #25 Narrator: Lorelei King Published: November 2018, Penguin Audio Length: 6 hours 46 minutes Source: Library Summary: Stephanie Plum faces the toughest puzzle of her career in the twenty-fifth entry in Janet Evanovich’s #1 New York Times bestselling series.There’s nothing like a good deli and the Red River Deli in Trenton is one of the best. World famous for its…

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Review: The Burglar by Thomas Perry

Title: The Burglar Author: Thomas Perry Published: January 2019, Mysterious Press Format: ARC Paperback, 304 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  From Thomas Perry comes a new thriller about an unlikely burglar–a young woman in her 20s–who realizes she must solve a string of murders, or else become the next victim Elle Stowell is a young woman with an unconventional profession: burglary. But Elle is no petty thief–with just the right combination…

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Reading Goals/Challenges 2019

READING GOALS: This year, I am going to make sure I take the time to read more of what I want to read. I wouldn’t say I’m a mood reader per say, but I don’t want to get too bogged down by reading just one genre anymore. I love thrillers and psychological suspense, but when I pick up historical fiction every once in a while, I remember just how much…

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First Book of the Year 2019

Each year, Sheila over at Book Journey makes a big deal over what the first book she’ll read will be for the new year and once again she’s asked us to join her. I have joined in for the last 4 years and it’s always a lot of fun seeing what book everyone selects. Be sure to stop by Sheila’s post to see the collage she makes of everyone participating!…

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Month in Review: December 2018

How is it that we are not only at the end of December already, but also at the end of 2018??? This year has flown by!!! It was a great year, filled with lots of great books, and judging by the books that have already shown up on my doorstep for 2019, it looks like it is going to be another great year of reading coming up! As always, there…

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Review: Somebody I Used to Know by David Bell (audio)

Title: Somebody I Used to Know Author: David Bell Narrator: Andy Paris Published: Audio – July 2015, Recorded Books / Mass Market Paperback – December 2018, Berkley Length: 10 hours 51 minutes / 464 pages Source: Audio – Personal copy via Audible / Print – Paperback via GetRed PR Summary:  The bestselling author of Somebody’s Daughter and Cemetery Girl, “one of the brightest and best crime fiction writers of our…

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Review: An Anonymous Girl by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen

Title: An Anonymous Girl Author: Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen Published: January 2019, St. Martin’s Press Format: ARC Paperback, 384 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  Seeking women ages 18–32 to participate in a study on ethics and morality. Generous compensation. Anonymity guaranteed. When Jessica Farris signs up for a psychology study conducted by the mysterious Dr. Shields, she thinks all she’ll have to do is answer a few questions, collect her…

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Book Spotlight: Look For Me by Lisa Gardner

Last February I read Look For Me by Lisa Gardner, the latest book in her Detective D.D. Warren series, when it was first released in hardcover, and I loved it! You can find my thoughts on the book here. Next week, on December 31st, the book is being released in trade paperback and to celebrate, I am helping the publishers get the word out.  Are you a fan of this…

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Review: The Fire Witness by Lars Kepler

  Title: The Fire Witness  Author: Lars Kepler Series: Joona Linna, #3 Published: November 2018, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard Format: Paperback, 560 pages Source: Personal copy   Summary:  The third installment of the #1 internationally bestselling Joona Linna series, The Fire Witness sees Joona drawn into a gruesome, mysterious murder at a home for wayward girls. Detective Joona Linna is on leave dealing with personal and professional issues when he gets…

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Review: The Christmas Hirelings by Mary Elizabeth Braddon (audio)

Title: The Christmas Hirelings Author: Mary Elizabeth Braddon Narrator: Richard Armitage Published: December 2018, Audible Studios Length: 3 hours 53 minutes Source: Personal copy via Audible Summary:  Richard Armitage modernizes a classic hidden gem of Christmas Past… Sir John Penlyon is planning to spend Christmas at his estate with his niece and his friend Danby, the closest thing he has to family since disowning his daughter years ago. (She eloped…

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Short & Sweet Review: Private: The Royals by James Patterson

Title: Private: The Royals Author: James Patterson Series: Private, #12.5 Published: December 2016, BookShots Format: Paperback, 138 pages Source: Personal copy Summary:  James Patterson’s BookShots. Short, fast-paced, high-impact entertainment.Jack Morgan is visiting Peter Knight and the team in the London branch of his investigation agency, Private.At a cocktail party the night before the Trooping the Colour parade for the Queen’s 90th birthday, Jack receives a phone call from the Duke…

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Review: Watching You by Lisa Jewell

Title: Watching You Author: Lisa Jewell Published: December 2018, Atria Books Format: ARC Paperback, 320 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  “Page one intrigued me. Page three hooked me. By page five, I was consumed. This compulsive, propulsive novel is both a seize-you-by-the-throat thriller and a genuinely moving family drama. Stellar.” — A.J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window The instant New York Times and…

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Review: The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis

Title: The Masterpiece Author: Fiona Davis Published: August 2018, Dutton Format: ARC Paperback, 368 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  In her latest captivating novel, nationally bestselling author Fiona Davis takes readers into the glamorous lost art school within Grand Central Terminal, where two very different women, fifty years apart, strive to make their mark on a world set against them.    For the nearly nine million people who live in New…

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Review: The Drowned Girl by Sara Blaedel

Title: The Drowned Girl Author: Sara Blaedel Series: Louise Rick, #3 Published: December 2018, Grand Central Publishing Format: Paperback, 384 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  Detective Louise Rick must race against the clock to stop a violent killer targeting immigrants in this disturbing and timely thriller, perfect for readers of Lisa Gardner, Tami Hoag, Tess Gerritsen, or Jo Nesbo. It’s clearly no ordinary drowning. When a young girl is pulled from…

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Blog Tour & Review: Tony’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani (audio)

Title: Tony’s Wife Author: Adriana Trigiani Narrator: Edoardo Ballerini Published: November HarperAudio / Harper Length: 12 hours 39 minutes / 496 pages Source: Audio – via library / ARC  Paperback –Publisher via TLC Book Tours   Summary:  Set in the lush Big Band era of the 1940s and World War II, this spellbinding saga from beloved New York Times bestselling author tells the story of two talented working class kids…

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Review: The Lost for Words Bookshop by Stephanie Butland

Title: The Lost for Words Bookshop Author: Stephanie Butland Published: June 2018, St. Martin’s Press Format: ARC Paperback, 352 pages Source: Publisher Summary:  The Lost for Words Bookshop is a compelling, irresistible, and heart-rending audiobook from author Stephanie Butland Loveday Cardew prefers books to people. If you look carefully, you might glimpse the first lines of the novels she loves most tattooed on her skin. But there are some things…

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Review: The Latecomers by Helen Klein Ross (audio)

Title: The Latecomers Author: Helen Klein Ross Narrator: Polly Lee, Vanessa Johnansson, Robert Petkoff, Lauren Fortgang, Kevin T. Collins, Sarah Franco, Sarah Mollo-Christiansen Published: November 2018, Hachette Audio / Little, Brown & Company Length: 13 hours 22 minutes / 419 pages Source: Audio – Hachette Audio via Libro.fm / Print via Little, Brown & Company Summary:  Set in New England over three generations, THE LATECOMERS mixes the world of Colm…

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Review: Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand (audio)

Title: Winter in Paradise Author: Elin Hilderbrand Series: Paradise, #1 Narrator: Erin Bennett Published: October 2018, Hachette Audio Length: 10 hours 11 minutes Source: Publisher Summary:  Spend the coldest days of winter on a Caribbean beach with New York Times Bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand.   Join New York Times Bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand on the stunning beaches of St. John’s for the beginning of her thrilling new winter series-The Paradise.…

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Short & Sweet Review: Missing by James Patterson

Title: Missing Author: James Patterson Series: Private, #12 Published: October 2016, Grand Central Publishing Format: Paperback, 384 pages Source: Personal copy Summary:  Even for Private Investigations, the world’s top detective agency, it’s tough to find a man who doesn’t exist . . .  Craig Gisto has promised Eliza Moss that his elite team at Private Sydney will investigate the disappearance of her father. After all, as CEO of a high-profile…

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Review: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Title: Where the Crawdads Sing Author: Delia Owens Published: August 2018, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Format: ARC Paperback, 384 pages Source: Publisher Summary: Fans of Barbara Kingsolver will love this stunning debut novel from a New York Times bestselling nature writer, about an unforgettable young woman determined to make her way in the wilds of North Carolina, and the two men that will break her isolation open.     For years,…

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Book Spotlight: Season of Wonder by RaeAnne Thayne — With Giveaway!!!

Back in September, RaeAnne Thayne’s latest book, Season of Wonder, was published and I ended up with 2 finished copies. As we are now in the midst of the holiday hustle and bustle, I would love to offer both these copies up to 2 lucky readers….one giveaway is being hosted here & one is being hosted on my Instagram page. Read on to find out what the book is all…

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