#SRC2016 Book Spotlight: Swear On This Life by Renee Carlino

Title:Swear On This Life Author:Renee Carlino Published:August 2016, Atria Books Format: Paperback, 320 pages When a bestselling debut novel from mysterious author J.Colby becomes the literary event of the year, Emiline reads it reluctantly. As an adjunct writing instructor at UC San Diego with her own stalled literary career and a bumpy long-term relationship, Emiline isn’t thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of a young and gifted writer. Yet from the…

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Review: It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover (audio)

Title:It Ends With Us Author:Colleen Hoover Narrator:Olivia Song Published:August 2016, Simon & Schuster Audio / Atria Books Length:11 hours 11 minutes / Paperback, 384 pages Source:Personal copy via Audible / Publisher Sometimes it is the one who loves you who hurts you the most. Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the…

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Review: Watching Edie by Camilla Way (audio)

Title:Watching Edie Author:Camilla Way Narrator:Heather Wilds, Fiona Hardingham Published:August 2016, Penguin Audio / Berkley Publishing Group/NAL Length:9 hours 6 minutes / ARC Ecopy, 299 pages Source:Personal copy via Audible / Netgalley Beautiful, creative, a little wild… Edie was the kind of girl who immediately caused a stir when she walked into your life. And she had dreams back then—but it didn’t take long for her to learn that things don’t…

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Review: The Cavendon Women by Barbara Taylor Bradford (audio)

Title:The Cavendon Women Author:Barbara Taylor Bradford Series:Cavendon Hall, #2 Narrator:Anna Bentinck Published:March 2015, Macmillan Audio / St. Martin’s Press Length:14 hours 25 minutes / Hardcover, 448 pages Source:Personal copy via Audible / Publicist From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a stunning and dramatic saga of love and loyalty. The aristocratic Inghams have been served by the Swann family for centuries. The Cavendon Women follows these two families’…

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#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in August 12

    #FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About   Vacation is just about over…I still have Monday off 🙂  The week at the beach was just what I needed to recharge my batteries…I read, I relaxed and I just chilled…and now I’m ready to get back to a normal workout routine. My plan is to play around with a bunch of different…

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#SRC2016 Book Spotlight: Perfectly Good Crime by Dete Meserve

Title:Perfectly Good Crime Author:Dete Meserve Series:A Kate Bradley Mystery, #2 Published:June 2016, Melrose Hill Publishing Format:Paperback, 288 pages From the bestselling author of Good Sam comes a taut and thought-provoking follow-up, Perfectly Good Crime. When the estates of the 100 wealthiest Americans are targeted in a series of sophisticated, high tech heists, Los Angeles TV news reporter Kate Bradley must venture inside the world of the super rich to investigate…

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Review: The Girl in the Ice by Robert Bryndza (audio)

Title:The Girl in the Ice Author:Robert Bryndza Series:DCI Erika Foster, #1 Narrator:Jan Cramer Published:February 2016, Bookouture Length:10 hours 7 minutes Source:Personal copy via Audible   Her eyes are wide open. Her lips parted as if to speak. Her dead body frozen in the ice…She is not the only one. When a young boy discovers the body of a woman beneath a thick sheet of ice in a South London park,…

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Book Spotlight & Giveaway: The Matchmakers of Minnow Bay by Kelly Harms (Giveaway Closed!)

Title:The Matchmakers of Minnow Bay Author:Kelly Harms Published:August 2016, Thomas Dunne Books Format:Hardcover, 288 pages A young painter, Lily has reached a crossroads in her life. Her career hasn’t taken off, her best friend may no longer be the trusted friend she thought, her boyfriend is a disappointment, and now she can’t keep up with the rising cost of living in the city. With no one to turn to, Lily…

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Review: Cavendon Hall by Barbara Taylor Bradford (audio)

Title:Cavendon Hall Author:Barbara Taylor Bradford Series:Cavendon Hall, #1 Narrator:Anna Bentinck Published:April 2014, Macmillan Audio / St. Martin’s Press Length:13 hours 12 minutes / Paperback, 448 pages Source:Personal copy via Audible / Publicist From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes an epic saga of intrigue and mystique set in Edwardian England.  Cavendon Hall is home to two families, the aristocratic Inghams and the Swanns who serve them. Charles Ingham,…

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#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in August 5

#FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About   I’m in the middle of a 2-week vacation…the first week was spent at home and the second week will be spent at the beach!!! Because I plan on doing nothing more than sitting on the beach, resting, relaxing and reading and enjoying a cocktail or two (my favorite at the moment is Verdi Champagne), I…

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Cover Reveal & Book Spotlight: Slight South of Simple by Kristy Woodsen Harvey

I am so excited to help Kristy Woodsen Harvey spread the news today about her newest book – and share the cover!!! I have adored Kristy’s previous books and will be anxiously awaiting until I can get my hands on this next one…Kristy writes from the heart and that definitely comes across in her writing! Be sure to stop by her blog where she has an amazing giveaway going on.…

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#SRC2016: Book Spotlight: A House for Happy Mothers by Amulya Malladi

Title:A House for Happy Mothers Author:Amulya Malladi Published:June 2016, Lake Union Publishing Format:Paperback, 301 pages A stunning new novel—full of wit and warmth—from the bestselling author of The Mango Season. In trendy Silicon Valley, Priya has everything she needs—a loving husband, a career, and a home—but the one thing she wants most is the child she’s unable to have. In a Southern Indian village, Asha doesn’t have much—raising two children…

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Review: Before the Fall by Noah Hawley (audio)

Title:Before the Fall Author:Noah Hawley Narrator:Robert Petkoff Published:May 2016, Hachette Audio Length:12 hours 59 minutes Source:Personal copy via Audible   From the Emmy, PEN, Peabody, Critics’ Choice, and Golden Globe Award-winning creator of the TV show Fargo comes the thriller of the year. On a foggy summer night, eleven people—ten privileged, one down-on-his-luck painter—depart Martha’s Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the unthinkable happens:…

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Review: After Anna by Alex Lake

Title:After Anna Author:Alex Lake Published:August 2016, Harper Format:Paperback, 400 pages Source:Publisher   The real nightmare starts when her daughter is returned… A bone-chilling psychological thriller that will suit fans of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, Daughter by Jane Shemilt, and The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins. A girl is missing. Five years old, taken from outside her school. She has vanished, traceless. The police are at a loss;…

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Book Spotlight & Giveaway: The House Between Tides by Sarah Maine (Giveaway Closed!)

Today Sarah Maine’s debut novel, The House Between Tides, comes out!!! I’m really excited about this book – how could I not when she’s being compared to authors like Kate Morton and Lucinda Riley, two of my favorites! I’ll be reviewing this book in the coming weeks, but for now, please enjoy this spotlight on the book and be sure to enter the giveaway below – I ended up with…

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Month in Review: July 2016

Here are my reading stats for July! Books read: 14 Books I read:  Before the Fall — Noah Hawley (audio book) Little Girl Gone — Gerry Schmitt The Hatching — Ezckiel Boone All is Not Forgotten — Wendy Walker The Nest — Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney (audio book) The Choices We Make — Karma Brown Playing With Fire — Tess Gerritsen (audio book) The Cavendon Women — Barbara Taylor Bradford (audio…

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Review: The Nest by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney (audio)

Title:The Nest Author:Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney Narrator:Mia Barron Published: March 2016, HarperAudio  Length:11 hours 6 minutes Source:Library A warm, funny and acutely perceptive debut novel about four adult siblings and the fate of the shared inheritance that has shaped their choices and their lives. Every family has its problems. But even among the most troubled, the Plumb family stands out as spectacularly dysfunctional. Years of simmering tensions finally reach a breaking…

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#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in July 29

  #FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About   A few weeks ago, I made mention of a big walk I’ll be doing in early 2017…well, now that I’ll all registered, I can talk about it. In March of 2017, I’ll be doing the CHALLENGE WALK MS in Savannah, GA. It is a three-day, 50-mile walk that tests your strength and your spirit,…

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#SRC2016 Book Review: You Will Know Me by Megan Abott

Title:You Will Know Me Author:Megan Abbott Published:July 2016, Little Brown Format:ARC Paperback, 352 pages Source:BookSparks Katie and Eric Knox have dedicated their lives to their fifteen-year-old daughter Devon, a gymnastics prodigy and Olympic hopeful. But when a violent death rocks their close-knit gymnastics community just weeks before an all-important competition, everything the Knoxes have worked so hard for feels suddenly at risk. As rumors swirl among the other parents, revealing…

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Review: The Drowning Girls by Paula Treick DeBoard (audio)

Title: The Drowning Girls Author: Paula Treick DeBoard Narrator:David Atlas, Amy McFadden Published:April 2016, Brilliance Audio Length:10 hours 45 minutes Source:Publisher   Critically acclaimed author of The Mourning Hours and The Fragile World, Paula Treick DeBoard returns with a tale of dark secrets, shocking lies and a dangerous obsession that will change one neighborhood forever. Liz McGinnis never imagined herself living in a luxurious gated community like The Palms. Ever…

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Book Spotlight & Giveaway: Leaving Lucy Pear by Anna Solomon (Giveaway Closed!)

Please join me in welcoming Anna Solomon to Always With a Book. Anna‘s new book, Leaving Lucy Pear, is out today. I’ll be reviewing this book in the coming weeks, but for now, please enjoy this spotlight on the book and be sure to enter the giveaway below!!! Title:Leaving Lucy Pear Author:Anna Solomon Published:July 2016, Viking Format:Hardcover, 336 pages A big, heartrending novel about the entangled lives of two women…

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Review: The Killing Forest by Sara Blaedel

Title:The Killing Forest Author:Sara Blaedel Series:Louise Rick, #2 Published:February 2016, Grand Central Publishing Format:ARC E-copy, 320 pages Source:Netgalley Sara Blaedel, author of the #1 international bestseller The Forgotten Girls–which was roundly praised as “gripping” with “uncompromising realism” (Washington Post) and “tautly suspenseful” (BookPage)–returns with the thrilling next book in her series featuring police investigator Louise Rick. Following an extended leave, Louise Rick returns to work at the Special Search Agency,…

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#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in July 22

  #FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About   Another week of heat, heat, heat and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight any time soon…the good news is that in 2 weeks, I’ll be at the beach for a week and I won’t care!!! In the meantime, I’ve been getting up and taking each dog on a longer walk first…

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#SRC2016 Book Review: Untethered by Julie Lawson Timmer (audio)

Title:Untethered Author:Julie Lawson Timmer Narrator:Emily Sutton-Smith Published:June 2016, Brilliance Audio / G.P. Putnam’s Sons Length:9 hours 5 minutes / Hardcovers, 352 pages Source:Publisher / BookSparks   When Char Hawthorn’s husband dies unexpectedly, she is left questioning everything she once knew to be true: from the cozy small town life they built together to her relationship with her stepdaughter, who is suddenly not bound to Char in any real way. Untethered…

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Short & Sweet Review: Hide Away by Iris Johansen (audio)

Title:Hide Away Author:Iris Johansen Series:Eve Duncan, #20 Narrator:Elisabeth Rodgers Published:April 2016,Recorded Books Length:11 hours 6 minutes Source:Personal copy via Audible Iris Johansen’s beloved forensic sculptor Eve Duncan is back and now the stakes are higher than ever. Dramatic changes are on the horizon for Eve and Joe Quinn and their relationship may never be the same. Faced with the task of protecting Cara Delaney, a young girl with ruthless enemies…

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#FitReaders: July 15

  #FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About   It was another hot week…and so hard to stay motivated. On top of that, my headaches are back – but this time, are due to tight muscles in my shoulders and neck. I have to set up an evaluation with a physical therapist and in the meantime, I have muscle relaxers and need to…

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#SRC2016 Book Review: The Choices We Make by Karma Brown

Title:The Choices We Make Author:Karma Brown Published:July 2016, MIRA Format:Paperback, 336 pages Source:BookSparks Following her bestselling debut novel Come Away with Me, Karma Brown returns with an unforgettable story that explores the intricate dynamics between friends and mothers Hannah and Kate became friends in the fifth grade, when Hannah hit a boy for looking up Kate’s skirt with a mirror. While they’ve been close as sisters ever since, Hannah can’t…

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Review: The Newsmakers by Lis Weihl (audio)

Title:The Newsmakers Author:Lis Weihl Series:Newmakers, #1 Narrator:Devon O’Day Published:January 2016, Thomas Nelson Publishers Length:9 hours 32 minutes Source:Publisher What if it turns out that the newsmakers are actually making the news happen? Television reporter Erica Sparks has just landed her dream job at Global News Network. Beautiful, talented, and ambitious, Erica grew up dirt poor, worked her way through Yale, and is carrying a terrible secret. She moves to Manhattan…

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Book Spotlights: She Reads ‘Books of Summer’ Selections

A few weeks ago, the gals at She Reads announced the three ‘Books of Summer’ selections. I’m sorry for my delay in posting this, once again life has just gotten in the way, but better late than never, right? So without further ado…here are the Books of Summer: Title: Before the Fall Author:Noah Hawley Published:May 2016, Grand Central Publishing From the Emmy, PEN, Peabody, Critics’ Choice, and Golden Globe Award-winning…

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#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in July 8

  #FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About   It was a hot week and so it was hard to get motivated to do much…but I did end up doing a 5K outside in the heat in the afternoon – not sure what I was thinking when I decided to do that, but I sure was a hot mess after finishing that! I…

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#SRC2016 Book Review: All Is Not Forgotten by Wendy Walker

Title:All Is Not Forgotten Author:Wendy Walker Published:July 2016, St. Martin’s Press Format:ARC Paperback, 320 pages Source:BookSparks  In the small, affluent town of Fairview, Connecticut everything seems picture perfect. Until one night when young Jenny Kramer is attacked at a local party. In the hours immediately after, she is given a controversial drug to medically erase her memory of the violent assault. But, in the weeks and months that follow, as…

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Review: Little Girl Gone by Gerry Schmitt

Title:Little Girl Gone Author:Gerry Schmitt Series:Afton Tangler, #1 Published:July 2016, Berkley Format:Hardcover, 336 pages Source:Publisher In the first Afton Tangler thriller, the unforgiving cold of a Minnesota winter hides the truth behind an even more chilling crime… On a frozen night in an affluent neighborhood of Minneapolis, a baby is abducted from her home after her teenage babysitter is violently assaulted. The parents are frantic, the police are baffled, and,…

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Review: The Hatching by Ezekiel Boone

Title:The Hatching Author:Ezekiel Boone Published:July 2016, Atria/Emily Bestler Books Format:ARC Paperback, 352 pages Source:Publisher An astonishingly inventive and terrifying debut novel about the emergence of an ancient species, dormant for over a thousand years, and now on the march. Deep in the jungle of Peru, where so much remains unknown, a black, skittering mass devours an American tourist whole. Thousands of miles away, an FBI agent investigates a fatal plane…

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#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in July 1

  #FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About     This week I took a step back and just wanted to get in my 30 minutes of walking each day and make my 10K step goal M-F. I went hard-core the week prior, which while fun, I cannot keep up every week. I also added some body-weight strength training – every other day,…

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#SRC2016 Book Spotlight: So Close by Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus

Title: So Close Author:Emma McLaughlin & Nicola Kraus Published:June 2016, Sparkpress Format:Paperback, 288 pages   From international #1 best-selling authors Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus comes a story about a girl from the trailer parks of central Florida and the two powerful men who shape her life one of whom will raise her up to places she never imagined, the other of whom will threaten to destroy her. Amanda Beth…

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Month in Review: June 2016

Here are my reading stats for June! Books read: 13 Books I read:  Private L.A. — James Patterson The Island House — Nancy Thayer (audio book) Ink & Bone — Lisa Unger (e-book) Cavendon Hall — Barbara Taylor Bradford (audio book) As Time Goes By — Mary Higgins Clark (audio book) The Girl from the Savoy — Hazel Gaynor (audio book) First Comes Love — Emily Giffin The Ice Princess…

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Review: Who Do You Love by Jennifer Weiner (audio)

Title:Who Do You Love Author:Jennifer Weiner Narrator:Sarah Steele & JD Jackson Published:August 2015, Simon & Schuster Audio Length:13 hours Source:Library Rachel Blum and Andy Landis are eight years old when they meet late one night in an ER waiting room. Born with a congenital heart defect, Rachel is a veteran of hospitals, and she’s intrigued by the boy who shows up all alone with a broken arm. He tells her…

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Review: All of Us and Everything by Bridget Asher (audio)

Title:All of Us and Everything Author:Bridget Asher Narrator:Cassandra Campbell Published:November 2015, Blackstone Audio Length:10 hours 9 minutes Source:Personal copy via Audible For fans of the quirky, heartfelt fiction of Nick Hornby and Eleanor Brown comes a smart, wry, and poignant novel about reconciliation between fathers and daughters, between spouses; the deep ties between sisters; and the kind of forgiveness that can change a person’s life in unexpected and extraordinary ways.…

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Review: A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams

Title:A Certain Age Author:Beatriz Williams Published:June 2016, William Morrow Format:ARC Paperback, 336 pages Source:Publisher The bestselling author of A Hundred Summers, brings the Roaring Twenties brilliantly to life in this enchanting and compulsively readable tale of intrigue, romance, and scandal in New York Society, brimming with lush atmosphere, striking characters, and irresistible charm. As the freedom of the Jazz Age transforms New York City, the iridescent Mrs. Theresa Marshall of…

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Review: Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War by Heather Webb and others

Title:Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War Author:Heather Webb, Jessica Brockmole, Hazel Gaynor, Evangeline Holland, Marci Jefferson, Kate Kerrigan, Jennifer Robson, Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig Published:March 2016, William Morrow Paperbacks Format:ARC Paperback, 368 pages Source:Publisher On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month . . . November 11, 1918. After four long, dark years of fighting, the Great War ends at last, and…

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#SRC2016: Book Review: First Comes Love by Emily Giffin

Title: First Comes Love Author: Emily Giffin Published: June 2016, Ballantine Books Format: ARC Paperback, 400 pages Source: BookSparks In this dazzling new novel, Emily Giffin, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Something Borrowed, Where We Belong, and The One & Only introduces a pair of sisters who find themselves at a crossroads. Growing up, Josie and Meredith Garland shared a loving, if sometimes contentious relationship. Josie was…

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Review: Ink and Bone by Lisa Unger

Title:Ink and Bone Author:Lisa Unger Published:June 2016, Touchstone Format:ARC E-copy, 352 pages Source:Netgalley   Twenty-year-old Finley Montgomery is rarely alone. Visited by people whom others can’t see and haunted by prophetic dreams, she has never been able to control or understand the things that happen to her. When Finley’s abilities start to become too strong for her to handle – and even the roar of her motorcycle or another dazzling…

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#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in June 24

  #FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About   So I really pushed myself to get in the steps this week and I took 1 really long walk and got in another 10K…all in preparation for a big walk I’ll be doing in early 2017. While I haven’t officially started training for the walk – that will start in the fall – I…

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#SRC2016 Book Spotlight: The Sweetheart Deal by Polly Dugan

Title:The Sweetheart Deal Author:Polly Dugan Published:May 2015, Little, Brown & Company Format:Hardcover, 320 pages The poignant story of what happens when a woman who thinks she’s lost everything has the chance to love again. Leo has long joked that, in the event of his death, he wants his best friend Garrett, a lifelong bachelor, to marry his wife, Audrey. One drunken night, he goes so far as to make Garrett…

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Review: The Island House by Nancy Thayer (audio)

Title:The Island House Author:Nancy Thayer Narrator:Emily Sutton-Smith Published:May 2016, Brilliance Audio Length:10 hours 11 minutes Source:Publisher   The charms of Nantucket tempt a woman to leave her established life in Kansas City—but with a piece of her heart, and a love interest, in each world, she discovers she must look within to choose the right path. Every summer since college, twenty-nine-year-old Jenny has traded the familiarity of the Midwest for…

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#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in June 17

  #FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About   I’m slowly getting back to yoga…and wow – I can definitely feel the difference of not doing it for a while. My body was tight and sore afterwards. But, since I’m awful at stretching, I feel that yoga provides a little of that through some of the poses, along with some really good strength-training. …

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#SRC2016 Book Spotlight: 25 Sense by Lisa Henthorn

Title:25 Sense Author:Lisa Henthorn Published: May 2016, Sparkpress Format:Paperback, 192 pages Claire Malone didn’t mean for this to happen when she moved to New York. She just wanted to live the city life and gain experience in television writing, her dream career. It’s not like she meant to reciprocate when her married boss, Sean Vared, sent her flirty e-mails. And you can’t blame her for coming into the office on…

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#SRC2016 Book Review: Saving Abby by Steena Holmes (audio)

Title:Saving Abby Author:Steena Holmes Narrator:Angela Dwe Published:May 2016, Brilliance Audio / Lake Union Publishing Length:7 hours 3 minutes / Paperback, 274 pages Source:Publisher / Booksparks All children’s book illustrator Claire Turner ever wanted was to be a mother. After six years of trying to conceive, she and her husband, Josh, have finally accepted that she will never be pregnant with a child of their own. Yet once they give up…

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Book Spotlight & Guest Post: The Memory of Lemon by Judith Fertig

Please join me in welcoming Judith Fertig to Always With a Book. Judith’s new book, The Memory of Lemon, is out today. I’ll be reviewing this book in the coming weeks, but for now, please enjoy this spotlight on the book along with the yummy Lemon Verbena Pound Cake recipe she has graciously shared with us!   Title:The Memory of Lemon Author:Judith Fertig Published:June 2016, Berkley Format:Paperback, 304 pages The…

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Book Spotlight: Field of Graves by J.T. Ellison

Today, Field of Graves, J.T. Ellison’s latest book comes out and I am so excited!!! While I’m new to the world of J.T. Ellison, after reading her last book, No One Knows, I’m a big fan, and this new book is sort of a prequel to her Taylor Jackson series, which I’ve been wanting to start reading. You may also know J.T. Ellison from her collaboration with Catherine Coulter in…

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