Always With a Book

k2reader February 22, 2023

The Personal Assistant by Kimberly Belle #bookreview

Thank you Netgalley, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Personal Assistant in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Park Row Published: November 29, 2022 Summary: USA TODAY bestselling author Kimberly Belle returns with a deeply addictive thriller exploring the dark side of the digital world when a mommy-blogger’s assistant goes missing. When Alex first began posting unscripted family moments and motivational messages online, she had no intention of becoming…

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k2reader February 21, 2023

Sea Castle by Andrew Mayne #bookreview #series

Thank you Thomas & Mercer, #partner for the finished copy of Sea Castle in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Thomas & Mercer Published: February 21, 2023 Summary: When a young woman washes ashore on a Fort Lauderdale beach, Sloan McPherson of the Underwater Investigation Unit is called in to consult. Sloan’s instinct says murder, but even then, there are too many questions. For answers she reaches out to Gwen…

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k2reader February 19, 2023

Age of Vice by Deepti Kapoor #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Libro.fm / Penguin Random House Audio, #partner for the ALC of Age of Vice in exchange for my honest review. I purchased a print copy for my own collection. Publisher: Riverhead Books / Penguin Random House Audio Published: January 3, 2023 Summary: This is the age of vice, where money, pleasure, and power are everything, and the family ties that bind can also kill. New Delhi, 3 a.m.…

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k2reader February 19, 2023

The Last Party by Clare Mackintosh #bookreview #series

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark Published: November 8, 2022 Summary: At midnight, one of them is dead. By morning, all of them are suspects. It’s a party to end all parties, but not everyone is here to celebrate. On New Year’s Eve, Rhys Lloyd has a house full of guests. His vacation homes on Mirror Lake are a success, and he’s generously…

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k2reader February 15, 2023

Someone Else’s Life by Lyn Liao Butler #bookreview #bookclub

Thank you Get Red PR , #partner, for the finished copy of Someone Else’s Life in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Thomas & Mercer Published: February 1, 2023 Summary: A new life in paradise should have healed her wounds. But for a woman struggling to hold on to her family and her sanity, one stormy night could change everything. Blow by blow, Annie Lin’s life crumbles. Her dance…

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k2reader February 13, 2023

On the Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel #bookreview

Thank you to Knopf Books, #partner, for an advanced copy of On the Savage Side in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group Published: February 14, 2023 Summary: Six women—mothers, daughters, sisters–gone missing. When the first is found floating dead in the river, it reveals the disturbing truth of a small Ohio town. Inspired by the unsolved murders of the Chillicothe Six, this harrowing and haunting novel tells…

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k2reader February 13, 2023

Three Widows by Patricia Gibney #bookreview #audiobook #series

Thank you Bookouture for the audiobook and Bookouture & Netgalley, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Guilty Girl in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Bookouture Published: February 10, 2023 Summary: She kissed her daughter, turned out the light and entered her own room. Too late to run, she stood frozen as a figure stepped out from behind the door and a hand covered her mouth. Fear was a…

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k2reader February 10, 2023

The Blackhouse by Carole Johnstone #bookreview

Thank you BookClubFavorites & Scribner Books #partner, for the finished copy of The Blackhouse in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Scriber Books Published: January 3, 2023 Summary: From the author of the “dark and devious…beautifully written” (Stephen King) Mirrorland comes a richly atmospheric thriller set on an isolated Scottish island where nothing is as it seems and shocking twists lie around every corner. A remote village. A deadly secret. An…

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k2reader February 10, 2023

The Cloisters by Katy Hays #bookreview

Thank you BookClubFavorites & Atria Books #partner, for the finished copy of The Cloisters in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Atria Books Published: November 1, 2022 Summary: When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she expects to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its…

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k2reader February 10, 2023

The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes #bookreview #audiobook #series

Thank you Hachette Audio, #partner for the ALC of The Hawthorne Legacy in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Hachette Audio Published: September 7, 2021 Summary: Intrigue, riches, and romance abound in this thrilling sequel to the New York Times best-selling The Inheritance Games. The Inheritance Games ended with a bombshell, and now heiress Avery Grambs has to pick up the pieces and find the man who might hold the answers to all of…

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k2reader February 9, 2023

The Last Grudge by Max Seeck #bookreview #series #translatedbook #blogtour

Thank you Berkley Books, #partner, for the finished copy of The Last Grudge in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Berkley Books Pub date: February 7, 2023 Summary: While her colleagues investigate the brutal murder of a prominent businessman, Jessica Niemi must battle demons from her past in this terrifying new novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Witch Hunter. Powerful executive Eliel Zetterborg has been found murdered in his…

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k2reader February 9, 2023

Stay Awake by Megan Goldin #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, #partner for the advanced copy of Stay Awake in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the audiobook for my own collection. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio Published: August 9, 2022 Summary: A murder she doesn’t remember committing. A killer she doesn’t remember meeting. Megan Goldin’s Stay Awake is an electrifying novel that proves memory can be deadly. Liv Reese wakes up in the back…

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k2reader February 8, 2023

Exiles by Jane Harper #bookreview #audiobook #series

Thank you Macmillan Audio /Netgalley, #partner for the ALC of Exiles in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Macmillan Audio Published: January 31, 2023 Summary: Federal Investigator Aaron Falk is on his way to a small town deep in Southern Australian wine country for the christening of an old friend’s baby. But mystery follows him, even on vacation. This weekend marks the one-year anniversary of Kim Gillespie’s disappearance. One year…

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k2reader February 7, 2023

Atomic Habits by James Clear #bookreview #audiobook #nonfiction

I purchased this book and audiobook for my own personal collection. Publisher: Avery / Penguin Audio Published: October 16, 2018 Summary: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving – every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny…

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k2reader February 5, 2023

Three Hours in Paris by Cara Black #bookreview #audiobook #series

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Soho Crime / Recorded Books Published: April 7, 2020 Summary: In June of 1940, when Paris fell to the Nazis, Hitler spent a total of three hours in the City of Light-abruptly leaving, never to return. To this day, no one knows why. The New York Times best-selling author of the Aimee Leduc investigations…

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k2reader February 3, 2023

The Fires by Sigridur Hagalin Bjornsdottir #bookreview #translatedbook

Thank you MB Communications & Amazon Crossing #partner, for the advanced copy of The Fires in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Amazon Crossing Published: February 1, 2023 Summary: From Icelandic author Sigríður Hagalín Björnsdóttir comes a heart-wrenching thriller about a woman’s desperate quest to save the people she loves from a natural disaster. After an eight-hundred-year slumber, the volcanoes in Iceland’s most populated region are showing signs of…

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k2reader February 2, 2023

Month in Review: January 2023

Does anyone else feel that January both lasted forever and flew by? I can’t believe the first month of the new year has already come and gone…at least it was filled with some great reads! This year while I will still be reading new books and review copies, I am also trying to focus more on the books I already own. I’m participating in a year-long challenge over on…

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k2reader February 1, 2023

If a Poem Could Live and Breathe by Mary Calvi #bookreview

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press, #partner, for an advanced copy of If a Poem Could Live and Breathe in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Published: February 14, 2023 SUMMARY: A fact-based romantic speculative novel about Teddy Roosevelt’s first love, by Mary Calvi, author of Dear George, Dear Mary. Studded with the real love letters between a young Theodore Roosevelt and Boston beauty Alice Lee—many of them never…

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k2reader January 30, 2023

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano #bookreview #audiobook #series

Thank you Macmillan Audio /Netgalley for the ALC and Minotaur Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: January 31, 2023 Summary: Author and single mom Finlay Donovan has been in messes before―after all, she’s a pro at removing bloodstains for various unexpected reasons―but none quite like this. When Finlay and her nanny/partner-in-crime Vero accidentally destroyed a…

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k2reader January 30, 2023

A Light in the Forest by Melissa Payne #bookreview #audiobook #bookclub

Thank you Brilliance Audio for the ALC and Get Red PR , #partner, for the advanced copy of A Light in the Forest in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Lake Union Publishing / Brilliance Audio Published: December 13, 2022 Summary: From Melissa Payne, bestselling author of The Night of Many Endings, comes an emotional and suspenseful novel about the weight of secrets and the healing power of friends and…

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k2reader January 29, 2023

22 Seconds by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro #bookreview #shortandsweetreview #series

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Little, Brown and Company Published: May 2, 2022 Summary: 22 seconds… until Lindsay Boxer loses her badge—or her life. SFPD Sergeant Lindsay Boxer has guns on her mind. There’s buzz of a last-ditch shipment of drugs and weapons crossing the Mexican border ahead of new restrictive gun laws. Before Lindsay can act, her top informant tips her to a…

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k2reader January 26, 2023

Sam by Allegra Goodman #bookreview

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Dial Press Published: January 3, 2023 Summary: What happens to a girl’s exuberance and wonder as she becomes a woman? This unforgettable portrait of coming-of-age offers a powerful reflection on class, addiction, parenthood, longing, and ambition. There is a girl, and her name is Sam. She adores her father, though he isn’t around much. Her mother, Courtney, struggles to…

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k2reader January 24, 2023

The Science of Murder by Carla Valentine #bookreview #nonfiction

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Sourcebooks Published: May 31, 2022 Summary: Discover the science of forensics through Agatha Christie’s novels Agatha Christie is the bestselling novelist of all time, and nearly every story she ever wrote involves one―or, more commonly, several―dead bodies. And the cause of death, the motives behind violent crimes, the clues that inevitably are left behind, and the people who put…

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k2reader January 23, 2023

Devil’s Way by Robert Bryndza #bookreview #audiobook #netgalley #series

Thank you Netgalley, #partner, for the advanced copy of Devil’s Way in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Raven Street Publishing Published: January 12, 2023 Summary: THE TRUTH HIDES IN THE DARK Kate Marshall’s investigation into a young boy’s disappearance sends her down an unexpectedly twisted path in a riveting thriller by multi-million bestselling author, Robert Bryndza. When Private Investigator Kate Marshall is rushed to hospital after being pulled into…

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k2reader January 22, 2023

Hide in Place by Emilya Naymark #bookreview #audiobook #series

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Crooked Lane Books / Dreamscape Media Published: February 9, 2021 / February 25, 2021 Summary: She left the NYPD in the firestorm of a high-profile case gone horribly wrong. Three years later, the ghosts of her past roar back to terrifying life. When NYPD undercover cop Laney Bird’s cover is blown in…

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k2reader January 21, 2023

Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom #bookreview

Thank you to TandemCollectiveGlobal, Soho Press, #partner, for a finished copy of Aesthetica in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Soho Press Published: November 22, 2022 Summary: In a debut novel as radiant as it is caustic, a former influencer confronts her past—and takes inventory of the damages that underpin the surface-glamour of social media. At 19, she was an Instagram celebrity. Now, at 35, she works behind the…

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k2reader January 19, 2023

The Lindbergh Nanny by Mariah Fredericks #bookreview

Thank you Minotaur Books/Netgalley #partner, for the advanced copy of The Lindbergh Nanny in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: November 15, 2022 Summary: Mariah Fredericks’s The Lindbergh Nanny is powerful, propulsive novel about America’s most notorious kidnapping through the eyes of the woman who found herself at the heart of this deadly crime. When the most famous toddler in America, Charles Lindbergh, Jr., is kidnapped from his…

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k2reader January 17, 2023

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Macmillan Audio /Netgalley for the ALC and Flatiron Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of What Lies in the Woods in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Flatiron Books / Macmillan Audio Published: January 17, 2023 Summary: They were eleven when they sent a killer to prison . . . They were heroes . . . but they were liars. Naomi Shaw used to believe in magic. Twenty-two…

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k2reader January 13, 2023

Just the Nicest Couple by Mary Kubica #bookreview

Thank you to Thoughts From a Page, Park Row Books, #partner, for an advanced copy of Just the Nicest Couple in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Park Row Books Published: January 10, 2023 Summary: Two couples, two close friends, one missing husband… Jake Hayes is missing. This much is certain. At first, his wife, Nina, thinks he is blowing off steam at a friend’s house after their heated…

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k2reader January 12, 2023

City Under One Roof by Iris Yamashita #bookreview #blogtour

Thank you Berkley Books, #partner, for the finished copy of City Under One Roof in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Berkley Books Pub date: January 10, 2023 Summary: A stranded detective tries to solve a murder in a tiny Alaskan town where everyone lives in a single high-rise building, in this gripping debut by an Academy Award–nominated screenwriter. When a local teenager discovers a severed hand and foot washed…

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k2reader January 12, 2023

All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Libro.fm / Macmillan, #partner for the ALC of All the Dangerous Things in exchange for my honest review. I purchased a print copy for my own collection. Publisher: Minotaur Books / Macmillan Audio Published: January 10, 2023 Summary: Following up her instant New York Times bestseller, A Flicker in the Dark, Stacy Willingham delivers a totally gripping thriller about a desperate mother with a troubled past in All the Dangerous Things.…

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k2reader January 10, 2023

Regrets Only by Kieran Scott #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and @BookClubFavorites & Gallery Books #partner, for the finished copy of Regrets Only in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Gallery Books / Simon & Schuster ALC Published: January 10, 2023 Summary: In a fast-paced new novel in the vein of Big Little Lies, a single mom goes undercover to investigate a host of disturbing secrets held by the leaders of…

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k2reader January 10, 2023

Force of Nature by Jane Harper #bookreview #audiobook

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Flatiron Books / Macmillan Audio Published: February 6, 2018 Summary: Five women go on a hike. Only four return. Force of Nature begs the question: How well do you really know the people you work with? When five colleagues are forced to go on a corporate retreat in the wilderness, they reluctantly pick up…

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k2reader January 8, 2023

The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre by Natasha Lester #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Hachette Audio for the ALC and Forever/Grand Central Publishing, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Three Lives of Alix St. Pierre in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Forever / Hachette Audio Published: January 10, 2023 Summary: New York Times bestselling author Natasha Lester delivers an unforgettable story of an orphan turned WWII spy turned fashion icon in Paris—perfect for fans of Kate Quinn and Fiona Davis. 1943. After…

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k2reader January 6, 2023

If a Poem Could Live and Breathe by Mary Calvi #bookfeature #bookexcerpt

Thank you to the St. Martin’s Press, #partner for the gifted copy. Today I am featuring a book I am really excited for that comes out in February – February 14th to be exact! If a Poem Could Live and Breathe by Mary Calvi is a novel about Teddy Roosevelt’s first love and I’m so thrilled to be helping get the word out about this book. This is one of…

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k2reader January 6, 2023

The Nowhere Child by Christian White #bookreview #audiobook

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Minotaur Books / Macmillan Audio Published: January 22, 2019 (first published June 2018) Summary: Winner of the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award, The Nowhere Child is screenwriter Christian White’s internationally bestselling debut thriller of psychological suspense about a woman uncovering devastating secrets about her family–and her very identity… Kimberly Leamy is a photography teacher in…

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k2reader January 4, 2023

Gallows Rock by Yrsa Sigurdardottir, translated by Victoria Cribb #bookreview #series #translatedbook

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Published: May 28, 2020 Summary: On a jagged, bleak lava field just outside Reykjavik stands the Gallows Rock. Once a place of execution, it is now a tourist attraction. Until this morning, when a man was found hanging from it… The nail embedded in his chest proves it wasn’t suicide. But when the police go to…

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k2reader January 3, 2023

The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Librofm/Penguin Audio for the ALC and Dutton/Netgalley, #partner, for the advanced e-galley of The House in the Pines in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Dutton / Penguin Audio Published: January 3, 2023 Summary: Armed with only hazy memories, a woman who long ago witnessed her friend’s sudden, mysterious death, and has since spent her life trying to forget, sets out to track down answers. What she…

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k2reader January 2, 2023

The Last Year of the War by Susan Meissner #bookreview #audiobook

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Berkley Books / Penguin Audio Published: March 19, 2019 Summary: From the acclaimed author of Secrets of a Charmed Life and As Bright as Heaven comes a novel about a German American teenager whose life changes forever when her immigrant family is sent to an internment camp during World War II. In 1943, Elise Sontag is…

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k2reader January 2, 2023

No One Knows Us Here by Rebecca Kelley #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Brilliance Audio for the ALC and MB Communications & Lake Union Publishing #partner, for the advanced copy of No One Knows Us Here in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Lake Union Publishing / Brilliance Audio Published: January 1, 2023 Summary: In this gripping novel about obsession, control, and self-preservation, a woman desperate to provide a new life for her sister enters a compromising arrangement with an…

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k2reader January 1, 2023

Month in Review: December 2022

I cannot believe 2022 is over! December both flew by and dragged at times. It was a busy month and so my reading definitely slowed down, but I was more than okay with that…the books I did read managed to be some incredible reads and I ended up reading 4 of my favorite reads of the year this month! I’ll be sharing more about this in my newsletter which will…

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k2reader December 31, 2022

The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly #bookreview

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Published: September 1, 2022 Summary: THIS REUNION WILL TEAR A FAMILY APART… Summer, 2021. Nell has come home at her family’s insistence to celebrate an anniversary. Fifty years ago, her father wrote The Golden Bones. Part picture book, part treasure hunt, Sir Frank Churcher created a fairy story about Elinore, a murdered woman whose skeleton was scattered all over…

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k2reader December 29, 2022

Locust Lane by Stephen Amidon #bookreview

Thank you Celadon Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Locust Lane in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Celadon Books Published: January 17, 2023 Summary: For fans of Mystic River by Dennis Lehane and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, Stephen Amidon’s Locust Lane is a taut and utterly propulsive story about the search for justice and the fault lines of power and influence in a seemingly idyllic town. Can anyone be trusted? On the…

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k2reader December 29, 2022

The Lipstick Bureau by Michelle Gable #blogtour #bookreview

Thank you HTP Books / Graydon House, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Lipstick Bureau in exchange for my honest review. Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for The Lipstick Bureas by Michelle Gable. Thank you HTP Books for inviting me to participate. Publisher: Graydon House Published: December 27, 2022 Summary: Inspired by a real-life female spy, a WWII-set novel about a woman challenging convention…

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k2reader December 27, 2022

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Random House Publishing Group/Netgalley #partner, for the advanced copy of Mad Honey in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Ballantine Books / Random House Audio Published: October 4, 2022 Summary: A soul-stirring novel about what we choose to keep from our past, and what we choose to leave behind. Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her…

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k2reader December 26, 2022

Dead and Gondola by Ann Claire #bookreview #series

Thank you Random House Publishing Group/Netgalley #partner, for the advanced copy of Dead and Gondola in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Bantam Books Published: November 1, 2022 Summary: When a mysterious bookshop visitor dies under murderous circumstances, the Christie sisters and their cat Agatha call on all they’ve learned about solving mysteries from their favorite novelist in this new series debut. Ellie Christie is thrilled to begin a new…

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k2reader December 26, 2022

The Murders at Fleat House by Lucinda Riley #bookreview

Thank you to GetRedPR, Blue Box Press, #partner, for the finished copy of The Murders at Fleat House in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Blue Box Press Published: April 19, 2022 Summary: The sudden death of a pupil in Fleat House at St Stephen’s – a small English private boarding school in deepest Norfolk – is a shocking event that the headmaster is very keen to call a tragic…

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k2reader December 24, 2022

Sea Storm by Andrew Mayne #bookreview #series

Thank you Thomas & Mercer, #partner for the finished copy of Sea Storm in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Thomas & Mercer Published: March 29, 2022 Summary: An explosive conspiracy sets the ocean roiling for a deep-diving investigator in a riveting thriller by the author of the Amazon Charts bestseller The Girl Beneath the Sea. A distress call draws rescuers Sloan McPherson and the Underwater Investigation Unit to a…

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k2reader December 21, 2022

Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak #bookreview #audiobook #backlistreview

Thank you Berkley, #partner for the finished copy of Seven Days of Us in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Berkley Books / Penguin Audio Published: October 17, 2017 Summary: It’s Christmas, and for the first time in years the entire Birch family will be under one roof. Even Emma and Andrew’s elder daughter—who is usually off saving the world—will be joining…

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k2reader December 21, 2022

The Santa Suit by Mary Kay Andrews #bookreview #audiobook #backlistreview

Thank you St. Martin’s Press, #partner for the finished copy of The Santa Suit in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio Published: September 28, 2021 Summary: From Mary Kay Andrews, the New York Times bestselling author of Hello, Summer, comes a novella celebrating the magic of Christmas and second chances in The Santa Suit. When newly-divorced Ivy Perkins buys an…

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