Always With a Book

k2reader May 28, 2022

Review: Dava Shastri’s Last Day by Kirthana Ramisetti

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing Published: November 30, 2021 Source: Publisher Summary: In this thought-provoking and entertaining debut novel about of a multicultural family, a dying billionaire matriarch leaks news of her death early so she can examine her legacy–a decision that horrifies her children and inadvertently exposes secrets she has spent a lifetime keeping. Dava Shastri, one of the world’s wealthiest women, has always lived with her sterling reputation…

View Post

k2reader May 27, 2022

Blog Tour & Review: Never Coming Home by Hannah Mary McKinnon

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Never Coming Home by Hannah Mary McKinnon. Thank you MIRA for inviting me to participate. Publisher: MIRA Published: May 24, 2022 Source: ARC E-copy via Netgalley SUMMARY: First comes love. Then comes murder. Lucas Forester didn’t hate his wife. Michelle was brilliant, sophisticated and beautiful. Sure, she had extravagant spending habits and that petty attitude, a…

View Post

k2reader May 27, 2022

Review: The Sky Above Us by Natalie Lund

Publisher: Philomel Books Published: April 13, 2021 Source: Netgalley via Publisher Summary: From the author of We Speak in Storms comes a twisty, psychological thriller about three friends searching for the truth in the aftermath of a plane crash. The morning after their senior year beach party, Izzy, Cass, and Janie are woken by a thundering overhead. Then they and their classmates watch in shock as a plane crashes…

View Post

k2reader May 22, 2022

Review: The Good Left Undone by Adriana Trigiani (audio)

Publisher: Dutton / Penguin Audio Published: April 26, 2022 Source: Print – Hardcover via Dutton / Audio via Library Summary: From Adriana Trigiani, “a master of visual and palpable detail” (The Washington Post), comes a lush, immersive novel about three generations of Tuscan artisans with one remarkable secret. Epic in scope and resplendent with the glorious themes of identity and belonging, The Good Left Undone unfolds in breathtaking turns. Matelda, the…

View Post

k2reader May 20, 2022

Review: The Half-Life of Ruby Fielding by Lydia Kang (audio)

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing / Brilliance Audio Published: May 1, 2022 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Author / Audio – ALC via Brilliance Publishing Summary: From the bestselling author of A Beautiful Poison comes a spellbinding historical mystery about hidden identities, wartime paranoia, and the tantalizing power of deceit. Brooklyn, 1942. War rages overseas as brother and sister Will and Maggie Scripps contribute to the war effort stateside. Ambitious Will…

View Post

k2reader May 20, 2022

Review: The Murder Rule by Dervla McTiernan (audio)

Publisher: Harper Audio Published: May 10, 2022 Source: ALC via Netgalley Summary: For fans of the compulsive psychological suspense of Ruth Ware and Tana French, a mother-daughter story – one running from a horrible truth, and the other fighting to reveal it – that twists and turns in shocking ways, from the internationally best-selling author of The Scholar and The Ruin. First Rule: Make them like you. Second Rule: Make them need you. Third Rule:…

View Post

k2reader May 18, 2022

Review: Bomb Shelter: Love, time & Other Explosives by Mary Laura Philpott (audio)

Publisher: Atria Books / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: April 12, 2022 Source: Print – ARC E-copy via Netgalley / Audio – ALC via Simon & Schuster Audio Summary: From the bestselling author of I Miss You When I Blink comes a poignant and powerful new memoir that tackles the big questions of life, death, and existential fear with humor and hope. A lifelong worrier, Philpott always kept an eye out…

View Post

k2reader May 17, 2022

Review: The Island by Adrian McKinty (audio)

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company / Hachette Audio Published: May 17, 2022 Source: Print – Hardcover via Novel Suspects / Audio – ALC via Hachette Audio Summary: IT WAS JUST SUPPOSED TO BE A FAMILY VACATION. A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT CHANGED EVERYTHING. YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE CAPABLE OF UNTIL THEY COME FOR YOUR FAMILY. After moving from a small country town to Seattle, Heather Baxter marries Tom, a widowed…

View Post

k2reader May 17, 2022

Review: One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle (audio)

Publisher: Atria Books / Simon and Schuster Audio Published: March 1, 2022 Source: Print – Netgalley / Audio – ALC via Simon & Schuster Audio Summary: The New York Times best-selling author of the “heartwarming, heartbreaking, and hard to put down” (Laurie Frankel, New York Times best-selling author) modern classic In Five Years returns with a moving and unforgettable exploration of the powerful bond between mother and daughter set on the breathtaking Amalfi Coast. When…

View Post

k2reader May 16, 2022

Blog Tour & Review: Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner (audio)

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Bloomsbury Girls by Natalie Jenner. Thank you Austen Prose PR for inviting me to participate. Publisher: Macmillan Audio Published: May 17, 2022 Source: ALC via Macmillan Audio SUMMARY: Natalie Jenner, the internationally bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society, returns with a compelling and heartwarming story of post-war London, a century-old bookstore, and…

View Post

k2reader May 13, 2022

Review: The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig

Publisher: Del Ray Books Published: July 20, 2021 Source: Personal copy Summary: A family returns to their hometown—and to the dark past that haunts them still—in this masterpiece of literary horror by the New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers Long ago, Nathan lived in a house in the country with his abusive father—and has never told his family what happened there. Long ago, Maddie was a little girl making dolls in…

View Post

k2reader May 12, 2022

Review: Magpie by Elizabeth Day (audio)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: May 3, 2022 Source: Print ARC Paperback via BookClub Favorites / ALC via Simon & Schuster Audio Summary: She has almost everything. The rest she’ll take. Single White Female meets The Perfect Nanny in this taut, psychological suspense novel about a perfect couple and their seemingly perfect roommate—that is until she threatens to destroy everything they’ve worked so hard to create. Marisa…

View Post

k2reader May 11, 2022

Review: The Shadow House by Anna Downes

Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: April 5, 2022 Source: ARC E-copy via Netgalley Summary: Extraordinarily tense and deliciously mysterious, Anna Downes’s The Shadow House follows one woman’s desperate journey to protect her children at any cost, in a remote place where not everything is as it seems. A HOUSE WITH DEADLY SECRETS. A MOTHER WHO’LL RISK EVERYTHING TO BRING THEM TO LIGHT. Alex, a single mother-of-two, is determined to make a fresh…

View Post

k2reader May 11, 2022

Review: The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley

Publisher: William Morrow Published: February 22, 2022 Source: ARC Paperback via Publisher Summary: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Guest List comes a new locked room mystery, set in a Paris apartment building in which every resident has something to hide… Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked…

View Post

k2reader May 7, 2022

Review: Make Me Disappear by Jessica Payne (audio)

Publisher: Bookouture Audio Published: May 16, 2022 Source: ALC via Publisher Summary: By the time I realized the truth about Daniel it was too late. But the truth about me? He never saw that coming… Dr Daniel Ashcroft was perfect: handsome, romantic, protective. I thought I was so lucky. But then I heard the rumors about his previous girlfriend, that she had vanished without a trace. That’s when I…

View Post

k2reader May 6, 2022

Most Anticipated Releases: May 2022

Happy May! Here we are with another batch of anticipated reads. It’s the time of year when people start thinking of summer reading and so some of these books definitely have that summery feel to them, certainly by the cover if nothing else! THE MURDER OF MR. WICKHAM by Claudia Gray Pub date: May 3, 2022, Vintage Anchor My review Summary: A summer house party turns…

View Post

k2reader May 6, 2022

Blog Tour & Review: The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for The Murder of Mr. Wickham by Claudia Gray. Thank you Austen Prose PR for inviting me to participate. Publisher: Vintage Anchor Books Published: May 3, 2022 Source: ARC Paperback via AustenProse PR Summary: A summer house party turns into a whodunit when Mr. Wickham, one of literature’s most notorious villains, meets a sudden and suspicious…

View Post

k2reader May 5, 2022

Review: Lacie’s Secrets by Teresa Sorkin & Tullan Holmqvist

Publisher: Beaufort Books Published: April 12, 2022 Source: ARC Paperback via Author (via giveaway win!!!) Summary: Reminiscent of classic suspense novels, Lacie’s Secrets is the latest psychological thriller from writing duo Teresa Sorkin and Tullan Holmqvist, authors of the award-winning thriller The Woman in the Park. For the past 18 years, Kate Williams has tried to forget that fateful summer, the summer that ripped her family apart. But when her estranged mother…

View Post

k2reader May 2, 2022

Book Event: Long Island Reads & Book Review: The Living and the Lost by Ellen Feldman

Yesterday, I attended my first of what I hope will be many Long Island Reads events. Long Island Reads is an island-wide initiative that began in 2002 to bring readers together from both Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Each spring readers across both counties read the same book, participate in book discussions and enjoy events related to the book in the libraries. Now that in-person events are happening again, this year…

View Post

k2reader May 2, 2022

Review: The Next Thing You Know by Jessica Strawser

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Published: March 22, 2022 Source: ARC E-copy via Pubisher Summary: A musician facing the untimely end of his career. An end-of-life doula with everything, and nothing, to lose. A Star Is Born meets Me Before You in this powerful novel by the author of A Million Reasons Why. As an end-of-life doula, Nova Huston’s job—her calling, her purpose, her life—is to help terminally ill people…

View Post

k2reader May 1, 2022

Month in Review: April 2022

How is it that April has come and gone already? I had such great plans for catching up with reviews and glancing below, you can see that that did not happen. Oh well…one of these days I’ll get the reviews written. I just have so many books to read and sitting down to write the rewiews does’t always sound as appealing as writing the review. May is looking to be…

View Post

k2reader April 28, 2022

Blog Tour & Excerpt: The Wrong Victim by Allison Brennan

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for The Wrong Victim by Allison Brennan – I have an excerpt for you to read thanks to MIRA. Publisher: MIRA Published: April 26, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher SUMMARY: A bomb explodes on a sunset charter cruise out of Friday Harbor at the height of tourist season and kills everyone on board. Now this fishing and boating…

View Post

k2reader April 27, 2022

Review: The First Kennedys by Neal Thompson

Publisher: Mariner Books Published: February 22, 2022 Source: Hardcover via Publisher Summary: Based on genealogical breakthroughs and previously unreleased records, this is the first book to explore the inspiring story of the poor Irish refugee couple who escaped famine, created a life together in a city hostile to Irish, immigrants, and Catholics, and launched the Kennedy dynasty in America. Their Irish ancestry was a hallmark of the Kennedys’ initial…

View Post

k2reader April 27, 2022

Review: Everything Must Go by Camille Pagan (audio)

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing / Brilliance Audio Published: April 26, 2022 Source: Print – Finished copy via KCCPR/SuzyApprovedBookTours / Audio – ALC via Brilliance Audio Summary: A warm, wry novel about secrets, second chances, and the unbreakable bonds between mothers, daughters, and sisters by the #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of Life and Other Near-Death Experiences. Laine Francis believes there’s a place for everything—and New York, where her family lives,…

View Post

k2reader April 26, 2022

Review: Unmasked by Paul Holes

Publisher: Celadon Books Published: April 26, 2022 Source: ARC Paperback via Publisher Summary: From the detective who found The Golden State Killer, a memoir of investigating America’s toughest cold cases and the rewards–and toll–of a life solving crime. I order another bourbon, neat. This is the drink that will flip the switch. I don’t even know how I got here, to this place, to this point. Something is happening to…

View Post

k2reader April 24, 2022

Review: Take Your Breath Away by Linwood Barclay

Publisher: William Morrow Published: May 17, 2022 Source: ARC E-copy via Netgalley Summary: From the New York Times bestselling author of Find You First and Elevator Pitch comes a gripping psychological thriller about a formerly missing woman who has suddenly returned under mysterious circumstances. One weekend, while Andrew Mason was on a fishing trip, his wife, Brie, vanished without a trace. Most everyone assumed Andy had got away with murder–it’s always the husband, isn’t it?–but…

View Post

k2reader April 24, 2022

Review: Little Creeping Things by Chelsea Ichaso

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire: Published: June 2, 2020 Source: Hardcover via Publisher Summary: When she was a child, Cassidy Pratt accidentally started a fire that killed her neighbor. At least, that’s what she’s been told. She can’t remember anything from that day, and her town’s bullies, particularly the cruel and beautiful Melody Davenport, have never let her live it down. But then Melody goes missing, and Cassidy thinks she may…

View Post

k2reader April 23, 2022

Review: Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr (audio)

Publisher: Harper Paperbacks / Harper Audio Published: March 1, 2022 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Publisher / Audio – ALC via Publisher Summary: From the author of the award-winning Fugitive Colors and The Unbreakables, a gripping tale of a young, ambitious journalist embroiled in an international art scandal centered around a Nazi-looted masterpiece – forcing the ultimate showdown between passion and possession, lovers and liars, history and truth. After talking her way into a job with…

View Post

k2reader April 22, 2022

Short & Sweet Review: The Devil’s Star by Jo Nesbo

Publisher: Vintage Published: April 6, 2016 (first published 2003) Source: Personal copy SUMMARY: A young woman is murdered in her Oslo flat. One finger has been severed from her left hand, and behind her eyelid is secreted a tiny red diamond in the shape of a five-pointed star – a pentagram, the devil’s star. Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case with his long-time adversary Tom Waaler and initially…

View Post

k2reader April 18, 2022

Review: Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough

Publisher: William Morrow Published: April 12, 2022 Source: Print copy via Publisher Summary: IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT, MADNESS LIES . . . Emma can’t sleep. CHECK THE WINDOWS. It’s been like this since her big 4-0 started getting closer. LOCK THE DOORS. Her mother stopped sleeping just before her own fortieth birthday. She went mad and did the unthinkable because of it. LOOK IN ON THE CHILDREN. Is…

View Post

k2reader April 16, 2022

Review: The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn (print/audio)

Publisher: William Morrow / Harper Audio Published: March 29, 2022 Source: Print – Hardcover via William Morrow / Audio – ALC via Harper Audio Summary: The New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code returns with an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm who becomes history’s deadliest female sniper. Based on a true story. In 1937 in the snowbound city of Kiev (now known as Kyiv), wry and bookish…

View Post

k2reader April 16, 2022

Blog Tour & Excerpt: Summer at the Cape by RaeAnne Thayne

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Summer at the Cape by RaeAnne Thayne – I have an excerpt for you to read thanks to HQN. Publisher: HQN Published: April 12, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher SUMMARY: From the beloved bestselling author of Season of Wonder and The Cliff House comes a poignant and uplifting novel about forgiveness, family and all the complications—and joy — that come with it As the…

View Post

k2reader April 15, 2022

Blog Tour & Review: Mrs. England by Stacey Halls (audio)

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Mrs. England by Stacey Hall. Thank you MIRA for inviting me to participate. Publisher: MIRA / Harper Audio Published: April 12, 2022 Source: Print – Paperback via HTP Books / Audio – ALC via Harper Audio SUMMARY: Simmering with slow-burning menace, Mrs. England is a portrait of an Edwardian marriage, an enthralling tale of men and…

View Post

k2reader April 14, 2022

Review: Young Rich Widows by Kimberly Belle, Layne Fargo, Cate Holahan & Vanessa Lillie (audio)

Publisher: Audible Originals Published: April 14, 2022 Source: ALC via Authors Summary: When the four partners of a prominent law firm are killed in a mysterious plane crash, their widows must come together to uncover the truth in this explosive, edge-of-your-seat novel. It’s 1985 in Providence, Rhode Island, and the four partners of a prominent, mafia-affiliated law firm have been killed in a private jet that went down outside…

View Post

k2reader April 12, 2022

Review: The Caretakers by Amanda Bestor-Siegal (audio)

Publisher: Harper Audio Published: April 12, 2022 Source: Netgalley Summary: Set in a wealthy Parisian suburb, an emotionally riveting debut told from the point of view of six women, and centered around a group of au pairs, one of whom is arrested after a sudden and suspicious tragedy strikes her host family—a dramatic exploration of identity, class, and caregiving from a profoundly talented new writer. Paris, 2015. A crowd…

View Post

k2reader April 9, 2022

Blog Tour & Review: A Family Affair by Robyn Carr (audio)

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for A Family Affair by Robyn Carr. Thank you MIRA for inviting me to participate. Publisher: MIRA / Harper Audio Published: April 5, 2022 Source: Print: Netgalley via HTP Books / Audio: ALC via Harper Audio SUMMARY: Life’s biggest dilemmas can provide its sweetest rewards Anna McNichol knows how to take charge. Raised by a single…

View Post

k2reader April 8, 2022

Blog Tour & Review: Fool Me Once by Ashley Winstead

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Fool Me Once by Ashley Winstead. Thank you Graydon House for inviting me to participate. Publisher: Graydon House Published: April 5, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher SUMMARY: In this fierce and funny battle of the exes, Ashley Winstead’s FOOL ME ONCE explores the chaos of wanting what you already had. Lee Stone is a twenty-first-century woman: she kicks…

View Post

k2reader April 8, 2022

Short & Sweet Review: 21st Birthday by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company Published: May 3, 2021 Source: Personal copy Summary: Detective Lindsay Boxer vows to protect a young woman from a serial killer long enough to see her twenty-first birthday. When young wife and mother Tara Burke goes missing with her baby girl, all eyes are on her husband, Lucas. He paints her not as a missing person but a wayward wife—until a gruesome piece of…

View Post

k2reader April 7, 2022

Blog Tour & Excerpt: Summer on the Island by Brenda Novak

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Summer on the Island by Brenda Novak – I have an excerpt for you to read thanks to MIRA. Publisher: MIRA Published: April 5, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher SUMMARY: A summer of healing, friendship, love…and a secret that could change everything. After the death of her US senator father, Marlow Madsen travels to the small…

View Post

k2reader April 5, 2022

Review: Easy Beauty by Chloe Cooper Jones (audio)

Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: April 5, 2022 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Avid Reader Press / Audio – ALC via Simon & Schuster Audio Summary: From Chloé Cooper Jones—Pulitzer Prize finalist, philosophy professor, Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant recipient—a groundbreaking memoir about disability, motherhood, and a journey to far-flung places in search of a new way of seeing and being seen. “I am…

View Post

k2reader April 5, 2022

Review: Caul Baby by Morgan Jerkins

Publisher: Harper Published: April 6, 2021 Source: Personal copy Summary: New York Times bestselling author Morgan Jerkins makes her fiction debut with this electrifying novel, for fans of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jacqueline Woodson, that brings to life one powerful and enigmatic family in a tale rife with secrets, betrayal, intrigue, and magic. Laila desperately wants to become a mother, but each of her previous pregnancies has ended in heartbreak. This…

View Post

k2reader April 4, 2022

Most Anticipated Releases: April 2022

Happy April! Here we are with another batch of anticipated reads…and once again, I had a hard time narrowing this list down to just 5 books…there are many new books coming out this month. With that being said, here are the 5 books I am most excited for this month. Some are brand new-to-me authors and some are beloved favorite authors that I get giddy with each new release…

View Post

k2reader April 4, 2022

Review: Moment in Time by Suzanne Redfearn (audio)

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing / Brilliance Audio Published: March 8, 2022 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Author / Audio – ALC via Brilliance Audio Summary: From the bestselling author of In an Instant comes a heartrending story about the power of friendship during the most challenging moments in life. It’s been eight years since a tragic accident changed Mo Kaminski’s and Chloe Miller’s lives forever. Now in their midtwenties, they’re…

View Post

k2reader April 4, 2022

Blog Tour & Excerpt: Crimson Summer by Heather Graham

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Crimson Summer by Heather Graham – I have an excerpt for you to read thanks to MIRA. Publisher: MIRA Published: April 5, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher SUMMARY: From New York Times bestselling author Heather Graham, suspense following agents from the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement as they investigate a series of murders linked to…

View Post

k2reader April 3, 2022

Review: Killer View by Roy Johansen (audio)

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing / Hachette Audio Published: March 8, 2022 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Grand Central / Audio – ALC via Hachette Audio Summary: New York Times best-selling author Roy Johansen delivers a thrill-a-minute listen featuring a fearless heroine for hire. An army vet and former bodyguard for the rich and famous, Jessie Mercado has faced all kinds of danger and always emerged victorious. But one thing…

View Post

k2reader April 1, 2022

Month in Review: March 2022

March was a crazy month…so many great books came out and I was busy with lots of book club reads and buddy reads. I am really enjoying all the discussions that come from these group reads and while I would probably have read most of these books, some were ones I might not have picked up. And as you can see, this month I definitely gravitated towards audiobooks…I love…

View Post

k2reader March 29, 2022

Review: The Detective’s Daughter by Erica Spindler

Publisher: Double Shot Press Published: March 29, 2022 Source: ARC E-galley via author Summary: New Orleans Detective Quinn Conners is haunted by her father’s whiskey-soaked, last words – that he solved the Hudson murder and kidnapping. It wasn’t the first time he’d made that drunken claim, and she didn’t believe him. Twenty-four hours later she found him dead by his own hand. Quinn blames the investigation for his downfall,…

View Post

k2reader March 28, 2022

Review: Home or Away by Kathleen West

Publisher: Berkley Publisher Published: March 29, 2022 Source: ARC E-copy via Netgalley / Hardcopy via Kathleen Carter Communications Summary: Two friends, one Olympic dream, and the choice that stood in the way. Once Leigh and Susy were close friends and teammates bound for Olympic hockey gold, but when Leigh’s sure-fire plan to make the final roster backfired, she left everything behind to start over, including the one person…

View Post

k2reader March 26, 2022

Blog Tour & Review: The Lying Club by Annie Ward

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for The Lying Club by Annie Ward. Thank you Park Row Books for inviting me to participate. Publisher: Park Row Books Published: March 22, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher Summary: A tangled web of lies draws together three women in this explosive thriller of revenge, murder and shocking secrets At an elite private school nestled in…

View Post

k2reader March 22, 2022

Review: Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company Published: March 15, 2022 Source: Personal copy Summary: A “beautifully rendered” novel about war, migration, and the power of telling our stories, Peach Blossom Spring follows three generations of a Chinese family on their search for a place to call home (Georgia Hunter, New York Times bestselling author). “Within every misfortune there is a blessing and within every blessing, the seeds of misfortune, and so it goes, until the end…

View Post