book club book – Always With a Book

k2reader October 28, 2024

Natural Selection by Elin Hilderbrand #bookreview #audiobook #shortstory

I obtained this audiobook through my Kindle Unlimited Subscription. Publisher: Amazon Original Stories Published: September 1, 2024 Summary: When her boyfriend bails at the last minute, a New York woman embarks on their couples’ cruise alone to find that maybe the person she was supposed to fall in love with was herself. After a string of bad dates and no prospects, Sophia Othonos has finally hit the jackpot: an actual…

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k2reader September 8, 2024

The Return by Rachel Harrison #bookreview #audiobook #bookclubbook

I borrowed this audiobook from the library. Publisher: Penguin Audio Published: March 24, 2020 Summary: A group of friends reunite after one of them has returned from a mysterious two-year disappearance in this edgy and haunting debut. Julie is missing, and no one believes she will ever return – except Elise. Elise knows Julie better than anyone, and feels it in her bones that her best friend is out…

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k2reader June 28, 2024

Knife River by Justine Champine #bookreview

Thank you The Dial Press #partner, for the advanced copy of Knife River in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: The Dial Press Published: May 28, 2024 Summary: Who do you believe when you can’t even trust yourself? A troubled young woman reunites with her sister in their hometown to uncover the truth about their mother’s disappearance in this compelling family drama and literary suspense debut. “Knife River is…

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k2reader March 9, 2024

The Hunting Wives by May Cobb #bookreview #audiobook #bookclubbook

I borrowed this audiobook from the library. Publisher: Penguin Audio Published: May 18, 2021 Summary: The Hunting Wives share more than target practice, martinis, and bad behavior in this novel of obsession, seduction, and murder. Sophie O’Neill left behind an envy-inspiring career and the stressful, competitive life of big-city Chicago to settle down with her husband and young son in a small Texas town. It seems like the perfect…

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k2reader February 27, 2024

The Resort by Sara Ochs #bookreview

Thank you @ScaredStraightReads/Sourcebooks Landmark #partner, for the finished copy of The Resort in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark Published: February 6, 2024 Summary: A searing vacation thriller set on a remote island in Thailand following two mysterious women, a charismatic group of expats, and the one murder poised to bring their paradise crashing down. Welcome to paradise. We hope you survive your stay… There are three rules…

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k2reader October 3, 2023

The Jeweler of Stolen Dreams by M.J. Rose #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Brilliance Audio for the ALC and Get Red PR and Blue Box Press , #partner, for the finished copy of The Jeweler of Stolen Dreams in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Blue Box Press / Brilliance Audio Published: February 7, 2023 Summary: A captivating tale of two passionate women separated by decades but united by a shared vision. One, the famous jeweler Suzanne Belperron, fighting to…

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k2reader September 5, 2023

The Last Housewife by Ashley Winstead #bookreview #audiobook

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark / Blackstone Audio Published: August 16, 2022 Summary: From the author of the acclaimed In My Dreams I Hold a Knife comes a pitch-black thriller about a woman determined to destroy a powerful cult and avenge the deaths of the women taken in by it, no matter the cost. While in college in…

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k2reader August 29, 2023

The Twenty by Sam Holland #bookreview #audiobook

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Crooked Lane Books / Dreamscape Media Published: May 11, 2023 / May 2, 2023 Summary: When DCI Adam Bishop arrives at the crime scene in the dead of night, the sight of the body is bad enough—but what Adam notices next chills him to his core. More bodies surface. And the spray-painted numbers…

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k2reader July 23, 2023

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine #bookreview #audiobook #reread

I borrowed this audiobook from the library. Publisher: Harper Audio Published: October 17, 2017 Summary: Amber Patterson is fed up. She’s tired of being a nobody: a plain, invisible woman who blends into the background. She deserves more – a life of money and power like the one blond-haired, blue-eyed goddess Daphne Parrish takes for granted. To everyone in the exclusive town of Bishops Harbor, Connecticut, Daphne – a…

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k2reader July 10, 2023

Little Cruelties by Liz Nugent #bookreview #bookclub

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press Published: November 10, 2020 Summary: Three brothers are at the funeral. One lies in the coffin. Will, Brian and Luke grow up competing for their mother’s unequal love. As men, the competition continues – for status, money, fame, women … They each betray each other, over and over, until one of them is dead. But which brother killed…

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k2reader June 28, 2023

The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave #bookreview #audiobook #reread

I borrowed this audiobook from the library. Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Published: May 4, 2021 Summary: The instant #1 New York Times bestselling mystery and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick that’s captivated more than a million readers about a woman searching for the truth about her husband’s disappearance…at any cost. Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion…

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k2reader June 23, 2023

The Last Word by Taylor Adams #bookreview

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: William Morrow Published: April 25, 2023 Summary: After posting a negative book review, a woman living in a remote location begins to wonder if the author is a little touchy—or very, very dangerous—in this pulse-pounding novel of psychological suspense and terror from the critically acclaimed author of No Exit and Hairpin Bridge. Emma Carpenter lives in isolation with her golden…

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k2reader May 26, 2023

The Many Daughters of Afong Moy by Jamie Ford #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Atria Books, #partner for the finished copy of The Many Daughters of Afong Moy in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Atria Books / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: August 2, 2022 Summary: Dorothy Moy breaks her own heart for a living. As Washington’s former poet laureate, that’s how she describes channeling her dissociative episodes and mental health struggles into…

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k2reader May 25, 2023

Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark #bookreview

Thank you to TLC BookTours, S&S/Marysue Rucci Books, #partner, for a finished copy of Fellowship Point in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Marysue Rucci Books/ Scribner / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: July 5, 2022 Summary: Celebrated children’s book author Agnes Lee is determined to secure her legacy—to complete what she knows will be the final volume of her pseudonymously written…

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k2reader May 24, 2023

I Will Find You by Harlan Coben #bookreview

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Grand Central Publishing Published: March 14, 2023 Summary: An innocent father serving life for the murder of his own son receives evidence that his child may still be alive, and must break out of prison to find out the truth in #1 New York Times bestselling author Harlan Coben’s latest breathtaking thriller. David and Cheryl Burroughs were living the dream life when…

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k2reader May 21, 2023

Trespasses by Louise Kennedy #bookreview

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Riverhead Books Published: November 1, 2022 Summary: Set in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, a shattering novel about a young woman caught between allegiance to community and a dangerous passion. Amid daily reports of violence, Cushla lives a quiet life with her mother in a small town near Belfast. By day she teaches at a parochial school; at night she…

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k2reader May 11, 2023

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin #bookreview #bookclub #reread

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Algonquin Books Published: December 2014 (first published April 2014) Summary: A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. He lives alone, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. But when a mysterious package appears at the…

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k2reader March 11, 2023

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix #bookreview #audiobook

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher:Berkley / Penguin Audio Published: January 17, 2023 Summary: Grady Hendrix takes on the haunted house in a thrilling new novel that explores the way your past—and your family—can haunt you like nothing else. When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn’t want to leave her daughter…

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k2reader March 6, 2023

Goodnight From Paris by Jane Healey #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Brilliance Audio for the ALC and Get Red PR , #partner, for the advanced copy of Goodnight From Paris in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Lake Union Publishing / Brilliance Audio Published: March 7, 2023 Summary: In Nazi-occupied France, an American film star takes on the most dangerous role of her life in a gripping novel about loyalty and resistance, inspired by a true story, from the Washington…

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k2reader February 25, 2023

A Place Called Home by David Ambroz #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Hachette Audio, #partner for the ALC of A Place Called Home in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Hachette Audio Published: September 13, 2022 Summary: There are millions of homeless children in America today and in A Place Called Home, award-winning child welfare advocate David Ambroz writes about growing up homeless in New York for eleven years and his subsequent years in foster care, offering a window into what…

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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 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 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 December 19, 2022

The Unknown Beloved by Amy Harmon #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Brilliance Audio, #partner for the ALC of The Unknown Beloved in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the print copy. Publisher: Brilliance Audio / Lake Union Publishing Published: April 19, 2022 Summary: From the bestselling author of Where the Lost Wander and What the Wind Knows comes the evocative story of two people whose paths collide against the backdrop of mystery, murder, and the Great Depression.…

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k2reader November 14, 2022

We Are the Light by Matthew Quick #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and Avid Reader Press #partner, for the advanced copy of We Are the Light in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster ALC Published: November 1, 2022 Summary: From Matthew Quick, the New York Times best-selling author of The Silver Linings Playbook, made into the Academy Award-winning movie starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, comes a poignant…

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k2reader October 31, 2022

Hester by Laurie Lico Albanese #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Macmillan Audio/Netgalley for the ALC and St. Martin’s Press #partner, for the advanced copy of Hester in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio Published: October 4, 2022 Summary: A vivid reimagining of the woman who inspired Hester Prynne, the tragic heroine of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, and a journey into the enduring legacy of New England’s witchcraft trials. Who is the real Hester Prynne?…

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k2reader October 6, 2022

The Winter Orphans by Kristin Beck #bookreview #audiobook

I purchased both this book and audiobook for my own collection. Publisher: Berkley Books / Penguin Audio Published: September 13, 2022 Summary: A poignant and ultimately triumphant novel based on the incredible true story of children who braved the formidable danger of guarded, wintry mountain passes in France to escape the Nazis, from the acclaimed author of Courage, My Love. In a remote corner of France, Jewish refugee Ella Rosenthal…

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k2reader September 28, 2022

Double Exposure by Jeannee Sacken #bookfeature #authorinterview

Thank you GetRedPrBooks & Ten16Press #partner, for the advanced copy of Double Exposure in exchange for this feature. Today, I’m happy to be featuring this book, which published yesterday. Please see what others have said about the book and learn the inspiration behind the book. And if you check out my instagram post for today, you will see that this is our October #GetRedPRBookclub Pick…if you would like to join,…

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k2reader September 27, 2022

The Cicada Tree by Robert Gwaltney #bookreview #bookclub

Thank you to GetRedPR, #partner, for a finished copy of The Cicada Tree in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Moonshine Cove Publishing Published: February, 2022 Summary: The summer of 1956, a brood of cicadas descends upon Providence Georgia, a natural event with supernatural repercussions, unhinging the life of Analeise Newell, an eleven-year-old piano prodigy. Amidst this emergence, dark obsessions are stirred, uncanny gifts provoked, and secrets unearthed. During…

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k2reader September 22, 2022

The Thread Collectors by Shaunna J. Edwards & Alyson Richman #bookreview

Thank you HTP Books / Graydon House, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Thread Collectors in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Graydon House Published: August 30, 2022 SUMMARY: 1863: In a small Creole cottage in New Orleans, an ingenious young Black woman named Stella embroiders intricate maps on repurposed cloth to help enslaved men flee and join the Union Army. Bound to a man who would kill her if…

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k2reader August 28, 2022

The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb #bookreview #audiobook #bookclub

I purchased both this book and audiobook for my own collection. Publisher: Anchor Books / Random House Audio Published: February 1, 2022 Summary: A mystery about a Black classical musician whose family heirloom violin is stolen on the eve of the most prestigious classical music competition in the world. Ray McMillian loves playing the violin more than anything, and nothing will stop him from pursuing his dream of becoming…

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k2reader August 17, 2022

She’s Up to No Good by Sara Goodman Confino #bookreview #audiobook #bookclub

Thank you Brilliance Audio for the ALC and GetRedPR and the author, #partner, for the finished copy of She’s Up to No Good in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Lake Union Publishing / Brilliance Audio Published: August 1, 2022 Summary: For two women generations apart, going home will change their lives in this funny, poignant, and life-affirming novel about family, secrets, and broken hearts by the author of For the…

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k2reader August 13, 2022

A Little Hope by Ethan Joella #bookreview #audiobook #bookclub

This book is from my personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Scribner / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: November 16, 2021 Summary: An “immersive…illuminating” (Booklist) and life-affirming novel following the residents of an idyllic Connecticut town over the course of a year, A Little Hope explores the intertwining lives of a dozen neighbors as they confront everyday desires and fears: a lost love, a stalled career, an…

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k2reader August 1, 2022

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill #bookreview #audiobook #bookclub

Thank you Libro.fm, #partner for the ALC of The Woman in the Library in exchange for my honest review. I purchased this book for my own collection. Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press / Dreamscape Media Published: June 7, 2022 Summary: In every person’s story, there is something to hide… The ornate reading room at the Boston Public Library is quiet, until the tranquility is shattered by a woman’s terrified scream.…

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k2reader August 1, 2022

Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez #bookreview #audiobook

I purchased both this book and audiobook for my own collection. Publisher: Berkly Books / Penguin Audio Published: April 12, 2022 Summary: Inspired by true events that rocked the nation, a profoundly moving novel about a Black nurse in post-segregation Alabama who blows the whistle on a terrible wrong done to her patients, from the New York Times bestselling author of Wench. Montgomery, Alabama 1973. Fresh out of nursing school, Civil Townsend…

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k2reader July 31, 2022

Iris in the Dark by Elissa Grossell Dickey #bookreview #audiobook #bookclub

Thank you Lake Union Publishing #partner, for the finished copy of Iris in the Dark in exchange for my honest review. The audio copy is via my Kindle Unlimited subscription. Publisher: Lake Union Publishing / Brilliance Audio Published: June 7, 2022 Summary: A single mother faces her worst fear—the past—in a provocative novel of suspense by the author of The Speed of Light. Iris Jenkins knows that bad things happen.…

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k2reader July 28, 2022

Woman of Light by Kali Fajardo-Anstine #bookreview #bookclub

Thank you Libro.fm, #partner for the ALC of Woman of Light in exchange for my honest review. I purchased this book for my own collection. Publisher: One World / Random House Audio Published: June 7, 2022 Summary: A dazzling epic of betrayal, love, and fate that spans five generations of an Indigenous Chicano family in the American West, from the author of the National Book Award Finalist Sabrina & Corina…

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k2reader July 27, 2022

A Letter in the Wall by Eileen Brill #bookreview #bookclub

Thank you to GetRedPR, #partner, for an advanced copy of The Letter in the Wall in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Spark Press Published: May 24, 2022 Summary: It’s 1971, and Joan Dumann fears her former business partner wants her dead—but her anxiety is less about dying than it is about feeling disrespected and invalidated. As she constructs a letter about her predicament, she revisits her past. Born…

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k2reader July 14, 2022

The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Dutton, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Magnolia Palace in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the audiobook via my subscription with libro.fm. Publisher: Dutton / Penguin Audio Published: January 25, 2022 Summary: Fiona Davis, New York Times best-selling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue, returns with a tantalizing novel about the secrets, betrayal, and murder within one of New York City’s most impressive Gilded Age mansions.…

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k2reader July 6, 2022

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden #bookreview #audiobook #seriesreview

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Del Rey Books / Random House Audio Published: Paperback – June 27, 2017 / Audio – January 10, 2017 Summary: At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind–she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers…

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k2reader June 5, 2022

The Lost Summers of Newport by Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, Karen White #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Harper Audio for the ALC and William Morrow #partner, for the finished copy of The Lost Summers of Newport in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Harper Audio / William Morrow Published: May 17, 2022 Summary: From the New York Times bestselling team of Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig, and Karen White–a novel of money and secrets set among the famous summer mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, spanning over a…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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k2reader March 17, 2022

Review: The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

Publisher: Riverhead Books Published: July 6, 2021 Source: Personal copy Summary: It is a perfect July morning, and Elle, a fifty-year-old happily married mother of three, awakens at “The Paper Palace” — the family summer place which she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different: last night Elle and her oldest friend Jonas crept out the back door into the darkness and had sex…

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k2reader March 6, 2022

Review: The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

Publisher: William Morrow Published: March 15, 2022 Source: Publisher Summary: What is the purpose of a map? Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field, and Nell’s personal hero. But she hasn’t seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway…

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k2reader March 4, 2022

Review: Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia (audio)

Publisher: Flatiron Books / Macmillan Audio Published: March 30, 2021 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Publisher / Audio via library Summary: A sweeping, masterful debut about a daughter’s fateful choice, a mother motivated by her own past, and a family legacy that begins in Cuba before either of them were born In present-day Miami, Jeanette is battling addiction. Daughter of Carmen, a Cuban immigrant, she is determined to…

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k2reader March 4, 2022

Review: Sanctuary: A Memoir by Emily Rapp Black (audio)

Publisher: Random House / Random House Audio Published: January 19, 2021 Source: Print – Personal Copy / Audio via library Summary: From the New York Times best-selling author of The Still Point of the Turning World comes an incisive memoir about how she came to question and redefine the concept of resilience after the trauma of her first child’s death. “Congratulations on the resurrection of your life”, a colleague wrote to Emily Rapp…

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k2reader February 27, 2022

Review: I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys (print/audio)

Publisher: Philomel Books / Penguin Random House Audio Published: February 1, 2022 Source: Print – Hardcopy via Publisher / Audio via library Summary: A gut-wrenching, startling window into communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation, from the number one New York Times best-selling, award-winning author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray. Romania, 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer,…

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