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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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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Blog Tour & Review: The Heights by Louise Candlish

Publisher: Atria Books Published: March 1, 2022 Source: ARC Paperback via Publisher   Summary: The Heights is a tall, slender apartment building among warehouses in London. Its roof terrace is so discreet, you wouldn’t know it existed if you weren’t standing at the window of the flat directly opposite. But you are. And that’s when you see a man up there—a man you’d recognize anywhere. He may be older now, but it’s…

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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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Short & Sweet Review: Nemesis by Jo Nesbo

Publisher: Vintage Published: 2008 (first published 2002) Source: Personal copy   Summary: How do you catch a killer when you’re the number one suspect? A man is caught on CCTV, shooting dead a cashier at a bank. Detective Harry Hole begins his investigation, but after dinner with an old flame wakes up with no memory of the past 12 hours. Then the girl is found dead in mysterious circumstances and…

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Review: One Little Word by Audra McElyea

Publisher: Red Adept Publishing Published: February 22, 2022 Source: E-copy via Author   Summary: Allegra Hudson was murdered. An anonymous “source” drops the note into recently widowed Madeleine Barton’s lap exactly when she needs it most. As a new single mother, she is struggling to make ends meet as a freelance reporter, and covering the mysterious death of local bestselling author Allegra Hudson could be the career-launching story of her…

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Review: Unmissing by Minka Kent (audio)

Publisher: Brilliance Audio Published: February 15, 2022 Source: ALC via Brilliance Audio   Summary: A return from the past knocks a family dangerously off-balance in a novel of spiraling suspense by Washington Post and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Minka Kent. Merritt Coletto and her husband, Luca, have the life they dreamed of: a coastal home, a promising future, and a growing family. That dream ends with a late-night knock on the door. Weak,…

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Review: Hotel Portofino by J.P. O’Connell (audio)

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Published: January 18, 2022 Source: Netgalley   Summary: For fans of Downton Abbey and The Crown…welcome to Hotel Portofino, where romance, revelry, and intrigue await. A heady historical drama about a British family who opens an upper-class hotel on the magical Italian Riviera during the Roaring Twenties. Hotel Portofino has been open for only a few weeks, but already the problems are mounting for its owner Bella Ainsworth. Her high-class guests…

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Review: Last Seen Alive by Joanna Schaffhausen

Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: January 25, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher   Summary: The fifth book in Joanna Schaffhausen’s heartpounding Ellery Hathaway mystery series. Boston detective Ellery Hathaway met FBI agent Reed Markham when he pried open a serial killer’s closet to rescue her. Years on, their relationship remains defined by that moment and by Francis Coben’s horrific crimes. To free herself from Coben’s legacy, Ellery had to walk away…

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Review: Arsenic And Adobo by Mia P. Manansala (audio)

Publisher: Penguin Audio Published: May 4, 2021 Source: Library   Summary: The first book in a new culinary cozy series full of sharp humor and delectable dishes – one that might just be killer…. When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She’s tasked with saving her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant, and she has to…

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Review: The End of Getting Lost by Robin Kirman (audio)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: February 15, 2022 Source: Print – ARC E-copy via Netgalley / ALC via Simon & Schuster Audio   Summary: A young woman and her husband travel around Europe to celebrate their first year of marriage – a year that the woman has no memory of – in this searing novel of intimacy and deceit. The year is 1996 – a…

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Book Spotlight & Author Q&A: The Road We Took by Cathy A. Lewis

Publisher: Cathy Lewis Published: February 15, 2022 Source: BooksFowardPR   Summary: In 1933, before World War II, and the Holocaust, the world was unaware of Hitler’s plans to exterminate millions. Author Cathy A. Lewis discovered a tattered leather suitcase containing her deceased father’s journal documenting his six-week trek through Europe in 1933 while on his way to the 4th Boy Scout World Jamboree. Inspired by her father’s historical recount, The…

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Review: Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner (audio)

Publisher: ChristianAudio.com Published: April 16, 2015 Source: Library   Summary: The author of A Fall of Marigolds journeys from the present day to World War II England, as two sisters are separated by the chaos of wartime. She stood at a crossroads, half-aware that her choice would send her down a path from which there could be no turning back. But instead of two choices, she saw only one—because it…

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Blog Tour & Excerpt: Beach Wedding by Michael Ledwidge

  Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for  Beach Ledwidge  by Michael Ledwidge – I have an excerpt for you to read thanks to Hanover Square Press.   Publisher: Hanover Square Press Published: February 15, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher   Summary: A high-society wedding party stirs up new evidence in an unsolved murder in this thrilling stand-alone from the New York Times bestselling coauthor of James…

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Review: A Train to Moscow by Elena Gorokhova

  Publisher: Lake Union Publishing Published: March 1, 2022 Source: ARC E-copy via Netgalley   Summary: In post–World War II Russia, a girl must reconcile a tragic past with her hope for the future in this powerful and poignant novel about family secrets, passion and loss, perseverance and ambition. In a small, provincial town behind the Iron Curtain, Sasha lives in a house full of secrets, one of which is…

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Blog Tour & Review: The Last Grand Duchess by Bryn Turnbull

  Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for The Last Grand Duchess by Bryn Turnbull. Thank you MIRA for inviting me to participate.   Publisher: MIRA Published: February 8, 2022 Source: ARC Paperback via Publisher   Summary: This sweeping new novel from the internationally bestselling author of The Woman Before Wallis takes readers behind palace walls to see the end of Imperial Russia through the eyes of…

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Blog Tour & Review: Jane and the Year Without a Summer by Stephanie Barron

Publisher: Soho Crime Published: February 8, 2022 Source: ARC Paperback via AustenProse PR   Summary: May 1816: Jane Austen is feeling unwell, with an uneasy stomach, constant fatigue, rashes, fevers and aches. She attributes her poor condition to the stress of family burdens, which even the drafting of her latest manuscript–about a baronet’s daughter nursing a broken heart for a daring naval captain–cannot alleviate. Her apothecary recommends a trial of…

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Review: Her Hidden Genius by Marie Benedict

Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark Published: January 25, 2022 Source: Hardcover via Publisher   Summary: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Mystery of Mrs. Christie and The Only Woman in the Room. Rosalind Franklin has always been an outsider―brilliant, but different. Whether working at the laboratory she adored in Paris or toiling at a university in London, she feels closest to the science, those unchanging laws of physics and chemistry that guide…

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Review: Behind the Lie by Emilya Naymark

Publisher: Crooked Lane Books Published: February 8, 2022 Source: Hardcover via Booksforward PR   Summary NYPD detective turned small town PI Laney Bird is in a fight to save lives–including her own–after a neighborhood block party turns deadly. A transplant to the upstate New York hamlet of Sylvan, all Laney wants is a peaceful life for herself and her son. But things rarely remain calm in Laney’s life–and when her…

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Review: The Bait by C.W. Gortner & M.J. Rose

Publisher: Blue Box Press Published: August 10, 2021 Source: GetRedPR   Summary: Revenge is a diamond best served cold. A year after THE STEAL, Ania Throne is determined to take back what the Leopard stole from her. Together with her lover and partner, Jerome, she stages a spectacular heist during the Venetian Carnival, to lure out the treacherous mastermind they unmasked. She’s willing to risk it all—until her revenge takes a…

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Blog Tour & Review: Woman Last Seen by Adele Parks

  Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Woman Last Seen by Adele Parks. Thank you MIRA Books for inviting me to participate.   Publisher: MIRA Books Published: February 1, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher   Summary: HAPPY. MARRIED. MISSING. Leigh Fletcher: happily married stepmum to two gorgeous boys goes missing on Monday. Her husband Mark says he knows nothing of her whereabouts. She simply…

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Review: The Family You Make by Jill Shalvis (audio)

Publisher: William Morrow / Harper Audio Published: January 11, 2022 Source: Paperback via GetRedPR / Audio via Library   Summary: Beloved New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis begins a new series–Sunrise Cove–set near beautiful Lake Tahoe, with a heartwarming story of found family and love. During the snowstorm of the century Levi Cutler is stranded on a ski lift with a beautiful stranger named Jane. After strong winds hurl the gondola…

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Blog Tour & Review: The Liz Taylor Ring by Brenda Janowitz

  Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for The Liz Taylor Ring by Brenda Janowitz. Thank you Graydon House for inviting me to participate.   Publisher: Graydon House Published: February 1, 2022 Source: ARC Paperback via Publisher   Summary: Three siblings. A priceless family ring. One legendary love story. In 1978, Lizzie Morgan and Ritchie Schneider embark on a whirlwind romance on the bright beaches and glamorous…

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Blog Tour & Review: A Lullaby for Witches by Hester Fox

  Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for A Lullaby for Witches by Hester Fox. Thank you Graydon House for inviting me to participate.   Publisher: Graydon House Published: February 1, 2022 Source: ARC Paperback via Publisher   Summary: Two women. A history of witchcraft. And a deep-rooted female power that sings across the centuries. Once there was a young woman from a well-to-do…

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Review: The Fashion Orphans by Randy Susan Meyers & M.J. Rose (audio)

Publisher: Blue Box Press / Brilliance Audio Published: February 1, 2022 Source: Print – Paperback via GetRedPR / Audio – ALC via Brilliance Audio   Summary: Two estranged sisters find that forgiveness never goes out of style when they inherit their mother’s vintage jackets, purses… and pearls of wisdom Estranged half-sisters Gabrielle Winslow and Lulu Quattro have only two things in common: mounds of debt and coils of unresolved enmity…

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Review: The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont (audio)

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio Published: February 1, 2022 Source: Print – Netgalley via Publisher / Audio – ALC via Publisher   Summary: Nina de Gramont’s The Christie Affair is a beguiling novel of star-crossed lovers, heartbreak, revenge, and murder—and a brilliant re-imagination of one of the most talked-about unsolved mysteries of the twentieth century. Every story has its secrets. Every mystery has its motives. “A long time ago, in…

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Review: The Man in the Brown Suit by Agatha Christie

Publisher: William Morrow Published: April 17, 2012 (first published August 22, 1924) Source: Library   Summary: The Man in the Brown Suit is Agatha Christie at her best, as a young woman makes a dangerous decision to investigate a shocking “accidental” death she witnesses at a London tube station. Pretty, young Anne came to London looking for adventure. In fact, adventure comes looking for her—and finds her immediately at Hyde Park…

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Review: Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter (audio)

Publisher: HarperTorch / HarperAudio Published: October 2002 (Originally published Sept 2001) / Audio – February 10, 20215 Source: Print – Mass Market Paperback via Publisher / Audio via library   Summary: A small Georgia town erupts in panic when a young college professor is found brutally mutilated in the local diner. But it’s only when town pediatrician and coroner Sara Linton does the autopsy that the full extent of the…

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Review: The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz

Publisher: Celadon Books Published: May 31, 2022 Source: ARC Paperback via Publisher   Summary: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Plot, Jean Hanff Korelitz’s The Latecomer is a layered and immersive literary novel about three siblings, desperate to escape one another, and the upending of their family by the late arrival of a fourth. The Latecomer follows the story of the wealthy, New York City-based Oppenheimer family, from the first meeting of parents…

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Review: We Know You Remember by Tove Alsterdal

Publisher: Harper Published: October 28, 2021 Source: Personal copy   Summary: A missing girl, a hidden body, a decades-long cover-up, and old sins cast in new light: the classic procedural meets Scandinavian atmosphere in this rich, character-driven mystery, awarded Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year, that heralds the American debut of a supremely skilled international writer.  It’s been more than twenty years since Olof Hagström left home. Returning to…

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Review: Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka (audio)

Publisher: William Morrow/Harper Audio Published: January 25, 2022 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via William Morrow / Audio – ALC via Netgalley   Summary: In the tradition of ‘Long Bright River’ and ‘The Mars Room’, a gripping and atmospheric work of literary suspense that deconstructs the story of a serial killer on death row, told primarily through the eyes of the women in his life – from the best-selling author of ‘Girl in Snow’.…

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Blog Tour & Excerpt: The Ex-Husband by Karen Hamilton

  Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for The Ex-Husband by Karen Hamilton – I have an excerpt for you to read thanks to Graydon House Books.   Publisher: Graydon House Published: January 18, 2022   Summary: From international bestselling author Karen Hamilton comes another pulse-pounding domestic thriller set against a lush, tropical backdrop as a woman fleeing her past as a con artist…

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Review: One Step Too Far by Lisa Gardner (audio)

Publisher: Brilliance Audio Published: January 18, 2022 Source: ALC via Brilliance Audio   Summary: From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa Gardner, a thrilling new novel that sends Frankie Elkin into the woods in search of a lost man–and the shocking truth about why he went missing in the first place. Frankie Elkin, who readers first met in Before She Disappeared, learns of a young man who has gone missing in a…

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Review: The Family Tree by Steph Mullin & Nicole Mabry

Publisher: Avon Published: June 10, 2021 Source: Publisher   Summary: The DNA results are back. And there’s a serial killer in her family tree… Liz Catalano is shocked when an ancestry kit reveals she’s adopted. But she could never have imagined connecting with her unknown family would plunge her into an FBI investigation of a notorious serial killer… The Tri-State Killer has been abducting pairs of women for forty years,…

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Review: Wahala by Nikki May (audio)

Publisher: Custom House / Harper Audio Published: January 11, 2022 Source: Print – ARC E-copy via Netgalley / Audio – ALC via Libro.fm   Summary: An incisive and exhilarating debut novel of female friendship following three Anglo-Nigerian best friends and the lethally glamorous fourth woman who infiltrates their group—the most unforgettable girls since Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda. Ronke wants happily ever after and 2.2. kids. She’s dating Kayode and…

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Review Her Body and Other Parties: Stories by Carmen Maria Machado

Publisher: Graywolf Press Published: October 3, 2017 Source: Personal copy   Summary: In Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado blithely demolishes the arbitrary borders between psychological realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. While her work has earned her comparisons to Karen Russell and Kelly Link, she has a voice that is all her own. In this electric and provocative debut, Machado bends genre to shape…

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Review: Secrets of Our House by Rea Frey (audio)

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin / Macmillan Audio Published: February 8, 2022 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via  GetRedPR / Audio – ALC via Netgalley   Summary: A thrilling domestic drama set against the power of the wilderness, Secrets of Our House is a deeply-felt novel of long-held secrets and the strength of family. Desi is the mastermind behind her dream getaway house. Nestled high into the mountains of North Carolina, it is…

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Review: Once a Liar by A.F. Brady

Publisher: Park Row Books Published: January 19, 2019 Source: Publisher   Summary: From the author of The Blind comes an electrifying story of deception, duplicity and suspense Peter Caine, a cutthroat Manhattan defense attorney, is extremely adept at his job. On the surface, he is charming and handsome, but inside he is cold and heartless. A sociopath practically incapable of human emotions, he has no remorse when he fights to acquit murderers,…

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Review: The Last to Die by Kelly Garrett (audio)

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire / Tantor Audio Published: Print – December 5, 2019 / Audio – March 17, 2020 Source: Print via Publisher / Audio via Library   Summary: It all started out as a game. Just a way to have fun. We figured as long as we had rules, it wouldn’t be a problem. RULE #1: Only break into one another’s houses. RULE #2: Only take stuff that can be…

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Blog Tour & Spotlight: Legends of the North Cascades by Jonathan Evison

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Legends of the North Cascades by Jonathan Evison . This is out in paperback today and I’m happy to help the publisher get the word out. Read about the book and see what everyone has to say about it. Publisher: Algonquin Books Published: January 11, 2022 (Paperback Release)   Summary: “A beautifully rendered and cinematic portrait of…

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Blog Tour & Excerpt: The Sorority Murder by Allison Brennan

  Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for The Sorority Murder by Allison Brennan – I have an excerpt for you to read thanks to MIRA books.   Publisher: MIRA Published: December 28, 2021 Source: Netgalley via Publisher   Summary: A popular sorority girl. An unsolved murder. A campus podcast with chilling repercussions. Lucas Vega is obsessed with the death of Candace Swain, who left a…

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Review: These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant

Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: November 16, 2021 Source: Personal copy   Summary: A father and daughter living in the remote Appalachian mountains must reckon with the ghosts of their past in Kimi Cunningham Grant’s These Silent Woods, a mesmerizing novel of suspense. No electricity, no family, no connection to the outside world. For eight years, Cooper and his young daughter, Finch, have lived in isolation in a remote cabin in the…

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Review: A Million Things by Emily Spurr

Publisher: Berkley Published: August 24, 2021 Source: Personal copy   Summary: A bursting, heartfelt, debut following fifty-five days in the life of ten-year-old Rae, who must look after herself and her dog when her mother disappears. For as long as Rae can remember, it’s been her and Mum, and their dog, Splinter; a small, deliberately unremarkable, family. They have their walks, their cooking routines, their home. Sometimes Mum disappears for…

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Blog Tour & Book Spotlight: Honor by Thrity Umrigar

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Honor by Thrity Umrigar. Thank you Algonquin Books for inviting me to participate. ***  Reese Witherspoon has selected Thrity Umrigar’s HONOR as her January Book Club Pick! I’ve really come to enjoy Reese’s picks and will definitely be reading along this month!   Publisher: Algonquin Books Published: January 4, 2022   Summary: In this riveting and immersive novel, bestselling author Thrity…

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Blog Tour & Review: The Tenderest of Strings by Steven Schwartz

Publisher: Regal House Publishing Published: January 4, 2022 Source: ARC Paperback via Over the River PR   Summary: In search of a new life, Reuben and Ardith Rosenfeld and their two children move from Chicago to the small town of Welton, Colorado, looking for all the hope that the burgeoning West has to offer—its abundance of jobs, space, sunshine, prosperity, and the promise of reinvention. Reuben, a former copyeditor at…

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Review: The Maid by Nita Prose

Publisher: Ballantine Books Published: January 4, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher   Summary: “The Maid is a masterful, charming mystery that will touch your heart in ways you could never expect. . . . This is the smart, quirky, uplifting read we need.” –Ashley Audrain, #1 bestselling author of The Push A dead body is one mess she can’t clean up on her own. Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles…

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Review: A Peculiar Combination by Ashley Weaver

Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: May 25, 2021 Source: ARC Paperback via Publisher   Summary: The first in the Electra McDonnell series from Edgar-nominated author Ashley Weaver, set in England during World War II, A Peculiar Combination is a delightful mystery filled with spies, murder, romance, and the author’s signature wit. Electra McDonnell has always known that the way she and her family earn their living is slightly outside of the law. Breaking…

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Review: The Removed by Brandon Hobson

Publisher: Ecco Published: February 2, 2021 Source: Personal copy   Summary: Steeped in Cherokee myths and history, a novel about a fractured family reckoning with the tragic death of their son long ago—from National Book Award finalist Brandon Hobson In the fifteen years since their teenage son, Ray-Ray, was killed in a police shooting, the Echota family has been suspended in private grief. The mother, Maria, increasingly struggles to manage…

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Review: Reckless Girls by Rachel Hawkins (audio)

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio Published: January 4, 2022 Source: Netgalley via the Publisher   Summary: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Wife Upstairs comes a deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set on an isolated Pacific island with a dark history, for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware. When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific,…

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Review: Dark Night by Paige Shelton

Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: December 7, 2021 Source: Netgalley via Publisher   Summary: Dark Night is the third book in the gripping, atmospheric Alaska Wild series by beloved cozy author Paige Shelton, in which Beth is met with an unexpected visitor: her mom… Winter is falling in the remote town of Benedict, Alaska, and with the cold comes an uninvited guest. The dreaded “census man,” seemingly innocuous, is an unwelcome…

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