2 Book Lovers Reviews
The Great Alone
By Kristin Hannah
This week's list of new
releases is posted below.
Enjoy!
New Releases!
- Standalone.
Vaughn Spencer.
They call him an angry god.
To me, he is nothing but a
heartless prince.
His parents rule this town,
boutique on Main Street.
All I own is a nice, juicy
that time he almost killed me.
Between hooking up with
weekend, breaking hearts, noses and rules, Vaughn also finds the time to bully little ole’ me.
I fight back, tooth and nail, never expecting him to chase me across the ocean after we graduate high school.
But here he is, living with me in a dark, looming castle on the outskirts of London.
A fellow intern. A prodigal sculptor. A bloody genius.
They say this place is haunted, and it is.
Carlisle Castle hides two of our most awful secrets.
Vaughn thinks he can kill the ghosts of his past, but what he doesn’t know? It’s my heart he’s slaying.
- Rock Bottom – By Emily Goodwin
Rory’s life is a mess. After getting dumped by her boyfriend, let go from her job, and losing her apartment, she takes a chance on a new job in a new town. Things can’t get any worse, right?
Wrong.
When the foundation of Dean Dawson’s life crumbles to pieces at his feet, he swears off relationships of any kind and goes back to a life of bachelorhood, loving and leaving different women every night.
After dodging what could possibly be the world’s worst blind date, Rory finds herself face to face with Dean—a temptation she knows she should avoid. It’s just one night, and there’s no harm in having a little fun.
Wrong again.
They say when you hit rock bottom the only way to go is up, but nothing is ever that simple.
- Stone Cold Kiwi (New Zealand Ever After #2) – By Rosalind James - Standalone.
Falling in love can be bloody inconvenient.
Let's inventory, shall we?
State of my professional life: Brilliant, if counted in terms of sales of my Hazel the Hippo books, the substantial proceeds from selling my New Zealand glamping business, and any number of glossy magazine articles about my charmed existence. Of course, I couldn't seem to write or draw anymore, but that would pass. Surely.
State of my personal life: Murky. A mysterious siren I was not, in my nursing bra and only-kind-that-fits maternity panties.
My three redheaded children? Good thing. Good, exhausting, frustrating, terrifying, wonderful thing.
My marriage? Living with a failing marriage is like living with a toothache. It's not going to get any better, and eventually, it's going to get heaps worse, but who wants a root canal?
Beginning to fall for the much-too-charming, not-quite-available, stone-cold-beautiful Dr. Matiu Te Mana, on the day he delivered the third of those children on the grass outside Dunedin Hospital, a few short minutes before my marriage began its spectacular and very public final implosion?
Possibly tricky.
- Sinners and Gin – By Alta Hensley
- Trouble – By Colet Abedi - https://amzn.to/2wqvnhd
- Wild at Heart (The Simple Wild #2) – By K.A. Tucker - The sequel to The Simple Wild! I can't wait to read this book! Read my review of The Simple Wild.
Calla Fletcher returns to Toronto a different person, struggling to find direction and still very much in love with the rugged bush pilot she left behind. When Jonah arrives on her doorstep with a proposition she can't dismiss, she takes the leap and rushes back to Alaska to begin their exciting future together.
But Calla soon learns that even the best intentions can lead to broken promises, and that compromise comes with a hefty price--a log cabin in rural Alaska that feels as isolating as the western tundra.
With Jonah gone more than he's home, one neighbor who insists on transforming her into a true Alaskan, and another who seems more likely to shoot her than come to her aid, Calla grapples with forging her own path. In a world with roaming wildlife that has her constantly watching over her shoulder and harsh conditions that stretch far beyond the cold, dark, winter months, just stepping outside her front door can be daunting.
This is not the future Calla had in mind, leaving her to fear that perhaps she is doomed to follow in her mother's fleeing footsteps after all.
- Chasing Cassandra: The Ravenels – By Lisa Kleypas - Historical romance!
- Dominik: An Arizona Vengeance Novel – By Sawyer Bennett
- The Antidote for Everything – By Kimmery Martin
Georgia Brown’s profession as a urologist requires her to interact with plenty of naked men, but her romantic prospects have fizzled. The most important person in her life is her friend Jonah Tsukada, a funny, empathetic family medicine doctor who works at the same hospital in Charleston, South Carolina and who has become as close as family to her.
Just after Georgia leaves the country for a medical conference, Jonah shares startling news. The hospital is instructing doctors to stop providing medical care for transgender patients. Jonah, a gay man, is the first to be fired when he refuses to abandon his patients. Stunned by the predicament of her closest friend, Georgia’s natural instinct is to fight alongside him. But when her attempts to address the situation result in incalculable harm, both Georgia and Jonah find themselves facing the loss of much more than their careers.
- No Inhibitions – By Erika Wilde – Erotic!
- Breathless – By Lex Martin
- Savage Burn (Savage Trilogy #2) – By Lisa Renee Jones
- The Lucky One – By Lori Rader-Day
Most people who go missing are never found. But Alice was the lucky one...
As a child, Alice was stolen from her backyard in a tiny Indiana community, but against the odds, her policeman father tracked her down within twenty-four hours and rescued her from harm. In the aftermath of the crime, her family decided to move to Chicago and close the door on that horrible day.
Yet Alice hasn’t forgotten. She devotes her spare time volunteering for a website called The Doe Pages scrolling through pages upon pages of unidentified people, searching for clues that could help reunite families with their missing loved ones. When a face appears on Alice’s screen that she recognizes, she’s stunned to realize it’s the same man who kidnapped her decades ago. The post is deleted as quickly as it appeared, leaving Alice with more questions than answers.
Embarking on a search for the truth, she enlists the help of friends from The Doe Pages to connect the dots and find her kidnapper before he hurts someone else. Then Alice crosses paths with Merrily Cruz, another woman who’s been hunting for answers of her own. Together, they begin to unravel a dark, painful web of lies that will change what they thought they knew—and could cost them everything.
- Saint X – By Alexis Schaitkin - Thriller, vigilante justice!
- Photos of You – By Tammy Robinson - Tearjerker alert!
When Ava Green turns twenty-eight, she discovers this will be her last birthday. The cancer she thought she'd beaten three years ago is back -- only now it's terminal, and she's not going to waste any of the time she has left. All she truly wants is the one thing she's been dreaming of since she was a little girl: a wedding. The only problem: She doesn't have a groom.
Ava's friends and family rally around her to help throw the wedding of her dreams -- without the husband-to-be. As word spreads on social media, the bridal planning goes viral, attracting the attention of a prominent women's magazine. And when a photographer volunteers to help document the whole event, it becomes heartbreakingly clear that it's never too late to discover the love of your life.
- The Sun Down Motel – By Simone St. James - Horror!
- Uncharted Waters – By Scott Mackenzie
- The Other Mrs. – By Mary Kubica - Psychological thriller!
Sadie and Will Foust have only just moved their family from bustling Chicago to small-town Maine when their neighbor Morgan Baines is found dead in her home. The murder rocks their tiny coastal island, but no one is more shaken than Sadie.
But it’s not just Morgan’s death that has Sadie on edge. And as the eyes of suspicion turn toward the new family in town, Sadie is drawn deeper into the mystery of what really happened that dark and deadly night. But Sadie must be careful, for the more she discovers about Mrs. Baines, the more she begins to realize just how much she has to lose if the truth ever comes to light.
- February 19 – In the Garden of Discontent – By Lily White – Dark romance!
This is a love story.
It’s brutal.
Heart-wrenching.
Dirty, terrifying, and raw.
But a love story nonetheless because it is so beautiful...
- February 19 – Creeping Beautiful – By J.A. Huss
- February 20 – The Life You Stole (The Life Series #2) – By Jewel E. Ann - The conclusion to this gripping, twisted story!
- February 20 – While You Were Spying – By Stina Lindenblatt
- February 20 – Bullseye (Monsters Within Duet #1) – By Monica James - Dark romance!
- February 20 – Rebel Priest – By Adriane Leigh - Forbidden romance with a twist!
Happy Reading!
Week of Feb. 17, 2020
The Wives
By Tarryn Fisher
Week of Feb. 17, 2020
- The Sun Down Motel - By Simone St. James - Horror! Releasing on February 18th!
Upstate New York, 1982. Viv Delaney wants to move to New York City, and to help pay for it she takes a job as the night clerk at the Sun Down Motel in Fell, New York. But something isnʼt right at the motel, something haunting and scary...
Week of February 10th, 2020
Book Review:
Creation
By Gore Vidal
I really don’t like it when I feel like a book is trying to teach me something. Sorry, I should rephrase that, I hate it when an author uses their craft to step up on a soap box and tell me that I am wrong or the way I think is not “correct”. In Creation, Gore Vidal covers some deep topics: from how the world was created, to what is right or wrong, just or unjust, what happens to us when we die and what is the purpose or meaning of life.
*See my full review...
Week of January 27th, 2020
Book Review:
Noir
By Christopher Moore
What I love most about a Christopher Moore book is his complete irreverence, nothing is off the table. He wrote a film noir style book, set in the nineteen-forties and damn it he kept true to the time and place. Sorry snowflakes, this book is filled with “dames” and men who say and think things that would get them strung up today. That’s just the way it was back then!
*See my full review...
Week of January 20, 2020
Book Review:
The Thicket
By Joe R. Lansdale
Over the past few years I’ve heard Joe R. Lansdale’s name come up from time to time. I watched and enjoyed Netflix’s Hap and Leonard, and with a full-length movie in the works, I thought that The Thicket would be a great place to begin my own Joe R. Lansdale reading experience.
*See my full review...
December - 2019
Holiday Edition
At the end of the year I always find it fun to take a look back at the fantastic books that I had a chance to read over the past twelve months. It's never easy putting a list like this together, there are so many great books that I read, some just have to be there, then there are some others that I ask myself, how can that not be on the list? But I suppose that is the challenge, picking the cream of the crop. I hope that you had a great reading year, and here's hoping that 2020 is filled with more amazing reads!
*See my list of favorite books...
Book Review:
When a Child is Born
By Jodi Taylor
When a Child is Born was a free short Audible in Jodi Taylor’s The Chronicles of St. Mary’s series. Taylor really seems to enjoy writing these little Christmas tales, and I’ve enjoyed them as well. Technically speaking, When a Child is Born is book 2.5 in the series. From my own experience, a reader or listener can jump into Taylor’s shorts anywhere along the way.
*Read my full review...
Book Review:
Ninth House
By Leigh Bardugo
I am always intrigued when a popular YA author decides to leave their comfort zone and expand to a new audience. It is a competitive genre, with a very demanding fan base. How is this author going to adapt? Will they connect with me, someone beyond this YA target market?
As for the second question, Bardugo did a fantastic job! She created a couple of characters: Alex and Darlington, that were exceptionally developed.
*Read my full review...
Book Review:
I Am C-3PO: The Inside Story
By Anthony Daniels
I’m really not a non-fiction kind of guy. I like my stories to take me away from the here and now, but when I saw this book set a long time ago in my favorite galaxy far, far away, I knew that this was one to go for.
I went with the Audible version of I Am C-3PO, and what could be better than listening to C-3PO narrate his own story.
*Read my full review...
November - 2019
Book Review:
Chokehold
(The Final War #3)
By David Moody
Authors are able to accomplish some incredible things: they create worlds that captivate people, they imagine characters that complete strangers connect with, they make people forget, temporarily, about the normal lives they live. David Moody has accomplished all of this with his Hater world.
*Read my full review...
Book Review:
Imaginary Friend
By Stephen Chbosky
Perhaps I’ve lived under a rock my entire life, but I have never, ever seen The Perks of Being a Wallflower; the name Stephen Chbosky meant nothing to me. We all have our things.
I went with the Audible of Imaginary Friend based on solely on the spectacular synopsis.
*Read my full review...
Book Review:
36 Righteous Men
By Steven Pressfield
Steven Pressfield has put his own unique twist on the apocalypse/future that we are hurdling towards. Set in the not too distant future, Pressfield’s characters are not only dealing with a bloodthirsty killer, but also the natural elements that have evolved and are out of control.
36 Righteous Men is a book of layers. It is a murder mystery slash thriller mixed up with futuristic environmental touches and a flash of religious fiction.
*Read my full review...
Book Review:
Breakfast at Tiffany's
By Truman Capote
So, I listened to Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I never saw the movie, but I loved the song. I can’t say that I know anyone who didn’t like it. It was enough to make me want to read Capote’s book.
There are certain books that everyone knows, even though they haven’t read them. Breakfast at Tiffany’s was one such book for me. When I saw it on a daily Audible deal, I thought that it was a great chance to experience it.
*Read my full review...
October - 2019
Book Review:
Rewind
By Catherine Ryan Howard
Catherine Howard intrigued me with her concept and synopsis. I love a story that kicks off with a heinous violent crime (a fictional story anyway). Rewind is a classic who-done-it.
The concept and execution may be lost on the younger generation. Rewind read like a cassette tape…fast forward to this…pause here…rewind to get the back details.
*Read my full review...
Book Review:
The Institute
By Stephen King
Once or twice a year I find myself reading a book by this Stephen King fellow. I’m starting to think that this guy might be able to quit his day job and make a go of it as a full-time author.
Some people just won’t have the patience for a book like this, I love the involved, detailed world building that King embellishes his stories with. I want to take my time and embed myself within his stories.
*Read my full review...
What he's reading!
What she's reading!