Month: August 2018

OH FRIDAY, I THOUGHT YOU WOULD NEVER GET HERE!

It’s a long week-end here in the States. Labor Day signals the beginning of school and the end of summer. No one has told Mother Nature about that as we are still heading for the high 90’s today.

I’m reading A Killing by The Sea by Kathleen Bridges right now. The mafia meets the Illuminati. Today I’m taking a break and enjoying the pool and doing nothing. I am so thankful that this year I finally was able to go outside and do outside activities. For the past 2 summers I’ve been inside due to multiple eye surgeries and a transplant, so this was big for me and I am so thankful.

I wish you all a safe and happy last fling with Summer!

xx Patricia

 

RED HARVEST by PATRICK GREENE

Red Harvest (The Haunted Hollow Chronicles)

Ember Hollow takes Halloween to a whole other level! Parades, music, and this year something even more sinister.

The premise of this book was good. The execution was not. I spent most of the book filling in missing words and trying to decide who was speaking. I almost gave up half-way in because it was more work than pleasure.

I would have liked more background on the characters. Unfortunately this was more of a guess what the next word could/should be.

  • An update on this. Most of the errors have been fixed in the second download, but the plot just needed more. There still wasn’t enough backstory before we are thrown into bedlam.

Netgalley/ September 4th 2018 by Lyrical Underground

 

 

 

 

THE TEACHER by Katerina Diamond ( A DS Imogene Grey #1)

The Teacher (DS Imogen Grey, #1)

WARNING: Most definitely not for the faint-hearted! 

Look at that nice book cover. And then read that statement. As a fan of horror I took it as a challenge. And oh my goodness was it challenging.

We start with The Teacher, who ends up receiving a package which he understands the meaning of very well. His time is up. The sins of the past have come back to collect justice.

This one is told from many points of view. All of the characters are flawed in some way. From abuse, torture, personal failures. All damaged in some way. Even the two detectives thrown together but not allowed total access to the cases. And yes, cases. Someone has an agenda. While it seems unlikely these victims had anything in common besides going to the same school, they also shared some very unsavory habits.

Grey and Miles run into so many roadblocks and begin to feel that something isn’t right at the station. Not knowing who to trust, they run their own investigation and when they finally find the killer, will they even arrest him?

This was full of horrible abuses on children, adults and just all around horrific ways to die. Normally I am all over horror, but not this kind. Not with children and not quite so calmly graphic. Unfortunately in the tit for tat story, it had to be this way. A true eye for an eye.

Would I read it again? No. Would I recommend it? No.

Netgalley/Avon Books

IT’S BOOK RELEASE DAY FOR THESE BEAUTIES!

Little Comfort (Hester Thursby Mystery, #1) In a brilliantly twisted debut set among Boston’s elite, Edwin Hill introduces unforgettable sleuth Hester Thursby—and a missing persons case that uncovers a trail of vicious murder…

Sold on a Monday From New York Times bestselling author Kristina McMorris comes another unforgettable novel inspired by a stunning piece of history.

Maybe for You (Whiskey and Weddings, #3) he’s never had a no-strings fling. He’s never had anything else. But maybe this time will be an exception?

Second Chance At Two Love Lane From USA Today bestselling author Kieran Kramer, comes Second Chance at Two Love Lane, a fast-paced tale about the intoxicating effects of fame and what happens when a past romance is rekindled behind the silver screen.

Walking Shadows (Peter Decker/Rina Lazarus, #25) Detective Peter Decker and his wife, Rina Lazarus, risk life and limb to solve a pair of brutal murders that may be tied to a crime from more than twenty years ago in this intense and addictive mystery from New York Times bestselling author Faye Kellerman.

Tear Me Apart The follow-up to her critically acclaimed Lie to Me, J.T. Ellison’s Tear Me Apart is the powerful story of a mother willing to do anything to protect her daughter even as their carefully constructed world unravels around them.

Happy Book Birthday to you all!  Have y’all read these? What did you think?

xx Patricia, Books,Books and More Books

 

MAYBE FOR YOU by NICOLE MCLAUGHLIN (A Whiskey and Weddings Novel)

Maybe for You (Whiskey and Weddings, #3)

Alexis Parker, sister of Dean, is back stateside after a year long deployment in Italy. For the past year she has been in mourning for her fiance, Nate, who was killed in a helicopter accident just weeks before their wedding.

Coming back to her family and her brother and his two partners in the distillary, she still hasn’t really faced her grief and the loving couples all around her are like salt in a wound.
When Jake goes on a two-week tour with the Whiskey RV to check out some festivals and try to drum up some more business for their product, Alex decides to go along.

Her brother is horrified and lets Jake know up front that nothing better happen with his baby sister. But how long can a girl hold out stuck in close quarters with a hunky and so sweet guy?  Not too long I can tell you!

I have so enjoyed this series. There is something damaged in all of these characters but they all have learned to lean on each other and to not let the past define who they want to be in the present.

This was an emotional and sad and happy and hopeful story of forever love and what makes a family.

Well Done!

Netgalley/ St. Martin’s Press  August 28, 2018

TEAR ME APART by J.T.Ellison

Tear Me Apart

The follow-up to her critically acclaimed Lie to Me, J.T. Ellison’s Tear Me Apart is the powerful story of a mother willing to do anything to protect her daughter even as their carefully constructed world unravels around them.

One moment will change their lives forever…

Mindy Wright is on track to ski in the Olympics. Until an accident when she hits a flag and breaks a leg. Badly. And the bad news doesn’t stop there. After surgery her mother, Lauren and her father, Jasper are given the news that their daughter has cancer.

She needs a stem cell transplant to live and even think about skiing again. But what should have been a simple match test turns up Mindy doesn’t even belong to Lauren and Jasper! Secrets start spilling all over and it doesn’t look like anyone is going to come out of this unscathed,

The story is told alternately in the past, through letters and memories of Lauren and the present.

J.T.Ellison has never disappointed in this genre’. This is as twisty and psycho as all of her writing and I love it!  There are so more themes running through this one. Suicide, Abuse, Depression and straight up crazy! But I really enjoyed the end where she gives so much good research and resources for anyone contemplating self harm or suicide.

This book was sheer perfection until the very end!

Netgalley/Mira August 28, 2018

Sold on a Monday by Kristina McMorris

Sold on a Monday

children4sale  This sign, from a 1948 newspaper is what sparked the story the author has told us. Times were hard and after the Great Depression and the War there were more and more single mothers trying to raise children but unable to keep them fed or clothed. 

Ellis Reed knows hard times and family tragedy. He wants to be a reporter. He wants to make a difference. On the way to a lead on a story he sees two little boys sitting on their porch with a sign saying 2 Children For Sale. He is struck by this and can’t get it out of his mind. He develops the picture fully intending to write an entire piece about this but something happens and when he returns to get another photograph, he is told the family got a job and moved.

Across the street the Dillard family is in the same situation. And little Ruby and her brother Calvin let him take their photograph instead.

Lilly Palmer is working at the same newspaper. Lilly has a secret. Where is she going every week-end? She is the one who showed their Chief the picture of the boys and he wanted a story. But substituting another photograph will have consequences that ripple far out and cause their very lives to be in danger.

This is a strong story. Based on real life events, this is a story of loss, desperation,love and family bonds. It was beautifully written and I am better for having read it.

Netgalley/August 28th 2018 by Sourcebooks Landmark

Little Comfort by Edwin Hill

Little Comfort (Hester Thursby Mystery, #1)

A Hester Thursby Mystery

Harvard librarian Hester Thursby knows that even in the digital age, people still need help finding things. Using her research skills, Hester runs a side business tracking down the lost. Usually, she’s hired to find long-ago prom dates or to reunite adopted children and birth parents. Her new case is finding the handsome and charismatic Sam Blaine.

Harvard Librarian Hester Thursby is sidelined when her boyfriend’s sister Daphne, leaves her 3-year-old daughter on their doorstep and disappears. Hester has no idea what to do with a toddler and doesn’t think this is something she would want to do full-time.

Her specialty is finding people. And an unexpected call from a woman in New Hampshire has her intrigued. With nothing but a name, Sam Blaine and his friend Gabe, along with a stack of postcards that seem to make no sense at all.

Hester has no problem popping little Kate in the car and trying to figure out where Sam and his friend are based on the postcards. It takes her just a few days to find them and make contact. But why are they so threatened by her? And why do they keep changing their names?

Sam was a very charismatic character and Gabe follows his instructions to the letter, he is so afraid of being alone. But when Sam finds out that his sister has hired Hester just to find him, he decides that Hester is a threat to his life of scamming rich people and leaving a trail of bodies in his wake, but for the first time Gabe just may stand up to Sam for Hester.

This was a story of really awful child sexual abuse and the events that were set in motion one late night years ago and that only  now are coming to light.

Sam had sociopath written all over him and Gabe is just so emotionally damaged it was sad. The sister, Lila, is no angel either.

Hester is a tiny package of dynamite! She may be impulsive and brave but now she has a child and it has definitely changed her outlook after she and Kate almost lose their lives.

Good Job, Mr. Hill!

Netgalley/ Kensington August 28, 2018

SECOND CHANCE AT TWO LOVE LANE by KIERAN KRAMER

Second Chance at Two Love Lane

Two Love Lane #3

Back at Two Love Lane. Where the ladies help their clients find love. This is the third book in the series and it’s Ella’s turn to find love again.

Ella is happy living in Charleston, acting in the local theater and working with her friends at Two Love Lane. She has had her great love and doesn’t see herself getting involved anytime soon.

There were a few different stories inside this story. One with Ella’s family, one with the return of the dreamy Hank, and one with the ladies and Miss Roberta and her unlucky love life.

Miss Thing is my favorite character and as much as I have enjoyed this series, this one landed a little flat for me. The Pammy character was just too much. I couldn’t believe Ella would just move in with a total stranger who acted this odd. Much of it I just couldn’t believe.

Thanks for the read!

Netgalley/August 28th 2018 by St. Martin’s Press

not her daughter by Rea Frey

Not Her Daughter

I really wanted to like this book. I did. The one question it claims to ask is how far you would go to protect an abused child?

I can say honestly that kidnapping her is not one of those things.

Told from the point of view of the mother, Amy, and the kidnapper, Sarah. Sarah sees Emily first in an airport being treated roughly by her obviously stressed mother. And when she sees her at a school next, she pretty much stalks her until she is alone and takes her.

Police are called. Several times Sarah and her vehicle are spotted. In one part they actually have her tag number, but still don’t know who she is? Her ex boyfriend turned her in. Still the police have no idea. This was a hard part for me to find believable in this day and age of cell phones and Amber Alerts.

And as for the ending, really? Just call up the bad mom and ask to keep the child? Then what? How does that work? How do you get a birth certificate to start school? And the cops just quit looking?

For me this just wasn’t even close to being believable.

Netgalley/ August 21st 2018 by St. Martin’s Griffin