Month: February 2020

YOU ARE NOT ALONE by GREER HENDRICKS & SARAH PEKKANEN

You Are Not Alone

“Some people contend there are two primal fears. The first and most basic is the end of our existence. The second is isolation; we all have a deep need to belong to something greater than ourselves.”

Shay Miller is in her 30’s and has just been downsized. She’s been roommates with her best friend Sean forever and now he suddenly has a serious girlfriend who would rather not have Shay living there.

Jobless, homeless and alone. This isn’t how she planned her life but it’s how it turned out. She is a loner who wants to belong. To someone or something. She’s brilliant in her field of Data but nailing interviews isn’t her strong suit. You can tell there is going to be an interesting backstory here.

Jane and Cassandra Moore are sisters and own a successful business. They have tons of friends and are so what Shay wants to be. Or does she?

When Shay witnesses a woman jump in front of a subway train, the Moore sisters seem to be the answer to all of Shay’s problems. Since they appeared in her life things just work out. She desperately wants them to like her and that desperation may be exactly what gets her killed.

Whenever I see a new book on the NetGalley shelf by these two writers I am unable to resist asking for it! The flow, the characters, the twists, and turns will have you staying up long past your bedtime just to figure out this puzzle! Because if you are like me, you have an idea but oh my that ending!

Never disappoint!

NetGalley/ March 3rd, 2020 by St. Martin’s Press

 

 

 

 

GET OUT THE LYSOL, EVERYBODY IS SICK

 

So I have the flu. There are only three symptoms, they (Dr.) say, cough, fever and sore throat. Unlike the lottery, my chances were pretty darn good after entertaining people with germy children.

I’m not even checking the mail! OU Boy brought home masks that look like something out of an Avengers movie and I have lysoled the heck out of every surface! Really well. OU Boy thought he would hop back into bed this morning only to find his pillow damp from the can of Lysol I sprayed on it.

For about 30 minutes yesterday, I thought I felt better but then my body showed me it was not better. Fever, sore throat and coughing and I become Vivien Leigh draped over a chaise lounge telling anyone who will listen that I am dying and need more tea.. deep sigh.

This is my spot. I claimed it and all my germs are contained under this quilt my sister made for me. So far I have been downing the Bigelow Benefits Teas hourly. I made a green superfood smoothie, I’m mainlining Suja’s Lemon-Cayenne sugar-free juice hoping to kill the germs. And I read an entire book The Jane Austen Society, coming later this year.

For a lot of people, it is Ash Wednesday. I reminded OU Boy that mass is at 7 tonight and he said, “So which one of our pagan holidays have you appropriated now?” Me, ” Dude, I don’t know, just let them put ashes on your forehead and move on.” See, that is how sick I am. I did not dig into my vast bag of encyclopedia-like knowledge, I just said “whatever.”

Be Well. And for cripes sake, keep your sick kids home.

Love you!

xx P

BLACK WIDOW by Leslie Gray Streeter

Leslie Gray Streeter offers us a portrait of widowhood we haven’t seen before, one that “will make you laugh and cry, sometimes on the same page” (James Patterson).

Palm Beach Post columnist Leslie Gray Streeter entered her late thirties with her husband Scott, moving in together and starting the process of adopting a baby. Yes, she is Christian and a black woman and he is neither. He is a white Jewish man. But together they are perfect for each other.

And just like that, they were making out and he died. Right there. And this is the story of her path and how she traveled it. I loved this book. I am this book. My husband died the same way at 36. There should be a period of a week at least before you have to start making decisions that are probably all bad. I laughed, I cried, I understood. Someone said you never understand death until it knocks at your door. So true. Thank goodness for friends who will not let you wallow in quicksand, but show up and care and drag you back from the edge and tell you that you aren’t crazy and it’s okay to laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time.

I am honored to have read this!

NetGalley/ March 10th, 2020 by Little, Brown, and Company

 

 

 

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

Happy Mardi Gras! My favorite time of the year. Parades, balls, King Cake, beads, everything purple, green and gold.

Today is a frenzy of people dragging their huge boxes of beads, cups and other throws onto a float with 40 other people dressed just like you. And one 5-gallon bucket in the closet for all of us to use. And since we have been drinking since that first Mimosa at 8 a.m., that bucket is in high demand.

While we all take our places and the parade rolls. Today we will roll once during the day and again at night. And then, Lent. Go to church and get your ashes and forget sugar for 40 days. That’s probably sacrilegious, but it’s true. And for once I am glad. We have the plague. Yep. That’s what it is. Why? Well, we went and hung out with adults who have children. Those little germ mongers are relentless.

Have yourself a fun time tonight and be safe!

xx P

Please See Us by Caitlin Mullen

Please See Us

Two young women, unlikely friends, both find themselves in Atlantic City.  Summer in AC used to be a time of packed boardwalks, casinos, and tourists. But no more. The only people out on the marshland are two dead women. Jane Does. Laid out behind a seedy hotel.

Clara, who is just a teenager, lives with her aunt and works as a boardwalk psychic to help pay the rent. The aunt was a real piece of work. When Clara begins having real visions after a visit from the father of a missing girl, she thinks the visions may be about her. And then more women go missing.

Lily, who used to work in the art gallery world, is just starting a job at the spa in town. She has had enough of her own drama to overcome but that won’t stop her from teaming up with Clara to find the girls who are still going missing.

But did they put their trust in the wrong person? Will they both come out alive?

This was eerie and heartbreaking. I loved the characters, even the wicked ones are done so well. Very good read!

NetGalley/ March 3rd, 2020 by Gallery Books

 

 

 

THE LADY OF THE LAKE BY PETER GUTTRIDGE

The Lady of the Lake

When a body is found in a lake belonging to Nimue Grace, a reclusive actress, DI Sarah Gilchrist and her partner DS Bellamy Heap are on the case.

The dead man, Major Rabbitt was not well-liked by any stretch of the imagination. He was a pig. His ex hated him, his business rivals hated him. And no one said it but I’m pretty sure his own kids did not like him.

There was a lot going on here. There were so many suspects I had no idea who the killer was. At one point I thought it was an ostrich. Yes. Or the drug dealer. Or the ex. And on and on!  That gets extra points because I didn’t guess right at all!!

Good Job!

NetGalley/March 3rd, 2020 by Severn House Publishers

 

 

 

REVOLVER ROAD by CHRISTI DAUGHERTY (A HarperMcClain Mystery)

Revolver Road (Harper McClain, #3)

Crime reporter Harper McClain is back on the beat when a troubled musician vanishes in Christi Daugherty’s Revolver Road.

We’re back in Savannah with crime reporter Harper McClain. After being told to RUN!, she is hiding out on Tybee Island while she figures out who wants her dead.

In between working at the newspaper and trying to solve her mother’s murder, she is now on the case of who killed Xavier Rayne. An up and coming music star who was set to go on tour when he walked out of his rented beach house on Tybee. His girlfriend and two bandmates are acting very suspicious and when a body shows up with bullet holes they all become suspects.

Digging deeper into the case has her not quite sure who to believe and now threats against her own life are being made which have nothing to do with the Rayne case. Someone is watching her. Someone wants to protect her. Someone wants her dead.

Who can she trust?

I love this series. Every one. This book is the reason I did not see the Super Bowl! That is how edge of your seat crazy suspenseful this book is!

Highly recommend!

NetGalley/March 10th 2020 by Minotaur Books

PIES BEFORE GUYS by KIRSTEN WEISS

Pies before Guys (Pie Town Mystery #4)

A Pie Town Mystery  #4 ( With Recipes)

Val Harris, the owner of Pie Town, is not quite sure a poetry slam in a bakery is a thing. But Abril is excited enough for both of them. Does that have something to do with her professor, Michael Starke, a poet or is she a little starstruck?

Val would much rather spend time with her newfound half-brother but this could be good for the shop and she goes along. But the night ends abruptly when several of the professors begin to threaten each other and toss around the dreaded plagiarism accusation.

When later that night Starke is found dead, the Baker Street Bakers are determined to figure out who is guilty. And my goodness there were enough despicable people, right there in the English Department.

Everyone is keeping secrets. Everyone looks guilty. Even Abril! But with some help from her friends, especially the formidable Charlene, they are determined to find the guilty party without losing their heads.

I love this series!! I mean, PIE. And Charlene and her crazy UFO theories had me laughing the entire book. What a great cast of characters that Weiss has invented for us! And don’t forget…recipes!

Another winner!

Kensington February 25th, 2020

 

The Survival of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson

The Survival of Molly Southbourne

The Second in the Molly Southbourne Books

This is a book that just begged me to pick it off the library shelf. I read the back and ordered the first one on the spot.

The first book, The Murders of Molly Southbourne, you have to read. I went into the second one with very little background and I did not put it down once.

As we see Molly, she is huddled and bleeding across from a burning building. She only knows she is supposed to call the number carved on her arm. When she does people arrive and clean up the mess. Asking her numerous times if she is bleeding. She says no.

When Molly bleeds, monsters are born. But is this the prime Molly or one she made?

There are still other Mollys out there. Most of them want to kill her. That’s what they do. So when Molly is kidnapped by another group of people like her, she is stunned at how nice they are to each other. But she doesn’t have a good feeling about this group and when she finds the prime talking to the cleanup guys, she needs to get out of there and figure a lot of things out is she wants to stay alive.

What a surprising book. And the idea of a drop of blood on a piece of wood can become a raging molly!

I thoroughly enjoyed this one!

 

 

 

 

A TEARRIFIC WEEKEND!

High Tea at Inspirations Tea Room in Edmond. Saturday I had reservations to take OU Boy out for a proper tea.

We hit up the gym first thing and ran enough to eat a few sweeties. I went to the market and then got all dressed up and headed to 4 o’clock tea. OU Boy loves the way this place smells. They have a B&B in the back and they sell all things tea and flavored oils, soaps, and just all the pretty things I covet.

We were seated right away and I ordered classic Earl Grey and OU Boy went for Paris. We love that one. I let him eat the sandwiches and I ate the Quiche Lorraine and a scone with lemon curd. There were so many lovely things, chocolate eclairs, macarons, Neapolitan cupcakes, which are a vanilla cupcake with raspberry buttercream and fudgy middles. I brought all the sweets home and shared with my elderly neighbor.  We had a great time. So relaxing and calm and oh the smells were heavenly.

I bought a bag of loose pear green tea and a jar of lemon curd and we came home stuffed and wondering if they would let us live there.

Sunday was beautiful so we ran a few errands, filled out our passport renewal paperwork, had new pictures taken and worked our bums off at the gym.  Then we stopped by the market for eggs, and parked right next to us was the new Lamborghini SUV. Although I could hear OU Boy telling me ” Hey, that’s not your car.” I had no will power and went straight up to the man and begin talking body styles. He is 70 years old and had a huge cigar in his mouth and had just bought it for his birthday. I’m thinking, so is he single?? OU Boy made me get in the car and lo and behold if the fellow doesn’t live in our neighborhood. I may take a run through today.

I hope you all had a good weekend and have a peaceful and productive week! And have some tea.

xx P