Tag: Netgalley Reviews

The Garden of Promises and Lies by Paula Brackston

The Garden of Promises and Lies (Found Things Book 3)

For all of you readers who loved Secrets of the Chocolate House, we are back in the Found Things Series, with Xanthe.

Things are coming together in the Little Shop of Found Things as Spring slides in. While she is still keeping her time travel secret, except for Harley, things get tricky right away.

Fairfax is back. In her own time! Watching her. She knows what he wants. The Book. Spinners. He isn’t content to be a Spinner, he wants all control. So now Xanthe must use her spinning skills to go back and stop him from harming the people she loves.

Before she goes however, she attends an auction at an old estate and that is where she finds her next thing. An antique wedding gown is singing loudly to her. The visions she is getting tell her that the gown is tied to Benedict Fairfax somehow and she now needs to find out who needs her help.

There is no question that she is going back, but there is going to have to be an explanation and that could be tough on Flora and Liam.

When Xanthe accidently takes a dog back with her and returns with both intact, she has an idea how to tell her mother. She takes her along. Not for long, just a peek at what she does. Her mother is on board but agrees with Harley that taking Liam would be a smart idea. Fairfax is strong and could harm a lot of people.

So into the blind house they go and just like that they are in Bradford-on-Avon around 1815. Liam is gobsmacked to say the least and her old friend and mentor at the Chocolate House is not impressed with what she has done. She is also acting very odd.

As the two concoct their story and meet up with the owner of the wedding dress, Fairfax ups the odds. Things are happening at a lightening fast pace and someone may not be coming back.

This is the series that my sister and I wait for. And then dissect every paragraph together. It really is that good.

And Oh! What a cliffhanger!

NetGalley/ December 15th, 2020 St. Martin’s Press

COURTING CAN BE KILLER by AMANDA FLOWER

Courting Can Be Killer (An Amish Matchmaker Mystery #2)

An Amish Matchmaker Mystery #2

In the second Amish Matchmaker Mystery by USA Today bestselling author Amanda Flower, Millie Fisher has plenty to keep her busy through her golden years, whether it’s minding a pair of rambunctious goats, meetings with her quilting circle, and matchmaking. But the witty widow always makes time to solve the odd murder…

When Millie came home from caring for her sister in Michigan her young neighbor boy follows her to Ohio. Ben Baughman left home when his father remarried and wanted to start a new family.

Ben has his own place now and has at least four jobs, all in the hope that Tess Lieb will marry him. But Tess’s father has no intention of marrying his daughter off. Instead she can go to Wyoming and live with his sister. But Tess is wily. Does she love Ben or is she using him to get away from her father?

Millie thinks it’s the latter and counsels Ben to slow down but we all know young love won’t wait.

When Ben dies in a fire at his night job, Millie is definitely grabbing Lois and finding out who did what! And lucky for her gossip is thick around town on the whys. Not so much on the who.

I love Amanda’s series. I enjoy the crossovers as well. Why shouldn’t they crossover? They all live in the same small area and know each other and while I wait for another Bailey’s Sweets book, I can find out how she is while reading Millie’s adventures. Brilliant!

I can’t wait for the next one!

NetGalley/ December 1st, 2020 Kensington Publishing

THE MIRROR MAN by JANE GILMARTIN

The Mirror Man

Jeremiah Adams is not satisfied with his life. His wife and son have grown distant. He’s pretty sure she is having an affair. But the dog loves him to pieces.

When Jeremiah is offered to be part of an important year long study for his employer, ViGen Pharmaceuticals, Jeremiah jumps at the $10 million dollar pay day. But of course for that amount of money you already know it’s going to end badly. Greed is ugly.

His company’s new drug is called MELD. It can transfer your consciousness along with all of your memories into a clone that looks just like you. Yes, cloning humans is illegal and wrong, but this is Big Pharma at it’s best. Working with the military of course.

Jeremiah will be living in a fairly luxurious apartment twelve stories under the company. He is to be monitored all day every day as he watches remotely his clone take over his life. Everyone buys into the clone being Jeremiah. Almost everyone that is. And Jeremiah doesn’t want anyone to know about that, which causes a chain reaction he did not intend.

First I would like people to stop comparing books. I have read all of Blake Crouch and this isn’t it.

What I didn’t like was the questions that were not answered or just glossed over. Was his wife having an affair? When Jeremiah looks at ‘himself’, living his life he is shocked by what an uninvolved person he is. Disgusted by his own lack of interest in his family.

Not willing to continue, he makes a deal with his boss which neither intends to keep.

I just wish there had been more detail about the characters around him.

NetGalley/ October 20th, 2020 by MIRA 




INVISIBLE GIRL by LISA JEWELL

 

Invisible Girl

Twisty, Suspenseful, with a lot of psychological suspense.

There are three points of view in this exciting book. Saffyre Maddox is one. When she was ten she suffered something horrible. This is a dark part. Abuse, rape, dark themes here. She is on the outside of life. Lonely, odd, and living with a huge secret.

Even after therapy, she may look and sound better, but she is so not okay. And now she is a stalker. Stalking her former therapist and uncovering his secrets.

Owen. Well, Owen was just bad. Odd doesn’t even describe it. And when Saffyre goes missing, he is the first one suspected. But did he do something to her? Was it something else she stuck her nose into that has her missing?

This was a dark and twisty thriller that left me thinking about it for days!

Good Job!

NetGalley/ October 13th, 2020 by Atria Books

 

 

 

 

the book of two ways by Jodi Picoult

The Book of Two Ways

Dawn Edelstein is on a plane when her life changes. With an announcement to prepare for a crash landing.

A lot of things flash through her mind. Her husband is not one.

She survives the crash but is left wondering about her life. What would have happened if she took a different path? Gone left instead of right?

And that what the book is about. Choices and how they affect us.

I was not invested in this one at all. It could just be me. See what you think!

NetGalley/ Ballentine September 22nd, 2020 by Ballantine Books

 

 

 

WAR, How Conflict Shaped Us by Margaret MacMillan

War: How Conflict Shaped Us

Margaret MacMillan, a renowned historian looks at war. Why choose war? What does it say about us?

From the beginning, there has been war and peace. Sometimes at the same time. Everything we know and have comes from war. It brings out the worst in us and challenges our beliefs and what we hold dear.

This is a look at war from all sides. Is it in our very nature to be at war? How do we decide to go to war?

We all know that war shapes politics, values and can be destructive so why do we humans keep planning, strategizing, and declaring war? And why is it mainly men?

Some very good history here along with a lot to think about.

NetGalley/ October 06, 2020 by Random House

A HIGHLANDER IS COMING TO TOWN by Laura Trentham

A Highlander is Coming to Town (Highland, Georgia #3)

A Highland,Georgia Novel #3

This romantic comedy series is set in Highland,Georgia. Claire Smythe has found herself here after leaving her touring band. She is looking to blend in and not stand out one bit. She has secrets and she does not want them spilling out.

Without money she takes a job as a live-in companion and care taker for an elderly woman. Neither one talks much, but a bond has been formed.

Holt Pierson has been left to care for the family farm while his parents hit the road for Florida for Christmas. He is one hard working and driven man! And Claire, or whatever her name is, has captured his mind and heart.

But will this Christmas be Merry and Bright? Let’s just say a lot of secrets come tumbling from Santa’s bag this year and love may just overcome a lot of them.

Always a treat to read this series. A lovely story of family expectations, our own dreams and desires, and finding a way to live with both.

NetGalley/ September 29th 2020 by St. Martin’s Press




ONE BY ONE by RUTH WARE

One by One by [Ruth Ware]

Everyone is this book has secrets. Except maybe Danny. But the rest of them are pretty despicable people, not counting Erin, who takes care of the chalet and the guests with Danny as the chef.

Work retreats are nothing new for them. They host many at a luxurious ski chalet in the French Alps. Most are great and things run smoothly.

Not so when a start-up called Snoop and it’s co-founders come to stay. Right from the start, they are obnoxious and sketchy.  And as the days go by they began to dwindle in numbers. After an avalanche leaves them cut off from the rest of the world, they are all aware they are sharing quarters with a killer. But which one is it?

I could have told you who in Chapter one. The only person’s story I was interested in was Erin’s.

Not my cup of tea.

NetGalley/Gallery Scout Press September 8th, 2020

 

 

The Darkest Evening by ANN CLEEVES

The Darkest Evening (Vera Stanhope, #9)

I love the Vera series! And this time we meet more of her family.

As DI Vera Stanhope is on her way home the first big snow of the winter is blowing so hard she can barely find her turnoff point. The one thing she can see is a car with the driver’s door open slid off the road.

Vera checks it out and finds of all things a baby in the backseat. Assuming the driver has gone for help she leaves her business card and a note. Taking the baby to the closest house. Her relatives.Harriett and Julia Stanhope.

Brockburn is the family home and though it is pretty much crumbling around them, Julia’s husband Mark, has a plan to save it by turning it into a place for theater types and artists. Which seems a bit odd in Northumberland.

When she pulls up to the house it is clear some type of party is going on. Lights are blazing and everyone is drinking and none of them have any idea a murder has occurred on the property.

The blizzard is in full swing and everyone is staying put. Is their a killer under their roof? This is the house Vera’s father grew up in but Vera and her father were not close with them. Now she may find out more than she imagined in the secrets they were all keeping!

This is one of my favorite series and characters! Always a good mystery with the unconventional Vera!

NetGalley/ September 8th, 2020 by Minotaur Books



They Somebody People by Bob Proehl

The Somebody People

This is the sequel to The Nobody People. There is very little backstory so it’s probably best if you have read that one first.

It’s seven years after The Pulse, and by now you are either a Resonant or not.

And that is pretty much all I know as I couldn’t get into this one.

If you are a SciFi fan, this is your book. People who read them both love books. I just could not keep everyone straight.

NetGalley/September 1st, 2020 by Del Rey Books