Tag: Netgalley Reviews

TAKE MY HUSBAND by ELLEN MEISTER

A dark comedy!

Only one thing stands in the way of Laurel Applebaum’s happiness…Doug Applebaum.

Ever found yourself fantasizing about single life? No husband to cook for, clean for, and basically, you feel like you’ve adopted a man-child? Yes, yes I have. And this dark comedy is just that.

Laurel has had enough of Doug. And to tell you the truth about 3 chapters in I also had had enough of Doug. And when she receives a phone call from the hospital telling her he has been in an accident, her imagination takes over and she feels maybe, at last, he is gone! But, alas, he is just needier!

While Laurel works herself to death at a supermarket and comes home to do everything but wipe his bum!

This takes a few dark turns, but really after Coved, isn’t everyone ready to get rid of a spouse?

Only in your head of course, because murder is illegal. And in the end, Laurel will discover her strength and how to put her own needs ahead of those who won’t lift a finger to help themselves.

I have to admit to yelling more than a few times, “Just leave him!”. But as I have been married twenty years I can say it just isn’t that easy. I really enjoyed this one!

NetGalley/August 30th, 2022 by MIRA



Lucky Girl (How I became a horror writer) A Krampus Story by M. Rickert

Who doesn’t love a good scary story at Christmas? Isn’t that what everyone does at Christmas? Tell scary stories? This is a really good scary story that takes place over many Christmas Days.

Ro, real name Roanoke, is trying to establish herself as a writer. In the Horror Genre. When she meets four different people at a local diner, all of them alone on a holiday, they become a group of friends, in a loose sense, and continue to share a Christmas dinner and gift exchange. At the first one she suggests everyone tell a scary story and boy does Grayson have a good one! Krampus is always a hit!

Ro has her own scary Christmas story. And it is going to tie in with one of these people. But, which one?

Years later Grayson asks to host Christmas and it turns bad quickly. This is a short story but I loved it! The author is so good at writing scary stuff and this one is just perfect.

NetGalley/September 13, 2022, Macmillan/Tor-Forge

Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout brings us more of Lucy!

From Pulitzer Prize-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Strout comes a poignant, pitch-perfect novel about a divorced couple stuck together during lockdown–and the love, loss, despair, and hope that animate us even as the world seems to be falling apart.

As the world grinds to a slow halt with a pandemic, Lucy is told by William to pack up and be ready to leave. Now. She thinks he is overreacting and he is in a full-blown panic!

Staying in a small house in Maine with her ex-husband isn’t Lucy’s idea of a good time. She misses her home and the city and her daughters, who have also taken refuge out of the city. She is also still mourning the death of David. Isolated in Maine for who knows how long, they make the best of it. They even make friends, at a social distance. But the day-to-day enforced solitude is grinding. People get on each other’s nerves.

But there is so much more, as in all of her books. How do we show empathy, kindness, and most importantly, forgiveness? Lucy will learn much about her own strengths and weaknesses and will discover that love is love and no matter how far apart we are, love stays strong.

I am always in awe of this author’s writing. The characters aren’t perfect by a long shot! But that is where we learn to do better.

NetGalley/September 20, 2022, Random House/Penguin


Personally, I was thrilled to find out the author will be in Dallas and then tickled pink to find out she will be in OKC as well! I’ll report back



BLOWBACK by JAMES PATTERSON AND BRENDAN DUBOIS

An American President Goes Insane

Sound familiar? Well, it should because now we know it can happen.

He’s America’s most brilliant president ever. He’s also a psychopath.

Keegan Barrett, former director of the CIA, has easily transitioned to the Oval Office. Only six months into his term, h comes up with an off-the-books plan to use the CIA on home soil to get rid of his enemies. And he is ruthless. The type of ruthlessness that comes from thinking you are the smartest person on earth and no one can stop you.

With no one to keep him in check, he orders two agents, Liam and Noa, to carry out his plan. No questions asked. Only they aren’t quite comfortable with their roles and when the President finds out there will be hell to pay. Unless they can find a way to outsmart the psycho in the oval office before the blowback destroys the country.

I really enjoyed this one! Very on topic for right now. It’s scary because we now know it is possible!

NetGalley/  September 12th, 2022 by Little, Brown, and Company

THE RISING TIDE by ANN CLEEVES

A Vera Stanhope Novel #10

Since I have recently finished binge-watching the BritBox series Vera, I was happy to receive a copy of this newest DCI STANHOPE novel!

We are back on Holy Island for this one. Fifty years ago a group of high school kids and their young teacher went on a retreat there and stayed at the one-time convent with a nice chapel. A place to sit and be still.

They formed that tight bond that teenagers do, feeling everything so deeply. But on their first reunion, one of the girls argues with one of the guys and leaves in a huff, none of them worrying about the tides. And that is a death that ties them together. The priest, the playboy turned novelist, the broken woman who lost a husband and a baby, the strongest couple who now is the weakest. They all have secrets. No one is telling the truth.

When one of them is found hanging from a beam in his room, Vera and her team step in. Vera has no qualms about digging for answers in sensitive matters. Even though the man had recently been fired because of sexual misconduct, he didn’t seem upset about it. So why is he dead?

What are all of these people hiding? And Vera needs to figure that out quickly or there will be more deaths.

As in all good Vera stories, there was laughter, confusion, tears, and a few gasps!

Cleeves always gives us good mysteries!

NetGalley/ September 06, 2022, St. Martin’s Press

SKIRTS by KIMBERLY CHRISMAN-CAMPBELL

Skirts traces the shifting roles of women over the twentieth century through the era’s most iconic and influential dresses.

The evolution of the skirt over pants took quite a bit longer than it should have in my opinion. Practicality should be first and foremost I think. And a lot of other women thought so too. And so we have the evolution of the skirt. Soldiers marched in skirts as did the suffragists and the civil rights marchers. Famous women all over the world made their stands in skirts.

The author takes us along to the twentieth century where things begin to change. And what a good look it was. From the LBD to the Bar Suit, the Taxi dress, and the Pop-Over, which I loved because it said it came with a potholder! Can you imagine?

My own mother never wore a skirt. Ever. Lots of dresses and later pants, but I never saw her wear a skirt. I, on the other hand, own tons of them and love them. This book was fashion fun. I loved every minute of it.

NetGalley/September 6, 2022, St. Martin’s Press



the ways we hide by Kristina McMorris

From the author of the wonderful Sold on a Monday comes another heartfelt story full of all the feels.

A story set during World War II of an illusionist who was recruited by British Intelligence and the ingenious use of Monopoly as a tool.

Fenna Vos is from Michigan. She knows what hardships are and she knows how to survive. As the war rages on overseas, she is working as an assistant to an escape artist. While she is the mastermind of the act. She controls it all. And this is one of her survival mechanisms. Control.

Just as she is fed up with her partner in the act, a man approaches her about working with British military intelligence. She works to design escape aids. MI9 is looking for those with special skills to end this war.

So Fenna becomes an inventor. Her loyalty will be tested and she may never be able to escape her own past.

This is a beautiful story of survival, courage, and overcoming when the odds are against you. And who knew about the Monopoly angle? I did not and I love it!

NetGalley/September 6th, 2022 by Sourcebooks Landmark

About the Author:

KRISTINA MCMORRIS is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of two novellas and six historical novels, including the runaway bestseller SOLD ON A MONDAY with over a million copies sold. The recipient of more than twenty national literary awards, she previously hosted weekly TV shows for Warner Bros. and an ABC affiliate, beginning at age nine with an Emmy Award-winning program, and owned a wedding-and-event-planning company until she had far surpassed her limit of “Y.M.C.A.” and chicken dances. Kristina lives near Portland, Oregon, where she somehow manages to be fully deficient of a green thumb and not own a single umbrella. For more, visit www.KristinaMcMorris.com




BECOMING FDR: THE PERSONAL CRISIS THAT MADE A PRESIDENT by JONATHAN DARMAN

This revealing biography of Franklin D. Roosevelt shows how one of the most consequential leaders in American history found his true self in his searing struggle with polio–emerging from illness with strength and wisdom he would use to inspire the world.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a natural politician. He was born in 1882 into a wealthy and influential family and he was nice-looking and a charmer. And still, with all of this going for him, he didn’t have an easy time. He wasn’t naturally empathetic and strategic thinking was not his strong suit. It would take a long time and a serious illness to instill those qualities in him.

This biography tells us the story of the events that shaped his character and his political successes. In 1921 he contracted polio. He was 39 at the time and he was paralyzed from the waist down. He spent a lot of time trying to face this new reality and a lot of time trying everything to get well.

In 1928 he was the Democrat’s choice for Governor of New York. He had changed considerably. He was compassionate and listened to his constituents. He had found hope. And he used that to motivate the rest of us.

We also see how his wife evolved and became his most ardent supporter and voice.

This was a very good look at the life of a president. My own father had polio and he would always tell us that he got well because of this president. He kept hope alive.

Well-researched and a real joy to read.

NetGalley/September 6th, 2022 by Random House


Dispatches from the Gilded Age by Julia Reed

Dispatches from the Gilded Age: A Few More Thoughts on Interesting People, Far-Flung Places, and the Joys of Southern Comforts

Forward by Roy Blount, Jr.

In the middle of the night on March 11, 1980, the phone rang in Julia Reed’s Georgetown dorm. It was her boss at Newsweek, where she was an intern. He told her to get in her car and drive to her alma mater, the Madeira School. Her former headmistress, Jean Harris, had just shot Dr. Herman Tarnower, The Scarsdale Diet Doctor. Julia didn’t flinch. She dressed, drove to Madeira, got the story, and her first byline and the new American Gilded Age was off and running.

And so begins this collection of essays from Julia Reed. A Southern Treasure.

I remember the Scarsdale Diet and the shooting of the doctor and the trial. Such drama! With one century ending and another beginning, Julia gives us a look at so many people, places, and food! Those hot olives!!

So many of her best profiles. One of which we just lost today as I write this. Andre’ Leon Talley. A veritable who’s who of the time. The Bush family, Madeleine Albright, and so many more. Dining at favorite restaurants, what food was popular as well as the fashions of the time.

Her writing style is relatable as well as hilarious at times. This is one of those books that you find yourself reading again. As a Mississippi former resident, I loved this book. The South at its finest.

NetGalley/August 23rd, 2022 by St. Martin’s Press

SIX FEET DEEP DISH by MINDY QUIGLEY

Fresh mozzarella, tangy tomato sauce, and murder: the perfect recipe for a delicious first entry in Mindy Quigley’s Six Feet Deep Dish, a delectable new series…

A cozy mystery with Pizza!!

Delilah O’Leary is finally opening her gourmet deep-dish pizzeria! In the resort town of Geneva Bay, Wisconsin. Also famous as a mob hangout back in the day.

Delilah’s dream is being financed by her uber-rich boyfriend who breaks up with her the night before their opening. Although he was kind enough to leave the cat.

Things are crazy busy at the soft opening and they don’t get any better when Delilah finds her aunt holding a gun and her caregiver dead.

Enter the local police detective, Calvin Capone, yes that Capone. Not bad on the eyes, but the investigation could tank her opening, and with the rich boyfriend gone, she can’t even make payroll.

Delilah isn’t satisfied to sit and wait for her aunt to be cleared so she pokes her nose in and almost loses it.

This is the first book in this series. While I enjoyed the story, I really didn’t get a feel for pizza so much. And I really don’t like books that rely on a rich man to save the poor girl. But I’ll give the next one a try.

NetGalley/SMP Paperback August 23, 2022