Tag: Netgalley Reviews

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/ September 22nd, 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

LITTLE DISASTERS by Sarah Vaughn

Little Disasters: A Novel

A new emotionally charged, psychological suspense thrill ride from Sarah Vaughn.

Dr. Liz Trenchard is a pediatrician working in the pediatric ward. When she is asked to take a look at a baby in the emergency room who has a suspicious injury and the mother is being evasive.

When she arrives she finds a good friend of hers through the baby group and her baby girl. Liz is shocked at both Jess’s condition and the baby’s. This isn’t the same woman she knows. Jess is the one who makes motherhood look effortless, but this woman is nervous, on edge, and very cagey about what happened and when.

While the police investigate, Liz is dealing with issues of her own as she learns of secrets in her own childhood that will leave her stunned and wondering about another baby.

Full of mystery and suspense! A very real look at post-partum illness and how much more we need to learn about it.

Outstanding and very well written.

NetGalley/ August 18th, 2020 by Atria/Emily Bestler Books

 

 

Bronte’s Mistress by Finola Austin

Bronte's Mistress

This dazzling debut novel for fans of Mrs. Poe and Longbourn explores the scandalous historical love affair between Branwell Brontë and Lydia Robinson, giving voice to the woman who allegedly corrupted her son’s innocent tutor and brought down the entire Brontë family.

This is a tale of Branwell Bronte and Lydia Robinson, the mistress of Thorp Green Hall. It is 1843 in Yorkshire and Lydia has suffered not one but two devastating losses this year. Her mother and her youngest daughter.

She doesn’t get much sympathy from her husband, who all but ignores her and the children, and to be honest, she isn’t a very sympathetic character. 

She already has one Bronte sister tutoring her teenage daughters but now has hired a tutor for her only son. And Branwell is the lucky chap. Down on his own luck, at loose ends and fighting his own demons while dealing with his own rather odd family.

He is very passionate about life, the theater, and music and regales them with tales of his sisters, but under the surface, you can just feel the rather manic energy and short temper. As the two begin an illicit relationship, he gets more and more erratic and Lydia knows she must end things to keep her own reputation intact and before those pesky sisters get involved.

 

NetGalley Review/ August 4th, 2020 by Atria Books

THE FIRST TO LIE by HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN

The First to Lie

Ryan is a genius at twisty, suspenseful writing! I felt the same way about this book as I do when all of my necklaces get tangled up in my jewelry box…I’m never going to get this untangled!

A daughter of privilege and wealth betrayed by the people who should have loved and protected her wants revenge and to get it she will have to be someone else.

A young, heartbroken widow. Betrayed in the same way.

A reporter trying to take down a big pharma company touting a drug that has horrific side effects. And doing it any way she can.

All it takes is a lie. But who will be the first to lie? And are any of them who they claim to be? And when the truth does come out, will one of them be the first to die?

Another crazy, suspense-filled tangle of a thriller!

NetGalley/ August 4th, 2020 by Forge Books/MacMillan

 

 

 

 

 

Ghost Ups Her Game by Carolyn Hart

Ghost Ups Her Game

A Bailey Ruth Ghost Novel #9

Bailey Ruth Raeburn is back in Heaven’s Department of Good Intentions. Busy dispatching heavenly emissaries to those in need of a bit of help. Satisfied with herself for doing such a heavenly job matching everyone up, she suddenly gets an emergency call for help from her hometown of Adelaide, Oklahoma.

Bailey wastes no time jumping aboard the train engine, she heads out quickly with Wiggins yelling in her ear!

All she knows is Iris Gallagher is in trouble and Bailey must help her.

A fun twist in this one is that Iris can see Bailey! All the time. And while Bailey Ruth tries to stick to the rules, she is barely skating by on this one. And when her good friend Sam arrests Iris for murder, Bailey does whatever she must to find a killer before he kills again!

Oh, Bailey Ruth! I do love this ghostly character. These characters are so well written and I can’t wait for the next one!

NetGalley Reviews/August 4th, 2020 by Severn House Publishers

 

Tea & Treachery, A Tea by the Sea Mystery by Vicki Delaney

Tea & Treachery (Tea by the Sea Mysteries #1)

In this charming new cozy mystery series from nationally bestselling author, Vicki Delany, a New York City expat-turned-Cape Cod tea shop owner must solve the murder of a local real estate developer to help her feisty grandmother out of a jam
. . .
It was a wonderful surprise to find out Delany had a new series out! And it’s a tea room by the sea.
Lily Robers is one busy lady! As the owner and head pastry chef at her little tea room Tea by the Sea, you can have traditional English Tea and a view of Cape Cod. She is always running between her grandmother, Rose’s Bed, and Breakfast which she helps out in the mornings.
Rose is one great character. She may be elderly but she isn’t dead yet and until she is she will fight with all of her might to not let the sketchy Jack Ford buy the property next door to put up some golf course/resort. For a small old lady, she is not one to mess with.
Everyone thinks there is something fishy about Jack so it seems appropriate that he is found dead on the beach having fallen down the stairs on Rose’s property.
It looks like the police are railroading Rose and not looking anywhere else. But boy oh boy are there a lot of places to look! No one liked this man. NO. ONE. A con man and a slimeball, there are so many suspects Lily may never get her Grandmother out of hot water!
This is the first in a new series. And I loved every minute of it. The characters are so well done and I can’t wait for the next one!
NetGalley Reviews/July 28th, 2020 by Kensington Publishing Corporation