Month: August 2022

Peg and Rose are sisters-in-law who have never really gotten along. Now in their 60’s Rose has decided they need to make amends and try and bury their past displeasures with each other. Unfortunately, Peg, who is stubborn, is a bit unwilling to let it go.

Rose is a former nun who is married to a former priest. She was very young when she took her vows and at the time believed she knew it all about life and love. But of course, with age comes wisdom and sometimes regret. She and her husband Peter have traveled the world helping people in need. Rose is quiet and subdued.

Peg is an inquisitive curmudgeon who owns poodles and works at dog shows as well as shows her own animals. She lost her beloved husband Max years ago and misses him terribly but has her animals to keep her company and is quite content.

Rose asks Peg to join a bridge club with her. Peg says absolutely not. Rose tells her they are family, and it is about time they try and find a way to get along. The usually stubborn Peg finally relents.

But if Rose thought playing as partners in a bridge club with Peg would be a bonding experience, she was seriously wrong! Their squabbling was quite the entertainment for the rest of the players! Peg, who in the past has helped solve a few murders was not too happy with the cast of characters they were playing with. It seems some were cheating, while others were gambling. But Rose convinces Peg to try one more week and lucky for them they did because it would be the last week of the bridge club.

One of the players is shot dead in his home. He was the quiet type and seemed to have no enemies. But of course, this piqued Peg’s interest, and she convinces a very reluctant Rose to help her look into the murder.

As they begin to interview the other players, they find out sometimes bridge partners could think they have deep hidden secrets but in reality, everyone else knows. And the list of suspects seems to only grow when Peg is shot at while in her house. While the two investigate, they begin to get comfortable with each other and actually “gasp” start to like each other! Could this 40-year feud be over?

Now all they both need to do to have a real friendship is not get killed as the murderer seems bent on never being caught even if that means shutting down Peg and Rose’s investigation.

Peg And Rose Solve A Muder is a funny, wholesome cozy for any age as well as for anybody who enjoys great mysteries and loves dogs.

Thankyou #NetGalley #KensingtonBooks #PegAndRoseSolveAMurder #LaurienBerenson for the advanced copy.

Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder is deliciously sweet in so many ways with eccentric characters you fall in love with and an adorably intelligent enormously delightful dog. This book will keep you entertained and smiling from beginning to end.

Maddy Montgomery’s life has hit rock bottom. Left at the altar, this popular influencer is now a complete embarrassment, so she thinks. But when she receives a surprise inheritance from her great-aunt Octavia who lived in a small town in New Bison, Michigan where she owned a bakery, she and her Jimmy Choo’s head there to pick up her check.

But wait, there is a small (or perhaps big) catch it seems. In order for Maddy to receive the bequest, she must stay in New Bison for a year and take care of the bakery and surprise, surprise, “Baby” who at 250-pounds of English Mastiff is no baby and who was the love of Octavia’s life!

So Maddy tries to settle into the town, and become friends with Baby, as much as you can make friends with a huge dog who thinks it’s ok to sit on you, try and figure out that the employees of the bakery expect from her, especially since she can’t even cook an egg, and meet the people in the town who all seem to want something, even though she hasn’t a clue as to why. She does have her aunt’s friends to guide her, and Baby seems to be able to point Maddy in the direction of people who are a threat!

Then the Mayor is murdered in the bakery and the list of suspects include Maddy of all people! That’s when Maddy and her aunt’s friends decide to find out for themselves who killed the very unlikeable politician and why! Unfortunately for them there a many suspects. And soon Maddy discovers poking into other people’s business could be dangerous when she and Baby become the target of perhaps the murderer.

While all this is going on, and she is missing her aunt desperately while trying to make good business choices all the while using her influencer status to keep the bakery, the town, herself and Baby interesting, she becomes very excited for what her future might bring…if only she can stay alive to see that future!

Valerie Burns’ cozy read is a terrific, warm, yummy cuddly story with wonderful characters and gargantuan dog with just as big a heart named Baby! There better be a book two!

Thank you #Goodreads #KensingtonBooks #ValerieBurns #TwoPartsSugar,OnePartMurder #ABakerStreetMystery for the advanced copy!

Lucy Checks In is a deliciously satisfying uplifting story about a woman after a horrendous scandal and heartache who had accomplished so much and was now starting from scratch learns that true meaning of hard work, friendship and love.

Lucia Giannetti and her wonderful life turned into a disaster. A hotel manager at a fancy NYC hotel, she lived in a beautiful apartment within the complex and had fallen in love with the owner of the hotel. Then one day the owner of said hotel disappears and along with him are the pensions of all the employees and much more, leaving Lucy to pick up the pieces and unfortunately, heartbroken, being looked at as his accomplice, and also jobless.

After fighting for her reputation, having no money and living with her parents at the age of 50, Lucy is approached to manage a hotel in France. It is a hotel in a small town called Hotel Paradis. She arrives with sugar plums dancing in her head. Unfortunately, what she finds is a pretty dilapidated hotel with a group of eccentrics living there who are employees of sorts and quite the cast of characters! The rooms need painting and beds, and she is now responsible for not only fixing up the rooms, but establishing a website, with pictures!

The owner, Claudine, who speaks no English believes Lucy is the lifeline to the hotel’s future, while the other employees see her packing her bags and fleeing! With little money, Lucy and the gang must pull together and be as creative as possible to figure out ways to improve the interior and exterior of a rundown flophouse.

But as Lucy starts to envision what could possibly be a gorgeous, cozy hotel and as she enlists the help of the workers who are beginning to accept her as a friend, one in particular who makes her blush, she soon begins to see a boost in her confidence and begins to believe she can succeed.

But her happiness and success are interrupted by a devastating event back in the States and leaves Lucy trying to figure out where her home and her heart truly belong.

Lucy Checks In is an unforgettable, feel-good story with loveable characters and powerful messages for anyone who has ever been down on their luck.

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sGriffin #DeeErnst #LucyChecksIn for the advanced copy.

What happens when your past begins to haunt your present and you begin to make questionable choices which could change your future forever?

American psychologist Naomi Chandler whose specialty is domestic abuse now lives in London with her husband Leon. She has a soft spot for all her clients, always giving a little more than she should. She herself was a victim of trauma witnessing her father killing her mother.

According to Leon, she has a tendency to give too much of herself to her clients, taking what she feels they need from her a little too far. He has always told her that someday it will get her into trouble. Even as she continues to tell him no such thing could happen; she has kept a few secrets from him which could be a disaster in the making.

When one of her clients, a man named Jacob, who has been continually abused by his wife for years and has cigarette burns on his arms and bruises to prove it, decides he can’t take the mistreatment anymore and wants to leave but is afraid she will find him and kill him, Naomi takes it upon herself to set him up at a cottage her husband owns which is secluded and no one could find him. Of course, she keeps telling herself she must tell Leon, but knows he will disapprove.

Jacob begins to feel free and clear of his wife and Naomi is pleased with her decision. But then as she prepares for their next session, she can’t find his file. She absolutely knows she locked it up, but as she searches her office and house, she can’t find it. She fears somehow his wife broke into her office and took the file and now knows where Jacob is staying.

Her fear comes to fruition as Jacob makes a frantic call to her one evening saying his wife has called and he is scared for his life. Against her better judgement, she meets Jacob at the bar at the hotel she told him to go to. She finds him drunk and scared and tries to settle him down.

At the same time Jacob seems to be hitting a wall, another client, Anna, whose relationship with her husband has turned violent due to his drinking because they lost a child years ago and she blames him for what happened, has decided she needs to take her children and leave because she doesn’t feel safe anymore. Naomi again makes a contentious decision and tells her she can stay at her house until they get her settled into a shelter.

Then Jacob misses his next appointment and Naomi fears the worst. She goes to the cottage where he is staying but he is not there. Then she gets a shocking visit from the police. Jacob’s wife has filed a missing person report and all the evidence seems to point to Naomi and Jacob having an affair. She is now the prime suspect in his disappearance!

Her world begins to implode as all the evidence points to her, and with Leon wanting to take a break and Jacob still missing, she can’t believe she has done this to her life. As she sadly reminisces about her mother, wishing she could talk to her one last time so she could help her, she begins to find inconsistencies in the clues. Is someone trying to frame her? But still, no one is willing to believe anything she has to say. Everyone seems to want to blame Naomi for this situation and no one wants to believe she would never harm anyone. Has she taken her kindness to clients too far? Will she end up in jail? Or will whoever seems to want to destroy her, kill her before she can figure out why this is happening.

The Blame Game is another slam dunk from Sandie Jones! An amazing quick paced psychological thriller with a “wow”! ending which will both shock and satisfy at the same time.

Thank you #NetGalley #MinotaurBooks #TheBlameGame #SandieJones for the advanced copy.

Megan Goldin’s latest novel will not disappoint! This darkly intense novel has so many twists and turns in it that my head was spinning!

Liv Reese wakes up in the back of a cab on her way home. She and her roommate Amy, a doctor, live incredibly crazy lives. When she arrives, she realizes she does not have her key. Although she hates to do it, she begins to bang on the door to wake Amy to let her in. But to her shock and confusion, a stranger answers the door and tells her Amy does not live there.

Her confusion deepens when she tries to find her phone to call her boyfriend Marco and she can’t find it. How could Amy not live there? She just saw her. Then she looks down at her hands and sees writing on them. She has written STAY AWAKE and DON’T CALL THE POLICE. She also sees TRUST NOBODY. Panicking she digs into her coat pocket and discovers to her horror a bloody knife wrapped in a t-shirt. What has happened to her? Did she witness a stabbing?

As we flashback to two years prior, which in her confusion Liv believes is now, we discover Liv was an up-and-coming writer for a popular magazine. She and her roommate Amy were very close, and she had just started dating someone new named Marco. The last thing Amy can remember is falling asleep on the subway on her way to work.

So, with that information she goes back to her office hoping someone there will be able to fill her in on the missing hours. But what she finds is they are all shocked to even see her. She can’t understand why. While there she sees a breaking news story on television. Someone has been murdered and a message was left on the window at the murder scene: STAY AWAKE.

She looks down at her hand and realizes she has done something terrible. But she can’t remember what. And to make matters worse she discovers that IF she falls asleep, she awakes with no memory of what has occurred and seems to revert back to her last train ride. With limited memory, Liv must somehow try and piece together her past and present and what happened to her and why she is unable to remember.

Stay Awake is a fast-paced terrifying thriller with ingenious plot turns and shocking discoveries which will keep the reader in suspense. Once you start this incredibly creative story, you won’t be able to put the book down, so just STAY AWAKE and finish it as fast as you can!

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #MeganGoldin #Stay Awake for the advanced copy.

Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress of the Post Cereal conglomerate was a brilliantly strong woman way ahead of her time with her ideas which launched so many incredible businesses from frozen food, building Mar a Lago, opening soup kitchens for the homeless and using her yacht to transport medicine during wartime. She was also the first woman to ever sit on a board of directors.

Although she was a trail blazer, who amassed an incredible fortune which was first started by her father, someone she adored, but in the end caused her incredible pain and anguish, there was one thing she was never good at and that was love and marriage. Be it her incredible power or her money, for some reason the men she picked to fall in love with were in the end unable to deal with her mastery. They were never capable of handling her status, so they drank too much or cheated on her. She tried and failed four times, to marry with each failing for different reasons, something which would haunt her forever.

But even with the many marriages, one to a diplomat who was sent to Russia, a cold and barren place, Marjorie was still able to make lemons out of lemonade and make the most of their time there and entertain and make everyone fall in love with them and the United States. A lover of all jewelry, especially trinkets with gems, large gems, she was able to amass a fortune of everything Faberge and would end up with quite the collection.

But some happiness came out of her marriages. She had three girls whom she adored! They were absolutely her proudest achievements! And they adored her as well and learned from her how to be strong and assertive in a man’s world.

Her incredible life was a true rag to riches story but so much more. She never took for granted what she had and real happiness for Marjorie was when she was able to share her wealth or help someone. It will most certainly amaze the reader what comforts we all have today thanks to Marjorie’s incredible imagination and her stubbornness to never take no for an answer! Although she may have been unlucky in love, she was a triumph in business and loved by many for her philanthropy.

Mr. Perfect on Paper is a wonderful, lighthearted funny story from author Jean Meltzer, author of The Matzah Ball.

CEO of a Jewish dating app, (J-Mate) and third generation family matchmaker, Dana Rabinowitz knows her love skills. She is a confident woman with incredibly amazing business ideas. She can match two Jewish customers with her eyes closed. As for her own love life…meh! She is afraid to swipe right for her own love life! You see Dana suffers from Generalized Anxiety Disorder and is afraid of well, just about everything. All fears lead to dying!

So, when her team convinces her and her Bubbe, (grandmother) to go on a television show called Good News New York to promote their new app, she is not convinced she can do it, but she is comforted knowing her Bubbe will be there with her. She is also a bit uncomfortable because she has a bit of a crush on the anchor who will be interviewing them, Christopher Steadfast, but him being non-Jewish puts him out of the running as far as Dana is concerned.

Christopher Steadfast is a widow with a young daughter who moved to New York after his wife died. Trying to juggle a career and being both a mother and father to his daughter has made his life a bit hard. But he is so grateful to have her as a memory of the love he had for his late wife.

Unfortunately, things do not go as planned during the interview. Somehow Bubbe seems to take over the talking and produces an actual list Dana had written after a few drinks awhile back which is titled Mr. Perfect on Paper with all the “ingredients” for a perfect Jewish husband. Dana is horrified! But the audience loves it!

With the uptick in ratings from the episode, Chris convinces Dana to do a few more shows in which they try and set her up with her Mr. Perfect on Paper. She meets blind dates which the show has vetted, and they film her on the date.

This is when the true hilarity ensues!

As Dana and Chris begin to spend more time together due to some unfortunate yet funny events, Dana can’t help herself from thinking she could fall hard for him if only he were Jewish. He’s just not perfect on paper. But when Dana seems to meet “the one” who is perfect, she must decide what to do. Chris, who has feelings for Dana can’t do anything to help the situation. It must be up to Dana. She must ponder the question is true love based on what’s written down, or what’s written in the heart.

Mr. Perfect on Paper is funny, entertaining and believe it or not very educational for those who don’t know much about Jewish traditions and sayings. How much did I enjoy this story? It’s Perfect!

Thank you #NetGalley #Mira #JeanMeltzer #PerfectonPaper for the advanced copy.

As this intensely twisted heart pounding story begins, we find Sutton (Saffy) Cutler and her boyfriend Tom who have just moved into Saffy’s grandmother Rose’s cottage. It was a place neither she nor her mother Lorna knew Rose even owned until she was put into a home for dementia, and they went through her possessions. Purchased years ago, Rose would apparently rent it out. Why did she never tell anyone of its existence?

When they moved in, Saffy and Tom decided to make a few renovations inside and out as they just had found out Saffy was pregnant. All was going well until the workmen discovered what looked like skeletal remains in the garden. Shocked, Saffy calls the police and her mother who is at the moment living in Spain with her younger boyfriend.

When the results of the bones come back as actual human remains, two to be exact, and they both are considered to be homicides, the police begin an investigation and Lorna returns to England to try and assist Saffy and figure out how this could possibly have happened. It certainly could have nothing to do with Rose who they found out lived in the small town with Lorna only for a short time many years ago when Lorna was about two, a period in Lorna’s life of which she has very little memory.

Rose has very confusing answers as to who lived there years ago. And as Saffy and Lorna try to investigate on their own with the tidbits they are able to make sense of, the police are interested in speaking to Rose as a person of interest when they discover the name of one of the dead seems to have disappeared around the time Rose may have been staying at the cottage, the other body still unidentified. If she had been involved, how on earth could she have kept that a secret for so many years? Could something be buried deep in her subconscious, and she just can’t remember anymore?

As Saffy and Lorna begin to make progress, there is someone out there who does not want them to continue. Lorna is accosted and threatened that if she does not find the information which is hidden in the house and get it to him Saffy will pay. And then the house is broken into and although nothing was taken, it’s very clear the person was looking for something. But What? Who is watching them? Could Rose, this sweet woman who would do anything for her family be a killer? And is so why?

But believe it or not this is only one part of this incredible story, which with the sub-plots as it all comes together makes for a scandalously delicious ending! Buckle up readers! You are in for quite the ride!

Thank you #NetGalley #HarperPaperbacks #ClaireDouglas #TheCoupleAtNumber9 for the advanced copy.

For all of us who thought the wonderfully funny Class Mom series by Laurie Gelman had ended with book 3, oh boy were we happily wrong! In the latest installment, Smells Like Tween Spirit, Jen Dixon is back and as hysterical as ever!

In book 4 we find Jen has left her Class Mom days behind as her young son Max heads off to Middle School, only to find out he has decided to join the wrestling team! Jen decides to join the Mat Moms, a group of women whose sons are on the team and do fundraisers and their stinky laundry. So, as she becomes acquainted with the Pioneer Middle School wrestling moms, (PMS for short) and yes, they DO have t-shirts! she must begin the old get to know their personalities routine feeling out the other moms to find out who the fun ones are and who are the villains.

As if she needs anymore to do now that she is teaching spin classes with a cult following, babysitting her granddaughter, taking care of her aging parents, with her father sinking deeper into dementia, trying to mediate her two daughters’ drama with each other as they try and open a business together and a low libido which has her making excuses to her kind of understanding husband. She even develops a stalker! Well, sort of.

Jen takes us through her holiday seasons which begins with a Halloween party at their house for the wrestlers. Nothing could go wrong there! And a quiet Christmas as her two daughters go elsewhere. It’s then that Jen realizes her life might begin to get much quieter than she really wants!

But Jen is also faced with a sadness she and her readers hoped would never come. But in the real world, this sub-plot is all too painful and is written with perfection causing the reader perhaps a few tears.

With that said, all I can say is Jen Dixon is alive and well and continues to make the readers who love her laugh through her emails and snarky foot in mouth dialogue! Welcome back Jen and thank you Laurie Gelman!

Thank you #NetGalley #HenryHolt&Co. #LaurieGelman #SmellsLikeTweenSpirit for the advanced copy.

When push comes to shove, a mother’s love for her child is endless. Their happiness is your happiness, their pain, your pain. No one should ever take what a mother won’t do for their child for granted.

Rose O’Connell has lived a rather rough life. Her father was a con man who scammed people, even his friends for his entire life. Rose, who had no mother was endlessly bullied as a child as many knew of her father’s schemes. But when her dear friend Jacq introduced her to her brother Pete and they fell in love she was sure her luck would change. And when their son Charlie was born, he became the light of her life.

Money has always been a bit of a struggle, but they have been making ends meet with Rose working for a bank and Pete being a plumber. But when Rose sees a new elite school right across the street from them where her own old school sat which is called Woolf Academy, she gets it in her mind that Charlie should go there no matter what. At the interview she meets Amala Kaur, the wealthy leader of a group of women known as The Circle who seem to be able to exert great power at the institute. Rose knows her chances of Charlie being accepted are slim, but he is accepted! And when one of The Circle women tragically dies, Amala asks her to take her place, although the other Circle women don’t believe Rose meets their standards.

Amala assures Rose that tuition would not be a problem as there are many ways she would be able to work within The Circle to make the money. At first, Rose becomes giddy with power. As the other mother’s look at her differently, as she begins to dress differently when not in her bank uniform, as she and Pete are able to eat at a fancy restaurant and are invited to powerful fundraisers, she is blinded by the materialism.

But when things begin to take a different turn and Amala begins to ask her to perhaps not be as honest as she should, it begins to affect her relationship Amala, with Pete and even Charlie who at first seemed to be having a difficult time adjusting to the school. She feels over her head and is unable to find a way out of the situations she is being put in. As she begins to discover the hidden Circle secrets, she feels the price she has to pay is not worth what she has been given. But it could be too late for her to leave. It seems she has been conned. And now her family is paying the price.

The more Rose goes against Amala, the more terrifying the stakes become for her family. But nothing will stop her from protecting those she loves, no matter what. Especially a mother who has been scorned and their child who is now being manipulated.

Such a Good Mother is an incredible psychological thriller which takes the reader along Rose’s ride of sadness for never being accepted, to Rose’s newfound strength as she fights for those she loves and will not stop until her family is whole again. With a satisfyingly twisty ending you don’t see coming!

Thank you #NetGalley #RandomHouse #SuchaGoodMother #HelenMonksTakhar for the advanced copy.