Month: June 2023

Pamela Kelley’s novel The Bookshop by the Bay not only is a wonderful testament to friendship, family, friends, love and books, but quite the homage to the other character lurking in the background of the beautiful story…Cape Cod! Kelley gets everything right about why not only Chatham, MA is so glorious, but Cape Cod in general!

Alison works as a magazine writer in Chatham. But unfortunately, because everything seems to be going online, they have lost subscribers and need to downsize the office. Alison has been saved this round, but realizes her days are numbered. She is divorced but her best friend is her ex-husband, Chris. They have a daughter Julia who owns a jewelry shop in Chatham and is beginning to become known. Although she seems content with her life, she realizes that she needs to figure out a new path.

Jess is Alison’s childhood best friend. She is an attorney at her husband’s family’s law firm in Charleston. She has always gone to visit Alison for a few weeks in the summer but has missed the last few years. When her marriage is shockingly turned into turmoil and her daughter Caitlin loses her job as well as her boyfriend all in the same day, she knows they need to get away to somewhere they can both decompress and relax.

They decide to head to Chatham for a month to see her mother and Alison. She needs to sort her life out and needs the comfort of family and friends as she tries to make the most difficult decisions of her life.

And that’s the beginning of when all their lives start to change.

Alison discovers the local owner of the Chatham bookstore, a staple in her life since she was a child is being sold, she decides she must somehow save it. And when Jess agrees, they become business partners in the endeavor. But trying to sustain a bookstore, while still working part-time and coming up with creative ideas on how to make money and get people excited to come into the shop is not easy. But with the help of their family and friends they begin to actually succeed in getting patrons excited.

As the summer season starts to wind down and Jess knows she must go back to Charlston and salvage that part of her life, she can’t help but question where she truly belongs. Coming back to Cape Cod has given her a gift she never asked for…peace.

Filled with interesting relatable characters, imaginative picturesque scenery and a wonderful storyline, The Bookshop by the Bay will have you not only eating up (pun intended) this delicious story but wishing to book a trip to this charming seaside town. Long live The Lobster Pot!

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPressGriffin #TheBookshopbytheBay #PamelaKelley for the advanced copy.

This story is Phaedra Patrick at her best! With a lovely, heartwarming story, characters you fall in love with and imagery you need to see in real life, you won’t be able to put the book down! It takes the reader down the rabbit hole of what happens when you lose your identity because it has always been attached to someone else. What happens when your perfect marriage is not so perfect anymore. What happens when you begin to think about yourself rather than everyone else?

Ginny Splinter seems to have it all. A popular self-help radio host who is adored by her fans, always giving solid advice, a husband, Adrien who she adores who she’s been married to for almost twenty-five years, and a daughter, Phoebe, the light of their lives who is planning her own wedding, what more could one person ask for? And Ginny has a surprise for her husband. She has booked a romantic Italian getaway at a little hotel to celebrate their anniversary. So, as she is on air excitedly waiting to go home and tell him, she is shocked when a caller, Miss Peach asks her how well she knows her husband. She adds she should be cautious of him. This must be some prank.

But Ginny’s fairytale turns into a horrible nightmare when she confronts Adrien, and he tells her he doesn’t want to be married anymore. He says he needs his space. She tells him about the trip, and he says to cancel, but unfortunately, she can’t. Although Ginny seems to be good at giving advice when it comes to herself, she’s a mess.

So, with Adrien out of the picture and her going to Italy alone, she decides to use her radio show and ask her listeners if anyone is heartbroken call in for a chance to go on a free trip to Italy.

With that she finds four people who begin a journey with her which will change all their lives forever. Eric is quiet and in mourning for the loss of his dog. Heather can’t accept the fact that she is losing her mother. Enda, the oldest has lost both her daughter and husband and is at a crossroads in her life. Curtis, well they can’t figure out why he’s even here.

But first they must check into this little quaint Italian hotel run by a father and his teenage daughter, which seems to be stuck in year’s past. Unlike bigger hotels, it is very simple. But it has beautiful ambiance, and the group enjoys not only the relaxed atmosphere, but their hosts. Unfortunately, they all don’t really expect much. But what seems to happen is they begin to open up to each other, try things they would never have done before, listen and begin to fall in love with each other, their surroundings and most important, themselves.

Ginny finds herself growing stronger by the day and looking at her life and her husband differently. She never imagined a life without Adrien, but now although she still loves him sees her life could be different. With trips to Venice and Florence and the beauty they are surrounded by, who could not change! They all seem to find solace in this little Italian Hotel and each other.

The story is filled with love, friendship, hope, heartbreak and moving forward. The messages are empowering as these strangers who become family find a new strength to take their next steps and begin life anew.

Have some tissues handy because this truly is a story you will never want to forget and never want to end.

Thank you #NetGalley #ParkRow #PhaedraPatrick #TheLittleItalianHotel for the advanced copy.

Ghost At The Table is a poignant, wonderful read filled with mystery and intrigue with decades long family secrets as well as multiple love stories which span eras.

Sam is a writer who has decided to write a story based on her grandfather’s time as a bomber serving in an air crew during World War 2. He was named Ralph George Page and was killed in action with several others when the plane they were flying in was shot down in a small town in France. She knew the story well, listening to her grandmother tell it as well as her mother. But, as she begins to go through her late grandmother’s correspondence, she can’t help but ask some questions. Although life after her grandfather died was difficult, her grandmother was able to find love again and her mother Rosemary and her aunt Sylivia were well taken care of.

So, Sam, who is having relationship issues with her married boyfriend of years, decides this would be the best time to not only get away from him, but also travel with her best friend Lizzie to the place where the tragedy happened, poke around, see where her grandfather is buried and find out if anybody is still alive who witnessed the crash to give her a description of just what happened.

But when Sam meets someone who witnessed the accident, she begins to have more questions than answers. A father and daughter saw the wreckage. Although the daughter Victoria had passed, her husband Raoul is still alive but refuses to speak with her to give her details of what his wife had seen.

The deeper Sam delves into the mystery, the less sure she is she truly wants to find the answers. She discovers her grandmother had been keeping secrets and although she seems to have all of her correspondence, it looks as if some are missing. Why?

In the meantime, she discovers her grandmother was not the only one keeping secrets as she finds out her boyfriend had a few himself which rattle’s Sam’s soul. How could she have been so stupid?

Then, all the pieces come together, and Sam finds out the truth as to what really happened to her grandfather. She can’t seem to write it down, to the angst of her editor because she realizes the can of worms which will open when her family finds out. But, although she knows all their lives will be changed forever, she needs them to know just who this mysterious dead person their family has cherished and missed all these years really was and that they should still be proud of him as he still sits at the head of their table.

Ghost At The Table is a love story, a mystery with many surprises and a powerful reminder of what our military endured and still endures as they keep us safe from harm.

Thank you #NetGalley #Matador #GhostAtTheTable #SandyJones for the advanced copy.