Month: July 2023

The Block Party starts off with a bang, literally! This can’t put down novel begins with the end, so to speak and is riveting throughout the telling of the previous year’s issues and what led up to what we know are gunshots at the annual block party. But by who?

As we become invested in the lives of the families who live on the affluent cul-de-sac, with all their hidden secrets, lies and undisclosed problems, the anticipation of the ending is a continuous mystery which the reader tries to keep solving. What on earth happened at the annual block party?

Although the families all seem to know each other and get along, there is a breakdown in relationships and friendships as the year progresses. The families include:

Alex, Nick and their teenage daughter Lattie. Alex works as a marriage litigator, Nick a businessman and Lattie has recently been suspended from high school because of an incident in which someone she thought was a friend squealed on her. From the outside, the perfect family, except Alex’s drinking is out of control, Nick knows it and gives Alex an ultimatum. Lattie whose former best friend lives on the street dumped her for a new set of friends and in the process made her the laughingstock of the school. She wants revenge.

Alex’s sister Emily and Ken her husband also live on the cul-de-sac. Emily is a realtor. They have two boys Logan in college, the apple of his father’s eye and Dylan, in high school. Dylan dates his cousin Lottie’s former best friend, Riley. Ken unfortunately had a wandering eye years ago and through much counseling they worked out the issues. But Emily thinks it could be happening again.

Willow and Evan are in the process of getting divorced but are still living together on the cul-de-sac because of their high school aged daughter, Riley. Because of all her parent’s fighting she truly wishes one of them would move out. But Riley has dumped all her friends for new ones some not so nice and one in particular much older than her.

The Kumar family have just moved in. Samir is a psychiatrist and Mandy a psychologist. Their son Jay is twenty and still lives with them. He does not go to college, is working on an app and is quite the computer expert. It seems he can break into any kind of technology.

Finally, there is Brook who is a widow. Her husband fell off a cruise ship on vacation. But the gossip mill continually gives theories as to what really happened. She has no children and what she does for a living is not really known.

Oh yes, there is Bug Man who pops in and out of the cul-de-sac. Let’s just leave it at that!

And finally, there is the Meadowbrook On-Line Community Page which comments real time on what the mysterious sounds were coming from the block party.

As secrets are revealed, assumptions sometimes incorrect and with anxiety increasing on the street some of the relationships begin to crack during the year leading up to the annual party. Quite frankly something happening should be no surprise.

The Block Party is the perfect beach read with salacious gossip, sex, drugs, mystery and shocking revelations which will drive the reader crazy until the end.

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #TheBlockParty #JamieDay for the advanced copy.

In Nina George’s previous book, The Little Paris Bookshop, a beautiful story about a man who decides to open a bookstore which is on a boat and floats to the towns along its route and all the interesting characters that are met on its journey. The premise of the story was that the main character had read a story about a gifted girl, and suddenly got the idea for his floating bookstore.

Well, now Nina George has written the book which inspired the floating bookstore in the previous story. The Little Village of Book Lovers is the tale which the main character read, and it is magically beautiful, the writing poetic, the plot enchanting, imaginative and heartwarming.

The tale begins when a little baby is suddenly orphaned as fate would have it. Her name, Marie Jeanne. This was during the 1960’s in a small town in France. She is watched over by love and fate. When she is discovered by a worker named Francis, he and his wife Elsa decide to raise her. They know somehow, she is special. Unbeknownst to them as Marie Jeanne begins to grow, she somehow is able to see people’s glows. She doesn’t yet understand why. And for some reason, she herself does not glow.

Then her foster father has the idea to create a mobile library which travels by van throughout the area. Elsa has her concerns as Francis mortgages everything they own to make this happen. As Marie Jeanne begins to grow up, and travel with Francis in the mobile library which soon becomes popular, she realizes what her talent is to be used for. She is somehow able to match people’s glows by how they look and what they read.

The older she gets, the more she sees how she is able to make people happy as she matches them, and their enjoyment as how books play such an important role. But Marie Jeanne is unable to find her own soulmate it seems. She has never seen a glow from anyone for her. But she accepts her fate on love and just relishes what she is able to accomplish.

But as she knows, fate and love are her friends. They’ve taken care of her all her life. She wonders…if she asks, will they grant her the ability to find her own soulmate? It’s then that love and fate who adore Marie Jeanne must make a decision. But how can they let her go?

The Little Village of Book Lovers is a wonderful story filled with extraordinarily imaginative characters all who feel they must somehow accept loneliness for the rest of their lives, but through the magic of a young girl and books their destiny is changed.

Thank you #NetGalley #RandomHouse/BallentineBooks #NinaGeorge #TheLittleVillageofBookLovers for the advanced copy.

The Guest Room is an exciting psychological thriller with unexpected twists in which the reader may not actually know who the real villain could be. The plot sends you down a rabbit hole of mystery and suspense as you try and put the pieces together of why a young woman was murdered and if her sister may be having some sort of breakdown trying to find the answers.

When Tess’s sister Rosie is found murdered, her life is turned upside down. Forget the fact that Rosie had been leaving her messages to call her and Tess had been too busy, but she also finds out that Rosie had been having some sort of breakdown at the time. So, with all this guilt, blaming herself for not being a good sister, it is now Tess’s mission to find out what really happened. Even though the police have no suspects, Tess does.

After the murder, Tess moves into the apartment Rosie, an upcoming artist owned. Unable to make ends meet she decides to rent out the extra bedroom to travelers and visitors on a short-term basis. But with everything going on with the death, Tess has developed a habit. She snoops in their room just to make sure the has not rented the to a psychopath! She must say she does enjoy looking through their things, trying to figure out who they are and what makes them tick.

At night though, Tess roams the area where Rosie was killed. She tries to find clues or perhaps lure the killer out. She tries to imagine just what happened to Rosie and why. She feels the police, who she hounds daily, has put her sister’s case on the backburner. She feels it is up to her to find out what really took place.

But when a new tenant arrives, Aaran, a very handsome, very kind man arrives to stay in the guest room, Tess becomes curious as to his life. When she does her snooping into his backpack, she finds a diary he is in the process of writing, In the diary he seems to have a secret obsession with a woman. He follows her and imagines his life with her. Tess becomes all consumed with the diary and Aaran.

As her preoccupation with finding out exactly who the woman her tenant seems to be stalking is, she herself becomes obsessed with Aaran. She begins to see this man in a different light. So, she begins to stalk him, but also fall for him.

Then in the blink of an eye Tess’s world which was cracking, completely falls apart as she discovers Aaron’s obsession and thinks she’s found her sister’s killer. As Tess seems to lose all sense of reality, the shocking ending will make this rollercoaster ride worth every minute! Who is really living in the guest room?

Thank you #NetGalley #HenryHoltandCo #TashaSylva #TheGuestRoom for the advanced copy.

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels has what I like to call the Janice Hallett unique plot. How her mind works is amazing! It has all the components of her previous books including the unusual writing form, this one is in email, phone, message and transcription form. It leads the reader through the intricate details of the suspenseful storyline only to surprise them with an extraordinary ending.

This story revolves around a religious cult back in 2003 called the Alperton Angels, named after the town they lived. The cult included teenagers, a baby, its leader and followers. Back then in the basement of a warehouse four bodies were found. It was ruled a mass suicide of the cult. Gabriel the leader was found guilty of murder and put away for life. The teenagers Holly and Jacob and the baby (which the cult believed to be the anti-Christ) disappeared and have not been heard from since the night of the massacre.

It is now eighteen years since the incident and the mysterious baby would be of legal age. Crime writer Amanda Bailey has a new idea for a book. She informs her publisher she would like to look into the old case and try and find out what happened to Holly and Jacob, but more importantly what ever happened to the baby. Although a few books have been written about the cult and the incidents which occurred in the warehouse, no one at least to Amanda’s knowledge has tried to find the baby.

But she is in for a shock. Her publisher comes back to her and says it’s a great idea but another writer, Oliver Menzies is working on a story with another publisher, so if they share notes it could work. Amanda unfortunately knows Oliver from years ago and doesn’t really think very highly of him but, if that’s the only way to research the story, she’ll suck up her feelings and go with it.

So, Amanda, Oliver and Ellie Cooper (the transcriber of all the interviews) begin their search. But what they soon find is those involved in the case all those years ago have very different memories of what happened. They also find some of the people closely associated with the investigation at the time or those who were investigating the investigation have died. Some it seems by accident.

As Amanda and Oliver try to one up each other on what information they have been finding out (or hiding from the other) Oliver begins to have a bit of a breakdown of sorts after his prison visit to interview the mysterious cult leader, Gabriel. But neither can find any information on the baby. All this leads to more questions than answers.

Then Amanda catches a break and finds she is close to perhaps finding the baby. But the closer she gets, the more danger she believes she’s in. With Oliver hot on her trail, she needs to be the first to break this wide open. Who is this mysterious baby once accused of being the anti-Christ? How are Holly and Jacob really involved in what happened all those years ago. Will WE ever find out what happened!

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels is another Hallett truimph in both imagination and suspense. It will hook you from the beginning, reel you in and throw you back so fast your head will spin. And you will love every minute!

The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels will be out in America in January 2024. You can preorder a copy as of today.

How Can I Help You is an intense thriller in which dysfunctional derangement is on full display! The story has psychological terror which immediately grabs the reader and takes them on an anxiety-ridden ride of shock and alarm.

Margo loves her job as a library assistant in a small town. She fits right in with her co-workers. She has favorite customers, and she enjoys the routine of her life. But Margo is not her real name. You see her real name is Jane, a former nurse who fled the hospital and city she once worked because thanks to another nurse who she thought was her friend, turned her in because she was killing patients.

But she fooled them all! With the change of hair style and color Jane became Margo two years ago quite nicely. She enjoys knowing something no one else does. She does reminisce about the good old days and sometimes at night even relives her conquests, alone, of course. But, during the day, she puts on a happy smile and is a confident, kind employee.

Until…a new librarian named Patricia is hired. Patricia reminds her of her former friend who squealed on her. Margo can’t seem to get Patricia out of her mind. She becomes obsessed with watching Patricia and wondering what she is thinking. She notices Patricia writing all the time in a notebook and can’t imagine what she could be jotting down.

As for Patricia, she left her fiancée and moved to start a new life. Her hopes of a writing career dashed when the novel she had written was turned down by everybody. So, she’s done with that and decided to try her hand at being a librarian. But being one in a small town in not exactly what she imagined. It’s a great deal of answering phone calls about foolish things such as can you give me the number of the nearest sub shop or where can I get a skirt tailored. Not exactly what she thought she’d be doing.

And Margo catches Patricia’s eye. She can’t figure her out. She seems lovely, but sometimes she sees as she bends down to patrons and whispers to them. They seem to get nervous. What could she be saying? Fascinated, she begins to write down her thoughts on Margo. The more she writes, the more she needs to know about Margo’s life.

Something in Margo changes with Patricia there. An urge she thought she had under control. Then someone dies suddenly in the bathroom and Patricia sees Margo over the body, which begins what seems to be a horrible game between the two women.

As Margo begins to spin out of control, quite noticeably to her boss and the other workers, Patricia creates a scenario of Margo, what she thinks she might be up to. But all this seems to excel the cat and mouse game they both are playing with each other.

The only question…who will win the game? Which one will survive?

The story told by the viewpoints of both Margo and Patricia is a fascinating take on dysfunctional behavior, the justification and the thoughts which go along with logic of their deeds and actions.

How Can I Help You will play with your mind in this deeply sinister story with an even eviler ending.

Thank you #NetGalley #G.P.Putnam’sSons #HowCanIHelpYou #LauraSims for the advanced copy.

Hello Stanger is absolutely, adorably brilliant! With a very creative story, witty banter between the characters, romance, family dysfunction and heartbreak it makes for a wonderfully warm-hearted uplifting read!

The premise is Sadie Montgomery, a portrait artist just as her late mother was has just been selected as a finalist in the North American Portrait Society competition. Just as her mother had been! This she thinks, will finally get her father, an acclaimed doctor to finally recognize she made the correct choice when she decided to not go to medical school, something he has yet to forgive her for. Considering he has basically shunned her since her decision and seems to want to have nothing to do with her. He only dotes on his second wife Lucinda and her daughter Parker, otherwise known as the evil stepmother and evil stepsister as there has always been conflict between them, especially Parker who bullied her so much in high school she ended up getting expelled. Could this make him proud?

So, to celebrate she and her best friend Sue Kim and her dog Peanut are going to have a little party at her illegal apartment in the building of Sue’s father. She goes to the corner store to pick up a few items, wine, dog treats and flowers which were her mother’s favorites to include her in the celebration. The next thing she remembers is waking up in the hospital!

It’s discovered Sadie has a brain issue which needs to be corrected as soon as possible, but with the competition coming up she wants to postpone the surgery. But her father convinces her to do it as soon as possible. But after the surgery she discovers that she has something called face blindness where facial features look like blocks rather than faces. They believe this is being caused by the brain swelling after the surgery. Hopefully it will disappear as the swelling goes away. HOPEFULLY?? She has to compete in a portrait contest in a few short weeks and can’t see faces. How will that work?

As she begins her life trying to use the tools the doctor gave her to help recognize people, but absolutely not telling them about her brain issue, she is just grateful that a nice man with glasses and scruffy hair who wears a jacket with the name Joe lives in her building. Although she wanted to be independent, she realizes she does need some help. And Sadie loves she always knows who he is by that jacket!

But when Peanut gets sick and has to go to the vet, that’s where she sees (or attempts to see) the man she is going to marry! He has what looks like slicked back hair and a beautiful voice! And he asks her out on a date!

But the day of their coffee date he never shows, and never texts to apologize. How could her possible husband be that inconsiderate? Although she still has the hots for the vet, Joe seems to be stepping up in her life by helping her by posing for a portrait which Sadie has no way of knowing is good or bad.

As things heat up with Joe, the competition gets closer and she has no idea what her entry looks like and her evil stepsister tries to intervene in her life just as she did when they were young, she must make some decisions. Is the vet worth the wait or is Joe the one. Should she still be an artist when she can’t even see what she’s doing. What would her mother have done? What advice would she have given her.

As decisions are made Sadie sees her life in a different light. She begins to understand what had been motivating her before her issue and quite frankly she does not like what she sees.

And then the night of the competition takes place, and the chaos really begins!

Hello Stranger is uniquely wonderfully different in the best refreshing way possible. It has heart, soul and a beautiful story! Katherine Center’s books continue to amaze me as they seem to get better and better!

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #HelloStranger #KatherineCenter for the advanced copy.

In Thicker Than Water, Megan Collins finds another way to keep us in suspense. In this psychological thriller, we are met with a seemingly loving family who work well together, love each other and would do anything for each other. But would they really? In the blink of an eye, that can change, and their lives shattered.

Julia and Sienna Larkin are sisters-in-law. Julia is married to Sienna’s brother Jason. But ever since Julia and Sienna met years ago, they knew they were more than just friends. They were true soulmates. They have been there for each other during the good, the bad and the ugly, their bond unbreakable.

Until Jason’s boss is found murdered in his apartment with his mouth sewn shut and days later Jason is in a car accident and put into a coma. As the police begin to find evidence which perhaps links him to the killing, Julia and Sienna’s relationship begins to crack as they both look at the situation differently.

As the two women think they know Jason well enough that he would never hurt a fly, let alone kill someone, and as they start to find out answers themselves as the police are not releasing any information, they find perhaps they really didn’t know him as well as they thought. But the problem, both see the information they find in two different ways for different reasons.

Sienna idolizes her brother. He has come to her defense so many times and protected her. She will not believe he could do harm to another. He is always there for everyone. Julia on the other hand married Jason because she was pregnant. Even though her mother had always told her never trust a man. But during their years of marriage, they did seem happy. And Jason was always helping out others, even if sometimes she perhaps needed him to be with her. But when Julia discovers a secret Jason kept from her, it begins to fracture her belief in him, much to Sienna’s dismay.

So as the women fight for their loved one, Sienna tries to find another suspect. Julia just wants to wait and find out what Jason has to say when they wake him up. And this causes a rift the women never saw coming.

With the forensic information pointing to it being Jason who killed his boss, and with the medical team ready to wake Jason up, how will each take whatever he is going to tell them. Will their friendship survive whatever this person who they thought they knew tells them?

Thicker Than Water is a story about relationships, dysfunction, with a mystery to be solved and information which could possibly break what was considered a truly solid loving family. Is blood thicker than water? Only way to find out is to read this engaging, fascinating story!

Thank you #NetGalley #AtriaBooks #ThickerThanWater #MeganCollins for the advanced copy.

I know what you need! You need to read this epic page turner! I Know What You Did is a thriller with an unknown antagonist who you will continue to think you know but will be shocked to discover! Not only will it keep you guessing it will keep you reading!

Petal Woznewski, who likes to be called Petta is from Wisconsin but lives in New York City. A movie fanatic she and her friend with benefits, Gus have a great arrangement. Just what Petta needs. Her past is filled with death. So much death for a young girl. All she needs is to keep her mind on other things and not remember. Until Gus tells her about this book everybody is reading called No One Suspected. It’s about a high school girl’s death in Wisconsin which was ruled a suicide, but the story goes into detail as to how it was really a murder. Not really Petta’s kind of read until he tells her one of the main characters has her name. Petal Woznewski. Not a very common name. Chills run down her spine. How could anyone know what happened to her when she was in high school? Why would someone write this story? It must be someone from her past, but the only other person who knew the truth would never tell what happened that terrible night.

You see, she was best friends with two girls in high school, Megan and Jenny. Three peas in a pod, or so she thought. Until Megan dies and they rule it a suicide. But Petta and Jenny know what really happened and neither of them would ever tell. But it seems the author of the novel the mysterious ME Littleton thinks they know, and now so does the world!

Petta tries to find information on this author but is unable to get anything on them, even if it’s a man or a woman. So, she does what she never imagined ever doing in her entire life. She heads back to the scene of all her anxieties, Madison, Wisconsin to try and get information. Unfortunately for Petta that’s exactly what someone wanted her to do.

As she reads the book, she discovers inaccuracies, but some parts are too close for comfort. She knows she was not at fault for her friend’s death. But a pact is a pact, and she can’t betray what really happened. There is someone out there who wants to see her pay for the death of Megan. She begins being followed; clues are left for her as if she is on some kind of a scavenger hunt. The more she tries to discover who this is the deeper she falls into this terrible hole she has tried so hard to leave behind. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more she realizes her life is in danger. Who wants Petta dead? Why?

I Know What You did is a brain workout as you try to put the pieces of the puzzle together and root for Petta to save herself! Of course, the endgame is spectacular!

Thank you #NetGalley #CrookedLaneBooks #CayceOsborne #IKnowWhatYouDid for the advanced copy.

Burn The Negative is a spine chilling, Mommie Dearest, can’t put down book which will leave the reader exhausted, it’s that good! It’s horror, mystery, dysfunctional family all rolled into one juicy, scary story!

Laura Warren is a magazine journalist who is given the assignment of a lifetime! They are remaking a 1990’s cult classic movie called The Guesthouse and she has flown to Los Angeles to interview the cast and crew. But, unbeknownst to everyone, not only is Laura not happy about the assignment, but she has a personal connection to the previous movie. You see, she was in fact the child in the original movie which had a cult following due to the fact that many of the cast and crew have died. Whether those who died were just unlucky, or there was some sort of curse on the film, no one ever really knew.

Acting as a child was never really Laura’s thing. It was her mothers. Those years were intolerable for Laura. She still has flashbacks of the verbal and physical abuse she endured at the hands of the woman who was supposed to love her. So, she changed her name, her appearance and tried to put her past behind her. Until now.

As she arrives in LA, her anxiety at a high level, she is greeted by the image of a man jumping off a bridge. Is this some kind of omen? You see, she still has dreams about the main character in the film, Needle Man who continues to haunt her even after all these years, as does the deaths of people she knew and cared about.

And now her nightmare has taken center stage as she steps onto the new set, witnesses someone who is playing her character, although they have updated the film in some ways. There is of course a new crew, actors, a new Needle Man and they even brought in a psychic for some strange reason.

But within a day, the bodies begin to stack up and she swears she has an encounter with her worst nightmare, Needle Man. Then her hotel room is trashed, and she becomes the prime suspect in the deaths which are happening. So, with the help of her sister Amy and the psychic, Beverly they begin to try and track down who or what is going on.

Unfortunately, what they discover is that the connection between the two movies and the murders is one person…Laura! As they try and find clues, it seems someone is always a step ahead of them. Needle Man. Who is he? What does he want with Laura?

Burn The Negative will have you glued to your chair! It’s everything a reader wishes for in an exciting horror story, but with so much more! The ending? Needle(ss) to say…perfection!

Thank you #NetGalley #G.P.Putnam’sSons #BurnTheNegative #JoshWinning for the advanced copy.

Andy Cohen certainly had to grow up and FAST in this comical continuation of his diary series! With one toddler, Ben, he seemed to be able to handle most of his many jobs and friends and parties, but when his second child Lucy was born via surrogate, making two children under 3, on top of building his dream house in the Hamptons, renovating his apartment, working on his Watch What Happens Live show, Sirius Radio show, hosting New Year’s Eve on CNN with bestie Anderson Cooper, and dealing with temperamental housewives, well, I’m exhausted from just writing the above!

It was his year of reflection, informing the reader he realized he had overshared in his previous diary and promised his friends he would do better. This, I was not too happy about, but he does sometimes give clues as to whose name he is NOT dropping. He also begins to understand that being a single parent, even with all the help he has can be exhausting. Being a single gay dad with a son in preschool can also be a bit lonely.

The diary is a day by day of his non-stop life. His days include Teresa drama, The Housewives of Beverly Hills reunion drama, buying a toddler bed for Ben who takes full advantage of not being in a crib anymore and Cohen trying (begging) him to please stay in his room when he wakes up! And planning a Thanksgiving dinner in which his mother feels is more a party for his friends.

He relents about his parents, especially his mother and how no matter what he does she’s not happy. He tells a very funny story about getting his father a winter coat, which his father is perplexed at, and Andy having to tell him it’s because you live in St. Louis and it’s cold in the winter? But he also knows they are proud of him as they all gather to see him get his star on The Walk of Fame in Hollywood.

The name droppings are everything! We have SJP of course, Amy Sedaris, John Hickey, Anderson Cooper and John Mayer. So many more! Some who drop in for “night nightcaps” which is a thing in his world, but perhaps not in too many other places?

How he juggles it all is amazingly exhausting! But organized. Although he still goes out sometimes after shooting Watch What Happens, it is not as regular, and he certainly cannot stay out very late. Especially with Ben in that stupid toddler bed!

He charts for us his progress, and failures at trying to lose the extra weight he put on during Covid because he’s too cheap to go buy new clothes! And by the way, his favorite food is French Onion Soup which makes an appearance sometimes more than some celebrities!

But all in all, for anyone who enjoys Andy Cohen and I do find him very funny in the I think of him as a friend in my head kind of way, you will certainly enjoy his latest amusing, sarcastic, embarrassing and warm stories.