Month: May 2026

The Time Hop Coffee Shop by Phaedra Patrick

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The Time Hop Coffee Shop is an uplifting dare I say magical, imaginative story! For those of us who wonder or perhaps wish their lives could be different or they had made other decisions years ago, a character actually gets that chance. What if we could get go back? Would we take it? This wonderful novel will give you a glimpse at someone who gets the chance in this truly delightful novel!

Gerta Perks is an actress a bit past her prime. Her whole family including her teenage daughter are famous for their Maple Gold coffee commercials which actually chronicled their lives together. But for years there have been no family commercials and Gerta’s acting career has faltered. Her daughter who Gerta knows is a good actress will have nothing to do with the industry and that seems to be what the two of them fight about each day. And her husband, who still gets worked has moved out of their house so they can make the decision whether to stay married or not. In other words, her life is falling apart.

One day as Gerta once again has failed at her attempt to get her career started again, she finds a flyer on a sidewalk with a bunny logo. It’s directions to a coffee shop she has never heard of. She ends up going. As the owner explains she blends special brews for each client, you drink the coffee and make a wish.

Gerta decides to make the wish that life go back to being simple again when they were just a happy family living together and enjoying each other. Just like the time years ago when they were making Maple Gold commercials.

And just like that, she wakes up in a town called Mapleville where it is always sunny, everyone is friendly and everyone is happy. Oh, and everyone drinks a lot of coffee! As she begins to enjoy her time in Mapleville and to make friends, she hates the fact that she must go back to her reality.

Gerta wants to stay in Mapleville but realizes it’s not her life, but someone else’s. When she gets back to her real life, things seem to be getting worse. More fighting with her daughter and she feels her husband slipping further away.

Now she is given one more chance. Should she stay in Mapleville or stay and fight for the family she is barely hanging on to?

The Time Hop Coffee Shop is an exceptional read with so many lessons to be learned all the while rooting for a family who seems to be coming apart at the seams. There is also an incredible mystery element which I certainly did not see coming!

Park Row

The Time Hop Coffee Shop: A Novel – A Charming Magical Realism Story of Second Chances and New Beginnings: Patrick, Phaedra: 9780778310907: Amazon.com: Books

The Time Hop Coffee Shop by Phaedra Patrick | Goodreads

The Kindness of Strangers by Emma Garman

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The Kindness of Strangers is a very unique psychological thriller. The story, filled with dark secrets and perfectly imperfect characters takes the reader on an incredible journey as this group of boarders must somehow keep secrets and protect each other all while each of their lives seems to be falling apart. But when the skeletons in the closet begin to appear, no one is safe.

One night a man knocks on the door of Honor Wilson’s home which is also a boarding house. She pales when she sees Jimmy Sullivan standing there. Why? But she informs the other boarders he will be moving into the house.

The boarders, Robbie, a writer, separated from his wife, Saul, an older man who is a poet whose wife and daughter were killed, Mina, a seventeen-year-old who works very hard and wants to somehow become someone, and George, who comes from wealthy parents and is a female model among other things. They have lived side by side but hardly knew each other very well.

Until Jimmy Sullivan seems to insert himself into all their lives. And then they must act.

This story is juicy and filled with twists and turns and surprises no one could ever imagine. And when the police become involved that will be the glue the boarders will need to keep them together forever.

The Kindness of Strangers has heart-palpitating scenes, horrible revelations, but through it all a group of strangers become family in the only way they are able to protect each other and survive.

Thank you #NetGalley #S&S/SummitBooks #EmmaGarman #TheKindnessofStrangers for the advanced copy.

Amazon.com: The Kindness of Strangers: A Novel: 9781668222546: Garman, Emma: Books

The Kindness of Strangers | Goodreads

Take Me with You by Steven Rowley

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Take Me with You is such a beautiful story about how sometimes spouses, siblings and family can get lost in all the minutia life throws at them and forget that once upon a time before life became difficult, it was the strength of leaning on those who we love which can somehow help solve any problems. But sometimes it just might take a problem out of this world to put life back into perspective.

Jesse is a college professor and Norman an architect. Married, they met and fell in love over thirty years ago. Norman is a bit older than Jesse. Married and living in Joshua Tree they seem to have gotten into a rut. Both are bored, snippy and a bit sarcastic towards each other. And Jesse is now beginning to feel Norman’s age from all those years ago.

And then Norman leaves.

In the most peculiar way. One night Jesse wakes up to find Norman in the backyard staring up at a bright light. Jesse yells to Norman to not go. But Norman looks back at Jesse and goes into the light leaving Jesse alone.

Bewildered and knowing he can’t tell anyone what he saw as they would put him in a hospital, he must now handle all the responsibility in their lives as he waits and hopes for Norman’s return. In the meantime, Norman’s sister Lally a flight attendant comes around not only looking for Norman, but also to ask them for a favor. As Jesse tries to hide the fact that Norman is clearly nowhere to be found, he begins to become angrier at Norman for going to…well he doesn’t know.

Jesse begins to change while he waits for Norman’s (hopeful) return. He becomes friends with their neighbor who lives in a camper, gets close to the students in his class and in his own way begins to search for answers as to where and why Norman left. Oh, and he begins to dig up his backyard.

As time goes by and chaos ensues Jesse misses Norman but realizes life must go on. And so, it does until the inevitable happens. What is it that happens? Well, you must read this extraordinary story, Take Me with You to discover how sometimes the secrets to happiness and love and forgiving may be closer than a light year away.

Thank you #NetGalley #GPPutnam’sSons #StevenRowley #TakeMewithYou for the advanced copy.

Amazon.com: Take Me with You: 9780593851494: Rowley, Steven: Books

Edit Review – Take Me With You | Goodreads

The Shippers by Katherine Center

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Katherine Center has gone overboard with her latest romance novel, The Shippers. Wildly funny, sensitive and adorably swoony this is a beach read like no other. You will want to devour this satisfying feel-good story.

It’s JoJo Burton’s wedding day. It is unfortunately not the wedding of her dreams as it was taken over by her fiancé’s mother. Even the wedding dress she is wearing and seems to be allergic to was his mother’s. She suddenly sees her best friend from childhood Connor standing in the back. First, he had RSVP’d no to the wedding and second thank goodness he’s here!

Connor left JoJo four years ago without even saying goodbye to move to London and she has not heard from him since even though she tried to get in touch with him at the beginning. But, he’s here now and she needs advice. He happily gives her tips on how to stop a wedding.

Then he disappears… again.

Flashforward to her sister’s wedding weeks later on a cruise ship no less, where after discussing JoJo’s first kiss ever with a boy named Finn, at the age of six, her sister convinces her that’s why she can’t find her true love. Because she’s comparing everyone to her first kiss. So now, they have hatched a plan that while on the wedding cruise to work very hard to get JoJo and Finn together.

Then Connor shows up for this wedding cruise! He is adamant JoJo stay away from Finn. But she soon convinces him to come on board with the plan. He agrees but thinks this is a terrible idea and something is bound to go wrong. JoJo’s response…what could ever go wrong?

Needless to say, hilarity ensues as well as heartwarming discussions, life lessons, people hooking up left and right, and of course, misunderstandings.

The Shippers will keep you smiling so much that your face will hurt. It’s quite the tangled web, but so moving and lovely and cheerful! Take a chance and dive into this charming novel!

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

The Shippers: A Novel: Center, Katherine: 9781250408051: Amazon.com: Books

It Will Only Hurt for a Moment by Delilah S. Dawson

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It Will Only Hurt for a Moment is a can’t put down thriller with many twists and turns. Part psychological drama, part mysterious history the story will come together with an explosive ending no one will see coming. What starts out as a story about a woman trying to reclaim her life after she leaves her boyfriend, turns into some being fascinatingly eerie and ghostly.

Sarah Carpenter is on the run. She’s finally gotten the courage to leave her abusive boyfriend. With a mother who could care less about her and friends her boyfriend made sure she distanced herself from, Sarah has no one to help her. But she discovers an artist retreat called Tranquil Falls in Georgia. A pottery maker by trade until he met her boyfriend, she decides this would be the best place for her since he would never be able to find her. With no cell service, and deep in the woods, she will be able to not only hide for the next weeks but get her creative juices flowing again. Until she opens the door to her cottage and discovers a dead possum on the bed!

Although there is an old 1900’s dilapidated hotel on grounds, that is the one place no one is allowed. So strict are the owners of the retreat if found breaking this rule you must immediately leave. Of course, this piques all the artist’s interest, especially the photographer who has enrolled.

She, of course is not the only resident at the retreat. There is a young boy who is a musician, a calligrapher, a maker of stained-glass artifacts, a sculptor and a metalsmith. What an incredibly diverse group. Sarah can’t wait for them to all get to know each other. But it seems they are all carrying some kind of baggage.

But it is only when Sarah discovers a century old casket with a dead woman inside deep in the woods that it seems all their worlds begin to change. Sarah begins to find nails from the coffin in strange places. And she thinks the dead woman could be associated with the hotel.

After the discovery, strange occurrences begin to happen. Sarah begins to have vivid dreams at night, and the main character is a woman who seems to be trapped in some sort of institute. The young musician is found sleepwalking in the hotel where he seems to be endlessly playing the piano. One by one the artists seem to become affected.

Sarah along with Ingrid the photographer decides to break the rules and visit the hotel. The hotel is not very tranquil at all but seems dark and evil. What is going on at this artist colony? What happened at the hotel? And who is this woman who keeps visiting Sarah while she sleeps.

It Will Only Hurt for a Moment is an intense haunting story which will have you reading well into the night, (if you dare), as somehow the past merges with the present and no one is safe from the wrath and/or anger which seems to have bubbled up to the surface.

Thank you #NetGalley #DelRay #DelilahS.Dawson #ItWillOnlyHurtforaMoment for the advanced copy.

Amazon.com: It Will Only Hurt for a Moment: A Novel: 9780593156674: Dawson, Delilah S.: Books

Edit Review – It Will Only Hurt for a Moment | Goodreads

The Island Club by Nicola Harrison

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Put your tennis gear on and enter the poshest social club in the 1950’s, The Island Club. The story will not disappoint and the characters lovingly damaged. With a feel of “back in day” the story revolves around three women whose lives begin to fall apart in very different ways. One, in her marriage, one in her wealth status and the last an embarrassing secret she has kept for decades which is about to be exposed. And the gossip…oh my goodness!

The Island Club is the place to be and be seen on Balboa Island in California. It’s all about the status. Anyone who is anyone is a member. There is pool life, dinner life and even tennis life played mostly by men. But of course, everyone wants to know everyone’s business! People go there to play tennis, swim, eat and learn all the chatter!

So, when Milly Kinkaid began to feel her marriage slipping away, she decided the family needed to move away from Hollywood where her husband worked and where all the beautiful women there seduced them. She honestly thought Balboa Island would fix all their problems. But unfortunately, her husband Lloyd still was staying in Hollywood, and she was now in Balboa Island alone with their two young children. So, she decides on her own, something very unlike any woman of the time, to sign the family up as members of The Island Club. She also decides to take tennis lessons. Lloyd is not happy.

Sylvia Johnson and her husband Walter own the fancy, enviable Island Club. The Club does well and with their investments they have more money than they know what to do with. They are the envy of all the members as well as residence on Balboa Island. Until something happens which not only puts their lifestyle into jeopardy, but also their life savings. As their lives begin to fall apart Sylvia knows she must step up and figure out what in the world to do before they lose the Club.

Resident of Balboa Island, Adele Lambert just wants to be left alone. Her past a humiliation she has never recovered from she moved to Balboa to disappear. She rarely goes out, only to her small job, or to her garden and she will sometimes hit a tennis ball in her backyard at the dilapidated unoccupied house next to hers. Suddenly Adele finds herself in a new position but with that position comes the possibility of her past and present merging. And then her worst nightmare comes true.

Three women from different walks of life with very different problems begin to become friends. With that friendship a bond is formed. With that friendship each are given strength and courage they never in their wildest dreams thought they would ever have. They also work together to help each other and become a power to reckon with.

Enter The Island Club at your own risk and you will discover an amazing story, not only of a particular lifestyle, but deep dark secrets with many twists and turns and three women you will begin to root for as they try and make better lives for themselves and their families, they love dearly.

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #NicolaHarrison #TheIslandClub for the advanced copy.

Amazon.com: The Island Club: A Novel: 9781250277404: Harrison, Nicola: Books