Lisa's Cubby

The Good Part is a tender, heartwarming story, which is both funny and touching at the same time. It will pull at your heartstrings as you ponder the question, if in life you could, would you want to move past the hard work in life and jump to the good part?

Lucy Young is a struggling senior television producer who lives in a dilapidated, run-down apartment with water issues, with her best friend and other careless, inconsiderate roommates. She has no money and is barely acknowledged by her boss. She is miserable.

To make matters worse, this morning as she wakes up to a wet bed because water is pouring down into her room, she discovers on the way to work that her best friend has decided to move out offering to have her come with her and she will cover part of her rent. But Lucy is too proud to take her up on the offer. Even more depressed, she spends her day at a job in which she is so capable of but never given a chance and after work goes on a date which turns out to be an absolute disaster.

As she stumbles home, she sees an old woman standing near a machine machine. She tells her to make a wish but be careful what you wish for! Lucy thinks this is silly, but she puts the coin in the machine. Her wish? To jump ahead to the good part of her life, in which she is not struggling anymore.

The next day, she awakens in a beautiful bedroom next to the most handsome man she has ever seen. And she herself is older! In the other room, she hears a baby crying and when she gets up, she discovers a young boy. She has no idea what has happened. The only thing she can remember is putting the coin in the machine. Her past life is a mystery.

After trying to hide her secret, and her son knowing something is wrong and deciding she is an alien in his mother’s body, she confesses to her whom she now knows is her husband that she can’t remember her life. And as Lucy discovers what her life has become, she now can’t help but wonder how she became the person she is now.

As she tries to adjust to her new reality with her business partner thinking she’s going through menopause and watching her parents who have of course aged and seeing who they have become, she starts to discover pieces of her life, some good and some heartbreaking which have occurred over the years.

And as she begins to fall in love with this man and her children, she must decide…should she try and find a way back to the past? Or stay here not ever feeling the true emotions when she is told about incidents in her life which are only stories to her, with no memory of the feelings which had occurred. And if she goes back, is there a guarantee she gets the same future? Will she even remember her beautiful family?

The Good Part is wonderfully written and thought out. You will certainly laugh at the antics Lucy gets herself into, but your heart will break as you learn and she herself learns no life is ever perfect and no matter the bad, there truly are good parts all along the journey.

Thank you #NetGalley #G.P.Putnam’sSons # SophieCousens #TheGoodPart for the advanced copy.

Thinly Veiled is a funny, romantic romp with a bit of crime interwoven into the story as a group of new friends try to figure out a plan to stop a blackmail scheme, while a blossoming romance prevents someone from admitting to a shady past as they fall in love.

Claire Branson has moved to Salem, Viginia in hopes of putting her past life to rest. Growing up was a difficult process for her made worse by a mother she now realizes she never really knew. Yes, her past is a bit sketchy, but with the help of her best friend Zoey, who in some ways is her protector and guardian angel, she hopes to start a new chapter in her life and quite frankly to stay away from men.

Until…she meets a bartender, Luke Turner. When he finds out Claire is looking for a job, he hires her as a bartender. And that’s when the crazy ride begins. She comfortably flirts with him thinking he could never be interested, but as fate would have it, she’s wrong. Now, she must decide what to tell her new “friend” about her past bad habits. She is torn because she feels this could be something real.

But unfortunately, all good things must have a glitch to them and someone from Claire’s past has found her and has threatened to expose her if she does not help him get out of a sticky jam. She realizes she has no choice but to help him, so she comes clean to Luke, the only person who has really made her feel safe. And he’s not happy.

But her new quirky friends ban together and decide on a plan to help Claire so she won’t end up doing jail time, but when things begin to go terribly wrong, Claire finds jail is the least of her problems, she may just lose her life!

Thinly Veiled is filled with humor, sex, terrific characters and an exciting plot.

Thank you #ElizaModiste #ThinlyVeiled for sending me your book.

With the storytelling perfection, we have been used to by Viola Shipman, comes another extraordinarily, magical Christmas story, The Wishing Bridge, which is about yes, a bridge you walk on, but also about those life bridges we have to cross, those decisions we have to make and sometimes regret and those relationships of past loves, which including family we try to mend. It’s about how some dreams realized in life, perhaps fulfilled, may not be one’s true calling. But how do we know?

Henri, (short for Henrietta) Wegner knows she’s about to lose her job, a job she has cultivated and grown for years. She’s put her whole heart and soul into finding small businesses and making them sell to larger corporations. And she has been great at it. But not this year. So, when her boss begins his speech informing her of his decision, she blurts out that if he gives her until after Christmas, she would be able to give him her family’s business back in Michigan on a silver platter.

Henri’s family owns Frankenmuth, a famous year-round Christmas store which puts out a one-of-a-kind holiday catalogue every child dreams about. Based in Michigan, it was her father’s dream years ago and he was able to see it through and watch it grow. So of course, her greedy boss agrees and gives her only days to close the deal.

But you see, Henri has not been back to her small town in Michigan for years. Perhaps too many memories or perhaps too many ghosts. So, when she surprises her family and friends with a visit just before Christmas, they are excited, yet concerned, her brother suspicious. Why is she here? Henri guiltily begins her examination of the family business and working at the store to get a feel on how things are going. And she finds they are not going well. Her dad seems to be stuck in a time warp and does not want to move into the new century. She sees the waste of money and how tired and stressed her parents seem. She knows she could convince them to sell, but now she questions if she really wants that.

On top of all this guilt, she must face the love of her life whose marriage proposal she turned down all those years ago because she wanted to make a name for herself in business. She also knows if she is able to persuade her parents to sell, so many people will be devastated. Those who have come to rely on this magical store for generations. And as she relives some of her most favorite past memories of the importance of the store and the holiday season in her life, she begins to change in so many ways.

But with time running out and her boss growing angrier for not getting what he wants, she must make a life-changing choice. What is more important. The career she has nurtured all of her adult life, or the family and friends she ran away from. Can you ever really come home?

The Wishing Bridge is a beautiful story with delicate plot twists. It’s that life-balance we all feel at one time or another; am I on the right path, have I done what I need to do, who am I doing this for? It’s about emotional reunions, difficult choices, and touching memories of family both present and past, and finding the forgiveness inside yourself to truly open your heart and love.

VIOLA SHIPMAN is the pen name for internationally bestselling LGBTQIA author Wade Rouse. Wade is the author of fifteen books, which have been translated into 21 languages and sold over a million copies around the world. Wade writes under his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, to honor the working poor Ozarks seamstress whose sacrifices changed his family’s life and whose memory inspires his fiction. Wade’s books have been selected multiple times as Must-Reads by NBC’s Today Show, Michigan Notable Books of the Year and Indie Next Picks. He lives in Michigan and California, and hosts Wine & Words with Wade, A Literary Happy Hour, every Thursday.

Author Website 

Twitter: @Viola_Shipman

Facebook: Author Viola Shipman

Instagram: @Viola_Shipman

Goodreads

“A beautifully written story about second chances. Fans of women’s fiction won’t be able to put this down.” –Publishers Weekly on The Secret of Snow

“Viola Shipman knows relationships. The Clover Girls will sometimes make you smile and other times cry, but like a true friendship, it is a novel you will forever savor and treasure.” –Mary Alice Monroe, New York Times bestselling author

“The perfect winter warmer!” –USA TODAY bestselling author Sarah Morgan on The Secret of Snow

Thank you #NetGalley #GraydonHouse #TheWishingBridge #ViolaShipman for the advanced copy and the honor of being included in the blog tour. You can buy the book now at the links below:

HarperCollins: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-wishing-bridge-viola-shipman?variant=41011395461154 

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-wishing-bridge-viola-shipman/1142950495 

BookShop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-christmas-bridge-original-viola-shipman/19612178 

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1525804863/keywords=holiday%20books?tag=harpercollinsus-20 

What Happens on Vacation is a very funny, sentimental love story which you will read with a smile on your face and a tear in your eyes. With its part love/hate, letting go and mourning loss plot, it immediately grabs you and takes you on a very exotic journey.

Margaret is a very well-respected serious journalist who writes stories which impact lives and countries. With that said, her life is extremely inflexible. You know what time of day it is just by what Margaret is doing. A cup of tea? Oh, it’s eleven o’clock.

You see, this year has not been a standout year for her. She is still mourning the loss of her father who died after a short, surprising illness. She was also divorced after finding out her husband was cheating on her, and she now is living with her mother.

For someone who does not like change this has been very challenging. Even more so, she now has a cubical mate named Jaggar Villain no less and she does not like him at all. He seems to believe it is his job in life to torture and tease her. Although very handsome, she looks down on his form of “journalism” as he tackles really difficult stories, such as how to find a girlfriend on Tinder or, is a dyed checkerboard hairdo really worth the money? For some reason no matter what he says or does it bothers her to the core.

So, when they both compete in the annual workplace trivia contest in which the prize is a trip to the beautiful Zanzibar, a game Margaret has consistently won, she is shocked when he gives her a run for her money and ties for the win. She is even more upset when it is decided the two of them should share the trip!

Now, she has to go on vacation with someone she does not particularly like! And of course, nothing goes as planned. Margaret decides to take her mother and Jagger who she thought would certainly take a model, takes his father. And when those two lock eyes, well, enough said. Her luggage is lost so she must wear her mother’s bathing suits.

The trip turns from bad to worse when she is unable to sleep in her own hotel room because, well, let’s just not go there! She ends up having to room with Jagger. Of course, the two begin to get to know each other better and she discovers he’s not THAT bad. And just as they are getting closer, their parents make an unfortunate announcement!

So of course, Margaret is back to her old self, unwilling to see the good, only the bad and begins to sabotage herself and Jagger. Now, they must go home having done unimaginable things and try to work together. How can they do that? With Margaret being unbending, as well as still reeling from what has just happened and the rest of her life this past year, how does she move forward?

What Happens on Vacation is a delicious tale of love on so many levels, with so many moving parts, with a plot filled with regret, loss, learning to compromise but most importantly letting go and learning to love again.

Thank you #NetGalley #WbyWattpadBooks #JoWatson #WhatHappensonVacation for the advanced copy.

The One That Got Away is a beautiful love story about missed opportunities, misunderstandings, but also about never losing that first connection when you fall in love. It’s about growing apart, finding oneself and growing stronger. But most importantly, its realizing that the simplicity of life with those you love and care about is what really creates happiness.

The story begins on a Saturday in April of 2022 when Clara, a journalist hears about a bombing at a stadium. She suddenly realizes her old boyfriend, Benjamin, who was truly the love of her life but due to circumstances they drifted apart. Always a season ticket holder to the Saturday soccer games which are played there she is concerned about him. But this was over twenty years ago. Would he still have those tickets? Could he have been in the stadium and was he hurt?

Clara has been married to her husband Thom, a jeweler for years, but continues to be restless in her marriage, deep down knowing she had made a mistake when she married. But Clara can’t admit aloud exactly what she feels deep in her heart. She has always known she should have been with Benjamin but due to a horrible event it was never meant to happen. Clara and Benjamin’s relationship was always tumultuous with her never truly being able to trust, him and his obsession with soccer and drinking did not help either.

So Clara decides she must travel to the city where the stadium is and find out if not only Benjamin was there, but if he is still alive. She lies to Thom and says she’s going out with a friend. While we learn about Clara’s life with Benjamin and what happened to their relationship throughout the years, in separate chapters we learn about Benjamin and his past life leading up to this fateful day. He has had a difficult life since he has last seen Clara, but throughout it all he has never forgotten her.

As they both relive their journey from their first meeting, which coincidentally occurred at the stadium, their love and heartbreak and trauma with Clara never understanding why Benjamin didn’t go after what he really wanted in life and Benjamin always feeling if only Clara could have a little bit more faith in herself things would have gone better.

What they both really want is to find peace, within themselves and with each other. But is it possibly too late?

The One That Got Away is a touching story of first love and first heartache of losing part of your soul and fighting hard to get it back. It’s understanding that sometimes the ordinariness of a life with someone you love gives much more happiness than a massive ring on a finger which may look beautiful but means nothing.

Thank you #St.MartinsPress #TheOneThatGotAway #CharlotteRixon for sending me the free copy #SMPRomance.

The Intern is a page turning nail biter with a mysterious cat and mouse plotline in which the reader has no idea who the actual protagonist is. The story is expertly crafted and clever as all of Campbell’s books are and filled with shocks and suprises.

Harvard Law student Madison Rivera has worked hard to achieve her goals. Having come from a dysfunctional, poor family with her brother facing prison time for drug charges, all she really wants is to help save him and give her mother the peace she deserves.

So, when one of her professors, a highly respected judge who Madison has looked up to for years, Judge Kathryn Connoy asks her to intern in her law office as a law clerk because she suddenly has an opening, she jumps at the chance. But quickly, Madison discovers there could be a problem. The judge is overseeing her brother’s court case. And her brother insists he’s being framed and the judge in the case is in on it. So, Madison must make a decision and decides to lie to the judge and tell her she is an only child so she can truly investigate the claims.

But they are both keeping secrets. Kathryn has not told Madison that she is being manipulated by a mob because of the information she has about a murder many years ago. Kathryn’s well-connected family will not let her go and threaten her constantly.

As Madison discovers some of the judge’s secrets, she unfortunately becomes a target in this who should we believe thriller which is part murder mystery and part suspenseful crime story.

With both of them holding back from each other, and the FBI breathing down Kathryn’s back and goons trying to manipulate Madison, the stakes are even higher. And then Madison discovers Kathryn’s last secret.

Now they have to trust each other or die together! What has Madison gotten herself into?

The Intern will have you on the edge of your seat, questioning everything you are learning and every character you are meeting. What a ride!

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #TheIntern #MicheleCampbell for the advanced copy.

One Puzzling Afternoon is a wonderfully, sensitive, beautifully told story in which the main character, Edie, in the early stages of dementia tries to remember something she knows was very important which happened to her best friend Lucy back in 1951. This riveting read which flashes back to that mysterious day, and what led up to it, to the present day which in this case is 2018, follows Edie’s desperate journey as she tries to put the pieces of the puzzle together as to what happened to Lucy before her crumbling memory makes it impossible.

As 84-year-old Edie walks down the street, she suddenly sees a young girl who looks exactly like her best friend from when they were teenagers. She knows it’s her! But her best friend Lucy would be the same age as Edie, so she is confused. But that sighting sets Edie on an incredibly difficult adventure.

Edie realizes she knows something about Lucy which no one else knows. But for the life of her she can’t remember what it is. Lucy disappeared one afternoon back in 1951 and was never seen again. There were so many theories on what happened to her, but Edie for some reason feels they are all wrong.

So, Edie tells her family about Lucy, although she knows she’s confused while explaining the story. Her family feels Edie is just confused as she has just been diagnosed with dementia and is forgetting quite a great deal. So much so she can’t really live alone anymore, and they are selling her house and buying one so she can live with them.

Growing up in 1951 Edie was a teased teenage girl with no friends whose father had died and whose mother did the best she could to make money. She worked as a psychic with Edie’s help and that was frowned upon back in the day. And then when her mother remarried, Edie’s life was made even more miserable by this overbearing man who had such distain for her.

And then for some reason Lucy Theddle, a popular, beautiful, rich girl became her friend…and her world changed! They were inseparable and told each other all their secrets. Well Lucy told Edie. And then something happened. And Lucy was just gone.

And now it’s up to Edie to figure out what happened that day. She remembers parts, but not all and what she remembers is jumbled. One thing for sure, she knows she promised Lucy she would never tell. But what was it she was not supposed to tell? What does Edie know?

For Edie, she knows it’s a race against time to figure this out and without the support of her family she just hopes she’ll be able to do this for Lucy before all is forgotten.

One Puzzling Afternoon is a unique story which looks at what happens when someone’s brain begins to fail them, and the despair of their family as they try and navigate a situation which will never get better, only worse.

Thank you #NetGalley #Sourcebooks/Landmark #OnePuzzingAfternoon #EmilyCritchley for the advanced copy.

Peter Swanson’s novella, The Christmas Guest is an outstanding, nerve racking, frightening story with an amazing plot, twists and turns and an unbelievable chilling ending. Trust me, it’s a far cry from The Night Before Christmas!

American student, Ashley Smith is in London doing a junior year abroad. It’s coming up to Christmas, a difficult time for Ashley as she has no family, her mother dying years ago. She is used to spending the holiday alone, something she has gotten quite use to. Until this year when an English student, Emma Chapman asks her if she would like to come and stay at her family’s house for the week and celebrate Christmas with her, her parents and her brother Adam.

Ashley can’t believe her luck! Emma lives in Cotswold manor! What a luxury it will be for her to be pampered for once during the holiday season! She is so excited to find out what an English Christmas will be like. In her excitement she decides to buy a diary and document her stay which she can’t help but think will be the best week of her life!

But, as Ashely soon discovers, life at Cotswold manor is not what she imagined. It’s frightfully cold inside the house, she is left on her own quite a bit, Emma’s father is mean and unkind, and her mother, very meek. The only saving grace is Emma’s brother Adam who is not only handsome but funny and easy to talk to. Although she would never say the words out loud, she has a terrible crush on him!

There has also been a strange death in this cozy village. A young girl was murdered recently, and the killer has not been found. At one point Emma’s brother Adam had even been suspected on the crime, but he had a solid alibi. Now, Ashley has seen a terrifying stranger walking out of the woods and thinks she may have actually seen the killer!

As we follow the story through Ashley’s eyes and witness the dark path the story goes down and how its terribly horrendous turn, it will give the reader not only goosebumps but a shock at the stunning conclusion.

The Christmas Guest is another brilliant, imaginative Peter Swanson story, and even though it is short, it pacts that horrifying punch his readers are so use to and do look forward to. Merry Christmas?

Thank you #NetGalley #WilliamMorrow #PeterSwanson #TheChristmasGuest for the advanced copy.

The September Read with Jenna pick, Amazing Grace Adams is a wonderful, funny, well-written, empathetic story about a woman who has reached her breaking point, with her daughter, her husband, her work and everyone she encounters on that fateful day in which everything that can go wrong, does. The relatable story is filled with emotions everyone can relate to, anger, embarrassment, mistakes and a love so deep and desperate you would do anything to try and fix it and make it better. It’s about never being able to come back from loss, but at least trying to live and deal with the sadness openly. It’s about the good, the bad and the ugly of life and finally saying enough is enough.

Grace Adams is having a very, very bad day. She’s stuck in traffic trying to get to a bakery across town so she can pick up a 16th birthday cake for her daughter Lotte who does not want to have anything to do with her anymore, let alone see her.

So, feeling she has no choice, she gets out of her car, leaving it in the traffic and begins the long walk to find the bakery and make it to a birthday party which she is not wanted at. As she tries to maneuver through the different and difficult moments getting to the bakery, she begins to relive her life and assess what she has done right and wrong. At 45, and being perimenopausal, sweating at the drop of a hat, she relives what has led up to her husband wanting a divorce, her daughter moving out to live with her father and being fired all because she can’t seem to open her mouth. She can’t explain her feelings, so she just shoves them deeper and deeper into a vault she has never opened before.

As her life during the walk explodes around her and as she explodes on everyone she unfortunately encounters, Grace realizes she has become a person she does not know or understand. How and why did her life take such horrible twists and turns.

But by the time she finally makes it to the bakery to get the cake and brings it to Lotte’s birthday party, a party she was told NOT to attend, she is a new Grace, determined to make up for the mistakes she felt she has made , to love more deeply especially to love herself and try to be the woman she knows she wants to be, not the person who everyone around her wants her to be.

Amazing Grace Adams will make you smile, tear up but also make you realize how human everyone really is and make you admire Grace Adams for what she was able to do during that long difficult day, and perhaps we all could learn from her how to react when we make mistakes, or when we don’t speak out mind. She teaches us that no matter what you need to pull yourself up, experience the feelings, learn from them and grow. This is peace…

Courtesy of HOLT Social Media, here are some cute mobile backgrounds for your phone to fit the fun mood this book brings out, along with a delicious cake recipe!

Thank you #NetGalley #HenryHoltandCo #FranLittewood #TheAmazingGraceAdams for the advanced copy.

The follow-up to Shepherd’s eerie story, Malice House is filled with even more extraordinary monsters and bogeymen and an exceptionally horrifying story in which reality versus frightening villains created at an old movie studio.

As her father’s monsters in which he wrote, created and then they came to life are still lurking in all corners of the world, Haven, his daughter, a monster herself, who also has the power to draw creatures and her step-sister Kylie who has the power to write the stories are on the hunt to find their relatives who can hopefully explain to them why this happened and how to stop the killing.

They flee to Hollywood, where Haven’s former mysterious boss who use to send her horror movies from the deep dark web to review lives. There they begin to understand there was a horror film company from the early 1950’s whose logo seems to mysteriously appear on some of the dead bodies. One an actress from the era.

As they begin to get closer to finding out who her relatives are, all roads seem to point to her Uncle Arthur, a crazy monster her father created. He is wreaking havoc on not only her but is trying to kill all of her relatives so he can live forever.

But unbeknownst to them, monsters from these old movies mysteriously draw Haven and Kylie to them. But why? It’s now up to the two women to figure out how to stop these crazy monsters who seem to have so much power. Or they will all die.

Midnight Showing is filled with creative monsters both from the past and the present, an intriguing imaginative story you won’t want to stop reading, which includes a main character who herself is one of them. One thing is for sure, they must figure out how to kill Uncle Arthur and the dead movie monsters before they take over the world!

Excited to see where Haven and Kylie’s journey take them next!

Thank you #NetGalley #HyperionAvenue #MidnightShowing #MeganShepherd for the advanced copy.