Lisa's Cubby

The Housekeepers is a smartly written Downton Abbey like story with humor, intrigue and empowered women during the early 1900’s. When a group of housekeepers band together to plot the heist of the century from the estate of a recently departed wealthy businessman who it seems left everything to his narcissistic spoiled daughter, well, they have had enough. Especially because as housekeepers they see all and know all and it’s not pretty. The housekeepers plan the con of cons, and chaos ensues!

The two lead scammers are Mrs. King who works as a housekeeper at The Mayfair a huge estate owned by the wealthy late Wilhelm de Vries in Park Lane London and Mrs. Bone, the owner of a pawnshop in town, but owner of much more. They have much in common, especially intelligence and a history of getting what they want.

An intricate conspiracy is put in place, and they must convince the cast of characters they have chosen to accept. They must convince the daughter, Miss de Vries to throw a costume ball. Difficult since her father has just died, but quite easy when you believe the world revolves around you. So hence it begins.

With the countdown of the days to the costume ball, they set up the scam with the help of Mrs. King’s sister Alice, Winnie, the two Janes, Sue and Hephzibah. All take incredible skills to the table which will be used to prepare for the night and work the steal before, during and after the Ball. And practice makes perfect!

The goal? Clean out the estate. Of everything. Leaving nothing. Of course, along the way they come to many crossroads but with determination they will not fail. They will stay strong not for themselves but for the justice that will be served for all the housekeepers who have had to pay with sweat, tears and sometimes their lives. These housekeepers will learn they are extremely strong and capable with more skills they ever thought they had which gives them the courage needed to get the job done.

The night of the Ball arrives and of course disaster after disaster occurs, but with this group of unwavering women, they will fight to the very end for what they are rightly due.

The Housekeepers is the female version of Robin Hood and his merry men (women) who only want to take from the rich and give what is rightly due to the poor. But don’t let this story fool you. Woven within the plot are secrets and lies and shocking twists which makes the story even more exciting.

ALEX HAY grew up in the United Kingdom in Cambridge and Cardiff, and has been writing as long as he can remember. He studied history at the University of York, and wrote his dissertation on female power at royal courts, combing the archives for every scrap of drama and skulduggery he could find. He has worked in magazine publishing and the charity sector and lives with his husband in London. The Housekeepers is his debut novel and won the Caledonia Novel Award.

Thank you #NetGalley #GraydonHouse #TheHousekeepers #AlexHay for the advanced copy. You can buy the book now with the links below:

BookShop.org

Harlequin

Barnes & Noble

Books A Million

Amazon

Oh baby! Murder is A Piece of Cake is just the coziest of cozies with lots of heart, humor, excitement, murder and oh, deliciousness!

In book two of this adorable series, we find social media influencer, Maddy, now the owner of a bakery called Baby Cakes named after her late Aunt Octavia’s very large Mastiff named Baby. They both are still recuperating from their first adventure and the bakery is closed due to renovations. What could possibly go wrong? The will stipulates Maddy must keep the bakery afloat for a certain amount of time in order to receive her inheritance, so that’s what she must do. But with a closed store, no money is coming in.

As she and the “real” baker, Leroy begin to figure out what to bake for the upcoming New Bison Spring Festival, two things suddenly go wrong. First, there is something wrong with Baby and no one can figure out what. She’s not sick, it sees she’s depressed. And oh, there is a murder!

When multi-millionaire and not the nicest guy in the world CJ Davenport comes into town, he does more than just seek revenge on Maddy’s best friend, but not only does he open up a bakery directly across from Baby Cakes, but they discover he owns deeds to a couple of other stores. And he’s after Baby Cakes. So, with most of the town not happy with him, he ends up dead. In Maddy’s bakery with a knife in his back…Karma, I guess.

So as Maddy and her new friends who like to solve mysteries and are known as the Baker Street Irregulars try to find out who the killer is and with the police not very happy with Maddy and even suspecting her, they must figure this out quickly who the murderer really is because the bakery needs to open.

No one believes the killer is Maddy, but when one of their own confesses to the murder they are all thrown into chaos. They know the person is not guilty, so why would they take the fall?

In the meantime, they discover Baby is in love. Not with Maddy, but ANOTHER mastiff named Daisy. How on earth does Maddy deal with this? She wants to keep Baby happy…but. Her own love life is going pretty well in New Bison as she has been seeing the veterinarian, Michael.

What they soon discover is that this murder is somehow related to all the trouble they had just a few months ago. Will it never end? Well, I hope not! In this plot we begin to learn much more about the backstories of some of the characters we as readers have all fallen in love with all the juicy soap opera details of life in a small town.

Maddy and Baby’s adventures are comically enjoyable and continue to entertain with solid mysteries, yummy recipes included at the end of the books all of which continue to be completely satisfying. #loveforBaby #waitingforthenextinstallment.

Thank you #NetGalley #KensingtonCozies #ValerieBurns #MurderisAPieceofCake for the advanced copy.

Dark secrets prevail in this awe dropping thriller with shocking twists and an incredible ending. Although a challenging read due to one of the main plots being domestic abuse, it also depicts how women, desperate to leave an abusive relationship feel hopeless, afraid to leave, who live in fear each day and will do just about anything if they can find a way out and survive. Even then, they are always looking to see if they are going to get caught.

Cassie Peters is on the move. She has left her life in New York and has hopefully erased herself so she will never be found. She is running from the one person she truly loved, but now is perilously afraid of, her husband.

She returns to her hometown of Mammoth Lakes in California where she had previously worked as a search and rescue team member at Yosemite years ago. She desperately needs a job even though the reason she had left the position years ago was because of a tragic search and rescue where someone died.

All she wants to do is blend in under her maiden name, forget what she has been through and think about what her next steps should be to hide forever. A daunting task.

But of course, things don’t go as she planned. When a couple, Jada and Jim post footage of a bear taking food from them chaos ensues at the park and this opens her up to a risk of being seen on social media.

She then meets a woman named Petal and her partner Sandy. Petal is keeping a diary because she would like to write a book someday about their adventures in camping. Petal, it seems has become a bit obsessed with the couple who posted the footage, Jada and Jim. She has a feeling Jim may be abusing Jada as when she first met Jada, she found her crying because she and Jim had a horrible argument.

Suddenly the couple goes missing while on a hike. Which is the same thing that happened all those years ago. As the search and rescue try to find them and the park becomes a circus of media attention, Petal disappears as well. Then a dead body is found, and Cassie’s world is thrown into turmoil. She becomes the prime suspect in the death. Just how did it all come to this? How will she survive? Just what happened to the missing campers?

Have You Seen Her is so captivating and surprising and gripping in so many ways. Because the reader becomes quite invested in the characters and their stories and backstories the shocking outcome will astonish them.

Thank you #NetGalley #AtriaBooks #CatherineMcKenzie #HaveYouSeenHer for the advanced copy.

Summer Roommates is an inspiring lovely story about aging, agism, being stuck in your ways, the challenges women face as they grow older, companionships and of course love. The story takes the reader on a journey with four older women in their fifties up to their seventies, all strangers to each other who live in a house in Maine for the summer, most set in their ways and the challenges they endure to not only get along and understand each other, but to also begin to comprehend themselves.

Until recently, Sandra Pennington seemed to have it all. Two great children all grown up, a loving husband, terrific friends and the beauty of her coastal town in Maine. But with the death of her husband and now her best friend diagnosed with dementia and having to be put in a care facility, this past winter came with a loneliness she had never experienced.

So, Sandra decides, with the help of a realtor to open her home up for the summer to three older women for not only the comfort of having others around, but to see if perhaps she would like to continue this experiment in the future.

She goes through the applications and picks the three women.

Mary, a lawyer who has recently retired from the job she loved due to the stress of the company being sued. Although they were found not at fault, it took its toll on Mary who now just wants some down time to relax and rebuild herself to discover what she wants next in life. Never having children and not close to her only sibling due to being a workaholic, she feels the need to discover who she is now that she’s not working.

Amanda, who is a teacher decides she needs a vacation before the next school year starts. She has lived with her boyfriend Liam for eight years. They are comfortable together and both feel marriage is not an option. Although she feels independent, she does seem to rely on Liam a great deal. Liam for some reason thinks this time away would be great for her.

Patty, the oldest is the quietest yet dresses the loudest. She lives with her sister and brother-in-law as her income is inconsistent, because of fleeting jobs which has left her with hardly any money for her retirement, a fact her sisters insist on reminding her on a daily basis. This certainly was not the way she thought she would end up. All she ever wanted was to be married and have children. But she made poor choices when she was younger to needless to say, that ship has certainly sailed!

And with the cast of characters in place for the summer, as they try to cohabitate, there are some arguments, heated debates and discussions about life, friendship and even love. As the women begin to open up to each other, they also look inward. They soon bond and all try to imagine what their futures could be like. What they discover will change their lives forever.

Summer Roommates is an uplifting, wonderfully different take on aging with strong characters and unorthodox options for their futures. And why not? You are as young as you feel!

Thank you #NetGalley #KensingtonBooks #SummerRoommates #HollyChamberlin for the advanced copy.

The Spare Room is a hauntingly, juicy story which makes for the best kind of beach read! Its incredibly creative premise and shocking twists and turns will have you enthralled from beginning to end.

Set during the pandemic, Kelly and her fiancée Mike have been in lockdown together in Philadelphia. But when Mike suddenly decides he thinks they should postpone their wedding which they have been planning, Kelly not only doesn’t understand, but feels trapped having to stay with this man she thought she knew so well and wanted to spend her life with.

So, when a famous writer, Sabrina, a friend of Kelly’s from high school who she had reconnected with during lockdown offers the spare room at her and her husband Nathan’s secluded mansion in Virginia she jumps at the chance to get away from Mike. She and her cat Virgo hop on the next train.

On arriving, Sabrina can’t believe her luck! The grounds are lavish, the rooms gorgeous and Sabrina and Nathan are so helpful, understanding and kind. She and Virgo settle in nicely. Then, one night after a bit of too much drinking something happens to them Kelly never in her wildest dreams could ever imagine.

Kelly falls hard for this new type of relationship. This is just what she needs to take her mind of her Mike problems. But when she discovers she has not been the first woman to have been invited into their relationship and worse, the woman before her is missing, she begins to become nervous and confused.

She tries to rationalize the reason the woman is missing but keeps finding clues that not everything was as it seemed in the prior relationship with Sabrina and Nathan. But when a neighbor warns her about the couple, she realizes she has to find a way out. Something had to have happened that they are not telling her.

As things go from bad to worse, Kelly begins to think she will be the next person to disappear. How could she have left the only good relationship she has ever had for something this sinister? How does she leave without them catching on as to why. She must figure out a plan to get away!

The Spare Room grabs you from the first page and is an exciting and sensational read with shocking pivots in the story which will keep the reader captivated much like Kelly seems to be, with a jaw dropping ending you never would expect!

Thank you #NetGalley #BallentineBooks #AndreaBartz #TheSpareRoom for the advanced copy.

First, I need you all to know that I am pretty biased when it comes to Nicola Harrison novels. Her first, Montauk, was spectacularly beautiful. One of my favorite books of the year. With that said, Hotel Laguna not only matches the splendor and enjoyment of the first, but truly exceeds it. With a strong story which includes a mystery, long lost love, lessons in regret, with the focus on a strong woman who craves freedom during an era when that seemed impossible, it was certainly a cannot put it down read.

Hazel Francis was not afraid of much. She was from Kansas where during the war in 1942 she worked at Douglas Aircraft helping to build planes. With no family to go back to and a relationship she should never have begun, when the war was over, and they told her she should go back to her old life she chooses instead to start a new one by heading to California instead.

She finds herself in Laguna Beach, a beautiful artsy city with sun, sand and ocean. She ends up at a hotel called Hotel Laguna where she meets bartender, Jimmy, a go-getter who helps her as she tries to find a job as she has little money.

She applies for a vague position as the assistant and model to a cantankerous older famous artist, Hanson Radcliff. Although he is difficult and more than likely an alcoholic, he is known throughout the art community as a generous contributor. But Hazel soon learns Radcliff has many past secrets and regrets eating at him. As hard as she tries, she can’t seem to get him to open up. And the mystery deepens as she begins to learn more about Radcliff’s younger years.

Hazel on the other hand finds life in Laguna Beach wonderful! She begins her day with a swim in the ocean and through her association with Radcliff, becomes involved in the artist community which she loves. She and Jimmy bond as they share their dreams of what they would like their futures to become. Hazel, who dreams of working in the air industry, although clearly that would be frowned upon and Jimmy who someday want to own his own hotel as he has great ideas.

But when tragedy strikes and Hazel gives herself the choice to go back from where she came, the place she used to call home, or stay in Laguna Beach the place where she has found freedom and acceptance, she chooses home. But once there, she realizes home is sometimes not an actual place but it’s where your heart sings.

Hotel Laguna is a magnificent story with powerful messages such as forgiving yourself, letting go of regrets, living the life you choose to live and of course, love.

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

Sally Brady’s Italian Adventure is a powerfully strong story with charm and bravery thrown in about a young girl, discarded by her parents as a child not only who was able to thrive, sometimes by sheer luck, but also to make a name for herself, stand up to men during war, misfortune, poverty, fear and imprisonment only to come out the other side learning the importance of kindness, family and love.

In 1931 Sally Brady was told by her parents to go and make money. She was a child living on the streets of Los Angeles. She somehow even at that young age convinces a married movie star to take her in and let her live with them. Thus begins Sally’s adventure.

When things begin to fall apart in the United States, they move to Italy where Sally at the age of seventeen becomes an anonymous gossip columnist to the rich and famous. She attends lavish parties and lunches and hob nobs with the powerful men in government. Her life is a fairytale. Until it all falls apart and she finds herself alone again.

When Mussolini declares war on the United States her life turns from bad to worse as she is unable to get out of Italy in time and becomes hunted as many Americans were who lived there at that time.

While this is happening to Sally, there is a family living in a remote area whose life is also being disrupted. Lapo, an Italian writer, his wife Eleanor who is American and their son, Alessandro who is the ripe age for military service see what’s occurring. They are able to get Eleanor out, but Lapo worries that Alessandro will have to fight in Mussolini’s war. He makes an agreement to write a favorable made-up autobiography of Mussolini who wants to be portrayed as a powerful hero if they leave his son alone. He reluctantly agrees but of course they renege, and Alessandro must fight in a war in which he does not believe.

In the meantime, Sally is trying to avoid being arrested and imprisoned and is doing everything in her power to hide. But she is finally caught and put on house arrest where she meets an elderly woman who changes her life.

How does this all come together you may ask? Well, Sally finds herself free, but trapped in Italy and must hide from the army where she meets some wonderful and surprisingly horrible characters. She is tortured as are many at this time, but they fight to live and pray America will take down this crazy dictator. While all this is happening, she starts to think of her own family and feels the pull to see them when and if she is able.

Sally Brady’s Italian Adventure is quite a journey! For Sally and for the reader! It’s full of people willing to help during crisis and those who want to ruin the lives of those who don’t believe in the war, but also how the love of family never leaves a person no matter how many years go by. Oh, and did I mention if you can believe it, the story is very funny?

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #ChristinaLynch #SallyBrady’sItalianAdventure for the advanced copy.

The Last Drop of Hemlock is the continuation of the throw-back gum shoe murder mysteries where the city, New York in this case was ruled by paid off cops, mob type gangsters, prohibition speakeasys and jazz dance clubs. Women were seen and not heard and expected to make the men happy whatever it took.

But Vivian Kelly, our smart and feisty heroine is not having any of those. She along with her police buddy Leo Green have another nailbiter on their hands and will do everything in their power to help Vivian’s friend.

Bea, a singer at the dance club, the Nightingale where Vivian works is in extreme distress. Her uncle Pearlie, new to the town has died. It has been ruled a suicide, but Bea has her doubts. She comes to Vivian to ask her help to find out the truth.

So, Vivian with the help of Leo begin to look into what happened and something sure smells fishy. They find a bottle of brandy in the deceased’s apartment along with missing money. Vivian and Leo think that more than a suicide occurred here.

They decide to go to the coroner’s office with the brandy bottle and discover that it was laced with a megadose of poison. They begin to investigate and learn that many people in the neighborhood where Vivian and her sister Florence live have been receiving threatening letters if they did not sell certain items they have worth money and leave the money at a drop.

Vivian soon becomes deeply immersed in who would do such a thing to people who can barely afford to put food on their table. But all this changes when her own sister, Florence receives one of the letters. And with the help of Leo and the owner of the Nightingale, Honor, Vivian must become a burglar.

The clues just make no sense, but the more Vivian investigates the more she realizes Bea may not like what they believe could have happened. But her only goal is to keep her sister alive and stop the letters and threats to those who don’t have anything.

The Last Drop of Hemlock is an exciting good old-fashioned who done it. It has intrigue and mystery. The only difference is in this series women seem to be in charge and are the ultimate brave detectives with some help from a few men. Although this is the second book of the series, it certainly could be read as a stand-alone. I eagerly await the next installment.

Thank you #NetGalley #MinotaurBooks #TheLastDropofHemlock #KatherineSchellman for the advanced copy.

Five Total Strangers is an exceptionally different type of psychological thriller. The plot, which is really unknown to the reader, makes for more creative and imaginative images in your mind as you try and figure out what is happening and where the story is going.

Mira is coming home to spend Christmas with her mother. Her parents are divorced, and she has been living with her father in California in order to go to high school where her focus is on art. But she is also heading home to comfort her mother whose sister passed away at this time last year. She knows her mother needs her even though she is remarried.

But a threatening blizzard seems to be making the visit impossible. She finds out her next flight has been cancelled and she has no way of making it back home. But then she bumps into her seatmate, Harper, who has rented a car with a person she met in line, Brecken, and they are making the journey from New Jersey to Pittsburgh. Along with them are two other strangers they seem to have picked up along the way, Josh who is on crutches and Kayla who just seems very quiet.

Mira must make a quick decision and although her gut tells her this doesn’t feel right, something is off with this group, she decides to accept the ride with these strangers. She needs to see her mother, especially when she discovers she’s been keeping secrets from her.

What starts out as a normal car ride, soon turns into a nightmare. With the deteriorating road conditions, they get pushed off the highway. They make the decision to go another route which Mira knows is even more dangerous.

Then they stop for gas, and everything turns even worse. First Mira sees a strange man near the vending machines. The station insists they pay cash only and Harper discovers her wallet is missing. Brecken makes a quick decision which will spiral the group into an even worse mess.

Suddenly more personal items begin to go missing. It’s clearly one of them, but who? They are total strangers…aren’t they? Someone is lying!

But for what purpose?

Five Total Strangers will keep you not only guessing, but speed-reading to the end, and what an incredible ending to this thrilling story! One takeaway…never, ever accept a ride from a stranger! Your life could depend on it!

Famous in a Small Town is another Viola Shipman awe inspiring story where empowered women learn that self-discovery can happen at any age. It tells the story of generations in one family which is made up of mostly women and how they cope with the men in their lives who want to disrespect them. It follows another young woman’s journey on her own road to finding out where she belongs and shows the intersection of these people and the joy, they all bring to each other when they find themselves and each other.

Mary Johnson is now 80 years old. She owns the Very Cherry General Store in a small town in Michigan which does much more than sell cherries. She is quite famous in her own right for winning the cherry spitting contest years ago, a feat no one has yet to break. The store has been run by the women in her family for years and she is the only woman left as she had a son and now has a grown grandson. Mary worries what will happen to the store and her legacy.

Mary’s life was not easy. She had an abusive, alcoholic husband who she feared. She had two best friends, one who let her down years ago and she no longer speaks to. But Mary has a good heart and years ago had a vision that someone would come along and take care of the store to keep the legacy going. And at Mary’s age she feels perhaps this really is the end of the line.

But Mary has not yet met school administrator, Becky Thatcher, yes that is her name, who at the beginning of the summer broke up with her long-time boyfriend who really never treated her as an equal and usually lived off Becky’s money, who seems to have decided he likes this arrangement and doesn’t want to get married. Her parents seem to like him more than her and insists he stay part of the family.

She also has realized she perhaps chose the wrong profession. Her parents, who have never, ever thought outside the box always told her women worked as a teacher, got married and had children. Well, Becky realizes that shipped has sailed and decides she needs to come up with a new plan. Of course, her parents are horrified. She wishes she could be more like her grandparents who lived for adventures and lived life to the fullest! So, Becky and her best friend Q decide to go on a road trip to be with just each other, no men, no family and everything spontaneous.

But when Becky accidentally meets Mary, some kind of magic happens to each of them. They seem like old souls who were always meant to know each other. Becky not only is drawn to the town and the store, but she seems to have the same knack as Mary for spitting those cherry pits pretty far.

With the help of Mary’s grandson who has come for a visit, they all work together to not only help Mary at the store but prepare for a very special anniversary faire for the annual cherry pit spitters. As they all begin to understand each other and help each other find out what they are really missing in life, the bond they all have grows stronger and Becky realizes THIS is the life she has always wanted. But can this woman who has never done anything uncalculated in her life just up and move and work harder than she ever has for herself and nobody else?

She feels this is where she belongs, but just doesn’t know why just yet. But with the help of these strangers, now family she discovers the vision of who she wants to be lies in this small town in this store and with these people.

Famous in a Small Town is a delightful story with lovable characters, beautifully strong women inside and out with their grace and stubbornness which only makes them able to endure all that is thrown their way.

“[A] charming coastal tale.”—KATIE COURIC MEDIA

“Fans of nostalgic small-town charm and quirky characters will love Viola Shipman’s latest book for summer.”

—READER’S DIGEST, Best Summer Books 2023

“Famous in a Small Town is a beautiful reminder to…fully embrace the magic that lives inside you.”

—Heather Webber, USA Today bestselling author of Midnight at the Blackbird Café

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 chose his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, as a pen name 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

Thank you #NetGalley #GraydonHouse #FamousinaSmallTown #ViolaShipman for the advanced copy. You can pick up a copy now at the cites below:

HarperCollins: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/famous-in-a-small-town-viola-shipman?variant=40980279459874 

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/famous-in-a-small-town-viola-shipman/1142722523  

BookShop: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-champion-of-good-hart-viola-shipman/18794129?ean=9781525804854 

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1525804855/keywords=fiction?tag=harpercollinsus-20