Lisa's Cubby

Poppy and Alex met by accident in college. Coincidentally they came from the same small hometown. Even so, their childhoods could not have been more different. But as the old adage says, opposites attract and they became the best of friends.

They spent all their college days together, and even spent their summers back home with Poppy dragging Alex places to try and give him new experiences. Alex, a bit set in his ways, always hesitant, but agreeable when it came to what Poppy wanted. Their friendship had no boundaries, even when Poppy moved to New York City to become a travel writer. And every summer, regardless of where they were in life, or who they were dating they always went on one vacation together.

Until two years ago when something happened and they have not spoken since.

For Poppy those two years were long and agonizing. Nothing compared to her time with Alex. She realizes what she has been missing these past years is Alex and their friendship. So on a whim she sends him a text and he replies. They begin to catch up on the time they spent apart.

Poppy then gets a brilliant idea to see if she can convince Alex to go on their annual summer vacation. She hopes they can get back to where they were prior to the disastrous last vacation. But can you really go back when so much time has passed? Can you ever conquer the roadblocks put in place when there has been a falling out? Can relationships really recover?

As Poppy reflects on their previous vacations through the years, she suddenly begins to see a pattern emerge. Perhaps not everything was as it seemed. Were there other feelings and emotions going on that they were both unaware?

Now Poppy must try and fix what has broken between her and Alex in hopes that she will not lose her best friend forever, a devastating thought she can hardly contemplate. She will do whatever it takes to mend this friendship. But this vacation seems to be one disaster after another. And as the days wind to a close, Poppy makes one realization which will change her and Alex’s connection forever.

People We Meet On Vacation is a tender, comedic, heartbreaking, emotional story in which all the reader can do is go along for the ride (or the vacations) and root for these two beautiful souls to fix what never should have been fractured in the first place.

Hooked from the first page, this incredibly intense story begins with a description of a group of families who all live in houses on a cul-de-sac discussing the shots fired and the death which occurred the night before.

The story then moves backwards and explains the varied lives and relationships of the families living on the street and their interactions and secrets with each other up until the sudden gunshot from the early morning hours before.

First we have Nick, a highly respected doctor and his wife Dani, a southern belle who is a dentist. Nick has a tendency to pick at his wife’s pronunciation feeling her southern slang is tacky. They have two young children, both boys. From the outside looking in they seem to be the all-American family, but when the doors close, they are anything but. Nick, by the way has a gun collection.

Sean and Olivia are next. Sean is a miserable stay at home dad. He was laid off from his executive position over a year ago and has been unable to find work. Olivia, his wife, was fortunately able to get her lucrative job back at the advertising firm she worked at prior to having their children. Sean has become extremely depressed and is secretly drinking and lying to Olivia about finding work. As his anger towards everything and everyone escalates, he considers buying a gun.

Julia is an elderly widow whose husband died of cancer. Nick was his doctor. She is incredibly indebted to him. Her relationship with her only son is a bit strained, as is his son’s relationship with his own son, Mark, a man in his early twenties who would rather steal from wallets and pawn jewelry for drugs rather than get a job. Julia takes Mark in as he has nowhere to go. While rifling through old things, Mark finds his late grandfather’s gun.

Craig and Maggie found themselves living on the cul-de-sac after an incident occurred with Maggie and the family was being harassed. They were so affected they moved to another state. But Maggie’s personality changed because of what happened. She has become fearful and paranoid of everything and everyone, to the point where Craig has moved out, unable to live with her anymore. They have two children, a rebellious teenager and a young boy. Maggie secretly carries a gun in her purse everywhere she goes and keeps it by her bedside at night.

Finally, newlyweds Heidi and Aiden are happily in love, except for the fact that Aiden’s mother dislikes Heidi and is super rich and has basically bought them everything they own, even the house where they are living. This has put incredible pressure on the couple who both work at the mall and without her help could barely make ends meet. To add to their stress, Aiden sees a therapist for PSTD from what he saw during combat in the war. As his stress increases, it seems so do his flashbacks.

So here are the cast of characters who live on this beautiful street, some of whom have unbearable deep rooted secrets. As they begin to interact and get to know each other, some of the secrets begin to fall out of the houses and into the streets where others can see. So which of these neighbors will finally snap? And who is the victim?

Cul-De-Sac reads like an updated version of Peyton Place or Knot’s Landing, where the dark secrets run deep and the gossip flows like good wine! Quite the page turner!

Thank you @NetGalley @BallentineBooks @Cul-De-Sac @JoyFielding for the advanced copy.

Nicola Harrison’s second novel, The Show Girl, is about a small town girl from Minneapolis, who has big dreams of becoming a famous Ziegfeld Follies girl fighting against all odds and unsupportive parents and many obstacles along the way hoping to achieve her dreams.

Olive McCormick realized she wanted to dance from a young age. She really knew she wanted to be a Ziegfeld girl. This was during the 1920’s and women’s dreams depended mostly on men’s assessments of them. Against her mother’s wishes and her father’s disappointment in her she chose to follow her dreams. And after many regrets, failures and hard work she became a show girl for Ziegfeld! She was singing and dancing. But when her parents are invited to see her perform, their reaction is nothing but disgust. Her father embarrassed by her. Having to make the hardest decision of her life, she decides to pursue her dreams over her family, never realizing how this predicament would someday come back to haunt her.

But Olive is a strong woman able to weather any storm with the brains and wit of any man, and is not afraid to question their decisions.

And as her career takes off something else wonderful happens to Olive, now known as Olive Shine! She falls in love. When she meets Archie Carmichael, a wealthy, handsome businessman with a heart of gold, she finally believes she has it all! He is proud of her career, and loves her. But when they decide to marry, Olive realizes Archie may want more than she is capable of giving him.

Her secretive past now comes back to torture her. She must decide if she should tell Archie what she has been hiding since she was young, and lose him forever, or keep her secret and walk away from the love of her life. Neither decision will make her happy. But her love for him is more powerful than any secret, even though Archie will never truly understand.

Will Olive’s strength and determination be enough to keep her on the new path she has chosen?

I was introduced to Nicola Harrison when I read her first novel back in 2020 called Montauk. It still haunts me to this day. But now I can add to the list of favorite books of 2021 with her latest, The Show Girl. Harrison is able to develop powerfully strong women characters with wills of their own, not afraid to reach out and take what they feel they rightfully deserve.

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

The Dolan brother’s young lives were very hard. They were dirt poor and had no family left by the time they were in their teens. Gig, the older brother and Rye (Ryan) were hopping trains looking for work and a place to stay and a way to make money fast, legally or not. But this was during the early 1900’s and work was hard to find as was lodging. Gig felt responsible for his younger brother and tried to steer him on the right path.

But both had visions of making money and owning land and a house. They were always looking for jobs which would pay more, but this was a time when unions were just being organized and business owners were not very happy. Unfortunately many higher ups in the police department were on the payroll of rich business owners who would look the other way when union meetings were interrupted and brawls broke out.

But Gig believed in fair wage and was not afraid to fight for the cause. But when pro-union men took it upon themselves to take to the streets to talk about the cause, they were not only arrested, but were put into horrendous prison conditions where some died. Gig was arrested as was Rye who only sixteen followed his unknowing brother and spoke for the cause. This pivotal moment changes both their lives and the paths they will take forever.

Rye is soon released from prison and begins to assist the cause by going around to workers with a young pregnant woman who is a feminist and has been traveling to help collect money to hire a lawyer for all the men still in prisons. His brother was not so lucky. With Gig still in prison, Rye must decide if he wants to stay on the straight and narrow path they both have always believed in or forgo his principles and work for a powerful, shady business owner. A man who has no problem killing for what he wants.

Rye’s conscience and Gig’s inability to forgive himself for not taking care of his younger brother will haunt both of them for the rest of their lives. But trying to hold on to their beliefs and values will involve much effort, perhaps too much.

The Cold Millions is a heartbreaking tender story about two brothers who try to hold on to each other even as their lives become lost to both themselves and each other during a difficult time in our history.

Get comfortable, pour yourself a nice glass of wine, preferably Chardonnay, and dive into the next installment of Sunshine Vicram’s intensely funny, shocking and always eccentric life as sheriff of a small town in New Mexico where people have very uncommon names…such as Crystal Meth and everybody knows everybody and everything about everybody! Although, there are still some secrets buried in this old town.

Called to the scene of a barfight Sunshine finds her not so secret crush, Levi Ravinder hurt and his friend in serious condition after a stabbing. Ravinder does not want to give up any information as to who or why the situation occurred and leaves the bar to begin his own investigation, much to the sheriff’s angst. Putting the pieces together will be difficult. Finding Levi even to answer questions, even more arduous.

Meanwhile her daughter Auri is falling in love and getting into her own trouble unbeknownst to Sunshine. She has taken it upon herself with two friends as her accomplices to look into a myth the town has lived with for many years in which people who visited the area were never heard from again. The rumor has always been there was a serial killer living amongst them. Auri seems to believe she knows who it is and is determined to prove it. A sheriff in training!

If that wasn’t enough, and in this town mystery and puzzles are never enough, a furry critter has taken up residence at the police station and seems to be ruling the roost as the officers are unable to or perhaps too nervous about getting rabies to find him.

As the plots thicken and the reader is given more information into Sunshine’s past, some questions will be answered only to have new mysteries start to take shape. There is never a dull moment in this rural oasis where bodies seem to stack up like pancakes. I tried to be like Sunshine with that line!

A Good Day for Chardonnay is completely laugh out loud amusing, yet has truly suspenseful story-lines and the most impressive back and forth dialogue I have ever encountered. The chapter headers are just as funny as the story itself. Darynda Jones has one incredible imagination and quite the way with words! I had a smile on my face from beginning to end, and the next installment can’t come fast enough!

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #AGoodDayfor Chardonnay #DaryndaJones for the advanced copy.

This tear-jerker novel tells the story of two high school sweethearts during a volatile time in our history. Peter and Jackie meet and fall in love in a small town. But a tragic accident occurs and their lives are torn apart. Peter must grapple with guilt and Jackie struggles to understand what happened and what part she may have played in the tragedy.

Later, Peter and Jackie meet again and decide to marry. It just seems like that’s what they should do. They have a daughter. And just as they are heading into their twilight years, Jackie is given very bad news about her health. As Peter and Jackie try to understand what this means to their marriage and their lives, it also brings up never answered questions from their previous life together.

Peter, a former political speech writer has just written a novel and he and Jackie have returned to their hometown for a book signing. Jackie’s father, who is in the throws of dementia, still lives there. As Jackie begins the difficult task of telling her family about her illness, Peter can’t help think about what they endured to get to where they are now and if their marriage should ever have occurred. Unbeknownst to him, Jackie too has her reservations about their life.

But during the book signing there is a disruption. Peter and Jackie must begin to analyze their lives together and separately, including all the inadequacies they feel, especially on Jackie’s part. In order to do this they must revisit those painful memories from their youth which molded them to become the adults they are now.

Although difficult, they must begin the process of being totally honest with each other and forgive and let go of the anger, disappointment and what-ifs from their past relationship. They must put the past truly behind them in order to become strong for what may lay ahead.

And although their future is unknown, by putting all their questions about the past to rest they begin to rekindle or perhaps reshape the love and find that perhaps these are their sweetest days.

This beautifully written love story flows effortlessly as if you are watching a captivating movie unfold in your mind, even though you may know how it ends, you can appreciate the sweetness of the days it took you to get there.

Thank you #NetGalley #GalleryBooks #TheSweetestDays #JohnHoughJr for the advanced copy.

Emily and her best friend from college, Kristen are on their annual girl’s getaway. This year they are in Chile, drinking, hiking and enjoying each other’s company. With Kristen now living in Australia for work, this is their only chance to play catch-up in person.

But, on the last night of their vacation, Kristen is charmed by a backpacker she met. She decides to take him back to their room. As Emily relaxes at the bar, she gets a frantic call from Kristen saying something went terribly wrong and she has to come back to the hotel room. There she finds blood and the backpacker dead. Kristen says he tried to get physical with her and she did not know what to do. Emily and Kristen decide they must get rid of the body. But what makes this situation worse is it is a repeat of what happened during last year’s girl’s getaway. Only it happened to Emily when she was violently attacked in their room and Kristen killed him.

During last year’s trip Emily brought someone back to their room and he became physical. Kristen came back to the room and saw what was happening and killed him. It was decided that they should dispose of his body in a remote area and wipe out any existence of themselves being in this area so it would look like they were never there.

So they once again attempt to discard the body and make it look as if they were never there. But Emily can’t believe this has happened again. She also cannot believe Kristen’s attitude toward the murder. She seems calm and collected. During the past year after the other murder, Emily was so traumatized she began having panic attacks. It was with Kristen’s help that she was able to get through the year.

As Emily returns home, back to her life and her new relationship, something she was hesitant to tell Kristen about as she always seemed to point out faults in her boyfriends which Emily would always agree with and end up breaking up with them. But she felt this relationship could be different and did not want Kristen’s input just yet. But as Emily is preoccupied with what happened while they were away, Kristen it seems is quite unfazed. Emily begins to wonder about her best friend.

And then Kristen suddenly shows up. She decided to leave her job and come back to be with Emily and her own family, her grandparents. Her parents had both died in a housefire when she was young. She begins to insert herself into Emily’s life and relationship. Emily starts to look at her best friend in a very different light and begins to dig into Kristen’s background, something she never imagined she would ever do.

Emily begins to discover Kristen has many secrets. She is not the person she thought she was and quite frankly could be very dangerous. But Emily has a bigger problem. She cannot tell anyone about Kristen because Kristen holds Emily’s murderous secrets. Emily is thrown deeper into Kristen’s craziness, while trying to pretend there is nothing wrong. She also is trying to protect her boyfriend from harm. But what may be even worse is Kristen starts to notice a difference in Emily’s behavior, and faced with the fact that she could be losing her best friend begins to go off the deep end. It seems Kristen will use everything in her arsenal to keep her obsessive relationship with her best friend…perhaps even kill again!

The old adage of keep your friends close and your enemies closer collide in We Were Never Here, a nail biter of a read with shocking twists and turns no one could ever see coming. The ending, an explosion of turmoil!

Thank you #NetGalley #BallentineBooks #WeWereNeverHere #AndreaBartz for the advanced copy. The book will be out in early August.

In this touching Young Adult novel, high school student and hopeful ballerina Mia Jenrow is getting ready to start her senior year. But rather than spend her summer goofing off, she has chosen to take the opportunity to go to Paris and participate in a ballet program in which not only is she able to sharpen her skills, but will also be judged at the end of the 6 weeks by prestigious ballet companies who invite some participants to join them.

Passion for dance runs in Mia’s family. Her mother was a ballerina but quit, without explanation. Family lure even has her great-great grandmother, a ballerina as well, posing for pictures for the painter Degas, although there has never been any actual proof. Her mother is not happy with Mia’s decision to go to France as she is afraid she will be be disappointed and let down. But Mia realizes this could be her last chance. She has been turned down by a prestigious New York Company and thinks if she spends the summer in this program, she may get another chance to audition for them.

On her first day in Paris she sees the one person she was relieved to leave behind…Audrey, her ballet nemesis and the most perfect and elegant ballerina she has ever come up against. She had already been accepted to that New York City Company! Now she realizes she must work even harder and have absolutely no distractions in her quest for perfection.

Enter Louis, a handsome, charming Parisian who catches her eye and he hers. Unfortunately for Mia, Louis has some heavy baggage he carries with him. His father is her ballet instructor whose work ethic is beyond anything she has ever experienced. He cannot know about them. And when she gets a part in the upcoming ballet, not only is Louis on her mind, but keeping up with Audrey is as well.

So in this beautiful City of Love, Mia must carefully navigate high standards of practice, being in love, listening to her mother’s disappointment at her decisions and if that was not enough, she and Louis have decided to try and confirm or debunk the family myth that her relative was in a Degas painting. When in Paris… what could possibly go wrong?

Well, Mia’s dreams may come crashing down around her if she does not get her priorities straight. But one thing is for sure, this summer will change Mia’s life forever!

Kisses and Croissants is an adorable, entertaining and funny young love story, filled with crushes, insecurities, jealousies, misunderstandings and many lessons to be learned.

Thank you #Goodreads #DelacortePress #Anne-SophieJouhanneau #KissesandCroissants for the advanced copy.

When professional food writer Emily Nunn’s life fell apart when her brother committed suicide, her relationship crumbled and she found herself suddenly homeless, and with her drinking increasing again she decided to check herself in to rehab. It was then Emily was able to begin to see how she became the person she was and how she could change and become a person she could love.

As Emily began to look back on her life, especially her childhood which was turbulent to say the least with two parents who could barely take care of themselves, and did not want to take care of the many children they had. Nothing was ever talked about, like her father moving out and another man moving in, or the narcissistic personality her mother had or her father’s drinking or her brother being gay. It was all left for them all just to speculate.

She also began to understand her rocky relationships with her siblings and how they too had been impacted by the lack of care their parents showed. Many had not spoken to each other for years, while others fled to another country just to get away. She too would learn that their treatment of her would trigger her low self-esteem issues and she would always blame herself for the arguments, most of the time not understanding what she had done to provoke the anger.

When asked what comforted her in times of stress, Emily realized it was food. It was the actual cooking, creating and the enjoyment of eating. It was especially satisfying to cook with others, be it friends or family.

So she goes on a quest to find not only herself, but to also reconnect with family she has not seen in years as well as friends, some of whom the relationship had not ended well, and spend time with them, learn from them and cook with them. Thus begins Emily’s journey of healing herself. With this comes a new understanding of what her life was like but what her life could be like when you let go all of the annoyance and hostility she had held in for so many years and she begins to find an inner peace as her travels continue. She also learns the word “family” means many things and you sometimes have to accept some relationships are just not meant to be.

Throughout her memoir while she gives us glimpses of her unusual past, she also tells stories of recipes and how they came about and the impact they had on her life and the memories they invoke. Some mouthwatering recipes, and yes they are in the book for the reader to enjoy if they choose were her Aunt Mariah’s Pot Roast, Father Tray’s Bran Muffins and Bea’s Magic Salad Dressing.

As this unexpected journey came it its conclusion, Emily learned many lessons about living. But her curiosity about food literally saved her life.

One Last Stop is a tender, unique, magical look at love. It goes well beyond your regular love story and into a realm of unknown which will keep you riveted until the very last word of the beautiful story.

August has moved many times. She is trying to complete her college education. But as a loner, she never really bonds with anyone or anything so there is never anything to keep her in one place. So when she gets bored, she just ups and finds another college.

Having had a difficult life, her mother lost her brother Augie years ago. They have never been able to find any record of him either alive or dead. August’s whole life has been taken up with files…her mother’s obsession of finding out just what happened to Augie. Needless to say her home life was nothing spectacular.

Now, August finds herself in New York City living with three very quirky roommates whose main goal in life is to get to know her and get her to open up. Not happening. They are able to help her get a job at a 24 hour pancake diner which will help her pay her rent and tuition, but will do nothing for the smell she seems to emit no matter how many showers she takes! Pancakes, syrup and bacon.

So as August gets use to her once again very lonely life, on her first day going to her new college as she is heading towards her train in the subway station she is pushed and coffee is spilt all over her shirt. And this shove will change August’s life forever. An adorable girl sees August in distress and hands her a scarf to cover her stains. She even loves the smell of pancakes and syrup! She thanks her not even knowing her name.

Now smitten, August looks for her mystery hero and finally find her on a train. Her name is Jane. She has everything, beauty, personality and cool clothes. Their relationship begins to grow. But there is one serious problem. Jane is stuck on the train. She does not remember her past but believes it is the 1970’s. And for some reason she cannot leave the train. August promises her that she will find a way to get her home, wherever that may be.

It is then that August opens up to her roommates about what is happening to Jane and thus begins a complex plan to try and help Jane return to her life from year’s ago. Although August knows Jane needs to return to where she belongs, she realizes that she may never again see who she believes is the love of her life. But August loves Jane enough to let her go.

Throughout this journey, August becomes with Jane’s help the person she never knew she could ever become. But with her renewed confidence in life, comes a sadness for her soulmate. Will there plan work? We won’t know until Jane gets off at the last stop.

The Last Stop has heroines and heroes, fairytale and intrigue, laughter and most of all love.

Thank you #NetGalley #Griffin #OneLastStop #CaseyMcQuiston for the advanced copy.