Tag: book-review

What In The World? by Leanne Morgan

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We were fortunate to be invited to watch former SNL comedian and musician Fred Armisen try out some new stand-up comedy material and music at an event last year. After his sets he did a Q&A with the audience and one of the questions asked was who he thought was a new upcoming comedian. His answer was Leanne Morgan. My ears perked up. What in the world? I had somewhat heard of her, but new and upcoming was a surprise as she is in her fifties. Then, lo and behold she had her own Netflix comedy special about a month later. I watched it and fell absolutely in love. Then I found out she had a book coming out so, my love affair with her continued. And it honestly has not stopped!

Leanne Morgan although older has been in comedy since she came out of the womb. But especailly starting in her twenties. Born in rural Tennessee, her parents owned a meat plant, the only one for miles and they serviced just about everybody. Leanne writes that when she was little people knew she was behind them because of her smell. Read the book!

She knew at a young age she was headed to Hollywood, never knowing how she was going to get there, but just that she would. She was always told she was beautiful and used it to her advantage! Again, read the book. Both her parents but especially her mother always encouraged her to go after her dreams, always made she and her sister feel loved and special, so Leanne decided to go after everything! She made many good choices, but unfortunately the bad ones were bad.

In her charming storytelling style (watch the Netflix special) she goes into great laugh out loud details about how she only wanted to finish college and go to Hollywood. Well, her first pass at college led to her dropping out. But her parents never gave up hope for her and once Leanne grew up a bit with their financial help she graduated.

She kissed a few frogs (read the book) and then met the love of her life Chuck Morgan (whom she calls Chuck Morgan) watch the Netflix special, and they began an unconventional life together. Chuck Morgan was a hard worker and saver who advanced in each company he worked. But that meant Leanne moved many, many times ending up on the Appalachian Trails living in a trailer with no steps. Oh, and she had babies too.

So Leanne decided if Chuck Morgan was going to be cheap, she would just get a job to try to buy herself and her children extras. She ended up selling jewelry at housewife parties which she not only became sought after by all the wives because she was so funny, but she also made a great deal of money. Then companies started calling her to do her comedy at their fundraisers.

She tells many hysterical stories about her three children as babies and toddlers, and you can honestly feel the love she has for each seep out in the stories. And how proud she and Chuck Morgan are now to have grandbabies!

She knew what direction she wanted her life to go in but was unprepared that meeting Hollywood would take as long as it did. But for sure she is an inspiration to anyone of a certain age.

Her stories of birthing her babies are laugh out loud funny. As are her stories of Chuck Morgan’s frugality. But don’t think this is just book full of comedy bits. She relays many sad and heartbreaking stories as well, in particular the loss of her best friend when her children were young. No, she didn’t die, she just ghosted her. Forever. To this day she still doesn’t know what happened and feels the loss this caused.

She has a great deal of faith and believes she has someone always looking out for her from above. There is one story when her mother was in the hospital, and they thought she was going to die in which she insists something beyond this world happened.

What In The World? is a funny, delightful feel-good book. You will truly laugh from the minute you begin it and feel so bad for yourself when it’s over. My only suggestion to enjoy this even more is to rather than buy the book which I did, treat yourself to the audio book which Morgan reads, and I heard bits of. I promise you won’t be sorry!

Published by Random House

A Christmas Ghost Story by Kim Newman

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A Christmas Ghost Story is a delightfully demented chilling mysterious ghost story within a story. It’s dangerously addictive as you begin the haunting climb to the unexpected ending. It’s a book which should be read in the daylight only… at night if you are brave!

It’s the Christmas season in England for Rust, a teenager and his mother Angie, a struggling novelist. It’s just the two of them and they don’t have much but come Christmas they splurge! But this Christmas everything seems to be off, and they don’t quite understand what is going on. Their first hint of a problem is when on December 1 Rust opens the first day of his advent calendar and there is something wrong with the taste of the chocolate.

Then, they begin to receive unsigned Christmas cards with ominous poetic writings in them. Rust wants to throw them out but Angie for some reason feels scared by doing that so they begin to put them on their mantel. Each day.

They try to figure out if this is some sort of a sick joke and even attempt to fool the writer of the cards and try to see who is putting them in their mailbox and on their property with no luck. They begin to feel it must be a ghost, but really, they are both too sensible. Each card is more frightening than the previous.

Worse, strange things begin to happen to them and their surroundings. Rust feels sick after eating the chocolate. A strange plant begins to overtake their backyard. And the Christmas turkey, well it just goes bad in the refrigerator.

But Angie fears she knows what’s happening and it has something to do with when she was a child and she secretly watched a Christmas horror story on the television without her parents knowing after they had gone to bed. More importantly is if she is correct, Rust is in danger. She must figure out how to stop this.

As she searches the internet for clues of the story she watched, she finds nothing. It’s as if it never existed. Did she imagine the whole thing? And as the days towards Christmas get closer, her fears grow because she knows what happens on December 25. How do they stop this?

A Christmas Ghost Story is a spine-chilling tale in which you won’t know the outcome until the very end. How can such a happy time take such a terrible turn? Well, you will certainly find out!

Thank you #NetGalley #TritonBooks #KimNewman #AChristmasGhostStory for the advanced copy.

The Wedding Witch by Erin Sterling

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The Wedding Witch was the long awaited third book in Sterling’s adorably funny Graves Glen series. It continues the story of the Penhallow men and their witchy loves. This story I believe is the best in the series yet. It has mystery, romance, a creative plot and of course lots of magic! It’s charming!

Bowen Penhallow, the last of the Penhallow brothers still single owns a bar and likes his privacy. He is indeed very grumpy, does not like to talk, let alone socialize with anyone. So, when his best friend, who is sort of a ghost, comes and begs him to attend the wedding of his girlfriend when he was alive, well he certainly can’t say no seeing as Bowen believes he caused his friend to become the ghost he is now.

Although when he gets there, he is shocked to find Tamsyn Bligh, a human who he secretly has a bit of a crush on and uses to find missing items he wishes to recover. Tamsyn is a free spirit who has Raiders of the Lost Ark vibes. She’s not afraid of anyone or anything, except when she thinks about her client Bowen, (and she does that a great deal)!

Tamsyn has decided to do a search for another client for a mysterious artifact and not tell Bowen who she is supposed to be working for exclusively. So Bowen is a bit angry to find her here.

But that anger turns to confusion as they are somehow transported back in time to Bowen’s grandparents’ wedding and to add to the chaos, his grandparents have had a fight and have called off the wedding! Which means if Bowen doesn’t fix this he will never be born and never have met Tasmyn!

They somehow must figure out how to fix whatever the problem is between his relatives and then assess how on earth they get out of this place and back to the future all while hoping they haven’t changed history.

As they begin to search for clues as to what has happened and how to get home. their relationship begins to change. They might actually like each other…a lot! Even more reason to try and get home. To add to their anxiety, they have been told they only have a certain amount of time to fix the problem, or they will no longer exist, like ever!

The Wedding Witch is a fun read with visits of course from our favorite characters from the previous two stories with a wonderful mysterious lovable ending which will hopefully continue this delightful series.

Thank you #NetGalley #AvonPress #ErinSterling #TheWeddingWitch for the advanced copy.

She Doesn’t Have A Clue by Jenny Elder Moke

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She Doesn’t Have A Clue is a wonderfully funny, romantic mystery romp with very quirky characters, some of which you will love and some which you will love to hate. But mostly the absolutely loveable heroine and her, gulp… handsome sidekick. The premise, cute, the dialogue humorous and the ending swoony! But let’s not take away from the story which has murder, mayhem and an island full of suspects!

Kate Valentine is a writer known for her Loretta Starling mysteries. Loretta is gruff and bossy and smart. Everything Kate is not and wishes she could be! Anyway, Kate has been invited to a wedding…why, she has not idea, which is on an exclusive island for the marriage of her ex-fiancé Spenser and his new fiancé, Kennedy. They all work at the same publishing firm. He was and still is her editor. Can you say awkward? But Kate feels as if she has to go as to prove she is over “him”.

But not only has Kate been invited, so has her handsome former crush an Aussie named Jake Hawkins. She thought they were on the same page back then but for some reason he decided to pretty much ghost her. Can you say even more awkward?

So, as they begin the weekend, Kate realizes Kennedy’s family is a bit, shall we say, odd. They don’t care for each other and the matriarch is downright mean. But whatever… Unfortunately for Kate, after the reception on the first night, she finds Kennedy at the bottom of a staircase. Not dead, but somehow poisoned. That’s not the worst of it! The family thinks she is the one who did the poisoning because for some reason it has been taken right out of one of her books! As if Kate is the only one who knows how to read!

As Kate and Jake begin to look for clues, they come upon a dead body! Now they must make a choice…what should they do…tell everyone and have Kate arrested…or ignore it. Guess which one they picked?

In the meantime, the weather on the island has turned torrential, there is no electricity or water, and everybody is accusing everybody of everything. And now Spencer, the soon to be groom has decided he wants Kate back.

She and Jake get together (Ahem) and try and break the case, with Loretta’s voice constantly in Kate’s mind. What is going on? Can these two amateur sleuths figure out who the murderer is, or will they be the next victims? Someone seems to not want this wedding to happen. Why?

She Doesn’t Have A Clue is a wonderful cozy mystery romance with wit which will keep a smile on your face, intrigue as to where the story is going and who the surprise murderer could indeed be!

Thank you #NetGalley #MinotaurBooks #JennyElderMoke #SheDoesn’tHaveAClue for the advanced copy.

The Sequel by Joan Hanff Korelitz

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The Sequel is literally the sequel to the best-selling thriller The Plot. Not only does it answer all those unanswered questions, but we get a glimpse into what an actual psychopath’s mind looks like. And honestly, her mind is pretty messed up! While picking up where The Plot left off, we now delve into the devious secret past of the late Jacob Finch Bonner’s widow, and quite frankly her life as a mastermind. The story is smart and undeniably shocking!

Anna Williams-Bonner, the widow of best-selling author and perhaps plagiarist Jacob Finch Bonner whose own life included many demons, has decided she will now write her own book. Afterall, how hard could it be? Although living she is living off her late husband’s royalites, she is quite bored.

And Anna does write a book called The Afterward and lucks out because her publisher is the same as her late husband’s. They were, of course excited to have her.

As she begins her first book tour, some strange things begin to happen. A person comes to one of her book signings and is a bit off to say the least. He seems to know a bit too much about her. Coincidence? Maybe. But when she begins to receive excerpts from a story written long ago in which she thought she had purged every copy of and taken care of the person who wrote it, she realizes there is still a copy out there and she needs to find it and make it and whoever has it go away.

You see, if someone exposes her secret backstory her beloved lifestyle will cease to exist. And she can’t have that! So, she goes on a hunt to find who this person is and make sure she destroys both them and the copy. She believes she has solved the problem, but when another excerpt is sent to her late husband’s parents, well… all bets are off!

Now she knows time is running out and after failing once, she decides she must revisit her sick disgusting past because clearly that’s where the threat is coming from. She is not afraid of killing to keep her secrets …never has been!

As the reader goes on the ride of a lifetime with a true psychopath who feels nothing and cares about no one but herself, we learn her jaw dropping backstory as she tries desperately to justify her life. Who has the last copy and why now are they trying to hurt her?

The Sequel is an entertaining, imaginative, off-putting psychological thriller with shocking turns of events in the life of one very flawed yet happy widow.

Thank you #NetGalley #CaladonBooks #JeanHanffKorelitz #TheSequel for the advanced copy.

Winter Solstice by Elin Hilderbrand

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Winter Solstice is the long awaited (a bit longer for me as it has been on my TBR shelf for a while) finale of Hilderbrand’s Winter in Nantucket/Quinn family series. The story is beautiful, funny, but also heartbreaking yet heartwarming. It’s time to say goodbye to the
Quinn family and discover what they have been up to and where they end up as they prepare for the chaos of another Quinn Christmas at their Inn. Our final one.

Bart Quinn is home from being held captive in Afghanistan but can’t quite seem to get settled back into “normal” life as his life and mind are still back in the war. He’s tried a few jobs, but nothing can even compare with where he was and what he went through. He is certainly depressed and as he thinks about his life lying in bed all day long, Mitzi, his mother decides to throw Bart a birthday party on his Halloween birthday, much to his dismay.

Kevin and Isabelle have a very popular Nantucket restaurant. They also have two babies now and their lives are full of work, family and love. That is until Isabelle witnesses something and her feelings for one of them changes.

Patrick is finally out of prison and once again living on Beacon Hill with his wife Jennifer and their young children. Jennifer is trying to be the breadwinner by working as an elite interior decorator while Patrick begins all over again to form a company. But something happens to Jennifer, and she loses a client and can’t tell Patrick. Perhaps the secrets begin again…

Ava has moved to New York to teach music and be closer to Potter, whom she now believes is “the one”. Of course, we’ve been here before so…

Margaret (Patrick, Kevin and Ava’s mom) who has married is now having an identity crisis. The long-time famous TV anchor feels like it might be time to retire. But to what?

Mitzi is trying to stay strong as health issues have arisen. She just wants one final Thanksgiving and Christmas with the whole family together.

And in an incredibly delightful twist, Hilderbrand has included Eddie and Grace Prancik, characters from a previous book, The Rumor, to join into the festivities as well since the funny Eddie has just come out of prison himself!

In Winter Solstice you will laugh and yes, you will cry at the Quinn family’s attempt to have their last holiday season together, but they all come from strong loving parents and no matter what, will always, always remain family. So, just sit back, enjoy and treasure all these characters we have grown to love and their memories!

Published by Back Bay Books

The Lost House by Melissa Larsen

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The Lost House is an incredible whodunit with so many missing pieces that when the puzzle is finally put together, well you just have to gasp! You will fall in love with the main character, flaws and all and root for her with your last breath! The second character in this story is its location, Iceland. Through Larsen’s amazing writing, you will see the beauty and feel the frozen temperatures. But most of all, this is a twisty thriller you won’t be able to put down!

Agnes has come to Iceland to find out if her late grandfather really did kill his wife (her grandmother, and his infant daughter, her father’s sister). You see, over forty years ago he was accused of murdering his wife and drowning his daughter in the freezing dead of winter. The accusations at the time so undeniable that he took her father, a young boy at the time, and they left their beloved homeland and moved as far away as possible to California.

Agnes never wanted to believe he was a murderer, although her father made no bones about his thoughts. It was the law in their house to never discuss what happened and when she tried, she was always angrily rebuffed. As for her grandfather, he too would never speak of what happened just pleading with Agnes that she will always love him right?

Now, a criminal podcaster named Nora Carver has invited her to Iceland to see the house her grandfather and father grew up in (which is still a notorious place… for parties) and be interviewed and watch as Nora interviews those who are left who witnessed what had happened all those years ago. Her father, upset that she would even consider going, wants nothing to do with her but Agnes has finally recovered from a horrible accident which almost killed her a year ago and her grandfather’s passing still very new convinces her she needs to put all this to rest, whatever the outcome.

As Agnes tries to adjust to not only the freezing snowy weather conditions but also visiting the house and area where the murder took place, she begins to grapple with her still unresolved anxieties. To add to this, she discovers the weekend prior, a local girl disappeared after a drinking party and has not been seen since.

She begins the interviews with Nora and listens in on other interviews from witnesses from many years ago, Agnes starts to lose hope that her grandfather is innocent. She also takes interest in the missing girl’s story and with Nora begins to look into this terrible case which most people believe was either an accident from drinking too much and wandering away or suicide.

But everybody has secrets, including Agnes herself. She is afraid of digging too deep because of her fears coming true, but something feels off and she can’t explain what. The closer Agnes gets, the more frightened she feels. Is she being played? or is she the next victim or in danger? Is this all worth trying to exonerate a dead man?

The Lost House is a “chilling” thriller with an intense plot as well as an incredibly suspenseful story with an imaginative breathtaking backdrop.

Thank you #NetGalley #MinataurBooks #MelissaLarsen #TheLostHouse for the advanced copy.

The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia

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Hold on to your seatbelts! This incredibly exciting book, The Business Trip had me from the very first to the very last page! It did not disappoint. The story will keep you in suspense and your imagination will fly you to unexpected places! The story is filled with unimaginative mistreatment in so many ways, greed, narcissism and secrets…so many secrets.

Jasmine has decided today is the day she leaves her abusive boyfriend before he ends up killing her. He seems to be getting close. Her plan, a year in the making, she now just has to find her way to the airport.

Stephanie works at a television station and is going on a business trip to a convention. She has an older son and is divorced and partly wishes she could get back out into the dating world. This is a quick trip, and she too heads off to the airport.

Jasmine and Stephanie are supposed to be flying to different places, until suddenly they aren’t… something happens, and neither will make it back home.

Although Stephanie does make it to the convention, and continues texting her cat sitter, something happens which makes everyone fear for her safety. Jasmine too is texting but for her it’s the terror of her boyfriend figuring out what she is doing which makes what she types cryptic. Then the texting of one becomes a passionate plea for help. And then nothing from either of them.

Trent McCarthy who is also in attendance at the convention immediately has his eye on Stephanie. You see, Trent thinks he is a lady’s man. But unfortunately, only he seems to think it. He treats women awfully as he feels they are so far beneath him. And very much disliked. A narcissist bully who is clueless to social norms.

But for Trent, these two women’s disappearances will look as if he had something to with them going missing.

The story which uniquely told by all the characters in chapter form is riveting with the ending revelations brilliantly startling! The Business Trip is very messy, suspenseful adventure you don’t want to miss!

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #JessieGarcia #TheBusinessTrip for the advanced copy.

The Examiner by Janice Hallett

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With her new book, The Examiner, Janice Hallett creates an original cross between a thriller, a who-done-it and a spine-chilling genre. The story is told in her usual masterful prose of texts, emails and other social media platforms. This well-crafted imaginative narrative will have you stunned as you read the story and especially as it begins to come together and of course, the absolutely shocking ending!

The Royal Hastings University’s Mulitmedia Art course has six students who the head of the department, Gela Nathaniel has hand chosen for a new innovative class. But unfortunately for her, from what she reads from their texts and emails these “students” have become nothing but a headache!

The class consists of:

Cameron, an executive in marketing.

Patrick, the manager of an art store.

Jem, a recent graduate who is a sculpter.

Johnathan, who assists in running his family’s art gallery.

Ludya, a single mother who is a designer and desperate for income.

Allyson, a well-known artist who is there…just because.

But immediately the reader begins to see the dynamics of the group start to fall apart. At first, they are cordial, but very quickly they seem to begin to turn on each other as to who is not doing enough of the work, or who seems to come and go as they please. Jealousy in its purest form. As artists, they also begin to critique each other’s work, and that too becomes a problem. They are supposed to be working together to an end goal, but that seems unlikely to happen.

As they push towards their final essay and project which will be judged by an examiner, we begin to see the cast of characters in a different light. Each seems to have their own secrets and dislike which then spills over into their work. They also have a group dark secret which no one knows…not even the reader!

We discover Gela has her own secrets. Who are these students? What are they hiding and why? Then, of course they start to turn on each other. This experiment seems to have gotten out of control. No one really seems to be who they say they are and when the truth reveals itself, so one is safe, at least not from each other! It’s every artist for themselves as the final project begins to sink.

The Examiner is a remarkable, inventive, intense story of a group of students and their love/hate relationship which gets them into a great deal of trouble as they begin to fall apart and reveal an astonishing secret.

Thank you #NetGalley #AtriaBooks #JaniceHallett #TheExaminer for the advanced copy.

Life’s Short, Talk Fast 15 Writers On Why We Can’t Stop Watching Gilmore Girls by Ann Hood

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Ok so I must confess when I am depressed, I do watch a few episodes of Gilmore Girls to make me feel better. Something about that show, heals me. I began watching it when it started streaming on Netflix, so I am a late bloomer. It’s like a drug…one or two episodes and I’ve had my fix and can move on.

I have also recently met Lauren Graham who plays Lorelai Gilmore who in real life talks just as fast as her character. And of all the questions I could have asked, I blurted out “who’s the father?” If you know, you know! She looked at me and I thought here it comes! And she said, “I really don’t know.” Dang!

So, when I saw Ann Hood, who is the editor of this book of essays, her brainchild, who also wrote an essay for the book, I ran home and pre-ordered it. What I must tell you though is the book has not been sanctioned by anyone from the show.

For those who love Gilmore Girls, this group of essays will be a delightful treat. Some humorous, but others, quite deep. So, let’s get to some of the essays…

The first essay is written by Ann Hood herself. It is her confession to her and her teenage daughter, Annabelle’s obsession with the show, to this day. They started watching it together at a very low point in Ann’s life. So many things were going on and when she and Annabelle moved to the loft they live in now in Rhode Island, she was depressed and overwhelmed. Enter Gilmore Girls. Once discovered it was a show she and Annabelle watched together while eating dinner on boxes as they began their new life. Sort of like Lorelai and Rory! They loved the deliciousness of Lorelai and Rory’s relationship! The show helped soothe their fears. To this day they still watch episodes and continue to be on opposite sides of the team Logan or team Jess controversy.

Author Nina de Gramont writes an absolutely hysterical essay on the many coats and their colors in which Lorelai wears. She made it her mission to count them. Now, that’s a fan! She also ponders where they all went. Were they donated? Why did she have so many??

One of the most difficult essays to read was Anjanette Delgado’s essay entitled Guilty Gilmores of a Parallel Universe. This essay compared Delgado’s not so happy/troublesome relationship with her own mother throughout the years and wishing? perhaps it could have been more like the Gilmores, and how with her own daughter she tried to have a better relationship, as she did not want to base her own mother-daughter situation on her mother.

Ann Hood’s husband, Michael Ruhlman (as does Ann’s daughter Anabelle Mei) have essays in the books as well. Ruhlman’s titled Digger and Me talks about his total lack of interest in the Gilmore Girls but because he knew this was something Ann and her daughter bonded over, he tried to use the show to get closer to Annabelle and just what it took to get there!

They essays are wonderfully different with very divergent perspectives, and some will even make you wonder about certain situations which occurred. Who would have ever though a show such as Gilmore Girls would have had such an outpouring of interest. If you are a fan, this book of essays will not disappoint!

And by the way, I have once again started the series over again from scratch, just because.

Published by W.W. Norton & Company