Tag: review

The Really Dead Housewives of New Jersey by Astrid Dahl

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For those Housewife of (name a city) fans, this book should be a must read! It is hilarious, dramatic, filled with hate, deceit, egos and murder. It is so very good! The housewives in the story are composites of some of the real housewives. The most fun I had was trying to piece together which real character each character was based on! The book will catapult the reader into the dizziness of the multiple story lines of these well-developed pretty narcissistic characters with an ending made for television!

Hope Bennett is the newest cast member of the Garden State Goddess cast set in New Jersey. She is also the cousin of the producer of the series. She has recently married another cast member’s brother, Leo. Carmela, the sister of Leo who is an original cast member and known for causing trouble is not pleased with the casting and will make sure Hope knows it every chance she can get.

The saga starts immediately when one of the housewives is found dead. The reader has no idea which, but that sets the story to go back in time which leads up to who the late cast member is.

Thus begins the story of each housewife, their backstory, their secrets, their drinking and drug problems and much, much more! At the end of each chapter, you will get a taste of each member’s “confessional” and what it takes to get something out of each of them.

The story itself is a wild ride you won’t want to get off and the ending will make you feel as if you were in an actual season of Real Housewives where there is hairpulling and lying, shock and horror and make-up and hair and drunk women galore! It was a very fun read!

Thank you #NetGalley #Simon&Schuester #AstridDahl #TheReallyDeadWivesofNewJersey 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-fiancĂ© Spenser and his new fiancĂ©, 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.

Bye, Baby by Carola Lovering

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Bye, Baby is a thriller with secrets galore! You may even find yourself even rooting for the alleged villain and anxious that they will get caught. How many times does that ever happen? You see, everyone who does something terrible is not always someone terrible… even if they kidnap their best friend’s baby!

Billie and Cassie spent every day together since childhood. They know everything there is to know about each other as well as those buried secrets that are never talked about. Deep dark secrets. Billie grew up with a mother and stepfather, not the happiest of childhoods, and had little money. She hated her stepfather. Cassie grew up with a well-off grandmother and based all her decisions on who or what could move her up the social ladder. Now, Bille helps run an elite travel agency and Cassie has married a handsome wealthy man, has a newborn baby and a job as an influencer on social media and an upcoming clothes company which keeps her very busy.

So busy, that for the first time in their lives, Billie and Cassie are not as close as they used to be. At least that’s how Billie feels. Cassie seems to have moved on from their friendship with a brand-new set of upper-class friends, all married with children and enjoys the new lifestyle she has created. The relationship has shifted. Billie feels it, Cassie ignores it. Billie tries to fight for their friendship, but in the end is hurt by Cassie’s lack of attention.

Cassie feels that Billie, who has not been in a relationship in a very long time, should start to look for someone and settle down and start her own family, something Billie is not sure she ever wants to do. But why can’t they just continue to be best friends?

As Billie feels this horrible sense of the loss, she finds out Cassie is having a birthday bash in which she wasn’t even invited to. And then something in Billie snaps and she finds herself doing something totally out of character. She takes Cassie’s baby.

As the story opens, we find Billie looking down at a baby and Cassie screaming her name from somewhere. And this is where the ride of your life will begin. The good, the bad and the horrible.

Told in past and present chapters we slowly learn about Billie and Cassie. We also discover their dark secrets. Ones that could easily destroy both of them. But this means nothing compared to how Billie has just ruined her life.

How did Billie get to this point? Why has Cassie abandoned her? What on earth does she do now that she has committed this terrible crime?

Bye, Baby is an intense story about friendship, jealousy, loss and forgiveness, but more importantly, choices we make in life. Sometimes you must say bye to the past, in order to have a future.

Thank you #NetGalley #St.Martin’sPress #CarolaLovering #Bye,Baby for the advanced copy.

Our Cursed Love by Julie Abe

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Our Cursed Love is an adorably sweet, young adult story which captures the essence of being a teenager in love and all that comes with it. In youth, the journey begins with self-esteem issues, peer and parent pressure, and the learning process of becoming who you want to be. The book especially encompasses first love and all those feelings of awkwardness which can drive any teenager crazy! But in Our Cursed Love, the transformation of the main characters is magical!

Remy Kobata and Cam Yasuda are high school seniors who have been best friends since their childhood. They sometimes know each other better than the other does. But both hold one secret from the other. Remy has deep feelings for Cam and Cam thinks he might be falling for real for Remy. But he is lost at what to do.

As they go on vacation to Japan to meet Remy’s sister and her boyfriend and also for Remy to interview at a prestigious college there, both knowing full well that Cam will be staying in the United States for college and Remy will hopefully get in to this college, this may be the last time for quite a while they will be together. So, they want to make the next six days heading up to New Year’s Eve the best of their lives. But there is an awkwardness between them as they both want to say something to each other, but it just never happens.

As with young adults, they fear their feelings will not be reciprocated. And Remy just needs to make sure Cam is her soulmate before she opens her heart to him. But unfortunately, when she goes to a mystical tea reader, he not only tells her she will never have a soulmate, but she will never fall in love. She is devastated.

But she hears there could be a potion which has been banned by the government that could help her in her search to see if Cam is the one. They take the potion. Unfortunately, it is disastrous! Cam begins to lose all his memories of Remy! And as of now there is no antidote. By New Year’s Eve if they can’t find one, Cam will never remember who Remy was to him.

As they are helped by magical scientist friends, they are in the race of a lifetime. Remy feels like perhaps she really does not have a soulmate, but can she let Cam go? Even if they find a remedy, will they even be together? As the clock ticks down to New Year’s Eve, the pressure is on them. They truly are cursed!

Our Cursed Love is a charming love story filled with humor, magic and real-life teenage dilemmas which will resonate with young readers.

Thank you #NetGalley #WednesdayBooks #JulieAbe #OurCursedLove for the advanced copy.

The Paris Notebook by Tessa Harris

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The Paris Notebook is a fast-paced spellbinding account which is loosely based on historical events in which a German doctor diagnosis Adolf Hitler and through this discovers he is unfit mentally and tries to make this information public in some way before it is too late. It’s a love story as well, but it is also the story of a young woman whose father died because of Hitler, whose mother is mentally ill and she must take care of her, but who finds herself now in the position to assist in stopping Hitler a man she despises. A true and strong heroine, she will stop at nothing to get the information to where it needs to go.

After Katja Heinz’s father dies, she is now left to care for her emotionally unstable mother in Germany during the Hitler regime. She needs the money, but it seems no one will hire her until a psychologist, Dr. Viktor makes her an offer. She is told to transcribe his notes into a notebook about a patient he treated. He tells her she is not allowed to know who the patient is, and she must keep what she is doing secret. She is just grateful for the job.

But, very quickly, it is obvious that this secret patient is none other than Adolf Hitler and what Dr. Viktor has discovered is very important and if Hitler knew what was being typed and there was a notebook they would be hunted down and killed.

And just like that Katja is thrown into a world which she knows nothing about as they try to find someone who will accept the notebook and publish the findings. They must smuggle the notebook into France to meet a journalist, Daniel who works for a paper. Their hopes are raised that perhaps their prayers have been answered. 

But after all that they refuse to publish it and Dr. Viktor and Katja go back to Germany. Except now it seems, Hitler’s men know they are up to something and begin to threaten them and their families.

Soon, Katja is on her own and once again must find her way alone now with the smuggled notebook back to France to once again try and find help. She understands her life is in danger and as she plays a game of cat and mouse and hide and seek with the Nazi’s who are on her tail. She must endure whatever they do and keep going forward in the name of all those she loves and have loved. She and Daniel get close and this is her only salvation.

But what is the end result? As innocent Katja turns into an espionage spy and a heroine who grows stronger with every obstacle they try to throw in front of her, she could possibly lose everything, including her life to put the notebook in the hands of someone who can help.

The Paris Notebook is an exciting romantic spy novel with twists and turns and shocking revelations and a leading lady who is strong, determined and stubborn.

Thank you #NetGalley #HQDigital #TheParisNotebook #TessaHarris for the advanced copy.