Bookish Travels—August 2023 Destinations

I saw this meme on It’s All About Books and thought, I like this!! So, I decided to do it once a month also. Many thanks to Yvonne for initially posting this!!

This post is what it says: Places I travel to in books each month. Books are lovely and take you to places you would never get to. That includes places of fantasy too!!

Bon Voyage!!

Please let me know if you have read these books or traveled to these areas.

Countries I visited the most: United States, England, Scotland

States I visited the most: New York, California, Washington, Montana, Georgia, Oregon

Cities I visited the most: Los Angeles, Seattle, London, Malibu


United States

New York (Burning Lake)
Washington (Bainbridge Island, Seattle, Richland), Colorado (Golden, Denver), Washington D.C., Wyoming (Yellowstone National Park, Mayoworth, Wright), Montana (West Yellowstone Village), Oregon (Portland), South Dakota (Watertown), California (Los Angeles), Arizona (Phoenix), Montana (Glasgow, Fort Peck, Boyd), Georgia (Atlanta)
New York (Brooklyn), Illinois (Chicago), New Jersey (Secaucus)
New York (Belmont Park), Massachusetts (Cambridge)
Pennsylvania (Harrisburg), Maryland (Baltimore)
Maine (Mistletoe)
Connecticut (Clover Ridge)
New York (New York City)
Alaska (Ryba Harbor)
Florida (Daytona Beach)
Colonial Massachusetts (Hinkapee, North Hinkapee)
Idaho, Utah (Bliss)
California (Malibu, Laguna, Los Angeles), Hawaii (Makaha)
Unknown State (East Kent, Samhattan)
Washington (Seattle)
Montana (Big Sky), Washington (Anacortes), California (Los Angeles)
Georgia (Savannah)
Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
Oregon (Bandon)
Georgia
California
Texas (Pleasance)
Ohio (Dayton), California (Los Angeles, Malibu, Santa Barbara)

Australia

Perth

England

Watford
Horwich, Rivington
London
Lyndhurst Heath
Newcastle, London
Colchester, Devon, Ilfracombe
London
Somerset

Scotland

Dundee
Penicuik
Cairnfarn

Vietnam

Saigon, Dong Ha, Da Nang

Outer Space

Jupiter (New Jupiter Station 1, New Jupiter Station 2)

Post Apocalyptic America

Mentis

Bahamas


Greece

Kefalonia

Wales

Tenby

Nigeria

Port Harcourt, Lagos

South Africa

Cape Town

Canada

Vancouver Island (Crescent City)

August 2023 Wrap-Up

Here is what I read/posted/bought in August.

As always, let me know if you have read any of these books and (if you did) what you thought of them.


Books I Read:


Books I got from NetGalley:


Books I got from Authors/Indie Publishers:


Giveaway Winners

Ignite the Magic by Donna Grant


Books Reviewed:

The Shadow Girls by Alice Blanchard—review here (3 stars)

Ride for Glory by Ann Hunter—review here (4 stars)

Gone Tonight by Sarak Pekkanen—review here (3 stars)

The Gullfather: Birdsy Seagull: Vol 1: A Seahawk Situation—review here (4 stars)

Stalking Around the Christmas Tree by Jacqueline Frost—review coming October 17th

Overdue or Die by Allison Brook—review coming October 10th

A Clue in the Crumbs by Lucy Burdette—review here (4 stars)

The Hundred Loves of Juliet by Evelyn Skye—review here (4 stars)

Dark Corners by Megan Goldin—review here (4 stars)

Assault: Girl With a Knife by James T. Hogg—review here (4 stars)

Mister Magic by Kiersten White—review here (4 stars)

California Golden by Melanie Benjamin—review here (4 stars)

A Killer in the Family by Gytha Lodge—review here (4 stars)

Spin a Black Yarn by Josh Malerman—review here (4 stars)

North of Nowhere by Allison Brennan—review here (4 stars)

The One That Got Away by Charlotte Rixon—review here (2.5 stars)

In the Wick of Time by Valona Jones—review coming October 17th

Marry Me by Midnight by Felicia Grossman—review here (4 stars)

Unexpecting by Jen Bailey—review here (3 stars)

One Night by Georgina Cross—review here (3 stars)

The Body in the Back Garden—review here (4 stars)

A Dragon’s Dyne by Brett Salter—review coming September 5th (4 stars)


Reading Challenges:

July

Scavenger Hunt TBR Book Challenge (find a book with the same amount of pages as the last book and read it)—Woman Scorned

Scavenger Hunt (a book translated from another language)—Anxious People

Popsugar Reading Challenge 2023 (a book with “Girl” in the title)—The Fireproof Girl

2023 TBR Toppler (a book over 500 pages)—The Yellowstone Conundrum

2023 Monthly Themes (books in the heat/summer)—What Happened at the Lake

2023 Reading Challenge (a book with a yellow cover or yellow title)—A Worse Secret

2023 ABC Challenge (G)—Girl with No Fingerprints

Romanceopoly 2023! (Adult or New Adult friends to lovers)—Anything for Love

2023 TBR Prompts (longest book on my TBR)—The Needle House

August

Buzzword Reading Challenge 2023 (body-related words: the body itself or body-related works like heart, skin, liver, flesh…etc)—Broken Heart Syndrome

2023 Sami Parker Reads Title Challenge (a book with a wild animal in the title. Common companion animals like dogs, cats, ferrets, fish, snakes, lizards, and horses do not count)—The Wolf Within

Cover Scavenger Hunt 2023 (a heart)—Lost Shadows

The StoryGraph Reads the World (South Africa)—The Warning Bell

The StoryGraph’s Genre Challenge (a nonfiction history book about an LGBTQIA+ issue or person)—Gender Queer

Beat the Backlist 2023 (fairy/folktale you haven’t heard before)—Splintered

Scavenger Hunt TBR Book Challenge (find another book with a title that has the same amount of letters as the last book and read it)—The Beginning

Scavenger Hunt (a book from my least favorite genre that I might like)—the sun and her flowers

Popsugar Reading Challenge 2023 (a celebrity memoir)—Stories I Only Tell My Friends


Books I bought:

Bite Me by Lisa Renee Jones

My Favorite Night by Claudia Burgoa

Tales from a Magical Teashop: Stories of the Tea Princess Chronicles by Casey Blair

Mercury’s Shadow by P.J. Garcin

Sensibly Wed by Kasey Stockton

Runaway Love by Melanie Harlow

Home Game by Lisa Suzanne

Spooning My Chuchunya by Marilyn Barr

Veronique’s Journey by Patti Flinn

The Bond by Robin Kirk

Constantine: A History by Donna Grant

Moon Kissed by Donna Grant

Where Lost Girls Go by B.R. Spangler

One Man by Lisa Renee Jones

Intrigued by Z.L. Arkadie

Shopaholic on a Honeymoon by Sophie Kinsella

Just for Show by Tawna Fenske

When You Return to Me by Dana Morton

The Prince’s Prisoner by Quinn Blackbird

Engelstatt by Samuel Church

Wormwood by D.H. Nevins

It’s in His Kiss by Bria Quinlan

Stay by Chelsea Camaron

Bunny Hearts Bear by V. Vaughn

That’s Why the Lady is a Tramp by Merry Farmer

The Fairy Tale Bride by Kelly McClymer

Duke Looks Like a Groomsman by Valerie Bowman

Il Padrone by Leigh Kenzie

Seaside Sweets by Melissa Chambers

Mystery of the Tea Cup Quilt by Jodi Allen Brice

Herbs and Homicide by Carly Winter

Dancing with Danger by Kerrigan Byrne

Killing Time by K.J. Waters

The Doctor by Nikki Sloane

Gone Tonight by Sarah Pekkanen

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Date of publication: August 1st, 2023

Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Mystery Thriller, Fiction, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Adult, Contemporary, Adult Fiction

Purchase Links: Kindle | Audible | B&N | AbeBooks | WorldCat

Goodreads Synopsis:

Catherine Sterling thinks she knows her mother. Ruth Sterling is quiet, hardworking, and lives for her daughter. All her life, it’s been just the two of them against the world. But now, Catherine is ready to spread her wings, move from home, and begin a new career. And Ruth Sterling will do anything to prevent that from happening.

Ruth Sterling thinks she knows her daughter. Catherine would never rebel, would never question anything about her mother’s past or background. But when Ruth’s desperate quest to keep her daughter by her side begins to reveal cracks in Ruth’s carefully-constructed world, both mother and daughter begin a dance of deception.


First Line:

My mother walks from her bedroom through our tiny living room, her eyes sweeping over our old blue couch and coffee table, before she briefly disappears into the galley kitchen.

Gone Tonight by Sarak Pekkanen

Catherine is ready to leave her mother and start on her own. But, when Ruth develops signs of early Alzheimer’s, Catherine stays home to care for her. She also wants to know more about Ruth’s background. So she starts digging into Ruth’s past. Meanwhile, Ruth is desperate to keep Catherine by her side. To do that, she will do anything to keep her there, including lie. But, as Catherine unearths more of her mother’s past and Ruth tries desperately to keep the truth from her, things start to come apart. What is Ruth hiding from Catherine?

When I read the blurb for Gone Tonight, I knew this was a book that I needed to read. I am a big fan of Sarah Pekkanen and love psychological thrillers. I went into this book with high expectations. I ended the book slightly confused. I don’t know if it was the author’s intention, but I didn’t like it.

Gone Tonight is a fast-paced book. For the most part, the pacing of the book suited the storyline. But there were times during the book when I wished it had slowed down. There was also some lag in the middle of the book.

The main storyline in Gone Tonight focuses on Ruth, her lies, her relationship with Catherine, and Catherine’s investigation into her mother’s past. The main storyline was well-written, and the plotline had a few exciting twists.

The characters in Gone Tonight didn’t impress me. Ruth came across as extremely smothering and a pathological liar. She pushed Catherine into investigating her past. Catherine didn’t impress me, either, but I understood why she did the things she did. All she wanted was answers, and she did get them but at a cost.

The mystery angle of the book was interesting. I liked how the author gave out Ruth’s back story. But, at the same time, I didn’t quite believe it (she’s a known liar). There were a few twists in this angle that did surprise me. There is also the mystery of Catherine and how her mother views her. It is at odds with the Catherine shown, and I did think that maybe Ruth was overthinking things until the end of the book and when Catherine did something that surprised me.

The thriller angle of the book was well written. I was kept on edge by everything that Catherine uncovered, even though Ruth had admitted to it earlier in her journal.

The end of Gone Tonight left me confused. I couldn’t quite figure out what Ruth meant by what she said and what that meant for Catherine. The main storyline was wrapped up, but there was that last comment. Did it mean what I think it means? Or does it mean something else?

I recommend Gone Tonight to anyone over 21. There is violence, language, and fade to black sexual situations.

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press, NetGalley, and Sarah Pekkanen for allowing me to read and review Gone Tonight. All opinions stated in this review are mine.


If you enjoyed reading this review of Gone Tonight, then you will enjoy these books:


Other books by Sarah Pekkanen:

WWW Wednesday: August 2nd, 2023

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Here is what I am currently reading, recently finished, and plan to read from Thursday to Wednesday.

Let me know if you have read or are planning on reading any of these books!!

Happy Reading!!


What I am currently reading:

The Gullfather himself, Birdsy Seagull, rules the roost with a fistful of feathers. And with a little help, but not much, from his ragtag crew: salty-mouthed Joey “One-Wing” Grella, handsome slacker Sammy “Vinny” Gullian, glamorous and dangerous Birdabella, and Birdsy’s well-fed enforcer, “Quack Quack.” They say they’ll stop at nothing to be the top crime birds on the boardwalk, but they pretty much stop at everything — snack time, nap time or any other reason — much to Birdsy’s ire.

In the first book in the series, “A Seahawk Situation,” Birdsy and his crew are at war with the owners of the boardwalk eatery, Zen and Out, after they erect a wooden security seahawk to scare the gulls of Shoretown. Things escalate quickly after One-Wing battles Seymour the Wooden Seahawk and Vinny starts an indoor fireworks display. In retaliation, One-Wing gets birdnapped, and Vinny is almost made into curry, but just when Birdsy has nowhere left to turn, enter Birdabella, the wild card. Will Birdsy remain “king of the boardwalk” or will the humans get the upper hand and start to encroach on the empire he and NonnaBird built?

Piling on the action, silliness and a lot of heart, this oddball family is brought to life in a dynamic, arresting visual graphic novel format. For fans of “Bad Guys,” “Last Kids On Earth” and “Dogman,” the absurd adventures of Birdsy and crew are everything young readers want in a new series.


What I recently finished reading:

Catherine Sterling thinks she knows her mother. Ruth Sterling is quiet, hardworking, and lives for her daughter. All her life, it’s been just the two of them against the world. But now, Catherine is ready to spread her wings, move from home, and begin a new career. And Ruth Sterling will do anything to prevent that from happening.

Ruth Sterling thinks she knows her daughter. Catherine would never rebel, would never question anything about her mother’s past or background. But when Ruth’s desperate quest to keep her daughter by her side begins to reveal cracks in Ruth’s carefully-constructed world, both mother and daughter begin a dance of deception.


What I think I will read next:

Tis the season to solve a murder—and innkeeper Holly White knows she’ll have to make her list and check it twice if she wants to catch the killer in the fourth Christmas Tree Farm mystery from bestselling author Jacqueline Frost.

For inn keeper Holly White, Christmas time in Mistletoe, Maine, is the ultimate holiday gift. Business at the Reindeer Games Inn is booming, her wedding to Sheriff Evan Gray is nearly here, and the annual parade is about to begin. The town is lucky to have another gift this year with the state’s ballet company staying for several performances of The Nutcracker. But disaster strikes when Tiffany, the lead ballerina, shows up dead on a float during the parade, the Rat King’s mask nearby. Holly will have to spruce up her sleuthing skills if she wants to catch the killer before Christmas—and her wedding day.

Immediately, Holly discovers that Tiffany had more than a few secrets. She finds out that the star of the show had a super fan that no one knows anything about. And the show’s understudy slips some other intriguing information Holly’s way: not only was Tiffany secretly seeing someone romantically, but there seems to be more than one rat in this company. When Holly discovers a secret passage leading to Tiffany’s dressing room, with footprints leading out; she wonders if this is evidence of a secret lover—or a stalking killer.

With an impending snowstorm and the ballet company on the way out of town, Holly must act quickly if she wants to find the person responsible for this terrible murder. Will she be able to save Christmas—or will her investigation turn cold like the weather?

Carrie Singleton has a wedding to plan, a killer to catch, and a conspiracy to uncover in this charming seventh novel of Agatha Award-nominee Allison Brook’s Haunted Library mysteries.

Carrie Singleton has more than her fair share on her plate: her job at the Clover Ridge Library, preparing for her wedding to Dylan Avery, and hoping that the local art gallery doesn’t steal away one of her part-time employees. Her fiancé Dylan accompanies her to the beautiful home of Victor Zalinka—art collector and successful businessman—to select paintings for an art show at the library. While Carrie muses that Victor’s home would be the perfect wedding venue, Dylan spots a forgery among the paintings in Victor’s collection.

Then Martha Mallory is found murdered in her art gallery. With the assistance of Evelyn, the library ghost; the resident cat, Smoky Joe; and the office manager of Dylan’s private investigation company, Carrie comes up with a suspect list long enough to rival the size of an encyclopedia. During her investigation, Carrie stumbles across a terrible truth: Martha’s murder was part of something far bigger and more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. And it all leads back to the art gallery.

How far will Carrie go to find the killer and uncover the truth? If the killer finds her first—will Carrie finally be taken out of circulation?

Milly McTaggart leads a double life: competent doctor of psychology by day, deluded hedonist by night. A drug bust at a sex orgy forces a life change and a chance to start again in a new place where nobody knows her. But will her inner demons drive her back on a path of self-destruction? Like Milly Siobhan Russell is pretty and smart. Unlike Milly, she has all the advantages of a loving family. But is she too about to risk everything?

From Perth, Western Australia, to a love story in Scotland and a vicious murder in a cheap motel in London; no relationship is safe, most are troubled. Lies and half-truths are told, the truth often far away, until a startling revelation reveals everything. You will never see it coming.

This is the only crime thriller you will need to read this year.

Winter, I know your ex hurt you, but I’m not him. I can love you; let me…

Winter Bennett is on the worst date of her life, so she decides to bail and go home to her true loves: take out and Netflix. On her way out of the door, she spots her ex-boyfriend with his hot, new girl. Horrified at the thought of being seen, Winter does what any sane woman would do; she bolts into the bathroom and out the back window.

Falling smack-dab in the middle of a sting operation wasn’t part of the plan, but that’s exactly what happened. And now, bullets are flying overhead. Thankfully, a sexy NYPD homicide detective by the name of Wyatt Hunter saves her. He is furious with her for ruining his operation but he’s even more upset when he can’t get her off his mind. Soon he falls for her — hard. Unfortunately, Winter’s heart has been broken and she’s too afraid to let anyone in. Does Wyatt have what it takes to get Winter to give love one more try?

This steamy romance is a roller coaster ride that will make you hot, make you laugh, and even shed a few tears. It’s a full-length standalone novel. NO cheating, NO cliffhangers, and a guaranteed Happily-ever-after! This book has adult content for ages 18 and over.

Sometimes the most picturesque of places can hide the cruellest killer.
Young Billy Jones comes from a notorious family of drunks and thieves. So, when he fails to return home it’s hardly a surprise.
However, when mutilated remains are found it becomes apparent that a savage executioner is stalking the untamed windswept moorland that surround this northern town.
The clues lead DS Lasser directly to the poverty-stricken Radfield family who once owned great swathes of local land.
When another body is discovered, Lasser’s convictions are thrown into turmoil. Someone is playing a vicious game, someone with a burning hatred for the Radfield family.
The body count rises and Lasser finds himself enmeshed in a tangled web of deceit as he tries to unravel the dark, twisted secrets that bind two families. Secrets stretching back over four decades, blackmail and murder reaching out to ensnare the innocent as well as the guilty.

When Helene was young, she dreamed of the perfect man and filled her notebooks with stories about him and about love in its purest form. But after a messy divorce, she has let go of such naive fantasies. She has moved to a small town in Alaska, where she is ready to write her novel and build a new life without romance. Fate has other plans, though.

Helene soon meets Sebastien Montague, a handsome fisherman who is her invented hero made flesh, down to the most idiosyncratic details. But how can a man she created possibly exist in the real world?

While Helene tries to discover the truth behind his existence, Sebastien is determined to keep that truth from her, for he is a man scarred by serial tragedy, hiding a secret that has broken his heart time and again. Yet the shadows of the past emerge, endangering Helene and Sebastien’s future before it even begins–and it becomes clear that it won’t be easy to forge a new ending to the greatest love story of all time.

A woman fleeing her disastrous marriage discovers that she is part of a legendary love story that spans lives, years, and continents in this modern-day reimagining of Romeo and Juliet.

Terence Bailey is about to be released from prison for breaking and entering, though investigators have long suspected him in the murders of six women. As his freedom approaches, Bailey gets a surprise visit from Maddison Logan, a hot, young influencer with a huge social media following. Hours later, Maddison disappears, and police suspect she’s been kidnapped—or worse. Is Maddison’s disappearance connected to her visit to Bailey? Why was she visiting him in the first place?

When they hit a wall in the investigation, the FBI reluctantly asks for Rachel’s help in finding the missing influencer. Maddison seems only to exist on social media; she has no family, no friends, and other than in her posts, most people have never seen her. Who is she, really? Using a fake Instagram account, Rachel Krall goes undercover to BuzzCon, a popular influencer conference, where she discovers a world of fierce rivalry that may have turned lethal.

When police find the body of a woman with a tattoo of a snake eating its tail, the FBI must consider a chilling possibility: Bailey has an accomplice on the outside and a dangerous obsession with influencers, including Rachel Krell herself. Suddenly a target of a monster hiding in plain sight, Rachel is forced to confront the very real dangers that lurk in the dark corners of the internet.

Rachel Krall, the true crime podcaster star of Megan Goldin’s acclaimed Night Swim returns to search for a popular social media influencer who disappeared after visiting a suspected serial killer.

Faythe Wentworth was taught by her father how to fight, and never shies from a conflict, no matter the odds. In her small settlement town, she has learned to always be on guard—especially with the Downing brothers, who threaten her at every opportunity. When Chloe, Faythe’s little sister, is viciously attacked, Faythe, armed with a knife and a burning obsession, is determined to seek vengeance, and bring justice to her sister and her family. But is she prepared to fight the superstitions and injustices that led to her family’s destruction? With compelling characters, strong female narratives, and an unpredictable plot, the Girl with a Knife series will have readers sitting at the edge of their seats until the very last page.

August 2023 TBR

Books for Review:


The StoryGraph Reading Challenge books

Buzzword Reading Challenge 2023 (body-related words in title)

2023 Sami Parker Reads Title Challenge (A book that has a wild animal in the title)

Cover Scavenger Hunt 2023 (a heart)

The StoryGraph Reads the World 2023 (South Africa)

The StoryGraph Genre Challenge 2023 (a nonfiction history book about an LGBTQIA+ issue or person)

Beat the Backlist 2023 (fairy/folk tale you haven’t heard before)

Scavenger Hunt TBR Book Challenge (Find another book that has the same amount of letters as the last book and read it)

Scavenger Hunt (A book from your least favorite genre that you think you might like)

Popsugar Reading Challenge 2023 (A celebrity memoir)

2023 TBR Toppler (A book by a LGBTQIA + author)

2023 Monthly Themes (Books with a setting in Asia)

2023 Reading Challenge (Book in my least read genre)

2023 ABC Challenge (H)

Romanceopoly! (Contemporary romance with an illustrated cover)

2023 TBR Prompts (A feel good book)

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading—July 31st, 2023

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a place to meet up and share what you have been, and are about to be reading over the week. It’s a great post to organize yourself. It’s an opportunity to visit and comment and add to your groaning TBR pile! So welcome in everyone. This meme started on J Kaye’s blog and then was hosted by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at The Book Date.

Jen Vincent, Teach Mentor Texts, and Kellee of Unleashing Readers decided to give It’s Monday! a kid-litfocus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle-grade novels, young adult novels, or anything in those genres – join them.


Personal

Last week, I spent hiding out in the AC. It has been too hot to go outside (the temps, with humidity, were around 105-106). BK did take a vacation day on Friday, and we went to Lake James for a couple of hours. Even there, in the mountains, it was super hot. I can’t wait for the cooler weather!!

Here’s what happened the rest of the week:

  • Miss R had her last lesson at her current barn on Wednesday. Long story short, the lease ran out where her lessons were being held, and they had 3 weeks to move to a different barn. Thankfully, the owner’s mother had a barn with a huge ring close to where I live, and we will be having lessons there from now on.
  • BK and I have been watching Foundation (on Apple TV) and finishing up GoT on Max. I have gotten into Foundation, which surprised me. As for GoT, I don’t exactly like it, but I hate leaving things unfinished. I think we have a couple more episodes left before it ends.
  • I have started back-to-school shopping. We took the kids to get new shoes on Saturday and also went thrifting (which is Miss B and Mr. Z’s favorite thing to do). Miss B and Mr. Z got a bunch of clothes and jeans. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything for Miss R, but I promised her we would go online to buy her clothes. I also ordered Miss R a new backpack, and we got her a new insulated cup at Walmart. All that’s left is school supplies for Miss B and Mr. Z. Miss R’s school has an opinion where you buy a box of school supplies at the end of the previous school year, and it is waiting for the kids on the first day of school. We did that. It cost $65 but also means I don’t have to do that shopping.
  • We have switched Vinnie to sensitive stomach food (dry and wet). The vet thinks he has IBS but wants to try dry/wet food before we start medication. He is doing great on the dry food, but the wet food is an issue. So, I ordered some from Chewy, and it should be here today.

Because of the heat, I only made one dish last week which was the shepherd’s pie. Only one kiddo liked it, with the other two eating it because they were hungry, and I wasn’t making anything else. I also made the banana pudding last week, and the kids loved it.

I am trying not to cook this week (super hot), so I still have the tater-tot casserole and chicken parm to make. I am also not making a dessert this week because of the weather.

So, that’s my catch-up.

Anything exciting or different happen this week? Make anything good this past week, or plan on making it this week? Read anything new? Read anything on this list? Let me know!!


What I am Reading Now:

Catherine Sterling thinks she knows her mother. Ruth Sterling is quiet, hardworking, and lives for her daughter. All her life, it’s been just the two of them against the world. But now, Catherine is ready to spread her wings, move from home, and begin a new career. And Ruth Sterling will do anything to prevent that from happening.

Ruth Sterling thinks she knows her daughter. Catherine would never rebel, would never question anything about her mother’s past or background. But when Ruth’s desperate quest to keep her daughter by her side begins to reveal cracks in Ruth’s carefully-constructed world, both mother and daughter begin a dance of deception.


Books I plan on reading later this week:

Tis the season to solve a murder—and innkeeper Holly White knows she’ll have to make her list and check it twice if she wants to catch the killer in the fourth Christmas Tree Farm mystery from bestselling author Jacqueline Frost.

For inn keeper Holly White, Christmas time in Mistletoe, Maine, is the ultimate holiday gift. Business at the Reindeer Games Inn is booming, her wedding to Sheriff Evan Gray is nearly here, and the annual parade is about to begin. The town is lucky to have another gift this year with the state’s ballet company staying for several performances of The Nutcracker. But disaster strikes when Tiffany, the lead ballerina, shows up dead on a float during the parade, the Rat King’s mask nearby. Holly will have to spruce up her sleuthing skills if she wants to catch the killer before Christmas—and her wedding day.

Immediately, Holly discovers that Tiffany had more than a few secrets. She finds out that the star of the show had a super fan that no one knows anything about. And the show’s understudy slips some other intriguing information Holly’s way: not only was Tiffany secretly seeing someone romantically, but there seems to be more than one rat in this company. When Holly discovers a secret passage leading to Tiffany’s dressing room, with footprints leading out; she wonders if this is evidence of a secret lover—or a stalking killer.

With an impending snowstorm and the ballet company on the way out of town, Holly must act quickly if she wants to find the person responsible for this terrible murder. Will she be able to save Christmas—or will her investigation turn cold like the weather?

Carrie Singleton has a wedding to plan, a killer to catch, and a conspiracy to uncover in this charming seventh novel of Agatha Award-nominee Allison Brook’s Haunted Library mysteries.

Carrie Singleton has more than her fair share on her plate: her job at the Clover Ridge Library, preparing for her wedding to Dylan Avery, and hoping that the local art gallery doesn’t steal away one of her part-time employees. Her fiancé Dylan accompanies her to the beautiful home of Victor Zalinka—art collector and successful businessman—to select paintings for an art show at the library. While Carrie muses that Victor’s home would be the perfect wedding venue, Dylan spots a forgery among the paintings in Victor’s collection.

Then Martha Mallory is found murdered in her art gallery. With the assistance of Evelyn, the library ghost; the resident cat, Smoky Joe; and the office manager of Dylan’s private investigation company, Carrie comes up with a suspect list long enough to rival the size of an encyclopedia. During her investigation, Carrie stumbles across a terrible truth: Martha’s murder was part of something far bigger and more dangerous than she could have ever imagined. And it all leads back to the art gallery.

How far will Carrie go to find the killer and uncover the truth? If the killer finds her first—will Carrie finally be taken out of circulation?

Milly McTaggart leads a double life: competent doctor of psychology by day, deluded hedonist by night. A drug bust at a sex orgy forces a life change and a chance to start again in a new place where nobody knows her. But will her inner demons drive her back on a path of self-destruction? Like Milly Siobhan Russell is pretty and smart. Unlike Milly, she has all the advantages of a loving family. But is she too about to risk everything?

From Perth, Western Australia, to a love story in Scotland and a vicious murder in a cheap motel in London; no relationship is safe, most are troubled. Lies and half-truths are told, the truth often far away, until a startling revelation reveals everything. You will never see it coming.

This is the only crime thriller you will need to read this year.

Winter, I know your ex hurt you, but I’m not him. I can love you; let me…

Winter Bennett is on the worst date of her life, so she decides to bail and go home to her true loves: take out and Netflix. On her way out of the door, she spots her ex-boyfriend with his hot, new girl. Horrified at the thought of being seen, Winter does what any sane woman would do; she bolts into the bathroom and out the back window.

Falling smack-dab in the middle of a sting operation wasn’t part of the plan, but that’s exactly what happened. And now, bullets are flying overhead. Thankfully, a sexy NYPD homicide detective by the name of Wyatt Hunter saves her. He is furious with her for ruining his operation but he’s even more upset when he can’t get her off his mind. Soon he falls for her — hard. Unfortunately, Winter’s heart has been broken and she’s too afraid to let anyone in. Does Wyatt have what it takes to get Winter to give love one more try?

This steamy romance is a roller coaster ride that will make you hot, make you laugh, and even shed a few tears. It’s a full-length standalone novel. NO cheating, NO cliffhangers, and a guaranteed Happily-ever-after! This book has adult content for ages 18 and over.

WWW Wednesday: July 26th, 2023

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

Here is what I am currently reading, recently finished, and plan to read from Thursday to Wednesday.

Let me know if you have read or are planning on reading any of these books!!

Happy Reading!!


What I am currently reading:

A young woman with amnesia falls under the influence of a powerful doctor in Paris’s notorious women’s asylum, where she must fight to reclaim dangerous memories—and even more perilously, her sanity—in this gripping historical novel inspired by true events, from the bestselling author of Wunderland.

“I didn’t see her the day she came to the asylum. Looking back, this sometimes strikes me as unlikely. Impossible, even, given how utterly her arrival would upend the already chaotic order of things at the Salpêtrière—not to mention change the course of my own life there.”

When Josephine arrives at the Salpêtrière she is covered in blood and badly bruised. Suffering from near-complete amnesia, she is diagnosed with what the Paris papers are calling “the epidemic of the age”: hysteria. It is a disease so baffling and widespread that Doctor Jean-Martine Charcot, the asylum’s famous director, devotes many of his popular public lectures to the malady. To Charcot’s delight, Josephine also proves extraordinarily susceptible to hypnosis, the tool he uses to unlock hysteria’s myriad (and often sensational) symptoms. Soon Charcot is regularly featuring Josephine on his stage, entrancing the young woman into fantastical acts and hallucinatory fits before enraptured audiences and eager newsmen—many of whom feature her on their paper’s front pages.

For Laure, a lonely asylum attendant assigned to Josephine’s care, Charcot’s diagnosis seems a godsend. A former hysteric herself, she knows better than most that life in the Salpêtrière’s Hysteria Ward is far easier than in its dreaded Lunacy division, from which few inmates ever return. But as Josephine’s fame as Charcot’s “star hysteric” grows, her memory starts to return—and with it, images of a horrific crime she believes she’s committed. Haunted by these visions, and helplessly trapped in Charcot’s hypnotic web, she starts spiraling into actual insanity. Desperate to save the girl she has grown to love, Laure plots their escape from the Salpêtrière and its doctors. First, though, she must confirm whether Joséphine is actually a madwoman, soon to be consigned to the Salpêtrière’s brutal Lunacy Ward—or a murderer, destined for the guillotine.

Both are dark possibilities—but not nearly as dark as what Laure will unearth when she sets out to discover the truth.


What I recently finished reading:

Celine Bower is a hometown girl living the quiet life and a successful veterinarian. She is twenty-six year sold. Then, she is drugged, kidnapped and gang-raped. The local police seem to be unable to find out who did it. Celine and her best frienddream of ways of getting even with the men responsible for her trauma and the crime. Thoughts of revenge consume Celine. Then a seemingly supernaturalforce gives her a sudden insight into who her unknown attackers are and also where she can find them. Systematically and unknown to anybody, she seeks out the assailants and strikes back viciously seeking her revenge Everyone in town begins to look for the mystery woman committing these acts of vengeance. Can Celine keep her true identity secret while she creates this new vengeful creature? Can she eliminate these predators before her own identity is revealed?


What I think I will read next:

Someone is playing deadly games. Lieutenant Luke Pittman lies in the hospital in a coma after being attacked by one of their own. Veronica Manes, Burning Lake’s most respected modern-day witch, is dead, her murder left unsolved. Natalie Lockhart has become embroiled in a case with threads that become increasingly difficult to untangle.

Now, a new horror is uncovered, one that shocks the town as never before, and the dark, shadowy path forward for Natalie is paved with challenges that haunt her past―Veronica’s unsolved case. Her sister’s traumatic murder. The long-lost disappearance of her old best friend. Natalie’s obsession with finding the truth leads to a twisted, elemental struggle between good and evil―and nothing will ever be the same again.

The woods have secrets.

The trees are carved with curses.

There’s something wicked in Burning Lake.

The Yellowstone Caldera, the most dangerous hot-spot on the surface of the earth, erupts with a series of 11.2 earthquakes and spews volcanic ash high into the atmosphere. Six hundred miles away a 9.45 quake under Puget Sound causes massive destruction to Seattle as a tsunami strikes and destroys most of the waterfront.

The Fort Peck Dam in Montana on the Missouri River fails as does the Jackson Dam on the Snake River. The power grid in the Western United States quickly disintegrates, with utility companies fending for themselves. Power outages reach the East Coast.

The Beginning of the End is a page-turning novel with readers following eight characters as they scramble out of harm’s way on Day One of the Yellowstone Conundrum; everyday people put into extraordinary situations, with the President of the United States and his cabinet scrambling in the background to find how to escape from lose-lose scenarios.

The Columbia Generating Plant on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation suffers great damage and begins a meltdown. Bridges in Portland collapse. Infrastructure in the NW is severely damaged and thousands are killed; Salt Lake City, Boise, Denver and every city, town and village in the Pacific Northwest are affected.

The massive Death Cloud from the Yellowstone explosion sends volcanic ash into the jet stream, which then begins to carry the heavy ash south across Wyoming, over Denver until it catches up with a low pressure system advancing across Texas.

Follow army vet Ray Spaulding as he survives the crash of a WSDOT ferry in the tsunami, then manages to save, then lead a handful of everyday people who rally together to save the Seattle Public Library from destruction by gangs.

University of Washington professor Denny Cain and student Karen Bagley vow to get out of Seattle, only to find themselves in a firefight as the local Seattle gangs attempt to claim the night.

Skier Penny Armstrong fights her inner demons by skiing north toward Billings in an attempt to avoid the Death Cloud.

Long-distance trucker Cameron Hedges is forced to step out of character as he first rescues Betsy Jamison, then convinces an entire town to move out of harm’s way.

Robert and Nancy O’Brien, both up-and-coming managers within the Department of the Interior are separated by their jobs, then by the earthquake and explosion.

The President of the United States must deal with his own Kobayoshi Maru, with a series of impossible lose-lose scenarios as the power grid in the United States collapses.

They went on vacation. Not everyone made it back.

The Palmers went to the lake for a week of fun in the sun. But Alex Palmer had an agenda. He wanted his brother to reconcile with their hypercompetitive father. He wanted his daughter to break up with her shady boyfriend. Most of all, Alex wanted them to be a family one more time before he faced his predicament at home.

Evil incarnate and a brutal double murder shifted Alex’s focus from wants to needs. He needed to keep his family safe. He needed to find her. He needed to know what happened at the lake.

His pastor often said, “God won’t give you more than you can bear.”

This had nothing to do with God.

Buy this twisty page turner to find out what happened at the lake.
Adult language and explicit sexual violence.

Some things, you never tell. Like Brennan’s past. He guards the story of the man he once was with a loyal determination that would make even the most top-secret government agencies proud.

When two NYPD detectives show up on his doorstep one Monday morning, Brennan fears that his perfect, ideal life is coming to an abrupt end. But when the detectives ask to speak with his wife instead, who is allegedly away on a business trip, Brennan comes up with a few questions of his own.

On two specific dates, Brennan has no idea what his wife had been up to. But he knows two innocent people connected to his past were stabbed to death. And he knows the police believe his wife is their prime suspect.

As Brennan comes to grips with his own sins and questionable past, he realizes that the only thing that can save his wife is if he does what he should have done from the very tell her the truth. His truth. But will that be enough? Or is he too late? And what happens when he discovers that his wife might have a worse secret than his own?

Can Alex handle the pressure of stardom?

When Alex scores berths into The Breeders Cup aboard Dreamer’s Song and Venus Nights, she discovers she may have to choose between them. But how can she choose between the filly she brought into the world, and the headstrong colt who is teaching her so much about the sport she loves?

Her kid sister, Gina, isn’t making the choice any easier. The rambunctious 10-year-old is nothing but a distraction, and a danger to the horses themselves. She’s always underfoot and asking too many questions. It’s all Alex can do to keep her wits about her.

Worse yet, Alex is on shaky ground with her feelings for Dejado and Carol. She can’t dare risk being anything less than perfect while the tabloids are blowing up over her skyrocketing career. Every move must be measured. No word can be mistaken.

The world is watching, and the clock is ticking…

Catherine Sterling thinks she knows her mother. Ruth Sterling is quiet, hardworking, and lives for her daughter. All her life, it’s been just the two of them against the world. But now, Catherine is ready to spread her wings, move from home, and begin a new career. And Ruth Sterling will do anything to prevent that from happening.

Ruth Sterling thinks she knows her daughter. Catherine would never rebel, would never question anything about her mother’s past or background. But when Ruth’s desperate quest to keep her daughter by her side begins to reveal cracks in Ruth’s carefully-constructed world, both mother and daughter begin a dance of deception.

The Gullfather himself, Birdsy Seagull, rules the roost with a fistful of feathers. And with a little help, but not much, from his ragtag crew: salty-mouthed Joey “One-Wing” Grella, handsome slacker Sammy “Vinny” Gullian, glamorous and dangerous Birdabella, and Birdsy’s well-fed enforcer, “Quack Quack.” They say they’ll stop at nothing to be the top crime birds on the boardwalk, but they pretty much stop at everything — snack time, nap time or any other reason — much to Birdsy’s ire.

In the first book in the series, “A Seahawk Situation,” Birdsy and his crew are at war with the owners of the boardwalk eatery, Zen and Out, after they erect a wooden security seahawk to scare the gulls of Shoretown. Things escalate quickly after One-Wing battles Seymour the Wooden Seahawk and Vinny starts an indoor fireworks display. In retaliation, One-Wing gets birdnapped, and Vinny is almost made into curry, but just when Birdsy has nowhere left to turn, enter Birdabella, the wild card. Will Birdsy remain “king of the boardwalk” or will the humans get the upper hand and start to encroach on the empire he and NonnaBird built?

Piling on the action, silliness and a lot of heart, this oddball family is brought to life in a dynamic, arresting visual graphic novel format. For fans of “Bad Guys,” “Last Kids On Earth” and “Dogman,” the absurd adventures of Birdsy and crew are everything young readers want in a new series.

December 2022 Wrap Up

Here is what I read/posted in December.

As always, let me know if you have read any of these books and (if you did) what you thought of them.


Books I Read:

Review Coming January 3rd
Review coming January 13th
No Review
No Review
No Review
No Review
No Review
No Review
No Review
No Review
No Review
No Review
No Review
No Review
No Review

Books I got from NetGalley:

Random House—Ballantine Books Widget
Saint Martin’s Press Widget
SMPG Influencer Widget
SMPG Widget
Random House Ballantine Widget
SMPG Widget
SMP Widget
SMP Widget
Wish Granted From Random House Publishing Group – Ballantine
Blackstone Publishing Widget

Books I got from Authors/Indie Publishers:

From AME Publicist
From AME Publicist
From Author
From Authors
From Author
From Author

Goodreads Giveaway Winners

Won Kindle edition

Books Reviewed:

All Dressed Up by Jilly Gagnon—review here

The Prisoner by B.A. Paris—review here

Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz—review here

Little Eve by Catriona Ward—review here

The Villa by Rachel Hawkins—review coming January 3rd

All the Dangerous Things by Stacy Willingham–review coming January 10th

The Sylvan Horn by Robert Redinger—review here

The Split by Sharon Bolton—review here

The Catch by Jenna Miles—review here

The Bodyguard by Katherine Coulter—review here

Cathedral of Time by Stephen Austin Thorpe—review here

Don’t Look For Me by Wendy Walker—review here

Souk Daddy by Antony Curtis—review here

Affinity for Pain by R.E. Johnson—review here

A Wicked Game by Kate Bateman—review here

Son of the Poison Rose by Jonathan Maberry—review coming January 13th

The Bandit Queens by Parini Shroff—review coming January 6th

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Date of publication: March 8th 2022

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Contemporary

Purchase Links: Amazon | Audible | B&N | Apple Books | WorldCat

Goodreads synopsis:

The next electrifying novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author duo behind The Wife Between Us.

Wealthy Washington suburbanites Marissa and Matthew Bishop seem to have it all—until Marissa is unfaithful. Beneath their veneer of perfection is a relationship riven by work and a lack of intimacy. She wants to repair things for the sake of their eight-year-old son and because she loves her husband. Enter Avery Chambers.

Avery is a therapist who lost her professional license. Still, it doesn’t stop her from counseling those in crisis, though they have to adhere to her unorthodox methods. And the Bishops are desperate.

When they glide through Avery’s door and Marissa reveals her infidelity, all three are set on a collision course. Because the biggest secrets in the room are still hidden, and it’s no longer simply a marriage that’s in danger.


First Line:

Ten sessions might not seem like nearly enough time to solve complex therapeutic issues, but according to Avery Chambers, her unique brand of intensive short-term counseling sessions changes lives.

the golden couple by greer hendricks

I am a huge Greer Hendricks/Sarah Pekkanen fan. I have read almost every book they have written, and I am always looking for their newest book. So when STP contacted me to read/review The Golden Couple, I jumped on it. This book was fantastic!! I am happy that I read it.

The Golden Couple had an exciting plotline. Avery is a controversial therapist who has lost her license. She has a ten-session program that she guarantees will change the lives of her clients. Marissa and Matthew Bishop are new clients whose marriage is in trouble. Marissa has cheated and wants to repair her marriage for the sake of their 8-year-old son. But there are more secrets in Marissa and Matthew’s marriage than Avery expected. Who will survive the secrets? And who is hiding the biggest secret of them all?

Psychological thrillers are one of my favorite genres to read. I love having my head messed with, and The Golden Couple delivers on that. There are so many twists and turns in the plotline that I almost had an issue keeping up. That made it so much more delicious to read.

Avery was a very unreliable narrator who operated in a morally gray area. She honestly wanted to help her clients (and did with resounding success), but her methods were unorthodox. I disagreed with how she gathered information on her clients, but hey, if it works, it works. There was a point where she seemed to be coming unraveled, but I loved how the author resolved that. It was perfect!!!

I didn’t care for Marissa at first. She blindsided her husband (and Avery) with the confession that she had cheated. She refused to name who she was cheating with and played victim every time Matthew got upset with her. But, as the book went on, I started to see that she had reason to be paranoid, and my opinion began to change. The only thing I even found fault with, after a while, was that she still refused to name the person she cheated with. At one point, I was like, “Girl, just tell THEM.”

Matthew was an enigma the entire book. I didn’t quite know what to think about him. His actions kept me a little off-center for the whole book. He seemed to love Marissa and was willing to do anything to fix their relationship. But then he would blow up at her. At first, I thought it was normal (he was mad), but it started to ring false to me as the book went on.

The mystery angle of The Golden Couple was terrific. I could not figure out who the mystery man was, but I was wrong about what was going on with Avery. The twists in the plotline took me by surprise. The major twist left me sitting there with my mouth hanging open (I am sure I looked like a fool) and an explosive “No EFFING Way!” coming out of my mouth. Side note: Don’t do that in the middle of the night. It wakes up grumpy husbands and 8-year-olds who don’t sleep very well.

The suspense angle of The Golden Couple was just as amazingly written. I was kept on the edge of my seat, wondering about all different things (some of which I can’t put here because of spoilers).

The end of The Golden Couple was very anti-climatic. There was a minor plot twist that involved Avery. Out of everything in this book, I did see that coming. Still, I liked that it ended on a good note instead of making me wonder “what if.”

I would recommend The Golden Couple to anyone over 21. There is language, mild violence, and no sex.

WWW Wednesday: March 30th, 2022

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words.

The Three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?


Personal:

Nothing too much has been going on here. I’m finally feeling better. Yay!! But now, I have allergies and they suck. The kids are feeling better too. But they can’t miss any more school. They have all missed a lot due to them being sick.

Miss R is going to an ENT next week for the second step in her sleep apnea/PLMD diagnosis. Her sleep study Dr wants an ENT to check and see if her adenoids are enlarged. If they are, she gets them removed and a sleep study to see if she still has sleep apnea. If not, then we get a CPAP machine for her. I am hoping that it’s the first case. I have a feeling that getting her to wear a mask to sleep is going to be difficult.

Mr. Z was worried that he missed out on meeting with the guidance counselor to pick out the classes for next year. He had been out all the week before and she had sent an email stating that she would be there that week. Well, I guess she wasn’t. I got an email saying that she would be at the school next week. So, he’ll get his classes. I can’t wait to see if he’s going to be in any honors classes.

Miss B had a very exciting week last week. She had signed up for her junior year classes and was informed that she qualified to earn college credits for certain classes. I had to look it up and basically, she gets to earn college credits as she does her high school classes. Then she is able to switch those credits to any state-run college and they apply to her major. So, basically, she will be halfway to her Associate’s degree by the time she graduates HS. On top of that, she has to take her Criminal Justice classes. She is taking: Criminal Law, Ethics, Court Procedures, and Introduction to Criminal Justice (which I think is lumped in with Criminal Law). She was also pulled out of class yesterday and told that she got “Most Likely to Make Someone Smile” in the yearbook for sophomore year. She was thrilled. Two of her friends also got awards too (she couldn’t remember what for).

Reading

I am doing OK with my reading. I have gotten stuck on my current book. I hate it when that happens and I am hoping to have it finished tonight (or today!!). I have 2 books that I want to have finished and reviewed by Friday. Then I need to start on my NetGalley backlog (bleh).

Watching:

I finished Curon and wasn’t pleased with how it ended. Right now, I am watching The Chosen One on Netflix. It is a paranormal thriller set in the Pantanal in Brazil. I also have been watching Pieces of Her (American drama), and Invisible City (paranormal set in Brazil) on Netflix.

So, that the catch up with me. As always, let me know if you have read any of these books and what you have thought about them.


What I Recently Finished Reading:

A ghost spirit of dark’s universe falls in love with a ghost spirit of light’s universe, and while they cannot meet, for they wander around separate realms and spacetimes, they live their love through a secret and sacred interaction.

What I am currently reading:

Welcome to Paradise. Daniel’s alchemy has hurtled them 112 years into the future where a mysterious tree-shaped structure rises into the Moroccan sky. Generations have passed, but a culture grounded in ancient Yoruba traditions has sprung up.

Peri must choose between trusting the friendly strangers she meets and following Ayoub, the terrorist-turned-pirate, into the unknown. She fights to keep her family together, but her faith is shaken. Nothing is as it seems.

Caught between two warring factions, the YUS with brain chips and the Natural Resistance Force, Peri must search within herself to discover what truly makes life worth living. How much is she willing to sacrifice for paradise?

What books I think I’ll read next:

Sierra Baker has no idea she’s in danger – until a frightening and unsettling traffic stop late one night. When Cody Parker shows up the next day and announces he’s her bodyguard, she’s even more terrified. Is Parker on the level? Or is this the shadowy stranger who stopped her car the night before?

Her partner Alex assures Sierra the danger is real – the Russian mob is after her. Parker has been sent to protect her. But she and Cody are oil and water. Complete opposites who agree on nothing. Except for their irresistible attraction to each other.
Two against the Taliban, two wildly different agendas — both crazy risky!

Laila’s not the type of woman who needs rescuing. Except for a tiny rule-breaking penchant, she’s a model CIA agent—smart, resourceful, brave, and very very determined.. But right now she’s in a tight situation—in more than one way. She’s hiding from the Taliban in a network of pitch-dark interlocking caves, so narrow a cat could barely thread its way through them. A cat or an agent trained for it.

And that would be Jase, her designated rescuer.

Once her CIA training agent, he’s the last man she’d get involved with, even though he’s the hottest guy she’s ever met. He’s bossy. Intimidating. Way too alpha. And a strict rule follower.

All traits on her ‘no fly’ list.

Set against the tense U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, this rapid-fire tale begins with electrifying action, moves on to fast-flying sparks, and never lets up. Laila’s on the way to Kabul to leave the country, where she also teaches a class of village girls, when her driver betrays her. She outwits him, but it’s only a matter of time till the Taliban track her down.

She’s never been so glad to see Jase.

Romance should be the last thing on either’s mind as they frantically crawl and slither their way through the claustrophobic caves, desperate to find an exit. Still, infatuation sparks.

And smolders.

But neither can afford to take their eyes off their own goals. Jase’s is simple–to rejoin his team and deliver Laila safely to Kabul. But Laila has a more ambitious
agenda, one that will require breaking rules, disobeying orders, and endangering the whole team.
Scarlet’s life is pretty average. Overly protective mom. Great friends. Cute boy she’s interested in. And a father she’s never known – until she does.

When the FBI show up at Scarlet’s door, she is shocked to learn her father is infamous serial killer Jeffrey Robert Lake. And now, he’s dying and will only give the names and locations of his remaining victims to the one person, the daughter he hasn’t seen since she was a baby.

Scarlet’s mother has tried to protect her from Lake’s horrifying legacy, but there’s no way they can escape the media firestorm that erupts when they come out of hiding. Or the people who blame Scarlet for her father’s choices. When trying to do the right thing puts her life in danger, Scarlet is faced with a choice – go back into hiding or make the world see her as more than a monster’s daughter.

Kate McLaughlin’s Daughter is a novel about trying right deadly choices that were never yours to begin with.
Wealthy Washington suburbanites Marissa and Matthew Bishop seem to have it all—until Marissa is unfaithful. Beneath their veneer of perfection is a relationship riven by work and a lack of intimacy. She wants to repair things for the sake of their eight-year-old son and because she loves her husband. Enter Avery Chambers.

Avery is a therapist who lost her professional license. Still, it doesn’t stop her from counseling those in crisis, though they have to adhere to her unorthodox methods. And the Bishops are desperate.

When they glide through Avery’s door and Marissa reveals her infidelity, all three are set on a collision course. Because the biggest secrets in the room are still hidden, and it’s no longer simply a marriage that’s in danger.
Inspired by a true story, this exciting debut explores a mystery about missing girls: When a girl goes missing, does she become the people others imagine her to be?

On December 1, 1946, Paula Jean Welden put on a bright red parka, left her Bennington College dorm for a hike, and vanished into the thin mountain air. Paula Jean’s disappearance captivated the post-war nation, leading to news articles, false sightings, rumors, psychic visions, and a short story by Shirley Jackson. Inspired by this unsolved mystery, quantum girl theory asks: does a missing girl become the person—or even the people—others imagine her to be? Or was she already someone else entirely?

At the center of this brilliant jigsaw puzzle of a novel is Paula Jean herself, now known as Mary Garrett, a clairvoyant with a concealed past, hustling for reward money by searching for missing girls. In 1961, a poster about a missing girl lures Mary to a town in the Jim Crow south, where she discovers that it’s not just one white girl who’s disappeared; two Black girls have vanished as well. With everyone from the white girl’s mother to the local sheriff resenting her presence in town, Mary can’t trust anyone. And then there are the strange visions that come to Mary, a phenomenon she calls “the sight”. As stories appear from other lives Paula Jean might have lived—a circus showgirl hiding from her past; a literary forger on the verge of discovery; a McCarthy–era informant in love with a woman she meets in a Communist cell—a reader may be prompted to ask whether Mary herself can be trusted.

Beautifully written, provocative, and original, Quantum Girl Theory is both a mesmerizing mystery and a startling thought-experiment about people and girls, asking whose disappearances—whose lives—matter, even as it explores the ways we may be haunted by the lives we did not lead. Or did we?
He doesn’t believe in love…

Traveling nurse Janie Atwood has come to Cold River to uncover old family secrets and maybe, if she’s lucky, find a new home. That the gorgeous, glowering sheriff next door thinks her caring for his elderly neighbor is a nefarious scheme is a bonus. Having never been anything but a good girl, Janie finds Zack Kittredge’s simmering suspicion an excellent reason to try being a little dangerous instead…

She doesn’t believe in squandering it…

Sheriff Zack Kittredge is okay with being… intense. He takes his loner status as seriously as he takes his responsibilities to protect Cold River. And he thinks cheerful Janie might be a threat to the town. But the more he gets to know her, the more he faces the truth―she’s brighter than sunshine and he’s like a moth to her flame. When Janie suggests he could use a few charm school lessons, he surprises them both by accepting. He doesn’t need help. But it’s clear he might need her…

Because the only thing hotter than the summer sun in the Rockies is the forbidden passion that burns between them…