Tag: novel

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Pet Sematary by Stephen King- Book Review

Finished this book in the wee hours of the night last night. This has got to be the scariest Stephen King book I’ve read so far. The last quarter of the book had me extremely frightened and arguing with the characters actions. 😂 I really liked the characters, especially Jud. He was my favorite in this story. I do think the Pet Sematary movie made in the 80s did a great job sticking to the book. If you want a great horror/thriller book to read than read this one! Warning you may get scared reading this in the dark but that’s part of the thrill. It’s not as long as some of his other novels and it’s also fast paced. I give this book 5⭐️.

Synopsis:
When Dr. Louis Creed takes a new job and moves his family to the idyllic rural town of Ludlow, Maine, this new beginning seems too good to be true. Despite Ludlow’s tranquility, an undercurrent of danger exists here. Those trucks on the road outside the Creed’s beautiful old home travel by just a little too quickly, for one thing…as is evidenced by the makeshift graveyard in the nearby woods where generations of children have buried their beloved pets. Then there are the warnings to Louis both real and from the depths of his nightmares that he should not venture beyond the borders of this little graveyard where another burial ground lures with seductive promises and ungodly temptations. A blood-chilling truth is hidden there—one more terrifying than death itself, and hideously more powerful. As Louis is about to discover for himself sometimes , dead is better…

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What You Wish For By Katherine Center- Book Review

Thank you to #partner @stmartinspress for gifting me this book! I need a little pep in my year so I’m only reading rom coms in this month and I started the month with this one. Once again @katherinecenter has written a marvelous book with charming characters and a storyline that has a lot of meaning in it. This book made me cry and laugh out loud and I couldn’t put it down. It’s definitely a book to add to your tbr list and put it at the top of the pile. Warning that it does touch on gun violence in schools. This great book will be out July 14th. I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫.


Synopsis:
Samantha Casey is a school librarian who loves her job, the kids, and her school family with passion and joy for living.
But she wasn’t always that way.
Duncan Carpenter is the new school principal who lives by rules and regulations, guided by the knowledge that bad things can happen.
But he wasn’t always that way.
And Sam knows it. Because she knew him before—at another school, in a different life. Back then, she loved him—but she was invisible. To him. To everyone. Even to herself. She escaped to a new school, a new job, a new chance at living. But when Duncan, of all people, gets hired as the new principal there, it feels like the best thing that could possibly happen to the school—and the worst thing that could possibly happen to Sam. Until the opposite turns out to be true. The lovable Duncan she’d known is now a suit-and-tie wearing, rule-enforcing tough guy so hell-bent on protecting the school that he’s willing to destroy it.
As the school community spirals into chaos, and danger from all corners looms large, Sam and Duncan must find their way to who they really are, what it means to be brave, and how to take a chance on love—which is the riskiest move of all.

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The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell- Book Review

When you are sent a copy of Lisa Jewell’s newest book then you drop everything and read it immediately which is exactly what I did. This book takes you down a story of family drama and secrets that will rock you to your core. The beginning was a little confusing because it is told from different characters but once I was understanding what was being told, I couldn’t put this book down. The story completely swallowed me and I was so intrigued by the secrets this family held all from different perspectives that I had to keep going. I read this book in two days and really enjoyed it. I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2. Thank you so much to NetGalley and Atria Books for the ARC in exchange for a review.

Synopsis:

Be careful who you let in. Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she’s been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am. She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London’s fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. Everything in Libby’s life is about to change. But what she can’t possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them. Twenty-five years ago, police were called to 16 Cheyne Walk with reports of a baby crying. When they arrived, they found a healthy ten-month-old happily cooing in her crib in the bedroom. Downstairs in the kitchen lay three dead bodies, all dressed in black, next to a hastily scrawled note. And the four other children reported to live at Cheyne Walk were gone.

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Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane- Book Review

This book beautiful and heart rendering. It dives into the lives of two neighbors Kate and Peter, who have a bond of being born close together and living right next door to each other. Both their father’s are police officers but behind closed doors their lives are very different. Everything changes in one night when the unbelievable happens (not going to say because I don’t want to give too much away). Years later they find each other and build a life together but once again life throws them a curve. I really enjoyed this book although it did take me a few chapters until I really got into the story and then I couldn’t put it down. This story touches so many different emotions and reminds you that everyone has that own problems even if you can’t see them going through it. I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Scribner for this copy to read and review.

Synopsis:

Francis Gleeson and Brian Stanhope, rookie cops in the NYPD, live next door to each other outside the city. What happens behind closed doors in both houses—the loneliness of Francis’s wife, Lena, and the instability of Brian’s wife, Anne, sets the stage for the explosive events to come.


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Run Away by Harlan Coben- Book Review

I’ve heard of author Harlan Coben but this is the first book I’ve read by him. I was give an ARC of this book by Net Galley and Grand Central Publishing in exchange for a review. This was a great quick thriller read with a lot of twists that continued until the end. I felt that is was easy to get into from the first page and really enjoyed the story dynamics. Not only was this book full of action and also had a deep emotional underlying story as well. The storyline was a little hard to follow because I felt as if there were so many characters that I couldn’t quite keep track of everyone where they connected in the story. I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2. It was fast paced but it was also easy to get lost behind all the characters that continued to be presented.

Synopsis:

You’ve lost your daughter.
She’s addicted to drugs and to an abusive boyfriend. And she’s made it clear that she doesn’t want to be found. Then, by chance, you see her playing guitar in Central Park. But she’s not the girl you remember. This woman is living on the edge, frightened, and clearly in trouble. You don’t stop to think. You approach her, beg her to come home. She runs.  And you do the only thing a parent can do: you follow her into a dark and dangerous world you never knew existed. Before you know it, both your family and your life are on the line. And in order to protect your daughter from the evils of that world, you must face them head on.

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Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate- Book Review

Grab a box a tissues and get read to go an emotional roller coaster with this book. I hope that doesn’t discourage you from reading it but this book will definitely pull at your heart strings and to imagine that things like this actually happened to kids is completely mind blowing. This story centers around a little girl name Rill and her four sibling who are kidnapped and put into a brutal orphanage for wealthy families to adopt. This book was well written and difficult to put down because I couldn’t wait and hoped for a happy ending for these sweet children. It’s also so compelling because it’s based off of true events. I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. It was a hard read but also a great one because makes you put yourself in other shoes and see things that go on around that we some times turn a blind eye to.

Synopsis:

Memphis, 1939. Twelve-year-old Rill Foss and her four younger siblings live a magical life aboard their family’s Mississippi River shantyboat. But when their father must rush their mother to the hospital one stormy night, Rill is left in charge—until strangers arrive in force. Wrenched from all that is familiar and thrown into a Tennessee Children’s Home Society orphanage, the Foss children are assured that they will soon be returned to their parents—but they quickly realize the dark truth. At the mercy of the facility’s cruel director, Rill fights to keep her sisters and brother together in a world of danger and uncertainty. Aiken, South Carolina, present day. Born into wealth and privilege, Avery Stafford seems to have it all: a successful career as a federal prosecutor, a handsome fiancé, and a lavish wedding on the horizon. But when Avery returns home to help her father weather a health crisis, a chance encounter leaves her with uncomfortable questions and compels her to take a journey through her family’s long-hidden history, on a path that will ultimately lead either to devastation or to redemption. Based on one of America’s most notorious real-life scandals—in which Georgia Tann, director of a Memphis-based adoption organization, kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families all over the country—Lisa Wingate’s riveting, wrenching, and ultimately uplifting tale reminds us how, even though the paths we take can lead to many places, the heart never forgets where we belong.


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The Last House Guest by Megan Miranda- Book Review

This a summer suspense book that you definitely want to read. I was enveloped into the story from page one and read it in two sittings because I literally couldn’t put it down. I really liked the main character Avery and was intrigued with her story and her friendship with Sadie. I loved all the secrets and twist and turns that this story took me on. I don’t like to compare previous books from Authors because it’s not a series but I had trouble really getting into All the Missing Girls more because of the way the story was told from backward to forward but this book was easy to read and hard to put down. I give the book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. I have already bought The Perfect Stranger by Megan Miranda and I can’t wait to read that one in the future. Thank you too Simon and Schuster for the ARC in exchange for a review.

Synopsis:

Littleport, Maine, has always felt like two separate towns: an ideal vacation enclave for the wealthy, whose summer homes line the coastline; and a simple harbor community for the year-round residents whose livelihoods rely on service to the visitors. Typically, fierce friendships never develop between a local and a summer girl—but that’s just what happens with visitor Sadie Loman and Littleport resident Avery Greer. Each summer for almost a decade, the girls are inseparable—until Sadie is found dead. While the police rule the death a suicide, Avery can’t help but feel there are those in the community, including a local detective and Sadie’s brother, Parker, who blame her. Someone knows more than they’re saying, and Avery is intent on clearing her name, before the facts get twisted against her.

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Kindle or Real Books?

As an avid reader I carry my Kindle everywhere I go because I never know when I’m going to get a few minutes to read. I love buying real books and feeling to weight in hands and that smell of the pages as I flip through the book but I love the convenience of my Kindle. I love that I don’t damage my book while I’m reading it but I feel like I tend to read quicker on a Kindle which is a good and bad thing. So here’s the question for you…are you a Kindle reader or Real Book reader? There is no judgement here. I love both but tend to lean on my Kindle more.

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The Cheerleaders by Kara Thomas- Book Review

I’m a sucker when it comes to a good thriller and this book was absolutely what I love about thrillers. I was on the edge of my seat during this whole story. I couldn’t put this down because I just had to know what happened to all the cheerleaders. While this book is definitely a suspense/thrillers I think it also brought a lot of emotion as well. The main character Monica, is trying to put all the missing pieces together to solve to murder of two cheerleaders, a car crash that killed another two cheerleader and the suicide of her sister, who was also a cheerleader. I loved all the turns in this story and all the answered questions along the way. I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. This book is a must so definitely read it now or add it to your tbr list.

Synopsis:

There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook. First there was the car accident–two girls dead after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know his reasons. Monica’s sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they’d lost. That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders. But for Monica, it’s not that easy. She just wants to forget. Only, Monica’s world is starting to unravel. There are the letters in her stepdad’s desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, a strange new friend at school. . . . Whatever happened five years ago isn’t over. Some people in town know more than they’re saying. And somehow, Monica is at the center of it all. There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn’t mean anyone else is safe.


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The Mother in Law by Sally Hepworth- Book Review

Thank you to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC to read and review. I really enjoyed this book. I felt like the characters were easy to like and the story was intriguing. I really enjoyed the main character Lucy, and felt like she was extremely easy to relate to. She seemed like an every day normal person that has felt like there was a little tension with her in-laws. It was fun to see this story take all the twist and turns and the endings was definitely a surprise which I did not see coming. I give this book ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️. It’s a quick fast pace read that keeps you intrigued the whole time. I will definitely be reading more books by Sally Hepworth.

Synopsis:

From the moment Lucy met her husband’s mother, she knew she wasn’t the wife Diana had envisioned for her perfect son. Exquisitely polite, friendly, and always generous, Diana nonetheless kept Lucy at arm’s length despite her desperate attempts to win her over. And as a pillar in the community, an advocate for female refugees, and a woman happily married for decades, no one had a bad word to say about Diana…except Lucy. That was five years ago. Now, Diana is dead, a suicide note found near her body claiming that she longer wanted to live because of the cancer wreaking havoc inside her body. But the autopsy finds no cancer. It does find traces of poison, and evidence of suffocation. Who could possibly want Diana dead? Why was her will changed at the eleventh hour to disinherit both of her children, and their spouses? And what does it mean that Lucy isn’t exactly sad she’s gone?