Books, Books, Books, and a Cat

This was an edge of your seat thriller which kept me guessing until the end.  Jade has recently been dumped by her boyfriend for her best friend.  She decides to go on her semester at sea trip even though she was supposed to room with Lainey- her ex-best friend.  There is no way Jade thinks that Lainey will show up.  However not only does she show up but she is with her ex-boyfriend as well.  Jade has to find a way to cope so she tries to focus on a new group of friends and tries to find a way to make her ex-boyfriend jealous.  Then the unthinkable happens and someone ends up murdered.  Things go from bad to worse and Jade has to do all she can to try and figure out what is happening.  I really enjoyed this young adult novel.  I could relate to Jade's situation at first having been betrayed by a friend as well.  I loved the action and there were some great twists that I did not see coming.  An excellent thriller that anyone will enj...

Would you move in to a murder house?  Sarah, an online influencer and therapist, thinks that the Black Wood House will be the answer to all of her problems.  The previous owner ended up killing his wife with a hammer and tried to kill his daughter so Sarah was able to get the house for cheap.  With her marriage in shambles and her online presence not drumming up the business like it had in the past; Sarah hopes that by fixing the house with her husband and posting updates both areas in her life will improve.  However there are skeletons in Sarah's past and her neighbors do not want her there.  She starts to get threatening notes, the house seems to be out to get her, and she feels constantly sick.  To top it all off there really seems to be something in the attic.  She hears noises and her cat seems to be telling her to go up there.  Will Sarah survive or will it all fall apart? This is a high intensity thriller that will keep you guessing.  ...

  perfect blend of thriller and horror!  Word of warning though, you may not want to read this when you are all alone and it is dark outside.  Laney owns an isolated house on an island in Lake Superior.  She rents the house out to help make ends meet and her latest renters have called her up to complain that there is blood in a closet.  They are demanding a refund and are leaving immediately.  Laney, a teacher and writer, brings her niece with her to check out what is happening.  When they are almost there her ex-husband and his sister meet her to help find out what is happening.  Once on the island an ex-friend and her brother who happens to be a cop show up.  Things are not what they seem and there is definitely hidden tension among everyone in the group.  Just when they think they may have figured out what is happening a dead body appears.  The situation quickly spirals and secrets are spilled.    This is a must read!...

  A girls weekend gone wrong except there is so much more to this thriller.  Vanessa, a beautiful and charismatic friend died in college.  Now Emily a struggling screen writer wants to turn her story into a screen play but also wants answers.  She gets their friend group together at the winery where Vanessa disappeared to hopefully find out more about what really happened when Vanessa died. The friend group includes, Brittany, the wealthy one, who is set to inherit the winery and is also Vanessa's cousin.  Paige, the former athlete but she always goes along with what Brittany wants.  Finally, Lydia, the one friend Emily is closest to but she does not get along with Brittany.  There is so much drama between them all.   Emily tells the group that they can get some closure however there is evidence showing up in each of their rooms that each one of them might have had something to do with Vanessa's death. To top it off they all seem to hate each...

  This was a fun, sexy rom-com novel.  I loved the whole premise that one wish could show you what your life might have been like.  Gemma has just been dumped by her boyfriend of four years.  In an attempt to cheer her up, her aunt, sister, and best friend, Dax, have a pity party for her and perform a love cleansing spell that works a little too well.  Gemma is transported into a life where she owns her own dream business but her best friend has no idea who she is.  Gemma is horrified that Dax is not in her life so she comes up with a plan to win him back but things go horribly wrong when she tries to meet him and reveals she knows information about him.  Luckily her aunt and sister seem to be the same.  Gemma has to get Dax back in her life if she is ever going to be able to replicate the spell and get back to her own timeline.  However as she gets comfortable in her new timeline she finds that she may not want to return.   I fell ...

  I absolutely adored this time slip novel!  Who wouldn't want an apartment that could bring you seven years in the past where you meet the man of your dreams.  Clementine's beloved aunt has just passed away and now she has inherited her apartment. The apartment has a quirk, it can take you into the past by seven years, however there is no way to control it.  Clementine finds herself traveling into the past where she meets Iwan.  He is handsome, charming, and can cook.  She finds herself falling in love.  The only problem is they are not living in the same time period.  She also wonders where he is in her current time period and why he hasn't come looking for her.  When she does find him he is definitely not the same Iwan from the apartment.  Plus she is at a precipice for her job.  She has a chance for a promotion but is it what she really wants and could her past relationship with Iwan have an impact on her future?  This nove...

  California Golden takes you back to the 1950s and 60s, to the hey day of the California girl and surfing.  The story is about two sisters and their desire to keep their family together.  One aspect I really enjoyed was that the story was told from three different points of view, Mindy the older sister, Ginger the younger sister, and Carol the mother.  Carol only cares about surfing and often forgets about her girls at times.  It is the 1950s and although the standard is to be the perfect housewife she would rather be in the ocean.  Mindy comes up with a plan to keep her mother from leaving them and being forced to go to an orphanage.  She convinces her sister that they have to learn to surf so that they can always be with their mother.  Mindy embraces her new role and becomes an amazing surfer but the weight of trying to keep her family together brings forth a desire to become her own independent person.  The drama continues from there as G...

  Excavations is the type of book that will keep you thinking long after you read it.  Sae is a stay at home mom in Seoul, South Korea with two toddlers.  She is waiting for her husband to come home when she hears the news that the building he worked at had collapsed.  Refusing to believe that he could possibly be dead, Sae searches for answers as to what happened.  While trying to uncover what happens she meets Myonghee, who runs an upscale brothel.  The two of them will uncover that there is so much more to this story and their personal lives as well.   There was mystery and intrigue as well as different ties and connections between characters that I did not see coming.  The setting of South Korea brought a whole new world to life for me as I got a sense of the culture and background of the characters.  This book was very well written and will keep you guessing as to what is going to happen next.  An interesting read that will kee...

  A cute novel about falling in and out of love with a rock and roll twist.  Billy is a single dad who teaches music and lives a simple and happy life.  One day his son who is ready to go off to college is worried that his dad is lonely so he reaches out to his dad's old crush, Margot Hammer.  Margot was a famous drummer but her band broke up many years ago.  Margot and Billy meet and sparks fly but old flames threaten to derail the budding romance.   There were some good moments in this book but overall this book lacked a wow factor. Baltimore was the setting and I liked how the author brought the city to life.  I just wanted a little more action.  I was not glued to these pages and could easily put the book down.  Overall, not a bad story especially if you love a story with a rock and roll theme.  Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for this arc. 

  Historical fiction at its best!!  "The Last Lifeboat"  is a gripping story inspired by actual events of a ship carrying evacuated children being torpedoed during WWII on their way to Canada.  Told from two different points of view, one a mother, Lily, who is trying to keep her children safe, and another a school teacher, Alice, who wants to do something to help the war effort. Lily makes the difficult decision to send her children to Canada.  Alice decides to volunteer to escort the children on board the ship to help them arrive safely.   Little do they know that their lives are going to change in ways they never thought possible.    This is a unique story about survival and courage as not much is out there about children being taken overseas during WWII to escape the war.  I did not want to put this book down as I had to know what was going to happen to Alice and the children in the lifeboat.  A truly remarkable and emotiona...