I keep thinking I am going to slow down with my reading but awesome book after awesome book is published and I just can’t stop!
Are there any genres that you don’t like? For me, I do not gravitate towards science fiction, dystopian, fantasy, anything demonic or gory. I don’t care for romance. If a novel is highly recommended then I will read a legal thriller or police procedural but those don’t really spark an interest.
I do love true crime, thrillers, and suspense, memoirs, and literary fiction. I have a place in my heart for quirky characters too.
Here are some good books for you to read now or add to your TO READ list.
Trophy Life by Lea Geller is a fun, light, humorous novel that is the perfect book to read in between heavier novels and true crime. This is a great book to read in one sitting or over a weekend, its entertaining and you will love Agnes.
For the last ten years, Agnes Parsons’s biggest challenge has been juggling yoga classes and lunch dates. Her Santa Monica house staff takes care of everything, leaving Agnes to focus on her trophy-wife responsibilities: look perfect, adore her older husband, and wear terribly expensive (if uncomfortable) underwear.
When her husband disappears, leaving Agnes and their infant daughter with no money, no home, and no staff, she is forced to move across the country, where she lands a job teaching at an all-boys boarding school in the Bronx. So long, organic quinoa bowls and sunshine-filled California life. Hello, processed food, pest-infested house, and twelve-year-old-boy humor—all day, every day.
But it’s in this place of second chances (and giant bugs), where Agnes is unexpectedly forced to take care of herself and her daughter, where she finds out the kind of woman she can be. Ultimately, she has to decide if she prefers the woman and mother she has become…or the trophy life she left behind.
If you are in the mood for a cute, heartwarming story, grab this one!
Degrees of Guilt by HS Chandler is receiving rave reviews. I am currently reading it and am hooked. I really don’t know which direction its going to turn. I think I know, but judging from the reviews and the synopsis, I am probably wrong.
Once I read this plot, I KNEW I had to get my hands on the book:
When you read this book, you will think you know every twist in the tale.
Maria is on trial for attempted murder. She has confessed to the crime and wanted her husband dead. Lottie is on the jury, trying to decide her fate. She embarks on an illicit affair with a stranger, and her husband can never find out. You will think you know who is guilty and who is innocent. You will be wrong.
If you aren’t sure whether or not you want to read this book, here are just some of the ways readers have described it:
Shocking!
Emotional.
Gripping.
WOW.
Tense.
The reviews are coming in and they are glowing! Almost every reader has given it four or five stars, From what I can tell, only about 20% in, it’s written very well and is gripping, intriguing and I can’t wait to keep reading.
It’s due out on May 16, be sure to order it. If you order it on Kindle, it will show up on the day it’s published.
I have been a big fan of Kate White’s writing since she wrote her first book many years ago. Settling in with her suspenseful novels, you know you are in for a treat. The writing flows, the descriptions are relevant but never over the top, there is always a thread of intrigue that keeps you turning the pages. I don’t particularly love books in a series but I do enjoy Bailey Weggins. Every story is fresh and interesting. If you haven’t read Kate’s previous books, check them out! ALL good!
In Such a Perfect Wife, a beautiful wife and mother goes missing and sets the town in a tizzy. Who on earth could be behind her disappearance? She’d never leave her family. As Bailey Weggins arrives, there are several suspects.
On a sunny morning in late September, Shannon Blaine, a blonde, green-eyed 34-year old wife and mother of two, sets off on a jog along the rural roads near her home in Lake George, New York. It’s her usual a.m. routine, her “me time” after dropping the kids off at school…except on this day she never returns. The residents in the idyllic lakeside town—which is popular with summer tourists—are stunned. Would Shannon have just taken off, overwhelmed with the pressures of being the perfect wife and mother? Did a stranger snatch her? Or could her husband be responsible for her disappearance?
The hot new online magazine Crime Beat wants to cover the case and they hand the assignment to noted true crime writer Bailey Weggins. It doesn’t take long for Bailey to see that the story has fars more facets than she initially realized: a bitter sister, an unfaithful brother-in-law, an evasive deacon, and a creepy motel owner who watched Shannon run every morning. When an anonymous caller reaches out to Bailey and gives her the cryptic clue that Shannon was a “good Catholic girl,” the tip eventually leads Bailey to the grisly discovery of Shannon’s body. And suddenly, based on what else Bailey finds, everything about the case shifts, suggesting that Shannon’s murder isn’t an isolated incident but rather the work of a serial killer with a very specific calling card. Bailey sets out to expose the killer before another woman has to die, including herself.
Usually, I figure out who the guilty party is but this did keep me guessing. A satisfying read!
I am so excited to read Juliet the Maniac by Juliet Escoria. Its a Young Adult novel, which I occasionally like. If its emotional or suspenseful, chances are I’ll be into it.
Here’s what you need to know:
It’s 1997, and 14-year-old Juliet has it pretty good. But over the course of the next two years, she rapidly begins to unravel, finding herself in a downward trajectory of mental illness and self-destruction. An explosive portrayal of teenage life from the perspective of The Bad Friend, JULIET THE MANIAC is a bold, stylish breakout book from an author already crackling on the indie scene.
It might be a difficult, intense read, books about mental health often are, but I’m very curious to get into this story and see how it plays out.
I haven’t been seeing as many memoirs out there lately and this one caught my eye. If you want to win a copy of Out East by John Glynn, head to Goodreads here! This is getting RAVE reviews, people are really loving it and I am eager to get started.
Here’s what you need to know:
They call Montauk the end of the world, a spit of land jutting into the Atlantic. The house was a ramshackle split-level set on a hill, and each summer thirty-one people would sleep between its thin walls and shag carpets. Against the moonlight, the house’s octagonal roof resembled a bee’s nest. It was dubbed The Hive.
In 2013, John Glynn joined the share house. Packing his duffel for that first Memorial Day Weekend, he prayed for clarity. At 27, he was crippled by an all-encompassing loneliness, a feeling he had carried in his heart for as long as he could remember. John didn’t understand the loneliness. He just knew it was there. Like the moon gone dark.
OUT EAST is the portrait of summer, of the Hive and the people who lived in it, and John’s own reckoning with a half-formed sense of self. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, The Hive was a center of gravity, a port of call, a home. Friendships, conflicts, secrets, and epiphanies blossomed within this tightly woven friend group and came to define how they would live out the rest of their twenties and beyond.
How many of us struggle to understand who we are? Its definitely an ongoing issue for so many. I like seeing how people learn about themselves and the process of self-discovery. Plus it’s set on the east coast which I love. Looking forward to this one.
Another novel getting fantastic reviews is Guilty by Laura Elliot. There are so many great thrillers/suspense books out now. You could read one a week and still not get through half of what is out there!
Here’s what you need to know:
On a warm summer’s morning, thirteen-year-old school girl Constance Lawson is reported missing.
A few days later, Constance’s uncle, Karl Lawson suddenly finds himself swept up in a media frenzy created by journalist Amanda Bowe implying that he is the prime suspect.
Six years later …
Karl’s life is in ruins. His marriage is over, his family destroyed. But the woman who took everything away from him is thriving. With a successful career, husband and a gorgeous baby boy, Amanda’s world is complete. Until the day she receives a phone call and in a heartbeat, she is plunged into every mother’s worst nightmare.
This seems very mysterious to me and it could go in many different directions. There are secrets, lies, maybe a cover-up, mistakes…it has all the ingredients for an excellent story! It’s going to be a rainy weekend here, perfect for cuddling with the dogs and reading this book in one sitting!
