I love all of Kristen Harmel‘s books and look forward to starting The Winemakers Wife. This book partial historical fiction with some chapters set in 1940, and others set in the present day. I enjoy books that have dual timelines like this one!
Champagne, 1940: Inès has just married Michel, the owner of storied champagne house Maison Chauveau, when the Germans invade. As the danger mounts, Michel turns his back on his marriage to begin hiding munitions for the Résistance. Inès fears they’ll be exposed, but for Céline, half-Jewish wife of Chauveau’s chef de cave, the risk is even greater—rumors abound of Jews being shipped east to an unspeakable fate.
When Céline recklessly follows her heart in one desperate bid for happiness, and Inès makes a dangerous mistake with a Nazi collaborator, they risk the lives of those they love—and the champagne house that ties them together.
New York, 2019: Liv Kent has just lost everything when her eccentric French grandmother shows up unannounced, insisting on a trip to France. But the older woman has an ulterior motive—and a tragic, decades-old story to share. When past and present finally collide, Liv finds herself on a road to salvation that leads right to the caves of the Maison Chauveau.
Kristen has several other novels available to hold you over until this one comes out. I enjoyed The Room on Rue Amélie and that is available right now!
Order The Winemakers Wife here.
Reading the synopsis of Whisper Network by Chandler Baker, I couldn’t help but think of the movie 9 to 5! But this is not a comedy, its pretty somber and once you get into it – took me a little while- you cannot put it down.
Here’s what you need to know:
Sloane, Ardie, Grace, and Rosalita have worked at Truviv, Inc. for years. The sudden death of Truviv’s CEO means their boss, Ames, will likely take over the entire company. Each of the women has a different relationship with Ames, who has always been surrounded by whispers about how he treats women. Those whispers have been ignored, swept under the rug, hidden away by those in charge.
But the world has changed, and the women are watching this promotion differently. This time, when they find out Ames is making an inappropriate move on a colleague, they aren’t willing to let it go. This time, they’ve decided enough is enough.
Sloane and her colleagues’ decision to take a stand sets in motion a catastrophic shift in the office. Lies will be uncovered. Secrets will be exposed. And not everyone will survive. All of their lives—as women, colleagues, mothers, wives, friends, even adversaries—will change dramatically as a result.
“If only you had listened to us,” they tell us on page one of Chandler Baker’s Whisper Network, “none of this would have happened.”
This novel combines women’s issues (#metoo movement) with suspense and excellent writing with characters you will root for.
I was so excited when I saw that Sarah Jio had a new book coming out and it did not disappoint! All the Flowers in Paris is part historical fiction and partly set in the present day. I always like a book about a character with amnesia and this one starts off with Caroline, getting hit by a truck and losing her memory. Why are people acting weird around her? What did she do that everyone is unfriendly towards her? Just who was she before her accident?
World War II and the Nazi’s have moved into Paris. Celine works at her father’s flower shop and cares for her young daughter. She is growing more nervous as the situation becomes worse and wants to leave Paris before anything bad happens. Of course, something bad happens! I swear, I read Celine’s chapters with my heart pounding! I was so scared for her and her daughter.
This is a must read, I stayed up very late to read the end and no doubt this will be another best seller for the author.
When Caroline wakes up in a Paris hospital with no memory of her past, she’s confused to learn that for years she’s lived a sad, reclusive life in a sprawling apartment on the rue Cler. Slowly regaining vague memories of a man and young child, she vows to piece her life back together—though she can’t help but feel she may be in danger. A budding friendship with the chef of a charming nearby restaurant takes her mind off her foggy past, as does a startling mystery from decades prior.
In Nazi-occupied Paris, a young widow named Céline is trying to build a new life for her daughter, working in her father’s flower shop, and hoping to find love again. Then a ruthless German officer discovers her Jewish ancestry, and Céline is forced to play a dangerous game to secure the safety of her loved ones. But when her worst fears come true, she must fight back in order to save the person she loves most: her daughter.
When Caroline discovers Céline’s letters tucked away in a closet, she realizes that her apartment harbors dark secrets—and that she may have more in common with Céline than she could have ever imagined.
Told from both women’s perspectives, All the Flowers in Paris is an emotionally captivating novel rooted in the resiliency and strength of the human spirit, the steadfastness of a mother’s love, and the many complex layers of the heart—especially its capacity to forgive.
Very good book!
You know how some books are so intense, you need time to recover from the story and the characters? That’s what happened when I read Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane. At first, I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this novel but as I got more into it, I didn’t want to put it down. This is the kind of book where you become emotionally involved with the characters and their lives. You really feel sympathy for them as they go through tough times in their lives and you want to shake them when they make bad choices.
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.
Ask Again, Yes is a deeply affecting exploration of the lifelong friendship and love that blossoms between Kate Gleeson and Peter Stanhope, born six months apart. One shocking night their loyalties are divided, and their bond will be tested again and again over the next 40 years. Luminous, heartbreaking, and redemptive, Ask Again, Yes reveals the way childhood memories change when viewed from the distance of adulthood—villains lose their menace and those who appeared innocent seem less so. Kate and Peter’s love story, while haunted by echoes from the past, is marked by tenderness, generosity, and grace.
This is a wonderful family drama with each character written in a way where you see them as multi-dimensional beings, not just words on a page. Its dramatic and tragic and deals with mental health, dysfunction, love, friendship. Many times books blend together in my mind because I read so much but this one will stand out for me, much the way The Goldfinch did.
MUST READ!
This book is out now and you can get it here.
This one was read in record time. I loved it. Don’t Ever Tell by Lucy Dawson was fast-paced, suspenseful and kept me glued to the pages. I don’t want to give too much away but this is twisty, dark thriller that kept me guessing until the end. Usually, I figure things out but I didn’t see it coming!
Never make a promise you can’t afford to keep…
This is a story about Charlotte – a mother and a wife with the perfect job, the perfect life… at least, that’s how it looks from the outside.
But behind closed doors, the marriage is breaking, and Charlotte’s husband Tris doesn’t even know how much. He has no idea what Charlotte has planned for him, who she has found, why she has hired someone to pretend to be her. But he doesn’t have long to wait to find out…
Don’t Ever Tell will keep you gripped from the very first page and have you guessing until the very last. From the bestselling author of The Daughter and White Lies comes an unputdownable psychological thriller unlike anything you’ve read before!
I always love a good unreliable narrator and what starts out to be a domestic story turns into one of revenge and I loved every second!
I’m only a few pages in but already I can tell Blake Crouch is a skilled author. Maybe I’m the last person on earth to read a book by Blake Crouch? I don’t know why I haven’t read anything by this author sooner but Recursion is a great story to start with.
Here’s the plot:
Memory makes reality. That’s what New York City cop Barry Sutton is learning as he investigates the devastating phenomenon the media has dubbed False Memory Syndrome—a mysterious affliction that drives its victims mad with memories of a life they never lived.
Neuroscientist Helena Smith already understands the power of memory. It’s why she’s dedicated her life to creating a technology that will let us preserve our most precious moments of our pasts. If she succeeds, anyone will be able to re-experience a first kiss, the birth of a child, the final moment with a dying parent.
As Barry searches for the truth, he comes face-to-face with an opponent more terrifying than any disease—a force that attacks not just our minds but the very fabric of the past. And as its effects begin to unmake the world as we know it, only he and Helena, working together, will stand a chance at defeating it.
But how can they make a stand when reality itself is shifting and crumbling all around them?
I typically do not like anything remotely science-fictionish, so I’m not sure if I’m going to love the technology aspect but since one of my friends raved about it, I’m going to give it a whirl. All of my book blogging friends gave it four and five stars so I look forward to continuing the story later!
Due out this week, order here.
The Divorce by Victoria Jenkins offers an interesting premise and setting. The story is told as a couple is in therapy and their secrets slowly come out.
When Lydia and Josh Green walk into Karen’s office for counselling one rainy February morning, Karen sees a couple under stress, almost at breaking point. A husband working long hours at the hospital, a wife working longer hours at home with their young children.
They’re just a normal couple, with normal problems, and Karen is determined to help, but she knows she must be careful. Once in the past, she went too far – her need to fix other people’s lives tipped her over the edge… and someone got hurt.
But the couple won’t open up. And just as Karen begins to feel the couple are hiding a secret darker than the problems of an everyday marriage, she receives something which makes her question her own safety.
With everything she has been through, can Karen trust herself? She needs to listen and she needs to watch Lydia and Josh carefully – there is something there that could be the key to saving them all, if only she can unlock it in time…
As I read this book, I wondered where the story was going to go? What was happening? I knew something was going on with the couple but what, and would Karen figure it out? I’m sure every reader will be asking the same questions as they read this book.
On my To Read Pile is Thin Air by Lisa Gray and I look forward to starting it!
What captured my interest is the potential for this book to be a real page-turner with the description of a woman realizing something sinister happened to her as a child. This is the first in a series featuring the character of Jessica Shaw. I am not always drawn to series but this one might be like the Kinsey Milhone series by Sue Grafton which I really liked.
Here’s the scoop:
Private investigator Jessica Shaw is used to getting anonymous tips. But after receiving a photo of a three-year-old kidnapped from Los Angeles twenty-five years ago, Jessica is stunned to recognize the little girl as herself.
Eager for answers, Jessica heads to LA’s dark underbelly. When she learns that her biological mother was killed the night she was abducted, Jessica’s determined to solve a case the police have forgotten. Meanwhile, veteran LAPD detective Jason Pryce is in the midst of a gruesome investigation into a murdered college student moonlighting as a prostitute. A chance encounter leads to them crossing paths, but Jessica soon realizes that Pryce is hiding something about her father’s checkered history and her mother’s death.
To solve her mother’s murder and her own disappearance, Jessica must dig into the past and find the secrets buried there. But the air gets thinner as she crawls closer to the truth, and it’s getting harder and harder to breathe.
This was an Amazon First pick for May and it’s getting incredible reviews. Read it for free if you have Kindle Unlimited or $4.99 if you don’t.
I always enjoy books where there are multiple characters and a mystery, especially if it takes place at a hotel, resort, cabin and there is a murder! The Last Resort by Marissa Stapley centers around a couples getaway in Mexico, a marriage retreat for couples in need of help. Miles and Grace Markell run this retreat and are picture-perfect in every way. Or are they? As the couples begin their strictly scheduled days, cracks begin to appear and it becomes obvious Miles and Grace have some secrets of their own.
The Harmony Resort promises hope for struggling marriages. Run by celebrity power couple Drs. Miles and Grace Markell, the “last resort” offers a chance for partners to repair their relationships in a luxurious setting on the gorgeous Mayan Riviera.
Johanna and Ben have a marriage that looks perfect on the surface, but in reality, they don’t know each other at all. Shell and Colin fight constantly: after all, Colin is a workaholic, and Shell always comes second to his job as an executive at a powerful mining company. But what has really torn them apart is too devastating to talk about. When both couples begin Harmony’s intensive therapy program, it becomes clear that Harmony is not all it seems—and neither are Miles and Grace themselves. What are they hiding, and what price will these couples pay for finding out?
As a deadly tropical storm descends on the coast, trapping the hosts and the guests on the resort, secrets are revealed, loyalties are tested and not one single person—or their marriage—will remain unchanged by what follows.
This book is a pretty quick read, told from multiple points of view. Remember that movie from a few years ago, Couples Retreat? This is NOTHING like that!
The Liar’s House by Carla Kovach is a continuation of her Gina Harte series. I really liked Her Pretty Bones, I recommend you read that one while you wait for this to come out, I was totally hooked on that story.
Like I’ve mentioned, I am very picky about following a series but I enjoy the Gina Harte books since the mysteries are so compelling and it’s not the same thing over and over again. I like to see a fresh plot, something I haven’t read a million times before!
Here’s what you need to know:
Seven years after Samantha’s disappearance, on what would have been her thirty-fifth birthday, her best friend Diane is shocked to find a letter addressed to Samantha on her doorstep.
Opening the envelope, Diane pulls out a birthday card and a fingernail painted in dusky pink nail polish. The same shade Samantha always wore. The same shade she was wearing the night she went missing.
When police analyze the nail, they don’t get the result they expected. Instead of linking them to Samantha, the nail belongs to another woman, Jade Ashmore. And Jade was murdered the night before the envelope was delivered….
I am looking forward to starting this book and know that once I begin it, I won’t want to stop reading.
Pre-Order now, just $3.99! Less than the cost of a movie ticket and much better!
I was hooked from the first page. At first, I was nervous because it sounds a little like a book I have coming out later this year, but as I read it, I discovered its nothing like mine.
All The Lovely Pieces by J.M. Winchester is a totally fast-paced, gripping story about a woman who is hiding with her young son from her sadistic husband. As she settles into a small town in Missouri, she is nervous to make friends and become a part of the community though that’s what her son desperately needs. There’s a reason she picked this small town and that becomes clear shortly into the story.
As Drew navigates this new place with her son Michael, we read Catherine’s side of the story and what is currently happening with Drew’s husband, Adam. He has Catherine locked up where he can “keep her safe.” Adam has convinced Catherine that Drew was insane. Is she? We don’t really know. Will Catherine be driven to commit a terrible act out of desperation?
Drew has some repressed memories and isn’t sure if she killed Adam or not. She knows she did something to Catherine, didn’t she? This novel has all the elements of a fantastic suspense with a possibly crazy main character, parts of her memory aren’t clear, she thinks her husband is dead but maybe he’s alive.
For nine years, Drew Baker has been running from her brutal husband and the dark deeds of the night she left him. Focused on protecting her ten-year-old son, Drew reluctantly settles into a small town, eager to find proof of her husband’s true nature so she can stop looking over her shoulder.
But Drew is also on the run from her own terrible crimes—ones that mean prison and separation from her son should the police catch up to her before her husband does. If only she could remember that night and what really transpired…
Without warning, the unthinkable happens, and Drew is plunged into the most nightmarish situation a woman and mother could imagine. Desperate to save her child, Drew takes matters into her own hands, proving that anyone is capable of darkness, and nowhere is safe for those who fear themselves.
It’s an intense novel that I highly recommend!
Pre-Order here. Only $3.99!
I love a good true crime story. I was instantly intrigued when I read the title of this book, You Have A Very Soft Voice Susan by Susan Fensten. This is the true account of Susan’s search for her father’s family and spirals into internet stalking and threats.
Here’s what you need to know:
The story begins with Susan Fensten’s online search for her father’s family, a search that soon turns into a two-year frightening odyssey of internet stalking and threats when a posting on a genealogy message board brings her into contact with what she thinks are distant cousins, but what turns out to be a sociopath.
Through email correspondence with her new “family”, evidence of mental illness, dark family secrets, a struggle over wealth and bizarre criminal histories emerge. She quickly becomes the focus of sexual obsession and suspicion, and her life is completely turned upside down. She soon becomes the target of dozens of frightening characters including real verifiable convicted sex offenders in an elaborate cyber-hoax that includes threats of kidnapping, murder, rape, torture and cannibalism.
Remarkable in its complexity, this story of Internet stalking is also a sinister and shocking journal of madness. Described by the FBI as a case “in a category by itself,” This book is a story about the Internet, the search for family, a friendship and a journey into the underbelly of American crime that raises questions about safety online and pushes the boundaries of our perceptions of what is real and what is not.
I like true stories because so often, truth is really stranger than fiction. I cannot wait to get started on reading this.
You can buy the book here, it’s been out for a few months!
