Donna Has Left The Building by Susan Jane Gilman
I really enjoy this author’s writing and loved her novel, The Ice Cream Queen of Orchard Street as well as Undress Me In The Temple of Heaven.
In this book, former punk rocker now wife and mother, Donna runs away from home after discovering something about her husband that changes the course of her life. Jumping in the car and setting off with no particular plan or place in mind, Donna seeks to find answers and gain some perspective.
Forty-five-year-old Donna Koczynski is an ex-punk rocker, a recovering alcoholic, and the mother of two teenagers whose suburban existence detonates when she comes home early from a sales conference in Las Vegas to the surprise of a lifetime. As her world implodes, she sets off on an epic road trip to reclaim everything she believes she’s sacrificed since her wild youth: Great friendship, passionate love, and her art. But as she careens across the U.S. from Detroit to New York to Memphis to Nashville, nothing turns out as she imagines. Ultimately, she finds herself resurrected on the other side of the globe, on a remote island embroiled in a crisis far bigger than her own.
I liked this book and gave it three solid stars over on Goodreads. Due out on June 4.
A Keeper by Graham Norton
I haven’t read any of Graham Norton’s other books so I didn’t know what to expect with this one. Well, I was pleasantly surprised! All I knew about the author is that he’s the hilarious host of a TV show in England. I had relatively low expectations but hoped for a decent story. I was actually blown away how much I liked the book and how amazing Graham’s writing was.
When Elizabeth Keane returns to Ireland after her mother’s death, she’s focused only on saying goodbye to that dark and dismal part of her life. Her childhood home is packed solid with useless junk, her mother’s presence already fading. But within this mess, she discovers a small stash of letters—and ultimately, the truth.
Forty years earlier, a young woman stumbles from a remote stone house, the night quiet except for the constant wind that encircles her as she hurries deeper into the darkness away from the cliffs and the sea. She has no sense of where she is going, only that she must keep on.
This is an excellent novel with the thread of suspense running through it. I especially enjoyed the setting of Ireland, the dual timelines of Elizabeth and her mother, and the feelings of longing and love in each chapter. Now I need to get my hands on Graham Norton’s other books.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Due out in August but out now in the UK.
29 Seconds by T.M. Logan
Because I enjoyed this author’s novel Lies, I was eager to get my hands on this one and it did not disappoint. In the beginning, I was hooked and then I was confused, then curious. In the end, I was turning the pages quickly, anxious to see how it was going to wrap up. This book solidifies the author as one to watch.
Sarah is a young professor struggling to prove herself in a workplace controlled by the charming and manipulative Alan Hawthorne, a renowned scholar and television host. The beloved professor rakes in million-dollar grants for the university where Sarah works—so his inappropriate treatment of female colleagues behind closed doors has gone unchallenged for years. And Sarah is his newest target.
When Hawthorne’s advances become threatening, she’s left with nowhere to turn. Until the night she witnesses an attempted kidnapping of a young child on her drive home, and impulsively jumps in to intervene. The child’s father turns out to be a successful businessman with dangerous connections—and her act of bravery has put this powerful man in her debt. He lives by his own brutal code, and all debts must be repaid. In the only way he knows how. The man gives Sarah a burner phone and an unbelievable offer. A once-in-a-lifetime deal that can make all her problems disappear.
No consequences. No traces. No chance of being found out. All it takes is a 29-second phone call. Because everyone has a name to give. Don’t they?
As you read this, you can’t help but wonder what you would do in Sarah’s situation. A must-read for fans of thrillers and suspense! Coming in September.
The Dead Girl in 2A by Carter Wilson
This one got off to an intriguing starting. The Dead Girl in 2A isn’t about a dead person in an apartment as I assumed but the seat of a plane.
Jake Buchannan knows the woman sitting next to him on his business flight to Denver—he just can’t figure out how he knows her. Clara Stowe isn’t in Jake’s line of work and didn’t go to college with him. They have nearly nothing in common apart from a deep and shared certainty that they’ve met before. Despite their best efforts over a probing conversation, both struggle to figure out what circumstances could possibly have brought them together. Then, in a revelation that sends Jake reeling, Clara admits she’s traveling to the Colorado mountains to kill herself, and disappears into the crowded airport immediately after landing.
The Dead Girl in 2A is the story of what happens to Jake and Clara after they get off that plane, and the manipulative figure who has brought them together decades after they first met.
I figured there was a link between them and definitely someone who planned out their seemingly random meeting. The book is like a puzzle with random pieces that all come together. If you like the themes of childhood, flashbacks, and repressed memories, this is for you!
Due out in July.
I couldn’t wait to read The Two Lila Bennetts by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke! Their book, The Good Widow was an excellent novel so I was thrilled to get a sneak peek at their new book.
Lila Bennett’s bad choices have finally caught up with her. And one of those decisions has split her life in two. Literally.
In one life, she’s taken hostage by someone who appears to be a stranger but knows too much. As she’s trapped in a concrete cell, her kidnapper forces her to face what she’s done or be killed. In an alternate life, she eludes her captor but is hunted by someone who is dismantling her happiness, exposing one secret at a time.
Lila’s decorated career as a criminal defense attorney, her marriage, and her life are on the line. She must make a list of those she’s wronged—both in and out of the courtroom—to determine who is out to get her before it’s too late. But even if she can pinpoint her assailant, will she survive? And if she does, which parts of her life are worth saving, and which parts must die? Because one thing’s for certain—life as Lila Bennett knew it is over.
Told in alternating chapters of Lila’s possible two different lives, it shows how years of bad choices can affect a person down the road. Two possibilities are explored, one is that she is kidnapped and put in a concrete cell, the other timeline where she is free but someone is after her.
The authors managed to keep the quick pace of the story through the different timelines and I was curious how everything was going to come together. I love the idea of seeing how two realities can play out. Do you ever wonder if you made different choices, where you’d be right now? That’s kind of this book. Except Lila is not a good person.
Due out July 23.
I couldn’t wait to read Those People by Louis Candlish when I saw it. I loved Our House and hoped that this would be just as good and it was! I liked the premise, the characters, how the author structured the book and I had genuine sympathy for the people on Lowland Way.
Lowland Way is the suburban dream. The houses are beautiful, the neighbors get along, and the kids play together on weekends.
But when Darren and Jodie move into the house on the corner, they donʼt follow the rules. They blast music at all hours, begin an unsightly renovation, and run a used-car business from their yard. It doesn’t take long for an all-out war to start brewing. Then, early one Saturday, a horrific death shocks the street. As police search for witnesses, accusations start flying—and everyone has something to hide.
This is one of those books where you wonder how you’d handle the situation of terrible neighbors that affect your quality of life. Darren and Jodie are absolute nightmares! I like the characters in the book, everyone is flawed and has problems, like real life.
Put this one on your calendar and read it on June 11.
Loved this one! Forget Me Not by Claire Allan will keep you up late into the night. It did for me.
It’s six in the morning during the hottest summer on record when Elizabeth O’Loughlin, out walking her dog, comes across Clare, a victim of a horrific knife attack, clinging onto life at the side of the road. Clare dies minutes later, but not before whispering her haunting last words to Elizabeth.
When it becomes clear that Clare’s killer has more than one murder on his mind, Elizabeth has to take drastic action or face losing everything. But what if she can’t stop a killer determined never to be forgotten?
There is a connection between the killer and the death of Elizabeth’s daughter but what is it? Clare’s final words keep echoing in Elizabeth’s mind but what can she do? Is someone after her since she is the one who found Clare? Do Clare’s friends know something?
This book is full of secrets, it’s dark and it’s twisty, in other words, it’s a wonderful thriller that keeps you guessing. Due out May 30.
Deliver Me by Karen Cole hooked me from the very beginning. At first, I thought this might be some science fiction, a woman finds out she’s pregnant but doesn’t know how it happened? I was almost ready to put it down and start something else. But then the pieces fall into place and it becomes clear. Or a little more clear, because there are some questions that need to be answered.
When Abby’s doctor tells her she’s two months pregnant she doesn’t believe him. She can’t be – she hasn’t had sex for over a year. But to her astonishment and dismay, multiple tests confirm it’s true.
Desperately searching for an explanation, Abby recalls New Year’s Day – the terrible hangover, the hole in her memory where the night before should have been and the inexplicable sense of unease – and realizes that this baby must have been conceived at her best friend Danny’s NYE party.
Horrified that someone would have taken advantage of her intoxicated state, Abby enlists the help of Danny to find out which of the party guests assaulted her. But, when she starts to receive anonymous messages, it seems that while she has been looking into the father of her baby, someone has been watching her…
This kept me guessing and the ending…wow. This is the first novel written by Karen Cole and if she can write more books like this one, I’ll be happy!
Due out April 18.
If you enjoy southern historical fiction you are going to really like Tomorrow’s Bread by Anna Jean Mayhew. I loved her first novel, The Dry Grass of August, and have been waiting for her to write something else! And now, that book is here.
This book takes place in 1961 in Charlotte. Tomorrow’s Bread is so well written and so generous with details that you feel you are living in the 60’s in the south. Told through the eyes of three main characters, you will be pulled into the story immediately.
In 1961 Charlotte, North Carolina, the predominantly black neighborhood of Brooklyn is a bustling city within a city. Self-contained and vibrant, it has its own restaurants, schools, theaters, churches, and night clubs. There are shotgun shacks and poverty, along with well-maintained houses like the one Loraylee Hawkins shares with her young son, Hawk, her Uncle Ray, and her grandmother, Bibi. Loraylee’s love for Archibald Griffin, Hawk’s white father and manager of the cafeteria where she works, must be kept secret in the segregated South.
Loraylee has heard rumors that the city plans to bulldoze her neighborhood, claiming it’s dilapidated and dangerous. The government promises to provide new housing and relocate businesses. But locals like Pastor Ebenezer Polk, who’s facing the demolition of his church, know the value of Brooklyn does not lie in bricks and mortar. Generations have lived, loved, and died here, supporting and strengthening each other. Yet street by street, longtime residents are being forced out. And Loraylee, searching for a way to keep her family together, will form new alliances—and find an unexpected path that may yet lead her home.
Though I lived in Charlotte many years ago, I never heard of Brooklyn and did not know about urban renewal. Very good book!
This book is out now!
Wow, this one was really good! I was totally hooked and had to finish it, staying up well past my bedtime to see what was going to happen. Don’t miss One More Lie by Amy Lloyd!
Charlotte wants to start fresh. She wants to forget her past, forget prison and, most of all, forget Sean. But old habits die hard. Despite the ankle monitor she must wear as part of her parole agreement and frequent visits to her therapist, she soon finds herself sliding back toward the type of behavior that sent her to prison in the first place. The further down that path she goes, however, the closer she gets to the crime that put her in prison all those years ago. And that’s the one memory she can’t face. Until, one day, Sean tracks her down.
I do enjoy an unreliable narrator and this book definitely had one. Charlotte doesn’t really know how to behave in society since she’s spent years locked up due to a crime committed when she was younger, a terrible crime that she doesn’t remember committing. Something in her mind won’t release the memory and she doesn’t know exactly what happened.
But she’s paid her dues and served her time, as long as she does what she is supposed to, everything will be fine. All she has to do is stay out of trouble and stay away from Sean, her childhood best friend who was part of what put her in jail in the first place. I kept wondering what happened, what horrendous thing did Charlotte and Sean do? And why? I kept reading and reading as the clues were dropped until the final chapter which blew me away.
Excellent pace, tension, suspense. Due out May 28.
We Were Killers Once by Becky Masterman is book #4 in a series but it can be read as a stand-alone. When I am picking out books, I look for a unique plot, something I haven’t seen a million times before and I was intrigued by this one.
In 1959, a family of four were brutally murdered in Holcomb, Kansas. Perry Smith and Dick Hickok were convicted and executed for the crime, and the murders and their investigation and solution became the subject of Truman Capote’s masterpiece, In Cold Blood. But what if there was a third killer, who remained unknown? What if there was another family, also murdered, who crossed paths with this band of killers, though their murder remains unsolved? And what if Dick Hickok left a written confession, explaining everything?
Retired FBI agent Brigid Quinn and her husband Carlo, a former priest and university professor, are trying to enjoy each other in this new stage in their lives. But a memento from Carlo’s days as a prison chaplain–a handwritten document hidden away undetected in a box of Carlo’s old things–has become a target for a man on the run from his past. Jerry Beaufort has just been released from prison after decades behind bars, and though he’d like to get on with living the rest of his life, he knows that somewhere there is a written record of the time he spent with two killers in 1959. Following the path of this letter will bring Jerry into contact with the last person he’ll see as a threat: Brigid Quinn.
This gritty story is told from two different points that of Brigid and Jeremiah Beaufort. It’s a chilling, sinister read.
Due out June 4.
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