HOT READS coming this summer!

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WOW, this book was so good, I immediately gave it five big Goodreads stars. First Born by Will Dean kept me entranced. WOW WOW WOW. Excellent writing, plot, and twists. This is a book that I was sorry to see it end. Now I need to find every book that this author has written and immediately get my hands on them at once.

Molly Raven lives a quiet, structured life in London, finding comfort in security and routine. Her identical twin Katie, living in New York, is the exact opposite: outgoing, spontaneous, and adventurous.

But when Molly hears that Katie has died, possibly murdered, she is thrown into unfamiliar territory. As terrifying as it is, she knows she must travel across the ocean and find out what happened. But as she tracks her twin’s final movements, cracks begin to emerge, and she slowly realizes her sister was not who she thought she was and there’s a dangerous web of deceit surrounding the two of them.

Coming to you on July 5!

 

Tell Me Everything The Story of a Private Investigation by Erika Krouse is a fascinating true story about a woman who became a private investigator for a law firm. This book blends together the author’s personal experiences with her professional life and it makes for a very interesting read. Who doesn’t enjoy a memoir and true crime mashup?

Here’s the scoop:

Erika Krouse has one of those faces. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this,” people say, spilling confessions. In fall 2002, Krouse accepts a new contract job investigating lawsuits as a private investigator. The role seems perfect for her, but she quickly realizes she has no idea what she’s doing. Then a lawyer named Grayson assigns her to investigate a sexual assault, a college student who was attacked by football players and recruits at a party a year earlier. Krouse knows she should turn the assignment down; her own history with sexual violence makes it all too personal. But she takes the job anyway, inspired by Grayson’s conviction that he could help change things forever–and maybe she could, too.

Over the next five years, Krouse learns everything she can about P. I. technique, tracking down witnesses and investigating a culture of sexual assault and harassment ingrained in the university’s football program. But as the investigation grows into a national scandal and a historic civil rights case, she finds herself increasingly consumed. When the case and her life both implode at the same time, she must figure out how to help win the case without losing herself.

Available now!

 

I loved Carola Lovering’s book, Tell Me Lies so I was so excited to get a copy of Can’t Look Away!  It kept my attention from start to finish and left me looking forward to whatever the author writes next.

Here’s what you need to know:

In 2013, twenty-three-year old Molly Diamond is a barista, dreaming of becoming a writer. One night at a concert in East Williamsburg, she locks eyes with the lead singer, Jake Danner, and can’t look away. Molly and Jake fall quickly and deeply in love, especially after he writes a hit song about her that puts his band on the map.

Nearly a decade later, Molly has given up writing and is living in Flynn Cove, Connecticut with her young daughter and her husband Hunter—who is decidedly not Jake Danner. Their life looks picture-perfect, but Molly is lonely; she feels out of place with the other women in their wealthy suburb, and is struggling to conceive their second child. When Sabrina, a newcomer in town, walks into the yoga studio where Molly teaches and confesses her own fertility struggles, Molly believes she’s finally found a friend.

But Sabrina has her own reasons for moving to Flynn Cove and befriending Molly. And as Sabrina’s secrets are slowly unspooled, her connection to Molly becomes clearer––as do secrets of Molly’s own, which she’s worked hard to keep buried.

Meanwhile, a new version of Jake’s hit song is on the radio, forcing Molly to confront her past and ask the ultimate questions: What happens when life turns out nothing like we thought it would, when we were young and dreaming big? Does growing up mean choosing with your head, rather than your heart? And do we ever truly get over our first love?

I enjoyed the plot, the characters, and the pace and I think it’s going to be a big hit when it comes out in June!

 

 

I’ve seen this book all over bookstagram! Isn’t the cover so eye-catching and gorgeous? A Botanists Guide to Parties and Poisons by Kate Khavari is a fun read that combines my favorite genres: mystery/suspense with historical fiction. The author creates a terrific story that pulls the reader into a world so different than right now and I welcomed that!

Synopsis:

Saffron Everleigh is in a race against time to free her wrongly accused professor before he goes behind bars forever. Perfect for fans of Deanna Raybourn and Anna Lee Huber, Kate Khavari’s debut historical mystery is a fast-paced, fearless adventure.

London, 1923. Newly minted research assistant Saffron Everleigh attends a dinner party for the University College of London. While she expects to engage in conversations about the university’s large expedition to the Amazon, she doesn’t expect Mrs. Henry, one of the professors’ wives to drop to the floor, poisoned by an unknown toxin.

Dr. Maxwell, Saffron’s mentor, is the main suspect, having had an explosive argument with Dr. Henry a few days prior. As evidence mounts against Dr. Maxwell and the expedition’s departure draws nearer, Saffron realizes if she wants her mentor’s name cleared, she’ll have to do it herself.

Joined by enigmatic Alexander Ashton, a fellow researcher, Saffron uses her knowledge of botany as she explores steamy greenhouses, dark gardens, and deadly poisons. Will she be able to uncover the truth or will her investigation land her on the murderer’s list?

This book is coming out in June.

 

The Island by Adrian McKinty was pure entertainment! Don’t look too closely at the coincidences like how the family had special skills and knowledge of survival/shooting just sit back and enjoy the ride.

If you are ever traveling and someone randomly offers to take you to a private island to see exotic animals, DON’T GO!  Unfortunately for the characters in this book, they went and with horrific results. Sidenote: I probably wouldn’t last long in this situation.

After moving from a small country town to Seattle, Heather Baxter marries Tom, a widowed doctor with a young son and teenage daughter. A working vacation overseas seems like the perfect way to bring the new family together, but once they’re deep in the Australian outback, the jet-lagged and exhausted kids are so over their new mom.

When they discover remote Dutch Island, off-limits to outside visitors, the family talks their way onto the ferry, taking a chance on an adventure far from the reach of iPhones and Instagram.

But as soon as they set foot on the island, which is run by a tightly knit clan of locals, everything feels wrong. Then a shocking accident propels the Baxters from an unsettling situation into an absolute nightmare.

When Heather and the kids are separated from Tom, they are forced to escape alone, seconds ahead of their pursuers.

Now it’s up to Heather to save herself and the kids, even though they don’t trust her, the harsh bushland is filled with danger, and the locals want her dead.

Heather has been underestimated her entire life, but she knows that only she can bring her family home again and become the mother the children desperately need, even if it means doing the unthinkable to keep them all alive.

What I love about books like this one is that there is no downtime in the reading, it’s just a totally wild ride of suspense and adventure. I guess I’m not the only one who thought so because this book is going to be a series on Hulu! I can’t wait!

Don’t miss this fun book, it’s out on May 17.

 

As a fan of Ashley Flowers’s podcast, Crime Junkies, I was super excited to get my hands on Ashley’s book, All Good People Here. The book pulled me in right away; journalist Margot heads back to her small hometown to help care for her uncle Luke who is suffering from early-onset dementia.

She is also hoping to get closure on a cold case from her childhood when her friend January was killed. Soon after arriving in town, a little girl goes missing and the case reminds Margot of little January. Is there a link between the two? Margot is convinced there is.

Everyone from Wakarusa, Indiana, remembers the case of January Jacobs, who was found dead in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone. Margot Davies was six at the time, the same age as January—and they were next-door neighbors. In the twenty years since, Margot has grown up, moved away, and become a big-city journalist, but she’s always been haunted by the fear that it could’ve been her. And the worst part is, January’s killer has never been brought to justice.

When Margot returns home to help care for her sick uncle, it feels like walking into a time capsule. Wakarusa is exactly how she remembered: genial, stifled, secretive. Then news breaks about five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over, who’s gone missing under eerily similar circumstances. With all the old feelings rushing back, Margot vows to find Natalie and solve January’s murder once and for all.

But the police, the family, the townspeople—they all seem to be hiding something. And the deeper Margot digs into Natalie’s disappearance, the more resistance she encounters, and the colder January’s case feels. Could the killer still be out there? Could it be the same person who kidnapped Natalie? And what will it cost to finally discover what truly happened that night?

I thought this was a solid debut! I liked Ashley’s writing style and I was curious how the cases would intertwine, if at all. I gave this three Goodreads stars, 3.5 would be more accurate because I did enjoy the story but THAT ENDING! WHAT? If you read the book. you will see what I mean.

Definitely get a copy when it comes out in August, it’s really a good read!

 

 

And There He Kept Her by Joshua Moehling grabbed my attention from the first page and did not let go. Hard to believe this is a debut novel! As you can tell from the dark cover, its a thriller/suspense that is perfectly creepy. It begins with two teens breaking into a house in search of narcotics, little do they know the homeowner is there and he doesn’t take kindly to these kids invading his space…. and the story is off and running!

Here’s what you need to know:

When two teenagers break into a house on a remote lake in search of prescription drugs, what starts as a simple burglary turns into a nightmare for all involved. Emmett Burr has secrets he’s been keeping in his basement for more than two decades, and he’ll do anything to keep his past from being revealed. As he gets the upper hand on his tormentors, the lines blur between victim, abuser, and protector.

Personal tragedy has sent former police officer Ben Packard back to the small Minnesota town of Sandy Lake in search of a fresh start. Now a sheriff’s deputy, Packard is leading the investigation into the missing teens, motivated by a family connection. As clues dry up and time runs out to save them, Packard is forced to reveal his own secrets and dig deep to uncover the dark past of the place he now calls home.

Coming out in June.

 

I knew from the description that I had to read Breathless by Amy McCulloch! I love books like this that lead the reader on a nail-biting adventure. Seven people set out for an incredible trip to climb one of the highest peaks in the world, one of them is journalist Cecily who has risked everything to go on this trip. What happens when the challenge takes a deadly turn? Is there any place worse to be than on a mountain climbing expedition when people start dying? YIKES.

Journalist Cecily Wong is in over her head. She’s come to Manaslu, the eighth-highest peak in the world, to interview internationally famous mountaineer Charles McVeigh on the last leg of a record-breaking series of summits. She’s given up everything for this story–her boyfriend, her life savings, the peace she’s made with her climbing failures in the past–but it’s a career-making opportunity. It could finally put her life back on track.

But when one climber dies in what everyone else assumes is a freak accident, she fears their expedition is in danger. And by the time a second climber dies, it’s too late to turn back. Stranded on a mountain in one of the most remote regions of the world, she’ll have to battle more than the elements in a harrowing fight for survival against a killer who is picking them off one by one.

A thrilling, scary, tense, page-turning story that is NOT TO BE MISSED! Coming out on May 3!

 

Are you like me and will always want to read whatever Ruth Ware writes? I just see her name (along with authors Riley Sager, Peter Swanson, Alice Feeny, Megan Miranda,  Julie Clark etc) and just know I have to read whatever it is she writes.

Her latest is called The It Girl. When Hannah heads to Oxford, she falls under the spell of her glamorous roommate, April who seems to be everything Hannah is not. The two of them quickly develop a close circle of friends. And then April is found dead. This sends shock waves through their friend circle that will last for years, well into Hannah’s adult life when she is happily married. And when the man accused of April’s murder dies in prison, old wounds are opened and Hannah reconsiders the idea that the man accused could actually be innocent, so then who really killed April? And why?

Here’s the official synopsis:

April Coutts-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford. Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the second, April was dead.

Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide…including a murder.

I liked this book and was entertained by the story. It wasn’t an OMG THIS IS AMAZING kind of read, as some of Ruth’s other books, and I kind of figured out the plot twist, but I thought this was a solid read and recommend it to those who love a good suspense story!

Out in July!

 

 

If you read and loved Susan Cain‘s book Quiet, then you are going to want to read Bittersweet, How Sorrow and Longing Can Make Us Whole.

It’s a wonderful book that is a little memoir, little self-help and I found exploring the ideas of melancholy, sorrow, and longing to be interesting and somewhat poetic. Ideally, this book should be read with a blanket and cup of tea while the rain beats down on the roof and a gentle fire sizzles in the fireplace.

SYNOPSIS:

With Quiet, Susan Cain urged our society to cultivate space for the undervalued, indispensable introverts among us, thereby revealing an untapped power hidden in plain sight. Now she employs the same mix of research, storytelling, and memoir to explore why we experience sorrow and longing, and the surprising lessons these states of mind teach us about creativity, compassion, leadership, spirituality, mortality, and love.

Bittersweetness is a tendency to states of longing, poignancy, and sorrow; an acute awareness of passing time; and a curiously piercing joy when beholding beauty. It recognizes that light and dark, birth and death—bitter and sweet—are forever paired. A song in a minor key, an elegiac poem, or even a touching television commercial all can bring us to this sublime, even holy, state of mind—and, ultimately, to greater kinship with our fellow humans.

But bittersweetness is not, as we tend to think, just a momentary feeling or event. It’s also a way of being, a storied heritage. Our artistic and spiritual traditions—amplified by recent scientific and management research—teach us its power.

Cain shows how a bittersweet state of mind is the quiet force that helps us transcend our personal and collective pain. If we don’t acknowledge our own sorrows and longings, she says, we can end up inflicting them on others via abuse, domination, or neglect. But if we realize that all humans know—or will know—loss and suffering, we can turn toward each other. And we can learn to transform our own pain into creativity, transcendence, and connection.

At a time of profound discord and personal anxiety, Bittersweet brings us together in deep and unexpected ways.

This is out now!

 

When I saw Nobody by Us by Laure Van Rensburg described as part The Guest List, part The Girl Before, I knew I had to read it! There are two unlikeable characters here, Steven is a professor and Ellie is a grad student. They have headed to a secluded home for a romantic weekend away but each of them has an ulterior motive…

When Ellie and her boyfriend Steven take their first trip together, what starts as an idyllic weekend soon takes a darker turn, as it quickly becomes apparent that each of them harbors secrets—and that one of those secrets is deadly.

Ellie is an NYU grad student, timid but fiercely intelligent, and eager for the perfect weekend away with her boyfriend. Steven is a wealthy and privileged professor at Barnard College. His and Ellie’s relationship has stirred up envy among the teachers in his academic circle.

When they head out for their romantic break, they’re both excited to get to know each other better away from prying eyes. But when a snowstorm strands them in the house, they begin to realize that neither of them is quite who they say they are—and that one of them won’t escape the weekend alive.

This is a very tense and atmospheric read! Out now so go read it!

 

Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach is a dark, coming-of-age story that had me glued to the pages. I always love a story like this that unfolds slowly and just sweeps you up in emotion. This story is a fantastic blend of love and loss,  memories, relationships, secrets, the pain of growing up, grief, and longing. It’s such a good book, and a nice break from the suspense and thrillers that I typically read.

 

The summer before Sally Holt starts the eighth grade begins as a gloriously uneventful one. It’s full of family trips to the beach and long afternoons at the local pool with her older sister Kathy, which they mostly use as an excuse to ogle Billy Barnes, who works the concession stand there. A rising senior and local basketball star, Billy has been an unending source of intrigue for both girls since he jumped off the school roof in fifth grade, and their fascination with him is one of the few things the increasingly different sisters have in common. By summer’s end Billy and Kathy are an item—an unthinkable stroke of luck that ends in an even more unthinkable tragedy.

Set over the course of fifteen years, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is narrated by Sally as she addresses Kathy before, during, and after her death. We watch as Kathy’s absence creates a gaping hole that only Billy—now firmly off-limits to Sally—understands and might possibly begin to fill. Charting years of their shared history and missed connections, Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance is both a breathtaking love story between two broken people who are unexplainably, inconveniently drawn to each other, and a wry, sharply observant coming-of-age story that looks at the ways the people we love the most continue to shape our lives long after they’re gone.

Coming in May.

 

 

Read this synopsis and tell me you aren’t instantly intrigued:

By the time I realized the truth about Daniel it was too late. But the truth about me? He never saw that coming…

Dr Daniel Ashcroft was perfect: handsome, romantic, protective. I thought I was so lucky.

But then I heard the rumors about his previous girlfriend, that she had vanished without a trace. That’s when I found the cameras in my apartment.

I was trapped. Daniel made it clear I couldn’t leave him, not without risking everyone I loved. I had to disappear, so I arranged my own kidnapping.

I should have known Daniel would never let me get away that easily. But he could never have predicted what I’d do next…

 

Make Me Disappear by Jessica Payne was wild! Noelle is a nurse and her boyfriend is a doctor, they work at the same hospital. In the beginning, Noelle is thrilled to have such a wonderful, handsome boyfriend but soon into their relationship, he starts becoming controlling, down to putting cameras in the house. Noelle knows she must get away from this guy but HOW? He is literally watching her every move.

She needs to do something drastic and unexpected. She needs to outsmart the man who has full access to every detail of her life. She needs to disappear…

This is a fun and wild ride of a book! It comes out on May 16.

 

For more book recommendations, new reads, Goodreads giveaways, and what to request from NetGalley and Edelweiss, follow me on Instagram at CindysAlwaysReading