Top Ten Books You Need to Read 2019

 

Taylor Jenkins Reid’s eagerly anticipated novel, Daisy Jones & The Six is getting rave reviews from book bloggers and I KNOW you will love it too. The cover is absolute perfection. I know you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover but…this one is fabulous.

The story centers around a band in the 1970s, a great era for music.  Though the band is not real, it sure feels like it is, reminding me a little of Fleetwood Mac. The author does a wonderful job of telling the story through a series of interviews.

Here’s the synopsis:

Everyone knows Daisy Jones & The Six, but nobody knows the reason behind their split at the absolute height of their popularity . . . until now.

Daisy is a girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaking into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeping with rock stars, and dreaming of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock and roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is The Six, a band led by the brooding Billy Dunne. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road.

Daisy and Billy cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

The making of that legend is chronicled in this riveting and unforgettable novel, written as an oral history of one of the biggest bands of the seventies. Taylor Jenkins Reid is a talented writer who takes her work to a new level with Daisy Jones & The Six, brilliantly capturing a place and time in an utterly distinctive voice.

 

I recently learned that this book is set to become a thirteen-part series from Reese Witherspoon’s production company.  Read the book first!

Daisy Jones & The Six is due out on March 5,  2019.

 

 

I couldn’t wait to get my book loving hands on Waisted by Randy Susan Meyers. Once I got an advanced copy to review, I cleared my schedule so I could read this.

The premise is so fun and relatable. Take a look:

Daphne, the plump one in a family of model-thin women, learned early on that slimness earns admiration. Alice, skinny when she met her husband, now risks losing her marriage if she gains any more weight. Though both are successful working mothers, they harbor a secret: an obsession with their weight that overshadows concerns about their children, husbands, work—and everything else of importance in their lives.

That’s where Privation comes in. Located in a remote Vermont mansion, the program promises fast, dramatic weight loss and Alice, Daphne, and five other women, are desperate enough to try it. They’ve left behind their families for this once in a lifetime opportunity. The catch? They must agree to being filmed; afterwards, the world will see Waisted: The Documentary.

Alice and Daphne soon discover, however, that the filmmakers have trapped them in a cruel experiment to test how far they will go to drop weight. With each pound lost, they edge deeper into obsession and instability…until they decide to take matters into their own hands.

 

For these seven women, heading to a fat camp might help them turn their problems around. Each woman has her own issues to deal with and they are eager to lose weight. Everything seems wonderful, simply head to a camp and lose the extra weight. But what if you were secretly filmed for a reality show? The camp isn’t a luxury retreat, it’s more like a prison and the women are not pampered, they are treated with cruelty.

Waisted is fiction but how the author writes about the characters and their feelings about their bodies and rings very true.

Due out May 21, 2019

 

 

Do you love a good story that is steeped in history? I sure do! You will love The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen. 

Here’s what you need to know:

As the Great War continues to take its toll, headstrong twenty-one-year-old Emily Bryce is determined to contribute to the war effort. She is convinced by a cheeky and handsome Australian pilot that she can do more, and it is not long before she falls in love with him and accepts his proposal of marriage.

When he is sent back to the front, Emily volunteers as a “land girl,” tending to the neglected grounds of a large Devonshire estate. It’s here that Emily discovers the long-forgotten journals of a medicine woman who devoted her life to her herbal garden. The journals inspire Emily, and in the wake of devastating news, they are her saving grace. Emily’s lover has not only died a hero but has left her terrified—and with child. Since no one knows that Emily was never married, she adopts the charade of a war widow.

As Emily learns more about the volatile power of healing with herbs, the found journals will bring her to the brink of disaster but may open a path to her destiny.

 

This was so well written and I loved every page of the story. The characters were well rounded, their struggles and hardships along with the elements of friendship were successfully braided together to create a remarkable novel. I know The Victory Garden will be very popular when it comes out in February 2019.

 

 

House on Fire by Bonnie Kistler is a novel that centers around a family drama. It was described as a book for those who are fans of Jodi Picoult and Celeste Ng, which I am!

Here’s what you need to know:

Divorce lawyer Leigh Huyett knows all too well that most second marriages are doomed to fail. But five years in, she and Pete Conley have a perfectly blended family of her children and his. To celebrate their anniversary, they grab some precious moments of alone time and leave Pete’s son Kip, a high school senior, in charge of Leigh’s fourteen-year-old daughter Chrissy at their home.

Driving back on a rainy Friday night, their cell phones start ringing. After a raucous party celebrating his college acceptance to Duke and his upcoming birthday, Kip was arrested for drunk driving after his truck crashed into a tree. And he wasn’t alone—Chrissy was with him.

Twelve hours later, Chrissy is dead and Kip is charged with manslaughter.

Kip has always been a notorious troublemaker, but he’s also a star student with a dazzling future ahead of him. At first, Leigh does her best to rally behind Pete and help Kip through his ordeal. Until he changes his story, and claims that he wasn’t driving after all—Chrissy was, and he swears there is a witness.

Leigh is stunned that he would lie about such a thing, while Pete clutches onto the story as the last, best hope to save his son, throwing his energy and money into finding this elusive witness. As they hurtle toward Kip’s trial date, husband and wife are torn between loyalty to their children and to each other, while the mystery of what really happened that night intensifies.

This one sounds intense and I look forward to starting it soon. Due out on March 12, 2019

 

 

Did you read Force of Nature or The Dry? I read both of those novels written by Jane Harper and really liked them. She is an incredibly gifted writer and I was beyond thrilled to see The Lost Man. Whenever an author I like comes out with a new book,  its like Christmas morning for me!

I wish I had more time in my days to read because there is nothing better than curling up with a good book, day or night.  Because I enjoyed Jane’s other books and her atmospheric writing, I know I will devour this one.

Here’s what you’ll want to know about this novel:

They are at the stockman’s grave, a landmark so old, no one can remember who is buried there. But today, the scant shadow it casts was the last hope for their middle brother, Cameron. The Bright family’s quiet existence is thrown into grief and anguish. Something had been troubling Cameron. Did he lose hope and walk to his death? Because if he didn’t, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects…

Jane Harper’s previous novels centered around detective Aaron Falk, I thought this one was part of the series but it is a stand alone.  It takes place in Australia and I know from her other books that the authors writing will take the reader to the outback with incredibly vivid descriptions. I am super excited!

Due out in February 2019.

 

Not so long ago I wrote a blog post about authors I liked who never wrote much past a few books and Lolly Winston was one of those authors I mentioned. I am glad to see that she has written a new book which will be out in March 2019. Lolly, where have you been since writing Good Grief (this book was sad, funny, charming, heartfelt) one of my favorite books back in 2004?!

The important thing is there is a new book to read and its call Me For You. I am loving the pretty cover.  The description appeals to the part of me that loves quirky stories about regular people.

Take a look:

The last thing Rudy expected was to wake up one Saturday morning, a widow at fifty-four years old. Now, ten months after the untimely death of his beloved wife, he’s still not sure how to move on from the defining tragedy of his life—but his new job is helping. After being downsized from his finance position, Rudy turned to his first love: the piano. Some people might be embarrassed to work as the piano player at Nordstrom, but for Rudy, there’s joy in bringing a little music into the world. And it doesn’t hurt that Bella, the Hungarian men’s watch clerk who is finally divorcing her no-good husband, finds time to join him at the bench every now and then.

Just when Rudy and Bella’s relationship begins to deepen, the police come to the store with an update about Rudy’s wife’s untimely death—a coworker has confessed to her murder—but Rudy’s actions are suspicious enough to warrant a second look at him, too. With Bella’s husband suddenly reappearing, and Rudy’s daughter confronting her own marital problems, suddenly life becomes more complicated than Rudy and Bella could have imagined.

I expect this one to be gentle, touching and sweet. Looking forward to it very much!

 

 

I see Paris anything and I want to know more. I have been wanting to visit Paris for so long but the only way I will get there right now is to read about this city. Paris by the Book by Liam Callanan got my attention right away with the pretty cover and of course, the Paris connection.

Synopsis:

When eccentric novelist Robert Eady abruptly vanishes, he leaves behind his wife, Leah, their daughters, and, hidden in an unexpected spot, plane tickets to Paris.

Hoping to uncover clues—and her husband—Leah sets off for France with her girls. Upon their arrival, she discovers an unfinished manuscript, one Robert had been writing without her knowledge…and that he had set in Paris. The Eady women follow the path of the manuscript to a small, floundering English-language bookstore whose weary proprietor is eager to sell. The whole store? Today? Yes, but Leah’s biggest surprise comes when she hears herself accepting the offer on the spot.

As the family settles into their new Parisian life, they can’t help but trace the literary paths of some beloved Parisian classics, including Madeline and The Red Balloon, hoping more clues arise. But a series of startling discoveries forces Leah to consider that she may not be ready for what solving this mystery might do to her family—and the Paris she thought she knew.

Doesn’t the premise sound fun and mysterious? I love the idea and the places the author is going to take us within the pages of this book. This book is out now!

 

 

The Promise by Teresa Driscoll is described as “chilling” therefore I KNEW I had to read it! The dark and creepy cover promises a book that might keep readers up all night.  I don’t understand how people don’t like to read. There are so many amazing books out there!

It was their darkest secret. Three schoolgirls made a promise – to take the horrible truth of what they did to the grave. Thirty years later, Beth and Sally have tried to put the trauma behind them. Though Carol has distanced herself from her former friends, the three are adamant that the truth must never come to light, even if the memory still haunts them.

But when some shocking news threatens to unearth their dark secret, Beth enlists the help of private investigator Matthew Hill to help her and Sally reconnect with estranged Carol ­– before the terrible act they committed as teenagers is revealed.

Beth wishes she could take back the vow they made.  But somebody is watching and will stop at nothing to ensure the secret stays buried. Now, with her beloved family in peril, can Beth still keep the promise?

I love the premise of this book. Already I want to know what did they do? Who knows their secret? What is the twist? Who did it? Is someone after one of them? I am super psyched to crack this one open.

Due out in February 2019

 

 

I am almost done with The Stranger Inside by Laura Benedict and I have been eagerly plowing through my day, hoping to sit and finish this one so all of my questions will be answered. I liked it when it first began, but as the pages have turned, it got better and better. I stayed up until almost midnight reading last night, thinking I’d finish it but no such luck.  Im eyeing the clock, looking forward to finally reading WHO IS THE STRANGER INSIDE?

Here is what you need to know:

Kimber Hannon’s belief that she has complete control over her life is shattered the night that she comes home from a trip to find her key no longer opens her front door. There is a stranger living in her house. A stranger who claims he has every right to be there, with the paperwork to prove it. When she confronts the man, he lets her get close enough to whisper, “I was there. I saw what you did.”

She doesn’t know how he knows her, but with those words Kimber knows this stranger isn’t after anything as simple as her money or artwork or charming Craftsman bungalow. She has to find out exactly what he wants and get him out of her carefully orchestrated life before he ruins it.

There are plenty of people in her life who might help, but should Kimber trust any of them? Her lawyer, Gabriel, is also her ex-lover; Diana, her best friend, doesn’t know Kimber slept with her husband; her ex-husband has a new, happier life since leaving her; and her co-workers know she’ll do anything to get her next sale. And no one can know the real reason this man is in her house. Without trust, everyone’s a stranger.

The author does a terrific job keeping the pace, she creates such suspense that I think every person in Kimber’s life could be connected to the man who has been living inside her house. This is everything you want a thriller to be! Those who enjoy twisty suspense novels will love this book.

Out in February 2019

 

 

The Girls at 17 Swann Street by Yara Zgheib appealed to me immediately because of the premise involving mental health, specifically eating disorders. As someone who struggles with depression, anything mental health related will probably get my attention, especially if the story is crafted in an intriguing way which this one is thanks to the main character’s backstory.

Take a look:

Anna Roux was a professional dancer who followed the man of her dreams from Paris to Missouri. There, alone with her biggest fears – imperfection, failure, loneliness – she spirals down anorexia and depression till she weighs a mere eighty-eight pounds. Forced to seek treatment, she is admitted as a patient at 17 Swann Street, a peach pink house where pale, fragile women with life-threatening eating disorders live. Women like Emm, the veteran; quiet Valerie; Julia, always hungry. Together, they must fight their diseases and face six meals a day.

This book looks at anorexia and what contributes to this disease. Anna’s story will bring tears to your eyes, it’s very emotional and incredibly well written.  A heavy subject matter, yes, but this book is a must-read.

Due out in February 2019