Category: Uncategorized

Review: Such a Quiet Place by Megan Miranda

Goodreads Blurb

Welcome to Hollow’s Edge, where you can find secrets, scandal, and a suspected killer—all on one street.

Hollow’s Edge use to be a quiet place. A private and idyllic neighborhood where neighbors dropped in on neighbors, celebrated graduation and holiday parties together, and looked out for one another. But then came the murder of Brandon and Fiona Truett. A year and a half later, Hollow’s Edge is simmering. The residents are trapped, unable to sell their homes, confronted daily by the empty Truett house, and suffocated by their trial testimonies that implicated one of their own. Ruby Fletcher. And now, Ruby’s back.

With her conviction overturned, Ruby waltzes right back to Hollow’s Edge, and into the home she shared with Harper Nash. Harper, five years older, has always treated Ruby like a wayward younger sister. But now she’s terrified. What possible good could come of Ruby returning to the scene of the crime? And how can she possibly turn her away, when she knows Ruby has nowhere to go?

Within days, suspicion spreads like a virus across Hollow’s Edge. It’s increasingly clear that not everyone told the truth about the night of the Truetts’ murders. And when Harper begins receiving threatening notes, she realizes she has to uncover the truth before someone else becomes the killer’s next victim.

My Review: Rated 3 out of 5 stars

Megan Miranda’s Such a Quiet Place will bring doubt that this community isn’t what it seems to be; keeping their community safe and quiet might mean doing it at any cost.

How well do we know our neighbors? A quiet neighborhood is what it seems, but secrets are hidden to protect the community. This thriller will have you guessing who murdered the Truett’s and how guilty Ruby is? Ruby goes to jail for the murder of the Truett’s but is released after eleven months in hopes of unveiling the secrets they all keep. Harper needs to unravel the truth before another person dies. This story was a little slow, and I hoped it would keep my interest. The author was able to create characters that were secretive and seemed guilty in some way. I would have liked this story to have been a two-sided one, where we see Ruby’s and Harper’s investigations.

Author Biography

Megan Miranda is the New York Times bestselling author of All the Missing Girls; The Perfect Stranger; The Last House Guest, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick; The Girl from Widow Hills; Such a Quiet Place; and The Last to Vanish. She has also written several books for young adults. She grew up in New Jersey, graduated from MIT, and lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children.

Her next thriller, The Only Survivors, will be published on April 11th, 2023.

Follow @MeganLMiranda on Instagram, @AuthorMeganMiranda on Facebook, or visit www.meganmiranda.com

Review: The Retreat by Elisabeth De Mariaffi

Goodreads Blurb

She came looking for inspiration.
Instead, disaster strikes.

Maeve Martin arrives at the High Water Center for the Arts, a gorgeous lodge nestled deep in the Rocky Mountains, determined to do one thing: begin her own dance company. A retired performer and mother of two, time is running out for her to find her feet again after the collapse of her disastrous—and violent—marriage. And at first, there’s a thrill to being on her own for the first time in years. Isolated in the snowy beauty of the retreat, Maeve can forget the ghost of her past for an hour, for a day.

But when an avalanche strikes, Maeve finds herself trapped with six other guests. They’ve lost all power, phone service, heat, and the road back to town. At first, there’s a sense of camaraderie—the fire is warm, the freezer well-stocked. But as the days pass and the storm rages on outside, tensions start to run high. Help is coming, so they just have to hold on, right?

Then the first guest meets an unspeakable death.

Followed by another.

Soon Maeve must admit how little she knows about these strangers . . . and how useless a locked door is if the darkness is already inside.

My Review: Rated 2 out of 5 stars

A retreat is supposed to bring you peace and harmony, but what Maeve finds is the fight to survive. Being locked away in a retreat with strangers while being snowed in makes for a perfect murder scene. Maeve was trying to make a comeback and open her own dance studio. She was scarred from her prior marriage of abuse and has been fighting to be free for some time. This was supposed to be a new beginning and not one that might end her life. This thriller picks up speed in the last 100 pages. I wasn’t really excited about how slow the build-up took to get me thrilled and scared. The story didn’t grab my attention right away, so it took me a long time to finish reading it. I loved that this book has a strong female who fights to survive to be able to see her children. Being stucked in a mountain with an avalanche, bear, and a murderer will make anyone scared to join a retreat like this one.

Author Biography

Elisabeth de Mariaffi is the author of a new collection of short stories, How To Get Along With Women (Invisible Publishing, 2012).

Her poetry and short fiction have been widely published in magazines across Canada, and she’s one of the wild minds behind the highly original Toronto Poetry Vendors, a small press that sells single poems by established Canadian poets through toonie vending machines.

Elisabeth works as a marketing coordinator for Breakwater Books and is currently based in St. John’s, where she lives with the poet George Murray and their combined brood of four children — making them CanLit’s answer to the Brady Brunch.’

Cover Reveal: The Science of Attraction by Jay Hogan

BOOK DETAILS:

The Science of Attraction
by Jay Hogan
(A Mackenzie Country Story, #3)
Publication date: February 22, 2024
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance

Synopsis:

I am Mackenzie Country born and bred. Farming the high country runs in my blood, like my father, and his father, and my great grandfather before him. My future has been mapped out for me since the day I was born. Or at least it was, until Liam Skelton walks onto Lane Station, lights a fire in my heart, and turns my whole world upside down.

Bossy, tatted, and out and proud, Liam is everything my father abhors.
And I want him.
Badly.

But having a chance with Liam means risking everything. My family. My future. And my life in these mountains that I love.
Still, the heart wants what it wants, and mine wants Liam.

With so many things against us, maybe we don’t have a chance.
Maybe we’ll crash and burn.
Or maybe we’ll find a way to have it all.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199430768-the-science-of-attraction

Pre-order: 

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3tYm8TE

AUTHOR BIO:

Heart, humour and keeping it real.

Jay is a 2020 Lambda Literary Award Finalist in Gay Romance and her book Off Balance was the 2021 New Zealand Romance Book of the Year.

She is a New Zealand author writing mm romance and romantic suspense, primarily set in New Zealand. She writes character driven romances with lots of humour, a good dose of reality and a splash of angst. She’s travelled extensively, lived in many countries, and in a past life she was a critical care nurse, nurse educator and counsellor. Jay is owned by a huge Maine Coon cat and a gorgeous Cocker Spaniel

Find Jay in all the places:  https://www.jayhoganauthor.com/landingpage

Cover Reveal: The Night Ride by Anya Summers

BOOK DETAILS:

The Night Ride
by Anya Summers
Publication date: June 25, 2024
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

No amount of military training can prepare you to fight for love.

Beautiful. Intoxicating. Utterly forbidden.

Years ago, when I first laid eyes on Beth, I wanted her more than I’ve ever wanted anyone. But she’s my best friend’s little sister, and there are some boundaries even I won’t cross. I forced myself to spurn her advances, even though I hated doing it.

And I never forgot her – or the hatred blazing in her beautiful eyes when she walked away from me.

I didn’t expect to see her again. Nor was I prepared for the desperate desire she’d ignite in me. I crave her. Want her. Need her.

I can’t stay away from her this time. Not when her touch mends all my broken pieces.

She doesn’t trust me to stick around but I’ll do whatever it takes to prove my devotion. After all, I thrive on adversity. And I’ll draw on every ounce of strength I possess to win her heart because now I’m convinced:

She was always meant to be mine.

Grab this steamy, forbidden, stand-alone romance where a Navy SEAL falls for his best friend’s sister, as they face an attraction they cannot deny.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199276639-the-night-ride

Pre-order: 

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3u7Suex

Nook https://bit.ly/3rKUEQc
Kobo https://bit.ly/3LTZEJ7
Apple https://apple.co/3RUrkBo
Google https://bit.ly/46r3bqq
Universal https://books2read.com/u/bPeGgj

AUTHOR BIO:

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Anya grew up listening to Cardinals baseball and reading anything she could get her hands on. She remembers her mother saying if only she would read the right type of books instead binging her way through the romance aisles at the bookstore, she’d have been a doctor. While Anya never did get that doctorate, she graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri-St. Louis with an M.A. in History.

Anya is a bestselling and award-winning author published in multiple fiction genres. She also writes urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and contemporary romance under the name Maggie Mae Gallagher. A total geek at her core, when she is not writing, she adores attending the latest comic con or spending time with her family. She currently lives in the Midwest with her two furry felines.

Author links:
Website: www.anyasummers.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AnyaSummersAuthor
Twitter: @AnyaBSummers https://twitter.com/anyabsummers?lang=en
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15183606.Anya_Summers
Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Anya-Summers/e/B01EGTVRKC/
Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/anya-summers
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/anyasummersauthor/
Newsletter https://anyasummers.com/newsletter/

Review: Child Zero by Chris Holm

Goodreads Blurb

From molecular biologist turned Anthony Award-winning author of THE KILLING KIND comes a fact-based thriller in the vein of Michael Crichton about our species’ next great existential threat.

It began four years ago with a worldwide uptick of bacterial infections: meningitis in Frankfurt, cholera in Johannesburg, tuberculosis in New Delhi. Although the outbreaks spread aggressively and proved impervious to our drugs of last resort, public health officials initially dismissed them as unrelated.

They were wrong. Antibiotic resistance soon roiled across the globe. Diseases long thought beaten came surging back. The death toll skyrocketed. Then New York City was ravaged by the most heinous act of bioterror the world had ever seen, perpetrated by a new brand of extremist bent on pushing humanity to extinction.

Detective Jacob Gibson, who lost his wife in the 8/17 attack, is home caring for his sick daughter when his partner summons him to a sprawling shantytown in Central Park, the apparent site of a mass murder. Jake is startled to discover that, despite a life of abject squalor, the victims died in perfect health—and his only hope of finding answers is an eleven-year-old boy on the run from some very dangerous men.

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Chris Holm presents us with a story involving a pandemic, a world in chaos, and a boy who might be able to save mankind. In this intriguing thriller, you will wonder if antibiotics will stop working and if common viruses and infections will be rampant, taking lives throughout the world. I enjoyed the story from the very beginning. An action-packed story that will leave you wanting more. This book frightened me because we are in the middle of a pandemic that continues to take lives, and if antibiotics are useless, the world will fall apart.


I received this book from the publisher for an honest review.

Author Biography

Chris Holm is the author of the cross-genre Collector trilogy, which recasts the battle between heaven and hell as old-fashioned crime pulp; the Michael Hendricks thrillers, which feature a hitman who only kills other hitmen; and the standalone scientific thriller, CHILD ZERO. He’s also a former molecular biologist with a U.S. patent to his name. Chris’ work has been selected for THE BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES, named a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and won a number of awards, including the 2016 Anthony Award for Best Novel. He lives in Portland, Maine.

Review: The Island by Adrian McKinty

Goodreads Blurb

It was just supposed to be a family vacation.A terrible accident changed everything.You don’t know what you’re capable of until they come for your family.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.

My Review: 5 out of 5 stars

A car accident leaves an innocent woman dead, causing you to run for your life on an Australian island while a crazy family hunts for you. To survive, you must hunt your hunters before they get you. It is a nail-biting thriller that makes the reader root for Heather, a young woman married to a doctor who has two children who are not fond of her. Heather has been underestimated her whole life, and now she is GI Jane trying to survive, save the kids, and find a way out of the island. The readers will go through moments of helplessness and fear for their own lives and the characters. I can still feel the thirst, hunger, smells, and frightening moments the characters endured. I highly recommend you pick up this book because you don’t want to miss out.

Author Biography

Adrian McKinty is an Irish novelist. He was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Victoria Council Estate, Carrickfergus, County Antrim. He read law at the University of Warwick and politics and philosophy at the University of Oxford. He moved to the United States in the early 1990s, living first in Harlem, New York, and from 2001 on, in Denver, Colorado, where he taught high school English and began writing fiction. He lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his wife and two children.

Cover Reveal and Giveaway: A Not So Bollywood Meet Cute by Miya Malai

BOOK DETAILS:

A Not So Bollywood Meet Cute
by Miya Malai
Publication date: February 13, 2024
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

Katrina Shah just wants out of the fame game, away from her high-profile family’s drama. But dodging the spotlight? Tough luck. Especially when she collides with Hollywood’s golden boy, Evan Kristof. Her heart doesn’t seem to have received the memo to steer clear of him.

Evan’s used to the spotlight, the parties, the glitz. Yet, he’s craving a break, some peace. Then he meets Katrina, and suddenly, tranquility’s the last thing on his mind.

As they both try to escape their pasts, sparks fly between the girl who wants anonymity and the movie star. But can they navigate crazy families, an over-the-top wedding, and their undeniable chemistry without getting burned? Their fling might just turn into something much bigger than they bargained for.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/204960960-a-not-so-bollywood-meet-cute

Pre-order: https://amzn.to/47OKZaa

AUTHOR BIO:

Miya Malai was a second-generation confused brown girl with conservative parents, who would have looked at Bridgerton with horror. But little did they know she would sneak Julia Quinn books from the library when she was in high school. She grew up with DDLJ playing at least once a week in her Dadi’s bedroom. And she longed for her favorite Bollywood heroine’s character to be in a book. After years of scouring through smutty romance novels, she thought she’d combine her two favorites on her own. 

Miya wants to empower the voice of brown girls struggling with stigmas in the South Asian community, while also appreciating the culture. 

When Miya isn’t writing, she’s drinking chai or spending time with her husband and three young children on Long Island, NY.

You can find her online as Miya Malai on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram.

Socials:

https://www.instagram.com/miyamalai

Giveaway:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/381232-a-not-so-bollywood-meet-cute

@miyamalai

Review: Accelerate by John P. Kotter

Goodreads Blurb

Based on the award-winning article in Harvard Business Review , from global leadership expert John Kotter.

It’s a familiar scene in organizations today: a new competitive threat or a big opportunity emerges. You quickly create a strategic initiative in response and appoint your best people to make change happen. And it does—but not fast enough. Or effectively enough. Real value gets lost and, ultimately, things drift back to the default status.

Why is this scenario so frequently repeated in industries and organizations across the world? In the groundbreaking new book Accelerate (XLR8), leadership and change management expert, and best-selling author, John Kotter provides a fascinating answer—and a powerful new framework for competing and winning in a world of constant turbulence and disruption.

Kotter explains how traditional organizational hierarchies evolved to meet the daily demands of running an enterprise. For most companies, the hierarchy is the singular operating system at the heart of the firm. But the reality is, this system simply is not built for an environment where change has become the norm. Kotter advocates a new system—a second, more agile, network-like structure that operates in concert with the hierarchy to create what he calls a “dual operating system”—one that allows companies to capitalize on rapid-fire strategic challenges and still make their numbers.

Accelerate (XLR8) vividly illustrates the five core principles underlying the new network system, the eight Accelerators that drive it, and how leaders must create urgency in others through role modeling. And perhaps most crucial, the book reveals how the best companies focus and align their people’s energy and urgency around what Kotter calls the big opportunity .

If you’re a pioneer, a leader who knows that bold change is necessary to survive and thrive in an ever-changing world, this book will help you accelerate into a better, more profitable future.

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

This is a great book for all businesses that are looking to implement new strategies and goals in their company. The book goes over a dual operating system that will help with accelerating change in a company. Change comes with small wins that will lead to achieving the company’s new goals.

Author Biography

John P. Kotter, world-renowned expert on leadership, is the author of many books, including Leading Change, Our Iceberg is Melting, The Heart of Change, and his latest book, That’s Not How We Do It Here!. He is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus at the Harvard Business School, and a graduate of MIT and Harvard. He is co-founder of Kotter International, a change management and strategy execution firm that helps organizations engage employees in a movement to drive change and reach sustainable results. He and his wife Nancy live in Boston, Massachusetts.

Review: A Darcy Christmas by Amanda Grange, Sharon Lathan, and Carolyn Eberhart

Goodreads Blurb

“Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Wish You a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!”

Share in the magic of the season in these three warm and wonderful holiday novellas from bestselling authors.

Christmas Present
by Amanda Grange

A Darcy Christmas
by Sharon Lathan

Mr. Darcy’s Christmas Carol
by Carolyn Eberhart

From two bestselling and a debut author comes heartwarming Christmas tales sure to delight Jane Austen fans.

From Amanda Grange, the bestselling author of Mr. Darcy’s Diary and Mr. Darcy, Vampyre, Christmas finds the Darcy’s celebrating the holiday with preparations for a ball, but the festivities are interrupted by the arrival of a very special gift… Ever sensual and romantic, Sharon Lathan highlights everything that’s best and most precious in the celebrations of the holiday season. After a quarter of a century together, Darcy and Elizabeth reminisce… Jane Austen meets Charles Dickens! Carol Eberhart’s Mr. Darcy’s Christmas Carol finds Darcy encountering ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, who show him his life if pride keeps him from his one true love.

My Review: Rated 3 out of 5 stars

If you are a fan of Mr. Darcy, then this is a must-read. This book consists of three holiday stories: Christmas Present, A Darcy Christmas, and Mr. Darcy’s Christmas Carol. I enjoyed reading further into Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth’s future together. Each story gave holiday vibes and endless romance between the two characters. This book spread victorian holiday cheer for all.

Review: How The Grinch Lost Christmas by Alastair Heim, Dr. Seuss

Goodreads Blurb

The Grinch is BACK and ready to prove to the residents of Who- ville that he’s changed. This heartwarming sequel is written and illustrated in the style of Dr. Seuss’s beloved holiday classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

The Grinch had been patiently waiting all year,
To celebrate Christmas and bring the Whos cheer,
And to show every Who he was DIFFERENT now.
“I’ve changed!” thought the Grinch,
“And I’ll prove it! But HOW ?”

A year has passed since the Grinch stole Christmas from Who- ville. Now eager to prove to the Whos that his heart has grown to LOVE the holiday, the Grinch devises a plan to win Who -ville’s Christmas Crown by making the largest, most spectacular Christmas tree the Whos have ever seen!

But when things don’t go as planned, the Grinch’s heart turns ice cold, and he threatens to leave Who- ville for good…until one small, special Who reminds him that Christmas is NOT about winning.

Grow your heart three sizes MORE with this sequel to the timeless picture book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Featuring a foil-enhanced jacket and full-color illustrations rendered in the iconic style of the original, this new story makes a splendid gift and a must-have addition to the libraries of Grinch fans of all ages!

My Review: Rated 5 out if 5 stars

It’s a fantastic continuation of the Grinch’s Story. Can the Grinch show the Whos that he has changed? He is looking to win the contest with the biggest Christmas tree. This win will come at any cost. Winning is the Grinches’ top priority, and he doesn’t see how other people feel about him obsessing with the contest. Little Cindy will remind the Grinch that winning doesn’t mean you need to be mean. The Grinch felt he was losing the Christmas spirit, but in the end, he realized the whole meaning of Christmas.