GoodReads Blurb

Gabe and Elyse have never met. But they both have something to hide.

Quiet, shy Elyse can’t believe it when she’s cast as the lead in her Portland high school’s production of Romeo and Juliet. Her best friend, Brynn, is usually the star, and Elyse isn’t sure she’s up to the task. But when someone at rehearsals starts to catch her eye–someone she knows she absolutely shouldn’t be with–she can’t help but be pulled into the spotlight. 

Austin native Gabe is contemplating the unthinkable–breaking up with Sasha, his headstrong, popular girlfriend. She’s not going to let him slip through her fingers, though, and when rumors start to circulate around school, he knows she has the power to change his life forever. 

Gabe and Elyse both make the mistake of falling for the wrong person, and falling hard. Told in parallel narratives, this twisty, shocking story shows how one bad choice can lead to a spiral of unforeseen consequences that not everyone will survive. 

My Review

Mind blowing story with twist and turns. I kept wondering what I might find in the next page. A story filled with secrets, jealousy, love, revenge, fear, hurt and bad decisions. Each character had a secret. I couldn’t stand Sasha, what a total witch. Gabe was dumb for being with a psycho. I didn’t expect Elyse and Catherine shared a story. This story really touched real life issues that teenagers go through. Not everyone is perfect. We all look for acceptance and someone to love and accept you. This story tugs at our hearts, because of the problems each character goes through. The moment you beginning this thriller, you won’t put it down.  I rated 4 out of 5 stars.A

Goodreads Blurb

Finn and Layla are young, in love, and on vacation. They’re driving along the highway when Finn decides to stop at a service station to use the restroom. He hops out of the car, locks the doors behind him, and goes inside. When he returns Layla is gone—never to be seen again. That is the story Finn told to the police. But it is not the whole story.

Ten years later Finn is engaged to Layla’s sister, Ellen. Their shared grief over what happened to Layla drew them close and now they intend to remain together. Still, there’s something about Ellen that Finn has never fully understood. His heart wants to believe that she is the one for him…even though a sixth sense tells him not to trust her.

Then, not long before he and Ellen are to be married, Finn gets a phone call. Someone from his past has seen Layla—hiding in plain sight. There are other odd occurrences: Long-lost items from Layla’s past that keep turning up around Finn and Ellen’s house. Emails from strangers who seem to know too much. Secret messages, clues, warnings. If Layla is alive—and on Finn’s trail—what does she want? And how much does she know?

A tour de force of psychological suspense, Bring Me Back will have you questioning everything and everyone until its stunning climax.

My Review

Another novel that has left me stunned. B.A. Paris knows how to capture the readers attention within the first few pages. She slowly gives you more details, while at the same time she twist her story to make you think something else. I love the back and forth of the past and present feeding my crave. All her books have a twist in plot, love and relationship. I was hoping for a happily ever after but life is full of surprises. Best psychological thriller for 2018. This is a must read!!!

Author Biography

B A Paris grew up in England but has spent most of her adult life in France. She has worked both in finance and as a teacher and has five daughters. Behind Closed Doors is her first novel.

Goodreads Blurb

It’s a lively day at the neighborhood park. Birds are singing, squirrels are frolicking, dogs are causing a commotion–and wide-eyed children are enthralled by it all. Too bad the parents are missing everything! It’s going to take something really BIG to get them to disengage from their phones . . .

This timely story, brought to life with beautiful bold art, is a great reminder to slow down and savor time together. 

My Review

Will his dad finally see the beautiful moments around him? The illustrations are just too cute. The squirrels had me laughing through out the book. The colors were so bold and vivid I wish I was inside the book. I think it needed a little more text and interaction. This is a great book for parents to see that time spent with your child is precious and you should be having adventures outside with your children instead of being on your phone. Enjoy the outdoors! I rated 4 out of 5 stars.

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Goodreads Blurb

Serena has just flown all the way to Paris for a special pre-Christmas weekend with her sister, Lara. They plan to retrace the steps of their parents’ long-ago honeymoon in Paris, and create a scrapbook for their bereaved mother to remember it by. 

It’s supposed to be serious sister bonding…until Lara takes off with her boyfriend instead.

Jean-Luc is Serena’s Plan B, a friend of a friend of Lara’s, who has some space in a place where Serena can stay. Just like his latest relationship, his photography final has been an epic fail. He has one night to retake all his pictures if he is to stay in school. 

Jean-Luc can’t stand Serena’s loud voice or her bright orange sneakers.

Serena can’t stand his haughty manners or the way his camera is always in her face.

Together, though, they set out into a cold night that will warm their hearts, creating unforgettable photos and fresh romantic sparks in the City of Lights.

My Review

Love when unexpected, is truly captivating. Serena and Jean-Luc were both searching for answers and happiness. I loved the irony of how each character was blind and saw only what they wanted to see, but through this one day adventure in Paris, there eyes opened and they found each other and the answers they seeked. I was devastated at the sadness Serena kept in, which caused her to put up walls and not see what was in front of her. I was glad I was able to join this adventure through the city of light and love. Love comes when you least expect it. I rated 4 out of 5 stars.

Author Biography

A pseudonym based on the dual effort of authors James Noble and Stephanie Elliott.

The fabulous Meg Tilly was this years guest speaker. She is a Golden Globe-winning, Oscar-nominated lead performer in the movie Agnes of God, but now Meg is a romance author. Meg’s speech was truly powerful. She is a strong woman who had a tough childhood. Sharing about her past, help’s her help others who have experience abuse. She had us all in tears. She is the sweetest and kindest person. I am glad to have met her and heard her inspirational speech of her overcoming challenges and fears that lead her to the strong woman she is today. Her new book Cliff’s Edge will be release on May 21, 2019.

This years proceeds were going to Cynthia’s Breast Cancer Giving Circle CBCGC, Inc.
http://www.cbcgc.org/

CBCGC, Inc. looks to unite with cancer patients/survivors and assist with basic living and medical expenses.  We’re a group of caring people who understand that a financial strain could hinder the healing process while being treated for cancer.  Therefore, we aim to ease the strain and offer hope. 

In addition, our circle of “generous givers” consist of: cancer survivors, caregivers, and others who have been touched in some way by the effects of cancer. 

We hope your heart is open to joining our efforts. 

Author Tables

I have attended this wonderful event in Milwaukee for four years. Huge thanks to Barbara Vey and all those who help make this wonderful event unforgettable for us the readers. I would also like to thank all the authors who were in attendance who brought me joy and happiness. It was great getting to know new authors, meeting new friends and seeing my friends I made from prior years.

I had such a blast at Barbara Vey’s Reader Lucheon in Milwaukee, this past weekend. I have extra goodies to share with you all. Please follow my blog and leave a comment below

Good Luck 🍀

We had such a great time at the luncheon. I sat with Barbara Ross who writes cozy mysteries. Milwaukee weather decided we needed some snow.

We had so much fun playing three rounds of Bingo. We had a team for Romance Writers and Mystery Writers.

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In the evening we are having an author Q&A. 60 authors are part of this fun event .

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Goodreads Blurb

The warm fall day starts like any other at the Center—a women’s reproductive health services clinic—its staff offering care to anyone who passes through its doors. Then, in late morning, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage.

After rushing to the scene, Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, sets up a perimeter and begins making a plan to communicate with the gunman. As his phone vibrates with incoming text messages he glances at it and, to his horror, finds out that his fifteen-year-old daughter, Wren, is inside the clinic.

But Wren is not alone. She will share the next and tensest few hours of her young life with a cast of unforgettable characters: A nurse who calms her own panic in order save the life of a wounded woman. A doctor who does his work not in spite of his faith but because of it, and who will find that faith tested as never before. A pro-life protester disguised as a patient, who now stands in the cross hairs of the same rage she herself has felt. A young woman who has come to terminate her pregnancy. And the disturbed individual himself, vowing to be heard.

Told in a daring and enthralling narrative structure that counts backward through the hours of the standoff, this is a story that traces its way back to what brought each of these very different individuals to the same place on this fateful day.

Jodi Picoult—one of the most fearless writers of our time—tackles a complicated issue in this gripping and nuanced novel. How do we balance the rights of pregnant women with the rights of the unborn they carry? What does it mean to be a good parent? A Spark of Light will inspire debate, conversation . . . and, hopefully, understanding.

My Review

Jodi created a novel that pushes boundaries once again. Abortion is a huge political issue still today. This book is epic. It will leave the reader wondering are you pro-life or pro-choice? She started the book with a women’s reproductive health clinic being held hostage by a gunman. Then she built the book going through each hour backwards to lead off back to where it began. She is a brilliant storyteller bringing such vivid characters to life and unraveling their story like an onion layer by layer. The background story for each character shows how each characters life’s interweave with each other and how they all ended up in this clinic at the same time. This book will bring you to tears. The emotions are like a roller coaster from happiness to desperation, loneliness, forgiveness, fear, joy, relief and the will to fight, live and save lives. The part with the steps in the abortion procedure will leave you squirming. I believe each women should have a choice to decide and the courts and states shouldn’t make this decision. Jodi had personally researched for this novel and I felt she elaborate in statistics and court rulings that will give more understanding in this controversial issue. I rated 5 out of 5 stars.

Author Biography

Jodi Picoult is the author of twenty-four novels, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers Small Great Things, Leaving Time, The Storyteller, Lone Wolf, Between the Lines, Sing You Home, House Rules, Handle with Care, Change of Heart, Nineteen Minutes, and My Sister’s Keeper. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three children.

Goodreads Blurb

President Bill Clinton and bestselling novelist James Patterson have written a spellbinding thriller, The President is Missing.

As the novel opens, a threat looms. Enemies are planning an attack of unprecedented scale on America. Uncertainty and fear grip Washington. There are whispers of cyberterror and espionage and a traitor in the cabinet. The President himself becomes a suspect, and then goes missing…

Set in real time, over the course of three days, The President Is Missing is one of the most dramatic thrillers in decades. And it could all really happen. The President Is Missing is Bill Clinton and James Patterson’s totally authentic and spellbinding thriller.

My Review

A top thriller for 2018! James Patterson and President Bill Clinton are truly the best dynamic duo. They created a masterpiece filled with action, mystery, fear, thrills and anxiety. My anxiety peeked all through this book. 

Can you ever imagined a computer virus can destroy every electronic device we have created? Bringing the US to its knees begging for survival. “Dark ages”is something we truly do not think about. Everything in the US is controlled by computers from our banks, to our retirements, health, government and even our water supply. One snap of a finger an humanity can end in a matter of days, month or years. Mr. Patterson and Mr. Clinton wrote a novel that will change our views of how we live our lives surrounded with electronics. This book has kept me thrilled until the very end. An unforgettable thriller with a superb frightening plot, smart and thinking out of the box characters. President Duncan truly saved the world because he knows the power of working together. I learned being vulnerable is frightening but fighting for survival supersedes fear. I rated 5 out of 5 stars.

It was such a great moment to meet a past president for the first time.

Author Biography

William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III) was the forty-second President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. He was the third-youngest president, older only than Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy. He became president at the end of the Cold War, and is known as the first baby boomer president, as he was born in the period after World War II. He is the husband of the junior United States Senator from the state of New York and a Democratic candidate in the 2008 US presidential election, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

James Patterson is the world’s bestselling author and most trusted storyteller. He has created more enduring fictional characters than any other novelist writing today, with his Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, Women’s Murder Club, Private, NYPD Red, Daniel X, Maximum Ride, and Middle School series. He has sold over 380 million books worldwide and currently holds the Guinness World Record for the most #1 New York Times bestsellers. In addition to writing the thriller novels for which he is best known, among them The President Is Missing with President Bill Clinton, Patterson also writes fiction for young readers of all ages, including the Max Einstein series, produced in partnership with the Albert Einstein Estate. He is also the first author to have #1 new titles simultaneously on the New York Times adult and children’s bestseller lists.