Review: Because You're Mine by Rea Frey

Because You’re Mine by Rea Frey

Published: August 6, 2019

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Format: via NetGalley

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

Single mother Lee has the daily routine down to a science: shower in six minutes. Cut food into perfect squares. Never leave her on-the-spectrum son Mason in someone else’s care. She’ll do anything—anything—to keep his carefully constructed world from falling apart. Do anything to keep him safe.

But when her best friend Grace convinces her she needs a small break from motherhood to recharge her batteries, Lee gives in to a weekend trip. Surely a long weekend away from home won’t hurt?

Noah, Mason’s handsome, bright, charismatic tutor—the first man in ages Lee’s even noticed—is more than happy to stay with him.

Forty-eight hours later, someone is dead.

But not all is as it seems. Noah may be more than who he claims to be. Grace has a secret—one that will destroy Lee. Lee has secrets of her own that she will do anything to keep hidden.

As the dominoes begin to fall and the past comes to light, perhaps it's no mystery someone is gone after all.

My Thoughts

Because You’re Mine is like no other psychological thriller I have ever read before. It all starts out simple: Lee who has a child, Mason, on the autistic spectrum has her life on a strict schedule because of him but she wouldn't have it any other way, he is her world. However, she misses having a relationship and soon finds herself with a crush on her son’s teacher, Noah and she can't help herself and she has to tell him. With her crazy routine her best friend, Grace, demands that Lee join her and their group of friends on a girls getaway and even though Lee doesn't want to let her son she knows she needs and deserves it.

Grace has been a savior when it comes to Lee and her son. She is the best friend anyone could ever ask for and she has a bond with Mason that can't be explained. She helps with Mason when she can and she even has become his legal guardian if anything happens to Lee. But Grace has a secret she has been hiding from Lee one that can break her heart and end their friendship. However Grace isn't all she's cracked up to be, she isn't so nice and innocent either and her secrets are ones that can destroy a friendship and other things beyond anyone’s imagination.

Noah seems like a nice and sweet guy who loves and cares for Mason. He is patient with him and teaches him that he can live without limitations. However Noah has some things in his past that he tries to forget but like all things his past is about to catch up to him and what he has done, and he is about to pay for.

This novel is told in past and present chapters and the characters are so rich with layers that continue to peel and give us a storyline I NEVER saw coming. We have all these characters and how the past relates to the present. And the ending? WOW!!! Is all I can say, that ending is what made me give it five stars. The last few chapters when everything wraps up and comes to a head is what made this book for me. I never saw that ending coming and it totally shocked me, which I loved! This novel took it to a place I could have never imagined! Simply put if you want fast-paced interesting read definitely check out this one, you will not regret it.

Review: The Favorite Daughter by Patti Callahan Henry

The Favorite Daughter by Patti Callahan Henry

Expected Publication: June 4, 2019

Publisher: Berkley Books

Format: via publisher

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Ten years ago, Lena Donohue experienced a wedding-day betrayal so painful that she fled the small town of Watersend, South Carolina, and reinvented herself in New York City. Though now a freelance travel writer, the one place she rarely goes is home--until she learns of her dad's failing health.

Returning to Watersend means seeing the sister she has avoided for a decade and the brother who runs the family's Irish pub and has borne the burden of his sisters' rift. While Alzheimer's slowly steals their father's memories, the siblings rush to preserve his life in stories and in photographs. As his secret past brings Lena's own childhood into focus, it sends her on a journey to discover the true meaning of home.

My Thoughts

After finding out the ultimate betrayal on her wedding day Lena left home and never spoke to her sister again and only came home if she never saw her sister either. However, after a call from her brother she comes back home after her father is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and her family needs her help.

She is close to her brother who has taken it upon himself to care for his dad and now runs the family business, a pub he knows his father needs the family more than ever and calls on Lena and her sister in hopes they bury the hatchet and come together for their father’s sake. Growing up Lena always felt a distance of sorts from her mother but never knew exactly while but soon she will discover a long kept secret while sorting out her father’s belonging. This happens when they agree to have a party in honor of their father in hopes of celebrating his life before the disease takes all his memory away.

In time we learn why Lena ran off from her family and why she and her sister don’t talk. We also learn why Lena always felt like a stranger in her own family and why her father was so close to her.

This is a story with secrets coming out of every angle, which I loved! I felt like it was the gift that kept on giving, with layers upon layers being peeled back and the truth being revealed. I felt as if there were two storylines being told one was the conflict between Lena and her sister and the other the secret her father held from her.  Both were amazing stories and tied together beautifully, I especially felt as if Lena finally came into her own and made peace with herself in the end.

The Favorite Daughter is an amazing story with a great storyline about family and forgiveness. While forgiving others is great I find that forgiving within yourself heals yourself like nothing else. It gives you that inner peace that nothing else or no one can give you. This is a great book for the summer one that needs to be thrown in your beach bag and be read by the pool, beach or simply in the comfort of your home.

Review: Sunset Beach by Mary Kay Andrews

Sunset Beach by Mary Kay Andrews

Expected Publication: May 7, 2019

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Format: via Publisher

Rating: 4/5    

Synopsis

Drue Campbell’s life is adrift. Out of a job and down on her luck, life doesn’t seem to be getting any better when her estranged father, Brice Campbell, a flamboyant personal injury attorney, shows up at her mother’s funeral after a twenty-year absence. Worse, he’s remarried – to Drue’s eighth-grade frenemy, Wendy, now his office manager. And they’re offering her a job.

It seems like the job from hell, but the offer is sweetened by the news of her inheritance – her grandparents’ beach bungalow in the sleepy town of Sunset Beach, a charming but storm-damaged eyesore now surrounded by waterfront McMansions.

With no other prospects, Drue begrudgingly joins the firm, spending her days screening out the grifters whose phone calls flood the law office. Working with Wendy is no picnic either. But when a suspicious death at an exclusive beach resort nearby exposes possible corruption at her father’s firm, she goes from unwilling cubicle rat to unwitting investigator and is drawn into a case that may – or may not – involve her father. With an office romance building, a decades-old missing person case re-opened, and a cottage in rehab, one thing is for sure at Sunset Beach: there’s a storm on the horizon.

My Thoughts

In Sunset Beach the newest novel by Mary Kay Andrews we met Drue who is basically down on her luck and estranged from her father ever since her mother’s death. She is working at a bar to make ends meet but she soon reconnects with her father who offers her a job and gives her the house that belonged to her grandparents. As much as she doesn't want anything from him she does need a job so she accepts and as soon as she gets there she realizes he has remarried [again] to her ex-best friend from childhood.

Brice is a lawyer and takes up all kinds of lawsuits so when a woman comes in wanting more money from the death of her daughter Drue realizes that there is something there to check out. She feels like someone tried to cover up something and this poor woman deserves justice for her daughter so she makes it her mission to uncover the truth. In time Drue discovers not only this truth but also another that she will regret finding out. We get dual storylines in Sunset Beach, we also get a mystery of sorts that took place decades before and the players in this one hit closer to Drue than she ever expected.

I really enjoyed this novel I loved how we got two storylines and how they slowly came together in a nice way. The pace was perfect and you definitely got caught up in all the mystery that this book had to offer. I went into thinking this was a light fluffy beach read but this one had a lot of depth to it and as a fan of mystery, I really liked that she played this element to perfection here. This is one Summer read that will have you hooked from the very beginning and will leave you completely satisfied.

Review: The Southern Side of Paradise by Kristy Woodson Harvey

The Southern Side of Paradise by Kristy Woodson Harvey

[Peachtree Bluff #3]

Expected Publication: May 7, 2019

Publisher: Galley Books

Format: arc via publisher

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

With the man of her dreams back in her life and all three of her daughters happy, Ansley Murphy should be content. But she can’t help but feel like it’s all a little too good to be true.

Meanwhile, youngest daughter and actress Emerson, who is recently engaged and has just landed the role of a lifetime, seemingly has the world by the tail. Only, something she can’t quite put her finger on is worrying her—and it has nothing to do with her recent health scare.

When two new women arrive in Peachtree Bluff—one who has the potential to wreck Ansley’s happiness and one who could tear Emerson’s world apart—everything is put in perspective. And after secrets that were never meant to be told come to light, the powerful bond between the Murphy sisters and their mother comes crumbling down, testing their devotion to each other and forcing them to evaluate the meaning of family.

My Thoughts

In Kristy Woodson Harvey’s final installment in her Peachtree Bluff series, we once again visit the Murphy family. In each of the previous books, we get the story of each sister and this one focuses on the youngest sister Emerson. Emerson is an up and coming actress who since she has been back home has had a health scare and has reunited with an old love. She is trying to deal with all of this and is also trying to find her way in life. She loves her sisters and mother but she has doubts about her upcoming marriage, especially when her and her fiance can't decide on where to live, she has to go back for work and he doesn’t want to leave Peachtree, and it doesn't help that a man from her past in L.A. has found his way to Peachtree and her feelings are getting the best of her. I felt that Emerson had so much thrown at her in this novel between her health scare and relationship problems to her career plus finding out the truth about her family but I felt she was the most well-rounded character. She was the one who I felt grew the most in the series. Just as in life, she didn't see any of the things that happened to her coming but they suited her well and made her complete they were her blessings in disguise.

While this story mainly focuses on Emerson we also get a glimpse of her mother’s story and her life with Jack. She is finally at a place where she can feel free to love him like she wants to without worrying how this will affect her daughters but still THAT secret looms over her and she knows that this final secret has to be told in order to be free. She has always put her family first but now she needs to live her own life and that means a future with Jack, however, someone from his past is determined to get him back and Ansley doesn't know if she has it in her to fight this fight. The story of Ansley and Jack was a long time coming and their story was one I was pleased with, it truly showed how true love can endure the test of time.

I fell in love with the Murphy women from book one and this last book is the perfect send-off. I felt that everyone’s stories wrapped up nicely and everyone got their happily ever after. I loved how Kristy Woodson Harvey gave us complex yet strong women who fought for what they wanted and stopped at nothing to get it. What I loved most about this series was that the overall message and theme is family. While they might have fought and disagreed with each other when it came down to it they had each other's backs. Nothing was too hard that together they couldn't conquer. I will miss these women and their stories so much but I am so glad I got to know them and thank you, Kristy Woodson Harvey, for giving us a group of women who showed us that family dynamics can be both entertaining and emotional yet heartwarming all at the same time.

Holiday Review: The Christmas Note by Donna VanLiere

The Christmas Note by Donna VanLiere

Published: October 25, 2011

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Format: audiobook via Overdrive

Ratings: 3/5

Synopsis

Gretchen Daniels has recently moved into a condo with her two children to be closer to her mother, Miriam. As they build a life together in their new community, they notice a mysterious young woman, Melissa McCreary, who lives next door. She has few possessions, little personality, and keeps to herself. One day a local landlord who is looking for Melissa knocks on Gretchen's door for assistance. Melissa's mother has died and in the coming weeks the landlord needs Melissa to empty her mother's apartment. Gretchen reaches out and offers to help Melissa, but the apartment is a gut-wrenching shamble of a home. There is little worth saving except for a few photos and a note that is discovered on the crate beside the bed. It is unfinished, but in the two scribbled lines, Melissa discovers secrets about her family that she never could have imagined. Can two very different women embark on a journey that explores a long-buried need for forgiveness, hope, and redemption?

My Thoughts

The Christmas Note is the tale of Gretchen who has moved to be closer to her mom and whose husband is in the military. She has a neighbor Melissa who is not neighborly, to say the least. While Gretchen and her kids try to be nice and friendly Melissa is used to keeping to herself and she wants to keep it that way. One day when Melissa is gone someone shows up and tells Gretchen that Melissa’s mom has passed away and that she needs to tell her. While Gretchen doesn’t know how to tell her this news once she does she tries to befriend Melissa to help her through this hard time, but what Gretchen doesn’t know is that Melissa and her mom weren’t close at all. Melissa soon discovers that her mom kept a huge secret from her and now she’s on a mission to find out what her mom hid all these years. This secret it turns out is much closer than she ever realized and not only that but she finds out her mother isn’t who she thought she was, she learns she had hardships in life. Though all this Melissa and Gretchen become friends soon they will discover that life has other plans for them. This was a feel-good read that shows us that fate does exist. People are bought into our lives for a reason and Melissa and Gretchen will discover that. Nothing screams Christmas than a miracle and these two will definitely find theirs during the holidays.

Review: Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Evidence of the Affair by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Published: September 20, 2018

Publisher: Amazon Original Stories

Format: purchased

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

Dear Stranger…

A desperate young woman in Southern California sits down to write a letter to a man she’s never met—a choice that will forever change both their lives.

My heart goes out to you, David. Even though I do not know you…

The correspondence between Carrie Allsop and David Mayer reveals, piece by piece, the painful details of a devastating affair between their spouses. With each commiserating scratch of the pen, they confess their fears and bare their souls. They share the bewilderment over how things went so wrong and come to wonder where to go from here.

Told entirely through the letters of two comforting strangers and those of two illicit lovers, Evidence of the Affair explores the complex nature of the heart. And ultimately, for one woman, how liberating it can be when it’s broken.

My Thoughts

Another winner by Taylor Jenkins Reid! In Evidence of the Affair, we met Carrie who has just found out that her husband is having an affair and she decides to write a letter to the husband of the women and soon they are corresponding and trying to figure out what they want to do with their spouses and their futures.

This read is done in pure letter form which I loved. I enjoyed how Carrie and David helped each other through this difficult time and in time they meet and their closeness is apparently clear. Their emotions run from hatred to sadness to love despite everything and all are so understandable. I liked how we didn't get the whole story of their time together until the end and what happened there just tear me apart.

This is another gem by TJR and even though this was a very short read it was better than some full length novels I’ve read lately. This is definitely worth the time and I highly encourage everyone to read this heartbreaking read.

Review: Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker

Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker

Published: August 8, 2017

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Format: via audiobook

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

One night three years ago, the Tanner sisters disappeared: fifteen-year-old Cass and seventeen-year-old Emma. Three years later, Cass returns, without her sister Emma. Her story is one of kidnapping and betrayal, of a mysterious island where the two were held. But to forensic psychiatrist Dr. Abby Winter, something doesn't add up. Looking deep within this dysfunctional family Dr. Winter uncovers a life where boundaries were violated and a narcissistic parent held sway. And where one sister's return might just be the beginning of the crime.

My Thoughts

Emma in the Night is the tale of Cass who return after being gone for a few years and now must tell everyone where she has been and what happened to her sister who left with her but never returned. This tale has many twists and turns when it comes to the Tanner sisters, we see a crack in her home life that showcases a family that has many problems, to say the least. We see a mother who is hanging by a thread and a stepfather and stepbrother who don’t have the best intentions.

Cass’s story of where she and her sister were all this time is kind of sketchy to the police, they think some of what she is saying is true but they think there is definitely more to her story than she is saying. So we are left to figure out what if any of her stories are true. This story has layers upon layers of secrets and lies that when unfolded gives us the real and true story of Cass and Emma’s life. When everything is finally revealed I was shocked and truly felt for Cass, she lived a life that was hard but in the end, she was free to live a life that she deserved.

Emma in the Night is part thriller part mystery but what regardless what you want to call it, bottom line the story is amazing! It definitely draws you in and keeps you engaged until the last page is turned. So if you like a story that has any of these elements this is surely the book for you.

Review: Nantucket Nights by Elin Hilderbrand

Nantucket Nights by Elin Hilderbrand     

Published: May 3, 2016

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

Format: via audiobook

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

The ties between women can run as deep as the ocean-but so can the secrets.

For 20 years, Kayla, Antoinette and Val have performed their own special summer ritual. Once a year, the old friends put aside their daily, separate lives to drink champagne, swap stories and swim naked under the Nantucket stars. But on one of those bonding nights, one of their trio swims out from the shore and doesn't return. After the surviving friends emerge from their grief, they realize that the repercussions of their loss go far beyond their little circle, and they begin to uncover layers of secrets-and their connections to each other that were never revealed on the beach. What has made their friendship strong now has the power to destroy their marriages, families, even themselves.

My Thoughts

Elin Hilderbrand is one of my favorite authors and I’m slowly reading all her books, so when I read the synopsis for one of her earliest reads I was intrigued. Nantucket Nights is the story of three lifelong friends who go out for a yearly ritual and soon one goes for a swim and doesn’t come back. With this read, we get drama, a little mystery and an explosion of secrets that go way beyond anything anyone could’ve imagined.

This is one of my favorite books by Elin Hilderbrand I loved how she weaved layers and layers of secrets into a web that just when you think you have something figured out she takes it to another level. The relationships in this read rather it be the friendships or romantic ones are so good that you are left stunned at times. I felt for some characters and others I hated but the ending is what kind of had me shook. Did I love it? No, but I totally understood it. I highly recommend this read if you are looking for something with substance, drama and a little mystery. Trust me you will fully love this rich story with memorable characters.

Review: The Other Woman by Sandie Jones

The Other Woman by Sandie Jones

Published: August 21, 2018

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Format: via NetGalley

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Emily thinks Adam’s perfect; the man she thought she’d never meet. But lurking in the shadows is a rival; a woman who shares a deep bond with the man she loves.

Emily chose Adam, but she didn’t choose his mother Pammie. There’s nothing a mother wouldn’t do for her son, and now Emily is about to find out just how far Pammie will go to get what she wants: Emily gone forever.

The Other Woman is an addictive, fast-paced psychological thriller about the destructive relationship between Emily, her boyfriend Adam, and his manipulative mother Pammie.

My Thoughts

I was thinking this was just going to be another domestic thriller but the plot twist at the end had me like what??!!  In The Other Woman, we met Emily who was at a bar with some co-workers when she meets Adam and the rest is sort of history. They soon become inseparable really fast and in no time Adam wants Emily to meet his mother Pammie.

Pammie is the meanest of mothers I have ever read about. Like all mothers, she tends to think that Emily isn’t good enough for her son and it seems like she will do anything to make Emily go away. Pammie constantly brings up Adam’s ex who unexpectedly died and it seems like she is always trying to not include Emily in family outings. Adam tries to tell Emily she is imagining things and that Pammie really likes her but when Emily and Pammie are alone she knows she isn’t imagining everything. Adam isn’t everything Emily thought he was, in the beginning, he was nice and sweet but after time together she soon finds out that he has a temper and isn’t so sweet after all. She hates that he takes his mother's side on everything and as hard as she tries she can't make him take her side. She is so convinced that Pammie wants her out of Adam’s life that she doesn’t see what’s right in front of her.

I will say that all the characters are flawed in this book but that’s what makes it so good. I found myself not really rooting for anyone because as the story went on you discovered new things about everyone and no one was better than the others. This storyline was definitely like an onion in the sense that as it went on layers upon layers were peeled back and just when you thought you figured something out something else was revealed. I loved that not until the very end did we really see what had really happened and I was pleasantly surprised, to say the least, and it isn’t very often that a book can hide it so well until the very end. This was a somewhat twisted book that really threw me for a loop, just when I thought I had it figured out and hated some characters more than others did the plot twist reveal something even more twisted! You guys this is one read that will have you hooked from the get-go and have you until the very crazy ending.

Review: Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand

Winter in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand   

Expected Publication: October 9, 2018

Publisher: Little Brown and Company

Format: via NetGalley

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Irene Steele’s idyllic life-house, husband, family-is shattered when she is woken up by a late-night phone call. Her beloved husband has been found dead, but before Irene can process this tragic news, she must confront the perplexing details of her husband’s death. He was found on St. John island, a tropical paradise far removed from their suburban life. Leaving the cold winter behind, Irene flies down to the beautiful Caribbean beaches of St. John only to make another shocking discovery: her husband had a secret second family. As Irene investigates the mysterious circumstances of her husband’s death, she is plunged into a web of intrigue and deceit belied by the pristine white sand beaches of St. John’s. This exciting first book in the Paradise series will transport readers to a new beach locale-another world that Elin knows as well as her beloved Nantucket-and have them longing for winter.

My Thoughts

In Elin Hilderbrand’s new novel Winter in Paradise, we leave her usual setting of her beloved Nantucket and she brings us to the tropical setting of St. John in her newest Winter series. We meet Irene who loves her life and has everything she has wanted except more time with her husband who works so much for all they have. She also has two grown sons who are going through tough times of their own but everyone’s lives are about to change when Irene gets a phone call that her husband has died.

Irene is stunned when she learns that her husband has lead a double life and she begins to wonder who exactly was she married to? She learns that he lead this totally different life in St. John and that he didn’t die alone that he did, in fact, have a mistress and possibly a secret child. So what is Irene to do but go down there and try to find out who her husband really was and decides to bring her two sons along for the ride. One son is trying to find his way in life. He is so different from his father, he is carefree and just wants to enjoy life while his brother is exactly like their dad he is a go-getter and is all about business but he has pushed that away to take care of his son full time while his wife a doctor focuses on her career. However, he is shocked when moments before he finds out about his fathers' death his wife tells him she is leaving him for another woman.

In St. John we meet a cast of other characters who play major parts in this story. We find out more about the mistress and her best friend whom both of Irene sons fall for. We also met the mistresses stepfather who has a spark of sorts with Irene which I’m totally on board with. There are a lot of characters on this small island but you never get confused and they just bring lots of depth to the story.

I really enjoyed this first book in her new series, I think the set up for the next novels is definitely there and the storyline is really good. I like how she has added elements of mystery with this one and how there is so much to explore in regards to Irene’s husbands’ death. What exactly happened? Was it really an accident or was it something more sinister? And what exactly was his job and who did he work for? I can't wait to discover all these things in the future and hopefully, my questions will be answered. This was definitely a good first book and I can't wait to learn more about these really interesting characters.

Review: The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir

The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir

Published: June 12, 2018

Publisher: Knopf

Format: audiobook via Overdrive

Rating: 3/5

Synopsis

Esther Ann Hicks--Essie--is the youngest child on Six for Hicks, a reality television phenomenon. She's grown up in the spotlight, both idolized and despised for her family's fire-and-brimstone brand of faith. When Essie's mother, Celia, discovers that Essie is pregnant, she arranges an emergency meeting with the show's producers: Do they sneak Essie out of the country for an abortion? Do they pass the child off as Celia's? Or do they try to arrange a marriage--and a ratings-blockbuster wedding? Meanwhile, Essie is quietly pairing herself up with Roarke Richards, a senior at her school with a secret of his own to protect. As the newly formed couple attempt to sell their fabricated love story to the media--through exclusive interviews with an infamously conservative reporter named Liberty Bell--Essie finds she has questions of her own: What was the real reason for her older sister leaving home? Who can she trust with the truth about her family? And how much is she willing to sacrifice to win her own freedom?

My Thoughts

The Book of Essie centers around Essie and her family who have a reality TV show and every part of their lives have been documented but when Essie discovers she is pregnant her family tries to cover it up so that their family “business” isn’t ruined. So what is Essie to do but use this to out an even bigger secret that will no doubt answer questions about her older sister’s absence from the family but also break her family apart. Her family tries to cover up her situation by faking a relationship and marriage to save face. Several things are going on throughout the book: we have Essie and her fake fiancée Roarke who has his own secrets, we have family secrets that are soon to be revealed and we have the matter of why Essie’s sister suddenly disappeared and doesn’t want anything to do with her family.

With all of these things going on I was drawn in and was dying to find out how this read was going to end but once it was over I felt a huge letdown. I like the story but when the big reveal was told I felt like we could’ve had even more of this storyline told. This was the big payoff but with all the other things going on the one thing I felt was the better story wasn’t explored to its fullest. I definitely thought this could’ve been told better and I was so disappointed we didn’t get more out of it.

I truly felt this book had a huge potential of being great but maybe it just had so many things going on that we were cheated with the outcome when the novel finally came to an end. I felt that if it had focused on one thing that it could’ve been amazing. While I had my differences with this read it was still a good read. It was entertaining and definitely had some good plot points. This was a middle of the road read that just fell a little flat for me.

Blog Tour [Review]: Somebody's Daughter by David Bell

Somebody’s Daughter by David Bell

Published: July 10, 2018

Publisher: Berkley Books

Format: via NetGalley

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

When Michael Frazier's ex-wife, Erica, shows up on his doorstep pleading for help, she drops a bombshell that threatens to rip his family apart: Erica's nine-year-old daughter is missing--and Michael is the father. Unable to quickly determine if Erica is telling the truth, and unwilling to leave the little girl's fate to chance, Michael has no choice but to follow the elusive trail of the child he has always wanted and never knew he had.

But finding Felicity comes at a price--the closer Michael gets to the truth, the further into jeopardy his marriage falls and the faster his family begins to unravel. As lies that span a decade bubble to the surface and the window for Felicity's safe return closes, Michael will have just a few short days to decide who can be trusted and who is hiding the truth.

My Thoughts

Somebody’s Daughter starts off with a ring at the door that will change Michael and his wife Angela’s life forever. Michael’s ex-wife Erica is there after ten years of their divorce and tells him that he has a daughter that he never knew about and that she is missing and needs his help. He is stunned and doesn’t know what to think of all this but being a good guy decides to go and help Erica find her daughter.

What happens next is a series of twists and turns and so many characters that are there to tell the story of finding Felicity, as to who took her and why.  I don't want to spoil anything but this story is about finding a missing girl but it's also about so much more. The questions are mounting as to who Felicity's father is and her mother is under questioning about her past. Also if she is in real danger or is there something else going on with her disappearance. Everyone is a suspect and there are good reasons for each one, that’s why I loved this story. With each person, we met there is a valid reason why they could be behind Felicity being gone but slowly the web is untangled and when it's revealed what really happened I was generally surprised. I love a book that keeps me engaged and I love when I’m caught by surprise and can't figure it out right away. This is a great novel with mystery and suspense but it also has an element of family which is really relatable. This is one book that is a summer must have!

Review: This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel

This is How it Always Is by Laurie Frankel

Published: January 24, 2017

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Format: via Audible

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

This is how a family keeps a secret…and how that secret ends up keeping them.

This is how a family lives happily ever after…until happily ever after becomes complicated.

This is how children change…and then change the world.

This is Claude. He’s five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress and dreams of being a princess.

When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl.

Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They’re just not sure they’re ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes.

This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again, parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts, children grow but not always according to plan. And families with secrets don’t get to keep them forever.

My Thoughts

I've had this audiobook for over a year until one day I was scanning my Audible and decided to listen. Wow! This book is simply amazing and it touched my soul like no other. In This Is How It Always Is we start off with a couple and we get to know their courtship, marriage and then their kids. We soon learn that they are expecting again and once again it’s a boy… and then Claude is born.

Claude is a loving child who soon shows us he likes to play with dolls and likes to dress up but as time goes by it becomes more. It isn’t a phase to Claude he wants to be girl…deep down he knows he is a girl. Even at a very young age, he knows who he is and more importantly who he isn’t.

We see Claude as he goes to school and after they move so Claude who has changed his name can start his life as who he was meant to be and make friends who only know him as a girl. He is living the life he wants all while his family keeps his secret. In time the secret is out and their lives begin to unravel, we see how this has affected everyone in the family and the toll it takes on Claude. He decides to go back to Claude as to not hurt anyone but it's clear he’s only hurting his true self not to mention he isn’t Claude anyone, more like he was never meant to be Claude.

This is a heartbreaking novel of a person who from the start knows who he was meant to be. I was literally in tears when he cuts his hair and starts to dress “like a boy” so that he wouldn’t hurt his family anymore but its clear at that point that he wasn’t Claude anymore. What I also found interesting were the parents. Penn was a stay at home dad and Rosie was a doctor. We usually hear about the mother always being the more understanding one and the father is the one who doesn’t want to come to terms with things but in the story, it was the opposite. Penn wanted their child to be who they wanted regardless of what others thought and Rosie was scared maybe or by being a doctor wanted to think about all the options.  This was a beautifully written novel that gives us an insight into the lives of transgender children and their families. It shows us how parents have the difficult decisions on what to do and when to listen to their children's pleas on who they really are. I personally loved this novel and loved how it focused on a younger child than we usually read about. If you're looking for a book based on love, understanding and family pick this one up it's definitely worth the read.

Review: The Sometimes Sisters by Carolyn Brown

The Sometimes Sisters by Carolyn Brown

Published: February 27, 2018

Publisher: Montlake Romance

Format: audiobook via Kindle Unlimited

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

When they were growing up, Dana, Harper, and Tawny thought of themselves as “sometimes sisters.” They connected only during the summer month they’d all spend at their grandmother’s rustic lakeside resort in north Texas. But secrets started building, and ten years have passed since they’ve all been together—in fact, they’ve rarely spoken, and it broke their grandmother’s heart.

Now she’s gone, leaving Annie’s Place to her granddaughters—twelve cabins, a small house, a café, a convenience store, and a lot of family memories. It’s where Dana, Harper, and Tawny once shared so many good times. They’ve returned, sharing only hidden regrets, a guarded mistrust, and haunting guilt. But now, in this healing summer place, the secrets that once drove them apart could bring them back together—especially when they discover that their grandmother may have been hiding something, too…

To overcome the past and find future happiness, these “sometimes sisters” have one more chance to realize they are always family.

My Thoughts

The Sometimes Sisters is the story of sisters who come together after the death of their grandmother. They all would spend the summers together growing up with their grandmother and now that she has passed they come back together after many years to sort out her affairs. Each has their notions about each other but none of them know how the others are actually really living. They all agree to stay for awhile and work at her business but little do they know she wanted them there in hopes they would reconnect and finally act like sisters. There isn’t any real reason why they aren’t close but in spending time together they do eventually bond.

I really enjoyed this novel of love, family and family secrets. I loved how in the beginning they didn’t get along but let someone else hurt one of them they all came to each other's rescue. I loved the sense of community the small town had and how their grandmother's longtime friend, who they considered an uncle was there to guide them and to make their grandmothers wishes a reality. While the journey of the sisters was a wonderful thing to see what I really loved was the story of their grandmother. We see how after her death she confesses who her true love was and why she couldn’t live her truth. She lived in a different time and she didn’t want people to get hurt.

This was a wonderfully written tale of love at all levels and how the journey is well worth it in the end. It's about how family is the most important thing, and that no matter how much time has passed you can indeed go home again. Do yourself a favor and seek this read out it's an emotional read that you will LOVE!

Review: The Memory of Butterflies by Grace Greene

The Memory of Butterflies by Grace Greene

Published: September 5, 2017

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Format: audiobook via Kindle Unlimited

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis

Hannah Cooper’s daughter is leaving for college soon. The change is bittersweet. A single mother since the age of eighteen, Hannah isn’t eager to confront the pain of being alone, but she’s determined not to let her own hang-ups keep Ellen from the future she deserves. As Ellen’s high school graduation approaches, Hannah decides it’s time to return to her roots in Cooper’s Hollow along Virginia’s beautiful and rustic Cub Creek.

With the help of longtime friend Roger Westray, Hannah devotes her energies to building a new house on the site of the old family home, destroyed in a fire more than a decade ago. But Hannah’s entire adult life has revolved around one very big secret. And her new beginning comes with unanticipated risks that will cost her far more than she could have imagined—perhaps more than she can survive.

When a confrontation forces Hannah to expose her secret, the truth may destroy her beloved daughter. Hannah is prepared to sacrifice everything to protect her family, but can their lives and their bond withstand the seismic shift that’s coming?

My Thoughts

In The Memory of Butterflies, Hannah never knew that rebuilding her family house would result in uncovering family secrets that could destroy everything she holds dear. Hannah was raised by her grandparents after her parents were said to have died in car accident. She didn’t go to college and instead stayed behind pregnant and taking care of her ill grandmother. One rainy night tragedy strikes and things will never be the same again.

A few years go by and a miracle of sorts appears making Hannah and her grandmother whole ago. From then on things appear to be fine all until Hannah decides to rebuild her old family and in rebuilding all the family secrets are uncovered. Hannah has no choice but to confess her part in things and to her surprise, she uncovers secrets she never even knew.

Sorry if I’m being very vague but this story is so good that I don’t want to spoil anything for anyone who would want to read it. This is a tale of family, secrets, and forgiveness. I loved how this story had a few twists and turns and some caught me by surprise which I enjoyed. What I loved most was how in the end everything wasn’t neatly tied up in a bow which was a nice thing to read because this is how life is most of the time. In reality, things aren’t always summed up right away and we just have to let things play out in their own time. This is one read that will have you in tears at times and will also break your heart but it’s a wonderful tale that I guarantee you will enjoy very much.

Review: The Husband Hour by Jamie Brenner

The Husband Hour by Jamie Brenner

Expected Publication: April 24, 2018

Publisher: Little Brown and Company

Format: via publisher

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

Lauren Adelman and her high school sweetheart, Rory Kincaid, are a golden couple. They marry just out of college as Rory, a star hockey player, earns a spot in the NHL. Their future could not look brighter when Rory shocks everyone-Lauren most of all by enlisting in the U.S. Army. When Rory dies in combat, Lauren is left devastated, alone, and under unbearable public scrutiny.

Seeking peace and solitude, Lauren retreats to her family's old beach house on the Jersey Shore. But this summer she's forced to share the house with her overbearing mother and competitive sister. Worse, a stranger making a documentary about Rory tracks her down and persuades her to give him just an hour of her time.

One hour with filmmaker Matt Brio turns into a summer of revelations, surprises, and upheaval. As the days grow shorter and her grief changes shape, Lauren begins to understand the past and to welcome the future.

My Thoughts

In the Husband Hour, we met Lauren who has recently lost her husband Rory who was NHL player and military man. Lauren moves back home to New Jersey to get away from it all and from everyone who wants to know her and Rory’s story. After some time a filmmaker named Matt comes in search of her hoping to have her blessing in making a movie about her husband. Matt’s presence soon shakes up everyone's lives and secrets that didn’t think would surface comes up and people are hurt and lives could be ruined forever. This will either break Lauren forever or it will heal her in a way she never thought possible, all because of Matt.

I really enjoyed this story, at first you think this is just the story of Rory and Lauren which it is but I see it more of Lauren trying to get her life back. She has loved Rory since they were teens so when he passed away it broke Lauren to pieces he was her world so it was understandable that she would try and save this reputation but she soon finds out things about him that will break her image of him. I also loved how her family played a huge role in the story. Her parents had a subplot in this which was also interesting and the dynamics between Lauren and her sister was also very interesting and we get to see how their relationship plays a role in all of this.

The Husband Hour is another winner from Jamie Brenner who gives us characters with such depth that you can't help but get invested in their lives. She gives us a story of love, loss, forgiving but most important one of rebuilding. To pick yourself up after something so devastating takes more courage than anything and that’s what makes this read so wonderfully page turning. Do yourself a favor and take the time to fall into this great novel.