Book Review: The Half Sister @realsandiejones @MinotaurBooks #NGEW2020

Thank you to Minotaur Books and Netgalley for the advance reader copy of The Half Sister in exchange for my honest review! This book is slated to be released TOMORROW and I am here to tell you to get this one ASAP!

This is Sandie Jones’ third book and does not disappoint. In this tale we have two sisters, Kate and Lauren who meet at their mother’s house every Sunday for lunch. Their relationship is best described as strained, but they keep up appearances for their mother, especially since their father has recently passed.

One Sunday a woman, Jess, shows up at the door and claims to be a love child of their fathers and is the half sister of Kate and Lauren. Kate cannot fathom the idea of her father straying from her mother and is out to prove this woman is a fraud. Lauren on the other hand believes Jess and thinks that Kate just needs to accept it.

At first I thought Jones spilled the beans and ruined the entire book. I was convinced I knew what was happening…what I didn’t see happening was everything that did. Whoops. That’s what made this book a good one for me…there are twists and turns and family secrets that just seep out from everywhere.

I started to think Jess was crazy. Maybe it was Lauren that was crazy. With Kate, I had no idea…she is a little crazy and over the top, but I liked her the most. I felt the most connected to Kate and was really pulling for her. In the end, this story satisfied everything.

4 stars. This is a marvelous domestic suspense novel that will have your wheels turning trying to figure the family out. The ending may shock you…which makes this one all the better!

Title: The Half Sister

Author: Sandie Jones

Genre(s): Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Release Date: June 16, 2020

Find it here on Goodreads

Sundays In Bed With…

I discovered this meme thanks to Jill’s Book Blog. This meme is all about what book you are reading today!! So let’s all talk about what book we currently have in our hands! This meme is hosted by Midnight Book Girl.

I’m embarrassed to say this is still in my hands…

I also have What You Wish For by Katherine Center fired up on my Kindle to read…I just need to force myself to sit down and read through Where The Crawdads Sing now!!

What are you reading today??

First Line Fridays: June 12th

As always First Line Friday comes courtesy of Hoarding Books Blog. I discovered this magic thanks to Crystal at Must Love Reviews.

This week I have been reading one of my advanced reader copy books off of Netgalley that’s due out June 23, 2020. Check this line out…

All mothers wish a perfect love story upon their daughters.

Wow. It’s so true…

So what book is it?

Blurb

A novel about mothers and daughters, about taking chances, about exploding secrets and testing the boundaries of family

Years ago, during a certain summer in Maine, two young women, unaware of each other, met a charismatic man at a craft fair and each had a brief affair with him. For Jane it was a chance to bury her recent pain in raw passion and redirect her life. For Sue it was a fling that gave her troubled marriage a way forward.

Now, sixteen years later, the family lives these women have made are suddenly upended when their teenage girls meet as strangers on social media. They concoct a plan to spend the summer in Maine with the man who is their biological father. Their determination puts them on a collision course with their mothers, who must finally meet and acknowledge their shared past and join forces as they risk losing their only daughters to a man they barely know.

What are you reading today??

Clearing My TBR #WishList #MomsWhoRead #Reading #TBR

I was motivated by this past Top Ten Tuesday’s topic of, “Books I’ve Added To My TBR & I’ve Forgotten Why” and decided to clean up my Amazon Wish List today! Here is a list of books that I have cut from my TBR…

The Last Stage by Louise Voss

Blurb

At the peak of her career as lead singer of a legendary 1980s indie band, Meredith Vincent was driven off the international stage by a horrific incident. Now living a quiet existence in a cottage on the grounds of an old stately home, she has put her past behind her and come to terms with her new life.

When a body is found in the manicured gardens of her home, and a series of inexplicable and unsettling events begins to occur, it becomes clear that someone is watching, someone who knows who she is … Someone who wants vengeance.

And this is only the beginning…

Why? It just doesn’t sound appealing to me…a former rockstar living out their life and then has someone seeking revenge? I’m sure it’s a decent book, but I have sooooo many more on my shelf to read before this one!

Changeling (Six Stories, #3) by Matt Wesolowski

Blurb

On Christmas Eve in 1988, seven-year-old Alfie Marsden vanished in the Wentshire Forest Pass, when a burst tyre forced his father, Sorrel, to stop the car. Leaving the car to summon the emergency services, Sorrel returned to find his son gone. No trace of the child, nor his remains, have ever been found. Alfie Marsden was declared officially dead in 1995.

Elusive online journalist, Scott King, whose ‘Six Stories’ podcasts have become an internet sensation, investigates the disappearance, interviewing six witnesses, including Sorrel, his son and his ex-partner, to try to find out what really happened that fateful night. He takes a journey through the trees of the Wentshire Forest – a place synonymous with strange sightings, and tales of hidden folk who dwell there. He talks to a company that tried and failed to build a development in the forest, and a psychic who claims to know where Alfie is…

Intensely dark, deeply chilling and searingly thought provoking, Changeling is an up-to-the-minute, startling thriller, taking you to places you will never, ever forget.

Why? Hear me out, this one sounds absolutely amazing, but I just don’t feel like starting a series right now. I have a closet full of Baldacci books from my Dad I haven’t touched in a year and have other book series in my possession I need to get through first!

Anything For Her by Jack Jordan

Blurb

Sometimes the past comes back to haunt you.

Louise Leighton’s life has fallen apart, all because of one fateful night. Her husband is an adulterer, her sister is his mistress, and soon, Louise will lose everything she owns. But she never imagined she would lose her daughter.

Eighteen-year-old Brooke Leighton is missing. It’s up to Louise and the Metropolitan Police to find her. Has Brooke run away? Or has she been taken against her will? And can Louise aid the investigation without mentioning the night where all of her troubles began?

If she mentions that night, she will incriminate her daughter for heinous crimes. But if she doesn’t, she may never find Brooke; and if she has been abducted, the person who took her may come for Louise, too.

Sometimes the past comes back to kill you.

From the global number one bestselling author Jack Jordan, comes this terrifying novel about the secrets we keep, and how the past can only be buried for so long.

Why? Honestly…the cover. Laugh, go ahead…but if I look at all the other books I have on my very, very, VERY long wish list, this would ultimately go to the bottom of the pile. Put it this way, if I were to get this book today, I probably would never read it…there would always be a book ahead of it!

That’s it for now. Maybe next week I’ll take a stab at my Goodreads Want To Read list…I could certainly use a good purge there!!! Have you been cleaning out your TBR lists or do you just let them pile all the way up??

Paris Never Leaves You Blog Tour @StMartinsPress #EllenFeldman #WW2 #Paris #HistoricalFiction #MomsWhoRead #NGEW2020

Thank you to Leah Johanson and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to participate in this blog tour for Paris Never Leaves You! I received an advance copy of the book in exchange for my honest review!

This book is told in two parts, Wartime Paris and 1950s New York. The story is told by Charlotte and we learn what it was like to live in Paris during the Nazi regime. The detail that encompasses this book was unreal and I felt like I had stepped back in time when Charlotte flashes back to those times.

She currently lives in New York with her boss. He was a friend of her father and he took her and her daughter in when they fled from France. The relationship between the two of them is delicate and unique and has you questioning it throughout the whole book. The dynamics were definitely eyebrow raising.

Parts of this book were hard to read and even though this is a work of fiction, the things this book describes absolutely took place. Sometimes it is hard to wrap your head around everything, but that’s the truth in wartime history. This will be a great story to read for those of you who enjoy World War II fiction.

I did find it hard to follow along in parts of the book as suddenly it would jump scenes without a break. Once I figured out what was happening I could get back into the reading, but it did make it a little more difficult for me. There is a romance story line, which is a little odd at first, but everything weaves together and makes much more sense in the end.

4 stars. The tale this tells of Charlotte and her adventure to safe herself and her daughter is one that I didn’t quite see coming. As a mother, I don’t blame her in the least for what she did and I wish she saw things the same way.

Author Bio
ELLEN FELDMAN, a 2009 Guggenheim fellow, is the author of Terrible Virtue, The Unwitting, Next to Love, Scottsboro (shortlisted for the Orange Prize), The Boy Who Loved Anne Frank (translated into nine languages), and Lucy. Her novel Terrible Virtue was optioned by Black Bicycle for a feature film.

Buy Links
Amazon
BN
IndieBound
BAM
Apple
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Title: Paris Never Leaves You

Author: Ellen Feldman

Genre(s): Fiction, Historical Fiction, WWII

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Release Date: August 4, 2020

Find it here on Goodreads

Top Ten Tuesday: June 9th

It’s Tuesday which means it’s time for another TTT courtesy of That Artsy Reader Girl! This week’s topic is…

Books I’ve Added To My TBR & I’ve Forgotten Why

Time to bust out the ol’ TBR list and take a look at some…wait, I wanted to read this?? selections (and maybe take them off my list).

Blurb

On December 26, 1985, at a secluded cabin in upstate New York, Whitley Strieber went siding with his wife and son, ate Christmas dinner leftovers, and went to bed early.

Six hours later, he found himself suddenly awake…and forever changed.

Thus begins the most astonishing true-life odyssey ever recorded — one man’s riveting account of his extraordinary experiences with visitors from”elsewhere”… how they found him, where they took him, what they did to him and why…

Believe it. Or don’t believe it. But read it — for this gripping story will move you like no other… will fascinate you, terrify you, and alter the way you experience your world.

My Opinion: Who knows, maybe I thought it would be cool to read a book where someone was “abducted” by an alien. I have no idea how I ever came across this one or why…*shrugs*

Blurb

Lois Clary, a software engineer at a San Francisco robotics company, codes all day and collapses at night. When her favourite sandwich shop closes up, the owners leave her with the starter for their mouthwatering sourdough bread.
Lois becomes the unlikely hero tasked to care for it, bake with it and keep this needy colony of microorganisms alive. Soon she is baking loaves daily and taking them to the farmer’s market, where an exclusive close-knit club runs the show.
When Lois discovers another, more secret market, aiming to fuse food and technology, a whole other world opens up. But who are these people, exactly?

My Opinion: What? This sounds a look that talks a lot about bread and I’m just not certain why I EVER put this one on my list…it doesn’t appeal to me in the least!

Blurb

Skinny, nine-year-old orphaned Dores is working in the kitchen of a sugar plantation in 1930s Brazil when in walks a girl who changes everything. Graça, the spoiled daughter of a wealthy sugar baron, is clever, well fed, pretty, and thrillingly ill behaved. Born to wildly different worlds, Dores and Graça quickly bond over shared mischief, and then, on a deeper level, over music.

One has a voice like a songbird; the other feels melodies in her soul and composes lyrics to match. Music will become their shared passion, the source of their partnership and their rivalry, and for each, the only way out of the life to which each was born. But only one of the two is destined to be a star. Their intimate, volatile bond will determine each of their fortunes–and haunt their memories.

Traveling from Brazil’s inland sugar plantations to the rowdy streets of Lapa in Rio de Janeiro, from Los Angeles during the Golden Age of Hollywood back to the irresistible drumbeat of home, The Air You Breathe unfurls a moving portrait of a lifelong friendship–its unparalleled rewards and lasting losses–and considers what we owe to the relationships that shape our lives.

My Opinion: I am not a huge fan of historical fiction…I’ll read it, but it isn’t my favorite genre. The fact that this book is ON my TBR is confusing…usually I’ll come across a historical fiction book and read it to take a break from reading thrillers. This one truly baffles me…

Blurb

The six stories in The Dunning Man feature anti-heroes who reject society’s rules. Characters from all walks of life—a rogue hip-hop star, a blackjack dealing mom, a middle-aged drunk plowing through his inheritance, and an empty-nester housewife trying to make peace with the past. They each exist in the here and now, living for what’s possible and what’s left—not what they’ve left behind. Redemption awaits all, but only along the rutted, gut-churning path of honest self-examination. Age quod agis.

Set in Atlantic City, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., the Hudson Valley and Manhattan, Fortuna’s stories depict the violent clash between society’s expectations and the chaotic arc of individual destiny. These are powerful tales of truth seekers imbued with larger-than-life personalities and the all-consuming need to find something worth seeking.

My Opinion: Again…I am not a fan of books that are a collection of stories, so it baffles me why I would ever put this on my TBR list. Maybe because it’s a movie??? I have no idea…

Well, I don’t want to make this too long and these are my top 4 that really had me scratching my head…have you read any of these and should I read them?? What books are on your TBR list that have you scratching your head for how they ever got on there??

Book Review: My Dark Vanessa @GinnyMcCoo @WmMorrowBooks

I have seen a lot of buzz around this book so when I was on a trip to Costco and saw this, I had to pick it up!

This was a hard book to read. I had to remind myself that it was a work of fiction. Despite it being a work of fiction, I know this story is the truth for some young women out there and it is absolutely heartbreaking.

This is the story of Vanessa and her relationship with Jacob Strane…her high school English teacher. This is told in 2 parts, 2000 when Vanessa is in high school and 2017, when the waves of allegations again men (#metoo movement) is picking up steam. Vanessa is contacted by a woman who knows of her and wants her to tell her story of when she was sexually abused by Jacob Strane to help her story gain tread. There’s just one problem…

Vanessa believes she was always in a loving, committed relationship.

As the timeline goes back and forth you see how her relationship with Jacob Strane unfolds and you can see how it has affected her in her present life. It is a sad, dark, disturbing yet poignant read. It truly hits such an emotional level that wears on you.

There are scenes in this book that are grotesque and hard to read. I am glad the author included them as that is part of the narrative of these situations. Yes this is a sensitive subject, but I also feel like this is a story that needs to be told as it may help some women out there. I almost wanted a follow up for Vanessa, even though she is a fictional character, to see how she is doing now.

5 stars. This is just a brilliant read. It is one that will definitely get conversations going. It left me drained and needing a moment when I finished it. A must read.

Title: My Dark Vanessa

Author: Kate Elizabeth Russell

Genre(s): Fiction, Contemporary, Adult Lit

Publisher: William Morrow

Release Date: March 10, 2020

Find it here on Goodreads

Netgalley and Edelweiss Reading Challenge #NGEW2020

I’m committing myself to Reading Between The Page’s Netgalley Challenge this year…6 months in to 2020, haha. I am fairly certain I did this in 2019 and failed miserably…I am determined to do it this year and commit myself to reading 10 books before 2020 rides off into the sunset! That’s the bronze level in this challenge and if I can reach that, I’ll be happy!

This challenge is simple…I read the books I have on Netgalley and link them up every month! Are you doing this challenge?? Interested?? Let’s chat about Netgalley and all those ARC books that pile up suddenly!

First Line Fridays: June 5th

As always First Line Friday comes courtesy of Hoarding Books Blog. I discovered this magic thanks to Crystal at Must Love Reviews.

As you may have heard me talk about before, a group of us at work like to exchange books we’re reading with each other…we haven’t seen each other since mid-March!! AHHHHHH! One reached out and we decided to start a semi-book club where we all read the same book together since we can’t pass our books along like we used to…here’s the first line from what we picked for our first read…

1969
Marsh is not swamp. Marsh is a space of light, where grass grows in water, and water flows into the sky.

Do you know what this book is? Needless to say I’m excited, this has been on my TBR shelf FOREVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know many of you have read this one so I’m not going to include the blurb this week…if you’ve read it, let me know if you think I’ll love this, meh it, or be barely able to finish it…

What are you reading today??

Thirsty Thursday & Hungry Hearts: June 4th

This is my second time participating in the new Thursday book blog meme that (un)Conventional Bookworms has started.

I strayed a little and I’m going to show you some recipes I made courtesy of Kristin @ Kristin Kraves Books post with links she loved this week! Thank you Kristin for sharing the link that had these recipes in them!!

One Skillet French Onion Tater Tot Casserole

I love french onion soup so when I saw this recipe, I had to try it. It had meat in it so my husband was all for it, haha. The only thing I would do different is add different cheese to the top…the recipe called for cheddar on top, but a swiss or guyere would be much tastier! I will make it again…find the recipe here.

Skillet Strawberry Bourbon Cobbler With Layered Cream Cheese Biscuits

How EASY this recipe was!!!!! It is SOOO tasty too! I ended up using some Jameson whiskey (because that’s all I had) and it still turned out ok! In fact, I am making this AGAIN today with strawberries and raspberries! You can find the recipe here.

So just when you think, hey, should I post some food related things on a book blog, know that there are people like me out there who will LOOOOOOVE it!!!

What have you made lately?!