Always With a Book

k2reader May 2, 2022

Book Event: Long Island Reads & Book Review: The Living and the Lost by Ellen Feldman

Yesterday, I attended my first of what I hope will be many Long Island Reads events. Long Island Reads is an island-wide initiative that began in 2002 to bring readers together from both Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Each spring readers across both counties read the same book, participate in book discussions and enjoy events related to the book in the libraries. Now that in-person events are happening again, this year…

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k2reader May 2, 2022

Review: The Next Thing You Know by Jessica Strawser

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Published: March 22, 2022 Source: ARC E-copy via Pubisher Summary: A musician facing the untimely end of his career. An end-of-life doula with everything, and nothing, to lose. A Star Is Born meets Me Before You in this powerful novel by the author of A Million Reasons Why. As an end-of-life doula, Nova Huston’s job—her calling, her purpose, her life—is to help terminally ill people…

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k2reader May 1, 2022

Month in Review: April 2022

How is it that April has come and gone already? I had such great plans for catching up with reviews and glancing below, you can see that that did not happen. Oh well…one of these days I’ll get the reviews written. I just have so many books to read and sitting down to write the rewiews does’t always sound as appealing as writing the review. May is looking to be…

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k2reader April 28, 2022

Blog Tour & Excerpt: The Wrong Victim by Allison Brennan

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for The Wrong Victim by Allison Brennan – I have an excerpt for you to read thanks to MIRA. Publisher: MIRA Published: April 26, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher SUMMARY: A bomb explodes on a sunset charter cruise out of Friday Harbor at the height of tourist season and kills everyone on board. Now this fishing and boating…

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k2reader April 27, 2022

Review: The First Kennedys by Neal Thompson

Publisher: Mariner Books Published: February 22, 2022 Source: Hardcover via Publisher Summary: Based on genealogical breakthroughs and previously unreleased records, this is the first book to explore the inspiring story of the poor Irish refugee couple who escaped famine, created a life together in a city hostile to Irish, immigrants, and Catholics, and launched the Kennedy dynasty in America. Their Irish ancestry was a hallmark of the Kennedys’ initial…

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k2reader April 27, 2022

Review: Everything Must Go by Camille Pagan (audio)

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing / Brilliance Audio Published: April 26, 2022 Source: Print – Finished copy via KCCPR/SuzyApprovedBookTours / Audio – ALC via Brilliance Audio Summary: A warm, wry novel about secrets, second chances, and the unbreakable bonds between mothers, daughters, and sisters by the #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author of Life and Other Near-Death Experiences. Laine Francis believes there’s a place for everything—and New York, where her family lives,…

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k2reader April 26, 2022

Review: Unmasked by Paul Holes

Publisher: Celadon Books Published: April 26, 2022 Source: ARC Paperback via Publisher Summary: From the detective who found The Golden State Killer, a memoir of investigating America’s toughest cold cases and the rewards–and toll–of a life solving crime. I order another bourbon, neat. This is the drink that will flip the switch. I don’t even know how I got here, to this place, to this point. Something is happening to…

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k2reader April 24, 2022

Review: Take Your Breath Away by Linwood Barclay

Publisher: William Morrow Published: May 17, 2022 Source: ARC E-copy via Netgalley Summary: From the New York Times bestselling author of Find You First and Elevator Pitch comes a gripping psychological thriller about a formerly missing woman who has suddenly returned under mysterious circumstances. One weekend, while Andrew Mason was on a fishing trip, his wife, Brie, vanished without a trace. Most everyone assumed Andy had got away with murder–it’s always the husband, isn’t it?–but…

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k2reader April 24, 2022

Review: Little Creeping Things by Chelsea Ichaso

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire: Published: June 2, 2020 Source: Hardcover via Publisher Summary: When she was a child, Cassidy Pratt accidentally started a fire that killed her neighbor. At least, that’s what she’s been told. She can’t remember anything from that day, and her town’s bullies, particularly the cruel and beautiful Melody Davenport, have never let her live it down. But then Melody goes missing, and Cassidy thinks she may…

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k2reader April 23, 2022

Review: Woman on Fire by Lisa Barr (audio)

Publisher: Harper Paperbacks / Harper Audio Published: March 1, 2022 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Publisher / Audio – ALC via Publisher Summary: From the author of the award-winning Fugitive Colors and The Unbreakables, a gripping tale of a young, ambitious journalist embroiled in an international art scandal centered around a Nazi-looted masterpiece – forcing the ultimate showdown between passion and possession, lovers and liars, history and truth. After talking her way into a job with…

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k2reader April 22, 2022

Short & Sweet Review: The Devil’s Star by Jo Nesbo

Publisher: Vintage Published: April 6, 2016 (first published 2003) Source: Personal copy SUMMARY: A young woman is murdered in her Oslo flat. One finger has been severed from her left hand, and behind her eyelid is secreted a tiny red diamond in the shape of a five-pointed star – a pentagram, the devil’s star. Detective Harry Hole is assigned to the case with his long-time adversary Tom Waaler and initially…

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k2reader April 18, 2022

Review: Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough

Publisher: William Morrow Published: April 12, 2022 Source: Print copy via Publisher Summary: IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT, MADNESS LIES . . . Emma can’t sleep. CHECK THE WINDOWS. It’s been like this since her big 4-0 started getting closer. LOCK THE DOORS. Her mother stopped sleeping just before her own fortieth birthday. She went mad and did the unthinkable because of it. LOOK IN ON THE CHILDREN. Is…

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k2reader April 16, 2022

Review: The Diamond Eye by Kate Quinn (print/audio)

Publisher: William Morrow / Harper Audio Published: March 29, 2022 Source: Print – Hardcover via William Morrow / Audio – ALC via Harper Audio Summary: The New York Times bestselling author of The Rose Code returns with an unforgettable World War II tale of a quiet bookworm who becomes history’s deadliest female sniper. Based on a true story. In 1937 in the snowbound city of Kiev (now known as Kyiv), wry and bookish…

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k2reader April 16, 2022

Blog Tour & Excerpt: Summer at the Cape by RaeAnne Thayne

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Summer at the Cape by RaeAnne Thayne – I have an excerpt for you to read thanks to HQN. Publisher: HQN Published: April 12, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher SUMMARY: From the beloved bestselling author of Season of Wonder and The Cliff House comes a poignant and uplifting novel about forgiveness, family and all the complications—and joy — that come with it As the…

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k2reader April 15, 2022

Blog Tour & Review: Mrs. England by Stacey Halls (audio)

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Mrs. England by Stacey Hall. Thank you MIRA for inviting me to participate. Publisher: MIRA / Harper Audio Published: April 12, 2022 Source: Print – Paperback via HTP Books / Audio – ALC via Harper Audio SUMMARY: Simmering with slow-burning menace, Mrs. England is a portrait of an Edwardian marriage, an enthralling tale of men and…

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k2reader April 14, 2022

Review: Young Rich Widows by Kimberly Belle, Layne Fargo, Cate Holahan & Vanessa Lillie (audio)

Publisher: Audible Originals Published: April 14, 2022 Source: ALC via Authors Summary: When the four partners of a prominent law firm are killed in a mysterious plane crash, their widows must come together to uncover the truth in this explosive, edge-of-your-seat novel. It’s 1985 in Providence, Rhode Island, and the four partners of a prominent, mafia-affiliated law firm have been killed in a private jet that went down outside…

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k2reader April 12, 2022

Review: The Caretakers by Amanda Bestor-Siegal (audio)

Publisher: Harper Audio Published: April 12, 2022 Source: Netgalley Summary: Set in a wealthy Parisian suburb, an emotionally riveting debut told from the point of view of six women, and centered around a group of au pairs, one of whom is arrested after a sudden and suspicious tragedy strikes her host family—a dramatic exploration of identity, class, and caregiving from a profoundly talented new writer. Paris, 2015. A crowd…

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k2reader April 9, 2022

Blog Tour & Review: A Family Affair by Robyn Carr (audio)

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for A Family Affair by Robyn Carr. Thank you MIRA for inviting me to participate. Publisher: MIRA / Harper Audio Published: April 5, 2022 Source: Print: Netgalley via HTP Books / Audio: ALC via Harper Audio SUMMARY: Life’s biggest dilemmas can provide its sweetest rewards Anna McNichol knows how to take charge. Raised by a single…

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k2reader April 8, 2022

Blog Tour & Review: Fool Me Once by Ashley Winstead

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Fool Me Once by Ashley Winstead. Thank you Graydon House for inviting me to participate. Publisher: Graydon House Published: April 5, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher SUMMARY: In this fierce and funny battle of the exes, Ashley Winstead’s FOOL ME ONCE explores the chaos of wanting what you already had. Lee Stone is a twenty-first-century woman: she kicks…

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k2reader April 8, 2022

Short & Sweet Review: 21st Birthday by James Patterson, Maxine Paetro

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company Published: May 3, 2021 Source: Personal copy Summary: Detective Lindsay Boxer vows to protect a young woman from a serial killer long enough to see her twenty-first birthday. When young wife and mother Tara Burke goes missing with her baby girl, all eyes are on her husband, Lucas. He paints her not as a missing person but a wayward wife—until a gruesome piece of…

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k2reader April 7, 2022

Blog Tour & Excerpt: Summer on the Island by Brenda Novak

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Summer on the Island by Brenda Novak – I have an excerpt for you to read thanks to MIRA. Publisher: MIRA Published: April 5, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher SUMMARY: A summer of healing, friendship, love…and a secret that could change everything. After the death of her US senator father, Marlow Madsen travels to the small…

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k2reader April 5, 2022

Review: Easy Beauty by Chloe Cooper Jones (audio)

Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: April 5, 2022 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Avid Reader Press / Audio – ALC via Simon & Schuster Audio Summary: From Chloé Cooper Jones—Pulitzer Prize finalist, philosophy professor, Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant recipient—a groundbreaking memoir about disability, motherhood, and a journey to far-flung places in search of a new way of seeing and being seen. “I am…

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k2reader April 5, 2022

Review: Caul Baby by Morgan Jerkins

Publisher: Harper Published: April 6, 2021 Source: Personal copy Summary: New York Times bestselling author Morgan Jerkins makes her fiction debut with this electrifying novel, for fans of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jacqueline Woodson, that brings to life one powerful and enigmatic family in a tale rife with secrets, betrayal, intrigue, and magic. Laila desperately wants to become a mother, but each of her previous pregnancies has ended in heartbreak. This…

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k2reader April 4, 2022

Most Anticipated Releases: April 2022

Happy April! Here we are with another batch of anticipated reads…and once again, I had a hard time narrowing this list down to just 5 books…there are many new books coming out this month. With that being said, here are the 5 books I am most excited for this month. Some are brand new-to-me authors and some are beloved favorite authors that I get giddy with each new release…

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k2reader April 4, 2022

Review: Moment in Time by Suzanne Redfearn (audio)

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing / Brilliance Audio Published: March 8, 2022 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Author / Audio – ALC via Brilliance Audio Summary: From the bestselling author of In an Instant comes a heartrending story about the power of friendship during the most challenging moments in life. It’s been eight years since a tragic accident changed Mo Kaminski’s and Chloe Miller’s lives forever. Now in their midtwenties, they’re…

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k2reader April 4, 2022

Blog Tour & Excerpt: Crimson Summer by Heather Graham

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Crimson Summer by Heather Graham – I have an excerpt for you to read thanks to MIRA. Publisher: MIRA Published: April 5, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher SUMMARY: From New York Times bestselling author Heather Graham, suspense following agents from the FBI and Florida Department of Law Enforcement as they investigate a series of murders linked to…

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k2reader April 3, 2022

Review: Killer View by Roy Johansen (audio)

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing / Hachette Audio Published: March 8, 2022 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Grand Central / Audio – ALC via Hachette Audio Summary: New York Times best-selling author Roy Johansen delivers a thrill-a-minute listen featuring a fearless heroine for hire. An army vet and former bodyguard for the rich and famous, Jessie Mercado has faced all kinds of danger and always emerged victorious. But one thing…

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k2reader April 1, 2022

Month in Review: March 2022

March was a crazy month…so many great books came out and I was busy with lots of book club reads and buddy reads. I am really enjoying all the discussions that come from these group reads and while I would probably have read most of these books, some were ones I might not have picked up. And as you can see, this month I definitely gravitated towards audiobooks…I love…

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k2reader March 29, 2022

Review: The Detective’s Daughter by Erica Spindler

Publisher: Double Shot Press Published: March 29, 2022 Source: ARC E-galley via author Summary: New Orleans Detective Quinn Conners is haunted by her father’s whiskey-soaked, last words – that he solved the Hudson murder and kidnapping. It wasn’t the first time he’d made that drunken claim, and she didn’t believe him. Twenty-four hours later she found him dead by his own hand. Quinn blames the investigation for his downfall,…

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k2reader March 28, 2022

Review: Home or Away by Kathleen West

Publisher: Berkley Publisher Published: March 29, 2022 Source: ARC E-copy via Netgalley / Hardcopy via Kathleen Carter Communications Summary: Two friends, one Olympic dream, and the choice that stood in the way. Once Leigh and Susy were close friends and teammates bound for Olympic hockey gold, but when Leigh’s sure-fire plan to make the final roster backfired, she left everything behind to start over, including the one person…

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k2reader March 26, 2022

Blog Tour & Review: The Lying Club by Annie Ward

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for The Lying Club by Annie Ward. Thank you Park Row Books for inviting me to participate. Publisher: Park Row Books Published: March 22, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher Summary: A tangled web of lies draws together three women in this explosive thriller of revenge, murder and shocking secrets At an elite private school nestled in…

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k2reader March 22, 2022

Review: Peach Blossom Spring by Melissa Fu

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company Published: March 15, 2022 Source: Personal copy Summary: A “beautifully rendered” novel about war, migration, and the power of telling our stories, Peach Blossom Spring follows three generations of a Chinese family on their search for a place to call home (Georgia Hunter, New York Times bestselling author). “Within every misfortune there is a blessing and within every blessing, the seeds of misfortune, and so it goes, until the end…

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k2reader March 19, 2022

Blog Tour & Review: The Summer Getaway by Susan Mallery (audio)

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for The Summer Getaway by Susan Mallery. Thank you HQN Books for inviting me to participate. Publisher: HQN Books / Harper Audio Published: March 15, 2022 Source: Print – ARC E-copy via Netgalley / Audio – ALC via Harper Audio Summary: One woman discovers the beauty in chaos in this poignant and heartwarming story about…

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k2reader March 18, 2022

Review: Little Bones by Patricia Gibney

Publisher: Bookouture Published: September 22, 2021 Source: Netgalley via Publisher Summary: She lifted up her granddaughter from the cot, clutched her to her chest and, without looking at her beautiful daughter lying dead on the floor of her bedroom, ran from the house. Only when she was outside did she let a wail escape her lips, frightening the baby who joined in her screams. When Isabel Gallagher is found…

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k2reader March 17, 2022

Review: The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller

Publisher: Riverhead Books Published: July 6, 2021 Source: Personal copy Summary: It is a perfect July morning, and Elle, a fifty-year-old happily married mother of three, awakens at “The Paper Palace” — the family summer place which she has visited every summer of her life. But this morning is different: last night Elle and her oldest friend Jonas crept out the back door into the darkness and had sex…

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k2reader March 16, 2022

Review: Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner (audio)

Publisher: Gallery Books / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: January 25, 2022 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Gallery Books / Audio – ALC via Simon & Schuster Audio Summary: “A twisty, fast-paced” (The Sunday Times, London) debut thriller, as electrifying as the number-one New York Times best seller The Girl on the Train, about impending motherhood, unreliable friendship, and the high price of keeping secrets. In this “gloriously tangled game of…

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k2reader March 16, 2022

Review: Three Sisters by Heather Morris (audio)

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio Published: October 5, 2021 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Publisher / Audio via library Summary: From Heather Morris, the New York Times best-selling author of the multimillion-copy best seller The Tattooist of Auschwitz and Cilka’s Journey: a story of family, courage, and resilience, inspired by a true story. Against all odds, three Slovakian sisters have survived years of imprisonment in the most notorious death camp in…

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k2reader March 16, 2022

Blog Tour & Review: A Life for a Life by Carol Wyer (Print/Audio)

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for A Life for a Life by Carol Wyer. Thank you #ZooloosBookTours for inviting me to participate. Publisher: Thomas & Mercer / Brilliance Audio Published: March 15, 2022 Source: E-galley via Publicist / Audio via Brilliance Audio Summary: Nobody can get into the mind of an erratic killer – except an unpredictable detective. When a young man is found…

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k2reader March 15, 2022

Review: Nine Lives by Peter Swanson

Publisher: William Morrow Published: March 15, 2022 Source: Netgalley via Publisher Summary: The story of nine strangers who receive a cryptic list with their names on it – and then begin to die in highly unusual circumstances. Nine strangers receive a list with their names on it in the mail. Nothing else, just a list of names on a single sheet of paper. None of the nine people know…

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k2reader March 13, 2022

Review: Black Ice by Carin Gerhardsen

Publisher: Scarlet Suspense Published: June 29, 2021 Source: ARC Paperback via Publisher Summary: January in Gotland. The days are short, the air is cold, and all the roads are covered in snow. On a deserted, icy backroad, these wintery conditions will soon bring together a group of strangers with a force devastating enough to change their lives forever when, in the midst of a brief period, a deadly accident…

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k2reader March 12, 2022

Review: Homicide and Halo-Halo by Mia P. Manansala (audio)

Publisher: Berkley Books / Penguin Audio Published: February 8, 2022 Source: Print – Paperback via GetRedPR / Audio via Library Summary: Death at a beauty pageant turns Tita Rosie’s Kitchen upside down in the latest entry of this witty and humorous cozy-mystery series by Mia P. Manansala. Things are heating up for Lila Macapagal. Not in her love life, which she insists on keeping nonexistent despite the attention of two…

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k2reader March 10, 2022

Review: Dead Wind by Tessa Wegert

Publisher: Severn House Publishers Published: March 1, 2022 (e-book) Source: ARC E-copy via Suzy Approved Book Tours Summary: Senior Investigator Shana Merchant must dredge up dark secrets and old grudges if she’s to solve the murder of a prominent local citizen in the Thousand Islands community she now calls home. The body is discovered on Wolfe Island, under the shadow of an enormous wind turbine. Senior Investigator Shana Merchant,…

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k2reader March 9, 2022

Review: The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen (audio)

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio Published: March 8, 2022 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via St. Martin’s Press / Audio – ALC via Libro.fm Summary: The next electrifying novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author duo behind The Wife Between Us. Wealthy Washington suburbanites Marissa and Matthew Bishop seem to have it all—until Marissa is unfaithful. Beneath their veneer of perfection is a relationship riven by work and…

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k2reader March 9, 2022

Review: Circus of Wonders by Elizabeth Macneal (audio)

Publisher: Atria/Emily Bestler Books / Simon and Schuster Audio Published: February 1, 2022 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Atria / ALC via Simon and Schuster Audio Summary: From the #1 internationally bestselling author of the “lush, evocative Gothic” (The New York Times Book Review) The Doll Factory comes an atmospheric and spectacular novel where one woman’s life is transformed by the arrival of a Victorian circus of wonders… Step up, step…

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k2reader March 8, 2022

Most Anticipated Releases: March 2022

Happy March! Here we are with another batch of anticipated reads…and once again, I had a hard time narrowing this list down to just 5 books. But these are my top reads and while I’ve only read one so far, the others are at the top of my reading pile. With that being said, here are the 5 books I am most excited for this month. Some are brand…

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k2reader March 7, 2022

Review: Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton & James Patterson (audio)

Publisher: Little, Brown & Company Published: March 7, 2022 Source: Print – Personal copy / Audio – ALC via Hachette Audio Summary: From America’s most beloved superstar and its greatest storyteller – a thriller about a young singer-songwriter on the rise and on the run, and determined to do whatever it takes to survive. Every song tells a story. She’s a star on the rise, singing about the hard…

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k2reader March 6, 2022

Review: The Cartographers by Peng Shepherd

Publisher: William Morrow Published: March 15, 2022 Source: Publisher Summary: What is the purpose of a map? Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field, and Nell’s personal hero. But she hasn’t seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway…

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k2reader March 4, 2022

Review: Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia (audio)

Publisher: Flatiron Books / Macmillan Audio Published: March 30, 2021 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Publisher / Audio via library Summary: A sweeping, masterful debut about a daughter’s fateful choice, a mother motivated by her own past, and a family legacy that begins in Cuba before either of them were born In present-day Miami, Jeanette is battling addiction. Daughter of Carmen, a Cuban immigrant, she is determined to…

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k2reader March 4, 2022

Review: Sanctuary: A Memoir by Emily Rapp Black (audio)

Publisher: Random House / Random House Audio Published: January 19, 2021 Source: Print – Personal Copy / Audio via library Summary: From the New York Times best-selling author of The Still Point of the Turning World comes an incisive memoir about how she came to question and redefine the concept of resilience after the trauma of her first child’s death. “Congratulations on the resurrection of your life”, a colleague wrote to Emily Rapp…

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k2reader March 3, 2022

Blog Tour & Review: The Heights by Louise Candlish

Publisher: Atria Books Published: March 1, 2022 Source: ARC Paperback via Publisher Summary: The Heights is a tall, slender apartment building among warehouses in London. Its roof terrace is so discreet, you wouldn’t know it existed if you weren’t standing at the window of the flat directly opposite. But you are. And that’s when you see a man up there—a man you’d recognize anywhere. He may be older now, but it’s…

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