This month I attended Hamptonswhodunit, a Mystery and crime festival, and in prepping for it, I picked a few books from my shelves by some of the authors I knew would be attending. Not only did this help me get to know some of these authors better but it also allowed me to read some books that had been sitting on my shelf for a while. And now I’m quite…
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I borrowed this audiobook from the library. Publisher: Penguin Audio Published: May 18, 2021 Summary: The Hunting Wives share more than target practice, martinis, and bad behavior in this novel of obsession, seduction, and murder. Sophie O’Neill left behind an envy-inspiring career and the stressful, competitive life of big-city Chicago to settle down with her husband and young son in a small Texas town. It seems like the perfect…
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I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons Published: January 19, 2021 Summary: In this propulsive locked-room thriller debut, a reunion weekend in the French Alps turns deadly when five friends discover that someone has deliberately stranded them at their remote mountaintop resort during a snowstorm. When Milla accepts an off-season invitation to Le Rocher, a cozy ski resort in the French Alps, she’s expecting…
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I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Little, Brown and Company Published: November 22, 2021 Summary: Alex Cross enters the final showdown with the relentless killer who has stalked him and his family for years. Dr. Alex Cross and Detective John Sampson venture into the rugged Montana wilderness—where they will be the prey. They’re not on the job, but on a personal mission. Until they’re attacked by two rival…
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Thank you Libro.fm / Harper Audio, for the ALC and Bibliolifestyle, William Morrow, #partner, for a finished copy of The Anatomy of Desire in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: William Morrow / Harper Audio Published: May 11, 2021 Summary: A modern tale of American striving, social media stardom, a fatal love triangle, and a young woman on trial for murder—a mesmerizing reimagining of Theodore Dreiser’s classic novel of…
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Thank you Blackstone Publishing, #partner for the advanced copy of American Girl in exchange for my honest review. I got the audiobook as part of my Audible Subscription. Publisher: Blackstone Publishing / Audible Originals Published: October 17, 2023 / December 16, 2021 Summary: A pulse-pounding novel about a small-town business owner found dead and the teenage girl caught in the crosshairs, American Girl is the latest thriller from international best-selling author…
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Thank you Minotaur Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Lost Village in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Minotaur Books / Macmillan Audio Published: March 23, 2021 Summary: The Blair Witch Project meets Midsommar in this brilliantly disturbing thriller from Camilla Sten, an electrifying new voice in suspense. Documentary filmmaker Alice Lindstedt has been obsessed with the vanishing residents of the old mining town,…
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I borrowed this audiobook from the library. Publisher: Harper Audio Published: April 20, 2021 Summary: Elle Castillo once trained as a social worker, supporting young victims of violent crime. Now, she hosts a popular true crime podcast that focuses on cold cases of missing and abducted children. After four seasons of successfully solving these cases in Minnesota’s Twin Cities, Elle decides to tackle her white whale: The Countdown Killer.…
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I borrowed this audiobook from the library. Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Published: May 4, 2021 Summary: The instant #1 New York Times bestselling mystery and Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick that’s captivated more than a million readers about a woman searching for the truth about her husband’s disappearance…at any cost. Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion…
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I received this book from a friend. Publisher: Atria Books Published: September 7, 2021 Summary: 2017: 19 year old Tallulah is going out on a date, leaving her baby with her mother, Kim. Kim watches her daughter leave and, as late evening turns into night, which turns into early morning, she waits for her return. And waits. The next morning, Kim phones Tallulah’s friends who tell her that Tallulah…
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This month I participated in MEMOIR MADNESS 2023 – a challenge over on Instagram where we focused on reading memoirs throughout the month of March. It’s a little play on March Madness and I have loved participating in this. I love reading memoirs – it’s one of my favorite forms of nonfiction that I try to read throughout the year. So far, I’ve read 3 this month, but you are…
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Thank you Hachette Audio, #partner for the ALC of The Hawthorne Legacy in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Hachette Audio Published: September 7, 2021 Summary: Intrigue, riches, and romance abound in this thrilling sequel to the New York Times best-selling The Inheritance Games. The Inheritance Games ended with a bombshell, and now heiress Avery Grambs has to pick up the pieces and find the man who might hold the answers to all of…
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I purchased this book for my own personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Crooked Lane Books / Dreamscape Media Published: February 9, 2021 / February 25, 2021 Summary: She left the NYPD in the firestorm of a high-profile case gone horribly wrong. Three years later, the ghosts of her past roar back to terrifying life. When NYPD undercover cop Laney Bird’s cover is blown in…
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Thank you St. Martin’s Press, #partner for the finished copy of The Santa Suit in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio Published: September 28, 2021 Summary: From Mary Kay Andrews, the New York Times bestselling author of Hello, Summer, comes a novella celebrating the magic of Christmas and second chances in The Santa Suit. When newly-divorced Ivy Perkins buys an…
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Thank you St. Martin’s Press, #partner for the advanced copy of The Ambassador in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Random House Audio Published: August 3, 2021 Summary: Acclaimed biographer Susan Ronald reveals the truth about Joseph P. Kennedy’s deeply controversial tenure as Ambassador to Great Britain on the eve of World War II. On February 18, 1938,…
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I borrowed this book from the library. Publisher: Orenda Books Published: June 1, 2021 (first published 2019) Summary: When the mother of a missing two-year-old girl is seriously injured in a suspected terrorist attack in Oslo, crime-fighting duo Blix and Ramm join forces to investigate the case, and things aren’t adding up … The second instalment in the addictive, atmospheric, award-winning Blix & Ramm series. Oslo, New Year’s Eve. The…
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Thank you Kensington Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of Murder at Mallowan Hall in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Kensington Books Published: October 26, 2021 Summary: The first in an exciting new historical mystery series set in the home of Agatha Christie! Colleen Cambridge’s charming and inventive new historical series introduces an unforgettable heroine in Phyllida Bright, fictional housekeeper for none other than famed mystery novelist Agatha…
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Thank you Grand Central Publishing, #partner for the finished copy of Elizabeth and Margaret in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Grand Central Publishing / Hachette Audio Published: March 30, 2021 Summary: Perfect for fans of The Crown, this captivating biography from a New York Times best-selling author follows Queen Elizabeth II and her sister Margaret as they navigate life in the royal spotlight. They…
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Thank you St. Martin’s Press, #partner for the finished copy of A Summer to Remember in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio Published: May 11, 2021 Summary: For thirty-year-old Frankie Simon, selling movie memorabilia in the shop she opened with her late mother on Hollywood Boulevard is more than just her livelihood–it’s an enduring connection to…
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This book is from my personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Scribner / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: November 16, 2021 Summary: An “immersive…illuminating” (Booklist) and life-affirming novel following the residents of an idyllic Connecticut town over the course of a year, A Little Hope explores the intertwining lives of a dozen neighbors as they confront everyday desires and fears: a lost love, a stalled career, an…
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Thank you Brilliance Audio, #partner, for the ALC of Everything Is Mine in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Brilliance Audio Published: March 9, 2021 Summary: Family secrets, revenge, and righteous fury collide in an international bestselling novel of psychological suspense and intrigue. Clara and Henrik are married and living in a beautiful inherited villa in Oslo. She is a single-mindedly ambitious child-rights activist at the Ministry of Justice.…
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Thank you to the author and Simon and Schuster Canada, #partner, for the finished copy of The Hunted in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Simon and Schuster Canada Published: July 6, 2021 *** This book will be released here in the states on July 5, 2022. Summary: The Beach meets The Guest List in this twisty travel thriller about two couples who meet backpacking through Africa, but what begins as friendship…
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Publisher: Bent Pine Publishing Published: October 19, 2021 Source: Author Summary: April 18, 1906 – A devastating earthquake rocks San Francisco and Templeton Morehouse fears her husband is lost forever. A powerful and compelling story from USA Today bestselling author Bette Lee Crosby Chances were a million to one that a girl born and raised in Philadelphia would encounter a stranger from California on the trolley and fall madly…
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Publisher: Grand Central Publishing Published: November 30, 2021 Source: Publisher Summary: In this thought-provoking and entertaining debut novel about of a multicultural family, a dying billionaire matriarch leaks news of her death early so she can examine her legacy–a decision that horrifies her children and inadvertently exposes secrets she has spent a lifetime keeping. Dava Shastri, one of the world’s wealthiest women, has always lived with her sterling reputation…
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Publisher: Philomel Books Published: April 13, 2021 Source: Netgalley via Publisher Summary: From the author of We Speak in Storms comes a twisty, psychological thriller about three friends searching for the truth in the aftermath of a plane crash. The morning after their senior year beach party, Izzy, Cass, and Janie are woken by a thundering overhead. Then they and their classmates watch in shock as a plane crashes…
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Publisher: Del Ray Books Published: July 20, 2021 Source: Personal copy Summary: A family returns to their hometown—and to the dark past that haunts them still—in this masterpiece of literary horror by the New York Times bestselling author of Wanderers Long ago, Nathan lived in a house in the country with his abusive father—and has never told his family what happened there. Long ago, Maddie was a little girl making dolls in…
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Publisher: Penguin Audio Published: May 4, 2021 Source: Library Summary: The first book in a new culinary cozy series full of sharp humor and delectable dishes – one that might just be killer…. When Lila Macapagal moves back home to recover from a horrible breakup, her life seems to be following all the typical rom-com tropes. She’s tasked with saving her Tita Rosie’s failing restaurant, and she has to…
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Publisher: Harper Published: October 28, 2021 Source: Personal copy Summary: A missing girl, a hidden body, a decades-long cover-up, and old sins cast in new light: the classic procedural meets Scandinavian atmosphere in this rich, character-driven mystery, awarded Best Swedish Crime Novel of the Year, that heralds the American debut of a supremely skilled international writer. It’s been more than twenty years since Olof Hagström left home. Returning to…
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Publisher: William Morrow Published: October 26, 2021 Source: Netgalley via Publisher Summary: The first in a thrilling new series from Emmy Award–winning journalist Tamron Hall, in which a reporter unravels the disturbing mystery around the deaths of two black girls, the work of a serial killer terrorizing Chicago. When crime reporter Jordan Manning leaves her hometown in Texas to take a job at a television station in Chicago, she’s…
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Publisher: Brilliance Audio Published: December 14, 2021 Source: ALC via Brilliance Audio Summary: For a private investigator on the trail of a missing girl, every second counts in a gripping thriller by New York Times bestselling author T.R. Ragan. On her first day of kindergarten, five-year-old Tinsley disappeared without a trace… Five agonizing years later, her divorced mother, Dani Callahan, is a private investigator. She and Quinn Sullivan, a promising young…
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Publisher: Avon Published: June 10, 2021 Source: Publisher Summary: The DNA results are back. And there’s a serial killer in her family tree… Liz Catalano is shocked when an ancestry kit reveals she’s adopted. But she could never have imagined connecting with her unknown family would plunge her into an FBI investigation of a notorious serial killer… The Tri-State Killer has been abducting pairs of women for forty years,…
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I’m a huge audiobook fan…I always have one on the go. And today I’m featuring three that all involve a protagonist who faces something completely unexpected while traveling. Thanks @Booksforwardpr for putting these on my radar! THE LIGHTHOUSE by Christopher Parker, narrated by Braden Wright Pub Date: October 21, 2021, Audio Publisher – Christopher Parker Summary: Enchanting, mysterious, and deeply romantic, The Lighthouse follows a young woman’s breathtaking journey…
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Publisher: Berkley Books Published: September 28, 2021 Source: Personal copy Summary: When a woman travels to Nigeria to attend the funeral of the father she never knew, she meets her extravagant family for the first time, a new and inspiring love interest, and discovers parts of herself she didn’t know were missing, from Jane Igharo, the acclaimed author of Ties That Tether. Hannah Bailey has never known her father, the…
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Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for The Sorority Murder by Allison Brennan – I have an excerpt for you to read thanks to MIRA books. Publisher: MIRA Published: December 28, 2021 Source: Netgalley via Publisher Summary: A popular sorority girl. An unsolved murder. A campus podcast with chilling repercussions. Lucas Vega is obsessed with the death of Candace Swain, who left a…
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Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: November 16, 2021 Source: Personal copy Summary: A father and daughter living in the remote Appalachian mountains must reckon with the ghosts of their past in Kimi Cunningham Grant’s These Silent Woods, a mesmerizing novel of suspense. No electricity, no family, no connection to the outside world. For eight years, Cooper and his young daughter, Finch, have lived in isolation in a remote cabin in the…
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Publisher: Berkley Published: August 24, 2021 Source: Personal copy Summary: A bursting, heartfelt, debut following fifty-five days in the life of ten-year-old Rae, who must look after herself and her dog when her mother disappears. For as long as Rae can remember, it’s been her and Mum, and their dog, Splinter; a small, deliberately unremarkable, family. They have their walks, their cooking routines, their home. Sometimes Mum disappears for…
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Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: May 25, 2021 Source: ARC Paperback via Publisher Summary: The first in the Electra McDonnell series from Edgar-nominated author Ashley Weaver, set in England during World War II, A Peculiar Combination is a delightful mystery filled with spies, murder, romance, and the author’s signature wit. Electra McDonnell has always known that the way she and her family earn their living is slightly outside of the law. Breaking…
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Publisher: Ecco Published: February 2, 2021 Source: Personal copy Summary: Steeped in Cherokee myths and history, a novel about a fractured family reckoning with the tragic death of their son long ago—from National Book Award finalist Brandon Hobson In the fifteen years since their teenage son, Ray-Ray, was killed in a police shooting, the Echota family has been suspended in private grief. The mother, Maria, increasingly struggles to manage…
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Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks Published: August 24, 2021 Source: Publisher Summary: Fans of The Kennedy Debutante and Last Year in Havana will love Georgie Blalock’s new novel of a world on the cusp of change…set on the eve of World War II in the glittering world of English society and one of the last debutante seasons. They danced the night away, knowing their world was about to change forever. They were the debutantes…
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Publisher: Minotaur Books Published: December 7, 2021 Source: Netgalley via Publisher Summary: Dark Night is the third book in the gripping, atmospheric Alaska Wild series by beloved cozy author Paige Shelton, in which Beth is met with an unexpected visitor: her mom… Winter is falling in the remote town of Benedict, Alaska, and with the cold comes an uninvited guest. The dreaded “census man,” seemingly innocuous, is an unwelcome…
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Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Published: December 7, 2021 Source: ARC Paperback via Publisher Summary: Dare Me meets Black Swan and Luckiest Girl Alive in a captivating, voice-driven debut novel about a trio of ballerinas who meet as students at the Paris Opera Ballet School. Fourteen years ago, Delphine abandoned her prestigious soloist spot at the Paris Opera Ballet for a new life in St. Petersburg––taking with her a secret that could upend the lives…
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