contemporary fiction – Page 2 – Always With a Book

k2reader September 28, 2023

The Museum of Failures by Thrity Umrigar #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Hachette Audio for the ALC and Algonquin Books, #partner for the finished copy of The Museum of Failures in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Algonquin Books / Hachette Audio Published: September 26, 2023 Summary: An immersive story about family secrets and the power of forgiveness from the bestselling author of Reese’s Book Club pick Honor When Remy Wadia left India for the United States, he carried his…

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k2reader May 21, 2023

The Half of It by Juliette Fay #bookreview

Thank you William Morrow, #partner, for the finished copy of The Half of It in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks Published: April 11, 2023 Summary: One perfect night. Forty years of buried hurt. One chance to make it right. Can the past ever be fixed? With humor, heart, and grace, USA Today bestselling author Juliette Fay delivers an immensely satisfying page-turner, perfect for fans of Josie…

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k2reader May 13, 2023

Winter Counts by David Heska Wanbli Weiden #bookreview #audiobook

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Ecco / Harper Audio Published: August 25, 2020 Summary: A groundbreaking thriller about a vigilante on a Native American reservation who embarks on a dangerous mission to track down the source of a heroin influx. Virgil Wounded Horse is the local enforcer on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota. When justice is…

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k2reader May 11, 2023

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin #bookreview #bookclub #reread

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Algonquin Books Published: December 2014 (first published April 2014) Summary: A. J. Fikry’s life is not at all what he expected it to be. He lives alone, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. But when a mysterious package appears at the…

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k2reader May 9, 2023

The Half Moon by Mary Beth Keane #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and @BookClubFavorites & Scriber #partner, for the advanced copy of The Half Moon in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Scribner / Simon & Schuster ALC Published: May 2, 2023 Summary: From the bestselling author of Ask Again, Yes, a masterful novel about a couple in a small town who must navigate the complexities of marriage, family, and longing. Malcolm Gephardt,…

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k2reader May 5, 2023

The Connellys of County Down by Tracey Lange #bookreview

Thank you Celadon Books, #partner for the advanced copy of The Connellys of County Down in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Celadon Books Published: August 1, 2023 Summary: From Tracey Lange, the New York Times bestselling author of We Are the Brennans, comes The Connellys of County Down: a story about fierce family loyalty, good intentions gone awry, and the consequences of improbable love. When Tara Connelly is released from prison after…

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k2reader April 26, 2023

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano #bookreview #audiobook

I purchased this book and audiobook for my own personal collection. Publisher: The Dial Press / Random House Audio Published: March 14, 2023 Summary: From the New York Times bestselling author of Dear Edward comes a poignant and engrossing family story that asks: Can love make a broken person whole? William Waters grew up in a house silenced by tragedy, where his parents could hardly bear to look at him, much less love…

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k2reader March 13, 2023

A Likely Story by Leigh Abramson #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and Atria Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of A Likely Story in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Atria Books / Simon & Schuster ALC Published: March 14, 2023 Summary: The only child of an iconic American novelist discovers a shocking tangle of family secrets that upends everything she thought she knew about her parents, her gilded childhood, and her…

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k2reader February 23, 2023

Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Viking Books, #partner for the finished copy of Someone Else’s Shoes in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the audiobook for my own collection. Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books / Penguin Random House Audio Published: February 7, 2023 Summary: A story of mix-ups, mess-ups and making the most of second chances, this is the new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Jojo Moyes, author of Me Before You and The…

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k2reader January 30, 2023

A Light in the Forest by Melissa Payne #bookreview #audiobook #bookclub

Thank you Brilliance Audio for the ALC and Get Red PR , #partner, for the advanced copy of A Light in the Forest in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Lake Union Publishing / Brilliance Audio Published: December 13, 2022 Summary: From Melissa Payne, bestselling author of The Night of Many Endings, comes an emotional and suspenseful novel about the weight of secrets and the healing power of friends and…

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k2reader January 26, 2023

Sam by Allegra Goodman #bookreview

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. Publisher: Dial Press Published: January 3, 2023 Summary: What happens to a girl’s exuberance and wonder as she becomes a woman? This unforgettable portrait of coming-of-age offers a powerful reflection on class, addiction, parenthood, longing, and ambition. There is a girl, and her name is Sam. She adores her father, though he isn’t around much. Her mother, Courtney, struggles to…

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k2reader January 21, 2023

Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom #bookreview

Thank you to TandemCollectiveGlobal, Soho Press, #partner, for a finished copy of Aesthetica in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Soho Press Published: November 22, 2022 Summary: In a debut novel as radiant as it is caustic, a former influencer confronts her past—and takes inventory of the damages that underpin the surface-glamour of social media. At 19, she was an Instagram celebrity. Now, at 35, she works behind the…

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k2reader December 27, 2022

Mad Honey by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Random House Publishing Group/Netgalley #partner, for the advanced copy of Mad Honey in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Ballantine Books / Random House Audio Published: October 4, 2022 Summary: A soul-stirring novel about what we choose to keep from our past, and what we choose to leave behind. Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her…

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k2reader December 21, 2022

Seven Days of Us by Francesca Hornak #bookreview #audiobook #backlistreview

Thank you Berkley, #partner for the finished copy of Seven Days of Us in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Berkley Books / Penguin Audio Published: October 17, 2017 Summary: It’s Christmas, and for the first time in years the entire Birch family will be under one roof. Even Emma and Andrew’s elder daughter—who is usually off saving the world—will be joining…

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k2reader December 21, 2022

The Santa Suit by Mary Kay Andrews #bookreview #audiobook #backlistreview

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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k2reader November 29, 2022

A Quiet Life by Ethan Joella #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and Scribner #partner, for the advanced copy of A Quiet Life in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Scribner / Simon & Schuster ALC Published: November 29, 2022 Summary: From the author of A Little Hope—a Read with Jenna Bonus Pick—comes an enormously powerful and life-affirming novel about three individuals whose lives intersect in unforeseen ways. Set in a close-knit Pennsylvania suburb in…

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k2reader November 14, 2022

We Are the Light by Matthew Quick #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and Avid Reader Press #partner, for the advanced copy of We Are the Light in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster ALC Published: November 1, 2022 Summary: From Matthew Quick, the New York Times best-selling author of The Silver Linings Playbook, made into the Academy Award-winning movie starring Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, comes a poignant…

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k2reader November 3, 2022

We Spread by Iain Reid #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the ALC and @BookClubFavorites & Gallery/Scout Press #partner, for the finished copy of We Spread in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Gallery/Scout Press / Simon & Schuster ALC Published: September 27, 2022 Summary: A new work of philosophical suspense. Penny, an artist, has lived in the same apartment for decades, surrounded by the artifacts and keepsakes of her long life. She…

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k2reader October 8, 2022

The Bodyguard by Katherine Center #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC and St. Martin’s Press #partner, for the finished copy of The Bodyguard in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio Published: July 19, 2022 Summary: She’s got his back. Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the…

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k2reader September 16, 2022

All That’s Left Unsaid by Tracey Lien #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Harper Audio / Netgalley for the ALC and William Morrow / Netgalley #partner, for the advanced copy of All That’s Left Unsaid in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: William Morrow / Harper Audio Published: September 13, 2022 Summary: For fans of Everything I Never Told You and The Mothers, a deeply moving and unflinching debut following a young Vietnamese Australian woman who returns home to her family in the…

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k2reader August 29, 2022

The Third Way by Aimee Hoben #bookfeature #authorinterview

Thank you GetRedPrBooks & She Writes Press #partner, for the advanced copy of The Third Way in exchange for this feature. Today, I’m happy to be featuring this book, which published last week. Please see what others have said about the book and learn the inspiration behind the book. Publisher: She Writes Press Published: August 23, 2022 Summary: A college student with a fear of public speaking finds herself…

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k2reader August 19, 2022

A Summer to Remember by Erika Montgomery #bookreview #audiobook #backlistbook

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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k2reader August 17, 2022

She’s Up to No Good by Sara Goodman Confino #bookreview #audiobook #bookclub

Thank you Brilliance Audio for the ALC and GetRedPR and the author, #partner, for the finished copy of She’s Up to No Good in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Lake Union Publishing / Brilliance Audio Published: August 1, 2022 Summary: For two women generations apart, going home will change their lives in this funny, poignant, and life-affirming novel about family, secrets, and broken hearts by the author of For the…

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k2reader August 13, 2022

A Little Hope by Ethan Joella #bookreview #audiobook #bookclub

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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k2reader July 21, 2022

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez #bookreview #audiobook

This book is from my personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Flatiron Books / Macmillan Audio Published: January 4, 2022 Summary: A blazing talent debuts with the tale of a status-driven wedding planner grappling with her social ambitions, absent mother, and Puerto Rican roots, all in the wake of Hurricane Maria It’s 2017, and Olga and her brother, Pedro “Prieto” Acevedo, are bold-faced names in…

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k2reader June 30, 2022

When We Let Go by Rochelle B. Weinstein #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Brilliance Audio for the ALC and @GetRedPrBooks & Lake Union Publishing, #partner, for the finished copy of When We Let Go in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Lake Union Publishing / Brilliance Audio Published: May 17, 2022 Summary: A moving novel of family and forgiveness and of hope and healing by Rochelle B. Weinstein, the USA Today bestselling author of This Is Not How It Ends. When Avery Beckett…

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k2reader June 22, 2022

She Wouldn’t Change a Thing by Sarah Adlakha #bookreview #paperbackrelease

Thank you @suzyapprovedbooktours and Forge Books, #partner, for the paperback copy of She Wouldn’t Change a Thing in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Forge Books Published: June 7, 2022 (first published August 2021) Summary: Sliding Doors meets Life After Life in Sarah Adlakha’s story about a wife and mother who is given the chance to start over at the risk of losing everything she loves. A second chance is the last…

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k2reader June 22, 2022

The Younger Wife by Sally Hepworth #bookreview

Thank you St. Martin’s Press/Netgalley #partner, for the advanced copy of The Younger Wife in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press Published: April 5, 2022 Summary: THE HUSBAND A heart surgeon at the top of his field, Stephen Aston is getting married again. But first he must divorce his current wife, even though she can no longer speak for herself. THE DAUGHTERS Tully and Rachel…

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k2reader June 14, 2022

The Friendship Pact by Jill Shalvis #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Harper Audio for the ALC and @GetRedPrBooks & Avon Books, #partner, for the finished copy of The Friendship Pact in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Avon Books / Harper Audio Published: June 14, 2022 Summary: New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis returns to Sunrise Cove with a powerful, moving story about a young woman on a quest to find the truth about her father who learns…

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k2reader June 14, 2022

It All Comes Down to This by Therese Anne Fowler #bookreview #audiobook #netgalley

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC and St. Martin’s Press/Netgalley #partner, for the advanced copy of It All Comes Down To This in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio Published: June 7, 2022 Summary: Therese Anne Fowler’s It All Comes Down to This is a warm, keenly perceptive novel of sisterhood, heartbreak, home, and what it takes to remake a life at its halfway…

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k2reader June 6, 2022

Counterfeit by Kirstin Chin #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Librofm, Harper Audio for the ALC and William Morrow #partner, for the finished copy of Counterfeit in exchange for my honest review. Publisher: Harper Audio / William Morrow Published: June 7, 2022 Summary: For fans of Hustlers and How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, the story of two Asian American women who band together to grow a counterfeit handbag scheme into a global enterprise–an incisive and glittering blend…

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k2reader May 28, 2022

Review: Dava Shastri’s Last Day by Kirthana Ramisetti

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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k2reader May 17, 2022

Review: One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle (audio)

Publisher: Atria Books / Simon and Schuster Audio Published: March 1, 2022 Source: Print – Netgalley / Audio – ALC via Simon & Schuster Audio Summary: The New York Times best-selling author of the “heartwarming, heartbreaking, and hard to put down” (Laurie Frankel, New York Times best-selling author) modern classic In Five Years returns with a moving and unforgettable exploration of the powerful bond between mother and daughter set on the breathtaking Amalfi Coast. When…

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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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 February 4, 2022

Review: The Family You Make by Jill Shalvis (audio)

Publisher: William Morrow / Harper Audio Published: January 11, 2022 Source: Paperback via GetRedPR / Audio via Library Summary: Beloved New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis begins a new series–Sunrise Cove–set near beautiful Lake Tahoe, with a heartwarming story of found family and love. During the snowstorm of the century Levi Cutler is stranded on a ski lift with a beautiful stranger named Jane. After strong winds hurl the gondola…

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k2reader January 11, 2022

Review: The Sweetest Remedy by Jane Igharo

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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k2reader January 11, 2022

Blog Tour & Spotlight: Legends of the North Cascades by Jonathan Evison

Today, I’m so happy to be a tour stop on the blog tour for Legends of the North Cascades by Jonathan Evison . This is out in paperback today and I’m happy to help the publisher get the word out. Read about the book and see what everyone has to say about it. Publisher: Algonquin Books Published: January 11, 2022 (Paperback Release) Summary: “A beautifully rendered and cinematic portrait of…

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k2reader January 8, 2022

Review: A Million Things by Emily Spurr

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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k2reader January 7, 2022

Blog Tour & Review: The Tenderest of Strings by Steven Schwartz

Publisher: Regal House Publishing Published: January 4, 2022 Source: ARC Paperback via Over the River PR Summary: In search of a new life, Reuben and Ardith Rosenfeld and their two children move from Chicago to the small town of Welton, Colorado, looking for all the hope that the burgeoning West has to offer—its abundance of jobs, space, sunshine, prosperity, and the promise of reinvention. Reuben, a former copyeditor at…

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k2reader January 4, 2022

Review: The Removed by Brandon Hobson

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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