Always With a Book

Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez #bookreview #audiobook

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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The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper #bookreview #audiobook

The Beauty in Breaking by Michele Harper #bookreview #audiobook

Thank you Riverhead Books, #partner for the paperback copy of The Beauty in Breaking in exchange for my honest review. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Riverhead Books / Penguin Audio Published: Print – June 29, 2021 (First published July 2020) / Audio – July 7 2020   Summary: An emergency room physician explores how a life of service to others taught her how to heal herself. Michele…

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The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden #bookreview #audiobook #seriesreview

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden #bookreview #audiobook #seriesreview

I purchased this book for my own personal collection. I borrowed the audiobook from the library. Publisher: Del Rey Books / Random House Audio Published: Paperback – June 27, 2017 / Audio – January 10, 2017   Summary: At the edge of the Russian wilderness, winter lasts most of the year and the snowdrifts grow taller than houses. But Vasilisa doesn’t mind–she spends the winter nights huddled around the embers…

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Find Me by Alafair Burke #bookreview #audiobook #librarybook

Find Me by Alafair Burke #bookreview #audiobook #librarybook

I borrow this audiobook from my library via the Libby app. Publisher: Harper Audio Published: January 11, 2022   Summary: The disappearance of a young woman leaves her closest friend reeling and an NYPD homicide detective digging into her own past in this thrilling mystery full of twists from the New York Times bestselling author of The Better Sister and The Wife. Some pasts won’t stay forgotten . . . She calls herself Hope Miller,…

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Cold, Cold Heart by Karin Slaughter #bookreview #audiobook #librarybook

Cold, Cold Heart by Karin Slaughter #bookreview #audiobook #librarybook

I borrow this audio from my library via the Libby app. Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Published: January 5, 2015   Summary: Pam is a 52-year-old teacher who has let herself go for the first time in her life. It’s two years since her husband – ex-husband – John died, and she’s heading from Georgia to California for the third and (she hopes) final time. But just what lies in store for…

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Review: The Good Left Undone by Adriana Trigiani (audio)

Review: The Good Left Undone by Adriana Trigiani (audio)

Publisher: Dutton / Penguin Audio Published: April 26, 2022 Source: Print – Hardcover via Dutton / Audio via Library   Summary: From Adriana Trigiani, “a master of visual and palpable detail” (The Washington Post), comes a lush, immersive novel about three generations of Tuscan artisans with one remarkable secret. Epic in scope and resplendent with the glorious themes of identity and belonging, The Good Left Undone unfolds in breathtaking turns. Matelda, the…

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Review: Three Sisters by Heather Morris (audio)

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

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

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

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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Review: Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie – Reread (audio)

Review: Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie – Reread (audio)

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (first published 1937) / HarperAudio Published: Print – September 29, 2020 / Audio – July 3, 2012 Source: Print – Paperback via Publisher / Audio via Library   Summary: Following the success of Murder on the Orient Express, Kenneth Branagh returns to direct and star in this adaptation of the classic Hercule Poirot mystery for the big screen, also starring Gal Gadot. Beloved detective Hercule Poirot embarks on a…

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Review: I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys (print/audio)

Review: I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys (print/audio)

Publisher: Philomel Books / Penguin Random House Audio Published: February 1, 2022 Source: Print – Hardcopy via Publisher / Audio via library   Summary: A gut-wrenching, startling window into communist Romania and the citizen spy network that devastated a nation, from the number one New York Times best-selling, award-winning author of Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray. Romania, 1989. Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer,…

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Review: Enough Already by Valerie Bertinelli (audio)

Review: Enough Already by Valerie Bertinelli (audio)

Publisher: Mariner Books / Harper Audio Published: January 18, 2022 Source: Print – Hardcopy via Bibliolifestyle / Audio via Library   Summary: Beloved actress and New York Times best-selling author Valerie Bertinelli returns with a heartfelt look at turning sixty, the futility of finding happiness in numbers on a scale, learning to love herself the way she is today, and tips for a healthier outlook on life. Valerie Bertinelli shares an inspiring…

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Review: Arsenic And Adobo by Mia P. Manansala (audio)

Review: Arsenic And Adobo by Mia P. Manansala (audio)

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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Review: Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner (audio)

Review: Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner (audio)

Publisher: ChristianAudio.com Published: April 16, 2015 Source: Library   Summary: The author of A Fall of Marigolds journeys from the present day to World War II England, as two sisters are separated by the chaos of wartime. She stood at a crossroads, half-aware that her choice would send her down a path from which there could be no turning back. But instead of two choices, she saw only one—because it…

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

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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Review: Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter (audio)

Review: Blindsighted by Karin Slaughter (audio)

Publisher: HarperTorch / HarperAudio Published: October 2002 (Originally published Sept 2001) / Audio – February 10, 20215 Source: Print – Mass Market Paperback via Publisher / Audio via library   Summary: A small Georgia town erupts in panic when a young college professor is found brutally mutilated in the local diner. But it’s only when town pediatrician and coroner Sara Linton does the autopsy that the full extent of the…

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Review: The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain (audio)

Review: The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain (audio)

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio Published: January 11, 2022 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via St. Martin’s Press / Audio via library   Summary: A community’s past sins rise to the surface in New York Times bestselling author Diane Chamberlain’s The Last House on the Street when two women, a generation apart, find themselves bound by tragedy and an unsolved, decades-old mystery. 1965 Growing up in the well-to-do town of Round Hill,…

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Review: A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner (audio)

Review: A Fall of Marigolds by Susan Meissner (audio)

Publisher: NAL / ChristianAudio.com Published: Print – February 4, 2014 / Audio – March 11, 2015 Source: Print – Personal copy / Audio via Library   Summary: A beautiful scarf, passed down through the generations, connects two women who learn that the weight of the world is made bearable by the love we give away…. September 1911. On Ellis Island in New York Harbor, nurse Clara Wood cannot face returning…

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Review: The Last to Die by Kelly Garrett (audio)

Review: The Last to Die by Kelly Garrett (audio)

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire / Tantor Audio Published: Print – December 5, 2019 / Audio – March 17, 2020 Source: Print via Publisher / Audio via Library   Summary: It all started out as a game. Just a way to have fun. We figured as long as we had rules, it wouldn’t be a problem. RULE #1: Only break into one another’s houses. RULE #2: Only take stuff that can be…

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Review: The Night Portrait by Laura Morelli (audio)

Review: The Night Portrait by Laura Morelli (audio)

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks / Harper Audio Published: September 8, 2020 Source: ARC Paperback via William Morrow / Audio via library   Summary: An exciting, dual-timeline historical novel about the creation of one of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous paintings, Portrait of a Lady with an Ermine, and the woman who fought to save it from Nazi destruction during World War II. Milan, 1492: When a 16-year old beauty becomes the mistress…

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Review: The Return by Nicholas Sparks (audio)

Review: The Return by Nicholas Sparks (audio)

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing / Hachette Audio Published: September 29, 2020 Source: Print – Hardcover via Grand Central Publishing / Audio via Library   Summary: In the romantic tradition of Dear John and The Lucky One, #1 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks returns with the story of an injured Navy doctor — and two women whose secrets will change the course of his life. Trevor Benson never intended to move back to New…

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Review: The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray (audio)

Review: The Women of Chateau Lafayette by Stephanie Dray (audio)

Publisher: Berkley Books / Penguin Audio Published: March 30, 2021 Source: Print – Personal copy / Audio – via library   Summary: An epic saga from New York Times bestselling author Stephanie Dray based on the true story of an extraordinary castle in the heart of France and the remarkable women bound by its legacy in three of humanity’s darkest hours Most castles are protected by powerful men. This one…

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Review: A Solitude of Wolverines by Alice Henderson (print/audio)

Review: A Solitude of Wolverines by Alice Henderson (print/audio)

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks / Harper Audio Published: October 27, 2021 / October 27, 2020 (audio) Source: Paperback via William Morrow / Audio via library   Summary: The first book in a thrilling series featuring an intrepid wildlife biologist who’s dedicated to saving endangered species…and relies on her superior survival skills to thwart those who aim to stop her. While studying wolverines on a wildlife sanctuary in Montana, biologist Alex…

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Review: Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang (audio)

Review: Beautiful Country by Qian Julie Wang (audio)

Publisher: Doubleday Books / Random House Audio Published: September 7, 2021 Source: ARC E-copy via Netgalley / Audio via Library   Summary: An incandescent memoir from an astonishing new talent, Beautiful Country puts listeners in the shoes of an undocumented child living in poverty in the richest country in the world. “Extraordinary…. Consider this remarkable memoir a new classic.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review) In Chinese, the word for America, Mei Guo, translates directly…

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Review: No Hiding in Boise by Kim Hooper (audio)

Review: No Hiding in Boise by Kim Hooper (audio)

Publisher: Turner Publishing Company / Dreamscape Media Published: June 15, 2021 Source: Print – ARC via Turner Publishing / Audio – via library   Summary: When Angie is awakened by a midnight call from an officer with the Boise Police Department, she thinks there must be a misunderstanding. The officer tells her that her husband was involved in a shooting at a local bar, but how can that be possible when her…

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Review: Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (audio)

Review: Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman (audio)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Published: November 6, 2012 Source: Library   Summary: Alice Hoffman’s enchanting witch’s brew of suspense, romance and magic – now a major motion picture from Warner Bros. When the beautiful and precocious sisters Sally and Gillian Owens are orphaned at a young age, they are taken to a small Massachusetts town to be raised by their eccentric aunts, who happen to dwell in the darkest,…

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Review: The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman (audio)

Review: The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman (audio)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Published: October 10, 2017 Source: Library   Summary: Find your magic For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man. Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are…

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Review: Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman (audio)

Review: Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman (audio)

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio Published: October 6, 2020 Source: Library   Summary: In an unforgettable novel that traces a centuries-old curse to its source, beloved author Alice Hoffman unveils the story of Maria Owens, accused of witchcraft in Salem, and matriarch of a line of the amazing Owens women and men featured in Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic. Where does the story of the Owens bloodline begin?…

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Review: The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams (audio)

Review: The Book of Hope by Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams (audio)

Publisher: Celadon Books / Macmillan Audio Published: October 19, 2021 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Celadon Books / Audio – Borrowed via library   Summary: In a world that seems so troubled, how do we hold on to hope? Looking at the headlines–a global pandemic, the worsening climate crisis, political upheaval–it can be hard to feel optimistic. And yet hope has never been more desperately needed. In this urgent…

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Review: The Rose Code by Kate Quinn (audio)

Review: The Rose Code by Kate Quinn (audio)

Publisher: William Morrow / Harper Audio Published: March 9, 2021 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Publisher / Audio – via library   Summary: The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Huntress and The Alice Network returns with another heart-stopping World War II story of three female code breakers at Bletchley Park and the spy they must root out after the war is over. 1940. As England prepares to fight the Nazis, three very…

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Review: The Hive by Melissa Scholes Young (audio)

Review: The Hive by Melissa Scholes Young (audio)

Publisher: Turner Publishing Company / Dreamscape Media Published: June 8, 2021 Source: Print – ARC via Turner Publishing / Audio – via library   Summary: A story of survival, sisters, and secrets. The Fehler sisters wanted to be more than bug girls but growing up in a fourth- generation family pest control business in rural Missouri, their path was fixed. The family talked about Fehler Family Exterminating at every meal,…

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Review: The Second Home by Christina Clancy (audio)

Review: The Second Home by Christina Clancy (audio)

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press / Macmillan Audio Published: June 2, 2020 Source: Print: ARC E-copy via Netgalley / Audio via Library   Summary: Some places never leave you… After a disastrous summer spent at her family’s home on Cape Cod when she is seventeen, Ann Gordon is very happy to never visit Wellfleet again. If only she’d stayed in Wisconsin, she might never have met Anthony Shaw, and she would…

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Review: The People We Keep by Allison Larkin (audio)

Review: The People We Keep by Allison Larkin (audio)

Publisher: Gallery Books / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: August 3, 2021 Source: Print: Personal copy via BOTM / Audio via Library   Summary: The People we Keep is about a young songwriter longing to find a home in the world. Little River, New York, 1994: April Sawicki is living in a run-down motorhome, flunking out of school, and picking up shifts at the local diner. But when April realizes…

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Review: Two Truths and a Lie by Meg Mitchell Moore (audio)

Review: Two Truths and a Lie by Meg Mitchell Moore (audio)

Publisher: William Morrow / Harper Audio Published: June 16, 2020 Source: Print – Hardcopy via Publisher / Audio via Library   Summary:  From the author of The Islanders comes a warm, witty and suspenseful novel filled with small-town secrets, summer romance, big time lies and spiked seltzer, in the vein of Liane Moriarty. Truth: Sherri Griffin and her daughter, Katie, have recently moved to the idyllic beach town of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Rebecca…

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Review: Sisters in Arms by Kaia Alderson (audio)

Review: Sisters in Arms by Kaia Alderson (audio)

Publisher: William Morrow / Harper Audio Published: August 3, 2021 Source: Print – Personal Copy / Audio via Library   Summary: Kaia Alderson’s debut historical fiction novel reveals the untold, true story of the Six Triple Eight, the only all-Black battalion of the Women’s Army Corps, who made the dangerous voyage to Europe to ensure American servicemen received word from their loved ones during World War II. Grace Steele and…

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Review: Limelight by Amy Poeppel (audio)

Review: Limelight by Amy Poeppel (audio)

Publisher: Atria / Emily Bestler Books / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: May 14, 2019 (Paperback Release) / May 1, 2018 (Original Pub Date) Source: Print: Paperback via Author / Audio via library   Summary: In a smart and funny novel by the author of the critically acclaimed “big-hearted, charming” (The Washington Post) Small Admissions, a family’s move to New York City brings surprises and humor. Allison Brinkley—wife, mother, and former…

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Review: The Second Life of Mirielle West by Amanda Skenandore (print/audio)

Review: The Second Life of Mirielle West by Amanda Skenandore (print/audio)

Publisher: Kensington Books / HighBridge Audio Published: July 27, 2021 Source: Print: ARC Paperback via Kensingbooks & Bibliolifestyle / Audio: Library   Summary: The glamorous world of a silent film star’s wife abruptly crumbles when she’s forcibly quarantined at the Carville Lepers Home in this page-turning story of courage, resilience, and reinvention set in 1920s Louisiana and Los Angeles. Based on little-known history, this timely book will strike a chord…

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Review: Heavy by Kiese Laymon (print/audio)

Review: Heavy by Kiese Laymon (print/audio)

Publisher: Scribner / Simon & Schuster Audio Published: October 16, 2018 Source: Print: Personal copy via Literati Book Club / Audio: Library   Summary: In this powerful and provocative memoir, genre-bending essayist and novelist Kiese Laymon explores what the weight of a lifetime of secrets, lies, and deception does to a black body, a black family, and a nation teetering on the brink of moral collapse. Kiese Laymon is a…

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Review: Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig (audio)

Review: Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig (audio)

Publisher: William Morrow/ Harper Audio Published: March 2, 2021 Source: Print – ARC Paperback via Publisher / Audio via library   Summary: A group of young women from Smith College risk their lives in France at the height of World War I in this sweeping novel based on a true story—a skillful blend of Call the Midwife and The Alice Network—from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willig. A scholarship…

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Review: A Long Way Down by Randall Silvis (audio)

Review: A Long Way Down by Randall Silvis (audio)

Publisher: Recorded Books / Poisoned Pen Press Published: June 4, 2019 Source: Audio via Library / Print: Personal copy   Summary: Just when you think you’ve reached the bottom… Ryan DeMarco would rather not go home. Not now, maybe not ever. But when his estranged wife attempts suicide, he has no choice but to return to western Pennsylvania, and all the memories that wait for him there. Unfortunately, it’s not…

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Review: Sisters of the Resistance by Christine Wells (print/audio)

Review: Sisters of the Resistance by Christine Wells (print/audio)

Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks / Harper Audio Published: June 8, 2021 Source: Print: Paperback via Publisher / Audio via Library   Summary:  Two sisters join the Paris Resistance in this pause-resisting new novel inspired by the real-life bravery of Catherine Dior, sister of the fashion designer and a heroine of World War II France – perfect for fans of Kate Quinn and Jennifer Chiaverini. “As dazzling as a Dior gown! With…

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Review: Dance Away With Me by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (audio)

Review: Dance Away With Me by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (audio)

Publisher: Harper Audio / William Morrow Published: June 9, 2020 Source: Audio via Library / Print: Hardcover via Publisher   Summary: At long last, the legendary New York Times bestselling author returns with a heartfelt novel of womanhood, a wild heart, and the healing power of love. Run, run, as fast as you can! When life throws her one setback too many, midwife and young widow Tess Hartsong takes off…

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