Thanks so much to the author and Valentine PR for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts, and participation in this blog tour! { partner } All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.
Publication Date: January 25, 2022
Genre: Romance, COntemporary Romance, Adult
Description from Goodreads:
From the internationally bestselling author of The Simple Wild comes the story of a woman at a crossroads in her life, struggling between the safe route and the one that will only lead to more heartbreak.
Veterinarian Marie Lehr knows unrequited love all too well after pining for her best friend, only to watch him marry another woman. It’s a mistake she will never make again, especially not when she can practically hear the clock ticking on her childbearing years.
The trouble is, she can’t seem to find anyone who appeals to her even a fraction as much as that burly bush pilot did. Competitive musher Tyler Brady certainly doesn’t, especially not after the heated altercation with the handsome but arrogant, spiteful man.
Or so she thinks.
While volunteering at the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, Marie discovers that first impressions may have been false, and her attraction to Tyler is very real. But his heart belongs to someone else, leaving him with nothing to offer but friendship. Marie’s been down this road before and knows how that ends. Yet, no matter how hard she works to keep from falling for Tyler, it seems she’s doomed to follow her own trail once again.
Review (5 Stars):
TW: death, death during childbirth, loss of child & miscarriage, death/injury of animals, pregnancy
I need to just start this off immediately by saying that anyone who has been feeling unsure about this book because it’s Marie’s story rather than Calla’s has absolutely no reason to. This book had all of the heart and soul of the rest of the Wild series, and we still see plenty of those characters and places that we’ve grown to love throughout the series while having just enough new to set Marie’s story apart from the rest.
And okay I know, you might be saying “no but wait, she’s the one that was trying to get in between Jonah and Calla, so we don’t like her because they are relationship goals.” I get it. Nothing can ever come between Calla and Jonah, or I may give up on love entirely (so sorry to my husband). But she is such a sweet and strong character, and such a good friend to Jonah, and I am honestly thrilled that she finally has a real moment to shine!
I really enjoyed the direction that this story went as well. When it was announced that this would be Marie’s story, I was curious just how Kathleen would make the story and the settings just different enough to not feel like it was reliving The Simple Wild or Wild at Heart, while still making it obvious that it was the same place and moment, and I think that including so much of the sport and setting part of the book on the Iditarod trail was a really fun way to do just that! It felt separate from Trapper’s Crossing, but still left plenty of room for Marie to head back to the places and characters that we already know and love.
Now let’s talk about the new characters that we get in this book. We really get to deep dive into Marie’s family, and I loved some of them more than others (looking at you, Liz. You know what you did.) but the dynamic of all of them together was so fun, and so relatable to me! I have a few older brothers, and it’s always been a bit overwhelming for guests when you get all of us in the same room, so the weekly family dinner scenes were honestly some of my favorites. And Tyler Brady. Obviously swoon worthy. Not much to say except wow and that I will read more about him, thank you. I also fell in love with Marie’s friend/office mate Cory. She was so playful and sassy, and she really stood out to me!
Overall I loved this book. I devoured this book. If stupid things like eating and sleeping and going to work hadn’t gotten in the way, then I would have just sat down and read the entire thing in a single sitting. And I would absolutely recommend it to friends. I would say that the best way to read this book would be curled up under a blanket on a snowy afternoon with a glass of wine or a hot toddy. But no light beer. Sorry Marie, Tyler might not be judging your drink of choice, but I sure will.
Meet Kathleen:
K.A. Tucker writes captivating stories with an edge.
She is the internationally bestselling author of the Ten Tiny Breaths and Burying Water series, He Will Be My Ruin, Until It Fades, Keep Her Safe, The Simple Wild, Be the Girl, and Say You Still Love Me. Her books have been featured in national publications including USA Today, Globe & Mail, Suspense Magazine, Publisher’s Weekly, Oprah Mag, and First for Women.
K.A. Tucker currently resides in a quaint town outside of Toronto.
Thanks so much to the author, Valentine PR, and Netgalley for the complimentary advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts and participation in this blog tour. { partner } All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.
From the author of Boyfriend Material and Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake comes a cozy mystery that revisits the Golden Age of detective fiction, starring a heroine who’s more podcaster than private eye and topped with a lethal dose of parody — perfect for fans of Clue, Knives Out, and Only Murders in the Building!
When up-and-coming true crime podcaster Liza and her corporate financier wife Hanna head to a luxurious hotel in the Scottish Highlands, they’re hoping for a chance to rekindle their marriage – not to find themselves trapped in the middle of an Agatha Christie-esque murder mystery with no way home. But who better to take on the case than someone whose entire profession relies on an obsession with all things mysterious and macabre? Though some of her fellow guests may consider her an interfering new media hack, Liza knows a thing or two about crime and – despite Hanna’s preference for waiting out the chaos behind a locked door – might be the only one capable of discovering the killer. As the bodies rack up and the stakes rise, can they save their marriage — and their lives?
Review (5 Stars) :
Thanks so much to the author, Kobo Books, Netgalley, and Valentine PR for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts and participation in the blog tour. All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews nd blog tours can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and my blog tacklingtbr.home.blog.
TW: death/murder, description of violence, description of crime scenes
This book was seriously so much fun! I didn’t want to put it down while I was reading, and I was very mad any time I actually had to. Darn work and life getting in the way of my reading!
If you like Clue then you’ll enjoy this book. The big mansion where people keep mysteriously passing away, the kooky and colorful cast of characters, the sense of humor of a serious story that isn’t taking itself too seriously (although we can mostly thank Ruby for that mindset), it really had it all for me. And wrap it all up with an adorable queer couple bow? Yes please.
I will say that I guessed some bits of the ending before we got to it, but there were still some fun surprises for me along the way, so I wasn’t too mad about the few things I saw coming. And I think using Liza’s podcast as the reasoning for the detective work brought a fun, modern twist. Plus, sassy podcaster solving a crime with her adorable wife playing Watson? It was just so much fun.
I would absolutely recommend this book to my friends and family – in fact, my mom has already tried to steal my kindle so that she can read it next! I think that the perfect setting for reading this book would be inside in bed or on the couch under a couple of blankets with snow falling outside. And in honor of Murder Most Actual, the podcast within the book, a glass of wine is a necessity!
Connect with the Author:
Alexis Hall is an English author of urban fantasy, science fiction, and m/m romance. His novels include Murder Most Actual, Boyfriend Material, Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake, For Real, Glitterland, Iron & Velvet, Looking for Group, and Pansies.
His work has been nominated for to the 26th Lambda Literary Awards, 28th Lambda Literary Awards, and 29th Lambda Literary Awards in the category of Gay Romance.
Share The Hope Event and Blog Tour courtesy of Celadon Books
“Hope is contagious. Your actions will inspire others. It is my sincere desire that this book will help you find solace in a time of anguish, direction in a time of uncertainty, courage in a time of fear. We invite you to join us on this journey toward hope.”
Jane Goodall, Ph. D., DBE, UN Messenger of Peace, from “The Book of Hope”
Thank you so much to Celadon Books for the gifted advanced copies of this book, and for the invitation to participate in this day of Sharing the Hope event!
In honor of the release of this exciting new book, “The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times” by Dr. Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams with Gail Hudson, Celadon Books has invited myself and other readers across the US to Share the Hope! Today we all made small donations of food and a finished copy of “The Book of Hope” to Little Free Pantry locations near us.
Learn more about Little Free Pantries
Learn more about Little Free Pantry, and take a look at the map to find on near you here!
Or, take a look at this map by Celadon Books of all the Little Free Pantry locations that received a copy of “The Book of Hope” today!
Learn more about “The Book of Hope”
Description from Goodreads:
In a world that seems so troubled, how do we hold on to hope?
Looking at the headlines—the worsening climate crisis, a global pandemic, loss of biodiversity, political upheaval—it can be hard to feel optimistic. And yet hope has never been more desperately needed.
In this urgent book, Jane Goodall, the world’s most famous living naturalist, and Douglas Abrams, the internationally bestselling co-author of The Book of Joy, explore through intimate and thought-provoking dialogue one of the most sought after and least understood elements of human nature: hope. In The Book of Hope, Jane focuses on her “Four Reasons for Hope”: The Amazing Human Intellect, The Resilience of Nature, The Power of Young People, and The Indomitable Human Spirit.
Drawing on decades of work that has helped expand our understanding of what it means to be human and what we all need to do to help build a better world, The Book of Hope touches on vital questions, including: How do we stay hopeful when everything seems hopeless? How do we cultivate hope in our children? What is the relationship between hope and action? Filled with moving and inspirational stories and photographs from Jane’s remarkable career, The Book of Hope is a deeply personal conversation with one of the most beloved figures in the world today.
While discussing the experiences that shaped her discoveries and beliefs, Jane tells the story of how she became a messenger of hope, from living through World War II to her years in Gombe to realizing she had to leave the forest to travel the world in her role as an advocate for environmental justice. And for the first time, she shares her profound revelations about her next, and perhaps final, adventure.
The second book in the Global Icons Series—which launched with the instant classic The Book of Joy with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu—The Book of Hope is a rare and intimate look not only at the nature of hope but also into the heart and mind of a woman who revolutionized how we view the world around us and has spent a lifetime fighting for our future.
There is still hope, and this book will help guide us to it.
Dr. Goodall’s author bio from Goodreads:
Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and UN Messenger of Peace is a world-renowned ethologist and activist inspiring greater understanding and action on behalf of the natural world every single day.
Dr. Goodall is best known for groundbreaking studies of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania, transformative research that continues to this day as the longest-running wild chimpanzee study in the world. Dr. Goodall is the founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, a global conservation, advocacy, animal welfare, research, and youth empowerment organization, including her global Roots & Shoots program.
Dr. Goodall has worked extensively on climate action, human rights, conservation, and animal welfare issues for decades, and continues to be a central voice in the work to advance environmental progress.
Today, she is a global phenomenon spreading hope and turning it into meaningful positive impact to create a better world for people, other animals, and the planet we share.
Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, U.N. Messenger of Peace
My thoughts during and after reading
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished reading this book!)
Links
Learn more about a Little Free Pantry near you here.
Learn more about the Jane Goodall Institute, and make a donation, here.
Learn more about Celadon Books, and some of their other new releases, here.
Purchase “The Book of Hope: A Survival Guide for Trying Times” here.
Purchase “The Book of Joy: Lasting Happiness in a Changing World” (Book 1 in the Global Icon Series) here.
Thanks so much to the author, Booksparks, and She Writes Press for the complimentary finished copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.
Book Description from Goodreads:
Anarchy in High Heels is not a state of dress: it’s a state of mind.
A San Francisco porno theater might be the last place you’d expect to plant the seed of a feminist troupe, but truth is stranger than fiction.
In 1972, access to birth control and a burn-your-bra ethos were leading young women to repudiate their 1950s conservative upbringing and embrace a new liberation. Denise Larson was a timid twenty-four-year-old actress wannabe, when at an after-hours countercultural event called The People’s Nickelodeon, she accidently created Les Nickelettes. This bonding together of like-minded women with an anything-goes spirit unlocked a deeply hidden female humor. For the first time, Denise allowed the suppressed satirical thoughts dancing through her head to come out in the open. Together with Les Nickelettes, which quickly became a brazen women’s lib troupe, she presented a series of feminist skits, stunts, and musical comedy plays that led The Bay Guardian to describe the group in 1980 as “nutty, trashy, and very funny.”
With sisterhood providing the moxie, Denise took on leadership positions not common for women at the time: playwright, stage director, producer, and administrative/artistic director. But, in the end, the most important thing her time with Les Nickelettes taught her was the power of female friendship.
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Meet the Author:
Author Denise Larson at SRK Headshot Day in San Francisco
After getting a BA in theater from San Francisco State University, Denise Larson pinned her dreams on becoming an experimental theater artist in the 1970s milieu of the Bay Area. Along that path she founded Les Nickelettes. For thirteen years, she helmed the feminist theater company and assumed the role of actress, playwright, producer, stage director, and administrative/artistic director. Then she gave it all up to become a mother and teacher. After a twenty-year career in Early Childhood Education, she retired and took up writing.
Thanks so much to the author and Valentine PR for the complimentary advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.
Book Description from Goodreads:
Gifted thief Romeria has flourished from her days as a street kid pilfering wallets to survive. Now she thrives, stealing jewels from the rich under the involuntary employ of New York City’s most notorious crime boss. But when an enigmatic woman secures her services at swordpoint, Romeria is plunged into a startling realm of opposing thrones, warring elven, and elemental magic she cannot begin to fathom.
Her quest is straightforward: Steal a stone from Islor’s sacred garden without anyone discovering her true identity, which would earn her certain death. But the identity she has inexplicably assumed is that of the captured Ybarisan princess—an enemy to Islor after she poisoned their beloved king and queen on the day she was to marry the prince.
Her betrothed, the newly crowned King Zander, detests her with every grain of his handsome being. Fortunately for Romeria, she is more valuable to him alive than dead. Zander gives her a choice: life in a cell, or an acquittal of all charges in exchange for her help in exposing the growing plot against him.
Romeria sees no other option and embraces the tricky role of smitten queen-to-be until she can escape, a ruse that brings her far closer to the king than she anticipated and threatens more than her safety. As she digs deeper into this sacred garden and the ancient feud between Ybaris and Islor, she discovers monstrous truths that could spell ruin for all.
She would know the world of vengeful gods and monsters, and the lengths one would go for love. And nothing would ever be the same for her again.
Review: (5 Stars)
TW: murder, torture, some violence
People who know my blog or my podcast know that I am slowly working my way into the fantasy genre. I always had a hard time connecting with the genre, because I tend to want more character driven story and less super intense world building. But I’m slowly reading more fantasy, and so when I saw that this book was coming out I knew I needed to read it. What can I say, KA Tucker is an auto-read author for me. And y’all, this book was everything I wanted.
Let’s talk about the story itself. Young woman who is used to looking out for herself gets unwillingly thrown into a world of magic and fantasy, with no information about this new world, and has to fake her way through this other woman’s life all while trying to stay under the radar, learning about her surroundings, and completing her secret mission. It was just so enjoyable! It’s a bit witchy, a bit vampirical, and a bit chosen girl. Just a little bit of everything!
I found Romy immediately likeable as a main character – she was strong and smart and stubborn, which made for plenty of opportunities for sassy banter. Which I love and seek out in practically all of my reads. Since she is so alone in each of these situations, most of the other characters really took some time for me to warm up to, because the narrator hadn’t warmed up to them yet. But I really came around to a few of them in the end, and I think that other than Romy my favorite characters were the king and his sister.
Overall I would definitely recommend this book to my friends, and I think I already have at least once or twice by now (what can I say, I’ve been mid-move for a few months, and I am very behind on all things reviews). I would say that I would recommend it either to my friends who already love fantasy, and the ones like me who have already been dipping their toes into that pool. There is a good bit of necessary world building and explaining the politics that are a bit of a slow read, so I don’t know that this would necessarily appeal to folks who are reading fantasy for the first time – although the rest of the story is super fun and magical and engaging, so I guess that would all depend on what folks are looking for from their fantasy. I think that the perfect way to read this book is in a bubble bath or by a roaring fire with a large glass of wine!
Meet Kathleen:
K.A. Tucker writes captivating stories with an edge.
She is the internationally bestselling author of the Ten Tiny Breaths and Burying Water series, He Will Be My Ruin, Until It Fades, Keep Her Safe, The Simple Wild, Be the Girl, and Say You Still Love Me. Her books have been featured in national publications including USA Today, Globe & Mail, Suspense Magazine, Publisher’s Weekly, Oprah Mag, and First for Women.
K.A. Tucker currently resides in a quaint town outside of Toronto. \
Thanks so much to the author, Sophie Sinclair, for the complimentary advanced e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts and participation in this blog tour. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.
Book Description from Goodreads:
Lindsey Love’s career as a food critic is suddenly taking off when she’s approached by Food and Travel to take her show to Europe. What could be more fun than to travel with her best friend Patrick, eat amazing food, and see the sights? What she doesn’t bargain for is the surly, egotistical producer with the icy glare, dimples, and a penchant for questioning her every move.
Nick Elliot, ex-Navy SEAL turned producer, finds himself suddenly thrown into a project he doesn’t want to take on. Producing a snotty food critic’s show over in Europe is not at the top of his agenda. She’s stubborn, sassy, and he finds himself inextricably drawn to her.
When things go awry abroad, Nick has to make the decision to save his own future or give up everything to protect Lindsey.
Review: (5 Stars)
TW : mild violence, explosions
You guys, this was SUCH a cute read! A whole lot of contemporary romance with just a sprinkling of suspense just sprinkled on top for flavor. I have Coffee Girl from this author, and I’ve been so excited to read it but somehow it keeps getting pushed down towards the end of my TBR (can anyone explain how that keeps happening without my knowledge? Very frustrating). I think reading Lindsey Love Loves gave me just enough of a taste of Sophie Sinclair that now I have to finally get around to Coffee Girl as well, while I wait around for the next LLL story!
Let’s talk about the characters. Y’all know how much I love a character driven novel, and in that regard this one did not disappoint. There were a few really fun secondary and background characters that I would really love to invite to a party (I think that Nick’s sisters and I would get along just fine), but I’m going to focus on Lindsey Love, our female lead. She was so sweet, and so much fun to read about! Along with character driven novels, and a good glass of wine at the end of the night, I also LOVE to eat. All food. And so I always enjoy foodie characters, like this super sassy food vlogger/TV personality. She is so feisty, and just slightly clumsy and embarrassing, so you know that I got plenty of that banter between she and Nick that I just eat up in a contemporary romance.
I found her to for the most part be really relatable (although now I’m sad I can’t just travel the world and eat delicious food), and her inner dialogue was just really funny. I found myself laughing out loud multiple times and having to explain myself to my poor husband. Wow, what a good sport that guy is. Also named Nick. Maybe not a coincidence? Nah, it’s probably a coincidence.
I will say some parts of the story, once the suspense starting dipping it’s toe into the story, is pretty unbelievable and wild seeming. But who picks up this type of contemporary romance to feel like they are reading real life stories? Not me, so it didn’t bug me too much. But I will say that the very first chapter is a preview chapter of events that happen later on in the story, and so that bit of the suspense comes at you right from the word go, which you might not be prepared for just from reading the description. But hey, it’s all fun, and for the most part it doesn’t take itself too seriously.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book! As you can tell from the above paragraphs my word for this book is “fun.” A fun, simple read, with fun, sassy characters – and honestly I ate it up as fast and easily as Lindsey gobbles up a piece of chocolate cake! I didn’t want to put this one down, and I would definitely recommend it to my friends who are looking for a sassy and fast-paced contemporary. I think that the perfect way to read this book would be sitting outside on the deck with a glass of a deep, beautiful red wine, and a very large piece of that chocolate cake! Okay, so maybe this book just really made me want chocolate cake. But hey, I think Lovie would approve.
Thanks so much to the author, BookSparks, and Chronical Prism Publishing for the complimentary finished copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts and participation in this blog tour. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my Goodreads.
Synopsis from Goodreads:
In just seven years, Jaime Schmidt went from making natural products in her Portland, Oregon kitchen to turning her brand into a household name and selling her company in a nine-figure acquisition. Supermaker is her guide to business and career development on your own terms.
Through unfiltered storytelling and instructive takeaways, the acclaimed entrepreneur, founder of Schmidt’s Naturals, and icon of the Maker Movement shares how you too can start or grow your own business with her secrets on marketing, sales growth, product development, customer engagement, scaling operations, and partnerships.
Following Jaime’s journey from market stand to global brand, readers will take away:
• The keys to establishing a financially successful business for entrepreneurs and professionals ready to go from maker to magnate. • Tactical approaches to branding, PR, sales, marketing, culture development, and team management. • Candid advice and storytelling from an industry disruptor and proven executive.
Following her growth from kitchen to acquisition, Supermaker is a riveting mix of inspiration, the honest airing of mistakes, and indispensable instruction.
• A go-to guide for the passion-to-profit journey. • The perfect read for aspiring entrepreneurs, makers, creatives, and anyone with an interest in selling their products online, retail strategy, or digital marketing. • Great for anyone who enjoyed Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie, Craft, Inc: Turn Your Creative Hobby into a Business by Meg Mateo Ilasco, and The Girls’ Guide to Starting Your Own Business: Candid Advice, Frank Talk, and True Stories for the Successful Entrepreneur by Caitlin Friedman.
Review: (3 Stars)
I was so excited to jump into this book! Last year, in December 2019, I started my own small shop on Etsy, and it has been a crazy just under a year trying to figure it out as I went along. So I was so excited to be chosen to be a part of the blog tour for this book, and learn all of the things that Jaime had done early on in her business’s life, and how she made it what it is now.
I flew through the first half of the book, because I found it all so fascinating. The stories about her starting at craft fairs and farmers markets, to going in to her local shops to learn the process of getting her products on those first store shelves. Watching her in the middle of the learning process that is a constant once you pass the moment of “I like making this product, and I think that people would be interested in buying it” and are trying to figure out what comes next and what you would like the future of that business to look like. I got some answers to a few questions that I have had in my own experiences, and some answers to a few questions that I didn’t know that I had, and even a few answers to questions that I haven’t gotten far enough in my process yet to have been curious about.
All of that being said, once I got into about the second half of this book I hit a bit of a wall that I found myself really having to push through to the finish line and the last chapter. And that is nothing against the book, but I think that at this point in my own process only the first half of the book was really aimed at me and my business. Let me start off this portion by saying that we have very different types of businesses, Jaime and I, so it wasn’t like the whole book was going to be a one to one comparison. But more so than that, about halfway through the book is when she and her business really started to blow up – being able to shop it at target, moving into really large production spaces, hiring more and more staff members, etc. And that just isn’t a place that I see myself ever going with my own business. The biggest I could ever see my shop, in my absolute wildest dreams for my business, would be a small storefront with myself and at most one other person selling things that are still each made by my own hand. So by the time the book was all about her bringing in business partners and giving interviews on television, or being mentioned by celebrities in magazines, it just became a little bit more difficult for me to get through and I ended up finding myself putting it down in favor of my other reads.
Overall I would say that this was a fairly interesting book, written very narratively, and with lots of categorized tips and tricks from someone who made something really huge and international truly out of nothing. I would say that this book may be more interesting for you if you see yourself wanting to really take your business and make it something very big like Jaime did. Otherwise, if you’re a small business like me, maybe you’ll get more out of the first half than the second half. I am very glad that I read it, and there are a few tips and bits of inspiration that I have taken from the book since having read it. So if you are in that situation, it will just be up to you to decide for yourself if it is something worth picking up and reading, if you will potentially only be getting the information out of that one half.
About the Author (from Goodreads):
Jaime Schmidt is the acclaimed entrepreneur, investor, and Maker Movement icon that started out making natural products in her kitchen, and in short time, grew her brand into 30,000+ stores and sold it in a nine-figure acquisition.
Suffice to say, she’s got quite the story to tell. Not only about how she did it, but all the unbelievable twists and turns along the way that threatened to sink her business.
Through unfiltered storytelling and instructive takeaways learned during her growth from maker to magnate, Supermaker shares Jaime’s secrets to financial success, marketing, operations, sales growth, product development, PR, partnerships, and customer engagement.
Following Jaime from kitchen to acquisition, Supermaker: Crafting Business on Your Own Terms is a riveting mix of inspiration, the honest airing of mistakes, and indispensable instruction.
Thanks so much to the authors and publishers of these amazing books, as well as to Booksparks, for these complimentary finished copies in exchange for my honest thoughts and participation in this blog tour. { partner } All opinions are entirely my own. All of my reviews and tours can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.
Emily Proudman just lost her acting agent, her job, and her apartment in one miserable day.
Emily is desperate.
Scott Denny, a successful and charismatic CEO, has a problem that neither his business acumen nor vast wealth can fix. Until he meets Emily.
Emily is perfect.
Scott offers Emily a summer job as a housekeeper on his remote, beautiful French estate. Enchanted by his lovely wife Nina, and his eccentric young daughter, Aurelia, Emily falls headlong into this oasis of wine-soaked days by the pool. But soon Emily realizes that Scott and Nina are hiding dangerous secrets, and if she doesn’t play along, the consequences could be deadly.
Superbly tense and oozing with atmosphere, Anna Downs’s debut is the perfect summer suspense, with the modern gothic feel of Ruth Ware and the morally complex family dynamics of Lisa Jewell.
Welcome to paradise…will you ever be able to leave?
About the Author (From Goodreads):
ANNA DOWNES was born and raised in Sheffield, UK, but now lives just north of Sydney, Australia with her husband and two children. She worked as an actress before turning her attention to writing. She was shortlisted for the Sydney Writers Room Short Story Prize (2017) and longlisted for the Margaret River Short Story Competition (2018). The Safe Place was inspired by Anna’s experiences working as a live-in housekeeper on a remote French estate in 2009-10.
Link to Purchase on Amazon:
Friends & Strangers by J. Courtney Sullivan
(Check back here for my full review, to be added later!)
Book Description from Goodreads:
An insightful, hilarious, and compulsively readable novel about a complicated friendship between two women who are at two very different stages in life, from the best-selling author of Maine and Saints for All Occasions (named one of the Washington Post‘s Ten Best Books of the Year and a New York Times Critics’ Pick).
Elisabeth, an accomplished journalist and new mother, is struggling to adjust to life in a small town after nearly twenty years in New York City. Alone in the house with her infant son all day (and awake with him much of the night), she feels uneasy, adrift. She neglects her work, losing untold hours to her Brooklyn moms’ Facebook group, her “influencer” sister’s Instagram feed, and text messages with the best friend she never sees anymore.
Enter Sam, a senior at the local women’s college, whom Elisabeth hires to babysit. Sam is struggling to decide between the path she’s always planned on and a romantic entanglement that threatens her ambition. She’s worried about student loan debt and what the future holds. In short order, they grow close. But when Sam finds an unlikely kindred spirit in Elisabeth’s father-in-law, the true differences between the women’s lives become starkly revealed and a betrayal has devastating consequences.
A masterful exploration of motherhood, power dynamics, and privilege in its many forms, Friends and Strangers reveals how a single year can shape the course of a life.
About the Author (from Goodreads):
J. Courtney Sullivan is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels Commencement, Maine, The Engagements, and Saints For All Occasions. Maine was named a Best Book of the Year by Time magazine, and a Washington Post Notable Book for 2011. The Engagements was one of People Magazine’s Top Ten Books of 2013 and an Irish Times Best Book of the Year. It is soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon and distributed by Fox 2000, and it will be translated into 17 languages. Saints For All Occasions, was named one of the ten best books of the year by the Washington Post, a New York Times Critic’s Pick for 2017, and a New England Book Award nominee. Her fifth novel, Friends and Strangers, will be published in June 2020. Courtney’s writing has also appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Chicago Tribune, New York magazine, Elle, Glamour, Allure, Real Simple, and O: The Oprah Magazine, among many others. She is a co-editor, with Courtney Martin, of the essay anthology Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists. In 2017, she wrote the forewords to new editions of two of her favorite children’s books: Anne of Green Gables and Little Women. A Massachusetts native, Courtney now lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and two children.
From Michele Campbell, the bestselling author of It’s Always the Husband comes a new blockbuster thriller in The Wife Who Knew Too Much.
Tabitha Girard had her heart broken years ago by Connor Ford. He was preppy and handsome. She was a pool girl at his country club. Their affair should have been a summer fling. But it meant everything to Tabitha.
Years later, Connor comes back into Tabitha’s life—older, richer, and desperately unhappy. He married for money, a wealthy, neurotic, controlling woman whom he never loved. He has always loved Tabitha.
When Connor’s wife Nina takes her own life, he’s free. He can finally be with Tabitha. Nina’s home, Windswept, can be theirs. It seems to be a perfect ending to a fairy tale romance that began so many years ago. But then, Tabitha finds a diary. “I’m writing this to raise an alarm in the event of my untimely death,” it begins. “If I die unexpectedly, it was foul play, and Connor was behind it. Connor—and her.”
Who is Connor Ford? Why did he marry Nina? Is Tabitha his true love, or a convenient affair? As the police investigate Nina’s death, is she a convenient suspect?
As Tabitha is drawn deeper into the dark glamour of a life she is ill-prepared for, it becomes clear to her that what a wife knows can kill her.
About the Author (from Goodreads):
Michele Campbell is a graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Law School and a former federal prosecutor in New York City who specialized in international narcotics and gang cases.
A while back, she said goodbye to her big-city legal career and moved with her husband and two children to an idyllic New England college town a lot like Belle River in IT’S ALWAYS THE HUSBAND. Since then, she has spent her time teaching criminal and constitutional law and writing novels.
She’s had many close female friends, a few frenemies, and only one husband, who – to the best of her knowledge – has never tried to kill her.
A hilariously heartfelt novel about living life at full force, and discovering family when you least expect it, influenced in part by the author’s time as Carrie Fisher’s beloved assistant.
Charlie Besson is about to have an insane job interview. His car is idling, like his life, outside the Hollywood mansion of Kathi Kannon. THE Kathi Kannon, star of stage and screen and People magazine’s worst dressed list. She needs an assistant. He needs a hero.
Kathi is an icon, bestselling author, and an award winning actress, most known for her role as Priestess Talara in the iconic blockbuster sci-fi film. She’s also known for another role: crazy Hollywood royalty. Admittedly so. Famously so. Fabulously so.
Charlie gets the job, and embarks on an odyssey filled with late night shopping sprees, last minute trips to see the aurora borealis, and an initiation to that most sacred of Hollywood tribes: the personal assistant. But Kathi becomes much more than a boss, and as their friendship grows, Charlie must make a choice. Will he always be on the sidelines of life, assisting the great forces that be, or can he step into his own leading role?
Laugh-out-loud funny, and searingly poignant, Byron Lane’s A Star is Bored is a novel that, like the star at its center, is enchanting and joyous, heartbreaking and hopeful.
In the tradition of audacious and wryly funny novels like The Idiot and Convenience Store Woman comes the wildly original coming-of-age story of a pregnant pizza delivery girl who becomes obsessed with one of her customers.
Eighteen years old, pregnant, and working as a pizza delivery girl in suburban Los Angeles, our charmingly dysfunctional heroine is deeply lost and in complete denial about it all. She’s grieving the death of her father (who she has more in common with than she’d like to admit), avoiding her supportive mom and loving boyfriend, and flagrantly ignoring her future.
Her world is further upended when she becomes obsessed with Jenny, a stay-at-home mother new to the neighborhood, who comes to depend on weekly deliveries of pickled covered pizzas for her son’s happiness. As one woman looks toward motherhood and the other towards middle age, the relationship between the two begins to blur in strange, complicated, and ultimately heartbreaking ways.
Bold, tender, propulsive, and unexpected in countless ways, Jean Kyoung Frazier’s Pizza Girl is a moving and funny portrait of a flawed, unforgettable young woman as she tries to find her place in the world.
Link to Purchase on Amazon:
The Vanishing Sky by L. Annette Binder
(Check back here for my full review, to be added later!)
Book Description from Goodreads:
For readers of Warlight and The Invisible Bridge, an intimate, harrowing story about a family of German citizens during World War II.
In 1945, as the war in Germany nears its violent end, the Huber family is not yet free of its dangers or its insidious demands. Etta, a mother from a small, rural town, has two sons serving their home country: her elder, Max, on the Eastern front, and her younger, Georg, at a school for Hitler Youth. When Max returns from the front, Etta quickly realizes that something is not right-he is thin, almost ghostly, and behaving very strangely. Etta strives to protect him from the Nazi rule, even as her husband, Josef, becomes more nationalistic and impervious to Max’s condition. Meanwhile, miles away, her younger son Georg has taken his fate into his own hands, deserting his young class of battle-bound soldiers to set off on a long and perilous journey home.
The Vanishing Sky is a World War II novel as seen through a German lens, a story of the irreparable damage of war on the home front, and one family’s participation-involuntary, unseen, or direct-in a dangerous regime. Drawing inspiration from her own father’s time in the Hitler Youth, L. Annette Binder has crafted a spellbinding novel about the daring choices we make for country and for family.
About the Author (from Goodreads):
L. Annette Binder was born in Germany and grew up in Colorado Springs.
Her first novel The Vanishing Sky (Bloomsbury, July 2020) is inspired by events in her own family history.
Her story collection Rise came out in 2012. Her short stories have been included in the Pushcart Prize anthology and the PEN/O. Henry Prize anthology and have been performed on Public Radio’s “Selected Shorts.”
Link to Purchase on Amazon:
The Lost Girls of Devon by Barbara O’Neal
(Check back here for my full review, to be added later!)
Book Description from Goodreads:
From the Washington Post and Amazon Charts bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids comes a story of four generations of women grappling with family betrayals and long-buried secrets.
It’s been years since Zoe Fairchild has been to the small Devon village of her birth, but the wounds she suffered there still ache. When she learns that her old friend and grandmother’s caretaker has gone missing, Zoe and her fifteen-year-old daughter return to England to help.
Zoe dreads seeing her estranged mother, who left when Zoe was seven to travel the world. As the four generations of women reunite, the emotional pain of the past is awakened. And to complicate matters further, Zoe must also confront the ex-boyfriend she betrayed many years before.
Anxieties spike when tragedy befalls another woman in the village. As the mystery turns more sinister, new grief melds with old betrayal. Now the four Fairchild women will be tested in ways they couldn’t imagine as they contend with dangers within and without, desperate to heal themselves and their relationships with each other.
About the Author (from Goodreads):
Barbara O’Neal is the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and #1 Amazon Charts bestselling writer of women’s fiction. She lives in Colorado with her partner, a British endurance athlete.
Thanks so much to the author and to Kate Rock Book Tours, NetGalley, and Central Avenue Publishing for the complimentary e-copy of this book in exchange for my honest thoughts and participation in this blog tour. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.
Synopsis from Goodreads:
ALONE TOGETHER: Love, Grief, and Comfort During the Time of COVID-19 (September 1, 2020, Central Avenue Publishing) is a collection of essays, poems, and interviews to serve as a lifeline into connecting and thriving during this stressful time of isolation as well as a historical perspective that will remain relevant for years to come. All net profits will be donated to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc).
“I was looking for some way to make a dent in the overwhelming grief and devastation, and I hoped other authors would feel the same way,” says Jennifer Haupt, editor and curator of ALONE TOGETHER, who put out a call for submissions on Facebook a month after the quarantine began. “The book came together in astonishingly short amount of time—just two months. It was inspiring to see how it snowballed, with my publisher and the book distributor donating their services.”
The diverse roster of 76 bestselling and up-and-coming contributing authors (55 in the print book and another 21 in the digital edition) includes: Faith Adiele, Kwame Alexander, Jenna Blum, W. Ralph Eubanks, Jamie Ford, Nikki Giovanni, Jane Hirshfield, Pam Houston, Major Jackson, Jean Kwok, Devi S. Laskar, Caroline Leavitt, Ada Limón, Dani Shapiro, Garth Stein, Luis Alberto Urrea, and Lidia Yuknavitch.
This book is divided into five sections: What Now?, Grieve, Comfort, Connect, And Don’t Stop. The overarching theme is finding grace and humanity in this devastating time. “Some might argue that the private sector is all about survival of the fittest, but I see booksellers as existing in this place between the public and private sector,” says Michelle Halket, publisher, Central Avenue Publishing. “Bookstores are akin to our libraries; collectors and curators of our culture, and the hubs our local communities. I’m proud to help bookstores survive the COVID19 economy, while bringing forth more of the prose and poetry we all need.” All authors, the publisher and book distributor are donating their time, talent, and expertise, so the contribution to Binc is expected to be significant.
Review: (4 Stars)
TW : COVID-19 pandemic, loss of loved ones, sickness
I will say, first and foremost, that if I wasn’t on the blog tour for this book I likely would not have picked it up or read it when I did. This virus, and the time we have been living in hasn’t been easy for anyone – there is so much fear in the world right now, and being basically locked into your houses for a full quarantine was really hard on a lot of people’s mental and emotional health, myself included. And so diving right into a book about the world seemingly falling apart while we are still very much in the middle of it was a bit strange for me.
That being said, I am so incredibly glad that I read it.
This book, and all of the poems, short stories, etc. that make it up, were so powerful. And not every story will speak to every reader, but I think every reader can find at least a handful of stories that really will speak to them, and will possibly stick with them after they’re done reading. More so than anything else, this book was amazing to show me that I am not alone while I’m locked in my house all day having conversations with my pets. To show me that all of my really big feelings that I’m feeling are not only valid, but I’m not the only one feeling or experiencing them.
I would say that at this moment in time this book might not be a healthy read for every single person, and that maybe some people would do better to wait and read it once it feels like we have, as a country, come out on the other side of all of this. But I do think that more people should read it, either now or then. As I said, it felt wonderful to read some of the stories that were so similar to my own – so if that is something that you have been craving, that connected, togetherness with other people, then I really think you need to read this book. And if you can’t intake media right now because we are still too close to the situation, maybe consider buying the book to read later on. You’ll be supporting the book-ish community with your purchase, and then if nothing else 10 years from now you will have this very real, very raw look back at this crazy time in history that we will have all lived through.
About the Author (from Goodreads):
Jennifer Haupt is the editor of ALONE TOGETHER: Stories of Love, Grief, and Comfort in the Time of COVID-19. Her essays and articles have been published in O, The Oprah Magazine, Parenting, The Rumpus, Spirituality & Health, The Sun and many other publications. Her debut novel, In the Shadow of 10,000 Hills was awarded the Foreword Reviews Bronze Indie Award for Historical Fiction. Her second novel, Come as You Are, a contemporary family drama, will be published in July 2021.
Thanks so much to the author and to Kate Rock Book Tours for the complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review and participation in this blog tour. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews and collaborations can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.
Book Description from Goodreads:
If Tipsy Collins learned one thing from her divorce, it’s that everyone in Charleston is a little crazy–even if they’re already dead.
Tipsy, a gifted artist, cannot ignore her nutty friends or her vindictive ex-husband, but as a lifelong reluctant clairvoyant, she’s always avoided dead people. When Tipsy and her three children move into the house on Bennett Street, she realizes some ghosts won’t be ignored.
Till death do us part didn’t pan out for Jane and Henry Mott, who’ve haunted the house for nearly a century. Tipsy’s marriage was downright felicitous when compared to Jane and Henry’s ill-fated union. Jane believes Henry killed her and then himself, and Henry vehemently denies both accusations. Unfortunately, neither phantom remembers that afternoon in 1923. Tipsy doesn’t know whether to side with Jane, who seems to be hiding something under her southern belle charm, or Henry, a mercurial creative genius. Jane and Henry draw Tipsy into their conundrum, and she uncovers secrets long concealed under layers of good manners, broken promises and soupy Lowcountry air. Living with ghosts, however, takes a toll on her health, and possibly even her sanity. As she struggles to forge a new path for herself and her children, Tipsy has a chance to set Jane and Henry free, and release the ghosts of her own past.
Original Press Release for Charleston Green:
CHARLESTON GREEN Presents a Haunting Take on Women’s Fiction
“An enchanting novel of a woman finding her way out of a midlife (and mid-death) crisis.” –Kirkus Reviews
Charleston, South Carolina, April 14, 2020— Bestselling author Stephanie Alexander’s new novel, CHARLESTON GREEN, asks readers to contemplate the life-shaping experiences that haunt us—literally and figuratively.
CHARLESTON GREEN introduces Southern spitfire Tiffany “Tipsy” Collins, a clairvoyant artistic genius, as she rebuilds her life after a devastating divorce. Tipsy moves into a historic house in the Old Village of Mount Pleasant, a tony Charleston suburb, and discovers she’s inherited two undead roommates. Married couple Jane and Henry Mott have been haunting the house for almost a century. They hate each other, because Jane thinks Henry killed her and then killed himself. He denies her accusations, but neither phantom remembers what really happened. Tipsy must use her supernatural and investigative powers to solve the mystery, all while mothering her three children, managing her vindictive ex-husband, rebuilding her painting career, venturing into the dating pool, and navigating Charleston’s quirky small town social scene.
“At its heart, CHARLESTON GREEN is the story of how Tipsy comes to grips with her past experiences and decisions, and learns to let go and move forward,” says author Stephanie Alexander. “As with many works of Southern literature, there’s a lot of symbolism, humor, and a touch of magical realism. Jane and Henry might be ghosts, but they are characters unto themselves, with their own voices. They just happen to be dead!”
“I am always on the lookout for exciting new writers,” says New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand. “Once I started reading CHARLESTON GREEN by Stephanie Alexander, I was captivated. This novel leaves the reader entranced; the writing is skillful and clever and funny. I highly recommend this book.”
Kirkus Reviews says, “Alexander blends the warm humor of her characters with balmy descriptions of her Southern gothic setting. Her descriptions of Tipsy’s paintings are particularly lyrical… It’s a breezy paranormal read, and yet one with more depth than the reader might expect from the premise. In Tipsy and her ghosts, Alexander finds a story about the frustrations of love and aging, as well as the weight that history places on the living, particularly, perhaps, in the South Carolina Lowcountry.”
Review: (4 Stars)
TW: murder, suicide, infidelity, custody battles, the afterlife
I was really intrigued by this book once I read the description – I love a character driven novel, I love books and movies set in the 1920s, and I loved watching Ghost Whisperer with my mom when I was younger. So this book seemed like it might be right up my alley! I’m glad to say that I really did enjoy it, so I was not disappointed.
One thing that made this story, and the storytelling, really interesting in my opinion was the fact that most of the story is happening in the modern day, but that we get to peak into the past to try and unravel the mystery at the heart of this story. As the story goes on, Tipsy learns more about her abilities in relation to the spirits that share her house – meaning that she learns that she can do more than just see and talk to them, but if she touches a spirit she can also see into their own memories, whether they want her to or not. Having a character who can see and talk to ghosts isn’t all that unheard of, so I thought that that was a really interesting way to kind of mix things up with that character. And especially the fact that she was learning about, and how to handle, this new side of her power along with the readers was really fun.
For the characters themselves, for the most part they were enjoyable. I feel pretty confident in saying that the author means for you to hate Tipsy’s ex-husband, and believe me I did, so I won’t be including him here. Just trust me, he’s awful. Tipsy was a really fun character to be inside the mind of – she is a strong and feisty (while still imperfect) newly single mother and artist. I especially loved when she was able to use her insight into the past as inspiration for her paintings, because I loved getting to imagine those pieces coming to life. Although I have to say that Jane and Henry may have been my favorite of the characters in the novel. I was really interested in the idea of these two people who can’t remember the week leading up to their deaths (including how they died) and living all of these decades with only the gossip that they’ve overheard to go off of. Again, they were both flawed and imperfect characters that you couldn’t help but feel sympathetic towards.
To try to avoid spoilers, I won’t say much about the other characters or story specifics. But I will say this – I did guess the ending before it happened, but that didn’t make it less enjoyable for me. I didn’t find myself minding that I was right all along with my guess. I was just enjoying watching how we got there, and seeing how the story unfolded.
Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to my friends! At times it can be a tiny bit slow moving, but not terribly so, and not enough that I had a hard time getting into it. Just enough that a few chapters took a bit longer to get through. This was a fun read reminiscent of a cozy mystery, with a little bit of family drama and historical fiction thrown into the mix just for flavoring. I would say that the perfect environment for this book would be a grey and stormy day spent on the couch under your favorite blanket!
About the Author (from Goodreads):
Stephanie Alexander is the bestselling author of The Cracked Slipper Series and Charleston Green. She grew up in the suburbs of Washington, DC. Drawing, writing stories, and harassing her parents for a pony consumed much of her childhood. After graduating from high school in 1995 she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from the College of Charleston, South Carolina. She returned to Washington, DC, where she followed a long-time fascination with sociopolitical structures and women’s issues to a Master of Arts in Sociology from the American University. She spent several years as a Policy Associate at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW), a think-tank focused on women’s health and economic advancement.
Stephanie embraced full-time motherhood after the birth of the first of her three children in 2003. Her family put down permanent southern roots in Charleston in 2011. She published her first novel, The Cracked Slipper, in February 2012. The first printing of the series sold over 40,000 copies. The Cracked Slipper made multiple appearances on Amazon’s bestseller lists, and peaked at #11 in all genres. Stephanie has appeared on local and national media, been a contributor on many writing blogs and in writing magazines, and regularly joins with book clubs for discussions of her work.
In addition to her personal writing, Stephanie returned to the College of Charleston as an Adjunct Professor of Sociology and launched her freelance ghostwriting and editing business, Wordarcher, LLC. She has ghostwritten dozens of books, from novels to memoirs to academic theses. Beginning in the Fall of 2015, as a single working mother, she attended law school on a full academic scholarship, earning her juris doctor with honors from the Charleston School of Law in December, 2017.
She currently practices family law in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, the Charleston suburb that is the setting of her latest novel, Charleston Green. Her personal experience rebuilding her life after divorce inspires both her legal work and her fiction. Stephanie and her husband live in the Charleston area with their blended family of five children and their two miniature dachshunds, Trinket and Tipsy.
Stephanie’s work is published by Bublish, Inc., and is available on Amazon.com, BarnesAndNoble.com, Kobo, Google Play, iBooks, and IngramSpark. Stefanie Lieberman of Janklow & Nesbit Associates, New York, NY, represents Charleston Green. You can learn more about Stephanie and her work at www.stephaniealexanderbooks.com, or follow her on Twitter (@crackedslipper) or Instagram (@stephaniealexanderbooks).
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