Hello, friends – and happy Tuesday! Welcome to another round of new releases that I was lucky enough to get an early copy of, and have either already read or are upcoming on my #TBR.
These books could be gifted from the publisher through sites like NetGalley or Edelweiss+, they could be electronic copies gifted directly to me from the publisher or the author, an early audiobook copy through the publisher or Libro.fm, or even a physical copy that has been sent to me from the author or publisher. I am so thankful for all of the reading opportunities that I am given through these various sources, and I am excited to share these new releases!
In these weekly posts I will include a 20% review if I am currently reading the book, as well as a link to my full review if I have already finished the book. And if I have not yet started the book by the time this is posted, I will leave those spots blank and edit the post to add them in later!
Thanks so much to the author, Celadon Books, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
For fans of Mystic River by Dennis Lehane and Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, Stephen Amidon’s Locust Lane is a taut and utterly propulsive story about the search for justice and the fault lines of power and influence in a seemingly idyllic town. Can anyone be trusted?
On the surface, Emerson, Massachusetts, is just like any other affluent New England suburb. But when a young woman is found dead in the nicest part of town, the powerful neighbors close ranks to keep their families safe. In this searing novel, Eden Perry’s death kicks off an investigation into the three teenagers who were partying with her that night, each a suspect. Hannah, a sweet girl with an unstable history. Jack, the popular kid with a mean streak. Christopher, an outsider desperate to fit in. Their parents, each with motivations of their own, only complicate the picture: they will do anything to protect their children, even at the others’ expense.
With a brilliantly woven, intricately crafted plot that gathers momentum on every page, this is superb storytelling told in terse prose—a dynamic read that is both intensely gripping and deeply affecting.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Griffin, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book, as well as Macmillan Audio for the gifted audio copy!
Description from Goodreads:
A playful and emotional romantic comedy from the author of Ten Rules for Faking It
Hailey Sharp has a one-track mind. Get By the Cup salad shop off the ground. Do literally everything possible to make it a success. Repeat. With a head full of entrepreneurial ideas and a bad ex in her rearview, her one and only focus is living life the way she wants to. No distractions.
Wes Jansen never did understand the fuss about relationships. With a string of lackluster first dates and the pain from his parents’ angry divorce following him around, he’d much rather find someone who he likes, but won’t love. Companionship, not passion, is the name of the game.
When Hailey and Wes find each other in a disastrous meet cute that wasn’t even intended for them, they embarrassingly go their separate ways. But when Wes finds Hailey to apologize for his behavior, they strike a friendship. Because that’s all this can be. Hailey doesn’t want any distractions. Wes doesn’t want to fall in love.
What could possibly go wrong?
20% Review:
I am loving this book! I am already a fan of quiet a few of the supporting characters, since I love the previous two books in this series, and the new characters that I’m meeting through this book are super fun and seem fit into the existing group so well. I see a lot of myself in Hailey as well, which I always love when I’m reading. It just makes it more fun when you can imagine yourself in all of the fun or romantic situations as you’re reading them, right? Overall I’m flying through this book so far, and I feel like it’s just going to be another thing for me to love about the Jansen Brothers Series.
Thanks so much to McClelland & Stewart and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A sharply observed memoir in pieces that uses one woman’s life-long love affair with pop culture as a lens to explore family, identity, grief, the power of female rage, and what it’s cost to resist the trap of being a good Chinese girl.
For most of Jen Sookfong Lee’s life, pop culture was an escape from family tragedy and a means of fitting in with the larger culture around her. Anne of Green Gables promised her that, despite losing her father at the age of twelve, one day she might still have the loving family of her dreams, and Princess Diana was proof that maybe there was more to being a good girl after all. And yet as Jen grew up, she began to recognize the ways in which pop culture was not made for someone like her–the child of Chinese immigrant parents who looked for safety in the invisibility afforded by embracing model minority myths.
Ranging from the unattainable perfection of Gwyneth Paltrow and the father-figure familiarity of Bob Ross, to the long shadow cast by The Joy Luck Club and the life lessons she has learned from Rihanna, Jen weaves together key moments in pop culture with stories of her own failings, longings, and struggles as she navigates the minefields that come with carving her own path as an Asian woman, single mother, and writer. And with great wit, bracing honesty, and a deep appreciation for the ways culture shapes us, she draws direct lines between the spectacle of the popular, the intimacy of our personal bonds, and the social foundations of our collective obsessions.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Hello, friends – and happy Tuesday! Welcome to another round of new releases that I was lucky enough to get an early copy of, and have either already read or are upcoming on my #TBR.
These books could be gifted from the publisher through sites like NetGalley or Edelweiss+, they could be electronic copies gifted directly to me from the publisher or the author, an early audiobook copy through the publisher or Libro.fm, or even a physical copy that has been sent to me from the author or publisher. I am so thankful for all of the reading opportunities that I am given through these various sources, and I am excited to share these new releases!
In these weekly posts I will include a 20% review if I am currently reading the book, as well as a link to my full review if I have already finished the book. And if I have not yet started the book by the time this is posted, I will leave those spots blank and edit the post to add them in later!
The Hustler Next Door
Author: K. A. Tucker
Publication Date: January 3, 2023
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Adult
Page Count:
Thanks so much to the author and Valentine PR for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
From the international bestselling author of The Simple Wild and Ten Tiny Breaths comes a new stand-alone enemies-to-lovers, small-town romance.
Justine MacDermott is in what she would call a transition period: squatting in her best friend’s house and working in an appliance store in Polson Falls while the man she was supposed to marry starts a new life with someone else.
She’s definitely not thinking about slashing his tires and wishing his vital extremities would fall off.
When newcomer Garrett Harrington strolls into Murphy’s looking to buy a refrigerator, Justine convinces herself she’s found her rebound. Or the next love of her life. Either works. But a chance encounter leads her to discover that Garrett isn’t who he made himself out to be, and he’s more interested in hustling her kindly old boss out of his family business—and using her to do it.
Furious at being fooled by yet another man and itching for retribution, Justine enlists the help of unlikely townsfolk to battle Harrington Group’s big-city development plans for Polson Falls.
It’s all going to plan … until Justine finds herself crossing enemy lines.
The Hustler Next Door is set in the Polson Falls world. Books in this series can be read in any order.
20% Review:
It’s been a while since I read The Player Next Door, and I had almost forgotten how much I loved Justine! She is such a fun character, and I’m having a lot of fun getting to know her again. So far it’s been a fairly quick read, but I’m not quite to the point where I can’t put it down yet. Also, so far the enemies-to-lovers aspect of this story has been so much fun! I may or may not be a tiny bit past 20% as I’m writing this, because I had such good reading momentum for a bit that I didn’t want to stop, and each scene that has both of our romantic leads in it so far has been so sassy and fun! I’m really excited to see how the rest of their story turns out!
Check out my full review and blog tour here!
The Villa
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Narrated by: Julia Whelan, Kimberly M. Wetherell & Shiromi Arserio
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book! And thanks as well to Macmillan Audio and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy!
Description from Goodreads:
From New York Times bestselling author Rachel Hawkins comes a deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set at an Italian villa with a dark history, for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.
As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.
Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album––and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder.
As Emily digs into the villa’s complicated history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful summer in 1974. That perhaps Pierce’s murder wasn’t just a tale of sex, drugs, and rock & roll gone wrong, but that something more sinister might have occurred––and that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind.
Yet the closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more tension she feels developing between her and Chess. As secrets from the past come to light, equally dangerous betrayals from the present also emerge––and it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.
Inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders, and the infamous summer Percy and Mary Shelley spent with Lord Byron at a Lake Geneva castle––the birthplace of Frankenstein––The Villa welcomes you into its deadly legacy.
20% Review:
I just started this book on audio, and I am just flying through it! So far we’ve gotten a bit of both timelines, the present and the past; background on the relationship between our two female leads; and some articles, lyrics, and excerpts written about, and by, the characters in the past sections. It’s been really engaging so far with the different types of storytelling, and I feel like I was pulled in to the story and invested in the characters from the very beginning! Although, I’ve loved just about everything I’ve read from Rachel Hawkins, so maybe that had a little something to do with it as well. Either way, I think I’ll be getting through to the end of this audiobook very soon, since I could barely convince myself to put it down long enough to write this!
Check out my full review here!
Drinking Games
Author: Sarah Levy
Narrated by: Sarah Levy
Publication Date: January 3, 2023
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Mental Health
Page Count: 288 pages
Audiobook Length: 6 hours 44 minutes
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book! And thanks also to Macmillan Audio for the gifted advanced audio copy!
Description from Goodreads:
Part memoir and part social critique, Drinking Games is about how one woman drank and lived — until sobriety freed her.
Drinking Games explores the role alcohol has in our formative adult lives, and what it means to opt out of a culture completely enmeshed in drinking. Sarah explores what our short-term choices about alcohol do to our long-term selves and how it challenges our ability to be vulnerable enough to discover what we really want in life. While many millennial women will see themselves in Sarah’s words and story, Drinking Games is dedicated to anyone who feels like their private struggles are terminally unique. Whether it’s alcohol, food, exercise, or work, so many of us are grasping for control and struggling to keep our heads above water.
Candid, dynamic, Drinking Games speaks to the millennial experience of working hard, playing harder, and wanting everything to look perfect on social media. Dedicated to those who might be questioning their relationship with alcohol but scared that quitting drinking is an ending, Drinking Games illustrates how, for one woman, sobriety was just the beginning of the story. Sarah’s words strike the perfect chord of relatability and biting honesty. Instead of claiming to have the answers, she takes readers by the hand throughout her journey, and shows us that life’s messiest moments are the ones that can end up being the most profound.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Breakup from Hell
Author: Ann Davila Cardinal
Publication Date: January 3, 2023
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance, Horror, Paranormal, Contemporary
Page Count: 304 pages
Thanks so much to the author, HarperTeen, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Miguela Angeles is tired. Tired of her abuela keeping secrets, especially about her heritage. Tired of her small Vermont town and hanging out at the same places with the same friends she’s known forever. So when another boring Sunday trip to church turns into a run-in with Sam, a mysterious hottie in town on vacation, Mica seizes the opportunity to get closer to him.
It’s not long before she is under Sam’s spell and doing things she’s never done before, like winning all her martial arts sparring matches—and lying to her favorite people. The more time Mica spends with Sam, the more weird things start to happen, too. Like terrifying-visions-of-the-world-ending weird.
Mica’s gut instincts keep telling her something is off, yet Sam is the most exciting guy she’s ever met. But when Mica discovers his family’s roots, she realizes that instead of being in the typical high school relationship, she’s living in a horror novel.
She has to leave Sam, but will ending their relationship also bring an end to everything she knows and everyone she loves?
Clever, hilarious, and steeped in supernatural suspense, Breakup From Hell will keep you hooked until the last page.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
The Wrong Kind of Weird
Author: James Ramos
Publication Date: January 3, 2023
Genre: YA, Romance, Contemporary, LGBTQIA+, Fiction
Page Count: 320 pages
Thanks so much to the author, Inkyard Press, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
“Sweet, snarky, and delightfully dorky.” —Elise Bryant, author of Happily Ever Afters
Cameron Carson has a secret. A secret with the power to break apart his friend group.
Cameron Carson, member of the Geeks and Nerds United (GANU) club, has been secretly hooking up with student council president, cheerleader, theater enthusiast, and all-around queen bee Karla Ortega since the summer. The one problem—what was meant to be a summer fling between coffee shop coworkers has now evolved into a clandestine senior-year entanglement, where Karla isn’t intending on blending their friend groups anytime soon, or at all.
Enter Mackenzie Briggs, who isn’t afraid to be herself or wear her heart on her sleeve. When Cameron finds himself unexpectedly bonding with Mackenzie and repeatedly snubbed in public by Karla, he starts to wonder who he can truly consider a friend and who might have the potential to become more…
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Hello, friends – and happy Tuesday! Welcome to another round of new releases that I was lucky enough to get an early copy of, and have either already read or are upcoming on my #TBR.
These books could be gifted from the publisher through sites like NetGalley or Edelweiss+, they could be electronic copies gifted directly to me from the publisher or the author, an early audiobook copy through the publisher or Libro.fm, or even a physical copy that has been sent to me from the author or publisher. I am so thankful for all of the reading opportunities that I am given through these various sources, and I am excited to share these new releases!
In these weekly posts I will include a 20% review if I am currently reading the book, as well as a link to my full review if I have already finished the book. And if I have not yet started the book by the time this is posted, I will leave those spots blank and edit the post to add them in later!
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
First in a new series by Olivia Blacke, Vinyl Resting Place follows three sisters who discover that opening a family business can be murder.
When Juni Jessup and her sisters Tansy and Maggie put all their beans in one basket to open Sip & Spin Records, a record-slash-coffee shop in Cedar River, Texas, they knew there could be some scratches on the track, but no one was expecting to find a body deader than disco in the supply closet.
Family is everything to the Jessups, so when their uncle is arrested by Juni’s heartbreaking ex on suspicion of murder, the sisters don’t skip a beat putting Sip & Spin up for bail collateral. But their tune changes abruptly when Uncle Calvin disappears, leaving them in a grind. With their uncle’s freedom and the future of their small business on the line, it’s up to Juni and her sisters to get in the groove and figure out whodunit before the killer’s trail—and the coffee—goes cold.
Music and mocha seem like a blend that should be “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door,” but caught up in a murder investigation with her family and their life savings on the line, Juni wonders if she might be on the “Highway to Hell” instead.
20% Review:
This is such a fun, cozy read! I am loving all of the little musical references – and I seriously need to steal a few things from Juni’s collection of vintage band tees! So far I’m really enjoying the characters, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens with the mystery, and what happens between the characters! (Give me a cute little love triangle with Juni, Beau, and Teddy!)
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
If there’s one thing impossible for a Davies to resist, it’s a challenge from a Montgomery. . .
A teasing bet.
Shipwrecked and imprisoned thanks to an incorrect map, Captain Morgan Davies has returned to London to exact sweet revenge on the cartographer responsible for his suffering. He’s also vowed to claim the winner’s prize―three kisses―in the bet he made with his long-time nemesis, the prickly, smart-mouthed Harriet Montgomery. His incarceration has clarified his feelings for her, but convincing the infuriating woman he wants to marry her is going to be his greatest challenge yet. When Harriet’s revealed to be the very mapmaker he seeks, Morgan decides to combine revenge and seduction into one delightful package. . .
A dangerous enemy.
Harriet’s always wanted witty scoundrel Morgan, and now he’s back; as handsome and as taunting as ever. She has enough on her plate dealing with her father’s failing eyesight and a rival mapmaker copying her work to play wicked games with a dastardly Davies―however tempting he might be. But when a threat from Morgan’s past puts them both in danger, Harry discovers that she and Morgan might not be enemies at all . . .
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Muffin But the Truth
Author: Ellie Alexander
Publication Date: December 27, 2022
Genre: Mystery, Cozy Mystery
Page Count: 320 pages
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
In Muffin But the Truth, Torte’s pastry chef and amateur sleuth Juliet Capshaw finds herself in deep water… in another delicious installment in the Bakeshop Series from author Ellie Alexander, set in Ashland, Oregon!
Ashland is known for its Elizabethan charm and touches of Shakespeare around every corner, but the surrounding Rogue Valley draws adventure enthusiasts to its outdoor wonderland of high alpine lakes, mountain ranges, and pristine rivers. Jules Capshaw and the team at Torte have been hired to cater a weekend getaway on the mighty Rogue River. Jules is going to have to put her culinary skills to the test while baking gooey chocolate chip skillet cookies over an open flame and preparing extravagant feasts under a canopy of stars. The executive team at a big city firm will be rafting the Rogue’s rapids and gathering around the campfire for spooky stories, but their dysfunction quickly begins to show. Between constant bickering and heavy drinking, Jules wonders how the team can accomplish anything. She’s happy for a brief reprieve when they zip up their lifejackets and head out in their boats, but the serenity of the scene quickly vanishes when Jules discovers one of the execs floating face down in the water. She’s going to have to uncover the truth before she gets pulled under.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Financial Feminist
Author: Tori Dunlap
Narrated by: Tori Dunlap, Samantha Tan, Shayna Small, Jaime Lamchick & Graham Halstead
Audio Publication Date: December 27, 2022
Genre: Nonfiction, Finance, Self-Help, Feminism
Audiobook Length: 8 hours 3 minutes
Thanks so much to the author, HarperAudio, and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
From the globally-recognized personal finance educator and social media star behind Her First $100K, an inclusive guide to all things money–from managing debt to investing and voting with your dollars
Tori Dunlap was always good with money. As a kid, she watched her prudent parents balance their checkbook every month and learned to save for musical tickets by gathering pennies in an Altoids tin. But she quickly discovered that her experience with money was pretty unusual, especially among her female friends.
It wasn’t our fault. Investigating this financial literacy and wealth gap, Tori found that girls are significantly less likely to receive a holistic financial education; we’re taught to restrain our spending, while boys are taught about investing and rewarded for pursuing wealth. In adulthood, women are hounded by the unfounded stereotype of the frivolous spenders whose lattes are to blame for the wealth gap. And when something like, say, a global pandemic happens, we’re the first to have jobs cut and the last to re-enter the workforce. It’s no wonder money is a source of anxiety and a barrier to equality for so many of us.
But what if money didn’t mean restriction, and instead, choice? The ability to luxuriously travel, quit toxic jobs, donate to important organizations, retire early? The freedom to live the life you want, and change the world while you do it?
Tori founded Her First $100K to teach women to overcome the unique obstacles standing in the way of their financial freedom. In Financial Feminist, she distills the principles of her shame- and judgment-free approach to paying off debt, figuring out your value categories to spend mindfully, saving money without monk-like deprivation, and investing in order to spend your retirement tanning in Tulum.
Featuring journaling prompts, deep-dives into the invisible aspects of the financial landscape, and interviews with experts on everything money–from predatory credit card companies to the racial wealth gap and voting with your dollars–Financial Feminist is the ultimate guide to making your money work harder for you (rather than the other way around.)
20% Review:
Something I very rarely say about nonfiction, and specifically about money-books, but so far this has been a really quick and easy read! I think listening to it in an audio format is helping it to feel really accessible and fairly easy to understand, like Tori is just sharing her knowledge with an old friend. There are obviously bits of this book, even so far being pretty early on, that are very intimidating. Any money-book will be, if you aren’t already a money-person. But this one is still feeling much more approachable than they usually do, at least in my opinion. It feels like I’ve been invited to the table to talk, rather than being talked at.
Hello, friends – and happy Tuesday! Welcome to another round of new releases that I was lucky enough to get an early copy of, and have either already read or are upcoming on my #TBR.
These books could be gifted from the publisher through sites like NetGalley or Edelweiss+, they could be electronic copies gifted directly to me from the publisher or the author, an early audiobook copy through the publisher or Libro.fm, or even a physical copy that has been sent to me from the author or publisher. I am so thankful for all of the reading opportunities that I am given through these various sources, and I am excited to share these new releases!
In these weekly posts I will include a 20% review if I am currently reading the book, as well as a link to my full review if I have already finished the book. And if I have not yet started the book by the time this is posted, I will leave those spots blank and edit the post to add them in later!
Thanks so much to the author, Berkley Publishing Group, Valentine PR, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
An unlucky witch and her know-it-all nemesis must team up in the first of a new, hot romantic comedy series from USA Today bestselling author Avery Flynn.
Could it possibly get any worse than having absolutely no magical abilities when you’re a member of the most powerful family of witches ever? It used to be that I’d say no, but then I keep getting set up on dates with Gil Connolly whose hotness is only matched by his ego. Seriously. I can’t stand him. Even if I also can’t stop thinking about him (specifically kissing him) but we’re going to pretend I never told you that part.
So yeah, my life isn’t the greatest right now, but then it goes straight to the absolute worst hell when I accidentally make my sister’s spell glitch and curse my whole family. And the only person who can help non-magical me break the spell? You guessed it. Gil the super hot jerk.
Now we have to work together to save my family and outmaneuver some evil-minded nefarious forces bent on world domination. Oh yeah, and we have to do all that while fighting against the attraction building between us because I may not be magical, but what’s happening between Gil and I sure feels like it.
20% Review:
This book is such a good time! It is written in first person and the main character talks to the reader, which gives it a very narrator-in-a-sitcom vibe that I am finding really fun and different from all of my other recent reads. The world building so far is interesting and easy to understand, if a little silly – think things like WitchyGram instead of Instagram – but I don’t mind a little silliness in my romcoms. Overall I’m really excited to see what happens next and how the relationship between the two leads grows!
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Griffin, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Two people get a second chance at love in this heartwarming story by author Nancy Naigle, The Wedding Ranch…
When Lorri Walker’s husband gifted her with a mastiff puppy on Valentine’s Day, she believed he was recommitting himself to their marriage after going astray. Six months later, he left both her and their dog for someone else. Since her recent move to Dalton Mill to unbraid herself from the past, Lorri’s graphic design business is now flourishing, her growing mastiff, Mister, has plenty of space to romp, and her ex in Raleigh can fade to a distant memory.
Ryder Bolt is haunted by the tragic loss of his wife and young son seven years ago. Thankfully, ranching keeps Ryder busy, and spending time with his niece and nephew—whose venue, The Wedding Ranch, has become a popular tourist destination—keeps him from getting lonely.
When Lorri and Ryder met, love was the last thing they were looking for. When they’re together, smiles come easier and burdens feel lighter, and both are embracing the possibility of something deeper.
But when a long-buried revelation surfaces, the fate that brought them together threatens to tear them apart.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
No One Left to Come Looking for You
Author: Sam Lipsyte
Publication Date: December 6, 2022
Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Adult
Page Count: 224 pages
Thanks so much to the author, Simon & Schuster, and Edelweiss+ for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A darkly comic mystery by the author of Hark and The Ask set in the vibrant music scene of early 1990s New York City.
Manhattan’s East Village, 1993. Dive bars, DIY music venues, shady weirdos, and hard drugs are plentiful. Crime is high but rent is low, luring hopeful, creative kids from sleepy suburbs around the country.
One of these is Jack S., a young New Jersey rock musician. Just a few days before his band’s biggest gig, their lead singer goes missing with Jack’s prized bass, presumably to hock it to feed his junk habit. Jack’s search for his buddy uncovers a sinister entanglement of crimes tied to local real estate barons looking to remake New York City—and who might also be connected to the recent death of Jack’s punk rock mentor. Along the way, Jack encounters a cast of colorful characters, including a bewitching, quick-witted scenester who favors dressing in a nurse’s outfit, a monstrous hired killer with a devotion to both figure skating and edged weapons, a deranged if prophetic postwar novelist, and a tough-talking cop who fancies himself a retro-cool icon of the homicide squad but is harboring a surprising secret.
No One Left to Come Looking for You is a page-turning suspense novel that also serves as a love letter to a bygone era of New York City where young artists could still afford to chase their dreams.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Your Table is Ready
Author: Michael Cecchi-Azzolina
Publication Date: December 6, 2022
Genre: Nonfiction, Autobiography/Memoir, Food and Drink
Page Count: 304 pages
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A front-of-the-house Kitchen Confidential from a career maître d’hotel who manned the front of the room in New York City’s hottest and most in-demand restaurants.
From the glamorous to the entitled, from royalty to the financially ruined, everyone who wanted to be seen—or just to gawk—at the hottest restaurants in New York City came to places Michael Cecchi-Azzolina helped run. His phone number was passed around among those who wanted to curry favor, during the decades when restaurants replaced clubs and theater as, well, theater in the most visible, vibrant city in the world.
Besides dropping us back into a vanished time, Your Table Is Ready takes us places we’d never be able to get into on our own: Raoul’s in Soho with its louche club vibe; Buzzy O’Keefe’s casually elegant River Café (the only outer-borough establishment desirable enough to be included in this roster), from Keith McNally’s Minetta Tavern to Nolita’s Le Coucou, possibly the most beautiful room in New York City in 2018, with its French Country Auberge-meets-winery look and the most exquisite and enormous stands of flowers, changed every three days.
From his early career serving theater stars like Tennessee Williams and Dustin Hoffman at La Rousse right through to the last pre-pandemic-shutdown full houses at Le Coucou, Cecchi-Azzolina has seen it all. In Your Table Is Ready, he breaks down how restaurants really run (and don’t), and how the economics work for owners and overworked staff alike. The professionals who gravitate to the business are a special, tougher breed, practiced in dealing with the demanding patrons and with each other, in a very distinctive ecosystem that’s somewhere between a George Orwell “down and out in….” dungeon and a sleek showman’s smoke-and-mirrors palace.
Your Table Is Ready is a rollicking, raunchy, revelatory memoir.
20% Review:
So far this book has been a bit of a slow read for me. I only started it this morning, so not in the sense that I’m finding myself constantly putting it down and picking it back up, but in the sense that a few times I’ve realized I’ve read the same sentence or paragraph multiple times because I’m losing my place or spacing out and forgetting what I’ve already read. Now, I am reading it on my phone at the moment, so take that with a grain of salt, but still. However, I’m in a part of the book where he’s talking more about the theatre-side of his restaurant career, which is particularly interesting to me as a performer, and I hope there’s more of it.
Thanks so much to the author, Hachette Audio, and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Florida is slipping away. As devastating weather patterns and rising sea levels gradually wreak havoc on the state’s infrastructure, a powerful hurricane approaches a small town on the southeastern coast. Kirby Lowe, an electrical line worker; his pregnant wife, Frida; and their two sons, Flip and Lucas, prepare for the worst. When the boys go missing just before the hurricane hits, Kirby heads out into the high winds to search for them. Left alone, Frida goes into premature labor and gives birth to an unusual child, Wanda, whom she names after the catastrophic storm that ushers her into a society closer to collapse than ever before.
As Florida continues to unravel, Wanda grows. Moving from childhood to adulthood, adapting not only to the changing landscape, but also to the people who stayed behind in a place abandoned by civilization, Wanda loses family, gains community, and ultimately, seeks adventure, love, and purpose in a place remade by nature.
Told in four parts—power, water, light, and time—The Light Pirate mirrors the rhythms of the elements and the sometimes quick, sometimes slow dissolution of the world as we know it. It is a meditation on the changes we would rather not see, the future we would rather not greet, and a call back to the beauty and violence of an untamable wilderness.
20% Review:
I just started this one on audio, and so far it has been a pretty quick listen! I’m not always a sci-fi/literary fiction type of person – it really has to be just the right one to fully draw me in. I’m not sure yet if this is going to be just the right story to make me fall in love with it, but it is fast paced and seems like it might be a pretty short listen for me, so I’m keeping an open mind!
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Hello, friends – and happy Tuesday! Welcome to another round of new releases that I was lucky enough to get an early copy of, and have either already read or are upcoming on my #TBR.
These books could be gifted from the publisher through sites like NetGalley or Edelweiss+, they could be electronic copies gifted directly to me from the publisher or the author, an early audiobook copy through the publisher or Libro.fm, or even a physical copy that has been sent to me from the author or publisher. I am so thankful for all of the reading opportunities that I am given through these various sources, and I am excited to share these new releases!
In these weekly posts I will include a 20% review if I am currently reading the book, as well as a link to my full review if I have already finished the book. And if I have not yet started the book by the time this is posted, I will leave those spots blank and edit the post to add them in later!
What A Trip
Author: Susen Edwards
Publication Date: November 15, 2022
Genre: Fiction
Page Count: 424 pages
Thanks so much to the author, She Writes Press, and BookSparks for the gifted finished copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
In this dramatic coming-of-age novel we meet Fiona, an art student at a New Jersey college who is brilliant, beautiful, and struggling to find herself. Through her eyes we relive the turbulent culture of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll, the first draft lottery since World War II, the Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam, the Kent State University shootings, and the harsh realities of war for Americans in their early twenties.
Fiona’s best friend, Melissa, is in a dead-end relationship, pregnant, and going nowhere fast. After Melissa’s abortion, Fiona and Melissa spend a week in Florida, where they are introduced to tarot cards and the anti-war movement. Following this experience, Melissa becomes obsessed with the occult; Fiona, though intrigued, approaches the tarot cautiously, with the voice of her conservative Christian mother screaming in her head.
After Fiona’s return from Florida, she begins dating Reuben–a journalism major and political activist. Reuben decides to move to Canada to avoid the draft and encourages Fiona to accompany him. But is that really what she wants? Caught between her feelings for Reuben and her own aspirations, Fiona struggles to define herself, her artistic career, and her future.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, Minotaur Books, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Mariah Fredericks’s The Lindbergh Nanny is powerful, propulsive novel about America’s most notorious kidnapping through the eyes of the woman who found herself at the heart of this deadly crime.
“A masterful blending of fact and fiction that is as compelling as it is entertaining.”—Nelson DeMille
When the most famous toddler in America, Charles Lindbergh, Jr., is kidnapped from his family home in New Jersey in 1932, the case makes international headlines. Already celebrated for his flight across the Atlantic, his father, Charles, Sr., is the country’s golden boy, with his wealthy, lovely wife, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, by his side. But there’s someone else in their household—Betty Gow, a formerly obscure young woman, now known around the world by another name: the Lindbergh Nanny.
A Scottish immigrant deciphering the rules of her new homeland and its East Coast elite, Betty finds Colonel Lindbergh eccentric and often odd, Mrs. Lindbergh kind yet nervous, and Charlie simply a darling. Far from home and bruised from a love affair gone horribly wrong, Betty finds comfort in caring for the child, and warms to the attentions of handsome sailor Henrik, sometimes known as Red. Then, Charlie disappears.
Suddenly a suspect in the eyes of both the media and the public, Betty must find the truth about what really happened that night, in order to clear her own name—and to find justice for the child she loves.
“Gripping and elegant, The Lindbergh Nanny brings readers into the interior of the twentieth century’s most infamous crime.”—Nina de Gramont, New York Times bestselling author of The Christie Affair
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Have I Told You This Already?
Author: Lauren Graham
Narrated by: Lauren Graham
Audio Publication Date: November 15, 2022
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Humor, Adult
Audiobook Length: 4 hours 23 minutes
Thanks so much to the author, Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Candid, insightful, and wildly entertaining essays about life, love, and lessons learned as an actress in Hollywood, from the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and New York Times bestselling author of Talking as Fast as I Can.
With her signature sense of humor and down-to-earth storytelling, Lauren Graham opens up about her years working in the entertainment business—from the sublime to the ridiculous—and shares personal stories about everything from family and friendship to the challenges of aging gracefully in Hollywood. In “RIP Barneys New York,” she writes about an early job as a salesperson at the legendary department store — and the time she inadvertently shoplifted; in “Ne Oublie” she warns us about the perils of coming from an extremely forgetful family; and in “Actor-y Factory” she recounts what a day in the life of an actor looks like (unless you’re Brad Pitt).
Filled with surprising anecdotes, sage advice, and laugh-out-loud observations, Graham’s latest collection of all-new, original essays showcases the winning charm and wit that she’s known for.
20% Review:
This is a fairly quick listen, so I was able to listen to it all in one go! Because of this I won’t be writing a 20% review, but check out my full thoughts at the link below.
Thanks so much to the author, Hachette Audio, and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
From celebrated ballerina and New York Times bestselling author Misty Copeland, a heartfelt memoir about her friendship with trailblazer Raven Wilkinson which captures the importance of mentorship, shared history, and honoring the past to ensure a stronger future.
Misty Copeland made history as the first African-American principal ballerina at the American Ballet Theatre. Her talent, passion, and perseverance enabled her to make strides no one had accomplished before. But as she will tell you, achievement never happens in a void. Behind her, supporting her rise was her mentor Raven Wilkinson. Raven had been virtually alone in her quest to breach the all-white ballet world when she fought to be taken seriously as a Black ballerina in the 1950s and 60s. A trailblazer in the world of ballet decades before Misty’s time, Raven faced overt and casual racism, hostile crowds, and death threats for having the audacity to dance ballet.
The Wind at My Back tells the story of two unapologetically Black ballerinas, their friendship, and how they changed each other—and the dance world—forever. Misty Copeland shares her own struggles with racism and exclusion in her pursuit of this dream career and honors the women like Raven who paved the way for her but whose contributions have gone unheralded. She celebrates the connection she made with her mentor, the only teacher who could truly understand the obstacles she faced, beyond the technical or artistic demands.
A beautiful and wise memoir of intergenerational friendship and the impressive journeys of two remarkable women, The Wind at My Back captures the importance of mentorship, of shared history, and of respecting the past to ensure a stronger future.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Hello, friends – and happy Tuesday! Welcome to another round of new releases that I was lucky enough to get an early copy of, and have either already read or are upcoming on my #TBR.
These books could be gifted from the publisher through sites like NetGalley or Edelweiss+, they could be electronic copies gifted directly to me from the publisher or the author, an early audiobook copy through the publisher or Libro.fm, or even a physical copy that has been sent to me from the author or publisher. I am so thankful for all of the reading opportunities that I am given through these various sources, and I am excited to share these new releases!
In these weekly posts I will include a 20% review if I am currently reading the book, as well as a link to my full review if I have already finished the book. And if I have not yet started the book by the time this is posted, I will leave those spots blank and edit the post to add them in later!
Marked for Life
Author: Isaac Wright Jr. & Jon Sternfeld
Publication Date: November 8, 2022
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Crime, Law
Page Count: 336 pages
Thanks so much to the author and St. Martin’s Press for the gifted advanced copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
An empowering memoir of courage and hope in the face of injustice—and the basis for the ABC television show, For Life—Marked for Life is the true story of Isaac Wright Jr.’s battle to win his freedom after being wrongfully imprisoned for crimes he didn’t commit, and a critical indictment of America’s judicial system. “If I waited around for someone to save me, I’d be waiting my whole life. Unless I took the reins of this thing myself, I was going to die in prison. If that was my destiny, then I was going to die fighting. The desperation of that equation kept me up most nights. I would never find a gladiator. So I had to become him.”
In the summer of 1989, Isaac Wright Jr. was a 28-year-old independent music producer, who’d struck out on his own and became one of hip hop’s early success stories. With his dance crew Uptown Express, Wright won recognition on Star Search, toured with Run-DMC, and transitioned into management, co-founding his wife Sunshine’s music group, The Cover Girls. They’d settled in the New Jersey suburbs to raise their six-year-old daughter, never imagining that Wright would fall victim to gross police misconduct and a corrupt district attorney.
Accused of being a drug “kingpin” and incarcerated in Somerset County while the prosecutor and police built their case of lies against him, Wright realized he would get no help from any defense attorneys—white men uninterested in uncovering the truth or in proving the innocence of a black man. Pressured to take a plea deal offer of 20 years behind bars, Wright chose to take the law into his own hands by educating himself in the legal system so he could represent himself in court.
Studying statutes and cases in the jail’s law library, Wright became an adept legal mind. But despite acquiring knowledge that he put to use in defending his fellow inmates, he lost his trial and was sentenced to Trenton State Prison for life, plus 70 years in 1991. For the next five years, Wright would continue learning law, become a paralegal with the prison’s Inmate Legal Association, and appeal his case. Threatened by corrupt correction officers and convicts, his family falling apart, Wright fought for his life with every legal means at his disposal, eventually uncovering the smoking gun that unraveled the conspiracy perpetrated by law enforcement officials against him.
Marked for Life is not just the story of how Isaac Wright Jr. won his freedom. It is the story of how he found his true calling as a gladiator fighting on behalf of the oppressed and marginalized communities victimized by an unjust system of law.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to the author, Recorded Books, Inc. and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A magical detective dives into the affairs of Chicago’s divine monsters to secure a future with the love of her life. This sapphic period piece will dazzle anyone looking for mystery, intrigue, romance, magic, or all of the above.
An exiled augur who sold her soul to save her brother’s life is offered one last job before serving an eternity in hell. When she turns it down, her client sweetens the pot by offering up the one payment she can’t resist―the chance to have a future where she grows old with the woman she loves.
To succeed, she is given three days to track down the White City Vampire, Chicago’s most notorious serial killer. If she fails, only hell and heartbreak await.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
And Yet
Author: Kate Baer
Narrated by: Kate Baer
Audio Publication Date: November 8, 2022
Genre: Poetry, Nonfiction, Adult
Audiobook Length: 54 minutes
Thanks so much to the author, HarperAudio, and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
The second full length poetry collection from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of What Kind of Woman.
Kate Baer shot into the literary stratosphere with the publication of her debut poetry collection, What Kind of Woman, which became an instant #1 New York Times bestseller.
Kate’s second full-length book of traditional poetry, And Yet, dives deeper into the themes that are the hallmarks of her writing: motherhood, friendship, love, and loss. Taken together, these poems demonstrate the remarkable evolution of a writer and an artist working at the height of her craft, pushing herself and her poetry in a beautiful and impressive way.
Intimate, evocative, and bold, Kate’s beguiling poetry firmly positions her in the company of Dorianne Laux, Mary Oliver, Maggie Nelson, and other great female poets of our time.
20% Review:
Due to the short length of this book, I was able to listen to it in once sitting and therefore won’t be writing a partial review. But check out my full thoughts at the link below!
Authors: Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk & Nicola Yoon
Narrated by: Danielle Shemaiah, Nic Stone, Shayna Small, Bahni Turpin, Alaska Jackson, Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Kevin R. Free, James Fouhey & Korey Jackson
Audio Publication Date: November 8, 2022
Genre: Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary, Holiday, Short Stories
Audiobook Length: 7 hours 17 minutes
Thanks so much to the authors, Quill Tree Books, and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Atlanta is blanketed with snow just before Christmas, but the warmth of young love just might melt the ice in this novel of interwoven narratives, Black joy, and cozy, sparkling romance—by the same unbeatable team of authors who wrote the New York Times bestseller Blackout!
As the city grinds to a halt, twelve teens band together to help a friend pull off the most epic apology of her life. But will they be able to make it happen, in spite of the storm?
No one is prepared for this whiteout. But then, we can’t always prepare for the magical moments that change everything.
From the bestselling, award-winning, all-star authors who brought us Blackout—Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, and Nicola Yoon—comes another novel of Black teen love, each relationship within as unique and sparkling as Southern snowflakes.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Now Is Not the Time to Panic
Author: Kevin Wilson
Narrated by: Ginnifer Goodwin & Kevin Wilson
Audio Publication Date: November 8, 2022
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Young Adult
Audiobook Length: 6 hours 12 minutes
Thanks so much to the author, HarperAudio, and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
From the New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here comes an exuberant, bighearted novel about two teenage misfits who spectacularly collide one fateful summer, and the art they make that changes their lives forever.
Sixteen-year-old Frankie Budge—aspiring writer, indifferent student, offbeat loner—is determined to make it through yet another sad summer in Coalfield, Tennessee, when she meets Zeke, a talented artist who has just moved into his grandmother’s unhappy house and who is as lonely and awkward as Frankie is. Romantic and creative sparks begin to fly, and when the two jointly make an unsigned poster, shot through with an enigmatic phrase, it becomes unforgettable to anyone who sees it. The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives, and the law is skinny with hunger for us.
The posters begin appearing everywhere, and people wonder who is behind them. Satanists, kidnappers—the rumors won’t stop, and soon the mystery has dangerous repercussions that spread far beyond the town. The art that brought Frankie and Zeke together now threatens to tear them apart.
Twenty years later, Frances Eleanor Budge—famous author, mom to a wonderful daughter, wife to a loving husband—gets a call that threatens to upend everything: a journalist named Mazzy Brower is writing a story about the Coalfield Panic of 1996. Might Frances know something about that? And will what she knows destroy the life she’s so carefully built?
A bold coming-of-age story, written with Kevin Wilson’s trademark wit and blazing prose, Now Is Not The Time to Panic is a nuanced exploration of young love, identity, and the power of art. It’s also about the secrets that haunt us—and, ultimately, what the truth will set free.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
The Obsession
Author: Jesse Q. Sutanto
Narrated by: Catherine Ho & David Lee Huynh
Audio Publication Date: November 8, 2022
Genre: Thriller, Young Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Fiction
Audiobook Length: 8 hours 3 minutes
Thanks so much to the author, Tantor Media, Inc. and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A classic sort of love story… except somebody might wind up dead.
Nobody knows Delilah like Logan does. Nobody. He makes sure of it by learning everything he can through her social media and watching her through a hidden camera he has trained on her house. Some might call him a stalker. Logan prefers to be called “romantic.”
But after Logan sees Delilah killing her abusive stepfather, he realizes there’s still more about her to discover. His sweet, perfect Delilah isn’t so perfect after all.
Delilah knows she should feel guilty, but all she feels is free. She’s so over the men in her life controlling her. Except Logan saw what she did, and he won’t let her forget it.
Delilah is done being the victim. And she refuses to be a character in Logan’s twisted fantasy. If Logan won’t let her go… she’ll make him.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to the author, Recorded Books, Inc. and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
From critically acclaimed author Ausma Zehanat Khan, Blackwater Falls is the first in a timely and powerful crime series, introducing Detective Inaya Rahman.
Girls from immigrant communities have been disappearing for months in the Colorado town of Blackwater Falls, but the local sheriff is slow to act and the fates of the missing girls largely ignored. At last, the calls for justice become too loud to ignore when the body of a star student and refugee–the Syrian teenager Razan Elkader–is positioned deliberately in a mosque.
Detective Inaya Rahman and Lieutenant Waqas Seif of the Denver Police are recruited to solve Razan’s murder, and quickly uncover a link to other missing and murdered girls. But as Inaya gets closer to the truth, Seif finds ways to obstruct the investigation. Inaya may be drawn to him, but she is wary of his motives: he may be covering up the crimes of their boss, whose connections in Blackwater run deep.
Inaya turns to her female colleagues, attorney Areesha Adams and Detective Catalina Hernandez, for help in finding the truth. The three have bonded through their experiences as members of vulnerable groups and now they must work together to expose the conspiracy behind the murders before another girl disappears.
Delving deep into racial tensions, and police corruption and violence, Blackwater Falls examines a series of crimes within the context of contemporary American politics with compassion and searing insight.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
The Stories We Tell
Author: Joanna Gaines
Narrated by: Joanna Gaines
Audio Publication Date: November 8, 2022
Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir
Audiobook Length: 5 hours 28 minutes
Thanks so much to the author, Harper Select, and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
In her first solo memoir, New York Times bestselling author Joanna Gaines invites us on an authentic and deeply vulnerable journey into her story–and helps shine a light on the beauty of our own–guiding us to release the weights that hold us back so we may live and share our story in truth.
We’ve all dropped anchor in places that suited us for a time: a city, a perspective, a lie we mistook as truth. This book is an invitation to a kind of life where you know how to hold what you believe–about yourself and the quiet worlds behind the people you pass–with gracious and open hands. To see your story as greater than any past or future thing, but for all the beauty and joy and hope it holds today. It’s an invitation to take stock of the chapters you’ve lived–the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly–glean what’s gold, and carry only that forward. Let it slow your feet and steady your life-in-motion so you can see where you stand today from a new point of view. No longer through weary or uncertain eyes, but a lens brimming with hope.
“The only way to break free was to rewrite my story. Because something would happen every time my pen stopped: it was like my soul was coming back to my body. Like the deepest parts of me that got knocked around and drowned out by all the crap I let the world convince me about who I was came back to the surface. And what was left was only what was real and true. I was, finally, standing in the fullness of my story. I felt hopeful. I felt full. Our story may crack us open, but it also pieces us back together.
We all have a story to tell. This happens to be mine–every chapter a window into who I am, the journey I’m on, and the season I’m in right now. Because this is my story, maybe you won’t always relate, or maybe it will feel like you’re looking in a mirror. Whatever we have in common and whatever differences lie between us, I only hope my story can help shine a light on the beauty of yours. That my own soul work will stir something of your own. And that by the time you get to the end of my story, you’re also holding the beautiful beginnings of your own.
A story only you can tell. And I hope that you will.”
– Joanna Gaines
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Hello, friends – and happy Tuesday! Welcome to another round of new releases that I was lucky enough to get an early copy of, and have either already read or are upcoming on my #TBR.
These books could be gifted from the publisher through sites like NetGalley or Edelweiss+, they could be electronic copies gifted directly to me from the publisher or the author, an early audiobook copy through the publisher or Libro.fm, or even a physical copy that has been sent to me from the author or publisher. I am so thankful for all of the reading opportunities that I am given through these various sources, and I am excited to share these new releases!
In these weekly posts I will include a 20% review if I am currently reading the book, as well as a link to my full review if I have already finished the book. And if I have not yet started the book by the time this is posted, I will leave those spots blank and edit the post to add them in later!
Thanks so much to the author, Hachette Audio, and Libro.fm for the advanced gifted audio-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
She has a full-time remote job and her rescue cat Fred. Her best friend Sadie visits with her two children. There’s her online support group, her jigsaw puzzles and favorite recipes, her beloved Emily Dickinson, the internet, the grocery delivery man. Also keeping her company are treacherous memories of an unstable childhood, the estrangement from her sister, and a traumatic event that had sent her reeling.
But something’s about to change. Whether Meredith likes it or not, the world is coming to her door. Does she have the courage to overcome what’s been keeping her inside all this time?
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to the author, Simon & Schuster Audio, and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A Today Show #ReadWithJenna Book Club Pick!
In this “sinister, jaw-dropping” (Sarah Penner, author of The Lost Apothecary) debut novel, a circle of researchers uncover a mysterious deck of tarot cards and shocking secrets in New York’s famed Met Cloisters.
When Ann Stilwell arrives in New York City, she expects to spend her summer working as a curatorial associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Instead, she finds herself assigned to The Cloisters, a gothic museum and garden renowned for its medieval art collection and its group of enigmatic researchers studying the history of divination.
Desperate to escape her painful past, Ann is happy to indulge the researchers’ more outlandish theories about the history of fortune telling. But what begins as academic curiosity quickly turns into obsession when Ann discovers a hidden 15th-century deck of tarot cards that might hold the key to predicting the future. When the dangerous game of power, seduction, and ambition at The Cloisters turns deadly, Ann becomes locked in a race for answers as the line between the arcane and the modern blurs.
A haunting and magical blend of genres, The Cloisters is a gripping debut that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
My First Popsicle
Author: Zosia Mamet
Narrated by: Zosia Mamet, Sian Clifford, Kaley Cuoco, Ted Danson, Matt Flanders, Tony Hale, Katie Holmes, Hamish Linklater, Rosie Perez, Busy Philipps, Andrew Rannells, Gabourey Sidibe, Patti Smith & Full Cast
Audio Publication Date: November 1, 2022
Genre: Nonfiction, Essays, Food & Drink
Audiobook Length: 7 hours 4 minutes
Thanks so much to the author, Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group, and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A warm and relateable collection of essays exploring the memories we associate with different meals in our lives, from a spectrum of talented creators
What is your most poignant memory surrounding food?
Of all the essentials for survival: oxygen, water, sleep, and food, only food is a vast treasure trove of memory and of sensory experience. Food is a portal to culture, to times past, to disgust, to comfort, to love: no matter one’s feelings about a particular dish, they are hardly ever neutral.
In MY FIRST POPSICLE, Zosia Mamet has curated some of the most prominent voices in art and culture to tackle the topic of food in its elegance, its profundity, and its incidental charm. With contributions from Stephanie Danler on vinaigrette and starting over, Anita Lo on the cultural responsibility of dumplings, Tony Hale on his obsession with desserts at chain restaurants, Patti LuPone on childhood memories of seeking out shellfish, Gabourey Sidibe on her connections with her father and the Senegalese dish Poullet Yassa, Andrew Rannells on his nostalgia for Jell-O Cake, Sloane Crosley on the pesto that got her through the early months of the pandemic, Michelle Buteau on her love for all things pasta, Jia Tolentino on the chicken dish she makes to escape reality, and more, MY FIRST POPSICLE is as much an ode to food and emotion as it is to life. After all, the two are inseparable.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Hello, friends – and happy Tuesday! Welcome to another round of new releases that I was lucky enough to get an early copy of, and have either already read or are upcoming on my #TBR.
These books could be gifted from the publisher through sites like NetGalley or Edelweiss+, they could be electronic copies gifted directly to me from the publisher or the author, an early audiobook copy through the publisher or Libro.fm, or even a physical copy that has been sent to me from the author or publisher. I am so thankful for all of the reading opportunities that I am given through these various sources, and I am excited to share these new releases!
In these weekly posts I will include a 20% review if I am currently reading the book, as well as a link to my full review if I have already finished the book. And if I have not yet started the book by the time this is posted, I will leave those spots blank and edit the post to add them in later!
Send Noods: 50 Amazing Noodle Recipes that You Want Right Now
Author: Chloe Godot
Illustrated by: Alice Potter
Publication Date: September 13, 2022
Genre: Cookbook
Page Count: 128 pages
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and Castle Point Books for the gifted finished copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Get the noods you really want!
Things are looking hot. Chloe Godot’s Send Noods is a cleverly tantalizing book of 50 noodle recipes that will never fail to whet your appetite. When your actual DMs are just too cringeworthy and you’d rather have a bowl of ramen to keep you warm at night, turn to the cookbook that really satisfies.
Each chapter is organized to help you find your perfect match, from Chapter One: The Little Black Book of Basics, which steers you toward every good ol’ base sauce and broth you’ll ever need, to Chapter Two: Heart Warmers, that always deliver on their comfort-food promises, to Chapter Five: The Hotties, that leave you hungry for more. Go ahead and ogle the piping-hot illustrations of your deepest cravings, including:
– F*boy Fettuccini – Red Flag Red Sauce – Looking Fresh Pesto – How You Doin’ Homemade Italian Sausage – U Up? Udon – Sex Is Cool, But Have You Tried My Pho? – Swipe Right Ramen – Slide into My DMs Strozzapreti – Mack on This Mac ‘n’ Cheese – Dreamboat Arrabiata
Complete with Alice Potter’s playful illustrations and explicit instructions that make each recipe’s intentions known, Send Noods is the book of hot dishes that will satisfy epicureans in ways unsolicited DMs just never could.
20% Review:
Since this is a cookbook I won’t be including a 20% review. But check out my full thoughts on this book at the link below!
Check out my full review here!
The Best Friend
Author: Jessica Fellowes
Publication Date: September 13, 2022
Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Adult, Mystery
Page Count: 320 pages
Thanks so much to the author, Minotaur Books, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
Following the intense, toxic friendship of two kindred spirits across their lifetimes, The Best Friend is a dark, suspenseful novel and first standalone from Jessica Fellowes, New York Times bestselling author of the Mitford Murders series and the companion Downton Abbey books.
Bella and Kate. Kate and Bella. From childhood they were bosom friends, Bella sensible and cautious, Kate gregarious and just a little dangerous.
Yet in spite of their intimacy, their trust is fragile. Men came into their lives and things changed: a black seed was set in the heart of their relationship. Over decades, acts of both cruelty and love ferment until one shocking event tests them more than ever. Neither will escape unscathed.
Reminiscent of Elena Ferrante and Sally Rooney, and for readers of Leila Slimani’s The Perfect Nanny and Ashley Audrain’s The Push, The Best Friend explores the darkest corners of female friendship, a place where loyalty and betrayal intersect with deadly consequences.
20% Review:
This is SUCH a quick read! I got through the first 30% or so in the first sitting without even noticing, and I’d have finished it already if I didn’t have to do annoying things like work. A good portion so far is written as dialogue, without quotation marks or notes of which character is speaking, which makes it read a bit more like a play than a novel. As a theatre person, I’m finding this to be a really fun and interesting departure from the norm! But this format might not be for everybody, so keep that in mind before reading.
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Griffin, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
ONE TO WATCH meets BEACH READ in this smart, swoony, romantic comedy, in which two college exes find themselves battling against each other—and their unresolved feelings—for a spot in a prestigious literature Ph.D. program.
Allison Avery loves to win. After acing every academic challenge she’s come up against, she’s finally been accepted into her dream Ph.D. program at Claymore University, studying medieval literature under a professor she’s admired for years. Sure, grad school isn’t easy—the classes are intense, her best friend is drifting away, and her students would rather pull all-nighters than discuss The Knight’s Tale—but she’s got this. Until she discovers her ex-boyfriend has also been accepted. Colin Benjamin might be the only person who loves winning more than Allison does, and when they’re both assigned to TA for the same professor, the game is on.
What starts as a personal battle of wits (and lit) turns into all-out war when their professor announces a career-changing research trip opportunity—with one spot to fill. Competing with Colin is as natural as breathing, and after he shattered her heart two years ago, Allison refuses to let him come out on top. But when a family emergency and a late night road trip—plus a very sexy game of Scrabble—throw them together for a weekend, she starts to wonder if they could be stronger on the same team. And if they fall for each other all over again, Allison will have to choose between a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and what could be a twice-in-a-lifetime love.
Charmingly bookish and unequivocally fat positive, The Make-Up Test embraces the truth that people can sometimes change and grow, even when you least expect it.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Before We Were Trans: A New History of Gender
Author: Kit Heyam
Narrated by: Kit Heyam
Audio Publication Date: September 13, 2022
Genre: Nonfiction, History, LGBTQIA+, Transgender
Audiobook Length: 8 hours 2 minutes
Thanks so much to the author, Hachette Audio, and Libro.fm for the advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A groundbreaking global history of gender nonconformity
Today’s narratives about trans people tend to feature individuals with stable gender identities that fit neatly into the categories of male or female. Those stories, while important, fail to account for the complex realities of many trans people’s lives.
Before We Were Trans illuminates the stories of people across the globe, from antiquity to the present, whose experiences of gender have defied binary categories. Blending historical analysis with sharp cultural criticism, trans historian and activist Kit Heyam offers a new, radically inclusive trans history, chronicling expressions of trans experience that are often overlooked, like gender-nonconforming fashion and wartime stage performance. Before We Were Trans transports us from Renaissance Venice to seventeenth-century Angola, from Edo Japan to early America, and looks to the past to uncover new horizons for possible trans futures.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Marple: Twelve New mysteries
Authors: Agatha Christie, Naomi Alderman, Leigh Bardugo, Alyssa Cole, Lucy Foley, Elly Griffiths, Natalie Haynes, Jean Kwok, Val McDermid, Karen M. McManus, Dreda Say Mitchell, Kate Mosse and Ruth Ware
Narrated by: Alex Kingston, Adjoa Andoh, Miriam Margolyes, Celia Imrie, Chipo Chung, Adrian Scarborough, Imogen Stubbs, Alison Steadman, Jodhi May, Cathy Tyson and Ramon Tikaram
Audio Publication Date: September 13, 2022
Genre: Mystery, short Stories, Anthologies, Thriller, Crime
Audiobook Length: 11 hours 28 minutes
Thanks so much to the authors, HarperAudio, and Libro.fm for the advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A brand-new collection of short stories featuring the Queen of Mystery’s legendary detective Jane Marple, penned by twelve remarkable bestselling and acclaimed authors.
This collection of a dozen original short stories, all featuring Jane Marple, will introduce the character to a whole new generation. Each author reimagines Agatha Christie’s Marple through their own unique perspective while staying true to the hallmarks of a traditional mystery.
Naomi Alderman Leigh Bardugo Alyssa Cole Lucy Foley Elly Griffiths Natalie Haynes Jean Kwok Val McDermid Karen M. McManus Dreda Say Mitchell Kate Mosse Ruth Ware
Miss Marple was first introduced to readers in a story Agatha Christie wrote for The Royal Magazine in 1927 and made her first appearance in a full-length novel in 1930’s The Murder at the Vicarage. It has been 45 years since Agatha Christie’s last Marple novel, Sleeping Murder, was published posthumously in 1976, and this collection of ingenious new stories by twelve Christie devotees will be a timely reminder why Jane Marple remains the most famous fictional female detective of all time.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Always the First to Die
Author: R. J. Jacobs
Narrated by: Petrea Burchard
Audio Publication Date: September 13, 2022
Genre: Horror, Thriller, Fiction, Mystery, Adult
Audiobook Length: 8 hours 33 minutes
Thanks so much to the author, Dreamscape Audio, and Libro.fm for the advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
For fans of Riley Sager with a classic slasher twist, Always the First to Die follows a former horror movie actress as she returns to the set of her most iconic film, only to find that the strange circumstances begin to resemble the plot of her most famous film.
After her husband’s death, Lexi has refused to return to the Pinecrest Estate on the Florida Keys, too many hard memories on that strip of land. Memories of meeting her husband on the set of an iconic horror movie. Of being cast as an extra, of watching herself get killed on screen. And of scoffing at the rumors of the Pinecrest Estate “curse,” until she witnessed a cast member die that very summer. But when her daughter sneaks away to visit her grandfather, legendary horror movie director Rick Plummer, Lexi is forced to face her past. That’s when a Category Four hurricane changes course, and hits the southern coast.
Unable to get through to her daughter, Lexi drives to the Keys in the wake of the storm. What she finds is an island without cell service, without power, and with limited police presence. A desolate bit of land, with only a few remaining behind: the horror director, the starlet once cast as the final girl, the young teenager searching for clues of her father, the mother determined to get off the island, and…the person picking them off one-by-one.
Soon enough Lexi’s life begins to resemble Rick’s most famous horror film, and she must risk her life to save her daughter before someone, or something, destroys them all.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Thanks so much to the author, HarperAudio, and Libro.fm for the advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
A part-time reporter and club owner takes on crooked city councilmen, mysterious and deadly mobsters, and society’s deeply rooted sexism and racism, all while keeping her true identity and magical abilities hidden –inspired by an ancient Mexican folktale.
Yo soy quien soy.I am who I am.
Luna–or depending on who’s asking, Rose–is the white-passing daughter of an immigrant mother who has seen what happens to people from her culture. This world is prejudicial, and she must hide her identity in pursuit of owning an illegal jazz club. Using her cunning powers, Rose negotiates with dangerous criminals as she climbs up Kansas City’s bootlegging ladder. Luna, however, runs the risk of losing everything if the crooked city councilmen and ruthless mobsters discover her ties to an immigrant boxcar community that secretly houses witches. Last thing she wants is to put her entire family in danger.
But this bruja with ever-growing magical abilities can never resist a good fight. With her new identity, Rose, an unabashed flapper, defies societal expectations all the while struggling to keep her true self and witchcraft in check. However, the harder she tries to avoid scrutiny, the more her efforts eventually capture unwanted attention. Soon, she finds herself surrounded by greed and every brand of bigotry–from local gangsters who want a piece of the action and businessmen who hate her diverse staff to the Ku Klux Klan and Al Capone. Will her earth magic be enough to save her friends and family? As much as she hates to admit it, she may need to learn to have faith in others–and learning to trust may prove to be her biggest ambition yet.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Hello, friends – and happy Tuesday! Welcome to another round of new releases that I was lucky enough to get an early copy of, and have either already read or are upcoming on my #TBR.
These books could be gifted from the publisher through sites like NetGalley or Edelweiss+, they could be electronic copies gifted directly to me from the publisher or the author, an early audiobook copy through the publisher or Libro.fm, or even a physical copy that has been sent to me from the author or publisher. I am so thankful for all of the reading opportunities that I am given through these various sources, and I am excited to share these new releases!
In these weekly posts I will include a 20% review if I am currently reading the book, as well as a link to my full review if I have already finished the book. And if I have not yet started the book by the time this is posted, I will leave those spots blank and edit the post to add them in later!
Running Wild
Author: K.A. Tucker
Publication Date: January 25, 2022
Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Adult
Thanks so much to the author and Valentine PR for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
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.
20% Review:
Okay, coming clean, I am quite a bit farther than 20% of the way through when I’m writing this. What can I say? If it wasn’t for annoying things like eating and sleeping, I would have finished this book all in the one sitting. I am so excited to finally be back in Alaska with Kathleen and these characters that I love so much! And don’t even get me started on the new characters in this story. I already have a little crush on Tyler Brady. Sure, he still can’t hold a candle to my undying love for Jonah, but he’s definitely on the book crushes list!
Thanks so much to the author, Edelweiss+, and Atria Books for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
This murder mystery follows a community rallying around a sick child—but when escalating lies lead to a dead body, everyone is a suspect.
The Fairway Players, a local theatre group, is in the midst of rehearsals for an Arthur Miller play, when tragedy strikes the family of director Martin Haywood and his wife Helen, the play’s star. Their young granddaughter has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, and with an experimental treatment costing a tremendous sum, their fellow castmates rally to raise the money to give her a chance at survival.
But not everybody is convinced of the experimental treatment’s efficacy—nor of the good intentions of those involved. New actress Sam, a former NGO worker, raises doubts. But are her suspicions justified? Or does she have a history with the doctor involved? As tension grows within the community, things come to a shocking head the night of the dress rehearsal. The next day, a dead body is found, and soon, an arrest is made. In the run-up to the trial, two young lawyers sift through the material—emails, messages, letters—with a growing suspicion that a killer may still be on the loose.
A wholly modern take on the epistolary novel, The Appeal is a debut perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Lucy Foley.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
How to Be Perfect
Author: Michael Schur
Narrated By: Michael Schur (with Kristen Bell, D’Arcy Carden, Ted Danson, William Jackson Harper, Manny Jacinto, Marc Evan Jackson, Jameela Jamil, and Todd May)
Publication Date: January 25, 2022
Genre: Nonfiction, Philosophy, Humor
Length: 9 hours and 13 minutes
Thanks so much to Libro.fm and Simon and Schuster Audio for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!
Description from Goodreads:
From the creator of The Good Place and the cocreator of Parks and Recreation, a hilarious, thought-provoking guide to living an ethical life, drawing on 2,500 years of deep thinking from around the world.
Most people think of themselves as “good,” but it’s not always easy to determine what’s “good” or “bad”—especially in a world filled with complicated choices and pitfalls and booby traps and bad advice. Fortunately, many smart philosophers have been pondering this conundrum for millennia and they have guidance for us. With bright wit and deep insight, How to Be Perfect explains concepts like deontology, utilitarianism, existentialism, ubuntu, and more so we can sound cool at parties and become better people.
Schur starts off with easy ethical questions like “Should I punch my friend in the face for no reason?” (No.) and works his way up to the most complex moral issues we all face. Such as: Can I still enjoy great art if it was created by terrible people? How much money should I give to charity? Why bother being good at all when there are no consequences for being bad? And much more. By the time the book is done, we’ll know exactly how to act in every conceivable situation, so as to produce a verifiably maximal amount of moral good. We will be perfect, and all our friends will be jealous. OK, not quite. Instead, we’ll gain fresh, funny, inspiring wisdom on the toughest issues we face every day.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Never Tell
Author: Stacey Abrams (writing as Selena Montgomery)
Thanks so much to Libro.fm and Macmillan Audio for the gifted advanced audiobook!
Description from Goodreads:
From popular political leader and lawyer Stacey Abrams comes a reissue of her romantic suspense novel, Never Tell, written under the name Selena Montgomery.
Criminal psychologist Dr. Erin Abbott wants nothing more than to live a quiet life. That means no danger, no intrigue—and absolutely no romance. But when Erin suspects a serial killer is roaming New Orleans, her investigation throws her straight into the arms of the only man who can help her.
Journalist Gabriel Moss is hot to find his next huge story—and he knows Erin is on to something big. From the moment they meet, Gabriel senses that Erin is hiding something. One thing is certain: Erin’s boxy suits and sensible shoes hide a delicate beauty waiting to emerge…and Gabriel is just the man to reveal the woman inside.
As they join forces to find the killer, Gabriel slowly seduces Erin with his soft kisses. But Erin knows their love can never be. For she is hiding a terrible secret—and if Gabriel reveals the truth, Erin’s life will be shattered forever…
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, when I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Rubyfruit Jungle
Author: Rita Mae Brown
Narrated by: Anna Paquin
Re-Release Publication Date: January 25, 2022
Genre: Fiction, LGBTQIA, Fiction
Length: 6 hours and 27 minutes
Thanks so much to Libro.fm and Blackstone Publishing for the gifted advanced audiobook!
Description from Libro.fm:
A landmark coming-of-age novel that launched the career of one of this country’s most distinctive voices, Rubyfruit Jungle remains a transformative work more than forty years after its original publication.
In bawdy, moving prose, Rita Mae Brown tells the story of Molly Bolt, the adoptive daughter of a dirt-poor Southern couple who boldly forges her own path in America. With her startling beauty and crackling wit, Molly finds that women are drawn to her wherever she goes—and she refuses to apologize for loving them back.
This literary milestone continues to resonate with its message about being true to yourself and, against the odds, living happily ever after.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Hello, friends – and happy Tuesday! Welcome to another round of new releases that I was lucky enough to get an early copy of, and have either already read or are upcoming on my #TBR.
These books could be gifted from the publisher through sites like NetGalley or Edelweiss+, they could be electronic copies gifted directly to me from the publisher or the author, an early audiobook copy through the publisher or Libro.fm, or even a physical copy that has been sent to me from the author or publisher. I am so thankful for all of the reading opportunities that I am given through these various sources, and I am excited to share these new releases!
In these weekly posts I will include a 20% review if I am currently reading the book, as well as a link to my full review if I have already finished the book. And if I have not yet started the book by the time this is posted, I will leave those spots blank and edit the post to add them in later!
Bad Luck Bridesmaid
Author: Alison Rose Greenberg
Publication Date: January 11, 2022
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Adult
Thanks so much to the author, Netgalley, and St. Martin’s Griffin for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
It’s official: Zoey Marks is the cursed bridesmaid that no engagement can survive. Ten years, three empire waist dresses, and ZERO brides have walked down the aisle.
After strike three, Zoey is left wondering if her own ambivalence towards marriage has rubbed off on those she loves. And when her building distrust of matrimony culminates in turning down a proposal from her perfect All-American boyfriend, Rylan Harper III, she and Rylan are both left heartbroken, leaving Zoey to wonder: what is it exactly about tying the knot that makes her want to run in the opposite direction?
Enter Hannah Green: Zoey’s best friend, who announces that she’s marrying a guy she just met (cue eye roll). At a castle. In gorgeous, romantic Ireland, where Rylan will be in attendance, and Zoey will be a bridesmaid. It’ll be fine.
Okay, the woman definition of fine (NOT FINE).
Determined to turn her luck around, Zoey accepts her role and vows to get Hannah down the aisle—all the while praying her best friend’s wedded bliss will allow her to embrace marriage and get Rylan back.
But as the weekend goes on, Zoey is plagued with more questions than answers. Can you be a free spirit, yet still want a certain future? Can you have love and be loved on your terms? And how DO you wrangle a bossy falcon into doing your bidding?
20% Review:
Okay, I got to the fifth chapter and already fell a bit in love with the male lead. So that’s got to be a new record, right? This book is seriously so much fun so far! So far it’s mostly been Zoey’s inner monologue kind of catching the audience up on the three weddings she’s almost been a part of and her relationships with those three ladies, and honestly it’s been a really charming read so far! I read about the first 25% in one sitting because I was having too much fun and didn’t want to put it down!
Thanks so much to Libro.fm and HarperAudio for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
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, but she has no idea who she actually is. Fifteen years ago, she was found in a small New Jersey town thrown from an overturned vehicle, with no clue to her identity. Doctors assumed her amnesia was a temporary side effect of her injuries, but she never regained her memory. Hope eventually started a new life with a new name in a new town that welcomed her, yet always wondered what she may have left behind—or been running from. Now, fifteen years later, she’s leaving New Jersey to start over once again.
Manhattan defense lawyer Lindsay Kelly, Hope’s best friend and the one who found her after the accident, understands why Hope wants a new beginning. But she worries how her friend will fare in her new East Hampton home, far away from everything familiar. Lindsay’s worst fears are confirmed when she discovers Hope has vanished without a trace—the only lead a drop of blood found where she was last seen. Even more ominously, the blood matches a DNA sample with a connection to a notorious Kansas murderer.
With nowhere else to turn, Lindsay calls NYPD homicide detective Ellie Hatcher, the daughter of the cop who dedicated his life to hunting the Kansas killer. Ellie has always believed there was more to the story of her father’s death twenty years earlier—and she now fears that Hope’s recent disappearance could be related.
In pursuit of answers, three women search for the truth beneath long-buried secrets. And when their searches converge, what they find will upend everything they’ve ever known.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Wahala
Author: Nikki May
Narrated By: Natalie Simpson
Publication Date: January 11, 2022
Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Thriller, Adult
Length: 10 hours and 19 minutes
Thanks so much to Libro.fm and HarperAudio for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book.
Description from Goodreads:
An incisive and exhilarating debut novel of female friendship following three Anglo-Nigerian best friends and the lethally glamorous fourth woman who infiltrates their group—the most unforgettable girls since Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte, and Miranda.
Ronke wants happily ever after and 2.2. kids. She’s dating Kayode and wants him to be “the one” (perfect, like her dead father). Her friends think he’s just another in a long line of dodgy Nigerian boyfriends.
Boo has everything Ronke wants—a kind husband, gorgeous child. But she’s frustrated, unfulfilled, plagued by guilt, and desperate to remember who she used to be.
Simi is the golden one with the perfect lifestyle. No one knows she’s crippled by impostor syndrome and tempted to pack it all in each time her boss mentions her “urban vibe.” Her husband thinks they’re trying for a baby. She’s not.
When the high-flying, charismatic Isobel explodes into the group, it seems at first she’s bringing out the best in each woman. (She gets Simi an interview in Hong Kong! Goes jogging with Boo!) But the more Isobel intervenes, the more chaos she sows, and Ronke, Simi, and Boo’s close friendship begins to crack.
A sharp, modern take on friendship, ambition, culture, and betrayal, Wahala (trouble) is an unforgettable novel from a brilliant new voice.
20% Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I start reading this book!)
Review:
(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)
Tackling TBR 