#stmartinspress – Tackling TBR

Posted on July 18, 2023July 18, 2023 by tacklingtbr

July 16 – July 22

New Releases and Publications

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 Summer Girl

Author: Elle Kennedy

Publication Date: July 18, 2023

Genre: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, New Adult

Page Count: 400 pages

Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Griffin and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

College student Cassie Soul hasn’t spent an entire summer in Avalon Bay in years, not since her parents divorced and her mother spitefully whisked her away to Boston. Now that her grandmother is selling the boardwalk hotel that’s been in their family for five decades, Cassie returns to the quaint beach town to spend time with family, ring in her twenty-first birthday… and maybe find herself a summer fling.

On her first night in town, she finds the perfect candidate: Tate Bartlett, Avalon Bay’s fun-loving golden boy.

Tate, sailing instructor and lovable player, is no stranger to flings. In fact, he’s always down for a good time. But the moment he meets Cassie, he knows she’s not the girl you play games with. Cassie is gorgeous, hilarious, and, frankly, the coolest person he’s ever met. The last thing he wants to do is risk breaking her heart, and so he reluctantly puts her in the friend-zone… only to realize he made a huge mistake. Soon, his attraction to Cassie becomes impossible to ignore. He wants that fling now. Big-time.

And maybe even something more.

As Cassie and Tate walk the line between friends and lovers, they’re about to discover that their situation is the least complicated part of this equation. Because Avalon Bay is full of secrets—and their relationship might not survive when those secrets come to light.

Elle Kennedy’s next spicy and emotional romance in the blockbuster Avalon Bay series.

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!)

Strip Tees: A Memoir of Millennial Los Angeles

Author: Kate Flannery

Narrated by: Kate Flannery

Publication Date: July 18, 2023

Genre: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, Contemporary, Feminism, Adult

Audiobook Length: 7 hours 15 minutes

Thanks so much to Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

Strip Tees is a fever dream of a memoir—Hunter S. Thompson meets Gloria Steinem—about a recent college graduate and what happens when her feminist ideals meet the real world.

At the start of the new millennium, LA is the place to be. Hipster is a new word on the scene. Lauren Conrad is living her Cinderella story on The Hills on millions of television sets across the country. Paris Hilton tells us “That’s hot” from behind the biggest sunglasses imaginable, while beautiful teenagers fight and fall in love in The O.C.

Into this most glittering of supposed utopias, Kate Flannery arrives with a Seven Sisters diploma in hand and a new job at an upstart clothing company called American Apparel. Kate throws herself into the work, determined to climb the corporate fashion ladder. Having a job at American Apparel also means being a part of the advertising campaigns themselves, stripping down in the name of feminism.

She slowly begins to lose herself in a landscape of rowdy sex-positivity, racy photo shoots, and a cult-like devotion to the unorthodox CEO and founder of the brand. The line between sexual liberation and exploitation quickly grows hazy, leading Kate to question the company’s ethics and wrestle with her own.

Strip Tees captures a moment in our recent past that’s already sepia toned in nostalgia, and also paints a timeless portrait of a young woman who must choose between what business demands and self-respect requires.

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 reading this book!)

The Block Party

Author: Jamie Day

Publication Date: July 18, 2023

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Suspense, Contemporary

Page Count: 384 pages

Thanks so much to St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

This summer, meet your neighbors.

The residents of the exclusive cul-de-sac on Alton Road are entangled in a web of secrets and scandal utterly unknown to the outside world, and even to each other.

On the night of the annual Summer block party, there has been a murder.

But, who did it and why takes readers back one year earlier, as rivalries and betrayals unfold—discovering that the real danger lies within their own block and nothing—and no one—is ever as it seems.

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 Anniversary

Author: Stephanie Bishop

Narrated by: Fiona Hampton

Publication Date: July 18, 2023

Genre: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mystery

Audiobook Length: 11 hours 14 minutes

Thanks so much to Tantor Media, Inc. and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

For fans of Lisa Halliday and Susan Choi, The Anniversary is a simmering page-turner about an ascendant writer, the unresolved death of her husband, and what it takes to emerge on her own

Novelist J.B. Blackwood is on a cruise with her husband, Patrick, to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Her former professor, film director, and cult figure, Patrick is much older than J.B.. When they met, he seemed somehow ageless, as all gods appear in the eyes of those who worship them. But now his success is starting to wane and J.B. is on the cusp of winning a major literary prize. Her art has been forever overseen by him, now it may overshadow his.

For days they sail in the sun, nothing but dark water all around them. Then a storm hits and Patrick falls from the ship. J.B. is left alone, as the search for what happened to Patrick – and the truth about their marriage – begins.

Propulsive and fiercely intelligent, The Anniversary is exquisitely written with a swift and addictive plot. It’s a novel that asks: how legible, in the mind of the writer, is the line between reality and plot? How do we refuse the people we desire? And what is the cost, to ourselves, to others and to our art, if we don’t?

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!)

Crook Manifesto

Author: Colson Whitehead

Narrated by: Dion Graham

Publication Date: July 18, 2023

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Crime, Literary Fiction

Audiobook Length: 10 hours 47 minutes

Thanks so much to Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

Colson Whitehead continues his Harlem saga in a novel that summons 1970s New York in all its seedy glory.

It’s 1971. Trash piles up on the streets, crime is at an all-time high, the city is careening towards bankruptcy, and a shooting war has broken out between the NYPD and the Black Liberation Army. Amidst this collective nervous breakdown furniture store owner and ex-fence Ray Carney tries to keep his head down and his business thriving. His days moving stolen goods around the city are over. It’s strictly the straight-and-narrow for him — until he needs Jackson 5 tickets for his daughter May and he decides to hit up his old police contact Munson, fixer extraordinaire. But Munson has his own favors to ask of Carney and staying out of the game gets a lot more complicated – and deadly.

1973. The counter-culture has created a new generation, the old ways are being overthrown, but there is one constant, Pepper, Carney’s endearingly violent partner in crime. It’s getting harder to put together a reliable crew for hijackings, heists, and assorted felonies, so Pepper takes on a side gig doing security on a Blaxploitation shoot in Harlem. He finds himself in a freaky world of Hollywood stars, up-and-coming comedians, and celebrity drug dealers, in addition to the usual cast of hustlers, mobsters, and hit men. These adversaries underestimate the seasoned crook – to their regret.

1976. Harlem is burning, block by block, while the whole country is gearing up for Bicentennial celebrations. Carney is trying to come up with a July 4th ad he can live with. (“Two Hundred Years of Getting Away with It!”), while his wife Elizabeth is campaigning for her childhood friend, the former assistant D.A and rising politician Alexander Oakes. When a fire severely injures one of Carney’s tenants, he enlists Pepper to look into who may be behind it. Our crooked duo have to battle their way through a crumbling metropolis run by the shady, the violent, and the utterly corrupted.

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!)

Posted on June 27, 2023June 27, 2023 by tacklingtbr

June 25 – July 1

New Releases and Publications

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.

Fatal Fudge Swirl

Author: Meri Allen

Publication Date: June 27, 2023

Genre: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction

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:

A movie production brings drama―and murder―to a close-knit New England village, forcing Riley Rhodes to scoop out the suspects.

Former CIA librarian and amateur sleuth Riley Rhodes is loving her fresh start as the manager of the Udderly Delicious Ice Cream Shop. The leaves are turning, tourists are leaf-peeping, and Penniman, Connecticut is putting finishing touches on the weekend long Halloween Happening. But the village is also buzzing. Former child star Cooper Collins is overseeing the production of a romantic comedy that’s filming on the town green and his domineering socialite mother, Diantha, is planning her lavish Halloween themed wedding at her Inn on the Green. Her fiancé has run the Inn’s kitchen for years, ably aided by his recent ex-wife, chef Mary Ann Dumas. An old friend of Riley’s, Mary Ann turns to her when the bride requests a spooky ice cream wedding cake.

But the weekend takes a frightful turn when Diantha is found dead and suspicion falls on Mary Ann. The cast of potential suspects is long―each wedding guest had a chilling motive to kill the vicious heiress. Can Riley unmask the murderer before another guest ends up on ice?

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!)

Dead Man’s Wake

Author: Paul Doiron

Publication Date: June 27, 2023

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Fiction, Crime

Page Count: 320 pages

Thanks so much to the author, Minotaur Books (St. Martin’s Press), and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

Game Warden Mike Bowditch’s engagement party is interrupted by the discovery of a gruesome double murder in Dead Man’s Wake, a new thriller from Edgar Award-winning author Paul Doiron.

On the evening of their engagement party, Maine Game Warden Investigator Mike Bowditch and Stacey Stevens witness what seems to be a hit-and-run speedboat crash on a darkened lake. When they arrive at the scene, their spotlight reveals a gruesome sight: a severed arm beneath the surface. As day breaks, the warden dive team recovers not one but two naked corpses: the dismembered man and the married woman with whom he was having an affair. Mike begins to suspect the swimmers’ deaths were not a senseless accident but a coldly calculated murder. Alone among his fellow officers, Mike begins to sense the involvement of a trained professional, smarter and more dangerous than any enemy he has faced. As Mike and Stacey get closer to identifying the killer, their own lives are suddenly put on the line, leading to a confrontation designed to silence them forever.

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 Wife App

Author: Carolyn Mackler

Publication Date: June 27, 2023

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Romance, Adult

Page Count: 368 pages

Thanks so much to the author, Simon & Schuster, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

Because every wife deserves a happy ending.

Three best friends decide they’re finally done with their ex-husbands taking their work as wives and moms for granted. They’re ready to monetize the mental load, stick it to their exes, and have a wild ride in the process.

Lauren, mother of twins, wakes up one morning to her Wife Alarm Bells sounding. She sleuths on her husband’s phone and stumbles on a dirty secret that explodes her marriage. Madeline has it all—a penthouse apartment, a perfect daughter, and no-strings-attached romps with handsome men. When she learns that she might lose her child to her ex in England, it stirs up a decades-old personal tragedy. Sophie, with too much FOMO and never enough money, obsesses over her ex-husband’s Family 2.0—all while keeping her true desires hidden, even from herself.

It starts as a joke during a tipsy night out, as Lauren, Madeline, and Sophie rail against everything wives do for free. Let’s build an app that monetizes the mental load. And maybe get revenge on our exes in the process? Soon, the Wife App is born, and before long, it’s the fastest growing start-up in New York City. But then life intervenes. Love intervenes. Ex-husbands intervene. And the consequences are bigger than anything Lauren, Madeline, or Sophie could have expected. Carolyn Mackler marks her debut into adult fiction with a hilarious rollercoaster ride of revenge and redemption that is at once a send-up of modern marriage and a celebration of female friendship and love in all forms.

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 Rachel Incident

Author: Caroline O’Donoghue

Publication Date: June 27, 2023

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Adult, Coming of Age

Page Count: 304 pages

Thanks so much to the author, Knopf (Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor), and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

A brilliantly funny novel about friends, lovers, Ireland in chaos, and a young woman desperately trying to manage all three

Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it’s love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James soon invites Rachel to be his roommate and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever. Together, they run riot through the streets of Cork city, trying to maintain a bohemian existence while the threat of the financial crash looms before them.

When Rachel falls in love with her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, James helps her devise a reading at their local bookstore, with the goal that she might seduce him afterwards. But Fred has other desires. So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred’s glamorous, well-connected, bourgeois wife. Aching with unrequited love, shot through with delicious, sparkling humor, The Rachel Incident is a triumph.

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!)

Posted on June 20, 2023June 19, 2023 by tacklingtbr

June 18 – June 24

New Releases and Publications

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.

What the Neighbors Saw

Author: Melissa Adelman

Publication Date: June 20, 2023

Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Suspense, Contemporary, Adult

Page Count: 304 pages

Thanks so much to the author, Minotaur Books (St. Martin’s Press), and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

Desperate Housewives meets The Couple Next Door in a chilling story of murder and intrigue set in a well-to-do DC suburb.

Sometimes the darkest acts occur in the most beautiful houses…

When Alexis and her husband Sam buy a neglected Cape Cod house in an exclusive DC suburb, they are ecstatic. Sam is on the cusp of making partner at his law firm, Alexis is pregnant with their second child, and their glamorous neighbors welcome the couple with open arms. Things are looking up, and Alexis believes she can finally leave her troubled past behind.

But the neighborhood’s picture-perfect image is shattered when their neighbor Teddy – a handsome, successful father of three – is found dead on the steep banks of the Potomac River. The community is shaken, and as the police struggle to identify and apprehend the killer, tension in the neighborhood mounts and long-buried secrets start to emerge.

In the midst of the turmoil, Alexis takes comfort in her budding friendship with Teddy’s beautiful and charismatic widow, Blair. But as the women grow closer, the neighborhood only becomes more divided. And when the unthinkable truth behind Teddy’s murder is finally uncovered, both Blair and Alexis must reexamine their friendship and decide how far they are willing to go to preserve the lives they have so carefully constructed.

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!)

Hotel Laguna

Author: Nicola Harrison

Publication Date: June 20, 2023

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Romance, Adult

Page Count: 288 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 1942, Hazel Francis left Wichita, Kansas for California, determined to do her part for the war effort. At Douglas Aircraft, she became one of many “Rosie the Riveters,” helping construct bombers for the U. S. military. But now the war is over, men have returned to their factory jobs, and women like Hazel have been dismissed, expected to return home to become wives and mothers.

Unwilling to be forced into a traditional woman’s role in the Midwest, Hazel remains on the west coast, and finds herself in the bohemian town of Laguna Beach. Desperate for work, she accepts a job as an assistant to famous artist Hanson Radcliff. Beloved by the locals for his contributions to the art scene and respected by the critics, Radcliff lives under the shadow of a decades old scandal that haunts him.

Working hard to stay on her cantankerous employer’s good side, Hazel becomes a valued member of the community. She never expected to fall in love with the rhythms of life in Laguna, nor did she expect to find a kindred spirit in Jimmy, the hotel bartender whose friendship promises something more. But Hazel still wants to work with airplanes—maybe even learn to fly one someday. Torn between pursuing her dream and the dream life she has been granted, she is unsure if giving herself over to Laguna is what her heart truly wants.

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!)

Piece of Cake

Authors: Mary Hollis Huddleston & Asher Fogle Paul

Narrated by: Brittany Pressley

Publication Date: June 20, 2023

Genre: Romance, Fiction, Contemporary

Audiobook Length: 9 hours 5 minutes

Thanks so much to Harper Muse and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

She’s only trying to save her job and her reputation. Claire Sommers grew up as a society girl destined to have it tasteful Dallas mansion, high-powered career, hot and rich husband. Until a massive mistake left her reputation in tatters and trust fund frozen. Now the former debutante is scraping by as a magazine staffer in Nashville—trading in her diamonds and designer stilettos for rhinestones and cowgirl boots.

But all is not well in the world of print publications. Piece of Cak e, the beloved Southern wedding magazine where Claire works, is one issue away from going under. Thankfully, Claire has a plan to save the day and the magazine—a reality show–style docuseries on the South’s most over-the-top and outlandish nuptials. And with country music royalty, Elvis impersonators, and enough drama to make your momma faint, it just so happens that Tennessee is the perfect setting for unscripted wedding day magic. Her boss loves Claire’s idea so much that she even brings in “The Brides’ Man,” New York native and social media star Dominic Gravino, to partner with Claire on the project, despite her protestations.

Dominic’s East Coast confidence and charisma clash with Claire’s Southern breeding and independent spirit as the two unlikely collaborators attempt to create a series that will save Piece of Cake . But in between million-dollar weddings, two-stepping bachelorette parties, and hot chicken fiascos, Claire and Dom discover they make a great team . . . on and off the job. But letting go of old hurts is harder than she imagines, and soon Claire realizes that she must come to terms with what happened in her past if she’s ever going to embrace the present.

“. . . a laugh-out-loud peek into an alternate universe where weddings are a competitive sport and there’s no such thing as too much bling.” —Yvette Manessis Corporon, international bestselling author

20% Review:

I am at 20% almost exactly, but I’m definitely not ready to start yet! As someone who works in event planning and is also obsessed with weddings, I’m already a fan of our female lead, Claire – and her southern accent is so sweet! I’m enjoying this one, story and narration, a ton so far.

Check out my full review here!

Softening Time

Author: Elena Brower

Narrated by: Elena Brower

Publication Date: June 20, 2023

Genre: Poetry

Audiobook Length: 2 hours 5 minutes

Thanks so much to Andrews McMeel Publishing and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

From beloved yogi, teacher, and artist Elena Brower comes the writer’s debut collection of a lyrical exploration of grief, self-compassion, and learning from the past to navigate life’s challenges with grace.

Softening Time is both autobiography and self-help, poetry and inspiration. Drawing on events in her own life, particularly her experiences as a mother, daughter, sister, and friend, Brower writes poignantly on themes of love, loss, healing, and rebirth.

Punctuating her work with themed quotations from a wide variety of celebrated writers and thinkers, Brower guides the reader along an intimate journey of both deepening and “softening” self-awareness.

20% Review:

Since this is such a short collection of poems, it is very easy to listen to the audiobook in one go – so I will not be including a 20% review. Feel free to take a look at my full thoughts through the link below!

Check out my full review here!

Posted on June 13, 2023June 22, 2023 by tacklingtbr

June 11 – June 17

New Releases and Publications

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.

Speak of the Devil

Author: Rose Wilding

Publication Date: June 13, 2023

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Fiction, Contemporary, LGBTQIA+

Page Count: 304 pages

Thanks so much to the author and Minotaur Books (St. Martin’s Press) for the gifted advanced copy of this book, as well as Netgalley for the gifted galley!

Description from Goodreads:

All of us knew him. One of us killed him…

Seven women stand in shock in a seedy hotel room; a man’s severed head sits in the centre of the floor. Each of the women – the wife, the teenager, the ex, the journalist, the colleague, the friend, and the woman who raised him – has a very good reason to have done it, yet each swears she did not. In order to protect each other, they must figure out who is responsible, all while staying one step ahead of the police.

Against the ticking clock of a murder investigation, each woman’s secret is brought to light as the connections between them converge to reveal a killer.

A dark and nuanced portrait of love, loyalty, and manipulation, Speak of the Devil explores the roles in which women are cast in the lives of terrible men…and the fallout when they refuse to stay silent for one moment longer.

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!)

Going Bicoastal

Author: Dahlia Adler

Publication Date: June 13, 2023

Genre: Romance, LGBTQIA+, Young Adult, Contemporary, Queer, Fiction

Page Count: 336 pages

Thanks so much to the author, Wednesday Books (St. Martin’s Press), and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

A queer Sliding Doors YA rom-com in which a girl must choose between summer in NYC with her dad (and the girl she’s always wanted) or LA with her estranged mom (and the guy she never saw coming).

In Dahlia Adler’s Going Bicoastal, there’s more than one path to happily ever after.

Natalya Fox has twenty-four hours to make the biggest choice of her life: stay home in NYC for the summer with her dad (and finally screw up the courage to talk to the girl she’s been crushing on), or spend it with her basically estranged mom in LA (knowing this is the best chance she has to fix their relationship, if she even wants to.) (Does she want to?)

How’s a girl supposed to choose?

She can’t, and so both summers play out in alternating timelines – one in which Natalya explores the city, tries to repair things with her mom, works on figuring out her future, and goes for the girl she’s always wanted. And one in which Natalya explores the city, tries to repair things with her mom, works on figuring out her future, and goes for the guy she never saw coming.

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 Woman Inside

Author: M. T. Edvardsson

Publication Date: June 13, 2023

Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Fiction, Contemporary

Page Count: 384 pages

Thanks so much to the author, Celadon Books, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

A wealthy couple ends up murdered in the nicest part of town in this compulsively readable, page-turning thriller from M. T. Edvardsson, The Woman Inside.

Bill Olsson, recently widowed, is desperate to provide for his daughter, Sally. Struggling to pay rent, he welcomes a lodger into their home: Karla, a law student and aspiring judge, who works as a housekeeper to make ends meet. Her clients are the Rytters, an incredibly wealthy couple who hide behind closed doors. The wife is ill and hasn’t left the house in months. The husband is controlling and obsessive. Is he just a worried husband, concerned for his wife’s health? Or is there something more sinister at play?

As Bill’s situation becomes more dire, Karla is forced to make a difficult choice. And when the Rytters wind up dead, and Karla is pulled in for questioning, she’s made to defend some parts of her past she’d rather not revisit.

Every person in The Woman Inside is hiding something, but could any of them really have been driven to kill?

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!)

Kismat Connection

Author: Ananya Devarajan

Publication Date: June 13, 2023

Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Young Adult, Fiction

Page Count: 304 pages

Thanks so much to the author, Inkyard Press, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

In this charming YA debut, a girl who’s determined to prove her star chart wrong ropes her longtime best friend into an experimental relationship—not knowing that he has been in love with her for years.

Is it possible to change your fate?

Madhuri Iyer is doomed. Doomed for her upcoming senior year to be a total failure, according to her astrology-obsessed mother, and doomed to a happily ever after with her first boyfriend, according to her family curse.

Determined to prove the existence of her free will, Madhuri devises an experimental relationship with the one boy she knows she’ll never fall for: her childhood best friend, Arjun Mehta. But Arjun’s feelings for her are a variable she didn’t account for.

As Madhuri starts to fall for her experimental boyfriend, she’ll have to decide if charting her own destiny is worth breaking Arjun’s heart—and her own.

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!)

Sally Brady’s Italian Adventure

Author: Christina Lynch

Publication Date: June 13, 2023

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Adult

Page Count: 368 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:

What if you found yourself in the middle of a war armed only with lipstick and a sense of humor? Abandoned as a child in Los Angeles in 1931, dust bowl refugee Sally Brady convinces a Hollywood movie star to adopt her, and grows up to be an effervescent gossip columnist secretly satirizing Europe’s upper crust. By 1940 saucy Sally is conquering Fascist-era Rome with cheek and charm.

A good deed leaves Sally stranded in wartime Italy, brandishing a biting wit, a fake passport, and an elastic sense of right and wrong. To save her friends and find her way home through a land of besieged castles and villas, Sally must combat tragedy with comedy, tie up pompous bureaucrats in their own red tape, force the cruel to be kind, and unravel the mystery, weight, and meaning of family.

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!)

Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It

Author: Greg Marshall

Publication Date: June 13, 2023

Genre: Memoir, Nonfiction, LGBTQIA+, Disability, Adult, Biography

Page Count: 304 pages

Thanks so much to the author, Abrams Press, and Edelweiss+ for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

A hilarious and poignant memoir grappling with family, disability, and coming of age in two closets—as a gay man and as a man living with cerebral palsy

Greg Marshall’s early years were pretty bizarre. Rewind the VHS tapes (this is the nineties) and you’ll see a lopsided teenager limping across a high school stage, or in a wheelchair after leg surgeries, pondering why he’s crushing on half of the Utah Jazz. Add to this home video footage a mom clacking away at her newspaper column between chemos, a dad with ALS, and a cast of foulmouthed siblings. Fast forward the tape and you’ll find Marshall happily settled into his life as a gay man only to discover he’s been living in another closet his whole life: he has cerebral palsy. Here, in the hot mess of it all, lies Greg Marshall’s wellspring of wit and wisdom.

Leg is an extraordinarily funny and insightful memoir from a daring new voice. Packed with outrageous stories of a singular childhood, it is also a unique examination of what it means to transform when there are parts of yourself you can’t change, a moving portrait of a family in crisis, and a tale of resilience of spirit. In Marshall’s deft hands, we see a story both personal and universal—of being young and wanting the world, even when the world doesn’t feel like yours to want.

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!)

Love, Theoretically

Author: Ali Hazelwood

Narrated by: Thérèse Plummer

Publication Date: June 13, 2023

Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Adult, Fiction

Audiobook Length: 12 hours 33 minutes

Thanks so much to Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

The many lives of theoretical physicist Elsie Hannaway have finally caught up with her. By day, she’s an adjunct professor, toiling away at grading labs and teaching thermodynamics in the hopes of landing tenure. By other day, Elsie makes up for her non-existent paycheck by offering her services as a fake girlfriend, tapping into her expertly honed people pleasing skills to embody whichever version of herself the client needs.

Honestly, it’s a pretty sweet gig—until her carefully constructed Elsie-verse comes crashing down. Because Jack Smith, the annoyingly attractive and broody older brother of her favorite client, turns out to be the cold-hearted experimental physicist who ruined her mentor’s career and undermined the reputation of theorists everywhere. And that same Jack who now sits on the hiring committee at MIT, right between Elsie and her dream job.

Elsie is prepared for an all-out war of scholarly sabotage but…those long, penetrating looks? Not having to be anything other than her true self when she’s with him? Will falling into an experimentalist’s orbit finally tempt her to put her most guarded theories on love into practice?

20% Review:

I am just about 20% of the way through this audiobook, and so far I am really enjoying it! The primary cast of characters are a ton of fun. I am finding Elsie really enjoyable as a main character as well – her character-switching depending on what situation she’s in or who she’s talking to is something that I used to notice myself doing a lot of when I was younger (and can still slip into from time to time), so in my opinion it’s really interesting to read about.

I can’t wait to see where the story goes from here! I have a few guesses on where things might be leading, but I look forward to the journey – and to seeing if I’m right.

Check out my full review here!

Everything the Darkness Eats

Author: Eric LaRocca

Narrated by: André Santana

Publication Date: June 13, 2023

Genre: Horror, Adult, Fiction, Queer, LGBTQIA+, Fantasy

Audiobook Length: 5 hours 28 minutes

Thanks so much to Dreamscape Media and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

An insidious darkness threatens to devastate a rural New England village when occult forces are conjured and when bigotry is left unrestrained.

After a recent string of disappearances in a small Connecticut town, a grieving widower with a grim secret is drawn into a dangerous ritual of dark magic by a powerful and mysterious older gentleman named Heart Crowley. Meanwhile, a member of local law enforcement tasked with uncovering the culprit responsible for the bizarre disappearances soon begins to learn of a current of unbridled hatred simmering beneath the guise of the town’s idyllic community—a hatred that will eventually burst and forever change the lives of those who once found peace in the quiet town of Henley’s Edge.

From the Bram Stoker Award®-nominated author of the viral sensation, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, Everything the Darkness Eats is a haunting supernatural thriller from a new and exciting voice in genre fiction.

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!)

What Remains

Author: Wendy Walker

Narrated by: Gabra Zackman & Peter Ganim

Publication Date: June 13, 2023

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Adult, Suspense, Fiction, Contemporary

Audiobook Length: 8 hours 23 minutes

Thanks so much to Blackstone Publishing and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

She saved his life. Now he‘ll never let her go.

Detective Elise Sutton is drawn to cold cases. Each crime is a puzzle to solve, pulled from the past. Elise looks for cracks in the surface and has become an expert on how murderers slip up and give themselves away. She has dedicated her life to creating a sense of order, at work with her ex-marine partner; at home with her husband and two young daughters; and within, battling her own demons. Elise has everything under control, until one afternoon, when she walks into a department store and is forced to make a terrible choice: to save one life, she will have to take another.

Elise is hailed as a hero, but she doesn’t feel like one. Steeped in guilt, and on a leave of absence from work, she’s numb, even to her husband and daughters, until she connects with Wade Austin, the tall man whose life she saved. But Elise soon realizes that he isn’t who he says he is. In fact, Wade Austin isn’t even his real name. The tall man is a ghost, one who will set off a terrifying game of cat and mouse, threatening Elise and the people she loves most.

20% Review:

The first 20% of this audiobook have seriously flown by! So far we haven’t gotten to much into the creepy thriller-y side of the book – I’m enjoying it, but I’m definitely looking forward to getting more into that side of the story. Based on the book description I believed that that would be the primary vibe of the book, so hopefully it takes a turn for the creepier soon!

Check out my full review here!

The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley

Author: Courtney Walsh

Narrated by: Jorjeana Marie

Publication Date: June 13, 2023

Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Adult, Christian Fiction

Audiobook Length: 10 hours 1 minute

Thanks so much to Thomas Nelson and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

She’s out to prove that there’s no such thing as choosing happiness.

Isadora Bentley follows the rules. Isadora Bentley likes things just so. Isadora Bentley believes that happiness is something that flat-out doesn’t exist in her life—and never will.

As a university researcher, Isadora keeps to herself as much as possible. She avoids the students she’s supposed to befriend and mentor. She stays away from her neighbors and lives her own quiet, organized life in her own quiet, organized apartment. And she will never get involved in a romantic relationship again—especially with another academic. It will be just Isadora and her research. Forever.

But on her thirtieth birthday, Isadora does something completely out of character. The young woman who never does anything “on a whim” makes an impulse purchase of a magazine featuring a silly article detailing “Thirty-One Ways to Be Happy”—which includes everything from smiling at strangers to exercising for endorphins to giving in to your chocolate cravings. Isadora decides to create her own secret research project—proving the writer of the ridiculous piece wrong.

As Isadora gets deeper into her research—and meets a handsome professor along the way—she’s stunned to discover that maybe, just maybe, she’s proving herself wrong. Perhaps there’s actually something to this happiness concept, and possibly there’s something to be said for loosening up and letting life take you somewhere . . . happy.

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!)

Posted on March 27, 2023June 19, 2023 by tacklingtbr

You Wouldn’t Dare by Samantha Markum

Wednesday Books – Review: 4 Stars

Thanks so much to the author and Wednesday Books (St. Martin’s Press) for the gifted physical ARC of this book, as well as to Netgalley for the gifted e-copy, in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } My reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on Goodreads.

Publication Date: March 28, 2023

Genre: Romance, Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction

Page Count: 368 pages

TW: major injury to a minor, infidelity, discussion of death, underage drinking

When I first learned about this book I heard it being described as “Gilmore Girls-like,” so I will say that I had pretty high expectations going in to it – but I’m happy to say that it didn’t disappoint!

First let’s look at the characters – and I’ll just do a brief overview because there were so many fun characters at the core of this story! Junie, our female lead, is far from a perfect character, but I think that’s a big part of her charm. She is sassy and yes, very melodramatic – but she’s a teenager in a theatre department, so what else would you expect? As a former theatre kid myself, I found her dramatics and drama club related goals to be almost too familiar to me.

And her two primary relationships being built in this story – her romance with Graham, and her friendship/sisterhood with Tallulah.
She and Graham had such a lovely relationship – I think it was a great balance between the history that they had and the chemistry in their interactions with the inherent fears and risks with a friends to lovers relationship. I was absolutely rooting for them throughout the story, and I loved watching their romance really rekindle.
But I will say that I think Junie and Tallulah’s relationship was the one that made me feel the biggest feelings while reading this book. It’s easy to understand how these two characters got off on the wrong foot and had a hard time getting going from there, and getting to see them slowly thaw towards each other and really get to a solid point of caring about each other and looking after one another by the end of the book was really lovely to see.

And I can’t talk about this book without mentioning the setting, because much like Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls, this small beach town really was a character all it’s own! To say that I wanted to move in and work at a cute little bookshop in this town and hide away from my other responsibilities for the rest of my life would be a gross understatement. This was a perfect summer read, and I only wish I had a more beachy location to enjoy it in.

Overall I would recommend this book to my friends and fellow readers who are looking for something fun and easy to get them into a summery mood. While there are some tougher topics and a few tense scenes (take a look at the trigger warnings above before jumping in), I think that the perfect way to read this book would be on the beach or somewhere else warm and sunny with some sort of tasty treat – maybe a cocktail, or a lemonade, or an ice cream cone. Doesn’t matter, just settle in and get comfy! If you enjoy it like I did, then you’ll probably be there for a while.

Link to Purchase on Amazon:

Posted on February 28, 2023February 28, 2023 by tacklingtbr

February 26 – March 4

New Releases and Publications

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.

Immortality: A Love Story

Author: Dana Schwartz

Narrated by: Mhairi Morrison & Tim Campbell

Publication Date: February 28, 2023

Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance, Young Adult, Fantasy, Gothic, Fiction

Audiobook Length: 12 hours 2 minutes

Thanks so much to Macmillan Audio for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

Hazel Sinnett is alone and half-convinced the events of the year before—the immortality, Beecham’s vial—were a figment of her imagination. She doesn’t even know whether Jack is alive or dead. All she can really do now is treat patients and maintain Hawthornden Castle as it starts to decay around her.

When saving a life leads to her arrest, Hazel seems doomed to rot in prison until a message intervenes: She has been specifically requested to be the personal physician of Princess Charlotte, the sickly daughter of King George IV. Soon Hazel is dragged into the glamor and romance of a court where everyone has something to hide, especially the enigmatic, brilliant members of a social club known as the Companions to the Death.

As Hazel’s work entangles her more and more with the British court, she realizes that her own future as a surgeon isn’t the only thing at stake. Malicious forces are at work in the monarchy, and Hazel may be the only one capable of setting things right.

Immortality: A Love Story is the eagerly anticipated sequel to Dana Schwartz’s bestselling gothic romance, Anatomy: A Love Story.

20% Review:

I am FLYING through this audiobook! As I’m writing this I just finished Anatomy yesterday, and I haven’t been so glad to already have access to a sequel in a while because I knew I needed to start Immortality immediately. And, without giving any spoilers, some craziness just happened at 20% – so I’m betting this break I’m taking to write this won’t last long! I’ll be surprised if I don’t listen to the whole book all the way through today.

Check out my full review here!

The Angel Maker

Author: Alex North

Narrated by: Rosalie Craig

Publication Date: February 28, 2023

Genre: Horror, Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Adult

Page Count: 336 pages

Audiobook Length: 8 hours

Thanks so much to the author, Celadon Books, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book, as well as Macmillan Audio for the gifted advanced audio!

Description from Goodreads:

A dark, suspenseful new thriller about the mysteries of fate, the unbreakable bond of siblings, and a notorious serial killer who was said to know the future.

Growing up in a beautiful house in the English countryside, Katie Shaw lived a charmed life. At the cusp of graduation, she had big dreams, a devoted boyfriend, and a little brother she protected fiercely. Until the day a violent stranger changed the fate of her family forever.

Years later, still unable to live down the guilt surrounding what happened to her brother, Chris, and now with a child of her own to protect, Katie struggles to separate the real threats from the imagined. Then she gets the phone call: Chris has gone missing and needs his big sister once more.

Meanwhile, Detective Laurence Page is facing a particularly gruesome crime. A distinguished professor of fate and free will has been brutally murdered just hours after firing his staff. All the leads point back to two old cases: the gruesome attack on teenager Christopher Shaw, and the despicable crimes of a notorious serial killer who, legend had it, could see the future.

20% Review:

I’ve just started listening to this book on audio, and it’s interesting so far but I’m having some trouble keeping characters, timelines, and storylines straight. I will keep listening for now, but will switch to a print format later if I’m still having issues, to see if that makes it easier. So far it feels like there is a whole lot going on and, while I’m sure they will all tie together at some point, it is feeling a bit like I’m jumping back and forth between a few different books.

Review:

(This will be added at a later date, once I have finished this book!)

The Levee

Author: William Kent Krueger

Narrated by: JD Jackson & William Kent Krueger

Publication Date: February 28, 2023

Genre: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Environment

Audiobook Length: 3 hours 39 minutes

Thanks so much to Simon & Schuster Audio Originals and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

An audio original novella from the bestselling author of Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land, The Levee is a powerful, captivating story of a family, a storm, a complicated rescue, and the true cost of survival.

It’s 1927, and the most devastating flood in American history has swelled the Mississippi River to a width of eighty miles. In an attempt to save a family trapped by the rising water, four men in a tiny rowboat battle the treacherous flow: three are convicts, on loan from the local prison and pressed into service; the fourth, the leader of the team, is driven by his own hidden motives. But to their surprise upon arrival at Ballymore, an ancestral home protected by a high, circular levee, not everyone in the family feels the need to be saved. Pride, greed, loyalty, and even love create their own complex currents behind the massive wall. As the threat from the flood increases and time ticks away, the crew and the family must decide on a course of action, and a desperate plan is hatched to save the weakening levee and all it was built to protect.

The Levee is a propulsive, heartfelt tale of courage, cowardice, and sacrifice in a historic moment when the indomitable human spirit is pitted against the awesome and destructive power of nature.

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!)

Posted on February 21, 2023February 28, 2023 by tacklingtbr

February 19 – February 25

New Releases and Publications

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.

The Case for Cancel Culture

Author: Ernest Owens

Publication Date: February 21, 2023

Genre: Nonfiction, Politics

Page Count: 256 pages

Thanks so much to the author and St. Martin’s Press for the gifted advanced copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

Refinery 29‘s Most Anticipated Books By Black & Latine Authors in 2023!

Philadelphia Inquirer‘s Best New Books for February!

“A necessary discourse about power and control, and who ultimately has a voice versus whose is often stifled.” —Preston D. Mitchum, LGBTQIA attorney, activist, and adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University

The first major case for cancel culture as a fundamental means of democratic expression throughout history, and timely necessity aimed at combating systems of oppression.

“___ is canceled.”

Chances are, you’ve heard this a lot lately. What might’ve once been a niche digital term has been legitimized in the discourse of presidents, politicians, and lawmakers.

But what really is cancel culture? Blacklisting celebrities? Censorship? Until now, this has been the general consensus in the media. But it’s time to raise the bar on our definition— to think of cancel culture less as scandal or suppression, and more as an essential means of democratic expression and accountability.

The Case for Cancel Culture does just that. This cultural critique from 2023 Philly News Award-Winning journalist Ernest Owens offers a fresh progressive lens in favor of cancel culture as a tool for activism and change. Using examples from politics, pop culture, and his own personal experience, Owens helps readers reflect on and learn the long history of canceling (spoiler: the Boston Tea Party was cancel culture); how the left and right uniquely equip it as part of their political toolkits; how intersections of society wield it for justice; and ultimately how it levels the playing field for the everyday person’s voice to matter.

Why should we care? Because in a world where protest and free speech are being challenged by the most powerful institutions, those without power deserve to understand the nuance and importance of this democratic tool available to them. Readers will walk away from this first-of-its-kind exploration not despising cancel culture but embracing it as a form of democratic expression that’s always been leading the charge in liberating us all.

“Journalist Owens debuts with an incisive defense of cancel culture… his arguments are thought-provoking and well supported. The result is an invigorating survey of a hot-button political issue.” — Publishers Weekly

“An important tool for all times, and for anyone looking to learn how to have the difficult but necessary conversations about race, injustice, inequality, and oppression.” —Dawn Ennis, award-winning journalist, advocate, and university professor

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 Writing Retreat

Author: Julia Bartz

Publication Date: February 21, 2023

Genre: Thriller, Mystery, Fiction, Adult, Horror, Suspense

Page Count: 313 pages

Thanks so much to the author, Atria Books, and Edelweiss+ for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

The Plot meets Please Join Us in this psychological suspense debut about a young author at an exclusive writer’s retreat that descends into a nightmare.

Alex has all but given up on her dreams of becoming a published author when she receives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: attend an exclusive, month-long writing retreat at the estate of feminist horror writer Roza Vallo. Even the knowledge that Wren, her former best friend and current rival, is attending doesn’t dampen her excitement.

But when the attendees arrive, Roza drops a bombshell—they must all complete an entire novel from scratch during the next month, and the author of the best one will receive a life-changing seven-figure publishing deal. Determined to win this seemingly impossible contest, Alex buckles down and tries to ignore the strange happenings at the estate, including Roza’s erratic behavior, Wren’s cruel mind games, and the alleged haunting of the mansion itself. But when one of the writers vanishes during a snowstorm, Alex realizes that something very sinister is afoot. With the clock running out, she’s desperate to discover the truth and save herself.

A claustrophobic and propulsive thriller exploring the dark side of friendships and fame, The Writing Retreat is the unputdownable debut novel from a compelling new talent.

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!)

Primer and Punishment

Author: Diane Kelly

Publication Date: February 21, 2023

Genre: Mystery, Cozy Mystery, Fiction

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:

Primer and Punishment marks the fifth in the delightful cozy mystery series from Diane Kelly set in Nashville, Tennessee. Whitney Whitaker has a knack for nailing down murderers . . . but this time she might just come unmoored.

Carpenter Whitney Whitaker and her cousin Buck are looking once again to rehab and resell a house, only this particular house is made of fiberglass, floats, and has been dubbed the Skinny Dipper. The old houseboat sure could use some work, but the unusual project has Whitney bubbling with excitement.

The charming and handsome Grant Hardisty lives on the cabin cruiser in the adjacent slip, but the cousins soon learn he’s left a half dozen angry ex-wives in his wake and made enemies of all sorts of unsavory folks. The man is clearly caught in an increasingly dangerous current with no life preserver in sight.

Whitney and Buck are spraying primer on their houseboat when—KABOOM!—Grant’s boat blows sky high with the man himself inside. Detective Collin Flynn has no shortage of suspects, but the waters become muddied when several of them confess to the crime. Is one of those who confessed truly guilty, or are they taking a dive for someone else? When anonymous threats are made against the cousins, Whitney must quickly determine who killed their neighbor at the lake, or she and Buck might also be sunk.

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!)

I Have Some Questions for You

Author: Rebecca Makkai

Narrated by: Julia Whelan & JD Jackson

Publication Date: February 21, 2023

Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Adult, Contemporary

Audiobook Length: 14 hours 3 minutes

Thanks so much to Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by TIME, NPR, The Seattle Times, Good Housekeeping, Today, Southern Living, and CrimeReads

The riveting new novel from the author of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist The Great Believers

A successful film professor and podcaster, Bodie Kane is content to forget her past—the family tragedy that marred her adolescence, her four largely miserable years at a New Hampshire boarding school, and the murder of her former roommate, Thalia Keith, in the spring of their senior year. Though the circumstances surrounding Thalia’s death and the conviction of the school’s athletic trainer, Omar Evans, are hotly debated online, Bodie prefers—needs—to let sleeping dogs lie.

But when the Granby School invites her back to teach a course, Bodie is inexorably drawn to the case and its increasingly apparent ﬂaws. In their rush to convict Omar, did the school and the police overlook other suspects? Is the real killer still out there? As she falls down the very rabbit hole she was so determined to avoid, Bodie begins to wonder if she wasn’t as much of an outsider at Granby as she’d thought—if, perhaps, back in 1995, she knew something that might have held the key to solving the case.

In I Have Some Questions for You, award-winning author Rebecca Makkai has crafted her most irresistible novel yet: a stirring investigation into collective memory and a deeply felt examination of one woman’s reckoning with her past, with a transﬁxing mystery at its heart. Timely, hypnotic, and populated with a cast of unforgettable characters, I Have Some Questions for You is at once a compulsive page-turner and a literary triumph.

20% Review:

I am flying through this audiobook! I turned it on the other day while I was working on something, and I looked down and realized I was about 50% of the way through it. So far I think that the story and the way it is being told are both really interesting, and I’m enjoying Bodie as a lead character. Now I’m just counting down until I have time to sit down and finish it!

Check out my full review here!

Posted on January 31, 2023January 31, 2023 by tacklingtbr

January 29 – February 4

New Releases and Publications

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.

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun

Author: Elle Cosimano

Publication Date: January 31, 2023

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Contemporary, Fiction, Adult

Page Count: 304 pages

Thanks so much to the author, Minotaur Books, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

Author and single mom Finlay Donovan has been in messes before―after all, she’s a pro at removing bloodstains for various unexpected reasons―but none quite like this. When Finlay and her nanny/partner-in-crime Vero accidentally destroyed a luxury car that they had “borrowed” in the process of saving the life of Finlay’s ex-husband, the Russian mob did her a favor and bought the car for her. And now Finlay owes them.

Mob boss Feliks is still running the show from behind bars, and he has a task for Finlay: find and identify a contract killer before the cops do. The problem is, the killer might be an officer themself.

Luckily, hot cop Nick has just been tasked with starting up a citizen’s police academy, and combined pressure from Finlay’s looming book deadline and Feliks is enough to convince Finlay and Vero to get involved. Through firearm training and forensic classes (and some hands-on research with a tempting detective), Finlay and Vero use their time in police academy to sleuth out the real contract killer to free themselves from the mob’s clutches―all the while dodging spies, confronting Vero’s past, and juggling the daily trials of parenthood.

From USA Today bestseller and Edgar-Award nominee Elle Cosimano, comes Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun—the highly anticipated, hilarious, and heart-pounding next installment in the beloved Finlay Donovan series…

20% Review:

As usual for this series, this book jumps right into it! I couldn’t wait to dive into this book, since it feels like I’ve been waiting for this next chapter in the story for a very long time, so it’s been very hard every time I need to put it down. Darn work and grown up responsibilities, right? So far we’ve already gotten a bit of action in the story, and a bit of romance (I had definitely missed hot-cop-Nick), and I can’t wait to see where the rest of the book goes!

Check out my full review here!

Maame

Author: Jessica George

Narrated by: Heather Agyepong

Publication Date: January 31, 2023

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Adult, Literary Fiction, Coming of Age

Page Count: 320 pages

Audiobook Length: 10 hours 10 minutes

Thanks so much to the author and St. Martin’s Press for the gifted advanced copy of this book, as well as Macmillan Audio and Libro.fm for the gifted audio copy!

Description from Goodreads:

Maame (ma-meh) has many meanings in Twi but in my case, it means woman.

It’s fair to say that Maddie’s life in London is far from rewarding. With a mother who spends most of her time in Ghana (yet still somehow manages to be overbearing), Maddie is the primary caretaker for her father, who suffers from advanced stage Parkinson’s. At work, her boss is a nightmare and Maddie is tired of always being the only Black person in every meeting.

When her mum returns from her latest trip to Ghana, Maddie leaps at the chance to get out of the family home and finally start living. A self-acknowledged late bloomer, she’s ready to experience some important “firsts”: She finds a flat share, says yes to after-work drinks, pushes for more recognition in her career, and throws herself into the bewildering world of internet dating. But it’s not long before tragedy strikes, forcing Maddie to face the true nature of her unconventional family, and the perils––and rewards––of putting her heart on the line.

Smart, funny, and deeply affecting, Maame deals with the themes of our time with humor and poignancy: from familial duty and racism, to female pleasure, the complexity of love, and the life-saving power of friendship. Most important, it explores what it feels like to be torn between two homes and cultures―and it celebrates finally being able to find where you belong.

20% Review:

I’ve just started listening to this book on audio, and so far I am really enjoying it! It isn’t all that fast paced or quick-moving, but I’m still finding that I’m feeling invested and wanting to keep listening to it to see what is happening next, so I’m not minding the slower pace. It just makes it feel more slice-of-life, which is a nice change of pace from some of my other recent reads. I’m really enjoying Maddie as a main character, and I’m looking forward to hearing more about the characters of her new flat mates, since they’ve just been introduced but seem like really fun characters. So far I’m not in love with the book, but I am definitely enjoying it, so the potential is still there!

Check out my full review here!

The Second You’re Single

Author: Cara Tanamachi

Publication Date: January 31, 2023

Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Fiction, Adult

Page Count: 288 pages

Thanks so much to the author, St. Martin’s Griffin, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

Cheerfully irreverent, bitingly funny, and filled with romantic charm, The Second You’re Single is all about navigating the most romantic month of the year, and how love always seems to arrive when you least expect it.

Freelance writer Sora Reid believes in inertia. She’s the odd one out in a close-knit family of go-getters, including her Japanese-American mom, who hints about her need to lose weight, and her soon-to-be married, overachieving younger sister, who needs her to have a date for the wedding, since a wedding party couples’ dance with their Scottish great uncle Bob simply won’t do. For Sora, minimal input, minimal expectations is the way to go. She’d rather stay at home with her insufferable neighbor and her adorable pitbull.

The one thing that disrupts her inertia: an intense dislike for Valentine’s Day. What is it with the commercial love machine? Why do we pin our hopes on one romantic day, when staying home with a package of bacon and a bottle of tequila would be way better? Sora’s been betrayed and disappointed more than once and her heart is starting to feel like her Grandma Mitsuye’s antique Japanese ceramic bowl, with its many gold-filled cracks.

When her pledge to stay single in February inspires readers to #gosolo, Sora has a responsibility to empower her readers. But relationships aren’t built to last, so it shouldn’t be that hard. Right?

Enter Jack Mann. A muscle-bound baker who looks like he lifts logs on the weekends, Sora hasn’t thought of Jack since they were in elementary school together. When they see each other at the local grocery store and the attraction hits hard, Sora knows she has to shut it down, quick. She can’t #gosolo AND get the guy. She can’t let down her readers. And relationships always end, so why should Jack be any different–even though he’s confounding all her long-held expectations of love?

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!)

Cobalt Red

Author: Siddharth Kara

Publication Date: January 31, 2023

Genre: Nonfiction, Cultural – Africa, History

Page Count: 288 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:

An unflinching investigation reveals the human rights abuses behind the Congo’s cobalt mining operation—and the moral implications that affect us all.

Cobalt Red is the searing, first-ever exposé of the immense toll taken on the people and environment of the Democratic Republic of the Congo by cobalt mining, as told through the testimonies of the Congolese people themselves. Activist and researcher Siddharth Kara has traveled deep into cobalt territory to document the testimonies of the people living, working, and dying for cobalt. To uncover the truth about brutal mining practices, Kara investigated militia-controlled mining areas, traced the supply chain of child-mined cobalt from toxic pit to consumer-facing tech giants, and gathered shocking testimonies of people who endure immense suffering and even die mining cobalt.

Cobalt is an essential component to every lithium-ion rechargeable battery made today, the batteries that power our smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles. Roughly 75 percent of the world’s supply of cobalt is mined in the Congo, often by peasants and children in sub-human conditions. Billions of people in the world cannot conduct their daily lives without participating in a human rights and environmental catastrophe in the Congo. In this stark and crucial book, Kara argues that we must all care about what is happening in the Congo—because we are all implicated.

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!)

Hex You

Author: P. C. Cast; Kristin Cast

Publication Date: January 31, 2023

Genre: Fantasy, YA, Paranormal, Witches, Fiction, LGBTQIA+

Page Count: 304 pages

Thanks so much to the author, Wednesday Books, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book!

Description from Goodreads:

Twin sisters, Mercy and Hunter are witches, direct descendants of the Goode family, the founders of their town. After the murder of their mother at the hands of a foul demon, they have become the protectors of the Gates to different underworlds–ancient portals between their world and realms where mythology rules and the darkest of creatures exist.

Mercy and Khenti are trapped in the Ancient Egyptian Underworld and need Hunter’s help to escape. But while Hunter searches for a way to save them, other evil threatens Goodeville. Amphitrite is still looming–and she wants vengeance against Hunter. With the gates rapidly weakening, Amphitrite lures out a deadly creature and sets it free on the residents of Goodeville. It will take everything in Mercy and Hunter’s power to stop the goddess and seal the gates once and for 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!)

Posted on January 31, 2023January 31, 2023 by tacklingtbr · 1 Comment

Finlay Donovan Jumps the Gun by Elle Cosimano

Minotaur Books – Review: 5 Stars

Thanks so much to the author, Minotaur Books, and Netgalley for the gifted advanced e-copy of this book, as well as Macmillan Audio for the gifted advanced audio copy, in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog

Publication Date: January 31, 2023

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Contmporary, Adult, Humor, Suspense

Page Count: 304 pages

TW: murder/death, violence

The Finlay Donovan books have become one of my absolute favorite series, so it’s no surprise that I loved this book! It was a perfect way to start off my year of reading.

As always, Finlay and Vero have gotten themselves into a sticky situation. Nobody is shocked here. So what better place to hide out and do some snooping for a week than a live-in civilians police training camp, right? Right!

I already love this series, so of course I loved the characters. We get to see a bit more of Javi this time around, and we get some more background on him and other secondary characters from the previous books – including teen hacker Cam, and Nick’s grumpy partner, Joey. I always really enjoy more character driven stories, so one of my favorite things about reading a series is learning more and more about characters as you go along, so this book really delivered for me in that respect.

Of course some of the situations that Finlay and Vero find themselves in in this book are a bit silly and unbelievable, but that’s definitely nothing new to this series. Besides, if I wanted 100% believability I’d read true crime instead of romantic thrillers. I’m here because I want to see the characters outsmart the people around them, and see how they get out of the ridiculous corners they’ve been backed into, and hopefully seal it all up with a kiss.

Overall I would (and already have been) highly recommend this book to my friends and fellow readers. These books are a bit some high-stake, but at the same time they feel light and fun and like I can read them when I’m tired after a long day at work. Which is a perfect middle ground, if you ask me! I think that the perfect way to read this book would be buddy-reading it with one or two of your closest girl friends, sitting together and passing a bottle of wine (or whisky) between you, in true Fin and Vero style.

My Reviews for the rest of the Finlay Donovan series:

Finlay Donovan is Killing It

Finlay Donovan Knocks ’em Dead

Link to Purchase on Amazon:

Posted on January 31, 2023January 31, 2023 by tacklingtbr

Maame by Jessica George

St. Martin’s Press – Review: 5 Stars

Thanks so much to the author and St. Martin’s Press for the gifted advanced copy of this book, as well as Macmillan Audio and Libro.fm for the gifted advanced audio copy, in exchange for my honest thoughts. All opinions are entirely my own. { partner } All of my reviews can also be found on Instagram @Tackling_TBR and on my blog at tacklingtbr.home.blog

Publication Date: January 31, 2023

Genre: Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Adult, Coming of Age

Page Count: 320 pages

Audiobook Length: 10 hours 10 minutes

Audiobook Narrated by: Heather Agyepong

TW: death/loss of a parent, Parkinson’s disease, depression and anxiety

I just finished listening to this book on audio, and I find that I’m having trouble putting together my thoughts on it.

It was such a powerful and engaging novel of a woman coming of age and spreading her wings in her mid 20s. It felt unique compared to other coming of age stories or literary fiction books I’ve read in recent years, and is really sticking with me after finishing it.

The main character, Maddie, has lived such a wildly different life than I have, but I still couldn’t help but feel parts of myself in parts of her, and I felt my heart breaking for her at various points in the novel when people were cruel or things weren’t going her way. I really respected her as a character, and I wanted to see how she would respond in certain situations or how the next chapter of her life would play out. I think that she’s a character that I’m going to keep thinking about for a while, and I wish I had her as a friend to bounce ideas off of in my day to day life.

Overall I would absolutely recommend this book to my friends and fellow readers. This isn’t a type of book or a genre that I reach for all the time, tending to reach more often for mysteries or romances in one form or another, but I couldn’t be more glad that I hopped into the realm of literary fiction for this book. I think that the best way to read this book would be sitting in bed or on the couch, safe and sound under a big, cozy blanket, with a soup mug full of tea.