Die of Shame by Mark Billingham

Author: Mark Billingham
Publisher: Atlantic Monthly Press
Date of publication: June 2016

Every Monday evening, six people gather in a smart North London house to talk about shame. A respected doctor, a well-heeled housewife, a young male prostitute . . . they could not be more different. All they have in common is a history of addiction. But when one of the group is murdered, it quickly becomes apparent that someone else in that circle is responsible. The investigation is hampered by the strict confidentiality that binds these individuals and their therapist together, which makes things difficult for Detective Inspector Nicola Tanner, a woman who can appreciate the desire to keep personal matters private. If she is to find the killer, she will need to use less obvious means. The question is: What could be shameful enough to cost someone their life? And how do you find the truth when secrets, lies, and denial are second nature to all of your suspects?

Die of Shame ended up being just an OK read for me.  It's told in two timelines, "then" and "now"  It's essentially about the murder of a woman who belonged to a therapy group for addicts.  The "then" gives us a glimpse into each erson in the group and their interactions with each other.  The Now deals with the police investigation.  

The reason ths was just OK was the pace.  There was a lot of things that were kind of unnecessary so it really dragged out the story.  I almost DNF'd it but I wanted to find out what happened to Heather.  There is a long list of suspects and all of them had motive.  I will say that I didn't figure it out until that end, so that almost made up for the slowness of the story.  I haven't read anything by this author before, so I'm not sure if it's the norm or not.  I have seen that he has a detective series out, so I might check that out at some point.

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani

by:  Anton DiSclafani
published by:  Riverhead Books
publish date:  June 4, 2013

It is 1930, the midst of the Great Depression. After her mysterious role in a family tragedy, passionate, strong-willed Thea Atwell, age fifteen, has been cast out of her Florida home, exiled to an equestrienne boarding school for Southern debutantes. High in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with its complex social strata ordered by money, beauty, and girls’ friendships, the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is a far remove from the free-roaming, dreamlike childhood Thea shared with her twin brother on their family’s citrus farm—a world now partially shattered. As Thea grapples with her responsibility for the events of the past year that led her here, she finds herself enmeshed in a new order, one that will change her sense of what is possible for herself, her family, her country.

This was an incredible book.  I was so surprised by how much I liked this.  It looks like Anton DiSclafani has a second book out this year called The After Party.  I will definitely be tracking that one down.

Thea Atwell has done something terrible and it has torn her family apart.  In response, her parents send her away to a fancy boarding school/riding camp.  It was basically a place for the wealthy to send their daughters to get them out of the way.   Thea spends her days riding horses and waiting for letters from home.  Until, she starts spending time with the headmaster.  She goes from one controversy to another.  

This book was told in an alternating fashion, telling Thea's story at school and then stringing out the tragedy that landed her at the boarding school.  There was a lot of sex and romance in this book, which really kind of surprised me, but I guess shouldn't have been because what else is on the mind of teenage girls?  Historical fiction/romance fans will like this one!

Petite Madeleine (Meadows Shore #3) by Eva Charles

Author: Eva Charles
Publisher: Quarry Road Publishing
Date of publication: September 2016

The Claytons and Harringtons are back!

Drew Harrington loves baseball, drumming and Cassie Anteros, although not necessarily in that order. After his parents die, Drew finds comfort in all the wrong places, until Cassie discovers him passed out, facedown, in his own vomit. 

Cassie Anteros is a big-hearted, sheltered princess who Drew abandons when he leaves school to get himself together. After graduation, with an Ivy League degree in hand and years of grooming behind her, Cassie is well-positioned to take over her father's Wall Street firm, but a lump in her left breast sets her life on a different path.

Now eight years later, he's the very sexy general manager of the Boston Blues baseball team, and she's an award-winning baker in Baltimore. When the two come face-to-face, the earth trembles under their feet, threatening to swallow them whole. She still owns a piece of his soul, and he lives-on in her heart, but is that enough for Drew and Cassie to get a second chance at love, or has time and suffering already sealed their fate?

Petite Madeleine is a wonderful second chance romance that will leave you with a smile in the end.  This is Drew and Cassie's story.  They were a couple in college until the death of his parents sent Drew into a dark place.  Now 10 years later, they have had a chance meeting and Drew won't let her go again.

I really enjoyed this book.  I loved watching this couple find their way back to each other.  I thought the way they dealt with the issues of Cassie's breast cancer and on going treatment came across as very real.  The emotions of everyone involved rang very true for me, when it came to Drew's brother's.  As the author said in her introduction, every person's journey is different. I really enjoyed taking this journey with this couple.

This book is the third in the series. Each one does stand up well as a stand alone.  They are filled with a big loud and loving family and just a lot of fun to read.  I highly recommend this series and look forward to the next book!

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31351372-petite-madeleine

Buy links:

Amazon (Kindle): http://amzn.to/2b0RRaw

About the Author: 

Eva Charles is the author of the multi-titled Meadows Shore Series that chronicles the lives and loves of the Clayton-Harrington family. She invites you to visit their beloved Meadows Shore nestled in the charming seaside town of Fair Harbor, where you will enjoy love, laughter, loyalty, and an abundance of mouth-watering food, Portuguese style.

After being a confirmed city-girl for more than thirty-five years, Eva moved to beautiful Western Massachusetts in 2014. There, she found herself living in the woods with no job, no friends (unless you count the turkeys, deer, and coyotes roaming the backyard), and no children underfoot, wondering what on earth she'd been thinking. But as it turned out, it was the perfect setting to take all those yarns spinning in her head and weave them into a romantic tale.

When she's not writing, trying to squeeze information out of her tight-lipped sons, or playing with the two cutest dogs you've ever seen, Eva's creating chapters in her own love story.

Website: http://www.evacharles.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/evacharles37
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eva-Charles/1645531855709489
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14223913.Eva_Charles
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Eva-Charles/e/B0140FZ442

Throwback Thursday: Golden Threads by Kay Hooper

Author: Kay Hooper
First published in 1989 by Loveswept. Re-issue on November 29, 2016

Imprisoned by fate -- and the FBI -- in a strange town with a new identity, Lara Mason longed to escape the painful memory of her father's murder. Playing Rapunzel in a local production would distract her, she hoped -- until broodingly sensual Devon Shane was chose as her prince in the play...and cast himself as her bodyguard when shadows from her past threatened her. Captured by his sapphire gaze and a voice that compelled her surrender, Lara had trusted no one with her secret, but Devon drove her wild with sensation, demanded and took what belonged to him. Furious at being a pawn in his dangerous game, Lara told Devon she wouldn't run anymore -- but could he keep her safe? Desperate to end the limbo that denied them a future, Lara was willing to gamble with her life ... but not his love. Devon had scaled her tower and won her, but now he had to set her free. Could she show him that taming his savage heart was the only happy ending she wanted?

I originally read this back in 2008 when I was on a Kay Hooper binge read.  I think I managed to track down every early work by her and devoured them in a span of a month.  Loveswept is re-issuing this one as well as other early releases in November, so I thought it might be fun to go back and re-read some.  

Golden Threads is the first in her "Once Upon a Time" series.  Each book has a mysterious match maker who manages to get the right boy with the right girl.  There is usually a bit of trouble along the way.  Re-reading Golden Threads reminded me of why I like older romances. They are sometimes a bit cheesy, but usually they are just plain fun.

The romance in this one is really fast.  I'm talking a week.  But I didn't mind.  There is also a mystery as well. Lara is in witness protection, but someone may have found her.  Devon seems to be someone she can trust, but who should she listen to, her head or her heart?  I say trust the cat, Ching. I do recommend this early one. Keep an eye out for it in November!

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware

by:  Ruth Ware
published by:  Gallery
publish date:  July 19, 2016

In this tightly wound story, Lo Blacklock, a journalist who writes for a travel magazine, has just been given the assignment of a lifetime: a week on a luxury cruise with only a handful of cabins. At first, Lo’s stay is nothing but pleasant: the cabins are plush, the dinner parties are sparkling, and the guests are elegant. But as the week wears on, frigid winds whip the deck, gray skies fall, and Lo witnesses what she can only describe as a nightmare: a woman being thrown overboard. The problem? All passengers remain accounted for—and so, the ship sails on as if nothing has happened, despite Lo’s desperate attempts to convey that something (or someone) has gone terribly, terribly wrong…

I liked Ruth Ware's first book, In a Dark, Dark Wood.  You might remember it was like THE book to read last summer.  It was a solid suspense novel with some surprising twists.  When I saw this book was coming out, I was very interested to read it.

It's about a travel journalist going on luxury cruise.  (Seriously, how do you get that job??)  As soon as she gets on board things start getting weird, but she's suffering from a little PTSD as a result of an attempted break in at her apartment and a break up with her long time boyfriend.  She doesn't trust her instincts that something in wrong.  However, things on this ship are not good at all.  Once she realizes what's going on it's far too late and she may be the next woman going overboard.

I liked In a Dark, Dark Wood a lot better than this book.  I would recommend that one over this one.  The Woman in Cabin 10 wasn't a terrible book, but the characters weren't particularly likable.  I found Lo to be hysterical most of the time and that annoyed me.  The ending was a pretty good surprise though, so it did have that redeeming quality.

Blog Tour: Girls in the Garden by Lisa Jewell

Author: Lisa Jewell
Publisher: Atria
Date of publication: June 2016

Imagine that you live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in urban London where your children run free, in and out of other people’s houses. You’ve known your neighbors for years and you trust them. Implicitly. You think your children are safe. But are they really?

On a midsummer night, as a festive neighborhood party is taking place, preteen Pip discovers her thirteen-year-old sister Grace lying unconscious and bloody in a hidden corner of a lush rose garden. What really happened to her? And who is responsible?

I finished Girls in the Garden in about a day.  It's a quick, not overly complex read.  But I have been sitting on this story for a bit trying to sort my thoughts on the story.  It has received rave reviews and ha been picked as a must read for summer on a couple of reading lists.  After much thoughts, I have decided that while I liked aspects of the story, I just didn't love it over all.

I never really felt like I connected with any of the characters.  The story is told from a few points of view, but never from the point of view that I wanted.  At least not until the end.  The observations that the reader gets, to me, focus more on other things that end up being false paths and red herrings.  I didn't like that part of the story.  The ending was not satisfying.  There was a certain part of the day of the attack that really disturbed me and I thought was completely unnecessary.  If you have read it, then the elevator scene is what I am talking about.

I wouldn't say this was a suspenseful story.  To me it was more of a character study about a small community that held a lot of secrets and old resentments. So, by that account, the author succeeded in her goal.   But in the end, I was left wanting a different outcome.

About Lisa Jewell

Lisa Jewell was born and raised in north London, where she lives with her husband and two daughters. She is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA TODAY bestselling author of twelve novels, including The House We Grew Up In and The Third Wife.

Connect with Lisa

Website |Facebook | Twitter

Lisa Jewell’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, August 22nd: Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Monday, August 22nd: Reading is My Superpower – spotlight

Tuesday, August 23rd: A Chick Who Reads

Wednesday, August 24th: The Well Read Redhead

Thursday, August 25th: West Metro Mommy Reads

Friday, August 26th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Monday, August 29th: A Dream Within a Dream

Monday, August 29th: Buried Under Books

Tuesday, August 30th: Bewitched Bookworms

Wednesday, August 31st: Thoughts on This ‘n That

Friday, September 2nd: The BookBub Blog – author guest post

Thursday, September 8th: Just Commonly

Monday, September 12th: All Roads Lead to the Kitchen

Tuesday, September 13th: From the TBR Pile

Thursday, September 15th: Kritter’s Ramblings

Tuesday, September 20th: Why Girls Are Weird

Thursday, September 22nd: Book Chatter

Wednesday, September 28th: Books a la Mode

Curious Minds by Janet Evanovich & Phoef Sutton

Authors: Janet Evanovich & Phoef Sutton
Publisher: Bantam Dell (Random House)
Date of publication: August 2016

Emerson Knight is introverted, eccentric, and has little to no sense of social etiquette. Good thing he’s also brilliant, rich, and (some people might say) handsome, or he’d probably be homeless. Riley Moon has just graduated from Harvard Business and Harvard Law. Her aggressive Texas spitfire attitude has helped her land her dream job as a junior analyst with mega-bank Blane-Grunwald. At least Riley Moon thought it was her dream job, until she is given her first assignment: babysitting Emerson Knight.

What starts off as an inquiry about missing bank funds in the Knight account leads to inquiries about a missing man, missing gold, and a life-and-death race across the country. Through the streets of Washington, D.C., and down into the underground vault of the Federal Reserve in New York City, an evil plan is exposed. A plan so sinister that only a megalomaniac could think it up, and only the unlikely duo of the irrepressibly charming Emerson Knight and the tenacious Riley Moon can stop it.

I'll be honest, I didn't care for this book.  It was a hot mess.  I am usually hot and cold when it comes to Ms. Evanovich's books.  I loved her Stephanie Plum series up until about the 10th book. Her early works were hilarious and I gobbled them up.  I have also been a fan of the Lizzy and Diesl series because the characters have great chemistry.  I was really hoping for a funny fresh start to a new series. For me this entire book fell very flat.  I became quickly bored and skimmed through parts of the book.

I'm not sure how much of the book was written by either author.  I do know that Ms. Evanovich is capable of more humor than was found in this book. Both characters were dull.  Riley annoyed me.  She is supposed to have two advanced degrees, but she came across as ditsy. Emerson was just weird.  The basic story is that Riley Moon, new to the banking world, has been tasked with helping rich, eccentric Emerson Knight find a lost banker and his gold.  There really is no mystery and there is no humor.  There is a LOT of quirkiness.  That is the biggest problem...everything is quirky.  Because of that, the quirky was no longer funny.  

I can't really recommend this one and know I won't continue with the series. 

Pies and Prejudice by Ellery Adams

by:  Ellery Adams
published by:  Berkley Publishing Group
publish date:  July, 2012

When the going gets tough, Ella Mae LaFaye bakes pies. So when she catches her husband cheating in New York, she heads back home to Havenwood, Georgia, where she can drown her sorrows in fresh fruit filling and flakey crust. But her pies aren't just delicious. They're having magical effects on the people who eat them--and the public is hungry for more.

Discovering her hidden talent for enchantment, Ella Mae makes her own wish come true by opening the Charmed Pie Shoppe. But with her old nemesis Loralyn Gaynor making trouble, and her old crush Hugh Dylan making nice, she has more than pie on her plate. and when Loralyn's fiancé is found dead--killed with Ella Mae's rolling pin--it'll take all her sweet magic to clear her name.

So I had been reading too many dark books and I was looking for something light and cutesy to read.  This book filled the bill.

Ella Mae moves back to her Georgia home after she discovers her husband cheating on her.  She moves back in with her mom and starts baking.  Her aunts figure out her special power of being able to infuse her emotions into a pie.  The person that eats the pie will be overcome with whatever emotion she puts into her pie.  She decided to open a pie shop and sell her pies to the public, however there is someone in town determined to undermine all her attempts to improve her life.

If you like cozy mysteries, this was a good one.  I tried the next book in the series and didn't care for it too much, but this first one was a fun story.

The Bear Trap by Paul Doiron

by:  Paul Doiron
published by:  Macmillan Audio
publish date:  May 31, 2014

Legendary Maine woodsman and bush pilot Charley Stevens tries to convince young Mike Bowditch of the dangers awaiting rookie game wardens.

This was a little short story in the Mike Bowditch series.  Sometimes I like these little additions to a series and sometimes I don't.  Unfortunately, this was one of those times when I didn't.  I just didn't see how this story added much to series.  It was just a little story that Charley was telling Mike about his early days as a game warden.   Fortunately it was short so I didn't take a ton of time getting through it.  

Would I recommend it?  Not really.  It's not necessary to understand what's going on in the series.  It was a particularly awesome story.  Not worth the time in my opinion

I Was Here by Gayle Forman

by:  Gayle Forman

published by:  Viking Juvenile

publish date:  January 27, 2015

When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning? But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar and a sneer, who broke Meg’s heart. And about an encrypted computer file that Cody can’t open—until she does, and suddenly everything Cody thought she knew about her best friend’s death gets thrown into question.

This story was very dark and bleak.  It was a really sad tale.  I was interested in reading it because I liked If I Stay.  

Cody and Meg were best friends.  Then Meg leaves for college and their relationship becomes distant and strained.  Next thing, Meg has killed herself and Cody doesn't understand what happened.  Meg's suicide was very precise and thought out, so Cody sets out to figure out what caused Meg to plan out such an act.  During her investigation she unearths some very disturbing evidence that Meg may have been pushed into her suicide.

I don't know that I'd be rushing out to tell people to read this book.  It was a depressing story and I'm sure for some people it would need a trigger warning.  However, it was well written and will probably be very eye opening for some people.

Blog Tour: Sunset in Central Park by Sarah Morgan

Author: Sarah Morgan
Publisher: Harlequin
Date of publication: August 2016

In the chaos of New York, true love can be hard to find, even when it’s been right under your nose all along… 

Love has never been a priority for garden designer Frankie Cole. After witnessing the fallout of her parents’ divorce, she’s seen the devastation an overload of emotion can cause. The only man she feels comfortable with is her friend Matt—but that’s strictly platonic. If only she found it easier to ignore the way he makes her heart race…

Matt Walker has loved Frankie for years but, sensing how fragile she is beneath her feisty exterior, has always played it cool. But then he uncovers new depths to the girl he’s known forever and doesn’t want to wait a moment longer. He knows Frankie has secrets and has buried them deep, but can Matt persuade her to trust him with her heart and kiss him under the Manhattan sunset?

Sunset in Central Park is the second book in this series.  This is Frankie and Matt's story and happens to be one of my favorite tropes: friends to lovers.  Matt and Frankie have known each other for years.  Matt has finally decided to make a move on Frankie.  But he has some pretty big barriers to climb over in order to get her to be his.

I definitely liked this book more than the first one.  All of characters seemed more comfortable with each other.  I loved Matt and Frankie.  I loved how Matt just took down Frankie's walls brick by slow brick until she couldn't help but fall for him.  Frankie lived her whole life thinking love never lasts.  Her parents were the worst examples for her.  She is reluctant to trust.  Even though I loved the romance part of this story, what I loved more was the lesson that Frankie learned after she returned home on Puffin Island. Our perception of past events can often become jaded.  That if we only focus on the negative memories of our past, we forget that there were was compassion and happiness as well.  

I highly recommend this one.  With a sweet romance, a lot of laughs and a cat named Claws, you can't go wrong!

About Sarah Morgan

USA Today bestselling author Sarah Morgan writes lively, sexy contemporary stories for Harlequin.

Romantic Times has described her as ‘a magician with words’ and nominated her books for their Reviewer’s Choice Awards and their ‘Top Pick’ slot. In 2012 Sarah received the prestigious RITA® Award from the Romance Writers of America. She lives near London with her family.

.

Connect with Sarah

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Sarah Morgan’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Tuesday, August 30th: The Sassy Bookster

Wednesday, August 31st: Why Girls Are Weird

Thursday, September 1st: A Chick Who Reads

Friday, September 2nd: Not in Jersey

Monday, September 5th: Books and Bindings

Wednesday, September 7th: Just Commonly

Thursday, September 8th: From the TBR Pile

Friday, September 9th: The Romance Dish

Friday, September 9th: View from the Birdhouse

Monday, September 12th: Chick Lit Central

Monday, September 12th: Kritter’s Ramblings

Tuesday, September 13th: Walking with Nora

Wednesday, September 14th: Bewitched Bookworms

Thursday, September 15th: Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers

Thursday, September 15th: Book Reviews and More by Kathy

Friday, September 16th: A Holland Reads

Monday, September 19th: In Bed with Books

Tuesday, September 20th: Becky on Books

Tuesday, September 20th: Books and Spoons

Wednesday, September 21st: Stranded in Chaos

Thursday, September 22nd: Books a la Mode

Friday, September 23rd: Sharon’s Garden of Book Reviews