April was a month full of interesting reads. Hopefully I can give you something that YOU will enjoy. I try to change up my genres so I can meet every reader’s needs so please be sure to leave a comment with what I should read next.
We Begin At The End – Chris Whitaker
Synopsis: There are two kinds of families: the ones we are born into and the ones we create.
Walk has never left the coastal California town where he grew up. He may have become the chief of police, but he’s still trying to heal the old wound of having given the testimony that sent his best friend, Vincent King, to prison decades before. Now, thirty years later, Vincent is being released.
Duchess is a thirteen-year-old self-proclaimed outlaw. Her mother, Star, grew up with Walk and Vincent. Walk is in overdrive trying to protect them, but Vincent and Star seem bent on sliding deeper into self-destruction. Star always burned bright, but recently that light has dimmed, leaving Duchess to parent not only her mother but her five-year-old brother. At school the other kids make fun of Duchess―her clothes are torn, her hair a mess. But let them throw their sticks, because she’ll throw stones. Rules are for other people. She’s just trying to survive and keep her family together.
A fortysomething-year-old sheriff and a thirteen-year-old girl may not seem to have a lot in common. But they both have come to expect that people will disappoint you, loved ones will leave you, and if you open your heart it will be broken. So when trouble arrives with Vincent King, Walk and Duchess find they will be unable to do anything but usher it in, arms wide closed.
Chris Whitaker has written an extraordinary novel about people who deserve so much more than life serves them. At times devastating, with flashes of humor and hope throughout, it is ultimately an inspiring tale of how the human spirit prevails and how, in the end, love―in all its different guises―wins.
My Thoughts: Oh my gosh I LOVED this book so much! I appreciate a well-written character and this one had a multitude of them. I found myself cheering on Duchess and wanting, so badly, for her to succeed! I picked up this book as a buddy read with some of my IG buddies and I am so glad that I did. This book was filled with family, loss and hope. I highly recommend this beautiful and heartbreaking story.
5 STARS
Finlay Donovan is Killing It – Elle Cosimano
Synopsis: Finlay Donovan is killing it . . . except, she’s really not. She’s a stressed-out single-mom of two and struggling novelist, Finlay’s life is in chaos: the new book she promised her literary agent isn’t written and her home life is falling apart.
When Finlay is overheard discussing the plot of her new suspense novel with her agent over lunch, she’s mistaken for a contract killer, and inadvertently accepts an offer to dispose of a problem husband in order to make ends meet . . . Soon, Finlay discovers that crime in real life is a lot more difficult than its fictional counterpart, as she becomes tangled in a real-life murder investigation.
My Thoughts: You guys don’t want to miss this over the top and hilarious crime novel. Not only was it an original concept but it was laugh-out-loud funny! One that you will surely love!
5 STARS
The Good Sister A Novel – Sally Hepworth
Synopsis: From the outside, everyone might think Fern and Rose are as close as twin sisters can be: Rose is the responsible one and Fern is the quirky one. But the sisters are devoted to one another and Rose has always been Fern’s protector from the time they were small.
Fern needed protecting because their mother was a true sociopath who hid her true nature from the world, and only Rose could see it. Fern always saw the good in everyone. Years ago, Fern did something very, very bad. And Rose has never told a soul. When Fern decides to help her sister achieve her heart’s desire of having a baby, Rose realizes with growing horror that Fern might make choices that can only have a terrible outcome. What Rose doesn’t realize is that Fern is growing more and more aware of the secrets Rose, herself, is keeping. And that their mother might have the last word after all.
My Thoughts: I really enjoyed this book. Hepworth’s last book The Mother-In-Law had these really dark and creepy vibes. I didn’t think this one was as dark. There was definitely a twisty tale between the two sisters and it kept me thoroughly engaged. I appreciated one sister a whole lot more than the other and I predicted the ending pretty early on but it still had me hooked ’til the end!
5 STARS
The Ex Talk – Rachel Lynn Solomon
Synopsis: Shay Goldstein has been a producer at her Seattle public radio station for nearly a decade, and she can’t imagine working anywhere else. But lately it’s been a constant clash between her and her newest colleague, Dominic Yun, who’s fresh off a journalism master’s program and convinced he knows everything about public radio.
When the struggling station needs a new concept, Shay proposes a show that her boss green-lights with excitement. On The Ex Talk, two exes will deliver relationship advice live, on air. Their boss decides Shay and Dominic are the perfect co-hosts, given how much they already despise each other. Neither loves the idea of lying to listeners, but it’s this or unemployment. Their audience gets invested fast, and it’s not long before The Ex Talk becomes a must-listen in Seattle and climbs podcast charts.
As the show gets bigger, so does their deception, especially when Shay and Dominic start to fall for each other. In an industry that values truth, getting caught could mean the end of more than just their careers.
My thoughts: See my youtube video below
5 STARS
The Lost Apothecary – Sarah Penner
I usually enjoy historical fiction but this one just didn’t make the cut. The storyline really pulled me in; a secret apothecary that dispenses poison to women so that they can kill whomever men have wronged them…. Sounds exciting right?! The problem was that the present day storyline was so dull and boring! I honestly don’t even think it was necessary.
Synopsis: In late-1700s England, Nella works as an apothecary. Like her mother before her, Nella’s potions and powders and salves bring comfort and aid to women for their physical and emotional issues. But unlike her mother, Nella’s business has a more sinister side—she’s known secretly as the woman to see when a woman needs to take care of an abusive or philandering husband.
The last thing she is expecting is a 12-year-old client, but Eliza Fanning is there at the behest of her employer. This encounter awakens Eliza’s interest in Nella’s work—both the light and the dark sides. But Eliza’s presence involves her in a scandal that has the potential to destroy Nella and her business—and perhaps both of their lives.
Meanwhile, more than 200 years later, Caroline is visiting London alone on what was supposed to be an anniversary trip with her husband. Reeling from betrayal, the aspiring historian spends the afternoon exploring items found on the muddy shore of the Thames. It is there she discovers an apothecary vial, which awakens the dormant researcher in her, and it’s not long before she’s discovering a series of unsolved “apothecary murders” from the late 1700s…
My Thoughts: I think I expected more out of this with all the hype it was receiving. I’m bummed because it had many of my favorite things in a novel: mystery, multiple p.o.v.’s AND dual timeline. But… there was no suspense just a lot of overly dramatic characters and obviously unrealistic instances.
3 STARS
Trespassing A Novel – Brandi Reeds
Synopsis: In a novel of mounting psychological suspense, a young mother follows a dangerous path to find her missing husband.
Veronica Cavanaugh’s grasp on the world is slipping. Her latest round of fertility treatments not only failed but left her on edge and unbalanced. And her three-year-old daughter, Elizabella, has a new imaginary friend, who seems much more devilish than playful. So when Veronica’s husband fails to return home from a business trip, what’s left of her stability begins to crumble.
Given her family’s history of mental illness, and Elizabella’s insistence that her daddy is dead, Veronica starts questioning herself. Every move she makes is now suspect. Worse still, Veronica is positive that someone wants her and her daughter dead, too—unless it’s all in her mind…
Somewhere beneath her paranoia is the answer to her husband’s vanishing. To find it, she’s led to a house in the Florida Keys. But once there, she isn’t sure she wants to know the truth.
My Thoughts: This one not my favorite. It started out great, very intense, a lot going through Veronica’s head while trying to figure out this weird situation she was in. Once I got to the halfway mark I was over it and ready to know what happened. It seemed to be a lot of fluff in the middle and not much going on, except the main character’s ongoing overly assessment of her paranoia.
3 STARS
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