When I Was You by Amber Garza

When I Was You by Amber Garza

Published by MIRA Books ISBN 9780778361046

Trade paperback, $17.99, 368 pages

If you like reading psychological thrillers that leave you breadcrumbs along the way to try and figure out what is going on, Amber Garza's new novel, When I Was You, is your next good read.

Kelly Medina is a empty nester, with her son Aaron off to college ten long hours away. Her husband Rafael is a professor at a college two hours away, and he lives there during the week, returning home on weekends.

Things don't seem good between Kelly and Rafael, Kelly talks about how he was very hard on Aaron growing up, and not always kind to his wife either. Kelly is lonely, has no job, and only a few friends with whom she goes to yoga class and lunch.

She gets a call one day from Aaron's pediatrician reminding her of a well baby appointment the next day. Knowing it can't be for her, she tells the receptionist who discovers there is another Kelly Medina in town, and apologizes for the mixup.

Curious, the next day Kelly drives to the doctor's office and waits in the parking lot. She sees a young woman struggling to get her baby out of the car, and when the baby loses a sock, Kelly jumps in to the rescue. She introduces herself, and the younger Kelly is surprised to find out they have the same name.

Older Kelly befriends the younger Kelly. She is drawn to baby Sullivan, and wants to help the new mom out. She is shocked at the home they are renting; it is in dirty disarray and there is no crib, high chair or furniture. Kelly goes on a major shopping spree for the new mom and baby boy. The young mom is grateful, but wary of this insistent older woman.

We're given clues that something happened to Kelly, and it involved a child not her own. Her friend Christine is very concerned about her well-being, and becomes worried when Kelly tells her that she has befriended the new mom. Rafael is concerned as well, on the rare occasions he talks to his wife. We know that Kelly sees a therapist, but we don't know why.

Along with the aforementioned breadcrumbs along the way, there is a big twist at the end that I didn't see coming, and it is a shocker. (Although there seems to be one plot point I couldn't quite wrap my head around.)  If you are a fan of the Lifetime movies, When I Was You would make a perfect addition to their collection. 

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Summer Mystery & Thrillers Tour. 

Rules of the Road by Ciara Geraghty

Rules of the Road by Ciara Geraghty
Published by Park Row Books ISBN
Trade paperback, $17.99, 384 pages

In Ciara Geragthy's novel, Rules of the Road, Terry is having a difficult day. Her father's nursing home calls her to tell her they must fumigate the home so Terry has to take her father, who has dementia, home for few days.

Terry wants to deliver a birthday cake to her best friend Iris who is at a yoga retreat. When she calls the retreat, they tell her that Iris is not there and hasn't made a reservation. Worried, Terry goes to Iris' home and discovers that Iris is getting on a ferry from Dublin to England, and she plans to go to a clinic in Switzerland where she will end her life.

Iris has MS, and although she is doing fairly well other than using crutches to get around, she fears what the future holds for her. Terry has 90 minutes to get to the ferry and find Iris, so she brings her father along.

Unable to convince Iris to come home, Terry and her father get on the ferry and go with Iris to London. Terry has to keep an eye on her father so he doesn't wander off, and make sure that Iris doesn't abandon them until she can talk her out of going to the clinic.

Terry is a caretaker. She takes care of her home, her husband, and her two grown daughters, all of whom seem to depend on Terry to keep them going. It is out of character for Terry to just up and leave like this, and her family lets her know that.

Iris figures if Terry wants to tag along, then fine. Terry conquers her fear of driving in a big city, and the three set off on an adventure. She does her best to convince Iris that life is worth living, and hopes that Iris will eventually change her mind.

I enjoyed their time in France, where Terry has to save the day when their car breaks down. They end up at a mysterious castle B&B, where they meet the owner, whom Iris takes a shine to.

This road trip allows Terry to grow as person in her own right, be seen as not just as a daughter, wife and mother.  Her friendship with Iris also grows on the trip, as they come to a better understanding with each other.

One thing I found humorous was Terry's laundry observations. She knows how to get a stain out of anything. The observations about a long time married couple (Terry and her husband) were also particularly keen. Terry's tender loving care of her father is something that many people will also be able to relate too. It saddens her to watch her father fade away.

Rules of the Road is a buddy road trip story, with a dash of Jojo Moyes Me Before You. Watching Terry break out of her shell thanks to her friendship with Iris is something joyful. I enthusiastically recommend Rules of the Road.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Summer Reads Blog Tour.

Someone's Listening by Seraphina Nova Glass

Someone's Listening by Seraphina Nova Glass
Published by Graydon House ISBN 9781525836749
Trade paperback, $16.99, 336 pages

Seraphina Nova Glass' novel, Someone's Listening, is for readers who like to sift through clues and multiple possible suspects as to whodunnit.

The novel opens with psychologist and successful talk radio host Dr. Faith Finley celebrating the publication of her book, Someone's Listening. The book is a guide for women who want to escape from the clutches of domestic violence and predatory people bent on doing them harm.

It should be a happy occasion, but there are clues that something is amiss. Her loving husband, respected newspaper restaurant critic Liam, seems angry, and people at the party appear to want to avoid Faith, not celebrate her success.

On the way home from the party, a truck veers right at them while Faith is driving, and she wakes up to EMTs strapping her to a gurney. She calls out for Liam, but there is no response.

As she comes to in the hospital, she asks for her husband, but the police officer in her room tells her that there was no one else in the car or anywhere near the scene. This confuses and upsets Faith.

Liam's body is not found, but it is discovered that he withdrew $6000 from their bank account and his passport is missing. Why would Liam leave? Is it because one of her former clients accused her of having an inappropriate relationship?

Faith is about to lose everything, and with her back against the wall, she begins to investigate what happened to her husband. She also starts receiving threatening notes, passages cut out from her book. Who is trying to ruin her life?  There are plenty of suspects, and a careful reader may be able to suss out a guess at who did it and why.

Glass does a terrific job setting a scene, painting a visual picture for the reader. "The Sunday newspaper, in its plastic sheath, lies at the end of the driveway, half of it immersed in a puddle from last night's rain."

If you enjoy a psychological thriller where you can exercise your skills at detection, Someone's Listening is for you. Fans of the Lifetime channel movies will enjoy it as well.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Mystery & Thriller Summer Reads Blog Tour.

That Summer in Maine by Brianna Wolfson

That Summer in Maine by Brianna Wolfson
Published by MIRA Books ISBN 9780778351238
Trade paperback, $16.99, 320 pages

Brianna Wolfson's first novel, Rosie Colored Glasses, is about a mother-daughter relationship. Her second novel, That Summer In Maine, tells the stories of two mothers and daughters and the one thing that binds them together.

Hazel is 16 years old, and her mom Jane raised Hazel all on her own. Hazel never knew her father and she and her mom were inseperable, sharing everything, including bowls of ice cream in bed at night.

Now Jane is married, and with her husband Cam has twin baby boys who take up all her time and energy. The relationship Hazel and Jane had has changed, and Hazel feels left out, never more so than when she sees her mother sharing ice cream in bed with Cam instead of her.

Hazel receives a message from a 16 year-old girl named Eve who looks like her and tells her that she thinks they are sisters. Eve tells Hazel that she is going to visit their biological father in Maine and asks Hazel to come with her.

Jane is shocked. She had no idea that Hazel's father Silas had another child, let alone one who was born so close to Hazel. Jane, Cam and Hazel meet with Eve's parents, and after Hazel insists she is going whether Jane approves or not, Jane relents and allows Hazel to go to Maine.

Eve's mother Susie gives Jane a notebook that she wrote to Eve, explaining everything that happened during that summer in Maine when she met Silas and returned home pregnant with Eve. As Jane reads the notebook, she decides to write her own story of how she met Silas that same summer in Maine, became pregnant, and left to have Hazel on her own.

We get to read both woman's notebooks, and follow Eve and Hazel's summer trip to Maine to stay with Silas, their artist father who lives in a cabin on a beautiful lake. Eve has already spent part of last summer with Silas, so she has established a relationship with him. Hazel has some catching up to do, but she enjoys having a sister and a father, something new to her.

Wolfson writes the mother-daughter relationship so well, and she captures the teenage voices of Eve and Hazel so beautifully and realistically. Eve has underlying anger issues, and she vacillates between wanting to be a fun party girl and being angry at her parents and the world. Hazel wants to fill the void left by her changing relationship with her mom, but is uncertain if Silas and Eve can do that.

I liked that the character of Silas is so layered. He's not just some guy who left two women pregnant, he has something in his past that he cannot seem to get over, a deep hurt. I didn't like that he gave teenage girls beer, though.  Bad judgement there, Silas.

That Summer in Maine is a novel that will appeal to adult women and teenage young women. I think many young women can relate to the feelings that Eve and Hazel have, as older women will to Jane and Susie's stories.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Summer Reads 2020 Tour.

Stranger in the Lake by Kimberly Belle

Stranger in the Lake by Kimberly Belle
Published by Park Row Books ISBN 9780778388104
Hardcover, $28.99, 336 pages

Kimberly Belle has staked out a claim writing domestic thrillers about troubled marriages, and her latest, Stranger in the Lake, fits that category well.

We meet Charlotte as she is heading to her husband's architecture office where she also works. Charlotte married Paul a few years after his first wife was found drowned under the dock next to their gleaming mansion.

Paul loved Katherine, but people in the small resort town gossiped that he must have had something to do with her death; after all, she was a competitive swimmer. How could she drown so close to the dock?

Charlotte is eleven years younger than Paul, and she comes from the "wrong side of town", having grown up in the trailer park. Her father was in prison, and her mother was a drug addict who neglected Charlotte and her younger brother Chet.

People (including Paul's mother) also gossiped about "gold digger" Charlotte, digging her claws into the wealthy widower Paul. But Paul and Charlotte were in love, and hoped to start to a family soon.

After seeing Paul talking to a strange woman in town, Charlotte finds the woman's body the next day drowned under their dock. Two drowned women under his dock doesn't look good for Paul, and when he tells Charlotte that he must go away for three days after he lies to the police about meeting the dead woman, things go from bad to worse.

There are a lot of twists and turns in the story, and something that happened in Paul's past may have come back to haunt him. Back in high school, Paul was best friends with Jax and Micah, now Paul's neighbor. Jax went off the grid years ago, living in the woods, and Paul has helped him over the years by giving him money and clothes.

Did Paul kill the woman? Does he think Jax killed the woman, as the police suspect? Now that Charlotte has lied to the police to cover up for Paul's lie, she is determined to get to the truth.

Clever readers may be able to follow the breadcrumb clues as to who killed the woman, but there are so many layers to the book, the underlying elements to the story will keep the reader guessing why. Fans of books like The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl will want to add Stranger in the Lake to their summer reading list.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Summer Reads Blog Tour. 

The Bitter and Sweet of Cherry Season by Molly Fader

The Bitter and Sweet of Cherry Season by Molly Fader
Published by Graydon House ISBN 9781525804557
Trade paperback, $17.99, 320 pages

Sometimes you read a book and the characters and storyline just touch your heart. Molly Fader's newest novel, The Bitter and Sweet of Cherry Season, is one of those.

As the novel opens, Hope is on the run with her 10 year-old daughter Tink, who refuses to speak. We know that something bad happened because Hope is hiding a black eye behind her sunglasses. She arrives unannounced at the orchard home of her late mother's sister Peg very late in the evening.

Peg greets the car that has pulled onto her property with her shotgun. She has no idea that Hope is coming. Peg is a taciturn, closed off woman. It's been many years since she has seen Hope, so long ago that Hope doesn't remember ever visiting.

Peg feeds Hope and Tink, and puts them up in her farmhouse. She can see that something happened to Hope, but she doesn't push Hope to tell her.  Having Hope show up has undone something in Peg. It's clear that she too has a secret that she is hiding, something to do with the time that Hope was at her home years ago.

It's cherry season, so Peg has Hope and Tink help her harvest the cherries, along with Abel, a young man who left the army, came home and bought some of Peg's land. Abel suffered from PTSD and recognizes some of those same symptoms in Hope. He begins to have feelings for Hope, and enjoys Tink's company too.

As the four work together in the orchard, slowly Hope begins to trust Peg and Abel, and opens up a little about her reason for running. She also learns more about her mother's past life, things that may be painful for her and for Peg.

I loved watching Hope's journey to build something for her and Tink, and I found life on Peg's farm so interesting. But it is Peg who really stole my heart. She made a decision years ago that cost her everything she loved, and to see her open her heart back up was so rewarding.

When the world outside can seem so overwhelming, a book like The Bitter and Sweet of Cherry Season can bring much needed comfort. I highly recommend it, and if you like cherries (I do!), there are a few cherry recipes at the end to try. (The Chocolate Cherry Brioche is calling my name.)

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Summer Reads Blog Tour.