Main Character Energy by Jamie Varon

Main Chracter Energy by Jamie Varon

Published by Park Row Books ISBN 9780778334200

Trade paperback, $18.99, 320 pages

In Jamie Varon's delightful debut novel, Main Character Energy, Poppy Banks feels like her life is at a dead-end. She hates her job writing listicles for a Buzz Feed-type website, and has given up on her dream of writing mystery novels.

It doesn't help that her younger brother is a successful writer of romance novels or that her mother is constantly on Poppy to lose some weight and improve her appearance in hopes of landing a husband.

The only person who understands Poppy is her mother's sister Margot. Margot and Poppy's mother had a falling out years ago and don't speak, and if Poppy's mom knew that once a year Poppy meets with Margot she would not be happy. Margot encourages Poppy to keep writing, that something will happen. Margot wants Poppy to be the main character in her own story.

When Poppy gets word that Margot has died, she is shocked to discover that Margot left Poppy her French villa. One of the stipulations of Margot's will is that Poppy must live in the villa for six months and finish writing one book, then Poppy is free to keep the villa or sell it.

Margot ran a successful writing residency for women at the villa, a fact that surprises Poppy. Upon arriving at the villa, Poppy meets Sebastian, Margot's dear friend, and his nephew Oliver who worked for the writer's residency.

Poppy comes to like the beautiful French Riviera, and the people she meets at the villa, including the women who are the new writers in residence. Oliver is not bad on the eyes either, and the attraction appears to be mutual. 

She could be happy living in France, but the money she would make from selling the villa would help her wipe out her student and credit card debt. When two businessmen make her an offer to buy the villa and writing residency from her, she is tempted to take them up on it.

But first she must finish writing her book, and that is proving to be difficult. She can't seem to get out of her own head, and her brother's success and mother's critical words don't help.

Main Character Energy may inspire readers to ignore the negativity in their own lives and follow their own dreams. I loved the setting of the French Riviera, I could feel the sun on my face as I read it. There is an important surpise at the end, but it is one I guessed early on as many readers probably will, but guessing it doesn't take away from the joy of this sweet story.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on the Fall 2023 Blog Tours.

Women of the Post by Joshunda Sanders

Women of the Post by Joshunda Saunders

Published by Park Row ISBN 9780778334071

Trade paperback, $18.99, 368 pages

Historical fiction enlightens readers by expanding our knowledge of times and events through the lens of fictional characters (who are often based on real people.) Joshunda Sanders novel, Women of the Post, takes readers back to WWII and shares the stories of the Six Triple Eight Battalion.

The Six Triple Eight Battalion was an all-Black unit of women Army Corps recruits who were assigned to sort through the over one million pieces of mail that was backlogged. Their assignment took them to England where they were to catalog and get mail to and from the armed services members fighting in the war. It was felt that getting mail to these men and their families would boost morale at a critical time in the war.

Judy Washington is a newlywed whose husband is fighting overseas. At first she received regular letters from him, but that soon stopped, along with the small amount of money he was able to send home.

 Whereas white women could find factory jobs while the men were fighting overseas, Judy and her mother could only find work at what was commonly called the Bronx Slave Market.  Judy and her mother would go to the Bronx and wait for wealthy white women from the suburbs to drive up and offer a paltry amount of pay for a day's work cleaning their homes. When one woman stole money from Judy's own wallet to pay her, that is when Judy had had enough.

 Judy saw an opportunity to join the Six Triple Eight Battalion as not only a chance to make a decent wage, but also to be closer to finding out what has happened to her husband. We follow Judy through basic training in Kansas, where she makes friends with three other women, and we meet Second Officer Charity Adams, who will lead the battalion overseas. (Charity Adams was a real person, the highest ranking Black female officer in WWII.)

Each of the characters is interesting and has her own reasons for being there. Charity is hiding a relationship with a fellow female officer, and Mary Alyce discovers a secret that her family kept from her for years that changes her life forever.

I learned so much from Women of the Post. I had heard of the Six Triple Eight before, but reading of their accomplishment and how they managed to not only complete the task of getting the mail but create a cataloging system for doing so was so interesting. Joshunda Sanders takes us right into their day-to-day life in basic training, and what it was like to be an almost forgotten part of the military. I was intrigued by her characters and bond of friendship they formed.

I had never heard of the Bronx Slave Market, and I wish more people knew about this part of New York City history. It was shocking to me and yet not so unbelievable that it would exist. I'd like to read more about it. I will also be looking for more information on Charity Adams.

If you are a historical fiction fan, Women of the Post is a book to put on your list. Fans of Lauren Willig's Band of Sisters and Margot Lee Shetterly's nonfiction Hidden Figures will enjoy it, and I give it 5 stars.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Summer 2023 Blog Tours.

The Little Italian Hotel by Phaedra Patrick

The Little Italian Hotel by Phaedra Patrick

Published by Park Row Books ISBN 9780778387121

Trade paperback, $18.99, 320 pages

In Phaedra Patrick's newest novel The Little Italian Hotel,  Ginny Splinter spends her days giving advice to callers on her radio talk show in a small town in England. She loves helping people and believes that she can help them solve their life problems. There isn't a problem Ginny can't fix,

Ginny is married to Adrian, who sells high end sports cars at a local dealership. She is about to surprise Adrian with a special anniversary trip to Italy when Adrian tells her that he is moving out, he doesn't know if he wants to be married anymore.

This stuns Ginny, and when she discovers that Adrian has a profile on a dating website, she is even more shocked. How could she, the woman with all the advice for her listeners, have been so clueless as to what was going on her marriage?

When Ginny finds out that the trip is nonrefundable, she invites four listeners from her show to join her in Italy. Instead of a stay for two at a luxury hotel and spa in a small town outside Bologna, Ginny will be joined by four strangers at a little Italian hotel near the luxury hotel. The only catch is that each of these strangers must have their own heartbreak story.

The hotel is run by Nico and his teenager daughter Loretta. Nico's wife left them when he refused to sell the hotel after a deathbed promise to his mother to change nothing in the hotel. The hotel is charming, and  a bit lived in, nothing like the successful luxury hotel up the road run by Nico's best friend.

Edna, an elderly woman who dresses in black, is sharp as a tack. Eric is quiet and gets up early every morning to run in the Italian hillside. He carries a dog collar with him. Rachel is a vivacious young woman whose mother has Alzheimer's.  Curtis spends all his time on his phone and can be a bit rude to everyone.

The group is slow to come together, but once they do, they all become very supportive of each other. We get the backstories of each of them, what their heartache is, and each story is moving as we become emotionally invested in them. The Italian setting is so vivid, if you close your eyes you will see the Italian countryside and smell the delicious fresh foods that Nico prepares for the group.

When Adrian shows up unexpectedly, Ginny is torn. She has to take a good look at her life and decide what she truly needs to be happy. The Little Italian Hotel would be good for a book club discussion, and you could have a great Italian-themed dinner to go with it. 

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Summer 2023 Blog Tours.

The Book Haters' Book Club by Gretchen Anthony

The Book Haters' Book Club by Gretchen Anthony

Published by Park Row Books ISBN 9780778333067

Trade paperback, $17.99, 352 pages

You might think it odd that someone who loves books as much as I do would read something titled The Book Haters' Book Club, but I could not resist finding out what Gretchen Anthony's book was all about.

Elliot and Irma are best friends and co-owners of Over the Rainbow bookstore in Minneapolis. As the novel opens, Elliott has recently passed away and Irma has summoned her two daughters- Bree, who works in the bookstore, and Lacey, who left home as a teenager and owns a tire repair store with her husband Tuck in Oakland- and Elliot's life partner Thom to a lawyer's office.

To everyone's surprise, Irma has decided to sell the store to a developer who has designs on putting high-rise condos in the store's place. Bree cannot believe that this is the first she is hearing about this; she had planned on taking over the store when Irma retired.

Thom seems very angry at Irma for reasons other than selling the store. He has always been jealous of the close relationship Irma and Elliot had. Irma recently lost her longtime boyfriend Nestor to cancer and now her best friend and business partner has died. Bree and Laney want Irma not to make any rash decisions while she is grieving, but Irma is firm- she is selling and will give Thom Elliot's share of the sale, which appears to be a paltry sum, not close to what the store is worth.

Laney and Bree are confused by Irma's behavior. While the women were close when they were younger, they have grown apart. Laney rarely comes home, she is busy running her and her husband's business. The sisters band together with Thom to try and stop the sale.

As someone who works in a bookstore, I especially enjoyed and related to that aspect of the story. I also loved the humor in the story. Bree's attempts to woo the owner of the neighboring distillery made me laugh. She cannot hold her liquor. 

The sisterly relationship is realistic as well. Lacey has a sarcastic sense of humor, and the way she needles her mother is delightful. Irma's exasperation at her daughters' attempts to save the store was something every mother can understand.

What makes the reader keep turning the pages is to find out exactly why Irma is adamant about selling the store so quickly. Everyone here has secrets that come to play (including the deceased Elliot) and they have to figure what they want out of life.

The Book Haters' Book Club is a newsletter that Elliot sent to customers, and we get to read some of the clever ones, which include several book suggestions. I squealed when I spied two of my favorite books by Helen Ellis - American Housewife and Southern Lady Code- in a newsletter.

If you are a true book lover, as I am, you must put The Book Haters' Book Club on your list. It's a treasure.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Fall 2022 Women's Fiction Blog Tour.

The Lying Club by Annie Ward

The Lying Club by Annie Ward

Published by Park Row Books ISBN 9780778389408

Trade paperback, $16.99, 432 pages

Annie Ward's new novel The Lying Club opens with Natalie waking up from a blacked-out state clutching a man's necktie and seeing a dead body lying in a puddle of blood on the school gym floor. What did she do now? What did she do now- how can you resist reading on to find out? (And what did she do before?)

Natalie is a young woman working as an adminstrative assistant at a tony private school in Colorado. She helps to care for her brother who is recovering from an injury, and spends her free time selling her art on Etsy and showing up at open houses for homes she can't afford to check out the expensive art in them.

Asha is the realtor at the open houses, and her teenage daughter Mia and younger son Oliver attend the private school where Natalie works. Mia is a talented lacrosse player, and is often pitted against Sloane, another excellent lacrosse player. Sloane's mother Brooke is one of those moms who believes her daughter is headed to a Division 1 lacrosse scholarship and will make sure nothing or no one gets in the way of that.

Popular and charismatic lacrosse coach Nick McIntyre has connections with college coaches and he believes he can help both girls get into the best schools, but that will require dedication and hours of private coaching that cost lots of money. Brooke is totally onboard, Asha wants that if Mia truly wants it. Mia's father does not believe Mia wants to do it.

The book moves back and forth between a police interrogation and the events leading up to the dead body on the gym floor. The reader will recognize the character types in this propulsive story- the young woman who wants what she sees the wealthy women have, the moms with too much free time on their hands, too much money and are too invested in their children's identities as a reflection of themselves, the coach who lords his power over a community who value sports too highly.

Parents of teenagers will cringe at some of the dangerous things these teenagers do, unable to realize the consequences of their actions. The rivalry between parents is also something many people may recognize, perhaps unfortunately in themselves. 

 Reading The Lying Club will appeal to people who enjoy putting together the pieces of a puzzle. Annie Ward turns up the tension with each turn of the page until the explosive conclusion. Fans of Liane Moriarty's Big Little Lies have found themselves a new author.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Winter Reads 2022 Blog Tours.

My Darling Husband by Kimberly Belle

My Darling Husband by Kimberly Belle

Published by Park Row on March 8, 2022 ISBN 9780778311560

Trade paperback, $16.99, 352 pages

In Kimberly Belle's newest thriller My Darling Husband, Jade's life, while hectic, is pretty good. Her husband Cam is one of Atlanta's most celebrated chefs, known as the Steak King of Atlanta. He owns several popular high-end restaurants, and they live in a McMansion in a wealthy neighborhood.

Jade spends her days shuttling her nine year-old daughter Beatrix, a possible violin prodigy, and six year-old son Baxter, a typical energetic little boy, between school and activities. One day they returned home to find a masked man with a gun in their garage.

Frightened, Jade offers to give him her SUV, her wallet, phone, anything, if he will just leave. But that is not what he wants. He moves them all into the house and instructs Jade to call Cam and tell him that if her doesn't bring a very specific large sum of money to him by 7pm, he will kill the family.

Cam is dealing with a disasterous fire in his most profitable restaurant when Jade calls him. Although he tells the man he can't get that much cash in that short a period of time, the man reiterates his threat to Jade and the children.

The masked man knows a lot about Jade's husband, and tells her that her husband isn't the successful, wonderful man she thinks he is. Jade has to use her wits to figure out who this man is and how to keep him from hurting her children. The action moves between Jade in the house and Cam racing to find enough money to save his family.

My Darling Husband is breakneck thriller that gets parents right where they live- the safety of their children's lives. Your heart will pound as you read, and you'll wrack your brain as you try to figure out along with Jade how this man knows so much about Jade and Cam.

This novel has all the makings of a great Lifetime thriller movie, I wouldn't be surprised to see it next year on my television screen. If domestic thrillers are your favorite reads, My Darling Husband should be next up on your list.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on their Fall 2021 Mystery & Thriller Blog Tour. 

The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff

The Woman with the Blue Star by Pam Jenoff

Published by Park Row Books ISBN 9780778389385

Trade paperback, $17.99, 336 pages

Author Pam Jenoff adds to her growing canon of WWII stories about courageous women with her latest novel, The Woman with the Blue Star. 

Sadie is eighteen years-old when she and her parents are forced to flee into the sewer tunnels of Krakow to avoid being captured by the Nazis and sent to a concentration camp. Pawel, a handyman who Sadie's father showed kindness to, repays him by hiding Sadie's family and an Orthodox family- a father, his adult son Saul, and his elderly mother- in the sewer and bringing them small stores of food when he can.

They escaped with few belongings, and are forced to live in a cramped area of the sewer. The smell is atrocious, and the boredom is nearly as bad as the fear of being discovered by the Nazis. One day, Sadie wanders to the sewer grate and on the street above, her eyes meet a woman close in age to her.

Ella peers down and she is shocked to see Sadie. Ella's father is deceased, and she lives with her stepmother, a woman who entertains German soldiers in the family home, much to Ella's disgust. Ellas's stepmother reminds her repeatedly that she can kick Ella out of her home anytime she wishes.

Ella decides that she must help Sadie, even if it puts her own life in jeopardy. She brings Sadie food, and they form a deep friendship. Ella even takes things further, becoming involved in the resistance movement, risking her own life.

Jenoff based her novel on the true stories of Jewish people who hid in the sewer tunnels in Krakow during the war. I had never heard these stories, and she does an admirable job placing the reader right down there with Sadie and the others. You can feel the claustrophobic atmosphere surrounding you as you read, and wonder if you yourself would have the courage to do what Sadie and Ella did.

At its heart, The Woman with the Blue Star is a story of the bond of friendship that bring two young women together, and the courage they show, in the face of grave danger. The amazing resilience of the human spirit is on full display as well. Fans of Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale will want to add this to their To-Be-Read list.

Thanks to Harlequin for putting me on Pam Jenoff's tour.

Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger

Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger

Published by Park Row Books ISBN 9780778310150

Hardcover, $27.99 320 pages

Sometimes you just need a good, twisty psychological thriller to sink your teeth into. Lisa Unger's new novel, Confessions on the 7:45, fits that bill.

Selena is running late at work. She likes to be on the early train home so that she can have dinner with her husband and two young sons, but tonight she called home to say she would be on a later train. A sinking feeling made Selena put a camera in her children's playroom where she caught her nanny Geneva and husband having sex while the boys were in the other room watching television. And this was the second time she caught them.

She gets on the train and finds a seat next a young woman Martha, who befriends Selena and makes a confession - she is having an affair with her boss, who is married to the CEO of the company. After a few drinks, Selena confesses her tale of the nanny and her husband. Martha wistfully wonders what if they could solve each other's problems? Selena finds that disturbing, but she'll never see Martha again, even though Martha pushes Selena to exchange phone numbers. 

When Selena returns home, she confronts her husband who swears it was just the one time, and he is sorry, but Selena knows better. She is devastated because she really liked Geneva, she was wonderful with the boys and kept the house organized. 

Before Selena had a chance to fire Geneva, she disappears the night Selena confronts her husband. The police show up after Geneva's sister calls them, and Geneva doesn't show up for work the next day. Selena doesn't tell the police that her husband was having an affair with Geneva, and the tension ratchets up as the lies continue.

There is another story we get entangled with- a young woman named Pearl lives with her mother, a woman who owns a failing bookstore and has relationships with many men. Who is Pearl and how does she figure into the main story?

Unger has a lot of balls to juggle to keep the story moving and connected, and she does it expertly. With a nod to the classic Hitchcock movie, Strangers on a Train, we wonder what happened to Geneva and does Martha have anything to do with it?  Mystery/thriller fans who like to put their deductive skills to the test will enjoy trying to untangle all the knots of this intriguing story.

Thanks to Harlequin Books for putting me on their Fall Mystery Reads Tour.

The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim

The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim

Published by Park Row Books ISBN 9780778310174

Hardcover, $27.99, 384 pages

 

One of the reasons we read fiction is to put ourselves in the shoes of other people, people who have different life experiences than ourselves. Nancy Jooyoun Kim does that beautifully in her novel, The Last Story of Mina Lee.

Margot is a 26 year-old Korean daughter of Mina Lee, who raised Margot on her own in Koreatown in Los Angeles. Margot lives in Seattle and hasn't seen her mother in awhile. She is driving to LA to bring a friend to his new home, and after being unable to get a hold of her mom by phone, she stops by her mom's apartment and finds her dead on the floor.

It appears that Mina fell and hit her head, but after the landlord tells Margot that he heard Mina arguing with a man, Margot becomes suspicious that perhaps her mother was killed.

Margot begins to dig into her mother's life, discovering things that she didn't know about Mina. They had a difficult relationship. Mina owned a clothing shop that burned down during the LA riots in 1992. She worked her way back to opening a small shop at a swap meet in Koreatown, but her business never recovered.

Growing up was difficult for Margot. She wanted to be like other kids, act American. She had to work at her mother's store after school and on school breaks, and her mother never learned English. Margot resisted learning Korean, so communication between the two was never good on several levels.

The story is told in two different timelines, so we see Margot working to learn what happened to her mother in 2014, while we see Mina's story in 1987, when she came to America. Mina became separated from her parents as a young child when they were fleeing the war in Korea, and ended up in an orphanage. She never knew what became of her parents.

She came to America as an undocumented immigrant, and found work at a Korean grocery store. She made one friend at the boardinghouse she lived in, and led a fairly lonely life. There was a deep sadness about Mina, something in her life in Korea that she wanted to put behind her.

I found Mina's story compelling. She came all alone to a country where she didn't speak the language. Imagine doing that; leaving your home to go to a place where you know no one, and starting over. We see how hard Mina worked to make a life for herself and later for her daughter, the sacrifices she made. Mina just broke my heart.

Foodies will find many references to Korean dishes here, and book clubs could create an entire evening's feast with them. The Last Story of Mina Lee would made an excellent book club choice, as the mother/daughter and immigrant themes would make for a rich discussion.

If you liked Jean Kwok's Searching for Sylvie Lee, this book would be a good read for you. Both feature a mystery about a person, and a family member who must discover what happened to their loved one, while dealing with the issue of living in a different culture. I highly recommend The Last Story of Mina Lee, I will not forget her.

Thanks to Harper Collins for putting me on Nancy Jooyoun Kim's book 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.

Kids Are Gonna Ask by Gretchen Anthony

The Kids Are Gonna Ask by Gretchen Anthony
Published by Park Row Books ISBN 9780778308744
Trade paperback, $17.99, 416 pages

Podcasts are a recent popular form of entertainment, so it's not a surprise that novels featuring podcasts would not be far behind. Gretchen Anthony's The Kids Are Gonna Ask features twin teenagers, Thomas and Savannah, who host a podcast that takes place at their dinner table. Their grandmother Maggie likes to invite all kinds of interesting and odd people to dinner, and Thomas and Savannah created a podcast around that.

Thomas and Savannah live with Maggie; their mom Bess died in a car accident years before, and they don't know who their father is. They decide to create a podcast about searching for their father's identity, with Maggie's reluctant blessing. (Maggie doesn't know the father's identity.)

Thomas and Savannah hope that the podcast might go viral, helping increase their chances of finding their father. Their wish comes true when a national podcast producer hears their story and wants to bring them to a wider audience.

It all sounds too good to be true, and as we all know with social media, things can go wrong. (The news is filled with stories about people who have said something on social media that ends their careers.) Thomas and Savannah's story blows up, with people choosing sides and voicing their opinion/threats on social media.

I found that part of the story so spot on. I follow lots of social media, and it always astonishes me how people get so angry that they write horrible things online that they would never say in person. I do not understand how people can get so worked up about things that do not personally affect them. Everyone has an opinion about what the kids are doing and feels free to share it.

Thomas and Savannah are typical teenagers- Thomas runs track, and Savannah has set her sights on becoming a producer. She is symbolic of young women today who speak their minds and will not settle for being treated less than because she is female. Their twin sibling relationship is well done too.

There is some good foodie parts to this novel- Maggie has a personal chef, Bart, who makes delicious food that had me salivating. (Who wouldn't love a personal chef? Never having to decide what to make for dinner each night is such a luxury.)

At it's heart though, this is about Thomas and Maggie looking for their father, and also hoping to find out more about their mother, who was taken too soon. It's a beautiful family story, with warmth and humor, appealing to all ages, from teenagers to middle-aged adults (I loved the character of Maggie). I recommend The Kids Are Gonna Ask.

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

Saving Ruby King by Catherine Adel West

Saving Ruby King by Catherine Adel West
Published by Park Row Books ISBN 9780778305095
Hardcover, $27.99, 320 pages

I love reading a debut novel from a new author, the excitement of finding a new voice, knowing that the author has poured everything into this endeavor. Catherine Adel West's Saving Ruby King is a debut novel, and it's brilliant.

The novel opens with Ruby King's mother murdered in her own home on the South Side of Chicago. Many people suspect Ruby's father, a man with a bad temper who had spent time in prison for killing a man years ago. People suspected that Ruby's father Lebanon beat his wife, but that was a not so hidden secret.

Ruby's best friend since childhood, Layla, is concerned for Ruby's safety. Ruby is distraught, but won't allow Layla to help. Layla's father, Jackson, the pastor of Calvary Church, has known Lebanon since childhood, and has been secretly giving money to Lebanon for some unknown reason.

Layla wants to help Ruby, but Jackson orders her to stay away from Lebanon. Layla and her father have been butting heads recently, and things that have been simmering under the surface are coming to a head.

The story is alternately narrated by Layla, Jackson, Ruby, Lebanon, and even Calvary Church narrates secrets that have happened within its walls. The two families have grown up in that church, from Lebanon and Jackson's mothers as children, to Layla and Ruby.

Saving Ruby King has elements of a mystery to it- who killed Ruby's mother, why is Jackson giving money to Lebanon- as well as a multigenerational story about secrets and the damage that keeping those secrets can cause down through the generations.

I found myself totally absorbed in this emotional story from the opening pages, and every revelation was another gut punch. The idea of Calvary Church narrating parts of the story worked so well, the church is central to the lives of these people.

I highly recommend Saving Ruby King for anyone who likes a compelling story, with characters that you can empathize with, and a strong sense of setting. I hope to be reading more books from Catherine Adel West in the very near future, she is a wonderful writer. And if you want to read more books by black authors, Saving Ruby King is a good place to start.

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 Secrets of Love Story Bridge by Phaedra Patrick

The Secrets of Love Story Bridge by Phaedra Patrick
Published by Park Row Books ISBN 9780778309789
Hardcover, $25.99, 336 pages

When we meet Mitchell in Phaedra Patrick's novel, The Secrets of Love Story Bridge, he is at his job cutting off the locks that people have attached to the bridge where he works in Upchester, England. A famous boy band filmed a video for their song "Lock Me Up With Your Love" on that bridge and ever since the song became a hit, people have been attaching locks with messages of love on them to the bridge.

The locks could weigh down the bridge and cause problems so Mitchell and another man spend their days cutting them off. One day, Mitchell spots a lovely woman accidentally fall off the bridge after attaching a lock and he jumps off the bridge to rescue her.

Mitchell becomes famous when a reporter writes a story about his rescue. He is perplexed by the attention, as he is a private person.  A widower,  he lives with his 10 year-old daughter Poppy in a small apartment. His wife Anita died three years prior.

Mitchell feels guilt about Anita's death. Trained as an architect, he worked long hours for a firm in a town far away designing the Upchester bridge. This kept him away from his wife and daughter, but he felt it was a sacrifice he had to make to advance his career and build a future for his family.

After his wife died, he quit his job to take the bridge maintenance one with steady hours so he can care for his daughter. Mitchell doesn't have many friends, and doesn't realize how lonely he is until he meets Liza, Poppy's music teacher.

It turns out that the woman he rescued from the bridge is Liza's sister Yvette, who had disappeared a month before the fall. Mitchell wants to help Liza and her family find Yvette. He feels like he couldn't save his wife, but maybe he can save Liza's family.

Phaedra Patrick writes lonely people so well. Her previous novel, The Library of Lost and Found, is about a woman who works in a library, but doesn't have much of a life outside that. Patrick creates such empathy for these characters, and I particularly like how she writes children. Poppy is a realistic depiction of a 10 year-old, not a smart-aleck or worldly beyond her years. I also like that the main character of the story is a man.

Patrick clearly believes in family, not only the family we belong to but also the one we create ourselves. The Secrets of Love Story Bridge is a sweet story, with enough of a mystery to keep our attention. Fans of Elizabeth Berg's The Story of Arthur Truluv would enjoy. I recommend it.

My review of The Library of Lost and Found is here.

Thanks for Harlequin for putting me on Phaedra Patrick's tour.

The Great Unexpected by Dan Mooney

The Great Unexpected by Dan Mooney
Published by Park Row Books ISBN 9780778308584
Trade paperback, $15.99, 368 pages

Dan Mooney's poignant novel The Great Unexpected opens with Joel Monroe talking to his comatose roommate Mr. Miller in their shared room at the Hilltop Nursing Home. His previous roommate was his beloved wife Lucey, and Joel has been desperately unhappy since her passing a year ago.

The nurses at the home are kind, including Liam and Angelica, and his fellow residents, especially Una, a dear friend of Lucey's, do their best to try and bring him out of his depression. His daughter Eva, and grandchildren Lily and Chris come to visit, but he feels little connection to them.

When Mr. Miller passes away, Joel dreads getting a new roommate. He is further upset when the new roommate is Frank de Selby, a vivacious former actor, whose attitude about life couldn't be further apart from Joel's.

When Joel tells Frank about his plan to commit suicide, Frank informs him that it must be a grand gesture, something that everyone will remember. Frank offers to put his playwriting skills to use coming up with the perfect plan.

In the meantime, Frank and Joel plot to escape from Hilltop to go into town and have a pint at the pub. Joel is not allowed to leave Hilltop as his daughter fears he will have another small stroke, as he had done before. Their continued escapes causes great turmoil at Hilltop, leading to trouble for Joel.

Frank and Joel become good friends, sharing stories about how their fathers beat them, Frank's acting career and struggles to reveal his homosexuality in a time when it wasn't accepted by society, and Joel's regrets about not being the kind of father to Eva that he could have been.

Watching their friendship blossom was such a joy. Frank encourages Joel to open up and they become quite the pair. Frank is the only friend Joel has ever had, and since Frank's family disowned him, Joel is his best friend. They do have their moments of disagreement, and Joel can say mean things to Frank and others, including his daughter, that are shocking. There aren't many books that feature male friendships, and that makes The Great Unexpected a rare treat in the genre.

The Great Unexpected is such a lovely story, poignant and heartwarming. The characters, particularly Joel and Frank, are so well-drawn, and Una as their secret accomplice is touching. There are a few laughs and plenty of tears to go around, and this book brings to the forefront the radical idea that older people want to have autonomy over their daily life, just as we all do, no matter where they live.

I highly recommend The Great Unexpected, and I can truly say that I found it unexpectedly wonderful.

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Dan Mooney's tour. The rest of his stops are here:

Instagram tour:

Monday, June 17th: @nerdybooknurse

Tuesday, June 18th: @shereadswithcats

Wednesday, June 19th: @ohthebooksshewillread

Thursday, June 20th: @sweethoneyandbrei

Friday, June 21st: @crystals_library

Saturday, June 22nd: @downtogetthefictionon

Sunday, June 23rd: @hollyslittlebookreviews

Review tour:

Monday, June 17th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Tuesday, June 18th: BookNAround

Wednesday, June 19th: A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall

Thursday, June 20th: Bookchickdi

Monday, June 24th: Diary of a Stay at Home Mom

Tuesday, June 25th: @thriftybibliophile

Wednesday, June 26th: Cheryl’s Book Nook

Thursday, June 27th: @saturday_nite_reader

Friday, June 28th: A Chick Who Reads

Tuesday, July 2nd: Lori’s Reading Corner – spotlight

Wednesday, July 3rd: Books and Cats and Coffee

Friday, July 5th: The Book Return Blog

Monday, July 8th: Book by Book

Tuesday, July 9th: Openly Bookish

Wednesday, July 10th: @one_more_paige

Friday, July 12th: Seaside Book Nook

Monday, July 15th: Asha Reads and @ashareads

Tuesday, July 16th: Real Life Reading

Wednesday, July 17th: Jathan & Heather

Thursday, July 18th: @theunreadshelf

Friday, July 19th: Eliot’s Eats

The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick

The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick
Published by Park Row Books 9780778369356
Hardcover, $24.99, 348 pages

Martha Storm, the main character in Phaedra Patrick's The Library of Lost and Found, describes herself as "a guardian of books". As a volunteer at her local library, she is "an event organizer, tour guide, buyer, filer, job adviser, talking clock, housekeeper, walking encyclopedia, stationery provider, recommender of somewhere nice to eat lunch and a shoulder to cry on- all rolled into one."

Martha takes on projects for people- laundering and mending clothes, reparing a tapestry for the church, caring for a friend's fish and plants that he has no room for, and so much more that her home verges on looking like a hoarder's house. People take advantage of Martha- her boss asks her to work holidays since she doesn't have a family, people at the library ask her to run errands for them.

She lives in her parents' home, where she cared for her them until they both passed away. When her boyfriend moved to America, Martha gave up her chance at love and happiness to stay behind and care for them.

One day a man who owns a nearby used bookstore leaves a book for Martha at the library. Inside the book is an inscription-

"June 1985, 

To my darling Martha Storm, 

Be glorious always, 

Zelda". 

Zelda was Martha's grandmother who passed away in 1982, according to Martha's parents. How could this be? And the book is filled with stories that Martha wrote as a child with her grandmother. Martha sets out to learn where this book came from, much to the consternation of her younger sister Lilian (who doesn't treat Martha any better than everyone else).

Lilian tells her not to look any further, but Martha must find out if her beloved grandmother is still alive. As the story progresses we learn more about Martha and Lilian's childhood. Lilian was close to their father, who was harder on Martha (even unkind), discouraging her from writing her stories.

Patrick's story is sweetly moving, with characters who have many shades to them. It would be easy to make people villains (Martha's dad) or heroes (her grandmother Zelda), but each character does good things and not-so-good things. I found them to be realistic, especially the familial relationships.

I enjoyed seeing Martha learn to stand up for herself and not let people continue to take advantage of her. She decides to ask for things that she feels she deserves- like a a paying job at the library- and she grows as a person. Many readers will identify with Martha.

If you like Elizabeth Berg's The Story of Arthur Trulov and Night of Miracles, and Patrick's first novel, The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, put the lovely The Library of Lost and Found on your list.  (And the cover is so beautiful!)

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Phaedra Patrick's tour. The rest of the tour stops are here:

Review tour:

Monday, March 25th: Reading Reality

Tuesday, March 26th: A Lovely Bookshelf on the Wall

Wednesday, March 27th: A Bookish Way of Life

Wednesday, March 27th: From the TBR Pile

Thursday, March 28th: The Sketchy Reader

Friday, March 29th: Tar Heel Reader and @tarheelreader

Monday, April 1st: @bookstackedblonde

Monday, April 1st: Into the Hall of Books

Tuesday, April 2nd: Cheryl’s Book Nook

Wednesday, April 3rd: Patricia’s Wisdom

Thursday, April 4th: The Hungry Bookworm

Thursday, April 4th: @worldswithinpages

Friday, April 5th: What is That Book About

Monday, April 8th: @thegraduatedbookworm

Monday, April 8th: Amy’s Book-et List

Tuesday, April 9th: Novel Gossip and @novelgossip

Wednesday, April 10th: Read Eat Repeat

Thursday, April 11th: Girl Who Reads

Friday, April 12th: Kahakai Kitchen

Monday, April 15th: Jessicamap Reviews and @jessicamap

Tuesday, April 16th: Books & Bindings

Wednesday, April 17th: Audio Killed the Bookmark and @beritaudiokilledthebookmark

Thursday, April 18th: A Splendid Messy Life

Friday, April 19th: @jackiereadsbooks

Monday, April 22nd: Jathan & Heather

Tuesday, April 23rd: @novelmombooks

Wednesday, April 24th: Bookchickdi

Thursday, April 25th: Ms. Nose in a Book

Friday, April 26th: Thoughts on This ‘n That