Caterina- Patricia Paris

Title: Caterina: A Bonavera Novel
Author: Patricia Paris
Publishing Date: December 4, 2018
How:   ARC from BHC Press and Library Thing
Synopsis:  Caterina is one of four Bonavera sisters who inherited a winery.  She had ambitions to open a restaurant in NYC and become one of the top Chefs.  When things didn't go as planned she had to move back to the winery and with her sisters. 
Deciding to build her own restaurant on the winery property she meets Liam, the stubborn, hot headed, but attractive building construction contractor.  Caterina and Liam have a first instinct to dislike each other, but will that be all?  Will the family accept that?

My thoughts:  This was one of those good feelings books.  This is the first I've read of the Bonavera sisters novels, but with just reading this one, I look forward to reading them all. 
This novel was full of love, laughter, family, food and mystery. 

Caterina's character is strong, with a no nonsense vibe.  She wants to find love, but she views cooking and family as her heart.  When she meets Liam, it is immediate chemistry that she perceives as dislike on his behalf. 
Liam is a strong willed single parent to a little girl who has had to overcome a great deal of sadness and anger in his life.  Due to this, he is afraid to let just anyone in and around his daughter. 
Over time however, the chemistry between the two becomes overwhelming and undeniable.

Patricia Paris did a wonderful job putting this little feel good novel together.  She left the mystery until the perfect time, she let the love unfold, and gave a happy ending.  I will definitely be looking forward to seeing what else she comes up with, both within the Bonavera family and outside it.

I cannot say enough good things about this novel and will recommend it with joy as a feel good book of the season.

Stars:  5!

In the House in the Dark of the Woods

Title:  In the House in the Dark of the Woods
Author: Laird Hunt
Date Published:  October 16, 2018
How: ARC from Little Brown Publishing on Netgalley
Goodreads synopsis: link
In this horror story set in colonial New England, a law-abiding Puritan woman goes missing. Or perhaps she has fled or abandoned her family. Or perhaps she's been kidnapped, and set loose to wander in the dense woods of the north. Alone and possibly lost, she meets another woman in the forest. Then everything changes.

On a journey that will take her through dark woods full of almost-human wolves, through a deep well wet with the screams of men, and on a living ship made of human bones, our heroine may find that the evil she flees has been inside her all along. The eerie, disturbing story of one of our perennial fascinations--witchcraft in colonial America--In the House in the Dark of the Woods is a novel of psychological horror and suspense told in Laird Hunt's characteristically lyrical prose style. It is the story of a bewitching, a betrayal, a master huntress and her quarry. It is a story of anger, of evil, of hatred and of redemption. It is the story of a haunting, a story that makes up the bedrock of American mythology, but told in a vivid way you will never forget.


My thoughts:
My first thoughts are about the cover of this eerie novel. I loved it. It brings the title together with the content of the book. It's just enough to pique my interest of what could be within the pages under the cover.

The writing style is slightly different from most other reads I've read lately. It took me a bit to get into, but once I did I was not disappointed in the least. Hunts writing was almost poetic, but in a dreamlike, grim way. His foreshadowing was brilliant. It was symbolic and literary in so many ways, I can see this being on many TBR lists.

The content was a perfect read for this time of year. It was full of the colonial time period witches, dark magic, grim forest, revenge and creepy characters. It isn't too often a book will give me feelings other than love and happiness. This one, however, gave me the feels of something I couldn't quite put together while reading. I felt the chills, I felt entrapped in the words on the page wanting to know more and more. I felt my mind racing after about a quarter way through with dark thoughts and gloomy characters.


Overall:
Four stars. I would recommend this dark and twisted fairy tale to anyone, especially this time of year.

Fractured

Title:  Fractured
Author:  Olivia Flaggert
Published date:  9/14/2018
Genre: Adult fiction
Rating:  4 stars
Synopsis:   Love can be so blind. 
He's the perfect man. He's charming, sincere, intelligent, successful.  He's the man all the women fall for. 
Dr. Lenny Jameson has a way of luring women in.  His practice partner, Dr. Amanda Hemingway is head over heels in love with him, the drug reps are swooning, how could a girl like Emma Johnson possibly not fall in love? 
Fall she does.  Emma is a young and hopeful woman trying to piece together her life when it doesn't seem to be going her way.  After her first meeting with Lenny she starts to think that things can't get any better than him.  She places her trust, her life in his hands. 
When Emma starts to think that maybe this man having affairs and her mother ends up dead, she starts to wonder if the man she loves is too good to be true.

My thoughts: I immediately related to this book on so many levels.  The work place relationship, working in the medical field, the girl who doesn't quite have her life together, falling for the one that looks great on paper. 
The idea behind the story line was great.  Older man with younger woman whom he can manipulate into thinking she's crazy.  Love it.  I think what I was surprised most about the book, and maybe didn't like all that much, was the pace of the novel.  I feel like there could have been things described in a little more detail instead of just hopping around.  Though the ending answered a  lot of the questions, there still were a few I didn't feel were answered.  For example, what was the motive behind the murder? Why did Kyle suddenly flip a switch and decide he still loved Emma?
Let me talk about Emma.  I had mixed feelings about her.  She needed to be a weaker character in order for Lenny to be able to play her, but at the same time I wanted her to be so much stronger than she was. She would be the character on screen that I would be yelling at for being so stupid in the horror films.  Despite this, I think she was portrayed to be exactly as the author wanted her to be, and that's okay.
I think the book had some good structure and bones.  The voice was consistent throughout and made it an easier read.  Though I knew the ending would be with Lenny getting caught, I didn't foresee it playing out exactly how it did, and that was a plus for me. 
Overall, I enjoyed this novel and will look forward to reading more from Olivia Flaggert in the future.  I will definitely recommend it to friends.

Forget You Know Me

Title: Forget You Know Me

Author: Jessica Strawser

Publishing date:  2/2019

Genre: Contemporary fiction

Where I got it:  ARC from St Martins Press

Rating: 3 stars

Synopsis:  Liza and Molly are best friends from college now living in two different states and have two different lives.  In an effort to save a strained friendship, they have what they call girls night that consists of wine and catching up over Webcam.  When her daughter needs her, Molly steps away from the computer leaving Liza alone to watch, in horror, as a masked man enters her friends home.  

After frantically calling the police, Liza decides to take the eight hour drive to make sure her friend is unharmed and well.  Only when she arrives Molly slams the door in her face and acts like Liza crossed state lines for nothing at all.

Liza returns home to a burned down apartment complex, no where to live and not understanding the thought process of the person who she's called her best friend all these years.  While Liza is thinking her friendship is over, Molly is thinking she's dodged a bullet only to make another one in its place.  

They cant avoid each other forever though, and soon they'll face a reckoning that will show them just how much weight a shared history can take.

My thoughts: I was surprised by this novel.  I liked the synopsis.  However, I was surprised by the story line ending.  If I learned anything from this novel it's to trust no one.  Not your best friend for so many years and not your husband.  It took me a while to read this book.  When I was reading it I was into it, but the desire to continue reading after I put it down just wasn't there for me.  I didn't get connected to the characters, in fact, I can't even say I liked most of them.  However, I can say that the characters were well developed, to me they were just selfish, paranoid and psychotic.  

Characters and ending aside, Strawser did a good job at tying together all the unknowns that were dropped throughout the book.  Though I can't say I liked the ending.   To me I don't understand how two wrongs make a right, but she did not leave me with any questions unanswered.  

Though I can't say I would read this particular book again, I would like to look into some of her other novels and see how they compare.  Her writing was good, and her ideas where there.  

Things Left Unsaid- Courtney Walsh

 

Title:  Things Left Unsaid

Author: Courtney Walsh

Genre: Fiction, Adult fiction, maybe religion/spirituality

Stars: 5

Synopsis from Goodreads:

An emotional novel of family, friendship and forgiveness from Courtney Walsh, the New York Times bestselling author of Hometown Girl.

Lyndie St. James is thrilled that her best friend, Elle, is getting married but unprepared for the emotional storm of the wedding week and returning to her childhood summer home of Sweethaven. The idyllic cottage community harbors some of her best—and worst—memories. It’s not only the tragic death of her childhood friend Cassie that has haunted her for ten years, it’s the other secrets she’s buried that have kept her from moving on.

But Lyndie isn’t the only one with secrets.

Cassie’s mother, father and brother, still struggling with the loss, have been drifting further and further apart. And Elle herself, the last to see Cassie alive, carries an impossible burden of guilt. Now reunited, each of them has a choice: to reveal the truths of that night or continue to live in its shadow. That means embarking on a personal journey of the heart—to escape the darkness and all its regrets and to finally come to terms with the past and, especially, with each other.

The Competition-Cecily Wolfe

Book Tile:  The Competition
Author: Cecily Wolfe
Genre: YA, Contemporary
Stars:  3.5
Goodreads
For Mary Sofia, The Penultimate writing competition is more than a chance at a free college education; she wants to show her younger siblings that they can all rise above their violent family history. For Raiden, the pressure to succeed comes from within, although he knows that family traditions play a part in his determination. For Camara, writing fiction is almost compulsive, but her own dark secret may be the best story she can ever tell. For Michael, swimming and writing fit his introverted personality perfectly, but meeting a smart and beautiful girl at The Penultimate makes stepping outside of his comfort zone easy. All four will compete against each other along with 96 other high school juniors for the chance of a lifetime: a full scholarship to a prestigious private college. Some students will do anything to win, but others may pay the price.

My thoughts:  

This novel touches on some real life issues that many young adults face today.  Wolfe does a good job portraying the issues in a subtle, not overwhelming way.  Each character has his or her own struggles and it brings them all closer because of it. I loved the idea of the story line and think it was executed well. 
However, for me there were too many characters.  Even the synopsis from Goodreads only shows four of the main characters.  They are the ones with the twists within the novel, but there are four or five other characters that play an equally large role and it can get confusing to follow the story line from one to the other.  Especially when they all have dark past that isn't known to the reader yet.  Once the author gives away a little more information, the picture becomes clearer.  So it all ties together in the end. 
I think for the YA reading this, it shows how friends can be cruel, supportive, intelligent and loving.  I was surprised by the ending, I kind of wanted one of them to win, but then again it all worked out with the little twist as well.

It was a good read.  My first from Cecily Wolfe.  I would recommend it and would read more of her work.  

Sauced Up, Scarred and at Sleaze: An Anthology of 8 Short Stories- G.C. Mckay

This is transgressive fiction at it's finest! 

Mckay is an author who can write.  I didn't find at any time while reading this that it wasn't a well put together book of short stories.  However, short stories aren't really my thing.  I find that I'm always wanting more.

Some of the short stories in this anthology made me laugh out  loud.  Some were not in my taste.  The first two, Something Borrowed, Something Blue and The Importance of Safe Sex were dark and twisted but funny and witty.  I could easily read them. 

Bloodhound Lust was just not for me.  It was grotesque and brutal. 

Mother Nature Sends Her Love and SQUIRM are things one would think typical of boys of a certain age.  I could see my brother having similar stories with his friends. 

In between were like stories that were wonderfully grotesque and witty.  It is not something I normally would have picked up, but I don't regret reading it.  It pushed me to see a different genre of writing.
However, I wouldn't recommend it to just anyone. Transgressive writing, I feel, is not for the weak hearted and takes a certain kind of person to appreciate it.  Though I thought some of the stories were a bit too much for me, I can appreciate the authors creativity and writing style.

Dark Moon Fell- Mari Biella

Angela is a has been pop star with some skeletons in her closet.  After overcoming a alcohol bender, she decides to hide away from her life, fans and demons and takes a job as a gatekeeper for a secluded property owned by a music icon.  What she can't figure out is if what she is seeing part of her imagination, her coming off the booze, or is she really seeing things?  After exploring the house and making friends with the architect working on the project, its discovered that there may be more to this house than it seems, and the architect may know more than he lets on.  Was someone murdered on the property?  Will someone find her?  Is she in danger?  She's in a constant phase of questioning until it all becomes perfectly clear.

My thoughts:

I LOVED THIS NOVEL!

It was a short and sweet, eerie romance.  It was the perfect book I needed to take me away from some of the heavier stuff.  Biella's writing was great.  I loved the idea behind the novel.  Of course, the fact that the lady gets the guy at the end is the perfect ending. 

If I had to pick apart something within it, I would say that I was curious about the timeline.  It seemed like everything happened within a few days of being at the house or happened too quickly.  Which in real life is unimaginable, but it novel life, anything can happen.  So the real life me versus the novel life me are at war.  But I can cope because it was just such a perfect book for my mind frame.  I don't read many novels with eerie story lines, but when I do, I love them.  This one is no different. 

So it gets 5 stars from me. 

If I Die Before I Wake: Not All Tales Have the Ever After You Might Expect, Martii Maclean

Vreni is born into a cursed family where the women sleep... a lot.  She is almost a century old in age, but has been asleep for half of it.  Is there a way to kill this curse her family has been dealing with?  Is there a chance to find love?  Is she the only one who can break the curse?  She has to find out. 
This fun, enchanted, Sleeping Beauty like read was good for an old maid like myself, but would be great for a young teen looking to get lost in a magical world.  I can appreciate the magical world Maclean has presented in the novel.  The idea of a world where one sleeps while others are awake and growing older and more frail while trying to preserve their family secret is a good foundation for a great read.  It seemed to move a bit too quick at times, leaving me with gaps of information, but it was not enough to deter me from continuing and may be overlooked by someone not looking for more.
This is my first read from Martii Maclean.  I look forward to seeing what else she has out there and would recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick, fun read. 

Marooned: Can YOU Endure Treachery and Survival on the High Seas? James Schannep

This book!  This book was a first for me.  I have never read a "click your poison" or a "choose your own adventure" book before so it was interesting. 
I was the main character.  I was able to choose which direction and path I wanted the character to go down and explore.  Would I survive the adventure?  Or would I meet my demise at any given moment?  The choice was mine.

What I liked about this was that up to a point I was able to decide myself how the storyline went.  Do I want to stay and have a beer?  Or because I know it's taboo, I simply leave the brothel?  Which ship did I want to take?  Which fate would be mine?  It was a great story of pirates, braving the sea, and being underclass in a port city. 

HOWEVER, there was no way to go back to the previous page unless I knew what page I was on, or what chapter.  So if I died (which I did, embarrassingly early in the book) I had to go back and either try to remember the previous chapter and choose a different path, OR I had to start all over again. I could read the book 2-3 times and have it be different every time.  Which I guess is the point, but for me it was a first. 

For me, it was interesting to see how Schannep tied the whole thing together.  No matter what I clicked the story still flowed.  There was no gaps for me.  He wrote in a manner that made the novel an easy read, fun and exciting to follow and leaving me wanting to know all the directions I could take to decide my fate. 

Though I've never read to CYOA novel or anything from Schannep, I would totally recommend it. 

Literature (R), Guillermo Stitch

This novella is perfect!  For us readers who cannot imagine a world without literature, books, novellas, or anything to do with well written words, this is a perfect idea. 
The author creates this theme of a world where literature is banned.  Those who are caught indulging in the thing we love are not just fined or slapped on the hand, they are executed.  But for the main character, Billy, it is life. 
The way the beginning and middle were written I was having a hard time imagining how the ending was going to play out.  I thought that I wasn't going to like it.  However, Stitch did a great job tying everything together in a little amount of pages. 
The only thing I would have liked a little more information about is the time frame and a little detail about when the novella is taking place.  For me a world without Lit is just unbelievable, so I assumed based on little pieces of information that was dropped, but it wasn't really mentioned.
The novel was short and sweet and I would recommend it to anyone. 

Rowan and Eris- Campbell Jefferys

Urged by a series of postcards, Rowan travels across the world in search of a woman he once had a fling with in New Zealand whom he believes has his child he's never known about.  Uncertain the child exists, or is even his, or where to find this elusive woman of chaos he met over five years ago he packs his bags and with the help of his best friend he goes on his hunt.  While searching for the woman he once knew as Nola, he begins to find himself in pieces along the way.  He has some great adventures, meets some wonderful people and is able to come home with stories some can only dream of. 

My thoughts on the book:
-I get why it's titled Rowan and Eris but at the same time... I question it too.  Rowan is going across the country to find Nola and Eris to make sure she's his and that she's safe, but at the same time the child plays a backseat in most of the novel.  It's not about their journey together, or each of their journeys separately.  It's mostly Rowans story.  When it's not Rowan's its Nola's. 
-Nola.  I hated her character.  She is the exact opposite of the caring and kind man that Rowan is.  Causing chaos in parts of the world she decides to be in, not caring about whether or not people get hurt or where she leaves her child seems to be here drive.  She's a dynamic character, but one that could be easily hated.
-I loved the dynamic between Rowan and his best friend Churchill.  They both seem to lift each other up in so many ways.  Which is contrasting to that of Rowan and Nola.  It was a good relationship to follow. 

Overall, I liked the story line and the idea behind it.  If the characters were any different it wouldn't have worked the way it did.  The way Jefferys was able to weave in a out of characters but still remain in the first person was flawless.  I would recommend it to others.  It's definitely a novel that can build courage and good feelings within the readers. 

The Secrets We Keep-Mia Hayes

This book is so chic-lit.  It's a fun, quick, bitchy, Mean girls meets Desperate Housewives read.  It was perfect for my mood, but I can appreciate how it wouldn't be a read for everyone.

Elizabeth is a wife and mom running from her husbands past infidelity and not so slight nervous breakdown when she moves into the rich suburb of Waterford.  She just barely resonates with the popular country club women, and just barely blends in with the "normal" moms.  But Waterford is a town where gossip runs in the veins of women and money seeps out their pores so "normal" is not exactly acceptable.  Rumors are flying about infidelity, finances, cosmetic surgery and more.  What's true and what's not?  When Elizabeth starts to question her own life and the people in it, the people who are supposed to care, she comes up with answers she didn't think she'd find.

My thoughts:
*What I liked about this novel was Hayes read on bipolar disorder.  I often wondered myself if Elizabeth was really crazy, or if her husband was manipulating her to think she was.  I'm sure it's a fine line.
*At some point in the novel I hated every single character.  The ones I thought were catty bitches turned out to actually have a heart, and the ones I thought were endearing turned out to be scum.  But I guess it was easier to relate to some of the characters that way.
*It was a quick and fun read.  I was enthralled with the first page and couldn't put it down. 


This is my first read from Mia Hayes.  I think I'll check out some of her other material.

Secrets In Death

Secrets In Death is J.D. Robbs' 45th murder mystery novel in her In Death series. 

I'm no stranger to the authors In Death series.  I often wonder how Robb is able to come up with a different story line so often, but I am never disappointed.

NYSPD Detective Eve Dallas catches a murder right at her feet while at a dinner meeting with a colleague.  Wanting to get justice for the Gossip Guru victim as well as being pissed off it happened in her vicinity just drives her harder to catch the killer before there's another body on her hands.  She and her posse of detectives and her civilian consultant, super hot husband discover details about the victim that are not exactly public friendly for any of them so the need to keep quiet is strong.  Is someone protecting one of the gossip guru's targets?  Does she have a scandalous past?  What was she hiding?  Dallas finds it all.

Robb does an excellent job leaving the identity of the killer until the very last pages of the novel.  The character dynamics are, as always,  perfect.  They relate to the reader in so many different ways.  Dallas is both kick ass and funny, but still has a softer side.  Peabody is her perfect sidekick in so many ways.  And who doesn't like a super hot rich husband? 

The mystery comes together so well, leaving me wanting for more and more from Robb.

Bookshelves, reviews and ratings

Guyssssss!

I've been gone.  I needed a hiatus of sorts.  From life, love and the pursuit of happiness.  BUT now, I'm back down on earth, a little bit fonder of love and definitely living life. 

I've been reading like crazy.  Playing games, binge watching and all that, but reading like crazy.  That  means I'll get back to my reviewing while I'm adding more to my bookshelves.  Stay tuned!

Say Goodbye

"Go back to being friends

But tonight let's be lovers,

We kiss and sweat

We'll turn this better thing

To the best

Of all we can offer, Just a rogue kiss

Tangled tongues and lips,

See me this way

I'm turning and turning for you

Girl just tonight"

I wish someone, some times, could psycho analyze me and tell me why I do certain things.  Or put myself in certain situations.  I'm pretty sure I already know.  But reinforcements and affirmation would be great.  So I could cut that shit out.