A Merry Little Lie by Sarah Morgan

 

Do you travel during the holiday season?  We travel at either Thanksgiving or Christmas to Michigan each year to visit my family.  It’s by car, but the drive through Chicago keeps things exciting.

A Merry Little Lie is a family drama that is told through many point of views.  Becky is trying to get home for Christmas but is stranded at the airport.  She runs into her brother’s best friend Will, and he offers her a ride home.  Will experienced her very embarrassing moment at her twin sister Rosie’s wedding.  Will she be able to face down this embarrassment? 

Rosie married Declan after a very quick relationship.  They are having problems – will they be able to hide them from Rosie’s family?

Hayley is being introduced to Jamie’s family as his significant other and they have some exciting news to share.  Jamie is Rosie and Becky’s older brother.  Hayley is meeting the family for the first time.  Will she find the family she has always wanted?

Jenny is happy her kids are coming home and is trying to put together the perfect Christmas experience.  Will she be able to hold everything together?

My thoughts on this book:

·       A Merry Little Lie by Sarah Morgan is the Brenda Novak Book Club read for December.  I finished it up at the end of the month and still need to watch the book club meeting on Facebook.

·       There were a few different romance tropes in this book including forced proximity, friends to lovers, and second chance romance.

·       I would rate this as some spice.  There were a couple of steamy scenes.

·       It made me laugh when the elders were very excited about the romance between the young people.  Grandma in particular was very forthright in her thoughts.

·       Jenny and her husband, Martin, are having problems as he has just retired as a doctor and doesn’t know what to do with himself.

·       I liked all the relationships in this book including the romantic, sibling, parent, etc.  It was a good family drama.  I liked how the book focused on family in all different stages of life.

·       I loved how Hayley was accepted and able to experience a family Christmas she never had before.

·       This book did move rather slowly for me with all the characters to keep track of.

Overall, A Merry Little Lie by Sarah Morgan is an enjoyable family drama perfect for the holidays and all year round.

Book Source:  Review Copy from NetGalley.  Thank-you!

 

Out of the Woods: A Girl, a Killer, and a Lifelong Struggle to Find the Way Home by Gregg Olsen

 

What true crime story would you like to read more about?

In 2005, the Groene family was murdered in their home in Idaho and the two youngest children, 8-year-old Shasta and 9-year-old Dylan were kidnapped.  Forty-eight days later, Shasta was saved when her kidnapper, Joseph Edward Duncan took her out to eat and the restaurant staff called authorities.  Where had she been during the forty-eight days?  What happened to her brother?  What happened to Shasta in the twenty years since her ordeal?

My thoughts on this book:

·       I remember being fascinated by this case when it happened twenty years ago, but I didn’t know anything about what had happened to Shasta since her rescue.

·       I read this in October for the Brenda Novak book club.  It was a very different type of selection for that book club as it was nonfiction true crime.  The book club had a fascinating interview with the author and is available on Facebook.

·       This is a horrifying true story that was very difficult to read at times.  Poor Shasta had to live it; therefore, I could at least read it and try to understand in order to honor her.

·       The story was told in a nonlinear fashion through Shasta’s eyes and trauma.

·       I was saddened on how adults failed Shasta in life before and after her kidnapping.  Afterwards, her remaining family seemed to care more about the money she had then on actually helping her with her problems.  No one wanted to hear the horror of what had happened to this poor young girl, and she had no one to talk to.

·       How can such evil exist in the world?  The book contained graphic detail of the murder of the Groene family and abuse of Shasta and Dylan.

·       Shasta had children young to try to have a family again.

·       I think everyone wants to believe that victims are rescued and live happily ever after, but this is often not the case.

·       Shasta had problems with drugs, legal troubles, and destructive relationships through her life.

·       As a teen, Shasta was sent for a few years to Vista at Dimple Dell Canyon for “help.”  She was manipulated to get money for the facility, and it did not help her at all.  It was yet another case of someone taking advantage of her.

Overall, Out of the Woods by Gregg Olsen was an important read for Shasta to finally have her story told.  It was also a very hard book to read and even harder knowing that this happened to someone.

Book Source:  Review copy from NetGalley.  Thank-you!

The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristin Harmel

 

Title:  The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau

Author:  Kristin Harmel

Narrated by:  Madeleine Maby, Kristin Harmel

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 11 hours and 25 minutes

Source: Thank-you to @simonaudio for the review copy.

Do you have a favorite piece of jewelry?  I have a necklace my Great Grandma gave me when I was young that I love and still wear often.

Colette Marceau was trained as a thief by her mother as a child in France before WWII.  Her family is descended from Robin Hood, and they take their duty of robbing from the rich and morally corrupt and helping the poor seriously.  Colette’s mother, Annabel, helped the resistance during WWII, but she was arrested, and Colette’s four-year-old sister Liliane disappeared.  Annabel was executed and Liliane was found floating in a river with the valuable bracelet that Annabel had sewn into her nightgown, missing. Colette has spent her life continuing her mission to steal from the rich and help the poor, while also trying to determine who killed her sister and why. When her sister’s bracelet shows up at a museum display, will Colette, now an elderly lady, find the answers she seeks?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I read this book in September for the Brenda Novak Book Group.  Brenda Novak had a great interview with the author as part of the book group meeting. You can still watch it on Brenda Novak’s Facebook page.

·       This was a riveting WWII mystery.

·       The story was told in a dual timeline.  Colette in 2018 at almost 90 and Colette as a young girl during WWII were the two timelines.

·       The characters were well developed.  I loved them all especially Colette and her friend Aviva. 

·       I love Kristin Harmel’s novels.  This was fast paced and engaging like previous novels.

·       I liked the romance between the two different sets of characters.

·       My only disbelief in the story was that there was so many very elderly characters who were all sharp and traveling around fine.  I know there are some 90 years old and older folks out there that are traveling around the world, but they are in the minority.

·       Loss and grief are explored in the novel.

·       It has a satisfying conclusion.

Overall, The Stolen Life of Colette Marceau by Kristin Harmel is a riveting and engaging WWII historical mystery and worked wonderfully on audiobook.

 

A Summer for the Books by Michelle Lindo-Rice

 

Do you like to read summer themed books?

Jewel Stone is a best-selling author, but she has been experiencing writer’s block.  Her husband has also recently lost his job and finances are tight.  When her estranged best friend, Shelby, is in an accident and has amnesia, Jewell is her emergency contact.  She drops everything to help Shelby and is inspired by her life to write again.  As secrets from the past threaten to overtake them, will Shelby and Jewell be able to repair their friendship and confront their past?  Will Shelby’s adoptive daughter Lacey be able to find her birth mom?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       A Summer for the Books was the August pick for the Brenda Novak Book Group.  I just finished it this month and listened to the Facebook Book Group meeting when I was done.  I enjoyed the meeting and the interview with the author.  She was delightful!

·       This novel does have romance, but it is closed door.

·       I liked hearing how the author based the characters on herself and family members.

·       I loved that the book explored friendships of both mothers and daughters, as well as mother / daughter relationships.

·       The book is narrated through Lacey, Jewel, Shelby, journals form the past, and a book within the book.  It is a dual timeline book.

·       The story overall was good, and the characters were interesting, but I found it confusing at times especially as the characters were referred to by different names in the past.  It was also repetitive at times and could have been trimmed down to make the storyline move quicker.

·       I liked the bookstore and beach settings.

·       The book had a good ending.

Overall, A Summer for the Books by Michelle Lindo Rice was a good story with great characters, friendships, and setting, but it did move slowly at times.

Book Source: Thank-you to NetGalley for a review copy of this novel.

The Summer that Changed Everything by Brenda Novak

 

Title:  The Summer that Changed Everything

Author:  Brenda Novak

Narrated by:  Courtney Patterson

Publisher: Harlequin Audio

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 39 minutes

Source: Thank-you to @netgalley for review copy.

Do you have one summer that was more memorable than the rest?  Why?  I’ve had a few the summer I was at college in grad school, the summer I got married, etc.

As a teenager, Lucy Sinclair’s father was tried and convicted of murdering three people that she knew, including a teenage girl that was described as her rival, Aurora, for her boyfriend, Ford.  The town shunned her, and Lucy moved away.  Now fifteen years later, she has returned, and she wants to figure out if her Dad was really guilty or not.  Ford is also back for the summer and sparks fly.  Who killed Aurora and why?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This was a Brenda Novak Book Group Read for June, and it was another great book club meeting on Facebook.  I finished it up in early July.

·       The plot for this novel was intriguing.

·       Lucy and Ford had a second chance romance, a trope I usually enjoy.  Ford was expecting a baby with his not quite ex-wife, which threw me off from this romance.

·       I just overall couldn’t get behind the romance.  I don’t like married leads dating people while saying that their spouse just doesn’t get them.  Get divorced, spend some time on your own, and then date. 

·       There was good suspense in the story.

·       I liked the small-town Virginia coastal town setting.

·       The audiobook was interesting to listen to.  It had a good narrator.  She acted out all the parts.  There were multiple POVs including males.  It would have been nice to have additional narrators.

·       The mystery was slow burn.

·       There was a good wrap-up and ending.  I really liked the suspense at the end.

Overall, The Summer That Changed Everything by Brenda Novak was a good romantic suspense novel.  I liked the story and mystery, but I didn’t care for the romance.

The Page Turner by Viola Shipman

 

Title:  The Page Turner

Author:  Viola Shipman

Narrated by:  Katharine Chin

Publisher: Harlequin Audio

Length: Approximately 9 hours and 49 minutes

Source: Audiobook and ebook review Copy from NetGalley.  Thank-you!

 

Where is your favorite setting for a book?  The Page Turner by Viola Shipman is set in South Haven Michigan with action also taking place in the Hamptons and New York City.  I loved the South Haven, Michigan, setting as I grew up in southwest Michigan.  Our family loved to visit South Haven and swim at the beach.  My Great Uncle and Aunt lived in a beautiful historic home in South Haven.  It’s a beautiful community.  I now live in a Lake Michigan Community in Wisconsin.  The lake vibes in this novel were very relatable.

 

Emma Page has just graduated from the University of Michigan and is trying to figure out what to do with her life.  Her parents own The Mighty Pages publishing house, which prints literary fiction.  Emma has secretly written a romance novel and loves romance just as her grandmother did.  When Emma discovers a family secret, how will it affect them and the man who is trying to take their family down?

 

My thoughts on this novel:

·       Viola Shipman is the pen name of Wade Rouse in honor of his beloved Grandma.  He writes the best female characters that really speak to me.  His Grandma taught him well!

·       I read this novel in May as part of the Brenda Novak Book Group.  I loved Wade Rouse’s interview as part of the Brenda Novak Book Group.  He is delightful and his interview was so interesting.

·       GiGi, Emma’s Grandmother, was a wonderful character.  She is the type of loving and sassy Grandma everyone should have.  I was blessed to have one myself.  I loved how she loved to foster the love of reading in her kids and grandkids.

·       There were interesting literary discussions and allusions throughout the novel.  Who gets to decide what is the great American novel?  Why is romance always looked down upon as a genre?

·       The novel was a love letter to Michigan with blueberries, the state flag, roadside farms, lighthouses, Lake Michigan beaches, etc.

·       Jonathan Livingston Seagull is mentioned a lot.  I have never read it, but it has been on my TBR forever.  Have you read this novel?  If so, what do you think?

·       This novel also highlighted family dysfunction and pulling together to protect your family overall.

·       I am looking forward to his next book that will be set in Palm Springs.  It is called Thank-you for Being a Friend and seems to be Golden Girls inspired.

·       I enjoyed listening to this book on audiobook.  It was entertaining and captured my interest on long drives.

Overall, The Page Turner by Viola Shipman was a perfect summer read with great characters, a love of literature, beaches, and a sinister villain.

The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry

 

Title:  The Story She Left Behind

Author:  Patti Callahan Henry

Narrated by:  Julia Whelan and Theo Solomon

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Length: Approximately 12 hours and 26 minutes

Source: Review Copy from Simon & Schuster Audio.  Thank-you!

What's the most beautiful book cover you own?  I think the cover of The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry is beautiful.

In 1927, a devastating fire burned down young Clara’s house, but even more devastating, her mother disappeared shortly after.  Now in 1952, Clara is a single mother raising her daughter Wynnie.  She is contacted by a mysterious Englishman, Charlie, who tells her that he has discovered her mother’s lost dictionary in his late father’s library.  Clara’s mother, Bronwyn, is a famous author who wrote her first novel at the age of 12.  Her second book is in her made-up language and has been unable to be translated.  Will this dictionary be able to help translate the second novel?  Will Clara be able to find out whatever happened to her mother?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I read this in March for the Brenda Novak Book Group.  It was a great Facebook meeting at the end of the month and interview of author Patti Callahan Henry.

·       This was an intriguing story that had everything – a literary mystery, family, beauty of nature, wandering the world, love, etc.

·       The audiobook was great, and it kept me intrigued on some long drives for work last month.  I enjoyed that there were two main narrators.

·       The riveting story of the London Smog showing the real danger during that time period in London, especially for those with asthma.  The main characters have to make a harrowing journey to get out of London.  It was fun during the Brenda Novak interview that Patti Callhan Henry discussed the smog episode of The Crown, which was excellent.  When I was teaching an environmental compliance class, I taught about this event as it was a precursor to our Clean Air Act.  Environmental regulations don’t come out of the blue.  Usually, a tragedy occurred that killed people and spurred new laws to be written.

·       I was fascinated by the author’s note at the end.  The story was based on real life author Barbara Newhall Follett.  Follett was a child prodigy and disappeared never to be seen again when she was 25 years old.

·       I loved the fairy tale like feel when Clara and Wynnie visit the Lake District in England.  I enjoyed the beautiful descriptions of the scenery, and it really made me want to visit the Lake District.

·       There was also a fun exploration of children, make believe, and magical worlds.

Overall, The Story She Left Behind by Patti Callahan Henry is a beautiful historical literary mystery.  I thought the descriptions were beautiful and story was very engaging.

Last Twilight in Paris by Pam Jenoff

 

Title: Last Twilight in Paris

Author:  Pam Jenoff

Narrated by:  Thérèse Plummer, Saskia Maarleveld

Publisher: Harlequin Audio

Length: Approximately 10 hours and 31 minutes

Source: Review Copy from NetGalley.  Thank you!

What is the genre of the book you are currently reading?  I am currently reading a historical fiction novel.

In 1953, Louise discovers a necklace in a secondhand shop that brings back memories from her time in France working for the Red Cross during WWII.  Her friend had the necklace from a musician, and she was killed immediately after Louise last saw her holding the necklace.  Will Louise be able to solve the mystery of the necklace?

Helaine is estranged from her Jewish parents for marrying a non-Jew, cellist Gabriel. Gabriel goes missing when he is forced to play in concerts by the Nazi around Germany. Helaine is arrested and forced to work in Levitan.  Will Helaine and Joe be reunited?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       This was a dual timeline novel.  I enjoyed the characters and both storylines equally.

·       This was a good strong story and very engaging.

·       This book was also a story of marriage for both couples.  Joe and Helaine have been estranged due to war experiences and not wanting to talk about them.  I like how they work on their marriage and come to an understanding.

·       The intriguing mystery of what happened to Louise’s friend Fanny during the war had a satisfying conclusion.

·       There was a great authors note on Levitan, a real store in Parish where Jews are forced to sort plunder from Jewish homes and get it ready to sell.  Also, it was disturbing about how the Red Cross had a checkered past in WWII.  They knew what was going on in the concentration camps but did nothing about it.

·       I read this book mostly on my Kindle, but I did finish it on audiobook.  It was engaging in both formats.

·       This was the February pick for the Brenda Novak Book Group.  There was a great virtual book club with the author on Brenda Novak’s Facebook page.  This book group meetings are always enjoyable.

Overall, Last Twilight in Paris by Pam Jenoff was an engaging dual timeline WWII historical fiction novel.  I liked the unique storyline.

Eddie Winston is Looking for Love by Marianne Cronin

 

What is the last heartwarming book that you have read?  Eddie Winston is Looking for Love by Marianne Cronin was a heartwarming novel and one of my favorite reads of January.

Eddie Winston is ninety and works in a charity shop in Birmingham.  He befriends a 24-year-old, Bella, as donates her boyfriend’s clothes to the shop when he passes away.  Bella is stunned to learn that Eddie has never been kissed and makes it a goal to help Eddie find love. Will Eddie finally find love and his first kiss?

My thoughts on this novel:

·       I read Eddie Winston is Looking for Love as part of the Brenda Novak’s Book Group.  She had a great interview with author Marianne Cronin as part of her January Book Group Meeting.  There is a great line up for books for 2025 for this book group and I look forward to reading them all.

·       This novel had short and quirky chapters which were easy to read.

·       The novel is narrated primarily be Eddie, Bella, and Bridie.  Bridie narrates her life and stories in the 1960s when Edie and Bridie fell in love.  Bridie was married to a serial cheater but wouldn’t leave him due to her strong catholic faith.

·       Bella is trying to come to terms with her grief and how to move on.

·       I like how Eddie decides it is not too late to make a change and decides to change his fashion and life.

·       I loved Eddie’s Guinea pig, Pushkin, and how he got a romance of his own.

·       This was a fun book about love, lose, finding oneself, the importance of friends and relationships, grief, and missed chances.

·       This would be a great read for those who enjoyed The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley.

·       This novel was a sweet, heartwarming intergenerational story.  I would love to get to know Eddie and Bella in real life.  This novel had great characters and humor.

·       It was a quick read that I couldn’t put down.

Favorite Quotes:

“’The years fly, don’t they?’ she says with a sigh.  I wonder if they do.  Like birds, forever flapping away from us, off to sunnier climes.”

“Why do we spend so much money on flowers for the dead but barely ever buy them for the living.”

Overall, Eddie Winston is Looking for Love by Marianne Cronin was a fabulous heartwarming and funny book.  It will definitely be one of my favorite reads of 2025.

Book Source:  Purchased from Amazon.com.