Winnie-the-Pooh is a classic installment in the lives of children. Join Winnie, Christopher Robin, and all of their friends as they have a run-in with a Woozle, search for Eeyore’s lost tail, and meet a Heffalump! Written by A. A. Milne in 1926, this children’s book kicked off the saga of Winnie-the-Pooh and went on to captivate children – and adults – of all ages for decades to come.
Review
Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin, Rabbit, Eeyore and Piglet have some wonderful stories to tell! From Pooh and his honey to Eeyore and his lost tail, these adventures are timeless.
Nothing like visiting your childhood friends all over again. That is what this audiobook did for me! These are such magical stories. Truly takes you on a trip to the hundred acre wood with all the characters and all the wonderful fun adventures.
Joel Froomkin did a fantastic job. I loved all the voices, except for piglet. I just thought piglet didn’t fit. But, he was spot on for all the other characters.
Need a book which will travel you down memory lane…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.
I received this audiobook from the publisher for a honest review.
From Sariah Wilson, the bestselling author of Roommaid, comes a captivating romantic comedy about what happens when a wedding party mixes business with romance.
Rachel Vinson is a bridesmaid for hire: part confidante, part wedding planner, and one hundred percent pretend BFF. Discretion guaranteed. Her next gig is a destination wedding—livestreamed and sponsored—for an Instagram influencer. That means a paradise of new contacts, which could be a boon to her already booming business. If Rachel can keep the very handsome and slightly too interested best man at bay, that is.
High-tech entrepreneur Camden Lewis must know: Who is this gorgeous, intelligent, and mysterious woman? Too good to be real. Convinced she’s a corporate spy out to tank his company, Camden’s not letting her out of his sight. But the constant surveillance is also opening his eyes to things about Rachel that he likes. If she’s a spy, she’s certainly the cutest one he’s ever seen.
As the week’s worth of wedding events march along, Rachel and Camden are learning almost everything there is to know about each other. Rachel’s made a career out of always a bridesmaid…but perhaps there’s a chance for her own trip down the aisle?
Review
Rachel has been hired to be a bridesmaid for an Instagram influencer. The wedding is going to be live streamed so she must make sure everything goes off without a hitch. However, love tends to have a mind of its own. When the best man, Camden, shows up, Rachel realizes she may have met her match.
This is such a cute novel. I love Rachel. She is such a go getter. And she tries so hard to do the right thing….right down to when she does the wrong thing. Then there is Camden. He is electric! When these two get within 10 feet of each other, sparks fly!
This story hit me at just the right time. I needed a funny romance to get me through my work week! This one took me away and planted me right in the middle of Camden and Rachel! A great escape!
Need a cute, romantic comedy…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
From Rachel Hawkins, the New York Times best-selling author of The Wife Upstairs, comes Reckless Girls, a deliciously wicked gothic suspense, set on an isolated Pacific island with a dark history, for fans of Lucy Foley and Ruth Ware.
When Lux McAllister and her boyfriend, Nico, are hired to sail two women to a remote island in the South Pacific, it seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Stuck in a dead-end job in Hawaii, and longing to travel the world after a family tragedy, Lux is eager to climb on board The Susannah and set out on an adventure. She’s also quick to bond with their passengers, college best friends Brittany and Amma. The two women say they want to travel off the beaten path. But like Lux, they may have other reasons to be seeking an escape.
Shimmering on the horizon after days at sea, Meroe Island is every bit the paradise the foursome expects, despite a mysterious history of shipwrecks, cannibalism, and even rumors of murder. But what they don’t expect is to discover another boat already anchored off Meroe’s sandy beaches. The owners of the Azure Sky, Jake and Eliza, are a true golden couple: gorgeous, laidback, and if their sleek catamaran and well-stocked bar are any indication, rich. Now a party of six, the new friends settle in to experience life on an exotic island, and the serenity of being completely off the grid. Lux hasn’t felt like she truly belonged anywhere in years, yet here on Meroe, with these fellow free spirits, she finally has a sense of peace.
But with the arrival of a skeevy stranger sailing alone in pursuit of a darker kind of good time, the balance of the group is disrupted. Soon, cracks begin to emerge: it seems that Brittany and Amma haven’t been completely honest with Lux about their pasts – and perhaps not even with each other. And though Jake and Eliza seem like the perfect pair, the rocky history of their relationship begins to resurface, and their reasons for sailing to Meroe might not be as innocent as they first appeared.
When it becomes clear that the group is even more cut off from civilization than they initially thought, it starts to feel like the island itself is closing in on them. And when one person goes missing, and another turns up dead, Lux begins to wonder if any of them are going to make it off the island alive.
Review
Lux and Nico have been hired to take two young women to a remote island in the pacific. It sounds like fun and a unique adventure. Until it is not! All is well for the first few days, then things change. Will they come out of this alive?!?!
I have to say, this is a very unique premise for a story. Who wouldn’t want to go to a remote island for a few days to escape. It sounds magical. And at first, it was. Then the intensity of the whole tale changes and the story takes a very different twist.
I enjoyed this author’s last book, The Wife Upstairs . This book was good just not as good as that one…clear as mud. Anyway, I was just not a fan of any of these characters. There was not a single appealing one in the bunch. Lux almost changes personalities in the middle of the story, and not to someone I liked. However, I did enjoy the setting of the remote island and the history surrounding this location.
The narrator, Barrie Kreinik excelled with all the voices. Plus, she kept the intensity level going all the way through this novel.
Need a good novel set in a remote location with just strange things happening…this is it! Grab your copy today.
I received this novel from the publisher for an honest opinion.
The author of the “sweeping, stirring, and heartrending” (Kristin Harmel, author of The Room on Rue Amélie) The Light Over London returns with a masterful, glittering novel that whisks you to midcentury Britain as it follows three of the last debutantes to be presented to Queen Elizabeth II.
When it’s announced that 1958 will be the last year debutantes are to be presented at court, thousands of eager mothers and hopeful daughters flood the palace with letters seeking the year’s most coveted invitation: a chance for their daughters to curtsey to the young Queen Elizabeth and officially come out into society.
In an effort to appease her traditional mother, aspiring university student Lily Nichols agrees to become a debutante and do the Season, a glittering and grueling string of countless balls and cocktail parties. In doing so, she befriends two very different women: the cool and aloof Leana Hartford whose apparent perfection hides a darker side and the ambitious Katherine Norman who dreams of a career once she helps her parents find their place among the elite.
But the glorious effervescence of the Season evaporates once Lily learns a devastating secret that threatens to destroy her entire family. Faced with a dark past, she’s forced to ask herself what really matters: her family legacy or her own happiness.
With her signature “intricate, tender, and convincing” (Publishers Weekly) storytelling, Julia Kelly weaves an unforgettable tale of female friendship amid the twilight days of Britain’s grand coming out balls.
Review
Queen Elizabeth will no longer allow presentations in court. So 1958 is the last year of the debutante. Lilly has been chosen to be one of the last debutantes. Lilly is just wanting to please her mother and her grandmother. She really wants to stay in school, but being the dutiful young lady, she agrees to all the balls, lunches and other activities required to come out for the season.
Lilly meets quite a few new friends. However, her mother is not happy with her selection of friends. The further the season moves along, the more Lilly realizes something is wrong. And when Lilly discovers the secret…her life is changed forever.
I enjoyed so much about this novel. The characters, the setting, and the mystery just melded so well together. This is the perfect mix of a book! I swear…I felt like I was right in the middle of the season myself. And my heart went out to Lilly on more than one occasion.
Julia Kelly has become one of my favorite authors. I adored The Last Garden In England. And this latest book has moved right up there with it!
if you need a book to take you away to England…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.
A year after THE STEAL, Ania Throne is determined to take back what the Leopard stole from her. Together with her lover and partner, Jerome, she stages a spectacular heist during the Venetian Carnival, to lure out the treacherous mastermind they unmasked. She’s willing to risk it all—until her revenge takes a dangerous twist that could cost her what she loves the most.
Jerome Curtis has given up everything for Ania. She needs his help and he’s fallen head over heels for the world’s most eligible jewelry designer. But when their daring scheme to catch the thief who escaped turns on them, he’s targeted for a crime he never wanted to commit—and he has to find a way out fast.
From a glamorous costume gala to the winter canals of Venice, Ania and Jerome must confront the choices they’ve made and bait a new trap to catch the Leopard, before the Leopard springs his trap on them. This time, the stakes are personal, but with more than diamonds on the line, can they escape the bait or will it separate them forever?
The second novella in To Catch A Leopard, THE BAIT is a nail-biting romantic caper by bestselling authors C.W. Gortner and M.J. Rose.
Review
This is the second novella in the To Catch a Leopard Series. This story is set in Venice. Jerome and Ania are trying to trap the famous burglar, The Leopard. However, the tale twists and Jerome is accused of a crime.
I did not enjoy this one as well as I did the first in this series. I believe it is because I found Ania to be a bit overbearing and spoiled. But, she and Jerome have a unique connection which adds so much to this story.
I also loved the Venice setting. The authors did a great job making it real for the reader. With the bad smells and the crumbling areas of the town, I felt like I was right there!
Need a quick mystery set in beautiful Venice…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest opinion.
What a wonderful December…Hubby and I decided to take a last minute trip to Florence, AL for a quick weekend trip. We toured the Muscle Shoals Music Studio and just enjoyed some fun relaxation before the rush of Christmas.
So…add this along with Christmas and family….it was a fantastic December!
Hard to believe 2021 is almost over….now on the the new chapter!
Here are the books I read and listened to in December!
New York Times bestselling author Allison Brennan’s suspenseful new mass market original about a college senior’s podcast that delves into an unsolved campus murder of a sorority girl three years earlier, as individual callers explode every fact previously thought to be true.
Lucas Vega is obsessed with the death of Candace Swain, who left a sorority party one night and never came back. Her body was found two weeks later, and the case has grown cold. Three years later while interning at the Medical Examiner’s, Lucas discovers new information, but the police are not interested.
Lucas knows he has several credible pieces of the puzzle, he just isn’t sure how they fit together. So he creates a podcast to revisit Candace’s last hours. He asks listeners to crowdsource what they remember and invites guest lecturer, former US Marshal Regan Merritt, to come on and share her expertise.
New tips come in that convince Lucas and Regan they are onto something. Then shockingly one of the podcast callers turns up dead. Another hints at Candace’s secret life…a much darker picture than Lucas imagined—and one that implicates other sorority sisters. Regan uses her own resources to bolster their theory and learns that Lucas is hiding his own dark secret. The pressure is to solve the murder, but first Lucas must come clean about his real motives in pursuing this podcast – before the killer silences him forever.
Review
Lucas has created a podcast about a true crime that occurred on his college campus. He has lots of information about the murder of Candace Swain. And he knows someone out there is hiding something. He brings on former US Marshal Regan Merrit. These two hit a nerve and before long both are in danger…but, there are more secrets to be revealed…you must read this to find out.
Lucas is like a dog with a bone…he is obsessed. I loved his tenacity. You just know he is hiding something! Then there is Regan. She is one of my favorite characters. She has a past she is running from, well, more like trying to hide from. This case brings her back to life and her instincts kick in.
This is not my favorite Allison Brennan book. I enjoy her books but this one was a bit slow at the first. But, the further you get into the story you realize it is a slow build to a sensational ending you will not soon forget!
Need a book with a dramatic ending…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
ALLISON BRENNAN is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over thirty novels. She has been nominated for Best Paperback Original Thriller by International Thriller Writers and the Daphne du Maurier Award. A former consultant in the California State Legislature, Allison lives in Arizona with her husband, five kids and assorted pets. The Sorority Murder is the first of a new mass market series,
When a bull-riding champion is left holding his friend’s baby, could it be time to put down roots in Gold Valley?
Midwife Mallory Chance is ready for a fresh start in Gold Valley. And when she locks eyes with a handsome cowboy across the saloon, it feels like fate. After too many years wasted on her cheating ex, good girl Mallory is read to cut loose and prioritize herself. But when the dust settles on their hot night, it turns out that her mysterious one-night cowboy is none other than her new landlord – and someone she’ll be seeing very regularly around Gold Valley…
Bull rider Colt Daniels has a wild reputation, but after losing his friend on the rodeo circuit, he’s left it all behind. If only he could walk away from his guilt as easily…or the temptation of Mallory! He can’t offer her the future she deserves – what does a cowboy with a heart as damaged as his know about forever? Then his friend’s tiny daughter ends up in Colt’s care, and he’s in over his head. Colt has never wanted to rely on anyone, but he needs Mallory’s help taking care of the baby he’s beginning to love as his own. But is it all still temporary, or is it their chance at a forever family?
EXCERPT
CHAPTER ONE
It was him. The man. The fantasy man. The one who had haunted her dreams for the past six months.
And he was just like Mallory Chance remembered him.
Tall, broad shoulders, broad chest. Tight black T-shirt and black cowboy hat. His midsection looked hard and solid, and so did his thighs.
He was the sort of man who would have terrified her when she was a teenager. Far too much masculinity to cope with—and why bother?—when there were soft, gentle boy band members to fantasize about from the safe distance of a bedroom wall poster.
The sort of man she’d never had the chance to lust after because she’d made her choices about men at fifteen—again, when she’d been more into boy bands than bad boys and had proclaimed chest hair “gross”—and had therefore been stuck with her teenage sensibilities even as she’d transitioned into adulthood.
He looked like danger. The kind you ran from when you were a girl and wanted to run to when you were a woman.
The hardest-looking man in the room.
The one who would win the bar fight.
The one whose muscles looked like they could carry the weight of the whole world. Or possibly just handily beat up her trifling ex.
But it wasn’t enough that the man had the most incredible body she’d ever seen.
He had dark blond hair, dark stubble covering a square jaw. His mouth was perfectly formed, and while she’d never given much thought to what constituted a perfectly formed mouth, it turned out she knew it when she saw it.
But his eyes…
That night in the Gold Valley Saloon, six months ago, while she’d been seated next to her boyfriend, they’d locked eyes.
And she’d felt it all the way down to her core.
Like a bolt of lightning.
An electric current that had run beneath her skin and down to her bones and had left her feeling changed.
It had been a moment. A brief moment. But she hadn’t been sure how she would breathe through it, let alone carry on like it hadn’t happened.
She’d never experienced anything like it before.
Like she was staring down fate in cowboy boots.
But that had to be ridiculous because she didn’t believe in things like that, and if she did, she’d have to claim Jared as her fate, not some random guy in a bar.
Jared, the man she’d been with since she was fifteen years old.
What was that if not fate?
At least, that was what she told herself. For a long time. Too long.
Fate.
The word whispered over her skin, the concept like firecrackers going off in her stomach.
It was why she had come here tonight, and she would be lying if she said that wasn’t true.
All the whole way from San Francisco she had played the music as loud as she could, had rolled the windows down and shouted Taylor Swift lyrics into the wind. Because her world had been broken open, and because Jared had hated that music.
And it didn’t matter what he liked or didn’t like.
Not anymore.
So she’d done it, because she could. And she had ignored the ten times her cell phone had rung with his number flashing across the screen.
She wasn’t taking him back. Not this time. Not ever again.
In the past he’d left her, and she was the one who felt lost. And every time, she’d just get used to him being gone, he’d call and she’d pick up. She’d tell him to come home. Because she needed him.
She hadn’t known how not to need him. And she’d done her best to make sure he needed her. Because it was in that space where she felt right. Like she was doing the right thing, and like she mattered.
That sweet spot of contentedness and a little bit of penance.
Not this time. This time she’d done the leaving.
With very little forethought, and nothing more than a couple of haphazard emails, she had decided to uproot her entire life and go to the town of Gold Valley.
Mallory had been enchanted by Gold Valley from the first time she had come to visit her brother, Griffin.
She and her parents had come six months ago, along with Jared. It had been wonderful. And he had been horrible. And all of the doubts that bubbled up on occasion had come roaring to the surface during that week.
He’d been bored at dinner; he’d been completely uninterested in all of the quaint brick buildings in town. He’d overslept and missed family breakfasts.
In general, every single one of his bad qualities, every single thing that Griffin hated about him had been on full display.
Your brother already hates me. I’m not going to perform.
He’d said that while lounging in the passenger seat of her car, his sunglasses on, holding his phone up, paying it more attention than he did her, as usual. In the years since they’d started dating, his blond hair had transitioned from floppy boy band to man bun, which was the only way he’d transitioned from boy to man, really. He was still handsome in that smooth way, slim and… Well she’d always found him… Cute.
But he was much less cute when bored and slumped in her car, texting on a phone she’d paid for while he acted aggrieved by the vacation she’d also paid for.
He’d said that her brother hated him. And it was true. Griffin did hate him. But it was based on things like that, not on nothing.
Griffin had never been shy about his feelings for Jared, and it had always hurt Mallory.
She’d idolized Griffin all her life. Her older brother was her hero and always had been. A shining beacon of everything good and successful. Her parents had always been so proud of him. And so had she.
Eight years older than her, she’d been ten when Griffin had moved out, and it had devastated her. Even though it was the natural order of things. It had changed her world, and she felt unspeakably lonely with him gone.
He’d gone off and gotten his own life. Fallen in love, gotten married.
And then he lost his wife and little girl, and Mallory had lost her beloved sister-in-law and cherished niece.
Even though Griffin had survived, in many ways she’d felt like she’d lost him too.
It was only since he’d met Iris that Mallory felt like she really had them back.
Which, other than the natural pull she felt to the town, had been the reason that she’d come to Gold Valley.
She wanted to be near her brother.
And she needed, desperately, to be very far away from Jared.
Her rental wouldn’t be ready for a couple of days, but she just… She hadn’t been able to stay. Not anymore.
And there were a whole lot of conversations that she was due to have. Mostly because Griffin didn’t even know that she was moving to Gold Valley.
Her parents didn’t even know what she was doing.
Par for the course, isn’t it?
Maybe. But there were just… There were some things she just wanted to keep to herself. So she didn’t have to feel the sting of their disappointment. Her own failures mixed together with disapproval from the two people who mattered so much to her.
She’d always tried to cover for Jared too. Every time he’d left and hurt her, she’d tried to minimize it. Every time he’d spent three weeks or a month apart sleeping at another woman’s house, only to come home, she’d tried to hide that.
And she’d tried to forget it.
Her relationship with Jared was fifteen years long. They’d grown up together. Well, he’d grown up less, she’d grown up more. But they’d shaped their lives around each other and she’d felt like…
Like he was the only person who knew everything about her. Things she’d never shared with her parents, never with her brother… He’d been there for.
And in the darkest time, he had been there. And she’d clung to that through every bump in their road.
But this time, he’d cheated. They hadn’t been separated before he’d found his way into another woman’s bed. She’d thought everything was fine. Great. Better than it had been for a long while, in fact.
And that was what hurt the most.
She gritted her teeth. Feeling angry. And she looked back over at her mystery cowboy.
Yeah, the thing was, he had probably cheated on her before. He had probably been cheating for their entire relationship, and she had just believed him every time he ever said that the only times he’d touched another person had been when they were on a break.
That had hurt. It always had. Because she had never…
He was her one and only.
And of all the silly things that had enraged her, the one that had fueled her down I-5 the whole way here, was… That.
Was the fact that she had seen a man that had made her feel things just with one look that no one, not even Jared, had ever made her feel before.
She’d felt that deep connection back then. Sitting there with a man who was tipsy off his sixth beer, which she’d paid for, while she looked at another man who incited some kind of fire in her stomach—it felt unfair. And in that period of time when she’d been in that house she used to share with Jared in a town that she wanted to leave desperately, she just decided she needed to… Go.
And she could stay in a motel until the rental date.
But she needed to be gone. And she had told herself that it wasn’t the vision of that man’s eyes that had propelled her. She had told herself that it wasn’t why, after she checked into the little Wine Country Motel on the edge of Gold Valley, she’d taken a shower and freshened up, put on some makeup for the first time in three weeks and a light, summer dress.
No, she had told herself that none of those things had anything to do with her mystery man.
And then, when she was bored and hungry and had bypassed any number of actual restaurants on the main street of town, walking to the Gold Valley Saloon, she had decided that there was no way she had any hope of seeing that man. Because what were the chances?
But then, in the back of her mind it was there. How people did like their regular bars. How it was possible.
But so not likely that, six months from the first time she had seen him, he would be there. Just happened to be there.
When she was free and unattached, angry and needing desperately to reclaim something… Or rather, claim it for the first time.
But there he was. There he was. And she was frozen to the spot in that Western bar, her feet grounded to the rustic wood floor. People were talking and laughing and dancing all around her. Country music was playing over the jukebox, and there was tension filling the air. Couples were everywhere. New and old, she imagined. Some who had forever. Some who were looking for a night.
But he was alone. Standing there at the back of the bar with the neon light from a beer sign shining over him like an unholy sign from the heavens. She knew it was him. Because she could never have confused him with anyone else. Sure, there were other handsome men in the room. But none of them made her feel like fire.
None of them made her feel like everything she’d ever known before was a pale, cardboard construct, and he might be the only thing that was real.
The only thing that could make her real.
She swallowed hard, walking over to the bar. The bartender was a handsome man, broad chested with a quick smile, tattoos up his brown forearms, a bright gold wedding band and a twinkle in his eye. “Can I help you?”
“Yeah. I… Whiskey. Please.”
“All right. Any particular kind?”
She didn’t know anything about whiskey. “Do you have a special kind that makes you brave?”
He grinned. “Even cheap stuff will do that. Just comes with a headache.”
“It’s my experience that just about everything in life comes with the headache,” she said, trying to smile. And then she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Goose bumps broke out over her arms.
And the fire inside her flared.
That happened a split second before she heard a low, husky voice just behind her.
Maisey Yates is a New York Times bestselling author of over one hundred romance novels. Whether she’s writing strong, hard working cowboys, dissolute princes or multigenerational family stories, she loves getting lost in fictional worlds. An avid knitter with a dangerous yarn addiction and an aversion to housework, Maisey lives with her husband and three kids in rural Oregon. Check out her website, maiseyyates.com or find her on Facebook.
For the hundredth time since they’d made their promise, she wondered if she and Agnes were really going to go through with it, if she was brave and terrible enough….
At the top of the Empire State Building on a freezing December night, two women hold their breath. Frances and Agnes are waiting for the man who has wronged them. They plan to seek the ultimate revenge. Set over the course of a single night, One Night, New York is a detective story, a romance, and a coming-of-age tale. It is also a story of old New York, of bohemian Greenwich Village between the wars, of floozies and artists and addicts – lighting up the world while all around them America burned with the Great Depression.
Review
Agnes has had enough of the abuse from her father! So, she takes off to New York City to find her brother. Agnes is a small-town country girl. So, the big city has many appeals…and many dangers and her brother is tied up into all of them!
Agnes is a character I had big feelings for. She is truly a country bumpkin gone to town. But, it doesn’t take her long to find her niche. And when something happens to her brother, this does not stop her from taking matters into her own hands.
I fluctuated between 3 and 4 stars on this one. The story is very intriguing, I just found a lot of it to be too coincidental. But, the setting and the time period is right in my wheelhouse.
Stephanie Cannon, the narrator, did a wonderful job. I enjoyed how she enhanced all the voices and added the perfect inflection.
Need a twisty tale set in New York City…This is it! Grab your copy today!
I received this novel from the publisher for an honest review.
reecaspieces 