reecaspieces

Overview

USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestseller Pamela Kelley invites readers to experience the warm glow of family, friends, and festivities this Christmas. Come spend the holidays on Nantucket.

Nantucket’s famous Christmas Stroll is always the first week of December and this year Mimi’s Place co-owners want to do something extra special for the restaurant. It will be Emma and Paul’s first Christmas together as a couple and Mandy’s first holiday as a newly divorced mother of two. Although Mandy does have a promising new relationship, she wants to take things very slow, and the holidays are for sure not the time to dive in too deep.

Their sister Jill and her new husband, Billy, are planning to spend the whole month of December on Nantucket too, juggling remote work for the executive search firm they own together in Manhattan with relaxing, spending time with family, and helping out at the restaurant too. 

Gina Caruso, the awesome bar manager, is spending her first winter on Nantucket after having lived for years in Boston. It’s a bit of an adjustment—winters on Nantucket are so much quieter than the city life she was used to. She’s even more confused when someone she had a major crush on back in the city moves to Nantucket, while Jared Hawthorne, the new sous chef at Mimi’s Place makes it his mission to introduce Gina to all of Nantucket’s holiday festivities. Suddenly her boring winter is starting to look a lot more interesting.

Review

Nantucket’s famous Christmas Stroll is always the first week of December and this year Mimi’s Place co-owners want to do something extra special for the restaurant. Gina Caruso, the awesome bar manager, is spending her first winter on Nantucket. Jared Hawthorne, the new sous chef at Mimi’s Place makes it his mission to introduce Gina to all of Nantucket’s holiday festivities.

This is a sweet read and the characters and the setting are great. Add in all the holiday festivities on Nantucket and it just adds to your Christmas spirit.

But y’all, nothing happened in this book. I kept waiting for something to happen except eating at the restaurant but it just did not move forward. Yes it is about Christmas and yes it is set on Nantucket but I expected more. And I love this author’s books. My favorite is The Bookshop by the Bay.

But, it was worth the time because Nantucket is on my bucket list. Add in the Christmas charm and you have an ok book to get you into the Christmas spirit.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

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Overview

Sometimes the quietest miracles grow in the darkest seasons.

After six years of caring for her ailing parents, literature professor Selwyn Aldridge is alone in the weathered Victorian house where she grew up. Grief hangs heavy in every room, and her mother’s once-glorious garden is buried beneath weeds. When a bottle of morphine disappears during a moment of despair, Selwyn begins to question her grip on reality—until a radiant stranger named Blossom appears, arriving with uncanny timing and an instinct for exactly what Selwyn needs.

With Blossom’s quiet guidance, Selwyn begins to restore her mother’s garden—and, slowly, her own sense of purpose. But when an old flame resurfaces, a pregnant student turns up in need, and strange disturbances echo from the garage apartment, it becomes clear Selwyn’s story is far from over.

Set against the lush, literary backdrop of Oxford, Mississippi, Where the Light Lingers is a soulful novel about second chances, chosen family, and the quiet miracles that take root when we begin again.

For readers who loved The Secret to Southern Charm by Kristy Woodson Harvey or The Summer House by Lauren K. Denton—this soulful Southern novel will speak to your heart.

Review

First off…this is set in Oxford, MS. You cannot go wrong with this setting. However, I wish the author had talked more about the area.

Selwyn’s mother has just passed away after a long illness. Selwyn is a bit unmoored. She is struggling to find the right balance when Blossom comes across her path. Blossom seems to know just what to say. But, when a pregnant student, an old flame, and a young runaway girl come into Selwyn’s life, even Blossom has some struggles!

I enjoyed so much about this novel. These characters are people you know. As a reader, you fight right along side them. I also enjoyed the bit of magical realism. This just added to the charm!

And let’s not forget the family secret…a twist I did not see coming!

Need a hometown novel you will adore…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel for a honest review.

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Overview

Heartfelt, heartwarming, joyful, and uplifting. You can’t go wrong with a Rachel Linden book.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author Debbie Macomber

A magical cookbook and a summer on her family’s Italian olive farm help a brokenhearted social media chef cook up a satisfying new life in this delectable novel from the bestselling author of Recipe for a Charmed Life.

Rising star Jules Costa loves re-creating vintage recipes for her popular online cooking show. But when personal and professional disaster strikes, her only chance to save her career is to complete her new cookbook before the end of the summer. Panicked, Jules returns to her family’s beloved olive farm on the shores of Italy’s stunning Lake Garda. Seeking culinary inspiration, she’s hoping to convince her spunky eighty-year-old Nonna Bruna to share her precious collection of family recipes.

Jules’s plans quickly go awry as she discovers that Nonna’s cookbook has magical and unpredictable powers. It reveals only one recipe at a time, offering a cooking experience guaranteed to satisfy the chef’s palate and bring clarity to their life. Yet the pages remain stubbornly blank for Jules. To make matters worse, the olive farm is in deep financial trouble, and Jules soon uncovers a web of family secrets involving the cookbook and a lost recipe for orange blossom cake that holds the key to everything. Then there’s Nicolo, the boy next door, who broke her young heart years ago. He is now all grown up, even more attractive, and the only person poised to help Jules find answers.  

In a whirlwind summer beyond her imagination, Jules begins to unravel the mysteries baked into her family’s history and discovers the essential ingredients to create the future of her dreams.

Review

Jules is in a mess. She is about to lose her online cooking show and she has to get a cookbook written in a short amount of time. So she heads to just the right place, her Nonna’s olive farm in Italy. Not only is the farm and her Nonna very special to her, she hopes this will heal some of her grief from her father’s passing. But it does so much more!

I loved reading about Jules. She is grieving and struggling through life. But, the healing powers of family…AND an old boyfriend…help give her the strength to get back on track.

I enjoyed so much about this book. I loved the setting of Italy, the characters and don’t get me started on the cookbook. Yes! It is a special book! You need to read this to find out!

Need a heartwarming tale about love and family….THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

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Overview

From bestselling author Meagan Church comes a haunting exploration of identity, motherhood, and the suffocating grip of societal expectations that will leave you questioning the lives we build—and the lies we live.

They called it hysteria. She called it survival.

Lulu Mayfield has spent the last five years molding herself into the perfect 1950s housewife. Despite the tragic memories that haunt her and the weight of exhausting expectations, she keeps her husband happy, her household running, and her gelatin salads the talk of the neighborhood. But after she gives birth to her second child, Lulu’s carefully crafted life begins to unravel.

When a new neighbor, Bitsy, moves in, Lulu suspects that something darker lurks behind the woman’s constant smile. As her fixation on Bitsy deepens, Lulu is drawn into a web of unsettling truths that threaten to expose the cracks in her own life. The more she uncovers about Bitsy, the more she questions everything she thought she knew—and soon, others begin questioning her sanity. But is Lulu truly losing her mind? Or is she on the verge of discovering a reality too terrifying to accept?

In the vein of The Bell Jar and The Hours, The Mad Wifeweaves domestic drama with psychological suspense, so poignant and immersive, you won’t want to put it down. 

Review

Lulu Mayfield has spent the last five years molding herself into the perfect 1950s housewife. Despite the tragic memories that haunt her and the weight of exhausting expectations, she keeps her husband happy, her household running, and her gelatin salads the talk of the neighborhood. But after she gives birth to her second child, Lulu’s carefully crafted life begins to unravel.

This is hard to read in places. I remember struggling to be the perfect mom and trying to live up to everyone’s expectations. Megan Church brings all this to light. So, the feelings of inadequacy all came back as I was reading this. But, y’all! The emotions I had for this woman ran rampant!

There is more to this novel than just postpartum depression and how hard it is to be a mom and a wife and a mother. It is also about the relationship between a husband and a wife. There’s a lot of times the husband doesn’t see or want to see what anyone is going through and in this novel…he just thinks a dishwasher will solve it all.

And that is not all…there is a huge twist that made me set the book down a minute and breathe. Then there came another twist! The struggles of fighting the male perceptions of a woman in the 1950s (don’t get me started on today!) will make you furious.

So, needless to say…this novel will give you an emotional overload…but worth every word!

Need a book you won’t stop thinking about…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

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