reecaspieces

Overview 

From the author who brought you Dear Thing, Julie Cohen, comes After the Fall — a poignant, beautifully heartbreaking novel about what it means to be family, the ties that bind us, and the secrets that threaten to tear us apart.

When an unfortunate accident forces Honor back into the lives of her widowed daughter-in-law, Jo, and her only granddaughter, Lydia, she cannot wait to be well enough to get back to her own home. However, the longer she stays with Jo and Lydia, the more they start to feel like a real family. But each of the three women is keeping secrets from the others that threaten to destroy the lives they’ve come to know.

Honor’s secret threatens to rob her of the independence she’s guarded ferociously for eighty years.

Jo’s secret could destroy the “normal” family life she’s fought so hard to build and maintain.

Lydia’s secret could bring her love―or the loss of everything that matters most to her.

One summer’s day, grandmother, mother and daughter’s secrets will be forced out in the open in a single dramatic moment that leaves them all asking: is there such a thing as second chances?

Review 

This book was an unexpected pleasure for me. I don’t know what I actually thought this book was about…but I was bowled over with the characters, the story and the myriad of emotions. This is some amazing writing. I was so wrapped up in EACH character. It was like I was right there with them experiencing the same feelings.  

Honor is a cranky old woman who takes a pretty bad spill.  She moves in with Jo and her family.  Honor is irritable and hard to get along with for many reasons. Basically, she is hurt on many levels. Not only does she hurt because she is getting old and cannot do what she once did, but the hurt over her son’s death….stays with her forever and affects the way she relates to everyone around her. 

Jo is a special woman. Not only is she raising three children by herself, she takes in her mother-in-law after the fall. She is one of the most giving characters and has the patience of a saint…Many times I wanted to YELL for her because she wouldn’t lose her temper and temper-losing was so warranted. There is a part in this book where Jo just has a doozy of a day! As a mother,  I remembered what it was like. I almost got as stressed as Jo did. But don’t worry, she handled it like a trooper. I would’ve lost it on the first episode of poop!! Very well written and her feelings came right off the page to me!

Lydia is Jo’s daughter and Honor’s only granddaughter. She is pulled in many different directions. I am not about to give her story away. Just know, she is much tougher than she appears. 

This story was an absolute treasure for me in many ways! Highly recommend if you need a book to get totally absorbed! 

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

Kate, Aubrey, and Jenny. They first met as college roommates and soon became inseparable, even though they are as different as three women can be. Twenty years later, one of them is standing at the edge of a bridge . . and someone else is urging her to jump. 
How did things come to this?
As the novel cuts back and forth between their college years and their adult years, you see the exact reasons why these women love and hate each other—but can feelings that strong lead to murder? Or will everyone assume, as is often the case, that it’s always the husband?

Review

This novel follows three girls, college roommates and best friends for life.   Each one is very different from the other and each one comes from a different background. Kate is a magnet for all things bad….drugs, alcohol, and men! Jenny is the mother hen. She tries to fix everything that goes wrong. And Aubrey, well, she is from the wrong side of the tracks and follows Kate wherever she leads. One of them ends up dead! 

This is a slow read. Well, maybe I should say, it is laying the ground work for the finale, which is a WOW moment. It does pick up about half way through the book and then moves pretty rapidly. I did figure out the murderer.  The author drops several hints and if you are paying attention….YOU GOT IT! 

It is overly dramatic in places but, that could be because you are dealing with young adults through most of this read. It rotates between time periods, the girls college years and around their 40 year old selves. I did not enjoy any of the characters and I do think that was intentional by the author.  I believe this is why the first part of this novel to moved slowly.  I probably would have enjoyed it more if I related to one of the girls. 

This is an interesting mystery that CAN leave you guessing till the end. 
I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: 

A graduate of Harvard University and Stanford Law School, MICHELE CAMPBELL worked at a prestigious Manhattan law firm before spending eight years fighting crime as a federal prosecutor in New York City. 

ITS ALWAYS THE HUSBAND is a triumph. I urge you to consider for feature attention, summer reading coverage, and/or review this Summer 2017. Michele Campbell is available for interview.
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Overview 

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Liliana Hart’s first book in her suspenseful Gravediggers series, featuring an elite group of mysterious men who might be dead to the world, but are also tasked with saving it—and no one can ever know.

The Gravediggers aren’t exactly what they seem. They’re the most elite of the world’s fighting forces—and all they have in common is that they’ve been betrayed by the countries they’ve died for. Because they are dead. To their country, their military, and their families.
Sometimes the dead do rise…

Solomon Lange is a dead man walking. A former black ops agent, he was disavowed and stripped of all honor before being recruited as a Gravedigger. But his honor and good name no longer matter, because no one knows he’s alive, and he’ll never get the recognition he deserves. His mission is simple: save the world or die trying. And for God’s sake, don’t ever fall in love. That’s a rule punishable by death. The kind of death a man can’t be brought back from.

Tess Sherman is the only mortician in Last Stop, Texas. She has no idea how Solomon Lange ended up in her funeral home, but she’ll eat her hat if he’s only a funeral home assistant. Solomon is dangerous, deadly, and gorgeous. And she knows her attraction to him can only end in heartache.

Solomon is on a mission to stop the most fatal terror attack the world has ever known—what’s known as The Day of Destiny—a terrorist’s dream. But when he discovers Tess has skills he can use to stop them, he has to decide if he can trust her with secrets worth dying for. And, most important, he has to decide if he can trust her with his heart. 

Review

Tess manages a funeral home…yes she is a mortician! Who writes a book about a mortician???? Liliana Hart did! And she did a pretty good job of it! Of course, it helps that the funeral home has an active amount of good-looking, HOT, black ops agents living and working in it! These good-looking, HOT, black ops agents are gravediggers. You need to read the book to find out exactly what that means! 

Tess lives in a small town of Last Stop, Texas.  No, this place does not exist….I looked. It is the perfect place for these good-looking, HOT, black ops agents to pull off their stunts. (Did I mention they are HOT!)  Tess is not really a happy camper about this. The funeral home was bought out from under her. She was supposed to be the next owner. Then, she is not! This leads to some tense situations, especially between her and Solomon.  And boy oh boy, do things heat up NICELY between these two! 

As most of you already know….romantic suspense is one of my guilty pleasures. This book was more romance and less suspense. I don’t think any action took place till the last quarter of the book. Kudos to the author for keeping me entertained enough to give it 4 stars. This is all because I adored Tess and her friends and family. Her mother is a piece of work..she could have a book devoted to her antics! 

I received this novel from Simon and Schuster as part of XOXPERTS for a honest review.

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Overview 

From #1 New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner Elizabeth Strout comes a brilliant latticework of fiction that recalls Olive Kitteridge in its richness, structure, and complexity. Written in tandem with My Name Is Lucy Barton and drawing on the small-town characters evoked there, these pages reverberate with the themes of love, loss, and hope that have drawn millions of readers to Strout’s work.

“As I was writing My Name Is Lucy Barton,” Strout says, “it came to me that all the characters Lucy and her mother talked about had their own stories—of course!—and so the unfolding of their lives became tremendously important to me.” Here, among others, are the “Pretty Nicely Girls,” now adults: One trades self-respect for a wealthy husband, the other finds in the pages of a book a kindred spirit who changes her life. Tommy, the janitor at the local high school, has his faith tested in an encounter with an emotionally isolated man he has come to help; a Vietnam veteran suffering from PTSD discovers unexpected solace in the company of a lonely innkeeper; and Lucy Barton’s sister, Vicky, struggling with feelings of abandonment and jealousy, nonetheless comes to Lucy’s aid, ratifying the deepest bonds of family.

With the stylistic brilliance and subtle power that distinguish the work of this great writer, Elizabeth Strout has created another transcendent work of fiction, with characters who will live in readers’ imaginations long after the final page is turned.

Review

I really don’t know how to do an overview for this read.  This is a tale which is more about a small town and its myriad of people.  There are a good many characters and it is disjointed in places. But the stories surrounding each of these players keep you moving along and wanting to know more. The characters each have their own hang-ups and personal issues. Each one struggling to over come, well, life! The novel doesn’t have a main character unless it is Lucy Barton but, she has a minor role.  

I probably would have enjoyed this book more if I had read My Name is Lucy Barton first. I have it in my TBR pile. Just have not picked it up yet. I did not realize this novel was a sequel, or contained the same characters. However, no one writes a story quite like Elizabeth Strout. I love how she weaves love of friends and family along with pain, loss and sometimes abuse. She creates stories impossible to forget and the tales stay with you long after the book is finished. 

I received this novel from Netgalley for a honest review.

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Overview

Fall in love with The Simplicity of Cider, the charming new novel about a prickly but gifted cider-maker whose quiet life is interrupted by the arrival of a handsome man and his young son at her family’s careworn orchard by the author of The Coincidence of Coconut Cake and Luck, Love & Lemon Pie.
Focused and unassuming fifth generation cider-maker Sanna Lund has one desire: to live a simple, quiet life on her family’s apple orchard in Door County, Wisconsin. Although her business is struggling, Sanna remains fiercely devoted to the orchard, despite her brother’s attempts to convince their aging father to sell the land.
Single dad Isaac Banks has spent years trying to shield his son Sebastian from his troubled mother. Fleeing heartbreak at home, Isaac packed up their lives and the two headed out on an adventure, driving across the country. Chance—or fate—led them straight to Sanna’s orchard.
Isaac’s helping hands are much appreciated at the apple farm, even more when Sanna’s father is injured in an accident. As Sanna’s formerly simple life becomes increasingly complicated, she finds solace in unexpected places—friendship with young Sebastian and something more deliciously complex with Isaac—until an outside threat infiltrates the farm.
From the warm and funny Amy E. Reichert, The Simplicity of Cider is a charming love story with a touch of magic, perfect for fans of Sarah Addison Allen and Gayle Forman.

Review 

Sanna and her father run an apple orchard.  It is a hard job but both of them love it and are tied to the land and the trees. The orchard is in financial trouble.  They are also being sabotaged. Issac and Bass are really running away from home. They end up at the orchard and sparks fly.  

Sanna is a hard working, rough and tough gal. She is not one of the best characters though. I love strong female leads but I am not a fan of her rudeness and her temper. Issac and Bass make up for Sanna, especially Bass. Bass is Issac’s 10 year old son and BOY  is he a mess! 

The setting of an apple orchard is certainly unique.  I enjoyed reading about the apple trees and the making of cider. However, the story is not as fast-paced as I like. But, it is a good read, especially for travel. It is simple. I know this sounds like a bad thing, but it is not. Sometimes you need a book like this.  It does not take too much focus but keeps you immersed in the story. 
I received this novel from Netgalley for a honest review.

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