reecaspieces

Overview

Bestselling author Katherine Reay returns with an unforgettable tale of the Cold War and a CIA code breaker who risks everything to free her father from an East German prison.

From the time she was a young girl, Luisa Voekler has loved solving puzzles and cracking codes. Brilliant and logical, she’s expected to quickly climb the career ladder at the CIA. But while her coworkers have moved on to thrilling Cold War assignments—especially in the exhilarating era of the late 1980s—Luisa’s work remains stuck in the past decoding messages from World War II.

Journalist Haris Voekler grew up a proud East Berliner. But as his eyes open to the realities of postwar East Germany, he realizes that the Soviet promises of a better future are not coming to fruition. After the Berlin Wall goes up, Haris finds himself separated from his young daughter and all alone after his wife dies. There’s only one way to reach his family—by sending coded letters to his father-in-law who lives on the other side of the Iron Curtain.

When Luisa Voekler discovers a secret cache of letters written by the father she has long presumed dead, she learns the truth about her grandfather’s work, her father’s identity, and why she has never progressed in her career. With little more than a rudimentary plan and hope, she journeys to Berlin and risks everything to free her father and get him out of East Berlin alive.

As Luisa and Haris take turns telling their stories, events speed toward one of the twentieth century’s most dramatic moments—the fall of the Berlin Wall and that night’s promise of freedom, truth, and reconciliation for those who lived, for twenty-eight years, behind the bleak shadow of the Iron Curtain’s most iconic symbol.

Review

Luisa is a codebreaker for the CIA. She comes across a symbol on a letter and she knows she has seen it before. She begins to go through her grandfather’s office and discovers a past she didn’t know she had!

Luisa is a character which broke my heart in places. But, don’t let her situation get to you. She pulls out all her talents and gumption to save the father she never knew! And I loved her for it!

I love how the author entangles the past with Luisa’s present. The way it unfolds about her father and the way her grandfather molded her to be a codebreaker really had me all up in this drama. My emotions were all over the place.

Give me a book with family lies and secrets, written well, and set in the Cold War, and I am hooked! I have not read a Cold War book in ages. I remember when the wall came down. I stayed up late one night and watched. The author captures all of this and it is not something you will soon forget.

Y’all know I love a tag team of narrators. And this book has some of the best! Saskia Maarleveld, Ann Marie Gideon, P. J. Ochlan are great on the accents and all the drama!

This is my first five star read for March! Y’all do not miss this one! Grab your copy today!

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

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Overview

Though born to heirloom pearls, designer dresses and lush garden parties, Savannah social icon Patricia Falcon and three of her closest friends spend their days in Savannah’s dark side rescuing abused women. Patricia’s darling mother, a prominent philanthropist, drops dead, and the police are baffled by her untimely death. Patricia recruits her three friends to help her investigate what she believes is murder.

“Savannah Sleuth” is a captivating journey from Savannah’s Southern wealth and grace into the hidden corners of Savannah and across two continents in a deadly pursuit of justice.

Review

Patricia’s philanthropist mother has just died under strange circumstances. Now, come to find out, all of her money is gone as well. This sends Patricia and her friends on the hunt. But, it may end up being the last thing they do.

I enjoyed this southern mystery. First off, I love Savannah. So, the setting is one of my favorites. How can you go wrong in a city with as much history and character as Savannah. But, the chase for the money is the best part of the book! Then there is Patricia. She is a true Southern woman and does not take no for an answer.

I had two people picked out for the villain in this tale. And if I had been smart, I would have nailed it on the first guess. I love a book which has me doing a guessing game.

The narrator, Allyson Ryan, did a pretty good job. She tended to get faster if something suspenseful was happening. But Kudos for not trying to screw up the southern accent.

Need a good, southern drama…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

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

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Overview

A standout voice in women’s fiction. I was captivated from the very first line.”—Kristy Woodson Harvey, New York Times Bestselling Author of The Summer of Songbirds

Perhaps the secrets of her mother’s past in this tiny French town hold the key to her own future. . .

Food critic Tempèsta Luddington has always felt like the odd person out in her family, ever since she lost her beloved mother at the tender age of thirteen. When her workaholic father passes fifteen years later, Tempèsta is not surprised that the majority of the considerable family money will pass to her dutiful younger brother, Wal. Still, she is left a modest remembrance from her mother, and for the first time Tempèsta has a world of choices before her.

Lost in grief and hoping to reconnect with her memories and her mother’s past, she uses the money to buy a ramshackle manor house in Sainte-Colombe, a small village in Provence, where her mother had grown up. But she is greeted with more questions than answers. Her welcome, especially by the town’s stodgy mayor, is cold at best, and she finds herself wondering if the entire experiment was a mistake.

Yet she stays, stubbornly sticking it out, slowly learning that her mother’s legacy was more than just a nest egg. Through her mother and the village, Tempèsta learns the value of community and friendship, the importance of self-confidence, and the power of love and trust. What’s more, she sees for herself that there is magic and beauty in the everyday—even something as simple as a sprig of lavender and sage.

Review

Tempe has never lived up to her family expectations. Her mother died when she was young and the family has never been the same. When her dad dies and leaves her out of the will, she knows it is time to move on and get away. She takes what her French mother left her and buys a house in France. She is going to learn about her heritage and hopefully find peace.

There are so many things I love about this novel. It is very close to a 5 star read for me. I love Tempe. I love how she comes into her own and discovers who she wants to be and not what her family wants her to be. I love the old house she bought and the village in France. AND OH! The family secrets…one my favorite things in a novel! This story slows down a bit in the middle and is a bit repetitive in places. However, I fell for Tempe at the very first and she did not let me go!

I have read quite a few books by this author. And all have been wonderful. But, I do have a favorite. It is The School for German Brides. You cannot go wrong with a single one of her books.

I loved the narrator, Caroline Hewitt. She is perfect for Tempe. I truly listened to this in one day!

Need a story which will take you away…THIS IS IT! Grab your copy today.

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

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Overview

From New York Times bestseller Elle Cosimano comes Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice—the fiercely anticipated next installment in the beloved Finlay Donovan series.

“Finlay Donovan is irresistible!”—Janet Evanovich

Finlay Donovan and her nanny/partner-in-crime Vero are in sore need of a girls’ weekend away. They plan a trip to Atlantic City, but odds are—seeing as it’s actually a cover story to negotiate a deal with a dangerous loan shark, save Vero’s childhood crush Javi, and hunt down a stolen car—it won’t be all fun and games. When Finlay’s ex-husband Steven and her mother insist on tagging along too, Finlay and Vero suddenly have a few too many meddlesome passengers along for the ride.

Within hours of arriving in their seedy casino hotel, it becomes clear their rescue mission is going to be a bust. Javi’s kidnapper, Marco, refuses to negotiate, demanding payment in full in exchange for Javi’s life. But that’s not all—he insists on knowing the whereabouts of his missing nephew, Ike, who mysteriously disappeared. Unable to confess what really happened to Ike, Finlay and Vero are forced to come up with a new plan: sleuth out the location of Javi and the Aston Martin, then steal them both back.

But when they sneak into the loan shark’s suite to search for clues, they find more than they bargained for—Marco’s already dead. They don’t have a clue who murdered him, only that they themselves have a very convincing motive. Then four members of the police department unexpectedly show up in town, also looking for Ike—and after Finlay’s night with hot cop Nick at the police academy, he’s a little too eager to keep her close to his side.

If Finlay can juggle a jealous ex-husband, two precocious kids, her mother’s marital issues, a decomposing loan shark, and find Vero’s missing boyfriend, she might get out of Atlantic City in one piece. But will she fold under the pressure and come clean about the things she’s done, or be forced to double down?

Review

Finlay and her nanny, Vero, are planning a girls weekend. In actuality, they are headed to Atlantic City to save Vero’s childhood crush. But, as you can guess, nothing goes as planned.

I absolutely adore this series. Finlay Donovan is always in a pickle. Now she did seem to have her act together better than usual in this book. So, maybe she has turned over a new leaf. However, she still finds herself chasing bad guys and finding dead bodies!

There are places in this book which will have the reader cackling! And I don’t want to give anything away, but Finlay is loose in Atlantic City. So, you can just imagine the messes she gets herself into! I needed a book like this.

The narrator, Angela Dawe, is definitely in her element as Finlay. I do not see how she did one of the scenes without laughing her butt off!

Need a good mystery with fabulous characters…This is it! Grab your copy today!

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

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