Where Hope is Found

 

Where Hope is Found

 by Rebecca L. Marsh 

Where Hope is Found was an emotional roller coaster for me. 

Marrisa and her daughter Maisy are suffering the loss of their loved ones. A tragic accident during their vacation caused Marissa to lose her husband and her other daughter. She is still struggling to adjust to her new life and when her brother Owen invited them to his house, she decided to accept it.

It was so touching to read about Marissa and Maisy’s suffering and how much they each struggled to deal with their life challenges.

This book was beautifully crafted and focused on love, loss, heartbreak, and life challenges. The vivid description made me feel like I was part of the story.

I really liked Marissa’s character, I was able to easily connect with her and feel her pain. The story was sad and emotional and uplifting at the end.

The writing style was beautiful with the proper pace and the plot was brilliantly written.

Many thanks to AQR for having me on this tour.

- Watch For Me

 

Watch For Me 

by Martin Bodenham

This book was a wild ride. 

Ali Page is a beautiful young lawyer looking for a house on a Vancouver Island and Tom Harper is the realtor helping her with her house hunting.

When Tom agreed to help Ali finding a house, he had no idea that she will become his worst nightmare. It took her some time to find the house she wanted .and after finding her dream house, Tom starts getting different messages from her claiming she is sad that she won’t be able to spend more time with him. Tom keeps receiving more strange texts from Ali to the point that it was putting his family life in danger. 

Ali is a woman who gets what she wants. Ali wants Tom and she is not going to stop. Going through the pages I knew Ali was going to destroy Tom’s life. What a woman!!!! and the author did a great job creating such an evil character.

This was a perfectly penned, dark psychological thriller with characters you will love and hate. The story is filled with deception and lies. I absolutely detested Ali and I even doubted Tom at times. 

Watch for me is a well-paced story with fully developed characters. A twisted psychological thriller that makes you want to turn the pages and know what happens next and the surprising ending made it even more exciting. 

I definitely recommend it to thriller fans.

Here is the Blurb:

Tom Harper, a Vancouver Island realtor, has the client from hell, Ali Page, a beautiful and intelligent young lawyer returning from the mainland to take up a job with an island law firm. Trouble is there’s always something wrong with the properties Tom shows her, always a reason not to commit. Finally, after they find a condo she likes, he receives a text thanking him for his help. Ali signs off: I’m sad we won’t get to spend more time together. Often cold and withdrawn throughout their weeks of searching, Ali’s words seem strangely out of character.


The texts keep coming, increasingly incoherent and disturbing. What does Ali mean by: we have a special connection, and why on earth would she say: I’ll be here for you when you leave your wife? Happily married, Tom cannot understand why a woman not much older than his teenage daughter is suddenly obsessed with him. When he rejects Ali’s unsolicited advances, Tom soon discovers the sinister depths to which a delusional mind will sink to obtain what it wants. Isolated and seemingly abandoned by the police and legal system, this is the story of one man’s struggle to rescue his marriage, his family, and his sanity in the face of overwhelming psychological and physical torment.

Many thanks to A Quintillion Read for having me on this tour.

The Girls From the Beach

 

The Girls From the Beach

 by Andie Newton

We’d heard stories about the nurses in tent seven. A secret mission, stolen money, and spies…’

In 1944, four American nurses disappeared for five days. No one knew what happened to them. Until now.

When Kit and Red set foot on French soil during the Normandy landings, they know they have to rely on each other. As they head for the battlefield, their aim is simple: save lives. But when they’re called away on a top-secret mission to patch up a few men behind enemy lines, everything changes.

Alongside fellow nurses, Roxy and Gail, they’re told to prepare for the worst, trading in their nurses’ fatigues for civilian clothes and hiding medical supplies under their skirts. But it’s a lie. Their real mission tasks them with the impossible – to infiltrate the Reich and steal something the Nazis desperately need to win their losing war.

In an ultimate test of courage and comradeship, each woman must decide what she is prepared to risk and what she has to live for.

Praise for The Girls From The Beach

‘One of my favorite books of 2021 and a true must-read for all fans of the genre. It’s not just a story of friendship, but a story of patriotism, heroism, and selfless sacrifice in the name of freedom. Absolutely riveting!’ – Ellie Midwood, USA Today bestselling author of The Violinist of Auschwitz 

‘A wild ride of a book, laced with beautifully flawed characters, impeccable research and a story that will make you cry with tears of joy and sorrow. A resounding five-star read!’ – Terry Lynn Thomas, USA Today bestselling author of The Silent Woman

‘What a story! The Girls from the Beach took me on a rollercoaster ride of mystery and suspense. The Girls from the Beach is a testimony to courage, integrity and female friendship. And that ending – wow!’ – Gill Thompson, bestselling author of The Oceans Between Us

‘The Girls from the Beach is a unique and incredibly imaginative story inspired by the nurses who worked on the front line in World War Two. It is action-packed and full of unexpected drama around every turn – I just had to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next! Readers who enjoyed Newton’s earlier books will be sure to love this one’ – Louise Fein, bestselling author of People Like Us

Digital Publication Date: July 8, 2021

Paperback Publication Date: January 2022

Aria Fiction

Genre: Historical Fiction

- Surviving Savannah

 Surviving Savannah

by Patti Callahan

I found this story unique as I had no information about Pulaski and its passengers before this book.

This is a dual timeline story, 1838 and present.

The 1838 story alternates between Lily and Augusta’s perspectives. Both Augusta and Lily are members of wealthy families and they are traveling on Pulaski for their summer vacation in New York.

Pulaski was a luxury steamship that sunk off the coast of North Carolina in 1838. I haven’t heard about Pulaski before and based on my research after reading this book, Pulaski lost two-third of its passengers and crew. The ship was traveling from Savannah, Georgia to Baltimore, Maryland.

The modern/present storyline is about Everly, a professor at SCAD who enjoys history she is also dealing with the aftermath of a tragedy that she has recently gone through. She is teaming up with two others to research and create a storyline about Pulaski.

I enjoyed the storyline; it was a very well-researched story. I loved how the author introduced all three characters. The details in Everly’s Journey were fascinating. Augusta and Lily’s story during the shipwreck was attractively put together, I enjoyed the details.

“We can’t change the past, but it has the power to shape who we are today. We are who we are because of the past, not in spite of it.”

I would like to use this opportunity to appreciate the Penguin Random House team for all these amazing copies. Many thanks to @berkleypub for this free copy.

Goodreads | Instagram | Amazon

- The Wife Stalker

The Wife Stalker

by Liv Constantine

Joanna is going through a tough time, she is living with her mother and can't see her children. Leo, Joanna's Ex-husband now, is in love with a younger woman and has left Joanna behind.

That younger woman, Piper, moved to West Coast to have a fresh start after she lost her ex-husband and daughter in a boat accident. Her ex's daughter gave her hard times and now she is married to Leo with his two daughters (Evie and Stelli), going through the same experience.

Piper is determined to have a happy family but Stelli is causing her a lot of problems and is doing her best to make her life a living hell.

Meanwhile, Joanna is determined to find out who Piper is. She needs to know who is the woman who is going to take care of her children now. She discovers information about Piper's past but Leo doesn’t listen to her.

This story was a wild ride for me. While the characters were well-developed, I found them faintly likable. I was not able to connect with the choices these two women made. Two undependable and unreliable narrations and two entertaining, yet hideous main characters.

The story started very well, It fell flat for me a bit in the middle of the book, I was waiting for something to happen. However, the ending changed everything, it was surprising and something I didn’t expect at all.

Goodreads | Instagram | Amazon

- Rain City Lights

 Rain City Lights

by Marissa Harrison

Set in Seattle in 1981, Monti, an impoverished child being raised by her drug-addicted mother, is busy and disturbed with her own problems. Her mother was a singer, but she lost her job and turned into prostitution to pay for her drug and rent. 

 Monti’s only hope was her next-door neighbor Sasha since the age of 7, they shared so much with each other despite their parent’s dissatisfaction with this friendship, since Monti was black, and Sasha was white.

They shared their love of music and their relationship grew stronger and intimate.

As their feeling towards each other grow they become fearful to admit their desire and they pull away. With all the danger and murder in the city during the summer of 91, they both are being pushed to different paths, Monti starts a job in law enforcement, while Sasha turns to his drugs and playing music and concerts. with all this, they get away from each other until they meet again 8 years later and thrown back into the cold case of a serial killer and the feeling they both tried to bury.

I enjoyed Harrison’s choice of side characters and all their blunders. She did a great job interweaving the storyline and rich characters. main characters were perfectly crafted through flashbacks and moving the story forward. The surprising changes made the story more tempting.

This book touches so many ongoing issues and I think I like to see it turning into a movie.

Trigger warnings: gender inequality, sexual assault, violence, child abuse, drug use, and the use of racist language.

Goodreads | Instagram | Amazon

- The Paris Library

 

The Paris Library

By Janet Skeslien Charles

I am sorely thrilled for this book to be released today.⁣  

⁣

The story is a dual timeline one is Odeli in 1939 to 1944 and the other one is Lily in 1983-1989.⁣

⁣

It's 1939 in Paris and Odeli is excited about her new job at American Library in Paris, her passion for books and written words helps her to gain trust and credibility at work and this became her permanent job through the years Nazi Occupation in Paris. How Odeli and other staff at the library went above and beyond to some of their patrons and help deliver books to Jewish subscribers who were no longer allowed by Nazi’s to use the library.⁣

Linking the past to the present, we get to know Lily. Set in Froid Montana, Lily is a student who is interviewing her French neighbor Odile. And this charming story continues when these two strike up a friendship and Odeli helps Lily learn French and go through tough times in her life. She tries teaching to learn from her mistakes and Lily wants to know everything about Odeli’s past.⁣

Both timelines were masterfully interweaved with each other and were equally enjoyable. Odeli’s character is amiable, mature, and strong. ⁣

⁣

I really enjoyed reading all the author's well-researched notes. It makes a great impression when a book's characters are real people and knowing that the storyline is based on a true story.it was exceedingly inspiring knowing that the author was a manager at the American Library in Paris herself. And the fact that she had a chance to talk to some of the characters' family members. Doing research on my own using the author's note I was fascinated by the accuracy of this novel reflecting the history.⁣

⁣

⁣

All things considered, I very much enjoyed reading this novel and will recommend it to fans of historical fiction.

Many thanks to @atriaBooks {Partner} and Janet Skeslien Charles, for giving me a chance to read and review this amazing book.

Goodreads | Instagram | Amazon