Reading Excursions

MY REVIEW Hardcover:  384 pages Publisher:  Celadon Books (May 26, 2020) Language:  English ISBN-10:  1250621569 ISBN-13:  978-1250621566 Click Picture for Purchase Information “ We were never young. We were just too afraid of ourselves. No one told us who we were or what we were or where all our parents went. They would arrive like ghosts, visiting us for a morning, an afternoon. They would sit with us or walk around the grounds, to laugh or cry or toss us in the air while we screamed. Then they’d disappear again, for weeks, for months, for years, leaving us alone with our memories and dreams, our questions and confusion … So begins Hollywood Park, Mikel Jollett’s remarkable memoir. His story opens in an experimental commune in California, which later morphed into the Church of Synanon, one of the country’s most infamous and dangerous cults. Per the leader’s mandate, all children, including Jollett and his older brot...

MY REVIEW Paperback:  368 pages Publisher:  Thomas Nelson (May 20, 2020 [also April 14, 2020]) Language:  English ISBN-10:  0785233520 ISBN-13:  978-0785233527 Click Picture for Purchase Information “ Glamour, treachery, and espionage collide when an English socialite rushes to save her sister from the Nazis. As the daughter of Sir Alfred Whitford, Kat has a certain set of responsibilities. But chasing her wayward sister, Ellie, to Nazi-occupied Paris was never supposed to be one of them. Now accustomed to the luxurious lifestyle that her Nazi boyfriend provides, Ellie has no intention of going back to the shackled life their parents dictate for them—but Kat will stop at nothing to bring her sister home. Arrested for simply trying to defend himself against a drunken bully, Barrett Anderson is given the option of going to jail or serving out his sentence by training Resistance fighters in Paris. A bar owner serves as t...

MY REVIEW Hardcover:  288 pages Publisher:  Crooked Lane Books (September 10, 2019) Language:  English ISBN-10:  1643850407 ISBN-13:  978-1643850405 “ A mother's worst nightmare, a chance at redemption, and a deadly secret that haunts a family across the generations. There's only room for one mother in this family. Claire Abrams's dreams became a nightmare when she passed on a genetic mutation that killed her little boy. Now she wants a second chance to be a mother, and finds it in Robert Nash, a maverick fertility doctor who works under the radar with Jillian Hendricks, a cunning young scientist bent on making her mark--and seducing her boss. Claire, Robert, and Jillian work together to create the world's first baby with three genetic parents--an unprecedented feat that could eliminate inherited disease. But when word of their illegal experiment leaks to the wrong person, Robert escapes into hiding with the now-pregnant Claire...

MY REVIEW Hardcover:  368 pages Publisher:  Celadon Books (August 20, 2019) Language:  English ISBN-10:  1250317991 ISBN-13:  978-1250317995 “ In this dark, suspenseful thriller, Alex North weaves a multi-generational tale of a father and son caught in the crosshairs of an investigation to catch a serial killer preying on a small town. After the sudden death of his wife, Tom Kennedy believes a fresh start will help him and his young son Jake heal. A new beginning, a new house, a new town. Featherbank. But the town has a dark past. Twenty years ago, a serial killer abducted and murdered five residents. Until Frank Carter was finally caught, he was nicknamed "The Whisper Man," for he would lure his victims out by whispering at their windows at night. Just as Tom and Jake settle into their new home, a young boy vanishes. His disappearance bears an unnerving resemblance to Frank Carter's crimes, reigniting old rumors that he ...

MY REVIEW Hardcover:  336 pages Publisher:  Forge Books (July 16, 2019) Language:  English ISBN-10:  1250198593 ISBN-13:  978-1250198594 Click photo for purchase information “ Nestled in the mountain shadows of Alabama lies the little town of Wicklow. It is here that Anna Kate has returned to bury her beloved Granny Zee, owner of the Blackbird Café. It was supposed to be a quick trip to close the café and settle her grandmother’s estate, but despite her best intentions to avoid forming ties or even getting to know her father’s side of the family, Anna Kate finds herself inexplicably drawn to the quirky Southern town her mother ran away from so many years ago, and the mysterious blackbird pie everybody can’t stop talking about. As the truth about her past slowly becomes clear, Anna Kate will need to decide if this lone blackbird will finally be able to take her broken wings and fly .” Thank you to Bookish First for provid...

MY REVIEW Hardcover:  400 pages Publisher:  Celadon Books (June 25, 2019) Language:  English ISBN-10:  1250204437 ISBN-13:  978-1250204431 Click Picture for Purchase Information “ Eighteen-year-old Stella Sandell stands accused of the brutal murder of a man almost fifteen years her senior. She is an ordinary teenager from an upstanding local family. What reason could she have to know a shady businessman, let alone to kill him? Stella’s father, a pastor, and mother, a criminal defense attorney, find their moral compasses tested as they defend their daughter, while struggling to understand why she is a suspect. Told in an unusual three-part structure, A Nearly Normal Family asks the questions: How well do you know your own children? How far would you go to protect them ? ” “A Nearly Normal Family” is author M.T. Edvardsson’s first book published to the United States. Previously he has authored three novels and two books...