2 Christmas Capers to Listen to Instead of Carols

by Donna Huber

I love everything about Christmas - the cookies and music and movies and romantic holiday novels - but sometimes I need a break from all that sugary, feel-good frivolity. When I need a little palette cleansing I turn to holiday mysteries. A few years ago I read my first Christmas thriller about a serial killing Santa Claus and since I always read a few crime fiction novels set at Christmas. Whether you're not a fan of the Hallmark movie-worthy novels or you just want a change of pace, make sure these novels are on your Christmas list.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free audiobooks were provided for an honest review.

2 Books for Fans of Family Fiction

by Susan Roberts

Families come in all shapes and sizes.  It can be a family created by blood relationships or a family made up of people who love and care for each other.

Today I have two reviews of recent books about families.  One is about a family that was created by love and the other is about a traditional family.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for honest reviews.

7 Chilling Horror Novels to Read

by MK French

We have just under 3 weeks until Halloween. If you are looking for chilling stories to read, then check out this list of horror novels. (There's one that you can put on your Christmas reading list) If horror isn't your thing, be sure to check out my list of fantasy novels and paranormal romances that would be great for Halloween reading as well. I'll have some Halloween book recommendations for young readers in about a week so check back for those if you have kids.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Killing Time by MC Beaton & RW Green ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

Agatha Raisin’s private detective agency is working flat out on a series of shop burglaries. The break-ins seem to have taken a violent turn when a friend of Agatha’s is murdered during a raid on his shop. Although determined to nail the villains, Agatha still makes time to help Sir Charles Fraith prepare to stage a massive, hugely glamorous, promotional event on the grounds of his ancestral home, Barfield House. When Agatha begins to receive death threats and narrowly avoids being abducted by kidnappers, she takes advantage of a previously arranged trip to Mallorca to lie low for a while.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

5 Romance Novels to Heat Up Your Fall Reading

by MK French

The weather might be cooling but there are plenty of hot romances out this month. If you are looking for paranormal romance to read for Halloween, I've got 3 for you to read. There's a rom-com and a holiday romance you don't want to miss.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for an honest review.

The Undercurrent by Sarah Sawyer ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

  

An overwhelmed new mother becomes obsessed with the unsolved disappearance of a young girl from her small Texas hometown―and unearths her own family’s dark secret.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

The Love Elixir of Augusta Stern by Lynda Cohen Loigman ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

It's never too late for new beginnings.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

2 Exciting Stories to Read

by MK French

Are you looking for an exciting story? Whether you are looking for adventure in a fantastical world or the twists and turns of a psychological thriller, these two books should be on your reading list.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for an honest review.

Rockin' Around the Chickadee by Donna Andrews ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

Delaney's due date is right around Christmas day and with her on bed rest at Meg and Michael's house, the usual holiday celebrations are being kept low-key. That's probably best with Meg's Grandmother holding a True Crime conference at the inn. Everything is going fine until a dead body is found in Meg's backyard. 

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Echoes of Us by Joy Jordan-Lake ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

A soaring story of an unlikely friendship of three men and one extraordinary woman and the legacy they built―if their own secrets don’t destroy it.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

8 Fantasy Novels to Read This Month

by MK French

October is the month for all things spooky, scary, paranormal, and fantastical. I have a series of posts this month with recommendations for books that will be great to read for Halloween. I have something for everyone (including children). Today, I'm focusing on fantasy novels.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for an honest review.

The Natural World by David Murphy ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

For lovers of Robert Frost, Elizabeth Bishop, and John Keats comes a poetry book about the beauty of nature and people. The Natural World focuses on euphony, imagery, and form. Among those forms are free verse, blank verse, the sestina, sonnet, villanelle, ode, and rondeau. This slim volume is one to luxuriate with by a fire on a winter's night, to read time and again, and to draw you from routine. (Goodreads)

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Meddling with Mistletoe by Liz Johnson ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

 

Meddling with Mistletoe is a cute Christian Christmas romance.  It has all of the pieces that make it a good romance - the main female character is a failure in her own eyes with plans to go to culinary school if she can just find the money, and the main male character is a serious career person who has been hurt by a girlfriend in the past and isn't interested in romance.  Add in a meddling aunt, a cute little girl, and a Christmas pageant and you can't go wrong.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown ~ a Review

by MK French

Maya was looking forward to her reunion at Princeton, especially because her little sister Naomi is graduating. When police say Naomi died in an accident, she suspects there's more to it. As she pieces together the months leading up to Naomi's death, she sees how much Naomi hid from her. Foremost is the fact that Naomi joined the exclusive Sterling Club as Maya had years ago, and had likely been tapped for the secret society within it. She fears that following in her footsteps got Naomi killed and that her secrets won't stay hidden.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for an honest review.

Murder on the Nile by Verity Bright ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

1924. Lady Eleanor Swift and her butler Clifford are touring the great, ancient sights of Egypt on a much-anticipated extended vacation. But when the pair arrive at the docks in Cairo expecting to board the luxurious paddle steamer advertised in their brochure, they are baffled by the crumbling old cruiser waiting for them. And things only go from bad to worse as death stalks the decks of the SS Cleopatra…

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

The Perfect Baby by Sam Vickery ~ a Review

by MK French

The narrator is sure that she's ready to be a mother and take care of a baby, and has found the perfect one at the hospital. Unfortunately, the baby isn't hers to take home.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

In Every Life by Rea Frey ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

 

What happens when a husband's dying wish is for his wife to find a new love . . . before he's even gone?

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

8 Books to Read This Fall

by Donna Huber

The leaves are falling and all I want to do is wrap up in a cozy blanket with a good book. And there are a ton of great books coming out this fall - my TBR pile is overflowing. Here is a look at some of the books I wanted to read this month.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for an honest review.

Tiny Threads by Lilliam Rivera ~ a Review

by MK French

Samara finally has a job with legendary designer Antonio Mota, a California home, and a possible boyfriend in Brandon, a wealthy investor in Mota’s fashion line. Her dream life begins to unravel when the pressures on her mount. She starts hearing voices and seeing things, and it's not just the stress. There are shadows in LA as well as the House of Mota, and the secrets they hide might be lethal.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

The Holiday Cottage by Sarah Morgan ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

To the outside world, Imogen is a marketing dynamo. Her colleagues don’t know that while her high-achieving professional image is real, the happy childhood stories she spins are as fake as her pretend enthusiasm for Christmas. Working 24/7 has always been her solution to surviving the festive season—until burnout leads to a catastrophic blunder.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

A Reason to See You Again by Jami Attenberg ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

 

A dazzling novel of family, following a troubled mother and her two daughters over forty years and through a swiftly changing American landscape as they seek lives they can fully claim as their own. 

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Tom Clancy Shadow State by MP Woodward ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

The vibrant economy of the new Vietnam is a shiny lure for Western capital. Companies are racing to uncover ideal opportunities. Not wanting to be left behind, Hendley Associates has sent their best analyst, Jack Ryan, Jr., to mine for investment gold. And he may have found some in a rare earth mining company—GeoTech.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Into the Starlight by Amanda Cabot ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

Into the Starlight takes readers back to Sweetwater Crossing to learn more about the middle sister Joanna plus we get to catch up with the other two sisters featured in the previous two books of this series.  This is a fantastic ending to this series and it's going to be sad to leave all of the people that we read about in Sweetwater Crossing.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

In a world without white people, what does it mean to be black?

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

A Golden Life by Ginny Kubitz Moyer ~ A Review

by Susan Roberts

Embark on a journey to 1930s California in this spellbinding historical novel in which a woman must choose between friendship and her own secrets.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

In These Hallowed Halls edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane ~ a Review

by MK French

This collection features the darker side of academia, with lecturers who should know better, obsessive students, and affairs of the heart that go south. 

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

The Mysterious Bookshop Presents the Best Mystery Stories of the Year: 2024 ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

Anthony Horowitz selects and introduces the best mystery stories from the past year, under the auspices of the world’s oldest mystery fiction specialty bookshop.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free audiobook was provided for an honest review.

Off Midway Station by Marc Alan Edelheit ~ a Review

by MK French

A mysterious alien race attacks and seizes star systems within the human expansion into space every fifty years. They attack, seize star systems, and then disappear before coming back. Captain Jim Garrett joined the Navy to fight this force but took the blame for a mission gone wrong and lost his career. His only command now is the construction of a ship at Midway Station. When the aliens attack early, every ship will be needed. Garrett is now thrust into command of the half-built ship and a motley crew.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

The Keeper of Stars by Buck Turner ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

"They say our lives are written in the stars, that our fate is predetermined. But after the life I’ve lived and the things I’ve seen, I can honestly say that we are the authors of our own destiny, endowed by the Almighty with the power to choose our own paths, and, when necessary, to rewrite the stars." (p 2)

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

When We Flew Away by Alice Hoffman ~ a Review

by MK French

Anne Frank and her family lived in the Netherlands before the Nazis began accumulating power and restricting more and more freedoms of the people. This is the story of her life before they went into hiding, which was detailed in her now famous diary, published posthumously by her bereaved father.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Before We Were Us by Denise Hunter ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

 

She can’t remember. He can’t forget.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review

The States by Norah Woodsey ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

Tildy Sullivan is the middle child in an elite yet fading Manhattan family. Her quiet practicality hides her deep, profound longing for childhood summers in western Ireland. She also carries a secret regret. After her mother’s death, she’s persuaded to abandon Ireland and the love of the local boy, Aiden.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Bound in Blood edited by Johnny Mains ~ a Review

by MK French

This anthology involves cursed books, Eldritch tomes, and haunted bookstores, with stories from many of the well-known names in horror. ter. 

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Exposure by Ava Dellaira ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

A life-changing moment encompasses conflicting truths that echo across time, in this powerful, provocative debut.

One night, two people, four sides of a story.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Casket Case by Lauren Evans ~ a Review

by MK French

After a tragedy, Nora Clanton moved back to Rabbittown, Alabama, and took over the family casket business. There are few potential romantic partners there until she meets Garrett Bishop, a logistics coordinator, whose job has long hours, lots of travel, and urgent calls in the middle of the night. Garrett is present when some of Rabbittown’s residents suddenly pass away. It turns out that he's the logistics coordinator for Death. How can she reconcile his job with the potential for love?

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Awake For Ever in a Sweet Unrest by Chuck Rosenthal ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

Deep within the hidden library of Los Angeles' iconic poetry venue, Beyond Baroque, all modern electronics mysteriously fail. There, 19-year-old Beatriz encounters Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley, who promises a magical adventure back to 19th-century Europe.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

No Address by Ken Abraham ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

Many people look at the homeless population in this country and quickly think that they must be addicts or criminals, that they are dangerous and just need to get a job to get out of their current circumstances.  No Address is based on real people who are homeless and gives an entirely different view of why and how people got into this lifestyle.  I guarantee you'll view the homeless differently after you read this book. I know that I do!

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Under Her Spell by K. L. Cerra ~ a Review

by MK French

Liv Edwards has a fiancé, an apartment in Boston, and plans to launch a career in law. Her façade falters when her childhood best friend Sam asks for help years after Liv destroyed their friendship. Liv wants to repair the damage and returns to her small New England hometown, but Sam is gone under mysterious circumstances. Sam changed since high school, living and working with former odd girls Eden and Cora. Liv reconnects with them hoping for answers and learns more about their fairytale bridal boutique. A dark reality could be lurking not just in the boutique, but within Liv herself.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

4 New World War II Historical Fiction Books

by Susan Roberts

Today I have reviews of four new books that take place during WWII.  The first three are similar in some ways - they feature dual timelines and strong and resilient women and they are all based on real people or real situations. The fourth one is about an ordinary man who decides to make a difference.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for an honest review.

Murder in the Countryside by Helena Dixon ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

A meandering drive on a beautiful day, a visit to a local apple orchard, a chance for Bertie the dog to stretch his legs but… has Kitty Underhay just found a dead farmer?

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Sumerians Trilogy by Emily H. Wilson ~ a Review

by MK French

If you enjoy mythology, then you'll want to check out this series. The first two books are available and if Wilson keeps to the schedule book three should be published next August.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for an honest review.

Between Two Sounds by Joonas Sildre ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

Between Two Sounds follows the life of world-famous composer Arvo Pärt from his birth in Estonia in 1935 through 1980, when the Soviets forced him to emigrate because of the nonconformist and religious nature of his music.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

4 Fantasy Novels for Fall Reading

by MK French

Pumpkin spice is popping up everywhere which means Halloween is just around the corner. Fall fantasy novels are often darker to match the shorter days and longer nights. If fantasy is your go-to genre for Halloween reads, then get your list out for these upcoming titles.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for an honest review.

Something Borrowed by Rachel Scott McDaniel, Susie Finkbeiner, Allison Pittman ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

One perfect dress―three different love stories

Three wars, three love stories all connected by one perfect wedding dress.  The authors are all popular authors in the Christian historical fiction genre.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

The Thirteenth Husband by Greer Macallister ~ a Review

by Donna Huber

Tearing through millions of dollars, four continents, and a hearty collection of husbands, real-life heiress Aimee Crocker blazed an unbelievable trail of public notoriety, private pain, and the kind of strong independent woman the 1880s had never seen.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

Sherlock Holmes and the Telegram from Hell by Nicholas Meyer ~ a Review

by MK French

In this historical mystery, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson cross the Atlantic Ocean in pursuit of a mysterious coded telegram. 

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

King of Flames by Kathryn Ann Kingsley ~ a Review

by MK French

In Under, everyone has magic. A ceremony marks Lydia as being without magic, which leaves her as something to be studied or hunted. The King of Shadows Aon takes her under his wing after several inadvertent meetings. The magic of Under is changing, and there is now a deadly struggle for power.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

When Reading Feels Overwhelming

by Donna Huber

Am I headed towards a reading slump? My reading pile feels out of control. I'm 2 books behind on my Goodreads Reading Challenge this year (after being several books ahead). It seems to be taking forever to finish a book. What is a reviewer to do when reading feels so overwhelming?

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Smalltown Tales by Iain McCaig ~ a Review

by MK French

Smalltown is a place where monsters roam, and these twelve illustrated short stories detail what life is like there. The ghosts Frightwood and Po introduce these stories to the reader.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review.

The Sirens of Soleil City by Sarah C. Johns ~ a Review

by Susan Roberts

Three generations of women learn to own their mistakes and rebuild their bonds as they prepare to compete in the South Florida Senior Synchronized Swimming Competition.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. A free book was provided for an honest review