Tag: secrets

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#BookReview: Jill Is Not Happy by Kaira Rouda

Orwellian. 1984 was originally published in 1949 – 76 yrs and 2 days before the publication of this book – and its final line in particular is echoed in this book. (Not revealing it here so as to avoid spoilers, though yes, *some* people – me, I am “some people” – will remember it exactly.)

Here, we get a very similar effect in the end, if not a retelling of the overall story of someone rebelling against a thing they are tied to in so many ways before being abused back into loving the thing they originally rebelled against. Obviously without the political commentary, as (as another reviewer noted), Rouda is clearly making a name for herself in the trainwreck popcorn thriller market. Why insert any overt politics and piss off whatever segment of potential readers, after all? 🙂

Thus, fans of Rouda will love this new entry. Those new to Rouda’s writing will find a pretty spot on example of it here, at least in my reading of her last few books (though not all of them, yet). And yes, her style doesn’t leave anyone looking particularly great or give the reader really anyone to “root for” 100%. Nobody is a truly “good” character, but all of the characters work reasonably well for their role in the story being told. And the story being told will have you on the edge of your seat much of the time, with little time for any “potty break” sections.

If you’re looking for a darkly entertaining thriller with minimal blood or sex or even really cursing… you’ve found exactly that. If you’re looking for something that is not pretty well exactly that… this ain’t what you’re looking for. It really is as simple as that, as is the case with pretty well every Rouda book. (Some may have more sex than others, some may have more cursing than others, but largely if you’re ok with reading about people doing horrible things to each other, up to and including murder both onscreen and off… you’re going to be ok here.)

Overall a darkly fun book that will be perfect summer reading for some, and that may be either too dark or even not dark enough for others.

Very much recommended.

This review of Jill Is Not Happy by Kaira Rouda was originally written on June 17, 2025.

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#BookReview: The Summer That Changed Everything by Brenda Novak

Strong Small Town Tale. This is one of those tales that has a bit of a lot. Rich boy falls in love with trailer park trash girl over the course of one fateful teenage summer. Events happen in their small seasonal town, and small seasonal townspeople – including police – respond as small seasonable townspeople all too often do, even in real life.

But what if… what if damn near *everyone* was wrong?

What if the truth of that summer all those years ago was so much more complex? What if virtually *no one* had anywhere near a complete picture of what was happening, due to *everyone* having far too many prejudices and preconceptions?

Can wrongs done that summer all those years ago be corrected all this time later – at least to some degree or another? Can relationships destroyed then – family, community, romantically, and others – be repaired after so much time has passed and so much bitterness has been so deeply internalized?

Novak here provides a stunning tale perfect for summer reading that delves into all of the above in a tale that ultimately leaves the reader a bit breathless and a lot of emotions to deal with. It isn’t a comedy, though it has a touch of that. It isn’t a romance per se, though it does in fact meet all known qualifications there and may be marketed as such. This is far more a family/ small town drama, and one that plays out quite remarkably well.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Summer That Changed Everything by Brenda Novak was originally written on June 15, 2025.

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#BookReview: The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

Complex Story of Generational Trauma. This is one of those tales that reads a touch slow – so be prepared for that – but which ultimately succeeds in having quite an emotional impact due to just how much force it lands with. When, to bring a bit of physics into the equation here, Force is mass multiplied by acceleration, a slow acceleration of a sufficiently sized mass can hit with the same impact as a much faster, yet smaller, object. This book’s ultimate mass, all that has happened to each of these characters and all they have gone through as a result of these events, is truly rather substantial. In the end, you’re going to see clearly just how these characters became all that they did… even as you may not quite get all the answers you may want as a reader, or perhaps things ultimately play out a touch differently here than you may want in “real life”. Regardless, this book stays true to its story as Clark chooses to craft it, and she truly did a particularly great job yet again.

Yes, there is praise for both AOC and Kamala Harris within this text, so there will be some who love it for that alone and others who wish to defenestrate it for that alone, but I can also state that other than one character actively praising an event that is current for that character, the AOC/ Kamala lines in particular are one-offs and not truly central to the story.

Of at least slightly more concern, perhaps still not enough to deduct a star, yet enough to note in the review, is that this *is* yet another book where most straight males are written as antagonists and vile and evil – and yes, combined with the AOC/ Kamala line… again, could be divisive. But while annoying, it also works within the context of this tale as told, and is actually at least used well to enhance the impact of the overall story. Along these lines, there *is* also a gay married couple present, so do with that as you will. Again, I know some will love this and others will want to defenestrate the book over it, so you do you. I for one thought these characters were, again, worked into the story quite well and didn’t seem as forced as I’ve seen these types of characters be in other tales by other authors, so it was neither here nor there for me.

Ultimately there is enough in this tale that various people won’t like it for various side reasons. Read the book anyway for the actual main storyline… and maybe be prepared for the room to get quite dusty at a couple of points in particular.

Very much recommended.

This review of The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark was originally written on June 2, 2025.

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#BlogTour: The Paris Promise by Suzanne Kelman

For this blog tour, we’re looking at . For this blog tour, we’re looking at The Paris Promise by Suzanne Kelman.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (BookHype.com / Goodreads.com / Hardcover.app / PageBound.co / TheStoryGraph.com) and YouTube:

Superb Tale Of Survival And Love Offers Hope For Modern Era. This is one of those dual timeline WWII historical fiction tales that manages to create a solid amount of survival tension without ever actually going into the concentration camps… and is rare in that it offers a fair amount of modern day hope as well.

The timelines here are each done particularly well, with tension ratcheting up throughout the book in each as hints are placed and ultimately secrets are revealed, and the timelines manage to play into each other in more than the usual ways – very nearly to what I hold as the ultimate visual in the dual-timeline approach, that of the final fight in the movie Frequency and in particular *that* sequence. Kelman never goes anywhere near there really, yet also manages to very nearly create the same effect in the reader’s mind at one point.

Overall simply a superbly crafted, multi layered story that offers pointers for the modern era without ever being preachy about them at all – simply using its own story to show some things that we may consider more broadly, should we so choose. And yes, we very much should take these things to heart in reality, if we truly seek to avoid the horrors shown (and not shown so directly) here.

Very much recommended.

After the jump, the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: The Paris Promise by Suzanne Kelman”

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#BookReview: Lie In The Tide by Holly Danvers

You Think You Know Me. I fully cop to being one of those people that avoids my hometown in my adult life (other than visiting family members who continue to live there) specifically because high school was hell and I don’t care to catch up with pretty well anyone from that era of my life. (To be fair, the feeling is largely mutual. :D)

So for me, a group of former HS friends deciding to catch up by spending a weekend together to celebrate the upcoming 40th birthday of one of them is… weird.

And yet… Danvers absolutely makes the idea work. The first part of the tale is largely “establishing shots”, with each of our four friends introducing themselves and where they currently are in life as they begin to travel to the meeting point on Cape Cod. This section is admittedly slow… but then, so is this section in many of the best thriller/ horror/ disaster movies or stories.

Once everyone begins catching up, the action begins to pick up – including a scene that reminded me of a long ago college Service Spring Break incident, but to reveal that tale here would get into spoiler territory for the book. Hell, I didn’t even connect it until I began writing that last sentence. 😉 From here, the tale goes less introspective and, eventually, more into “what the hell is going on” / “who can we trust” territory, with a fair amount of exploration of the common theme of “who we are on social media isn’t always who we are in real life” that has been explored so much over the last decade. While Danvers doesn’t really add much to that particular discourse with this tale, she does use it to add a touch of depth to her own story.

I will note that the mystery, once it arrives, was perhaps given away a touch too early with one particular detail that one of the characters revealed in her opening monologue. So for those that just cannot stand solving the mystery before the author reveals it… well… “you think you know me”. In other words… there may yet be more to this tale…

The epilogue in particular offers a stinger that takes this seeming one-off tale and offers the possibility that it could in fact become a series, which those of you who pick this book up with the “Book 1” on its title would already know. (I had received an Advance Review Copy of the text months before publication, though I only read the book about 2 weeks before due to other ARC commitments.)

Ultimately, this actually has a blend of the approaches used in say the “Widows” series by Kimberly Belle, Cate Holahan, Layne Fargo, and Vanessa Lillie – where each author seemingly takes one of four widows and they combine to craft an intriguing and rompy series – and the meta-publishing discussions of say Romantic Friction by Lori Gold – among others – and yet still manages to be fairly uniquely its own thing even with those similarities. It will be interesting to see where Danvers takes this budding series and how long she intends to have it run.

Very much recommended.

This review of Lie In The Tide by Holly Danvers was originally written on May 20, 2025.

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#BookReview: Every Little Thing by Kay Bratt

Truly Masterful. This is one of those books where the dangers of a foreign country – specifically, Mexico relative to US tourists, in this case – form a major plotline… so be aware of that going in, and depending on your own views you may like it or not. Either way, Bratt works it pretty amazingly to show that there are both good and bad people everywhere, and for the most part, people really just want to live their lives and work for the best for those they love.

In addition to the dangers of Mexico though (which are central to one of the major plotlines of the book), Bratt also does a great job of showing just how beautiful the resort areas in its tourist hotspots can be – which I can also attest to as well.

And then there is the plotline following the youngest of the Hart sisters, back again in a major way and having a more direct link with some of my own activities over the last couple of weeks, as I mentioned in Bratt’s Facebook group. So that was pretty cool for me personally, but even more generally Bratt managed to layer this particular plotline into this story very well, despite its only real connection to the Mexico-based plotlines being that it involved a member of the Hart family.

Overall I do think this was one of the stronger tales of this series, really, with all that is done herein and all that is set up to come out of everything. Bratt carefully and beautifully layers all these elements of destination wedding, missing person suspense, travel danger, personal danger, family loyalty, non-preachy political commentary, and so much more… and she manages to do it all while telling a compelling tale in just over 250 pages. As I mentioned in the title, truly masterful.

Start from Book 1, Hart’s Ridge, to understand all that is going on here, but for those more adventurous readers, this *can*, technically, be read as a standalone / entry point in series.

Very much recommended.

This review of Every Little Thing by Kay Bratt was originally written on May 5, 2025.

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#BookReview: Other People’s Summers by Sarah Morgan

Another Solid Sarah Morgan Book. Long time fans of Morgan know what to expect with her non-Christmas books (nearly the same thing as with her Christmas books, but generally in a more “Summery” location and without the magic of Christmas playing a role). For those new to Morgan, this is actually a solid enough representation of her style to welcome you in.

The characters are (mostly) fleshed out well enough, particularly our various female characters, and they’re all flawed enough in those real world kind of ways to make them relatable to most of us to some degree or another without being so flawed as to be caricatures. The men… could probably have been better fleshed out, but meh, that can be said of most of Morgan’s books. At least with Morgan you’re never going to get a man shown as utterly irredeemable… even as he may not be the *best* man around. (And yes, amongst our men in this book, there is absolutely one that is… not so great, let’s say… among a few that are much better.)

The conflict here is tense enough to drive the plot and provide for at least some Hallmarkie level drama without being such that anyone’s pulse will really raise at all. For those looking for “spice”… not exactly Morgan’s style, and this is no different This, as with most of Morgan’s books (at least in my few years reading many of them now), is about as “spicy” as a warm glass of milk… even with the super hot actress and the adultery discussed herein.

One interesting thing for me in particular is that I’m currently playing Atomfall, which was released just weeks before this book, on my XBox, and both happen to be set in the same general region – the UK’s Lake Country – yet tell *very* different tales. (Atomfall being an alt-history in the style of the Fallout games, but based on a real life nuclear accident in this region back in the 1950s.) So it truly was quite interesting seeing the region from such different perspectives. 🙂

Very much recommended.

This review of Other People’s Summers by Sarah Morgan was originally written on May 1, 2025.

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#BookReview: The Memory Collectors by Dete Meserve

More Women’s Fiction Than Science Fiction. Seven years ago, in 2018’s The Space Between, Meserve managed to take a quasi-science/ science fiction concept of a NASA scientist discovering an asteroid behind the sun and spin an electric missing person tale around it – and did so quite well.

Here, she again delves into the “science fiction” element… without ever writing a convincing science fiction book. Yes, it has elements of scifi – the main thrust of the plot is that it is now possible to “time travel” into your own memories and there is now tech to do exactly this. But that is where the science fiction begins and ends here, and other than a (brief) realistic look at the price of such groundbreaking tech and how it would spread to even remotely common use, there really isn’t an actual “scifi” bent to this particular tale.

Now, if one approaches this from more of a “women’s fiction” tale with a few nods to scifi… it actually works a LOT better and is actually quite a strong story… that just needed those nods to scifi to make it work. As a women’s fiction tale of a mother devastated over her son’s death and another mother devastated over something she did that can never be forgiven, both seeking to understand what happened and both desperate to have even a few more minutes of their lives before said events… this is a truly compelling tale.

Meserve manages to weave all four central characters’ stories together seamlessly, though the fact that all use the same tenses and even the same verbal stylings *can* make it a bit hard to distinguish which character you’re reading, particularly in the beginning bits of a hand-off. And still, you can almost see TV/ film producer Meserve – her “day job” when she’s not writing – thinking of camera angles to show viewers certain elements of certain scenes that the characters themselves won’t necessarily realize at the time. Which is actually a cool effect that she brings to the page quite effectively.

Overall I think opinions will likely be divided on this tale based on which side of it you give more weight, which is why I’m trying to caution you in this review. If you come into this book expecting a science fiction book… if you’re familiar with/ enjoy science fiction before this book, you’re going to be disappointed at the science fiction within it. If you’re coming from a more women’s fiction world and perhaps this is (somehow) your first brush with scifi… the scifi may well work for you here. On the other hand, if you’re coming into this book expecting more of a women’s fiction tale with scifi elements to make it work… congratulations, that is *exactly* what you’ve found.

If you’re more of that first more scifi-oriented crowd that is perhaps looking to branch out but need something somewhat close to your scifi preference in order to take a baby step outside of that space to just test the waters… this really is a strong women’s fiction tale that will allow you to do just that, and you’ll likely find something you genuinely enjoy here. So take the chance.

Either way, maybe you think *I’m* the idiot here and that I have no clue what I’m talking about regarding this book. PLEASE, read the book, write your own review – and feel free to call me out as the idiot you think I am, should you feel the need. 🙂

Very much recommended.

This review of The Memory Collectors by Dete Meserve was originally written on April 8, 2025.

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#BookReview: In The Beautiful Dark by Melissa Payne

Beautiful Execution Of LGBT / Elderly Story Wrapped In Murder Mystery. This was an excellent and beautiful story of several different types of people who don’t often play lead roles in stories coming together to create a particularly powerful one.

You’ve got women loving women – in 1972. You’ve got a whole group of elderly people living in a retirement community in 2024… along with a much younger recluse living in an RV she parks near the community. And yes, you’ve even got both cameo and more expansive scenes with different dogs and even a cat.

Payne handles all aspects of this tale with remarkable care and a particular penchant for showing that no matter our backgrounds or where we find ourselves, we all strive for community and family… and often times, we can be our own worst enemies in having them if we aren’t careful.

The fact that she was able to bring so much near psychological horror level tension into the tale, and even a brief sprint of (somewhat comedic, though this may have been unintentional) action late in the tale truly shows just how well Payne knows her craft, as everything was done pretty damn close to perfectly.

Yes, this is a slow tale – it moves along at about the pace of the elderly people using walkers that so many of the characters are. But it is also a particularly beautiful one in both the characters it chooses to use and the story being told here.

For those looking for more elderly people in books or more naturally LGBT – without feeling forced or preachy at all – this is absolutely a book you should check out, and I genuinely believe you’ll enjoy. If you’re a reader that, for whatever reason, *doesn’t* want to read about either of those types of characters… eh, this really isn’t your book. Just move on in peace rather than one starring it because it has such characters.

Ultimately this really was yet another strong tale from Payne, who has done a phenomenal job throughout her career of creating just such tales.

Very much recommended.

This review of In The Beautiful Dark by Melissa Payne was originally written on April 8, 2025.

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#BookReview: The Girls In The Basement by Steena Holmes

Dark Tale Well Told From An Interesting Perspective. First, I gotta give props to Holmes for the way she handled the trigger warning in this book. I personally prefer them to be on the author’s website so those (like me) who prefer not to have any spoilers at all going into the book can have that experience, yet those who need/ want trigger warnings can still find that information as well. (Also, to be clear, Kindles automatically begin just after the table of contents in a book, so if a trigger warning is included at that spot, it *cannot* be easily skipped.) This noted, if you as an author are going to put one at the front of the book… maybe use a version of the one Holmes used here. 😉

As to the actual story here, it is one of those slower psychological thrillers where you *know* some *dark* stuff is going on largely behind the scenes… and even get the occassional glimpse of it from other characters… yet getting our main character to the point of seeing that which she has spent a lifetime not seeing…. takes some time.

One good thing that Holmes chooses here that keeps the book from going even more into the darkness is that while *some* aspects of the behind-the-pages darkness make it onto the page – enough to get a glimpse of all that is happening – that particular element isn’t shown as much as perhaps some readers may want. Instead, Holmes focuses much more on the views of the wife who thinks her family is finally safe and can live a normal life… except that she keeps catching her husband having hushed conversations about… something. This, to me, is the far stronger storyline as it is one of the *less explored* stories in the genre generally.

There are a lot of characters here, absolutely, and while it can get a touch tough to track them all in the beginning, as the story plays out it does become much more clear who is doing what and when, particularly in the rather explosive climax.

For those who prefer their stories ended in nice little bows that wrap up every single thread… yeah, this aint that. And is actually a stronger tale because of it… and, perhaps, one that means that Holmes intends to come back to this world. Time will tell. 😉

Very much recommended.

This review of The Girls In The Basement by Steena Holmes was originally written on April 8, 2025.