About Book

Nobody cuts deeper than family…

Noah Alderman, a doctor and a widower, has remarried a wonderful woman, Maggie, and for the first time in a long time he and his son are happy. But their lives are turned upside down when Maggie’s daughter Anna moves in with them. Anna is a gorgeous seventeen-year-old who balks at living under their rules though Maggie, ecstatic to have her daughter back, ignores the red flags that hint at the trouble that is brewing. Events take a deadly turn when Anna is murdered and Noah is accused of the crime. Maggie must face not only the devastation of losing her only daughter, but the realization that her daughter’s murder was at the hands of a husband she loves. New information sends Maggie searching for the truth, leading her to discover something darker than she could have ever imagined.

About Author

Lisa Scottoline is The New York Times bestselling author and Edgar award-winning author of 30 novels, including her #1 bestselling, AFTER ANNA. She also writes a weekly column with her daughter Francesca Serritella for the Philadelphia Inquirer titled “Chick Wit” which is a witty and fun take on life from a woman’s perspective. These stories, along with many other never-before-published stories, have been collected in a New York Times bestselling series of humorous memoirs including their most recent, I Need A Lifeguard Everywhere But The Pool. Lisa reviews popular fiction and non-fiction, and her reviews have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Lisa has served as President of Mystery Writers of America. Lisa graduated magna cum laude in three years from the University of Pennsylvania, with a B.A. degree in English, and her concentration was Contemporary American Fiction, taught by Philip Roth and others. She graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School where she taught a course she developed, “Justice and Fiction.” Lisa is a regular and much sought after speaker at library and corporate events. Lisa has over 30 million copies of her books in print and is published in over 35 countries. She lives in the Philadelphia area with an array of disobedient pets, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Publication Date:April 10, 2018

Genre  Mystery & Thrillers, Fiction, Suspense

Pages:  400

My Review

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Lisa Scottoline for an ARC to read in exchange for an honest review.

Oh my gosh I loved this book!!

Noah and Maggie have a quaint marriage, raising Noah’s son Caleb. Sadly, Maggie has a gaping hole in her heart where her own daughter Anna once was. Sometime ago, Maggie’s ex-husband took Anna as an infant and she hasn’t seen or heard from her dear daughter since…until now.

From out of the blue, Maggie receives a phone call from Anna and she’s on cloud nine! Before long the two are meeting for a reunion lunch. And within no time at all, Anna is moving in. But it quickly appears that dear Anna may have her own reasons for wanting to reach out to her mother. And maybe this new family isn’t all she wanted after all.

The answer to everything that went wrong in their lives was…After Anna.

Told in two timelines. Before-Maggie’s POV, and After-Noah’s POV. The story-lines glides back and forth effortlessly. I never had a bit of difficulty following along.

I’ve always been a huge fan of Lisa Scottoline, having read nearly every book she’s released. And this is definitely one of my favorites! If you’re a fan of hers this is a must read! And if you’ve never read one of her books, don’t put it off! This would be a great one to start with!

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About Book

WONDER tells the story of Auggie Pullman: an ordinary boy with an extraordinary face, whose first year at school changed the lives and the perspectives of everyone around him.

AUGGIE & ME is a new side to the WONDER story: three new chapters from three different characters – bully Julian, oldest friend Christopher and classmate Charlotte – giving an insight into how Auggie has touched their own lives. Thought-provoking, surprising, infuriating, heartbreaking and heartwarming, AUGGIE & ME is a must-read for the thousands of readers who loved WONDER.

About Author

R.J. Palacio lives in NYC with her husband, two sons, and two dogs. For more than twenty years, she was an art director and graphic designer, designing book jackets for other people while waiting for the perfect time in her life to start writing her own novel. But one day several years ago, a chance encounter with an extraordinary child in front of an ice cream store made R. J. realize that the perfect time to write that novel had finally come. Wonder is her first novel. She did not design the cover, but she sure does love it.

• Publisher:Knopf Books for Young Readers (November 14, 2017)
• Publication Date:November 14, 2017
• Sold by:Random House LLC
• Pages:  320
• Genre:  Literature & Fiction, Children’s Books

My Review

Whilst this book didn’t quite reach the levels of Wonder for me, it was a delightful and powerful read nonetheless.   This is a companion book (consisted of 3 stories) from Wonder – and it’s still totally inspiring, beautiful and mesmerizing. We have a chance to see the different point of views from 3 people whose lives intersected with Auggie. There’s Julian, the bully, Christopher, the old friend, and Charlotte, the goody two shoes.

It is, once again, very emotional, so powerful, it gives us the reminder to choose kindness, and that’s what it was all about, the influence of Choose Kind movement.  If you haven’t read Wonder, don’t read this first.  I recommend this book to all.  You never know what one might be facing in his / her life.

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About Book

The stunning new novel from the international #1 bestselling author — a searing, spellbinding blend of cold-case thriller and psychological suspense.

Two girls are forced into the woods at gunpoint. One runs for her life. One is left behind…

Twenty-eight years ago, Charlotte and Samantha Quinn’s happy small-town family life was torn apart by a terrifying attack on their family home. It left their mother dead. It left their father — Pikeville’s notorious defense attorney — devastated. And it left the family fractured beyond repair, consumed by secrets from that terrible night.

Twenty-eight years later, and Charlie has followed in her father’s footsteps to become a lawyer herself — the ideal good daughter. But when violence comes to Pikeville again — and a shocking tragedy leaves the whole town traumatized — Charlie is plunged into a nightmare. Not only is she the first witness on the scene, but it’s a case that unleashes the terrible memories she’s spent so long trying to suppress. Because the shocking truth about the crime that destroyed her family nearly thirty years ago won’t stay buried forever…

Packed with twists and turns, brimming with emotion and heart, The Good Daughter is fiction at its most thrilling.

About Author

Karin Slaughter is one of the world’s most popular and acclaimed storytellers. Published in 120 countries with more than 35 million copies sold across the globe, her eighteen novels include the Grant County and Will Trent books, as well as the Edgar-nominated Cop Town and the instant New York Times bestselling novels Pretty Girls and The Good Daughter. Slaughter is the founder of the Save the Libraries project—a nonprofit organization established to support libraries and library programing. A native of Georgia, Karin Slaughter lives in Atlanta. Her Will Trent series, Grant County series, and standalone novel Cop Town are all in development for film and television.

Publication:  August 8th 2017

Publisher:  Harper Collins

Genres: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense

Pages:  656

My Review

This is the first time of reading anything from this author and after reading the description and the prequel for this novel, I knew I had to read it soon. It’s a superb, dark and brutal novel from the talented Karin Slaughter set in Pikeville, North Georgia. Two tragic set of events occur 28 years apart and their catastrophic repercussions on a family and their community are observed.  Rusty is a notoriously able lawyer who believes that justice should be for everybody, such as defending innocent black people, and others deemed beyond the pale, like rapists.

I really enjoyed this story. I found it to be a strong psychological thriller as my head was constantly twisting between what is true and what is meant to be misleading.  There were times that I could not put this book down.  I will be looking for more of  her books

This book was INTENSE!

As readers, we all find ourselves hanging on to an author’s every word for different reasons.  I highly recommend this book if you are into  Thriller, Crime and Mystery.

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About Book:

In a remarkable true story of faith and blessings, a mother tells of her sickly young daughter, how she survived a dangerous accident, her visit to Heaven and the inexplicable disappearance of the symptoms of her chronic disease.

Annabel Beam spent most of her childhood in and out of hospitals with a rare and incurable digestive disorder that prevented her from ever living a normal, healthy life. One sunny day when she was able to go outside and play with her sisters, she fell three stories headfirst inside an old, hollowed-out tree, a fall that may well have caused death or paralysis. Implausibly, she survived without a scratch. While unconscious inside the tree, with rescue workers struggling to get to her, she visited heaven. After being released from the hospital, she defied science and was inexplicably cured of her chronic ailment.

MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN will change how we look at the world around us and reinforce our belief in God and the afterlife

About Author:

Christy Wilson Beam was born and raised in Abilene, Texas. She has a degree in Education and specialization in Reading from Simmons University. Miracles From Heaven is her first book and is a New York Times bestseller.

Publisher:  Hachette Book Group, USA

Publication Date:  2016

Pages:  216

Genre: Religion & Spirituality Books

My Review:

Get your tissues ready, this is a tear readying book.  I had watched the movie, and decided to check to see if there was a book, and yes there was.  Have you met Annabel Beam yet? If you have not, then she has quite the experience to share with you. Annabel spent far too many days, more than a child should have to, in and out of hospitals. The reason?  Annabel had a disorder, rare and incurable, that affected her digestive system and prevented living a normal life.   With a large number of medications she was able to have an occasionally normal day.

On one of these normal days she and her sister climbed a tree. When they tried to get back down a branch broke and this poor little Anna fell through the hole created. It took her family and 3 fire department crews to eschew her. She came out talking about being on Jesus’ lap and guided out by an Angel. Jesus said she had to go back to earth but she would be fine and Jesus has a plan for her.

I appreciated the quote from the movie Song of Bernadette which said those who believe need no proof and those who didn’t believe have no use for proof.

I absolutely loved this book!  I would recommend this book to all, even if you don’t believe in miracles.

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About Book

Jennifer’s life isn’t going as she planned. Fired from her job and on the brink of divorce at thirty-one, her only salvation lies at the bottom of a wine bottle. When her mother insists she get away from everything, she reluctantly agrees to explore her Italian roots in Tuscany.

Staying in her family’s centuries-old cottage, she becomes embroiled in a mysterious tragedy involving her great-grandmother no-one wants to talk about. As she delves further into her ancestors’ history, she discovers there is more to her heritage than meets the eye.

Ghosts from the past could give Jennifer something she thought she’d never have: a future. But that depends on whether she can resist temptation and avoid slipping back into her old ways.

Will she be able to conquer her inner demons and discover the healer’s secret?

About Author

I moved to the north of Italy 26 years ago, without knowing a word of Italian! I picked it up pretty quickly, mostly by watching American soaps dubbed in Italian with Italian subtitles… but was too shy to speak for about a year!
26 years later, I now work as a translator, from Italian to English. It’s a job I love, especially when I got the chance to translate a children’s book and screenplay written by an Italian author. The screenplay is now winning awards at American film festivals!
I have always written short stories and books from an early age – I still have a short story I wrote when I was 10 that was published in the school magazine!
I love reading – I’ll read almost anything! I tend to spend most of my free time relaxing with my husband and two sons, and eating delicious Italian food!
The only thing I don’t like about Italy is the climate – cold and damp in the winter, hot and humid in the summer. With infestations of mosquitoes in the summer and stink bugs in the autumn…
but all in all, it’s a great place to live.

Publisher:  Pink Quill Books

Published:  December 13, 2017

Pages:  206

My Review

The Healer’s Secret is an intriguing story filled with mystery and secrets. It is fast paced and well written.
The Healer’s Secret is beautifully disturbing story. Not a cozy read, it deals with controversial topics like alcoholism, domestic violence and decisions that can turn the fate of a whole family. I was hooked from the prologue. It was very visual and a great way to begin. I loved the fact that mystery after mystery kept being revealed and they were all solved in the end.

I enjoyed reading this story and look forward to the continuation, The Dragonfly Grove, due to release later in 2018.  I highly recommend this book.

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