Author: tamaramorning

Book Review and Blog Tour: Where I Left Her, by Amber Garza

Image belongs to Harlequin/MIRA.

Whitney had some misgivings when she dropped her increasingly moody teenage daughter, Amelia, off at Lauren’s house. She’d never met the parents, and usually she’d go in, but Amelia clearly wasn’t going to let something so humiliating happen, so instead Whitney waved to her daughter before pulling away from the little house with the roses in front.

But when she goes back the next day, an elderly couple answers the door—Amelia and Lauren aren’t there, and this couple swears they never were, that she’s at the wrong house. As Whitney searches for Amelia, she uncovers a trail of lies her daughter has told her—from the Finsta account to rumors of a secret relationship. Does she really even know this girl she’s raised? And Amelia’s not the only one with secrets. Could Whitney’s own demons have something to do with her daughter’s disappearance, and can Whitney find her before it’s too late?

Even before I realized Whitney was an unreliable narrator, I thought she was a horrible person. Her super controlling relationship with her daughter got on my very last nerve—especially considering the secrets she was hiding! At first, I was intrigued by what had happened to Amelia, but then I was just low-key annoyed. Does anyone in this family ever tell the truth? Solid writing but unlikeable (to me) characters made this just an okay read.

Amber Garza lives in California. Where I Left Her is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/MIRA in exchange for an honest review.)

Sundays are for Writing #135

Well, this has been an okay writing week. Two book reviews and that’s it. I’m okay with that. I lost a friend this week, so giving myself a little grace is the way to go.

Happy writing!

Book Review and Blog Tour: The Bookseller’s Secret, by Michelle Gable

Image belongs to Harlequin/Graydon House.

In 1942, London, Nancy Mitford is worried about more than air raids and German spies. Still recovering from a devastating loss, the once sparkling Bright Young Thing is estranged from her husband, her allowance has been cut, and she’s given up her writing career. On top of this, her five beautiful but infamous sisters continue making headlines with their controversial politics.

Eager for distraction and desperate for income, Nancy jumps at the chance to manage the Heywood Hill bookshop while the owner is away at war. Between the shop’s brisk business and the literary salons she hosts for her eccentric friends, Nancy’s life seems on the upswing. But when a mysterious French officer insists that she has a story to tell, Nancy must decide if picking up the pen again and revealing all is worth the price she might be forced to pay.

Eighty years later, Heywood Hill is abuzz with the hunt for a lost wartime manuscript written by Nancy Mitford. For one woman desperately in need of a change, the search will reveal not only a new side to Nancy, but an even more surprising link between the past and present…

Nancy and her family were a bit of a dumpster fire. I really didn’t care for them. Nancy was very wishy-washy and I frankly just wanted her to grow a pair, make a decision, and follow through. I actually enjoyed Katie’s story in the present-day far, far more than Nancy’s, although she had her own set of issues (more of a campfire than a dumpster fire).

There were some parallels between the two women, with their writer’s block and indecisiveness, but it was fun to see Katie’s journey. The blurb makes this seem like everyone in London is talking about the possibility of a lost Mitford manuscript, but in reality it was basically three people, so there’s that.

Michelle Gable is a bestselling author. The Bookseller’s Secret is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/Graydon House in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: What We Carry, by Kalyn Fogarty

Image belongs to Alcove Press.

Cassidy Morgan’s life has always followed a carefully laid track: top education, fulfilling career, and marriage to the love of her life, Owen. The next logical step was starting a family. But when a late-term miscarriage threatens to derail everything she’s worked so hard for, she finds herself questioning her identity, particularly what it means to be a mother. Unable to move past her guilt and shame, she realizes there’s more to fix than a broken heart. Grief illuminates the weaknesses in her marriage and forces her to deal with her tumultuous relationship with her own mother.

Cassidy hopes her work as a veterinarian specializing in equine reproduction will distract her from the pain but instead finds that one of the cases she’s working on shines a spotlight on the memory of her unborn son. For once in her life, Cassidy is left untethered and wondering why she wanted to become a mother in the first place.

Then the unexpected happens when Cassidy becomes pregnant again. But the joy over her baby is tempered by her fear of another loss as well as her increasingly troubled marriage. Now, she must decide whether to let her pain hold her back or trust that there’s still something to live for.

I have to confess, I almost stopped reading this about 25% of the way through. Cassidy and her mother were some of the most selfish and oblivious people I’ve encountered, and they (especially the mother) were extremely off-putting to read. This family has issues. So much passive-aggressiveness in every interaction.

Cassidy’s loss and what she went through were well-done, although her hatefulness to people made her hard to sympathize with at times. Grief and loss are explored on the page, as well as healing, although Cassidy did not “deal with her tumultuous relationship” with her mother as the blurb says. There was very little of that.

Kalyn Fogarty is a professional horseback rider and an author. What We Carry is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Alcove Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Sundays are for Writing #134

This has been a bit of a rough week for personal reasons. I wrote Three book reviews. No fiction. I just need to sleep all weekend (except for my planned 16-mile hike).

Happy writing!

Book Review: Book Review: Beware the Mermaids, by Carrie Talick

Image belongs to Alcove Press.

Hermosa Beach housewife Nancy Hadley is no pushover. So when her philandering husband, Roger, is caught in flagrante with an opportunistic widow on their racing sailboat, Nancy sticks it to him. She tells him she wants a divorce–with the sailboat, Bucephalus, part of the deal, too.

Roger would rather make Nancy’s life a living hell than give up his boat. But Nancy has other plans. After moving out of their opulent home, she and her posse of girlfriends invest in a racing boat of their own to live on, and she teaches them the fine points of sailing. Meanwhile, and unbeknownst to Nancy, a big real estate development is under way that would destroy her beloved harbor and new home. When scheming Roger returns to ask Nancy to help capture the last committee vote–held by Nancy’s old college friend–Nancy prepares for battle.

Nancy is not skittish about taking a few risks, so in a bold gambit, she makes a bet with Roger: a showdown in the thrilling Border Dash Race from Newport Harbor down to Ensenada, Mexico. The winner of the race will get everything they want.

Can we talk about how much I didn’t like Roger? Seriously. Total jerk—and he deserved everything he got. I really enjoyed the female friendships and the unique setting. Nancy definitely has guts, and I loved how she realized her own strength—and her supportive group of friends (and family). This was a fun read full of pure pleasure!

Carrie Talick lives in California. Beware the Mermaids is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Alcove Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: The Show Girl, by Nicola Harrison

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

It’s 1927 when Olive McCormick moves from Minneapolis to New York City determined to become a star in the Ziegfeld Follies. Extremely talented as a singer and dancer, it takes every bit of perseverance to finally make it on stage. And once she does, all the glamour and excitement is everything she imagined and more–even worth all the sacrifices she has had to make along the way.

Then she meets Archie Carmichael. Handsome, wealthy–the only man she’s ever met who seems to accept her modern ways–her independent nature and passion for success. But once she accepts his proposal of marriage he starts to change his tune, and Olive must decide if she is willing to reveal a devastating secret and sacrifice the life she loves for the man she loves.

The writing and characterization in this novel were excellent, otherwise I probably would never have made it to 50% of the way through before quitting. I just didn’t like Olive. That was my only problem. Just like I don’t spend time with people I don’t care for, I don’t want to read about characters I don’t care for. She just struck me as superficial and self-absorbed, and I didn’t want to read any more of her. I loved Montauk, Nicola Harrison’s previous novel, but this one just didn’t catch me the same way.

Nicola Harrison is from England and now lives in California. The Show Girl is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: We Are the Brennans, by Tracey Lange

Image belongs to Celadon Books.

When twenty-nine-year-old Sunday Brennan wakes up in a Los Angeles hospital, bruised and battered after a drunk driving accident she caused, she swallows her pride and goes home to her family in New York. But it’s not easy. She deserted them all—and her high school sweetheart—five years before with little explanation, and they’ve got questions.

Sunday is determined to rebuild her life back on the east coast, even if it does mean tiptoeing around resentful brothers and an ex-fiancé. The longer she stays, however, the more she realizes they need her just as much as she needs them. When a dangerous man from her past brings her family’s pub business to the brink of financial ruin, the only way to protect them is to upend all their secrets—secrets that have damaged the family for generations and will threaten everything they know about their lives. In the aftermath, the Brennan family is forced to confront painful mistakes—and ultimately find a way forward, together.

I do love a good family saga—even if this is only about one generation of a family (or, more accurately, about one short span of time in a single family). The family is quirky but entirely likable, and I enjoyed getting to know them. They’re hiding lots of secrets, too, and it was fascinating watching them be uncovered. This was just an enjoyable read.

Tracey Lange is from the Bronx and now lives in Oregon. We Are the Brennans is her debut novel.

(Galley courtesy of Celadon books in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review and Blog Tour: The Wildest Ride, by Marcella Bell

Image belongs to Harlequin/HQN.

At thirty-six, undefeated rodeo champion AJ Garza is supposed to be retiring, not chasing after an all-new closed-circuit rodeo tour with a million-dollar prize. But with the Houston rodeo program that saved him as a wayward teen on the brink of bankruptcy, he’ll compete. And he’ll win.

Enter Lilian Sorrow Island. Raised by her grandparents on the family ranch in Muskogee, Oklahoma, Lil is more a cowboy than city boy AJ will ever be. It shows. She’s not about to let him steal the prize that’ll save her ranch, even if he is breathtakingly magnificent, in pretty much every way going.

The world watches on as reality TV meets rodeo in a competition like no other. In front of the cameras, Lil and AJ are each other’s biggest rivals. Off-screen, it’s about to get a whole lot more complicated…

I read about 30% of this, but just couldn’t finish it. The writing was solid, but AJ and Lil’s characters seemed to consist mainly of arrogance and attitude, so they just weren’t people I wanted to continue reading about. This just wasn’t a good fit for me.

Marcella Bell was born in the Pacific Northwest. The Wildest Ride is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Harlequin/HQN in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review: Where the Truth Lies, by Anna Bailey

Image belongs to Atria Books.

The town of Whistling Ridge guards its secrets.

When seventeen-year-old Abigail goes missing, her best friend Emma, compelled by the guilt of leaving her alone at a party in the woods, sets out to discover the truth about what happened. The police initially believe Abi ran away, but Emma doesn’t believe that her friend would leave without her, and when officers find disturbing evidence in the nearby woods, the festering secrets and longstanding resentment of both Abigail’s family and the people of Whistling Ridge, Colorado begin to surface with devastating consequences.

Among those secrets: Abi’s older brother Noah’s passionate, dangerous love for the handsome Rat, a recently arrived Romanian immigrant who has recently made his home in the trailer park in town; her younger brother Jude’s feeling that he knows information he should tell the police, if only he could put it into words; Abi’s father’s mercurial, unpredictable rages and her mother’s silence. Then there is the rest of Whistling Ridge, where a charismatic preacher advocates for God’s love in language that mirrors violence, under the sway of the powerful businessman who rules the town, insular and wary of outsiders.

But Abi had secrets, too, and the closer Emma grows to unraveling the past, the farther she feels from her friend. And in a tinder box of small-town rage, and all it will take is just one spark—the truth of what really happened that night—to change their community forever.

Whistling Ridge is a horrible place. This is such a dark book—I didn’t feel like there was a single ray of light to be found anywhere. Everyone is keeping secrets—and not little ones, either, but dark and ugly ones. Good writing and vibrant characters, but this book is just so…hopeless, that it negated the positives of the writing. I found the setting and characters to be completely believable and realistic, which is just sad in this case.

Anna Bailey is from England. Where the Truth Lies is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.)