Tag: reading

Book Review:  The Bodyguard, by Katherine Center

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title:   The Bodyguard
Author:  Katherine Center
Genre:   Fiction
Rating:  5 out of 5

She’s got his back.

Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she’s an Executive Protection Agent (aka “bodyguard”), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker.

He’s got her heart.

Jack Stapleton’s a household name—captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid.

They’ve got a secret.

When Jack’s mom gets sick, he comes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah—against her will and her better judgment—finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex, like a jerk, says no one will believe it.

What could possibly go wrong???

Hannah hardly believes it, herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it’s easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done.

I loved this so much! The voice is excellent, and I was laughing at Hannah’s antics and thoughts—especially her reaction to the cow. Pretty sure I actually snorted at that point. This was sweet, and funny, and just so much fun to read! I highly recommend it!

Katherine Center is a bestselling author. The Bodyguard is her newest novel.

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

Book Review:  Upgrade, by Blake Crouch

Image belongs to Random House.

Title: Upgrade  
Author: Blake Crouch
Genre:   Sci-fi
Rating:  4 out of 5

“You are the next step in human evolution.”

At first, Logan Ramsay isn’t sure if anything’s different. He just feels a little . . . sharper. Better able to concentrate. Better at multitasking. Reading a bit faster, memorizing better, needing less sleep.

But before long, he can’t deny it: Something’s happening to his brain. To his body. He’s starting to see the world, and those around him—even those he loves most—in whole new ways.

The truth is, Logan’s genome has been hacked. And there’s a reason he’s been targeted for this upgrade. A reason that goes back decades to the darkest part of his past, and a horrific family legacy.

Worse still, what’s happening to him is just the first step in a much larger plan, one that will inflict the same changes on humanity at large—at a terrifying cost.

Because of his new abilities, Logan’s the one person in the world capable of stopping what’s been set in motion. But to have a chance at winning this war, he’ll have to become something other than himself. Maybe even something other than human.

And even as he’s fighting, he can’t help wondering: what if humanity’s only hope for a future really does lie in engineering our own evolution?

Intimate in scale yet epic in scope, Upgrade is an intricately plotted, lightning-fast tale that charts one man’s thrilling transformation, even as it asks us to ponder the limits of our humanity—and our boundless potential.

Like Crouch’s other books, this one was way over my head, but I enjoyed it. The author did a good job of capturing the sheer overwhelming nature of Logan’s transformation—good enough for those of us who are still regular humans and can’t process things like a computer. There’s a lot of action in this near-future story, and the book flew by.

Blake Crouch is a bestselling author who lives in Colorado. Upgrade is his newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of Random House in exchange for an honest review.)

Book Review:  Paradise Girls, by Sandy Gingras

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title:   Paradise Girls   
Author: Sandy Gingras  
Genre:   Fiction
Rating:  4.0 out of 5

Mary Valley is in a funk. She’s a writer for home magazines, but she’s lost touch with what home means. Her life seems meaningless. The last house she wrote about was a gazillion-dollar mansion with a moat! Plus, she’s estranged from her daughter, CC and granddaughter, Larkin and mired in a dead-end relationship with her boss.

Daniel is a man adrift since his son Timmy was killed in Afghanistan. He’s living on a houseboat in Florida with Timmy’s three-legged dog, Tripod and taking tourists out on fishing charters. But his life is on the edge. He’s painting his houseboat black, and he can’t stop thinking about “getting lost at sea.”

When Mary’s boss tells her he’s spending Christmas with his ex, she books a trip with her family to The Low Key Inn, a hotel on the edge of the Everglades. But things go wrong from the get-go. CC bails out of the vacation, and Mary is stuck with an unhappy Larkin. The hotel is dated and down-on-its-luck, and perhaps its owner is a witch. Then Mary meets Daniel, casts a hook into his head and wrecks his boat.

I think Ollie was probably my favorite character in this story! I actually enjoyed this quite a bit. Mary is so klutzy and accident-prone that it made me laugh, and Larkin was adorable. I wasn’t a big fan of CC, but I did like Daniel. And, frankly, the Low Key Inn sounds completely wonderful and charming and I want to go right now.

Sandy Gingras is an award-winning author. Paradise Girls is her newest novel.

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

Book Review:    Potiphar’s Wife, by Mesu Andrews

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Title:    Potiphar’s Wife
Author:    Mesu Andrews
Genre:    Christian fiction
Rating:  4.2 out of 5

Before she is Potiphar’s wife, Zuleika is a king’s daughter on the isle of Crete, where the sisterhood of women rules in the absence of their seafaring husbands. Now that she’s come of age, Zuleika knows she will soon be betrothed. Her father believes his robust trade with Egypt will ensure Pharaoh’s obligation to marry his daughter.

But Pharaoh refuses and gives her instead to Potiphar, the captain of his bodyguards–a crusty bachelor twice her age, who would rather have a new horse than a Minoan wife.

Abandoned by her father, rejected by Pharaoh, and humiliated by Potiphar’s indifference, Zuleika years for affection. But when her obsession with Joseph, the Hebrew chamberlain with the face and body of the gods, goes terribly wrong, she discovers the truth: Only the God of Joseph can heal her wounded heart.

I’ve been looking forward to reading this for so long, and I finally had the time! I’ve loved all of Mesu Andrews’ books I’ve read, and I really enjoyed this one, too, although not quite as much as some of the others. I found Zully really difficult to like, frankly. She was so selfish and self-absorbed and couldn’t see past her own short-sighted ambitions to anyone else. I enjoyed the secondary characters like Joseph quite a bit, and I would have liked to see more from Potiphar’s point-of-view, but Zully annoyed me quite a bit. Still, a solid read that I enjoyed.

Mesu Andrews is an award-winning author. Potiphar’s Wife is her newest novel.

(Galley courtesy of WaterBrook & Multnomah in exchange for an honest review.)

The Best Books I Read in June (2022)

In June, my reading recovered a bit: I read 20 books, and DNFed six more.

Six of those twenty books really stood out, but I’ll try to pick the three I enjoyed the most.

The Iron Flower, by Laurie Forest. I can’t even tell you how much I enjoyed this re-read. I’d basically forgotten everything that happened, so it was like I was reading this magical adventure for the first time.

This Vicious Grace, by Emily Thiede. From the very first page, the voice of this story completely captured my attention and then my heart. I thought the setting was unique, but it was the characters that made this truly enjoyable. Alessa and Dante’s banter and repartee were just so much fun! Even the secondary characters were captivating.

Nora Goes Off Script, by Annabel Monaghan. This was sweet and snarky, emotional and believable, and I binge-read it in one go!

Honorable mention: Here for the Drama by Kate Bromley, The Drowning Sea by Sarah Stewart Taylor, and Her Darkest Secret by Jessica R. Patch.

What I Read in June (2022)

Books Read in June: 20
Books Read for the Year:  119/250

Topical Books/Monthly Goal Books:

Heavenly Help, by Sarah Bowling (spiritual).

Praying the Bible, by Donald S. Whitney (spiritual).

Becoming Mrs. Lewis, by Patti Callahan (TBR). I had problems putting this down. I enjoyed it SO much.

Matthew’s Story, by Tim Lahaye (spiritual re-read).

The Iron Flower, by Laurie Forest (re-read). This series is really good!

For Review:

A Proposal They Can’t Refuse, by Natalie Caña. I almost DNFed this, and I’m still not sure finishing it was the best choice.

Nora Goes Off Script, by Annabel Monaghan. I LOVED this! It was sweet, it was funny, I enjoyed every minute of it.

The Limitless Sky, by Christina Kilbourne. This was an interesting dystopian novel. I liked it, and I’d read more books if they existed.

A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons, by Kate Khavari. I listened to the audio book, and I thoroughly enjoyed this tale!

Breaking Time, by Sasha Alsberg. This was an okay read, but not particularly unique. And a time-traveler from the 1500s should sound like he’s from the 1500s, right?

The Blue Diamond, by Leonard Goldberg. I enjoyed my second foray into The Daughter of Sherlock Holmes series.

The Girls in Queens, by Christine Kandic Torres. This was a tough read (but short). A friendship that I found ugly and lots of horrific behavior from guys.

Ending Forever, by Nicholas Conley. I’ll call this speculative fiction for lack of a better term…quite a unique tale.

Here for the Drama, by Kate Bromley. People who attract drama are not my favorite, so I was hesitant to pick this up, but I enjoyed it so, so much! The banter between Winnie and Liam was fantastic!

Ordinary Monsters, by J. M. Miro. This took a long time to read. It was interesting, but I won’t read more of the series.

The Drowning Sea, by Sarah Stewart Taylor. Love this Irish thriller series, and the setting was such a part of things it made the story sing.

This Vicious Grace, by Emily Thiede. I adored this entire read! The voice was phenomenal, and the two MC were wonderful!

Her Darkest Secret, by Jessica R. Patch. This was an extremely well-done Christian thriller, and I never figured out who the killer was—highly unusual for me.

The Lost, by Jeffrey B. Burton. Mace is such a relatable character to me! I enjoy this series a lot!

Left Unfinished:

The Physicists’ Daughter, by Mary Anna Evans. The first 10% was very slow to me and I lost interest.

Game of Strength and Storm, by Rachel Menard. I didn’t make it very far in this. There was a slew of unfamiliar things and concepts and very little information to make sense of them and ground me, so it didn’t keep my attention.

Fake It Till You Bake It, by Jamie Wesley. I liked Donovan’s voice, but Jada…was awful. Maybe she’s “the most reviled woman in America” for good reason. I couldn’t force myself to read more than 10% of this because she was so horrible.

The Final Strife, by Saara El-Arifi. I wasn’t a fan of the main character in the beginning of the book.

Our Crooked Hearts, by Melissa Albert. Too dark, full of the occult. Just wasn’t for me.

Gone But Not Furgotten, by Cate Conte. Just…kind of bored me. I wasn’t interested in any of the characters.

Donut Disturb, by Ellie Alexander. The setting just didn’t work for me. A small-town bakery that employees like 25 people and is always super busy? Not believable to me.

Book Review:  The Lost, by Jeffrey B. Burton

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title:  The Lost    
Author:  Jeffrey B. Burton
Genre:  Mystery
Rating:  4.5 out of 5

Glencoe, Illinois: A home invasion turned kidnapping at the mansion of billionaire financier Kenneth J. Druckman brings Mason “Mace” Reid and his cadaver dog, Vira, to this wealthy northern suburb of Chicago. Druckman was assaulted, left behind while his wife and young daughter were taken for ransom.

Brought to the scene by the FBI, Reid specializes in human remains detection, and Vira is the star of his pack of cadaver dogs he’s dubbed The Finders. After Vira finds the dead body of the mother, former supermodel Calley Kurtz, everyone is on high alert to find Druckman’s missing daughter before the five-year-old disappears forever. But the trail Vira finds on the property’s dense woodlands leads right back to Druckman himself.

With the help of Detective Kippy Gimm, Reid and Vira must race against the clock. Nothing is as it appears to be . . . and the red herrings could be lethal.

I’m really enjoying this series! Mace and Kippy are both characters I like—especially Mace with his self-deprecating humor—and obviously, Vira is amazing. I liked how the two separate storylines intwined, adding more nuance to both and, as always, I’m fascinated by the talents of cadaver dogs. This is a good, solid mystery.

Jeffrey B. Burton was born in California but now lives in St. Paul. The Lost is his newest novel.

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

Book Review:  Her Darkest Secret, by Jessica R. Patch

Image belongs to Harlequin.

Title:  Her Darkest Secret    
Author: Jessica R. Patch  
Genre:   Mystery, Christian
Rating:  4.5 out of 5

The sight of a goose feather at a murder scene modeled after a children’s poem is enough to make FBI special agent Fiona Kelly’s blood turn to ice. Almost two decades ago, a feather was left with her sister’s body—and with every subsequent victim of the Nursery Rhyme Killer. Now he’s back. Only this time, his latest gruesome murder is a message to the only one who ever got away: Fiona.

Finding “Rhyme” is an obsession that’s fueled Fiona’s career—and destroyed her marriage to fellow FBI agent Asa Kodiak. Now Fiona and Asa have to put their past tensions aside and work together one last time. But Rhyme is watching, and catching this killer may force Fiona to reveal her biggest, darkest secret…the one only he knows.

I enjoyed this so much! I never did figure out who the killer was—which rarely happens—and each new twist kept me on the edge of my seat. The team dynamics were very well done, and I’d love to read more about these characters, especially Fiona and Asa. I’ve read a few less than stellar Christian romantic suspense novels, but never a thriller like this, and I loved how the faith was integrated seamlessly into the storyline. I highly recommend this read!

Jessica R. Patch is a bestselling author. Her Darkest Secret is her newest novel.

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

Book Review:  This Vicious Grace, by Emily Thiede

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title:   This Vicious Grace   
Author: Emily Thiede
Genre: YA, fantasy  
Rating:  5 out of 5

Three weddings. Three funerals. Alessa’s gift from the gods is supposed to magnify a partner’s magic, not kill every suitor she touches.

Now, with only weeks left until a hungry swarm of demons devours everything on her island home, Alessa is running out of time to find a partner and stop the invasion. When a powerful priest convinces the faithful that killing Alessa is the island’s only hope, her own soldiers try to assassinate her.

Desperate to survive, Alessa hires Dante, a cynical outcast marked as a killer, to become her personal bodyguard. But as rebellion explodes outside the gates, Dante’s dark secrets may be the biggest betrayal. He holds the key to her survival and her heart, but is he the one person who can help her master her gift or destroy her once and for all?

This was such a fantastic read! Alessa’s snark is so much fun—and it only gets better when Dante shows up. I really loved their interactions and banter. The world and culture were quite unique to me, and, while it isn’t really a culture I’d want to live in—or visit—the world-building was vividly realized and fascinating to read. I highly recommend this, and I can’t wait to read what happens next.

Emily Thiede lives in Virginia. This Vicious Grace is her newest novel.

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

Book Review: The Drowning Sea, by Sarah Stewart Taylor

Image belongs to St. Martin’s Press.

Title:  The Drowning Sea    
Author:  Sarah Stewart Taylor
Genre:  Thriller
Rating:  4.2 out of 5

For the first time in her adult life, former Long Island homicide detective Maggie D’arcy is unemployed. No cases to focus on, no leads to investigate, just a whole summer on a remote West Cork peninsula with her teenage daughter Lilly and her boyfriend, Conor and his son. The plan is to prepare Lilly for a move to Ireland. But their calm vacation takes a dangerous turn when human remains wash up below the steep cliffs of Ross Head.

When construction worker Lukas Adamik disappeared months ago, everyone assumed he had gone home to Poland. Now that his body has been found, the guards, including Maggie’s friends Roly Byrne and Katya Grzeskiewicz, seem to think he threw himself from the cliffs. But as Maggie gets to know the residents of the nearby village and learns about the history of the peninsula and its abandoned Anglo Irish manor house, once home to a famous Irish painter who died under mysterious circumstances, she starts to think there’s something else going on. Something deadly. And when Lilly starts dating one of the dead man’s friends, Maggie grows worried about her daughter being so close to another investigation and about what the investigation will uncover.

Old secrets, hidden relationships, crime, and village politics are woven throughout this small seaside community, and as the summer progresses, Maggie is pulled deeper into the web of lies, further from those she loves, and closer to the truth.

I’ve really enjoyed the other books in this series, and I loved this one, too. I enjoyed the small-town, Irish setting so much! It felt very vivid and realistic to me, and I enjoyed Maggie’s forays into the town and making friends there. I even shared her worry over Lilly and what she was up to! I didn’t figure out who the killer was before the reveal, either, which almost never happens. I highly recommend this series, and this was an excellent read!

Sarah Stewart Taylor lives in Vermont. The Drowning Sea is her newest novel.

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