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Reviews

Reviews

by Thao Thai - Fiction, Women's Fiction

Sisters Vivi and Calla Nguyễn have little in common. Vivi lives an orderly and predictable life. She works as an art conservator at a museum in Chicago, but she refuses to examine her own dark history. Calla leads a much bolder, if occasionally reckless, existence. She’s an accomplished artist with a flair for the dramatic. She’s also a recovering addict. Months after the two fall out in the wake of their father’s death, Calla appears on the steps of the museum with a sketch and a letter she found in their father’s belongings. The sketch is an exact copy of Blue Mirror, a striking painting by a Vietnamese painter named K.P. Lý. In the letter, Lý writes about a mysterious lost work of art. Calla is convinced it is meant for their family, and that it was their father’s deathbed wish for her and Vivi to find it together.

by Evann Normandin - Fiction, Magical Realism, Women's Fiction

When Landon receives a letter from Rose --- the woman he once planned forever with --- he learns that their love story is over. She has undergone a radical memory-erasing treatment, leaving behind her grief, her past...and him. But Landon can't bear to lose the love of his life. Now living in Edinburgh, Rose's world is a blank canvas, and she's dating someone new. When Landon reenters her life as a stranger, they become fast friends. But what Rose doesn’t know is that this new friend carries the weight of everything they once shared. And when she starts exhibiting strange symptoms, it becomes clear their history isn’t gone --- it’s just buried. And remembering could come at a devastating cost.

by Lauren Nossett - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Kelly Williams, a private investigator in Nashville, helps women. Her latest client is Sarah Owens, better known as Seraph, the magnetic and polarizing lead singer of the indie sensation The Garden Snakes. After a series of threats turns violent, she hires Kelly to identify her assailant. With feminist anthems, cryptic lyrical Easter eggs, and an electrifying stage presence, Seraph has built a fiercely loyal following --- and attracted a number of critics. At that level of fame, her attacker could be anyone. Then, in the middle of a Nashville performance, Seraph is shot on stage. The ambulance carrying her disappears. As the city reels and conspiracy theories swirl, Kelly is pulled into a dangerous web of secrets involving Seraph’s bandmates, her troubled past, and the high cost of stardom.

by Laura Sims - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Historical Thriller, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

When Judith Stanley shares the photos she has taken with Paul Sorenson, her new photography instructor, she's unprepared to hear his astonished praise. She has an uncanny eye, he says, and should consider publication. He could help. Except Judith has no interest in sharing her work. Still, emboldened by Paul’s encouragement, she ventures out beyond her quiet neighborhood to the city in search of increasingly striking images. When she starts to notice the dark shape of a man in the corner of her self-portraits, Judith is certain he's an attacker from her past. Perhaps it would appease the man if she were to put her camera down and give up her private passion. But she can't. Until one night when the man finally emerges from the shadows, and Judith’s story suddenly and irrevocably becomes his own.

by Kerri Maher - Fiction, Historical Fiction, Women's Fiction

It’s the summer of 1967, and the counterculture revolution is in full swing in San Francisco. Winnie Hartley is determined to use poetry to capture the ever-shifting world around her. Meanwhile, Winnie’s sister, Miranda, throws herself into running the family business, Hartley Vineyard. But change is in the air, and each sister will make choices that set their lives hurtling down paths neither would have imagined. Fifty years later, Dawn Hartley stays as far as possible from her family’s famous vineyard, until a work assignment requires her to research the bestselling Vineland novels penned by a famously anonymous author. Determined to discover the identity of this mysterious writer, Dawn embarks on a soul-searching journey to uncover her family’s secrets, even as she’s keeping a big one of her own.

by Rachel Beanland - Fiction, Historical Fiction

When 23-year-old Eileen O'Malley meets charismatic naval officer Paul Archer in a Charleston department store, she doesn’t expect to fall so hard, so fast. But soon she has a ring on her finger and is following him to La Maddalena. Eileen joins a makeshift community of navy wives who are hell-bent on making the island feel a little more like home. But for Eileen, whose brother died in Vietnam, home is a loaded word, and she begins to love the place for all the ways it is not like where she comes from. Still, it doesn’t take long for her to be confronted with the complexities of being an American abroad. Soon, Eileen’s marriage falters and her loyalties begin to shift as she is drawn into a web of secrets --- and to a local journalist who forces her to imagine a life beyond the one she’s been handed.

by Lisa Scottoline - Fiction, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Julia Pritzker loves her new life as a wife and mother in beautiful Tuscany --- except that she misses her best friend, Courtney, back in the States. One night, Julia calls Courtney and reaches her as she’s arriving at her grandmother’s farm in Pennsylvania. A dreadful premonition overwhelms Julia as Courtney enters the house --- and makes a heartbreaking discovery. Her beloved grandmother has been murdered, and the killer is escaping out the back door. Rushing to support Courtney, Julia flies home the next morning. The local police believe the murder was a botched burglary, but the women suspect something much more sinister and enlist hotshot Philly lawyer Bennie Rosato to assist. But events take a deadly turn, and Julia becomes the target of a murderous conspiracy.

by Ben Reeves - Fiction

Travis is Death in the modern world. He lives with his cat in a small, gray town. His job is to offer people comfort in their final hours of life, which he does without complaint or judgment. He’s stoic, gentle and a little naive, despite who he is, but he never tries to change anyone’s fate. He is responsible for maintaining the balance of nature, and every life eventually must end. Then Travis meets Dalia, a midwife, and her boisterous eight-year-old daughter, Layla, who live across the hall. Despite his best attempts to keep his distance, he finds himself wholeheartedly embraced by other people for the first time. So it is with this seemingly unremarkable family that Travis begins to understand what it means to be truly alive --- and what might be irrevocably lost in death.

by Caitlin Mullen - Fiction, Mystery

1990. In the myth-riddled woods of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, 16-year-old Annabelle Riley's twin sister, Sabrina, has been having an affair with a mysterious older man, and Annabelle is determined to uncover what's going on. Then, inexplicably, both sisters disappear. In this same town years later, newly instated police chief Callie Hauser makes an arrest that unexpectedly resurrects details from a heartbreaking cold case. As she digs deeper, the past and the present collide, challenging everything Callie believes about right and wrong, who she is, and the town she's always called home.

by Tia Williams - Fiction, Romance, Women's Fiction

As a booked-and-busy casting agent, Sasha Cruz is always casting. She’s all about finding the perfect person to slot into the perfect role. What she doesn't do, however, is relationships. On a flight to Paris for work, a chance encounter with her type changes everything. Sasha is seated next to a broodingly attractive mystery man, and sparks fly --- but they never exchange contact information. Convinced she’s lost out on her soulmate, Sasha emails her work friend for help but accidentally writes to the entire company worldwide. The international manhunt to find Seat F begins. Meanwhile, Sasha takes matters into her own hands. She hires a smoldering detective she knew in another lifetime --- who complicates matters in unforeseen (and irresistible) ways.