The Good Neighbor by AJ Banner

Shadow Cove, Washington, is the kind of town everyone dreams about—quaint streets, lush forests, good neighbors. That’s what Sarah thinks as she settles into life with her new husband, Dr. Johnny McDonald. But all too soon she discovers an undercurrent of deception. And one October evening when Johnny is away, sudden tragedy destroys Sarah’s happiness.

Dazed and stricken with grief, she and Johnny begin to rebuild their shattered lives. As she picks up the pieces of her broken home, Sarah discovers a shocking secret that forces her to doubt everything she thought was true—about her neighbors, her friends, and even her marriage. With each stunning revelation, Sarah must ask herself, Can we ever really know the ones we love?

My Thoughts

I read this in less than 2 days this weekend, great read! I thought there was just enough suspense and intrigue through to the end.

When I have to rethink who may have done it, then it's a good read!

Sarah thought she had the perfect life - a great husband, a writing career and then, it all goes wrong.  Very wrong.

The neighbors lose their house, 2 loving parents die, they lost their house (Sarah) and that is just the tip of the iceberg. 

They move to a temporary cottage and things just start going all wrong in Sarah's mind - is it because of her concussion?

So many twists and turns, your head may be spinning too! 

Drink Selection

I'm pairing this page turner with a glass (or 2) of Chardonnay for sure.

Rating

About AJ

A. J. Banner grew up reading Agatha Christie, Daphne du Maurier, and other masters of love and mystery. She enjoyed sneaking thrillers from her parents' library, which gave her excellent fodder for her first two novels of psychological suspense, The Good Neighbor and The Twilight Wife. The Good Neighbor was a #1 Kindle bestseller for 34 days in a row, and The Twilight Wife became a USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestseller. Born in India and raised in North America, she always dreamed of writing gripping stories in which nothing is what it seems. She's hard at work on her next novel in her home office overlooking a Pacific Northwest forest.

Link to Purchase

Amazon

 

Leave No Trace by Mindy Mejia



There is a place in Minnesota with hundreds of miles of glacial lakes and untouched forests called the Boundary Waters. Ten years ago a man and his son trekked into this wilderness and never returned.

Search teams found their campsite ravaged by what looked like a bear. They were presumed dead until a decade later...the son appeared. Discovered while ransacking an outfitter store, he was violent and uncommunicative and sent to a psychiatric facility. Maya Stark, the assistant language therapist, is charged with making a connection with their high-profile patient. No matter how she tries, however, he refuses to answer questions about his father or the last ten years of his life

But Maya, who was abandoned by her own mother, has secrets, too. And as she’s drawn closer to this enigmatic boy who is no longer a boy, she’ll risk everything to reunite him with his father who has disappeared from the known world.

My Thoughts 

This is my first read of Mindy's and it will not be my last.  Such an amazing read. 
I was very intrigued about the way in which Mindy blended two stories effortlessly, seemlessly together.  Just when I thought I was figuring out this tale she sent me in a whole other direction.
Part of me would love to visit the Boundary Waters myself, they seem like a great way to escape from reality, although for me maybe a day, not 10 years like Lucas and his father.
Maya had not had the easiest upbringing and was in a psychiatric facility herself yet she was picked to take the lead on Lucas's case.  He was a missing child, from 10 years prior and he commited a handful of crimes that in turn led to murder. 
Maya is suppose to try and get Lucas to talk and shed some light on where he has been and where his father may be.
But then Maya and Lucas's secrets start to blend together, is there a connection there?  (I can't ruin the plot twists but I can honestly say that they are intense)


Drink Selection
I will pair with this turbulent read with a Bloody Mary, it just seems fitting. (It is also a top drink in Minnesota)


Rating

About Mindy
My name is Mindy Mejia and I’m a writer. I write because, ever since I was six years old, my favorite game has been pretend. My life doesn't have symmetry, theme, symbolism, or meditated beauty and I gravitate toward these things like a houseplant to the sun. I love the perfect words; I love how “fierce” and “confounded” and “swagger” look on the page and how my chest expands when I read them. I write because I believe in the reality of my fantasies, the truth in my fabrications. I’ve always had stories sneaking around my head, thrillers like THE DRAGON KEEPER and EVERYTHING YOU WANT ME TO BE, and sometimes I inhabit those stories more than my own life. (Best not to mention that last part to my husband, kids, or boss.)


Link to Purchase
Amazon

  

Cover Reveal - Olde Robun Hood by Kate Danley

COVER REVEAL

Olde Robin Hood

by

Kate Danley

"Hero. Outlaw. Rebel. Meet the man behind the myth. Discover the real Robin Hood."

iBooks exclusive pre-order for 99 cents: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/olde-robin-hood/id1415553175

Get more details here:
https://katedanley.blogspot.com/2018/08/olde-robin-hood.html

Thank you sharing Kate Rock!

Nell and Lady by Ashley Farley

In her grand home in Charleston, Willa Bellemore raised two girls during the tumultuous 1970s. One was her daughter, Lady. The other was Lady’s best friend, Nell—adopted after the sudden, heartbreaking death of her mother, the Bellemores’ beloved maid. Willa showered Nell with love and support, all the while ignoring the disdainful whispers of her neighbors. After all, they were family. Nell and Lady were sisters at heart—sisters who vowed to never let anything come between them.

Then, on the night of Lady’s sixteenth birthday, something went terribly wrong, sparking painful secrets and bitter resentments that went unspoken for three decades.

Now Willa is dying, and Lady and Nell—each with a teenager of her own—are brought together after all these years. It’s Willa’s last wish. The time has come to confront what happened on that fateful night. But it may take a tragic twist of fate to reconcile the past and come to terms with the true meaning of family.

My Thoughts

Let me first mention this cover, I love everything that this cover stands for - from it's simple times, friendships, and the fact that color doesn't exist.

This book takes place in a city that I'm obsessed with, Charleston, SC in the 1970's.  Nell's mother Mavis is a maid in the home of Willa and Lady Bellemore.  But to be honest, she's more of a best friend then worker.  She and Willa just clicked from day 1.  Then one day May May gets pregnant and hopes that Willa won't kick her out of her home.  Instead Will lets her stay on and raise Nell with her daughter Lady from day one.  Hence how Nell and Lady became best friends.

Then Nell's mother passes and the light goes out in Nell and she's trying to figure out where she belongs.  While this transformation is taking place something tragic happens at 16 that breaks the bond that Nell, Lady and Willa have.  Nell takes off to college and is barely heard from again.

Years later Lady contacts Nell and tells her Willa is not doing well, they don't know how long she may have.

The past comes to the for front again and they all need to learn from it and try to build a bridge to mend their families for the future.

There are many different tragic moments these families need to endure, but with the strength of love they may just make it.

Drink Selection

I'm pairing this selection with the drink of the south - a mint julip - delish on those hot southern summer days.

Rating

About Ashley

Ashley Farley writes books about women for women. Her characters are mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives facing real-life issues. Her goal is to keep you turning the pages until the wee hours of the morning. If her story stays with you long after you've read the last word, then she's done her job.

After her brother died in 1999 of an accidental overdose, she turned to writing as a way of releasing her pent-up emotions. She wrote SAVING BEN in honor of Neal, the boy she worshipped, the man she could not save.

Ashley is a wife and mother of two young adult children. While she’s lived in Richmond, Virginia for the past 21 years, part of her heart remains in the salty marshes of the South Carolina Lowcountry where she grew up. Through the eyes of her characters, she’s able to experience the moss-draped trees, delectable cuisine, and kind-hearted folks with lazy drawls that make the area so unique.

Visit my website at http://www.ashleyfarley.net for more information. Or sign up for my newsletter using this link: http://ashleyfarley.net/get-your-free...

Link to Purchase

Amazon

Hey Ladies!!! The Story of 8 Best Friends, 1 Year, and Way, Way Too Many Emails by Michelle Markowitz and Caroline Moss

Based on the column of the same name that appeared in The Toast, Hey Ladies! is a laugh-out-loud read that follows a fictitious group of eight 20-and-30-something female friends for one year of holidays, summer house rentals, dates, brunches, breakups, and, of course, the planning of a disastrous wedding. This instantly relatable story is told entirely through emails, texts, DMs, and every other form of communication known to man.

The women in the book are stand-ins for annoying friends that we all have. There’s Nicole, who’s always broke and tries to pay for things in Forever21 gift cards. There’s Katie, the self-important budding journalist, who thinks a retweet and a byline are the same thing. And there’s Jen, the DIY suburban bride-to-be. With a perfectly pitched sardonic tone, Hey Ladies! will have you cringing and laughing as you recognize your own friends, and even yourself.  

My Thoughts

I loved this book from beginning to end.

It reminds me of text chains (except theirs is email) my friends and I would have back in the day.

These girls made me laugh out loud on every page for one reason or another.

Let me introduce you to some of the girls and my thoughts on them:

Nicole - She was constantly looking for people to pay her way and used the excuse that she was starting up her own business (Nicole the Runway - like Rent the Runway) and she had to save every penny for her seed fund

Ali - She loved to control everything and anything, she would always go as far as paying for things (expensive things) without asking and then expect the girls to send her their portion ASAP

Jen - the typical NYC girl who moves to NJ to be with a boy, then she is dead set that he is cheating and goes crazy and plans to cheat herself, and then to have him propose that night (let's just say she shouldn't be getting married lol).

Now, is this the next great American novel?  No!  Is it funny?  Relatable?  Yes!

I loved every page and I could think of girls in my life or people I know that fit each part.

I think everyone should grab a copy and sit back, relax and laugh!

Drink Selection

I am pairing this book with a Martini, it fits in perfectly!

Rating

About Caroline

Caroline Moss is a writer whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Cosmopolitan, New York Magazine, Racked and more. She is a contributing editor of The Wing's No Man's Land magazine and is currently working on two new books. HEY LADIES! is her first book.

About Michelle

Michelle Markowitz is the co-author of Hey Ladies!: The Story of Eight Friends, One Year, and Way, Way Too Many Emails. Her writing has appeared in The Hairpin, New York, the New York Times, and The Toast. Michelle has written and directed short films and videos that have received millions of views online and have been shown on Today, Good Morning America, and FOX, and been featured in BuzzFeed, MTV, Jezebel, Mashable, Huffington Post, Cosmopolitan, Glamour and many others. Michelle lives in New York.

Link to Purchase

Amazon

Blog Tour Stop - The Girl on Camera by Morgan Dun-Campbell

This is my stop during the blog tour for The Girl on Camera by Morgan Dun-Campbell. This blog tour is organized by Lola's Blog Tours. The blog tour runs from 6 till 26 August. See the tour schedule here.

The Girl on Camera

By Morgan Dun-Campbell

Genre: Thriller

Age category: New adult, Adult

Release Date: March 14, 2018

Blurb:

Reality TV is about to get real...

"Are you ready to win the heart of the nation? Compete with seven other contestants for the cash prize? Change your life forever?"

Twenty-six-year old Rory Stevens is thrilled to be selected as one of eight contestants for new reality show: The Retreat.

However, on the second day of filming - during a televised broadcast from the show's host - all power shuts off with no explanation: leaving the contestants, quite literally, in the dark.

Completely stranded, it is now up to Rory and her seven companions to figure out what is happening.

And then one of them disappears...

Guest Post

My favourite vacation was three years ago, when I took part in a road trip travelling across the Southern US states, from New York to Los Angeles, hosted by TrekAmerica. I live in the UK, and I’d never visited America before, so it was certainly a shock when I first arrived in New York – everything was huge! I recognised so many landmarks from films and TV shows, but that couldn’t compare to seeing it all in reality.

After spending two days exploring NYC solo, I met up with the other members of the road trip. We were all strangers beforehand, and were of varying nationalities – Swedish, Irish, British, German, Canadian, New Zealand, and more. There were thirteen of us in total, and we would be spending every single day with each other, for twenty four days. It was incredible – and also physically gruelling! Each and every morning and evening, we would pack/unpack our tents at a new campsite. We’d also assign teams and alternate who cooked each night, and who washed up, etc. Most days were a six am start so we could really make the most of exploring each new destination. Of course, there were many hours on the road, too – we all travelled via one large minivan.  

It was an incredible whirlwind, taking in so many sights in such a short amount of time. My personal highlights were: visiting Liberty Island in NYC; seeing the Rocky steps in Philadelphia; seeing the White House – and being informed by guards that the helicopters flying overhead were escorting President Obama; white water rafting in the Appalachian Mountains; exploring Graceland in Memphis; hearing live music – and attempting line-dancing – at a saloon in Nashville; travelling along Route 66; visiting infamous Jazz-tastic Bourbon Street in New Orleans; exploring Texas, including campsites, and a steakhouse where we met legitimate Hells’ Angels; witnessing the incredible landscapes of Sant Fe; staying in a luxury hotel in Las Vegas, and having a quick go at the slot machines; shopping in Beverly Hills; seeing Hollywood’s Walk of Fame; partying in California, including being invited to join Jason Derulo’s VIP table (even though I’m not a fan of his music!) and a bike ride around the rather magical Santa Monica.

It was an amazing experience for so many reasons: the independence, meeting new people, the physical challenges – there was a lot of hiking involved in some locations – and taking in the wonders of the USA, and the enormous variety of all the states. It was a huge eye-opener, and I loved the culture of every single state we visited. Shortly after this trip, I flew from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia, where I lived for ten months – this was a trip I saved up for for roughly a year, and planned as my epic travel adventure before I would roll up my sleeves and get stuck into a career in publishing. Many lessons were learnt along the way (particularly how easy it is to adjust to living out of three suitcases!) And I hope that meeting so many diverse people helped strengthen my ability to create a range of characters.



 

For fans of Naomi Alderman, Dave Eggers and John Marrs.

You can find The Girl on Camera on Goodreads

You can buy The Girl on Camera on Amazon

About the Author:

Morgan Dun-Campbell lives in London. She has an MA (Distinction) in Creative Writing and Publishing, has participated in two Arvon literary writing courses, and has worked as an intern for numerous publishing houses, including Penguin Random House and Bloomsbury. The Girl on Camera is her first novel.

You can find and contact Morgan Dun-Campbell here:

- Blog

- Facebook

- Twitter

- Goodreads

- Amazon

Giveaway

There is a tour wide giveaway for the blog tour of The Girl on Camera. Five winners will each win a prize bundle including a signed copy of the book The Girl on Camera, a bookmark, and a small box of Celebrations. Giveaway is UK and US only.

For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Her Pretty Face by Robyn Harding

Frances Metcalfe is struggling to stay afloat.

A stay-at-home mom whose troubled son is her full-time job, she thought that the day he got accepted into the elite Forrester Academy would be the day she started living her life. Overweight, insecure, and lonely, she is desperate to fit into Forrester’s world. But after a disturbing incident at the school leads the other children and their families to ostracize the Metcalfes, she feels more alone than ever before.

Until she meets Kate Randolph.

Kate is everything Frances is not: beautiful, wealthy, powerful, and confident. And for some reason, she’s not interested in being friends with any of the other Forrester moms—only Frances. As the two bond over their disdain of the Forrester snobs and the fierce love they have for their sons, a startling secret threatens to tear them apart…because one of these women is not who she seems. Her real name is Amber Kunick. And she’s a murderer.

My Thoughts

Would you do anything for a friend?  Lie?  Cheat? Murder?

Frances is struggling day by day trying to keep her secrets to herself and live that life that she has created.

People don't know about her past and she is trying to keep up this façade. 

She is a stay at home mom of a son with ADHA that is uncontrollable.  He is rude, disrespectful and down right mean but Frances says he can't help it.  I think she needs to lay down what's right and wrong with him before it's too late.

She has him in private school - hoping that helps contain him.

She has one friend at school,Kate, another child's mom.  She can't believe that Kate chose to be her friend?

Kate herself seems to have an interesting side to her as well.  Her daughter is out of control because she pays no attention to her.  Daisy hates her little brother because he is the only one Kate pays any attention to. 

I don't want to give away to many details, the twists and turns must be experienced for yourself.  One of these ladies has a deep dark seedy past.  Will you be able to guess who that is?

This book is full of lies, cheating thoughts, lust, and intrigue, just to name a few.

This read will keep you up at night, unable to put it down. 

Drink Selection

Three olive martini hits the spot with this crazy read!

Rating

About Robyn

Robyn Harding is the author of several books and has written and executive produced an independent film. She lives in Vancouver, BC with her husband and two children.

To learn more about Robyn's books visit: http://www.robynharding.com. Or follow her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorRobynH...

Link to Purchase

Amazon