Book Review: What Does it Feel Like?

📚 Book Review: What does it feel like

Sophie Kinsella

➡️ For Goodreads synopsis

📚 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🗓️ Publication Date: October 8, 2024

📚 My Review: What a moving and unforgettable story. It’s beautifully written and filled with heart, following Eve’s journey of healing and rediscovery after a life-changing diagnosis. The book is both heartbreaking and uplifting, reminding us of the importance of love, family, and finding joy in life’s simple moments. It will touch your heart and stay with you long after you turn the last page. Highly recommend!

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group, the Dial Press for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

📚 Goodreads Synopsis: “What Does It Feel Like? is fiction, but it is my most autobiographical work to date. Eve’s story is my story.”—Sophie Kinsella

Eve is a successful novelist who wakes up one day in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there. Her husband, never far from her side, explains that she has had an operation to remove the large, malignant tumor growing in her brain.

As Eve learns to walk, talk, and write again—and as she wrestles with her diagnosis, and how and when to explain it to her beloved children—she begins to recall what’s most important to her: long walks with her husband’s hand clasped firmly around her own, family game nights, and always buying that dress when she sees it.

Recounted in brief anecdotes, each one is an attempt to answer the type of impossible questions recognizable to anyone navigating the labyrinth of grief. This short, extraordinary novel is a celebration of life, shot through with warmth and humor—it will both break your heart and put it back together again.

“Why did I write such a personal book? I have always processed my life through writing. Hiding behind my fictional characters, I have always turned my own life into a narrative. It is my version of therapy, maybe. Writing is my happy place, and writing this book, although tough going at times, was immensely satisfying and therapeutic for me.”—Sophie Kinsella

Book Review: The Merry Matchmaker

📚 Book Review: The Merry Matchmaker

Sheila Roberts

🗓️ Publication Date: October 1, 2024 - Out Now!

📚 My Review: Cute, cute cute and full of all the holiday charm you could ask for! Frankie is such a lovable character, even when her well-meaning efforts turn everything upside down. I loved how each character’s journey intertwined, and the holiday setting added the perfect festive touch. The story definitely gave me all the cozy Christmas feels.. Add this to your holiday reads!

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

📚 Goodreads Synopsis: Frankie Lane knows what’s best for just about everyone but herself. Her divorced sister, Stef, who is too young to give up on love; her shy employee, Elinor; and her daughter, Natalie, who works in Frankie’s shop, Holiday Happiness, and really needs to start her own business selling the delectable chocolates she makes at home; even her best friend, Viola, who is trying to renovate her old Victorian. Frankie knows she could help all of them, if they’d just let her—and if all of her help didn’t end in utter disaster. 

Then there’s Mitch Howard, the owner of the local hardware store. They’ve been friends ever since Frankie opened her store, nine years earlier. He got her through the nightmare when she lost her husband in a freak accident, and he’s her favorite shoulder to cry on. He’s been divorced for years, and it’s such a waste of man! Mitch is the fittest, finest man Frankie knows. He’s easygoing, wise and kindhearted. Mitch needs someone. And she’s determined to help him find that someone—whether he likes it or not.

Book Review: Things We Never Say

📚 Book Review: Things we Never Say 

Caitlin Weaver 

📚 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

🗓️ Publication Date: September 27, 2024

📚 My Review: I really enjoyed this! The plot highlights the strength of female friendships, showing how the women supported each other through scandal and deception. It was a fast paced read about the price of perfection and the unbreakable bonds between women.

Thank you to Netgalley and storm publishing for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

📚 Goodreads Synopsis: Three mothers. Three secrets. One devastating scandal.

Anna has always been the quiet one, the soft-spoken mother who kept her head down and her secrets close. But when she's thrown together with Maggie and Rhea on a PTA project, they begin to bond over wine and gossip, and slowly share the truths behind their picture-perfect lives.

As a relationship therapist, Maggie is struggling with the painful, embarrassing reality of her floundering marriage. Rhea, despite her wealthy appearance, admits her troubled past could resurface and shatter her perfect world. But it's Anna who harbors the darkest secret, hiding the reality of her home life to protect the reputation of her husband – the school headmaster.

When the three women stumble upon a scandal the school has gone to great lengths to bury, Anna is caught in an impossible dilemma. With the centennial gala approaching, she must decide how far she's willing to go to expose the truth. Because doing so could wreck all of their perfect lives in one instant

Book Review: The Second Marriage

📚 Book Review: The Second Marriage

Rebecca De Winter

📚 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐💫

🗓️ Publication Date: September 26, 2024

📚 My Review: This book had an intriguing premise, and the twists kept me turning the pages. I think that the buildup of suspense was well done, and I did enjoy how the layers of secrets were unraveled. That said, at times the pace of the book was a bit slow for me and overall, it didn't fully blow me away. It was still an interesting read though and worth checking out if you enjoy domestic thrillers!

Thank you to Netgalley and Storm Publishing for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review

📚 Goodreads Synopsis: New husband. Old secrets.

I know it’s a cliche, but your wedding day really does go past in a blur, even if you’ve done it before. When I look back, I only remember walking down the aisle of the ballroom, my silk skirts blowing in the sea breeze…

I thought my second marriage would be different. He was everything my first husband wasn't – magnetic, successful… But I started noticing things. Small things at first, then bigger ones.

Why was there an old phone hidden in his desk? And those torn-up letters he tried to hide? At first, I thought he must be cheating, but it wasn’t that. It was a hundred times worse.

They say there's nothing like becoming someone's wife. But guess what's even more unforgettable? Becoming his widow on the same day. Did he think he was the only one with skeletons in his closet? It turns out, some secrets aren’t meant to be told...

This twisty and unputdownable domestic thriller about betrayal and complex family relationships will keep you guessing until the very last page.

The Slowest Burn

📚 Book Review: The Slowest Burn

Sarah Chamberlain 

📚 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

🗓️ Publication Date: September 24, 2024

📚 My Review: I really enjoyed this debut novel, especially the dual POV, which gave insight into both Kieran and Ellie's struggles and personal growth. Their chemistry was undeniable, and I enjoyed the enemies-to-lovers plot. This was a charming, fun read overall and I would definitely recommend for fans of sweet, slow-burn romances!

Thank you to Netgalley and St Martin's Press for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

📚 Goodreads Synopsis: Love could be a recipe for disaster, or the best thing they ever cooked up... 

Kieran O'Neill should be on top of the world. He's just won a cooking reality TV show, he's on track to open his own restaurant before he turns thirty, and he's even got a high-paying cookbook deal. Still he can't impress his stuck-up family, his ADHD makes planning ahead impossible and, worst of all, his ghostwriter is the most uptight, humourless woman he's ever met. But to be seen as a serious chef like he's always wanted, he needs to finish this book... 

Ellie Wasserman is barely holding it together. She's a thirty-year-old widow living with her needy in-laws, her little brother won't adult without her help, and instead of working on her own cookbook, she's ghostwriting one for the chaotic, impulsive Kieran O'Neill. Or would be, if he'd ever answer her emails. But to own her own home like she's always dreamed of, she needs to finish this book... 

As their deadline gets closer and the heat between them builds, can these two driven, lonely people let go of their past hurts and make something truly sweet together? Or will their fragile new love go up in smoke? 

Book Review: Coming Home to Starr's Fall

📚 Book Review: Coming Home to Starr's Fall 

Kate Hewitt

📚 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🗓️ Publication Date: September 18, 2024

📚 My Review: This was a cute novel with cozy fall small town vibes. The characters were likeable (even the grump!), and the story had some sweet moments. An enjoyable end of summer read to add to your list with your PSL!

Thank you to Netgalley and Boldwood Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

📚 Goodreads Synopsis: Just like the whole town of Starr’s Fall, thinks Laurie Ellis – as she and her beloved dog Max head to collect the store keys. Maybe she has seen better days, too, but she’s certainly ready for a new start—and to leave her past behind. Still Laurie wonders whether she made a terrible mistake in coming to lovable but shabby Starr’s Fall. Will she even find customers for her pet store and bakery, never mind a community to welcome and accept her?

Not according to Joshua Reilly, the handsome but grumpy manager of the bookstore across the road, who claims he’s never heard of anything so ridiculous as a bakery for dogs.

But Laurie remains stubbornly undeterred. She’s starting over, right here. Not least because she has another secret reason for being here… one she isn’t telling anybody, at least not yet, as it involves her own tragic past.

What she doesn’t yet know is that a clue to the mystery is hidden deep in Joshua’s bookstore. And he doesn’t yet realize that Laurie herself might be the key to mending his own battered heart… for Laurie and Joshua and the whole town, it’s going to be a fall to remember.

Book Review: How to Walk Away

📚 Book Review: How to Walk Away

Katherine Center

📚 My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

📚 My Review: I haven't met a Katherine Center book I didn't enjoy and this was no exception! A story of love, determination, hope and acceptance. I also loved the relationship with Kit and how much she was rooting for Maggie. Katherine Center has a great way of bringing her characters to life. I listened to this and enjoyed the narration throughout!

📚 Goodreads Synopsis: Margaret Jacobsen has a bright future ahead of her: a fiancé she adores, her dream job, and the promise of a picture-perfect life just around the corner. Then, suddenly, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, everything she worked for is taken away in one tumultuous moment.

In the hospital and forced to face the possibility that nothing will ever be the same again, Margaret must figure out how to move forward on her own terms while facing long-held family secrets, devastating heartbreak, and the idea that love might find her in the last place she would ever expect.