Review: The Liar's Room by Simon Lelic

The Liar's Room

by Simon Lelic

Publisher: Berkley Books

Pages: 352

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Two liars. One room. No way out.

Susanna Fenton has a secret. Fourteen years ago she left her identity behind, reinventing herself as a therapist and starting a new life. It was the only way to keep her daughter safe.

But when a young man, Adam Geraghty, walks into her office, claiming he needs Susanna's help but asking unsettling questions, she begins to fear that her secret has been discovered.

Who is Adam, really? What does he intend to do to Susanna?

And what has he done to her daughter? 

Kritters Thoughts:  In a book that takes place not only in one day, but in an afternoon during a counseling session these two people will come to terms with things that happened in the past and how they are both involved with all of it.

Susanna Fenton is a counselor.  She has a secret that she is trying to keep under wraps and has done a lot of things to keep it quiet.  Adam Geraghty comes to a counseling session with her and needs her help to deal with issues that came from his past.  

I read this book in one day in two sittings.  It is such a page turning book that I warn not to start it until you are ready to sit and read the whole thing!  The book just keeps you locked in until you have to know how these two are connected and then how things will get solved.  

As with my review of most mystery thrillers I will have to keep it short and simple and say this one has become one of my favorites.  I loved the writing, the plot and how it was constructed to take place in such a short amount of time - it all worked so well.

This was my first reading of Simon Lelic and after finishing I had to go see what was of his backlist.  He has quite a few, have you read anything else by him, where should I go next?


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2019 Challenge: 3 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

It's Monday, What are you Reading?

Another hectic week and one of the books below was quite a long one!  

A meme hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. 

Finished this past week:

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware
The Moon Sister by Lucinda Riley
The Sisters by Rosalind Noonan

Currently Reading:

The Three Beths by Jeff Abbott

Next on the TBR pile:

The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen

Review: Brunch at Bittersweet Cafe by Carla Laureano

Brunch at Bittersweet Cafe

by Carla Laureano

Publisher: Tyndale House

Pages: 432

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Baker and pastry chef Melody Johansson has always believed in finding the positive in every situation, but seven years after she moved to Denver, she can't deny that she's stuck in a rut. One relationship after another has ended in disaster, and her classical French training is being wasted on her night job in a mediocre chain bakery. Then the charming and handsome private pilot Justin Keller lands on the doorstep of her workplace in a snowstorm, and Melody feels like it's a sign that her luck is finally turning around.

Justin is intrigued by the lively bohemian baker, but the last thing he's looking for is a relationship. His own romantic failures have proven that the demands of his job are incompatible with meaningful connections, and he's already pledged his life savings to a new business venture across the country--an island air charter in Florida with his sister and brother-in-law.

Against their better judgment, Melody and Justin find themselves drawn together by their unconventional career choices and shared love of adventure. But when an unexpected windfall provides Melody with the chance to open her dream bakery-cafe in Denver with her best friend, chef Rachel Bishop, she's faced with an impossible choice: stay and put down roots with the people and place she's come to call home . . . or give it all up for the man she loves.

Kritters Thoughts:  The second in the series and this book focuses on a different from from the group.  Melody Johansson is a baker and pastry chef and in the first book she seals her fate with Rachel's and leaves the restaurant that Rachel also leaves.  In this book she is unhappily working in a shop as a baker and making recipes that are not her own and isn't able to use her creative chops.  Through some interesting circumstances she has an inheritance and with Rachel by her side they decide to open a cafe.  This will test her friendship and of course will create some antics.

Just like the first book in the series this is a romance and there is a relationship brewing in this one also.  Unlike the first book I could tell much more so that this book was a Christian fiction book.  Just as in the first book, they abstain from the sexy times, but beyond that in this book unlike the first they talk much more about their faith and so on.  I don't tend to completely love how obvious and blatant it can be in a book, I like a little more subtle, but I know going in if I am reading from this publisher.

But beyond that.  I liked this romance better.  This one seemed to have a little more realistic ups and downs and I appreciated these two people who have very different job lives and trying to create a relationship around them was so enjoyable.  My significant other has crazy work hours, so I really enjoyed reading a couple trying to create a relationship with this big obstacle in the middle.

I am ready to read the final book with Ana at the center (I am assuming!).  I am intrigued to see how the author creates a story around her as she is the only friend who doesn't have a job that focuses on food.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: The Saturday Night Supper Club by Carla Laureano

The Saturday Night Supper Club

by Carla Laureano

Publisher: Tyndale House

Pages: 416

Format: ebook

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Denver chef Rachel Bishop has accomplished everything she’s dreamed and some things she never dared hope, like winning a James Beard award and heading up her own fine-dining restaurant. But when a targeted smear campaign causes her to be pushed out of the business by her partners, she vows to do whatever it takes to get her life back … even if that means joining forces with the man who inadvertently set the disaster in motion.

Essayist Alex Kanin never imagined his pointed editorial would go viral. Ironically, his attempt to highlight the pitfalls of online criticism has the opposite effect: it revives his own flagging career by destroying that of a perfect stranger. Plagued by guilt-fueled writer’s block, Alex vows to do whatever he can to repair the damage. He just doesn’t expect his interest in the beautiful chef to turn personal.

Alex agrees to help rebuild Rachel’s tarnished image by offering his connections and his home to host an exclusive pop-up dinner party targeted to Denver’s most influential citizens: the Saturday Night Supper Club. As they work together to make the project a success, Rachel begins to realize Alex is not the unfeeling opportunist she once thought he was, and that perhaps there’s life--and love--outside the pressure-cooker of her chosen career. But can she give up her lifelong goals without losing her identity as well?

Kritters Thoughts:  The first in a series that centers around three friends, all very different with different skills and passions and outlooks on life.  This first book focuses on Rachel Bishop.  After a social media firestorm costs her her job and restaurant she ends up partnering with an unlikely character and starting a new venture that could hopefully lead to more.

Tyndale House Publisher is a Christian fiction publisher and I knew going into this book that there would be this element in the story.  I like to read a few books in the year that are from the genre of Christian fiction to expand what I read.  The big thing that I could see that made this book a piece of Christian fiction was that it was a romance without any sexy times.  The relationship that bloomed in this book was very chaste, but I have to say I liked it.  It makes me feel like that the author puts more effort into the plot and story because they can't rely on sexy times to move the story along.

It was interesting to have social media take a front seat in the book.  I don't seem to think of a lot of plots that use social media as a plot point.  It made this book feel really fresh and of the time.  I loved it.

I hope there are more books to come in this series.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2018 Challenge: 98 out 100

Review: The Suspect by Fiona Barton

The Suspect

by Fiona Barton

Publisher: Berkley Books

Pages: 416

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  When two eighteen-year-old girls go missing in Thailand, their families are thrust into the international spotlight: desperate, bereft, and frantic with worry. What were the girls up to before they disappeared?

Journalist Kate Waters always does everything she can to be first to the story, first with the exclusive, first to discover the truth--and this time is no exception. But she can't help but think of her own son, whom she hasn't seen in two years, since he left home to go traveling.

As the case of the missing girls unfolds, they will all find that even this far away, danger can lie closer to home than you might think...

Kritters Thoughts:  The third in the Kate Waters series and this may be my favorite!  Two girls go missing in Thailand and Kate is swept up into the story until the story hits very close to home and she becomes a subject in the story instead of a reporter on the story.  

There are two things I completely love about this book, the short chapters and the pacing.  I think they go hand in hand, but this book read so quickly because I couldn't put it down and every time I said one more chapter it ended up bring a few more!  I read this book in a few sittings, but all in one day.  I just needed to find out who was responsible and how it all happened.  

This book reminded me of a movie and to this moment I can't put my finger on the title.  Girls going to Thailand and getting caught up in mischief and bad things happen sounds like the plot of a few movies!  

The cast of characters in this book was so fully developed.  From Kate the main character to the mothers and fathers of the girls in Thailand - I even really enjoyed Kate's co workers who really become a part of the story when she has to take her reporter hat off and becomes a player in the story.  I may have said this when reviewing previous books in this series but it so interesting to read through the perspective of a reporter instead of a police person when an investigation is happening.  It seems like a different take on the same story.

I will continue to read Kate Waters' stories if there are more, I love her as a main character and the stories that she gets involved with.     


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley Books.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: The Wartime Sisters by Lynda Cohen Loigman

The Wartime Sisters

by Lynda Cohen Loigman

Publisher: St Martin's Press

Pages: 304

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Two estranged sisters, raised in Brooklyn and each burdened with her own shocking secret, are reunited at the Springfield Armory in the early days of WWII. While one sister lives in relative ease on the bucolic Armory campus as an officer’s wife, the other arrives as a war widow and takes a position in the Armory factories as a “soldier of production.” Resentment festers between the two, and secrets are shattered when a mysterious figure from the past reemerges in their lives. 


Kritters Thoughts:  Two sisters who have had a troubled past end up in the same home again as adults and the dramas of the past are going to come boiling up and may just explode.  Ruth and Millie are two sisters that are complete opposites and they have been battling since their childhood.  

Ruth is living in Massachusetts and Millie needs to escape New York and with nowhere else to go, Millie retreats to Ruth's house.  Yes this book is titled The Wartime Sisters, but I would say this book is mostly about the sister relationship that just so happens to take place during a war.  Bring a sister is such an interesting and complicated relationship and this book showed that relationship to a T.  It was so accurate it was scary!  

Loigman's writing was so easy to read.  I read this book in the middle of December in the middle of the holidays and it was just the right book to curl up with a few times over a weekend.  It was easy to pick up and put down and get in and out of this book.  There were a few moments where the author repeated something and I was confused that I had heard that detail before, but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book as a whole.

If you are a reader who doesn't tend to read historical fiction, I would challenge you to try this one, there is more plot that could have taken place at any time in history then there was historical details.  Don't get me wrong, it is obvious that this takes place in the 1930s and 1940s and those moments I enjoyed, but this book really focuses on sisters and family.


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2018 Challenge:  95 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from St Martin's Press.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: In Dog We Trust by Beth Kendrick

In Dog We Trust

by Beth Kendrick

Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 336

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:   When everything has gone to the dogs . . .

When Jocelyn Hillier is named legal guardian for the late Mr. Allardyce's pack of pedigreed Labrador retrievers, her world is flipped upside down. She's spent her entire life toiling in the tourism industry in Black Dog Bay and never expected to be living the pampered life of a seasonal resident in an ocean side mansion, complete with a generous stipend. But her new role isn't without its challenges: The dogs (although lovable) are more high-maintenance than any Hollywood diva, the man she wants to marry breaks her heart, and she's confronted at every turn by her late benefactor's estranged son, Liam, who thinks he's entitled to the inheritance left to the dogs.

Jocelyn has worked too hard to back down without a fight, and she's determined to keep her new fur family together. As she strives to uphold the "Best in Show" standards her pack requires, Jocelyn finds love, family, and forgiveness in the most unexpected places. 

Kritters Thoughts:  The fifth book in a series and this is one of those series where you can read them out of order because each book focuses on a different character in the town, but I always advise to start at the beginning and enjoy them from start to finish.  

This one centers around Jocelyn who lives in town and has a business with her mother.  The leading man is Liam who comes to town due to the death of his father and he wants some of what Jocelyn has.  They start on a completely bad foot and the reader has to wonder if they could ever see eye to eye and end up together.

This book felt very different from the others in the series.  I couldn't put my finger on it and still can't, but this one just felt like a departure, not a bad thing, just a little different from the rest.  The reason for this couple to come together was an inheritance and drama and just seemed different from the previous books in the series.  

I love Beth Kendrick and her writing.  I don't know how to categorize her writing because it has a little romance, but has a lot of heart and soul.  The characters in her books are always entertaining and it easy to root for them.  These are the type of "romance" books that I like to read throughout the year.  


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Berkley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

It's Monday, What are you Reading?

Another crazy week and the Stephen Ambrose book read real slow, so this is what I finished this week.

A meme hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. 

Finished this past week:

How the Light Gets In by Jolina Petersheim
Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose
Tell Me Lies by Carola Lovering
The Peculiar Life of a Lonely Postman by Denis Theriault

Currently Reading:

The Moon Sister by Lucinda Riley

Next on the TBR pile:

The Victory Garden by Rhys Bowen

Review: The Other Side of the Bridge by Camron Wright

The Other Side of the Bridge

by Camron Wright

Publisher: Shadow Mountain

Pages: 352

Format: book

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Two coasts. Two strangers.
And a bridge that silently beckons them both.

Katie Connelly has lived in San Francisco all her life. Her late father made his career on the Golden Gate Bridge, and the many stories of how he saved jumpers still haunt her. And now her job assignment is to write about the history of the bridge—a history that includes a secret journal about a promise ring and a love story that may be the answer to her unresolved sorrow.  

Meanwhile, Dave Riley, a marketing executive in New York, has sorrows of his own. Grasping at straws after tragedy strikes his family, he decides to follow a daydream that has turned into an obsession: to drive across the Golden Gate Bridge on a motorcycle on the Fourth of July. 

Does the bridge somehow mysteriously hold the answers both Katie and Dave are looking for? Or will they find something completely different when they get to the other side?

Kritters Thoughts:  Two people have reason to be in awe of the Golden Gate Bridge.  Each are led to go there to find answers for their futures.  

There are two storylines in this book.  Katie Connelly lives in San Francisco and is mourning the loss of her father.  She is tasked to write a history of the bridge and through the task she is reconnecting with her father and learns a lot about the bridge and how it contributed to her father's death.  Dave Riley lives in New York City and has always earned to drive a motorcycle across the bridge and after a tragedy befalls him and his family this dream becomes a reality.

I loved this story.  I love a dual narrative and I love when the why of the two stories lines isn't a plot piece.  It was easy to know from the beginning most of the reasons for the two storylines and there is a sweet twist to add more depth.  

My only gripe was the ending.  I wanted so much more.  I wish it hadn't ended when it did, I couldn't believe that that was where the author left us.  I am a reader that likes to know the complete ending - I don't want anything ambiguous!  

This was my first Camron Wright read.  Where should I go next after this one?


Rating: absolutely loved it and want a sequel

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from PubVendo.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: The Au Pair by Emma Rous

The Au Pair

by Emma Rous

Publisher: Berkley Books

Pages: 384

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:   Seraphine Mayes and her twin brother Danny were born in the middle of summer at their family’s estate on the Norfolk coast. Within hours of their birth, their mother threw herself from the cliffs, the au pair fled, and the village thrilled with whispers of dark cloaks, changelings, and the aloof couple who drew a young nanny into their inner circle.

Now an adult, Seraphine mourns the recent death of her father. While going through his belongings, she uncovers a family photograph that raises dangerous questions. It was taken on the day the twins were born, and in the photo, their mother, surrounded by her husband and her young son, is beautifully dressed, smiling serenely, and holding just one baby.

Who is the child and what really happened that day?

One person knows the truth, if only Seraphine can find her.

Kritters Thoughts:  A gothic mystery thriller that was a good read in the cold winter season.  Twins Seraphine and Danny were born and shortly thereafter their mother committed suicide.  When their father passes away they are cleaning out his things and stumble upon a photo that leaves Seraphine questioning everything that the adults in her life have told her, so she must do some sleuthing and get to the bottom of it all.  

This was one of those books that I loved the atmosphere and the story, but there characters were just ok for me.  They were fully realized and written ok, but I just couldn't get to the point of liking any of them; this affects my reading, but I can still like a book despite not liking a character.  The atmosphere of this book is what really sold me on it.  On the coast of England with cliffs and houses with mystery areas, the author made the setting come to life and I fell in love with how she described where all of this drama took place.  

The story/plot were great.  There are twins in a family lineage where twins have been doomed to not survive.  There is a nanny that you can't trust from day one.  There is a mother who dies within hours of giving birth which seems weird and on and on.  The drama was packed from the beginning to the end and it made the story read so quickly.  

This was a solid debut from Emma Rous and I would read more from her.  


Rating: enjoyable, but didn't leave me wanting more

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Netgalley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: Life Admin by Elizabeth Emens

Life Admin

by Elizabeth Emens

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Pages: 288

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Every day an unseen form of labor creeps into our lives—stealing precious moments of free time, placing a strain on our schedules and our relationships, and earning neither appreciation nor compensation in return. This labor is life admin: the kind of secretarial and managerial work necessary to run a life and a household.
 
Elizabeth Emens was a working mother with two young children, swamped like so many of us, when she realized that this invisible labor was consuming her. Desperate to survive and to help others along the way, she conducted interviews and focus groups to gather favorite tips and tricks, admin confessions, and the secrets of admin-happy households.   

Life Admin tackles the problem of admin in all its forms, from everyday tasks like scheduling doctors appointments and paying bills, to life-cycle events like planning a wedding, a birth, a funeral. Emens explores how this labor is created, how it affects our lives, and how we might avoid, reduce, and redistribute admin whenever possible—as individuals and as a society.

Kritters Thoughts:  What seemed like a little book that I picked up at the end of 2018 to get me thinking about new years resolutions and things that I wanted to change going into 2019 made a big impact on how I view what I do professionally and what I have to do personally.  

I am an Executive Assistant for my full time job.  Rarely does a book cross over and affect my work life.  The fiction I read is entertaining but doesn't impact my day to day professional life.  This title struck me because of my job and then reading the description it made me think about what I do for my home and my family.  Sometimes I wish that I had an assistant for my home life who could do what the author describes as life admin.  After reading this book and thinking about the tips and tricks, I have a few things I want to implement that could affect both my personal life and my professional life.  

I want to purchase a physical copy of this book and reread it every so often to be reminded of how life is full of admin and things go well when you take into consideration that some of the choices you make may create a little bit of admin!


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2018 Challenge: 96 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from Netgalley.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review: No Mercy by Joanna Schaffhausen

No Mercy

by Joanna Schaffhausen

Publisher: Minotaur Books

Pages: 320

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  Police officer Ellery Hathaway is on involuntary leave from her job because she shot a murderer in cold blood and refuses to apologize for it. Forced into group therapy for victims of violent crime, Ellery immediately finds higher priorities than “getting in touch with her feelings.”

For one, she suspects a fellow group member may have helped to convict the wrong man for a deadly arson incident years ago. For another, Ellery finds herself in the desperate clutches of a woman who survived a brutal rape. He is still out there, this man with the Spider-Man-like ability to climb through bedroom windows, and his victim beseeches Ellery for help in capturing her attacker.

Ellery seeks advice from her friend, FBI profiler Reed Markham, who liberated her from a killer’s closet when she was a child. Reed remains drawn to this unpredictable woman, the one he rescued but couldn’t quite save. The trouble is, Reed is up for a potential big promotion, and his boss has just one condition for the new job—stay away from Ellery. Ellery ignores all the warnings. Instead, she starts digging around in everyone’s past but her own—a move that, at best, could put her out of work permanently, and at worst, could put her in the city morgue.

Kritters Thoughts:  The second in a series and this is one of those typical mystery series where each "case" is self contained in each book, but there is character development of the main characters from book to book.  So I suggest starting with book one, but you can skip to book two if you wish.

Ellery Hathaway is on leave due to the ending of book one.  She is attending mandated therapy and group therapy and while at group therapy she inserts herself into a current investigation and one from the past that maybe a little different then what people think.  The FBI profiler, Reed Markham, is back from book one and I love the way the author brings him back and the dynamics they have in this book.

I think my most favorite thing about this book was that due to Ellery's inability to use all of her police insider stuff, she has to be creative to solve the two crimes.  I loved how she had to really use different techniques to investigate because she couldn't use all the databases and such that she could have if she were a full time police officer.  

The two cases were so different, so I didn't have a problem at all keeping them separate and enjoying each one of them.  I think it was a good idea to have two in this book because they each had ebbs and flows in the investigative process and when one was a little stagnant the other picked up. 

I hope there is more to come from this series, I enjoy the duo of Reed and Ellery.   


Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2018 Challenge: 97 out of 100


Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from St Martin's Press.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.