I’m here with another round-up of books!!  I loved some of my books this month and think you will too! I am a sucker for a good memoir and I loved the one I read and of course I had to end the summer by reading Elin Hilderbrand’s new book, The Five Star Weekend.  I hope you guys find one you like too!

The Only One Left

My Review: ✮✮✮✮

I loved this story and found this thriller twisted and interesting every step of the way. I did not see the end coming at all!

Amazon Summary

At seventeen, Lenora Hope
Hung her sister with a rope

Now reduced to a schoolyard chant, the Hope family murders shocked the Maine coast one bloody night in 1929. While most people assume seventeen-year-old Lenora was responsible, the police were never able to prove it. Other than her denial after the killings, she has never spoken publicly about that night, nor has she set foot outside Hope’s End, the cliffside mansion where the massacre occurred.

Stabbed her father with a knife
Took her mother’s happy life

It’s now 1983, and home-health aide Kit McDeere arrives at a decaying Hope’s End to care for Lenora after her previous nurse fled in the middle of the night. In her seventies and confined to a wheelchair, Lenora was rendered mute by a series of strokes and can only communicate with Kit by tapping out sentences on an old typewriter. One night, Lenora uses it to make a tantalizing offer—I want to tell you everything.

“It wasn’t me,” Lenora said
But she’s the only one not dead

As Kit helps Lenora write about the events leading to the Hope family massacre, it becomes clear there’s more to the tale than people know. But when new details about her predecessor’s departure come to light, Kit starts to suspect Lenora might not be telling the complete truth—and that the seemingly harmless woman in her care could be far more dangerous than she first thought.

The Five Star Weekend

My Review: ✮✮✮✮1/2

I have always loved reading a good Elin Hilderbrand beach read.  The idea of this story was so interesting to me and I thought it was a cute premise.  There is drama, love, friendship, betrayal and discovery.  I always love the Nantucket setting and thought this was a fun, enjoyable read.

Amazon Summary

Hollis Shaw’s life seems picture-perfect. She’s the creator of the popular food blog Hungry with Hollis and is married to Matthew, a dreamy heart surgeon. But after she and Matthew get into a heated argument one snowy morning, he leaves for the airport and is killed in a car accident. The cracks in Hollis’s perfect life—her strained marriage and her complicated relationship with her daughter, Caroline—grow deeper.

So when Hollis hears about something called a “Five-Star Weekend”—one woman organizes a trip for her best friend from each phase of her life: her teenage years, her twenties, her thirties, and midlife—she decides to host her own Five-Star Weekend on Nantucket. But the weekend doesn’t turn out to be a joyful Hallmark movie.

The husband of Hollis’s childhood friend Tatum arranges for Hollis’s first love, Jack Finigan, to spend time with them, stirring up old feelings. Meanwhile, Tatum is forced to play nice with abrasive and elitist Dru-Ann, Hollis’s best friend from UNC Chapel Hill. Dru-Ann’s career as a prominent Chicago sports agent is on the line after her comments about a client’s mental health issues are misconstrued online. Brooke, Hollis’s friend from their thirties, has just discovered that her husband is having an inappropriate relationship with a woman at work. Again! And then there’s Gigi, a stranger to everyone (including Hollis) who reached out to Hollis through her blog. Gigi embodies an unusual grace and, as it happens, has many secrets.

The Five-Star Weekend is a surprising and captivating story about friendship, love, and self-discovery set on Nantucket. It will be a weekend like no other.

The Many Lives of Mama Love

My Review: ✮✮✮✮✮

I just loved this story and devoured it pretty quickly.  I am a sucker for a memoir.  I love a true story and this one will make you cringe, have you crying, laughing and loving.  It is about hitting rock bottom and truly digging and digging your way back up.   I highly recommend.

Amazon Summary

New York Times bestselling author Lara Love Hardin recounts her slide from soccer mom to opioid addict to jailhouse shot-caller and her unlikely comeback as a highly successful ghostwriter in this harrowing, hilarious, no-holds-barred memoir.

No one expects the police to knock on the million-dollar, two-story home of the perfect cul-de-sac housewife. But soccer mom Lara Love Hardin has been hiding a shady secret: she is funding her heroin addiction by stealing her neighbors’ credit cards.

Lara is convicted of thirty-two felonies and becomes inmate S32179. She learns that jail is a class system with a power structure that is somewhere between an adolescent sleepover party and Lord of the Flies. Furniture is made from tampon boxes and Snickers bars are currency. But Lara quickly finds the rules and brings love and healing to her fellow inmates as she climbs the social ladder to become the “shot caller,” showing that jailhouse politics aren’t that different from the PTA meetings she used to attend.

When she’s released, she reinvents herself as a ghostwriter. Now, she’s legally co-opting other people’s identities and getting to meet Oprah, meditate with The Dalai Lama, and have dinner with Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But the shadow of her past follows her. Shame is a poison worse than heroin—there is no way to detox. Lara must learn how to forgive herself and others, navigate life as a felon on probation, prove to herself that she is more good than bad, and much more.

The Many Lives of Mama Love is a heartbreaking and tender journey from shame to redemption, despite a system that makes it almost impossible for us to move beyond the worst thing we have ever done.

None of This Is True

My Review: ✮✮✮

I feel like I was supposed to really like this one and I would say I just thought it was okay.  I listened to this one on audible and I always say that sometimes I feel like I may like books a little less when I listened to them rather than read them.  So there’s that.

Amazon Summary

Celebrating her forty-fifth birthday at her local pub, popular podcaster Alix Summer crosses paths with an unassuming woman called Josie Fair. Josie, it turns out, is also celebrating her forty-fifth birthday. They are, in fact, birthday twins.

A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject for her series. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life.

Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation to keep making the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize that Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has inveigled her way into Alix’s life—and into her home.

But, as quickly as she arrived, Josie disappears. Only then does Alix discover that Josie has left a terrible and terrifying legacy in her wake, and that Alix has become the subject of her own true crime podcast, with her life and her family’s lives under mortal threat.

Who is Josie Fair? And what has she done?

:: Shop the Post ::

The post Books I Read in August appeared first on Home of Malones.

Books I Read in JUNEAs usual, I am late getting this post up; but there were some good ones to share.  It’s tough to say which was my favorite for the month, but if I picked one… I would say go read The Summer of Songbirds… before Summer is gone. It was a great, feel-good story.

OPEN an Autobiography by Andre Agassi

You probably need to be some type of tennis fan to want to read this, but I thoroughly enjoyed it! I am a sucker for a good memoir.   It is a really well written story that started from when he was a young boy and goes through adult hood.  There were plenty of new things that I learned about Andre and there were some things that I related to and recognized that he talked about from my young life as a competitive soccer player.  There is a lot of tennis talk and recaps of matches, so if you’re not a tennis person, it may lose your interest.  I listened to this one on audible and loved it.

My Review: ✮✮✮✮

Amazon Summary

Andre Agassi had his life mapped out for him before he left the crib. Groomed to be a tennis champion by his moody and demanding father, by the age of twenty-two Agassi had won the first of his eight grand slams and achieved wealth, celebrity, and the game’s highest honors. But as he reveals in this searching autobiography, off the court he was often unhappy and confused, unfulfilled by his great achievements in a sport he had come to resent.

Agassi writes candidly about his early success and his uncomfortable relationship with fame, his marriage to Brooke Shields, his growing interest in philanthropy, and—described in haunting, point-by-point detail—the highs and lows of his celebrated career.

Swipe Up for More

My Review: ✮✮✮✮

I saw Natalie Mason (@snoopnattynat) share this on instagram and thought it would be interesting to read.  I read this one on my kindle and found it pretty fascinating.  I knew two of three the influencers that the author follows and reports on and she dives into the secretive and growing world of influencing. I think this one would be interesting to someone in the influencing world and not!

Amazon Summary

An unfiltered, colorful romp through the IRL world of influencers that spills the tea on the multibillion-dollar industry of content creation.

If you’re anything like journalist Stephanie McNeal—aka, a millennial woman—you spend hours every day indulging in Instagram’s infinite scroll. The influencers on the platform aren’t just providing eye candy; these tastemakers impact how we cook, consume, parent, decorate, think, and live. But what exactly is going on behind the curtain of the perfectly curated Instagram grids we obsess over the most?

Through intimate, funny, and vulnerable reporting, McNeal takes us through the looking glass and into the secretive real world of three major influencers: fashion and lifestyle juggernaut Caitlin Covington of Southern Curls & Pearls, runner and advocate Mirna Valerio, and OG “mommy blogger” Shannon Bird. Swipe Up For More! is based on three years of unprecedented, fly-on-the-wall access that offers a rare glimpse into how these influencers build their empires, struggle with the haters and snarkers, fight for creative control from the tech platforms that enable their businesses, parent in public, and try to look good while doing it.

Along the way, McNeal answers burning questions, like: Why are there so many Mormon mommy influencers? What is it like to work for a popular influencer? What do they do with all the free swag? How do brand partnerships work? And how much money do they really make?

Irresistible, juicy, and voyeuristic, Swipe Up For More! reveals all about the women some love to hate (and many actually, secretly, genuinely love).

The Summer of Songbirds

My Review: ✮✮✮✮✮

Ohh I just loved this one so much.  It was perfect timing for Summer as all the kids are heading to Summer camp and it brings back all the old memories.  Kristy is such a talented writer and this heart felt story of three best friends is just what we all need to read this summer.

Amazon Summary

Nearly thirty years ago, in the wake of a personal tragedy, June Moore bought Camp Holly Springs and turned it into a thriving summer haven for girls. But now, June is in danger of losing the place she has sacrificed everything for, and begins to realize how much she has used the camp to avoid facing difficulties in her life.

June’s niece, Daphne, met her two best friends, Lanier and Mary Stuart, during a fateful summer at camp. They’ve all helped each other through hard things, from heartbreak and loss to substance abuse and unplanned pregnancy, and the three are inseparable even in their thirties. But when attorney Daphne is confronted with a relationship from her past—and a confidential issue at work becomes personal—she is faced with an impossible choice.

Lanier, meanwhile, is struggling with tough decisions of her own. After a run-in with an old flame, she is torn between the commitment she made to her fiancé and the one she made to her first love. And when a big secret comes to light, she finds herself at odds with her best friend…and risks losing the person she loves most.

But in spite of their personal problems, nothing is more important to these songbirds than Camp Holly Springs. When the women learn their childhood oasis is in danger of closing, they band together to save it, sending them on a journey that promises to open the next chapters in their lives.

From an author whose “writing coats your soul with heart” (E! Online), The Summer of Songbirds is a lyrical and unforgettable celebration of female friendship, summertime freedom, and enduring sisterhood—and a love letter to the places and people that make us who we are.

It Girl

My Review: ✮✮✮✮

I always have to have a good thriller going.  I listened to this book on audible and really loved it.  It kept me guessing until the very end.  Hannah is willing to potentially turn her entire life upside down to investigate who really killed her It-girl college roommate a decade ago.

Amazon Summary

April Clarke-Cliveden was the first person Hannah Jones met at Oxford.

Vivacious, bright, occasionally vicious, and the ultimate It girl, she quickly pulled Hannah into her dazzling orbit. Together, they developed a group of devoted and inseparable friends—Will, Hugh, Ryan, and Emily—during their first term. By the end of the year, April was dead.

Now, a decade later, Hannah and Will are expecting their first child, and the man convicted of killing April, former Oxford porter John Neville, has died in prison. Relieved to have finally put the past behind her, Hannah’s world is rocked when a young journalist comes knocking and presents new evidence that Neville may have been innocent. As Hannah reconnects with old friends and delves deeper into the mystery of April’s death, she realizes that the friends she thought she knew all have something to hide…including a murder.

Books I Read in JUNE
Books I Read in MAY
Books I Read in APRIL
Books I Read in MARCH
Books I Read in FEBRUARY
Books I Read in JANUARY

The post Books I Read in July appeared first on Home of Malones.

I have some good ones from June that I really enjoyed! I started off with the steamiest one, but I truly loved each of these books this month! Summer reading is always so much fun because I love to keep it light.

The Idea of You 

My Review: ✮✮✮✮1/2

Hello, soft porn! Wowza, I dipped my toe in a spicy novel last Fall, Scandalized, but I haven’t read one this spicy in awhile.  Picture Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde…fantasy turned reality… Mom and Boy…however you want to look at it, this novel will grab you.  It may seem a little “out there” to start with, but it turns into a pretty beautiful love story with characters that I think you will fall in love with.  If nothing else, you may want to jump your partner, ha!! I listened to this one on audible that was read by the author and it really sets the mood of the book.

Amazon Summary

Solène Marchand, the thirty-nine-year-old owner of an art gallery in Los Angeles, is reluctant to take her daughter, Isabelle, to meet her favorite boy band. But since her divorce, she’s more eager than ever to be close to Isabelle. The last thing Solène expects is to make a connection with one of the members of the world-famous August Moon. But Hayes Campbell is clever, winning, confident, and posh, and the attraction is immediate. That he is all of twenty years old further complicates things.

What begins as a series of clandestine trysts quickly evolves into a passionate and genuine relationship. It is a journey that spans continents as Solène and Hayes navigate each other’s worlds: from stadium tours to international art fairs to secluded hideaways in Paris and Miami. For Solène, it is a reclaiming of self, as well as a rediscovery of happiness and love. When Solène and Hayes’ romance becomes a viral sensation, and both she and her daughter become the target of rabid fans and an insatiable media, Solène must face how her romantic life has impacted the lives of those she cares about most.

One Italian Summer

My Review: ✮✮✮✮✮

I loved, loved this quick read based in the Italian Rivera.  I read almost all of this book sitting poolside this Summer and it immediately transported me to Italy!  When I read the synopsis of this book, I wasn’t sure if I was going to love it; but it was so well-written and so much deeper than just a sweet love story.  I loved following the relationship between mother and daughter and loved the character development in the story.   Grab this book for your next Summer trip!

Amazon Summary

When Katy’s mother dies, she is left reeling. Carol wasn’t just Katy’s mom, but her best friend and first phone call. She had all the answers and now, when Katy needs her the most, she is gone. To make matters worse, their planned mother-daughter trip of a lifetime looms: to Positano, the magical town where Carol spent the summer right before she met Katy’s father. Katy has been waiting years for Carol to take her, and now she is faced with embarking on the adventure alone.

But as soon as she steps foot on the Amalfi Coast, Katy begins to feel her mother’s spirit. Buoyed by the stunning waters, beautiful cliffsides, delightful residents, and, of course, delectable food, Katy feels herself coming back to life.

And then Carol appears—in the flesh, healthy, sun-tanned, and thirty years old. Katy doesn’t understand what is happening, or how—all she can focus on is that she has somehow, impossibly, gotten her mother back. Over the course of one Italian summer, Katy gets to know Carol, not as her mother, but as the young woman before her. She is not exactly who Katy imagined she might be, however, and soon Katy must reconcile the mother who knew everything with the young woman who does not yet have a clue.

Rebecca Serle’s next great love story is here, and this time it’s between a mother and a daughter. With her signature “heartbreaking, redemptive, and authentic” (Jamie Ford, New York Times bestselling author) prose, Serle has crafted a transcendent novel about how we move on after loss, and how the people we love never truly leave us.

Same Time Next Summer

My Review: ✮✮✮✮

This love story is the perfect summer, easy-reading book to pick up.  It tells the story of a childhood love story from two POV’s and two different timelines.  We meet Sam at age 30 as she is about to get married and is planning her wedding back at her families vacation home; but what happens when she runs into her old summer love, Wyatt??  Is it predictable, why yes of course it is!  But it is also relatable, funny and an easy page turner wanting to dig deeper into Sam and Wyatt’s past!

Amazon Summary

Beach Rules:
Do take long walks on the sand.
Do put an umbrella in every cocktail.
Do NOT run into your first love.

Sam’s life is on track. She has the perfect doctor fiancé, Jack (his strict routines are a good thing, really), a great job in Manhattan (unless they fire her), and is about to tour a wedding venue near her family’s Long Island beach house. Everything should go to plan, yet the minute she arrives, Sam senses something is off. Wyatt is here. Her Wyatt. But there’s no reason for a thirty-year-old engaged woman to feel panicked around the guy who broke her heart when she was seventeen. Right?

Yet being back at this beach, hearing notes from Wyatt’s guitar float across the night air from next door as if no time has passed—Sam’s memories come flooding back: the feel of Wyatt’s skin on hers, their nights in the treehouse, and the truth behind their split. Sam remembers who she used to be, and as Wyatt reenters her life their connection is as undeniable as it always was. She will have to make a choice.

The Senator’s Wife 

My Review: ✮✮✮✮

I listened to this book on audible and at first, I was having a little trouble keeping all the characters straight; but then the story all fell into place and I loved the twist and turns as this story developed.  This one was definitely entertaining and if you love a good psychological thriller, I think you will love this one!

Amazon Summary

In this town, anyone is replaceable. . . .

After a tragic chain of events led to the deaths of their spouses two years ago, D.C. philanthropist Sloane Chase and Senator Whit Montgomery are finally starting to move on. The horrifying ordeal drew them together, and now they’re ready to settle down again—with each other.

As Sloane returns to the world of White House dinners and political small talk, this time with her new husband, she’s also preparing for an upcoming hip replacement—the latest reminder of the lupus she’s managed since her twenties. With their hectic schedules, they decide that hiring a home health aide will give Sloane the support and independence she needs postsurgery. And they find the perfect fit in Athena Karras.

Seemingly a godsend, Athena tends to Sloane and even helps her run her charitable foundation. But Sloane slowly begins to deteriorate—a complication, Athena explains, of Sloane’s lupus. As weeks go by, Sloane becomes sicker, and her uncertainty quickly turns to paranoia as she begins to suspect the worst. Why is Athena asking her so many probing questions about her foundation—as well as about her past? And could Sloane be imagining the sultry looks between Athena and her new husband?

Riveting, fast-paced, and full of unbelievable twists, The Senator’s Wife is a psychological thriller that upends the private lives of those who walk the halls of power. Because when you have it all, you have everything to lose.

The post Books I Read in June appeared first on Home of Malones.

I have rounded up my May reads for you ( a little late as usual!).   I think it was a nice mix of light, fluffy reads, a little suspense and then one more serious book.  As always, I mix up reading books and listening to books on audible and usually have one of each going on at any given time  

Mad Honey 

My Review: ✮✮✮1/2

This book totally shocked me and I really didn’t know much about the book going into it other than there was a murder, so there would be a suspense element to it.  I had seen a lot of people reading it and I was excited to read a Jodi Picoult because it had been awhile since I had read one of her books.  She notoriously does an amazing amount of research for her novels and often writes about some sensitive topics.  I loved that this book was written by two authors, each writing from a different point of view.  The chapters alternate between Olivia, a mother and Lily, a high-school aged girl.  I did not see the twist coming in this book and I would say it kept me wanting to read more. 

Amazon Summary

Olivia McAfee knows what it feels like to start over. Her picture-perfect life—living in Boston, married to a brilliant cardiothoracic surgeon, raising their beautiful son, Asher—was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined that she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown, living in the house she grew up in and taking over her father’s beekeeping business.

Lily Campanello is familiar with do-overs, too. When she and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school, they both hope it will be a fresh start.

And for just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. With Ash, she feels happy for the first time. Yet she wonders if she can trust him completely. . . .

Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But she would be lying if she didn’t acknowledge the flashes of his father’s temper in Ash, and as the case against him unfolds, she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.

Mad Honey is a riveting novel of suspense, an unforgettable love story, and a moving and powerful exploration of the secrets we keep and the risks we take in order to become ourselves.

Vacation Wars

My Review: ✮✮✮

This was a fun, Summer, fluffy book I listened to and then was ready to plan a trip to Greece.  The premise was a little silly to start with…sisters having a bet or “contract” that they made back in high school and it’s time to make good on the bet.  But the love story was cute and I liked Tessa the main character.  I think this makes for a cute beach read…especially if you are on your way to Greece this Summer! 

Amazon Summary

Prepared for a good time, Tessa is thrilled to spend the weeks before her sister’s wedding at their family’s favorite vacation spot: Santorini. Sandy beaches, stonewashed houses, attractive men—it’s heaven.

But Tessa’s idea of a girls’ trip comes to a screaming halt when her sister thinks it’s high time Tessa finds some love herself. Unfortunately, Tessa forgot about the deal she made back in high school: she has to find her soulmate before her sister’s wedding. Or else.

As she dodges suitors and her sister’s pranks, Tessa finds an ally in the oh-so-dreamy Myles, her childhood crush who just so happens to work at the resort. But Myles is dealing with some family conflict of his own. He’s elated at being reunited with Tessa, but his father’s refusal to acknowledge his interest in the family business and relegating him to only grunt work casts a dark cloud.

As Tessa and Myles help navigate their way through their families’ antics, they begin to realize that their past feelings may have a future—if only they can turn their island fantasies into something real.

Pineapple Street

My Review: ✮✮✮1/2

I had fun with this one. I could totally picture the family through this novel and honestly think it could make for a pretty funny TV show.  It follows a wealthy New York family and the intertwining of parents and their now grown children.  You get inside look as the three children take their own paths and how it all unravels… I was entertained and enjoyed the story of love, loss, and typical family drama. 

Amazon Summary

Darley, the eldest daughter in the well-connected old money Stockton family, followed her heart, trading her job and her inheritance for motherhood but giving up far too much in the process; Sasha, a middle-class New England girl, has married into the Brooklyn Heights family, and finds herself cast as the arriviste outsider; and Georgiana, the baby of the family, has fallen in love with someone she can’t have, and must decide what kind of person she wants to be. 

Rife with the indulgent pleasures of life among New York’s one-percenters, Pineapple Street is a smart, escapist novel that sparkles with wit. Full of recognizable, loveable—if fallible—characters, it’s about the peculiar unknowability of someone else’s family, the miles between the haves and have-nots, and the insanity of first love—all wrapped in a story that is a sheer delight.

You Are Not Alone

My Review: ✮✮✮

The authors of this book also wrote the Golden Couple which I really enjoyed last year, so I was excited to pick this one up.  I don’t know that I really liked the actual story line of this book which is why I didn’t rate it very high, but I did find myself wanting to read more…does that make any sense at all??  It’s was a bit too conniving for me I guess, but I also wanted to read until the end and find out what the heck was going on!  Hope that was helpful, ha! 

Amazon Summary

Shay Miller wants to find love, but it eludes her. She wants to be fulfilled, but her job is a dead end. She wants to belong, but her life is increasingly lonely.

Until Shay meets the Moore sisters. Cassandra and Jane live a life of glamorous perfection, and always get what they desire. When they invite Shay into their circle, everything seems to get better.

Shay would die for them to like her.
She may have to.

Have you read any of these books?? What did you think???  What are you currently reading?

The post Books I Read in May appeared first on Home of Malones.

I am a little late as usual for my book review, but I wanted to be sure to share a selection of books that I read in March! It was a crazy month, but I had a couple of books that I just could not put down. A great escape after – and during! – a busy day. I also love taking my Kindle with me when traveling!

The Soulmate

My Review: ✮✮✮✮

This was my first book from my new “Book of the Month” club! I joined this fun online club in March and then this was sent right to my doorstep!  It is actually not released until April 4th, but that is the fun of the club, sometimes they have access to a pre-release! If you have any interest, you can join it here.  This is not sponsored; but they do have a referral program, and I get a free book credit from anyone that joins from my link! So come have some fun with me! I am on my 3rd month now and I get so excited when my blue box arrives.

The Soulmate was so good! The chapters in this book are super short and it makes it feel like an easy, quick read which I loved.  The suspense happens right out the gate and it kept me guessing the whole time. I loved this story line.

Amazon Summary

Get ready for a thrilling, addictive novel about marriage, betrayal, and the secrets that push us to the edge in Sally Hepworth’s The Soulmate.

There’s a cottage on a cliff. Gabe and Pippa’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Night after night Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge. Until he doesn’t.

When Pippa discovers Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral…Did the victim jump? Was she pushed?

And would Gabe, the love of Pippa’s life, her soulmate…lie? As the perfect facade of their marriage begins to crack, the deepest and darkest secrets begin to unravel.

The Housemaid’s Secret

My Review: ✮✮✮✮

This is the 2nd novel to the The Housemaid.  I loved the Housemaid so I was so excited for the release of this new novel.  It did not disappoint.  I would say this one could definitely be read as a stand alone, but I think it is worth going back to the  first one to learn all about Millie, our housemaid.   Like the first novel, this book has plot twist after plot twist and will keep you guessing the entire time.  Millie is a young, single gal with a rap sheet. She spent 10 years in prison and fears that her chances of becoming employed could be slim and none… that is until she finds an employer that doesn’t ask too many questions. When your employer is uber wealthy with an incredible NYC penthouse, what could they possibly have to hide??

Amazon Summary

“Don’t go in the guest bedroom.” A shadow falls on Douglas Garrick’s face as he touches the door with his fingertips. “My wife… she’s very ill.” As he continues showing me their incredible penthouse apartment, I have a terrible feeling about the woman behind closed doors. But I can’t risk losing this job—not if I want to keep my darkest secret safe…

It’s hard to find an employer who doesn’t ask too many questions about my past. So I thank my lucky stars that the Garricks miraculously give me a job, cleaning their stunning penthouse with views across the city and preparing fancy meals in their shiny kitchen. I can work here for a while, stay quiet until I get what I want.

It’s almost perfect. But I still haven’t met Mrs Garrick, or seen inside the guest bedroom. I’m sure I hear her crying. I notice spots of blood around the neck of her white nightgowns when I’m doing laundry. And one day I can’t help but knock on the door. When it gently swings open, what I see inside changes everything…

That’s when I make a promise. After all, I’ve done this before. I can protect Mrs Garrick while keeping my own secrets locked up safe.

Douglas Garrick has done wrong. He is going to pay. It’s simply a question of how far I’m willing to go…

Regretting You

My Review: ✮✮✮

I will go ahead and start by saying this was not one of my favorite Co Ho novels.  The plot is okay and there are a few twists and turns throughout the novel but this one just left me feeling, meh.  It shares the story of a mother -daughter relationship through the years – a mother daughter that couldn’t be more different and go through love, heartbreak, trust issues and resentment.

Amazon Summary

Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike.

Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.

With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris—Morgan’s husband, Clara’s father, and the family anchor. But that peace is shattered when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. The heartbreaking and long-lasting consequences will reach far beyond just Morgan and Clara.

While struggling to rebuild everything that crashed around them, Morgan finds comfort in the last person she expects to, and Clara turns to the one boy she’s been forbidden to see. With each passing day, new secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings make mother and daughter fall further apart. So far apart, it might be impossible for them to ever fall back together.

The Villa

My Review: ✮✮✮1/2

This one took me at least half way through the book to get into. I mean I was literally ready to give up about 45% through the book because I was just bored but I decided to push through it and I am so glad I did.  Things finally ramped up for me the second half of the book and had me excited to read it again and glad that I didn’t toss it.

Amazon Summary

As kids, Emily and Chess were inseparable. But by their 30s, their bond has been strained by the demands of their adult lives. So when Chess suggests a girls trip to Italy, Emily jumps at the chance to reconnect with her best friend.

Villa Aestas in Orvieto is a high-end holiday home now, but in 1974, it was known as Villa Rosato, and rented for the summer by a notorious rock star, Noel Gordon. In an attempt to reignite his creative spark, Noel invites up-and-coming musician, Pierce Sheldon to join him, as well as Pierce’s girlfriend, Mari, and her stepsister, Lara. But he also sets in motion a chain of events that leads to Mari writing one of the greatest horror novels of all time, Lara composing a platinum album––and ends in Pierce’s brutal murder.

As Emily digs into the villa’s complicated history, she begins to think there might be more to the story of that fateful summer in 1974. That perhaps Pierce’s murder wasn’t just a tale of sex, drugs, and rock & roll gone wrong, but that something more sinister might have occurred––and that there might be clues hidden in the now-iconic works that Mari and Lara left behind.

Yet the closer that Emily gets to the truth, the more tension she feels developing between her and Chess. As secrets from the past come to light, equally dangerous betrayals from the present also emerge––and it begins to look like the villa will claim another victim before the summer ends.

Inspired by Fleetwood Mac, the Manson murders, and the infamous summer Percy and Mary Shelley spent with Lord Byron at a Lake Geneva castle––the birthplace of Frankenstein––The Villa welcomes you into its deadly legacy.

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Have you read any of these? What have you been reading lately? Drop me a line and let me know – I’m always looking for new books to add to my list!

Books I Read in January
Books I Read in February

The post Books I Read in March | Book Review appeared first on Home of Malones.

After the whirlwind that was the month of March, I am finally getting caught up. I wanted to document the books that I read in February, along with some reviews! 

I dove into a couple of historical fiction novels which is a genre I really haven’t read in years, but it makes me excited to have found one that I loved!! Then the rest of them were mysteries and thrillers. 

These book reviews are hard to do!! Ha! I feel like I am terrible at writing them, but I am trying to make myself.  My idea of a book review is really just telling you yes, I loved it or no, I didn’t really care for it and leaving it at that!!  I have my March book review almost finished, so that one will be coming out shortly.  Let me know if you are enjoying these in the comments. I like them as a way of keeping track of what I have read.

The Book of Lost Names

My Review: ✮✮✮✮1/2

Okay this was a book we chose in our book club and this is exactly why I wanted to start a little book club to push me out of my comfort zone!  This is a historical fiction novel which I RARELY ever read and I loved it so darn much!  There is history, there is love, there is bravery and even a little mystery! It is a fairly long book but I found myself begging to read more.  Now I think I’ve convinced myself to go dive into The Nightingale! 

Amazon Summary

Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books when her eyes lock on a photograph in the New York Times. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in more than sixty years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names.

The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer, but does she have the strength to revisit old memories?

As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris and find refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, where she began forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears.

An engaging and evocative novel reminiscent of The Lost Girls of Paris and The Alice Network, The Book of Lost Names is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of bravery and love in the face of evil.

Lessons in Chemistry

My Review: ✮✮✮

I listened to this one on audible and I felt like it fell a little short for me. I wanted to love it because I felt like it received a lot of hype, but I thought it was just okay.  Elizabeth Zott is a quirky, brilliant chemist and lives her life in facts. She is a student in the 1960s and working with an all-male team at the research institute and falls in love with a Nobel-prize scientist on her team.  Her love story is sweet. But life takes her in a different direction than she had planned when she finds herself as a single mother and the face of a brand new and very popular cooking show (but not your average chef!), Supper at Six. This book touches on some “touchy” subjects but there is also some good humor thrown in. 

Amazon Summary

Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results. 

But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo.  

Laugh-out-loud funny, shrewdly observant, and studded with a dazzling cast of supporting characters, Lessons in Chemistry is as original and vibrant as its protagonist.

The Maid

My Review: ✮✮✮✮

I read through this one quickly and I liked it so much.  Molly Gray struggles with social skills and loves to live an orderly life. So when Molly gets the job as a maid at a high end hotel, you can be sure she is going to give it her all.  The author uses Molly to share simple, yet, poignant life lessons from her grandmother throughout the book that I love and the story line pulled me in quickly.  It offers just enough mystery to keep you reading and guessing until the end. 

Amazon Summary

Molly Gray is not like everyone else. She struggles with social skills and misreads the intentions of others. Her gran used to interpret the world for her, codifying it into simple rules that Molly could live by.

Since Gran died a few months ago, twenty-five-year-old Molly has been navigating life’s complexities all by herself. No matter—she throws herself with gusto into her work as a hotel maid. Her unique character, along with her obsessive love of cleaning and proper etiquette, make her an ideal fit for the job. She delights in donning her crisp uniform each morning, stocking her cart with miniature soaps and bottles, and returning guest rooms at the Regency Grand Hotel to a state of perfection.

But Molly’s orderly life is upended the day she enters the suite of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black, only to find it in a state of disarray and Mr. Black himself dead in his bed. Before she knows what’s happening, Molly’s unusual demeanor has the police targeting her as their lead suspect. She quickly finds herself caught in a web of deception, one she has no idea how to untangle. Fortunately for Molly, friends she never knew she had unite with her in a search for clues to what really happened to Mr. Black—but will they be able to find the real killer before it’s too late?

A Clue-like, locked-room mystery and a heartwarming journey of the spirit, The Maid explores what it means to be the same as everyone else and yet entirely different—and reveals that all mysteries can be solved through connection to the human heart.

Little Secrets

My Review: ✮✮✮✮

I have read one other of Jennifer Hillier’s books, Things we do in the Dark, and really, really liked it and this was ranked right up there with it.  Like her other book, she hooks you in immediately by sharing the tragedy and then develops the story from there.  Marin is a successful hair stylist to the celebrities married to her college sweetheart when her son is kidnapped right under her own nose.  Her whole life begins to unravel and hell hath no fury like a woman scorned

Amazon Summary

All it takes to unravel a life is one little secret…

Marin had the perfect life. Married to her college sweetheart, she owns a chain of upscale hair salons, and Derek runs his own company. They’re admired in their community and are a loving family—until their world falls apart the day their son Sebastian is taken.

A year later, Marin is a shadow of herself. The FBI search has gone cold. The publicity has faded. She and her husband rarely speak. She hires a P.I. to pick up where the police left off, but instead of finding Sebastian, she learns that Derek is having an affair with a younger woman. This discovery sparks Marin back to life. She’s lost her son; she’s not about to lose her husband, too. Kenzie is an enemy with a face, which means this is a problem Marin can fix.

Permanently.

The Quarry Girls

My Review: ✮✮1/2

I listened to this one on audible as well and I felt like it was a highly popular novel, although, I can’t remember where I saw it recommended.  Need less to say, I would call this a hard pass. I did not enjoy this one…it had vulgarity,  I just didn’t love the story line and I felt like I had to force myself to finish it. 

Amazon Summary

Minnesota, 1977. For the teens of one close-knit community, summer means late-night swimming parties at the quarry, the county fair, and venturing into the tunnels beneath the city. But for two best friends, it’s not all fun and games.

Heather and Brenda have a secret. Something they saw in the dark. Something they can’t forget. They’ve decided to never tell a soul. But their vow is tested when their friend disappears—the second girl to vanish in a week. And yet the authorities are reluctant to investigate.

Heather is terrified that the missing girls are connected to what she and Brenda stumbled upon that night. Desperately searching for answers on her own, she learns that no one in her community is who they seem to be. Not the police, not the boys she met at the quarry, not even her parents. But she can’t stop digging because she knows those girls are in danger.

She also knows she’s next.

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Have you read any of these? What have you been reading lately? Drop me a line and let me know – I’m always looking for new books to add to my list!

The post Books I Read in February appeared first on Home of Malones.

I’m going to try to do better about reviewing books I’ve ready or listened to here on the blog.  I am a little late on January but wanted to share these with you!  I am trying to find my stride I the best way to share these book reviews.  

Spare

My Review: ✮✮✮1/2

I listened to this book on Audible and did enjoy the fact that Harry narrated.  I had already watched the special they had done with Oprah and then also on Netflix.  I had such mixed feelings listening to this book.  The book itself is extremely well-written and you can tell Harry has a very experienced and talented ghostwriter that helps him with the book.  He shares some of his pain and heartache after losing his Mom and then a lot about his time in the military. That part got a little drawn out for me.  I feel like you can really hear the anger and resentment towards his family and the role of the “spare” and really just a lot of sadness because his family will never be the same again.  I just hate seeing two brothers that may never be able to heal from this. 

The House in the Pines

My Review: ✮✮✮

This was a book we picked for our book club read and it was also picked as Reese Witherspoon’s January 2023 book club read.  I had pretty high hopes for this book because I love a good thriller and it had been a bit now since I had read one that I LOVED.  

The book tells the story about Maya who returns back to her hometown to try to solve the murder of her best friend that happened years earlier.  She wants to reopen this case after finding out that their old friend, Frank, may be responsible for a new murder.  Woman have just fallen down dead while being with Frank.  I would say that I flew through the book but overall was pretty let down in the end.  The author had a lot going on throughout the book and I didn’t feel like she fully tied it all together at the end and the twists and turns just didn’t really wow me! I hate the possibility of ruining a book for anyone, but personally, this was not one of my favorite thrillers! 

Amazon Summary:

One Day in December

My Review: ✮✮✮✮

I listened to this book as well mostly during December, but finished it up right after Christmas.  This was a super cute little love story based in London.  I felt like it was the perfect winter read with a great mix of romance and a little bit of drama for you!  

Amazon Summary:

Two people. Ten chances. One unforgettable love story.

Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn’t exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there’s a moment of pure magic…and then her bus drives away. 

Certain they’re fated to find each other again, Laurie spends a year scanning every bus stop and cafe in London for him. But she doesn’t find him, not when it matters anyway. Instead they “reunite” at a Christmas party, when her best friend, Sarah, giddily introduces her new boyfriend to Laurie. It’s Jack, the man from the bus. It would be. 

What follows for Laurie, Sarah, and Jack is 10 years of friendship, heartbreak, missed opportunities, roads not taken, and destinies reconsidered. One Day in December is a joyous, heartwarming, and immensely moving love story to escape into and a reminder that fate takes inexplicable turns along the route to happiness.

The House Across the Lake

My Review: ✮✮✮1/2

I listened to this book on audible and I did not like the narrator on audible which I had read bad reviews about.  I should have read the book instead.  The narrator is a very old lady and her voice wasn’t great for the audio book. This book is domestic thriller meets supernatural.   There were some definite twists and turns which kept me reading, but ultimately I didn’t love the direction the book ended. 

Amazon Summary:

Be careful what you watch for . . .

Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press, has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of bourbon, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple living in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is powerful; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous.

One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other—and the longer Casey watches—it becomes clear that Katherine and Tom’s marriage isn’t as perfect as it appears. When Katherine suddenly vanishes, Casey immediately suspects Tom of foul play. What she doesn’t realize is that there’s more to the story than meets the eye—and that shocking secrets can lurk beneath the most placid of surfaces.

Packed with sharp characters, psychological suspense, and gasp-worthy plot twists, Riley Sager’s The House Across the Lake is the ultimate escapist story . . . no lake house required.

Duke Actually

 I didn’t finish this one.  Mainly because we picked this to read over the holidays in our book club and I did a terrible job reading in December and then we had our book meeting and picked new books, so I decided to move on

Amazon Summary:

There’s a royal wedding on, and things are about to get interesting.

Meet the man of honor.

Maximillian von Hansburg, baron of Laudon and heir to the duke of Aquilla, is not having a merry Christmas. He’s been dumped by a princess, he’s unemployed, and his domineering father has sent him to New York to meet a prospective bride he has no interest in. In the city, he meets Dani Martinez, a smart (and gorgeous) professor he’s determined to befriend before their best friends marry in the Eldovian wedding of the century.

Meet the best woman.

Newly single, no-nonsense New Yorker Dani is done with love – she even has a list entitled “Things I Will Never Again Do for a Man” – which is why she hits it off with notorious rake Max. He’s the perfect partner for snow angels in Central Park and deep conversations about the futility of love.

It’s all fun and games until their friendship deepens into attraction and, oops….

Falling in love was never part of the plan.

The post Books I Read | January 2023 appeared first on Home of Malones.

I am rounding up a review of some of my most recent reads lately.  I do a mix of reading books and listening to audible books.  For audible, I listen to these in the car, on a walk, traveling, or even at home while working sometimes.  I like to listen to them at 1.5 speed and sometimes it feels like I fly through books.  For books, sometimes I read a physical copy and sometimes it is on my kindle.  It just depends.  But these I mostly read at night or sometimes I throw my Kindle in my purse when I am on the go and know I will be waiting somewhere. You can read my last review here.

This was a pretty good round-up of books.  I liked all the books and some I loved! I feel like there were a couple of books that I felt like have been hyped and I expected to love but they fell a little short for me.  I can’t wait to hear if you guys have any opinions on some of these reads!

 Golden Girl by Elin Hilderbrand

My Review: ✮✮✮✮

I love a good Elin book and this one was a nice twist between an easy beach read in one of our favorite locations and a little bit of murder mystery.  Vivian Howe is an author of beach novels with three grown kids.  She is killed in a hit and run car accident while on a run.  Vivi is now watching over in the Beyond and granted three nudges to change the outcome of events on earth.  She has to be careful of her choices as she wants her children grow older and have problems of their own.  She is also watching the investigation of her own death all while worrying about her own family secrets coming to the surface.  This book was a joy to read and loved the different aspects of family, mystery, love and coming of age.

Amazon Summary:

On a perfect June day, Vivian Howe, author of thirteen beach novels and mother of three nearly grown children, is killed in a hit-and-run car accident while jogging near her home on Nantucket. She ascends to the Beyond where she’s assigned to a Person named Martha, who allows Vivi to watch what happens below for one last summer. Vivi also is granted three “nudges” to change the outcome of events on earth, and with her daughter Willa on her third miscarriage, Carson partying until all hours, and Leo currently “off again” with his high-maintenance girlfriend, she’ll have to think carefully where to use them.

From the Beyond, Vivi watches “The Chief” Ed Kapenash investigate her death, but her greatest worry is her final book, which contains a secret from her own youth that could be disastrous for her reputation. But when hidden truths come to light, Vivi’s family will have to sort out their past and present mistakes—with or without a nudge of help from above—while Vivi finally lets them grow without her.

With all of Elin’s trademark beach scenes, mouth-watering meals, and picture-perfect homes, plus a heartfelt message—the people we lose never really leave us—Golden Girl is a beach book unlike any other.

The Wife Who Knew Too Much by Michele Campbell

My Review: ✮✮✮

I found this story entertaining with a some good twists and turns.  All things from the book may not be completely believable, but I still found it to be a good easy read.  Connor Ford is married to a wealthy older woman.  She is found dead at her annual 4th of July party in the Hamptons and no one knows who’s done it.  Connor rekindles an old relationship (someone closer to his age) and things get complicated.  Who killed Mrs. Ford and gets her fortune?  There are plenty of good curve balls through out this story that kept me reading more.

Amazon Summary:

Meet the first Mrs. Ford
Beautiful. Accomplished.
Wealthy beyond imagination.
Married to a much younger man.
And now, she’s dead.

Meet the second Mrs. Ford.
Waitress. Small-town girl.
Married to a man she never forgot,
From a summer romance ten years before.
And now, she’s wealthy beyond imagination.

Who is Connor Ford?
Two women loved him. And knew him as only wives can know.
Set amongst the glittering mansions of the Hamptons,
The Wife Who Knew Too Much is a decadent summer thriller about the lives of those who will do anything for love and money. Who is the victim? Who is the villain? And who will be next to die?

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

My Review: ✮✮✮✮

This book was also a recent favorite of mine.  I loved the plot of this book and was completely engaged through the entire story.  Greer and Sarah, the authors of this book, know how to write some great domestic thrillers.  This story shares the lives of Marissa and Matthew Bishop who seem like the perfect couple until Marissa confesses to cheating on her husband.  She finds an unconventional marriage counselor who has lost her license, but swears by a 10 session counseling style that is like no other.  She will stop at nothing to get to the bottom of her clients problems — follow people, spy, whatever it takes! She knows that Marissa and Matthew are hiding more than they have revealed and she will be sure to bring the truth to the surface.

Amazon Summary:

If Avery Chambers can’t fix you in 10 sessions, she won’t take you on as a client. Her successes are phenomenal—she helps people overcome everything from domineering parents to assault—and almost absorbs the emptiness she sometimes feels since her husband’s death.

Marissa and Mathew Bishop seem like the golden couple—until Marissa cheats. She wants to repair things, both because she loves her husband and for the sake of their eight-year-old son. After a friend forwards an article about Avery, Marissa takes a chance on this maverick therapist, who lost her license due to controversial methods.

When the Bishops glide through Avery’s door and Marissa reveals her infidelity, all three are set on a collision course. Because the biggest secrets in the room are still hidden, and it’s no longer simply a marriage that’s in danger.

Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McCallister

My Review: ✮✮✮

I wanted to love this book more than I did. It was a Reese Witherspoon book club choice and I felt like a hot new novel.  It was unique in the way it was written and definitely original.  It honestly captured my attention right out the gate which I loved as Mom, Jen, looks out the window of her home and sees her 18 year old son murder someone.  She has no idea who or why, but she sees his life shattered as he’s handcuffed and taken off in a police car.  She goes to bed heartbroken and with so many questions until the next day she wakes up and it’s yesterday…and then the day before and a week before and then years before.  Jen has the opportunity to to travel back in time to find the reason for this horrid crime her son has committed.  I guess I just got lost in some of the time travel and didn’t love this style as much as I hoped!

Amazon Summary:

Can you stop a murder after it’s already happened?

Late October. After midnight. You’re waiting up for your eighteen-year-old son. He’s past curfew. As you watch from the window, he emerges, and you realize he isn’t alone: he’s walking toward a man, and he’s armed.

You can’t believe it when you see him do it: your funny, happy teenage son, he kills a stranger, right there on the street outside your house. You don’t know who. You don’t know why. You only know your son is now in custody, his future shattered.

That night you fall asleep in despair. All is lost.

Until you wake . . .

. . . and it is yesterday.

And then you wake again . . .

. . . and it is the day before yesterday.

Every morning you wake up a day earlier, another day before the murder. With another chance to stop it. Somewhere in the past lies an answer. The trigger for this crime—and you don’t have a choice but to find it . . .

Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan

My Review: ✮✮✮

I saw so many people loving this story and thinking it was a favorite read, but I just never really fell in love with this one.  Maybe it was because I was on a streak of great thrillers and this light, romantic beach read was not what I was in the mood for.  None-the-less, it was cute.  Nora is a divorced mom of two and writes romantic scripts (think Hallmark movies).  Ironically, her life begins to turn into her own real-life hallmark movie when her most recent script is made into a movie and the Hollywood super star and former Sexiest Man Alive, Leo, is cast as her husband and filmed at her home. To Nora’s shock, when filming is complete, Leo asks to stay at her home for 7 more days and will pay rent. In just 7 days, Nora’s whole life can change…Do they fall in love or does this Hollywood celebrity break her heart and leave her in the dust??

Amazon Summary:

Nora’s life is about to get a rewrite…

Nora Hamilton knows the formula for love better than anyone. As a romance channel screenwriter, it’s her job. But when her too-good-to work husband leaves her and their two kids, Nora turns her marriage’s collapse into cash and writes the best script of her life. No one is more surprised than her when it’s picked up for the big screen and set to film on location at her 100-year-old-home. When former Sexiest Man Alive, Leo Vance, is cast as her ne’er do well husband Nora’s life will never be the same.

The morning after shooting wraps and the crew leaves, Nora finds Leo on her porch with a half-empty bottle of tequila and a proposition. He’ll pay a thousand dollars a day to stay for a week. The extra seven grand would give Nora breathing room, but it’s the need in his eyes that makes her say yes. Seven days: it’s the blink of an eye or an eternity depending on how you look at it. Enough time to fall in love. Enough time to break your heart.

Filled with warmth, wit, and wisdom, Nora Goes Off Script is the best kind of love story—the real kind where love is complicated by work, kids, and the emotional baggage that comes with life. For Nora and Leo, this kind of love is bigger than the big screen.

All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers

My Review: ✮✮✮✮✮

This was one of my favorite thrillers to date. The story kept me guessing the entire time and there are so many good layers to this storyline.  The author, Ashley Flowers, has a podcast called Crime Junkie that I have always enjoyed. This is her first book and I think she nailed it.  Margot is in her mid twenties and returns to her small town of Wakarusa, Indiana to take care of her her uncle with early onset- dementia.  She’s left her big-city job as a journalist and as she returns to Wakarusa she’s reminded of a murder that happened twenty years ago right across the street from her childhood home.  January Jones was her friend and her killer was never brought to justice.  Margot decided to make it her mission to dig up this cold-case and with that, you never know what else will come to the surface….

Amazon Summary:

You can’t ever know for sure what happens behind closed doors.

Everyone from Wakarusa, Indiana, remembers the infamous case of January Jacobs, who was discovered in a ditch hours after her family awoke to find her gone. Margot Davies was six at the time, the same age as January—and they were next-door neighbors. In the twenty years since, Margot has grown up, moved away, and become a big-city journalist. But she’s always been haunted by the feeling that it could’ve been her. And the worst part is, January’s killer has never been brought to justice.

When Margot returns home to help care for her uncle after he is diagnosed with early-onset dementia, she feels like she’s walked into a time capsule. Wakarusa is exactly how she remembers—genial, stifled, secretive. Then news breaks about five-year-old Natalie Clark from the next town over, who’s gone missing under circumstances eerily similar to January’s. With all the old feelings rushing back, Margot vows to find Natalie and to solve January’s murder once and for all.

But the police, Natalie’s family, the townspeople—they all seem to be hiding something. And the deeper Margot digs into Natalie’s disappearance, the more resistance she encounters, and the colder January’s case feels. Could January’s killer still be out there? Is it the same person who took Natalie? And what will it cost to finally discover what truly happened that night twenty years ago?

Twisty, chilling, and intense, All Good People Here is a searing tale that asks: What are your neighbors capable of when they think no one is watching?

Have you read any of these titles?? What did you think?  What’s your favorite book you’ve read lately?

The post Books I’ve Read | September 2022 appeared first on Home of Malones.

I always love hearing what other people are watching, reading and listening to; so I thought I would do a round-up of some of the things I’ve been into this Summer.  I am always looking for new ideas, so I would love for you to share some of your favorites with me in the comments.  This post ended up being pretty long, so I will do my best to summarize!

Watching

These are a mix of shows that I watched on my own and some Matt and I watch together.  We are always looking for new ones, so please share your favorites!

Candy – This is based on true events and is honestly pretty disturbing but I loved that it had Jessica Biel in it and also Justin Timberlake makes an appearance.  I also love shows based on a true story, so I binged this one and would say it is definitely worth watching but just know it is pretty F’ed up.  You can find this one on Hulu.

The Summer I Turned Pretty – I just absolutely loved this one as I think many others have.  It’s total teeny bopper, but somehow also appeals to an older audience.  It’s a beautiful setting and a cute plot. This show is based on a book series that I haven’t read and you can totally watch it without reading the books.  It is a trilogy and there will be another season.  You can find this show on Amazon Prime. 

Southern Charm – I’ve watched this show from the early days and have just always enjoyed it for reality tv.  This new season is pretty “meh,” I’ve just watched a little bit here and there. 

Trainwreck – Matt and I both watched this.  It is a mini series on Netflix about the reproduction of Woodstock that they did back in 1999.  I really never even knew they tried to do this and the whole thing is one big $hit show and pretty entertaining to watch.  

The Most Hated Man on the Internet – This is another documentary (Matt and I both watched) on a guy that is a total tool and considered to be the most hated man on the internet.  He reminded me a lot of Joe Francis from Girls Gone Wild.  Anyway, I thought the documentary was well done and worth the watch. 

Red Oaks – This is an Amazon prime series that is based in the 1980s at a Country Club called Red Oaks.  Its a fictional, comedy-drama based on a college age kid getting a summer job at the country club and trying to figure out his next steps in life.  There is romance, drama and some good humor.  We are still finishing this one up.  We just watch it periodically and it has 3 seasons. 

Reading

I have been on quite a reading kick lately.  I do a mix of reading books and listening to books on my audible membership.  I love having an audible book going for times that I am in the car, getting my eyelashes or nails done or sitting in my office working and want to listen to a book on tape.  But I also love reading a physical book (or sometimes my Kindle).  It is not uncommon that I have one of each going on at the same time.  So here is a run-down of some of the books I’ve gone through this summer. 

I am going to start with the ones that I loved the most and then go down from there…

The Last Thing He Told Me – I will start with this one because I feel like this book is the one that got me back into a reading kick this Spring/Summer.  I loved this story so much and I couldn’t put it down.  It is a great mystery and was part of Reese Witherspoons book club.  It is about a wife searching for answers about her husband, Owen’s, disappearance.  He left behind one note that read – Protect her.  Her refers to his 16 year old daughter and the story follows the wife and daughter trying to discover the truth behind Owen’s past.  This is definitely one to read.  

The Nantucket Hotel – This is one of my favorite Elin Hilderbrand books to date…maybe just behind her Winter Book Series that I love the most.  Its light and fun with just the right amount of drama following the enormous renovation of the Nantucket hotel.  New British owner and billionaire , Xavier Darling, has goals to make the Nantucket hotel the only hotel to receive a 5 key rating.  The story follows the staffing and running of this new hotel with twists, humor, romance and even a touch of supernatural.  I highly recommend picking this one up. 

Meant to Be – From Amazon…“A chic, history-inspired summer read [that] strikes a careful balance between simply retelling the true story of JFK Jr. and his wife, Carolyn Bessette, and crafting an entirely new one.”—Bookreporter.  This story is based off the true story of JFK Jr. and Carolyn, but I loved reading this fictional piece.  Emily Giffin does a great job touching on history but also setting a romantic plot about two people trying to figure out, against all odds, if they are truly meant to be. I really enjoyed this one.

The Younger Wife – I’m not sure how I came across this book, but it definitely sucked me in.  It touches on sensitive topics such as abuse, so I will warn you of that.  Stephen is a renowned heart surgeon who’s wife can’t make her own decisions and is living in a nursing home and he’s ready to marry a new, younger woman.  His two daughters think she is just after his money and begin learning their family may have more hidden secrets than they may have ever realized and so does the younger wife.  The story kept me guessing and wanting to keep reading one more chapter. 

Local Woman Missing –  I will say this was one that I couldn’t read when Matt was out of town.  It spooked me and involves kidnapping of children so just want to warn you of that.  It was suspensful and kept me wanting to read more the whole time.  From Amazon…In this smart and chilling thriller, master of suspense Mary Kubica takes domestic secrets to a whole new level, showing that some people will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.

These next four were all books I enjoyed listening too but didn’t love as much as the ones above.  I will just give a quick Amazon summary for each of these.  

The Paris Apartment – From Amazon…Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up – to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? – he’s not there. Jess begins to dig in. Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.

The Power Couple – I did really enjoy this one. From Amazon… Rebecca and Brian Unsworth appear to have it all. However, the Unsworths’ marriage isn’t as perfect as it seems. After two decades together, they’ve drifted apart, talking little and having sex even less. Seeking to revive their strained relationship, they decide for their twentieth wedding anniversary to take their two kids, Kira and Tony, on a European getaway.  They have a blast…until one night in Barcelona when Kira doesn’t come home from a dance club. She’s gone. Abducted. The Power Couple is both a fast-paced, globe-trotting espionage novel full of surprising twists and a nuanced look at modern marriage—the challenges of balancing career, parenthood, sex, and love.

What Happened to the Bennett’s – From Amazon…Jason Bennett is a suburban dad who owns a court-reporting business, but one night, his life takes a horrific turn. He is driving his family home after his daughter’s field hockey game when a pickup truck begins tailgating them, on a dark stretch of road. Suddenly two men jump from the pickup and pull guns on Jason, demanding the car. A horrific flash of violence changes his life forever.Later that awful night, Jason and his family receive a visit from the FBI. The agents tell them that the carjackers were members of a dangerous drug-trafficking organization—and now Jason and his family are in their crosshairs.  The agents advise the Bennetts to enter the witness protection program right away, and they have no choice but to agree. But WITSEC was designed to protect criminal informants, not law-abiding families. Taken from all they know, trapped in an unfamiliar life, the Bennetts begin to fall apart at the seams. Then Jason learns a shocking truth and realizes that he has to take matters into his own hands.

Never Have I Ever – From Amazon…From New York Times best-selling author Joshilyn Jackson, a twisting novel of domestic suspense in which a group of women play a harmless drinking game that escalates into a war of dark pasts.  In this game, even winning can be deadly….Amy Whey is proud of her ordinary life and the simple pleasures that come with it – teaching diving lessons, baking cookies for new neighbors, helping her best friend, Charlotte, run their local book club. Her greatest joy is her family: her devoted professor husband, her spirited 15-year-old stepdaughter, her adorable infant son. And of course, the steadfast and supportive Charlotte. But Amy’s sweet, uncomplicated life begins to unravel when the mysterious and alluring Angelica Roux arrives on her doorstep one book-club night.

These next 3 are all biographies that I enjoyed and listed to on audible.  I love listening to biographies on audible because you get to hear the author tell the story.  I loved all 3 of these but I would have to say if you listen to just one of them, listen to Matthew McConaughey’ book, Greenlights.  He does a fantastic job and I love his diary-style writing and the way he reads the story is amazing.

Going There – This is Katie Couric’s story.  From Amazon…This heartbreaking, hilarious, and brutally honest memoir shares the deeply personal life story of a girl next door and her transformation into a household name.

Greenlights – From Amazon… Discover the life-changing memoir that has inspired millions of readers through the Academy Award®–winning actor’s unflinching honesty, unconventional wisdom, and lessons learned the hard way about living with greater satisfaction.

Loving Fully – This is the story of Mallory Ervin. Mallory is a digital influencer, best selling author and a former contestant on Amazing Race.  From Amazon…In Living Fully, Mallory shares her personal story of overcoming the unhealthy and damaging patterns in her life and shows listeners how to trade this for something completely new and more rewarding. 

Listening

Here’s a list of podcasts I’ve been into lately.  Again, I love listening to these while in the car, on walks, traveling, etc.

How’d She Do That Podcast – I love listening to Emily Landers.  She puts out a new podcasts weekly and does a fantastic job interviewing women small businesses.  I love what she has done with her podcast and have several favorites.  I love one of her newest with Sarah Tucker, but also her interviews with Dondolo, Julia Amory, Little English, Weezie, Mignonne Gavigan, Lyndsey Zorich of The Avenue,  and Cristina Lynch of Mi Golondrina.  She has over 100 wonderful interviews. 

What the Fab – This is a podcast that I enjoy mostly as a blogger.   She has a variety of podcast topics, but I pretty much just listen to her podcasts that talk about the business part of blogging.  She is very knowledgable and shares a lot of her experience and wisdom in the blog world. 

Betrayal – This is a great podcast about a woman who thought she was living her fairy-tale life with her husband until she finds out she has been living in a marriage full of betrayal and deceit. This story is about Jenifer Faison who speaks candidly and vulnerably about her life and uncovered the unthinkable.  Please note that this podcasts contains sexual assault.  

Murdough Murders – Surely you have heard about these murder cases in South Carolina?  This podcasts follows all the details of the investigation and trial of the Murdough family if you love a good murder mystery. There are also some great documentaries out now following this story as well.

Up and Vanished – Similar to the one above, this followed the murder of beloved GA school teacher, Tara Grinstead.  

Preppy Podcast – This is a similar podcast to How’d She Do That that I spoke about above.  Patricia does a fantastic job interviewing small businesses, influencers and female entrepreneurs that are keeping the modern, preppy lifestyle alive.  Here’s a few I have loved…Teggy French, Nashville Tash, Addison Bay, Carly of College Prepster, and Lucy Grymes.

Phew, that was a lot. I hope this was helpful.  I am always looking for new recommendations, so please feel free to leave me your favorites. I would appreciate it so much.  Matt and I are always looking for new shows to watch together or movies.  And I love a good podcast or book recommendation.

The post Listening, Watching and Reading | Summer 2022 appeared first on Home of Malones.

It’s been a fairly slow reading year so far, but I wanted to recap some of these books because I have some definite recommendations for all of you that I think you would enjoy reading.  Summer is usually a busy time for reading and especially some good chick lit.  I’m finally getting back into my groove!  And today we are headed for a babymoon so I’m certain I will get lots of good reading done

2018 Books | 1st & 2nd Quarter

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Evelyn Hugo sets out to tell her story of her glamorous and scandalous Hollywood life.  Evelyn seeks out the reporter that she wants to share her story and no one can really understand why.  Evelyn’s story unfolds of ambition, career moves, and lots of love stories and we start to see how her story ties together with Monique, the reporter she chose to tell her story.  I loved this book and would highly recommend it!

The Last Mrs. Parrish By Liv Constantine

When this book first started off, I didn’t think I was going to like it.  It seemed played-out.  The nobody girl decides she wants to become somebody.  She seeks out a wealthy family and befriends the wife only to try to steal her husband.  I kept pushing through and ended up loving the twist and turns the book had to offer.  The characters are well-developed and it turns into a juicy thriller.  It became one of my favorites!  I would recommend this book.

The Wife Between Us By Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

I read that people compared this book to Gone Girl or Girl on a Train.  It has some suspense and a few curves to try to keep you locked in, but I thought it was very slow to start. The title explains the book pretty well.  A woman gets divorced from her husband and he moves on and marries again.  She becomes obsessed with the new wife and her ex-husbands relationship.   I don’t want to give too much away, but it is more than just a love triangle.  I was more impressed with the two authors of this book and the way they wrote this story from two separate cities than I was with the actual story.And I usually love a good thriller. It’s been a popular read this summer, but I wasn’t crazy about it. 

Slightly South of Simple By Kristy Woodson Harvey

Yes Yes to this series set in the peaceful Peachtree Bluffs!  This is the perfect summer read and now there are two of the three books released!  I love the story of this Mom and her three grown daughters.  Their Dad was killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11 and this series shares all about family dynamics and secrets from the past.  I think you will be hooked immediately if you love a good summer chick lit Definite read. 

The Secret to Southern Charm By Kristy Woodson Harvey

This is the second book in the series above.  I flew through both of these books.  I loved learning what was happening next to this adorable family that certainly has its own set of challenges and secrets.  It’s all about the bonds of sisters and questions the things we do as Mothers to try to keep our children safe!  I can’t wait for the third book to come out and I would highly recommend this series!

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins

I don’t know what happen with this book, but I just could never get into it.  I made myself get to the end, but I was just not  a fan of it.  I love suspense, thriller type books but this one just never captivated me.  The story is told from different characters each chapter and slowly clues are given out.  The story follows a mother who was found dead in the river and you aren’t sure if it was murder or suicide.  Not long before, a teenage girl was also found dead in the river and you are trying to get to the bottom of these deaths.  The plot was slow to unravel and just wasn’t a great story line in my opinion.  I don’t recommend this one. 

:: Past Book Reviews ::

2016 Books

1Q 2017

2nd Q 2017

3rd Q 2017

4th Q 2017

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