Stillwater

 

Author: Tanya Scott

Publisher: Grove Atlantic

Publication date: August 12, 2025

Thank you Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the e-arc of Stillwater by Tanya Scott. 

Jack worked hard to escape a life of crime working for a local mob boss. He changed his name to Luke and reinvented himself as a hard working college student. A chance encounter with his former boss pulls Luke back into the dangerous life he left. Can Luke escape with his life again?

This is a solid debut novel. It’s got classic thriller themes like criminal with a heart of gold, bad parenting and childhood trauma leads hero to find a father figure in a crime boss, and hero falls for a girl who’s father is in trouble with the crime boss. The pace of the story is good and the timeline shifts from present to past as Luke recalls the events in his that lead to his present day troubles. There’s even some family secrets and lies thrown in. 

Overall, I liked it. I was rooting for Luke to get the life he’s always wanted. Stillwater is out Aug. 12th. 

Happy Friday! Any plans for the weekend? We’re going to a graduation party. 

About the Author

Tanya Scott is a writer, doctor, and medical educator based on the Victorian Surf Coast. She has been writing for many years, including using narrative therapy as a tool to make sense of the world, both personally and with her patients. Many of the ideas for Stillwater stem from her work helping patients with childhood trauma—acknowledging that in reality, recovery is a long and incomplete path.

Book mail: American Sky

 

Thank you Booksparks, author James Grady, and Pegasus Books for the #src2025 #gifted book! American Sky is an expansive and atmospheric coming of age novel. Here’s the summary: 

“For the teenaged Luc, his days are preoccupied with the daily dramas of high school. President John F. Kennedy's assassination seems a world away. But the winds of history find their way to his small Montana town as marijuana clouds rise in the hallways and the notices of neighborhood young men "Killed in Action" in Vietnam keep arriving at an increasing rate.

Acclaimed novelist James Grady's American Sky brings to life the world of a young man who is caught in the nexus of vast social change. From blue-collar life in the heartland to Kent State and the Civil Rights movement, American Sky is a sweeping narrative that builds to a crime that threatens to tear Luc's world apart.”

I can’t wait to dive into this one! 

Does this one sound interesting to you? What book mail have you gotten recently?

About the Author

James Grady’s first novel Six Days Of The Condorbecame the classic Robert Redford movie Three Days Of The Condor and the current Max Irons TV series Condor. Grady has received Italy’s Raymond Chandler Award, France’s Grand Prix Du Roman Noir,Japan’s Baka-Misu literature award, two Regardie's magazine short story awards, and been a Mystery Writers of America Edgar finalist. He's published more than a dozen novels and three times that many short stories, been a muckraker journalist, and a scriptwriter for film and television.

Fifty Fifty

 

Author: Steve Cavanagh 

Narrator: Adam Sims

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Year: 2025

Monday already?! Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the #gifted audiobook! 

NYC defense attorney Eddie Flynn takes on one of his toughest cases in Fifty Fifty by Steve Cavanagh. Two sisters are charged with the brutal murder of their father. They accuse each other of the slaying. Both were at the scene when the murder occurred. There’s forensic evidence from both sisters on the body. Who’s the guilty one? 

This is a fast paced cat and mouse thriller. Sisters Alexandria and Sophia are total opposites. Eddie’s client Sophia has a history of mental illness and addiction, making her the underdog of the trial when compared to her more successful sister. Cavanagh’s cleaver writing kept me guessing until the end. This is the fifth book in the Eddie Flynn series, but it works as a standalone book. I’m reading the series out of order without any problems. Narrator Adam Sims does a fantastic job bringing the characters and story to life. This is a great choice if you’re looking for a quick and twisty legal thriller. 

Have you ever served on a jury? I was served on a federal grand jury. We were impaneled for 18 months and usually met two or three times a month. It was our job to decide if there was sufficient evidence that a crime was committed to indict the accused to send them on for trial. It was really interesting to be a part of it. 

About the Author

Steve Cavanagh is an Irish author from Belfast and at the age of eighteen he studied law by mistake. He is now the international award-winning author of the Eddie Flynn novels. His debut novel, The Defense, was nominated for the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for Thriller of the Year, and The Plea won the Prix Polar Award for Best International Novel. Steve is still a practicing lawyer (someday he’ll get the hang of it) and co-host of the chart-topping podcastTwo Crime Writers And A Microphone. He has been involved in several high-profile civil rights cases, his Eddie Flynn novels have been published in over twenty countries, he’s married with two young children, and in his spare time he is mostly asleep.

The Dark Maestro

 

Author: Brendan Slocumb

Narrator: Ronald Peet

Publisher: Random House Audio

Year: 2025

Happy #thrillerthursday! I’ll admit that when I read the summary for Brendan Slocumb’s first book, The Violin Conspiracy, I was skeptical. But that book pulled me right it. I found it just so compelling. I liked his second book Symphony of Secrets too. The Dark Maestro is his latest book. It’s about a cello player, on the verge of making it big in the rarified air of symphony music, who loses everything.

This story is kind of a hot mess. I liked the characters. Curtis is a musical genius and a big comic book loving nerd. Curtis and his dad Zippy had a strong relationship although there were some rocky times. It took Zippy some time to realize how talented Curtis is. Larissa,Zippy’s girlfriend, really supported and loved Curtis. Zippy worked for a a criminal operation dealing in illegal organ harvesting and agrees to testify to stay out of prison. The family goes into witness protection and Curtis is forced to give up his musical career. Looking for a creative outlet Curtis starts an online comic starring a superhero cello player. After several years in witsec and with the bad guys still looking for them, the family decides to take matters into their own hands and go after the guys who run the illegal organ harvesting ring. The chapters with the family in witsec got a little slow and dragged after a while. But the messy part for me started when Zippy and Larissa were able to leave the country to find the clinic where the organ harvesting was taking place. Larissa was able to get a job at the clinic to try to find some evidence. It got even more over the top after that. Curtis and his family got their revenge, but not without heartache. 

I liked this book and thought Ronald Peet did a wonderful job narrating it. He really brought the characters to life, but it’s not my favorite of Slocumb’s books. I’ll still recommend this one, but The Violin Conspiracy is far better. 

Can you play a musical instrument? Did you ever take lessons? 

#audiobook #audiobookreview #audiobookstagram #librarybook #lovemylibrary #mysterybooks #thrillerbooks

About the Author 

Brendan Slocumb was raised in North Carolina, and holds a degree in music education (with concentrations in violin and viola) from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. For more than twenty years he has been a public and private school music educator and has performed with orchestras throughout Northern Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.

When the Wolf Comes Home

 

Author: Nat Cassidy

Publisher: Tor Nightfire

Year: 2025

Happy Tuesday! Do you read horror or like scary movies? I used to read a lot of Stephen King way back in the day, but then I just kind of drifted to other genres. I’ve recently been dipping back into the horror genre. After seeing @melsbooksshelves rave review of Nat Cassidy’s When the Wolf Comes Home, I had to give it a try. And it didn’t disappoint. It was one of my favorite reads last month. 

Jess finds a young boy hiding in the bushes outside her apartment one night. After a bloody massacre, Jess and the boy go on the run for their lives. Swipe ⬅️ for the full summary. 

This is horror meets found family, meets run for your lives, meets buddy road trip, meets what happens when the things you’re most afraid of come to life. It’s grizzly, occasionally absurd,  terrifying, and heartbreaking. Read it even in you’re not a horror fan because it’s just that great. This one is already on my list of favorites for the year. 

#whenthewolfcomeshome #natcassidy #tornightfire #horrorbooks #roadtrip #werewolf #librarybook #foundfamily 

About the Author

Nat Cassidy writes horror for the page, stage, and screen. His acclaimed novels, including Mary: An Awakening of Terror and Nestlings, have been featured in best-of lists from Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, NPR, the Chicago Review of Books, the NY Public Library, and more, and he was named one of the "writers shaping horror’s next golden age" by Esquire. His award-winning horror plays have been produced throughout New York City and across the United States. He won the NY Innovative Theatre Award for his one-man show about H. P. Lovecraft, another for his play about Caligula, and was commissioned by the Kennedy Center to write the libretto for a short opera (about the end of the world, of course). You've also likely seen Nat on your TV, playing various Bad Guys of the Week on shows such as Law & Order: SVU, Blue Bloods, Bull, Quantico, FBI,and many others ... but that's a topic for a different bio. He lives in New York City with his wife.

Code Name Hélène

 

Author: Ariel Lawhon

Narrators: Barrie Kreinik and Peter Ganim

Publisher: Random House Audio

Year: 2020

Happy Monday! Can we make #backlistbookmonday a thing? I’m late to the Code Name Hélène party. I loved Ariel Lawhon’s The Frozen River, so I had to dip into her backlist. 

The book is based on the real life story of Nancy Wake. Nancy, a New Zealander, was a newspaper reporter in Paris in the run up to WWII. After Germany invaded France, she began working to smuggle people and documents out of France. When the Germans placed a bounty on her, she fled to England. There, she trained with the British Special Operations Forces. She was sent back to France and became a leader in the French Resistance. What a life this woman had! 

Lawhon does an excellent job weaving a narrative based on her extensive research of Wake. The story is tense, riveting, and heartbreaking. The audio narration by Barrie Kreinik and Peter Ganim was gripping and kept me engrossed in the story. 

If you somehow haven’t read this yet, do yourself a favor and pick it up ASAP. It’s a good reminder that when the world is a dark and dangerous place, courageous and extraordinary women emerge. 

Who’s your favorite historical fiction heroine—and is she as bad@ss as Nancy Wake?

#codenamehelene #ariellawhon #nancywake #randomhouseaudio #backlistbook #audiobook #historicalfiction #WWIIfiction #paris #marseille #frenchresistance #bookstagram #basedonatruestory #audiobookstagram #librarybook 

About the Author

Ariel Lawhon is an award-winning, critically acclaimed, New York Timesbestselling author of historical fiction. Her books have been translated into over thirty languages and have been Good Morning America, LibraryReads, and One Book One County selections. She lives in the rolling hills outside Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and four sons. Ariel splits her time between the grocery store and the baseball field.

No Man’s Ghost

 

Author: Jason Powell

Publisher: Datura 

Year: 2025

Thank you Booksparks, Jason Powell, and Datura for the #gifted book for the Summer Reading Challenge! 

It's an FDNY firefighter’s first – and possibly last – week on the job.

Charles is a probie (probationary) firefighter just starting his career. He’s learning the ropes at the firehouse, trying to make a good impression on his coworkers, learning the routine, and training hard. As Charles settles in to his new job, Alan’s life and marriage are falling apart. His destructive decision could have deadly consequences for Charles and his fellow firefighters. 

This is well done debut novel. Powell, is an NYFD firefighter. He’s clearly called upon his work experience and expertise for this story. I liked the behind the scenes look at how a fire station runs, all the training, the teasing and pranking the probie, and the kinds of call outs the firefighters get. The plot alternates between Charles and Alan and his wife. The pace of the story is steady. Charles steadily gains confidence in himself and his job as his first week at work progresses. His fellow firefighters provide a needed support system to ensure Charles’ success and the safety of all. Meanwhile, Alan’s life unravels after his wife kicks him out after cheating on her. He’s got a problem with alcohol, very few friends, and no place to go. The pace of the book varies, no doubt much like the pace of a fire station. Quiet time and then the action and tension jumps up. This was an entertaining read and I definitely recommend it. I’m going to pass along my copy of the book to my son in law who’s also a firefighter. 

Any plans for the weekend? We’re having lunch with some of my husband‘s cousins on Saturday. 

#nomansghost #jasonpowell #booksparks #daturabooks #debutnovel #contemporaryfiction #nyfd #firefighters #arson 

About the Author

Jason Powell is an author and New York City Firefighter. When he isn’t at the firehouse or at a desk, he can be found in the city with his back pack filled with snacks, water, a notebook and a novel. Born the youngest of nine kids, his household of eleven people taught him to appreciate alone time and sweet escapes. He has found there is no better place to escape to than in between the covers of a book.