June Wrap Up

 

📚𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝗪𝗿𝗮𝗽 𝗨𝗽📚

Hard to imagine June is over. I’ve continued my trend of listening to more audiobooks than reading print. But it was a good reading month filled with a variety of genres. Here’s the breakdown. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - loved

🎧 We Used To Live Here - this is a heck of a debut novel! Creepy, fast moving, and well plotted. Thank you Simon Audio for the gifted copy! 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - really liked

📖 The Deep - creepy Titanic ghost story. Thank you Putnam Books for the gifted copy! 

📖 Long Time Gone - can’t go wrong with anything Charlie Donlea writes. 

🎧 Middletide-a slow burning mystery set in the Pacific Northwest. Also a debut novel. Thank you Simon Audio for the gifted audiobook! 

🎧 Hide- first book in the Det. Harriet Foster series. Engaging police procedural. 

🎧 A Talent for Murder - Lily Kitner is back to help an old college friend. Twisty and entertaining. 

🎧 Murder Book - thoroughly enjoyed this one. 

🎧 No Strangers Here - a veterinarian returns to her rural Irish hometown & discovers her family is implicated in a murder. 

🎧 Ararat - an expedition to find Noah’s Ark turns deadly. Spine-tingling spooky. 

🎧 Love, Theoretically- really enjoyed this science themed romance. 

🎧 Finally Donovan Knocks ‘Em Dead - fun and fast paced thriller. 

🎧 Death of a Bookseller - an interesting twist on true crime obsession. 

🎧 Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand - a touching drama/romance featuring older characters. 

QOTD: what was your favorite June read or what book are you starting off July with? 

#readingwrapup #monthlywrapup #thrillerbooks #crimefiction #horrorfiction #romancebooks #policeprocedural #audiobooks #bookstagram #audiobookstagram #debutnovels 

Book Mail: Long Time Gone

 

Author: Charlie Donlea

Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp

Year: 2024

📫𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗹📫

Book mail is the best mail part two! 

Thank you bookstagrammer @andrea.c.lowry.reads for sending me Long Time Gone! And look at the awesome keychain that came with it!

I was so excited when Andrea messaged me that I had won her #giveaway for this book. In fact, it was Andrea who introduced me to @charliedonlea books a couple of years ago when she sent me her copy of Twenty Years Later just because she thought I’d like it. She’s the best! 

If you’ve never read any of Charlie’s books, do yourself a favor and pick one up. He writes terrific thrillers! 

QOTD: who’s an author you often recommend? 

I often recommend Michael Connelly, S.A. Cosby, Charlie Donlea, and Richard Osman. 

#bookmail #bookmailisthebestmail #longtimegone #charliedonlea #kensingtonbooks #crimefiction #thrillerbooks #mysteryfiction #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks #bookstagramfriendsarethebestfriends 

The Ministry of Time

 

Author: Kaliane Bradley

Narrators: Katie Leung and George Weightman

Publisher: Simon Audio

Year: 2024

Thank you Simon Audio for the gifted audiobook! 

“Time,” she said, “is a limited resource like all of our resources.”

A book about time travel? Sign me up! In Kaliane Bradley's The Ministry of Time, a civil servant in the near future is offered a new job that comes with big promotion. Time travel is now possible & the ministry is gathering “expats” from across time to determine if time travel is feasible on a body & also on the fabric of space and time. The ministry has brought back several individuals from different periods in history. The civil servant’s job is to act as a “bridge” - living with, helping & monitoring expat 1847, Commander Graham Gore. Gore was on a doomed Arctic expedition. Now he’s learning to deal with computers, cellphones, washing machines, & a modern day woman. 

My quick summery doesn’t do justice to this impressive debt novel. It has something for every reader. It’s a combo of history, sci-fi, comedy, espionage, & romance. It’s full of interesting characters and a big twist at the end. This book pulled me in right from the beginning with its interesting & complex characters & intricate plot. Commander Gore was a real-life Royal Navy officer on the ill fated Franklin expedition. I liked the alternating chapters that gave a glimpse into Gore’s expedition and the man himself. 

The novel is also weighty enough to examine what it means to be a refugee both in and out of time. Gore’s bridge, the unnamed female main character, is the daughter of refugees. The plight of refugees has implications in not-too-distant future timelines. The narration by Katie Leung and George Weightman is top notch. 

All in all, this is a very entertaining and thought provoking novel. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Book Mail: The Deep

 Author: Alma Katsu

Publisher: Putnam Books

Release date: June 4, 2024

📫𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗠𝗮𝗶𝗹📫

Book mail is the best mail! Thank you Putnam Books for the #gifted book! Author Alma Katsu’s The Deep is now out in paperback. I can’t wait to dive into this one! (Pun intended! 😀) Here’s the synopsis: 

𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒐𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒊𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒄?

Someone, or something, is haunting the ship. Between unexplained disappearances and eerie deaths, the guests of the Titanic—particularly maid Annie Hebley and guest Mark Fletcher—are convinced there’s something sinister afoot. But before they can unveil the danger that beckons them, disaster strikes.

Years later, Annie is working as a nurse on the sixth voyage of the Titanic’s sister ship, the Britannic, newly refitted as a hospital ship. When she happens across an unconscious Mark, now a soldier fighting in World War I, Annie is relieved to see he survived the sinking. But soon Mark’s presence awakens deep-buried secrets, a creeping darkness forcing Annie to reckon with the demons of her past—as they both discover the terror may not yet be over. 

Spooky Titanic horror? Yes, please! 

QOTD: what‘s your most recent book mail or what are you reading this week? I’m listening to Death of a Bookseller this week. 

#thedeep #almakatsu #putnambooks #horrorfiction #spookybooks #titanic #titanicfiction #giftedbook #bookmail #bookmailisthebestmail #paperbackrelease 

April Reading Wrap Up

 

📚 𝗔𝗽𝗿𝗶𝗹 𝗪𝗿𝗮𝗽 𝗨𝗽 📚

April was a good reading month. Here’s my wrap up, better late than never. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - loved

📖All the Colors of the Dark- extraordinary characters & storytelling. Publishes on June 25. Thank you Crown Publishing and NetGalley for the digital tree copy. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ - really enjoyed 

🎧 Madame Pommery - inspired by the true story of a trailblazing woman. Thank you Lion Heart Publishing and @bookandwinelovers for the review copy. 

🎧 Broken Harbor - not my favorite by Tana French, but good stuff. 

🎧 Lola on Fire - lots of action and suspense. An entertaining thriller. 

🎧The Hotel Nantucket - Hilderbrand is my go-to beach read author. 

📖 Chain-Gang All-Stars - thought provoking. 

🎧 Murder Road - spooky thriller fun

🎧 The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell - book club read. 

🎧 The Murder of Mr. Ma - an interesting homage to Sherlock Holmes. 

🎧 Deus X - not the best in the August Snow series, but solid. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️ good 

🎧 The Eyre Affair - I liked the premise, but the execution missed the mark for me. 

QOTD: what was your favorite read last month or what’s your current read? 

I’m currently listening to The Good Sister because @ohiobookgal recommended it. 

#readingwrapup #monthlywrapup #audiobooks #audiobookstagram #librarybooks #crimefiction #historicalfiction #thrillerfiction #suspensethriller #beachreds #suspensebooks #supernaturalfiction #bookclubbook #bookstagram #mysteryfiction #bookstagram 

Madame Pommery

 

Author: Rebecca Rosenberg

Narrator: Katherine Anderson

Publisher: Lion Heart Publishing

Year: 2024

🥂𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗿🥂

Thank you @bookandwinelovers and 

@rebeccarosenbergnovelist for the #giftedcopy audiobook. 

Madame Pommery, an etiquette teacher and mother of two, must support her family after the death of her husband. In the Champagne region of France in 1860, that is no easy task. Madame Pommery decides, with no experience, to convert her husband’s small wine making business to making champagne. When she gets no help from others in the champagne business, Madame Pommery forges ahead and learns the intricacies of making champagne.

She perseveres through war and occupation, keeping her business going when most of her workers were conscripted into the army. She ignored the naysayers and created brute (dry) champagne which became wildly popular. She trusted her instincts, creating an innovative & incredibly successful business. 

This is a well researched and entertaining book. I could tell author Rebecca Rosenberg did a deep dive into the time period, the events taking place, and the intricacies of making champagne. It all comes together in  an extremely engaging look at the life of a trailblazing woman. Katherine Anderson provides a wonderful narration, really bringing the woman and the story to life. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read this one if you’re looking for: 

🍾 Historical fiction

🍾Strong female character 

🍾Family drama

🍾A little romance 

Madame Pommery is available now in all formats. 

QOTD: Have you ever been to France?  If so, what did you love about it?

I’ve never been, but would love to go. 

#bookandwinelovers #bookandwineloversmarketing #booktours #bookstagram #audiobooktour #audiobook #france #historicalfiction  #historicalfrenchfiction #rebeccarosenberg

#madamepommery #champagnewidowsseries #champagne #author #authorofinstagram #bookclubpick #wine 

All the Colors of the Dark

 

Author: Chris Whitaker

Publisher: Crown Publishing 

Release date: June 25, 2024

📖 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 📖

Girls are disappearing around a small Missouri town. When the daughter of the town’s wealthiest family is targeted, she’s saved by the most unexpected hero. Patch, a poor boy with only one eye and one friend, saves her life. But his impulsive heroism sets off a lifetime of heartache and the search for answers, love, and justice. 

I’m not sure I can put into words how much I loved this book and these characters. This book pulled me right in. Chris Whitaker’s writing is beautiful and lyrical. It’s an atmospheric story filled with haunted and heartbreaking characters. I’m giving this book all the stars because I already know it’s going to be my favorite book this year. 

All the Colors of the Dark is out June 25 and you don’t want to miss this extraordinary book. Thank you @crownpublishing and @netgalley for the digital review copy. 

#allthecolorsofthedark #chriswhitaker #crownpublishing #netgalley #publishingsoon #bookstgaram #literaryfiction #crimefiction #historicalfiction #lovestory #readthisbook #lifetimefavorite