July Reading Wrap Up

 

📚 𝐉𝐮𝐥𝐲 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐫𝐚𝐩 𝐔𝐩 📚

Seems like July just flew by. My reading this month started slowly. I just didn’t devote enough time to reading, but I finished the month strong. Thank you to Simon & Schuster Audio for the #giftedcopies and to NetGalley, Blackstone Publishing, and Soho Press for the digital ARCs. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lessons in Chemistry - I loved everything about this book! I already know this will be one of my top 10 this year. I’ll be recommending this to everyone I know. 

Shifty’s Boys - I love how economically Chris Offutt can tell a story with such rich characters and setting. Perfect for fans of modern noir. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

What’s Coming to Me - a YA story about grief and loneliness 

Real Easy - police investigate the murders of two women who worked at a strip club

Golden Girl -a quintessential summer read

🎧Bad Things Happen Here- a teen girl still mourning the death of her best friend must also deal with another tragedy

Run Time - an actress experiences weird and terrifying situations on a remote movie location 

🎧First Born - a British woman must overcome her anxieties and travel to NYC when her twin sister is found dead 

Winter Counts- a Native American man seeks answers and justice after his nephew almost dies of a heroin overdose

All my four stars reads were entertaining and enjoyable reads and I’d recommend them to any reader. 

QOTD: what are you planning to read in August? 

I have a few library holds that I hope will be ready for me soon and I’ll also be buddy reading This Tender Land. 

#readingwrapup #monthlywrapup #julyreads #lessonsinchemistry #shiftysboys #fivestarreads #netgalley #simonaudio #crimefiction #mysteryfiction #thrillerfiction #bookstagram #igreads #audiobooks #audiobookstagram #bibliophile #booksbooksbooks #booknerd

Book Tour-The Scandalous Hamiltons

 

Author: Bill Shaffer

Publisher: Kensington Publishing 

Year: 2022

🎊 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐅𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 🎊

Thank you @kensingtonpublishing @BetweentheChapters & @tlcbookktours for my #gifted copy & having me on this tour. Can’t wait to start this! It’s perfect for fans of The Gilded Age & Inventing Anna! It published tomorrow so be sure to grab a copy. 

𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: An Alexander Hamilton heir, a beautiful female con artist, an abandoned baby, & the shocking courtroom drama that was splashed across front pages from coast to coast—this is the fascinating true story behind one of the greatest scandals of the Gilded Age . . .


It’s a story almost too tawdry to be true—a con woman prostitute who met the descendant of a Founding Father in a brothel, duped him into marriage using an infant purchased from a baby farm, then went to prison for stabbing the couple’s baby nurse—all while in a common-law marriage with another man. The scandal surrounding Evangeline and Robert Ray Hamilton, though little known today, was one of the sensations of the Gilded Age, a sordid, gripping tale involving bigamy, bribery, sex, and violence.

When the salacious Hamilton story emerged in during Eva’s trial for the August 1889 stabbing, it commanded unprecedented national and international newspaper coverage thanks to the telegraph and the recently founded Associated Press. For the New York dailies, eager to capture readers through provocative headlines, Ray and Eva were a godsend.

As lurid details emerged, the public’s fascination grew—how did a man of Hamilton’s stature become entangled with such an adventuress? Nellie Bly, the world-famous investigative reporter, finagled an exclusive interview with Eva after her conviction. Hamilton’s death under mysterious circumstances, a year after the stabbing, added to the intrigue.

Through personal correspondence, court records, and sensational newspaper accounts, The Scandalous Hamiltons explores not only the full, riveting saga of ill-fated Ray and Eva, but the rise of tabloid journalism and celebrity in a story that is both a fascinating slice of pop culture history and a timeless tale of ambition, greed, and obsession. 

QOTD: what are you reading this week? 

I’m reading Lessons in Chemistry and loving it.

#thescandaloushamiltons #billshaffer #kensingtonpublishing #betweenthechapters #tlcbooktours #gildedage #hamilton #conartist #scandal #nelliebly #tabloidjournalsim #truthisstrangerthanfiction

Golden Girl

 

Author: Elin Hilderbrand

Publisher: Little Brown

Year: 2021

😎 𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 😎

Golden Girl was this month’s read for my book club. The story revolves around best selling author Vivian Howe who is killed by a hit and run driver. I’m not giving anything away because this happens right at the beginning. But Vivi goes to what I would say is a way-station on the way to heaven. Her afterlife guide allows Vivi to watch over her family for the summer. Her guide also gives Vivi three “nudges” that she can use to influence a person or an outcome on earth. 

So Vivi watches how her three children, ex husband, and her best friend deal with their grief at losing her so suddenly. Vivi also looks back at her life and recalls her teenage years growing up in a small town in Ohio- especially a long buried secret regarding her high school boyfriend. It’s a secret that might be revealed in her soon to be published novel. And since this is an Elin Hilderbrand novel, it’s also a love letter to Nantucket. 

I thought this was an entertaining family drama-rama with a little side dish of who killed Vivi. It’s a perfect summertime read for the beach or by the pool. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

QOTD: what are you reading this week? 

I’m reading the NetGalley ARC of Run Time by Catherine Ryan Howard. 

#goldengirl #elinhilderbrand #littlebrown #bookclubread #summerread #nantucket #contemparyfiction #familydrama #heavancanwait #hitandrun #grief #crimefiction #bookstagram #igreads #bibliophile #bibliophilelife #reader #bookworm 

The Woman Underwater

 

🎊 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐫 🎊

Thank you to Secret Harbor Press author @pennygoetjenmysteryauthor and @prbythebook for inviting me to be part of this tour and the #giftedcopy of The Woman Underwater. This looks like a perfect contemporary mystery to read by the pool or on the beach this summer. 

Here’s the synopsis: 

No one disappears without a trace....

Don't try to tell Victoria Sands that time heals all wounds. It doesn't work that way for a woman who's lost her husband the way she did. She was never able to say goodbye. Never able to arrange a memorial. Receive friends at the service. Write thank-you notes for the flowers and donations sent in his name. Because it didn't happen that way.

Victoria's husband never returned home at the end of a work day. And no one seems to know what happened to him.

In the seven years since his disappearance, no witnesses have stepped forward and no credible evidence has been collected-not even his car. The few tenuous leads the police had are now ice cold. He simply vanished on a field trip with the private boarding school where he taught behind stone walls-the same school their son now attends.

But someone has to know what happened. And that someone may be closer to Victoria than she realizes.

I can’t wait to dive into this atmospheric mystery that features a strong female main character. The Woman Underwater publishes on July 26th, so make sure you add it to your #TBR. 

QOTD: How’s everyone doing? 

I’m good, just been busy with stuff. 

#TheWomanUnderwater #contemporaryfiction #mystery #bookstagram #pennygoetjen #disappearance #igreads #TBR #giftedcopy #booksbooksbooks #booknerd #alwaysreading #greatful #somanybookssolittletime #bibliophile #readerlife #suspensefiction #mysteryfiction #publishingsoon

June Reading Wrap Up

 

📚 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 𝐖𝐫𝐚𝐩 𝐔𝐩 📚

Happy July! And happy Canada Day to any booksta friends up North! 

June was a good reading month for me. But honestly, every month is a good reading month for me. 😀 I had a nice mix of audiobooks and print books. I don’t think I’ve gotten around to writing up reviews for most of them. My bad! 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 

The Cartographers - loved this unique story of a map, obsession, and a magical town. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Canary in a Coal Mine - down on his heels, PI takes on a case that turns out to be more than he bargained for. 

🎧Gone Dark- the nation’s power grid has failed, causing widespread panic and chaos. A teenage girl and her friends trek to find safety with her off the grid father. 

🎧 The Patron Saint of Second Chances - an man’s little lie to save his sleepy little Italian village snowballs into something big. 

Notes on an Execution - a killer’s story is told through the points of view of three women who impacted his life. 

🎧 The It Girl - a woman begins to question the events surrounding the murder of her college roommate which occurred years earlier. 

Dead Silence - a small crew discovers a long lost luxury cruise ship and are confronted with the horrors that took place on the space ship. 

🎧 The Mercies- set in the 1600s, a tiny fishing village on a remote island Is devastated when a sudden and viscous storm wipes out all the villager’s men. As the women work to survive and rebuild their lives, a threat arises- a witch hunt. 

The Other Mother - a teenage boy struggles to cope with the death of his father, caring for his younger siblings, his mother’s remarriage, and a huge secret. 

🎧 The Fourth Money - a serial killer has terrorized Chicago for five years when an unidentified body is found with evidence of the serial killer’s newest victim. 

A Scandal in Brooklyn - Irene Adler and her friend Tommy Diaz investigate a man’s death in this high tech locked room mystery. 

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Audio for the gifted audiobooks of  Gone Dark, The Patron Saint of Second Chances and The It Girl! Thank you to Down and Out Books for the gifted copy of Canary in the Coal Mine! Thank you to Amazon Publishing for the digital review copy of A Scandal in Brooklyn! 

QOTD: what was your favorite June read? 

#readingwrapup #junewrapup #monthlyrecap #bookstagram #igreads #audiobooks #audiobookstagram #alwaysreading #cantbelieveitsjulyalready 

Interview with Author Lauren Wilkinson

Author: Lauren Wilkinson

Publisher: Amazon Original Stories

Publication date: June 30, 2022

Who doesn’t love Sherlock Holmes and a locked room mystery? A Scandal in Brooklyn offers a new twist on a favorite character from the Sherlock canon. Irene Adler outwitted Holmes in Conan Doyle’s A Scandal in Bohemia. Now author Lauren Wilkinson gives readers a modern day version of Irene in a new novella that releases on Friday, June  30. This is fun and fast paced high tech mystery and I loved Irene and Tommy. I desperately want a full novel featuring this sleuthing pair!

Synopsis: A top-secret experiment at a restricted virtual-reality compound pulls attorney Tommy Diaz back into the orbit of Irene Adler, an old friend with an eidetic memory, a love of true-crime podcasts, and a knack for solving the unsolvable. 

But this? At a remote warehouse, a VR trial goes awry when a willing test subject, alone in the observation room, drops dead of anaphylaxis—from the sting of a virtual bee. Though the tech titan behind the research believes in the power of the outrageous, Irene relies on clues, hard facts, and a level head. However, in a case this peculiar, how elementary can it be?

Here’s your chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card and a digital copy of A Scandal in Brooklyn. This Rafflecopter giveaway is open internationally. 

Giveaway Entry

 

 

Interview with Author Lauren Wilkinson

 

Your newest story, A Scandal in Brooklyn, is about a complex murder with a plethora of distrustful suspects — a clear homage to classic Holmesian tales. What elements of Arthur Conan Doyle’s original work most inspired you?

 

Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories and novels are a lot of fun! And it was important to me that this story was fun, so I’d say that was the element of Doyle’s work that most inspired me.  We’ve all had a hard few years, so I didn’t want to write anything that was too heavy.  

 

What made you decide to omit Sherlock from your story and instead focus entirely on Irene Adler? 

 

Honestly, I just think that Irene Adler is the more interesting character. For one, in A Scandal in Bohemia, she outwits Holmes (and I’m glad she does because Sherlock Holmes is working for Irene’s toxic ex, who’s a huge hater that just won’t let be great). The other reason I think she’s the more interesting character is that there’s been far less written about her than there has been about Sherlock Holmes, so I felt like there was room to make up more stuff with her. And as a writer, that’s a more interesting place to hang out. 

 

Irene has been interpreted many ways in the last hundred years, but you offer a brand-new take on The Woman by making her a person of color. How does her background and culture change the narrative of this iconic female? 

 

Well, the fact that she’s a Black woman certainly informs her worldview. But for me, re-imagining Irene Adler as a modern character (and putting her in modern circumstances) was the choice that led to the most germane changes in the narrative. 

 

Irene has an eidetic memory which she has learned to use to her advantage – for example, in solving crimes. But this skill can also be a curse. What do memories mean to your characters and what do they mean to you? 

 

Memory is such an interesting thing to me! Our memories are so fallible, and yet a person’s collection of memories is the cornerstone of their identity.  What a strange internal conflict that is, and stranger still that it’s built into our nature.  The Mandela Effect is a good example of how this conflict plays: isn’t it interesting that -- for some people anyway -- it’s more agreeable to believe that objective reality is wrong than that they simply misremembered something?

  

Tommy Diaz, Irene’s old friend, recounts the story’s events including a murder as well as efforts to solve the crime. Why did you choose to show the story through his eyes? 

 

The character of Tommy Diaz is based on one of my oldest friends, Tommy Pico (who is a poet, screenwriter and now an occasional actor)! Honestly, it was just more fun for me to try to write a story from “his perspective” than from my own. I’m starting to get a little bored with my own perspective, if I’m being totally honest.     

 

How do you think modern technology is changing the mystery genre? What are some positive and negative aspects of these changes? 

 

I think that modern technology has the potential to give the genre new plot devices and twists. But ironically that has always been the case—apparently A Study in Scarlet was the first story to use the magnifying glass in a crime investigation. So, I think the question of how modern technology changes the mystery genre is a good example of how the more things change, the more they stay the same. 

 

In 2019 you released your debut novel American Spy to an avalanche of critical acclaim which included being named on President Obama’s summer reading list. What effect did this experience have on your career?

 

I continue to be extremely grateful to President Obama for putting my novel on his summer reading list!  The exposure had a profound effect on my career, in the sense that it allowed me to pursue television writing, which is what I spend most of my time on these days. 

 

What’s next for you?

 

Well, in my personal life, I’ve recently gotten married and we’re renovating our house together, which is an exciting project (that’s also been pretty time-consuming).  And professionally—well I’m not too sure! I’d really like to write another novel one day. I’d also like to keep writing for television, and maybe a movie one day too.

Author Biography

Lauren Wilkinson’s debut novel, American Spy, was a Washington Post bestseller; was nominated for the NAACP Image Award, Anthony Award, and Edgar Award; and was included on Barack Obama’s 2019 Recommended Reading List. Her writing has appeared in New York Magazine and the New York Times, among other publications.

Website: https://www.lauren-wilkinson.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thrillkinson/

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17287509.Lauren_Wilkinson

Thank you the the author and the publisher for the digital review copy and materials! 

Book Mail - The Last Hours in Paris

 

📪𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐥 📪 

Thank you Grand Central Publishing and author Ruth Druart for sending me this #giftedcopy. I was thrilled to find this on my doorstep when I got home from work yesterday and I can’t wait to dive into it. It hits shelves on July 19th, so keep an eye out for it then. 

 𝐒𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬: 1940s: Elise is a young French woman secretly helping the resistance in German-occupied Paris. Sebastian is a young German soldier working as a translator. They meet, fall in love, and are relishing in the unforeseen happiness they have found in one another, despite being on opposite sides of the war. After liberation, however, the young couple is tragically torn apart, with Sebastian arrested by the French resistance and Elise captured and shamed as a ‘collabo’ by her own people, before being sent to Brittany for her own protection.

The lovers are parted, each believing the other to be lost forever. 

1960s: Elise and her 18-year-old daughter, Josephine, live in Brittany, France, with Brigitte, a gruff and bitter Frenchwoman who took Elise in after the war. Josephine has always been told that her father was a Frenchman who died when she was a baby—but when she discovers she is, in fact, the daughter of a German soldier, she travels to England to find out more about her real father. To her shock, she learns he is not dead, but living in the U.K. where he settled after the war and made a new life with his wife, Margaret, an Englishwoman who knows nothing of his past.

When Josephine reveals that her mother Elise is still alive, Sebastian must make the most difficult decision of his life: honor his duty to his new family, or return to his first great love? 

QOTD: Any July new book releases you can wait to get your hands on? 

#thelasthoursinparis #ruthdruart #grandcentealpublishing #publishingsoon #julyrelease #historicalfiction #wwii #paris #frenchresistance #secrets #bookstagram #igreads #alwaysreading #giftedbook #grateful