Prom Mon

 

Author: Laura Lippman

Publisher: William Morrow 

Date: 2023

📖 𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗗𝗮𝘆! 📖

Amber Glass is the antihero main character in this slow burning modern noir tale. 

This is the kind of book you savor because of the nuanced writing. Lippman slowly unfolds the story, intertwining past and present. But the slow burn doesn’t mean it’s slow paced. This will hook you because you’ll want to see where this twisted story goes. 

The story keeps you guessing about who is the real villain. Is it love struck teenage Amber who kept her pregnancy secret and caused the infant to die? Is it golden boy Joe, Amber’s prom date and father of her child, who abandoned Amber at prom? Is it a grown Amber scheming to insert herself back into Joe’s picture perfect life and marriage? Is it Joe who thinks he’s a good guy even though he occasionally steps out on his wife? 

Lippman is a master of this type of domestic thriller. She explores the questions of how well do we really know the people we love and just how far will seemingly ordinary people go to get what they want. 

Prom Mom is out today. It’s a must read and a great beach or pool read to finish out the summer. It’s a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ book for me and will be in my top ten favorites for the year. Thank you William Morrow Books  and NetGalley for the digital review copy. 

#prommom #lauralippman #williammorrowbooks #netgalley #bookreview #baltimore #crimefiction #thrillerfiction #slowburnbooks #noir #noirbooks #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks #revengethriller #domesticthriller 

How Can I Help You

 

Author: Laura Sims

Publisher: G.P. Putnam’s Sons

Year: 2023

𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗕𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗣𝘂𝗯 𝗗𝗮𝘆!

How could I not love a book about two librarians who play a dangerous game of cat and mouse?

Margo needs a fresh starts and moves to a new town, landing a job at the public library. She’s a model employee- friendly, helpful, and capable. Her colleagues and patrons don’t realize Margo is hiding a dark secret. She’s a former nurse who was responsible for the deaths of numerous patients. Margo’s calm and quiet new life is upset when the library hires Patricia, a new reference librarian. Patricia is also starting over after failing to to get her novel published. After Margo is present when a  patron dies in the library, Patricia begins watching Margo closely and digging into her background. What Patricia discovers ignites her passion to write again. What happens when Margo realizes Patricia discovered her secrets and is writing about them? 

This was an entertaining and fast paced read. The women become obsessed with each other as they desperately try to find out each others’ secrets. It was fascinating to watch Margo desperately try to hang on to the benign personality and life she crafted only to slowly start unraveling after Patricia arrives at the library. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Putnam Books, author Laura Sims, and NetGalley for the digital review copy. How Can I Help You is on shelves now. Library lovers need to check this book out! 

#howcanihelpyou #laurasims #putnambooks #librarylife #crimefiction #thrillerfiction #librarians #secrets #suspense #suspensebooks #bookstagram #dontmesswithlibrarians 

June Reading Wrap Up

 

𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝗪𝗿𝗮𝗽 𝗨𝗽

June was a five star reading month for me. I read nine books this month & five of them were five stars. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🎧All the Sinners Bleed- a Black sherif must bring down a serial killer. Riveting story. Great characters. Excellent audio narration. 

📖Yellowface - I flew through this one. It drew me right in. An author steals a novel her dead friend wrote. Jealousy, racism, & a peek behind the curtain at publishing. Engrossing. 

📖Prom Mom - tragedy, secrets, lies. Author Laura Lippman gives us a masterclass in slow burning character study with this one. Thank you @netgalley & @williammorrowbooks for the digital review copy. 

🎧Lady Tan’s Circle of Women- set in 15th century China, this examines the roles expectations of women in this multigenerational story. Beautifully written and an excellent narration. Thank you @simon.audio for the gifted copy. 

🎧Star Splitter-intriguing sci fi centered around a teen meeting up with her scientist parents after years apart. In space, things can go wrong very quickly. Really unique space travel concept. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🎧Long Way Back- a teenage influencer goes missing on the eve of her high school graduation. Her mother desperately searches for answers. Lots of twists and turns. Thank you @simon.audio for the gifted copy. 

📖The Making of Another Motion Picture Masterpiece- enjoyed this behind the scenes look at movie making. 

📖Barbed Wire Heart- a young woman is poised to take over her father’s criminal enterprise. But she has plans of her own. Love when tough guys are outsmarted & outplayed by a badass girl. 

🎧Untamed - my book club’s read for the month. Author Glennon Doyle offers a mix of autobiography & self help. Lots of girl power. 

QOTD: how was your reading month? 

#monthlywrapup #readingwrapup #crimefiction #thrillerfiction #mysteryfiction #historicalfiction #sciencefiction #nonfiction #alwaysreading #fivestarbooks #fourstarbooks 

May Reading Wrap Up

 

𝗠𝗮𝘆 𝗪𝗿𝗮𝗽 𝗨𝗽

Happy June! Summer’s finally arrived! One word to describe my May reading: consistent. I read ten books & enjoyed them all. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

📖Lone Women - a mash up of historical fic, survival story & horror made for a unique story with strong female characters. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

🎧Zero Days - a security expert is suspected of killing her husband. Ruth Ware never disappoints. 

🎧The Nigerwife - the wife of a wealthy Nigerian man disappears & the only person who seems concerned is the missing woman’s aunt. Loved the setting of this one. 

🎧The Bromance Book Club - super cute premise and spicy. 

🎧Fixit - IQ, a modern day Sherlock Holmes, races to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend.

📖How Can I Help You? - how could I not like a book about a sketchy librarian?! 

📖Shutter - an impressive 2022 debut about a crime scene photographer who sees ghosts. Great mix of thriller and paranormal. 

🎧Stone Cold Fox - I always enjoy a good story about a conwoman. 

📖Scorched Grace - a former punk rocker turned nun investigates arson & murder at her convent. 

📖Dope Thief - two ex-cons make their living by robbing drug dealers. Then they rob the wrong crew & everything goes south. 

Thank you Simon & Schuster Audio for the complimentary copies of Zero Days & The Nigerwife. Thank you NetGalley and G.P. Putnam’s Sons for the digital arc of How Can I Help You? 

QOTD: what book are you reading to kick off June? 

I’m reading Barbed Wire Heart. Should finish it soon. 

#readingwrapup #monthlywrapup #audiobooks #audiobookstagram #bookstagram #netgalleyarc #penguinbooks #simonaudio #thrillerfiction #romancebooks #crimefiction #historicalfiction #horrorbooks #alwaysreading 

Library Life

 

📚𝗟𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲📚

This is my librarian win for the week. This is a Polish language edition of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. I was chatting with a lovely resident of one out the senior living apartment buildings while I was dropping off books recently. She said would love to read a book in her native language. Even though she’s very proficient in English, she missed reading the Polish language.

When I got back to the library, I asked my colleague who’s our inter library loan specialist if it would be possible to request a foreign language book from another library. She jumped right on the task to see if any libraries in our state had Polish language books in their collections.  She found several and with Google Translate’s help, we were able to figure out some titles. She submitted the request for Pride and Prejudice and it arrived at our library a few days later. I’m so excited to deliver this book tomorrow and surprise our patron. 😀 I hope she enjoys it! 

QOTD: do you know any languages besides your native language? 

Sadly I don’t. I had a few years of Spanish back in high school but I don’t remember much anymore. Use it or lose it. I also took Latin in high school. It was mandatory. And I took a year of Greek in high school because that got me out of taking physics. I never would’ve been able to pass a physics class. 

#librarylife #libraryoutreach #lovemylibrary #interlibraryloan #prideandprejudice #janeausten #nativelanguage #polish #bookstagram #booksbooksbooks #reading #readingislife #readingisfundamental 

Drowning

 

Author: T.J. Newman

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio

Release date: May 30, 2023

✈️𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄✈️

I was a kid who grew up on 1970s disaster movies like The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno, and Airport. So naturally, I loved T.J. Newman’s 2021 debut thriller Falling. But I wondered, could she make a career out of airplane disaster stories? 

It appears the answer is yes, she can. Drowning is another fast paced thrill ride. Shortly after takeoff, a commercial airliner crashes into the ocean off the coast of Hawaii. The beginning of this book grabbed me right off the bat and never let go. Newman’s description of the plane in distress and then crashing into the ocean is so realistic it creates a visceral sensation. But I was truly surprised at the turn the story took. A handful of survivors are still inside the plane when it sinks in the ocean. Now it’s a race against the clock as first responders try to figure out how to rescue the small group before they run out of oxygen or the entire plane floods. Whew! I couldn’t stop listening. Lots of edge of your seat suspense! 

Steven Webber and Laura Benanti provide a fantastic narration for the audiobook. This is a pulse pounding story that never lets up. This one will be one of my top ten books for the year. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Drowning is out May 30th. Thank you @simon.audio and @librofm for the complimentary review copy. 

QOTD: any plans for the weekend? 

I’m going out to lunch with some friends tomorrow. One friend just got back from a trip to Italy. So I can’t wait to hear all about her adventures. 

#drowning #tjnewman #simonaudio #librofm #audiobook #audiobookreview #audiobookstagram #publishingsoon #airplane #disaster #thriller #thrillerbooks #survival #survivalstory #familydrama #contemparyfiction 

Fearless

 

Author: M.W. Craven

Publisher: Flatiron Books

Publishing date: July 11, 2023

📖 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗥𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 📖

Ben Koenig was head of the US Marshall’s Special Ops unit. He and his team hunted the worst of the bad guys. During a mission, Ben killed the son of a powerful Russian mobster and suddenly had a bounty on his head. So Ben disappeared. The only way to stay alive was to become a nameless, faceless drifter. Until an old friend needs Ben’s help and special skills. Can Ben find his best friend’s missing daughter before someone can collect the bounty on his head? 

Ben Koenig feels like a mashup of Orphan X and Jack Reacher. Orphan X is highly trained in the use of weapons and assassinations. Reacher is a highly trained investigator and brawler. But Ben has one trait Reacher and Orphan X don’t have. Ben has a rare brain condition that doesn’t allow him to feel fear. And that makes him very dangerous. 

M.W. Craven’s Fearless was an entertaining thriller with a lot of action. There were a few spots where I thought the plot slowed down a little too much for my taste. But other than that I enjoyed the book. Looks like this is the first book in a planned series, so it’ll be interesting to see where the next book goes. 

I definitely recommend this one to Reacher and Orphan X fans and fans of Mark Greaney’s The Gray Man series or Nick Petrie’s Peter Ash series. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you @netgalley and @flatiron_books for the digital review copy. Fearless publishes July 11th. 

QOTD: what’s something unusual you’re afraid of? 

Recently it’s been bats for me because we’ve had about six in our house this spring. Also, moldy food skeeves me out. 

#fearless #mwcraven #flatironbooks #netgalley #netgalleyarc #crimefiction #thrillerfiction #mysteryfiction #revengethriller #bookstagram #bookreview #netgalleyreview #usmarshall #drifter #bounty