My Sister's Only Hope by Alison Ragsdale

 

My thoughts

I've read and loved, through many tears, so many of this author's books. They always make me cry and always make me think about things. This one was good. It was sad. It made me think. But it was not my favorite book. I was a little let down.

Two sisters who are the best of friends. Each married to the man of their dreams. The loves of their lives. Sisters who lost their parents on the very mountain that is viewed from their home. While Kenzi hates the mountain. With a passion. Olivia loves hiking on it. She loves all that there is to love about climbing and hiking this mountain. 

Kenzi is married to a great guy, Arran. From the very beginning of their relationship both vowed to never have children. Each had reasons. It was just not to be. 

Olivia and Glenn want a child but can't have one. When Kenzi donates one of her eggs for them they are elated. But it seems that their excitement is not exactly as Kenzi thought. She senses something is wrong.

This book has a few secrets. Olivia has a big secret(which I guessed right away). Even their mother had her secrets. But Kenzi was kept in the dark so when she finds out she is somewhat floored. Though I still can't seem to understand why she would think it was the end of the world. Bad yes. But get over it. 

Olivia is killed from a fall during a hike and everything changes. Glenn becomes distant. Kenzi goes completely nuts and Arran is just not there as I thought he should have been. But when Kenzi decides she just has to have the baby no matter what I lost all respect for her. She knew what it was going to do to her marriage. I mean he is the love of her life. Her soulmate. Her reason for being. But she's going to do the one thing they both agreed never would happen. Have the baby. I felt bad for Arran. I didn't blame him at all for what he did. Yes Kenzi should have a child if she wanted one but she should have handled it a bit differently. I think she was so selfish. I just didn't like her after that. I was a bit upset with Arran but not as bad.

Glenn was my favorite character in this book. He had his heart ripped out and dealt with it in his own way. He knew Olivia's secrets and handled them appropriately also. Glenn was just a very nice man. He deserved way better that any of what happened to him. 

I liked but didn't love this story. It was one I could put down and get back to later. It took me five days to finish and not because it was horrible. It was because I just didn't get so invested in this story. Not like this author's other books. I hate that too. This is one review that is breaking my heart to write. But I do have to be honest.

Thank you #Bookouture for this ARC.

3.75 stars 

About

‘Will you help me become a mother?’ My sister whispers, her hands clasping mine. ‘You’re my only hope…’

When my sister asks me to help her have a child, I already know I will say yes. She has always dreamed of being a mother, and this might be her last chance.

Not long after the embryo is created, my sister is killed in a tragic hiking accident. The grief of losing my best friend is unbearable, but in the days that follow I realize there is a shimmer of I can still fulfill her dream, and bring her baby into the world.

But no matter what I do, I can’t stop thinking about my sister’s last words to me. On the day she died, she said there was something she needed to tell me. And when my brother-in-law finally tells me what my sister was hiding, I can barely breathe.

My heart breaks as I realize I may not have known my sister at all. But now I know her terrible secret, do I have the strength to be the mother of her child?

The Last Assignment by Erika Robuck

 My thoughts

I have read and enjoyed several of this author's books. I have also learned quite a bit from each. This one is about a women I had never heard about. I'm very glad this was written. Not just for the story but for the info. How a female was a force to be during several wars. As a photojournalist. And as a strong, albeit, tiny female.

You meet Georgette "Dickey" Meyer Chapelle at the very beginning of this story. She's quite the woman too. You meet her family and quite a few friends. I liked every one of them except her "husband" and I use that term loosely. But Dickey loved him. She took up photography because of him. But he was not a faithful man and Dickely deserved better. Or to be free...

This book takes you from New York City in 1954 to October 1965. You'll learn how Dickey endured each war. Taking pictures of injured and innocent families. How she became a prisoner. How she met some strong leaders. Some of which totally let her down. Lied. Dickey loved her family but didn't have a strong bond with her mother. Seems her mother thought she should remain home and be a wife. Not that that was a bad thing. It was just not what Dickey wanted. 

Dickey worked for several magazines and other places. She had pictures that the government confiscated due to the content. She loved the Marines more than anything and wanted to be one. But that was just not meant to be. Dickey knew how to survive. She went from WW2 through Vietnam photographing wars. She met so many kind and wonderful people. Of course there were some pretty awful ones too. 

This book is kind of repetitive but it explains all of the things Dickey did and went through. You really get an in depth view of her life. Dickey lost some good friends and some family. She handled it as would be expected. I enjoyed this book but did wish it was a tad shorter. I learned about a woman who went after what she wanted and got it. 

Well researched. Well told. I enjoyed the letters and posts from Dickey and others. I enjoyed learning about a strong female back when females were meant to be home having babies and waiting on husbands. I admire what Dickey did. A lot.

Thank you #sourcebookslandmark, @tantormedia, for this ARC.    

About

From bestselling author Erika Robuck comes the perilous and awe-inspiring true story of award-winning photojournalist Dickey Chapelle as she risks everything to show the American people the price of war through the lens of her camera.

Manhattan, 1954.

Since her arrest for disobeying orders and going ashore at Iwo Jima almost a decade earlier, combat correspondent Georgette "Dickey" Chapelle has been unmoored. Her military accreditation revoked, her marriage failing, and her savings dwindling, Dickey jumps at the next opportunity. In the aftermath of a an assignment gone wrong, a flame is lit deep inside Dickey—to survive in order to be the world's witness to war from the front lines.

Never content to report on battles unless her own boots are on the ground, Dickey and her camera journey with American and international soldiers from frozen wastelands to raging seas to luscious jungles, revealing one woman's extraordinary courage and tenacity in the face of discrimination and danger. And it's along the way, in Dickey's desire to save the world, she realizes she might also be saving herself.

At a time when a woman's heroic spirit often gave way to homeland reality, Dickey blazed a trail for the revolutionary hearts inside us all.

The Witch's Orchard by Archer Sullivan

 

My thoughts

This is one book you don't want to miss. If you love a good edge of your seat thriller. A mystery to hold your interest from start to finish. If you love a good story that keeps you guessing. I loved this one. It is definitely in my top ten of the year. 

I listened to the audio and I am blown away at how good the narrator, Emily Pike Stewart, did. She made each character her own. The realistic voices were spot on perfection. I'll definitely listen to more by this narrator.

Three girls went missing. One was returned. What happened to these little girls? Who would do this? And why was one returned? When PI Annie Gore takes a job from a young man looking for his missing sister, she has no idea what she's in for. The girl has been missing ten years. Most likely she is never returning. Most likely she is dead. Annie took this job because Max Andrews was so persistent. He had saved so much to hire her. He had heard she was the best. The best at finding missing people. She could not say no. 

This book takes you to the Appalachian mountains. To a small town where everyone knows everyone. But there are a lot of secrets. A lot of things that are well hidden. And there are missing children. Two still missing after ten years. Can Annie find them and if she does will they be alive. 

Some of the people in this town help without blinking an eye while others want it to go away. Want it forgotten. But it can't be forgotten. Not by ones mother and by one brother. 

This book is so well written. It's writing it almost lyrical. The descriptions make you feel like you are there. In the cabin. In the bakery. In the mountains. In the woods. It's so realistic and haunting. It's filled with so much hope and a whole lot of sadness. You want Annie to find these two girls as much as their family does. Then another child goes missing. Was it the same person or a copycat? Will Annie be able to save this child too.

I'm telling all my friends who love a good thriller/mystery to grab this one. From what I can tell this is a debut and so beautifully written. It's not about witches. It's not magical realism. It's just a story about stories told. Told about a witch and her two beautiful daughters. A story of a town where three children went missing and one was returned....

Thank you #stmartinspress, #macmillianaudio, for this ARC. 

About

A ninth generation Appalachian herself, Archer Sullivan brings the mountains of North Carolina to life in The Witch’s Orchard, a wonderfully atmospheric novel that introduces private investigator Annie Gore.

Former Air Force Special Investigator Annie Gore joined the military right after high school to escape the fraught homelife of her childhood. Now, she’s getting by as a private investigator and her latest case takes her to an Appalachian holler not unlike the one where she grew up.

Ten years ago, three little girls went missing from their tiny mountain town. While one was returned, the others were never seen again. After all this time without answers, the brother of one of the girls wants to hire an outsider, and he wants Annie. While she may not be from his town, she gets mountain towns. Mountain people. Driving back into the hills for a case this old—it might be a fool’s errand. But Annie needs to put money in the bank and she can’t turn down a case. Not even one that dredges up her own painful past.

In the shadow of the Blue Ridge, Annie begins to track the truth, navigating a decade’s worth of secrets, folklore of witches and crows, and a whole town that prefers to forget. But while the case may have been buried, echoes of the past linger. And Annie’s arrival stirs someone into action.

Too Old For This by Samantha Downing

 

My thoughts

This book was so much fun to read. Yes it was a book about a serial killer. Yes she was older and had retired. Yes she starts killing again. But..... You may find yourself rooting for her to not get caught. To get away with everything. Just maybe you will like Lottie...

I absolutely loved Lottie. She was quite a character. She did bad things but she had reasons for most. She was a murderer, but still she had reasons for it. You just should not make Lottie mad. Or back her in a corner. She can be mean if provoked. But she's a good mom. She loves her boy. She was a single mom. Now her son is grown and going to be married. For the second time.

You get to know Lottie pretty well. You also get to know her victims pretty well. The reasons why they had to be killed. And what Lottie does with the bodies. Most bodies that is. And the cops. Especially Burke. Burke wanted so bad to prove Lottie's guilt. He tried for over forty years. 

Lottie goes to church. She is very involved. She loves her family. Her son and grandchildren. She cares for her ex daughter in law. She gets to know her future daughter in law and likes her too. She is a fairly peaceful person. Private. Until she's not. That is when the dark side of Lottie shows it's face. I did feel bad for Plum Dixon. She was just a young lady looking to do a docuseries about Lottie's previous life. She was very determined. I could have felt bad for Plum's mom but I didn't. She was never a good mom to Plum. I did feel bad for Cole. Cole was Plum's boyfriend. And the suspect when Plum went missing.

This book made me laugh so much. Yes I did my fair share of cringing and I gasped a few times, but it was still a fun story. I enjoyed this book way more than I thought I would. Or should. 

I highly recommend this one. If you are up for a few murders or a few chuckles, then I say grab this one and get comfortable. You won't want to put it down.

Thank you #Berkley for this ARC. 

Five big stars from me.

About

A retired serial killer’s quiet life is upended by an unexpected visitor. To protect her secret, there’s only one option left—what’s another murder? From bestselling author Samantha Downing.

Lottie Jones thought her crimes were behind her.

Decades earlier, she changed her identity and tucked herself away in a small town. Her most exciting nights are the weekly bingo games at the local church and gossiping with her friends. 

When investigative journalist Plum Dixon shows up on her doorstep asking questions about Lottie’s past and specifically her involvement with numerous unsolved cases, well, Lottie just can’t have that.

But getting away with murder is hard enough when you’re young. And when Lottie receives another annoying knock on the door, she realizes this crime might just be the death of her…

You Belong Here by Megan Miranda

 

My thoughts

This is Megan Miranda's best yet. Riveting. Thrilling. A story to keep you guessing until the end. 

I throughly enjoyed this story. It had so much. So many good thrills. So much family drama. So much to keep you guessing and most likely you will be wrong. Family secrets can be deadly. Or possibly they can keep your loved ones alive. 

What really happened twenty years ago when two men died in a fire. And who actually started this fire. What was the motive? Did the perpetrator get away alive or did she die never to be seen or heard from. Or at least not to be heard from for almost twenty years whether dead or alive. Someone knows the truth and one mother doesn't want it revealed. A mother will do almost anything for her child. Even cover up a crime. 

When Beckett's daughter Delilah is accepted at the university where she went all those years ago. Where a horrible fire took the lives of two men. Where she had to leave. Beckett is horrified. She didn't ever want Delilah to be caught up in what would always be a part of Wyatt College. During a night of howling winds, called The Howling. During a time when someone was going to have to pay for something. 

This book kept me guessing. I did realize who did what but not until it was almost revealed. There are a lot of secrets in this story. Beckett's parents and Beckett for instance. I didn't much like Beckett's mom at first. She did grow on me after a while. After a long while. I thought Beckett was a little over protective but I also understood why. And I rooted for Beckett and Trevor to finally get together. I hoped things would end well and I suppose they did. In their own way. 

I did love how this story ended. Seems justice did prevail. But at what cost? 

Thank you #SimonElement/S&S/MarySueRucciBooks, for this ARC. Also BOTM... It was a BOTM choice for me and I'm so glad. 

4.75 stars 

About

A decades-old secret that drove a mother from her hometown now threatens her college-bound daughter in this twisty new thriller from New York Times bestselling author Megan Miranda.

Beckett Bowery never thought she’d return to Wyatt Valley, a picturesque college town in the Virginia mountains steeped in tradition. Her roots there were strong: Beckett’s parents taught at the college, and she never even imagined studying anywhere else—until a tragedy her senior year ended with two local men dead, and her roommate on the run, never to be seen again…

For the last two decades, Beckett has done her best to keep her distance. Then her daughter, Delilah, secretly applies to Wyatt College and earns a full scholarship, and Beckett can only hope that her lingering fears are unfounded. But deep down she knows that Wyatt Valley has a long memory, and that the past isn’t the only dangerous thing in town…

The Secret Librarian by Soraya M. Lane

 

My thoughts

I love this author. Her books never seem to disappoint me in any way. This one is her latest. Set in Lisbon during the second World War. About two strong females who happen to be attractive and have the brains we all know females can and do have. 

A story about two females who become the best of friends is always such a pleasure to read. Though the time was harsh and what they were doing was for a very intense and sad reason, Camille and Avery found each other through a book store and became very good friends. 

Camille owns the bookstore. She came to Lisbon in search of the man who betrayed her and her husband. She helps the Jews who are there to receive the papers they need to move on with their lives in America. In the USA they can start over and not have to worry about being killed. 

Avery is in Lisbon as part of her job. She got a job for the US government to put important news articles on microfiche. She is very skilled with this. She also becomes friends with Camille and wants to help her in her quest to help the Jewish people. 

This is a great story. It has such feeling and depth. It pulls you right in and captures your heart. From the time Avery tells her parents she doesn't want to marry but wants to go work for the government to the last page when you find out exactly what her life turns out to be. This is such a compelling story. It is part friendship and part love story. And yes it will make you shed some tears. It will keep you on edge in places. But it's mostly a story about female friendship. 

Well written and thought provoking. Makes you see another side to how women did some things during the war. How they contributed to help humankind.

Thank you #AmazonPublishingUK, #BrillanceAudio, for this ARC.  

About

From the bestselling author of The Secret Midwife and The Berlin Sisters comes an inspiring story of friendship, hope and courage.

New York, 1942: Avery is engaged to be married. Longing for adventure instead, she jumps at an unexpected offer to trade her library job for undercover intelligence-gathering in Portugal. But her new life in Lisbon, known as the Capital of Espionage, challenges everything she thought she knew about herself.

Local bookshop owner Camille, a French widow with access to the enemy newspapers and magazines Avery needs, befriends her. But are the rumours that swirl around Camille true—does she really have a Nazi boyfriend? And what secrets did she bring with her when she fled France? Avery must decide—fast—if she can fully trust Camille. Millions of lives depend on it.

As Avery discovers more about Camille’s world, she realises that living in a city of spies will take all her courage. With suspicions growing, they are both playing a terrifyingly dangerous game. And not everyone will live to tell their story. Can Avery and Camille stay far enough ahead of their enemies to survive?

Threaded through with daring, sacrifice and love, this is the inspirational story of two women prepared to risk everything to help others survive the horrors of World War II.

The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen

 

My thoughts

I enjoyed this book. It drove me crazy in parts but I still enjoyed it. I figured out the twists so no big deal there. I also knew what Mandy had hidden. 

Two sisters, twins, who never knew each other. Both adopted but by different couples. One grows in a luxurious home with all she needed. Except love. Her adoptive mother was mean. She was cruel. Georgia was adopted by the elite family. She also had a sister growing up. But they were not close. Not until much later in life. 

Mandy was raised by a typical family. Not a lot of money but they did owe a bar that was left to her. She did good with it and made a nice living. Mandy knew she was adopted but not any details. She had no idea she had a twin sister. Not until she was in her thirties. 

When Georgia is put in a mental ward for murdering her sister, Annabelle, who is the biological daughter of the Cartwright. She needs help proving she is innocent and there are a lot of powerful people involved. 

I figured out the secrets that Georgia's mother was keeping and what she actually did. I knew the Senator's secret. There were no surprises for me in this story. Two women find out they are related, twins, and they just start having the twin things. They didn't before finding out so what was it? Magic. No it was ridiculous. Also two grown women who had all but hated each other their entire lives suddenly become the best of sisters/friends overnight. Doubtful. And waiting until you are in your thirties to find out who your real father is. I didn't buy that either. Not with things like they are now. DNA testing is way to easy. 

While I did enjoy reading this book I found it to be so unbelievable and unrealistic. I didn't like any of the characters. Not one. The twins were childish. The mother was a witch. The father was a wimp. I just didn't like them. I did appreciate how the story played out in places. I enjoyed knowing true justice was going to prevail. And the atmosphere in The Locked Ward felt real. Though I honestly didn't know they let men and women share a ward. I learned something...

Thank you #StMartinsPress, #MacmillanAudio, for this ARC.

3.75 stars 

About

Was it...
Bitter, all-consuming jealousy?
Pathological sibling rivalry?
Pure insanity?

Whatever the cause—and everyone has a theory—it's the Crime of the Decade when glamorous Georgia Cartwright, who was adopted as a newborn, is accused of killing the biological daughter of her wealthy, Southern family.

Georgia is locked in a psychiatric institution where the most violent offenders are held while she awaits trial. The only words she whispers when her estranged twin sister Amanda visits are, “I didn’t do it. You’ve got to get me out of here.”

Amanda doesn't trust Georgia, but she can't abandon her in a place so eerie and menacing that it seems to exist in another dimension. Is Georgia the victim of a powerful family that's so depraved murder is the least of their crimes? Or is Amanda being led down a path of madness into the web of a master manipulator?

Nothing is as it seems in Sarah Pekkanen’s The Locked Ward, a shocking psychological thriller about the complex bonds of sisterhood—and what happens when they are stretched to the breaking point.

Some doors in the Locked Ward should never be opened.