review: mill town by kerri arsenault

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Growing up in Mexico, ME, Kerri Arsenault didn't realize just how many of her neighbors had cancer. Later, as her dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer, Arsenault returned to her hometown and began talking to others who'd been touched by "Cancer Valley." While the people she spoke with offered anecdotal evidence and there were some news reports to back the claims against the paper mill that employed most residents including Arsenault's dad, the author doesn't have anything concrete. The mill, of course, denies the claims.

Perhaps because Arsenault doesn't have hard evidence that the chemicals used by the mill increased cancer rates in the surrounding area, she frequently delves into her family history. It's an interesting story in itself, but feels out of place except for when she ties in her dad's work at the mill and death from cancer.
3/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, St. Martin's Press.

review: the queen's secret by karen harper

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Taking place during World War II, The Queen's Secret focuses on Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. While the plotlines involving the war were quite interesting, Karen Harper tries too hard to make The Queen's Secret a titillating novel. Apparently relying heavily on a book by Lady Colin Campbell, Harper reveals one of the secrets held by the queen was that she and a brother were actually the offspring of the family's cook. Harper makes further scandalous allegations involving the queen and her husband's brother, Edward, who abdicated the throne. Yes, The Queen's Secret is a work of fiction, but as it involves real people, it feels wrong to present such things as fact. Although Harper wants these possibly fictional elements to be the centerpiece of her story, they actually bog down the plot and the distract from what could be an incredible story of how The Queen Mother helped her country during the war.
2/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, William Morrow.

review: the german heiress by anika scott

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After World War II ends, iron heiress Clara Falkenberg flees Essen under an assumed identity as she and her father are both charged with war crimes. But at the start of The German Heiress, Clara decides to return home and sends ahead a coded letter to her best friend. The letter is intercepted by the British soldier who seeks to arrest her, so Clara must use all her skills to escape arrest (and she gets some assistance along the way in the form of a wounded German soldier). Anika Scott develops the plot in such a way that the shades of gray are very apparent when it comes to the Falkenberg family. It's an interesting perspective that isn't typically shared. Although a fictional story filled with deceit, family drama, and adventure, The German Heiress is based in the reality that there were plenty of people who, like Clara, did small things but didn't fully participate in the resistance fight and thus could be implicated as Fascists. It's a powerful and touching story.
5/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, William Morrow.

review: stone cold heart by laura griffin

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When bones are found by rock climbers in a remote area, the Springville police call the Delphi Center for assistance. As a forensic anthropologist, Sara Lockhart is the one who heads up the recovery of the bones while Detective Nolan Hess takes the lead on the criminal investigation. Although the bones are the right gender and age, they are not a match for the missing woman Springville police have been searching for. Soon Sara and Nolan realize there's a serial killer in the area and Sara gets a little too close for comfort.

As one might expect from the 13th novel in the Tracers series from Laura Griffin, there's a lot of suspense as Sara and Nolan work to discover the identity of the serial killer. It's a well laid out plot where every bit is important—there are no unnecessary details here! The romance is a little flat though. Sara and Nolan just didn't seem to click as anything more than investigators, but there they were jumping into bed despite both having reservations. And when they reached what served as the turning point, it just didn't seem like Sara, who was set up as fiercely independent, would be interested in taking that relationship step in that moment.
4/5
Review copy provided by the author.

review: hello, summer by mary kay andrews

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When Sarah Conley Hawkins (who prefers Conley) learns her new employer has lost all its funding and shut down, she heads home to Silver Bay, FL instead of Washington, D.C. She's a newspaper reporter and no one is hiring despite her skills. As it happens, her grandma is the owner of their hometown weekly newspaper and her sister runs it. While her grandma is thrilled to have Conley home, Grayson is resentful of her younger sister who left for the big city and rarely returned. There's plenty of tension, but then Conley happens across a fatal single-car crash. The fatality happens to be the beloved Representative Symmes Robinette, who just happens to have a scandal in his past, and whose car crash may not have been an accident. Soon Conley is entangled in not only the Robinette story but her own personal dramas.

Hello, Summer contains a bit of filler as well as some inconsistencies regarding ages and dietary habits. Mary Kay Andrews also makes the same mistake that many others do and conflates the generational group Millennial with young person. Both Grayson and Conley make remarks about the generation as though they are not members despite their ages of 36 and 34 placing them firmly in the Millennial group. Hello, Summer also falls short when it comes time to wrap up the mysteries. A few are solved, but other big parts of the plot are left as loose ends. It is a gripping story though with enough twists to keep the pages turning until the end.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, St. Martin's Press.

review: the shape of family by shilpi somaya gowda

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Wow, The Shape of Family took some turns I was not expecting! The novel follows the Olander family as they make their lives in California. I expected a portrait of a family with typical struggles, especially as the story starts in 2007 and the father is a banker, but The Shape of Family takes a much more tragic turn. As the Olanders drift apart, oldest daughter Karina suffers terribly. And just when everything seems to be getting back on track, there are more blows for the Olanders. This is a deeply emotional novel that illustrates the importance of sharing feelings and truths about difficult situations before there's no turning back.
5/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, William Morrow.

review: home truths by susan lewis

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Home Truths by Susan Lewis begins with a shocking crime—a devoted family man is brutally murdered by a gang his oldest son has become involved with. Lewis then jumps forward two years to his wife and two younger children still struggling. Finances have become a big issue. All the problems have become far worse than they should've been because, as Angie puts it, "I buried my head in the sand and told myself it work out somehow." This is one of my big problems with Home Truths. The problems the family faces wouldn't have been so catastrophic had Angie simply faced reality and sought help earlier. My next huge problem is the unrealistic way it all gets solved. Home Truths turns from a portrait of a struggling family to a stereotypical "knight in shining armor comes to the rescue" story. There's also some unnecessary subplots just to make the family's issues all the more melodramatic.
2/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, William Morrow.

review: the secret keeper by kate morton

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The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton opens in the 1960s with a teenaged Laurel witnessing her mother kill a man. The police deem it self-defense and Kate Morton moves the story along to 2011 when Laurel's mother is living her last days. The story then shifts to when Laurel's mother was a young woman during World War II. It becomes quite clear that the murder is somehow connected to what happened during the war, but Morton drags out the story by constantly having the characters have a revelation or experience that is kept secret from the reader. Once revealed, the secrets were quite shocking and made for a very interesting plot retrospectively, but The Secret Keeper would have been more powerful had Morton shifted back to 2011 a bit less.
3/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Washington Square Press.

review: burning ridge by margaret mizushima

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The fourth Timber Creek K-9 mystery, Burning Ridge, gets off to a quick start when Deputy Mattie Cobb helps break up a bar fight and then her potential love interest finds a burned body. The plot then slows a bit as a number of secondary characters and subplots are introduced. There are some new people in town and a lot of time is spent setting up red herrings before the primary plot kicks into gear again. Once Burning Ridge gets going, it's a whirlwind of drama drawing on Mattie's backstory which has been unknown even to her. Although Burning Ridge is the fourth in the series, there's enough background information dropped in seamlessly to make it work as a standalone.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publicist, MM Book Publicity.

review: the duchess in his bed by lorraine heath

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When Selena's husband died, they'd yet to have a child which means Selena won't receive much of an inheritance. With her parents deceased and her brother not exactly reliable, Selena worries about her sisters' futures. That's why Selena and her less than scrupulous brother hatch a plan for Selena to quickly conceive and pass the baby off as her husband's. It was a great plan until Selena actually started to fall for Aiden Trewlove who runs the club that indulges the desired of wealthy women.

The fourth Sins for All Seasons novel proves just as sexy as the previous books, but also shows the many downsides of the societal rules of the time. Although those rules are the reason Selena acts as she does, there are times when Selena is just a little too in league with her disgraceful brother which makes it hard to root for her and Aiden. Aiden has some pretty great moments though, especially when he's with his family.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Avon.

review: the crazy school by cornelia read

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The Crazy School is the second of the Madeline Dare series, but can be read as a standalone as much of Madeline’s backstory is filled in. This mystery is very slow to get going with the first half of the novel setting up what’s been happening at the boarding school where Madeline is now a teacher. Even without the mystery, the setup is interesting as Madeline struggles with her new job. The students are difficult to say the least and her boss makes the teachers attend group therapy and follow the same restrictions as the students. Once the mystery finally gets going, it’s a bit of a rollercoaster with Madeline being framed but also poisoned and a very dark turn for the true culprit.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Grand Central Publishing.

review: mine by courtney cole

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As a hurricane approaches, a different sort of storm is about to hit Tessa Taylor's house. It all begins when Tessa has to use her husband's iPad because their teenage daughter took Tessa's to her grandparents' house. If not for that simple act of a teenager, Tessa may have never seen the nude pictures of a woman her husband is clearly having an affair with. With the rest of the family out of town, Tessa seizes the opportunity to meet the other woman. From that moment, there is danger at every turn the hurricane traps the two clearly unhinged women in Tessa's home. Mine by Courtney Cole is a wild ride filled with twists as the dual storms rage and revenge is sought. Every chapter reveals another shock.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Gallery.

review: gimme some sugar by molly harper

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When Lucy Bowman's husband unexpectedly died, she didn't exactly become a grieving widow; her husband had repeatedly cheated and she was considering divorce. Lucy's mother-in-law won't hear any of it, so she's out to make Lucy's life miserable as Lucy tries to start a bakery and move on with Duffy McCready.

Although Lucy might not be doing much grieving, others are in Gimme Some Sugar which makes this book not as fun and light-hearted as the previous two in the Southern Eclectic series. There's also some repetition of plot points as Duffy's ex and Lucy's mother-in-law are both one note villains who keep getting in the way of Lucy and Duffy's budding relationship.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Gallery.

review: before i go by colleen oakley

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At just 27 Daisy learns that the breast cancer she thought she beat three years ago has now spread throughout her body. The doctor says she likely only has months to live. But Daisy has much to do—she and her husband have a fixer-upper house and both are working on graduate degrees. Daisy initially tries to live her life normally, but soon her focus shifts to finding a new wife for her husband, who she believes can’t possibly take care of himself.

With a terminal cancer patient as the protagonist, it seemed Before I Go would be excruciatingly sad; it wasn’t. That’s partly because Daisy doesn’t wallow in her diagnosis and partly because Daisy is slightly annoying in her fixation on insignificant things like drinking the organic kale smoothies she believed kept her healthy. Because Before I Go centers wholly on Daisy finding a wife for Jack (who as an adult about to be a veterinarian should be capable of taking care of himself—I had trouble with this plot because it just seemed so insulting to Jack), the story drags at times with Daisy not taking any action on her plan but still going on and on about it. The final chapter was incredibly touching though.
3/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Gallery.

review: soul survivor by bruce & andrea leininger with ken gross

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Shortly after moving to a new home and only weeks after her son’s second birthday, Andrea Leininger heard her son screaming from a terrible nightmare. The nightmares continued and James began telling his parents that he’d been a pilot who’d perished after his plane was shot down in World War II. According to his parents, there was no way for James to know the details he did, but the information was verifiable. James’s father, Bruce, struggled with the idea of reincarnation due to his religious background, but eventually accepted that his son had a past life. The process that it took for Andrea and Bruce to come to terms with the reincarnation is detailed in the book they coauthored with Ken Gross. Soul Survivor is quick read documenting the struggles the family had as they looked into the cause of James’s nightmares. Assuming there’s no embellishment here, it’s truly a remarkable story. The writing is a little awkward though as it shifts from third person to first person diary entries from the two parents. A lot of the details are repeated and unnecessary anecdotes are shared which all detract from the main story.
3/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Grand Central Publishing.

review: the a list by j.a. jance

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Although The A List is the fourteenth book in the Ali Reynolds series, it goes back in time to when Ali was still reporting for a Los Angeles TV station. Ali covered the story of a fertility doctor who was using his own sperm to impregnate patients. The truth came out when one of his offspring needed a kidney transplant. As The A List unfolds, Ali experiences many life changes (losing her TV job, getting divorced, and starting the life that readers of the series are now familiar with) and loses touch with the people who were involved in what turned out to be her final news story. But that doesn’t mean the doctor has forgotten about her or any of the others who he believes caused his downfall. Despite being convicted of killing his first target (his ex-wife), Edward is determined to have everyone else killed as well. His list, of course, includes Ali.

The A List was a bit slow to get started as it had to set up all the plot points and give a lot of backstory. Once everything was established, the story began to take off with Edward orchestrating murders from behind bars. It’s all fairly predictable though and relies a bit too much on the new AI, Frigg, that Ali’s team is using.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Gallery Books.

review: stay sexy & don't get murdered by karen kilgariff & georgia hardstark

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I first came across the podcast My Favorite Murder when it was shooting up the iTunes charts in 2016. As someone who loves Dateline, 48 Hours, etc., it was a podcast I quickly fell in love with and recommended to all my friends. When they began touring, I was so excited that I went to San Diego to see them since that was the closest city to me (I live in Phoenix). I’ve stayed a faithful listener, though my interest has waned as they’ve moved away from solely covering murders. Even so, it was great news that Karen and Georgia were writing a book about their experiences.

For people who have listened to every podcast episode and to their appearances on other podcasts, there’s very little new here. Their voices, especially Karen’s, come through in this collection of essays so there’s still the intimacy of the podcast, but it was disappointing to have Karen and Georgia simply give additional details to stories they’ve related many times before.
3/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Forge.

review: the scoundrel in her bed by lorraine heath

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After the Duke of Thornley's bride-to-be ran off, he found love with Gillie Trewlove in When a Duke Loves a Woman. As luck (or Lorraine Heath) would have it, one of Gillie's brothers is who Thornley's betrothed actually loves. The Scoundrel in Her Bed goes back to when Gillie's brother Finn first met Lady Lavinia. Theirs is quite the love story, especially as neither knows the true reason for their eventual separation. When they do find each other again, there's even more heartache to be had. With the story initially including numerous flashbacks, the plot feels a little disjointed but the romance is always strong.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Avon.

review: murder from scratch by leslie karst

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Sally Solari just can’t seem to stay away from murder mysteries. In the fourth book of the series, Sally becomes involved when her father asks her to take in a distant cousin whose mother has died. Although there’s a suicide note, Evelyn believes her mother was murdered. Things just don’t add up and Sally agrees to investigate. As Sally and Evelyn uncover clues (like misplaced items in the home Evelyn shared with her mother), the murderer closes in on them as well. Murder from Scratch has plenty of red herrings to keep the mystery going, but the subplot with Brian that's continued from the previous books is an unnecessary distraction.
4/5
Review copy provided by the publicist, MM Book Publicity.

review: between you & me by susan wiggs

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When a young Amish boy sustains a life-threatening farming accident, his guardian goes against the community's wishes and allows a helicopter to take the boy to a hospital. That's how Caleb along with his nephew Jonah and niece Hannah come into the life of Reese, a surgical resident at the hospital. Soon Reese and Caleb are connecting and trying to navigate the tremendous differences between them.

Between You & Me opens with someone, clearly Amish, abandoning a baby at a hospital. It was initially unclear how this would come into the plot, but eventually Susan Wiggs clunkily works it in. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel until that point. Once the baby is found (very appropriately in the safe haven box), the previously open-minded Reese becomes extremely judgmental. Wiggs also completely misrepresents Pennsylvania law which does allow a baby to be left at a safe location such as a hospital without there being any consequence to the parents. It's unfortunate that Wiggs twisted what had been a well-written love story into an agenda against safe haven laws.
3/5
Review copy provided by the publisher, Avon.