Category Archives: Just An Opinion

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Have you read Everything We Keep?
Have you read Everything We Left Behind?
If you have, read the third one now!
If you haven’t start from the beginning.

Goodreads:  From the author of Everything We Keep comes the final novel in the Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling Everything Series. Brimming with suspense, mystery, and romance, Everything We Give brings to a powerful close the gripping series of love, lies, and the secrets families keep.

Award-winning photographer Ian Collins made only one mistake in life, but it cost his mother her freedom and destroyed their family, leaving Ian to practically raise himself. For years he’s been estranged from his father, and his mother has lived off the grid. For just as long, he has searched for her.

Now, Ian seemingly has it all—national recognition for his photographs; his loving wife, Aimee; and their adoring daughter, Caty. Only two things elude him: a feature in National Geographic and finding his mother. When the prized magazine offers him his dream project on the same day that Aimee’s ex-fiancé, James, returns bearing a message for Ian but putting a strain on his marriage, Ian must make a choice: chase after a coveted assignment or reconnect with a mysterious woman who might hold the key to putting his past to rest. But the stakes are high, because Ian could lose the one thing he holds most dear: his family.

Thank you Ashley at Amazon for giving me the opportunity to read this one.

Coming Soon…..

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…. On a Bookshelf near you!

In July I hope to read….

Publication Date: July 3, 2018
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Goodreads:  From the author of Everything We Keep comes the final novel in the Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling Everything Series. Brimming with suspense, mystery, and romance, Everything We Give brings to a powerful close the gripping series of love, lies, and the secrets families keep.

Award-winning photographer Ian Collins made only one mistake in life, but it cost his mother her freedom and destroyed their family, leaving Ian to practically raise himself. For years he’s been estranged from his father, and his mother has lived off the grid. For just as long, he has searched for her.

Now, Ian seemingly has it all—national recognition for his photographs; his loving wife, Aimee; and their adoring daughter, Caty. Only two things elude him: a feature in National Geographic and finding his mother. When the prized magazine offers him his dream project on the same day that Aimee’s ex-fiancé, James, returns bearing a message for Ian but putting a strain on his marriage, Ian must make a choice: chase after a coveted assignment or reconnect with a mysterious woman who might hold the key to putting his past to rest. But the stakes are high, because Ian could lose the one thing he holds most dear: his family.

What is coming soon …. to a bookshelf near you?

Let me know – I am always looking for a good read!

 

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Do you enjoy suspenseful reads?
Have you read Kimberly Belle before?
This book could the one for you!
It is available now!

 

Goodreads:  Those closest to us are often the most dangerous…

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare: the call that comes in the middle of the night.

When Kat Jenkins awakens to the police on her doorstep, her greatest fear is realized. Her nine-year-old son, Ethan, is missing—vanished from the cabin where he’d been on an overnight field trip with his class. Shocked and distraught, Kat rushes to the campground where he was last seen. But she’s too late; the authorities have returned from their search empty-handed after losing Ethan’s trail in the mountain forest.

Another mother from the school, Stef Huntington, seems like she has it all: money, prominence in the community, a popular son and a loving husband. She hardly knows Kat, except for the vicious gossip that swirls around Kat’s traumatic past. But as the police investigation unfolds, Ethan’s disappearance will have earth-shattering consequences in Stef’s own life—and the paths of these two mothers are about to cross in ways no one could have anticipated.

Racing against the clock, their desperate search for answers begins—one where the greatest danger could lie behind the everyday smiles of those they trust the most.

Thank you Emer, at Harper Collins.
I really do enjoy Kimberly Belle’s stories.

 

Happy Blogaversary!

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Six years ago I started writing about the books I loved to read and haven’t stopped!
It is hard to believe I am still doing it. The joy of reading was passed to me from my mother and I have passed it to my daughters who are now passing it my grandchildren.  It is fun to look back on all that I have read – new authors I found ( some who aren’t new – just new to me ) – finding a book I didn’t think I would really like and falling in love with it  – and always being surprised when an author or publisher contacts me and wants me to read their book.  OH, the joy of reading – I hope to have many more years of this fun!

Thank you for going on this ride with me.

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Paris and Australia settings, a wedding and some unexpected curves in the road –
sound like your kind of story – buy it today!

Goodreads:  When is it right to follow your heart? From the plains of rural Australia to Paris, the City of Love, lose yourself in this touching and romantic story by the bestselling author of THE HORSEMAN

Ten years ago, Rachael West chose not to move to Sydney with high-school sweetheart Matthew. Instead she stayed on the family wheat farm, caring for her seriously ill mother and letting go of her dreams. Now, Matthew is marrying someone else. And Rachael is invited to the wedding, a lavish affair in Paris, courtesy of the flamboyant family of Matthew’s fiancée – a once-in-a-lifetime celebration at someone else’s expense in Europe’s most romantic city.

She is utterly unprepared for what the week brings. Friendships will be upended, secrets will be revealed – and on the eve of the wedding, Rachael is faced with an impossible dilemma: should she give up on the promise of love, or destroy another woman’s life for a chance at happiness?

Thank you to William Morrow Paperbacks for this wonderful read.

This story of a man dealing with PTSD, how is family is effect and what it takes
to make it through the hard times.

Goodreads:  The latest emotional rollercoaster of a novel from a master of tearjerkers and family fiction.

Mac Anderson holds life in the palm of his hand. He has a beautiful wife, three loving children, a comfortable home, and a successful career. Everything is perfect—or so it seems. Tragically, Mac is destined to learn that any sense of security can quickly prove false. Because an invisible enemy called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder has invaded Mac’s fragile mind and it is about to drop him to his knees. He does all he can to conceal his inner chaos, but to no avail. Left to contend with ignorance, an insensitive justice system, and the struggles of an invisible disease, he loses everything—most importantly his family.

One shoebox might store an old pair of sneakers. Two shoeboxes might contain a lifetime of photographs. But in Three Shoeboxes, a father’s undying love may be just enough to make things right again.

Thank you Steven Manchester for sharing your writing talents.

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Family drama, wonderful writing, real characters – what more could you want?
Buy it today!

 

Goodreads:  On the shores of Cape Cod, the Bailey sisters reunite with their long-lost father for a summer of hope and forgiveness in this heartfelt novel from the author of the “sharp and evocative” (Kirkus Reviews) Mystic Summer, The Lake Season, and The Summer House, sure to appeal to “fans of Elin Hilderbrand” (Booklist).

Wrenn Bailey has lived all her life on Cape Cod with her mother Lindy, older sister Shannon, and younger sister Piper. Growing up, life was dictated by the seasons with sleepy gray winters where only the locals stayed on, followed by the sharp influx and colorful bustle of summer tourists who swept up the elbow of the Cape and infiltrated their small paradise.

But it wasn’t just the tourists who interrupted Wrenn’s formative years; her father—brilliant but troubled photographer Caleb—has long made a habit of drifting in and out of his girls’ lives. Until the one summer he left the Cape and did not return again.

Now, almost twenty years later, Caleb has come back one last time, suffering from pancreatic cancer and seeking absolution. Wrenn and her sisters each respond differently to their father’s return, determined to find closure. But that means returning to the past and revisiting old wounds—wounds that cause the tightknit Bailey women to confront their own wishes and wants, and admit to their own wrong-doings over the years. In a place that brings both great comfort and great pain, the Bailey sisters experience a summer on the Cape that promises not only hard endings, but perhaps, hopeful new beginnings.

Thank you Rachel from Simon & Schuster!
This was an amazing book!

Coming Soon….

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…. On a Bookshelf near you!

In June I hope to read….

Publication Date: June 26, 2018
Publisher:  Park Row

Goodreads:  Those closest to us are often the most dangerous…

It’s every parent’s worst nightmare: the call that comes in the middle of the night.

When Kat Jenkins awakens to the police on her doorstep, her greatest fear is realized. Her nine-year-old son, Ethan, is missing—vanished from the cabin where he’d been on an overnight field trip with his class. Shocked and distraught, Kat rushes to the campground where he was last seen. But she’s too late; the authorities have returned from their search empty-handed after losing Ethan’s trail in the mountain forest.

Another mother from the school, Stef Huntington, seems like she has it all: money, prominence in the community, a popular son and a loving husband. She hardly knows Kat, except for the vicious gossip that swirls around Kat’s traumatic past. But as the police investigation unfolds, Ethan’s disappearance will have earth-shattering consequences in Stef’s own life—and the paths of these two mothers are about to cross in ways no one could have anticipated.

Racing against the clock, their desperate search for answers begins—one where the greatest danger could lie behind the everyday smiles of those they trust the most.

What is coming soon …. to a bookshelf near you?

Let me know – I am always looking for a good read!

To the Moon and Back

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Author: Karen Kingsbury
Publisher: Howard Books
Genre: Christian Fiction
Source:  Alison at Simon & Schuster

 

Goodreads:  From #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury comes a brand-new love story in the Baxter Family collection about two people who long ago shared a childhood tragedy—two people desperate to find each other and the connection they once shared…and just maybe a chance at love.

Brady Bradshaw was a child when the Oklahoma City bombing took his mother from him. Every year, Brady visits the site on the anniversary to remember her. A decade ago on that day, he met Jenna Phillips, who was also a child when her parents were killed in the attack. Brady and Jenna shared a deep heart connection and a single beautiful day together at the memorial. But after that, Brady never saw Jenna again. Every year when he returns, he leaves a note for her in hopes that he might find her again.

This year, Ashley Baxter Blake and her sister Kari Ryan take a spring break trip with their families that includes a visit to the site to see the memorial’s famous Survivor Tree. While there, Ashley spots a young man, alone and troubled. A chance moment leads Ashley to help the young man find the girl he can’t forget—Jenna Phillips.

Ashley’s family is skeptical, but in the end everyone comes together to support Ashley’s efforts to find the girl and bring them together. But will it work? And is a shared heartache enough reason to fall in love?

Deeply emotional and beautifully romantic, To the Moon and Back is an unlikely love story about healing, redemption, and hope that springs from the ashes of a tragedy.

Ope’s Opinion: This book had a lot of the Baxter family in it, but really the main part of the story was focused on Brady Bradshaw and the Oklahoma bombing.  It is a story of survival and God’s part in healing those who survive.

It is in the Christian fiction genre, and the whole book is centered on God.  If you are looking for a book to drawl your focus closer to God, this book is one you should read.

I would have rated this book higher, but the characters felt a little cardboard and stereotyped to me.

The ending wrapped everything up in a nice neat bow.