Last Summer

Author: Kerry Lonsdale
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Source: 
Claire/ Sarah at Little Bird Publicity

 

Goodreads:  From the Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Everything series comes a new novel of love, lies, and deceit.

Lifestyle journalist Ella Skye remembers every celebrity she interviewed, every politician she charmed between the sheets, and every socialite who eyed her with envy. The chance meeting with her husband, Damien; their rapid free fall into love; and their low-key, intimate wedding are all locked in her memory. But what she can’t remember is the tragic car accident that ripped her unborn child from her. Ella can’t even recall being pregnant.

Hoping to find the memories of a lost pregnancy that’s left her husband devastated and their home empty, Ella begins delving into her past when she’s assigned an exclusive story about Nathan Donovan, a retired celebrity adventurer who seems to know more about her than she does him. To unravel the mystery of her selective memory loss, Ella follows Nathan from the snow capped Sierra Nevada to the frozen slopes of southeast Alaska. There she discovers the people she trusts most aren’t the only ones keeping secrets from her—she’s hiding them from herself. Ella quickly learns that some truths are best left forgotten.

Ope’s Opinion:  You should know I am a Kerry Lonsdale fan,  but this is not my favorite of her books.  I like intense books and she writes them very well, this one just didn’t hit the mark for me.

This one was very intense, but the intensity drug on too long before there was any clue as to what Ella could not remember.  It was repeated that Damien knew something, but the reader was not clued in to what it was.  Then Ella went to see Nathan and he knew something, but did not reveal anything for a while.  It got frustrating and old after a while.

The ending was left open – not sure what Ella did, not sure who was being honest with her.  It left me wanting more – a little too abrupt for me  without answers.

Out Now

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.

Everything We Give

Author: Kerry Lonsdale
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Genre: Mystery
Source: Ashley at Amazon

 

Goodreads:  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.

Ope’s Opinion:  This is another good Kerry Lonsdale book.  She writes amazing stories with a lot of emotion and wonderful characters.  Starting with book one is definitely recommended. The story will have so much more meaning, if you start from the beginning.

There were a lot of twists in this book.  I did feel like people “accidentally” ran into each other more then would really happen.  After a while it just got to be too much for me to believe.

The ending really brought all the relationships together.  Your questions will be answered – some with surprises.

 

Coming Soon…..

…. 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!

 

Everything We Left Behind

Author: Kerry Lonsdale
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Genre: Mystery
Source:  Ashley at Amazon

 

Goodreads:  From the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Everything We Keep comes the highly anticipated sequel. Told from one man’s two perspectives, Everything We Left Behind effortlessly blends suspense, mystery, and romance in an exploration of loss, resilience, and the compelling need to protect the ones we love at all cost.

Two months before his wedding, financial executive James Donato chased his trade-laundering brother Phil to Mexico, only to be lost at sea and presumed dead. Six and a half years later, he emerges from a dissociative fugue state to find he’s been living in Oaxaca as artist Carlos Dominguez, widower and father of two sons, with his sister-in-law Natalya Hayes, a retired professional surfer, helping to keep his life afloat. But his fiancée, Aimee Tierney, the love of his life, has moved on. She’s married and has a child of her own.

Devastated, James and his sons return to California. But Phil is scheduled for release from prison, and he’s determined to find James, who witnessed something in Mexico that could land Phil back in confinement. Under mounting family pressure, James flees with his sons to Kauai, seeking refuge with Natalya. As James begins to unravel the mystery of his fractured identity, danger is never far behind, and Natalya may be the only person he can trust.

(This book is the sequel to Everything We Keep.)

Ope’s Opinion:  Since I read Everything We Keep almost a year ago, it took me a little while into this book to remember what I had read and who was who.  If you can read the first and second one right after each other, I think you will enjoy them more.

This one starts slows, but I think that is partly so we can catch up to where the first one left off. It moved faster as you read along.  I did enjoy seeing the characters again and the story line seemed true to the fist book. It ( the story line ) went in a different direction then I expected ( no spoilers ), but I enjoyed it.

The ending answered a lot of questions and gave me satisfaction.

This Just In….

Publication Date:  September 12, 2017
Publisher:  Penguin Press

Goodreads:  In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is planned – from the layout of the winding roads, to the colors of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principle is playing by the rules.
Enter Mia Warren – an enigmatic artist and single mother – who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenaged daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.
When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town–and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.

Thank you Penguin Press!

Published: June 1, 2017
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Goodreads:  Ella Broden is living a double life.

By day, Ella works as a buttoned-up attorney on some of the city’s most grueling cases. By night, she pursues her passion for singing in the darkest clubs of Manhattan.

No one knows her secret, not even Charlotte, the younger sister she practically raised. But it seems she’s not the only one in the family with something to hide. When Charlotte announces she’s sold her first novel, Ella couldn’t be more thrilled…until she gets a call that her sister’s gone missing.

Ella starts investigating with the help of Detective Gabriel Velasquez, an old flame in the NYPD, and what she finds is shocking. If art imitates life, then her sister’s novel may contain details of her real-life affairs. And any one of her lovers could be involved in her disappearance.

Desperate to bring Charlotte home, Ella works through her list of suspects, matching fictitious characters with flesh-and-blood men. But will it be too late to save the sister she only thought she knew?

Thank you Thomas & Mercer for this book.

Everything We Keep is the first of this series.  It was published August 1, 2016.
Everything We Left Behind will be published:  July 4, 2017
Publisher:  Lake Union Publishing

Goodreads:  From the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Everything We Keep comes the highly anticipated sequel. Told from one man’s two perspectives, Everything We Left Behind effortlessly blends suspense, mystery, and romance in an exploration of loss, resilience, and the compelling need to protect the ones we love at all cost.

Two months before his wedding, financial executive James Donato chased his trade-laundering brother Phil to Mexico, only to be lost at sea and presumed dead. Six and a half years later, he emerges from a dissociative fugue state to find he’s been living in Oaxaca as artist Carlos Dominguez, widower and father of two sons, with his sister-in-law Natalya Hayes, a retired professional surfer, helping to keep his life afloat. But his fiancée, Aimee Tierney, the love of his life, has moved on. She’s married and has a child of her own.

Devastated, James and his sons return to California. But Phil is scheduled for release from prison, and he’s determined to find James, who witnessed something in Mexico that could land Phil back in confinement. Under mounting family pressure, James flees with his sons to Kauai, seeking refuge with Natalya. As James begins to unravel the mystery of his fractured identity, danger is never far behind, and Natalya may be the only person he can trust.

Thank you Ashley for passing this book on to me.  Looks awesome!

 

Everything We Keep

everything we keep

Author: Kerry Lonsdale
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Genre: Mystery
Source:  BEA 2016

Goodreads:  Sous chef Aimee Tierney has the perfect recipe for the perfect life: marry her childhood sweetheart, raise a family, and buy out her parents’ restaurant. But when her fiancé, James Donato, vanishes in a boating accident, her well-baked future is swept out to sea. Instead of walking down the aisle on their wedding day, Aimee is at James’s funeral—a funeral that leaves her more unsettled than at peace.

As Aimee struggles to reconstruct her life, she delves deeper into James’s disappearance. What she uncovers is an ocean of secrets that make her question everything about the life they built together. And just below the surface is a truth that may set Aimee free…or shatter her forever.

A luminous debut with unexpected twists, Everything We Keep explores the devastation of loss, the euphoria of finding love again, and the pulse-racing repercussions of discovering the truth about the ones we hold dear and the lengths they will go to protect us.

Ope’s Opinion: Wow!  This book really surprised me!  I just finished it and I am still absorbing the ending – not at all what I expected.  Please tell me there is a sequel to this book. I want to know where they all are now – even the background characters are interesting.

I am a slow reader and I read this book in two days.  It was so well written, that there were no wasted words or wasted dialogue.  The story goes into the past, when you need to know something to understand the present.  Just when you think this is going to be another predictable story line, Kerry Lonsdale takes you down another road.

I felt satisfied with the story until I read the epilogue – it threw me a little.  I am still soaking that part in…

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