Book Life Rambles

Once in a Blue Moon by Kristan Higgins If I was asked to critique the cover, which I wasn't,  I'd say she needs a ponytail. Several mentions of her hair and it was always in a slicked back ponytail. NetGalley Winnie Smith was never supposed to be that woman. She’s the responsible sister, the behind-the-scenes event planner, the one who avoids drama at all costs. So how did she end up publicly branded as the other woman—and promptly canceled by the Mommy Mafia of Cape Cod? One disastrous relationship, a missing background detail, and suddenly Winnie’s quiet life is in shambles. Enter Lorenzo Santini, the world-renowned surgeon, feared and revered by colleagues, with zero patience for incompetence and life’s ordinary tasks. Known to hospital staff as Dr. Satan, Lorenzo needs a personal assistant—and Winnie needs a fresh start. It’s strictly business … until it isn’t. As Winnie manages Lorenzo’s demanding schedule and carefully guarded life, she discovers there’s more beneath hi...

The Midnight Taxi by Yosha Gunasekera G👀dreads When the last fare of the night turns up dead in her backseat, a Sri Lankan American taxi driver works off the clock to clear her name in this mystery novel by debut author Yosha Gunasekera. Siriwathi Perera doesn’t quite know where she’s going in life. She never expected to be a taxicab driver in New York City, struggling to make ends meet and still living with her parents at twenty-eight. The true-crime podcasts that keep Siri company as she drives don’t do much to make up for the legal career she imagined for herself, or the brother she’s grieving. When public defender Amaya Fernando gets into her cab, they make a quick connection through their shared Sri Lankan roots. Siri, whose social circle is limited to her grade-school best friend, Alex, thinks things might finally be looking up with this new potential friendship. But she’s suddenly dropped into her own true crime when she discovers her next passenger murdered in the backseat, an...

My Favorite Half-Night Stand by Christina Laure n G👀dreads Millie Morris has always been one of the guys. A UC Santa Barbara professor, she’s a female-serial-killer expert who’s quick with a deflection joke and terrible at getting personal. And she, just like her four best guy friends and fellow professors, is perma-single. So when a routine university function turns into a black tie gala, Mille and her circle make a pact that they’ll join an online dating service to find plus-ones for the event. There’s only one hitch: after making the pact, Millie and one of the guys, Reid Campbell, secretly spend the sexiest half-night of their lives together, but mutually decide the friendship would be better off strictly platonic. But online dating isn’t for the faint of heart. While the guys are inundated with quality matches and potential dates, Millie’s first profile attempt garners nothing but dick pics and creepers. Enter “Catherine”—Millie’s fictional profile persona, in whose make-believ...

Educated by Tara Westover There are a few other covers but nothing worthy of Cover Wars! One with a little girl on a swing and another with an school table/set in the middle of a field. If I were consulted (👀) I would made one with a little girl on a piece of heavy equipment in the scrap yard pile.  G👀dreads Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag". In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard. Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education and no one to intervene when one o...

The Dirty Book Club by Lisi Harrison Cover Wars Paperback Hardcover - Gallery Books Paperback - Bulgarian Hardcover - Russian The main hardcover (finger on lip) is my least favorite.   I like the Russian cover with the four members of the DBC with their noses in the books. I'd probably pick the brown paper bag because they DID put other covers over their taboo books. Plus back in the day we *DID* use paper bags as book covers for our schoolbooks so I like the nostalgia effect.  G👀dreads ...comes a novel about the importance of friendship, and, of course, the pleasure of a dirty book. M.J. Stark’s life is picture-perfect—she has her dream job as a magazine editor, a sexy doctor boyfriend, and a glamorous life in New York City. But behind her success, there is a debilitating sense of loneliness. So when her boss betrays her and her boyfriend offers her a completely new life in California, she trades her cashmere for caftans and gives it a try. Once there, M.J. is left to...

The Story Keeper by Kelly Rimmer Published as The Midnight Estate in Australia, New Zealand, & UK NetGalley In the aftermath of a tumultuous year, Fiona Winslow finds solace in the decaying grandeur of Wurimbirra, the rambling family estate she once called home. Intent on restoring it, she discovers the keys to more than just the dilapidated mansion—beneath the crumbling plaster and dust are secrets that have been buried for a generation. When a curious book, The Midnight Estate, catches her attention in her late uncle’s library, Fiona is plunged into a tale that mirrors her own—a story of love, loss and betrayal. But as the lines between fiction and reality blur, Fiona must ask herself: Is the true mystery the one hidden within the walls of her ancestral home, or is it within the pages of a book that chose her as much as she chose it? Told in a dual narrative and set against the Gothic backdrop of Wurimbirra, Kelly Rimmer, bestselling author of The Things We Cannot Say, weaves an ...

Strangers in the Villa by Robyn Harding G👀dreads ...a psychological thriller about a couple rocked by infidelity who moves to a villa in Spain’s Costa Brava to rebuild their relationship, only to welcome a pair of visitors who have no intention of leaving. Sydney Lowe’s life in New York is shattered when her husband, Curtis, admits to a meaningless affair with a client. Begging for forgiveness and vowing to prove his devotion, Curtis suggests the couple retreat to a remote hilltop house in Spain to repair their marriage. High above the Mediterranean, Sydney and Curtis are working on the isolated property and their relationship when a pair of Australian travelers turns up at their door in dire need of help. Lonely for companionship and desperate for free labor, Sydney and Curtis invite the attractive young couple to stay. But as the days pass, dark secrets come to light, the Lowes’ bond is tested, and not everyone will leave the villa alive. Genre: Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Thril...

Til Death Do Us Part by Daniel Hurst *DNF* G👀dreads Megan thinks that she has the perfect husband and the perfect life. Craig works so that she doesn't have to, leaving her free to relax all day in their beautiful and secluded country home. But when she starts to long for friends and purpose again, Megan applies for a job in London, much to her husband's disappointment. She thinks that he is upset because she is unhappy. But she has no idea. After Megan goes against his wishes and attends the interview, Craig decides that it is time to act. Locking her away in their home, Megan realizes that her husband never had her best interests at heart, nor did they meet by accident. Craig has been planning this from the start. As Megan is kept shut away from the world with only somebody else's diary for company, she starts to uncover the lies, the secrets and the fact that she isn't actually Craig's first wife after all... Genre: Psychological Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Su...

The Lacemaker's Fortune by Andrea Catalano NetGalley In the 1870s, the fate of an immigrant desperate to escape the factories of New York City collides with the ambitions and passion of two men in an enthralling and darkly sensual novel by the author of The First Witch of Boston. New York City, 1879. Eileen Maguire is a factory lacemaker limited by her humble circumstances and dreaming of a better life. Lawrence Barnard is the sole heir of one of Manhattan’s wealthiest families, but his means keep him confined by the expectations of society. When their paths cross one fateful winter night, Eileen and Lawrence become caught under the spell of the charismatic and enterprising Stanley Jones, who extolls the boundless opportunities awaiting in the West. The millinery shop Eileen dreams of owning with her sister is possible, as is the freedom to make his own choices that Lawrence so craves. What begins as an idealistic journey westward quickly becomes something unexpected and sinister o...