Book Life Rambles

Nora Goes Off Script  by Annabel Monaghan G👀dreads Nora Hamilton knows the formula for love better than anyone. As a romance channel screenwriter, it's her job. But when her too-good-to work husband leaves her and their two kids, Nora turns her marriage's collapse into cash and writes the best script of her life. No one is more surprised than her when it's picked up for the big screen and set to film on location at her 100-year-old-home. When former Sexiest Man Alive, Leo Vance, is cast as her ne'er-do-well husband Nora's life will never be the same. The morning after shooting wraps and the crew leaves, Nora finds Leo on her porch with a half-empty bottle of tequila and a proposition. He'll pay a thousand dollars a day to stay for a week. The extra seven grand would give Nora breathing room, but it's the need in his eyes that makes her say yes. Seven days: it's the blink of an eye or an eternity depending on how you look at it. Enough time to fall in ...

The Great Italian Holiday Mix-Up by Sandy Barker G👀dreads Nick and Delaney each think they’ve planned the perfect romantic getaway – a mystery holiday designed by a travel matchmaking service. And what’s more idyllic than the sun-soaked Isle of Capri with its stunning scenery, air of romance and endless Aperol Spritzes? But when the itineraries go astray, Nick walks into a hotel suite that’s already occupied – just not by his fiancée. Two frantic phone calls later, Nick and Delaney discover the their partners are together in Reykjavík and they’re stuck sharing a room in one of the most romantic places on earth. As they scramble to fix the mix-up, fate steps in and they start to wonder if the wrong holiday might just be the right one after all. Genre: Fiction, Romance, Humor The How/Why: 🤷 It was just published last week so it might have been SM ad. OR I was searching Hoopla for a different Italian Holiday title and this one popped up so I tagged it. I was looking for something light ...

The Amethyst Heart by Penelope J. Stokes Cover Wars G👀dreads In The Amethyst Heart, she weaves the past and present into an unforgettable story of one Mississippi family's joy, sorrow, and hope. Amethyst's 93rd birthday celebration is a big disappointment. Not only has her great-granddaughter "Little Am" become a sullen stranger, but her son Conrad announces plans to sell the historical family home and put his mother into a retirement facility. When Conrad leaves to get the realtor, Amethyst pulls out a 12-gauge shotgun, then rushes to lock the doors. While great-grandmother and great-granddaughter anxiously wait for Conrad's return, Amethyst passes on the family's rich legacy of stories-but will she be able to protect her beloved home? Narrator Cristine McMurdo-Wallis' stirring performance transports you from the days of pre-Civil War plantations, through the turbulent unrest of the 60s, to the present-day South. For some reason GR has two descriptions d...

This Story Might Save Your Life by Tiffany Crum Hard Cover, Audio, Kindle (Flatiron; Boekerj) Cover Wars Kindle (Hodder & Stoughton) German Swedish G👀dreads Benny Abbott and Joy Moore host one of the most beloved podcasts in the world. Each week, they delight listeners with a different “against all odds” survival story, gleefully finding the weird, life-affirming humor in near-death experiences. Since their first episode on Joy’s experience with severe narcolepsy, they’ve been the best friends everyone wants to befriend—and thanks to the meticulous management of Joy’s husband, Xander, they’ve built a lucrative empire. The problem is, their next survival story may be their own. When Benny arrives at Joy and Xander’s one morning to record, he finds shattered glass and an empty house. The one clue shedding light on the couple’s disappearance is the incomplete, previously unseen first draft of Joy’s memoir. Benny will stop at nothing to find them, even as the police zero in on him a...

No Job for a Woman by Alina Rubin Goodreads She sailed against the current. Ella Parker’s male alias was a star pupil in medical school. But as a woman in 1810 England, Ella cannot find a job as a doctor’s assistant. In a life-or-death emergency with a mother in labor, she oversteps her boundaries and risks arrest. Determined to practice medicine, she decides to join her mentor on the Neptune, a warship heading for open waters. Following an accident, she is quickly thrust into the role of ship surgeon, and her skills are put to the test. Hoping to fit in with the all-male crew and make friends, instead, Ella creates chaos and suspicion among the superstitious sailors. Lieutenant Jack Wyse, though charged by the captain with protecting Ella, is keen on making her leave. After a fierce battle, Ella saves the handsome officer, Robert Weston. Her commitment to her profession is tested, however, when he asks for her hand in marriage. But are Weston’s intentions sincere, and would he allow...

I Died on a Tuesday by Jane Corry There's the story everyone believes... and then there's the truth.  Goodreads ...comes another edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller about a harrowing crime, the long-buried secrets surrounding it, and the explosive uncovering of the truth. 18-year-old Janie has the world and her bright future ahead of her. She's about to leave behind the small seaside town she's known all her life to embark on a career in London in book publishing and couldn't be more excited. She'll miss home—especially her dad. They've only had each other since her mother died years earlier. But she's about to start her life and she can't wait. She's on her way home after her last early dawn swim in the bay when the peaceful stillness of the quiet Tuesday morning is suddenly shattered. A white van careens around the corner and onto the quiet street Janie is riding her bike along, and in one swift moment, her life is forever changed, and her...

Evvie Drake Starts Over  by Linda Holmes G👀dreads A heartfelt debut about the unlikely relationship between a young woman who’s lost her husband and a major league pitcher who’s lost his game. In a sleepy seaside town in Maine, recently widowed Eveleth “Evvie” Drake rarely leaves her large, painfully empty house nearly a year after her husband’s death in a car crash. Everyone in town, even her best friend, Andy, thinks grief keeps her locked inside, and Evvie doesn’t correct them. Meanwhile, in New York City, Dean Tenney, former Major League pitcher and Andy’s childhood best friend, is wrestling with what miserable athletes living out their worst nightmares call the “yips:" he can’t throw straight anymore, and, even worse, he can’t figure out why. As the media storm heats up, an invitation from Andy to stay in Maine seems like the perfect chance to hit the reset button on Dean’s future. When he moves into an apartment at the back of Evvie’s house, the two make a deal: Dean won’...

We Don't Talk About Carol by Kristen L. Berry G👀dreads A dedicated journalist unearths a generations-old family secret—and a connection to a string of missing girls that hits way too close to home—in this gripping debut novel. In the wake of her grandmother's passing, Sydney Singleton finds a hidden photograph of a little girl who looks more like Sydney than her own sister, or mother. She soon discovers the mystery girl in the photograph is her aunt, Carol, who was one of six local North Carolina Black girls to go missing in the 1960s. For the last several decades, not a soul has talked about Carol or what really happened to her. With her grandmother gone and Sydney looking to start a family of her own, she is determined to unravel the truth behind her long-lost aunt and the sinister silence surrounding her. Unfortunately, this is familiar territory for Sydney. Several years prior, working the crime beat as a journalist on the case of another missing girl, her obsession eventu...

The Patchwork Players by Jennifer Chiaverni NetGalley The cast of a smash TV show arrives at a quilter’s retreat for a week of camaraderie and creativity that takes some surprising twists in this heartwarming new installment of Jennifer Chiaverini’s much-beloved Elm Creek Quilts series. Acclaimed TV actress Julia Merchaud almost can’t believe her good fortune. Her beloved historical drama, A Patchwork Life, revived her career and made stars of several younger actors. But Julia’s happiness turns to dismay when she learns that the hit show will have only one more season. Can she convince everyone to stay just a little longer? Inspiration comes after a conversation with Summer Sullivan, one of the expert quilters who helped Julia prepare for her role. When Summer confides that Elm Creek Quilt Camp is in financial trouble, Julia concocts a brilliant plan that will help the Elm Creek Quilters and herself. Julia sets about persuading the cast and crew to join her for what she promises will b...