Sunday, May 31, 2020

Saturday, May 30, 2020

TODAY'S PROMPT: NOSTALGIA


Thank you to eggs of Litsy for today's prompt: 

#MagicalMay
@eggs

Today’s Prompt:  NOSTALGIA

Loved this book.

It’s the 1950’s, listening to conversations could be done by switchboard operators with a simple "number please."  The operators could also disconnect a call.

FULL REVIEW HERE  

Friday, May 29, 2020

SPINE POEM

Thank you to eggs of Litsy:

#MagicalMay
@eggs

Today’s Prompt:  SPINE POEM

What Lies Below
The Glass Ocean
I Let You Go
Freefall
AFTER 29 Seconds

Thursday, May 28, 2020

TODAY'S PROMPT: HEAVEN


Thank you to eggs of Litsy:

#MagicalMay
@eggs

Today’s Prompt:  HEAVEN

AS BRIGHT AS HEAVEN has a beautiful story line, beautiful research, and beautiful characters. 

It is about the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. 

REVIEW HERE
 

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

FEATURING: BEDSIDE MANNERS by Heather Frimmer


If you enjoy family situations and learning some medical information, you will enjoy BEDSIDE MANNERS. 

REVIEW HERE

Tuesday, May 26, 2020

The Prisoner's Wife by Maggie Brookes

 
Izabela and Bill were destined to meet, but did Izabela realize what she was getting herself and Bill into when she rushed the marriage and escaped the farm she had known for her entire life?

Izabela immediately fell in love with Bill when she saw him in a group of British prisoners who came to help on the farm during WWII.  


Her plans were to marry Bill, find her father and brother, and join the resistance, but the Germans had other plans for them.


We follow Izzy and Bill as they escape the farm, travel in the night, sleep in the day, become captured, and endure the prison camp.
 
They were sent to Lamsdorf Prison where Izzy had to hide that she was a woman.  Surprisingly the men in their hut actually helped to hide her.

THE PRISONER'S WIFE which is based on true events was very tense, very well written, and very well researched.

You will feel the terror and pain the prisoners endured in the camps and on the historical Long Walk from Poland to Germany. 


The characters were resilient, loyal, unbelievably strong, and easy to like.


Historical fiction fans will be completely absorbed in this book that gives yet another look at what suffering went on during WWII.

THE PRISONER'S WIFE is a beautiful but heartbreaking book.

A MUST READ!!  5/5

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Monday, May 25, 2020

Today's Prompt - WINE


Thanks to these Litsy folks for today’s prompt:

#BiblioMAYania
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@OriginalCyn620

Today’s Prompt:  WINE

THE VINEYARDSOF CHAMPAGNE - REVIEW HERE  

THE WINEMAKER’S WIFE - REVIEW HERE  

Sunday, May 24, 2020

This Week at Silver's Reviews - 5/24 to 5/30

Happy Memorial Day Week!!

Looks like one you won't want to miss.

See you soon...stay safe and enjoy the week!!
 

Today's Prompt: BRIDGES

Thank you to eggs of Litsy:

#MagicalMay
@eggs

Today’s Prompt:  BRIDGES

Three women, three stories, three connected lives. 

FULL REVIEW HERE

Saturday, May 23, 2020

TODAY'S PROMPT: DREAMS


Thank you to eggs of Litsy:

#MagicalMay
@eggs

Today’s Prompt:  DREAMS 

Larkin needed to come home from New York because her mother was missing.

What she found was that over the years a lot of things were missing and quite a few things were kept secret.

Another FABULOUS Karen White Read.

FULL REVIEW HERE

Friday, May 22, 2020

Today's Prompt: BUTTERFLIES

Thank you to eggs of Litsy:

#MagicalMay
@eggs

Today’s Prompt:  BUTTERFLIES

Butterflies that changed someone's mind about an affair?  Butterflies that have the entire country flocking to Knoxville, Tennessee?
Yes...butterflies may be what Dellarobia needed.

FULL REVIEW HERE 

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Today's Prompt: BELIEVE


Thanks to these Litsy folks for today’s prompt:

#BiblioMAYania
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@OriginalCyn620

Today’s Prompt:  BELIEVE

Clara couldn't believe her husband was talking on the phone while driving, driving too fast around a curve when he had their daughter in the car, and having an affair.

Marvelous from the first word to the last.

FULL REVIEW HERE

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Spotlight and Giveaway of Answer Creek by Ashley Sweeney


Photo Source
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Author, Ashley Sweeney, and publicist, Caitlin Hamilton Summie, are celebrating the release of:

ANSWER CREEK
 
With an International Print Giveaway!!
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Information in this post is courtesy of the author, Ashley E. Sweeney, and publicist, Caitlin Hamilton Summie.
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Answer Creek is a fresh telling of the Donner Party saga through the eyes of a 19-year-old fictional protagonist, Ada Weeks (and is not a sequel to my debut novel, Eliza Waite, which was set in Washington and Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898).
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PRAISE FOR ANSWER CREEK:

“Ada Weeks is an unforgettable character, authentic and true, created by the deft hands of author Ashley Sweeney. Full of distinctive language, fresh images of overland travel, and the challenge of choices, Ada Weeks is a woman to cheer for. Be prepared to burn the night oil to discover more.”
—Jane Kirkpatrick, award-winning author of One More River to Cross
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ABOUT ANSWER CREEK:

Orphaned on the trail to California in the spring of 1846, Ada Weeks lumbers west as a member of the ill-fated Donner-Reed Party.

Battling hardship and depression, Ada attaches herself to the Breen family after the death of her parents. A budding romance with the Breen’s teamster, Patrick Dolan, fills her tedious, grueling days with life and hope. But when the emigrants find themselves stranded by a blizzard at the foot of the Sierra Mountains less than 100 miles from their destination, Dolan leaves with a small party to attempt the pass in the dead of winter.

Uncertain of Dolan’s fate, and struggling to endure, Ada is forced to choose her own path for survival.

All subsequent attempts to bridge the pass in the dead of winter are met with failure, and Ada must face a long, horrifying winter with grit and resolve.

After surviving the harrowing winter season, through which half of the emigrant party perishes, Ada finds herself alone and almost penniless when she reaches Sutter’s Fort in the spring of 1847.

Where is Dolan? And what would a future without him look like? 

As Ada sets up a homesteading claim in the wilds of California’s American River region, she finds the true meaning of self-reliance and tentatively opens her heart to the promise of love.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Photo Credit:
Justin Haugen
Ashley E. Sweeney is the winner of the 2017 Nancy Pearl Book Award for her debut novel, Eliza Waite. A native New Yorker, Sweeney is a graduate of Wheaton College in Norton, Mass. and resides in the Pacific Northwest and Tuscon. Answer Creek is her second novel.
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GIVEAWAY: 

ONE ENTRY PER PERSON PLEASE.

I am partnering with the author, Ashley Sweeney, and publicist, Caitlin Hamilton Summie, for this giveaway:

USA ONLY
May 20 - May 27
Enter here
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Tuesday, May 19, 2020

The Wife Stalker by Liv Constantine


All is good except for the wedding ring on his hand.

Piper moved to Connecticut from California to start a new life and to hide.


Joanna is waiting for her husband to come out of his depression. When he finally turns around and is happy again, it's not because of therapy.  It is because of Piper. 

The Wife Stalker is not a romance, but a tense suspense.

We follow Joanna and Piper in alternating chapters as their lives unfold and one life shatters and one life blooms with Leo being the cause.

Does one of their lives continue to bloom? Maybe not when Joanna overhears a conversation Piper has with a random man on the street.


After that the suspense definitely ramps up. Joanna needed to find out just who Piper really was and what her story was.

But then Piper has plans of her own. As Piper's plans accelerate, Joanna's life begins to really shatter in more ways than one.

THE WIFE STALKER started out slowly, but then became so engaging and tense that it was difficult to put down.


Those readers who enjoy suspense, surprises, and an ending that will have your jaw dropping, you won't want to miss THE WIFE STALKER.


This book was given to me by the publisher and Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Monday, May 18, 2020

This Is How I Lied by Heather Gudenkauf

Who could have killed Eve Knox?  

Everyone liked her - it was a shock to the small town of Grotto.
 

Her troubled sister, Nola, and best friend, Maggie, found her. 

There were quite a few suspects, but not enough evidence so the case was dropped.

The book opens to a grizzly scene of Eve running out of a cave, but not being able to escape.

Twenty-five years later, new evidence is found.  Maggie is now a police officer and takes over the case. What will she find?


We go back and forth from 1995 to 2020 and see Eve's life as a teenager and then in 2020 we see the investigation taking place again with we the readers trying to guess who the killer is.
 

You will say it's her, no it can't be, it has to be him, no it might be that person.  You will go back and forth trying to figure it out, and I bet you will guess incorrectly unless you are a super sleuth.
 

THIS IS HOW I LIED is very engaging, tense, and so good you won't want to put the book down.
 

Suspense and thriller fans will not be disappointed.  

Ms. Gudenkauf will keep you on the edge of your seat and wondering, wondering, wondering.
 

A twisty, fantastic, unpredictable  tale with characters that lived with secrets and lies and that made me nervous at what they were doing.

Do not miss it.  You will be on the edge of your seat by the end. 5/5
 

This book was given to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Heather Gudenkauf is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of many books, including The Weight of Silence and These Things Hidden.

Heather graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in elementary education, has spent her career working with students of all ages.

She lives in Iowa with her husband, three children, and a very spoiled German Shorthaired Pointer named Lolo.

In her free time, Heather enjoys spending time with her family, reading, hiking, and running.
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BUY LINKS:

THIS IS HOW I LIED
Author: Heather Gudenkauf
ISBN: 9780778309703
Publication Date: May 12, 2020
Publisher: Park Row Books


Buy Links: 


Social Links:
Twitter: @hgudenkauf
Instagram: @heathergudenkauf

Saturday, May 16, 2020

Purple Covers

Thanks to these Litsy folks for today’s prompt:

#BiblioMAYania
@Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
@OriginalCyn620

Today’s Prompt:  PURPLE

All are good reads.

Have YOU read any?

Reviewed on my blog.

Friday, May 15, 2020

Substitute Soloist by D. R. Ransdell


Getting accepted into an orchestra isn’t easy, and Andy knew it.

Andy did get accepted, but it seems like it was doomed from the beginning.

He had to stand in and do solos when the concertmaster, Liza, abruptly left, when she couldn't be found, and when she was thought to have murdered a board member.

He also catches the orchestra leader as his podium crashes to the ground. What is going on?

The worst thing is that Andy is asked by Moraes the orchestra leader to go to the Netherlands and look for the concertmaster and be a guest in an orchestra. It was a piece he didn't know how to play.

He didn't want to go, but did anyway.  A trip to Europe was never in his plans so this would be good especially since he took his girlfriend who willing went.

We follow Andy as he looks for Liza, gets into trouble, solves the mystery, and still gets to play his violin.

I enjoyed Andy’s antics and his troubles.

This book was light, enjoyable, and actually comical, but it did drag a bit at the end.

Violinists and music fans will definitely enjoy SUBSTITUTE SOLOIST. 4/5

This book was given to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Thursday, May 14, 2020

Books With ANNA in the Title

AFTER ANNA by Alex Lake is a top thriller for me.

AFTER ANNA by Lisa Scottoline was her best yet for me.

I haven't read MY FRIEND ANNA by Rachel DeLoache Williams yet.

AND.....we can't forget about Leo Tolstoy's ANNA KARENINA.


Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Spotlight and Giveaway of Hello Summer by Mary Kay Andrews


Photo Source
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Meg Walker of Tandem Literary: Publicity & Marketing is celebrating the release of:

HELLO SUMMER


With a USA Giveaway!!
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Information in this post is courtesy of Meg Walker of Tandem Literary: Publicity & Marketing
  ************ 
HELLO, SUMMER—the next sizzling summer blockbuster by New York Times bestselling author and Queen of the Beach Reads, Mary Kay Andrews.

An intriguing mystery, inspiring tale of second chances, and moving family drama with a touch of romance, HELLO, SUMMER is a quintessential summer escape from the master of her genre.
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PRAISE FOR HELLO SUMMER:

An intriguing mystery, inspiring tale of second chances, and moving family drama with a touch of romance, HELLO, SUMMER is a quintessential summer escape from the master of her genre. “Hello, Summer is another gem by the always wonderful Mary Kay Andrews.” —PopSugar

“Hello, Summer is at a next level of fabulous. Yes it has the family house on the beach (why doesn’t my family have a beach house?) but it morphs into a political thriller all stemming from news reporting. Brilliantly done! Ten stars!”—Andrea Peskind Katz, GreatThoughts.com

“Andrews can be counted on for beach-worthy depictions of southern women with chutzpah and a talent for finding trouble with humor and romantic interest mixed in. Fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Kristy Woodson Harvey shouldn’t miss it.”—Booklist

“Hello, Summer is a terrific read. All the characters from Conley through her feisty G’mama and her housekeeper, to the local gossip and the secretive local radio DJ, are fully fleshed people. The world of modern journalism, small town politics and relationships are brought to vibrant life by Mary Kay Andrews’ deft touch.”—Authorlink
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ABOUT HELLO SUMMER:

New York Times bestselling author and Queen of the Beach Reads Mary Kay Andrews delivers her next blockbuster, HELLO SUMMER.

It's a new season...
Conley Hawkins left her family's small town newspaper, The Silver Bay Beacon, in the rearview mirror years ago. Now a star reporter for a big-city paper, Conley is exactly where she wants to be and is about to take a fancy new position in Washington, D.C. Or so she thinks.


For small town scandals...
When the new job goes up in smoke, Conley finds herself right back where she started, working for her sister, who is trying to keep The Silver Bay Beacon afloat—and she doesn’t exactly have warm feelings for Conley. Soon she is given the unenviable task of overseeing the local gossip column, “Hello, Summer.”


And big-time secrets...
Then Conley witnesses an accident that ends in the death of a local congressman—a beloved war hero with a shady past. The more she digs into the story, the more dangerous it gets. As an old heartbreaker causes trouble and a new flame ignites, it soon looks like their sleepy beach town is the most scandalous hotspot of the summer.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Photo Credit:
Bill Miles

MARY KAY ANDREWS is the New York Times bestselling author of 27 novels (including Hello, Summer; Sunset Beach; The High Tide Club; The Weekenders; Beach Town; Save the Date; Ladies’ Night; Christmas Bliss; Spring Fever; Summer Rental; The Fixer Upper; Deep Dish; Blue Christmas; Savannah Breeze; Hissy Fit; Little Bitty Lies; and Savannah Blues), and one cookbook, The Beach House Cookbook.

A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, she earned a B.A. in journalism from The University of Georgia. After a 14-year career working as a reporter at newspapers including The Savannah Morning News, The Marietta Journal, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, where she spent the final ten years of her career, she left journalism in 1991 to write fiction.

Her first novel, Every Crooked Nanny, was published in 1992 by HarperCollins. She went on to write ten critically acclaimed mysteries under her real name, Kathy Hogan Trocheck. In 2002, she assumed the pen name Mary Kay Andrews with the publication of Savannah Blues. In 2006, Hissy Fit became her first New York Times bestseller, followed by twelve more New York Times, USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestsellers. To date, her novels have been published in German, Italian, Polish, Slovenian, Hungarian, Dutch, Czech and Japanese. 

She and her family divide their time between Atlanta and Tybee Island, GA, where they cook up new recipes in two restored beach homes, The Breeze Inn and Ebbtide—both named after fictional places in Mary Kay’s novels, and both available to rent through Tybee Vacation Rentals. In between cooking, spoiling her grandkids, and plotting her next novel, Mary Kay is an intrepid treasure hunter whose favorite pastime is junking and fixing up old houses.

Connect with MKA




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GIVEAWAY: 

Contest has ended!!

Congrats to Cheryl from Rhode Island.

Thanks to all who entered.

ONE ENTRY PER PERSON PLEASE. 

I am partnering with Meg Walker of Tandem Literary: Publicity & Marketing for this giveaway:

USA ONLY
May 13 - May 20
Enter here
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