Show Us Your Books: One Last Time- July 2022

 

Hi Friends!  Today I am linking up with Steph and Jana HERE one last time as they are retiring this link up...it was fun..thank you ladies for prompting me to share my reading and for helping me to get new great book ideas!

Today I am sharing my "Summer Reading" which means I am sharing the books I read starting in May because that is our official kick off to summer....here it goes

May

The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen

This might end up in my top three for the year!  That good!  Another amazing thriller by these two ladies!

Synopsis: If Avery Chambers can’t fix you in ten sessions, she won’t take you on as a client. She helps people overcome everything, from domineering parents to assault. Her successes almost help her absorb the emptiness she feels since her husband’s death.

Marissa and Mathew Bishop seem like the golden couple, until Marissa cheats. She wants to repair things, both because she loves her husband and for the sake of their 8-year-old son. After a friend forwards an article about Avery, Marissa takes a chance on this maverick therapist, who lost her license due to controversial methods.

When the Bishops glide through Avery’s door and Marissa reveals her infidelity, all three are set on a collision course. Because the biggest secrets in the room are still hidden, and it’s no longer simply a marriage that’s in danger.

 

 

Nantucket News by Pamela Kelley

This is Book #7 in the Nantucket Beach Plum Cove Series

 

This series has been so cozy and quick to read-nice little escape from reality

 Synopsis: Charleston native, Taylor Abbott, has just relocated to Nantucket for her dream job as a junior news reporter at the local paper. Ten years ago she was Abby Hodges college roommate and is looking forward to living near her best friend again.
Until her rental cottage is available, she's going to stay at the Beach Plum Cove Inn, Abby's mother's bed and breakfast.
Abby meanwhile is dealing with an issue she thought she'd resolved.
Rhett discovers someone that works for him is a thief and tries to figure out who it is.
Rumor is there's a celebrity or two on the island and the media (including Taylor's co-worker, Victoria), is in hot pursuit to track them down. 

 

 

June

 

Summer Love by Nancy Thayer 

This was a special one to read especially right after I met her and got to talk with her about her life on Nantucket- Nancy is a gem!  This is an awesome summer read!

Synopsis: Old secrets come to light when four friends gather on Nantucket for a life-changing reunion in this heartwarming novel of love and self-discovery by New York Times bestselling author Nancy Thayer.

When four strangers rent bargain-basement rooms in an old hotel near the beach, they embark on the summer of their lives. First there's Ariel Spencer, who has big dreams of becoming a writer and is looking for inspiration in Nantucket's high society. Her new friend Sheila Murphy is a good Catholic girl from Ohio whose desire for adventure is often shadowed by her apprehension. Then there's small-town Missourian Wyatt Smith, who's immediately taken with Ariel. The last of the four, Nick Volkov, is looking to make a name for himself and have a blast along the way. Despite their differences, the four bond over trips to the beach, Wednesday-night dinners, and everything that Nantucket has to offer. But venturing out on their own for the first time, with all its adventure and risks, could change the course of their lives.

Twenty-six years after that amazing summer, Ariel, Sheila, Wyatt, and Nick reunite at the hotel where they first met. Now it's called The Lighthouse and Nick owns the entire operation with his wife and daughter. Ariel and Wyatt, married for decades, arrive with their son, and Sheila's back too, with her daughter by her side. Life hasn't exactly worked out the way they had all hoped. Ariel's dreams have since faded and been pushed aside, but she's determined to rediscover the passion she once had. Nick has the money and reputation of a successful businessman, but is it everything he had hoped for? And Sheila has never been able to shake the secret she's kept since that summer. Being back together again will mean confronting the past and finding themselves. Meanwhile, the next generation discovers Nantucket: Their children explore the island together, experiencing love and heartbreak and forging lifelong bonds, just as their parents did all those years ago. It's sure to be one unforgettable reunion.

 

Meant To Be by Emily Giffin

 

 

Another one that might end up in my top three- I couldn't put this one down- I thought John Jr and Caroline Kennedy the entire story...and happy to read that it was loosely based on their relationship and what would've been....

 

Synopsis:  The Kingsley family is American royalty, beloved for their military heroics, political service, and unmatched elegance. In 1967, after Joseph S. Kingsley, Jr. is killed in a tragic accident, his charismatic son inherits the weight of that legacy. But Joe III is a free spirit—and a little bit reckless. Despite his best intentions, he has trouble meeting the expectations of a nation, as well as those of his exacting mother, Dottie.

Meanwhile, no one ever expected anything of Cate Cooper. She, too, grew up fatherless—and after her mother marries an abusive man, she is forced to fend for herself. After being discovered by a model scout at age sixteen, Cate decides that her looks may be her only ticket out of the cycle of disappointment that her mother has always inhabited. Before too long, Cate’s face is in magazines and on billboards. Yet she feels like a fraud, faking it in a world to which she’s never truly belonged.

When Joe and Cate unexpectedly cross paths one afternoon, their connection is instant and intense. But can their relationship survive the glare of the spotlight and the so-called Kingsley curse? In a beautifully written novel that captures a gilded moment in American history, Emily Giffin tells the story of two people searching for belonging and identity, as well as the answer to the question: Are certain love stories meant to be?

 

 

July

 

The Summer Place by Jennifer Weiner

 

 Jennifer Weiner has always been one of my favorite authors.  This read was good not great.  A little heavy for summer...not as good as her book last year "That Summer" but overall good and loved the backdrop of Cape Cod of course.

 

Synopsis: When Veronica Levy bought her dream house on the Outer Cape, she imagined a place where generations of her family would gather for years to come.

Now, forty years later, with her children barely speaking to each other, or to her, Veronica has decided, reluctantly, to put the place on the market. She'll invite the family to gather one last time (and insist on their good behavior) at her granddaughter Celia's wedding. She'll spend one last summer by the beach, with her daughter Sarah, her son Sam, and whichever grandchildren can be coaxed into making the trip. Then she'll say goodbye to the house she's loved for forty years.

But three months is a long time. Time enough for an old love to reappear, for secrets to come to light, and for three generations of Levy women to decide what kind of lives they want to live, in the summers they have left.

 

 

and I am now diving into

The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand

 

 Always love me some Nantucket stories so I am sure I will devour this one too!

 

Synopsis:  Fresh off a bad breakup with a longtime boyfriend, Nantucket sweetheart Lizbet Keaton is desperately seeking a second act. When she’s named the new general manager of the Hotel Nantucket, a once Gilded Age gem turned abandoned eyesore, she hopes that her local expertise and charismatic staff can win the favor of their new London billionaire owner, Xavier Darling, as well as that of Shelly Carpenter, the wildly popular Instagram tastemaker who can help put them back on the map. And while the Hotel Nantucket appears to be a blissful paradise, complete with a celebrity chef-run restaurant and an idyllic wellness center, there’s a lot of drama behind closed doors. The staff (and guests) have complicated pasts, and the hotel can’t seem to overcome the bad reputation it earned in 1922 when a tragic fire killed nineteen-year-old chambermaid Grace Hadley. With Grace gleefully haunting the halls, a staff harboring all kinds of secrets, and Lizbet’s own romantic uncertainty, is the Hotel Nantucket destined for success or doom?

 

 

So what have YOU been reading?

Show Us Your Books: March 2022

 

Hi Friends!  Today I am joining Steph and Jana and showing you my books!

I am focusing on March....my monthly goal is 2 books per month but I know this month, I will rad 3-4 because I started "The Beach Plum Cove Series" by Pamela Kelley and I am LOVING it...they are stories based on Nantucket and based on a family who owns a Bed and Breakfast...each story dives deeper into the different characters!

The first book is "The Nantucket Inn" and I finished most of this during my flight down to Aruba last week...I flew through it!

Summary: Lisa Hodges needs to make a decision fast. Thanks to her dead husband's gambling addiction, her savings are almost gone. In her early fifties with a large, waterfront home to support, Lisa hasn't worked in over thirty years, has no in-demand skills and is virtually unemployable.

She doesn't want to sell her house or move, so her son, Chase, a local builder, helps her turn it into a bed and breakfast so she can stay on Nantucket near her four adult children—who have problems of their own.

Her oldest daughter, Kate, seems to have it all—a glamorous career in Boston working as a writer for a popular fashion magazine and engaged to a dangerously handsome, photographer—until her world implodes.

Kate's twin, local artist, Kristen, is growing frustrated with her on-again off-again relationship with an older, separated businessman. 

Youngest daughter, Abby, and her husband have been trying to have a baby. But it hasn't happened yet, and Abby wonders if it's a sign that maybe their marriage isn't as perfect as everyone thinks.

Her son Chase is the only one of her children who seems to have no drama in his life—for now. 

The Nantucket Inn is the first book in a series that follows the Hodges family, friends, and visitors to Nantucket's Beach Plum Cove Inn.

The second book is "Nantucket Neighbors" and I got through this one on my flight home...just as great as the first!

Summary:
Book your visit to the Beach Plum Cove Inn today.....meet widow Lisa Hodges and her four adult children, friends, and visitors to the newly opened waterfront bed and breakfast. In the first book, The Nantucket Inn, Lisa learned that her deceased husband had a hidden gambling addiction and had blown through their retirement savings. Since she'd been raising four children and hadn't worked in years, she had no employable skills. Her only option if she wanted to stay on the island near her loved ones, was to rent out her second floor rooms.

And she's loving it so far. Lisa's first guest, restaurant owner Rhett Byrne quickly became a close friend and then something more. In her early fifties, it sounds strange to her to call him her boyfriend, but that's what he is.

Her daughter Kristen, finally ended things with Sean, the separated man that no one in the family was excited about. It wasn't until she was beginning to move on, that he filed for divorce, and then begged her for another chance. So she gave him one, much to everyone's dismay. But then the cottage next door is sold, and she discovers who her new neighbor is.

Chase, the only boy in the family, has never been serious about anyone before. But he's suddenly withdrawn and has been secretive about who he's seeing, which only makes everyone that much more curious. When they learn who it is, the concern grows as no one wants to see Chase hurt, again.

Lisa's best friend, Paige, has a new neighbor too and it's one she is most decidedly not enthused about. Violet was one of the women who stood up at town meeting and protested against Lisa's inn being approved by the selectman. Because the house is right next door, Paige can't help but notice the steady stream of traffic. Violet seems to be very popular with a lot of people.

The inn is doing well and bookings are up, but then one Friday night, a guest that prepaid for the weekend never shows up. And quite a few people, including the police, come asking questions.

I am now reading Book # 3 "Nantucket White Christmas"...I just started it...all good so far...won't fly through it as fast as I am now back to work and real life again!

Summary:

Growing up as an orphan, Angela Stark has never been a fan of the holiday season, even though she was a Christmas baby. This year is no exception when everything that could possibly go wrong does, and she and her elderly cat, Sam, are about to be homeless. Her last resort is to move in temporarily with her best friend, Jane—who is allergic to cats. But then, a letter arrives that changes everything, and she and Sam find themselves heading to Nantucket. It seems like the perfect financial solution that will enable her to return home to San Francisco a few months later.

But then she meets the Hodges family and friends. In particular, a certain best-selling author who tries to convince her to stay on Nantucket longer. And as she gets to know Lisa Hodges and her children, Kate, Kristen, Abby and Chase, she experiences what it’s like to be welcomed as part of a family, for the first time.

 

 

I am so glad this is a long series- I am devouring each book!  So light and fun :)

 

 

In addition to these books, I read my devotionals daily...here is one example...

 

Sarah Young has the written the best collection of devotionals...perfect for every day!

 

 

 

That's a wrap!  What are you reading right now?  Can't wait to see your books!

 

Show Us Your Books (February 2022)

 

Hi Friends!  Today I am linking up with Steph and Jana for their "Show Us Your Books" Linkup!  So so fun

Sharing some recent and current reads because they are all fabulous

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reed

This one certainly lived up to the hype...old Hollywood Glamor....a star telling her story to an up and comer writer...every twist and turn and romance was perfectly depicted....just devoured it!

Going There by Katie Couric

Katie Couric's new memoir is powerful...truly showed you how competitive and cut throat the media/tv business can be...I found it to be fascinating and sometimes disheartening to see how she let work and fame get in the way of family so often...following her husband's sickness and death were heart-wrenching...my least fave part was the portion talking about Matt Lauer...ick....and I found myself routing for Katie when she met "Molner" her now husband...so very good...both this and Evelyn Hugo will most likely be in my top three for the year...that's how good!

The Hotel by Pamela Kelly

My bestie Cass recommended this one and I knew I would love it as I LOVED her Restaurant series (still hoping for a third book in that one!)  Nothing beats the backdrop of Nantucket...throw in romance and I am a goner...reading this now and loving it!

 

 

 

 Daily Encouragement by Barbour Books

3-Minute Devotions for Women

 

and an example of one of my daily devotionals...I read from these devotionals every day....Exhibit A

 

 This one is very special to me as my bestie Janie gifted it to me :)

 

So what are you reading?  I always love getting my reading recommendations from YOU!

Show Us Your Books

 

Hi Friends!  Thought I would join in on the fun today and link up with Steph and Jana HERE 

 

Sharing some recent reads and summaries and then my thoughts...I always love hearing your thoughts and gathering up your recommendations so wanted to share a few with you too!

 

 

I Heart My Little A-Holes by Karen Alpert

 

 From the author herself:

"There are a Lot of Reasons I Wrote This Book, I Mean, Besides Money

When I had my daughter I remember looking down at my newborn and thinking there’s a reason God made babies ridiculously cute. So we wouldn’t give them away. Or eat them. Because having a kid is like the hardest thing on earth. I mean yeah it’s super rewarding and you can’t help but loving them to pieces, but no one ever tells you before you have kids just how difficult it’s going to be.

And you’d never know it from looking at Facebook or Pinterest. You’d think that having kids is all hunky dory and awesome and smiley, like unicorns flying over rainbows. Wait, unicorns don’t fly. Fine, unicorns with wings. But I digress.

So this is why I wrote this book. To let parents everywhere know that they are not alone. That parenting is hard for everyone. Being preggers, breastfeeding, tantrums, explosive blowout diapers, bedtimes, naptimes, scraping projectile vomit off the ceiling, scraping projectile poop off the wall, the terrible twos, the terrible threes, the terrible fours, etc etc etc.

Okay, pardon me while I get all serious for a moment here. Picture a mom who just had a baby for the first time. Her hormones are bouncing off the walls like a pinball machine that’s being played by a kid who just chugged four Red Bulls, her nipples feel like they’re being eaten by fire ants, and her new baby hasn’t let her sleep more than two straight hours in the past three weeks. This little tiny being is constantly with her, and yet she’s never felt so alone. This is the reason I wrote this book.

Picture a mom standing in the middle of a supermarket where her kid is literally going cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs because she won’t buy them, and everyone in the store is staring at her like she is the worst parent on earth. This is the reason I wrote this book.

Picture a mom looking at the clock figuring out that she has exactly 84 minutes until her husband comes home from work. Or a dad knowing he has exactly 176 days until his wife comes home from Afghanistan. Or a mom doing it all alone day after day after day because she’s single. This is the reason I wrote this book.

Kids are awesome. We love them to death and once we have them we can’t imagine life without them. But they’re also little a-holes who torture us on a daily basis and make us feel like we’re doing it all wrong. This is the reason I wrote this book. To make people laugh and feel a little less alone in the impossible, awesome, horrendous, amazing, challenging, exciting, disgusting, unbelievable job of being a parent."

 

It was a quick and funny read...more geared towards moms of infants and toddlers but brought back some funny memories for sure!

 

 

Calling Mrs. Christmas by Carole Matthews

 

 
When Cassie Smith loses her job, she wonders how she’ll find her way back into the world of work. Then she has a brilliant idea! Drawing on her love of Christmas, she begins to charge for doing small seasonal jobs for busy people: wrapping presents; writing cards; tree-decorating. She’s soon in huge demand and Cassie’s business, Calling Mrs Christmas, is born.

Divorced millionaire, Carter Randall wants to make Christmas special for his children and enlists Cassie’s help. Soon his increasingly lavish requests start taking up all her time and she’s relieved that she can lean on her loving partner Jim to help her to deal with the rest of her clients.

Then Carter asks Cassie to join his family on a trip to Lapland and, suddenly, Cassie finds herself facing a heart-breaking choice that could change her entire life.

Join Cassie as she takes you on a romantic and emotional festive ride in Calling Mrs Christmas.

 

This was such a festive, fun and quick read...really got me in the spirit and inspired me to get all of my wrapping done- ha!

 

 The Restaurant- Book 1 of a 3 Part Series called The Nantucket Restaurant Series by Pamela Kelley

 

 I can thank my blogging friend Sarah for recommending this one.  WHY I GRABBED IT?  One of the sisters owns her own search firm- so my industry speaks to me and it did not let me down!!

Three sisters. An inherited Nantucket restaurant. One year before they can sell.

Mandy, Emma and Jill are as close as three sisters who live hundreds of miles apart can be. They grew up together on Nantucket, but Mandy is the only one that stayed.

Jill lives a glamorous life in Manhattan as a co-owner of a successful executive search firm. Never married, she is in her mid-thirties and lives in a stunning, corner condo with breathtaking views of the city and Hudson river. Everyone thinks there's something going on with her partner, Nick, because as a workaholic, she spends more time with him than anyone else. But there's never been anything but friendship between them and Nick loves being a bachelor in NYC.

Emma lives in Arizona and is an elementary school teacher and an aspiring photographer. She met her college professor husband, Peter, in grad school and they've been married for over fifteen years. In recent years, she's noticed that Peter has grown distant. But when he shares a surprising secret, she doesn't see it coming and her world is turned upside down.

Mandy followed her high school boyfriend, Cory to  Boston College, and right after graduation, they married and settled in Dover, just outside of Boston. Cory joined a successful hedge fund, while Mandy took a job at a downtown financial services firm as an administrative assistant. She quit a year later, when Blake, the first baby came. Two years later, when Brooke was born, Cory left to open a competing Hedge Fund and they moved home to Nantucket.  Now that the children are older,  Mandy has more free time and is eager to do more than just volunteer with local charity events. But Cory doesn't want her to work. He thinks it doesn't reflect well on him and appearances are everything to Cory. Though when Mandy finds a second cell phone in his gym bag, she begins to question what is really going on.

When their beloved grandmother, Ethel Ferguson passes peacefully in her sleep a week before her ninety-ninth birthday she leaves them quite a surprise. In addition to her Nantucket home, they learned that she was the silent owner of Mimi’s Place, one of Nantucket’s most popular year-round restaurants.  

There was of course, a catch--she left the restaurant equally to Mandy, Emma, and Jill--and also to Paul, the chef for the past fifteen years. 

And before they could sell, all three girls needed to work at the restaurant for a period of one year--or else the entire restaurant would go to Paul.

The same Paul that broke Emma's heart many years ago.

 

Friends?  I FLEW THROUGH THIS ONE....I LOVED IT...the backdrop of Nantucket is delicious and I loved getting to know the characters and especially loved Jill's story line being in my industry.  I am already onto Book 2 in the series- see the next synopsis!

 

 Christmas At The Restaurant- Book 2 of the 3 Part Series called the Nantucket Restaurant Series by Pamela Kelley

Nantucket's famous Christmas Stroll is always the first week of December and this year sisters Mandy and Emma and Paul, the executive chef want to do something extra special for Mimi's Place, the restaurant that they co-own. 

 It will be Emma and Paul's first Christmas together as a couple and Mandy's first holiday as a newly single and divorced mother of two. Although Mandy does have a promising new relationship, though she wants to take things very slow. 

Their sister Jill and her new husband, Billy, are planning to spend the whole month of December on Nantucket too, juggling working remotely for the executive search firm they own together in Manhattan and relaxing and spending time with family and helping out at the restaurant too. 

And Gina, their awesome bartender is spending her first winter on Nantucket and it's a bit of an adjustment--winters on Nantucket are so much quieter than the city life she was used to. She's even more confused when someone she had a major crush on back in the city moves to Nantucket. Suddenly her boring winter is starting to look a lot more interesting.

I just started this one friends..left off exactly where Book 1 ended and know I will fly through this one too!  So excited :)

What are you reading?

Show Us Your Books- Summer 2020

 

 

 

 Today I decided to join in on the reading fun and link up with Steph and Jana HERE and show you my books- for this post, I decided to share my summer reads because they have been great!  One, even, is most likely going to be named my favorite book of the year!  

 

 

Regretting You by Colleen Hoover

 

 2020 has been a year of several Colleen Hoover novels for me...edgy love stories with heartache and suspense all in one

Synopsis:
Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, would like nothing more than to be nothing alike.

Morgan is determined to prevent her daughter from making the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and married way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. Clara doesn’t want to follow in her mother’s footsteps. Her predictable mother doesn’t have a spontaneous bone in her body.

With warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it increasingly difficult to coexist. The only person who can bring peace to the household is Chris—Morgan’s husband, Clara’s father, and the family anchor. But that peace is shattered when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. The heartbreaking and long-lasting consequences will reach far beyond just Morgan and Clara.

While struggling to rebuild everything that crashed around them, Morgan finds comfort in the last person she expects to, and Clara turns to the one boy she’s been forbidden to see. With each passing day, new secrets, resentment, and misunderstandings make mother and daughter fall further apart. So far apart, it might be impossible for them to ever fall back together.

 

 

28 Summers by Elin Hilderbrand

 

 

 

Friends?  This could be it...my #1 Book of 2020...we shall see...Elin Hilderbrand is my favorite author and my fave up until this point was The Blue Bistro- she always says that The Blue Bistro was her favorite book to write and this one, my friends, has surpassed it in my book!

 

Synopsis:

Mallory Blessing meets her brother’s fraternity brother, Jake McCloud, over Labor Day Weekend 1993. The two immediately fall in lust, and inspired by the movie Same Time Next Year, decide that every Labor Day they will meet and reenact this perfect weekend of innocent love. And they succeed, for 28 summers, despite the twists their lives take. Mallory stays in the beach cottage on Nantucket she inherited from a beloved aunt, and becomes a talented English teacher at the high school. Jake marries his high school sweetheart, an exacting and cold lawyer who eventually runs for President. Hilderbrand doesn’t just focus on the three days each year Jake and Mallory spend together, so the set-up never gets stale, and you’ll find yourself rooting for this star-crossed adulterous couple. Nantucket isn’t as much of a character in the novel as in Hilderbrand’s other works, but she weaves in some recurring characters, restaurants, and locations to satisfy her devoted readers.

 

 

 

Eliza Started A Rumor by Jane Rosen

 

 

This book was a pleasant surprise and I LOVED it! Fun little suburban drama that us housewives can certainly relate too- loved the drama and chuckled throughout!

 

Synopsis:

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way. When Eliza Hunt created The Hudson Valley Ladies’ Bulletin Board fifteen years ago she was happily entrenched in her picture-perfect suburban life with her husband and twin preschoolers. Now, with an empty nest and a crippling case of agoraphobia, the once-fun hobby has become her lifeline. So when a rival parenting forum threatens the site’s existence, she doesn’t think twice before fabricating a salacious rumor to spark things up a bit. 

 

The Lies That Bind by Emily Giffin

I have to tell you that I used to be a big Emily Giffin fan.  I have read all of her books and loved her first three or four.  Then her last couple of books were disappointing to me and now that I follow her on Instagram, I am really turned off by her nasty political posts and so, I didn't even know if I would pick this one up.  To make a long story short, I followed the recommendation of some of my favorite bloggers and this one was a winner...such passion and drama....

 

 

Synopsis:
It’s 2 A.M. on a Saturday night in the spring of 2001, and twenty-eight-year-old Cecily Gardner sits alone in a dive bar in New York’s East Village, questioning her life. Feeling lonesome and homesick for the Midwest, she wonders if she’ll ever make it as a reporter in the big city—and whether she made a terrible mistake in breaking up with her longtime boyfriend, Matthew. 

As Cecily reaches for the phone to call him, she hears a guy on the barstool next to her say, “Don’t do it—you’ll regret it.” Something tells her to listen, and over the next several hours—and shots of tequila—the two forge an unlikely connection. That should be it, they both decide the next morning, as Cecily reminds herself of the perils of a rebound relationship. Moreover, their timing couldn’t be worse—Grant is preparing to quit his job and move overseas. Yet despite all their obstacles, they can’t seem to say goodbye, and for the first time in her carefully constructed life, Cecily follows her heart instead of her head. 

Then Grant disappears in the chaos of 9/11. Fearing the worst, Cecily spots his face on a missing-person poster, and realizes she is not the only one searching for him. Her investigative reporting instincts kick into action as she vows to discover the truth. But the questions pile up fast: How well did she really know Grant? Did he ever really love her? And is it possible to love a man who wasn’t who he seemed to be?

Two Truths And A Lie by Meg Mitchell Moore

What a fun little beach read and my favorite part of this book was how it all took place right near us in the beautiful beach side town of Newburyport...loved all of the local references and flew through this one.

Synopsis:
Truth: Sherri Griffin and her daughter, Katie, have recently moved to the idyllic beach town of Newburyport, Massachusetts. Rebecca Coleman, widely acknowledged former leader of the Newburyport Mom Squad (having taken a step back since her husband’s shocking and tragic death eighteen months ago), has made a surprising effort to include these newcomers in typically closed-group activities. Rebecca’s teenage daughter Alexa has even been spotted babysitting Katie.

Truth: Alexa has time on her hands because of a recent falling-out with her longtime best friends for reasons no one knows—but everyone suspects have to do with Alexa’s highly popular and increasingly successful YouTube channel. Katie Griffin, who at age 11 probably doesn’t need a babysitter anymore, can’t be left alone because she has terrifying nightmares that don’t seem to jibe with the vague story Sherri has floated about the “bad divorce” she left behind in Ohio. Rebecca Coleman has been spending a lot of time with Sherri, it’s true, but she’s also been spending time with someone else she doesn’t want the Mom Squad to know about just yet.

Lie: Rebecca Coleman doesn’t have a new man in her life, and definitely not someone connected to the Mom Squad. Alexa is not seeing anyone new herself and is planning on shutting down her YouTube channel in advance of attending college in the fall. Sherri Griffin’s real name is Sherri Griffin, and a bad divorce is all she’s running from.

A blend of propulsive thriller and gorgeous summer read, Two Truths and a Lie reminds us that happiness isn’t always a day at the beach, some secrets aren’t meant to be shared, and the most precious things are the people we love.

The End Of Her by Shari Lapena

and I am already flying through my first read for August and LOVE it.  Shari Lapena never lets you down....she writes these page turners full of suspense and action and it keeps you wanting more!

Synopsis:
Stephanie and Patrick are adjusting to life with their colicky twin girls. The babies are a handful, but even as Stephanie struggles with the disorientation of sleep deprivation, there's one thing she's sure of: she has all she ever wanted.

Then Erica, a woman from Patrick's past, appears and makes a disturbing accusation. Patrick had always said his first wife's death was an accident, but now Erica claims it was murder.

Patrick insists he's innocent, that this is nothing but a blackmail attempt. Still, Erica knows things about Patrick--things that make Stephanie begin to question her husband. Stephanie isn't sure what, or who, to believe. As Stephanie's trust in Patrick begins to falter, Patrick stands to lose everything. Is Patrick telling the truth--is Erica the persuasive liar Patrick says she is? Or has Stephanie made a terrible mistake?

What are you reading?  You never let me down...I always read your posts and add a few to my Kindle :)