Mind Games

Mary Macmillan Audio, NetGalley, Nora Roberts, Romantic Suspense, St. Martin's Press

Mind Games by Nora Roberts

Expected pub. date:  May 21, 2024 – St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan Audio

ARCs from the publishers and NetGalley

Description:

As they do each June, the Foxes have driven the winding roads of Appalachia to drop off their children for a two-week stay at their grandmother’s. Here, twelve-year-old Thea can run free and breathe in the smells of pine and fresh bread and Grammie’s handmade candles. But as her parents head back to suburban Virginia, they have no idea they’re about to cross paths with a ticking time bomb.

Back in Kentucky, Thea and her grandmother Lucy both awaken from the same nightmare. And though the two have never discussed the special kind of sight they share, they know as soon as their tearful eyes meet that something terrible has happened.

The kids will be staying with Grammie now in Redbud Hollow, and thanks to Thea’s vision, their parents’ killer will spend his life in supermax. Over time, Thea will make friends, build a career, find love. But that ability to see into minds and souls still lurks within her, and though Grammie calls it a gift, it feels more like a curse—because the inmate who shattered her childhood has the same ability. Thea can hear his twisted thoughts and witness his evil acts from miles away. He knows it, and hungers for vengeance. A long, silent battle will be waged between them—and eventually bring them face to face, and head to head… (publisher)

My take:

I enjoy Nora Roberts’ stand-alone novels and combined with narrator January LaVoy, Mind Games was an addictive audiobook. LaVoy gave Roberts’ characters distinctive voices that enhanced my listening experience.

Mind Games is an intriguing story about a special family whose bond is strengthened in the face of terrible tragedy. Themes of good vs. evil, new beginnings, and empowerment are explored. I loved the unique plot that stretched my usual fiction preference of women’s fiction/romantic suspense. Mind Games has all that but what really stood out was the psychic gift aspect.

I don’t read a lot of novels with such storylines but if anyone could draw me in it’s Nora Roberts and she did.

 

The Rom-Commers

Mary Katherine Center, Macmillan Audio, St. Martin's Press, Women's Fiction

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

Expected Pub. Date:  June 11, 2024 – St. Martin’s Press/Macmillan Audio

Advance copies via NetGalley and the publisher

Description:

Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies—good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates—The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!—it’s a break too big to pass up.

Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone—much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script—it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.

But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter—even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules—and comes true? (publisher)

My take:

I was in a mood for a light book and knew from past experience that Katherine Center’s would fit the bill. As it happens, the title The Rom-Commers, was sitting on my review stack AND I was approved for the ALC from Macmillan Audio. That’s an embarrassment of riches and I am grateful.

Go ahead and read the publisher’s synopsis. I just want to give my brief take. I really enjoyed it. The MCs were likable. They grabbed my heart early on and had me invested in their HEA. The true joy for me was how  Center got them there. I appreciated the depth given them and I loved the supporting characters.

If you prefer audio to print you can’t go wrong with Patti Murin’s narration. An unexpected bonus is an extra chapter read by Center. Plus she read her Acknowledgments which includes credit to her publishing crew as well as sources for various plot themes.

 

Summers at the Saint

Mary Mary Kay Andrews, NetGalley, St. Martin's Press

Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews

Expected pub. date:  May 7, 2024 – St. Martin’s Press

ARC courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley

Description:

Welcome to the St. Cecelia, a landmark hotel on the coast of Georgia, where traditions run deep and scandals run even deeper. . . .

Everyone refers to the St. Cecelia as “the Saint.” If you grew up coming here, you were “a Saint.” If you came from the wrong side of the river, you were “an Ain’t.” Traci Eddings was one of those outsiders whose family wasn’t rich enough or connected enough to vacation here. But she could work here. One fateful summer she did, and married the boss’s son. Now, she’s the widowed owner of the hotel, determined to see it return to its glory days, even as staff shortages and financial troubles threaten to ruin it. Plus, her greedy and unscrupulous brother-in-law wants to make sure she fails. Enlisting a motley crew of recently hired summer help—including the daughter of her estranged best friend—Traci has one summer season to turn it around. But new information about a long-ago drowning at the hotel threatens to come to light, and the tragic death of one of their own brings Traci to the brink of despair.

Traci Eddings has her back against the pink-painted wall of this beloved institution. And it will take all the wits and guts she has to see wrongs put to right, to see guilty parties put in their place, and maybe even to find a new romance along the way. Told with Mary Kay Andrew’s warmth, humor, knack for twists, and eye for delicious detail about human nature, Summers at the Saint is a beach read with depth and heart. (publisher)

My take:

I always find Mary Kay Andrews’ annual summer novel an entertaining beach read.  Summers at the Saint is no exception.

It has everything I like: a great summer setting – a 5 star resort; a focus on the staff; a mystery that arcs twenty years; and a bit of romance.

Andrews’ story is an addictive, soapy read and everything I enjoy in a summer book. It’s definitely beach bag worthy!

 

March Mini Reviews

Mary Mini Review

Only two this month. Click covers to read Goodreads synopses.

I love how Paulette Jiles tells a story. A soldier miraculously comes out of a coma and eventually travels home to Missouri from Virginia. When he finally arrives at his family home he’s met with unexpected and terrible news. He resolves to avenge what transpired and the reader is along for the journey. I was riveted.
I had a library copy of the book but also the audiobook. Grover Gardner’s narration made listening easy.
Recommended to fans of the author’s News of the World and Civil War era fiction.

3.5 stars. While not my highest rated Mimi Matthews HR I was drawn into the story and invested in the HEA. I’m a fan.

 

Listen for the Lie

Mary Amy Tintera, January LaVoy, Macmillan Audio, Mystery, NetGalley Audiobook, Thriller, Will Damron

Listen For The Lie by Amy Tintera

Narration:  January LaVoy and Will Damron

Published March 5, 2024 – Macmillan Audio

ALC courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley Audio

Description:

“A world-class whodunit.”
—Stephen King

“An extremely successful high-wire act, balancing between dark comedy and darker thrills.”
—Alex Michaelides, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“Laugh-out-loud funny, thrilling and twisty…”
—Liane Moriarty, #1 New York Times bestselling author

What if you thought you murdered your best friend? And if everyone else thought so too? And what if the truth doesn’t matter?

After Lucy is found wandering the streets, covered in her best friend Savvy’s blood, everyone thinks she is a murderer. Lucy and Savvy were the golden girls of their small Texas town: pretty, smart, and enviable. Lucy married a dream guy with a big ring and an even bigger new home. Savvy was the social butterfly loved by all, and if you believe the rumors, especially popular with the men in town. It’s been years since that horrible night, a night Lucy can’t remember anything about, and she has since moved to LA and started a new life.

But now the phenomenally huge hit true crime podcast “Listen for the Lie,” and its too-good looking host Ben Owens, have decided to investigate Savvy’s murder for the show’s second season. Lucy is forced to return to the place she vowed never to set foot in again to solve her friend’s murder, even if she is the one that did it.

The truth is out there, if we just listen. (publisher)

My take: 

Did Lucy really kill her best friend at a wedding five years ago?

This is my favorite kind of thriller – short chapters, fast pace, and over the top characters. I enjoyed it all! I loved the podcast angle too.

I highly recommend the audiobook. January LaVoy and Will Damron delivered fabulous performances.

 

The Wild Lavender Bookshop

Mary Contemporary Romance, Jodi Thomas, Kensington, NetGalley, Zebra

The Wild Lavender Bookshop by Jodi Thomas

Someday Valley Book 2

Pub. date:  April 23, 2024 – Kensington

Review galley courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley

Description:

The trees that circle Someday Valley near Honey Creek are dressed in their fall finest, providing a pretty backdrop for the local businesses—including the little bookshop loved by schoolteacher Cora Lee Buchanan. There, under the watchful eye of owner Noah O’Brien, Cora Lee and her sister, Katherine, meet each Wednesday. Their talk mostly revolves around one subject: their father, known to everyone in town as Bear.

Both Cora Lee and Katherine worry about Bear Buchanan. They’ve no idea Bear has a secret life of his own. As for the sisters, Katherine, beautiful and self-absorbed, is in search of her third husband, while Cora Lee is in love for the first time. On warm nights, she climbs up to her building’s roof to chat with Noah and listen to the melody of the water below. Yet there is more intrigue afoot in Honey Creek . . .

Andi Delane has arrived in town to hear the last wishes of the father she never met. She was shocked to get a letter from lawyer Jackson Landry, and she has few expectations—of this mysterious will, or of Deputy Danny Davis who’s been assigned to protect her. But fall always brings changes, and this year there will be enough to alter not just the lives of those who call Honey Creek home, but the future of Someday Valley itself . . . (publisher)

My take:

The Wild Lavender Bookshop is book two in the Someday Valley series. Although it can stand alone I recommend reading the first book Strawberry Lane because there is a theme of found family that begins in the first.

There are three main couples in this story. Bookstore owner Noah and Cora, a teacher, strike up a friendship that quietly becomes much more. I enjoyed seeing how their world opened up. Cora’s father, Bear, has a secret love that he’d like to make permanent but he’s had no luck in convincing her to marry him. Andi has been summoned to town to learn about an inheritance and to meet brothers she never knew about. She’s a Dallas PD detective with some bad guys chasing her. Danny Davis, a Someday Valley deputy, has been tasked with protecting her. As the days go by he realizes he’d do anything to keep her safe and hopes to convince her that Someday Valley would be a good place to settle down.

I enjoyed this story. It was fun to visit the small Texas town again and I look forward to coming back  soon.

 

February Mini Reviews

Mary Mini Review

A compelling novel set in a small Wisconsin town. The equally small police force finds itself contending with murder, the opioid epidemic, and other nefarious events and people. The story grabbed me from the first page and left me hoping for more of the main characters in future books by Amy Pease.

A cute novella from one of my favorite authors.

Enjoyable second chance story. Can stand alone but I recommend the series be read in order. I loved the narration by Samuel Roukin and Elizabeth Knowelden.

A compelling and atmospheric whodunit. I really liked the way Gudenkauf’s story unfolded.

 

The Women by Kristin Hannah

Mary audiobook, Julia Whelan, Kristin Hannah, Macmillan Audio, NetGalley

The Women by Kristin Hannah

Narrators:  Julia Whelan; Kristin Hannah

Published by Macmillan Audio – Feb. 6, 2024

AAC courtesy of the publisher and NetGalleyAudio

Description:

The missing. The forgotten. The brave… The women.

From master storyteller Kristin Hannah, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Nightingale and The Four Winds, comes the story of a turbulent, transformative era in America: the 1960s. The Women is that rarest of novels—at once an intimate portrait of a woman coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided by war and broken by politics, of a generation both fueled by dreams and lost on the battlefield.

“Women can be heroes too.” When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances “Frankie” McGrath hears these unexpected words, it is a revelation. Raised on idyllic Coronado Island and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing, being a good girl. But in 1965 the world is changing, and she suddenly imagines a different choice for her life. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she impulsively joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path.

As green and inexperienced as the men sent to Vietnam to fight, Frankie is overwhelmed by the chaos and destruction of war, as well as the unexpected trauma of coming home to a changed and politically divided America.

The Women is the story of one woman gone to war, but it shines a light on the story of all women who put themselves in harm’s way to help others. Women whose sacrifice and commitment to their country has all too often been forgotten. A novel of searing insight and lyric beauty, The Women is a profoundly emotional, richly drawn story with a memorable heroine whose extraordinary idealism and courage under fire define a generation. (publisher)

My take: 

Kristin Hannah’s story of American nurses in 1960s Vietnam packs an emotional punch. Common knowledge said there were no women serving in Vietnam. But there were. Frances (Frankie) McGrath changed the trajectory of her life when she joined the Army Nurse Corps to follow her older brother in serving the country. The Women is her journey of service to the country and the aftermath.

This is one of those novels when I wished to have time to listen straight through. Julia Whelan’s narration was perfect. She’s one of the top-notch narrators today and I never go wrong choosing audio when she’s on board. She brought the emotion necessary in this novel.

The author’s note and acknowledgment are read by Kristin Hannah. I appreciated the information.

Highly recommended.

“Thank God for girlfriends. In this crazy, chaotic, divided world that was run by men, you could count on the women.”

The Women by Kristin Hannah, page 279

I recently found my POW bracelet worn in honor of

Lt. Col. James Hiteshew (3-11-67)

United States Air Force

I searched online and found information about Lt. Col. Hiteshew here and here. He was held as a POW in North Vietnam from March 11, 1967 until March 4, 1973.