Month: December 2020

On the blog today I have a review for The Butterfly Effect by Rachel Mans McKenny for Suzy Approved Book Tours.

About The Book: 

Release Date: December 8, 2020 Alcove Press

A Man Called Ove meets The Rosie Project in this “delightfully off-kilter” (Rachel Yoder, Nightbitch) tale of a grumpy introvert, her astonishing lack of social skills and empirical data-driven approach to people and relationships.

Is there such a thing as an anti-social butterfly? If there were, Greta Oto would know about it–and totally relate. An entomologist, Greta far prefers the company of bugs to humans, and that’s okay, because people don’t seem to like her all that much anyway, with the exception of her twin brother, Danny, though they’ve recently had a falling out. So when she lands a research gig in the rainforest, she leaves it all behind.

But when Greta learns that Danny has suffered an aneurysm and is now hospitalized, she abandons her research and hurries home to the middle of nowhere America to be there for her brother. But there’s only so much she can do, and unfortunately just like insects, humans don’t stay cooped up in their hives either–they buzz about and… socialize. Coming home means confronting all that she left behind, including her lousy soon-to-be sister-in-law, her estranged mother, and her ex-boyfriend Brandon who has conveniently found a new non-lab-exclusive partner with shiny hair, perfect teeth, and can actually remember the names of the people she meets right away. Being that Brandon runs the only butterfly conservatory in town, and her dissertation is now in jeopardy, taking that job, being back home, it’s all creating chaos of Greta’s perfectly catalogued and compartmentalized world. But real life is messy, and Greta will have to ask herself if she has the courage to open up for the people she loves, and for those who want to love her.

The Butterfly Effect is an unconventional tale of self-discovery, navigating relationships, and how sometimes it takes stepping outside of our comfort zone to find what we need the most.

Miss W’s Review:

Usually I do not enjoy books with a VERY unlikable and I mean UN. LIKE. ABLE. protagonist, but this book is the one exception. I seemed to be cheering on Greta even though I could not stand how she acted and treated people.

Suffice it to say Greta Otto is not really a people person, she prefers bugs. I actually could relate to this because there are times that I prefer my cats to people, but I hope I am more likable and treat people better than Greta did. Great is smart and capable and I do think she cares for others, mostly her twin brother.

The writing is fantastic and the character development off the charts. I really enjoyed this book and I hope you do too!

About The Author:

Rachel Mans McKenny is a writer and humorist from the Midwest. She has been published in The New York Times, Electric Literature, McSweeney’s, and other outlets, and loves to waste time at twitter.com/rmmckenny. https://rachelmansmckenny.com/

Until the next Chapter,

Wilfrieda

On the blog today I have a review for Why I Held Your Hand by Augusta Reilly for Suzy Approved Book Tours.

Release Date: October 23, 2020

About The Book: 

Laura Delaney loves her small mountain hometown of North Powell with its quaint charm, stately Victorian homes and surrounding hiking trails. Unfortunately, when it comes to attracting travel dollars, it can no longer compete with the flashy hot springs and ski slopes of nearby competitors. 

That’s why she hires a hotshot marketing team to figure out how to inject the old magic back into North Powell’s sagging tourist trade. What she doesn’t expect is for the team to include David Harper. Smart, funny, handsome, and amazing in bed, he’s the perfect man. All she needs to do now is keep their relationship under wraps until the project is over. 

But that’s easier said than done when she’s assigned to work with Spence Markham, the company’s offbeat “idea man” and David’s professional nemesis. When Spence suggests hosting a Dickens Festival to revitalize the town’s once-booming holiday season, Laura is thrilled. She’s even more thrilled when Spence falls in love with Powell House, the dilapidated Victorian that Laura hopes to renovate and turn into a town museum. But is Spence falling in love with her as well?

As the Festival nears, Laura’s feelings for both men intensify. Her relationship with David has only gotten better—and hotter—and yet she finds herself counting down the days until she can see Spence again. 

Soon, what started as a simple assignment becomes a tale of two possible futures. But which one will Laura choose?

Miss W’s Review:

Why I Held Your Hand is a steamy romance that I enjoyed. The love triangle trope isn’t one I read often, but this author did a really great job with it.

A good description would be sexy Hallmark LOL. The setting is a small town called North Powell and out protagonist Laura is trying to save the town as it is struggling financially. She hires David and Spence and that is when things heat up.

They are planning a festival to help the town. This is a fun , steamy romance that was enjoyable.

If you like Christmas romance with some heat you will enjoy this book!

About The Author: 

Augusta Reilly has been writing for women’s magazines and literary publications for two decades. In her earlier years, she was a prolifically (if not proudly) published pulp fiction author whose anonymous literary masterpieces included ‘I Had The New Year’s Baby With Santa!’, ‘Prom Night in the County Morgue!’, ‘My Husband’s Sperm Were Kidnapped and Held For Ransom!’, ‘My Son the Pimp!’, and countless other titles, all of which ended in an exclamation point. She lives in beautiful Douglas County, Colorado with her husband, three cats, and way too many kids. https://augustareilly.com/

Until the Next Chapter,

Wilfrieda

On the blog today I am reviewing In Robin’s Nest by Elizabeth Sumner Wafler for Suzy Approved Book Tours

Release Date: October 1, 2020

About The Book: 

What if your daughter spotted you in a rock video astride the shoulders of the father she never met? 

Robin Hamilton is poised to reveal a three-decades-old family secret that will alter the course of three lives. Her daughter Lark unexpectedly spots her mother in a rock documentary, twenty-one, luminous, and perched on the shoulders of a handsome young man. That man is Lark’s father, Dean Falconer, though neither of them knows the truth. Robin decides it’s time to come clean. Flashback to 1977 when Robin meets Dean at a Washington, D.C. concert. The two fall in love over a single transcendent weekend. But now Robin hasn’t spoken to Dean in thirty-five years. While Lark is enthusiastic about meeting her father, Robin must deal with what could have been. A spring full of revelations, and one extraordinary summer in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia will teach these three the ultimate measure of honesty, passion and devotion.

IN ROBIN’S NEST is a richly detailed story, resplendent in charm and poignancy. It’s about living with your choices, the ties that keep family together, and finding that it’s never too late.

Miss W’s Book Review:

In Robin’s Nest is a well written story that I would classify as women fiction.

The story has alternating timelines between the present and in the past in the 1970’s.

I enjoyed the second chance theme in this story.

The characters are complicated, complex and well fleshed out.

The music theme is prevalent and I enjoyed that aspect.

A great story about relationships, love, loss and second chance.

About The Author:

Elizabeth Wafler writes evocative women’s fiction. A member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, she serves as Director of Craft Education. She enjoys working with other writers through her editorial business Four Eyes Editorial. Elizabeth founded the popular Facebook group Women Writers 6.0, an inspiring and encouraging group for vibrant and growing women writers of any genre. She lives with her husband and cairn terrier Mirabelle in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, where she can be found at a farmer’s market in search of the perfect heirloom tomato, or at one of the area’s vineyards, enjoying a glass of Virginia wine. Website: www.elizabethsumnerwafler.com

Until the next Chapter,

Wilfrieda

On the blog today I have a review of Possession by Ginny Fite for Suzy Approved Book Tours

About The Book:

Release Date: September 12, 2020 Milford House Press

Recently widowed Sylvie Andrus moves with her young son, Jason, to a small river town, and discovers she must solve a two-century old mystery to rid herself of the ghost who haunts her. Still grieving, she finds the ghost of her husband, Ned, waiting in her new home to seduce her. Jason warns Sylvie the ghost is evil but, swept up by her yearning for her husband and determined to reveal what happened to Clarinda Braxton, a Revolutionary Era painter who disappeared without a trace in 1794, she delays, putting her son’s life in peril.

Miss W’s Review:

Possession by Ginny Fite is a ghost story with a twist.

The characters are quirky and interesting. The timeline alternates between the late 1700’s and 2015 and this works well.

The multiple point of views work really well especially where the historical information is woven into the story line.

Sylvie Andrus is a new widow and has moved to a new town with her son to start over. She discovers a note from her husband about a woman who had gone missing in the late 1700’s. Sylvie is on a mission to find out what happened to this woman.

This is a well written suspenseful ghost story but so much more. I really enjoyed the historical pieces woven into the mystery.

About The Author: 

Ginny Fite, author of Blue Girl on the Night Dream Sea, the thriller No End of Bad, and the dark mystery thrillers Cromwell’s Folly, No Good Deed Left Undone, and Lying, Cheating, and Occasionally Murder is an award-winning writer and journalist. 

She’s also been a spokesperson for a governor and for a member of Congress, for colleges and universities, and a robotics R&D company. With degrees from Rutgers University and Johns Hopkins University, she also studied at the School for Women Healers and the Maryland Poetry Therapy Institute. 

In addition to her novels, she is the author of I Should Be Dead by Now, a collection of humorous lamentations about aging, three books of poetry– The Last Thousand Years, The Pearl Fisher, and Throwing Caution– and a short story collection, What Goes Around. 

She is addicted to Twitter and posts as @Unwrinkledbrain. She resides in Harpers Ferry, WV. Website http://ginnyfite.com/

I am thrilled to bring you my review of the Audio Book A Child Lost by Michelle Cox for Suzy Approved Book Tours.

Release Date: April 28, 2020

About The Book : 

A spiritualist, an insane asylum, a lost little girl . . .

When Clive, anxious to distract a depressed Henrietta, begs Sergeant Frank Davis for a case, he is assigned to investigate a seemingly boring affair: a spiritualist woman operating in an abandoned schoolhouse on the edge of town who is suspected of robbing people of their valuables. What begins as an open and shut case becomes more complicated, however, when Henrietta—much to Clive’s dismay—begins to believe the spiritualist’s strange ramblings.

Meanwhile, Elsie implores Clive and Henrietta to help her and the object of her budding love, Gunther, locate the whereabouts of one Liesel Klinkhammer, the German woman Gunther has traveled to America to find and the mother of the little girl, Anna, whom he has brought along with him. The search leads them to Dunning Asylum, where they discover some terrible truths about Liesel. When the child, Anna, is herself mistakenly admitted to the asylum after an epileptic fit, Clive and Henrietta return to Dunning to retrieve her. This time, however, Henrietta begins to suspect that something darker may be happening. When Clive doesn’t believe her, she decides to take matters into her own hands . . . with horrifying results. 

Miss W’s Review:

 My review is for the audio book version of A Child Lost by Michelle Cox and narrated by Jayne Entwistle who does a fantastic job bringing the characters to life. This is the fifth book in the series of Henrietta and Inspector Howard. This is the first book I have read in the series and it works well as a stand alone. This historical mystery takes place in Chicago in the 1930’s. The characters are well written, complex and complicated. It is evident that the author has spent a great deal of time researching not only the time period but also the storyline as it relates to mental illness. I enjoyed this book so much that I have already purchased the first book in the series.

About The Author: 

Michelle Cox is the author of the multiple award-winning Henrietta and Inspector Howard series as well as “Novel Notes of Local Lore,” a weekly blog dedicated to Chicago’s forgotten residents. She suspects she may have once lived in the 1930s and, having yet to discover a handy time machine lying around, has resorted to writing about the era as a way of getting herself back there. Coincidentally, her books have been praised by Kirkus, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, Booklist and many others, so she might be on to something. Unbeknownst to most, Michelle hoards board games she doesn’t have time to play and is, not surprisingly, addicted to period dramas and big band music. Also marmalade. http://michellecoxauthor.com/

Until the Next Chapter,

Wilfrieda