New Release Tuesday...

 There are always lots of great books released on Tuedays! 

Here are my top 5!

Fever Dream by Elsie Silver... Professional bull rider Emmett Bush is not looking for love. He’s looking for a paycheck to save his family’s farm from bankruptcy. So, when he agrees to be the leading man on a hot new reality dating show, Romance Ranch, he’s already decided it’s all one big performance.

Until Julia Silva walks onto his property. Smart, snarky, beautiful, and off-limits in more ways than one. As the location consultant on set and the little sister of his most bitter professional rival, she’s the last woman who should pique his interest.

Julia has been warned about Emmett. She knows better than to fall for his cocky swagger, broad shoulders, and smoldering good looks. Plus, she’s sworn off relationships.

But as Julia and Emmett work together, mutual distaste grows into an unexpected connection and then… something more.

Soon, they find themselves searching for excuses to spend time together and out of reach of the cameras. Knowing glances. Stolen kisses. Secret rendezvous.

Still, Emmett signed up to play the role of an eligible bachelor searching for the one. His family’s land and legacy depend on him completing the show.

The problem is, he’s already fallen in love.... Just not with a contestant. 

Published by Emerald Lake

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The Burning Side by Sarah Damoff... When April and Leo’s house burns in the middle of the night, they escape with their two young children and the quiet knowledge that the fire is not the only thing threatening their family. They retreat to April’s childhood home in Dallas, where her spirited parents and siblings provide both comfort and complication.

As the family reckons with the aftermath—grief, guilt, logistics, and memories scorched and intact—the fire exposes the cracks already forming in April and Leo’s marriage. The novel unfolds in alternating perspectives: from April, who feels the crushing weight of motherhood, marriage, and self-blame; from Leo, a high school history teacher shaped by a lonely, fractured childhood; from Deb, April’s generous and no-nonsense mother who has to contend with her husband’s recent Alzheimer’s diagnosis; and from flashbacks that trace April and Leo’s relationship from its earliest days of connection to the devastating decisions that led them here.

A family saga suffused with humor, longing, and heartbreak, The Burning Side is about what we inherit and what we choose, about forgiveness and the ache of being known. It is, above all, about the meaning of home and the costs of long love.

Published by Simon & Schuster

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Dear Missing Friend by Susan McGuirk... Through letters exchanged across oceans and Manhattan streets, Irish immigrant Catherine McGuirk navigates love, ambition, and heartbreak. Torn between her seafaring husband, the suitor she once refused, and her own dreams, Catherine’s fate unfolds in an intimate, epistolary saga of passion, resilience, and 19th-century life Sea Crow Pass 

Published by Sea Crow Press

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The Ballad of Falling Dragons by Sarah A. Parker... Raeve’s thirst for vengeance continues to burn, as does her love for Kaan Vaegor—a staunch beacon from a past she’s yet to face. With Rekk’s blood still fresh on her hands, she learns the world will face its most devastating moonfall yet, forcing her to pick a path:

Chase death. Or life. 

Desperate to save his kingdom from ruin, Kaan’s crown has never felt so heavy. His many larks to scattered friends and family remain unanswered, and time is running out. As allies merge and enemies surge with bloodlusting agendas of their own, secrets brew hot enough to burn, but none so mighty as the truth nesting within the icy depths of Raeve’s long forgotten past. Something … Other. Something with the knowledge to change it all.

Published by Avon

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The Day You Were My Husband by Rosie Walsh... Carrie and Johan marry on a beach in Thailand only months into their whirlwind romance. Carrie, a British surgical intern, is too happy to care that she’s being impulsive. But as the wedding festivities stretch into the night, a group of armed men suddenly swarm the beach, taking Johan away. She never sees him again.

Twelve years later, Carrie is living in the English countryside with her husband, Robin, and their six-year-old twins, running a holiday cottage rental business on the side. One night, she stumbles across an online post in which she discovers that Johan escaped from Thailand years ago, and has been living in Stockholm ever since. As the memories of their passionate relationship flood her, she becomes obsessed with discovering what happened on their wedding day all those years ago.

But just when Carrie thinks she knows what she must do, a shocking twist tears apart everything Carrie thought she knew.

Published by Pamela Dorman Books

New Release Tuesday... and My Top 3 (maybe 4) picks...

 

Happy New Release Day! There are always many new books to choose from on "New Releases Tuesday"! It's summer and thoughts turn to breezy sweeping stories that I can melt into. Here are my top picks for this week... (the last one is not a breezy story though 😲)

The River Muse by Laura Resau... 
A French chateau. A forest with secrets. A magical spring. Welcome to La Chanson, where lost souls are found again…

At the brink of summer, Callie arrives in a secluded village in the South of France with her young daughter, after barely escaping her menacing ex-partner. Desperate to hide, she rents a cottage on the grounds of the Chateau of the Lost. Her new home sings with flowing water, rustling olive trees, and whispering poppies—an otherworldly nook of hidden magic. Little by little, she warms to her quirky neighbors—a witchy landlady, an acclaimed truffle hunter, his kind veterinarian son, and their lovable dogs. Oh, and a mischievous ghost boy.

Slowly but surely, her new friends help her discover herself again. Years earlier, she gave up music at the insistence of her ex, but as she reclaims her voice, everyone finds that her songs open hearts and heal old wounds. When her ex tracks her down, the stakes grow deadly, and she must tap into her most powerful self to protect her newfound family.

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June Baby by Shannon Garvey...
Some summers never leave you.

In this moving debut novel, set over the course of one transformative summer in the lush, beachy enclave of Block Island, a young woman reckons with love, loss, and the choices she must make to move forward.

At seventeen, Ruth lost her mother to cancer, and her father, unable to handle his grieving daughter, shipped her off to Block Island with nothing but a name scribbled on the back of a receipt: Diana Beckett. Diana, a renowned photographer, took Ruth in for the summer, and Block Island became Ruth’s refuge, a place of beauty and creativity, a place where she could nurture her dreams of being a writer, a place where she could fall in love for the first time—with Diana’s nephew, Charlie.

Now, at twenty-seven, Ruth has spent the last ten summers living and working among the lucky few who get to vacation in this wealthy beach town, and the rest of the year just scraping by, yearning to return to the place where she feels safe and unburdened. But then Ruth’s world is upended by tragedy again. Desperate for an anchor, she reaches for the person she’s been pining for since she met him—Charlie—who has his own startling revelation to share. And when another surprise comes in the form of a box left to Ruth by Diana, its contents raise questions about just how well she knew the two women who raised her. Torn between what to believe about her past, and what her future might hold, Ruth is faced with another choice: does she dare to rewrite her story entirely?

Both a heartfelt coming-of-age story and a tender exploration of love and grief, set against a backdrop of golden dunes and seaside sunsets, June Baby shows us what it might look like to embrace a life shaped not by loss, but by possibility.

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The Foursome by Christina Baker Kline...
A boldly original reimagining of the astonishing true story of two sisters in nineteenth-century North Carolina — Kline’s own distant relatives — who married world-famous conjoined twins from Siam.

When Eng and Chang Bunker arrive in Wilkes County in 1839, they’re not just a curiosity—they’re a sensation. Everyone is eager to learn whether the salacious rumors about them are true. Within months, the twins have opened a general store, bought land, and begun building a plantation. Now, word has it, they’re looking for wives—and in a place that thrives on gossip and legacy, their ambitions set the community on edge.

Sarah and Adelaide Yates, daughters of a once-prominent local family brought low by scandal, are drawn into their orbit. Bold, beautiful Adelaide sees in the twins’ fame a chance to reclaim her future. Sarah, quiet and observant, isn’t so sure. When the twins’ lives become entangled with theirs, they must navigate loyalty, longing, and identity in a world where everything—including race, class, and gender—is rigidly defined.

Spanning five decades and unfolding against the backdrop of a fractured nation hurtling toward war, The Foursome is both intimate and epic: a story of love and constraint, identity and reinvention. With piercing insight and emotional precision, Kline brings to life a forgotten chapter of American history and the complex, boundary-defying marriages at its center.

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The Anniversary by Alex Finley...
Every May 1st, a serial killer stalks a small town. Every year he comes for them . . 

On May 1, 1992, Jules Delaney and Quinn Riley hardly know each other.

Jules is high school queen bee in a small Midwestern town when she survives a brutal attack by the elusive May Day Killer―a predator who strikes every May 1st and then vanishes without a trace. Quinn, a boy from the wrong side of the tracks, is arrested the same night after trying to break up a fight and nearly killing someone.

By morning, their lives are forever connected.

A year later, Jules is haunted by trauma and guilt, tormented by one question: Why was she spared? Quinn is newly released from juvenile detention and returns home to devastating news―the unsolved murder of his mother.

Over the next decade, their lives are revisited on a single day each year: May 1st.

As the years pass, secrets surface, lies unravel, and the paths of Jules and Quinn draw closer together. Two mysteries edge toward the truth―what really happened the night Jules was attacked, and who murdered Quinn’s mother? All the while, the May Day Killer is still out there.

And the clock is racing toward another anniversary.

Twisty, high-concept, and emotionally charged, The Anniversary is an addictive murder mystery and nail-biting thriller―but it’s also a tender, heartrending story about fate, innocence lost, and two people bound by a single day. With its masterful structure and propulsive tension, The Anniversary reaffirms Alex Finlay as one of the leading thriller writers today.

The Sunday Salon... Happy Mothers Day and "Mother"" Books

Happy Mothers Day!

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! It's the place where Book Bloggers from around the world share their bookish finds with one another in a virtual place called The Sunday Salon. Thank you to Deb at ReaderBuzz keeping us all together on Sundays and hosting The Sunday Salon now! I also visited with Kim at The Caffeinated Reader, another Sunday gathering place for us bookish people called The Sunday Post!

Happy Mothers Day to all the women who have nurtured us, taken care of us, and raised us ❤️! Here is my wonderful mother and me at the beginning...

We all have a mother, but there is so much more that giving birth that makes a mother, a mother... My mother took the time and patience to nurture me and help me grow into the woman I am today. I've known her for a very long time (more years than we both care to admit). She was and has always been my BFF. I am lucky that I can still pick up the phone and talk to my mom when I need advice or just to talk to her to hear her voice. Love you Mom, and Happy Mothers Day (I know she reads my posts and will be reading this one too!)

There have been a lot of books about "Mothers", so for today's Sunday Salon we have "Mother" books...

Mother, Mother by Zia Rayyan... 
Iris Blackwood always knew her mother didn’t love her. It’s why she left six years ago and never looked back. But when her aunt—her mother’s identical twin—and her stepfather die in a tragic accident, she’s forced to return home. The cruel woman she remembers is gone. In her place is someone who cooks breakfast with a smile and says, “I love you.” Iris wants to believe it’s real. But then she finds a journal in the attic. One that reveals her mother and aunt used to switch places all the time. And when her car mysteriously won’t start, she begins to fear the truth. She came home to the wrong mother. And now she may never leave.

This book was independently published back in 2025 and is a psychological thriller

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The Wrong Mother by Charlotte Duckworth... 
One mother on the run. A safe place to hide. But you can't escape the past forever. Faye is 39 and single. She's terrified she may never have the one thing she always wanted: a child of her own. Then she discovers a co-parenting app: Acorns. For men and women who want to have a baby, but don't want to do it alone. When she meets Louis through it, it feels as though the fates have aligned. But just one year later, Faye is on the run from Louis, with baby Jake in tow. In desperate need of a new place to live, she contacts Rachel, who's renting out a room in her remote Norfolk cottage. It's all Faye can afford - and surely she'll be safe from Louis there? But is Rachel the benevolent landlady she pretends to be? Or does she have a secret of her own?

Published by Quercus Publishing in 2023, this is a psychological thriller.

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The Mothers by Brit Bennett... 
It is the last season of high school life for Nadia Turner, a rebellious, grief-stricken, seventeen-year-old beauty. Mourning her own mother's recent suicide, she takes up with the local pastor's son. Luke Sheppard is twenty-one, a former football star whose injury has reduced him to waiting tables at a diner. They are young; it's not serious. But the pregnancy that results from this teen romance—and the subsequent cover-up—will have an impact that goes far beyond their youth. As Nadia hides her secret from everyone, including Aubrey, her God-fearing best friend, the years move quickly. Soon, Nadia, Luke, and Aubrey are full-fledged adults and still living in debt to the choices they made that one seaside summer, caught in a love triangle they must carefully maneuver, and dogged by the constant, nagging question: What if they had chosen differently? The possibilities of the road not taken are a relentless haunt.

In entrancing, lyrical prose, The Mothers asks whether a "what if" can be more powerful than an experience itself. If, as time passes, we must always live in servitude to the decisions of our younger selves, to the communities that have parented us, and to the decisions we make that shape our lives forever.

Published by Riverhead back in 2017, this is a literary fiction, coming-of-age story.

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For more recently published "Mother" books, you have The Mother Daughter Book Club by Susan and James Patterson and The Mother Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon. 

Do you have any suggestions 

for a good "Mother" book?!

Memoir Monday... A memoir about 2 women living together! A smash hit in South Korea.

New Books Tuesday... An amazing selection of 10 books!

First Lines Friday... A book that will have your head in the stars!

And that's all for this past week. Next week look for a review on a soon-to-be published book on Mahjong! Yes, I've secretly wanted to learn to play Mahjong for years. I recently signed up for an intro lesson, and then this book pops up from a publisher for me.to review! I've been studying this book and have to say, it has really taught me a lot! and I'll share that with y'all next week. Do you play Mahjong?

Hope you all have a wonderful Mothers Day and that you found some fun "Mothers" books here today! 

Happy reading... Suzanne

 

The Sunday Salon and ....Bookish Adventures in One of the Largest Book Outlet Warehouses in South Carolina

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! It's the place where Book Bloggers from around the world share their bookish finds with one another in a virtual place called The Sunday Salon. Thank you to for Deb at ReaderBuzz keeping us all together on Sundays and hosting The Sunday Salon now! I also visited with Kim at The Caffeinated Reader, another Sunday gathering place for us bookish people called The Sunday Post!

It was a lovely week in South Carolina, but the bookish fun happened on Friday, when rolling tote in hand I went to the Book Warehouse Sale in Easley, SC. It's usually a 2 day event, Saturday and Sunday, but this month they opened on Friday too! I thought was perfect because it might be a little less crowded. (Yeah, right)... I arrived 40 minutes before they opened at 1pm. I really wasn't sure how long it would take me from home, so I left early. I wasn't going to get in line until it was near 1pm, but as the line grew and grew, I thought I better get to it. 

If you've never been there, The Book Warehouse Outlet is in an old factory warehouse and it is HUGE! Here's a photo of one section off their FB page...

When you enter, you walk about a mile (okay, it just seems like a mile) to the stacks and shelves of books. Everything is 70% off. They carry books that didn't sell at the big box stores, like Target and Walmart. They are all remainders, but I've yet to find one with a remainder mark on it. The shelves are organized by subject... fiction, romance, horror, etc. Once you get into the section, it's a hunt for the author or title you want. My goal was to pick up some romantasy I wanted to try, some Abby Jimenez and see if anything else caught my attention. There was plenty of Abby Jimenez and Elin Hilderbrand, Julie Soto, and Kennedy Ryan. Here's what I picked up...

1. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (Literary Fiction)

2.The Veins of the Drowning by Kalie Cassidy (Fantasy Romance)

3. The Housemaid's Secret by Freida McFadden (Psychological Thriller)

4. Little Alleluias by Mary Oliver (Poetry)

5. Lethal by Sandra Brown (Suspense Thriller with Romance)

6. Throne of The Fallen by  Kerri Maniscalco (Book 1 of 3 of Prince of Sin)           

7, Throne if Secret by Kerri Maniscalco (Book 2 of 3 of Prince of Sin) Fantasy

8. Phantasma by Kaylie Smith (Book 1 of 2) Fantasy Romance

9. Enchantra by Kaylie Smith (Book 2 of 2) Fantasy Romance

10. The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne (Book 1 of 3) Fantasy Adventure

11. The Hunger of the Gods (Book 2 of 3) Fantasy Adventure

12. The Fury of the Gods (Book 3 of 3) Fantasy Adventure

13. Nightweaver by R.M. Gray (YA Dark Fantasy Adventure)

14. A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong(Time Travel Sci-fi/Historicl Fiction)

15. Verity by Colleen Hoover (Psychological Thriller)

16. The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez (Romance)

17. Just For The Summer by Abby Jimenez (Romance)

18. Rose in Chains by Julie Soto (Fantasy Romance)

I've been meaning to read Verity by Colleen Hoover (I can't believe I haven't yet!). I haven't read Pachinko yet either and have had it on my TBR list forever. I didn't see any poetry except for this Mary Oliver book just lying out of place somewhere. And it was one of her books I do not have. She's one of my favorite poets. My mother loves Sandra Brown, and so I've started to read her too. And then all the rest are new to me and thought I would give them a read. I've been really enjoying some Romantasy lately (Romance Fantasy) and thought I'd try more. Abby Jimenez is all the rage these days, so I thought I'd read some of her. I did pick up her newest hardcover before this. I did have Elin Hilderbrand books in my hand, but thought I was already carried away, so I'll save those for another time.

Have you read any of these books? 

 I'd love to know what you think and what to expect!

Besides all the bookish adventures, I'm reading Blood Bound by Ellis Hunter, courtesy of Atria Books and NetGalley. It's a Romantasy with lots of adventure and I'm loving it! There are witches and dragon riders and a fight to the death, and a slow burn romance, magic great world building. Yes, I am really enjoying. It will be released this coming Tuesday.

I'm also listening to The Best Dog in the World essays edited by Alice Hoffman, that I borrowed from my local library, and which I'm really enjoying. If you are a dog person, this audiobook is for you! It's the kind of audiobook where you listen to one      story and then take a break to enjoy and reflect.

Here's what happened this week on the blog...

Memoir Monday... It's about the dogs she rescues and the life behind it. Dogs, Boys and Other Things I've Cried About by Isabel Klee.

New Release Tuesday... There were so many great new books released tuesday, I did Part 1 and Part 2! Check them out and tell me if you were waiting for them to be released! 

Kindle Deal of the Day... If you're a fan of Freida McFadden (The Housemaid?!), her new book, The Witch, sounds like a creepy hit and the Kindle pre-order was $4.99! And last I checked it still was $4.99 (83% off!).

National Poetry Month Post!... April is National Poetry Month! Have you read/do you like poetry? Get some great suggestions from this post!

First Lines Friday... and this one comes with a body count! Click the link and see if you'd keep reading after the first lines

I hope you found something interesting this week! What do you think of the book warehouse? What books would you look for?

Come back next week for more bookish news, new releases on Tuesday and of course First Line Friday... Happy Reading, Suzanne

 

The Sunday Salon... If Only Animals Could Talk... Oh, I'm Sorry, They Do!

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! It's the place where Book Bloggers from around the world share their bookish finds with one another in a virtual place called The Sunday Salon. Thank you to for Deb at ReaderBuzz keeping us all together on Sundays and hosting The Sunday Salon now! I also visited with Kim at The Caffeinated Reader, another Sunday gathering place for us bookish people called The Sunday Post!

It is officially hot is South Carolina! All week long I've been enjoying the warm weather with my gardening adventures. My seed snails are coming along after I opened them up and gave them all a little more room by transferring half of them to their own seed snails. Today or tomorrow I will be repotting them in their own individual pots.  And it's been a fun reading week too! I finally finished The Beheading by Rebecca Lehmann and loved it! I finished listening to Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth and loved that too! AND I discovered some fun reading... told in the animal's POV (point of view)...

Pony Confidential by Christina Lynch... In this one-of-a-kind mystery with heart and humor, a hilariously grumpy pony must save the only human he’s ever loved after discovering she stands accused of a murder he knows she didn’t commit.

Pony has been passed from owner to owner for longer than he can remember. Fed up, he busts out and goes on a cross-country mission to reunite with Penny, the little girl whom he was separated from and hasn’t seen in years.

Penny, now an adult, is living an ordinary life when she gets a knock on her door and finds herself in handcuffs, accused of murder and whisked back to the place she grew up. Her only comfort when the past comes back to haunt her is the memory of her precious, rebellious pony.

Hearing of Penny’s fate, Pony knows that Penny is no murderer. So, as smart and devious as he is cute, the pony must use his hard-won knowledge of human weakness and cruelty to try to clear Penny’s name and find the real killer.

This acutely observant, feel-good mystery reveals the humanity of animals and beastliness of humans in a rollicking escapade of epic proportions.

I came across this and it sounded so fun. I've seen some mixed reviews, but I actually was able to download the audiobook from my library, so I'll be listening to this, this week. I'll let you know.

The book was published by Berkley last November. The audiobook was released by Penguin Audio.

Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann... "This funny and surprising mystery stars a new breed of detectives you’ve got to read to baaaaa-lieve'.

Something is not right with George the shepherd. His sheep have gathered around him outside the cozy Irish village of Glennkill to assess the situation. George has cared for the sheep, reading them books every night, and now he lies pinned to the ground with a spade. His flock, far savvier about the workings of the human mind than your average sheep, sets out to find George’s killer, led by Miss Maple, the smartest sheep in Glennkill (and possibly the world).

Her team of investigators includes Othello, who was rescued from the Dublin Zoo; Mopple the Whale, who is always hungry and remembers everything; and Zora, an existential ewe—just to name a few. Together, the sheep discuss the crime late into the night, and their speculations vary wildly. Determined to unravel the mystery, they embark on furtive missions into the village, where they encounter a hoof-full of two-legged suspects. There’s Ham, the terrifying butcher who smells of death; Rebecca, the secretive village newcomer; and Father Will, a sinister priest the sheep call God.

With wit and heart, this clever international bestseller is a mystery to chew on—and savor.

You might have heard me mention this book before. I had it for a First Lines Friday post way back at the beginning of January. I have the book and have been meaning to read it BEFORE the movie! The movie is called The Sheep Detectives, it stars Hugh Jackman and it's coming out to theatres May 8th. I better get a move on... 

Published by Soho Crime in February of 2025

Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton... "In this hilarious, "dazzling" romp, a foul-mouthed crow is humanity's only chance to survive a zombie apocalypse–think Watership Down meets Dawn of the Dead (Mona Awad, author of Bunny).

S.T. is a bird of simple pleasures: hanging out with his human owner, Big Jim, trading insults with Seattle's wild crows (i.e. ""those idiots""), and enjoying the finest food humankind has to offer: Cheetos ®. But when Big Jim's eyeball falls out of his head, S.T. starts to think something's not quite right.

With no choice but to abandon his old life and venture out into a frightening new world with his trusty steed Dennis (a loyal but dimwitted dog), S.T. discovers that the neighbors are devouring one other. Humanity's extinction has seemingly arrived, and the only one determined to save it is a cowardly crow whose only knowledge of the world comes from TV–What could possibly go wrong?"

I recently found this book while I was googling books from the animal's POV. This popped up with all rave reviews. It was also nominated for an Audie award for its' audiobook. I'm tempted to use one of my Audible credits so I can listen. The paperback is available at my local library though... hmmm, anyone read or listen to this?

Published by Grand Central Publishing in July of 2020

Memoir Monday... Jumper Cables by Lee B. Dean... "A memoir of mourning an unforgettable girl, offering a raw portrait of survival and redemption."

New Release Tuesday... 3 books that are yummy, a second-chance romance, and a midlife reinvention. 

Another New Release and now in my eReader! Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead by Mia Nguyen. You need to read about this book!

The Beheading by Rebecca Lehmann... My Review

New Book Announcement for Jeffery Deaver! It's called The Collateral Heart and brings back Lincoln Rhyme! Read about it here!

First Lines Friday... It's definitely something to puck about!

My Audiobook Review of Mad Mabel... You won't want to miss this one!

New Romantasy Release Announcement... Godbound by Masha Sova.

That is how my week went... How about you?! What great reading did you do or great books did you find?

I hope you found something interesting here this week! And until next time... Happy Reading, Suzanne

Just Published and Now in My eReader... Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead by Mai Nguyen

Cleo Dang Would Rather Be Dead by Mai Nguyen

I was reading about this book yesterday...  then I googled the book to learn more about it... Mai Nguyen's Instagram post popped up and a video of her opening the box she just received of her books. This book, that was just published this week by Atria Books (an imprint of Simon & Schuster). If I wasn't interested already from the description from the publisher, I was totally sold (and teary eyed) after watching the unboxing video... Here is what Mai Nguyen wrote for captions during her video...

"I started writing this book six months after my baby died."

"I wasn't sure if I wanted anybody to read it."

"But part of me wanted people to know about my baby and how much I love her."

"So I kept writing thru the tears..."

"And now it's a book."

"I dedicated it to her, my sweet Gemma."

And the dedication:

"For Gemma and all the babies who didn't get to stay"

Omg, the strength of Mai Nguyen to write this book. It's fiction, but it's written from her heart. Not just heartbreaking, but hopeful. And mixed with some dark humor... I just received a review copy from the publisher and moved this to the top of the reading pile. Stay tuned for a review in the near future! Thank you to Atria Books for the digital review copy!

The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann... “History ends. Anne Boleyn's story begins.” My Review

The Beheading Game by Rebecca Lehmann

History says Anne Boleyn lost her head. Rebecca Lehmann asks—what if that wasn’t the end? In The Beheading Game, Anne’s story begins in darkness, in a box, in pieces. This is historical fiction with a twist… and what a twist it is. Horror? Fantasy? Something in between? Anne awakens with her severed head resting between her knees—and that’s only the beginning. What unfolds is equal parts unsettling and mesmerizing as she stitches herself back together—literally—and rises with a singular purpose: revenge, and the fierce determination to protect her daughter, Elizabeth. It’s a haunting, genre-blurring reimagining that is impossible to look away from.

From the first pages, I was hooked.

Lehmann reimagines the Tudor world with vivid attention to detail. While the premise leans into the fantastical, the setting feels grounded and authentic—from the rigid class divides to the stark contrast between courtly life and the struggles of ordinary people. Watching Anne navigate life beyond the palace walls—living in the streets, finding herself in a brothel, and forming unexpected alliances—adds a compelling layer of growth to her character. Her shifting perspective on class and power is one of the novel’s most interesting evolutions.

This Anne is not the polished historical figure we think we know—she’s angry, determined, and unapologetically driven. And honestly? It’s hard not to root for her.

Blending intrigue, danger, and emotional depth, The Beheading Game becomes both a love story and something far darker—a nightmare threaded with ambition and survival. It’s immersive, bold, and surprisingly believable in the way it reshapes a story we thought was already written.

Perfect for fans of historical fiction who enjoy a reimagined edge—and for readers who appreciate stories about women who refuse to stay silent, no matter the cost.

Published by Crown Publishing (a division of Penguin Random House) this past March, this one definitely earns its place on the shelf.

Fresh Off the Press: Three New Releases You’ll Want on Your Radar Today

Today's the day for these books you'll want to put on you TBR list! One yummy memoir, and 2 romances that will have you turning those pages as fast as you can.

Extra Sauce bby Zahra Tangorra... At twenty-two years old, Zahra Tangorra was trying on adulthood and attempting to find herself when a harrowing near-death experience stopped her in her tracks. It felt like a twisted version of a second chance. Who am I? she asked herself. What do I love? The answers started coming to her: Stuffed shells and giant meatballs at J&J’s, the Italian red sauce joint of her Long Island childhood. Her mother’s chocolate mousse pie and her father’s sweet and savory pea soup. The people, places, and experiences that made her her, the relationships both loving and fraught—they were all, for better and sometimes worse, inextricably bound up with food. In this memoir that celebrates both the delicious and the messy in life, Zahra reckons with the adrenaline-filled highs and devastating lows of opening cult-favorite Brooklyn restaurant Brucie and then closing it at the height of its popularity. From cooking her father his last meal and the unexpected yet beautiful things she found at the bottom of her grief to the relationships she couldn’t save through cooking, like her fractured family and the lover she had to leave in Tuscany, Zahra writes about the immense courage it takes to allow ourselves to be loved, extra sauce and all. Told with uproarious humor and tremendous insight, Extra Sauce is for anyone who yearns to embrace their whole self, who loves with abandon, and who eats with gusto.

Published by Dial Press and in my eReader as we speak. I'm always us for a memoir that has a cook and food in it!

Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell... Everybody knows that Cherry's husband, Tom, is in Hollywood making a movie . . . Almost nobody knows that he isn't coming home. Tom is the creator of Thursday—a semi-autobiographical webcomic that's become an international phenomenon. Semi-autobiographical. That means there's a character in this movie based on Cherry . . . "Baby." Wide-hipped, heavy-chested, double-chinned Baby. Cherry never wanted this. No fat girl wants to see herself caricatured on the page—let alone on the big screen. But there's no getting away from it. Baby looks so much like Cherry that strangers recognize her at the grocery store. While her soon-to-be ex-husband is in Los Angeles getting rich and famous and being the internet's latest boyfriend, Cherry is stuck in Omaha taking care of the dog he always wanted and the house they were going to raise a family in . . . and wondering who she's supposed to be without him. Cherry had promised to love Tom through thick and thin. She'd meant it. One night, Cherry decides to leave all her problems, including Tom's overgrown puppy, at home. She ventures out to see her favorite band play her favorite album . . . and someone recognizes her from across the room. Russ Sutton knew Cherry when she was a young art student with a fondness for pin-up dresses and patent leather heels. Before Tom. Russ knows Cherry. He likes Cherry. And best of all . . . he's never heard of Thursday.

Tender, funny, and utterly human, Cherry Baby is Rainbow Rowell's richest, most surprising—sexiest—novel yet.

This sounds like so much fun. I love a girl who holds her own and perserveres! Published my William Morrow and on my Wishlist!

Go Gentle by Maria Semple... Adora Hazzard has it all figured out. A Stoic philosopher and divorcée, she lives a contented life on New York City’s Upper West Side. Having discovered that the secret to happiness is to desire only what you have, she’s applied this insight to blissful effect: relishing her teenage daughter, the freedom of being solo, and her job as a moral tutor for the twin boys of an old-money family. She’s even assembled a "coven"—like-minded women who live on the same floor in the legendary Ansonia—and is making active efforts to grow its membership. Adora’s carefully curated life is humming along brilliantly until a chance meeting with a handsome stranger. Soon, her ordered world is upended by black-market art deals, secret rendezvous, and international intrigue . . . and her past—which she has worked so hard to bury—lands like a bomb in her present. Inflamed by unquenchable desire, Adora finds herself a woman wanting more: and she’ll risk everything to get it. Adora Hazzard’s journey of self-discovery will grip you from the start. Romantic, hilarious, intelligent, and bursting with the stuff of life, Go Gentle is a thrilling story of one woman’s mid-life transformation, cementing Maria Semple in the pantheon of our most exciting and important contemporary writers.

Maria Semple is know for her smash hit, Where'd You Go Bernadette, and her newest book sounds just as wonderful as her last! Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons and on my Wishlist! (BTW, I love pink, but hate this cover 😐)

Putting any of these books on your TBR list?

 

The Sunday Salon and... The Women Behind the Legends: 3 Stories History Almost Let Slip Away.

Welcome to The Sunday Salon! It's the place where Book Bloggers from around the world share their bookish finds with one another in a virtual place called The Sunday Salon. Thank you to for Deb at ReaderBuzz keeping us all together on Sundays and hosting The Sunday Salon now! I also visited with Kim at The Caffeinated Reader, another Sunday gathering place for us bookish people called The Sunday Post! 

It was another crazy week weather wise in South Carolina this week. A few days of 70 degree weather and then back to the cold 40's. I finally DID plant those seed snails this week! I have been misting them daily and babying them like my first borns. I'll keep you updated on their progress and see if they actually sprout. In the meantime, let's talk about March...

March is Women's History Month, which honors the contributions of women to American history, society, and culture. I’m especially drawn to stories that reimagine these women with vivid detail—pulling us into their worlds in a way that is imaginative, but still honoring the truth of their lives.

There’s something irresistible about stepping into the margins of history—the quiet spaces where women lived, loved, created, and endured… often just out of frame. The ones who inspired greatness, shaped legacies, or carried brilliance of their own, yet somehow didn’t get top billing.

This Women’s History Month, I’m leaning into the stories that rewrite the narrative. 

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain... Chicago, 1920: Hadley Richardson is a quiet twenty-eight-year-old who has all but given up on love and happiness—until she meets Ernest Hemingway. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group—the fabled “Lost Generation”—that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

 

Though deeply in love, the Hemingways are ill prepared for the hard-drinking, fast-living, and free-loving life of Jazz Age Paris. As Ernest struggles to find the voice that will earn him a place in history and pours himself into the novel that will become The Sun Also Rises, Hadley strives to hold on to her sense of self as her roles as wife, friend, and muse become more challenging. Eventually they find themselves facing the ultimate crisis of their marriage—a deception that will lead to the unraveling of everything they’ve fought so hard for.

I love Paula McLain. She knows how to unbury the lives of forgotten women and give us fresh ways to see them. In The Paris Wife, we meet Hadley Richardson—not just as Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, but as a woman navigating love, loss, and ambition in the glittering chaos of 1920s Paris. (Paula McLain also wrote one of my favorite books, Circling the Sun, about the incredible life of Beryl Markham. Another women left behind in history, and a book I reviewed back in 2016.

Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan... At the age of thirty-five, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne has left her philandering husband in San Francisco to set sail for Belgium—with her three children and nanny in tow—to study art. It is a chance for this adventurous woman to start over, to make a better life for all of them, and to pursue her own desires.  Not long after her arrival, however, tragedy strikes, and Fanny and her children repair to a quiet artists’ colony in France where she can recuperate. Emerging from a deep sorrow, she meets a lively Scot, Robert Louis Stevenson, ten years her junior, who falls instantly in love with the earthy, independent, and opinionated “belle Americaine.”

Fanny does not immediately take to the slender young lawyer who longs to devote his life to writing—and who would eventually pen such classics as Treasure Island and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In time, though, she succumbs to Stevenson’s charms, and the two begin a fierce love affair—marked by intense joy and harrowing darkness—that spans the decades and the globe. The shared life of these two strong-willed individuals unfolds into an adventure as impassioned and unpredictable as any of Stevenson’s own unforgettable tales.

Another brilliant writer and one of my favorite authors, Nancy Horan also breathes life into the women behind the curtain. In Under the Wide and Starry Sky, Fanny Stevenson refuses to be a footnote, living a bold, unconventional life that spans continents and defies expectations. I loved this book and reviewed in back in 2014. Read my review! (Another wonderful read by Nancy Horan is Loving Frank, about Mamah Borthwick Cheney and her love affair with Frank Lloyd Wright).

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray... In her twenties, Belle da Costa Greene is hired by J. P. Morgan to curate a collection of rare manuscripts, books, and artwork for his newly built Pierpont Morgan Library. Belle becomes a fixture in New York City society and one of the most powerful people in the art and book world, known for her impeccable taste and shrewd negotiating for critical works as she helps create a world-class collection.

But Belle has a secret, one she must protect at all costs. She was born not Belle da Costa Greene but Belle Marion Greener. She is the daughter of Richard Greener, the first Black graduate of Harvard and a well-known advocate for equality. Belle’s complexion isn’t dark because of her alleged Portuguese heritage that lets her pass as white—her complexion is dark because she is African American.

The Personal Librarian tells the story of an extraordinary woman, famous for her intellect, style, and wit, and shares the lengths she must go to—for the protection of her family and her legacy—to preserve her carefully crafted white identity in the racist world in which she lives.

 

I have had this in my TBR pile for a long time. It's the perfect time for me to crack the spine during Women's History Month. Belle is another strong and powerful woman who secretly smashes the roof off of the racism that surrounded her. 

These novels don’t just revisit history—they reclaim it, placing women firmly at the center of stories that were never meant to orbit someone else.

Let’s step behind the spotlight for a moment… because that’s where some of the most fascinating stories begin.

Are You Reading Anything Special Because of Women's History Month?

Other great books to consider for Women's History Month (and just for a great read)... The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, A Million Nightingales by Susan Straight, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, The Women by Kristin Hannah.

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Weekly Wrap-Up...

Memoir Monday... A Daughter Looks Back on the Woman Who Changed Everything.

Book Release Tuesday... Love, Lies and Larceny: 3 Books Everyone will Be Talking About.

First Lines Friday... Does a Dystopian Love Triangle Sound like Fun?

Book Review... Rivals, Romance and a Whole Lot of Heat: Two Can Play by Ali Hazelwood. I really liked this book, check out my review to see if it's something that you'll like too. One of Library Loot books this year. 

Have you added to your TBR list from my post today?! I hope you've found some great reads! What are you reading this week? Share your bookish finds right here!