Win the September ’17 bookshelf of signed thrillers!

September 1, 2017

Welcome to the September bookshelf of signed thrillers! There are terrific books this month from some of my favorite authors and some new-to-me authors. To enter, go to the Win Books page. Best of luck!

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SLEEP LIKE A BABY by Charlaine Harris: Stricken with flu while her husband is on a business trip, Roe accepts the help of an in-home nurse who goes missing on a stormy night at the same time a body is found outside the house.

Y IS FOR YESTERDAY by Sue Grafton: Kinsey Millhone monitors the release from prison of a sociopath who is determined to exact revenge on a fellow perpetrator who went missing after they sexually assaulted a fourteen-year-old classmate in the penultimate installment in the best-selling series.

VINCE FLYNN’S ENEMY OF THE STATE by Kyle Mills: In the aftermath of a secret non-aggression pact that America will cover up evidence of Saudi involvement in the September 11 attacks in exchange for oil, evidence of hostile Saudi activity forces Mitch Rapp to resign from the CIA and assume the guise of a traitor as part of a covert mission to keep the peace.

ENIGMA by Catherine Coulter: Agents Savich and Sherlock network with agent Cam Wittier and New York Special Forces agent Jack Cabot in a race against time to catch an international criminal and solve the enigma of the man called John Doe.

A CASUALTY OF WAR by Charles Todd: Caring for an increasingly unstable soldier who believes his cousin is responsible for multiple injuries, battlefield nurse Bess Crawford investigates the patient’s claims, only to find herself in unexpected danger.

WICKED DEEDS by Heather Graham: A romantic weekend for historian Vickie Preston and special agent Griffin Pryce is interrupted by the murder of a popular author in a literature-themed restaurant, a case with disturbing parallels to the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

LIE TO ME by J. T. Ellison: When his wife, Sutton, disappears while they are having marital problems, leaving behind a note saying not to look for her, Ethan Montclair becomes the target of vicious gossip as friends, family, and the media speculate on what really happened to Sutton.

CLOSE TO HOME by Robert Dugoni: When a young boy dies from a hit-and-run accident, Seattle homicide detective Tracy Crosswhite realizes it is not just a case of the military protecting own of its own who was the lead suspect, but also part of a larger conspiracy related to a spate of heroin overdoses

TRACE EVIDENCE by Diane Capri: In a race against time to save a child’s life, the best heir hunter in the business is determined to find Josh Hallman, the boy’s father – if he’s alive – to provide a hoped-for match before two relentless killers do.

RELOAD by David McCaleb: To save his family—and the free world—Red Harmon is back in the line of fire in book two of the Red Ops Thriller Series.

A TALE OF TWO KITTIES  by Sofie Kelly: When one of two estranged brothers is found murdered, Kathleen Paulson and her highly attuned feline helpers are challenged to dig deep into the town’s history to clear a lead suspect’s name and find the real culprit.

You can win autographed copies of all these books! If you are new to the site, each month I run a contest in conjunction with the International Thriller Writers organization. We put together a list of books from debut authors to bestsellers, so you can win some of your favorites and find some new favorites.

What makes this contest really special is that all of the books (except eBooks) are signed by the author! Books with multiple authors will be signed by at least one of the authors.

Penguin Random House books for giveaway were provided by the publisher. #PRHpartner

Don’t forget, if you subscribe to the newsletter or follow this blog, you get an extra entry into every contest you enter. Check out the Win Books page for more information on all these books and how you to enter this month’s contest.

Thanks for reading, and good luck!

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

YOUNG JANE YOUNG by Gabrielle Zevin

August 31, 2017

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Zevin’s last novel, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, is one of my favorite books ever. I heard about it from the publisher who just raved and I’m so sorry to say that he is now retired (thank you, Michael Rockliff, I still miss your recommendations!) So I was pretty excited about a new book from this author. Then I saw it made the top of the Library Reads List which is always a good sign. But with all my expectations, I was bound to be disappointed and I kinda was.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a very good book. One chapter in I was recommending my library try and get the author to visit. I knew the first chapter’s name alone, “Bubbe Meise”, would be of interest to my library patrons, as would the Jewish mother and the setting of Miami Beach and Boca Raton.

So the Jewish mother has a college age daughter, Aviva Grossman, who is interning for a local congressman, who was their neighbor at one time. Aviva ends up having an affair with the congressman, gets caught and ostracized. Think Monica Lewinsky on a smaller scale. Or more likely, Donna Rice if you are old enough to remember that scandal. He, of course, survives with his job and family intact, but she cannot get a job. Such is life.

Then Aviva finds out she’s pregnant. She moves to a small town in Maine, changes her name to Jane Young, becomes a party planner, and raises her very precocious daughter Ruby herself. And when she runs for Mayor of the small town, her opponent digs up the dirt on her and Ruby figures out who she really is and who she thinks her father is.

The point of view shifts between Aviva’s mother, the congressman’s wife, young Aviva, Jane Young, and Ruby. I was not a fan of the second person voice at one point, nor of the “choose your own adventure” device that crops up that other readers seem to love. Political scandal always makes for good reading, and the perspective from the woman’s side of things is less judgmental and more realistic, especially among the various ages of the women telling the story. The family dynamics here also ring true, and the story is told with a lot of humor, which I loved.

I totally related to the mother more than the daughter, but the characters weren’t as developed as I expected. It appears that Zevin grew up here in South Florida and I would guess maybe still has family here. So while I didn’t love this book like I loved the Fikry book, it’s not really a fair comparison since that book was about a bookstore and my readers know my predilection for that setting! If you like scandal-laced, humorous family stories, (and I do,) then I highly recommend it.

8/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

YOUNG JANE YOUNG by Gabrielle Zevin. Algonquin Books (August 22, 2017).  ISBN 978-1616205041. 320p.

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THE CHESAPEAKE BRIDE by Mariah Stewart

August 30, 2017

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The Chesapeake Diaries, Book 11

UPDATE: I read this over the weekend and it was a really good read! The characters are well developed, the locale is almost another character and the story is engaging. Highly recommended.

ABOUT THE BOOK:

New York Times bestselling author Mariah Stewart returns to the cherished Maryland shores of St. Dennis with THE CHESAPEAKE BRIDE (Pocket Books; August 29, 2017; $7.99), the charming story of a jaded architect who meets the one man who could finally melt her heart—if she’s willing to let him in.

Cassidy Logan has sworn off good-looking adventurers, having just divorced the one she’d married. Now working with her father’s construction company to build ecologically friendly, historically accurate homes on the Chesapeake Bay, she’s designing them for Cannonball Island. Knowing there’s been no new construction on the island in almost one hundred years, Cass is sensitive to the heritage and history of the sparsely populated island, and has come up with plans so perfect she’s determined to buy one for herself to live in. Even the fact that Owen Parker—whom she dismisses as a lightweight and a player— seems to be everywhere she goes isn’t enough to deter her from building her dream house.

Owen is and always has been sinfully handsome and wickedly clever, a magnet for mischief as well as the girls in St. Dennis. He’s also a rolling stone, going and doing whatever appeals to him, from flying a mail plane in Alaska to working on a cattle ranch in Australia and a shrimp boat in Louisiana, to surfing and diving in Costa Rica. When an old friend offers him a job salvaging a sunken ship in the Chesapeake, Owen gladly accepts. Something’s been telling him it’s about time to head home to Cannonball Island, and a job is as good an excuse as any. He’s totally smitten with the pretty architect, but it seems he’s finally met a woman who’s immune to his charms. Sooner or later, Owen will have to face the reason why he always runs, because this time, leaving just might be harder than staying.

8/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE CHESAPEAKE BRIDE by Mariah Stewart. Pocket Books (August 29, 2017). ISBN 978-1501154355. 384p.

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GIVEAWAY:

We’re celebrating The Chesapeake Bride and Summer 2017 with one giveaway for Driftwood Point, 10th  in The Chesapeake Diaries Series by Mariah Stewart!

To win a copy of Driftwood Point by Mariah Stewart, please send an email to contest@gmail.com with “Driftwood Point” as the subject.

You must include your U.S. street address in your email.

All entries must be received by September 22, 2017 (the official last day of summer!) One (1) name will be drawn from all qualified entries and notified via email. This contest is open to all adults over 18 years of age in the United States only. Your books will be sent by SIMON & SCHUSTER|POCKET BOOKS.

One entry per email address. Subscribers to the monthly newsletter earn an extra entry into every contest. Follow this blog to earn another entry into every contest. Winners may win only one time per year (365 days) for contests with prizes of more than one book. Your email address will not be shared or sold to anyone.

Praise for Driftwood Point, Book 10 in The Chesapeake Diaries:

“This second-chance-at-love romance is gentle and sweet…The colorful friendship between the family matriarchs…charms. Stewart seamlessly checks in with former series protagonists and introduces future romantic pairings without stealing attention from Lisbeth and Alec.”

—RT Book Reviews

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Mariah Stewart is the award-winning New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of numerous novels and several novellas and short stories.  A native of Hightstown, New Jersey, she lives with her husband and two rambunctious rescue dogs amid the rolling hills of Chester County, Pennsylvania, where she savors country life and tends her gardens.

Visit her website at mariahstewart.com, like her on Facebook at AuthorMariahStewart, and follow her on Instagram at mariah_stewart_books.

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Posted by Stacy Alesi

MONTANA HEAT: ESCAPE TO YOU by Jennifer Ryan

August 29, 2017

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Montana Heat, Book 2

Ashley Swan is an Oscar winning actress who goes missing, except the police refuse to get involved. They think she’s just hiding out between movies. But a year is a long time to hide, and it turns out she’s actually been kidnapped, by another celebrity, a retired and much beloved talk show host.

Ashley’s been beaten and starved for close to a year, and kept locked up in a windowless vault. Until the night the door doesn’t latch and she escapes, grabbing Adam, the little boy who is kept in a room down the hall. His mother used to work there, but has disappeared, and Adam has also been abused and Ashley won’t leave without him.

Unfortunately, she escapes in a heavy gown she was forced wear that is way too small on her, and high heels, into a Montana blizzard. She ends up having to carry Adam and really freaks out when she realizes she is being chased. But she sees a light in the distance and aims for that until she trips and falls, knocking herself out.

Trigger lives on a nearby ranch, and finds Ashley in the snow, not sure if she’s even alive. But he takes her and Adam home with him and takes care of them both through the storm. Ashley survives but he is horrified at what’s been done to the movie star and the child. Trigger is a DEA agent, recuperating from wounds earned in a bad drug bust. He is in a bad way, but helping Ashley helps him as well.

The madman is still after her but Trigger is determined to bring him to justice. This is an exciting thriller that ultimately turns into a hot romance, and an excellent read.

8/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

MONTANA HEAT: ESCAPE TO YOU by Jennifer Ryan. Avon (August 29, 2017).  ISBN 978-0062645258. 384p.

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JACK’S WIFE FREDA by Maya & Dean Jankelowitz

August 28, 2017

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Cooking from New York’s West Village

Recipes by Julia Jaksic 

I haven’t been to this restaurant but I’ve heard about it – this is Jewish comfort food.  I’m too far away to go but with this cookbook, the possibilities are real.

Jack and Freda come from different backgrounds – Ashkenazi and Sephardic, and they throw in South African and Israeli flavors as well. This cookbook is nothing if not interesting. They include their personal stories here too, and their families, and it is all interesting.

The cookbook begins after the introductory story to the family. And as with many cookbooks today, it begins with the pantry and some basics like Homemade Mayonnaise, Hot Sauce, Peri Peri Spice, Tzatziki and more. The chapters are as follows:

Breakfast
Day Drinks
Lunch
Drinks
Dinner
Dessert

There is an excellent index, as well. The pictures, both of the restaurant, the kitchen and of course the food, are spectacular. It doesn’t hurt that this is an oversized cookbook printed on nice, heavy paper, too.

“Breakfast” couldn’t be more beautiful or delicious than “Eggs Benny,” taking the classic Eggs Benedict to a whole new level by planting it on a potato latke and topping it with beet hollandaise – it is gorgeous. The instructions on how to poach an egg (like many of the instructions throughout the book) are charming, hand drawn pictures. I’ve never considered pairing ruby red grapefruit with my yogurt but now I will, and “Julia’s Granola” makes a fine topping. I was intrigued by the recipe for “Duck Bacon” but honestly not sure I’ll ever try it.

“Day Drinks” include things like “Nana Tea,” “Cantaloupe Juice,” and “Mint Lemonade.” “Lunch” can be light – “Pea and Ricotta Toast,” the ubiquitous “Avocado Toast” or a “Greek Salad” or a bit heavier with “Matzo Ball Soup” a traditional recipe that swaps out the usual chicken fat for duck fat, or “Chicken Kebab” with Couscous, or the “Prego Roll,” a skirt steak sandwich. Then we move on to the bar.

“Drinks” include “Jack’s Wife Freda Pimm’s Cup” with added ginger, a “Melon Mimosa” made the aforementioned Cantaloupe Juice (I’m allergic, dammit!) and a nice “Jose’s Hot Toddy.” If you’ve ever wanted to try a real Bloody Mary from scratch, now’s your chance, this is a terrific recipe that includes horseradish, Dijon, Worcestershire, and more flavor than you’ll ever get out of a mix.

Dinner starts with some small plates, like “Zucchini Chips” and a gorgeous “Spiced Beet Dip.” Add a beet to anything and you get pow-in-the-face color. There are vegetarian recipes like “Roasted Cauliflower” and “Veggie Curry with Apple-Raisin Chutney,” and not so vegetarian like “Chicken Livers on Toast,”  “Sweetbreads with Peri Peri Sauce” and “Freda’s Fishballs” which is not your grandmother’s gefilte fish – for one thing these are coated in Panko and deep fried.

We can’t talk about dessert without “Malva Pudding”, which the restaurant is known for and I never heard of. It’s a South African dessert that is “a dense cake soaked in a delicous caramel sauce.” The recipe is intriguing, as is the “Flourless Chipotle Chocolate Cake” made from a pound of semisweet chocolate tempered with chipotle powder. But the one I’m definitely going to be making is “Halva Cookies.” If you haven’t had halva, it’s a delicious candy made from sesame seed paste. These cookies are loaded with black and white sesame seeds and a bit of halva in the center. Yum!

8/17  Stacy Alesi AKA the BookBitch™

JACK’S WIFE FREDA by Maya & Dean Jankelowitz. Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (October 25, 2016). ISBN: 978-0547614847. 528p.

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Author Spotlight: Timothy Snyder

August 26, 2017

5 Ways to Resist Tyranny | Author Timothy Snyder – Drawing from lessons learned in the 20th century, here are five ways to resist tyranny in the modern age. Adapted from Timothy Snyder’s ON TYRANNY.

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ON TYRANNY by Timothy Snyder

Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century 

#1 New York Times Bestseller

The Founding Fathers tried to protect us from the threat they knew, the tyranny that overcame ancient democracy. Today, our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism.  Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.

“We are rapidly ripening for fascism. This American writer leaves us with no illusions about ourselves.” —Svetlana Alexievich, Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

“Timothy Snyder reasons with unparalleled clarity, throwing the past and future into sharp relief. He has written the rare kind of book that can be read in one sitting but will keep you coming back to help regain your bearings. Put a copy in your pocket and one on your bedside table, and it will help you keep going for the next four years or however long it takes.” —Masha Gessen

“Please read this book. So smart, so timely.” —George Saunders

“Easily the most compelling volume among the early resistance literature. . . . A slim book that fits alongside your pocket Constitution and feels only slightly less vital. . . . Clarifying and unnerving. . . . A memorable work that is grounded in history yet imbued with the fierce urgency of what now.” —Carlos Lozada, The Washington Post

“Snyder knows this subject cold. . . . It is impossible to read aphorisms like ‘post-truth is pre-fascism’ and not feel a small chill about the current state of the Republic. . . . Approach this short book the same you would a medical pamphlet warning about an infectious disease. Read it carefully and be on the lookout for symptoms.” —Daniel W. Drezner, The New York Times Book Review

“As Timothy Snyder explains in his fine and frightening On Tyranny, a minority party now has near-total power and is therefore understandably frightened of awakening the actual will of the people.” —Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker

“Snyder is superbly positioned to bring historical thinking to bear on the current political scene. . . . These unpretentious words remind us that political resistance isn’t a matter of action-movie heroics, but starts from a willingness to break from social expectations.” —Jeet Heer, The New Republic

“The perfect clear-eyed antidote to Trump’s deliberate philistinism. . . . These 128 pages are a brief primer in every important thing we might have learned from the history of the last century, and all that we appear to have forgotten.” —Tim Adams, The Guardian

“On Tyranny demands to be read.” —The Forward

“The manifesto we need. . . . Snyder detects dangerous trends in American politics that may be less visible to most citizens who cannot believe that our country, with its system of checks and balances, could succumb to illiberalism or authoritarianism.” —Darryl Holter, Los Angeles Review of Books

“Bracing. . . . On Tyranny is a call to action. . . . A brisk read packed with lucid prose.” —Vox

About the Author

Timothy Snyder is the Levin Professor of History at Yale University. He is the author of Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin and Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning. Snyder is a member of the Committee on Conscience of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and a permanent fellow of the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna.

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FITNESS JUNKIE by Lucy Sykes & Jo Piazza

August 25, 2017

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I first heard about this book from The Skimm, a daily news update I get every morning. It’s a fun way to get the news and these days I need all the fun I can get with my news. Every now and then they include a book recommendation and this one came up the other day and it sounded cute. It was.

As someone who has battled weight issues for most of my life, it was hard to take this book seriously but I was not meant to. It centers around Janey Sweet, the CEO of a high-end designer wedding gown company that doesn’t make a dress in a size larger than 4 (really.) Janey is partners with Beau, her best friend since childhood. Beau is the bitchy, gay stereotypical designer who is completely obsessed with diet and weight. He confronts Janey with a photo taken at a fashion show that shows her eating junk food. He demands she drop thirty pounds per their contract, and not return to work until she does.

Janey is devastated but turns to her girlfriends for help and moral support. Her best friend C.J. immediately takes her under her wing and they start visiting one crazy workout place after another. Janey’s cousin Ivy teaches a spin class at SoarBarre, one of the hottest places to be seen in town. Ivy has always been a kind person, but her clients at SoarBarre aren’t happy unless she is abusing them. She is in therapy for this dichotomy in her life.

But the pinnacle of workouts is something called simply, “The Workout,” started by Sara Strong in partnership with a Gwyneth Paltrow type clone. They have a falling out but the Workout lives on anyway.  It changes its secret location every month, and clients have to be invited to partake. Janey meets a woman who claims to be a shaman and she befriends Janey and invites her.

Janey misses her work, misses Beau but doesn’t miss her ex-husband at all and starts dating, a younger man who she thinks works at the juice bar and takes her dumpster diving at Whole Foods for dinner, and a wealthy, older man she meets through the shaman. The workouts get crazier and culminate in an invitation-only “retreat,” an 8 day, women only, $15,000 party in St. Lucia. Janey ends up in the hospital and learns the lesson that you are only as beautiful as you feel and it doesn’t matter what your weight is. She also figures out that her relationship with Beau isn’t what she always thought it was.

This is a book that could only be set in New York City.  The mindset of New York women who truly believe what my mother always told me, you can never be too rich or too thin, is beautifully satirized here. Some nice shots are taken at Goop and the whole idea of lifestyle ridiculousness that these women swear by. There is not much depth to the story, the only character we really get to know is Janey, but I think that was kind of the point; a shallow read about shallow people and the insanity of our fitness-crazed culture. It was a fun read, and even though I’m from New York and know women like this, it only added to my enjoyment.

8/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

FITNESS JUNKIE by Lucy Sykes & Jo Piazza. Doubleday (July 11, 2017).  ISBN 978-0385541800. 304p.

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SEEING RED by Sandra Brown

August 24, 2017

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I haven’t read a lot of Sandra Brown but I totally understand why she has such a wide audience. Seeing Red is a real page turner, with action on almost every page. Brown’s skill is evident, she keeps the pace going until it is almost but not quite exhausting – the touch of romance is an occasional break from all the goings on. I met Sandra several years ago at Thrillerfest

I met Sandra several years ago at Thrillerfest, the annual  International Thriller Writers conference. She is a charming, beautiful woman, and this is not at all the sort of book you’d think she writes if you’d met her! I must say, I really love that dichotomy. You may be able to judge a book by its cover, at times, but you can hardly ever judge an author by their appearance.

So, Kerra Bailey is a television reporter in Dallas who is gunning for the biggest story of her career. She wants an interview with the Major, a hero who saved a handful of people from a Dallas hotel that was bombed many years earlier. The Major has been in seclusion for years, but Kerra tracks down his son, Trapper, and convinces him to take her to meet his father.

Trapper is immediately drawn to the beautiful Kerra, but he knows his father isn’t going to talk to her, he barely talks to him. But to his surprise, the Major is a Kerra fan and once Kerra explains who she is, she gets her interview.

Unfortunately, the men who blew up the hotel are immediately alarmed at that the two of them are talking. An unsuccessful murder attempt on both Kerra and the Major leads to nonstop action and lots of twists, leading to the shocking ending.

This was a really fast, really fun read and a terrific thriller. Don’t miss it.

8/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

SEEING RED by Sandra Brown. Grand Central Publishing (August 15, 2017).  ISBN 978-1455572106. 432p.

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THE DUCHESS DEAL by Tessa Dare

August 23, 2017

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Girl Meets Duke, Book 1

Tessa Dare is one of my favorite romance writers, and this is the first book of a terrific new series. It’s already gotten a ton of publicity; it’s one of Publisher’s Weekly’s Buzz Books of Romance for 2017 and an Amazon Best Romance of August 2017 – and I agree.

The Duke of Ashbury has returned from the war badly damaged from a rocket blowing up near him. He almost died and has severe scarring on half of his body and face. The fiancée he returned to is repulsed by him and breaks their engagement. But he has a duty to produce an heir and needs to find a wife.

When the seamstress who made his fiancée’s wedding gown shows up at his home demanding payment for the dress – which she is wearing, and it’s hideous – he asks her a few questions about herself. Turns out Emma Gladstone is the daughter of a vicar and is unmarried, and the duke proposes on the spot. She thinks he’s playing games with her but quickly finds out he is serious, and they marry.

The Duke tells her all she has to do is get pregnant as quickly as possible, then he will give her a house in the country for her own. There she will raise their son and he won’t bother her again. Except she is strongly attracted to the Duke, but he is so damaged, both mentally and physically, he doesn’t believe it or even want to believe it.

They reach their happily ever after but only after some really hot love scenes – several of them, in fact. Dare is known for her explicit sex scenes and she really does a great job here, something lesser writers fumble with. These are fully realized characters as well, and you can’t help rooting for them along with their household staff who are plotting to get them to fall in love.

If you’re a Tessa Dare fan, you will be happy with this new series opener and if you’re unfamiliar with this writer, you might want to become better acquainted. A thoroughly enjoyable read.

8/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE DUCHESS DEAL by Tessa Dare. Pamela Dorman Books (August 15, 2017).  ISBN 978-0735223493. 352p.

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MAP OF THE HEART by Susan Wiggs

August 22, 2017

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This is a compelling read about families, heartbreak, World War II, secrets, bullying, but mostly love.

Camille Adams lives in a small seaside town in Delaware with her teenage daughter. Camille was widowed five years earlier when her husband died in a tragic accident, and really hasn’t gotten over it. She has become an obsessive worrier, sheltering her daughter to the point where she has to rebel and she does with almost devastating results.

Professor Malcolm Finnemore, Finn to everyone, studies old photographs and other evidence trying to find missing soldiers to return their remains home. His searches were sparked by his own father, whom he never met. His father was one of the many missing in action in Vietnam, and Finn has spent his life searching for him.

Camille is a photographer, but more than that, she can develop old film, often thought to be damaged beyond repair. When Finn sends her the last roll of film his father ever took, she accidentally ruins it when she has to rush to the emergency room for her daughter. He storms to her house and confronts her, and she feels terrible – they both do. A few hours later, he is back. Their attraction to one another is strong, and he asks for a do-over but he is returning to teach in the south of France, and she doesn’t want to get involved with anyone. But…

In another plot line, Camille’s father is from the south of France. He doesn’t discuss his childhood much other than it wasn’t always pleasant. Due to a series of events, he finally admits to her that his father was a Nazi sympathizer who was killed, and as a result, he was bullied until he left the small village. The story eventually moves back to the 1940’s and what happened in that village, and as they say, the plot thickens!

This was a very compelling read on both story lines. Wiggs excels at weaving a World War II story into a contemporary one. She did it beautifully in The Apple Orchard and The Beekeeper’s Ball, both excellent reads – as is this one. I loved it.

8/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

MAP OF THE HEART by Susan Wiggs. William Morrow (August 22, 2017).  ISBN 978-0062425485. 368p.

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