Stacking The Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Review. This is a weekly post, usually on Sundays, where I’ll share the books that I’m adding to my shelves. I’ll include books I purchase, books from my local library, e-books, audiobooks, and books for review.

 

AUDIOBOOK

I’m absolutely loving this book so far. I have a few hours of audio left so a review will come up soon! 🙂 

ARCs FOR REVIEW

Guilty Minds by Joseph Finder (First to Read)

First Comes Love by Emily Giffin (First to Read)

Harmony by Carolyn Parkhurst (First To Read)

PURCHASED

This week I was really in the mood for romance, a romantic comedy, and a cozy mystery. Although An Aria of Omens is not the first book in the series, I still decided to give it a try. Another busy week went by and I didn’t get a chance to visit my local library, although I have requested some titles from them. How about you guys? Have you read any of these titles? Happy Reading!


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Stacking The Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Review. This is a weekly post, usually on Sundays, where I’ll share the books that I’m adding to my shelves. I’ll include books I purchase, books from my local library, e-books, audiobooks, and books for review.

 

ARCs FOR REVIEW

Titanborn by Rhett C. Bruno (Author)

PURCHASED

This week was super busy, so I didn’t get any books from the library. I did look at some of my weekly book deals and Kindle Unlimited for some purchases. I hope to catch up on my reading this coming week. How about you guys? What books have you added to your shelves?

Review: The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick

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Sixty-nine-year-old Arthur Pepper lives a simple life. He gets out of bed at precisely 7:30 a.m., just as he did when his wife, Miriam, was alive. He dresses in the same gray slacks and mustard sweater vest, waters his fern, Frederica, and heads out to his garden.

But on the one-year anniversary of Miriam’s death, something changes. Sorting through Miriam’s possessions, Arthur finds an exquisite gold charm bracelet he’s never seen before. What follows is a surprising and unforgettable odyssey that takes Arthur from London to Paris and as far as India in an epic quest to find out the truth about his wife’s secret life before they met–a journey that leads him to find hope, healing and self-discovery in the most unexpected places.

Featuring an unforgettable cast of characters with big hearts and irresistible flaws, The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper is a curiously charming debut and a joyous celebration of life’s infinite possibilities.

There were so many things I absolutely loved about this book. I want to start with the character of Arthur Pepper. What a wonderful man! Somehow he reminded me of my grandfather. Patrick’s writing is exquisite and she does a wonderful job at bringing those characters to life and making them as likable as they are. Arthur’s adventure becomes your adventure and it is so nice to experience with him all the changes he goes through during his journey. I don’t want to give too much away, but rest assured this is a delightful book that I think will stay in my heart for a while. I finished the book and I immediately missed it. That’s always a great sign of the power of a book. This is indeed a sentimental novel exploring the themes of death, grieving and moving on with life.

I’d like to thank NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

5 star

Stacking The Shelves

stacking-the-shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga’s Review. This is a weekly post, usually on Sundays, where I’ll share the books that I’m adding to my shelves. I’ll include books I purchase, books from my local library, e-books, audiobooks, and books for review.

LIBRARY

The Silence of the Sea by Yrsa Sigurdardottir

Super excited to start this book. I think it’s going to be a bone-chilling mystery. I’ve requested this book weeks ago, and only now I got an email from my local library that they have a copy for me. Yay! 🙂

House of Thieves by Charle Belfoure

I picked this book while visiting a nearby library. It was displayed in one of the shelves together with other famous history and mystery books. 

ARCs FOR REVIEW

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick (NetGalley)

All the Single Ladies by Dorothea Benton Frank (TLC book tours)

Disappearance at Devil’s Rock by Paul Tremblay (TLC book tours)

PURCHASED

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A Scone to Die For by H.Y. Hanna

I can’t resist a cozy-mystery. I loved this cover and I had to buy it! ❤ I’m glad it’s the first in a series as well.

So these are all the books I added to my shelves this past week. Please leave me a comment if you’ve read any of these books, or just to share what you’re reading this week:-)

Review: The Travelers by Chris Pavone

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It’s 3:00am. Do you know where your husband is?

Meet Will Rhodes: travel writer, recently married, barely solvent, his idealism rapidly giving way to disillusionment and the worry that he’s living the wrong life. Then one night, on assignment for the award-winning Travelers magazine in the wine region of Argentina, a beautiful woman makes him an offer he can’t refuse. Soon Will’s bad choices—and dark secrets—take him across Europe, from a chateau in Bordeaux to a midnight raid on a Paris mansion, from a dive bar in Dublin to a mega-yacht in the Mediterranean and an isolated cabin perched on the rugged cliffs of Iceland. As he’s drawn further into a tangled web of international intrigue, it becomes clear that nothing about Will Rhodes was ever ordinary, that the network of deception ensnaring him is part of an immense and deadly conspiracy with terrifying global implications—and that the people closest to him may pose the greatest threat of all.

It’s 3:00am. Your husband has just become a spy!

I don’t usually gravitate towards spy novels, however, I must admit I was extremely curious to read this book after the buzz I had heard about Chris Pavone’s debut novel The Expats. I’m glad a took a chance and stepped outside my “safety zone” and ventured into the uncharted territory of this genre. I’m going to start by saying what worked for me about this novel, and pretty much everything did. I loved the plot! First and foremost. It was fast-paced and intriguing. The story just flows very naturally. It is intense and a lot of action happens on every page, so you are hardly able to put the book down.The characters were interesting and engaging. I didn’t particularly care for the character of Will, but not by any fault of the author. The book is suspenseful and the ending is not a huge surprise, but all the action in the book more than make-up for it. 5-stars! I highly recommend it.

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.

5 star

WWW Wednesday

www-wednesday

This weekly meme is hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words. All you have to do is answer the following three questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?

Currently reading

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I’m on the very first pages of this book and I’m really liking it so far. Had I not be doing a bunch of other things at the same time, I’d probably be finished by now.

The Blurb 

A body is discovered on an isolated island in Rice Lake. Saddlebag preacher Thaddeus Lewis is sent on a desperate hunt for the truth when a woman for whom he feels a guilty attraction stands accused of the murder. Meanwhile, railway mania grips the county: everyone expects to get rich off the Cobourg–Peterborough rail line — some at the expense of others. Aided by his fifteen-year-old granddaughter and a charming but inexperienced lawyer, Thaddeus defends the woman while privately questioning his motives for doing so. With little hard evidence to go on, the courtroom battle to prove the woman’s innocence seems doomed — until a startling discovery gives the case a fighting chance. But the trio’s digging uncovers a conspiracy that could threaten the future of the entire district. With the fortunes of the country, and his own future, on the line, Thaddeus struggles against shady characters and his own conscience to solve the crime.

Recently Finished

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Chris Pavone’s Spy-novel. Just finished reading it. Review coming up soon.

The Blurb

Meet Will Rhodes: travel writer, recently married, barely solvent, his idealism rapidly giving way to disillusionment and the worry that he’s living the wrong life. Then one night, on assignment for the award-winning Travelers magazine in the wine region of Argentina, a beautiful woman makes him an offer he can’t refuse. Soon Will’s bad choices—and dark secrets—take him across Europe, from a chateau in Bordeaux to a midnight raid on a Paris mansion, from a dive bar in Dublin to a mega-yacht in the Mediterranean and an isolated cabin perched on the rugged cliffs of Iceland. As he’s drawn further into a tangled web of international intrigue, it becomes clear that nothing about Will Rhodes was ever ordinary, that the network of deception ensnaring him is part of an immense and deadly conspiracy with terrifying global implications—and that the people closest to him may pose the greatest threat of all.

Reading Next

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I think for my next book, I’ll be reading The White Cottage Mystery by Margery Allingham.

The Blurb

Seven people might have murdered Eric Crowther, the mysterious recluse who lived in the gaunt house whose shadow fell across the White Cottage. Seven people had good cause. It was not lack of evidence that sent Detective Chief Inspector Challenor and his son Jerry half across Europe to unravel a chaos of clues. The White Cottage Mystery was Margery Allingham’s first detective story, published initially as a newspaper serial.

What about you guys? Share what you’re reading in the comments. 🙂

Review: Five Roses by Alice Zorn

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Fara and her husband buy a house with a disturbing history that reawakens memories of her own family tragedy. Maddy still lives in the house, once a hippie commune, where her daughter was kidnapped twenty-seven years ago. Rose grew up isolated with her mother in the backwoods north of Montreal. Now in the city, she questions the silence and deception that shaped her upbringing.

Fara, Maddy, and Rose meet in Montreal’s historic Pointe St-Charles, a rundown neighborhood on the cusp of gentrification. Against a backdrop of abandonment, loss, and revitalization, the women must confront troubling secrets in order to rebuild their lives. Zorn deftly interweaves the rich yet fragile lives of three very different people into a story of strength and friendship.

Alice Zorn writes a beautiful story against the backdrop of rural Quebec. Montreal is certainly on my bucket list of places to check out and thanks to Zorn’s description of the rural outskirts of Montreal as well as the city, the reader gets a chance to be transported to this side of the world. I loved the way Zorn depicted each one of these characters allowing the reader to truly empathize with each one of them.

This novel has some sad parts, some slow parts, but for most of the book, you get a well-crafted story with believable and captivating characters.

I’d like to thank NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

5_Star_Rating_System_4_stars

Review: Love for Lydia by H.E. Bates

Love for Lydia

Lydia – shy, sheltered, beautiful and just 19 – glides into Evensford one wintry day, stirring up feeling amongst the town’s young men. But it is the young Mr Richardson that she befriends. As winter turns to drowsy summer, his world becomes a wondrous place, full only of Lydia; but a change comes over the once retiring girl as she discovers the effect she has on other men. As his closest friends fall under her spell, the love Richardson feels for Lydia becomes tangled with jealousy and resentment, a rift that may never be repaired.

Love for Lydia was first published in 1952 and it is still an extremely poignant novel. This is by far one of the greatest love stories of the twentieth century. It is a beautifully written, classic love story. The prose is exquisite and the descriptions of the outdoors and countryside scenery are a delight. I’m very glad a gave this novel a chance. A timeless, steamy love story that I highly recommend.

I’d like to thank NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.5_Star_Rating_System_4_stars

Review: Anybody Out There? by Marian Keyes

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Anna Walsh is the youngest of four sisters in the Walsh Irish family. The book starts with Anna having survived a freakish car accident and recovering back home in Ireland in her parents’ house. When Anna finally heals, she is ready to move back to her real life in New York City, to her “best job in the world” job, and to her loving husband, Aidan. Most of the story is told through flashbacks of Anna’s memories, and when Aidan disappears Anna sets out to find him by consulting fortune-tellers, horoscopes, and psychics in an attempt to contact Aidan.

I friend of mine gave me this book to read at work one day. Well, unbeknownst to me this is book number four in a series. In all fairness, this is not really a continuation of the previous stories, so it can easily stand alone. I liked the way Keyes wrote this story, the book is quite sad a times and I would’ve appreciated her characters more had I read the previous novels, but overall I really liked this book. This novel has an interesting view on grieveing and how some people cope with it. I didn’t love it, but I really enjoyed reading it.

3 star

Review: Arsenic With Austen by Katherine Bolger Hyde

cover82927-mediumArsenic With Austen is my first book by Katherine Bolger Hyde. The novel starts with the return of Emily Cavanaugh to the little town of Stony Beach, Oregon to inherit a fortune from her great-aunt Beatrice. What Emily is not counting on is having to solve a murder mystery and face and old flame, Luke, who she hasn’t seen in 35 years.

Hyde’s novel has a great premise with a whodunit style of crime and a love story. There is, however, very little Austen in the book except for the fact that each chapter opens with a quote from Jane Austen’s more famous novels (Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, Sense and Sensibility…). I’m a huge Austen fan and I think that had a lot to do with my first interest in this book, however, the Austen connection ends there. The characters although nice are a bit flat and stereotypical, the love story between Emily and Luke seems unrealistic and the murder mystery, although cozy, is quite predictable.

Arsenic With Austen is book number one in a series called Crime With The Classics, and although I couldn’t rate it more than 3-stars I’m definitely looking forward to reading the next books in the series.

I’d like to thank NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. This book is scheduled to be published on July 12, 2016.

3 star

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