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Blog Tour: The Heart of a Peach (Fox River Romance, #6) by Jess B.Moore @rararesources

Welcome to my stop on the blog tour for The Heart of a Peach by Jess.B.Moore. Thank you to Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for my place and for the opportunity to read this sweet romance.

Synopsis:

The Heart of a Peach

Olivia Hamilton can do no wrong. Or at least that’s what the community of Fox River, North Carolina thinks of the odd but sweet young lady. She’s hiding a past she’d rather forget, engaged to the town’s most eligible bachelor, and longing for someone to see past the mask she wears. Olivia wants to find herself, forgive herself, and fall in love with someone who sees and embraces her flaws.

Denver MacKenna grew up the fiddle-playing prodigy of not only his hometown of Fox River but of North Carolina and the surrounding states. He plays obsessively and tours as often as possible, escaping a life of loneliness at home. Until he meets a beautiful siren who calls to him and has him making plans to settle down. Denver knows it’s wrong to covet the elusive Olivia, but finds himself inexplicably drawn to the brief glimpses she gives him of her true self.

Purchase Link

Review:
The Heart of a Peach is a sweet and wholesome romance set in a small town of Fox River. It follows the story of Olivia Hamilton who moved to the town six years ago and Denver MacKenna, the eldest of the five MacKenna brothers.

Olivia is soft-spoken and lady-like, she is a perfect daughter and future wife of Matthew Covington, the senator’s son. If there ever was a definition of low self-esteem, this is it. Olivia has been striving to live up to her parents’ ideas of perfection for so long that she doesn’t know who she is or what she really wants or likes. She tries to please her parents to make up for her past mistakes, she tries to charm her future-in-law who keeps piling on insults on Olivia’s head, she is afraid to disappoint her fiance who only cares for being able to show off her pretty face…Olivia’s been called prissy, dull, dim-witted, slow and somehow she still thinks it’s her fault for failing to be liked.

When Denver MacKenna hears Olivia sing, he is smitten by her beautiful voice. Denver is a music prodigy and one of the most famous citizens of Fox River. Music is his career, joy, happiness, family. It is his life. As a child he practised playing his fiddle for hours trying to get every note right. His mother taught him that striving for perfection stifles music and Denver saw this when he played with famous musicians who improvised and had fun on the stage. For Olivia, music is her freedom, a place where she doesn’t have to think hard how to please the others and can let herself be what she really is.

If you’ve been following the series, you already met the other MacKenna brothers and know how different their personalities are. Denver is quiet. When he was younger, he had no filter and sometimes his honesty offended people, so he learnt to become more measured with words. He knows Olivia is spoken for and he has no right to pursue her, although there’s nothing he would like more than to hear her sing again and perhaps persuade her to appear on his next album. After years of touring, he feels he is ready to settle down.

The Heart of a Peach is a character-driven romance and I was very happy to see how much development Olivia goes through in the book. We finally get to see that the soft peach has an inner core of strength. She always insisted on being able to meet with her friends (although at the age of 24, a woman shouldn’t even have to ask her parents or her fiance if she wants to go to a knitting group or have a coffee with her friends). I really liked the way her relationship with her mother grew into something different, with more understanding and respect.

This is a simple and gentle story. There are very few negative characters in this book. They definitely do add to the drama and do not really have any redeeming qualities. As this is book 6, there are secondary stories whose stories were told in the previous books. Although it is possible to enjoy all of them as standalones, I would still recommend starting from the beginning if you want to get a good feel of what Fox River Town is really like.

I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys family drama, bluegrass music, coffee, and clean romance.

Thank you to Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources and JesseB.Moore for the review copy. and letting me participate in this blog tour. All opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way.

Author Bio

Jess B. Moore is a writer of love stories. When she’s not writing, she’s busy mothering her accomplished and headstrong children, reading obscene numbers of books, and knitting scarves she’ll likely never finish.

Jess lives in small town North Carolina with her bluegrass obsessed family. She takes too many pictures of her cats, thinking the Internet loves them as much as she does. She is a firm believer of swapping stories over coffee or wine, and that there should always be dark chocolate involved.

The Fox River Romance novels combine her interests in family, music, and small towns into thoughtful tales of growing up and falling in love. These books can be read as stand-alone, or as a series starting with The Guilt of a Sparrow.

Follow Jess on social media @authorjessb

Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Website

If you would like to check out what other bloggers thought of the book, here is the full tour schedule:

Thank you for stopping by and reading the post. Have a wonderful Wednesday!

#Book review #Love in Unlikely Places by Linda Byler

When Emma leaves the security of her Amish community for a job in North Carolina, she finds herself navigating choices, circumstances, and a relationship that she never could have imagined. Follow as she struggles to reconcile her faith and her complicated feelings in this romance by bestselling Amish writer Linda Byler.

(From the book blurb)

****

My thoughts:
Love in Unlely Places is an unusual kind of an Amish book, a book that isn’t just entertaining, but also touches upon more difficult questions.

When we first meet our protagonist Emma Beiler, she is reflecting on the artistic talent of one of her pupils and whether it is worth developping it at all. At 26, Emma is already considered a leftover blessing or in other words an old maid. Is she too picky? She wants to have that special feeling she experienced once when she fell in love with a smart, open-minded man, who later chose a quiet, obedient girl, not as curious or opinionated as Emma. He chose to marry her younger sister. Emma was heartbroken and threw herself into work. Now, ten years later, she feels her life has become too repetitive and even her teaching is missing the joy and spark it once had. Should she try to date one of the available single men of her community? She could probably force herself to like somebody and become a loyal and supportive wife. Or is God’s plan for her is to stay single and devote herself to her family, her nephews and nieces? Emma’s character and her dilemma is relatable to anybody single who is feeling the pressure to settle down, whose relatives are taking every opportunity to ask her/him when she/he is going to get married and whose friends keep hinting that her/his standards might be too high.

Emma decides to change her life and starts by looking for a job outside her community. She gets an interview and is hired to be a nanny to two children aged two and six. As the family are going to have their summer holidays in their beach house in North Carolina, Emma’s world is about to get dramatically expanded. The descriptions of the oceanfront, the sights, the smells are amazing. For Linda Byler, nature is a manifestation of God’s love for humankind.

I really enjoyed reading about Emma’s interactions with the children in the Englisher household. She is kind, respectful and patient. She knows her job is to observe, not impose her own ideas, but it becomes apparent very soon that the children would benefit from stricter boundaries, clearer guidelines and perhaps more genuine attention on the part of their parents. To Emma’s great surprise, the family hired an Amish construction team to work on their house and this is how she meets charming, easy-going, well-spoken Ben, who wouldn’t mind getting to know Emma better. She might be reserved and afraid of getting her hear broken again, but gradually Emma opens up to the possibility of having finally met somebody unlike the other single men in her community, somebody who is more informed, more worldly, and openly attracted to her.

When Emma’s contract is terminated suddenly, she doesn’t get a chance to say good-bye or exchange contact information with Ben. Still, he knows enough about her to be able to find her address and write to her and this thought is something Emma is cherishing deep in her heart, as she is settling back into her farm life at home. As more and more days and weeks and months pass, Emma is facing now a different kind of dilemma: should she continue trusting that Ben is still in love with her and will turn up on her doorstep and whisk her away or should she listen to her family and friends who are much more cautious?

Emma’s friend Eva suggests a camping trip with her husband and their baby. They are also joined by Eva’s cousin Matt who, although adopted and raised by an Amish family, later chose to live as an Englisher. Emma and Matt discover that they have a lot in common, but being Amish, her faith and traditions are very important to Emma, so she cannot permit herself get attracted to Matt. There is still hope for Ben, after all. And he does write and invite her back to North Carolina. Can anybody’s love life get more complicated than that? Read the book and find out what future has in store for Emma.

Love in Unlikely Places is indeed an unusual kind of romance, with a heroine who is intelligent and well-informed in some ways, and desperately romantic and perhaps even naive in other ways. The book touches upon a variety of topics ranging from raising children, the use of technology, post-natal depression, adoption, politics, historical justice, and even global warming. There is romance, there are diffrent kinds of families, there are some wonderful friends who will tell you the truth and will stand by you, and there are fabulous descriptions of nature. Perhaps, the book is less light-hearted and straightforward than most books in this genre, but it has its core elements which for me are community, faith and trust in God’s will and kindness.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Good Books for this fascinating ARC. All opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way.

About the author:

Linda Byler grew up Amish and is an active member of the Amish church today. Growing up, Linda Byler loved to read and write. In fact, she still does. She is well known within the Amish community as a columnist for a weekly Amish newspaper. She writes all her novels by hand in notebooks. Linda and her husband, their children and grandchildren live in central Pennsylvania.

Book Blitz: The Fall Changes by Marie McGrath (August 11-15) @Xpresso Book Tours

Book & Author Details:

Title: The Fall Changes (Honey Cove , #1)
Author: Marie McGrath
Publication date: August 11th 2020
Genres: Romance, Young Adult

Synopsis:

Change where you live.
Change your parents being married.
And maybe, change who you are.

At 16 years old, Riley Mills has had more change than she ever wanted. A new high school would be daunting for most teens, but between getting attention from the most popular girl and being paired with a boy for her class project, she is navigating many situations she never could have imagined.

With homecoming fast approaching and rumors about her swirling, Riley must confront her true nature. Is she a popular girl at heart? Could someone actually like her?

With no clear answers, Riley may just find some answers from the most unexpected sources.

Goodreads / Amazon

AUTHOR BIO:
Marie McGrath lives in a small rural town in Maryland. She hopes to inspire others with her stories. Her favorite genres to read are YA Romance and Contemporary Fiction. She loves the color turquoise, tigers, and listening to music.

facebook / website / instagram / twitter

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#Book review #No Offense by Meg Cabot (The Little Bridge Island#2)

From the book blurb:

Welcome to Little Bridge, one of the smallest, most beautiful islands in the Florida Keys, home to sandy white beaches, salt-rimmed margaritas, and stunning sunsets—a place where nothing goes under the radar and love has a way of sneaking up when least expected…

My thoughts:

The second book in the Little Bridge Island series by Meg Cabot is as light and enjoyable as the first one, No Judgments. This time we follow the story of the new children’s section librarian Molly Montgomery who finds a new born baby girl in the library bathroom. Sheriff John Hartwell promises to do everything possible to find the baby’s parents…and (no spoilers) he does. In the meantime, sparks of attraction fly between the pretty librarian and the sheriff, who also happens to be a newly divorced father of a teenage daughter.

Molly and John do not always see eye to eye on how to proceed with the case. Understandably, the sheriff thinks Molly should let him do his job investigating who abandoned Baby Aphrodite, as well as the recent spate of home burglaries. Molly, a great admirer of amateur sleuths and true-crime podcasts would love to give him a few tips on how to collect and process evidence. She also thinks that sometimes John lacks empathy towards the victims.

Both John and Molly are extremely serious about what they do, especially Molly, who is passionate about libraries and reading. I really liked the way she was completely non-judgemental about whatever people read as long as they read, no snobbery at all. John is slightly older and has ever been with one woman only. He married his high school sweetheart when she got pregnant, and while their divorce might have been amicable, he is at a loss on how to begin dating again. Readers who grew up on Meg Cabot’s YA novels may find it a bit more difficult to relate to the protagonists of this book. I must say a few times I felt annoyed by John’s remarks and behaviour. He keeps refering to his four-hour sexual harrassement workshop for law enforcement officers, and then makes his moves on Molly a bit too quickly. Luckily, Molly is as much interested in him physically as he is in her, so things work out in spite of their disagreements. It helps that the sides choose to apologise and admit the other side might have been right and do it with the help of various pies, including my favourite key lime pie.

Overall, the story was sweet and it was great to revisit the setting of a little island where people do not lock their doors and try to help out those in need. Meg Cabot has a very distinct writing style- it is light, enjoyable, and very easy to follow. You can always rely on her for an entertaining story with a bit of humour and lovely characters.

Thank you to Edelweiss and William Morrow Paperbacks for the ARC provided in exchange for ah nonest opinion.

#Book Review #The Vacation by T.M.Logan

Synopsis:

Seven days. Three families. One killer.

It was supposed to be the perfect holiday – a group of families enjoying a week together in the sun. Four women who have been best friends for as long as they can remember making the most of a luxurious villa in the south of France.

But Kate has a secret: her husband is having an affair. And a week away might just be the perfect opportunity to get the proof she needs – to catch him in the act once and for all. Because she suspects the other woman is one of her two best friends.

One of them is working against her, willing to sacrifice years of friendship to destroy her family. But which one? As Kate closes in on the truth in the stifling Mediterranean heat, she realises too late that the stakes are far higher than she ever imagined . . .

Because someone in the villa may be prepared to kill to keep their secret hidden.

My thoughts:

If you are looking for your next summer read with a few twists and turns, The Vacation might be exactly what you need. It has the perfect blend of domesticity and suspense to keep you fully engaged and entertained throughout the story.

Four friends that go back to their university days, but now have families of their own. One of the characters, Kate, finds secret messages on her husband Sean’s phone and suspects he’s been having an affair behind her back. Gradually, we are introduced to the other vacationers and begin to see how each of them is hiding something. If you are like me, you will suspect everybody and try to weed out the bad apple in this tight group of friends and their children. There are several POVs, a narrative device that allows the reader to see more of the inner motivations of the characters. There is a lot of masterful misdirection with the writer keeping you on the edge of your seat until the end of the book.

I really enjoyed the pace of this thriller. The chapters are long enough to add a twist or two to your understanding of the characters (all of whom are undoubtfully flawed) and the plot and short enough to never let it drag.
Without giving you any spoilers, the ending was satisfying with the justice being served, although the lives of all characters are never going to be the same as before the French vacation.

I would definitely recommend this well-written thriller and would love to read T.M.Logan’s previous and future books.

Thank you to NetGalley and St.Martin’s Press for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

#Book review # The Nothing Man by Catherine Ryan Howard

Synopsis:

At the age of twelve, Eve Black was the only member of her family to survive an encounter with serial attacker the Nothing Man. Now an adult, she is obsessed with identifying the man who destroyed her life.

Supermarket security guard Jim Doyle has just started reading The Nothing Man–the true-crime memoir Eve has written about her efforts to track down her family’s killer. As he turns each page, his rage grows. Because Jim’s not just interested in reading about the Nothing Man. He is the Nothing Man.

Jim soon beings to realize how dangerously close Eve is getting to the truth. He knows she won’t give up until she finds him. He has no choice but to stop her first …

*****

My thoughts:

Clever concept masterfully executed by a superb story-teller!

This is my second book by Catherine Ryan Howard and once again I have to admire the narrative structure she chose for her thriller. The Nothing Man is a book in a book and both of them are impossible to put down!

Eve Black survived a horrifying experience of losing all her family at the age of twelve. A masked man crept into their house and killed Eve’s mother, father and her seven year old little sister. Eve hid in the bathroom and by miracle was not noticed by the Nothing Man, a serial killer who never left any evidence behind him, no trace of DNA, no witnesses, nothing.

Jim Doyle is working as a security guard in a department store. He notices a customer with a brand new thriller and then is shocked to see the title- The Nothing Man: A Survivor’s Search for the Truth. The Nothing Man is Jim’s other name given to him by the press twenty years ago. Jim is so fascinated by Eve’s account that he buys a copy for himself going to great lengths to hide the fact. He needs to know what Eve has written and how accurate her description of his five crimes is. Jim’s eighteen year old daughter asks him to go a local bookstore where Eve is going to sign copies of her true crime memoir. This is his chance to see the writer close up and get a feel how much she really knows.

We never meet Eve in real life. All we get is her riveting book where she talks about her life after the attack, her grief for her lost family, her desire to protect her identity and avoid being pigeonholed as The Girl Who Lived, her need to get closure that can only come with finding the serial killer. Eve’s account of the past events is vivid and perfectly paced, it makes such compelling reading that we get completely immersed in her search for the identity of the Nothing Man…only to be thrown back into real life which happens whenever Jim’s reading is interrupted and he is back to his present. Very soon Jim realises he will have to silence Eve once and forever. Incredibly, she managed to find the tenuous link between the victims, the reason why they were ‘chosen’.

We do get inside Jim’s head, get to know his character, his motivations, although, mercifully, do not see the crimes themselves. Step by step, we see how unremarkable, ordinary and forgettable he is. All that remains is the pain and suffering he inflicted. Catherine Ryan Howard sets out through Eve’s book to show that the world should pay more attention to the victims, not the serial killers.

Unusual, clever, focused, The Nothing Man is totally addictive -you won’t be able to stop reading until the last page is turned. It is extremely well-written with it’s tight plot, memorable characters, and fascinating structure. Highly recommended.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Blackstone Publishing for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

#Book review #Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris Tea Shop by Roselle Lim

I was swept away by Roselle Lim’s debut novel ‘Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune‘. It was sweet, adorable, full of magic and delicious recipes that could give you love, tenderness, or courage, depending on what you need the most in your life. Her second novel, Vanessa Yu’s Magical Paris tea shop is as exquisite as Natalie Tan.

I must say I didn’t get into the book straightaway. Vanessa seemed so withdrawn and passive, almost invisible in her loud, well-meaning, but interfering family. She has a special gift of giving prophecies, but unlike her Aunt Evelyn who is a master clairvoyant, proud of being able to help people with her unusual ability to see their future, Vanessa is terrified of burdening the others with her visions of doom and gloom. Once I heard the prophecy Vanessa was trying unsuccessfully to hold back and repress at her cousin’s wedding, I could see why Vanessa saw her gift as a curse. I also reconnected with Roselle Lim’s beautiful writing once more. The way the prophecies arrive to Vanessa… you just have to read and experience it yourself, but it is absolutely unique and magic!

Vanessa’s perpetual singledom and inability to go past a first date with any prospective romantic partner upsets and worries Vanessa’s numerous aunts (she has thirteen of them) to the extent of staging an intervention in the form of inviting a famous matchmaker from China. Madame Fong confirms something Vanessa already knew. Everybody has a match somewhere, a person they are tied to by a red thread of romantic love. Clairvoyants don’t and this is the price of their gift. Vanessa never wanted to be a fortune-teller, there’s nothing she would want more than not to have it or at least to be able to control where and when she blurts out her prophecies. If there is a person who can help her, it is her Aunt Evelyn who is about to open a tea shop in the center of Paris. Three weeks in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, full of art, history and best food possible and an opportunity to have lessons on how to control her unruly gift.

Vanessa throws herself into experiencing Paris with all her senses: art, architecture, romance, and food, oh Roselle Lim’s mouth-watering descriptions of food are the best I’ve ever read. Did I mention romance? Vanessa meets her special stranger, but there is a catch: her aunt Evelyn already predicted that Vanessa will have but a few days with her lovely Marc. Would you get into a relationship with an expiry date? Would you allow yourself fall in love knowing you your heart will be broken? Vanessa wants what she has been denied by the virtue of being born with her special talent, she wants to defy fate, she wants love:

‘Despite spilling others’ fortunes, I refused to believe fate dictated my life. I believed in revolt, in breaking away from what was imposed upon me, and my fundamental rejection of my power proved that I rejected destiny too.’

‘The future was ours to shape’.

What does it mean to be true to yourself? Vanessa’s aunt Evelyn has always followed fortune-telling rules to the letter and sacrificed her romantic relationship to be with her family. Vanessa has been working in her family accounting business for years, she has been nothing but a dutiful daughter and niece. Her gift is also something she owes to her family. With her identity being so strongly linked to her family and her place in it, even if she manages to get rid of her curse, where will it leave her?

To my delight, Vanessa manages to discover her own way of helping people and there is a happily ever after for her. This book delivers fully on its promise to take the reader on a magic adventure of self-discovery in one of the most romantic cities on the world. Can’t wait to meet Roselle Lim’s next protagonist and be spell-bound by their story.

Thank you to Edelweiss and Berkley for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

#Book Blitz #The Good Samaritan by Melynda Price @Xpresso Book Tours

Book & Author Details:

The Good Samaritan
by Melynda Price
Publication date: July 30th 2020
Genres: Adult, Thriller

Synopsis:

“Only through death, can one truly experience life…”
~The Good Samaritan

With dreams of becoming an Emergency physician, resident Dr. Emma Rhodes has struggled to overcome the tragedy of her past. She’s moving on with her life and reinventing herself despite the guilt that still haunts her. Emma’s goals are finally within her grasp, and the fresh start she’s worked so hard for is hers for the taking. Or is it?

Shot in the line of duty, Detective Sawyer Gerrard owes Dr. Rhodes his life. A budding friendship with the doctor quickly ignites into a complicated relationship when a series of murders leads him to believe she’s being targeted by a serial killer. When the Good Samaritan claims yet another victim, the investigation takes a dangerous turn. The killer knows Emma’s secret and he’s toying with Sawyer, pulling them into a deadly game of cat and mouse where there’s only one rule: nothing is as it seems…

Goodreads

Amazon

AUTHOR BIO:
Melynda Price is a bestselling and award-winning author of contemporary romance. Her Against the Cage series has finaled in many awards such as the RONE, USA Today BBA, Golden Quill, National Readers’ Choice, and New England Readers’ Choice.

What Price enjoys most about writing is the chance to make her readers fall in love, over and over again. She cites the greatest challenge of writing is making the unbelievable believable, while taking her characters to the limit with stories full of passion and unique twists and turns. Salting stories with undertones of history whenever possible, Price adds immeasurable depth to her well-crafted books. She currently lives in Northern Minnesota with her husband and two children where she has plenty of snow-filled days to curl up in front of the fireplace with her Chihuahua and a hot cup of coffee to write.

Author links:
Website / Twitter / Goodreads / Amazon / Instagram / Bookbub

GIVEAWAY
Blitz-wide giveaway (INT)

5x eBook copies of Vow of Silence

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#Book Review # The Night Swim by Megan Goldin

Synopsis:

After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall is now a household name―and the last hope for thousands of people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.

The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping a high school student, the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating―but the mysterious letters keep showing up in unexpected places. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insists she was murdered―and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody seems to want to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.

Electrifying and propulsive, The Night Swim asks: What is the price of a reputation? Can a small town ever right the wrongs of its past? And what really happened to Jenny?

My thoughts:
Content Warning: rape, sexual assault, murder

Megan Goldin knows how to choose hard to discuss topics. Last year her thriller Escape Room delved into the greedy corporation world that turns people into unscrupulous, ruthless money-making machines. Now she comes back with a new book that is as compelling and difficult to put down once you start reading it, but much more emotional and humane. The Night Swim is one of the best books I’ve read this year.

Rachel Krall is a hugely successful investigative journalist who has her own true-crime podcast Guilty or Not. The third season is going to focus on a live trial of a golden boy/ prospective Olympic swimmer Scott Blair accused of a brutal rape of K., a 16 year old granddaughter of a former police chief. Rachel knows the trial is going to be hugely controversial and we get a taste of how divided the town inhabitants’ opinions are:

‘She was drunk. Means she couldn’t consent.’
‘he was drunk too. How could he know she didn’t consent if he was drunk? It goes both ways. Anyway, his life is ruined. what happens if some slutty girl tries to ruin my kid’s life by making stuff up?’
‘If she says it happened, then I believe her’.

Rachel’s podcast is going to cover the witness testimony and evidence as it is given in the courtroom to let her listeners decide for themselves on whether the verdict reached by the jury is something they would agree with. However, on her way to Neapolis, North Carolina, the small town where the trial is taking place, something else happens. When Rachel comes back from her restroom break she finds a note on the windshield. The note is addressed to her directly and comes from somebody called Hannah who is begging Rachel to look into the case of Jenny Stills, Hannah’ sister, who allegedly drowned 25 years ago. The note is followed by many other letters, and soon Rachel finds herself investigating Jenny’s case, fearing justice hasn’t been served in the case of this poor girl who was brutally raped and murdered.

The chapters are told from the point of view of Hannah who is recalling the traumatic past events and who wants the truth to come out, Rachel looking into Jenny’s story and uncovering some deeply disturbing facts, and Rachel’s podcast that covers the courtroom scenes and her deliberations on the how the society deals with rape and its victims. I have to say some of the scenes were so emotionally charged and gut-wrenching that I needed to put the book down and take a breath of fresh air. Having said that, Megan Goldin deals with this painful topic with extreme sensitivity and respect.

‘You can’t save the world, Rachel’. ‘Maybe not. But I can save one person at a time.’

I really liked Rachel- she is brave, inquisitive, honest, and tenacious. We learn bits and pieces about her as the story unfolds and every single fact or detail is relevant and adds to the picture of a person with great integrity. Hannah was more elusive for me. The way she delivers her notes is sensational and stalkerish and doesn’t make much sense to me, as Rachel already started looking into Jenny’s case. Hannah needs the truth to come out to get closure. She has been given opportunities in life and, most importantly, life itself, something Jenny was robbed of. There are some horrible scenes of the abuse hurled at Jenny. Twenty five years later K. is living through the same drama, although she is to some extent shielded and protected by her family. There are also some extremely unlikeable characters in this book and after having read both The Escape Room and The Night Swim, I can vouch Megan Goldin is really good at coming up with them.

The setting was really fitting for the story. Neapolis is a small town where most people know everybody else and it is isn’t easy to find twelve ( plus one, in case one falls ill and cannot continue) jury members who don’t know or a connected to the families of the accused or the plaintiff. This is the place where reputations are all important and money talks. Jenny and Hannah come from a family of have nots and as such, no matter what they do, they are judged harshly. K.’s case wouldn’t have even made it to the court had her family been less influential. One of the secondary characters in the book, a teenage boy is under pressure from his family to take a deal offered by the prosecution, because his family cannot afford legal expenses.

‘To tell you the truth, I don’t get how we can unanimously agree that murder is wrong, yet when it comes to rape some people still see shades of gray’.

Megan Goldin raises a lot of controversial questions such as the way the judicial system and our society in general deals with the crime of rape and sexual assault. The victim has to prove the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt, but the nature of the crime is such there are rarely witnesses and it often comes to one side’s word against the other side’s. They are both put on trial: one for the intent and actions, the other for credibility and I have to agree with Megan Goldin’s words:
‘it’s a terrible thing for a person to have to stand in judgment of another’.

If I hadn’t already been a fan of Megan Goldin’s work, I would have become one after reading this thought-provoking, compelling, well-written thriller. I can’t wait to read what topics she chooses to focus on in future.

Thank you to Edelweiss and St.Martin’s Press for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

Have you read/listened to the Night Swim? if yes, what did you think?

#Book Review #Blog Tour: Cynthia Smart’s Midwife Crisis by Liz Davies @rararesources

Thank you to Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for my place on the tour for this entertaining and light-hearted book that proves that life is full of surprises!

Synopsis:

Midlife crisis? What midlife crisis?
At forty-four, Cynthia Smart is exactly where she wants to be. Almost.
In a couple of years, she’ll be the CEO of the company she’s spent her most of her adult life working in. For now, though, she’s still busy shimmying up the greasy pole of corporate business. She’s single, carefree, and independent, and nothing can stop her getting what she wants and deserves.

Until she discovers she’s pregnant.

Determined to have her cake and eat it, she’s convinced that having a baby will make little difference to her life, and that she will be one of those women who can hold down an incredibly demanding job and also be a perfect mother.
But as her pregnancy progresses and her life slowly falls apart, she has the sneaking suspicion that Max Oakland, the new guy on the block, is out to steal her dream job. That she’s terribly attracted to him doesn’t help, nor does the fact that he’s devilishly handsome, appears to be a really nice fella, and is good in a crisis.
When she gradually comes to realise that something has got to give, what she doesn’t want it to be is her heart.

Perfect for fans of Mandy Baggott, Heidi Swain, and Holly Martin.

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My thoughts:

Life does throw us a few curveballs, and sometimes we really have to think and learn fast.
At forty four, Cynthia Smart has already dedicated half of her life to Webber Corporation. She is organised, creative, and ambitious. She knows she’ll make a great CEO, because nobody knows the business better than she does and nobody is as committed to its success. Ricky Webber’s (aka the Pitbull) children are not interested, anyway. Being a woman might be a disadvantage in the corporate world, but Cynthia never shows any weakness, she just works hard, harder than any potential candidate for the coveted CEO position.

A one night stand with a Californian surfer is just a bit of fun her body and soul craves, but three months and five pregnancy tests later, Cynthia knows her life is about to change. On the same day, Ricky brings in Max Oakland to the hotel chain acquisition project Cynthia’s been working on. Is he her competition for her dream job? He is professional and always on the ball and, secretly, Cynthia doesn’t mind a bit of help, as her body has an agenda of its own and her laser-sharp focus has been less sharp than it used to be. The good-looking Max (not that she would allow herself to care) is also kind, thoughtful and unselfish.

There is something very likeable about Cynthia’s no-non-sense approach to life . She never feels sorry for herself. Quite the opposite, she loves her little bump and knows it’s the best thing that has ever happened to her. And if she needs to buy one size larger suits to hide her expanding waistline, so be it, it’s not a big deal. Cynthia faces life straight on. She plans, researches and readjusts. She may have been quite naive about the extent of changes her pregnancy and future motherhood will mean, but she is thinking carefully about her priorities and I must say her baby and spending more time with her aging mother are at the top of her list. The pregnancy experience described in the book is very realistic and many readers will relate to it.
The book is very focused on Cynthia, but there are also a few great secondary characters: Maggie, Cynthia’s mother, Sally, Lana. Maggie, Cynthia’s mother is adorable. Her banter with Max was sweet and also showed an unexpected side of Max’s character who I had a bit of trouble working out. We know he is hiding something ( we need a bit of tension and suspence in the plot, really, it can’t be just about pregnancy), and yet, what we see is somebody nice. Integrity does beat good looks, in my book, but what is Max’s deal? Rest assured, in the end, we do get a lot of drama in the story.
Cynthia’s Midwife Crisis is both fun and relatable and I really enjoyed spending my afternoon in company of its characters.

Thank you to Rachel and the author for the review copy I received for free in exchange for an honest and unbiased opinion.

About the author:

Liz Davies writes feel-good, light-hearted stories with a hefty dose of romance, a smattering of humour, and a great deal of love.
She’s married to her best friend, has one grown-up daughter, and when she isn’t scribbling away in the notepad she carries with her everywhere (just in case inspiration strikes), you’ll find her searching for that perfect pair of shoes. She loves to cook but isn’t very good at it, and loves to eat – she’s much better at that! Liz also enjoys walking (preferably on the flat), cycling (also on the flat), and lots of sitting around in the garden on warm, sunny days.
She currently lives with her family in Wales, but would ideally love to buy a camper van and travel the world in it.

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