Versions of Her

ANDREA LOCHEN

Stats for my copy: ebook, Red Adept Publishing, LLC, 7/23/19.

How acquired: Gifted to me from the author.

First line: Kelsey was running late, of course.

My thoughts: What a lovely story! You know how you start reading a book, and it's enjoyable, and you're thinking it'll be at least three stars, probably four. And then somewhere, you're not sure exactly where, it becomes a five star book, and you're not even half finished. The writing started out solid and flowing rather effortlessly and then became enveloping as time passed unnoticed.

Sometimes she wanted to physically shake the hope out of him until he was as empty and barren as she was.

It's a wonderful character study. Two sisters, complete opposites, with distance, both physical and metaphorical, between them, who seem to have little in common yet are united in grief as they both still mourn the loss of their mother four years earlier. They have fond memories of summers spent at the family lake house, which their mother bequeathed to them. But the recent tenants have moved out and the house stands empty, and Melanie has decided it's time to sell, and while Kelsey doesn't really agree, she grudgingly goes along with the plan.

Their discovery of the hidden closet, and how it leads them to glimpses from their mother's past, came a little bit out of left field, and I absolutely loved it. While I realize other reviewers may have already given it away (I did not read any reviews before I picked up the book), I don't want to say anything more about that aspect of the story, as I'd like other readers to have that plot twist take them unawares the way it did me. Believe me, it's worth it.

And of course I have to mention Sprocket, Kelsey's dog, who is a supporting character in his own right. What would life be without a dog?

She watched Sprocket rolling in the grass on his back with joyful abandon. That was why people loved dogs. Dogs embraced life and savored every second of it, no matter if it meant looking like a total dork.

I cried a couple of times on this journey with Melanie and Kelsey, and when I finished the last page I sighed with happiness and contentment. I'm planning a trip to Barnes & Noble this weekend, and I'll be looking for Ms. Lochen's other books while I'm there.


Goodreads synopsis: On the surface, Melanie Kingstad-Keyes’s life is the picture of success. She’s a tenure track professor at a prestigious university and has a perfect husband. But a recent miscarriage has left her reeling and her marriage tenuous. Selling her family’s Lake Indigo summer home, which she hasn’t visited in fifteen years, feels like the perfect distraction from her problems. Now, she only needs to persuade her younger sister, Kelsey, to go along with her plan.

Stuck in a dead-end job, Kelsey Kingstad bounces from one doomed relationship to the next as she struggles to jumpstart her adult life. Carrying the guilt of her mother’s untimely death, Kelsey is reluctant to let go of the Victorian house filled with memories of her mom and their childhood.

When the sisters find a mysterious hidden door, Melanie and Kelsey discover that they can directly view their mother’s younger years and learn all the secrets she never shared with them. Delving into her memories is fun at first, but Melanie and Kelsey quickly uncover difficult truths, throwing their own life choices into question and making them wonder if they ever truly knew their mother. Visiting the past may help them find closure, but the cost could be steeper than they realize. 

Smooth (A Love Story, Book 11)

TRACY EWENS

Stats for my copy: ebook, published January 23, 2018.

How acquired: The Hidden Gems ARC Program.

My thoughts: I've previously read two of Ms. Ewens' books, TASTE, which was just so-so for me, and RESERVED, which I loved loved so much. So when I saw this book offered through Hidden Gems I immediately requested it. And I'm so glad I did.

The story opens with Patrick, co-owner of Foghorn Brewery with his brothers, and Aspen, the brewery's business manager, flying to a conference together. Patrick and Aspen have known each other since they were kids, but Aspen is unaware that Patrick has been silently crushing on her all these years. Aspen is all business, and as far as Patrick knows she has no interest in dating or relationships, so he's pushed his feelings to the side and been satisfied to work side by side. But at the conference they run into her college boyfriend, and seeing Aspen flirt with Lucas awakens those pushed aside feelings and stirs up some jealousy.

Back home at the brewery (literally for Patrick, who lives upstairs), Patrick's mouth keeps saying things without his permission. Things that mortify him, and crack up his brothers. And I cracked up right along with them. I mean I was literally laughing out loud, and even paused more than once to go back and reread a passage. I thought adding some quotes here, but there are just too many to pick from. Suffice it to say he blurts things out that make his feelings a little too evident, and Aspen definitely begins to take notice of him as a man, not just a friend and coworker.
 
I loved both Patrick and Aspen, not to mention Aspen's matchmaking grandmother, though I did occasionally want to shake some sense into Aspen. Her childhood was a bit fraught, with a mother who had a very skewed relationship with relationships, which is now Aspen's excuse for not trusting men and avoiding relationships. She even rains on her brother's parade when he tells her he's asking his girlfriend to marry him. I seriously thought she was going to seriously try to talk him out of it! Fortunately, Patrick grew up with parents who loved each other, and fortunately he had the patience to put up with Aspen's bordering on ridiculous fear of love.

Ms. Ewens has a real talent for writing dialogue, and as with RESERVED, she created a hero I fell for very quickly. I definitely want to read Patricks' brothers' stories now!

Note - while this book is part of a series, and some of the characters from her books are connected, the three I've read so far can all definitely be read as standalones, thankfully since I've been reading out of order which I rarely do. 

The Survivors Club

LISA HARRIS

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Bantam Dell, 2002.

How acquired: From my mom.

First line: It started as a conversation.

My thoughts: My first time reading this author (I've been reading a lot of great new-to-me authors lately!) and I'm not even sure at what point of the book I was totally sucked in, but sucked in I was. I noticed a lot of reviewers mentioning the slow start, and yeah, it did take a little bit to get interested. I found the prologue to be a bit confusing, and once I started the first chapter the prologue went completely out of my head. It wasn't until I sat down to write this review that I suddenly remembered the prologue and thought “oh, that's what it was about!” The epilogue, on the other hand, was very welcome and left me feeling a little warm and fuzzy, despite the harsh subject matter in the main body of the book.

I'm very character driven – if I had to choose between plot and characterization I'd go with the latter every time. This book has a lot of characters, but they were easy to keep track of. I very much liked Detective Griffin. I mentioned in the last review I posted that I'm partial to emotionally wounded heroes and law enforcement, and I was drawn to Griffin pretty much right off the bat. And I loved the interplay between Griffin and Detective Fitzpatrick. I know Griffin and Waters were long time friends, but he and Fitz made a great duo, and some of their comments to each other made me smile, and occasionally even laugh a little.

While there's lots of other dialogue between different characters, there's also a good bit of internal dialogue, which I like, and plenty of action. I don't know that I was ever on the edge of my seat, but I was certainly immersed in the story, in all the stories as the narrative focus shifted from character to character. By the end of the book I was reading late into the night, unable to even think about sleeping until I finished the last page.

Goodreads synopsis: They survived what no woman should ever have to endure. Now these three women have the means, the opportunity, and the perfect motive. Are they trying to get away with murder--or is someone trying to make sure that this time they don't get away at all? The Survivors Club... that's what Jillian Hayes, Carol Rosen, and Meg Pesaturo call it. They won't consider themselves victims. They are survivors. They faced the blazing headlines and helped lead the investigation that caught the man who changed their lives forever.
And now that Eddie Como, the College Hill rapist, has been murdered, shot down outside a packed courthouse moments before his trial was about to begin, all three women are openly ecstatic that he's dead. They are also the prime suspects in his murder. Detective Sergeant Roan Griffin knows all too well what can drive even the best people to cross the line. But he has never seen a case quite like this one. No one doubts that the murder of Eddie Como was a professional job, especially when the gunman is killed only blocks away from the shooting.
But questions taunt Griffin: Who ordered the deaths of Eddie Como and his killer? Could three ordinary women have been driven to do the unthinkable? Had someone in the Survivors Club become a killer? Griffin seeks the truth--and finds himself confronted with the leader of the Survivors Club. Jillian Hayes is beautiful, successful, cool as ice, and she harbors a pain that mirrors Griffin's own. Did the horror of what happened to her push her over the thin and desperate line that separates survival and revenge? And if it did, could he blame her--or anyone in the Survivors Club? Then another woman is brutally attacked.

Suddenly, with the city on the ragged edge of panic, gripped in a media and political firestorm of controversy, cover-up, and conspiracy, the hunt is on for a ruthless and cunning killer. For Griffin, this may well be the case that shatters his career. For Jillian, the harrowing nightmare is beginning all over again. Someone is out there. Someone who wants to finish what was started. Someone who wants to make sure that no one survives the Survivors Club. 

Deadly Intentions

LISA HARRIS

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Revell Books, 2019.

How acquired: Revell Reads Blog Tour Program

First line: Josh Solomon had barely slept in thirty-six hours.

My thoughts: I’m learning that Revell consistently publishes really good romantic suspense. I was caught up in this book from the prologue. Of course I’m partial to emotionally wounded heroes, and to law enforcement, and Detective Josh Solomon, still grieving a year after his wife’s death, fit the bill. Caitlyn works at the lab where Josh’s wife worked, and through her friendship with Olivia she and Josh know one another, but mostly on an acquaintance level. Since Olivia’s death, two other employees have died, and after being run off the road one night, Caitlyn is convinced that those deaths are suspicious. So remembering that Josh is with the police, she takes her suspicions to him.

The plot revolves around a virus developed in the lab, and there is a lot of sciency talk as Caitlyn explains it to Josh and as they learn more about the potential hazards associated with this particular virus. And not being I honestly couldn’t tell you much more than that even if I wanted to. But there is also quite a bit of action, and I never found the storyline to be predictable. Josh takes a little convincing at first, but once he’s in he’s all in, and not about to leave Caitlyn on her own. Caitlyn spends most of the book frightened, which I would be also, but she is also brave and determined and pretty resourceful.

The author did a great job with the growing attraction between Josh and Caitlyn. Despite the fact that the events of the book take place over a short span of time, their relationship still seemed to build slowly, which I appreciated. It can be tricky when one character is still grieving over the death of a loved one, and Josh and Cailtyn’s relationship felt realistic.

Another very enjoyable read from Revell, and another new to me author whose backlist I’m going to have to check out now!


Goodreads synopsis: Research scientist Caitlyn Lindsey is convinced that someone is taking out her team one by one. First, a friend and research partner was killed in a home invasion. Three months ago, her boss died in a suspicious car accident. Four days ago, another partner supposedly committed suicide. And now Caitlyn herself has miraculously survived a hit-and-run. Afraid for her life with nowhere to turn, she reaches out to one of the victim's husbands, Detective Josh Solomon.

Though initially skeptical about Caitlyn's theory, Josh soon realizes that the attack that took his wife's life was anything but random. Now the two of them must discover the truth about who is after Caitlyn's team--and what their end game is--before it's too late.

The Total Package

STEPHANIE EVANOVICH

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Harlequin, 2014.

How acquired: Via BookCrossing.

First line: Although smoking had been outlawed inside public establishments more than a decade ago, the bar still had leftover smog. 

My thoughts: Ok, so, I have a confession. I got this author mixed up with Janet Evanovich. I have a bunch of Janet's books in her series, the name of which had escaped me, and which I hadn't started reading yet, and when I saw this book offered up in a BookCrossing friend's post on FB, I thought it sounded good and would be a good introduction to Ms. Evanovich. It wasn't until I finished this book that I suddenly remembered her series was Stephanie Plum. And then I thought, wait, she named her main character after herself? And then I suddenly remembered that author is Janet, not Stephanie!

But I am sooooo glad I made that mistake because I LOVED this book! I was expecting light fluffy romance, which would've been great, I'm always down with that. I was not expecting to be 70 or so pages into the book and so far it was all about the hero battling his alcoholic demons. And the heroine nowhere in sight. But I zipped through half the book on a Saturday afternoon, and then last night I was up way too late finishing it. Yes, it was that good!

I'm often a little leery of secret baby plots. To empathize with the heroine there has to be really compelling motivation for her to keep the dad in the dark, and Ms. Evanovich pulled that off wonderfully here. I was completely on board with Dani's reasons, and understood completely why it took her so long to come clean. And I loved Tyson for sure.

I was excited to learn that two of the other couples in this book have already had their own books! I went straight to Book Mooch and found and requested both of them.

The Total Package. An apt title. Stephanie Evanovich has a new fan!



Goodreads synopsis: Heartthrob star quarterback Tyson Palmer has it all: a million-dollar arm, a winning season and the promise of a Superbowl ring. But more importantly, football’s biggest star is the ultimate comeback kid. After an addiction to painkillers nearly derailed his career, Tyson got sober and went from zero to hero in the eyes of the public.

But one person remains unconvinced: Dani Carr, a sports commentator with high ratings and following of her own. Dani can’t forgive Tyson’s transgressions or forget a single passionate night with him back in college. To make things worse, Tyson doesn’t realize that the bombshell with huge ratings is the cute co-ed whose heart he once broke.

But can a sports journalist trying to claw her way to the top and a quarterback who knows all about rock bottom make it to the Super Bowl without destroying each other? And what will happen when Tyson—riding high now that he’s revived his career—realizes he needs to make an even more important comeback with Dani? Can he use his million-dollar moves to get past her defenses—or will she sideline him for good?