Book Review: "Good Girl, Bad Blood" by Holly Jackson

There are times when you can’t shake the need to investigate crimes even when you want to...

Don’t you love sequels that are just as good as their predecessor? That’s truly the case with Good Girl, Bad Blood, Holly Jackson’s sequel to The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, which I read and absolutely loved earlier this year.

Pippa Fitz-Amobi is done being a detective. After she and her family have put the fallout from the murder case she worked on behind them, she has sworn not to get involved anymore. There’s too much risk. She and her boyfriend work on her podcast and that’s the extent of it, save monitoring the trial that is taking place after the murder case.

When one of her closest friends comes to her and asks for her help in finding his missing brother, she turns him down but tries to use her connections with the police to help. But when the police don’t seem to care, Pip feels as if she has no choice but to try and figure out what happened.

She knows the risks but she knows she can help her friend. And now she has an audience to listen whether she succeeds or fails—but will the culprit know if she’s on to them? Can she get the police to listen before it’s too late?

I think Jackson is a terrific storyteller, and I was hooked from start to finish. She threw lots of twists in, and although I’ll admit I suspected the culprit briefly, I was still surprised. Of course, it’s always dubiously amazing how perceptive amateur detectives can be in books, even suspending my disbelief a little didn’t detract from my enjoyment.

This is suspenseful, thought-provoking, and even surprisingly moving at times. I hope Jackson has a third book planned!!

I got this from Book Depository; it publishes in America in March 2021.

Book Review: "Show Me the Way" by Ashley Farley

It’s such fun returning to characters you love when you read another installment in a great series! Show Me the Way, the second book in Ashley Farley's Hope Springs series was a terrific follow-up.

Presley (yeah, she's named after the King) has always known she was adopted but she’s been too afraid to find out anything about her biological parents. But when her mother dies and she finds a woman’s name and address among her papers, Presley decides it’s time to act.

She goes to Hope Springs, a charming small town in Virginia, where the woman lives. As she tries to learn more about the woman she believes is her mother, she winds up landing her dream job as an event planner at the newly restored Inn at Hope Springs Farm. It’s there she also meets Everett, the Inn’s handsome bartender, with whom she shares some intense chemistry, but she can tell he’s hiding something serious.

Everett is biding his time, hoping he’ll get another opportunity to pursue his music career. But Presley’s arrival upends things, because he knows if he can ever have a chance with her he needs to come clean about the things he’s running from.

Meanwhile, Stella, the still relatively new owner of the Inn, is worried about keeping the business afloat. She’s also not sure about the major decisions she’s making in her life, and she’s worried about one employee with a penchant for causing trouble, but she can’t act too rashly or she could ruin everything.

Hope Springs, the setting of Farley's fantastic Dream Big, Stella!, is the perfect backdrop for another round of drama and romance. I love these characters and the Inn, and I love Hope Springs so much I’d move there in real life if it really existed!!

I was honored to be part of the tour for this book. Kate Rock Book Tours and Ashley Farley provided me with an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

Show Me the Way publishes 9/29.

Book Review: "Surrender Your Sons" by Adam Sass

Surrender Your Sons is so powerful, suspenseful, and moving. It is an utterly intense and unforgettable book.

Things have been pretty tough for Connor since he came out to his fervently religious mother. She’s taken away his phone and all his technology, she’s roped him into delivering Meals on Wheels with her church, and she watches him like a hawk, so he can almost never see his boyfriend, Ario.

But as bad as it has been, he cannot believe she paid to have him kidnapped in the middle of the night and spirited away to Nightlight Ministries, a conversion camp that “changes” LGBTQ children back to their “normal” selves. It’s a frightening place where the threat of violence and punishment and never being able to leave hang over everyone’s heads.

As devastated and hurt as he feels, as unsure as he is about what he should do, Connor knows things aren’t what they seem at camp. Everyone has something to hide—even the director and the “recovered” counselors—and Connor is determined to uncover the truth. But he’ll be putting himself and his fellow campers in danger, as people will stop at nothing to protect themselves and the way of life they believe in.

Sadly, conversion therapy is still a reality in a number of states and places around the world. While this is fiction, the idea behind it is not, and that is one reason this book feels so powerful.

Surrender Your Sons is intense and suspenseful; it’s sad but ultimately, there are notes of hope. Adam Sass told an incredibly moving story. I had a little bit of a problem with the timeframe of the story—it seemed like things should have occurred over a few days instead of one day only—but I still loved this book so much.

I hope that sometime in the not-too-distant future, conversion therapy will be a thing of the past everywhere, and no one will care who people love, just that they love.

Book Review: "A Sweet Mess" by Jayci Lee

Don’t read A Sweet Mess on an empty stomach or you’ll crave baked goods!!

Aubrey Choi is living her dream. Her bakery, Comfort Zone, is thriving, so much so that she’s planning to expand to larger space. It doesn’t leave her time for romance, however, but when she meets a handsome stranger at her friend’s brewery and they spend the night together, she starts to wonder what she’s missing.

It turns out that the stranger is food critic Landon Kim, and he’s about to write an unflattering review of Comfort Zone because of a mix-up he experienced. The review really hurts Aubrey’s business and puts her expansion—and the future of her bakery—in jeopardy.

When Landon realizes the review was unfair and finds out about its impact on Aubrey’s business, he vows to make it up to her. He lands her a stint on a friend’s cooking show, but there’s a catch: she’ll need to stay with him in a villa in California's Wine Country for a few weeks while the show is filmed.

They both know they have to keep things professional between them or it could hurt both of their reputations. But given their intense chemistry and the depth of their growing feelings for one another, that gets harder and harder to do.

Is a chance at love worth the risks to both of them? Are people destined to be together? Love is on the line for two people who have never really trusted their hearts.

I really enjoyed this. It was fun, sexy (not too steamy), romantic, and absolutely hunger-inducing. Jayci Lee is a terrific writer—I’ve read this and a more traditional romance she wrote and both are very different. I could easily see this as a television movie.

The book even has recipes—but I wanted one for the chocolate cake with peanut butter filling, lol!!

Book Review: "The Bridge" by Bill Konigsberg

Bill Konigsberg's new YA novel, The Bridge, is an emotional, eye-opening look at teenagers, depression, and suicide.

Aaron can’t take it any longer. He’s tired of not feeling like he’s good enough or talented enough. He’s tired of wondering if he’ll ever find a guy to love him, tired of putting himself out there and getting little in return.

One day, he goes to the George Washington Bridge and is ready to end it all. And there he sees Tillie.

Tillie is at the end of her rope. She’s been bullied, she’s been ghosted, she’s fighting to be seen and heard and loved. She just doesn’t feel like she can go on any longer. And then she sees Aaron.

What happens if Aaron jumps?
What happens if Tillie jumps?
What if they both jump?
What if neither one jumps?

Konigsberg explores all four scenarios, the impact on those left behind (including Aaron or Tillie if they saw the other jump), the possible ways they might have touched the world had they not jumped, and the beauty and strength which comes from having the support of people who get you. He recognizes, however, that’s not all we need to help us.

This was a beautiful, moving book which hit me in the feels, reminding me of my own struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts. The unique 4-scenarios-in-1 concept mostly works, and it really looks at the big and small moments of depression. Konigsberg is a terrific writer; I've enjoyed his previous books, particularly The Music of What Happens.

He has written an important, gorgeous book that will make you feel and think, but it's not so heavy or maudlin that you'll feel utterly finished afterward.

If you or a loved one is experiencing suicidal thoughts, in the US you can call 1-800-273-TALK or 1-800-SUICIDE.

Book Review: "Transcendent Kingdom" by Yaa Gyasi

Yaa Gyasi's newest novel, Transcendent Kingdom, is a beautiful, moving look at grief, faith, family, and science.

Gifty is studying for her PhD in neuroscience at Stanford. Her research deals with depression and addiction, two things she knows all too well. Her older brother Nana, a talented basketball player, died of an overdose after getting addicted to OxyContin following an injury, and her mother has been virtually bedridden with grief and depression since his death a number of years ago.

While Gifty hopes to find scientific explanations for the issues that affected her family and so many others, she doesn’t truly understand the toll they’ve taken on her emotionally until her mother comes to stay with her. And as Gifty tries to find ways of reaching her mother, and struggles with completing her own work, she remembers the days of attending her mother’s evangelical church and the comforts and challenges it brought her.

This was such a gorgeously written book, a story of racism and the immigrant experience, the pain of addiction, depression, and loss, and the clarifying power for some of both science and faith. I felt like the emotions of this book almost snuck up on me the way they did Gifty.

I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time.

Book Review: "If She Had Stayed" by Diane Byington

If you had the chance to do something over from your past, would you?

Kaley has always felt a connection to Nikola Tesla, because her grandfather once worked for the famous inventor. Now she’s the acting director of a soon-to-be-opened Tesla Museum in Colorado Springs, a job she hopes will become permanent. (Only if she can raise enough money.)

After meeting with a potential donor, she is given an antique safe, in which she finds some long-lost papers which appear to be written by Tesla himself. She can’t believe what she reads. Was he delusional or did he really time travel? Imagine how this discovery could impact the world!

Even though her mind is telling her that time travel isn't possible, Kaley’s curiosity gets the best of her, so she builds Tesla’s time machine in order to see whether his words are true. She plans to go back to her college days to change her actions around one major decision in her life.

Will she get to her past? Will she kill herself in the process? What she doesn’t count on is someone less-than-honest from her past hiding things from her.

I’m a fan of anything time travel-related so this was an interesting read, meshing science and action and character development. At times it got a little confusing, but the story definitely hooked me, and I love the nuances Diane Byington brought to the story.

I was pleased to be part of the blog tour for this book. Kate Rock Blog Tours and Diane Byington provided me with a complimentary copy in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!