Good Girls Lie by J. T. Ellison @harlequinbooks #bookreview

Happy Tuesday!

The last day of 2019! Excited about this thrilling thriller that releases today!🎆

My Thoughts

J. T. Ellison does it again! An exclusive boarding school, secret societies, mysterious tunnels, creepy staircases, codes of conduct, hazing, murder, dark secrets, twists, and tainted histories. The book starts off with a body hanging from the school gates and then it goes back to the events leading up to this tragedy. Ash is the new girl, grateful for the opportunity but worried she won’t fit in. Ash has left the UK and her past behind and is ready for a fresh start. BUT Ash has plenty of secrets of her own. As the girls start getting murdered and the lines start to get blurred I began to wonder how reliable of a narrator was ash? I enjoyed this book so much, I was 100% invested in the story. Loved all the drama, the angst, and the juicy secrets. Also loved the setting of this boarding school with all its creepy secrets and hidden nooks and crannies. Not to mention it was out in the middle of nowhere in a secluded mountain town, it added such an eerie vibe to the story. This was a thriller that made my pulse race, my spine tingle, and blew my mind.

This book in emojis 🎒 👩🏼‍🎓 💻 ✉️ 📓 🤯

*** Big thanks to Harlequin Mira for my copy of this book ***

About the Book

Goode girls don’t lie….

Perched atop a hill in the tiny town of Marchburg, Virginia, The Goode School is a prestigious prep school known as a Silent Ivy. The boarding school of choice for daughters of the rich and influential, it accepts only the best and the brightest. Its elite status, long-held traditions and honor code are ideal for preparing exceptional young women for brilliant futures at Ivy League universities and beyond. But a stranger has come to Goode, and this ivy has turned poisonous.

In a world where appearances are everything, as long as students pretend to follow the rules, no one questions the cruelties of the secret societies or the dubious behavior of the privileged young women who expect to get away with murder. But when a popular student is found dead, the truth cannot be ignored. Rumors suggest she was struggling with a secret that drove her to suicide.

But look closely…because there are truths and there are lies, and then there is everything that really happened.

J.T. Ellison’s pulse-pounding new novel examines the tenuous bonds of friendship, the power of lies and the desperate lengths people will go to to protect their secrets.

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Berit☀️✨

Husband Material by Emily Belden @harlequinbooks @harperaudio #bookreview

Happy Monday everybody!

Only a couple more days and 2019! Excited to share with you today my review for this fun quirky story!

My Thoughts

This book was just what I needed! Sweet, quirky, and delightful. Not really a romcom more like women’s fiction with a sprinkling of humor and a generous dollop of romance. This is the story of Charlotte who is in her 20s and lost her husband five years ago. Unsure of how to navigate being such a young widow and not wanting the label Charlotte has made it that no one in her life knows that she was ever even married. She has re-entered the dating field but treats it more like a math problem than anything else. Using an algorithm to find the perfect man. BUT everything is turned topsy-turvy when she gets a surprise package with her husband’s ashes inside. Charlotte is now forced to face the past, the truth, and her future. What follows is an engaging story filled with memories, tenderness, heartbreak, hope, forgiveness, and closure.

Charlotte may not have been the most relatable character, but I had a lot of sympathy for her. She had lost her husband at such a young age and was still caring around so much grief and guilt. Her neurotic tendencies really did not help the situation. She had kind of isolated herself from people, avoiding ever being hurt again, and also avoiding ever being loved again. I found the secondary characters roommate Casey and love interest Brian much more interesting than Charlotte if I’m being honest. Brian was a pretty great guy and I loved all the interactions with him. Casey was the perfect counterbalance to Charlotte, and I loved how eventually she basically told her how it is! Later in the story there is a secret revealed and I think Charlotte handled it much better than I might have. I love watching Charlotte bro and rediscover herself throughout the course of this book. Emily Belden has written a clever refreshing story and I’m looking forward to the next book from this author.

This book in emojis 👩🏻‍💻 🐶 ⚾️ 🍨 ⚱️

🎧🎧🎧 The audiobook was narrated by Piper Goodeve. I truly believe this made the story more relatable to me, she gave Charlotte a human side. Charlotte was kind of a dry character, but I think piper’s voice made her more lively. And more relatable. This might be a book I liked more because I listen to it rather than read it.

*** Big thanks to Harlequin and Harper Audio for my copy of this book ***

About the Book

Sometimes love is unpredictable….

Twenty-nine-year-old Charlotte Rosen has a secret: she’s a widow. Ever since the fateful day that leveled her world, Charlotte has worked hard to move forward. Great job at a hot social media analytics company? Check. Roommate with no knowledge of her past? Check. Adorable dog? Check. All the while, she’s faithfully data-crunched her way through life, calculating the probability of risk – so she can avoid it.

Yet Charlotte’s algorithms could never have predicted that her late husband’s ashes would land squarely on her doorstep five years later. Stunned but determined, Charlotte sets out to find meaning in this sudden twist of fate, even if that includes facing her perfectly coiffed, and perfectly difficult, ex-mother-in-law – and her husband’s best friend, who seems to become a fixture at her side whether she likes it or not. 

But soon a shocking secret surfaces, forcing Charlotte to answer questions she never knew to ask and to consider the possibility of forgiveness. And when a chance at new love arises, she’ll have to decide once and for all whether to follow the numbers or trust her heart.

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The Confession Club by Elizabeth Berg #bookreview

Happy Sunday all!

This was such a fun uplifting read perfect for this time of year! And it is the perfect length to squeeze in before 2020!

My Thoughts

What a sweet uplifting story that just made me feel good! A perfect palate cleanser from all those twisted thrillers. Good people behaving kindly, rather than despicable people behaving badly. This is the third book in this small town series that takes place in Mason Missouri. All three books can be read as standalones, but I strongly encourage you to read the first book “The Story of Arthur Trueluv”, it is the true gem in this series. This story as well as the second in the series are both very sweet however not quite as special.

In this book we are reunited with some familiar characters, Iris who we met in the second book as well as Maddie who has been in all three books. We are also introduced to many new characters including the ladies of the “confession club“. This was a group of ladies who met weekly and confess their secrets to this supportive group of friends. Iris and Maddie are the newest members of the club and it is good timing because they both need a little support. Iris has recently fallen for an unlikely Man and Maddie is struggling with telling her husband that she wants to move back home. Elizabeth Berg is so good at creating that small town vibe. I just loved how kind and supportive these characters were. I also loved the impact that Arthur still has on these characters and this community. Such a lovely feel good story, can’t wait to see what’s next in store for this charming small town.

This book in emojis 📖 ☕️ 🍰 🐶

*** Big thanks to Random House for my copy of this book ***

About the Book

USA TODAY BESTSELLER • An uplifting novel about friendship, surprising revelations, and a second chance at love, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Story of Arthur Truluv.

When a group of friends in Mason, Missouri, decide to start a monthly supper club, they get more than they bargained for. The plan for congenial evenings—talking, laughing, and sharing recipes, homemade food, and wine—abruptly changes course one night when one of the women reveals something startlingly intimate. The supper club then becomes Confession Club, and the women gather weekly to share not only dinners but embarrassing misdeeds, deep insecurities, and long-held regrets.

They invite Iris Winters and Maddy Harris to join, and their timing couldn’t be better. Iris is conflicted about her feelings for a charming but troubled man, and Maddy has come back home from New York to escape a problem too big to handle alone. The club offers exactly the kind of support they need to help them make some difficult decisions.

The Confession Club is charming, heartwarming, and inspiring. And as in the previous books that take place in Mason, readers will find friendship, community, and kindness on full display.

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Berit☀️✨

The Wicked Redhead by Beatrix Williams @tlcbooktours @wmmorrowbooks @harperaudio #bookreview

Happy Saturday all!

Excited to share with you today my review for this entertaining story! I listen to this on audio and I think the audio made it an even better book!🎧

My Thoughts

Beatrix Williams has spun an entertaining story. This is the second book in the wicked City series. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, however I do think not having read the first book detracted from my enjoyment a little. I had a hard time getting into the story and I think that’s because I did not know the character’s background. I love feisty female characters, I love books that take place in the 20s, and I love books set in multiple time periods. This book had all three and more. The book starts in 1924 with Ginger down in Florida having run from danger and tragedy that happened in New York in the previous book. The story than a bounces to 1998 and Ella who has just left her husband and is living in an apartment that is situated over the speakeasy where ginger once worked. Ginger’s presents is still very strong in the building and Ella is intrigued. What follows is a story filled with scandal, danger, secrets, lies, love, Family, blackmail, and deceit. I have to admit I found the 1998 storyline a little more compelling, however Ginger was such a wonderful character. I also loved the little bit of mystery and what tide Ella and ginger together. I’m excited to see how everything is going to play out in the last book in the series.

This book in emojis. 🛥 🏖 🍸 🎷 👩🏻‍🦰

🎧🎧🎧 The audiobook was narrated by Dara Rosenberg and Julie McKay. I love when books told from multiple perspectives are narrated by different narrators. I also thought both these narrators gave such authenticity to the character and time period that they were narrating.

*** Big thanks to William Morrow and Harper Audio for my copy of this book ***

About The Wicked Redhead

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (December 10, 2019)

The dazzling narrator of The Wicked City brings her mesmerizing voice and indomitable spirit to another Jazz Age tale of rumrunners, double crosses, and true love, spanning the Eastern seaboard from Florida to Long Island to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

1924. Ginger Kelly wakes up in tranquil Cocoa Beach, Florida, having fled south to safety in the company of disgraced Prohibition agent Oliver Anson Marshall and her newly-orphaned young sister, Patsy. But paradise is short-lived. Marshall is reinstated to the agency with suspicious haste and put to work patrolling for rumrunners on the high seas, from which he promptly disappears. Gin hurries north to rescue him, only to be trapped in an agonizing moral quandary by Marshall’s desperate mother.

1998. Ella Dommerich has finally settled into her new life in Greenwich Village, inside the same apartment where a certain redheaded flapper lived long ago…and continues to make her presence known. Having quit her ethically problematic job at an accounting firm, cut ties with her unfaithful ex-husband, and begun an epic love affair with Hector, her musician neighbor, Ella’s eager to piece together the history of the mysterious Gin Kelly, whose only physical trace is a series of rare vintage photograph cards for which she modeled before she disappeared.

Two women, two generations, two urgent quests. But as Ginger and Ella track down their separate quarries with increasing desperation, the mysteries consuming them take on unsettling echoes of each other, and both women will require all their strength and ingenuity to outwit a conspiracy spanning decades.

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Amanda Suanne Photography

About Beatriz Williams

A graduate of Stanford University with an MBA from Columbia, Beatriz Williams spent several years in New York and London hiding her early attempts at fiction, first on company laptops as a communications strategy consultant, and then as an at-home producer of small persons, before her career as a writer took off. She lives with her husband and four children near the Connecticut shore.

Find out more about Beatriz at her website, and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas – Bookish Version by Yours Truely 🎄

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the book community
Not a creature was stirring, not even little old me;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that more books soon would be there;

The books were nestled all snug in their sleeves,

While visions of thrillers and romance danced inside me;

And I in my fuzzy socks with my dogs on my lap,

Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I put aside my book to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Pushed aside the book pile and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

“Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN!

On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONNER and BLITZEN!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of books, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of books he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes — how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, did not give me a look,

And filled all the stockings; with goodies and books,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, as to the air he nimbly took,

HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-BOOK!!!

Zapata by Harper McDavid @tlcbooktours

Happy Christmas Eve Eve!

are you ready? Can’t believe the big day is in two days! Excited to share with you today my review for this romantic suspense that really did it right!

My Thoughts

Harper McDavid’s debut is raw and gritty, romantic and suspenseful. The brutally honest and authentic storytelling along with the Real look at the Mexican cartel reminded me a lot of the In the Company of Killers series by J. A. Redmerski. This is romantic suspense done right! The perfect balance of romance and suspense, neither detracting from the other. Avery is an engineer, a job on the Mexican border is the ticket to moving up the job ladder. Soon she finds herself in the crossfire of a war between Mexican drug cartels. This leads to her being kidnapped by the crazy drug lord Javier. In order to free herself Avery has to trust in Alejandro who she knows nothing about. Not to mention that they do not speak the same language. What follows is a tense pulse pounding game of cat and mouse. This book really read like a movie. The story was action packed as Avery and Alejandro try to evade the cartel. Miss McDavid doesn’t pull any punches and that makes this a highly engaging, entertaining, and exciting read.

*** Big thanks to the author for my gifted copy. ***

About Zapata

• Paperback: 356 pages
• Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing (September 25, 2019)

When engineer Avery McAndrews is offered a last-minute assignment to the rough and tumble border town of Zapata, Texas, she doesn’t think twice. Used to pushing past stereotypes, she’s sure this project will earn the long-awaited promotion.

Instead, she’s thrown in the crossfire between warring drug cartels and soon discovers that her captor, Javier Ramos, is more than just a power hungry drug lord. He’s crazy.

As lead attorney for the cartel, it’s Alejandro DeLeon’s job to manage Javier. But this time, Javier’s cruelty reaches epic proportions, and Alejandro finds himself wanting to risk everything to save Avery.

Running for their lives with Mexico’s underworld at their heels, Avery and Alejandro discover unintended and intensifying emotions, feelings neither sought and neither seem prepared to control…

Purchase Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

About Harper McDavid

As a child, Harper McDavid watched her mother ride the rollercoaster of writing books, swearing she’d never do it herself. But some things are just hardwired, and luckily for Harper the world has moved on beyond typewriters and ten-pound manuscripts.

Harper’s gritty romantic suspense incorporates her own background in science and engineering and work experience along the border. The result is a collection of brainy hard hat-wearing heroines that occasionally swap out their coveralls for the little black dress.

Harper is the mother of three daughters and lives in the foothills of Colorado with her husband, two dogs, and a fat cat. Her free time is spent traveling the world in search of that next story and perusing her local library for funny book covers.

Find out more about Harper at her website, and connect with her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

The Kill Club by Wendy Herd @harlequinbooks @harperaudio #bookreview

Happy Sunday all!

’tis the season to be reading! Excited to share with you today my review for this compelling and unique thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat!

My Thoughts

The first rule of murder club …What happens in murder club, stays in Murder club.

could you murder a stranger if in return a stranger would murder someone who is harming you? That is the premise of this highly addictive game of cat and mouse. Jazz is running out of options as to what to do about her younger brother Joaquin and his foster mother who refuses to give him the insulin he needs to survive. When she receives a mysterious phone call with a solution to her problem, she is tempted. BUT can she kill a complete stranger even if that means she will be rid of Carol forever? Could you if you were in Jazz’s shoes?

This is my second book by Wendy Herd. Both books have been captivating thrillers with unique premises and complex characters. I was completely sucked into Jazz’s Life, her hopes and her obstacles. The idea of a string of murders across the LA area seeming to be connected but with many contradictions was extremely intriguing. My heart was racing as Jazz got herself deeper and deeper into this crazy trap. Throughout the story I was not entirely sure of the good guys and the bad guys were, and if I’m being honest I still don’t. A compelling and disturbing story that had me on the edge of my seat and an ending that left me satisfied.

This book in emojis 📱 💉 🥊 ☠️

🎧🎧🎧 The audiobook was narrated by Almarie Guerra. This is the first book I listen to from her and I think she did an excellent job. There are so many characters and different perspectives and she gave each of the characters a unique voice.

*** Big thanks to Harlequin and Harper Audio for my copy of this book ***

About the Book

Jazz will stop at nothing to save her brother. 

Their foster mother, Carol, has always been fanatical, but with Jazz grown up and out of the house, Carol takes a dangerous turn that threatens 13-year-old Joaquin’s life. Over and over, child services fails to intervene, and Joaquin is running out of time. 

Then Jazz gets a blocked call from someone offering a solution. There are others like her – people the law has failed. They’ve formed an underground network of “helpers”, each agreeing to eliminate the abuser of another. They’re taking back their power and leaving a trail of bodies throughout Los Angeles – dubbed the Blackbird Killings. If Jazz joins them, they’ll take care of Carol for good. 

All she has to do is kill a stranger.

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Berit☀️✨

The Playground by Jane Shemilt @wmmorrowbooks @tlcbooktours @harperaudio #bookreview

Happy Saturday all!

This book! What a crazy ride!

My Thoughts

What a wild ride, this is a playground you want to avoid taking your children to! You know how you feel when you get off one of those playground merry go rounds? A little shook, a little queasy, a little unstable, A little flustered, that’s how I felt after reading this book. Three couples Meat and form a fast friendship. Their children all get along so well and this leads to barbecues, dinners, and even vacations together. All three couples are very different, but they are all very damaged and have some major secrets. What follows is a story full of deceit and tragedy. I would classify this as a dark domestic drama, despicable characters doing questionable things. I found myself shaking my head at these characters several times, I could not believe how involved they were in their own lives and how oblivious they were to what was going on with these kids. There are several tragedies in this story and I am still a little confused as to the reaction of some of the characters. This is one of those books where you don’t necessarily like any of the characters, but the story is so compelling you just have to find out what the heck is going on.

The story jumps between multiple perspectives and I have to admit I found this a little confusing in the beginning. There are a lot of characters and I couldn’t exactly figure out whose kid belonged to who for the first little bit, but once I did it became a little more clear. This book really kind of made me think about people’s priorities and made me put myself in these character’s shoes. Some actions are a little more forgivable than others, I’m still a little angry with some of these characters. A twisty story with a disturbing ending that still has me reeling.

🎧🎧🎧 This Book was narrated by Elizabeth Knowelden Who I thought did a wonderful job. There really is nothing better than having a book set in England read to you in an English accent!

This book in emojis 😕 😖 😩 🙄 😬 😦

*** Big thanks to William Morrow and Harper Audio for my copy of this book ***

About The Playground

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (December 30, 2019)

“Beautifully written and suffused with dread. Jane Shemilt’s domestic settings are seductively vivid, and the final outcome is profoundly shocking and terrifying.”
— Gilly Macmillan, New York Times bestselling author of The Nanny

Big Little Lies meets Lord of The Flies in this electrifyingly twisty follow-up to Jane Shemilt’s breakout debut The Daughter.

Over the course of a long, hot summer in London, the lives of three very different married couples collide when their children join the same tutoring circle, resulting in illicit relationships, shocking violence, and unimaginable fallout.

There’s Eve, a bougie earth mother with a well-stocked trust fund; she has three little ones, a blue-collar husband and is obsessed with her Instagrammable recipes and lifestyle. And Melissa, a successful interior designer whose casually cruel banker husband is careful not to leave visible bruises; she curates her perfectly thin body so closely she misses everything their teenage daughter is hiding. Then there’s Grace, a young Zimbabwean immigrant, who lives in high-rise housing project with her two children and their English father Martin, an award-winning but chronically broke novelist; she does far more for her family than she should have to.

As the weeks go by, the couples become very close; there are barbecues, garden parties, a holiday at a country villa in Greece. Resentments flare. An affair begins. Unnoticed, the children run wild. The couples are busily watching each other, so distracted and self-absorbed that they forget to watch their children. No one sees the five children at their secret games or realize how much their family dynamics are changing until tragedy strikes.

The story twists and then twists again while the three families desperately search for answers. It’s only as they begin to unravel the truth of what happened over the summer that they realize evil has crept quietly into their world.

But has this knowledge come too late?

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Photo by Kate Shemilt

About Jane Shemilt

While working full time as a physician, Jane Shemilt received an M.A. in creative writing. She was shortlisted for the Janklow and Nesbit award and the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize for The Daughter, her first novel. She and her husband, a professor of neurosurgery, have five children and live in Bristol, England.

Follow Jane on Twitter and Instagram.

Hungry Hearts by Julie Hoag @jahoag15 @swoonromance @month9books #coverreveal

TGIF!

Excited to share the gorgeous cover for this book that looks like an important read. It is a young adult book, but it looks as though it will resonate with people of all ages! Cannot wait to read it!

About the Book

For fans of “The Boys Next Door” by Jennifer Echols and “Holding Up the Universe” by Jennifer Niven.

When an amateur chef attempts to use food as his love language, Landra, who struggles with anorexia, finds his approach off-putting. In fact, she finds Brian to be rather annoying. 

Undeterred, Brian snags Landra in a friendship that eventually grows into something else, as she finally trusts him enough to sample some of his homemade gourmet treats.

But things have not evolved to the level Brian would like, and soon he realizes Landra’s issue isn’t only with the food he makes. She’s into the football team’s hottest player. But Brian isn’t about to get one-upped by a jock. He decides to ask Landra out at the same time that Landra manages to snag a date with the football star.

As if dating isn’t hard enough, Landra must battle her anorexic impulses and self-esteem issues if she is to find the boy of her heart. When the voices of self-doubt and shame drown everything else out, Landra will need to give herself permission to be happy. And Brian? Well, he will have to find a way to Landra’s heart, even if it isn’t through her stomach.

Releases January 21, 2020!

Preorder Your Copy

This Is Not How It Ends by Rochelle B. Weinstein @suzyapbooktours @amazonpub @luauthors #bookreview

Happy Friday all!

You guys! This book is so good! So emotional with such a compelling storyline! Be sure to have Kleenex handy!

My Thoughts

What an exquisite story! Raw, riveting, emotional, and thought provoking. Rochelle B. Weinstein has written an evocative tale that ripped at my heart strings. Philip and Charlotte have a meet cute when they are seated next to one another on a plane from Miami to Kansas City. They have an instant connection and soon begin an intense romance. FlashForward several years, the couple is now living in the Florida Keys. Philip is constantly traveling for work and the distance is wearing on Charlotte. One day Charlotte has a chance encounter with Ben a single father in the grocery store. Charlotte could feel the pole she has towards Ben. BUT Charlotte loves Philip and it’s even more complicated than that, because come to find out that Ben and Philip are old friends. The book however was so much more than a love triangle. It was a real honest look into these character’s emotionss. It was real, authentic, gripping, complex, tender, shattering, hopeful, and brilliant. These characters made me smile, they made me cry, they made me angry, they tore my heart apart and then put it back together.

The story bounces between past and present. I thought this was tremendously impactful, because we really got to see Charlotte and Phillip’s relationship developed. We also were privy to past events that ultimately shaped their present relationship. Charlotte, Philip, and Ben were all good people. Good people who didn’t always make the best choices. There were some moral issues in this book that really gave me a lot to think about. Still not entirely sure how I feel about it but this was not my story it was theirs. This is a book that will stick with me for a long time. A book with all the feels and the most perfect emotional ending.

This book in emojis. ✈️ 🏖 💍 👨🏻‍🍳 👨🏻‍💼 🐶 🌊 💔 😢

*** Big thanks to Lake Union for my copy of this book ***

About the Book

From USA Today bestselling author Rochelle B. Weinstein comes a moving novel of hearts lost and found, and of one woman torn between two love stories.

When Charlotte and Philip meet, the pair form a deep and instant connection. Soon they’re settled in the Florida Keys with plans to marry. But just as they should be getting closer, Charlotte feels Philip slipping away.

Second-guessing their love is something Charlotte never imagined, but with Philip’s excessive absences, she finds herself yearning for more. When she meets Ben, she ignores the pull, but the supportive single dad is there for her in ways she never knew she desired. Soon Charlotte finds herself torn between the love she thought she wanted and the one she knows she needs.

As a hurricane passes through Islamorada, stunning revelations challenge Charlotte’s loyalties and upend her life. Forced to reexamine the choices she’s made, and has yet to make, Charlotte embarks on an emotional journey of friendship, love, and sacrifice – knowing that forgiveness is a gift, and the best-laid plans can change in a heartbeat.

This Is Not How It Ends is a tender, moving story of heartbreak and healing that asks the question: Which takes more courage – holding on or letting go?

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Berit☀️✨