From the book blurb:
A striking and surprising debut novel from an exhilarating new voice, Such a Fun Age is a page-turning and big-hearted story about race and privilege, set around a young black babysitter, her well-intentioned employer, and a surprising connection that threatens to undo them both.

Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living showing other women how to do the same. A mother to two small girls, she started out as a blogger and has quickly built herself into a confidence-driven brand. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains’ toddler one night. Seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, a security guard at their local high-end supermarket accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make it right.

But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix’s desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix’s past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other.

With empathy and piercing social commentary, Such a Fun Age explores the stickiness of transactional relationships, what it means to make someone “family,” the complicated reality of being a grown up, and the consequences of doing the right thing for the wrong reason.

My thoughts:
A great debut book that explores such difficult questions as race, class, privilege, family relationships with unusual sensitivity and subtlety.
Emira Tucker, a 25year old babysitter for a white family, gets a call at ten in the evening. There is an emergency situation in the Chamberlain household and Alix, the mother, would like Emira to take three year old Briar shopping to keep her away from home while the parents are interviewd by the police. A security guard at the grocery store sees a young black woman ( dressed up for her best friend's birthday party, not for babysitting) with a white toddler and gets suspicious. Other shoppers seem to take sides and one of them even films the whole scene. Emira calls Peter Chamberlain who promptly arrives and sorts the situation, but Kelley Copeland, the bystander who made the video, urges Emira to keep it in case she decides to sue the guard or the store. Emira would like to forget this humiliating experience, but there is something she doesn't know about Alix Chamberlain, her employer. Alix is a woman who writes letters to companies and institutions to get what she wants. She even started her own movement #LetHerSpeak and teaches women to become confident and demand things they want. Alix isn't going to forget the store incident, she is going to stand by Emira and 'make it right' the way she understands it. There is something else Emira doesn't know about Alix and that is that she used to date Kelley in her senior year of high school, and that their relationship ended in a series of embarrassing events for Alix.
The book is well-written and easy to read. I found it impossible to put down, as I kept thinking about the strange ways in which the lives of the protagonists were interconnected. The story is multi-layered, complex and thought-provoking without being heavy-handed or preachey. The characters are well-developed. I really liked the addition of their inner thoughts and the contrast between what they thought and what they chose to say or not to say. Call me lazy, as in real life we do not get the benefit or drawback of this information. Emira was the character I liked the most in all her 'undecidedness' or desire to hold on and explore life. Emira's relationship with Briar is touching and revealing of what a deep and loyal person she is.
I will definitely be looking forward to reading more books written by Kiley Reid as this was one of the most remarkable debut novels I have read this year.
Thank you to Edelweiss and G.P.Putnam's sons for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

 Mac Thomas is a sexy host of a radio show that is at leastly partly centred around his commitment issues and playboy status. Oh, yes, he is very popular with ladies, although he is always upfront about not wanting a relationship. Mac is also a recovering alcoholic.
Mac sees Kelley sitting at a bus stop, crying, clealry distressed about something. In fact, Mac doesn't know this, but Kelley has just found her best friend/flatmate in bed with Kelley's ex-boyfriend. Not only does Kelley feel betrayed by her friend of many years, but also she has to move out because Megan allows the sleezy ex move in.
Kelley is difficult to forget, so the next time Mac sees her, he strikes a conversation and invites Kelley for a lunch out. Things progress quickly and Mac invites her to spend a weekend away at a comedy festival. Kelley isn't aware of his issues with alcohol, so she doesn't try to stop him when he breaks his sobriety. In the morning Mac wakes up in bed with Kelley and a new and shiny wedding bands on left hand. What do you do when you find yourself accidentally married?
The plot may be a bit predictable, but it doesn't take away from its entertainment value. The pace is fast, and there is a good balance between hot and sizzling scenes and the discovery of the protagonists' past coupled with the development of trust and other feelings for each other. Of course, they have known one another for a ridiculously short time, while the issues they have to deal with are pretty heavy....I found the last chapter, set in one year time, a more realistic timeframe, and I found the ending sweet and satisfying.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

From the Book Blurb:
You know when you sleep through your alarm, trip over running for the bus, and then someone points out that your dress is stuck into your hotdog-print knickers? That’s basically my life right now.

Gemma didn’t expect her life to look like this. She’s still living with her mother, who steals her leggings and tells her off for leaving crumbs in the butter. After twenty failed interviews she thought she’d bagged her dream job as a journalist – except it turns out to be writing articles about cats that look like George Clooney. Luckily she has her wonderful boyfriend, Jack, to help her forget just how rubbish things are.

Then Jack dumps her out of the blue. With nothing but her childhood teddy bear, Stanley, and a whole heap of heartbreak, Gemma resolves to turn things around. She throws herself into her new job and soon she’s hanging out with cheeky, golden-haired hunk Charlie, eating in swanky restaurants and sipping trendy cocktails – and her old life seems like a distant memory.

But it’s not long until her shiny new world starts to lose its sparkle – and Gemma misses the days of wearing battered pink converse and eating peanut butter on toast in bed. Then Jack turns up, backpack in tow, and things starts to go wrong with Charlie. ‘Out with the old, in with the new’, the saying goes. But what happens if neither one is quite right?

This laugh-out-loud romantic comedy is for anyone who’s ever cried their eyes out to love songs after a break-up or accidentally drunk-texted their ex. Fans of Sophie Kinsella and Lindsey Kelk will love this unmissable read which is all about falling in love with the most important person: yourself!

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My thoughts:

Having recently finished 'No, We Can't be Friends', I really wanted to read another book by Sophie Ranald. This one focused on one of Sloane Cassidy's clients, Gemma Grey, her vlogging career and her search for self-identity and a stable rewarding relationship.
I was surprised how young Gemma sounded compared to Sloane. Sophie Ranald is a master of characterization. It was absolutely clear that this girl is only 24 years old, and is still trying to understand what she would like to do with life. One thing is clear, she is a good, decent person, who cares about other people and is trying to do right by them. Gemma started her make-up advice vlog for fun. As it happens to many vloggers (my cousin is one of them, so I can vouch the author's research is spot-on), she hit a 1000 subscribers milestone, and made some similarly-minded friends in the YouTube community, but..that's it. Then her boyfriend Jack goes travelling with another friend and breaks up with Gemma. Gemma records a video with her 'epic reaction' to the break-up, which goes viral and gets her noticed. Of course, the plot is a bit predictable: Gemma needs to discover the pros and cons of her online career, and she also needs to find a worthwhile cause to care and do something about.
I loved Gemma with her honesty and self-deprecating humour. This book previously had a different title- 'The truth about Gemma Grey'. While the new one is more attention-grabbing, I still prefer the old one, because the focus isn't so much on her romantic relationships, but on Gemma becoming more self-aware and more mature.
Out with the Ex, In with the New is a great example of the chick-lit genre: it is entertaining, touching on some more serious topics (the charity Gemma ends up caring about is very close to my heart) without making the reader feel too depressed, and, of course, there a HFN at the end.
Thank you to NetGalley and Bookuture for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

 
From the book blurb:
An enthralling, atmospheric new novel from Emily Littlejohn, author of acclaimed debut Inherit the Bones, featuring Colorado police officer Gemma Monroe.

It’s Halloween night in Cedar Valley. During the town’s annual festival, Detective Gemma Monroe takes a break from trick or treating with her family to visit an old family friend, retired Judge Caleb Montgomery, at his law office. To Gemma’s surprise, Caleb seems worried—haunted, even—and confides in her that he’s been receiving anonymous threats. Shortly after, as Gemma strolls back to her car, an explosion at Caleb’s office shatters the night.

Reeling from the shock, Gemma and her team begin eliminating suspects and motives, but more keep appearing in their place, and soon another man is killed. Her investigation takes her from a chilling encounter with a convicted murderer at the Belle Vista Penitentiary, to the gilded rooms of the renovated Shotgun Playhouse, where Shakespeare’s cursed play Macbeth is set to open in a few weeks.

Yet most disturbing of all is when Gemma realizes that similar murders have happened before. There is a copycat killer at play, and if Gemma can’t stop him, he’ll carry out his final, deadly act.


My thoughts:
I really enjoyed this fourth instalment in the series. Detective Gemma monroe from the little town of Cedar Valley is trick and treating with her partner and their one-year-old daughter Grace. She makes a detour to visit Judge Caleb Montgomery, who is an old family friend. She finds him looking older and stressed out about a series of anonymous letters with death threats he has been receiving. Gemma promises to look into the case. As she is walking back to her car, she hears a car explosion and quickly realises Judge Caleb has been murdered. Gemma sets out to investigate the case by checking out a long list of possible suspects. As you would expect the retired judge had made a lot of enemies during his career. And then it turns out that this murder is just the first one, and there is a serial killer out on the streets of Gemma's little town.
Gemma is a great female lead- she is tough and sensible, and above all, she is a mom who has to balance her work and family life. The little town setting works really well for this series. You might assume that in a small place like Cedar Valley everybody knows everything worth knowing about each other, yet, there is a killer lurking in the streets and it isn't easy to work out who they might be.
This is a fast-paced thriller and the fans of Emily Littlejohn and Gemma Monroe will find it a quick and exciting read. If you are thinking of reading this series, it might be better to start from the first book in order to appreciate the development of the recurring characters, especially Gemma herself.
Thank you to Edelweiss and Minotaur Books for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

From the book blurb:

Police officer Ellery Hathaway and FBI profiler Reed Markham take on two difficult new cases in this stunning follow-up to The Vanishing Season.
No Mercy is award-winning author Joanna Schaffhausen’s heart-pounding second novel.
Police officer Ellery Hathaway is on involuntary leave from her job because she shot a murderer in cold blood and refuses to apologize for it. Forced into group therapy for victims of violent crime, Ellery immediately finds higher priorities than “getting in touch with her feelings.”
For one, she suspects a fellow group member may have helped to convict the wrong man for a deadly arson incident years ago. For another, Ellery finds herself in the desperate clutches of a woman who survived a brutal rape. He is still out there, this man with the Spider-Man-like ability to climb through bedroom windows, and his victim beseeches Ellery for help in capturing her attacker.
Ellery seeks advice from her friend, FBI profiler Reed Markham, who liberated her from a killer’s closet when she was a child. Reed remains drawn to this unpredictable woman, the one he rescued but couldn’t quite save. The trouble is, Reed is up for a potential big promotion, and his boss has just one condition for the new job—stay away from Ellery. Ellery ignores all the warnings. Instead, she starts digging around in everyone’s past but her own—a move that, at best, could put her out of work permanently, and at worst, could put her in the city morgue.

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My thoughts:

Last month I read and reviewed The Vanishing Season by Joanna Schaffhausen. The bar was set very high, but Joanna Schaffhausen doesn't disappoint. Her characters are as strong and the plot is as good, if not better!
The novel starts with Ellery being on a forced leave due to her using lethal force and shooting a murderer. There is no doubt, her childhood trauma of being abducted and tortured by a serial killer is a factor in how she aproaches everything in her life and work. Ellery is sent to group therapy in order to help her come to terms with what happened all these years ago, but once she is there her police officer's training kicks in and she knows there is a case or two to solve. There is a victim of a brutal rape whose perpetrator is still at large and there is also a survivor of an arson that killed a young child and left her in the wheelchair. Ellery knows what it's like to feel nobody is going to care enough to help you, however brutal the violence against was.
FBI Behavioural profiler Reed Markham and Ellery will always have a special connection. He saved her from Francis Cobin, although not before a considerable psychological trauma had been incurred. He will always feel he needs to continue rescuing the scared half-alive teenager girl as long as he lives. Ellery knowing that many victims live on a borrowed time (perhaps she even includes herself in this category) means she takes many risks and Reed willingly or unwillingly has to share them. Their relationship becomes deeper in this book and it will be great to see how it develops in the next part of the series.
There are twists and shocking reveals that will keep you turning the pages, but above all, this is a character-driven procedural that leaves you craving the next book. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the review copy provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh welcomes you to a remote town on the edge of the world where even the blinding brightness of the sun can’t mask the darkness that lies deep within a killer…

On the rugged West Coast of New Zealand, Golden Cove is more than just a town where people live. The adults are more than neighbors; the children, more than schoolmates.
 
That is until one fateful summer—and several vanished bodies—shatters the trust holding Golden Cove together. All that’s left are whispers behind closed doors, broken friendships, and a silent agreement not to look back. But they can’t run from the past forever.
 
Eight years later, a beautiful young woman disappears without a trace, and the residents of Golden Cove wonder if their home shelters something far more dangerous than an unforgiving landscape.
 
It’s not long before the dark past collides with the haunting present and deadly secrets come to light.
(From the book blurb)

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My thoughts:
This is my first book by this incredibly talented writer, so I had very few, if any, expectations. I was swept away by the beauty of descriptions of the West Coast of New Zealand:

....She stood on a jagged cliff looking out over the crashing sea below as fog wove through the treetops, a light misty rain falling and dissipating before it ever got to her...

Anahera Rawiri returns to her home town of Gloden Cove after eight years of absence, a successful career as a classical pianist and the death of her handsome, elegant and cheating husband. Anahera is a fascinating character and you gradually discover how her strength/ hardness are the result of tragic experiences in her childhood and adolescence. You also discover that she is fiercely loyal and kind.
Will is a decorated police officer who got sent away from Christchurch and is now serving as the one and only policeman in Golden Cove. He takes his job seriously and is liked by the locals, although he will never be able to change his status of an outsider.

When nineteen year old local girl Miriama goes on a run and vanishes into thin air, he leads first the search party and then investigation and finally solves the mystery, not only of Miriama's death, but also the cold case of hikers who disappeared several years ago in a similar way.
Will needs Anahera's help to discover what happened to the beautiful Miri, who was admired and courted by many local men as well as tourists passing through the town. There are plenty of suspects, as well as plenty of secrets that run 'like a thick tide of lava beneath the surface'. The poem in the prologue foreshadows the story:
 
...Sunshine.
That's what she was.
Sunshine.
Bright. A thing of life. A thing that could burn.
And this heart, it beat only for her.
It could murder for her.
For love. For Sunshine.

There is a touch of romance, but mostly Madness of Sunshine is a thriller which focuses on the tragic loss of human life. Whether you are a fan of Nalini Singh or you are new to this author, and are just looking for a mystery set in New Zealand, this unique story has a lot to offer.

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

From the book blurb:
Everyone knows a girl like Sloane. She was always The Single One. She never brought a plus-one to weddings. She was the woman you’d set up with your single cousin. She joined ballroom dancing classes to meet men and was the queen of online dating.

But then she met Myles. Perfect Myles, with denim-blue eyes and a dazzling smile that melted her insides. She’d finally found The One.

Except she didn’t imagine that Myles’s idea of Happy Ever After would include Sloane battling an overflowing laundry basket, buying birthday cards for his family, and ironing his Calvin Klein underpants.

Then Sloane finds out that Myles has a secret.

The fairy tale is well and truly over. Her heart is blown to smithereens. Eating her weight in Ben & Jerry’s and large Meat Feast pizzas can only get Sloane so far before she has to make a decision… Can she learn to love herself more than she loved the love of her life?

No, We Can’t Be Friends is a brilliantly relatable, hilarious and feel-good novel that every woman with a waste-of-space ex HAS to read! If you’re a fan of romantic comedies by Sophie Kinsella and Lindsey Kelk, and TV shows like Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Jane the Virgin, pick up this laugh-out-loud book – you won’t regret it.

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My thoughts:

I just adored this book!  I wouldn't know whether to put it in the category of contemporary women's fiction, humour, or romance. It's a life story, honest and relatable, but it is also incredibly entertaining (although not exactly laugh out loud) and hard to put down.

Sloane Cassidy is a successful professional- she is a co-owner of a PR/ talent agency. She has been married for five years to Myles, whom she loves deeply, and is thinking of starting family. When little cracks begin to appear in her marriage, she doesn't exactly brush them off, she just wants to double her efforts to be the best wife possible. After all, 'she's in it to win it'. Gradually Sloane discovers her husband might not be the man she has always imagined him to be. Oh, he can still make her laugh, and her body might still crave the warmth of his body in their bed, but how do you reconcile this with the secret text message 'I have never loved her.? How do you learn to see your relationship with the new eyes of knowing it was based on lies? How do you take off those rose-tinted glasses we all wear when we look at our One and Only? What do you do with your hopes for future which seemed already written somewhere? How do you give up your wish to become a mother when you are 35 and are facing a divorce?

Sloane is a fantastic character, a girl I would love to have as a friend in real life. She is kind and strong, sensible and realistic. She doesn't complain or wallow (maybe just a bit, but then we all need somebody to make us a strong cup of tea at the right moment and take care of us just for a day to let us get on our feet). She genuinely wants to re-build her life and understands that it will take time.
Sloane is not alone, of course, and that is not surprising. She cares about people around her and sees the best in them, and they stand by her when her own life seems to crumble.
I really loved her relationship with Megan and the way she turned up at the right moment to help the brand-new mother- sometimes it is all you need: a shower and 20 minutes to yourself and a conversation with an adult about anything not baby-related.
I hope I'm not going to spoil the story by saying that there is also a new man in her life, but the romance is so secondary, so in the background, that there is no doubt- this book focuses on Sloane and her divorce, rather than anything or anybody else.

Sophie Ranald wrote a very relatable story as any of us who have gone through a long-term relationship breakup or a divorce will vouch for, but also very uplifting and heart-warming. At the end of the day it is people in our lives (friends, family, co-workers, kind strangers) that matter, not houses or fancy decor. And we can make our own if not HEA, at least HFN, if we take our ife decisions in our own hands.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boukouture for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

Expected Publication Date: 10th of January 2020.

Beth Rivers, a.k.a Elizabeth Fairchild, a successful novelist, is kidnapped by her Levi Brooks, who has been stalking her for a long period of time. She manages to escape by jumping out of a moving van, but gets a brain injury which necessitates an urgent operation. Unfortunately, Beth cannot remember much about her kidnapping, although her doctor says her memory will come back gradually. Not being able to remember even the face of her tormentor, she doesn't feel safe in the hospital and after a bit of ingenious planning, she is on her way to a little town of Benedict (population: 500) in Alaska.

In her haste to put as much distance between herself and the hospital, Beth didn't do much research and managed to book herself into a halfway house, which is currently hosting only three non-violent felons. The local police chief has been informed about Beth's ongoing case (Levi Brooks hasn't been caught yet, so her whereabouts are known to just a few people) and is willing to do his best to make Beth feel welcome in the town. He offers her the positon of the editor of the local free newspaper and would even like her help in his investigation of a suspicious death of a local resident (okay, maybe this last bit was not entirely credible: a police officer involves a virtual stranger in an official investigation? still, I didn't find it hard to suspend my disbelief as the book was hard to put down and kept me up until small hours).

I really enjoyed this first novel in the Alaskan Wild Mysteries series. Beth with her uncanny powers of observation and sense of humour is a very likeable protagonist. The small town setting is ideal for the genre of mystery and the fictional world of Benedict, Alaska, is built up lovingly to make sure that the reader is going to look forward to the next book in the series.

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













From the book blurb:
First in a new series set in Alaska from beloved author Paige Shelton, Thin Ice will chill your bones.

Beth Rivers is on the run – she’s doing the only thing she could think of to keep herself safe. Known to the world as thriller author Elizabeth Fairchild, she had become the subject of a fanatic’s obsession. After being held in a van for three days by her kidnapper, Levi Brooks, Beth managed to escape, and until he is captured, she's got to get away. Cold and remote, Alaska seems tailor-made for her to hideout.

Beth’s new home in Alaska is sparsely populated with people who all seem to be running or hiding from something, and though she accidentally booked a room at a halfway house, she feels safer than she’s felt since Levi took her. That is, until she’s told about a local death that’s a suspected murder. Could the death of Linda Rafferty have anything to do with her horror at the hands of Levi Brooks?

As Beth navigates her way through the wilds of her new home, her memories of her time in the van are coming back, replaying the terror and the fear—and threatening to keep her from healing, from reclaiming her old life again. Can she get back to normal, will she ever truly feel safe, and can she help solve the local mystery, if only so she doesn’t have to think about her own?

From the Book Blurb:

In this charming, feel-good debut novel, a cynical assistant at a screenwriting agency must reenact the meet-cute scenes from classic romantic comedy movies in order to help her #1 client get his scriptwriting mojo back--but can a real-life meet-cute be in store for someone who doesn't believe in happily ever after?

After seven years as an assistant, 29-year-old Evie Summers is ready to finally get the promotion she deserves. But now the TV and film agency she's been running behind the scenes is in trouble, and Evie will lose her job unless she can convince the agency's biggest and most arrogant client, Ezra Chester, to finish writing the script for a Hollywood romantic comedy.

The catch? Ezra is suffering from writer's block--and he'll only put pen to paper if singleton Evie can prove to him that you can fall in love like they do in the movies. With the future of the agency in jeopardy, Evie embarks on a mission to meet a man the way Sally met Harry or Hugh Grant met Julia Roberts.

But in the course of testing out the meet-cute scenes from classic romantic comedies IRL, not only will Evie encounter one humiliating situation after another, but she'll have to confront the romantic past that soured her on love. In a novel as hilarious as it is heartwarming, debut author Rachel Winters proves that sometimes real life is better than the movies--and that the best kind of meet-cutes happen when you least expect them.

My thoughts:
 A thoroughly enjoyable rom-com about...the process of creating a rom-com. If romantic comedies happen to be one of your favourite genres, you are bound to recognize the familiar tropes and supporting characters (a group of best friends including a gay BFF, an adorable widower with an unusually bright child, an incompetent boss, a grumpy client with impossible demands,  two love interests to keep you watching (or rather reading in this case) until the very end, and a heroine who needs to remember her dreams and go and fight for them.
I really liked Evie, the 29 year old assistant at a screenwriting agency, overworked, underpaid and  long overdue promotion. In order to save her agency from a financial disaster, Evie needs to persuade their famous, but so arrogant client Ezra Chester to finish the rom-com script he had been working on before he developed a writing block. Evie's task is to re-enact classic meet-cutes in real life and report the dialogue to Ezra. Here comes a string of embarrassing and hilarious scenes that make up the protagonist's journey to self-discovery and meeting her own true love.
Great concept, entertaining dialogue (there's nothing I love more than a bit of banter), fun characters- definitely recommended.

Thank you to Edelweiss and G.P.Putnam's Sons for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.