The Exact Opposite of Okay by Laura Steven - and Giveaway

Title: The Exact Opposite of Okay (Izzy O’Neill #1) 
Author:  Laura Steven

Publication: Harper Collins, hardcover, June 2019

Genre: Young Adult

Plot: Eighteen year old Izzy O’Neill knows exactly who she is — a loyal friend, an

aspiring comedian, and a person who believes that milk shakes and Reese’s peanut butter cups are major food groups. But after she’s caught in a compromising position with the son of a politician, it seems like everyone around her is eager to give her a new label: slut.

The Daughter's Tale by Armando Lucas Correa - and Giveaway

Title: The Daughter’s Tale
Author: Armando Lucas Correa
Publication: Atria, hardcover, May 2019 (translated from Spanish)
Genre: Historical Fiction

Plot: Berlin, 1939. Amanda Sternberg and her husband, Julius, dreamed of blissful summers spent by the lake at Wannsee and unlimited opportunities for their children. But that all falls apart when the family bookshop is destroyed and Julius is sent to a concentration camp. Now, desperate to flee Nazi Germany and preserve what’s left of her family, Amanda heads toward the south of France with her two young daughters—only to arrive with one. In Haute-Vienne, their freedom is short-lived, and soon she and her eldest daughter are forced into a labor camp, where Amanda must once again make an impossible sacrifice.

Tear Me Apart by J.T. Ellison (Book Review)

Title: Tear Me Apart
Author: J.T. Ellison
Publication: Mira Books, Trade Paperback, September 2018 (ebook also available)
Genre: Psychological Suspense
Giveaway:  I have one copy to give away to US or Canadian readers. Please leave an email by 9/7/18 if you are interested!

Plot: The follow-up to her critically acclaimed Lie to Me, J.T. Ellison’s Tear Me Apart is the powerful story of a mother willing to do anything to protect her daughter even as their carefully constructed world unravels around them.

One moment will change their lives forever…

Competitive skier Mindy Wright is a superstar in the making until a spectacular downhill crash threatens not just her racing career but her life. During surgery, doctors discover she’s suffering from a severe form of leukemia, and a stem cell transplant is her only hope. But when her parents are tested, a frightening truth emerges. Mindy is not their daughter.

Who knows the answers?

The race to save Mindy’s life means unraveling years of lies. Was she accidentally switched at birth or is there something more sinister at play? The search for the truth will tear a family apart…and someone is going to deadly extremes to protect the family’s deepest secrets.

Moving through time, Tear Me Apart examines the impact layer after layer of lies and betrayal has on two families, the secrets they guard, and the desperate fight to hide the darkness within.

Audience: Readers who don’t mind staying up late!

My Impressions: I could not put down this thriller and finished it about 2 am! It starts with an attractive young skier bound for the Olympics who instead has a bad fall – a situation we have all seen and sympathized with – and then it takes off as years of lies are exposed, bit by bit, moving from the past to the present and back again. I especially liked the talented and empathetic aunt (surprise!), Juliet, who is devoted to her niece, Mindy, but still clearsighted about the issues surrounding her medical situation. I did not find the segments from the past to be very convincing; moreover, certain aspects of the plot were signposted to the reader and there were holes that a self-respecting detective should have investigated, which lessened the impact of the last 20% of the book. Despite these flaws, this was an enjoyable if not entirely convincing read by an author who knows how to deliver suspense, and it was perfect for the last few weeks of summer!  I had read and reviewed Lie to Me by this author but I liked this much better.

Purchase Links: Barnes & Noble * IndieBound * Amazon * Books-A-Million

Source: I was provided a copy of this book by Mira Books and TLC Book Tours for review purposes. You can visit other stops on the tour and read the reviews by clicking below:

Monday, August 27th: @prose_and_palate

Monday, August 27th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Tuesday, August 28th: Bewitched Bookworms

Thursday, August 30th: Palmer’s Page Turners

Friday, August 31st: Jathan & Heather

Monday, September 3rd: Books & Bindings

Tuesday, September 4th: Moonlight Rendezvous

Wednesday, September 5th: @katyslibrary

Thursday, September 6th: The Book Diva’s Reads

Friday, September 7th: Becky on Books

Monday, September 10th: Novel Gossip

Tuesday, September 11th: 5 Minutes for Books

Wednesday, September 12th: Midwest Ladies Who Lit

Wednesday, September 12th; @girlwithnoselfie

Thursday, September 13th: @basicbsguide

Friday, September 14th: Girl Who Reads

Monday, September 17th: Helen’s Book Blog

Monday, September 17th: @bookishconnoisseur

Tuesday, September 18th: Thoughts on This ‘n That

Wednesday, September 19th: @bookenetics

Thursday, September 20th: Why Girls Are Weird

Friday, September 21st: Cheryl’s Book Nook

Monday, September 24th: @hollyslittlebookreviews

Tuesday, September 25th: Thoughts from a Highly Caffeinated Mind

Wednesday, September 26th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Thursday, September 27th: A Bookworm’s World

Friday, September 28th: Book Reviews and More by Kathy

The Chalk Man (Book Review and Giveaway)

Title: The Chalk Man
Author: C. J. Tudor

Publication: Crown Publishing, Hardcover, 2018

Genre: Psychological Suspense

Giveaway:  I have one copy to give away to someone who likes suspense.  Please leave a message by March 3rd telling me why you would like to be entered and I will pick a winner.  U.S. only.

Plot: In 1986, Eddie and his friends are scruffy English schoolboys on the verge of adolescence. They spend their days biking around their sleepy little village and looking for any taste of excitement they can get. The chalk men are their secret code; little chalk stick figures they leave for one another as messages only they can understand. But then a mysterious chalk man leads them right to a dismembered body, and nothing is ever the same.

The Last Chance Matinee (Book Review and Giveaway)

Title: The Last Chance Matinee: A Hudson Sisters Novel
Author: Mariah Stewart
Publication: Gallery Books, Trade Paperback, March 2017
Genre: Contemporary Romance

Description: When Hollywood agent Fritz Hudson passes away, he leaves families on each coast who didn’t know of the other’s existence. His first wife was an over the top movie star, now deceased, with whom he had two daughters. Allie Hudson, divorced and having just lost her job, is stressed about finances and sharing custody of her pre-teen daughter in Los Angeles. Her sister, Dee, is a former child star, now living quietly in Montana, with a few close friends, spending most of her time as an animal volunteer. After his first marriage fell apart, Fritz fell in love with a calm and affectionate woman in New Jersey, who gave him one daughter, Cara. Cara runs a new but successful yoga studio, and has just suffered heartbreak when her husband left her for a close friend, not long after her mother’s death.

Her Sister's Shoes (Book Review and Giveaway)

Title: Her Sister’s Shoes
Author: Ashley Farley
Publication: Trade Paperback and eBook, Leisure Time Books, 2015
Genre: Fiction

 

Plot: Three very different sisters, Jackie, Samantha, and Faith face the challenges of juggling career and family in a small South Carolina coastal town. Jackie, an interior decorator worried about turning 50, is still trying to impress the affluent women who “run” the town (mean girls who have not changed since high school), and has neglected her doctor husband and twin sons in the process.

Stillwater (Book Review & Giveaway)

Title: Stillwater
Author: Nicole Helget

Publication Information: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, hardcover, 2014, ISBN 0547898207

Genre: Historical Fiction      

Setting: 19th century Minnesota

Plot: Clement and Angel are twins left at a small orphanage in the frontier town of Stillwater, Minnesota.   Angel, adopted by a wealthy local couple, is the victim of Munchausen by proxy syndrome, while her brother, Clement, left cruelly behind at the orphanage, is cared for by the headmistress nun and an elderly Indian, Big Waters.  Stillwater Home for Orphans is also an important stop on the Underground Railroad, and even as a child Clement becomes involved in the transport of this precious commodity – human lives.   Davis, the son of one unfortunate runaway slave, is taken in by the kindhearted women in Stillwater’s brothel, The Red Swan (their antics provide some humorous relief to the dark depiction of frontier life).  As the three children grow up, their lives remain connected although Angel’s marriage causes heartbreak to Davis, causing him to enlist with Clement in the Stillwater Guard of the First Minnesota (shades of Emily Webster’s grandfather!).  Depiction of life in the Union Army makes even the turmoil of Stillwater seem like a picnic.