Can’t Wait Wednesday – THE UNDERMINING OF TWYLA AND FRANK by Megan Bannen
/8 Comments/by Suzanne
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about. It is a meme that I have loved participating in since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.
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My selection for this week is The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen. I read The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy last year and just loved how unique and heartwarming it way, so I’m eager to read more from this author. Plus, how can I resist something described as When Harry Met Sally but with dragons?!
THE UNDERMINING OF TWYLA AND FRANK by Megan Bannen
by Orbit
Publication Date: July 2, 2024
From the author of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy comes a heartwarming fantasy with a best friends-to-lovers rom com twist–When Harry Met Sally, but with dragons!—set in the delightful demigod and donut-filled world of Tanria.
The entire town of Eternity was shocked when widowed, middle-aged Twyla Banneker partnered up with her neighbor and best friend, Frank Ellis, to join the Tanrian Marshals. Eight years later, Twyla and Frank are still patrolling the dangerous land of Tanria, the former prison of the Old Gods.
Twyla might look like a small town mom who brings cheesy potatoes to funerals and whips up a batch of cookies for the school bake sale, but her rewarding career in law enforcement has been a welcome change from the domestic grind of mom life, despite the misgivings of her grown children.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) a recent decrease in on-the-job peril has made Twyla and Frank’s job a lot safer … and a lot less exciting. So when they discover the body of one of their fellow marshals covered in liquid glitter–and Frank finds himself the inadvertent foster dad to a baby dragon–they are more than happy to be back on the beat.
Soon, the friends wind up ensnared in a nefarious plot that goes far deeper than any lucrative Tanrian mineshaft. But as the danger closes in and Twyla and Frank’s investigation becomes more complicated, so does their easy friendship. And Twyla starts to realize that her true soul mate might just be the person who has lived next door all along…
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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂
Thriller Thursday Reviews: No One Can Know & There Should Have Been Eight
/10 Comments/by Sharon
It’s Sharon’s Thriller Thursday! I hope you are all doing well. I cannot believe tomorrow is March already. This week I am excited to share my thoughts on Kate Alice Marshall’s, No One Can Know and Nalini Singh’s, There Should Have Been Eight. I loved both of these books so much and I know nothing I said in my reviews will do them justice. If you have these on your to-read list or even if they are not, I definitely recommend them.
No One Can Know Goodreads
Author: Kate Alice Marshall
Publication Date: January 23, 2024
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Kate Alice Marshall is a relatively new author to me, but after reading No One Can Know, she is now on my auto buy list.
When Emma Palmer was sixteen years old, her parents were murdered. Emma had been out the night her parents were murdered, but when she returned home, her two sisters, eighteen-year-old Juliette and twelve-year-old Daphne were in the hallway where their mother lay dead. Emma did not know who killed her parents, but she took it upon herself to protect her sisters, even if that meant letting people think it was her who killed them. Emma is now thirty years old and has not been back to her hometown since she was eighteen. She has also been estranged from her sisters and has not seen or spoken to them in years, but Emma and her husband Nathan now need to return as they have lost their apartment and their bank account has dwindled to almost nothing. Coming home means that Emma must now face her past and finally get answers to who killed her parents.
The story is told from the POV of Emma, Juliette (who now goes by JJ), and Daphne, both in the present as well as the past. I really loved Emma. She got the short end of the stick when it came to her parents’ affection. Neither of her parents were great to any of the girls, but Juliette was the obedient one and her mother’s favorite, and Daphne kept in the shadows and was more their father’s favorite. Emma was the defiant one. I loved learning more about the girls and what happened that night from the past chapters. I really hated how Juliette and Daphne let Emma take the fall for their parents’ murder though. But I did like that as adults they were there for her now and had her back.
Emma is pregnant and being back home and seeing how everyone in town still thinks she is guilty of her parents’ murder has made Emma determined to find out what really happened. Emma does not want her child to grow up with a mother who everyone thinks is guilty of murder. The more Emma learns about what happened that night, the more her life was in danger. I loved her determination though. Her child is her top priority, even if it means she needs to turn one or both of her sisters in.
I was all over the place on who I thought was the murderer. With each new piece of information that Emma uncovered my mind would change on who I thought was guilty. No One Can Know was full of so many twists and turns right up until the very last page. I did not figure anything out and was shocked when all was revealed. 4 ½ stars
There Should Have Been Eight Goodreads
Author: Nalini Singh
Publication Date: November 21, 2023
Publisher: Berkley
I have only read one other book by Nalini Singh and when I read the synopsis for There Should Have Been Eight, I knew I was going to enjoy it. And I was right.
Luna, Vansi, Kaea, Ash, Aaron, Phoenix, Bea, and her sister Darcie met when they were teenagers and have all been best friends since. That is until nine years ago when Bea killed herself. Though they have stayed in touch, they are not as close as they once were. Darcie organizes a reunion at her family’s isolated estate. This reunion is a chance to reconnect and reminisce about Bea, as well as celebrate Aaron’s engagement to Grace. What starts out as a fun reunion soon takes a deadly turn. A storm has moved in, and the group is stranded at the estate and must fight to survive the night.
I loved everything about the book, though there is not a lot I can say without spoiling things. I loved the gothic setting. The estate has been in Darcie and Bea’s family for generations and is run down and has a lot of secret passageways to move about. Nalini Singh did a great job of creating this eerie setting.
The story is narrated by Luna, and I just loved her. Luna is a photographer, and she was in her glory taking photos of the estate. I love to take photos, though I am in no way a photographer, so I was getting excited with Luna as she pulled out her camera to take photos of the estate and grounds. I also had a lot of sympathy for Luna. She has a condition that is making her lose her eyesight, which is just devastating for her. Luna is also having a hard time coming to terms with Bea killing herself. That was not like Bea at all, and Luna does not believe it for a minute. Luna is having a hard time forgiving Darcie, since Darcie had Bea cremated right away and scattered her ashes alone without any of the others there.
As things start to happen to the group – someone put a beloved doll of Bea’s on Darcie’s bed, cut Kaea’s hiking boots, so he fell while hiking and hurt his leg bad, pushed one of them down the stairs – the group realizes that someone is out for revenge. I thought I had things figured out, not only with who was behind everything that was happening at the estate, but also what really happened to Bea. I was kind of right, though not completely.
There Should Have Been Eight was a slow burn mystery, with lots of twists and turns. Singh did a great job of creating this story. Between the great characters, the eerie gothic setting, and the mystery of what was going on and who was responsible, I was engrossed from beginning to end. 4 ½ stars
Can’t Wait Wednesday – THE EX VOWS by Jessica Joyce
/8 Comments/by Suzanne
“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, which encourages fellow bloggers to spotlight upcoming releases that we’re excited about. It is a meme that I have loved participating in since I first started blogging, but as Jill is no longer actively posting, from now on I’ll be linking to Can’t Wait Wednesday, hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings, which is a spinoff of the original WoW meme.
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My selection for this week is The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce. I adored this author’s debut novel so I’m beyond excited to read this new one from her. I’ve seen it being compared to Happy Place and Love and Other Words, two books I loved, which makes it even more appealing.
THE EX VOWS by Jessica Joyce
by Berkley Romance
Publication Date: July 16, 2024
Estranged exes must stick close together to save their best friend’s wedding after a string of disasters in this swoony and steamy second-chance romance from the USA Today bestselling author of You, with a View.
Georgia Woodward lives by her lists, none more so than the one about her ex, Eli Mora. It’s full of the ironclad dos and don’ts they’ve been following since she returned to the Bay Area after their cataclysmic breakup five years ago.
With the wedding of their mutual best friend, Adam, looming, and them about to step into their roles as best woman and man, Georgia’s never needed it more. She refuses to threaten their tight-knit friend group with her messy—and still very present—feelings. The rules on that list will keep her cool, calm, and compartmentalized.
What’s not on her list? Eli arriving from New York with a new rule-breaking attitude or the all-inclusive venue burning to the ground, leaving the bride and groom in dire straits. Nor does she anticipate Adam asking her and Eli to help him make a miracle happen. Together.
As Georgia and Eli rush up to Napa Valley to pull off the perfect wedding, their old chemistry comes back in technicolor. Somewhere between cake tastings gone wrong, disastrous DJ auditions, and Eli’s heated attention, Georgia starts recognizing the man she fell in love with before. And if she lets herself break her rules, she might find what they’re building isn’t the something old that ruined them—it’s a chance at something new.
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I’d love to hear what upcoming book releases you’re waiting on this Wednesday? Leave me your link in the comments below and I’ll stop by and check out your CWW selection for this week. 🙂