Top Ten Tuesday – Books from my Past Seasonal TBR Posts I STILL Haven’t Read
/42 Comments/by Suzanne
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. Top Ten Tuesday has been one of my favorite memes ever since I started blogging, so huge thanks to Jana for taking over the hosting duties!
This week’s TTT topic is Books from my Past Seasonal TBR Posts I STILL Haven’t Read. I was actually impressed with myself when I sat down to do this topic because I had to go back through my seasonal TBRs all the way to 2017 in order to find ten books I still hadn’t read yet. I can’t remember but I think a couple of these may have been DNFs. Apparently I do pretty well on those seasonal TBRs. 🙂
Books from my Past Seasonal TBR Posts I STILL Haven’t Read
1. DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING by Tricia Levenseller (Fall 2019)
2. WHEN WE LEFT CUBA by Chanel Cleeton (Summer 2020)
3. SEAFIRE by Natalie C. Parker (Fall 2018)
4. WITH THE FIRE ON HIGH by Elizabeth Acevedo (Summer 2020)
5. DESCENDANT OF THE CRANE by Joan He (Spring 2019)
6. JACK KEROUAC IS DEAD TO ME by Gae Polisner (Spring 2020)
7. I STOP SOMEWHERE by T.E. Carter (Spring 2018)
8. THE STOLEN MARRIAGE by Diane Chamberlain (Fall 2021)
9. WE ARE OKAY by Nina LaCour (Spring 2017)
10. SOMETHING WILDER by Christina Lauren (Spring 2022)
* * * * * *
Question: Have you read any of these?
Review: THE BODYGUARD by Katherine Center
/21 Comments/by SuzanneAlso by this author: Things You Save in a Fire, What You Wish For
Published by St. Martin's Press on July 19, 2022
Genres: Contemporary Fiction, Fiction, Women's Fiction, Romance
Pages: 320
Source: Netgalley
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
Goodreads
FTC Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
I’m a huge fan of Katherine Center’s books and will read absolutely everything she writes. I love the emotional journeys she takes her characters on and even though she sometimes puts my emotions through the wringer, I’m always left with a smile on my face by the end of the book. The Bodyguard was a bit lighter of a read than I’ve come to expect from Center, with more of a romcom vibe at times, but let me tell you, I was here for it every step of the way and it’s my new favorite Katherine Center novel.
Hannah Brooks is a professional bodyguard and she’s at the top of her field. Lately though, she has been having a rough time. Her mother has recently passed away, and her boyfriend (who also happens to be her coworker) abruptly dumps her the day of her mom’s funeral. Hannah is dying for a change of scenery to get away from all the awkwardness and so her boss assigns her as the lead bodyguard for a huge new client who is coming to town, Hollywood mega star Jack Stapleton. Hannah is torn. She kind of wants to quit because she really wanted an assignment out of town, the farther away the better, but at the same time, she has had a crush on Jack Stapleton for ages so the opportunity to protect his rather stellar body definitely has its appeal.
Jack is back in Texas because his mother is sick. Coming home is painful for Jack because he is still reeling from a tragic accident that killed his younger brother. Because of this, he has been out of the spotlight for a while now and therefore doesn’t think he really needs a bodyguard. His agent feels otherwise though because he does have some stalkerish fans, and so Hannah shows up on his doorstep ready to protect him.
Once Jack and Hannah meet, I flew through the rest of this book. I loved that they were both such messy and complicated characters, each dealing with their own issues, but who also just really pushed each other’s buttons when they are first forced to start spending time together. Their banter is downright hilarious and had me laughing out loud more than once as I read. It was easy to see how good they could be together if they would both let their guard down a bit and let the other in and I was rooting for this to happen all the way.
As much as I adored the forced proximity trope in this story, I actually loved the use of the fake dating trope even more. Jack doesn’t want to worry his mom about stalkers and why he has a bodyguard following him everywhere, so he lies and tells his family that Hannah is his girlfriend. Jack’s parents are so adorable and I loved watching them bond with Hannah. They were so good to her that it had me all the more invested in Jack and Hannah hopefully becoming a real couple.
I don’t think what I’ve written has done justice to how wonderful The Bodyguard really is. It has a little something for everyone – romance, an emotional journey of personal growth for both Hannah and Jack, a found family, humor, and even a bit of action and suspense. The Bodyguard was everything I’ve come to expect from a Katherine Center novel and more.
About Katherine Center
Katherine Center is the New York Times bestselling author of How to Walk Away, the upcoming Things You Save in a Fire (August 2019), and five other bittersweet comic novels. Six Foot Pictures is currently adapting her fourth novel, The Lost Husband, into a feature film starring Josh Duhamel, Leslie Bibb, and Nora Dunn. Katherine has been compared to both Nora Ephron and Jane Austen, and the Dallas Morning News calls her stories, “satisfying in the most soul-nourishing way.” Katherine recently gave a TEDx talk on how stories teach us empathy, and her work has appeared in USA Today, InStyle, Redbook, People, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, Real Simple, Southern Living, and InTouch, among others. Katherine lives in her hometown of Houston, Texas, with her fun husband, two sweet kids, and fluffy-but-fierce dog.
Thriller Thursday Reviews: The Housemaid & An Honest Lie
/10 Comments/by Sharon
Hi everyone. It’s Sharon back with another Thriller Thursday. This week I am reviewing Freida McFadden’s, The Housemaid and Tarryn Fisher’s, An Honest Lie. I really enjoyed both of these books and I am happy to share my thoughts on them.
The Housemaid Goodreads
Author: Freida McFadden
Publication Date: April 26, 2022
Publisher: Bookouture
I could not resist the eerie cover of an eye peeking out of a keyhole, for Freida McFadden’s new book The Housemaid. From that cover and the synopsis, I knew this would be one twisted read and I was right.
Millie has had a tough life. She went to prison for 10 years when she was seventeen-years-old. She has been out on parole for a year when she applies for a live-in housekeeper job she knows once they do a background check, she will not get it, but to Millie’s surprise she does get the job. Unfortunately for Millie the job isn’t what she expected. When she interviewed for the job, the house was pristine and Nina Winchester, the owner, was such a nice person. When Millie showed up for her first day, the house was a mess and Nina was no longer the nice, caring person she was at the interview. Nina is doing everything she can to make Millie’s life a living hell, but Millie needs this job and she will not quit. And then Millie finds herself growing attracted to Nina’s husband, Andrew, and she dreams of what it would be like to be living Nina’s life. Be careful what you wish for, Millie!
This book is told in three parts. Part one is told from Millie’s POV. I liked Millie and sympathized with her as I got more information on her background. Millie is a strong person. When push comes to shove, she does not back down; she pushes back and pushes hard. From Millie’s perspective, we get to see how crazy Nina is. Oh, the things Nina would do! She accuses Millie of stealing her notes for the parent/teacher night and then after destroying the kitchen looking for them, yells at Millie for the mess. Nina has Millie get tickets to a play for a specific night and then accuses Millie of getting the tickets for the wrong night. Nina gives Millie some old clothes and then accuses her of stealing them. Everyday Nina seemed to be spiraling out of control more and more.
The second part of the book is told from Nina’s POV, and it is in this part we find out what is really going on. I didn’t like Nina very much in the first part of the book, but when I found out what was going on, I cut her some slack. Though I liked the outcome she was hoping for, I wasn’t fully on board with how she made it happen. Yes, vague I know, but if I tell you then you wouldn’t be surprised. LOL!
The third part of the book alternates between Millie and Nina and in this part, we see the outcome and aftermath of everything that happened in the book. And what an outcome it was!
The Housemaid was a very twisted and engrossing read. And even though I have read books that are similar in plot and sort of guessed how things were going to go, I still really enjoyed this book. There were lots of twists and turns at the end that did surprise me. 3 ½ stars
An Honest Lie Goodreads
Author: Tarryn Fisher
Publication Date: April 26, 2022
Publisher: Graydon House
I have enjoyed the two other books I have read by Tarryn Fisher, but while they didn’t knock my socks off, I was still excited to read her new book, An Honest Lie. And I am happy to report that this book surpassed the other two books I read.
Rainey Ives is an artist who relocated from New York to Tiger Mountain in Washington a year ago to live with her boyfriend Grant. Rainey is a private person and has never been that good at making friends, but to make Grant happy, she joins the Tiger Mountain Group. This group of women are part of Grant’s friend group that he has known for over twenty years. Rainey does her best to fit in, but she cannot get over the fact that a couple of women in the group do not like her. When the women plan a weekend away in Vegas, Rainey reluctantly goes. Vegas holds bad memories for Rainey. When she was a child her mother and her were part of a cult there. Rainey escaped, but she knows the cult leader, Taured, will do anything to get her back. So, when one of the women, Braithe, goes missing after a night of partying and Rainey receives threatening text messages from her phone, Rainey knows who has taken Braithe and that it is really Rainey they want. To save Braithe, Rainey has to face the past she has been running away from.
This book is told from the POV of Rainey but in two timelines, 1) present day and 2) when Rainey was fifteen years old and in the cult with her mother. Of the two timelines, my favorite was the past one. I really loved getting the back story on Rainey and what life was like for her in the cult. I had so much sympathy for everything she went through. At first, she bought into the whole cult thing, but as time passed and the more things she witnessed and discovered, she knew she had to get out of there. I loved how strong willed and determined she was.
That strong will and determination followed Rainey into adulthood, and while I thought the present-day chapters were a bit slow, once Braithe goes missing and Rainey sets her plan into motion to save her and face her past, the pace and tension picked up. I loved watching her take charge and plan everything out. Though some of her planning did not go as I thought it was supposed to, she had back-up plans as well, which just made me love her determination all the more. I was on the edge of my seat at the end of the book wondering how it was all going to play out.
If you like books that give you a look into the world of cults and that feature a strong protagonist then I recommend Tarryn Fisher’s An Honest Lie. 3 ½ stars