Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell

Don't Let Him In by Lisa Jewell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
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Nina Swann is intrigued when she received a condolence card from Nick Radcliffe, an old friend of her late husband, who is looking to connect after her husband’s unexpected death. Nick is a man of substance and good taste. He has a smile that could melt the coldest heart and a knack for putting others at ease. But to Nina’s adult daughter, Ash, Nick seems too slick, too polished, too good to be true. Without telling her mother, Ash begins digging into Nick’s past. What she finds is more than unsettling…

Martha is a florist living in a neighboring town with her infant daughter and her devoted husband, Alistair. But lately, Alistair has been traveling more and more frequently for work, disappearing for days at a time. When Martha questions him about his frequent absences, he always has a legitimate explanation, but Martha can’t share the feeling that something isn’t right.

Nina, Martha, and Ash are on a collision course with a shocking truth that is far darker than anyone could have imagined. And all three are about to wish they had heeded the same warning: Don’t let him in. But the past won’t stay buried forever.
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This was amazing. I have no notes.

Okay, I will offer some notes because this is a book review. Lisa Jewell is a treasure. I just started seriously reading her books in the last year, and the continually keep me on the edge of my seat. This one was interesting because it was obvious who the bad guy was the entire time...and wow, was he ever bad! But I still spent the majority of my day today racing through this book (start to finish...this is one of those thrillers that you will want to read in one sitting) so that I could see what happened in the end.

The ending left me completely satisfied. Just when I think I can't enjoy one of Jewell's books as much as the last one, she writes another masterpiece and proves me wrong. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

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Sunny Side Up by Katie Sturino

Sunny Side Up by Katie Sturino
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Celadon Books for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
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Sunny Greene is thirty-five, recently divorced, facing the looming prospect of going solo to her little brother’s wedding, and currently trying to find anything plus-sized in the Bergdorf Goodman swimsuit department that doesn’t make her want to cry. It’s not going well. But isn’t rock bottom the perfect place to start a climb?

She decides it’s now or never. Sunny has her PR empire, her gorgeous Chelsea apartment, her two dogs, and her loyal best friends. Maybe it's time to just love her body and accept herself for who she is. With a new commitment to confidence, her journey begins. Who says a plus-sized divorcee can’t put herself first, feel beautiful, and date up a storm?

Of course things are never straightforward in the dating world. Is fate knocking at her door with Dennis, the charming and down-to-earth mailman, or should she be with Ted, the business tycoon who seems ready to make her size-inclusive swimsuit brand a reality? And what should she do about her ex, who shows up unexpectedly, eager to reconnect?

With the same candor and confidence her followers love, Sturino brings us Sunny Greene, a Carrie Bradshaw for the next generation, and her journey through the trials and triumphs of dating, friendship, and finding yourself.
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Oh, this book. In the end, I ended up really liking it, but I waffled back and forth quite a bit in the middle. I am someone who has struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember, and I have finally arrived at a place that I would call body acceptance, so there were parts of this book that were a little...triggering is not the right word, but they did press on a tender spot that is still within me. Experiencing Sunny's navigation of this issue was at turns frustrating and inspiring, and there were a few instances that I found her intensely unlikeable, but I did come around and root for her in the end.

There were some predictable bits that unfolded exactly as I expected them to. There were some characters that behaved exactly as you would expect them to. But there was also a sweet romance and a strong theme of women supporting women and a protagonist whose story I did end up really enjoying. I was not familiar with Katie Sturino's work before reading this book, but she now has in me a new subscriber on Substack and I am eager to hear more from her after reading this fiction debut.

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The Restaurant (The Nantucket Restaurant #1) by Pamela Kelley

The Restaurant by Pamela M. Kelley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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Mandy, Emma and Jill O'Toole are as close as three sisters who live hundreds of miles apart can be. They grew up together on Nantucket, but have scattered around the country. When their beloved grandmother passes peacefully in her sleep a week before her ninety-ninth birthday she leaves them quite a surprise. In addition to her Nantucket home, they learn that they've inherited Mimi's Place, one of Nantucket's most popular year-round restaurants. They had no idea that she was the silent owner of a restaurant, and no idea how they're going to handle this kind of inheritance.

There is of course, a catch―she left the restaurant equally to Mandy, Emma, and Jill―and also to Paul, the executive chef for the past fifteen years.

And before they can sell, all three women need to work at the restaurant for a period of one year. Now they have to examine their priorities and figure out a way to make it work, all while discovering that Mimi's Place is in serious need of a facelift. The restaurant hasn't changed in years, and its finances are declining. Meanwhile, Nantucket is a special place, a tight-knit and insular upscale beach community, both supportive and challenging.

Three sisters, each at a crossroads in her own life, facing the challenges of a surprise inheritance in the close-knit community of Nantucket.
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When I requested this book from NetGalley, I did not realize it was a rerelease of a book I had already read...in 2020. However, since it was back then a four-star read, I decided to give it another go, and it was still enjoyable this time around. I am a big fan of Kelley's books set on the island of Nantucket and enjoyed the cameos of some of her characters from the Nantucket Beach Plum Cove series. I remembered parts of this book, but after five years, plenty of it was unfamiliar to me, so it was certainly not a hardship to reread it.

I love stories about sisters, and this was no exception. I also tend to love books that surround cooking or restaurants, so this also had that going for it. I appreciated the little bit of romance in there, and I loved hearing the back story of how it was that Grams came to be the silent partner in Mimi's Place. And it was a pleasure watching them bring the restaurant back to life, all while figuring out exactly where they fit into the equation. All in all, this was a fun summertime read from one of my auto-buy authors, and it was a great way to spend a day of my current staycation. I would still rate it a solid four stars.

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The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
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June, 1975.

The Taylor family shatters in a single night when two teenage siblings are found dead in their own home. The only surviving sibling, Vincent, never shakes the whispers and accusations that he was the one who killed them. Decades later, the legend only grows as his career as a horror writer skyrockets.

Ghostwriter Olivia Dumont has spent her entire professional life hiding the fact that she is the only child of Vincent Taylor. Now on the brink of financial ruin, she's offered a job to ghostwrite her father's last book. What she doesn't know, though, is that this project is another one of his lies. Because it's not another horror novel he wants her to write.

After fifty years of silence, Vincent Taylor is finally ready to talk about what really happened that night in 1975.
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I do love a good thriller. And I have come to love the kind of thriller that Julie Clark writes. Told in dual timelines, this book takes us from the modern day, when Olivia is trying to get to the root of a long-ago mystery while recapturing her career as a ghostwriter, to half a century ago, when her father's life and that of his family fell apart. It is full of twists and turns, and while I had my suspicions about who the bad guy might actually be, I really was kept guessing right up until the very end. I loved how the relationship between Olivia and her father unfolded, and I enjoyed every page of this fast-paced novel. This was the kind of book that you will want to read in one sitting, and I can say that with confidence because that is exactly what I did today!

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Just Beachy by Wendy Wax

Just Beachy by Wendy Wax
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
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After losing her long-time acting gig on the hit show Murder 101, Sydney Ryan decides she needs a break from Hollywood politics. She heads to Treasure Island, Florida where her grandmother has been visiting and now refuses to leave. Sydney’s plan to lie low for a bit quickly goes awry though, as she is swept up in her grandmother’s now flourishing social life—Grand not only bought a new house in Casas de Flores, she’s also helping her neighbor Myra open a bookstore in Pass-a-Grille. But when someone breaks into Grand’s house repeatedly Sydney realizes her grandmother is keeping something from her.

Determined to ferret out the truth and protect her grandmother, Sydney enlists the help of the Ten Beach Road ladies and Luke, a local police officer who was once her high school crush. While Sydney puts her television crime-solving skills to the test, she decides to act on the sizzling chemistry between herself and Luke. And as Sydney spends more sunsets toasting to true friends and new romance, she begins to wonder if the sun is setting on her time in Hollywood and if this town could be the dawn of a new chapter.
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I was so excited when I learned that a new Wendy Wax book was on its way! And when I found it was going to bring us back into the world we were first introduced to in the Ten Beach Road series, I was ready to do a little happy dance. After all, how often are you given an opportunity to return to a beloved series year later to check in and see how the characters are doing? This book does introduce also a whole new cast, and they are just as delightful as our friends from Bella Flora. Wax brings us what seems like a mystery novel but is really so much more. This is a celebration of women's relationships, both family and friendship. We get to meet strong, independent females who remind us that women can do anything when they work together. We get some comic relief, some NSFW bits, and some swoony romance thrown in. Most of all, we get to enjoy that Wendy Wax is back writing the kinds of books we love from her.

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The Lost Book of First Loves by RaeAnne Thayne

The Lost Book of First Loves by RaeAnne Thayne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Canary Street Press for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
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Raised by her literary icon father Carson Wells, Alison Wells always felt loved, even though her mother died when she was a teen. But when she takes a DNA test on a whim and discovers she has a sister she never knew about, it’s clear there are things her father didn't tell her before he died. Determined to meet Juniper—her half sister—and unravel the truth of what happened all those years ago, Ali finds herself taking a job as Juniper’s intern. She’ll eventually figure out a way to tell Juniper the truth of their relationship. But she never could have imagined what would happen next…

Juniper Connolly has always been incredibly healthy…until she wakes up in the hospital after experiencing cardiac arrest, with her new—and recently fired—intern to thank for saving her life. It’s clear June needs to de-stress her life a little, so when Ali offers her the use of her family’s cabin in a small Wyoming town, June has no reason not to go. But when she arrives, her life will never be the same.

Under the wide-open spaces of the Wyoming summer sun, Ali and June will untangle the secrets and lies their lives were built on to discover who they really are and what family really means. But even more than that, they'll build a real relationship with one another and finally become sisters.
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You can always count on RaeAnne Thayne. In this book, she gives us another of her touching novels, exploring family relationships, both family of origin and found family, set against the beautiful backdrop of Wyoming. I loved the exploration of this sisterhood, and it was a pleasure to experience the growth and change that the characters went through as the story progressed. And not to worry! There was also some of Thayne's trademark romance thrown in for the reader's enjoyment.

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