Secrets she left behind by Diane Chamberlain: 19 year Maggie is out of prison for participating in starting a fire that cost three lives. Several people in her community are affected by her release and her family is trying to help her start over and deal with chain reaction of events this release started. Diane is the queen of writing about family drama, I could not put this book down. 4/5 Stars
One night on the island by Josie Silver: Cleo is spending her 30th alone, on a remote Irish island at a small cabin. She is suppose to use that time to marry herself, this is all part of a work assignment. Unfortunately for her, Mack a US traveler seems to think that the cabin is available to him as well. They are in a pickle as the island doesn’t have any other accommodations so they are forced to share the cabin. Cleo is single and Mack is separated from his wife and missing his two sons. That doesn’t stop them from falling for each other. This was one of the best love stories I’ve read recently, it had some elements of sadness but was beautiful. 4.5/5 Stars
Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka: Ansel Packer is scheduled to be executed in 12 hours but he’s convinced he’s found a way to escape and will finally share his manifesto. A series of women have been the victims of Ansel’s cruelty and this book takes you from Ansel origin story, where to survive a young woman had to make the difficult decision to leave her young sons behind. This book was incredible 5/5 Stars
The Club by Ellery Lloyd: The home group is set to open their new exclusive celebrity member’s club for a 3 day extravaganza called Island Home. But this project is not going as smoothly as it looks. The members are pissed and the employees are beyond stress. To make things worse, two bodies were found on the island during the big opening party and now the place is riddled with law enforcement trying to figure what exactly happened. The beginning of this book almost lost me but I’m happy I kept going, this story had so many twists and turns, I was entertained the entire read. 4/5 Stars
Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman: Chani’s writing career took off after she wrote an amazing article about an upcoming American actor Gabe Parker, that would be the new Bond. During the interview, Chani and Gabe really hit it off and spent the weekend together, attending a movie premier and a party at Gabe’s house where she got drunk and spent the night. Her article went so viral that 10 years later she is still being asked if anything ever happened between them. Now divorced she is asked again to interview Gabe, he is now sober after being fired from the 3rd Bond movie. Chani is not excited as she and Gabe definitely have unfinished business. This was such a nice love story, that almost didn’t happen. 4.5/5 Stars
The Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand: At this point I read all of Elin’s new novels, this one started slow for me but quickly picked up. The Hotel Nantucket was acquired by a London based billionaire and renovated beautifully. The hotel had the reputation of being haunted but the new staff is determined to get the highest ratings from an undercover influencer that reviews all sorts of establishments all over the world. Unfortunately, the ghost is still very much present and more determined than ever to get the story of her death out in the public even after 100 years. This book was truly a delight, there were so many side stories, it’s the perfect beach read. 4/5 Stars
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune: This story goes back and forth between now and 15 years ago. Perse and Sam met when they were just 13 years old and quickly became best friends after Perse’s parents bought a cabin next door to Sam’s house. Perse quickly grew up looking forward to spending holidays in the cabin so she can spend time with Sam. In the current time, Perse and Sam are no longer on speaking terms but Sam’s brother Charlie, calls her out of the bleu to say that their mom passed away. Perse was close to Sam’s mom and feel the need to attend the funeral where she will have confront Sam again. I went into this one blind and it was such a beautiful story of friendship, love, betrayal and forgiveness. I truly could not put it down. 4/5 Stars