THOUGHTS ON THIS 'n THAT

End-of-life care—or assisted death In Tammy Euliano's novel, FATAL INTENT (Oceanview), elderly patients start dying at home days after minor surgery and anesthesiologist Dr. Kate Downey wants to know why. The surgeon, not so much. “Old people die, that’s what they do,” is his response. When Kate presses, surgeon Charles Ricken places the blame squarely on her shoulders. Kate is currently on probation, and the chief of staff sides with the surgeon, leaving Kate to prove her innocence and save her own career. With her husband in a prolonged coma, it’s all she has left. Aided by her eccentric Great Aunt Irm, a precocious medical student, and the lawyer son of a victim, Kate launches her own unorthodox investigation of these unexpected deaths. As she comes closer to exposing the culprit’s identity, she faces professional intimidation, threats to her life, a home invasion, and, tragically, the suspicious death of someone close to her. The stakes escalate to the breaking point when Kate,...

I was so excited to learn part two of Ashley Farley's "Palmetto Island" series was being published. I got my hands on, CHANGE of TIDES (LeisureTimeBooks) and all it took was one day to catch up with my girls, Birdie, Hannah and Max. It was like old times. It's been three years, since Birdie's husband and Hannah's father, Cary left them. They've had to struggle with issues like alcoholism, embezzlement, pregnancy and other secrets. Hannah is a single mother with three year-old son, Gus and she hasn't told the father. They live with Birdie in a small apartment above the bakery she owns. Cary shows up out of the clear blue, expecting life to go back to the way it was. Will it? CHANGE of TIDES is all about the changes a family faces. Some are good, others not so much, but if they're lucky, they have good friends to help them navigate. I love the characters in Ashley Farley novels. They're the kind of people you'd like to know in real life. Her...

  Tolstoy wrote the often quoted phrase, "all happy families are alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."  In Sonja Yoerg's novel, THE FAMILY SHIP (LakeUnionPublishing) the family is under great deal of distress and one of the daughters who has suffered trauma herself is determined to keep the family together. Mauve and Navy Veteran, Arthur Vergennes are the parents of nine children, with the tenth on its way. It's Chesapeake Bay, 1980.The Vergennes have purchased a house, with a dry-docked oyster boat on the property. They turn it into a make-believe destroyer named the USS Nepenthe. On Saturdays, it's the center of family time when the children play and learn how to be responsible. But tragedy strikes when the oldest son, Jude leaves, and Mauve dies following a miscarriage. The eldest daughter, Virgil is sexually assaulted when she's thirteen and the family has never fully healed. Her father refuses to let her go to college. THE FAMILY SHI...

  "Perfect mothers didn't exist, only perfectly flawed ones did." Ruth Tuttle and Xavier Shaw are an Ivy-league educated, professional, Black couple on the quest for the American dream in a gentrified neighborhood on Chicago's, South Side. They have high paying jobs, a townhouse, cars, money and according to Xavier, it's time to start a family. But Ruth has a secret. Debut author, Nancy Johnson's novel, THE KINDEST LIE (WilliamMorrow) opens on election night 2008. They are hosting an election results party at their home when Barack Obama wins, welcoming in a new era of hope. But for Ruth, it brings back memories of her struggling up-bringing in an Indiana factory town. She was raised by her grandmother and brother after her drug addict mother abandoned them.  When Xavier decides its time to start a family, Ruth is first ambivalent about having a child and then she tells him the truth. Revealing her ugly secret drives a wedge between the two of them, so Ruth de...

  It's time to go underwater with Detective Sloan McPherson in BLACK CORAL (Thomas&Mercer) - Book 2 of 3 in Andrew Mayne's, "Underwater Investigation Unit" series. FYI: The book works as a stand-alone. Detective McPherson finds more comfort being underwater, even in a murky South Florida canal than living with what lurks above. She's called in to help retrieve an auto accident victim, who drove into a canal. While doing her best to stay away from the gators, including 13-foot Big Bill she also comes across a van. To those on land it looks like a tragedy, but McPherson knows there's more. Once jurisdictions agree to haul the van out of the muck, they make a gruesome discovery. It's only the beginning in an investigation into dozens of cold cases. This is book two in the series, and I loved the first one, "Girl Underneath." Living in Miami, I enjoy how the book takes readers around South Florida and I learn a lot about the area. Sloan is a grea...

"Some criminals are born. Others are formed by circumstances." Dr. Emma Sweeney has a lovely life. She has a sweet five year-old son named Josh and she's married to her soulmate, Detective Nate Sweeney. In DO NO HARM (GalleryBooks) by Christina McDonald, all is well, until Josh is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Not only are Emma and Nate horrified to realize their son is about to experience painful procedures, they learn their insurance won't pay for a new aggressive form of treatment. The first treatment is two weeks away and the hospital expects to be paid nearly one-hundred thousand dollars up front. Their church has a bake sale, friends start a Go-Fund Me page, but there's no way the Sweeney's will come up with the money. "Sometimes you do the wrong things for the right reasons." The opioid epidemic is alive and well where the Sweeneys live outside of Seattle, and a lot of people are making hundreds of thousands of dollars off it. Dr. Swee...

  "That's the thing about dogs. They don't need a reason to love you. They just do." It's been fifteen years since Miami Beach high-school sweethearts Danielle Morrow and Knox Donovan have seen each other. The last time, Danielle had lost their baby and Knox was enlisting with the Marines. They never got to say goodbye. Now Danielle runs foster care for retired racing greyhounds and works with her father, Dr. Morrow at his clinic. She has two rescues of her own and she guards her heart from ever loving again. Knox quietly sneaks into town and starts working construction with his two brothers. He has a leg injury after surviving an IED in Afghanistan and regularly goes to therapy, hoping someday he'll be able to return to combat. He's much more hardened and protective of his heart, as well. Both are secretly happy to see the other at the opening of the Fur Haven Dog Park. but there is still a lot of hurt and unspoken words between them. Both think the other...

"What a handsome dog! Would it be all right if I pet him?"   It all begins with a meet-cute between The Man, a writer and The Woman, an editor. The Man is walking home after rescuing a border collie at the shelter. The Woman stops him and names the dog, Gatz on the spot. It turns out, The Great Gatsby is their favorite book. They become a couple on the spot. JOINT CUSTODY (Berkley) by the mother-daughter, Logsted team is a story about a very special dog. Gatz, who brings The Man and The Woman together and does just about anything, well let's just say everything, he eats two-pounds of chocolate, to keep them together. It's told from the perspective of Gatz and he wants the three of them to be a forever family. It could have been gimmicky, but Gatz is a real fleshed out character you can't help but love.  After three years, The Man and The Woman break up. The Man suggests joint custody because he knows The Woman loves Gatz. She gets Monday through Friday, he gets we...

  I went into MILK FED (Scribner) blind. I hadn't read Melissa Broder's previous novel, THE PISCES which just about the whole world went crazy for. It was the cover of MILK FED that caught my eye. So imagine being thrilled and shocked when delving in, and finding it easily one of the most filthy, hilarious, embarrassing (I'm glad I was reading it on my Kindle) and and insightful stories on how our parents ruin us. Rachel is a 24 year-old lapsed Jew, who counts calories like its a religion. By day she slogs at a talent agency, before heading off to the gym where she sweats on the elliptical to no where and finishes the day performing comic sets at a nightclub, "This Show Sucks." "Do you want to be chubby or do you want to get boyfriends?"  Rachel's mother has been on her about weight and getting a boyfriend, since she was born and her therapist, Dr. Mahjoub suggests a communication detox for ninety-days. Rachel's mother freaks out, whining about b...

  Historical Fiction author, Renee Rosen once again sweeps readers into a very specific time in American life - The Gilded Age of 1876 - 1910, in her new novel, THE SOCIAL GRACES (Berkley). It was a period of rapid economic growth and all that went with it. Mark Twain coined the term "The Gilded Age" because everything was glittering on the surface of society, but there was corruption and suffering underneath. THE SOCIAL GRACES explores the battle between Mrs. Caroline Astor, leader of the old-moneyed Knickerbockers and Mrs. Alva Vanderbilt, nouveau riche and despised by the upper crust. Both were waging a war to control New York Society. Readers are swept away by the many over-the-top balls in Manhattan and summer in Newport "cottages," the size of museums. The Suffrage movement is only in its infancy so wealthy women, their clothes and jewelry are still the property of their husbands and divorce "never" happens in polite society. That's a main reason...

It's been a while since I post many of the names of our winners here at THOUGHTS on THIS 'n THAT. Most of you should have all received your books, some are still being prepped to mail today. In the future, it'd be lovely if you could post a picture of the book you won on FB/BluePointPress or instagram @cindyroesel_readsandwrites We'd like to know you're receiving the books we send out to you, our followers. Nancy P., Jane BB, Sylvia CB, Ellen P., Leland, Penny S., Joy Y., Jen T., Diane S., Denise H., Nina W., Enid G., Rina H., Kimberly E., Carla S., Mindy O., Ann C., Melissa N.

  UNTIL WE ARE LOST (LakeUnionPublishing) is a psychological thriller that'll keep you up through the night. There are many plots and compelling characters, I couldn't put it down. It's about twin sisters, Tara and Sophie Peary, or is it really? Tara is in therapy twice a week with Dr. Christie Lind because her twin sister, Sophie has gone missing and she can't remember the last six months of her life. Tara knows she has to dig deep in order to heal, but she's frightened of what she might find in her memories. Both of her parents abused her, but the truth is locked in her mind and she can't tell her doctor. Sophie is the wild child. She's traveled all over the country drinking, drugging and having sex. It's once she returns to New York City that she finds herself deep in trouble and the only one who can help and protect Tara. I don't want to give anything away because the plots are so tightly written and the action so fast. It's a modern take on ...

  Aubrey Sentro is a new black female protagonist in Daniel Pyne's new thriller, WATER MEMORY (Thomas&Mercer). She's a top-secret black ops agent, who kicks ass and then takes names. She's been in this line of work for several decades while her husband took care of the home-front and her two kids, Jeremy and Jenny. Dad has passed away, the kids are grown up and think mom works for an insurance risk mitigation company. Huh? Exactly. Aubrey starts having headaches and problems with her vision and memory. She goes to a private doctor who tells her she's had too many concussions and TBIs and now she's suffering from post-concussion syndrome.  Clients expect high levels of invisibility in her line of work. She screws up one too many times, so her employers tell her to take some time off. It's no week at the spa for Aubrey. She goes on a freighter cargo-ship as passenger just hoping for some rest and relation. Of course, that doesn't happen; all hells breaks l...