THOUGHTS ON THIS 'n THAT

  Happy Halloween. Here's the perfect book to spook you out! ALL HALLOWS (StMartinsPress) is full of tricks and treats! Author, Christopher Golden brings the thrills and chills to your very home . It’s Halloween night, 1984, in Coventry, Massachusetts, and two families are unraveling. Up and down the street, secrets are being revealed, and all the while, mixed in with the trick-or-treaters of all ages, four children who do not belong are walking door to door, merging with the kids of Parmenter Road. Children in vintage costumes with faded, eerie makeup. They seem terrified, and beg the neighborhood kids to hide them away, to keep them safe from The Cunning Man. There’s a small clearing in the woods now that was never there before, and a blackthorn tree that doesn’t belong at all. These odd children claim that The Cunning Man is coming for them...and they want the local kids to protect them. But with families falling apart and the neighborhood splintered by bitterness, who will save...

Debut Novelist, Claudia Lux takes us to hell and back in her novel, SIGN HERE (Berkley).  Darkly humorous, surprisingly poignant, and utterly gripping debut novel about a guy who works in Hell (literally) and is on the cusp of a big promotion if only he can get one more member of the wealthy Harrison family to sell their soul. Peyote Trip has a pretty good gig in the deals department on the fifth floor of Hell. Sure, none of the pens work, the coffee machine has been out of order for a century, and the only drink on offer is Jägermeister, but Pey has a plan—and all he needs is one last member of the Harrison family to sell their soul.   When the Harrisons retreat to the family lake house for the summer, with their daughter Mickey’s precocious new friend, Ruth, in tow, the opportunity Pey has waited a millennium for might finally be in his grasp. And with the help of his charismatic coworker Calamity, he sets a plan in motion.   But things aren’t always as they seem, on Ea...

  IN PAULETTE STOUT'S NEW NOVEL, WHAT WE NEVER SAY (SmithPublicity/MediaGoddess,Inc.), SOMETIMES SECRETS ARE TOO BIG TO IGNORE.   Kyle and Rebecca must now act to reclaim their lives before it’s too late. Rebecca's blog for women is gaining traction, in fact the top women's fashion magazine notices and hires her to write an article for them. But while Rebecca is thrilled, her super-hunky boyfriend, Kyle is anything but. Kyle's been keeping a secret from Rebecca. He was a star model eleven years ago. He got lots of attention, including the kind he's been trying to put behind him. Events past and present collide and the duo must find a way to finally right this wrong. I enjoyed What We Never Say. It tackles a subject rarely written about. The story is intriguing, and Stout's writing is crisp and tight, but there are a few plot lines that tie up too smoothly and cleanly. I really liked Rebecca's BFF's Barbara and Leslie. The three of them formed the perfect...

  Once again, Barbara Linn Probst takes us on a journey a few may have traveled, but most of us can only imagine. In The Color of Ice (SheWritesPress), Cathryn McAllister's, a photographer who has never been able to pursue her dream to make art gets her chance. She's the mother of two adult children and alone after the accidental death of her cheating husband. She realizes she has the opportunity to do what she wants. She walks away from a commercial photography career and takes up freelancing. She learns of a job interviewing a glassblower in Iceland and takes it. She'll do the job and go sight seeing after, or she thinks.. Henry Malcolm Charbonneau, known as "Mack" is Cathryn's subject. He's creating a glass series inspired by the blue glaciers of Iceland. He's emotionally unavailable and he has secrets but Cathryn finds something intriguing about him. She finds herself going into his workroom to "help out" when not needed.  Cathryn and Mac...

  I was thrilled to get the opportunity to read the memoir, NEWSROOM CONFIDENTIAL (StMartinsPress) by Margaret Sullivan. My career for twenty plus years was also in journalism, television broadcast. Everyday was different and I was constantly learning. I can't imagine having had another career.  Margaret Sullivan has worked in print newsrooms for four decades, big and small. In her new memoir we follow her journey from being an intern in a small Buffalo newsroom to being the first woman to become the public editor of The New York Times and then media critic at  The Washington Post. She shares how it wasn't easy dealing with sexism and fighting, some even physical in this highly competitive business.  At the beginning, many men and women pursued journalism as a calling. But now it is a business, plain and simple. Journalists try to be truthful and accurate, but various public figures claiming unfairness in their coverage, lapses in judgement, calls for diversity ...

LAST LIAR STANDING (RedAdeptPublishing) by Danielle M. Wong is the twisted, intense, chilling thriller readers will devour in one sitting. Vonny Kwan wakes up in a Nevada hospital, the victim of a hit-and-run accident she doesn’t remember. As she struggles to recover from her injuries, she realizes she doesn't have any memory of the past nine years, including her marriage and what she was even doing in the West. While she’s still reeling from the shock of her amnesia, two detectives visit and inform her that her husband, John, was recently murdered. As more information comes to light, Vonny grows increasingly suspicious of everyone around her. Vonny realizes she must piece together the last decade to uncover the truth. The missing chunk of time holds secrets about the person she became, the mysterious man she fell for, and the life she never wanted. LAST LIAR STANDING is a fast paced thriller and I bet you won't know the ending until the last page. Danielle has created in Vonny...

  Amy Reichert has a written a holiday novel that introduces readers to a magical land. ONCE UPON A DECEMBER (Berkley) takes us to a special place where it is Christmas all year long. With a name like Astra Noel Snow, holiday spirit isn’t just a seasonal specialty—it’s a way of life. But after a stinging divorce, Astra’s yearly trip to the Milwaukee Christmas market takes on a whole new meaning. She’s ready to eat, drink, and be merry, especially with the handsome stranger who saves the best kringle for her at his family bakery. For Jack Clausen, the Julemarked with its snowy lights and charming shops stays the same, while the world outside the joyful street changes, magically leaping from one December to the next every four weeks. He’s never minded living this charmed existence until Astra shows him the life he’s been missing outside of the festive red brick alley. After a swoon-worthy series of dates, some Yuletide magic, and the unexpected glow of new love, Astra and Jack must d...

  Larry Atlas has dipped his feet in many challenges over his life. His latest endeavour, author. SOUTH EIGHT (WebatuckPress) is his debut novel. The emotionally-charged story of  South Eight  follows a young doctor’s collision with the demands and contradictions of modern acute care medicine, both its power and failings, and the moral questions it ultimately provokes. For Dr. Abel Arkin, those questions reach back to his time as the spotter on an Army sniper team in Afghanistan, when the clarity of his training and skills converged with the uncertainty of mission outcomes and personal trauma. The old dilemmas and doubts join those of the present when a newly arrived patient tries to blackmail him with the threatened exposure of a wartime catastrophe, and simultaneously underlines Arkin’s increasing ambivalence about what he is actually accomplishing for his patients, what may be missing from the life-and-death calculations he makes everyday. In pitch-perfect language, At...

  In Lecia Cornwall's new novel, THAT SUMMER IN BERLIN   (Berkley) German power is rising again, threatening a war that will be even worse than the last one. The English aristocracy turns to an age-old institution to stave off war and strengthen political bonds—marriage. Debutantes flock to Germany, including Viviane Alden. On holiday with her sister during the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Viviane’s true purpose is more clandestine. While many in England want to appease Hitler, others seek to prove Germany is rearming. But they need evidence, and photographs to tell the tale, and Viviane is a genius with her trusty Leica. And who would suspect a pretty, young tourist taking holiday snaps of being a spy?   Viviane expects to find hatred and injustice, but during the Olympics, with the world watching, Germany is on its best behavior, graciously welcoming tourists to a festival of peace and goodwill. But first impressions can be deceiving, and it’s up to Viviane and the journa...

  WARNING: This novel includes  "trigger themes," that may affect people with a history of trauma, mental illness, self harm and/or addiction. CANARIES AMONG US (SheWritesPress)  explores one of the most widespread threats to children’s well-being: a lack of acceptance. Kayla Taylor starts her day as an ordinary parent at a respected school, but her family’s life turns upside-down when her child becomes the prime target of bullying. Taylor assumes the school will partner with her to solve the problem but is confounded when she finds the opposite: officials not only turn a blind eye to cruelty but also ostracize and attack anyone who speaks up against it.  Frustrated by this failure to protect vulnerable students, Taylor researches the challenges those in charge are most unwilling to discuss with her—like bullying, learning differences, and anxiety. She then digs deeper to study empowering responses that are woefully absent from many parenting books and teaching curri...

  #1  New York Times  bestselling author Susan Mallery's second book set in the small town of Wishing Tree, Washington is the witty and heartfelt story of two friends who unexpectedly find the person--and the place in which--they belong this Christmas, for fans of Elin Hildebrand, Robyn Carr, and Susan Wiggs.   This small-town life wasn’t supposed to be for Camryn Neff. But after her mother died, Camryn moved home to Wishing Tree, Washington to care for her teenaged twin sisters and run the family wrapping paper business, Wrap Around the Clock. She loves her sisters and would do anything for them but, when they head off to college, she’s excited to move back to Chicago and restart her real life, completely attachment-free. So when a prospective client schedules a meeting and announces Project: Jake’s Bride, a plot to find a wife for her son, Camryn is completely disinterested. And when this client announces that Camryn is a candidate, she’s horrified. Being tied down...

  Sarah McCraw Crow examines family, marriage, love and grief in the 70's in her debut novel, THE WRONG KIND OF WOMAN (MIRA). If you were around then, it's an interesting walk down memory lane, particularly for women. If you weren't, you'll learn something, especially how hard if was for women at home and at work, if they were even  allowed to work. It's late 1970 when Virginia Desmarais' professor husband drops dead. They live on the grounds of a very isolated private New Hampshire college. Virginia has always shared her husband's prejudice against the so-called "gang of four" - a group of women labeled "radical elements" for trying to bring the women's movement to the college.  THE WRONG KIND of WOMAN explores the self within a marriage, sexism in the workplace and the pros and cons of activism versus revolution. It's a study of women's friendships and finding the strength to forge ahead new paths while the world is changin...

  WILD AT HEART (OnyvaPress) by Stacy Gold is the first novel in her Wild Love series. Gold is known for writing romance novels, not the damsel in distress kind, but complex relationships that experience love and struggles. Her novels are about second chances and in WILD AT HEART(OnyvaPress) sparks are flying. They each hit the trail solo in search of themselves… Overworked entrepreneur Jules Martinez is sick and tired of men leaving her for their exes. Determined to wipe the giant, scarlet R for rebound off her forehead, she kicks off a yearlong vow of celibacy with five, blissful weeks backpacking her favorite trails through Washington State. Solo. Out-of-work financial analyst Evan Davenport hasn’t been happy since camping in Scouts as a kid—before his wealthy parents and now ex-fiancé made all his major life decisions. Hoping to find joy and purpose, he buys all the latest ultralight backpacking gear, flies to Washington, and sets off alone on a weeklong speed hike through the...

  Judith Katz, author of  The Escape Artist  and  Running Fiercely Toward A High Thin Sound calls THE TAKE-OVER FRIEND, " A really good story about the very complex world of trying to find out who you really are." In THE TAKE-OVER FRIEND(FitzroyBooks) by Carol Dines, it's the the second day of ninth grade. Introverted Frances meets Sonja, a wildly funny newcomer from France, and the girls form a fast friendship.  Frances adores Sonja's worldliness, and Sonja adores Frances's family, especially her older brother, Will. Frances and Sonja immediately declare themselves "The Poets" and rally their homeroom to enter the homecoming parade with a poetry-mobile built from Frances's father's old band bus.  Family crises begin to escalate and tensions come to a head when Sonja temporarily moves in with Frances's family - forcing each friend to decide how close is too close. Alternatingly funny and poignant, The Take-Over Friend is a smart page-turner t...