What's in the (e)mail

All (or most) of these books can be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org, Apple, Kobo, etc.

NG = NetGalley

Melissa:
Chasing Stardust by Erica Lucke Dean from Lake Union (NG)

Bluebird Gold by Devney Perry from Kathleen Carter Communications (print)

Lady X by Molly Fader from Ballantine (NG)

Summer State of Mind by Kristy Woodson Harvey from Gallery (NG)

The One Day You Were My Husband by Rosie Walsh from Viking (NG)

Abby Offsides by Anna McCallie from Ballantine (NG)

Gap Year by Lindsey Goldstein from Egret Lake Books (NG)

My Year of Really Bad Dates by Rachel J. Lithgow from BookSparks (print)

Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan from Putnam (NG)

Burnout Summer by Jenna Ramirez from St. Martin's Press (NG)

You Can't Hurry Second Chances by Michelle Stimpson from Sourcebooks (NG)

Meet the Newmans by Jennifer Niven from Flatiron (NG)

The Parisian Chapter by Janet Skeslien Charles from Atria (NG)

Take Me with You by Steven Rowley from Putnam (NG)

The Phone Swap by Lia Louis from Atria (NG)

A Fortune of Sand by Ruta Sepetys from Ballantine (NG)

Jessica Harmon Has Stepped Away by Reyna Marder Gentin from Caitlin Hamilton Marketing (NG)--Don't miss out on our giveaway!

The Fortune Flip by Lauren Kung Jessen from Forever (NG)

It's Not Her by Mary Kubica from Harlequin (print)

Sara:

I'm Not the Only Murderer in My Retirement Home by Fergus Craig from Berkley (NG)

No Matter What by Cara Bastone from Random House (NG)

One Beautiful Year of Normal by Sandra K. Griffith from BookSparks (NG)

Jami:

The Hostess by Courtney Psak from Kaye Publicity (NG)

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Book Review: The Measure

By Melissa Amster

Eight ordinary people. One extraordinary choice.

One morning, small wooden boxes appear on doorsteps across the world. Inside each is a string that reveals exactly how long its owner will live. From city apartments to desert tents, everyone faces the same haunting question: Do you want to know your fate?

As society tilts between chaos and connection, eight lives become entwined — best friends whose paths diverge, strangers who find solace in letters, a couple forced to confront time’s limits, a doctor unable to heal himself, and a politician whose decision sets off a national reckoning.

In The Measure, Nikki Erlick weaves a sweeping, deeply humane story about choice, destiny, and the fragile beauty of the time we’re given — a novel that asks not how long we live, but how fully.

The Measure was my book club's pick for October and I feel like this is their best pick of the year! I am so glad I finally got a chance to read it. It was thought-provoking, captivating, touching, heartbreaking, and hopeful. It led to a lot of interesting discussions at the book club meeting.

There was a lot of relevance to current events, even though this released three years ago. Almost eerie in some ways, like Nikki had predicted the future when writing this novel. It reminded me a bit of the movie Crash and the novel They Both Die at the End. There were also some similarities between this novel and Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty. 

I liked all the characters except one, who is meant to be a nemesis. Everyone was just really interesting to me and I felt bad for the ones with short strings, as well as their long-stringed loved ones. It made me wonder if I would open the box or not want to know. I'm leaning toward the latter, like one of the characters in this story was resolute about doing. There's a lot of emotional distress, as well as dilemmas about what to do in certain situations. I got really angry with people at times (mostly the villain and the mob mentality). However, there's a nice string of hope woven throughout and you will even see kindness shine through.

My only concern (which was a concern for Here One Moment too) was that the connections were too coincidental. Most of the characters live in New York City, which is huge. How do they all manage to link up so easily? Of course, we could take it as the author finding a segment of the city and taking a snapshot of a group of people who could likely connect with each other due to proximity. 

As soon as I finished this novel, I knew I had to read The Poppy Fields right away and have done so recently. I'll be reviewing that one soon, as well. I highly recommend The Measure and even told my husband he has to read it!

(Trigger warnings below.)

Movie casting suggestions:

Nina: Camryn Grimes
Maura: Alexandra Shipp
Ben: Michael Hsu Rosen
Hank: Chris Sullivan
Amie: Kaitlyn Dever
Anthony: Sam Worthington

Jack: Garrett Wareing

Javier: Xolo Maridueña

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TW: Multiple shootings. Loss of loved ones. Death at a young age.

Sara and Melissa Talk About...Museums of Our Lives

We've been running a column series to get more personal with our readers. We are now into our sixth year!

This month, Sara gave the prompt that she got from someplace: Create a museum of your life. Talk about the objects or images you would include and why.

We're always open to topic suggestions, so please don't hesitate to share those in the comments. We'd also love to know if you can relate to anything we've said or hear your own thoughts on the topic. So don't be shy. :) We look forward to getting to know you as much as we're letting you get to know us. You can find our previous columns here, in case you missed them.

Sara Steven:

I can’t remember what I’d read online that prompted our topic for this month, but I thought a museum of one’s life was a pretty interesting concept. I think a lot of us tend to think that what we’ve done or accomplished isn’t something to be celebrated, but we all contribute to the interconnectivity that makes humanity what it is. To those who know you, you are important and valued. And what you’ve done means something, worthy of a museum.

Some of what I’d have displayed in my own museum:

Teen years are some of the most angsty years we’ll ever go through, and I love how open and wild I am at seventeen. 

This was not expected. I was never meant to go to college. I’m the first person in my family to attend and graduate from a four-year institution, with a 4.5 GPA. If you’d known me when I was seventeen, you wouldn’t have expected it, either.

 

My family will always be displayed in my museum. I would not be where I am or who I am without them. 

I’ve taken some time away from it, but I write.

I also garden. I grew up with grandparents who celebrated gardening, but I didn’t get into it until much later in life. I get a kick out of seeing things grow. 

No matter what else I choose to do, I always go back to running.

I joke and say that Sedona, Arizona is my spirit animal. I love it out there. 

We recently lost our beloved cat, Chance. The funny thing is, he was cantankerous for years and only seemed to love me, but in the last half decade or so, he settled in and had trust in us, his family. The same spirited creature who would bite you if you even attempted to pet him, would allow us to rub his belly and give him lots of love; he’d chilled out. Finally. This felt like a huge loss for all of us. If anything could be said about Chance, it was that he did things on his own terms and had such a huge personality. 

Me, now. Getting ready to garden.

Melissa Amster:

A long time ago, Sara and I did this blog project with two other friends. One of the topics was inspired by How I Met Your Mother, where the characters are seeing their past selves as museum exhibits. I wrote about my college personality for that topic. Today, I'm writing about who I am now and what a museum of my life would look like.

I can tell you this...it would probably be chaotic and cluttered, much like how certain parts of my house are, as most of that is my doing. (I still haven't put non-perishable groceries away and some are sitting out from weeks ago.)

For the museum of my life, I am just going to share about some rooms that you would likely see if you visited. 

The Book Room. Like that's not obvious or anything. It would be a smaller-scale version of the library in Beauty and the Beast because I love that movie so much and I can relate to Belle a lot.

The Obsessions Room. This would be a room that had different video stations where people could watch (or stream) one of my many past or present obsessions, whether it's Rent, Hamilton, Schitt's Creek, Ghosts, The Princess Bride, Rocky Horror, etc.

The Family Room. This would be a room showcasing photos and videos of my husband and kids from various times in our lives. I'd also include some extended family stuff, like photos of my adorable nephew (as long as my sister is okay with that). 

The Friends Room. This would be set up in a different way, where you can press a button next to someone's name and learn about how we became friends and see what our friendship dynamic is like. If you are new to my life, you can even take a compatibility test to see what your friendship with me would be like.

The Jewish Room. This room would have Judaica objects, samples of food like challah, brisket, cholent, potato kugel, matzo ball soup, babkas, etc. Yes, you get to try food like you're in a Costco. This room would also look like the inside of our sukkah. 

The Thrift Shop Room. I would just show off a lot of my fun thrift shop finds, which is mainly clothes. 

The Theater Room. Not only would this be decorated with Playbills from all the musicals I've seen, but it would also have a stage where people could do showtunes karaoke or put on improv shows. 

The Nostalgia Room. I love 80s and 90s stuff and would be sure to stock the room with things that I grew up with, such as Cabbage Patch Kids, Care Bears, Baby-sitters Club and Sweet Valley High books, Rainbow Brite dolls, old school Barbies, a Nintendo with my favorite games, cassettes of music from that era, VHS tapes of movies from that era, etc. 

Saw this at a Vrbo house we rented. Brought back memories!

What would be in the museum of your life?

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Lorraine Zago Rosenthal delivers a memorable story...plus a book giveaway

Today we are pleased to have Lorraine Zago Rosenthal visiting us. Her latest novel, Always and Forever, is now available and it sounds like a powerful story. Lorraine has one copy to share with a lucky reader!

In addition to her latest novels, Always and Forever and Charmed, Lorraine Zago Rosenthal is the author of Other Words for Love, published by Random House (Delacorte Press), New Money, and Independently Wealthy, both published by Macmillan (St. Martin’s Press). 

Lorraine was born and raised in New York City, and she is a graduate of the University of South Florida. She earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degrees in education and English. She currently lives near Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband. 

You can visit Lorraine at her website and you can connect with her on Instagram.

Synopsis:

Three decades ago, a tragedy ignited a chain of events that devastated two New York City families and still haunts them today. Even their youngest members, Suzanne Starek and Jay Darnell, haven’t been left unscathed.

Suzanne is at the end of her twenties and has been plagued by misfortune, including her parents’ ill-fated union and the abrupt demise of her promising childhood career. Although she treasures her lifelong bond with Jay, being his best friend isn’t enough. She has spent years hiding her feelings for him and trying to understand her mother’s cryptic warning to keep him at a distance.

Suzanne wavers between staying safe and reaching for love while she helps Jay cope with his own mother, a glamorous and troubled widow. But when a clash between the families reveals shocking truths, Suzanne must decide how she will move forward from the heartbreaking past. (Courtesy of Amazon.)

"An elegant, slow-burning portrait of quiet heartbreak and enduring love.

Always and Forever ...explores love, loss, and the people we can't let go. [Lorraine Zago Rosenthal's] prose is quietly luminous and deeply empathetic...the book is populated with rich supporting characters...the narrative is layered with personal and familial drama...bitter generational conflict, and unresolved grief. At the beautifully melancholic story's heart is Suzanne's aching question: What do we do with the love we can't express?

 OUR VERDICT: GET IT" - Kirkus Reviews

What is a favorite compliment you've received on your writing?
When my first novel, Other Words for Love, was published, several positive reviews expressed surprise that the book is a debut. These comments are certainly flattering; however, although Other Words for Love is my first published novel, it took many years of work, study, and practice of the writing craft to achieve that goal. It didn’t happen overnight. 

How is Suzanne similar to or different from you? 
One similarity is that Suzanne tries to see conflict from different perspectives. For example, there is tension and resentment between her mother and her grandfather, and even though her grandfather once made a decision that damaged her mother’s life, Suzanne still has compassion for him. As an author of realistic fiction, I strive to view conflicts from all sides and to portray characters neither as saints nor as villains. 

If Always and Forever were made into a movie, who would you cast in the leading roles?
When I write a novel, I definitely visualize actors as most of the characters—but I don’t publicly reveal the identities of these actors, because I want readers to have their own unique vision based on the descriptions in the story. But if Always and Forever became a movie, I would be quite outspoken about the casting choices! 

What is the last book you read that you would recommend?
I’ve been so busy lately with the publication process for Always and Forever, I haven’t had much time to read—but when I’m able to find some free time for a good story, I watch TV or a movie—so I’ll recommend a TV series that is very similar to a novel. 

I recently re-watched The Night Of, which originally aired in 2016. It’s about a young man accused of a terrible crime, and his family and his defense lawyer don’t know if he’s guilty—and neither does he. He is imprisoned while awaiting trial, and his personality is drastically altered by the experience. The story, setting, and struggles of all the characters are incredibly well done. The series delves so deeply into the personality and evolution of each character that it feels like a book come to life on the screen. I have learned a great deal about writing from studying TV and film—and The Night Of is a masterclass. 

If your life was a TV series, which celebrity would you want to narrate it? 
That’s a tough one! I guess it would be fitting to choose somebody with a New York accent. I think my own accent has been diluted from years of living elsewhere, but people tend to know where I’m from before I tell them—so I guess I still sound more like a New Yorker than I realize. 

If we were to visit you right now, what places would you take us to see?
My house was renovated not too long ago, and I had a great time redecorating, so I would love to show you around my home—especially after I deck the halls for the upcoming holiday season!

Thanks to Lorraine for chatting with us and for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use KingSumo to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using KingSumo on our blog, enter the giveaway here.

Giveaway ends November 25th at midnight EST.

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Book Review: Ask for Andrea

By Becky Gulc

Meghan, Brecia, and Skye have just one thing in common.

They were all murdered by the same man.

He hunted them online, masquerading as an eligible bachelor. Then he played the perfect gentleman, a thick layer of charm and a thousand-watt smile hiding the fact that his first dates end in shallow graves.
He’s gotten away with murder three times now.

The only thing that might keep him from killing again? The women he murdered.

Meghan, Brecia, and Skye might be dead, but they’re not gone. They’ve found each other. And they won’t rest until they find a way to stop him.

The haunt is on. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

I saw many recommendations of Ask for Andrea on a particular Facebook group I’m part of, so I simply had to get hold of a copy and see if would really be as great as everyone was saying! But what is it about?

Ask for Andrea centres around three women (Meghan, Brecia and Skye) who are all horrifically murdered by the same man. The plot is based on these three women seeking justice - ensuring the man does not get away with his crimes and can never hurt another woman. How can they do that beyond the grave? As ghosts of course!

Now I’m not usually into the supernatural within fiction, I wouldn’t usually gravitate towards this, but I found it completely compelling and unique. It took me back to when I first watched Ghost, a film I loved! My heart was broken for each of the women with their lives cruelly cut short. It covers grief from both the perspective of the living and the dead and was incredibly moving. 

Whilst it took some time to get to grips with each person’s narrative, this came together for me in time. I felt the story, whilst dramatic from the offset, really built as it progressed with all the tension surrounding someone else who was in danger leading to some exceptionally tense closing chapters. I understand why so many people have thoroughly enjoyed this book! 

More by Noelle W. Ihli:

Forget You Saw Her

Room for Rent

Such Quiet Girls

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Reyna Marder Gentin steps into the spotlight...plus a book giveaway

We're pleased to welcome Reyna Marder Gentin to CLC today and to celebrate the publication of her latest novel, Jessica Harmon Has Stepped Away! This mother and daughter story is sure to grab and hold your attention. Thanks to Caitlin Hamilton Marketing, we have one copy to give away!

Reyna Marder Gentin grew up in Great Neck, New York, and earned her undergraduate and law degrees from Yale. After a career as an appellate attorney with a public defender’s office, she turned to writing full-time. Her debut novel, Unreasonable Doubts, was a finalist for the 2019 Women’s Fiction Writers Association Star Award. My Name Is Layla (2021) won the Moonbeam Children’s Award gold medal for pre-teen fiction, and Both Are True (2021) was praised by The Nanny Diaries co-author Nicola Kraus as “a moving novel that examines what it means to start over—with surprising consequences.” Reyna lives with her family in Scarsdale, New York.

Visit Reyna online:

Website * Facebook * Instagram

Synopsis:

Jessica Harmon has spent her life in an emotional tug-of-war-yearning for her mother's attention while bracing for the rejection that always followed.

At thirty, Jessica's love life is a wreck, her confidence is shot, and she's adrift in New York City, stuck editing other people's novels at a vanity press while too paralyzed to write her own. She blames her failure to launch on the woman who raised her: Cynthia Harmon, a legendary poet and scholar, who dazzles her students and readers alike...but leaves her only child cold.

When Cynthia wins yet another major literary award and asks her daughter to assist her on the book tour, Jessica decides to give their relationship one last chance. When a crisis upends Cynthia's triumphant moment, the power dynamic begins to shift between the two women, and cracks start to show in the story Jessica has always been told-about her mother, her family, and herself.

Jessica Harmon Has Stepped Away is a sharp, emotionally layered novel about mothers and daughters, long-held secrets, and understanding where we come from so we can choose who we become. (Courtesy of Amazon.)

"A stunning story brimming with emotional insight and razor-sharp prose. With pitch-perfect wit and aching vulnerability, this novel delivers a poignant, empowering portrait of a woman finally stepping out of the shadows and into her own voice."

- Jacqueline Friedland, USA Today bestselling author of Counting Backwards

"Jessica Harmon Has Stepped Away is an honest and absorbing exploration of mothers and daughters. Spanning elite literary circles, long-held secrets, and eventual tragedy, Gentin brilliantly captures the pain and longing of familial abandonment, the path to acceptance, and the people we should know best, but never fully do. Poignant and unputdownable."

- Rochelle B. Weinstein, bestselling author of What You Do to Me

What is a favorite compliment you have received on your writing?

When a reader told me that she was so moved by the strength and courage of a character in my debut novel who was coping with a terminal illness that it gave her strength and courage to face the death of her father.

How is Jessica similar to or different from you?

Jessica is similar to me in that she’s searching — for purpose, for connection, for a way to express herself. 

If Jessica Harmon Has Stepped Away was made into a movie, who would you cast in the leading roles?

I could see Emmy Rossum as Jessica, Annette Bening as Cynthia, and Dev Patel as Raj.

What is the last movie you saw that you would recommend?

The Holdovers.

If your life was a TV series, which celebrity would you want to narrate it?

I’d want Tina Fey to narrate it.

If we were to visit you right now, what places would you take us to see?

I would take you to see the shade garden in my backyard, I’d take you to visit my Little Free Library in front of my house, and I’d take you on the three and half mile walk my husband and I love going on in our neighborhood. 

Thanks to Reyna for visiting with us and to Caitlin Hamilton Marketing for sharing her book with our readers.

How to win: Use KingSumo to enter the giveaway. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us. If you have trouble using KingSumo on our blog, enter the giveaway here.

Giveaway ends November 23rd at midnight EST.

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Book Review: Broken Bones

By Sara Steven

Some bodies just won't stay buried...

After putting a stop to one of Edinburgh’s most notorious serial killers 3 years ago, DCI Liam Brodie is known as a man who can handle - and solve - the hardest of cases. But when he’s assigned to Fife’s Major Investigations Team, he soon realises that he’s walking into a minefield. The previous DCI is missing, presumed dead, and the case he’s been called in to lead becomes dangerously close to home.

When a child’s bones are unearthed beneath the floorboards of an old house in Fife - the same house where his girlfriend, psychologist Ruth Calder, grew up as a foster daughter - Brodie uncovers a tangled web of lies and jealousy. Ruth’s foster mother, now gripped by dementia, holds fragments of the truth but in a community haunted by its history, Brodie must navigate betrayal and buried guilt to bring a decades-old secret to light.

But at what cost to those he loves most? (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads)

At first, I wasn’t sure how various scenarios that occur for a few primary characters within Broken Bones would tie together, but everything had come together well, and with perfect timing. Brodie’s serial killer is an obvious culprit, yet there are missing people, murdered individuals, and a child’s remains are found. How does it all connect? I could appreciate discovering the truth right along with Brodie, and what has always appeared the most obvious choice begins to fade into obscurity.

The writing style is gritty and raw. It felt like I was watching a mystery cop show, the kind you can’t help but get sucked into. Old painful wounds and past mistakes seem to play a repetitive theme for the antagonists, seeking revenge in ways that are pretty far out there; nothing I’ve ever seen or read before in a mystery detective read. It was cleverly and scarily devised, and while I would never claim to side with the bad guys, it was fascinating to get inside their minds and learn more about what makes someone with a vendetta tick.

The banter between characters Art and Cameron had been fun to read. They reminded me of two adult brothers who like to poke and prod at one another, humanizing them despite their staunch police backgrounds. Dr. Gabriel Kane was the quintessential serial killer who isn’t at all who he’s portrayed to be, reminding me of Anthony Hopkins’s Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs. Brodie is the hero who is trying to save it all, but even he has his limits, particularly when terror strikes too close to home. 

Broken Bones was thrilling and terrifying, all at once. A definite five-star read! 

Thanks to Rachel's Random Resources for the book in exchange for an honest review.

Purchase Links:
Amazon US * Amazon UK

John Carson is the multi-million, bestselling author of  numerous Scottish-set crime series. Visit him on Facebook and Instagram.

Visit all the stops on John's blog tour:

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