Friday, July 18, 2025

Book Review: The Tutor


By Jami Denison

Suspense readers know the drill: When a woman stalks a man and changes jobs to follow him, she’s up to no good. But suspense readers also know that things aren’t always what they seem.

The woman in question is The Tutor, Courtney Psak’s first psychological thriller. Isabel, the tutor, has followed Grant’s family from New York City to Palm Beach, where she secures a job at the prep school that his stepson James attends. Even better, she manages to wile her way into a tutoring job for James, gaining access to the mansion run by Grant’s cagey mother, Evelyn.

Rose, James’s mother, isn’t suspicious of Isabel at all. She’s too busy trying to keep Evelyn from ruining her new marriage. Her family had to move from New York to Palm Beach because of Evelyn’s Parkinson’s diagnosis. Now she and Grant are fighting over Rose’s art career, and Rose finds cameras all over their old apartment. Will Evelyn reveal the secret in Rose’s past? Was Rose’s ex-husband’s death really an accident?

Psak splits The Tutor among three third-person points-of-view: Isabel’s, Rose’s, and Evelyn’s. While her prose is somewhat perfunctory at times, Psak has a master’s ability to utilize chapter breaks and sleight-of-hand to give readers the wrong impression about character motivations and back stories. Readers are guided in one direction, only to have the rug pulled out from them. The only character who remains unsurprising is Grant. 

Although the momentum stalls a bit in the middle of the book, overall, The Tutor is a fast- paced, twisty addition to the domestic suspense genre. It’s perfect for fans of Sally Hepworth, Alex Finlay, and Megan Miranda. 

Thanks to Kaye Publicity for the book in exchange for an honest review.

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Thursday, July 17, 2025

Double Feature Spotlight and Giveaway!

We are pleased to feature The Reluctant Flirt by bestselling author Jennifer Probst (currently available) and Infidelity Rules by debut author Joelle Babula (available July 24th). Both sound like fun and entertaining reads and we're excited to tell you about them. Thanks to Get Red PR, one lucky reader will receive copies of both novels!


Just one night…

After discovering her husband’s affair, Sierra Lourde flees to New York City for a little damage control—and a lot of wine. A tipsy night in a bar with a charming stranger seems like the perfect way to forget her troubles. No names, no promises, just one night to escape reality and regain her confidence. The next morning, mortified by her vulnerability, she flees without looking back. But who needs closure, right?


But one night changes everything…

Sierra has reinvented herself as the proud owner of Flirt, a trendy boutique in the Outer Banks. Life is good—until Kane Masterson, the man she left behind, walks back into town. And of course, he’s now the developer whose big new project threatens to bulldoze her beloved shop. Kane needs this deal to save his career (and his brother), but Sierra’s not about to let him demolish her hard-won success.

With sparks flying, sarcastic jabs turning into lingering looks, and a family wedding forcing them into close quarters, Sierra and Kane find themselves tangled in a battle of wills—and hearts. But now he has to choose: reclaim his career or risk everything for a second chance with the one woman he can’t forget. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

Jennifer Probst is the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of over fifty books in contemporary romance fiction. Her work has been translated in over a dozen countries, sold over two million copies, and was dubbed a "romance phenom" by Kirkus Reviews. Her passions include reading, horse racing, Scrabble, Italian wine and food, shameful reality television, and rescue dogs. Like some of her characters, Probst, along with her husband and two sons, calls New York’s Hudson Valley home. (Bio courtesy of Jennifer's website.)

Visit Jennifer online:
Website * Facebook * Instagram


QUINN DAVIS shatters the norm.

She's successful in the traditionally male-dominated wine world. She'll do anything for a hunk of swoon-worthy cheese. And she only dates married men, a practice designed to evade love and protect her battered heart. But even as a mistress, Quinn has rules. No meddling in happy marriages. No men with young kids. No falling in love. And absolutely, unequivocally, no gigantic panties on a date. She prefers her men the way she likes her food and wine — enticing, intoxicating and utterly delicious.

Enter MARCUS: Hollywood hot, absurdly charming, and determined to rock Quinn's world. He encompasses everything Quinn wants in a fling — simplicity, passion and the mind-blowing infatuation that comes with a new crush. She lusts after him more than she does the most moan-worthy food and wine pairing. When she unexpectedly falls hard for this man with a complicated past, her carefully curated world unravels. Now she must confront her romantic demons, her mistress status, and learn what it means to sacrifice for another. Faced with the punishing choice of relinquishing a love she never dreamed possible or destroying a family, Quinn must decide what's worth keeping and what she must let go. Wine and cheese? Never. A man she loves? Perhaps. (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

Joelle Babula, a former award-winning journalist turned nurse practitioner, writes about all the juicy, off-limits dinner table topics—infidelity, emotional chaos, and cheese-fueled joy. Now living on Baltimore’s inner harbor with her husband and two ridiculous cats, she balances patient care by day with writing fiction by night—often with wine in hand and a smelly cheese nearby. A Johns Hopkins nursing grad, Joelle made her fiction debut with Infidelity Rules and is already at work on her next novel (likely while roasting a chicken). When not writing, she’s exploring Baltimore’s food scene, hosting dinner parties, or dancing badly with her husband. (Bio adapted from Joelle's website.)

Visit Joelle online:

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

Giveaway ends July 22nd at midnight EST.

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Wednesday, July 16, 2025

Book Review: A Showgirl's Rules for Falling In Love

By Sara Steven

Moulin Rouge meets The Greatest Showman in this romance between a vaudeville star and a showbiz tycoon who find love at the turn of the twentieth century—framed by mischievous commentary of a contemporary young historian.

It’s 1897, and a new fashion for thin threatens to end the career of proudly fat vaudeville performer Evelyn Cross. Enter Thomas Gallier, the man behind the new palace of entertainment promising to be the apex of New York City’s theatrical scene. He’s in search of a star for his vaudeville spectacular, and when he hears Evelyn sing, he knows exactly who he needs to grace his stage.

In a grand finale, present-day narrator Phoebe steps in to reveal secrets and show readers what it really means to claim self-love. Inspired by the true story of a Progressive Era troop of plus-size dancers, this is a story about the spirit of community and the power of romance. (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads.)

A Showgirl’s Rules for Falling in Love was written very well. So well, in fact, that I felt compelled to look into whether there really had been a vaudeville star named Evelyn Cross. I didn’t find anything, but I imagine her story could fit the realm of other female performers from that time who did all they could not to fall in love with someone like Thomas Gallier. 

I loved the story. The writing style was engaging, too. The two timelines that are highlighted–1897, and present day–were done well. When I read the dialogue between Evelyn and Thomas, it felt like they were characters placed deep within the late 1800s. And when Phoebe is doing her research and learning more about the unusual vaudeville star and her showbiz tycoon love interest, I truly felt as though Phoebe was getting a glimpse of the past while using resources provided to her from the 21st century. I also loved how Phoebe's life begins to mirror Evelyn’s life, with Evelyn becoming Phoebe’s unexpected hero. In an era when women did not have ground to stand on, Evelyn pushed past the boundaries and preconceived notions of what is acceptable, redefining what it is to be a star. How could she not be everyone’s hero?!?

The romance (and the heat and tension between Evelyn and Thomas) was pretty amazing, but I loved the friendship aspects a lot more. Throughout the book, it is clear that Evelyn views her ragtag crew of perceived misfits as her chosen family, going to all lengths to protect them and do right by them. That sentiment is reciprocated, too, because ultimately, what do you have if you don’t have your friends? From protecting her crew at an underground boxing ring, to the most epic quarrel in vaudeville history between the corrupted authorities and her crew–it was apparent that she would always choose them, and they’d always choose her, too. It was really sweet to see.

I was pleasantly surprised by A Showgirl’s Rules for Falling In Love. It could have been overridden by factual points and made to feel like a nonfiction read instead of a larger-than-life turn-of-the-century read, but it was definitely the latter. It was a fun, exciting, engaging five-star experience!

Thanks to Union Square & Co. for the book in exchange for an honest review.

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Tuesday, July 15, 2025

Spotlight and Giveaway: The Odds of Getting Even

Today we're excited to celebrate the publication of Amanda Sellet's latest rom-com, The Odds of Getting Even. This sounds really fun and entertaining and we're pleased to share about it here. Thanks to St. Martin's Press, we have FIVE copies to give away!

A fling with a mysterious stranger leads to a rollicking adventure in the wilds of South Dakota in this madcap and romantic follow-up to Amanda Sellet’s Hate to Fake it to You.

The last thing reluctant resort employee Jean Harrington expected to find on a middle-of-the-night towel run was a bashful scientist in desperate need of company . . . and clothes. Charmed by his awkwardness and endearing tangents about reptiles, she returns the next day to give the handsome mystery guest she knows only as “Charlie” lessons in poker.

He’s reserved and she’s chaotic, but together, the two of them just click. It’s like a honeymoon without the hassle of a wedding, until Jean discovers there’s a lot more to Charlie’s story than shyness and snakes—and she isn’t the only person with a pressing interest in his whereabouts, not to mention his secretly scandalous dating history.

When Charlie has the audacity to abandon her without a word, Jean has a score to settle. She’ll do whatever it takes to get him back—no, get back at him—even if it means chasing him across an ocean to brave the wild west of his remote hometown, and the famous family business he neglected to mention. With flames from their pasts raising the stakes, Jean is gambling she can get the upper hand before Charlie calls her bluff.

The real trick will be remembering what they’re playing for, when the biggest risk is putting all their cards on the table.

“Witty, charming, and highly romantic, The Odds of Getting Even is a delightful romp with a hint of slapstick and the obligatory snake-in-the-grass―I loved every page.”
―Abbi Waxman, USA Today bestselling author of The Bookish Life of Nina Hill

“Sweet and fizzy, like a champagne cocktail―The Odds of Getting Even takes misunderstood snake-lover Charlie and jaded artist Jean on a bouncing adventure through the far corners of America. I had so much fun!”
―Katie Shepard, author of Sweeten the Deal

Amanda Sellet is a former journalist and the author of romcoms for teens and adults, including By the Book, which Booklist described in a starred review as, “impossible to read without laughing out loud.” She loves old movies, baked goods, and embarrassing her teen daughter. Hate to Fake It to You is her adult debut. Visit Amanda at her website and on Instagram.


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

Giveaway ends July 20th at midnight EST.

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Monday, July 14, 2025

Book Review: The Cleaner

By Jami Denison

The world seems to be divided into two types of people: The people who drive for rideshare services, and the people who use them. The people who deliver for DoorDash, and the people who order from them. The folks who clean houses, and the folks who use house cleaning services. Often, the latter are nearly invisible to the former, who go about their lives as if these helpers aren’t people. 

It's this kind of invisibility that Esmie (Esmerelda) is counting on in Mary Watson’s latest thriller, The Cleaner. Seeking revenge over her brother Nico’s ruin, she leaves her small Central American village to become a cleaner for a group of friends in Ireland whom she blames for Nico’s downfall and subsequent comatose state. But as Esmie becomes enmeshed in the lives of the people who knew Nico, she risks falling for the same temptations that ensnared him. 

Revenge stories have been popular since The Count of Monte Cristo, and for good reason. Who doesn’t dream of getting even with someone who has hurt them or a loved one? But while revenge may be a dish best served cold, often the person eating it is the one who sought revenge in the first place. Watson hints at these themes while developing them in an unexpected direction. 

Esmie arrives at the gated community the Woodlands with a clear goal: Find out which of the three women in the neighborhood lured Nico into an affair and got him hooked on drugs, and expose her. The writing is richer and deeper than a straightforward revenge plot would suggest, with Watson making sure to fully develop all the characters in Esmie’s orbit. Watson’s writing is almost poetic at times, and a subplot about a character’s obsession with a dead poet plays into this as well. Watson creates an almost fairy tale setting at times, with the woods playing an important role in the drama. The climax takes place during a Midsummer Night’s Dream themed-birthday party, a resonant detail that adds to the book’s lush visuals. 

Esmie’s character is just as complex, as she begins to empathize with her would-be victims. The story is told from her first-person point-of-view in the present, and her third- person point-of-view in the past. The chapters from the past give more detail on her relationship with Nico and her rivalry with Nico’s fiancée Simone, who was once Esmie’s best friend. Some of these chapters don’t paint Esmie in the best light, making it hard to root for her at times.

While the pacing does drag on at times, and the third-act twist is one that genre readers will see coming from a mile away, the climax is gripping and the epilogue satisfying. 

Domestic thriller fans who appreciate thoughtful prose as much as chapter-ending cliffhangers will enjoy The Cleaner. And if you’re reading it on your beach vacation, please don’t forget to tip the hotel maid. 

Thanks to Crown for the book in exchange for an honest review.

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Friday, July 11, 2025

What's in the (e)mail...plus a book giveaway

All (or most) of these books can be found on AmazonBarnes & NobleBookshop.orgAppleKobo, etc.

NG = NetGalley

Melissa:

Crash Test by Amy James from Avon (print)
Woman on the Verge by Kim Hooper from Lake Union (NG)
An Introvert's Guide to Life and Love by Lauren Appelbaum from Forever (NG)
Back for Good by Jay Jacobs from The Book Guild (NG)
The Unwritten Rules of Magic by Harper Ross from St. Martin's Press (NG)
The First Fall
by/from Kerry Lonsdale (ebook)
Like This, But Funnier by Hallie Cantor from Simon & Schuster (NG)
The Friendship List by Beth Miller from Bookouture (NG)
Marjorie & Me by/from Melissa Grace (NG)
Culpability by Bruce Holsinger from Spiegel & Grau (print)
August Reunion by Juliet Madison from Bloodhound Books (ebook)
Twice by Mitch Albom from Triple 7 PR (print)

Sara:
Class Action by/from Gail Ward Olmstead (ebook)
Sounds of Summer by/from Tracy Krimmer (ebook)
When We Were Brilliant by Lynn Cullen from Berkley (NG)

Jami:

The Cleaner by Mary Watson from Crown (NG)
Play Nice by Rachel Harrison from Berkley (NG)

Allyson:
The White Octopus Hotel by Alexandra Bell from Random House (NG)




What could be in YOUR mail:

The Spirit of Love by Lauren Kate. Thanks to Putnam, we have FIVE copies to give away!

Check out Allyson's review on her Bookstagram!

Two loves. One soul. One choice.

Fenny’s got that boss glow. Not only did she just have the best sex of her life, but she’s finally about to direct the TV show she’s been a screenwriter on for ten years. Only one thing could floor her—finding out she’s been replaced by a hotshot director named Jude. Wait, no. Two things. Jude looks exactly like the guy who just turned her bones to jelly. Same dimples, same eyes, but he looks older and has a sadness Fenny wants to fix.

Last weekend, Fenny met Sam when he movie-style rescued her from a storm on Catalina Island. Here he is again, just … different. Can Sam and Jude be the same man? And if they are, will Fenny’s love be enough to put him back together? (Synopsis courtesy of Amazon.)

Equal parts witty and heartwarming, this is a read-in-one-sitting kind of book. I couldn't put it down!”  
—Falon Ballard, author of Right on Cue

The Spirit of Love is an utterly delightful and perfectly magical romance that I couldn't put down until the final page.” 
—Ellie Palmer, author of Four Weekends and a Funeral

“I was swept away by this magical twist on a love triangle, which kept me laughing and clutching my heart in equal measure.” 
—Melanie Sweeney, author of Take Me Home

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

Giveaway ends July 16th at midnight EST. 

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Book Review: The Keeper of Lost Art

By Sara Steven

During World War II, a girl makes an unbreakable connection with a boy sheltering in her family’s Tuscan villa, where the treasures of the Uffizi Galleries are hidden. A moving coming-of-age story about the power of art in wartime, based on true events.

As Allied bombs rain down on Torino in the autumn of 1942, Stella Costa’s mother sends her to safety with distant relatives in a Tuscan villa. There, Stella finds her family tasked with a great responsibility: hiding nearly 300 priceless masterpieces from Florence, including Botticelli’s famous Primavera.

With the arrival of German troops imminent, Stella finds herself a stranger in her family’s villa and she struggles to understand why her aunt doesn’t like her. She knows it has something to do with her parents—and the fact that her father, who is currently fighting at the front, has been largely absent from her life.

When a wave of refugees seeks shelter in the villa, Stella befriends Sandro, an orphaned boy with remarkable artistic talent. Amid the growing threats, Sandro and Stella take refuge in the villa’s “treasure room,” where the paintings are hidden. There, Botticelli’s masterpiece and other works of art become a solace, an inspiration, and the glue that bonds Stella and Sandro as the dangers grow.

A troop of German soldiers requisitions the villa and puts everyone to forced labor. Now, with the villa full of German soldiers, refugees, a secret guest, and hundreds of priceless treasures, no one knows who will emerge unscathed, and whether the paintings will be taken as spoils or become unintended casualties.

Inspired by the incredible true story of a single Tuscan villa used as a hiding place for the treasures of Florentine art during World War II, The Keeper of Lost Art takes readers on a breathtaking journey into one of the darkest chapters of Italy’s history, highlighting the incredible courage of everyday people to protect some of the most important works of art in western civilization. (Synopsis courtesy of Goodreads)

Stories centered around war always get to me, and The Keeper of Lost Art really got to me in a way that made it difficult to stop reading, even with the pain and terror that Stella and her family endures. I’m familiar with World War II but didn’t know about the need to sequester Italian works of art for safekeeping. How incredible that a Tuscan villa’s inhabitants were tasked with that, willing to go so far as to risk their own lives for art, and the way it’s portrayed is perfection.

In the beginning, Stella is a young girl with a naive outlook on the world. Despite having her own experiences with the side effects of war while living with her mother in Torino, I could see the evolution of the young girl turned young lady, after she relocated to Villa Santa Lucia. Despite living with her aunt and uncle and cousins, she still feels like an outsider who is trying to navigate a strange new world that has been changed by the war. As the chapters progress, refugees and soldiers from various regiments become inhabitants of Villa Santa Lucia, with everyone trying to strike some sort of balance, even with the anxiety of not knowing what’s to come or what sort of outcome might come from opening their doors to others. For Stella, this way of life becomes commonplace, a normalcy thrown out into a rapidly changing abnormal world.

Stella’s friend Sandro becomes a lifeline for her. He represents safety and security. His love of art helps to open her mind to the ways in finding beauty within the backdrop of despair, and while I’m not a big art buff, I could appreciate the art that is hidden away and how studying it and discussing it soothes the tormented soul. Stella and Sandro mimic the art they’ve seen. Sandro looks on in wonder at the gorgeous paintings he most likely would never have been able to see close-up, had the war not placed him and the paintings together. When Stella’s uncle communes with the Madonna di San Sisto, the reader gets the sense that despite it all, there is a flicker of hope within the characters, even when the situation that surrounds them appears to be nothing short of hopeless.

There are a lot of descriptions within this story that emphasizes the importance of art, and not just the visual, but how the wonders of art can connect people; family, loved ones, and strangers alike. The Keeper of Lost Art really was engaging and made me feel connected to the long-revered Italian artists that I didn’t know much about before this reading experience, as well as the brave individuals who did something completely daring by doing all they could to preserve their Italian history. It was a five-star read for sure!

Thanks to William Morrow for the book in exchange for an honest review.


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