Happy Tuesday! Trying to play catch-up after blog issues, here are the novels that I plan to read and review this week, in no particular order 🙂
Elliott Redeemed: A Preload Novel, by Scarlett Cole
Publication: Swerve; August 29, 2017
About the book:
A single mom and tortured musician find common ground in Scarlett Cole’s Elliott Redeemed, the second standalone romance about the band Preload.
Elliott “Pyro” Dawson burns up the lead guitar like a legend. But the nickname Pyro isn’t just a clever play on words. It’s much darker. A past he’s fought like hell to overcome.
Grocery store cashier Kendalee Walker is at her wit’s end and homeless. She’s watched her fourteen-year-old son, Daniel, go so far off the rails, he can no longer see the tracks.
When the two are brought together, attraction flares, but can Elliott find the family he never had with the sexy woman and her son, or will he fall back on dangerous habits?
The Windfall: A Novel, by Diksha Basu
Publication: Crown; June 27, 2017
About the book:
A heartfelt comedy of manners, Diksha Basu’s debut novel unfolds the story of a family discovering what it means to “make it” in modern India.
For the past thirty years, Mr. and Mrs. Jha’s lives have been defined by cramped spaces, cut corners, gossipy neighbors, and the small dramas of stolen yoga pants and stale marriages. They thought they’d settled comfortably into their golden years, pleased with their son’s acceptance into an American business school. But then Mr. Jha comes into an enormous and unexpected sum of money, and moves his wife from their housing complex in East Delhi to the super-rich side of town, where he becomes eager to fit in as a man of status: skinny ties, hired guards, shoe-polishing machines, and all.
The move sets off a chain of events that rock their neighbors, their marriage, and their son, who is struggling to keep a lid on his romantic dilemmas and slipping grades, and brings unintended consequences, ultimately forcing the Jha family to reckon with what really matters. Hilarious and wise, The Windfall illuminates with warmth and charm the precariousness of social status, the fragility of pride, and, above all, the human drive to build and share a home. Even the rich, it turns out, need to belong somewhere.
The Man I Thought You Were, by Leah Mercer
Publication: Lake Union Publishing; July 25, 2017
About the book:
One fine autumn evening, Anna returns from work and starts making dinner, eager to welcome home her husband, Mark. It’s just like any other day in their ten-year, Pinterest-perfect marriage—until he says he’s leaving her.
Discovering that the man she thought she knew better than anyone else is capable of abandoning it all sends Anna reeling. She believed the life they’d built together—and the bright future they’d imagined—counted for everything. How can he walk away?
The truth is Mark is battling secrets of his own—secrets Anna knows nothing about. A painful past and an uncertain future threaten to bring his life down around him—and he’ll do anything not to expose her to that.
But unraveling the past is lonelier than Mark could ever have imagined and, as the days turn to months, Anna worries the separation will break them forever. Can she bring him back from the brink of self-destruction before it’s too late, or will she discover that she never really knew him at all?
The Lyons Orphanage, by Charlie King
Publication: New Generation Publishing; March 26, 2017
About the book:
Sam Watkins, an orphaned young teenager, possesses the ability to read the minds of almost everyone he meets.
Howard Lyons, the owner of the orphanage where Sam has lived since he was a baby, has been reluctant to let Sam leave the orphanage.
Unable to read the mind of Mr. Lyons, he takes it upon himself to investigate the reasons behind the owner’s decisions and learn more about the origin of his ability, his parents and the potential of his power.
However, Sam’s investigation and mind-reading abilities reveal a power struggle at the top of a faltering orphanage between Mr. Lyons and his assistant Natalie.
Sam’s involvement in this conflict leads him to look for ways to save the orphanage and uncover the true motivations of both the owner and his assistant while trying to learn about his past.
Love Reconsidered: A Novel, by Phyllis J. Piano
Publication: SparkPress; August 8, 2017
About the book:
When Aleen Riddick’s marriage falls apart after her eighteen-year-old daughter, Sunny, loses her beloved boyfriend in a tragic accident, they look to the dead boy’s father, grief-stricken Ted Hammand, to help them heal and redefine life. When shocking developments force them to confront those who deceived them, Aleen, Ted, and Sunny must decide if forgiveness will drive them back to the pain of the past or forward to a future of possibilities. Love Reconsidered is about families―their grief, guilt, compassion, love, forgiveness, and hope.
Before I Knew (The Cabots Book 1), by Jamie Beck
Publication: Montlake Romance; August 22, 2017
About the book:
On the second anniversary of her husband’s suicide, Colby Cabot-Baxter is ready to let go of her grief and the mistakes made during her turbulent marriage. Her fresh start comes in the form of A CertainTea, the restaurant she’s set to open along Lake Sandy, Oregon, with help from her family. But when her executive chef quits just weeks before the grand opening, Colby is pressured to hire old family friend Alec Morgan. His award-winning reputation could generate buzz, but their friendship has withered since her husband’s reckless dare cost Alec’s brother his life.
Distracted by guilty secrets concerning the tragedy that changed his and Colby’s lives, Alec self-destructed and lost his famed restaurant. With his career in tatters, he’s determined to use this opportunity to redeem his reputation and to help the woman he’s loved from afar find happiness again.
But secrets have a way of coming out. When Alec’s do, they might destroy the new life he and Colby have rebuilt together.
Let me know if you have read any of these titles and have a great week!
Dandelions Inspired 