Goodreads|Amazon

Release date: January 7, 2018

Publisher: Shelter Harbor Press

Genre: Fiction

Blurb:

“The Slave is a compact self-help book with exceptional accessibility and a profundity that encourages repeat reads.” – Foreword Reviews

A profound and paradigm-challenging book that guides readers through a transformative journey to personal freedom.

Trapped in a vegetative state, following a terrible accident that has paralyzed his whole body, the narrator is unable to communicate with those around him. Cut off from family and friends so begins an inner conversation with his spiritual guide, a conversation which takes him on a journey of self-realization, bringing him eventually to a new state of consciousness, and an understanding of his deepest self.

Written with an engaging simplicity, this is a truly profound book which can change your life. In fact to use the authors own words, it is designed to shake, shudder and wake us up. It is a book that has nothing to do with success, social recognition, with the accumulation of goods; but everything to do with joy, love and peace.

Review:

This book is way out of my comfort zone and not at all like anything I would normally read, but when I was approached about receiving a copy I was intrigued. It’s s short read, but it packs an almighty punch and definitely forces you to think on a deep level.

The concept is fairly simple as is the writing style, where this shines is in it’s message. An unnamed man, The Slave, is in a coma where he can’t move but he can hear, see and knows exactly what is going on around him. This could be considered a self help type of read but I think it’s much more than that. The Slave meets his spirit guide during his coma and much of it follows the guide helping him realize what is actually important in life, what truly matters. The overall message is uplifting and powerful, I can definitely see how it would speak to many people and could even encourage them to change the way they view the world. I agreed with most of the ideas and found this to be a very insightful read.

Overall rating: 4/5

Thanks to Larissa at Clair McKinney PR for my review copy.

Goodreads

Release date: January 4, 2018

Publisher: Point Blank Books

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

Blurb:

An isolated Swedish town. A deaf reporter terrified of nature. A dense spruce forest overdue for harvest. A pair of eyeless hunters found murdered in the woods.

It’s week one of the Swedish elk hunt and the sound of gunfire is everywhere. When Tuva Moodyson investigates the story that could make her career she stumbles on a web of secrets that knit Gavrik town together. Are the latest murders connected to the Medusa killings twenty years ago? Is someone following her? Why take the eyes? Tuva must face her demons and venture deep into the woods to stop the killer and write the story. And then get the hell out of Gavrik.

Review:

Do you need a new book to add to your TBR, one that has not only a chilly atmosphere but also a chilling plot? I’m assuming you’re nodding your head thinking, yes that’s exactly what I’m looking for, because that’s why you’re here, right?! There is nothing better than a reading a book that matches the current season, a beach read in the summer, a horror novel in the fall or a book like Dark Pines in the winter. It had a fantastic combination of a strong and interesting lead character, a creepy setting in the dense forests of Sweden and an strange murder case that left me puzzled.

Tuva is a journalist which is always a nice change of pace in a crime novel, I like the uniqueness of having someone other than a police officer investigating a case. She was really intriguing, she’s deaf and not your typical lead, she’s not overly brave or tough, in fact she’s actually terrified of the woods and the combination of her fear and not being able to hear made for some great, eerie situations. She’s an outsider in her small town having only been living there for two years and the oddball group of locals don’t know what to make of her. These characters were really great, they were all SO weird and had so many off the wall quirks, you never knew quite what would happen with them next and it made it all the more difficult to figure out whodunnit.

This read like a classic murder mystery, a nod to old school style books and I thought the pacing was spot on. The chapters would often end kind of abruptly but oddly enough it worked really well for me. I was totally caught up in this one, it had a quiet ferocity that reminded me of Ragnar Jonasson and fans of his work should definitely give this a try!

Overall rating: 4/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.

Goodreads|Amazon

Release date: October 24, 2017

Publisher: William Morrow

Genre: Memoir, True Crime

Blurb:

In this poignant and disturbing memoir of lost innocence, coercion, survival, and healing, Dianne Lake chronicles her years with Charles Manson, revealing for the first time how she became the youngest member of his Family and offering new insights into one of the twentieth century’s most notorious criminals and life as one of his “girls”

At age fourteen Dianne Lake—with little more than a note in her pocket from her hippie parents granting her permission to leave them—became one of “Charlie’s girls,” a devoted acolyte of cult leader Charles Manson. Over the course of two years, the impressionable teenager endured manipulation, psychological control, and physical abuse as the harsh realities and looming darkness of Charles Manson’s true nature revealed itself. From Spahn ranch and the group acid trips, to the Beatles’ White Album and Manson’s dangerous messiah-complex, Dianne tells the riveting story of the group’s descent into madness as she lived it.

Though she never participated in any of the group’s gruesome crimes and was purposely insulated from them, Dianne was arrested with the rest of the Manson Family, and eventually learned enough to join the prosecution’s case against them. With the help of good Samaritans, including the cop who first arrested her and later adopted her, the courageous young woman eventually found redemption and grew up to lead an ordinary life.

While much has been written about Charles Manson, this riveting account from an actual Family member is a chilling portrait that recreates in vivid detail one of the most horrifying and fascinating chapters in modern American history.

Review:

What a harrowing, sad and compelling read this was, Dianne Lake was the youngest member of Charles Manson’s Family and she goes into great detail revealing the three years she spent as a member of one of the most notorious cults in the world. Since she was just a child during her time with Manson this is all the more haunting to know that such a young girl experienced so many horrors at the hands of a deranged and sick individual. Even knowing it’s all true it’s hard to imagine that the events she describes actually happened, at times I forgot I wasn’t reading a fictional tale.

Unlike many books out there about Charles Manson this doesn’t focus solely on the horrific murders but instead is truly Lake’s personal story beginning in her young childhood up until she met Manson and then some bits and pieces about her adult life. As fascinated as I was by the stories she shared about the way The Family lived and obeyed Manson, the psychological aspect really gripped me. This was a teenaged girl who was not only engaging in adult activities such as group sex, drug abuse and an incredibly unstable, transient lifestyle she was also being controlled and manipulated by an older man with awful intentions and also abused her both physically, verbally and emotionally. It was truly sickening and her bravery at sharing the darkest moments of her life was impressive.

If you’re interested at all in what life is like living in a cult this is the book for you, Lake is unflinchingly honest about what she was thinking and feeling during her time in The Family and her memory of events so many years ago is seriously amazing. Since she wasn’t present during the murders they honestly don’t play a huge role in the story, but this is still a very fascinating psychological look at how one can fall prey to the manipulation of a conman.

Overall rating: 4/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.

Goodreads|Amazon

Release date: December 26, 2017

Publisher: Harlequin

Genre: Women’s Fiction, Contemporary Romance

Blurb:

One step forward. Two steps back. The Tufts scholarship that put Nora Stuart on the path to becoming a Boston medical specialist was a step forward. Being hit by a car and then overhearing her boyfriend hit on another doctor when she thought she was dying? Two major steps back.

Injured in more ways than one, Nora feels her carefully built life cracking at the edges. There’s only one place to land: home. But the tiny Maine community she left fifteen years ago doesn’t necessarily want her. At every turn, someone holds the prodigal daughter of Scupper Island responsible for small-town drama and big-time disappointments.

With a tough islander mother who’s always been distant and a wild-child sister in jail, unable to raise her daughter–a withdrawn teen as eager to ditch the island as Nora once was–Nora has her work cut out for her if she’s going to take what might be her last chance to mend the family.

But as some relationships crumble around her, others unexpectedly strengthen. Balancing loss and opportunity, a dark event from her past with hope for the future, Nora will discover that tackling old pain makes room for promise…and the chance to begin again.

Review:

There are an extremely limited amount of authors I fangirl over, I mean truly go crazy for and Kristan Higgins is one of them. I’m not kidding when I say I don’t even read the blurb for her novels before I’m desperate to read them, I think they’re THAT good. This is such a cliché thing to say, but her books get better and better and I would be hard pressed to pick a favorite, but I can highly recommend every single one, and yes I’ve read them all. You know how you get people asking for book recommendations and oftentimes you have to think for a minute? When someone says they like Women’s Fiction/Romance I just blurt out, Kristan Higgins, any book you can get your hands on, I’m THAT confident.

Nora was an amazing character, she’s a quirky doctor with a Harry Potter obsession, what’s not to love?! I connected with her on page one about two lines in and that never wavered for one second. Higgins has a knack for writing about messy, flawed women with humor, realism and grace and this was no exception, the characterization was superb. Her lead characters aren’t the only ones that are so well crafted they practically leap from the pages, the secondary ones are just as bright, sparkly and charming. This is set in Maine where my husbands family is from and she nailed their accents, work ethic and mannerisms wickedly perfectly, Mainers are larger than life!

I could gush about this book all of the live long day but I’ll spare you and wrap it up now. I normally only use phrases like unputdownable and page turner when I talking about a thriller, but it’s oddly fitting here as well. Higgins is at the top of her game and if you get through the dinner party scene without laughing hysterically then we’ll never be friends 😜

Overall rating: 5/5

Thanks to the publisher for my review copy.

Goodreads|Amazon

Release date: November 2017

Genre: Holiday Fiction

Blurb:

“I became paralyzed with fear. Tears started to run down my cheeks as I sat motionless on the bed facing the locked door.”

Patty had slowly opened up to Bob. She thinks she might be falling in love with him. Even so, he has gone back to New York, and she has not heard from him in two weeks. It is another loss for her. First, her mother died when she was young, and then her husband, Matt, was killed in Afghanistan. She has lost all that were close to her. All but her dad and he is her rock. He is the one that gives her strength.

In, The Christmas Gate 2, Patty’s life becomes like a roller coaster, with the ups and the downs. She loses, and then wins, only to lose again. Then Patty is rocked with an emotional bombshell. She tries to gather herself together, then only another heartbreak again.

She resigns herself to wait at the old farm house until Bob returns to her. She unleashes what Bob had uncovered during his earlier stay, and she too is taken on a journey that will bring to the surface the things she has buried deep inside her, things that she has forgotten, things she refuses to confront, and things that could eventually set her free. Patty and Bob’s story continues in, The Christmas Gate 2.

Review:

Last year I had the pleasure of reading The Christmas Gate and found it to be a truly heartwarming and beautiful read. It ended with things sort of up in the air so I was delighted to be able to read the second part this holiday season! This was an amazing ending to a gorgeous story, I loved learning more about Patty, who was introduced in the first part.

Once again I want to point out that this does discuss religion and it does play a significant role in the storyline, I find that it adds warmth, heart and beauty to it but wanted to give a heads up. The meaning behind these books is fantastic, it shows how much more there is to the holiday season than just exchanging gifts and emphasizes the importance of family, friends and faith all in a subtle manner. I read this on Christmas Eve and there’s really no better time to cozy up with this one, it’s short and begs to be read all at once which is exactly what I did!

I also want to wish everyone the merriest Christmas, I hope each and everyone of you has a wonderful, relaxing and joyful day spent with family and friends!

Overall rating: 4/5

Thanks to the author for my review copy.