Books from the Backlog is a fun way to feature some of those neglected books sitting on your bookshelf unread. If you are anything like me, you might be surprised by some of the unread books hiding in your stacks. Hosted by Carole’s Random Life
This week’s neglected book:
Why I haven’t read it yet? I have four book cases over flowing with unread books. I can’t read them all, but if I feature A book here, I’m moving it up on my TBR mountain!🤦♀️
FROM GOODREADS:
Life is finally wonderful for Tuscaloosa’s Blake O’Hara Heart: a rekindled love affair with her high school sweetheart and a precious new baby on the way. But when she gets an unexpected call from Harry Heart, her soon to be ex-husband, Blake’s new sweet world is turned upside down. Harry vows his love – but soon Blake discovers he is running from a sex scandal—one that could ruin Harry, the freshman senator from Alabama, and bring down Blake right along with him.
Blake is in a fix so she does what any southern woman would do: she rounds up her Sassy Belle sisters to try to prove Harry’s innocence. Blake, Vivi and Dallas band together to fix this scandal and get that man back to Washington if it’s the last thing they do. But Blake is running out of time. Her new baby is waiting for no one as Harry’s new political career is hanging in the balance.
From a trailer-park brothel to the high-society neighborhoods of Tuscaloosa, y’all grab your best girlfriends and some sweet tea and join Blake and her girls on this twisted tale of intrigue and hilarity, southern-style.
Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful Thursday!🍪📚🍪
Good morning! Its 59 here, going up to 81 today. I’ve got nothing planned for today so hopefully I will have plenty of reading time! I’m reading the new Nora Roberts book, Mind Games and its crazy good!! Have a terrific Thursday everyone!💜
MOVING FORWARD is the second book in the new series by Shelley Shepard Gray called A Woodland Park Firefighters Romance. Usually I am reading one of Ms. Gray’s Amish Fiction books, but this one is small town romance and it is fantastic! I really love the small-town setting of Woodland Park, Colorado, where everyone knows everyone else and the people are always there to help whenever they are needed. I loved the characters in the first book, Coming Home and couldn’t wait to meet new ones as well as check in with my firefighter friends once again.
MOVING FORWARD starts off increasing the reader’s heart rate right away. Kristen is trying to live her life on her own, away from her hovering mother while taking care of her faulty heart. Her health is the reason why her fiance ended things with her. My heart immediately goes out to Kristen and I just want to hug her. Will she ever be able to tell Greg how she really feels? While she is struggling with all of this, Greg finds himself wanting to protect Kristen, but he must be careful because he doesn’t want Kristen to feel smothered. Greg has his own issues with PTSD, doesn’t let anyone know how bad it can be, and thinks he is handling it on his own. Until he isnt. What a crazy story that will pull at the reader’s heart strings.
MOVING FORWARD is a quick read and you will be flipping the pages like mad trying to hurry to see what they are going to do next! I know I did! Meeting a new person that fills your heart with hope feels like coming home and this story is sure to give the reader all the feels! MOVING FORWARD is such an emotional read, you won’t be able to help yourself from getting into all of the characters business. I have read many of Shelley Shepard Gray’s other series as well as some of her other stand alone books, and I really feel like she writes with a heart for people. I know this series will definitely be a great one!
My emotions were all over the place as they always are reading a Shelley Shepard Gray story and I can hardly wait to see what firefighter gets the next story! I loved how she made me feel all of the anxiety and tension that the characters were dealing with. Besides all of that, there is also romance, forgiveness, and healing. Kristen and Greg’s romance is sweet and heart warming. I just wanted them to be happy. A perfect way to spend the day on the couch with your favorite beverage, lost in the pages of a heart tugging but beautiful story. MOVING FORWARD is the perfect name for this wonderful story.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Berkley through Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Romance blossoms in the Colorado foothills in this sweet romance by New York Times bestselling author Shelley Shepard Gray.
Former Army captain Greg Tebo loves his new life in Woodland Park. In the two years since he joined the WPFD, he’s gained a reputation as a fearless firefighter, and after being stationed all around the country and overseas, he can’t wait to settle down with a wife and kids.
When a call comes in about a possible heart attack at the scene of a fire at the Garden Center, Greg assumes they’re going to be helping an elderly customer—not the beautiful, feisty proprietor in her late twenties. Kristen Werner has been determined to pretend everything is fine. She refuses to leave the company she’s carefully nurtured and move home to her loving but meddling family in Houston. Since her devastating diagnosis caused her fiancé to dump her, she’s given up on love and thrown herself into cultivating her blooming business instead—even if the hard work further weakens her heart.
Greg is drawn to Kristen’s vibrant, independent spirit and hopes romance will flower. But she’s had enough trouble with her heart to last a lifetime, and can’t trust Greg not to break it—especially if he finds out she can never give him the houseful of children he longs for….
Thank you for stopping by and have an awesome day!☔📚☔
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by the fabulous Jill at Breaking the Spine. If you’re continuing with WOW, feel free to link those up as well! Find out more here.
This week, I’m waiting for…
RELEASE DATE:OCTOBER 22, 2024
FROM GOODREADS:
From the author of The Christmas Wager comes a charming holiday rom-com about a young, recently heartbroken woman who is tasked by her sister to complete Advent calendar challenges in the lead up to Christmas to reignite her belief in herself, the holidays, and love again.
She’s given up on love and Christmas…but fate has other plans.
All Callie wants for Christmas is to hibernate. She’s still reeling from being dumped by her childhood sweetheart, and under no circumstances will she go home for the holidays considering her ex will be right next door with his new, perfect partner. Callie is officially in grinch mode, but her meddling sister, Anita, won’t let her give up on life, love, and Christmas quite so easily.
Anita stages a Christmas intervention for Callie with a homemade Advent calendar challenge—cheerful tasks to push Callie out of her comfort zone and into the holiday spirit, inspired by a childhood tradition. Callie reluctantly plays along, but when she comes face-to-face with a charming baker who just might be the spoonful of sugar she needs, her strict rules on love and the holidays are tested.
As they strike a deal to do the activities together, could the twenty four little doors on Callie’s Advent calendar not only open up one, but two closed-off hearts?
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!☕📚☕
Good morning! 65 here, going up to 80 today with scattered showers! I’ve got laundry to do today and hopefully lots of reading! Have a wonderful Wednesday my friends!💜📚
I tried not to go too crazy and here is what happened! This week I snagged six new books! I still have three requests pending! Now to find the time to read them.
EDELWEISS:
Hannah McKinnon, the acclaimed author of the “charming and warm-hearted” (PopSugar) The Summer House, returns with a fresh beach read about a group of outsiders threatening the status quo at an exclusive New England beach club.Mayhaven is the best keep secret in Massachusetts. Tucked between old cedars and a spring-fed lake, the Mayhaven beach club has long been the ultimate escape to understated exclusivity. It’s the place where Darcy Birch is supposed to be experiencing the best summer of her life, but there are a few things standing in her way. Her high-strung mother won’t stop hovering over her, her father is consumed by his job as president of Mayhaven, where she works as a summer camp counselor and things are not as rosy as they seem, and her neurodivergent little brother is struggling to live with a measure of independence not everyone is ready for. Then there is the matter of the new neighbors. Flick Creevy, his mother, and stepfather have arrived in town, parking their enormous RV, not to mention all-night music and clouds of marijuana, in the Birches’s perfectly landscaped backyard. Flick is not interested in the perfect summer or the girl next door. Pushed to get a job at Mayhaven by his mother, who had her eyes on a new life for their family, his own eyes have been opened to the ways of the upper crust. Even though Mayhaven prides itself on being an inclusive association of good New England families with good New England values, the fact either you’re on the inside or the outside. As the heat of summer increases, it’s soon clear that the members of Mayhaven will have to struggle to stay cool in this sharply written and refreshing new novel that is perfect for fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Jennifer Weiner.
NETGALLEY:
Can best friends become something even better?
Coming home to Honey, Texas, for her aunt’s wedding should be a joyful experience, but Rosemary Hill’s heart is low. She’s lost funding for her bee genomics project and has been betrayed by her trusted mentor. Reuniting with Everett, her best friend, helps take the sting out. Soon, Rosemary is helping Everett plan bee-friendly park events—and getting oddly jealous when he’s pursued by her high school nemesis.
Honey’s most eligible bachelor has a secret—he’s loved Rosemary for as long as he can remember. Everett always hesitated to risk their friendship by asking for more, but at last he’s ready. That is, until Rosemary is offered her dream job. What kind of best friend would ask her to give that up? Or perhaps the butterflies they’re both feeling mean something has changed—in the sweetest possible way…
Empty nest. Broken dreams. A single mom rediscovers her inner compass on the Potomac shores, guided by an ancient arrowhead and the captivating marsh man who found it.
Katie Young thought she had it all figured out. A fresh start in sunny Florida, a new husband, a thriving career. But life, like the tide, has a way of shifting course. Forced back to Virginia by the tragic loss of her mother, the family river house becomes her refuge from a storm no one saw coming.
Heartbroken and adrift, Katie explores the river on her dad’s old boat, questioning where—and with whom—she truly feels at home. Rekindled friendships around the beach bonfire spark new dreams in the little town of Occoquan.
But when a neighbor’s development threatens an eagle’s nest, Katie finds herself fighting for her heart, her land, and a future she never dared to imagine. As the lovelorn cicadas emerge from decades in the dark, can Katie chart a new course toward a forever love?
The Cicada Spring, the first in the Potomac Shores series, is a coming-of-middle-age story about second chances, the enduring bonds of friendship, and the power of nature to heal and guide us home.
In this heartfelt story about finding love in loss, three widows are forced under the same roof, where they’ll need to overcome grief, anger, and old secrets to put their family back together.
Since her husband’s death six months ago, Yesica Diaz-Taylor seems to be taking her grief in stride. Then an angry outburst at work shatters the illusion. Her mandated support group counseling doesn’t help much. Yesica has always kept her feelings close, so even when an unlikely friendship blossoms with the group’s facilitator, she still has reasons for holding back. She’s just not ready to share.
Ana Diaz has been widowed for five years and continues to live life exactly as she did with her late husband. When her house floods, she’s forced to shake things up. Although it was never part of her plan, Ana moves in with her eldest daughter, Yesica. But the new living arrangement tests their already strained relationship.
Shadowed by unresolved tensions, Yesica, Ana, and matriarch Mama Melda must learn to share a home, their heartbreak, and, once and for all, the haunting family secrets that have kept them apart.
Love finds you when you least expect it…
Marriage Wanted
Weddings were Savannah Charles’s business and she was an expert on marital bliss, but she’d given little thought to her own day of joy. Until divorce attorney Dash Davenport offered a proposal that would benefit them both. Dash claimed he’d never be convinced “I do” could last forever. So when he asked Savannah Charles to marry him, it was out of mutual necessity—not love. Yet he never expected to marry Savannah—the most passionate woman he’d ever tried not to love…
First Comes Marriage
When Zach Thomas merged his business with the Hartman family firm, that was the only Hartman-Thomas merger he wanted. But Janine Hartman’s grandfather had other ideas—ones belonging to a different place, a different time, when marriages were arranged by families. “It would be a perfect match,” he insisted. “You two suit each other.” Zach and Janine didn’t agree. In fact, they agreed on only one thing—that Gramps was a stubborn, meddling old man. But…what if he was right?
Keeping a family promise can be the beginning of a whole new life for everyone in town.
Whitney Gilford is delighted to be called away from Hollywood where her co-star and former lover, Zane Blanchard, is addicted to drugs and blaming her for his unhappiness. News of her beloved grandmother, GG, giving her and her sisters a cottage on the land of The Lilac Lake Inn is a tremendous relief from the negative publicity about her on social media. In Lilac Lake, helping with the renovation of the cottage, Whitney starts to rethink her entire career. Lilac Lake is full of interesting people, including the man she’d once had a crush on. As she struggles to rediscover the woman she wants to be, Whitney and her two sisters become closer. And when danger arises, threatening the life of the man she’s come to love, Whitney realizes what’s she wants out of a new life.
Another of Judith Keim’s series books celebrating love and families, strong women meeting challenges, and clean women’s fiction with a touch of romance—beach reads for all ages with a touch of humor, satisfying twists, and happy endings
Have an awesome day and thank you for stopping by! ☔📚☔
It’s the start of another week. It’s Monday! What are you Reading is hosted by Kathryn from Book Date , this is a weekly event to share what we’ve read in the past week and what we hope to read, plus whatever else comes to mind. I’m hoping to squeeze in some of my books that I own but remain unread!
LAST WEEKS READS:
In a grown-up twist on The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants , USA Today bestselling author Annie Rains pens a powerful, uplifting story of female friendship and resilience in a small Southern town, as former childhood friends overcome grief and begin to take new chances in their lives… with the help of a long-lost gift they were meant to share. Perfect for readers of Karen Hawkins’ The Book Charmer or Heather Webber’s Midnight at the Blackbird Café .
Ten years after she left her hometown of Trove Isle, NC, Melody Palmer is back to receive an unexpected inheritance—her great aunt’s thrift store, Hidden Treasures. There, in a glass case beneath the register, Melody spies the long-lost charm bracelet she shared with her high school friends, Liz and Bri, and her younger sister, Alyssa. After a devastating prom night accident, it disappeared, and the girls’ friendship evaporated with it. Slipping the bracelet on her arm for safekeeping, Melody soon finds herself crossing paths with her former friends once more.
While Melody fled, Liz has stayed in Trove Isle, helping with her parents’ business instead of pursuing her photography goals. Guilt still weighs on her after that fateful night when they lost Alyssa. For Bri, the consequences were even more stark. After spiraling into self-destruction, Bri served four years in a women’s state prison and is about to be released—but can Trove Isle ever feel like home again?
Yet despite everything that’s changed, the promise that the bracelet once held—of adventures, achievements, love, and lifelong friendship—hasn’t quite faded. And together, they might yet find a way to reconcile their pasts and futures, one charm at a time . . .
When a librarian moves to a quaint Irish village where her favorite novelist lives, the last thing she expects is to fall for the author’s prickly son… until their story becomes one for the books, from the New York Times bestselling author of Summer Reading .
Emily Allen, a librarian on Martha’s Vineyard, has always dreamed of a life of travel and adventure. So when her favorite author, Siobhan Riordan, offers her a job in the Emerald Isle, Emily jumps at the opportunity. After all, Siobhan’s novels got Em through some of the darkest days of her existence.
Helping Siobhan write the final book in her acclaimed series—after a ten-year hiatus due to a scorching case of writer’s block—is a dream come true for Emily. If only she didn’t have to deal with Siobhan’s son, Kieran Murphy. He manages Siobhan’s bookstore, and the grouchy bookworm clearly doesn’t want Em around.
When Siobhan’s health takes a bad turn, she’s more determined than ever to finish her novel, while Kieran tries every trick in the book to get his mother to rest. Thrown into the role of peacemaker, Emily begins to see that Kieran’s heart is in the right place. Torn between helping Siobhan find closure with her series and her own growing feelings for the mercurial Irishman, Emily will have to decide if she’s truly ready to turn a new page and figure out what lies in the next chapter.
Ex-con Seth Zimmerman has spent the last three years making amends by helping the vulnerable in his former Amish community. Lately, this mission includes calling on Tabitha Yoder, whose divorce from her abusive husband has isolated her from the community. Even though she never comes out of her house to talk to him, Seth knows she watches him from the window while he chops wood, clears her driveway, and drops off food. An uneasy friendship is just starting to take hold between them when small gifts begin to appear at Tabitha’s home–gifts that can only be from her ex-husband. Seth might be Tabitha’s only hope at maintaining her hard-won freedom from the man whose violent outbursts had almost cost her life. But coming to her rescue might mean he ends up behind bars once again. Get swept up in this emotional story of two outcasts who may be each other’s only hope for happiness and redemption from New York Times bestselling author Shelley Shepard Gray.
CURRENT READS:
Six summers to fall in love. One summer to change everything.
Liv and Finn meet six summers ago working in a bar on the rugged Cornish coastline, their futures full of promise. When a night of passion ends in devastating tragedy they are bound together inextricably. But Finn’s life is in LA with his band, and Liv’s is in Cornwall with her family—so they make a promise. Finn will return every year, and if they are single they will spend the summer together.
This summer Liv crosses paths with Tom—a mysterious new arrival in her hometown. As the wildflowers and heather come into bloom, they find themselves falling for one another. For the first time Liv can imagine a world where her heart isn’t broken every autumn. Now Liv must make an impossible choice. And when she discovers the shocking reason that Tom has left home, she’ll need to trust her heart even more . . .
READING NEXT:
The #1 New York Times-bestselling author of Identity presents a suspenseful new novel of tragedy and trauma, love and family, and the evil that awaits.
As they do each June, the Foxes have driven the winding roads of Appalachia to drop off their children for a two-week stay at their grandmother’s. Here, twelve-year-old Thea can run free and breathe in the smells of pine and fresh bread and Grammie’s handmade candles. But as her parents head back to suburban Virginia, they have no idea they’re about to cross paths with a ticking time bomb.
Back in Kentucky, Thea and her grandmother Lucy both awaken from the same nightmare. And though the two have never discussed the special kind of sight they share, they know as soon as their tearful eyes meet that something terrible has happened.
The kids will be staying with Grammie now in Redbud Hollow, and thanks to Thea’s vision, their parents’ killer will spend his life in supermax. Over time, Thea will make friends, build a career, find love. But that ability to see into minds and souls still lurks within her, and though Grammie calls it a gift, it feels more like a curse―because the inmate who shattered her childhood has the same ability. Thea can hear his twisted thoughts and witness his evil acts from miles away. He knows it, and hungers for vengeance. A long, silent battle will be waged between them―and eventually bring them face to face, and head to head…
As Laurel Ridge embraces a stranger hungry for answers, a sinister truth is awakened.
A hard-hitting reporter, Kate Beaumont unearths the deepest lies and brings harsh truths to light, but the story that lures her to the gentle town of Laurel Ridge, Pennsylvania, is closer to her heart than anyone knows. The details of her half brother’s sudden death have never made sense. She owes him justice, yet the one man who can help her is the stubborn sheriff she can’t stand.
Protecting his town is Mac Whiting’s top priority. Everything else, including pacifying a beautiful crusader on a mission best left resting in peace, is secondary. But as Kate’s search embeds her in his world and attracts a skilled criminal, she needs Mac’s protection. Drawn together by deadly secrets, they must find a way to trust each other before a killer silences them both.
Good morning! Happy Monday! Its 53, going up to 79. I didn’t sleep that well last night so I’m hoping I can stay awake today. Have a relaxing day everyone!🤗☕💜
Susan Loves Books 