The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia

 

The Business Trip by Jessie Garcia

 

Summary:

"A stunning and accomplished debut, with hugely relatable characters and an addictive storyline that kept me turning the pages well into the night. Bravo!" --BA Paris, New York Times bestselling author

"Wow, The Business Trip was nonstop twists and turns. I loved the unusual way that the story was told, and I kept reading all day long because I couldn't wait to see how it ended!" -- Freida McFadden, New York Times bestselling author

THE BUSINESS TRIP is the gripping, page-turning debut from author Jessie Garcia.

Stephanie and Jasmine have nothing and everything in common. The two women don’t know each other but are on the same plane. Stephanie is on a business trip and Jasmine is fleeing an abusive relationship. After a few days, they text their friends the same exact messages about the same man—the messages becoming stranger and more erratic.

And then the two women vanish. The texts go silent, the red flags go up, and the panic sets in. When Stephanie and Jasmine are each declared missing and in danger, it begs the questions: Who is Trent McCarthy? What did he do to these women— or what did they do to him?

Twist upon twist, layer upon layer, where nothing is as it seems, The Business Trip takes you on a descent into the depths of a mastermind manipulator. But who is playing who?

 

Review: 5-star

Wow, what a trip this book takes you on. The ending is not how I saw it ending.  Once you start reading the book engages you so much you can’t stop until you’ve finished the book.  One of the best page-turners I’ve read so far this year. The flow of the storyline is perfect, editing is spot on. 

 

Conclusion:

 

Would I recommend this book to others:  YES

Would I buy this book as a gift:  YES

Would I read other books written by this Autor: YES

 

 

 

The Story Collector by Evie Woods

 

Summary:

An evocative and charming novel full of secrets and mystery, from the million-copy bestselling author of The Lost Bookshop

In a quiet village in Ireland, a mysterious local myth is about to change everything…

One hundred years ago, Anna, a young farm girl, volunteers to help an intriguing American visitor translate fairy stories from Irish to English. But all is not as it seems and Anna soon finds herself at the heart of a mystery that threatens her very way of life.

In New York in the present day, Sarah Harper boards a plane bound for the West Coast of Ireland. But once there, she finds she has unearthed dark secrets – secrets that tread the line between the everyday and the otherworldly, the seen and the unseen.

 

Review: 3-Star

I had high hopes for this story when I read the description, but to me the story feels dry and does flow flawlessly.  It was easy to put down for days at a time and then I would remember that I needed to finish it so I could do my review.  While I did enjoy it, it didn’t catch me up like I thought it would. The Editing is great I didn’t find errors that I find so often nowadays, but to me a book should engage me to where I don’t want to put it down and this didn’t do it at all.

 

Conclusion:

 

Would I recommend this book to others NO

Would I buy this book for another NO

Would I read other books by this Author Maybe

 

 

 

 

 

 

Framed by John Grisham; Jim McCloskey

 

Summary:

In John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction since The Innocent Man, “the master of the legal thriller” (Associated Press) teams up with Jim McCloskey, “the godfather of the innocence movement” (Texas Monthly), to share ten harrowing true stories of wrongful convictions.

John Grisham is known worldwide for his bestselling novels, but it’s his real-life passion for justice that led to his work with Jim McCloskey of Centurion Ministries, the first organization dedicated to exonerating innocent people who have been wrongly convicted. Together they offer an inside look at the many injustices in our criminal justice system.

A fundamental principle of our legal system is a presumption of innocence, but once someone has been found guilty, there is very little room to prove doubt. These ten true stories shed light on Americans who were innocent but found guilty and forced to sacrifice friends, families, and decades of their lives to prison while the guilty parties remained free. In each of the stories, John Grisham and Jim McCloskey recount the dramatic hard-fought battles for exoneration. They take a close look at what leads to wrongful convictions in the first place and the racism, misconduct, flawed testimony, and corruption in the court system that can make them so hard to reverse.

Impeccably researched and told with page-turning suspense as only John Grisham can deliver, Framed is the story of winning freedom when the battle already seems lost and the deck is stacked against you.

 

Review:  5-star

I don’t give out many 5-star review the book has to be a page turner where I don’t like putting it down.  I’ve always been a fan of John Grisham, so it was his name that got me to read the summary of the book to see if it was something I was interested in reading and when I read that I knew Yes, this was then next book I’d read and review.  I’ve heard a few stories of people wrongfully convicted and I never understood how it could happen, but John and Jim to such a wonderful job of telling these stories it opened my eyes to this problem we have. Each story was written with dignity to the person or persons involved. They stories were written in such away they engage the reader and draw them in where they don’t want to stop reading.  You feel all the emotions and it breaks your heart that there have been way too many people wrongfully convicted and the amount of money and time it takes to free them is something nobody will ever fully understand.

 

Conclusion:

Would I recommend this book to others YES

Would I buy this book as a gift for someone YES

Would I read other books written by the Authors YES

 

 

 

Dust by Alison Stine

 

Dust by Alison Stine

 

Summary:

"An immediate classic that holds its own alongside the greats of American Literature, Dust brings the haunting echoes of our past to a weather-beaten future. Every word of Dust is as familiar as a childhood friend. You understand—instantly—that you will carry it with you for the rest of your life." – K. Ancrum, award-winning author of The Wicker King

In this haunting, speculative coming-of-age novel about finding your place in an unforgiving environment, a partially deaf teen questions everything she knows about family, love, and her future.

After her father has a premonition, Thea and her family move to the Bloodless Valley of southern Colorado, hoping to make a fresh start. But the rivers are dry, the crops are dying, and the black blizzards of Colorado have returned. Much like the barren land, Thea feels her life has stopped growing. She is barely homeschooled, forbidden from going to the library, and has no way to contact her old friends—all due to her parents’ fear of the outside world’s dangerous influence.

But to make ends meet, Thea is allowed to work at the café in town. There, she meets Ray, who is deaf. Thea, who was born hard of hearing, has always been pushed by her parents to pass as someone who can hear. Now, with Ray secretly teaching Thea how to sign, she begins to learn what she’s been missing—not just a new language but a whole community and maybe even a chance at love.

Review: 4-Star

I gave this book a 4-star review because it wasn’t a page-turner. A page-turner is a book I can’t put down, this book I put down for over a week before picking it back up and finishing it.  The story is very well written and the flow is perfect. I’m not sure what, it was that made me able to put it down.

 

Conclusion:

Would I recommend this book to others YES

Would I read other books by this Author YES

 

The X-Files: Perihelion By Claudia Gray

 

The X-Files: Perihelion

By Claudia Gray

 

Summary:

Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are still reeling from the death of their son William as they struggle to find purpose away from the X-Files. Though their current relationship is tenuous, they hope to seize their second chance to be a family, despite the many questions surrounding Scully’s pregnancy.

Then the FBI asks for their help on a case that hits all too close to home: a serial killer in the Washington, DC area who targets pregnant women. The killer appears to possess a mysterious, uncanny power over electricity, which is enough for the Bureau to re-open the X-Files—if Mulder and Scully are willing.

They cautiously agree, concerned about the safety of their own unborn child yet committed to finding justice for the killer’s victims. But their return to the FBI sparks the interest of a shadowy cabal, the heirs to the now-dead Syndicate, and Mulder and Scully soon discover that what at first seems to be just another X-File is connected to a worldwide threat on an unprecedented scale . . . one with their own future at its heart.

Review:4 Stars

As a die-hard fan of the X-Files I really enjoyed this story, it felt like an old comfy blanket on a cold day for the most part, but it wasn’t a page-turner, I could set it down and get other things done and come back to it later The overall flow was great, The editing was spot on. If it had been a page-turner which I couldn’t walk away from it would have been a 5-star for sure.

Conclusion:

Would I recommend this book to others YES

Would I read other books by this Author YES

NetGalley

Seven Summers by Paige Toon

 

Seven Summers by Paige Toon

 

Summary:

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 . . .

 

Review: 3-star

 

When I get a book to review, I try my best to read and follow through with the review, this one was so close to becoming a DNF, but I kept going and started to enjoy it towards the end of the story.  I felt disconnected from the characters for most of the story.  The only reason it’s getting the 3 stars is that the story finishes strong and the editing is spot-on.

 

Conclusion:

Will I recommend this book to others?  NO

Will I read other books by this Author? Unsure might give one more a try because you can’t judge an Author by just one book.

 

I received this book for my honest review.

 

 

 

 

 

The Medicine Woman of Galveston by Amanda Skenandore

 

The Medicine Woman of Galveston by Amanda Skenandore

 

Summary:

A downtrodden female doctor takes up with a traveling medicine show to support her disabled son, joining a German giantess, a bowlegged musician, an indentured Creek poet, and a handsome tinker under the thumb of a charismatic but menacing swindler on a collision course with the deadliest natural disaster in American history – the Galveston Hurricane of 1900.

Readers of Christina Baker Kline, Sandra Dallas, and Sara Donati will be captivated by this story of medical historical fiction by Amanda Skenandore, registered nurse and acclaimed author of The Nurse’s Secret and The Second Life of Mirielle West.

Once a trailblazer in the field of medicine, Dr. Tucia Hatherley hasn’t touched a scalpel or stethoscope since she made a fatal mistake in the operating theater. Instead, she works in a corset factory, striving to earn enough to support her disabled son. When even that livelihood is threatened, Tucia is left with one option—to join a wily, charismatic showman named Huey and become part of his traveling medicine show.

Her medical license lends the show a pretense of credibility, but the cures and tonics Tucia is forced to peddle are little more than purgatives and bathwater. Loathing the duplicity, even as she finds uneasy kinship with the other misfit performers, Tucia vows to leave as soon as her debts are paid and start a new life with her son—if Huey will ever let her go.

When the show reaches Galveston, Texas, Tucia tries to break free from Huey, only to be pulled even deeper into his schemes. But there is a far greater reckoning ahead, as a September storm becomes a devastating hurricane that will decimate the Gulf Coast—and challenge Tucia to recover her belief in medicine, in the goodness of others—and in herself.

Review 4-star

While this story is very well written it’s not a page-turner, I could put the book down and do other stuff and not even think about the story at one point it didn’t pick it back up for three days., and this makes it a 4-star and not a 5-star in my eyes.

The story flow is spot-on, as is the editing. The characters are where the story fails and makes it where it’s not a page-turner.  I don’t know what anyone looks like and I couldn’t picture the story at all in my mind.  These two things are important to me to make a great story. 

Conclusion:

Would I recommend this book to others? YES

Would I read other books by this Author? Maybe

I received this book from NetGalley for my honest review.