It's all about the thrill: September 2021

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Reasons for Avoiding Friends by Megan Leavell

Release Date: September 14, 2021

About The Book:

Growing up, Gwen and Iris were the best of friends, even if they couldn’t have been more different. Now Gwen is living her hometown dream, or so she reminds herself while juggling endless parenting drama, an unemployed husband, and a neighborhood pyramid scheme. Never mind that at age thirty-nine, her social circle still resembles middle school. Her life is everything she ever wanted it to be, but nothing like she had planned.

Iris was never destined for the ordinary. When she moved to Manhattan, she shed her old life for a better one—but not without a cost. From a distance, Iris’s life couldn’t be more charmed, but no one knows about the cracks in the image she’s worked so hard to cultivate. No one knows the real Iris at all. Except for Gwen. But Iris and Gwen haven’t spoken for years. Until…

When Iris’s past catches up with her, she turns to the one person she could always count on—but she isn’t the only one keeping secrets, and as Gwen scrambles to preserve an illusion of domestic bliss, she finds herself wondering when they went from telling each other everything to sharing nothing. Now, a little wiser, and most certainly a little older, Gwen and Iris discover that the truest of friends accept you just as you are, and that loving yourself is sometimes the best way to find happiness.

My Thoughts

Who says you can't go home? That is exactly what fancy pants 👖 Iris tried to do. After escaping her small town to live it up large in Manhattan...🛍👠👜can she really go back? Well when her husband gives her reason #551 to leave him....maybe she will...the problem is her only friend there is Gwen...and it's been about 15 years since they have seen each other...so there is that...😬

Gwen is the picture of domestic bliss...well according to her Christmas cards...in reality she is a hot mess express...like we all are...🤷‍♀️…she needs her hair done, wants a better wardrobe and runs herself ragged with her daily errands...welcome to 40! 🥳

I enjoyed watching this play out. These two former BFF's 👯‍♀️seemed so different, but were they really? They were so relatable...the social media persona that is now the norm...the suburban mother that has to "fit in" with the other moms.

A fun escape...quick, easy read...about life, love and friendship. ❤️

Thank you so much to Suzy Approved Tours and Megan Leavell for my gifted copy. THIS COVER!! So pretty!

About The Author:

Megan Leavell is a full-time writer and part-time dreamer. She enjoys writing about the relationships that define our lives, and her books are sprinkled with her signature warmth and humor. Megan is also the author of several bestselling novels under the name Olivia Miles. She lives on the North Shore of Chicago with her husband, daughter, and an adorable pair of dogs.

Social Media:

Website - www.meganleavell.com

Facebook - www.facebook.com/authorMeganLeavell

Instagram - www.instagram.com/meganleavellauthor

Links to Suzy’s Tours across Social Media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suzyapprovedbooktours/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/suzyapprovedbooktours

Twitter https://twitter.com/SuzyAPBookTours

Bloggers On Tour:

Sept. 1st- Nurse Bookie https://instagram.com/nurse_bookie

Sept. 1st-Mrs Boom Reads https://instagram.com/mrsboomreads

Sept. 2nd - ML Book Love https://instagram.com/mlbooklove

Sept. 2nd-She Just Loves Books https://instagram.com/shejustlovesbooks

Sept. 3rd - The Bookish World of YRRALH https://instagram.com/the.bookishworld.of.yrralh

Sept. 3rd- Cassie’s Book Reviews https://instagram.com/cassies_books_reviews

Sept. 3rd- Bookphile Belle https://instagram.com/bookphile_belle

Sept. 4th - Its All About The Thrill https://instagram.com/itsallaboutthethrill

Sept. 7th- Carol Doscher https://instagram.com/carol_doscher_reader

Sept. 8th - Ilashreads https://instagram.com/ilashreads

Sept. 9th - Subakka Bookstuff https://instagram.com/subakka.bookstuff

Sept. 10th- Lexi Java https://instagram.com/lexijava

Sept. 10th - Jayme Reads https://instagram.com/jayme_reads

Sept. 10th- Reading With Mere-https://instagram.com/readingwithmere

Sept. 13th - Love My Books 2020 https://instagram.com/lovemybooks2020

Sept.13th- Biblio Reviews https://instagram.com/biblioreviews

Sept. 13th - Sunflower Book Lover https://instagram.com/sunflower_book_lover

Sept. 14th - Literally Booked Solid https://instagram.com/literallybookedsolid

Sept. 15th -Amy Lynn Lifestyle https://instagram.com/amylynnlifestyle

Sept. 16th - Bryant Park Books https://instagram.com/bryantparkbooks

Sept. 18th -Rozier Reads and Wine https://instagram.com/rozierreadsandwine

Sept. 19th Sarah Clark Reads https://instagram.com/sarah_clark_reads

Sept. 20th-Books Love And Understanding https://instagram.com/booksloveandunderstanding

Sept. 21st - Britt Reads A Latte Books https://instagram.com/brittreadsalattebooks

Sept. 24th - We Break For Books https://instagram.com/webreakforbooks

Sept. 25th -Geaux Get Lit https://instagram.com/geauxgetlit

Sept. 28th- Nature Books and Coffee https://instagram.com/nature.books.and.coffee

Sept. 30th -Sealed With A Book https://instagram.com/sealedwithabook

Sept. 30th- Sweet Honey And Brei https://instagram.com/sweethoneyandbrei

Monday, September 27, 2021

The Moon, The Stars, and Madame Burova by Ruth Hogan

About the book

From the wildly popular bestselling author of The Keeper of Lost Things—an uplifting, slightly magical story about how it’s never too late to find out who you really are.

Madame Burova—beloved Tarot reader, palmist, and clairvoyant—is retiring and leaving her booth on the Brighton seafront.

After inheriting her mother’s fortune-telling business as a young woman, Imelda Burova has spent her life on the Brighton pier practicing her trade. She and her trusty pack of Tarot cards have seen the lovers and the liars, the angels and the devils, the dreamers and the fools. Now, after a lifetime of keeping other people’s secrets, Madam Burova is ready to have a little piece of life for herself. But she still has one last thing to do—to fulfill a promise made in the 1970s, when she and her girlfriends were carefree, with their whole lives still before them.

In London, it is time for another woman to make a fresh start. Billie has lost her university job, her marriage, and her place in the world when a sudden and unlikely discovery leaves her very identity in question. Determined to find answers, she must follow a trail…which leads to Brighton, the pier, and directly to Madame Burova’s door.

In a story spanning over fifty years, Ruth Hogan has conjured a magical world of 1970s holiday camps and seaside entertainers, eccentrics, heroes and villains, the lost and the found. Young people will make careless choices which echo down the years….but it’s never too late to put things right.

My Thoughts

This book was an absolute delight to read. As soon as I heard it was a book about a beloved woman that reads palms, tarot card and is clairvoyant...I knew I needed to read it! I mean just look at that cover!

I am a big fan of dual time lines and this did a fantastic job of taking us from the 1970s and then to the present time.

1970's - a baby is found on the steps of Madame Burova's booth on the Brighton seafront...abandoned by her mother...

Flash forward to present time...Sadly Billie's parents have passed away...with a secret they have kept all those years...Billie is the baby found on the pier...yet she didn't know it...what?! So many questions!

As Billie searches for answers to her past...Madame Burova may just hold the key...except she is holding that secret close to her heart.

This was a very well spun mystery. I didn't know exactly how it would pan out until the very end. The characters were quirky and likable.

I loved the journey we took with Billie and I loved the ending!! Extra points for all the dogs!!

Thank you Partner Bibliolifestyle and William Morrow for this gorgeous gifted copy!! It was an absolute pleasure to read.

About the author

Ruth Hogan (@ruthmariehogan) / Twitter

Ruth Hogan | Hachette UK

Ruth Marie Hogan (@ruthmariehogan) • Instagram photos and videos

I was born in the house where my parents still live in Bedford: my sister was so pleased to have a sibling that she threw a thrupenny bit at me. As a child I read everything I could lay my hands on: The Moomintrolls, A Hundred Million Francs, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the back of cereal packets and gravestones. I was mad about dogs and horses, but didn't like daddy-long-legs or sugar in my tea.

I studied English and Drama at Goldsmiths College which was brilliant, but then I came home and got a 'proper' job. I worked for ten years in a senior local government position (I was definitely a square peg in a round hole, but it paid the bills and mortgage) before a car accident left me unable to work full-time and convinced me to start writing seriously. It was going well, but then in 2012 I got cancer, which was bloody inconvenient but precipitated an exciting hair journey from bald to a peroxide blonde Annie Lennox crop. When chemo kept me up all night I passed the time writing and the eventual result was The Keeper of Lost Things.

I live in a chaotic Victorian house with an assortment of rescue dogs and my long-suffering partner (who has very recently become my husband - so I can't be that bad!) I am a magpie, always collecting treasures, and a huge John Betjeman fan. My favourite word is 'antimacassar' and I still like reading gravestones.

BiblioLifestyle | A weekly newsletter and community

BiblioLifestyle (@bibliolifestyle) • Instagram photos and videos

BiblioLifestyle (@BiblioLifestyle) / Twitter

TOUR SCHEDULE

Sunday, September 19th: @themaryreader

Sunday, September 19th: @webreakforbooks

Sunday, September 19th: @readswithyenny

Monday, September 20th: @heatherflynnstagram

Monday, September 20th: @thenomaddreamer

Monday, September 20th: @suzyapprovedbookreviews

Tuesday, September 21st: @erynereads

Tuesday, September 21st: @howdidthatbookend

Tuesday, September 21st: @archie.loves.to.read

Wednesday, September 22nd: @celiamcmahonreads

Wednesday, September 22nd: @alltheradreads

Wednesday, September 22nd: @ambereatsbooks

Thursday, September 23rd: @falling4romance

Thursday, September 23rd: @amy_higgs_reads

Thursday, September 23rd: @books.of.oz

Friday, September 24th: @booktimistic

Friday, September 24th: @theboozy.reader

Friday, September 24th: @keepingyouonread

Saturday, September 25th: @erinescapingreality

Saturday, September 25th: @letmetakea_shelfie_

Saturday, September 25th: @literarythumbprint

Sunday, September 26th: @kylieisreading

Sunday, September 26th: @legallyblondeandbookish

Sunday, September 26th: @bigskybooks

Monday, September 27th: @itsallaboutthethrill

Monday, September 27th: @reading.betweenthewines

Monday, September 27th: @kristens.reading.nook

Tuesday, September 28th: @extrovertedforbooks

Tuesday, September 28th: @abbysbookadventure

Tuesday, September 28th: @irishgirliereads

Wednesday, September 29th: @suzysbookshelf

Wednesday, September 29th: @shobizreads

Wednesday, September 29th: @lets.get.biblio

Thursday, September 30th: @cmtloveswineandbooks

Thursday, September 30th: @pairedpages

Thursday, September 30th: @reallyintothis

Friday, October 1st: @skiingandreading

Friday, October 1st: @thereadingroom444

Friday, October 1st: @krystalinthecity

Saturday, October 2nd: @readaholicmom

Saturday, October 2nd: @themorebooks

Saturday, October 2nd: @campychick001

Sunday, October 3rd: @libraryofanormalgirl

Sunday, October 3rd: @coffeeshopcorner

Sunday, October 3rd: @getlostinabookwithme

Monday, October 4th: @rebecca.is.reading

Monday, October 4th: @nature.books.and.coffee

Monday, October 4th: @readingwithash

Tuesday, October 5th: @brandy_reads

Tuesday, October 5th: @delightfully.brittany

Wednesday, October 6th: @cabinreading

Wednesday, October 6th: @keisha_reads

Thursday, October 7th: @secretreadinglife

Thursday, October 7th: @thebibliophileandtheboxer

Friday, October 8th: @sweatingtillimakeittoo

Friday, October 8th: @communikatetions

Saturday, October 9th: @shopcoffeekids

Saturday, October 9th: @the_booksandwich

Saturday, October 9th: @subakka.bookstuff

Saturday, September 25, 2021

With or Without You by Caroline Leavitt

Paperback Release Date: June 29, 2021

About The Book:

New York Times bestselling author Caroline Leavitt writes novels that expertly explore the struggles and conflicts that people face in their search for happiness. For the characters in With or Without You, it seems at first that such happiness can come only at someone else’s expense. Stella is a nurse who has long suppressed her own needs and desires to nurture the dreams of her partner, Simon, the bass player for a rock band that has started to lose its edge. But when Stella gets unexpectedly ill and falls into a coma just as Simon is preparing to fly with his band to Los Angeles for a gig that could revive his career, Simon must learn the meaning of sacrifice, while Stella’s best friend, Libby, a doctor who treats Stella, must also make a difficult choice as the coma wears on.

When Stella at last awakes from her two-month sleep, she emerges into a striking new reality where Simon and Libby have formed an intense bond, and where she discovers that she has acquired a startling artistic talent of her own: the ability to draw portraits of people in which she captures their innermost feelings and desires. Stella’s whole identity, but also her role in her relationships, has been scrambled, and she has the chance to form a new life, one she hadn’t even realized she wanted.

A story of love, loyalty, loss, and resilience, With or Without You is a page-turner that asks the question, What do we owe the other people in our lives, and when does the cost become too great?

My Thoughts

This book! Oh my heart!❤️It gave me all the feels. I went in thinking..well this sounds pretty good…umm the blurb doesn’t do it justice. I absolutely loved it !! ❤️

I connected with Stella immediately… She’s a nurse… 👩‍⚕️so she’s my people! Like so many people, Stella hits her 40s and starts to question her choices… then she makes her biggest mistake… and ends up in a coma.

Her experience while in a coma was absolutely fascinating to me! I’ve always wondered what level of awareness the patient has during that time…🤔

I finished up the book marveled at all the changes the coma brought on…to not only Stella but those around her. Her new found desire and talent to paint blew me away. 🎨

As I got ready to close the book… I always try to learn a little bit about the author. Upon finding out she had been in a coma herself… I was rendered speechless. It made the book even that more special. The story of regret, change, finding the things that bring you pure joy in your life… I can’t recommend this book enough. ❤️

Thank you to Suzy Approved Tours, Caroline Leavitt and Algonquin Books for my gifted copy. 🥰

About The Author:

Caroline Leavitt is the award-winning author of twelve novels, including the New York Times bestsellers Pictures of You and Is This Tomorrow. Her essays and stories have been included in New York magazine, Psychology Today, More, Parenting, Redbook, and Salon. She’s a book critic for People, the Boston Globe, and the San Francisco Chronicle, and she teaches writing online at Stanford and UCLA. www.carolineleavitt.com

Social Media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carolineleavitt/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/carolineleavitt

Twitter: @leavittnovelist