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The Woman on the Beach by Julia Roberts - Bookouture Blog Tour

8/21/2021

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Description:
​I was so sure I saw Sophie on the beach that day. But it couldn’t be her. Sophie’s dead…

Ever since we swore to be best friends at school, Sophie was there for me. When she married my brother, she became family. We shared everything.

At least I thought we did.

After she died, I was devastated. Everyone else has moved on, but I can’t. She was so quiet, those last few months. I’m sure there is something I don’t know…

Now I’m standing on the beach we visited when we were younger, and there’s a woman with long blond hair a few metres away, playing with a dog in the sunshine. She turns, and I see Sophie.

Heart racing, I run after her, but before I can reach her she’s vanished, leaving only footprints in the sand.

It can’t be Sophie… Can it? And do I want to know, if the answer will destroy everything?

A gripping emotional page-turner about the ways we lie to ourselves and how love and hope can heal us. Fans of Amanda Prowse, Liane Moriarty and Susan Lewis will absolutely love The Woman on the Beach.

If there is something I love as much as a morally grey character, it's an unreliable narrator. This book is the story of three girls whose friendship is so strong that they can tell each other everything---IS IT REALLY???? The girls thought so at least but then each one of them has to deal with a different kind of devastating and painful experience and they have to decide how much to tell the others. Julia Roberts tells the story from three different POVs and you, the reader, are the only one who (presumably) knows the whole story---at least that is what YOU think when you read the book. But everything is not what it seems. The author takes you on a rollercoaster ride through emotional struggles, doubt, grief, etc. She keeps you guessing what really happened until the very end. You think you have it all figured out and root for the girls and then, bam!, you get another piece in this puzzle and start doubting your own theories. 
While the last Julia Roberts book I read made me ball my eyes out (read my review of My Mother's Secret here), this book kept me at the edge of my seat, not only because I could relate to two of the girls' stories on a very personal level but also because one of the girls is such an unreliable narrator that you keep wondering throughout the book if you can believe what she is saying or if the events did not really happen the way she believes they did. Thank you, Julia Roberts, for giving me hours of thrill, heartbreak, and entertainment!


About the author:
Julia was born in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, and began her career as a professional singer/dancer. This enabled her to travel the world in her late teens storing up experiences she has since included in her writing.
 
Following roles as a hostess on The Price is Right and a member of the Beadle’s About ‘hit squad’ in the 1980s, she became a TV Presenter and filmed features for Sky Sports before launching the QVC shopping channel in 1993 where she still presents today. Having always wanted to write, she penned her first book, a memoir sold on QVC, in 2013 and has since written seven full length novels, two novellas and several short stories.
 
http://www.juliarobertsauthor.com/
https://www.facebook.com/JuliaRobertsTV
https://www.instagram.com/juliagroberts/
https://twitter.com/JuliaRobertsTV
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Where to buy:
Amazon: https://bit.ly/37wc4SO
Apple: https://apple.co/3tRBIKF
Kobo: https://bit.ly/2RXxYdb
Google: https://bit.ly/3ftewgA
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My blog post is one of many as part of a blog tour. For more thoughts on this particular book, check out the other blog tour participants' blogs and show them some love!!
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Beyond the Olive Grove - Kate Hewitt - Bookouture Blog Tour

8/14/2021

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Description:
​The place seemed utterly still, the only sound was the wind rustling high in the pines above. Standing there, realizing she didn’t even know which house had belonged to her grandmother, Ava wondered just how crazy and desperate she’d been to come all this way with no hope or plan.

When Ava arrives in Greece, it’s with a heart that’s shattered into a thousand pieces. But as she pulls up in a tiny village nestled on a cliff above the glittering Ionian Sea, and steps out in front of a tumbledown house that once belonged to her grandmother Sophia, everything changes.

At first Ava almost wants to laugh at this bizarre inheritance—a home that has been uninhabited since the Second World War—that appears as close to collapse as she herself feels. But with nowhere left to run to, her only choice is to start putting the house together again.

What Ava doesn’t expect is for pieces of her grandmother’s story to emerge, as a local survivor from the war begins to share her secrets. Ava can’t help but be drawn to Sophia’s hidden past… even though the truth could change her own life forever.

Because Sophia’s story is one of devastating choices she had to make during the Nazi invasion of her beloved country. It’s a story of bravery, betrayal and tragedy. But most of all, it is a story about love…
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​An utterly unforgettable story of two remarkable women who find the strength to persevere against all odds and find hope, courage and light in the darkness. Perfect for fans of The Nightingale, The Lilac Girls and Victoria Hislop’s The Island.

Previously published as The Other Side of the Bridge by Katharine Swartz.
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My thoughts
Before I tell you my thoughts, I'll have a confession to make. I have been absolutely oblivious and ignorant. Sounds dramatic but what I mean by that is that I had basically zero knowledge that (1) Greece was occupied by the Nazis and (2) that the occupation by the Nazis and later the occupation by the British military resulted in a civil war. Coincidentally and absolutely not intended, I have recently read not just one WWII novel set in Greece but now--with this book--two! (The other book is "Once we were here" by Christopher Cosmos.) As you know, I was born and raised in Germany. According to the German equivalent of the State Department, there are currently about 467,000 Greeks living in Germany. Back when I was still living in Germany, I had many Greek friends and I still, to this day, love love love Greek food!! A friend of mine moved to Greece when her husband retired from the U.S. Army and I'm always jealous when she posts photos of where she lives right now. Greece has got to be one of the most gorgeous places in the world! With that being said, because of the two WWII in Greece books I have started doing a bit more research about Greece's fate during the war and after. 

But back to this particular book: It hit home! The reason why Ava is in Greece (spoiler: the inheritance is not really the main reason she is there but merely an event in her life that helps her escape from what is haunting her) and her relationship with her husband Simon are something that is oh so familiar to me. My husband and I went through something similar. Back then, I didn't want to run away but if I had wanted to do it, Greece would be high on my list of destinations. The book is written in two timelines: One timeline follows Ava around while she tries to piece together what happened to her grandmother Sophia during the war and the other takes place during those years and follows Sophia. Both timelines are remarkable in their own way. While they differ in many aspects, they have one thing in common...both tell a story about finding the strength to persevere. 
This is my third book by Kate Hewitt and she has most certainly made it to the top of my list of historical fiction authors. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a big fan of romantic novels. This particular book does have romance in it but it is not the main theme. Beyond the Olive Grove focuses on the two female MCs' emotional journey in terms of finding out how strong they actually are, learning that sometimes things are not what they seem, and dealing with loss and grief. I could put a trigger warning on this book but that would mean to spoil it for those who haven't read the book yet. So, let me limit it to a more general trigger warning label: make sure you are not going through (family-related) trauma when you pick up this book. 

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About the author:
Kate Hewitt is the author of many romance and women’s fiction novels. A former New Yorker and now an American ex-pat, she lives in a small town on the Welsh border with her husband, five children, and their overly affectionate Golden Retriever. Whatever the genre, she enjoys telling stories that tackle real issues and touch people’s lives.

https://www.kate-hewitt.com/
https://www.facebook.com/KateHewittAuthor/
https://twitter.com/author_kate
Where to buy:
Amazon: https://bit.ly/3lxtcQ
My blog post is one of many as part of a blog tour. For more thoughts on this particular book, check out the other blog tour participants' blogs and show them some love!!
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Death at the Gates - Katie Gayle - Bookouture Blog Tour

8/4/2021

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Description: 
Hurlingham House school is a high-achiever’s heaven, full of happy, hard-working pupils. There’s just the small matter of the dead body on the field… Sounds like a case for Epiphany Bloom!

​When Epiphany Bloom’s best friend’s sister Claire is accused of trading exam papers for money, Epiphany agrees to see Ms Peters, the headteacher of Claire’s fiercely competitive school, to provide moral support. Claire has always been a model student and is loudly protesting her innocence: surely it’s all just a misunderstanding.

But when Ms Peters hears about Epiphany’s previous sleuthing exploits, she enlists her help to track down the true culprit!

Taking a job as a PE teacher, Epiphany soon realises she has plenty of suspects for the exam scam mastermind. The broke young teacher with a shady past? The father willing to buy his daughter anything – including grades? The school governor desperate to keep Hurlingham House at the top of the ranks?

Then Epiphany finds one of them dead at the school fair, and it becomes clear someone is taking the cut-throat culture of the school too literally – and when mysterious accidents start happening around her too, it seems the killer knows she’s onto them.
Can Epiphany solve the murder as well as clearing Claire’s name, before she becomes the next victim? This is one test she can’t afford to fail…

A charming and totally addictive cozy mystery with a hilarious and warm-hearted heroine. A must-read for fans of M.C. Beaton, Lee Strauss and Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum series.
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My thoughts
Well, well, well...what to say? Let me start by saying that the authors set the bar very high with their previous book in the series. That is my favorite one so far. Read my review here!
With that being said, I have to admit that this one did not quite meet the bar which The Museum Murder set. Don't get me wrong, it is still a fantastic read but in this one, my favorite morally grey character Pip was just a bit too "normal and sweet" for my liking lol. The book starts out with her losing yet another job (for yet another crazy reason ;-)) and accepting a job as an undercover investigator at a school with a bunch of super rich kids. Out of all the subjects she could have been assigned, she has to turn into a semi-passable PE teacher. I expected her to go from one faux-pas to the next. She does do some of her typical Pip stuff, just not as crazy as in the previous books. I think what made the previous book such an amazing read for me where the pop culture references ("Pretty Woman" Julia Roberts and other iconic characters). I was waiting for some of those to pop up again even though I kind of knew that they would not fit into this storyline. Also, I really missed her sister's hilarious mistakes with the English language. I hope we get some of those laugh-out-loud-roll-on-the-floor conversations between Pip and her sister in the next book which I'm very much looking forward to. This book was a great addition to the series. Now hurry, ladies, and give us another laugh-out-loud and rollercoaster-ride-crazy story!
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​About the authors:
Katie Gayle is the writing partnership of best-selling South African writers, Kate Sidley and Gail Schimmel. Kate and Gail have, between them, written over ten books of various genres, but with Katie Gayle, they both make their debut in the cozy mystery genre. Both Gail and Kate live in Johannesburg, with husbands, children, dogs and cats. Unlike their sleuth Epiphany Bloom, neither of them have ever stolen a cat from the vet.
 
https://www.facebook.com/KatieGayleWriter
https://twitter.com/KatieGayleBooks
Where to buy:
Amazon: https://bit.ly/3BK4h1u

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My blog post is one of many as part of a blog tour. For more thoughts on this particular book, check out the other blog tour participants' blogs and show them some love!!
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    Author

    This part of my blog is all about books and reading! I believe in reading aloud to my kids and being creative with books (e.g., in the form of Bible journaling). 
    My goal for 2021 is --just as in 2020-- to continue to minimize my electronics time (mindless TV watching, binge-watching shows on Netflix, game apps, social media scrolling). Instead, I will continue to replace those hours with reading challenges, audiobooks, and reading time with my kids. 

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