ISBN-13: 9780316190428
At the request of The Hachette Book Group, an ARC TPB was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.

  Desperate and facing homelessness, Meredith receives a call from her old best friend, Constance Flute. Connie’s had recent worries of her own, and the two depart for a summer on Nantucket in an attempt to heal. But the island can’t offer complete escape, and they’re plagued by new and old troubles alike. When Connie’s brother Toby – Meredith’s high school boyfriend – arrives, Meredith must reconcile the differences between the life she is leading and the life she could have had.
  Set against the backdrop of a Nantucket summer, Elin Hilderbrand delivers a suspenseful story of the power of friendship, the pull of love, and the beauty of forgiveness.
 
  My Thoughts and Opinion: I would like to first start with 2 caveats. This was the first book I had read by this author. After posting that it was my current read, I received mixed comments about her previous books, so quite honestly, was a bit skeptical. The second, in fairness to the author, was the length of time it took me to read the book. It had nothing to do with the writing style, it holding my interest, the characters and/or the story line. Matter of fact, quite the opposite. I really enjoyed all of the above. It was because at the present time, I am also caught up in a televised trial that has taken away from my reading time.

  As far as the novel, it is the type of read where you become part of the story. I felt that the author brought the characters to life, whereas I could feel their emotions. I enjoyed the dynamics of the relationships between the characters, including their flaws. At times, I wanted to comfort them and at times, reprimand them. The story covered a 40 year friendship and at certain times of reflection, would alternate between the present with memories of past. The setting of Nantucket was vivid. A moving novel of friendship, love, pain, forgiveness, loss, desperation, life and hope. My favorite quote in the book, which I feel is so true, was on page 313, “God, human beings were resilient, Connie thought. They were resilient!” A perfect summer read!!

Published by Reagan Arthur Books/Little, Brown and Company

  First, their daughter Lillian arrives, with her two children in tow, to escape her crumbling marriage. Next, their son Stephen and his pregnant wife Jane show up for a weekend visit, which extends indefinitely when Jane ends up on bed rest. When their youngest daughter Rachel appears, fleeing her difficult life in New York, Ginny and William find themselves consumed again by the chaos of parenthood – only this time around, their children are facing adult problems.
  By summer’s end, the family gains new ideas of loyalty and responsibility, exposing the challenges of surviving the modern family – and the old adage, once a parent, always a parent, has never rung so true.

  My Thoughts and Opinion: Having recently started my own chapter of being an empty nester, I was quite interested in the premise of this book. And along that line, I definitely could relate to the parental characters in the novel. It was very easy for me to, what I call being “transported”, into the story line and become part of this family. Which was quite surprising due to the fact that this was the debut novel by this author. There was a situation, where the patriarch character became so frustrated that he finally lost his patience, because his house had been so transformed into a mess. Another plight I could relate to. And how the parents attempted to treat their children as the adults that they were. Except these adult children, never took into consideration that they were giving their parents their responsibilities and problems instead of dealing with them as the adults they were. I felt that there were some family dynamics, and this is only my opinion, that did not resemble real life. The time frame occurred over a few months, and during that time, it was never stated to the parents why their children appeared “back home”. I enjoyed this book due to the story line of the novel, but also felt that it was predictable. No matter what the rating this book gets, like the synopsis states, “once a parent, always a parent”.

Published by Reagan Arthur Books/Little, Brown and Company

  First, their daughter Lillian arrives, with her two children in tow, to escape her crumbling marriage. Next, their son Stephen and his pregnant wife Jane show up for a weekend visit, which extends indefinitely when Jane ends up on bed rest. When their youngest daughter Rachel appears, fleeing her difficult life in New York, Ginny and William find themselves consumed again by the chaos of parenthood – only this time around, their children are facing adult problems.
  By summer’s end, the family gains new ideas of loyalty and responsibility, exposing the challenges of surviving the modern family – and the old adage, once a parent, always a parent, has never rung so true.

  My Thoughts and Opinion: Having recently started my own chapter of being an empty nester, I was quite interested in the premise of this book. And along that line, I definitely could relate to the parental characters in the novel. It was very easy for me to, what I call being “transported”, into the story line and become part of this family. Which was quite surprising due to the fact that this was the debut novel by this author. There was a situation, where the patriarch character became so frustrated that he finally lost his patience, because his house had been so transformed into a mess. Another plight I could relate to. And how the parents attempted to treat their children as the adults that they were. Except these adult children, never took into consideration that they were giving their parents their responsibilities and problems instead of dealing with them as the adults they were. I felt that there were some family dynamics, and this is only my opinion, that did not resemble real life. The time frame occurred over a few months, and during that time, it was never stated to the parents why their children appeared “back home”. I enjoyed this book due to the story line of the novel, but also felt that it was predictable. No matter what the rating this book gets, like the synopsis states, “once a parent, always a parent”.

DEAD OF WYNTER by Spencer Seidel

Published by Publishing Works, Inc.,
ISBN-13: 978-1-935557-69-2
At the request of Meryl L. Moss Media, an ARC TPB was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
  Synopsis (from marketing): There is the Maine of summer — warm, picturesque, filled with vacationing families — and then there is the Maine of winter, where the cold creeps into your bones and refuses to leave. Alice Wynter Dunn thought she’d never have to go back to her hometown of Redding, Maine, where secrets are buried under a thick layer of ice and the chill emanates from people’s hearts.
  A phone call in the middle of the night. Alice’s infamous father, Edward “Papa” Wynter, is dead from a gunshot wound. Leaving her distant husband in their New Jersey McMansion, Alice races back to Redding. What at first seems like a simple case of burying her past along with her cruel, alcoholic father turns into a double mystery. Papa Wynter wasn’t a victim of suicide as originally thought — it was murder, and Alice’s abused twin brother, Chris, is missing.
  Memories begin to crack the surface as apparitions from the past appear. The winter when Chris ran wild with his bad-seed cousin, cruising from petty crimes to irreversible tragedy, is revealed. Could this be the catalyst that drove Chris to become a hard-core alcoholic like their father? And did their cousin Ray, a junior sociopath in the making, really die in a snowmobile accident?
  Supervising Lieutenant Detective Don Lambert has his suspicions. Chris and Papa were last seen arguing in their favorite townie bar the night of the murder — and they were fighting about Ray; the same Ray who tortures Alice’s memories. Things grow more complicated when the murder weapon is found and her mother, Jackie Ruth, is brought in for questioning. What is she hiding? What dark secret from Alice’s past is about to be exposed?
  My Thoughts and Opinion: The author of this debut thriller is one to put on your radar. The story takes place between the present time when Alice Wynter Dunn returns to her hometown, which she has tried to erase and rewrite her history, and 1984, the year that changed the Wynter family’s lives. A year full of deep, dark secrets that has plagued them for years in varied ways. Alice, by escaping the area, her father and twin brother, by escaping with alcohol. But secrets that come back to haunt and kill them. The author was able to, with his writing style, portray the absolute evil in some of the characters in the book, but also let the reader feel the frightening emotions that other characters were feeling. A disturbing, chilling, yet intriguing read which was hard to put down, with a shocking conclusion.

DEAD OF WYNTER by Spencer Seidel

Published by Publishing Works, Inc.,
ISBN-13: 978-1-935557-69-2
At the request of Meryl L. Moss Media, an ARC TPB was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
  Synopsis (from marketing): There is the Maine of summer — warm, picturesque, filled with vacationing families — and then there is the Maine of winter, where the cold creeps into your bones and refuses to leave. Alice Wynter Dunn thought she’d never have to go back to her hometown of Redding, Maine, where secrets are buried under a thick layer of ice and the chill emanates from people’s hearts.
  A phone call in the middle of the night. Alice’s infamous father, Edward “Papa” Wynter, is dead from a gunshot wound. Leaving her distant husband in their New Jersey McMansion, Alice races back to Redding. What at first seems like a simple case of burying her past along with her cruel, alcoholic father turns into a double mystery. Papa Wynter wasn’t a victim of suicide as originally thought — it was murder, and Alice’s abused twin brother, Chris, is missing.
  Memories begin to crack the surface as apparitions from the past appear. The winter when Chris ran wild with his bad-seed cousin, cruising from petty crimes to irreversible tragedy, is revealed. Could this be the catalyst that drove Chris to become a hard-core alcoholic like their father? And did their cousin Ray, a junior sociopath in the making, really die in a snowmobile accident?
  Supervising Lieutenant Detective Don Lambert has his suspicions. Chris and Papa were last seen arguing in their favorite townie bar the night of the murder — and they were fighting about Ray; the same Ray who tortures Alice’s memories. Things grow more complicated when the murder weapon is found and her mother, Jackie Ruth, is brought in for questioning. What is she hiding? What dark secret from Alice’s past is about to be exposed?
  My Thoughts and Opinion: The author of this debut thriller is one to put on your radar. The story takes place between the present time when Alice Wynter Dunn returns to her hometown, which she has tried to erase and rewrite her history, and 1984, the year that changed the Wynter family’s lives. A year full of deep, dark secrets that has plagued them for years in varied ways. Alice, by escaping the area, her father and twin brother, by escaping with alcohol. But secrets that come back to haunt and kill them. The author was able to, with his writing style, portray the absolute evil in some of the characters in the book, but also let the reader feel the frightening emotions that other characters were feeling. A disturbing, chilling, yet intriguing read which was hard to put down, with a shocking conclusion.

A Drop Of The Hard Stuff by Lawrence Block

ISBN-13: 9780316127332
At the request of Mulholland Books, an ARC TPB was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest review.
  Synopsis (borrowed from B&N): Grandmaster Lawrence Block brings his greatest character, Matthew Scudder, back into action in his most personal case.
  Matthew Scudder is finally on the straight and narrow when he runs into “High-Low” Jack Ellery, a childhood friend from the Bronx. In Scudder, Jack sees the moral man he might have become. In Jack, Scudder sees the hard-won sobriety he hopes to achieve.
  Then Ellery, following to the letter the dictates of Alcoholics Anonymous’ infamous twelve steps, is shot down while attempting to atone for past sins, and Scudder is drawn into a murder investigation that threatens to upset his path toward recovery—and get him killed in the process.
  My Thoughts and Opinion: When I initially read the synopsis of this book, I felt that it was definitely a match for me, being in the genre of suspense, which is my favorite preference of books to read. It was also the first book that I had read by this author and also not realizing that this novel was one of many in a series. Before stating my thoughts and opinion, I would like to add a caveat. I did do some research on different sites such as B&N and GR to read other reviews and the majority were very good. I say this because not every book is the same for every reader. And the following is my opinion, and my opinion only. I read 50+ pages and had to put this book aside. I felt that it was an effort to continue to read. To me, it was very dry reading, whereas nothing truly “grabbed” me. I am not sure if it could be that I never read any of the books in the series or any other books by this author. Unfortunately, this book went into the DNF pile.

A Drop Of The Hard Stuff by Lawrence Block

ISBN-13: 9780316127332
At the request of Mulholland Books, an ARC TPB was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest review.
  Synopsis (borrowed from B&N): Grandmaster Lawrence Block brings his greatest character, Matthew Scudder, back into action in his most personal case.
  Matthew Scudder is finally on the straight and narrow when he runs into “High-Low” Jack Ellery, a childhood friend from the Bronx. In Scudder, Jack sees the moral man he might have become. In Jack, Scudder sees the hard-won sobriety he hopes to achieve.
  Then Ellery, following to the letter the dictates of Alcoholics Anonymous’ infamous twelve steps, is shot down while attempting to atone for past sins, and Scudder is drawn into a murder investigation that threatens to upset his path toward recovery—and get him killed in the process.
  My Thoughts and Opinion: When I initially read the synopsis of this book, I felt that it was definitely a match for me, being in the genre of suspense, which is my favorite preference of books to read. It was also the first book that I had read by this author and also not realizing that this novel was one of many in a series. Before stating my thoughts and opinion, I would like to add a caveat. I did do some research on different sites such as B&N and GR to read other reviews and the majority were very good. I say this because not every book is the same for every reader. And the following is my opinion, and my opinion only. I read 50+ pages and had to put this book aside. I felt that it was an effort to continue to read. To me, it was very dry reading, whereas nothing truly “grabbed” me. I am not sure if it could be that I never read any of the books in the series or any other books by this author. Unfortunately, this book went into the DNF pile.

THE MIDWIFE’S CONFESSION by Diane Chamberlain

Published by MIRA Books
ISBN-13: 978-0-7783-2986-2
At the request of Meryl L. Moss Media, an ARC TPB was sent, at no cost to me, for my honest opinion.
  Synopsis (from back of book): Dear Anna,
  What I have to tell you is difficult to write, but I know it will be far more difficult for you to hear, and I’m so sorry…
  The unfinished letter is the only clue Tara and Emerson have to the reason behind their close friend Noelle’s suicide. Everything they knew about Noelle—her calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her friends and family—described a woman who embraced life.
  Yet there was so much they didn’t know.
  With the discovery of the letter and its heartbreaking secret, Noelle’s friends begin to uncover the truth about this complex woman who touched each of their lives—and the life of a desperate stranger—with love and betrayal, compassion and deceit.
  My Thoughts and Opinion: I became a fan of this author after reading her novel, The Lies We Told, which I rated a 5/5. Because of such a high rating, I quite honestly was a bit leery if this book would be as good. Ms. Chamberlain did not disappoint. Another phenomenal read. The author with her creative writing style brings the characters to life and transports the reader into the story line. I truly felt the ambivalence of emotions that the characters were dealing with. The chapters alternate between the past and present of the characters’ lives. An engrossing read where secrets and lies can alter so many innocent lives ( vague due to not wanting to include spoilers). A page turning, must read book!! This story will stay with you long after you finish the last page. I will be anxiously awaiting and look forward to her next novel. I highly recommend!!