An epic and cinematic novel by debut author Nicola Harrison, Montauk captures the glamour and extravagance of a summer by the sea with the story of a woman torn between the life she chose and the life she desires.
Montauk, Long Island, 1938.
For three months, this humble fishing village will serve as the playground for New York City’s wealthy elite. Beatrice Bordeaux was looking forward to a summer of reigniting the passion between her and her husband, Harry. Instead, tasked with furthering his investment interest in Montauk as a resort destination, she learns she’ll be spending twelve weeks sequestered with the high society wives at The Montauk Manor—a two-hundred room seaside hotel—while Harry pursues other interests in the city.
College educated, but raised a modest country girl in Pennsylvania, Bea has never felt fully comfortable among these privileged women, whose days are devoted not to their children but to leisure activities and charities that seemingly benefit no one but themselves. She longs to be a mother herself, as well as a loving wife, but after five years of marriage she remains childless while Harry is increasingly remote and distracted. Despite lavish parties at the Manor and the Yacht Club, Bea is lost and lonely and befriends the manor’s laundress whose work ethic and family life stir memories of who she once was.
As she drifts further from the society women and their preoccupations and closer toward Montauk’s natural beauty and community spirit, Bea finds herself drawn to a man nothing like her husband –stoic, plain spoken and enigmatic. Inspiring a strength and courage she had almost forgotten, his presence forces her to face a haunting tragedy of her past and question her future.
Desperate to embrace moments of happiness, no matter how fleeting, she soon discovers that such moments may be all she has, when fates conspire to tear her world apart…
My Review
When this book started it reminded me of the latest season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as she spends time with her family at their summer “camp”. However, I did find this book to be very drawn out and lacking in the humor that could’ve been thrown in. In all honesty, the characters, for the most part, annoyed me. I kept checking to see how much of the book I had completed.
I gave this book 2 crowns.
I received this E-ARC from the Publishers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Bookshop at Water’s End, here is a lush, heart-wrenching novel about the power of memory, the meaning of family, and learning to forgive.
Ten years ago, Lena Donohue experienced a wedding-day betrayal so painful that she fled the small town of Watersend, South Carolina, and reinvented herself in New York City. Though now a freelance travel writer, the one place she rarely goes is home—until she learns of her dad’s failing health.
Returning to Watersend means seeing the sister she has avoided for a decade and the brother who runs the family’s Irish pub and has borne the burden of his sisters’ rift. While Alzheimer’s slowly steals their father’s memories, the siblings rush to preserve his life in stories and in photographs. As his secret past brings Lena’s own childhood into focus, it sends her on a journey to discover the true meaning of home.
My Review
This was a bit of sad read due to the father’s Alzheimer’s. I felt the story itself was a bit slow paced and although I did like it overall, it was not one of my favorite reads. The wedding day betrayal was a common trope and the hidden family secrets were not so shocking. It was a middle of the road read for me.
I gave this book 3 crowns.
I received this E-ARC from the Publishers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Tessa was prepared for the hurricane. Lindsey was the storm she didn’t see coming.
When Tessa Taylor unlocked her husband Ethan’siPad to discover nude photos from a twenty-six-year-old bombshell named Lindsey, her seemingly perfect life came to a screeching halt.
With a hurricane barreling toward Florida and Ethan stuck on a business trip, Tessa finds herself imprisoned in her own home with a choice to make: Does she ride out the storm until she can confront Ethan in person, or does she take matters into her own hands?
Increasingly restless and desperate for revenge, Tessa resolves to act. And when she lures Lindsey over a few hours later, there’s no turning back.
What ensues is a battle of wills between two well-matched opponents, blinded by love for the same man but driven by demons of their own. Like storm-ravaged Florida, neither woman will be the same when the skies clear.
He’s mine. Both wife and mistress would stake their lives on it. But only one of them can be right.
My Review:
What would you do if you were in the middle of a major hurricane and had just found out that your husband, that you have been with for over two decades, has been cheating on you? You are alone, while he is in another state and you have contacted his mistress.
This was an intense account of the relationship between a mistress and her lover and the mistress and the wife. Throw in a battle of wills and a desperate attempt to save a life and you have an excellent domestic thriller. The descriptive, slightly sexual language that was used to describe the affair might be a bit much for some but it wasn’t a complete turn off from the story.
I gave this book 4 crowns.
I received this E- ARC from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
“Powerful, enchanting, and spirited, this novel will delight.” —Patti Callahan, bestselling author of Becoming Mrs. Lewis
Love, friendship, and family find a home at the Printed Letter Bookshop
One of Madeline Cullen’s happiest childhood memories is of working with her Aunt Maddie in the quaint and cozy Printed Letter Bookshop. But by the time Madeline inherits the shop nearly twenty years later, family troubles and her own bitter losses have hardened Madeline’s heart toward her once-treasured aunt—and the now struggling bookshop left in her care.
While Madeline intends to sell the shop as quickly as possible, the Printed Letter’s two employees have other ideas. Reeling from a recent divorce, Janet finds sanctuary within the books and within the decadent window displays she creates. Claire, though quieter than the acerbic Janet, feels equally drawn to the daily rhythms of the shop and its loyal clientele, finding a renewed purpose within its walls.
When Madeline’s professional life falls apart, and a handsome gardener upends all her preconceived notions, she questions her plans and her heart. Has she been too quick to dismiss her aunt’s beloved shop? And even if she has, the women’s best combined efforts may be too little, too late.
My Review:
I missed this book on my to-read list from Netgalley and when I finally saw it, it had already been released. I was able to listen to this on audio and I am so glad that I did. This was a beautiful story of coming to realize one’s true potential and challenging the things you once thought to be true.
This is a book about women, friends, mothers, family and books. The perfect combination and a must read for any book lover.
I gave this book 5 crowns.
I received this E-ARC from the publishers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Happy Book Birthday!!! Look at this gorgeous cover!
Erica Bauermeister, the national bestselling author of The School of Essential Ingredients, presents a moving and evocative coming-of-age novel about childhood stories, families lost and found, and how a fragrance conjures memories capable of shaping the course of our lives.
Emmeline lives an enchanted childhood on a remote island with her father, who teaches her about the natural world through her senses. What he won’t explain are the mysterious scents stored in the drawers that line the walls of their cabin, or the origin of the machine that creates them. As Emmeline grows, however, so too does her curiosity, until one day the unforeseen happens, and Emmeline is vaulted out into the real world–a place of love, betrayal, ambition, and revenge. To understand her past, Emmeline must unlock the clues to her identity, a quest that challenges the limits of her heart and imagination.
Lyrical and immersive, The Scent Keeper explores the provocative beauty of scent, the way it can reveal hidden truths, lead us to the person we seek, and even help us find our way back home.
Excerpt
THE BEGINNING
Back before
there was time, I lived with my father on an island, tucked away in an endless
archipelago that reached up out of the cold salt water, hungry for air. Growing
up in the midst of the rain and moss and ancient thick-barked trees, it was
easy to forget that the vast majority of our island was underwater—descending
down two, three, five hundred bone-chilling feet. Forever really, for you could
never hold your breath long enough to get to the bottom.
Those islands were a place to run away, although I didn’t understand that
at the time. I had nothing to run from and every reason to stay. My father was
everything. I’ve heard people say that someone is their “whole world,” their
eyes filled with stars. But my father was my world, in a way so literal it can
still grab my thoughts, pick them up, and toss them around like driftwood in a
storm.
Our cabin was set in a clearing at the center of the island. We were not
the first to live there—those islands have a long history of runaways. Almost a
century ago there were French fur trappers, with accents that lilted and
danced. Loggers with mountainous shoulders, and fishermen who chased
silver-backed salmon. Later came the draft dodgers, hiding from war. Hippies,
dodging rules. The islands took them all in—the storms and the long, dark
winters spat most out again. The beauty there was raw; it could kill as easily
as it could astonish.
Our cabin had been built by the truest of runaways. He set up in a place
where no one could find him and built his home from trees he felled himself. He
spent forty years on the island, clearing space for a garden and planting an
orchard. One autumn, however, he simply disappeared. Drowned, it was said.
After that the cabin was empty for years until we arrived and found the apple
trees, opened the door. Raised the population of the island to two.
I don’t remember arriving on the island myself; I was too young. I only
remember living there. I remember the paths that wandered through those
watchful trees, the odor of the dirt beneath our feet, as dark and complicated
as fairy tales. I remember our one-room cabin, the big chair by the woodstove,
and our collection of stories and science books. I remember the smell of wood smoke
and pine pitch in my father’s beard as he read to me at night, and the ghostly
aroma of the runaway’s pipe tobacco, an olfactory reminder that had sunk into
the walls and never quite disappeared. I remember the way the rain seemed to
talk to the roof as I fell asleep, and how the fire would snap and tell it to
be quiet.
Most of all, I remember the drawers.
My father had begun building them when we moved into the cabin, and when
he was done they lined our walls from floor to ceiling. The drawers were small
things, their polished wooden fronts no bigger than my child-sized hands. They
surrounded us like the forest and islands outside our door.
Each drawer contained a single small bottle, and inside each bottle was a
piece of paper, rolled around itself like a secret. The glass stoppers of the
bottles were sealed with different colored waxes—red in the top rows, green for
those below. My father almost never opened the bottles.
“We need to keep them safe,” he said.
But I could hear the papers whispering inside the drawers.
Come find me.
“Please?” I’d ask, again and again.
Finally, he agreed. He took out a leather book filled with numbers and
carefully added one to the list. Then he turned to the wall of drawers,
pondering his choice.
“Up there,” I said, pointing up high to where the red-wax bottles lived.
Stories always begin at the top of a page.
My father had built a ladder that slid along the wall, and I watched him
climb it almost to the ceiling, reaching into a drawer and drawing out its
bottle. When he was back on the ground, he carefully broke the seal. I could
hear glass scritching against glass as he pulled out the stopper, then the
rustle of the paper as he unrolled it into a plain, white square. He leaned in
close, inhaling, then wrote another number in the book.
I meant to stay still, but I leaned forward, too. My father looked up and
smiled, holding out the paper.
“Here,” he said. “Breathe in, but not too much. Let the smell introduce
itself.”
I did as he said. I kept my chest tight and my breath shallow. I could
feel the tendrils of a fragrance tickling the inside of my nose, slipping into
the curls of my black hair. I could smell campfires made from a wood I didn’t
recognize; dirt more parched than any I had ever known; moisture, ready to burst
from clouds in a sky I’d never seen. It smelled like waiting.
“Now, breathe in deeply,” my father said.
I inhaled, and fell into the fragrance like Alice down the rabbit hole.
– – –
Later, after the bottle had been stoppered and sealed and put back in its
drawer, I turned to my father. I could still smell the last of the fragrance
lingering in the air.
“Tell me its story,” I asked him. “Please.”
“All right, little lark,” he said. He sat in the big chair and I nestled
in next to him. The fire crackled in the woodstove; the world outside was
still.
“Once upon a time, Emmeline . . .” he began, and his voice rolled around
the rhyme of it as if the words were made of chocolate.
Once upon a time, Emmeline, there
was a beautiful queen who was trapped in a great white castle. None of the big,
bold knights could save her. “Bring me a smell that will break the walls,” she
asked a brave young boy named Jack . . .
I listened, while the scents found their hiding places in the cracks in the floorboards, and the words of the story, and the rest of my life.
About the Author
About the Author: Erica Bauermeister is the author of the bestselling novel The School of Essential Ingredients, Joy for Beginners, and The Lost Art of Mixing. She is also the co-author of the non-fiction works, 500 Great Books by Women: A Reader’s Guide and Let’s Hear It For the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. She has a PhD in literature from the University of Washington, and has taught there and at Antioch University. She is a founding member of the Seattle7Writers and currently lives in Port Townsend, Washington.About the Book: Erica Bauermeister, the national bestselling author of The School of Essential Ingredients, presents a moving and evocative coming-of-age novel about childhood stories, families lost and found, and how a fragrance conjures memories capable of shaping the course of our lives.
When her homeland is conquered by the mighty Alexander the Great, Roxana—the daughter of a mere chieftain—is torn from her simple life and thrown into a world of war and intrigue.
Terrified, the sixteen-year-old girl of renowned beauty is brought before the greatest ruler the world has ever known. Her life is in his hands; her future his to decide.
Without formal education or noble blood, Roxana is chosen by the Greek conqueror to be his bride. Soon she comes to know profound happiness and unyielding desire in her warrior’s arms.
However, being the king’s consort comes at a heavy price. To survive her husband’s treacherous kingdom, she must endure continuous warfare, deadly plots, jealous rivals, victory-hungry generals, and the stigma of being a barbarian. Persian blood will keep her from claiming the grandest title of all—queen—but her reign will seal the fate of an empire.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Alexandrea Weis, RN-CS, PhD, is a multi-award-winning author of over twenty-seven novels, a screenwriter, ICU Nurse, and historian who was born and raised in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Having grown up in the motion picture industry as the daughter of a director, she learned to tell stories from a different perspective and began writing at the age of eight. Infusing the rich tapestry of her hometown into her novels, she believes that creating vivid characters makes a story moving and memorable. A member of the Horror Writers Association and International Thriller Writers Association, Weis writes mystery, suspense, thrillers, horror, crime fiction, and romance. She lives with her husband and pets in New Orleans where she is a permitted/certified wildlife rehabber with the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries and rescues orphaned and injured animals.
A wedding dress passed down through generations unravels the tangled threads of three women’s lives in a novel of friendship, family, and forgiveness from the USA Today bestselling author of Ten Beach Road.
Prized and stored away for safekeeping, the timeless ivory wedding dress, with its scooped neck and cleverly fitted bodice, sits gently folded in its box, whispering of Happily Ever Afters. To Kendra, Brianna, and Lauren it’s a reminder of what could have been, the promise of a fairy tale, and a friendship torn apart. But as Kendra knows firsthand: it wasn’t the dress’s fault.
Once closer than sisters, Lauren and Bree have grown up and grown apart, allowing broken promises and unfulfilled dreams to destroy their friendship. A successful author, Lauren returns home to the Outer Banks, fiancé in tow, to claim the dress she never thought she’d wear. While Bree, a bookstore owner, grapples with the realities of life after you marry the handsome prince. As the former best friends wrestle with their uncertain futures, they are both certain of one thing: some betrayals can never be forgiven.
Now on the eve of her daughter Lauren’s wedding, Kendra struggles with a secret she’s kept for far too long. And vows to make sure the dress will finally bring Lauren and Bree back together—knowing they’ll need each other to survive the coming storm.
My Review
I am a big fan of Wendy Wax’s books. This book fits my unplanned theme of reading wedding related book but isn’t your usual contemporary about a wedding; and of course there isn’t…it is written by Wendy Wax.
To be honest, I thought the beginning was a bit slow paced but it does pick up and the story comes together. THE DRESS has been passed down from generation to generation and is one of the things that Lauren is looking forward to trying on after she is proposed to. However, life has a way of throwing curve balls at you when you least expect them.
Lauren has an amazing relationship with her mother and she is headed home to introduce her fiance to her. She knows that she will have to have contact with her ex-best friend but she is ok with that. Once they reach the Outer Banks, nothing goes according to plan and Lauren’s life as she knows it is turned upside down. As lies and omissions are revealed, will any of Lauren’s relationships survive?
I gave this book 4 crowns.
I received this E-Arc in exchange for an honest review from the publishers through Netgalley.
