Book Review and Giveaway: Side Effects are Minimal, by Laura Essay {ends 12/26}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

“This is not everything.” Landon Sims slapped the test results onto the high lab table in front of Phil.

“What do you mean it’s not everything? Do you realize who I am?” Phil gazed over the rim of his readers. 

“We all do, Dr. Westcott. That’s why I expected a hell of a lot more.”

“I began this research when you were still in diapers.” Phil jumped from the chair as his cheeks flushed. “I traveled to the poppy farms of Turkey and blistered my hands so that others might know the pain relief of morphine. I made sacrifices of biblical nature.”

Phil held out the palms of his hands in the same manner as seen in depictions of Jesus Christ. Landon threw his sport coat on the chair in response to the absurd display. Phil’s vanity had risen to a new height.

Claire Hewitt is determined to prove that a teen’s opioid overdose death is not because of choices made by the teen or her family. Her passion to prove her point is driven by more than her client’s story.

Official synopsis:

When ambitious attorney Claire Hewitt is asked to represent the Satoris, one of Philadelphia’s most prominent families, in a lawsuit over the death of their daughter, she is thrust into an opioid nightmare with deadly impact—and not for the first time. Claire’s guilt for not saving her sister, Molly, has not subsided in the twenty years since Molly’s almost certainly opioid-related death. Now, with this new assignment, her guilt comes full circle. Who was really at fault in Molly’s death? And who is at fault now?

What begins as a quest for truth becomes infinitely more complicated as Claire struggles to balance her desire for justice with the Satoris’ thirst for revenge. She knows she needs to expose the greed that transforms legal opioid production into illicit fabrications and the neglect that is the breaking point between physicians and their patients. But there are powerful people who will seemingly stop at nothing to prevent these truths from seeing the light of day, and she is sabotaged at every turn. Can she push past the obstacles in her way to build a winning case?

As the newest partner—and a woman—at the law firm, Claire needs to win a major case for a prominent Philadelphia family. What no one else knows is that Claire has essentially been in their shoes. Claire and the attorney assisting her, Alex, need to prove that the death of the Satoris’ daughter is caused by the pharmaceutical company and doctors prescribing opioids to win the case, and maybe help to finally ease some of Claire’s guilt over her sister’s death decades earlier.

The case seems obvious to Claire and the newer attorney assisting her, but soon adjacent crimes begin occurring that warn Claire and Alex that there may be parties with a lot at stake who need their case to lose, or not even make it to court.

The author’s notes at the end of the book about their research regarding the opioid epidemic also contributed to the impact of the story. While the characters were fictional, the drug and court parts of the book could very well be real. The novel earned 5 out of 5 stars and gave an excellent depiction of full-bodied characters and a real crisis. The book could be easily recommended to those who enjoy contemporary fiction and hard-hitting medical stories about realistic situations. 

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley is a wife and mother to two theatre kids. She enjoys hanging out with friends and family, and learning about the experiences of others. See more of what she’s up to on Instagram, where she posts as SweetlyBSquared.

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a copy of Side Effects are Minimal!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Thursday, December 26th, at 11:59pm ET, and winner will be notified via email the next day and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

Side Effects are Minimal, by Laura Essay

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Lightborne, by Hesse Phillips

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

It takes the landlord and the chamberlain working in furious tandem to lug the Inn-in-the-Wall’s only strongbox up to Frizer and Marlowe’s room. At the door they drop their load and proceed to shove it across the floor to the window, a piece of metal screeching at the base all the way. At last, the box comes to rest: an iron-clad, age-blackened, toadish thing, armoured in the scraps of perhaps a dozen predecessors.

Panting, the landlord hands Marlowe a heavy-looking key. ‘You lose it, you pay,’ is all he manages to say.

As soon as they are gone, Marlowe begins emptying papers out of his bag and stacking them inside the box, taking his time as always, flipping through pages he has no doubt thumbed a thousand times before. Meanwhile, Frizer sits upon the sagging cot, holding a letter which Marlowe had dropped onto the floor beside his head first thing this morning. The paperbolt with which it is sealed is heartbreakingly amateurish, as if Marlowe had grown bored or frustrated halfway through making it.

‘This Baines fellow,’ Frizer says. ‘Will I have to talk to him?’

‘No!’ Marlowe says, barely glancing up from a bound manuscript. ‘He may try to pull ye aside, but do not let him. Meet with him in a public place, hand him the message and be gone.’

‘I thought you said there was no danger.’

‘To you, no. Perfectly safe.’

Christopher Marlowe and Ingram Frizer were thrown together during what would end up being Marlowe’s last days. 

Official synopsis:

A thrilling reimagining of the last days of one of the most famed Elizabethan playwrights—Christopher Marlowe—and of a love that flourishes within the margins.

Christopher Marlowe: playwright, poet, lover. In the plague-stricken streets of Elizabethan England, Kit flirts with danger, leaving a trail of enemies and old flames in his wake. His plays are a roaring success; he seems destined for greatness.

But in the spring of 1593, the queen's eyes are everywhere and the air is laced with paranoia. Marlowe receives an unwelcome visit from his one-time mentor, Richard Baines, a man who knows all of Marlowe’s secrets and is hell-bent on his destruction.

When Marlowe is arrested on charges of treason, heresy, and sodomy—all of which are punishable by death—he is released on bail with the help of Sir Thomas Walsingham. Kit presumes Walsingham to be his friend; in fact, the spymaster has hired an assassin to take care of Kit, fearing that his own sins may come to light.

Now, with the queen's spies and the vengeful Baines closing in on the playwright, Marlowe's last friend in the world is Ingram Frizer, a total stranger who is obsessed with Kit's plays, and who will, within ten days' time, first become Marlowe's lover—and then his killer. Richly atmospheric, emotionally devastating, and heartrendingly imagined, Lightborne is a masterful reimagining of the last days of one of England's most famous literary figures.

Christopher Marlowe was charged with treason, heresy, and sodomy - any one of which could cost him his life. But many other men were living the same lifestyle with little to no consequences. It seemed to come down to politics, and the law came for many men Marlowe associated with, eventually. The author shows in a sincere way how the gradual convictions of one after another of those he knew took a little more of Marlowe’s heart and soul each time.

While under house arrest, Marlowe trusts an old contact, now the spymaster, to be doing what’s best for him. A man he never spent time with before, Ingram Frizer, is assigned to spend all his time monitoring Marlowe to make sure he doesn’t run. Emotions are high, and no ones’ intentions seem to be as they are stated. How much help are those in Marlowe’s circle lending him or others at risk, or are they all just defending their own interests?

Overall, the book clearly illustrated Marlowe’s increasing panic and paranoia, alongside the comfort and building relationship between him and Frizer. The story earned 3 out of 5 stars and would be a great read for those who enjoy realistic sounding stories of Marlowe, Shakespeare, and their contemporaries.

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley is a wife, mother, and stereotypical Gen-X-er. Find her posts about life and other books on her blog, SweetlyBSquared.com.

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a advance reader copy of Lightborne!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Monday, December 23rd, at 11:59pm ET, and winner will be notified via email the next day, and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

Lightborne, by Hesse Phillips

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Book Review: The Woman at the Wheel, by Penny Haw

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

“I wondered if it would ever be possible for a woman to work alongside a man and be considered his equal partner.”

“Are you thinking of becoming an engineer and working with Carl?” she said, her eyes twinkling.

“No, of course not,” I replied, accepting how implausible it would seem to anyone to think of me as Carl’s partner in the workshop. Did that prohibit me from revealing how I shared his dream, though? If not, what was it that stopped me from telling Ava how important the motorwagen was to me, not just as Carl’s wife but as Bertha, the woman who was intrigued by ingenuity and the business thereof and who worked alongside Carl in the workshop whenever possible?

Bertha Benz was a wife and mother, and potentially a brilliant inventor who recognized the impossibility of a woman being recognized for her contributions. Sometimes it seemed even she herself didn’t believe how capable she might be.

Official synopsis:

"Unfortunately, only a girl again."

From a young age, Cäcilie Bertha Ringer is fascinated by her father's work as a master builder in Pforzheim, Germany. But those five words, which he wrote next to her name in the family Bible, haunt Bertha.

Years later, Bertha meets Carl Benz and falls in love―with him and his extraordinary dream of building a horseless carriage. Bertha has such faith in him that she invests her dowry in his plans, a dicey move since they alone believe in the machine. When Carl's partners threaten to withdraw their support, he's ready to cut ties. Bertha knows the decision would ruin everything. Ignoring the cynics, she takes matters into her own hands, secretly planning a scheme that will either hasten the family's passage to absolute derision or prove their genius. What Bertha doesn't know is that Carl is on the cusp of making a deal with their nemesis. She's not only risking her marriage and their life's work, but is also up against the patriarchy, Carl's own self-doubt, and the clock.

Like so many other women, Bertha lived largely in her husband's shadow, but her contributions are now celebrated in this inspiring story of perseverance, resilience, and love.

Not a lot of facts are known about Bertha Benz and her daily life with her famous husband, Carl Benz. The author of this historical fiction does a stellar job filling in the blanks of how spunky Bertha must have been, knowing about her substantial contributions to her husband’s invention, her shared passion for his motorwagen project, and their relationship.

The note of a truly enjoyable historical fiction might be the inability to separate the history from the fiction. Several of the side-stories of personal situations or social events lent this quality to the story of the life of Bertha Benz with Carl Benz. A few pieces of correspondence are featured through the story that give support to the facts of their life, and some relationships just fit with who the characters may have been when they weren’t being documented.

Overall, the story was so interesting and earned 4 out of 5 stars. It’s hard to imagine what life would be like without cars now, and reading the skepticism they encountered during its development was eye-opening. The book could be recommended for those who enjoy historical fiction, especially from the mid-1800s, and learning the stories of a powerful and inspiring woman.

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley is a wife and mother who enjoys reading, writing, and taking care of her family. Check out more of what they’re all up to on Instagram, where she posts as SweetlyBSquared.

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Book Review: The Stranger Upstairs, by Lisa M. Matlin

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

I hate tea. I’m a coffee drinker. I smile wanly, looking around. I’ve never been in her office before. It’s orange and pink and has a child’s bedroom feel about it. It feels safe here, and my limbs slowly unclench. Emily plucks a stray hair from her skirt, and it flutters to the ground. “Dog hair,” she explains, grinning. “We’ve got three at home.”

“I have a cat,” I say dumbly. “Reaper.”

“Bet he’s easier to look after than three slobbering mutts.” She grins again and sips her lavender tea. “The kids want another, can you believe?” She shakes her head, but her eyes are shining. This is a woman who lives for her family, I can tell. A woman who goes home to a messy kitchen counter and a lounge room littered with toys, while tiny children tug at her skirt. She cooks dinner with the radio on as her oldest kids spray each other with the hose outside, and her husband plops a big kiss on her forehead on his way to the fridge for a beer. It’s always noisy, but she’s never felt more at peace. 

She plucks another hair off her skirt. “How’s your week been, Sarah?”

This is exactly how I start sessions, minus the errant dog hair. I balance my yellow notepad on my left knee. How’s your week been?

Sarah Slade becomes exactly who she wants to be in life. But lately, her new house and her husband are making it more challenging.

Official synopsis:

A therapist and self-help writer with all the answers, Sarah has just bought a gorgeous Victorian in the community of her dreams. Turns out you can get a killer deal on a house where someone was murdered. Plus, renovating Black Wood House makes for great blog content and a potent distraction from her failing marriage. Good thing nobody knows that her past is as tainted as the bloodstain on her bedroom floor.

But the renovations are fast becoming a nightmare. Sarah imagined custom avocado wallpaper, massive profits, and an appreciative husband who would want to share her bed again. Instead, the neighbors hate her guts and her husband still sleeps on the couch. And though the builders attempt to cover up Black Wood’s horrifying past, a series of bizarre accidents, threatening notes, and unexplained footsteps in the attic only confirm for Sarah what the rest of the town already knows: Something is very wrong in that house.

With every passing moment, Sarah’s life spirals further out of control—and with it her sense of reality. But as she peels back the curling wallpaper and discovers the house’s secrets, she realizes that the deadly legacy of Black Wood House has only just begun.

This story is primarily told by Sarah Slade, an amazing unreliable narrator. She’s a therapist and is sure to tell the reader how each of the people she talks about is crazy. She’s certain who to trust and who she already knows well enough not to trust. She is confident that she has her business together enough to fool them all.

There’s a deep, dark secret in the past she shares with her husband. She hints at it repeatedly, and is sure to say that by keeping the secret, she’s protecting her husband and their future together. But as all the pieces fall together, the reader can’t be sure if Sarah can even keep her own stories straight.

Sarah’s telling of things was interspersed with newspaper stories reflecting back on the current situations. By foreshadowing what the community would eventually find out, the reader could believe they knew a little bit of where Sarah’s story may go next.

The atmosphere in this thriller was chilling. Between the hateful neighbors, the past they’re running from, and the potentially haunted house, Sarah couldn’t be sure who to trust or where to turn. The book was engaging and earned 4 out of 5 stars. It could be recommended to those who like thrillers, potentially haunted houses, and unreliable narrators. 

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link - currently 99c on Kindle Unlimited!}

Becki Bayley is a cat-lover and soda drinker who loves a good steak dinner. You can find her and her family on Instagram, where she posts as SweetlyBSquared.

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Book Review: This Time Could Be Different, by Khristin Wierman

Guest review by Becki Bayley

Madeline’s feet pounded along the dirt path as Green Day’s “Horseshoes and Handgrenades” roared in her ears. She’d started running along this trail a few weeks before. But today she wasn’t paying attention to the sunlight cascading through the dark trees or the smell of fresh leaves.

“I think you might also want to examine how anger fits into your stories,” Olivia had said cryptically after they’d made no progress on Madeline’s issues with having what she wanted. Madeline had felt herself stiffen. “Anger can be scary.”

Madeline’s body tightened even more. “I’m not afraid of it.”

“Were you allowed to safely express anger as a child?” Madeline studied the sandbox. “Anger is information. Usually, to alert you that someone is invading your space somehow, forcing a story onto you that’s in opposition to who you really are.” Olivia seemed to pause to let that sink in. “When we’re allowed to express anger – when it’s allowed to move and we’re able to keep our story, our boundaries intact – the anger sails away, leaving us feeling lighter. When it’s trapped, it festers. And flares up at the smallest things.” Madeline continued to stare at the sand.

Madeline is truly exploring what she wants from her life, but Emma is also learning where she wants to be and what she’s willing to do to get there. 

Official synopsis:

A compulsive overachiever, Madeline lives by the credo that easy is synonymous with mediocre—which is why, at forty-nine, she’s a senior vice president at a prominent bank, frantically adheres to a five-step nightly face cream regimen, and panics anytime she’s a foot away from her phone. Madeline works alongside her best friend, Emma—a master juggler of her own career, marriage, and motherhood to a fourteen-year-old daughter who speaks only in baffling acronyms. The path ahead for both women is brimming with opportunity. There’s only one problem: Madeline is miserable.

Seeking purpose in her life while trying to unravel the source of habits she wants to change, Madeline reluctantly agrees to try yoga, meditation, and other wacky suggestions her new-agey therapist tosses her way. She feels as if she’s risking everything—but in doing so, she just might unlock a world more fulfilling than she ever could have imagined.

Madeline is admirably practical. She is the girl boss who is getting stuff DONE. And then she meets Rob, and he shows her she could be happy. Being as practical as she is, she recognizes that she does not know how to be happy in a relationship, and she enters therapy with Olivia. Best. Choice. Ever.

Emma has navigated both her career and a personal life. While working with Madeline for quite a while, she’s also gotten married and had a child. Now she strives to be a good mother, and still have a competitive career. As Madeline’s best friend, she thinks she has a better handle on her faults, but also wants her to be happy.

Olivia offers Madeline excellent (well, EXPERT) advice about reviewing her past, and rewriting the stories that set her expectations of life. Madeline is an excellent pupil and views therapy as something else to be successful at. 

The story could almost have been a memoir instead of fiction, and it was easy to imagine parts of the characters as recognizable people. The book earned 5 out of 5 stars. Even without Madeline’s traumatic past, her therapist’s advice seems like the sort that could improve anyone’s life. This engaging contemporary story is recommended for women (especially) who enjoy self-help stories, career vs family stories, and mostly happy endings. 

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley is a Gemini who enjoys crisp fall days, feeling the sun on her skin, and sleeping without an alarm waking her in the morning. Her dream job is not to need a job. Check out what she and her family are up to on her blog, SweetlyBSquared.com.

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Book Review: Trouble the Living, by Francesca McDonnell Capossela

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

The Mississippi Man’s eyes were a glint of glass in the dark. Damon, I corrected myself. I knew it wasn’t right to call him whatever I wanted, like I was some kind of God.

His long, thin fingers extended a cigarette to me. I shook my head.

“Of course,” he said. “The director’s daughter doesn’t smoke.” The Ds rolling off his tongue, the dirtiest of letters.

“Not ‘of course,’” I said. “Not all daughters become their mothers.”

He looked out across the street, exhaled fumes like car exhaust. There was a piece missing from his nose, on his right nostril, like a chink in armor. I thought of Achilles being dipped into the River Styx by his heel, his only vulnerable part.

On the other side of the one-way street was a parking garage where the woman always waved away Mom’s money. But I knew that an ex-con, down on his luck, parking a borrowed car there before a job interview wouldn’t be as lucky. That’s how it always is; when you’re up, people raise you higher. When you’re low, they rub in the dirt.

Bernie knew that she and her mother only had each other. But how had she learned that at such a young age, and what if they even had secrets from each other?

Official synopsis:

It’s the final years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and Bríd and her sister, Ina, try to maintain a stable life in a divided country. Pushed by her mother’s fanaticism and a family tragedy, Bríd joins the IRA and makes a devastating choice. Frightened and guilt ridden, she flees, leaving behind Ireland and her family for America.

Years later, her guilt and tragic history still buried, Bríd is an overprotective mother raising her sensitive daughter, Bernie, in Southern California. Growing up amid a different kind of social unrest, Bernie’s need for independence and her exploration of her sexuality drive a wedge into their already-fragile relationship. When mother and daughter are forced to return to Northern Ireland, they both must confront the past, the present, and the women they’ve become.

As they navigate their troubled legacies, mother and daughter untangle the threads of love, violence, and secrets that formed them—and that will stubbornly, beautifully, bind them forever.

This was a beautifully told story of Bernie and her mother. While Bernie does not have any real stories about her mother’s past, and her mother answers Bernie’s questions differently each time, she knows her mother carries a deep sadness that likely drives her periodic bouts of incapacitating depression. Bernie has learned to recognize when it’s coming, work through it, and sometimes raise herself while trying not to cause any more worry for her mother.

Several current traumas for Bernie and her mother bring their real lives - and all their secrets—to light. In traveling back to Ireland and confronting Bernie’s mother’s past, they’re both forced to identify and learn who they truly are. It feels like little is known about the troubles in Northern Ireland except by those who were there, and then it’s all-consuming. This book gave a great portrayal of a family living through it.

This compelling family drama earned 4 out of 5 stars. It could be readily recommended to those who appreciate learning about other communities, parts of the world, and dramas involving family relationships and loyalties. 

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link—currently FREE for Kindle Unlimited members}

Becki Bayley is a wife and mother who also shares on Instagram, where she posts as SweetlyBSquared.

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: The Good Bride, by Jen Marie Wiggins {ends 11/26}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

Marcus nods then turns to Ruth, his voice light. “I know a lot of people have already asked you this, including myself, but I have to ask again. You’re absolutely sure what you saw out there – and you’d only had one drink. One glass of red wine?”

“Yes – but like I said – it was dark and the power went out. He was there…and then when the lights came back – he wasn’t.”

Everyone gets quiet and Marcus stares at Ruth as he waits, finally standing. “I’m sure I don’t have to say it, but technically, according to police procedure, you’re supposed to be my number one suspect. Last one to see him, last one at the scene…”

“What?” Ruth’s voice cracks. “Why would you say that? Why would I –” She looks around the room as it tilts.

Ruth and Teo are hoping to start their lives together with a beautiful wedding that can revitalize the little Gulf Coast town where Ruth and her sisters grew up. Kayla is happy for her wedding  planning business to get a boost after a hurricane has nearly destroyed the town.

Official synopsis:

One year after a devastating hurricane, bride-to-be Ruth Bancroft is marrying her perfect groom in a quaint fishing village on the Gulf Coast. The weekend is carefully curated, with the displays of pomp and social media magic meant to promote an area still struggling to rebuild as well as bring Ruth’s estranged family back together.

Yet as good intentions often go, this road to wed is hell and paved in complications. With tensions rising between the family and the bridal party, long-buried secrets come to light, and accusations start flying. Things officially spiral out of control when the oceanfront rehearsal dinner is rocked by a series of gunshots, and a high-profile guest goes missing. As the investigation gets underway, it turns out that everyone has something to hide.

This book is packed with plenty of family drama! From the obvious wedding, to a divorce, a pregnancy, and teen shenanigans coming back to cause complications, everyone has their own chaos to navigate even before a family member goes missing and is presumed dead.

Several of the characters know of each other since childhood, as happens a lot in a small town. While the current family drama of one of three sisters getting married in their hometown—which is still rebuilding after a hurricane—would be action enough, there’s also back-story with their estranged father, their wedding planner, and oh yeah, protests and politics surrounding the post-hurricane rebuilding.

The story is told from the perspective of each of the sisters, Ruth’s fiance, the sheriff, and the wedding planner. The varied viewpoints really show how everyone’s focus is different, and their secrets are coloring everything that is happening.

This was a fun story to untangle, and the epilogue was especially appreciated to tie things up. The book would be recommended for those who enjoy family dramas, small coastal town stories, and wedding planning. It earned 3 out of 5 stars.

{click here to pre-order via my Amazon Affiliates link - the book releases on 12/10/24}

Becki Bayley is a wife and mother who also enjoys providing joy for her family, reading, and eating chips with dip. See more of what she’s up to on Instagram, where she posts as SweetlyBSquared.

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a copy of The Good Wife!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Tuesday, November 26th, at 11:59pm ET, and winner will be notified via email the next day, and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

The Good Bride, by Jen Marie Wiggins

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