Book Review: The Woke and the Dead, by Mark S. Bacon

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

Suspicion, distrust, and curiosity tugged Lyle in different directions. He stood at the desert gun range and plucked his wrist rubber band. He had soaked up everything he saw, heard, and smelled during the rapid fire and later. Visions of the child behind the machine gun made him want to smack the father or just hop in his Mustang and put the entire group in the rearview; still he wanted to know more.

Many of the shooters headed to their trucks; a few remained. Lyle pulled out his phone, hoping to take quick, unnoticed photos of the few guys left.

Crack!

One gunshot and a cry of pain grabbed the stragglers’ attention. Lyle spun around and saw a man drop his semi-auto and fall to the ground clutching his leg. Lyle dashed to the middle-aged man and knelt over him. The idiot shot himself.

Lyle Deming and his girlfriend Kate Sorensen are determined to solve the hate crimes at Nostalgia City, especially while the governor is determined to claim they’re random acts of violence instead of targeted murders.

Official synopsis:

A public war between a governor and a theme park lights the fuse on an explosive story of hate, death, corruption, bigotry, and espionage. This Nostalgia City mystery is a stand-alone political thriller.

Lyle Deming finds a body in Nostalgia City's parking lot during an LGBTQ event. The ex-cop turned theme-park cab driver takes a breath and steps away from the bullet-punctured corpse. Was this a hate crime?

Arizona governor Rod Gudgel, running for reelection, calls it a random shooting. He mocks Nostalgia City theme park for its inclusiveness using homophobic and racial slurs.

Kate Sorensen, the park's blonde, 6' 2½" PR director, calls out Gudgel's insensitivity and prejudice. The governor retaliates saying the park's rides are unsafe, then threatening the park's permits.

When Nostalgia City employees demonstrating at a Gudgel campaign office are killed and injured, Kate joins Lyle in a mad scramble to find the killers and shut up or shut down the governor. Lyle hits blind alleys, then he runs afoul of an armed hate group.

At the same time, Kate digs into the governor's long history of malfeasance, enraging Gudgel allies and attracting the menace of state guardsmen. The governor seems to have armed supporters everywhere.

With Lyle's wry humor and Kate's unflappability, the story moves quickly as puzzles and subplots multiply and loop together threatening the park, their relationship, and their lives.

Multiple plot lines make this book quickly engaging. There’s a murder, then a mass shooting, then obvious corruption. A reader is left wondering if it’s all connected, or just a really bad week. A connection with it all, short of just the targeted community, would mean less bad guys.

Lyle, the former police detective (turned cab driver) also fears whether his daughter could be too closely connected with the first target. He wants to continue doing his job, but preferably without having to worry about his family’s safety at the same time.

While this is the fifth book in the Nostalgia City Mysteries, it read all right as a stand alone. More may have been gained from previous engagement with the characters, but the book earned 3 out of 5 stars on its own. It would be recommended for those who enjoyed previous books in the series, and readers who enjoy LGBTQ characters and storylines.

{click here to purchase via Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley is a wife and mother who enjoys reading, counted-cross-stitch, and doing LEGO. Check out more of what her family is up to on Instagram, where she posts as SweetlyBSquared.

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Dear Future Me, by Deborah O'Connor {ends 6/12}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

MIRANDA

Saltburn, 2023: The morning of…

The day starts with an argument. Whispers that snip at the dawn air. It’s been like this for weeks, a horrible back and forth that feels like we are throwing the same rock at each other, over and over again.

After last night, though, our words have a new intensity, an urgency, like everything is about to come to a head.

In 2023, a class receives letters they wrote to themselves 20 years earlier. Some of the people are where they expected to be, in the life they had planned or expected. One person leaves her home only to die off the sea cliffs nearby, and her best friend wants to untangle what may have happened 20 years before to lead to this unexpected tragedy.

Official synopsis:

In 2003, Mr. Danler's high school class got an assignment to write letters to their future selves. Twenty years later, they receive them in the mail.

Upon opening them, the students are shocked to find that their envelopes contain old secrets that threaten to expose the truth about the tragic death of one of their classmates. And when one letter makes the beautiful and successful Miranda jump off a cliff to her death, the small community is rocked to its core.

Stunned by what has happened and armed with a clue of her own, Miranda's best-friend Audrey decides to track down her old classmates to get to the bottom of Miranda's death. And in doing so, she sets off a chain of events that could expose the truth not just about one untimely death, but two.

Time is moving fast when the classmates originally write letters to their future selves. They start the letters, go on an overnight class trip where one of them dies, and then finish the letters after they return from the trip. Audrey misses out on the trip and some other school when she’s unexpectedly sick. Now that her best friend has died, probably after reading what was written in her letter, she’s determined to find what happened on that trip to cause not only the death of a classmate back then, but creating a lingering conflict to cause Miranda’s death when the letters are delivered.

Entanglements, young love, divorce, affairs—how much of it is part of life, and could some of it have precipitated a murder? Audrey has usually kept to herself and raising her brother, but now she’s on a mission to discover which of her former classmates is hiding something that could have led to her best friend’s death.

While the ending of the book gave it an extra star to bring it to 4 out of 5, the middle got somewhat confusing with multiple character dramas and potential plot lines. The story was told from multiple viewpoints to tell of Audrey’s investigation compared to flashbacks in the content of other student’s letters and memories of the fateful school trip. This entangling mystery could be recommended for those who like school stories, murder mysteries, and complicated relationships.

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley loves reading, writing, and having fun with her family and friends. Check out her blog at SweetlyBSquared.com.

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a copy of Dear Future Me!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Thursday, June 12th, at 11:59pm ET, and winner will be notified the next day via email, and must respond within 24 hours, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

Dear Future Me, by Deborah O'Connor

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: When Canaries Die, by Luis Figueredo {ends 6/11}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

Mo bounced into the room with youthful enthusiasm and plopped onto the long, blue leather couch next to Maggie. With a huge grin spreading across his face, he leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head. The more he thought about Asher’s facial contortions when Pierce exposed the major crack in the government’s seemingly perfect defense, the more satisfied he felt. 

Mo’s face broke into a genuine smile. “The look on Asher’s face when she suddenly realized that she was up against one of the best lawyers in the country and he had a smoking gun was priceless.”

Pierce narrowed his eyes because compliments from Mo were rare. Criticism was the norm.

“The canary analogy was a little long winded but effective,” Mo mused. His tone was reminiscent of a time when Pierce was a wet behind the ears lawyer fresh out of law school.

“And there is it,” Pierce said, closing the laptop.

Pierce Evangelista and Moses Black seem to bend the law to their will, when it’s really a beautiful work of art when they interpret and present their cases in parallel to reality.

Official synopsis:

A hotshot Miami attorney, Pierce Evangelista finds himself navigating a world on the brink of collapse as a deadly pandemic sweeps the globe. Amidst the chaos, Pierce is tasked with challenging the U.S. government’s immigration policies that left thousands of asylum-seekers stranded in dire conditions. As the virus spreads uncontrollably and the demand for blood transfusions skyrockets, criminal organizations exploit the situation, turning human blood into a precious commodity. With the border towns of Tijuana, Juarez, and Matamoros descending into chaos, Pierce must confront powerful forces and fight to reopen the border to save lives. Dive into this gripping legal thriller infused with science fiction and suspense, where the line between survival and exploitation blurs in a world plagued by tragedy and greed.

Processing the multiple dilemmas in this story was powerful, especially with the memories of living through COVID quarantines. A new pandemic is especially deadly, but this time, it leaves immigrants at risk from the disease and the cartels, who want to harvest their blood for sale to the highest bidder, to use to treat others already diagnosed. 

Maggie Malone, an attorney for the ACLU, has formed an attachment with a woman and her toddler in a camp at the border, waiting for asylum entry to the U.S. While Maggie wants to help reform immigration law, especially during the virus, she is especially concerned with the young mother and child after losing contact with them during a shut-down of the border. 

The book was a real page-turner with enemies on multiple fronts. People are afraid of anything outside their homes, as an exposure to the pandemic could mean probable death. From the legal front, virtual court changes the playing field immensely. The story earned 3 out of 5 stars. While this is the third book in the Pierce Evangelista political thriller series, it read fine alone, especially with the involvement of Moses Black and Maggie Malone. This would be recommended to readers who enjoy sci-fi medical stories and political/legal thrillers. 

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley is a corporate drone and mother who fills her time with well-managed engagements and reading in the moments in between. See what else she’s up to on her blog: SweetlyBSquared.com.

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a copy of When Canaries Die!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Wednesday, June 11th, at 11:59pm ET, and winner will be notified the next day via email, and must respond within 24 hours, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

When Canaries Die, by Luis Figueredo

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Book Review - This American Woman: A One-in-a-Billion Memoir, by Zarna Garg

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

“Excuse me,” said one of those early 2000s women whose name could be Brittany or Amber or Tiffany, “but are you even a student here?”

“Me?” I said. “No.”

“Why are you in our group meeting?” said Bramfany.

Everyone stared at me.

“I just think it’s interesting,” I said.

“It is interesting,” said Bramfany. “Don’t you think that if business school is so interesting, you should apply to business school and pay for business school?” 

“Oh, no, I can’t pay for school again. I already have a law degree.”

“Oh, for India?” she said, like I had a degree for a dollhouse.

“No, no, I’m licensed to practice law in the state of New York.”

“So again, why are you, a lawyer, hanging out with business school students?”

What was wrong with me? Was I really this misdirected?

Zarna Garg never imagined that her interesting way of observing the world around her could evolve into a successful career in comedy after moving to the U.S. and getting her law degree.

Official synopsis:

Throughout Zarna’s whole childhood in India, everyone called her “so American” just for reading the newspaper, having deep thoughts, and talking back to anyone over the age of thirty. When Zarna’s dad tried to marry her off at age fourteen, Zarna fled—first to the streets of Mumbai and ultimately to the glittering paradise of Akron, Ohio, where she got to become American for real.

On Zarna’s very American quest to find herself and her calling, she threw herself wholeheartedly into roles like dog-bite lawyer, crazy perfectionist stay-at-home mom, Indian matchmaker, prizewinning screenwriter, and more. It wasn’t until a dare led her to a stand-up comedy open mic that Zarna finally found her spiritual home: getting paid cold hard cash for her big fat mouth.

And as Zarna discovered, after surviving the brutal streets of Mumbai, the cutthroat world of stand-up comedy is nothing.

Zarna is a much later child in her parents’ lives, which doesn’t stand out to her much until her siblings are grown, married, and out of the house,and her mother dies, making her marriage (at age 14) her father’s next goal. While it was certainly more traumatic at the time, her retelling of the story in this amusing memoir gives a great sample of Zarna’s humor, since she obviously survived.

The story of Zarna’s marriage, parenting, and evolution of careers was inspiring and entertaining. The story earned 3 out of 5 stars, and her other books would probably prove equally amusing. This (and most likely her other books) could be recommended to those who enjoy parenting stories, books about realized dreams, and stories about Indian cultures and people.

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliate link - hardcover is 53% off, as of this writing!}

Becki Bayley is a woman whom her husband says is awesome. He questions whether there is anything else. See what they’re up to on her blog, SweetlyBSquared.com.

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Karma Never Sleeps, by R. John Dingle {ends 5/29}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

When Mel was finished and they had no more questions for her, they thanked her for coming forward, then watched her walk back to her Jeep and slowly drive away. Gus sat back in his rocking chair and steadied it so that his face was beside Vanessa’s.

“Didn’t see that coming,” he said.

“That killing spree theory of mine is making more sense all the time.”

“It is starting to come into focus. I’ll give you that. But Mel wasn’t there that night. Everything she just told us is third party hearsay; it’d never stand up. We need the evidence or at least a confession from one of the women who was there that night.”

Gus Wheeler had an arrangement with the FBI when he came on as an agent, that he could take leave and travel with his band. But when he and his partner agent are tasked with untangling two murders that may be linked to a potential murder 25 years earlier, he has some choices to make.

Official synopsis:

When a second woman from a group of friends known as “the posse” is murdered in the woods near the New England enclave of Kendalton, FBI agent and profiler Gus Wheeler and his partner are called in to determine if this is a serial killing. He’s intrigued by a clue hidden on the body: a memorial picture of a teen who died 25 years ago.

Instead of helping with the investigation, the long-term friends stonewall the agents. But Gus can smell fear beneath their calm masks, fake smiles, and politely vague answers. Digging deeper, he discovers they are being terrorized by cyberstalking, spying, threats and mysterious break-ins. When a third member is hospitalized after a brutal attack, Gus suspects someone in the posse is the hunter instead of the hunted.

Is it the alpha leader Jules, her best friend Maria—married to the chief of police—outsider Mel, or weak link Lizzy? Or someone else bent on revenge? Time’s running out, and Gus’s life depends on his skill at determining who’s the best liar in town.

This was an engaging page turner from the first! While it’s apparent right away that some of the posse are not nice girls, could any of them be murderers? The story becomes a great examination of how well you can really know someone.

FBI agent Gus Wheeler and his work partner Vanessa are smart, no-nonsense investigators determined to find out who isn’t telling the truth, and perhaps even more importantly, why.

While a few suspects seem more likely to be behind the murders and other crimes, are they really all connected, or is someone trying to lead them on a chase in the wrong direction? When extra clues start appearing, they have to still wonder if they are clues, or decoys to lead them away from the really guilty parties. 

The story was full of wild twists and turns, and hard to put down as the conclusion neared. The book earned 4 out of 5 stars, and with all the details, may be worth a second read even knowing the ending. This intriguing story could be recommended to those who like small town dramas, high school nostalgia, and contemporary murder mysteries.

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley enjoys Legos and jigsaw puzzles when she isn’t reading or following her kids’ activities. Check out what else they’re up to on Instagram, where they post as SweetlyBSquared.

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a copy of Karma Never Sleeps!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Thursday, May 29th, at 11:59pm ET, and winner will be notified the next day via email, and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

Karma Never Sleeps, by R. John Dingle

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: See How They Fall, by Rachel Paris {ends 5/11}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

‘Are you sure you’ll be okay?’ Duncan asked. ‘I really don’t want to leave you but there are some urgent issues I have to deal with.’ He was heading in to the office. Someone else could have taken care of the work. He was just desperate for a distraction, for the charade of routine and normality. ‘Why don’t you invite some friends over?’

‘Bridge and Vicky are coming after yoga,’ I lied. All of my friends had offered to visit, but I’d brushed them off with excuses about the police investigation. If I couldn’t be with Tilly, then I wanted to be alone. I would spend the day online, seeking out the miracle stories, the kids who’d returned to full health after prolonged intubation and sedation. But so far, everything I’d read was consistent on one point - every hour she remained in that medically induced coma, the worse the odds of her making a full recovery.

Skye’s husband and his brothers are making her question her own perceptions of events, but she is confident that she knows what she’s seen. Mei is convinced the other detectives are taking the easy answer, and there’s more to Skye’s suspicions than they’re ready to believe.

Official synopsis:

When Skye married into the wealthy Turner family, she thought she was entering paradise. But now, several years later, she remains uneasy amid the opulence of her husband’s world, struggling with her own secrets and working to maintain a normal life for their young daughter, Tilly.

Skye’s delicate balance is undone when the family patriarch, Sir Campbell Turner, dies suddenly and an illegitimate heir comes forward to stake his claim in the luxury goods empire the old man leaves behind. Reluctantly, the Turners receive the newcomer at an intimate weekend retreat at Yallambee, the family seaside estate, but tempers flare and egos clash within their first few hours together and the night ends in a tragedy that leaves one dead and another fighting for life.

Sergeant Mei O’Connor is assigned to investigate the incident and though her superiors are keen to close the case as swiftly as possible, the evidence just isn’t lining up. Convinced that there’s more to the suspicious death than a simple accident, Mei continues to search for answers. But pulling at these threads may just tear down the Turner empire.

Skye definitely came from humble roots, but she’s been holding her own and trying to fit in with the super-wealthy and powerful Turners since she married Duncan Turner. While she isn’t sure about Duncan’s brothers, she’s more confident that her husband is a kind and reliable husband and father to their daughter, Tilly.

But when Duncan’s son, Cody, is introduced to the family at the weekend when they’ll determine what’s next after the death of the patriarch, Sir Campbell Turner, no one seems to be taking it well. Cody has always been nice, and good to his half-sister, Tilly, but Duncan and his brothers are more at odds than usual, and the brothers suspect Cody of ulterior motives to show up during the power struggle within the family.

Skye has her own past, which makes her observations and suspicions less believable, sometimes even for her. But as the evidence continues to stack up on other issues, even she isn’t sure if Tilly is safe with Duncan’s family.

This story was thrillingly told, with an unreliable main narrator, and so many suspects. In addition to whether to trust Skye’s suspicions, Mei must also question whether the other police detectives are choosing an easy solution instead of squaring off against such a powerful family. The book earned a high 4 out of stars, with a thought-provoking twist at the end. This would be enjoyed by those who like contemporary family dramas and stories in Australia. 

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley is a wife and mother who is happiest when she’s reading or watching her kids’ antics. See a bit of their fun for yourself on Instagram, where she posts as SweetlyBSquared.

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a copy of See How They Fall!

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

U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

See How They Fall, by Rachel Paris

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: At the Island's Edge, by C.I. Jerez {ends 5/8}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

We continue to dance, and I sing along to the chorus. I think about the words and what it would mean to Eli if he understood it. Would he think it’s fate that we are dancing to a song about a woman who knows every wound, every war of life, and the pain of love?

When it ends, patrons seated at tables near the dance floor’s edge clap for us. Maybe it’s because for a split second the two of us looked happy. Or perhaps it’s Eli’s effort to dance and lead me despite only being able to use one arm. It doesn’t matter. I blink back the tears from the corners of my eyes, flooded with conflicting emotions and sentimentality.

Eli hugs me again, but this time he holds it a second longer, pulling my body a slight pulse tighter against his. He leans down and kisses my cheek. I’m tempted to turn my face and return his kiss, but a sudden movement at the entrance catches my eye.

My feet are frozen. I cannot move. It’s not possible. It’s been ten years, but it’s him. So much time but he’s barely changed, maybe a little more mature, but still the face I knew before. I’m struck dumb by the familiarity of his features.

Lina returns to Puerto Rico after attending high school in the U.S. and serving a traumatic tour with the Army in Iraq. Can she still rise to be the mother and family member her family expects?

Official synopsis:

As a combat medic, Lina LaSalle went to Iraq to save the lives of fellow soldiers. But when her convoy is attacked, she must set aside her identity as a healer and take a life herself.

Although she is honored as a hero when she returns to the US, Lina cannot find her footing. She is stricken with PTSD and unsure of how to support her young son, Teó, a little boy with Tourette’s. As her attempts to self-medicate become harder to hide, Lina realizes she must do the toughest thing yet: ask for help.

She retreats to her parents’ house in Puerto Rico, where Teó thrives under her family’s care. Lina finds kinship, too—with a cousin whose dreams were also shattered by the war and with a handsome and caring veteran who sought refuge on the island and runs a neighborhood bar.

But amid the magic of the island are secrets and years of misunderstandings that could erode the very stability she’s fighting for. Hope lies on the horizon, but can she keep her gaze steady?

The story starts with the attack of Lina’s convoy in Iraq. Her recounting of each moment is full of emotion, and the reader can feel Lina’s distress and urgency to get home safe to her son. As a combat medic, she is only supposed to be there to help her fellow soldiers, but as her convoy passes through a village with multiple threats, she is forced to do whatever it takes to survive. 

As it was the end of her tour anyway, Lina is soon honorably discharged and back with her son. While she originally had planned to stay and have the military fund her journey through medical school, she now wants out, and has little support processing what she’s been through.

Lina and her son move back to her family’s home in Puerto Rico, where she has not lived since before high school. Her relationships with all of her family members are closely examined, and she isn’t confident in trusting anyone else to have her best interests at heart. Unfortunately, she is still emotionally overwrought and has to make some bad choices before she realizes how badly she needs help.

The book was an emotionally-charged journey through Lina’s PTSD and its resulting alcoholism. But all is never lost, and experiencing Lina’s life through her eyes helps the reader feel her strength and love for her son and family. The book earned a high 4 out of 5 stars, and would be readily recommended to those who enjoy contemporary fiction, strong female characters, and stories of life transitioning after military service.

{click here to purchase on Amazon - currently FREE for Kindle Unlimited!}

Becki Bayley is a Gemini who enjoys Legos, snack foods, and Cherry Coke. See more of what she’s up to and her family’s adventures on her blog, SweetlyBSquared.com.

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a copy of At the Island's Edge!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Thursday, May 8th, and winner will be notified the next day via email and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

At the Island's Edge, by C.I. Jerez

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Glory Daze, by Danielle Arceneaux {ends 5/7}

Review by: Becki Bayley

Glory tipped the Uber driver thirty dollars in the parking lot of Cypress Downs. He had said nothing about her appearance on the long drive, and he ought to be rewarded for that. Her feet were so swollen from alcohol and sodium from the night before that she couldn’t get her shoes on. She held them in one hand, with her keys in the other, as she walked barefoot to her car, the asphalt digging into the soles of her feet. A feeling of gratitude washed over her when she locked herself inside her Honda-CRV. She may not have been home, but she was on her turf.

Thank God she found a pair of old gas station sunglasses in the glove compartment, because her eyes rejected the sunlight. Various thoughts jammed her brain while she was driving. According to Valeries, and what she was told at the casino, she had had too many drinks. That may have been true, but Glory felt so physically demolished that it had to be more than just alcohol. She couldn’t stop wondering if someone had slipped something into her drink. In fact, the only sensation that  came close to how she felt the night before was when she pricked herself at Opelousas. It could not have been a coincidence. 

Stubbornly independent Glory Broussard is back. Since she already solved one murder, her daughter and "that woman" expect her to help solve another.

Official synopsis:

After her life was turned upside down by solving the murder of her best friend, Sister Amity Gay, all Glory Broussard wanted was a little peace and quiet. That included getting back to her Sunday morning routine as a bookie in a coffee shop, and planning the annual Mardi Gras gala for her church. But there’s no rest for Glory once the woman who broke up her marriage walks in to CC's Coffee House and asks for help finding her missing husband. It doesn’t take long before Glory finds him . . . with a knife impaled in his chest.

No one knew the man—and his dark side—better than Glory Broussard, who would rather let the local authorities take the lead. But Glory’s daughter, still reeling from problems of her own, insists on her involvement. Glory’s search for the murderer takes her deep inside the seedy world of Louisiana casinos and racetracks, from their high roller VIP rooms with chatty dealers to stables filled with thoroughbred horses and shady dealings.

As if solving a murder and sparring with the woman who had an affair with her ex-husband isn’t enough, Glory has to get to the bottom of her daughter’s secrets, and there are a few members of her church group who would love to see her fail in her Mardi Gras responsibilities. Walloped with one revelation after another, Glory’s no-nonsense, tell-it-like-it-is attitude and strength is tested like never before. But it’s going to take more than that to keep her down in this charming and gripping new novel in the award-winning and critically acclaimed Glory Broussard mystery series.

Glory Broussard has an unavoidable approach and asks the questions that need to be asked. It’s how she solved the murder of her best friend in Glory Be. When she finds her ex-husband, Sterling, stabbed and dead, her daughter Delphine and Sterling’s new wife Valeries are hoping that Glory will again prove to be more effective than the authorities at solving the crime.

Glory regrets her promise to help more than a few times, especially when she finds herself in danger again and would rather be far from drama involving her ex and "that woman"—the woman he left her for. But she would do anything for her daughter, so she keeps untangling the web that led to Sterling’s untimely death.

The characters in this series are so enjoyable. While this book earned a 5 out of 5 stars, each book is investing more readers in the lives of Glory and Delphine, and their relationships with Noah and Beau, and now Justice, Valerie, and Constance. The series is easily recommended to those who like cozy mysteries with strong and quirky female characters. 

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley is a reader with many amazing, imaginary friends, and two marvelous kids. Check out what they’re up to on Instagram, where she posts as SweetlyBSquared.

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a copy of Glory Daze!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Wednesday, May 7th, and winner will be notified the next day via email and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

Glory Daze, by Danielle Arceneaux

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Better Left Unsent, by Lia Louis {ends 4/23}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

Maybe this is what I need tonight. Not quite the squeezing myself into a jet-black full-body suit with my head in a huge felt frame bit. But the party itself. Because what better way to forget about everything than to get dressed up in something stupid and drink and eat and watch Michael Waterstreet do the worm (which is more like the salt-doused slug) before crying into a miniature hot dog because his wife has left him again.

Plus…Jack. Jack has a way of making nothing seem like a big deal. Best friend blocking you? No worries. Your mum has been secretly seeing her ex-husband nobody talks about? Happens to us all. Send out all your draft emails? So what?

After a server glitch sends all of Millie’s draft emails—that were never meant to be read by anyone else —she decides she’s done with technology, and maybe humanity. But maybe something good could result from airing some hard truths?

Official synopsis:

Two years ago, thirty-year-old receptionist Millie Chandler had her heart spectacularly broken in public. Ever since, she has been a closed book, vowing to keep everything to herself—her feelings, her truths, even her dreams—in an effort to protect herself from getting hurt again.

But Millie does write emails—sarcastic replies to her rude boss, hard truths to her friends, and of course, that one-thousand-word love declaration to her ex who is now engaged to someone else. The emails live safely in her drafts, but after a server outage at work, Millie wakes up to discover that all her emails have been sent. Every. Single. One.

As every truth, lie, and secret she’s worked so hard to keep only to herself are catapulted out into the open, Millie must fix the chaos her words have caused, and face everything she’s ever swept under the carpet.

Oh, Millie. So the emails get sent, but then someone in IT suggests that sending emails isn’t something an update could do. Has she been intentionally sabotaged by someone? And if so, who? Of course, Millie’s main focus will first be damage control. She frantically tries to correct anything with those she may have hurt, especially in the case of her ex-boyfriend, Owen, and his girlfriend, who may or may not stick around for Owen’s or Millie’s apology.

While most of the story is definitely Millie’s, her fantastic friends (Ralph & Cate, first and foremost) really contribute to the plot, both by aiding in her character development, and pointing out some positives of the receipt of the emails that she never meant for anyone else to read.

Lia Louis writes books that are emotionally engaging but not altogether predictable, and this was no exception. This imaginative book earned 4 out of 5 stars and would be enjoyed by those who like contemporary relationship stories. 

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link—currently only $4.73 for paperback!}

Becki Bayley enjoys reading, writing, and building Legos. Check out her recent activities on Instagram, where she posts as SweetlyBSquared.

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a copy of Better Left Unsent!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Wednesday, April 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!

Better Left Unsent, by Lia Louis

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Goddess Game, by Sheila Lee Brown {ends 4/7}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

Bethany stared at her phone ringing and vibrating on the table. She eyed it like a haunted artifact in a horror movie. You don’t touch something like that. Curiosity leads to danger. You don’t open yourself to the possibility of bad things happening, right?

She desperately wanted to let it go to voicemail, but was conflicted by her desire to be a good friend to Jenna. She was also worried that if she didn’t answer it, they would both lose work. And, for Bethany, the work Jenna brought in was the type of work that fed her spirit and made the more boring aspects of her life bearable. 

Bethany reached for the phone and hesitated. She didn’t know what this person wanted or if she could even help. Jenna had indicated nothing about the call other than it was scheduled for today.

Bethany’s safe life, of seeing the results of her choices and being able to decide in advance which way she wanted things to go, has ended. She’s now making choices with unanticipated results, just like everyone else.

Official synopsis:

Bethany Hart has a secret superpower - she can see different possible futures and choose the safest path through any social situation. For decades, she's used this gift to avoid conflict and maintain a quiet, controlled life. But when she meets a handsome stranger at the grocery store, her ability malfunctions, showing her tantalizing visions of their perfect future together before disappearing completely.

Now Bethany must navigate an increasingly chaotic life without her supernatural safety net. As embarrassing incidents pile up and long-buried emotions surface, she realizes her gift may have been holding her back from truly living. With help from her best friend Jenna, her surprisingly supportive ex-husband Caleb, and a mysterious spiritual guide named Fiona, Bethany learns that real power comes not from controlling outcomes, but from having the courage to embrace uncertainty.

A heartwarming contemporary fantasy about learning to take risks, face fears, and open your heart to life's possibilities - even when you can't see what's coming next.

Bethany had the potential to just be annoying, but the imaginative story of her redemption arc luckily made her a charming and quirky character by the end of the book. Her power had, indeed, led her to manipulate all of the circumstances and people around her. She was completely oblivious to this originally. Realizing her supernatural power while she was in high school made it just a survival technique for someone with her social anxiety. Not many high schoolers would be ready to sacrifice their comfort for the overall well-being of anyone else.

The important part was Bethany’s realization both of her responsibility in overusing her gift, and seeing what it may be like to be happy instead of just calmly surviving. The telling of her dream sequences was beautiful and insightful.

Overall, the story was original and enjoyable. Hopefully the loose ends will be tied up in another book. This book earned 4 out of 5 stars and was entertaining and inspiring. Those who like contemporary stories with what may be called almost a spiritual angle will appreciate this story from Bethany’s life.

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

Becki Bayley is a wife of almost 20 years, and a mother of two children. She enjoys reading and doing LEGOs. Check out her other reviews and commentary on her blog, SweetlyBSquared.com.

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a copy of Goddess Game!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Monday, April 7th, at 11:59pm ET, and winner will be contacted the next day via email and have 24 hours to respond, otherwise an alternate winner will be chosen.

U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

Goddess Game, by Sheila Lee Brown

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Book Review - An Inconvenient Wife: A Modern Tudor Mystery, by Karen E. Olson

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

How had that girl ended up the way she did – and in such a vicious way? Underneath it all lurked the stock sell-off. There was no way this wouldn’t affect the stocks even more. Shareholders were a skittish bunch. The word “bankruptcy” was tossed around a bit, and for a moment she wondered what it would be like to be married to a Hank Tudor without the billions, a Hank Tudor who lost it all because of a body found on his property. She’d grown up in a middle-class family, in a suburban, nondescript town with parents who were teachers. She worked summers and afternoons after school at the local diner, serving up BLTs and coffee and ice cream sundaes, scraping together enough money to go to the movies, concerts with her friends, putting a little aside every paycheck to help defray college costs. She knew how to live like that; she wasn’t afraid of it. Hank had grown up with money, though. He didn’t know what it was like to struggle financially.

She imagined the two of them settled into a small house somewhere. She could go back to work, and Hank could start a new business. They could have home-cooked dinners and Sundays in front of a fire, reading and just being together. No media hovering outside the door, no need for security teams. 

Kate Parker wasn’t just Hank Tudor’s sixth wife. She had already been his assistant while he was married to wife number five. She knows what goes in to promoting the image the staff needs the world to see about Hank Tudor and his companies.

Official synopsis:

Kate Parker knows what she’s getting into when she marries billionaire businessman Hank Tudor—she’s his sixth wife, after all, and was by his side (as his assistant) when his fifth marriage to actress Caitlyn Howard fell apart.

But honeymoon plans go awry when a headless body is discovered near Hank’s summer home, forcing Kate to contend with two more of his exes: Catherine Alvarez—the first—who lives as a shut-in with her computers, carefully following Tudor Enterprises; and Anna Klein—the fourth—who runs a bed-and-breakfast where she and her wife keep a steady eye on things—particularly Hank’s children, Lizzie and Teddy.

In this clever and suspenseful reimagining of Tudor era betrayals, these three women become entwined in a deadly game of cat and mouse—with each other, Hank, and Hank’s brilliant fixer, Tom Cromwell—as Kate seeks to solve the puzzle of who the murdered woman is, who killed her, and whether her death has any connection to the other headless body from eight years ago.

This modernization of a splash of Henry VIII’s story was an amusing read. While there seems to be a marked pattern of Hank Tudor leaving each of his wives for personal assistants, Kate Parker is sure that she understands more of what’s up than the others did. But since she’s now his sixth wife and doesn’t have any authority within his life and business dealings, she’s an outsider as the investigation begins regarding a headless body found on his property.

Kate’s confidence may be the death of her, as she is certain she knows what is happening and who all the players are. She also wants to prove that she’s more loyal than the previous wives, and would definitely never question whether her new husband could be behind any deaths or missing persons cases.

It was fun seeing the wives described as contemporary characters: a business woman, an agoraphobic obsessed with him, a lesbian who would never love him that way anyway, and a starlet, to name a few. The story was a fun premise that could be expanded to cover other wives’ stories. The book earned four out of five stars and would be enjoyed by those who appreciate the original Tudor stories, or know nothing of them and just like a curious mystery.

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley is a wife and mother who enjoys reading, writing, and doing Legos. When she’s not at work, you’ll find her caring for her family with love. See what else they’re up to on her blog, SweetlyBSquared.com.

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Book Review: Conditions of a Heart, by Bethany Mangle

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

“I just invited Oliver to come here,” I deadpan. “Help.”

“Whoa, whoa. Slow down.” She slowly tilts her head back as she drains the rest of her drink, her eyes shutting briefly when it’s empty. “Oof. That’s bitter.” She rolls her hand in the air. “You may continue panicking now.”

I bend over, my subconscious rapidly calculating the odds that I throw up on Tori’s Birkenstocks-and-ankle-socks combo. “What was…what thinking? Why…do?”

Tori pats me consolingly on the head and gestures for me to follow her toward the kitchen. “Do you want breakfast? I have spinach quiche and egg wraps.”

“He’s going to be here in, like, an hour.” My attempts to slow my breathing turn into not breathing at all, leaving me somewhere between stunned blowfish and hyperventilating panic attack. I straighten suddenly and latch onto the sleeve of her oversized purple hoodie before she’s out of reach. “What do I do? What do I do?”

Brynn has never told anyone at her new school about her diagnosis. Now that it’s been years, is there any way to tell them that will let them ever trust her again?

Official synopsis:

Brynn Kwan is desperate for her high school persona to be real. That Brynn is head of the yearbook committee, the favorite for prom queen, and definitely not crumbling from a secret disability that’s rapidly wearing her down. If no one knows the truth about her condition, Brynn doesn’t have to worry about the pitying looks or accusations of being a faker that already destroyed her childhood friendships. She’s even willing to let go of her four-year relationship with her first love, Oliver, rather than reveal that a necessary surgery was the reason she ignored his existence for the entire summer.

But after Brynn tries to break up a fight at a pep rally and winds up barred from all her clubs and senior prom, she has nothing left to prop up her illusion of being just like everyone else. During a week-long suspension from school, she realizes that she doesn’t quite recognize the face in the mirror—and it’s not because of her black eye from the fight. With a healthy sister who simply doesn’t understand and a confused ex-boyfriend who won’t just take a hint and go away like a normal human being, Brynn begins to wonder if it’s possible to reinvent her world by being the person she thought no one wanted: herself.

Brynn decided to live her life at her new high school exactly as she wanted to. She became one of the most social students, building up to her senior year. She loves having everyone recognize how capable she is in heading up the yearbook committee, and she enjoys planning big events for the class, like prom. 

When she tries to break up a fight by talking, Brynn ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time, and in order to keep his own name clean, the rich kid causing the trouble tells the school that Brynn started it. To make an example of her, after her suspension, she is banned from the activities she loves for the rest of her senior year. A lot of soul-searching leads her to potentially change her life even more, if she can’t have it like she wants it.

This heartwarming story eventually has Brynn finding out who her true friends are, and realizing that she doesn’t have to do her life by herself. In spite of how much she values her impression of confidence and her independence, everyone needs help from family and friends sometimes. Brynn’s medical diagnosis means that she’s going to need more help than a lot of people along her journey.

The book was the best and worst of a stereotypical private school with the added intrigue of Brynn and her family trying to navigate her Ehlers-Danlos in secret (at Brynn’s request) through it all. In addition to being an entertaining book about the drama of a high-schooler’s senior year, it also was educational about her diagnosis and personal limitations. The book earned 4 out of 5 stars and would be a good read for those who like contemporary YA romance and family dramas.

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley is a wife and mother who enjoys reading, really good chicken salad sandwiches, and building Lego sets. Check out her other activities and book reviews on her blog, SweetlyBSquared.com.

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Beneath the Poet's House, by Christa Carmen {ends 2/28}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

After checking her phone to make sure everyone’s arrived, Stacy turns in the opposite direction from which Saoirse and Emmit have come. “All right, everyone. Our tour has officially started. Onward, to what we in the biz still refer to as the Biltmore Hotel.”

Saoirse and Emmit match their strides to the half dozen or so other participants on the ghost walk. Saoirse wishes she’d thought to bring a pair of gloves. It’s much colder than when she had initially planned to be out with Emmit, nine hours earlier. 

“Are you excited?” Emmit asks.

“Sure,” Saoirse replies. “This is cool.”

“Are you scared?” He grins.

Saoirse feels her mouth lift into a half smile that mirrors the one Emmit so often wears. “It takes an awful lot to scare me these days.”

Saoirse is trying to move on from the death of her husband and create a life for herself after so many years of losing her own desires to her husband’s expectations.

Official synopsis:

Unmoored by her husband’s death and suffering from writer’s block, novelist Saoirse White moves to Providence, and into the historic home of Sarah Helen Whitman, the nineteenth-century poet and spiritualist once courted by Edgar Allan Poe. Saoirse’s certain she’ll find inspiration in the quiet rooms, as well as in the tucked-away rose garden and forgotten cemetery at the back of the property.

Saoirse is immediately welcomed by an effusive trio of transcendentalists obsessed with Whitman, the house, and Whitman’s mystic beliefs. Saoirse, emerging from grief and loneliness, welcomes the idea of new friends taking her mind off the past—even as they hope to summon it. When she meets Emmit Powell, a charismatic and charming prize-winning author, Saoirse thinks she’s finally turned a corner.

Emboldened by new romance, Saoirse begins to write again and, through her writing, rediscover herself. But as old fears return, she finds that nothing about her new life is what it seems—and a secret she’s tried so hard to bury may not be the only thing that comes back to haunt her.

Saoirse has some skeletons in her past, but she’s determined to leave the life that was making her miserable and smothering her creativity. She’s leaving the home she shared with her husband until he died and returning to Providence, where they met in college. She’s hoping to start fresh and get back to writing novels again.

She’s not surprised when things once again don’t go according to plan. The house she picked out to rent happens to have a history, and although it hasn’t been rented for five years, she finds visitors there on her first night. But she’s resilient and reminds herself that she wanted things to be different, and they are definitely seeming to shape up that way. Soon she even meets a new romantic interest, that she surely did not think would happen so soon, or maybe ever again.

Emmit is interested in her and her writing, and wants to know everything about her. Another new friend plants a seed of doubt, but of course Saoirse is a grown up who can make her own choices and judgments about people.

The book is beautifully told, thoroughly researched regarding the area and references of Edgar Allan Poe and Sarah Helen Whitman, and intricately plotted for some reminiscing of their doomed love story. This great gothic thriller earned 5 out of 5 stars. It would be an excellent spooky book club read. 

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley is a black cat mom who enjoys literary history and psychologically spooky stories. Check out more of what she and her family are up to on Instagram, where she posts as SweetlyBSquared.

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a copy of Beneath the Poet's House!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Friday, February 28th, at 11:59pm ET, and winner will be chosen the next day and notified via email, and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

Beneath the Poet's House, by Christa Carmen Take Mobile Users to a Host

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Book Review - Love and Death in the Sunshine State: The Story of a Murder, by Cutter Wood

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

My departure from Florida after this interview bore some resemblance to a man disappearing into a crevasse. One moment, I was sitting in the parking lot of the prison listening to my messages; the next second, one could just make out the whinny of a loose steering belt in the distance as the station wagon banked a curve and headed north. The reason for this hurry was quite simple. There had been three messages on my phone when I left the prison:  the first, from Forrest, saying that if I was free he’d be happy to show me sandcastle pictures whenever was convenient – he was available all week; the second, from my mother, wondering if they’d found that motel woman yet – she hoped I was having fun; the last, from Erin, saying that she couldn’t stop thinking about me – she wanted to meet. 

I had to teach my first class of the semester in Iowa in about thirty-six hours. I spread the atlas out on the passenger-side seat. It was possible. If we met halfway, we could share four or five hours before I needed to turn west. I called her back, and as our rendezvous point, we selected a motel, the very name of which – the Lynnette – seemed to promise some indefinable intrigue. I was on the highway even before we’d said goodbye.

While the story claimed to be about a murder, the murder felt more like the background for the author’s discoveries about life.

Official synopsis:

When a stolen car is recovered on the Gulf Coast of Florida, it sets off a search for a missing woman, local motel owner Sabine Musil-Buehler. Three men are named persons of interest—her husband, her boyfriend, and the man who stole the car. Then the motel is set on fire; her boyfriend flees the county; and detectives begin digging on the beach of Anna Maria Island.

Author Cutter Wood was a guest at Musil-Buehler’s motel as the search for her gained momentum. Driven by his own need to understand how a relationship could spin to pieces in such a fatal fashion, he began to talk with many of the people living on Anna Maria, and then with the detectives, and finally with the man presumed to be the murderer. But there was only so much that interviews and transcripts could reveal.

In trying to understand how we treat those we love, this book, like Truman Capote’s classic In Cold Blood, tells a story that exists outside documentary evidence. Wood carries the investigation of Sabine’s murder beyond the facts of the case and into his own life, crafting a tale about the dark conflicts at the heart of every relationship.

Cutter Wood writes about the mystery of a missing woman from Anna Maria Island, Florida, while embarking on his own romantic relationship with a woman he knew from grade school, and furthering his education and career as a writer. Although he felt immersed enough in his research to imagine a relationship with the missing (and probably dead) woman, his interactions and review of information from the three suspects don’t bring him any closer to solving the mystery and possible crime than the police.

The writing style was pleasant, and the book earned 3 out of 5 stars. In spite of the description, this may not be a favorite for those who enjoy true-crime, as it read more like a memoir of the author’s life during the investigation of the crime. Those who like lifestyle stories would enjoy this book.

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley is a Gemini who enjoys the sense of accomplishment that comes with waking up early and checking off the tasks that need to be done. See some pictures of what she’s up to on Instagram, where she posts as SweetlyBSquared.

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY - Damaged Beauty: Joey Superstar by Margaret Gardiner {ends 2/14}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

Joey lied all the time about little, unimportant things, like the time she told the South African back in Hamburg  about her ‘sisters’ when she had none. Well, none that she knew of, but how would her lie change the South African’s life? It hadn’t. Not really. Charlie wanted to go down a path. She took Joey’s lie to make the journey easier. For Joey? Lying was the lubrication of life. Even if you didn’t lie, everyone thought you did, so you might as well. Joey lied by omission, for control, because she could, and also because it was fun. But she never confused truth and lies. The lies she told hurt no one. They added color to life.

Fran was a whole other story. Part of Joey knew that she lived the lie of Giovanni because Fran could not face the truth of Hamburg. The House of Rest, the lithium, the subsequent fracas? It had been a fog to cover the lie that Fran perpetrated. Joey had tried to get Fran to talk about the truth of Hamburg, but Joey didn’t have a good track record with being heard or believed.

Joey has been let down by nearly everyone throughout her life, but she’s learning that she needs to be able to trust and rely on herself, most of all.

Official synopsis:

Welcome to the world of model Joey Superstar - a whirlwind of cocaine, sex, and money.

Josaphina Brinkley seems to have it all: she’s a superstar model in 1980s America, a cover girl plastered naked on fashion billboards above Sunset Blvd. Women want to be her. Men simply want her.

But underneath the glossy veneer she hides a traumatic past. The end of her marriage to Italian Aristocracy led to a stint in rehab. As she returns to parties, premiers and modeling, she’s hoping a life of designer clothes and beautiful people won’t take her back to blow. If only she could be truly seen, heard and understood, perhaps she wouldn't self-destruct again?

Joey sets out to confront the roots of her wildness – but must admit to a youthful act that haunts her. As Joey fights from addiction to redemption, can she change the course of her life, deal with her dark past and become the superstar she was always destined to be? Former Miss Universe Margaret Gardiner gives readers the key to a secret world of supermodels, sex, style and scandal in her deliciously intoxicating debut, Joey Superstar, the first in an exciting Damaged Beauty series.

Most other characters in the book don’t think very highly of Joey, and it seems like this has shaped a lot of her expectations for herself. Luckily, the ending of her marriage lands her in The House of Rest, where a doctor finally convinces her to look at how she really feels about things, and what serves her instead of just her image.

The craziness of a 1980s party lifestyle was fun to read, but even more curious was watching how the different characters existed to enjoy, manage, or even thrive. The relationships between the characters and Joey’s evolving observations about them was engaging.

Overall, the book earned 4 out of 5 stars, and as the first book in a Damaged Beauty series, it’s expected that the author will bring us more good reads with interesting stories of compelling characters.

{click here to purchase from my Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley is a Gemini who enjoys reading and watching 80s movies. 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 Damaged Beauty: Joey Superstar!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Friday, February 14th, at 11:59pm ET, and winner will be notified the next day via email, and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen. 

U.S. residents only, please.

Good luck!

Damaged Beauty: Joey Superstar by Margaret Gardiner

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Book Review and GIVEAWAY: The Magic Maker, by Mickey Dubrow {ends 2/4}

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

2013

For years, only Sadie continued to lift the matzo box and peer at the world below. But the family joined her when she told them about construction crews arriving at their building. They watched them coming and going and listened to banging and sawing below them. Then, moving trucks brought boxes of all sizes.

After the workers left, Jacob was the one who figured out that 97 Orchard Street had become a form of entertainment. He noticed that groups of people gathered at the stoop at regular times throughout the day. A guide then spoke to the group and gestured at the building before leading the group inside.

“I’m inclined to agree,” Sadie said. “But what kind of entertainment?”

Esther knows what she saw—and Meir (a kishef macher, or magic maker) is the only person who seems willing to believe her. 

Official synopsis:

In 1917, on New York City's Lower East Side, Baruch Rosenfeld invites a beggar to join his family for the Passover Seder. However, his good deed backfires. Baruch, his wife Rebekah, and their children Nathan, Jacob, and Sadie are trapped in time. They don't age, they can't leave their three-room apartment, and the outside world believes they disappeared without a trace.

A hundred years later, the apartment building is now the Tenement Museum. Esther Luna, an educator for the museum, sees Sadie at the window. Esther goes to the apartment but finds it has been empty for decades. She hires Rabbi Meir Poppers, a kishef macher (magician), to solve the mystery of the girl at the window.

Meir's efforts to free the Rosenfelds are blocked by rivals, ancient spells, and his own self-doubt. When Meir finally reaches the trapped family, will his Jewish magic be enough to rescue the Rosenfelds from their eternal prison?

This story was so quirky and fun, in a way, with an underlying dark and sad story about the Rosenfeld family being trapped for a century. The characters were all compelling and mostly likable, and the Jewish history and tradition shared was enlightening.

The book was also well told and the side-plots were amusing. While Meir did his calling, and the job he was being paid to do and risking his life for, he also had to keep in mind that he was of marrying age and should be trying to meet a wife. Esther had moved on from her job at the museum. She was ready to move on in her life with her husband, but felt the only right thing to do was figure out the mystery of the girl she saw in the window, and free her. Her husband was drawn way more into the drama than he wanted to be, while he just wanted to be a supportive husband and thought he was indulging Esther’s illusion.

Overall, the story was intricate and earned 5 out of 5 stars. The characters were engaging and the dual timelines in the book made for an interesting reading experience. Those who like cozy books about Jewish and New York characters, both contemporary and early 1900s, would enjoy The Magic Maker.

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley is a wife and mother who also enjoys reading and learning more about people. Check out other reviews and her life on her blog, SweetlyBSquared.com.

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a copy of The Magic Maker!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Tuesday, February 4th, at 11:59pm EST, 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 Magic Maker, by Mickey Dubrow

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Book Review: A Grandmother Begins the Story, by Michelle Porter

Guest review by: Becki Bayley

Gen brought herself to her feet again and found herself swaying between belief and doubt, but she said, Let me close the doors so we don’t wake them up with our playing.

Velma put her fiddle on her clavicle, lifted her bow, and waited. Velma’s hair was falling over her shoulders. At her armpits the dress had turned a darker red because she’d been playing and she always played with her whole self, every muscle in her body making the music. Gen sat at the bench.

I’ve been waiting to play with you since you left for the spirit world, you bloody no-good bastard, Gen said.

The distinct stories of five generations of Mèti women make some interesting intersections as they embrace or deny the trauma of their lives past and present.

Official synopsis:

Carter is a young mother on a quest to find the true meaning of her heritage, which she only learned of in her teens. Allie is trying to make up for the lost years with her first born and to protect Carter from the hurt she herself suffered from her own mother. Lucie wants the granddaughter she's never met to help her get to her ancestors in the afterlife. And Geneviève is determined to conquer her demons—before the fire inside burns her up—with the help of the sister she lost but has never been without. Meanwhile, Mamé, in the afterlife, knows that all their stories began with her; she must find a way to cut herself from the last threads that keep her tethered to the living, just as they must find their own paths forward. And a young bison wants to understand why he keeps being moved and whether he should make a break for it and run for his life.

The voices in these intertwining stories are definitely varied—from women (living and dead), sacred bison, and even a couple pet dogs (who may not actually be the souls of dogs). They all narrate the stories, gifts, and tragic flaws of five generations of Mèti women. The Mètis are an indigenous people in Canada who were descendants of First Nations women and European men in the 18th century. Their relationships with each other and those around them are compelling and thought-provoking. While the women may seem easier for readers to understand, the animals lend cultural significance that influences them all.

First in chronological time was Mamè, who tells her story from the afterlife and was the mother to Geneviève and Velma. Gen’s daughter is Lucie. Lucie’s daughter is Allie. Allie is the birth mother to Carter, who is recently rediscovering her roots. Carter is also a mother, but her young son does not yet tell his own story.

This book was so endearing and hard to put down. While it did not read as a straight-line novel, all of the characters narrating had their own style that inspired a reader to find out more of their story. The best part of the book was the characters with their unique histories and choices to be made for their futures. The story earned 4 out of 5 stars. 

{click here to purchase via my Amazon Affiliates link}

Becki Bayley is a wife and mother who enjoys escaping and learning of other lives through reading. See more of what she’s reading and her life on her blog, SweetlyBSquared.com.

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