Atria Books

Review: All Your Perfects by Colleen Hoover

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As with all marriages, there’s ups and downs. But what happens when the downs seems to take over? How do you cope? How do you get up each day and keep going on like everything’s okay? All Your Perfects shows what happens when you do that. When you don’t talk about what ails you, even as your world falls down all around you.

This book was brutal and heart breaking, but in the end, healing. Not all marriages can be saved. But not all marriages need to end. When talking doesn’t work anymore, action is needed.

“…I promise to love you more when you hate me than when you love me…”

My heart was in my stomach for practically this entire book. You should see my % updates. I was a wreck. The pain could be felt through the pages of this story. The struggles between Quinn and Graham were heartbreaking. Plain and simple, this book shook me. It made me question my views. It made me wonder. It also made me want to go to my hubby and hug his neck and never let go.

“…I promise that I will love you more during the storms than I will love you during the perfect days…”

In the end, there is a healing. A healing of the body and soul. Is it wrapped up in a nice little bow? No. In fact, healing comes in different forms and not every form works with every couple. You need to trust that whatever path you take is the one that was meant for you. But I do believe this was the perfect way to end this journey.

Well done, Colleen, on another real story with real feelings and real actions that left me an emotional wreck and useless to my family. I look forward to your next roller coaster manuscript.

~Melpomene

Buy All Your Perfects https://amzn.to/2ySBEmE

Review: Keep Her Safe by K.A. Tucker

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Why do suspense books make me insane? I mean truly. I’m a bundle of twisted nerves over here. I honestly had so many theories and was WRONG on each of them.

K.A. Tucker has mastered the art of suspense. Keep Her Safe kept me on my toes and had me constantly guessing. All the while she weaved a nice and sweet romance throughout it. But this was definitely more suspense than romance. So if that’s what you’re looking for, then you’ve come to the right place.

Noah and Grace had this history that spanned years, and yet, their connection was new and fresh. I loved Noah. He wasn’t a macho man but he was a protector. He had a nice balance. Once he found out about Grace he did everything he could to keep her safe. Even at the risk of losing what he hold dear.

Grace is a fighter. She’s keeps going even when life wants to drag her down. When Noah shows up at her door, the past slams it’s way into her and she must find a way that move forward while finding all the answers to her questions.

Y’all, this book will keep you on your toes and have you constantly guessing. And you’ll love every single moment.

~Melpomene

Buy Keep Her Safe http://amzn.to/2AXYI3P

Review and Giveaway: Without Merit by Colleen Hoover

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“So many people dream of living in a house with a white picket fence. Little do they know, there’s no such thing as a perfect family, no matter how white the picket fence is.”

I am always so excited when I get to read a new Colleen Hoover book. I’m so anxious to see what she’s going to do to my heart. From the very first sentence I knew I was going to like Merit. From the second one, I knew this family was going to be different. So I orderd pizza for the kids and I settled in to spend the evening reading. Best night of my year.

Without Merit is a story about a girl who keeps all the many secrets of her family. She hates it but she does it. But everyone has their breaking point, and when Merit reaches hers, the Voss family won’t know what hit them.

After the emotional book, It Ends With Us, Colleen switched gears and went back to her Slammed roots and gave us this fabulous story. This is a book that I recommend you read along with your teens. It deals with some tough and very poignant issues that many of them, and us, face today. I personally, will be having my kids read this. In fact, this will be their first CoHo book and I’m rather excited over this fact. While they may not have to deal with many of the issues being faced in this book, they may find that Merit is just like them.

This story is a mass bundle of quirkiness and emotion. I was drawn in by the over the top idiosyncrasies of each member under the Dollar Voss roof. I wish I knew this family. They’re as unique as their names. I don’t wanna say anymore, because you need to just dive in and immerse yourself in this world.

Without Merit isn’t a romance story really. It’s a life story. At first I thought Merit wasn’t the “usual” character, but then I got to thinking, “What is the usual character?” She stressed over and struggled with daily life. She feels her family is a bunch of crazies. She wishes for peace in her world but doesn’t know a healthy way of finding it. I don’t know about you, but she sounds pretty “usual” to me.

“It used to feel like I was on top of the world. Then one day, I noticed that it felt like I was no longer on top. I was just floating around inside of it. And then eventually, it felt like the world was on top of me.”

Colleen, thank you for writing a story that hit me right where I needed to be hit. Thank you for giving me lots to think about in my children’s and my own life. You bury me.

~Melpomene
Enter to win a signed hardcover of Without Merit HERE

Buy Without Merit http://amzn.to/2yB3kqU

Review: The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

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69136Wow. John Connolly sure knows how to rewrite fairy-tales! Imagine having dozens of fairy-tales rewritten and woven together to create one magical saga for one lonely young boy. We have 12-year-old David, living in London during the war, who mourning the death of his mum, dives into a new world when he hears his mother calling his name. He soon runs into the “crooked man” and with the help of many others in this imagined land, he manages to survive, werewolves, trolls, witches and much more to help save the kingdom that they reside in. David, soon finds out that the promises that the crooked man makes might not be sincere and the little man has his own motives for trying to help David along the way.

There must be a dozen or more fairy-tales wrapped into this wonderful tale. I’ve loved everything I’ve read by Connolly, but hear me now…this really blew me away and I have a newfound respect for this writer! Wow….what an imagination. One might say not, as some of the original fairy-tales have been around for centuries, however, how he changed just enough to make it new, and outrageous, yet still a bit scary and then managed to weave them all together into one story….brilliance! I absolutely loved this one! Well done, Connolly!

Until next time…
Urania xx

Buy it now The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

Cover reveal: Until It Fades by K.A.Tucker

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I am so excited to show you the cover of K.A.Tucker’s newest book, Until It Fades. She’s going back to her contemporary romance roots with this one. I’m so in love with the cover myselg. This one will definitely be going on my shelf.

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Release Date: May 2, 2017
Published by: Atria Books

SYNOPSIS
Twenty-four-year-old truck stop waitress and single mother Catherine Wright has simple goals: to give her five-year-old daughter a happy life and to never again be the talk of the town in Balsam, Pennsylvania: population three thousand outside of tourist season.

And then one foggy night, on a lonely road back from another failed attempt at a relationship, Catherine saves a man’s life. It isn’t until after the police have arrived that Catherine realizes exactly who it is she has saved: Brett Madden, hockey icon and media darling.

Catherine has already had her fifteen minutes of fame and the last thing she wants is to have her past dragged back into the spotlight, only this time on a national stage. So she hides her identity. It works.

For a time.

But when she finds the man she saved standing on her doorstep, desperate to thank her, all that changes. What begins as an immediate friendship quickly turns into something neither of them expected. Something that Catherine isn’t sure she can handle; something that Catherine is afraid to trust.

Because how long can an extraordinary man like Brett be interested in an ordinary woman like Catherine…before the spark fades?

Preorder it here:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Amazon CA
BN
iBooks
KOBO
BAM
Indigo

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About K.A. Tucker:

K.A. Tucker writes captivating stories with an edge.

She is the USA Today bestselling author of 14 books, including Ten Tiny Breaths and Burying Water, and her latest Adult Suspense novel, He Will Be My Ruin. Her books have been featured in national publications including USA Today, Globe & Mail, Suspense Magazine, and Publisher’s Weekly.

K.A. Tucker currently resides in a quaint town outside of Toronto with her husband, two beautiful girls, and a Chug.

Where to find K.A.Tucker:
Website ** Twitter ** Facebook ** Novel Goodreads ** Author Goodreads ** YouTube ** Pinterest ** Instagram

Review: The German Girl by Armando Lucas Correa

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I love historical fiction, especially World War II era stories.  I’ve read many, ranging from exceptionally good to just so-so to absolutely dreadful.  But I’ve learned from each one of them, a bit of something from history that I was unaware of.  And isn’t that, after all, the point of historical fiction?

Young Hannah’s family isn’t particularly concerned in the year 1939.  Her German family is well to do, after all.  They move in all the best circles and want for nothing.  But things quickly begin to change in Berlin as the Nazis quickly move in and begin to take over.  They find themselves being shunned by those who once welcomed them.  Their possessions no longer belong to them.  And they no longer feel safe.  All because they’re Jewish.

So when her father discovers a possible escape route, he jumps on it.  After much struggle, the family finds themselves aboard the St. Louis, bound for Cuba.  The country has promised safe haven to those escaping Hitler’s Germany.  As the family pulls away from the shores of their homeland, they begin to relax a bit and hope for a happy future.  But things take an unfortunate turn when Cuba suddenly refuses to admit them.  An entire ship full of passengers is stuck in limbo as they await word of their fate.

This is an outstanding debut novel.  It’s clear that the author put much thought and research into this story.  We hear the story from two generations, that of young Hannah and that of her great niece, Anna.  As Anna discovers her past, she helps us to fill in the gaps as well.  An excellent story for fans of historical fiction!

~Thalia

Buy It Now:  The German Girl

Review: The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley

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22609358I loved this novel. It was such a pleasant surprise. I’m not even sure what I loved the most about it…the layers of mysteries….the hints of things to come…the love story…the other love story…the past…the present…or the future…there are so many different things to love that it is hard to choose one…so I shall just say I loved them all..

Yes, this will be a long series…one that still has a long way to go…but regardless of the fact, each book proves to be a solid read all on their own merits…and I don’t believe it will prove to be complicated series that you’ll struggle to remember and catch up when you start a new book, trying to remember the last book…

Although the romance is very essence of this novel…it certainly isn’t a romance novel to me…I think the writing and the atmosphere and the places around the world are very bit a part of that essence as are any of the characters….I dare say that romance haters (is there such a thing) will love this series every bit as much as those that consider themselves romance lovers (which I would not classify myself as).

Yes, I have only read the first book…but it doesn’t matter…I have no doubt that they shall all be just as wonderful in their own way…that’s just how much I loved this novel…

Until next time…
Urania

Review copy provided by Edelweiss for an honest review

Buy your copy now The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley

Review: Every Dead Thing (Charlie Parker #1) by John Connolly

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175242This was a really good book considering it’s was a debut novel. I don’t imagine it was meant to be an ongoing series…I say this because there was just so much going on in this book! It was over 400 pages long and it read more like 600. I’m not saying it was boring. It wasn’t. There was just really too much going on. It easily could have been made for two complete books with two great story lines. With a few twists and a minor changes I dare say it could have made for three. If Connolly had planned on making a series, I do believe he would have broken this up into multiple books….I dare say we would all have been the better if he had….

If you’re wondering what it was all about….in this novel we meet Charlie Parker for the first time. I read the last Charlie Parker, #12 in the series, earlier this year because I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of the novel. It was fantastic (https://randombookmuses.com/2014/10/29/review-the-wolf-in-winter-by-john-connolly/). He’s a police detective. Parker’s family is killed right off in this book and we fast forward to months later. Now Parker has quit the force and is working for himself. He takes a job and in the midst of solving that case he is also solving his family’s murders.

There are a few bits that didn’t make sense with me as far as the time frame went. I’m not sure how Parker got from point A to B at times either. Perhaps I was just too distracted to understand, or perhaps it was just a matter of a debut novel and an author that was coming into his own. At any rate, it was a really good read, and having sampled his current writing style, I can vouch that it will indeed get better. This is a storyline and a cast of characters I truly look forward to getting to know. Parker is very complex. Connolly might be writing detective novels, but don’t let it fool you….he really has a way with words…and some of the depth that he lays out amongst the blood, guts and gunfire really give you a cause to stop and reflect. I’m going to leave this review and let Connolly’s own words convince you that you really need to be reading this series….

For a moment they still lived and I experienced their deaths as a fresh loss with each waking, so that I was unsure whether I was a man waking from a dream of death or a dreamer entering a world of loss, a man dreaming of unhappiness or a man waking to grief.

I believe in evil because I have touched it, and it has touched me.

He sat back in his chair. “But I let it go. In the end, you have to let things go. The things you regret are the things you hold on to.” “So is nothing worth holding on to?” asked Rachel. Angel looked at Louis for a while. “Some things are, yeah, but they ain’t made of gold.

I think I wanted to say more, to try to explain to her what it was like without alcohol, about how I was afraid that, without alcohol, each day would now leave me with nothing to look forward to. Each day would simply be another day without a drink. Sometimes, when I was at my lowest ebb, I wondered if my search for the Traveling Man was just a way to fill my days, a way to keep me from going off the rails.

I don’t believe in the next world, Bird. It’s just a void. This is Hell, Bird, and we are in it. All the pain, all the hurt, all the misery you could ever imagine, you can find it here. It’s a culture of death, the only religion worth following

Until next time…

Urania xx

Buy it now Every Dead Thing by John Connolly

Spoiler free review and Giveaway: It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

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01 iewu Imagine all the people you meet in your life. There are so many. They come in like waves, trickling in and out with the tide. Some waves are much bigger and make more of an impact than others. Sometimes the waves bring with them things from deep in the bottom of the sea and they leave those things tossed on the shore. Imprints against grains of sand that prove the waves had once been there, long after the tide recedes.

Have you ever preordered a book, without even a blurb? I mean, the story wasn’t even written yet, but you did it cuz you LOVE the author so much and know that whatever she writes you’ll buy. Well, that was me back in October. I preordered It Ends With Us, by Colleen Hoover, and then I was waiting like everyone else. Luckily I was able to read an advanced copy, so I know the impact this book is going to have and I HIGHLY recommend each of you grab a copy for yourselves. Go in blind. You MUST. Don’t read a single spoiler. Trust me.

To say that I love Colleen Hoover, would be an understatement. I love and read all of her books. I know what to expect when I read them. There will be laughter and love and a nice dose of angst. But with this book… This book is so much more than that. Nothing could prepare my heart and mind for all the emotions that this book would bring out. It Ends With Us is the most real book she has ever written. It’s probably the most life changing one also. It’s real. It’s raw. It’s life.

This book will make you think. The world is not just black and white. There is grey everywhere you look. I can honestly say that I went in reading with one point of view and I left knowing, not that I was wrong, but, there’s just more to a story than you may know.

This book will make you be a better friend. You will want to be that person for someone. The one to listen and give advice. The one who will say what needs to be said, even if they don’t want to hear it.

This book will make you strong and proud. Without saying anything else, whoever reads this book will walk away with the strength to be brave and bold.

I spent a good portion, of my reading, with my stomach in knots. I’ve never hated and loved characters so much before. They were perfect and imperfect. My mind was all twisted. I didn’t think I could fully comprehend this story’s impact, until hours later. Even now, I know it’ll be greater than anything I could think of. I recommend it everyone.

I realize this is probably the most vague review ever, but there is no way I could say anything without saying, well, anything. Just trust me.

Buy it. Read it. Let it change your life.

~Melpomene

Buy It Ends With Us

Enter the giveaway HERE.

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Review: Swear on this Life by Renee Carlino

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01 aa Talk about a book fog. Ever since I saw the cover for Swear on this Life I was intrigued. After my mad love for Before We Were Strangers part of me was nervous though. I mean that book was my #1 book for 2015, so that’s mighty big shoes to fill. But let me tell you, Renee totally nailed it. I woke up early on a Saturday morning, and never left the bed until I finished the book. I never stopped. I was pulled in and there was no stopping me.

SYNOPSIS
When a bestselling debut novel from mysterious author J.Colby becomes the literary event of the year, Emiline reads it reluctantly. As an adjunct writing instructor at UC San Diego with her own stalled literary career and a bumpy long-term relationship, Emiline isn’t thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of a young and gifted writer.

Yet from the very first page, Emiline is entranced by the story of Emerson and Jackson, two childhood best friends who fall in love and dream of a better life beyond the long dirt road that winds through their impoverished town in rural Ohio.

That’s because the novel is patterned on Emiline’s own dark and desperate childhood, which means that “J. Colby” must be Jase: the best friend and first love she hasn’t seen in over a decade. Far from being flattered that he wrote the novel from her perspective, Emiline is furious that he co-opted her painful past and took some dramatic creative liberties with the ending.

The only way she can put her mind at ease is to find and confront “J. Colby,” but is she prepared to learn the truth behind the fiction?

There are so many things one can take away from the books they read. For me, this book makes me think of regret. Emiline had a very rough beginning in life, and to be honest, I fell like she’s been living in a fog for the past few years. Going through the motions, even though she doesn’t think so. When she discovers that J.Colby is none other than her best friend/boyfriend, from when she was younger, and that he has basically written about her life, she is completely blown away. While this book is technically fiction, there’s too much real life to just let it go. As she reads it, slowly, she starts to relive a past in which she has so desperately tried to forget.

When she comes face to face with Jase, all those feelings come fully out. She decides to take a good hard look at her life and decides what she wants out of it. She makes decisions that I don’t believe she could’ve made without this book’s nudging. Em and Jase’s lives were nothing like the fairy tales you wish for. They were raw and gritty and very real. They learned to rely on each other for their sanity basically. I think after reading Jase’s book, Em starts to realize that there’s more to her than she realized.

My heart was racing and quite a few places in this book. I mean legit racing. I wanted a HEA. I needed a HEA. But not everything in life is happy, so I had to hold on tight and hope. If you like second chance romances, with a hefty dose of angst and emotion, then be sure and grab this book. You can thank me later.

~Melpomene

Buy Swear On This Life