I didn’t love this book, and I didn’t hate it. I honestly don’t know how I feel about it! Fantasy is not my typical genre, but I love the mystery behind the houses at Yale so thought I would love this book. It took me a really long time to read though. It was hard for me to get into so I put it on pause to read something else and felt it picked up more when I started it back up. I would recommend it for fantasy readers, but probably not for someone who really isn’t into the genre. We’ll see if I decide to read book 2 when it comes out next year.

The Whispers of War tells the story of three friends in their 20’s in London during WWII. It starts in modern day with Samantha traveling to London to meet her grandmother, Marie’s friend Nora. Marie has recently passed away and Samantha was tasked with giving her eulogy, but feels she does not know about her grandmother’s past. Nora tells her the story of her and Marie’s lives along with their friend Hazel during WWII in London.

The book is told in three different sections, Marie, Hazel, and Nora, and they go to the future to Samantha’s story in between each section. Marie is German born, but has lived in London with her aunt and uncle since going to school there as a child. At school she met Nora, an ex-debutant who now works in the Home Office’s Air Raids Precautions department and is trying to get her voice heard in a man’s world, and Hazel, a matchmaker who is hiding something. When Germany invades Poland and England sides with Poland, Marie is deemed an enemy alien and the three friends will band together to do anything to keep her from internment.

I read a lot of WWII historical fiction, but this was my first novel set in London during WWII. It opened my eyes to the internment of German-born people in London which I was not aware had happened. The story was more about the friendships of these three ladies than it was of the war, but it was still a great read. I loved all three ladies, and the way they each handled the war. I do not want to give any spoilers away so I’ll leave it at that. I don’t think the storyline with Samantha was necessary to the story, and although it was sweet, it felt contrived at times. I think if you are looking for a novel about strong women this is a book for you!

Thank you NetGalley and Gallery Books for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St James tells the story of Viv who moves away from home and ends up in the middle of nowhere NY working the overnight shift at a motel. Strange things happen during her shifts, and then she mysteriously disappears. 35 years later, her niece Carly decides to look for her aunt only to end up working the same shift at the same haunted motel. The book goes back and forth between the two time periods telling both ladies’ stories as Viv tries to solve some unsolved murders and Carly tries to uncover what happened to her aunt.

Wow! I loved this book. It was spooky and creepy, but not scary. It kept me on my toes, and I honestly didn’t want to put the book down. I loved the ghost story aspect especially being set at a creepy motel. It was the perfect setting for a book like this. I also liked the dual timelines and solving the mystery through both Viv and Carly’s stories. Simone St. James is definitely becoming one of my favorite authors, and I look forward to reading her other books.

They want her baby. Do they also want her life?

Roz is in her 20’s, has just lost her job, and finds out she’s pregnant from a one-night stand. With no real family besides her best friend, Dympna, she decides to go through an elite online adoption agency to find parents for her unborn child. Roz is selected by a diamond couple, celebrities who want to remain anonymous, and is flown from Dublin to New York City to meet the prospective parents. She’s excited to see who they are and is expecting politicians, but when she is dropped off at the home of celebrity A-list couple, Sheridan and Daniel, she’s surprised and excited.

Roz thought she was just going there to meet the couple, but she has to sign the agreement right away and is forced to stay with them immediately with no communication with the outside world due to a non-disclosure agreement. She can’t even let Dympna know where she is. Things seem very strange with a set schedule, no contact with the outside world, and being stuck in a basement apartment with no windows and no way out unless Sheridan or Daniel let her upstairs. When someone starts mysteriously leaving her gossip magazine articles about Sheridan and Daniel’s first child and about someone else who went missing around the same time they had that child, Roz starts to get suspicious and fear for not only her life, but the life of her unborn child.

The Perfect Mother by Caroline Mitchell was not what I was expecting at all. There were so many twists and turns and not everyone was as they seemed. Roz was naïve to think she could sell her baby and not have regrets, but what she goes through during the pregnancy was crazy. The perfect couple, Sheridan and Daniel have so many secrets of their own, and I never knew what was going to happen next with them. Dympna was a great character trying to find out what happened to her friend the entire time.

This was my first book by Caroline Mitchell, but won’t be my last. She sucked me in from the beginning and held my attention throughout. The story flowed well and there were some twists I definitely did not see coming. I did feel that the ending was a bit rushed and confusing though. Overall, I would recommend this though.

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Publishing UK for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Rewrite the Stars by Emma Heatherington is set in Ireland and tells the story of Charlotte who, while in college, meets Tom Farley, a member of her brother's band. She immediately feels the chemistry between them and thinks she has fallen in love. Things do not work out, but years later they run into each other at a pub. It's obvious there's something between them and their relationship progresses however, there's a problem. Charlotte's brother Matthew hates Tom Farley and wants her to have nothing to do with him. After an accident causes Charlotte and Tom to go their separate ways, Charlotte moves on with her life, but always in the back of her mind and too often front of her mind is Tom. She's now married to a wonderful man named Jack, but has she followed the correct path that her life was meant to take.

I really wanted to love this book. I've read another book by Heatherington called [b:A Miracle on Hope Street: The most heartwarming Christmas romance of 2018!|40830331|A Miracle on Hope Street The most heartwarming Christmas romance of 2018!|Emma Heatherington|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1536484130l/40830331._SY75_.jpg|63595134] which I loved. However, I just didn't like Charlotte at all. She's extremely selfish and can't see what a great thing she has in front of her. Reading this book, I just wanted to shake some sense into her! I did like the setting in Ireland which I thought was great for this Christmas romance. Hopefully the next book I read by the author will have a protagonist I relate to more.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

I’m so happy that I received an ARC of Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain. I haven’t read a book by this author yet, but this won’t be my last.

North Carolina, 2018: Morgan Christopher is in prison for a crime she didn’t commit. She gets bailed out by the daughter of a local artist, Jesse Jameson Williams, who before his death helped troubled artists get their lives on track and art careers started. There are conditions to her parole, the main one being that she needs to restore a mural painted in 1940, which will be hung in Jesse Williams’ art museum in Edenton, North Carolina – a small town with a history. This museum is opening in two months, and Morgan knows nothing about art restoration, but desperate to leave prison, she agrees.

North Carolina, 1940: Anna Dale, a young artist from New Jersey has just won a national contest to paint a post office mural in Edenton, North Carolina. Her mother has recently passed away, and since she is basically alone she moves to Edenton while working on the mural. Not knowing much about Edenton, Anna starts to get to know the locals to see how they would like their town represented in the mural. She enlists the help of two young students, one white and one black, which leads to many prejudices in this small town being revealed.

I loved how this story was told from both Anna’s and Morgan’s perspectives, and the fact that I loved both stories was great. Normally, when books are told like this, I prefer one story to the other, but not in this case. The two women’s stories blend perfectly together in the way the story is told, and I was enthralled right from the beginning. I loved Anna’s story of painting the mural while she learns to survive in the South in 1940, and I loved Morgan’s story of restoring the mural while she learns to live with a past she isn’t proud of.

I was invested from page one of this book and loved seeing how it would progress. Chamberlain did a great job of drawing the reader in and wrote a beautiful story where I felt transported to Edenton. I look forward to reading more of her books. The way she brought everything together at the end was great. My only complaint, if you can call it that, was the epilogue which left me wanting more closure. I highly recommend this book!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.