3.5 stars rounded up.

Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite authors. I’ve loved everything she has written that I’ve read. When I saw she had a Christmas book, I knew I had to read it. With that said, I did figure out a big plot twist very early on. It didn’t ruin the story for me though.

I found Part 1 moved a lot faster than Part 2. I guess I preferred the parts with Bobby and Daniel over the parts with Joy’s sister.

Overall it was a cute story especially for this time of year. You will need to suspend your disbelief a little while reading it though!

Gabe is sitting in traffic on his way home from work. He’s reading the bumper stickers on the car in front of him, when a young girl pops up in the rear window. Gabe is almost positive it’s his daughter, Izzy, but why would she be in that car. When she mouths “daddy” at him, he knows it’s her. He watches her disappear, and no one believes that it was her. They believe she died in a robbery where his wife was murdered as well.

Three years later, Gabe still has not given up hope. He has given up everything else, including his home and his job, to hunt for the car with the bumper stickers that Izzy disappeared in. He lives in a camper van stopping at service stations along the highway to get coffee and a couple of hours of sleep. Katie works at one of these service stations and sees Gabe when he stops for coffee. She feels sympathy for him because she too lost a loved one, her father, years ago which tore her family apart. Fran and her daughter, Alice also spend a lot of their time on this highway running from people who want to hurt them. They want to hurt them because Fran knows what happened to Gabe’s daughter, but she also knows what The Other People will do if the truth gets out.

Wow! What a wild and thrilling ride The Other People by C.J. Tudor was. The author did a great job of keeping us on our toes throughout the entire story. I couldn’t predict anything that was going to happen, and honestly I didn’t want to. I just wanted to be on this journey and to see what would happen next. There were times I wasn’t sure who each character actually was, but the way that Tudor puts it all together in the end made so much sense. This was a fantastic read, and I really hope they make a movie out of it. There is a bit of a paranormal aspect to this book that I did not think was necessary to the plot which is why I gave 4 out of 5 stars, but it’s definitely worth reading.

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

Morgan and her daughter, Clara do not always see eye to eye. Morgan and Chris were only teenagers when they had Clara, and she does not want her daughter to follow in her footsteps. Clara, a teenager in high school just wants to be an actress and dislikes all of the rules her parents have in place. When an unexpected event occurs, things between Morgan and Clara become more strained as trusts are broken between them.

Regretting You by Colleen Hoover tells the story of how once a trust is broken can it ever be fixed. The story is told from two point of views, Morgan and Clara. It starts when Morgan is 17 and finds out she is pregnant. This chapter was the only one set in the past, but definitely was necessary to set the story. The remainder of the book is told when Morgan is 34 and Clara is 16/17. We get to learn about their family dynamic as the chapters alternate between the two narrators.

I do not read a lot of romance novels, but really enjoyed this one. I liked how it was told from the two perspectives. It was nice seeing how in the same situation, Morgan felt one way and Clara felt another. It definitely seemed like a typical mother daughter relationship however when the unexpected event occurs things totally change between them. Clara becomes very distrusting of her mother without giving her a chance to prove her wrong. There was a point where I found this behavior of Clara’s a bit much (chapter 24) which is part of the reason I only gave this book 4 stars.

There are two other characters who really made the book for me. Clara’s love interest, Miller, and family friend Jonah. I don’t want to give too much away so I’m just going to say that Jonah was my favorite character throughout the book. He was so patient and understanding with everyone.

The other reason I did not give this book 5 stars is that there is a part of the book where letters are found, but the fact that they were never read really upset me. Once they were found, all I wanted was for them to be read so I did find it disappointing they weren’t. Overall, this book was very good though, and I would highly recommend it to fans of Colleen Hoover and the romance genre.

I have all the feels from this book. It’s hard to write a description without giving away too much, and I think it’s better going into this book knowing as little as possible. The author’s notes at the end (which need to be read after finishing the book) were incredible. You’ll definitely need your tissues nearby while reading this one!

I didn't really know much about Ernest Hemingway's personal life and enjoyed reading about him and his first wife, Hadley. It must have been fun just being able to whisk yourself away and travel all over Europe, but I don't think I could handle being in a marriage like theirs. The entire book I felt sorry for Hadley and the way he treated her.

I think this book started off a little slow, and I found some parts a bit boring, but overall loved the story of getting Chicago ready for the World’s Fair. I definitely preferred the parts with H.H. Holmes though. What a creepy guy! How did people not realize that everyone associated with him kept disappearing? If you’re looking for a non-fiction book this is a good one.

Being the second wife can be murder...

Marcie Maddox has worked hard to get away from her past and into the world of country clubs and large houses. Her husband, Jason left his wife for her, and now she has everything she wants...or so it seems. Jason's boss William, returns from a trip to England with a new, younger and very attractive wife, Keisha. Marcie starts thinking her husband is having an affair with Keisha, but when Keisha and Marcie start out a friendship it turns out to be something else completely. What exactly is Jason hiding from her and is Keisha involved?

Dead to Her was not exactly what I expected. Since this is a story about the overly wealthy, of course there was a lot of backstabbing and cheating, but it's not only about the affairs of the rich in Savannah, GA. A large subplot to the story was based on voodoo so if that is not your thing, than this book is probably not for you. I found that none of the characters were likeable so there wasn't really anyone I was routing for in this crazy and twisted story. Everyone was awful in their own way which isn't a bad thing, but I usually like to have one character I actually like.

There were some parts that I felt moved slowly, and I could have done without the entire voodoo subplot. I don't think it was necessary for this book at all. I also feel like the part with the "ghost" in Keisha's past was unnecessary as well. If these parts weren't included than the book definitely would have moved the plot forward faster. With that said, I do think the storyline of these horrible people made a good story, and the author did a good job of throwing in some twists and turns throughout.

Thank you NetGalley and William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I was looking for a great ghost story to read and heard such good things about this book, but it just didn’t do it for me. I think it has a great premise - the consequences of bringing someone back from the dead. I also enjoyed the three storylines and how they came together in the end. My biggest problem is that there were a lot of loose ends leaving me with a lot of questions.

I want to add I would give anything to have my dad back, but not this