I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Simply put, I loved The Italian Party. It’s a spy thriller set 11 years after WWII, but with an LGBT romance, humour, secrets and horses. I got a distinct Fitzgerald/Hemingway vibe, but at times it leaned a bit toward satire.

The Italian Party is about a newly married American couple living in Italy. Scottie and Michael look like the perfect '50's American couple, but they barely know each other, and are hiding big secrets. She thinks he's selling tractors, but he's actually a spy trying to influence a local election - while she only married him to save herself from scandal. The plot is fantastic - it kept me guessing the whole way through.

The myriad of characters in this book have been lovingly constructed with lots of depth. I found myself getting attached to some of them. Semi-rural Italy is beautifully described - I could picture it all easily. It had me wishing I was there, eating pasta on a restaurant patio in the sunshine.

The Italian Party comes out this week. I definitely recommend it!

A Tangled Mercy is a haunting, touching and extremely relevant novel. It's a mystery that explores racism, history, slavery and the importance of family. A lot of really tough issues are laid bare within its pages - I think everyone should read this.

The world building is impressive, and the characters are very detailed - they practically jump off the page. I could picture young Gabe perfectly, and got a bit attached to him - which lead to some pretty heart-stopping moments.

The story itself is fantastic. There are regular time jumps in the narrative, and they flowed really well together with no reader confusion. I was completely engrossed in the mystery, and actually got quite frustrated at times with it! But that wasn't the part that really hit me hard - Jordan-Lake chose to integrate the Charleston church shooting into the plot, and honoured the victims really well. To say this is an emotional book is an understatement.

Go read this.