sarahsbookstack's Reviews (2.55k)

3.5

A camp for teen killers to help them "to never get caught" while killing is the premise of this story. But what happens when an innocent is sent there? Well, Signal is about to get a crash course! She's been accused of killing her friend Rose but she's held to her innocence.

This book held me in its grips but I also had to suspend belief because could a place like this really exist? I hate to think that it could.

Despite most of the teens having really killed at least one person, I liked them all. I hated what they were put through and the camp was sometimes worse than what I imagine prison might be. 

I liked Erik the most. He had a lot of swagger and was too cocky occasionally, but what he does to help Signal figure out what really happened when Rose was killed is so brave.

I can't wait to see what happens in book 2!

This was my first of the "Heirloom Secrets" series but found it fine to read as a standalone. I do realize that two characters here are in the first two books but I don't need to know their rules in their own books much to understand them here.

The timelines and people connect in all sorts of interesting ways. We have Clara in the Civil War time who becomes heavily involved in the abolitionist movement and Alice who works in post Katrina New Orleans at a flower shop with her aunt while mourning her mother who she doesn't even know if she's alive or not.

Both women I thought had strong natures and faith in how they led their lives. I love the way that hidden messages were able to be made in embroidery samplers that could be "sold" and part them along to aid the abolitionists.
 
Well written and easily read in a day, this book is not to be missed!

This was a great book with mysteries to solve in both 1943 and 1965. The women of both timelines are so wonderfully written and the book will settle some warmth in your heart.

1943-Isabel is a top female codebreaker who is one of the very smartest and who is sent to Hawaii. This also gives her the opportunity to find people who might have known her brother, Walt, who was killed at Pearl Harbor. While there she will fall in love with Matteo and make an amazing friend in Gloria.

1965- Lu is a girl that grew up in Hawaii and went to the mainland for school. She's back to cover the opening VIP weekend of a new hotel opened by Rockefeller. She will make friends with Matteo who is also there as a journalist and they will be connected by one person.

The characters were all so well written that I fell in love with (most) of them. The beautiful descriptions of Hawaii and the mysteries to be solved keep me turning the pages!

This is the second book in the series but can be read as a standalone as these are totally new characters. Lake Tahoe is the beautiful setting and there is a great mother/daughter relationship with Tae and April. April had Tae at a young age and it's always been the two of them.

Riggs is a Marine and Tae's first love. They are thrust together again when Riggs comes back for a summer to help his brother and their business Adventures HQ where they help athletes with disabilities and wounded warriors.

I absolutely loved the business Riggs and Jake have! I loved the brotherly love/fighting relationship. 

This book will warm your heart with it's second chances everywhere and small town loving feel that Shalvis always provides.

This book with its two timelines, going from the "AFTER" the murder 10 years later to the "BEFORE" the college years was a fast read. While I liked it fine, it wasn't all that I hoped it would be.

April is our "it girl", you know the girl with all the money and looks, but not always the nice personality she might show to her daddy... Well, she dies and it's a question of who did it and they caught the guy quick..... But was he the real one?

This was fast paced and threw me for a loop several times. I was able to figure out one part of what happened the night she is killed but not the who.... And all because I forgot one small detail about this person!

April was not such a great person that everyone thought she was when you find out all her secrets. I felt for Hannah, I couldn't imagine the guilt it being the one to put a person behind bars who is innocent.

This book had a really strong start that I absolutely loved!

When Duke Lysander Montcroix drunkenly comes across Néve on a dark London street and they immediately find themselves running from some thugs, they both find they can save each other. Néve from financial/family troubles and Lysander prove that he can be a family man, by pretending to be engaged to her,  to secure a business deal.

Lysander doesn't always say or do the right thing in certain moments and he really can spar with words when dealing with Néve, but he's a good guy at heart. He was just dealt a bad father figure.

I love that Néve is a lady that took her love of ballet as a career when she lost her parents and her position in society but that she kept her morals about her (at least until Lysander) unlike other ballerinas to try and get the parts they really want. 

I like the group of friends that Néve makes in her new surroundings and have such hopes for new books with them as center characters. 

How I felt for Joey! What started out as an innocent delivery quickly turns into a deadly and scary job on the side. 

I didn't always agree with the decisions Joey made ( particularly not confiding in someone who could help him) but I can see why he didn't. I do admire his wanting to help his family out.

This book was an edge of my seat read. After a deadly beginning, I kept waiting for something else big to happen and while I didn't get that until the end, I was still in suspense for what might happen. The end was something I thought I saw coming until a twist again changed it.

All in all, I liked my second book by AJ

I thought this was a cute story to get the MC through so many weddings she has to attend after her own goes up in flames.

Freya is dumped the day before her wedding. But this is wedding season and she had so many friends and some family that are getting married. So her friend Leo and Ruby coffee up with a "Wedding Season" challenge...
Something she has to do to keep her from falling apart. They go from getting a pair of cuff links to getting a good night kiss to running naked down a hotel hallway!

I was so glad that her fiance Matthew dumped her. They were a terrible fit it seemed and I'm surprised they were together for 12 years. I really liked Ruby who always made me laugh. I liked that Freya put herself out there to complete these tasks even when they were uncomfortable.

I'm not familiar with the tale of Eros and Psyche as I am with Hades and Persephone but I still liked this.

Brought into the modern world where the gods and goddesses are not eternal and can be replaced. Eros has been ordered by his mother, Aphrodite, to "bring her Psyche's heart" so what did he do instead? Marries her.

They both agree that this is all for appearance sake but it soon turns to lust and sex and then they can't keep their hands off each other. They still have to deal with Aphrodite but they will have fun romps while they think on a plan. 

Oh this book was sexy and I was here for it. Read it in a day!

I liked this 2 timeline story.
Brianna has a college assignment to interview someone about a past time. She decided to interview her great-Grandma Daisy who was about 20 during WW2. She learns a lot about life, young love, and faith.

I liked Daisy. Yes, mistakes were made but she ended up dealing with her choices in a mature way, I thought. I loved Todd a lot. The way he marries Daisy to keep her from shame and they eventually fall in love, aw! He was just a day man in the way he cared for her son.

I like that she was able to help her great- granddaughter through the faith they both had. The faith talk tends to be really heavy in the last half of this book so if that's not your thing, this may not be the book for you. I did tend to skip over that talk.

I received a complimentary copy and all opinions expressed are my own.