Secrets by Aleatha Romig

Title: Secrets

Author: Aleatha Romig 

Series: Secrets: Web of Sin #1

Publisher: Romig Works LLC 

Release date: October 30, 2018

The twisted and intriguing storytelling that you loved in Consequences and Infidelity is coming back at you with an all-new alpha anti-hero in the dark romance series Web of Sin, by New York Times bestselling author Aleatha Romig. 

I’m Sterling Sparrow. You’ve no doubt heard my name or read it on the top of tall buildings. There’s more to my business—my realm—than what is seen above ground. 

Within the underbelly of one of America’s largest cities lives a world where a man’s word is either his most valuable tool or his most respected weapon. When my father ruled that world and that city, he promised me someone who would one day make my reign complete. 

Since that day, long ago, Araneae McCrie has been mine.

She just didn’t know.

My father is now gone. 

The city and the underbelly are now mine.

The time has come for me to collect who was promised to me, to shred her life of secrets and make her who she’s always been—mine.

Have you been Aleatha’d?

*Secrets is book one of the Web of Sin trilogy.

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Aleatha has a way with words. She's always able to grab my attention from the very first chapter. 

Secrets is the first book in the Web of Sin series. The dark setting intrigued me and the suspense made me turn the pages constantly.

The book begins with Renee being sent away by her adoptive mother. Their lives are in danger and she must run. Her mother hands her new a new identity and tells her she must move to Colorado. She will cease to be Renee and she will become Kennedy Hawkins. However, before she leaves, her mother reveals her true identity. Her real name is Araneae McCrie.

"The devil has been searching for you. And my greatest fear has always been that he find you."

Ten years later, due to her successful company Sinful Threads, she must return to the place she promised her adoptive mother she would never go back to, the city of Chicago. She will come to regret her decision. Or maybe not, after all, she will land in the arms of Sterling Sparrow. 

"Sparrow, Allister Sparrow. He's currently in charge, but one day it will be his son, Sterling."

Sterling is a very powerful and rich man. Someone who has waited to take Araneae as his wife. He's determined to do so without a second thought. Araneae knows he has the information about her past she is desperate to learn. He holds all the cards. She must do as he says or the people closest to her will get hurt. 

"Sparrow, Allister Sparrow. He's currently in charge, but one day it will be his son, Sterling."

I can't believe the book ends in a cliffhanger. There were so many lies and secrets! Everyone was hiding something. Araneae didn't know who to trust. I feel like there is much more for us to learn about Araneae's childhood and her real parents. I know Sterling has to be the good guy (although he's the anti-hero) and since her life is in danger, he has the means to protect her too. 

I liked Araneae. She had a backbone. Even when she had no choice, she still made her dislike of the situation known. She didn't roll over and that was a plus.

Sterling is a smart man. He served his country, cultivated true friendships along the way and now he's the CEO of Sparrow Enterprises. We know he hated his father Allister Sparrow and that he was promised Araneae when he was too young to know better. He does have an obsession with her and I'm sure he has been following her progress through the years. It will be interesting to know how much he was involved in her life without her knowing. 

I'm excited about the next book and I'm so glad Aleatha is not making me wait long. 

Cliffhanger: Yes

4/5 Fangs

Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks

Title: Every Breath 

Author: Nicholas Sparks

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

Release date: October 16, 2018

Get swept up in an epic romance from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Notebook, a heartbreaking love story spanning decades and continents--from North Carolina to Zimbabwe.

Hope Anderson is at a crossroads. At thirty-six, she's been dating her boyfriend, an orthopedic surgeon, for six years. With no wedding plans in sight, and her father recently diagnosed with ALS, she decides to use a week at her family's cottage in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, to ready the house for sale and mull over some difficult decisions about her future.

Tru Walls has never visited North Carolina but is summoned to Sunset Beach by a letter from a man claiming to be his father. A safari guide, born and raised in Zimbabwe, Tru hopes to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding his mother's early life and recapture memories lost with her death. When the two strangers cross paths, their connection is as electric as it is unfathomable . . . but in the immersive days that follow, their feelings for each other will give way to choices that pit family duty against personal happiness in devastating ways.

Illuminating life's heartbreaking regrets and enduring hope, EVERY BREATH explores the many facets of love that lay claim to our deepest loyalties--while asking the question, How long can a dream survive?

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Every Breath is a tear jerker. You have been warned!

For the longest time, I resisted reading Nicholas Sparks novels. I had seen the movies like A Walk to Remember, Message in a Bottle, Dear John and The Notebook. So I knew his main characters either didn't stay together or one of them died. As a true romantic, this really hurt my heart. Then, I read The Longest Ride, See Me, and Two by Two and I became a fan of his storytelling.

Every Breath took me on a journey full of destiny, hope, heartbreak and true love.

Tru Walls is going to America for the first time. His biological father has sent him a letter and in it, he has asked Tru to meet him. The meeting will take place in North Carolina, in Sunset Beach. In Africa, Tru is a guide in Zimbabwe. Since early in his life, he has spent time in the bush. He was once married but currently divorced. He has one son he adores and he gets along with his ex-wife Kim. 

Hope Anderson has many things to think about. Her boyfriend of six years, an orthopedic surgeon is currently in Las Vegas. Over the years, he had a problem with faithfulness and they are currently on a break. Hope decides to go to his family beach home in Sunset Beach for the last time. The beach house is going on sale to save money to pay for his father's care who has recently being diagnosed with ALS. Hope will stay there and will attend the wedding of her best friend over the weekend. She's concerned and has no idea how to explain her boyfriend's absence. 

A  chance encounter due to Hope's dog will begin a true love affair between these two souls. Hope will show Tru the magic of a place called the Kindred Spirit, and it will connect them forever. 

After reading, Every Breath, I'm dying to go to Sunset Beach and Kindred Spirit. Whoever decided to start it, had a great idea in the making. 

I can't end my review without thanking Grand Central Publishing, NetGalley and Nicholas Sparks for my copy of Every Breath. The cover alone is gorgeous. 

4/5 Fangs

With over 100 million copies of his books sold, Nicholas Sparks is one of the world's most beloved storytellers. His novels include fourteen #1 New York Timesbestsellers, and all of his books, including Three Weeks with My Brother, the memoir he wrote with his brother, Micah, have been New York Times and international bestsellers, and were translated into more than fifty languages. Eleven of Nicholas Sparks's novels -- The Choice, The Longest Ride, The Best of Me, Safe Haven, The Lucky One, The Last Song, Dear John, Nights in Rodanthe, The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, and Message in a Bottle--have been adapted into major motion pictures. 

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The Perfect Couple by Elin Hilderbrand

Title: The Perfect Couple 

Series: MacAvoys, Kapenashes, Drakes, and Wheelers

Author: Elin Hilderbrand 

Publisher:   Little, Brown and Company

Release date: June 19, 2018 

From New York Times bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand, comes a novel about the many ways family can fill our lives with love...if they don't kill us first. 

*New York Times bestseller*

It's Nantucket wedding season, also known as summer-the sight of a bride racing down Main Street is as common as the sun setting at Madaket Beach. The Otis-Winbury wedding promises to be an event to remember: the groom's wealthy parents have spared no expense to host a lavish ceremony at their oceanfront estate.

But it's going to be memorable for all the wrong reasons after tragedy strikes: a body is discovered in Nantucket Harbor just hours before the ceremony-and everyone in the wedding party is suddenly a suspect. As Chief of Police Ed Kapenash interviews the bride, the groom, the groom's famous mystery-novelist mother, and even a member of his own family, he discovers that every wedding is a minefield-and no couple is perfect. Featuring beloved characters from The Castaways, Beautiful Day, and A Summer Affair, The Perfect Couple proves once again that Elin Hilderbrand is the queen of the summer beach read. 

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The Perfect Couple had so many components that I enjoyed. I loved that there was a mystery surrounding the death of the maid of honor. The Who Done It, kept me on my toes. There were so many possibilities although I excluded a bunch of suspects from the first couple of chapters. I had a pretty good idea of who was at fault but in the end, I still enjoyed the delivery. 

So let me tell you what the book is about: 

Celeste Otis is marrying Benji Winbury. This is going to be the wedding of the year. The wedding is going to take place in Nantucket were Benji's parents Tag and Greer Winbury reside. 

Celeste is a young woman who works at the zoo. She met Benji when he brought his girlfriend and her son to a snake exhibition. Afterward, Benji broke up with his girlfriend and starting dating Celeste. 

Benji's parents come from money. His mother, Greer is a famous mystery writer. His father is a successful businessman. Celeste's parents, Karen and Bruce Otis, are not wealthy. Karen is also dealing with terminal cancer and she hopes to see her only daughter get married before the disease take her away from her family.

On the day of the wedding, the body of Celeste's best friend and maid of honor, Merritt Monaco is found and since every family member has secrets, it will be up to Chief Ed Kapenash and Nick Diamantopoulos from the Nantucket Police Department to figure out if it was an accident or someone did this to Merritt.

Elin Hilderbrand takes you through the events happening months before the wedding by using multiple characters POVs. The web of lies, deceit, seduction, and death is one you won't want to miss.

My one objection with the story is that I felt Merritt's death was an injustice. I would have like to see a more steep punishment to the culprit and a more thorough police investigation. In some ways, I felt like they dropped the ball at the end.

Cliffhanger: No

4/5 Fangs 

The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory

Title: The Proposal

Author: Jasmine Guillory

Publisher: Berkley Books

Release Date: October 30, 2018

The author of The Wedding Date serves up a novel about what happens when a public proposal doesn't turn into a happy ending, thanks to a woman who knows exactly how to make one on her own...

When someone asks you to spend your life with him, it shouldn't come as a surprise--or happen in front of 45,000 people.

When freelance writer Nikole Paterson goes to a Dodgers game with her actor boyfriend, his man bun, and his bros, the last thing she expects is a scoreboard proposal. Saying no isn't the hard part--they've only been dating for five months, and he can't even spell her name correctly. The hard part is having to face a stadium full of disappointed fans...

At the game with his sister, Carlos Ibarra comes to Nik's rescue and rushes her away from a camera crew. He's even there for her when the video goes viral and Nik's social media blows up--in a bad way. Nik knows that in the wilds of LA, a handsome doctor like Carlos can't be looking for anything serious, so she embarks on an epic rebound with him, filled with food, fun, and fantastic sex. But when their glorified hookups start breaking the rules, one of them has to be smart enough to put on the brakes...

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Let me start by saying, I didn't read The Wedding Date (but I wanted too). The Proposal should be counted as a novel written within the same world. I will call it book #2. The couple from the first story is mentioned or appeared quite a few times through it.

The Proposal begins with an embarrassing situation.  Nikole Paterson is at the Dodgers game when her boyfriend, a guy whom she has only dated five months, proposes to her using the scoreboard. To her dismay, everyone is watching her as she tells him no in the most subtle way. He storms out, leaving her behind. 

Carlos Ibarra and her sister are a few rows behind watching the events unfold. They decide to help Nikole by taking her away from the stadium and dropping her to meet her friends. When asked to join them, they agree. Carlos and Nikole share a spark and they will start communicating through texts and phone calls in the days to come. 

Nikole thinks that Carlos will be a nice rebound hookup since she doesn't want anything serious. Carlos feels the same way. Yet, the more time they are around each other, the more difficult this arrangement becomes. 

The Proposal is a fast and easy story. I liked that the author was inclusive of different races and body types but I had a hard time relating to Nikole. She said she was hurt before and that's why she didn't want to be in a relationship but we never get to experience her past. It's only mentioned. I would've liked to see more of what the other boyfriend did to make her skittish of relationships.

Carlos was very likable and so was his family. He was devoted to them. He was a good friend too. The only time I didn't approve of him was when he felt rejected. He was quite mean then. Otherwise, he was a good guy. 

Cliffhanger: No

3/5 Fangs

Thank you Berkley Romance and NetGalley for providing me with a complimentary copy of The Proposal in exchange for an honest review. 

The Matchmaker by Elin Hilderbrand

Title: The Matchmaker

Author: Elin Hilderbrand 

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Release date: June 24, 2014

A touching new novel from bestselling author Elin Hilderbrand in which a woman sets out to find love for those closest to her - before it's too late.

48-year-old Nantucketer Dabney Kimball Beech has always had a gift for matchmaking. Some call her ability mystical, while others - like her husband, celebrated economist John Boxmiller Beech, and her daughter, Agnes, who is clearly engaged to the wrong man - call it meddlesome, but there's no arguing with her results: With 42 happy couples to her credit and all of them still together, Dabney has never been wrong about romance.

Never, that is, except in the case of herself and Clendenin Hughes, the green-eyed boy who took her heart with him long ago when he left the island to pursue his dream of becoming a journalist. Now, after spending 27 years on the other side of the world, Clen is back on Nantucket, and Dabney has never felt so confused, or so alive.

But when tragedy threatens her own second chance, Dabney must face the choices she's made and share painful secrets with her family. Determined to make use of her gift before it's too late, she sets out to find perfect matches for those she loves most. The Matchmaker is a heartbreaking story about losing and finding love, even as you're running out of time.

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This will teach me to read the synopsis before starting a book. Elin Hilderbrand clearly hints about the outcome of this book but sadly, I  didn't read it and I just thought: "What a cute name for a book". I will say it was a very deceiving title and it left me completely unprepared for my feelings as I started approaching the end of The Matchmaker. It was, to say the least, a bittersweet story.

As with her prior books, Elin Hilderbrand takes you back to the Island of Nantucket with its charming people, beautiful sceneries and the unraveling of a specific family or character's life.

Dabney Kimball Beech has always loved only one man, Clendenin Hughes. When he left the island twenty-seven years ago in the pursuit of his dream as a journalist, he took her heart with him. She did marry a man that she has come to care for, John Boxmiller Beech. 

Box is a famous economist whom even the President of the United States likes to consult from time to time. When Clendenin left he didn't know Dabney was pregnant with their daughter, Agnes. Box took the role of a father as Agnes starting growing up. Now as a young woman, Agnes is dating an older man. Someone Dabney doesn't approve of. 

To make her life even more interesting, Dabney receives an email from Clendenin. In it, he tells her that he's coming back to Nantucket and he wants to reconnect with her. This piece of news will mark the beginning of a new chapter in Dabney's life.

Dabney was a very nice woman. She was a huge believer in love and she tried to help everyone around her. For this reason, everyone liked her. She was friendly, sweet and she had a stellar reputation as a matchmaker. A total of Forty-two couples were together because of Dabney. The only one she never got right was her own love story. She was in love with Clendenin from the first moment he joined her school. His return to the island brings chaos into her life. Too many things are happening too fast for Dabney. She will need to learn to deal with all of her new emotions and decide if it's too late for her and Clendenin or if she continues living comfortably with Box.

I thought the last third of the book was a tear jerker. It was unexpected but it gave the story a tone of truthfulness.

The Matchmaker proves to me once again that Elin Hilderbrand can bring a phenomenal gamma of emotions to her stories.

Cliffhanger: No

4/5 Fangs

Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand

Title: Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand

Author: Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Release date: July 2, 2007

Visiting Nantucket for the summer, three women seek peace and comfort as they cope with the challenges in their lives--from marriage, infidelity, and the mayhem of motherhood to scandal, tragedy, and illness. 

Three women--burdened with small children, unwieldy straw hats, and some obvious emotional issues--tumble onto the Nantucket airport tarmac one hot June day. Vicki is trying to sort through the news that she has a serious illness. Her sister, Brenda, has just left her job after being caught in an affair with a student. And their friend Melanie, after seven failed in-vitro attempts, is pregnant at last--but only after learning that her husband is having an affair. They have come to escape, enjoy the sun, and relax in Nantucket's calming air. But into the house, into their world, steps twenty-two-year-old Josh Flynn.

Barefoot weaves these four lives together in a story with enthralling sweep and scope--a novel that is as fun and memorable and bittersweet as that one perfect day of summer.

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*My review will contain some spoilers*

I could say that Barefoot is my least favorite book by Elin so far. Even the epilogue didn't answer all my questions about the characters' future. Yet, I still enjoyed the story about these three women spending their summer in Nantucket. 

The first woman is Victoria Lyndon Stowe. Vicki has been recently diagnosed with lung cancer despite never smoking. She decides to leave her life in Connecticut and take her two young kids, Blaine and Porter, to spend the summer in Nantucket. She plans to get her chemotherapy there. Chemo is never easy and Vicki will have to deal with her feelings about her own mortality. 

The second woman is Brenda Lyndon. She's Vicki's younger sister. She had the perfect job in Academia until she met her new Australian student, John Walsh. He's one year older than her but a relationship with him will cost Brenda her beloved job and plenty of legal issues.

The third woman is Melanie Patchen, Vicki's best friend who's escaping with them in order to avoid her own problems. Melanie has tried seven rounds of in-vitro treatments in hopes of getting pregnant without any success. Then, she discovers she's pregnant but she also learns that her husband, Peter, is cheating with a woman at work. 

Last but not least, we meet Joshua "Josh" Flynn. A twenty-two-year-old man who crosses paths with them as they get off the plane. By serendipity, they meet a few more times and Josh ends up becoming their nanny for the summer. 

As you can see there's enough material for plenty of drama in the making. 

So why didn't I love it? Well, a few reasons. 

It was hard to like Melanie. She behaved childishly and never really helped Vicki throughout the summer. I also thought she took advantage of Josh's feelings and young age.  Worse, her decision at the end made me lose all respect for her. I hated Peter. He had it too easy and I didn't believe his apology. He will cheat again.

In the beginning, I wasn't crazy about Brenda. She could be selfish but she did help her sister. She was there for her. I wished there had been more info about Walsh. Where was he during all those weeks? Why didn't he call her more times? Why didn't he show up to look for her?

Vicki's storyline was the saddest. I felt sorry for her. She was dealing with the unthinkable. Cancer is a scary word and she wasn't sure if she would be there for her two small kids. She had many bad days ahead of her. I love her two kids.

I thought Josh had a rotten deal. He was indispensable to them while they needed him but I thought they didn't tell him how much he meant to them and when it was time to let him go, neither women batted their eyelashes. No offer to stay connected either.

Cliffhanger: No

3/5 Fangs

The Idea Of You by Robinne Lee

When Solène Marchand, the thirty-nine-year-old owner of a prestigious art gallery in Los Angeles, takes her daughter, Isabelle, to meet her favorite boy band, she does so reluctantly and at her ex-husband’s request. The last thing she expects is to make a connection with one of the members of the world-famous August Moon. But Hayes Campbell is clever, winning, confident, and posh, and the attraction is immediate. That he is all of twenty years old further complicates things.

What begins as a series of clandestine trysts quickly evolves into a passionate relationship. It is a journey that spans continents as Solène and Hayes navigate each other’s disparate worlds: from stadium tours to international art fairs to secluded hideaways. And for Solène, it is as much a reclaiming of self, as it is a rediscovery of happiness and love. When their romance becomes a viral sensation, and both she and her daughter become the target of rabid fans and an insatiable media, Solène must face how her new status has impacted not only her life, but the lives of those closest to her.

Amazon

Wow! Just...wow! To say that I loved this book would be putting it lightly, very lightly. I devoured this book like it was my salvation and it would be yanked from me at any moment! I loved this book so much that it's hard to formulate the right words to express how I feel, but I'll give it a shot.

I read this book at the recommendation of a friend, a very dear friend who I will adore forever! I went into it without knowing much, only that it involved a band. I liked it instantly because being the fangirl that I am I love boy bands (don't judge me). Then I soon realized it wasn't going to be the normal type of relationship because of the older woman/younger man dynamic, which I loved by the way. Solène is divorced, she's a single mother of a preteen daughter, she co-owns an art gallery so to say the least I really liked her. She meets August Moon when she takes said daughter to a meet-and-greet with the band, and that's where she meets Hayes. Hayes and Solène have an instant attraction and even though Solène plays it off Hayes isn't willing to let it go so easily. 

This story is so well written in so many ways! It is so perfectly descriptive and the characters are honestly very easy to fall in love with. The relationship between Hayes and Solène is so utterly fascinating and stirred so many emotions. I loved reading the push-and-pull between two people who are falling in love with each other, but also knowing that it's hopeless had me feeling all kinds of heartache. I honestly had a real physical reaction to the love between these two! I couldn't read fast enough, I could't read slow enough, I couldn't form coherent thoughts. I just needed more! In the end I was left with a hole in my heart, a hole that I'm hoping can be healed with more of Hayes and Solène, I can only hope. This book deserves all of the stars in the world! 

5/5 Fangs

ROBINNE LEE is an actor, writer and producer. A graduate of Yale University and Columbia Law School, Robinne was born and raised in Westchester County, New York. Robinne has numerous acting credits in both television and film, most notably opposite Will Smith in both "Hitch" and "Seven Pounds." Her recent credits include "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Fifty Shades Freed," playing Ros Bailey. 

Robinne currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children.