Saturdays at the Café

Saturdays at the Café is a weekly feature hosted here to talk about and discuss the books I’ve discovered during the past week, added to my shelf and am excited about reading. They may be new/scheduled releases I’ve seen on NetGalley, at the library, or from publishers or they may be older titles my friends have reviewed and shared on Goodreads or blogs.

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She’s investigating a cold case no one else could—by going places no else would dare.

In spite of a harrowing past still haunting her, Gwen Proctor is trying to move forward. Until a new assignment gives her purpose: the cold-case disappearance of a young man in Tennessee. Three years missing, no clues. Just Ruth Landry, a tortured mother in limbo. Gwen understands what it’s like to worry about your children.

Gwen’s investigation unearths new suspects…and victims. As she follows each sinister lead, the implications of the mystery grow more disturbing. Because the closer Gwen gets, the closer she is to a threat that looms back home.

In a town that’s closed its ranks against Gwen; her partner, Sam; and her kids, there’s no bolder enemy than the Belldene family—paramilitary, criminal, powerful, and vengeful. As personal vendettas collide with Gwen’s investigation, she’s prepared to fight both battles. But is she prepared for the toll it could take on everyone she loves?

This fourth book in the Stillhouse Lake series is scheduled for release in January! Thanks to Anne @ Books of My Heart for the heads up. An audio review hopeful.

 

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When Charlotte and Philip meet, the pair form a deep and instant connection. Soon they’re settled in the Florida Keys with plans to marry. But just as they should be getting closer, Charlotte feels Philip slipping away.

Second-guessing their love is something Charlotte never imagined, but with Philip’s excessive absences, she finds herself yearning for more. When she meets Ben, she ignores the pull, but the supportive single dad is there for her in ways she never knew she desired. Soon Charlotte finds herself torn between the love she thought she wanted and the one she knows she needs.

As a hurricane passes through Islamorada, stunning revelations challenge Charlotte’s loyalties and upend her life. Forced to reexamine the choices she’s made, and has yet to make, Charlotte embarks on an emotional journey of friendship, love, and sacrifice—knowing that forgiveness is a gift, and the best-laid plans can change in a heartbeat.

After reading the review by Jennifer ~ Tar Heel Reader, I was sold. Another audio review hopeful.

 

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Thomas Martin was a devoted family man who had all the trappings of an enviable life: a beautiful wife and daughter, a well-appointed home on Long Island’s north shore, a job at a prestigious Manhattan advertising firm. He was also a devoted son and brother, shielding the women in his orbit from the everyday brutalities of the world.

But what happens when Thomas’s fragile ego is rocked? After committing a horrific deed — that he can never undo — Thomas grapples with his sense of self. Sometimes he casts himself as a victim and, at other times, a monster. All he ever did was try to be a good man, but maybe if he tells his version of the story, he might uncover how and why things unravelled so horribly.

Well, now. I read that description after it was offered for audio review and I quickly accepted. This sounds SO good!

 

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How well do you know your family?

Sisters Leslie and Robin Voigt have been estranged for a decade, but they must reunite if they are to claim the fortune their father left them. But reunion will be impossible: Leslie discovers her sister has just died. Now, Leslie won’t be able to collect her inheritance in time – and she desperately needs the money, for reasons she won’t reveal.

Mary, an aspiring actress, who spends her nights slinging beers and placing orders of surf n’ turf at a seedy restaurant, would do anything to escape her abusive ex-boyfriend and start life over. So when a chance encounter brings her and Leslie together, they strike a risky bargain: Mary will impersonate Robin for a week, and in exchange, Mary will receive Robin’s half of the cash.

But once Mary steps into the life of a dead woman, she quickly discovers Leslie is not the person she claims to be. Meanwhile, Leslie suspects Mary is keeping secrets of her own—and the stranger living in her house, babysitting her newborn son, and charming her husband could be deadly. Robin, too, has her own truth to tell, as she tantalizingly exposes the Voigts’ dark family history from beyond the grave.

This sounds so different from our normal fare and I wanted more. I’ve got it for audio review.

 

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An exhilarating novel about a group of students who take revenge on a wunderkind professor after she destroys one of their own– a story of collective drive to create, sabotage, and ultimately, to love.

It doesn’t take long for the students on Fielding campus to become obsessed with Hannah, Leslie and Jimmy. The three graduate students are mysterious, inaccessible, and brilliant. Leslie, glamorous and brash, has declared that she wants to write erotica and make millions. Hannah is quietly confident, loyal, elegantly beautiful, and the person they all want to be; and Jimmy is a haunted genius with no past. After Simone – young, bestselling author and erstwhile model – shows up as a visiting professor, and after everything that happened with her, the trio only become more notorious.

Love. Death. Revenge. These age-old tropes come to life as the semesters unfold. The threesome came to study writing, to be writers, and this is the story they’ve woven together: of friendship and passion, of competition and envy, of creativity as life and death. Now, they submit this story, We Wish You Luck, for your reading pleasure.

I’m still not sure about this one but I got it anyway for audio review.

 

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One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los Angeles. Among them is a Wall Street wunderkind, a young woman coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy, an injured vet returning from Afghanistan, a septuagenarian business tycoon, and a free-spirited woman running away from her controlling husband. And then, tragically, the plane crashes. Edward is the sole survivor.

Edward’s story captures the attention of the nation, but he struggles to find a place for himself in a world without his family. He continues to feel that a piece of him has been left in the sky, forever tied to the plane and all of his fellow passengers. But then he makes an unexpected discovery–one that will lead him to the answers of some of life’s most profound questions: When you’ve lost everything, how do find yourself? How do you discover your purpose? What does it mean not just to survive, but to truly live?

Marialyce & Jan B. @ yayareads both posted reviews of this extraordinary story that captured my heart right away. I’m hoping to get this one for audio review.

 

 

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What books did YOU add to your shelves this week?