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.

---

For many long years, Atlee Pine was tormented by uncertainty after her twin sister, Mercy, was abducted at the age of six and never seen again. Now, just as Atlee is pressured to end her investigation into Mercy’s disappearance, she finally gets her most promising breakthrough yet: the identity of her sister’s kidnapper, Ito Vincenzo.

With time running out, Atlee and her assistant Carol Blum race to Vincenzo’s last known location in Trenton, New Jersey – and unknowingly stumble straight into John Puller’s case, blowing his arrest during a drug ring investigation involving a military installation.

Stunningly, Pine and Puller’s joint investigation uncovers a connection between Vincenzo’s family and a breathtaking scheme that strikes at the very heart of global democracy. Peeling back the layers of deceit, lies and cover-ups, Atlee finally discovers the truth about what happened to Mercy. And that truth will shock Pine to her very core.

I really like this series and need to catch up before this one is released. I’ve recommended the audiobook for library purchase.

---

A dangerous truth revealed….

A prominent member of the DC community has been murdered, pulling Lieutenant Sam Holland into yet another high-stakes homicide investigation that has her trying to connect the dots between a dead woman and the friends and family who’d turned against her right before her untimely death.

When both the FBI and IRS show up at MPD headquarters with new information, the case takes a turn no one could’ve seen coming — not even Sam.

With numerous scandals still fresh within the department’s ranks, Sam finds herself being called into the US Attorney’s office, where she’s confronted with an interesting — and disturbing — request that will continue the department’s reckoning with the past well into the future.

All the while, Sam’s husband, Vice President Nick Cappuano, faces mounting pressure to declare his intention to run for president in the coming election, leaving the second couple feeling the strain at home — and on the job as the family endures the first holidays without their beloved patriarch, Skip Holland.

As always, when things become too hot to handle on the job, Sam and Nick turn to each other for solace in the storm.

I love this series and can’t wait for the release of the 16th book (switched to the audio version at #3). I’m hoping to get this for audio review.

---

She’s going too far to go it alone.

It is 1950. In a devastating moment of clarity, Margery Benson abandons her dead-end job and advertises for an assistant to accompany her on an expedition. She is going to travel to the other side of the world to search for a beetle that may or may not exist.

Enid Pretty, in her unlikely pink travel suit, is not the companion Margery had in mind. And yet together they will be drawn into an adventure that will exceed every expectation. They will risk everything, break all the rules, and at the top of a red mountain, discover their best selves.

This is a story that is less about what can be found than the belief it might be found; it is an intoxicating adventure story but it is also about what it means to be a woman and a tender exploration of a friendship that defies all boundaries.

I got this for audio review after being intrigued by the unique premise.

---

A trio of second-born daughters set out to break the family curse that says they’ll never find love on a whirlwind journey through the lush Italian countryside by New York Times bestseller Lori Nelson Spielman, author of The Life List.

Since the day Filomena Fontana cast a curse upon her sister more than two hundred years ago, not one second-born Fontana daughter has found lasting love. Some, like second-born Emilia, the happily-single baker at her grandfather’s Brooklyn deli, claim it’s an odd coincidence. Others, like her sexy, desperate-for-love cousin Lucy, insist it’s a true hex. But both are bewildered when their great-aunt calls with an astounding proposition: If they accompany her to her homeland of Italy, Aunt Poppy vows she’ll meet the love of her life on the steps of the Ravello Cathedral on her eightieth birthday, and break the Fontana Second-Daughter Curse once and for all.

Against the backdrop of wandering Venetian canals, rolling Tuscan fields, and enchanting Amalfi Coast villages, romance blooms, destinies are found, and family secrets are unearthed—secrets that could threaten the family far more than a centuries-old curse.

Between the Tuscany setting and the premise of the story, I couldn’t resist accepting this for audio review.

---

In the remote forests of Stillwater, Minnesota, you can scream for days and no one will hear you. So when the bodies of two fifteen-year-old girls are discovered frozen in the snow, Special Agent Nikki Hunt is sure the killer is local: someone knew where to hide them and thought they’d never be found.

Home for the first time in twenty years, Nikki sees that the whole town had been frantically searching for missing best friends Madison and Kaylee, and when she finds out who Madison’s step-father is, she becomes desperate to lead the case. John was once the person she trusted most in the world, who stood by her when she was just sixteen and her parents were murdered. Who supported her when she identified their killer, Mark Todd.

But when Nikki arrives at the Sheriff’s office, she’s confronted by protesters eager to see Mark freed. With new evidence that could clear his name, Mark has appealed his conviction and his brother Rory begs Nikki to take a look at what they’ve found.

Nikki knows she must focus on the killer at large, but Rory makes her wonder if she put her trust in the right people all those years ago. Are Madison and Kaylee’s deaths connected to her parents’ murders? And can she face up to her past before another life is taken?

This is one of my favorite Indie authors and thanks to Jacob @ Hooked from Page One for the heads up. I’ve been with the author since her first book almost ten years ago. I bought this immediately and looks like she’s found a great publisher.

---

Declan Mahoney and Evie Hewitt are childhood best friends who become young lovers on one summer night in the Carolina mountains. But the next morning, they learn Declan’s firefighter father has been killed while saving Evie’s family and home. Consumed by grief, and determined to take up his responsibility as the oldest Mahoney sibling, Declan turns from Evie. That heartbreak sends her running halfway across the state, rarely seeing Declan over the next twenty years. But when Evie comes back to Bitter Bark, a couple of meddling grannies who call themselves the Dogmothers hatch their plan to rekindle this romance. They arrange a “chance” meeting and plant some surprises along the way.

When she sees Declan, Evie is knocked over by emotions for the firefighter who might just be the reason she’s forty, childless, and dedicated to her career. She’s also nearly knocked over by the Husky-Malamute mix at his side. With an unexpected assist from a dog who’d been surrendered at the fire station, Declan decides he can’t miss this chance to reconnect with the woman he’s never forgotten. It doesn’t take long for old feelings to burn hot…and it doesn’t take long for Evie, a veterinary neurologist, to notice something’s not quite right with the gorgeous dog Declan’s about to put up for adoption.

As they work together to help Judah, more than one creature is healed. Evie starts to demolish the walls grief had raised around Declan’s heart, and he reawakens her dreams of marriage and motherhood. But as they fall back into each other’s arms, Declan discovers the truth about his father’s death, and that revelation threatens more than their love…it could threaten their lives. Will Evie and Declan’s dreams be destroyed by tragedy? Or can they finally let go of the past so they can take hold of the future…together?

All of the covers of The Dogmothers were all photographed at Alaqua Animal Refuge in Florida using rescue dogs from the shelter, and “local heroes” as models. A portion of book sales is donated to that amazing organization!

This showed up at my library and I was thrilled as I’ve collected all of the others in the series.

---

Frankie Elkin is an average middle-aged woman, a recovering alcoholic with more regrets than belongings. But she spends her life doing what no one else will–searching for missing people the world has stopped looking for. When the police have given up, when the public no longer remembers, when the media has never paid attention, Frankie starts looking.

A new case brings her to Mattapan, a Boston neighborhood with a rough reputation. She is searching for Angelique Badeau, a Haitian teenager who vanished from her high school months earlier. Resistance from the Boston PD and the victim’s wary family tells Frankie she’s on her own–and she soon learns she’s asking questions someone doesn’t want answered. But Frankie will stop at nothing to discover the truth, even if it means the next person to go missing could be her.

It’s a new book by Lisa Gardner and it’s a standalone! An audio review hopeful.

---

Some people search their whole lives to find love. He just wants to avoid it.

Teddy Spenser spends his days selling design ideas to higher-ups, living or dying on each new pitch. Stodgy engineer types like Romeo Blue, his nemesis–if you can call someone who barely talks to you a nemesis–are a necessary evil. A cute necessary evil.

Working together is bad enough, but when their boss puts them both on a new, high-stakes project, “working together” suddenly means:

-sitting uncomfortably close on the same plane
-staying in the same hotel room–with only one bed
-spending every waking minute together

Turns out Mr. Starched Shirt has some hidden depths, and it’s getting harder to ignore the spark Teddy feels with every brush of their hands, with every knowing look. He might not have been looking for this connection with Romeo, but will he ever be ready to let him go?

This was love at first sight after reading the description. I’ve signed up for the December blog tour and of course I want it on audio.

---

What books did YOU add to your shelves this week?