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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What if everything you know about the worst night of your life turns out not to be true?

Nine years ago, with the world’s eyes on her, Charlie Colbert fled. The press and the police called Charlie a “witness” to the nightmarish events at her elite graduate school on Christmas Eve—events known to the public as “Scarlet Christmas”—though Charlie knows she was much more than that.

Now, Charlie has meticulously rebuilt her life: She’s the editor-in-chief of a major magazine, engaged to the golden child of the publishing industry, and hell-bent on never, ever letting her guard down again. But when a buzzy film made by one of Charlie’s former classmates threatens to shatter everything she’s worked for, Charlie realizes how much she’s changed in nine years. Now, she’s not going to let anything—not even the people she once loved most—get in her way.

Thanks to Marialyce @ yayareads who included this title in her comments to last week’s post. She knows my reading tastes and this is a library audiobook hopeful, scheduled for release in February.

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Secret walks and late-night phone calls. An undeniable chemistry. A tragedy that haunts them both. A powerful yet tender love story between two people who can’t help but be pulled back to each other.

This is the story of Will and Rosie. The two are opposites in every way and yet they fall for each other as teenagers; nineties music, sideways glances, sunsets and bonfires and talking late into the night. It’s palpable, inevitable: they’re on the precipice of starting something wonderful. Until one day, tragedy strikes, and any possibility of being together seems to shatter.

But time and again, Rosie and Will find their way back to each other. Though the years pass, they cannot quite let go of what might have been.

Talking at Night tells a story of sudden connections, missed opportunities, the many loves we have over a lifetime—and the one that keeps us coming back, again and again, for more.

A trusted Goodreads friend wrote the loveliest review of this title and many of us flocked to add it as a consequence. It’s a library audiobook hopeful.

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From the author of the Reese’s Book Club Pick and the New York Times bestseller Wrong Place Wrong Time comes a new heart-stopping thriller in which a missing-person case unravels deeper, darker secrets that hit too close to home and can only lead to more danger for the detective and an impossible moral choice: What will she do?

There’s a man out there. His weapon isn’t a gun, or a knife. It’s a secret.

OLIVIA:

22 years old.

No history of running away.

Last seen on CCTV, entering a dead-end alley.

And not coming back out again.

Missing for one day and counting . . .

JULIA;

The detective heading up the case.

She knows what to expect. A desperate family, a ticking clock, and long hours away from her daughter.

But Julia has no idea how close to home this case is going to get.

Because her family’s safety depends on one thing: Julia must not find out what happened to Olivia and must frame somebody else for her murder . . .

What would you do?

I loved Wrong Place, Wrong Time, which put this author on auto read. Thanks to Emma @ damppebbles for featuring it in her WWW Wednesday post. It’s a library audiobook hopeful scheduled for release in August.

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In 15th century China two women are born under the same sign, the Metal Snake. But life will take the friends on very different paths.
 
According to Confucius, ‘an educated woman is a worthless woman’, but Tan Yunxian – born into an elite family, yet haunted by death, separation and loneliness – is being raised by her grandparents to be of use. She begins her training in medicine with her grandmother and, as she navigates the male world of medicine, requiring tact and diplomacy, she struggles against the confining world of her class.
 
From a young age, Yunxian learns about women’s illnesses, many of which relate to childbearing, alongside a young midwife-in-training, Meiling. The two girls find fast friendship and a mutual purpose – despite the prohibition that a doctor should never touch blood while a midwife comes in frequent contact with it – and they vow to be forever friends, sharing in each other’s joys and struggles. No mud, no lotus, they tell themselves: from adversity beauty can bloom.
 
How might a woman like Yunxian break free of tradition, go on to treat women and girls from every level of society, and lead a life of such importance that many of her remedies are still used five centuries later? How might the power of friendship support or complicate these efforts? Lady Tan’s Circle of Women is a captivating story of women helping other women. It is also a triumphant reimagining of the life of a woman who was remarkable in the Ming dynasty and would be considered remarkable today

I unfortunately gave this a pass when it was offered for audio review and after reading the reviews by Marialyce @ yayareads and Jan who buddy reads with her, I realized my mistake. I’m in a really long library queue for the audiobook.

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An evocative family drama and a riveting mystery about the ferocious pull of motherhood for two very different women in New York City—from the New York Times bestselling author of Searching for Sylvie Lee and Girl in Translation.

I was in the Beautiful Country. I needed to let go of my past if I were to have any hope of walking into the future I longed for, a future with my daughter in it.

Jasmine Yang arrives in New York City from her rural Chinese village without money or family support, fleeing a controlling husband, on a desperate search for the daughter who was taken from her at birth—another female casualty of China’s controversial One Child Policy.

Meanwhile, publishing executive Rebecca Whitney seems to have it all: a prestigious family name and the wealth that comes with it, a high-powered career, a beautiful home, a handsome husband, and an adopted Chinese daughter she adores. She’s even hired a Chinese nanny to help her balance the demands of being a working wife and mother. But when an industry scandal threatens to jeopardize not only Rebecca’s job but her marriage, this perfect world begins to crumble.

The Leftover Woman finds these two unforgettable women on a shocking collision course. Set against the backdrop of a city divided, Jean Kwok has crafted both a gripping suspense novel and a profound exploration of identity and belonging, motherhood and family. This is a twisting and surprisingly poignant tale that exposes the many ways we fail to understand each other when separated by race, wealth, culture, and language—and how these misunderstandings can have potentially deadly results.

I learned about this from a NetGalley email and quickly added it as I enjoyed the author’s last book. It’s scheduled for release in October and is a library audiobook hopeful.

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“The Book Club Hotel is a gift…the perfect escape-and-find-yourself novel.”—Susan Wiggs, New York Times bestselling author

This Christmas, USA Today bestselling author Sarah Morgan returns with another heartfelt exploration of change, the power of books to heal, and the enduring strength of female friendship.

With its historic charm and picture-perfect library, the Maple Sugar Inn is considered the winter destination. As the holidays approach, the inn is fully booked with guests looking for their dream vacation. But widowed far too young, and exhausted from juggling the hotel with being a dedicated single mom, Hattie Coleman dreams only of making it through the festive season.

But when Erica, Claudia and Anna—lifelong friends who seem to have it all—check in for a girlfriends’ book club holiday, it changes everything. Their close friendship and shared love of books have carried them through life’s ups and downs. But Hattie can see they’re also packing some major emotional baggage, and nothing prepares her for how deeply her own story is about to become entwined in theirs. In the span of a week over the most enchanting time of the year, can these four women come together to improve each other’s lives and make this the start of a whole new chapter?

I love the author’s annual Christmas stories and learned about this from the same NetGalley email. It’s scheduled for release in August and is a library audiobook hopeful.

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Stars. Lovers. Liars. Killers. This is Hollywood, and everyone has a part to play in a shocking novel of suspense by New York Times bestselling author A. R. Torre.

Actress Nora Kemp loves two men. One is Hugh Iverson, a philanthropic movie star who gives Nora security and respectability. The other is Hugh’s twin brother, Trent, a Hollywood bad boy who brings out Nora’s wild side. When Trent and an unidentified woman are found dead on the Iversons’ Beverly Hills property, more than Nora’s and Hugh’s reputations are at stake.

An investigation suggests murder-suicide. But there’s more to the crime than first meets the eye: suspicions of a serial killer with a bizarre motive, Hugh’s unnerved and cautious staff, and a missing mother and son. As two LA detectives sift through the deceptions of the innocent and the guilty—some living and some dead—solving the case becomes a cunning cat-and-mouse game.

Because in a city of illusions, the truth—no matter how dangerous—is so easy to hide.

I gave this a pass when it was offered for audio review but regretted it immediately. That was reinforced when I read the review by Yvo @ It’s All About Books. Fortunately, it wasn’t too late to change my mind and get the audiobook.

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What books did YOU add to your shelves this week?