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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Stay up all night with this funny, surprising romantic comedy from Audie Award-nominee Cara Bastone — scripted exclusively for audio!

It’s officially booty o’clock, I’m alone again in my kitchen choking down a slice of terrible chocolate cake…and I’m pretty sure I just got drunk texted by the man I have a ginormous crush on.

I’ve been daydreaming about Eliot Hoffman’s dimples for two months, and even though I’m sure this was a mistake on his end, it doesn’t mean it’s not an opportunity on mine. It’s the middle of the night, and I just wanna talk to him. So I text him back.

And then somehow we keep talking…ALL NIGHT. We’re both insomniacs, so talking all night soon turns into talking EVERY night.

And talking about nothing soon turns into talking about something.

And here we go from in-depth analysis of reality TV to my relationship with my family to his amazing artwork. There’s no topic we don’t cover…

Except for who I really am. It’s the only question of his I won’t answer.

As my crush turns into an avalanche of Eliot, I think of him all the time now. But if he knew who I was, the entire house of cards we’ve built this relationship on would come toppling down. I want him to be mine, but we might never be more than just a sweet dream….

Thanks to Jodie @ That Happy Reader for featuring this in her Stacking the Shelves post. The audiobook is free with my membership and is the second book in the series.

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Narrated by Doris Kearns Goodwin with the star of Breaking Bad,Bryan Cranston! The audio edition also includes archival recordings of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Robert F. Kennedy.

An Unfinished Love A Personal History of the 1960s by Doris Kearns Goodwin, one of America’s most beloved historians, artfully weaves together biography, memoir, and history. She takes you along on the emotional journey she and her husband, Richard (Dick) Goodwin embarked upon in the last years of his life.

Dick and Doris Goodwin were married for forty-two years and married to American history even longer. In his twenties, Dick was one of the brilliant young men of John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier. In his thirties he both named and helped design Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and was a speechwriter and close advisor to Robert Kennedy. Doris Kearns was a twenty-four-year-old graduate student when selected as a White House Fellow. She worked directly for Lyndon Johnson and later assisted on his memoir.

Over the years, with humor, anger, frustration, and in the end, a growing understanding, Dick and Doris had argued over the achievements and failings of the leaders they served and observed, debating the progress and unfinished promises of the country they both loved.

The Goodwins’ last great adventure involved finally opening the more than three hundred boxes of letters, diaries, documents, and memorabilia that Dick had saved for more than fifty years. They soon realized they had before them an unparalleled personal time capsule of the 1960s, illuminating public and private moments of a decade when individuals were powered by the conviction they could make a difference; a time, like today, marked by struggles for racial and economic justice, a time when lines were drawn and loyalties tested.

Their expedition gave Dick’s last years renewed purpose and determination. It gave Doris the opportunity to connect and reconnect with participants and witnesses of pivotal moments of the 1960s. And it gave them both an opportunity to make fresh assessments of the central figures of the time—John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy, and especially Lyndon Johnson, who greatly impacted both their lives. The voyage of remembrance brought unexpected discoveries, forgiveness, and the renewal of old dreams, reviving the hope that the youth of today will carry forward this unfinished love story with America.

If you’ve ever read a biography by the author, you’ll understand my excitement for this book. She’s had incredible access to the most powerful and/or interesting people in this country and is an outstanding historian. Thanks to my library for the audiobook.

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Miles Buchanan is a fixer. He makes the worst problems of the rich and powerful disappear. A man of many faces, Miles can become whomever he needs to be to get the job done. His life is exactly how he wants it–no emotion and no attachments. Miles doesn’t have friends; he has acquaintances. He even keeps his twin brother at arm’s length. His world is a perfect, sterile place, except for one ever-present thorn in his side.

His obsession.

Clara Gautreau.

His Bluebird.

On the surface, Clara is a bright, beautiful PhD student. The daughter of a powerful underworld kingpin, Clara leads a charmed life. Miles, however, knows the truth. Clara is a thief. And not just any thief; she is the notorious Lynx, a modern-day Robin Hood who steals back ill-gotten art and jewels and returns them to their rightful owners. Clara can break into any mansion, crack any safe; she’s uncatchable.

Until she makes a mistake.

Now, Clara is in the sights of Lucien Kite, a man with an unquenchable thirst for money and power. Miles will do anything to keep Clara safe, but she refuses to back down. Lucien Kite has taken a painting that means the world to her father. His dying wish is to have it returned.

Clara and Miles need to steal that painting.

Clara has loved Miles for as long as she can remember, but Miles Buchanan is a stone fortress she can never penetrate. After resigning herself to a strained friendship marked by pranks and arguments, Clara is shocked to discover Miles has been more involved in her life than she imagined. When Lucien Kite threatens her, Miles’s protective instincts emerge, and passions explode. Amid threats and deception, can Clara and Miles discover the real treasure that has eluded them?

I love, love, love this series! I squealed when the author contacted me with news  of this 6th book in Bishop Security being available (I refuse to take an ARC from this indie author). I reiterate…if you love the romantic suspense genre, grab the first book and get started.

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From the bestselling author of The Lincoln Highway, A Gentleman in Moscow, and Rules of Civility, a richly detailed and sharply drawn collection of stories set in New York and Los Angeles.

The millions of readers of Amor Towles are in for a treat as he shares some of his shorter six stories set in New York City and a novella in Los Angeles. The New York stories, most of which are set around the turn of the millennium, take up everything from the death-defying acrobatics of the male ego, to the fateful consequences of brief encounters, and the delicate mechanics of compromise which operate at the heart of modern marriages.

In Towles’s novel, Rules of Civility, the indomitable Evelyn Ross leaves New York City in September, 1938, with the intention of returning home to Indiana. But as her train pulls into Chicago, where her parents are waiting, she instead extends her ticket to Los Angeles. Told from seven points of view, “Eve in Hollywood” describes how Eve crafts a new future for herself—and others—in the midst of Hollywood’s golden age.

Throughout the stories, two characters often find themselves sitting across a table for two where the direction of their futures may hinge upon what they say to each other next.

Written with his signature wit, humor, and sophistication, Table for Two is another glittering addition to Towles’s canon of stylish and transporting historical fiction.

Short story collections are my weakness but I dawdled over adding this one until a highly trusted Goodreads friend wrote a beautiful review of the book. I’m now in a crazy long library queue.

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He’ll risk everything for a second chance.

In the courtroom, defense attorney Callum Holden fights for justice, but when it comes to matters of the heart, he’s about to face his toughest case. The brilliant and beautiful true crime researcher Ellie Summers, once the keeper of his heart, now barely acknowledges his existence. In a last-ditch effort to win her back, Cal vows to solve the one mystery that has haunted her for decades: the disappearance of her older sister, Hope.

She’s not willing to compromise her principles… or her heart.

Ellie has a steadfast moral code and refuses to be swayed by a man who makes his living defending the worst of humanity. Between her podcast production company and training Puzzle, her search and rescue puppy, she tells herself she’s too busy to miss the charming lawyer with the distractingly good looks. Yet, when Cal presents a photo of a teenage girl resembling her missing sister, she drops everything and joins forces with him to find the truth.

But everything is not what it seems…

Their mission: infiltrate the Hope’s Embrace Commune during its annual couple’s retreat. It’s idyllic at first, and the longer they stay, the hotter the spark between them blazes. But then the lies, manipulation, and mysterious disappearances begin to surface. Someone within the walls knows exactly what happened to Hope… and is willing to kill to keep the commune’s secrets.

…and finding Hope might mean losing each other.

Another treasured indie author I’ve followed for many years now. It’s the 6th book in the Redwood Coast Rescue romantic suspense series, which is seriously good.

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Dark romance, high stakes, and plot twists abound in this paperback original YA thriller that’s perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover.

What you don’t know can hurt you….

It’s been months since the accident that killed Ella’s best friend, Hayley, and Ella can’t stop blaming herself. Now Ella is back at school, and everywhere she looks are reminders of her best friend—including Sawyer, Hayley’s boyfriend. Little by little, they grow closer, until Ella realizes something horrifying . . .

She’s in love with her dead best friend’s boyfriend.

Racked with guilt, Ella turns to Hayley’s journal, hoping she’ll find something in the pages that will make her feel better about what’s happening. Instead, she discovers that Sawyer has secrets of his own and that his relationship with Hayley wasn’t as picture-perfect as it seemed.

Ella knows she should stay away but finds herself inextricably drawn to him—and scared of everything she never knew about him. Perhaps it’s his grief. Or maybe his desires, cut short by tragedy. Or could it be something twisted only Hayley knew about?

A dark, romantic thriller perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover and Laura Nowlin, Everything We Never Said explores the secrets in even the best of friendships and asks how well you ever know the ones you love.

I trust Tessa @ Tessa Talks Books to guide me towards especially good books in the YA genre and my thanks to her for featuring this in her WWW Wednesday post. It’s a library audiobook hopeful.

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From the critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling author of When No One Is Watching comes a riveting thriller about the new caretaker of a historic estate who finds herself trapped on an island with a murderer—and the ghosts of her past.

Years after a breakdown and a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder derailed her historical preservationist career, Kenetria Nash and her alters have been given a second chance they can’t refuse: a position as resident caretaker of a historic home. Having been dormant for years, Ken has no idea what led them to this isolated Hudson River island, but she’s determined not to ruin their opportunity.

Then a surprise visit from the home’s conservation trust just as a Nor’easter bears down on the island disrupts her newfound life, leaving Ken trapped with a group of possibly dangerous strangers—including the man who brought her life tumbling down years earlier. When he turns up dead, Ken is the prime suspect.

Caught in a web of secrets and in a race against time, Ken and her alters must band together to prove their innocence and discover the truth of Kavanaugh Island—and their own past—or they risk losing not only their future, but their life.

I enjoyed When No One is Looking so when this audiobook showed up at my library, I quickly grabbed it.

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The cherry blossoms are in full bloom in Washington, D.C., and the Calhouns are in the midst of hosting their annual party to celebrate the best of the spring season. With a house full of friends, neighbors, and their beloved three adult children, the Calhouns are expecting another picture-perfect event. But a brutal murder in the middle of the celebration transforms the yearly gathering into a homicide scene, and all the guests into suspects.

Behind their façade of perfection, the Calhoun family has been keeping some very dark secrets. Parents who use money and emotional manipulation to control their children. Two sons, one the black sheep who is desperate to outrun mistakes he’s made, and the other a new father, willing to risk everything to protect his child. And a an Instagram influencer who refuses to face the truth about the man she married.

As the investigation heats up, family tensions build, and alliances shift. Long-buried resentments surface, forcing the Calhouns to face their darkest secrets before it’s too late.

I cannot resist a good family drama so I also grabbed this when it showed up at my library. 

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What books did YOU add to your shelves this week?