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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When a reality show about former child stars overcoming addiction culminates in murder, their therapist must take a closer look into their lives—and her own, from USA Todaybestselling author Lucinda Berry.

Dr. Laurel Harlow can’t believe she’s agreed to do a reality TV show. But her years as a chemical dependency counselor and personal history with the show’s director make her the obvious choice. Treating a mansion full of former child stars on the road to recovery is the tallest order of her career—especially when one of them turns up dead while the cameras are still rolling.

In a house full of narcissists vying for the spotlight, everyone’s hiding something…including Laurel. An investigation could expose a past she’d rather keep buried. But among the attention-starved patients, only one of them is a predator. And Laurel is skilled at spotting a predator when she sees one.

As she hunts a killer in her present, the unsettling truths of Laurel’s past are forced into the light. But this time, she’ll face her demons head on. She’ll stop at nothing to expose a murderer, even if it means risking everything she holds dear.

I accepted this for audio review as I’m a fan of the author.

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A darkly comic and warm-hearted novel about an old man on a cross-country mission to reunite with his high school crush—bringing together his adult daughter, two orphaned kids, and a cat who can predict death—by the beloved author of Rabbit Cake and Unlikely Animals

“A miraculous novel—an actual and spiritual road trip you won’t forget.”—John Irving

At sixty-three years old, million-dollar lottery winner PJ Halliday would be the luckiest man in Pondville, Massachusetts, if it weren’t for the tragedies of his life: the sudden death of his eldest daughter and the way his marriage fell apart after that. Since then, PJ spends both his money and his time at the bar, and he probably doesn’t have much time left—he’s had three heart attacks already.

But when PJ reads an obituary of his old romantic rival, he realizes his high school sweetheart, Michelle Cobb, is finally single again. Filled with a new enthusiasm for life, PJ decides he’s going to drive across the country to the Tender Hearts Retirement Community in Arizona to win Michelle back.

Before PJ can hit the road, tragedy strikes Pondville, leaving PJ the sudden guardian of his estranged brother’s grandchildren. Anyone else would be deterred from the planned trip, but PJ figures the orphaned kids might benefit from getting out of town. PJ also figures he can ask Sophie, his adult daughter, adrift in her 20s, to come along to babysit. And there’s one more surprise addition to the roster: Pancakes, a former nursing home therapy cat with a knack of predicting death, who recently turned up outside PJ’s home.

This could be the second chance PJ has long hoped for—a second shot at love and parenting—but does he have the strength to do both those things again? It’s very possible his heart can’t take it.

Thanks to Louis @ Book Me a Read for his wonderful review of this book. I’m in the library queue for the audiobook.

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The acclaimed author of the “lyrical coming-of-age novel” (Good Morning America) The People We Keep returns with a luminous new story of redemption, breaking generational curses, and the power of family in its truest form.

After an emergency leaves her short on rent, thirty-year-old Freya Arnalds bails on her lackluster life as bartender in Maine and returns to her suburban hometown of Somers, New York, to live in the house she inherited from her estranged parents. Despite attempts to lay low, Freya encounters childhood friends, familial enemies, and old flames—as well as her fifteen-year-old niece, Aubrey, who is secretly living in the derelict home. As they reconnect, Freya and Aubrey lean on each other, working to restore the house and come to terms with the devastating events that pulled them apart years ago.

Set in the birthplace of the American circus, this deeply moving novel is an exploration of broken families, the weight of the past, and the complicated journey of finding home.

I’d originally given this a pass when it was offered for audio review until I read the review by Louis @ Book Me a Read and changed my mind.

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The boy keeps walking, his curl-covered head down and his arms folded protectively across his body. The arcade is full of happy families but he is all alone. It’s the last time he is ever seen… Can Detective Kim Stone bring him home again?

Twelve-year-old Lewis Stephens walks out of a seafront arcade and disappears. A week later, eleven-year-old Noah Reid vanishes from the pier stretching out over the beach. There are no leads and no clues.

Detective Kim Stone doesn’t play well with others. But she has been sent halfway across the country to Blackpool, to join the hunt for the two children – and to find out if the dark whispers about corruption in the local force are justified. Her boss insists it must be he knows she won’t stop searching for the truth no matter who gets in her way. Kim just wants to find these lost children before it’s too late.

On arrival, she knows instantly something isn’t right. Why is everyone so convinced Lewis ran away? Why don’t his family seem to care that he’s missing? With time running out, she and her team work tirelessly to prove the abductions are linked – a job made harder when a list of cases is left for them in secret. The list proves one of their fellow cops is rotten to the core… but who?

And when another boy turns up dead back home, his body bruised and broken, Kim learns that the criminals she’s facing are more ruthless than she could have ever imagined. She and her team must solve the case before more children are taken. But the closer they get, the greater the danger – and they cannot trust a single soul…

A completely gripping page-turning crime thriller from no.1 multi-million-copy bestseller Angela Marsons. Perfect for fans of Val McDermid, Karin Slaughter and Robert Dugoni.

Woo hoo! A new DI Kim Stone and I’m thrilled. Scheduled for release in August, I’ll be getting the audiobook edition as soon as it shows up, either on NetGalley or Audible

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The McBride brothers are in for a matrimonial surprise when an enterprising woman answers their little sister’s mail order bride advertisement in this laugh-out-loud historical romance.

As the oldest of the McBride siblings, Morgan had to be protector and shepherd since Ma died and Pa ran off. It hasn’t always been easy, especially when his heart longs to roam on the trail. But now that his brother Kit is married and settled, the time is right for Morgan to leave Buck’s Creek. Little does he know that his hellcat of a little sister Junebug is dead set on keeping him at home and getting more help around the house – all with one honest advertisement in The Matrimonial News.

Epiphany Hopgood has always had a gift for doing the exact wrong thing. She’s too tall, too loud, too opinionated, and too contrary for her family and community. Staring down the barrel of spinsterhood, she and her grandmother answer a seemingly straightforward ad for a bride.

But when Pip shows up to Buck’s Creek, she finds that Morgan McBride is not the husband she expected. In fact, he doesn’t even want to be a husband. But maybe there’s a way to make everyone happy out on the Montana frontier…

I got this in the Audible 2-for-1 sale. I’m reading the first book in the series this month with a Goodreads group.

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“The perfect cocktail of well-plotted, good-hearted, murderous fun.”—Nina Simon, bestselling author of Mother-Daughter Murder Night

Three best friends turn to murder to collect on their husbands’ life insurance policies… But the husbands have a plan of their own in this darklyfunny debut that will delight listeners from the first laugh to the final twist.

After thirty years of friendship, Pam dreams of her perfect retirement with Nancy, Shalisa, Marlene, and their husbands—until their husbands pool their funds for an investment that goes terribly wrong. Suddenly, their golden years are looking as dreary as their marriages.

But when the women discover their husbands have seven-figure life insurance policies, a new dream forms. And this time, they need a hitman.

Meanwhile, their husbands are working on their own secret retirement scheme and when things begin to go sideways, they fear it’s backfired. The husbands scramble to stay alive…but soon realize they may not be quick enough to outmaneuver their wives.

I accepted this for audio review as it sounds like a wild ride.

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She returned to prove her father’s innocence, but there’s no telling what she’ll find…

It’s been fifteen years since Lucy Sinclair saw her father. Fifteen long years since she sat in a courtroom and watched him sentenced to life in prison. He murdered three victims—all people she knew—which ruined her life at just seventeen. But now she’s back in Virginia to talk to him, wondering if there’s more to the story of what happened that fateful night.

An old flame, Ford Wagner, makes his own return to North Hampton Beach, fleeing a marriage that seems destined for divorce. He’s wary of Lucy and her digging into the past, but the more time they spend together, the closer they get and the more he finds himself reconsidering the truth behind the death of their mutual friend that summer. Problem is, there are plenty of those in this small coastal town who would prefer things stay quiet…
New York Timesand USA Todaybestselling author, S.L. Scott, will lasso your heart and tie the bow in this Swoony, Single Dad, Forbidden to Date, Cowboy Romance that will have you falling in love along with the characters.

I learned about this upcoming June release from the author’s newsletter. It’s an audio review hopeful.

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One night, Jess, a struggling actress, finds a five-year-old runaway hiding in the bushes outside her apartment. After a violent, bloody encounter with the boy’s father, she and the boy find themselves running for their lives.

As they attempt to evade the boy’s increasingly desperate father, horrifying incidents of butchery follow them. At first, Jess thinks she understands what they’re up against, but she’s about to learn there’s more to these surreal and grisly events than she could’ve ever imagined.

And that when the wolf finally comes home, none will be spared.

I ignored this until I listened to the review by Emma @ Emma Reads Crime and realized I’d made a mistake. I’m in the library queue for the audiobook.

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What books did YOU add to your shelves this week?