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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In the third installment of Audible’s bestselling Young Rich Widows series, a new widow appears! Irish art thief Grace Callahan is on a mission to take back what’s rightfully hers, and she believes Meredith Everett is the key to finding it. When Meredith is taken by Grace and her group of armed robbers, her fellow widows (and series regulars) Krystle, Justine, and Camille spring into action to rescue her, becoming entangled in a long-brewing scheme by the Callahan family, whose stolen priceless heirloom left them out for revenge. As the widows take on the New England underworld, art heists, and gun fights in bootlegger tunnels, they must uncover what’s real from a total fraud to save their friend and their futures.

Inspired by real history from the Salem Witch trials to the billion dollar Gardner Museum art heist, the latest totally ‘80s, totally thrilling audio adventure blends nonstop action with the wild and wicked Widows antics listeners love.

This is free with my Audible Plus membership.

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From the bestselling author of Mad Love and American Girl comes a propulsive new thriller with a spectacular twist and an acclaimed cast.

They were best friends forever. Until the night one of them disappeared.

In 2010, Brooke Lowry, Carrie Hollis, and Eve Shay were inseparable. But on the Fourth of July, Eve vanished—her case never solved. Brooke moved away, but Carrie couldn’t let go, her obsession driving her to become the Chief of Police.

Now, fifteen years later, just as Carrie is about to close Eve’s case for good, an anonymous call provides a chilling new lead. And–within days–a man’s body is hauled in by a fishing boat. His murder is linked to a hotel a few miles away–where the guest in the room next door was none other than Brooke Lowry.

Brooke was there that night—with her lover. They heard something through the wall. Something violent. But they couldn’t say a word without revealing their affair.

As Carrie digs deeper into both cases, Brooke scrambles to cover her tracks, and Eve’s own voice begins to rise from the past. Together, their stories unravel a web of lies, betrayals, and long-buried secrets that lead to the shocking truth of what happened to Eve Shay.

Another book free with my Audible Plus membership.

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A pulse-pounding, “you have to read it to believe it” domestic suspense novel featuring a young woman writing letters to her estranged mother about the man she’ll marry…except he already has a wife and family.

Imogene always wanted her freedom from her mother, and now she has it.

Mother Dearest,

I am still trying to sift through the events of last night. It all feels very surreal. When I woke up this morning, I hoped it was a dream. I’d even accept it as a nightmare. But it’s not. I’m not with you and that alone feels catastrophic. I can’t believe we had our first fight!

But the tendrils connecting a mother to her daughter will always run deep.

Freedom is a funny thing. It’s something I wanted so badly, but now I’m wondering if what I had with you was better? Is the price of all of this going to be worth it? Do you miss me yet?
What you said was hurtful, but I know I deserved it. I’m still processing my departure, it was rather sudden. I hope you know I haven’t been planning this. It just happened.

Imogene doesn’t know how to handle her mother’s estrangement. But then she meets the perfect man, the one even her mother would approve of. She just knows that once they get married, her mother will welcome her back with open arms. Except he has a wife and daughter.

As mother always said, a problem is only a problem until you solve it.

A claustrophobic and can’t-look-away thriller, MOTHER DEAREST will have you on the edge of your seat with this sharp story you won’t ever forget.

Thanks to Kim @ It’s All About The Thrill for featuring this in her cover reveal post. Scheduled for release in March, it’s an audio review hopeful.

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USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Natasha Madison turns up the heat when a night of passionate brings together a man who was never looking for love and a woman who thinks she doesn’t deserve it.

Theo Williams loved and lost once and isn’t interested in doing it again. He has his family and friends, and plenty of women passing through his new hometown who are happy with a no-strings attached night of passion. Working as a partner at his cousin’s construction company, he’s perfectly content with his life—until he meets Collins Henderson, the one-night stand who will change his world forever.

Collins grew up on the wrong side of her small hometown. Thanks to her parents’ shady schemes, every local knows a Henderson cannot be trusted. She works hard as a paramedic, putting in every extra hour she can to save for a better life. But every time she starts to get ahead, her parents show up to pull her back down. Having one night of passion with a man she doesn’t know is not something she’d normally do, but there was just something about him … And two months later, she finds herself unexpectedly pregnant.

When she runs into the mysterious stranger again, she has to tell him, not because she needs or wants anything from him, just so he knows. But now he’s showing up at her house to cook her meals, stocking her refrigerator, and doing everything he can for her. Collins has always taken care of herself, she wasn’t looking for a relationship, but she can’t deny the chemistry between them.

She knows it’s only a matter of time before he learns who she is and changes his mind. She can’t let herself fall for this guy, but every day he’s getting harder to resist …

I received the paperback edition for review. It’s the first book in the Falling For series and is scheduled for release in July.

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Do you have to honour a promise you made in the past if it means losing all you have now?

When Mark introduces his date, Julia, to Chloe and her husband at a London restaurant, it’s obvious that something is very, very wrong. Alex and Julia pretend not to know one another, but the shocked expressions on their faces tell another story.

As the mystery of Julia’s identity unravels, a terrible tragedy from ten years ago gradually comes to light. While Chloe struggles with a secret of her own, Alex has to decide whether he should take Julia back to Australia to try to lay the past to rest, when doing so will risk all he has with the wife he loves.

And Julia must decide whether to finally confront Alex with the whole truth about what happened back then.

Set in London and Perth, Come Back to Me is a taut psychological drama that will keep you enthralled until the very last page.

I received the hardcover edition for review.

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From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Monica Murphy comes a sweltering summer romance you won’t be able to put down.

Twenty-two-year-old heiress Rachel Henderson has one goal this summer: hide out at her family’s lake house and recover from the most mortifying breakup Manhattan society has ever witnessed. Sun, swimming, and zero paparazzi—what could go wrong?

But her quiet summer by the lake goes up in literal flames when a spa-day candle mishap sets her mother’s designer curtains on fire. When the local fire department shows up—specifically the ridiculously hot fire captain—the house is saved, but the captain scorches her pride with a lecture about fire safety.

Determined to prove she can handle life on her own without her family’s help, Rachel finds a new roommate and a new job—too bad she’s terrible at it. Oh, and she keeps running into Captain Tall-Dark-and-Infuriating (which definitely isn’t a hardship). The more time they spend together, the more their conversations start o get real, and Rachel finds herself falling for Wyatt. She thinks he might even feel the same way.

The only problem? Wyatt is all about roots and permanence, while Rachel is the very definition of flighty. But this summer, she just might be tempted to stay …

I received the hardcover edition for review.

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From USA Today bestselling author Natasha Madison, this new edition of Shattered Dreams—the first book in her popular Dream series—includes never-before-heard bonus content.

Montgavin Township will never be the same when one fateful night changes the lives of six people and sets them on a collision course for disaster …

Charlie

It was supposed to be a regular day out. Three couples celebrating the last days of summer. When tragedy struck.

I thought I was going to marry her. Instead, I was burying her.

I blamed the world for my pain. I buried it all. I became a man I didn’t even recognize.

Autumn

In a blink of an eye, everything changed. My best friend was gone, and I was responsible for it. I may not have been driving the truck, but I didn’t stop it.

Escaping the town was the only thing I could do to survive the guilt. I thought I was strong enough to go back. I was wrong.

One look from him and I knew I wasn’t welcome. But this is my home, and I wanted to come back. One night turned into more. But at the end of the day, I know he’ll never love me.

Besides, we all have shattered dreams.

I received the paperback edition for review but have the Audible edition on my wishlist. This is the first book in the Dream series.

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As she nears the end of her life, Addie Bundren wants nothing more than to be buried in her native Jefferson, Mississippi, far from the miserable backwater surroundings of her married life. A captivating and stylistically innovative work, the narrative revolves around the grim, yet darkly humorous, pilgrimage as the Bundren family sets out to fulfill her last wish.

Told from fifteen different points of view over fifty-nine chapters, As I Lay Dying vividly brings to life Faulkner’s imaginary South, and is replete with poignant, complex, violent, and fascinating characters.

I received the hardcover edition for review as I’ve never read Faulkner.

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For the first time in print comes a collection of five short stories in the Edgar award-winning Kate Burkholder series, PLUS one new, never-before-published story, from New York Times bestselling author Linda Castillo.

When two young boys don’t return home from an innocent afternoon of fishing, Chief of Police Kate Burkholder must track them down before the first winter storm of the season bears down on Painters Mill in THE PACT.

In DISAPPEARED, Kate races against the clock to find a two-year-old who has vanished during a violent thunderstorm. Was the little boy swept away in the rising creek waters? Or is his disappearance even more sinister?

In BLOOD MOON, a man is brutally attacked by a large beast in the woods. Throughout the night, reports of similar incidents escalate and Kate must confront the creature terrorizing the town before violence tips over into tragedy.

When a family dog brings home a human bone, Kate finds herself on a desperate search for answers—and a way to end the macabre rumors and ghost stories inundating the town in the Edgar award-winning short story HALLOWED GROUND.

In DARK STORM RISING, Kate must brave a dangerous blizzard to save an elderly Amish woman from a sinister foe. Will Kate reach her in time to save her life?

In A DARK PATH, a brand-new story, an Amish couple disappears enroute to town. They’d recently been threatened by their granddaughter’s troubled boyfriend—and there’s heavy weather moving in. Kate rushes toward their remote farm, but a dog causes her to crash into a ravine, where she discovers a shattered buggy. Together, she and her new canine friend must find the couple before it’s too late.

I learned about this new collection of previously published short stories in the Kate Burkholder series from Goodreads friends’ reviews. It also includes on new one. It’s a library audiobook hopeful scheduled for release in July.

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What books did YOU add to your shelves this week?