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.

#1 New York Times bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz brings listeners another heart wrenching tale of love, family, and sacrifice.

In 1942, the Nazis came for a Jewish family living in the Montparnasse area of occupied Paris. In the chaos, the 11-year-old daughter ran to the only person she could trust—her piano Andrée Levallois, secretly a French Resistance operative, took her in, risking everything. But the authorities were closing in, and soon Andrée and the girl were caught in a desperate race to stay alive.

Andrée was denounced, arrested, tortured, and sent to the hell of Ravensbrück Women’s Concentration Camp. There, she fought for her life, determined to return and honor her promise to save the girl who had been entrusted to her care.

Epic in scope, and based on true life people and events, Heather Morris has written a story of breathtaking beauty—at once gripping, heartbreaking, and uplifting.

I learned of this from a trusted Goodreads friend. I received it for audio review.

For Detective Jane Munro, two mysteries generations apart converge in a haunting true-crime-inspired novel about secrets, motherhood, and murder by Loreth Anne White, the award-winning author of The Maid’s Diary.

When a woman’s skeletal remains are found sealed inside a barrel at the bottom of a long-forgotten well, cold case detective Jane Munro is tasked with solving a murder committed decades ago.

Eight months pregnant, grieving her missing fiancé, and under mounting pressure to step away from the job, Jane should be preparing for motherhood, not chasing ghosts. But the dead woman wore a locket engraved with a message of love, and someone went to great lengths to silence her.

What Jane and her team uncover is a heart-wrenching story of a mother who walked into the forest on a frigid winter’s day in 1945 and was never seen again, leaving behind a husband and two children. But why? As they close in on the truth, the case collides with a far more recent one—and a killer who may not be history.

Suddenly it becomes personal, because someone will do anything to stop Jane. And this time, her quest for truth could cost her everything.

I was surprised to see this sequel to The Quiet Bones and it’s now a series with a third book scheduled. I accepted it for audio review.

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A darkly humorous, twisted mystery from Amy Tintera, author of the New York Timesbestseller Listen for the Lie.

Charlotte is George’s third wife. He’s much older than she is, and much richer. When George suddenly goes missing after a chaotic family party, Charlotte can see how this looks for her—and it’s not great. But something’s off, and Charlotte needs to find George before the police do, before she becomes the main suspect.

Charlotte has a feeling this could be connected to the murder of George’s first wife, Diana, many years ago. She is determined to get to the bottom of this, clear her name, and maybe hide a thing or two about her own past along the way. First, Charlotte needs to get around George’s intense and meddling (and fabulously wealthy) family, who never liked her to begin with.

Madeline, George’s second wife, hates his guts, but she may just be the perfect person to help Charlotte out. As the stakes rise and the family closes in around them, this unlikely pair will need to decide if they can trust each other, and trust themselves. When you’re Wife #3 and you need to solve the murder of Wife #1, who better to help you than Wife #2?

Thanks to Laurie @ Cozy Nook Books for featuring this in her Can’t Wait Wednesday post. Scheduled for release in March, it’s an audio review hopeful.

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Everyone is Watching meets Twelve Angry Men in a tense and twisty locked-room thriller where, sequestered together until the Hollywood trial is closed, a jury must decide the fate of an actor accused of attempted murder, but this jury has explosive secrets, and one of them is about to get away with a murder of their own.

No one here is innocent.

Hollywood’s biggest movie star, Danny Scott, stands accused of trying to murder his wife, starlet Hope Harrison, in a case that has taken the world by storm.

Everyone is what happened that night, and what darker truths simmer beneath the surface of their marriage? As the world watches, twelve sequestered jurors must decide Danny’s fate – but even a jury has its secrets…

Juror 6 is risking everything for this trial. Even her life.
Juror 2 is playing games. But can he keep one step ahead of his own lies?
Juror 13, the alternate, will do anything to be on that jury. Anything.
And Juror 7 is hardly noticed by anyone. Just as she planned.

As each juror vies for the verdict they want, secrets, obsessions, and plots for revenge will come to light. Because everyone is lying. Everyone is guilty. And one of them might be planning a murder of their own…

Thanks to Eva @ Novel Deelights for featuring this in her This Week in Books post. Scheduled for release in November, it’s an audio review hopeful.

A behind-the-scenes Hollywood love story that brilliantly confronts the private cost of a public life

For rising young actors Kai Laramie and Juniper Castillo, being cast in the buzzy biopic Andy Warhol Never Gets Old is the opportunity they’ve been waiting for. They’re on the verge of breaking out, and maybe even falling in love. Soon the movie is blowing up and so are their lives—in exciting but also terrifying ways.

John Green artfully blends a behind-the-scenes Hollywood love story with an unflinching examination of the insatiable attention economy. Told through dual points of view, the novel follows Kai and Juniper from their first days on location to the movie’s premiere, brilliantly juxtaposing their story with the on-screen study of Warhol’s life at the dawn of celebrity culture.

Hollywood, Ending is a deeply observed novel about the tension between a public and a private life, and finding your safe someone to hold onto. Tender, heartbreaking, and shrewdly funny, this is a story as only Green can tell it.

Thanks to Larry @ Get Booked With Larry for his great review. I’m in a long queue for the audiobook.

What books did YOU add to your shelves this week?