Only Ever You

 

It was to be the perfect wedding—until the bride disappeared.

Annie Taft’s wedding is four days away, and it will be one of the grandest anyone can remember in her small South Carolina town. Preparations are in order. Friends and family are gathering in anticipation. Everything is going according to plan. Except that Annie herself has vanished. Did she have second thoughts? Or has something much worse happened to the bride-to-be?

While her loved ones frantically try to track her down, they’re forced to grapple with their own secrets—secrets with the power to reframe entire relationships, leaving each to wonder how well they really knew Annie and how well they know themselves.

This was a solid 3.5 star read for me, but something was just missing for me to completely love it.  This was my 7th book by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen and it was good, but When We Were Worthy is definitely my favorite.  The story line was promising, but I think we were missing key information so at times I felt confused.  For instance, nobody knew that Kenny and Annie were friends and couldn't be together, but they didn't explain why.  There were also characters that she developed a story line for, but I just never felt like it went anywhere.  We spend the whole book trying to find Annie and then connecting to the people still present, but I don't feel any closure for those characters.  There were just some holes in the plot.  I do have to say that her writing flows so well and it's easy to read quickly.  She keeps me engrossed in the story and I love a good family mystery that doesn't have to have a unbelievable twist.  As many others have said, don't go into this one expecting a major thriller, because you will be disappointed.  For the most part, I could see where this was going and I don't mind that at all.  

         * I received this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review *

 

The Printed Letter Bookshop

One of Madeline Cullen’s happiest childhood memories is of working with her Aunt Maddie in the quaint and cozy Printed Letter Bookshop. But by the time Madeline inherits the shop nearly twenty years later, family troubles and her own bitter losses have hardened Madeline’s heart toward her once-treasured aunt—and the now struggling bookshop left in her care.

While Madeline intends to sell the shop as quickly as possible, the Printed Letter’s two employees have other ideas. Reeling from a recent divorce, Janet finds sanctuary within the books and within the decadent window displays she creates. Claire, though quieter than the acerbic Janet, feels equally drawn to the daily rhythms of the shop and its loyal clientele, finding a renewed purpose within its walls. When Madeline’s professional life takes an unexpected turn, and when a handsome gardener upends all her preconceived notions, she questions her plans and her heart. She begins to envision a new path for herself and for her aunt’s beloved shop—provided the women’s best combined efforts are not too little, too late.

I'm a sucker for any book that is set in a bookshop so this novel immediately went on my To be Read list.  The structure of this book is told in alternating perspectives between the three main characters.  While I enjoyed all the women, I did, at times, feel like we were covering the same event multiple times so it got a little bit repetitive.  However, the storylines were interesting and each character brought a different problem/solution to the table.  It was so cool to see three women able to come together and work well with each other and support one another.  At the end of the book, I did feel like I took away some life lessons that I won't soon forget.  While the book did have flaws, overall the read was completely enjoyable and read very quickly!  Finally, if you love a bookshop book, this book really was set and centered around a bookshop.  Lately I've read several books that give that impression in the synopsis, but don't deliver and this one definitely does. 

        * I received this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review *

The Things We Cannot Say

In 1942, Europe remains in the relentless grip of war. Just beyond the tents of the Russian refugee camp she calls home, a young woman speaks her wedding vows. It's a decision that will alter her destiny...and it's a lie that will remain buried until the next century.Since she was nine years old, Alina Dziak knew she would marry her best friend, Tomasz. Now fifteen and engaged, Alina is unconcerned by reports of Nazi soldiers at the Polish border, believing her neighbors that they pose no real threat, and dreams instead of the day Tomasz returns from college in Warsaw so they can be married. But little by little, injustice by brutal injustice, the Nazi occupation takes hold, and Alina's tiny rural village, its families, are divided by fear and hate.Then, as the fabric of their lives is slowly picked apart, Tomasz disappears. Where Alina used to measure time between visits from her beloved, now she measures the spaces between hope and despair, waiting for word from Tomasz and avoiding the attentions of the soldiers who patrol her parents' farm. But for now, even deafening silence is preferable to grief.

  

The title of this book kind of describes how I would review it, because it broke me so much that I honestly don't even know what to say.  I am a huge Kelly Rimmer and this book was absolutely brilliant!  I read this with a group of girls and everyone seemed to love it just as much as I did, even readers who don't read historical fiction.  Her writing has a way of sucking you in and I felt like the story was almost sacred.  By the end, I truly felt like my heart was on the floor, so you are being warned!  I think Kelly Rimmer is so underappreciated in the fiction world and I really hope more people will pick up her books because she is an absolute favorite, must-read author for me.  If you love historical fiction, or if you have never picked one up in your life, please, please give this one a try.  It's hands-down my favorite historical fiction of all time!

            * I received this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review *

Where the Missing Go

The missing don't always want to be found.

Kate Harlow recognizes this painful truth, even as she keeps searching for her daughter, Sophie, who disappeared two years ago. The police have stopped investigating--after all, Sophie has sent postcards home, insisting that she's fine. To fill the space in her increasingly empty days, Kate volunteers at Message in a Bottle, where runaways can leave messages for loved ones, no questions asked.

Then one evening, a call comes in from a voice Kate instinctively recognizes, even through bursts of static and beyond the sudden dial tone that breaks their connection.

Those closest to Kate worry she's cracking under her grief, imagining that it was Sophie. But Kate knows--that it was her daughter on the phone. And that a stranger has been inside her house. Watching her.

Sophie is out there. And Kate has to find her, even if someone will try anything to stop her . . .

I wanted to read this book the moment I read the synopsis, but unfortunately it didn't quite deliver for me.  The story overall was well done, but it was very slow in the beginning.  I just thought it dragged.  I enjoyed reading about Kate and how she refused to give up even when others thought she was crazy.  When the story reached the point that the twist was revealed I was not surprised at all.  It's truly what I thought all along, just because there weren't really any other possibilities, so it just fell flat for me.  It also felt a little unbelievable to be true.  So while I applaud the premise, the execution was predictable, but still a good story.    

    
         * I received this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review *

The Wedding Shop

It’s the early 1930s, but Cora Scott is walking in stride as a career woman after having inherited her great aunt’s wedding shop in Heart’s Bend, Tennessee, where brides come from as far away as Birmingham to experience her famed bridal treatment. Meanwhile, Cora is counting down the days until her own true love returns from the river to make her his bride. But days turn into months and months to years. All the while, Birch Good continues to woo Cora and try to show her that while he is solid and dependable, he can sweep her off her feet.

More than eighty years later, former Air Force Captain Haley Morgan has returned home to Heart’s Bend after finishing her commitment to military service. After the devastating death of her best friend, Tammy, and discovering the truth about the man she loved, Haley is searching for her place in life.

When Haley decides to reopen the romantic but abandoned wedding shop where she and Tammy played and dreamed as children, she begins a journey of courage, mystery, and love.

As Cora’s and Haley’s stories intertwine through time in the shadow of the beloved wedding shop, they both discover the power of their own dreams and the magic of everyday love.

This is one of those books I almost gave up on and I am so glad I didn't!  I started this book 2 different times and both times I set it aside.  I picked it up again a few days ago and I got drawn right into the story.  I can't describe why it was different this time, but it just was.  The dual perspective was done well and I didn't find myself liking one more than the other.  And yes, the story was somewhat predictable, but I just didn't care.  I loved Cora and Haley and all the supporting cast.  The wedding shop sounded so beautiful and was definitely a character all on its own.  I would have loved getting my dress in a place like Heart's Bend.  I will continue to look for books by Rachel Hauck because I have not been disappointed yet!  

* I received this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review *

Miracle Creek

In the small town of Miracle Creek, Virginia, Young and Pak Yoo run an experimental medical treatment device known as the Miracle Submarine—a pressurized oxygen chamber that patients enter for therapeutic “dives” with the hopes of curing issues like autism or infertility. But when the Miracle Submarine mysteriously explodes, killing two people, a dramatic murder trial upends the Yoos’ small community.
Who or what caused the explosion? Was it the mother of one of the patients, who claimed to be sick that day but was smoking down by the creek? Or was it Young and Pak themselves, hoping to cash in on a big insurance payment and send their daughter to college? The ensuing trial uncovers unimaginable secrets from that night—trysts in the woods, mysterious notes, child-abuse charges—as well as tense rivalries and alliances among a group of people driven to extraordinary degrees of desperation and   sacrifice.

This book was one intriguing read!  The way this author was able to weave this story together and give us little bits and pieces paced over time was pretty amazing.  I love when a book explores the legal and emotional side of an event and this one delivered.  I wavered for a long time between 4 and five stars on this one so I think I am landing on a 4.5.  There were just a couple parts that I found a little disturbing and thought they could have been told in a different way.  Also, the conclusion of one character just felt wrong to me.  I would 100% pick up another book by this author.  To think that she could tell an almost flawless story as a debut work is incredible!

        * I received this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review *