Big Lies in a Small Town

North Carolina, 2018: Morgan Christopher's life has been derailed. Taking the fall for a crime she did not commit, she finds herself serving a three-year stint in the North Carolina Women's Correctional Center. Her dream of a career in art is put on hold—until a mysterious visitor makes her an offer that will see her released immediately. Her assignment: restore an old post office mural in a sleepy southern town. Morgan knows nothing about art restoration, but desperate to leave prison, she accepts. What she finds under the layers of grime is a painting that tells the story of madness, violence, and a conspiracy of small town secrets.

North Carolina, 1940: Anna Dale, an artist from New Jersey, wins a national contest to paint a mural for the post office in Edenton, North Carolina. Alone in the world and desperate for work, she accepts. But what she doesn't expect is to find herself immersed in a town where prejudices run deep, where people are hiding secrets behind closed doors, and where the price of being different might just end in murder.

Diane Chamberlain has done it again and this is definitely on my short list of favorites from her.  She has crafted a perfect novel in many ways.  The structure made is compelling and kept me turning the pages quickly!  The characters were complex and designed in such a way that I just wanted to know more and more about them.  One thing I love about historical fiction books is when there is a dual timeline that involves some type of mystery, and this book did an amazing job of meshing those two thing together.  If you thought art restoration sounded boring, you need to read this book.  It was a fascinating process of discovery in many ways and I loved the author's use of it in the story.  Please pick this book up as soon as possible!

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

The Fifth Avenue Story Society

An invitation to join The Fifth Avenue Story Society gives five New York strangers a chance to rewrite their own stories. 

Executive assistant Lexa is eager for a much-deserved promotion, but her boss is determined to keep her underemployed.  Literature professor Jett is dealing with a broken heart, as well as a nagging suspicion his literary idol, Gordon Phipps Roth, might be a fraud.  Uber driver Chuck just wants a second chance with his kids.  Aging widower Ed is eager to write the true story of his incredible marriage.  Coral, queen of the cosmetics industry, has broken her engagement and is on the verge of losing her great grandmother’s multimillion-dollar empire.

When all five New Yorkers receive an anonymous, mysterious invitation to the Fifth Avenue Story Society, they suspect they’re victims of a practical joke. No one knows who sent the invitations or why. No one has heard of the literary society. And no one is prepared to reveal their deepest secrets to a roomful of strangers.

Yet curiosity and loneliness bring them back week after week to the old library. And it’s there they discover the stories of their hearts, and the kind of friendship and love that heals their souls. 

I started and finished this book during COVID-19 and it was the book that finally got me back in my reading groove.  I absolutely loved everything about this story!  Honestly, everything about this book was beautiful.  The characters were so well developed and even though the story unfolds from five perspectives, I enjoyed every single one.  I've read several books by Rachel Hauck, but this was above and beyond the best one!  And I have to say, that this isn't just a "cute" book.  It has real life problems and situations that weren't neat and tidy, but handled in a easy to digest way.  I highly recommend this book, it hits many themes that are relevant to so many.

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

The Wife and the Widow

Set against the backdrop of an eerie island town in the dead of winter, The Wife and The Widow is an unsettling thriller told from two perspectives: Kate, a widow whose grief is compounded by what she learns about her dead husband’s secret life; and Abby, an island local whose world is turned upside when she’s forced to confront the evidence of her husband’s guilt. But nothing on this island is quite as it seems, and only when these women come together can they discover the whole story about the men in their lives. Brilliant and beguiling, The Wife and The Widow takes you to a cliff edge and asks the question: how well do we really know the people we love?

I really enjoyed many aspects of this book, but it just didn't hit the overall mark for me.  I needed more about the characters.  It wasn't enough.  I needed a reason to feel the connections.  There was such a great build up and turn, but I wanted more to care about in the beginning and the reasons at the end just felt icky and off.  My final rating for this book was 2.5 stars unfortunately, but I would read this author again. 

 

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