Review: Abby's Journey - Book #2 Forever Abby - Steena Holmes - February 2017  There’s something incredibly special about returning to a story years later and finding that it still holds your heart just as gently as before. That’s exactly how I felt picking up Abby's Journey by Steena Holmes , almost a decade after I first read Saving Abby back in 2018. From the moment I began, it felt like coming home. This time, we follow Abby once the fragile baby about to be born in the first book now twenty years old and finally stepping into life with a clean bill of health after years of illness. Knowing her history made her journey all the more emotional. There’s a quiet triumph in watching her embrace a future that once felt so uncertain. What truly warmed my heart was the trip she takes with her grandmother, Millie. Originally planned for Millie and Abby’s mother, Claire, this journey becomes something deeper ,a bridge between past and present. Through shared memories and long-held se...

Seven Hundred Beachfront Ligia de Wit Publication date: July 22nd 2025 Genres: Adult, Magical Realism, Romance, Women’s Fiction Some places hold memories. Others have opinions. I didn’t mean to run again. But when life gets tangled, I untangle it by leaving. And this time, my escape came with strings attached: a five-year-old brother I never signed up to care for, a seaside town I barely remember, and a tattered house on stilts that belongs in Renter’s Hell. I told myself it was just for the summer. A break. A pause. A way to escape the people I care about but can’t seem to fit with anymore, and the choices I don’t know how to fix. But the sea doesn’t let you stay distant for long. Then there’s him. Quiet. Grumpy. Mysterious. The kind of man who doesn’t ask questions, but somehow sees more than he should. I don’t even like talking to him, and yet… here we are. Sharing long silences. Unexpected moments. Maybe even something more. And as for the house? Let’s just say it ha...

Review: The Banned Books Club - Brenda Novak - September 2024 I am in two minds about this book as I come to write the book review the first thing I want to address is the title can be a bit misleading. Yes, there were talks and a session of The Banned Books Club where they read Stephen King's Cujo and it talked a little about how the group came to be formed. That was it - I assumed with the title that it would be a book about books and book club, maybe each chapter talking about a banned book but nope, this book was more of a family going through a hard time and coming together in the face of tragic circumstances and getting the courage to stand up and be the person that they had read in books that were banned. The type of person who in the face of injustice gets knocked down but gets back up again. We have our two main sisters Gia and Margot. Gia left the town when she was young and never returned as she was caught up in a #MeToo case He Said/ She Said case with her English teach...

Broken Fortune Aly Mennuti Publication date: July 16th 2024 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Women’s Fiction Broken Fortune explores the unraveling of a wealthy, blended family forced to reconsider their future together as their world falls apart around them. Elizabeth Sunderland—a forty-three-year-old wife and mother of two teenagers—is the oldest of five children in a blended family that never quite blended. The only thing that has held them together is the iron will of their wealthy parents: Benjamin Sunderland, a venture capitalist, and Kate Bernard, a partner of a hedge fund. Together, Benjamin and Kate create and rule over a Manhattan dynasty of which their children each bear their own unique scars. Elizabeth has been trying to keep the family together since she was ten years old, hoping to convince everyone they have more in common than just their fortune. This stance will be put to the ultimate test when Kate dies with one final request: that the family travel together ...

Rendezvous at Midlife Maggie Blake Publication date: June 11th 2024 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Women’s Fiction A fateful meeting in an airport sends her on the journey of her life. Margot had always been a woman who knew what she wanted. She worked hard to build her successful locations scouting business in Los Angeles, and in her late forties, Margot felt she was in the prime of her life. A prosperous businesswoman with a loving husband and a beautiful daughter, Margot was living the dream. That is, until her husband left her for a younger woman. Moving forward with the help of her daughter and best friend, Margot once again enters the dating scene and soon finds that she is unable to make a meaningful connection. Vaughn Jameson has spent his life on the road as a drummer for a well-known rock band, thankful to be living his childhood dream of making music and good times. While he yearns for something more, he isn’t sure what. Margot and Vaughn’s lives change when they h...

The Helping Heart Annie M. Ballard (Sisters of Stella Mare, #4) Publication date: March 15th 2024 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Women’s Fiction Helen comes home and everything should be wonderful. Even if she’s returning due to a divorce. But there is more… The Madison sisters, once close, are suddenly alienated as oldest Helen returns to Stella Mare. Her desire to help everyone includes keeping them at a distance, so her own secrets stay private. Her plan backfires, making her persona non grata and upsetting her father. To keep the peace with Dad, she suggests a group activity: the four sisters will hike the Fundy Footpath, an iconic and challenging backpacking trip along the Bay of Fundy. Why not? They’re young, they’re strong, and besides, they’re Madisons. Despite each sister’s reservations, the desire to reconnect pulls them into this adventure. The hike is arduous and not for the faint of heart. Daunting cliffs, deep forests, rushing rivers and unpredictable tides accom...

Echoes of the Past Ashley Packard Publication date: September 20th 2023 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Women’s Fiction Anna Wilson is faced with the prospect of starting her first job out of university. She worked hard for this coveted position not for the prestige, but because it paid well, would make her parents proud, and most importantly, the location was close to her grandmother, her only remaining family. Accepting this job was a seal of fate according to Anna’s grandmother, who grappled with the guilt that Anna planned her life around her. After graduating from university, Anna’s world gets turned upside down when she receives the devastating news her grandmother passed away, leaving behind an unexpected inheritance, a chest full of old postcards, and tickets for a trip her grandmother planned leaving in a few weeks. Anna battles the difficult decision – to stay with the job she accepted, or embark on a journey that could uncover truths about herself and the untold sto...

Review: The Family - Marissa Kennerson - October 2014 Scrolling through my Kindle, I came across a random book called The Family by Marissa Kennerson. It was a book that has been sitting on my Kindle since December 2015. Nine years later, I got around to reading it and it was one of those books that I enjoyed. It also seemed to be quite fitting as this week, I had read several cult fictions. The Family is a cult fiction based around a group called The Family, they live in the outskirts of Costa Rica - there are 183 of them and their leader is Adam known as Father. He has just announced that he will be taking a new wife and that new wife is Twig who has just celebrated her birthday. Twig should feel special but she is struggling to transfer feelings of parent to lover. During this time, Twig's mother is starting to step up and thinks now is the time to protect her daughter especially when Twig has an accident and is knocked out. During this event, Twig starts to have memories of l...