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Review: Paradise Pawn by Meg Richardson

Paradise Pawn by Meg Richardson Blurb from Goodreads : A dazzling debut novel about best friends, adolescent longing, and the Florida pawn shop that promises to make their dreams come true—if it doesn’t break them apart first. Teenage best friends Jackie and Kayla can sell anything. Alongside their fathers, they work at a pawn shop in Cherry Beach, Florida, handling everything from luxury jewelry to chainsaws and more. When the girls learn that Kayla’s family can’t afford a private school opportunity that Jackie’s can, Jackie becomes distraught about losing her best friend. With their sharp minds but youthful lack of foresight, they scheme a way to embezzle money from the pawn shop. As the hot Florida summer unfolds, the girls steal thousands of dollars from the shop. But when their heist is discovered, Jackie is faced with a situation that no amount o...

Review: Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die by Mallory Arnold

Cross My Heart, I Hope You Die by Mallory Arnold Blurb from Goodreads : One isolated cabin. One cheating boyfriend. One plan to get even. When Nora, Ruby, and Cham discover that they've each been dating the same man, what starts as outrage quickly spirals into a plot for revenge. Together they hatch a plan to lure their boyfriend to a romantic getaway in a secluded cabin at the top of a snow-covered mountain. Only what was meant to be harmless payback soon takes a chilling turn when their not-so-adoring boyfriend is found dead in the cabin. Stranded and snowed in, the women begin to look at each other with increasing suspicion. And as tensions rise, hidden motives come to light. To survive, each woman must confront her own demons as they fight to uncover if one of them is the killer, or if something else lurks in the freezing wilderness, waitin...

Review: The Half Life by Rachel Beanland

The Half Life by Rachel Beanland Blurb from Goodreads : When twenty-three-year-old Eileen O’Malley meets charismatic naval officer Paul Archer in a Charleston department store, she doesn’t expect to fall so hard, so fast. But Paul is funny and ambitious, and soon, Eileen’s got a ring on her finger and is following him to the tiny, sun-drenched Mediterranean island of La Maddalena, where Paul will be heading up Radiological Controls aboard a submarine tender. In La Maddalena, Eileen joins a makeshift community of Navy wives, who are hell bent on making the island feel a little more like home. But for Eileen, whose brother died in Vietnam, home is a loaded word, and as she settles into life on the island—taking Italian lessons and learning to make culurgiones—she begins to love the place for all the ways it is not like where she comes from. Still, it doesn’t take long for Eileen to be confronted with the complexities of...

Audiobook Review: Last Night Was Killer by Mary Pauline Lowry, Narrated by Helen Laser

Last Night Was Killer by Mary Pauline Lowry, Narrated by Helen Laser Blurb from Goodreads : When Tilly Turner signed up for an introductory pole-dancing class, she was looking for a distraction. Reeling from her mother’s passing, and with her career as a stand-up comedian in ruins, Tilly has just moved back to the Idaho hometown she was desperate to leave, with her twin daughters in tow. But Tilly gets more than she bargained for after a night out with her new pole-dancing pals. She wakes to a raging hangover, no memory of the evening before, and a dead body in the trunk of her car. Who was the dead man? And more importantly, who killed him? Tilly has no alibi and needs answers. But investigating a murder is complicated, especially with an old frenemy circling, childcare plans falling through, and pole-dancing classes to attend. And don’t even mention the sexy ATF agent who she’s trying (and failing) to keep at arm’...

Review: The Simp: A Novel Without a Hero by Roshan Sethi

The Simp: A Novel Without a Hero by Roshan Sethi Blurb from Goodreads : A novel without a hero. Hellscape with an infinity pool. Raj Ladlani is one of thousands in an unemployable actor. He has reasons to believe he is spectacularly talented (his beloved acting coach Anthony says so), a legend in every way but for the success. His anonymous life working at Yogurtland, obsessively reading Vanity Fair, and fantasizing about stardom, comes to an end when he answers a job ad detailing a relentless, laughable parade of menial responsibilities for a 'Hollywood Family'. So begins the astonishing decline and fall of Raj Ladlani. The Simp tells the story of Raj's momentous employment and the destruction that follows in the wake of his time with the with the H Jim, a macho director determined to prove himself as an artist; and Anna, his much youn...

Review: The House Guest by Jennifer Pashley

The House Guest by Jennifer Pashley Blurb from Goodreads : An aspiring chef finds she has bitten off more than she can chew when her gig as a private cook to a bestselling author turns deadly in this propulsive, whip-smart suspense novel. Brett Novak is a young upstart chef, with real, raw talent—if only she could catch a break. After getting dumped by her married girlfriend and losing the perfect job offer, Brett accepts a temporary position as a live-in, personal chef of a reclusive, bestselling author, Carson Smart, who resides in a mansion on a secluded beach in Cape Cod. Carson immediately seduces her, but things get complicated when Carson's wife, Vera, arrives home from her trip, and the love/hate relationship between the two spouses erupts, leaving Brett caught in the middle. Brett, starved for attention, craves Carson's affection and ...