The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club: A Novel by Martha Hall Kelly #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday #histfic

Book Blurb:

2016: Thirty-four-year-old Mari Starwood is still grieving after her mother’s death as she travels to the storied island of Martha’s Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts. She’s come all the way from California with nothing but a name on a piece of paper: Elizabeth Devereaux, the famous but reclusive Vineyard painter. When Mari makes it to Mrs. Devereaux’s stunning waterfront farm under the guise of taking a painting class with her, Mrs. Devereaux begins to tell her the story of the Smith sisters, who once lived there. As the tale unfolds, Mari is shocked to learn that her relationship to this island runs deeper than she ever thought possible.

1942: The Smith girls—nineteen-year-old aspiring writer Cadence and sixteen-year-old war-obsessed Briar—are faced with the impossible task of holding their failing family farm together during World War II as the U.S. Army arrives on Martha’s Vineyard. When Briar spots German U-boats lurking off the island’s shores, and Cadence falls into an unlikely romance with a sworn enemy, their quiet lives are officially upended. In an attempt at normalcy, Cadence and her best friend, Bess, start a book club, which grows both in members and influence as they connect with a fabulous New York publisher who could make all of Cadence’s dreams come true. But all that is put at risk by a mysterious man who washes ashore—and whispers of a spy in their midst. Who in their tight-knit island community can they trust? Could this little book club change the course of the war . . . before it’s too late?

My Review:

As mentioned before, I do enjoy dual timelines—and it would seem, the older one. It appears to me that sometimes the more detailed development of characters occurs in the past characters, while the more contemporary characters barely get fleshed out enough to count as a character.

That said, I really enjoyed the characters of 1942, particularly sixteen-year-old Briar, who cried wolf once too often regarding the sighting of German U-boats. I did wonder, however, why the older girl determined she’d hide the fella washed ashore and his too convenient connection to the US.

On the whole, while a bit of a slow burn to get off the ground, it was a cute, almost cozy, narrative and often led right down the road expected. Descriptions of the island and the inhabitants, history, are fun; just wish the pace was more evenly distributed.

It won’t make classic Potato Peel Pie level book club, but it is a sweet story and weaves in a variety of appealing characters. Interspersed in the novel are Cadence’s columns that she writes for the local Vineyard Gazette, which eventually leads to greater writing possibilities.

I must admit to being caught off-guard by the mystery, as it was reading so benign, it snuck up on me, I didn’t see a dark side coming to the war time story that sees their brothers and others off to war with the devastation when they don’t return. The plot builds with added hooks including our own soldiers who arrive to set up coastal military training.

The denouement gives a satisfying close to the story and manages to come up with solutions to any remaining threads.

On the whole, a sweet read, well plotted. You’ll no doubt enjoy it if you like timeline switches, historical WWII life, and well-crafted characters in the setting.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: World War II & Holocaust Historical Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Random House Audio
Narrators: Martha Hall Kelly, Mary Elizabeth Kelly, Mia Hutchinson-Shaw, Imani Jade Powers, EJ Lavery

Title Links:

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Martha’s debut novel LILAC GIRLS, about socialite Caroline Ferriday and her fight to help a group of concentration camp survivors, became an Instant NY Times bestseller in 2016 and went on to sell over two million copies. Once the paperback stayed on the NYT list for fifty-four weeks, and became published in fifty countries she wrote two more novels: LOST ROSES about Caroline’s mother, and SUNFLOWER SISTERS about her great grandmother, which also became Instant NY Times best sellers. Her latest novel, THE GOLDEN DOVES, which returns to WWII, arrives in bookstores April 18th, 2023.

Martha grew up in Massachusetts and now splits her time between Connecticut and New York City.

You’ll find more info about the incredible, true stories behind all of her books at her website: http://www.marthahallkelly.com, on Instagram: @marthahallkelly, Facebook.com/marthahallkelly, Twitter: @marthahallkelly and on her ever-changing Pinterest page.

#Audiobooks

Submarine graphic courtesy clipart.com

Midnight on the Potomac by Scott Ellsworth #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday #USCivilWarHistory

Midnight on the Potomac by Scott Ellsworth

The Last Year of the Civil War, the Lincoln Assassination, and the ReBirth of America

Best History

in History of the US Confederacy

Book Blurb:

From the author of The Ground Breaking, longlisted for the National Book Award, comes a riveting saga of the last year of the Civil War—and a revealing new account of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Told with a page-turning pace, New York Times bestselling author and historian Scott Ellsworth has written the most compelling new book about the Civil War in years. Focusing on the last, desperate months of the war, when the outcome was far from certain, Midnight on the Potomac is a story of titanic battles, political upheaval, and the long-forgotten Confederate terror war against the loyal citizens of the North. Taking us behind the scenes in the White House, along the battlefronts in Virginia, and into the conspiracies of spies and secret agents, Lincoln walks these pages, as do Grant and Sherman. But so do common soldiers, runaway slaves, and an unknown but intrepid female war correspondent named Lois Adams. Rarely, if ever, has a book about the Civil War featured such a rich and diverse cast of characters.

Midnight on the Potomac will also shatter some long-held myths. For more than a century and a half, the Lincoln assassination has been portrayed as the sole brainchild of a disgruntled, pro-South actor. But based on both obscure contemporary accounts and decades of long-ignored scholarship, Ellsworth reveals that for nearly one year before the tragic events at Ford’s Theatre, John Wilkes Booth had been working closely with agents of the Confederate Secret Service. And the real Booth is far from the one we’ve long been presented with.

Deeply researched yet captivatingly written, Midnight on the Potomac is a new kind of book about the Civil War. In it you will read about the Confederate attempt to burn down New York City, how Lincoln almost lost the presidency, about the Rebel general who nearly captured Washington, and how thousands of enslaved African Americans freed themselves—and helped secure their nation’s survival. In an age of deep political division such as our own, Scott Ellsworth’s book is an eloquent and gripping testament to the courage, grit, and greatness of the American people.

My Review:

Well, okay, we have a book here that does its best to deliver many new stories delivered to the reader, maybe in a recliner and smoke-filled room with a small tumbler of brandy nearby. Enjoy.

Ah, the good ole boys and their stories.

So much to digest here, so many scenes and scenarios, historical figures, as well as a timeline under that bridge. Stories I’d not heard before, theories not considered (Booth’s considerable success as an actor and then his connections and clandestine meetings with Confederate sympathizers.

There is an awful lot of territory covered here, but less on a few of the larger focal points and more information on little known men and women heavily contributing to the time and effort, particularly women—and African Americans.

It is the first I’ve read on the more human details of Lincoln, his children, the battle scenes, the political scene in Washington—with the huge influx of free and escaped slaves—to the conflict within his party and the turmoil with his generals, as well as his death.

You can’t deny the evidence of a ton of research here into all the behind-the-scenes activities. Of course, I might still question some of the interpretation. I have, more than once, wondered how in the world were some of these major life-changing outcomes managed when it seemed to be handled in general chaos. There’s a military term for that.

On the whole, it was interesting and kept the pace moving, even at the point of slight confusion when it switched topics. It was well written but in this particular instance, I might have enjoyed it more if I’d read it rather than listened to the audiobook, as the voice came across a bit monotone, giving it more a “text” than story sound.

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: US Civil War History, American Civil War Biographies, American Civil War
Publisher: Penguin Audio
ASIN: B0DNKWBJN1
Listening Length: 9 hrs 51 mins
Narrator: Scott Ellsworth
Publication Date: July 15, 2025
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Scott Ellsworth is an American writer and the author of four books.

DEATH IN A PROMISED LAND was the first comprehensive history of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre. “This splendid book belongs in any library serving readers in American history,” Library Journal.

“A historian with the soul of a poet” is how Booklist described the author of THE SECRET GAME. Winner of the 2016 PEN/ESPN Book Award for Literary Sportswriting, it is a riveting account of a clandestine, integrated college basketball game that took place in North Carolina in 1944–and of a nation on the verge of historic change.

THE WORLD BENEATH THEIR FEET resurrects the Great Himalayan Race of the 1930s, when mountain climbers from Great Britain, Nazi Germany, and the United States vied to become the first to summit the great peaks of the Himalayas. ‘It works brilliantly,” The Sunday Times.

In THE GROUND BREAKING, Scott returns to the Tulsa massacre and its legacy. Longlisted for the 2021 National Book Award for Nonfiction. “This eloquent, deeply moving history isn’t to be missed,” Publishers Weekly.

Scott’s next book, MIDNIGHT ON THE POTOMAC: THE LAST YEAR OF THE CIVIL WAR AND THE REBIRTH OF AMERICA, will come out in 2025.

©V Williams

#ThrowbackThursday

Phoenix Rising by Michael Reit #BookReview #HistoricalBiographicalFiction #NetGalley

The Covert War Chronicles Book 2

Book Blurb:

As Hitler’s armies pour across the Polish border, three lives are forever changed.

Jewish refugee Felix Wolff believes he has found safety in England, but he is arrested and thrown into a British internment camp as a suspected Nazi spy. To clear his name and join the fight against Hitler, he must break free of a system that mistakes him for the very evil he fled.

Fresh off his ruthless campaign in Poland, Sicherheitsdienst agent Karl Vogt is sent on a chilling mission: to devise a system for controlling the growing Jewish population within the Reich. His cold efficiency lays the groundwork for a coming horror the world has yet to comprehend.

In Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, Adela Beran risks everything to pass secrets from a weapons factory to the Czech resistance. When she’s asked to help assassinate Heinrich Himmler in Berlin, she faces a terrifying choice: stay in the shadows or strike a deadly blow against tyranny.

His Review:

The Nazi war machine has the whole European continent in chaos. Poland and its army had weapons woefully inadequate against the German war machine. As the Germans advance, the Poles are pushed back quickly. The choice was total destruction of their country or surrender. There was no real option. The Jewish people were then systematically rounded up and placed into restricted areas or simply killed outright.

This book follows three individuals who are followed through the conflict. Some in Poland and others in Czechoslovakia where a giant munitions factory is working twenty-four hours a day to produce weapons for the Third Reich. Those who do not meet quotas of production are simply taken out and eliminated. One of the factory supervisors is a brother of Herman Goering. Goering is not as fanatic as is his brother; however, his connections help to protect his workers.

This story is very well thought through and challenges some of the impressions other writers have developed regarding German factory efficiency. Ever present is the threat of torture at the hands of the Gestapo. Some of the patriots in the factory work on ways to hamper production. The results are weapons or bombs that do not function properly. This book is a true mind-awakening journey. 4 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. Any opinion expressed here is my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Historical Biographical Fiction, Historical German Fiction, Biographical Historical Fiction
Publisher: 700 Miles Publishing
ASIN: B0FW59K17F
Print Length: 424 pages
Publication Date: January 8, 2026
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK

The Author: Michael Reit writes page-turning historical fiction. His books focus on lesser-known events and people in World War II Europe.

He writes his books from the Netherlands, where he lives with his family.

#SundayRead

Wild by Cheryl Strayed #AudiobookReview #bookclub #TBT

Best Books of the Year 2012

Award Winner for Readers’ Favorite Memoir & Autobiography (2012)

The selection for the first book of the year, read in December (no meeting in December) for the Y Book Club was Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. This was a departure from some of the literary fiction we’ve read, certainly more profane.

My Thoughts

Guess I’m going to be attracted to novels about extraordinary hiking trails, particularly the affectionately known as the AT, or Appalachian Trail, which runs almost 2,200 miles through fourteen states. No, this memoir recalls the experience of the author on an eleven-hundred-mile hike of the Pacific Crest Trail—newer, longer (at 2,650 miles)—and runs from Mexico to Canada over the Sierra Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges.

By herself.

Cheryl was twenty-two when she found herself at the end of a marriage and having recently lost her mother. She was lost. A serendipitous discovery of a book regarding the PCT, however, fired her imagination and with little more than a burning desire to experience the trail and “find herself,” set a course.

She did do some planning, from packing and arranging boxes of necessities (including a twenty-dollar bill in each box) to be delivered to designated post offices along the route by a kind soul who agreed to mail them. Unfortunately, she didn’t train for the hike and left with gear she hadn’t actually tried, boots still to be broken in, and a backpack which proved to be almost intolerably heavy to heft.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed - UK cover — Wild – UK cover

I’m of an older generation that does not need unnecessary profane language to engage; however, this is liberally peppered with it, not to say the least of it. She reflects heavily on her life, her relationships (particularly with her mother) throughout most of the book almost to the point of skipping over the land she is trudging through with little thought other than how much her feet hurt.

Actually, if the experience is to be taken as read, she confronts relatively little wildlife, which particularly in bear, deer, and elk country I’d have expected more. She did note one bear and handled the encounter remarkably well, also witnessing a large herd of elk at one point. Lots of snakes in the deserts, particularly rattlesnakes and, again, must have been dumb luck not to have been bitten.

I loved the hiking community as described, and found most she encountered, usually men, to be friendly and supportive with only one or two incidents of a severely vulnerable situation. Fun that each hiker is given a “trail name” and there is a “trail angel” community that provides some hospitality and support. So there is some info I could enjoy. Some hikers even starting solo, meet someone along the way with whom they can compatibly pair off at a comparable hike rate.

Cheryl steadfastly determined to remain solo. There were periods of time, however, when she had to get off the trail to claim a box waiting for her at the post office or experience a little wayside town. It was during those times she hitched a ride that I thought at most risk (from other people rather than animals).

Still, there were a number of shocking revelations, one in particular that had me gagging and putting the book down for a while. She was not a person I could identify with or in whom I could engage—her character alien to me and not sympathetic. I was shocked by some of her stupid decisions and inexcusable actions.

I was surprised to learn that Reese Witherspoon starred in the making of this movie. Not too surprised to hear it was better than the book. I appreciated my library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook though and these thoughts are my own, including the interpretation of the Book Club thoughts below.

Book Club Thoughts

The publisher provides pointed questions for discussion at the book club, ably kept on topic by the facilitator. Because of the severely inclement weather the morning of the meeting, we had a very small group but most were as stunned as I was by the admission of so many of societal no-nos.

We all found the narrative to be openly honest and a few thought it was not unusual in her circumstances to be that hung up on the death of her mother or who her mother actually was to her. Few had heard of the trail and fewer still with the idea of backpacking, hiking, or even camping, much less solo. Consensus thought her idea too spontaneous, lack of experience, or preparation to make sense, and a stupid idea. It was widely agreed that more than a few salient points might have been edited out, if they’d existed at all.

Items specifically examined were:

►Discussion on why she decided to change her name and how she managed to land on Strayed—it’s definition being a person lost, moved “aimlessly from a group or the right course or place.”

►Possibly writing the book was more of a catharsis for the author than the actual hike.

►The “totems”—among which was a bracelet with the name of a Vietnam casualty, and a feather, the sole totem not lost or destroyed on the hike.

Book Details:

Publisher: Random House Audio

Narrator: Bernadette Dunne

Publication Date: March 20, 2012

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Cheryl Strayed is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, which has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide and was made into an Oscar-nominated major motion picture. Her book Tiny Beautiful Things is currently being adapted for a Hulu television show that will be released in early 2023. In 2016, Tiny Beautiful Things was adapted as a play that has been staged in theaters around the world. Strayed is also the author of the critically acclaimed debut novel, Torch, and the collection Brave Enough, which brings together more than one hundred of her inspiring quotes. Her award-winning essays and short stories have been published in The Best American Essays, the New York Times, the Washington Post Magazine, Vogue, Salon, and elsewhere. She has hosted two hit podcasts, Sugar Calling and Dear Sugars. She lives in Portland, Oregon.

The YMCA Book Club

The Last Post:The Knocknashee Series – Book 7 by Jean Grainer #BookReview #TuesdayBookBlog – #historicalfiction

The Knocknashee Story

in Historical Irish Fiction

Book Blurb:

As the dark clouds of war finally begin to break, Grace Fitzgerald and Richard Lewis glimpse the possibility of a future together after years of turmoil. Their hard-won love has withstood so much already.

Now, as the Allies launch their final assault on the European continent—determined to rid the world of Nazi terror at whatever cost—Grace must say goodbye once again. Richard has a dual mission: to witness and report on the invasion that will decide the world’s fate, and to fulfil a promise to find someone who vanished without a trace.

But in Richard’s absence, Grace faces her own reckoning. Drawn back to an old adversary, she must fight one final battle. Will their love survive not just the war, but the ghosts of their past?

My Review:

Hard to believe the journey that began with the toss of a bottle by distraught Grace Fitzgerald. Then the bottle with the note in it was found by the dog belonging to an equally disquieted Richard Lewis on one of his solitary walks along the coast.

Tis a long journey that belonged to the pen pals of nations across the pond from each other, one the victim of childhood polio in a small Irish village in Ireland, the other a man of family means and money.

The Last Post by Jean Grainger — The Knocknashee Story – Book 7

It’s only the spellbinding Irish storytelling pen of the author that the following years would be chronicled in a tale that would see Grace outliving her tyrannical older sister to find the strong, intelligent, and resourceful woman she becomes. Richard with his own pen, along with his Jewish buddy and rabid photographer, finds redemption as well as life-shattering journalistic experiences during the horrors of WWII.

It’s in this installment that Grace and Richard finally manage a short-celebrated wedding when he’s called immediately back to France to fulfill his last life-threatening assignment. There is egregious loss. The war conditions and the evil incarnate that Hitler ascribed to especially near the end when it became apparent of the German loss of the war painted gruesome scenes in the mind.

Grace, hampered by the mores of the time and the church, has learned how to deal with the church and Canon Rafferty specifically to achieve the safe custody of another victim. (The country and continent may change, but it’s remarkable how the people confront the same issues.)

The novel beautifully describes both locations, Savannah, Georgia, and the little town of Knocknashee—so like any little town in the US with the varied characters from scalawags to saintly. The characters are engaging and getting to know them a joy. It’s a deeply emotional narrative, pulling all the strings.

Can Richard safely return to Knocknashee? Can they ever settle into a real married life? What becomes of your favorite support characters? Can there be a happy ever after here?

Many thanks to the author for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Rating: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Historical British & Irish Literature, Historical Irish Fiction, #Women’s Historical Fiction
ASIN: B0FQ8SJL1R
Print Length: 290 pages
Publication Date: January 6, 2026
Source: Author

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK

The Author: Jean Grainger is a USA Today bestselling author with over 100,000 5* reviews of historical and contemporary Irish fiction. She is acclaimed for her authentic portrayal of Irish life and history. Born in Cork, she draws from her experience as a history lecturer, teacher, and tour guide to craft characters that feel like friends, and sometimes foes. Grainger’s works span multiple series and standalone novels, covering significant periods in recent Irish history, but told from the perspective of families, the humans behind the headlines. Her stories often intertwine historical events with personal journeys, exploring themes of family, friendship, and human resilience. Grainger’s writing style, characterized by its warmth and authenticity, has earned her comparisons to renowned Irish authors like Maeve Binchy. Her dedication to research and character development has resulted in a loyal readership who feel deeply connected to her stories and characters.

Before She Was Helen by Caroline B Cooney #AudiobookReview #DomesticThrillers

Book Blurb:

Her life didn’t turn out the way she expected―so she made herself a new one

When Clemmie goes next door to check on her difficult and unlikeable neighbor Dom, he isn’t there. But something else is. Something stunning, beautiful and inexplicable. Clemmie photographs the wondrous object on her cell phone and makes the irrevocable error of forwarding it. As the picture swirls over the internet, Clemmie tries desperately to keep a grip on her own personal network of secrets. Can fifty years of careful hiding under names not her own be ruined by one careless picture?

And although what Clemmie finds is a work of art, what the police find is a body. . . in a place where Clemmie wasn’t supposed to be, and where she left her fingerprints. Suddenly, the bland, quiet life Clemmie has built for herself in her sleepy South Carolina retirement community comes crashing down as her dark past surges into the present.

From international bestselling author of The Face on the Milk Carton Caroline B. Cooney comes Before She Was Helen, an absorbing mystery that brings decades-old secrets to life and explores what happens when the lie you’ve been living falls apart and you’re forced to confront the truth.

My Review:

Well, this is an unexpected treat. It appears to start as a cozy mystery, but no, it proves to be a multi-layered mystery, only part of which you’re introduced to. It might begin with a whimper, but it’ll finish with a bang…and a chuckle.

I enjoyed the good-natured pick at the seniors and the descriptions of the agers populating this tale.

Helen is living in a villa in Sun City in South Carolina. Sun City’s are rather exclusive. They are lovely senior communities. The one we lived near in Surprise, Arizona, was a great source of lovely furnishings at the consignment store where I found pieces to fill the apartment I’d found upon selling our RV.

I’m aware that senior communities tend to be much like represented in the novel. When we visited my mother in her senior mobilehome community, the news (gossip) was more about the people in the park rather than any world news.

So this narrative provides a few chuckles—some close to guffaws—and many hit close to home.

Clemmie is the feisty, sharp senior who can take charge of the situation until it comes to her own. In this case, the unwitting share of a piece in a neighbor’s home where she shouldn’t have been. And in this day and age of the internet, didn’t take long to get way out of hand. Especially when the police find the neighbor deceased.

I love it when the main character is taken back some decades ago—back before she was Helen. Clemmie has quite the history! The characters past and present drive the mystery and the plot becomes complex. Solving one thread may only lead to the next.

Will the two versions of Helen collide? This is one of those stories that becomes a delightful round of entertainment while assessing the next possible twist you won’t see coming. There are references to the 50s most seniors will identify with, which may bore the socks off the younger generations. For us, just pleasant memories.

A nicely paced, engaging, and well-plotted storyline. Fun audiobook! Recommended to me and I’m happy to recommend it to you. (You’re welcome!)

Many thanks to my local library for providing me with the opportunity to listen to and review this audiobook. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Women Sleuth Mysteries, Women’s Fiction
Publisher: Random House Audio
ASIN: B085K92P1N
Listening Length: 11 hrs 13 mins
Narrator: Kimberly Farr
Publication Date: September 8, 2020
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: Caroline B. Cooney is the bestselling author of teen suspense, mystery, and romance novels that have sold over 15,000,000 copies and are published in several languages. Of all her books, she is best known for the young adult novel The Face on the Milk Carton that has sold over 3,000,000 copies and was made into a television movie.

Caroline grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, and spent most of her life on the shoreline of that state. She currently resides in South Carolina. She enjoys spending time with her grandchildren, playing piano, walking near her home, pottery, jewelry-making, and, of course, reading.

Find Ms Cooney at http://carolinebcooneybooks.com/

#TuesdayBookBlog

Worse Than A Lie by Ben Crump – #BookReview #thrillersuspense #NetGalley

A Beau Lee Cooper Novel

Book Blurb:

It’s the night of November 4, 2008. America’s first Black president has just been elected. And fifty-three-year-old Hollis Montrose—a Black ex–police officer from the suburbs of Chicago—has become the latest victim of a brutal attack. As the result of a traffic stop gone wrong, Hollis is shot ten times in cold blood, by four white men who could have been his colleagues back in his police days.

Beau Lee Cooper was born serious, as if on an urgent mission with little time to waste. Raised in the tumultuous world of 1970s Texas, he always dreamed of becoming a lawyer and fighting for what’s right, ever since he was a little boy reading To Kill a Mockingbird. And now, ten years into running his own law firm with his best friend and partner in crime, Nelson “Nellie” Rivers, and his suave right-hand-man, Brent “Cape” Capers, he feels he’s finally making a difference. When Beau Lee learns about Hollis’s situation, he’s determined to help.

Miraculously, Hollis survives the encounter, but the Chicago police department has already spun the narrative in its favor, and Hollis is given a wrongful prison sentence with an unreasonable bail. What really happened that night the car was pulled over? Was it random or was Hollis targeted? Beau Lee knows he’s treading in dangerous waters, and finding evidence of the truth will be his biggest challenge yet, but with troubling powers at play, one innocent man’s life hangs in the balance.

His Review:

Being a police officer in Chicago has never been an easy or safe job. One would think being a security officer might be safer. Also, the pay for a policeman in Chicago wasn’t enough to properly care for a family. Hollis Montrose was a policeman supplementing his income with two other jobs, one as a security guard. It was late at night behind a Macy’s department store when he was pulled over by a fellow white police officer. Hollis was held face down on the pavement and his license was never checked.

It appears that Chicago police have never strayed far from the days of Al Capone. Shoot first and ask questions later. This was Hollis’s fate. Ten slugs were found in his body as he struggled to stay alive after being rushed to the hospital. This book shares the adjustment to life after the election of Barack Obama. The chapters are at times very gruesome but the end result is apparent. White officers had little regard for their African American fellow officers. The south was not dead in Chicago! 4 stars – CE Williams

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. Any opinion expressed here is my own.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Add to Goodreads

Book Details:

Genre: Black & African American Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Fiction, Legal Thrillers
Publisher: Bantam
ISBN-13: 978-0593875711‎
ASIN: B0FKG23528
Print Length: 368 pages
Publication Date: February 17, 2026
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Through a steadfast dedication to justice and service, renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Ben Crump has established himself as one of the nation’s foremost lawyers and advocates for social justice. He has worked on some of the most high-profile cases in the U.S., representing the families of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, and Stephon Clark, among others. He has been nationally recognized as the 2014 NNPA Newsmaker of the Year, the National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Lawyers, and Ebony Magazine Power 100 Most Influential African Americans. In 2016, he was designated as an Honorary Fellow by the University of Pennsylvania College of Law. He is the founder and principal owner of Ben Crump Law.

Have a great day!

Killing Me Softly: A Novel by Sandie Jones #BookReview #TuesdayBookBlog

Killing Me Softly by Sandie Jones

Book Blurb:

What do you do when love turns deadly?

THE PERFECT COUPLE

Charlie and Freya used to be the picture-perfect couple. Happy and in love, Freya enjoyed a rewarding job heading up a charity’s fundraising efforts, and Charlie was fast becoming one-to-watch on the London culinary scene—if you couldn’t be them, you wanted to be with them.

A TERRIBLE TRAGEDY

They had it all . . . until one night a devastating accident tears their lives apart, and they’re awoken by police at their door, asking whether they are aware that their car had been involved in a hit and run.

A BITTER FEUD

Torn apart by accusations and guilt, the trust that Freya and Charlie once shared is shattered as they turn on each other, looking for someone to blame for the fallout. Told from both Freya and Charlie’s perspectives, a cat and mouse game ensues, both of them desperate to have someone to point the finger at. But is it more important to be right, or to win? Can Freya stay one step ahead of the man who knows her best? Or will Charlie’s stoic conviction to get what he wants be the death of her?

Sandie Jones’s next addictive novel is a wickedly twisty tale of obsession, and the deadly consequences of loving someone too much.

My Review:

Can you say, “unreliable narrator?”

Many threaded, POV flips back and forth between Charlie and Freya, neither of which are truly engaging characters and I flat didn’t like Freya. Actually, I found few characters in which I could engage and I’m still scratching my head over Nina.

A fragile marriage between two damaged individuals treading water. With what happens following a row at Charlie’s boss’s house, any life jackets holding them up begin to take on water. Neither is particularly trusting of the other and with good reason. Charlie has his secrets and Freya a chilling history.

I struggled with a good portion of the book, slow pace and chaotic. Flipping between POVs kept me trying to catch up and I’m no longer interested in going back to find the linking thread. The characters are toxic and the drama is over the top. It’s confusing and the big reveal is just overkill and eye-rolling. “It’s what?” “She’s what?” No. Just–no.

I know this author has a fan base and I appreciate that they may find this one of interest. My first experience, however, and I’m not sure I’ll be looking for another with this author very soon.

I received an invitation to read the Uncorrected Digital Galley from Angelica at Minotaur Books. Many thanks to her and NetGalley for providing me with the opportunity to read and review this book. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

Rosepoint Rating: Three Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Domestic Thrillers, Psychological Thrillers
Publisher: Minotaur Books
ISBN: 978-1250910080
ASIN: B0F5PDVKLN
Print Length: 320
Publication Date: March 31, 2026
Source: Publisher and NetGalley

Title Link(s):

Amazon-US | Amazon-UK | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

The Author: Welcome to my Amazon Author Page which I’m guessing you’ve stumbled upon in the search for your next thrilling read, and I hope you find something here that whets your appetite. My debut novel, The Other Woman, is a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick and a New York Times Bestseller. But I’ve got five other titles to choose from; each of them offering something a little different from the other – though with one thing in common; they’ll all have you questioning who you should trust and who’s taking you for a ride! From husbands to sisters, and work colleagues to mother-in-laws – you could be forgiven for thinking that they’re all perfectly ordinary people…..until something extra-ordinary happens!

My next novel, I Would Die For You, is a dual timeline suspense novel alternating between the present day in California and 1986 in London, back when I was a 16 year old, obsessed with Duran Duran. I truly believed Simon Le Bon was going to see me in the front row of a concert and instantly fall in love. Sadly it didn’t happen for me, but it does for Nicole, when the lead singer of Secret Oktober spots her and they embark on a clandestine affair. But where there’s cloak and daggers, there’ll invariably be blood – but whose will it be?

Pre-order now for delivery on publication day and click the ‘follow’ button for special deals. Catch me on Instagram @sandiejones_author and Facebook @realsandiejones for updates, recommendations and author chat.

Have a merry Tuesday!