Off Menu by Amy Rosen

 

Hilarious most of the time, Ruthie pines for Dean whom she had a fling with in Thailand. She can’t get him out of her head but also thinks of looking at her future as a chef and registers for culinary school courtesy of grandma’s legacy. 

Interspersed with wonderful cooking lessons and mouth watering food is another romance, someone who breaks Ruthie’s heart, scams her out of her money and disappears. Ruthie has to concentrate very hard to get her priorities right and focus on what is important.

Lots of young fun, delicious food and a simple story which caught my interest.

Sent by ECW Press for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

The Lights of Shantinagar by Nidhi Arora

 

A fresh look at joint family life in a small town where everyone purportedly knows everyone else’s business. Joint family living has never been easy, not then not now and in this story there is a easy going mother in law and father in law ( half the battle won), a well established elder sister in law who has no wish to loosen the reins and the newest daughter in law, who is wise enough to compromise on many things. The men are harmless, non interfering. Very unusual in itself.

The happenings in one house are linked with their neighbours and so examinations, entrance to colleges, marriage proposals are all very much a communal issue. How lives get micro managed by everyone in their circuit, the inevitability of it all is highlighted. It is not callous and uncaring or harsh. Far from it. Everyone believes one is acting for the common good and the betterment of the unit.

I liked the story very much but for those who need personal space, this would be a bit of an eye opener. Reminiscent of what happens even today (maybe with a few tweaks here and there) this was a very good story.

Sent by Unbound for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

Her First Mistake by Kendra Elliot

 

Noelle Marshall is a detective in the sheriffs office. Thirteen years ago she was the fashionable stay at home wife of Derrick Bell, Assemblyman. Derrick Bell was found brutally bashed to death and Noelle was left for dead. The case was not solved, despite thorough investigation.

Now the cold case is being reviewed and though Noelle never got her memory of the incident back she has made a life for herself, far away from her toxic in laws who tried their best to make her out as being in cahoots with the murderer. 

Noelle has secrets of her own and Derrick himself turned into a manipulative, narcissistic being totally different to the man Noelle fell in love with. As the case is being reopened, questions are being asked from both families as the detectives feel that the answer lies there. When a series of incidents take place culminating in a bomb attack on Noelle’s car, the detectives realise that they are getting closer to the truth than ever before.

The final revelations are totally out of the blue, and this is what made this a fabulous, intriguing read.

Sent by Montlake for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

The Fire Concerto by Sarah Landenwich

 

This was a story where one needed all your wits around you. It was complicated, went off in wildly parallel story lines and then finally came together.

Clara a piano playing prodigy is one of the main characters. Injured in a fire which she blames on her teacher, she has turned away from music and now works in a bar. A unexpected inheritance to several notables in the music world including Clara took all by surprise. Madame Sikorska who was Clara’s mentor was not known for generosity or kindness.

The inheritance sparked off a search into its history, including the ownership as doubts arose whether it was part of looted property from Jews fleeing Poland. The metronome purported to belong to the composer Starza has been missing since 1885. It was also supposed to be the one used in his murder. However nothing seems what it appears to be and history may have to be rewritten as far as Starzas loves and life was. It also may provide the impetus to propel Clara back into her professional life.

This was a complicated quite emotional, violent and traumatic retelling of a hidden story where facts are being uncovered a hundred years later. It was sad too because characters were misunderstood and forgotten completely.

Sent by Union Square & Company, a subsidiary of Sterling Publications, courtesy of Netgalley.

Keeping the Countess by Lille Moore

 

After a series of murder and mystery, this was the reading required.

A new vicar with secrets and revenge on his mind. The young Countess being embezzled by her steward. Holding on just to get Adam her young stepbrother into university, she is prepared to sacrifice anything. 

Falling in love with the Reverend was not on the cards. For the Reverend his feelings of wanting to protect the young mistress of the Castle was surprising and messed up his real plans for his future.

A mix of a love story and shades of a mystery which needed to be solved, aided by young people,  greedy, grasping employees and a society which would not give any woman a place of authority or power, this was a light but cautionary story.

Sent by Wildflower Press for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

The English Masterpiece by Katherine Reay

 

Lily is proud of her achievements and position in the art world. As assistant to the famous art curator Diana Wilken, Lily has organized a Picasso exhibition in London. The opening night is glittery, filled with celebrities until the moment Lily announces to the world at large, that one of the Picasso is a forgery. It captures the attention of all including the media and both Lily and Diana’s jobs are on the line when the story breaks out.

That is just the bare bones of the beginning of the story. What follows is a convoluted tale of greed, deceit and avarice for position not caring whom you destroy in protecting your own interests. How ruthless human beings can be in a cut throat business where stakes are very high. It also highlights integrity on the other side and being true to what you believe in.

The 1970s art and fashion scene are vividly described in this story. 

Stories like this rich in a different era and environment add so much variety to a reader who may never get to experience such places. 

Sent by Harper Muse for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

Hayley Hope is Gone by Michele Dominguez Greene

 

All Agent Emily Ray wants is to have a peaceful holiday with her ailing father in a place which had happy memories for her family. She did not think she would get embroiled in a case of a drowned teenager. The neighbour of Emily is convinced that it is murder, and an abduction run by a gang of corrupt law keepers who control the town.

Knowing she is out of her area limits and acting outside the boundaries of her mandatory leave, Emily slowly uncovers a trail of missing teenage girls, a cult fixated by their wishes to protect their own and very dangerous to outsiders.

The plot unravels slowly but Emily is not giving up. She is a voice for those girls without anyone to speak up for them. The predators seem to go for those in foster care, knowing that they are helpless.

Poignant and tense this was a good story about human trafficking, still prevalent today.

Sent by Storm Publishing for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

A Shipwreck in Fiji by Nilima Rao

 

Sergeant Akal  Singh is not in the good books of his colonial bosses. Facts misrepresented means that the so called disgrace follows him wherever he goes. The year 1915 in Fiji was for me a good background for the story with overt racism, colonial bullying and simmering discontent.

Charged with accompanying two English ladies to an island, Sergeant Akal, also has to keep an eye out for a group of German soldiers, find them, capture them and bring them back. The story involves two murders with a history of past misdeeds going back decades to India and a rebellion there, the English ladies with a secret of their own and the capture of a group of Norwegian soldiers aka Germans which was the coup d’etat for Akal.

History not so nice for the native population, very descriptive of life in this unusual setting with British overlords ruling the roost on a diminishing Empire.

Sent by Soho Press for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

A Marvellous Murder by David S. Pederson

 

Historical tones, plenty of mystery and detective work, a nice setting of Hollywood circa 1939, a background of homosexual relationships and the cover up that was so necessary at the time make up for this easy going read.

Set against the enactment of a film, the obnoxious director disliked by all even his girlfriends whom he has forced into bed with him is found shot in a room in the classic all doors windows locked. The police detectives are quick to rule it as suicide though many are skeptical how such a selfish man could do such a thing. Victor Marvel an almost has been takes it upon himself to investigate further and brings a trail of suspicion on him. Unearthing clues as he goes along, he solves it and presents it to the Police as a fait accomplie.

Detailed and descriptive this was a pleasant read.

Sent by Bold Strokes Books Inc for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.

The Socialiste’s Guide to Sleuthing and Secrets by S K Golden

 

Evelyn Murphy lives in a hotel with her dog and cat. She is an heiress with a penchant to solving crime. She also has a dislike or a phobia of stepping out of the hotel and spends her entire day in the hotel.

When one of her guests falls ill whilst dining and subsequently dies and Evelyn herself is a witness, the death is ruled as murder and Evelyn is determined to get to the bottom of it and clear Chef Marco’s name and the reputation of the hotel.

Set in 1958 the story is descriptive not just of the era, but also of this particular class of society. I enjoyed a book by this author before but there seemed to be a sameness to the style and story in this one as well. 

There is a lot of the manner in which rich people of the time behaved which they thought perfectly normal. This grated after some time. 

Sent by Crooked Lane Books for an unbiased review courtesy of Netgalley 

The Summer House by Lauren K. Denton

 

All about revival after a devastating blow to your expectations. Lily has moved to Alabama just a little while ago and now finds herself facing a goodbye note from her husband and divorce papers for her to sign and return. Finding a vacancy for a hair stylist at a retirement village was a god send and a lifesaver. Finding friends and a support system was even better.  Rose the founder of the village is prickly, not sentimental and keeps herself apart from the friendly tenants. She finds some rapport with Lily and despite her normal self finds herself helping Lily to settle in.

This was an enjoyable, light hearted read set in a fishing community in the Deep South in America. The setting was different and made for a nice change. The story is set on an even keel and was predictable.

Sent by Thomas Nelson Fiction for an unbiased review, courtesy of Netgalley.