
Welcome July! May the second half of the year be better than the first! Although, not to be a Negative Nellie, it is not off to a good start. Our governor has once again initiated a partial shut down to 70% of the state of California. I beg you, stay home and please wear a mask!
Check out my current reads and what I hope to read the rest of the month!
Currently Reading/Listening To….

The Suicide House by Charlie Donlea
This is book two in the Rory Moore/Lane Phillips Series. I loved book one, Some Choose Darkness, so I was pretty excited to dive into this one. So far, so good!

Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah
I haven’t gotten too far into this audiobook, but so far it is promising!
The Rest of the Month…

The Orphan Collector by Ellen Marie Wiseman
Goodreads Synopsis
In the fall of 1918, thirteen-year-old German immigrant Pia Lange longs to be far from Philadelphia’s overcrowded streets and slums, and from the anti-German sentiment that compelled her father to enlist in the U.S. Army, hoping to prove his loyalty. But an even more urgent threat has arrived. Spanish influenza is spreading through the city. Soon, dead and dying are everywhere. With no food at home, Pia must venture out in search of supplies, leaving her infant twin brothers alone.
Since her baby died days ago, Bernice Groves has been lost in grief and bitterness. If doctors hadn’t been so busy tending to hordes of immigrants, perhaps they could have saved her son. When Bernice sees Pia leaving her tenement across the way, she is buoyed by a shocking, life-altering decision that leads her on a sinister mission: to transform the city’s orphans and immigrant children into what she feels are “true Americans.”
As Pia navigates the city’s somber neighborhoods, she cannot know that her brothers won’t be home when she returns. And it will be a long and arduous journey to learn what happened—even as Bernice plots to keep the truth hidden at any cost. Only with persistence, and the courage to face her own shame and fear, will Pia put the pieces together and find the strength to risk everything to see justice at last.
…

He Started It by Samantha Downing
Goodreads Synopsis
Beth, Portia, and Eddie Morgan haven’t all been together in years. And for very good reasons—we’ll get to those later. But when their wealthy grandfather dies and leaves a cryptic final message in his wake, the siblings and their respective partners must come together for a cross-country road trip to fulfill his final wish and—more importantly—secure their inheritance.
But time with your family can be tough. It is for everyone.
It’s even harder when you’re all keeping secrets and trying to forget a memory—a missing person, an act of revenge, the man in the black truck who won’t stop following your car—and especially when at least one of you is a killer and there’s a body in the trunk. Just to name a few reasons.
But money is a powerful motivator. It is for everyone.
…

The Night Swim by Megan Goldin
Goodreads Synopsis
After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall is now a household name―and the last hope for thousands of people seeking justice. But she’s used to being recognized for her voice, not her face. Which makes it all the more unsettling when she finds a note on her car windshield, addressed to her, begging for help.
The small town of Neapolis is being torn apart by a devastating rape trial. The town’s golden boy, a swimmer destined for Olympic greatness, has been accused of raping a high school student, the beloved granddaughter of the police chief. Under pressure to make Season Three a success, Rachel throws herself into interviewing and investigating―but the mysterious letters keep showing up in unexpected places. Someone is following her, and she won’t stop until Rachel finds out what happened to her sister twenty-five years ago. Officially, Jenny Stills tragically drowned, but the letters insists she was murdered―and when Rachel starts asking questions, nobody seems to want to answer. The past and present start to collide as Rachel uncovers startling connections between the two cases that will change the course of the trial and the lives of everyone involved.
…

The Dilemma by B.A. Paris
Goodreads Synopsis
It’s Livia’s fortieth birthday and tonight she’s having a party, a party she’s been planning for a long time. The only person missing will be her daughter, Marnie.
But Livia has a secret, a secret she’s been keeping from Adam, her husband, until the party is over. Because how can she tell him that although she loves Marnie, she’s glad their daughter won’t be there to celebrate with her?
Adam is determined everything will be just right for Livia and the party is going to be perfect… until he learns something that will leave him facing an unbearable decision.
…

Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
Goodreads Synopsis
Maggie Holt is used to such questions. Twenty-five years ago, she and her parents, Ewan and Jess, moved into Baneberry Hall, a rambling Victorian estate in the Vermont woods. They spent three weeks there before fleeing in the dead of night, an ordeal Ewan later recounted in a nonfiction book called House of Horrors. His tale of ghostly happenings and encounters with malevolent spirits became a worldwide phenomenon, rivaling The Amityville Horror in popularity—and skepticism.
Today, Maggie is a restorer of old homes and too young to remember any of the events mentioned in her father’s book. But she also doesn’t believe a word of it. Ghosts, after all, don’t exist. When Maggie inherits Baneberry Hall after her father’s death, she returns to renovate the place to prepare it for sale. But her homecoming is anything but warm. People from the past, chronicled in House of Horrors, lurk in the shadows. And locals aren’t thrilled that their small town has been made infamous thanks to Maggie’s father. Even more unnerving is Baneberry Hall itself—a place filled with relics from another era that hint at a history of dark deeds. As Maggie experiences strange occurrences straight out of her father’s book, she starts to believe that what he wrote was more fact than fiction.
…

Whatever It Takes by Paul Cleave
Goodreads Synopsis
When seven-year-old Alyssa is kidnapped, Deputy Noah Harper decides he will do what it takes to find her – but that means crossing lines he can never come back from. Finding the girl safe, isn’t enough to stop Noah from losing his job, his wife, and from being kicked out of Acacia Pines. He’s told if he ever returns, he’ll be put in jail and left there to rot. Now, 12 years later, comes a phone call. Alyssa is missing again and her father wants him to honour the promise he made to her all those years earlier – that he would never let anything bad happen to her again. To find her, Noah is going to have to head back to the pines, and come face to face with the past.
What are you looking forward to reading this month?
Let’s get social…
I hope you have a great reading month!
(www.evelynreads.com)
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I will be reading The Night Swim soon too. It looks very good! I can’t wait ❤️
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He Started It, The Night Swim, and Home Before Dark are all great reads. Enjoy them all, Tina!
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Thank you!
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I have pre-ordered He Started It…and I have The Night Swim as a NetGalley ARC. Love Winter Garden! Enjoy your July!
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I really enjoyed The Dilemma so hope you do too. All your other books sound good, especially the new Riley Sager! Happy reading! 🙂
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Thank you!
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Oh, how I loved Winter Garden. Took me a little bit to get into, though. Be prepared to lose some tears.
Of course, I also have the Downing and Sager books on my shelf, too. Enjoy July💜
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I’m not too far yet, but I can see how this book could be a tough, tear jerking read!
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I have The Dilemma and the new Sager book on my tbr, also The Night Swim sounds amazing! He Started It has been on my nightstand for too long, I need to get to it soon.
Tina I hope you’ll enjoy them all. 😀
~ Corina | The Brown Eyed Bookworm
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I hope we both love them all!
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I loved Winter Garden which made me cry. I preferred it to the better known The Nightingale. Can’t wait to see what you think. The depictions of Russia during the war were hard to read and so sad.
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That is really good to hear! I cannot wait to get further!
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I enjoyed He Started It, though not quite as much as her previous book. I hope you enjoy it!
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Oooo The Night Swim is on deck for me to read!!
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What a wonderful selection, Tina. I hope you love the Paul Cleave. I also have the Charlie Donlea to read. I was declined for the others. Probably a good thing as my July reading list is scary! Enjoy your wonderful books!❤😍📚☕🍪
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Great TBR! I’ve been meaning to pick up my copy of Winter Garden and most of the others are on my TBR too. I hope you will enjoy these! xx
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