Daily Archives: March 5, 2020

The Absent Woman by Marlene Lee

“I couldn’t put down The Absent Woman. I relished every scene, every word. It’s one of the most compelling novels that I’ve read…”
Ella Leffland (author of Rumors of Peace and The Knight, Death, and the Devil.)

“Lee writes quite beautifully, with grace and wit and precision… The book will stay with me for a long time.”
Alex George (author of A Good American)

“… a sometimes exhilarating, sometimes excruciating, and always compelling journey of self-examination. In lucid prose, Lee tells a marvelous story with echoes of Kate Chopin’s THE AWAKENING.”
Keija Parssinen (author of The Ruins of Us)

“Lee spins a yarn both poetic and full of slowly gathering mystery . . . an illuminating insight into how we often try to untangle someone else’s story to make sense of our own realities.”
Jill Renae Hicks
Columbia Daily Tribune

“Using her gift for dialogue and description, the author effectively draws her readers to turn the pages of the book and follow Virginia as she tries to look for herself.”
5* review from Reader’s Favorite www.readersfavorite.com

Virginia Johnstone doesn’t need a rest, she needs a change; not comfort, but purpose. Divorced, and a visitor in her children’s lives, she decides to leave Seattle and spend three months in the harbor town of Hilliard. There, on the edge of Puget Sound, she sublets rooms in an old hotel, rooms belonging to a woman who has vanished without explanation. In search of someone who can take her piano-playing to the next level, Virginia encounters Twilah Chan, an inspiring teacher and disturbing presence. Twilah’s son, Greg, an exciting but also disturbing presence, re-awakens Virginia’s romantic life. When she discovers a connection between the absent woman of the old hotel, Twilah, and Greg, she must decide whether to pursue the uncertain course she has set for herself or return to the safety of Seattle.

In a novel which is both elegiac and passionate, insightful and wryly humorous, Marlene Lee explores the need for change and the emotional consequences of leaving an old life in order to embrace a new one.

Last Chance Llama Ranch by Hilary Fields

From the author of Bliss comes a heartwarming tale of friendship, romance, self-discovery… and llama drama.
When a close encounter with an eighty-foot spruce steals Merry Manning’s dreams of Olympic gold, the former ski champ finds herself falling into a career she never expected — the life of a travel writer. Picturing glamorous trips to exotic places, Merry is speechless when her boss assigns her to the blog, "Don’t Do What I Did," and sends her to a middle-of-nowhere llama ranch with instructions to "fall on her fanny" as often as possible.
Soon she’s eyeball-deep in alpacas, llamas, goats, and all the mess that comes with them. But when the Last Chance Llama Ranch — and a certain gruff cowboy– start to grow on her, Merry finds that each life might actually be just what she’s been missing.
You know what they say: when life gives you llamas….

Hiddenby Lisa Sell

The truth lies in the darkest places…

Jen Taylor has a secret.

In 1987 the body of fourteen-year-old Kelly was found on a railway track and Jen believes she was responsible for her death.

Now an adult, Jen is approached by Kelly’s mother, who asks her to help investigate her daughter’s murder. 

But Jen is hiding more than anyone knows.

As the investigation is reopened by Jen, along with her former friend Claire, secrets from the past come to light and when another murder takes place, the case takes a sinister turn.

Did Jen really kill Kelly and can she ever right the wrongs of the past?

Talk Dirty To Me by Ali Parker

A woman in the business of love that’s never been in a real relationship.

Check. That’s me. Nessa Night.

Now I know what you’re thinking. That sounds like a stripper name.

Hold up. Let me explain.

It’s my radio talk-show name. My incognito way of helping the world love deeper and more often.

Though my love life is like a ten-year-old fall leaf trapped between the pages of an old journal. #dramatic

I’m short. Curvy. Average at best.

And I’m a fraud.

For all the advice I give on the air, I have zero experience to back it up. I’m eternally single. Forever alone.

And the only man I’ve ever caught feelings for is one of my callers: Mr No Name.

Much to my surprise, he’s not unknown at all.

The grandson of the great Jack Daniels is my caller, and worse? He’s my brother’s best friend from high school.

Only one way to right these increasingly awkward wrongs.

High school reunion time. He wants in, and I want a date who looks like him.

The only thing off is his advice about love. It’s from Nessa night. Me!

And if he swoons over her (me!) one more time, I’ll have to give in and tell him.

Besides, I’m in the business of love.

If I don’t got this, who does? *Gulp*