The cover on this book looked so intriguing, as did the book description, so I was excited to get the chance to read this. This book was an interesting combination of historical fiction and a contemporary viewpoint. The plot was great - the plot twists at the end I just didn't see coming and I really liked the overall plot line. Caroline's character was intriguing and curious, and her growth throughout the story was wonderful to see. And I LOVED that she didn't stay with her husband, who was a manipulative asshole. Overall this was a sweet story and I really enjoyed it, I would recommend it! 

I've heard so much buzz about this author with their recent books so I was excited to see their new release come up on BookBrowse. I don't know if it was just timing but this book was really hard for me to get started with. There's always so much to do get ready for Christmas and between that and my work schedule I was having a lot of trouble carving out time to read. Once I got into the story though, I really enjoyed the plot line. The parallel between the two different time periods was really interesting and added to the overall story plot. I really liked Carly's character and her little menagerie of friends she collected upon her arrival into Fell. I thought the author did a great job of really dragging the reader down into that spiral of obsession that happens when you become completely enveloped in a mystery. Vivian's spiral into obsession was really well written and really jumped off the page. Comparatively, some of the other emotions of the story fell a little flat to me. I'm not sure if it's because I had to keep jumping in and out of the story but some of the emotions weren't as lively as I thought they could have been. Overall the creepy/horror factor was definitely there though and I ended up really enjoying the story. I would recommend reading this one, it was an exciting read and really interesting story.

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review.

I've read some other novels by this author in the past few years and it can be hit or miss. I have found that I really like the plot lines, as there are always some great twists and turns, and this novel definitely had those. At the same time, there is a lot of information included in the novels and it can be easy to get lost in the weeds. I have found that many of the books share a common theme also, that life is hard and there are trials everyone must go through. Things don't seem to go smoothly for anyone in the story and the main characters usually have to suffer through an unhappy marriage or relationship before they can find a semblance of happiness later on. Its kind of depressing. Also specifically with this novel, while I liked having the three timelines included in the story and I understood why it was presented the way that it was (for dramatic effect), at the same time I had trouble remembering where we were or who the narrator was or what time we were in. Part of my issue I think is that I had a lot going on at work this past week so I couldn't sit and devote my concentration to the novel except for short spurts of time. I would definitely recommend this one to historical fiction fans, especially if you can carve out some time to just sit and read. If you're able to find yourself lost in this novel I think the story would be much easier to read and a bit more enjoyable. I'd still recommend this one but it didn't work out for me personally this week.

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of a group of fourth year theater students attending Dellecher Classical Conservatory, an elite college for the arts that has a slightly unorthodox approach to advancement. Each year only certain students are allowed to advance to the next year's level, which for this particular story resulted in a group of 7 unusually close senior year theater students. In this particular group, the line between friend and enemy is continually blurred and tensions reach new heights. The story is narrated by one of these seven students, Oliver Marks, who when we first meet him is at the end of his 10 year prison sentence. We meet him as he begins to tell the story of what actually happened a decade ago to Detective Colborne, his arresting officer. Colborne has been haunted by this case the past ten years because he never believed that Oliver was actually the killer. And as the story of that year unfolds, there are many layers to be peeled back before the truth can be uncovered. There are heroes and damsels, tragedy and comedy, lovers and friends. And in the end, there is more than one villain.
Overall I really liked this book a lot. I thought it was so different and so interesting. As the theater student's curriculum centers mostly around Shakespeare, there were many different passages from his various works woven into the story line and the conversations, and I just loved it. You could feel how young the group of them were, even though they were dealing with such intense adult problems. And Oliver was perhaps the most innocent of them all, and seeing the story through his eyes added that extra layer of naivete. After the murder Oliver and his remaining friends fall to pieces, each of them dealing with their own feelings of guilt and responsibility in different ways. Centered within Oliver's story is his best friend, James, and his love interest, Meredith. The roles here even are oftentimes blurred, as Oliver's feelings for James are not so easily categorized into the label of "friends." That was one of the things I loved most about this book was how well it portrayed that love and hate are on the same spectrum of emotion, and if you feel one it is very easily turned to the other side of the spectrum when a person is pushed to their limit. I also thought the character development in this novel was really well done, I could feel everything that Oliver felt with such strength that I felt sucked into the story itself. The story was heart-warming and heart-breaking all in one and while I was a little surprised at the ending I really just enjoyed this book so much. I would most definitely recommend and I can't wait to see more from this author in the future!

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of Rachel Monroe, a woman from Memphis that can grant people's wishes by thinking about them. Rachel has had a rough life up to this point, after accidentally wishing her brother away, her father walking out on her, and her mother killing herself, plus Rachel spent much of her time hospitalized or in therapy due to her "condition." No one seems to believe that Rachel has this ability, and her parents can't seem to remember her brother Michael. The only family Rachel has left is her friend MaryBeth, who spent time with Rachel in a psych hospital. After Rachel starts granting wishes again though, she runs away to try and protect those she loves. She ends up in a town called Nowhere, North Carolina, where she meets Catch, who can keep secrets by baking pies. But when Rachel's secret gets out, the Town isn't quite so welcoming.

Overall I really liked this book. It reminded me a lot of The Glass Kitchen by Linda Francis Lee because of the magical realism and the food, and that was one of my favorite books of 2014. I liked the characters in this book, there was a lot going on in the story and it kept me interested throughout with the varied story lines. I thought that the ending was a little abrupt, there were definitely some things that I thought were unresolved at the end of the book. I still really enjoyed the book though, the romance in the book was sweet and it was wonderful to see their relationship develop. This was a great book and I would recommend!

First I have to say that I just love the cover of this book, its glitz and glamour and it really calls out to readers. The girl on the cover I think is Sophie, she is described at one of the parties in the books wearing a dress similar to the one on the cover. This book has a varied cast of characters but mostly centers around Theresa Marshall, her brother "Ox" (Jay), his fiancee Sophie Fortescue, and Theresa's lover Octavian ("the Boy"). Theresa's character reminded me a lot of Babe from Swans of Fifth Avenue and Tiny from Tiny Little Thing and I really connected with her character the most. After Jay becomes engaged to Sophie, Theresa asks Octavian to dig into Sophie's family just to make sure there aren't any huge skeletons that would mar the family name. Unfortunately this opens a can of worms that will end up drastically changing all of their lives.
Overall I really liked this book. The author did an amazing job of transporting the reader; her description of the scene at the horse track was so well done I felt like I was there with Theresa and Octavian. Honestly I could almost smell the horses. The characters were also very complex and interesting. I really felt bad for Theresa through most of the story. She may have been a difficult person but she was so in love with Octavian and I could just feel her sadness emanating from the book when Octavian started to fall for Sophie. The story line was riveting and had a couple of good twists and turns. I didn't want to put the book down, the story really just draws the reader in. I'm not really sure yet how I feel about the ending. I think that it fit with the story line and it was a touching ending but it left me feeling a little empty I think. I actually feel very similar to how I felt about the ending of Along the Infinite Sea, I'm left feeling a little adrift. Really good story though and a great book. This is definitely going to be a summer must read!

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book picks up 5 years after the end of the previous book, "The Witch's Daughter." I didn't know that this book was a sequel until I started reading it so I hadn't read the first book ahead of time. While I didn't find that this hindered me in any way, I think that some of the back story items discussed in this book would have made more sense to me if I had read the first book before hand. I still greatly enjoyed this book though.

From what I was able to gather, Gideon was defeated at the end of the first book and banished to a prison in some kind of witch heaven. In the beginning of this book, Gideon escapes his prison and returns to Earth. Elizabeth follows him, thinking that the first thing he'll do is go after her young student Tegan not only for Tegan's part in Gideon's incarceration but also as a means of getting revenge on Elizabeth. While she is correct on Gideon's direction, she has no idea that his plans for Tegan involve something far worse than merely revenge. After Gideon manages to capture Tegan, Elizabeth follows them through time to try and retrieve Tegan back from Gideon's dark forces.
Overall I really enjoyed this book! I have to be honest I was surprised that I enjoyed it so much since the last book I read by Brackston (The Midnight Witch) I did not really enjoy so much because it was very confusing for me. This book was much easier to follow with the story line and it was a great story/plot. I do wish that I had read the previous book to have a better understanding of some of the back story but it was easy enough to figure out the gist of what had happened for the most part. And this book was just so interesting, it was one adventure after another. We learn about Tegan's journey through the world in search of learning different types of magic and each stop ends up being more fantastical than the last. I would definitely recommend this book, it was an interesting and adventurous read and I very much enjoyed it!

This book tells the story of Ruth, a young girl growing up in a polygamist Mormon community in Mexico near the US border. Ruth and her siblings are all technically American citizens, so even though they live in Mexico, their mother (Kathy) still collects welfare and food stamps from the US. This book is about Ruth's childhood and also about her family. Ruth bares all in this book and readers should be warned, there are descriptions of multiple unfortunate deaths/funerals and also child abuse. After seeing a few episodes of that show Sister Wives on TLC I will admit I have a weird interest in hearing stories of people who have lived or grew up in the polygamist lifestyle. The idea of it is just so foreign to me that I can't understand how a marriage can be shared between more than two people, the logistics of it and how it can survive the tests of time. So when I saw this book available on BookBrowse I was immediately interested.

While growing up, Ruth and her family move around a lot over the years. At one point her mother leaves her step-father (after an incident with him buying a shower head for wife #1 with Ruth's mother's money) and they go to the US to live with Kathy's parents for awhile. They don't ever end up in one place for very long, though they are forced to live in El Paso, TX for about 2 years when DCF gets involved after the kids are left alone for almost a week (the oldest child at that time was 12 and the youngest was 1 or 2 if I remember correctly). I thought Ruth did just such a fantastic job describing the different locations where she spent time growing up. The imagery seems so real in the book that the reader feels like they are standing right beside Ruth seeing it with her. The events and timeline in this book are well-laid out and very detailed. I felt like I really got to hear about Ruth's story and all the details of her childhood growing up.

Overall I really liked this book, it was moving and heart-breaking and a beautiful story about a woman's traumatic childhood but also about how she overcame that childhood to become the person she is today. At 19 she was taking care of all of her younger siblings, trying to support them while also getting her GED and then going to college. Honestly as heart-breaking as her childhood was, I thought this book was inspirational. To think that someone can live through so much heartbreak and still come out not only surviving but thriving, really it is a feat to be admired. Also at this time of year especially when we are giving thanks for the things in our lives we are most grateful for, this book is a great reminder that I should be grateful for the childhood I had and for the two loving, caring parents that God gave me. I think the story was well written and poignant, and I have so much respect for Ruth not only for what she went through but also for having the courage to share her story with the world.

I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book is mostly about Fereiba and her family. The book starts out when she is born and tells the story of her life living in Kabul, Afghanistan. Her childhood is not what I would call happy but she had a roof over her head and plenty of food and necessities. She ends up marrying Mahmoud and together they have children. After Fereiba's first child though, things begin to change in Kabul. Women are no longer along to go out unless escorted by men and there are many other restrictions placed on their lives, including that girls are no longer allowed to attend school. Fereiba had been a teacher before the new laws were imposed but she is no longer given the choice to have a job at all. Though she was unsure in the beginning of their marriage, Mahmoud and Fereiba do well together and end up falling in love. They keep their children grounded and try to give them as normal a life as possible amid all the bombings and war and terror. It isn't until tragedy strikes though that Fereiba realizes she and her children need to escape Afghanistan. And so begins a journey to England, where Fereiba's sister lives and has invited them to come stay until they can get on their own feet.
During this time in Afghanistan's history, hundreds of thousands of refugees were seeking asylum in other countries due to the terror tactics that the Taliban has imposed on the Afghani people. Fereiba and her family have a long journey ahead of them, and it is far from easy. Each country along the way has camps of refugees living in squalor, hoping to be granted asylum so they won't be sent back. Many who are captured however are sent back to the last country they had traveled through or to Afghanistan itself. Fereiba is also struggling with traveling with her infant child who is discovered along the route to have a heart condition that he will die from if it is not addressed. Fereiba is one of the lucky few refugees who finds kind souls along the way who help her and her family on their journey to a better life.
Overall I honestly loved this book. The subject matter itself is obviously moving and sad and (hopefully) fills the reader with compassion and empathy for these poor souls. The author though really just did such an amazing job with the story, it was beautifully written. It was poignant and touching and I got so involved in the characters and their lives. Fereiba's journey was full of heart-breaks and tough choices but in that situation what can you do but try and give your children the best life possible? The ending was left slightly open but I can't help but believe there was a happy ending. This is definitely a must read.