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Can you believe it is already time to select our next book? I had the BEST time gathering the reviews for this month’s offerings.
For my new readers, each month you have access to a free Kindle book just for being a Prime member.
If you aren’t familiar with how this program works, head to this post that shares everything you wanted to know about the Amazon First Reads program (formerly the Kindle First program).
Each month I put together this post that is intended to make selection easierThese posts share the names of each selection, a small blurb, critical reviews, reader feedback, and the ratings (so far) on the GoodReads app.
I will also tell you which book I chose so don’t forget to scroll to the end on this month’s post!
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Hide (Detective Harriet Foster Book 1) by Tracy Clark
Looking for a book you can finish in a single day? Readers said that they could not put this suspenseful read down. Many shared that they are excited to see that this is the first in a series and plan to pick up the next books from this author.
This police procedural thriller has a 4.36 rating on GoodReads with 121 reviews.
Publishers Weekly also shared this glowing review, “[Det. Harriet] Foster’s dogged approach to catching killers will resonate with Michael Connelly fans. May the wait for the second Harriet Foster police procedural be brief.”
"From acclaimed author Tracy Clark comes a page-turning mystery featuring hard-boiled Chicago detective Harriet Foster, who’s on the hunt for a serial killer with a deadly affinity for redheads.
When a young red-haired woman is found brutally murdered in downtown Chicago, one detail stands out: the red lipstick encircling her wrists and ankles.
Detective Harriet Foster is on the case, even though she’s still grieving the sudden death of her partner. As a Black woman in a male-dominated department, Foster anticipates a rocky road ahead acclimating to a new team—and building trust with her new partner isn’t coming easily.
After another victim turns up with the same lipstick markings, Foster suspects she’s looking for a serial killer. Through a tip from a psychiatrist, Foster learns about Bodie Morgan: a troubled man with a twisted past and a penchant for pretty young redheads with the bluest eyes. As Foster wades into Morgan’s sinister history, the killer continues their gruesome assault on Chicago’s streets."
Reviewers have praised this as well-written, absorbing, fast paced, full of twists, and shared that it has nail-biting suspense.
Five Winters by Kitty Johnson
Readers praised this women's fiction selection for its cozy, heartwarming, and enjoyable read. It was highlighted as a wonderful option for romance fiction lovers, particularly for the winter and holiday seasons.
This novel has a 4.27 rating with 251 reviews (so far). This book has many five-star reviews, and readers praised Johnson's writing for being filled with energy and empathy. The book's structure was also hailed as it centers around Beth's life over a five-winter period. It gave the readers a lot of anticipation to see how the story would unfold over the years.
Ever since Beth Bailey was a girl, she’s been in love with her best friend’s older brother, Mark. She’s continued to hold out hope that maybe, someday, he’ll love her back. But now Beth is thirty-five years old, and on the day of Mark’s wedding to another woman, she finally accepts the wake-up call she needs to move on.
Beth’s dream of marrying her first love may be over, but her other biggest desire is still within reach: becoming a mother. Having lost her own parents very young, there’s nothing Beth wants more in life, and nothing she’ll stop at to make her wish come true.
Over the course of five years, and with unexpected twists along the way, Beth will come to startling realizations about family, friendship, the meaning of love, and most importantly, herself.
A Castle in Brooklyn by Shirley Russak
This month's historical fiction currently has a 4.07 rating with 84 reviews on Goodreads.
Readers loved how this story spanned over decades and described it as enthralling, memorable, and a favorite of their reading year. Library Journal also offered this praise, “This is a story about immigration, adaptation to new cultures, and…a chance to grapple with the traditional roles that women play…A solid choice for book clubs.”
Spanning decades, an unforgettable novel about reckoning with the past, the true nature of friendship, and the dream of finding home.
1944, Poland. Jacob Stein and Zalman Mendelson meet as boys under terrifying circumstances. They survive by miraculously escaping, but their shared past haunts and shapes their lives forever.
Years later, Zalman plows a future on a Minnesota farm. In Brooklyn, Jacob has a new life with his wife, Esther. When Zalman travels to New York City to reconnect, Jacob’s hopes for the future are becoming a reality. With Zalman’s help, they build a house for Jacob’s family and for Zalman, who decides to stay. Modest and light filled, inviting and warm with acceptance—for all of them, it’s a castle to call home.
Then an unforeseeable tragedy—and the grief, betrayals, and revelations in its wake—threatens to destroy what was once an unbreakable bond, and Esther finds herself at a crossroads.
The Blue Bar (Blue Mumbai Thriller Book 1) by Damyanti Biswas
This month's thriller is the first in the Blue Mumbai series and readers praised how lovely it was to armchair travel to Mumbai with this book. They described it as complete cultural immersion that isn't afraid to tackle big themes.
This has received a starred review from Publishers Weekly along with this praise, “Meticulous local color matches sensitive characterizations, including of brave Mumbai police who try to overcome the deadly hazards of the corrupt system they have to work in. This searing portrait of marginalized people struggling for survival is unforgettable.”
It was described as captivating, engrossing, and gripping. This is another fast-paced police procedural that readers struggled to put down because of the great setting.
This has a 4.49 star rating with 145 GoodReads reviews (so far).
On the dark streets of Mumbai, the paths of a missing dancer, a serial killer, and an inspector with a haunted past converge in an evocative thriller about lost love and murderous obsession.
After years of dancing in Mumbai’s bars, Tara Mondal was desperate for a new start. So when a client offered her a life-changing payout to indulge a harmless, if odd, fantasy, she accepted. The setup was simple: wear a blue-sequined saree, enter a crowded railway station, and escape from view in less than three minutes. It was the last time anyone saw Tara.
Thirteen years later, Tara’s lover, Inspector Arnav Singh Rajput, is still grappling with her disappearance as he faces a horrifying new crisis: on the city’s outskirts, women’s dismembered bodies are being unearthed from shallow graves. Very little links the murders, except a scattering of blue sequins and a decade’s worth of missing persons reports that correspond with major festivals.
Past and present blur as Arnav realizes he’s on the trail of a serial killer and that someone wants his investigation buried at any cost.
The Fireballer by Mark Stevens
This Book Club Fiction selection is a poignant contemporary literary fiction pick on hopes, dreams, and how far one man's talent takes him before he realizes it's about what you do—and how you do it.
Readers praised this one as fresh and evocative. Several readers shared that they aren't baseball fans but still found this to be a compelling journey. They also commended this story's secondary characters as being just as memorable as the main ones.
This book has a 4.18 rating with 28 reviews (so far) on GoodReads.
Readers will also appreciate this glowing review from William Kent Krueger who shared, "Seldom do I read a book that knocks my socks off the way The Fireballer did. This is a feel-good baseball story with a hold on the vernacular, the heart, the soul, the big picture, and the subtleties of America’s favorite summer pastime. The characters are beautifully etched, and pitcher Frank Ryder may be the most likeable hero since Gary Cooper gave life to Lou Gehrig on the big screen. I guarantee that you don’t have to be a baseball fan to be swept up by this moving tale. With a full heart, I recommend—no, insist—that you read The Fireballer.”
Frank Ryder is unstoppable on the baseball field—his pitches arrive faster than a batter can swing, giving his opponents no chance. He's being heralded as a game-changing pitcher.
But within the maelstrom of press, adulation, and wild speculation, Frank is a man alone. Haunted by a tragic incident from years past, he yearns to be the best but cannot reconcile the guilt he carries with the man everyone believes him to be. Frank's path to redemption leads him on a journey back to where his life changed forever, to visit his family, his high school coach, and his brother. Through reconnection and reconciliation with those also deeply affected by the devastating event of Frank's youth, he finds peace and his place in the world both in and outside the game.
No One Knows Us Here by Rachel Kelley
This Domestic Suspense novel has a 4.08 rating, on GoodReads, with 93 reviews.
Reviewers praised the premise as intriguing, well-written, and quick to read. The main criticism was that the structure and the book's ending didn't tick all the boxes with some readers.
In this gripping novel about obsession, control, and self-preservation, a woman desperate to provide a new life for her sister enters a compromising arrangement with an entitled tech billionaire.
Rosemary Rabourne is already struggling to pay the bills when her recently orphaned half sister, Wendy, shows up at her door. Rosemary will try anything to provide for the traumatized teenager—including offering her services as a high-end escort.
Leo Glass is the billionaire CEO of a revolutionary social app. He wants the “girlfriend experience”—someone contractually obligated to love him—and he thinks he’s found the perfect match in Rosemary. His proposition has its perks: a luxury apartment and financial security. And its conditions: constant surveillance and availability whenever Leo calls. It’s not the life Rosemary wants, but she’s out of options.
Then she meets her new neighbor, Sam, a musician with whom Rosemary shares an immediate attraction and a genuine intimacy she’s never felt with anyone.
Through a Darkening Glass by R. S. Maxwell
This Gothic Historical Fiction selection has already received praise from critics.
Library Journal shared, "Maxwell's debut novel is definitely not your traditional 'murder in a quaint village' historical mystery." Booklist also praised its fresh premise and surprising spin on the English village story.
This novel has a 4.01 rating on GoodReads with 67 reviews. They described this as a cozy slow-burn mystery with a uniquely told story. While set during WWII, readers shared that this remains focused on the murder mystery.
A mesmerizing World War II mystery about a Londoner who flees the city to write a novel and finds a truth stranger than fiction.
England, 1940. Literature student Ruth Gladstone evacuates Cambridge University for Martynsborough, a tiny English village with a shadowy history. For Ruth, retreating to a forgotten corner of the country is more than a safety maneuver; it’s an opportunity to end an undesirable engagement and begin writing her first novel.
But upon her arrival, Ruth learns of a ghostly wraith haunting the villagers after decades of silence. Although Ruth is enthralled by the legend, the locals are less charmed by the wraith’s return. They blame the evacuees—and among them, Ruth—for stirring up restless spirits.
Undeterred, Ruth joins forces with Malcolm, an injured soldier, to unravel the mystery of the wraith. As Ruth and Malcolm draw closer to the truth, they’ll unearth long-buried secrets that could threaten them both…even as they craft a forbidden love story of their own.
Local by Jessica Machado
This month's memoir selection has a 4.62 rating with 13 reviews (so far). While this doesn't have a lot of reviews on GoodReads yet, it has received critical praise from both Kirkus Reviews & Publishers Weekly.
In fact, Publishers Weekly shares this thoughtful praise, "Machado movingly excavates notions of identity, family, and Native culture in her debut, a memoir…[Her] narrative hums with raw emotion...Her depiction of Hawaii is far from the carefree paradise shaped by tourists and Western colonialism and instead offers a sharp consideration of class distinctions and the islands' history. The result is a luminous coming-of-age portrait."
One reviewer also shared, "The sections on the language, culture, history, and quite frankly brutalization of Hawaii were interesting, graceful, and informative."
A powerful, lush memoir about a Hawaiian woman who ran away from paradise to discover who she is and where she belongs.
Born and raised in Hawai‘i by a father whose ancestors are indigenous to the land and a mother from the American South, Jessica Machado wrestles with what it means to be “local.” Feeling separate from the history and tenets of Hawaiian culture that have been buried under the continental imports of malls and MTV, Jessica often sees her homeland reflected back to her from the tourist perspective—as an uncomplicated paradise. Her existence, however, feels far from that ideal. Balancing her parents’ divorce, an ailing mother, and growing anxiety, Jessica rebels. She moves to Los Angeles, convinced she’ll leave her complicated family behind and define herself. Instead, her isolation only becomes more severe, and her dying mother follows her to California. For Jessica, the only way to escape is a reckless downward spiral.
VERDICT: WHAT I PICKED
This month was REALLY tough. It was a toss up between Five Winters & The Blue Bar!
After reading the phenomenal feed back on The Blue Bar, it sounded like the perfect option to armchair travel. I can’t recall a book set in Mumbai that I’ve read recently.
As I’m in the mood for something fast-paced to meet my reading goals, this sounds like the perfect pick for me.
