ARC Review: Big Lies in a Small Town by Diane Chamberlain

TITLE: Big Lies in a Small Town

AUTHOR: Diane Chamberlain

PUBLICATION DATE: January 14th 2020

GENRE: Historical Fiction, Contemporary, Mystery, Women’s Lit

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Rape, Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Substance Abuse, Alcohol Abuse

North Carolina, 2018: Morgan Christopher’s life has been derailed. Taking the fall for a crime she did not commit, she finds herself serving a three-year stint in the North Carolina Women’s Correctional Center. Her dream of a career in art is put on hold—until a mysterious visitor makes her an offer that will see her released immediately. Her assignment: restore an old post office mural in a sleepy southern town. Morgan knows nothing about art restoration, but desperate to leave prison, she accepts. What she finds under the layers of grime is a painting that tells the story of madness, violence, and a conspiracy of small town secrets.

North Carolina, 1940: Anna Dale, an artist from New Jersey, wins a national contest to paint a mural for the post office in Edenton, North Carolina. Alone in the world and desperate for work, she accepts. But what she doesn’t expect is to find herself immersed in a town where prejudices run deep, where people are hiding secrets behind closed doors, and where the price of being different might just end in murder.

What happened to Anna Dale? Are the clues hidden in the decrepit mural? Can Morgan overcome her own demons to discover what exists beneath the layers of lies?

Book Review: The Sisters Hemingway by Annie England Noblin

TITLE: The Sisters Hemingway

AUTHOR: Annie England Noblin

PUBLICATION DATE: February 12th, 2019

GENRE: Fiction, Women’s Lit, Romance, Contemporary

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Alcoholism 

The Hemingway Sisters of Cold River, Missouri are local legends. Raised by a mother obsessed with Ernest Hemingway, they were named after the author’s four wives—Hadley, Pfeiffer, Martha, and Mary. The sisters couldn’t be more different—or more alike. Now they’re back in town, reunited to repair their fractured relationships.

Hadley is the poised, polished wife of a senator.

Pfeiffer is a successful New York book editor.

Martha has skyrocketed to Nashville stardom.

They each have a secret—a marriage on the rocks,  a job lost, a stint in rehab…and they haven’t been together in years.

Together, they must stay in their childhood home, faced with a puzzle that may affect all their futures. As they learn the truth of what happened to their mother—and their youngest sister, Mary—they rekindle the bonds they had as children, bonds that have long seemed broken. With the help of neighbors, friends, love interests old and new—and one endearing and determined Basset Hound—the Sisters Hemingway learn that the happiness that has appeared so elusive may be right here at home, waiting to be claimed.

Top 5 Tuesday // Summertime Reads

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly tag hosted by Bionic Book Worm! Please head over and check out her blog!

This week’s topic is summertime reads! I’m not usually one who reads a ton of books that feel summer-y. For me, my favorite types of books to read during the summer are women’s lit mystery. Below are my top 5 favorite summertime reads!