The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark

June, 1975.

The Taylor family shatters in a single night when two teenage siblings are found dead in their own home. The only surviving sibling, Vincent, never shakes the whispers and accusations that he was the one who killed them. Decades later, the legend only grows as his career as a horror writer skyrockets.

Ghostwriter Olivia Dumont has spent her entire professional life hiding the fact that she is the only child of Vincent Taylor. Now on the brink of financial ruin, she's offered a job to ghostwrite her father's last book. What she doesn't know, though, is that this project is another one of his lies. Because it's not another horror novel he wants her to write.

After fifty years of silence, Vincent Taylor is finally ready to talk about what really happened that night in 1975.

Kindle Edition, 368 pages, 

Published June 3, 2025 

by Sourcebooks Landmark

4.5/5 stars

Julie Clark has been a go-to author since reading The Last Flight and The Lies I Tell. She knows how to grab and keep my attention.  The Ghostwriter is no except, it is a well written, emotionally charged thriller that blends suspense along with a fractured father-daughter relationship. 

The Ghostwriter is told with two timelines, that skillfully weaves the past and present to unravel a decades-old mystery that continues to haunt those left behind.

Estranged from her father, Olivia is reluctantly pulled back into his world when she’s hired to help write his memoir. Long suspected, though never charged in the brutal murder of his two younger siblings many years ago, Olivia left the past and here the past has finally caught up with her.

The Ghostwriter is a story of secrets, many, many secrets that opens past hurts and the only way to combat them is ultimately to face them.  This was an addicting read that alternates between the present-day memoir and the past events leading up to the murders.  It was intricately woven, creating a layered, suspenseful story where the truth feels just out of reach. Slowly unraveling of both the murder case and the emotional distance between father and daughter was handled nicely bringing a conclusion with some surprises.  I highly recommend The Ghostwriter if you like an addicting read with twists and turns.

This book was from my Kindle library.

The Other Side of Now by Paige Harbison

A hilarious and heartfelt novel about how loves and lives are never truly lost, for fans of Rebecca Serle and Taylor Jenkins Reid.

With a leading role on a hit TV show and a relationship with Hollywood's latest heartthrob, Meg Bryan appears to have everything she ever wanted. But underneath the layers of makeup and hairspray, her happiness is as fake as her stage name, Lana Lord. Following a small breakdown at her thirtieth birthday party, she books an impromptu trip where she knows the grass is greener: Ireland. Specifically, the quaint little village where she and her best friend Aimee always dreamt of moving—a dream that fell apart when an accident claimed Aimee’s life a decade ago.

When Meg arrives, the people in town are so nice, treating her not as a stranger, but a friend. Except for the (extremely hot) bartender giving her the cold shoulder. Meg writes it all off as jetlag until she looks in the mirror. Her hair is no longer bleached within an inch of its life, her skin has a few natural fine lines, and her nose looks like… well, her old nose. Her real nose.

Her phone reveals hundreds of pictures of her life in this little town: with an adorable dog she doesn’t know; with the bartender who might be her (ex?) boyfriend; and at a retail job unrelated to acting. Eventually, she comes to accept that she somehow made a quantum slide into an alternate version of her life. But the most shocking realization of all? In this life, her best friend Aimee is alive and well…but wants nothing to do with Meg.

Despite her bewilderment, Meg is clear-eyed about one thing: this is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reconnect with her friend and repair what she broke. She finagles an opportunity to act in the play Aimee is writing and directing and as the project unfolds, Meg realizes that events as she remembers them may not be the only truth, and that an impossible choice looms before her.

Kindle Edition, 320 pages

Audiobook, 10 hours, 22 minutes

Expected publication June 3, 2025 

by St. Martin's Press/Macmillian Audio

4.5/5 stars

From the time I requested this on Netgalley until I read it I totally forgot what this book was about. So I headed in blind, which is so much fun.

The book starts on Meg Bryan’s 30th birthday, she is a Hollywood star and out of sorts. On impulse she books a trip to Ireland and left immediately. The story begins when she steps off the plane and begins exploring her way through this acquaint little town.  But something just feels off. Turns out she stepped into a alternate timeline where things that happened in the past 12 years didn’t actually happen.

I really enjoyed this book, it was witty, had some great characters and the storyline worked. The changes in her life begin to mess with her mind, because maybe she just likes this  new life better.

The Other Side of Now is a story of family, friendship, grief, and forgiveness.  It's about second chances and following your heart. I love the Ireland setting, yeah it’s on my bucket list.

The blurb advertises that this is great for fans of a couple well-known authors, but I think Ashley Poston would be a better comparison.

This was a hybrid read for me, the audio and the digital e-book, I highly recommend both formats.

My thanks to Macmillan Audio and Saint Martin’s press for advanced copies of both the digital and audiobook.

The Blackened Heart by Alison Weir

The Blackened Heart by foremost and beloved historian Alison Weir is an e-short and companion piece that bridges the first two novels in the Six Tudor Queens series, Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Fans of Philippa Gregory and Elizabeth Chadwick will delight in this mysterious tale, drawn together from fragments of history - and a good dose of speculation. Or is it...?

Margery Otwell, a self-made gentleman's young daughter, gets her first taste of courtly life when she takes up a position as chamberer to Lady Peche of Lullingstone Castle. Dances, music, feasting - and a seduction - follow, and Margery learns the rules of courtly love the hard way.

Saved from disgrace by the kindly Sir John Peche, Margery finds herself at court waiting on Queen Katherine. Little does Margery know that she is already a pawn in a game of power, irrevocably bound to the fall of the lady she will come to love as her mistress, Queen and friend.

Kindle Edition, 45 pages

Published March 9, 2017 

by Review

3.5/5 stars

As I continue my reading through Alison Weir's Six Tudor Queen Series, I have been reading some of her short stories that are scattered throughout this series.  Available only through Amazon UK, a pity since I would like to read them all.

This is book 1.5, during the time of Katherine of Aragon, wife #1.  Coming in at 45 pages it was a relatively quick read.  As a teen Margery Otwell enters into service for the queen and is a life long companion through all the drama.  A story of mystery, drama and romance.

My copy through kindle - it pays to take kindle while traveling, in addition to reading but also to grab through editions not available in my location.

The Defence by Steve Cavanagh

The truth has no place in a courtroom. The truth doesn't matter in a trial.

The only thing that matters is what the prosecution can prove.

Eddie Flynn used to be a con artist. Then he became a lawyer. Turned out the two weren't that different.

It's been over a year since Eddie vowed never to set foot in a courtroom again. But now he doesn't have a choice. Olek Volchek, the infamous head of the Russian mafia in New York, has strapped a bomb to Eddie's back and kidnapped his ten-year-old daughter Amy.

Eddie only has 48 hours to defend Volchek in an impossible murder trial - and win - if wants to save his daughter.

Under the scrutiny of the media and the FBI, Eddie must use his razor-sharp wit and every con-artist trick in the book to defend his 'client' and ensure Amy's safety. With the timer on his back ticking away, can Eddie convince the jury of the impossible?

Lose this case and he loses everything.

Kindle Edition, 321 pages

Published September 1, 2023

 by Headline

3.5/5 stars

This is the first book in the Eddie Flynn series. A few months ago I read Witness 8, which is book 8, and while it was fine on its own. But I was intrigued with all the characters and how a con artist turned into a lawyer came to make that transition, so alas here I am having read The Defence.

I’ll be very honest here and say that I struggled for the first part of this book, there seemed to be a lot of suspending of belief and I just wasn’t enamored as I was with Witness 8. However I persevered and then read the last third in a day.

The Defence is a story of a father‘s love for his daughter and the lengths he will go to protect her. It is a story of the Russian mafia and the control it had on New York. And it is a story of a murder trial that Eddie needs to win to save his daughter. All in all, a fast paced story with many layers, characters and has what I have come to expect in Eddie Flynn, he has a lot of cards up his sleeves and you never know what his next move will be, he keeps those thoughts to himself until he shows his hand.

I will continue the series because I have had book 4, Thirteen on my shelf for a while and it sounds very intriguing.

My copy was obtained through my Kindle library, you can find this book in Canada for 4.99 via Kindle or Kobo, unfortunately I was never able to find it as an e-book through my library.

The Shogun's Daughter by Laura Joh Rowland (Book Tour)

(click on banner for more stops on this tour)

Publication Date: September 17, 2013
Minotaur Books
Hardcover; 336p
ISBN-10: 1250028612

Japan, 1704.  In an elegant mansion a young woman named Tsuruhime lies on her deathbed, attended by her nurse.  Smallpox pustules cover her face.  Incense burns, to banish the evil spirits of disease. After Tsuruhime takes her last breath, the old woman watching from the doorway says, “Who’s going to tell the Shogun his daughter is dead?”

The death of the Shogun's daughter has immediate consequences on his regime. There will be no grandchild to leave the kingdom. Faced with his own mortality and beset by troubles caused by the recent earthquake, he names as his heir Yoshisato, the seventeen-year-old son he only recently discovered was his. Until five months ago, Yoshisato was raised as the illegitimate son of Yanagisawa, the shogun's favorite advisor. Yanagisawa is also the longtime enemy of Sano Ichiro.

Sano doubts that Yoshisato is really the Shogun's son, believing it's more likely a power-play by Yanagisawa. When Sano learns that Tsuruhime's death may have been a murder, he sets off on a dangerous investigation that leads to more death and destruction as he struggles to keep his pregnant wife, Reiko, and his son safe. Instead, he and his family become the accused. And this time, they may not survive the day.

Laura Joh Rowland's thrilling series set in Feudal Japan is as gripping and entertaining as ever.

Lets start with the fact that I am a cover snob, I freely admit that, it's just one of my hangups. I have almost missed out on a number of good books just because I didn't like the cover.  The cover for this book I love, especially that little window in the eye, adds a little mysterious element to it.

This is the 17th book in the Sano Ichiro series by Laura Joh Rowland (a new to me author).  It does work as a standalone, but there were times that I would have liked to know more of the history on some the conflicts in this book, especially between Sano and Yanagisawa. Taking place in Edo, ancient Tokyo, I found it to be a very interesting mystery/murder/who dunnit, with a touch of the supernatural. The story played out nicely and had me guessing right to the end.  The ending was not neat and tidy which I think will just lead into the next installment.  The characters were interesting enough, but I didn't really bond or connect with anyone in particular, maybe if I had read the entire series I would have, but I still found the book entertaining.  It was an easy and quick read, very straight forward dialogue, a little more emotion or depth would have been nice. There is one scene that stands out for me, it involved a fire and the search for missing persons.  It was written in such a way that I could almost smell the fire and feel the emotions of those in that scene and I think if more of the book was written with that kind of description and feeling it would have benefited the storyline.  

One of the things that I did not like was the placing of the author's notes.  I don't know if it was just in the copy that I was given (ebook) or whether it was different in the purchased book and corrected in ebooks or not.  But the author's notes were at the beginning of the book, once read it was a major spoiler and I was somewhat disappointed that I read it.

Praise for Laura Joh Rowland

Author of The Fire Kimono, “one of the five best historical mystery novels”—The Wall Street Journal

“Rowland has a painter’s eye for the minutiae of court life, as well as a politician’s ear for intrigue.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Sano may carry a sword and wear a kimono, but you’ll immediately recognize him as an ancestor of Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade.”—The Denver Post

Laura Joh Rowland is the author of a mystery series set in medieval Japan, featuring samurai detective Sano Ichiro.  The Shogun’s Daughter is the seventeenth book in the series.  Her work has been published in 13 foreign countries, nominated for the Anthony Award and the Hammett Prize, and won the RT Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Historical Mystery.  Laura lives in New York City.

For more information please visit Laura's website.  You can also follow her on Facebook.

The Queen's Vow by C.W. Gortner

"No one believed I was destined for 

 greatness."

 
So begins Isabella’s story, in this evocative, vividly imagined novel about one of history’s most famous and controversial queens—the warrior who united a fractured country, the champion of the faith whose reign gave rise to the Inquisition, and the visionary who sent Columbus to discover a New World. Acclaimed author C. W. Gortner envisages the turbulent early years of a woman whose mythic rise to power would go on to transform a monarchy, a nation, and the world.

Young Isabella is barely a teenager when she and her brother are taken from their mother’s home to live under the watchful eye of their half-brother, King Enrique, and his sultry, conniving queen. There, Isabella is thrust into danger when she becomes an unwitting pawn in a plot to dethrone Enrique. Suspected of treason and held captive, she treads a perilous path, torn between loyalties, until at age seventeen she suddenly finds herself heiress of Castile, the largest kingdom in Spain. Plunged into a deadly conflict to secure her crown, she is determined to wed the one man she loves yet who is forbidden to her—Fernando, prince of Aragon.

As they unite their two realms under “one crown, one country, one faith,” Isabella and Fernando face an impoverished Spain beset by enemies. With the future of her throne at stake, Isabella resists the zealous demands of the inquisitor Torquemada even as she is seduced by the dreams of an enigmatic navigator named Columbus. But when the Moors of the southern domain of Granada declare war, a violent, treacherous battle against an ancient adversary erupts, one that will test all of Isabella’s resolve, her courage, and her tenacious belief in her destiny.

From the glorious palaces of Segovia to the battlefields of Granada and the intrigue-laden gardens of Seville, The Queen’s Vow sweeps us into the tumultuous forging of a nation and the complex, fascinating heart of the woman who overcame all odds to become Isabella of Castile.

 C.W. Gortner has a way of writing that not only grabs hold of you, but you can feel the emotions in his characters.  I noticed this more so in The Last Queen (which I LOVED and one of these days will write a review for it).   One can't help feel what Isabella was going through, the scenes were easy to visualize and the story flowed right along.  I know very little about Spanish history, other than what I can remember from grade 6 history, which went along the like of 'in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue'.  This book opened my eyes to the mother of Katherine of Aragon and Juana.  I read The Last Queen first (since it is about Isabella's daughter Juana), but I wish that I had read this one first, it was hard going into this book with an opinion of Fernando that wasn't all that nice. This book did soften my feelings for him somewhat.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

Moments before Earth is destroyed, Ford Prefect, an alien who's been incognito for 15 years while researching a newer edition of THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY, rescues his friend, Arthur Dent. The two stow away on a passing spaceship, and their adventures begin. Ford and Arthur encounter ex-hippie Galaxy President Zaphod Beeblebrox; Marvin, the morose robot; and a slew of otherworldly weirdos populating Douglas Adams's cult classic. Stephen Fry's performance is priceless as the interstellar travelers tumble from one near disaster to another. His voice shifts are inspired bits, half schtick, half nonsense. Without editorial comment, Fry injects just the right touches of irony into Adams's cheeky, always hilarious social satire.

Never really had any desire to read this book, the title is too long and really it sounded too science fiction to me. I am in a book challenge and had to read a book that someone gave me. For me to receive a gift of a book is a rare thing (not sure why). I sat and searched my many shelves of books, finally grabbed my Kindle and started pressing buttons and finally came across this one.

My son gave it to me so I read it. I didn't hate it, but also didn't love it. Reminded me of Terry Pratchett and his Discworld Series. I am glad that I read it, it made me smile (even laughed) in places, made me a little confused in a few places too.

Dawn on a Distant Shore by Sara Donati

Sara Donati's extraordinary debut novel, Into the Wilderness (a loose retelling from a woman's viewpoint of The Pioneers, James Fenimore Cooper's sequel to The Last of the Mohicans) now has its own sequel. In the first book in the Wilderness series, set in the wilds of the New York frontier in 1792, Englishwoman Elizabeth Middleton met and married Nathaniel Bonner, a white man adopted into the Mohawk tribe. As Dawn on a Distant Shore opens, Elizabeth and Nathaniel's marriage is about to be blessed with twins, but their happy family is soon divided by the news that Nathaniel's father has been imprisoned in Montreal. When Nathaniel attempts a rescue, he, too, is arrested and sentenced to be hanged as an American spy. Elizabeth risks everything to free both men — and, eventually, her efforts bring them to distant Scotland, where a wealthy and titled kinsman offers them a new future in a world they never imagined.


I really enjoyed this book, I feel like I know the family so well now. I will admit that I wanted there to be one more chapter in this book (though I can't really say why without a spoiler).
I am looking forward to the rest of the series. Figured that I would do one book a month, so have to wait another week before I can continue with my new friends.

The Secrets of the Tudor Court by D L Bogdon

When young Mary Howard receives the news that she will be leaving her home for the grand court of King Henry VIII, to attend his mistress Anne Boleyn, she is ecstatic. Everything Anne touches seems to turn to gold, and Mary is certain Anne will one day become Queen. But Mary has also seen the King's fickle nature and how easily he discards those who were once close to him. . .

Discovering that she is a pawn in a carefully orchestrated plot devised by her father, the duke of Norfolk, Mary dare not disobey him. Yet despite all of her efforts to please him, she too falls prey to his cold wrath. Not until she becomes betrothed to Harry Fitzroy, the Duke of Richmond and son to King Henry VIII, does Mary finds the love and approval she's been seeking. But just when Mary believes she is finally free of her father, the tides turn. Now Mary must learn to play her part well in a dangerous chess game that could change her life--and the course of history.

This was my first Kindle loan. Given my love of historical fiction, this fit the bill. Also a debut book by author D. L. Bogdon. The one thing about debut books, there is only one place to go and that is up. Even though this book takes place in the Anne Boleyn time, the main focus is on Mary the daughter of Thomas Howard.