What_Kel_Reads

The Holdout, written by Graham Moore is scheduled for release on February 18, 2020 by Random House Publishing Group.  I was given an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.  I also chose this as one of my February Book of the Month selections. Synopsis (From Goodreads):   Juror Maya Seale is convinced that African American high school teacher Bobby Nock is innocent of killing the wealthy white female student with whom he appears to have been involved and persuades her fellow jurors likewise. Ten years later, a true-crime docuseries reassembles the jurors, and Maya, now a defense attorney, must prove her own innocence when one of them is found dead in Maya's room. I originally requested this on NetGalley b ecause I found it on a list of 2020’s most promising books.  Once I found out BOTM would also be featuring it, naturally I had to have it.  I love all things true crime, so a fictional story about a true crime case could ...

The full title is Manhunters: How We Took Down Pablo Escobar by Steve Murphy and Javier F. Peña.  This was released by St. Martin's Press on November 12, 2019.  I was lucky enough to get my copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.  Y'all. Y'ALL. I finished the audio about 15 minutes before my lunch and I was DYING to write about it.  Okay, let's go. For the first time ever, Murphy and Peña tell true stories from each of their lives, and the events that lead up to their take down of Pablo Escobar.  The chapters alternate between their viewpoints leading up to the one glorious day when they helped Colombian police eliminate one of the most evil men in the world. Going into this, I knew he was a bad guy.  I didn't know how bad.  I was merely a toddler when all of this happened.  Escobar was a Colombian drug lord billionaire.  He turned Colombia into a war zone as he became one of the biggest drug traffickers ever....

“What’s it like,” Marsha asked.   “Bein’ a mom?”   Jenny felt her chest swell. “It’s amazing.   It’s awful. It’s too much and it’s too little.” I had several favorite parts from Keeping Lucy by T. Greenwood, but this was definitely the one that hit hardest.  Keeping Lucy was my second book from Greenwood, published by St. Martin's Press on August 6, 2019.  I received my copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Ginny gives birth to Lucy in Dover, Massachusetts in 1969.  She is devastated when Lucy is taken from her after they discover she has Downs Syndrome.  Her husband Ab sends Lucy away to Willowridge, a school for the "special" children.  He and the rest of his powerful and influential family try to convince her to move on, to forget her first daughter. 2 years later, Ginny's best friend Marsha shows her an expose on Willowridge.  They are both appalled to see the filth and neglect the children have been su...

The Whisper Man, written by Alex North was published by Celadon Books on 08/20/19.  I'm just going to stop you right now and tell you to go get this book IMMEDIATELY. When Tom Kennedy's wife dies, he believes he and his son Jake need a new start and they move to Featherbank.  Featherbank is the home of a very dark past. 20 years ago, 5 young boys were abducted and murdered by a man named Frank Carter.  He was nicknamed "The Whisper Man" because he would lure the boys out of their rooms at night by whispering at their windows. After Tom and Jake move in, another little boy vanishes and the events are almost identical to those of Frank Carter.  It is up to detectives Amanda Beck and Pete Willis to find the boy before it's too late, even if that means they have to confront The Whisper Man himself. They better hurry, because Jake is starting to act strangely.  He's hearing whispering at his window..... YOU GUYS. I 👏COULD👏NOT👏PUT👏THIS👏BOOK👏...

This book was published on 07/02/19 by Penguin Group Dutton.  This is my third Riley Sager book, but it's the first one I've read.  I actually ordered this as part of my Book of the Month box, even though I was lucky enough to get the book early from NetGalley. Jules has lost everything.  Her job, her boyfriend, and her apartment, all in the span of a few days.  Broke and worried, she finds an ad for an apartment sitter in the paper and applies.  This turns out to be for the The Bartholomew, one of the most prolific apartment buildings in Manhattan.  She is given very simple rules-no visitors, no nights away from the apartment, and no bothering the famous residents.  She strikes up a friendship with one of the other apartment sitters named Ingrid, and discovers they have similar pasts.  When Ingrid goes missing, Jules starts to investigate her disappearance, despite many warning from people in the building.  She begins to unravel a dee...

The Mother's Mistake by Ruth Heald was published by Bookouture on 06/11/19.  I was lucky enough to obtain a copy from NetGalley in exchange for my review. Claire has a loving husband, newborn daughter, and a home in the country...sounds like the dream life, right?  That couldn't be farther from the truth for Claire.  Her life is actually falling apart.  When a note turns up in her mailbox declaring that she doesn't deserve her daughter, Claire might just have this "perfect life" destroyed right in front of her very eyes. I read this book so fast.  The pace of the book demanded it.  It was so suspenseful.  It made me think of Sleeping with the Enemy.  When Julia Roberts' character runs away and starts her new life, she's always looking directly behind her for her past.  Claire is doing the same thing. I had a bookstagram friend who read the book shortly before I did keep telling me to hurry up and finish because the book would...

I was lucky enough to get a copy of Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey through NetGalley.  Berkley published this book on 06/11/19. 💜 Annie is 27 and obsessed with romantic comedies.  Because of her unrealistic expectations, her dating life has been pretty limited.  She's waiting for her very own Tom Hanks.  When a huge romantic comedy rolls into her town to film, Annie has to decide if she can remove the walls she's spent so long building, or risk losing the potential great love of her life. YOU GUYS.  I am NOT a romantic book fan.  I've said it several times.  That being said, I.LOVED.THIS.BOOK.  I was hooked from the first paragraph I read.  I actually found myself sending random paragraphs to my bookstagram friends who love romantic books because I just loved it so much.  It is so easy to related to Annie.  Because she lost her mother, her support system is made up of her best friend and her uncle.  They are...

A month or so ago, Riley Costello found me on social media and asked if I'd like a copy of her book, Waiting at Hayden's.  I read the description but was somewhat hesitant.  I'm not really a "girly book" type of gal.  I know I gravitate towards murder and mayhem...but this is my year of taking chances and changing my outlook.  I said yes.  I AM SO GLAD I DID.  This has been one of my favorite books of the year. 💜 This book came out 07/10/18 and was published by Sullivan & Shea Publishing. Childhood bffs Charli and Jack are madly in love throughout college and are faced with a major dilemma when Jack's path takes him to the west coast after graduation and Charli's path takes her to the east coast.  Neither wants to break up so they make a pact to reunite at their favorite restaurant Hayden's in five years. It also follows the restaurant's owner Gianna.  She is 37 and seems to have everything going for her, including her dreamboat...

Deliver me by Karen Cole is my second NetGalley read for this month.  The publishing date is April 18th, 2019 and is released by Quercus Books. Synopsis (from Goodreads): THE NIGHT SHE DOESN'T REMEMBER WILL BE THE ONE SHE CAN'T FORGET When Abby's doctor tells her she's two months pregnant she doesn't believe him. She can't be - she hasn't had sex for over a year. But to her astonishment and dismay, multiple tests confirm it's true. Desperately searching for an explanation, Abby recalls New Year's Day - the terrible hangover, the hole in her memory where the night before should have been and the inexplicable sense of unease - and realizes that this baby must have been conceived at her best friend Danny's NYE party.  Horrified that someone would have taken advantage of her intoxicated state, Abby enlists the help of Danny to find out which of the party guests assaulted her. But, when she starts to receive anonymous messages, it seems tha...

I know that I'm a super fast reader, but I finished this AMAZING book from Lisa Jewell in less than 24 hours.  That includes an 8 hour work shift, and roughly 7 hours of sleep.  The only thing I could think about when I finished was running to Barnes and Noble and immediately buying all of her books.  Let's dive in.  The Plot (from Goodreads):    East Yorkshire:  Single mum Alice Lake finds a man on the beach outside her house. He has no name, no jacket, no idea what he is doing there. Against her better judgement she invites him in to her home. Surrey:  Twenty-one-year-old Lily Monrose has only been married for three weeks. When her new husband fails to come home from work one night she is left stranded in a new country where she knows no one. Then the police tell her that her husband never existed. Two women, twenty years of secrets and a man who can't remember lie at the heart of Lisa Jewell's brilliant new novel. This.book.was.SO.GOO...