Yvonne
I rue the day that Goodreads stopped making their daily ‘Giveaways’ accessible to us Brits, as I was really quite lucky over the years and bagged myself some excellent books.
Whilst continuing to support Goodreads, which is an amazing book community, I have also since joined NetGalley, where I have earned ‘automatic approval’ rights from a couple of publishers.
I very seldom get to acquire any of the ‘Read Now’ titles which NetGalley occasionally put up for grabs without needing to pass the usual ‘request’ procedure, as they only make a few copies available and I’m generally not that quick off the mark, or I am not really keen to read the book being featured and I don’t believe in taking just for the sake of it!
However this last couple of weeks have seen me bag myself a couple of beauties, which I thought to be particularly interesting, so see what you think…
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‘THE SECRET of YOU and ME‘ by MELISSA LENHARDT
You always come back to your first love
Nora hasn’t looked back. Not since she left home, and her broken heart, far behind her. But now tragedy calls her back, where she must finally come face to face with ex-boyfriend Charlie, and best friend Sophie. Only now will she be able to confront her past—and reconcile her future.
Sophie seems to have everything. Married to Charlie, with a wonderful daughter and a successful career. Yet underneath that perfection lies an explosive secret. A secret that ripped through their town and destroyed her friendship with Nora. So when Sophie finds out that Nora has returned, she hopes Nora’s stay is short. The life she has built depends on it.
But first love doesn’t fade easily. Memories come to light, passion ignites and old feelings resurface. As the forces that once tore them apart begin to re-emerge, both Nora and Sophie must accept that true love is something worth fighting for.
This Kindle Edition by publisher Mills & Boon
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‘IDLE HANDS‘ by CASSONDRA WINDWALKER
The devil is in the details
After making the courageous decision to leave her abusive husband, Perdie and her three young children start over and finally find the safety and love they deserve. But years later, when tragedy strikes, Perdie is left wondering if the choice she made to leave has led them to this moment.
If she were given the opportunity to take it all back and stay, would she?
In a frantic bid to protect her family, Perdie makes a deal to do just that. But in a world where the devil pulls the strings, can Perdie really change the past?
Brimming with enlightened observations and brilliant voice, Idle Hands is a haunting examination of grief, resilience, and what we’d give to spend another moment with the ones we love.
Published by Agora Books
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Mailbox Monday is a gathering place for readers to share links to the books that came into their house during the last week. This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well, after all you never know where that next “must read” book will come from.
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I would probably read either of them, but I particularly like the sound of Idle Hands. I also quite like the cover on it!
FYI…. I scrolled up to your tags to make sure I had the title correct before commenting and didn’t see it or the author’s name listed. I’m one of those who often clicks on tags to see other posts about a specific title or author.
Hi Kelly,
Oops! Sorry about that and thanks for letting me know, it should be okay now! This is what comes of trying to be too organised and get all my outstanding posts scheduled weeks / months ahead, and that is after I went back and double checked it yesterday afternoon as I knew it was going to publish overnight!! … Old age kicking in my dear 🙂
I have a couple of review Blog Tours to tackle first, before I get to either of these books, but my filing system has the cards the other way round to how the books are listed in this post, so ‘Idle Hands’ is up for reading first! I was really struck by the cover of this book too, although I am intrigued by Norah and Sophie’s secret in the first book.
I hope that you had a good Independence Day weekend and I’ll catch up with you later in the week no doubt! 🙂
Idle Hands is now on my radar. The cover caught my eye and then the synopsis drew me in. Looking forward to your thoughts. Even though I’m in the US I think the numbers of people entering the Goodreads giveaways has increased exponentially. I used to win every few months and now I’m lucky to win a book every few years! Sorry to hear you can no longer enter those giveaways.
Hi! Mary,
Perhaps Goodreads thought that we Brits were wining more than our fair share of the ‘Giveaways’, so they decided to exclude us! 🙂
NetGalley offer very few ‘Read It Now’ books and you need to be sat at the computer as the email comes in to stand any chance of bagging one!
‘Idle Hands’ was one I really wanted to get hold of, as that storyline really does have a strong emotional pull, and the cover art was quite captivating.
Both are new to me authors, so I’m sure I shall enjoy each equally, in their own way. 🙂
I hope that you managed to enjoy your ‘new normal’ holiday weekend and thanks for visiting 🙂
Yes, nice picks. Enjoy.
I thought so! and I do enjoy reading an eclectic mix of genres, so these two will shake things up a bit 🙂
One year (2009 maybe?) I won a book every other day – I think it was 186 books/giveaways that year. I have only won a few through GR so I stopped entering as it was time-consuming.
Your two NetGalley picks both sound intriguing — for different reasons of course.
Idle Hands sounds particularly intense.
Happy Reading!
Hi Martha,
Wow! I definitely can’t beat your GR record, but I was more than happy with my little haul! I never entered every day, only if I spotted a book I really wanted to read, but I know what you mean about having to remember to check the listings every day. It’s a bit like all the blogging and social media, a very time consuming hobby!
I have a gap whilst I wait for my next batch of Blog Tour content to come through, so I started reading ‘Idle Hands’ and so far I am really getting engrossed in what is a very intense storyline, with an extra added perspective, which I can’t talk about as it would be too much of a spoiler. The ‘extra’ element may mean this is not a book for everyone, but if you take it at face value for the excellent piece of writing that it is, then you should enjoy it.
Thanks for stopping by and I hope that all is well with you 🙂
I hadn’t been on GoodReads for ages and a while back I thought I’d check out the Giveaways and couldn’t believe they’d changed it to US only. Such a shame.
Hi Nikki,
I know, I was quite gutted, especially as they kept saying they were going to be bringing them back. But that was a good 2 or 3 years ago now, so I am not holding my breath, although I do check back from time to time, just in case 🙂
I am also a NetGalley reader now and have been given automatic pre-approval for all titles from 3 publishers, which is great. The rest of the time you have to put in ‘requests’ for a book and wait to see if they are sanctioned, which is a real pain!
Sometimes NetGalley will email with a random ‘read it now’ title, so those are the ones I actively chase down now, as there is always that same buzz I used to get from a Goodreads Giveaway!
Sad I know, but it keeps me happy 🙂
Looks like you did well getting some books.
ENJOY, and I hope all is well.
Hi Elizabeth,
It isn’t very often that NetGalley puts up a ‘Read Now’ offer for a book I might enjoy, so to grab a couple in the same week was pretty good going for me.
I have already finished ‘Idle Hands’, as I had a short gap in my Blog Tour/Review schedule, so thought I could slot it in. My review will be up in a few weeks, but I can thoroughly recommend it, so long as you have a box of tissues at the ready, although it is not a romantic tearjerker by any stretch of the imagination, just a heart-breaking storyline!
All is ‘okayish’ here. We are now at the stage where it will be mandatory to wear a face mask in any public space, although to be honest, we don’t go out that often. It’s a bit like being a couple of hermits, so goodness knows what it will be like in the winter when we can’t even get out in the garden!
At least we are both safe and well so far, as are both our families – what about you guys? 🙂