Novelas Romanticas Gratis

  This book came out of nowhere thanks to an invite to read and review it (thank you Dutton/Penguin/Random House).  I just got back from vacation and found it in a pile of books while I was unpacking and immediately started reading it. I'm not exaggerating when I say I couldn't put it down. I spent quite a bit of Sunday on the couch reading this historical novel that bounced between 1920's New York ad 1945 San Francisco.  Ellie Morgan is a secretary at the San Francisco Chronicle and has recently become engaged to a handsome officer stationed in San Francisco as World War 2 rages on. She chafes against societal rules that keep her career limited to housewife or secretary--when all she wants to do is write for the newspaper and wear trousers like Katherine Hepburn.  However this all falls to the wayside with a telegram stating that her father, a pilot, is missing and presumed dead over the Adriatic Sea near Italy in December, 1944. Devastated, she refus...

  I picked this up at Barnes & Noble last month based on the cover and title. Then I read the blurb on the back and decided it sounded like a fun book. It was entertaining, but also did have some touching moments that I didn't expect from Agatha. Agatha lives in New England in a lovely home with her husband and two boys. She's an author and oh, she is one sassy Facebook Mom Page commenter. She's not short on snark! Agatha's happy life comes to an abrupt end when she finds her husband and the local dog walker going at it in their garden shed. She takes a hatchet and proceeds to destroy the shed, leaving the mess in her yard, which quickly makes the rounds of the Facebook Mom page. Before the hour is out, streams of cars are driving past her house to check out the carnage. Agatha, meanwhile, is lying on her front porch, devastated and the victim of a skunk spray.  Agatha's husband moves in with the dog walker, and her boys spend half their ...

  This book wasn't on my TBR list at all, but as I was cataloging at my library it came across my desk and I thought it looked like a good domestic thriller and a quick read. Boom! Perfect summer read. This novel takes place in Portugal and involves five friends: Jack and Rachel, Noah and Paige, and Will. Jack and Will are brothers, and they are all gathered to celebrate the wedding of Will and Ali--who really irritates the hell out of everyone but Will. She's bubbly, wears clothing that really accentuates her curves, and is an attention seeker. Will's gaga over her, but no one else really cares for her. Especially Jack. He appears to loathe her--but you're just not sure why.  The story is told from Rachel's point of view. She's happily married to Jack, and they have a 19 year old son. Rachel and Noah were college friends--and secretly slept together just once, confessing their love for each other. It ended with Noah begging Rachel to leave her then new relation...

  Click here to buy from Amazon I picked this book up not knowing a whole lot about the subject matter and under a deadline to read it in ten days before returning it to the library. Add in a very busy  July 4th weekend and I only had a few days to read it.  I wasn't sure I'd make it, but happily the story grabbed my attention and I've spent the last few nights reading about an amazing librarian: Belle da Costa Greene.   Belle became the personal librarian of JP Morgan in 1906. JP Morgan had built an impressive private library to house his already impressive collection of manuscripts and rare books. Belle was hired to organize and develop his collection. What JP and everyone around Belle didn't know was that Belle was an African American woman who passed as white. Her secret would drive her career and personal choices for the rest of her life.  Belle's family history was definitely one that kept her conflicted about her choice to follow her...

  Click here to purchase from Amazon I spotted this novel a few months ago as I was ordering books for my library and thought "Hmmm" this may be an interesting read.  I was correct.  I will confess to drinking a glass of wine Friday night as I was reading the last 50 pages, but it wasn't a rose. I kid you not, if you're not a wine drinker, this novel will certainly tempt you to try a few. If you are a wine drinker, just settle back, pop the cork, and pour yourself a glass while you enjoy this novel about a family winery, 80's glam novels, and cheese. Yes, cheese. You'll want some cheese and crackers, too.  The Hollander Estates Winery has been a hot spot for parties, day trips, and a big tourist attraction on the North Fork of Long Island for decades. What were once potato fields is now a gorgeous winery, complete with an equally gorgeous home to the Hollander duo of Leonard and Vivian. Newly married, the couple created the winery through years of...

  Order Here from Amazon It's taken me a bit to finish this novel, but that's okay because it's not a novel to rush through. The Portrait a character driven story about two women, one man, and a lifetime of love.  Valeria Costa is a famous writer who has had a decades-long affair with Martin Acla. Now Martin has had a stroke and is in a coma in his London home. His wife, Isla, is a famous portrait artist, and she, along with their three children, are at their home in London with Martin as his days wind down.  Valeria is bereft and is desperate to see Martin again. She writes Isla, asking to have her portrait painted. This way, she can get into the house, and hopefully see Martin. Isla agrees, and Valeria temporarily moves to London to have her portrait painted.  Valeria goes to a lot of trouble to see Martin! But he is her love, and their relationship goes back decades; they've been secret lovers almost as long as Martin and Isla have been married. Flying around...

  I first read about the real-life mystery of Agatha Christie's disappearance in 1926 a few years ago and was fascinated by it. What intrigued me the most is that no one, to this day, knows what exactly happened, and why she disappeared for eleven days in December, 1926. This lead to a wave of news media and police searching for her, fearing the worst. And yet after eleven days, she's found staying at a hotel near London, under an assumed name.  Agatha Christie never explained her disappearance--never talked about it for the rest of her life. Instead, she went on to become the most popular author of all time, writing mysteries that defined the genre and made her so famous she still steadily sells books and has movies based on her works produced 100 years later. Amazing.  Marie Benedict was also intrigued by this real-life mystery and decided to craft a novel around it, with a possible explanation as to the "why" of it. It's an interesting take on ...

This is the second Shari Lapena novel I've read, and wow! she can really spin a heck of a domestic thriller.  The End of Her is about Patrick and Stephanie, a happily married couple and new parents to twin girls. Patrick is a partner in an architectural company, and Stephanie has left her job to stay home with the girls. Both are struggling with having two colicky babies that don't sleep and cry all the time. Stephanie is so sleep deprived she forgets to shut off the stove, and sometimes leaves the front door wide open. She just can't remember doing those things. There's not enough coffee in the world for her to stay functioning normally. Visits to a pediatrician for help don't really go as planned; the girls' doctor simply says they will stop being colicky sometime, and it will end abruptly. Meanwhile, Stephanie, and Patrick, too, are having major sleep deprivation.  One day, a woman from Patrick's past appears, and threatens to blackmail Patrick if he doe...

I've read quite a few of Jojo Moyes' novels and haven't been disappointed in any of them. I have to say, however, The Peacock Emporium fell a bit flat for me. It was a novel I've had on my shelf for about a year, and after clearing off my bookcases, I found it again and added it to my summer reading list. But darn it all, it was a struggle to read and I'm still scratching my head over it after finishing it late tonight.  Reading the back cover, I thought this would be about a delightful young woman running a shop and dealing with a mother who is a bit overbearing. The delightful young woman would find her way by being a successful shop owner, and eventually connect with her mother. That's what I got out of reading the back cover.  Oh heck no, I was waaaay off. Honestly, I spent a lot of my time a bit confused as to where this plot was going. It seemed to be a jumble, as if the author couldn't decide which set of characters to concentrate on, so she tried to...

I've had this novel on my radar for quite some time, and I had a chance to read an advanced digital copy (but for a limited time). I noticed I had just a few days left before my time was up, so I sped through it this weekend. To be honest, it wasn't hard to do--I got hooked and couldn't put it down.  Eliza has been the moderator of the Hudson Valley Ladies' Bulletin Board for over fifteen years. It's basically an online digital discussion group where women can post questions and others chime in with answers or suggestions. It's Eliza's one lifeline, since she's home alone after her twins have gone to college. Eliza also suffers from agoraphobia, and hasn't left the house in months. She had one bout in high school that lasted a few months, then one day it disappeared and she returned to her normal routine. Now, years later, she's suffering from it again, and can't tell her loving husband Luke. Instead, she has an elaborate system set up so he ...

A very cool, windy, and gloomy Sunday gave me the chance to read the e-book of Someone We Know , and I discovered Shari Lapena.  This was a quick read, and that's a good thing, because I couldn't put it down. I've read quite a few domestic thrillers, and I'll admit, I was a bit burnt out. However, I had never read Shari Lapena's novels, and once I started reading, I quickly got over my blahs about domestic thrillers. I've even made plans to read the rest of her books over the summer. And I've already told my sister she needs to read them. It's been a busy Sunday. 😀😀 Anyway-back to the story. Raleigh is a sixteen year old boy who gets a thrill out of breaking into neighboring homes and hacking into people's computers. He doesn't do it to find information, but to hone his skills as a hacker. Unfortunately, a friend leaves a text that his mom finds, and all hell breaks loose. And this is the tip of the iceberg in a neighborhood where a missing wif...

I finished a book! I'm still trying to find my pandemic comfort reading. I think it's trending towards lighter reads. If I can't focus on a book right away, I put it aside. Sunnier days ahead will send those books back to me and I'll happily read them then.  So, Beach Read.  Emily Henry is an author I haven't read before. She writes YA novels and I think this is her first adult novel. I was excited to read it because it looked like a rom-com and I was all in! This is, however, one of those novels where the cover does not match what's inside. For one thing, the two main characters (Gus and January) only actually sit on the beach near the very end of the novel. They aren't beach people, especially when the beach in on Lake Michigan and the water is cold.  For another, I found this novel to be less rom-com and more a tale of two damaged people who are really struggling to come to terms with their pasts in order to move on. January is 29 and it's been a year...

The House Swap is another entry into the psychological relationship thriller. It does, however, have quite a different twist on it; one where you just don't see it coming for quite some time.  Told in two storylines: 2013 and 2015, you would think not much could happen in a few years. You'd be wrong, especially when it comes to the relationship between Caroline and Francis, a couple who's marriage has been slowly disintegrating due to Francis' addiction to pills, and the resulting affair Caroline has with a coworker. A mess, right? It's a bit sad to see what was once a solid relationship erode over time, and neither participant seems to know how to fix it.  Move to 2015, and Caroline and Francis are house swapping for a week to get away and continue to repair their relationship. The house is oddly bare of any personal touches; it's neat as a pin and pretty much empty of anything-more like a hotel. Making arrangements only through email, the owner of this home i...

This was one of the most unusual mysteries I've read, and a definite stand out in my reading list this year.  The Color of Bee Larkham's Murder  is centered around Jasper Wishart, a thirteen year old  autistic boy who also has synesthesia: he sees sounds--voices, birds chirping, cars, you name it--as colors. Each sound and person has their own particular color. Jasper's world is an amazing rainbow of never ending colors, and the only way he can cope is by painting what he sees. His big issue is his inability to recognize and remember faces-this is where remembering the color of a voice helps him recognize people. His mother is dead, and he lives with his father, who struggles to understand his complex child, and navigate raising a special needs son on his own.  Jasper believe's he's murdered the next door neighbor, Bee Larkham, and that his Dad is involved. The police have been looking for Bee, and she never answers her door. Jasper's beloved parakeets, who...

Well.  I told myself I wouldn't read anymore of the husband/wife/marriage/insanity/thriller genre that has become so dominant since Gone, Girl (which I haven't read, but I know the story).  I read a few last year that were pretty good, but I was satisfied with those few and decided that there wasn't much more that could be done that would surprise or even interest me. Enter The Wife Between Us .  I seriously underestimated this novel.  While I did figure out one of the big twists early on, there were a few other twists that I didn't figure out, and when they were revealed, I looked like this:  via GIPHY The story is told through alternating voices:  Vanessa and Nellie.  Vanessa is a mess.  She's divorced from Richard, living with her Aunt Charlotte in New York City, and is an alcoholic.  She works as a personal shopper at Saks and struggles to get to work on time and actually be present while she's there.  Her l...

Lies She Told is a novel that blurs reality and fiction and adds in two unreliable narrators.  What you get is a thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat, waiting for the curtain to whoosh open, revealing the truth.   Liza Cole is an author who's had a respectable run publishing novels, but now she's stuck, and under a deadline to produce another novel in quick time, or she will probably lose her contract.  She's struggling with infertility; taking hormones and trying desperately to engage her husband in this latest round of treatments.  He's grown distant, and it's no wonder:  his best friend and law partner Nick is missing, and no one has a clue what's happened to him.   Liza's novel begins to take shape in the form of Beth, a new mother who is also riding the hormone train, and feeling a bit insecure regarding her husband's affections.  As a reader, it took me awhile to get it in my head that Beth was the creation of Liza, and not anot...

I always start out a new year with a whole bunch of reading rules in my head.  I look at what I read the year before, see the patterns, and decide I have to pay attention to the genres that didn't get much reading from me.  Chick lit is still one of my favorite genres, but it certainly has gone through a bit of a change since I read Jemima J by Jane Green years ago. I still love my Jenny Colgan, my Jane Green, my Katie Fforde; my fun and frothy novels.  But  I have to say, there's a new chick lit in town, and it's the woman/dysfunctional marriage/drama/maybe someone will die/oh there's a twist   sub-genre .  I think it's still chick lit, but a much darker side.  These novels are definitely written with a female audience in mind: Gone Girl, Girl on the Train, The Woman in Cabin Ten ...you get the picture.  My Husband's Wife by Jane Corry fits into that category, but it is different from the other novels I've mentioned above.  It sounded intr...

The news that Carrie Fisher died early this morning just broke my heart, the capper in a year that has seen so many of my childhood and teenage movie and music icons leave us.    I had just finished listening to the audio version of The Princess Diarist  last week, and was shocked at my timing.  It was my first Carrie Fisher book experience, and I am so glad I listened to the audio, narrated by Carrie and her daughter, Billie Lourd. I never would have been able to appreciate Carrie's humor if I hadn't listened to her tell her stories. The biggest news from this memoir is, of course, her affair with Harrison Ford during the first Star Wars movie.  She was 19, he was 35 and married.  Carrie talks about her previous relationship with a young man who was also attending drama school with Carrie in London; he was really her first relationship with a man.  She was pretty innocent at 19, and Harrison Ford thought she was much more experienced...

I wasn't sure what to expect from this quirky novel.  I have a few things that struck me as I read the book; ideas about love and the idea of wandering through life with purpose.   Henry Quantum is a 40 year old man who lives in San Francisco with his wife Margaret.  It's December 23rd, and Henry realizes he hasn't purchased a gift for his wife for Christmas.  He decides he wants to buy her Chanel No. 5, and after a meeting at his advertising job, he takes a long lunch, determined to walk to Macy's and buy the perfume.   Except Henry's simple task takes him on a journey that has him thinking about physics, the stars, buddhism, the meaning of life, and Christmas songs.  He's a bit absent minded, what with all the ruminations that continually fill Henry's mind.  His marriage to Margaret is stale; she's always busy as a successful realtor, and disappointed in Henry's unfulfilled potential.   But on Henry's wanderings, he runs into Daisy.  T...