BOOKS AND CHINOOKS

Wyatt wants to be a father and has had no luck with the agency he hired to find him a surrogate. Trista needs money badly and the agency has turned her away as she doesn’t fit their ideal profile. These two end up meeting and decide to enter into a surrogacy contract. The characters are fun, and their banter is entertaining. I found Wyatt’s desire to become a single parent interesting. Wyatt comes from a boisterous family that brings a lot of levity to the book, and I liked T

Another great book from this author!! Vincent is a successful thriller writer. His background is a bit sketchy, as he is the only survivor after his teenage siblings were murdered years ago, and he discovered the bodies. There is ongoing controversy surrounding whether or not he is a murderer or is innocent, but he does have an alibi. His daughter is a ghostwriter who ends up being a ghostwriter for her father on his last book as his health deteriorates. She has tried to dist

I’m not usually into magical realism, but this author does it so well. Joni is a sought-after songwriter, but unfortunately, she seems fresh out of songs at the moment. She returns to her hometown, hoping that it will help with her writing. The problem is that the things she loves there are all changing. She also now seems to have part of a song stuck in her head, but she can’t seem to finish it. Then the person whose voice she is hearing in her head unexpectedly shows up, an

I loved this atmospheric thriller set in Alabama. I always like to go into a thriller knowing nothing about it ahead of time, and I’m so glad I did for this one because the slow-burning suspense kept me riveted. This is a well-written mystery that heats up with twists as the atmosphere with the characters becomes more anxious as a hurricane approaches. The past and present details really rounded out the story. Definitely enjoyed this one!

Who doesn’t love Dolly Parton? I was happy to be able to read and review this book about Dolly’s amazing life and 60-year career. Dolly is a force to be reckoned with, and that is exemplified in this book. She has been a star in country and pop music as well as an accomplished songwriter and actress for many years. Growing up poor, her perseverance to succeed propelled her into stardom. Throughout this time, she became a philanthropist, donating her time and money to various

This is the third book in this entertaining series, and I am loving these books! The main character, Eleanor, is again trying to solve murder and mayhem while she attends a mystery writers' conference in the Bahamas. As soon as she arrives, she unfortunately comes across a dead body. The dialogue in these books is so entertaining. It is quick-witted, snappy, and humorous, and I love that we are also privy to Eleanor’s inner dialogue. The other characters are so entertaining,

I went into this book totally blind, so I really didn’t know what to expect. I liked it overall, but during parts of it, I was lost. AJ and Noah meet when she is 17, and he is 21. They form a close relationship, and then Noah disappears with no notice. They then see each other years later and end up filming a TV show together. Noah is now a big-time movie star. This is where I started to get confused. The sci-fi aspects of the show were not something I could completely follow

Sara Hall is an exceptional distance runner, and she has been running since she was a teenager. Over the years, Sara has been a top runner for the US and competed and succeeded in many international events and held distance records. She has battled injuries and herself along the way. Sara and her husband Ryan, also an accomplished runner, adopted four sisters from an Ethiopian orphanage, and she details her motherhood journey and how the girls adapted to their new home. Her C

This is an enemies-to-lovers forced proximity story. I really didn’t connect to the two main characters, and part of the problem was that I didn’t get enough of a backstory for Caleb to completely explain his isolating personality. There were snippets here and there, but not enough to genuinely get to know him. Daisy had a bit more backstory, but she was still a bit confusing to me. I also thought there were some plot points that didn’t line up. There are a lot of people who

This was a fun romcom! Sutton ends up in a fake dating situation as a favour to her friend. Within minutes of meeting, Elijah and Sutton agree to fake their relationship to prove therapy does or doesn’t work. Long story, but anyway, it sets them up for some therapy appointments where they start to learn more about each other and themselves, and they realize they are attracted to their fake date. Both characters have things to work out in their lives before they can fully comm

I thoroughly enjoyed this second-chance romance. Although this is a romance book, it definitely covers some serious topics. Marley carries the BRCA gene that causes breast cancer, so she has made the decision to have a bilateral mastectomy. Nikhil has recently come back into her life, and he is very supportive of her decision. They make a deal that she will be his personal stylist as he tries to push his tenuous acting career forward, and he will care for her during her recov

I want to start by saying I love this author’s books. Unfortunately, this one didn’t quite work for me. I’m not even sure why it didn’t, but I wasn’t connected to the story for some reason. The plot covered some important aspects surrounding PTSD and how it has affected the main characters. I was confused as to why there was so much miscommunication between the main couple, considering they had been married quite a while already. Wouldn’t this have been a problem throughout t