Review: Dad by: Steven Manchester

Title: Dad

Author: Steven Manchester

Publisher:  Story Plant

Format: e-book ( 336 p.) Personal Purchase

Description:

Three generations of dads, playing traditional roles in each other's lives, arrive simultaneously at significant crossroads. The decisions they make and the actions they take will directly - and eternally - affect each other. After a life of hard work and raising children, Robert is enjoying his well-deserved retirement when he discovers that he has an illness he might not be able to beat. At 19, Jonah is sprinting across the threshold of adulthood when he learns, stunningly, that he's going to become a father. And Oliver - Robert's son and Jonah's dad - has entered middle age and is paying its demanding price. While reconciling the time and effort it has taken him to reach an unfulfilling career and an even less satisfying marriage, he realizes that it's imperative that he keep it all together for the two men who mean everything to him. When different perspectives lead to misunderstandings that remain unspoken - sometimes for years - it takes great strength and even more love to travel beyond the resentment. Dad: A Novel chronicles the sacred legacy of fatherhood. 

My Thoughts:

This book follows Jonah, Oliver and Robert.  They are each at a crossroads in life. In Jonah's case he's trying to figure out life and where that leads when his girlfriend winds up pregnant and how to hand;e all life it throwing his way.  Oliver is having a hard time with his relationship.  He hasn't figured out if he wants to continue the marriage with his wife or leave.  He's also meeting with a psychiatrist to analyze his life.  Robert is at the part where he is retired and trying to figure out what to do with his life.  He does different charity events to help those less unfortunate but when Robert is hit with a health scare that puts him on a very different life path one he hadn't counted on.  Will these men figure out their life journeys or are they doomed to fail?

 Oh my word, Mr. Manchester has figured it out.  He writes with such depth of character you feel like you know these men and their family/.  You find yourself unable to put the book down without seeing how it ends and what lessons they learn from one another.  If you haven't read his books yet you are totally missing out and  you must check them out to see how it goes!

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Review: The Ghost and The Haunted Portrait by: Cleo Coyle

Title: The Ghost and The Haunted Portrait

Author: Cleo Coyle

Publisher: Berkley 

Series: Haunted Bookshop Mystery #7

Format: Paperback ( 336 p.) Personal Purchase

Description:

Bookshop owner Penelope Thornton-McClure and her gumshoe ghost team up to solve the stunning mystery at the heart of a madwoman's self-portrait in this all new installment from New York Times bestselling author Cleo Coyle.

While gathering a collection of vintage book cover paintings for a special event in her quaint Rhode Island bookshop, Penelope discovers a spooky portrait of a beautiful woman, one who supposedly went mad, according to town gossip. Seymour, the local mailman, falls in love with the haunting image and buys the picture, refusing to part with it, even as fatal accidents befall those around it. Is the canvas cursed? Or is something more sinister at work?

For answers, Pen turns to an otherworldly source: Jack Shepard, PI. Back in the 1940s, Jack cracked a case of a killer cover artist, and (to Pen's relief) his spirit is willing to help her solve this mystery, even if he and his license did expire decades ago.

My Thoughts: 

This book follows Penelope Thornton-McClure and her friends who are traveling to someone selling alot of classic noir stuff.  Before you know it though the seller winds up dead, the pressure is on in Pen's case to figure out who killed the seller and why?  Seymour also finds himself in ownership of a classic painting of a past McClure.  Who killed and why?

This book has so much going on between traveling back and time with Jack to figure out more about the painting and why it's so mysterious.  Then there is the murder going on around town and whose to blame with it.  

It's a good read and keeps the reader well informed of the ins and outs of the mystery while adding history with Jack to the mix such a fantastic story!

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Review: Small Town Monsters by: Diana Rodriguez Wallach

Title: Small Town Monsters

Author: Diana Rodriguez Wallach

Publisher: Underlined

Format: e-book ARC ( 314 p.) NetGalley

Description:

The Conjuring meets The Vow! This terrifying paperback original tells the unputdownable story of a girl, a dark angel, and the cult hellbent on taking over her small, coastal town.

Vera Martinez wants nothing more than to escape Roaring Creek and her parents' reputation as demonologists. Not to mention she's the family outcast, lacking her parents' innate abilities, and is terrified of the occult things lurking in their basement.

Maxwell Oliver is supposed to be enjoying the summer before his senior year, spending his days thinking about parties and friends. Instead he's taking care of his little sister while his mom slowly becomes someone he doesn't recognize. Soon he suspects that what he thought was grief over his father's death might be something more...sinister.

When Maxwell and Vera join forces, they come face to face with deeply disturbing true stories of cults, death worship, and the very nature that drives people to evil.

Underlined is a line of totally addictive romance, thriller, and horror paperback original titles coming to you fast and furious each month. Enjoy everything you want to read the way you want to read it. 

My Thoughts: 

This book follows Vera Martinez whose trying to survive in a town where everyone treats her like a dead freak because of her parents work which is similar to the Warren's work in the Conjuring movies.  In this book though Maxwell Oliver needs Vera's help with her parents in Barcelona helping someone else the pressure is on Vera to help Max whose Mom has gone crazy.

Vera notices that the people in town are all crazy about a self help group.  But is the group helping or are they taking over?  Vera whose adamant she has no powers feels compelled to help her class mate.  With the help of Vera's aunt and a local priest the hunt is on to help one helpless woman so over taken by grief she can barely get through the day.

This book was incredible especially for anyone who loves The Nun and The Conjuring movies it pulls you in and you can't put it down til you know the kids will be alright!  I feel in love with Vera and felt for her when you read about her issues and Max's issues you want to take them somewhere safe! 

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