Strictly Friends


Strictly Friends by Frances Mensah Williams
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Special thanks to Firefly for sending a copy for review.

Summary:

She’s travelled halfway round the world to paradise. But has it been on her doorstep all along?

When Ruby Lamont’s young son Jake starts telling tall tales about the dad who walked out on them six years ago, it’s time to find out the truth. It’s not that she wants Kenny back in her life—her charming commitment-phobe Griffin, has always been more of a father-figure to Jake—but if she can understand why Kenny broke her heart, perhaps she can finally move on.

Their journey takes them to heart-shaped Sorrel Island, a Caribbean paradise that according to legend was created as an enchanted refuge for lovers. For no-nonsense Ruby, romance is the last thing on her mind. Spoiling for a fight, she confronts her runaway ex, but he’s a changed man, or so he claims. With Kenny seemingly having turned a new leaf, Griffin shows up out of the blue and the tropical heat builds to an inferno.

With sparks of lust and jealousy flying in all directions, Ruby has to wonder whether the magic of Sorrel Island is more than just a legend. As the truth of Kenny’s departure—and Griffin’s arrival—spills out, Ruby must discover whether people really can change—or if she is just destined for heartbreak (Goodreads).

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The House in the Pines


The House in the Pines by Ana Reyes
Publisher: Dutton
Special thanks to Raincoast Books for sending a copy for review.

Summary:
Maya was a high school senior when her best friend, Aubrey, mysteriously dropped dead in front of the enigmatic man named Frank whom they’d been spending time with all summer.

Seven years later, Maya lives in Boston with a loving boyfriend and is kicking the secret addiction that has allowed her to cope with what happened years ago, the gaps in her memories, and the lost time that she can’t account for. But her past comes rushing back when she comes across a recent YouTube video in which a young woman suddenly keels over and dies in a diner while sitting across from none other than Frank. Plunged into the trauma that has defined her life, Maya heads to her Berkshires hometown to relive that fateful summer–the influence Frank once had on her and the obsessive jealousy that nearly destroyed her friendship with Aubrey.

At her mother’s house, she excavates fragments of her past and notices hidden messages in her deceased Guatemalan father’s book that didn’t stand out to her earlier. To save herself, she must understand a story written before she was born, but time keeps running out, and soon, all roads are leading back to Frank’s cabin…(Goodreads).

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Death Unfiltered


Death Unfiltered by Emmeline Duncan
Publisher: Kensington Books
Special thanks to Kensington Books for sending a copy for review.

Summary:
As the owner of Portland, Oregon’s popular Ground Rules coffee cart, hard-working young master barista Sage Caplin is excited to expand her business with a brick-and mortar store. But not everyone gives her a warm welcome . . .

Ground Rules isn’t the only newcomer set to open in Portland’s grand new Button Building. Fortunately, most of the fellow micro-restaurant owners and patrons are great—with two exceptions. There’s Rose, a true-crime podcaster and active TikToker who’s pestering Sage for an interview about her estranged con-artist mother; and Bianca, the familiar and perpetually unpleasant owner of Breakfast Bandits. Bianca is abrasive to everyone, so Sage doesn’t feel singled out. . . . Until Bianca falls dead at the building’s grand opening—a to-go cup of Ground Rules coffee in her hand. Laced with Ketamine, also known as Special K.

It doesn’t help that just before she collapsed, Bianca was publicly rude to Sage. Or that Bianca’s boyfriend points the police toward Sage. Or that Rose, still hung up on investigating Sage’s mom, has declared she’ll solve the murder. Now it will be up to Sage to sift through a complex blend of motives, blackmail, and old and new rivalries to get to the truth of a very bitter brew (Goodreads).

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Her First Palestinian


Her First Palestinian by Saeed Teebi
Publisher: Astoria
Special thanks to House of Anansi for sending a copy for review.

Summary:
Elegant, surprising stories about Palestinian immigrants in Canada navigating their identities in circumstances that push them to the emotional brink.

Saeed Teebi’s intense, engrossing stories plunge into the lives of characters grappling with their experiences as Palestinian immigrants to Canada. A doctor teaches his girlfriend about his country, only for her to fall into a consuming obsession with the Middle East conflict. A math professor risks his family’s destruction by slandering the king of a despotic, oil-rich country. A university student invents an imaginary girlfriend to fit in with his callous, womanizing roommates. A lawyer takes on the impossible mission of becoming a body smuggler. A lonely widower travels to Russia in search of a movie starlet he met in his youth in historical Jaffa. A refugee who escaped violent circumstances rebels against the kindness of his sponsor. These taut and compelling stories engage the immigrant experience and reflect the Palestinian diaspora with grace and insight (Goodreads).

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