Patty Pick for 8/9/18 is "The Couple Next Door" by Shari Lapena

The Couple Next Door is a fast read which will pull you in as it quickly twists and turns throughout the rest of the story. Anne and Marco, our young, married couple, have a new baby to love. Marco is the classic smart, hard-working boy who excelled and won the rich girl. He now has his own successful company and is trying to give Anne the life style she is used to. Anne grew up as the only daughter of wealthy parents. After the birth of their six-month-old daughter, Cora, Anne has struggled with postpartum depression.
Their childless neighbors have invited them over for a small dinner party but the babysitter has bailed out. The couple next door do not like children and want an adult only get-together. Anne and Marco decide to leave the baby home alone and take turns checking on her every thirty minutes. 
As you can tell, something is going to happen - the baby disappears! The rest of this mystery involves the actions of each of the characters after the kidnapping and their interaction with Police Detective Rasbach. He is trying desperately to untangle this web 
in time to save Cora. Every character has a secret to reveal to you during the story and it will surprise you along the path. No one needs to tell you that this is a read you will not want to start and then put down. It will go quickly and keep you guessing until close to the end. 
What happened to Cora? Are Anne and Marco as happy as they seem? Does the wealth of Anne’s parents play a role in the kidnapping? Are their neighbors hiding anything?
I rated this book a 4.5 stars. Make sure you have time to finish it before you pick it up because you will not want to stop!

Patty Pick for 5/17/18 is “The Secret to Southern Charm” by Kristy Woodson Harvey

Kristy Woodson Harvey has another terrific book you don't want to miss called “The Secret to Southern Charm” in her Peachtree Bluff series! The family of women, Ansley, the mother and her daughters, Caroline, Sloane & Emerson have been through some tough times in their lives but, they have grown into strong adult women. They have a strong bond and use their individual strengths to help each other out and make unerring good choices to be there for each other when needed. 

The three daughters are now gathered for the summer at their mother’s house in the quaint town of Peachtree Bluff, Georgia. They have learned that Sloane’s husband, who is serving in the Army, is missing in action. They rally around her and her boys to help in any way possible, like warm up one of the 62 casseroles the neighbors brought over. The other sisters, Caroline & Emerson have their own problems to deal with and you will want to immerse yourself in their lives, too. Better yet, let’s just move there!

This family and the town of Peachtree Bluff will wiggle its way into your heart and you will find yourself invested into the day-to-day challenges each person faces. The story weaves around the lives of each daughter and Ansley and the choices they must face during the life of the novel. I laughed with their humor, I cried with their pain and loss, and I wanted to live for just a little while in Peachtree Bluff in this house with these women. 

Open the first page and experience the raw pain of an army wife not knowing if her husband will come home. This is a true American novel with strong Southern themes that I can relate to, and the family truths are relatable to us all. Don’t miss this lovely novel and by all means, sugar, read them both! 5 Stars and big hug!

Patty Pick for 2/8/17 is "The Woman in the Window" by AJ Finn

I had heard and read very good press about this book, but as you all know sometimes a book may not live up to it's hype. "The Woman in the Window" will grab you by the heart and proceed to squeeze it with fear until you can't take it any longer. Then it proceeds to pluck those same heartstrings and make you cry.

Anna Fox, renown child psychologist, can not leave her home due to the agoraphobia she now suffers. She is doing therapy, taking medication, talking to her family, anything and everything to help her find the courage to leave. In the meantime, she spends her days watching the neighbors through the windows of her home. She is watching the vacant house across the park when a new family moves in with a teenage son. She did not know she would soon put herself in their cross hairs.

Anna slowly unravels her story to you when she communicates with her tenant living in her basement, shares her wine with the neighbors, participates in her computer community and interacts with the few people she allows into her house. But don't think this is a slow, winding read, because that could not be further from the truth. This "woman in the window" will grab you and twist and turn you until you are not sure who is alive, dead, or guilty. I don't want to give too much away, but there are surprising twists and turns and the finale kept me reading it so I could finish it during the first quarter of the Super Bowl. I could not put it down! You need to meet Anna and live with her a few days or however long it takes you to read this book. Believe me, you will not want to put it down until you are finished! 5++++ Stars! 

Patty Pick for 6/16/16 is "Pretending to Dance" by Diane Chamberlain

Diane Chamberlain's novel, Pretending to Dance, follows adult Molly as she deals with the loss of her child and the fact that she and her husband, Aidan, will never be able to physically have any children of their own. But Molly's life is not what it seems, she has secrets from Aidan. Secrets that she has carried around in her head and heart her whole life. As Molly and Aidan go through the adoption process to find a child of their own, her heart and mind force her to think back and deal with her childhood in North Carolina. 

Molly was born as the illegitimate child of her father, Graham, and Amalia, a coworker at a mental hospital where he worked prior to marrying Nora. During her early years, Amalia brought Molly to Morrison Ridge and gave her to Molly's father and his wife, Nora to raise.
Amalia ends up staying in the private community and being a part of Molly's life. Molly's father is now suffering from a severe case of muscular disease that is advancing quickly. What happens during the summer in which Molly turned fourteen will effect her forever. She is determined to find the answers that she has been running from for years. She left North Carolina and has not spoken to her mother, Nora, since or even her birth mother, Amalia. 

Pretending to Dance explores the family relationship between mother and child and father and child. These experience shape the relationships Molly has in the future. All the events and experiences we live through effect our decisions through life. Molly has never dealt with her past and now she must if she is going to be able to go forward with adopting a child with Aidan. The future of their marriage is what finally pushes her to go back and face her past. Diane Chamberlain is a master in the family relationship story and crafts fine characters that are flawed, but human. Her novels are peppered with "alive" people and that is a gift every writer tries to find. Enjoy this on the beach or anywhere. 

July 4th Time Off!

It was getting rather "frosty" at the beach last week!
Loved the sequel to the "Garden Spells" which is one 
of my all-time favorite books! Watch for my review 
in the near future!