Novel Nerd Blog - Book Reviews by Smitha

  MY THOUGHTS AND BOOK REVIEW This guide has a lot to offer to those true crime loving readers and tourists alike wanting to know more about the crimes happened in New England  region,  northeastern United States , including the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.  Author Dawn M Barclay has included a rich list of resources that are crime books, website links to crime reports, crime statistics, summary of serial killings, mass shootings, cold cases, unsolved crimes, crime/justice related accommodations, police, courthouses, museums and other attractions in this guide. For example, explore the neighborhoods of these regions like Boston and its suburbs and use this guide to stay at a hotel that was also a crime site mentioned in this guide. If you are more interested in the justice aspect of true crimes that happened you may also visit the courthouses in this book. It was truly amazing to read the statistics and number...

  MY THOUGHTS AND BOOK REVIEW This memoir is way beyond my expectation, Henry Oster has included every tiny detail of his Holocaust survival and moments of his growing up in Concentration camps with pain and strength. He has recorded the places he lived and worked during 1939 - 1945, the connections and friendships he made where at Buchenwald, an organized hell made him see death at his near eyes - unending scene of filth, despair, decomposed dead bodies in chlorine and impossible place to live in after he was shipped from Cologne to Buchenwald in Train at the age of 11. A German Jewish boy's Holocaust survival story told in a clear and poignant manner. I have read several WW2 books, to understand the horrific persecution and suffering and killings of thousands of  innocent men, women and children at the night of Kristallnacht, Buchenwald and Auschwitz. I never understood this precisely and what happened during this historical period of time closely before and a Germany that b...

  MY THOUGHTS AND BOOK REVIEW When Riley MacLeod arrives at the upscale Jeopardy Falls Retreat in the remote expanse of northern New Mexico, she expects a typical skip-tracing case. But the disappearance of a young woman during a couples' retreat is anything but ordinary. The case is murky, the clues minimal, and the resort staff are less than cooperative. Complicating matters further is Riley’s reluctant partner: Greyson Chadwick, a private investigator with a shadowy past and secrets that make her question his every move. Two Seconds Too Late is a thrilling blend of danger with an atmospheric setting in New Mexico, romance, and emotional depth. Dani Pettrey once again proves her mastery in romantic suspense, delivering a novel that keeps readers turning pages late into the night. Her characters are intense, cold and independent building tensions throughout the read. From the beginning itself I felt that the author's action sequences have tight pacing that puts readers on edge...

  MY THOUGHTS AND REVIEW After Pearl is a captivating historical mystery set in 1942, during the turbulent months following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The novel follows Nicholas Bishop, an alcoholic private investigator and shell-shocked WWI veteran, who wakes up in a seedy hotel room with a hangover, a foggy memory, and two bullets missing from his revolver. Worse still, lounge singer Pearl DuGaye is dead, and Bishop is the prime suspect. As he stumbles through a haze of forgotten days, Bishop—assisted by the sharp and capable Gia Alessi, a loyal sidekick who may or may not still be on his payroll—dives into a web of deceit and danger. His investigation leads him through Buffalo’s underworld, rubbing shoulders with crooked politicians, high-society elites, and an underground group of American Nazis. All the while, he’s haunted by flashbacks from the Great War and shadowed by a one-eyed dog named Jake. The pacing is tight and energetic. The mystery unfolds gradually but never drag...

  MY THOUGHTS AND BOOK REVIEW In The Lost Story of Sofia Castello, Lily Christie a struggling writer is offered the chance to ghostwrite the biography of a woman she and the public believed long dead—Sofia Castello, a glamorous singer from the World War II era. Believed to have died in 1941, Sofia is actually alive, in her eighties, and hiding in a quaint cottage on the Portuguese coast in Lisbon. Curious and desperate about the writing project landed from her Friend Jane, Lily travels to meet Sophia Castello and is soon carried away into a stunning tale of wartime bravery, hidden love, and heartbreaking sacrifice. As Sofia recounts her life as a Varina before becoming a singer —she retells the dangerous world of Nazi-occupied Europe while secretly aiding the Allies—Lily finds herself increasingly fascinated by Sophia's emotional story. Sofia's story is marked by her bond with a young orphaned German girl named Judith who tries to escape the German gestapo who tried following h...

  MY THOUGHTS AND BOOK REVIEW Finding Serenissima by the author Apple Gidley is a story about  a lady Amelia finding love in midst of  loss, and a new beginning in the Country of Italy. Leo, Amelia's Husband recently passed away from effects of Alzheimer's and later cancer leaving their Daughters - Moira and Lucy behind as well. As they come to terms with Leo's loss and grieve about it, Amelia remembers their decision to move to Papa New Guinea to be carefree and lead a less chaos life in New York. Later, Amelia decides to sell her home in Patanga to New Britain Palm Oil Limited and Move to Italy.  Amelia embraces the beauty and locality of Venice and finds this place rejuvenating and it brings new experiences. I enjoyed how the author has described the locations beautifully and take the readers to different places in Italy that is Venice and Florence.  Amelia expresses her thankfulness for the locals like Riccardo and Signora Scutari who teaches her the culture...

  MY THOUGHTS AND BOOK REVIEW Book Review: What Goes Around by Michael Wendroff "Evil has many faces"—and in Michael Wendroff's What Goes Around, each one is more horrifying than the last. This compelling thriller hooks you from the first scene and doesn't let the reader go, weaving a taut narrative of murder, distrust, and moral reckoning in the underbelly of modern America. Set in a small town plagued by a series of brutal killings, the novel brings together two unlikely allies: Jack Ludlum, a tough, no-nonsense detective who prefers action over analysis, and Jill Jarred, Jack's intellectual foil and long-time rival whose razor-sharp mind cuts through even the most cryptic of clues. They are compelled into an uneasy alliance, the two of them must manage not only an increasing body count, but also their own deep-seated enmity,  one that threatens to implode their investigation at every turn. As the investigators peel back layers of hate-fueled subcultures—includi...