Hello 2021! Goodbye 2020!

 

Well, 2020 sure wasn't the year I expected when it started. I didn't anticipate a pandemic, or the protests, though those were needed. I didn't expect getting laid off from work for 3.5 months. Thank you, COVID-19. Grrrrr. I didn't expect my hermetic tendencies to become such a positive thing. The shutdown, though inconvenient at times, didn't bother me as much as it did some of my family and friends who are so much more social than I am. I didn't expect to have a meltdown and spend a day huddled in bed sobbing my guts out when my state's lockdown was extended yet again. I really wanted to get back to work, and the extension revealed that I wasn't as mentally and emotionally okay as I thought I was. I'm doing better these days.

Bea Reviews The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman

Series: The Invisible Library #7
Read As A Stand Alone: Possible, but not recommended
Publisher: Ace
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 29th, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

A professional spy for a mysterious Library which harvests fiction from different realities, Irene faces a series of assassination attempts that threaten to destroy her and everything she has worked for.

Irene is teaching her new assistant the fundamentals of a Librarian's job, and finding that training a young Fae is more difficult than she expected. But when they both narrowly avoid getting killed in an assassination attempt, she decides that learning by doing is the only option they have left - especially when the assassins keep coming for them, and for Irene's other friends as well...

In order to protect themselves, Irene and her friends must do what they do best: search for information to defeat the overwhelming threat they face and identify their unseen enemy. To do that, Irene will have to delve deeper into her own history than she ever has before, face an ancient foe, and uncover secrets that will change her life and the course of the Library forever.

Bea Reviews Take It Back by Kia Abdullah

Series: Zara Kaleel #1
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 8th, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

From author Kia Abdullah, Take It Back is a harrowing and twisting courtroom thriller that keeps you guessing until the last page is turned.

One victim. Four accused. Who is telling the truth?

Zara Kaleel, one of London's brightest legal minds, shattered the expectations placed on her by her family and forged a brilliant legal career. But her decisions came at a high cost, and now, battling her own demons, she has exchanged her high profile career for a job at a sexual assault center, helping victims who need her the most. Victims like Jodie Wolfe.

When Jodie, a sixteen-year-old girl with facial deformities, accuses four boys in her class of an unthinkable crime, the community is torn apart. After all, these four teenage defendants are from hard-working immigrant families and they all have proven alibis. Even Jodie's best friend doesn't believe her.

But Zara does--and she is determined to fight for Jodie--to find the truth in the face of public outcry. And as issues of sex, race and social justice collide, the most explosive criminal trial of the year builds to a shocking conclusion.

Bea Reviews Hidden Treasure by Jane K. Cleland

Series: Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery #13
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 8th, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

The discovery of a mysterious antique trunk leads to a disappearance--and murder--in the latest in this beloved cozy series set on the rugged New Hampshire coast, Jane K. Cleland's Hidden Treasure.

When antiques expert Josie Prescott finds a mysterious trunk, no one thinks it could lead to murder. Josie, the owner of Prescott's Antiques & Auctions, and her new husband, Ty, have finally found their dream home, a Victorian beauty on the beach known in the town of Rocky Point as the "Gingerbread House." It was recently vacated by Maudie Wilson, an aging widow, whose concerned nieces have moved her into a nearby assisted living facility. Josie befriends Maudie, who seems surprisingly sharp, considering her family's doubts about her soundness of mind.

As Josie and Ty joyfully begin renovations on the Gingerbread House, the nieces report that Maudie, in her forgetfulness, may have left behind an old trunk, which she's desperate to get back. Sure enough, Josie finds the trunk inside a hidden compartment, and within it a jewel-encrusted box holding a sculpture of a cat. Josie can understand the sense of urgency about getting the objects back--they look valuable, and not just in the sentimental sense.

But when Josie goes to return the box to Maudie, the woman has vanished. And on the floor of her empty apartment lies a corpse, a woman bludgeoned to death. Sick with worry for Maudie's safety, Josie begins to piece together the clues to the murder. Everyone around her seems to want to pitch in, from Maudie's family, to the receptionist at the facility, to the young couple helping Josie with her renovations, but with the killer so close to home, Josie has to be on her guard.

Merry Christmas!

 

2020 has been such an odd and stressful year; yet, in some ways it's been a good year. My plans for Christmas are low key, which actually suits me very well, although I'd originally planned to travel to visit my stepmother. Ah well. Deity willing, that can happen next Christmas.

Claude and I wish you a safe, healthy, and blessed day today, whether you celebrate Christmas or it's just another Friday. 

Blessed be!

Bea Reviews Cold Wind by Paige Shelton

Series: Alaska Wild Mysteries #2
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 8th, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Second in a new series set in Alaska from beloved cozy author Paige Shelton, Cold Wind will chill your bones.

Beth Rivers is still in Alaska. The unidentified man who kidnapped her in her home of St. Louis hasn’t been found yet, so she’s not ready to go back.

But as October comes to a close, Benedict is feeling more and more like her new home. Beth has been working on herself: She’s managed to get back to writing, and she’s enjoying these beautiful months between summer and winter in Alaska.

Then, everything in Benedict changes after a mudslide exposes a world that had been hidden for years. Two mud-covered, silent girls appear, and a secret trapper’s house is found in the woods. The biggest surprise, though, is a dead and frozen woman’s body in the trapper’s shed. No one knows who she is, but the man who runs the mercantile, Randy, seems to be in the middle of all the mysteries.

Unable to escape her journalistic roots, Beth is determined to answer the questions that keep arising: Are the mysterious girls and the frozen body connected? Can Randy possibly be involved? And―most importantly―can she solve this mystery before the cold wind sweeping over the town and the townspeople descends for good?

EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY: Layla by Colleen Hoover

I've never read Ms. Hoover but many of my blogger friends are big fans and this book sounds interesting. I don't know when I'll get to it, but I want to read it. Today, I'm part of the blog tour for the book's release. I have an excerpt with an intro by Colleen herself, and a giveaway. Enjoy!

Find Colleen online:

Website: http://www.colleenhoover.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorColleenHoover/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/colleenhoover
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5430144.Colleen_Hoover 

Bea Reviews Don't Look Back by Christie Craig

Series: Texas Justice #3
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Forever
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: December 15th, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

New York Times bestselling author Christie Craig's thrilling romantic suspense about a by-the-book FBI agent who must trust a risk-taking detective for help tracking down her sister's killers -- perfect for fans of Kat Martin, Sharon Sala, and Brenda Novak!

FBI agent Brie Ryan's latest mission is personal. She's posing as a waitress at the Black Diamond strip club, the same club where her estranged half sister worked until she turned up dead. When Brie's undercover assignment is compromised, she turns to the only man she knows who can help her: Connor Pierce, a too-sexy-for-his-own-good, rule-breaking cop with a knack for solving cold cases.

When someone breaks into Brie's apartment, Connor's detective skills aren't the only things that kick into overdrive. Although his job demands he remain detached, now he finds himself tempted not only by Brie's beauty but also her intelligence and bravery. As the investigation-and their attraction-grows more intense, lives are in jeopardy, and Connor finds the most important rule he must break is his own. But can he put his heart on the line?