Project Hail Mary

Wow. I mean wow. 

I liked the Martian. I was interested to read Hail Mary. But I wondered if it was going to be repetitive of the concept of lone man in space and not live up to Mr. Weir's previous success. 

I didn't need to be concerned. Mr. Weir isn't a one hit wonder. 

This book took many unexpected twists and turns that I didn't see coming. 

There's a reason the story is told between present day and flashbacks, and the seamlessness of the two is well executed. 

Everything on the page is related and drives the plot. 

The science boggles the mind by doesn't bog down the story if you're not a science-minded person. 

Highly recommend. 

AMAZON

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish.

Except that right now, he doesn’t know that. He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.

All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very, very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it’s up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery—and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.

And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone.

Or does he?

Persuading the Billionaire

This is a fun romantic read. 

Escape to Hawaii, learn the heartbreak and sorrows that bring these different people together, and have a blast while reading. 

The characters are well formed, the story hits all the right notes, and you'll keep turning pages to the satisfying conclusion. 

AMAZON  

They weren't looking for love, but it found them in Hawaii anyway.

Alexis Robinson is alone on what should have been her honeymoon. It's just her luck that she gets knocked over by a car door before she even steps foot inside the Hawaiian resort. The man who hit her offers to pay her, but she refuses. It reminds her of what her ex would have done - throw money at everything. But when she witnesses his assistant quit her job, she persuades him to let her take over, desperate to keep her mind off her cheating ex.

Maxwell King is only at the Maui Royal Resort to decide whether or not to purchase it. His wealth has only grown over the years, but it's time for him to step into a different role and take on something more challenging. Little does he know that looking for one challenge might lead him to an even bigger one: not falling in love with the woman he's hired as his assistant for the week.

A jilted bride alone on her honeymoon.
A stubborn billionaire in need of an assistant.
And a resort in paradise for a week.

When the lines of their working agreement blur, will Alexis and Maxwell keep it strictly business? Or will the sparks flying between them be enough to persuade the billionaire?

The Slow March of Light

I was both excited and anxious about reading this book. 

Excited because I've been favorably impressed by Ms. Moore's work before. Anxious because of the war and imprisonment aspect, even though I trusted the author. War is hard for me to see or read about, and I shy away from it. 

It took me far longer to read this book than it should have. I read slowly and little bits at a time, holding my breath, waiting to see what would happen to Bob and how the difficult and delicate parts would be handled. 

I needn't have worried. Ms. Moore used emotion to convey Bob's prison time rather than graphic description of the torture he underwent to portray that period in his life. 

This is an excellent book, well researched, and told with loving care and concern. 

AMAZON

Based on a true story. Inspired by real events.

A riveting and emotionally-gripping novel of an American soldier working as a spy in Soviet-occupied East Germany and a West German woman secretly helping her countrymen escape from behind the Berlin Wall.

In the summer of 1961, a wall of barbed wire goes up quickly in the dead of night, officially dividing Berlin. Luisa Voigt lives in West Berlin, but her grandmother lives across the border and is now trapped inside the newly- isolated communist country of East Germany. Desperate to rescue her grandmother and aware of the many others whose families have been divided, Luisa joins a secret spy network, risking her life to help bring others through a makeshift, underground tunnel to West Germany. Their work is dangerous and not everyone will successfully escape or live to see freedom.

Bob Inama was an outstanding university student, with plans to attend law school when he is drafted into the US Army. Stationed in West Germany, he is glad to be fluent in German, especially after meeting Luisa Voigt at a church social. As they spend time together, they form a close connection. But when Bob receives classified orders to leave for undercover work immediately, he does not get the chance to say goodbye.

With a fake identity, Bob's special assignment is to be a spy embedded in East Germany. His undercover job will give him access to government sites to map out strategic military targets. But Soviet and East German spies, the secret police, and Stasi informants are everywhere, and eventually Bob is caught and sent to a brutal East German prison. Interrogated and tortured daily, Bob clings to any hope he can find from the sunlight that marches across the wall of his prison to the one guard who secretly treats him with kindness to the thought of one day seeing Luisa again.

Author Heather B. Moore masterfully alternates the stories of Bob and Luisa, capturing the human drama unique to Cold War Germany as well as the courage and the resilience of the human spirit.

The Midnight Library

It's my good fortune that this book got picked for book club. 

This is such a great idea to explore for what happens in the moment between living and dying. The author took the concept and ran with it. 

Loved seeing how the regrets could be righted, fantasies could be lived, dreams could be found, and possibilities could be endlessly explored. 

I think the construct for the library is genius. 

Satisfying ending. 

Would make a great film. 

AMAZON

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig's enchanting blockbuster novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

Emma Smith

A friend recommended this book in preparation for an event. 

I learned a lot about Emma's life and got some questions about the end of her life answered. 

She was an amazing woman and lived through some really tough circumstances. I learned great lessons from her example. 

The author repeats a few things but that's not a big deal. 

A concise history that can be read quickly. 

AMAZON

From acting as a scribe for the translation of the Book of Mormon to founding the Relief Society, Emma Hale Smith was a key figure in the Restoration. She was also her husband's anchor and the love of his life. But how much do we really know about her role, teachings, and leadership?

Drawing upon letters written by Emma to Joseph and to many others, along with minutes from Relief Society meetings and other artifacts, this book sketches a more complete portrait of this elect lady. It allows each of us to become personally acquainted with Emma as we learn more about her essential work as a leader, a wife, and a mother in the early days of the Church.

12 Days to Love is FREE!

 

FREE ON AMAZON APRIL 8-10! 

12 days. 10 ports. 1 soul searing kiss that could change her life . . .

Getting shot down after trying to kiss a handsome stranger? Embarrassing.

Discovering the guy is on her Italian cruise? Humiliating.

Lily tries to avoid the mystery man, but the tug to know him is as strong as the Mediterranean current. To make her mortification complete, her best friend is determined to play matchmaker.

Is it too late to jump ship?

The cruise is strictly business for Zander. He’s here to build his photography portfolio, not get side-tracked by a romantic fling. The last woman Zander loved died a year ago, and he’s not sure he’s over her yet. But he finds himself irresistibly drawn to Lily, who looks nearly as lost as he feels.

When the cruise ends, Lily and Zander must decide if one kiss is enough to build a future on or if their feelings will be swept away with the tide.

12 Days to Love is the first book in the A Destination of Heart contemporary, clean and wholesome romance series. If you like exotic settings, meddlesome friends, and hearts willing to take a risk on first time love, then you’ll love this book by award-winning author Lisa Swinton.

Pick up your copy of 12 Days to Love today!

A Destination of Heart Romance Series

12 Days to Love

Love in Bloom

Kiss & Makeup

Sugar & Spice

Loving the Greek Billionaire

All books may be read as standalone romances.

Her Cowboy Hero

Ms. Clopton has picked a few fun tropes for her story: cowboys, forbidden romance, second chance romance, a little suspense. If you enjoy those elements, you'll have a great time reading this book. 

The characters are well-developed and the pacing is smooth. I few more inner dialogues on the reasons why they can't be together for my taste were the only interruptions to the story. 

A good read anytime. Clean. Only kissing. 

AMAZON

Rodeo bronc supplier Lori Calhoun has struggled to live up to expectations after her father’s sudden death. When a trailer load of her star broncs disappears, the Knight Agency steps in to investigate.

Foreman of the Calhoun Ranch, Trip Jensen has watched Lori struggle to keep up with the demands of the ranch and the rodeo stock. He’s always admired her and loved her—but he’s kept that to himself. She was the boss’s daughter and is now the boss…off-limits for a cowboy like him. When more stock begins to disappear from the ranch, they must work together to solve the mystery. Unable to know who on the ranch to trust Trip enlist the Presley brothers from the neighboring ranch to back him up.

Lori has always admired Trip but he made it clear years ago that he wasn't interested in her as more than a friend. Now, he sticking close and she’s finding it hard to concentrate on the danger and not the man.

Can love blossom between them before time runs out?