The Light Over London

The Light Over London by Julia Kelly

An English antiques dealer discovers a box
filled with a handful of hidden mementos,
never guessing that someone else's treasures
will solve a mystery surrounding her
beloved grandmother.

Cara Hargraves is back home, trying
to pick up the pieces of her broken life.
The first step is working once again for
the fastidious owner of a shop where
people go for help in clearing out
their estates and starting anew.

When Cara finds a faded photograph
of a pensive, young woman, along with
a locket and worn diary from the 1940's,
she sets out on a journey that will lead
her to some astonishing revelations
about the owner of these priceless
memories.

Who wrote such wrenching words of
dreams and disappointments in the
forgotten diary? Cara feels an
inexplicable need to know, and when
an unlikely suitor offers his assistance,
her own life takes an unexpected
turn.

This is a fascinating, historical fiction story
about the brave WWII "gunner girls",
that select group of gritty, smart women who
were so vital to the War effort in Britain
during those relentless years of devastation.
The author effortlessly molds the past with the
present, as she details the unbreakable
bond of friendship these strong ladies shared
in the toughest of times.

An entertaining, amazing tribute
to the unsung heroes that paved the
way for today's women.

Not For Nothing

Not For Nothing by Kathy Curto

Take a close look at the family photo
on the cover of this memoir, and you'll
clearly see the people who shaped
Kathy Curto's life.

She's the timid, little girl posing with
her stern father in his dapper new suit,
while her adoring mother smiles faintly,
not a hair out of place in her perfectly
coiffed beehive. A loving family
with a volatile past.

This captivating collection of anecdotes
details the author's life growing up with
her three siblings in a robust Italian family
in South Jersey during  the tumultuous 1970s
and 1980s. It's a story filled with her memories
as a child, and her awakening years as a teenager.

Her father was a proud man, loud and boisterous,
who owned a small chain of gas stations. Every
night he'd come home reeking of oil, with dirt
under his fingernails, ready for a home-cooked meal
and a fight if anyone dared to antagonize him.
Even with success, he never felt quite good
enough, often asking his children
"who do you think you are?" when they
dared to question his authority.

Her mother was caring, long-suffering,
capable, and loyal. When she could no longer
tolerate her husband's roving eye or angry temper
tantrums, she would leave for awhile, only
to return to try again. She loved her children
with a fierceness that sustained her through
the good and the bad times, and the ups and downs
of life with a husband who was not always easy to love.

In those days, her brother was a carefree young man,
until drugs took him deeper and deeper into
an abyss from which he couldn't escape. Kathy
watched the futile attempts to save him fail
over and over again.

This short book is both humorous ( her father's
glued on hairpiece will make you laugh out loud)
and achingly emotional. It will appeal to all
those readers who can relate to growing up
up in a large, ethnic family where food, fights,
and laughter are all part of daily life.

Honest, poignant, and thoroughly entertaining.

For Better and Worse

For Better and Worse by Margot Hunt

How easy is it to plan and commit the
perfect murder?

When Will and Natalie Clarke were
flirtatious law students, their first date
included fine dining, drinks, and stimulating
conversation about plotting to kill and
then getting away with the crime. All fictitious,
of course.  Little did they know how words
spoken in jest, would come back to haunt
them seventeen years later.

Now they are married, living in a sleepy,
little Florida seaside community where Nat
is a well-known, nose-to-the grindstone
criminal attorney, bent on defending the
helpless and downtrodden, while Will
toils away at real estate law. Eleven-year-old
son, Charlie, is the light of their lives, and
even though their marriage has grown stale,
he brings them joy in an otherwise humdrum
existence.

Life takes a dramatic turn for this family
when they learn that Charlie may be the
victim of abuse by the local school principal,
a friend they've known for years. When the
swirling gossip starts to spread throughout
the town, angry parents demand answers.
But Nat wants more than answers, she wants
justice. And Will, her weary husband who
has some juicy secrets of his own, becomes
an unwitting partner in her devious scheme.
Will soon discovers how little he knows
about his cold, cunning. and calculating
wife. Who is this woman he married?

This psychological suspense novel is
hard to put down, as each chapter enfolds
with an unexpected twist. Exactly how far
will a mother go to protect her child?

Like all good thrillers, the unpredictable
ending makes Hunt's  latest novel a must
read for 2019. Check it out.