I have No Shelf Control: Titles I have add to My NetGalley & Edelweiss Shelves

What I added in September and October to my NG shelf

Such a Pretty Girl by T. Greenwood

I loved Rust & Stardust and, for some reason, didn’t read Keeping Lucy. I have added Keeping Lucy to my kindle and hope to read it soon. So when I saw that T. Greenwood had a new book, I downloaded it immediately. I read and discussed it with a friend in my reading good. We both loved the story. I have plenty of notes but have yet to review it.

What the book is about

Award-winning author T. Greenwood explores the often-flickering line between woman and girl in this vividly lyrical drama alternating between an West Village artists community in 1970s New York and present day, as a former child actress is forced to confront the darkest secrets of her youth when a controversial photo taken of her as a preteen on the night of the 1977 blackout ignites a media firestorm.

Memories crowd in, providing their own distinctive pictures of her mother Fiona, an aspiring actress, and their move to the West Village in 1976. Amid the city’s gritty kaleidoscope of wealth and poverty, high art, and sleazy strip clubs, Ryan is discovered and thrust into the spotlight as a promising young actress with a woman’s face and a child’s body. Suddenly, the safety and comfort Ryan longs for is replaced by auditions, paparazzi, and the hungry eyes of men of all ages.

Forced to reexamine her childhood, Ryan begins to untangle her young fears and her mother’s ambitions, and the role each played in the fraught blackout summer of 1977. Even with her movie career long behind her, Ryan and Fiona are suddenly the object of uncomfortable speculation—and Fiona demands Ryan’s support. To put the past to rest, Ryan will need to face the painful truth of their relationship, and the night when everything changed.

Setting: 1970 New York City

Published in Oct 2022 by Kensington / Read in Sep 2022

Genre: Historical Fiction/ Feminism

T. Greenwood splits in time in San Diego and Vermont

Those Empty Eyes by Charlie Donlea

Charlie Donlea has been a favorite author for Lindsay and me since we started reading together. His early books were some of the first ones we read in our groups. We did a Q & A with him and loved him even more. He is an author you don’t want to miss out on reading his books.

What the book is about

Alex Armstrong has changed everything about herself—her name, her appearance, her backstory. She’s no longer the terrified teenager a rapt audience saw on television, emerging in handcuffs from the quiet suburban home the night her family was massacred. That girl, Alexandra Quinlan, was accused of the killings, fought to clear her name, and later took the stand during her highly publicized defamation lawsuit that captured the attention of the nation.

It’s been ten years since, and Alex hasn’t stopped searching for answers about the night her family was killed, even as she continues to hide her real identity from true crime fanatics and grasping reporters still desperate to locate her. As a legal investigator, she works tirelessly to secure justice for others, too. People like Matthew Claymore, who’s under suspicion in the disappearance of his girlfriend, a student journalist named Laura McAllister.

Laura was about to break a major story about rape and cover-ups on her college campus. Alex believes Matthew is innocent, and unearths stunning revelations about the university’s faculty, fraternity members, and powerful parents willing to do anything to protect their children.

Most shocking of all—as Alex digs into Laura’s disappearance, she realizes there are unexpected connections to the murder of her own family. For as different as the crimes may seem, they each hinge on one sinister truth: no one is quite who they seem to be 

Expected publication: March 28th 2023 304 pgs

Gerne: Suspense/ Thriller

Charlie Donlea lives in Chicago. Something I found interesting he spends a part of each year fishing with his father in the far reaches of Canada, where the roads end and lakes are accessible only by floatplane. These majestic trips to “God’s Country” inspired the setting for his first novel, Summit Lake. I wonder where these far reaches of my country in goes. We do have some beautiful lakes close to where I live.

The Spite House by Johnny Compton

This title spark my interest while searching up spooky buddy reads to read with a friend Debra. We both have finished reading and are sharing our thoughts. I hope to share thoughts on it soon.

What the book is about

Eric Ross is on the run from a mysterious past with his two daughters in tow. Having left his wife, his house, his whole life behind in Maryland, he’s desperate for money–it’s not easy to find safe work when you can’t provide references, you can’t stay in one place for long, and you’re paranoid that your past is creeping back up on you.

When he comes across the strange ad for the Masson House in Degener, Texas, Eric thinks they may have finally caught a lucky break. The Masson property, notorious for being one of the most haunted places in Texas, needs a caretaker of sorts. The owner is looking for proof of paranormal activity. All they need to do is stay in the house and keep a detailed record of everything that happens there. Provided the house’s horrors don’t drive them all mad, like the caretakers before them.

The job calls to Eric, not just because there’s a huge payout if they can make it through, but because he wants to explore the secrets of the spite house. If it is indeed haunted, maybe it’ll help him understand the uncanny power that clings to his family, driving them from town to town, making them afraid to stop running. A terrifying Gothic thriller about grief and death and the depths of a father’s love, Johnny Compton’s The Spite House is a stunning debut by a horror master in the making.

Setting: Masson House in Degener, Texas

Expected publication: February 7th 2023 by Tor Nightfire

Genre: Paranormal /Ghosts

Johnny Compton is a San Antonio based author 

On The Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniel

I love Tiffany McDaniel, and when I was offered her new book through NG, I downloaded it immediately. Lindsay and I did a Q & A with Tiffany for her book Betty, and I loved her passion for her story.

What the book is about

Arcade and Daffodil were born one minute apart, twins that swore to always protect each other.
Together, Arc and Daffy forge a world shot through with colour and wonder: a patch of grass becomes an archaeologist’s dig; the toxic fumes emerging from the local paper mill are the dust rising from wild horses gallopping in the factory’s basement; an abandoned 1950s convertible is a time machine that can take them and their friends anywhere. Their bond is an escape from their struggling family, their imaginations a reprieve from the failing, lusterless streets of Chillicothe, Ohio.
As the legacy of addiction that has long plagued their mother tightens its grip on their lives, Arc and Daffy try to build a new life for themselves. But when a local prostitute is found tangled in the banks of the river, Arc finds herself drawn to the mystery, determined to find the truth and protect the only family she’s ever known.
But as more familiar bodies are found and with the killer circling closer and closer, Arc’s mission to keep herself and her sister safe becomes increasingly desperate – and the powerful riptides of the savage side increasingly difficult to resist.

Drawing from the true story of six women killed in her native state, acclaimed novelist and poet Tiffany McDaniel has written a haunting, singular portrait of small town America and an elegy for missing women everywhere.

Expected publication: March 2nd 2023 by W&N 464 pages

Genre: Mystery/Thriller

 Tiffany McDaniel is an Ohio native

What I added to my EW shelf

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

This was an impulse download after browsing book buzz around the net. I am not even sure how I ended up finding it. I didn’t even read what the book was about when I downloaded it. Now reading the synopsis it does sound like I should like it. I am finding out I enjoy books that put a modern spin on classics and think it’s clever of authors. I do have to admit I haven’t read many classics to really how well they are done but I am inspired to read them to see for myself.

“Anyone will tell you the born of this world are marked from the get-out, win or lose.”

Set in the mountains of southern Appalachia, this is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. In a plot that never pauses for breath, relayed in his own unsparing voice, he braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.

Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.

Setting: The mountains of southern Appalachia

Published October 18th 2022 by Harper

Genre: Historical Fiction/Retelling 560 pgs

American author

The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave

I loved The Mercies so when I saw this title on EW I downloaded it right away.

What the book is about

In Strasbourg, in the boiling hot summer of 1518, a plague strikes the women of the city. First it is just one – a lone figure, dancing in the main square – but she is joined by more and more and the city authorities declare an emergency. Musicians will be brought in. The devil will be danced out of these women.

Just beyond the city’s limits, pregnant Lisbet lives with her mother-in-law and husband, tending the bees that are their livelihood. Her best friend Ida visits regularly and Lisbet is so looking forward to sharing life and motherhood with her. And then, just as the first woman begins to dance in the city, Lisbet’s sister-in-law Nethe returns from six years’ penance in the mountains for an unknown crime. No one – not even Ida – will tell Lisbet what Nethe did all those years ago, and Nethe herself will not speak a word about it.

It is the beginning of a few weeks that will change everything for Lisbet – her understanding of what it is to love and be loved, and her determination to survive at all costs for the baby she is carrying. Lisbet and Nethe and Ida soon find themselves pushing at the boundaries of their existence – but they’re dancing to a dangerous tune 

Setting: Strasbourg France

Expected publication March 14, 2023 304 pgs

Genre: Historical Fiction

Kiran Millwood Hargrave is a British poet, playwright and novelist

The Personal Assistant by Kimberly Belle

Kimberly Belle is another author I love. We have done a couple Q & A with her and she is so generous with her time. It is clear she loves to discuss her books with readers. I also love the way she hustles to get her books seen and makes things happen for herself. Lindsay has finished reading this one and I need to hustle and start it soon.

What the book is about

USA TODAY bestselling author Kimberly Belle returns with a deeply addictive thriller exploring the dark side of the digital world when a mommy-blogger’s assistant goes missing.

When Alex first began posting unscripted family moments and motivational messages online, she had no intention of becoming an influencer. Overnight it seemed she’d amassed a huge following, and her hobby became a full-time job—one that was impossible to manage without her sharp-as-a-tack personal assistant, AC.

But all the good-will of her followers turns toxic when one controversial post goes viral in the worst possible way. Alex reaches out to AC for damage control, but her assistant has gone silent. This young woman Alex trusted with all her secrets, who had access to her personal information and front row seats to the pressure points in her marriage and family life, is now missing and the police are looking to Alex and her husband for answers. As Alex digs into AC’s identity – and a woman is found murdered – she’ll find the greatest threat isn’t online, but in her own living room.

Written in alternating perspectives between Alex, her husband, and the mysterious AC, this juicy cat and mouse story will keep you guessing till the very end.

Expected publication: November 29th 2022 by Park Row /352 pages

Genre: Supsense

Kimberly Belle is an American author

With My Little Eye by Joshilyn Jackson

Joshilyn Jackson is one of my long time favorite author and one that can do no wrong in my little eye. I enjoy listening to her books as she narrators them herself. I am not sure if I will wait till it is released to listen and read this one.

From the New York Times bestselling author of Never Have I Ever comes the hair-raising story of a mother who moves herself and her daughter across the country to lose a dangerous stalker—only to discover that it will take more than distance to escape him.

It started with the letters…

For actress Meribel Mills, disturbing fan mail is part of the price of fame. So when she starts getting creepy letters written in fruit-scented marker she is mostly unphased and diligently files them along with her other messages from unhinged fans. After all, she’s a single mom approaching forty, not the kind of hot young celeb who sparks dangerous obsessions. But there’s something different about Marker Man…

He’s been in her home…

Meribel’s sheets smell of unfamiliar cologne, and objects have gone missing around the house. Plus, the letters have become more perverse, with drawings of a naked Meribel tied up or chopped into pieces. While the police insist that stalkers hardly ever escalate to violence, Meribel has played the dead girl one too many times on TV to risk becoming her in real life. She and her daughter move from Los Angeles to Atlanta for a fresh start—but no distance is great enough.

He’s watching her…

Years of being in front of a camera have given Meribel a superpower—she can feel eyes on her, a creeping sensation like bees inside her skin. And someone definitely has her in their sights. Could Marker Man have followed her all the way across the country?

Who else might be watching—her ex-husband? The lover she left behind in LA? Her new neighbor? Suddenly, every man in her life is a suspect, but she can’t keep herself and her daughter safe from a monster she can’t identify. When the paths of all of these men collide, Meribel will find herself alone in the fight of her life, desperate to protect those she loves as danger closes in from all sides.

Expected publication: April 25th 2023 by William Morrow 336 pages

Genre: Suspense