Jencey's Writer's Corner

  Years ago, I listened to The Kommandant’s Girl by Pam Jenoff. I totally loved the book and thought surely there would be a sequel.  Yes, The Diplomat’s Wife carries many of the characters readers loved into this new story.  Where will the story go from here? Synopsis:  “1945 . Marta Nederman has barely survived the brutality of a Nazi concentration camp, where she was imprisoned for her work with the Polish resistance. Lucky to have escaped with her life, she meets Paul, an American soldier, who gives her hope of a happier future. The two make a promise to meet in London, but Paul is in a deadly plane crash and never arrives. Finding herself pregnant and alone in a strange city, Marta finds comfort with a kind British diplomat, and the two soon marry. But Marta’s happiness is threatened when the British government seeks her help to find a Communist spy—an undercover mission that resurrects the past with far-reaching consequences. Set during a time of great upheava...

  Thank you to Tandem Literary for a copy of this book.  I was given this book in exchange for an honest review.  Cleo Ballard is a new author for me.  I do like thrillers, especially the ones that have you turning the pages quickly to find out what happens next.  This story explores the impact of AI on our society.  Synopsis:  “Penn, once a brilliant PhD candidate in Applied Language Studies, traded her dissertation for a “perfect” life as a suburban wife and social media-savvy mother. But after a brutal betrayal by her husband, friends, and even her own teenage daughter, Penn is left with nothing but the wreckage of her curated identity. Driven by a desperate need for something she can rely on, Penn returns to her abandoned grad school project. With the help of a former crush and a healthy dose of cutting-edge AI, she creates Aletheia: the perfect virtual friend. Aletheia is programmed with one core directive: The Truth. She can detect lies with 100%...

  This next book definitely has beachy vibes.  Kristy Woodson Harvey’s Beach House Rules is definitely a summer read.  This is a story with multiple points of view.  It has a mystery, romance, and Family.  Let’s dig into  Beach House Rules! Synopsis:  “When Charlotte Sitterly’s husband is arrested for a white-collar crime, she and her daughter Iris are locked out of their house by the FBI and—what’s potentially even worse—thrust into the spotlight of @JuniperShoresSocialite, the town’s snarky anonymous Instagram account. Desperate and cut off from her bank accounts, Charlotte moves to a former beachfront bed-and-breakfast that’s home to a community of single mothers and draws plenty of gossip in the small coastal North Carolina town. Charlotte and Iris find solace and are surprised by how much fun they’re having with the other families despite their circumstances. But when the women discover a secret link between them, it changes everything they though...

  Welcome to the read of the summer!  This book has a little bit of everything, including mystery, romance, and history.  You are either in, or you're out.  Does this affect a resort that the same family has owned for years?  Nothing says beach reads like Mary Kay Andrews. Synopsis:  “Everyone refers to the St. Cecelia as “the Saint.” If you grew up coming here, you were “a Saint.” If you came from the wrong side of the river, you were “an Ain’t.” Traci Eddings was one of those outsiders whose family wasn’t rich enough or connected enough to vacation here. But she could work here. One fateful summer she did, and married the boss’s son. Now, she’s the widowed owner of the hotel, determined to see it return to its glory days, even as staff shortages and financial troubles threaten to ruin it. Plus, her greedy and unscrupulous brother-in-law wants to make sure she fails. Enlisting a motley crew of recently hired summer help—including the daughter of her estran...

  A few years ago, Nora Roberts penned a series called The Inn Boonesboro.  I shared the first two books of the series.  Now I can share the finale of the series, The Perfect Hope.  I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  Synopsis:  “Ryder is the hardest Montgomery brother to figure out - with a tough-as-nails outside and possibly nothing too soft underneath. He’s surly and unsociable, but when he straps on a tool belt, no woman can resist his sexy swagger. Except, apparently, Hope Beaumont, the innkeeper of his own Inn BoonsBoro.... As the former manager of a D.C. hotel, Hope is used to excitement and glamour, but that doesn’t mean she can’t appreciate the joys of small-town living. She’s where she wants to be - except for in her love life. Her only interaction with the opposite sex has been sparring with the infuriating Ryder, who always seems to get under her skin. Still, no one can deny the electricity that crackles between t...

  Have you ever had questions about your past?  A mystery that you couldn’t solve?  Choices that were made that affected you greatly in how you lived your life.  Colette Marceau has many questions about the past and also about preserving her family’s legacy.  You can read her story in Kristin Harmel’s The Stolen Life of Collette Marceau.  Synopsis:  “Colette Marceau has been stealing jewels for nearly as long as she can remember, following the centuries-old code of honor instilled in her by her mother, Annabel: take only from the cruel and unkind, and give to those in need. Never was their family tradition more important than seven decades earlier, during the Second World War, when Annabel and Colette worked side by side in Paris to fund the French Resistance. But one night in 1942, it all went wrong. Annabel was arrested by the Germans, and Colette’s four-year-old sister, Liliane, disappeared in the chaos of the raid, along with an exquisite diamond b...