{I've Been Reading} The Hive

 

The Hive by Gregg Olsen

A murder investigation leads to Marnie Spellman, the founder of a cult like cosmetics empire. Marnie claims that when she was a child, a swarm of bees lifted her into the air and spoke to her. That miraculous encounter led her to create her company and surround herself with a closely guarded inner circle of confidantes. This book sounded right up my alley, but I had a hard time slogging through it. Marnie and the bees are introduced in a brief prologue, then we don't hear anything else about her backstory until nearly a quarter of the way through the book...and that story is what made me pick it up in the first place. There's a lot of other stuff going on and eventually most of it ties together, but I didn't enjoy this one.  

Disclosure -- The publisher provided me with an advance review copy. This post contains affiliate links. 

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {June 2021}

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules:  Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned,  as long as it's about baby quilts. You're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

{I've Been Reading} The Photographer

 

 

The Photographer by Mary Dixie Carter

Delta Dawn carefully creates perfect memories of children's parties even when she has to tweak the images a bit to get the effect she wants. She's worked hard distance herself from her own childhood and to make herself blend in with her clients. After photographing little Natalie Straub's party, Dawn realizes that she wants to become part of their perfect family and starts working to make that happen, first offering to babysit, then gradually making herself indispensable to the family.  

A single sentence early on reveals that Delta isn't the nice young woman she presents herself as. She's not particularly likeable, but she's definitely fascinating to read about as she puts her plan in motion. 

Disclosure -- The publisher provided me with an advance review copy. This post contains affiliate links. 

{I've Been Reading} Hush Little Baby

 

Hush Little Baby by R. H. Herron 

How many times have I told you that I love domestic thrillers? This one is fantastic. It opens with obstetrician Jillian Marsh delivering a baby and, in that first chapter, I really wished I'd had a doctor like her when I was expecting. It's quickly revealed that Jillian has problems. She's a recovering alcoholic who, years earlier, showed up for a shift drunk, with disastrous results. A decade after she successfully turned her life around, her  wife, Rochelle,  is leaving her for another woman, while Jillian is heavily pregnant with Rochelle's biological baby. And unsettling things keep happening at home. The baby journal is missing, then reappears in a place she'd already looked more than once. Her favorite kitchen knife is gone without a trace, then appears in the soil of a potted plant. Jillian has a strong support group of friends but even they are starting to think that she's just suffering from a case of baby brain or pregnancy fog. Pregnancy can leave you extremely vulnerable and the author does a fantastic job of capturing that. 

Disclosure -- The publisher sent me an advance review copy. This post contains affiliate links.