Pink Chicks Book Corner

When a ship sinks along the coast of Cornwall, Laura Callaway finds a man washed up on shore and has him taken to her Uncle’s home to take care of him. Laura takes the time when a ship wreaks to find out about the crew and notify families and she looks for identification for the injured man. When he wakes up she finds out his name is Alexander and he finds out his friend died and a nemesis of his survived. Alexander turns out to be a French captain and was a prisoner, and Laura at first does not trust him at first. As their friendship evolves to romantic feelings, Laura and Alexander have to face a threat to the future.  This was a good story, the story could have been a little shorter though. The characters were a little flat and I felt that there could have been more tension between Alexander and his enemy. The romance was nice, I just thought the story could have had more urgency.  ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Isadora is a academic researcher who is struggling to be sociable. When she reads an article about 31 ways to be happy, she decides to do the steps to disprove the article. Meanwhile Isadora helps Cal, a professor with his research paper, her world opens up more. Doing the steps for the article Isadora meets a family that lives next to her and finds friendship with an elderly man as well. Cal and Isadora get close and she finally thinks that she will get over her heartbreak from a former relationship. Through friendship and new love Isadora finds the life she wants. This was a good story, although I thought it dragged at times. Isadora’s friendship with Marty and her neighbors daughter Delilah was cute and I liked her relationship with Cal.  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Jessica, Norah and Alicia were just girls when they lived with thier foster mother and grew into sisters. When a body is found under the house they lived in during that time, questions about their foster mother and what she was capable of spur them to remember thier time with her. All three girls had difficult lives and this plays out with Jessica and Norah, while Alicia tries to help kids like she had been. All suspect thier abusive foster mother of doing something to someone, but they don’t have proof. Eventually the truth comes out and it frees the sisters to live thier lives. I thought this was disappointing story in that it was slow and was predictable. The twist at the very end was good, but I couldn’t get into the characters either. I liked Hepworth’s other books like The Younger Wife and The Soulmate better. Content warning: child abuse sexual abuse and strong language  ⭐️⭐️

Lauren Spierer is a collage student at Indiana University who disappeared after a night out with friends. Reporter Shawn Cohen looks into her disappearance in this true crime story. He draws on information from interviews and information from Lauren’s family and friends. Cohen describes the last night that Lauren’s friends saw her, and who she was last seen with. Drawing from police interviews and some reports, he tries to piece together what happened to Lauren. The heartbreak of Lauren’s family is felt and their hope for answers to what happened to thier daughter and sister is felt as well. Cohen does well with the information he receives and shines light on this case in a new way. He is still digging into the case and finding some new information. Hopefully through this book Lauren’s family will get the answers they need to find their daughter. Thank you to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for letting me read an arc early. My opinions are mine alone. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

In the kingdom of Ilya being a person without powers is forbidden and Paedyn has to navigate through this world hiding that she is without powers- an Ordinary. After her father is murdered by the king, Paedyn survives by stealing and pretending to have psychic powers. When she saves Kai, one of the princes, she comes to the notice of him and others. Kai has been trained by his father to be a killer; a killer of Ordinaries and threats to the throne. He is drawn to Paedyn and when she is added to the Purging Trials, she becomes his distraction. Paedyn has to hide her identity from the Elites- those who have powers and deal with her attraction to Kai. Through the trials they become close and she also becomes friends with his brother the heir to the throne Kitt. Kai and Paedyn have feelings for each other but in the end hatred will separate them. The first book in a trilogy, this set up the series well and was a fast paced plot. The banter between Kai and Paedyn was well developed as well ...

One of my favorite Austen books, this follows the Dashwood sisters Elinor and Marianne and their trials finding love. The sisters differ in temperament and in the men they choose- Elinor is a more restrained and she falls for reserved Edward and Marianne is passionate and unreserved in showing her feelings and she falls for Willoughby, a charismatic man who matches her personality. Each sister falls for their suitors, but difficulties ensue, leaving Marianne devastated when things don’t work out with Willoughby. Elinor and Edward have a happy ending and Marriane finds lasting love as well. I love both sisters and I like thier sister relationship.  ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Rooney is an artist who uses red strings in her exhibits and believes that fate plays a role in her life. A chance encounter with Jack in NYC one night will only cement her belief that what is meant to be will be. Jack is charmed by Rooney and they both enjoy the night going to places that night. Several months later Rooney and Jack have to work together at NASA because she is the selected artist to create a exhibit for them under her alias, Red String Girl. Rooney and Jack have to navigate thier growing feelings for each other as well as work out their different beliefs about fate and free will in life. This is a cute romantic story that is well told and has good characters. Jack and Rooney are well characterized and the romance is well written. It was a little slow in the beginning, but I enjoyed the banter between the couple. The ending was enjoyable and was happy to see a happy ending for all characters! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sara has a special talent in spotting two people that should be romantically matched and that causes her some trouble with the established matchmakers in her Jewish community in the 1920’s. She makes many successful matches and eventually meets her own match. Her granddaughter Abby is a divorce lawyer who ways to do well in her job. Abby finds out that she does have her grandmother’s talent matching people when she is working on a couple cases. The clients find love with people that Abby introduced them to, and she  looks back at what her grandmother had done in the past. Alternating between the viewpoints of Sara in the past and Abby in the 90’s, this is a touching story of finding a soulmate and the ties between generations. The narrative between Sara and Abby flowed smoothly and it was interesting reading their perspective about matchmaking. An enjoyable story and good ending made this a nice read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

When a betrothal with a rival kingdom ends in a disaster, Gisela daughter of the king of Steinland believes it is because she is albino and the death of her betrothed,Prince Jerrik and some of his family is the start of war between their countries. Gisela believes that Bloodless Kristoff, a supposedly brutal commander from Krongton has killed her siblings and will eventually kill her as well. Gisela is betrothed to another king, but she does not want to marry him and runs away on the way to his country to evade his lust and cruelty. Eventually after an attack on the coast of Krongton, Gisela comes face to face with Kristoff, and he takes her into the country. He doesn’t know who she is at first and Gisela learns that Krongton and its Queen and people are not what she believed they were. Kristoff and Gisela find out who each other really is and they eventually find love with each other.  A entertaining and interesting story that is written at a good pace. The characters have depth a...

Julia Bradbury is a rising star in the ballet world who gets caught up in WW2 in Italy. When her dance partner is severely injured in a attack, they are taken to a hospital on Tiber Island. Julia helps with the covert mission to save Jewish families under the Nazis nose by saying they have a fake disease: Syndrome K. When two American medics arrive they have a little Jewish girl that Julia and the two men have to figure out how to save. In the present day timeline, one of the medics granddaughter, Delaney, travels to Italy to give an old suitcase back to the family of the Jewish girl it belonged to. She finds out what happened to the girl and gets answers about the connection between the girl and her grandfather. Delaney also connects with the grandson of Calla, and she finds out more about the ballerina that helped the two men and little girl. This was a touching and revealing story about the efforts to save some Jewish people in the last years of WW2. I liked the characters and the s...