I have recently been loving World War II historical fiction books. I used to always try to stray away from them because they could never keep my attention, but lately I have a new appreciation for them. When We Were Innocent by Kate Hewitt was so interesting because it was historical fiction mixed with contemporary fiction. I loved that the book went back and forth between present and past. It flowed well and I simply could not put the book down.

Libby Trent has spent her life working hard and building a life she is proud of. She lives in Virginia with her husband, her two kids, and her father has moved in with them as well. But one day her world turns upside down when a government official shows up at her doorstep and tells her that her father is not who he says he is. He tells her that her father is actually a Nazi War Criminal who escaped Germany at the end of the war and he has stolen someone else’s identity. Now Libby has a choice to help them bring a case against her father, or, to try and protect him at all costs.

Right from the beginning the story had me hooked. I just wanted to know everything and I could not stop reading. All of the characters were interesting and complex. It felt unlike anything else I have ever read. The book also portrayed that sometimes things aren’t always just black and white or either right or wrong. Sometimes there is a middle ground and it is okay if there is.

I rated this book 3.5/5 stars. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. I believe a wide variety of readers would enjoy the book. Personally contemporary fiction is one of my favorite genres so I loved that it was a huge component of the book mixed in with some historical fiction.

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins was not the best thriller I ever read, but I still really enjoyed it. It kept me guessing the entire time, I found the plot to be interesting, and the characters were well written. I also loved the older stories that were mixed in with what was currently happening.

One day a single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town. Earlier in the summer, a teenage girl had met the same fate. Unfortunately, these are not the first women who have been lost to this water. These deaths disturb the river and bring up history and secrets that have been submerged for a long time.

I love a good thriller and this one did not disappoint. Throughout the entire novel I kept second guessing things and trying to figure it out myself, but I was unable to. Right when I felt I had it figured out something else would happen. I also loved that the story was told from multiple points of view. I enjoy hearing things from everyone’s perspective because it always adds another layer to the story.

I gave this book 3.5/5 stars. I would highly recommend it if you have not read it yet. It had a lot of strong characters, the plot was well thought out, and the overall writing was very good and was able to keep my attention. I found it to be a good summer read.

The Scarlet Dress by Louise Douglas honestly surprised me with how much I enjoyed it. For some reason I was just not really anticipating much going into it, but I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked it. It even made me go on and read more books by Louise Douglas.

Twenty five years ago, Alice Lang was wearing her favorite scarlet dress when she disappeared. It was the summer of 1995, Alice Lang was 22, and she rented a caravan on a holiday park on the outskirts of the holiday resort, Severn Sands. Alice befriended Marnie, who was a shy little girl, whose father is the parks caretaker, and her mother died a few months earlier. Will, whose mother runs the bar in Severn Sands, ends up falling in love with Alice, and becomes jealous of anyone else she is with. Tensions begin to rise and one evening Alice disappears from her caravan. She is never seen again. Only her scarlet dress is found when it washes up on the shore. Now, it is many years later and Alice’s body has been found.They must now string together secrets of the past to find out what happened to Alice.

This book was so interesting to me for some reason. There was just something about it that hooked me in right from the beginning. I enjoyed all of the characters, I felt like the writing was really strong, and I loved the way the story developed. I was invested from the beginning and that does not always happen in a book. It was not only about what happened to Alice, but also about the lives of all the other people living in the holiday park, which I really enjoyed.

I gave this book 4/5 stars. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has not read it. It is also included on Kindle Unlimited, which is a plus. I am so glad I decided to read it. The cover instantly drew me in and made me want to see what the book was about. I look forward to reading even more of Louise Douglas’ novels.

I don’t even really know where to begin with Too Late by Colleen Hoover. After reading a lot of books by her I have discovered that her novels are always a hit or miss for me, and this one was a complete miss. I considered not even finishing it multiple times, but there was a part of me that was just curious enough to keep to going so I could find out what was going to happen.

Sloan is the type of person who will do anything for the people she loves. Every day she goes through hell with her boyfriend, Asa Jackson. He is dangerous and morally corrupt. Sloan continues to do whatever she can to make it through, until she is able to find a way out. But then one day Carter shows up, and he changes everything for Sloan. To Asa, Sloan is the best thing to ever happen to him, and he will not let anyone or anything, take her away from him. Asa does everything he can to stay one step ahead in business and one step ahead of Sloan and he will not let anything get in his way, including Carter.

The first thing I want to add, is a warning for domestic violence, and sexual assault. That is a huge proponent of this novel, and I wish I would have seen a warning before I started reading this book. This was quite possibly the worst book I have ever read. I have read quite a few of Colleen Hoover’s novels, so I know she is a good author and that I have enjoyed her books in the past, so this is not anything against her. This book was just not good. First off, there were super graphic sex scenes, which I would actually call rape scenes, and I felt like that didn’t need to be there. I am not a prude, or morally objected to sex in books, but this just took it too far, in my opinion. Secondly, the writing just seemed all over the place to me and the characters didn’t seem fully thought out. One of my biggest problems with this novel though, is I don’t believe this is the type of book, that people who have been though domestic violence or sexual assault, want out there to portray what those relationships are like. It almost seemed like it was mocking domestic violence, abuse, and sexual assault in a way. It just didn’t sit right with me.

I gave this book 1/5 stars. I would give it less if possible. Obviously, I had a lot of issues with it and I wish the novel would have been thought out a little bit better. I wouldn’t recommend this book. I don’t think it is worth it and Colleen Hoover has much better books out there and I don’t think anyone needs to waste their time with this one.

At this point I have read a few books by Kate Hewitt and No Time to Say Goodbye was not my favorite, but I still enjoyed it. I think Kate Hewitt does a good job of writing about real life experiences. With her books I tend to get drawn in and almost forget that I am even reading.

Nathan West loved and adored his wife Laura. But now Laura is gone. She was killed in what seems to be a random act of violence. Laura is what held the family together and now Nathan feels life without her is meaningless. Nathan is trying to hold the family together without Laura. He is trying to help his three young daughters as best he can while they all move through the grief in different ways. Nathan ends up turning to Maria, a friend of Laura’s. Maria is helping Nathan see how Laura really felt about him and things at home. Nathan doesn’t really know if he can trust Maria and Maria is holding something back from Nathan. This secret Maria is holding has the power to completely destroy the friendship the two of them have built.

Like I said earlier, this book was not my favorite, but I still was able to enjoy it. It had a very real life feel to it which I really liked and that always makes me appreciate a novel more. I think the characters were well written and sympathetic. I also enjoyed the growth of the characters throughout the novel.

I gave this book 3/5 stars. Not my favorite, but still enjoyable. I would recommend it if you enjoy contemporary fiction. I would also recommend Kate Hewitt overall if you enjoy contemporary fiction. Her historical fiction romance novels are also good, from the ones I have read so far. I look forward to reading more of her novels in the future.

I have heard a lot about The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware so I had to read it to see what everyone was talking about. While I liked it, it was not my favorite. It was a pretty decent thriller, but not the best one I ever read. I would still probably recommend it though, but I would just say don’t have too high of expectations.

Lo Blacklock is a journalist who writes for a travel magazine. She has just been given the assignment of a lifetime. She will be on a luxury cruise for a week that has only a handful of cabins. At first, Lo’s trip is perfect, but as the week goes on things begin to change. One night Lo witnesses something terrible: a woman being thrown overboard. Yet, all the passengers are accounted for, so the ship continues to sail as if nothing has happened. Lo keeps trying to tell anyone who will listen that something has gone terribly wrong and they need to stop the ship.

This is one of those books where as soon as I read what it was about I was excited to read it. Books like this usually hook me in right away. This one did hook me in, but at some points I got a little bit annoyed with the main character, which could make it difficult to read at times. I just felt like at times it was too much and the same things were being repeated over and over again.

I gave this book 3/5 stars. Not my favorite, but also not my least favorite. It was just lacking something for me and I can’t quite figure out what that is though. I thought Lo was a pretty well written character, I just got annoyed by her at times, but I’m not exactly sure why. I think this book is good and I didn’t find it to be a waste of time there was just something missing for me.

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell was interesting. I was very confused when I first read what the book was about, so I am going to do my best to describe what it was about, but be warned, you may be just as confused as I was. It wasn’t until I started reading it that everything came together and began to make sense. Overall, I would say it was a pretty strong novel. Not my favorite, but still a good book.

On her 25th birthday, Libby Jones, receives a letter that she has been patiently waiting for her whole life. Through this letter she learns the identity of her birth parents and she also learns that she has now inherited their abandoned mansion that is worth millions. Twenty five years ago the police were called to this mansion with reports of a baby crying. When the police arrived they found three adults dead downstairs in the kitchen, but the baby was alive and well upstairs in her crib. Four other children were reported to live there, but they have never been found. Now Libby is learning about her past and trying to find where the four other children have gone.

This book was kind of confusing, but once I started reading it it began to make a lot more sense. I have read quite a few books by Lisa Jewell and I have to say she’s not my favorite author, but I do enjoy her novels. I was trying so hard to figure everything out that this ended up being a super quick read. If you are looking for something easy to read or a nice thriller I would definitely recommend this book.

I gave this book 3/5 stars. It was definitely interesting, just not my favorite book I have ever read. I would still recommend it though. If you like thrillers I would also recommend checking out Lisa Jewell’s other novels.

I absolutely loved The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein. It took me about a day to read because I just could not put it down. I can’t believe it took me this long to read. If you have not read it yet I highly recommend it.

Enzo knows he is different from other dogs. He believes he is smarter and has nearly a human soul. He educates himself by watching TV and listening to Denny Swift, his master. On the eve of his death, Enzo recalls his life. He tells the story of family, love, loyalty, and hope.

I love that this book was told from a dogs perspective. As an adult, we don’t really get a lot of books told from an animals point of view. Obviously, this book made me sob. You know from the description that Enzo is going to die, but it still got me at the end. I actually had to stop reading for a bit because I was crying so hard I could not see the page clearly enough to read. Overall though, this book was one of a kind and was written really well. It did a great job at depicting life, but from a dogs perspective.

I gave this book 4.5/5 stars. I would highly recommend this book. I think every single person can get something out of it and also enjoy it. Just be prepared and have your tissues ready because you are going to need them!