Title: Deadly Little Scandals Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes Series: Debutantes #2 Genre: YA contemporary thriller Release Date: November 5th, 2019
Publisher: Freeform Source: E-galley from Rock Star Book Tours which did not influence my opinion. My rating: 5 stars
Synopsis:
"Think
of the White Gloves like the Junior League-by way of Skull and Bones?"
Reluctant debutante Sawyer Taft joined Southern high society for one reason
and one reason alone: to identify and locate her biological father. But the
answers Sawyer found during her debutante year only left her with more
questions and one potentially life-ruining secret. When her cousin Lily ropes
her into pledging a mysterious, elite, and all-female secret society called the
White Gloves, Sawyer soon discovers that someone in the group's ranks may have
the answers she's looking for. Things are looking up... until Sawyer and the
White Gloves make a disturbing discover near the family's summer home--and
uncover a twisted secret, decades in the making.
No one is quite who they seem to be in this twisty, soapy, gasp-inducing sequel
to Jennifer Lynn Barnes' unputdownable Little White Lies.
I really was looking forward to this one after reading the first book, and was a bit disappointed to not get a physical ARC, but once again, losing my contact at Disney has kept me from a few newer books. Of course, the covers wouldn't have matched so I guess it's better this way. I did get it on Netgalley, so I got the chance to keep up with the story. And boy am I glad that I did! This book had even more twists and turns than the first one! In fact, there was even one part at the end when we've finally sorted out all the sordid past betrayals and secrets that I had to repeat one character's line out loud to help myself keep all the new family lines and branches straight. I loved how once again the author started the story with our main character, Sawyer, and her friends in a situation that you knew they needed to get out of, but that she kept only giving you bits of them maybe getting free in between all the chapters telling the past and what happened. Not to mention we even had a further back part of the story, with Aunt Olivia and others of the parents in the story. While I assumed we were just learning to be more sympathetic to certain characters through that, and while I wasn't sure exactly why we got the viewpoint of one of them, it all came together in the end, in such a way that totally had me in shock. Definitely another great mystery with the snarkiness of characters that I grew to enjoy in the first book.
Book 1:
Title: Little White Lies Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes Series: Debutantes #1 Genre: YA contemporary thriller Release Date: November 6th, 2018
Publisher: Freeform Source: Physical ARC from publisher which did not influence my review. My rating: 4 stars - read my review HERE.
"I'm
not saying this is Sawyer's fault," the prim and proper one said
delicately. "But."
Eighteen-year-old auto mechanic Sawyer Taft did not expect her estranged
grandmother to show up at her apartment door and offer her a six-figure
contract to participate in debutante season. And she definitely never imagined
she would accept. But when she realizes that immersing herself in her
grandmother's "society" might mean discovering the answer to the
biggest mystery of her life-her father's identity-she signs on the dotted line
and braces herself for a year of makeovers, big dresses, bigger egos, and a
whole lot of bless your heart. The one thing she doesn't expect to find is
friendship, but as she's drawn into a group of debutantes with scandalous,
dangerous secrets of their own, Sawyer quickly discovers that her family isn't
the only mainstay of high society with skeletons in their closet. There are
people in her grandmother's glittering world who are not what they appear, and
no one wants Sawyer poking her nose into the past. As she navigates the twisted
relationships between her new friends and their powerful parents, Sawyer's
search for the truth about her own origins is just the beginning.
Set in the world of debutante balls, grand estates and rolling green hills,
Little White Lies combines a charming setting, a classic fish-out-of-water
story, and the sort of layered mystery only author Jennifer Lynn Barnes can
pull off.
About the Author:
Jennifer Lynn Barnes (who
mostly goes by Jen) is the author of more than a dozen critically acclaimed
young adult novels. She has advanced degrees in psychology, psychiatry, and
cognitive science, including graduate degrees from Cambridge University, where
she was a Fulbright Scholar, and Yale University, where she received her Ph.D.
in 2012. Jen wrote her first published novel when she was nineteen-years-old
and sold her first five books while still in college. In additional to writing
YA novels, Jen has also written original pilot scripts for television networks
like USA and MTV, and she is one of the world's leading experts on the
psychology of fandom and the cognitive science of fiction and the imagination
more broadly. Jen is an Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma,
where she holds a dual appointment in Psychology and Professional Writing.
Title: The Devil and Dayna Dalton Author: Brit Lunden Series: A Bulwark Anthology #9 Genre: Adult contemporary Release Date: September 30th, 2019
Publisher: Chelshire
Synopsis:
Reporter Dayna Dalton's reputation has been ruined since
birth. The daughter of wild child, Becky Dalton, is expected to follow her
mother's footsteps; never given a chance to prove she's different. Dana's been
in love with Clay Finnes since she was a teenager. Her unrequited love for
Sheriff Finnes leaves her empty. He's happily married and unavailable. Instead,
Dayna finds herself stuck in the revolving door of bad relationships. But this
is Bulwark, Georgia, a town where strange things are always happening. Dayna is
doomed to this loveless life until she can find someone who will appreciate the
depth of her character. Can she overcome her fears and look beyond her own
perceptions to accept a greater love?
*Contains Sexual Content*
P R A I S E F O R T H E
B U L W A R K S E R I E S A N D B R I T L U N D E N
“If the Brothers
Grimm and Stephen King had co-authored a novella, Bulwark would be the result.
Lunden’s story is a modern, paranormal take on the classic Hansel and
Gretel.
If you like to
sleep with the light on after having the wits scared out of you, Bulwark is the
perfectread.”
~ BlueInk
Review (Bulwark)
“Bulwark is
all about the plot. Lunden keeps the narrative moving at a brisk pace,
introducing one catastrophe after another, only to delicately bring them all
together. Every character has a purpose; every line advances the story,
con-founds the reader, but offers necessary clues.”
~ BookTrib
(Bulwark)
“…jam-packed with
elements that will give readers the heebie-jeebies.”
~ Kirkus
(Bulwark)
“The novel is
very effective at creating atmosphere, conjur-ing a Gothic world populated by
monsters and the stuff of fairy tales.”
~ Joseph S.
Pete, Foreword Reviews (Bulwark)
Readers
who grew up with the likes of Barker, King and Lovecraft will have a field day
reading this classy, dark fan-tasy novella. And, yes, it’s that good. Lunden’s
plot is first-rate and her writing is smooth, assured and polished to a high
sheen. Bulwark is most highly recommended.”
~ Jack
Magnus for Readers’ Favorite,
5-Star Review,
(Bulwark)
“The engaging
tale’s centerpiece is the teens’ romance, with a Southern setting the author
masterfully captures...
The unadorned
prose and concise descriptions make for a quick read all the way to the
bittersweet ending...A short but undeniably charming love story.”
The BulwarkAdvance
preferred her to write… fluffy pieces. She sneered thinking of the crap on her
computer, the half-written article about the elusive Easter Bunny that awaited
its final edit. She hung her head in shame, thinking of what her sorority
sisters from Georgetown would feel if they knew where Dangerous Dayna Dalton
had ended up. There’d be hell to pay in the form of eternal humiliation.
Dayna twisted the faucet, her freckled knuckle turning bone
white from the effort. It was no use; the leak continued relentlessly, driving
a hole in her throbbing head.Oh, that
last round of shots was totally not necessary.
No matter how hard she wrenched the faucet, the dribble
continued. She thought she should ask her guest to fix it before he left. He
was a plumber, after all. She was sick of this place. Dayna peered at her
reflection in the mirror. She was sick of her life.
Skip Benson’s bearlike yawn turned into a growl from the
bedroom. “Dayna.” His voice grated on her nerves.
Dayna rolled her kohl-smeared eyes.
“Dayna, come on back to bed.”
Dayna took a steadying breath and used both hands to grip
the sink as if it were holding her up. What was she thinking last night? Skip
Benson? How low could she go? A shudder ran through her lithe frame. That left
only Trout Parker, and she could now report she had officially and irrevocably
scraped the bottom of the barrel of Bulwark, Georgia.
She rubbed her forehead where a hammer banged against the
inside of her skull.
Skip wailed for her to return to the warmth of the bed.
Dayna wrinkled her nose, thinking about Skip’s performance, or rather what she
remembered aboutit. Oh yeah, too many
tequila shots will make anyonedesirable,
even stupid Skippy Benson.
She ran her fuzzy tongue over her dry teeth, fighting the
urge to gag.
Skip Benson had never been on the football team,the basketball team…Hell, he’d never even
made thechess team. He had been the
school screw-up, and nowhe could brag
that he and Dayna had…
Dayna turned away from the mirror with disgust, her cheeks
flushing. She staggered to the doorway ofthe bedroom. Using the frame to hold herself erect, she shouted, “Get
up!”
“Wha–?” Skip rose, the comforter bunched at hisflabby waist, his chest bare and the pathetic
tattoo of a red devil across the front of his right bicep.
Vague memories of kissing that image flittedthrough her foggy brain. Dayna picked up a
pillowdiscarded on the floor during
their frenzied arrival and threw it at his head.
“I said, get up and get out of here!”
Skip ducked, then slid off the bed, his behind exposed,
another image of a werewolf on his left butt cheek. Dayna convulsed at a hazy
memory of talking to that tattoo.
“You weren’t so eager to get rid of me last night.” Skip
stood in all his naked glory, which wasn’t much.
“Ugh. I’m never drinking again,” Dayna muttered under her
breath. “I said get dressed and get out ofhere.” A shoe sailed past Skip’s head.
Her unwanted guest scrambled to find his clothes.
“Hey, cut it out, Dayna!” Skip was living up to hisnamesake as he struggled into his work pants,
bouncing toward the door.
Dayna’s face split into a demonic smile that wasknown to strike fear in the hearts of single
men everywhere. Here, she thought, was the elusive Easter Bunny.
She watched Skip hop toward his escape as though hewere in the Fourth of July potato sack race.
Dayna picked up a shirt that had been discarded on the floor
and threw it at him. The garment appeared to have a life of its own and
engulfed his head. Skip’s muffled cries were nearly smothered by the material.
His hands tore at the shirt to no avail.
His fingers—Dayna looked closer, grimacing at thedirt under his nails, and watched his
wrestling match with the clothing. She pushed him into her shabbyliving room, then out the door of her condo.
Mrs.
Sweetpea, an antonym for sure, watched in revulsion as Dayna
shoved her guest out of her apartment.
Dayna lived in Shady Oaks, a rundown condominium community,
where she reluctantly shared a front porch with her neighbor. The building was
a connected row of apartments that bordered undeveloped land, as though a
builder had left the project unfinished halfway through. It was hot real estate
when they released the first phase, and half the town bought investment
properties. Then the real estate bubble burst, and the whole thing came
tumbling down.
Dayna had an inside scoop about what was really going on,
but once again, the paper wouldn’t print it.
The mayor had sold the land and gotten a back-end deal for
it. He made a ton of dough and then skipped off to Colombia—the country, not
Columbia, South Carolina. The builder had used inferior products, and once he
went to jail for money laundering, the whole place went to seed. There was no
one to call when things broke.
Dayna cast Mrs. Sweetpea a jaundiced eye, daring the nosy
neighbor to say something about her guest.
While the old crone might have appeared to be like the
proverbial sweet grandmotherly type, Dayna knew her to be an ornery bitch with
a sting as sharp as an angry wasp.
She hated her; had for years. Thelma Sweetpea had been her
babysitter back in the day when she was a small child. Dayna’s mother had
dropped her off at the old lady’s house for the first nine years of her life.
Dayna looked at Mrs. Sweetpea and shivered. The old woman
had moved into the complex a year and a half ago, cutting up Dayna’s peace.
What were the odds they’d end up living next door to each other? She was a mean
old woman, and Dayna felt judged every time those beady eyes settled on her.
Dayna considered moving but was so underwater with her
mortgage, she couldn’t think of selling. She was stuck at Shady Oaks, and she
was stuck with the prying eyes of Thelma Sweetpea.
Mrs. Thelma Sweetpea took out her aggression with a broom
and started to sweep as though the hounds of hell had just taken a shit there.
Dayna fought the urge to say something. Speaking with Mrs. Sweetpea usually
ended up in a hissing contest. Dayna’s compressed lips turned up just a bit
with a smile at the result of this morning meeting. Mrs. Sweetpea was in a
frenzy of spring cleaning, as if she could wipe the interlopers from reality.
The sky was overcast, and even though it was springtime, the
air was decidedly chilly. A wave of cold air stole under Dayna’s shirt, making
it billow out. She tried not to shiver. Her bare feet felt the shock of the
freezing concrete. She’d be damned if she would show that old biddy any
weakness, even if it was unseasonably cold.
Dayna looked up at the watery sky, searching for a glimpse
of the sun. Global warming was playing havoc with Georgia’s weather. Either it
was extremely hot when it was supposed to be cold or freezing when the time of
year dictated heat. It didn’t rain anymore; it stormed with funnel clouds that
touched down, ripping homes and trailers from their moorings.
Mrs. Sweetpea stopped her sweeping to look at Dayna, her
lips pursed as if she’d eaten something
sour. Dayna returned the stare, her eyes observing the
wrinkled face, watching the older woman judge her half-naked form.
Dayna’s freckled shoulder peeked out from an over-sized tee
shirt. It was paired with her long, bare, coltish legs underneath. Dayna looked
down and cursed when she realized she was wearing Skip’s tee. Glancing up, she
realized he was struggling withher
shirt from last night.
Watching her neighbor’s shocked face, Dayna ripped Skip’s
shirt over her head and tossed it to him. He paused in his scuffle with her
clothing to admire her perfect breasts.
“I don’t have to leave,” Skip said with a broad smile.
“Oh yes you do, and don’t come back here.” Dayna turned
around, her shoulders straight. She paused to look at the older woman, who
stood with her jaw hanging in shock.
“Have you no shame?” Thelma Sweetpea sputtered.
Dayna looked back at the gawking plumber, then her
scandalized neighbor. She shrugged indifferently.
“Apparently I have no shame at all.”
About the Author:
Brit Lunden is a prolific
author who’s written over 50 books in assorted genres under different pen
names. Bulwark was her first effort in adult fiction and was chosen by several
of her fellow authors as the basis for a new series, A Bulwark Anthology. Using
her characters, they are creating new denizens in spin-off stories to this
bizarre town. Brit Lunden lives on Long Island in a house full of helpful
ghosts.
