The Last Dress from Paris by Jade Beer

 

Lucile has a very close relationship with her Grandmother, Sylvie.  She does not have a great relationship with her mother, Genevieve.  When her Grandmother asks for a special favour of course Lucille will do anything to help her.  When Lucille realizes the favour is a trip to Paris to find a special dress she is definitely confused.  She is to reach out to her Grandmother's dear friend's daughter, Veronique, while she is there for help with the mission.

At first the mission seems easy when Veronique shows her the dresses but the one she needs to bring home is missing.  Even more puzzling than the missing dress is that the dresses are haute couture dresses from the 1950's.  Why would Grandma have an expensive Dior dresses?  Each dress has a card with a cryptic clue and the location she wore the dress.  There is more to Grandma's story that Lucille needs to uncover.

With the help of some new friends, Lucile retraces the steps and uncovers the story of her Grandmother. Along the way, she falls in love with Paris and the trip has her rethinking her relationships and career.

I really enjoyed The Last Dress from Paris.  I loved reading about all the dresses and if you Google them you can see the dresses mentioned in the novel.  This was a wonderful novel with many twists and turns that had me engaged right to the end.

Our Last Days in Barcelona by Chanel Cleeton

Is it just me or do all avid readers have shelves of books that are unread?  There is something about heading into Indigo and browsing the displays.  If Heather Reisman, Reese Witherspoon or Oprah recommend it, I'm probably going to buy it.  But it often takes me some time to read it.  I've purchased a few Chanel Cleeton books but this is the first that I have read.  Our Last Days in Barcelona has rave reviews from both Oprah and Reese Witherspoon which means chances are you're about to start a great story.

I've picked up many of Chanel Cleeton's books.  I can't resist the covers.  I want to be on that beach in Barcelona right now!  Yet - this is the first Chanel Cleeton book I have read, but most certainly not the last.

Isabel Perez is living in Florida.  Her sister, Beatriz is in Spain.  None of her sisters have heard from her in a while and one of them should go to Barcelona to ensure she's OK.  The timing is perfect because Isabel needs a vacation and she's never been to Spain before.  She also needs some time away from her husband.

While searching for her sister she finds a picture of her and her mom at the cafe down the street.  But Isabel has never been to Spain.  It doesn't make any sense.  When she questions her mom she says she's never been to Spain either and quickly changes the topic.  Yet there's no questioning that this is a picture of her and her mom in Spain.

Our Last Days in Barcelona takes place in 1964 but it switches often to 1936 to tell the story of Isabel's mother.  I really enjoyed this story.  I enjoyed all the characters and their relationships.  It was the perfect amount of adventure, love and history.  I will definitely be reading Chanel Cleeton's other novels soon.

The Treehouse on Dog River Road by Catherine Drake

 

When her life seems to be falling apart, Hannah accepts a job for the summer taking care of her sister's two kids while her and her husband travel for work.  How hard can it be to take care of two young kids especially with them in summer camp all day.  This will give Hannah plenty of time to rethink her life, next career and new city.

The nights and weekends with the kids are full and busy but Hannah realizes she's going to need a project to occupy herself while the kids are in camp.  She dreams up a treehouse for her niece and nephew and once she gets approval from her sister the building begins.  There's a new neighbour next door and she should probably let them know what she's up to.

The last thing Hannah expected to do this summer is to fall for a guy.  But it's fine.  He's just a summer fling.  No big deal.  Except he's perfect in every way.  But Hannah's determined not to make life decisions based on a guy.  This time she's following her dreams.  Vermont is nice but she really thinks Denver is where it's at.

The Treehouse on Dog River Road seemed very predictable and in some ways it was but there were definitely parts that weren't predictable.  Overall it was a really great story with some interesting twists and turns.  

Shipped by Angie Hockman

 

For most of us here in Canada it's now been years since vacations were possible because of Covid.  If your stuck in another cold winter with no warm vacations in sight Shipped is the perfect book to take you away.  

Henley and Graham are two employees working for a cruise ship company.  Spending all their days working on social media and marketing they've never even set foot on a cruise ship.  When they are told they are competing for a new management position their boss decides it's time they get on a cruise.

It sounds like a beautiful 10 days sailing around the Galapagos islands but Henley is determined to spend the entire cruise working on her management proposal presentation.  Henley also hates Graham so when not working on her presentation she's trying to avoid him - but he's everywhere.  Worse yet - she didn't realise he was so good looking - like really good looking.  She needs to stay focused.

Cruising is my favourite way to travel and I've never been to Galapagos.  Shipped had me planning my next cruise for someday when things look better.  But for now it was a perfect escape from January on a cold winter day.

We Are the Brennans by Tracey Lange

Sunday Brennan has been living in California for 5 years.  Her brother Denny gets a call in New York that she's in the hospital after a drunk driving crash.  That's not like Sunday and he knows it's time he paid her a visit in California himself.

Somehow Denny convinces her to come back to New York to heal.  The Brennan clan couldn't be happier to have her back.  She left quite suddenly five years ago and they were worried for a bit but overtime they worried about her less.  They figured things were going good for her.  But maybe they were wrong.

The craziest part about her leaving is that she left her high school sweet heart, Kale, behind.  Who also happened to be Denny's best friend and co-owner of the local pub Brennans.  He was absolutely heart broken for a bit but eventually he married Vivianne who Denny said seemed all wrong for him.

Denny's got some problems of his own.  Kale and him are opening a new pub across town and things aren't going well.  The new pub was his idea and so he's trying to hide some unexpected payments from Kale.

Jackie, another one of Sunday's brother has also been in some trouble lately.  His parole dictates he's not allowed to work in the pub - the only job he ever really loved. 

All the Brennan's seem to have secrets including their father who is at the beginning stages of Alzheimers.  Sweet Shane, the last Brennan brother, is the only one with nothing to hide.  No matter the secrets this is an Irish clan that sticks together.  But once the secrets start unraveling will they be able to stick together.

We Are the Brennans is one of the best books I've read in awhile.  I got it as a Christmas book from my husband.  Tracey Lange manages to twist the story so you really don't know how it's all going to come together.  It's definitely a book you won't want to put down.  I give it 5 stars!

The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton by Eleanor Ray

 

Amy has had love and lost love.  When her best friend and soon to be fiance (she hopes!) disappear on the same night everyone assumes they've fallen in love and run off together.  Amy has a hard time believing that either of them would do that to her but the police have done their investigation and that's the conclusion.

Years later, Amy finds a clue.  Then another clue.  She'd like to go through her memory box of the time they went away but it's in the spare bedroom.  After losing her boyfriend and best friend she began to gather everything with a memory or beauty that she came across.  11 years later the house is hard to get around.  The neighbors think it may be a safety hazard.  There could be mice in there - maybe even rats.  Who really knows?!

With the help of some new neighbors, Amy begins to unravel the clues to the disappearance of her boyfriend and best friend.  But is she prepared to starting purging her boxes of treasures.

The Missing Treasures of Amy Ashton was a great book.  It's easy to see how Amy's hoarding began.  The ending was a total twist that I couldn't predict until the very end which always makes for a great story!

The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley

Anders has been dumped by his girlfriend.  He's living in a run down apartment with a mattress on the floor and cockroaches.  He's got a podcast but the only person who reads it is his step dad.  He's a journalist who thought he'd be covering bigger stories by now.  He's latest assignment is a cake walk on Frick Island.  After a rain storm cancels the cake walk he ends up in the local diner where he meets some of the locals.  One local really catches his eye.  Anders is immediately drawn to Piper.  When he finally gets the courage to go talk to her she tells him she is eating with her husband - but yet he is nowhere in sight.  After embarrassing himself he can't wait to get back to the main land.  

Piper is well loved on the island.  The other islanders are very protective of her.  When her husband, Tom, goes missing in a storm while boating.  He is presumed dead.  After a few days of grieving she leaves her home in her normal chipper mood.  She heads to her job at the Bed and Breakfast and during her shift makes a comment that Tom isn't snoring anymore.  At the end of the shift she grabs a breakfast to bring home to him.  Mrs. Olecki is stunned but goes along with it.  Soon the whole island is acting as though Tom is still right there with them.

When Anders receives an anonymous email telling him he's missed the real story on Frick Island he decides to head back over to Frick Island and dig for more of a story.  First he has to find a local willing to talk and he struggles to figure out what the real story is.  It would be great if he could find something here that could escalate his podcast audience.

I really enjoyed the The Invisible Husband of Frick Island.  I really liked all the characters and how all their stories unfolded.  The story had a good amount of mystery and unraveled with many surprises.  I haven't read any other Colleen Oakley books but when I checked my Goodreads account I saw that I had marked other books of hers as ones I would like to read.  Definitely check out this book and some of her other novels.