New Book Review: The Best Life Book Club by Sheila Roberts

 

The Best Life Book Club

Sheila Roberts

Mira Books

Release date: May 7th, 2024

Available at Amazon

Add to Your Goodreads

My Rating for The Best Life Book Club: 4 Stars

When Karissa Newcomb and her adorable  nine year old daughter move to Gig Harbor for a new start after a difficult divorce, Karissa is determined to not make friends or be as superficial as possible as friendships hurt and can betray you. What she finds is neighbors who are friendly, take her and her daughter under their wings and Karissa finds that friendship can mean more than she ever imagined as her heart heals and she finds the promise of something better on the horizon...if she trusts herself to grab it with both hands.

My Book Review:

Sheila Roberts newest women's fiction book is centered around Karissa Newcomb and her daughter who moved to a new town to start over after a particular devastating divorce and Karissa struggles to let her guard down after she was betrayed so horribly by her husband. A fresh start, a new job and soon new friends as her neighbors make her and her daughter feel at home in their new home and city. I love this author's past books and found her newest book, THE BEST LIFE BOOK CLUB, to be full of heart, friendship and more within the pages. It started out slow for me to get into the book but by midway, I was thouroughly enjoying the characters immensely and found myself rooting for everyone to get their own happy ever after. The writing is swift and entertaining, filled with some intriguing though at times predictable moments but that didn't lessen my enjoyment of the story of Karissa and her new friends adventures.

The reader meets Karissa, her daughter, Macy, with her neighbors, Alice, Margot and Alice's sister, Josie, soon all become close friends and when they start a book club the fun begins even as each character finds their own issues coming unpacked and learn how to jump start their lives in a  way that brings them happiness...if they are brave enough to grab a hold of it. I got to admit, I loved Josie the most. She had a caustic wit about her that hid a tender heart and had me snickering several times throughout the book. Margot and Alice are really fun and interesting women that befriends Karissa and her daughter. What I loved the most about these characters are how they built up one another whenever the other was beaten down with insecurity and doubts. That tribe of friends was a perfect for me to rally behind as they learned to find joy and purpose again as their lives moved in ways that left them wondering what was going on. The books they read and discussed became part of their story individually and collectively which made me eager to see within the story if these characters took heart to what they learned from them even as they scoffed over it all in private. The author does an amazing job in keeping each character unique and so different from one another that I never felt like they were just 'dialing it in' so to speak. The characters were wildly entertaining and kept my attention through out the book. 

THE BEST LIFE BOOK CLUB is more than a story about friendships but about each person's journey in life as it tosses curveballs that can make those weaker curl up and whimper. Ms. Roberts delivers a powerful story about the magic of friendship, family love and more as each of the main characters finds their true purpose in life and a friendship that delivers more than a superficial moment of emotion but a richer and much deeper love between all four of them that makes the reader keep reading till the very end. This is such an uplifting story that I was sad to see it end. I can't wait to see what else the author has in store for her readers as we discover Gig Harbor and the residents there that make me long to visit. If your looking for a perfect spring book club book or read, then I highly recommend THE BEST LIFE BOOK CLUB that delivers, laughs, promises, friendship and more within its pages. 

New Release Spotlight: The Best Life Book Club by Sheila Roberts

 

It started as a book club. It became a way to build a better life together.

Title: The Best Life Book Club

Author: Sheila Roberts

Publication Date: May 7, 2024

Pages: 368

Genre: Women's Fiction/Romantic Comedy/Contemporary Romance

Karissa Newcomb is ready for a new start in a new neighborhood, as far away as she can get from Seattle, where her husband cheated on her with the neighbor who was supposed to be her best friend. She and her nine-year-old daughter are moving on to the city of Gig Harbor on the bay in Puget Sound. She even has a new job as an assistant at a small publishing company right in Gig Harbor. Her new boss seems like a bit of a curmudgeon, but a job is a job, she loves to read, and the idea of possibly meeting writers sounds fabulous.

Soon she finds she’s not the only one in need of a refresh. Her new neighbors, Alice and Margot, are dealing with their own crises. Alice is still grieving her late husband and hasn’t been able to get behind the wheel of a car since a close call after his death. Margot is floundering after getting divorced and laid off in quick succession. They could all use a distraction, and a book club seems like just the ticket. Together, the three women, along with Alice’s grumpy older sister, Josie, embark on a literary journey that just might be the kick-start they need to begin building their best lives yet.

Buy Links:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | HarperCollins

 

Book Excerpt:

Landing butt first in mud. How symbolic of Karissa Newcomb’s life. The old life. Not the new one, please, God.

She shouldn’t have crossed that corner of the lawn where the grass was sparse and slick in the pouring Northwest rain. Now here she was, wet and caked in mud. Like the cardboard box she’d dropped. At least the towels were still safely inside it. Something to be thankful for.

“See? There’s always a bright side somewhere,” her mother would say.

What was the bright side to Karissa’s marriage ending? There had to be one. It would be nice if she could find it before she turned thirty-five. It felt like a landmark birthday of sorts, but that was only a few months away though, so she wasn’t holding her breath.

Gig Harbor, Washington, a small maritime city, was a good place to start—close enough to Seattle for the obligatory bi-weekly child hand-off with the ex-husband, but far enough away that she wasn’t constantly having to look at the scene of the crime. Out of sight, out of mind. Someday, hopefully. Meanwhile, she needed to get up and get focused.

Brush the mud off your rear and get it in gear. That should be a bumper sticker.

She picked up her soggy box of towels and followed her brother Ethan and his friend Ike, who were making their way up her driveway, carrying her couch. Her eight-year-old daughter Macy was sitting on it, giggling.

The excitement of the new house had temporarily distracted Macy from the fact that she’d left behind her best friend. Who happened to be the daughter of Karissa’s former best friend. Like Karissa, Macy was going to have to find a new bestie.

Moving in the middle of February, in the middle of the school year, swimming through a deluge of icy rain wasn’t ideal, but that was how events had played out. The house in Seattle on which Karissa had lavished so much care had finally sold and now she had this house—a blue, two-story, Victorian-inspired one with three small bedrooms and a front porch. And a need for paint. The price had been right. Motivated sellers, the real estate agent had said. Karissa knew what that meant. She’d been a motivated seller, herself. Divorce had a way of motivating you. The house didn’t come with a water view like she’d originally dreamed of—water views were far outside her price point—but the neighborhood was pretty, and the street seemed quiet. She could hole up in her almost Victorian home and rebuild her life, the new start people expected you to make after your world collapsed.

“This is adorable,” her mother had gushed when she and Dad had made the trip to check out the house with Karissa and her Realtor.

Her parents were as enamored of Gig Harbor and its waterfront downtown as Karissa was. “I think Gig Harbor will be a perfect place to write the next chapter of your life,” Mom had told her.

“I hope I do a better job of writing this time around,” Karissa had muttered.

“It wasn’t you who messed up,” her dad had growled.

But maybe it was.

She jerked her mind away from that thought. She had a new house and a new job waiting for her. Between that and the spousal and child support her ex was paying she’d be okay financially. Certainly not rich, but okay. And she had free moving help. Look at all the good things she could focus on.

Inside the house, she followed one of the butcher-paper paths she’d made and set the box on the guest bathroom counter. Then she went back for the one with her clothes, brought that into the primary bedroom, which would be hers, and dug out a fresh pair of pants and panties. Think of this as peeling off all the bad parts from your past, she told herself as she ducked into the bathroom and stepped out of her pants.

It was hard peeling off the bad though. It stuck to you like dog poop on a shoe. There was always some little stinky bit that hung on. Like the memory of Mark walking out the door for the last time.

Dog poop, mud. She needed a new image to focus on. Rain. Rain washing away past sadness, bringing a rainbow and a promise of something better. Yes, that was a good image.

Her butt hurt.

Her cell phone rang, and she fished it out of her jacket pocket. “Hi, Mom,” she said, trying to sound the way a hopeful woman making a new start should sound.

“How’s it going?” Mom wanted to know.

“The guys are moving the furniture in now.”

“What’s the weather like there? It’s partly sunny up here.”

“It’s raining like crazy. I should have rented an ark instead of a moving van. I spent a fortune on plastic covering.”

“At least it’s not snow,” Mom said. “And the rain is what keeps everything so green.”

The Pacific Northwest was famous for its perpetual state of green and Seattle had been dubbed the Emerald City. Like Dorothy, Karissa had loved living in the Emerald City.

Until the witch showed up.

 

About the Author

USA Today and Publishers Weekly best-selling author Sheila Roberts has written over fifty books under various names, ranging from romance and relationship fiction to self-improvement. Over three million of her novels have been sold and that number continues to climb. Her humor and heart have won her a legion of fans and her novels have been turned into movies for the Lifetime, Hallmark, and Great American Family channels. Sheila is also a popular speaker, and has been featured at women’s retreats, writers’ conferences, and banquets. When she’s not out dancing with her husband or hanging out with friends, she can be found writing about those things near and dear to women’s hearts: family, friends and chocolate.

Author Links  

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram 

 

Sponsored By:

New Release from Carrie Ann Ryan: A Wilder Wedding #WilderBrothersSeries

 

A WILDER WEDDING - May 13th

A Wilder Wedding is a bonus romance between two fan favorites and a long awaited HEA.

All Buy Links: https://geni.us/WilderWeddingCHoice  

Website Link

The Wilders know their weddings and this time it’s for one of their own.

Naomi and Amos have been the secret backbone to the Wilder Brothers’ Retreat and Winery for years.

They’ve also loved and hated each other along the way.

Their on and off again relationship has always worked for them, but now it’s getting in the way of the next Wilder Wedding.

If they don’t figure out what they want, one of them will have to do what they feared: leave the Wilders.

But if they take that leap, they might just break.

Or finally have what they’ve always wanted.

Each other.

Tropes: 

Enemies to Lovers

Grumpy/Sunshine

Workplace Romance

Age Gap

One last chance

Wilder Brothers Series Reading Order:

• Book 0.5: A Night for Us
• Book 1: One Way Back to Me
• Book 2: Always the One for Me
• Book 3: The Path to You
• Book 4: Coming Home for Us
• Book 5: Stay Here With Me
• Book 6: Finding the Road to Us
• Book 7: Moments for You
• Book 7.5: A Wilder Wedding
• Book 8: Forever For Us
• Book 9: Pieces of Me
• Boxed Set: The Wilder Brothers Collection

Tour Stop/Giveaway: Legacy of the Witch

 

Discover the newest book by author Kirsten Weiss, Legacy of the Witch, today and make sure to enter the tour wide giveaway as the author is giving away a $10 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner. The tour is sponsored by Goddess Fish Promotions and check out all the tour stops HERE.

Interview with Kirsten Weiss

Q: How did you decide where your book was going to take place?

A: I have family from Penn Dutch country, and I love the rolling farm land, the barns with their hex signs, and the spooky forests. The region has some wonderful legends too, and of course their own folk magic, braucherei.

 

Q: What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book, Legacy of the Witch?

A: Legacy of the Witch is a metaphysical mystery for readers who love a good page-turner as well as spiritual growth and development

 

Q: Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?

A: I’ll wait until after I’m done. I’ll usually set the manuscript aside at least six weeks before starting to edit, so I can see it with fresh eyes.

 

Q: Describe your writing space/office!

A: In the winter, I sit at my upstairs dining table where it’s warmer and I have a view of the trees. In the summer, I retreat to my walk-out basement office, which is cooler. I’m going to have to make my move downstairs soon!

 

Q: What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?

A: Cheesecake. The gooier the better.

 

Q: What’s your favorite genre to read?

A: Mystery—either cozy or paranormal.

 

Q: What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?

A: I love Lodge 49 for the metaphysical elements and for the theme of the invisible connections which bind us all. It only got two seasons, but the last episode tied things up perfectly. Still, I wish it would have gotten more.

 

Q: What do you do when you have free time?

A: Read, watch podcasts, and lately I’ve been cleaning up my yard to get it ready for the all-too-brief Colorado summer.

 

Q: What are three words that describe your Main Characters?

A: Determined, hopeful, brave.

 

Q: What can readers expect from you next?

A: I’m working on the sequel, Shadow of the Witch, which explores the themes of luck and fate.

 

LEGACY OF THE WITCH

Kirsten Weiss

GENRE:  paranormal women's fiction mystery

Buy at Amazon

Seeker: As societies grow increasingly fragmented, hopelessness, nihilism, and division are on the rise. But there is another way—a way of mystery and magic, of wholeness and transformation. Do you dare take the first step? Our path is not for the faint-hearted, but for seekers of ancient truths...

 

All April wants is to start over after her husband’s sudden death. She’s conjuring a new path—finally getting her degree and planning her new business in bucolic Pennsylvania Dutch country. Joining an online mystery school seems like harmless fun.

 

But when a murdered man leaves her a cryptic message, she catches glimpses of another reality she’s unwilling to acknowledge. A reality where bygone enchantments cast cryptic shadows, and the present brims with unanswered questions.

 

As April works to unearth the mystery, every step brings her closer to a truth she’s been evading. And to a conspiracy of hexes that may end in her demise.

 

Legacy of the Witch is a spellbinding, interactive tale of a woman’s midlife quest to understand the complexities of her own heart. A paranormal women’s fiction murder mystery for anyone who’s wondered if there might be more to their own life than meets the eye…

 

Book 1 in the new Mystery School Series featuring the UnTarot, a deck of cards for meaning making. Start reading now!

UnTarot deck app included!

 

 

Excerpt Three:

 

And there was someone inside the yellow coat. A silver-haired man.

 

For a moment I thought it was a bad joke, he wasn’t real. Then, heart banging, I hopped over the stone ledge.

 

Heedless of the brambles tugging at my clothes, of the muck squelching beneath my shoes, I stumbled to the supine man. He lay staring with one broad hand pressed to his chest. Blood stained his neck and pooled in the hollows around him.

 

“Oh my God,” I breathed, fumbling for the phone in my jacket pocket.

 

His head turned toward me, and I yelped.

 

I dropped to my knees beside him. “You’re alive. It’s okay. I’m calling for help now.” What had happened to him? Had he tripped and fallen? But what had he been doing in the circle?

 

“Can you put pressure on the wound?” I asked. If he couldn’t, I’d need to. I’d need a cloth, something to staunch the flow.

 

But first, help. Hands shaking, I called 9-1-1.

 

He lifted a hand and pointed toward the trees. “Look beneath,” he whispered. “The brotherhood.”

 

“It’s okay,” I said. “I’m calling now.” I pressed the phone to my ear. “I’m calling...” My voice faded.

 

His blue eyes grew as cold and impersonal as the Atlantic, and he stared without seeing at the sky. A thick dullness fogged my chest. I was too late. He was dead. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

a Rafflecopter giveaway

AUTHOR Bio and Links: 

I believe in free-will, and that we all can make a difference. I believe that beauty blossoms in the conscious life, particularly with friends, family, and strangers. I believe that genre fiction has become generic, and it doesn’t have to be. 

My current focus is my new Mystery School series, starting with Legacy of the Witch. Traditionally, women’s fiction refers to fiction where a woman—usually in her midlife—is going through some sort of dramatic change. A lot of us do go through big transitions in midlife. We get divorced or remarried. The kids leave the nest. Our bodies change. The midlife crisis is real—though it manifests in different ways—as we look back on where we’ve been, where we’re going, and the time we have left. 

Now in my mid-fifties, I’ve spent more time thinking about the big “meaning of life” issues. It seemed like approaching those issues through witch fiction, and through a fictional mystery school, would be a fun and a useful way for me to work out some of these ideas in my own head—about change and letting go, faith and fear, and love and longing. 

After growing up on a diet of Nancy Drew, Sherlock Holmes, and Agatha Christie, I’ve published over 60 mysteries—from cozies to supernatural suspense, as well as an experimental fiction book on Tarot. Spending over 20 years working overseas in international development, I learned that perception is not reality, and things are often not what they seem—for better or worse. 

There isn’t a winter holiday or a type of chocolate I don’t love, and some of my best friends are fictional.

 

http://www.kirstenweiss.com

https://www.facebook.com/metaphysicaldetective/

http://www.twitter.com/kirstenweiss

 

Discover the Less Than Series by Carrie Ann Ryan

Discover the Less Than series by Carrie Ann Ryan today!

The Carr siblings have always been a unit. No matter what came at them, they stood together, even if they didn’t always get along. Of course, that means they’re always in each other’s business. When one of them falls in love, the other three are sure to follow, even when they’re adamantly against it. After all, their parents were the worse example of a stable relationship. Why would they risk what they have now for what could surely fall apart and ruin everything later?

Chance encounters of the sequined kind, best friends who aren’t really just your friend, and childhood meet cutes that are anything but cute force the Carr siblings to face what life has brought them. Again.

The Less Than series is an angsty, emotional, steamy contemporary romance series ! Each book is about a different sibling. Each book is about a different sibling and a complete stand alone.

Series Page

Bk 1: Friends with benefits with an old crush.

A friends with benefits romance which begins with a sequined dress and ends with a promise they never meant to keep.

When Erin finds her high school sweetheart and husband banging the former head cheerleader of their graduating class at their high school reunion, she knows that happy ever afters are not for her.

Heartbroken, she forms a plan: live her life to the fullest and take chances. And that includes Devin—the man from her past and the hot, bearded bartender who saw her at her worst.

It was only supposed to be one night, yet both end up wanting more.

With one look at Erin, Devin has no plans on letting go. That means he’ll have to prove to her that forevers can work. Even if it makes them both breathless in the end.

Bk 2: A best friend's little sister fake relationship.

Fake Dating + Your Brother’s Best Friend = The Most Reckless Move Yet.

Professing her love to her best friend while wearing only her favorite panty set and coat probably wasn’t the best decision Amelia has ever made. In fact, it’s perhaps the worst.

But when her family becomes their overprotective selves while encroaching on her life, she makes a rash decision: she needs a fake boyfriend and her brother’s best friend will have to do.

Tucker loves women, and they tend to love him even more. Despite the love, he never would have expected Amelia to come up with the plan she poses to him.

He didn’t mean to say yes and now there’s no going back. Only what happens when those fake feelings turn all too real?

Bk 3: Unrequited love with the bad boy best friend.

The rules for falling for your best friend:

• Don’t.
• Forget the crush you had on him when you were eight.
• And when you were thirteen.
• And again when you thought he fell for someone else.

The real rules for falling for your best friend:

• Break the first rule.
• Let both of yourselves be shameless.
• Try out each flat surface of your house to see if the heat is still the same—Spoiler, it is.
• Fall for the man he is, not the man you thought he was.
• Remember the first rule.
• And know he might have fallen first.

About the Author

NYT Bestselling Author Carrie Ann Ryan is a prolific author known for her heartfelt and steamy romance novels that sweep readers off their feet and leave them yearning for more. With over one hundred novels to her name, Carrie Ann has carved a niche for herself in the world of contemporary and paranormal romance, infusing her stories with passion, humor, and undeniable chemistry.

Carrie Ann’s novels span a range of sub-genres within romance, from small-town charm to paranormal intrigue, each one delivering an emotional punch that resonates with readers around the globe.

When she’s not busy writing swoon-worthy love stories, Carrie Ann can be found curled up with a good book, indulging in her passion for photography, or spending time with her loving family and menagerie of pets.

Website