Books On My Reading List This Week – January 25, 2022

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This week’s reading list includes an exciting new release by Roni Robbins, Hands of Gold. A story of overcoming to terms with past traumas and seeking silver lines.

Also on my list this week are four audiobooks. The first is a rom-com, The Unhoneymooners. This is an unusual choice for me. I prefer historical fiction, mystery, suspense, and thrillers. But change is a good thing from time to time.

My other three audiobook choices are more typical choices for me. The Winemaker’s Wife is a duel timeline work of historical fiction set in France and the United States. The Perfect Family and In Her Bones are thriller stories. I like the plot twists and suspense of these books. I also find it fun to try to predict the ending as I read.

Join the conversation! Tell me your thoughts on any of your favorites on this week’s list in the comments.


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Books This Week

Hands of Gold: One Man’s Quest to find the Silver Lining in Misfortune by Roni Robbins
Click the image to find it on Amazon

Will Sam purge his guilty conscience before it’s too late? Will he atone for his offenses and find solace in the final countdown?

Sam Fox spent his whole life running against the hands of time. He is now racing to set the record straight about secrets he and Hannah, his wife of 65 years, have been harboring from their children and each other.

Hands of Gold, loosely based on real events, follows Sam on a journey that takes him from war-torn Europe at the turn of the 20th century, through the Great Depression and labor union reforms in America. Determined to

make a lasting mark in his new homeland, Sam faces many hardships, not the least of which includes contracting tuberculosis, but he refuses to let this deter him from his ambitions. During a seemingly mundane workday, he shields 200 coworkers from a disgruntled gun-wielding employee. His actions saved the lives of many, making his escape from the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp – wherein his family suffered a deadly fate – a destined event.

As Sam comes to grips with his past, a gold watch from his grandmother, lost and buried during the Holocaust, will find its way back to him. Through this and other blessings, Sam learns to find the silver lining in his everyday struggles by holding onto his loved ones, along with a little self-reliance and even a few miracles.

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The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

For two sworn enemies, anything can happen during the Hawaiian trip of a lifetime—maybe even love—in this romantic comedy from the New York Times bestselling authors of Roomies.

Olive Torres is used to being the unlucky twin: from inexplicable mishaps to a recent layoff, her life seems to be almost comically jinxed. By contrast, her sister Ami is an eternal champion…she even managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a slew of contests. Unfortunately for Olive, the only thing worse than constant bad luck is having to spend the wedding day with the best man (and her nemesis), Ethan Thomas.

Click the image to find it on Amazon

Olive braces herself for wedding hell, determined to put on a brave face, but when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. Suddenly there’s a free honeymoon up for grabs, and Olive will be damned if Ethan gets to enjoy paradise solo.

Agreeing to a temporary truce, the pair head for Maui. After all, ten days of bliss is worth having to assume the role of loving newlyweds, right? But the weird thing is…Olive doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, the more she pretends to be the luckiest woman alive, the more it feels like she might be.

With Christina Lauren’s “uniquely hilarious and touching voice” (Entertainment Weekly), The Unhoneymooners is a romance for anyone who has ever felt unlucky in love.


The Perfect Family by Shalini Boland
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‘Mummy, she’s gone…’

Gemma Ballantine is getting ready for work one morning when her eldest child comes running down the stairs, saying the words every mother dreads.

The front door is open. And her six-year-old daughter has disappeared. Frantic with fear, Gemma starts a nail-biting search for her little girl.

After what feels like forever, her mother-in-law Diane finds Katie wandering lost a few streets away. Relieved to have her youngest child back in her arms, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair, Gemma thinks the nightmare is over.

But then her perfect family starts to fall apart.

And she realises it’s only just beginning…

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In Her Bones by Kate Moretti
Click the image to find it on Amazon

Fifteen years ago, Lilith Wade was arrested for the brutal murder of six women. After a death row conviction, media frenzy, and the release of an unauthorized biography, her 30-year-old daughter Edie Beckett is just trying to survive out of the spotlight. She’s a recovering alcoholic with a dead-end city job and an unhealthy codependent relationship with her brother. 

Edie also has a disturbing secret: a growing obsession with the families of Lilith’s victims. She’s desperate to see how they’ve managed – or failed – to move on. While her escalating fixation is a problem, she’s careful to keep her distance. That is, until she crosses a line and a man is found murdered. 

Edie quickly becomes the prime suspect – and while she can’t remember everything that happened the night of the murder, she’d surely remember killing someone. With the detective who arrested her mother hot on her trail, Edie goes into hiding. She’s must get to the truth of what happened that night before the police – or the real killer – find her. 

Unless, of course, she has more in common with her mother than she’s willing to admit…. 

The Winemaker’s Wife by Kristin Harmel

Champagne, 1940: Inès has just married Michel, the owner of storied champagne house Maison Chauveau, when the Germans invade. As the danger mounts, Michel turns his back on his marriage to begin hiding munitions for the Résistance. Inès fears they’ll be exposed, but for Céline, the French-Jewish wife of Chauveau’s chef de cave, the risk is even greater—rumors abound of Jews being shipped east to an unspeakable fate.

When Céline recklessly follows her heart in one desperate bid for happiness, and Inès makes a dangerous mistake with a Nazi collaborator, they risk the lives of those they love—and the vineyard that ties them together.

Click the image to find it on Amazon

New York, 2019: Recently divorced, Liv Kent is at rock bottom when her feisty, eccentric French grandmother shows up unannounced, insisting on a trip to France. But the older woman has an ulterior motive—and a tragic, decades-old story to share. When past and present finally collide, Liv finds herself on a road to salvation that leads right to the caves of the Maison Chauveau.

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