Book Tour and Review: Dysfunction Junction by Robin Pearson

 Title:  Dysfunction Junction

Author: Robin W. Pearson

Publisher:  Tyndale

Publishing Date: February 6, 2024

Genre:  Contemporary Fiction

Rating:  💥💥💥💥💥

About the Book:

When three women receive an unexpected phone call that leaves them reeling, they have no other choice but to reckon with a lifetime of memories they’ve long tried to bury. Only in facing the past will they find their path forward.

Frances Mae Livingston’s firm grip of her family’s destructive history makes her hold her husband and four children even closer. But she’s losing bits of herself while proving to everybody and her mama that she’s enough. There’s no way she’ll repeat her mama’s mistakes, even if it kills her.

Annabelle McMillan didn’t have trouble kicking the Eastern North Carolina dust off her feet. The tough part was replanting herself in familiar soil. Now she’s blending her old life with her new husband, stepson, and unborn child. And battling old memories of abandonment and new fears of rejection.

Dr. Charlotte Winters has built a career around helping others sort through their emotional baggage. She’s also spent a lifetime refusing to unpack her own. So what if Charlotte doesn’t recall all that her mama did to her and what her daddy didn't do for her? Her only mission is to help others help themselves…until the women from her past and the man in her future undo her well-sewn life.

At the junction of healed and hurting, broken and whole, and past and present, three women wrestle with their inability to forgive and forget in this riveting Southern family drama about sisterhood from award-winning author Robin W. Pearson.

My Thoughts:

Although I don't have any sisters, I am the oldest daughter, so I could relate to Frances's character with several things.  This was an emotional and powerful read.  It tugged on my heartstrings for each of the characters at different times throughout the story, and these characters won't leave me anytime soon.  I didn't want to put it down.  Forgiveness is a big theme throughout the story, and rightly so.  And I will surely be looking for more in the future from this author

About the Author:

Robin W. Pearson's A LONG TIME COMIN’ earned a 2020 Christy Award for First Novel. Both her debut and her second novel, 'TIL I WANT NO MORE (February 2021), earned a Publishers Weekly starred review. They show how man's timeless love affair with God affects day-to-day relationships. Robin's writing sprouts from her Southern roots, and she has corrected grammar up and down the East coast, starting with Houghton Mifflin Company. Her family’s faith, life lessons, and life’s longings inspire her as a wife, homeschooling mother of seven, and author, what she blogs about on https://robinwpearson.com/mommy-concentrated/. They're the source of all the characters living and breathing in the stories waiting to be told about her belief in Jesus Christ and the experiences at her own kitchen sink.

Blog Tour: Last Seen In Havana by

Title:   Last Seen in Havana A Havana Mystery Book 4

Author:  Teresa Dovalpage

Genre: Mystery

Publisher:  SoHo Crime

Publishing Date:  Feburary 6, 2024

Rating:  💣💣💣💣

A Cuban American woman searches for her long-lost mother and fights to restore a beautiful but crumbling Art Deco home in the heart of Havana in this moving, immersive new mystery, perfect for fans of Of Women and Salt.

Newly widowed baker Mercedes Spivey flies from Miami to her native Cuba in 2019 to care for her ailing paternal grandmother. Mercedes’s life has been shaped by loss, beginning with the mysterious unsolved disappearance of her mother when Mercedes was a little girl. Returning to Cuba revives Mercedes’s hopes of finding her mother as she attempts to piece together the few  scraps of information she has. Could her mother still be alive?

Thirty-three years earlier, in 1986, an American college student with endless political optimism falls deliriously in love with a handsome Cuban soldier while on a spontaneous visit to the island. She decides to stay permanently, but soon discovers that nothing is as it seems in
Havana.

The two women’s stories proceed in parallel as Mercedes gets closer to the truth about her mother, uncovering shocking family secrets in the process . . .

Wow.  That was what came to mind by the time I got to the end of the book.  It definitely was a shocker by the time I got to that point.   This goes to show why I'm a firm believer of people not keeping secrets from their children/grandchildren.  I felt so sorry for Mercedes as I was going through the story.   My favorite part of the story was the dual timeline aspect.  It fit in right where it needed to be.  I would advise that you read book 3 in the series first, as it gives a little more to Mercedes background (The other two i believe do not contain her character, so they're not integral to this particular story.)  Although I do wish there was a little more with the ending, I do plan to go back and checkout the author's backlist.

Amazon * Apple * B&N * Google * Kobo * Bookbub * Goodreads

Book Links:
Amazon: https://a.co/d/2Bu7pXO

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/last-seen-in-havana/id6448879804

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/last-seen-in-havana-teresa-dovalpage/1143455932?ean=9781641295390

Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Teresa_Dovalpage_Last_Seen_in_Havana?id=hIC9EAAAQBAJ

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/last-seen-in-havana

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/last-seen-in-havana-by-teresa-dovalpage

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/150065074-last-seen-in-havana

Title:  Death Under the Persedis, A Havana Mystery (Prequel to Last Seen in Havana)

Author:  Teresa Dovalpage

Genre:  Mystery

Publisher:  Penguin Randomhouse/ SoHo Crime

Publication Date:  December 7, 2021

Rating:  💣💣💣💣

About the book:

There’s no such thing as a free cruise in Cuban American author Teresa Dovalpage's addictively clever new Havana mystery.

Cuban-born Mercedes Spivey and her American husband, Nolan, win a five-day cruise to Cuba. Although the circumstances surrounding the prize seem a little suspicious to Mercedes, Nolan’s current unemployment and their need to spice up their marriage make the decision a no-brainer. Once aboard, Mercedes is surprised to see two people she met through her ex-boyfriend Lorenzo: former University of Havana professor Selfa Segarra and down-on-his-luck Spanish writer Javier Jurado. Even stranger: they also received a free cruise.

When Selfa disappears on their first day at sea, Mercedes and Javier begin to wonder if their presence on the cruise is more than coincidence. Mercedes confides her worries to her husband, but he convinces her that it’s all in her head.

However, when Javier dies under mysterious circumstances after disembarking in Havana, and Nolan is nowhere to be found, Mercedes scrambles through the city looking for him, fearing her suspicions were correct all along.

My Thoughts:

This one took me on an emotional ride.  I was not expecting that, but I have to say I enjoyed this read.  It shows how secrets can come to the surface even when you think they're burried.  

Amazon * Apple * B&N * Google * Kobo * Bookbub * Goodreads

Book Links:
Amazon: https://a.co/d/81gdI1X

Apple: https://books.apple.com/us/book/death-under-the-perseids/id1557163005

B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/death-under-the-perseids-teresa-dovalpage/1138980118?ean=9781641294058

Google: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Teresa_Dovalpage_Death_under_the_Perseids?id=GBsiEAAAQBAJ

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/death-under-the-perseids

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/death-under-the-perseids-by-teresa-dovalpage

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59109228-death-under-the-perseids

**Don’t miss the rest of the series!**

Find them on Amazon-

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0881XQZPK

About the Author

Writer, translator and college professor, Teresa Dovalpage is a Cuban transplant firmly rooted in New Mexico. She is the author of twelve novels, among them the Havana Mystery series, three short story collections and four theater plays. She lives with her husband, one dog and too many barn cats. Her website is  http://teredovalpage.com

Author Links

Website * Facebook * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

Website: https://teredovalpage.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dovalpage

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/teresa-dovalpage

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B001K93DCW

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1214980.Teresa_Dovalpage

Giveaway

A hardcover copy of Death under the Perseids,

$10 Amazon giftcard – 1 winner each!

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

https://bit.ly/LastSeenInHavanaTour

Blog tour: The Davenports by Krystal Marquis

 Title:  The Davenports

Author: Krystal Marquis

Genre:YA Historical

Publisher:  Dial Books

Publication Date: January 31, 2023

Rating:  💣💣💣💣💣

About the Book

The Davenports delivers a totally escapist, swoon-worthy romance while offering a glimpse into a period of African American history often overlooked.

"The perfect read for fans of escapist historical fiction.” —NBC’s TODAY

The Davenports are one of the few Black families of immense wealth and status in a changing United States, their fortune made through the entrepreneurship of William Davenport, a formerly enslaved man who founded the Davenport Carriage Company years ago. Now it's 1910, and the Davenports live surrounded by servants, crystal chandeliers, and endless parties, finding their way and finding love—even where they’re not supposed to.

There is Olivia, the beautiful elder Davenport daughter, ready to do her duty by getting married . . . until she meets the charismatic civil rights leader Washington DeWight and sparks fly. The younger daughter, Helen, is more interested in fixing cars than falling in love—unless it’s with her sister’s suitor. Amy-Rose, the childhood friend turned maid to the Davenport sisters, dreams of opening her own business—and marrying the one man she could never be with, Olivia and Helen’s brother, John. But Olivia’s best friend, Ruby, also has her sights set on John Davenport, though she can’t seem to keep his interest . . . until family pressure has her scheming to win his heart, just as someone else wins hers.

Inspired by the real-life story of the Patterson family, The Davenports is the tale of four determined and passionate young Black women discovering the courage to steer their own path in life—and love.

My Thoughts

It's not often that I re read books, or even that I enjoy it like the first time I read it, but this happens to be one of those books. This was such an enjoyable and amazing read. I could not and did not want to put it down. The historicals have been hitting and this one was no exception. And of course being a romance girlie, the romance was very enjoyable. I could see this as a tv series. I absolutely loved the characters (most of them that is), as well as their growth from beginning to end. I finished this book in one sitting. Although I'm not a fan of cliffhangers, I really didn't mind it in this one, assuming that there will be a book 2. I am so excited for the next book and I can't wait.

About the Author

Krystal Marquis happily spends most of her time in libraries and used bookstores. She studied biology at Boston College and University of Connecticut and now works as an environmental, health, and safety manager for an online retailer. A lifelong reader, Krystal began researching and writing on a dare to complete the NaNoWriMo Challenge, resulting in the first partial draft of The Davenports. When not writing or planning trips to the Book Barn to discover her next favorite romance, Krystal enjoys hiking, expanding her shoe collection, and plotting ways to create her own Jurassic Park.