Alison Hammer’s ‘You and Me and Us’ Plucks at Our Heartstrings and Fuels Us with Hope [REVIEW]

Starfish at beach
One family will spend one last summer at their favorite beach as they struggle to reconnect before life changes forever. (Photo by Canva)

Diamond Review Banner

A workaholic mom. A doting dad. A teenage daughter making plans for the future. Life as usual is busy and complicated, filled with school and jobs and the day-to-day challenges of family. When an unexpected piece of news throws a wrench in all their lives, it tests  their mettle and the strength of their familial bond. How will they navigate life once the rug has been pulled out from under their feet? Find out in Alison Hammer’s debut novel, You and Me and Us. Continue reading “Alison Hammer’s ‘You and Me and Us’ Plucks at Our Heartstrings and Fuels Us with Hope [REVIEW]”

‘When We Believed in Mermaids’ Examines the Innocence of Childhood Through the Lens of a Kaleidoscope [REVIEW]

Beach footprints
Long-buried secrets come to light when two sisters reunite. (Photo by Canva)

Diamond Review BannerThey were as close as two sisters could possibly be. Then the unthinkable happens and one of them is killed in an act of terror. Or was she? What happens when everything you think you know is a lie? Find out in When We Believed in Mermaids, Barbara O’Neal’s powerful new novel about siblings, secrets, and second chances.
Continue reading “‘When We Believed in Mermaids’ Examines the Innocence of Childhood Through the Lens of a Kaleidoscope [REVIEW]”

Find Danger and Mystery in Luxurious ‘Cocoa Beach’ [REVIEW]

Cocoa Beach
Along the Florida coast, a young widow learns to stand firm in the face of adversity in Beatriz Williams’ Cocoa Beach. (Photo courtesy Justin Henry, Flickr)

When a young mother suddenly becomes a widow, she is left as the sole beneficiary of her husband’s Florida estate. As she learns to navigate a corporation she knows nothing about, she must also raise her daughter and deal with greedy relatives in a tropical boomtown she’s never visited in Beatriz Williams’ gripping novel, Cocoa Beach.  Continue reading “Find Danger and Mystery in Luxurious ‘Cocoa Beach’ [REVIEW]”

Forgiveness Doesn’t Come Easily With ‘A Mother Like Mine’ [REVIEW]

Mother and daughter at the beach
Tensions flare when a mother and daughter reunite at the beach in Kate Hewitt’s A MOTHER LIKE MINE. (Photo by Lorrie McClanahan, Flickr)

Left behind as a toddler to be raised by her grandmother, a young woman works hard to build a life of her own with her young son in a picturesque seaside village. Just when she thinks she’s finally happy, her mother suddenly returns. Will she be able to forgive and bridge the chasm between them? Find out in Kate Hewitt’s emotion-packed new novel, A Mother Like Mine. 
Continue reading “Forgiveness Doesn’t Come Easily With ‘A Mother Like Mine’ [REVIEW]”

‘The Beach House: Coming Home’ Should Come With Sunscreen [REVIEW]

Pacific Gull
A visit to the beach house may hold the key to a woman’s deepest desire. (Photo by Sascha Wenninger, Flickr)

A successful woman with a heartbreaking secret. A loving father who will do anything for his daughter. A sick young girl whose one wish is to meet the woman who gave her away. Three disparate lives come together in Georgia Bockoven’s touching new novel, The Beach House: Coming Home. Continue reading “‘The Beach House: Coming Home’ Should Come With Sunscreen [REVIEW]”