I Must Know!
I don’t know about you, but I could not put Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall down. It came out early this year and was a Reese Book Club Pick in the Spring. It was one of those I would sneak a chapter or three while my kids were enjoying screen time… instead of me, you know, cooking them dinner. (Sorry, kids, not sorry. You survived. 😆)
Apparently, once I finished the book, though, I did not Google her to see what other books she has available- to be fair the kids were hungry and I thought it was her first novel. Mom mistakes (I knooowwww!). So I was very pleasantly surprised last week when I received an email from Simon & Schuster announcing that not one, but two of her previous novels are being released (in paperback!) in the next six weeks!!!!
They were originally published in the UK and are now making their debut here in the States. Yippy!!! AND they both look really good!! For all you Kindle and Audible listeners out there, they are already available for your devouring pleasure.
First up is Days You Were Mine and it comes out on August 26, 2025. A novel about “love, loss, and the unbreakable bonds of family.” Days You Were Mine follows Luke, a new dad, who never felt the need to find his birth mom until he himself becomes a parent. As he gets to know his birth mom, Alice, and the complicated past that leads her to give him up for adoption, the sense of abandonment Luke suppressed begins to breach the surface. However, Alice proves herself a worthy, doting grandmother until things take a turn for the worst and every parents’ worst nightmare happens.
What exactly is that turn for the worst? I don’t knowww! Yet. I just downloaded the audiobook, so I’ll update you on how binge-worthy this one is once I’ve finished it.
Read Days You Were Mine:
Hall’s other book is Pictures of Him, which comes out September 30, 2025. This one is a suspenseful thriller (aren’t all thrillers suspenseful?). Catherine is a loving wife and doting mom with a seemingly perfect life. Except that she has an hidden truth in the back of her closet. She had a tragic love affair when she was at university. When her old flame re-enters Catherine’s world, the trauma of her past comes flooding back and she suffers a complete breakdown and is rendered mute. As Catherine is convalescing, she finally allows herself to revisit her time with Lucian and the tragic end of their relationship.
What happens?! We all have love affairs that end badly and haunt us forever. But they don’t generally cause breakdowns and render us mute. Whatever happened to Catherine fifteen years ago did just that and is now threatening to tear her world apart. I must know!
Read Pictures of Him:
Okay, enough blogging. It’s time to start Days You Were Mine. And do the dishes. And vacuum. And (fill in the blank).
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