Book and Product Reviews by Roundtable Reviews

Setting: Wisconsin Genre: Women's Fiction Publisher: Gallery Books Release Date: May 16, 2017 Sanna Lund lives and breathes apples and cider. Like others in her family, she has the ability to see the juice of her apples in terms of color. Her handcrafted ciders are great, but they've yet to catch on. Her family's apple orchard is losing money, so her brother wants to sell to a developer. Sanna and her father are adamantly against the idea. Isaac Banks hasn't figured out how to tell his son that his mother died. Isaac is now a single dad and the cross-country trip they're taking together is the only way Isaac can process his ex-wife's death. He knows he needs to tell Bass that his mom died, but he just can't figure out how and hopes inspiration will come to him during their trip. Isaac and Bass find themselves at Sanna's orchard. The pair will spend the summer helping out. For Isaac, it's money while Bass enjoys a summer being a kid. It gr

Setting: Iowa to North Carolina Genre: Young Adult Fiction Publisher: Running Press Release Date: May 9, 2017 Anna and her sister Storm were as close as could be. When Storm is killed in a car accident shortly after graduation, Anna's world implodes. She's lost without Storm. Finding Storm's bucket list, Anna decides to enlist the help of their neighbor, Cameron, who also happens to be a long-time family friend. Together, Cameron and Anna head off on a road trip to the coast to live out everything Storm wanted to do. Someone Else's Summer caught me from two angles. One, the parent in me shakes to think of a teen heading off halfway across the country. There were times I cringed. Two, the dreamer in me that fell for the characters and their goals. I loved the book for that. The emotional pull in this book came off as so real. Anna's grief was so realistic, and her disillusion with her parents' protectiveness struck me as true. There are parts of her

Setting: England Genre: Women's Fiction/Mystery Publisher: Atria Release Date: April 25, 2017 Lily Monrose should be having the time of her life. She's newly married to the man of her dreams. However, he never arrives home one night. She knows something is horribly wrong, but police don't seem as concerned. When they finally do investigate, she learns an awful truth. Her husband never existed. Everything he told her was a lie. Alice Lake's never had great taste in men. The single mom does her best to raise her kids in their quiet seaside cottage. Finding a man on the beach isn't what she'd planned, especially when that man has no idea who he is or how he got there. Travel back more than two decades to a popular vacation spot. Teenagers Gray and Kirsty enjoy their family summers at the beach, but this year is taking a dark turn. A local teen has taken a shine to 15-year-old Kirsty. Gray's gut feeling is that nothing good is going to come of this i

Setting: Pineapple Cay Genre: Cozy Mystery Publisher: Lake Union Publishing Release Date: May 9, 2017 After finding her husband in bed with another woman, Nina Spark does the unexpected. She ditches her NYC apartment and buys a cottage in Pineapple Cay. She's trading dreary NY winters for sun, sand, and surf. As she settles in Pineapple Cay, Nina quickly makes some friends, and perhaps an enemy or two. A greedy developer planned to buy the cottage she just bought, and he's not happy about it. He's determined to focus his attentions on driving her out, even pushing aside any worries when his trophy wife disappears. Nina has her suspicions and soon starts snooping with the help of her friends. Proving he murdered his wife would be one way to get the developer off the island and out of her life. I've loved many Lake Union Publishing novels. It always surprises me when I like rather than love one of them. However, I found myself only liking this novel. Sunbake

I want to apologize to readers and publishers/agents waiting for more reviews. I'll try to be short, but my life's taken a turn and it's been a process. My dad used to review books for me and handle the website updates. He was also a very passionate genealogy guru, and he devoted countless hours to helping organizations within Vermont update their records and cemetery information. We happened to share the same birthday. I was born on the day he turned 36. This year we made our plans for our usually get together on the weekend with the entire family and have a pint together. A couple days before that event, he had a seizure. The med center ran tests, found nothing alarming, and sent him home. We still had our gathering, but it was different. He was seeing things that weren't there. He had a hard time staying awake, even falling asleep at dinner. We were told it would take his body a few days to recover from the seizure and not to be worried about his excessive sleep

Setting: Nashville, TN Genre: Cozy Mystery Publisher: Alibi Release Date: April 25, 2017 The fourth book in Caroline Fardig's Java Jive Mystery series is almost out. Once again, Juliet Langley finds herself mixed up in a baffling mystery. This time, however, Juliet has her investigator license, so her sleuthing is perfectly legal. Juliet's friend and boss, Pete Bennett, isn't thrilled with her new part-time career, but Pete ends up being incredibly thankful when a Java Jive's employee's girlfriend dies. Shane knows his girlfriend wouldn't have overdosed. He's convinced she was murdered and needs Juliet and Pete's help to prove it. As the investigation kicks off, Juliet balances her new job investigating a local warehouse with Shane's case. Juliet's in for some huge surprises as things pick up the pace and leave her questioning those closest to her. I've read each book in this series as soon as I could, and I've yet to be dis

Genre: Children's Nonfiction Publisher: Chronicle Kids Release Date: April 25, 2017 In Curious Constructions , children get to explore different structures from around the world. These are not your typical buildings and structures, they're all very unique for different reasons. There are 50 in all, and each includes details into the structure and illustrations to show what it looks like. Within Curious Constructions are things like: Biosphere 2 in Arizona The Cathedral Termite Mounds in Australia The Gateway Arch in Missouri The International Space Station Jantar Mantar in India The Longaberger Building in Ohio Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea Stonehenge in England There are many more to learn about, too! The terminology is a little more complex than in many picture books, so it's going to appeal to advancing readers and others who have help with some of the harder words. This is an excellent book for any child interested in architecture or buildings

Genre: Children's Picture Book Publisher: Chronicle Kids Release Date: May 9, 2017 Mine! shares the story of two mice who each want the same thing. As they battle for ownership, they learn a very important lesson in a very unexpected way. Jeff Mack's Mine! isn't a long story. It also is told using just the word "mine," so vocabulary is very simple. That said, the illustrations tell the story in a very bold and complete manner. There's never a question as to what is going on. Children will learn a lot from this book.

Genre: Children's Picture Book Publisher: Chronicle Kids Release Date: May 2, 2017 This is How We Do It is a book I can completely get behind and offer high praise. In a culture where diversity should be everything, but some spin it in negative ways, I hope many parents will add Matt Lamothe's book to their children's shelves. The book is very complex, yet never hard to read. It takes seven children from different areas of the world and introduces you to their life. You learn about their family life, the clothes they wear, what school is like, what they typically eat, and many more unique tidbits. At the end, the book delves into the real families the book is based on. You get to see real photos. That's followed by a glossary of terms for things children may not be as familiar with, such as foreign words like "abwooli." I loved This is How We Do It. It's not an overly long book, but it does give a complete picture into a typical day in the life

Genre: Women's Fiction Publisher: HQN Release Date: March 24, 2017 Kate has it all. Her new husband dotes on her, and they're trying hard to have a child together. When he dies suddenly at her sister's party, Kate is shocked. Now a grieving widow, Kate isn't sure how to pick up the pieces. Ainsley is thrilled to know her boyfriend is finally going to propose. She won't admit she knows it because she found the engagement ring he'd stashed. She's certain it's bound to happen at their party to celebrate his beating testicular cancer. Instead, she finds he's dumping her and he's going to blog about her and his "new life" as a single man and cancer survivor. Ainsley and Kate were never close, but Ainsley moves into Kate's huge house while she regains her footing. Together, they explore their own family dynamics and support each other as they move on in their own life journeys. On Second Thought started a bit slow for me. It

Genre: Toddler Board Books Publisher: Chronicle Kids Release Date: April 4, 2017, and May 9, 2017 Daddy Dreams is the first of two board books by Anne Gutman that go very well together. One each set of pages, toddlers learn how different animals go to sleep. For the horse, it's standing on his feet. But, how do animals like the bat, flamingo, and porcupine go to sleep? Daddy Dreams comes out on May 9th. Mommy Snuggles comes out on April 4th. This toddler's board book shows how different animals snuggle their young. A tiger holds her baby in her mouth, while a penguin has her baby stand on her feet while she waddles. What about others like the kangaroo, koala, or otter? Both of these books have illustrations by Georg Hallensleben that look like paintings that you could hang on your wall. The sentences are easy for a beginning reader to master, and it's a bit of a learning experience seeing how each animal differs.

Setting: New Jersey Genre: Women's Fiction Publisher: Gallery Books Release Date: March 7, 2017 Diagnosed with an extremely rare allergy to human contact, Jubilee Jenkins lives a very solitary life. When a kiss from a boy almost killed her, Jubilee left school, sequestered herself in her home, and hasn't set foot outside in nine years. News that her mother is dead and support checks will not longer be coming in forces Jubilee to go out into the world. Jubilee's first contact is with a former high school classmate. Through her, Jubilee is able to get a job at the local library. It's that job that brings her into the world of Eric Keegan, a single dad who Jubilee can't help but want to get to know. However, Jubilee knows that her allergy will prevent her from every being able to get close to anyone. Can a relationship be worth it when those involved can never touch? Close Enough to Touch creates a fictional allergy and spins a very poignant story. It'

Genre: Children's Picture Book Publisher: Chronicle Kids Release Date: April 11, 2017 A father and child fill the pages of this easy-to-read children's book. You and Me, Me and You offers a simple story about all the things a child and father do together, what they learn from one another, and how connected they are. The illustrations were one of the first things to catch my attention. Colors are the ones recommended to parents of infants, with nothing more than shades of black, white, and yellow used throughout. The narrative is simple for beginning readers and includes lines like, "I show you how to talk to strangers..." Overall, this is a very eye-catching and pleasing children's picture book. It's short, sends a clear message, and captures the essence of a loving relationship.