WHAT'S THE BUZZ?: The Shore by Katie Runde - REVIEW!

Hi there!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Today, we're spreading a little pre book birthday BUZZ about a new title COMING SOON from Scribner Books.  It's a work of Fiction that tackles the very real topic of life after the diagnosis.  What DOES happen after the never dreamed of nightmare happens...and not only to the patient, but the family?  Ready or not, fair readers, let's step between the epages of today's ebook of choice...

The Shore

by

Katie Runde

9781982180171

Scribner

Release Date:  05/24/22

About the book...

Brian and Margot Dunne live year-round in Seaside, just steps away from the bustling boardwalk, with their daughters Liz and Evy. The Dunnes run a real estate company, making their living by quickly turning over rental houses for tourists. But the family’s future becomes even more precarious when Brian develops a brain tumor, transforming into a bizarre, erratic version of himself. Amidst the chaos and new caretaking responsibilities, Liz still seeks out summer adventure and flirting with a guy she should know better than to pursue. Her younger sister Evy works in a candy shop, falls in love with her friend Olivia, and secretly adopts the persona of a middle-aged mom in an online support group, where she discovers her own mother’s most vulnerable confessions. Meanwhile, Margot faces an impossible choice driven by grief, impulse, and the ways that small-town life in Seaside has shaped her. Falling apart is not an option, but she can always pack up and leave the beach behind.

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As I said, it's much deeper than the cover might portray, taking you behind the scenes of the medical appointments and odd scenes in public, and putting you in the shoes of the family members themselves.  A scary diagnosis is not welcome by anyone, nor wished on another, but the reality of dealing with it is so much more than just the medical care.  It's in the every day decisions on how to deal with the changes in the person you've known and loved.  It's in the alternation of daily routines so that constant assistance is available to watch over the other.  It's in the thought that taking a moment to yourself is stealing time because, while in a way it is, no one should have to feel guilty for having a moment, nor would the person your caring for want you to feel that way, even if they can't relay that to you.  Speaking of them, what about the person afflicted with these changes?  I mean, we know the care and steps that are being taken are to benefit them, take care of them, provide for them, and make them more comfortable, but how debilitating it must be to feel that your freedom, your decisions have been taken from you.  

Don't get me wrong, Brian was by no means perfect, but neither was Margot.  They built a life together, for better or worse, but no one ever knows what that worst scenario may look like.  Their daughters, Liz and Evy, help take up the slack, never complaining, but never actually being able to sort out their lives without a constant timetable running in the background.  They're going through all of this just as much as their parents, while still trying to grow up and find themselves.  Bad choices are made, as are some good ones, but the stress it puts on them all is unfortunate.  Dealing with one or the other is more than enough for any person...but the strength of this family unit really shines through as they make their way towards an ending that's equally filled with new beginnings.

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About the author...

Photograph by Rebecca Sanabria

Katie Runde grew up on the Jersey Shore, where her family ran various boardwalk businesses. She holds an MFA from Warren Wilson College and lives in Iowa City with her husband and two daughters. The Shore is her first novel.

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Special thanks to Scribner Books for the eARC for review via the Shelf Awareness.  (THANKS!)  For more information on this title, the author, or the publisher, feel free to click through the links provided above.  This title is set to release May 24th, 2022via Scribner Books, an imprint of Simon and Schuster Publishing, so mark your calendar or pre order your copy today!

Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!

Booksparks #PopUpBlogTour: The Wolves of Winter by Tyrell Johnson

Hi there!

Welcome back to Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers.

Actual photo of MYSTERIOUS package...

It all started with an email INVITATION...

...continued with the arrival of a MYSTERIOUS package...

...and pressed forward ever more as I realized it was time for another...

#PopUpBlogTour!

That's right!

It's time for another FABULOUS #PopUpBlogTours thanks to the wonderful folks at Booksparks who are eager to put YOU right there with the best of the best of recently released titles.  Take today's for example...it's a tale of things that COULD be, but whether they SHOULD be or not is an entirely different question.  I say it's a bit self-made apocalypse, mixed with dystopian elements, a healthy dose of survival, and a heaping scoop of Maze Runner for flavor.  Trust me, it may sound like an acquired taste but it was REALLY good.  On that note, let's get to the nitty gritty!  Ladies and gents, today's book of choice is...

The Wolves of Winter

by

Tyrell Johnson

9781501155673

Scribner

About the book...

A captivating tale of humanity pushed beyond its breaking point, of family and bonds of love forged when everything is lost, and of a heroic young woman who crosses a frozen landscape to find her destiny. This debut novel is written in a post-apocalyptic tradition that spans The Hunger Games and Station Eleven but blazes its own distinctive path.

Forget the old days. Forget summer. Forget warmth. Forget anything that doesn’t help you survive in the endless white wilderness beyond the edges of a fallen world.

Lynn McBride has learned much since society collapsed in the face of nuclear war and the relentless spread of disease. As the memories of her old life continue to haunt, she’s forced to forge ahead in the snow-drifted Canadian Yukon, learning how to hunt and trap and slaughter.

Shadows of the world before have found her tiny community—most prominently in the enigmatic figure of Jax, who brings with him dark secrets of the past and sets in motion a chain of events that will call Lynn to a role she never imagined.

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What do you do when society has crumbled to the point of near-extinction leaving a seemingly endless white wilderness in its wake where only the strong survive?

Simple....SURVIVE...only it's not THAT simple.

Lynn and her makeshift family are alive in the frozen North.  How many others are left after the world fought itself only to pretty much kill itself is a riddle they can't bother to answer for every day is another day full of strife, struggle, and the monotonous task of simply seeing another day.  Though their numbers are few, the obstacles are plenty; from worsening weather to lack of food to a-holes on a power trip that totally deserve any bad thing that happens to them to the remains of the powers that be zeroing in on those they find...interesting.  Curious?  You should be because the arrival of a stranger in their midst is going to signal the beginning of the end...of the lifestyle they've grown accustom to, of the fragile peace they have found, and of the lives of a few they call family.  It's a dangerous world out there, but sometimes the greatest danger comes from within.

I was HOOKED on this one, right from the start.  It's bleak and foreboding setting.  The heinous side of the civilized turning truly cruel all in the name of "hope" (and I use that in quotation marks simply because it wasn't hope for all but for some).  Lynn was a great leading lady, full of inner strength, and determination, but not without faults.  Jax, her eventual co-conspirator of sorts, may be using more of his brain than most, but still has a lot to learn about human interaction.  Again, no one was perfect, even if engineering was involved on some level.  (Nope...not telling!) 

The scary part is that the world presented here isn't that hard to believe.  The circumstances that created the unending winter, the raging infections with no cures, the search for an answer but only for the highest bidder...none of it is beyond believe.  The author does a great job putting us right there in the midst of everything and showing us the darkness of humanity without snuffing out the potential for light.  Good and evil are always there...it's the choice we make that have one or the other come forth.  So make the choice...take a chance on this debut author and a story you won't soon forget.

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About the author...

© Josh Durias

Tyrell Johnson is a twenty-nine-year-old writer and editor who grew up in Bellingham, Washington. He received his MFA from the University of California, Riverside, where he studied fiction and poetry. An avid outdoorsman, he currently lives in Kelowna, British Columbia, northeast of Vancouver with his wife, two kids, and a Siberian husky. The Wolves of Winter is his first novel.

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Special thanks to the #PopUpBlogTour Booksparks team for the fabulous chance to participate in this promotion and to Scribner for the ARC for review. (THANKS!) For more information on this title, the author, the publisher, or the next big thing from Booksparks, click through the links provided above. This title just released at the beginning of the month, so be on the lookout for it on a bookstore shelf or virtual retailer of your choosing.

Until next time, remember...if it looks good, READ IT!