Stopping by my tiny Santa Cruz house, 1,350 square feet on the edge of an almost-not-great neighborhood, I scramble into my wet suit, feed the worst cat in the world his half can of wet food, and make sure to move my fingers around in his kibble. He purrs his thanks, and I pull his tail gently. “Try not to pee on anything too important, huh?” Sabotage Turns Deadly in Jeffery Deaver’s Forthcoming Lincoln Rhyme Thriller, ‘The Watchmaker’s Hand’ I have to admit I may have a little extra love for this novel because the main characters are from my home state of California, but the story itself is so deeply moving; full of mystery and intrigue, wit and romance, and the simple thrills of catching an early morning wave, it’s impossible not to become completely engrossed in it. Josie and I ran around like puppies, sleeping on the beach of the cove when we got tired, underfoot and ignored. My mother was a great beauty who’d come for dinner with another man and fallen instantly in love with my father, or so the legend says. But if you’d known him, you would know it was entirely likely. My father was a massive personality, a charming, bigger-than-life chef from Italy, though people just said cook in those days. Or restaurateur, which was what he really was. My mother loved him to excess, far more than she loved us. His passion for her was intense, and sexual, and possessive, but is that love? I don’t know. And then she’s gone, and the disaster keeps going. I stare, openmouthed, at the empty spot she left, holding the Mountain Dew out in front of me like an offering or a toast.

When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O’Neal BOOK REVIEW: When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O’Neal

In this gorgeously stunning debut, a mysterious child teaches two strangers how to love and trust again. When I leave the hospital in the predawn stillness, I’m wound up, both exhausted and wired. If I want to get any sleep at all before my next shift, I have to work off the grimy night.Love, kindness, and empathy are at the core of this story, and it all stands on an imaginative, unique premise unlike any I’ve read before. Josie thrived on drama the way my parents did. She had both my father’s enormous personality and my mother’s beauty, though in Josie, the combination became something extraordinary. Unique. I can’t count the number of times people drew and photographed and painted her, men and women, and how often they fell in love. I always thought she would be a movie star. A: The genre of When We Believed in Mermaids is a Sisters Fiction, Women’s Historical Fiction, Historical Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Fiction Q: Is When We Believed in Mermaids part of a series? Forgotten Memories, a Creepy Asylum, and Romantic Tension Make Jayne Ann Krentz’s ‘Sleep No More’ a Winner[REVIEW] Josie’s face swims up in front of me. The way it was fifteen years ago. The way it looked on television overnight.

When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O’Neal Review: When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O’Neal

Author Barbara Davis deftly explores an emotionally charged landscape of pain, loss, and despair—and the risk one woman will take in the hope of loving again. I lift the Mountain Dew all the way to my lips and take a long swallow of the thing we shared, this private reminder of all we were to each other, and tell myself it’s just wishful thinking. I had always wanted a grand adventure and I’ve always loved reading about epic journeys. When I was a teen, I read an article in National Geographic about walking the Appalachian Trail and thought, I need to do that. I grew up in an outdoorsy family and married a man who loved the outdoors even more. But we never got to an adventure until we were empty nesters. In our late fifties we decided to walk 1400 miles from the cold North Sea to the warm Mediterranean on the legendary long-distance trail the GR5. After finishing our epic journey, I needed to share my love of European walking with others. Kit and Josie are far from perfect, but they are strong and determined to move forward in life as best they can, spending each day atoning for and recovering from past mistakes.Barbara O’Neal is the author of 12 novels of women’s fiction, including The Art of Inheriting Secrets, How to Bake a Perfect Life, and The All You Can Dream Buffet. Her award-winning books have been published in more than a dozen countries, including France, England, Poland, Australia, Turkey, Italy, Germany, and Brazil. When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not… It must have happened to me a hundred times in the first year, especially because we never found a body. Impossible, given the circumstances. Also impossible that she survived. Not for her the ordinary demise of a fiery car accident or a leap off a bridge, though she threatened those often enough. A soul-stirring novel about what we choose to keep from our past, and what we choose to leave behind. Mari Edwards is living a wonderful life with her husband and children in New Zealand. But she has a dark past that has now shown up on her doorstep, and she is willing to do anything not to lose everything she has – even though eventually she will need to face her demons.