My Husband's Wife by Jane Corry

*I received a review copy from the publisher with no expectation of anything other than an honest review.

Suggest a thriller or mystery (or a horror story!) to me and chances are I'll be interested. I love the kind of reading that keeps me gripped, guessing, turning the pages. So when a pitch arrived in my inbox for My Husband's Wife by Jane Corry, I was interested.

The tagline reads, "an eye for an eye, a wife for a wife." I mean come on. How intriguing?

I did enjoy the book. It's the story of Lily a young woman who is recently married. She's also a lawyer who is starting out in the trenches and taking on a case of a man accused of murdering his girlfriend. It's a difficult case, but because he reminds her of her brother she's drawn to him and feels an increased connection and sense of empathy for him. Her own marriage isn't what she wishes it was--she and her husband struggle, but she does try to make it work. And baby-sitting for a little girl next door, Carla, who is from Italy (this book is set in England) helps to bond them in some ways. The girl herself is struggling to come to terms with her own life but enjoys sitting for Lily's husband Ed to draw.

There's an event and then a huge time jump and then some more stuff happens! I hate to give away too many plot details. But the premise of the book was interesting and kept me with it which made up for the fact that the writing itself was very serviceable. There were times I felt the tension could have been drawn out and the language is basic and functional but doesn't necessarily draw the reader deep into the characters or action. Even still, I finished the book.

TV Rec: Timeless

We live in a time where there are more TV shows than ever before to watch. It can be really hard to make a choice--many shows have shortened seasons and yet there are so many to choose from. And there's only so much time. We like to read, see movies, and have a life as well!

In any case, I will from time to time still write about some shows I'm watching that I think are worth checking out. Over the past couple of weeks, I finally got a chance to watch Timeless. Timeless has already completed it's first season (at 16 episodes) and there is no guaranteed of a second season at this point. Still, you can watch the full first full season on Hulu or NBC.com. And watching on these platforms at this time is the best thing you can do to help bring about a second season!

What makes Timeless such a fun show is the history. It's a time travel show and I'm not for a second going to pretend there's a lot of logic to the way time travel works. If the past is "changed" there is often very little consequence to the world in the present of our characters. The premiere episode introduces this concept with very real consequences, but the subsequent episodes very rarely reflect this. So with that out of the way, the history is FUN!

The premise of Timeless is pretty straightforward, there's a bad guy going back in time to change history with a stolen time travel ship and a small team (a pilot, a military man, and a historian) are assembled to chase after him in "the Lifeboat" another time travel ship and stop him from causing too much damage. The cast is great led by the wonderful Abigail Scott of Rectify and Suits and have a very enjoyable chemistry and banter. They visit many familiar and known times in history to varying degrees of success. They have a full wardrobe of authentic costumes at their disposal for their trips and they interact with many famous and known characters from history as well as those who are lesser known.

Understandably, a woman going back in history will find certain restrictions on her freedom and Rufus, the pilot, is a black man. Which is important because it allows us to access history from his viewpoint. His reluctance to go back in time is established in the first episode and it's also possibly true that the show doesn't make things as difficult for him as it might be. (however, I think that's true for all the characters, this IS fiction) Still, through Timeless we learn about important characters in the past--often women and people of color.

The show also utilizes enjoyable guest stars to play the characters in history. And...it's just a lot of fun.

There is a huge overarching conspiracy theory and still a lot of questions about how time travel works. The show is a good time, though, and I flew through all 16 episodes rather quickly.

Beauty and the Beast: Lost in a Book by Jennifer Donnelly Givewaway!

Thanks to Disney for providing me with a copy of Lost in a Book and Belle's Library as well as providing this prize pack!

Are you excited for the Beauty and the Beast live action film? It has certainly been exciting to see many iconic scenes come to life. One of the things I always loved about Belle and the reason she's one of my personal favorites is that she's a bookworm!

In celebration of this wonderful reality and the upcoming film, Disney Press is releasing several Beauty and the Beast books. I'm excited to offer a giveaway here!

About the book: Smart, bookish Belle, a captive in the Beast's castle, has become accustomed to her new home and has befriended its inhabitants. When she comes upon Nevermore, an enchanted book unlike anything else she has seen in the castle, Belle finds herself pulled into its pages and transported to a world of glamour and intrigue. The adventures Belle has always imagined, the dreams she was forced to give up when she became a prisoner, seem within reach again.

The charming and mysterious characters Belle meets within the pages of Nevermore offer her glamorous conversation, a life of dazzling Parisian luxury, and even a reunion she never thought possible. Here Belle can have everything she ever wished for. But what about her friends in the Beast's castle? Can Belle trust her new companions inside the pages of Nevermore? Is Nevermore's world even real? Belle must uncover the truth about the book, before she loses herself in it forever.

About the Author: Jennifer Donnelly is an award-winning, best-selling author of books for young adults and adults, including the Waterfire Saga: Deep Blue, Rogue Wave, Dark Tide, and Sea Spell. Her other young adult novels include These Shallow Graves, Revolution, and A Northern Light, winner of Britain's prestigious Carnegie Medal, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature, and a Michael L. Printz Honor. She has also written Humble Pie, a picture book, and the adult novels The Tea Rose, The Winter Rose, and The Wild Rose. She lives in New York’s Hudson Valley. You can visit her at www.jenniferdonnelly.com, or on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram @jenwritesbooks.

Visit the official site for Lost in a Book to learn more about the book. You can also follow Disney Hyperionon Twitter to keep up with all the news about these books, as well as follow Disney Books on instagram for some extra visual bookish beauty in your life.

Another great book included in this pack is Belle's Library which includes a lot of really great quotes in a beautiful little book.

Here's the full list of books included in the prize pack:
Lost in a Book
Belle’s Library
Art of Coloring: Beauty and the Beast
Tale as Old as Time
A Twisted Tale: As Old As Time
The Beast Within
The Isle of the Lost and Return to the Isle of the Lost
Kingdom Keepers: The Return (3-book series)
Star Wars trilogy (3-book series)
Percy Jackson & The Olympians (5-book series)
Tales from the Haunted Mansion: Volume 1

To enter, you must be a resident of the United States and fill out the following form. Entries must be received by March 17, 2017 at midnight EST. Winner will be notified via email.