"3.5 rounded up

Lark Nichols and Mikki Jensen are best friends who grew up together and now work together, on the night shift of a Travel Stop along the highway of their small Ohio town.

They once had big dreams of moving away but as they fast approach their 30th birthdays, they are starting to feel “stuck�� despite having always lived by their only TWO rules-Say YES, and Keep your eyes open for a ride out!

So when a stranger in a BMW stops in one night for coffee, and after a brief conversation, invites Nikki to tag along with him to a wedding in Florida, she concludes that it may be her first, and last opportunity to ever see the ocean, and with a breezy “Catch You Later�� she impulsively removes her apron and hops in-leaving an incredulous, and pregnant Lark behind.

Mikki never returns.

Fast forward eight years and Lark is finally moving forward. She lives with and helps care for, Mikki’s prickly grandmother Nini, while raising her daughter, Dove as a single mom. And, she has recently gotten engaged to wonderful guy, who has embraced his new “ready made�� family.

But, then the STRANGER who drove away with Mikki returns to the Travel Stop asking for her.

Nobody knows what to believe as the search is reopened.

The book alternates between Lark-NOW and Mikki-THEN which shows us what happened to Mikki from the time she climbed into the car.

I LOVED this ORIGINAL premise and was RIVETED to the pages-thinking this could be a 5 star read. But, at around the midway point of the story, the pace slowed and I guess I wanted MORE from the ending.

Although it’s not a new favorite book by the author, Jessica Strawser remains a favorite author of SUSPENSE for me, and I look forward to whatever she pens next!

A buddy read with DeAnn. Will it earn all the stars from her?

AVAILABLE NOW!

THANK YOU to Lake Union Publishing for the gifted ARC provided through NetGalley. As always, these are my candid thoughts!"

"Life is too short to waste my time on this. It started off funny but quickly went downhill and became vulgar.

TW - S&M"

"I only discovered Princess Grace upon her death in 1982. At the time I was following and admiring Princess Diana when I heard that she would be attending the funeral of Princess Grace of Monaco. I remember watching the televised funeral just to get a glimpse of Diana. Then I started hearing Grace's story on the news. A former movie star turned Princess. I was hooked as to this 12 year old her story sounded like yet another, "fairytale." I remember eyeing this book in 1982 but I never bought it. As I began to collect other books on Grace, I always regretted not buying this one. This past Christmas my daughter surprised me with a copy of the book I had always wanted.

This is a beautiful coffee-table style book with hundreds of colour pictures. The book sums up her life story from her early days as Grace Kelly, the movie star, to her wedding in Monaco and becoming a Princess, then as Mother to her three children. It follows her royal life until her sudden death on September 14, 1982. Today marks 42 years since her passing.

Grace was the epitome of her name. A stunning beauty and full of class with a gentle demeanour. She was pure elegance. This is my favourite quote from the book.

"People say I'm the perfect Princess, but that's silly.""