March 2022 – Bookneeders

Come Closer by Sara Gran
Series: N/A
Publisher: Soho Press
First published July 1st 2003
Genres: Fiction, Demonic Possession
Pages: 168
Format: Paperback
Buy: Book Depository | Amazon

A recurrent, unidentifiable noise in her apartment. A memo to her boss that’s replaced by obscene insults. Amanda—a successful architect in a happy marriage—finds her life going off kilter by degrees. She starts smoking again, and one night for no reason, without even the knowledge that she’s doing it, she burns her husband with a cigarette. At night she dreams of a beautiful woman with pointed teeth on the shore of a blood-red sea.

The new voice in Amanda’s head, the one that tells her to steal things and talk to strange men in bars, is strange and frightening, and Amanda struggles to wrest back control of her life. A book on demon possession suggests that the figure on the shore could be the demon Naamah, known to scholars of the Kabbalah as the second wife of Adam, who stole into his dreams and tricked him into fathering her child. Whatever the case, as the violence of her erratic behavior increases, Amanda knows that she must act to put her life right, or see it destroyed.

Amanda lives in Manhattan with her husband, Ed. They are happy and have a steady marriage. They enjoy their time together going to museums, flea markets and all kinds of restaurants. That is, until the tapping starts. That and the dreams.

First it’s just a tap here and there, then a current stream of tap-taps, or is it foot steps?

One day, Amanda receives a book she didn’t order that has a quiz to know if you are possessed by a demon. She stars wondering about all the slow changes invading her life, things out of character for her – like stealing, flirting with man she would never be into, and the urge to hurt others.

At night she dreams of a red beach next to a woman with black hair and pointy teeth who hugs her and tells her she loves her and will never leave her.

The more changes she sees, the higher she scores in the quizzes, but is she really possessed, or is she slowly becoming insane?

Meet Me at the Margins by Melissa Ferguson

Series: N/A

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Published February 15th 2022

Genres: Contemporary, Romance

Pages: 320

Format: ARC

Buy: Book Depository / Amazon

* Received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you very much! This doesn’t affect the review in any way. My opinions are, as always, my own.*

Savannah Cade is a low-level editor at Pennington Publishing, a prestigious publisher producing only the highest of highbrow titles. And while editing the latest edition of The Anthology of Medieval Didactic Poetry may be her day job, she has two secrets she’s hiding.

One: She’s writing a romance novel.

Two: She’s discovered the Book Nook—a secret room in the publishing house where she finds inspiration for her “lowbrow” hobby.

After leaving her manuscript behind one afternoon, she returns to the nook only to discover someone has written notes in the margins. Savannah’s first response to the criticism is defensive, but events transpire that force her to admit that she needs the help of this shadowy editor after all. As the notes take a turn for the romantic, and as Savannah’s madcap life gets more complicated than ever, she uses the process of elimination to identify her mysterious editor—only to discover that what she truly wants and what she should want just might not be the same. Melissa Ferguson’s latest—a love letter to books, readers, and romance—will leave fans laughing out loud and swooning in the same breath.

Savannah works for Pennington Publishing as a new low-level editor – a publishing house for the most prestigious books and non-fic.

She has been using the publishing company’s ARC room to write her own romance novel, which would put her own publishing house to shame. One day, after leaving her manuscript behind, she comes back to find that someone discovered her hidden place, organized her manuscript, and written edits in the margins.

Who is this mystery person? She ends up asking this mystery editor for help editing in hopes it will get published.

The two start exchanging notes back and forth, first regarding the manuscript – and then more personal. Savannah can’t help but start falling for her mystery editor.