If Lacy Shaw could have one wish, it’s that the past would stay in the past. And with her high school reunion coming up, she has no intention of reliving the worst four years of her life. Especially when all she has to show for the last decade is how the shy bookworm blossomed into…the shy town librarian. Ditching the event seems the best option until a blistering hot alternative roars into Lacy’s life. Perhaps riding into the reunion on the back of Paris Montgomery’s motorcycle will show her classmates how much she really has changed…

While growing up as a foster kid, Paris Montgomery only felt at home in Sweetwater Springs, which is why he picked the small town to start over after his divorce. He can’t afford to ruin this refuge with another doomed relationship – especially one with a woman who is his total opposite. But when the town’s sweet librarian offers to help him reconnect with his foster dad, he finds they have more in common than he thought. Both are about to discover that home is where the heart is.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Greta Merchant used a cane, but he knew she walked just fine. The cane was for show, and Paris had seen her beat it against someone’s foot a couple of times.

The nickname had just rolled off his tongue, but it fit. Lace was delicate and beautiful, accentuated by holes that one might think made it more fragile. It was strong, just like the woman sitting next to him.

 My Review:

Annie Rains has penned an enjoyable, pleasantly satisfying, and sweet story featuring two lonely yet kind and endearing characters living in a small town; one a reserved librarian who lived on Pine Cone Lane, and the other a computer whiz/graphic artist/tattooed biker who was handsome enough to have all the ladies salivating whether they were young or old, married or single.   The storylines were sweet and heartfelt with both main characters having experienced painful histories of disappointments and insecurities in their childhoods that continued to haunt them yet each was endeavoring to overcome. The premise was relevant and tender, the writing was easy to follow and engaging, and the small-town characters were amusingly delineated.

Last Summer

by Kerry Lonsdale

About the Author

Kerry Lonsdale is the Wall Street Journal, Amazon Charts, and #1 Amazon Kindle bestselling author of the Everything series—Everything We Keep, Everything We Left Behind, and Everything We Give—as well as All the Breaking Waves. She resides in Northern California with her husband and two children. Learn more about Kerry at www.kerrylonsdale.com.

Sail away to beautiful Croatia for summer sun, sparkling turquoise seas and a will-they-won’t-they romance you won’t be able to put down!

When no-nonsense, down-to-earth Maddie Wilcox is offered the chance to work on a luxury yacht for the summer, she can’t say no. Yes, she’ll be waiting on the posh guests… But island-hopping around the Adriatic sea will more than makeup for it – especially when Nick, her best friend Nina’s brother, is one of them.

Sparks fly when they meet onboard and Maddie can’t believe self-entitled jerk Nick is really related to Nina. But in a secret, picture-perfect cove, away from the real world, Maddie and Nick discover they might have more in common than they realize…

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

With big bones, Maddie was never going to be a size ten; she was a healthy twelve to fourteen and her stomach had never, and was never going to be, flat and, yes, she had muffin tops – double chocolate chip muffin tops. All bought and paid for.

‘… those shorts. Serious fashion crime… Oh, dear God. A travesty. Those are men’s shorts. No wonder you look like a pudding on legs. Fabulous legs, by the way.’ She actually walked around Maddie as if she were a prize pig on show.

We were the kids on free school meals. I’m the first to go to university, which my mum views with deep suspicion. The way she carries on, you’d think I’d taken up witchcraft.

Honestly, you young people. Every communication tool under the sun and none of you seem able to talk to each other.

My Review:

This was a fun and amusing read that entertained with clever observations and mocking wit while simultaneously taunting me with delectable descriptions of mouth-watering dishes and lush exotic locals as the characters cruised the Croatian Coast on a luxury yacht. Well, the lovely main character of Maddie was actually employed as a last-minute addition to the crew on said luxury yacht. Poor Maddie, she was required to clean up unspeakable messes and smile as the vile and petty “stick insect” models squealed like toddlers, pranced like show ponies, and barked orders and insults at anyone who dared to offer a differing opinion to their plans while they fleeced a wealthy boyfriend and enjoyed an extravagant vacation at his expense.

This was my first experience dabbling in this cunning wordsmith’s skills and my willpower to abide my diet regime was sorely tested by her deviously penned and artfully detailed meals. It took all I had not to succumb, although I did dream of a succulent pasta and wine-fueled binge after feeling compelled to Google Croatia and several of the items and places mentioned. Ms. Caplin’s oddly enticing characters were intriguingly and comically drawn; even the villainous harpies kept my interest primed as I was curious as to if or how their duplicity would be exposed, although I will also admit to gleefully hissing my displeasure at their unrepentant self-absorption. I seem to love to hate narcissists.

In addition to falling into a circuitous yet interesting and educational Google stoked lesson on Croatia, Mr. Google also assisted me with several fun new additions to my Brit Word List with duff them up – hit them many times; oik – an uncouth or obnoxious person; and cadge – ask or beg for something. Mr. G is one of my all-time favorite boyfriends, as unlike most of the human variety, he never fails to perform.

About the Author

Instructions for Falling In Love Again 

by Lucy Mitchell

What would you do if your late husband left you a list of instructions on how to fall in love with someone else?

Pippa Browning is faced with this exact dilemma, three years after the death of her husband, Dan.

Buried at the bottom of a drawer are a collection of notebooks full of Dan’s advice on how to live without him.

Pippa’s notebook is red and contains his instructions on how to fall in love again.

But Dan doesn’t just want Pippa to fall in love with anyone – Dan’s crazy suggestion is that Pippa should date his handsome friend, Mikey Stenton, a known thrill-seeking ladies’ man.

Reluctant to follow Dan’s advice, Pippa enters the world of dating. She embarks on a humorous journey of self-discovery, with the help of her children and two best friends.

It isn’t long before Pippa is finding it hard to ignore Dan’s instructions and Mikey Stenton.

Is Mikey really the man that everyone thinks him to be? Or was Dan right, and Mikey’s simply been misunderstood?

A heart-warming romantic comedy about motherhood, friendship and finding love, the second time around.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I take a sharp intake of breath at the news of Mrs Gladson and the imminent birth of her fourth child. When I saw her a few months ago in the school playground, she’d ballooned overnight and had a look of terror etched across her face.

You come across as their friend. I prefer to act like I’m unhinged. Kids pick up on this stuff. It’s good for kids to live with a bit of fear…

Your children are feral. If they’re not escaping down ladders to go underage drinking, they’re cutting all their hair off at parties.

I’ve found myself in new territory. For the first time in my life, I’m frantically thinking of excuses to leave a woman’s house. ‘Got to go,’ I stammer, searching for the door. She kisses me again, sucking the air out of me like a giant hoover.

My Review:

This was a fun and witty read, penned with wickedly clever wry humor and sharply honed and double-edged levity while cast with a large slate of amusingly annoying and dysfunctional characters. Pippa was an impractical widow of three years and had been heedlessly turning a blind eye to the carefully planned budget her dying husband had painstakingly drawn up for her, as well as to the brattiness and emotional needs of her three challenging children who by that point had been labeled as “feral” by their grandmother, and were largely beyond Pippa’s weak attempts at control, although she didn’t seem to be expending much effort to rein them in.

Her departed husband had always been the responsible and organized parent while Pippa was largely an airy-fairy, ineffectual, and exceedingly lame parent as in many ways she was just as irresponsible as her monstrously mouthy and beastly children. She had avoided processing her grief by ignoring her dead husband’s instructions and spending lavishly and willy-nilly in redecorating her home and indulging in her passion for baking. She received an embarrassing wakeup call, which finally seemed to have rattled the little pea in her brain when her under-aged teenaged daughter was carted home in a drunken state while Pippa had assumed she was upstairs asleep. Oh my, major parenting fail.

Ms. Mitchell has hit a home run with her debut publication by serving up a crisp and breezy writing style with engaging storylines that were edgily amusing while also heart-squeezing and observantly emotive.   I wouldn’t want to live anywhere near this loud and obnoxious family, but I enjoyed being privy to their inner workings as Pippa began to find her way back to herself and her dead husband’s thoughtful plan for her. I also scored a fun and irreverent new addition to my Brit Word List with coffin dodger – which is UK slang for the elderly.

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The Boyfriend Collector

(Book #1)

by Mimi Jean Pamfiloff

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

This man doesn’t just have a stick up his ass, it’s an entire forest.

The maids come and go like lettuce in a vegetable drawer. They’re chewed up or they rot, but either way, they’re gone in seven days.

I’m not looking for Mr. Perfect. I’m looking for Mr. Perfect-For-Me.

I rub my eyes, disregarding the fact that I still have on last night’s mascara and that I’m going to look like last night’s trash panda, too.

My Review:

This fast-paced little missive was a quick read with a bit of everything including Ms. Pamfiloff’s trademark snarky humor, family drama involving a naïve and gullible Cinderella-type main character, greedy grandparents, fraud, a hitman, embezzlement, multiple suitors vying to be groom potential, and a wonky will. Oh my, and the story isn’t done yet. I am eager for the rest of the tale, even though I want to give Rose a few good pinches for being so dim-witted and easily deceived.