Allow me to introduce myself.

My name is Rian Kerry, and I’m in huge trouble.

This is how it happened: I had a crush. You know those teenage crushes, which I’m sure you’ve all experienced, too. It was that kind of crush that makes your knees tremble, that makes you blush violently and stammer when you’re with that person. One of those crushes that you assume you’ll just grow out of, the way the seasons change.

The problem is that my crush didn’t go anywhere. Actually, it only got worse, transforming into something absurd and unbearable, which no one could seem to understand.

Especially not him.

Because he’s off-limits. He’s barricaded himself within his walls, from a sense of fear and guilt. He’s locked up his heart forever, and seems to have no intention of letting anyone in ever again.

My friends, Jordan, Anya, and Holly, say that he just needs a little push. They say that he needs to learn to believe again.

But I don’t think he’ll ever be ready, because he simply doesn’t want to be.

He doesn’t want to believe.

Not in something like us.

Allow me to introduce myself.

My name is Parker Hayes, and I’m an idiot.

Yep, you heard me right. I’m a real idiot. And, I swear, that’s putting it lightly.

But I’m a lot of other things, too. I’m a fireman, and a single father to two cheeky, hyperactive six-year-old twins. I’m a brother to Tyler, another fireman – and another idiot – who always seems to stick his nose into my business. I’m a kind of friend to Niall, yet another idiot with nothing to do but barge into my life, uninvited.

Let’s get back to the point, here: the reason I’m an idiot.

Well, it’s pretty simple. I’ve lost my mind. Literally. It happened again. I fell for it. With my head, with my body, and with the heart I was sure I’d never be able to piece back together after another inevitable disaster.

The problem is that she’s not like the others.

She bakes cakes with my daughters, laughs with them, and shows them her magic bag. They’re crazy about her.

And so am I.

And now she knows it, and I know it, and everyone around us knows it. But I can’t take that step. I can’t let everything go to start over.

I can’t live through this again – because this time, I won’t be left standing.

Not if she’s the one to break my heart.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Niall brings his hand to his chest in a dramatic flourish. “I can’t get any more black marks against my name. I’m getting old and I won’t have time to make up for it.”

 

He couldn’t be more handsome if he tried, and I couldn’t be in more trouble even if I’d dug myself the hole with my own two hands.

 

I’m nervous. Not because I don’t want to be here, but because I wanted to be here so badly.

 

Plan? What plan? Come on. You know I’m not some plotting evil genius. I just let things run their course and waited patiently for the stars to align.

  

My Review:

 

I wasn’t sure about this one since I was jumping into a series on book number three, and while I’m sure I probably would have enjoyed it even more had I read the previous two, I found the installment to have strong enough legs to stand well on its own. The storylines were original and engaging and I adored all the characters by the end of the book, although they often annoyed me with their indecision, anxious fears, and alternating periods of cowardice.

There were hefty servings of tormented and debilitating angst, yet the emotional tone balanced out overall due to the smirk-worthy and rapid-fire levity provided by the highly amusing banter and witty barbs tossed back and forth between the main and secondary characters of friends and family.   The romance was sweet and tender and I fell for the grumpy single-dad fireman myself by the time the steamy sensuality was added to the mix and the sexy fireman was no longer cranky but a romantic silver-tongued sex god instead.

This was my first foray into A.S. Kelly’s work and I landed well indeed. Having gotten to know the characters, I feel the pull to read the previous books in the series as well. I have added this clever wordsmith to my list of favorites.

 

 

 

Mad About Ewe (Common Threads #1) by Susannah Nix

Dawn Botstein is doing just fine after her divorce, thank you very much.

She’s got her yarn store to run, her house to herself for the first time in her life, and no use for men anymore. That is until the hottie silver fox who walks into her store turns out to be her old high school crush—the guy who rejected her 30 years ago.

No way is she going to lose her head over him this time, no matter how well he wears that salt-and-pepper lumberjack beard. Okay, so he’s the opposite of her ex in every way, and his attention gives her a thrill she thought she’d never feel again. She’s not risking her heart again.

Mike Pilota is having a mid-life crisis.

Only instead of buying a red sports car he can’t afford and dressing like a 25-year-old who’s time-traveled from the 1990s, he quit his job after his second divorce to move closer to his recently widowed mother.

He didn’t expect to run into Dawn again, but as soon as he lays eyes on her he’s utterly smitten. So he sets out to make up for past mistakes and prove he can be the kind of man she deserves.

But is it too late for second chances? Or will these two lonely hearts find a way back to each other?

‘Mad About Ewe’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #1 in the Common Threads series, Seduction in the City World, Penny Reid Book Universe.  

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

  … before Mike went off to college in Ohio— I screwed up my courage to ask him out on a date. It did not go well. His expression in response to my proposal that we catch a showing of Turner & Hooch was not unlike that of Janet Leigh when Norman Bates pulled back the shower curtain. The sight of Mike’s face frozen in shocked surprise still haunted me occasionally in my anxiety dreams.   I’d catch a heady whiff of her perfume. It was floral, but not like just any old flowers. She smelled like the kind of flowers that only bloomed deep in a mysterious woodland fairy realm.   It looks a lot easier when you do it. Your fingers are so small and graceful. Mine are as ungainly as a pack of Oscar Mayer wieners.   “As you wish.” My heart melted a little more. A man who quoted The Princess Bride in the middle of a make-out session? I had to reach up and touch his face to assure myself he was real.

 

My Review:

  This was a crisp, enjoyable, and breezy read, I was having so much fun the day just flew by. The storylines were entertaining and engaging and packed with amusing smirk-worthy levity as well as insightful observations and inner musings. I adored this couple together, it only took them thirty years to get it right but they sizzled like rabid teenagers despite the passing of time. I certainly picked a winner to introduce myself to the clever craft of one Ms. Susannah Nix, but I knew I couldn’t go wrong with a Smartypants Romance.

About Susannah Nix

Susannah Nix is an award-winning author of contemporary romances featuring smart women and swoony men, including the Chemistry Lessons series of romcoms about women who work in STEM fields and the Starstruck series of movie star romances. Susannah resides in Texas with her husband, two ornery cats, and a flatulent pit bull. When she’s not writing, she enjoys reading, cooking, knitting, watching stupid amounts of television, and getting distracted by Tumblr. She is also a powerlifter who can deadlift as much as Captain America weighs. .  

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Glenn ate crisps the way a squirrel might; his hands moved so fast you had to slow the film down a little to see them, and his jaws clashed in rapid-fire.

 

Another man was with them, with a high, receding hairline, glasses and a tweed jacket. He had a pinkish hue to his face, as if he’d recently shed his skin. Freya could only categorise his appearance as that of a teacher who frightened you.

 

She let herself in, turned on every light, screamed aloud before she hurled open each and every cupboard, poked underneath the bed with a broom handle and was particularly vicious with every pair of curtains before she was satisfied that she was absolutely, positively alone.

 

My Review:

 

This one was quite a bit outside of my comfort zone for creepiness and the crimes depicted were cringe-worthy, gruesome, and disquieting, I worry about having those images in my head. P.R. Black is one twisted mamma jamma and his neighbors should be cautious and quietly tiptoe past as with the snap of the fingers he could easily plot clever vengeance on anyone who disturbs his contemplations, knocks over his bins, or allows their dog to piddle on his plants.

The writing was strikingly descriptive and pulled strong and haunting visuals that often left me shuddering, but I am a bit of a wimp. I will seek out lighter fare for my next read in order to catch my breath and flush out residual tension and adrenaline. The storylines were busy and itchy, and relentlessly poked and prodded my curiosity while also causing my stomach to churn. I often found my teeth clenched and shoulders in my ears yet I was intrigued and much liked the Woodcutter’s victims, I was hopelessly ensnared. Mr. Black has mad skills.

 

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I could weave you a friendship bracelet made of hair. I decided against it. It has a serial-killer quality to it, though it’s useful if you want to go down the voodoo route.

 

‘The playground mafia has been around for years,’ Joyce carries on. ‘In my day it was Jeanie McGovern. I had her son round to play and he came to my house and crapped in a drawer. When I told her, and I was discreet about it, she told me I’d made it up and then spent years spreading rumours around about Tom.’ ‘What sort of rumours?’ I ask, mortified at the thought of someone defecating in a drawer. ‘It was such a bizarre reaction. She made him the centre of every nits outbreak for years. It ended with me slapping her in the playground.’

 

‘You joined the PTA?’ she asks. ‘Emma told me it would be a good way to make friends.’ ‘Never listen to Emma. Her girls are in a private school where everyone wears padded gilets and eats pheasant. Their PTA raffles off cars. Mine raffles off dusty bottles of cherry brandy. I won a bottle once that was half-drunk.’

 

You forget about the cascading effect of social media in these playground battles. One moment you tell a group that your son has a rash and the next he’s a social pariah with possible leprosy.

 

‘Gracie,’ she says, softly. ‘We lost Cam, her dear Olivier and our wonderful Tom. We will never replace them. That light has gone out. We shouldn’t replace them. But never think people can’t come in, that we’ve lost some capacity to love. We’re still alive, it does our loved ones no justice to be sitting here in darkness.’ And there it is. This is why I welcomed Linh into my world. Beautiful turns of phrase like that soothed my tired and confused soul; they still do. And she’s right. We lost three amazing people but, through their loss, our lives all became entwined.

My Review:

 

 I savored every perfectly chosen word of this riotously humorous yet poignant tale. I adore Kristen Bailey and of the handful of books I’ve read, this may be her best yet. The crisp storylines were rife with every type of rib-tickling humor from wry and acerbic wit to ribald comedy. I smirked, chortled, and giggle-snorted my way through although there were also just as many thoughtfully written, insightful, and heart-squeezing scenes of great loss, vulnerability, grief, anger, and betrayal. Ms. Bailey hit all the feels and plundered every emotion with agility and finesse.

As always, her characters were fully inhabited and enticingly intriguing and curiously alluring. I am eagerly anticipating Lucy’s story and cannot wait to see what this clever scribe does with the inner musings of the last remaining Callaghan sister’s tale. I had a feeling she would be saving the best, and most outrageous character of Lucy, for last.

One can only hope she is currently locked in the attic scribbling away. Please write quickly, Ms. Bailey, you won’t even need to leave home for sustenance as your devoted fangirl can have offerings of gin and Marmite winging your way.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

He probably imagined he could handle himself because of the endless hours he spent at the gym. It took a lot more than that. Weights didn’t fight back.

 

The male ego at work once again, imagining he could satisfy a younger woman without bringing on a heart attack. Still – ten out of ten for effort. At one point, he’d made a sound in his throat like dolphins talking to each other and she’d thought he wasn’t going to survive. But he had. On Monday, Algie would be boasting to his colleagues about the foxy lady he’d tamed on Friday night.

 

With his gangly stride, from this distance he looked like a well-dressed stick insect on his way to the Ugly Bug Ball.

 

I was born at night, Kenny, but it wasn’t last night, you get what I’m saying?

 

My Review:

 

I continue in my fascination with Mr. Owen Mullen’s gift of words skills as found in his creation of the Glass crime family of London. And while they were a horrid collection of shared DNA, their adversaries are so much worse I caught myself admiring Luke Glass – say what now?   I had fallen so far into their criminal vortex I had lost my real-world perspective, which is a testament to Owen Mullen’s cunning skills in weaving a tale.

The storylines were just as intense, violent, amusingly snarky, and even more intriguing than the first book in the series as I was itching to uncover the mole and so very wrong in my hypothesis.   The pacing and plotting were shrewd and nothing short of brilliant. But after losing myself in two of Mr. Mullen’s tautly written and absorbing tales, I am in dire need of a vat of wine, rom/com reading material, and a spa day to soak and hammer out the residual tension.

 

My Rating: