Deadly Whispers in Lower Dimblebrook
by Julie Butterfield

When Isabelle Darby moves to the delightfully cozy village of Lower Dimblebrook, she’s searching for peace and quiet as well as a chance to escape from heartbreak. After making friends with Fiona Lambourne, another newcomer to the village, Issie is left reeling when tragedy strikes and Fiona is murdered, the second wife Anthony Lambourne has lost in unfortunate circumstances. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the local gossips insist that Fiona had been embroiled in an affair before her death, something which Issie knows not to be the case. Determined to clear her friend’s reputation and solve the mystery of the rumors, Issie takes on both the gossips and the handsome but stern DI Wainwright, making both friends and enemies along the way!

My Rating:

My Review:

This was an engaging, fun, light, and slowly evolving tale that took a winding path with several twists and false leads. Being the first of a new series we were introduced to a quaint little village full of uniquely quirky characters that were humorously and entertainingly depicted in an instantly knowable manner while in the midst of a murder investigation that appeared to be going nowhere. The new detective assigned to the area was confounded by the village ways and the lightning-fast and oddly powerful gossip mill, which somehow always the author’s writing style, wry wit, and leisurely and meandering pace, it was just what I needed.

From New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author Kristen Proby comes ESCAPE WITH ME, an all-new stand-alone novel in her beloved WITH ME IN SEATTLE SERIES!

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

He has that little lost boy, bad boy combination women can’t resist. Women want to save him and ravage him at the same time.

Jackson wasn’t one for talking, especially not deeply. In the days she’d spent with him, she’d learned more from his silences than his sentences.

She was his kind of crazy.

Home wasn’t a town or a city or any physical location. It was the thing that filled your soul. The place in your heart filled with the people you love.

My Review:

Although I haven’t been lucky enough to read them all, this has been such a fun series with lovable characters, low angst, relatable issues, and engaging storytelling that continues on into each standalone installment. The couples are earnest, likable, and endearing people whom I would enjoy knowing.   The writing is easy to follow and enjoyable to read. Sigh, I can only hope Ms. Elks continues this series into perpetuity and decides to write a tale for every resident in this small beach town.

Excerpt

Flipping her hair over one shoulder, he brushed his lips against her neck. “Does that help?” he murmured softly.

That brief touch made her shiver. “Not really.”

He chuckled against her skin, kissing his way up to below her ear, his breath hot against her sensitive flesh. “How about this?” he asked, sliding his mouth to her jaw.

She wanted to turn, to capture his lips with hers, but he was holding her too tightly.

“Or this?” He ran his fingers through her thick hair, his gaze catching hers. His eyes were dark, needy, and sent a shot of electricity through her veins.

Pushing the straps of her dress down past her shoulders, his fingers teased her skin as he pressed his warm lips against hers. He took his time as he kissed her, his movements slow and sure.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carrie Elks writes contemporary romance with a sizzling edge. Her first book, Fix You, has been translated into eight languages and made a surprise appearance on Big Brother in Brazil. Luckily for her, it wasn’t voted out. Carrie lives with her husband, two lovely children, and a larger-than-life black pug called Plato. When she isn’t writing or reading, she can be found baking, drinking an occasional (!) glass of wine, or chatting on social media.

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

She’d grown up with big dogs, so she didn’t quite get the appeal of the little ones. They yipped. They had a Napoleon complex. Last week at the dog park, they’d terrorized a big dog into peeing on them.

She’d kept all this bottled in because . . . well, that’s what she did, always. There were lots of corked bottles of emotion deep inside her.

“Healthy relationships are about the three Cs.” “Calamity, cluelessness, and catastrophe?” Maze asked.

Somewhere along the way, she’d become the sidekick in her own story.

Oh my God… I can’t go to jail, who’ll take care of Sammie? And plus there’s scratchy toilet paper in jail, and I’m too short for the orange coveralls they make you wear!

You don’t need to be in the beginning of a child’s story to change the ending.

My Review:

This story carried considerably more angst than any Jill Shalvis book I’ve ever read. Not that I’ve read a lot of them, but it was a noticeable difference when contrasted with the brilliance of her previous works that I’ve been lucky enough to lay my greedy and grubby hands on. The majority of said angst radiated out of the main character of Maze, who was difficult for me to warm up to as Maze took stubbornness to a new level of tenacious obstinance. I grew to care for her, although I still wanted to periodically give her a few smacks with my Kindle to disrupt her egocentrism.

As always, Ms. Shalvis’s writing was easy to follow, cleverly nuanced, well-paced, and amusingly engaging with a compelling cast of complex and quirky characters. The storylines and issues combated were relevant and relatable to many regardless of family situation, as every family unit has at least a few obnoxious members if not an entire limb on the family tree, or as in the case of mine, riddled with a plethora of pervasive pestilence starting from the root level and extending to the very top leaf.  😉

The Perfect Guests
by  Emma Rous

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

Her thoughts are like darting fish, sparking across her mind and slipping out of reach.

My Review:

My first Emma Rous read and it was quite a complicated and twisty tale with lots of moving parts, secrets, and hidden agendas. The storylines were slowly constructed and cleverly nuanced over two timelines with a large cast of characters. The story threads were taut with tension and wound around themselves to weave what seemed like tangled knots, which ultimately became a complex tapestry while ensnaring my attention and endlessly provoking my curiosity with ever-evolving theories. Many of the main characters were elusive and an odd mix of peculiar and erratic in both timelines. This was a hard one to put down and my poor optical orbits feel like they have burned through to the back of my skull as I may have been reluctant to blink as I didn’t want to miss anything. All told, it was rather ingenious.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Marta was Ingrid’s cousin. She was also the old man’s last helper. It was fair to say that it hadn’t gone well. It had ended with Marta refusing to ever darken Jürgen Anderson’s door, even if he died, and someone needed help moving his mouldering body …‘Even then – find somebody else,’

That was our surname – before I changed it after the war. It means swallow, like the bird…. My father used to say that the two of us were like our namesake – you know that swallows seldom rest, they spend most of their lives in flight? … Except of course we became birds without a nest to return to.

If I ever find out who your father is, you horrid brats, I’m going to send him my condolences!

There are people that should be sorry, but you’re not one of them.

My Review:

I must confess to being rather ignorant about the countries of Denmark and Sweden, other than a vague notion of where they rest on a map. Shortly after starting this missive I stopped reading and consulted my go-to all-knowing source, the font of all the important knowledge worth knowing, and my chief source of information – Mr. Google. Armed with a bit more reference and leaving many of my researched pages open, I returned to my rapt perusal of this poignantly written, heart-rending, and compelling tale.

Lily Graham’s moving and thoughtfully written account repeatedly bruised and squeezed my coronary muscle in a ruthless manner before breaking it completely and finally patching me up again.   I am ruined! Her evocative yet tensely striking storylines were expertly crafted with well-chosen words, which delivered a resounding emotional impact and hit all the feels from the carefree childhood of clever prankster twins to their traumatic escapes and distressing and harrowing adventures once separated.   I was quickly sucked into every new thread and felt familiar with each new locale with her vivid and haunting depictions. She has mad skills and an ardent new fangirl.