Author: Empress DJ

Empress DJ AKA Honolulubelle is a Rabid Reader, Unabashed Reviewer, and All-Purpose Goddess
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Book Reviews: Let Your Hair Down (Almost Royal Book 3) by Rachel Lacey

Let Your Hair Down 

(Almost Royal Book 3)

by Rachel Lacey

Amazon  US / UK / AU / CA 

 BN ~ iBooks ~ Kobo ~ GP

THE ADVENTURE OF A LIFETIME

Ruby Keller is going rogue, or at least that’s the hashtag she’s using to document her vacation: #RubyGoesRogue. Illness kept her confined to her bedroom for much of her childhood, and as a result, she’s always played it safe, hiding behind her laptop and overanalyzing every decision. When a friend’s wedding takes her to London, she decides to push herself out of her comfort zone and take an uncharted adventure on her own…no laptop, no itinerary, and no one to get in her way. A chance run-in with a handsome British stranger was definitely not on the agenda…

Flynn Bowen travels the globe for his family’s chain of upscale hotels and resorts. He’s struggled to find his place within the business, so when his parents allow him to oversee the construction of a new location in Dubai, he’s determined not to let them down. When he meets Ruby, he’s enchanted by her passion and bravery, not to mention the chemistry between them. If circumstances were different, he could fall for this vivacious American beauty, but fate has only given them one magical day together. Can they find a way to grab their chance at love, or will geography—and their own inhibitions—tear them apart?

 

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I think you look like a woman who waited around for her letter from Hogwarts once upon a time, but I would hate to make a snap judgment.

 

Ruby was a gem in every sense of the word.

 

I’ve learned is that life can be short and fragile, and when you find something great, you should grab ahold of it, even if it’s not what you were expecting. And I definitely wasn’t expecting you, but here we are.

 

She was stabbing at her salad like it had personally offended her. Her expression betrayed nothing, but she was uncharacteristically quiet, which seemed somehow harder to take than if she’d just started yelling at him.

 

 My Review:

 

I have enjoyed this pleasurable series of supportive, animal-loving, and spunky friends and am sad to see it end. This installment featured a major turn-about for Ruby. The cautious and highly organized Ruby left her spreadsheets and laptop at home and set off for her friend’s wedding in London with a mission to go off on her own and experience an unplanned, unscheduled, no reservations made, grand adventure. She was off to a good start with a sexy new acquaintance she met at the wedding acting as her London tour guide then he became a good slice more before they wistfully parted with no hope of seeing each other again.

 

But of course, that couldn’t be as then there would be no story. Ruby and Flynn’s tale was a sweet and gentle low-conflict tale with a bit of sightseeing, illness, and a bit of steamy goodness, then a devastating disappointment for Ruby until Flynn finally pulled his cranium from his colon and gave us our HEA. As we all know, I must have my HEA or I will be stamping my little foot in pique and turning the air blue with invectives. Thank ALL our lucky stars that I didn’t need to pull my boots on. 😉

 

 

About the Author

Rachel Lacey is a contemporary romance author and semi-reformed travel junkie. She’s been climbed by a monkey on a mountain in Japan, gone scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef, and camped out overnight in New York City for a chance to be an extra in a movie. These days, the majority of her adventures take place on the pages of the books she writes. She lives in warm and sunny North Carolina with her husband, son, and a variety of rescue pets.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads 

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Book Review: Balls Up (Ball Games #8) by Andie M. Long

Balls Up

(Ball Games #8)

by Andie M. Long

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU  

 

Will this double wedding go without a hitch?

It’s the final visit to the Turner family and time for Camille and Dylan, plus Miranda and Vic to tie the knot.

But no one anticipated grandma’s interference. She did give birth to Dora after all…

Plans are changed, and a surprise appearance from three bridesmaids looks like being a complete ‘cat-astophe’.

Will the family get their happy-ever-afters, or is it going to be a complete balls up?

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Now anyone who knew my other half, knew that at the best of times she lived up to her surname of Cross; but post-birth, whoa! It was like being in a live performance of The Exorcist.

 

She began pulling her top down a little showing some crinkly cleavage, “is it getting hot in here? I think we need a fireman, and oh look,” she waved a guy over. “I think this one wants us to look at his pole.” She’d organised a bloody stripper. My seventy-year-old gran.

 

My Review:

 

Andie M. Long closes out her irreverently humorous Balls series with one final misadventure with those crazy Turners. This time the entire clan was beyond stressed with pregnancies and a double wedding in the works. Oddly enough, Cam’s flamboyant and meddlesome grandmother was causing the most trouble with her bizarre add-ons and upstaging of the brides’ plans, while an exhausted Dora kept the fire department busy with her inattentive attempts at cooking.   I hope we haven’t seen the last of the Turners, they are a ridiculously outrageous family, one I wouldn’t want to live anywhere near, but I’ve enjoyed watching them from afar.

 

I picked up two new slang words for my Brit word list with whip-round – a collection of money made by a group of people that is then given to a particular person or used to buy a present for them, and narky – being cranky or irritable. I’d get narky if no one bothered to do a whip-round for my birthday – hint, hint.

 

About The Author

After twenty+ years of thinking about it, at the age of forty, I decided it was time to finally WRITE THE BOOK or forget about it. I studied two Open University Courses in Creative Writing and finally wrote my first novel. I’ve now written a ton of novels and have the ideas for so many more!

I live in Sheffield with my son and long-suffering partner. We now have a beautiful fur-baby called Bella. When not being a partner, mother, employee (I also work for the NHS) or writer I can usually be found on Facebook or Pinterest.
I’ll be signing in Newcastle 2017 and York 2018.

Stalk Andie Here:

 

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Book Review: Happy-Go-Lucky by L.H. Cosway

Happy-Go-Lucky

by L.H. Cosway

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU 

 

Every workplace has that one person you don’t want to mess with. 

At James & Peterson Investigations, that would be Cameron Grant: sullen, grouchy, intimidating, oh yeah, and sexy as hell. He can make your soul wither with a single disapproving glare. And he never, ever socializes with his co-workers.

This is why Maisie Wilkins, happy-go-lucky ray of sunshine, can’t fathom why Cameron finally decided to show up at their annual office Christmas party. Every year he received an invite, and every year he failed to attend. But not this year.

Curious as to why he’s there, Maisie can’t resist sitting next to Cameron. Before she knows it, she’s had one too many drinks and is drunkenly hailing a cab back to his place. Office party flings are not something she normally does, but despite his intimidating character, Cameron has a charm she can’t resist. Or maybe it was just those five gin and tonics blurring her judgment.

Whatever the reason, Maisie now has to navigate the awkward, tension-filled waters of sharing an office with someone she’s slept with.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I found it weird to think of him having parents, siblings. I was used to imagining him as some sort of perfect-looking vampire who slept in a coffin and consumed only blood. Then again, it was hard to explain the whole daylight thing.

 

Any mention of a man and she got a very specific look in her eye, like a mother in a period drama with a spinster daughter she was eager to marry off.

 

“You know, you might be right. I probably should stop bringing donuts to the office. They say sugar can have an adverse effect on testosterone levels. Oh,” I smacked my hand to mouth like I’d just come to some dramatic realisation. “That might be why you’re all standing around here gossiping and bitching about me like a bunch of old ladies.”

 

I was falling for this man, drowning in the sea of him and there was no swimming back to the surface… With Cameron, it was like there were more feelings inside of me than my body was capable of holding.

 

And when he asked me what my favourite spice was, I said Sporty. I think that’s where the date started to go downhill…

 

He smiled at me, the sort of rare smile that made you believe you were hearing angels sing.

 

My Review:

 

This was a fun and wryly amusing read featuring an office romance where opposites attract and create a beautiful result where the whole is greater than the parts. Cameron was exacting in his work while tetchy and uncaring of how other people regarded him, while Maisie was an optimist who bent over backward in her constant efforts and concern in pleasing others.   I adored their storylines, blossoming romance, and quirky office dynamics.

 

Ms. Cosway’s engaging writing was entertaining, well balanced, insightfully observant, and loaded with clever wit and stealthy levity as well as a few delectable scenes of sizzling sensuality. She also had me Googling ASMR, something I’d never taken note of before, which led to falling into a YouTube wormhole while experimenting with various video mavens until I shook myself loose. Funny how that happens…

About the author:

L.H. Cosway lives in Dublin, Ireland. Her inspiration to write comes from music. Her favorite things in life include writing stories, vintage clothing, dark cabaret music, food, musical comedy, and of course, books. She thinks that imperfect people are the most interesting kind. They tell the best stories. L.H. is represented by Louise Fury at The Bent Agency.

Social Media Links:FB: www.facebook.com/LHCosway

Twitter: www.twitter.com/LHCosway

Instagram: www.instagram.com/l.h.cosway

Website: www.lhcoswayauthor.com

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/lhcosway13/

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Book Review: Already Gone by Kristen Proby and K.L. Grayson

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Already Gone by Kristen Proby and K.L. Grayson

Release Date: August 27, 2019

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Download your copy today!

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2YXGs20

Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/AlreadyGoneKLGKP

Apple Books: http://bit.ly/KLKPAGAB

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Kobo: http://bit.ly/AGKLGKPKobo

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Already Gone Landing Page: https://www.kristenprobyauthor.com/already-gone

 

Already Gone, an all-new standalone contemporary romance by New York Times bestselling author Kristen Proby and USA Today bestselling author K.L. Grayson

Falling in love is easy…

New Hope, South Carolina is my home. It’s where I grew up, got into trouble, and fell in love for the first time. Scarlett Kincaid was more than the girl next door, she was my best friend until she decided that small-town life wasn’t for her. One minute she was here, and the next she was gone.

The girl I used to fish with down at the creek is now the biggest name in country music. She headlines world tours, has won four Grammys, and I haven’t seen her since. Until today when she sped through town in her fancy car. One look at her big brown eyes was all it took to stir up a whole slew of emotions. Emotions I’d long ago buried and sure as hell don’t have time for.

It’s the aftermath that’s hard…

There are two things in my life that matter. My music, and my dad. Twelve years ago, I packed a bag and chased my dream. Leaving New Hope and escaping the gossip mill was the easiest decision I ever made. I never planned to return, but my father needs me, and he always comes first. So, I did what I had to do. I cut my tour short and came home, despite having a sister who hates me, and a community that doesn’t trust me.

And then there’s Tucker Andrews.

When he propped an arm on the roof of my car, pulled down his sunglasses and flashed his police badge, I nearly swallowed my tongue. Gone is the lanky boy who used to throw rocks at me and pull my pigtails. Tucker is now a six-foot package of brawny, sexy man wrapped in more muscle than I have hit singles. Did I mention he’s a cop and a single dad?

My goal was to help Dad and get back to my life. But what am I supposed to do when the life that used to strangle me suddenly fits like a glove and makes me dream of things I never thought I’d have? What happens when the boy I walked away from years ago becomes one of the most important people in my life? I don’t have room for a man much less love.

Right?

Because it’s impossible to hold onto someone who’s already gone.

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My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

 

It took me until twenty to ditch the scrawny nerd appearance and start to look more like my dad and less like… well, my mom.

 

My Review:

 

These two clever wordsmiths tossed in all my favorite tropes with this delectably steamy small-town, second chance, friends-to-lovers romance. The storylines were engaging; the characters were endearing yet amusingly flawed; and the writing was well balanced between angst, conflict, romance, and humor. And written in my favorite dual POV. I was practically levitating with glee. Both authors have impressive backlists yet are relatively new to me – I really need to sharpen my focus and pay better attention.

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Excerpt:

New Hope, South Carolina.

Population 6,129.

I know every soul represented in that number. Not a single one of them drives the shiny red Mercedes that just went speeding by.

Seventy-five in a forty-five.

I flick on my lights and press on the gas, sending my cruiser flying past the city limit sign and the godawful billboard that sits directly behind it; the one declaring New Hope home to country music superstar, Scarlett Kincaid.

It wouldn’t be a big deal if this were actually her home. It’s not. Scarlett may have been born here, but her fancy boots haven’t landed on this soil in over a decade.

All it took was one call from a hotshot music executive to send her packing before the ink was dry on her high school diploma. Scarlett flew from this town fast enough to leave our heads spinning. Before any of us could process what had happened, little Scarlett Kincaid—the same girl who used to build forts with me in my living room while my mama made us mac ‘n’ cheese—had a hit single sitting at number one on the Billboard charts.

She went from homecoming queen and most likely to marry a rich spouse in our senior yearbook, to the queen of country music.

The country loves her. Hell, the whole world loves her.

New Hope…not so much. And it’s high time that fucking sign comes down.

But first, I have to deal with this speed demon in the sexy red car.

I sound the sirens, and the car pulls to the side of the road and waits while I walk to the driver’s side window. It’s still up, the heavy tint preventing me from seeing inside. With a hand on my holster—because you never know what you’re going to walk up on—I knock on the window.

The dark glass lowers.

My first thought: this woman is absolutely gorgeous. Long, dark hair. Pouty lips. And a tiny pink dress. Her eyes are covered by oversized aviators, but I’m sure they’re as pretty as the rest of her.

My second thought: what crazy excuse is she going to come up with to try and get out of this ticket? It never ceases to amaze me the things women are willing to do to keep from getting into trouble. I’ve been offered everything from a blowjob to a pay-off to marriage.

“Do you know why I pulled you over today, ma’am?”

“Tucker?” The woman smiles, then pushes her sunglasses to the top of her head. And that’s when I see the brown eyes I’ve spent more than a decade trying to forget. “Tucker Andrews, is that you?”

I step back and square my shoulders. “You can call me Officer Andrews. Do you know why I pulled you over today, ma’am?”

“Tucker.” The woman laughs and shakes her head. “It’s me, Scarlett.”

At the mention of her name, I’m met with an onslaught of flashbacks. Running hand and hand through the neighborhood with her, laughing and playing, only to have her ignore me the second we got to school. The popular crowd versus the nerds who desperately tried to fit in. She the former, me the latter, and the pain it caused every time she acted as though she didn’t know my name. For years, I pretended it didn’t bother me because I knew that when I got home, Scarlett would meet me at the fence, and the awkwardness from the day would dissipate as though it never happened.

But it did. Day after day after day. I was a glutton for punishment. There was nothing in the world I loved more than Scarlett Kincaid, and it didn’t matter how badly she hurt me, I was always willing to forgive her.

Her smile and laugh might’ve gotten to me in middle school and high school, but I refuse to let it affect me now.

“I know who you are.”

Her smile falters.

About Kristen:

Kristen was born and raised in a small resort town in her beloved Montana. In her mid-twenties, she decided to stretch her wings and move to the Pacific Northwest, where she made her home for more than a dozen years.

During that time, Kristen wrote many romance novels and joined organizations such as RWA and other small writing groups. She spent countless hours in workshops and more mornings than she can count up before the dawn so she could write before going to work. She submitted many manuscripts to agents and editors alike but was always told no. In the summer of 2012, the self-publishing scene was new and thriving, and Kristen had one goal: to publish just one book. It was something she longed to cross off of her bucket list.

Not only did she publish one book, she’s since published close to thirty titles, many of which have hit the USA Today, New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestsellers lists. She continues to self publish, best known for her With Me In Seattle and Boudreaux series and is also proud to work with William Morrow, a division of HarperCollins, with the Fusion Series.

Kristen and her husband, John, make their home in her hometown of Whitefish, Montana with their two pugs and two cats.

Connect with Kristen:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BooksByKristenProby/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Handbagjunkie
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kristenproby/
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kristen-proby
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2kBRdpj
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2BD4vfq
Pinterest: @handbagjunkie
Website: https://www.kristenprobyauthor.com/
Newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/kristenproby/newsletter-sign-up

About K.L. Grayson

K.L. Grayson resides in a small town outside of St. Louis, MO. She is entertained

daily by her extraordinary husband, who will forever inspire every good quality she

writes in a man. Her entire life rests in the palms of six dirty little hands, and when the

day is over and those pint-sized cherubs have been washed and tucked into bed, you can find her typing away furiously on her computer. She has a love for alpha-males,

brownies, reading, tattoos, sunglasses, and happy endings…and not particularly in that

order.

Connect with K.L. Grayson

Facebook: http://bit.ly/KLGraysonFB

Instagram: http://bit.ly/KLGraysonIG

Pinterest: http://bit.ly/KLGraysonPin

Bookbub: http://bit.ly/KLGraysonBB

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2MVYFfe

Twitter: http://bit.ly/KLGraysonTW

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/KLGraysonGR

Website: www.klgrayson.com

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Book Review: Kiss Me Not by Emma Hart

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What do you do when you’re the reigning kissing booth champion but the only person you want to kiss is your best friend’s brother?

Kiss Me Not, an all-new hilarious brother’s best friend romance from New York Times bestselling author Emma Hart is available now!

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Kiss Me Not

by Emma Hart

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2wq22jD

AppleBooks: https://apple.co/2VZW8QH

Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/KissMeNot

Nook: http://bit.ly/2QFpPWh

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2JMUDng

 

Let me make this clear right here, right now: I, Halley Dawson, do not care that Preston Wright is kissing other women.

Not a lick. Not at all. Nuh-uh-freakin’-uh.

I do care that he’s doing it six feet away from me behind a gaudy velvet curtain—making him my competition in this year’s kissing contest.

Why do I care, you ask? Because I’ve had an unfortunate crush on the insufferable idiot since I was sixteen years old, but I also know it’s never going to happen.

He’s the Creek Falls bachelor to die for, and I’m the Creek Falls raccoon lady who puts peanut butter sandwiches out for them every night.

I’m not going to let him break my four-year-long reign—no matter how many times he breaks the rules and slides the curtain across to do the one thing he’s not allowed to:

Kiss me.

 

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I was woefully single to the point that the only date I had was with the raccoons who lived in the woods behind my house.

 

“Bite me, Preston.” “That can be arranged… should you want it to be literal, it can be arranged.” He gave me a wolfish smile. “There’s no shame in a little nibble, Halley.” He punctuated that with a wink. Why was my mouth dry? What was happening?

 

“You do, don’t you? … You have an entire emergency kit.” “You never know when you’re going to get stranded in the dark, in a place with no cell signal, and no civilization for miles. Also, there might be zombies.”

 

“Wow. You are a hard woman to please.” “Not really. Wine, yoga pants, raccoons, books… I’m fairly simple.”

 

 My Review:

 

Emma Hart is relatively new to me; this is only my third time picking up one her riotously funny tales and I am kicking myself for not discovering this clever minx years ago. Kiss Me Not is the start of a new series and I am all in for whatever Ms. Hart wants to throw down – unless she starts writing zombie stories – those would probably be a no-go. Penned in my favorite dual POV, her writing sparkled and zinged with witty and irreverent banter, a trio of feisty and sassy friends, and smirk-a-minute levity at a lively and snappy pace. I adored it!

Excerpt:

“I never answered your question.”

“What question?” I darted my eyes to the side.

“Just now. You asked me if I wanted to kiss you.”

I did, didn’t I? Right. “Oh,” was all I said.

Slowly, he moved his hand to my chin and gently lifted it. Still, I didn’t look at him, keeping my eyes firmly trained on the front of the tent, even though I was facing him.

“Halley.”

“Yeah?”

“I want to kiss you.”

My eyes darted to his.

“I thought that’d do it.” His lips twitched, and he lowered his head until I had to fight the urge to close my eyes in anticipation of the kiss that was coming.

I swallowed, my lips parting.

Preston moved closer.

And he kissed my cheek.

I jerked out of whatever trance I’d just been in. “What the hell?”

He jumped off the stage, grinning. “I guess we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to break the stalemate, won’t we?”

“Oh, hell no!” I jumped off, stalking him to his side of the stage. “You just stood there in front of me and told me you want to kiss me, then kiss my cheek? The hell was that?”

His eyebrows shot up, amusement flashing in his eyes. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you wanted to kiss me, too.”

“Irrelevant,” I shot back. “But you’re a special kind of asshole to tell a girl you wanna kiss her and then not do it.” I turned around, then stopped. “You know what? When I beat you tomorrow, you can kiss my ass.”

“You’re way too mad about this.”

“I’m not mad!” My voice raised a few octaves. “I couldn’t care if you want to kiss me or not. I most certainly don’t want to kiss you.”

“Why are you shouting at me?”

“I’m not—” I was shouting at him. “Whatever,” I said in a normal voice. “Make sure you take that money to the bank. Tell Tish I sent you.”

I left him on his side of the curtain and went to get my purse. He could get fucked. After all that where I think I was so damn nervous I broke a sweat, he didn’t even kiss me.

I wasn’t lying with what I said.

He could kiss my ass.

I’d even wear my good panties and bend over for him.

 

About Emma Hart

Emma Hart is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over thirty novels and has been translated into several different languages.

​She is a mother, wife, lover of wine, Pink Goddess, and valiant rescuer of wild baby hedgehogs.

​Emma prides herself on her realistic, snarky smut, with comebacks that would make a PMS-ing teenage girl proud.

​Yes, really. She’s that sarcastic.

EmmaHart

Connect with Emma

Facebook: http://bit.ly/2KVY9Lz

BookBub: http://bit.ly/2Dr0atq

Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2Dq42ez

Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2EBbZNe

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2D91d3T

Instagram: http://bit.ly/2MCaPsI

Stay up to date with Emma by joining her mailing list: http://bit.ly/2NtAbca

Website: https://www.emmahart.org/home

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Book Review: The Oysterville Sewing Circle by Susan Wiggs

The Oysterville Sewing Circle

by Susan Wiggs

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU

 B&N / HarperCollins

 384 pages
William Morrow; First Edition edition (August 13, 2019)

“Stitched together with love, this is a story just waiting for your favorite reading chair. With her signature style and skill, Susan Wiggs delivers an intricate patchwork of old wounds and new beginnings, romance and the healing power of friendship, wrapped in a lovely little community that’s hiding a few secrets of its own.”
— Lisa Wingate, New York Times Bestselling author of Before We Were Yours

The #1 New York Times bestselling author brings us her most ambitious and provocative work yet—a searing and timely novel that explores the most volatile issue of our time—domestic violence.

At the break of dawn, Caroline Shelby rolls into Oysterville, Washington, a tiny hamlet at the edge of the raging Pacific.

She’s come home.

Home to a place she thought she’d left forever, home of her heart and memories, but not her future. Ten years ago, Caroline launched a career in the glamorous fashion world of Manhattan. But her success in New York imploded on a wave of scandal and tragedy, forcing her to flee to the only safe place she knows.

And in the backseat of Caroline’s car are two children who were orphaned in a single chilling moment—five-year-old Addie and six-year-old Flick. She’s now their legal guardian—a role she’s not sure she’s ready for.

But the Oysterville she left behind has changed. Her siblings have their own complicated lives and her aging parents are hoping to pass on their thriving seafood restaurant to the next generation. And there’s Will Jensen, a decorated Navy SEAL who’s also returned home after being wounded overseas. Will and Caroline were forever friends as children, with the promise of something more . . . until he fell in love with Sierra, Caroline’s best friend, and the most beautiful girl in town. With her modeling jobs drying up, Sierra, too, is on the cusp of reinventing herself.

Caroline returns to her favorite place: the sewing shop owned by Mrs. Lindy Bloom, the woman who inspired her and taught her to sew. There she discovers that even in an idyllic beach town, there are women living with the deepest of secrets. Thus begins the Oysterville Sewing Circle—where women can join forces to support each other through the troubles they keep hidden.

Yet just as Caroline regains her creativity and fighting spirit, and the children begin to heal from their loss, an unexpected challenge tests her courage and her heart. This time, though, Caroline is not going to run away. She’s going to stand and fight for everything—and everyone—she loves.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Since she had left home right out of high school, she had dutifully visited a few times at Christmas… That seemed to satisfy the family and also preserved her status as the official black sheep. Every family needed a pet, her brother Jackson used to joke.

 

I’ve had my heart broken so many times, it’s all scar tissue…

 

“Turns out my ‘perfect’ husband pulled the oldest trick in the book. He took up with an associate at the law firm, plotted a slick exit, and brought my life to a screeching halt. She’s awful, too— one of those phony Christians who claimed she was ‘saving herself for marriage.’” “I guess you should have asked whose marriage,”

 

His eyes were as blue as her favorite color of gumball… As a general rule, she didn’t like boys. With two younger brothers, she was well aware of their shortcomings. Boys were noisy, and they smelled like hamsters, and they had an incomprehensible habit of wearing the same dirty shirt day in and day out until someone made them change.

  

My Review:

 

This was a slowly evolving, relatable, and thoughtfully written story in which every woman from most any culture will find something that resonates for her. While predominantly fitting the genre of women’s fiction, it could also be considered a second chance and small-town romance. The realistic storylines were easy to follow, highly assessable, relevant, and cast with a wide variety of unique and endearing yet flawed characters. The writing was engaging and easy to follow yet slyly emotive and stung my eye sockets several times. Susan Wiggs has earned a permanent spot on my list of favorite authors.

I was provided with a review copy of this stealthily emotive book by TLC Book Tours and HarperCollins. 

About Susan Wiggs

Susan Wiggs’s life is all about family, friends…and fiction. She lives at the water’s edge on an island in Puget Sound, and in good weather, she commutes to her writers’ group in a 21-foot motorboat. She’s been featured in the national media, including NPR, PRI, and USA Today, has given programs for the US Embassies in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, and is a popular speaker locally, nationally, internationally, and on the high seas.

From the very start, her writings have illuminated the everyday dramas of ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances. Her books celebrate the power of love, the timeless bonds of family and the fascinating nuances of human nature. Today, she is an international best-selling, award-winning author, with millions of copies of her books in print in numerous countries and languages. According to Publishers Weekly, Wiggs writes with “refreshingly honest emotion,” and the Salem Statesman Journal adds that she is “one of our best observers of stories of the heart [who] knows how to capture emotion on virtually every page of every book.” Booklist characterizes her books as “real and true and unforgettable.”

Her novels have appeared in the #1 spot on the New York Times Bestseller List, and have captured readers’ hearts around the globe with translations into more than 20 languages and 30 countries. She is a three-time winner of the RITA Award,. Her recent novel, The Apple Orchard, is currently being made into a film, and The Lakeshore Chronicles has been optioned for adaptation into a series.

The author is a former teacher, a Harvard graduate, an avid hiker, an amateur photographer, a good skier, and terrible golfer, yet her favorite form of exercise is curling up with a good book. She lives on an island in Puget Sound, where she divides her time between sleeping and waking.

Visit her website at www.SusanWiggs.com, and connect with Susan on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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Book Review: The Murder List by Hank Phillippi Ryan

The Murder List

by Hank Phillippi Ryan

 

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA / B&N

Law student Rachel North will tell you, without hesitation, what she knows to be true. She’s smart, she’s a hard worker, she does the right thing, she’s successfully married to a faithful and devoted husband, a lion of Boston’s defense bar, and her internship with the Boston DA’s office is her ticket to a successful future.

Problem is–she’s wrong.

And in this cat and mouse game–the battle for justice becomes a battle for survival.

The Murder List is a new standalone suspense novel in the tradition of Lisa Scottoline and B. A. Paris from award-winning author and reporter Hank Phillippi Ryan.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

My new boss. Martha Gardiner. The woman Jack usually refers to as “Satan in pearls.” He never laughs when he says it.

 

Forget the speed of light. Nothing travels faster than gossip… Secrets only take a few beats longer. Gossip is the fuel of power.

 

At noon, Kurt had brought us lunch, wrapped in the white waxed paper of the Pietro Pan Deli. The Italian sandwiches had too much salami and too many onions, and I’d wondered if that was a sneaky way to encourage us to hurry. I wished the jury room had windows we could open.

 

You could send lawyers to law school. And judges to judge school, or whatever they had. And those people were versed in all the rules. But at the end of all the rule-following and objections and legal procedures, when the gavel banged and the door closed, when you got into a jury room, it was regular people. Flawed people. Biased people. Who may or may not agree to those rules. Who can manipulate and pressure and influence. And, depending on the power of jurors’ consciences, no one would ever know.

 

I flinch at the sound of my name. I’ve felt so invisible, even I almost forgot I was here.

 

My Review:

 

This was extremely clever, so smartly plotted, brilliantly paced, and engagingly written. I fell right inside and didn’t surface for most of the day, only under the threat with death by my internal organs and whining from my neglected husband. This was my first experience reading this sly wordsmith and I was a quick convert, I’ll buy whatever she’s selling as I totally fell for her tricks, I never saw it coming. The writing was superb and cleverly amusing as well as perceptively detailed, but the characters – they were vibrant and alive for me on the page. Ms. Ryan has exceptionally strong word voodoo. Like a binging dieter, I greedily want to amass and consume all her clever words.

About the Author

Amazon
Goodreads
Website

Hank Phillippi Ryan is the bestselling author of eleven award-winning novels of suspense. National reviews have called her a “master at crafting suspenseful mysteries” and “a superb and gifted storyteller.”

Her first psychological standalone, TRUST ME (now in paperback), is an Agatha Award nominee, and was named BEST of 208 by the New York Post, Real Simple Magazine, BookBub, Crime Reads, and PopSugar. Mary Kubica says: “Dazzling!” and Lisa Gardner says “Mesmerizing!”

Hank is also an award-winning investigative reporter at Boston’s WHDH-TV. In addition to 36 EMMYs and 14 Edward R. Murrow awards, Hank’s won dozens of other honors for her ground-breaking journalism.

Her work has resulted in new laws, people sent to prison, homes removed from foreclosure, and millions of dollars in refunds and restitution for victims and consumers. She’s been a radio reporter, a legislative aide in the United States Senate and an editorial assistant at Rolling Stone Magazine, working with Hunter S. Thompson, Richard Avedon, and Richard Goodwin.

Hank is a founding teacher at Mystery Writers of America University and served as president of national Sisters in Crime. She blogs at Jungle Red Writers and Career Authors.

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Book Review: Silent Night by Geraldine Hogan

SILENT NIGHT 

by Geraldine Hogan

Amazon / B&N / iBooks / Kobo / GP

‘She reached into the pram and placed her hands on the cotton blanket. It was still warm. But her smiling, new baby sister, with her wide blue-grey eyes, was gone…’

Twenty-five years later, three bodies are found at a ramshackle cottage in the Irish countryside, and Detective Iris Locke is sick to her stomach. The victims are Anna Crowe and her two young children.

Iris has only recently joined the Limerick Murder Squad. Against her father’s advice, she’s working the narrow lanes and green hills of her childhood. Iris still remembers Anna, who was just a small girl when her baby sister was snatched, never to be seen again. It was the one case Iris’ own father never solved, and Iris can’t help but wonder if the two crimes are connected.

She’ll stop at nothing to find Anna justice, but a fire has destroyed almost all the physical evidence, and Limerick is the same small town she remembers: everybody protects their neighbors, and Iris has been away for too long.

Can Iris unpick the lies beneath the surface of her pretty hometown, and catch the most twisted individual of her career, when reopening the old case means reopening old wounds for her team, the rest of the community, and her own father?

Fans of Patricia Gibney, Angela Marsons and L.J. Ross won’t want to miss this – the first book in a gripping and unputdownable new crime series.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Ah yes, the good old days when they moved you every couple of weeks. It tended to weed out the men from the boys, and the women entirely.

 Boran was an electric eel of a man, long and reedy, jumpy and giddy; with deep-set eyes that Iris supposed might set him aside as an artist, or in Iris’s line of work, a player.

 Rumour has it she’s looking to catch you out, Slattery, better watch yourself. That one, she’s a hairy bit of work on a bicycle, take it from me. You watch yourself up there now.

 Iris lowered her voice, conscious once more of her surroundings. St Abbati’s Terrace wasn’t exactly Soho. It was the kind of place, Iris figured, where the neighbours knew if you flushed twice within the hour and they would be counting.

 Slattery, more than anyone, knew that truth was a costly commodity; he knew it because from what he could see, it was rarer than hens’ teeth.

  

My Review:

 

While the clever story threads and plot lines were unpredictable and smartly paced, I was far more taken by Ms. Hogan’s exquisitely crafted, evocative, and slowly evolving storytelling.   She snared my attention on page one and kept me immersed in her intriguing tale to the last sentence. Her writing was deftly penned and scrolled smoothly through my brain with ease. It was as if I were watching a film.

Each scene was thoroughly set to engage all the senses from vivid visuals to heart-squeezing emotional tones, with an added treat of agilely inserted incidental details and keenly entertaining observations that tickled my brain cells and continually prodded my curiosity.

What an unexpected delight! I am all in with the lovely Iris and am eager to see what the crafty Ms. Hogan shakes loose for her next murder case. And for a bonus, I learned a fun Irish idiom of “on the gargle” – meaning to be boozy.

About the author

Geraldine Hogan was born in Ireland. She gained an Honors Degree in English Literature and Psychology from Dublin City University and a Postgraduate Degree in Training and Management from University College, Galway. She is an Irish award-winning and bestselling author of four contemporary fiction novels under the pen name Faith Hogan.
Silent Night is her first crime novel, her second is due out in December 2019.
She is currently working on her next novel. She lives in the west of Ireland with her husband, four children, and a very busy Labrador named Penny. She’s a writer, reader, enthusiastic dog walker, and reluctant jogger – except of course when it is raining!

 

You can find out more about Geraldine here:
www.Facebook/GeraldineHoganAuthor.com
Twitter @gerhogan
https://www.instagram.com/faithhoganauthor/

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Book Review: DUALITY – Two Sides of the Same Coin (Lies and Misdirection Book 5) by K. J. McGillick

DUALITY

Two Sides of the Same Coin 

(Lies and Misdirection #5) 

by K. J. McGillick

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA 

 

Just when you think you’ve figured it all out, you’ll learn how wrong you’ve been.

What started out as a normal art restoration project for Melinda Martin soon took on a life of its own. Could this unusual painting actually be a Botticelli masterpiece thought to have perished as part of Savonarola’s Bonfire of the Vanities? Had Melinda’s friend, Lara, a well-known art picker inadvertently acquired stolen art; art that might have ties to the occult and worth millions? Did a bad business decision endanger everyone who touched this potential treasure?

When the painting disappears and both women are found dead, the police think it’s an open and shut case. The husband – it’s always the husband. He had means, motive, and opportunity, and acted strangely cold after the fact.

Is it a case of mistaken identity? Does a secret relationship put Mr. Martin in the crosshairs of an assassin sent to retrieve the painting? Or is he really a sociopath forger with mysterious ties to the Vatican?

Two sides of the same coin. Completely alike. Completely different.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

“For example,” Mary said, “if someone asks you what time it is, don’t say ‘Oh, this watch? It was my aunt Tillie’s, an aunt on my mother’s side, who got it from a pawn shop in New Orleans when she was there for Mardi Gras. It’s been broken twice and once I had to replace the glass and another time the battery.’ Just say: ‘It is nine oh four,’ don’t give them more to question you on.” Mary leaned forward and nodded for emphasis.

 

Hospitals, I hate hospitals. They are nothing more than a giant Petri dish filled with incubating bacteria… And do not even get me started on this box they call a room. Because I am on Medicare, I’m sure they found the worst room possible to stow my body, cheap bastards.

 

Are you seriously trying to lead me through some guided relaxation therapy? We have to find Mr. Martin. You need my little gray cells firing at full force right now, stow that Namaste stuff away.

 

Then when she opened her handbag—well—we were alarmed to find weapons on her, so her check-in has been delayed. These weapons in her bag… A special can of hairspray, which emits a harmful gas. There is an umbrella with a sharp-pointed tip, so sharp it could be used as an ice pick or knife to stab someone. We found a beret with a long-pointed needle object attached, and a key chain with tips that could rip your face off. Also, she is carrying a pen that is a pepper spray canister, illegal here in Rome. Most of these are things that you can find if you know the right people of the criminal faction. But the woman had just arrived yesterday, and for her to amass such an arsenal, well, she must have a connection to some criminals.

 

Do you know where you are, Jackson? This place is a country that hosts the two most corrupt organizations in the world—the Mafia and the Vatican. Do you seriously think anyone plays by any rules here?

 

My Review:

Oh, happy day, an entire book featuring Mary, who is my favorite octogenarian. I am envious of her skills and curious as to how a tiny old woman could amass and wield such a vast arsenal of weaponry in her voluminous handbag, which always appears to have the best and newest of gadgets and tech wizardry. She is such a corker, I want to be just like Mary when I grow up. I enjoyed being privy to her snarky and irascible inner musings and sassy observations, although the complex and intriguing storylines featured multiple POVs, unending twists and turns, and a uniquely peculiar cast of characters.

In the latest standalone installment to the Lies and Misdirection series, the crafty and snappish ninety-one-year-old finds herself embroiled in a case with national security and global ramifications, Chinese and Italian/Vatican complications, several murders, fraud, forgery, money laundering, obscure Dante references, and art-theft. If that wasn’t enough, she is also in the crosshairs of an assassin.   Mr. Martin (Mary’s typically flat, enigmatic, and cryptic employee) suddenly seems to be a trouble magnet and Mary is willing to trot the globe and steadfastly determined to follow any and all leads to prove his innocence. But wait – is he really innocent? Mary seems to be the only one left believing and fervently wants him to be or it will make her look a fool for hiring him, and Mary could not possibly be wrong.

About the Author

J.McGillickwas born in New York and once she started to walk she never stopped running. But that‘s what New Yorker’s do. Right? A Registered Nurse, a lawyer now author. 

As she evolved so did her career choices. After completing her graduate degree in nursing, she spent many years in the university setting sharing the dreams of the enthusiastic nursing students she taught. After twenty rewarding years in the medical field, she attended law school and has spent the last twenty-four years as an attorney helping people navigate the turbulent waters of the legal system. Not an easy feat. And now? Now she is sharing the characters she loves with readers hoping they are intrigued by her twisting and turning plots and entertained by her writing  

Social Media Links –  

https://www.facebook.com/KJMcGillickauthor/  

@KJMcGillickAuth  

 http://www.kjmcgillick.com/ 

https://www.goodreads.com/Kmcgillick  

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Book Review: The Perfect Lie by Karen Osman

The Perfect Lie

by Karen Osman

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA /

 B&N/ Kobo / GP

 

Nothing has felt right since she told the lie…

Claire Carmichael leads a charmed life. She has two beautiful sons, Jamie and Joshua, and a handsome and successful husband who loves her. She has been taught well by her mother – the most important thing Claire has is her good reputation.

He said, she said…

Even when she was in school, Claire had it all. She was clever, likable, and after passing the initiation tests, she was welcomed into the society of popular girls – The Queen Bees. So when a scandal threatened to ruin Claire’s reputation, the Queen Bees closed rank to protect her, no matter who else got hurt.

Never forgotten, never forgiven…

Claire may have moved on from her school days, but for one person who she hurt irreparably, those memories are as fresh as blood. And all it takes to reap their revenge, is ONE PERFECT LIE.

The latest heart-racing psychological thriller from the author of the bestselling The Good Mother. Perfect for fans of Lucy Clarke, Paula Hawkins and Lisa Jewell.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

 

After John Griffith, Claire had kissed other boys at various parties. There was Cameron with his braces and saliva, Rich who had licked her teeth, and Tony – probably the best of a bad bunch, with his eager tongue.

 

My Review:

 

This tautly written book hit all the right notes for me. Penned in my favorite dual POV with dual timelines, the original storylines were compelling, intriguing, maddeningly paced, and unpredictable. I quickly fell into the tale and was soon hooked by this clever and sneaky wordsmith’s agile misdirections and deftly handled twists and turns. It was deviously crafted and cast with a bevy of difficult and unusual characters who were actually rather awful human beings.

Lessons I learned from this story include: mothers don’t want you to do the right thing if it would potentially cause them embarrassment; selfishly keeping your mouth shut to avoid personal shame will surely backfire; never screw over a highly intelligent person; Queen Bees is an excellent name for an elite pack of vapid mean girls; and what goes around may eventually come around but it pays to manipulate the timeline and help karma along with your own vengeful plotting. I was on edge and nibbling on my cuticles the whole way through and huffed in disbelief at the ending. It was outstanding!

About the Author

 

Originally from the UK, Karen won the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature Montegrappa Novel Writing Award 2016 with her crime-thriller novel, the bestselling The Good Mother. When she’s not writing novels, Karen is busy bringing up her two young children and running her communication business Travel Ink.

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