Death at Eden’s End
(DCI Satterthwaite #2)
by Jo Allen

Death by Dark Waters
(DCI Satterthwaite Mystery#1)
by Jo Allen

It’s high summer, and the lakes are in the midst of an unrelenting heatwave. Uncontrollable fell fires are breaking out across the moors faster than they can be extinguished. When firefighters uncover the body of a dead child at the heart of the latest blaze, Detective Chief Inspector Jude Satterthwaite’s arson investigation turns to one of murder.

Jude was born and bred in the Lake District. He knows everyone… and everyone knows him. Except his intriguing new Detective Sergeant, Ashleigh O’Halloran, who is running from a dangerous past and has secrets of her own to hide…

Temperatures – and tension – in the village are rising, and with the body count rising Jude and his team race against the clock to catch the killer before it’s too late…

The first in the gripping, Lake District-set, DCI Jude Satterthwaite series.

Jo Allen was born in Wolverhampton and is a graduate of Edinburgh, Strathclyde and the Open University. After a career in economic consultancy, she took up writing and was first published under the name Jennifer Young in genres of short stories, romance, and romantic suspense. In 2017 she took the plunge and began writing the genre she most likes to read – crime. Now living in Edinburgh, she spends as much time as possible in the English Lakes. In common with all her favorite characters, she loves football (she’s a season ticket holder with her beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers) and cats.

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Howler’s good with other animals. Basically, he’s an affectionate grandma in a loose suit of fur. If he could bake biscuits, he would.

Good times or bad, family hangs on like a too-tight shirt. You don’t get to outgrow it, you can’t wash it when it’s dirty and it clings even worse when you sweat.

My Review:

This was only my second experience reading the prolific Lori Foster, but I plan to make perusing her engaging stories a frequent habit. I enjoyed her curiously endearing yet flawed characters as much as her compelling storylines with a heinous villain everyone had reason to revile and despise due to his repeated and unthinkable cruelty toward women, children, and animals. The overall emotional tone held a steady thrum of tension and sense of impending peril due to the lurking dangers that were constantly and incrementally building; yet there were also liberal sprinkles of levity, a blossoming romance, curiously tantalizing backstories, steamy sensuality, and captivating family drama interspersed throughout. I had not read the previous books in the series but I adored this extraordinary family and know I would enjoy going back to fully feast on their storylines as well.

A Winter Wedding at Willow Tree Hall / A Way Back Home

(The Willow Tree Hall Series #3)

by Alison Sherlock

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Sam, looking across the table to Skye. ‘As a woman, what do you think is the fastest way to this man’s heart?’ ‘Through the chest with a sharp knife,’ she retorted, shooting Will a piercing look.

‘No need to sound quite so surprised. I was brought up quite properly, you know.’ ‘And then what happened?’ she couldn’t help but ask. His eyes twinkled. ‘I reached adulthood and everything was legal.’

‘The school run was a total nightmare this morning. I forgot Barnaby’s homework. Although he’s only six so why the hell is he getting homework anyway? Then Joshua decided to try cat food for the first time. He’s okay. Hopefully, he’ll get shinier hair and stronger teeth like the packet says. Then Millie had a total meltdown at nursery and turned into something from The Exorcist.’ … Megan gave Skye a weary smile. ‘Hi. As you’ve just gathered, I’m Mother Inferior.’

‘Jeez, I’d forgotten how bad it was,’ he said, with a grimace. ‘This is where happy ever after comes to die… This is a UN disaster zone, not a place to hold the most glamorous wedding of the year.’

He’s always looking for his next near Mrs…

My Review:

This was a sweet, witty, and lavishly detailed enemies to friends to lovers romance. The humor was clever and generously peppered throughout the various storylines with snarky quips and quick banter that often put a smirk on my face. Will was a selfish, scandal-ridden, and philandering asshat and I didn’t much care for the spoiled wastrel until midway through the book when he began to evolve into a surprisingly thoughtful human being who could finally see beyond his own nose. I was slow to join team Will but I adored the rest of this large and quirky cast of characters with my favorite being the fun, often married, well-clad, and feisty great-aunt Rose. Rose was an elderly cougar and party-central. This was my first time reading Ms. Sherlock’s delightful scribbling and didn’t seem to struggle at all with jumping into her series with the third book. I enjoy her engaging and agile storytelling and have added her entire listing to my TBR. I’m greedy like that.

One Week ‘Til Christmas

by Belinda Missen

Two people. One chance meeting. Seven days to Christmas.

Isobel Bennett is waiting for the number 11 bus when a man quite literally falls into her lap. Snow is falling, Christmas lights are twinkling, and a gorgeous man with dark brown hair has just slipped on ice and is now pressed against Isobel.

Isobel knows she’s not imagining the chemistry between them. But then his ride arrives and, embarrassed, he beats a hasty retreat, murmuring apologies – and Isobel realizes only too late that she didn’t manage to catch his name…

When she runs into him again the next morning, she decides it’s fate.

It’s a second chance for Isobel and Tom – but there’s only one week until she’s leaving London for good. Seven days of enjoying all the festive delights the city has to offer: ice-skating at Somerset House, mulled wine on the Southbank, Christmas shopping at Liberty.

There’s magic in the air and mistletoe in the trees – but what will happen when the week is over?

For fans of Josie Silver, Lucy Diamond and Marian Keyes, this is one Christmas romance you don’t want to miss!

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I’m just like Halley’s Comet… Only I show up more often and I’m not as bright.

Most of my articles are written in pyjamas while I snack on a bag of jelly snakes and bemoan the fact I’m out of wine and too lazy to walk the block and a half necessary to procure another bottle,’ I added. ‘I’m surprised I don’t own seven cats and have bird’s-nest hair.

‘… my mother dressed my older sister and me in identical outfits. I remember once, my hair was braided so tightly I suspect it was also my first foray into cosmetic surgery.’ It was also the same year my sister ripped the head off my new Barbie doll, about three minutes after I’d unwrapped the box. She liked it more than the one she’d received. She wanted it. I didn’t give it up without a fight. Hence, Decapitation Barbie became a thing. We superglued her head back on, but she was a little stiff after that.

I felt my throat close and my words wobble around like a drunk on a trampoline.

Considering how bloody sardonic and deadpan you are most of the time, it becomes really noticeable when all he has to do is orbit somewhere in your direction and you light up like a Griswold Christmas.

My Review:

A handsome man had Isobel in a puddle on first sight, no not like that, an actual puddle with water. Tom had accidentally knocked her into the gutter but he was gloriously handsome, and she was so stunned she couldn’t even complain about being wet or within inches of being run over by a bus. Wow, talk about making a brain searing first impression. This was a slow burn and sweet four-star romance with top-shelf five-star humor as well as an off the beaten path London travelogue.   I am itching to dust off my passport for the butter grog alone, I Googled it. The pleasantly entertaining storylines were light, easy to follow, and featured a sweet romance peppered with clever levity, interesting characters, witty banter, career angst, and a taste of family drama. I adore Belinda Missen and covet her quick wit and comedic wordplay.

The Wishing Tree in Irish Falls

by Jen Gilroy

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

“He’s got a face and body to match his voice, too. The word at yoga last night was he sent Lisa Drysdale into a hot flash when she bumped into him in the produce aisle at Nolan’s grocery. I can sure see why.” Holly grinned and fanned herself with a potholder.

“We don’t know for sure, but Duncan might have prostate cancer… Duncan doesn’t want anybody to know because he’s a man and, well . . .” Her cheeks went red. “He’d be uncomfortable with people, family even, talking about his . . . equipment.”

Hannah gave him a hopeful look, mixed with the kind of face Seth remembered Dylan making a few years back. Like adults were a different species and teenagers only tolerated them because they were a source of food, money, and rides to wherever the kid wanted to go.

My dad wouldn’t have wanted me to give up on a dream. He always told us to reach for the stars. Even if you didn’t get there, he said you had to try and maybe you’d catch the moon instead.

“The new bank manager seemed interested.” “Please. Although I might be able to overlook his Star Trek obsession, he wears white socks with brown sandals. That should be illegal.”

My Review:

Jen Gilroy is an expert storyteller, she quickly drew me into her small-town tale of contemporary romance with flawed yet endearing characters, relevant and compelling family issues, and interesting storylines. While I didn’t enjoy living in the tiny and inbred rural hamlet of my youth, I do seem to enjoy reading books featuring small-towns, albeit these small towns are far more entertaining and genteel than the harsh, backward, and uptight landscape of my childhood memories. Nor did it have a rich heritage or an imaginative draw like an epic and magical wishing tree. Ms. Gilroy’s engaging writing style and interesting story threads tapped all the feels and kept my curiosity primed while alternating between squeezing my coronary muscle and putting an amused smile on my face. I’m hoping this is just the start of a new series with more tales to come.