Category: 4-Stars

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Book Review: The Road to Cromer Pier by Martin Gore

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The Road to Cromer Pier

by Martin Gore

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA 

Janet’s first love arrives out of the blue after forty years. Those were simpler times for them both. Sunny childhood beach holidays, fish and chips and big copper pennies clunking into one-armed bandits.

The Wells family has run the Cromer Pier Summertime Special Show for generations. But it’s now 2009 and the recession is biting hard. Owner Janet Wells and daughter Karen are facing an uncertain future. The show must go on, and Janet gambles on a fading talent show star. But both the star and the other cast members have their demons. This is a story of love, loyalty, and luvvies. The road to Cromer Pier might be the end of their careers, or it might just be a new beginning.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Tourists. Bloody tourists. I’ve been doing this show for 30-odd years and I swear they get worse. That child today. I swear he’s been to an Al-Qaeda training camp. ADHD his parents said.

 

‘You know she has a reputation for the drink. What were you thinking of?’ ‘I know she does, but her agent insisted she had dried out.’ Karen laughed. ‘Let’s just say that she might have been dry at one time, but the tide came in this morning.’

 

The fat lady wasn’t singing, but she was certainly warming up. I should have known. In denial, I guess.

 

My Review:

 

This was a departure from my typical reading selections and I enjoyed the change and rerouting of my thought patterns, which is almost always a good thing. Mr. Gore has published but one previous book and I hope he continues to peck away at his keyboard, as he seems to have quite a knack for storytelling. Written in the third-person omniscient POV, the storylines were active, eventful, and abundant with a diverse and quirky cast of unusual and beleaguered characters. The subplots unfolded gradually and carefully with a steady rise in tension, which kept my curiosity primed.

The main timeline involved a period of struggle for the venerable yet aged theater as well as the besieged performers who seemed to be beset in all areas – marital, financial, personal, and professional. England was in the midst of a devastating recession and the theater was in danger of being shuttered, leading to the mode of the day being to scramble and pull together for one last chance, and doing so on hope and a shoestring.

I found one new addition for my Brit Word List with stitch up – which is British informal for being framed or set up.

About the Author

I am a 61-year-old Accountant who semi-retired to explore my love of creative writing. In my career, I held Board level jobs for over twenty-five years, in private, public and third sector organizations. I was born in Coventry, a city then dominated by the car industry and high volume manufacturing. Jaguar, Triumph, Talbot, Rolls Royce, Courtaulds, Massey Ferguson were the major employers, to name but a few.

When I was nine year’s old I told my long-suffering mother that as I liked English composition and drama I was going to be a Playwright. She told me that I should work hard at school and get a proper job. She was right of course.

I started as an Office Junior at Jaguar in 1973 at eleven pounds sixty-four a week. I thus grew up in the strike-torn, class-divided seventies. My first career ended in 2015 when I semi-retired as Director of Corporate services at Humberside Probation. My second career, as a Non-Executive Director, is great as it has allowed me free time to travel and indulge my passion for writing, both in novels and for theatre.

The opportunity to rekindle my interest in writing came in 2009 when I wrote my first pantomime, Cinderella, for my home group, the Walkington Pantomime Players. I have now written eight. I love theatre, particularly musical theatre, and completed the Hull Truck Theatre Playwrite course in 2010. My first play, a comedy called He’s Behind You, had its first highly successful showing in January 2016, so I intend to move forward in all three creative areas.

Pen Pals was my first novel, but a second, The Road to Cromer Pier, will be released in the Summer of 2019.


I’m an old fashioned writer I guess. I want you to laugh and to cry. I want you to believe in my characters and feel that my stories have a beginning, a middle, and a satisfactory ending.

Social Media Links

Twitter – https://twitter.com/AuthorGore

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/Martin-Gore-Author-1237780169706466/

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Book Review: Halton (Vested Interest #6) by Melanie Moreland 

Halton

(Vested Interest #6)

by Melanie Moreland 

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA 

 

A sexy, new standalone in the Vested Interest series. 


When love turns to hate—that’s where I come in.

I’m Halton Andrew Smithers, attorney. Hal to my clients and friends.

Messy divorces, deadbeat dads, runaway wives, cheating partners—I handle them all.

I know the seedy side of love, and it isn’t pretty. I avoid emotional attachments—I’ve seen all too often when hot passion turns to frozen tundra.

I satisfy myself with helping people behind the scenes. It gives me a sense of satisfaction that completes my life.

Until she enters it and everything I believe is turned upside down.

She fills a void I never knew existed, and I know without her, my life will never be the same again.

For the first time, I want to try.

For her.

But am I strong enough? 

 

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I would never throw liquor in the face of a woman, no matter what she had done. I had class and manners. And I wouldn’t want to waste the scotch.

 

Time in the world of the law has a totally different meaning. Urgent means I’ll get to it when convenient. As soon as possible could be next week or next month. If a lawyer says he’ll “get right back to you,” grab a coffee. Maybe a sandwich. You’re going to wait a while.

 

I think there is good in everyone… In fact, I’d go as far as to say, there is a little bit of perfection in everyone.

  

My Review:

 

I am enamored with the sexy men of BAM, and although Halton isn’t actually part of the BAM organization, he is BAM adjacent and sexy and successful enough to be an honorary member.   All of Melanie Moreland’s books are class acts with the perfect balance and emotional tone in her emotive storylines, as well as interesting and engaging character and plot development, steamy sensuality, humor, flawed yet lovable heroes, odious baddies to despise, and a heart squeezing romance. I hope she continues with BAM until the founders are old enough for retirement.

 

About the Author

New York Times/USA Today bestselling author Melanie Moreland, lives a happy and content life in a quiet area of Ontario with her beloved husband of twenty-seven-plus years and their rescue cat, Amber. Nothing means more to her than her friends and family, and she cherishes every moment spent with them. 
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While seriously addicted to coffee, and highly challenged with all things computer-related and technical, she relishes baking, cooking, and trying new recipes for people to sample. She loves to throw dinner parties, and also enjoys traveling, here and abroad, but finds coming home is always the best part of any trip. 
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Melanie loves stories, especially paired with a good wine, and enjoys skydiving (free-falling over a fleck of dust) extreme snowboarding (falling down stairs) and piloting her own helicopter (tripping over her own feet.) She’s learned happily ever afters, even bumpy ones, are all in how you tell the story.
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Melanie is represented by Flavia Viotti at Bookcase Literary Agency. For any questions regarding subsidiary or translation rights please contact her at flavia@bookcaseagency.com
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Book Review: JACKSON (Eternity Springs: The McBrides of Texas Trilogy #1) by Emily March

JACKSON (Eternity Springs: The McBrides of Texas Trilogy #1)

by Emily March

 

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU / B&N

Kobo / Apple / Google / Macmillan

 

Synopsis:

From New York Times bestselling author Emily March comes Jackson, the newest novel in the critically acclaimed Eternity Springs series.

Sometimes it takes a new beginning
Caroline Carruthers thinks she buried her dreams along with the love of her life…until a stranger named Celeste dares her to chase a dream all on her own. Moving to Redemption, Texas, is chapter one in Caroline’s new life story. Opening a bookstore is the next. Finding love is the last thing on her mind as she settles into this new place called home. But when she meets a handsome, soulful man who’s also starting over, all bets are off.

to reach a happily-ever-after
Jackson McBride came to Redemption looking only to find himself, not someone to love. Ever since his marriage ended, he’s been bitter. Sure, he used to believe in love—he even has the old song lyrics to prove it—but the Jackson of today is all business. That is, until a beautiful young widow who’s moved to town inspires a change of heart. Could it be that the myth of Redemption’s healing magic is true…and Jackson and Caroline can find a second chance at a happy ending after all?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

While she was girly enough to appreciate being called “ pretty,” she didn’t like “little lady” under any circumstance. Consequently, she had starch in her spine and scissors on her tongue as she lifted her face.

 

Boone was a flirt, but he was an honest flirt. And being a lawyer and a man with baggage, he hardly kissed a woman without getting a permission slip beforehand, signed in triplicate and notarized, prior to lips touching lips.

 

She was terrible. Stiff and awkward. She froze up the same way she did like when she needed to do math in public. She got the choreography of the dance step down, but it wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t dance. It was more Frankenstein stumbling out of the castle.

 

She’s a piece of work, Caroline. I know she’s been through a trauma, but she’s a Southern girl. Where’s her grit? Where’s the steel in her magnolia?

 

My Review:

 

Jackson was an easy, sweet, and pleasant read cast with endearing and interesting characters, and was an excellent introduction to bridge an established series and begin a new one. As with the previous books of hers I’ve read, Ms. March’s writing was lushly detailed with periodic hits of wry humor and amusing observations. I was stunned to noticed she currently has thirty-nine books listed on Goodreads, thirty-nine! Of which I’ve only read three, I need to rectify the error of my ways and get crackin’.

About the Author

Amazon
Goodreads
Website

Emily March is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the heartwarming Eternity Springs series. A graduate of Texas A&M University, Emily is an avid fan of Aggie sports and her recipe for jalapeño relish has made her a tailgating legend.

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Book Review: One Minute Later by Susan Lewis

One Minute Later

by Susan Lewis

 

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU /

 B&N/ HarperCollins

 

Paperback: 512 pages

 Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (June 11, 2019)

International bestselling author Susan Lewis’ riveting, unforgettable novel of a woman whose life changes in an instant and the handsome young man with whom she shares a secret history—perfect for readers of Diane Chamberlain, Jodi Picoult and Susan Wiggs.

How well do you know the people you love? For one young woman returning to the past, the answer could be heart-shattering…

Vivi Shager is living her dream. Raised with drive and ambition by a resolutely single mother, Vivi has a thriving law career, a gorgeous apartment in London, and a full calendar that keeps her busy at work and at play. Then on the day of her twenty-seventh birthday, an undiagnosed heart condition sends Vivi’s prospects for the future into a tailspin. After escaping her roots nearly a decade ago, she’s forced to return to her childhood home to be cared for by her devoted and enigmatic mother. Vivi has always known the woman is hiding something and now she’s determined to find out what it is. Though her condition makes her fragile and vulnerable and she’s afraid of what may happen, her spirit remains strong. Then comes an unexpected ray of light.

Josh Raynor, a local veterinarian who his sisters claim is too handsome for his own good, brings a forbidden love to Vivi’s world. Josh and Vivi are soon inseparable, unaware of the past their families share. All Vivi knows is that Josh is wrestling with a demon of his own…

Then quite suddenly the awful truth is staring Vivi in the face and it changes everything.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I felt as though we were fitting back into a place we’d only ever left temporarily. Then, when I saw the house, this house, sad and neglected, I thought, I swear this, I thought it gave a little sigh of relief when it realized it was us— and if you laugh, I’ll leave you.

 

She realized there would be no bucket list for her— or not one that included daredevil stunts, long-haul flights, or weeks of hot, passionate sex on a beach in the South Seas with a younger version of George Clooney.

 

“We’ve become reducetarians.” Sam blinked. “What’s that when it’s at home?” he demanded. “It means we still eat meat… but a lot less of it, which is good for our health, the planet, and animals.”

 

My Review:

 

This was an informative and thoughtfully written book that held my coronary muscle in a vise and had me contemplating the various aspects and complicated issues and emotions surrounding organ donation. Ms. Lewis’s writing was highly emotive and insightful as well as lushly detailed with descriptions that involved all the senses in addition to setting the emotional tone for each scene.

 

Vivi Shager thought she was a healthy woman who had the world by the tail.   She was an intelligent and successful professional who frequently traveled internationally for work and had recently run a marathon. But apparently not, as meeting her friends for lunch to celebrate her twenty-seventh birthday and in a most distressing turn of events, her world and her heart imploded with a series of three heart attacks and was given the life expectancy of one year without a transplant. Not a good birthday at all then. The rest of the book slowly evolved over a year forward and thirty years back with two timelines following two different families until their storylines intersected and a lovely romance blossomed.

 

While the premise and much of Vivi’s narrative was fraught with tension, family drama, and uncertainty; there were more pleasant elements to be found in the back and forth over thirty years of the Raynor family narrative. I adored every generation and timeline of this lively and loving clan, although they also endured more than their fair share of tragedy as well.

 

I cannot imagine the ghoulish and demoralizing effect of waiting for someone to die so I could continue to have a chance at living. Or to rush to the hospital for that long-awaited surgery, only to be stopped in my tracks when the donor’s family would not consent. Devastating. I learned so much about this process that I would have never stopped to consider. I also picked up a new word and a phrase to add to my Brit Vocabulary List with pong – which is British informal for an unpleasant smell, and “What’s that when it’s at home?” – which apparently means ‘I have no clue what you are talking about.’ I will be eagerly waiting for a chance to slip these into use.

 

I was provided with a review copy of this poignant and thought-provoking book by HarperCollins and TLC Book Tours.

 

About the Author

Susan Lewis is the internationally bestselling author of more than forty books across the genres of family drama, thriller, suspense, and crime. She is also the author of Just One More Day and One Day at a Time, the moving memoirs of her childhood in Bristol during the 1960s. Following periods of living in Los Angeles and the South of France, she currently lives in Gloucestershire with her husband, James; stepsons, Michael and Luke; and mischievous dogs, Coco and Lulu.

Find out more at her website, and connect with her on Facebook.

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Book Review: The Cutting Room by Ashley Dyer

The Cutting Room

by Ashley Dyer

 

AmazonUS / UK / CA / AU

B&N / HarperCollins

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (June 18, 2019)

Detectives Ruth Lake and Greg Carver, introduced in the electrifying Splinter in the Blood, must stop a serial killer whose victims are the centerpiece of his macabre works of art.

While Britain is obsessed with the newest hit true-crime television show, Fact, or Fable? detectives Ruth Lake and Greg Carver are tormented by a fiendish flesh-and-blood killer on the loose.

Lured to a “crime scene” by a mysterious digital invitation, Ruth Lake is horrified by what she finds: a bizarre and gruesome tableau surrounded by a crowd of gawkers. The deadly work is the latest “art installation” designed by a diabolical criminal dubbed the Ferryman. Not only is this criminal cold-blooded; he’s a narcissistic exhibitionist desperate for an audience. He’s also clever at promoting his deadly handiwork. Exploiting England’s current true-crime craze, he uses social media to titillate and terrorize the public.

Ruth is joined in the investigation by her partner Greg Carver, who is slowly regaining his strength after a run-in with another sadistic criminal. But Greg can’t seem to shake the bewildering effects of the head wound that nearly ended him. Are the strange auras blurring his vision an annoying side effect of his injury, or could they be something more . . . a tool to help him see a person’s true nature?

In this utterly engrossing and thrilling tale of suspense, a pair of seasoned detectives face off against a wickedly smart and inventive psychopath in a tense, bloody game that leads to a shocking end.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

His smile somehow managed to convey both apology and mischief.

 

She was four foot ten and almost the same in circumference, she walked with a roll.

 

Drew Scanlon was what Carver, a London incomer, now recognized as a through-and-through Scouse scally. The type that could boast five generations of forebears who were also Scouse scallies, Liverpool born-and-dragged-up going back over a century. To qualify as a true scally, it was necessary to forswear aspiration as poncey and soft. Education was for snobs, steady jobs for knobheads. The trick was to never aspire to anything, do the minimum, and have enough street savvy to stay out of reach of the law.

  

My Review:

 

A cunning serial killer, who was likened to the mythological Ferryman, had Liverpool churning, and his clever use of social media had his popularity soaring and his followers swarming each fresh crime scene for his artistic yet gruesome exhibits featuring the mutilated organs of his victims or graphics/videos of their demise. This was a complex and compelling thriller and I couldn’t seem to gain traction on the mystery, as it was slippery, confounding, multi-textured, and complicated by unreliable and deceitful characters with closets full of their own dark secrets.

 

The writing was intricately detailed with unusual descriptions and shrewd observations that occasionally included unexpected hits of wry humor. The storylines were layer upon layer of baffling clues with the struggling police officers personal issues and agendas swirling and tainting the mix.   The tension mounted and never let up, even upon reaching the last page, which completed this story but left a few loose personal threads to keep us primed to continue with the next installment, which I for one will certainly be watching for.

 

My Brit Vocabulary List expanded with the additions of: Scouse – Liverpool dialect; stab vest – body armor in the US we would call them Kevlar or bulletproof vest; warrant card – Police ID; and scally – rascal or miscreant, usually jobless, uneducated, and prone to crime.

I was provided with a review copy of this chilling thriller by HarperCollins and TLC Book Tours.
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About the Author

Ashley Dyer is a writing duo based in the United Kingdom.

Margaret Murphy is a Writing Fellow and Reading Round Lector for the Royal Literary Fund, a past chair of the Crime Writers Association (CWA), and founder of Murder Squad. A CWA Short Story Dagger winner, she has been shortlisted for the First Blood critics’ award for crime fiction as well as the CWA Dagger in the Library. Under her own name she has published nine psychological suspense and police procedural novels.

Helen Pepper is a senior lecturer in policing at Teesside University. She has been an analyst, forensic scientist, scene of crime officer, CSI, and crime scene manager. She has coauthored, as well as contributed to, professional policing texts. Her expertise is in great demand with crime writers: she is a judge for the CWA’s Gold Dagger for Non-Fiction Award, and is a forensic consultant on both the Vera and Shetland TV series.

Find out more at their website, www.ashley-dyer.com.

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Book Review: Confetti at the Little Duck Pond Cafe by Rosie Green

Confetti at the Little Duck Pond Cafe

by Rosie Green

 

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA 

Wedding fever is in the air in the village of Sunnybrook. With Ellie and Zak’s Big Day on the horizon, the sun is shining brightly on the Little Duck Pond Cafe community. But when dark clouds begin to roll in from more than one direction, several close relationships look to be under threat. Will the wedding of the year actually take place at all?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Practically the only bonus of getting older is that you don’t give a flying fart about what other people think of you.

 

Now, what can I get you from the drinks machine to get your strength up? Coffee that’s bitter enough to hold a grudge for years? Or hot chocolate that’s so pale and uninteresting, it could do with a week on a beach in Benidorm?

  

My Review:

 

This was a busy, eventful, and rather tumultuous installment with a variety of stressful events and health issues for several different characters. The devious Ms. Green cunningly provides enough charm and interesting new storylines to feed and maintain our addiction to the series while also dangling several loose ends to keep us craving more. She has also added to my Brit Word List with oxters – an Old English and Scottish word for armpit. I adore obscure words.

About the Author

Rosie Green has been scribbling stories ever since she was little. Back then they were rip-roaring adventure tales with a young heroine in perilous danger of falling off a cliff or being tied up by ‘the baddies’. Thankfully, Rosie has moved on somewhat, and now much prefers to write romantic comedies that melt your heart and make you smile, with really not much perilous danger involved at all, unless you count the heroine losing her heart in love.​​Rosie’s brand new series of novellas is centered on life in a village café. Confetti at the Little Duck Pond Cafe will be the sixth in the series

Twitter – https://twitter.com/Rosie_Green1988

 

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Book Review: Stiff Suit (Ponderosa Resort Romantic Comedies Book 5) by Tawna Fenske

Stiff Suit (Ponderosa Resort Romantic Comedies Book 5)

by Tawna Fenske

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU / 

B&N/ iBooks / Kobo / Google

James “Iceman” Bracelyn is wound tighter than a vintage Rolex. Besides his CEO role at Ponderosa Resort, he’s guardian of the family’s biggest secrets, including a doozy that keeps him up at night. Alone. In that big bed he’d rather not share, thank you very much. 

That’s fine with Lily Archer, who likes her flings flaming hot and fleeting. Her man-eater rep might be slightly exaggerated, but she’ll gladly dial it up to rescue James from himself—and a bottle of Glenlivet—at his brother’s wedding.

Intimacy’s the last thing either one wants, but it’s tough to dodge when they’re drawn together by the world’s drooliest dog, a TPing escapade gone wrong, and a good old-fashioned desktop hookup. That’s problematic for James, whose ability to hide the family’s riskiest secret is complicated by the secret’s refusal to get the hell out of his guest room.

Can Iceman keep his frigid shell intact while falling for the hottest science geek sex goddess he’s ever met, or will the ticking time bomb blow it all to smithereens?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

When footsteps click closer, I freeze like a pervert shoplifting in a porn shop.

 

Come to think of it, there’s not much warmth in the whole Bracelyn family tree. Just endless rows of icicle-covered branches.

 

Things are so far from what I expected that I can’t even remember my expectations anymore.

 

James Bracelyn is sealed up tighter than a clam with lockjaw.

 

My Review:

 

I have enjoyed every book in this cleverly amusing series that I’ve had the chance to pick up. I adored these characters, they were smart and endearing and given to smirk-worthy banter and wordplay that snapped with irreverent levity and sizzle while their storylines were engaging and quickly paced with a few extra spicy bits and unexpected twists. All of which were expertly combined to result in an entertaining, effortless, and pleasurable reading experience that left me smiling with satisfaction and looking forward to the next installment.

 

About the Author    

Website 

Amazon

Goodreads

When Tawna Fenske finished her English lit degree at 22, she celebrated by filling a giant trash bag full of romance novels and dragging it everywhere until she’d read them all. Now she’s a RITA-nominated, USA Today bestselling author who writes humorous fiction, risqué romance, and heartwarming love stories with a quirky twist. Publishers Weekly has praised Tawna’s offbeat romances with multiple starred reviews and noted, “There’s something wonderfully relaxing about being immersed in a story filled with over-the-top characters in undeniably relatable situations. Heartache and humor go hand in hand.”

Tawna lives in Bend, Oregon, with her husband, stepkids, and a menagerie of ill-behaved pets. She loves hiking, snowshoeing, standup paddleboarding, and inventing excuses to sip wine on her back porch. She can peel a banana with her toes and loses an average of twenty pairs of eyeglasses per year. To find out more about Tawna and her books, visit www.tawnafenske.com.

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Book Review: Valencia and Valentine by Suzy Krause

Valencia and Valentine

by Suzy Krause

Hardcover: 254 Pages

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (June 1, 2019)

For readers of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, debut author Suzy Krause delivers a quirky, colorful story about love, loss, second chances, and what it means to truly live.

Valencia, a timid debt collector with crippling OCD, is afraid of many things, but the two that scare her most are flying and turning thirty-five. To confront those fears, Valencia’s therapist suggests that she fly somewhere—anywhere—before her upcoming birthday. And as Valencia begins a telephone romance with a man from New York, she suddenly has a destination in mind. There’s only one problem—he might not actually exist.

Mrs. Valentine is an eccentric old woman desperate for company, be it from neighbors, telemarketers, or even the funeral director (when you’re her age, you go to a lot of funerals). So she’s thrilled when the new cleaning girl provides a listening ear for her life’s story—a tale of storybook love and incredible adventures around the world with her husband before his mysterious and sudden disappearance.

The stories of Valencia and Mrs. Valentine may at first appear to have nothing in common…but then again, nothing in life is as straightforward as it seems.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

She’s not dying, technically, but she’s old enough that if she keeps living, it’ll start surprising people. She’s eighty-seven years old—but she’s a young eighty-seven. She’s more like an eighty-six.

 

Everyone has ulterior motives. When an evil person has ulterior motives, it’s called scheming. When a good person has ulterior motives, it’s called planning. Mrs. Valentine is planning.

 

When I was your age, Anna, I always said I’d do everything later. I can’t tell you what an odd day that was, when I woke up and realized it was later. And now I’m living in the part that comes after. There’s a part after later, where almost everyone else is dead and you’re just killing time, and it’s … odd.

 

This was a drastic leap in logic, but Valencia was very good at this kind of leaping; it was her only claim to athleticism.

 

That’s how it is when you’re in your thirties; birthdays aren’t important anymore because everyone has gotten over the initial excitement of your basic existence. You’re old news.

 

Time had never done anything but crawl for Valencia; it had never even walked before (she had, at points, wondered if it had lain down and died). This new speed was exhilarating.

 

“It’s kind of a dumb hobby, but you need a good, dumb, eccentric hobby, I think. I heard somewhere that eccentric people live longer.” “Okay,” said Valencia, picturing her own life stretching on and on ahead of her, even more vast and endless than she had previously supposed. I’m so eccentric I might be immortal, she thought miserably.

My Review:

 

It took me several chapters to settle into this tale, as it was oddly paced and at times a bit tedious when minutely detailing Valencia’s irrational, delusional and catastrophic fears and beliefs as she spiraled into panic attacks which involved worse case scenarios and epic disasters. However, that was merely setting the stage for the cleverness and well-crafted storylines to come. Ms. Krause’s writing was often bitingly witty and profoundly insightful with frequent lashings of brilliance. I had four solid pages of highlights and favorite quotes and it was rather painful to pare them down. But what staggered and astounded me was the realization that this wryly written and cleverly conjured book was the author’s debut. Impressive!

About the Author

Suzy Krause is a Canadian writer and music lover. Like Valencia, she has worked as a debt collector, and like Mrs. Valentine, she likes to tell stories. She writes about her life at www.suzykrause.com. Valencia and Valentine is her first novel.

Connect with Suzy

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

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Book Review: Gimme Some Sugar (Sex & Sweet Tea, Book #5) by Juliette Poe

Gimme Some Sugar (Sex & Sweet Tea, Book #5)
by Juliette Poe
Release Date: June 11, 2019

Synopsis:

Larkin Mancinkus prides herself on making the town of Whynot, North Carolina just a little sweeter. As owner of Sweet Cakes Bakery, Larkin gets all the town gossip – the sugar, the spice, and the everything not so nice. So when she finds herself on the tip of everyone’s tongue thanks to an encounter with a mysterious and handsome stranger, she learns the true meaning of ‘if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.’

Deacon Locke has spent his life traveling the world with no particular destination in mind. But when he rolls into Whynot on his Harley, he just knows there is something different about this town. What he doesn’t know is that out of all the places he’s traveled and all the people he’s met, the gorgeous bakery owner might just entice him to put down some solid roots.

Come on down to see what’s cookin’ between Larkin and Deacon!

Add Gimme Some Sugar to Goodreads!

Amazon | Nook | Apple | Google | Kobo | Paperback
** All books in the Sex & Sweet Tea series can be read as standalones, but if you’d like to start at the beginning, Ain’t He Precious? (Sex & Sweet Tea, Book #1) is #FREE for a limited time! **

Download Ain’t He Precious?
(Sex & Sweet Tea, Book #1) for FREE:
Amazon | Nook | Apple | Google | Kobo
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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

But the heart wants what the heart wants, and when it starts making you want something you shouldn’t have, then it can make you stupid.

But I didn’t get you anything,” she murmurs guiltily… So? That’s like the biggest breach of etiquette a Southern girl can have. To fail to get a gift for a momentous occasion, then it adds insult to injury when a gift is given to her without it being expected. It’s totally romantic and swoony, and I cannot reconcile these feelings of guilt and inadequacy with the overwhelming need to snatch that out of your hand to see what you so thoughtfully got me.

I make a clucking sound in the back of my throat, realizing I sound just like my mom when she disapproves of something. That thought horrifies me, so I cough to clear it out.

I’ve never even thought about having kids. Don’t know much about them. The few I’ve been around have been loud and sticky.

My Review:

This was my first experience reading Juliette Poe, the alter ego of Sawyer Bennett and I am happy to report it was an amusing and effortless read despite being the fifth book in a sweet small-town series, although I now have four more books idling on my TBR as a result. Funny how that keeps happening. I adored this couple. Larkin was the last of her siblings still single, she was a bit pudgy, somewhat timid, and self-conscious small-town baker with deep family roots and a side order of southern sass. Deacon he was a sexy prior Marine turned nomad on a Harley who carried himself with confidence and worked whenever and where ever he pleased. It was a case of opposites attract with humor and sizzle with quirky small-town characters and an active and flourishing Gossip Mill to keep everyone up to date.

About the Author:

Juliette Poe is the sweet and swoony alter ego of New York Times Best Selling author, Sawyer Bennett.

A fun-loving southern girl, Juliette knows the allure of sweet tea, small towns, and long summer nights, that some of the best dates end sitting on the front porch swing, and that family is top priority. She brings love in the south to life in her debut series, Sex & Sweet Tea.

When Juliette isn’t delivering the sweetest kind of romance, she’s teaching her southern belle daughter the fine art of fishing, the importance of wearing Chucks, and the endless possibilities of a vivid imagination.

Connect with Juliette:
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Book Review: Wine and Dine by L.B. Dunbar

Wine & Dine

by L.B. Dunbar

 

Amazon US ✦UK✦AU ✦CA 

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Dolores Chance.
When I was falling apart, I fell in love.
It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.
I ran away from life and ended up running into…his dog.
Actually, his dog ran into me. I don’t care for dogs.
Then I met the owner.
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Garrett Fox.
When my neighbor’s sister came to visit,
I promised to show her around town.
I’m an investor in things, not people, not emotions.
I’m not a fan of love. I’ve been burned before.
Then I met Dolores.
When a sexy mature, man-of-means encounters a silver vixen,
healing her broken heart might be worth more than gold.
Romance has no age limit.
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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

He’s like a dreamy candy bar. Crisp and decadent on the outside, but nuggety good on the inside.

 

“You break her heart, and I’ll kill you.” The threat comes from a little old lady I didn’t hear approaching even though she uses a cane to stand inside the kitchen… “I own a 1965 Remington .22 I keep in good condition, and I’m not afraid to use it.”

 

Messes are what men make, and that’s why God created women. To clean them up.

 

 My Review:

 

Written in my favorite dual POV, this tense yet engaging story crossed the country from Georgia to California and back with several tank loads of angst, dashes of humor, heaping helpings of breath-stealing and volcanically hot sensuality, bitter lashings of family drama, and side orders of swoony romance. Dolores ran away from home and while she wasn’t looking for Oz, she felt as lost as Dorothy Gale and managed to meet a few botoxed witches, developed a fondness for Toto, and fell in love with a Tin Man and Wizard hybrid, but there were no flying monkeys. Roughly 80% of the storylines were fraught with emotional tension and conflict on both coasts before coming to that all-important HEA.

 

 

About the Author

L.B. Dunbar has been accused of having an over-active imagination. To her benefit, this imagination has created over twenty novels, including a small-town world (Sensations
Collection), rock star mayhem (Legendary Rock Star series), MMA chaos (Paradise Stories), rom-com for the over forty (The Sex Education of M.E. and After Care), and a suspenseful island for redemption (The Island Duet).   Her alter ego, elda lore, creates magical romance through mythological retellings (Modern Descendants). Her life revolves around a deep love of reading about fairy tales, medieval knights, regency debauchery, and strong alpha males. She loves a deep belly laugh, a strong hug, and an occasional margarita. Her other loves include being a mother to four grown children and wife to the one and only.
You can find me on Facebook, where I spend too much time.