When Serena is kicked out of her flat, an offer from her friend, Taylor, to house-sit for her while she and her husband go traveling could not be better timing. But unfortunately for Serena, she’s not the only one to have received this offer…

Enter Ziggy: arrogant, messy (and annoyingly handsome) musician, and friend of Taylor’s husband. Living with him is far from ideal, especially when he claims the best room, has loud parties – and the least said about his kitchen manner the better…

There’s just one solution for Serena – drive him out of the house by being twice as difficult to live with as he is! But Ziggy knows Serena’s game and as war ensues between them, being forced together under one roof may result in some unexpected consequences…

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

Agatha… looks just like her mum. Well, a version of Diana that had been run through a machine that creates Disney villains. Her facial features are tight– almost as though she begrudges using the muscles (well, that plus the Botox she’s using to try to suspend her looks in time, but they’re really just suspending her face in the miserable state it must have been in when they injected her).

My Review:

This was a lively and breezy read laced together with smirk-worthy snark and clever wit. I always enjoy Ms. MacIntosh’s wry humor. Her colorful and observant character descriptions never fail to draw keen visuals to my mind’s eye and an amused smile to my lips. There were multiple storylines that eventually merged, it was game on in all directions. Each thread was busy and eventful yet easy to follow and equally entertaining and humorous.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

… he looked disgruntled to the point that his gruntle might be waving farewell forever. I smiled at him… He turned a look on me that was so sour I could feel my tongue dry out.

I watched Kanga stare at his muscles. They were improbably large; he looked as though someone had taken an ordinary man and inflated him with a bike pump in strategic areas.

Mutinously and showing all the team-working ability of a bunch of cats, we each set off on our allocated tasks.

How come you’ve got such unusual names? Dax and MacKinley? It sounds as though your parents thought they were having Labradors.

It had been so long since I’d had a proper wash of any parts of me that didn’t see daylight that I was beginning to think I might be eroding. If I got fully undressed, I might discover that I was nothing more than a flaky shadow and a strange smell.

I could almost feel the cash registers in our heads start to click as we all mentally spent £ 250,000, and then reality asserted itself once more.

My Review:

This was an active and busy tale with keenly detailed scenarios and colorful descriptions that placed me in the thick of it. Despite living in the tropics and reading under a ceiling fan, Ms. Lovering often had me feeling cold and achy along with the shivering characters who were stuck on a freezing moor in nylon tents while being filmed for a reality program. And what an odd, uncomfortable, and annoying to be around collection of people they were. While the storylines often had a tense edge to them with a sense of impending doom and fear of discovery, they were also amusing as well as observant, and thoughtfully contrived.

Ruth the librarian fears she’s too old to find love, but a discussion about Lady Chatterley’s Lover makes her think again.

Aurora doesn’t feel seventy-two and longs to relive the excitement of her youth, while Verity is getting increasingly tired of her husband Mark’s grumpiness and wonders if their son’s imminent flight from the nest might be just the moment for her to fly too. And Danielle is fed up with her cheating husband. Surely life has more in store for her than to settle for second best?

The glue that holds Combe Pomeroy together is Jeannie. Doyenne of the local cider farm and heartbeat of her family and community, no one has noticed that Jeannie needs some looking after too. Has the moment for her to retire finally arrived, and if so, what does her future hold?

From a book club French exchange trip to many celebrations at the farm, this is the year that everything changes, that lifelong friendships are tested, and for some of the women, they finally get the love they deserve.

My Rating:

My Review:

This tale was packed with teeth-grinding and ire-producing family drama in all directions as well as tense plot lines of suspense including a hideous child kidnapping under peculiar circumstances. The details were intricate and I began to feel the tediousness and fatigue of the oppressive heat and the smell of polluted air from the nearby out-of-control wildfire that essentially became a secondary character in the story. The human characters were complicated, well-textured, and not always likable yet realistically flawed and authentic. I despised most of them except for the hapless yet well-meaning Jay, he was more of a victim than the kidnapped child.

The Sweetheart Fix
(Blossom Glen #2)
by Miranda Liasson

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

“If you really think you have a magic wand,” he said, gesturing to the two men, “have at it.” “I sure do, Mayor Jack.” She smiled sweetly and swirled her hand around in a spell-making gesture. “It also happens to match my broomstick.”

The man never lifted a finger to help anyone in his life. But he could sweet-talk a chicken across a five-lane highway.

Parents did devilish things to each other to get their kids into his class. One year some mom had broken into the office and erased a child’s name off the waiting list so her kid could move up. Who knew Blossom Glen Elementary’s kindergarten could be so cutthroat?

Juliet was never late. Except she did have a tendency not to show up at her weddings.

My Review:

This fun and well-paced small-town contemporary romance featured two well-known characters within their community who started off sparring with each other on the job as well as battling their histories and personal issues while trying to save face. They soon discovered they worked well together on and off the job and righted themselves in the process. The storylines were easy to follow and entertaining with a minimum of contrived conflict as well as amusing carryover and involvement of the endearing characters featured from the first installment, and topped off with a sweet and satisfying ending. There is one more sister to go, I have a feeling her issues are going to be far more complicated.

Author Bio:

Miranda Liasson loves to write stories about everyday people who find love despite themselves because there’s nothing like a great love story. And if there are a few laughs along the way, even better! She’s a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart winner and an Amazon bestselling author whose heartwarming and humorous small-town romances have won accolades such as the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence and have been Harlequin Junkie and Night Owl Reviews Top Picks.

 

Connect with Miranda: 

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Chaos at Carnegie Hall
(A Fiona Figg & Kitty Lane Mystery #1)
by Kelly Oliver

Amazon /  Apple /  B & N  / GP  / BB

Can Fiona catch a killer and find a decent cup of tea before her mustache wax melts?

1917. New York.

Notorious spy, Fredrick Fredricks, has invited Fiona to Carnegie Hall to hear a famous soprano. It’s an opportunity the War Office can’t turn down. Fiona and Clifford are soon on their way, but not before Fiona is saddled with chaperone duties for Captain Hall’s niece. Is Fiona a spy or a glorified babysitter?

From the minute Fiona meets the soprano aboard the RMS Adriatic it’s treble on the high C’s. Fiona sees something—or someone—thrown overboard, and then she overhears a chemist plotting in German with one of her own countrymen!

And the trouble doesn’t stop when they disembark. Soon Fiona is doing time with a group of suffragettes and investigating America’s most impressive inventor Thomas Edison.

When her number one suspect turns up dead at the opera and Fredrick Fredricks is caught red-handed, it looks like it’s finally curtains for the notorious spy.

But all the evidence points to his innocence. Will Fiona change her tune and clear her nemesis’ name? Or will she do her duty? And just what is she going to do with the pesky Kitty Lane? Not to mention swoon-worthy Archie Somersby . . .

If Fiona’s going to come out on top, she’s going to have to make the most difficult decision of her life: the choice between her head and her heart.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Eliza had taken to calling me “Aunt Fiona.” Only seven years her senior, I was hardly old enough to be her aunt. Technically, I suppose I was old enough. Still, “Aunt Fiona” sounded positively hideous— the kind of homely aunt one locked in an attic and only allowed out when the company had gone home— and altogether too informal for my tastes.

I may have overdone it with the face powder, but she’d been overly enthusiastic with her rouge. She looked like a radish.

I had to admit, there was something reassuring about Clifford and his carefree manner— an ease born of a life of comfort, privilege, and abstaining from contemplation.

I was just telling Marc about my in-laws. The only obscenities they don’t use to describe me are the ones they can’t pronounce.

This was a task for Clifford. He could chat up a turnip and find out what lay beneath its roots.

My Review:

This was an easy, enjoyable, and lively read that kept me guessing and entertained. I admired Feisty Fiona, she was independent and ahead of her time. The writing style was easy to follow and descriptive and pulled colorful and detailed visuals to my mind’s eye. The engaging storylines were well-paced and populated with unique, amusing, and authentic characters. I’m already looking forward to more of Ms. Figg’s breezy adventures.

I

About Kelly Oliver

A gorgeous new festive read from the Kindle #1 bestselling author of The Ladies’ Midnight Swimming Club

When Liv Latimer says goodbye to her colleagues and finishes work for the holidays, she’s looking forward to a Christmas to remember with her boyfriend Eddie.

But before she makes it home, her phone rings, calling her back into work. And Liv is faced with a choice. Does she do as she’s always done, and put herself second? Or, will she say no, so she can finally begin the life she’s dreamed of?

Liv’s decision will turn her world upside down in ways she could never have imagined.

Because whatever choice she makes, Liv is about to discover, fate finds a way…

From the bestselling Irish author of The Ladies’ Midnight Swimming Club, comes an emotional and uplifting festive story about love, family and how a split-second decision can change your life.