Category: 5-Stars

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Book Review: Under One Roof by Samantha Tonge   @SamTongeWriter

 

Under One Roof
by Samantha Tonge

 

Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP/ BB


One forgotten discovery will change three women’s lives forever…
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Robin hasn’t been home for decades. After running away to London, she never expected to see her cantankerous mother, Faye, again. But when Faye has a fall, the two women are thrown together once more.

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The years apart have not made their hearts grow fonder and the ground between them is unsteady. Then Robin finds an unopened scroll – the last of the treasure hunts her much-missed father used to take them on every Sunday. A hunt he believed might change everything.

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Yet, not even this gift from her beloved father can smooth the way until Robin’s daughter, Amber, arrives to meet her grandmother for the first time. Amber is determined that the decades-old mystery be solved.

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Can a 30-year-old treasure hunt really ‘change everything’?

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

 

‘I’m determined not to give everything up just because of this flippin’ arthritis.’ Her eyes twinkled. ‘I might even go dating, on that Tinker, it’s such an appropriate name. I’m sure there’d be an adventurous modern man out there who’d be happy to fiddle around and get my old engine running again.’

 

My Review:

 

This was excellent and although rife with family tension, I fell right into the tale and was fully invested in these authentic characters. The writing was engaging, entertaining, poignant, heart-squeezing, and thoughtfully insightful. The nibble storylines were cleverly crafted with witty treasure hunt clues and riddles, well nuanced with pensive secrets lurking just out of reach, and shrewdly paced to keep me curious and reading until my eyes closed against my will.

The cast of characters was a unique collection of flawed personalities from engaging and likable to abrasive and obnoxious. I was itching to see how their issues would be tackled and possibly resolved. Poor Robin, I adored her but she couldn’t seem to please anyone. She had a failed marriage behind her, recently lost her job, a snarky teenage snot for a daughter, and a snide and cruel battleax for a mother. I would have wanted to run away and join the circus for some peace!

 

About the Author

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Samantha Tonge lives in Manchester UK with her husband and children. She studied German and French at university and has worked abroad, including a stint at Disneyland Paris. She has traveled widely. When not writing she passes her days cycling, baking, and drinking coffee. Samantha has sold many dozens of short stories to women’s magazines. She is represented by the Darley Anderson literary agency. In 2013, she landed a publishing deal for romantic comedy fiction with HQDigital at HarperCollins, and in 2014, her bestselling debut, Doubting Abbey, was shortlisted for the Festival of Romantic Fiction best Ebook award. In 2015 her summer novel, Game of Scones, hit #5 in the UK Kindle chart and won the Love Stories Awards Best Romantic Ebook category. In 2018 Forgive Me Not heralded a new direction into darker women’s fiction with publisher Canelo. In 2019 she was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association romantic comedy award.

 

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Book Review: Am I Allergic to Men? (The Callaghan Sisters #5) by Kristen Bailey  @Bookouture @mrsbaileywrites

Am I Allergic to Men?
(The Callaghan Sisters #5)
by Kristen Bailey 

You think you’ve got it bad? I lost my memory, I’m so single I’ve basically got an allergy to men, and my own cat despises me.

‘Lucy! If you can hear me, squeeze my hand!’

That’s the first thing I hear when I wake up in hospital. Then my sister drops a bombshell: I’ve been in a coma.

It gets worse. In my head, it’s 2009 and I’m seventeen. Somehow, I need to remember the last decade…

Plan A: Track down my exes. Highlights include a one-night stand with someone in a Batman costume, and balcony sex that gave the neighbors a nervous breakdown.

Plan B: Get flirty. Lowlights include a fling with someone hairier than a yeti.

Plan C: Figure out why I have more exes than underwear. Am I allergic to men?

As I piece together my past, I find a mysterious note: Oscar, 9th February. Determined to work out what it means, I uncover a secret I’ve been hiding from everyone.

When the truth comes out, will my memory return? Will I get my life back? And will I ever find the cure to my singledom?

You’ll laugh so much your abs ache! The perfect page-turner for fans of Sophie Kinsella, Lindsey Kelk, and TV shows like Schitt’s Creek.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

She’s still looking for that happy ending where someone will pick her up, pledge undying love and whisk her away to a new-build semi in Surrey. The sort of world Hayley and I inhabit, the semis and happy endings normally end on our faces.

 

I know what my sisters are like and this could possibly still be a very elaborate joke. Those cows told me for years that my real father was Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and that he had to leave the actual country to be a Watcher because he was so ashamed of me.

 

‘We’re just going to get you into a deep state of relaxation…’ All I can think is that when I’m that relaxed I will most likely break wind. I hope the lotus and white musk will be able to mask that.

  

My Review:

 

This was a fun, dynamic, and energetic read that kept me wildly amused and gleefully giggle-snorting with abandon. The writing was crisp, breezy, sweary, and delightfully snarky while the sharp visuals conjured were diabolically humorous and colorful in every sense of the word.

In the previous installments, Lucy’s character was the most eccentric of the five sisters. Lucy was the fiercely independent, feisty, and predictably unpredictable free spirit/firecracker and youngest of the Callaghan clan. So I was doubly impressed with the insightful observations and emotive underpinnings permeating the unfamiliar sense of vulnerability Lucy was experiencing as she struggled to regain a sense of self during her period of memory loss following a head injury. Having lost twelve years would be quite unsettling for anyone but Lucy had packed a lot of living her best life and unusual adventures and eye-opening experimentation into those years. I was fascinated and deliciously entertained by each new development.

This being the last of the series, I am experiencing a sense of rueful melancholy, I will greatly miss this irreverent, divinely inappropriate, and tightly bonded family unit. They were good fun and their hijinks provided me with not only smirk-worthy entertainment but several unusual entries of British vernacular to my Brit Words and Phrases list. Many of which I cannot add to my reviews for fear of being censored, but this installment has produced the current publishable new addition of gurn, which Mr. Google indicates is to grimace or make an ugly face. I would expect nothing less from the lascivious Lucy.

 

 

To celebrate the publication of the fifth and final Callaghan sisters novel, let’s find out if you are Meg, Emma, Beth, Grace, or Lucy?

Quiz compiled by the author, Kristen Bailey.

About the Author

Mother-of-four, gin-drinker, binge-watcher, receipt hoarder, enthusiastic but terrible cook. Kristen also writes. She has had short fiction published in several publications including Mslexia & Riptide. Her first two novels, Souper Mum and Second Helpings were published in 2016. In 2019, she was long-listed in the Comedy Women in Print Prize and has since joined the Bookouture family. She hopes her novels have fresh and funny things to say about modern life, love, and family.

 

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Book Review: Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney @alicewriterland @MacmillanUSA @Flatironbooks

Rock Paper Scissors
by Alice Feeney 

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Think you know the person you married? Think again…


Things have been wrong with Mr. and Mrs. Wright for a long time. When Adam and Amelia win a weekend away to Scotland, it might be just what their marriage needs. A self-confessed workaholic and screenwriter, Adam Wright has lived with face blindness his whole life. He can’t recognize friends or family, or even his own wife.

Every anniversary the couple exchange traditional gifts – paper, cotton, pottery, tin – and each year Adam’s wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read. Until now. They both know this weekend will make or break their marriage, but they didn’t randomly win this trip. One of them is lying, and someone doesn’t want them to live happily ever after.

Ten years of marriage. Ten years of secrets. And an anniversary they will never forget.

Rock Paper Scissors is the latest exciting domestic thriller from the queen of the killer twist, New York Times bestselling author Alice Feeney.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

… sometimes the dust of our memories is best left unswept.

 

I immediately regret saying it, but words don’t come with gift receipts and you can’t take them back.

 

Getting married costs a pretty penny, and pennies are prettiest when you don’t have many of them.

 

It smells as though we are in a chapel now. That musty scent of old Bibles and blind faith.

 

Trust can’t be borrowed, if you take it away you can’t give it back.

 

Don’t housekeepers clean things? From what I saw through the window, she doesn’t look like she knows how to use a feather duster. She may have a broom… for flying around at night—

 

Dreams are like dresses in a shop window; they look pretty, but sometimes don’t fit when you try them on.

 

She had a face like a carp and it was as red as her apron. Her beady eyes glared and she barked the word “what” at him with venomlike spit. She was clearly a woman who was good at making people feel bad. Sam resisted the urge to offer his condolences for Patty’s sister, who he was sure had been murdered by a girl called Dorothy near a yellow brick road.

 

My Review:

 

This was a brilliantly plotted and shrewdly paced and captivating tale that kept me tethered to my Kindle. I didn’t see this ending coming at all. The writing was cleverly observant and witty, wryly humorous while chillingly cunning, easy to fall into yet tense and prickly, and featured multiple POVs of people who intrigued me but weren’t all that likable most of the time. I fell right into the author’s trap and was totally bamboozled. I had several pages of favorite quotes and highlights.

Alice Feeney is a sly minx – her word voodoo is strong. I was sucked right into her characters’ narratives and even though I live in the tropics, I felt the bone-chilling and teeth-rattling temperatures of the unheated stone buildings in the Scottish Highlands.   It was tense and gripping with impending peril right around the corner, yet the observant humor was snarky and smirk-worthy witty on the way there. I’m greedy for all her clever arrangements of words and have just added her entire listing to my TBR.

 

 

About the Author
Alice Feeney is a New York Times bestselling author and journalist. Rock Paper Scissors is her fourth novel and is being made into a TV series for Netflix by the producer of The Crown. It will be published around the world in 2021.

Her debut novel, Sometimes I Lie, was an international bestseller, has been translated into over twenty languages, and is being made into a TV series by Warner Bros. starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. His & Hers is also being adapted for the screen by Jessica Chastain’s Freckle Films.

Alice was a BBC Journalist for fifteen years before becoming an author. She lives in Devon with her family.

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Book Review: Just River by Sara B. Fraser @saraphraser @mindbuckmedia

Just River
by Sara B. Fraser 

Amazon  / B&N  / BB

Sara B. Fraser paints for readers how life in a nothing upstate New York town in the ’90s might look: bleak and gritty. Wattsville was a booming manufacturing town on the Otis River. But now, the mills are closed. The windows boarded up. The same people frequent the same bars every day without fail. What once was a prosperous place is now somewhere riddled with substance abuse, poverty, violence, and hush-hush secrets. But only the river bears witness to all these secrets — and only the river can divulge the truth.

At the heart of these secrets is one family. When Carol’s daughter, Garnet, is caught in the crosshairs of justice and her former boyfriend’s deceit, Carol and her best friend Sam plot to prove Garnet’s innocence. Told with beauty and tenderness against the landscape of forgotten everyday America, Fraser’s JUST RIVER connects the complexity and danger we all contain.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

That woman’s gotten so much Botox, her eyebrows have fused to her skull.

 

It feels odd, smiling at them, like something might escape her mouth if she doesn’t keep her teeth clenched.

 

In Wattsville he is one of a kind, whereas he would find many like-minded people in the city. But he’s afraid. Its size scares him, and furthermore he wouldn’t be particularly special. Here, he explains, he’s a unicorn, a big fish in a small pond. “Puddle,” says Chloe. “It’s not a pond, it’s a puddle, my dear. You want to swim or lie there getting splashed? Heavens, the place is bound to evaporate in warm weather.”

 

Garnet is developing the rigid jaw and tight lips of a person expecting the worst. He is reminded of the way people’s faces look when they’re stuck in traffic, or when they pick the wrong checkout lane in the supermarket.

 

He must be outside his body… The pain is fading. Is there a solar eclipse? Sam sees, through a vague foggy tunnel, like the ending of the Looney Tunes cartoons he used to watch as a child— D-d-d-d-dat’s all folks!

 

My Review:

 

This was a shrewdly paced and cleverly plotted tale of knotted woe and intriguing complexities that boil down to simple thorny social problems.   After I finished I went back and reread the first chapter and found a treasure chest full of tidbits I had not noticed the first time through. Sara B. Fraser has a special brand of magic sprinkled into her wordcraft and I fell right under her spell.

The storylines and writing style were often realistically gritty, flinch-worthy with complex issues, keenly insightful, painfully observant, and yet bewitchingly humorous – all at the same time! Which takes crazy good skills. The characters were well nuanced and oddly compelling while deeply flawed. Most were repressed, oppressed, suppressed, and vulnerable. I was holding my breath while fully invested and rooting for them, even when they annoyed me. Ms. Fraser is a wily minx with a wicked wit and going to the top of my list of ones to watch.

 

Sara B. Fraser is also the author of LONG DIVISION, published by Black Rose Writing in March 2019. Her short fiction has appeared in Carve, Wilderness House Literary Review, Salamander, Stonecrop, the Forge, The Jabberwock Review, and more. She is a high-school Spanish teacher, surfing-obsessed, and the mother of two boys.
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Book Review: The Sweetheart Deal (Blossom Glen #1) by Miranda Liasson   @mirandaliasson

The Sweetheart Deal
(Blossom Glen #1)
by Miranda Liasson

Amazon / B&N / GP  / Apple / BB

From the bestselling author of the Angel Falls series, two enemies say “I do” in the first irresistible book about Blossom Glen.

Pastry chef Tessa Montgomery knows what everyone in the teeny town of Blossom Glen says about her. Spinster. Ice Queen. Such a shame. It’s enough to make a woman bake her troubles away, dreaming of Parisian delicacies while she makes bread at her mother’s struggling boulangerie. That is until Tessa’s mortal enemy—deliciously handsome (if arrogant) chef Leo Castorini, who owns the restaurant next door—proposes a business plan…to get married.

Leo knows that the Castorinis and the Montgomerys hate each other, but a marriage might just force these stubborn families to work together and blend their businesses for success. The deal is simple: Tessa and Leo marry, live together for six months, and then go their separate ways. Easy peasy.

It’s a sweetheart deal where everyone gets what they want—until feelings between the faux newlyweds start seriously complicating the mix. Have they discovered the perfect recipe for success…or is disaster on the way?

Each book in the Blossom Glen series is STANDALONE:
* The Sweetheart Deal
* The Sweetheart Fix

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

… she had to endure a lot of sad headshaking and endless questions about being dumped. Yes, still, even after almost a year. That was the thing about a small town— the first thing you did in your life that was gossip-worthy became the defining trait of your existence.

 

… this garden is protected by Gnomeland Security

 

“It’s three in the morning,” Gram said, tying a knot in her blue silk robe. “All of you are alive and breathing, so who’s pregnant?”

  

My Review:

 

I reveled in this entertaining and discerningly written tale and felt it was the author’s most poignant of those I’ve read. The storylines and writing tapped all the feels with a keen sensitivity and canny insights into the complications and sacrifices required to maintain family business as well as a peaceful existence in a small town. I adored these characters and how could I not? These are my people as they enjoyed Moscato, rainbow flip-flops, and sallying clever quips at each other like missiles. This new series is off to an excellent start and I am hooked and eager to see what and whom this clever wordsmith does with the next installment.

 

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: 

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon | Newsletter | Bookbub | Pinterest | Blog

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Book Review: Coming Home to Seashell Harbor (Seashell Harbor #1) by Miranda Liasson @mirandaliasson @readforeverpub

Coming Home to Seashell Harbor
(Seashell Harbor #1)
by Miranda Liasson

Amazon / B&N / GP / Apple / BB

 

An emotional novel about first love, second chances, and what it means to follow your heart from this award-winning author who “writes with humor and heart” (Jill Shalvis, New York Times bestselling author).

Hadley Wells swapped her dreams of saving the planet for the glamour of Hollywood. But when a very public breakup reveals cracks in her not-so-perfect life, she returns to her hometown to reassess what it is she truly wants. Unfortunately, Seashell Harbor has some trouble of its own–including the first man to ever break her heart.

A serious injury forced footballer Tony Cammareri into early retirement–now he’s determined to reboot his life with a splashy new restaurant venture. He knows better than to expect a happy reunion with Hadley, but he’s determined to make up for the way things ended between them. Yet when Tony and Hadley end up vying for control of the town’s future, they find themselves once again on opposing sides.

As their rivalry intensifies, they must decide what’s worth fighting for–and what it truly means to be happy.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

 

… he started the car with a little jolt. “Hold on to your sunbonnet, sugar.” “Call me sugar again and you’re going to be wearing it yourself.”

 

My Review:

 

This was a refreshing and enjoyable second chance romance with relatively low angst, adorable animal rescue, endearing characters, and a realistic level of conflict. Just what I needed to unwind and relax my shoulders down from my ears after reading several intense thrillers in a row. The writing style was engaging, insightfully observant, thoughtfully detailed with vibrant and amusing descriptors, and remarkably easy to follow despite being the first in a series and introducing a community of new characters. The pace was pleasantly smooth and steady with an excellent flow into each segue.   Miranda Liasson is an agile and deft storyteller and I effortlessly slip right into her breezy tales of romantic women’s fiction. She holds a steadfast entry on my favorites list.

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: 

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads | Amazon | Newsletter | Bookbub | Pinterest | Blog

 

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Book Review: The Secretary by Britney King  @britneyking_ @EJBookPromos

 

 

The Secretary
by Britney King

 

Amazon  / B&N  / Apple / BB

 

From the bestselling author of The Social Affair and HER comes a new mind-bending thriller about a young woman whose life takes a wicked turn…

The job comes with a lot of perks. A mysterious new boss is one of them. His deep pockets don’t hurt.

In her first week, Gillian finds a note on her desk with two boxes and a question: Will you have dinner with me?

Check yes or no.

It was easily the best night of her whole young life.

The second note arrived looking very much the same, only different.

Do you have what it takes to be in my world?

Gillian has been asked to handle a lot of tasks in her work.

But covering up a murder might be the strangest one yet.

Check yes or no.

She can check yes and face prison time. Hypothetically.

No, and she finds out why the job was vacant in the first place.

Tautly paced, The Secretary is an unnerving and electrifying psychological thriller about illusion, passion, and the dangerous places ambition can take you. Full of enough tension and twists to make even the most seasoned suspense reader break out in a cold sweat, it keeps you guessing until the very last page.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

What’s the saying? A mistake made more than once is a decision.

 

He speaks nonchalantly but also in a manner that makes me feel like he cares. Like the funeral director, I wonder if this is something they pull aside and drill into a certain segment of the population, a segment that does not contain me or hardly anyone I know.

 

“It can’t wait, Gillian,” she huffs. I feel like this is a different story and I’m one of the three little pigs and I’m not sure which. He huffed, and he puffed, and he blew the house down.

 

Just remember, you only get to be young and stupid once… It’s kind of like dimples on your ass. They’re cute when you’re a baby, not so much when you’re an adult.

 

I feel like I’m in one of those movies where the main character knows too much.

  

My Review:

 

I am in awe of Britney King’s deft wordcraft, her fiendishly clever and original stories maintain a compelling and bewitching quality that beckon and beguile yet are also uncomfortably prickly and more than a bit flinch-worthy. She has turned her unique brand of suspense into an art form – and I cannot get enough of them! The Secretary had me biting my lips, gnawing on my cuticles, and holding my breath. I was on edge and itchy with curiosity while also anxious and concerned for the main character. I zipped right through it and yearned for more. The gal has mad skills!

 

Spotify Book Playlist:

Direct Link: https://spoti.fi/3FXg7Hy

 

Goodreads Giveaway

https://bit.ly/thesecretarygrgiveaway

About the Author

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Britney King lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, children, two dogs, one ridiculous cat, and a partridge in a pear tree.
When she’s not wrangling the things mentioned above, she writes psychological, domestic, and romantic thrillers set in suburbia.
Without a doubt, connecting with readers is the best part of this gig. You can find Britney online here: 
To get more– grab two books for free, by subscribing to her mailing list at  bit.ly/britneykingweb
Happy reading.
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Book Review: A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham @svwillingham @MinotaurBooks

A Flicker in the Dark
by Stacy Willingham 

Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP / BB

 

From debut author, Stacy Willingham comes a masterfully done, lyrical thriller, certain to be the launch of an amazing career. A Flicker in the Dark is eerily compelling to the very last page.

When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, Chloe’s father had been arrested as a serial killer and promptly put in prison. Chloe and the rest of her family were left to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.

Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren’t really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?

In a debut novel that has already been optioned for a limited series by actress Emma Stone and sold to a dozen countries around the world, Stacy Willingham has created an unforgettable character in a spellbinding thriller that will appeal equally to fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

By the end of the summer, six girls had disappeared. One day they were there, and the next—gone. Vanished without a trace… Their goneness was impossible to ignore; it was an evil that had settled over the sky the way an impending storm can make your bones throb.

 

She was quiet, reserved, pale and rail thin, with hair the color of a fiery sunset, something of a walking matchstick.

 

His voice was deep, stern but somehow sweet at the same time, probably from the unmistakable Southern drawl that made every word sound thick and slow like dripping molasses.

 

A steady sheet of rain erupts outside and the house is filled with the sound of millions of fingers tapping on the roof, eager to get in.

  

My Review:

 

This was an intense and brilliantly nuanced tale with an exceptionally evocative style and held a well-crafted and distinctive aura of tautness from the first word to the last period. I fell right into the character’s troubled gray matter and itched, sweat, and hyperventilated right along with her. My cuticles are a ragged mess!

The writing style was lyrical, emotive, and vividly detailed to taunt the senses. The storylines were fiendishly paced and kept me on edge and guessing. The little pea in my brain was shuddering. I was wrecked, then hopeful, then wrecked yet again while spinning and discarding numerous theories only to come back around to them again while working my way through this intricate web.

Everything about this book was extraordinary and I was flabbergasted to note it was the author’s debut. Stacy Willingham’s word voodoo is strong! She is a phenom, definitely one to watch, and is now residing at the top of my favorites list.

Stacy Willingham’s first novel, A Flicker in the Dark, is scheduled to be published in January 2022 by Minotaur Books and HarperCollins UK.

Prior to writing fiction full time, Stacy worked as a copywriter and brand strategist for various marketing agencies. She earned her BA in Magazine Journalism from the University of Georgia and MFA in Writing from the Savannah College of Art & Design.

She currently lives in Charleston, South Carolina, with her husband, Britt, and her Labradoodle, Mako.

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Book Review: The Library by Bella Osborne @osborne_bella @Aria_Fiction

The Library
by Bella Osborne

Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP / BB

Two lonely bookworms. An unexpected friendship. A library that needs their help

‘A touching story of a friendship between a troubled teenager, a yoga-practicing farming woman in her seventies, and a local library. A delight!’ – Sunday Times bestselling author Katie Fforde

Teenager Tom has always blended into the background of life. After a row with his dad and facing an unhappy future at the dog food factory, he escapes to the library.

Pensioner Maggie has been happily alone with her beloved novels for ten years – at least, that’s what she tells herself.

When they meet, they recognize something in each other that will change both their lives forever.

Then the library comes under threat of closure, and they must join forces to prove that it’s not just about books – it’s the heart of their community.

They are determined to save it – because some things are worth fighting for.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I’m more conscious than most that people get twitchy around teenage boys. They think we’re all either on drugs or about to nick stuff.

 

She held my gaze. Usually this made me feel uncomfortable, like seriously uncomfortable, as if I wanted to unzip my own skin and take it off like a onesie, but for some reason this time I was okay.

 

It was great disappearing into a story but the shame of anyone discovering I was reading romance books was nagging away at me like toothache. Just the thought of it made me nauseous but the truth was I loved them. I was probably a bit addicted. Mainly because they were basically self-help guides for useless men. They were exactly what I needed. Simple lessons in how not to behave around females. I was learning way more from them than I did from my schoolbooks.

 

‘I practise jujitsu, judo and some elements of aikido. All to a reasonable level.’… ‘Bloody hell, you’re the geriatric version of Bruce Lee!’

 

They resumed their reading; each delving into other worlds where they could switch off from being themselves and most importantly avoid the things in the real world they could do nothing to alter.

 

 My Review:

 

I adored everything about this brilliantly insightful and thoughtfully written hybrid of women’s fiction, family drama, and coming-of-age genres. The endearing characters were enticingly flawed and their struggles were so compellingly written even those with the coldest of hearts would be drawn to them. The storylines and writing style were easy to follow and I quickly fell into a uniquely absorbing vortex that I was reluctant to leave behind when the pesky tasks of real life intruded. I was fully invested and captivated by the smartly written and perceptive story threads and the cleverness of how the various pieces were melding together while maintaining such evocative, well-honed, and heart-touching scenarios that tapped all the feels with generous helpings of amusing temerity and wry wit.

Along with top-shelf entertainment, Ms. Osborne was also provided me with two new additions to my Brit Words and Phrases list with daft ha’p’orth – a foolish person, and shufti – a quick look around. Believe me when I say only a daft ha’p’orth would pass up an opportunity to read this lovely tale.

 

 

About the Author

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

 

Bella Osborne has been jotting down stories as far back as she can remember but decided that 2013 would be the year that she finished a full-length novel. In 2016, her debut novel, It Started At Sunset Cottage was shortlisted for the Contemporary Romantic Novel of the Year and RNA Joan Hessayon New Writers Award. Bella’s stories are about friendship, love, and coping with what life throws at you. She likes to find humor in the darker moments of life and weaves these into her stories. Bella believes that writing your own story really is the best fun ever, closely followed by talking, eating chocolate, drinking fizz, and planning holidays. She lives in the Midlands, UK with her lovely husband and wonderful daughter, who thankfully, both accept her as she is (with mad morning hair and a penchant for skipping).

 

Follow Aria & Head of Zeus:

Twitter: @Aria_Fiction

Instagram: @headofzeus

Facebook: @ariafiction

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Book Review: A Layer of Love (A Recipe for Love Novel Book 6) by Kelly Collins  @kcollinsauthor

 

A Layer of Love
(A Recipe for Love Novel Book 6)
by Kelly Collins

 

Amazon  / BB

 

She’s broke and bored. He’s busy and burdened. Can they create something delicious together or are they a recipe for disaster?

Single mother Chelsea Sweet craves more than cartoons and T-ball practice. She needs adult companionship. Looking to meet someone she can have a grownup conversation with, she joins an early morning exercise group, only to find that the women aren’t interested in adding a new friend, and the sole man in attendance is so rude she nicknames him Mr. Mean. When her son’s school summons her for an emergency, she happily abandons her quest and falls back into her role as parent, peacemaker, and protector.

After the death of his wife, Brett Bayless is buried under the weight of singlehandedly raising a daughter, retaining his job, and finding a way to move on alone. One crisis seems to follow another, so when the school calls and says his daughter has been involved in an incident, it’s not a surprise. However, seeing her with no front teeth is. When the parent of the perpetrator turns out to be the awful woman from his exercise class, he’s happy to make her pay … for his daughter’s dental work and the hit to his ego.

The two find themselves thrown together by circumstances, only to discover the line between love and hate is as thin as spun sugar. Will the stresses that brought them together cause their relationship to fall flat, or can the layers of their lives blend to create something sweet?

Find out in A Layer of Love …

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I prefer them human with a smidge of decency, an ounce of kindness, and a spoonful of humility. What you are is a pound of pain in my ass.

 

Love is like chocolate: you never really have enough to quench the cravings.

 

At the end, we were a marriage of convenience. Only we were married, and it wasn’t convenient for her.

 

He looked around his new house and shook his head. Everything there needed to go. Moving all his modern furniture into a cabin was like putting fur on a fish and calling it a dog. It didn’t make sense, but then, nothing made sense lately.

  

My Review:

 

I have said it before and I know I’ll say it again, as I’m fickle like that, but this is my favorite Kelly Collins book of all time. This was a quick, easy-to-follow, enjoyable, satisfying, and refreshing read and exactly what I needed. I adored these lovable characters and their sweet burgeoning romance. They were lovely people, although it took a few beats for them to see each other that way.   Their struggles were real and relatable yet never over the top. I am a bit behind with this series and need to backtrack and read the earlier installments, but I am reveling in the premise and am eager for more.

ABOUT KELLY COLLINS   

 

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International bestselling author of over 30 novels, Kelly Collins writes with the intention of keeping the love alive. Always a romantic, she blends real-life events with her vivid imagination to create characters and stories that lovers of contemporary romance, new adult, and romantic suspense will return to again and again.