Book Review: Song of the Robin (Sarah Macintyre #1) by R.V. Biggs  @rvbiggs @rararesources 

 

Song of the Robin
(Sarah Macintyre #1)
by R.V. Biggs

Amazon  / B&NBB

The whispered voices and unsettling dreams were puzzling enough, but when the visions began, Sarah Richards’ confusion turned to fear.


Though mundane, Sarah’s life is routine and well-ordered. But one autumn morning she sees a figure waving to her, the figure of a man more ghostly than real.


Several times during that same day he appears, but is the specter harmless, or are his intentions malevolent?


Disturbed and confused, Sarah endeavors to understand the mystery, to identify her unknown stalker.


But with each visitation, she becomes ever more bewildered, and as her orderly life begins to unravel, she questions the reality of all that she knows, and with mounting horror, even her own sanity.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

‘I told you yesterday you need to ask him to refer you for some proper tests. Y’know, brain scans and that sort of stuff. Mind you, if they did I’m sure they’ll find a bloody computer in there.’ ‘Well if they did a brain scan on you all they’d find would be handcuffs and a packet of condoms!’

  

My Review:

 

My introduction to R.V. Biggs has me rubbing my hands together with glee and eager for more. His man is a sly one and quickly pulled me into a most vexing vortex with his character’s absorbing conundrum and his compelling style of storytelling. His clever and tragic tale kept me guessing and postulating theories as to what had and what was happening to Sarah – possession, mental illness, time slip, amnesia, etc. Mr. Biggs craftily gilded his narratives with perceptive and sharply honed details that pulled keen visuals to my mind’s eye. I smirked, bit my lips, and nibbled on my cuticles as I worked my way through his compelling mystery. I am enamored with his skills and impatient to dive into the next volume of the series, Reunion, which is already locked and loaded on my beloved Kindle.

 

About the Author

R V Biggs lives in a small ex-mining village near Wolverhampton, England, with his wife Julie and Mags the black lab. He has four grown-up children and eight grandchildren.

Walking with the dog is a favorite pastime and much of the storyline for his first novel was developed during these lengthy outings.

Robert worked for 35 years in telecommunications but changed career paths to a managerial supporting role within a local Mental Health National Health Service trust. It was during the period between these roles that the concept for his first novel was born.

Robert is a firm believer that destiny and co-incidence exist hand in hand and this conviction extends to his writing. He has a passion for holistic well-being and after first-hand experience of the potential healing powers of Reiki, a form of energy therapy, took a Reiki level 1 training course to heighten his spiritual awareness. Robert’s experiences in these areas helped conceive the ideas that led to Song of the Robin and its sequels Reunion and Broken, novels with central themes of fate, love, and the strength of family. His writing is not fantasy however but is set in modern times involving real people living real lives.

 

Book Review, UK Giveaway: The Secrets of Hawthorn Place by Jenni Keer @JenniKeer  @rararesources 

The Secrets of Hawthorn Place
by Jenni Keer

Amazon  / B&N  / GP / BB

Love will always find a way… Discover the intriguing secrets of Hawthorn Place in this heartfelt dual-time novel, filled with warmth and charm, perfect for fans of Lucinda Riley and Cecelia Ahern.

Two houses, hundreds of miles apart…yet connected always.

When life throws Molly Butterfield a curveball, she decides to spend some time with her recently widowed granddad, Wally, at Hawthorn Place, his quirky Victorian house on the Dorset coast.

But cosseted Molly struggles to look after herself, never mind her grieving granddad, until the accidental discovery of an identical Art and Crafts house on the Norfolk coast offers her an unexpected purpose, as well as revealing a bewildering mystery.

Discovering that both Hawthorn Place and Acacia House were designed by architect Percy Gladwell, Molly uncovers the secret of a love that linked them, so powerful it defied reason.

What follows is a summer that will change Molly forever…

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I’d been warned that she was a religious woman who did not approve of anything approaching fun. No wonder her daughter looked so miserable.

 

I smiled, but the glare I received in return would dampen even Satan’s furnaces.

 

He was as bonkers as a box of frogs on speed, but it was certainly never dull with him.

 

I went and cocked it up so badly that even a powerful fairy godmother with the biggest magic wand on the planet couldn’t sort this mess.

  

My Review:

 

I was quite taken with the clever craft of this book, it was a bewitchingly addictive tale that kept me intrigued and smirking in equal measure due to this wily author’s amusing wit and perceptively descriptive observations.   Told across two timelines with a dual POV, I enjoyed the canny layering and shrewd pacing of the separate tales as they wove a heart-squeezing, and compelling tale from the past alongside a more vibrant and somewhat vexing tale in the present day and expertly and slyly stitched the pieces together with an unpredictable leap forward. I was enmeshed, enchanted, and totally delighted.   Jenni Keer has mad skills and is a gifted and evocative storyteller.

 

About the Author
Jenni Keer is a history graduate who embarked on a career in contract flooring before settling in the middle of the Suffolk countryside with her antique furniture restorer husband. She has valiantly attempted to master the ancient art of housework but with four teenage boys in the house, it remains a mystery. Instead, she spends her time at the keyboard writing commercial women’s fiction to combat the testosterone-fuelled atmosphere, with her number one fan #Blindcat by her side. Much younger in her head than she is on paper, she adores any excuse for fancy dress and is part of a disco formation dance team.

Jenni is also the author of The Hopes and Dreams of Lucy Baker and The Unexpected Life of Maisie Meadows.

Social Media Links –

FB Jenni Keer Writer

Twitter @JenniKeer

Instagram jennikeer

 

Giveaway to Win a Signed Copy of the Secrets of Hawthorn Place, plus chocolate and a sparkly pen.

(UK Only)

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome.  Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below.  The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over.  Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will be passed to the giveaway organizer and used only for the fulfillment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data.  I am not responsible for the dispatch or delivery of the prize.

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Book Review: Hotshot and Hospitality (Green Valley Library, #8) Hotshot and Hospitality (Green Valley Library, #8) by Nora Everly @NoraEverly @smartypantsromance

 

Hotshot and Hospitality
(Green Valley Library, #8)
by Nora Everly

 

Amazon / BB

 

Hotshot and Hospitality, an all-new charming friends-to-lovers small-town romance from Nora Everly, is LIVE in Kindle Unlimited! 

Molly Cooper is through with men.

She means it this time.

Being stood up and humiliated was the last straw.

But after her all-grown-up and smokin’ hot childhood bestie kissed her to help her save face, she’s left wondering if it was the tequila or his lips that gave her all the feels.

 

Garrett Monroe had no intention of falling for his childhood best friend.

Unfortunately, one unplanned kiss in a bar was all it took for him to stumble. 

Now he’s stuck with a crush that won’t quit on the most stubborn woman he’s ever known.

 

Soon enough they’re overwhelmed by out-of-control feelings, one match-making momma, and two tight-knit families who think they’re dating when they’re not.

 

Or are they?

 

Nothing stays secret in Green Valley, Tennessee.

Can Molly and Garrett navigate the nosy waters and fall for each other in private?

Or will secrets sink their friendship instead? 

 

‘Hotshot and Hospitality’ is a full-length contemporary romance, can be read as a standalone, and is book #8 in the Green Valley Library series, Green Valley Chronicles, Penny Reid Book Universe.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I could use a vicarious thrill; my well has run dry. The last man I dated said he was thirty, but I swear, y’all, if you told me he was really two fifteen-year-old boys stacked up inside of a trench coat, I would believe you.

 

There were ten different kinds of feels coursing through my body right now and each one had its own sub-list of minor feels just waiting to be categorized and sorted into something that made sense. Ugh! I was like a periodic table of feelings or a horny science project.

 

I was one hundred percent sure I would be a pain-in-the-ass pregnant woman. Honestly, I was a handful with just a head cold.

 

It’s just like my great-aunt Belle always used to say— when all else fails, show your boobs… I’ll have you know it’s solid advice. She’s been married, like, eight times. Anyway, we’ll see if it works on you after dinner. For science.

 

My Review:

 

 

This was rollicking good fun from start to finish. I adored these captivating characters and the author’s irreverent and smirk-worthy sense of humor. The storylines were engaging, entertaining, and laced together with clever wit and cheeky observations. Molly was a hot mess and everyone knew it and let her get away with it, she was lucky like that but not so lucky when it came to her love life as no one seemed capable of handling her crazy for more than a handful of dates.

As someone who also requires a hearing aid, I appreciated the author’s understanding and thoughtfulness of including the challenges, limitations, and exasperation of living with hearing loss. I am totally enamored with Garrett and he currently holds the top of the list slot on my list of BBF as he was perfect in every way and so lovely he could only exist in a book.

 

 

About Nora Everly

Nora Everly is a lifelong bookworm. She started reading the good stuff once she grew tall enough to sneak the romance novels off the top of her mother’s bookshelf and it has been non-stop ever since.

Once upon a time, she was a substitute teacher and an educational assistant. Now she’s a writer and stay-at-home mom to two small humans and one fat cat.

Nora lives in the Pacific Northwest with her family and her overactive imagination.

 

Find Nora Everly online

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

Twitter: http://bit.ly/2kxjtwa

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

Website: https://www.noraeverly.com/

 

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Book Review: The Lost Fisherman by Jewel E. Ann @JewelE_Ann @valentine_pr_

 

 

The Lost Fisherman by Jewel E. Ann is now live! 

Download today or read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited

  Amazon:  https://amzn.to/3ylmq30

Amazon Worldwide: mybook.to/TheLostFisherman      

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3z3lnWo  

Start with The Naked Fisherman! mybook.to/TheNF 

 

It’s been five years since I’ve seen him. An unexpected event takes me back to the place where it all began.

But I’m no longer the naive young woman he once knew. And he’s no longer the man who took nearly everything from me.

Can this be our time? Or is it too late? Did I find myself only to lose him?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

The only memories of my past I want to get back … are the ones of you.

 

(Mandatory use of the F-word)

 

Sounds like you’re mad at me. Is it because I have a penis and you don’t? Because I didn’t ask for a penis. It just came with my body.

  

 My Review:

 

I didn’t think it possible but I loved this half of the duet even more than the first, Jewel E. Ann rocks and her word voodoo is strong! Her storylines and writing quickly pull me under and completely submerged me into her characters’ lives. I was right there with them in every scene as if I’m watching from a corner, sitting on the couch, riding in their vehicles, the next table over at McDonald’s, or looking over their shoulders while texting on their phones. I am as enamored with her unique style and craftiness as I am with her complicated and compelling characters. The woman has mad skills and I want every word she puts into print.

 

 

Meet Jewel E. Ann

Jewel is a Wall Street Journal & USA Today best-selling author with a quirky sense of humor. When she’s not saving the planet one tree at a time, you can find her role modeling questionable behavior to her three boys, binge-watching Netflix with her husband, and writing mind-bending romance.

Connect with Jewel

Website: https://www.jeweleann.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7505427.Jewel_E_Ann

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jewel-E-Ann/e/B00IJYHDIG/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjeweleann

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/485996228236493

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorjeweleann/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JewelE_Ann

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/jewel-e-ann

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

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jeweleannauthor

 

Book Review: The Sister Pact (A Leyholme Village Story #3) by Lisa Swift @rararesources @LisaSwiftAuthor @Herabooks

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The Sister Pact
(A Leyholme Village Story #3)
by Lisa Swift

 

Amazon  / Apple / GP / BB

Thirty-year-old Brooke Padgett is the landlady of The Highwayman’s Drop in the beautiful Yorkshire village of Leyholme. Commitment-averse and obsessed with work, she isn’t looking for anything serious – and she certainly isn’t interested in the pub’s new barman, gorgeous single dad Hayden. Or is she?

Older sister Rhianna Garrett has fled wealthy husband James after discovering his infidelity. As she moves back to the pub with her children in tow, it’s clear that living together will be tricky for these two very different sisters…

Meanwhile, their widowed mum Janey is keen to rejoin the dating scene. But a lot has changed since her youth in the seventies – and she’ll need the help of her girls.

As the sisters join forces to help Janey, as well as fight off the chain circling the pub, their relationship becomes close once again. Until Brooke discovers Rhianna is hiding a secret that could drive a wedge between them all…

Can the two sisters come together to save The Highwayman’s Drop, their mum’s love life – and their relationship?

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

‘Come on. I know you like kids really.’ ‘Yeah, I like them – some of them. I like butternut squash too, but I’ve never felt the need to eject one from my vagina.’

 

‘We didn’t say a word!’ Janey protested. ‘You didn’t need to. I’m fluent in eyebrow.’

 

I can’t help fretting about it, this internet dating lark. I struck it lucky with Mike tonight, but it feels like such a lottery. You know, four men have sent me photos of their todgers so far.

 

Molly Sollis said she heard Bianca’s mum say to her mum at the parents’ night that she wouldn’t mind a bit of rough if it’s got an arse like that. I don’t know what the first bit means but I think she was saying she likes your bum.

 

‘We could be on Britain’s Most Haunted if we wanted.’ ‘Why aren’t you?’ He shrugged. ‘The ghost thought it was tacky.’

 

 My Review:

 

This was highly pleasurable reading and good fun from start to finish with engaging and amusing storytelling and endearingly flawed characters. My favorite was Janey, the feisty pub landlady. Janey was canny and kept her two adult children on their toes although both of her daughters needed a major alteration in their thinking, which they finally got to via the hard way. The writing was top-notch, smirk-worthy, keenly witty, and laced with sharp humor and amusing snark. I adored it and have added this crafty and wily wordsmith to my list of favorites as I greedily covet ALL of her uniquely nimble and clever arrangements of words.

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Lisa Swift is a romance author from West Yorkshire in the UK. She is represented by Laura Longrigg at MBA Literary Agents. Her first book is due to be published by Hera Books in August 2019.

As Mary Jayne Baker, Lisa also writes romantic comedies for Aria Fiction.

Lisa is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

Social Media Links

https://twitter.com/LisaSwiftAuthor

http://www.lisaswiftauthor.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/LisaSwiftWrites

 

Book Review: How I’m Spending My Afterlife by Spencer Fleury  @spencerfleury  @TLCBookTours

How I’m Spending My Afterlife
by Spencer Fleury 

Amazon  / B&N / BB

Attorney Alton Carver has a problem: he’s under federal investigation for embezzling and securities fraud. Instead of spending the next three to five years behind bars, he’s got a plan: stage his own death, take the money he stole and light out for Central America, leaving behind wife Nicole and daughter Clara. But when he sticks around town long enough to watch his own funeral, he makes the unpleasant discovery that the life he’s leaving behind isn’t the life he thought he had.

The shock of seeing Nicole in the arms of another man leads Alton to postpone his plan to run for the border and forces him to reconsider his self-image as a respected and admired pillar of the legal community. What comes next is a slow-burn train wreck, a tale of self-deception, revenge, and bad decisions.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Chas and his light-beer-commercial friends were still tossing beanbags around. One of the girls squealed for some reason. She probably felt a thought forming. It can hurt if you’re not used to it.

  

My Review:

 

This was exceedingly clever and deftly paced – I never would have guessed it was the author’s first novel. I had trouble putting my Kindle down today and was prone to hiss or moan when my avid perusal was interrupted, as I didn’t want to miss a moment of the snarky observations and inner musings of this rather vile couple. Not one of the characters featured was an upstanding citizen or the type of person I would choose to share air with, yet I was riveted to their tale and deathly curious to know how it would resolve. I keenly followed each surprising twist and crafty revelation with fervent interest and waffled in my opinions as the layers were cunningly peeled back ever so shrewdly. Spencer Fleury is a wily storyteller with strong word voodoo. He is definitely one to watch.

About the Author

Spencer Fleury has worked as a sailor, copywriter, economics professor, and record store clerk, among other disreputable professions. He was born in the Detroit suburbs, spent most of his life in Florida, and now lives in San Francisco.

His first novel, How I’m Spending My Afterlife, was published in October 2017.

Book Review: Annie’s Autumn Escape by Debbie Viggiano  @DebbieViggiano @rararesources 

 

Annie’s Autumn Escape
by Debbie Viggiano

 

Annie’s big birthday is looming. Sixty! She feels half that age, even if the mirror tells her otherwise. Hubby Keith promises her a birthday to remember and doesn’t let her down, but packing his suitcase to shack up with a forty-something isn’t quite the memory Annie wants to make. Suddenly she’s single and – as an empty nester – very, very alone. The Bucket List she and Keith had promised to work their way through is but a dream, until besties Bella and Caz rally around Annie and whisk her away for a trip that will be remembered forever. Dubai. But it’s not all skyscrapers, bling, sand dunes, and sheiks. As the sun sinks over the horizon of Jumeirah Beach… might there also be love?

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Suddenly I was aware of being scrutinised by two American guys to the right. One was bald, with skinny legs and a stomach that flopped like exhausted knicker elastic. The other was pot-bellied and covered in the sort of tattoos that looked like a child had gone berserk with a biro. Neither were attractive, but I was nonetheless secretly thrilled to have them check me out… until they started to loudly discuss me. ‘She ain’t bad,’ drawled Skinny Legs. ‘Take it or leave it,’ said Tattoo Man dismissively.

 

I felt empowered. Like an Olympic swimmer. Look at me go! … I felt like bursting into song. Morphing into Helen Reddy. Belting out the first few lines of I Am Woman. I continued to pause poolside, milking the moment. ‘Annie,’ Caz urgently hissed. ‘For God’s sake cover up. You’ve fallen out of your swimsuit.’

 

Where are you, Annie? We’re worried you’ve been kidnapped by a sheikh looking to expand his grandad’s harem!

 

My Review:

 

This was wicked funny and cleverly amusing while also hitting some feels and tapping several social and aging issues. I adored it and knew that I would as after I read Willow’s Wedding Vows I immediately added this wily author to my list of favorites and swept her entire listing onto my TBR. Her characters are uniquely knowable and realistically flawed in the most humorous of ways.

Annie was prone to vivid daydreaming and given her active and colorful imagination, I hooted in mirth, frequently giggle-snorted, and maintained a near-constant gleeful smirk as I made my way through this delightful tale.   Being of an… ahem… mature age, I easily identified with Annie and her gal pals and envied their tight bond and highly eventful trip to the land of blingy Dubai. The storylines were engaging and cunningly paced with frequent comedic mishaps that often tugged a bit at the heartstrings while simultaneously tickling my funny bone.

Debbie Viggiano has mad skills!

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Prior to turning her attention to writing, Debbie Viggiano was, for more years than she cares to remember, a legal secretary. She lives with her Italian husband, a rescued pooch from Crete, and a very disgruntled cat. Occasionally her adult children return home bringing her much joy… apart from when they want to raid the fridge or eat her secret stash of chocolate.
Tweet @DebbieViggiano or follow her on Facebook!

Social Media Links –

TWITTER: @DebbieViggiano

FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/debbie.viggiano.5/

INSTAGRAM: debbieviggiano

WEBSITE: www.debbieviggiano.co.uk

Book Review:  Forrest for the Trees (Green Valley Heroes, #1) by Kilby Blades @KilbyBlades @SmartyPantsRom

Forrest for the Trees
(Green Valley Heroes, #1)
by Kilby Blades

 

Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP / BB

Forrest for the Trees, an all-new slow-burn small-town romance from Kilby Blades, is LIVE in Kindle Unlimited! Kilby kicks off the brand new Green Valley Heroes series in the Smartypants Romance Universe with her enemies to lovers standalone!

 

 

Forrest Winters isn’t just a federal fire marshal; he’s a thorn in Ranger Sierra Betts’s side. The way he swings his big ax, fixes her with his chameleon gray eyes, and talks about his jurisdiction has a way of breaking her concentration. He has a way of showing up everywhere he doesn’t belong, including Greenbrier Ranger Station. And he really needs to quit stealing her bacon bites.

When a series of suspicious fires, an underhanded co-worker, and a cagey Parks Police Chief threatens her job and the park itself, Sierra grudgingly agrees to partner with Forrest. Their side investigation may be her best shot at preventing the framing of an innocent man. But can his firefighting expertise and her detective skills lead them to the real arsonist before Forrest breaks her with his charm?

‘Forrest for the Trees’ is a full-length contemporary romance, can be read as a standalone, and is book #1 in the Green Valley Heroes series, Green Valley Chronicles, Penny Reid Book Universe

 

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

He wasn’t a full-on curmudgeon, but half of one, a right she supposed he’d earned from managing to keep himself alive for so long.

 

“Please tell me you didn’t name your axe.” “I name all my axes. It makes them feel special.”

 

Just remember. That “no sex ’til the third date” crap is for people who secretly hate themselves and resent their bodies.

  

My Review:

 

Shame on me. I’d never heard of Kilby Blades before picking up this book and I reveled in her clever and original arrangements of words. I fell right into her smooth and easy storytelling and I was quickly invested in her uniquely endearing and quirky characters as well as smirking, sighing, and deathly curious about their exploits and endeavors. I have always enjoyed my visits to Green Valley and haven’t found a clunker yet in the Smartypants collective. Forrest for the Trees kicks off a new series and I am totally committed, hooked, enamored, and inquisitive of what will come next. In the meantime, I’ll be perusing Ms. Blades’s listing of twenty-one published books. Where have I been?

 

 

About the Author
 

Kilby Blades is a USA Today Bestselling author of Romance and Women’s Fiction. Her debut novel, Snapdragon, was a HOLT Medallion finalist, a Publisher’s Weekly BookLife Prize Semi-Finalist, and an IPPY Award medalist. Kilby was honored with an RSJ Emma Award for Best Debut Author in 2018 and has been lauded by critics for “easing feminism and equality into her novels” (IndieReader) and “writing characters who complement each other like a fine wine does a good meal” (Publisher’s Weekly).

During her career as a digital marketing executive, she moonlighted as a journalist, freelanced as a food, wine, and travel writer, and lived it up as an entertainment columnist. She has lived in five countries, visited more than twenty-five, and spends part of her year in her happy place in the Andes Mountains. Kilby is a feminist, an oenophile, a cinephile, a social-justice fighter, and above all else, a glutton for a good story. Follow her everywhere @kilbyblades.

 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kilbybladesauthor 

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kilbyblades

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Kilby-Blades/e/B01N4770M0

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/kilbyblades

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/kilby-blades

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/kilbyblades

 

Facebook: http://bit.ly/2kvDnb4

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Book Review: For Love Or Honey by Staci Hart @imaquirkybird

For Love Or Honey
by Staci Hart 

Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP / BB

When the devil comes to town, you have to meet him head-on.

Which is exactly what I did when Grant Stone rolled into our small Texas town, driving a sports car I could fit in the bed of my truck, wearing a suit as black as his soul. He’s here to acquire mineral rights to half a dozen farms in town.

And there’s no way he’s getting mine.

I don’t make deals with the devil.

So when he challenges me to show him the small town ropes, my motivation is the prospect of seeing him make a fool of himself. He might have an angle, but if he thinks he can finagle me into endangering my bee farm, he’s got another thing coming.

Until the line in the sand is washed away.

My farm in danger. A town in upheaval. A man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants.

And me in the middle.

When the devil comes to town, you have to meet him head-on.

And when he sneaks into your heart, he’ll only break it.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

He began to speak, the deep, easy lilt in his voice hypnotic. When I glanced around me, everyone’s pupils could have been pinwheels— they even leaned toward him just a little. The man was a black hole.

 

And the town singles were flapping around in his orbit like moths. He was new, shiny, rich, and this town’s dating pool was stagnant and covered in pond scum. There were two ways to find love in Lindenbach— either you married your high school sweetheart or you left town and brought somebody back with you. So an eligible bachelor with a sports car that cost five times the town’s median income would get noticed. Recently divorced, middle-aged Dolores James, who’d quit paying attention to fashion somewhere around 2002, literally adjusted her boobs— hands in the cups and everything—before sauntering over to him, lashes flapping and smile on full blast. He didn’t even look at her when she bumped into him.

 

I’ll be your somebody. I hadn’t realized I’d needed one until then.

 

 My Review:

 

While this crafty wordsmith is a fairly recent discovery for me, every Staci Hart book I have picked up so far has been a guaranteed smirk factory with a few delectable sensual scenes hotter than a blazing furnace tucked inside. Her latest missive, For Love or Honey, continues this streak of winning word combinations with snort-worthy humor, irreverently amusing observations, and heart-squeezing and emotively insightful inner musings and revelations. I adore her clever humor, engaging storytelling, and flawed yet endearing characters. While I would never want to live in their tiny Texas town, I have whole-heartedly enjoyed my brief drop-ins with the Blum sisters.

 

About the Author

Staci has been a lot of things up to this point in her life — a graphic designer, an entrepreneur, a seamstress, a clothing and handbag designer, a waitress. Can’t forget that. She’s also been a mom, with three little girls who are sure to grow up to break a number of hearts. She’s been a wife, though she’s certainly not the cleanest or the best cook. She’s also super, duper fun at a party, especially if she’s been drinking whiskey. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, sleeping, gaming, or designing graphics.

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Book Review: The Naked Fisherman by Jewel E. Ann @JewelE_Ann @valentine_pr_

The Naked Fisherman
by Jewel E. Ann

USA Today & Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author, Jewel E. Ann returns with an addictive new adult romance about a young woman who discovers years of Sunday sermons didn’t prepare her for the many lessons of the crude and sexy man who is now her boss. 

It’s official.

I’m eighteen and a young woman with endless possibilities on my way to reunite with my mom in Colorado after five years apart—she had a little weed incident in Nebraska.

At the airport, she springs the news on me … she’s leaving for a month of job training. And me? I’m left on my own in the basement she’s renting from the fisherman, aka her landlord who lives upstairs.

He’s ten years older than me. Never wears a shirt. And makes it hard to remember all the things I learned at Christian Academy.

Did I mention he’s also my new boss?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I needed the fire department to extinguish the embarrassment from my face.

 

“You deserve to have your breath taken away … every day.” Those. Those ten words. They wrapped around my heart like sticky peanut butter and jelly fingers.

 

Even if Fisher didn’t share the same emotions, I knew he would always be my first love—that really good kind of love where my brain had no say. The kind with no logical explanation. The kind that took a special place in my heart as first. God willing, I would go on to love another. Have a family. And die in the arms of my husband. But …first would always be Fisher Mann.

 

I know they say love is patient, but it’s not. Love is the brightest star in the sky. It doesn’t have an off switch or a timer. It doesn’t wear a watch or look at a calendar.

  

My Review:

 

Jewel E. Ann is a gifted raconteur with an excellent memory. She well recalls the distressingly awkwardness, angsty self-consciousness, and ego-centrism of being a teenage girl on the cusp of adulthood while believing herself to be an adult woman ready to make her own way. Ms. Ann is also remarkably insightful in tapping into and rocking the damage caused to the psyche by the hypocritically judgmental and stridently rigid teachings of conservative religion. She knocked me back to that period of confusion in my life when wanting to establish my own identity while struggling against my parents’ weird religious beliefs where everything was a sin and everyone else was going to hell, yet it was oddly okay for them and their friends to cheat on their spouses and swear like angry sailors with a hangover.

Reece’s storylines were far more entertaining and comical than my own memories but this crafty author captured all the feels with remarkable clarity and deftly perceptive observations. I adore her unique and knowable characters, even when I want to give them a whack with my Kindle. I was totally invested and completely engaged in this tale and continued to ruminate about it when grudgingly forced to put my tablet down and do some dreaded adulting.

I am tapping my little foot in pique and hissing with disdain at the demonically evil cliffhanger – which are vile contrivances that I despise with the heat of a thousand suns. While the wait is thankfully brief one of two weeks before the release of the second half, I have a feeling it will seem like the longest two weeks of my existence.

 

 

About the Author

 

 Jewel is a Wall Street Journal & USA Today best-selling author with a quirky sense of humor. When she’s not saving the planet one tree at a time, you can find her role modeling questionable behavior to her three boys, binge-watching Netflix with her husband, and writing mind-bending romance. 

 

Connect with Jewel

Website: https://www.jeweleann.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7505427.Jewel_E_Ann

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jewel-E-Ann/e/B00IJYHDIG/

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