Favorite Quotes:

He smells like a sunny mountain day: fresh snow, pinecones, cold air, and hot kisses. Wendy, get a grip, no one smells like hot kisses. But if someone could, Riven would be that person.

You resuscitated his Bangaloo. I thought it was dead forever… I’d lost all hope until you came along.

I haven’t felt this giddy… well, if I have to be honest, probably not since my parents gave me the Barbie magical mansion Dreamhouse for Christmas in the second grade.

My Review:

Home for Christmas was a deliciously fun holiday read that left me smiling and well-entertained. A double-booking mishap meshed two lively families comprised of small children, teens, and adults, to share a cottage in the Utah woods during the holidays. Pranks, shenanigans, and sparks began to fly within twenty-four hours. There was a plethora of characters involved yet the storylines were easy to follow and kept me happily engaged, amused, and fully invested in their tale. Camilla Isley is not someone to annoy as her characters’ pranking was next level.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

This close, I catch a whiff of his scent— he smells like a promise of dark nights and

broken hearts. It’s intoxicating,

If looks could kill, my ex would be already playing chess with the Grim Reaper.

My Review:

This may be my favorite Camilla Isley book of all time. This Is Not A Holiday Romance was cleverly amusing and unfailingly entertaining. I always enjoy Ms. Isley’s wit and snarky banter; she has undoubtedly topped herself with this offering. The characters were well-textured, realistically flawed, and endearing.  I enjoyed this one so much that I am scheming to treat myself this holiday season by indulging in more of her clever arrangements of words and am off to scour her Amazon page for any I haven’t yet read.

One part American sugar, two parts Irish spice. Cassie O’Hara is about to discover the recipe for the sweetest Christmas…

When New York-born Cassie O’Hara decides to use the money her sassy Irish nana Nora left in her will to book a month-long stay in a quaint country village, she’s expecting a cozy cottage, steak-and-ale pie and plenty of Christmas cheer. Instead, she gets a draughty disaster covered in dust, a temperamental stray dog and two devastatingly handsome men vying for her attention…

There’s Charles, the dashing English aristocrat with an enormous manor house and a heart of gold. And Ryan, a curly-haired Irish handyman with a past he won’t talk about and an accent that makes her weak at the knees.

When Charles enlists Cassie’s event-planning expertise to save his family estate, she finds herself working shoulder to shoulder with Ryan, breathing new life into Bancroft Manor. As village life weaves its spell, Cassie uncovers some intriguing secrets about Nana Nora’s past. With her return ticket looming and her heart pulling her in unexpected directions, can Cassie find the love and belonging Nana Nora always wanted for her?

A laugh-out-loud romantic comedy filled with Irish charm, festive flirting and enough Christmas spirit to warm even the coldest of hearts. Perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella, Catherine Walsh and anyone who believes in the luck of the Irish…

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

From Debbie Johnson, the author of the Comfort Food Café series, comes an emotionally rich, laugh-out-loud funny novel about the journey of self-discovery, family reunions, and finding peace with your past. Statistically Speaking is The Amazing Grace Adams meets Bridget Jones.

As a high school history teacher, Gemma Jones loves the certainty of the past–specific names, solid dates, and proven statistics. Maybe that’s because her past resembles a jumbled-up sock drawer, one where finding a match is impossible.

On paper, Gemma’s life is just like any other successful, single thirtysomething. Her students adore her. She lives in a cute beachside cottage next door to the world’s sweetest neighbor, Margie. And she’s caught the eye of Karim, the resident hot PE teacher at her school. But every day of her life, she can’t get one thing out of her mind: the baby she gave up for adoption when Gemma was just sixteen years old.

This is the year that Baby–the only name Gemma has for her little girl–will turn eighteen. And it might be the year she actually meets her daughter face-to-face. Or maybe she already has. Katie, a new student who’s moved into the area, shares Gemma’s hair color (bright red) and build (long and lean). And BTW–totally random stat–she also shares the same birthday (October 3) as Baby. And they’re both about to turn eighteen. What are the odds? But Gemma and Katie’s mom are becoming good friends, and Gemma is concerned that their newly minted friendship will unravel fast if Katie is indeed Gemma’s birthdaughter.

Gemma doesn’t know if this will be the year she finds Baby. But maybe, just maybe, it will be the year she finds herself–and finds peace with her life–past and present. And maybe that’s what truly counts.

Statistically Speaking by Debbie Johnson is a heartfelt and humorous novel about self-discovery, familial reconciliation, and dealing with one’s past. If you enjoy character-driven stories with a hefty dose of laughter like Bridget Jones or The Good Place, you’ll love this book. Fall in love with Debbie Johnson’s heartwarming novel (previously published in the UK as Forever Yours). Now available for the first time in the US!

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Dog walkers, I have come to learn, are a friendly bunch. I know none of their names, and I have never shared mine, but we know each other by our beasts.

… nobody likes to think their teachers have a life, or even exist, outside the classroom. Kids are always surprised if they see me in the shop or a café, like part of them thinks I just hook myself up to some batteries and recharge in a cupboard when they’re not around.

I have never called it “wanderlust.” I find that I like it— wanderlust sounds sparkly and fun, as opposed to “too dysfunctional to lay down roots.”

There’s been a distinct reduction in attention span over the last few years, and I do sometimes worry that if the entire history of the world can’t be compressed into a TikTok video then it is too difficult for them.

I have been trapped in anxiety dreams all night long. Dreams where my fingers have turned into actual sausages that are too big to operate a keyboard. Dreams where I have forgotten my phone passcode and get locked out so many times my phone actually explodes in my hands like a grenade, leaving me with bloody stumps. Dreams where I am in hospital and nobody will let me out of bed to check my emails, tying me to the headboard with surgical stockings.

His family are his heart— mine was more of a septic appendix.

It is a smile that says she is happy. I manage to tear myself away from the photo after a few moments, reluctant to let it leave my hands, and lay it carefully by my side, scared it might disintegrate like a message in Mission Impossible.

My Review:

I adored this book from start to finish. This wily author is highly perceptive and appears to have been blessed by the pixies with strong word voodoo. I quickly fell into her prose and resented any interruptions that required putting my Kindle down for adulting requirements. Written from a first-person point of view, her brilliant narratives often squeezed my heart with keenly insightful observations and had me giggle-snorting at her wry humor on the same page. It was rather painful to pare down the two-page list of favorite quotes I highlighted during perusal. Ms. Johnson has a new acolyte.

The table is set for family dinner; roast chicken, wine for them and juice for their darling boy, and a vase of fresh daisies from the garden for decoration. But the food is cold, and the flowers are wilting. You might think they were sleeping in the next room if it wasn’t for the blood dripping crimson onto the carpet…

FBI Agent Val Costa is drawn out of retirement once again when the Cramer family is found dead in their home in Red Rose County. She falls to her knees in despair at the sight of little Michael Jr., curled up on the couch. What monster would take the life of an innocent child? Val vows to find justice for the mother, Stephanie Cramer, who survived the attack but is fighting for her life in hospital.

Interviewing neighbors uncovers no leads, but Val knows there’s a message in the way Mike Cramer’s body was left, tied to a chair, with stab wounds all over his body. It seems that the mother and son were collaterals, and Mike was the real target. But why? Working in an auto shop between taking his boy to karate class, Michael was a perfect family man. There are no signs of a robbery, and all Val has to work with are small-town whispers about the age gap between him and his wife.

A break in the case comes when a secret phone is found hidden in Mike’s car and GPS reveals he’d been making late-night trips out of town for weeks before his family was attacked. Her team quickly suspects an affair, but Val’s instincts tell her it’s something far more sinister.

As more cracks in the perfect Cramer family picture begin to show—arguments, money troubles—Val must work around the clock to stop this twisted individual in their tracks. But does she know someone is watching her every move? And when a dark secret in Mike’s past surfaces, can Val stay ahead of her stalker long enough to catch the killer before another precious life is taken?

An absolutely pulse-pounding crime thriller with unputdownable suspense, perfect for fans of Mary Stone, Kate Gable, and L.T. Ryan.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

…he’s having a go at being a ruthless drug lord. Maybe he’s watched Scarface one too many times.

My Review:

My interest in this well-paced series hasn’t waned due to the wily author’s crafty writing style, one that keeps the little pea in my brain itchy, engaged, curious, and primed to gather the meager clues sprinkled throughout the several active and carefully constructed storylines. I am enjoying learning more about the primary and secondary characters as they become more comfortable with each other. I see trouble brewing in the next installment as the enigmatic serial killer appears to be prepping for another strike.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Maisie stroked her hair, and for a moment, I believed in saints, and that Maisie was one of them. She cared for all the vulnerable souls that came to her, protecting them as best she could.

Most people tended to think that serial killers or other violent criminals had green skin and wild hair, like monsters in a movie. It simply wasn’t true. Predators looked like everyone else.

Sometimes knowing was worse, but not knowing was a torture that lasted a lifetime.

My Review:

Despite the harrowing undercurrents of the various storylines, the writing was easy to follow and kept me engaged. The little pea in my brain scooped up the wily author’s carefully parsed breadcrumbs and devised and discarded several theories during perusal, most of them incorrect. The story was well scaffolded and told from multiple points of view, which I always enjoy.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

I liked to believe that good things happened sometimes. This was something I had to remind myself of, having such a dark and dangerous job. We profiled the worst of humanity…

Once hopeful the authorities would actually do their jobs, my faith in the police was once again tarnished like old silverware at a garage sale.

You know, sometimes we can’t choose our path— sometimes it chooses us. Think of this as a beginning to something new.

My Review:

This was my introduction to the compelling storytelling of H.K. Christie and I picked a winner to start with. The writing was easy to follow, written from multiple points of view, hooked me early, and kept me reading despite the disquieting and nettlesome subject matter. I found the main character of Val Costa to be well-scaffolded. She was recently wounded yet still a badass. Val was well-conjured, authentic, realistically flawed, complicated, admirable, well-textured, and someone I want to follow in subsequent installments.

Favorite Quotes:

Taylor’s affected rangy stride as he entered the room made Eleanor wonder if his ego was even more bloated than she’d feared. Or if he’d sat on something akin to a cactus.

I dream of you and me. Of me keeping you safe. And making you happy. And watching you grow into whatever you want to be. Of me somehow being the best husband since husbands were invented. Which is still less than you deserve.

…an open heart gives an open face, and yours is like a picture book.

‘He probably keeps a record of all my blunders to delight in chiding me over one day.’ ‘Regrettably not, my lady.’ Clifford’s eyes twinkled as he waggled his leather notebook. ‘Due to insufficient pages to record them all.’

My Review:

I have read every installment of this delightful series and deem this volume the best one yet. Team Verity Bright has more than perfected their characters and excels at producing authentic, well-conjured, and smoothly-polished tales that are sumptuously detailed and brimming with clever wry wit, endearing and daring hijinks, humorous repartee, and amusing observations. I have come to adore every quirky character.

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