Category: 5-Stars

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Book Review: Can I Give My Husband Back? by Kristen Bailey

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Can I Give My Husband Back?
by Kristen Bailey

Amazon /B&N/ Kobo/ Apple/ GP 

 It’s normal to prefer getting a filling at the dentist’s to spending time with your husband, right?

I thought I was sorted on the life front. I was a heart surgeon with a loving partner and two gorgeous little girls. Except my husband’s version of ‘loving’ is lying, cheating, and sleeping his way around London. Which means I definitely deserve a refund.

Unfortunately, moving on isn’t that simple. Just because I know how to operate on a heart doesn’t mean I know how to fix my broken one. Plus, I lost the receipt for him years ago so I’m definitely getting short-changed.

But now I’m single, am I ready to mingle? There are a few minor issues:

1) The last time I went on a date double denim was in fashion and my eyebrows were horrendously overplucked.
2) Men wear stupidly skinny jeans now.
3) I don’t know how to use dating apps but at least I don’t have to get changed out of my pyjamas.
4) Sometimes the most promising thing you have in common with a guy is a shared love of prawns.
5) I don’t know whether to open a date with ‘hi’ or ‘hello’ or ‘hey’ and once I ended up saying ‘howdy’.

Everything happens for a reason, they say. There’s plenty more fish in the sea. But what happens when everything falls apart and you haven’t got a clue how to go fishing?

An absolutely hilarious and utterly relatable tale for anyone who has ever survived a nightmare relationship, felt a little lonely or nursed a broken heart with wine and carbs. This feel-good novel will get you back on your feet and genuinely laughing out loud. Perfect for fans of Why Mummy Drinks, Sophie Ranald, and Sophie Kinsella.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

“I could be kidnapped and killed for my body parts. Look after my girls. Make sure Si doesn’t ruin them.” “Two things: Don’t mention that man’s name to me. And you’re too old to be kidnapped. Your organs would be a hard sell.”

 

She looks like the eighties ate her up and spat her back out again. That’s some slick hair and a strong shoulder. She stands on my doorstep expecting to be invited in; I’m pretty sure that’s what you traditionally have to do with vampires.

 

‘I also don’t eat blueberries, for future information,’ I carry on. ‘But blueberries are delicious?’ ‘My sister once told me they are Smurf testicles so I can’t bring myself to eat them now.’

 

He normally wears glasses but Meera didn’t want them in her photos so forced him to wear contact lenses for the first time. So the poor boy’s eyes are bulging like his pants are too tight.

 

… she told the thirty-odd people present that she was glad she didn’t marry me because I’m very hairy and she didn’t want my furball babies.

My Review:

 

This was a wicked funny tale laced with all varieties of humor from acerbic snark to highly comical events and everything in between. I haven’t had this much fun giggle-snorting into my Moscato in ages. While there were also parts of the storylines that were quite tragic as the loathsome husband was an unrepentant serial adulterer, the writing sparked with clever wit and wry humor. I was frequently smirking and a few times nearly apoplectic with laughter.

 

Being more prone toward the Lorena Bobbitt methodology for dealing with such issues, I was occasionally impatient and annoyed with the main character’s spineless inability to face her husband’s blatant and repeated infidelities as well as her overly forgiving nature once she finally did so, I still appreciated her journey and reveled in the manner her sisters and friends were shoring her up which enabled her to retrieve her own identity and sense of worth. Every single character was riotously amusing with my favorite being the fierce and mischievously salacious younger sister Lucy, whom I hope to see featured in her very own book soon with more Frozen Fiesta Fracas adventures.

 

About the Author

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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.

You can find out more about her on Twitter (@mrsbaileywrites), Instagram (@kristenbaileywrites), and Facebook.

 

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Book Review: The Sea Gate by Jane Johnson

The Sea Gate
by Jane Johnson

One house, two women, a lifetime of secrets…

Following the death of her mother, Becky begins the sad task of sorting through her empty flat. Starting with the letters piling up on the doormat, she finds an envelope post-marked from Cornwall. In it is a letter that will change her life forever. A desperate plea from her mother’s elderly cousin, Olivia, to help save her beloved home.

Becky arrives at Chynalls to find the beautiful old house crumbling into the ground, and Olivia stuck in hospital with no hope of being discharged until her home is made habitable.

Though daunted by the enormity of the task, Becky sets to work. But as she peels back the layers of paint, plaster, and grime, she uncovers secrets buried for more than seventy years. Secrets from a time when Olivia was young, the Second World War was raging, and danger and romance lurked around every corner…

The Sea Gate is a sweeping, spellbinding novel about the lives of two very different women, and the secrets that bind them together.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Estelle swore in vehement French, which Olivia mentally noted down for future use.

 

She still did not believe there had ever been a Mr. Ogden. And if there had been he was probably, judging by his offspring, a hobgoblin.

 

The long mirror on the inside of the wardrobe door throws my image at me. There is little worse in life than being caught unawares by your reflection, before you’ve made the small adjustments all women make – I have avoided mirrors for so long that I have forgotten to look out for them – and there I am, thin and white and strangely shaped…

 

Olivia hated Sundays. Who on earth thought it was a good idea to have a day of rest and then make you get up early to go to church?

 

I feel nothing. Not regret, or hatred or even repulsion. Nothing at all. All my emotions appear to have burst out of me in that one punch. I imagine them flowing down my arm like Popeye’s spinach, pumping up the muscles, exiting in a cartoon-bubble POW!

 

 

My Review:

 

I adored this brilliantly crafted tale! The storylines were highly engaging, emotively written, colorfully and effusively detailed, insightfully observant, staggeringly eventful, and cleverly paced while hitting all the feels with a powerful punch and taunting my curiosity with a constant itch. The cast of characters was vastly diverse and well-drawn with despicable villains and endearingly flawed protagonists, but my favorite was the highly astute and humorously profane parrot. This was an epic tale that intrigued, squeezed my heart, amused me, and kept me well entertained and actively engaged while reading. This sly missive was my introduction to the wily Jane Johnson and has me greedy for more.

About the Author

Facebook

Twitter

Jane Johnson is a British novelist and publisher. She is the UK editor for George R.R. Martin, Robin Hobb, and Dean Koontz and was for many years publisher of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Married to a Berber chef she met while researching The Tenth Gift, she lives in Cornwall and Morocco.

Follow Head of Zeus:

Website: www.headofzeus.com

Twitter: @HoZ_Books

Facebook: @headofzeus

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Book Review: Stranger in the Lake by Kimberly Belle

 

 

Stranger in the Lake
by Kimberly Belle

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When Charlotte married the wealthy widower Paul, it caused a ripple of gossip in their small lakeside town. They have a charmed life together, despite the cruel whispers about her humble past and his first marriage. But everything starts to unravel when she discovers a young woman’s body floating in the exact same spot where Paul’s first wife tragically drowned.

At first, it seems like a horrific coincidence, but the stranger in the lake is no stranger. Charlotte saw Paul talking to her the day before, even though Paul tells the police he’s never met the woman. His lie exposes cracks in their fragile new marriage, cracks Charlotte is determined to keep from breaking them in two.

As Charlotte uncovers dark mysteries about the man she married, she doesn’t know what to trust—her heart, which knows Paul to be a good man, or her growing suspicion that there’s something he’s hiding in the water.

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

People say I married Paul for the money, but that’s just not true. I married him because I love him, and I love him for all the things he provides. A mortgage-free roof over my head and a belly stuffed with nutritious, organic food… And really, when you think about it, isn’t security just another word for love?

Annalee loves drama, and she loves when others share in hers.

Even if she had Paul when she was a teenager, even if she slept hanging upside down by her ankles every night, there’s no way someone her age— I’ve done the math, and the woman is well into her fifties— looks that good, not without a little help. But either her surgeon is really, really good, or somewhere along the line, Diana Keller made a deal with the devil.

As far as I’m concerned, this part of my life is like Vegas: what happened here stays here, hanging from velvet hangers upstairs in the closet.

 

Money can’t buy happiness or bravery. It can’t save a marriage or bring a drug dealer back from the dead. But in these United States of America, especially here in the South, it can keep a white man out of prison.

My Review:

 

This cleverly penned mystery kept my attention rapt and my curiosity sharply honed. This was my first experience with the wily Kimberly Belle and it greedily whetted my appetite for more. Her writing was easy to follow, expertly paced, colorfully descriptive, wittily amusing, and engagingly phrased. I was quickly lured into Ms. Belle’s intriguing yet somewhat smoky vortex where I couldn’t quite grasp who was trustworthy as this was such a slippery bunch. The ones I thought wouldn’t be actually were, and the ones I had higher aspirations for were rather tepid after all. I had hoped for a different ending as I always crave a romantic HEA, but I can accept the one written just as well.

About the Author

Kimberly Belle is the USA Today and internationally bestselling author of six novels, including the forthcoming Stranger in the Lake (June 2020). Her third novel, The Marriage Lie, was a semifinalist in the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Mystery & Thriller, and a #1 e-book bestseller in the UK and Italy. She’s sold rights to her books in a dozen languages as well as film and television options. A graduate of Agnes Scott College, Belle divides her time between Atlanta and Amsterdam.

Social Links:

Author website: https://www.kimberlybellebooks.com/

Facebook: @KimberlyBelleBooks

Twitter: @KimberlySBelle

Instagram: @kimberlysbelle

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

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Book Review: The Book Doctor by Britney King

 

The Book Doctor
by Britney King

Genre: Psychological Thriller
Release Date: June 11, 2020

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From the bestselling author of The Social Affair and HER comes a riveting new thriller about a writer desperate to make a comeback who realizes that success may cost more than he can afford to pay when a stranger arrives at his door.
 
George is bitter. As he should be. Once a household name, George is dying to make a comeback, and death may be the only option left to get the public’s attention. Ask anyone, his life is unraveling at the seams. Meanwhile, his new apprentice is everything he is not. 
 
The enigmatic man his publisher sends to help is young and ambitious, with looks that could kill, and possibly do.
 
When George discovers that his apprentice’s talent extends beyond fixing broken plots, that his winning formula may, in fact, be a result of making the crimes in his novels come to life, George has to ask himself how much he is willing to overlook to achieve mainstream success. 
 
Perfectly paced, The Book Doctor is an electrifying psychological thriller about a life’s work, obsession, 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.
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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Not that I’d call myself an alcoholic. But that doesn’t stop other people from doing it. From my agent, to my editor, to the garbage man, everyone has their opinions.

Bad decisions are written in permanent ink. Life cannot be reversed.

I realize I am seconds away from passing out. It’s funny how it isn’t until words are taken from you that you realize how many you have left to say.

No one is coming to save me. It’s only wishful thinking. Hope will suffocate you if you let it.

Trying to make a crazy person understand they’re crazy is a losing game. Believe me, I know.

My Review:

 

I do loves me some Britney King. She has her own uniquely clever, highly observant, and inherently crafty style and churns out riveting psychological thrillers that I seem to have developed quite a thirst for. But, man oh man! Based on the inner musings of her killers, she must be one twisted sister! I adore her smart snark, brilliant sociopaths, and wily sense of humor.   The pacing and plotting of her tales are pure genius. Her name will undoubtedly remain on my list of favorites into perpetuity… that is unless she starts writing about zombies, as I despise zombies with the heat of a thousand suns.

 

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.
 
Currently, she’s writing three series and several standalone novels.
 
The Bedrock Series features an unlikely heroine who should have known better. Turns out, she didn’t. Thus she finds herself tangled in a messy, dangerous, forbidden love story and face-to-face with a madman hell-bent on revenge. The series has been compared to Fatal Attraction, Single White Female, and Basic Instinct.
 
The Water Series follows the shady love story of an unconventional married couple—he’s an assassin—she kills for fun. It has been compared to a crazier book version of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Also, Dexter.
 
Around The Bend is a heart-pounding standalone, which traces the journey of a well-to-do suburban housewife, and her life as it unravels, thanks to the secrets she keeps. If she were the only one with things she wanted to keep hidden, then maybe it wouldn’t have turned out so bad. But she wasn’t.
The With You Series at its core is a deep love story about unlikely friends who travel the world; trying to find themselves, together and apart. Packed with drama and adventure along with a heavy dose of suspense, it has been compared to The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Love, Rosie.
The Social Affair is an intense standalone about a timeless couple who find themselves with a secret admirer they hadn’t bargained for. For fans of the anti-heroine and stories told in unorthodox ways, the novel explores what can happen when privacy is traded for convenience. It is reminiscent of films such as One Hour Photo and Play Misty For Me. 
 
Without a doubt, connecting with readers is the best part of this gig. You can find Britney online here: 
Web• http://BritneyKing.com
Instagram • https://instagram.com/britneyking_ 
Facebook • https://www.facebook.com/BritneyKingAuthor
Twitter• http://twitter.com/BritneyKing_
Goodreads • http://bit.ly/BritneyKingGoodreads
 
To get more– grab two books for free, by subscribing to her mailing list at britneyking.com or just copy and paste bit.ly/britneykingweb into your browser. 
Happy reading.

 

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Book Review: Summer in the City by Emma Jackson

 

 

Summer in the City
by Emma Jackson

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU / B&N

The heartwarming new holiday read from the bestselling author of A Mistletoe Miracle


Sometimes the one thing you’re looking for is right in front of you…

Stephen is on a very personal mission to find his father as per the wishes in their mother’s will. But he has no idea where to start, not that he’s going to tell anyone that… When Noelle, native New Yorker, daughter of a detective and desperate for a distraction from the novel she’s been struggling to write, offers to help, it feels like the perfect solution.

Except the last time she spoke to Stephen he thought they’d be seeing the New Year in together and instead she stood him up and sold him out! Stephen’s big enough and been around the block enough times to understand that all is fair in love and war, isn’t he? But when Stephen accepts her offer and they begin their search across the city, it soon becomes clear that the weather isn’t the only thing that’s heating up.

A heartwarming summer romance perfect for fans of Heidi Swain, Sarah Morgan, and Holly Martin.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

The entire ride I watched all the couples, wondering what their deal was. How did they get together? Why did it work? I mean, I understood the basics of human biology– it was something like eighty percent the right pheromones to suit their genetic code, but I couldn’t write a satisfying finale to my series with the heroine choosing her partner because she’d noticed he smelt right. Could I?

 

People had told me it would be hot in New York in the summer, but dictators had nothing on this kind of oppression. I’d considered taking up religion just so I could thank God for the air conditioning in the office and my apartment when I first arrived.

 

I had no desire to be another notch on his bedpost– the thing was probably whittled to matchsticks by now.

 

Before nine is too early to call on people. It’s practically an act of aggression.

 

I am not a convenient set of lady-bits for you to make the most of while you’re in the vicinity. There will be no shenanigans.

 

Yesterday’s dead-end had only seemed to make her more stubborn though and I couldn’t help feeling that I’d started something with her that I didn’t have complete control over anymore. Like I’d programmed a diminutive redheaded terminator and couldn’t cancel the action now.

 

‘Unclench your muscles.’ ‘Are you checking out my physique again?’ He flicked a quick glance at me, a hint of that devilish smile playing over his lips. ‘Only because you look like you’ve got rigor mortis.’

 

My Review:

 

I enjoyed this story as much as I did the endearing couple featured, and I’m assuming I would also enjoy the earlier book in this series as I relished Emma Jackson’s cleverly amusing and engaging writing style. Her characters were smart yet flawed and gave good banter. Her writing was smooth, well-paced, easy to fall into, and kept me pleasantly entertained while dealing with unusual yet relevant issues and concerns.

About the Author

Author of the Best Selling A MISTLETOE MIRACLE, published in 2019 by Orion Dash, Emma has been a devoted bookworm and secret-story-scribbler since she was 6 years old. When she’s not running around after her two daughters and trying to complete her current work-in-progress, Emma loves to read, bake, catch up on binge-watching TV programs with her partner and plan lots of craft projects that will inevitably end up unfinished. Her next romantic comedy, SUMMER IN THE CITY, is due for release in June 2020.

Emma also writes historical and speculative romantic fiction as Emma S Jackson. THE DEVIL’S BRIDE will be published by DarkStroke in February 2020.

Social Media Links –

Twitter: @ESJackson1

Instagram: @emma_s_jackson

Facebook @EmmaJacksonAuthor

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Book Review: First Shot by John Ryder  

First Shot
by John Ryder  

 

Amazon / B&N 

 

When girls go missing here, no one says a word…

Twenty-four-year-old Lila has disappeared without a trace. It’s the kind of case that ex-military loner Grant Fletcher would normally be happy to take on—he will always seek justice if someone has the money to pay him. But this one he’s doing for free. This one’s personal.

Because Fletcher owes his life to Lila’s father. And Fletcher knows that returning Lila safe and sound is the only thing that matters to his wheelchair-bound friend.

She last called her father from a small town in rural Georgia. Arriving there, Fletcher’s feet barely touch the ground before he finds trouble. He also discovers that his friend’s daughter wasn’t the first girl to go missing there. Not the first by far.

Then the last person to have seen Lila before she disappeared is murdered. As an outsider, Fletcher becomes the local deputy’s only suspect, leaving him no choice but to go on the run. Because Fletcher knows someone’s abducting girls in this town. And he also knows he’s the only person who can find them…

Fans of high-octane action and unforgettable heroes like Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne and David Baldacci’s Amos Decker will love First Shot.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Tall Boy eyed him as if he was a circus freak from bygone days. ‘You’s talkin’ with the tongue outta your shoe… C’mon, let’s get outta here ’fore we catch arthritis from this old coot.’

 

Daversville was a town that time hadn’t ever known about, let alone forgot. The clothes worn by the townspeople weren’t so much outdated fashion as never having been fashionable. Each item was clean and well presented, but they were clearly worn as an alternative to nudity rather than make the wearer feel or look good.

 

Fellers wasn’t a bar for tourists, it was a spit and sawdust kind of place with genuine sawdust and extra spit.

 

With the pace of an arthritic sloth, Fletcher took a few gentle steps forward.

 

My Review:

 

I rarely read books of this genre but I would routinely add them to my routine if I could find a bevy of them as easy to fall into and difficult to let go of as First Shot proved to be. Mr. Ryder’s engaging writing was taut with tension, surprisingly emotive, and well packaged with glints of humor and refreshingly clear descriptive details where each perfectly honed word packed a powerful punch while also being smartly strung together in clever arrangements that pulled sharp visuals and defined step-by-step planning and eventful fight scenes that ran like a movie reel behind my eyes. I definitely wanted to give the caustic and surly FBI agent an attitude adjusting whack to the back of her head, although the bad guys eventually did that for me.

I was already duly impressed before I noticed First Shot was the only book listed for this author – could it actually be his first?!? I have just made a new addition to my list of authors to watch for, as I now have a taste for an action hero named Grant Fletcher.  

About the Author

John Ryder is a former farmworker and joiner. He’s turned his hand to many skills to put food on the table and clothes on his back. A life-long bibliophile, he eventually summoned the courage to try writing himself, and his Grant Fletcher novels have drawn inspiration from authors such as Lee Child, Tom Cain, Zoe Sharp, and Matt Hilton. When it comes to future novels, he says he has more ideas than time to write them.

When not writing, John enjoys spending time with his son, reading and socializing with friends. A fanatic supporter of his local football team, he can often be found shouting encouragement to men much younger and fitter than he is.

 

Author Social Media Links:

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JohnRyder101

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Book Review: The Fallen Girls by Kathryn Casey

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The Fallen Girls
 by Kathryn Casey

 

Amazon /B&N / GP / Kobo / Apple

She didn’t notice the corn stalks shiver a few feet to her right. By the time she looked up, the man towered above her. In a single movement he wrapped one thick hand around her waist, the other he clamped over her mouth, muffling her screams. 

Detective Clara Jefferies has spent years running from her childhood in Alber, Utah. But when she hears that her baby sister Delilah has disappeared, she knows that the peaceful community will be shattered, her family vulnerable, and that she must face up to her past and go home.

Clara returns to find that her mother, Ardeth, has isolated her family by moving to the edge of town, in the shadow of the mountains. Ardeth refuses to talk to the police and won’t let Clara through the front door, believing she and her sister-wives can protect their own. But Clara knows better than anyone that her mother isn’t always capable of protecting her children.

When Clara finds out that two more girls have disappeared, all last seen around the cornfields near her family’s home, she realizes it’s not just Delilah who’s in danger. And then she gets a call that a body has been found…

Clara will have to dig deep into the town’s secrets if she’s going to find Delilah. But that will mean confronting the reason she left. And as she gets closer to Delilah, she might be putting her more at risk…

Gripping and spine-chilling, readers will love Detective Clara Jefferies, reading The Fallen Girls deep into the night. Fans of Kendra Elliot, Lisa Regan, and Melinda Leigh won’t stop turning the pages of this unforgettable new series from bestselling and award-winning author Kathryn Casey.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Guns don’t mix well with stupid. Guns and stupid are even more dangerous when paired with crazy drunk.

 

For the most part, I was in good shape, and I was too young for aches and pains. I considered the fine wrinkles webbing my eyes. One of my fellow detectives described them as laugh lines, but then noted that he’d never actually seen me crack a smile.

 

Mother methodically inspected me, looking at my face and hair, my clothes, and my dust-covered shoes. She examined me as if I were a specimen on a glass slide.

 

What this trip has taught me is that you can leave home, but you can’t ever truly leave it behind. No matter where you end up, where you started haunts you.

 

In the margins she’d drawn playful caricatures of our family. My tension eased enough that I chuckled at one of my mother. It bore a striking resemblance to the wicked witch in The Wizard of Oz.

 

They looked as tense as I felt. Even my teeth were nervous.

My Review:

While perusing this craftily written tale, I was well aware that I over-identified with the protagonist of Clara. Although I did not grow up in a cult, my parents were weirdly and stridently religious. Even as a child I knew it was strange and deeply resented the vile coercion, bombastic oratory, and blatant hypocrisy. I rarely read books with a religious theme as I find most religious dogma and rhetoric deeply annoying and tiresome with the essence of most being that everything is a sin that will be severely punished and anyone who does not follow their faith is doomed to an eternity of teeth gnashing. I’d rather be an altruistic, kind, and nonjudgmental person; believe as I please, and be proactive by obtaining dental implants.

Ms. Casey’s writing was emotive and atmospheric yet easy to follow and her storylines were well-plotted, shrewdly paced, taut with tension, maddeningly intriguing, loathsomely realistic, and sneakily unpredictable. I remain deeply curious about the details of Clara’s personal escape eight years prior. The Mormon sect that Clara’s family adhered to is a prime example of the idiocy of the devout who blindly follow teachings that allow and condone child abuse. Deplorable cretins such as this cause me to grind my teeth in the here and now, making those planned dental implants a probable need.

About the Author

 

A novelist and award-winning journalist, Kathryn Casey is the author of eleven highly acclaimed true crime books and the creator of the Sarah Armstrong mystery series. Library Journal picked THE KILLING STORM as one of the best mysteries of 2010. Her latest true crime, IN PLAIN SIGHT, investigates the Kaufman County prosecutor murders, a case that made worldwide headlines. Casey has appeared on Oprah, 20/20, the Today Show, Good Morning America, the Biography Channel, Reelz, The Travel Network, Investigation Discovery, and many other venues. Ann Rule called Casey “one of the best in the true-crime genre.”
@KathrynCasey
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Book Review: Fortuity (Transcend, #3) by Jewel E. Ann

 Fortuity (Transcend, #3)
by Jewel E. Ann

Fortuity, an all-new inspirational and moving standalone contemporary romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Jewel E. Ann, is available now! 

Fortuity-Amazon (1)

Forty-something Gracelyn Glock is living the dream.
No husband.
No retirement plan.
And since her self-imposed man-ban—no need to shave above her knees.

After a tragic accident, Gracelyn inherits her ten-year-old nephew. She signs a lease on a San Diego beach house and learns their neighbors for the summer are a sexy anatomy professor and his young daughter.

Professor Nathaniel Hunt has spent the last decade being a single dad . . . and not having sex.

So when he discovers Gracelyn has a peculiar outdoor stripping ritual, a million inappropriate thoughts fill his responsible mind.

When kisses are stolen, man-bans are broken, and summer comes to an end, will hearts stay in one piece and hope stay alive? Or will saying goodbye destroy everything?

Fortuity-AN1

Download your copy today or read for FREE on Kindle Unlimited!

Amazon

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I’m retired from men. A series of unfortunate events forced me into early retirement. Death. Cheating. Houdini at the altar. I’m lucky like that.

 

“I’ve never had a boyfriend. And you haven’t had a girlfriend since Mom. It would be nice to practice a little before I start school this fall.” “Practice?” I tilt my head to the side. “Yes. If I get a boyfriend in school, I don’t want him to think I don’t know what I’m doing.” Kill. Me. Now… “It’s like when you try to get me to try something new to eat and I say I don’t like it. You say I can’t know that until I taste it. Well … I need a taste of a boyfriend.”

 

“It was the third strike. Three men have crushed me. I’ve officially retired from dating. I call it a man ban… How many strikes do you have?” I drum my fingers on the table. His lips corkscrew for a few seconds. “Two.” “See.”I point a finger at him. “You have one more chance. Don’t let it go to waste.” “Mmm …if that’s the case, I think I’ll save my third chance for the nursing home… Why not? A younger woman of course. Some hottie in her late eighties with her own teeth and who still wears red lipstick.” My smile threatens to crack my face. “Not me. If I had my last chance to use in the nursing home, I’d seduce a male nurse. We’d be the topic of all the gossip, and the other old biddies would hate me…”

 

Before I had the chance to fall in love. I dreamed of you. You didn’t have a face or a name. Your voice was simply a medley of my favorite love songs, the whisper in my head when reading my favorite poems about love. You were the reason I woke up two hours before school to do my hair and makeup in hopes that some boy would give me a second glance. It was you … the idea of you. The dream of you. The promise from my adoring mother that someday I would find my Romeo.

My Review:

 

I cherished and reveled in every perfectly chosen word of this beguiling and engaging tale. I adored these characters to the nth degree, all of them. I adored them as much as I admire and covet their creator’s full listing. I haven’t read them all but she has never failed to delight or hold my interest with her crafty wit, and unique and indescribably stellar storytelling skills.   Fortuity hit all the feels and while the characters’ personal histories were tragic and heart-squeezing, the overall emotional balance tipped more heavily toward the side of smirk filled levity, wistful smiles, and well-pleased sighs. This was crazy good writing and although I haven’t read the first two books in the series and didn’t need to, it is now a deep desire to come full circle with the total experience. Jewel E. Ann is da bomb!

Excerpt:

“What took you two so long? Don’t worry, we saved you some cake.” Mr. Hans smiles from his recliner with Hunter on the sofa, her thumbs dancing along her phone screen. Gabe will get along well with her. 

“Cake, Morgan?” 

My steps falter when I hear Nate’s voice from the kitchen. 

Mr. Hans winks at me. “I invited Nate for cake too.” 

I nod slowly. “I see. Whose birthday is it?” 

“Life is a celebration. Cake needs no excuse.” 

So much for having some time to digest what Nate said to me and my flirty reaction to his kiss comment. I put on a neutral face and drag my timid ass into the kitchen.

“Cake, Gracelyn?” Nate glances up from the counter, a knife in one hand and a plate in his other hand. 

“Mmm … yes, Gracelyn. You want cake.” Morgan rolls her eyes back in her head as she slowly chews a bite, standing next to Nate. 

How am I supposed to look at him when I saw him barely an hour ago and he said he wanted to kiss me, and I returned the desire without the actual kiss? I guess we’re going to be two people who want to kiss but know that it will never happen. 

“Thank you.” I take the cake, giving Nate a two-second glance. It’s all I can give him without completely self-combusting into a pile of ashes. 

“Mr. Hans … this is so good.” Morgan traipses out of the kitchen. 

“It is good. I haven’t had cake in a long time.” I slowly lick the frosting from the fork. 

Nate glances at the floor, eyes narrowed, and hunches down. After a few seconds, I move around to his side of the island.

“Did you drop something?” 

Hunched like a baseball catcher, gaze still to the floor, he crooks a finger at me. 

I set my plate on the counter. “Did you lose a contact lens?” I squat next to him behind the counter. 

He lifts his gaze to meet my squinted eyes. The corner of his mouth bends just as his hand slides behind my head and his lips press to mine. 

 What the hell? 

My lungs freeze while my heart pauses and my mind explodes. There’s no tongue to this kiss, just hungry lips. It knocks me off balance, and I fall to my knees, resting my hands on his shoulders. 

Nate pulls back half an inch, letting his lips hover next to mine, the warmth of his breath covering my stunned mouth. “I’m not even sorry.” He shrugs. 

My mouth opens as if it wants to speak, but I have no idea what to say. 

“Dad …” 

Nate bolts up, leaving me on my knees. “Yes?” 

“Can Hunter use—” Morgan’s eyes narrow at me, my head barely peeking over the counter. “Gracelyn, what are you doing?” 

“I’m …” I give her a tight smile.

Nate says, “Picking up a few crumbs.” 

At the same time, I say, “Tying your dad’s shoe.” 

His explanation is much better. 

Morgan laughs. “Um … okay. You’re both acting weird.” 

I climb to my feet. 

“Can Hunter use what?” Nate asks. 

“Your bike so we can go for a bike ride.” 

“Are you going to stay around here?” 

Morgan nods. “Pinky swear. We won’t go too far.” 

“I’ll need to put the seat down for her.” 

“Yes! Thanks, Dad. I’ll go tell her.” Morgan runs out of the kitchen. 

Nate covers the cake with plastic wrap and nods to my plate with the half-eaten piece of cake. “Are you going to finish that?” 

Cake. He wants to talk about the cake? 

My head inches side to side. 

“Too good to let it go to waste.” He picks up the plate and finishes my cake. 

YOU KISSED ME! 

“By the way …” His gaze remains on the plate as he scoops up the last bite. “Morgan knows I know how to tie my own shoes.” 

About Jewel
www.annajon.es

Jewel is a free-spirited romance junkie with a quirky sense of humor.

With 10 years of flossing lectures under her belt, she took early retirement from her dental hygiene career to stay home with her three awesome boys and manage the family business. 

After her best friend of nearly 30 years suggested a few books from the Contemporary Romance genre, Jewel was hooked. Devouring two and three books a week but still craving more, she decided to practice sustainable reading, AKA writing. 

When she’s not donning her cape and saving the planet one tree at a time, she enjoys yoga with friends, good food with family, rock climbing with her kids, watching How I Met Your Mother reruns, and of course…heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, panty-scorching novels.

Connect with Jewel

Facebook: http://bit.ly/2Qzj2iq
Twitter: http://bit.ly/2urUQG0
Instagram: http://bit.ly/2ZZwpLD
BookBub: http://bit.ly/2s4ftr1
Stay up to date with Jewel by joining her mailing list:
http://bit.ly/2FpGXdA
Website: http://www.jeweleann.com

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Book Review: The Staycation by Michele Gorman

Staycation - BT banner

The Staycation, an all-new laugh-out-loud story of fun and a holiday escape close to home by USA Today bestselling author Michele Gorman is out now!

9781409190110 (3) (1)

Two families. One canceled flight. And a last-minute house swap…

Things get desperate for strangers Harriet and Sophie when they become stranded with their families in Heathrow’s Terminal 5. Each woman has her own reason for really really really needing the family holiday they’ve anticipated for months. But Iceland’s volcano has other plans for them. When their flights are canceled, the families swap houses and discover that sometimes the best things in life happen close to home.

This ash cloud has a silver lining, even if no one can quite see it yet.

Staycation - AN

Download your copy today!
Amazon: https://amzn.to/353RPtT
Apple Books: https://apple.co/2KFdTBm
Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/thestaycation
Nook: https://bit.ly/2Kkl1mv
Kobo: https://bit.ly/2yAFYHa
Google Play: https://bit.ly/2VqJBso

Add THE STAYCATION to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3eGuYsw

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Dogs smelled, and they sniffed crotches and licked their bits and breathed their bitty breath into your face. She didn’t actually know what kind of dog it was, but she was sure it did all of those things.

 

Your crown is crooked, drama queen…

 

There were enough scented candles to light a Roman Catholic Mass, but not one had been lit anywhere in the house. Someone was either romantically optimistic or had a friend who thought their house could use the extra fragrance.

 

How wonderful to be a bird, she thought. Except for catching live rodents and tearing them up into little pieces for dinner and living on top of the whole family in a cramped nest. Still, the flying would be nice.

 

‘I loved having babies, the way they’re so warm and snuggly. I craved the feeling, the smell.’ ‘That’s just the hormones your body makes so you don’t eat your baby,’ Harriet said.

My Review:

 

Michele Gorman is a wickedly clever, highly observant, and insightful lexicographer. I adore her wry humor and perceptive storytelling, she weaves quite an amusing tale with red herrings and unexpected tricks thrown in for added kicks. I cringed, gnashed my teeth, and giggle-snorted my way through this engaging story featuring vastly different women.

 

Harriet and Sophie were polar opposites in most ways, although they were both going through a similar period of adjustment and significant marital concerns while away from home during a much-needed vacation. Harriet was controlling, rigid, uptight, impatient, selfish, thoughtlessly insensitive and blunt, painfully and obnoxiously OCD and mostly like also a high functioning Aspergers. Sophie was easy-going, loosely organized, and eager to please.   I enjoyed the dichotomy although Harriet was difficult for me to appreciate as well as being uncomfortably familiar as she was a judgmental cold fish with limited social skills and not someone I would choose to spend time with as I had already suffered this unfortunate fate during my first eighteen years of life. Yet Ms. Gorman tricked me into caring for and about her, which is a testament to her mad skills.

 

 

Excerpt

‘Do you really have to do that?’ Harriet glared, first at the nose, then at her husband attached to it. It was a fine one, as noses went. She’d probably adored it when they were young and in love, even paid it cutesy compliments. Now she wanted to fill it with the entire pot of muesli yogurt he was eating and watch it set like the quick-dry grout she’d used on the bathroom tiles last month.

‘Do what, my darling?’ James’s smile beamed with pure adoration. Sod that Leo DiCaprio. She’d nominate James for an Oscar any day. The winner of this year’s Best Performance by a Husband in a Dicey Marriage category is: James Cooper, for the third year in a row!

‘That. Your nose is whistling.’ She could hear it wheezing over the announcement of another flight cancellation. Athens, this time. ‘It’s annoying.’

‘My breathing annoys you?’

‘You’re free to breathe, James. Just do it quietly.’

He shared a look with their daughter over the mountain of hand luggage on Harriet’s lap.

Billie wouldn’t tear her eyes from that bloody phone if Harriet’s knickers were on fire, but for her dad? She was sympathy personified.

‘Oh, don’t you start too,’ Harriet warned her.

Billie saluted, though her eyes drifted back to her screen. ‘Not breathing, sir, sorry, sir.’

‘Can you at least listen for an announcement instead of obsessing over your phone. Who are you emailing anyway?’

‘Pfft. Emailing. Mum, you’re ancient.’

James pointed his chin at the Departures board. ‘We can see what’s happening. Same thing that’s been happening since we got here. It’s delayed. They’re all delayed. Even you can’t do anything about that, so why not just relax? Besides, I’m sure with your hearing you’d pick up any announcements dead easy.’

‘If your breathing doesn’t drown it out.’ She scanned the board. The Budapest flight was still showing a gate. That would be promising, if they were going there instead of Rome. ‘Bloody ash cloud. Bloody volcano,’ she mumbled.

James smiled at her. ‘I wish I had a quid for every time that thing erupted.’

‘You’d have three quid in the last two hundred years. I wouldn’t make it your retirement plan. Best stick to your goats, Bill Gates.’

‘This is fun,’ Billie said. ‘No, really, can we go on holiday together all the time?’

Harriet crossed her arms – not easy with a lap full of luggage – closed her eyes and tried to imagine being in Rome already. Apparently being happy and content was all in the mind. What was it again? Mindfulness? No, it was the other bollocks. Positive visualisation. That was it.

Breathing deeply, Harriet imagined all the whingeing was the happy buzz of fellow travellers savouring their coffee in an ancient cobbled square near the River Tiber. The algae-tinged scent of the water tumbled over garlicky cooking smells as they wafted from the al fresco restaurants. Those weren’t passenger announcements but the distant zooming of the Vespas that carried Romans, young and old, about their business in the sun-drenched city. She could almost taste the delicate almondy crumbliness of the biscotti as she lifted it, after a perfect dunk, from her steaming cappuccino. Her film star glasses shielded her eyes but she could feel the sun warming her hair, picking out the highlights she’d begrudgingly paid over a hundred quid for. The knicker-squirmingly gorgeous man who’d been giving her bedroom eyes from the next table leaned over and said—

‘Mum, I’m hungry. And crampy. I need something to eat. Have you got any paracetamol?’

Was it too much to ask for two minutes of la dolce vita in peace?

Meet Michele Gorman:

Michele writes comedies packed with lots of heart, best friends, and girl power. She is both a Sunday Times and a USA Today bestselling author, raised in the US, and living with her husband in London. Michele also writes cozy comedies under the pen-name, Lilly Bartlett. Lilly’s books are full of warmth, quirky characters, and guaranteed happily-ever-afters.

Connect with Michele:
Facebook: https://bit.ly/2SbvGof
Instagram: https://bit.ly/3eGzuHl
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2Kl0VIO
BookBub: https://bit.ly/2XSbcEs
Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3bumYc0
Website: http://www.michelegorman.co.uk/

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Book Review: Sister Dear by Hannah Mary McKinnon

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Sister Dear
by Hannah Mary McKinnon

In Hannah Mary McKinnon’s psychological thriller, SISTER DEAR (MIRA Trade; May 26, 2020; $17.99), the obsession of Single White Female meets the insidiousness of You, ina twisted fable about the ease of letting in those who wish us harm, and that mistake’s dire consequences.

The day he dies, Eleanor Hardwicke discovers her father – the only person who has ever loved her – is not her father. Instead, her biological father is a wealthy Portland businessman who wants nothing to do with her and to continue his life as if she doesn’t exist. That isn’t going to work for Eleanor.

Eleanor decides to settle the score. So, she befriends his daughter Victoria, her perfect, beautiful, carefree half-sister who has gotten all of life’s advantages while Eleanor has gotten none.

As she grows closer to Victoria, Eleanor’s obsession begins to deepen. Maybe she can have the life she wants, Victoria’s life, if only she can get close enough.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Her glacial tone would freeze hell over when she left this world. No way would she go anywhere but south when she did.

 Today, all of those choices seemed as appealing as a bowl of hair soup.

 Penelope had unearthed my cheekbones with the skill of a veteran archeologist.

 I wasn’t just up shit creek without a paddle, I’d fallen out of the boat.

 

Malcolm looked as if he’d time-traveled from Wall Street circa 1985. Pin-striped suit, slicked-back hair— revealing a widow’s peak Dracula would’ve run through sunlight for— and a chunky monogrammed ring.

 …if still waters ran deep, he was the human equivalent of the Mariana Trench.

My Review:

 

I have been on a lucky streak lately and seem to be discovering a new favorite author every few days. I appear to be as fickle as an eighth-grade girl but it bares shouting that the clever Hannah Mary McKinnon is a wily minx. This twisty thriller kept me taut with tension, nibbling on my cuticles, and feeling on edge due to the mousy main protagonist’s out of character behaviors putting her at constant risk of discovery.

Eleanor was a binge eater who ate her emotions, something I well understand, and given the treatment she had received from her horrid harridan of a mother, Eleanor had a lot of them to swallow. The storylines were oozing with apprehension, heartbreak, indecision, bad choices, inner conflicts, guilt, resentment, bitterness, indignation, triumphs, empowerment, duplicity, and an awe-inspiring and shocking conclusion that left me addled with the taste of ashes in my mouth while my gaping lips flapped like a goldfish who had jumped the tank– it was outstanding!

 

About the Author

Author Website

Twitter: @HannahMMcKinnon

Instagram: @hannahmarymckinnon

Facebook: @HannahMaryMcKinnon

Goodreads

Hannah Mary McKinnon was born in the UK, grew up in Switzerland and moved to Canada in 2010. After a successful career in recruitment, she quit the corporate world in favor of writing, and is now the author of The Neighbors and Her Secret Son. She lives in Oakville, Ontario, with her husband and three sons, and is delighted by her twenty-second commute.