Category: 5-Stars

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Book Review, Giveaway: Take A Number by Amy Daws

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When Norah needs a date for her parent’s anniversary party and Dean needs a date for his best friend’s wedding, the two agree to something that can help them both out of a bind: Fake Dating.
The only problem? Highly flammable chemistry.
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Title: TAKE A NUMBER
Author: Amy Daws
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Release Date: October 15, 2020
Cover Designer: Amy Daws
Cover Photographer: Wander Aguiar
Cover Model: Philippe Belanger

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Take A Number-front-no apple

Fake dating the cute owner of a bakery Dean is an investor in sounds kind of messy…but messy can be fun.

Norah Donahue wants bakeries not babies, but her matchmaking mother won’t stop trying to play Cupid.

Dean Moser is a cocky stock market savant whose friends are all settling down, leaving Boulder’s infamous ladies’ man all alone.

When Norah needs a fake date for her parents’ anniversary party, her new silent investor is the perfect guy for the job. It seems like a foolproof plan…

That is until Norah decides to break her biggest rule and lock lips with Dean in the middle of the party to spite her meddling mother.

Turns out that Dean and Norah’s chemistry is sizzling hot, and mixing business with pleasure could turn out to be a recipe for disaster.

Or maybe they can have their cake and eat it too

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Books are my life. Of course I want the book nerd to end up with another book nerd. That is basically porn in my world.

 

But that girl had nothing going on upstairs. She thought Ebola was a country.

 

You look so put together and professional, and then you open your mouth and ruin everything.

 

He’s made my mother stop speaking to me for five blissful days, so he deserves free croinuts for life.

 

Trust me, I write erotica for a living… I’m basically a doctor of boning.

 

I’ve heard good things about Kegels. I, on the other hand, am really hoping for a C-section situation for our future children so I can keep it all high and tight down yonder. I’m not a fan of cardio, and Kegels seem dangerously close to cardio.

  

My Review:

 

I giggled-snorted and smirked my way through this crisply written wit-fest, it was stuffed with many of my favorite things like quirky characters, clever storylines, delectably volcanic chemistry, snarky banter, and delightfully irreverent humor.   Shortly after starting my perusal, the room fell away and I was sucked right into Ms. Daws’s cleverly contrived vortex of sugar, flour, and copious servings of delicious spice. I was reluctant to return to my banal life, which is sadly devoid of the main character’s ingenious baked signature creation of scrumptious croinuts. I have enjoyed imbibing in every installment of this lively series and while each could be read as a standalone, you’d be crazy to miss out on a single word this vivacious scribe has scribbled.

 

 

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paperback giveaway-genericCheck out Amy’s Facebook page for an awesome giveaway!

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Amy Daws is an Amazon Top 13 bestselling author of sexy, contemporary romance novels. She enjoys writing love stories that take place in America, as well as across the pond in England. When Amy is not writing in a tire shop waiting room, she’s watching Gilmore Girls, or singing karaoke in the living room with her daughter while Daddy smiles awkwardly from a distance. For more of Amy’s work, visit: http://www.amydawsauthor.com

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Book Review, Giveaway: Hiding Cracked Glass (Perceptions of Glass #2) by James J. Cudney @jamescudney4 @Shalini_G26

Hiding Cracked Glass
(Perceptions of Glass #2)
by James J. Cudney 

 

Amazon  / B&N 

 

An ominous blackmail letter appears at an inopportune moment. The recipient’s name is accidentally blurred out upon arrival. Which member of the Glass family is the ruthless missive meant for?

In the powerful sequel to Watching Glass Shatter, Olivia is the first to read the nasty threat and assumes it’s meant for her. When the mysterious letter falls into the wrong hands and is read aloud, it throws the entire Glass family into an inescapable trajectory of self-question. Across the span of eight hours, Olivia and her sons contemplate whether to confess their hidden secrets or find a way to bury them forever. Some failed to learn an important lesson last time. Will they determine how to save themselves before it’s too late?

Each chapter’s focus alternates between the various family members and introduces several new and familiar faces with a vested interest in the outcome. As each hour ticks by, the remaining siblings and their mother gradually reveal what’s happened to them in the preceding months, and when the blackmailer makes an appearance at Olivia’s birthday party, the truth brilliantly comes to light.

Although everyone seemed to embrace the healing process at the end of Watching Glass Shatter, there were hidden cracks in the Glass family that couldn’t be mended. Their lives are about to shatter into pieces once again, but this time, the stakes are even higher. Someone wants to teach them a permanent lesson and refuses to stop until success is achieved.  

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Pilar wasn’t fond of the woman, especially after Olivia scanned her from head to toe in petulant judgment the previous day. When Olivia traced a finger along the fireplace mantle and blew dust into the air, Pilar realized things would change drastically in the Glass home. She’d heard various stories while Olivia was away and researched the family many times before accepting the job. Experiencing Olivia Glass differed from hearing about Olivia Glass…

 

Caleb always hated having unreliable gaydar, as in Halley’s-Comet-once-every-seventy-five-years gaydar. It’d been a curse since he was a teenager and stuck in the closet with six different kinds of professional-grade locks. Mostly, he had wannabe gaydar, the kind where he wished every hot guy he saw was interested in jumping his bones. It rarely worked out. What happened in the movies and on television never occurred in reality. Well, almost never.

 

Hurry up, it’s as frigid outside as Leona Helmsley before she got herself incarcerated and consented to turn slightly nicer than a pit of vipers.

 

If you ever ask me that again, papi, the only handy you’ll get again is a vengeful nurse swabbing the cauterized wound where your manhood used to be.

 

Children aren’t an opportunity to fix your past. They’re a chance to improve the world’s future.

 

Emma had once suggested to Teddy that people were like clocks. They came in all different shapes and sizes. Some were wound up; others needed a source of powerful energy to keep them running. In the end, they all functioned for the same reason—a slow and careful passage of time…

My Review:

 

I am delighted to report that I continue to be impressed by this wily wordsmith, his latest tale involved several intriguing and well-paced storylines while also richly textured with compelling and prickly character development. His Glass family serves as a cautionary tale and puts a new spin on the definition of dysfunctional. After three years and with a staggering seven other novels in between, Mr. Cudney has produced a wry and clever sequel to his striking debut novel of Watching Glass Shatter. And as extraordinary and remarkable as his debut was, this follow-up was even better.

Giveaway:

Hiding Cracked Glass eBook (2 winners)

About the Author

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James is my given name, but most folks call me Jay. I live in New York City, grew up on Long Island, and graduated from Moravian College, a historic but small liberal arts school in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with a degree in English literature and minors in Education, Business, and Spanish. After college, I accepted a technical writing position for a telecommunications company during Y2K and spent the last ~20 years building a career in technology & business operations in the retail, sports, media, and entertainment industries. Throughout those years, I wrote some short stories, poems, and various beginnings to the “Great American Novel,” but I was so focused on my career in technology and business that writing became a hobby. In 2016, I refocused some of my energies toward reinvigorating a second career in reading, writing, and publishing.

 

Author

Writing has been a part of my life as much as my heart, my mind, and my body. At some points, it was just a few poems or short stories; at others, it was full-length novels and stories. My current focus is on family drama fiction, cozy mystery novels, and suspense thrillers. I think of characters and plots that I feel must be unwound. I think of situations people find themselves in and feel compelled to tell the story. It’s usually a convoluted plot with many surprise twists and turns. I feel it necessary to take that ride all over the course. My character is easily pictured in my head. I know what he is going to encounter or what she will feel. But I need to use the right words to make it clear.

 

Reader & Reviewer

Reading has also never left my side. Whether it was children’s books, young adult novels, college textbooks, biographies, or my ultimate love, fiction, it’s ever-present in my day. I read 2 books per week and I’m on a quest to update every book I’ve ever read on Goodreads, write up a review and post it on all my sites and platforms. 

 

Blogger & Thinker

I have combined my passions into a single platform where I share reviews, write a blog, and publish tons of content: TRUTH. I started my 365 Daily Challenge, where I post about a word that has some meaning to me and converse with everyone about life. There is humor, tears, love, friendship, advice, and bloopers. Lots of bloopers where I poke fun at myself all the time. Even my dogs have had weekly segments called “Ryder’s Rants” or “Baxter’s Barks” where they complain about me. All these things make up who I am; none of them are very fancy or magnanimous, but they are real. And that’s why they are me.

 

Genealogist & Researcher

I love history and research, finding myself often reaching back into the past to understand why someone made the choice he or she did and what were the subsequent consequences. I enjoy studying the activities and culture from hundreds of years ago to trace the roots and find the puzzle of my own history. I wish I could watch my ancestors from a secret place to learn how they interacted with others; and maybe I’ll comprehend why I do things the way I do.

 

Genres, Formats & Languages

I write in the family drama and mystery genres. My first two books are Watching Glass Shatter (2017) and Father Figure (2018). Both are contemporary fiction and focus on the dynamics between parents and children and between siblings. I’m currently writing the sequel to Watching Glass Shatter. I also have a light mystery series called the Braxton Campus Mysteries with six books available.

All my books come in multiple formats (Kindle, physical print, large print paperback, and audiobook) and some are also translated into foreign languages such as Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and German. 

Goodreads Book Links

 

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Book Review: Watching Glass Shatter (Perceptions of Glass #1) by James J. Cudney @jamescudney4 @Shalini_G26

Watching Glass Shatter
(Perceptions of Glass #1)
by James J. Cudney

 

Amazon  / B&N / GP

After 40 years of marriage, Olivia’s husband unexpectedly passes away. But when Ben’s will reveals a life-altering secret, she suffers a blow no widow should ever experience.

Olivia learns that she gave birth to a baby who later died in the nursery. Instead of telling his wife what happened, Ben switched the child with another. And as if that’s not enough, Ben’s will doesn’t reveal which of their five sons is truly not hers.

Olivia visits each of her sons to share a final connection before facing the truth that will change their family and discovers that each of them has been harboring a painful secret, just like their father. But will the secrets destroy their family, or bring them closer together?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

None of those ugly cows would even fit in this couture. It would be as if we asked Miss Piggy to model a new petite line of muumuus.

 

He knew at the root of the disdain lurked their similarities— neither one would ever acknowledge it. But he also valued his balls, planning never to tell either of them what he really thought.

 

Are any two men sitting close to one another a couple? Do I need to learn gaydar? How do you tell if they’re just friends? Or more? Is it different than when a man and a woman are dating? What kind of wedding did they have? How do you raise a child in that kind of household? Who makes the bed in the morning if you don’t have a housekeeper?

 

The Glass family has become a caricature of who we once were.

 

My Review:

 

This was my initial foray in perusing Mr. James J. Cudney’s scribblings and I was immediately taken with his enviable word skills and style, as well as being quite astonished to recall that I was reading his debut novel. His writing style had a unique elegance to the prose and was profoundly perceptive and emotive, yet easy to follow.

I tumbled right into this tale as if being pulled into the matchless Glass family vortex of oddly compelling characters with each one as slyly crafted as the next and imbued with compounded issues and a unique complexity. I knew them all so well I felt I had been living in their pockets and had completed an extended stay in each of their homes. My interest and curiosity were fully engaged from beginning to end. I feel compelled to extol his mad skills to the masses – if only I knew masses to tell.

End result – Mr. Cudney has a new and fully rabid fangirl to contend with, I hope he doesn’t startle easily…

About the Author

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James is my given name; most call me Jay. I grew up on Long Island and currently live in New York City, but I’ve traveled all across the US (and various parts of the world). After college, I began working in technology, program management, and business operations in the retail, sports, entertainment, and media industries. Although I enjoyed my job, I began focusing on my passion in 2016: telling stories and connecting people through words. My debut novel is ‘Watching Glass Shatter,’ a contemporary fiction family drama with elements of mystery, suspense, humor, and romance. To see samples or receive news from my current and upcoming books, please subscribe with your email address at my website: https://jamesjcudney.com
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Book Review: Just One Glance (Oh Tequila #5) by C.A. Harms @Charms0814 @limitlessbooks

Just One Glance
(Oh Tequila #5)
by C.A. Harms

The quiet one. Yep, that was me. The brother that rarely said anything and instead, stood back and observed. That is until too much tequila and very little thought had me swinging my junk around in the middle of a crowded college party. Hell, I even wore tassels in areas tassels should never be placed. Let’s just say, the hashtag #dicksaswinging will follow me around forever. You may have heard it a time or two already.

In my defense, things like that happened all the time because I lived in more of a zoo than an actual fraternity house. It just never happened to me. Suffice to say, I learned my lesson.

Seeing Ruby amidst all the chaos was certainly unexpected and it stopped everything around me. The room suddenly went quiet and everyone else disappeared. She stood out—the timid way she worried her hands and the way she looked around, almost as if she was ready to run away.

As I got to know her, I realized she was nothing like the girls I normally dated. She was quiet, innocent, and sweet. She was the complete opposite of me and if I was a better man, I would walk away. But I’m not and I can’t.

And to think, all it took was Just One Glance and everything changed.

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

 

… you are wound so flipping tight you squeak when you walk.

 

My Review:

 

Oh swoon, I was enamored this sweet couple and relished their tender romance that turned a timid and quiet nebbish of a girl into a confident takes what she needs hottie. This lovely pair could have been in a contest for who had the world’s worst dad, but she would win as her dad was a total waste of skin. Written in my favorite dual POV, the storylines were easy to follow, well-balanced between angst, humor, family drama, and a thoughtful and solicitous blossoming relationship that even involved a session of kissing and dancing in the rain – sigh.

The tale held my attention despite the tease and slow burn of their sensual attraction with a plethora of pranks and frat boy hijinks to keep me entertained. Given his startling and infamous performance in earlier installments, Jay was not at all as I would have expected him to be. I adored him and his hero tendencies. And given the taunt Ms. Harms threw down on the final pages for the couple featured in the next installment, I am already impatient and greedy for the next book.

 

 

About The Author

 

 

I am an Illinois girl, born and raised. Simple and true. I love the little things; they truly mean the most. I may have a slight addiction to my new Keurig—oh my, that thing is a godsend. And so fast too. I have two children who truly are the greatest part of my days, and their faces never fail to put a smile on my face. I have been married to my best friend for seventeen years and looking forward to many more.

I am one of those authors that adore my readers. I love to hear from you. After all, it is because of each one of you that I continue to write.
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FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorCAHarms/
INSTAGRAM: Instagram.com/authorcaharms/
NEWSLETTER: http://bit.ly/1xsgHCS
AMAZON: http://www.amazon.com/C.A.-Harms/e/B0…

 

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Book Review: What If? by Shari Low  @sharilow @rararesources  @BoldwoodBooks

What If?
by Shari Low

Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP/

The book that started it all! A classic retro rom-com from #1 bestselling author Shari Low.

1999.
Carly Cooper is 30, single, and after coming close to saying ‘I Do’ to six different men, she’s wondering if she accidentally said ‘goodbye’ to Mr. Right.

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But there is a problem.

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Her ex-boyfriends are scattered all over the world and Carly lives in 1999; an era before Facebook, Google, smartphones, 4G, and Broadband, when it was impossible to track people down with a few clicks of a mouse.

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On a mission to discover if she walked away from her ‘happy ever after’, Carly quits her job, her flat, her whole life and sets off on a quest to track down all the men she has ever loved.
Her Mr. Right is out there, but can she find him?


And what if he’s moved on from the ex-girlfriend who said goodbye?

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A wonderful classic 20th-anniversary re-release.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I can’t help thinking, ‘What if this is it?’ What if this is the way my life is going to be until I’m having Zimmer races up and down the corridor of my retirement home, flirting with old men and cheating at bingo?

 

I once overheard a woman on a bus saying that he’s the guy that she would nominate to look for her G-spot and not care if he didn’t find it.

 

He’s been chucked more times than an Olympic javelin… when girls look at Michael, they see a tall, almost good -looking guy, with an eccentric dress sense and ‘Sucker’ tattooed on his forehead… His goddess is definitely out there, I tell him, he’s just going to the wrong temples.

 

Every time my mother cast eyes on me, she clasped a damp cloth to her brow and muttered that I had obviously inherited my lack of scruples from my dad’s side of the family. She even took to praying for me at mass. I tried to console her with the thought that Mary Magdalene had been a bit of a tart and God forgave her, but it fell on deaf ears.

 

Carol looks at her watch. ‘I do believe it’s happy hour,’ she exclaims. ‘Carol, it’s only two o’clock.’ ‘Well, I’m happy and two o’clock is as good an hour as any.

 

They can’t decide on names for the babies. We suggested ‘American’ and ‘Express’; at least then she’ll bond with them immediately.

My Review:

 

I adored this irreverently amusing and cleverly crafted book and am now totally enamored with the vastly witty and agile writing style of the wordsmith Shari Low. I had read her work once before and now I remember why I had added to my list of favorite authors and placed every book on her Goodreads listing to my clinically obese TBR.

Written from the singular POV of the ever-resilient and appallingly fickle yet infinitely endearing Carly Cooper who was in the midst of a midlife crisis while facing down multiple issues including her single status, a tattered litany of failed relationships, and the approaching milestone of age-thirty while in the throes of the millennium bug.   This being a re-release of Ms. Low’s first book and written in 1999, there were popular culture references and levity that anyone born in this century may not fully grasp that involved the media, Betamax tapes, CDs, Margaret Thatcher, the Y2K bug, 80’s hair and shoulder pads, and huge cell phones. Being so old that I rode to school on a dinosaur while the earth’s crust was cooling, I had no such problem and lapped it up like a graceless glutton at an all you can eat buffet. I continue to covet my bloated TBR listing of her page, as I am a chronically relapsing dieter with a sweet tooth for clever wit.

About the Author

Shari Low is the #1 bestselling author of over 25 novels, including One Day In Summer and My One Month Marriage and a collection of parenthood memories called Because Mummy Said So. She lives near Glasgow.

Social Media Links –

Newsletter sign up: http://bit.ly/ShariLowNewsletter

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/sharilowbooks/

Website – http://www.sharilow.com

Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/sharilowbooks/

Twitter @ https://twitter.com/sharilow

 

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Book Review: Love Me Like You Do by Aimee Brown @AimeeBWrites @aria_fiction

Love Me Like You Do
by Aimee Brown 

Amazon  / B&N / GP/ Apple / Kobo

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A runaway bride. A handsome stranger. Two pasts to put behind them.

Parker is ready to marry the man of her dreams. But he isn’t ready to marry her. It would be helpful if he didn’t choose their wedding day to tell her this. But as she flees from the travesty behind her, she literally runs into the arms of a handsome stranger. The southern drawl, the dreamy eyes, she can’t fall for another man after being left at the altar – can she?

When Liam agreed to go on a date he didn’t expect to leave with the bride. Nor did he expect to take her the emergency room. Immediately he’s drawn to her fiery spirit, her kind heart, and beautiful smile. Liam’s got a whole host of problems and a past that keeps coming back, now can’t be the time to fall in love, but Parker might just be the one to break down his barriers and let him live a little – if she’ll let him in.

Will these two strangers allow serendipity to put them together, or will their fears keep them apart?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I let out a heaving frustrated sigh. One that feels like it’s come from the depths of my soul where I store all my secrets.

 The goofy grin now on his face sends a wave of mortification through me. I can feel the heat start at my feet and quickly make its way to my head. I probably look like a thermometer with both a bright red face of humiliation and bright red hair.

 The next pose is anything but easy as we lean forward, butts in the air, hands on the ground, and sweat dripping onto our increasingly slippery mats. Jason doesn’t hold back and rips a fart right next to me. ‘Sorry,’ he says out loud as the room pretends it never happened. ‘Perfectly normal,’ Stella says. ‘Perfectly normal is far too correct,’ I mumble to Jason who laughs under his breath.

 Yep. They say you gotta kiss a lot of frogs and, well, I don’t want to anymore… The right frog is supposed to turn into your prince according to fairytale law. But I think mine got run over by a truck or something.

 ‘I pinkie swear.’ She holds her pinkie in the air in front of me… Don’t tell me you’re never pinkie sworn before?’ ‘I’m a thirty-two-year-old dude. Of course, I’ve never pinkie sworn before. Is it like crossing my heart and hoping to die?’ I do the cross my heart motion and point to the sky. ‘What the hell was that?’ she asks with a laugh. ‘There is no dying involved in pinkie swearing. Just link your pinkie through mine. It’s binding. If we were Japanese and I broke the pinkie swear, I’d have to cut off my pinkie or let you cut it off or something morbid like that. It’s the real deal of promises…’

My Review:

 

This was good fun and wicked funny, I giggle-snorted most of the way through and laughed aloud several times.   I adored these quirky characters, even the obnoxious ones, well, maybe not the exes, but I was totally enamored with the endearing main characters who gave good banter and clever inner musings.   Written in a dual POV, the writing was original, irreverently witty, keenly insightful, delightfully amusing, and sparked sharp visuals across my cranium that kept me smirking with glee.

The storylines pulled from several genres including my favorite, women’s fiction, as well as romantic comedy and considerable family drama. I relished every clever word of this engaging tale and am now stalking, coveting, and scheming to amass all her books, past and future. I have a new author to fangirl as she just shot to the top of my favorites list.

About the Author

Aimee Brown is a writer of romantic comedies set in Portland, Oregon, and an avid reader. She spends much of her time writing, raising three teenagers, binge-watching shows on Netflix, and obsessively cleaning and redecorating her house. She’s fluent in sarcasm and has been known to utter profanities like she’s competing for a medal. Aimee grew up in Oregon but is now a transplant living in cold Montana with her husband of twenty years, three teenage children, and far too many pets. She is a lot older than she looks and yes, that is a tattoo across her chest. (In the Portlandia spirit, yes, I lived many years in PDX and I do indeed have a bird tattooed on me (2!)) Aimee is very active on social media. You can find her at any of the networks below. Stop by and say hello!

Follow Aimee:
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Book Review: Don’t Look For Me by Wendy Walker @stmartinspress @Wendy_Walker

 

Don’t Look For Me
by Wendy Walker

Amazon  / B&N / GP/ Apple

 

“In Wendy Walker’s thrilling novel Don’t Look for Me, the greatest risk isn’t running away. It’s running out of time.

One night, Molly Clarke walked away from her life.

She doesn’t want to be found.

Or at least, that’s the story.

The car abandoned miles from home.

The note found at a nearby hotel.

The shattered family that couldn’t be put back together.

They called it a “walk away.”

It happens all the time.

Women disappear, desperate to leave their lives behind and start over.

But is that what really happened to Molly Clarke?

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

 

Not one of these “friends” had stuck around after she’d fallen off the social ladder. And it had not been gradual. The day she was expelled was the day her phone stopped ringing or buzzing or pinging. It was as though she’d caught a deadly virus. A social virus that no one wanted to catch.

 

My Review:

 

This was my first taste of Wendy Walker and I can smugly state I picked an excellent starting point to sample her lovely wares. Her storylines were frighteningly realistic and so emotive and tautly written that my kindle seemed to be vibrating from the tension and I am now in need of a spa day to work out the knots in my neck and catch my breath, which I often caught myself holding during perusal. This was a complex, gripping, and heart-squeezing tale laced with tragedy, grief, intrigue, and family drama. There were numerous tangled webs as well as oddly compelling characters to unravel, and this wily wordsmith kept me guessing on several fronts. I fell right into her evocative prose, which smoothly scrolled through my gray matter with sharp imagery and heart-wrenching scenarios. It was marvelous.

About the Author

Wendy Walker is the author of psychological suspense. Her novels have been translated into 23 foreign languages and have topped bestseller lists both nationally and abroad. They have been featured on The Today Show, The Reese Witherspoon Book Club, and The Book of the Month Club and have been optioned for television and film.
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Book Review: The Fire By Night by Teresa Messineo #TheFireByNight

The Fire by Night
by Teresa Messineo 

Amazon  / B&N / GP/ Apple 

A powerful and evocative debut novel about two American military nurses during World War II that illuminates the unsung heroism of women who risked their lives in the fight—a riveting saga of friendship, valor, sacrifice, and survival combining the grit and selflessness of Band of Brothers with the emotional resonance of The Nightingale.

In war-torn France, Jo McMahon, an Italian-Irish girl from the tenements of Brooklyn, tends to six seriously wounded soldiers in a makeshift medical unit. Enemy bombs have destroyed her hospital convoy, and now Jo singlehandedly struggles to keep her patients and herself alive in a cramped and freezing tent close to German troops. There is a growing tenderness between her and one of her patients, a Scottish officer, but Jo’s heart is seared by the pain of all she has lost and seen. Nearing her breaking point, she fights to hold on to joyful memories of the past, to the times she shared with her best friend, Kay, whom she met in nursing school.

Half a world away in the Pacific, Kay is trapped in a squalid Japanese POW camp in Manila, one of the thousands of Allied men, women, and children whose fates rest in the hands of a sadistic enemy. Far from the familiar safety of the small Pennsylvania coal town of her childhood, Kay clings to memories of her happy days posted in Hawaii, and the handsome flyer who swept her off her feet in the weeks before Pearl Harbor. Surrounded by cruelty and death, Kay battles to maintain her sanity and save lives as best she can . . . and live to see her beloved friend Jo once more.

When the conflict, at last, comes to an end, Jo and Kay discover that to achieve their own peace, they must find their place—and the hope of love—in a world that’s forever changed. With rich, superbly researched detail, Teresa Messineo’s thrilling novel brings to life the pain and uncertainty of war and the sustaining power of love and friendship and illuminates the lives of the women who risked everything to save others during a horrifying time.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

When a command comes to fall back, it takes an infantryman less than ten seconds to simply turn around – and run. But not military nurses, whose only creed, whose one, unbreakable rule, is never to leave their patients. Never.

Jo looked at Captain Clark now as he came up to her, hands on hips, spitting before he spoke, and realized how much the movies had conditioned her, had prejudiced her. She’d believed that all U.S. soldiers in perilous positions would be just as truthful, upright, clean-mouthed, good, and pure as they were on-screen. Here was an American, and the odds were against him, certainly. And yet the man was still a bastard.

Kay liked to imagine that somewhere – in a small fishing village perhaps, far from all this – a nice plump Japanese woman was bouncing her baby on her knee, singing him a funny lullaby about dragons and magic kites, because other than her, they all seemed madmen to Kay – cruel, hard madmen. Destroying just to destroy, because the rest of humanity wasn’t human, wasn’t like them.

My Review:

The Fire by Night was found treasure, it was an extraordinarily well-crafted, poignant, deeply researched, and beautifully written book. The story featured two young female nurses who had become friends during their training and served in the Army during WWII. One nurse was sent to Europe to work in field hospitals frequently on or near the front lines, and the other was sent to the Pacific where she found herself an unwelcome and poorly treated guest of the Japanese government and placed in an internment camp in the Philippines.

Ms. Messineo’s magical arrangements of words immediately ensnared my full attention and inserted me into the corners of their tents and into their pockets. I heard the weeping, felt the turmoil, and smelled the adrenaline. She also placed me between their ears, behind their eyes, and straight into their souls. I was devastated when they were abused and my heart lifted when they fell in love. Ms. Messineo’s scenes were vividly and thoroughly detailed for sight, sound, smell, and emotional tone. She cleverly wove in exceptional and thoughtful ancillary details that added considerable depth and gravitās to the saga. I was awed by her extensive knowledge, sensitive and insightful observations, and breathtaking word prowess.

I had no earthly idea nor had I ever considered what military nursing during wartime would entail, what their living conditions would have been like, or the hardships the women would have faced from the very people they were serving. If I had thought about it at all, I would have assumed they had been in military hospitals. I finished the book with an intense appreciation for their sacrifice and survival, as well as for their bravery. I do love a feisty heroine, and Ms. Messineo gave me two.

About the Author

Teresa Messineospent seven years researching the history behind The Fire by Night, her first novel. She is a graduate of DeSales University, and her varied interests include homeschooling her four children, volunteering with the underprivileged, medicine, swing dancing, and competitive athletics. She lives in Reading, Pennsylvania.
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Book Review: Stuck On You by Portia MacIntosh @rararesources @PortiaMacIntosh @BoldwoodBooks

Stuck On You
by Portia MacIntosh

 

Amazon / B&N / GP/

Could a post-it note really lead to love…?

Sadie doesn’t have time for finding love. She’s too busy as PA for famous artist Damian Banks. When she’s not arranging exhibitions, she’s organising his dry cleaning or dumping his never ending stream of girlfriends.

But when she strikes up an unusual friendship with her desk share buddy, she finds a confidante and a new potential love interest. Problem is, they’ve never actually met…

With Christmas just around the corner, can Sadie put herself first for a change and find what she’s been looking for all along?

The brand new romantic comedy from top 10 bestseller Portia MacIntosh. Perfect for fans of Sophie Ranald, Mhairi McFarlane and Zara Stoneley.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Break-ups must always be done in person, that’s just the way it is –they should probably make it the law, which might sound extreme, but I’m sure it would cut down on a whole host of angry follow-up crimes.

 

… she really is a Karen. A middle-aged boomer with a can-I-speak-to-the-manager haircut who has lots of opinions about lots of things but none of them feel all that well thought out

 

‘Good morning,’I say brightly as I walk through the main office. There are murmurs of greetings from the troops but, honestly, I could burst into flames and the most they would probably do is move their plants and crack a window. I will not miss this bunch of miseries at all.

 

I squeal in such a high pitch I’m sure only dogs and Mariah Carey can hear me.

 

My Review:

 

This was a delightful introduction to the highly engaging wit and lively humor of Portia MacIntosh, and I’m outraged at myself for not having noticed her cleverly amusing and winsome arrangements of words before. It was so enjoyable I want to read her entire listing while hoping for more of the same. Apparently she has been beavering away with seventeen delectable books to her credit while in the meantime, I have obviously been distracted by any manner of shiny objects or pounding sand.

Stuck On You was written from the first-person POV of Sadie, a frustrated PA who was secretly seeking greener pastures away from her tediously demanding celebrity boss.   This was pleasurable reading and I adored these quirky characters as much if not more than the entertaining storylines they inhabited. The writing style was wily and clever with keenly humorous insights, breezy inner musings, and snarky observations. I have a new author to fangirl and zoom to the top of my Favorites List.

 

About the Author

Portia MacIntosh is a bestselling romantic comedy author of 12 novels, including It’s Not You, It’s Them and Honeymoon For One. Previously a music journalist, Portia writes hilarious stories, drawing on her real life experiences.

Social Media Links –

Newsletter sign up: http://bit.ly/PortiaMacIntoshNewsletter

https://portiamacintosh.com/

https://www.facebook.com/macintoshportia

https://twitter.com/PortiaMacIntosh

http://instagram.com/portiamacintoshauthor

http://bookbub.com/authors/portia-macintosh

 

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Book Review: First Girl Gone (Charlotte Winters #1) by L.T. Vargus & Tim McBain,  #FirstGirlGone #LTVargus #TimMcBain @Bookouture #NetGalley

 

First Girl Gone
(Charlotte Winters #1)
by L.T. Vargus & Tim McBain 

 

Down the beach, she can just make out the rusting hulk of the Ferris wheel through the dawn mist. The hairs prickle on her neck as she drags her focus back to the chestnut hair fanned out in the shallow water at her feet, to the grains of sand decorating the beautiful girl’s white cheeks like freckles.

Detective Charlie Winters never thought she’d find herself back on Salem Island, but she’s forced home re-open the wound that never healed: her sister was abducted from the small town when they were teenagers. But now a family friend needs her help to find her missing daughter, Kara.

Searching Kara’s messy, poster-covered bedroom, Charlie finds more questions than answers. Did Kara run away, or was she snatched? She’s clearly been keeping secrets from her family—but don’t all teenagers?

A little black matchbook hidden in a jewelry box is Charlie’s only lead, but the seedy nightclub it comes from proves to be nothing but a dangerous dead end. Until Charlie is approached by a second distraught mother whose daughter has also vanished.

Forced at every turn to relive the trauma she ran away from, Charlie’s blood runs cold when a girl’s body is discovered in the exact spot on the water’s edge where the last trace of her sister was found. It’s clear someone is taunting Charlie, but with other innocent girls’ lives at risk, she has no choice but to take the bait…

An absolutely unputdownable crime thriller that will leave you gasping for breath. Fans of Angela Marsons, Robert Dugoni, and Lisa Regan will need to sleep with the lights on!

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

So… Misty Dawkins… She got fat… See? That’s why I’m never having kids… You pop out some crotch fruit, and your hips and thighs stay doughy until the end of time.

 

He’d lost so much weight, and the lack of hair and eyebrows only added to the frail appearance. He looked withered and gaunt. Like a tree that someone forgot to water.

 

His hulking figure looked, in this moment, very apelike. Between his oddly animal posture and the unkempt beard crawling so high on his cheeks, Charlie couldn’t help but think of him as a man about halfway through the transition to werewolf.

 

It strikes me that a lot of us live in a sort of echo chamber these days. We surround ourselves with people who agree with us on everything— politics, art, entertainment.

 

But you don’t know what it was like growing up next door to him. He was like Bart Simpson. One time, he melted a hole in one of my Barbie dolls with a magnifying glass.

 

My Review:

 

This was a ripper of a series opener; I will be camping out on the authors’ pages to make sure I don’t miss the subsequent installments. I am hooked, ensnared, addicted, and infatuated with these clever and conniving wordsmiths as well as their oddly appealing and unusual quirky characters.   I do loves me a kickass chick with clever snark, and this book had two.

The writing was easy to fall into with storylines that intrigued, beguiled, and taunted the little pea in my brain to immediately begin to conjure theories. I was so smug in believing I had easily solved the case with my initial suspect being the villain. But, nooooo. These wily authors had outmaneuvered me and I had fallen for their trickery. How have I not read these prolific scribblers before? They seem to be like potato chips as now that I’ve had a taste of their salty goodness, I must have more.

About the Author

L.T. Vargus and Tim McBain are the authors of the Violet Darger series and The Scattered and the Dead
series among others, which have collectively tallied over
a million downloads. Their book, Dead End Girl, peaked at #3 in the US Kindle charts an

d has remained in the top 10 in multiple sub-categories since it was published in 2017.  

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