Book Review: BLOOD TRUTH (The Black Dagger Legacy Series #4) by J. R. Ward

BLOOD TRUTH

(The Black Dagger Legacy Series #4)

by J. R. Ward

On Sale: August 13, 2019

Purchase Links:

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Savior brings you the next sizzling and passionate paranormal romance in the Black Dagger Legacy series.

As a trainee in the Black Dagger Brotherhood’s program, Boone has triumphed as a soldier and now fights side by side with the Brothers. Following his sire’s unexpected death, he is taken off rotation against his protests—and he finds himself working with Butch O’Neal, former homicide cop, to catch a serial killer: Someone is targeting females of the species at a live-action role play club. When the Brotherhood is called in to help, Boone insists on being a part of the effort—and the last thing he expects is to meet an enticing, mysterious female…who changes his life forever.

Ever since her sister was murdered at the club, Helaine has been committed to finding the killer, no matter the danger she faces. When she crosses paths with Boone, she doesn’t know whether to trust him or not—and then she has no choice. As she herself becomes a target, and someone close to the Brotherhood is identified as the prime suspect, the two must work to together to solve the mystery…before it’s too late. Will a madman come between the lovers or will true love and goodness triumph over a very mortal evil?

Catch up on unique terms in the Black Dagger Brotherhood universe…and their IRL inspirations!

Sneak Peek at BLOOD TRUTH:

29th and Market Streets

Caldwell, New York

Boone’s shitkickers shredded the frozen tire tracks down the middle of the alley, his powerful body churning through the dirty city snow, air sucking into his lungs cold and punching out hot as steam from a locomotive’s stack. In his right hand, he had a twelve-inch serrated hunting knife. In his left, a length of chain.

Up ahead, by about thirty feet, a lesser was running as if its undead life depended on all the Usain Bolt the thing was pulling. The telltale sickly sweet stench of the enemy was thick in its wake, a tracker that Boone’s sensitive nose had picked up on seven blocks ago. The slayer was sloppy of foot, flappy of hand, and given how saturated its smell was, Boone wondered whether it was already injured.

The Black Dagger Brotherhood’s commanding officer, Tohrment, son of Hharm, set the nightly territories for the Brothers and fighters, carving up sections of downtown into quadrants that would be stalked for the enemy. Trainees such as Boone were paired with more experienced people, either Brothers or members of the Band of Bastards, in the interest of safety—especially as there was a new threat out on the streets.

Shadow entities. That were killing innocent vampire civilians.

Boone glanced over his shoulder. Tonight, he was working with Zypher. The Bastard was a great partner, a big, brutal male who nonetheless had a teacher’s patience and an eye for constant improvement.

It was supposed to have been Syn. And a relief when it wasn’t.

Syn was . . . different.

Boone’s favorite to work with, bar none, was Rhage. But the Brotherhood was otherwise occupied tonight. Every last one of them.

And Boone was the one who had set them on a mission that he hoped and prayed didn’t result in death.

His father’s, specifically.

In the intervening twelve months since their blowup over the broken arrangement, he and Altamere had settled into an uneasy détente. Which was what happened when you finally called a bully on their push-and-shove. The two of them kept up appearances, something that was not hard given how starchy and superficial their relationship had always been, but Boone had drawn a line and instead of the threatened repercussions, in return he’d gotten a retreat of hostility.

He probably should have moved out, but as petty as it was, he had enjoyed getting the upper hand and keeping it. Especially after he joined the Brotherhood’s training program, something he was well aware his father disapproved of. Altamere’s “son” a soldier? Fighting in the war? How brutish. The move had made Boone’s bookish decades seem like a fine hand of cards.

But he loved the challenge and he was damn good at the work—and a new kind of life and rhythm had started, where he and his sire rarely saw each other.

Except then came the invitation: The pleasure of his father and stepmahmen’s company requested at an aristocrat’s home this very evening. Going by the card stock alone, it was clear that other members of the glymera were included on the guest list.

Social gathering? Maybe. Treasonous violation of Wrath’s ban on the Council coming together? More likely.

It had been the first time in a year that Boone had spoken to his sire about anything of note. Yet how could he not urge the male to stay home? That viper pit of aristocrats had already tried to take down Wrath’s throne, and if they were planning another attempt?

The training center had taught him in detail all of the things the Brothers were capable of doing to someone who crossed them. And he might not like his father . . . but that was the point. With his alarm bells going off about treason, if he didn’t at least try to keep the male away from that party, he would feel like he had killed Altamere himself.

And that was too close to what he had at times wanted to do, and who needed to live with that guilt?

Predictably, his father had refused the wise counsel. So Boone had gone to the Brothers directly, and that was why he was paired with a member of the Band of Bastards this fine, crystal-cold winter’s evening.

Refocusing on his hunt, he threw some more speed into his legs, his thighs beginning to burn, his calves tightening, his bum ankle issuing the first of what was going to be a lot of complaints. All of that was background chatter easily ignored, utterly forgettable.

Just breathe, he told himself. The more oxygen he could get into his lungs, the more he got into his blood, fuel for his muscles, speed for his body.

Power.

And what do you know, he was closing the distance. The problem? He was getting farther and farther away from Zypher, who was dancing with a slayer of his own three blocks—now four blocks—back.

Time to do this.

Per protocol, he hit the locator beacon on his shoulder to notify the other squads that he was about to engage. And then he closed his eyes.

Dematerializing was something that vampires ordinarily had to concentrate and calm themselves in order to accomplish. Boone, however, had trained himself to find that place of inner equilibrium even when he was running full tilt boogie in pursuit of the enemy. And courtesy of all his practice, his physical form disintegrated into a scatter of molecules and he shot forward, passing the lesser.

He re-formed in front of the enemy, his boots planted, his knife up and his chain down, ready to party.

The slayer did what it could to slow its roll, arms pinwheeling, shoes slapping at the snow and skidding as it tried to stop on ice. Momentum was not its friend. Unlike some of the scrawny new recruits, this one had a football player’s thick neck and barrel chest, and all that body weight was a boulder bouncing down the side of a mountain, all keep-going instead of back-that-ass-up.

As he had been trained to do, Boone’s peripheral vision imprinted the alley’s contours and possible cover opportunities. His brain also did a lightning-quick assessment of threat potential, cataloguing fire escapes, rooflines, doorways, and windows, all of his instincts feeding information into the calculation of his own safety. On the physical side, his body braced for contact.

And the length of chain began to swing.

Boone wasn’t aware of giving his hand and arm that particular command, but things had started happening like that in the field over the past month. According to the Black Dagger Brother Vishous, there were four levels of skill development: unconsciously unskilled, which meant you didn’t know how much you didn’t know and couldn’t do; consciously unskilled, which was when you began to be aware of how much you needed to develop; consciously skilled, which was the level at which you started to use what you’ve trained yourself to do; and, finally, unconsciously skilled.

Which was what happened when your body moved without your brain having to micromanage every molecule of the attack. When your training formed a basis of action so intrinsic to who you were and what you did in a given situation that you were unaware of any cognition occurring. When you entered “the Zone,” as the Brother Rhage called it.

Boone was in that sweet spot now.

The whirring sound of the chain links circling beside him was soft yet menacing, like the easy breathing of a great beast—and Boone knew the second the slayer was going to move because one of its shoulders lifted and its hips angled ever so slightly.

The knife the lesser had tucked in its hand came flying out at Boone end over end—proof that Boone’s subconscious hadn’t considered quite everything. But his reflexes were on it, jerking his torso to one side, the surge of aggressive energy flowing through him so acute, so pleasurable, it was almost sexual.

His counterattack started with the chain. Licking the links out, he sent them around the slayer’s neck, a snake of metal with a tail that swung wide and doubled up on itself. With a tight loop locked in, he yanked with his full body.

The slayer pitched forward into the snow face-first.

And that was when Boone lifted his own hunting blade over his shoulder.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

In the back of his mind, the tally of his sire’s neglect and condescension was like an electric meter going haywire, the count spiraling up into the stratosphere…

 

You are amazing. I know . . . I know that sounds like a line, but it’s not. You bring me to my knees and lift me up at the same time. It’s the definition of magic.

 

My Review:

 

I have been hearing this author’s name for several years – first as murmurs then loud rumblings and finally as shouted raves; but until now, I had never stopped to read one of the many books from her rather large shelf of offerings. Silly me, what was I thinking? I’m kicking myself… This was fantastic. Despite the need to read slowly while occasionally needing to check the handy and thoughtfully provided glossary of her creatively contrived lexicon, it was well worth the effort. I was quite taken with the cleverness and agile craft of her complex yet captivating world-building.

Being a paranormal novice I had been hesitant to delve in, knowing I was starting the second generation of a long-running and highly venerated series and I would be swimming in alien waters. And, I’m lazy when it comes to extensive world-building. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised, scratch that, I was downright gleeful with my discovery! Even though I found myself sliding into a completely unfamiliar mythology from any vampire lore I’ve ever come across, I had no difficulty following the complexity and didn’t experience the expected struggle in navigating or comprehending the foreign structure of their society and various nomenclatures.

The storylines were action-packed, well-crafted, and laced with sharp wit, keen insights, and evocative observations. I was enthralled, riveted, and highly invested throughout. Ms. Ward’s bewitching and engaging writing style whisked me right inside the core of her secret clan as if I had been granted the vamp power to dematerialize and transport myself there.   Her characters were peculiar, curiously enticing, and uniquely compelling – even the creepy and disturbing ones.

I am a new convert to the Black Dagger Brotherhood and will confess that the last serious vamp book I recall perusing was by Anne Rice in the late 1980s. I am totally enamored with J.R. Ward’s delightfully creative and mesmerizing arrangements of words as well as this new species – they drink hot cocoa and eat ice cream! I may have been turned – I now consider myself a paranormal reader in training.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

J.R. Ward is the author of more than thirty novels, including those in her #1 New York Times bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood series. There are more than fifteen million copies of her novels in print worldwide, and they have been published in twenty-six different countries around the world. She lives in the South with her family.


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Book Review: One Hundred Secrets (An Aspen Cove Romance Book 10) by Kelly Collins

One Hundred Secrets

(An Aspen Cove Romance Book 10)

by Kelly Collins

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA 

 

Welcome back to Aspen Cove, the town where neighbors and friends have more valued than money….

Social media darling Goldie Sutherland grew up in the limelight. As the daughter of an award-winning movie star, she learned early on how fickle fans can be. Her mother taught her that beauty opens far more doors than brains. When her star-power starts fading fast, she sets out to find a groom in a last-ditch effort to win back her dwindling fan base. Armed with nothing but a handful of cash and desperation, she rides into Aspen Cove searching for prince charming but ends up with a mountain man. Can her fake Mr. Wrong turn out to be Mr. Right?

Tilden Cool came to Aspen Cove to get answers. After finding his great-great-grandmother’s diary, he needs to uncover the truth about a long-ago murder that changed his ancestor’s lives forever. He discovers that clearing his family’s name is going to cost a lot more than he bargained for, so when a beautiful woman in a wedding dress offers him cash in exchange for a favor, he agrees. But as he gets to know Goldie Sutherland, he realizes no good deed goes unpunished.

They both have secrets. They both tell lies. Somewhere in between is love, but can they open themselves up to the truth in order to find it?

Find out in One Hundred Secrets …

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Handshakes were out of the question. Old man Tucker had running water, but Tilden wasn’t sure if he ever used it. Grasping hands was like asking for a dose of the plague.

 

Behind her back, everyone called Sage the little leprechaun, but to her face, they called her ma’am because she demanded respect, plus she basically ran the clinic, and she’d suggested things like tetanus shots and rectal exams for those who irritated her.

 

Don’t get me started on lingerie. I don’t know how girls wear thongs. It’s like flossing your ass. Not once but all day long. And those lacy bras, they chafe the hell out of my nips.

 

“You know how it is, finding a single woman in Aspen Cove is like finding a unicorn.” Tilden chuckled. “Be careful of this one. Her horn is sharp.”

 

I fooled everyone for so long that I started to believe my own lies. Can you believe that I had to look at my driver’s license to know how old I really was?

  

My Review:

 

I got my giggle-snort groove back with a quick, satisfying, and entertaining visit to Aspen Cove. Kelly Collins has never failed me so I knew I’d enjoy my stay as this was book number ten and I will confess to smirking my way through all of the nine previous installments. Keeping current with this odd little hamlet has become a necessity, as I can’t let any of their oddly compelling small-town antics get past me.   I enjoy Ms. Collin’s engaging writing style as well as her clever wit, amusing insights, and snarky observations and descriptions. The storylines were easy to follow and pleasantly appealing while also relevant and topical.

With a new wrinkle for the series, the main characters in this story were not from the expected pool of quirky locals but were unique and original transplants to the area. They had met by chance but had instant chemistry and were well-matched in the art of trading quips and clever banter.

Goldie was a social media influencer living a shallow life until she had lost her sway and found herself out of options, money, friends, ideas, and luck. She arrived in town broke, homeless, and desperate with only a vague awareness of one person living in town who might be willing to help her. I enjoyed the subtle layering of her history and backstory.

Tilden was on a mission to research his ancestors and had kept to himself while doing so, making him a mysterious enigma to the small-town. For the last two years, he had been living in a one-room cabin without running water, think about that, no toilet, no sink to wash your hands, the shower was outside with a tank that required filling and water preheated. I might last for an afternoon, but after that, no can do… but I might consider it if the moonshine was up to speck.

ABOUT KELLY COLLINS   

 

  Goodreads  / Website  / Amazon /

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

Book Review: The Lost Vintage by Ann Mah

The Lost Vintage

by Ann Mah

 

HarperCollins | Amazon | B&N

 

400 pages
William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (August 6, 2019)

“If you enjoyed Sarah’s Key and Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, then this wonderful book by Ann Mah is for you.”   — Tatiana de Rosnay

Sweetbitter meets The Nightingale in this page-turning novel about a woman who returns to her family’s ancestral vineyard in Burgundy and unexpectedly uncovers a lost diary, an unknown relative, and a secret her family has been keeping since World War II.

To become one of only a few hundred certified wine experts in the world, Kate must pass the notoriously difficult Master of Wine examination. She’s failed twice before; her third attempt will be her last chance. Suddenly finding herself without a job and with the test a few months away, she travels to Burgundy to spend the fall at the vineyard estate that has belonged to her family for generations. There she can bolster her shaky knowledge of Burgundian vintages and reconnect with her cousin Nico and his wife, Heather, who now oversee day-to-day management of the grapes. The one person Kate hopes to avoid is Jean-Luc, a talented young winemaker and her first love.

At the vineyard house, Kate is eager to help her cousin clean out the enormous basement that is filled with generations of discarded and forgotten belongings. Deep inside the cellar, behind a large armoire, she discovers a hidden room containing a cot, some Resistance pamphlets, and an enormous cache of valuable wine. Piqued by the secret space, Kate begins to dig into her family’s history—a search that takes her back to the dark days of World War II and introduces her to a relative she never knew existed, a great–half aunt who was a teenager during the Nazi occupation.

As she learns more about her family, the line between resistance and collaboration blurs, driving Kate to find the answers to two crucial questions: Who, exactly, did her family aid during the difficult years of the war? And what happened to six valuable bottles of wine that seem to be missing from the cellar’s collection?

 

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I have a constant, nagging undertone of paranoia, like the unrelenting throb of a toothache that I am constantly testing with my tongue.

 

… Rose’s tragic death still haunted me. I found myself scrutinizing my thoughts, wary I would discover some ingrained bias, some inherent prejudice, some evidence that I was genetically predisposed to moral weakness.  

 

My Review:

 

Written in my favorite dual POV and spanning dual timelines, this engagingly written yet angsty book presented a major challenge.   I struggled with the harsh, tense, and oppressive conditions Helene endured before and during WWII, which began long before the German arrived as she suffered a vile and petty stepmother who was prone to selfish behaviors and duplicity. I equally resented her weak father and his neglect in turning a blind eye.   I ground my teeth and seethed and then the German’s arrived and the tension continued to steadily ratchet up the scale, and I began to bite my cuticles.

 

Despite constant and steady efforts, my perusal seemed to advance in tiny increments. My reading appeared to be markedly slower than usual as I often needed to pause and look up unfamiliar French words or Google several delectable sounding and savory tidbits which threatened to derail my dieting efforts.   And that is not to mention the wine – oh, the wine!

 

I quickly fell into Ms. Mah’s vortex, her emotive and insightfully observant writing sucked me right in and bedeviled me thereafter. Her alternating storylines were slowly paced, taut with anxiety, and fraught with peril. Both storylines were sweeping and epically pieced together while the writing was lushly descriptive, highly evocative, and heart-squeezing. In addition to Helene’s WWII experiences, an equally compelling tale was also unraveling in the present-day timeline for Helene’s great-niece, who seemed to have the erroneous impression in her understanding of family history. Poor Helene, she seemed to have been given the wrong end of the stick in both periods.

I was provided with a review copy of this masterfully written tale by HarperCollins and TLC Book Tours.

About the Author

Ann Mah is a food and travel writer based in Paris and Washington DC. She is the author of the food memoir Mastering the Art of French Eating, and a novel, Kitchen Chinese. She regularly contributes to the New York Times’ Travel section and she has written for Condé Nast Traveler, Vogue.com, BonAppetit.com, Washingtonian magazine, and other media outlets.

Find out more about Ann at her website, and connect with her on FacebookInstagramTwitter, and Pinterest.

Book Review, Giveaway: THEN THERE WAS YOU – Anthology

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THEN THERE WAS YOU is LIVE!

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A Single Parent Collection

14 Authors. 14 Stories.

Sexy Single Dads. Strong Single Moms.

Whispered Prayers of a Girl by Alex Grayson
A lonely man, a widowed woman, a carefree boy, and a broken girl… Can the four come together and help heal each other?

Boss of Me by Angel Devlin
Single dad Jude’s icy exterior keeps women at a safe distance; but fiery Pippa could be about to start a thaw…

Heartbreaker by Anna Brooks
She was never supposed to happen, and her baby girl sure as hell wasn’t part of my plans.

Back to Life by Dani René
Both having been heartbroken in very different ways, Kayla and Caleb find themselves in a very unlikely situation where they can’t deny the electricity coursing between them. Can love really bring them back to life?

Chester by Esther E. Schmidt
Some issues cut deep; they are hard to face and even harder to find a solution for.

Ripple Effect by Evan Grace
One night changed everything.

When Hope Ends (life begins) by Freya Barker
It’s the best day of his life–the worst of hers–when one moment in time leaves their paths unavoidably connected by the single heart beating between them.

Just Because of You by Gianna Gabriela
He broke me. I left. He stayed. Now I’m back.

Fighting For Us by Heather Lyn
She rescued me when I didn’t even know I needed saving. But now lives are on the line, and we might lose our forever, before we even get the chance to start.

Resisting Rayne by HL Nighbor
Their worlds collide and an unlikely friendship forms, but will they continue to fight the pull for something more or give into the pull and take a chance at love?

Tempt Me by Kally Ash
Temptation comes in many forms. Can Gianna or Max resist?

Riddick by Kathy Coopmans
Do you believe in heaven on earth? I did until one day, she vanished.

Wicked Truths by L.A. Cotton
The truth won’t fix anything… it’ll only hurt more. Won’t it?

Hunter by Lauren Dawes
A mate’s death. A rogue wolf. A new life.

THEN THERE WAS YOU features single parents who weren’t looking–didn’t need anyone–until the right someone came along. Experience the highs and lows of parenthood, love lost and gained, and new beginnings with this collection of stories. They’re sure to leave you with a full heart and a smile on your face.

AVAILABLE FOR A LIMITED TIME

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Proceeds will be donated to Family Promise, a non-profit organization which addresses family homelessness.

Now Live 1

Teaser 5 Evan

Teaser 6 Kathy

Teaser 7 HL

Teaser 8 Gianna

Teaser 2 Alex

Teaser 2 LA Cotton

Teaser 3 Freya

WHEN HOPE ENDS 

by FREYA BARKER

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

… he pays attention, and let’s be honest, that’s not always a quality evident in the opposite gender.

 

I’m so grateful having had this amazing opportunity to learn that when hope ends for one, life begins for another

 

“I don’t know who this woman is. I’ve never heard so much cursing in my life.” I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing. I remember this part too. Cassie had made me feel about an inch tall with her sharp tongue while she was delivering Kelty. She’d even smacked me because I was breathing too loudly.

 

My Review:

 

Freya Barker writes stories with all the feels, but this one was pure heart – some parts were heart-warming, others were heart-wrenching, and still more were heart-skipping and heart-stirring, but they were all only the good kinds of heart-related reading that shouldn’t lead a fear of heart-stoppage, possible angina, the need for CPR, or a cardiology referral. The heartfelt storylines were engaging and relevant with writing that was easy to fall into and alternated between steaming up my glasses, raising my heart rate, putting a smile on my face, and squeezing my coronary muscle like a two sizes too small pair of Spanx. It was divine. I’ll gladly ride on Freya Barker’s bus until the wheels fall off.

Teaser 4 Kally

Teaser 9 Lauren

Teaser 10 Anna

Teaser 11 HeatherTeaser 12 Esther

Teaser 13 Angel

Teaser 14 Dani

 

GIVEAWAY!

To enter the giveaway of a HARDBACK version of the collection click HERE!

Release Giveaway

Book Review: Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman

Lady in the Lake

by Laura Lippman

 

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU 

B&NHarperCollins

 Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: William Morrow (July 23, 2019)

The revered New York Times bestselling author returns with a novel set in 1960s Baltimore that combines modern psychological insights with elements of classic noir, about a middle-aged housewife turned aspiring reporter who pursues the murder of a forgotten young woman.

In 1966, Baltimore is a city of secrets that everyone seems to know—everyone, that is, except Madeline “Maddie” Schwartz. Last year, she was a happy, even pampered housewife. This year, she’s bolted from her marriage of almost twenty years, determined to make good on her youthful ambitions to live a passionate, meaningful life.

Maddie wants to matter, to leave her mark on a swiftly changing world. Drawing on her own secrets, she helps Baltimore police find a murdered girl—assistance that leads to a job at the city’s afternoon newspaper, the Star. Working at the newspaper offers Maddie the opportunity to make her name, and she has found just the story to do it: a missing woman whose body was discovered in the fountain of a city park lake.

Cleo Sherwood was a young African-American woman who liked to have a good time. No one seems to know or care why she was killed except Maddie—and the dead woman herself. Maddie’s going to find the truth about Cleo’s life and death. Cleo’s ghost, privy to Maddie’s poking and prying, wants to be left alone.

Maddie’s investigation brings her into contact with people that used to be on the periphery of her life—a jewelry store clerk, a waitress, a rising star on the Baltimore Orioles, a patrol cop, a hardened female reporter, a lonely man in a movie theater. But for all her ambition and drive, Maddie often fails to see the people right in front of her. Her inability to look beyond her own needs will lead to tragedy and turmoil for all sorts of people—including the man who shares her bed, a black police officer who cares for Maddie more than she knows.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

It was like that first great work of art that transfixes you, that novel that stays with you the rest of your life, even if you go on to read much better ones.

Within a year, she was engaged to Milton Schwartz, big and hairy and older, twenty-two to her eighteen, his first year of law school already behind him. I went to their wedding. It was like watching Alice Faye run away with King Kong.

The detectives, who seemed to find everything about her mildly hilarious, had shrugged, told her that motives were for Perry Mason.

Another blue-eyed brunette would indicate that she was just a type, whereas a wispy blonde would suggest that he would never quite get over her, that she would be with him forever, sort of like chickenpox.

 My Review:

 

Baltimore in 1966 – a completely unfamiliar locale and a lifetime away; I was a child in the sixties so I have only a vague awareness of some of the events and icons mentioned. And I should not fail to mention that laws and societal expectations were vastly more limiting, confining, and even dangerous for women and minorities.

While reading and even upon reaching the last page, I was conflicted in how to assess and rate this uniquely constructed, captivating, and complicated opus. It was like an oddly choreographed symphony consisting of numerous instruments and movements that couldn’t be fully appreciated or heard until assimilated and meshed together. Only in those final pages did the separate notes weave together to reveal the clarity and understanding of how brilliantly contrived the entirety had been.

I kid you not, while compelling and original, this wasn’t an easy read as the myriad POV and meaty storylines were robust and somewhat labor-intensive to hold together. The ingeniously diabolical Laura Lippman led me on a merry chase, and while somewhat addled and even exasperated at times my interest never flagged as the intensely captivating breadcrumbs and mysterious undercurrents constantly tickled my gray matter. It was mesmerizing and well-worthy of a 5-Star rating.

I was provided with a review copy of this well-crafted conundrum by TLC Book Tours and HarperCollins. 

About the Author

Since Laura Lippman’s debut in 1997, she has been recognized as a distinctive voice in mystery fiction and named one of the “essential” crime writers of the last 100 years. Her books have won most of the major awards in her field and been translated into more than twenty languages. She lives in Baltimore and New Orleans with her family.

Connect with Laura on her WebsiteFacebookInstagram, or Twitter.

Book Review: Sweet Little Lies (Angel Sands #3) by Carrie Elks

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Title: Sweet Little Lies
Author: Carrie Elks
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Release Date: Aug 7, 2019
Cover Designer: Najla Qamber

READ FOR FREE ON KINDLE UNLIMITED

 

He was the boy from the wrong side of the tracks. She was everybody’s princess. Ten years later, he’s back in town and this time he has something to prove.

Aiden Black never thought he’d return to the small beach town he grew up in. But as the new director of a luxury resort, he’s determined to make it a success. What he doesn’t expect is to run into an old flame, the girl that got away.

Single mom, Brooke Newton, cares about two things. Taking care of her son and helping out at the local animal shelter. Until she’s sent on a mission to save an endangered dog and comes face to face with the only man she’s ever loved.

As soon as they meet, the attraction between them reignites. But Brooke has a secret – a big one – and she has no idea how to tell Aiden. As lies are exposed, and truths are told, they’re determined to take advantage of this second chance. It’s a shame not everyone in town has got the message…

**Sweet Little Lies is the third book in the Angel Sands series, set in a small beach town on the California coast. If you like a heartwarming second chance romance that’s low on angst and big on feels, this is the story for you!**

 


Excerpt

Somehow, Brooke managed to pull herself together. She let out a mouthful of air and nodded at the man in front of her. “We’ve met before,” she said, her voice thin. “Hello, Aiden.”

He said nothing for a moment, but she could feel those dark eyes taking every inch of her in. There was something unfamiliar about him. It wasn’t quite foreboding but it was on the borderline. She got the impression nobody messed with Aiden Black.

A shiver snaked down her spine.

“Brooke,” he finally said, holding his hand out for her to shake as though they were mere acquaintances. “How are you?”

For a moment she considered giving him a honest answer. Shocked. Nauseous. Wondering where the hell he’d been for the past ten years. “I’m good, thank you,” she replied, holding his hand firmly in hers. It was warm, strong, and sent the biggest jolt up her arm. In spite of the heat, her skin broke out in goose bumps.

“And your parents? Are they well?” The corner of his lip curled up. Was that a sneer?

“They’re good, too.” She nodded. “And you? How have you been?”

There was a twitch in the corner of his jaw. His face was as sculpted as she remembered. Though he was freshly shaven, she could remember the way it felt as she pressed her lips against his stubbled chin, kissing her way along his jawbone.

Stop it, Brooke. She didn’t need to be thinking about this, not now, and not ever.

 

My Rating:

My Review:

 

This was a quick read that was tender sweet with delicate hits of delectable steamy bits, sigh, it was a welcome treat between the taut thrillers and murder mysteries I’ve been dabbling in of late. I have feasted on each of the three books in this delightful and entertaining series and have my fingers crossed that Ms. Elks will continue the series by writing books for each unique small-town citizen residing in this out of the way beach town. The storylines are engaging and easy to follow while the characters are admirable and worth knowing, highly likable, and hardworking. I want to join them for their next gathering of wine, whine, and gossip.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Carrie Elks writes contemporary romance with a sizzling edge. Her first book, Fix You, has been translated into eight languages and made a surprise appearance on Big Brother in Brazil. Luckily for her, it wasn’t voted out. Carrie lives with her husband, two lovely children and a larger-than-life black pug called Plato. When she isn’t writing or reading, she can be found baking, drinking an occasional (!) glass of wine, or chatting on social media.

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Book Review: Never Tell (Detective D.D. Warren #10) by Lisa Gardner

 Never Tell

(Detective D.D. Warren #10)

by Lisa Gardner

Amazon US / UK CA / AU / B&N

A man is dead, shot three times in his home office. But his computer has been shot twelve times, and when the cops arrive, his pregnant wife is holding the gun.

D.D. Warren arrives on the scene and recognizes the woman–Evie Carter–from a case many years back. Evie’s father was killed in a shooting that was ruled an accident. But for D.D., two coincidental murders is too many.

Flora Dane sees the murder of Conrad Carter on the TV news and immediately knows his face. She remembers a night when she was still a victim–a hostage–and her captor knew this man. Overcome with guilt that she never tracked him down, Flora is now determined to learn the truth of Conrad’s murder.

But D.D. and Flora are about to discover that in this case the truth is a devilishly elusive thing. As layer by layer they peel away the half-truths and outright lies, they wonder: How many secrets can one family have?

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

D.D. gave the childless detective a look. “If pregnancy hormones led to homicide, there wouldn’t be a husband left alive.”

You know, anyone will hang with the lit department, but tell someone you teach math or science, and it’s like you’re personally reminding them of every test they ever failed.

In movies, everyone loves the kickass heroine. I’m less convinced the average man wants one in real life.

I do not shoot my exes. Frankly, I couldn’t afford that many bullets.

My father was brilliant, my mother was melodramatic, my husband was a hero and a liar, my family was complicated.

My Review:

 

Never Tell was a cleverly crafted, maddeningly paced, complicated, and slowly developing tale with multiple POVs and complex storylines full of secrets, lies, and manipulations. Other than the recurring police offices none of the other characters were as they were initially presented; I couldn’t decide where several fell on the spectrum of good vs. evil. I spun wild theories that spiraled, flamed, and flip-flopped every other chapter. Sigh, this deviously talented author bested me, I couldn’t get a firm handle on a number of her compelling and intricately fabricated characters; they were so annoyingly slippery.

 

The plot evolved at a fiendishly slow pace while each new hard-won yet oddly intriguing revelation just seemed to add several additional layers of complexity and confusion and led nowhere but a new itchy and brain-teasing rabbit hole. I was fully vexed and taut with tension yet deeply engrossed and totally invested. It was exceedingly cunning, and while I should be ashamed to admit that I was so very wrong, I’m actually not. Lisa Gardner has mad skills, although she must be a bit scary to know.

About the Author

Website

.
Lisa Gardner is a #1 New York Times bestselling crime novelist. A self-described research junkie, she has parlayed her interest in police procedure and twisted minds into a streak of twenty thrillers. Her latest, NEVER TELL, comes out Feb. 19 2019 and features Detective D.D. Warren joining forces with vigilante Flora Dane to investigate the murder of known associate of Flora’s infamous kidnapper.
Lisa lives in the mountains of New Hampshire with two crazy pups and an ancient rescue dog. When not writing, Lisa loves to hike, play cribbage, and of course, read!

 

Book Review: The Girl I Used To Know by Faith Hogan

THE GIRL I USED TO KNOW

 by Faith Hogan

   Amazon   US UK  / CA / AU B&N 

A beautiful, emotive and spell-binding story of two women who find friendship and second chances when they least expect it. Perfect for the fans of Patricia Scanlan.

Amanda King and Tess Cuffe are strangers who share the same Georgian house, but their lives couldn’t be more different.

Amanda seems to have it all, absolute perfection. She projects all the accouterments of a lady who lunches. Sadly, the reality is a soulless home, an unfaithful husband, and a very lonely heart.

By comparison, in the basement flat, unwanted tenant Tess has spent a lifetime hiding and shutting her heart to love.

It takes a bossy doctor, a handsome gardener, a pushy teenager, and an abandoned cat to show these two women that sometimes letting go is the first step to moving forward and new friendships can come from the most unlikely situations.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Maureen Cuffe was a mouse of a woman, forever playing small to augment her husband’s supremacy…  her mother talked of his impending retirement with a sense of doom worthy of an undertaker. ‘Not long now,’ she would say when he left the house.

 

She actually nodded towards the dumpy little woman, with absurd copper rouge hair piled too high on her head. She stood transfixed, once she realised it was her own reflection. She studied the woman staring back at her with her expensive clothes and too much make-up. Amanda King was under there, somewhere. Her breath caught in her throat, she had been lovely, once. Where was that girl she used to know?

 

Nicola thought all teenagers should be sent away to boarding school. Nicola’s kids were packed off as soon as there was the danger of a negligent hormone ripening to make her perfect life appear untidy.

 

‘I’ve started exercising, just gently until I’m fully mobile,’ she whispered. Somehow, it didn’t seem right to add that she had only started to want to live longer so she could spite her neighbours.

 

Well, I’ll tell you this for nothing, if he so much as winked at me, I’d have my best linen on the bed and I’d be inviting him in for a stiff one before we got down to business…

My Review:

 

I found The Girl I Used To Know to be a captivating and resonant story – I adored it, but I might not have fully grasped the brilliance and depth of the insightful narrative when I was in my roaring 20s, but I’m older, and thankfully, much wiser now.  Ms. Hogan turned out a wryly humorous, craftily paced, well-written, and engaging tale that frequently had me smirking yet also squeezed my heart and stung my eyes.  Although I have never been to Ireland and would love to, it wouldn’t have mattered where this story had been based as these women’s transformative tales were universal; betrayal, regret, loneliness, missed opportunities, heartbreak, infidelity, losing oneself – these unfortunate events happen everywhere and in every culture.  I adored the clever juxtapositions and parallels drawn between the upstairs occupant and basement tenant who had always been at odds and had at first glance appeared so different. Ms. Hogan is an observant and cunning scribe; I greedily want all her clever words.

 

Bio Faith Hogan

Faith Hogan was born in Ireland. She gained an Honours Degree in English Literature and Psychology from Dublin City University and a Postgraduate Degree from University College, Galway. She has worked as a fashion model, an event’s organizer and in the intellectual disability and mental health sector.

She was a winner in the 2014 Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair – an international competition for emerging writers.



Faith Hogan Contact:

Twitter (her favorite) https://twitter.com/GerHogan

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

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/faithhoganauthor/?hl=en

Web Page:  http://faithhogan.com/

Book Review: A Highlander Walks into a Bar by Laura Trentham

A Highlander Walks into a Bar

by Laura Trentham

Amazon  / B&NApple BooksGoogleKobo

 

 

Synopsis:

The timeless romance, soaring passion—and gorgeous men—of Scotland comes to modern-day America. And the rules of love will never be the same…

Isabel Buchanan is fiery, funny, and never at a loss for words. But she is struck speechless when her mother returns from a trip to Scotland with a six-foot-tall, very handsome souvenir. Izzy’s mother is so infatuated by the fellow that Izzy has to plan their annual Highland Games all by herself. Well, not completely by herself. The Highlander’s strapping young nephew has come looking for his uncle…

Alasdair Blackmoor has never seen a place as friendly as this small Georgia town—or a girl as brilliant and beguiling as Izzy. Instead of saving his uncle, who seems to be having a lovely time, Alasdair decides he’d rather help Izzy with the Highland Games. Show her how to dance like a Highlander. Drink like a Highlander. And maybe, just maybe, fall in love with a Highlander. But when the games are over, where do they go from here?

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

The formality in her voice was nothing new. When he was four and home from his first day at preschool, his mum hadn’t asked him if he’d made friends or had fun. She’d asked him whether his day had been “satisfactory.”

 

Being a Southerner made her especially sensitive to jokes about no one wearing shoes or everyone using an outhouse or the lack of teeth. And absolutely no one of her acquaintance had married a cousin.

 

He’s done well for himself even if he does trail eau de manure. But you’d never be short of barbecue or bacon, so that’s a plus.

 

“I assume you’re well versed at your age, but responsible sex is important. I read in the London Times that the STD infection rate is actually highest amongst the elderly.” “Elderly?” Gareth’s shoulders bowed up and reminded Alasdair of a bull shown a red cape. “I can still put you flat on your back, laddie.”

 

“Do you have condoms?” “Even if I did have some, they probably would have expired.” “Disintegrated is more like. Ashes to ashes and dust to dust.”

 

He was so quintessentially all-American he should be handing out baseballs and apple pies to foreigners as they alighted from airplanes.

  

My Review:

 

Having both Scottish and Southern roots, I derived considerable pleasure from reading Laura Trentham’s latest offering, which kicks off a new series with a lively start. I was waffling on how to rate this pleasantly amusing tale and in going through my marked highlights I had to bow to Ms. Trentham’s sly and deft deployment of wry wit and sparkling levity.   The storylines were slowly entangled and laced together gradually yet were pleasantly engaging and entertaining throughout. I was frequently smirking at Izzy’s foot in mouth tendencies and physical awkwardness as well as the verbal sparring and lively banter that sparked among the various characters, their quips and rejoinders were clever and snicker-worthy. I will be eagerly awaiting the next installment and hoping for a similar “Hotty MacScottypants.”

 

 

Author Bio:

Laura Trentham is an award-winning author of contemporary and historical romance, including Then He Kissed Me and The Military Wife. She is a member of RWA, and has been a finalist multiple times in the Golden Heart competition. A chemical engineer by training and a lover of books by nature, she lives in South Carolina.

Book Review: Limp Dicks & Saggy Tits by Tracie Podger

 

Book: Limp Dicks & Saggy Tits

Author: Tracie Podger

Genre: Romantic Comedy

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Synopsis
 

What to do when your husband runs off and leaves you single—when being single is not your thing?
 

Lizzie has decided that single life does not suit her.
From castles in Scotland to barns in Kent, via apartments in London, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery as a single woman with all the humorous pitfalls along the way.
 

Naked artists, extreme earth lovers, taxidermy, and blow-up dolls, are just some of the encounters Lizzie has to endure in her effort to get her life back on track.
 

With the dashing Scot, Ronan, by her side, will she ever be able to do that?
 

Or will his mountain of baggage just pile alongside hers creating an impenetrable wall between them?
 

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I have nothing against drag queens, per se. I have everything against my husband running off with one.

 

It wasn’t quite the introduction to Pilates I was expecting. In fact, Pilates wasn’t quite what I was expecting full stop, and bore no resemblance to the old DVD I’d found and watched. We were shown to mats, and I was expected to contort my body into positions it hadn’t been in since I was a rampant teenager with a penchant for experimental sex positions. It was the slight leakage from a weak bladder and the pain from holding in a fart that had me pretending to remember a very important appointment and leaving the class early.

 

What if he was a murderer? I grabbed my phone and set three alerts to ring throughout the evening. As for layers, by the time anyone got my Tena Lady pants off, my tights, my body sculpture corset thingy that was supposed to give me back the shape I had twenty years ago according to the saleswoman, they would be too exhausted to do anything awful! Yes, I was safe from being attacked, I decided, I just had to make sure not to be murdered.

 

Manuel—and I didn’t for one minute believe that to be his name—flounced from the washroom. “What a big prick,” I said, picking another sheet from the basket. “I saw him naked once—you’d never use those words where he was concerned.” Maggie waggled her pinkie at me.

 

“I diagnose a serious case of notenoughsexsyndrome,” I said. “Oh, no. Is there a cure?” he asked dramatically…

 

 My Review:

 

I gleefully giggled-snorted my way through this cleverly amusing yet thoughtfully insightful tale of Lizzie, a newly divorced fifty-year-old woman who was determined to set a new course for herself. Her husband had left her for an over six-foot-tall former sailor/drag queen; man – that had to burn white-hot with humiliation! The engaging storylines sparkled with riotous levity and were cunningly paced and deftly constructed, while each oddly endearing character was nimbly nuanced and wittily described.

 

The irreverent title was derived from the descriptive nicknames given to a pair of octogenarian nudists that Lizzie happened across while they were attending an artists’ retreat on the same property she was visiting. Just one of many animated and comedic encounters  Lizzie experienced while settling into her new status of being a single mature woman with a capricious bladder and fair amount of sass as well as an exceedingly odd neighbor and new attractive male friend of indefinable and frequently shifting status.

 

I feasted on each lively and rib-tickling twist and delightfully humorous turn and smirked and snickered at Ms. Podger’s cheeky humor. I also picked up a new addition to my Brit Word List with boss-eyed – which is British slang for having either one eye or misaligned eyes.

Meet the Author

Tracie Podger currently lives in Kent, UK with her husband and a rather obnoxious cat called George. Shes a Padi Scuba Diving Instructor with a passion for writing. Tracie has been fortunate to have dived some of the wonderful oceans of the world where she can indulge in another hobby, underwater photography. She likes getting up close and personal with sharks.
Tracie likes to write in different genres. Her Fallen Angel series and its accompanying books are mafia romance and full of suspense. A Virtual Affair, Letters to Lincoln and Jackson are angsty, contemporary romance, and Gabriel, A Deadly Sin and Harlot are thriller/suspense. The Facilitator is erotic romance.
Books by Tracie Podger
Fallen Angel, Part 1
Fallen Angel, Part 2
Fallen Angel, Part 3
Fallen Angel, Part 4
Fallen Angel, Part 5
Fallen Angel, Part 6
The Fallen Angel Box Set
Evelyn – A novella to accompany the Fallen Angel Series
Rocco  A novella to accompany the Fallen Angel Series
Robert  To accompany the Fallen Angel Series
Travis  To accompany the Fallen Angel Series
Taylor & Mack  To accompany the Fallen Angel Series
Angelica  To accompany the Fallen Angel Series
A Virtual Affair  A standalone
Gabriel  A standalone
The Facilitator  A standalone
A Deadly Sin  A standalone
Harlot  A standalone
Letters to Lincoln  A standalone
Jackson  A standalone
The Freedom Diamond  A novella
Stalker Links
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