Category: Book Reviews

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Book Review, Giveaway: Solace (The Hunter Series #2) by S.E. Cooper

 
Title: Solace
Series: The Hunter Series #2
Author: S.E. Cooper 
Genre: Contemporary Romance Suspense
Release Date: February 16, 2018 

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“I didn’t choose to love you,” I whispered. “But now that I do, no storm is strong enough to keep me away from you.”
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Nyah Hunter has always believed in love at first sight. When she first sets eyes on James Parker, ‘Big’ to his friends, Nyah realizes he’s the man she’s been waiting for all her life. The only problem is, Big doesn’t want to know. He has his reasons for keeping the beautiful blonde at bay, but Nyah won’t give up without a fight. How can he make her see that the safest place for her is as far away from him as possible?
For Big, loving Nyah means risking more than just his heart. It means confronting a past too painful to process and recalling haunting memories too bittersweet to share.
Intent on protecting those he loves, Big sets out to defeat his demons, once and for all; a battle that’s likely to see him perish in the process. Only, he hasn’t counted on the unusual collection of individuals willing to work together for the greater good.
With fresh hope in his heart and an unlikely army by his side, Big dares to dream that this time, he might get to live free.
However, has he underestimated just how far his enemy will go to destroy him?

 


 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

My hair hurt; I had no idea your hair could hurt, but apparently after a night on tequila and Jäeger it really could.

 

I decided that I could live my life on an almost romance. After all, a fantasy couldn’t hurt your feelings, and an illusion wouldn’t break your heart. If I had to make that moment last for a lifetime, I would.

 

The closest I’d ever got to sneaking around in bushes was when Dad had me track Mrs. Hozier’s stalker, and that was not a situation I cared to remember.

 

“Eh, hello,” Demo called, “Bad guy about to perform something nasty. The least you could do was give me your attention.”

 

 My Review:

 

Reading this story was like working out at the gym, it required effort with some of the movements being rather difficult and less than enjoyable, but it was a worthwhile and beneficial endeavor and I’m usually smiling with a sense of accomplishment by the time I finish. I recall having similar difficulties with the first book in this series as this cagey author seems to enjoy tossing the reader into the middle of the story and then slowly filling in the gaps with her steamy intrigue. Despite my petty frustrations and vexations with her pacing, Ms. Cooper has churned out yet another action-packed, cringe-worthy, and intriguing tale with lots of sexy yet filthy talking alpha males who cannot speak without expletives, sizzling sensual scenes, heartbreaking and tragic backstories, gruesome sadistic sociopaths, and lots of peril with several plot twists thrown in to keep us on our toes.

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I was being cruel. I knew it. I was losing my mind being so close to her, and I couldn’t bring myself to stop.

 


 

Her response was to tilt her head and moan lightly against my ear. 

 

“Look, Nyah,” I whispered, drawing closer to her hardened peak. “I’m barely touching you and yet, you’re about to come.” 

 

Her response was to push me harshly against the brick wall. I waited for her to raise her hand and slap me, instead her body hit mine with such force she winded me. Kicking my legs apart, she moved between them.
Then she kissed me.
She. Kissed. Me.
Her hot mouth plundered mine, and she took until I was the one who was breathless. Moving her hands roughly over my chest, she pulled at my shirt until it came loose, and she could feel bare skin beneath her fingertips.
This was not the way I thought this would go. The woman was out of control. I was loving every damned second of it. I wrapped my arms around her back and hauled her too me. We kissed to the point it became painful, but neither of us came up for air. I decided that if I was going to die here and now, in this courtyard, it would be worth it just to have witnessed this beautiful woman become wild in my arms.
I smiled against her mouth when her hand moved lower, and she crudely groped at my dick through the denim. I ground my hips against her hand, loving the feel of her fingers on me, my body instantly responding to her frantic touch. When she mewled her approval into my mouth, I was done for. I grabbed hold of her waist with the intention of turning us, until I was the one leading this fervent encounter we found ourselves in. She chose that moment to break the kiss and step back out of my reach.
A few feet away, she stood breathless and turned on to all hell. Her hair was in disarray, her cheeks were flushed, her eyes were burning into mine in a way I had yet to experience. I decided she had never looked more beautiful. She was like a fallen angel halfway to hell.
Me, I was confused as fuck, but in the best conceivable way.
She smirked at me and I narrowed my eyes.
“You know, Parker?” She smirked. “I’m barely touching you, and yet, you’re about to come.”
I swallowed hard, her intentions now clear.
“Well played, darlin’.” I grimaced, “Well played.”
She should leave now.
While we both wanted more.
I was left to contemplate the fact I’d just been owned by an angel, but she was no stronger than I was. Her body was humming in anticipation, the rise and fall of her chest making her breasts move in the most delightful of ways. Her eyes were pulling with desire, growing heavier by the second, as she fought for control of her senses.
I could barely hold my ground.
But I had to, for both our sakes.

 

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S E Cooper lives in Scotland with her husband, their two boys, two crazy cats and a bonkers bunny. She has always loved to read and write stories but it wasn’t until she discovered the wonderful world of self-publishing and became inspired by some of her favorite Indie Authors that she decided to take the plunge herself. Her hobbies include spending time with family and friends, photography, reading and daydreaming.

 

 

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Book Review: Fix My Fall (The Fix Series #3) by Carey Heywood

 

Title: Fix My Fall
Series: The Fix #3
Author: Carey Heywood
Genre: Romantic Comedy
 Release Date: February 16, 2018

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Blurb
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Abby Thompson’s love life is a disaster. Everyone around her is blissfully falling in love, while she’s busy binge-watching anime. The last thing she needs is a walking temptation, in the form of ex-nerd turned dreamy astrophysics professor, Spencer Hill, aka her new client.
It’s her job to find Spencer his dream home, NOT fantasize about a ride on his space rocket. But the sparks between them are impossible to ignore, and
soon, Abby is wondering if her losing streak in love could be turning around.
Can she get over her anxiety he’s got her out-brained, and can he let go of the past and the fear that the girl he crushed on in high school is still out of his league?

 

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

If I didn’t need money so bad I would consider referring him to someone else. He’s so hot it’s distracting.

 

Earth’s atmosphere is twenty-one percent oxygen which makes my current level of breathlessness confusing.

 

Abby said you looked different but I didn’t believe her. You get bit by some radioactive spider in your lab man? ‘Cuz, holy shit, you’ve grown.

 

He smiles up at me, oblivious to the spinach leaf stuck to one of his back teeth. I point to my teeth. “You have something stuck in your teeth.” He nods, unbothered by this news. “I was saving it for later.”

 

That doesn’t stop me from carrying out a pretend conversation in my head. These are my favorite kind because I can control both sides of the conversation and not get in any trouble for saying what I want.

 

“Do you have a giant computer?” The corners of his eyes crinkle with his smile. “Huge.” “Oh, this conversation is starting to feel like foreplay.” He chokes, covering his mouth with the back of his hand as he coughs. “Science talk as foreplay. You might be my dream girl.”

 

My mouth waters like he’s fresh baked bread and I’m on a no carb diet.

 

My Review:

 

I am on book three of my continuing expedition of veneration and adoration for Carey Heywood and her The Fix Series. I cherish and pine for this author’s delightful wry humor and sweet and steamy stories between her releases. The books I have read so far have been a joy to read, amusingly clever, low conflict, written in my favorite dual POV, and pleasantly breezy with appealing and lovably quirky characters with a bit of edge. Her books do my heart good and tend to keep a smirk in place while reading. I adored Spencer, not only was he highly intelligent and sexy, he was patient, kind, thoughtful, polite, and a perfect gentleman who was also a gentle man – which is nirvana to me. Being a man of science and never having had a relationship, the clever and crafty Ms. Heywood has the brilliant and sexy Dr. Hill patiently and wisely applying the scientific method to his interactions with his high-school crush/current realtor Abby, he postulated a theory, formulated a hypothesis, performed his research, and gathered evidence from his experiments. Ingenious!

Purchase Links
AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU
Available at other retailers soon
Also Available
AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU
B&N / KOBO / iBOOKS
AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU
B&N / KOBO / iBOOKS
Author Bio
New York Times and USA Today bestselling romance author. Shewas born and raised in Alexandria, Virginia. Supporting her all the way are her husband, three sometimes-adorable children, a mischievous black cat, German Shepherd rescue puppy, and their nine-pound attack Yorkie.
Author Links
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Book Review: Steal Away Home by Billy Coffey

 

Steal Away Home

by Billy Coffey




Paperback: 400 pages

Publisher: Thomas Nelson (January 2, 2018)

“This is a powerful story of grief, love, forgiveness, and holy mystery, and I loved it. Billy Coffey is a master storyteller.” —Lauren Denton, USA Today bestselling author of The Hideaway

Owen Cross grew up with two loves: one a game, the other a girl. One of his loves ruined him. Now he’s counting on the other to save him.

Owen Cross’s father is a hard man, proud in his brokenness, who wants nothing more than for Owen to succeed where he failed. With his innate talents and his father’s firm hand guiding him, Owen goes to college with dreams of the major leagues—and an emptiness full of a girl named Micky Dullahan.

Owen loved Micky from the first time they met on the hill between their two worlds: his middle-class home and her troubled Shantytown. Years later he leaves her for the dugouts and the autographs, but their days together follow him. When he finally returns home, he discovers that even peace comes at a cost. And that the hardest things to say are to the ones we love the most.

From bestselling author Billy Coffey comes a haunting story of small-town love, blinding ambition, and the risk of giving it all for one last chance.

“In one evening, a single baseball game, Coffey invites us into a lifetime. With lyrical prose and aching description we join Owen Cross on a journey of love, loss, faith, the unexpected—and America’s favorite pastime.” —Katherine Reay, author of Dear Mr. Knightley and The Austen Escape

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

The house looked wrong somehow, on some deeper level. Like sadness had distorted it as despair can a person. It spoke of a life beyond mere want, worse than disease. Shantytown was like a bruise on an apple that reached all the way to the core.

 

She offered a smile that reminded me of a bright ribbon tied to a broken gift.

 

The value in spending most of your Sunday morning having to sit still and listen to the most boring person you have ever known go on about your own badness was always lost to me.

 

A siren called in the distance. Horns blaring. It sounded as though every law enforcement officer in four counties was on its way, even though it was but one old Crown Vic traveling a little over two blocks from the sheriff’s office. Clancy stopped the car at an angle to the sidewalk. He parted the crowd like Moses, calling each man and woman he passed by name.

 

So much of my childhood was spent in such dreaming. The past was unchangeable, better forgotten, the present often boring toil. Yet my tomorrows shone like lights on some far hill, offering me guidance and direction.

 

You never know what to do when a parent dies. Doesn’t matter how old you are, you feel four years old again and lost inside some huge department store where bright lights shine in your eyes and everywhere are strangers that look like they’re one bad choice away from grabbing you.

 

My Review:

 

This was a challenging read for me for many reasons, and I adored and begrudged it in equal measure. I remain conflicted even now while writing this review and am struggling in how to rate and classify this genre-straddling story as there were interesting and original elements of so many to chose from; Sports, Coming of Age, Small-Town, Southern, Christian, Fantasy, Paranormal, YA, Romance, and Contemporary and Literary Fiction.

The wisdom, dialogue, and inner musings were often comprised of the peculiar and compromised grammar of the Appalachians and required additional thought to fully absorb, however it was more than worth the effort. Having been reared also in the South but further west by overly rigid and strict Bible banging hypocrites who forced me through the church doors every time they opened, I generally eschew Christian religious themes as narrow-mindedness greatly annoys me, and this proved to be more than a bit of a problem for me as I read.   However, the unusual twists to this story kept me reading despite my bias as the petty and small-minded tendencies were well affirmed and part of the tale.

There was a highly skilled, well-crafted, and pervasive heaviness or emotive heft to Owen’s narrative that continually squeezed my heart as if his recounting of events was actually a heartfelt confessional of his regrets, anguish, and childhood discomfitures. Mr. Coffey’s unique and cunning writing style was new to me and while I found some of his story threads tediously repetitive, I also found myself frequently struck by hot licks of brilliance, thoughtful and deeply moving insights, and a poignancy that stung my eyes and constricted my throat.   There were five pages of favorite passages and saved quotes on my Kindle once I finished. All in all, it was oddly, unevenly, and annoyingly luminous. 

 

About Billy Coffey

Billy Coffey’s critically acclaimed books combine rural Southern charm with a vision far beyond the ordinary. He is a regular contributor to several publications, where he writes about faith and life. Billy lives with his wife and two children in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains.

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Book Review: Family Tree by Susan Wiggs

Family Tree

 by Susan Wiggs

 
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 Amazon 


Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (January 9, 2018)

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a powerful, emotionally complex story of love, loss, the pain of the past—and the promise of the future.

Sometimes the greatest dream starts with the smallest element. A single cell, joining with another. And then dividing. And just like that, the world changes. Annie Harlow knows how lucky she is. The producer of a popular television cooking show, she loves her handsome husband and the beautiful Los Angeles home they share. And now, she’s pregnant with their first child. But in an instant, her life is shattered. And when Annie awakes from a yearlong coma, she discovers that time isn’t the only thing she’s lost.

Grieving and wounded, Annie retreats to her old family home in Switchback, Vermont, a maple farm generations old. There, surrounded by her free-spirited brother, their divorced mother, and four young nieces and nephews, Annie slowly emerges into a world she left behind years ago: the town where she grew up, the people she knew before, the high-school boyfriend turned judge. And with the discovery of a cookbook her grandmother wrote in the distant past, Annie unearths an age-old mystery that might prove the salvation of the family farm.

Family Tree is the story of one woman’s triumph over betrayal, and how she eventually comes to terms with her past. It is the story of joys unrealized and opportunities regained. Complex, clear-eyed and big-hearted, funny, sad, and wise, it is a novel to cherish and to remember.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

It was one of those moments Gran used to call a key moment. Time didn’t simply tick past, unremarked, unnoticed. No, this was the kind of moment that made everything stop.   You separated it from every other one, pressing the feeling to your heart, like a dried flower slipped between the pages of a beloved book. The moment was made of something fragile and delicate, yet it possessed the power to last forever.

 

Memories are strange things, aren’t they? You can’t touch them and hold them in your hands, but they have incredible power.

 

That’s the moment when everything changes. There’s before, and then after. And once a key moment occurs, there’s no going back to before. You make a choice, and it’s like ringing a bell. You can’t unring it. A key moment is a feeling. Your heart tells you. The point is, you have to pay attention.

 

That was how love worked sometimes… It filled every nook and cranny of your heart, and then one day you realized it had gone away. She wondered where those feelings went. Maybe they trickled into the atmosphere to be inhaled by someone else, a stranger who suddenly saw someone across the room and instantly fell I love.

 

 My Review:

 

This was my first experience enjoying Ms. Wigg’s amusing and dynamic storytelling and I immediately became an instant and ravenous fan. I adored her quirky characters, clever humor, and insightful narrative. Her storylines were poignant, entertaining, heart squeezing, intriguing, and thoughtfully written. The descriptive detail of her food preparations played havoc with my diet plan, ultimately causing me to run to the farmers market for my own fresh ingredients from her spark of culinary creativity. Her skillful wordcraft was a delight for all the senses and I doubt I could ever tire of feasting on her works.  I was provided with a review of this delicious book by TLC Book Tours and HarperCollins.

 

 About Susan Wiggs  

 

Susan Wiggs is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than fifty novels, including the beloved Lakeshore Chronicles series and her most recent novel, the instant New York Times bestseller Family Tree. Her award-winning books have been translated into two dozen languages. A native of a small town in upstate New York, she now lives with her husband at the water’s edge on an island in Puget Sound, and in good weather can commute to her writers’ group in a twenty-one-foot motorboat. A former teacher and graduate of the University of Texas and Harvard, Susan is also an avid hiker, an amateur photographer, a good skier, and a cautious mountain biker—yet her favorite form of exercise is curling up with a good book.

Find out more about Susan at her website, and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.






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Book Review: The Lucky Ones by Tiffany Reisz

 

The Lucky Ones

by Tiffany Reisz

Print Length: 368 pages

Publisher: MIRA (February 13, 2018)

They called themselves “the lucky ones”

They were seven children either orphaned or abandoned by their parents and chosen by legendary philanthropist and brain surgeon Dr. Vincent Capello to live in The Dragon, his almost magical beach house on the Oregon Coast. Allison was the youngest of the lucky ones living an idyllic life with her newfound family…until the night she almost died and was then whisked away from the house and her adopted family forever.

Now, thirteen years later, Allison receives a letter from Roland, Dr. Capello’s oldest son, warning her that their father is ill and in his final days. Allison determines she must go home again and confront the ghosts of her past. She’s determined to find out what really happened that fateful night — was it an accident or, as she’s always suspected, did one of her beloved family members try to kill her?

But digging into the past can reveal horrific truths, and when Allison pieces together the story of her life, she’ll learn the terrible secret at the heart of the family she once loved but never really knew.

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

If I wanted to judge people all day I’d either be a priest or get a Facebook account…

 

Allison looked into his eyes. He didn’t have bedroom eyes, not like McQueen did. Roland had hallway eyes—labyrinthine hallways made of marble and lit by torches resting in iron sconces. She could wander those shadowy hallways forever and never once feel lost.

 

He buys his Catholic guilt in bulk at Costco…

 

You know what they say…ours is not to wonder why. Ours is but to drink bourbon and rye.

 

There aren’t a lot of them around. True psychopaths make up about two percent of the population. In prison it’s more like… fifty percent. In politics, maybe ninety percent.

 

 My Review:

 

I don’t believe I know enough lofty adjectives or adverbs to fully extol the brilliance and craft of this spellbinding tale. I was consumed, enthralled, engrossed and embedded in this riveting tale from beginning to end. I was intrigued and beguiled by all the characters while also fearful I was going to learn something truly awful about them, which I did, but I still loved them anyway. The story was ingeniously crafted, cunningly paced, and loaded with all manner of itchy and twisty elements that squeezed my heart, set my brain on fire, and put a series of hot rocks in my throat. Tiffany Reisz is an evil genius and a clever wordsmith. I covet her mad skills and am wild with greed to amass and read every single thing she has and will ever write.

About Tiffany Reisz 

 

 

Tiffany Reisz lives in Lexington, Kentucky with her husband, author Andrew Shaffer.

 

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Book Review, Giveaway: Follow Me Back by A.L. Jackson

Follow Me Back 

The next seductive, unforgettable stand-alone romance in the FIGHT FOR ME series from NYT & USA Today Bestselling Author A.L. Jackson . . .

 

“This is why I read romance.” –Lauren Rowe, USA Today and Internationally bestselling author
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My loves – I am so beyond thrilled to finally get to share Kale and Hope’s story with you in FOLLOW ME BACK! Writing this book was a labor of love, and after everything, I think it might be my favorite book I’ve ever written. It’s super sexy and swoony, sad and sweet, and just filled my heart up so full there is no chance I will ever forget the way these characters made me feel. I hope you fall in love with them the same way I did! 
Enjoy!
xoxo – Amy 
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Blurb:

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The next seductive, unforgettable stand-alone romance in the FIGHT FOR ME series from NYT & USA Today Bestselling Author A.L. Jackson . . .
Kale Bryant. Arrogant. Gorgeous. Commanding.
This ER doctor is married to his job. His only vice is one-night stands and short-lived flings. He learned a long time ago loving someone isn’t worth the risk.
Harley Hope Masterson. Beautiful. Brave. Sweet.
The owner of a small coffee shop knows what it’s like to struggle. Embroiled in a bitter divorce, she’s threatened with losing everything.
When Kale accepts a new position down the street from Hope’s shop, he begins to question every wall he’s built around his heart.
He wants her in a way he hasn’t wanted anyone.
One touch is fire.
One kiss, and he’s spinning out of control.
But taking her won’t come without consequences.
Hope is in for the fight of her life. One neither of them saw coming.
Now Kale must decide if loving her is worth risking it all.
She will fight with everything she has.
But sometimes even hope needs a hero . . .
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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

So what if Pinterest had become my lover, keeping me company in the lonely nights.

 

The kid was a force field of joy.

 

Someone please tell me this is where we get to call the wanker names and talk about how horrible he is in bed and how his breath always stinks.

 

Of course, I’m responsible. I’m head matchmaker. I just walk through a crowd and all those love-connecting darts start flying out of me, striking whoever I walk by.

 

You set me on a path that I don’t want to stop walking. I will follow you anywhere.

 

My Review:

 

Sizzling sensuality, cute scene-stealing children, heart squeezing medical issues and an overriding tone of heavily emotive and angsty writing define this story. The premise and storylines were interesting and relevant and the characters were endearing and likable, but I struggled more than bit some while reading this book as there was far more repetitive angsty melodrama than I was comfortable with, but that is just my personal bias. I enjoyed Hope and Kale’s sweet and steamy romance until he apparently caught jaundice as he turned yellow with cowardice and abandoned her, not once but twice, especially during a harrowing period when she needed emotional support the most, which was deeply disappointing.

As always, Ms. Jackson’s writing was highly emotive, poignant, and pulls at the heartstrings while her more irreverent characters and the precocious children provided comic relief and amusing banter to help balance the tone. And I am happy to report that I learned a new pop culture reference that required the services of Mr. Google – “brown chicken brown cow.” It is always a good day when I can boast of acquisition of new knowledge. 

Kindle Fire HD 8 + Show Me the Way & Hunt Me Down Signed Copies + $25 Amazon GC Giveaway 

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About the Author

 

A.L. Jackson is the New York Times & USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary romance. She writes emotional, sexy, heart-filled stories about boys who usually like to be a little bit bad.

Her bestselling series include THE REGRET SERIES, CLOSER TO YOU, and BLEEDING STARS novels. Watch for A.L. Jackson’s upcoming novel, FOLLOW ME BACK, the second stand-alone novel in her brand-new FIGHT FOR ME SERIES.

If she’s not writing, you can find her hanging out by the pool with her family, sipping cocktails with her friends, or of course with her nose buried in a book.

Be sure not to miss new releases and sales from A.L. Jackson – Sign up to receive her newsletter http://smarturl.it/NewsFromALJackson or text “aljackson” to 33222 to receive short but sweet updates on all the important news.

Connect with A.L.

Facebook: http://smarturl.it/ALJacksonPage
Reader Group: http://smarturl.it/AmysAngelsRock
Amazon: http://smarturl.it/ALJacksonAmzn
Bookbub: http://smarturl.it/ALJacksonBookbub
Twitter: @aljacksonauthor
Instagram: @aljacksonauthor
Snapchat: @aljacksonauthor
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Book Review: Best Friends Forever by Margot Hunt

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Best Friends Forever

 

by Margot Hunt

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: MIRA (January 23, 2018)


Kat Grant and Alice Campbell have a friendship forged in shared confidences and long lunches lubricated by expensive wine. Though they’re very different women—the artsy socialite and the struggling suburbanite—they’re each other’s rocks. But even rocks crumble under pressure. Like when Kat’s financier husband, Howard, plunges to his death from the second-floor balcony of their South Florida mansion.

Howard was a jerk, a drunk, a bully and, police say, a murder victim. The questions begin piling up. Like why Kat has suddenly gone dark: no calls, no texts and no chance her wealthy family will let Alice see her. Why investigators are looking so hard in Alice’s direction. Who stands to get hurt next? And who is the cool liar—the masterful manipulator behind it all?

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Kat wasn’t just wealthy. She came from capital-M Money.

 

She never eats. She lives on a diet of wine and bitterness…

 

No one liked Howard… Not to speak ill of the dead, but he was an asshole. If everyone who thought he was an asshole was a suspect, they’d have an overly large number of people to consider.

 

If insanity was a side effect of Botox, every Floridian over the age of forty would be nuts.

 My Review:

 

I was captivated by this gripping story and was totally unprepared for the chilling and gasp-worthy ending. The writing was superb and cunningly clever – quickly setting an intense and thrumming sense of intrigue while constantly pricking at my curiosity and luring me in with enticing characters, expert storytelling, and a perplexing mystery. I was beguiled yet not fully trusting of the lovely and vivacious Kat. The storyline was brilliantly crafted and sharply honed and kept me riveted to my Kindle through all the twists and turns. I had speculated and cast out various theories but would never have anticipated or come close to Ms. Hunt’s ingenious plotting.   She has mad skills and my utmost respect, although she also scares me a little…

 

About Margot Hunt

Margot Hunt is the pseudonym of a bestselling writer of twelve previous novels. Her work has been praised by Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews. BEST FRIENDS FOREVER is her first psychological thriller.

Connect with Margot

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Series Book Review: Cracks Duet – A Crack In Everything #1 and How The Light Gets In #2 by L.H. Cosway

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We’re celebrating the release of the CRACKS DUET by L.H. Cosway! 

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Title: A Crack In Everything and How The Light Gets In

(Cracks Duet)

Age Group: Adult

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A Crack In Everything  Goodreads

How The Light Gets In Goodreads

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A Crack In Everything
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2DvxZc5

iBooks: https://apple.co/2BsghVg

Nook: http://bit.ly/2n7Od4k

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2Gd10ez

 A Crack in Everything is Book #1 in L.H. Cosway’s Cracks duet.

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A Crack in Everything

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Life used to be simple.

I was a city girl with humble dreams. Then Dylan O’Dea broke into my flat, held me against the wall and told me to stay quiet.

It was like in the movies, where the universe zeros in on a single scene. I looked into his eyes and knew he was going to change me.

For Dylan, the sky was always falling. He showed me how our world is a contradiction of beauty and ugliness. How we choose to ignore the awful and gloss over it with the palatable. How you need just a tiny drop of something unsavory to create every great scent.

Pretty deep for a pair of teenagers living in a block of council flats in inner city Dublin, right Probably. But we weren’t typical. We both had our obsessions. Mine was growing things, Dylan’s was scent. He taught me how to use my nose, and I introduced him to the magic of flowers.

I had no idea that one day he’d build an empire from what we started together. But before that, there was love and happiness, tragedy and epic heartbreak…

My name is Evelyn Flynn and I’m going to tell you about the crack in everything.

 

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How the Light Gets In is Book #2 and the concluding installment in L.H. Cosway’s Cracks duet.

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How the Light Gets In

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Amazon: http://amzn.to/2GfvMmO

iBooks: https://apple.co/2n9grg1

Nook: http://bit.ly/2n9RWyf

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2F9klMf

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He came back to me 16 minutes and 59 seconds into Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7.

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We parted amid tragedy, so it seemed poetic. Dylan O’Dea, my childhood sweetheart, had once meant everything to me. Now we were strangers, and honestly, after eleven years I never thought I’d see him again.

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I lived in the world of the average, of getting paid by the hour and budgeting to make ends meet. But Dylan, he lived in the world of wealth and success. He’d achieved the great things I always suspected he would. The dissatisfaction he’d felt as a teenager had obviously been an excellent motivator.

 .

He started a business from scratch, pioneered a brand, and created perfumes adored by women across the globe. I was just one of the people who’d been there before. Now he was living his best life in the after.

 .

And me, well, I’d been in a dark place for a while. Slowly but surely, I was letting the light back in, but there was something missing. I was an unfinished sentence with an ellipsis at the end. And maybe, if I was brave enough to take the chance, Dylan could be my happy ending.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 A Crack in Everything

 

I loved Sam and all, but instead of avoiding elephants in rooms he tended to grab them by the tusks.

 

I was wondering whether you think everyone is redeemable?… I’ll give you the serial killer and the rapists, but what about people who are just sort of arseholes? Do you think they can ever become less . . . arsehole-y?

Granny Kennedy was terribly talkative on her deathbed. I think that’s final wish number eleven we’re at now, if we count brushing my teeth every night and saving myself for marriage. The woman must’ve never shut up when she was preparing for those pearly gates.

 

You should come at night. The place transforms. It’s like a Roman orgy after hours… It’s true. All these old timers are mad for it. They don’t have to worry about getting pregnant.

 How the Light Gets In

 

I’m ninety-nine percent convinced all Americans think Irish people talk like Leprechauns.

 

I felt so small. Why did you bump into old flames when you looked your absolute worst? It was one of God’s twisted celestial algorithms that made it happen to everyone at least once in their lives.

 

I was one of those people who were all, spa days are for spoiled housewives. But then as soon as someone said they’re paying, I was already in a bathrobe, cucumber slices on each eye, while a lady dressed in white gave me a pedicure.

 

Okay, fine… You’re not a cougar. I take it back. You’re a lion cub, a cute and adorable baby lion with no wrinkles and the most youthful appearance.

 

My Review:

 

Thank goodness I had the second book ready to go or I would be stamping my little foot at this strategic cliffhanger at the end of A Crack In Everything,  which was an angsty and devastating YA tale that had tugged at my cold heart the entire way through. The storylines and writing were well honed, emotive, intriguing, insightful, moody, and cleverly paced. Despite the angsty and melancholy tone, I was more than anxious to continue on to the second book.

I was delighted with How The Light Gets In, which picked up eleven years after the tragic ending of A Crack In Everything and was significantly lighter in tone with frequent hits of levity and clever banter between the characters as they slowly and sweetly rekindled their relationship. The writing was witty, engaging, beguiling, and increasingly hopeful while the characters were thoughtfully deconstructed and reassembled. The first person POV held my interest and rapt attention throughout as I was highly curious about those eleven years and how the story would resolve. I was more than satisfied by the thoughtful and ever so sweet conclusion.  I reveled in Dylan’s success as an adult.    Second-chance romances are among my favorites and I enjoyed this pair and their odd assortment of family and friends.

 

About the author: 

 

 

L.H. Cosway lives in Dublin, Ireland. Her inspiration to write comes from music. Her favourite things in life include writing stories, vintage clothing, dark cabaret music, food, musical comedy, and of course, books. She thinks that imperfect people are the most interesting kind. They tell the best stories. L.H. is represented by Louise Fury at The Bent Agency.

Social Media Links:FB: www.facebook.com/LHCosway

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Website: www.lhcoswayauthor.com

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 Book Review: Say You’ll Remember Me by Katie McGarry

 Say You’ll Remember Me

by Katie McGarry

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Hardcover: 464 pages

Publisher: Harlequin Teen (January 30, 2018)

 

Doesn’t matter who did it. Not anymore. I did the time. It’s over.”

When Drix was convicted of a crime—one he didn’t commit—he thought his life was over. But opportunity came with the Second Chance Program, the governor’s newest pet project to get delinquents off the streets, rehabilitated and back into society. Drix knows this is his chance to get his life back on track, even if it means being paraded in front of reporters for a while.

Elle knows she lives a life of privilege. As the governor’s daughter, she can open doors with her name alone. But the expectations and pressure to be someone she isn’t may be too much to handle. She wants to follow her own path, whatever that means.

When Drix and Elle meet, their connection is immediate, but so are their problems. Drix is not the type of boy Elle’s parents have in mind for her, and Elle is not the kind of girl who can understand Drix’s messy life.

But sometimes love can breach all barriers.

Fighting against a society that can’t imagine them together, Drix and Elle must push themselves—Drix to confront the truth of the robbery, and Elle to assert her independence—and each other to finally get what they deserve.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

He must believe there’s nothing in my skull beyond the beginnings of hair follicles.

 

It’s creepy hanging with you… It’s like you’re the Walking Dead. I’m half expecting someone to jump out with a samurai sword and slice out your heart.

 

“I don’t know how to get them to leave me alone.” I pause, then the bitterness leaks out as well as a grim grin. “At least not without a baseball and a well-placed throw. Some people shouldn’t be allowed to continue their genetics.”

 

What does being mature mean? Mature feels an awful lot like being tamed, and so far, I’m not caring for the view from my cage.

 

Andrew and I are barely friends, and most days I lean toward thinking he should be neutered.

 

Drix gives that dog anything he wants. I’m warning you in case you guys grow up, get married and have babies. When the zombie apocalypse happens, he’s saving the dog before he saves any of us.

  

My Review:

 

I was stunned and off-balance by how much I enjoyed this skillfully crafted, engrossing, and heart-squeezing tale. I was immediately sucked in by the engaging storytelling and quick to fall for these enticing and intriguing characters, although I occasionally wanted to give several of them a pop to the back of their head and lock the bratty sister in her room. I very rarely read YA since I don’t like being reminded of those claustrophobic and hopeless feelings due to being powerless to the forces of controlling and cruel adults. But I couldn’t seem to put this one down. Adulting may be hard but it’s ever so sweet to make your own choices once out from under a menacing or suffocating thumb, as was the case for these two diversely different teens. Both were miserable and under intense pressure and scrutiny but had completely dissimilar life experiences.   Elle was a naïve and wealthy private school girl who had everything but freewill as she was little more than a trained monkey to her political parents’ dog and pony show. Hendrix was a cynically resigned, street-smart, and overly exposed delinquent fresh out juvenile detention. An unlikely pair who had been forbidden to interact while on the campaign trail, but of course, they meshed and became fast friends who eventually set off fireworks in their nether regions. I sighed with relief at the satisfying conclusion and certainly wouldn’t mind seeing the tale of this ragtag grouping further developed into a series.

About Katie McGarry 

Katie was a teenager during the age of grunge and boy bands and remembers those years as the best and worst of her life. She is a lover of music, happy endings, reality television, and is a secret University of Kentucky basketball fan.

She is the author of the Pushing the Limits and Thunder Road series. Say You’ll Remember Me will be released in 2018.

Katie loves to hear from her readers.

Connect with Katie

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Book Review: The View from Rainshadow Bay  (A Lavender Tides Novel) by Colleen Coble

The View from Rainshadow Bay

 A Lavender Tides Novel

by Colleen Coble

 

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Paperback: 336 pages

Publisher: Thomas Nelson (January 23, 2018)

 

“Prepare to stay up all night with Colleen Coble. Coble’s beautiful, emotional prose coupled with her keen sense of pacing, escalating danger, and very real characters place her firmly at the top of the suspense genre. I could not put this book down.” –Allison Brennan, New York Times bestselling author of Shattered

After her husband, Jack, dies in a climbing incident, Shauna has only her five-year-old son and her helicopter charter business to live for. Every day is a struggle to make ends meet and she lives in constant fear of losing even more than she already has.

When her business partner is murdered, his final words convince Shauna that she’s in danger too. But where can she turn? Zach Bannister was her husband’s best friend and is the person she blames for his death. She’s barely spoken to him since. But right now he seems her only hope for protecting her son.

Zach is only too happy to assuage his guilt over Jack’s death by helping Shauna any way he can. But there are secrets involved dating back to Shauna’s childhood that more than one person would prefer to stay hidden.

In The View from Rainshadow Bay, suspense, danger, and a longing to love again ignite amid the gorgeous lavender fields of Washington State.

 

My Rating:

My Review:

 

While still reading, I became increasingly concerned and conflicted in how to assess and rate this book.   The premise was interesting and original and the mystery was intriguing with several creative story elements that keep me reading and had my rating floating at four-stars. However, I grew restless and annoyed with the uneven pace and quality of the writing as some storylines dragged and became tediously repetitious, while others seemed rushed. Ms. Coble excelled in her creation and colorful descriptions of the quirky small town and its characters as I could well envision the historical and antiquated buildings, persnickety mother-in-law, and a somewhat inept middle-aged Elvis-wannabe sheriff with a thick mane full of product who had somehow managed to snare a young model for a wife. That image still brings a smile to my lips.

 About Colleen Coble

USA Today bestselling author Colleen Coble has written numerous romantic suspense novels including The Inn at Ocean’s Edge, Twilight at Blueberry Barrens, and Beneath Copper Falls.  

Connect with Colleen

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