CAN LOVE REALLY BE FOUND WHEN YOU STOP LOOKING FOR IT…?

As Samantha Wishaw watches the love of her life marry another woman, she’s ready to give up hope of finding her happy ever after.

But when a chance encounter leads Sam to find friendship in Thomas – a lonely, grumpy elderly widower living at derelict Hedgehog Hollow – her life is about to change forever.

Glad to have a distraction from family feuds and match-making, Sam vows to fulfill Thomas and his wife, Gwendoline’s, dreams of restoring Hedgehog Hollow to its former glory and to open a hedgehog rescue center.

Throwing herself into the task at hand, little does Sam realize that the keys to love and happiness may also be found at Hedgehog Hollow when she least expects it…

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Shit happens and it’s how you deal with it that makes you happy or miserable. You can roll in that shit and stink up your life or you can spray the air freshener and move on.

Always remember that you shine. Those who try to take away your sparkle aren’t worthy of it.

It’s not the time someone’s in our lives but the impact they have on us.

My Review:

I adored these oddly endearing characters and their poignantly written tale. I was quickly immersed in their engaging story that kept me entertained while plumbing all the emotions from one end of the scale to the other. What a delightful beginning to a new series that has me primed and ready for more. My perusal had me bouncing from smirks and giggle-snorts to the peculiar sensations of my heart being squeezed while hot rocks filled my throat and my eyes began to leak a salty fluid. And this mysteriously rare phenomenon occurred several different times. What madness!

Jessica Redland is a master storyteller and one of my all-time favorite wordsmiths. Her emotive and cleverly insightful descriptions skillfully placed me in the room with her uniquely enticing yet struggling characters as their lives took various turns and painful nosedives. Her pen undoubtedly contains magic ink.

One Hundred Reflections
(An Aspen Cove Romance Book 19)
by Kelly Collins

ABOUT KELLY COLLINS   

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Bestselling author of DEAR WIFE and THE MARRIAGE LIE, Kimberly Belle returns with her most heart-pounding thriller to date, as a masked home invader reveals the cracks in a marriage.

Everyone is about to know what her husband isn’t telling her…

Jade and Cam Lasky are by all accounts a happily married couple with two adorable kids, a spacious home, and a rapidly growing restaurant business. But their world is tipped upside down when Jade is confronted by a masked home invader. As Cam scrambles to gather the ransom money, Jade starts to wonder if they’re as financially secure as their lifestyle suggests, and what other secrets her husband is keeping from her.

Cam may be a good father, a celebrity chef, and a darling husband, but there’s another side he’s kept hidden from Jade that has put their family in danger. Unbeknownst to Cam and Jade, the home invader has been watching them and is about to turn their family secrets into a public scandal.
With riveting twists and a breakneck pace, My Darling Husband is an utterly compelling thriller that once again showcases Kimberly Belle’s exceptional talent for domestic suspense.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Maxim’s lungs sound like a rock tumbler filled with gravel, a noisy in and out that makes my own chest seize in sympathy. Maxim smokes like a chimney. He doesn’t exercise or sleep. He eats fried potatoes and red meat drowning in butter sauce, which he washes down with booze. But he’s trim and energetic and when he’s zipping around town in his convertible Maserati, he looks like a million bucks. Maxim is like one of those deep-water sharks—he’ll live to be four hundred.

And all those things I used to care about, the restaurants and the real estate and the houses and cars, I’d give it all up. Because here’s what happens when your family’s lives are at stake. There’s this… white-light moment of clarity, a lightning-bolt realization that you’re an idiot and all that shit you’ve spent so much time and effort accumulating is worthless. The banks can have everything. I don’t want any of those things anymore. Without Jade and the Bees, it’s worthless. I’m worthless.

My Review:

My shoulders are still in my ears and my cuticles are ragged from my incessant gnawing while I read this intense tale. Kimberly Belle is a wily one and steadily ratcheted up the pressure and strain for her realistically flawed and battling characters with the reveal of the increasingly disquieting revelations they were experiencing. I had a hard time putting my Kindle down and cursed its weak battery for forcing an untimely stop.

I marveled at the perceptive and insightful inner musings and observations this cunning wordsmith deftly implanted into her narratives.   Each character was acutely defined and well-honed by the end of the book, while most bore little resemblance to how they had initially appeared. The little pea in my brain bounced and rattled as I pondered the significance of various odd clues but I would never have put this heart-squeezing and brilliantly contrived puzzle together. I felt for them all and prized the unexpected levels of empathy and wisdom each gained for the others by the final page.

About the Author

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

Social Links:

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

Facebook: @KimberlyBelleBooks

Twitter: @KimberlySBelle

Instagram: @kimberlysbelle

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

Favorite Quotes:

The man handed over a brown envelope. ‘Burns Funeral Crematory Services.’ Grace cocked an eyebrow. She knew she was now in Scotland and Burns was a popular surname around these parts, but she wasn’t sure that was the best name to use for a crematory service, though it definitely did what it said on the tin – or the urn.

It’s on the calendar and when any mum writes anything on the calendar it’s law.

My Review:

This was an entertaining and easy-to-follow women’s fiction story set in a small village in Scotland with substantial currents of family drama and a gentle undercurrent of a budding sweet and light romance. The storylines flowed with humor as well as real-life issues for a struggling single mother of three young boys fleeing an abusive situation. The characters were endearing and the storylines and writing style were engaging and lively. While this is the seventh installment in a continuation of a series, it could easily be read as a standalone.

Christie Barlow is the international bestselling author of A Year in the Life of a Playground Mother, The Misadventures of a Playground Mother, Kitty’s Countryside Dream, Lizzie’s Christmas Escape, Evie’s Year of Taking Chances, The Cosy Canal Boat Dream, A Home at Honeysuckle Farm, Love Heart Lane and Foxglove Farm. Her writing career came as somewhat a surprise when she decided to write a book to teach her children a valuable life lesson and show them that they are capable of achieving their dreams. The book she wrote to prove a point is now a #1 bestseller in the UK, USA, Canada & Australia.

Christie is an ambassador for @ZuriProject raising money/awareness and engaging with impoverished people in Uganda through organizations to improve their well-being.

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Welcome To Winterville
(Winterville #1)
by Carrie Elks 

 

Amazon /  BB

 

He’s determined to bulldoze her childhood dreams. She’ll fight him with everything she has – including her heart…

When a ruthless company buys Holly Winter’s small hometown, she’s determined to stop them.

But then she meets the CEO. Josh Gerber is handsome, smooth, and disgustingly successful. He’s also the man that Holly spent a night with eight years ago. And now he’s back to steal the home she’s always loved.

If anybody can stand up to him, Holly can. She’s clever, determined, and most of all, she understands his weaknesses. She has the same ones, after all.

But the more she fights him, the stronger the attraction between them grows. And before long, their arguments are ending in deliciously hot, stolen kisses that make her forget that Josh is supposed to be her enemy.

Holly may be able to save Winterville, but will she have to sacrifice her heart in the process?

It’s A Wonderful Life meets The Hating Game in this gorgeously festive standalone romance. Why not take a trip to Winterville today?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

“I thought about buying him a personality transplant,” she said, deadpan. “But then I realized he’d have to have a personality to start with.”

 

She saw the good in everything, even when there was no good to be seen. He had an inkling that if she was Satan’s grandma, she’d go around telling people just how lovely it was that he kept everybody warm.

 

Oh my, the woman was a human dynamo. She managed to persuade Oscar Gentry to open his wallet, and everybody says the world will end when those demon moths escape.

 

 My Review:

 

This was a fun and entertaining start to a new small-town series by one of my favorite authors. I adore Carrie Elks, the gal has mad storytelling skills. I tumbled right into this tale, was invested in the characters from beginning to end, and am eagerly looking forward to delving into the rest of the family’s tangled love lives. Rather than siblings, this series features a unique and engaging grouping of close-knit cousins with wastrels for parents. The storylines were original, amusingly humorous, easy to follow, and held my interest throughout.

About the Author

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My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

She’d taken over some cookies once when she’d thought she caught sight of someone in their dining-room window, but the only welcome she’d gotten had been from a couple of garden gnomes sitting on the front porch. It was like living next door to Boo Radley.

Oh, good grief. Just what every woman dreamed about: a proposal in a parking lot with a dead rose.

Her cousin, who fancied herself a singer, sang Paul Stookey’s “Wedding Song.” She didn’t murder it, only maimed it severely.

No single dads had come across her path, though several rom-coms had convinced her they would.

Getting to know him was like befriending a feral animal. There was a lot of coaxing involved.

My Review:

This was a sweet and delightfully heartfelt holiday women’s fiction story that gently touched the feels while warming the heart and frequently pulled my lips into an amused smile with wry humor and witty observations. This was my first taste of the clever craft of Sheila Roberts and I am kicking myself for not noticing her works sooner. Her engaging storylines were easy to follow, relatable, and enjoyably entertaining.   The characters were original, realistic, knowable, and highly likable people, even the old curmudgeon who was happy being haunted by his late wife. I was pulling for him even when he pushed back.

Author Website

Facebook: @funwithsheila

Twitter: @_Sheila_Roberts

Instagram: @sheilarobertswriter

Goodreads

Sheila Roberts lives on a lake in Washington State, where most of her novels are set. Her books have been published in several languages. On Strike for Christmas, was made into a movie for the Lifetime Movie Network and her novel, The Nine Lives of Christmas, was made into a movie for Hallmark.

Memories and Mistletoe
by Kelly Collins

ABOUT KELLY COLLINS   

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