A gorgeous new festive read from the Kindle #1 bestselling author of The Ladies’ Midnight Swimming Club

When Liv Latimer says goodbye to her colleagues and finishes work for the holidays, she’s looking forward to a Christmas to remember with her boyfriend Eddie.

But before she makes it home, her phone rings, calling her back into work. And Liv is faced with a choice. Does she do as she’s always done, and put herself second? Or, will she say no, so she can finally begin the life she’s dreamed of?

Liv’s decision will turn her world upside down in ways she could never have imagined.

Because whatever choice she makes, Liv is about to discover, fate finds a way…

From the bestselling Irish author of The Ladies’ Midnight Swimming Club, comes an emotional and uplifting festive story about love, family and how a split-second decision can change your life.

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With crime rampant in the near future, the President authorizes a controversial program: TimeLock, a cellular acceleration process that instantly ages prisoners the total number of years of their sentence. In other words-three strikes and you’re old . . . very old.

Despite ongoing public outcries, two years later the program is up and running and crime is already on the decline. But what happens if you’re innocent?

Falsely convicted of murder, 23-year-old Morgan Eberly is sentenced to be aged 40 years in a TimeLock capsule. When a riot interrupts his processing, Morgan–now 43 years old–manages to escape.

With powerful forces on his trail, Morgan enlists the help of Janine Price, the FBI agent who arrested him. Together, they investigate the murders of ex-prisoners who were transformed by TimeLock and soon discover why Morgan is certain to be next.

Can Morgan and Janine unlock the truth about TimeLock before it’s too late?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Three strikes and you’re old – very old.

Our tour guide is so upbeat and bubbly, you’d think she was welcoming her group to a warped new addition to Disney World. Aging Land.

…her condo is surprisingly colorful. Artistic even… I’m impressed. And beyond grateful we couldn’t go back to my dump of an apartment where the closest thing to fine art is the Three Stooges screensaver on my laptop.

Walter, we’ve got a big-time emergency here! You don’t want J. Edgar to turn over in his dress, do you?

My Review:

While this is not my usual genre, I vastly enjoyed this quick read as the story was somewhat futuristic yet surprisingly realistic at the same time. The writing was keenly honed and smartly detailed with descriptions that pulled sharp visuals to my mind’s eye. In sum, was a well-plotted and shrewdly paced action-packed thriller featuring slightly frayed characters and storylines that were cleverly laced together with wry humor and witty snark. All my favorite things!

Here With You
(A Willow Bay Novel Book 2)
by Kelly Collins

A swoon-worthy family drama filled with heartbreak, happiness, and a happily ever after…

Emmaline Brown had been in love once, but when Miles McClintock cracked open his family’s secrets, he ruined a lot of lives and crushed Emmaline’s dreams. With Miles no longer an acceptable suitor in her family’s eyes, she chose the life she was born and raised for—to run The Brown Resort. As part-owner and operator of Willow Bay’s largest luxury property, she’d been delivering happily ever after to the hundreds who flocked there each summer. She thought she was content to live her life alone, but that all changed when Miles McClintock came back to town.

Paramedic Miles McClintock left Willow Bay decades ago in disgrace. One honest decision lost him everything, including his family’s honor and the love of his life, Emmaline Brown. Luck had never been on his side until the day he was summoned home by his ill mother. One stop at the Five and Dime would change his life. An opportunity to run the resort next door puts him exactly where he wants to be—straight in the path of Emmaline Brown. She had once loved him when he was a wealthy rancher’s heir, but could she fall in love with the poor man he was pretending to be?

He feels abandoned. She feels betrayed. Can their love for one another douse the burning rage that keeps them apart?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Her anger disappeared in an instant. When a person had nine toes inside heaven’s gate, there was no room for petty squabbles.

Tilly touched the crinkled corners of her eyes. “You don’t have crow’s feet. Yours are more like sparrow’s feet.” She thumbed the corners of her eyes. “Look at me. I have pelican claws.”

By tomorrow, she’d have to shove this year’s butt in last year’s jeans. It would be like putting ten pounds of taters in a five-pound sack, but what did she care? No one was looking at her taters, anyway.

Not everyone was cut from the same cloth, and poor Margot was burlap in a room of Egyptian cotton.

“I’m the ash man.” He gave him a sly smile. “Seventy years ago, I could have dropped the h and added an s.” He chuckled. “The mind is still willing, but the body gave up long ago.”

In her other hand was a little black dress. It was so tiny that if she bent over, she would become an underwear model.

Miles entered the house. It smelled like dusty curtains and death. Anyone who told him death didn’t have a smell had never experienced it. It was sadness, anger, and unfulfilled dreams mixed and left in the sun to rot.

My Review:

Another engaging and enjoyable small-town, second-chance romance from the insightful and witty pen of Kelly Collins. Her uniquely flawed yet endearing characters frequently have me wanting to give them a good pinch or ten, but I trust they will eventually see the error of their ways and retrieve their craniums from their colons as Ms. Collins is a guaranteed happy-ever-after raconteuse. She has never failed to bring a delighted smirk to my face during perusal.

ABOUT KELLY COLLINS   

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With twinkling humor and heartfelt Christmas spirit, two friends find love in a town called Wishing Tree…

Until Camryn Neff can return to her “real” life in Chicago, she’s in Wishing Tree to care for her twin sisters. She’s not looking for forever love, not here. But handsome hotelier Jake Crane is a temptation she can’t resist, so she suggests they pair up for the season. No golden rings, no broken hearts. At his side, she sees her hometown through Christmas-colored eyes. The cheer is cheerier, the joy more joyful. She thought she had put her future on hold…but maybe her real life was here all along, waiting for her to come home.

New in town, River Best is charmed by Wishing Tree’s homespun traditions and warmhearted people. When she’s crowned Snow Queen, she’s honored but wary. Dylan Tucker, her king, seems like the stuff of sugarplum dreams, but she can’t shake the feeling that he’s hiding something big. As they perform their “royal” duties—tasting cookies, lighting trees—Dylan’s good humor and melty kisses draw her to the brink of love. But she can’t let herself fall until she uncovers his secret, even if her lack of faith means losing him forever.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

“Future nannies shouldn’t trash their ex-boyfriends on Facebook,” she murmured, copying several fairly hostile posts. “And wishing his dick falls off is never a good look.”

I’m like a hothouse orchid. Slightly odd and unable to survive outside.

Sadly, you fight like a kid, saying things you shouldn’t. You really need to up your game in the arguing department. There’s a way to do it productively. I’m sure they have online classes.

My Review:

I know it is far too early to start reading Christmas books but when it is Susan Mallery, it really doesn’t matter what the calendar says. I enjoy her smooth, amusing, and easy-flowing style of storytelling as much as I do her lovable characters, they somehow remain endearing even when they are being obnoxious. She has definitely mastered the nuances of small-town living while also being extra crafty and clever deployment of her well-honed skill set to imbue each small hamlet, resident, and tale with uniquely entertaining quirks and precious pets.

From the authors of Tiny Imperfections comes a riotously funny, emotionally real look at race and religion, love and heartache, and the realities of parenting through it all.

Self-appointed fixer of other people’s woes Marjette Lewis is uncharacteristically determined to keep to her side of the driveway when it comes to her flawless neighbor Noa Abrams. Professionally, Marjette has her hands full as she prepares for a new class of kindergarteners and her first year of teaching without her best friend, Judy, as campus “Black-up.” And at home, her son’s budding manhood challenges her expectations, and her vexing ex-husband continues to be a thorn in her side.

But when tragedy strikes Marjette’s street, and an unexpected child shows up on the first day of school with an uncle who has all the class moms aflutter, Marjette is forced to contend with both her neighbor and her own heartache over losing the life she once thought was guaranteed. Through laughter, tears, and the gift of found family, Marjette and Noa navigate the rituals of loss together and discover the strength to remake their lives?whether they meant to or not.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

“My mommy sath firth impressions are everything; that’s why she made my daddy take uth all to school in the Range Rover and pretend like they aren’t getting a ’vorce. He’th parking right now,” my new friend insists, proud that she’s in on her parents’ dirt. Straightening out her powder-blue extravaganza, she lets me know who showed up fierce for the first day of school.

I ate my emotions this week. S’mores are the new sadness.

I dig right into the middle of my sweet potato pie and hold up a heaping bite. “Girl, there are no calories in grief pie, so you go on and dig in.” Noa stabs the pie like it’s Charlie.

His absence is a presence. The house feels too big. Esty and I are the quiet ones; Charlie was the soundtrack to our family.

“I have mad research skills.” “You mean stalking?” “Same but different.”

You think it’s pure chance we’ve turned out to be friends, Marjette? Please. One of the reasons we get along so well is you’re Black, I’m Jewish, and White supremacists are after us both.

I hate people who practice moderation, it’s not natural.

My Review:

This was a fun and feisty read with realistic storylines laced together with real-world issues, clever and snarky humor that kept a smirk on my face, observant cultural insights, personal foibles, grief, and daily living. This one covered a lot of ground and there was much to unpack from the diverse characters, but I liked and enjoyed these perceptive yet flawed women who were doing their best to show up each day, and building an unexpected and supportive bond while struggling with single parenting, the personal pain of betrayal, family issues, deadly dull diet support group meetings and sugar addictions, and all with wickedly sharp wit and wryly humorous observations. I’m not black or Jewish but I could easily relate, these characters could well be my people.