My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Baileyville’s star quilter, Hotpants Ed (so named because if it’s above sixty-five degrees, he wears the shortest shorts you’ve ever seen everywhere he goes— and he’s a six-foot-tall man with a ponytail and a gray beard, so it’s a striking look).

How am I supposed to live vicariously through you if you won’t even share any details? I’ve already read all the Amish romance novels at the library, Sandy. I need drama.

I want to protest, but there are no words in my mind right now, just random bursts of punctuation. My entire body is an exclamation point.

I’d make a great mom. Sure, my kids wouldn’t know what vegetables are, and they’d probably get scurvy, but at least they’d be happy.

I know I’m always talking about how desperate I am for a man’s touch, but I’m not that desperate. I know what that man’s touch feels like, and unless he’s improved his technique in the past fifteen years, it mainly involves boob honks.

My Review:

This was a fun and lively tale that sparkled with clever wit and snarky banter that kept me smirking and giggle-snorting with glee. I fell right into the breezy and crisp storylines populated with an entire community of authentic yet recognizable small-town quirks and complications. I adored this from beginning to end and hit this talented wordsmith’s listing to see what else I could score as I definitely need more of this in my life.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

My memories are a nest of spiders suddenly caught in bright light. They skitter to dark corners.

“Scott and I have been divorced for three years. Heart problems did us in.” “Was he sick?” “No. He thought I was missing mine.”

My Review:

I have a new favorite author who has scribbled out an exceptional piece of writing with uncommonly engaging prose and evocative arrangements of words that smacked me around and squeezed my insides. I could see and hear these people and their revelations and interactions gave me chicken skin! The unpredictable yet realistically unbelievable while believable storylines were laced together with a powerfully emotive writing style that kept me on edge, nibbling on my cuticles, and anxious and even somewhat fearful to keep reading. I generally despise angst but this was fantastic!

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

Jeminy had always been like sunshine sneaking in under the porch eaves on a winter’s day.

My Review:

I struggled with this one as my personal preference is to avoid conservative religious themes as I find them wearisome and exasperating, and this installment featured more droning of those issues than the rest of the series combined. Given the current irksome narrowing of these hot button issues, I should have stopped reading when these complications became apparent or when the polarizing stance in opposition to my personal position on a woman’s freedom of choice first became annoying as the heavily repeated judgmental tone became increasingly tedious and tiresome and overrode the pleasure and interest I had with the other storylines.

Despite our differing views, I still found Ms. Fischer’s writing to be top-notch and emotive, and I did appreciate the perceptive and thoughtfully written story threads of an elderly woman struggling with family and memory loss, the creative use of an emetic agent against a villain, and catching up with the characters from the previous installments.

Big City Little Rebel
by Kelly Collins

Opposites attract when a sexy builder falls for the little, blonde rebel intent on destroying his life.

When tragedy claimed the life of Beau Westhaven’s father, he didn’t just lose his dad, he lost his future. Now the project manager for Aspen Construction, Beau has two goals—to rebuild the family construction business and get his still-grieving mother out of her less than desirable circumstances. His plan was simple until a little blonde rebel named Bobbie Cruise arrived.

Bobbie Cruise lost everything to corporate greed. Despite a deathbed promise to her cancer-stricken mother, Bobbie wasn’t a real activist. But when the construction company responsible for her mother’s death showed up with yet another potentially lethal project, she chained herself to the front door to stop their progress. She wasn’t expecting the man in charge to be tall, dark, and unforgettable.

He’s focused on his success. She’s counting on his failure. Two lives pushed together by fate and torn apart by circumstances. Can they set aside their pasts in order to let love win and give them a future?

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

“They were vagitarians.” He shrugged his shoulders and tossed back the second sample. “No way.” Beau laughed so hard the beer came out of his nose. “Leave it to you to find the only two lesbians in the room.” “I’m magical that way.”

My Review:

This was a quick and easy read with a satisfying, sexy, and supportive romance that every woman dreams of. The characters were endearing and instantly likable people who deserved all the good things in life, although those good things had to wait until they found each other. The storylines were easy to follow, active, amusing, and well-paced, and held my interest and curiosity in how their dilemma would resolve.

ABOUT KELLY COLLINS   

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‘Darling, remember, I talked about this. We recommend staying away from alcohol when you’re trying to get pregnant.’ She wanted to point out that in the annals of history, there were probably billions of women around the world who had only got pregnant because of alcohol.

It wasn’t a friendly greeting. Or a warm one. If it was a perfume, it would be full-bodied disapproval with top notes of irritation and ire.

…so I am absolutely slumming it in a five-star resort. This heartbreak stuff is hard work.

My Review:

I am unabashedly enamored with Shari Low’s delightful storytelling and her latest offering is no exception as I stepped right into the pages and became one of the passengers. One Last Day of Summer weaves a well-nuanced tale that intermingled the lives of four strangers on a plane that had no idea they had so much in common. The engaging storylines were fresh, authentic, and rife with poignant feels, clever humor, and evocative observations and insights. The cast of characters was varied yet so well fleshed out and knowable that I would recognize them on the street at first glance. I admire her bewitching word craft as I easily tumble into her tales and while I’m often reluctant to crawl back out, I have found each one to be immensely satisfying to read.

Mona Moon travels to Merry Old England to visit Brynelleth, Robert Farley’s ancestral home, for the first time. Hoping to make a good impression, Mona finds she is rebuffed at every turn by Robert’s friends and even his servants. Events turn more sour as the staff quits after seeing ghosts, and a phantom keeps sabotaging repairs made to the manor. Despondent, Mona wants to return to the United States, but her trip is delayed when an American agent is discovered murdered at Brynelleth. She can’t leave Robert in such a lurch and begs her good friend, Lady Alice Nithercott, to help her find the culprit, who seems to be out for blood—Mona’s blood!

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

His eyes smoldered, looking like he had swallowed the canary and had to restrain himself from licking his lips.

We use vinegar in Merry Old England. If you ask for ketchup, the help will think you are a barbarian.

She couldn’t help but think of Benjamin Franklin’s saying— three people can keep a secret if two of them are dead.

My Review:

I am seriously late to this party, this is book nine and my first experience following the plucky Mona Moon and I adore her. I’m kicking myself for not noticing this delightful series sooner as Ms. Keam’s writing and storylines were a pleasure to step into. Her engaging style is refreshingly crisp, exquisitely detailed, and scrolled smoothly through my gray matter without a flicker. The tale was active, entertaining, and so easy and quick to read that I’m tempted to binge the entire series from the beginning.