Posts

Posted on

Book Review:The Golden Couple by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen @MacmillanLib @sarahpekkanen @greerkh

The Golden Couple
by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen 

Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP / BB

The next electrifying novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author duo behind The Wife Between Us.

Wealthy Washington suburbanites Marissa and Matthew Bishop seem to have it all—until Marissa is unfaithful. Beneath their veneer of perfection is a relationship riven by work and a lack of intimacy. She wants to repair things for the sake of their eight-year-old son and because she loves her husband. Enter Avery Chambers.

Avery is a therapist who lost her professional license. Still, it doesn’t stop her from counseling those in crisis, though they have to adhere to her unorthodox methods. And the Bishops are desperate.

When they glide through Avery’s door and Marissa reveals her infidelity, all three are set on a collision course. Because the biggest secrets in the room are still hidden, and it’s no longer simply a marriage that’s in danger.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Time is a chameleon. It’s ever changing, cannily adapting to circumstances. It stretches out some tiny moments for an eternity. Then it shifts course and swallows up whole days, years even, as if they never existed. It’s as slippery and elusive as water running through the cracks in a tightly cupped hand.

 

Grief is a shape-shifter. It defies logic, sneaking up on you when you least expect it and leaving you empty-handed and hollowed out when you go searching for it.

 

My fierce-looking dog’s favorite new toy is a fluffy stuffed rabbit. Instead of chewing it, Romeo has taken to carrying it around tenderly and sleeping curled around it at night. Love is an eternal mystery, I guess.

 

Grief isn’t linear. It isn’t logical. There’s no structure or civility to it; it grabs you when you least expect it and digs in its nails until you succumb.

 

My Review:

 

What guile! I fell right into a smartly laid trap and was easily led astray by these wily wordsmiths. I was totally hoodwinked by their agile misdirection and had felt so smug in my theories. I was sooo very, very, wrong! A lot was going on at once with multiple storylines that were actively engaging while taut with tension and a steadily ratcheting sense of intrigue and impending peril. The characters were an odd assortment of personalities and backgrounds with traits that prickled, enticed, annoyed, and teased my curiosity while leaving me with a desire to know more about each. Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen are full of craft and combined are a synergetic and breath-stealing dynamic duo.

 

 

About the Authors

 

Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen are the number-one New York Times bestselling authors of THE WIFE BETWEEN US, AN ANONYMOUS GIRL, YOU ARE NOT ALONE, and THE GOLDEN COUPLE.

Prior to becoming a novelist, Greer obtained her master’s degree in journalism at Columbia University and spent two decades as an editor at Simon & Schuster. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Allure, Publishers Weekly, and other publications.

Sarah is also the author of eight internationally and USA Today bestselling solo novels. A former investigative journalist and award-winning feature writer, her work has appeared in The Washington Post, USA Today, and many other publications

Posted on

Book Review: Cherish Farrah by Bethany C. Morrow @BCMorrow @duttonbooks @isabelrosedas

Cherish Farrah
by Bethany C. Morrow 

Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP / BB

From bestselling author Bethany C. Morrow comes a new adult social horror novel in the vein of Get Out meets My Sister, the Serial Killer, about Farrah, a young, calculating Black girl who manipulates her way into the lives of her Black best friend’s white, wealthy, adoptive family but soon suspects she may not be the only one with ulterior motives. . . .

Seventeen-year-old Farrah Turner is one of two Black girls in her country club community and the only one with Black parents. Her best friend, Cherish Whitman, adopted by a white, wealthy family, is something Farrah likes to call WGS–White Girl Spoiled. With Brianne and Jerry Whitman as parents, Cherish is given the kind of adoration and coddling that even upper-class Black parents can’t seem to afford–and it creates a dissonance in her best friend that Farrah can exploit. When her own family is unexpectedly confronted with foreclosure, the calculating Farrah is determined to reassert the control she’s convinced she’s always had over her life by staying with Cherish, the only person she loves–even when she hates her.

As troubled Farrah manipulates her way further into the Whitman family, the longer she stays, the more her own parents suggest that something is wrong in the Whitman house. She might trust them–if they didn’t think something was wrong with Farrah, too. When strange things start happening at the Whitman household–debilitating illnesses, upsetting fever dreams, an inexplicable tension with Cherish’s hotheaded boyfriend, and a mysterious journal that seems to keep track of what is happening to Farrah–it’s nothing she can’t handle. But soon everything begins to unravel when the Whitmans invite Farrah closer, and it’s anyone’s guess who is really in control.

Told in Farrah’s chilling, unforgettable voice and weaving in searing commentary on race and class, this slow-burn social horror will keep you on the edge of your seat until the last page.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

“Being a spoiled white girl when you’re Black is literally my favorite thing ever. It confuses very literally everyone.” “That’s the only reason I put up with it.”

 

Polite society is a misnomer.

 

She’s the only person I still love when I hate her.

 

Whatever else you are, you’re still a Black girl. One day you’ll know how impossible it is to tell the difference between personalized terror aimed straight at you, and good ole run-of-the-mill systemic prejudice.

 

Cherish was a spoiled white girl who also happened to be Black, and it meant that the consequence of coddling, the incompetence it breeds, was dangerous.

 

My Review:

 

It has been over a day since I finished reading this one and I am quite conflicted and have been stewing and unable to start another book while I ruminate. I vacillated while reading but just couldn’t grasp all that was going on in this disturbing, multi-faceted, and complex tale. I occasionally felt lost, and frequently addled and confused while trying to understand the logic and symbolism the characters employed. And I wasn’t the only one as they were confusing and confounding each other as well.

There was a surfeit of personality disorders, anger, smoldering resentment, and an annoying sense of entitlement, as well as significant features of mental illness to wade through. I was invested and motivated, yet I couldn’t put all the pieces together, it was beyond my plane of experience or comprehension. Regardless, the various characters’ level of sociopathy was chilling and distressing.

I still can’t settle on whom I despise more, as every single one of them was a source of deep disappointment to me in the end. There were no heroes in this tale but quite a few victims. I must surrender and move on, yet I give the author her due and respect her process and word prowess.   Ms. Morrow kept me on edge, off-balance, and intrigued.

 

A somewhat-recovering ex-pat living in the American Northeast (with one foot still firmly planted in Quebec), Bethany C Morrow writes speculative fiction for both the adult and the young adult market.

Her adult debut, MEM, was an ABA 2018 Indies Introduce pick, and a June Indie Next pick, and was featured/reviewed in Locus Magazine, the LA Times, Buzzfeed, Book Riot, Bustle, and Tor.com, among others.

She was editor and contributor to TAKE THE MIC: Fictional Stories of Everyday Resistance, which was released with AAL/Scholastic in October 2019.

Posted on

Book Review: A Royal Murder (A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery #9) by Verity Bright @BrightVerity  @Bookouture 

A Royal Murder
(A Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery #9)
by Verity Bright

 

Amazon  / B&N / BB

At the royal boat race there are beautiful barges, plenty of bunting, a handsome prince and… is that a body in the water? Lady Swift is on the case!

Spring, 1923. One-time adventurer and now amateur sleuth Lady Eleanor Swift is attending the annual royal regatta with her new pal Tipsy Fitzroy. Tipsy has Eleanor trussed up like a debutante in a new dress, determined to turn her into a proper society lady. Even Eleanor’s favorite companion, Gladstone the bulldog, has a new outfit for the occasion.

But the sparkling prize-giving ceremony is interrupted when the devilishly handsome host gulps his glass of champagne on stage and collapses to the floor. The victim is none other than the king’s cousin, Lord Xander Taylor-Howard. He was rumored to be entangled in a rather dubious gambling ring, but did someone kill him instead of collecting his debt? Or was this simply an ill-timed tragic accident? Either way, a right royal scandal is afoot…

Sir Percival, the head of the royal police, asks Eleanor for her help investigating. He’d do anything to keep the story under wraps. She knows it will get her into hot water with a certain dapper Detective Seldon, but she’s determined to see justice done. However, as she digs deeper, she learns Lord Taylor-Howard was hiding more than one murky secret. It isn’t until she takes a closer look at the unfortunate royal’s shattered champagne flute that she stumbles upon just the clue she needs. But can she reel in the killer before her ship is sunk too?

A warm and witty 1920s mystery that cozy fans will just adore. Addictive reading for fans of T E Kinsey, Lee Strauss, and Agatha Christie.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

I’ve only seen blue that deep in the most heavenly exotic lagoons. Those eyes could melt a nun on an iceberg.

 

 

‘I pity your guardian, since locking one’s ward in the cellar is probably frowned upon in today’s over-liberal times!’ ‘It doesn’t stop him wishing it wasn’t though,’ she said genuinely. ‘Honestly, if it wasn’t frowned on, I’d be lucky to see the light of day most weeks.’

 

… she tried to think of a more flattering description for him rather than “the perfect mix of everything average”, but failed.

 

Sir Percival’s nose is a nasal protrusion worthy of winning prizes.

 

Can you believe, someone once suggested I attract dead bodies like spinsters attract stray cats?

  

My Review:

 

Another lively and entertaining read from the winning husband and wife literary duo of Verity Bright. I am completely enamored with these smooth and creative wordsmiths as well as their engaging series. They never fail to come up with the most clever conundrums with generous servings of amusing humor, vibrant characters, and unpredictable head-scratching mysteries. The storylines were delightfully nuanced, smartly plotted, well-paced, curiously additive, colorfully detailed, and shrewdly contrived. I still struggle to determine if my favorite character is the lovely yet unconventional Lady Swift or Clifford, her ever prepared, indispensable, Google on legs butler. Honestly, I need more of both of them in my life and don’t want to do without either.

It has been a good while but I have an addition to my Brit word list that I have noted before but had never actually looked up to be sure with good shout – which is slang for a good idea.

About the Author

.
Verity Bright is the pseudonym for a husband-and-wife writing partnership that has spanned a quarter of a century. Starting out writing high-end travel articles and books, they published everything from self-improvement to humor, before embarking on their first historical mystery. They are the authors of the fabulous Lady Eleanor Swift Mystery series, set in the 1920s.
Posted on

Book Review: The Night Shift by Alex Finlay @MinotaurBooks

 

The Night Shift
by Alex Finlay 

Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP / BB

From the author of the breakout thriller Every Last Fear, comes the electrifying new novel about a pair of small-town murders fifteen years apart—and the ties that bind them.

“The night was expected to bring tragedy.” So begins one of the most highly-anticipated thrillers of 2022.

It’s New Year’s Eve 1999. Y2K is expected to end in chaos: planes falling from the sky, elevators plunging to earth, world markets collapsing. A digital apocalypse. None of that happens. But at a Blockbuster Video in Linden, New Jersey, four teenage girls working the night shift are attacked. Only one survives. Police quickly identify a suspect who flees and is never seen again.

Fifteen years later, in the same town, four teenage employees working late at an ice cream store are attacked, and again only one makes it out alive.

Both surviving victims recall the killer speaking only a few final words. . . . “Goodnight, pretty girl.”

In the aftermath, three lives intersect: the survivor of the Blockbuster massacre who’s forced to relive her tragedy; the brother of the original suspect, who’s convinced the police have it wrong; and the FBI agent, who’s determined to solve both cases. On a collision course toward the truth, all three lives will forever be changed, and not everyone will make it out alive.

Twisty, poignant, and redemptive, The Night Shift is a story about the legacy of trauma and how the broken can come out on the other side, and it solidifies Alex Finlay as one of the new leading voices in the world of thrillers.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

A man sits behind a cluttered desk. He wears thick glasses and keeps blinking, giving his eyes an insect quality. They hang back as the department head speaks with Walter, explaining why they’re here. Under his breath Atticus asks Keller, “You ever see the movie Office Space?”

 

“There’s only one thing sneakier than criminals.” “What’s that?” “Teenage girls.”

 

Who came up with all these acronyms? They sound like jobs on a porn set.

 

My Review:

 

This chilling tale kept me guessing and on edge with multi-layered storylines that were maddeningly paced, cunningly textured, taut with tension, and laced with clever snark. I was enthralled and in awe of this wordsmith’s devilishly wily word voodoo and engaging writing style.   Alex Finley has a new fangirl.

The characters were an odd bunch of complex personalities who were more than a bit fractured yet compelling and enticing. I was sucked into an oddly disconcerting, active, and prickly vortex of tension, tragedy, humor, and intrigue while the little pea in my brain was feverishly devising and tossing out wilder and wilder theories as the complications and twists mounted to higher and higher levels of crisscrossing deception. I’ve never enjoyed being so wrong.

 

Alex Finlay is the pseudonym of an author who lives in Washington, D.C. His 2021 breakout thriller, Every Last Fear, was an Indie Next pick, a LibraryReads selection, an Amazon Editor’s Best Thriller, as well as a CNN, Newsweek, E!, BuzzFeed, Business Week, Goodreads, Parade, PopSugar, and Reader’s Digest best or most anticipated thriller of the year. Alex’s work has been translated into more than a dozen languages and optioned for film and television.

 

Posted on

Book Review: P.S. I Hate You by Sophie Ranald @SophieRanald @Bookouture

P.S. I Hate You 
by Sophie Ranald 

Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP / BB

Relationship: Hanging by a thread.
Sex life: Dead on arrival.
Alcohol: Essential.

It’s normal to hate the man of your dreams, right?

Once upon a time, Abbie and Matt had swoon-worthy mini-breaks in Paris, and Abbie would cook him steak wearing nothing but an apron and high heels. These days, they’re experiencing the longest dry spell on record… And Abbie is keeping a very big secret.

But she’s not ready to give up. Nobody knows Abbie like Matt does, and it helps that he’s tall, dark, and handsome, with hazel eyes and dimples to die for.

Determined to reignite the romance, Abbie initiates Operation Memory Lane and recreates their happiest memories. Maybe breakfast in bed, sexy lingerie, dirty martinis, and a romantic weekend in the countryside will bring back Abbie’s butterflies and make her giddy with happiness…

But revisiting the past is a risky business, and secrets always come out in the end. Will the truth ruin their second chance at love?

This totally addictive second-chance romance will give you All. The. Feels! Perfect for fans of Emily Henry, Sophie Kinsella, and Beth O’Leary.

(Previously titled:  I Feel Like There’s a But Coming

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

She’d snogged boys before, obviously. Gareth Roland, who’d tasted of cheese-and-onion crisps. Wayne– she’d never found out his last name– who’d stuck his tongue so deep into her mouth she thought she might choke. Vaughan Black, who she’d had the most enormous crush on but who’d groped her so enthusiastically he’d snapped her bra strap, and she’d had to spend the rest of the night clutching her left boob against her side with her elbow.

 

‘You can’t feed prawns to random cats! What if it had a shellfish allergy?’ ‘A cat with a shellfish allergy? Come on. What next– vegan, paleo, keto cats?’ ‘Aren’t all cats basically keto?’ ‘Yeah, I guess. But only some of them bang on about it endlessly to their mates.’

 

… how many relationships could withstand one partner telling the other he was so far up his own arse he needed a candle to read his emails…

 

It had been the long, grueling, unsuccessful process of trying to procreate that had stopped me feeling like a desiring, desirable, sexual person and made me feel like an egg-laying chicken in a battery farm– except my eggs were no good, and I’d get turned into pet food even sooner than my fertile sister chickens.

 

If the recipe for a happy marriage was barely being able to say a civil word to each other, I reckoned they’d nail it.

 

My Review:

 

Although I never dealt with the same unresolved issues as this couple, I identified with their plight. I would bet good money that the vast majority of couples who managed to stay married for a few decades have struggled, to varying degrees, with a sense of red hot disappointment in how parts of their lives together panned out, I know I certainly have. And kudos to those of us who made it through to the other side once dealing with the ennui, raging inner diva of entitlement, and the dawning realization that this is it so you better get with the program. And gold stars to those of us able to make the jump to maybe it’s not all on him or even about the annoying habits that trigger sudden warp speed jumps in blood pressure.

This was my first time reading Sophie Ranald and I applaud her clever use of humor, sensitivity, and surprising insight in dealing with several prickly issues that aren’t widely discussed. The characters’ independent and united journeys contained a few potholes and landmines that aren’t all that uncommon but can weigh heavily and turn nasty on a dime. The storylines were laced together with comedic descriptions as well as real-life issues while cast with characters that were well fleshed out, multi-faceted, and quick-witted with sassy banter and snarky observations. Ms. Ranald persuasively captured their peaks and valleys and day-to-day travails exceptionally well and deftly framed them with a surprising poignancy while still maintaining an engaging, entertaining, and amusing tale.

The main character of Abbie wasn’t always likable and could be rather horrid and quite the madam, but that is what made her true to life as don’t we all have our moments? I confess to having my share, and most of someone else’s as well. I adored her patient husband Matt and held my breath for fear he would decide he’d had enough of Abbie’s self-involved orientation and distance. But she was also making an effort and saw the potential as she replayed her memories and retraced their steps. I enjoyed the trek through their story and have added Ms. Ranald to my list of new favorites.

 

Sophie Ranald is the youngest of five sisters. She was born in Zimbabwe and lived in South Africa until an acute case of itchy feet brought her to London in her mid-20s. As an editor for a customer publishing agency, Sophie developed her fiction-writing skills describing holidays to places she’d never visited. In 2011, she decided to disregard all the good advice given to aspiring novelists and attempt to write full-time. After one false start, It Would Be Wrong to Steal My Sister’s Boyfriend (Wouldn’t It?) seemed to write itself, and six more novels have followed. Sophie also writes for magazines and online about food, fashion, finance, and fitness. She lives in southeast London with her amazing partner Hopi and their two adorable cats.

 

Posted on

Book Review: ACCIDENTALLY PERFECT (HIDEAWAY HARBOR, 1) by Marissa Clarke  @MaryL_MarissaC @TLCBookTours

ACCIDENTALLY PERFECT
(HIDEAWAY HARBOR, 1)
by Marissa Clarke

Publisher: Entangled: Amara (February 22, 2022)

.

.

Amazon  / B&N / GP/ Apple / BB

.

Workaholic Lillian Mahoney has given everything to her job. The hugely popular lifestyle show she helped create monopolizes her time, energy, creativity, and anything remotely resembling a life. But all it takes is the show’s womanizing, egomaniac star throwing a massive hissy on live TV to utterly implode Lillian’s career in a New York minute.

Now Lillian’s hiding out in the gorgeous and completely unknown seaside village of Blink, Maine. Out of gas. A stolen wallet. A broken heel. And worse, she’s somehow managed to completely piss off the town’s resident hunk, Caleb Wright. She’ll show that hot, grumpy single father exactly what she’s made of.

But Blink isn’t quite what Lillian expects–and neither is Caleb…or his feisty teen daughter she can’t help but love. And while her entire life and career are in shreds, Lillian might just discover what happens when she gives her bad first impression a second chance…

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Some people had auras, she’d been told. This guy had a full-on storm cloud surrounding him.

 

She was so outraged, she sputtered sounds like the seagulls at the harbor made.

 

“I want to put poison ivy in their sleeping bags.” There was a snort, then Bethany giggled. “I want to safety pin their tent flap zipper so they can’t get out,” Bethy said.

 

My Review:

 

This was a lively and fresh read, full of keenly honed and snort-worthy small-town characters that kept me highly amused throughout perusal. I don’t know how I missed her but this was my first time reading the prolific Marissa Clarke, shame on me. I adore her sassy humor, colorful descriptions, snarky observations, and crisply written storylines. I have added her to my list of new favorites and hope to pay better attention in the future.

About the Author

.

Marissa Clarke is a multi-award-winning, RITA® nominated author of romance for adults and teens. She lives on an island in the middle of a river. Seriously, she does. When not writing, she wrangles her rowdy pack of three teens, two Cairn Terriers, and one husband.

She also writes young adult novels as Mary Lindsey for Penguin USA. www.marylindsey.com.

 

Posted on

Book Review:  Leave Me Breathless (Winterville #3) by Carrie Elks   @CarrieElks

Leave Me Breathless
(Winterville #3)
by Carrie Elks   

 

 

Amazon  / BB

She’s his best friend’s little sister. Completely off-limits. And now she’s moving in with him…

When Gabe Winter’s best friend calls with an unusual request – give his broken-hearted little sister a roof over her head for a few months – he readily accepts.But he doesn’t expect Nicole to be quite so enticing. Or for her to bring out all the feelings in him. Feelings he thought he’d buried long ago, beneath his easy-going façade and womanizing reputation.

But now they’re spending late nights watching movies together, snuggled beneath the blankets with popcorn in their hands. And there’s inches between her lips and his.

It’s wrong but it’s also inevitable. He’s falling for the one woman he shouldn’t want.

He’s in over his head, but drowning never felt so good.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

“Don’t make me call your mama. Because you know I will.” “C’mon now. There’s no need to do that,” Kyle mumbled. The twenty-something, muscled man looked terrified at the thought of his mom being called. “I’m just being friendly.”

 

“Please tell me this won’t hurt,” Dolores said, catching her hand as she walked into the studio. “The last time I exercised Ronald Reagan was in the White House.”

 

Oh no. She wanted to die. Or at least disappear for a very long, Jimmy Hoffa amount of time.

 

My Review:

 

This was an enjoyable and lively read full of amusing humor, insightful and witty observations, and frequent family meddling – which was both good and bad for the main protagonists. The storylines were crisply written, entertaining, engaging, and easy to fall into. The Winterville characters were an enticing, fun, and feisty bunch with plenty of sass and snappy banter. I adored the main characters’ connection and their Netflix binges and discussions of porn, Matt Damon’s abs, and The Notebook. I look forward to more Winterville escapades and am itchy with curiosity about Alaska’s mysterious misadventure as a child, which is hopefully being cleared up in the next installment.

 

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.

.

Posted on

Book Review: On the Honey Side (Blum’s Bees Book 2) by Staci Hart  @imaquirkybird

 

On the Honey Side
(Blum’s Bees Book 2)
 by Staci Hart

No one can ever have Keaton Meyer.

Least of all me.

The brooding construction manager is a man of myth and legend, rarely seen in the wild. Once upon a time, he was the star quarterback, the smiling homecoming king, royalty in our small town. Until tragedy struck. And then he disappeared completely.

Now he’s resurfaced, and I can’t keep my eyes off him.

He’s an island surrounded by lava, bound by a desert, and guarded by dragons. I don’t stand a sunshine’s chance in a hailstorm.

Our siblings disagree and are out to prove it, nudging us into each other in the hopes we’ll fall. But with our town in tumult and the two of us firmly in the middle, nothing between us is easy. And when he’s faced with an impossible decision, I learn the truth of what I already knew.

No one can have Keaton Meyer.

And I have the broken heart to prove it.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Sighting Keaton in the wild was a rare and unheard of event. But when my gaze did happen to be blessed by his visage, I lost all higher function of my brain and body, leaving me staring like a fool at a man no one might ever have, least of all me.

I’d seen him just a few days ago on Main Street, but for the stretching of time he inspired, you’d think I’d never seen him in my life. He looked like he’d walked out of a Chevrolet commercial for the manliest truck in their inventory. Or like a social media thirst trap on his way to chop wood with no shirt on.

A few of the more judgmental women of our town circled the block and tried to look disdainful. They only managed to look thirsty.

He has the IQ of a koala.” My brows drew together. “Are koalas dumb?” “They have the smallest brains of any mammal, eat food they can’t digest, and they carry chlamydia. They’re dumb as shit,” she answered.

I flung myself at him, knocking both of us to the ground as he caught me. Our lips crashed together with the rest of us, and once the surprise ebbed, the kiss was a pliant possession, a sweet forever, a hundred thousand million yeses with a chorus of angels singing behind us.

My Review:

 

I adored these lovely characters as much as I reveled in their cleverly amusing tale. Staci Hart is such an agile and witty storyteller, I fall right into her delightfully flippant, crisply written, sparkly books and don’t want to resurface. The characters are accessible, knowable, and so well constructed I feel I would recognize them if I met them in person. I am definitely hooked and eager for more of the same.

About the Author

 

Staci has been a lot of things up to this point in her life — a graphic designer, an entrepreneur, a seamstress, a clothing and handbag designer, a waitress. Can’t forget that. She’s also been a mom, with three little girls who are sure to grow up to break a number of hearts. She’s been a wife, though she’s certainly not the cleanest, or the best cook. She’s also super, duper fun at a party, especially if she’s been drinking whiskey. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, sleeping, gaming, or designing graphics.

Amazon | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Website | Newsletter

 

Posted on

Book Review: The Rebound by Catherine Walsh  @CatWalshWriter   @Bookouture

The Rebound
by Catherine Walsh 

Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP / BB

A newly single girl. A tall dark handsome stranger. What could go wrong?

It’s 7 a.m. on a Monday morning and Abby Reynolds isn’t where she wants to be. She wants to be in her beautiful loft apartment in Manhattan, drinking a coffee with her fiancé.

Instead, she’s heading back to the childhood home in rural Ireland she swore she’d never return to, with some big old secrets. Namely that she’s suddenly found herself unemployed, homeless, and absolutely 100% single.

She’s feeling all out of luck until the first person she meets after she touches down is an absurdly hot guy called Luke, who offers her a lift home. Gazing deep into his sparkling emerald-green eyes, Abby knows instantly that he’s exactly what she needs to take her mind off everything. The perfect rebound.

It’s a flawless plan. Until the next day, when Abby realizes who he actually is. Not just a stranger. He is, in fact, Luke Bailey, aka the boy next door. Luke Bailey who—so help her God—she’s pretty sure she once shared baths with, back when they were kids. Not that she can allow herself to imagine him in a bath now, not without blushing from head to foot.

And judging by the smirk on his face, the same Luke Bailey who’s known exactly who she was the whole time… And who, like everyone in the village, still thinks she’s a high-flying New Yorker… who’s getting married next year.

Abby is certain getting under Luke will help her get over her ex. But the truth is stopping her. Can she admit to everyone back home that she’s single and has lost everything? Because, if she wants the boy next door, she may just have to…

The perfect feel-good romantic comedy that will make you laugh until you cry and fall completely in love. Fans of Sophie Kinsella, Marian Keyes, and Emily Henry won’t be able to put this down!

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Louise works for the Irish Oceans Association, a charity dedicated to the conservation and protection of our waters. A few Christmases ago, she gave me a certificate informing me I’d adopted a whale. The year before that it was an eel, so I like to think I’m slowly moving up in the marine world.

 

You know… You pretend you’re super boring but you’ve always got some little drama happening, don’t you? It’s like the time you told me you had a migraine all weekend but really you’d gone to Aspen with that Hollister model from reception.

 

“I tend to follow others,” she says. “Everyone thinks I’m a free spirit but I’m not. I’m a barnacle. I latch onto people. If people were boats,” she clarifies.

 

“How’s your moping?” Tomasz lingers in the doorway of my bedroom the next day, eating an apple. “Going well? It looks like you’re really getting the hang of it.”

 

My Review:

 

Catherine Walsh took me to Ireland and made me smirk, sigh, and flinch with this one. Her characters were distinctly Irish and although her heroine, Abby, was not always likable and I actually wanted to smack her a few times, I was engaged and invested in the tale and had hope for her. The humor was clever and well-honed, as was the character development and their unique quirks and foibles. The romance was slow burn and a secondary thread to Abby’s long-standing family drama and career stress. While the pace and emotional tone meandered at times, the perceptive quality of Ms. Walsh’s writing and her amusing wit kept me entertained, involved, and interested in the outcome.

Catherine Walsh was born and raised in Ireland. She has a degree in Popular Literature and the only prize she ever won for writing was at the age of 14 in school (but she still cherishes it.)

She lived in London for a few years where she worked in Publishing and the non-profit sector before returning to Dublin where she now lives between the mountains and the sea. When not writing she is trying and failing to not kill her houseplants.

 

Posted on

Book Review: The Best Kept Secret (Smokejumper #3) by Tawna Fenske  @tawnafenske

 

The Best Kept Secret
(Smokejumper #3)
by Tawna Fenske 

 

Amazon / B&N / GP/ Apple / BB

 

Nurse Nyla Franklin knows three things to be true. Taking care of others brings more joy than a basket full of kittens. A triple-fudge sundae can cure just about anything. And no good ever comes from keeping a secret… So when her best friend spills his biggest one ever, Nyla knows she’s not just holding a secret. She’s holding a ticking time bomb.

Mr. Always Does the Right Thing Leo Sayre knows three things to be true. Piloting smokejumpers over burning forests is the best job in the world. His best friend Nyla is the smartest, funniest, and okay, sexiest woman ever. And pain meds are apparently his truth serum. Now his post-surgery confession has everything flipped upside down and turned inside out… including his relationship with Nyla.

Secrets have a way of piling up, and it’s just a matter of time before someone lights a match. Because while the truth can set you free, it can also burn completely out of control…

Each book in the Where There’s Smoke series is STANDALONE:
* The Two-Date Rule
* Just a Little Bet
* The Best Kept Secret

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

You know how he is. Thinks he’s Mr. Fix-It, but he’s really more like Mr. Bean.

 

“Did I really say ‘hiding the hot dog’ to my parents?” “Yep.” He grinned, no longer able to fight it. “You did. Want us all to pretend you didn’t?”

 

Are we going to end up on one of those weird talk shows, throwing furniture?

 

My Review:

 

I smirked, cringed, and laughed aloud as I perused this missive.   I am a devoted Tawna Fenske fan and this series is her best work yet. While reading, I have reveled in and continually admired the agile plotting and well-textured tales of all three highly amusing Smokejumper installments, although this one featured an unusually thorny issue and did so with humanizing and thoughtful sensitivity, perceptive insights, and clever humor. I adored these recognizable, witty, and endearing characters and wanted the best for them. The storylines were enjoyably entertaining and easy to follow with a cast of players all lovably flawed, generally well-meaning, and bumping along as best they can within a complicated family dynamic.

About the Author 

 

Website 
Amazon
Goodreads 

 Facebook
Twitter 

 

When Tawna Fenske finished her English lit degree at 22, she celebrated by filling a giant trash bag full of romance novels and dragging it everywhere until she’d read them all. Now she’s a RITA-nominated, USA Today bestselling author who writes humorous fiction, risqué romance, and heartwarming love stories with a quirky twist. Publishers Weekly has praised Tawna’s offbeat romances with multiple starred reviews and noted, “There’s something wonderfully relaxing about being immersed in a story filled with over-the-top characters in undeniably relatable situations. Heartache and humor go hand in hand.”

Tawna lives in Bend, Oregon, with her husband, stepkids, and a menagerie of ill-behaved pets. She loves hiking, snowshoeing, standup paddleboarding, and inventing excuses to sip wine on her back porch. She can peel a banana with her toes and loses an average of twenty pairs of eyeglasses per year. To find out more about Tawna and her books, visit www.tawnafenske.com.