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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A solo getaway at an English country cottage is a pleasant way to spend the holiday—but it takes two to really make things merry . . .

Antonia prefers a quiet Christmas. She’s happy to spend it on her own, watching Hallmark holiday movies in her pajamas, eating what she wants, when she wants.

Antonia’s friend Jules, on the other hand, loves a big Christmas celebration and plans on traveling to the Yorkshire Dales for a festive break. But when Jules breaks her leg, she persuades Antonia to make the trip on her behalf. Arriving at the little cottage, Antonia meets the handsome property agent Oliver. But she can’t escape the weird locals—or avoid embarrassing situations like mistaking a cow for a burglar.

As Christmas approaches, the attraction between Oliver and Antonia grows. She could choose to return to the bustling city and spend it alone. Or she could choose love and have a not so quiet Christmas . . .

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

I realised the only place available meant sharing a table with an elderly bearded gentleman. A chap who wore a scowl so serious it could have turned my wine sour.

My Review:

This was a gentle, relaxing, humorous, and sweet holiday read.   As a favor for her only friend, a socially awkward woman arrives in a tiny village full of oddly quirky yet likable and endearing residents and surprises herself when she finds she is enjoying her stay. The engaging storylines were a delight, easy to follow, amusingly entertaining, and realistically drawn. I adored all the characters and enjoyed the main character’s gradual transition and sweet romance. This is one of those rare books from my reading listing that could be recommended to my elderly mother’s church lady book club without reservation.

And score! I also noted two new additions to my Brit Words and Phrases list with pootled – which Mr. Google informed me was British informal meaning to move in a leisurely manner, and Sunday name – which is also British informal for the full version of a first name or Christian name.

About the Author

Suzie Tullett is an author of contemporary humorous fiction and romantic comedy. She has a Master’s Degree in Television & Radio Scriptwriting and worked as a scriptwriter before becoming a full-time novelist. When she’s not busy creating her own literary masterpieces, she usually has her head in someone else’s.

Suzie lives in a little cottage on the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland, along with her husband and two Greek rescue dogs.

Social Media Links –

Suzie Tullett (Author) | Facebook

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