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Book Review: One Hundred Whispers (An Aspen Cove Romance #18) by Kelly Collins  @kcollinsauthor

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One Hundred Whispers
(An Aspen Cove Romance #18) 
by Kelly Collins

 

Amazon  / BB

Welcome back to Aspen Cove, where everything is safe, including your secrets…

 

After being booted from her hit renovation show, Reno or Wreck It, for a mistake that wasn’t hers, Jewel Monroe moves to Aspen Cove to lick her wounds. No one seems to know who she is, and that’s a secret she wants to keep. When that old familiar need to renovate burns inside her, she buys a rundown house, but is the deal too sweet to be true? She can have it at cost if she helps sexy real estate agent Mason Van der Veen turn the property from pitiful to profitable in two months.

Mason Van der Veen is in trouble. He scooped up several properties in Aspen Cove, hoping to turn the town into the next Colorado vacation mecca. But when that plan fails, he’s told by his father that if he can’t renovate two properties in Aspen Cove for a profit in sixty days, he’ll lose his job and his thirty-five-million-dollar trust fund. Jewel is his secret weapon and has the notoriety to bring him the attention he needs, but she can’t help him if she stays a secret. Mason must choose between her wishes and his needs.

Can they work together and build a relationship out of the remnants of a rundown house, or will greed get in the way of a custom-built love made to last?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Marrying Matt was like saying I do to a friend. I’d always heard you should marry your best friend. I just didn’t think he’d start sleeping with mine.

 

“Oh, to be a fly on the locker room wall of the high school gym.” “Smells like sweat and bad attitudes. I swear testosterone smells like a skunk.”

 

Matt did as he was told. He seemed like a guy who’d had his manhood cut off, and by the looks of it, Sylvia was wearing it.

 

“Get the sutures and bandages ready. Blood is about to spill.” “Not right now. I’m busy. It’s time for Days of our Lives, and Lovey will murder me if I miss it. You’ll have to schedule your murderous rage another time.”

 

She’s the one who looks like a librarian with a secret room for naughty boys.

  

My Review:

 

Reading this series is like dropping in on a fun and familiar friend, I adore this crafty author and always revel in my time at Aspen Cove. Each engaging installment can stand alone yet provides updates on the odd little community’s beloved and endearing characters featured in previous volumes.   The main characters of this chronicle were newcomers to the tiny frozen hamlet and while thinking they were flying under the radar, both were well known and being held under the ever-watchful and speculative eye of the small-town’s residents. The emotional tone was perfectly balanced between angsty inner musings, family drama, snarky humor, amusing observations, and a blossoming attraction. I always start looking forward to a return trip the minute I finish one of these tasty treats.

 

ABOUT KELLY COLLINS   

 

  Goodreads  / Website  / Amazon / Facebook / Twitter / Pinterest / Bookbub

International bestselling author of over 30 novels, Kelly Collins writes with the intention of keeping the love alive. Always a romantic, she blends real-life events with her vivid imagination to create characters and stories that lovers of contemporary romance, new adult, and romantic suspense will return to again and again.

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Book Review: Totally Folked (Good Folk: Modern Folktales #1) by Penny Reid @ReidRomance

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One unforgettable night leads to an unlikely shared connection, and unlikely connections never go unnoticed by the good folks in Green Valley, Tennessee. . .

Totally Folked an all-new small-town romantic comedy filled with humor and heart from New York Times bestselling author Penny Reid is available now!

 

Fall in love today!

Amazon Worldwide: http://mybook.to/TotallyFolked

Nook: https://bit.ly/3sOrkTX

Apple Books: https://apple.co/3sShLDy

Kobo: https://bit.ly/2OkmO0L

Google Play: https://bit.ly/39G9JpY

Amazon Paperback: https://amzn.to/36KBgo6

Barnes and Noble Paperback: Coming Soon

 

Jackson James follows the rules. He has to. He’s a sheriff’s deputy in a super small town with a super big personality. However, strict adherence to the law during the day has been enjoyably balanced by rakish rules at night. Jackson, typically happy to protect and serve (and serve, and serve), starts questioning the value of wayward evenings when they begin to feel more like being waylaid rather than getting laid. Could it be that Green Valley’s most eligible—and notorious—bachelor longs for something (and someone) real?

Mega movie star Raquel Ezra follows only one rule: always leave them wanting more. Strict adherence to this single rule has served her well. Studio execs, reporters, audiences, fans, lovers—no one can get enough of the smart, savvy, and sexy bombshell. But when “generous offers” begin to feel more like excessive demands, years of always leaving has the elusive starlet longing for something (and perhaps someone) lasting.

When Raquel abruptly returns to the quirky Tennessee hamlet, her path crosses with the delectable deputy with whom she spent one unforgettable night. Unfortunately, scandal and intrigue soon follow. Raquel and Jackson must decide which is more important: following their rules? Or, at long last, finding something real.

TOTALLY FOLKED is a standalone, contemporary romantic comedy novel and book #1 in the Good Folk: Modern Folktales series.

 

My Rating:

 

Favorite Quotes:

 

Sexual orientation is a spectrum of course, but I think he prefers peen and pecs, and I get it. I prefer peen and pecs. What do I want with boobs and beavers? So many parts, so many holes. Why do we have so many hills and holes? Women are basically golf courses.

 

“Are you serious?” “As serious as a Botox shortage in Beverly Hills.”

 

Your mistakes and missteps will reinforce people’s unflattering ideas about you, and your good deeds will be explained away by nice weather.

 

She was basically MacGyver, Martha Stewart, and Captain Marvel all rolled up into one woman. Janet James could turn dirt and a paper clip into a winning science fair project, bake ten dozen gluten-free, dairy-free cupcakes while grading assignments, making dinner, and checking in to ensure my sister and I had finished our homework, washed our hands, and eaten our vegetables —all without breaking a sweat or displaying a single crack in her outward calm.

 

My stomach threw a dinner party and only invited anxiety.

 

My Review:

 

 Oh. Happy, Day. A new series from Penny Reid is always a cause for major celebration; as is a new book, new novella, a new newsletter, new Facebook post, new Tweet… you get the picture.   The woman has mad skills and I adore her endearingly peculiar and enticing characters as much as her crisp and cleverly amusing writing style. I have repeatedly fallen into her tales and often felt regretful in having to come back out. After eagerly anticipating the enigmatic Jackson’s story for what has felt like decades, I am delighted to opine that his chronicle could not have been better. The humor, romance, inner conflicts, startling epiphanies, snarky observations, wryly humorous insights, sensual steam, and bitingly witty dialogues were perfectly honed, simply sublime, and everything I have come to expect from this master scribbler.  

 

Meet Penny Reid

Penny Reid is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Best Selling Author of the Winston Brothers, Knitting in the City, Rugby, and Hypothesis series. She used to spend her days writing federal grant proposals as a biomedical researcher, but now she just writes books. She’s also a full-time mom to three diminutive adults, wife, daughter, knitter, crocheter, sewer, general crafter, and thought ninja.

Connect with Penny

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PennyReidWriter/

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2lakzsD

Twitter: @ReidRomance

Mailing List: http://pennyreid.ninja/newsletter/

Website: www.pennyreid.ninja

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Book Review: Other People’s Marriages by Kerry Fisher  @KerryFSwayne @Bookouture

Other People’s Marriages
by Kerry Fisher 

Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP / BB

As I stood at my own birthday party, listening to my husband’s speech about me, I could no longer silence the thought that had started as a low-level hum five years ago and built until I could no longer ignore it… did I want to leave him?

Steph has spent decades building a family with her husband Mal, and putting that family first. She is the glue that holds them all together and she has convinced herself that she’s been happy… most of the time. But as she stands at her birthday party watching her husband talking about a wonderful marriage she doesn’t fully recognize, the doubts that she has been pushing down for so long begin to grow…

After the party, as Steph tries to gather her courage to leave Mal, she receives a letter from her old friend Evie. Steph hasn’t spoken to Evie since a sunny weekend on a holiday beach twenty years earlier when the two friends said things to each other that could never be unsaid. And now, Evie is seeking a reunion and a way to repair the friendship. But this reunion threatens to reveal a secret that could destroy two families.

Other People’s Marriages is an absolutely unputdownable and heartbreaking read about the lies we tell to keep our loved ones close. Perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Liane Moriarty, and Diane Chamberlain.

My Rating:

 

 Favorite Quotes:

 

I didn’t want him to spend his life feeling that everyone else had cracked the code to their place in the world but he’d scribbled his on the back of an envelope he’d lost before he’d memorised it.

 

Gemma was so charming that even when she was sending someone to hell, she did it in such a way that they enjoyed the journey.

 

I both admired Teresa for being able to keep a secret and could have shaken her out of frustration. But that was Teresa all over. She was like one of those money boxes that you had to smash open to retrieve the cash.

 

Paul looked so disgusted with Wendy that, for a second, I had a brief flicker of fear that he’d divorce me just for being related to her.

 

I’d frequently found myself wondering how so much water could make its way to the eyes, puzzling as I cried into Gladys’s neck about where the liquid came from, imagining a little reservoir tucked behind my jaw like the one in my Mini for windscreen wiper fluid.

 

I was a woman to whom detail was everything – mainly, if I was honest, so I could store it and use it against people at a later date.

 

 My Review:

 

Kerry Fisher’s latest offering was brilliantly insightful and so perceptive that the characters’ realizations and inner musings often stung as she was poking at some of my own failings and secret resentments that seemed to be fighting their way to the surface and had me nodding in emphatically agreement during perusal. This wily scribbler bravely dug deep and rooted around among the secret longings, self-doubts, and resentful sacrifices of marriage and motherhood with surgical precision and cunning, while maintaining a perfect balance of painful awareness and craftily amusing and snarky observations. She also held a bright light on those thoughts and impressions we women tend to keep privately stashed away and don’t dare speak of for fear of being banned from the sisterhood and flogged in the public square. What guile!

The storylines and family issues were varied yet highly relatable with narratives that flowed smoothly and sucked me in with cleverly astute and wry wit along with a keenly discerning eye and brutal honesty for warts and all disclosures of the nitty-gritty as well as the damage of long-held secrets. She had my rapt attention and I loved her deeply flawed characters as they were so real to me I could hear them breathing. I bonded and identified the most with the bombastic and colorful Steph, as gasp, I saw far too much of myself under her skin. So much so, I had to wonder if Ms. Fisher was actually someone who knows me all too well and using a pen name. Perish the thought!

About the Author

Amazon
Goodreads
Website

Facebook
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Kerry Fisher is a million-copy bestselling author. She writes women’s contemporary fiction, is a USA Today bestseller and her books have been translated into twelve languages. She was born in Peterborough, studied French and Italian at the University of Bath, and spent several years living in Spain, Italy, and Corsica. After returning to England to work as a journalist, she eventually abandoned real-life stories for the secrets of fictional families. She lives in Surrey with her husband, and a naughty Lab/Schnauzer called Poppy, who joins in the huge dances of joy when her young adult children come home.

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Book Review: Very Sincerely Yours by Kerry Winfrey  @KerryAnn

Very Sincerely Yours
by Kerry Winfrey 

 

Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP / BB

 

A charming and heartwarming new romantic comedy by the acclaimed author of Waiting for Tom Hanks, Kerry Winfrey.

Teddy Phillips never thought she would still be spending every day surrounded by toys at almost thirty years old. But working at a vintage toy store is pretty much all she has going on in her life after being unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend. The one joy that she has kept is her not-so-guilty pleasure: Everett’s Place, a local children’s show hosted by Everett St. James, a man whom Teddy finds very soothing . . . and, okay, cute.

Teddy finds the courage to write to him, feeling slightly like one of the children who write to him on his show. He always gives sound advice and seems like he has everything figured out—and he pretty much does: Everett has a great support system, wonderful friends, and his dream job. But there is still that persistent feeling in the back of his mind that something is missing.

When a woman named Theodora starts writing to Everett, he is drawn to her honesty and vulnerability. They continue writing to each other, all the while living their lives without meeting. When their worlds collide, however, they must both let go of their fears and figure out what they truly want—and if the future they want includes each other.

My Rating:

 

Favorite Quotes:

 

I knocked three times, and when you didn’t answer, I got worried that you’d died on the toilet and I didn’t want your parents to have to find you like that. It would be undignified and traumatic.

 

“He treated you like garbage.” She pronounced the word gar-BAJ, like it was French or something.

 

He tried to think of a time he’d seen Gretel cry. When she was a baby, of course. She had cried constantly because she resented not being in charge of her own life. She was basically born wanting to drive a car and open a bank account.

 

He had the best smile she’d ever seen in her life, like a baby animal and a classic Hollywood leading man combined.

 

“It’s hard to turn work off, you know?” Natalie nodded. “I know, dude. But sometimes the people in your life need you to turn it off. Unless you want to be one of those eccentric geniuses who’s been divorced fifteen times and lives in a giant mansion full of regret.”

  

My Review:

 

I smirked and giggle-snorted my way through this delightfully sweet and relatable rom/com. It was exactly what I needed after a string of tense thrillers and hit just the right tones with clever humor and sly wit. The characters were thoughtfully crafted and tenderly endearing and knowable yet realistically flawed and struggling with real-world issues within amusing storylines laced with comedic yet insightfully observant scenarios.

Ms. Winfrey’s style was crisp and well-tuned with sparkling humor as she detailed their challenges without being angsty, which felt authentic and a refreshing change of pace from tedious formulaic romance tropes. This was my first experience reading her clever arrangements of words and was an instant fangirl. I have added her to my list of favorites and one to watch and added her entire listing to my TBR. How could I not?   She knows the undeniable magical pull of Taco Bell’s drive-through for the Drunchies as well as the ingenious and regrettable madness of The Breakup Bob.

 

About the Author

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Website
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Twitter
BookBub
Instagram

Kerry Winfrey grew up in Bellville, Ohio, where she spent most of her time reading inappropriate books at the library. Not much has changed. Kerry writes for HelloGiggles. She lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, their son, and their dog, Merlin. Love and Other Alien Experiences was her first novel.

 

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Book Review: The Runner by P.R. Black @PatBlack9 @Aria_Fiction @HoZ_Books

The Runner
by P.R. Black

Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP / BB

Publication date: 08/07/2021

You can’t escape him.

He abducts lone joggers and forces them to run for their lives. When he catches them, he pulls out his blade…

Now he’s locked away and will be in prison for years. They call him a psychopath, a murderer, the ‘Woodcutter Killer’.

But what if you just found out you’re supposed to call him father?

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Glenn ate crisps the way a squirrel might; his hands moved so fast you had to slow the film down a little to see them, and his jaws clashed in rapid-fire.

 

Another man was with them, with a high, receding hairline, glasses and a tweed jacket. He had a pinkish hue to his face, as if he’d recently shed his skin. Freya could only categorise his appearance as that of a teacher who frightened you.

 

She let herself in, turned on every light, screamed aloud before she hurled open each and every cupboard, poked underneath the bed with a broom handle and was particularly vicious with every pair of curtains before she was satisfied that she was absolutely, positively alone.

 

My Review:

 

This one was quite a bit outside of my comfort zone for creepiness and the crimes depicted were cringe-worthy, gruesome, and disquieting, I worry about having those images in my head. P.R. Black is one twisted mamma jamma and his neighbors should be cautious and quietly tiptoe past as with the snap of the fingers he could easily plot clever vengeance on anyone who disturbs his contemplations, knocks over his bins, or allows their dog to piddle on his plants.

The writing was strikingly descriptive and pulled strong and haunting visuals that often left me shuddering, but I am a bit of a wimp. I will seek out lighter fare for my next read in order to catch my breath and flush out residual tension and adrenaline. The storylines were busy and itchy, and relentlessly poked and prodded my curiosity while also causing my stomach to churn. I often found my teeth clenched and shoulders in my ears yet I was intrigued and much liked the Woodcutter’s victims, I was hopelessly ensnared. Mr. Black has mad skills.

 

About the Author

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Pat Black is kind to spiders.

He is the author of The Long Dark Road and the Amazon bestsellers, The Beach House and The Family.

His short stories have been shortlisted for awards including the Bridport Prize and the Bloody Scotland short story competition. He was also longlisted for the William Hazlitt essay prize.

He was named one of the winners of The Daily Telegraph’s Ghost Stories competition, and his work has been performed on stage in London by Liars’ League.

He lives in Yorkshire, but will always belong to Glasgow. He knows full well what your opinions are about people who talk about themselves in the third person.

 

Follow Head of Zeus:

Twitter / Instagram / Facebook / Website

 

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Book Review: One Little Lie by Christopher Greyson @Chris_Greyson

One Little Lie
by Christopher Greyson 

Amazon  / B&N / BB

THE TRUTH COULD COST HER EVERYTHING.


Kate had high hopes when she moved to her husband‘s hometown, but her domestic bliss was short-lived. Blindsided by her spouse’s very public affair with his high school sweetheart and a painful divorce, Kate’s determined to hold onto custody of her kids and pull herself together. When Kate’s bashed in the head by a drone at her son’s soccer game and face-plants in the grass, it’s more than her self-esteem that’s shattered. The drone’s video reveals that someone is stalking her. And though the handsome detective she’s falling for vows to protect her, Kate knows to be wary of any man making vows.

With things spiraling out of control, she tells a lie. It was only one little lie, but a lie is a welcome mat for the devil, and with the one she told, Kate just rolled out the red carpet. Everything she worked for begins to unravel, along with her sanity. Confused, alone, and afraid, can Kate untangle her muddled mind and unmask her stalker, or will she lose everything—including her life?

My Rating:

 

Favorite Quotes:

 

“I told my friends about the stalker. Tommy said it’s probably an escaped prisoner they did experiments on and he went crazy, but Billy thinks he’s just a serial killer.” Ava giggled. “You can’t kill cereal. It’s not real.”

 

“You need the three Gs.” Donna had a colorful vocabulary, but Kate hadn’t heard this one before. “What’re the three Gs?” “A guy, a gun, or a German shepherd. Preferably all three.”

 

“Mark’s like an old hunting dog. He barks a lot, has a pretty gruff disposition, but he gets the job done, so you tend to overlook the fleas.” Ryan comically scratched at his neck like a dog.

 

The day Tammi feels bad about anything is the day Lucifer starts lacing up his ice skates.

 

 My Review:

 

My first Christopher Greyson read and I cannot understand what took me so long to give him a whirl as the man can spin quite a tale. The storylines were full of angst, family drama, betrayal, grown-up mean girls, small-town pettiness, accelerating harassment, and efforts of identifying a stalker; it was busy – busy – busy and full to the brim with itchy scenarios, uncomfortable prickliness, and clever twists I had not considered.

The characters were an odd and interesting assortment of vile, treacherous, and fiendish creatures as well as flawed, struggling, and original personalities. I cared for the maladroit main character of Kate but was growing increasingly impatient at her rag doll weakness. I enthusiastically fist-pumped when she finally found her voice, and boy oh boy, did she roar once she located her misplaced backbone.

I was annoyed, engaged, irritated, ensnared, and uncomfortably wriggling on the hook and unable to put my Kindle down until unraveling all the knots. Christopher Greyson relentlessly poked and prodded my curiosity with his shrewdly paced tale; I had no idea what I was stepping into with this sly and wily wordsmith. What guile! More, please.

 

Christopher Greyson is a Wall Street Journal bestselling author of mystery, action, and thriller novels. His acclaimed Detective Jack Stratton Series has been read by over a million readers and counting. This action-packed series has a broad appeal, finding favor with mystery, thriller, and romance readers alike. The series includes And Then She Was Gone, Girl Jacked, Jack Knifed, Jacks Are Wild, Jack and the Giant Killer, Data Jack, Jack of Hearts, Jack Frost, with Jack of Diamonds to come. Christopher Greyson has also penned the bestselling psychological thriller, The Girl Who Lived, a young adult fantasy, Pure of Heart, and a special collection of mysteries, The Adventures of Finn and Annie.

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Book Review: The Magic of Found Objects by Maddie Dawson @maddiedawson1 @TLCBookTours

 

The Magic of Found Objects
by Maddie Dawson

Amazon  / B&N /  BB 

Paperback: 365 Pages

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (August 1, 2021)

From the bestselling author of Matchmaking for Beginners comes a feel-good story about becoming who you were meant to be all along.

Phronsie Linnelle was conceived at Woodstock in a serendipitous liaison between a free-spirited hippie and a farmer’s son and was born with magical wonder flickering in her DNA and rationality knit into her bones. All her life she’s been torn between the two. But now that she’s been betrayed by both love and the mother she once idolized, her rational side is winning.

So when her best friend from childhood proposes that they give up on romance and marry each other, Phronsie agrees. Who better to spend your life with than your best friend? Maybe the connection they already have is love. Maybe there’s no falling to be done. But immediately after they announce their engagement, she encounters someone who makes a very charming and compelling argument for revisiting romance.

While her even-keeled stepmother argues for the safety that comes with her new engagement and her mother relays messages from the universe to hold out for true love, Phronsie must look to her own heart to find the answers that have been there all along.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

 “I made a little temporary engagement ring for you out of a twist tie I had.” He reaches into his sweatpants pocket and pulls out a piece of wire covered with peppermint-striped paper, all knotted up into a circle, and hands it to me. “The good thing about this kind of ring is that it’s adjustable. And replaceable.” He gives me a big smile. “You could get a new one from me every week.”

 

So to tell you the real truth, I’m actually hiding out here. My apartment is about the size of a hamster cage, and I have this roommate who rehearses operatic duets in the bathroom with his girlfriend. Something about tile providing the best acoustics.

 

You can leave us if you want to, but think about whether you might do it kindly… don’t think you have to set fire to what’s behind you in order to go… Just take your place in the world with as much grace and gratitude as you can muster and try to see the best in us.

 

I’m sorry— but those boobs, Judd! The way she pokes them out at every opportunity. I think they have their own zip code. At the very least, they should be registered with the state.

 

You’re looking well, by the way. Unchanged in a Dorian Gray kind of way.

 

 My Review:

 

These are the types of unusual characters and original storylines that keep me interested, curious, and entertained yet twist me up inside and make me itchy and unable to determine if I liked it or loved it until I peruse through my highlighted passages. The writing was superb, engaging, and pulled sharp visuals to my mind’s eye.  Ms. Dawson’s style is also easy to follow, engaging, and cleverly amusing as well as emotive, insightful, and often disconcerting as I wanted more for the characters than what is happening for them on the page.

Phronsie’s was a train wreck of a family and it didn’t need to be, but then again, no family does. They were making each other miserable while saying and believing that what they were doing was for the best, and it kind of was and really wasn’t. Thankfully, there were generous servings of amusing wit and humorous observations and inner musings to lighten the tone and even out the balance of a lifetime of familial tension and hostility. Phronsie was not always likable but I was rooting for her, even when I wanted to give her a whack or two with my Kindle.  I had faith this crafty scribbler would get her there but she certainly kept me hanging until the last few pages with an eruption of pleasant and shrewdly paced twists.

About the Author

Maddie Dawson grew up in the South, born into a family of outrageous storytellers. Her various careers as a substitute English teacher, department-store clerk, medical-records typist, waitress, cat sitter, wedding-invitation-company receptionist, nanny, daycare worker, electrocardiogram technician, and Taco Bell taco maker were made bearable by thinking up stories as she worked. Today Maddie lives in Guilford, Connecticut, with her husband. She’s the bestselling author of six previous novels: Matchmaking for Beginners, The Survivor’s Guide to Family Happiness, The Opposite of Maybe, The Stuff That Never Happened, Kissing Games of the World, and A Piece of Normal.

Connect with Maddie

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

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Book Review: The North Face of the Heart (Trilogía del Baztán #0) by Dolores Redondo, Michael Meigs (Translator)  @DoloresRedondoM @TLCBookTours

The North Face of the Heart
(Trilogía del Baztán #0)
by Dolores Redondo, Michael Meigs (Translator)

Amazon  / B&N /  BB

 

Hardcover: 496 Pages

Publisher: Amazon Crossing (June 1, 2021)

Amaia Salazar, a young detective from the north of Spain, has joined a group of trainees at the FBI Academy in Virginia. Haunted by her past and having already tracked down a predator on her own, Amaia is no typical rookie. And this is no ordinary student lecture at Quantico. FBI agent Aloisius Dupree is already well acquainted with Amaia’s skills, her intuition, and her ability to understand evil. He now needs her help in hunting an elusive serial killer dubbed “the Composer,” and in solving another case that’s been following him his whole life.

From New Jersey to Oklahoma to Texas, the Composer’s victims are entire families annihilated in the chaos of natural disasters, their bodies posed with chilling purpose amid the ruins. Dupree and Amaia follow his trail to New Orleans. The clock is ticking. It’s the eve of the worst hurricane in the city’s history. But a troubling call from Amaia’s aunt back home awakens in Amaia the ghosts from her childhood and sends her down a path as dark as that of the coming storm.

 

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Bill and Bull. They’re with the Violent Crimes Unit. These fellas have arrested more criminals than all the rest of my officers combined. They know these streets better than anyone… If I had a son, I’d trust them with his life; if I had a daughter, I’d keep her out of their reach.

 

Juan had difficulty with words… he was overwhelmed by the very fact that every object had its own unique name. He was one of those who thought things existed only when they were spoken of, so he could exclude horrors from his life and home by refusing to put them into words.

 

Her first thought was to go to the nearest toilet. She didn’t care if it was filthy. She needed her privacy, even if she had to pee on the floor. This is teaching me a lesson, she thought. Comes a time, from one day to the next, when we find ourselves ready to accept things we swore we’d never put up with.

 

… it was far better to be nice to someone like her than to get on her bad side. As his late grandmother used to say— and she knew a lot about it— you don’t have to believe they exist, but don’t you dare go around claiming they don’t.

  

My Review:

 

This is a brilliant piece of writing and of superb quality. I was late getting to this one and thought I would give it a quick start before beginning my scheduled tasks but soon changed all my plans as I was bewitched and couldn’t put it down. Ms. Redondo sucked me into a baffling, disconcerting, complex, prickly, and distressingly compelling vortex that tossed me in several different directions without a playbook of the plethora of uncomfortably intriguing storylines that eventually connected and entwined.

It was heart-squeezing, ghastly, inconceivable, curiously addictive, gritty, twisted, riveting, and ingeniously paced and executed.   I’ll be processing and savoring this one for quite some time as the little pea in my brain is still unpacking and connecting all the dots. I consumed this book as quickly as my tired optical orbs and feverish brain could take in 500 action-packed pages, and oddly enough, I would have been thrilled with 500 more of the same.

 

About the Author

Dolores Redondo studied law and the culinary arts before writing The Baztán Trilogy, a successful crime series set in the Basque Pyrenees that has sold over 1.5 million copies in Spanish, has been translated into more than thirty-five languages and was adapted into a popular film series.

Twice nominated for the CWA International Dagger Award and a finalist for the Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle, Redondo was the recipient of the 2016 Premio Planeta—one of Spain’s most distinguished literary awards—for her stand-alone thriller All This I Will Give to You, which has also been optioned for feature film and television development and will be translated into eighteen languages.

Connect with Dolores

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

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Book Review: Angel of the Lost Treasure by Marie Laval  @rararesources 

 

Angel of the Lost Treasure
by Marie Laval 

Amazon  / B&N / Apple / GP / BB

 

An ancient secret hidden within a mother’s song …


When young widow, Marie-Ange Norton is invited to Beauregard in France by the mysterious Monsieur Malleval to collect an inheritance, she has no choice but to accept.


But when she embarks on the voyage with her fiery-tempered traveling companion Capitaine Hugo Saintclair, little does she know what waits for her across the sea in turbulent nineteenth-century France on the eve of Napoleon’s return from exile. When she arrives, she is taken aback by Malleval’s fascination with her family – seemingly inspired by his belief they are connected to a sacred relic he’s read about in coded manuscripts by the Knights Templar.


As it becomes clear that Malleval’s obsession has driven him to madness, Marie-Ange is horrified to realize she is more the man’s prisoner than his guest. Not only that, but Hugo is the only person who might be able to help her, and he could represent a different kind of danger.

 

My Rating:

My Review:

 

I have reveled in Ms. Laval’s rib-tickling rom/coms but this tense historical was not what I was expecting and I struggled to keep all the nefarious factions straight while the characters were battling with each other. There were many clever elements and twists but the storylines were densely packed, complicated, and stuffed to the rafters with unlikable characters with difficult names and unfamiliar titles. I got lost, many times. The little pea in my brain was not pleased with me! This type of historical is obviously not in my wheelhouse and I grappled with a few too many secret clandestine societies to keep track of while they deceived and assaulted each other through a slowly developing plot with occasional jumps of hyperspeed attacks.

My difficulty in fully appreciating this one was obviously down to my personal tastes and interests as the premise was original, the writing was lushly descriptive, and the characters were well-developed despite most being distressingly odious. I chaff at tales that have women treated like livestock. I know it happened but the feminist in me just doesn’t enjoy the reminder.

The various groups were all thundering around the French county side in carriages and on horseback in the freezing snow and fretting about the threatened impending return of Napoleon as well as his enemies and spies, while also trying to outwit and sabotage each other in competing attempts at locating a fabled supernatural relic hidden in a crypt that dated back to the First Crusades and sparked the founding of the Knights of Templar. I felt dashes of several Indiana Jones tales as well as pinches of The Da Vinci Code, and sprinkles of Angels and Demons. And I will confess, didn’t fully grasp all the historical and religious complexities and implications of those tales either.

 

 

 

About the Author

Originally from Lyon in France, Marie has lived in the Rossendale Valley in Lancashire for the past few years. She writes both contemporary and historical romance. Her novels include best-selling contemporary romantic suspense novels LITTLE PINK TAXI and ESCAPE TO THE LITTLE CHATEAU, which was shortlisted for the 2021 RNA Jackie Collins Romantic Suspense Awards, as well as A PARIS FAIRY TALE and BLUEBELL’S CHRISTMAS MAGIC. Her latest novel, ANGEL OF THE LOST TREASURE, was released in February 2021. Marie also contributes to the best-selling Miss Moonshine’s Emporium anthologies together with eight author friends from Authors on the Edge.

 

Social Media Links –

https://www.facebook.com/marie.laval.9/

https://twitter.com/MarieLaval1

Posted on

Book Review: Bubblegum and Blazers by Isabella May @IsabellaMayBks  @rararesources 

Bubblegum and Blazers
by Isabella May

Amazon  /  BB

When Ali, Blake, Charlotte, and Grant sign contracts to star in a Back to School reality TV show, LOVE is the very last thing on their minds:

Ali flies to the UK from New Zealand, intrigued by the golden opportunity to advance her amateur social media influencer career.

Blake carpe diems the moment with both hands after a constant flurry of bad luck.

Charlotte jumps at the chance to relive her sporting glories of the past – and take a hiatus from her humdrum marriage.

And Grant is just relieved to get away from his failing second-hand music shop.

But once the advances hit their bank accounts, it soon becomes apparent that producer Jock’s Pied Piper-style offer to change their lives is distinctly lacking in sherbet fizz!

In fact, the only sweet thing about this gig for the former students and the rest of their Bubblegum and Blazers competitors may just be the packet of candy in their pockets.

Re-enacting their past is a rollercoaster of revelations, retaliation, and an unlikely romance in a gold-fish bowl of mayhem where Raphael (Agony Uncle of the school sweet shop) and his rhubarb and custards reign supreme…

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

 

Celeste Carey and her legs that went on forever and ever… and ever. Hell, no. Blake had never had the hots for her. The girl had reveled in spreading herself about like margarine ever since Year Four. But to Blake she was Marmite – and he’d never been a fan of the stuff.

 

He wasn’t cut out for things like this. If all the world was a stage, then he was part of the lighting crew behind it.

 

 My Review

 

 This was a fun, fast-paced, and highly eventful read with a clever and entertaining premise and multiple amusing storylines featuring a full slate of comically quirky characters to fill a reality show.   The writing was highly descriptive and laced with sharply-edged humor. Although, for the life of me, I cannot imagine doing the same, as it would take shackles at gunpoint for me to return to the small jerk-water town of my youth to spend any amount of time confined with the yahoos of my graduating class. Not even for a million smackers. My tactics would most likely result in massive bloodletting or incarceration and more shackles, so it is safer for mankind to remain an ocean away. I’m thoughtful like that 😉

 

About the Author

Isabella May lives in (mostly) sunny Andalusia, Spain with her husband, daughter, and son, creatively inspired by the mountains and the sea. Having grown up on Glastonbury’s ley lines, however, she’s unable to completely shake off her spiritual inner child and is a Law of Attraction fanatic, as well as a Pranic Healer.

After a degree in Modern Languages and European Studies at UWE, Bristol (and a year working abroad in Bordeaux and Stuttgart), Isabella bagged an extremely jammy and fascinating job in children’s publishing… selling foreign rights for novelty, board, pop-up, and non-fiction books all over the world; in every language from Icelandic to Korean, Bahasa Indonesian to Papiamento!

All of which has fuelled her curiosity and love of international food and travel – both feature extensively in her cross-genre novels, fused with a dollop of romcom, and a sprinkle of magical realism.

Social Media Links –

www.isabellamayauthor.com

Twitter – @IsabellaMayBks

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/IsabellaMayAuthor/

Instagram – @isabella_may_author