Category: book review contemporary

First of all the story is just fun. But more than that there are goats! I love goats, and Gunner’s goats from A Sweet Deal for the Cowboy are getting a nice little role here. Reading about goat yoga and baby goats makes me want to sign up for a class. I don’t think we have them where I live.

Back to the book
Willow White has brought back characters from her Bannan Ranch series, and if you love that series, you’re going to be excited about the Cowboy Church series. I so want to read book 2 already!

In City Girl Country Bull, you get to meet Iris, who is an adrenaline junkie on overdrive. Just reading a tiny bit about her made my heart race. She’s gone too far with her life as a New York paramedic and her credit cards.

Her parents give her the option of figuring it out on her own or moving to South Dakota to help her uncle. Seeing no real way out of her predicament in New York, she gives it a try, knowing she will probably die of boredom from small-town life.

Ha. Far from it! After she attends the Cowboy Church and meets Bull, she finds out adrenaline comes at a price, but will she be willing to accept that price?

I enjoyed escaping into this sweet romance. I think you might too. I don’t have any friends like Iris, so I have a new respect for first responders.

I chose Point of Danger for this Monday’s book review. This is book one in the Triple Threat Series by Irene Hannon and it’s a page-turner.

I stayed up late reading this one. The story is good–we’ll get to that– but I love reading the bits about the St. Louis area that Hannon includes in this book. I mean Ted Drewes! The best place ever if you’re a local or a tourist to get frozen custard. My favorite? Cardinal Sin. Great now I want that and they’re closed for the season! There are several other references in this book about my ‘home town’ that gives me a hug–even though it’s a suspense book!

So back to the book! Eve Reiley is a conservative talk show host–hmm, did Hannon get her character idea from Rush Limbaugh a Missouri native? Maybe. Eve stirs up trouble on air because she has no trouble speaking what she believes is wrong with the country.

She has regular callers who intensely argue with her, emails and letters sent with threats–it’s all part of the job.

Until it isn’t.

So who is after her? It could be anyone! She’s made a lot of people angry because of her views. So much so that well… I don’t want to give anything away but let’s just say her life is in DANGER. And of course, there just happens to be a detective that wants to see she is safe and perhaps more. Que romance, please!

Hannon also introduces Eve’s sisters in this story who will follow with their own stories. Book 2 is also out the Labrinth of Lies–guess what I’ll be doing soon? Yep, reading about Eve’s sister, Cate. No regrets about getting into this well-written, intense series.

This book was a pleasure to review.

Read it today!

Radio talk show host Eve Reilly is used to backlash from her pot-stirring on-air commentary and interviews, but now it seems a disgruntled listener is resorting to more than angry words to express their displeasure. When a suspicious package arrives on her doorstep, Eve turns to law enforcement for help.

Police detective Brent Lange can’t find any evidence to link the string of unsettling incidents that follow, but he’s convinced they’re connected. As the harassment grows more menacing, it becomes clear someone wants Eve’s voice silenced–permanently. 

But unless he can track down her foe, fast, the gutsy woman who is willing to take risks for what she believes–and who is swiftly winning his heart–may not survive.

Have a book you think I should read for Monday’s Book Review? Leave the title in the comments.

As always please check out my book page.

Penance on the Prairies by R.L. Syme was next up in my to be read pile.

Is it possible to ever get to the end of the to-be-read pile? Every time I finish a book I tend to add two or three more to my list to read. And that’s what happened after reading Penance on the Prairies. The test will be is — can I wait to read the rest of the series? It’s going to be hard since I’m attempting to read and review on the blog I don’t want to review every book in a series.

Ah, I suppose I could do that or I can read more books in a month so I can have something fresh for you to discover and add to your own to-be-read pile.

Back to this book.

This was fun. I suffer from the “I know who did it” problem I think because I am a writer and know what to look for but… I didn’t see the way R. L. Syme would have it all play it. I was surprised. And I love that! I was still right but Syme did not take the easy way out. Her ending was great for those of us who want to have a bit of “I didn’t see that coming.”

This is book 1 and it is .99 and not in Kindle Unlimited which is sad for me but I will still get the rest of the Vange Vale series because I like it.

Vange is a part-time pastor and the rest of the time she runs a bakery. I wanted to make macaroons after reading this book. In fact, when you get this book have some macaroons available to eat. 🙂 Pinterest has tons of recipes if you don’t know how to make them. They are easy.

All Vange did was give an irritating person the wrong directions… and life spiraled out of control. Actions do have consequences, even those simple ones!

This book has excitement, danger but not the kind that stops your heart, and a small town. All necessary ingredients for a good cozy mystery.

Here’s the back of the book information.

One part Vicar of Dibley, one part amateur sleuth who loves pastries, set in the mountains of Montana where no one’s business is her own…Between the police scanners, the coffee ladies, and the senior center, no secret is safe for long. But Vangie Vale wants nothing more than to stay under the radar…especially the police radar. So when her new business is linked to a murder investigation, nothing will stop the gossip mill from connecting her to the dead body.

Can’t have that.

In order to clear her good name and keep her face off the front page, this part-time-baker-part-time-pastor becomes extra nosy…with a little side of breaking-and-entering. But when she comes face-to-face with the Sheriff, Vangie can’t ignore the fact that one of her macarons was involved in a murder. She has to find the real murderer.

Get Penance on the Prairies here!

The Cedar Key by Stephenia H. McGee

This was a pleasure to read. While it is a small southern town contemporary it almost feels like a historical read. That ticks both of my love to read genre boxes.

It starts with the inheritance of a Victorian house and a very broken character, Casey Adams. She’s been fighting her whole life looking to belong to someone. This is her second chance but before she can find out much about her past her grandmother, the one person who could tell her dies.

But her grandmother leaves her clues through letters delivered to her by her neighbor.

Casey hasn’t had an easy past and it looks like the future of a good one may very well disappear like sugar in rain.

It’s a book that surprises in a gentle way. Perfect for afternoon reading on a swing while you sip iced tea.

I enjoyed the way it entertained but didn’t stress me while reading and yet I couldn’t stop reading it.

It has a great spiritual thread that doesn’t preach at you but fits into the story the way it should in a Christian book.

Casey’s journey will stick with me for a long time.

Get it here https://amzn.to/2TNyyek

Casey Adams unexpectedly inherits an old Victorian house full of other people’s memories. Stuck in a quirky little Mississippi town, Casey’s hope for a fresh start died as soon she had to lay the grandmother she’d just met to rest.

But Grandma Ida carried secrets beyond the grave.

Before her death, Ida carefully planned a trail of clues to help Casey unlock the Macintyre family secrets and finally explain why they abandoned her. But each of Ida’s letters will only come from Casey’s handsome—and often frustrating—new neighbor. As Casey pieces together the stories behind the objects filling her grandmother’s house, she embarks on a heart-stirring journey that rattles her foundations, ignites her faith, and leads her to a startling discovery that will reshape her future. But only if she can face the lies that have been slowly tearing her apart.

Room at the Top by Kristin Billerbeck can only be described as non-stop reading pleasure.

I’m a Billerbeck fan, no doubt about it. I devoured her first books and wanted so much to be able to write like her. I can’t and that’s okay because now I read her books for pleasure.

Room at the Top is funny, witty, and has a bit of a who-done-it feel. Relax, this is not a book that will keep you up for hours check out noises outside your door. This is a fun read, think Murder She Wrote kind of story. Or if you’ve seen the movie Knives Out and enjoyed it, you will love Room at the Top.

This Italian family will steal your heart. Sophie touched my soul in so many ways, one of them is the way she dresses, and her love to help others.

This is a great beach read, on the couch read, and just because you need a break read.

Get it here!

“What a Girl Wants” comes with a funny and romantic new series that celebrates family and sisterhood, even when the relationship seems impossible. Sophia Campelli likes the structure of her predictable life in a rundown Victorian house in the San Francisco neighborhood of North Beach.

She’s always told herself her father can keep his wealth and his acknowledgment of her and her twin sister. She’s surrounded by her noisy but lovable Italian family, and that’s all she needs. When she and Gia receive the news their fraternal grandfather has left them something in his will, they meet their three half-sisters for the first time—and receive the astounding news of a massive inheritance. But Sophia can’t celebrate yet, not when she and her sisters hear the conditions attached to the money. The “real” daughters loathe Sophia and Gia on sight—and the feeling is mutual. But they have to work together if any of them hope to inherit the obscene amount of money left to them. They must live together and restore the large mansion in Pacific Heights for an entire year. Otherwise, the entire estate will go to charity. Gia tries to convince Sophia they have to walk away, but Sophia isn’t so sure.

For once, their mother might get a chance to rest instead of working every minute. She could help a lot of families in her job as a social worker too. It’s tempting. And once she catches sight of Joel Edgerton, she can’t resist the temptation to get involved in her unwanted family. The path to happily-ever-after is fraught with missteps and the treacherous waters of sisterly undercurrents.

Can Sophia persevere when everyone seems to be against her, even her own twin?

Ha! You have to read the book to find out!

Diana

I know I should be writing but I downloaded Christy Barritt’s Lantern Beach P.D. series. They are on KindleUnlimited so I devoured them like a sack of candy at least there weren’t calories involved.

These are great, they are light on gory details which makes them perfect for me. I like to read books with romance and police cases but I’m not a fan of being terrified.

And while it’s fun to read them back to back you don’t have to. The books are good on their own.

Cassidy and Ty are back in an all-new Lantern Beach series that will leave readers wanting more . . .

A runaway woman. A dead body. A mysterious compound. 

When Cassidy Chambers accepted the job as police chief on Lantern Beach, she knew the island had its secrets. But a suspicious death with potentially far-reaching implications will test all her skills—and threaten to reveal her true identity. 

Cassidy enlists the help of her husband, former Navy SEAL Ty Chambers. As they dig for answers, both uncover parts of their pasts that are best left buried. Not everything is as it seems, and they must figure out if their John Doe is connected to the secretive group that has moved onto the island.

As facts materialize, the danger on the island grows. Can Cassidy and Ty discover the truth about the shadowy crimes in their cozy community? Or has darkness permanently invaded their beloved Lantern Beach?