Diana Lesire Brandmeyer

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Category: book review contemporary

Monday Review of Point of Danger

Posted on November 15, 2021December 9, 2021 by Diana Brandmeyer

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!

Book cover Point of Danger by Irene Hannon read the review.

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.

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Monday Review of The Weather Girls Sunny

Posted on September 13, 2021September 9, 2021 by Diana Brandmeyer

The Weather Girls Book 1 Sunny by Jennifer Lynn Carry had me tripping down memory lane. Bell bottom jeans how I miss you. Though I’d probably trip and break a hip if I wore them now.

Carry has interspersed memorabilia and songs from that decade that are sure to bring back a memory for you as well if you were around for the 70s. If you weren’t, The Weather Girls is a great place to learn about a normal family in that decade.

Wait, did I say normal? It’s not. It’s like so many families of that time, touched by broken marriage vows and each of the sisters in this series has her own issues that need to be healed from growing up in a broken home.

Sounds like a downer doesn’t it? It’s not! It’s a laugh out loud, grab the tissues and a warm hug kind of read.

I’ve had the chance to read the series and the other books will be out soon. There is not a disappointing moment between these covers.

Victorian house daisies floating in the sky keys

She got stood up on Valentine’s Day…

…Then she lost her job

Could the legend of the cardinal change her luck?

With a disposition as bright as her name, Sunny shakes off the worst day of her life and makes a new start. She’s got the brains that it takes, but she’s more than a little scared. It’s not just her reputation on the line.

Would this cockeyed adventure be the thing her siblings needed too?

Pat only wants peace in the family and never dreamed doing a favor for his sister could drop him into so much hot water. Torn between what he’s always wanted and what is staring him in the face, someone is bound to get hurt.

Odds are it will be him.

But then, only the cardinal knows for sure.

Return to 1970 Indiana with Sunny, the first book in The Weather Girls series for the miniskirts, bell-bottoms, and Christian family values.

You’ll love Sunny for the music, the fashions, and the hilarious antics, because who can resist a romantic trip down memory lane?

Buy Sunny today.

carry out cup for hot drink, old fashioned typewriter, picture frame with book cover

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Monday Review of Penance on the Prairies

Posted on June 28, 2021September 6, 2021 by Diana Brandmeyer

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!

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Monday Book Review of The Cedar Key

Posted on June 21, 2021August 30, 2021 by Diana Brandmeyer

The Cedar Key by Stephenia H. McGee

neckalce with  two-toned wooden ornament heart with a cross, white flowers

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.

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Monday Review of The Great Alone

Posted on September 28, 2020August 30, 2021 by Diana Brandmeyer

Is there someone in your life that is also a reader?

Do you share the same love for certain genres?

My mom is responsible for helping me learn to read at an early age. She spent hours reading to me, helping me pick out the words for myself and even walking with me to the bookmobile because we didn’t have a car. I was four or maybe five when we did that. At the time, for someone who couldn’t leave her yard, the trip there was exciting. We had to walk along the side of the road and cross a bridge!

The way back was harder. I was hot, tired, thirsty and couldn’t wait to read my books. How long was that walk? Round trip about a mile. That used to impress me until I had kids and realized just how far they will walk if they are having fun.

Mom loves reading true crime, mysteries, and things that make me want to hide under the covers. Stories were people do terrible things to each other. She says it’s human nature. I think in a different time she might have been a forensic psychologist.

I love the puppies and rainbow kind of books. Happy endings give me great joy, books with endings that end with possible good in the character’s future are my second favorites.

We have found a few places where we connect. The books aren’t true (for me) and the story is well-written and could have happened in real life.

When I finished reading Kristin Hannah’s book The Great Alone I knew it was one of those books mom and I could connect over. I ordered a paperback for mom. She’s reading it now and we are having our own little book club moment discussing it every day.

It’s set in the 1970s so that decade is a familiar one to me as I was in high school then. The angst of being a teenager and moving to another state and not having the right clothes is universal but what follows in this book I pray isn’t a normal life for anyone.

While the relationship between Leni and Cora is unhealthy it brought me back to living with my own mom. The closeness that grows between a mother and daughter when there is sadness and problems they can’t control is what kept me reading page after page. Peas in a pod is her mother’s favorite saying.

If stories of abuse are a trigger for you then please give this book a pass. If not, it’s a book full of relationships, the beauty, and roughness of Alaska, and the possibilities of hope.

Alaska, 1974. Ernt Allbright came home from the Vietnam War a changed and volatile man. When he loses yet another job, he makes the impulsive decision to move his wife and daughter north where they will live off the grid in America’s last true frontier.

Cora will do anything for the man she loves, even if means following him into the unknown. Thirteen-year-old Leni, caught in the riptide of her parents’ passionate, stormy relationship, has little choice but to go along, daring to hope this new land promises her family a better future.

In a wild, remote corner of Alaska, the Allbrights find a fiercely independent community of strong men and even stronger women. The long, sunlit days and the generosity of the locals make up for the newcomers’ lack of preparation and dwindling resources.

But as winter approaches and darkness descends, Ernt’s fragile mental state deteriorates. Soon the perils outside pale in comparison to threats from within. In their small cabin, covered in snow, blanketed in eighteen hours of night, Leni and her mother learn the terrible truth: they are on their own.

The book is $9.99 for ebook or paperback but it is also in KindleUnlimted if you have a subscription this book almost pays for your month, read one more and you’ve saved money. 🙂

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Monday Review of Room at the Top

Posted on June 29, 2020September 3, 2021 by Diana Brandmeyer

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

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Binge Series Reading Lantern Beach P.D.

Posted on April 12, 2019September 3, 2021 by Diana Brandmeyer

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.

woman long hair, police badge, dark night, standing on a pier
woman long hair, police radio, beach, thunder storm
Woman on pier at sunset, dark police uniform with badge
Woman on pier at beach, dark police uniform with badge sun almost setting
Woman on pier at beach, dark police uniform with badge, early sunset with 4 birds in the air

https://amzn.to/2IoT3Xc

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?

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Deadly Pursuit by Irene Hannon

Posted on September 8, 2011November 18, 2021 by Diana Brandmeyer

It’s been awhile since I’ve written a review but this month I have several books to share with you. The first is Deadly Pursuit by Irene Hannon.

Deadly Pursuit is masterly written and intense, the story will keep your attention. The setting is very familiar to me–St. Louis and I felt that it was portrayed accurately. 

There are elements in this book that I found disturbing and almost made me stop reading as the first major thing that happens involves a ???? I won’t tell you because if you want to read it, you’ll want that same sick feeling I got.

 

I almost didn’t review it because of what happens in the beginning of the book almost made me stop reading. But I did like the suspense and the writing.  
 
This book provided by publisher for a fair review.
 

Award-Winning Author Delivers Edge-Of-Your-Seat Romantic
Thrill Ride
 
 
 
 
Alison Taylor is a young, single social worker recovering from a serious accident and a broken relationship, kept busy by her demanding job and her faithful canine companion, Bert. But when her police-detective brother  pushes her into a blind date with his new colleague, ex-Navy SEAL Mitch Morgan,  she’s not sorry—and neither is Mitch. When she begins to receive anonymous calls and threatening gifts, however, their relationship shifts into professional mode as well.  And as Mitch works to protect the woman who is fast stealing his heart, he can only pray they’ll find her tormentor before the man’s game turns deadly.
 
Once again, Hannon delivers an accelerating thrill ride that will keep readers up late into the night.
 
Irene Hannon is the author of more than 35 novels, including the CBA bestsellers Against All Odds, An Eye for an Eye, In Harm’s Way and Fatal Judgment. Her books have been honored with the coveted RITA Award from Romance Writers of America (she’s a five-time finalist), the HOLT Medallion, the Daphne du Maurier award, and two Reviewer’s Choice Awards from Romantic Times Book Reviews magazine. She lives in Missouri. For more information about Irene and her books, visit her website at www.irenehannon.com.
 
 
 

Get it here! 

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