REVIEW: Gail Olmsted has a new book coming out! It is the sequel to Miranda Writes and is named Miranda Nights. That’s cute, isn’t it? I had the awesome opportunity to beta read this book a while ago and totally enjoyed the new story. 

This book picks up Miranda’s life two years after Miranda Writes leaves off. I have to admit that I kind of missed hearing about those two years. They would have been the time period she married Eric and they built their home adjacent to the beach. We don’t always get what we want and in this case it is okay. The continuation of her story is good either way.

I really like all that is going on in this book. It is fast paced and keeps you on your toes trying to figure out what is happening. Someone seems to be out to get Miranda. This is probably the main thing but, it seems like everyone in her life has a crisis going on. Isn’t that the way it usually goes? Sometimes, it seems like things start falling apart all over the place and there doesn’t seem like there is anything you can do except ride the wave. Miranda does this well. 

I really like the characters in this series. They are likable and people that you find yourself caring about. They are like your own friends and you don’t want anything bad to happen to any one of them. I was hooked at the beginning of the first book and this book leaves me wanting more of the characters. I want to live in their beach town and enjoy that lifestyle. I feel immersed in it when I am reading and want it to continue. For me that is a sign of a great series worth following.

If you like legal stories and if you like stories about family and friends that are like family then you will probably love this series. Until next time…Happy Reading!

Don’t forget to support the authors you read by leaving a review!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

To follow my blog, click on the heading of any blog post. This will bring up just that blog and you will see a follow button on the bottom right hand corner. Thank you!

SYNOPSIS: She has a loving husband and a successful career–who says you can’t have it all? Miranda Quinn is living her very best life… until she’s not.

It’s been two years since her legal advice TV show was canceled, but the former Assistant District Attorney has rebounded with a late-night radio show, Miranda Nights. When her closest friend’s teenaged son gets arrested, Miranda tries to help but the evidence against him is overwhelming. Following a family member’s medical diagnosis, Miranda begins to wonder if her ‘happily ever after’ has been canceled as well.

But the real trouble arrives when a persistent caller, desperate for Miranda’s attention, embarks on an all-out effort to get her to see the error of her ways. Threatening messages and slanderous social media posts escalate to break-ins and arson when a fanatical fan claims to be her only path to salvation.

Miranda Nights is a fast-paced, witty story full of hidden dangers, with a strong and resilient woman at its core.

REVIEW: The Thing About Home by Rhonda McKnight was my first book by this author and it was so good that I will be on the lookout for more. This is not her first book because I see from a little search that she has several series out and stand alone books. You could spend some time catching up with Ms. McKnight.

This book was so good. I flew through the pages and finished it in record time. I loved the premise of the book. The main character is Casey Black and she is an influencer. She has been married for seven years and has a beautiful vow renewal planned. Her husband stands her up at the altar and tells her he wants a divorce. She crashes and burns later that night online live and loses millions of followers. Trying to put her life back together again she heads for the low country to find her fathers’ family that she has never met. Her father died before she was born.

I enjoyed the characters in this book. I especially loved her 99 year old grandmother who she met for the very first time. The manager of the farm was Nigel and he was a fine specimen of a man. There were so many family members, she couldn’t remember all of their names. It didn’t matter because family is family. She was raised by a single mother as an only child. So, Casey Black was excited to have family and roots. She learned how to work hard on the farm and she learned how to cook yummy southern food. I was wishing for some recipes at the end of the book. No such luck.

The book also has another timeline that took place during her great great grandparents time and tells us how they made it after being freed by their masters and how they accrued the land for the 300 acre farm that is becoming close to Casey’s heart. Casey learns that Home is not a place but a feeling. I love that!

If you love family sagas, historical fiction or just a good story with lessons to learn, this might be a good book for your next read. Until next time…Happy Reading!

Don’t forget to support the authors you read by leaving a review!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from #Netgalley, #FirstEditions and #ThomasNelson. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

To follow my blog, click on the heading of any blog post. This will bring up just that blog and you will see a follow button on the bottom right hand corner. Thank you!

SYNOPSIS: Home is not a place—it’s a feeling.

Casey Black needs an escape. When her picture-perfect vow renewal ceremony ends in her being left at the altar, the former model turned social media influencer has new fame—the kind she never wanted. An embarrassing viral video has cost her millions of followers, and her seven-year marriage is over. With her personal and business lives in shambles, Casey runs from New York City to South Carolina’s Lowcountry hoping to find long-lost family. Family who can give her more answers about her past than her controlling mom-slash-manager has ever been willing to share.

What Casey doesn’t expect is a postcard-worthy property on a three-hundred-acre farm, history, culture, and a love of sweet tea. She spends her days caring for the land and her nights cooking much needed Southern comfort foods. She also meets Nigel, the handsome farm manager whose friendship has become everything she’s never had. And then there are the secrets her mother can no longer hide.

Through the pages of her great-grandmother’s journals, Casey discovers her roots run deeper than the Lowcountry soil. She learns that she has people. A home. A legacy to uphold. And a great new love story—if only she is brave enough to leave her old life behind.

 “. . . a beautifully written story about family, self-discovery, secrets, and forgiveness.” —Kimberla Lawson Roby, New York Times bestselling author

Inspiring contemporary fictionStand-alone novelBook length: approximately 100,000 wordsIncludes discussion questions for book clubs

REVIEW: I am thrilled to tell you that I was able to read the second novel belonging to Sisters of the Heart Series Pathway to Lavender Valley. Book one was Greetings from Lavender Valley. I truly enjoyed both books and I think you will too. Actually, I am really looking forward to reading them all but then the series will be done and I will be left wanting more. I always want one more!

This book is about Harry whose real name is Harriet but everyone calls her just plain Harry. I really like Harry. She is a retired Detective with the Salem police department. She had plans to go see Jewel when she gets information in the mail to go to Lavender Valley to take care of Jewel’s farm. She is to call the other four girls who Jewel calls her Sisters of the Heart to come help for a year. This will be a long reunion for the girls.

There are so many adventures waiting for Harry. She was just wondering what she was going to do about all the free time she would now have with her retirement. I can’t wait for you to read all about the stuff she gets involved with. I don’t think she ever thought half of those things would happen to her. 

This book was a fun read. It will pull at your heartstrings in so many ways. You’ll cry and laugh and applaud for Harry. In her case, life starts at retirement. If these books sound like anything you might be remotely interested in, I highly recommend you grab a copy of them and start reading. They brought such joy to my heart. Until next time…Happy Reading!

Don’t forget to support the authors you read by leaving a review!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

To follow my blog, click on the heading of any blog post. This will bring up just that blog and you will see a follow button on the bottom right hand corner. Thank you!

SYNOPSIS: Six Women. Four Decades. One long, unexpected reunion.One letter holds the power to change the lives of five women forever.

Harriet ‘Harry’ McKenzie is coming to terms with buttoning up her thirty-year career with the Salem Police Department when she finally sees the letter sitting in her pile of mail. She is shocked to read that Jewel Austin has put her in charge of her estate. The beloved woman was a foster mom and guide to Harry throughout her teenage years and now she’s gone. If that isn’t enough of a blow, Jewel’s will, with specific instructions, threatens to uproot Harry’s entire life.

Harry’s love and admiration for Jewel runs too deep to deny her last wish. She rushes a few hours south to take over Jewel’s work at Lavender Valley Farm and to care for her beloved dog. Along with adapting to her new chores, Harry must find the other four women who were also foster daughters of Jewel’s, and convince them to join her at the farm.

Along with all these complications, Harry gets involved in helping solve a local crime, and her actions endear her to the small community. Soon, she is faced with a lifechanging decision—but she isn’t sure she can do what is asked of her.

Will Harry be able to fulfill Jewel’s last wish and take a new path in her life?


PATHWAY TO LAVENDER VALLEY is the second book in the Sisters of the Heart Series from USA Today bestselling author, Tammy L. Grace. Fans of heartwarming, feel-good women’s fiction like those by Debbie Macomber or Sheila Roberts will devour this series.

Don’t miss a book in the Sisters of the Heart Series! You’ll want to binge all of these small-town women’s fiction stories.


Book 1: Greetings from Lavender Valley
Book 2: Pathway to Lavender Valley
Book 3: Sanctuary at Lavender Valley
Book 4: Blossoms at Lavender Valley
Book 5: Comfort at Lavender Valley
Book 6: Reunion at Lavender Valley

REVIEW: Well, I have to say that this was not the typical Kiersten Modglin book that I have become accustomed to. I just might have to say IT IS a brilliant story! That is something I have become accustomed to from Kiersten and why I read whatever she writes.

She is one author who I never read the synopsis ahead of time. I enjoy going into the book without any preconceived notions because I know she is going to blow them out of the water anyway. I love the twists and turns she takes me on and am never disappointed in the book.

The characters are well developed and believable. Hudson and Willa are married and Murphy is Willa’s best friend from forever. They are the central characters and I think you will find them quite normal. Secrets from their past and present lives start popping up but, don’t we all have deep secrets we don’t tell anyone?

This is a fast paced novel that will keep you hanging on until the very end. Kiersten always creates a senario that gives you the need to know. The need to know what happens next and the need to know how it all comes out in the wash. If you enjoy a suspenseful book, this book should be your next read. Until next time…Happy Reading!

Don’t forget to support the authors you read by leaving a review!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

To follow my blog, click on the heading of any blog post. This will bring up just that blog and you will see a follow button on the bottom right hand corner. Thank you!

SYNOPSIS: From million-copy bestselling author Kiersten Modglin, comes a dark and sinister domestic thriller perfect for fans of Marin Montgomery, Rachel Hawkins, and Mary Kubica…

They want an ideal life.
She’s the only thing standing in their way.

The Ashleys are determined to build a future detached from the issues in their pasts, and it seems to be working.
They’re happily married.
In love.
Established in their dream careers.
Closer than ever to being debt-free.

But when a mysterious opportunity arrives with an offer they can’t refuse, everything changes.

Soon, they meet her.
She’s rich.
Powerful.
Single-minded in her goals.
She is not used to being told no.

Worst of all, she knows about the dirty deeds they’ve done in the dark…

If they don’t do exactly what she wants, the ramifications of their secrets being exposed are endless. In a battle of wits against a woman who knows too much, the Ashleys find themselves with an impossible choice to make.

Whom do you trust when the only person who can save you is the one who might bring you down?

REVIEW:

I have over the years become a huge Sandra Dallas fan. I just kind of realized it today. Every book I’ve read of hers is right at the top. Books I remember forever. That’s pretty good for me because I read so much, I tend to forget the story line or the general gist of the story. Let me tell you that Where Coyotes Howl will be one you won’t forget.

This book tugs at your heartstrings all the way through. It kept me totally immersed and interested. I could not put this book down. The characters were addictive. This is one of those books that are the whole 360 and everything you want from a book.

Ms. Dallas has a way with her character development that makes you know and feel each one. You know right away when you meet them in the story what they are all about. Ellen is a school teacher and she has a heart of gold and likes Charlie as soon as she sees him. Charlie falls in love with her the minute he meets her. Love at first sight. 

Life on the High Planes is rough during this time period and takes many lives. Folks move out there and don’t know what they are in for. Charlie and Ellen make a good couple. They work together to build their ranch and start a family. I was wrapped up in their lives and how hard they worked and the challenges they faced. I don’t think I would have been able to make it in Wallace, Wyoming. I like the comforts of city life too much.

If you like to learn about what life was like in other time periods or you just enjoy a good love story, this book should interest you. I am only a little of a quarter of a way through this year and I would have a hard time picking my top ten but, this one would have to make the list. Until next time…Happy Reading!

Don’t forget to support the authors you read by leaving a review!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from #Netgalley, #St.MartinsPress and the author. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

To follow my blog, click on the heading of any blog post. This will bring up just that blog and you will see a follow button on the bottom right hand corner. Thank you!

SYNOPSIS: Beautifully rendered, Where Coyotes Howl is a vivid and deeply affecting ode to the early twentieth century West, from master storyteller Sandra Dallas.

Except for the way they loved each other, they were just ordinary, everyday folks. Just ordinary.

1916. The two-street town of Wallace is not exactly what Ellen Webster had in mind when she accepted a teaching position in Wyoming, but within a year’s time she’s fallen in love—both with the High Plains and with a handsome cowboy named Charlie Bacon. Life is not easy in the flat, brown corner of the state where winter blizzards are unforgiving and the summer heat relentless. But Ellen and Charlie face it all together, their relationship growing stronger with each shared success, and each deeply felt tragedy.

Ellen finds purpose in her work as a rancher’s wife and in her bonds with other women settled on the prairie. Not all of them are so lucky as to have loving husbands, not all came to Wallace willingly, and not all of them can survive the cruel seasons. But they look out for each other, share their secrets, and help one another in times of need. And the needs are great and constant. The only city to speak of, Cheyenne, is miles away, making it akin to the Wild West in rural Wallace. In the end, it is not the trials Ellen and Charlie face together that make them remarkable, but their love for one another that endures through it all.

REVIEW: Hey there! If you are looking for a great Psychological Thriller, get yourself a copy of The Atonement Murders by Jennifer Ruff. This is actually book seven in the Agent Victoria Heslin Thriller series. You don’t have to worry about picking this book up without reading the other six. It will read well as a stand alone although it does refer back to her past and there are characters from the other books like her family and her fiance’ and co-workers. I haven’t read the first two books even though I do own them. I will! 

This book was so good. It was fast paced and kept me turning the pages. Ms. Ruff does not give anything away before you need to know. She keeps you guessing right from the beginning on who, what, where, when and why. I kept trying to figure out who the murderer was and why. The clues were adding up but they didn’t go together like I thought they would. Genius!

I like Victoria Heslin. She is an FBI agent and as I’ve mentioned we do get to know her quite well as we go through the books. You will find yourself worried for her and rooting for her to find the last piece of the puzzle. She owns 7 greyhounds and the author has her own pack at home that helps her write her books. 

So! Like I said, if you’re looking for a great book to keep you entertained and to lose yourself in, I would highly recommend reading this book. Then go back and read the first six! I know you’re gonna love the series as much as I do. Until next time…Happy Reading!

Don’t forget to support the authors you read by leaving a review!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

To follow my blog, click on the heading of any blog post. This will bring up just that blog and you will see a follow button on the bottom right hand corner. Thank you!

SYNOPSIS: Four murders. One shocking motive.

When detectives find the same message—THIS IS YOUR ATONEMENT—at the staged scenes of four seemingly unrelated homicides, FBI Special Agent Victoria Heslin must uncover the connection between them to identify the killer.
The crimes are scattered across the East Coast. The victims are in their late twenties: an All-Star NBA player, an investment banker, a dental hygienist, and a bartender.

Who is punishing them? What have they done? And who might be next?

Victoria delves into the victims’ pasts, traveling from Boston to Charlotte to the North Carolina mountains, unraveling the dark mystery that links the crimes. As the killer’s motive becomes clear, Victoria is in a race to the finish that she must not lose.

The Atonement Murders is book 7 in the award-winning Agent Victoria Heslin mystery-thriller series. Each of the books features a standalone investigation which concludes at the end.

“The Atonement Murders is the latest page-turning installment in Jenifer Ruff’s Victoria Heslin series. Past secrets, an engaging plot, and memorable characters captivated me until the very end. I loved this book!” – Laura Wolfe, Amazon Charts Bestselling Author of The In-Laws

“Buried secrets, a hidden past, and murder lie at the heart of the newest exciting thriller from Jenifer Ruff, which will leave you wanting more until the end.”- Audrey J. Cole, USA Today Bestselling Author of The Pilot’s Daughter

REVIEW: Borrowed Time was another five star book by Kay Bratt. I know I sometimes sound like a broken record but, this series gets better and better with every book. The next book doesn’t come out until the end of May and I’m already going into a bit of a withdrawal.

I love the characters in this book. The stories all center around Taylor and her family. She is a deputy in her small town of Hart’s Ridge. This book shows us a bit of what family love and sisterly love is all about. One of her best friends goes missing and we are along for the investigation and all that follows. 

This book literally brought tears to my eyes. This family has endured so much over the years and it is nice to see some good things happening in their lives too. I am liking how they are all pulling together for each other and showing up when needed. How refreshing. 

I can’t wait for the next book. We have received a hint at the end of this book where the story is headed and I’m so excited to see it happen. You know that I love small towns and this series just feeds right into my love of them. It is a small town and we have been introduced to several of the residents. 

If you love crime and mystery with some love stories thrown in, you will absolutely fall in love with these books. You have a couple of months if you haven’t started them yet to read the first four before number five comes out. I recommend that you do. Until next time…Happy Reading!

Don’t forget to support the authors you read by leaving a review!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

SYNOPSIS: Do you ever really know the person you’re in love with? In the quaint small town of Hart’s Ridge, Deputy Taylor Gray is about to find out. When her close friend goes missing, Taylor sets out on a mission to uncover the truth behind her disappearance. But the more she investigates, the more she realizes that even the most picture-perfect relationships can hide deep and dark secrets.

Anna Chambers is living the all American life she’s always dreamed of, but when things suddenly spiral out of control, she struggles to keep up the facade and piece things back together. But when the person who has loved her the longest offers to help, will she be able to accept it?

Join Taylor Gray and Anna Chambers on a thrilling ride through the twists and turns of Borrowed Time, the fifth book in Kay Bratt’s gripping small-town mystery series. TW // suicide ideation

Borrowed Time is book four of the new Hart’s Ridge mystery series, written by Kay Bratt, Million-Copy Best-Selling Author of Wish Me Home and the By the Sea series.

REVIEW: The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth was my first book by this author. She has a few more out, but this book came up as an option in a monthly service I belong to. I chose it and I’m glad I did. I have a few thoughts I would like to share with you.

The story was pretty good. It was one that I found a little bit unbelievable in parts. One of the characters was very forgiving of her husband’s indiscretions and we are made to believe another wife took her life over an indiscretion of her husband. I found each story a little hard to swallow. As the story worked out, I was better able to grasp the reasoning. I did like the premise of the story. That caught my interest right away.

The character development had me a little confused. I didn’t understand the actions of some of them. Mental illness definitely plays a part in this book. I’m not sure where the line between sane and insane is drawn. Love in its many forms is foremost in this book. 

I could not believe how this book ended and the twist I didn’t see coming! The author ties up the ending of this book very well. It was sad and beautiful at the same time. If you love the highs and lows of love relationships, business dealings that sometimes go wrong and a good mystery with suspense, I think this book will cover all of that. Until next time…Happy Reading!

Don’t forget to support the authors you read by leaving a review!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from #St.Martin’sPress, #SallyHepworth, and  #Netgalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

SYNOPSIS: Get ready for a thrilling, addictive novel about marriage, betrayal, and the secrets that push us to the edge in Sally Hepworth’s The Soulmate.

There’s a cottage on a cliff. Gabe and Pippa’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Night after night Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge. Until he doesn’t.

When Pippa discovers Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral…Did the victim jump? Was she pushed?

And would Gabe, the love of Pippa’s life, her soulmate…lie? As the perfect facade of their marriage begins to crack, the deepest and darkest secrets begin to unravel.