Linda
Wow! I am loving the Diamond Cove series. The Clayton family is a terrific blend of a family who all cares for each other and who would do anything for each other, even if they don't understand what's happening.
In this story Sean dated Bluebell when they were younger but it all fell apart. Now she is back in his life and Grandpa Don is sure that she's the one for him. But does she agree?
Like Grandpa Don, I am so invested in this family and all of the grandsons finding a happy ending, I'm along for the ride. I literally did nothing else from the time I started this book until is was finished.
I received an advance copy of this for free from BookSirens and I'm leaving this review voluntarily. This is my honest review and I can't wait to read another. Ellie Thornton is quickly becoming an auto buy author for me.
Sure a fun cozy mystery. Terrific interesting characters. I love that Wren walks her cat Everett on a leash and that he was a big part of the story too. Wren has a shop that sells Bee related products; like honey, beeswax candles, candy and more. I would go to that shop and buy things, absolutely. But when someone dies and one of her lipbalm wrappers are in their pocket, things start to go badly.
I will definitely have to check out the next in the Oregon Honeycomb Mystery series to see what else is going on in this small town.
An interesting insta-love, fairy fantasty. Amethyst wasn't happy to be sent to live with her Gran, but it turns out Gran had the answer to a lot of questions that Amethyst needed answers to. Unfortunately Amethyst doesn't trust her, although it's never really clear why.
She meets a guy named Ben and they instantly fall for each other. But as they are spending time together Amethyst is learning more about herself and her family's history and why her body keeps sprouting thorns.
A decent YA with a bittersweet ending.
Good story that has a lot of different elements to it; a relationship between the sisters, disfunctional families, romance, and growth of the characters. I enjoyed the fact that the characters were complicated and multi-faceted. I couldn't ask for anything more.
Susan Mallery did a terrific job navigating between the stories of each sister, Sunshine and Margot, and I enjoyed both of them.
I received an advance review copy of this book for free and this is my honest review which I am leaving voluntarily. Thank you to BookSirens, the author and publisher.
Now, let's get to it! There was such great energy between the characters in this book and it was the coziest romance I have read in ages. It's the latest in the Secret Seven (Diamond Cove series) It takes place mostly in a retirement community and the Secret Seven are a group of seniors who are busy trying to get their grandchildren married off and happy.
This love story was everything you would want. It was about Axel who is a rock star and Kate who is a librarian. They meet briefly when Kate thinks Axel is a security guard and although Axel can't quit thinking about her, they don't meet up again for years until he goes to visit his grandparents who live in a retirement community. It's like one big family there and It's no wonder Axel saw it as a safe place to go when his world felt like it was spinning out of control.
I was fully invested in this couple and about chapter 23 I started to sob and barely stopped until I finished the book. The love between not just the characters, but also the community, whether it was romantic love or friendship, was what we all aspire to in life. Having those people who have your back no matter what,was beautiful and inspiring. A definite 5 star read and now I have to go back and read all the other ones in the series.
This book was so perfect. It was about Frankie (Franchesca) and Ren. Ren is a hockey player and Frankie is the teams social media person. Frankie has autism as well as Rheumatoid arthritis. She has a cane that she named and she considers herself grumpy, but really she is just dealing with pain and a different way of looking at the world and she has never felt accepted.
When she begins to fall in love with Ren she is scared because she feels like she's a lot to handle and he will get tired of it all. Their love story is so real and amazing and it's definitely full of steamy moments, but it's the tenderness and the empathy of the characters that really makes this novel so incredible.
Chloe Liese is very inclusive in her writing and creates amazing characters, but not in a way that is just checking a box, in a real and meaningful way. I am so excited to read about the rest of the Bergman Brothers now. 5/5+ for this book.
A Summer Wedding at the Cornish Manor is at it's essence a love story, but it's so much more than that. It's about family (biological and found family), friends and community. Jess and Riley are engaged to be married, but there is so much else going on. They are trying to get their house ready to live in, convince her grandfather Cappy that they want him around, deal with Riley's ex and handle all sorts of crises.
You feel fully invested in this community and their joys and sorrows. The characters are all interesting and complex and the relationships feel real. They have flaws and they experience growth. It was a good read and although a couple of times I found the pacing a bit slow for my taste, I still thought it was great and wrapped up nicely. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the advanced copy. This is my honest review.
Torn Asunder is the 12th in the Maine Clambake mystery series. Its the first one of Barbara Ross's that I have read and I will now be going back to the beginning and reading up to this one. It was a terrific cozy and the coastal Maine setting is perfect. Julia Snowden is organizing the wedding and reception for her best friend Zoey, as well as being the maid of honor. She wants everything to be perfect, and it is,until one of the guests ends up dead at the rehearsal dinner and then a storm blows in.
The novel was action packed from start to finish and I felt like everything moved the plot forward. The characters were wonderful. Really well-thought out and I enjoyed learning about each of them. It kept me engaged all the way through and I loved that we got to see the characters for a chapter or two AFTER the murder was solved as well.
Thank you so much to Netgalley, the author and the publisher for the chance to review it. This is my honest review.
Tea and Treachery is the first book in the Tea by the Sea series. Vicki Delany picked such a lovely idea and setting for this series. Lily Roberts is running a tea shop next to her grandmother Rose's bed and breakfast. Grandmother Rose, however, is very opinionated and ends up getting herself in trouble when a developer she was unhappy with, ends up dead. It's up to Lily to figure out what happened.
The characters were good and although I didn't care much for Grandmother Rose, I did like Lily and some of the other chacters in the book. It was well-thought out and it kept me engaged all the way through. I would definitely read the next in the series. Maybe Grandmother Rose will grow on me. :)
Between the Lines is set in a English village where the head librarian, Julia, gets embroiled in a mystery happening at the “Great house” on the hill, owned by the Hortishalls.
Although I found the writing difficult to follow, with a lot of unneeded description, I do think that lovers of Miss Marple will enjoy the mystery and the quirky cast of characters. It had a cozy mystery feel to it.
I did receive an advance copy of this book for free from BookSirens and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Thank you to the publisher, author and BookSirens for the opportunity.
Wow, I read this book so quickly. It gripped me from the first moment. Laura is a vet in the village of Bramble Heath and it's 1941, the middle of WW2. She is trying to keep the livestock in the village healthy as that's helping to feed the villagers as well as the troops. When things start to happen in the village and animals are dying, she can't get her boss to take it seriously. He is very dismissive because she is a woman.
The story has a lot of mystery, heartwarming and heartbreaking moments and a little romance. The characters are so well done. All of the charming, quirkiness of small town life. By the end of it, I wanted to live in a village like Bramble Heath too. It really drew me in and didn't let go until the mystery was solved and the war was over.
This is #3 in the A Village at War series and now I will be looking for more. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for giving me the opportunity to read and review this. It was an awesome ride and this is my honest review.
Forgetting to Remember was a fantastic time-travel magical romance. I feel like this book had everything I needed in a novel. The characters were interesting and complex, it was set just after WW2, it had magic, it had romance...Oh my goodness, what a ride. I hadn't read anything by M.J. Rose before (that I know of), but now I want to check out everything else they wrote.
I was happy that the plot was laid out so well and it was really clear when our main character Jeannine ends up back in the past. She is the Keeper of Metal Works at an art museum and when she enters a contest to create a special exhibit for Valentine's Day she remember some “lovers' eyes” in the basement. Artists would paint a picture of a person's eye and then put it in a brooch or ring. It was a good way to keep the person close to you without anyone knowing he they were. It turns out Jeannine discovers more than she ever expected.
It was definitely a 5 star read for me. I couldn't put it down and it led me to an interesting part of art history that I had never heard about before. Thank you to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read it. This was my honest review.
Wow! This was so much better than I even expected. Kind of a cross between the Hunger Games and Cinderella. LOL America Singer is the name of the main character and she finds herself taking place in The Selection to win the heart of the Prince. Her heart is elsewhere, but she is trying to help her family out financially. There are 30 women chosen and they are summoned to live in the castle for a few weeks while the prince talks to them and makes up his mind about who he will marry.
The characters, even the secondary ones, are all really well done and interesting. There are many books in the series so I'm sure a lot of them will come up again. The “rules” of the world make sense and America gives me independent “Katness” vibes. This has just the right amount of humor, romance and adventure. One of my top books of this year so far.
This was a fun, unusual take on a cozy paranormal mystery. I absolutely fell in love with the characters. The main character Chess is “kidnapped” by her car and ends up in a magical community with her cat, who can now talk to her. Although it all sounds very sweet and light to begin with, there is depth to the story and the magical community and the rules of magic are very well done. In this town Chess already has allies and enemies, now she just needs to figure out which is which.
I received an advance review copy for free from BookSirens and I am leaving this review voluntarily. It is my honest opinion. Thank you to BookSirens and the author and publisher for the advance copy.
A good cozy paranormal mystery. Ruby Mae Jewell helps run the family business and when she finds a woman giving readings with a crystal ball, she buys it from her. Partly she wants to protect the woman from magic she doesn't understand and partly it's a great find. She soon finds out though that there is more to it than meets the eye and everyone wants it.
Ruby Mae and her family (including the family ghosts) were all well thought out and fun. Her boyfriend is a vampire and the town includes magics and non-magical people so there is a whole lot of room for shenanigans.
Thank you to Netgalley, the publisher and author for an advanced copy of The Secret Keeper. This is my honest review. This is a compelling look at two very different sisters. Both of whom were strong in their own way. Margaret (Dash) was good with engines and knew how to fly and Dorothy (Dot) was good with codes and puzzles. When WW2 started each sister felt they needed to get involved and in doing so, they both grew as people and ended up growing apart, where they had once been inseparable.
The characters, both the primary and secondary ones in this book were so well done and the plot continuously was moving forward. It was a heartwarming, thrilling tale of family, friendship, romance and being your authentic self. I was enthralled with the stories of the roles that women played in WW2, some even close to where I would later grow up. The strength and persevance of these women was so well thought out and the author seamlessly blended real life and fiction into a fantastic novel.
It needs to become a movie and it should definitely be on your must buy list for 2024. It comes out April 2.
This book was amazing. It grabbed me from the first page and didn't let go. I binged this book so hard. Briana and Jacob are the most amazing couple. At first they didn't like each other, but then they start to send letters to each other and everything changes. They begin to fake date and learn so much about each other.
I love the male characters that Abby Jimenez writes. They give me hope in the world for the “good guys” and having Jacob have anxiety was even more endearing. I just can't stop thinking about this book and I have already gotten another of her books and I'm ready to read that next. She has definitely become an auto buy author for me.
Simeon the owner of a tiny bookstore in Croatia hires Claire She is just getting over long Covid, but she is scared to be back out in the world and the possibility of getting it again.
She is working with Luna who is gay and afraid to come out because her parents are very religious. They decide to start a book club and also solve the mystery of Vedran (Claire's cousin) who was assused of killing his wife.
It was a terrific story, full of interesting characters. They all struggled in different ways, but they grew so much throughout the book and you really rooted for them.
It covered everything from friendship to domestic violence but I doubt any of it is done with such a heavy hand that it would trigger someone. This was one of the best books I've read this year and I'm so glad I took a chance on it.
I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley. Thank you to them, the authors and publisher. This is my honest review. This is the first in the Molly Murphy Mysteries that I have read and my thought is, “What took me so long?!” This book was so engaging. It's about Molly who leaves the city to stay with her mother-in-law in the country and then goes to visit her friends Sid and Gus at a Women's Retreat. They all become mixed up in the murder of a man at Sid's grandparents' home. I thought it was really well done. The characters were so interesting and wonderfully strong female characters. I enjoyed the interaction between them, Sid and Gus's relationship and Molly's dedication to her friends and to solving the crime.
It takes place in the 20's or 30's and I enjoyed the description of everything going on in New York at that time as well. Definitely a 5/5 read. Don't miss this one.
I kept meaning to start this series and I'm so glad I did. It's sweet and quirky and a great cozy mystery. Kathleen is trying to update the local library and a composer who is in town for a Summer music festival ends up dead. There are also a series of accidents that seem to be targeting Kathleen. Thank heavens she has her magical cats to help her get to the bottom of it all.
I adored these cats. Owen is addicted to catnip and Hercules loves to dance to Barry Manilow. They also have a habit of not staying where she puts them.
The town is cozy, the characters are interesting and the cats are adorable. What more could you ask for? Suspend your disbelief in magical pets and check it out.
This is the 5th in the Kitchen Witch Mysteries. I received it as an ARC from NetGalley and this is my honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, the author Lynn Cahoon and the publisher.
It's the first one I have read in this series and I enjoyed it. It's about Mia Malone who runs Mia's Morsels and her roommate Christina. Mia has one familiar already and suddenly 3 more familiar kittens show up on her doorstep and then her boyfriend Trent also ends up with a Maltese hellhound, making 5.
As if that wasn't enough craziness, Mia is trying to work on her business as well as a catering director job at a ski resort, take magic lessons from her grandmother and solve a murder where her roommate is one of the suspects. It's a wild ride in the town of Magic Springs and all you can do is hang on and enjoy it.
A sweet romance about a woman who lost her sight at 14 and a Navy Seal who just lost his during a mission and is having a hard time coping.
It is part romance, part mystery and a lot about family as well, biological family and found family.
I found the characters in the book to be down to earth, relatable, and most sounded like people I would be friends with. The plot was good and except for one unrealistic aspect that had me shaking my head, it was a great read.
It also had a good ending, which is something I always look for, especially in a romance.
This exceeded my expectations. It was interesting, funny in parts and the characters interaction with each other was captivating. Annie desperately needs to marry a Lord to save a ghost named Finn and she looks to Ian to get lessons on being a lady. What she doesn't know is that Ian is a Lord and he's falling for her.
I listened to this on audible and the narration was great and it transported me to Scotland. It does have some steamy bits to it and the ending is sweet and satisfying.
This was an interesting romance. When Taryn shows up at the Callaghan Brothers bar she is on the run and they can sense it. They don't think she's a criminal, but they aren't sure what's going on. They aren't without their secrets either though.
They have a strong family bond which is always nice to see in a novel and the growing love between Taryn and Jake was does really well. It had some language and a couple of steamy scenes, so keep that in mind if it bothers you.
I gave this book 3 1/2 stars, rounded up to 4. Olivia runs away from her wedding when she finds her fiance with another woman. She ends up at her Aunt's home and she is convinced to help a local rancher with his cows. Trained as a vet she thinks this will be a good way to get back on her feet, until she meets the rancher Ben.
I enjoyed Ben's relationship with his son Michael who had asthma and the small town atmosphere. I would have rated it higher, but I didn't feel the connection with Ben and Olivia that I was hoping to.
I did receive an Advance Review copy of this book for free from Booksirens. Thank you do them, the author and the publisher. I am leaving this honest review voluntarily.