Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Book Review: Hotshot Hero in Disguise (Hotshot Heroes #8) by Lisa Childs

 





Title: Hotshot Hero in Disguise (Hotshot Heroes #8)

Author: Lisa Childs

Star: 3 1\2

Review:

I have to admit Lisa Childs has me not really sure what to review. The story is ok. The characters are ok. The story is what you expect from Harlequinn Suspense series. All in All Hotshot Hero in Disguise is a ok read. If you need something to read while waiting for a doctors appt, flight, or like me waiting for my kids be done with many different activities they are in.  This book works. 

Thank you to Netgalley for advance copy of Hotshot Hero in Disguise by Lisa Childs. 

Synopsis:

His carefully crafted identity…

Is about to go up in flames!

After an attempt on his life, Jonathan Canterbury IV chose to let the world believe he was dead. Then Tammy Ingles discovers that the firefighter she knows as Ethan Sommerly is really the heir to an epic fortune. He doesn’t know what scares him more: the fact that his new lover can expose his secret, or the intensity of his need for her…

About The Author:

Born one dark and stormy Halloween night, Lisa Childs was predestined to write suspense novels. She loves spinning dark and twisty stories that keep readers awake because they’re either too busy turning pages or too scared to sleep. Lisa Childs is the prolific author of more than seventy published novels. In addition to romantic suspense, she also writes women’s fiction, paranormal and contemporary romance.

Tuesday, February 21, 2023

Book Review: Turn Up the Heat (Pine Mountain #1) by Kimberly Kincaid

 


Title: Turn Up the Heat (Pine Mountain #1)

Author: Kimberly Kincaid

Star:  2 1\2

Review:

I have read several books by Kimberly Kincaid and most of the time her romance and romantic suspense are fully of steamy romance and just enough suspense for readers like me. Her romance at times falls a little the cheesy side and her female leads seem to be push overs. 

The group of female characters are charcutiers of what people see intelligent women to be and honestly it a little annoying and huge turn off to female readers. 

The romance is insta Lust which can work if the characters are likable but they are flat. Honestly the whole story is a cliche in the worst possible way, The author leaves readers to push though the story and at about the 80% mark we finally get to the big secret.  If you are like me you really don't care and just want to end the HEA. 

Synopsis:

Ingredients:

One big-city real estate analyst who gets dumped on national TV
One small-town mechanic with a past he wants to keep in his rearview mirror
One weekend getaway thwarted by a broken down car, a boss that makes Atilla the Hun look like a lapdog, and the snowstorm of the century

Mix well and add a whole lot of sparks under the hood.

Serve with a side of adversaries to lovers, opposites attract, sexy banter, and sizzling heat in both the kitchen and the bedroom.

Find a different story by this author but just move past this story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for advance copy of Turn up the Heat by Kimberly Kincaid. 

About The Author:

USA Today best-selling author Kimberly Kincaid writes romantic suspense that sizzles and contemporary romance with heart and heat. Equal parts action and emotion, her firefighters and first responders always save the day. When she's not finding adventure with her husband, three teens, and naughty Whippets, Olive and Daisy, she can be found practicing obscene amounts of yoga, whipping up anything from enchiladas to éclairs in her kitchen, or curled up with her nose in a book.

Kimberly's series include Remington Medical, Station Seventeen, the Line series, Cross Creek, and her brand-new Intelligence Unit series. All titles stand alone for easy reading.

Monday, February 20, 2023

Book Review: Desperate Acts (Pike, Wisconsin, #4) by Alexandra Ivy

 



Title: Desperate Acts (Pike, Wisconsin, #4)

Author: Alexandra Ivy

Star: 5

Review:

If you haven't started the Pike Wisconsin series go now and start with book 1 before you start the latest in the series.  Once again the author creates a story that will have readers up late at night wondering what will happen to the characters if I close the book? 

Readers might think the story will be easy to figure out after having read so many of her other mystery\romance series.  While other might figure out the killers and realize as the story comes to an end it wasn't about the knowing they were right but falling in love with the Kaden and Lia and the way they connect and change as the story progresses. 

Alexandra Ivy has created a town where readers will connect with the different characters that comes to life. 

Thank you to Netgalley for advance copy of Desperate Acts by Alexandra Ivy

  

Synposis:

Teenager Lia Porter shouldn't have been anywhere near the railroad bridge that night. Sneaking home after a party in the fields outside Pike, Wisconsin, she glimpsed a woman in a leather jacket, running in terror. Lia puts the incident from her mind--until a body is found near the same spot fifteen years later, wearing the same jacket. The police rule it a suicide. Lia knows different. The woman she saw was trying to save her own life, not end it. But whatever she was fleeing from found her first . . .

BEFORE THE KILLER
The stranger who arrives at Lia's store shares her suspicions. Hollywood stunt driver Kaden Vaughn has come home to Wisconsin to learn the truth about what happened to his brother's fiancée years ago. The leather jacket, the timing--he believes the dead woman is Vanna, and that Lia may be the only person who can help. Together they retrace Vanna's steps, but the more they dig, the darker the secrets become.

FINDS HER?
The killer is still out there, stalking the streets of Pike again, willing to do whatever is necessary to keep the truth locked in mystery. One by one, all those who know something about that night must be silenced, until there is no one left to tell .

About The Author:

I'm not exactly sure when I fell in love with books. Probably on my mother's knee listening to her read Dr. Seuss to me. I do remember that I was barely old enough to cross the street by myself when I discovered the delights of the local library. Could anything be more wonderful than spending summer days surrounded by stacks of Nancy Drew mysteries? Over the years I fell in love with Victoria Holt, Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, and J.R.R. Tolkien just to name a few. I read poetry, essays, biographies, and plays. In fact, I read anything I could get my hands on.

Years later (no, I'm not admitting how many) I'm still an avid reader, and my tastes are still as varied as they were in my youth, which I suppose helps to explain why I enjoy writing regency historicals under the name of Deborah Raleigh, as well as my contemporary paranormals as Alexandra Ivy. For now that is enough to keep me busy, but who knows what the future might hold!

I do have a few other loves in my life besides reading and writing, the most important being my unbelievably patient husband, David, and my two sons, Chance and Alexander. Without their constant support and belief in me, I never could have been able to follow my dreams. They are truly my heroes.

Friday, February 17, 2023

Book Review: How to Keep a Husband for Ten Days by Jessica Hatch

 


Title: How to Keep a Husband for Ten Days

Author: Jessica Hatch

Star: 3

Review:

I have never read a book by this author, but the title stood out and I couldn't help myself. That being said the book is kind of a mess to me.  The characters, story, message, writing style came across as boring and less funny. 

The story moves very slowly which is normal for a romance but what it lacks is the connection readers are looking for.  Many characters are flat and not even interesting. The story doesn't move at all but instead stands still. 

Instead of being funny it ended up flat. Readers just pass this romance and move onto the next.

PS It makes the Hallmark movie seem funny. 

Synposis:

Pretending to be married to the man you were married to… How hard can it be?!

When Lina’s oldest friends unexpectedly announce they’re coming to stay, she has to think fast. No one knows she and her husband Brown are breaking up, and so she persuades him to act as if they aren’t… After all, how hard can it be to pretend to be married for ten days?

Turns out, a lot harder than she thought. On day one, she strikes so many couple poses that she throws her back out. On day two, she gets muscle spasms from smiling too hard at her husband’s jokes. On day three, she almost has a heart attack when she puts her hand far too high up his thigh at the dinner table. And on day four, when she accidentally grazes Brown’s lips when aiming for his cheek, she almost passes out in the middle of the restaurant.

By day five, Lina is starting to realise there’s a thin line between love and hate. And while she can try to fool her friends, she can’t fool her heart. Was she too hasty calling time on her marriage? Is this more than make believe? And does she even have enough time to find out if Brown feels the same?

About The Author:

Jessica Hatch writes hilarious, heartfelt romantic comedies for the girls who grew up rooting for the main character's best friend. Her first novel, My Big Fake Wedding, debuted at #1 in Humorous American Fiction, and her second novel, How to Keep a Husband for Ten Days, has been embraced by a devoted second-chance romance readership.

She loves to develop quirky, high-concept scenarios and then drop her characters into them, escape room–style, to see what happens next. Her work spotlights characters and locales the reader can fall in love with, and aims to explore real-world issues that women and nonbinary people face.

(She also enjoys loafing around, largely ignoring her characters and binge-watching Netflix instead.)

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

Book Review: More Than Meets the Eye (Kendra Michaels #10) by Iris Johansen; Roy Johansen

 


Title: More Than Meets the Eye  (Kendra Michaels #10)

Author: Iris Johansen; Roy Johansen

Star: 5

Review:

I am pretty sure if you are on book 10 of the Kendra Michaels series than you as a reader already know what amazing authors Iris and Roy Johansen are.  Two author who are able to bring their world of mystery to readers all over the world who will finish book 10 and still need more from there to authors.

More Than Meets the Eye is another can't put down mystery story that will have readers wondering what will happen next as they absorb chapter after chapter of this cat and mouse game between a serial killer and Kendra Michaels. 

Readers will not be able to put this book down until the very last words are read Late into the night.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of Iris and Roy Johansen More than Meets the Eye. 

Synposis:

After scoring a plea deal in a high-profile murder trial, serial killer James Michael Barrett leads a grim parade of law enforcement officers to the body of his last victim. At the alleged burial site, the officers swing their shovels down and are met with a strange metallic sound they weren’t expecting. In a blink, a terrific explosion rocks the woods, killing Barrett and most of the officers instantly.
The detonation is only the beginning of a shocking case for FBI consultant Kendra Michaels—a string of heinous murders in the style of the very-dead Barrett mysteriously continue, and it becomes clear that he may not have been working alone. As the crimes accelerate, Kendra reluctantly accepts help from college student Tricia Walton, the only survivor of Barrett’s attacks. But the killer has a terrifying plan that Kendra and her team are only beginning to understand.

About The Author:

She lives in Georgia and is married. Her son, Roy Johansen, is an Edgar Award-winning screenwriter and novelist. Her daughter, Tamara, serves as her research assistant.

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