Book Review: Dark Highway (Jessica Shaw #3) by Lisa Gray

 

Title: Dark Highway (Jessica Shaw #3) 

Author: Lisa Gray

Stars: 4 stars

Review:

Dark Highway would have gotten 5 stars but the authors style of writing or choice of writing from so many different points of view will have readers trying to remember what happened or read the same scene over again with a "Different point of view." Really its the same story and nothing much was added to the story.  The flash backs sometimes helped move the story forward but most of the time just stalled out the movement of the story.

Readers will enjoy the lead characters and be able to enjoy the read. 

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of Lisa Gray Dark Highway.

Synopsis:

LA-based artist Laurie Simmonds disappeared two months ago, her campervan abandoned on the isolated Twentynine Palms Highway, miles from anything—or anyone. With the police investigation stalled, her parents put all their faith in private investigator Jessica Shaw to find out the truth of what happened.

Jessica and her partner Matt Connor discover that two other women are missing, their disappearances connected to the same highway. When a link emerges between these women and a group of former college friends, Jessica feels certain they’re closing in on their target.

But no sooner do they follow this up than Laurie’s parents get spooked and drop the case. Jessica is blindsided but determined not to give up: three women are missing, and many more may be at risk. She can’t turn her back on them. But the more she pulls at the threads of the truth, the closer she comes to danger. Can she find out who’s behind these crimes before they come for her?

Kindle Edition, 318 pages

Published November 19th 2020 by Thomas & Mercer

About The Author:

Lisa Gray is a writer and journalist, and the author of the PI Jessica Shaw thriller series.

She decided at a young age that she wanted to write features for magazines and somehow ended up working as a football journalist for 14 years instead.

After too many winters spent freezing at matches and worrying about dodgy wi-fi connections, Lisa gave up football to work as a content writer at a national newspaper, where she had a spell as their books columnist.

An avid reader, she was hooked on Sweet Valley High and Point Horror books as a youngster, before turning to crime. Her favorite authors include Michael Connelly, Lee Child and Karin Slaughter.

Book Review: The Awakening (The Dragon Heart Legacy #1) by Nora Roberts

 

Title: The Awakening (The Dragon Heart Legacy #1) 

Author: Nora Roberts 

Stars: 4

Review:

Nora Roberts is able to bring readers into her new world of supernatural discovery. Breen is the female lead which the story revolves around and her new found discovery.  Readers struggle along with her in her journey that she isn't sure is real at times.

Keegan the male lead is a little hard to like due to his strong desire to protect everyone pushing the unknown Breen away.  

There are many different side characters that will bring readers into this amazing story and world demanding the next book in the series from this author.

If readers have never been interested in the supernatural/Paranormal this series will change their minds.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of Nora Roberts The Awakening.

Synopsis:

When Breen Kelly was a girl, her father would tell her stories of magical places. Now she’s an anxious twentysomething mired in student debt and working a job she hates. But one day she stumbles upon a shocking discovery: her mother has been hiding an investment account in her name. It has been funded by her long-lost father—and it’s worth nearly four million dollars.

This newfound fortune would be life-changing for anyone. But little does Breen know that when she uses some of the money to journey to Ireland, it will unlock mysteries she couldn’t have imagined. Here, she will begin to understand why she kept seeing that silver-haired, elusive man, why she imagined his voice in her head saying Come home, Breen Siobhan. It’s time you came home. Why she dreamed of dragons. And where her true destiny lies—through a portal in Galway that takes her to a land of faeries and mermaids, to a man named Keegan, and to the courage in her own heart that will guide her through a powerful, dangerous destiny

Hardcover, 448 pages

Expected publication: November 24th 2020 by St. Martin's Press

About The Author:

Nora Roberts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than 200 novels, including Hideaway, Under Currents, Come Sundown and coming in November 2020 -- The Awakening -- the first book in The Dragon Heart Legacy. She is also the author of the futuristic suspense In Death series written under the pen name J.D. Robb. There are more than 500 million copies of her books in print. 

Book Review: Custom Built (Fast & Fury #1) by Chantal Fernando

 Title: Custom Built (Fast & Fury #1) 

Author: Chantal Fernando

Stars: 1 1\2  stars

Review:

The beginning of the book starts of well and soon falls apart into a mess. The story is completely a disconnected with the loss of individual characters are we suppose to care about but are never given a chance to.  Towards the end of the book it skips time by months and years which gives a lack of cohesion to to complete the story.  Bronte is an odd duck that readers could enjoy if the author had a better editor.  The characters are flat and boning at best.  Yet the characters are a in a biker gang which you would think would have a element of action or even suspense.

This story made absolutely no since with its lack of direct, flat characters, zero drive as to why or the reason why the characters are on the pages.  The writing could use another once over with an editor to fix mistakes that cause the story to slow down or well at times make zero since.

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher of the advance copy of Chantal Fernando Custom Built.

Synopsis:

After losing her job, saying goodbye to a lifelong dream and having an all-around cruddy year, Bronte Pierce needs a break. A job at Fast & Fury might be just the thing to reset her life, even though she knows nothing about custom motorcycles. But taking a job isn’t the same as keeping it, and her fresh start quickly turns into a fresh nightmare.

Starting with her boss. Crow is hardheaded, stubborn and brutally honest. He may be easy on the eyes, but he runs with an MC and he’s anything but friendly to Bronte. She suspects he has a softer side—just not for her.

Her whole life, Bronte has known that the only person she can truly count on to save the day is herself. But when a single murder turns into a conspiracy and the threat to her life is more than she can handle alone, it’s Crow who comes through—and her newfound family might just become her greatest strength.

ebook

Published November 23rd 2020 by Carina Press

About The Author:

New York Times, Amazon & USA Today Bestselling Author Chantal Fernando is thirty years old and lives in Western Australia.

Lover of all things romance, Chantal is the author of the best selling books Dragon's Lair, Maybe This Time and many more.

When not reading, writing or daydreaming she can be found enjoying life with her three sons and family.

Book Review: Wolf Untamed (SWAT: Special Wolf Alpha Team #11) by Paige Tyler

 

Title: Wolf Untamed (SWAT: Special Wolf Alpha Team #11) 

Author: Paige Tyler

Stars: 4

Review:  

I have to admit that I like Paige Tyler's take on Werewolves.  She is able to bring a believable side to the supernatural world. The author explains the difference between the wolf packs and bring readers up to date in the world some are just starting to read and other will love the story that continues. 

The mothers reactions and love for her son is naturally written.  

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy of Paige Tyler Wolf Untamed.

Synopsis: 

SWAT werewolf Diego Martinez has always had a protective side, so when he meets a newly turned teenage werewolf, and the kid's intriguing mother, he readily offers to help Brandon learn what it means to be a werewolf. He also readily falls for for Brandon's mother, Bree, and the attraction is mutual.

But as SWAT's biggest case starts to converge with Bree's family, Diego and Bree find themselves in danger they could never have imagined. It'll take everything they've got to discover the truth and keep each other safe.

Paperback, 320 pages

Expected publication: November 24th 2020 by Sourcebooks Casablanca

About The Author:

Paige Tyler is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of sexy, romantic suspense and paranormal romance. She and her very own military hero (also known as her husband) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their adorable fur baby (also known as their dog). Paige graduated with a degree in education, but decided to pursue her passion and write books about hunky alpha males and the kick-butt heroines who fall in love with them.

Represented by Courtney Miller-Callihan of Handspun Literary

Book Review: A Broken Bone (Widow's Island #6) by Melinda Leigh

 

Title: A Broken Bone (Widow's Island #6) 

Author: Melinda Leigh 

Stars: 4 1\2

Review:

Melinda Leigh is a talented author with a gift of story telling in this short novella series. Each story builds on the next so if you missed one in the series you will be completely lost.  

The story is quick pace and a whirlwind story that readers will be able to enjoy in a afternoon. 

The characters will come to life and readers will fall in love with each one.  Even the island plays a character in the books.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advance copy of Melinda Leigh A Broken Bone.

Synopsis:

On Widow’s Island, the secrets are dark…and everybody has one. So when Deputy Tessa Black responds to a call about an explosion in a quiet neighborhood, she gets more than she bargained for: the body of a teen who went missing weeks ago.

Until recently, Gavin was living in a reputable foster home. But now that he is found dead—Tessa can’t help but wonder if sinister forces are at play. Who would want to hurt him, and why?

With the help of her partner, Park Ranger Logan Wilde, Tessa tries desperately to decipher what happened to Gavin before another life is cut short. Someone on Widow’s Island knows the explosive truth. Will Tessa find the answers she needs before someone else turns up dead?

Kindle Edition, 90 pages

Published November 3rd 2020 by Montlake

About The Author: 

 Melinda Leigh is a fully recovered banker who learned that writing books is way more fun than analyzing financial statements.