Inheriting Murder: A Bobwhite Mountain Cozy Mystery
Cozy Mystery
1st in Series
Setting – Tennessee
Independently Published (May 1, 2022)
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 287 pages

 

Synopsis

 

When Landry Burke’s favorite Aunt Tildie passes away, Landry inherits the entire estate. It includes a five story apartment building named Magnolia Place, as well as a bookstore across the street named Jasmine Bloom Books, both located in Bobwhite Mountain, Tennessee.

Landry packs up and leaves Bent Branch, SC for the hills of Tennessee. On her very first day there, she and her aunt’s attorney, Adam Wilcox, find the body of one of Magnolia Place’s employees. Between her panic attacks, anxiety and trying to adjust to her new surroundings, Landry wants this murder solved and fast.

Sheriff Wyatt Collins and his deputies are on the case. Now, if they can just keep Landry from trying to help and causing danger to herself.

And Jasmine Bloom’s manager, and late Aunt Tildie’s best friend, Ms. Millie, is convinced that Landry is trying to get her killed because of all the zany situations they find themselves in.

Take a visit to Bobwhite Mountain and find out what all of the fuss is about.

 

 

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Review

 

This debut cozy novel takes us to the mountains in Tennessee with some interesting characters, a murder or two, and good ol’ southern hospitality.

Landry is a complex yet simple character. She moved to Bobwhite after the passing of her Aunt, and she inherited everything from her. However, there are strings attached to that inheritance. The bookstore and apartment building have to show a profit at the end of her first year as owner. That shouldn’t be an issue since it is a small town, and both have been profitable to date. However, a murder in her building might shake things up. Landry suffers from severe anxiety, which causes some issues at various times. However, she is learning to cope, and her new friends recognize her disability and help her through various incidents. Landry also seems to be something of a klutz, and things happen to her that seem out of the ordinary. However, I can relate because sometimes I’m klutzy. I think we all can be at one time or another. I like that she has become good friends with several people in her circle – Adam, the lawyer; Lisa, her office manager; Wyatt, the sheriff, and several others.

Solving the murders is what Landry set out to do, but she somehow stumbles across clues. She at least shares that information with Wyatt so that he can help solve the case quicker. She recognizes that there is something that she knows that would solve this case, but she isn’t sure what. I didn’t figure out the murderer until right before all was revealed. There is a clue that will help point you in the right direction, but you must be on the lookout for that clue.

There is a dog that ends up in Landry’s possession, and he sounds like a cutie. Perhaps this little bundle of fur will help her overcome some of her anxiety.

There is also a potential romance between Landry and Adam. Right now, they are just friends, but I think there might be a few sparks there.

Most of the characters are likable and add some depth to the story. I love Ms. Millie; she is a hoot. And one of her teenage workers, Maisy, has a kind soul, and I look forward to reading more about her in future books.

There are some faith-based comments and beliefs sprinkled throughout the book. I think this adds dimension to the book.

This is a good start for a new author and series, and I look forward to what else happens in this sleepy little town.

We give it 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Jamie Rutland Gillespie was born and raised in a tiny country town in South Carolina. At the age of 18, she moved to a slightly larger town in the same state and still lives there. She spent much of her youth visiting the beaches of the low country and taking trips to the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. The mountains were always her “happy place,” and she still visits every chance she gets.

Jamie has always loved to read; she got her library card at the small library in her hometown at the young age of 6. She has a vivid imagination and has always made-up stories of places, people, and situations that only exist in her head.

She currently lives in South Carolina with her husband, daughter, and 17-year-old Yorkie Pom, who is her baby and shadow. She loves college football and has been a South Carolina Gamecock fan since birth. She also loves MLB and has been a Braves fan since she was a little girl, watching the games and going to games with her Dad. She is still an avid reader and enjoys writing, crossword puzzles, baking, and spending time with her family.

 

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Something Deadly on Desert Drive (The Accidental Detective)
Cozy Mystery – Humorous Amateur Detective Mystery
2nd in Series
Setting – Arizona
Tule Publishing (June 21, 2022)
Print length ‏ : ‎ 209 pages

 

Synopsis

 

Starting over at fifty might be hard, but it shouldn’t be deadly…

 

Still recovering from an injury that might have permanently derailed her career as an international war correspondent, Kate Tessler is living in her childhood bedroom and pondering her second act when another case lands in her lap. Kate’s father and his coffee group are worried. Their friend Larry married a younger woman who now insists he has dementia and won’t let any of his friends visit. They’re convinced that Larry’s wife and her two adult, dead-beat kids are out to steal his money. Can Kate help?

Soon Kate and her unusual gang of sidekicks are unofficially, officially investigating. But before they can dig out the truth, a murder raises the stakes. Now they need to prove Larry is both mentally competent and not a killer. They’ll have to find the real murderer—without risking their own lives in the process.

 

 

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Review

 

I have really enjoyed this series so far. I love that the protagonist is a little older (50’s) and isn’t perfect. She doesn’t give in to her disabilities while she recovers and continues to move forward the best that she can.

Kate and the Coffee Shop Irregulars, a group of her dad’s friends, are concerned for their friend Larry. His new wife says he has dementia and won’t let anyone see him. This puts them into action to secretly take him out of his house and to a doctor for an opinion – does he have dementia, or is he being drugged? They return him home before his wife finds out, only to discover that she was murdered and Larry is the prime suspect. It doesn’t matter that he was doped up and couldn’t have hurt a fly, but he is the obvious suspect since no one else was supposedly in the house. Kate, her sister Jen, and the Irregulars start investigating to find the true killer. On top of this investigation, Kate is doing some work for the mayor to find dirt on one of the city council members. You could say there might be some romance happening in that department too.

I thought that the pool of suspects was much smaller this time, making it a little easier to root out the killer. That doesn’t mean that Kate isn’t put in danger at various times because what would a mystery be without the main character finding herself in hot water? I had my suspect narrowed down, and by the end of the book, this was the only possible answer.

I love all of the Coffee Shop Irregulars; they are a hoot! They crack jokes but also have each other’s back. It doesn’t hurt that Joe likes to bake and keeps them fed. We didn’t see as much of Mac in this book, and I hope she has a bigger role next time around. I think she has a lot to offer with her computer skills and quick thinking.

This is a great series and a fun read. We give it 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Kris Bock writes novels of mystery, suspense, and romance, many with outdoor adventures and Southwestern landscapes. Get a free Accidental Detective short story and bonus material when you sign up for her newsletter. You’ll also get a free 30-page sweet romance set in the world of the Furrever Friends cat café and a printable copy of the recipes mentioned in the cat café novels

Kris is also writing a series with her brother, scriptwriter Douglas J Eboch, who wrote the original screenplay for the movie Sweet Home Alabama. Follow the crazy antics of Melanie, Jake, and their friends a decade before the events of the movie. Sign up for our romantic comedy newsletter and get Felony Melanie Destroys the Moonshiner’s Cabin.

 

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Synopsis

 

Discover New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Karen Rose’s brand-new series set in the sultry, crime-ridden city of New Orleans and featuring a tough team of high-end private investigators who are after justice–no matter what they have to do to get it.

There are good cops. And there are bad cops. The question is…who wins?

After completing her tours with the Marines in Iraq, Molly Sutton knew she could take down any bad guy she met. But when her law enforcement agency in North Carolina turned against her, she joined up with her former CO Burke Broussard, who left New Orleans PD to set up a private investigative service for people who couldn’t find justice elsewhere.

Gabe Hebert saw the toll that working for the NOPD took on his dad and decided instead to make a name for himself as one of the best young chefs in the French Quarter. But when his father’s death is ruled a suicide after a deliberately botched investigation by his former captain, Gabe knows his dad stumbled onto a truth that someone wants silenced.

Gabe goes to his father’s best friend, Burke, for help. Burke assigns the toughest member of his team, Molly, to the case. Molly can’t believe she’s being asked to work with the smoking hot chef whose chocolate cake is not the only thing that makes her mouth water. Sparks fly as they follow the leads Gabe’s dad left them, unraveling a web of crimes, corruption, and murder that runs all the way to the top.

 

 

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Excerpt

 

Molly looked up to find her boss standing in his office doorway. Burke Broussard was in his midforties and, other than a few silver hairs at his temples, hadn’t changed a bit since he’d been her CO in the Marines a decade before. “Morning, Burke. I brought you coffee, too.” She held up the cup.

“Thank the good Lord for that,” he said fervently. “I’ve been here since six.”

Molly shuddered in mostly mock horror. “Why?” She’d left rising with the sun behind when she’d finished her final tour with the Marine Corps. Burke, however, had a love-hate relationship with mornings. He said he hated them, but he continued coming in earlier and earlier. The man was a fool.

He was also smart as hell, driven to succeed, compassionate, and generous to a fault. But a morning fool.

“Come into my office,” he said. “I have a new client you should meet.”

Joy’s eyes widened further, and she maneuvered her wheelchair so that she could unabashedly watch Molly walk into Burke’s office.

And Molly immediately understood why.

Sitting in the chair at Burke’s conference table was none other than Gabriel Hebert, Choux chef extraordinaire. He looked tired and tense and very unhappy.

She wondered if he’d been so unhappy the night before. He had looked tired, but not this unhappy. Of course, he might be one of those people who could put on the face they wished the world to see.

“Molly, this is Mr. Hebert. Gabe, this is Miss Sutton. I’m going to assign her to your case.”

Molly’s brows shot up. What?

Gabe’s brows shot up as well, then crunched together in a disgruntled frown. “What? You’re handing me off?” He came to his feet. “What the hell, Burke?”

The two men faced off, and they couldn’t have appeared more physically different. Burke’s skin was olive toned, his deep tan a testament to all the road biking he did in his spare time. Gabe was so lightly tanned that she might still call him pale. And, like a lot of redheads, he had a smattering of freckles across his nose.

She’d always wanted to trace those freckles with her fingertips. She’d wondered where else he had them.

Both men were tall, but Burke’s body was bulky where Gabe’s was lean. Molly loved to watch Gabe move. When he was cooking in his restaurant’s kitchen, it was like watching a choreographed dance.

Only their accents were similar-both speaking with that smooth New Orleans drawl that sounded like hot summer nights with jazz music thick in the air. Except that Gabe’s voice made her shiver, when Burke’s never had.

She probably shouldn’t have shivered at all, considering how angry he seemed, but her body couldn’t help how it reacted. Sue me.

Burke waved at him to be seated. “I’m too close, Gabe. Your father . . . he was important to me, too. He was my partner. I had his back, and he had mine. Whatever else went down when I was on the force, I knew your father would stand by me, and he did. I don’t know that I’d be able to keep an open mind.”

Gabe did not sit down, his frown deepening to something almost dangerous. “Open to what?” he asked, each word dripping with anger and warning.

“The truth,” Burke said simply. “Whatever it might be. Molly’s my right hand. She will not let you down. Now, please, have a seat. If, after you’ve talked with her, you want someone else, we’ll figure it out. Don’t worry. You can depend on her discretion, no matter who you choose to work your case.”

Gabe released a harsh breath. “Okay.” He sat, then shifted his gaze to Molly, who still stood in the doorway, having not moved a muscle. He did a double take. “Do I know . . .” He trailed off. “Right. Last night. Happy birthday, Miss Sutton.”

Burke looked between them, his expression suddenly unhappy. “You two know each other?”

“No,” Gabe said.

“No,” Molly said at the same time. “I’ve been to his restaurant a few times, that’s all. The girls took me there last night for my birthday. I brought you some cake,” she added lamely. “It’s in the fridge in the break room.”

“Thank you, Molly.” Clearly relieved, Burke gestured to one of the empty chairs at the table. “Join us. As I’m sure you’ve figured out, this case requires extreme discretion.”

Molly nodded. “I understand. Mr. Hebert, if you decide I’m not the best fit, there will be no hard feelings. But should you choose to work with me, I’ll do my very best.”

Gabe’s shoulders slumped, his exhaustion clear to see. “I appreciate that.” He swallowed hard. “I need to find out who killed my father.”

Molly glanced at Burke. “Are the police involved?”

Gabe’s laugh was bitter. “Most likely, yes.”

Burke sighed. “What he means is, someone in law enforcement might be complicit. Or responsible.”

Molly sat back, wishing she was surprised. “All right, then. Let me have it.”

 

 

Review

 

Corruption knows no bounds.

In this new novel by Karen Rose, she drags us into the seedy underbelly of New Orleans and the corruption that reigns through multiple entities, and you never know who you can trust and still stay alive. The action doesn’t stop in this book, and while the time frame that it covers for a majority of the book is only a few days (a week at the most), I was worn out by the time all was said and done. My emotions were pushed and pulled in every direction, and I was dragged into this story kicking and screaming. Ok, not really, but the intensity is not for the faint of heart.

While we know the players that are wreaking havoc, we don’t really know who everyone is since some have nicknames. But you have to know that the corruption runs deep and high up the food chain of the police department and politicians. Gabe hires Burke Broussard’s PI firm to find out what happened to his father when an independent autopsy reveals foul play. This brings Molly Sutton into his orbit, and it is instant chemistry. Granted, they know of each other from his restaurant, but this is the first time they are properly introduced. From here on, it is a battle to keep their feelings low-key until this situation is sorted out. That doesn’t last too long, and there are some romantic interludes between the two, with other characters smirking throughout at their behavior. Despite Gabe’s career as a chef, he can hold his own when it comes to helping track down the culprits and discovering the truth.

There are so many characters you might need a playbook to follow along. However, it won’t take long to get into the book’s rhythm and keep track of everyone involved. At least, I could remember almost everyone and whether they were good or bad.

Outside of the action, there is levity, humor, romance, and suspense. As clues were unearthed, I started putting the pieces together but never would have guessed some of the answers that were revealed in the end. I missed a big clue regarding Lamont, but it isn’t surprising when I look back at how certain things are handled or portrayed. I was shocked at what some of the characters were capable of doing, but I really shouldn’t be, considering how crazy this world is these days.

I don’t know if this will be a series, but I wouldn’t mind taking a trip back to New Orleans with these characters. I would like to learn more about Val, a minor character because she sounds fascinating.

We give this book 4 paws up. It is a long book at a little over 600 pages, but I can’t think of much that could have been cut to trim down the length. Every scene was needed to move the story forward.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Internationally bestselling, RITA-award winning, author Karen Rose was born and raised in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC. She met her husband, Martin, on a blind date when they were seventeen and after they both graduated from the University of Maryland, (Karen with a degree in Chemical Engineering) they moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. Karen worked as an engineer for a large consumer goods company, earning two patents, but as Karen says, “scenes were roiling in my head and I couldn’t concentrate on my job so I started writing them down. I started out writing for fun, and soon found I was hooked.”

Her debut suspense novel, DON’T TELL, was released in July, 2003. Since then, she has published fifteen more novels and two novellas. Her seventeenth novel, ALONE IN THE DARK, will be released in 2016.

Karen’s books have appeared on the bestseller lists of the New York Times, USA Today, London’s Sunday Times, and Germany’s der Spiegel (#1), and the Irish Times, as well as lists in South Africa (#1) and Australia!

Her novels, I’M WATCHING YOU and SILENT SCREAM, received the Romance Writers of America’s RITA award for Best Romantic Suspense for 2005 and 2011. Five of her other books have been RITA finalists. To date, her books have been translated into twenty-four languages.

A former high school teacher of chemistry and physics, Karen lives in Florida with her husband of more than twenty years, her two daughters, two dogs, and a cat.

 

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Synopsis

 

He’s a notorious flirt, so she lays down a challenge she’s sure she’ll win.

When playboy police lieutenant Ryker Lange stops Kitt Boynton for driving on the wrong side of the road, his attraction to the feisty Irish lass is immediate. Yet, despite the sizzling chemistry between them, Kitt quickly turns him down.

Kitt has moved to River’s Edge for a fresh start and is ready to focus on her new marketing job at her cousins’ winery. She’s done with players and vows she won’t let the local sexy cop distract her, but Kitt, a flirt herself, is definitely tempted. To keep her sanity as she prepares for several Valentine-themed winery events, she and Ryker make a bet: for the next three weeks, neither of them can flirt with the other.

The game starts out lighthearted, but when the town takes sides, Ryker and Kitt must choose between winning a wager or finding lasting love.

 

 

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Review

 

This sweet and funny romance has two worlds colliding, all in the name of love.

Kitt has made the journey from Ireland to help her cousins in their winery and escape a broken heart and relationship back home. It doesn’t help that during her first few days, she is pulled over by Lieutenant Ryker Lange for driving on the wrong side of the road. I have to admit that was funny because I imagine that would be me in Ireland and not remembering that the right of way is not the same as in the US. However, sparks flew during that initial meeting, or maybe it was just irritation? Either way, it sets up the story for a romance between these two.

Ryker has a reputation as a playboy, and we find out later in the story why that is and how it all came about. We also learn more about the heartbreak that Kitt endured in Ireland. Both have some baggage to deal with, and jumping into any sort of relationship is not a good idea. This is how the wager came about – to be only friends with no flirting or any sort of romantic endeavors by either party. Be friends and get to know one another first. I have to say it is a smart wager, but will they be able to keep their hands off one another? Will they get to know one another as friends first?

This story is entertaining, and I loved the banter between these two. There is also a bad situation for the two boys that Ryker knows as their big brother. It will break your heart, but it gives the story even more depth and brings Ryker and Kitt closer together. The people in this town are comical, and apparently, in the early months of the year, there isn’t much else to do in town other than stick their noses into other people’s business. But that is what makes a small town great; they care for each other.

This is a fun read, and we give it 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Nan Reinhardt is a USA Today bestselling author of sweet romantic fiction for Tule Publishing. Her day job is working as a freelance copyeditor and proofreader. However, writing is Nan’s first and most enduring passion. She can’t remember a time in her life when she wasn’t writing—she wrote her first romance novel at the age of ten and is still writing, but now from the viewpoint of a wiser, slightly rumpled woman in her prime. Nan lives in the Midwest with her husband of 49 years, where they split their time between a house in the city and a cottage on a lake.

 

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Synopsis

 

When the SWAT team gives the all-clear and Logan Ramsay steps into the basement, he has no idea that everything’s about to change.

Then there’s the hiss of aerosol. The explosion. The shrapnel that punctures his hazmat gear. Logan wakes up to find himself in a hospital bed, attended by doctors in their own hazmat suits, his wife and daughter looking on from behind the glass.

The doctors say he’s been infected by a virus–one designed not to make him sick, but to modify his very genetic structure. In a world where the next-generation gene-editing tool known as Scythe is widely available – and has already reaped disastrous consequences – the possibilities are too many and terrifying to count.

Except that after the fever, the pain, the fear…the virus is gone. And according to his government bosses, Logan’s got a clean bill of health.

But the truth is that with each day that passes, Logan’s getting smarter. Seeing things more clearly. He’s realizing that he’s been upgraded in ways that go beyond even Scythe’s capabilities – and that he’s been given these abilities for a reason.

Because a holy grail of genetic engineering – one that could change our very definitions of humanity – has just been unearthed. And now it’s up to him to stop it from falling into the wrong hands.

Logan’s becoming something more. Something better. Even with the whole world hunting for him, he might be able to outthink his opponents and win the war that’s coming.

But what if it’s at the cost of being himself?

 

 

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Review

 

I have yet to read a bad book by this author and find the topics engaging and the research amazing. Who knew there was so much to DNA…ok, so I really do know that there is a lot to DNA but it is explained in a way that even I can understand on a basic level.

Logan Ramsey has had a hard life because of what his mother did in the past, but he is doing his best to make up for those sins. Until one day he is following a lead and ends up injected with a virus that changes his body and makes him stronger, smarter, and resistant to many diseases. While this sounds like a miracle, the costs are too high mentally and personally. I sympathized with Logan because he didn’t ask for this to happen, yet the government has its finger in everything which makes his life harder trying to escape their oversight.

This novel is a tale of how much the government is or can be in our business, how far the government will reach to control the narrative, and it is also a tale of the compassion that humans have lost thanks to the media and government. I could see all of this happening and humans losing more freedoms and rights just to exist. But it is also a tale of hope for the eradication of disease and perhaps humans realizing that things need to change before the world implodes on itself based on our current choices and paths.

This is an action-packed book that doesn’t leave you with the desire to put the book down. Something is always happening with Logan, the GPA, and other characters.

I do have to admit the first time I saw GPA I immediately thought of grade point average. I’m still not sure Gene Protection Agency will be the first thing I think of when I hear GPA. But I like this fictional government agency because I honestly can see that becoming something sometime in the future in our world.

Overall, we give this 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Blake is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of a dozen novels, most recently, Dark Matter, Recursion, and Upgrade, for which he is also writing the movie for Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners. His international-bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy was adapted into a television series for FOX, executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan, that was Summer 2015’s #1 show. With Chad Hodge, Crouch also created Good Behavior, the TNT show starring Michelle Dockery based on his Letty Dobesh novellas. His novel, Recursion, is currently being developed as a Netflix series by Shonda Rhimes and Matt Reeves, and Skydance is developing a film adaptation of his novella, Summer Frost, based on Crouch’s script. His novels have been translated into forty languages and his short fiction has appeared in numerous publications including Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and Cemetery Dance. At the moment, Crouch is writing a new book and creating a nine-episode adaptation of his novel Dark Matter, for Apple TV+. Blake lives in Colorado.

 

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Synopsis

 

Amber, Lachlan and Raffaele met as teenagers in the Cornish seaside home of kind-hearted foster parents. Years on, the bond between them is unbreakable

But Amber has a secret. She’s in love with Lachlan. She can’t tell him, because that would never work – he’s definitely not the settling-down type. Surely it’s better to keep him as a friend than to risk losing him for good?

Raffaele has his own dilemma. He had the dream girlfriend in Vee, until it all went horribly wrong . . . and he still can’t understand why. Is Vee hiding something from him?

Now their widowed foster dad Teddy has found new love. Younger, charming and beautiful, Olga seems perfect. But is she? Or will she break Teddy’s fragile heart?

Against a backdrop of sparkling seas and sunny skies, the unexpected is always just around the corner. Welcome to Lanrock!

 

 

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Review

 

This is a cross between women’s fiction and romance, but of course, that sounds like they might be the same thing but they are not.

This book primarily follows three friends that met while in a foster home tended by Teddy and May. There are several other characters and couples that bring their own dynamics to the book that make it overall a delightful read and add some depth and variety to the novel.

Teddy and (the late) May brought many children into their home and loved them as if they were their own no matter how long they stayed. That love and affection are what pushed those closest to Teddy to question the new woman in his life whom he met on a cruise. Does she really love him or is she a gold digger? It could go either way based on what we see, but I have to admit Olga is one of a kind. She definitely shakes up everyone’s lives but for the better.

Amber, Lachlan, and Raffaele formed a tight bond that still existed many years later. They supported each other through their ups and downs and while they each found their footing in their respective careers – stained glass, chef, and stylist. I appreciated the hard work that they endured for their crafts and that they do not take any of it for granted. They are also there for each other during their various relationships especially Raffaele’s relationship with Vee which has gone off the rails but for reasons you may not suspect.

I think the one character that was possibly overshadowed by others is Benjie. He is shy and very much an introvert and I think many would be able to relate to his character. However, with the help of a few of the other characters, he comes out of his shell by the end of the book. It just took him a little more time than some but he really blossoms by the end and I loved seeing him grow.

I can’t go without mentioning Moose, an energetic dog that causes a few incidents in the book. But lovable all the same.

Overall, we give this book 4 paws up. It was a relaxing read in a picturesque setting. Plenty of family dynamics to keep the story interesting.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

With over ten million copies sold, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jill Mansell writes irresistible, funny, poignant, and romantic tales for women in the tradition of Marian Keyes, Sophie Kinsella, and Jojo Moyes. She lives with her partner and their children in Bristol, England.

 

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Synopsis

 

Seven years after a harrowing encounter with the Abbott family, a mysterious murder brings Parker Derrick back to Jasper. Tasked with solving the case, Parker must face even higher stakes when something very dear to her is stolen.

 

 

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Review

 

This second book in the Parker Derrick series continues the excitement just several years later.

Parker has put some time behind her and the disaster from the Abbott family that caused her so much pain in the first book. She has worked at getting her life back together with therapy and the help of her partner, Aaron. They have a son together, Silas, that is the joy of their lives. However, the mess from her past hasn’t gone away yet. Her best friend’s daughter is kidnapped, a long-time friend passes away, and then something unthinkable happens to Parker that throws her life upside down.

The author’s writing continues to improve and I thoroughly enjoyed this book. While it was somewhat obvious to me who the culprit was, the author still manage to throw in a few curveballs near the end that took me by surprise. Parker is somewhat self-absorbed and doesn’t always take the bigger picture into consideration. But she is growing and therapy is helping her on that journey. Seems like most protagonists tend to have blinders on at one time or another. She still needs to grow and learn to not shut everyone out of her life when life gets tough.

I liked that Parker was working on improving her relationship with her father despite his issues from the past. We see most of the characters from the first book return plus a few new characters that just might show up in the next book based on this book’s ending. Not a cliffhanger but definitely left me wanting to know more and how Parker might take on the next challenge.

I enjoyed this book and anticipate more great things from this budding author.

We give this book 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

By day, he’s a mild-mannered nurse, loving husband, and father of three dogs – who just so happens to write stories in his spare time. Inherit is his debut novel.

 

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Finding Ruby Draker by Marianne Scott

Genre: Mystery / Thriller

Publisher: Friesen Press

 

 

Synopsis

 

Kathleen Jones has lived a protected and typical suburban life, nothing unexpected in her carefully controlled and planned existence. She’s about to complete her college degree and is ready to start a successful career but after completing her last exam she comes home to find her world has been turned upside down. Her home has been torched and her parents and little brother killed.

If that’s not bad enough, she is kidnapped and drugged unconscious by strangers posing as a police officers. When she awakes she discovers that everything has changed – her face, her name, and everything she believed to be true.

But things get worse. Hardly recovered from surgery, she is whisked away under the cover of darkness as more men storm the clinic with guns. It seems that the men who abducted her are not her greatest threat. Now on a private charter on its way to Nice, France, her abductors are calling her Ruby – Ruby Draker!

Finding Ruby Draker is a novel about knowing yourself, accepting change, embracing danger, and taking risks. You never know what life is going to throw at you.

 

 

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Review

 

This action-packed thriller will keep you on the edge of your seats about what could possibly happen next for the Draker family. It moves at a pretty steady clip, so stay alert because you never know what curve might come next.

The book starts out and we discover Kathleen has been kidnapped after arriving back home to discover her home on fire and her family has perished. It takes quite some time for her to understand what is going on and why these people took her and gave her plastic surgery. I felt her frustration not getting answers or understanding about the situation. To top it off, once she is whisked away to another country, she still doesn’t get answers and there are these people that say they are her parents and siblings. They aren’t according to what Kathleen, now Ruby, remembers of her life. I thought it was odd that they took so long to fill her in on why she was there. In fact, she doesn’t learn the whole truth for quite some time. Perhaps it is a test, but if you take someone from their home surely you would provide them with some information.

Once Ruby is in the know, the story picks up speed because they are off to try and save some people from suffering the same fate as Ruby’s parents and the other residents of this estate. You won’t learn everyone’s situation right off the bat, some are not shared until near the end of the book. But the stories intertwine and the Draker’s pick up some others along the way that they knew from the past. Turns out this is a cold war situation that should have ended but one character continues the fight. This antagonist has a lot up his sleeve when it comes to this family and I kept wondering how he was able to stay one step ahead of them in most situations.

The story is long but there is not a lot of downtime for the characters and everything they do has a reason. I enjoyed the twists and turns and how prepared the Draker family was throughout the whole book. I can’t imagine trying to save others and protect your secret as well. And the story of how they have their estate was a nice little twist from what you might expect. There is even a potential love interest for Ruby with a very bizarre love triangle near the end with grave consequences.

While you might have to suspend reality in some places, this is a solid book and one that I enjoyed. I was sad that some of the family doesn’t survive, but it is what leads us to the next book and where life will take them next.

We give this book 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

Read the 2nd Book in this Series

 

 

 

Ruby Draker has found new strength and is ready to move on after Felix Szabo devastated the Draker estate in Nice, France. Three Drakers are dead leaving Ruby in grief and with thoughts of revenge. The Drakers are a family built of survivors; each rescued from Felix Szabo, a psychopath, who sought to murder his former agents at the CIA whom he believed betrayed him. The Drakers’ sole mission is to stop Szabo from adding more victims to his list, and although he also perished during the invasion, his legacy continues to haunt them. When the Drakers learn that Robert Draker, presumed dead since the shoot-out at Robert’s farmhouse, may be alive and at a rehab clinic in Portland, Maine, the Drakers know it could be a setup, but they have no choice but to try to nd him and bring Robert home.

​Shocked that Robert may be alive, the family head from France to America to find him. It’s only when they arrive in the west that they realize finding Robert won’t be as easy as they thought. Szabo has found a way to terrorize the Draker family, even after death. His outstanding debt with a Corsican crime family means the Drakers must now find and deliver a shipment of plutonium, which will likely be used by terrorists to create a nuclear bomb, to get Robert back. As Ruby struggles with the decision to save her brother or North America, she must also evade the CIA, who are trying to stop the Drakers from delivering the plutonium.

 

 

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About the Author

 

Marianne Scott is the Canadian author of four mystery thrillers and is currently finishing an edit on her fourth novel, a murder mystery. She has a BA and a Diploma in Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, CA. She studied creative writing through Conestoga College and Humber College. She enjoys writing workshops such as those offered by Brian Henry, publisher of the blog, Quick Brown Fox, and One Lit Place, a writers’ hub by creator/editor Jenna Kalinsky. She has an author’s website and blog is the president of The Cambridge Writers’ Collective and is a member of the Guelph Genre Writers. In September of 2018, she completed a fourth-year course in Writing Fiction at the University of Guelph under the expert teaching of Lawrence Hill. Her novels, Finding Ruby Draker and Shadows in the Aftermath are self-published. She is actively seeking representation to break into the traditional publishing world with her third and fourth novels.

 

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Giveaway

 

Win paperback copies of both FINDING RUBY DRAKER and SHADOWS IN THE AFTERMATH (4 winners)

USA only. Ends July 8, 2022

 

FINDING RUBY DRAKER/SHADOWS IN THE AFTERMATH Book Tour Giveaway

 

 

 

Synopsis

 

All Luce wants is to go home, but how can she? Since the war, her beloved city has been under an enchantment. Rivers run dry and the streets are haunted, or so they say.

When she hears a rumor that the curse has been lifted, Luce writes a heartfelt letter to the leaders. It begins ten years ago, when she’s thirteen-years-old and dying of a broken heart. Dying, I tell you!

Luce’s account takes the leaders into the cold heart of a mermaid. To when she, and her bestie, Adu, live in a spidery, clifftop house with a tiny dog.

Not even Sea Mother’s magic or mermaids can hold back the war. When the world goes dark, it takes a wind magician and the strongest love of all to save her family and friends.

Light up the skies, little mermaid!

 

 

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Review

 

This was a delightful short story to read. The story follows Luce and her retelling of events that happened when she was 13 to a “board” ten years later. She recounts the events that led to the fall of her town of Craw and how her family banded together to extract them from the war that was happening. She also shares her insights as a teen and how the war impacted her life and what she experienced during that time. I loved that she had a puppy, Bluebell, that gave her comfort during this time. Also, her friend Adu was there which helped her cope with the situation. I loved how they took the characters from a children’s book about mermaids and used those as coping mechanisms, and to teach Bluebell different tricks.

I think many of us could relate to her experiences just from what we see happening in the world today. We may not have personal experiences that tie to Luce’s, but empathy with her plight and with those in similar situations. Luce may have been naive at 13, but then who wouldn’t have been, but it helps shape her as she grows up and shares her story ten years later.

If you want to read more about this world created by the author, then check out the first book, I Volcano.

We give this book 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Eule Grey has settled, for now, in the UK. She’s worked in education, justice, youth work, and even tried her hand at butter-spreading in a sandwich factory.

She writes novels, novellas, poetry, and a messy combination of all three. Nothing about Eule is tidy but she rocks a boogie on a Saturday night!

For now, Eule is she/her or they/them. Eule has not yet arrived at a pronoun that feels right.

 

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Synopsis

 

From the author of Tell Me Lies and Too Good to Be True comes Carola Lovering’s Can’t Look Away, a sexy suspense novel about the kind of addictive, obsessive love that keeps you coming back––no matter how hard you try to look away.

In 2013, twenty-three-year old Molly Diamond is a barista, dreaming of becoming a writer. One night at a concert in East Williamsburg, she locks eyes with the lead singer, Jake Danner, and can’t look away. Molly and Jake fall quickly and deeply in love, especially after he writes a hit song about her that puts his band on the map.

Nearly a decade later, Molly has given up writing and is living in Flynn Cove, Connecticut with her young daughter and her husband Hunter—who is decidedly not Jake Danner. Their life looks picture-perfect, but Molly is lonely; she feels out of place with the other women in their wealthy suburb, and is struggling to conceive their second child. When Sabrina, a newcomer in town, walks into the yoga studio where Molly teaches and confesses her own fertility struggles, Molly believes she’s finally found a friend.

But Sabrina has her own reasons for moving to Flynn Cove and befriending Molly. And as Sabrina’s secrets are slowly unspooled, her connection to Molly becomes clearer––as do secrets of Molly’s own, which she’s worked hard to keep buried.

Meanwhile, a new version of Jake’s hit song is on the radio, forcing Molly to confront her past and ask the ultimate questions: What happens when life turns out nothing like we thought it would, when we were young and dreaming big? Does growing up mean choosing with your head, rather than your heart? And do we ever truly get over our first love?

 

 

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Review

 

I enjoy books that are told from multiple points of view because you can really dig into what the character is thinking, feeling, or planning to do. The book starts off primarily from Molly’s point of view and we learn about her struggles until she and Jake have a moment when their eyes meet at a bar where his band was playing. From there it was off to the races.

Later in the book, we have a new character, Sabrina. We know she is up to no good but we don’t really know why. Until we do, then it is a “whoa” kind of moment. Sabrina is messed up is all I can say. At first, you think she deserves some pity or sympathy until the truth is revealed. The pieces really start to fall into place and we have a better understanding of the past and how it has impacted the present.

The book does flip back and forth in time so that we can grasp Molly’s relationship with Jake, her relationship now with her husband, Hunter, and how even love can’t save a relationship.

The characters are young in the “past”, 23+ and that explains a lot of their immaturity. But circumstances and situations change them as people, and while they may be more grown up in the present, there are still some secrets that need to be shared and discussions to be had if everyone is going to truly move forward.

I did enjoy this book and there is so much I want to say but it would give away a lot of the “suspense” of the plot. I don’t think this is a true suspense novel, maybe a romantic suspense story, but I think it might be more of a drama that you would see on Lifetime or a similar channel.

We give this book 4 paws up.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

 

Carola Lovering is the author of Tell Me Lies, Too Good to Be True, and the forthcoming Can’t Look Away. She attended Colorado College, and her work has appeared in New York Magazine, W Magazine, National Geographic, Outside, and Yoga Journal, among other publications. Her novel, Tell Me Lies, is currently being adapted into a television series for Hulu. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and son.

 

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