THE BOOKWORM’S GUIDE TO DATING (The Bookworm’s Guide Book #1) by Emma Hart is the first book in a new contemporary rom/com series. The main heroines are three friends who own a bookstore in a small town in Montana and their long-time friends. The secondary humor comes from the retirement home where all their grandparents live.
Kinsley Lane is a bookworm and proud of it. She loves analyzing relationships in romance novels and is afraid she will never find a real-life man who will understand and love her for her awkward introverted self. For her birthday, she decides to start dating. She lets her friends convince her to sign up for dating apps on-line and has her brother’s best-friend volunteer to play matchmaker. She is not sure why he is helping, but if he can find one who meets her very specific guidelines and helps her with her awkwardness, she is in.
Josh Carter offers to help Kinsley find a boyfriend. He helps set Kinsley up and even takes her on a practice date, but there is something important he is not telling her. He is hoping by finding Kinsley a boyfriend, he will quit obsessing over her. He made a pact with her brother years ago that neither of them would date the other’s sisters, but Josh finds the bookish Kinsley is the one he wants.
This is a quick read full of laughter, love and quirky realistic characters. Kinsley and Josh’s banter and texting felt pitch perfect and their relationship developed at a realistic pace. The sex scenes were explicit, but not gratuitous. I loved the scenes in the bookshop between the three friends and all the bookish references. The secondary characters are all part of the three girls lives and add to the small town feel of everyone knowing everyone else. The secondary comedy plotline of the retirement home where all the grandparents live and have their own dramas had me laughing out loud.
I can highly recommend this first in the series rom/com and I am looking forward to the next!
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Author Bio and Social Media
Emma Hart is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over twenty novels and has been translated into several different languages. She first put fingers to keys at the age of eighteen after her husband told her she read too much and should write her own. Four years later, she’s still figuring out what he meant when he said she ‘read too much.’
She prides herself on writing smart smut that’s filled with dry wit, snappy, sarcastic comebacks, but lots of heart… And sex. Sometimes, she kills people. (Disclaimer: In books. But if you bug her, she’ll use your name for the victims.)
TOTAL POWER (Mitch Rapp Book #19) by Vince Flynn/Kyle Mills is the latest thriller in the Mitch Rapp series and Kyle Mills continues to prove he was the right choice to take on this series after the death of Vince Flynn. The premise of the terror attack in this story is still theorized frequently and it is truly scary to picture the post-apocalyptic world in this book.
As Congress debates the perceived danger and the costs to fix and update the U.S. power grid, an expert in the field is shopping the destruction of that grid to our foreign adversaries. While he has the computer expertise, he needs some armed assistance on the ground in eliminating a few strategic power stations. When Mitch and his team are sent to intercept an international terrorist, they hope the plot is done, but it was only a decoy and the power grid goes off-line over the entire country on Christmas Eve.
Now as the government is in bunkers and the country begins to descend into anarchy as there is no longer a safety structure and it is every man for himself, Mitch and his team work to chase down the man responsible and get the codes that could begin to bring the power back on-line.
I could not put this new Mitch Rapp down! The premise is as realistic as it comes and having lived through the blackout of 2003, I could imagine each sequence of events occurring the longer the power was out. Mr. Mills research is evident throughout the story without it ever overpowering the action/thriller aspect of the story. All of the secondary characters play important roles in this story as they come together to survive the loss of power and work to navigate their new circumstances without all the state-of-the-art help that in one way or another relies on electrical power.
Mr. Mills has Mitch by the end of this book thinking several times about his future or lack thereof. He also shows Mitch becoming more comfortable with his family life and surrounding friends. Will Mitch eventually be able to retire with his loved ones or will he be taken out while once again protecting our freedom and way of life? I hope for the first with a new generation of protectors to take his place, but only Mr. Mills knows.
I highly recommend this action packed and thrilling new Mitch Rapp!
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About the Author
Kyle Mills is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty books, including the latest in Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp series, Total Power.
Growing up in Oregon, Washington, DC, and London as a the son of an FBI agent, Kyle absorbed an enormous amount about the intelligence community, giving his novels their unique authenticity. He and his wife live in Wyoming where they spend their off hours mountain biking and backcountry skiing.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour for Colleen Coble’s TWO REASONS TO RUN (Pelican Harbor Book #2). This is the second book in the Pelican Harbor trilogy. The mystery/suspense in each book is unique to that book, but the characters’ personal lives progress and carry over from each previous book. I feel these books are best read in order.
Below you will find a book synopsis, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author bio and social media links and a Rafflecopter giveaway. Enjoy!
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Book Synopsis
A lie changed her world.
Police Chief Jane Hardy is still reeling from the scandal that rocked her small-town department just as she took over for her retired father—the man who wrecked her life with one little lie. Now she’s finally been reunited with her presumed-dead fifteen-year-old son, Will, and his father, documentarian Reid Bechtol.
A crisis looms.
When a murder aboard the oil platform Zeus exposes an environmental terrorist’s plot to flood Mobile Bay with crude oil, Jane and Reid must put their feelings for each other behind them and work together to prevent the rig from being sabotaged.
A killer targets her son.
Then the terrorist puts her son Will’s life on the line. Protecting him could be the common ground they need . . . but then ghosts from the past threaten to ruin Jane and Reid for good. She’s got plenty of reasons to run. But what if she stays?
Genre: Christian Romantic Suspense Published by: Thomas Nelson Publication Date: September 8, 2020 Number of Pages: 352 ISBN: 0785228489 (ISBN13: 9780785228486) Series: Pelican Harbor #2 Purchase Links:Amazon | Barnes & Noble | ChristianBook.com | Goodreads
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
TWO REASONS TO RUN (Pelican Harbor Book #2) by Colleen Coble is the second action packed Christian romantic suspense/mystery in this trilogy series. The small coastal town of Pelican Bay’s Chief of Police Jane Hardy is a 5’2” strong, determined and justice driven spitfire who also happens to be a survivor of a cult. While the suspense/mystery is unique and solved in each book, Jane and all the main characters’ personal stories carry over and are a large part of the story. I feel the books in this trilogy should be read in order.
Chief of Police Jane Hardy is now firmly in control of her small-town police department after taking over from her retired father and surviving the scandal from “One Little Lie”. While she has been happily reunited with her fifteen-year-old son Will, who she believed dead, she is still coming to terms with the betrayal she feels from his father, Reid.
A local mother has reported her son missing when he does not return from the giant oil rig in the bay. She gives Jane an email from her son that suggests there is a terrorist plot against the oil rig and he believes he is in danger. But with no other leads and no body, Homeland Security drops the case.
Reid uses his job as a journalist/documentarian to gain access to the rig. He and Jane find the missing man dead and tied under the oil rig. As Jane and Will move forward in the investigation, they receive threats that if they continue, their son Will’s life in on the line.
I loved this book as much as the first which of course makes me anxious for the third. I believe this author does a great job of balancing an intriguing investigation, building suspense and dealing with all the characters’ personal lives in this small town which comes to life in her worldbuilding. Jane is a complex character dealing with her past in the cult, her development of her current spiritual beliefs and her relationship with Reid. All the secondary characters are fully fleshed and realistic. Though there is faith-based dialogue, it never felt out of character or like you are being preached at.
I highly recommend this Christian romantic suspense/mystery and author.
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Excerpt
Was anyone watching?
Keith McDonald sat at the computer and glanced around the oil platform’s rec room, but the dozen or so workers were engrossed in watching the final game of a Ping-Pong match. He hesitated,
then hovered his cursor over the Send button. Clenching his teeth, he sent the emails. Maybe it was nothing, but if anyone could decipher the recording, it was Reid Dixon.
The back of his neck prickled, and Keith looked around again. The room felt stifling even with the AC cooling it from the May heat. He jumped up and headed for the door. He exited and darted into the shadows as two men strolled past. One was his suspect.
Keith stood on a grating suspended three thousand feet over the water and strained to hear past the noise of machinery. The scent of the sea enveloped him, and the stars glimmered on the water surrounding the oil platform that had been his home for two years now.
“Scheduled for late May—”
A clanging bell drowned out the rest of the man’s words.
“Devastation—”
The other fragment of conversation pumped up Keith’s heart rate. Were they talking about the sabotage he feared, or was he reading more into the words than were there? He couldn’t believe someone could be callous enough to sabotage the oil platform and destroy the coast on purpose. He’d seen firsthand the devastating effects from the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe. And what about the people living on the platform? Deepwater Horizon had killed eleven people and injured another seventeen.
He had to sound a warning and stop this, but he had no real evidence. If Reid Dixon blew him off, who would even listen? Maybe Homeland Security would pay attention, but who did he even call there? He could tell them about the pictures threatening Bonnie, but what did that prove? They might just say she had a stalker and he was chasing shadows.
He couldn’t say they were wrong.
He sidled along the railing, and the breeze lifted his hair. A boat bobbed in the waves far below, and in the moonlight, he spotted a diver aboard. Must be night diving the artificial reef created by the concrete supports below the platform. He’d done a bit of it himself over the years.
For an instant he wished he were gliding carefree through the waves without this crushing weight of conscience on his shoulders. When he was sixteen, life was so simple. School, girls, football, and good times. He’d gone to work at the platform when he was nineteen, after he’d decided college wasn’t for him.
It had been a safe place, a good place to work with fun companions and interesting work.
Until a few weeks ago when everything turned sinister and strange. He’d wanted to uncover more before he reported it, but every second he delayed could mean a stronger chance of an attack.
If an attack was coming. He still wasn’t sure, and he wanted a name or to identify the organization behind the threat. If there was a threat. Waffling back and forth had held him in place. Was this real, or was he reading something dangerous into something innocent?
Though he didn’t think he was overreacting.
He turned to head to his quarters. A bulky figure rushed him from the shadows and plowed into his chest, driving him back against the railing. The man grabbed Keith’s legs and tried to tip him over the edge.
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Author Bio
Colleen Coble is a USA TODAY bestselling author and RITA finalist best known for her coastal romantic suspense novels, including The Inn at Ocean’s Edge, Twilight at Blueberry Barrens, and the Lavender Tides, Sunset Cove, Hope Beach, and Rock Harbor series.
I am very excited to be on the October 2020 Harlequin Category Romance blog tour. Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for Christine Rimmer’s Harlequin Special Edition HOME FOR THE BABY’S SAKE (The Bravos of Valentine Bay Book #8). This book is easily read as a standalone and it will make you want to go back and read all of the siblings stories.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
He’d do anything for his son…including returning to the town he left behind.
Valentine Bay’s the perfect place for real estate developer Roman Marek to raise his infant son. But when he snaps up the charming local theater, he doesn’t bargain for tempestuous director Hailey Bravo.
Hailey won’t let Roman wreck the thing she holds most dear—and she’s certainly gotten under Roman’s notoriously thick skin. As the duo spar and sparks fly, Roman’s surprised to find that Hailey’s the perfect missing piece for his family. But how can he convince her that this partnership’s for keeps?
HOME FOR THE BABY’S SAKE (The Bravos of Valentine Bay Book #8) by Christine Rimmer is a contemporary romance that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish. Even though this is the eighth book in the series each featuring a different sibling, it is easily read as a standalone.
Roman Marek is a hugely successful real estate developer who has relocated with his infant son and mother back to Valentine Bay upon his mother’s request. He purchased the old theater in town and plans to use its bones for a boutique hotel, but it is still in use by the community for local projects until the end of the year.
Hailey Bravo and her sister, Harper run H&H Productions and produce all the community shows and projects in the old theater. She loves the theater, her job and her community. When the theater sale is complete, she is worried about the future plans of the new owner.
When Roman and Hailey meet they are both attracted to each other even with the future of the theater between them, but Roman has been lost in love twice before and is not as open as Hailey even though he believes she is the missing piece for his little family. Roman is going to learn that Hailey cannot be managed like a business problem and he is going to have to learn to trust again for the love he truly wants.
This is a sweet and spicy quick read with plenty of family, love and ultimately a very satisfying HEA. Roman is a complex alpha hero who could easily run over a heroine who is not as strong, but Hailey has him matched with her strength, love and understanding. The sex scenes are realistic and not gratuitous. All the secondary characters add to the depth of the story and are not just fillers especially the secondary story revolving around Roman’s mother. I love the Bravo family and really need to check out more of this series.
I recommend this contemporary romance for a well written and heartfelt HEA!
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Excerpt
When she arrived at the fish place on Ocean Road, Roman was waiting outside for her, leaning against a sleek black sports car—the famous one made in Italy, with doors that opened upward, like wings.
“This car,” she said, shaking her head, trailing a finger along the gleaming hood. “You’d better write the arts council a check, Roman Marek.”
He put his hand to his broad, hard chest, right over his heart. “You have my solemn word on that.”
They went inside. The food was excellent, as always, and being with Roman was easy and fun. Even the silences were comfortable. He said he’d moved back to town from Las Vegas and bought a house on Treasure Cove Circle. Hailey knew the house. It was a mansion nestled in its own private oceanfront reserve, surrounded by beautiful old-growth forest, overlooking a secluded stretch of beach.
“I want to see you again,” he said as he walked her back out to her car. She gave him her number and when he gathered her close, she didn’t resist.
The kiss was just right, a tender, sweet getting-to-know-you kind of kiss. His lips felt so good brushing against her own, and excitement sizzled through her. They both pulled back slowly and just stood there at the driver’s door of her Kia Sportage, grinning at each other for a long string of lovely seconds.
“See you soon,” he said as he pulled open the driver’s door for her.
She climbed in and he shut the door. Then he stood there, the afternoon sun gleaming on his dark brown hair, as she backed from the parking space and drove away.
For the rest of the day, Hailey felt like the living, breathing representation of some old romantic song. She walked on air and danced on clouds. She’d met a guy she wanted to see again. That hadn’t happened since Nathan.
She couldn’t stop smiling as she sat at the kitchen table in the family cottage she shared with Harper and worked on her plans for the Christmas show—which desperately needed an actual name. Later in the afternoon, she was back at the theater, greeting the parents as they dropped off their children for Fall Revue rehearsals.
It was the usual circus, corralling all the kids, giving them instructions that they immediately forgot. There was some pushing and one of the little girls cried. Hailey consoled and coaxed and loved every minute of it—she always did. But somehow, more so today.
Because she kind of had butterflies over Roman Marek, and for three long years she’d honestly believed that all her butterflies had shriveled up and died.
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Author Bio
Author bio: A New York Times bestselling author, Christine Rimmer has written over ninety contemporary romances for Harlequin Books. Christine has won the Romantic Times BOOKreviews Reviewers Choice Award and has been nominated six times for the RITA Award. She lives in Oregon with her family. Visit Christine at http://www.christinerimmer.com.
