CHRISTMAS BY THE BOOK by Anne Marie Ryan is one of my favorite Christmas books this season! It is by a new-to-me author and is her first fiction novel for adults. This is a story for book lovers, set in an independent bookstore in the English area of the Cotswold with several books for all ages recommended throughout, holiday romance, true love, friendship, community, and hope.
Nora and her husband Simon have run an independent bookstore for thirty years in a small English town which Nora had inherited from her mother. With their daughter away on a gap year trip, Nora and Simon have had to face the possibility of closure. When Nora helps an elderly man find the perfect book for his sick grandson, it leads to the idea of sending out more books to uplift others spirits even though it will not help their shop.
Six people are chosen randomly from nominations on-line. With the fate of the bookstore still up in the air, the people who received the Christmas gift books begin to find hope once again. Will Nora and Simon find a happy ending of their own?
This is a holiday book filled with Christmas magic, love, friendship, community, and hope. Nora and Simon’s love is strong as they face losing everything. Even as the days wind down until the taxes are due, they help others with their love of books. All the recipients of the gifted books have stories that so many of us can relate to and the town’s people are realistic. This is the perfect holiday book to snuggle up in your favorite blanket on the couch with from beginning to end.
I highly recommend this heartwarming Christmas book!
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Author Bio
Anne Marie Ryan works as a book editor and has written several successful children’s fiction series under a variety of pseudonyms. THE SIX TALES OF CHRISTMAS is her first novel for adults. Born and raised in Massachusetts, Anne Marie now lives in west London with her husband, two daughters and two kittens. When she’s not reading or writing, Anne Marie plays tennis and acts in amateur dramatics (much to her family’s embarrassment).
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the HTP Holiday Romance Blog Tour for THE SECRET OF SNOW by Viola Shipman.
Below you will find a book summary, my book review, an excerpt from the book and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Summary
When Sonny Dunes, a So-Cal meteorologist who knows only sunshine and 72-degree days, has an on-air meltdown after she learns she’s being replaced by an AI meteorologist (which the youthful station manager reasons “will never age, gain weight or renegotiate its contract.”), the only station willing to give a 50-year-old another shot is one in a famously non-tropical place–her northern Michigan hometown.
Unearthing her carefully laid California roots, Sonny returns home and reaclimates to the painfully long, dark winters dominated by a Michigan phenomenon known as lake-effect snow. But beyond the complete physical shock to her system, she’s also forced to confront her past: her new boss is a former journalism classmate and mortal frenemy and, more keenly, the death of a younger sister who loved the snow, and the mother who caused Sonny to leave.
To distract herself from the unwelcome memories, Sonny decides to throw herself headfirst (and often disastrously) into all things winter to woo viewers and reclaim her success: sledding, ice-fishing, skiing, and winter festivals, culminating with the town’s famed Winter Ice Sculpture Contest, all run by a widowed father and Chamber director whose honesty and genuine love of Michigan, winter and Sonny just might thaw her heart and restart her life in a way she never could have predicted.
THE SECRET OF SNOW by Viola Shipman is a holiday Women’s fiction story with romantic elements that is an emotional rollercoaster ride of heartbreak, love, friendship, forgiveness, and redemption. As I have found when reading other Viola Shipman stories…you will laugh out loud and you will need the tissue box handy.
Amberrose Murphy lived in a happy and loving home in upper Michigan until tragedy struck. Her main goal after that was to escape Michigan winters and she reinvents herself after college as Sonny Dunes in California where no one would know of her painful past or remind her of her loss.
Sonny is blindsided at the age of fifty when she is replaced with an AI meteorologist. After a public meltdown, the only station that will take a chance on her is in her hometown of Traverse City, Michigan. She moves back to memories she has tried to forget and is forced to confront her past while also trying to revive her career, reconnect with her mother and deal with a widowed Chamber of Commerce Director who loves all things about winter in Michigan.
Even though this story covers almost a year in time, the holiday season plays an important role in this wonderfully emotional story. Sonny is an empathetic and believable character. The pain in her past makes her relationship phobic and many women have been affected by ageism in careers. The mother/daughter relationship is so well written with support, caring, and love. She is a very smart mother. The new friends Sonny makes at the station all grow and change right along with her. The romance is sweet, and Mason is a survivor of grief who is very open about his feelings and love of Michigan winters, but their romance does not overpower Sonny’s own personal growth.
I absolutely love Viola Shipman stories and this holiday book is no exception!
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Excerpt
I end the newscast with the same forecast—a row of smiling sunshine emojis that look just like my face—and then banter with the anchors about the perfect pool temperature before another graphic—THE DESERT’S #1 NIGHTLY NEWS TEAM!—pops onto the screen, and we fade to commercial.
“Anyone want to go get a drink?” Cliff asks within seconds of the end of the newscast. “It’s Friday night.”
“It’s always Friday night to you, Cliff,” Eva says.
She stands and pulls off her mic. The top half of Eva Fernandez is J.Lo perfection: luminescent locks, long lashes, glam gloss, a skintight top in emerald that matches her eyes, gold jewelry that sets off her glowing skin. But Eva’s bottom half is draped in sweats, her feet in house slippers. It’s the secret viewers never see.
“I’m half dressed for bed already anyway,” she says with a dramatic sigh. Eva is very dramatic. “And I’m hosting the Girls Clubs Christmas breakfast tomorrow and then Eisenhower Hospital’s Hope for the Holidays fundraiser tomorrow night. And Sonny and I are doing every local Christmas parade the next few weekends. You should think about giving back to the community, Cliff.”
“Oh, I do,” he says. “I keep small business alive in Palm Springs. Wouldn’t be a bar afloat without my support.”
Cliff roars, setting off his chattering teeth.
I call Cliff “The Unicorn” because he was actually born and raised in Palm Springs. He didn’t migrate here like the older snowbirds to escape the cold, he didn’t snap up midcentury houses with cash like the Silicon Valley techies who realized this was a real estate gold mine, and he didn’t suddenly “discover” how hip Palm Springs was like the millennials who flocked here for the Coachella Music Festival and to catch a glimpse of Drake, Beyoncé or the Kardashians.
No, Cliff is old school. He was Palm Springs when tumbleweed still blew right through downtown, when Bob Hope pumped gas next to you and when Frank Sinatra might take a seat beside you at the bar, order a martini and nobody acted like it was a big deal.
I admire Cliff because—
The set suddenly spins, and I have to grab the arm of a passing sound guy to steady myself. He looks at me, and I let go.
—he didn’t run away from where he grew up.
“How about you, sunshine?” Cliff asks me. “Wanna grab a drink?”
“I’m gonna pass tonight, Cliff. I’m wiped from this week. Rain check?”
“Never rains in the desert, sunshine,” Cliff jokes. “You oughta know that.”
He stops and looks at me. “What would Frank Sinatra do?”
I laugh. I adore Cliff’s corniness.
“You’re not Frank Sinatra,” Eva calls.
“My martini awaits with or without you.” Cliff salutes, as if he’s Bob Hope on a USO tour, and begins to walk out of the studio.
“Ratings come in this weekend!” a voice yells. “That’s when we party.”
We all turn. Our producer, Ronan, is standing in the middle of the studio. Ronan is all of thirty. He’s dressed in flip-flops, board shorts and a T-shirt that says, SUNS OUT, GUNS OUT! like he just returned from Coachella. Oh, and he’s wearing sunglasses. At night. In a studio that’s gone dim. Ronan is the grandson of the man who owns our network, DSRT. Jack Clark of ClarkStar pretty much owns every network across the US these days. He put his grandson in charge because Ro-Ro’s father bought an NFL franchise, and he’s too obsessed with his new fancy toy to pay attention to his old fancy toy. Before DSRT, Ronan was a surfer living in Hawaii who found it hard to believe there wasn’t an ocean in the middle of the California desert.
He showed up to our very first official news meeting wearing a tank top with an arrow pointing straight up that read, This Dude’s the CEO!
“You can call me Ro-Ro,” he’d announced upon introduction.
“No,” Cliff said. “I can’t.”
Ronan had turned his bleary gaze upon me and said, “Yo. Weather’s, like, not really my thing. You can just, like, look outside and see what’s going on. And it’s, like, on my phone. Just so we’re clear…get it? Like the weather.”
My heart nearly stopped. “People need to know how to plan their days, sir,” I protested. “Weather is a vital part of all our lives. It’s daily news. And, what I study and disseminate can save lives.”
“Ratings party if we’re still number one!” Ronan yells, knocking me from my thoughts.
I look at Eva, and she rolls her eyes. She sidles up next to me and whispers, “You know all the jokes about millennials? He’s the punchline for all of them.”
I stifle a laugh.
We walk each other to the parking lot.
“See you Monday,” I say.
“Are we still wearing our matching Santa hats for the parade next Saturday?”
I laugh and nod. “We’re his best elves,” I say.
“You mean his sexiest news elves,” she says. She winks and waves, and I watch her shiny SUV pull away. I look at my car and get inside with a smile. Palm Springs locals are fixated on their cars. Not the make or the color, but the cleanliness. Since there is so little rain in Palm Springs, locals keep their cars washed and polished constantly. It’s like a competition.
I pull onto Dinah Shore Drive and head toward home.
Palm Springs is dark. There is a light ordinance in the city that limits the number of streetlights. In a city this beautiful, it would be a crime to have tall posts obstructing the view of the mountains or bright light overpowering the brightness of the stars.
I decide to cut through downtown Palm Springs to check out the Friday night action. I drive along Palm Canyon Drive, the main strip in town. The restaurants are packed. People sit outside in shorts—in December!—enjoying a glass of wine. Music blasts from bars. Palm Springs is alive, the town teeming with life even near midnight.
I stop at a red light, and a bachelorette party in sashes and tiaras pulls up next to me peddling a party bike. It’s like a self-propelled trolley with seats and pedals, but you can drink—a lot—on it. I call these party trolleys “Woo-Hoo Bikes” because…
I honk and wave.
The bachelorette party shrieks, holds up their glasses and yells, “WOO-HOO!”
The light changes, and I take off, knowing these ladies will likely find themselves in a load of trouble in about an hour, probably at a tiki bar where the drinks are as deadly as the skulls on the glasses.
I continue north on Palm Canyon—heading past Copley’s Restaurant, which once was Cary Grant’s guesthouse in the 1940s, and a plethora of design and vintage home furnishings stores. I stop at another light and glance over as an absolutely filthy SUV, which looks like it just ended a mud run, pulls up next to me. The front window is caked in gray-white sludge and the doors are encrusted in crud. An older man is hunched over the steering wheel, wearing a winter coat, and I can see the woman seated next to him pointing at the navigation on the dashboard. I know immediately they are not only trying to find their Airbnb on one of the impossible-to-locate side streets in Palm Springs, but also that they are from somewhere wintry, somewhere cold, somewhere the sun doesn’t shine again until May.
Which state? I wonder, as the light changes, and the car pulls ahead of me.
“Bingo!” I yell in my car. “Michigan license plates!”
We all run from Michigan in the winter.
I look back at the road in front of me, and it’s suddenly blurry. A car honks, scaring the wits out of me, and I shake my head clear, wave an apology and head home.
Viola Shipman is the pen name for Wade Rouse, a popular, award-winning memoirist. Rouse chose his grandmother’s name, Viola Shipman, to honor the woman whose heirlooms and family stories inspire his writing. Rouse is the author of The Summer Cottage, as well as The Charm Bracelet and The Hope Chest which have been translated into more than a dozen languages and become international bestsellers. He lives in Saugatuck, Michigan and Palm Springs, California, and has written for People, Coastal Living, Good Housekeeping, and Taste of Home, along with other publications, and is a contributor to All Things Considered.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the HTP Holiday Romance Blog Tour for RODEO CHRISTMAS AT EVERGREEN RANCH (Gold Valley Book #13) by Maisey Yates.
Below you will find a book summary, my book review, an excerpt from the book and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Summary
Gold Valley’s rodeo champion is facing the toughest challenge of his life – a Christmas wedding!
Legendary bull-rider Jake Daniels has only one plan this holiday season – to ignore the pain it always brings. Until his best friend Callie Carson shows up on his ranch with a marriage proposal! Jake has lived so close to the edge it’s a miracle he’s still alive – he knows all about risk. But marrying the woman he craves more than anything feels like the biggest risk of all.
Callie Carson might be rodeo royalty, but to fulfil her dreams of riding saddle bronc, she needs her inheritance. And to access that, she needs a husband. But Jake the husband is deliciously different from Jake the friend, especially after the wild heat of their wedding night! He was only supposed to be her cowboy for Christmas, but Jake’s every heart-stopping touch has Callie questioning how she’ll ever be able to walk away.
RODEO CHRISTMAS AT EVERGREEN RANCH (Gold Valley Book #13) by Maisey Yates is another holiday contemporary western romance addition to the Gold Valley series. I always look forward to the Gold Valley books, but especially the ones set during the holidays.
Champion bull rider, Jake Daniels has returned to his ranch for the holidays leaving the rodeo circuit behind. He risked his life for years to obtain his dream of his own horse ranch and now he just has to make it through the holidays and the painful memories they bring.
Callie Carson is from a rodeo royalty family and has dreamed of riding saddle broncs instead of barrel racing. To fulfill her dream, she needs her inheritance and to get her inheritance before she turns thirty, she needs to be married.
Callie follows her long-time friend, Jake to his home in Gold Valley and proposes. Things begin to change and heat up as Callie’s friend becomes her husband and Jake may be taking the biggest chance of his life.
I always look forward to returning to this series or any romance by Maisey Yates. Jake and Callie are both dealing with difficult emotional baggage. While these two characters eventually come together for their HEA, there is a lot of grief and pain to get through first. Christmas has always played an emotional part in these stories and this one is no exception. I loved Jake and really felt for his painful past and the present feelings he had for Callie, but Callie was a little more difficult to care about because at times I felt she was too centered on herself and her own feelings. The sex scenes are explicit and smokin’ hot, but not gratuitous. While I enjoyed the romance when the H/h were finally emotionally together and I enjoyed the snippets of previous characters in the series, this was not my favorite of the Gold Valley series.
This is a good friends-to-lovers romance set during the holidays and I recommend the entire Gold Valley series.
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Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
JAKE DANIELS HAD grown up knowing that life was short. When he was in high school, he’d lost his parents, and along with them, the sense that anything in this world was guaranteed.
That kind of thing changed a man.
It could make him afraid of his own shadow, worried about taking risks and filled with a sense of self-preservation.
It was either that, or he realized since there were no guarantees, he might as well go all in. Push those chips out to the center of the table and see if the gamble paid off.
He’d done some admittedly dumb stuff as a kid. Not gambling so much as acting out. But the rodeo had changed him. It had saved him.
He’d spent the last eighteen years gambling and doing pretty damn well for himself, it had to be said. Years spent in the rodeo, flinging himself around on the back of enraged bulls, had netted him a decent amount of money, and now that he was more or less ready to get out of the game, those winnings, and the amount of money his parents’ life insurance had left behind, had gotten him a big spread in Gold Valley.
He was going to be a rancher.
Not cattle, like his cousin Ryder. No. He was getting into horses. High-value breeds. Another gamble. It would either pay off, or ruin him.
That was the kind of life he liked. That was the kind of thing that made him feel alive.
And if this was retirement, hell, he was pretty damn into it. Thirty-two years old, and wealthy enough to figure out a way to live his dream. Not bad at all.
Of course, there were things he would miss about the rodeo. The people on the circuit were practically family now. So many years traveling around the same venues, getting busted up together, competing fiercely and going out for a beer after.
But it had been time to leave, and all it had taken was one fierce accident to teach him that.
And Gold Valley was his home, so this had been the place to go to when his time in the rodeo was done.
The day his parents had died, his aunt and uncle had also died, along with the mother of one of his closest friends. That had left a passel of orphaned children, a big old ranch that had once been run by their parents and a whole lot of chaos.
But it had been a good life. Other than all the crushingly sad parts.
His cousin Ryder had taken care of all of them, since he was the only one who’d been eighteen when the tragedy had happened.
He often wondered how they’d made it through without Ryder punching them all in the damn face.
He was sure that Ryder had wanted to from time to time.
Hell. Jake and Colt had been absolute assholes. Neither of them had handled losing their parents well. Well, was there a good way to handle that? He didn’t know. But at seventeen and fifteen, he and his brother had been mad at the world, and kicking against the one person who had been doing his best to help them.
They’d both left home and joined the rodeo, the Western take on running away and joining the circus.
It had taken some years and some maturity for him to fully appreciate what he’d had.
Because what Ryder had given to them had been bound up in his loss, and until he’d been in his midtwenties probably, he hadn’t fully been able to separate those two things and think of home, and his cousin, without a measure of pain and anger.
Even now, when he pulled into Hope Springs Ranch, a strange sensation took hold of him.
Nostalgia, grief and home, all rolled into one.
He’d been contending with it a lot lately, because his—for lack of a better word—retirement was still fairly new, and being in one place and not on the road was unusual for him.
But that was a choice he’d made, and one that was taking a bit of time for him to settle into. It had been just over three months, and it still felt…wrong in some ways.
It was easier to pretend that all your demons were dealt with when you just spent a good portion of the time running from them. Made things simple. At least as simple as they could be.
The problem was his demons had done a decent job of catching up to him on the circuit, and that was when he’d decided it was time to move on.
When Cal had fallen…
How could he live with something happening to his mentee? Cal was his best friend and with his guidance had gotten hurt.
No, that had brought him back to a dark, raw place. One he didn’t want to visit again.
That calm before the storm. That bright ray of sunshine revealed to be the headlights of a Mack truck bearing down on him.
He’d read that poem that said nothing gold could stay.
In his experience, it turned out gold was fleeting. And revealed to be fool’s gold on top of it.
Good never lasted.
And it was rarely real, anyway.
He’d been… Well, he hadn’t been thrilled about Cal wanting to come for Thanksgiving, but he felt responsible for the accident so in the end he hadn’t been able to say no.
He pulled his truck up to the front of the farmhouse, and the door opened, three dogs spilling out the front and down the front steps.
“Back, mutts,” he muttered when he got out of the truck, smiling affectionately at the creatures as he bent down and scratched them behind the ears.
He looked up and saw Sammy standing on the top step of the porch, her baby on her hip. Sammy was married to his cousin Ryder now, but she was another member of their ragtag family. She hadn’t lost her parents, but her situation at home, as he understood it, had been unacceptable, and when she was sixteen she’d come to live with them. She’d never left, and she and Ryder had gotten married a year earlier.
Finally, in his opinion.
The two of them had spent way too long dancing around the truth. Not that he could blame them. Nothing in his life had ever made marriage look particularly appealing. His parents…
His parents had been unhappy, slaves to a ranch and their children, to marriage vows they’d said to each other and had always seemed like they might regret.
For just a moment it had seemed like it might all be fixed. For just a moment it had seemed like they’d be okay.
Then it had all been destroyed.
That bright spot of hope swallowed by reality.
After years of unhappiness, his parents had just died.
Jake couldn’t imagine that kind of life.
“How you doing?” he asked.
Sammy shifted the baby from one hip to the other, the little girl reaching out and grabbing her mom’s blond hair. Sammy laughed and unwrapped the chubby fist from her curls. She looked happier than he’d ever seen her before.
He supposed for some people there was something to be said for this life.
God knew Ryder seemed happier.
But then, it was impossible for Ryder to seem more grim. Jake felt pretty guilty about that with the benefit of age and wisdom.
“Great,” Sammy said. “We’ve been seeing so much of you lately. I feel spoiled.”
“Well, that’s good, because it won’t take long for you to just feel sick of me.”
“Never,” Sammy said, coming down the steps and offering him a hug.
Sammy was like that. Effortless, easy affection with people around her.
He admired it, but he’d never much understood it. There was only one kind of touch he was free with. Sex was simple. And being a champion in the world of rodeo meant there was no shortage of buckle bunnies lining up to see if the rumors were true. His bull rides lasted eight seconds, and a ride in his bed lasted the whole night.
He took a lot of pride in the fact that he had staying power. That he gave a damn for the pleasure of the women who passed through his hotel rooms.
But that was as deep as he got.
“Come on in,” Sammy said. “Logan and Rose are already here. Iris and Griffin are on their way.”
It was strange to him that everybody had paired off now. Everybody except for himself, and his brother, Colt, who would rather take a stick between the eyes than settle down.
Jake was confident that would be his brother’s stance.
His brother was still going out hard in the rodeo. As far as Jake knew he wasn’t even interested in coming back to town and settling down the way Jake was, let alone getting married.
He walked into the living room, and noticed all the little changes.
Since Ryder and Sammy had gotten married, the place, which had actually been basically the same in all the years since their parents had died, had gotten a bit of a facelift.
Sammy had added a whole lot of real grown-up touches to it. Pretty things.
It was weird. Weirder that he cared.
Ryder came through from the kitchen and offered a greeting. “Good to see you.”
“You, too. Hey, Sammy,” Jake said. “Would it be all right if my buddy Cal came for Thanksgiving?”
“Sure,” Sammy said. “The more, the merrier.”
He was glad Sammy was thrilled. He was less thrilled. But there were a spare few things on God’s earth he saw as sacred. His friendship with Cal was one of them.
The accident might have been a catalyst for Jake deciding to leave the rodeo, but it was just damned cowardly to then deny his friend’s request to come visit. Why? Because he felt guilty about the fall?
Hell, yeah, he did.
But that didn’t mean he had to be happy about the visit. Though even just being away and out of the game, knowing he was just out of it now for good… There were things he missed. He was looking forward to having a few beers and talking about old times.
“Good,” Jake said.
Eventually, Iris and her new husband arrived, followed by Pansy and her husband, West, and West’s teenage brother, Emmett. West and Pansy had taken over the raising of the kid, since West’s mother wasn’t hugely into the maternal thing. Putting it mildly.
And while everything with his family was good—it always was—there was an indefinable feeling of…change.
Right. Well, you haven’t been here very much, so you don’t have the right to have an opinion about how things have changed.
That thought galled him a little bit.
And it was true enough. He’d been gone, seen to his own affairs all this time, and something that had given him a small measure of comfort was the fact that he could come home at any time and things would be roughly the way that he left them. But not so much anymore.
There were new people. New plates. The house was fuller than it had ever been, but that made it a little bit unrecognizable, too.
It was a whole damn thing.
He finished eating, and hung out for a while.
Then he bid everybody farewell, got in his truck and started on the road back to his ranch.
Settling in Gold Valley.
There was a time when he’d been sure he’d never do that. And as he drove down the familiar highway he had a strange sense of…dread.
He hated that.
He chased dread. The kind of fear that held other people down, he pursued it. He’d spent years riding bulls because he’d figured why not give fate the biggest middle finger of all.
It was the quiet moments that seemed to bring the fear. The still moments. The golden hour, when the sun lit up the world around him and everything looked new. And there would be a moment. A breath. Where peace rested in his soul.
And right on its heels came the hounds of hell.
The arena had stopped it. The pounding of hooves, the danger.
It was just that it had followed him to the arena now so he’d figured he’d take his chances here.
Maybe that had been a mistake.
Too late now.
He drove through town, trying to get a look at how it might seem if he were an outsider. If he was someone who hadn’t grown up here. The brick facades were the kind of thing tourists lost their shit over. But he lost the ability to see them a long time ago.
For him… For him, Gold Valley had just represented everything he lost.
He’d been running when he’d left.
He’d run for a long time. And he’d achieved a hell of a lot.
But whatever he thought he’d feel when he got here… He didn’t.
And so he was trying to see everything with new eyes, like he was a new man, because he felt just so damned much like the old one. And he wasn’t the biggest fan.
Hope Springs always put him in this kind of mood.
So he shrugged it off and started mentally going over the timeline that he had in place for getting his ranch going. His first five horses were coming at the new year.
It was a new challenge. And it reinvigorated him. That was the problem. The rodeo had gotten stale. He’d won everything twice. You didn’t get better than that. He’d done it twice in a row, and he didn’t want to get to the point where he wasn’t winning anymore.
He’d peaked. Basically.
So now he had to go find somewhere else to do that.
That was something, anyway.
It was one reason he’d backed his cousin Iris when she had decided to open her bakery.
He knew all about needing a change.
Maybe that meant he actually was still running.
None of it mattered now, though.
He hadn’t had enough to drink tonight because he’d needed to get his ass home, but he was going to open some whiskey the minute he got in the door.
The place was out about ten miles from town, a nice flat parcel of property with the mountains behind it. The house itself was a big, white farmhouse with a green metal roof. Different to the rustic place at Hope Springs, but he liked it. The driveway was gravel, long and winding, with tall, dense trees on either side of the road.
But when he came through the trees into the clearing where the house was, there was a surprise waiting for him in front of the house.
An old, beat-up pickup was parked there, and he could see a lone figure leaning up against the hood. He parked the truck and got out, making his way over to the figure.
In the darkness, he couldn’t quite make it out, but he had a feeling he knew who it was. Early and unannounced.
Entirely in keeping with what he knew of his friend.
“Cal?”
And two wide, brown eyes looked up at him from beneath the brim of a white cowboy hat, long, glossy brown hair shifting with the motion. “Jake. I’m really glad to see you. Because… I don’t just need a job. I need a husband.”
Maisey Yates is a New York Times bestselling author of over one hundred romance novels. Whether she’s writing strong, hard working cowboys, dissolute princes or multigenerational family stories, she loves getting lost in fictional worlds. An avid knitter with a dangerous yarn addiction and an aversion to housework, Maisey lives with her husband and three kids in rural Oregon.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Harlequin Winter 2022 Investigator Blog Tour for LITTLE GIRL GONE (Procedural Crime Book #1) by Amanda Stevens.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section and the purchase links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Nothing matters more to her when a child’s life is at stake.
Special agent Thea Lamb returns to her hometown to search for a child whose disappearance echoes a twenty-eight-year-old cold case—her twin sister’s abduction. Working with her former partner, Jake Stillwell, Thea must overcome the pain, doubt and guilt that have tormented her for years and denied her a meaningful relationship. For both Thea and Jake, the job always came first…until now.
Discover more action-packed stories in theA Procedural Crime Story series. All books are stand-alone with uplifting endings but were published in the following order:
Book 1: Little Girl Gone Book 2: John Doe Cold Case
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
LITTLE GIRL GONE (Procedural Crime Book #1) by Amanda Stevens is the first romantic suspense book in the new Procedural Crime series from Harlequin Intrigue.
Cold Case Agent Thea Lamb who specializes in crimes against children and has returned to her hometown where a young girl has been abducted from her childhood home. She is there for answers from her mother who was letting mother and child live with her in the same home were Thea’s twin sister was abducted twenty-eight years ago.
Special Agent Jake Stillwell is called in to lead the FBI CARD (Child Abduction Rapid Deployment) team in search of the missing girl. Jake is determined to find this little girl as the hours pass. Thea is willing to help, but she cannot get involved due to her mother being tied to this case, too.
But Jake and Thea have been involved personally in the past and this case brings them back together to not only try to save a little girl, but maybe let them resolve the misunderstandings that let them walk away from each other in the past.
I enjoyed this romantic suspense and am looking forward to reading more books in this series. The present-day abduction suspense plot is completed in this book, but the cold case is still unsolved and will hopefully be resolved in future books in the series. The suspense plot does move at an uneven pace and at times I was able to put the book down. This may be due to all the information on the cold case and the number of people involved in both plotlines. The second chance romance between Thea and Jake is well written and believable with the dedication to their careers and their troubled backgrounds. There are sex scenes towards the end of the book that are explicit, but not gratuitous. Overall, this is a good start to this series.
I will be looking for more books in this Procedural Crimes series and this author.
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Excerpt
“While I was trying to fish the doll out of the pool, someone came from behind and hit me over the head hard enough to daze me. Next thing I know, I’m caught in a whirlpool several feet below the surface. I lost my flashlight, so I was spun around underwater in complete darkness. No up, no down.” He paused. “For a while there, I wasn’t sure how I’d get out.”
Thea watched his expression as he spoke. He still seemed shaken from the experience. She’d never seen him like that. “I knew something bad must have happened.”
He summoned a brief smile. “I know what you’re thinking. I even thought so myself at the time. So much for my keen instincts. Someone came up behind me and I never sensed a thing.”
“That’s not what I’m thinking.”
“No?”
“I’m thinking you could have died down there and I would never have known what happened to you.”
“Thea.” He said her name so softly she might have thought the tender missive was nothing more than a breeze sighing through the treetops.
The sun bearing down on them was hot and relentless, but Thea felt a little shiver go through her. It hit her anew how much she’d missed that tender glint in his eyes as their gazes locked. How much she’d missed his husky whispers in the dark. The glide of his hand along her bare skin, the tease of his lips and tongue against her mouth. The way he had held her afterward, as if he never wanted to let her go. But he had let her go and she’d done nothing to stop him.
She drew a shaky breath. “Don’t ever do that to me again.”
“Get caught in a whirlpool? I’ll do my best.”
She scowled at him. “Don’t make light. You know what I mean.”
“I’m fine, Thea.” He seemed on the verge of saying something else, but he held back. Maybe he thought she wanted his restraint. She did, didn’t she? They were in a precarious situation. Adrenaline and attraction could be a dangerous combination. Throw in unresolved issues and they were asking for trouble.
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About the Author
Amanda Stevens is an award-winning author of over fifty novels. Born and raised in the rural south, she now resides in Houston, Texas.
Book Description– Rodeo Christmas at Evergreen Ranch (Gold Valley Book #13)
Gold Valley’s rodeo champion is facing the toughest challenge of his life—a Christmas wedding!
Legendary bull rider Jake Daniels has only one plan this Christmas—to ignore the pain the season always brings. Until his best friend, Callie Carson, shows up on his ranch with a marriage proposal. Jake has lived so close to the edge it’s a miracle he’s still alive—he knows all about risk. But marrying the woman he craves more than anything feels like the biggest risk of all.
Callie Carson may be rodeo royalty, but to fulfill her dreams of riding saddle bronc, she needs her inheritance. And to access that, she needs a husband. But Jake the husband is deliciously different from Jake the friend, especially after the wild heat of their wedding night. He was only supposed to be her cowboy for Christmas, but Jake’s every heart-stopping touch has Callie questioning how she’ll ever be able to walk away.
In bonus novella Her First Christmas Cowboy, Tala gets a surprise Christmas delivery—a cowboy on her doorstep!
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Book Description – The True Cowboy of Sunset Ridge (Gold Valley Book #14)
When a bull-riding champion is left holding his friend’s baby, could it be time to put down roots in Gold Valley?
Midwife Mallory Chance is ready for a fresh start in Gold Valley. And when she locks eyes with a handsome cowboy across the saloon, it feels like fate. After too many years wasted on her cheating ex, good girl Mallory is read to cut loose and prioritize herself. But when the dust settles on their hot night together, it turns out that her mysterious one-night cowboy is none other than her new landlord—and someone she’ll be seeing very regularly around Gold Valley.
Bull rider Colt Daniels has a wild reputation, but after losing his friend on the rodeo circuit, he’s left it all behind. If only he could walk away from his guilt as easily…or the temptation of Mallory. He can’t offer her the future she deserves—what does a cowboy with a heart as damaged as his know about forever? Then his friend’s tiny daughter ends up in Colt’s care. Colt has never wanted to rely on anyone, but he needs Mallory’s help taking care of the baby he’s beginning to love as his own. But is it all still temporary, or is it their chance at a forever family?
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Elise’s Thoughts
Rodeo Christmas at Evergreen Ranch, “Gold Valley” book 13, and The True Cowboy of Sunset Ridge “Gold Valley” book 14, by Maisey Yates both have an underlying theme of overcoming grief. In addition, each book has a novella that also touches on grief. There is a range of feelings that are present in each: hope, joy, despair, anger, and understanding. As with all her books, Yates is the master of banter between the characters. Whether making the reader laugh or cry they feel they are a fly on the wall as they listen to the characters’ conversations.
Rodeo Christmas at Evergreen Ranch has best friends, Jake Daniels, and Callie Carson, agreeing to a marriage of convenience. What makes this book fun is that all the Daniels family is front and center. But the plot focuses on the cousin Jake and Callie. She shows up at his ranch with a marriage proposal. To fulfill her dreams of riding a saddle bronc, she needs her inheritance. And to access that, she needs a husband.
After losing his parents, along with the other Daniels’ children, in a plane crash, he refuses to get attached, believing that once he loves someone, he will lose them. So, he decides to just exist and not feel. Callie also has feelings of loss, because she feels she is her parent’s replacement to Sophie, the daughter they lost to an illness before Callie was born.
The True Cowboy of Sunset Ridge features Jake’s brother Colt Daniels. He also has issues with grief and loss; besides his parents he lost a good friend on the rodeo circuit. He agrees to have a one-night stand with Mallory Chance. But the small town epitomizes the saying “it’s a small world,” after he turns out to be her landlord and related by marriage to her brother, Griffin. Mallory became a mid-wife after having a still-born birth and has now decided to move closer to her brother. She wants a fresh start, especially from her live-in boyfriend of fifteen years who is a man-child. Colt and Mallory become close when they decide to work together to tend to a newborn. This baby, his goddaughter, was left with him by the mother who wants a fresh start.
Both books have a solid romance with interesting characters. These books are page-turners as readers take a journey with the characters. Family loss, grieving, and finding love are themes that have great meaning.
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Elise’s Author Interview
Elise Cooper: You explore grief in both books?
Maisey Yates: A lot of my stories have conversations with grief. Funny, but my books that deal with heavy grief tend to win awards. In case, you want to know, I did write these books prior to having a real adult experience with grief, when I lost my mother. One of the books was written while my mom was in hospice. One of the wonderful things about writing is the healing process. I know I can deal with these horrible things that come up after a death and put them in my stories. For me, grief is a good vehicle to push my characters to the edge.
EC: There is a lot about rodeos in Rodeo Christmas at Evergreen Ranch. Do you like them?
MY: Yes! I enjoy going to rodeos. My goal is to get out to the Pendleton Round Up rodeo in Oregon. It is a week-long celebration of western heritage that includes parades, concerts, a night pageant, shops, and of course rodeo events.
EC: How would you describe the hero, Jake Daniels?
MY: Very broken and protective. There was a thread that called my heroes “disasters in Stetsons that are in need of therapy, not a relationship.” I thought no way. These are fictional characters who need love and are afraid of commitments because of something that went on in their life. He is brave, vulnerable, and caring.
EC: How would you describe the heroine, Callie Carson?
MY: Stubborn, determined, sassy, a tough cookie. She is a straight-talker, honest, spirited, and strong. When I was writing her, I thought about one of my favorite books growing up, Caddie Woodlawn, a historical western. Caddie Woodlawn is a real adventurer. She’d rather hunt than sew and plow than bake and tries to beat her brother’s dares every chance she gets. At the end of the book, she is more receptive to those feminine qualities of cooking. At first, I was disappointed, thinking she caved. But when I read it again as a teenager, I understood why she embraced some feminine qualities. I like my heroines to have a journey going from Tomboy to woman. Callie realizes she does not have to give up her interests, nor does she have to reject the idea of femininity to be strong.
EC: Callie saw with the Daniels’ family how she too could be feminine and strong?
MY: You are referring to the book quote, “Sammy, was a flurry of motion, hair, and diaphanous fabrics. Police Chief Pansy was the female counterpart to Ryder, with Rose, the youngest, most stubborn, and outspoken. Iris, the oldest of that sibling group, was maternal, but with a dry, quiet wit that snuck up out of nowhere. They are people who know their own minds but are all different. They show her, she can be different, but also strong.” Callie also noticed that Rose was a lot like her, a spirited tomboy about her own age. Pansy was tough as nails and very spirited. Iris was softer and more traditional. Sammy was an earth mother. Callie found it fascinating to by surrounded by all these different kinds of femininity.
EC: What were the roles of Jake and Callie’s parents in the book?
MY: Jake and his family addressed grief from different angles. Jake lost his parents, while Callie’s parents were still hurting over losing her sister Sophie. Her late sister was a shadow over Callie just as Jake’s parents were a shadow over him. They are not there, but in a sense are there, affecting everything Jake and Callie did.
EC: Please explain the quote, “Take the shrapnel out, heal the wound.”
MY: Jake had issues. He is hanging on to what is infecting the wound. The wound is kept festering because he feeds it so it can never heal. Jake doesn’t want to let go of the pain because he sees it as keeping him safe where he does not have to move on. He does not want to be happy because he fears it can be taken away so the wound will reopen.
EC: The True Cowboy of Sunset Ridge had an ex-boyfriend, Jared, who was mean. I thought you would have him come back to Mallory and have Colt react.
MY: I wrote that scene where Colt punches him in the face. I took it out because I did want the plot to quit being about Jared. He should not have any more space in her life. For me, she told him to F off, so she was done with him. Instead, I wrote a scene about her dealing with a client emergency. This way Mallory was able to grow and address her own issues. I basically bait and switched myself.
EC: How would you describe Colt?
MY: A control freak and alpha male. Artistic. He crafted wood, which is how he expresses himself. He also plays the guitar. My husband and family are all musicians. The scene where Colt picks up the guitar at family gatherings is what our family does. I unintentionally reference and admire my dad and husband. I project them onto my heroes.
EC: How would you describe Mallory?
MY: Smart, a work in progress. She has a strength in work, but not so much in her personal life. She is loyal, persistent, feels she must prove herself, and wants to save people.
EC: What about the relationship?
MY: With Jared, he was more of a habit. She did not love him. It was dysfunctional, one-sided, and created low self-esteem. She grew and matured, while he never did. It fostered the worst parts of each other. They were co-dependent.
EC: What about the relationship with Colt?
MY: He is supportive. He thought they were matched together because of fate. They both helped each other with their own issues. I think at times he is more vulnerable than she was.
EC: How about the sibling relationship between Mallory and Griffin?
MY: They had a good home life, but with different parental experiences. She felt very overshadowed by him. She saw him as exceptional. I think some of it is older child versus younger child. She idolizes her older brother and sees him as better than her. Mallory has a little bit of hero worship and a little bit of jealousy.
EC: What about your next books?
MY: In March 2022 will be the book written with my author friends: Nicole Helm, Jackie Ashenden, and Caitlin Crews. It is titled Sweet Home Cowboy and comes out in March 2022. Four Hathaway sisters had grown up apart, but they agree to move to Jasper Creek, Oregon, to revitalize their grandfather’s farm. It is very humorous.
In May 2022 Unbridle Cowboy, in the “Four Corners Ranch series” has hero Sawyer Garrett becoming a single dad to tiny baby June. He needs to find a woman to be a mother to his infant daughter. He decides to do it how the pioneers did: he puts out an ad for a mail-order bride. Accepting is Evelyn Moore. She can’t believe she’s agreed to uproot her city life to marry a stranger in Oregon. But having escaped one near-disastrous marriage, she’s desperate for change. This series will have some cross-over with the Gold Valley and Copper Ridge series.
In June 2022 Ruby McKee Comes Home will be published. Ruby McKee is found abandoned on a bridge as a newborn baby by the McKee sisters, she’s become the unofficial mascot of Pear Blossom, Oregon, a symbol of hope in the wake of a devastating loss. Ruby is on a quest for the truth about her origins, but it uncovers a devastating secret. It will have a romance, a little bit of mystery, and family.
THANK YOU!!
BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
With a death squad in pursuit… A fugitive needs the help of a wounded warrior.
An elite CIA kill squad has located hacker Zenobia Hanley’s Alaska wilderness hideout. With commandos hot on Zee’s heels, she’s saved from capture by her neighbor John Lowry. Zee has kept her yearning for the SEAL, who has a disability, in check to shield him. But, despite her secrets, John’s determined to protect Zee regardless of the risks. Because there’s more at stake this Christmas than just their lives.
ALASKAN CHRISTMAS ESCAPE (Fugitive Heroes: Topaz Unit Book #2) by Juno Rushdan is the second fast-paced romantic suspense in this series and it is another edge-of-your-seat read. I start these books and I cannot put them down. Even though this book is set during the Christmas holiday season, it could be set in any time of the year.
Zenobia “Zee” Hanley was the tech/hacker wizard for the elite CIA Topaz Unit and has been trying to find information on the mission that went bad and scattered the unit into hiding as she hides in the Alaskan frontier. Even with her amazing skills, she has been detected and a kill squad is on the way. One of Zoe’s darkest secrets is about to show up as the leader of the kill squad.
John Lowry is a medically retired SEAL with shrapnel in his leg and PTSD living in the Alaskan wild when a beautiful and mysterious neighbor moves into the closest cabin in the area. Regardless of Zee’s secrets, when the kill squad arrives, John is determined to protect Zee at all costs.
Will Zee put her trust in John with not only her life, but all her secrets?
I love this book, the H/h and this whole Fugitive Heroes world. Ms. Rushdan knows how to keep me turning the pages and keep me invested in the characters. Zee is an intelligent. kick-butt heroine with a huge secret besides the Topaz Unit secrets. John is the alpha SEAL with physical and mental disabilities that he refuses to let stop him from helping Zee. As Zee tries to protect John by pushing him away, I loved how he brought in the SEAL philosophy of two always being better/stronger than one. When they finally come together it is smokin’ hot. The sex scenes are explicit, but not gratuitous. This is a fast-paced suspense plot with a villain leading the kill squad with a personal interest in taking out Zee which was a surprise, and he is relentless. This is an excellent Harlequin Intrigue series!
I highly recommend this romantic suspense, this series and this author. Ms. Rushdan knows how to write exciting romantic suspense with great characters, and I cannot wait for the next Topaz Unit book!
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About the Author
Juno Rushdan draws from real-life inspiration as a former U.S. Air Force Intelligence Officer to craft sizzling romantic thrillers. However, you won’t find any classified leaks here. Her stories are pure fiction about kick-ass heroes and strong heroines fighting for their lives as well as their happily-ever-after.
Although Juno is a native New Yorker, wanderlust has taken her across the globe. Fortunately, she is blessed with a husband who shares her passion for travel, movies, and fantastic food. She’s visited more than twenty different countries and has lived in England and Germany. Her favorite destination for relaxation is the Amalfi Coast, Italy for its stunning seascape, cliffside lemon groves, terraced vineyards, amazing pasta, and to-die-for vino.
When she’s not writing, Juno loves spending time with her family. Exercise is not her favorite thing to do, but she squeezes some in since chocolate and red wine aren’t calorie-free.
She currently resides in Virginia with her supportive hubby, two dynamic children, and spoiled rescue dogs. Check her out on Instagram, Facebookor follow her on Twitter or BookBub. She loves to connect with readers!
