Category: Romance

Feature Post and Book Review: The Sheriff’s Baby by Dolores Fossen

Book Description

When the mother of his unborn child is threatened, a lawman must match wits with a cunning killer.

A frantic call for backup brings Sheriff Duncan Holder to the home of his pregnant ex, a deputy haunted by her father’s unsolved murder. Now Joelle McCullough is the target of a kidnapping plot that’s only the beginning. When the twisting trail to the truth erupts in violence, Duncan will do whatever it takes to keep Joelle and their unborn baby safe. Even if that means going up against a killer leaving a string of dead bodies who won’t stop until a final revenge is carried out.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/205246628-the-sheriff-s-baby?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=n4oGQmK83X&rank=2

Discover more action-packed stories in the Saddle Ridge Justice series. All books are stand-alone with uplifting endings but were published in the following order:

Book 1: The Sheriff’s Baby
Book 2: Protecting the Newborn
Book 3: Tracking Down the Lawman’s Son
Book 4: Child in Jeopardy

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

THE SHERIFF’S BABY (Saddle Ridge Justice Book #1) by Dolores Fossen is a gripping, edge-of-your-seat first book in a Harlequin Intrigue series featuring a law enforcement family in Texas. While each book stands alone with its own romantic suspense plot, there is an overarching mystery involving the murder of the McCullough sibling’s father and the disappearance of their mother, so I will read the series in the order published.

Sheriff Duncan Holder receives a frantic call for backup in the middle of the night for assistance for Deputy Joelle McCullough, who is on leave due to her pregnancy. Five months ago, Joelle’s father was murdered while Duncan and Joelle were together and she has avoided him since out of guilt even though she became pregnant that evening, also. Joelle is the target of a kidnapping plot. With suspects tied to the illegal sale of babies and possible ties to her father’s murder, Duncan and Joelle are continually in danger coming at them from all sides. Will Duncan be able to protect Joelle and discover who is trying to take her and their baby away?

This is a very fast-paced plot with twists happening at every turn of the page. Ms. Fossen does a great job of keeping all the suspects in play and keeping me guessing right up to the climax. Joelle and Duncan are fighting their attraction, but the danger has a way of clearing up any reservations or guilt and the chemistry takes over. There is one steaming sex scene in the shower, but it is later in the book and felt natural in the progression of their romantic reconnection. The mystery involving Joelle’s murdered father and missing mother is unresolved, but the main romantic suspense plot for this book is resolved. Joelle has two older brothers and a younger sister, so I am assured of more exciting books in this series.

I highly recommend this exciting romantic suspense/police procedural/mystery mash-up and I am looking forward to reading more in the series.

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About the Author

Former Air Force Captain Delores Fossen is a New York Times, USA Today, Amazon and Publisher’s Weekly bestselling author whose books have sold over nine million copies worldwide. She’s received the Booksellers Best Award for Best Romantic Suspense and the Romantic Times Reviewers Choice Award. In addition, she’s had nearly a hundred short stories and articles published in national magazines.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.deloresfossen.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorDeloresFossen/timeline/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deloresfossen/?hl=en

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/delores-fossen

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Secrets of Floxglove Cottage by Rebecca Alexander

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for SECRETS OF FOXGLOVE COTTAGE by Rebecca Alexander on this Bookouture Books-On-Tour blog post.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

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Book Description

From her open window at Foxglove Cottage, she looks out at the garden full of wildflowers drenched in golden sunlight. Her fingers tremble as she turns the fragile page of the old diary and discovers a secret that will change her life forever…

When Zosia arrives at Foxglove Cottage holding her small son’s hand in hers, she is desperate for a new beginning. Her new job is to help seventy-year-old Hazel transform her tumbledown cottage and re-open the enchanting old café, steeped in folklore. Hazel is warm and welcoming, but Zosia can never share the truth about why she has left her own home.

When neighborly Leon, a bear of a man with deep brown eyes, arrives to help them restore the cafe, Zosia can’t help falling for his rugged charm. But her heart has been shattered before, so she distracts herself by translating an old diary that’s been in Hazel’s family for generations. She discovers an extraordinary love story hidden in the yellowing pages. It pulls her back into World War Two, as if the past is whispering through the garden’s tangled vines and the granite cottage walls. Could the old wartime romance help broken-hearted Zosia believe in soulmates again?

Zosia longs to open up to Hazel and Leon but if her past catches up with her it could ruin everything. When she uncovers the diary’s long buried secret, will it help her let go of her own past? Or, when she receives a letter that threatens everything she holds dear, will she be forced to leave Foxglove Cottage for good?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/221514913-secrets-of-foxglove-cottage?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=rpC7aimiZk&rank=1

Buy Now: https://geni.us/B0DGHW81B4social

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

SECRETS OF FOXGLOVE COTTAGE by Rebecca Alexander is a beautifully written, emotional roller coaster ride dual timeline women’s fiction/historical fiction read. Both timelines, present day and WWII, are set in England with each having their own dangers, losses, triumphs, and loves that pulled me in and kept me turning the pages.

Foxglove Cottage has been Hazel Wojcik’s family home her entire life. Now, seventy and after hip surgery she is looking for help to restore her home and reopen the café portion of Foxglove Cottage. Zosia Armitage is a Polish immigrant fleeing an abusive marriage with her six-year-old son, Krys. Hazel hires Zosia not only to help with Foxglove Cottage, but to translate the papers left by her Polish born father. As Zosia begins to trust again, danger comes from and unknown source.

At the start of WWII, Casimir Wojcik, a Polish pilot, makes his way across Eastern Europe to escape the Nazi’s. He is able to fly a plane to the Moors of England where he crashes and is pulled from his burning plane by Rosie, Hazel’s mother. Their love grows as Casimir joins the English pilots facing peril everyday over England and Rosie faces her own danger working in an explosives plant. With pilots and planes lost every day and horrible accidents occurring in the munitions factories full of female workers, Casimir and Rosie cling to each other and pray to get through the war.

I am so glad I gave this new-to-me author a try. Both timelines evoke so many emotions and the author’s writing was able to put me right in the middle of the danger and action, which comes from different perils in each timeline. Each timeline has a suspense sub-plot and heartwarming love stories that kept me rivetted from start to finish. All the characters are believable, fully developed, and left me feeling fully invested in their lives. The historical timeline is especially descriptive with interesting facts and dangers.

I highly recommend this wonderful women’s fiction/historical fiction book and will be looking for more books from this author.

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About the Author

Social Media Links

Website: http://www.rebecca-alexander.co.uk/

Twitter: www.twitter.com/rebalexander1

Email sign up: https://www.bookouture.com/rebecca-alexander/

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: The Little Island Flower Stall by Tilly Tennant

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for THE LITTLE ISLAND FLOWER STALL by Tilly Tennant on this Bookouture Books-On-Tour blog post.

Below you will find a book description, my book review, an about the author section, and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!

Book Description

When Bella’s heart is broken by her cheating husband, she packs a bag and escapes to the little island of Jersey, to help her beloved great-aunt Celestine run her seaside flower stall.

With the sun on her cheeks, watching white-haired Celestine in her elegant patterned trouser suit beam at customers and arrange flowers in vases, Bella realizes that life is too short to feel sad. And when handsome, brooding Rory arrives at the rose-covered flower stall, and their eyes meet, she feels a sudden spark…

Inspired by Celestine’s lust for life, Bella agrees to get to know Rory better. As the two of them walk together under vast blue skies, Rory tells her of the family secret that has brought him to the island.

Bella wonders if Celestine might be able to help Rory with his quest, but Celestine warns her to be careful. Bella knows she should listen to her wise aunt, but she can’t fight her feelings. Yet when she tries to track Rory down days later, she is shocked to discover the secrets he has been keeping.

Is her hope of an island romance with a mysterious, handsome man simply too good to be true? Or can this beautiful place still bring her the bright new beginning that she so desperately needs?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220705597-the-little-island-flower-stall?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=zX14gHFSx0&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

THE LITTLE ISLAND FLOWER STALL by Tilly Tennant is a heartfelt women’s fiction story of healing and moving on from your past to discover what the future may hold for you. Set on the Island of Jersey with beautiful beaches and coastal cliffs, but also a tragic history of occupation during WWII. This story has an emotional journey from divorce to a friendship that becomes a slow burn romance, personal growth and discovery, familial reconnection, and an island historical mystery not revealed since WWII.

Bella discovers her husband has cheated again and she is done with their marriage. She takes off to the Island of Jersey to help her great-aunt, Celestine, who has taken a fall, with her beach front promenade flower stall. She is excited to try something new and to reconnect with Celestine who she has not seen since childhood vacations on the island.

While working at the flower stall, Bella has a run in with a handsome customer who is only visiting the island like herself. Bella is weary of any romantic entanglement and lets Rory know her circumstances, but Bella is also intrigued by Rory’s reason for being on the island and wishes to help. Rory is trying to discover information about his ancestry on the island which seems to be wrapped up in a mystery that occurred during the Nazi occupation of the island. As she helps Rory, she discovers Celestine may know more than she is willing to share.

This is a women’s fiction story with a little bit of everything that all comes together into an enjoyable read. Bella’s betrayal leads to a reconnection with family and a place she loved as a child, a hint of a second chance at romance that is all intertwined with a WWII mystery. I did find the pace a little slow when Bella first comes to the island, but as more of the island is explored, her relationship with Celestine grows, and more of the mystery elements were included, it pulled me deeper into the story.

Overall, a cozy women’s fiction that left me satisfied with Bella’s journey.

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About the Author

Tilly Tennant was born in Dorset, the oldest of four children, but now lives in Staffordshire with a family of her own. After years of dismal and disastrous jobs, including paper plate stacking, shop assistant, newspaper promotions and waitressing (she never could carry a bowl of soup without spilling a bit), she decided to indulge her passion for the written word by embarking on a degree in English and creative writing. She wrote a novel in 2007 during her first summer break at university and hasn’t stopped writing since. She also works as a freelance fiction editor and part-time lecturer.

Hopelessly Devoted to Holden Finn was her debut novel; published in 2014 it was an Amazon bestseller in both the UK and Australia. In 2016 she signed to the hugely successful Bookouture and is currently working on her fifteenth Tilly Tennant novel. Christmas bestseller A Very Vintage Christmas has just been made into a movie for Lifetime Channel.

Social Media Links

Website: https://tillytennant.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TillyTennant

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Little-Island-Flower-Stall-beautiful-ebook/dp/B0DKNZTLVR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=206QDSSRG9VNF&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.kgi3qHxRaaNA3Zi-oEwTqZb2VS

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Arctic Pursuit by Anna J. Stewart

Book Description

FBI special agent Ty Savakis keeps his promises. That’s why he’s asked Wren McKenna to join him in an isolated Alaskan town: he wants her help safeguarding a witness he swore to protect. To find the assailant who tried to kill her, Ty and Wren go undercover as a married couple. These partners have always been a perfect team, but sharing an apartment makes it impossible to resist the attraction they’ve both fought to deny. Will the violent criminal they’re tracking give them a chance to imagine a future together?

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Elise’s Thoughts

Arctic Pursuit by Anna J. Stewart is a suspenseful story. The plot has FBI Agent Ty Savakis deciding to go ‘off the books’ to help a witness, Alice, he worked with years ago.  She is targeted by those she will be testifying against and is now in a coma. He asks his FBI partner Wren McKenna for her help.  Not hesitating at all, she goes to Alaska to help safeguard the witness and find those responsible for trying to kill Alice. They go undercover as a married couple and decide to share an apartment.  Besides searching for the violent criminal, they now give into their desires of attraction.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Is this a new series?

Anna J. Stewart: This is a new series called the McKenna Code.  This is the first book of four.  Aiden was in the last Honor Bound Series. He will pop up in all the books.  There will be a lot of quirky characters.

EC: Why Alaska?

AJS:  I watched a news show story on Whittier Alaska, which has a self-contained building with all the businesses in one building along with all the residences. I based the town in my story on this town. It is a small, enclosed town that lends itself to a mystery. No one will be able to disappear in a small town like this. One of my best friends lived in Alaska for several years and her parents visited there a few times. I was able to get insight in how the town operates. I also have been to Alaska.  I was able to draw upon the town, the people, and the lifestyle.  Alaska has a particular feel that I hoped I captured.

EC: How would you describe Wren, the female hero?

AJS:  She is confident, has a slight temper, tenacious, tough, cautious, defiant, and determined.  All the McKenna’s have a family code, an unwavering loyalty.

EC: How would you describe Ty, the male hero?

AJS: He can be stubborn, patient, and composed.  He is struggling with being out of control.  He is doubting himself and questions himself because the woman he asked to testify is in a coma. Ty has a lot of ghosts that haunt him. He is wondering if he will leave the FBI, trying to rediscover himself and figuring where he wants to go from here.

EC:  What about the relationship between the two?

AJS: Wren is a good foil for him because she will slap him out of his guilt feelings. This is based on trust, he things she is amazing, and both follow each other everywhere.  They are best friends to lovers. There is already an established relationship, the core of their relationship.

EC: What role does their being partners play?

AJS:  Neither was willing to act on their attraction because they were partners and were involved with others. Now they are willing to talk openly about things. Being partners is the main conflict between them. I did do research, and FBI Agents can be married to each other.  They will pop up in the fourth book. They might each work in a different section of the FBI.

EC: What was the role of Alice, the witness willing to testify?

AJS: Ty had anger, frustration, and blames himself for Alice getting hurt. He feels responsible for keeping her safe.  There is a loyalty aspect.  He questions his choices.  Wren acts as a check and balance for him.

EC: What about the role of the McKenna family?

AJS: They are tight-knit, supportive, loving, and welcoming. I pitched it to my editor as “FBI” meets “Blue Bloods” because I am a big fan of CBS law enforcement drama. Instead of a weekly dinner I made it a monthly family dinner, set in Boston. Family is everything to them.

EC: Next books:

AJS: The second book in this series will be out in December 2025. There will be two other Harlequin Heartwarming books that take place in Hawaii coming out this year as well. I am currently writing book 3 in the “Circle of the Red Lily series” hopefully coming out in early June. It will feature a forensic specialist who never leaves her apartment.

THANK YOU!!

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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.

Feature Post and Book Review: Shattering Dawn by Jayne Ann Krentz

Book Description

Amelia Rivers, a member of the Lost Night Files podcast team, hires private investigator Gideon Sweetwater to catch the stalker who has been watching her. Amelia suspects the stalker may be connected to the shadowy organization responsible for the night that she and her two friends lost to amnesia—a night that upended their lives and left them with paranormal talents.

Gideon suspects that Amelia is either paranoid or an outright con artist, but he can’t resist the chemistry between them. He takes the case despite his skepticism. For her part, Amelia has second thoughts about the wisdom of employing the mysterious Mr. Sweetwater. She is wary of the powerful attraction between them, and deeply uneasy about the nightmarish paintings on the walls of his home. She senses they were inspired by his own dreamscapes.

Amelia knows she doesn’t have time to find another investigator, and Gideon is forced to reckon with the truth when he disrupts what was intended to be Amelia’s kidnapping. Now the pair is on the run, with no choice but to return to the haunting ruins of the old hotel where Amelia’s lost night occurred. They are desperate to stop a killer and the people who are conducting illegal experiments with a dangerous drug that is designed to enhance psychic abilities. If they are to survive, they will have to trust each other and the passion that bonds them.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211025506-shattering-dawn?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=LFjcghXyhG&rank=1

The Lost Night Files Trilogy

  1. Sleep No More
  2. The Night Island
  3. Shattering Dawn

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

SHATTERING DAWN (The Lost Night Files Book #3) by Jayne Ann Krentz is the final paranormal romantic suspense book in The Lost Night Files trilogy. In this story, the third member of the Lost Night Files podcast members meets her HEA match, and all the dangling plotlines of the trilogy are resolved. While this can be read as a standalone romance, I feel it is much more enjoyable reading the trilogy in order.

Amelia Rivers wonders if she is going mad as her enhanced paranormal powers increase and are not under control. She has difficulty sleeping and has become terrified of the dark since her lost night with her two friends at Lucent Springs. She believes she is being stalked, and it may be tied to her lost night. She hires Private Investigator Gideon Sweetwater. Amelia is not sure if Gideon is right for the job, and Gideon has his own reservations, but he is intrigued. While both need to learn to trust the other, they are also wary of the chemistry between them.

Gideon Sweetwater feels an attraction to Amelia, but is skeptical of her story, until he disrupts a kidnapping at her apartment building. Amelia takes Gideon back to Lucent Springs, outside of San Diego to look for more clues and information, but there are people who will stop at nothing to get their hands on Amelia. What they did not count on was Gideon and his Sweetwater heritage.

Amelia and Gideon are so much fun as the H/h in this book of the trilogy. Amelia does not let the Gideon get away with his alpha tendencies as they learn to trust each other and their paranormal talents. I also enjoyed that Gideon was a Sweetwater and how he was a link between many of the other “Jayneverse” series and trilogies. The romance plot is fast paced with danger at their heels and both their physical and paranormal chemistry is explosive. The story’s suspense plotline is palpable throughout with many twists and surprises. All the intertwining subplots over the entire trilogy are tied together in this book and come together in a satisfying conclusion.

I highly recommend this entertaining and fast paced finale to The Lost Night Files trilogy!

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About the Author

Jayne Ann Krentz is the author of more than fifty New York Times bestsellers. She has written contemporary romantic suspense novels under that name and futuristic and historical romance novels under the pseudonyms Jayne Castle and Amanda Quick, respectively. Jayne currently lives in Seattle, WA.

Social Media Links

Website: https://jayneannkrentz.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JayneAnnKrentz

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayneannkrentzauthor/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/shattering-dawn-by-jayne-ann-krentz

Feature Post and Book Review: Remember When by Mary Balogh

Book Description

The Dowager Countess of Stratton, Clarissa Ware, née Greenfield, has just presented her younger daughter to the ton, and the rest of her life belongs only to herself. She returns to Ravenswood, intending to spend the summer alone there. But the summer has other plans for her.

Born a gentleman, Matthew Taylor has chosen to spend his life as the village carpenter. Growing up, he and Clarissa were close—dangerously so, considering his family’s modest fortune. As a young man, he never would have been a suitable match for the daughter of the wealthy Greenfields. Clarissa married Caleb Ware, the Earl of Stratton, so Matthew married another, though he was widowed soon after.

Now everything is different—Clarissa has already lived the life expected of her by society. And Matthew is as attractive and intriguing as he was when they were young. As their summer friendship deepens into romance, they stand together on the precipice of change—essentially the same man and woman they remember being back then, but with renewed passion and the potential to take their lives in an entirely new direction.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211025422-remember-when?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=lCLNOLNpm5&rank=1

Ravenswood Novels

  1. Remember Love
  2. Remember Me
  3. Always Remember
  4. Remember When

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My Book Review

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

REMEMBER WHEN: Clarissa’s Story (A Ravenswood Novel Book #4) by Mary Balogh is a historical, mature, second chance at love story in this continuing Regency romance series featuring the Ware family. This novel is easily read as a standalone romance, but I have enjoyed reading the series in order.

Clarissa Ware, the Dowager Countess of Stratton, returns to Ravenswood for the summer for the first time without any of her children or other obligations. She is turning fifty and feels adrift in her personal life. Six years a widow, all her children grown, and her daughter-in-law assuming all the duties of being the Countess of Stratton, she wishes for solitude to decide on her future, but fate intercedes.

Matthew Taylor was born a gentleman and second son of landowners but is spending his life as the village carpenter and master woodworker. As a young man, he was a neighbor of Clarissa’s family and they were the closest of friends from childhood to seventeen years of age, but he knew he would never be suitable for her, and she accepted the proposal of the Earl of Stratton.

When Clarissa seeks out her old friend, they discover the attraction is still there. Clarissa has always upheld all expectations from society and her family. Can their renewed friendship and mature attraction overcome society’s restraints and family concerns and turn into something more?

I always look forward to returning to the Ware family of Ravenswood. This mature romance did not disappoint, and I was very happy that Clarissa finally found herself, not just what was expected of her. This is a slow burn romance due to the time period, society’s rules, and the side plot which has Matthew having to resolve his own old family issues to move on. That said, there is also a bit too much repetition especially in the beginning of the story, but I feel the romance and HEA are satisfying overall. I am looking forward to reading more of the remaining unattached siblings’ stories in the future.

An enjoyable historical, mature, second chance romance addition to this series.

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About the Author

Mary Balogh grew up in Wales and now lives with her husband, Robert, in Saskatchewan, Canada. She has written more than one hundred historical novels and novellas, more than forty of which have been New York Times bestsellers. They include the Bedwyn saga, the Simply quartet, the Huxtable quintet, the seven-part Survivors’ Club series, and the Westcott series.

Social Media Links

Website: https://marybalogh.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMaryBalogh/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/mary-balogh