Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for Harlequin Romantic Suspense UNDERCOVER K-9 COWBOY by Addison Fox. (My apologies to Harlequin for not quite making the timeline for the Investigators Winter 2022 Blog Tour.)
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
A by-the-book Fed…gone rogue for justice
To stop the drug epidemic ravaging Midnight Pass, FBI agent Ryder Durant reluctantly takes matters into his own hands. Poised to set a trap at Reynolds Station, he has to contend with Arden Reynolds—who prefers Ryder’s K-9 to the Fed protecting her family. As Ryder and Arden spar, embers spring into flame. And those flames are as dangerous as the crime ring lurking too close to home…
Feel the excitement in these uplifting romances, part of the Midnight Pass, Texas series:
Book 1: The Cowboy’s Deadly Mission Book 2: Special Ops Cowboy Book 3: Under the Rancher’s Protection
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
UNDERCOVER K-9 COWBOY (Midnight Pass, Texas Book #4) by Addison Fox is the final romantic suspense in the Midnight Pass, Texas books and it was a good conclusion to the series. The youngest Reynolds family member meets the FBI agent and his K-9 companion who may finally be able to break down her wall of emotional self-protection while also ridding the Reynolds ranch of the cartel drug runners using their land.
FBI agent Ryder Durant and his canine companion have been working with the police force in Midnight Pass to stop the cartel’s from using the large tracts of land on the major ranches for drug running. To stop the drug epidemic, he wants to set a trap on Reynolds Station. He learns he must first get the cooperation of Arden Reynolds, who is not impressed with the agent, but he is very impressed with her.
Arden Reynolds has watched her three brothers find true love and now a handsome FBI agent wants to put them in danger with an operation on their land. She trusts the agent’s canine companion more than the agent or any other handsome, cocky man having been hurt in the past, but she wants the ranch to be safe for future Reynold generations.
As the sparks fly the danger is closer than they know.
I enjoyed this conclusion to the series. The romance is a little heavier than the suspense in this story, but I still felt the suspense portion of the plot was tied up nicely. Arden is a very strong female character, and the author does a good job of making her past grief believable and a reasonable excuse for her not moving on. Ryder is her perfect foil as he continually tries to get Arden to open up and let him in. He does not give up. I loved Murphy, Ryder’s K-9 companion and always enjoy a dog addition to a story. Even though this is the fourth and final book in the series, it can be read as a standalone.
An enjoyable romantic suspense read and final book in the Midnight Pass series.
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Excerpt
“You want answers?”
“I do.” Arden said.
“Then I want a few of my own first.”
Although she didn’t say anything, anticipation lit her blue eyes. It surprised him how that struck somewhere low in his gut. Like he was enjoying getting a reaction—any reaction—from her.
“You don’t like me very much, and I’d like to know why.”
That small light winked out, fading away as if it had never been. “I have nothing against you.”
“I’d say you do. You have since the first time we met.” Ryder tilted his head toward the wide-open window beside them. “Right out there on Main Street.”
He remembered the moment well. It had been a pretty fall day and he’d tied Murphy up outside the coffee shop to bask in the sun for a few minutes while he ran in to snag a quick cup. The night before, he’d run his first op since coming to Midnight Pass and was pretty much subsisting on fumes. He’d come back out to find Arden, expectantly waiting for him, full of barely veiled insult and clear irritation that he’d left his dog outside.
“I wasn’t aware that Murphy was a working dog that day. I may have been a bit terse.”
“And the other night? At your place?”
“I—” She stopped, clearly considering her words. He was surprised to find that he had the patience to wait for whatever it was she had to say. “I don’t appreciate cocky arrogance.”
“You live on a ranch full of testosterone-fueled cowboys. And in a town full of the same. Surely you come up against a bit of cocky banter now and again?”
“That’s an excuse for it?”
“It’s a fact. I’d have thought you’d be used to it by now.”
“It doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Her tone was prim and her already strong, fit posture stiffened a few more degrees north.
Ryder was good at his job because he knew how to read people. It was also what made him a good K-9 handler. He paid attention and he read situations before reacting. And every instinct he possessed read this one as arising from something that had specifically happened to her.
With someone who had hurt her.
Someone, Ryder suspected, who had been cocky and arrogant and likely unkind to her.
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Aboutthe Author
Addison Fox is a lifelong romance reader, addicted to happy-ever-afters. She loves writing about romance as much as reading it. Addison lives in New York with an apartment full of books, a laptop that’s rarely out of sight and a wily beagle who keeps her running.
As the Nazis march toward Paris in 1940, American ballerina Lucie Girard buys her favorite English-language bookstore to allow the Jewish owners to escape. Lucie struggles to run Green Leaf Books due to oppressive German laws and harsh conditions, but she finds a way to aid the resistance by passing secret messages between the pages of her books.
Widower Paul Aubrey wants nothing more than to return to the States with his little girl, but the US Army convinces him to keep his factory running and obtain military information from his German customers. As the war rages on, Paul offers his own resistance by sabotaging his product and hiding British airmen in his factory. After they meet in the bookstore, Paul and Lucie are drawn to each other, but she rejects him when she discovers he sells to the Germans. And for Paul to win her trust would mean betraying his mission.
Master of WWII-era fiction Sarah Sundin invites you onto the streets of occupied Paris to discover whether love or duty will prevail.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Until Leaves Fall in Paris by Sarah Sundin shows why she is the master of writing World War II fiction. This story is filled with intrigue, danger, and romance when two American expatriates living in Paris navigate the “normal” of German occupation in 1940, while secretly working for the resistance.
Lucie Girard has been living in Paris since she was ten years old. She quits her job as a ballerina for the Paris Opera Ballet School to buy her favorite English language bookstore from her good friends to allow the Jewish owners to have money to escape Nazi controlled France. She decides to use the bookstore to help the resistance by having them hide messages in books she delivers to other resistance members.
Widower Paul Aubrey is being shunned by the Americans living in Paris including Lucie. Even though Lucie is attracted to him she rejects him when she discovers he sells to the Germans. Paul is an engineer and owns an automotive factory in France. He is only cooperating with the Nazis because the American military asked him to be a spy. Paul offers his own resistance by sabotaging his product and hiding British airmen in his factory.
This is an excellent historical novel. Sundin has engaging characters and realistically shows what it would be like for Americans living in Nazi occupied France during the neutrality period of 1940.
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Elise’s Author Interview
Sarah Sundin: There are three books in this series dealing with Nazi Germany. I decided to write a story with Americans who remained in France during the occupation. Through my research I found there were 1000s of Americans who remained in France between the Nazi invasion of 1940 and before December 1941, when America was still neutral. At that time American citizens there were free to come and go. Some stayed because of having their roots in France, others enjoyed the French culture, and businessmen who stayed for making money. I wanted to explore these reasons.
Elise Cooper: Why the ballet?
SS: I did it growing up for ten years. Paris is the home of ballet. The ballet is in the main character’s heart.
EC: How would you describe Lucie?
SS: Her character was inspired by Sylvia Beach, a single woman, who ran the bookstore “Shakespeare and Company.” It was an English language bookstore in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s up until December 1941. Many of the bohemian expatriate’s literary community hung out there including Hemmingway. She also published James Joyce’s Ulysses. I gave Lucy a reason to stay, sacrificing her savings to buy a bookstore from her Jewish friends so they can escape. She is dreamy, artistic, and poetic with her feet on the ground. She can read people. Since she only went through 8th grade, she did not feel smart because of being a daydreamer and not good with numbers.
EC: How would you describe Paul?
SS: He was easy to write because he is very much like my husband and son. Very left-brain with numbers as their friends. Paul is good with people in a managerial way and knows what makes them tick. He has no appreciation for the arts. Typical of people who are like Paul, an engineer. He is also an extrovert, social, and likes to be around people.
EC: What about the relationship between Paul and Lucie?
SS: Her intuition told her one thing, while her eyes and ears told her something else. She cannot make heads or tails about Paul. They do have similar personalities. They are kind, honorable, courageous, and determined. They challenge each other. Both came into the relationship guarded and judgmental.
EC: What role did Josie play?
SS: She is Paul’s four-year-old daughter. She is very creative and spirited. She challenges Paul and grows very fond of Lucie who appreciates her stories. She thinks Lucie is wonderful and is enamored by her. Josie bonds with Lucie. Paul originally tried to stifle her thoughts but comes around to understanding her through Lucie who brought both together.
EC: Treatment by the Nazis?
SS: Early in the war, France was different, than by the end of the war. The Germans wanted to pacify the French, so they delayed being brutal. But everything changed in 1942 where the Nazis took away Jewish businesses. They censored civil liberties. They took over houses. German repression was light early on to make sure there was little resistance. At first, they only did some things like the “Otto Rule,” a ban on books, and burning of books. But by the end of 1941 their horrific behavior spiraled. French police helped with the roundups.
EC: What was the role of the bookstore?
SS: I thought about how the resistance found interesting ways to pass messages. I thought that they could do it through the pages of the books. It was like choreographing the resistance code. Lucie would greet resistance members like any other customer. The store would be a letter box. Books brought in were placed behind the desk. The code question to be asked is, “did you read the author?”
EC: Next book?
SS: No title yet. It is set in Denmark in 1943. The hero is a Nobleman and takes on the persona of a shipyard worker. He meets a nuclear physicist, a brilliant woman. They both work for the resistance and strike up an unlikely friendship. It delves into the rescue of the Danish Jews. Because of the resistance over 7,000 Jews were taken safely to Sweden. The whole Danish population united to save their fellow citizens from the Holocaust. It will be out this time next year.
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.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for A LULLABY FOR WITCHES by Hester Fox on the HTP Winter 2022 Historical Fiction Blog Tour.
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
Augusta Podos has just landed her dream job, working in collections at a local museum, Harlowe House, located in the charming seaside town of Tynemouth, Massachussetts. Determined to tell the stories of the local community, she throws herself into her work–and finds an oblique mention of a mysterious woman, Margaret, who may have been part of the Harlowe family, but is reduced to a footnote. Fascinated by this strange omission, Augusta becomes obsessed with discovering who Margaret was, what happened to her, and why her family scrubbed her from historical records. But as she does, strange incidents begin plaguing Harlowe House and Augusta herself. Are they connected with Margaret, and what do they mean?
Tynemouth, 1872. Margaret Harlowe is the beautiful daughter of a wealthy shipping family, and she should have many prospects–but her fascination with herbs and spellwork has made her a pariah, with whispers of “witch” dogging her steps. Increasingly drawn to the darker, forbidden practices of her craft, Margaret finds herself caught up with a local man, Jack Pryce, and the temptation of these darker ways threatens to pull her under completely.
As the incidents in the present day escalate, Augusta finds herself drawn more and more deeply into Margaret’s world, and a shocking revelation sheds further light on Margaret and Augusta’s shared past. And as Margaret’s sinister purpose becomes clear, Augusta must uncover the secret of Margaret’s fate–before the woman who calls to her across the centuries claims Augusta’s own life.
A LULLABY FOR WITCHES by Hester Fox is an atmospheric gothic novel with romance and supernatural elements.
Augusta Podos has landed her dream job in a historic home turned museum, the Harlow House in Tynemouth, MA. The home was owned by a wealthy New England family for centuries. As Augusta researches the family, she is drawn to a mystery. A daughter of the Harlowe family from over a century ago has almost been completely expunged from the family history.
Margaret Harlowe is always drawn to the wilderness of the forest and coast by her family’s home. The women in town come to her for potions and aid in the dark, but never by day. The people whisper “witch”. When Margaret learns some buried truths, her power takes a darker turn.
As Augusta digs deeper, can she resist the power that Margaret unfurls between the two across the lines of blood and time to save and keep her own life?
This story pulled me in with both women and both timelines. The author is great at setting a sinister atmosphere with plenty of twists and surprises. The two intertwining timelines with alternating perspectives come together at the climax with a twist that is foreshadowed and though easily resolved, it was still entertaining. Augusta and Margaret are great characters, but there are trigger issues with an eating disorder and abuse. I would have liked a little more from the secondary characters, who for me, seemed two dimensional. I did enjoy all the family research and felt the historical information was very accurate.
Overall, an entertaining atmospheric gothic read.
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Excerpt
Prologue
Margaret
I was beautiful in the summer of 1876. The rocky Tynemouth coast was an easy place to be beautiful, though, with a fresh salt breeze that brought roses to my cheeks and sun that warmed my long hair, shooting the chestnut brown through with rich veins of copper. It was enough to make me forget—or at least, not care—that I was an outsider, a curiosity who left whispers in my wake when I walked through the muddy streets of our coastal town.
Do I miss being beautiful? Of course. But it’s the being found beautiful by others that I miss the most. It was the ambrosia that made an otherwise solitary life bearable. And it was being found beautiful by one man in particular, Jack Pryce, that I miss the most.
He would come to find me out behind my family’s house as I helped our maid hang the laundry on the lines or weeded my rocky garden. He always brought me a little gift, whether it was a toffee wrapped in wax paper from his parents’ shop, or just a little green flower he had plucked because it reminded him of my eyes. Something that told me I was special, that those stories around town of him stepping out with the Clerkenwell girl weren’t true.
“There she is,” he would say, coming up with his hands in his pockets and crooked grin on his full lips. “My lovely wildflower.” He called me this, he said, on account of my insistence on going without shoes on warm days when the grass was soft and lush. Whatever little chore I was doing would soon be forgotten as I led him out of sight of the house. With my back against a tree and his hands traveling under and up my skirts, we found euphoria in a panting tangle of limbs and hoarsely whispered promises. Heavy sea mists mingling with sweat in hair (his), the taste of berry-sweet lips (mine), the gut-deep knowing that he must love me. He must. He must. He must.
But like all things, summer came to an end, and autumn swept in with her cruel winds and killing frosts. Jack came less and less often, claiming first that it was work at the shop, then that he could no longer be seen with the girl who was rumored to practice witchcraft and worship at the altar of the moon on clear nights. Finally, on a day where the rain fell in icy sheets and even the screeching cries of the gulls could not compete with the howling wind, I realized he was not coming back.
Time moves differently now. Then, it was measured in church bells and birthdays, clock strokes and town harvest dances. It was measured in the monthly flow of my courses, until they stopped coming and my belly grew distended and full. Now—or perhaps it is better to say “here”—time is a fluid thing, like water that flows in all directions, finding and filling every crack and empty place, like my womb and my heart.
I did not want to give the babe up, though I knew it could only bring heartache and pain to my family. A mother’s heart is a stubborn thing, and no sooner had I felt the first stirrings of life within me, than I knew I would do anything in the world to protect my little one.
It was folly, I know that now. A woman like me could never hope to bring a child into this cruel world, could never hope that the honey-sweet words of a man like Jack Pryce carried any weight. What irony that I should not realize such simple truths until it was too late. Should not realize them until my blood ran icy in my veins and my broken heart stopped beating. Until the man I thought had loved me stood over my body, staring down as the life ran out of me like a streambed running dry. Until I was dead and cold and no longer so very beautiful.
1
Augusta
“Hello?” Augusta threw her keys on the table and slung her bag onto one of the kitchen chairs. As usual, a precarious stack of plates had taken over the sink, and the remnants of a Chinese food dinner sat out on the table. Sighing, she covered the leftovers with plastic wrap, stuck them in the fridge and followed the sounds of video games to the living room.
“I’m home,” she said tersely to the two guys hunched over their gaming consoles.
Doug barely glanced up, but her boyfriend, Chris, threw her a quick glance over his shoulder.
“Hey, we’re just finishing up.” Turning back, he continued mashing keys on the game controller, shaking his dark fringe from his eyes and muttering colorful insults at his opponent.
Chris and Doug weren’t the best housemates. Sure, they paid their share of the rent on time, but the house was constantly a mess, and video games took priority over household chores. She supposed that’s what she got for living with her boyfriend and allowing his unemployed brother to move in with them.
“Well, I guess I’ll be in my room if you need me,” Augusta said, too exhausted to pick a fight about the mess in the kitchen.
“You can stay and watch,” Chris said without turning back around.
She’d had a long, hard day. Between the air-conditioning being broken at work and discovering she only had ninety-eight dollars in her bank account after paying her cell phone bill, she wasn’t in the mood to watch Chris and Doug massacre each other with bazookas. She grabbed an apple from the kitchen, and went back to the room she shared with Chris, closing the door against the sounds of gunfire and explosions. Outside, the occasional car passed by in a sweep of headlights and somewhere down the street a dog barked. Loneliness curled around her as she sat at her laptop and began cycling through her bookmarked job listing sites.
Her job giving tours at the Old City Jail in Salem was all right; she got to work in a historic building, it was close enough that she could walk to work, and the polyester uniform was only a slightly nauseating shade of green. But it wasn’t challenging, and she wasn’t using her degree in museum studies for which she’d worked so hard. Not to mention the student debt she was still paying off. The worst was dealing with the public, though. Some of the people that showed up on her tours were engaged in her talks, but mostly the jail attracted cruise tourists who hadn’t realized that it was a guided tour and were more interested in snapping a quick picture for Instagram than learning about the history. The other day she’d really had to remind a full-grown man that he couldn’t bring an ice cream cone into the house, and then had to clean up said ice cream cone when he’d smuggled it inside anyway and dropped it. And the witches! Just because they were in Salem, everyone who came through the door assumed that there would be history about the witches, never mind that the jail didn’t even date from the same century as the witch trials. Most days she came home tired, irritable and unfulfilled.
From the other room came an excited shout as Chris blew up Doug’s home base. Augusta turned her music up. Most of the listings on the museum job sites were for fundraising or grant writing, the sliver of the museum world where all the money was. She knew she shouldn’t be choosy, the millennial voice of reason in her head telling her that she was lucky to have a job at all. But Chris, with his computer engineering degree, actually had companies courting him, and his job at a Boston tech firm came with a yearly salary and benefits.
She was just about to close her laptop when a new listing popped up. Harlowe House in Tynemouth was looking for a collections manager to work alongside their curator. As she scanned the listing, her heart started to beat faster. She wasn’t familiar with the property, but a quick search showed that it was part of a trust dedicated to the history and legacy of a seafaring family from the nineteenth century. She ticked off the qualifications in her head—an advanced degree in art history, museum studies or anthropology, and at least five years of experience. She would have to fudge the years, but other than that, it was made for her. She bookmarked the listing, making a mental note to update her CV in the morning.
The door swung open and Chris came in, plopping himself on the bed beside her. Tall, with an athletic build and dark hair that was perpetually in need of a trim, he was wearing a faded band shirt and gym shorts. “We’re going to order subs. What do you want?”
“Didn’t you just get Chinese food?” she asked.
“That was lunch.”
Augusta did a quick inventory in her head of what she’d eaten that day, how many calories she was up to, and how much money she could afford. After she’d fished ten dollars out of her purse, Chris wandered back out to the living room, leaving her alone. She picked up a book, but it didn’t hold her interest, and soon she was lost scrolling through her phone and playing some stupid game where you had to match up jewels to clear the board. A thrilling Saturday night if there ever was one.
In both college and grad school, Augusta had had a vibrant, tight-knit group of friends. She’d always been a homebody, so there weren’t lots of wild nights out at clubs, but they’d still had fairly regular get-togethers. Lunches and trips to museums, stuff like that. So what had happened in the last few years?
Her mind knew what had happened, but her heart refused to face the truth. Chris had happened.
She had been with him ever since her dad died. She’d run into Chris, her old high school boyfriend, at the memorial. He’d been a familiar face, and she’d clung to him like a life raft amid the turmoil of putting her life back together without her father. It had been clear early on that beyond some shared history, they didn’t have much in common, but he was steady, and Augusta had craved steady. A year passed, then two, then three, and four. She had invested so much time in the relationship, sacrificed so many friends, that at some point it felt like admitting defeat to break up. For his part, Chris seemed content with the status quo, and so five years later, here they were.
That night, after Chris had rolled over and was lightly snoring, Augusta lay awake, thinking of the job listing. The words Harlowe House, Harlowe House, Harlowe House ran through her mind like the beat of a drum. A signal of hope, a promise of something better.
Hester Fox is a full-time writer and mother, with a background in museum work and historical archaeology. A native New-Englander, she now lives in rural Virginia with her husband and their son.
An Amish cowboy’s unexpected reunion with the girl who got away could heal his heart … or break it forever.
Daniel is the eldest of the six Miller siblings helping their Old Older Amish parents run the Circle M Ranch in northwestern Montana. Daniel can handle a blizzard, manage a roundup, even birth a calf. But what he can’t do is forget Lovina Lapp, who broke his heart back in Lancaster County and married someone else. When their neighbors gather to help them bring the cattle down from the summer pastures, Daniel is staggered to see Lovina among them. His job is to keep the group safe in the high country. But will he be able to protect his heart?
After a chaotic childhood and a romance with Daniel Miller that ended when he chose Montana over her, Lovina learned the danger of loving a cowboy. She married another man instead—someone who was safe. But after God took her husband in a freak accident, an invitation to go with old friends to visit the national parks seems like a gift. Until she finds herself unexpectedly at the Circle M Ranch, where one look at Daniel tells her there is nothing safe about her feelings for him …
The Montana Millers. They believe in faith, family, and the land. They’ll need all three when love comes to the Circle M!
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Amish Cowboy by Adina Senft brings to life the Amish community within the Montana setting. It is a ‘what if’ story. What if there were Amish who became cattle ranchers, and what if the hero and heroine had never had a chance reunion?
Daniel Miller is the oldest of six siblings. He is a rugged Amish cowboy who manages roundups, takes care of the land, helps to raise cattle, and expertly rides horses. He is more like the foreman of the family Circle M Ranch in northwestern Montana.
But at the age of twenty-eight he is viewed as a male spinster because he has yet to get married. His heart was broken ten years earlier when the love of his life, Lovina Lapp said no to his marriage proposal. Instead, she married another man who was recently killed in a hunting accident. To overcome their grief, she accepted an invitation to take her eight-year-old son Joel and visit the national parks. But because the van they were in broke down she and Joel were now stranded in Montana with Daniel and his family. Because Joel was so enthusiastic, she agreed to go with the Millers and their neighbors to bring down the cattle before winter came. But due to weather conditions, money restraints, and other circumstances she and Joel stayed much more then they planned. It became obvious that both Daniel and Lovina still have feelings for each other, but would they allow the walls they built around themselves to fall.
Although there might have some liberties taken, the way the story was presented seemed very plausible that the Amish could be cowboys. Readers will take a journey with the characters and learn about Montana. They will also feel a part of the Miller family and will root for them to have a happy ending.
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Elise’s Author Interview
Elise Cooper: What about the series?
Adina Senft: This is book one of six. There are six siblings in the Miller family and each sibling gets their own book. Even though it is a different hero/heroine it is the same family where I weave them into all six books. It will be a happy medium between one sentence telling readers about the rest of the family and a few chapters. It is like an Amish family experience to put all the family members in.
EC: Idea for the story?
AS: I was looking for what has not been done with Amish fiction. I thought about a series set in Montana. This past June my husband and I went there to visit the Amish community. We did feet on the ground research. Plus, a friend of mine, the captain of the firehouse where I live is President of the California cattlemen’s association. He invited me to come to his ranch and watch the roundup. The idea was born between him, the Amish community, and it seemed believable and possible that the Amish could possibly raise beef cows in Montana. The Circle M brand is on the cover.
EC: Amish and horses?
AS: For them horses are for work, not pleasure. Cattle ranchers would use them for work. A cutting horse is one of the most finely tooled instruments I had ever seen. When I was on the California ranch, within hours the calves were separated from the mothers. It was like watching a ballet where everyone knew their steps. When we were in Montana, the Amish came to the school auction on buggies, bicycles, and the occasional riding horse.
EC: Why the Montana setting?
AS: Only a few Amish stories are set here. Plus, I used to live in Alberta Canada, and I knew the ranchers are about seven miles north of the Amish community in Montana. The weather, the way people worked with the land, the short period of time of the growing season, and the terrain were all familiar to me. Montana winters are very long and brutal. I had to move the location in Montana because the Amish community lives in the mountains, which does not lend itself to ranching. I have not met an Amish cowboy, but I think they are possible.
EC: How would you describe Daniel?
AS: The eldest son of a large close-knit family. Very responsible and a nice-looking man. He has a natural command in being the oldest brother. Now at twenty-eight he is still not married because he has been carrying a torch for Lovina for ten years. He is honest, compassionate, patient, and gentle.
EC: How would you describe Lovina?
AS: She had a childhood backstory of never being wanted and never able to get what she wanted. She lost her ability to make connections with people. She was never treated with joy and welcome. Now she is a good mother, very protective, smart, resourceful, but still fearful, vulnerable. She used to be a closed defensive person, but now is opening up.
EC: Why the visit to the twelve national parks?
AS: I had the idea from an Amish girl who told me she and her buddies went on a circuit of the national parks. Lovina turned it into an educational experience as well as a recreational one. It was also a grief recovery trip since she lost her husband, and her son Joel lost his father.
EC: What about the relationship?
AS: She turned down Daniel’s initial proposal of marriage because she never saw herself as worthy. He had hurt feelings. She is confused about her emotions. They are trying to protect themselves from each other, yet the memories of their time together keep creeping in. They need to find trust in each other. She was fearful and he was hurt. He unconsciously compared every girl he met to Lovina, and they never added up. No matter how perfect another woman can be, there is only going to be Lovina for him, even if he does not realize it yet.
EC: In this story, are the Amish modernized?
AS: They used cell phones, the Internet, and horses. The cell phones and the Internet is right from my research, which they use for business. Because they are spaced so far apart with severe weather, cell phones are needed for a matter of safety. In the book, the mother Naomi does keep it in a cookie jar until they go on the roundup. Since they are in harsh weather communities, they are dependent on their neighbors, including the English.
EC: The role of the child, Joel?
AS: He was based on a child I know. He brings people to together through his innocence. He foreshadowed how it could be for Daniel and Lovina. He helps Lovina to connect to the outside and overcome her grief. She notices the setting through his eyes. Joel is curious about the snow, the animals, and the land. At times, he makes her adventurous. He is eight years old, but much older than his years. Joel recognized that the other woman, Susan, was very overbearing and desperate to snare Daniel.
EC: Next book?
AS:The Amish Cowboy’s Baby is currently out. It is the youngest son’s Joshua’s story. He is now a father. The third book is about the very shy twin sister, Rebecca, who is always in the background, and overshadowed by her twin sister. It is titled The Amish Cowboy’s Bride and comes out in May.
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.
Opposites burn hot enough to melt the snow and ice of an Alaskan winter in this all-new series from USA Today bestselling author Megan Crane.
Quinn Fortune is the official protector of all the unspoiled beauty in Lost Lake, Alaska, as the head of the community trust. A rugged frontiersman through and through, he doesn’t do soft. But he can’t help his fascination with the pink-clad professor who shows up in Lost Lake seeking his approval for her cheerful outsider’s proposal about land that isn’t hers. Still, he agrees to consider it–if she can handle a month of good old-fashioned Alaska living. He’s betting she’ll head back to the safety of the Lower 48 within the week.
Violet Parrish is a thinker, not a doer, but desperate times call for extraordinary measures–like taking on the Alaskan wilderness. In January. Off the grid. With a mountain man hot enough to melt a glacier. The frozen Alaskan tundra should be no match for Violet’s determination, but the sheer immensity of the Last Frontier takes her by surprise–as does her attraction to gruff, impossibly handsome Quinn, and the unexpected heat that burns between them during the freezing Alaska nights…
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Elise’s Thoughts
Bold Fortune by M. M. Crane aka Megan Crane brings to life an “opposites attract” story within an Alaskan setting. The plot has action, intensity, and emotion. The best part is the banter between the characters.
The plot begins with an Internet boyfriend stealing Violet Parrish’s research and reputation. She realizes she must do something to keep her job. She offers to convert the small-town of Lost Lake Alaska into a trust to protect the land and make the old mine there a historical landmark. But she must convince Quinn Fortune, the representative and protector of the land to go along with her plan. After arriving in this bush wilderness, she accepts Quinn’s challenge that he will discuss her proposal if she spends time in the Alaskan wilderness. No matter what he throws at her, Violet keeps derailing his plans and shows she is up to the challenge.
Violet is a strong female character. She is fierce, smart, independent, determined, and enthusiastic. But she also drives Quinn crazy with an over-the-top love of pink. Quinn is a mountain man who believes in the rugged frontier and on the outside has a rugged grumpy and gruff attitude. Together they realize that there is a mutual attraction.
This is a wonderful adventure story that has romance, and great banter between the characters. Although not a suspenseful romance as in her previous books, this one has plenty of action.
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Elise’s Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Are you ever going to write suspense romance again?
Megan Crane: I would love to. I really enjoy writing those type of books. It was a lot of fun. I would love to hear from my readers if they want me to write more books like the Alaskan Force Special Ops series. They can contact me at https://megancrane.com/contact.php#email .
EC: The idea for this story?
MC: My editor wanted me to write something still in Alaska but with a frontiersman. I created a little town with a lot of snow, a lake, and an abandoned mine having a tight-knit community.
EC: You continue the Alaskan setting?
MC: This is a very different Alaska than what I wrote about in the Alaskan Force series, the coastal region. Here in the interior, there is winter for ten months, not much daylight, very quiet. I found out during winter is when this part of the state opens. Since there are no roads in the winter, after the snow falls, people use their snowmobile. They do not think of the snow as an impediment but as something that allows them to connect. I even put tidbits I found out. For instance, no one should eat the snow, but must let it melt. It is all about the expanding of calories and dehydrating. To get here people need to fly or find a way with the river.
EC: How would you describe Violet?
MC: A brain in a jar. She is trying to figure out how to be a whole person and what she is capable of. She is intellectual, charming, confident, enthusiastic, and adaptable.
EC: Why pink?
MC: I thought a man like Quinn would find it outrageous. Violet wants happy colors and feels black, and grey are not bright. This is me. I have a pair of red pants to brighten things up. Eventually he finds it endearing.
EC: Describe Quinn?
MC: Grumpy, a martyr about his self-imposed responsibility. Blunt, rugged, loner, stubborn, and practical.
EC: Relationship?
MC: She gets him to open. He finds her fascinating especially since she steps up to his challenges. They complement each other’s feelings. Violet is not intimidated by him. He has a marshmallow center and ends up falling for her.
EC: What is the role of Stuart?
MC: Stuart is a make-believe boyfriend, while Quinn is real. Stuart is a narcissist. She only knows him through the Zoom calls. It was only a relationship in her head. Stuart tries to convince Quinn that Violet had ulterior motives and her feelings are not real.
EC: Next book?
MC: The second book in the series is Quinn’s brother Bowie. He gets involved in a mail-order-bride contest. The title is Reckless Fortune and will be out in fall. Then in March 2022 will be the book written with my author friends: Nicole Helm, Jackie Ashenden, and Maisey Yates. It is titled Sweet Home Cowboy. The plot has four Hathaway sisters who had grown up apart, but they agree to move to Jasper Creek, Oregon, to revitalize their grandfather’s farm. It is very humorous.
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.
Today I am Sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Harlequin Winter 2022 Investigator Blog Tour for AN OPERATIVE’S LAST STAND (Fugitive Heroes: Topaz Unit Book #4) by Juno Rushdan.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
A kill squad is closing in… Now this team leader must risk everything for answers
Barely escaping CIA mercenaries, ex-agent Hunter Wright is after the person he thinks targeted his ops team, Topaz, for treason. Deputy director Kelly Russell is still the one woman he can’t resist, but she believes Hunter went rogue. Now she’s his only shot at getting the answers they need. Can they trust each other enough to save Topaz—and each other?
Rogue Christmas Operation – Fugitive Heroes Topaz Unit #1
Alaskan Christmas Escape – Fugitive Heroes Topaz Unit #2
Disavowed in Wyoming – Fugitive Heroes Topaz Unit #3
An Operative’s Last Stand – Fugitive Heroes: Topaz Unit #4
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
AN OPERATIVE’S LAST STAND (Fugitive Heroes: Topaz Unit Book #4) by Juno Rushdan is the brilliant final book and ending to the Fugitive Heroes series! These books should be read in order as each member of the Topaz team gets their own romantic suspense story which will bring them all back together to prove the team’s innocence.
Topaz team leader Hunter Wright has been able to keep his team safe up to now, but he knows they must return to Virginia to get to the person he believes betrayed his ops team. Hunter knows the CIA Deputy Director is the only person who can get the answers regarding their failed op and prove their innocence.
CIA Deputy Director Kelly Russell believes Hunter and his team went rogue and has sent CIA mercenaries to eliminate the treasonous team. Not only does she believe they betrayed their country, but that Hunter personally betrayed her.
Can they trust each other enough to save Topaz and each other?
I loved this conclusion to the Topaz series! It has everything. There is an enemies-to-lovers trope, emotional discoveries and consequences, fast-paced action and thrills, believable suspense and a climax and conclusion that was both surprising and smart. Ms. Rushdan’s characters realistically come to life on each page. This book, while wrapping up the overall series arc, also gives the reader a romance between Hunter and Kelly which is both emotionally devastating with many of the revelations and smokin’ hot with explicit sex scenes. For me, this final book was perfect!
I highly recommend this series and cannot wait for more from this author!
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Excerpt
She looked up at him and smiled, her eyes a deep cobalt blue, dark fire-red hair, her skin pale and creamy, those angular features, her full pink mouth, the effortless sensuality. It all hit him like a gut punch. God, she was breathtaking.
“A drink? No.” Amusement rang in her voice, and something inside him sank.
“All right,” he said nonchalantly. He forced a smile, swallowing his disappointment, and stepped across the hall. Of course. Some things weren’t meant to be. This was for the best anyway. Everything came at a price. To be with Kelly Russell might cost him his soul. “I’ll let you get some sleep. It’s been a long week, and we’ve got an early flight.”
“Hunter,” she said, and he glanced back at her. “Who said anything about sleeping? I am interested in the euphemism behind your offer of a nightcap.” Another smile, this time flirty, sexy. Full of promise. “And to answer the second part to your question, my room.”
Every muscle in his body tightened with need, making it difficult for him to think of anything else, least of all playing it cool.
“We need to establish the rules of engagement first,” she said.
All business. Always in control. Even now. For some inexplicable reason, it only added to her allure.
He strolled back across the hall. “I’m listening.”
“This has to be a one-night-only situation. It can never happen again.”
He reached out and tucked a fiery strand that had escaped her twist behind her ear. Her skin was warm and soft, with a perfect porcelain texture. “My mother always told me, never say never.”
“I’m serious, Hunter.” She slipped her key card in the slot, unlocked the door and opened it. “One night to assuage our mutual curiosity.”
Curiosity. Chemistry. Semantics. “If we enjoy ourselves, why only one night?”
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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!
