DEFENDING MORGAN (Mountain Mercenaries Book 3) by Susan
Stoker is another exciting romantic suspense addition to the Mountain
Mercenaries series. All of these books can be read as standalones, but there is
character crossover with each book adding another HEA to the group of friends.
Ex-Navy SEAL Archer “Arrow” Kane is part of a team sent by
Rex, the leader of the Mountain Mercenaries to the Dominican Republic to rescue
a kidnapped child. The team is surprised when they find the child, they also
find an American woman who has been missing from Atlanta for over a year.
Morgan Byrd was abducted and disappeared while out with friends. Her father kept her story in the news and never gave up hope of finding her. Arrow recognizes her and has an instant need to protect this strong and brave woman. He wants to know how and why she ended up in Santa Domingo and so does Morgan.
Arrow offers Morgan a safe place to stay until the Mountain
Mercenaries can find out who wanted Morgan gone, but not dead.
This book is not what I was expecting, although I should
have. While Morgan was abducted, she was sexually abused and tortured. The
descriptions are not graphic and mainly handled behind a psychologist’s closed
door, but as you can imagine there is a very slow build up to any type of intimacy.
I cheered every step forward Morgan made. Arrow is amazing in his respect and
patience. The talks the couple shared displayed their intimacy. Their
relationship builds at a realistic pace with the inclusion of professional
help. I was shocked at the end when the villain of this story was revealed and
I had a hard time accepting it. It was a surprise that left me unsatisfied.
I still find this series to be entertaining and I love
watching each mercenary meet his perfect match. These books all have strong,
alpha male heroes and heroines who have been through terrible circumstances,
but remain resilient and loving. I am looking forward to reading many more HEAs
in this series!
Thanks very much to Net Galley and Montlake Romance for
allowing me to read this ARC.
GATEWAY CRESCENT (Bendixon Sisters Book 2) by Brenda
Margriet is a contemporary romance set in British Columbia. This romance is the
second in the trilogy and features the youngest of the three Bendixon sisters.
It can easily be read as a standalone, but it does give you glimpses of book 1
as the timelines run simultaneously.
Josephine “Jo” Bendixon loves bright colors, singing and
life in general. Her two older sisters believe she is flighty and never finishes
projects she starts and this is hurtful to Jo. She does not share that she is
teaching herself computer coding and she is working toward combining all of her
interests into a career. When her volunteer job at the library is taken away,
she gets the opportunity to work at Gateway Crescent teaching disabled children
computer skills. At the same time she volunteers to work with Luke on the end
of school year music concert in the park.
Luke Donwell is the music teacher at the local high school.
He loves working with teenagers, but he has always had a deep faith and contemplated
becoming a Catholic priest. He has set up a weekend away at the seminary to decide
if the priesthood is what he truly wants to do with his life. When his friend’s
younger sister, Jo volunteers to help with the end of the year concert and a
new music therapy program at Gateway Crescent, he is glad for the help, but
being with Jo makes him begin to question many of his long-held beliefs.
Jo and Luke work well together and both are surprised by the
attraction each feels for the other. Luke is up front about his possible
vocational change and Jo encourages him to keep his weekend obligation even as
both have feelings of more than friendship. Luke has a major decision to make
for himself, but it will effect all who love him.
I must admit that I do not usually read romances with religion
as a major focus, but I loved the first book in this series and all of the
Bendixon sisters. Luke is a complex character who pulled me in with his faith
and beliefs and is an extremely caring and giving person, but also at times he
demonstrated the intolerance of others’ beliefs that makes me dislike religious
doctrines. Jo is a loving, free spirit who may not have found her true calling
yet, but is open and searching. Jo and Luke’s story was a heartwarming romance
with many realistic bumps in the road. The secondary characters all added depth
to the storyline. There is one sex scene and I felt the author handled the
emotions and dialogue in a realistic way that was true to the story.
I enjoyed Luke and Jo’s romance. I also enjoyed the glimpses
of book one that remind you of that sister’s story. I am looking forward to reading
the oldest Bendixon sister’s romance next.
Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.
Today’s Feature Post and Book Review is for Loreth Anne White’s upcoming release THE DARK BONES (Dark Lure Book 2). Below you will find a guest post from the author, an excerpt from the book, my book review and a Rafflecopter giveaway.
This author always gives me mystery, suspense, increasing threat (both physical and environmental) and a bit of romance all rolled into one intense story. Even though this is book 2 in the Dark Lure series, it can easily be read as a standalone, but believe me, you will want to go back and read the first book in this series.
I highly recommend this book and series! As always, good luck on the Rafflecopter giveaway.
***
Hunting For Betrayal with Author Loreth Anne White
My
newest novel, THE DARK BONES, is about a cop, Rebecca North, who learns that
her father—a retired police officer—has killed himself. She can’t believe it.
But in order to prove it was murder she must return to her small, rural home
town and face a lot of dark things she’s been running from including the man
she left behind long ago, and a cold case thought long buried.
At
the core, THE DARK BONES examines the lies people tell each other and
themselves—the false narratives they construct in order to hide mistakes, or
bad deeds, or hurtful truths, or realities that shame and burden them. And as
Rebecca North, my detective, digs deep to find the truth of what really
happened to her dad, she begins to crack open a carapace of old lies that wraps
around a cold case—a heinous deed that occurred in her small community
twenty years in the past, a crime from which people are still hiding.
Rebecca
fast learns that the secrets she is beginning to unearth are secrets people
will still kill to keep. However, opening up this vault of lies and betrayals
in the small town also reveals to Rebecca truths about herself, and about the
man she once loved, Ash Haugen. A man who betrayed her. And in confronting
those betrayals and old lies, and the reasons that underpinned them, Rebecca
and Ash can finally heal, and open themselves to a love that was always meant
to be. At the heart THE DARK BONES is also about second chances, and getting
that opportunity to try and set right the collateral damages around betrayal.
Although
THE DARK BONES stands alone, it also revisits the setting and some of the
characters from an earlier book, A DARK LURE. Those earlier characters were
left with a hard road to travel toward their happy end, and as some of them
play a key role
in Rebecca and Ash’s story, we see them also confronting outfalls around betrayal, and getting chance to continue their journey towards a good life.
***
The Dark Bones Excerpt
Rebecca felt
warmth. She was enveloped by it. She heard the crackle and pop of dry logs
burning and, in the distance, dogs barking. The smell of … fire—
Her eyes shot open, her heart thumping.
He sat there. Ash. In a chair by the fire,
watching her with his ice-blue eyes. She was in his living room, and the
lighting had been dimmed. The flickering glow of the flames in the hearth
behind him cast his rugged features into sharp relief. The scar down the side
of his face looked harsh. An old brown dog with a white muzzle slept on a rug
in front of the hearth.
Rebecca’s brain slotted puzzle pieces into
place as she struggled through a mental haze to backtrack and figure out how
she’d gotten here: The lights following her. The razed cabin and the clues that
someone had been inside the shed and maybe fled the scene. Ash shooting at her.
No gas in her truck. Fear of dying. Coming here to Haugen Ranch. Shucking her
dad’s gear in Ash’s mudroom. Him helping her into the living room of his old
family home—a great big log house built by his grandfather. Seating her on the
sofa.
She sat up slowly, trying to pull her brain
into sharper focus. A down duvet was wrapped around her, a heated blanket
beneath that. The duvet smelled of fresh laundry. Yes, she recalled, the fire
had already been going in the hearth when he’d brought her in—she’d noticed
that. Next had come hot tea with honey, warm clothes handed to her—fleece,
oversize. More tea.
He’d told her not to talk. Discussion could
wait.
She met his eyes now and felt a visceral
connection across the darkened room. This was her first proper look at him
after all these years.
Her teen lover had aged. As she had. But he’d
matured in a way she found attractive. He was neither sweet nor handsome.
Rugged rather. A brooding look. Sun bronzed and weathered. Her attention
returned to his scar. So prominent, cutting down the left side of his face from
eye to jaw. He could have had plastic surgery over the past decades, but
clearly hadn’t. Her memory slipped back to the day she’d tried to patch him up
with the help of a small medical kit and knowledge she’d gleaned during her
part-time job as a veterinary assistant.
He lied…
Her attention shifted to his hands. His
knuckles were scarred.
What were you protecting him from that day?
She recalled the blood she’d seen on those
ragged and bruised knuckles that day. Why had she not told her father she didn’t know for certain he’d fallen off
his horse and been dragged across sharp terrain?
Why had she not questioned more firmly, at age sixteen, Ash’s refusal to go
to the ER facility on that particular day? What deep psychology had driven her
to possibly blind herself to search for a darker truth?
In that tempestuous, hormone-filled year she
was sixteen, had she conveniently compartmentalized something that had created
cognitive dissonance, because she’d just recently started sleeping with Ash,
and needed to believe him? Needed to trust him again?
How had her actions that day shaped this
present? Could it—she—have possibly played a role in her father’s death?
And why, oh dear God why, did Ash still make
her feel things? This—this—was why she’d stayed away. He held an animal kind of magnetism over
her. She felt it now, her gaze locked with his arctic eyes. Her attraction had
blinded her to the fact he was not good for her. He was a liar.
She cleared her throat. “What time is it?”
“Almost midnight. You going to be okay? Do I
need to drive you to Clinton?”
From his ranch it would take almost an hour, in
the dark, on bad roads. And the ER would be closed. They’d have to call 911 for
emergency to open up with an on-call physician. It reminded Rebecca that out
here, one looked after one’s own.
“I … I must have passed out.”
A half smile. “Slept like a baby. You must have
been tired.”
A desire to tell him all rose in Rebecca: How
rough her journey home had been with the storms. How seeing her father’s body
had gutted her. How exhausted she felt, emotionally. But she held back as her
mind sharpened and the immediacy of why she was here, with him, in this house,
was pulled into clear focus.
“What made you return to my father’s place when
you did, Ash? How did you come to find me?”
“I go up to the Broken Bar mesa sometimes. The
view of the valley on a clear, cold night is surreal.” A pause. “I needed to
think.” After seeing you. The unspoken words
seemed to simmer between them. “Someplace above it all. Then as the moon rose,
I caught light glinting off metal where your father’s place was. I thought it
might be a vehicle, so I went to check before heading home.” He paused. “You
could have died out there.”
Rebecca swallowed as this fact sank like a
stone through her gut.
“Have you been sitting there watching me like
that all night?”
“You worried me,” he said. Then, very quietly,
he added, “And I like to look at you.” He paused. “It’s been so long.”
***
My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
THE DARK BONES
(Dark Lure Book 2) by Loreth Anne White is a mix of romantic suspense, mystery and
thrills with ever increasing physical, emotional and environmental threats. This
is the second book in this series, but it can easily be read as a standalone.
Detective Rebecca North is notified that her father, a
retired Mounty has committed suicide. Rebecca has been away from her hometown
in rural Western Canada for twenty years and even though she knows her father
had problems, she refuses to believe he would take his own life. He called her
just that day to tell her he is revisiting a cold case from their hometown and
that he believes he is being followed and has had papers stolen from his home.
One of the last people to see Rebecca’s father alive was her
ex-high school boyfriend, Ash Haugen. Ash always dreamed of one day marrying
Rebecca, but he broke her heart and trust. The investigation is stirring up old
feelings and lies. Even as they work together, old friends and relations may
once again pull them apart.
While regathering the evidence for the case her father was working on and trying to prove he did not commit suicide, Rebecca and Ash are under increasing threat by someone who is trying to keep the old case cold.
I loved this book! The murder mystery and the cold case keep
you guessing, turning the pages and they keep the overall pace continually
increasing to the climax. The flashbacks to Rebecca and Ash’s pasts did not
detract or slow down the story in any way. I liked the tie in to the first
book, but it does not interfere with your understanding of this mystery plot or
romance. Rebecca and Ash were complex characters with actions and emotions that
were believable. The romance grows at a realistic pace. The secondary
characters are fully fleshed out and added depth to the small town, good and
bad.
I highly recommend this book and series! Ms. White is an
author that I now automatically go to when looking for an intense suspenseful
read.
***
About a Book
Title: The Dark Bones
Author: Loreth Anne White
Release Date: May 21, 2019
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Summary
When Detective Rebecca North left her rural hometown, she
vowed never to return. Her father’s apparent suicide has changed that. The
official report is that retired cop Noah North shot himself, knocked over a
lantern, and set his isolated cabin ablaze. But Rebecca cannot believe he
killed himself.
To prove it, she needs the help of Ash Haugen, the man she
left behind. But Rebecca and Ash share more than broken hearts. Something
darker lies between them, and the investigation is stirring it back to life. Clues
lead them to the home of Olivia West and her deeply troubled twelve-year-old
daughter, Tori. The child knows more about the murder than anyone can imagine,
but she’s too terrified to say a word.
And as a cold-blooded killer resurfaces from the past, Rebecca and Ash begin to fear that their own secrets may be even harder to survive.
***
Author Biography
Loreth Anne White is an internationally bestselling author
of thrillers, mysteries, and romantic suspense. A three-time RITA finalist, she
is also the 2017 Overall Daphne du Maurier Award winner, and she has won the
Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the National Readers’ Choice Award, and
the Romantic Crown for Best Romantic Suspense and Best Book Overall, in
addition to being a Booksellers’ Best finalist and a multiple CataRomance
Reviewers’ Choice Award winner. A former journalist and newspaper editor who
has worked in both South Africa and Canada, she now resides in the Pacific
Northwest with her family. Visit her at www.lorethannewhite.com.
Living in Durango, Colorado for the past eighteen years allowed Ollie Rizzo to build her own business and carve out a quiet existence for her and her teenage daughter. She’s used to going it alone. However, their new silver-haired neighbor might present a problem—not only is he handsome—he’s also Durango’s new chief of police; a complication she can’t afford.
For recently widowed Joe Benedetti, the job offer as Durango’s new chief of police came at the right time. With life, the new job, and his two young sons settling into a comfortable routine, he does his best to ignore the beautiful and intriguing woman across the street. Yet when he discovers she’s caught the attention of the FBI, there is no way he can stay away.
Their worlds collide with the appearance of FBI Special Agent Cruz Livingston. The agent has a warning to deliver, one that spins life in Durango out of control, giving Joe a crucial mission—keep Ollie alive.
COVERING OLLIE
(On Call Book 2) by Freya Barker is an exciting romantic suspense and the
second book in the On Call series. This is an emotional, suspenseful romance
with Freya Barker’s signature mature H/h characters and writing that pulls you
in, grabs your complete attention and makes you sad if you have to put the book
down before ‘The End’. This book can easily be read as a standalone romance,
but characters do crossover from the first book, “Burning for Autumn”.
Joe Benedetti has relocated with his two young sons to fill
the vacant position of Chief of Police in Durango, Colorado. After the death of
his wife from cancer, he wants a more manageable job and routine for himself and
his boys. He is lucky to find teenager, Trinity (Trinny) across the street, who
introduced herself right away for babysitting duty. He has noticed Trinny’s beautiful
mother, but he does not want to get involved.
Olivia (Ollie) Rizzo moved to Durango eighteen years ago and
has built a new life. As a freelance landscape architect Ollie has done well
and lived quietly with her daughter. She cannot help but hear about the boys
and the police chief from her daughter, but waving from a distance is the
extent of her interaction.
When Special Agent Cruz Livingston arrives at Ollie’s door,
her past collides with her quiet existence. Joe becomes involved immediately
when he is briefed on the danger Ollie and her daughter may be in. As Joe, his
officers and the FBI work to eliminate the threats to Ollie’s life, the two
begin to let down their walls and become close. Will Joe be able to keep Ollie
safe and grab hold of a future together?
Ollie and Joe, the kids and all of the secondary friends and
family could walk off the page, they feel so real to me. Ms. Barker knows how
to write about couples that have lived and have baggage, but in the end are
willing to work at building a new life together. They have lived life and are
not perfect physical specimens, but they are real and beautiful to their love
interest. The sex is explicit, hot and sexy and always builds in a realistic
way.
I have loved all of Ms. Barker’s romances and romantic
suspense books. I cannot recommend this author enough especially if you like
your H/h a little more mature and written with just the right amount of
suspense and sex to spice up the romance. I highly recommend this book and
series!
***
About Freya:
Freya Barker inspires with her stories about ‘real’ people, perhaps less than perfect, each struggling to find their own slice of happy.
She is the author of the Cedar Tree and Portland, ME Series, the Northern Lights Collection and the Rock Point Series. She is also co-author of the SnapShot Series.
To see Freya’s complete backlist, or to find out what is coming down the pipe, visit freyabarker.com.
Welcome to La Tana del Lupo. It’s a deadly place to be.
The college student who shot and killed a Kentucky State Trooper on the side of the highway committed “suicide by cop”, and the bullet that ended her life came from Trigg County Sheriff Carter Melton’s gun. He wants some answers, and so does her beautiful, grief-stricken aunt, Sharla Barker. On top of being insistent that the Tamara Kent she knew would never kill an officer, Sharla’s also insistently pursuing Carter, and he’s definitely not playing hard to get. His battered, aching heart needs the forgiveness she offers him and the passion she ignites in him.
The medical examiner’s weird findings, an odd tattoo, and an even stranger on-campus rally prior to the shooting begin to point in a direction that Carter could never have imagined. Before he knows it, he’s working with San Antonio FBI Agent Cruz Livingston to uncover a threat never before seen in far western Kentucky. It’s a criminal element with only one thing on their minds—money—and they’re determined to find it. It’ll take multiple agencies and some help from a very unlikely source to bring the case to a close before someone dies in “The Den of the Wolf.”
Built on an actual crime that took place in western Kentucky in 2015, Bluegrass Bravery: Shelter for Sharla is an over-18, panty-melting tale of undying love, suspense, crime, and dedication as officers from Kentucky and Texas work together to save Carter, the woman he craves, and the two kids she loves, while bringing those truly responsible to justice.
***
Excerpt:
He sat for a minute, wondering if he should ask the twenty-million-dollar question, and decided the time was right. After all, she’d brought it up. “So I have to ask … Could you live that way? Knowing every time someone you loved left the house, they could be stabbed or shot?”
Her voice was soft and a tear rolled down her cheek. “After what’s happened with Tam, I think I could live through just about anything.”
“Doesn’t matter. This is different. It’s the constant threat. Long nights. Long days. Weekends. Holidays. Not everyone would want to deal with all that. You need to think about that. You need to be sure before this goes any farther.”
A sound came from her throat, a tiny choking sound, as she reached for his hand and clutched it. Another tear rolled down her cheek, but her eyes were clear. “I’m sure. Carter, I’m falling for you, and if you don’t feel the same way, you need to tell me. Please. I’ve had so much heartache and disappointment in my life. I don’t need more.”
It wasn’t how he’d pictured it, but with the air moving across the surface of the water and the light fading, Carter had one simple, shining moment, and he had to make it count. “Honestly, I think I fell in love with you the first second I saw you.”
There wasn’t a chance to say another word. Sharla stepped up to him and kissed him, her arms locking around his neck almost as though he were saving her from drowning. Clutching her to him, Carter could feel it all around them, the magic of love newly found, of broken hearts mending and tired ones starting over. When she broke the kiss, she gave him a smile that he’d remember on his deathbed. “I love you, Carter. No man has ever done to me what you do or given me as much of himself as you have. I know it’s fast, but I don’t care. If you disappeared from my life tomorrow, nothing would ever be the same.”
He chucked her under the chin and whispered to her, “I’m not going anywhere, little girl. I’m here to stay. It’s a shame that it took a tragedy for us to find each other, but we have, and I won’t apologize for that, not now, not ever.” The kiss he gave her was sweet and warm, and his tongue teased the seam of her lips until she parted them slightly. When he deepened it, she opened to him as her tongue explored his. They stood like that for a time they’d never have again, the first kiss of confessed love, and Carter hoped that kiss would go on forever. He’d given up, and just when he’d thought it was hopeless, he’d found her, the woman he’d always wanted. As the kiss cooled, they both leaned in, their foreheads touching, and he heard her sigh. “Sharla, we’re going to get through this. I promise. And we’re going to come out the other side and have a good life.”
“You sound so sure of that.”
“I am. Come on. Let’s go home.” Taking her hand, he led her back up the hill, walking together in silence until they reached the truck. Once he’d helped her in, he patted her hands as they lay in her lap. “The kids will be home tomorrow night because of the funeral on Wednesday. Want to come to my house tonight?”
The nod she gave him was almost childlike. “I’d like that.”
“Okay. Let’s stop somewhere and pick up something we can have for breakfast. You’ll have to get up early tomorrow to get to work.”“Doesn’t matter as long as I get to be there with you tonight.” Her fingers stroked down his cheek and he felt that little quickening in his chest, the one that told him it was really happening. A woman was giving him her heart. He couldn’t break it, bruise it, or drop it. He’d be the man who kept it safe. He had to be.
Deanndra Hall is a working author living in the far western end of the beautiful Bluegrass State with her husband of over 35 years and small menagerie of weird little dogs. When she’s not writing, she’s editing. When she’s doing neither of those two things, she’s having dinner with friends, spending time with family, kayaking, eating chocolate, drinking beer or moonshine, or looking for something that she put in the wrong place and can’t seem to find (which is pretty much everything she owns).
A SOLDIER’S PROMISE by Tory Richards is a new contemporary romance set during the holidays. This is a standalone story.
Shannon Hayes and her small daughter have been invited to
spend the holidays with her deceased husband’s extended family. David was
killed in action overseas this past year and she is happy to be surrounded by
his large family’s love after having grown up in an orphanage. David’s mother,
Marsha treats Shannon as one of her own.
Shortly after Shannon arrives, she is surprised by the
arrival of Ryan Hayes. Ryan is a career Marine, and David’s older brother. He
rarely makes it home and Shannon knows how important this is to the whole
family, but there is an obvious tension between the two. Shannon is attracted
to her brother-in-law even as he tries to ignore her and her attempts at
friendship to the point of being harsh. Ryan is dealing with the guilt of
lusting after his sister-in-law even before the death of his brother. That is
one of the reasons he has stayed away.
Their attraction grows and consumes them, but their guilt
could end everything. Both made a promise to David, but can they fulfill it
together?
I loved the Hayes family and their holiday traditions. Marsha
was a loving matriarch who was happiest when all of her family was around her.
She understood Ryan and his feelings and was able to give Shannon advice and
understanding. All of the Hayes siblings, partners and grandkids were
entertaining and great secondary characters.
I enjoyed this romance. Shannon was a loving and caring
person, but I felt that Ryan was unemotional and a jerk for much too long into
the story. I know he was hiding his true feelings and was filled with guilt,
but I could not fully engage with him until half way through the book. He did
redeem himself in the end. The sex scenes were explicit and hot, but each scene
had Shannon biting Ryan and for me, it was repetitive and a little weird when
it always happened. I was glad to see Ryan and Shannon get their HEA and I
liked the family holiday setting. The characters make this romance.
Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.
