Category: Romance

Book Review: Dangerous Currents by Kathryn Knight

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

DANGEROUS CURRENTS by Katheryn Knight is a contemporary second chance romance with a suspense sub-plot. This book focuses more on the romance, past and present and the difficulties facing the H/h to get to their HEA than the suspense occurring in the background during the same time period. It is a well written, emotionally charged romance due to long held secrets and misunderstandings more than a romantic suspense as the summary leads you to believe.

Malorie Montgomery has returned to Cape Cod for a fresh start. She plans on helping her best friend set up her non-profit and teach business courses at the local community college. While taking her dog for a walk, she stumbles on a partially buried body. When she screams for help the boy, now man, who broke her heart in high school and never left her thoughts, shows up to help.

Dean Slater is surprised when he sees who called out for help while he is out on his run. She is back after seven years. Dean cannot believe the attraction is still as strong as it was their senior year of high school. He was the poor boy who had nothing to offer this rich girl, and yet she chose him. Now, Dean and his brother inherited the house just down the street from Malorie’s and there is no way they will not run into each other around the Cape.

Malorie has a family secret that keeps her from a permanent relationship and Dean still feels inferior and undeserving of Malorie, but the heat and attraction is still there on both their parts. Misunderstandings and misconceptions need to be cleared up, secrets need exposed and danger is lurking in the background.

This is a romance that has so many layers. There is the poor boy and the rich girl high school first loves, Malorie’s secret that Dean never knew about, Dean’s shame of his step-father going to prison and his brother not stepping up as a responsible father-to-be. Dean is always the responsible one and the protector. Malorie and Dean’s relationship progresses in a realistic way and the sex scenes are hot. The suspense sub-plot of the murdered girl Malorie and Dean find adds some tension and intrigue to the story with a surprise who-done-it, but the romance could really stand on its own without it. This is a second chance romance worth reading.

Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.

Book Review: Angelina’s Secret by Diane Merrill Wigginton

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

I love when I am asked to read a beloved genre book by a new to me author and can recommend it highly to others!

ANGELINA’S SECRET (Jeweled Dagger Series) by Diane Merrill Wigginton has everything I am looking for in a great historical romance read. A heroine who is true to her times, but independent and courageous set against a strong hero who is protective, but also values the heroine’s unique character and a plot and subplot that have adventure and intrigue twisting throughout the romance that keep you turning the pages.

Lady Angelina Stewart was born into a wealthy English aristocratic family that allowed her independence and to be as well educated as her beloved older brother, Jonathan in a time when most young ladies only cared about beauty and titles. Besides her education, two other things set Angelina apart. She has a bit of the sight, or a feeling when things are about to change in her life and she never wants to be wed. She is determined to never be owned by a man.

Captain Jude Deveraux is sailing the open seas as a French privateer for his king after receiving an award and title for bravery during battle. The Captain is also the Duke of Bayonne. He and his best friend Honore’ steal and plunder from unsuspecting ships and live for the adventure. A trap is set for the unsuspecting ship belonging to Angelina’s father. The trip is a birthday gift for Angelina from her father with her uncle to trade for their company. When the feisty Angelina stands up to the Captain pirate sparks begins to fly. A wager is made for the return of Angelina’s family ship and crew with safe passage if the cards favor Angelina.

Win or lose, Jude does not plan on letting the entrancing Angelina out of his life.

These two are meant to be together! Ms. Wigginton has written a hero and heroine that will be remembered long after the book is done. The secondary characters are also well developed and interesting. Set in the 18th century, my only slight problem with historical references was the white wedding gown. (Although possible, the white wedding gown didn’t become popular until the 19th century when Victoria wore one.)

This is a well written and entertaining historical romance, full of action, adventure and great characters. This is definitely a book and author to read and follow!

Feature Post: The Girl in the Moss by Loreth Anne White

   

I am very happy to share this author interview with Loreth Anne White discussing her new book THE GIRL IN THE MOSS and her writing. After the interview, you will find a summary of the story, the author’s biography, links and a Rafflecopter giveaway. Enjoy!

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Loreth Anne White Interview

Congratulations on your new release! Tell us a bit about it.

THE GIRL IN THE MOSS is a cold case mystery/thriller that kicks off when a shallow grave in a mossy forest exposes the bones of a decades-old secret that begins to threaten a small community with lethal consequence. Early reviews have described the story as dark, atmospheric, and twisty with a “shocking conclusion”. While it can be read alone, THE GIRL IN THE MOSS is book 3 in the Angie Pallorino series, and the series has a romantic relationship thread playing out over the arc of the 3 books.

A larger philosophical question around cold case detecting also plays throughout this book. As one Goodreads reviewer wrote: “If history allows those in grief to move forward with their lives, trying to breath new life into a cold case threatens to upend everything for survivors. On the other hand, those who have gotten away with murder are eluding justice. Angie clearly represents Justice in this book, even at times when nearly everyone is against her and when some of the opposition’s arguments makes some sense.”

So yes, Angie is dogged, but hopefully for good reason—she knows how vital it was to her own sense of well-being to get to the bottom of her own cold case. She’d like to help others find similar closure.  And justice is something she can believe in.

You just love to put your heroine in mortal danger! Even on vacation Angie is somehow drawn into a missing persons cold case that has her fighting for her life. What is it about romantic suspense that fuels your creative juices?

I’ve always loved to read suspense with intrepid heroines who risk their lives, or who must face impossible odds to survive. It came naturally to try and write what I like to read.

One of the best things about your novels is the careful attention you give to both your couple and the crime that is being investigated. How do achieve this balance?

Thank you! I try to find a way to make the relationship an integral part of the case and vice versa, so that you can’t really pull one part of the story out without collapsing the whole thing.

 Your writing includes some in depth information about police procedures — in the case of this novel how to secure a crime scene. What type of research have you done in order to realistically write these scenes?

I’ve done many workshops with various branches of law enforcement, plus I do lots of reading of homicide investigation manuals which have been written to teach cops.

Even as an ex-cop, Angie often finds herself in dangerous situations. What draws her to the dark crimes she investigates? Is there anything else she wants to do with her life?

 Angie has a passion particularly for helping young women hurt by heinous crimes. This in part is because of her own past, even if she didn’t really know it at first. She’s dead set on running her own PI agency now, where she can pick her cases and still march to her own drum. And because of her reputation, some of those darker cases are going to pick her.

Maddocks has a fine line he must walk — as a homicide detective he has the duty to his squad, but he also feels a pull to include Angie in his work. How does he reconcile these two competing forces?

At the end of this book, they find a happy medium. Angie will work her own PI cases, many of them cold cases. And while there will be times the lines of her investigations cross with Maddocks’s police work, it will be more collaborative.

What can readers expect next from you?

THE DARK BONES is the working title of my next project. It’s an atmospheric mystery/suspense/romance set in ranching country in the B.C. interior, and while it is a standalone, it links to A DARK LURE, which was an Amazon #1 bestseller. I’ve had many, many readers write to ask for a linked book, and I hope THE DARK BONES hits all those same notes that A DARK LURE did. If all goes to plan—and things do yet all have to slot into place—the book will see the shelves early next summer.

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About the Book

Title: The Girl in the Moss

Author: Loreth Anne White

Release Date: June 12, 2018

Publisher: Montlake Romance

Summary

Disgraced ex-cop Angie Pallorino is determined to make a new start for herself as a private investigator. But first, she and her lover, newly promoted homicide detective James Maddocks, attempt a quiet getaway to rekindle a romance struggling in the shadows of their careers. The peace doesn’t last long when human skeletal remains are found in a nearby mossy grove.

This decades-old mystery is just what Angie needs to establish her new career—even as it thrusts her and Maddocks back into the media spotlight, once again endangering their tenuous relationship.

Then, when Angie’s inquiry into the old crime intersects with a cold case from her own policing past—one that a detective on Maddocks’s new team is working—the investigation takes a startling twist. It puts more than Angie’s last shot at redemption and a future with Maddocks at risk. The mystery of the girl in the moss could kill her.

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Author Biography

Loreth Anne White is an award-winning, bestselling author of romantic suspense, thrillers, and mysteries, including The Drowned Girls and The Lullaby Girl, the first two books in the Angie Pallorino series. Winner of the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mainstream Mystery/Suspense, Loreth is also a three-time RITA finalist, plus a recipient of the Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the National Readers’ Choice Award, the Romantic Crown for Best Romantic Suspense and Best Book Overall, and a Booksellers’ Best finalist. A former journalist who has worked in both South Africa and Canada, she now resides in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest with her family. When not writing, she skis, bikes, and hikes the trails with her dog, doing her best to avoid the bears (albeit unsuccessfully). Learn more at www.lorethannewhite.com.

 

Author Social Media Links

Website: http://www.lorethannewhite.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Loreth.Anne.White

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Loreth

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/150272.Loreth_Anne_White

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Book Review: Pas De Deux: A Dance For Two by Lynn Turner

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

PAS DE DEUX: A DANCE FOR TWO by Lynn Turner is a beautifully written contemporary romance. This new to me author took me on a journey behind a classic ballet company, the building of a new Broadway musical and two imperfect people finding each other.

Wilhelmina “Mina” Allende is a prima ballerina in a Paris ballet company. Dance is her life and soul, but when a tragedy occurs in her life, she feels the need to take the leap into a new challenge offered to her in New York City. Zach knows Mina has the talent and “that something special” to transfix an audience, but he does not know if he can risk the whole show on Mina being able to learn his style of dance.

Zachary Coen is a famous contemporary dancer and choreographer looking for the lead for his first Broadway show. Mina is his dream lead come to life. She has a temper and is emotional, but she is also a professional and knows she is new to this style of dance and has a lot to learn. As the two work together, their pas de deux becomes personal as well as professional, but each has secrets. If each learns to trust the other it will make them whole, if not it will tear them apart.

Zach and Mina pulled me into their worlds of dance and theatre from the first chapter. The description of the dance scenes were as beautiful and intricate as the scorching hot sex scenes. This author definitely knows how to paint pictures with her words. They are both at the top of their careers against all odds, but they both have control and trust issues to overcome and this author handled all the emotions and issues in a realistic and believable way. I cannot say enough about this author’s lyrical writing style and the beautiful romance that is this book.

I highly recommend this romance and I will be looking forward to reading more from this author in the future.

(I just want to mention two points that in no way change my recommendation: 1.This is an inter-racial romance. Mina describes the challenges of being a black ballerina, but the story does not focus on racial issues. And 2. Is a trigger issue— Zach does describe graphic sexual abuse from an adult while in foster care.)

Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.

 

Blog Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: All the Pretty Girls by Riley Edwards

 

ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS

A Next Generation Novel

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MEADOW:

The road was long, it was painful, and it was raw.

It has taken me four years to come to terms with my new reality. A life in which I live with the daily reminders of a vicious attack that has left me scarred both emotionally and physically. Years of recovery and acceptance were torn apart and obliterated the day Special Agent Nick Clark barges into my life. He says the person who attacked me and left me for dead is back. He says I was the first victim – the one who got away. He promises to protect me. But he can’t, no one can.

Nick is relentless in his pursuit and promises me the things I can’t afford to have – like hope for a future with the sexy FBI agent. But hope and love and promises can’t protect me, not when I’m next on the killer’s list.

NICK:

Meadow Holiday is the missing piece, the woman I’ve been searching for. And it has nothing to do with her being a witness in an unsolved serial killer case I’ve had sitting on my desk for the last four years. I had no business falling in love in the middle of a murder investigation but she’s the one. I feel it deep in my bones. I knew the first time I laid eyes on the shy, beautiful woman that she was mine. Now I’m left with the daunting task of convincing her I’m enough.

Can Nick save Meadow in time and prove his love can heal all wounds, or is he already too late to fix what a sadist serial killer has broken?

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MY REVIEW:

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

ALL THE PRETTY GIRLS by Riley Edwards is an exceptional start to her Next Generation series of Romantic suspense books to follow her 707 Freedom series. This book is easily read as a standalone even though the characters from the previous series do pop up. It is not difficult to follow their relationship to Nick and it does not confuse the reader, but makes you want to go back and read that series, also.

Meadow Holiday cannot hide the scar on her face after a vicious attack that has turned her into a solitary person who hides from life. She believes she is no longer desirable. Since her attack, she has kept only one friend at work and one friend on-line in a survivors chat room. Her boss daily ridicules and belittles her for her appearance, so Veronica Venus, in the chat room, has become her outlet to let off steam and go-to for solace.

Special Agent Nick Clark works in the Behavior Analysis Unit of the FBI. He has a knack for seeing things outside of the box even though he is the youngest member of the team. After a break of four years, a serial killer profiled by Nick’s unit is back and killing again. The victims are all beautiful young women found in alleys with their faces mutilated.

Meadow is terrified when she learns the killer is active again. Nick is surprised the beautiful redhead he has been intrigued by at his coffee shop is the original victim who survived her attack all those years ago. Nick knows he will have a battle ahead convincing Meadow she is still beautiful inside and out and that he is not interested in her only to catch the killer. The killer has other plans for Meadow.

Nick and Meadow are such great characters. Nick is all around swoon worthy and he trains service dogs for vets. Love him! Meadow starts out with such low self-esteem, but the author brings her around with Nick’s belief in her and his love. The romance is believable and the sex scenes are hot. This is a page turner, even though I easily figured out the suspense plot. The characters are so vivid, you cannot help but cheer them on to their HEA. I cannot wait for more books in this series!

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LINKS:

Buy Link http://geni.us/w7pUH

Amazon: http://geni.us/amazonre

Goodreads:http://geni.us/goodreadsre

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/riley-edwards

Facebook reader group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/882567735208878/?ref=br_tf

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rileyedwardsrom

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

Newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/RRsignup

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Montana Marine by Debra Parmley

RATING: 3 out of 5 Stars

MONTANA MARINE by Debra Parmley is a contemporary Romantic suspense novella set in the Brotherhood Protectors Kindle World. This novella is heavier on the suspense and intrigue plot while more on the sweet side romantically than other stories in the Brotherhood Protectors series.

Lucy Wood is hoping to only work for her demanding boss, Angelica Glory until she gets a job designing costumes in Hollywood. When Lucy starts receiving personal gifts from an unknown person, Lucy and Angelica are shipped out to an isolated ranch in Montana for protection.

Retired Marine Recon Gunnery Sergeant Jack Barr has retired from the service. He gets a job offer from the Brotherhood Protectors security service in Montana as a bodyguard for a pampered, spoiled Hollywood bombshell, Angelica Glory. Jack may appreciate Angelica’s looks, but he is captivated by the shy and tiny assistant. As their attraction grows, so does the obsession of the stalker to collect the woman of his dreams.

Jack and Lucy are very cute together, the big, alpha Marine and the shy, tiny assistant. The dialogue flows realistically and the romance is well written for the time constraints. The plot does have a nice little twist at the climax, but it was easy to guess. Though predictable, this is an enjoyable and fast read if you want a novella on the sweeter side from the Brotherhood Protectors series.

Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.