Feature Post and Book Review: Be Your Everything by Catherine Bybee

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for BE YOUR EVERYTHING (The D’Angelos Book #2) by Catherine Bybee.

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

From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Catherine Bybee comes a romance about childhood friends who marry in Vegas and embark on a wild ride to find their happily ever after.

With two protective older brothers and a traditional Catholic Italian mother, it’s surprising that Chloe D’Angelo can manage a date without someone in the family naysaying her romantic choice. And Dante Mancuso…oh, no. Her brother’s best friend is not a dating-app right swipe.

But when they are left unsupervised on a late night in Vegas, all of that changes. Add in a Vegas wedding chapel and a couple of “I dos” and Chloe wakes up with a ring on her finger and a hangover. Dating Dante was always a secret desire, but marriage? The rift that this news would cause in her family has the both of them keeping their nuptials to themselves as they scramble to undo their Vegas mistake.

Dante knew the rules: Chloe was off limits. Only he can’t stop once his mind starts to believe she might be his forever. Just as their attraction deepens, Chloe flees to Bali, desperate to clear her head.

All Dante has to do is keep her brothers from killing him and convince her that they are meant for each other. But first, Dante has to find her.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61021730-be-your-everything?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_18

BE YOUR EVERYTHING

by Catherine Bybee

Montlake Romance

On sale November 15, 2022

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

BE YOUR EVERYTHING (The D’Angelos Book #2) by Catherine Bybee is another wonderful contemporary romance about members of the D’Angelo family who are a traditional Italian family. This story features Chloe who is the baby of the family and her brother’s best-friend, Dante. While this is the second book in the series, you can easily read it as a standalone, but you will love this family so much, I know you will want to go back and read the first book When It Falls Apart.

Chloe D’Angelo loves working at her family’s restaurant, but she has bigger dreams. Her dream trip to Bali must wait until after her oldest brother’s wedding. The entire bridal party is off for a Las Vegas weekend to celebrate before the wedding. Chloe has always had a crush on her middle brother’s best friend and now in Vegas, she is ready to show Dante what he has been missing by avoiding her as they grew up together.

Dante Mancuso is like a third brother to the D’Angelo brothers. While growing up, he was known as a player, and he has kept the reputation even as he works in Italy and only returns to visit his family and the D’Angelo’s. Now, home for the wedding and looking to set up a branch of his business at home, Dante is finding Chloe difficult to resist even as he knows he is breaking the brothers’ code of not dating their sister.

But crazy things happen in Las Vegas and Dante goes all in and he and Chloe run into a Vegas wedding chapel. The next morning, they know they are going to cause family upheaval, so they decide to keep the marriage a secret. As their attraction grows, Chloe flees to Bali and Dante is going to have to prove to her they are meant to be together.

I loved this story and the entire series to-date is entertaining and fun. I lived in an Italian neighborhood for many years and the traditions and family bonds are very accurately portrayed in this series. From the nonnas keeping an eye on everyone and the close-knit families and Sunday mass, these stories take me back to this neighborhood. Chloe and Dante are fully drawn characters and their relationship is believable and the sex scenes were not gratuitous. All the characters are realistic and make me want to be a member of their family and community. This book has everything I am looking for in a contemporary romance and I did not want it to end.

I highly recommend this contemporary romance, this series, and this author!

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Excerpt

“Go! I don’t want to see any of you back here until Monday.”

Chloe stood outside the back door of their home in Little Italy, surrounded by both her brothers and her soon-to-be sister-in-law. They all had small suitcases at their feet as the Uber van pulled up to take them to the airport.

Mari, their mother, had a hand on Francesca’s shoulder as they saw the bachelor/bachelorette party off.

“Mama, are you absolutely certain?” Luca, the husband-to-be, her over-worried oldest brother, couldn’t stop the concern that crossed his face anymore than he could the love he had in his eyes for the woman at his side.

He and Brooke were the real deal. Head over heels, all in . . . completely lost in each other.

Chloe couldn’t be happier for them.

They needed Vega. Boy, did they need two nights in Vegas.

“I ran this restaurant before you were born and after with all three of you jumping around. I have it, Luca. Go. Just don’t get married. Wait until you come back for that.”

“What about babies?” Gio, the middle child and smart-ass in the family, asked.

“That you can do,” Mari said with a wink.

Brooke knelt to Franny’s level and gave the eight-year-old a kiss. “Listen to your nonna.”

There were hugs and waves as Giovanni, or Gio, as he was more often called, shoved all the suitcases into the back of the van. 

Gio took the front seat as the rest of them climbed into the back.

“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Luca said to his brother. “Busiest time of the year.”

“It is not. That’s in the summer,” Chloe argued. It was the last week of November. The family restaurant was fully staffed and ran like a well-oiled machine, even with three of their employees out at the same time. “It’s going to be nothing but family and friends, celebrations and ceremonies from here on out. This is the last chance for you two to let loose until it’s all over.” Chloe reminded them.

“You mean until after Christmas,” Gio said.

“Right.” They weren’t taking their honeymoon until after Christmas. After they returned a week into the new year, then it would be Chloe’s turn to get out of town. Her long-awaited tickets to Bali were burning a hole in her pocket.

This was her last opportunity to cut loose until it was all over as well.

Chloe watched their family home disappear from sight. It was a four-story building with the family restaurant on the bottom floor. The second story was the family home where they’d all grown up, and the third floor was where LUca, Brooke, and Franny now lived. On the very top was what used to be guest quarters but now was the bachelor pad that Gio took over. Secretly, Chloe was hoping Gio would find Mrs. Right and move on himself so she could occupy the upstairs apartment as her own space. She loved her mother, but living with her was getting old. As an Italian, Chloe wasn’t going anywhere until she married, that’s just the way things were done in her culture.

“Franny is going to be okay, right?” Brooke asked Luca as they settled in for the short ride to the airport.

Chloe rolled her eyes.

Francesca, Luca’s daughter from his first unfortunate marriage, was probably already elbow-deep in gelato and milking Mari for all the attention and goodies a nonna could give her.

“She’ll be fine,” Luca said, kissing Brooke’s forehead.

The ride to the airport took less than ten minutes, a perk when you lived in San Diego and everything was close. 

Getting through security and waiting in the airport would take longer than the actual flight to Vegas, but it beats a long drive across the California desert any day of the week.

“Thanks again for inviting Mayson to join you guys,” Brooke said to Gio and Luca.

“He’s a friend of yours. He’s a friend of ours.”

“Besides, we need even numbers,” Chloe added. As she said that, she saw Salena waving them over to her side before they entered the TSA line.

“Vegas, baby!” Salena all but yelled for everyone to heard. 

Chloe tossed her arms around one of her dearest friends for a hug. They’d known each other before braces and periods. As ride-and-die friends went, Salena was someone Chloe could count on to be there.

“We could have picked you up,” Gio said.

Salena, who lived in Little Italy as well, shrugged. “It’s okay. I had JOey take me.”

“Joey? Do I know Joey?”

She waved a hand. “Flavor of the month.”

Gio narrowed his eyes. “You’re worse than me.”

“No one is worse than you,” Chloe and Salena said in unison.

The three of them fell in line behind Luca and Brooke, who were arm in arm and whispering in each other’s ears.

“They do know that we have separate rooms, right?” Chloe asked her brother.

“Yes.”

“I don’t think that’s going to matter,” Salena added.

“Divide and conquer. Once everyone arrives, we have dinner, pull straws on who is in charge for the night, and go to our separate clubs.” Gio lowered his voice. “We’ll give them tomorrow afternoon to knock it out.”

Chloe laughed. “We may never see them again.”

Salena nudged Chloe’s shoulder as they inched their way up the line. “Is Dante flying directly from Italy?’

Just hearing Dante’s name had Chloe standing taller. Gio’s best friend, and the one boy that had always been “off-limits” for oh so many reasons, was the cause of many sleepless nights.

The man only grew more beautiful with every year that passed. 

And he knew it.

And the women knew it.

All the women!

“He’s already in the States. New York, He’ll be in Vegas about an hour after we land.”

Salena nudged Chloe again with a grin once Gio turned around.

Stop. Chloe mouthed the word without sound.

Once they moved through security, they found their gate for the forty-five-minutes wait to board the plane.

Salena and Chloe sat with their luggage while the others went to find coffee and water for the flight.

“Are you prepared for a weekend with Dante?” Salena asked once they were alone.

Chloe shook her head. “Listen to you. It was a high school crush.”

Salena laughed. “I’m pretty sure it started in fifth grade and never ended.”

“He’s lived in Italy for the better part of five years.”

“And every time he comes home, you forget how to speak.”

“That’s not true.”

Salena glared. 

Okay, it was a little bit true. “I did better last year.” It helped that she stayed out of his orbit that time around and he was only home for a month.

“How long is he staying this time?”

“No idea,” Chloe said. Her cell phone pinged, grabbing her attention.

She opened her messages inside a dating app she’d been on for a few weeks.

“Who is that?” Salena asked, looking over her shoulder.

Chloe glanced at the image on her screen, the one she’d swiped right on. He was thirty, no kids. Worked somewhere in La Jolla. “His name is Eric. We’ve been texting for a few days.”

“He’s cute.”

“I thought so.”

His text came through, asking what she was doing. She started typing.

“Have you met him yet?”

Chloe shook her head, finished her message about the bachelorette party in Vegas.

“Are you going to?”

Three dots indicated he was typing.

:Only if he asks.” As progressive as she was, she found it necessary for the man to take the first steps.

“You know . . . if you stack the desk with dates while Dante is in town, it might be easier to be around the man.”

Salena had a point.

Chloe’s phone buzzed.

How about meeting for coffee when you get back? Wednesday enough time for you to sleep off the hangover?

Chloe showed the message to Salena.

“Say yes.”

Her friend was right. Chloe needed all the help she could get when Dante was home. If her attention was elsewhere, maybe he’d lose his appeal.

She agreed to coffee with Eric on Wednesday and told him she’d get in touch when she returned.

“I have a feeling this weekend is going to be one for the record books,” Salena said as she watched more passengers arrive for their flight.

“It’s likely the one and only time I’ll be in Vegas with both my brothers.”

“Considering how they’ve helicoptered you since your papa passed, that’s not a bad thing.”

She’d been seventeen when their father died. Luca became the head of the family while he had a one-year-old and a failing marriage. What a crappy couple of years that had been. Now, things are looking up. For all of them.

She’d finished her college classes and earned her business degree. But instead of working for someone else, she wanted to do something on her own. She blamed her family for that. Yes, she waited tables at their restaurant and, honestly, liked the job. But what she loved more than anything was teaching yoga. Her trip to Bali was supposed to happen the year the world shut down, and it was only now that time and the world’s health were giving her the opportunity to go. She knew, somehow, that the trip was going to guide her to whatever her path was going to be. Maybe she’d start her own studio or her own online channel. Brooke had a boatload of knowledge about marketing and was on board with helping her start up. Financially, Chloe had banked nearly everything she’d earned from the first day she started working and was more ready than most to begin her future.

Her father, in all his wisdom, had taken out a life insurance policy that their mother had divided and put into investment plans for each of them. Luca immediately put everything in his name to his daughter. Giovanni was itching to invest in a vineyard. The resident sommelier wanted to spend time in Tuscany as much as she wanted to spend time in Bali. So, while they did pull shifts waiting tables, doing what had to be done to make the family restaurant run, it wasn’t their lifelong ambition. Well, Luca was the chef, and that was his life’s choice . . . and she and Gio were thankful for it.

“They promised not to act like big brothers in Vegas,” Chloe said.

“Yeah, well, they aren’t going to the same strip clubs we are.”

The image of her brothers holding a hand over her eyes made her smile. “Thank God for that.

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About the Author

Catherine is a #1 Wall Street Journal, Amazon, and Indie Reader bestselling author. In addition, her books have also graced The New York Times and USA Today bestsellers lists. In total she has written thirty-six beloved books that have collectively sold more than 10 million copies and have been translated into more than twenty languages.

Raised in Washington State, Bybee moved to Southern California in the hope of becoming a movie star. After growing bored with waiting tables, she returned to school and became a registered nurse, spending most of her career in urban
emergency rooms. She now writes full time and has penned the Not Quite series, The Weekday Brides series, the Most Likely To series, and the First Wives series. Learn more about Catherine and her books at www.catherinebybee.com

Social Media Links

Website: http://www.catherinebybee.com 

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/catherinebybee 

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@catherinebybee1 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2905789.Catherine_Bybee  

Purchase Links

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Y5FV1LR?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_1&storeType=ebooks

BN:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/be-your-everything-catherine-bybee/1141400366?ean=9781542034883

BAM:  https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Be-Your-Everything/Catherine-Bybee/9781542034883?id=7850591409347

Book Depo:  https://www.bookdepository.com/Be-Your-Everything-Catherine-Bybee/9781542034883?ref=grid-view&qid=1657911772466&sr=1-2

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: Vanishing Hour by Laura Griffin

Book Description

When a cold case in Texas leads to a sinister string of disappearances, a newcomer to the small town helps a detective piece together the clues in this new romantic thriller from New York Times bestselling author Laura Griffin.

Corporate lawyer Ava Burch has had enough of the big city and the daily grind. She grew up with her father, who raised search-and-rescue dogs, in rural Texas and has moved to the small town of Cuervo to spend time in the dry, rugged wilderness near Big Bend National Park. When she and her dog, Huck, discover an abandoned campsite on a volunteer search-and-rescue mission, she’s perplexed, but she carefully photographs it all the same.
 
All Grant Wycoff can see when he looks at Ava is a city slicker—with her designer jeans and shiny car—who has no business on a serious team made of seasoned outdoorsmen and retired cops. But when she tells him of her findings on the trail, he sees there’s more to her than meets the eye.
 
Ava’s discovery reminds Grant of the unsolved case of a young woman who went missing two years ago. As they look into the campsite further, another woman disappears under odd circumstances. With time running out, Ava and Grant must work against the brutal heat from both the Texas sun and their own electric chemistry to solve the case.

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Elise’s Thoughts

Vanishing Hour by Laura Griffin shows why she is the master of suspenseful romance. This plot has cold cases, search and rescue missions, and a loveable black lab.

Corporate lawyer Ava Burch has had enough of the big city and the daily grind. She grew up with her father, who raised search-and-rescue dogs, in rural Texas and has moved to the small town of Cuervo to spend time in the dry, rugged wilderness near Big Bend National Park. She is also a volunteer working search and rescue with her dog Huck. On a SAR mission, Ava becomes aware that women are missing annually from the hostile desert environment around the town and decides to pursue her own investigation, finding out that there are three missing women, all unsolved cold cases.

Grant Wycoff deputy sheriff and lead investigator reluctantly is paired with Ava since she and Huck can lead him to where there is evidence of the missing women.  He does not want her working his case because she is a civilian and might endanger herself. The two of them don’t see eye to eye about the case. They butt heads digging their boot heels in to see who’s stronger willed. Grant sees her as a city slicker, wearing designer jeans and a driving a shiny new car.  He thinks she has no business on a serious team made of seasoned outdoorsmen and retired cops. She is too stubborn to listen to him and eventually shows him her worth. In addition, they both realize there is chemistry between them. 

This plot has it all: a gripping mystery, a sizzling romance, and plenty of action.  It will keep readers on the edge of their seats with plenty of red herrings placed strategically throughout the story along with real clues.

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: Will this be a series and why a rescue dog?

Laura Griffin: I don’t have plans to make it a series, although the secondary characters have been teed up for more.  I might come back to them, even years later. I became a dog owner about ten years ago. My dog is a Weimaraner. We adopted this sweet dog.  I did some research for a previous book I wrote, Alpha Crew Dogs, about bomb sniffing dogs.  From there I learned about search and rescue dogs.  I really wanted to write a story about this type of dog.

EC:  What about Huck, the dog?

LG:  I started the story with writing about Huck. I wanted to make him an intricate part of the story. Huck is a black lab because I read a book about a park ranger who does search and rescue work.  Labs are smart, sweet, good with people, can be playful, and trainable. Yet, I did not write Huck as having the personality as a human.  But Huck is so intelligent with very powerful smelling abilities and great instinct.  Huck was seen as a danger to the bad guys who tried to eliminate him. Just as with military dogs, the enemy knows they are in trouble because the dog can find ammunition, guns, and bodies. Huck became a threat.

EC:  How would you describe Ava?

LG:  Determined, smart, and underestimated.  She is a woman who grew up in a man’s world of law enforcement.  Her dad was a game warden, so she had experience with law enforcement although she is a civilian.  She can be overly sensitive

EC:  What about the relationship?

LG:  Since her dad was in law enforcement she reflects on if she wants a relationship with someone in that profession.  The job can be wearing on people, her dad was always working, many times preoccupied by the grim facts of his work, and her mom had to raise the children by herself. This caused a conflict between herself and Grant because he is a workaholic.  Ava can read people and is guarded.

EC:  How would you describe Grant?

LG: His home and family are important to him.  He is protective, wants his town to be a better place, very dedicated and committed. He is sweet with a big heart, at times condescending, has a big ego, and stubborn.

EC:  What role did the setting play?

LG:  It takes place in West Texas, which is very remote.  The town is in transition, going from a little town to a tourist town with more people. There is a lot of outdoor activities in the plot including, climbing, hiking, rock climbing, a dude ranch, and shooting a crossbow. During Covid a lot of people shifted to the National Parks. Many times, they did not understand all the dangers of these types of settings. For example, people don’t take water or the correct supplies. They are a little bit careless with their safety considering the natural dangers, which is why Ava and Huck helped to rescue people who got themselves in trouble. I learned about rock climbing when I did the research for Stone Cold Heart.

EC:  Next book?

LG:  It is the next book in the “Texas Murder Files Series” and titled Deep Tide. Leyla is the heroine, who runs the coffee shop.  It will be out in the spring. Leyla finds one of her employees murdered in the alley behind her coffee shop.  The hero is Sean Moran, who is on an undercover mission.  Together he and Leyla are trying to solve who murdered her employee and why.

THANK YOU!!

Book Tour/Feature Post and Book Review: Cleopatra’s Vendetta by Avanti Centrae

Hi, everyone!

Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for CLEOPATRA’S VENDETTA (A Stryker Thriller Book #1) by Avanti Centrae on this Black Tide Book Tour.

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

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Book Description

Royal secrets. Epic lies. This “dangerous” and controversial standalone thriller from international bestselling VanOps author Avanti Centrae is a fast-paced bombshell of a story about truth and courage.

Born a goddess, Cleopatra died a prisoner. But the cobra’s deadly kiss was just the beginning…

Global Thriller First Place Winner — Chanticleer International Book Awards
Runner Up — Paris Book Festival

Bari, Italy, present day. Think tank Special Ops leader Timothy Stryker and his wife Angie, a self-made CEO, haven’t exactly been seeing eye-to-eye. They take a much-needed Italian holiday, but it comes to a shocking end when Angie and their daughter are kidnapped.

Still raw from the death of their infant son, Stryker is desperate to rescue Angie and reconcile their differences. As he works to locate the captors’ lair, he discovers the kidnappers are behind a string of recent assassinations and attempting another high-profile hit in only seven days. But when he learns their plans for his only remaining child, the scab on his heart tears open and blood begins to spill.

Working from inside her brutal captors’ high-security compound, Angie realizes the cabal is hiding an ancient secret using modern propaganda techniques. And as Stryker races hitmen across India, Egypt, and Greece to thwart the next assassination and save his family, he has to connect a series of deadly dots tracing all the way back to the time of Cleopatra. Ultimately, the estranged pair must shake the deeply buried pillars of western civilization to save their four-year-old daughter from an unspeakable fate.

Fascinating, provocative, original, and timely, Cleopatra’s Vendetta is a sizzling novel that paints a disturbing picture of some of the most intricate issues that have plagued humanity’s past…challenges that color our days and provide the blueprint for our future.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61489917-cleopatra-s-vendetta?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=oTZfAkIhoy&rank=1

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My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

CLEOPATRA’S VENDETTA (A Stryker Thriller Book #1) by Avanti Centrae is an edge-of-your-seat contemporary thriller full of history and conspiracies featuring a high-tech, highly trained team of military misfits. I read this first book in hopefully a future series very quickly and was unable to put it down.

Tim Stryker, his wife, Angie and their young daughter, Harper are on a much-needed vacation in Italy. It has been a year since the death of their infant son from brain cancer and the family is still suffering. While Stryker has been using meditation and avoidance to deal with his pain, Angie has been abusing alcohol to bury her pain.

Stryker is the lead commander of a group of specialized military operatives who are all highly intelligent, but all also have some reason they do not fit into regular service. He is called away from the family vacation when intel is uncovered that another head of state is marked for assassination which has become a string of assassinations no one has been able to stop.

While away, Stryker’s wife and daughter are kidnapped. They are held in an island prison with many other women being sold into a sex-trafficking operation, and while Angie knows Stryker will come for them, she is CIA trained and determined to protect Harper. While she looks for a way to escape, she uncovers a conspiracy that ties the current assassinations to the historical Cleopatra and her plot to destroy her enemies even after her suicide.

I loved how this exciting thriller weaves two intertwining historical and present-day cabals in an eternal battle and search for treasure and power. The plot is a mystery/conspiracy thriller with plenty of action that blends fact and fiction seamlessly and leaves the reader contemplating many beliefs and mores in our current society. Stryker and his team are all well drawn special ops warriors and I enjoyed the twist of each having some flaw that makes them unable to work on a regular team but binds them all together perfectly.

I highly recommend this exciting thriller!

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About the Author

International multi-award-winning and Amazon #1 bestselling author who blends intrigue, history, science, and mystery into pulse-pounding action thrillers.

Avanti Centrae is the author of the international multi-award-winning VANOPS thriller series. An instant Barnes and Noble Nook bestseller, THE LOST POWER took home a genre grand prize ribbon at the Chanticleer International Book Awards, a bronze medal at the Wishing Shelf Awards, and an Honorable Mention at the Hollywood Book Festival. SOLSTICE SHADOWS won a bronze at the competitive Readers’ Favorite Awards, the Global Thrillers Genre Grand Prize at the most recent Chanticleer Awards, and was a #1 Amazon bestseller in both the U.S and Canada. Her father served as a U.S. marine corporal in Okinawa, gathering military intelligence during the first decade after the Korean War. Her work has been compared to that of James Rollins, Steve Berry, Dan Brown, and Clive Cussler but has a voice all its own.

Social Media Links

· Link

· Twitter

· Instagram

Purchase Link

Universal link for the book on Amazon

Book Review: The Bookshop of Secrets by Mollie Rushmeyer

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

THE BOOKSHOP OF SECRETS by Mollie Rushmeyer is Christian fiction mystery with romantic elements featuring a broken young woman searching for clues to her family’s legacy in missing old first edition books. This is a beautiful inspirational standalone story written by a debut author.

Hope Sparrow is protecting herself from her past by keeping on the move and never letting anyone get close or taking control of her life. She has been led to a small-town bookshop, Dusky Jackets on the shore of Lake Superior. Her mother’s treasured books were sent here, and Hope has come to find them and hopefully they will lead her to a rumored family treasure.

Hope agrees to stay for two months to help in the bookshop and hopefully discover where her books have disappeared to. With the help of the bookshop owner’s grandson, Ronan, they work together to uncover the secrets of the books, hidden treasure and their families’ intertwining pasts.

This debut book is several story threads in one and all of them come together seamlessly in an ending that is satisfying as well as inspirational. Hope’s past is tragic and Ronan’s family curse and accident have left him with more than physical scars and yet they come together and continually prove to each other that they are more than their pasts. The mystery of the missing books and the search for lost treasure is intricately woven into the story with plenty of twists and surprises. I feel Hope and Ronan’s growing relationship is realistically portrayed as well as their return to their belief in God’s love for them. There are several literary as well as biblical quotes throughout this story.

I highly recommend this book debut novel of hope, love, and inspiration with an intricate mystery intertwined throughout.

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About the Author

Mollie Rushmeyer writes “Contemporary Fiction with a Heart for History.” What does this mean exactly? She loves to write inspirational fiction in contemporary settings with fascinating historical elements, people, objects, and stories woven throughout.

A modern girl herself, she wouldn’t want to go a day without modern plumbing and central air! But she’s always felt a special connection to the past. The legacies and lives left behind are like gifts waiting to be unwrapped, and she plans to share this blend of history and contemporary living with readers.

A born and bred Midwestern gal, Mollie Rushmeyer, makes her home in Minnesota with her husband and two spunky, beautiful daughters. She is not only a bibliophile (the dustier the better, in her opinion), she’s a true anglophile at heart. Tea and coffee fuel her travels, by Google maps at least, and her passion for the written word.

Her debut novel with Love Inspired Trade/Harlequin, a division of HarperCollins Publishers will release in October of 2022.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.molliejrushmeyer.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mollie.rushmeyer

Twitter: https://twitter.com/mollierushmeyer

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

Friday Feature Author Interview with Elise Cooper: The Love and Honor Series by Hallee Bridgeman

The “Love and Honor Series” by Hallee Bridgeman explores how those in Special Forces keep Americans safe. This first novel was released in September. The second will be published on October 4, and the third will be released November 1. All three books show how a hero and heroine must navigate their feelings to never compromise the mission.

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Book Descriptions and Elise’s Thoughts

Honor Bound has a hero and heroine who are at odds with one another. Captain Rick Norton and Dr. Cynthia Myers argue and discuss how her pacifism is misguided and that sometimes violence must be met with violence, including killing the evil enemy.  Readers gain an insightful look at what is necessary for Special Forces to protect their fellow citizens. Rick and Cynthia meet in Africa where she has a clinic deep in the jungle to help those women who are pregnant.  After a warlord comes into the area it becomes necessary for Rick’s unit to take them down to save Cynthia’s life. The “A-Team” has a mission to take down the warlord and to bring Cynthia home since she is the Vice-President’s daughter. But danger seems to meet them everywhere and it is up to Rick and his men to keep her safe. 

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Word of Honor has FBI Special Agent Lynda Culter investigating an ecoterrorist organization in the Alaskan wilderness when her partner is taken captive and murdered before her very eyes. The only person who can identify the key players, Lynda, gets assigned to take part in a joint operation in Istanbul to take the organization down. She must go undercover as a Muslim wife and pretend to be married to US Army weapons specialist Bill Sanders.  The problem is they had a history back in college where he crushed her heart. To find the ecoterrorists and who is behind their bombings of oil pipelines that killed innocent civilians they must go deep undercover. 

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Honor’s Refuge delves into abuse of women. When she was just five years old, Melissa Braxton watched her father take her mother’s life. Separated from her sister, Lola, at that time, Melissa grew up with a strong desire to help those stuck in abusive relationships. It’s why she became a family therapist and opened a domestic abuse shelter. After she meets Phil “Ozzy” Osbourne they form a bond.  He is intent to use his Special Forces contacts to track down her missing sister.  Unfortunately, it is harder than expected since she is the wife and had a child with a drug lord cartel member. Ozzy and Melissa work together to rescue her sister, save innocents, and bring down the cartel.

Each of these books has a great mixture of suspense, drama, and romance. Readers will understand the job those in the military must do and the challenges they must face. 

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Author Interview

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the series?

Hallee Bridgeman: The series will be published once a month, one in September, one in October, and one in November. I wanted to write a Special Forces series. The first book does not take place in the desert, but in the jungle. The second book take place in Turkey and Kuwait, and the third book in the US.

EC: Did you have any experience with the military?

HB:  Not me explicitly, but my family does.  My father was a US Army Airborne Ranger. He retired when I was an adult.  My husband deployed to Afghanistan with the 20th Special Forces Airborne Group.  Within our military community we have several friends who are still in Special Forces units.  I was able to ask questions, gain knowledge, and confirm facts with several sources who have served or are serving. I wanted to be realistic and write a true book about real people.

EC:  How is the theme of honor in each book present?

HB:  All three of these men are a force and step in front of the enemy. One of the definitions of honor is “adherence to what is right.” It is engrained in them. My husband re-enlisted in 2001, after September 11th.  He did it because he was a combat veteran with a sense of honor and duty. Each of the women characters wanted to help people.  Cynthia is a doctor, Lynda was an FBI agent, and Melissa had a non-profit women’s abuse shelter.

EC:  Why Africa as the setting in Honor Bound?

HB: It has a large jungle.  I needed the characters to be there for several days.  I created a fictional country there with a big river and a giant city. I had so many options with this Continent.

EC:  Do you think the main character Cynthia, was a bit naïve?

HB:  She was trained to be in a specific environment. She is completely naïve about our warriors.  A lot of people have a misconception of what peace can entail and what it takes to achieve peace.  They have the idea of turning the other cheek, but the reality is sometimes force is necessary. People that do not have this experience cannot really grasp it. Peace does not always come because someone wants it. Sometimes people must be protected. Sometimes it takes someone with strength to allow the Pacifists to be who they are.   They say things from their armchair.

EC: What about Cynthia’s reaction?

HB:  Her perspective changed when it was no longer about her, but when it was about her father. She reacted to the fact men were killed to save her life.  A lot of her reaction was knee-jerk to that emotional traumatic moment. They were evil bad men who needed to be stopped.

EC:  You have a quote about weapons being tools said by the hero, Rick?

HB:  You are referring to this one, “the real weapon isn’t the rifle or the pistol or the knife.  It’s me.” My husband as he was deploying to Afghanistan in 2002, at the airline gate, getting on a plane, had his nail clippers taken. He is holding a loaded automatic weapon.  His reaction was “seriously.” It is the person wielding whatever it is. It doesn’t matter what you have, but if you know what to do with it.

EC:  How would you describe Rick?

HB:  Loyal, responsible, intense, and courageous. Duty needs to come first, and he is oozing with integrity.

EC:  Moving on to Word of Honor-how did you get the idea for this story?

HB:  I did not want to write another story where there was a civilian who needed to be saved.  I wanted to come up with a joint-task force.  In real life within an intense operation there is no romance.  Because of that I had the hero and heroine have a back history of an intense relationship. I wanted to have a different enemy; eco-terrorist tied in with the Russian Mafia.

EC:  How would you describe Lynda?

HB:  Intense, driven, and analytical.

EC:  Is Bill a lot different than Rick?

HB:  Yes, he enlisted not for duty but for security. His motivations were different. He is more sarcastic, with a larger sense of humor. He is a tortured hero with a lot of backstory baggage.

EC:  How about the relationship now?

HB:  Lynda Carter, the FBI Agent counters Bill Sanders easy going charm. She is his personality opposite.

EC:  What about your last book, Honor’s Refuge?

HB:  I thought it would originally be a novella. But when I wrote the character Ozzy from the first book, I had enough material to write a book.

EC:  How would you describe Ozzy?

HB:  He joined the army to escape his addiction.

EC:  Your next book?

HB:  The fourth book will be the wedding between Melissa and Ozzy on a cruise ship.  All his teammates will be there with their significant others.  Pirates will try to take over the ship.  It will be out in February. There will be also a romance between the Communications Sgt, Fisher, and the cruise singer.

THANK YOU!!

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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.

Book Review: Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE by Deanna Raybourn is an action-packed and humorous thriller featuring four female assassins ready to retire and enjoy their pensions, but the organization they have worked for their entire careers now has them on the termination list. This is a standalone book that I could not put down.

Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked as an elite assassination team for the clandestine Museum. They were brought together and trained initially to kill former Nazis in hiding, but the Museum also chose dictators, arms dealers, and the like who were a threat to democracy and society. They survived it all for forty years and are now ready to retire.

The four are sent packages for an all-expense paid cruise for their retirement. On board, Billie recognizes a crew member as an explosives expert for the Museum. As they investigate, they discover they have an extermination order placed on their heads from the Board of the Museum. They realize to enjoy their retirement years; they are going to have to work together and show the Board the true abilities of killers of a certain age.

While there are graphic depictions of assassination and murder in this thriller, there are also at other times snarky and hilarious scenes and dialogue. The story is mainly told by Billie, who leads the group of friends more times than not, but the reader does get to know all the women and their personal stories. As much as the story focuses on the women fighting back to survive, it also covers age related issues and mature relationships. The plot is well written with a fast pace and some unexpected twists. This book is just so much fun to read and a unique thriller which usually focus on male assassins.

I highly recommend this thriller!

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About the Author

New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist Deanna Raybourn is a 6th-generation native Texan. She graduated with a double major in English and history from the University of Texas at San Antonio. Married to her college sweetheart and the mother of one, Raybourn makes her home in Virginia. Her novels have been nominated for numerous awards including the Edgar, two RT Reviewers’ Choice awards, the Agatha, two Dilys Winns, and a Last Laugh. She launched a new Victorian mystery series with the 2015 release of A CURIOUS BEGINNING, featuring intrepid butterfly-hunter and amateur sleuth, Veronica Speedwell. Veronica’s second adventure is A PERILOUS UNDERTAKING (January 2017), and book three, A TREACHEROUS CURSE, was published in 2018 and nominated for the Edgar Award. A DANGEROUS COLLABORATION was released in 2019, and A MURDEROUS RELATION appeared in 2020 and AN UNEXPECTED PERIL published in March 2021. The latest Veronica Speedwell adventure, AN IMPOSSIBLE IMPOSTOR, will be published in February, 2022. Deanna’s first contemporary novel featuring four female assassins who must band together to take out their nemesis as they prepare for retirement, KILLERS OF A CERTAIN AGE, will be published in September of 2022.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.deannaraybourn.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/deannaraybourn