Tag: #series

Book Review: Serenity Stalked by Craig A. Hart

serenity stalked

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

Another fast paced thriller featuring Shelby Alexander from Craig A. Hart. Yes, please!

SERENITY STALKED (The Shelby Alexander Thriller Series Book 2) has everything you want in an action packed, short, intense and tightly plotted thriller. In this second book, a serial killer has made his way to small town Serenity to make an anonymous kill and move on, until he sees Carly.

Shelby’s girlfriend, Carly asks him to deliver a message to an ex-boyfriend to quit texting her. The message is delivered, but then the ex-boyfriend, his wife and baby are all found murdered the next day. Shelby is seen leaving the home and an anonymous caller tells Sheriff Wilkes he can find the knife that killed them in Shelby’s storage shed. Since no love is lost between these two, Wilkes is ready to lock Shelby up.

True crime writer, Quinn Edwards warns Shelby of his impending arrest and tells him to get lost and she will help with the case. Believe her or not, Shelby goes, but Carly won’t leave with him and this is just what the killer is waiting for.

This is a quick read that you will want to finish in one sitting. As with Mr. Hart’s first Shelby book, all of the characters are fully fleshed. Shelby is a great lead character with wisdom, strength he has realized is changing with his age and his own moral code. I am looking forward to many more adventures featuring Shelby.

Book Review: Adrift by Micki Browning

adrift

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

Well, another new author has me hooked by her debut mystery for her series.

ADRIFT (A Mer Cavalllo Mystery #1) by Micki Browning features Dr. Meredith “Mer” Cavallo, a marine biologist, currently working as a safety dive master in the Florida Keys as she waits for a funded research position. On a normal afternoon tourist group dive, Mer rescues a man five miles from the boat he came out on, who swears he doesn’t know how he got there and he saw a ghost on the wreck of the USS Spiegel Grove.

Mer needs money and is financially bribed into a night dive with a paranormal group filming a documentary trying to prove the existence of the ghost on the USS Spiegel Grove. The dive goes terribly wrong and Mer stands to lose all of her scientific credibility because she believes she saw a ghost as she tries to save one diver while she loses another. The police are suspicious of Mer because she was involved in both incidents surrounding the wreck and she knows she has to clear her name if she is to have a chance to return to academia and she refuses to believe in ghosts.

This story has mystery, suspense, surprising plot twists and a great lead character.  Ms. Browning leads you down one path, only to twist and turn you onto another, always with facts and logic. I have never been to The Keys or been diving and yet I was never bored or lost as the logistics and technical elements were woven into the story. Mer is a character that at first was a little too cold for me, but as I got to know her through a past love interest (who is going to be an interesting story himself), her brothers and mother, you realize that she isn’t really cold, just intellectually brilliant and socially inept, similar to Dr. Brennan from the Bones series. I am now hooked and need to know what path Mer will follow in the future. Hopefully the next book will be out soon!

Thanks so much to Random House Publishing Group-Alibi and Net Galley for allowing me to read this eARC in exchange for an honest review. Looking forward to more in this series.

Book Review: Isabella: Bride of Ohio by Debra Parmley and Robert Arrow

bride of Ohio

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

ISABELLA: BRIDE OF OHIO (American Mail-Order Brides Series, #17) by Debra Parmley is part of an interesting writing project. Fifty authors are writing a fifty book American Mail-Order Bride series that releases one book a day for fifty days.

Isabella Britta Stolt arrives from Sweden with her parents only to have them quarantined on Ellis Island and die. On her own at seventeen, she hears of work in a factory in Massachusetts. It is long and tiring work, but she has a roommate from Sweden and a few friends. Then the factory burns down. Luckily Isabella and her friends make it out alive, but now they must all make decisions for their futures.

A mail-order bride paper is passed around the factory girls and they decide to try their luck with the gentlemen they find to write to. Isabella writes to Donald Jenks, who seems to be a successful accountant in Yellow Springs, OH looking for a wife. His description of his home and life is everything a future bride would want, so she begins her journey to Ohio.

On the train to Ohio, Isabella meets two men; one who will try to kidnap her and one who will save her more than once. Thomas “Tom” Allenby is an undercover Pinkerton man working a case of missing women from the train. He is instantly taken with Isabella and comes to her rescue. He knows she is taken, but he will cross paths with her again in her future home.

This is not the typical mail-order bride romance where they live happily ever after. This groom is not who he seems and the story takes a major twist. There is a forced sex scene, but it is mostly described and not played out in present time description. Isabella is a woman of her time with few choices, but she has the resilience and strength to always move forward. I loved Isabella and was so glad she got the HEA she deserved in the end.

Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.com.

Book Review: Strike Fear by Beth Rhodes

strike fear

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

I have anticipated reading STRIKE FEAR (Hawk Elite Security Book 2) by Beth Rhodes after having read and reviewed Strike Back, the first book in this series.

Tancredo “Tan” Byrne has been made head of the new Personal Safety Department for Hawk Elite Security. He enjoys the excitement of the overseas operations, but he feels he has to stay close to what is left of his family. Growing up poor, the service saved him from the streets, but his mother has always had substance abuse problems, his brother committed suicide in prison and his sister is autistic and mainly left on her own. Not many know of his family’s past and current problems and he wants to keep it that way.

When Tan is hired by Elizabeth’s father to make sure Elizabeth knows how to stay safe and to continue her personal security training, he feels it will be an easy job since she was a world class athlete. He feels she is a spoiled, rich princess that has been given everything until he spends more time with her and starts to realize his mistake.

Elizabeth “Liz” Whitney was a world champion skater until she was attacked. It took a year of healing and rehab to get back on her feet, but the fear has always remained. It is a daily effort to live on her own and get her skate costume design business going. She has refused help from family and makes sure Tan realizes her accomplishments have been hard earned on her own.

What starts as a training assignment turns into the need for a personal bodyguard when Liz is attacked and she resembles the victims of a killer on the loose. There are plenty of suspects and until the killer is caught, Liz is in constant danger.

I enjoyed this installment to the Hawk Elite Security series. It is a typical bodyguard romantic suspense story that while having no new twists, was well written. I was impressed that Ms. Rhodes included instances of racial prejudice that most interracial stories avoid. There is a lot of sexual tension between Tan and Liz as he fights to maintain his distance, but when they do get together, the sex scenes are hot and steamy. A very satisfying addition to the series.

Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.com.

Book Review: Mistletoe Mischief by J.M. Madden

mistletoe mischief

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

Once again I am in tears over the men of Lost N Found! In only one short novella and two very short stories I had to grab the tissues three times. Oh, and they were heartfelt, happy tears!

MISTLTOE MISCHIEF (Lost and Found, #5.5) by J.M. Madden is worth every minute. I rarely give a novella more than 4 stars because they are just too short to either satisfy you emotionally or have a strong enough story to tell to stand on its own. These stories are those rare exceptions and worth a full 5 stars. Ms. Madden knows how to bring these wounded warriors to life and to match them to their perfect mates.

Roger just cannot believe the vision of a woman that he is set up with as a blind-date for the LNF Christmas Eve party. She doesn’t seem to be bothered by his scars and prosthetic arm. Cassandra is a plus-sized woman, who has pulled herself out of poverty to become a graphic designer, but still has body image problems and no luck with good men. At first, she has a hard time believing the flattering things Roger says to her. Instantly though it becomes apparent that they both can be what the other wants and needs if they are willing to believe.

The next story revisits Gabe and Julie and the continuing struggle for Gabe to be more present in the now and remember, but let go of his time with his SEAL team. Time seems to be helping with them.

The last story revisits Zeke, Ember and little Drew. Their first Christmas together and everything is moving along, but Zeke is still hesitant about his scarred face until his run in with another student from Drew’s school.

I love all of the LNF guys so much and all I want is happiness for them all, but that J.M. has to put them through their paces to get it. This is one of my favorite series and group of true heroes. I highly recommend all of these books!

Book Review: Retribution by Shana Figueroa

retribution

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

This is only the second book in this series and it is already one of my “must read” urban fantasy series! RETRIBUTION (Valentine Shepherd #2) by Shana Figueroa gave me complex characters, a plot that continues to surprise and kick-butt action. This second book, while still having smokin’ hot sex scenes, is more focused on the world-building and plot.

At the end of the first book, P.I. Valentine Shepherd walks away from her relationship with Max Carressa. Val can see the future, but it is usually only death and destruction outcomes that she sees. She has tried to change the future and has managed a very few times to accomplish it, but usually the worst outcome occurs. She has seen their future and rather than try to change it, she walks away.

Six months has passed. Val has a new case of a girl who has disappeared. As she follows leads on the girl, Val is abducted and remembers nothing that happened to her for 12 hours. When she tries to piece together what happened, she finds two uploads on the internet of the missing girl and herself, unconscious and being sexually abused. Now all Val wants is revenge and she needs Max’s connections and help.

Max has tried to move on and has become engaged and adopted a dog to try and get the normal life he has always craved, but he is hiding an Oxy addiction that he is using to bury his real feelings. When Val calls, he knows he will do anything to help her, no matter the cost.

The first third of the book, I was so involved with Val and Max’s pain and self-destruction. They were both hurting so desperately and wouldn’t admit it to each other. The main plot of the book, a mad scientist with psychic abilities who wants to experiment on Val and Max is resolved, but you still have the overarching series story of the cabal that wants Val and Max together to steal their future child.

The secondary characters are just as complex and you never know if they are helping or hurting Val and Max or strictly out for their own gain. The plot twists and weaves all of these characters into an intense story that moves at a fast pace throughout. I love this series and cannot wait for the next book!

Thanks very much to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Net Galley for allowing me to read an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.