Feature Post and Book Review: Bayou City Burning by D.B. Borton

Hi, everyone!

I want to share this Feature Post and Book Review for BAYOU CITY BURNING (Harry and Dizzy Lark Book 1) by D.B. Borton which is being released June 1st. Below you will find a synopsis, an excerpt from the book, my book review and the author’s bio and social media.

This is a historical crime mystery set in the 1960’s in Houston, TX with a father/daughter hard-boiled detective duo. Oh, and did I mention the daughter is 12 years old! I highly recommend this first book in this new series and cannot wait to read more.

***

Synopsis

Houston, 1961

Texas’ slickest politician has lost his presidential bid to a good-looking naval hero from Massachusetts. President Kennedy wants to put a man on the moon, and the Freedom Riders are raising morale for local civil rights activists.

Sleepy backwater Houston finds itself short on air conditioning just when things are heating up.

In a seedy downtown office, a well-dressed out-of-towner hires P.I. Harry Lark to tail two D.C. visitors looking to build NASA a space center. The more Harry finds, the more he suspects he’s working for the wrong side, and vows to wash his hands of the case. Meanwhile, Harry’s twelve-year-old daughter Dizzy is puzzling over a mystery of her own—she’s running a lost-and-found out of a suburban garage and is unexpectedly hired to find a missing dad who’s supposed to be dead and buried.

When Harry’s client turns up dead in his office, and mobsters start hounding him for cash, Harry realizes he needs the help he can get, even if it comes from his daughter. As Harry and Dizzy’s cases converge, thing is clear: some wants Houston to look like a lawless Wild West cowtown. Together, Harry and Dizzy are going to find out who that is.

***

Excerpt


It was there, and then it wasn’t: a grainy, pockmarked triangle slashed by a dark shadow. First the edges blurred into an impres sionist dream of earth tones and light, then the cut of a thin shadow skimmed across the surface, and then—darkness. Nothing to see, no matter how I strained my eyes.

Static, like a windstorm against a microphone, accented by highpitched beeps.

A calm male voice: “Contact light. Okay, engine stop.”
Then another voice, a familiar twang, Texan: “We copy you down, Eagle.”
The first voice again: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”


Later, I heard that about five million people all over the world were doing exactly what I was doing at that moment. I had a summer job as a day camp counselor at the local Y, but they sent everybody home early that day—kids, counselors, and staff—to watch two men land on the moon, just like President Kennedy had promised they would eight years before.
In the thrill of the moment, it was hard to predict what people would remember afterward. Probably they’d remember the words, “The Eagle has landed.” But I’d remember the part that came before. I’d remember the first word in that announcement: Houston.

If it hadn’t been for my old man, that word might have been different.

Some people regard my father Harry as a two-bit shamus. They see him as a licensed peeper with a gun under his coat and the ethics of an alligator lizard. I’ve seen him that way myself. But he’s got his principles. And I knew as I sat in our chilly living room, curtains drawn against the blazing star that lit up the lunar surface and melted the Texas sidewalks, that this was his gift to me: that word.

He didn’t have to do it. The other side was safer, and they paid better, too.
But I was his little girl, and he wanted to make me happy.

“Where’s your secretary?” He angled a thumb over his shoulder toward the outer office. Two rings winked at me, a diamond and a signet.


“She must’ve stepped out,” I said noncommittally.

Jeanie had “stepped out” about six months ago when I’d traded her salary for a set of braces for my son. I liked to keep up appearances, though, so I hung an old sweater from the back of Jeanie’s chair and sprayed it with perfume from time to time—mostly rejects from my daughter’s Christmas gift exchanges. I filed some things on Jeanie’s desk instead of in the wastebasket and kept a page in the typewriter.
But what did he care, unless he was worried about witnesses?


I nodded at the wooden chair in front of my desk and angled a packet of Winstons in his direction. “What can I do for you?”


He slung his raincoat over the arm of the chair. It dripped small dark stains onto the rug. He took a cigarette and we lit up. Then he settled back in the chair and grimaced. I studied his tie, waiting for him to speak. It was the same slate gray as the suit and thin as a razor blade.


“I need some information about an event that’s taking place here next week,” he said. “In town, I mean.” He waved his cigarette in the direction of the window and grimaced. The grimace told me that he’d never consider promoting Houston from a backwater berg to a city. His voice was flat and forgettable—the kind of voice that could have read the daily stock report.
“And what would that be?”


“Two men are coming down from Washington, DC. I want to know what they’re doing here, where they go, who they see. Pictures, too.”


“What’s the beef?” I said.

“Let’s say that I suspect these men of conspiring to defraud taxpayers by engaging in certain underhanded practices that stand to damage my business interests and those of my associates.” He was looking at Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was hanging on my wall, when he said it. If Ike didn’t like this story, he didn’t say so. I didn’t like it, but I was in hock to a certain orthodontist, so I refrained from comment.


“Let’s say that,” I said. “And you would be Mr.—?”

“Smith.” His gaze returned to me and his eyelids dropped to halfmast over the cigarette smoke. “My name is Smith.”

“Well, Mr. Smith,” I said, “I get fifty dollars a day plus expenses.”


“Isn’t that a little steep?” he said.


I shrugged. “I have to pay for the air conditioning.” Besides, his suit told me he could afford it.

He gestured with his cigarette. “And I suppose all the other private dicks in Houston have to pay for air conditioning, too.”

I grinned. “You’re welcome to go ask them.”


I left it up to him to imagine spending the hours between now and his departure time sitting in a Houston office without air conditioning instead of cooling his heels in a lounge near the airport. I felt sure he was doing it, too.


“Yeah, all right,” he said.


My marks were Philip Miller and John Parsons. Their work had something to do with space research.


“What kind of space research?” I said, frowning. “You mean for business expansion?”

“Hey, that’s right.” He pointed the cigarette at me. “Business expansion. But the business is space—outer space.”

My phone rang. The voice on the other end was accusatory. “You were supposed to pick me up ten minutes ago for the orthodontist.”


Since he’d become a teenager, my son Hal addressed me in one of three tones of voice—bored, superior, and disgruntled. He’d found it harder to manage since he’d acquired a mouthful of metal and rubber bands, but not impossible.


I pretended to check my desk calendar and make a notation. “Yes, that’s fine,” I said. “I’ll be there.”


“I’m going to be late for the orthodontist,” Hal said.


“That’s all right. Happy to help out. Thanks for calling.” I hung up and raised my eyes to my visitor. “Where were we?”

“Space.”


“I don’t know anything about that,” I said.


“I don’t, either,” he said. “But there’s business involved, and a lot of money. That’s all you have to know.”


The two men were due to arrive the following Tuesday at Houston International. He didn’t know the time or the flight, but he gave me photographs of the men. The photographs looked like my kind of photograph—stuff taken with a telephoto lens when the subject didn’t know he was being photographed.

He glanced out the window next to the one with the air conditioner. City buildings gleamed in the rain but there wasn’t much else to look at except the Weather Ball on top of the Texas National
Bank, which blinked to show that precipitation was expected. It didn’t matter to him; he was blowing town anyway, the sooner the better.
He counted out four twenties and laid them on my desk. “That enough to get you started?” he asked. I nodded. He told me he’d come back in a week at the same time.

He was already swabbing the back of his neck with the wet handkerchief as he stood up.

“What if I have to get in touch with you before then?” I said.


“Save it.” He turned his back and headed for the door.

I stood at the window and watched him emerge from the building downstairs, his raincoat over his head like a pup tent. The Chinese laundry on the first floor was kicking up a lot of steam and he gave it a wide berth, stepping gingerly to keep his Italian leather shoes out of the puddles. Then he disappeared around the corner, so I didn’t get to see his car, if he had one. It was probably a rental, anyway. I had already decided that tailing him at this point was a losing proposition. He’d paid me enough to start the work he wanted me to do, but not enough to give me the trouble of tailing him.

Besides, I had a date with my surly teenaged son. I pocketed the twenties and hoped that my daughter’s teeth all stayed as straight as a drill sergeant.

***

My Book Review

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

BAYOU CITY BURNING (Harry and Dizzy Lark Book 1) by D.B. Borton is a new P.I. mystery story and the beginning of a new series. Set in Houston, TX in the 1960’s this father/daughter team are so much fun to get to know and follow as their separate investigations merge into one intriguing mystery case. Did I mention that Dizzy is only 12 years old?

P.I. Harry Lark is happy when a well-dressed out-of-towner shows up at his office. He has orthodontist bills to pay for his son. All he has to do is follow two men from D.C. and let his client know where they go in Houston and who they see. When Harry discovers he is not the only one following these men, he starts to wonder what his client is really interested in.

Desdemona “Dizzy” Lark is not your average 12 year old girl. She has started a business with her two best friends, B.D. and Mel out of her family’s garage. Lost and Found finds lost items collected from the neighborhood and you can have them returned or purchase them for a small trade or fee. Dizzy and her friends are Nancy Drew fans and Dizzy wants to become a P.I. just like her Dad.

As Dizzy and the girls are sitting around the garage, little 7 year old Sissy Heffelman walks up and tells the girls she wants them to find her daddy. An expensive Barbie doll was sent to Sissy on her birthday and she believes it is from her father even though he was supposedly killed in a terrible train wreck weeks before. They take Sissy’s case.

As the girls work their case, Harry’s client is killed in his office while searching for something after breaking in in the night. Harry has mobsters showing up from Chicago and Tampa all looking for something that Harry knows nothing about. Houston got rid of the mob years ago, so why are they back? All of a sudden in once quiet Houston there are bombings tied to picketers and the dockworkers are striking. When Harry and Dizzy begin to compare their cases, they find the two may be connected by a single incident.

This is such a fun, entertaining and intriguing mystery. Harry’s dialogue is filled with old-fashioned hard-boiled P.I. lingo that at first was a little jarring, but then it just blends right into the whole narrative and I could not imagine him talking any other way. It was especially entertaining when Dizzy used the same lingo. Harry and Dizzy have a unique relationship that had me laughing out loud at times. Set in the 1960’s, the author realistically writes about race relations, dirty politicians and the mafia. There are many twists and turns in this fast moving plot that kept me guessing.

I highly recommend this book and I cannot wait to read more mysteries with this father/daughter duo.

***

Author Bio and Social Media

D. B. Borton is the author of two mystery novel series, the Cat Caliban series (Berkley, Hilliard and Harris) and the Gilda Liberty series (Fawcett), as well as recent novels Second Comingand Smoke.

She has published academic work on film, women’s literature, and the supernatural; she is co-author of Haunting the House of Fiction: Feminist Perspectives on Ghost Stories by American Women and Ghost Stories by British and American Women.

She also wrote for Ms. magazine. 

A native Texan, Borton became an ardent admirer of Nancy Drew at a young age. At the age of fourteen, she acquired her own blue roadster, trained on Houston freeways, and began her travels. She also began a lifetime of political activism, working only for candidates who lost. She left Texas about the time everyone else arrived.

D. B. currently teaches writing, film, and literature at Ohio Wesleyan University.

Bayou City Burning is her 13th book.

www.dbborton.com

www.facebook.com/dbborton

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3071441.D_B_Borton

Book Review: Gateway Crescent by Brenda Margriet

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

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.

Feature Post and Book Review: The Dark Bones by Loreth Anne White

Hi, everyone!

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.

Social Media Links

Website: https://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

***

Rafflecopter Giveaway

Direct Link

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/07c2363f227

Embed code

<a class=”rcptr” href=”http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/07c2363f227/” rel=”nofollow” data-raflid=”07c2363f227″ data-theme=”classic” data-template=”” id=”rcwidget_w7d8advn”>a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>

<script src=”https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js“></script>

Release Blitz/Feature Post and Book Review and Giveaway: Covering Ollie by Freya Barker

Title: Covering Ollie(On Call #2)

Author: Freya Barker

Genre:Romantic Suspense

Release Date: May 14, 2019

Hosted by:Buoni Amici Press, LLC.

Buy links:

#KindleUnlimited

https://amzn.to/2Lx5hA7

***

Book Description:

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.

***

Goodreads book link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44540800-covering-ollie?from_search=true

***

My Book Review:

RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars

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.  

Social Media:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FreyaBarkerWriter

Twitter:  http://twitter.com/freya_barker

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/freyabarker.writes/

Web: http://bit.ly/FreyaWeb

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/FreyaBarker

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

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/freya-barker

***

Giveaway:

Prize: Signed Paperback of Covering Ollie (Open Internationally)

Html

<a class=”rcptr” href=”http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/eef4ee4b1721/” rel=”nofollow” data-raflid=”eef4ee4b1721″ data-theme=”classic” data-template=”54761f08ee20562638ce5c19″ id=”rcwidget_iyov0uhe”>a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>

<script src=”https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js”></script>

Link http://bit.ly/2vNbzkn


Release Blitz and Feature Post: Shelter for Sharla (Police and Fire: Operation Alpha) by Deanndra Hall

Title: Bluegrass Bravery: Shelter for Sharla

Author: Deanndra Hall

Genre: Military Romance/ Romantic Suspense

Release Date: May 14, 2019

Hosted by:Buoni Amici Press, LLC.

Buy Links:


#KindleUnlimited

https://amzn.to/2vJfT43

***

Book Description:

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.

Goodreads book link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45155771-shelter-for-sharla-police-and-fire

***


About Deanndra:

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).

Facebook:     https://www.facebook.com/deanndra.hall.author/

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

Twitter:        https://twitter.com/DeanndraHall

Pinterest:      https://www.pinterest.com/deanndrahall/

Bookbub:     https://www.bookbub.com/authors/deanndra-hall

Goodreads:   https://www.goodreads.com/DeanndraHall

Amazon:      amazon.com/author/deanndrahall

***

Giveaway:

Prize 1: $50 Amazon GC

Prize 2: Taste of Kentucky Gift Basket

Html:

<a class=”rcptr” href=”http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/eef4ee4b1716/” rel=”nofollow” data-raflid=”eef4ee4b1716″ data-theme=”classic” data-template=”54761f08ee20562638ce5c19″ id=”rcwidget_w21g5k4z”>a Rafflecopter giveaway</a>

<script src=”https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js”></script>

Link: http://bit.ly/2HaNJ7k


Book Review: Must Be Crazy by Deborah Garland

RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars

MUST BE CRAZY (Darling Cove Book 3) by Deborah Garland is the third contemporary romance book in the Darling Cove series. The last single Mallory is about to be saved by her perfect match, the hot single dad volunteer fire chief/architect of Darling Cove. This book can be read as a standalone, but the family is very close and there are crossover references to the first two romance books.

Skye Mallory loves her family above all else, but she has also felt the need to excel to be noticed as the middle child. As an attorney, she always works hard to win no matter how big or small the case. When a fire destroys her office and apartment, she is saved by the Darling Cove fire chief.

Edward Mendelson has noticed Skye around Darling Cove. He has little time for dating though while working as an architect, volunteering for the fire department and raising his son, Julian alone. When called to a fire, he rescues Skye and realizes that he wants more than her appreciation.

Skye and Edward quickly realize that their desire is mutual, but both of their pasts are about to interfere. Skye accepts a case involving her ex-boyfriend to help pay to rebuild her business and too late finds out Edward is the person he is suing. If that does not split them apart, Julian’s mother reappears and wants custody and to move him to another state. Also, Skye has a secret she has been keeping that may change the way Edward feels about a future with her.

There are a lot of realistic ups-and-downs in this romance. Skye and Edward both have pasts that interfere with their present. Ms. Garland had me emotionally involved with all of the characters in this story. I felt for Skye deeply as she dealt with her secret while being surrounded by pregnant family. I also loved how much Edward worked to be a great single dad. I did have a problem with how easily at one point Edward was willing to let Julian go with his birth mother, even though it worked out in the end. Edward and Skye’s sex scenes were explicit and hot, but not gratuitous. This was a romance that kept me turning the pages and left me very satisfied by HEA.

Written for and posted first on The Romance Reviews.