Tag: TLC Book Tours

Review: Deceiving Lies by Molly McAdams

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | blog tours> book reviews> C Reviews
deceiving lies by molly mcadamsFormat read: ebook provided by Edelweiss
Formats available: ebook, paperback, audiobook
Genre: Contemporary romance, New Adult romance
Series: Forgiving Lies #2
Length: 336 pages
Publisher: William Morrow
Date Released: March 4, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Rachel is supposed to be planning her wedding to Kash, the love of her life. After the crazy year they’ve had, she’s ready to settle down and live a completely normal life. Well, as normal as it can be. But there’s something else waiting—something threatening to tear them apart.

Kash is ready for it all with Rach. Especially if all includes having a football team of babies with his future wife. With his line of work, he knows how short life can be, and doesn’t want to waste another minute of theirs. But now his past as an undercover narcotics agent has come back to haunt him … and it’s the girl he loves who’s caught in the middle.

Trent Cruz’s orders are clear: take the girl. But there’s something about this girl that has him changing the rules and playing a dangerous game to keep her safe. When his time as Rachel’s protector runs out, he will turn his back on the only life he’s known, and risk everything, if it means getting her out alive.

My Review:

If you haven’t read Forgiving Lies, the story in Deceiving Lies won’t make sense. If you have read Forgiving Lies, then there is the possibility that Deceiving Lies will drive you crazy.

Forgiving Lies by Molly McAdamsForgiving Lies ends with a horrible cliffhanger. After Rachel and Kash have finally worked through most of their issues, and are getting ready for their wedding, Rachel is kidnapped by members of the gang that Kash and Mason broke apart before the beginning of Forgiving Lies. Fear of revenge by the gang members still on the outside is the reason that the two undercover cops where in Texas in the first place. They were laying low until the case back in Florida was wrapped up.

So Forgiving Lies ends with Rachel kidnapped and Kash immediately going out of his mind at her loss.

But Deceiving Lies does not start with the kidnapping. It starts a few weeks before the kidnapping, so we can see the happy preparations again. While it was good stage setting, I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, because that upcoming abduction was looming in the back of my mind like a dark cloud.

At 16% into the book (thank you kindle app) we finally get that fall off the cliff we’ve been waiting for. Rachel is taken and Kash, predictably, starts going bonkers.

Most of the story is told from Kash’ and Rachel’s alternating points of view. So we switch from Rachel’s imprisonment, and her feelings about those events, to Kash trying to find her.

Rachel is held captive for well over a month. More than long enough for her to develop a weird relationship with the man who both kidnapped her and is protecting her from the other members of his gang. While she doesn’t fall in love with Trent, she comes to rely on him and see him as her protector and refuge against the rest of the gang. While it may not have exactly been Stockholm Syndrome, it felt at least partway there.

Meanwhile Kash and the police are receiving faked video that Rachel is being tortured. As the search goes on, and nothing breaks, Kash goes seriously bad cop. He takes on his undercover hardass persona. even though he’s not undercover. He disintegrates into someone that Rachel might not recognize when she is finally rescued.

Neither of them is the same person they were when Rachel was taken. The question is whether they can find their way back; to being someone who is still capable of loving and being loved by the other person. Can they navigate toward a new future, because they can’t go back to the way things were.

Escape Rating C+: After a fluffy beginning, this is a very dark book. It also doesn’t quite feel like it had a happy ending. It has a resolution on the way to happiness, but it didn’t feel quite happy to me.

There is so much angst in this story while Kash and Rachel are separated, and that takes up a huge part of the book. It may have been necessary for the story, but it was hard to read through. If I hadn’t wanted to find out how things got resolved in the end, I might have stopped, just to get out of the darkness.

The is it/isn’t it/what is it debate about whether or not Rachel was suffering from Stockholm Syndrome, and exactly what her feelings were for her captor/protector Trent, went into the crazysauce. Rachel did not have to fall in love with Trent in order to be exhibiting Stockholm Syndrome. Having Stockholm Syndrome just means that she felt empathy and sympathy toward her captor and had positive feelings for him. Which she did, because he protected her from the really bad guys.

A part of me wishes that Rachel and Kash had gotten their happy ending at the end of Forgiving Lies. Rachel had already been through quite enough for one lifetime. But after the cliffhanger ending, I’m glad I read Deceiving Lies so that I could see them finally have their chance at happiness.

If there is a next book in this series, I hope that it features Kash’ partner Mason. Or even Trent. I just don’t want to see Rachel suffer any more.

TLC
This post is part of a TLC book tour. Click on the logo for more reviews.
***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: After I’m Gone by Laura Lippman

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
after i'm gone by laura lippmanFormat read: ebook provided by Edelweiss
Formats available: Hardcover, Paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Length: 352 pages
Publisher: William Morrow
Date Released: February 11, 2014
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

When Felix Brewer meets nineteen-year-old Bernadette “Bambi” Gottschalk at a Valentine’s Dance in 1959, he charms her with wild promises, some of which he actually keeps. Thanks to his lucrative-if not all legal-businesses, she and their three little girls live in luxury. But on the Fourth of July, 1976, Bambi’s comfortable world implodes when Felix, newly convicted and facing prison, mysteriously vanishes.

Though Bambi has no idea where her husband-or all of his money-might be, she suspects one woman does: his devoted young mistress, Julie. When Julie disappears ten years to the day that Felix went on the lam, everyone assumes she’s left to join her old lover-until her remains are eventually found in a secluded wooded park.

Now, twenty-six years after Julie went missing, Roberto “Sandy” Sanchez, a retired Baltimore detective working cold cases for some extra cash, is investigating her murder. What he discovers is a tangled web of bitterness, jealously, resentment, greed, and longing stretching over three decades that connects five intriguing women: a faithful wife, a dead mistress, and three very different daughters. And at the center is the man who, though long gone, has never been forgotten by the five women who loved him: the enigmatic Felix Brewer.

Somewhere between the secrets and lies connecting past and present, Sandy will find the truth. And when he does, no one will ever be the same.

My Review:

I haven’t read any of Laura Lippman’s previous books, because I didn’t want to start a series seven books in. But lots of people have recommended her Tess Monaghan series, and if it’s anywhere near as good as After I’m Gone, now I know why.

After I’m Gone is both a mystery and a character study. It really starts with a cold case, and then flashes back to the circumstances that set the whole chain of events off, and back to the murder being investigated.

This one has lots of interesting layers, and that’s what kept me glued to the book.

In 1976, Felix Brewer disappears, leaving behind a wife and three daughters. And a mistress. Although Felix has never been found, his disappearance isn’t the cold case–it just sets up the events.

Everybody knows that Felix disappeared so that he wouldn’t end up in jail on a federal gambling charge. He was guilty as sin.

But by 2012, Felix’ whereabouts have become secondary. Either he’s very old or he’s very dead, wherever he is.

However, his mistress, Julie Saxony, was murdered in 1986, and there is no statute of limitations on murder. Her murder is the cold case, because one retired cop turned consultant is haunted by her face.

In the present, the point of view is Roberto “Sandy” Sanchez, an ex-cop who helps the Baltimore Police Department close old cases. (He reminds me a lot of the cold case squad in the British police mystery series, New Tricks, except that Sandy is one-man band, not a squad.)

Sandy knows that everything in Julie’s murder has to hinge on Felix Brewer’s long-ago disappearance. Even though Julie had a successful restaurant, the most important thing in her life was that she was Felix’ girl.

So who wanted her dead? And why? In his investigation, Sandy goes back over the old ground, and interviews everyone left alive who knew Felix or Julie. His questions revolve around whether Julie was in touch with Felix, and whether any of the other women abandoned by Felix, his wife, his daughters, still wanted to see her dead for the old betrayal.

Sandy’s mantra in every cold case is that “the name is in the file”. There are 800 pages of names in this particular file, but he’s right that one of them is the culprit. Figuring out who, and more importantly why, tears apart the world of every single person that Felix left behind.

Escape Rating A-: Even though After I’m Gone is definitely a mystery, the story is all about diving into the motives and the history of the various personalities. Even though the “whodunnit” is important, it’s figuring out the why that’s so fascinating.

Because it’s all tied up in the people.

Even though Felix’ disappearance is what links all the characters, the story is all about his wife and daughters; who they became, how they survived, the way that Felix’ disappearance and the subsequent collapse of the family finances, ruled their lives. They are all still Felix’ girls, even though Felix is long gone.

No one really moves on from the catastrophe; not his friends, and certainly not his family. Blaming his mistress for everything that goes wrong is all part of the family coping mechanism. But with the discovery of her death, they are forced to change some of that story. Julie clearly didn’t join Felix wherever he is; she’s been dead almost as long as he’s been gone.

So what happened? All the women in Felix’ life had motives for killing the mistress, but the more Sandy delves into events, the less sense that seems to make. Sandy’s dogged determination to discover the truth upsets a lot of applecarts.

And Sandy’s own story is worth following as well. He’s every bit as interesting to the reader as all the characters in Felix’ drama. Sandy’s own story is revealed through the course of the investigation, and the reader can’t help but feel for him, in the same way that he feels for the women he’s investigating.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Sandy as the investigator again.

One quibble about the book; it uses a lot of flashbacks, from 1959 to 1976 to 1986 to 2012 and back again, over and over as the layers of the case are revealed. It was occasionally a bit confusing trying to figure out which part of the timeline the narrative was in, but it all came together beautifully in the end.

TLC
This post is part of a TLC book tour. Click on the logo for more reviews.
***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: The End by G. Michael Hopf + Giveaway

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | blog tours> book reviews> C Reviews> Giveaways
The End by G. Michael HopfFormat read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, paperback, audiobook
Genre: post-apocalypse, dystopian, science fiction
Series: New World #1
Length: 442 pages
Publisher: Penguin
Date Released: April 3, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

For Gordon Van Zandt life once was one of duty and loyalty to his country, so when 9/11 happened he dropped out of college and joined the Marine Corps. This youthful idealism vanished one fateful day in a war torn city in Iraq. Ten years later, he is still struggling with the ghosts of his past but must now face a new reality thrust on him and his family. North America, Europe and the Far East have all suffered a devastating Super-EMP attack that has caused catastrophic damage to the power grids and all electrical devices. With nothing working from cars to phones and with the total collapse of the economic infrastructure, Gordon must fight for the limited and fast dwindling resources. He knows survival requires action and cooperation with his neighbors; but as daily life continues to break down so does all sense of civility within his community. With each passing day Gordon makes choices that would seem extreme in today’s world but necessary in this new world.

My Review:

I have a ton of mixed feelings about The End. I couldn’t put it down. The story is absorbing. However, there were a lot of points, especially at the beginning, where I wanted to shake the author and scream “SHOW don’t TELL”, loud and often.

There is a lot of infodumping about the characters and their points of view. Lots of exposition and not much action or dialog.

Then “the end of the world as we know it” finally happens, and the story starts to take off. Although there is action in other places, the main story is one ex-Marine who figures out right away that an Electro-Magnetic Pulse weapon (EMP) has wiped out the infrastructure of the entire U.S. So the story is the breakdown of society, seen in the microcosm of one gated community in San Diego. There are side-plots focusing on the government’s collapse and the fragmentation of the military.

But the focus is on how Gordon Van Zandt and his family are affected.

Gordon is a survivor; and he has determined that his family will survive, his wife and two kids. (We know his daughter survives because the entire story is told by her as flashback)

It’s not just that Gordon is a polarizing figure, both in the moment and historically, but his point of view is very patriarchal. While that might help him survive, for the story it means that the only women seen are shown in relationship to their husbands or as power-mad, stupid and out-of-touch with the new reality.

The lead up to which is supposedly happening right now. The description of the events that lead up to The End felt more like political agenda than story because it’s so close. YMMV.

What made me keep reading was the scenario. The concept that an EMP could wipe out our infrastructure was all too plausible. But at the same time, once that infrastructure was gone, the survival story reminded me all too much of other works, particularly Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling and the classic Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven.

The End ends on a cliffhanger; with Gordon, his family and his supporters setting out on a cross-country trek across the blasted landscape, with the prospect of fighting their way through militarized gangs and avoiding radiation-soaked destroyed cities.

Escape Rating C: In spite of its problems, I couldn’t put this book down. Once the story gets going, it really zips along.

Because this is an extreme survival story, most of the characters that we follow are more anti-heroes than heroes; they commit acts that would not be condoned in any other circumstances. It’s not just that a lot of people die as a result of the disaster, but all the focus characters kill, not just in self-defense, but sometimes as prevention of a possible threat, rather than reaction to an imminent threat.

Thank goodness there are no zombies, vampires or any other supernatural creatures involved. What made The End seem plausible is that the story completely focused on the unfortunate but all too realistic ability of humans to turn on each other, and the lengths that some people would go to survive at all costs.

~~~~~~GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

The Long Road by G. Michael HopfMichael is generously giving away a paperback set of both The End and book 2 in his New World series, The Long Road. This giveaway is open to US/CAN only
a Rafflecopter giveaway

TLC
This post is part of a TLC book tour. Click on the logo for more reviews.
***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews> Uncategorized
golem and the jinni by helene weckerFormat read: paperback provided by the publisher
Formats available: Hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook
Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction
Length: 486 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins
Date Released: April 15, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic. When her master, the husband who commissioned her, dies at sea on the voyage from Poland, she is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York in 1899.

Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire, born in the ancient Syrian desert. Trapped in an old copper flask by a Bedouin wizard centuries ago, he is released accidentally by a tinsmith in a Lower Manhattan shop. Though he is no longer imprisoned, Ahmad is not entirely free – an unbreakable band of iron binds him to the physical world.

The Golem and the Jinni is their magical, unforgettable story; unlikely friends whose tenuous attachment challenges their opposing natures – until the night a terrifying incident drives them back into their separate worlds. But a powerful threat will soon bring Chava and Ahmad together again, challenging their existence and forcing them to make a fateful choice.

My Review:

The Golem and the Jinni is so many different things, all at the same time. It’s been called magical realism, but that’s one of those terms that you have to define before you even begin.

It’s main characters are two beings that most people would say are creatures of myth and legend, but who find themselves in the midst of New York City in 1899.

I’m sure there’s an allegory, or any number of them, in that the story centers around the immigrant neighborhoods of the time, and that one creature is from Jewish legend, while the other was born out of stories of the Arabian Desert.

There is an opposites attract element, as Chava the golem was built out of clay, while Ahmad the Jinni is a fire spirit. Although I say “opposites attracting” this isn’t a romantic story, except in the broader definition of “Romance” as “Adventure”. Chava and Ahmad have adventures that inevitably lead them towards each other; because only they can understand what it feels like to be so completely different from everyone around them.

And that also reflects the immigrant experience.

What is felt strongly in this tale is both journeys of self-discovery. Chava starts out as a blank slate; she was created with certain characteristics, but has to learn how to be her own person. Even though she can’t change her essential nature, she still does change. The curiosity she was made with give her the ability to grow, even as she is forced to hide her essential nature.

Ahmad is let out of his bottle, just like the jinn of the stories. He has no memory of how he got to New York, the centuries he has spent imprisoned, or even how he was captured. But he knows who he is, or who he was. Even though he is out of the bottle, he is still forced to remain in human form by the original curse. So Ahmad also has to discover how to be what he is now, and let go at least some of his bitterness that he is no longer all he used to be.

Each of them has a mentor, a guide to the immigrant community they find themselves in, a person who also knows their secret.

Ahmad has to learn that his actions have consequences. Chava was born afraid of the consequences if she ever loses control of her actions.

They both believe that their meeting is chance. They’re wrong. Fate is directing both of them toward the fulfillment of an ancient curse.

Escape Rating B+: The evocation of New York City at the height of the melting pot is a big part of what makes this story special. You can feel the rhythm of the city, and the way that Chava and Ahmad fit into their respective ethnic enclaves conveys both the universality of their experience, and the seemingly subtle but often impossible to traverse cultural divides between the various immigrant communities.

They are each avatars of their people’s respective mythologies, and yet they have more in common with each other than with the groups that created them.

Chava tries her best to fit in, Ahmad barely gives lip service to the idea that he should. She is restrained, he is self-indulgent. Their respective stories of learning and adaptation bring the city alive.

But we needed a villain in order to bring the story to crisis and close. The insinuation of that villain, and the way his quest tied up all the loose ends, stole a bit of the magic. While Chava and Ahmad seem meant for each other because of their mutual otherness, discovering that it was literally true subtracted rather than added to the tale. But so much of the story is just fantastic, that I was glad to see these two reach beyond their mythical and mystical past to find a future together.

TLC
This post is part of a TLC book tour. Click on the logo for more reviews.
***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Somewhere in France by Jennifer Robson

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
somewhere in france by jennifer robsonFormat read: ebook provided by Edelweiss
Formats available: paperback, ebook
Genre: historical fiction, historical romance
Length: 400 pages
Publisher: William Morrow
Date Released: December 31, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Lady Elizabeth Neville-Ashford wants to travel the world, pursue a career, and marry for love. But in 1914, the stifling restrictions of aristocratic British society and her mother’s rigid expectations forbid Lily from following her heart. When war breaks out, the spirited young woman seizes her chance for independence. Defying her parents, she moves to London and eventually becomes an ambulance driver in the newly formed Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps—an exciting and treacherous job that takes her close to the Western Front.

Assigned to a field hospital in France, Lily is reunited with Robert Fraser, her dear brother Edward’s best friend. The handsome Scottish surgeon has always encouraged Lily’s dreams. She doesn’t care that Robbie grew up in poverty—she yearns for their friendly affection to become something more. Lily is the most beautiful—and forbidden—woman Robbie has ever known. Fearful for her life, he’s determined to keep her safe, even if it means breaking her heart.

In a world divided by class, filled with uncertainty and death, can their hope for love survive. . . or will it become another casualty of this tragic war?

My Review:

great war and modern memory by paul fussellThe quote that opens this book, “The lamps are going out all over Europe, we shall not see them lit again in our life-time” is one that is often used in reference to the Great War, as World War I was referred to. It’s a quote that has haunted me since the first time I read it in The Great War and Modern Memory by Paul Fussell, a literary exploration about how WWI changed public consciousness in the mind of a generation.

And that’s fitting, because the WWI era has become very popular in the 21st century. The WWI era is also the Downton Abbey era, and we think we know it well because of the popularity of Downton.

But the lamps really did go out, as is shown quite clearly in Somewhere in France. We live in the world created by the shuttering of those gentle lights. The universe lit by our much harsher electricity is a much different place.

Lady Elizabeth Neville-Ashford is a woman that we would recognize. She wants to be whatever she can be. She’s bright and intelligent and wants to stretch her mind and her horizons.

But the class-ridden society that she was born into has placed her upon a pedestal, one that her station does not allow her to step off of without dire consequences. On the one hand, she has wealth and privilege; on the other, she is not permitted the education or training that would fit her to make her own way in the world. And, as she discovers, if anyone assists her in gaining that knowledge, the punishments are severe.

An old family retainer teaches her to drive. Her parents take away his retirement cottage and his pension. This is legal, there is no safety net. It is not right, but they have that privilege. It is also the last in a series of venal punishments that Lilly can no longer bear. She wants to help in the war effort, but her mother in particular feels that the aid organizations are no place for an earl’s daughter.

Lilly leaves with a carpetbag and goes out to earn her own place in the world, armed only with determination and those driving and mechanical skills that cost so dear. She sells her jewels to pay for her parents’ cruelty to the man who taught her.

A young woman set on a course to do her duty to her country, she intends to help with the skills that she has. The Army recruits women ambulance drivers, and she serves in France under horrific conditions. But there she is reunited with the two men who have been steadfast in their belief that she can be whatever she wants to be if she just keeps trying; her brother Edward, and Edward’s best friend, Robbie Fraser.

When she was Lady Elizabeth, Robbie was considered unsuitable for her. He’s a Scot who made it into university on scholarship and is supporting himself as a surgeon. As a professional man, her family considers him barely more than a tradesman. But for Lilly the independent woman, Robbie is the only man who knows who she really is and loves her for herself.

If he can just get over who she used to be, and what the war has done to them both.

Escape Rating A: This is a fantastic book to start the year with. Absolutely stunning.

Lilly starts the story as a bird in a gilded cage. You can feel her beating her wings against the bars; she wants out, but she’s letting herself be made smaller and smaller every day. Then the war (and an opportune visit from Robbie) kicks her into realizing that she can make a difference if she’s willing to step outside the box that her parents are determined to put her in.

Once she decides to start taking what to 21st century readers seem like reasonable risks (learning to drive, writing letters to friends) Lilly really starts to blossom. She doesn’t whine, she gets down to work.

We see the war from Lilly’s perspective as an ambulance driver. Think of MASH only with less developed surgical techniques and 30 years fewer medical advances. In other words, more death. Lilly drove the wounded through a nightmarish “No Man’s Land” day after torturous day, yet still kept on, because it was the best way she could contribute.

That a romance flourishes at all under these circumstances is both amazing and not surprising at all. The urge to find a spark of life amidst all that death seems natural, but Lilly finds Robbie at an Aid station, and they move haltingly beyond friendship. Robbie has an impossible time believing that they have any future, and there is often heartbreak.

The portrayal of the woman rising beyond everything her society believed possible of her is a terrific read. If you enjoy Downton Abbey, you will fall in love Somewhere in France.

And if you get caught up in Lilly’s wartime escapades, you may also enjoy Bess Crawford. Bess is a nurse in France in this war. Her first story is A Duty to the Dead.

TLC
This post is part of a TLC book tour. Click on the logo for more reviews.

 

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: The Sweetest Thing by Cathy Woodman + Giveaway

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews> ebook giveaway> Giveaways
The Sweetest Thing by Cathy WoodmanFormat read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: paperback, ebook, large print, audiobook
Genre: contemporary romance, women’s fiction
Series: Talyton St. George #3
Length: 400 pages
Publisher: Cornerstone (Random House UK)
Date Released: April 28, 2011
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, iBookstore

If only everything in life was as simple as baking a cake…Jennie Copeland thought she knew the recipe for a happy life: marriage to her university sweetheart, a nice house in the suburbs and three beautiful children. But when her husband leaves her, she is forced to find a different recipe. And she thinks she’s found just what she needs: a ramshackle house on the outskirts of the beautiful Talyton St George, a new cake-baking business, a dog, a horse, chickens…But life in the country is not quite as idyllic as she’d hoped, and Jennie can’t help wondering whether neighbouring farmer Guy Barnes was right when he told her she wouldn’t last the year. Or perhaps the problem is that she’s missing one vital ingredient to make her new life a success. Could Guy be the person to provide it?

My Review:

There’s just something about this book that draws you right in. Or at least it did me. I was hooked on Jennie’s story from the very first page.

This isn’t a story of high drama or rich billionaires, it’s a quiet story about people taking the courage to pick up their dreams and start over. Everyone in this tale is starting over and finding a new path in life; all the kids and all the adults.

That turns out to include Jennie Copeland’s ex-husband David, who spends most of this story in the throes of what looks a selfish midlife crisis.

You could say it’s Jennie’s and David’s divorce that starts this story. But really, it’s Jennie’s dream of being independent, combined with rose-tinted memories of childhood holidays in Devon that lead to her purchase of Uphill House.

“Uphill” is the right name for the place, because the road to Jennie’s happiness is definitely going to be an uphill climb.

The house is definitely a “fixer-upper”. Jennie needs to economize, because her settlement will only go but so far. Living in the country will be much cheaper than living in London, or so she hopes.

But it will also be away from the support network that she has come to rely on, and far from the routine that her three children are used to. Adam, Sophie and Georgia feel uprooted and lost. It may be Jennie’s dream to start a cake baking business in the country, but it isn’t theirs.

So Jennie comes to Talyton St. George to start over. It takes a lot of guts and a huge amount of determination. Jennie seems to have a pair of rose-colored glasses firmly fixed in place; no one seems to think she has a real chance, not her new neighbors in the country, not her old friends in the city, not her kids, and certainly not her ex. But then, that was part of the point of the thing at the beginning.

But never the entire point. This is really about Jennie’s ability to persevere no matter how many roadblocks she faces, or how many times she discovers that her rosy vision doesn’t match the reality.

Rooting for Jennie to not just succeed, but to also get her happy ending, makes Jennie’s story a very sweet read.

Escape Rating B+: The Talyton St. George series is mostly about the veterinarians in the small Devon community, but in The Sweetest Thing, the vets only showed up to treat the various animals that Jennie and her children acquired along the way to adapting to their new life.

Which made this book a perfect way to get into the series without having read any of the other books, no prior knowledge was required.

In The Sweetest Thing, we have the story of a 40-ish newly divorced woman starting over with three kids; a resentful teenaged boy, and two girls, one a pre-teen and the other in elementary school. Adam, Georgia and Sophie.

The breakup is still painful for everyone, and they are all still acting out to some extent, including Jennie. Moving from London to the Devon countryside if you are London born-and-bred definitely counts as acting-out.

The divorce was over the husband’s repeated infidelity, except this time he wants to marry his inamorata. Jennie was a stay-at-home mother, so starting a new life in London would have been expensive. She has the vision and the talent to start a baking business on a shoestring, but practicality, not so much.

We see her grow from all of her trial and error, in every possible direction. But we also see that as she becomes more absorbed in making a go of her new business, there is less time for her to listen to her kids’ need to make the adjustment. The girls have an easier time of it, not just because they are younger, but because they find activities in the country that work for them.

Adam is cut off from his old friends and resentful. At sixteen, he’s also just being a teenager, but he is definitely lost in this new place.

Adam withers while Jennie blossoms with all her new challenges. Even while she finds herself frustrated and scared and exhausted.

Watching the family navigate their surprising journey is fun and absorbing. There is also a love story, but Jennie finding love is the icing on the cake for her, rather than the whole cake. Love is wonderful, but not the solution to her problems or a rescue from her difficulties.

It’s also sweet that the new love of Jennie’s life needs her to sweep the cobwebs out of his life every bit as much as she needs his help with some of the unexpected challenges in hers.

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This post is part of a TLC book tour. Click on the logo for more reviews.

~~~~~~GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

Country Loving by Cathy WoodmanCathy is giving away the winner’s choice of a copy of either The Sweetest Thing or Country Loving by Cathy (check out other stops on the tour for reviews of Country Loving). To enter, use the Rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: The Spirit Keeper by K. B. Laugheed + Giveaway

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | A Reviews> blog tours> Book Giveaway> book reviews> Giveaways
spirit keeper by k b laugheedFormat read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Genre: Historical fiction
Length: 353 pages
Publisher: Plume
Date Released: September 24, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

This is the account of Katie O’Toole, late of Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania, removed from her family by savages on March the 2nd in the year of our Lord 1747

The thirteenth child conceived of miserable Irish exiles, Katie O’Toole dreams of a different life. Little does she know that someone far away is dreaming of her.

In 1747, savages raid her family home, and seventeen-year-old Katie is taken captive. Syawa and Hector have been searching for her, guided by Syawa’s dreams. A young Holyman, Syawa believes Katie is the subject of his Vision: the Creature of Fire and Ice, destined to bring a great gift to his people. Despite her flaming hair and ice-blue eyes, Katie is certain he is mistaken, but faced with returning to her family, she agrees to join them. She soon discovers that in order to fulfill Syawa’s Vision, she must first become his Spirit Keeper, embarking on an epic journey that will change her life—and heart—forever.

My Review:

“Enjoy the ride” sounds like pretty good philosophy no matter which direction life’s currents sweep you. It is also the instruction that young Irish colonist Katie O’Toole receives from the Native American prophet Syawa as he lays dying in the middle of a journey to either kidnap or rescue Katie from the only home she ever knew and take her through the unspoiled American wilderness of the mid-1700’s to fulfill a vision Syawa always knew he wouldn’t live to see.

Syawa doesn’t leave Katie alone. Because the whole point of his vision, at least from his perspective, seems to have been to find Katie and give her into the care of his best friend and bodyguard, a warrior she refers to as Hector because she can’t manage to pronounce his name.

Syawa also leaves his “Spirit” in Katie’s keeping. Hector believes this literally. Katie is sure that this is a lie. But then, the Native beliefs are not hers.

This story is one of discovery. Katie’s discovery of the vastness and beauty of the American continent, and her discovery of the depths of her own heart. Quite possibly it will also be her discovery of the truth of Syawa’s vision and his spirit quest.

What we have in this story is Katie’s long journey from downtrodden colonial daughter of alcoholic and abusive parents who is presented with a life-altering choice in the midst of an attack on her colony by Natives. Syawa and Hector protect her and only her from the marauders. She can choose to go with them, or not. Communication is awkward, mostly by sign and gesture.

It is the first time anyone has ever valued her for herself. And this value seems to have nothing to do with sexual favors. Whatever they want, it is not lascivious. But in the face of her mother’s continuing abuse, she chooses the path that seems to allow her some little dignity, and changes her life.

In spite of the hardships that accompany her choice, it is difficult to fault her for it. But as she struggles to learn a new language and a new way of viewing the world, we see the continent before we spoiled it and a way of life that is long gone.

Even as Katie begins to adapt to the immensity of the journey, she still thinks herself superior to the beliefs of the Natives that she travels with, and those whose villages she travels through, even as she falls in love with one.

She’s certain that the vision quest and spirit keeper thing is a hoax, one that she goes along with because her new life is the best one she’s ever had, in spite of its hardships. But what if it’s all true?

Escape Rating A-: Katie falls in love with a man, but the reader falls in love with her journey. It’s almost impossible not to be captivated by her descriptions of the beautiful wilderness that she is traveling through, even though it is often by one aching footstep at a time.

Her adjustment is slow and sometimes painful. It’s not that she lived a life of ease before, but initially she struggles to communicate with her companions; they do not share a language, and is sometimes trapped in her own misery.

Katie’s story is a conversion, not religious per se, but a conversion from her early perspective of seeing the colonial way as superior to seeing the Native methods as being, if not superior, at least equally valid for their own time and place.

Also Katie is aware that the world she traverses is going to be irrevocably changed by the invasion of the whites, whatever happens, hers is like a record of Eden before the snake. Or before the demon rum.

Because the narrative is in the form of Katie’s journal, some readers may find the attempt to reproduce Katie’s mid-18th century spelling less than congenial. I’ll only say that after the first few pages, I was so lost in her story that I stopped noticing. She told much too compelling a yarn for me to care about her idiosyncrasies.

My only caveat is that the story ends at the close of the first winter of their long journey. That journey is not over, and I am left longing to see what comes next.

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This post is part of a TLC book tour. Click on the logo for more reviews.

~~~~~~GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

K.B. is giving away a copy of The Spirit Keeper (US/Canada)! To enter, use the Rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: The Seduction of Miriam Cross by W.A. Tyson + Giveaway

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> Book Giveaway> book reviews> Giveaways
The Seduction of Miriam Cross by M.A. TysonFormat read: ebook provided by the author
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Genre: Mystery
Series: A Delilah Percy Powers Mystery, #1
Length: 375 pages
Publisher: E-Lit Books
Date Released: October 31, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Can Delilah Percy Powers figure out who killed Miriam Cross before she becomes the killer’s next target?

Miriam Cross, author, feminist and philanthropist, disappears from her Philadelphia home. A year later, a lonely recluse named Emily Cray is brutally murdered in her bed in a small Pennsylvania town. Miriam and Emily are one and the same. As Delilah and her staff of female detectives – a militant homemaker, an ex-headmistress and a former stripper – delve into Miriam’s life, they become submerged in an underworld of unfathomable cruelty and greed with implications that go far beyond the gruesome death of one woman or the boundaries of one country. Eventually Miriam’s fight for justice becomes Delilah’s own…until Delilah’s obsession with finding the truth may prove just as deadly.

My Review:

Don’t let the title fool you, the seduction involved in this story is all about the reader getting seduced into following the mystery.

Miriam Cross’ seduction happened a long time ago, and it has already led to her death. It’s the mission of Delilah Percy Powers and her band of investigators to find the trail that led to her sensational murder. Also to discover why there hasn’t been a sensation regarding the murder of a best-selling author living under an assumed name in a small town.

Miriam Cross might not have been the big name she used to be, but former New York Times best selling authors don’t get beheaded every day. She should have been tabloid fodder for a couple of news cycles at least–not relegated to the back page and hushed up.

Someone important wants Miriam’s death swept under the rug. Which means that there is something still worth keeping secret. And when Delilah takes the case from Miriam’s niece, she discovers that the secret wasn’t just worth killing for, it is worth continuing to kill for–whatever Miriam died to protect isn’t over. Not by a long shot.

As Delilah and her multi-talented group of female sleuths dig into the private life of the late, lamented Miriam Cross, they unearth more alter-egos than just the one she was living under the year before she died. The celebrated feminist author penned erotic poetry under yet another pseudonym, and kept a video of herself in a BDSM scene. But her biggest secret involved her funding of a philanthropic organization that was either very illegal, or very dangerous.

Whatever Women NOW might have been, investigating even asking questions about it leads a trail of dead bodies and mobsters right to Delilah’s door. She knows she’s next, but only after she discovers something too dangerous not to see through to the end.

Escape Rating B: What drew me in (seduced me, if you will) was Delilah’s investigation and the way the case kept getting deeper and deeper. Also how she fit the personalities of each of her very unique investigators to the different facets of the case.

While on first glance, it might seem like a bit of a gimmick that all of Delilah’s teammates are female, this is far from a takeoff on “Charlie’s Angels” in spite of that cheesy cover picture. One woman might be an ex-stripper, but another is over 70 and an ex-nun. The third is a volleyball coach and a housewife when she’s not tailing suspects.

It’s fun to watch them work. It’s also neat to see them rub along together. There is no macho posturing, they just get the job done. They genuinely care about each other. Needless to say, this book passes the Bechdel Test with flying colors, and without being preachy about it. There’s work to be done.

But about the case itself. At first, Delilah is in this to bring closure to a former client. But then, she discovers that there’s something fishy going on, and she can’t stand not to discover what it’s all about. But the more she digs the bigger the case gets.

While it’s fascinating to watch her work, and her cause is very definitely just, the case feels like it gets to be a bit too big for the story. The ending is tied up too neatly and isn’t explained quite as well as it could have been. Or perhaps we don’t know enough about Delilah and her cohorts yet to understand why all these people owe her so many favors.

I did like Delilah and her band quite a bit. I hope to see them solve more mysteries in the future!

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This post is part of a TLC book tour. Click on the logo for more reviews.

~~~~~~GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

Wendy is giving away a copy of The Seduction of Miriam Cross (US/Canada)! To enter, use the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Buying In by Laura Hemphill + Giveaway

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> Book Giveaway> book reviews> Giveaways
Buying In by Laura HemphillFormat read: ebook provided by NetGalley
Formats available: ebook, hardcover, audiobook
Genre: Women’s fiction
Length: 305 pages
Publisher: New Harvest/Amazon Publishing
Date Released: November 5, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

Bright, ambitious Sophie Landgraf has landed a job as a Wall Street analyst. The small-town girl finally has her ticket to the American elite, but she doesn’t realize the toll it will take—on her boyfriend, on her family, and on her. It isn’t long before Sophie is floundering in this male-dominated world, and things are about to get worse.
With the financial crisis looming, Sophie becomes embroiled in a multibillion-dollar merger that could make or break her career. The problem? Three men at the top of their game, each with very different reasons for advancing the merger. Now Sophie doesn’t know whom to trust—or how far she’ll go to get ahead.

Set inside the high-stakes world of finance, Manhattan’s after-hours clubs, and factories in the Midwest and India, this is the high-powered, heartfelt story of a young woman finding her footing on Wall Street as it crumbles beneath her. Written by an industry veteran, Buying In tackles what it means to be a woman in a man’s world, and how to survive in big business without sacrificing who you are.

My Review:

What is the difference between buying in and selling out?

That feels like the fundamental question that Sophie Landgraf keeps asking herself, and that all the people in her life keep asking Sophie, during the course of the story of Buying In.

Everyone in Sophie’s life outside of her work is utterly certain that Sophie has sold out, that she has given up on the values that underpin the small farming community of Stockton, Massachusetts where Sophie was raised.

However, and it’s a damn big however, Stockton is a place where Sophie never fit in. As much as she loves her widowed father, Sophie the mathlete was always the odd person out. She was always looking to escape to somewhere MORE.

It’s possible that the New York City banking industry on the eve of the recession wasn’t it, but she couldn’t know that.

She also couldn’t possibly have stayed in Stockton and helped her father keep up the illusion that he could make ends meet on the sheep farm. It hadn’t worked when her mother was alive, and it really wasn’t working now.

Sophie gets caught up in the intellectual exhilaration of, for the first time in her life finding work which absolutely consumes her. It also frequently terrifies her, but her job at Sterling Bank stretches her in ways that she could never have imagined.

It also eats up every moment of her life and energy. She has nothing left for anything else, and she doesn’t want to. She can’t admit it, but she is having the time of her life. She’s living every moment on a high-wire act.

The adrenaline is addicting.

Buying In is the portrait of the banker as a young woman. Some might say that it’s about the “greed is good” mentality, but it’s not about greed for Sophie. For Sophie, it’s about finding the place where she belongs, and figuring out what it takes to stay there.

When she loses that place, it’s becomes about figuring out what it takes to get back there. Because Sophie has found out what her rightful place is. And she’s not the naive girl from Stockton anymore. She is a banker, and it’s all about the deal.

Even if she has to fake it.

Escape Rating B: Buying In gets off to a slow start. Sophie is so deeply insecure about her place at Sterling, that her desperation gets a bit wearing. At the same time, it was all-too-easy for me to empathize with Sophie when she had to work such incredibly brutal hours just to keep her job, and her family and friends refused to believe her working conditions.

While the environment at Sterling was inhuman, it was what it was. If she wanted to keep her job, she really did need to be there nights and weekends. Her bosses wouldn’t understand if she took a weekend off. There was no downtime.

And yes, she did also enjoy the rush. But still, Sophie’s struggles with her friends, her boyfriend and particularly her father were sometimes painful to witness.

The macro-story involves one single deal that is being played out just as the banking industry is going into a tailspin. The three men who start the story as the “big cheeses” in this deal represent three possible futures for Sophie; one is an inhuman machine, one loses his way in disappointment, and one does the best he can for the people in his company no matter how much it costs him.

We watch them, and Sophie, choose their fate. We know what happened to the rest of us. 2008 was not a good year, but it is fascinating to dissect.

If the story of how the banking industry got itself and the rest of the country in over our collective heads interests you, and you want to read an equally compelling but totally different view (with sex this time), try The Rare Event by P.D. Singer (reviewed here).

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This post is part of a TLC book tour. Click on the logo for more reviews.

~~~~~~GIVEAWAY~~~~~~

Laura is giving away a hardcover copy of Buying In to one lucky winner (US/Can). To enter, use the Rafflecopter below:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

Review: Forgiving Lies by Molly McAdams

Posted on by Marlene Harris | Author : | B Reviews> blog tours> book reviews
Forgiving Lies by Molly McAdamsFormat read: ebook provided by Edelweiss
Formats available: ebook, paperback
Genre: Romantic Suspense; New Adult Romance
Series: Forgiving Lies, #1
Length: 371 pages
Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
Date Released: October 29, 2013
Purchasing Info: Author’s Website, Publisher’s Website, Goodreads, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Book Depository

A matter of secrets …

Undercover cop Logan “Kash” Ryan can’t afford a distraction like his new neighbor Rachel Masters, even if she’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. To catch a serial killer, he needs to stay focused, yet all he can think about is the feisty, long-legged coed whose guarded nature intrigues him.

A matter of lies …

Deceived and hurt before, Rachel would rather be a single, crazy cat lady than trust another guy, especially a gorgeous, tattooed bad boy with a Harley, like Kash. But when his liquid-steel eyes meet hers, it takes all of Rachel’s willpower to stop herself from exploring his hot body with her own.

A matter of love …

As much as they try to keep it platonic, the friction between them sparks an irresistible heat that soon consumes them. Can Kash keep Rachel’s heart and her life safe even as he risks his own? Will she be able to forgive his lies … or will she run when she discovers the dangerous truth?

My Review:

I didn’t know that “New Adult Romantic Suspense” was actually a thing. Apparently it is now, because Forgiving Lies definitely is one. Is it EVER!

It’s entirely possible this book should come with a trigger warning. The stuff that happens to Rachel was seriously creepy. For a book that is being marketed as New Adult, very bad shit happens to Rachel, and not just in the past that she is getting over, but within the story itself.

And readers should definitely be warned that this story is not complete. We think we’ve reached a happy ending, and then the rug gets totally pulled out from under us. Forgiving Lies does not end, but stops on a horrifying cliffhanger of the awful suspense type.

Lest anyone think I’m revealing the ending, I don’t feel I am because I don’t feel like I got an ending. I feel like I got left in mid-air, dangling. The next book in the series, Deceiving Lies, won’t be published until March 2014, and I’m biting my nails here.

If you hate hanging off cliffs, wait until the next book. It IS worth the wait.

But about those Forgiving Lies…

There are certainly more than enough of those to go around in this story, and not all of them are actually forgivable.

Kash and Mason are undercover cops in Tampa Bay Florida. When their cover gets blown, they need to lay low and out of town for a while, until the kingpin who has put a price on their heads goes to jail. Their captain sends them to Austin, Texas to work undercover as part of team hunting for a serial killer.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the women living in the apartment across the hall from them in Austin are Rachel and Candice. This is where everything goes both right and wrong. Candice seems to be a typical bubble-headed, self-centered cheerleader, and Rachel is a woman with too much pain and too many secrets.

Candice and Mason spend the summer as friends-with-benefits, although Mason turns out to be just one of Candice’s many summer playtoys.

But Kash spends the summer not just befriending Rachel, but getting closer to her, even though he knows that he shouldn’t become involved with anyone while he’s undercover.

Rachel’s mixture of pain, vulnerability, bravery and beauty is more than he can resist. When he finally discovers the nature of the ordeal that she’s been through, he vows to protect her in any way that she’ll let him.

He can’t stop himself from falling in love with her, even though he knows there’s a risk that she’ll run when he reveals that he’s been deceiving her the whole summer.

The real surprise is that Kash and Logan’s case has been about Rachel all along.

Escape Rating B: There are some terrific things about this story that made it well worth reading for me. And then there were other factors that drove me insane.

The love story between Kash and Rachel is both heart-warming and sexy. It’s not the typical good girl takes a walk on the wild side, or bad boy is reformed by sweet girl, in spite of what the book summary might lead you to believe. Kash is a cop who enjoys working undercover. He may look like a bad boy, but he is definitely a hero.

Rachel is a strong young woman who is hiding an intense amount of damage. Her parents were killed in an accident and she has never dealt with the grief. Then she was nearly raped by someone she knew and no one believes her. Even worse, her supposed best friend thinks she’s lying and believes her attacker. In fact, she set up the attack, and continues to enable Rachel’s attacker.

Rachel is being stalked by her attacker, and she is certain that no one will believe her. That’s where Kash enters her life.

Even though he doesn’t reveal that he’s a cop, he does reveal himself. And he finally convinces Rachel to do most of the same.

She hides the name of her stalker/attacker, because she doesn’t want Kash to kill him. Kash hides that he’s an undercover cop. They’re pretty even on secrets, and those secrets nearly get Rachel and everyone she loves killed.

The problem character in this story is Rachel’s roommate and supposed best friend, Candice. While I can understand that Candice might believe the best of her cousin, and he’s the man who attacks Rachel in the beginning of the book, what I can’t understand is either her self-centered attitude or Rachel’s willingness to tolerate it. Candice repeatedly locks Rachel out of their entire apartment for the entire night whenever she has a hookup. The entire night! Candice demonstrates a constant disregard for Rachel’s feelings and well-being except when it’s convenient for Candice. Candice’s behavior and attitude result in Rachel’s original attack and assists with the stalking. According to the story, they have BFFs since grade school, but it seems to only go one way.

Kash and Rachel’s love story is wonderful. Kash’s cop buddy Mason is a terrific friend to both of them (and I hope he gets his own story!) But there’s that cliffhanger that steals the ending of the story. There should have been a huge warning label for that.

TLC
This post is part of a TLC book tour. Click on the logo for more reviews.
***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money or borrowed from a public library and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.