Book Review - Serial Burn

It has been burning for a while now. Serial Burn is the third book in the Lake City Heroes series from Lynette Eason, and friends of the heroes have hoped for a bit of accelerant on the sparks flying between Jesslyn and Nathan. They both know a thing or two about fire; one claimed the lives of her family when she was a child, leading her to pursue a career that would allow her to someday find the person who killed her parents and sisters. He holds his fire related secret close, along with the guilt and shame burned on his soul. Their personal tragedies and perceptions are a wall of flames between them and should stay that way. But when fires start popping off around Lake City and someone starts targeting Jesslyn, things heat up in a way neither of them expects.

Jesslyn is not the only one well versed in fire, as Lynette Eason pens a well researched novel that engulfs the reader. Her knowledge allows the story to flow in a way that keeps the reader from tripping over technicalities and allows maximum enjoyment of the fast paced action paired with the slow burn romance. And of course, relatable characters are a keystone of an Eason novel, especially since we have been friends of the heroes for two books already and are fired up for the next. So, if those things are your jam, I recommend getting into Serial Burn. But if you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen!

Serial Burn, the third book in the Lake City Heroes series by Lynette Eason, is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - The Indigo Heiress

With vivid descriptions of the locations and characters that tug your heartstrings, The Indigo Heiress grabs hold of the reader and keeps us enthralled from page one until the very last. Laura Frantz pens a fully immersive experience, beginning with the Virginia plantation where Juliet Catesby and her sister Loveday carry out the work necessary to maintain the legacy of their ancestors. Managing the tobacco, indigo, and social responsibilities with grace, the sisters also carry on a secret work that puts many lives in danger. However, Royal Vale, their beloved home, is in an entirely different kind of danger. The kind that sees a marriage of convenience as the only option, amidst the struggles of a Virginia planter on the brink of a revolutionary war. Leith Buchanan, is facing his own struggles. The kind that can hopefully be swept aside with a marriage that will shift the gossip and provide a mother for his twins. There is no time for affection in his life, therefore a marriage of convenience will do. Unfortunately, the Catesby sister he has chosen is less than thrilled with this prospect. Affectations and misunderstandings abound as Juliet and Leith learn to lean on each other through the trials they face.

This is a book best read with tissues at hand. The misunderstandings that build walls between Juliet and Leith, and the wounds that lie beneath the surface, are sometimes heartbreaking. And they are written so well that the reader feels each hurt keenly. But fear not, because the joys are sweet as the sadness is bitter, making for a thoroughly enjoyable read.

The Indigo Heiress by Laura Frantz is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House    Christian Book    Amazon        Barnes & Noble    Walmart

Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine. 

Book Review - Midnight on the Scottish Shore

Cilla van der Zee is trapped. As a member of the Dutch resistance, her role is to infiltrate the Dutch Nazis and gather information for the underground newspaper. But the cost is too high and Cilla too headstrong to follow her cousin’s advice, which is how Cilla becomes a Nazi spy, and how she ends up in Scotland. The mythical creature washed up on the shore near Lachlan Mackenzie’s home is a threat to his sanity and his nation’s welfare, which is why he promptly turns her over to the authorities. When Cilla and Lachlan are forced to work together to advance the Allied mission, they must find a way toward a tentative trust for the greater good. 

Sarah Sundin writes with a secretive urgency that one cannot resist when reading her work. The reader feels this and is tugged into the covert operations described within, hardly able to resist the need to churn ahead with the storyline as the characters develop and the reader develops feelings for the characters. It is not only Cilla and Lachlan slinking through the darkness to accomplish a great task for the greater good, but the reader is there in the moment, as well. I must also admit that the timing and Biblical theme of this novel coincides with my own study of the Beatitudes and packs a punch of truth with themes of mercy, forgiveness and freedom, which both increases my understanding of those themes and enjoyment of this invigorating novel.

Midnight on the Scottish Shore by Sarah Sundin is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine. 

Book Review - Heart of the Glen

Heart of the Glen will capture your heart and sweep you away to Donegal, where the sheep  graze contentedly under the watch of their shepherd and give wool to make the stellar tweed only Owen McCready can weave. The struggles facing the McCready family seem to stack like peat for the fire, stoking frustration in Owen as he endeavors to carry the load on his own, until the situation becomes one where he must swallow his pride and allow help from outside. Saoirse Fagan knows about needing help; it is the reason she is in the McCready barn. And she knows about carrying the load, as she has been doing that on her own for a good long time now, but it just might be that Saoirse can help Owen carry his while while lightening her own for a bit.

Jennifer Deibel uses the Old Testament story of Gideon to remind us that God is in the details, even when we cannot see Him. Her descriptions of the place and the people draw the reader in, making it all feel so very real and leading us to friendship with the characters and investing us in their health and well-being. Saoirse, Owen, and Aileen quickly become family to us, so that we weep with them in their trials and cheer for them in their joys. Grab a cuppa and a cozy blanket, bonus points if it is tartan, and sweep yourself off to the heart of the glen!

Heart of the Glen by Jennifer Deibel is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - Ambush

Veterinarian Paradise Alden has scars. She hopes returning to The Sanctuary will help heal at least some of them, maybe the ones that turn her blood cold at the scream of a big cat and just maybe some of the ones that started stacking up the night her parents were murdered. Blake Lawson, however, is not a scar she is ready to heal so quickly. But Paradise has ties to The Sanctuary and to Blake’s mother, Jenna, that are just strong enough to bring her back into his orbit. Those ties are tested when Jenna’s home and livelihood become the target of a war of attrition. One by one, the strange and sometimes deadly attacks stack up to shake confidence in The Sanctuary and the people involved there. And those attacks feel quite real to the reader, as Colleen Coble works the literary magic that has solidified her place in the realms of romantic suspense royalty over the last seventy-five breathtaking novels. Hit by hit, the reader rolls along with Paradise and Blake, unraveling the mysteries of the attacks on their home and of what happened to her parents so many years ago. Put on your big girl boots, because this story is not a trek for the adventure averse!

Ambush by Colleen Coble will be available March 4 from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Book Review - When Stars Light the Sky

The latest release from Elizabeth Camden is a heartrending tale set in the turbulent years preceding America’s entry into World War I as German immigrant Inga Klein finds herself invited to the position of secretary to the American ambassador in Berlin. Her first formidable foe? Chief diplomatic counselor Benedict Kincaid. Her task? Smooth relations between her benefactor and Benedict. With a great sense of humor, an awareness of others’ needs, and more intellect than she credits herself, Inga finds a way to turn Benedict’s world on its ears. But it is the sticky situation of citizenship that knocks them both for a loop. Convincing the kaiser’s people to allow Inga to evacuate with the American contingent takes a lot of acting that has the potential to set Inga and Benedict on an irreversible course. With the demise of political relations and removal of the American representatives from Germany comes consequences of a political and personal sort they must unravel delicately.

In the second book of her Women of Midtown series, Elizabeth Camden sweeps us across the ocean and back on a tide of simmering tensions. We are carried along as nations choose sides, negotiating and hobnobbing to solidify relations personally and politically, pulled deep into the machinations of man when faced with war. Camden’s descriptions allow the reader to sit back and be fully immersed in life with Inga, Ambassador Gerard, Benedict, and the rest of the American contingent in Berlin. It is an achingly beautiful take on opposites attract theme for which I heartily recommend a box of tissues.

When Stars Light the Sky by Elizabeth Camden, book 2 of her Women of Midtown series, is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

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Thank you to the author and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.

Book Review - Cornered

If you are a fan of suspense, then you are probably already familiar with Lynette Eason, Lynn H. Blackburn, and Natalie Walters. If you are not yet familiar, then buckle up, Buttercup and you are welcome for the introduction. Cornered is a novella collection from these three suspense queens, a blessed gift for the suspense lover in your life. (And it is totally ok to be the suspense lover in your life.)

The first novella in this collection is In the Dark by Lynette Eason, in which Stephanie Cross finds herself up to her ears in deception and danger when her friend is murdered. Detective Tate Cooper is on the case, but it is not long before Stephanie is on his mind in her own way. Eason’s world building is already well established, and her readers will recognize quite a few In the Dark characters, feeling at home immediately with our friends and feeling the danger with them along the way. Fear not, new and future fans, because you will pick right up and fit right in with the Lake City Heroes.

Lynn H. Blackburn follows with Downfall to have you head over tail-feathers for the Quinns and some of the Pierces of Gossamer Falls. When Cassie Quinn and Bronwyn Pierce discover that Hideaway has been vandalized, the illusion of security at the ultra exclusive The Haven resort in North Carolina’s beautiful mountains is shattered. Not so much for their elite guests, but for the swanky restaurant’s interim head chef, Cassie. Cassie’s ex, Officer Donovan Bledsoe has to solve the case, protect Cassie, and make sense of the mess he made when he dumped her. Sinister acts, drugs, danger, and romantic tension keep the reader on their toes from threats written in sriracha to a satisfying conclusion. Cannot get enough of the Quinns and Pierces? No worries, Blackburn has you covered with the Gossamer Falls series.

Perilous Obsession from Natalie Walters completes the triptych of pulse pounding romantic suspense. Natalie fans will be familiar with Kekoa Young from The SNAP Agency series and will immediately feel like family for his sister Lahela, who finds herself the target of some disturbing incidents as she strives to feel settled in her new Texas home. Briggs Turner is a friend, but he hopes to be more. His protective drive is amped up when he learns that someone has been stalking Lahela, but it all gets really hot when things cross over from tense to dangerous. Perilous Obsession is fast and tense, but with the friendship, loyalty, and dedication of ohana and a healthy helping of romance.

Cornered, the latest novella collection from suspense queens Lynette Eason, Lynn H. Blackburn, and Natalie Walters is available now from your favorite local bookseller or online:

Baker Book House        Christian Book        Amazon        Barnes & Noble        Walmart

Thank you to the authors and publisher for allowing me a copy to read and review. All opinions expressed here are my own and are completely genuine.