Sorry if this gets a little wordy. I’m finally ready to give you a bit of an update on why I have been away for a while. While I am not ready to share all the details just yet, here is an overview. I have picked today to give this update for a reason.
Two years ago today my world was turned upside down without warning. And while my world will never be right side up again, it is getting closer and I am in a much better place.
Friends, family, and co-workers have played a major role in getting me through these last two years. Recently a new friend has come into my life and has really brought my world back into reality. For all of them I will be forever great full. And they probably don’t even know how helpful they have been.
In the first few weeks/months “Murder She Wrote” was what I turned to for distraction. And then the Game Wardens of Maine & New Hampshire (“North Woods Law”) came into my life and watching them became a major distraction. In fact, I am almost through my second time watching all the New Hampshire episodes (I will admit it, they are my favorites).
This event not only effected me but my whole family too. And we have all come a long way these past two years.
When they say “you are braver than you believe and stronger than you seem” that is true. I have learned it the hard way. As a family friend likes to say “ I had to put my big girl panties on”.
I thought I had a blog tour on these two wonderful books but I never received the assets folder, so I guess not. But anyway, let the summer reading begin!
This book had me glued from the very first page. I didn’t want to put it down and hated for it to end. I loved the characters and the story. The kind of book that is great to crawl up with under a blanket on a chilly day/night. It looks like this is the first book in a series, if the other books are anything like this one I will be very excited for them.
Excerpt of The Father of Her Sons by Christine Rimmer (Oct 26)
And okay, yes. Payton Dahl had given up flirting. Flirting too easily led to fooling around. Fooling around often became romance and right now in her life, she had no time at all for romantic entanglements—not even brief ones, which were pretty much the only kind she’d ever known. She spent her nights tending bar and her days either helping at the family farm or huddled over her laptop.
For more than nine months, from January well into October, Payton had stuck with her plan to avoid men altogether. Yes, she’d been tempted more than once by a sexy smile or a smoldering pair of bedroom eyes. She’d kept her eyes on the prize, though. She’d said no to temptation. Payton had stories inside her head. She intended to get them written down. That required discipline and for months, she’d exercised strict self-control.
But then, on a Wednesday night in mid-October, a whole new level of temptation came calling, one that had irresistible written all over him.
That particular Wednesday night, the Larch Tree Lounge at the Heartwood Inn was deader than a frozen doorknob. In one of the booths, a very tired looking middle-aged couple argued in whispers without much enthusiasm. Cletus Carnigan, a nightly fixture in the lounge, sat slumped at one end of the bar gazing mournfully into his Logsdon Lager.
As usual, it promised to be a very long night—until a tall, broad-shouldered stranger with tousled dark blond hair and cheekbones sharp as knives in his stunning, angular face took the stool at the opposite end of the bar from Cletus.
No flirting, Payton sternly reminded herself. Pasting on her most professional smile, she marched down the bar to greet the smoking-hot newcomer. “Welcome to the Larch Tree Lounge. What can I get you?”
He ordered Redbreast Irish Whiskey, an admirable choice—both good quality and excellent value for the money. “And something to eat,” he added. “What’s good?”
“Right off the bat with the loaded question,” she muttered under her breath.
He narrowed his gorgeous blue eyes at her. “Is there a problem?”
“Sort of.” Unfortunately, not much was good at the Larch Tree Lounge. And while Payton despised lying to her customers, telling a guest that the food sucked wouldn’t do, either. She settled for evasion. “What are you in the mood for?”
He studied her face at length. She stared right back at him for way too long while hummingbirds flitted around in her belly and an electric current went snapping and popping beneath the surface of her skin. Finally, he folded his lean hands on the bar, canted toward her and spoke confidentially. “It’s all bad. Is that what you’re telling me?”
So much for evasion. What now? She didn’t want to lie about the food, but she didn’t want to get fired, either. Her best option at this point? Maybe a recommendation. The burgers were passable. “How about a burger?”
He was hiding a grin. She could see it kind of pulling at one corner of that fine mouth of his. “An honest woman.”
The Father of Her Sons by Christine Rimmer
Available: Oct 26
Harlequin Special Edition
Book Description
She thought she knew everything she needed to know about him in New York Times bestselling author Christine Rimmer’s first book in the brand-new Wild Rose Sisters series!
How do you make up for four years of lost time?
No last names. No promises to meet again. No way for Payton Dahl to find the man who’s the father of her twin boys. Until fate reunites them four years later. Easton Wright now wants to be part of his sons’ lives—with the woman he fell hard for during those seven days and nights of bliss. Payton doesn’t want her sons to grow up fatherless like she did, but can she risk trusting Easton when she’s been burned in the past?
A New York Times bestselling author, Christine Rimmer has written over ninety contemporary romances for Harlequin Books. Christine has won the Romantic Times BOOKreviews Reviewers Choice Award and has been nominated six times for the RITA Award. She lives in Oregon with her family. Visit Christine at http://www.christinerimmer.com.
This book took me a little while to get into but once I did, I enjoyed it. I really liked the grandpa of the book, he brought the humor. There was a nice amount of Christmas for a Christmas Romance. This book is also part of a series so again having some of the back story might have helped me but again all on me since I did not read any of the books in the series before this one.
Twelve Dates of Christmas by Laurel Greer
Available: Oct 26
Harlequin Special Edition
Book Description
Can two rivals create mistletoe magic?
When a local wilderness lodge almost cancels its Twelve Days of Christmas festival, Emma Halloran leaps at the chance to convince the owners of her vision for the business. But Luke Emerson has his own plans—to keep the lodge in the family and protect his grandfather’s legacy. As they work together, Luke and Emma are increasingly drawn to each other. Can these utter opposites unite over their shared passion this Christmas?
Born and raised in a small Vancouver Island town, Laurel picked up her pen to write Julie Garwood fan-fiction during junior high English class. She hasn’t put it down since. Ever committed to the proper placement of the Canadian “eh,” she loves to write books with snapping sexual tension and second chances. She lives outside Vancouver with her law-talking husband and two daughters. At least half her diet is made up of tea. Find her at www.laurelgreer.com.
And while he didn’t get why the Brownie leader was intent on making the tree into a rainbow bird, he wanted to do right by the kids. The small troop had asked him to help—a request that had earned a storm cloud of a frown from “Ms. Emma”—because he was the tallest person present who wasn’t already working on a tree. The girls also seemed to think being the local game warden gave him some sort of magical knowledge about bird-themed crafts. If feather number one hadn’t proved them wrong, feather two sure had.
No matter. He couldn’t disappoint the girls, even though he had electrical cords to run, spotlights to position and a staff to organize. And at the top of his to-do list: keep his grandfather from leaving his house to survey the action.
Luke gritted his teeth at the possibility of Hank Emerson trying to hook up the power connections for the trees while hacking up phlegm from his pneumonia-ridden lungs. No. Hank was going to keep his stubborn ass fixed to his well-worn couch for the next twelve days, and Luke would do everything else that needed doing.
He got into a rhythm, fully covering the high-up branches the little girls couldn’t reach with their shorter arms and rubber cement.
“Now the sparkles.” A Brownie peered at him hopefully as she held out a can of spray paint. No, spray glitter.
“Your troop leader didn’t mention sparkles,” he said.
The girl pressed the can into his hand. “We want it on the edges.”
“You got it.” He was asking for a dressing-down from Emma for following the girls’ instructions instead of hers, but she was nowhere to be seen and time was running out. With a careful hand, he sprayed the tips of as many feathers as he could. The Brownies oohed and aahed.
Choking on the fumes, he stepped back, forcing a straight face as he took in the eyesore. It was a good thing every charity or youth group who entered the twelve-day contest received at least a portion of the total funds raised. If the money was solely awarded to the first-place team, the Brownies wouldn’t have a chance at the new canoes they hoped to afford.
The Brownies were clearly of a different mind. They gazed at their creation, faces shining as bright as the pink-and-blue lights Emma had wound through the branches at exact one-inch intervals. Feathers filled in the rest of the spaces. An extra-large papier-mâché pear, wrapped in green, raindrop-size LED bulbs, topped the kaleidoscope monstrosity.
A pear in a partridge tree.
Only Emma…
“Looking great, girls,” he lied.
“That’s a big frown, Warden Emerson.”
The mild comment came from beside him.
He spun, facing Emma Halloran and her glossy red smirk. It didn’t matter the occasion—Emma was always done up like she was anticipating an Instagram photoshoot.
And no matter how many times she shot his flannel shirts and muddy work boots a disdainful look, he still struggled to keep his eyes off her. Her wool coat hid the curves of her tall figure, but he’d been able to conjure a mental image of her sexy shape since she sat behind him in twelfth grade English class. He’d turned around so often, trying to bring a blush to her pale cheeks, he’d had to go to the chiropractor for a kink in his neck.
Not much had changed in sixteen years. Not her sleek brown hair begging to be mussed, nor her legs, longer than the Gallatin River.
Overall I liked this book. I was left with a few questions but since it’s part of a series maybe they will be answered down the road. This is book three of the series and I have not read the first two yet, so some of the back stories were hard for me to pick up on, but that is my own fault. I would have liked to have more Christmas Events but the characters were good. I felt like it was more of a winter romance than a Christmas Romance but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the book.
Finding a Christmas Home by Lee Tobin McClain
Available: Sep 28
Love Inspired
Book Description
Two little girls need a family…in this novel by New York Times bestselling author Lee Tobin McClain
They are his nieces…
But she can never tell him.
As the new guardian to her twin nieces, Hannah Antonicelli is determined to keep her promise to her late sister—that she’ll never reveal the identity of their father. But when the girls’ uncle, Luke Hutchenson, moves in next door and takes a job where Hannah works, the truth threatens their growing connection. How can she keep the secret when she can’t even guard her own heart?
Lee Tobin McClain is the bestselling author of more than thirty emotional, small-town romances described by Publishers’ Weekly as enthralling, intense, and heartfelt. A dog lover and proud mom, she often includes kids and animals in her books. When she’s not writing, she enjoys hiking with her goofy goldendoodle, chatting online with her writer friends, and admiring her daughter’s mastery of the latest TikTok dances. Learn more at www.leetobinmcclain.com.
Hannah Antonicelli walked out of the Rescue Haven Learn-and-Play and flopped down on the bench that ran along the wall of the red barn.
“Cold for sitting outside, isn’t it?” Her friend Gabby wrapped her heavy parka more tightly around herself before sitting beside Hannah. Despite the fact that she and her husband oversaw all Rescue Haven’s programs—the dog rescue, the after-school program for at-risk boys and the childcare center—Gabby always had time to stop and chat.
And Gabby was right: November in rural Ohio wasn’t sit-outside weather. Wind whisked across the neighboring cornfields, rustling the dry, light brown stalks, carrying with it the faint, clean smell of oncoming snow. “I just need a minute before I start with the dogs,” Hannah said.
“Take a minute! Take an hour, or the whole morning off, if you need. It’s a great thing you’re doing, providing a home for Marnie’s girls.”
“The Learn-and-Play is the only possible way I’ll manage, so thank you for accepting the twins on short notice.” And she didn’t want to take advantage of Gabby’s generosity by skimping on her part-time job as the Rescue Haven dog trainer. What with everything that had happened, she’d already taken too much time off. Not to mention the fact that Gabby was pregnant and didn’t need extra stress. “Let me know if they need anything or get upset.”
Caring for her sister’s eighteen-month-old twin girls had been the right thing to do when Marnie had died of complications after a drug overdose two weeks ago. The desperate phone call from her estranged older sister had shaken Hannah’s world at its foundation. She and Mom had rushed to Marnie’s side and instantly agreed to care for the twins they barely knew.
Which meant that, for now, Hannah was back in her childhood home. Mom’s house had plenty of space, a big yard with a tire swing and was close to Rescue Haven.
Anyway, until they got the twins’ lives in order and their schedules figured out, it was going to take two of them to manage things. Being in the same house was just easier.
Mom was busy trying to keep her struggling bakery afloat during hard times. She was also grief-stricken and guilt-ridden over Marnie’s death—not in any shape to be a primary caregiver. Whereas Hannah… Hannah was more angry at her sister than anything else. Marnie had neglected her babies. She’d caused terrible pain to their mother. And she’d entrusted Hannah with a secret that wasn’t going to be easy to keep.
The blond, curly-haired twins had instantly become Hannah’s priority in life. She had to raise them right, and she would. She yawned. The twins hadn’t slept well last night—again—and she was just so tired…
She might have actually dozed off for a few seconds, and when she opened her eyes, she felt like she was dreaming. “Who’s that?” she asked Gabby as she stared at the movie-star-handsome, rugged man striding toward them.
“You don’t recognize him? That’s Luke Hutchenson.”
Hannah’s stomach lurched. “When did he come back to town?”
As someone who grew up watching Disney’s101Dalmatians this book is right up my alley. The premise of this book fits right in line with my favorite spotted movie. The dog sets out to find love for his owner. It was a nice change of pace to have a book written from the dog’s perspective. Doug, the dog, is quite entertaining on his quest to find his owner, Julie, love. Pug Actually is a fun change of pace read perfect for the dog days of summer.
Matt Dunn’s romantic comedy novels include The Ex-Boyfriend’s Handbook (shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award and the Melissa Nathan Award for Comedy Romance), A Day at the Office (an Amazon #1 bestseller across several categories), Thirteen Dates (shortlisted for the Romantic Comedy of the Year Award), and Kindle #1 Bestseller At The Wedding. He’s also written about life and love for The Times, Guardian, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Company, Elle, and The Sun.
Book Summary:
Doug’s human, Julie, has been adrift since she lost her mom (which is strange, because she’s usually pretty good with directions). Doug just wants Julie to be happy, and he doesn’t think she’s going to get there while she’s seeing her married boss, Luke. What’s worse, she’s saying if things don’t work out with Luke, she might end up like her lonely cat-lady neighbor. Horrified by the prospect of a sad Julie and untrustworthy feline companion, Doug decides it’s time for an intervention.
Despite his short legs and some communication roadblocks, Doug sets out on a quirky, sweet, and hilarious mission to find his rescuer the love she deserves. Though he doesn’t totally understand the strangeness of human relationships, he knows he can’t give up on Julie – after all, being a rescue dog works both ways…
I have never been a huge fan of the show When Calls The Heart but I was pretty excited about the season that just ended Sunday night when I heard Viv Leacock was joining the cast. He is great in the Hailey Dean Mysteries and the Christmas Movie Maggie’s Christmas Miracle. But even him joining the show could not get to be to tune back in next season. I’m not sure what is going on but this season was horrible. I’m sure COVID had something to do with it but I would of had no season at all compared to the crap they put out this season. Guess it’s Home Town for me on Sunday nights all the time now. And to be completely honest I feel like the Hallmark Channel in general is not what it used to be.
Wow! Is the only word I can think of to describe this book. After taking nearly a month to read my last book the fact that at less than 36 hours into this book I was already about 150 pages in was huge. This was the book that if I could actually manage to stay up all night reading, I would.
“A Page Turner” is an understatement for this book. This was a keep you on the edge of your seat kind of book, waiting to see what was going to happen next. What secret would be revealed next. The characters had so much depth to them. I am glad I read this book it really brought be back to reading just at a time when I was adrift in my reading.
The Bookstore on the Beach : A Novel
Brenda Novak
On Sale Date: April 6, 2021
9780778361053
Trade Paperback
$16.99 USD
448 pages
About the Book: For fans of Elin Hilderbrand and Mary Kay Andrews, comes New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak’s newest standalone work of women’s fiction, a big, sweeping novel about family and the ties that bind and challenge us. In this novel, three generations of women from the same family share a house and work together at a bookstore in Colonial Beach over the course of a summer.
How do you start a new chapter when you haven’t closed the book on the last one?
Eighteen months ago, Autumn Divac’s husband went missing. Her desperate search has yielded no answers—she still has no idea where he went or why. After being happily married for twenty years, she can’t imagine moving forward without him, but for the sake of their two teenage children, she has to try.
Autumn takes her kids home for the summer to the charming beachside town where she was raised. She seeks comfort by working alongside her mother and aunt at their quaint bookshop, only to learn that her daughter is facing a life change neither of them saw coming and her mother has been hiding a terrible secret for years. And when she runs into Quinn Vanderbilt—the boy who stole her heart in high school—old feelings start to bubble up again. Is she free to love him, or should she hold out hope for her husband’s return? She can only trust her heart…and hope it won’t lead her astray.
About the Author:
Brenda Novak, a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, has penned over sixty novels. She is a five-time nominee for the RITA Award and has won the National Reader’s Choice, the Bookseller’s Best, the Bookbuyer’s Best, and many other awards. She also runs Brenda Novak for the Cure, a charity to raise money for diabetes research (her youngest son has this disease). To date, she’s raised $2.5 million. For more about Brenda, please visit http://www.brendanovak.com.
Earlier this week I finished listening to “The Wedding War” by Liz Talley. I did not want it to end. I wanted more of Teeny and Mel’s (the two main characters) stories. I’m not sure if Liz Talley was planning for this to be a series but I would love it if there was more!
Some books are even better as an audio book (with the right narrator) and these two characters were made to be heard instead of read. They were just way to funny! I’m hoping for more!
I love my kiddos with all my heart and I have loved making Disney Memories with them. I never dreamt when I told the youngest we couldn’t go to Disney until “No Dippers at Disney” (she was fighting potty training bad and kept asking to go to Disney) what we were about to create. She is the one that asks all the time when are we going back. And talks about what rides she will and will not ride next time. We have one of the blankets from Disney that has park icons on it, one day she put it over our heads and said “it’s like Disney World at night”. She will randomly show up at dinner with her Minnie ear headband on, I think we have created a Disney Monster.
My Little Disney Monster (right before COVID shut down, her last trip).
Southern Belle Charm 