romantic suspense

Delicate Escape – Catherine Cowles

Happy Delicate Escape day! Thank you to the author for the ARC and ALC

It’s great to be back in Sparrow Falls!

This brings us Thea and Shep’s story, both of whom we met in book one. Thea is a woman on the run, in hiding for reasons we discover as the book progresses, who has trouble letting anyone in for obvious reasons. Shep is a good guy who wants to get to know her and help her out when her house needs work. They end up as roommates so he can help with her plumbing (literally … but also figuratively wink wink) 

I loved them both individually and together. I just love when opposites attract and their black cat/golden retriever energies were so great. Shep fell hard and fast for Thea and I love how carefully he worked to gain her trust and get her walls down. 

The suspense had me guessing and my theory was so wrong which I love! The author fooled me again and I’m so glad she did. 

I love the family/found family aspect of Shep’s family and how they welcomed Thea so readily into their fold. Lolli continues to be the best and I can’t wait to get more of her antics! I love this series and this world and am so glad when I get to spend more time there. 

I read it first with my eyeballs then did a second read on audio and thought both narrators did a great job! It’s Erin Mallon and Teddy Hamilton so of course they did. 

Golden Touch

Happy Tuesday! Golden Touch is out today, I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love going back to Vermont! This is book two in the Giltmaker series, which is a spin off of the True North series, but tbh I think you could read this one as a standalone with no problem.

This brings us Livia and Nash’s story, and it was such a fun close-proximity, opposites attract romance. Nash is back in town to keep his father’s brewery afloat while his dad is in the hospital, while Livia is his dad’s right hand woman. They end up bunking together so both can be close to the brewery and while they’ve met before and had a brief flirtation, their second meet cute doesn’t go quite as well and I do love a meet disaster. 

I loved them both. Livia is a total black cat heroine, which is my fave. She’s super competent at her job but doesn’t always make the absolute best choices in her personal life so her walls are up. She’s on the run from a bad ex which brought an element of suspense to the book I wasn’t expecting (but obviously loved.)  Nash was such a fun MMC, he’s so charismatic and flirty.He was very very into Livia and I loved his confidence in trying to win her over. The chemistry between them was so great.

The book overall was pretty lighthearted and funny and I really enjoyed myself while reading it! This is easily one of my favorite fictional worlds and I just loved being back. So so good! 

Side note – I reread Good as Gold in preparation and still really loved it! I did the audio and Jason Clarke is forever my favorite male narrator. 

Bourbon & Lies

Oooh did I love this book! This is my first by the author but it certainly won’t be the last. This cover is stunning and what initially drew me to the book but the contents were just as good.

It’s a forced proximity romance between Laney, a woman on the run, and Grant, the youngest son of a bourbon distilling family dynasty. She needs a safe place to hide out for a while and Fiasco, Kentucky is just that place.

I loved both of them individually and together. Grant has suffered a lot of loss in his life which has led him to become somewhat of a recluse, cut off emotionally from his family if not physically. He’s very grumpy about this woman who showed up out of nowhere who he can’t seem to avoid. Laney was so resilient and I love that she did not take Grant’s shit at all, and threw it back at him even harder. They were such a great match! And WHEW the sparks were flying between them from the get go.

This was such a sexy book. The writing, the scenery, the descriptions, all sexy (also, you know, the sex was sexy too). There’s also a bit of suspense which I love! I loved the small town and supporting characters and I’m genuinely so excited to get to read more from this world. 

This is easily my favorite book I’ve read in June and it’s on my top reads of 2024 list! 

Free Fall

Free Fall is out today! Thank you to Hambright PR for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. ⁣
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What a treat! Kathryn Nolan has written a perfect summer read.⁣
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It’s a small town, grumpy/sunshine romance between a straight-laced bodyguard and the charming man he’s supposed to protect. Luke has just inherited his father’s company, and with it a handsome bodyguard & a series of threats. Elijah is up for a promotion so he obviously can’t break the number one rule of not getting personal with a client but as threats draw them together, it gets harder to keep Luke at a distance.⁣
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Ooooh did I love all those forbidden tension filled moments! Elijah is such a serious guy who’s so secretly soft for Luke and I loved how that stoic man blushes. Luke is the life of the party and I love that he didn’t make it easy on Elijah to keep his distance. Both had a lot of family trauma and I love that they found acceptance in each other. They had great laugh out loud banter, a ton of chemistry & heat, and I loved that we got some action in the story as well.⁣
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Overall, I just really had a great time reading this!⁣

Skies Over Caledonia

Happy Thursday! Skies Over Caledonia released today, I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

I love returning to Ardnoch! 

This brings us Jared and Allegra’s story, two characters we’ve met in previous books. We’re now five years in the future from the previous book, and Allegra finds herself about to be kicked out of Scotland for visa reasons. She has a proposition for Jared, whose family farm is failing – they get married so she can stay in the country and she can provide the capital needed to save the farm.

I love a marriage of convenience romance and this one was so good! Jared’s been avoiding Allegra’s attentions for years, she’s too rich and shiny and young for the likes of a surly farmer like him but the forced proximity works its magic and they eventually can’t resist each other any longer.

Jared was so broody and grumpy and I loved it. He boarded on rude at times in his insistence at not growing closer to Allegra and I love that she eventually won him over. He was the king of “my wife” moments that I am an absolute sucker for. Allegra was a character who surprised me, she wasn’t necessarily cast in the best light during previous books but I loved learning her history and watching her come into her own. 

They’re both two lonely souls and I loved how they found belonging with each other. It’s a slow burn but when they finally gave into those feelings it was super hot! There’s also a dash of suspense and I love that it drove them closer together.

It’s always great to return to this world and I thoroughly enjoyed it!. 

Storms and Secrets

Happy Thursday! Storms and Secrets is out today and I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. ⁣
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What a sweet small town romance! This is book two in the Haven brothers series, and unlike book one, this isn’t so much a romantic suspense as it is a romantic domestic thriller (is that a thing??)⁣
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We’ve seen Marigold in other books as the best friend, the girl who’s waiting on her own HEA while all her friends all fall in love. She’s secretly been crushing on Zachary Haven, her best friend’s older brother, but he doesn’t seem to notice her existence, or worse, bolts from whatever room she’s in. After a near death experience, Zachary realizes he’s actually in love with Marigold, but the timing is off as she’s just started dating a handsome new-in-town stranger.⁣
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Zachary is determined to win her over and I love a determined man! They were so cute together, it felt almost like young love even though they’re in their 30s. Marigold was a sweetheart of a character, always helping everyone else out so I loved watching her finally get her HEA. Zachary made some mistakes along the way but I loved how he learned and grew and became the man Marigold needed. ⁣
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This is an odd thing but I loved that they had normal jobs – he’s an electrician and she’s a salon owner/hair stylist. It fits the small town setting so well, and of course it was great to be back in Tilikum. ⁣
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There is a bit of a love triangle but not one where I didn’t know exactly who she’d end up with. There’s also a secondary plot of a local girl gone missing and we do get to see what happened to her and how it comes around full circle to Marigold and Zachary’s doorstep. While it wasn’t a really suspense filled whodunnit type story, it was interesting to see it all unfold.⁣
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Overall this was a cute, sweet, easy reading romance that I read in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down! ⁣

Ashes of You

Hey! Happy Thursday. Ashes of You is out today. I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

I loved this addition to the Lost & Found series! Lawson is officially my favorite Hartley (sorry Roan). I am forever a sucker for the single dad/nanny trope. The forbidden vibes are just the best, along with the close proximity and throw in an age gap and I am a goner!

Lawson is the oldest Hartley sibling, a single father with his hands full not only with his three boys but also as a small town chief of police. He finally agrees to hire a nanny to help out at home, but he didn’t expect his best candidate to be someone he helped rescue years ago. 

Hallie has a lot of trauma in her past and is trying to live her life again unafraid, and I loved her relationship with Lawson and how supportive he was, but I also really loved her relationships with his boys.  Lawson fights the good fight to ignore his attraction to his much younger nanny, but eventually the close proximity wins (though this is definitely a slow burn!) and the two can’t fight their feelings anymore.

The romance was so well developed and the suspense portion will have you thinking everyone is a suspect! I loved this book, I love this series, I love the Hartley family. I’m so sad it’s over but can’t wait to see what comes next!

Through The Glen

Happy Thursday! Through the Glen released today into Kindle Unlimited. I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

In Through the Glen, we return to the (unfortunately) fictional Ardnoch, the member’s only club set in a castle deep in the Scottish Highlands, where shy housekeeper Sarah asks worldly aristocratic television producer Theo to work on her screenplay with her. Struggling with writer’s block on his own, he eventually agrees and the two shut themselves away in Sarah’s cottage to work on the project together. Their close proximity does its magic and the two start to have feelings that surprise them both. 

They’re opposites in almost all ways – Sarah is extremely shy and sheltered in her small town, she has lived a quiet life but really comes into her own in this book. She’s secretly a bestselling author under a pen name, and she goes through a lot of growth to accept her success and also to accept new friendships and experiences in her life. Theo is a swaggering playboy, the son of a British Viscount, one who’s vowed never to settle down after his first relationship imploded spectacularly. 

The two find comfort and acceptance in each other and it was lovely to watch their respective walls start to fall. The sparks between them were intense and the author always brings the spice which I love.

I can’t say either MC is my favorite of the author’s, but that’s okay. They can’t all be my favorite! They loved each other and Sarah is a lot more forgiving than me, so that’s what matters.

I love being in this world and am so glad we still have more books to come! I can’t get enough.

Among the Heather

Among the Heather is out now! I received an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I love returning to Ardnoch! This world the author has built is my favorite – so cozy, so beautiful, so atmospheric. Among the Heather is book two in The Highlands series, which is a spin off of the Adair Family series.

In this we have characters we’ve met in the previous books – Aria, who is managing Ardnoch for Lachlan, and North, an up and coming hollywood star who’s laying low at Ardnoch after a scandal breaks about his past. The two are immediately attracted to each other but Aria, whose father is an extremely famous movie director, is distrustful of actors after being used by so many of them to try to get to her father. But, throw in a bit of forced proximity, a meddling sister, and intense chemistry and the two start a “no strings” affair … but will it turn into more? 

I loved both characters – Aria is so prickly but in an understandable way given her past. I loved her journey to self acceptance and her relationship with her family. I always love when we get a curvy heroine! North is just a superstar book boyfriend – so supportive, so loving, so open and willing to communicate his feelings. He definitely falls first and he made me cry at one point and I’m not usually a crier so that shows how much I love him.

There’s also a good bit of steam, some suspense, a gorgeous setting, and great secondary characters. I love this book, this series, this world, and this author. Definitely recommend!

Shadows of You

It’s Roan day! 🧭

Finally we get Roan’s story! I’ve been waiting for this since the beginning of the series and it did not disappoint. We’ve seen Roan as the solitary, sort of outsider of the Hartley family and it was so wonderful to see him find the place where he belongs.

Aspen is in hiding with her daughter due to reasons we find out as the story unfolds, and when danger yet again arrives at her door, Roan is there to protect her even if that means sleeping on her couch and being attacked by her cat. 

I loved watching that grumpy loner fall for both Aspen and Cady. The relationship between Cady and Mr Grizz was just so precious. I also loved watching Roan start to open up to his family after seeing him as such a closed off guy during the series, and I loved how easily and wholly the Hartley’s accepted Aspen and Cady into their fold. 

The suspense will keep you guessing, the romance will have you swooning, and the Hartley antics will have you laughing out loud. An excellent edition to the series!