Thursday, March 28, 2024

Book Review for Studies at the School by the Sea by Jenny Colgan

 Maggie Adair #4

Studies at the School by the Sea by Jenny Colgan

Published March 26, 2024 by Avon

Genre:  Contemporary Romance


Taken from Goodreads:
  The long-awaited and never-before published finale in New York Times bestselling author Jenny Colgan’s delightful School by the Sea series. After all those lessons, it’s time to graduate.... Beloved literature teacher Maggie Adair loves her life at the prestigious Downey House boarding school on the gloriously sunny, windy English coast. It was there that she found her footing as a teacher and fell in love with her colleague David—the two great anchors of her life. But these days Maggie’s feeling restless, lured by the promise of a different life back in her Scottish hometown. How can you follow your heart when it seems to be taking you in two directions at once? Meanwhile, Maggie’s favorite students are abuzz at the thought of graduation and set to fly the nest to their next adventure. What will life hold for mercurial Fliss, glamorous Alice, and shy, hard-working Simone when they finally finish their studies at the school by the sea? Will Maggie stay to welcome the next class of girls, or will she too graduate to new adventures?

 

My Thoughts:  I did not read any other books in this series and there is no doubt that I should have.     This is a series that should be read in order. 

Although I had not read any other books, I am a fan of Jenny Colgan.  Her characters are always quirky, her stories are unique and easy to read.  Studies at the School by the Sea is all of that and more.  I enjoyed the relationship of David and Maggie, although at times I felt it leaned more towards a high school relationship than an adult relationship.   Maggie was a little whiny at times and should have talked to David more instead of just dwelling in her own thoughts.    

This is not my favorite Jenny Colgan book but I will pick up her next book.   She is a hit and miss author for me, although there are more hits than misses.

 Thank you Avon Books for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Add to your MUST-READ list on Goodreads

Purchase your own copy on Amazon



Meet Jenny Colgan (taken from her website):
 Jenny Colgan was born in Scotland and has lived in London, the Netherlands, the U.S. and France. She eventually settled on the wettest of all of these places, and currently lives just North of Edinburgh with her husband Andrew, her dog Nevil Shute, and her three children: Wallace, who is 11 and likes pretending to be 19 and not knowing what this embarrassing ‘family’ thing is that keeps following him about; Michael-Francis, who is 9 and likes making new friends on aeroplanes, and Delphine who is 7 and is mostly raccoon as far as we can tell so far.  

 

Things Jenny likes include: cakes, far too much Doctor Who, wearing Converse trainers every day so her feet are now just gigantic big flat pans; baths only slightly cooler than the surface of the sun and very very long books, the longer the better. 

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Book Blitz for An Accident Waiting to Dragon by Abigail Owen with a GIVEAWAY

 



An Accident Waiting to Dragon 
by Abigail Owen

(Brimstone Inc., #3)
Publication date: March 26th 2024
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance

Synopsis:

It’s not the heat…it’s the pixie dust.

The day her brother died, Gwendolyn Moonsoar fled from her veil of pixies. Grief drove her away, but a broken heart made her stay gone for good. Lucky for Gwen, Brimstone Inc. was there to break her fall. Now, as a special courier transporting the most valuable and dangerous items of the supernatural world, Gwen is good at her job. Damn good. After all, disappearing is her specialty.

Dragon shifter Asher Kato will always be haunted by his best friend Goran’s death. Although a promise he made gave him no choice, Asher will never forgive himself for the role he played…or the fallout it caused with Goran’s younger sister, Gwen. Burying himself in his role as second-in-command of the blue dragons is his only escape. Unfortunately, the peace they fought so hard for isn’t meant for a warrior like him. So, when a courier transporting a rare basilisk egg goes missing, Asher volunteers to track her down.

Except Asher’s mission ends up stranding him on a deserted island with the only woman he’s ever wanted….a pixie who would rather vanish forever than spend a single second with him.






AUTHOR BIO:
Award-winning author, Abigail Owen, writes NA/YA romantasy and paranormal romance. She loves plots that move hot and fast, feisty heroines with sass, heroes with heart, a dash of snark, and oodles of HEAs!

Abbie has a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing) from Texas A&M University (gig’em Ags!), and an MBA from California State University-Sacramento. Prior to becoming a published author, she spent 15+ years using the other side of her brain in various tech- and business-related roles.

Other titles include: wife, mother, Star Wars geek, ex-competitive skydiver, AuDHD, spreadsheet lover, Jeopardy fanatic, organizational guru, true classic movie buff, linguaphile, wishful world traveler, and chocoholic.

Abigail currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her own swoon-worthy hero, their (mostly) angelic teenagers, and two adorable fur babies.

Author links:
https://abigailowen.com/

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Book Blitz for A Strange Affinity by Rebecca Rook with a GIVEAWAY

 



A Strange Affinity 
by Rebecca Rook

Publication date: March 26th 2024
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Synopsis:

A Strange Affinity is a hypnotizing cross between the television show Deadwood and Tamora Pierce’s renowned Tortall Universe. This young adult fantasy novel, set in an alternate nineteenth century American Wild West, will appeal to fans of Vengeance Road and Retribution Rails by Erin Bowman, Revenge and the Wild by Michelle Modesto, and Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey.

In the Wild West, magic is real.

When two strangers arrive in her small town, Gloriana Rue learns that she has the magical ability, or Affinity, to manipulate metal. She also learns that her mother was a renowned magical scholar but had abandoned the world of Affinities. Glory is desperate to know why her mother hid her past, and so agrees to attend an academy for magicians in the hopes of finding answers.

Glory is soon immersed in magic and mystery when she stumbles upon a disturbing discovery: A killer is hunting magicians throughout the American West – and he’s getting closer. Only by seeking out her mother’s secrets can she stop him and save her newfound family.








AUTHOR BIO:
Rebecca Rook designs tabletop games, manages a little free library dedicated to sequential art and comics, and lives in the Pacific Northwest with two wonderful dogs. She writes young adult fiction in the fantasy, thriller, and horror genres.

A 2021-2022 Hugo House Fellow in
Seattle, WA, she also attended the 2021 Tin House YA Fiction Workshop in
Portland, OR. Rebecca was selected as one of the 100 invited writers to participate in the Write Team Mentorship Program’s curated Pitch-a-Thon event before being chosen as a Mentee for the 2021 Program. Prior to this, she completed the wonderful Yearlong Workshop for Young Adult and Middle Grade Fiction at Hugo House.

Author links:
https://www.byrebeccarook.com/
https://www.tiktok.com/@byrebeccarook
https://www.instagram.com/byrebeccarook
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/45848659.Rebecca_Rook

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Book Review for The Truth about the Devlins by Lisa Scottoline

 The Truth about the Devlins by Lisa Scottoline

 

Published March 26, 2024 by G.P. Putnam's Sons

Genre:  Mystery Thriller



Taken from Goodreads: 
Lisa Scottoline, the #1 bestselling author of What Happened to the Bennetts , presents another pulse-pounding domestic thriller about family, justice, and the lies that tear us apart.


TJ Devlin is the charming disappointment in the prominent Devlin family, all of whom are lawyers at their highly successful firm—except him. After a stint in prison and rehab for alcoholism, TJ can’t get hired anywhere except at the firm, in a make-work job with the title of investigator.

But one night, TJ’s world turns upside down after his older brother John confesses that he just murdered one of the clients, an accountant he’d confronted with proof of embezzlement. It seems impossible coming from John, the firstborn son and Most Valuable Devlin.

TJ plunges into the investigation, seizing the chance to prove his worth and save his brother. But in no time, TJ and John find themselves entangled in a lethal web of deception and murder. TJ will fight to save his family, but what he learns might break them first.

 

My Thoughts:  This book kept me up late at night and reading all day long.  I was so hooked on the Devlin family and their dysfunctional family. 

I needed this family to figure out the truth and stand by each other as they struggled.   Every person in this family had something going on that they were struggling with and the rest of the family was not seeing the support  that they needed to give each other.   They had to figure out before they were lost to each other forever. 

The Truth About the Devlin’s is a wonderful family thriller.  The drama had me turning pages needing to know what would happen next.  I would love to have more from this family. 

I have been a fan of Lisa Scottoline’s books for as long as I can remember.   I recommend them all, especially this one, to any thriller, mystery, family drama, legal drama reader. 

Thank you Penguin Group Putnam for a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

 

Add to your MUST-READ list on Goodreads

Purchase your own copy on Amazon



Meet Lisa Scottoline (Taken from her website):
 Lisa Scottoline is a #1 Bestselling Author, The New York Times bestselling author and Edgar award-winning author of 35 novels, including her latest work, Loyalty.

She also writes a weekly column with her daughter Francesca Serritella titled “Chick Wit” which is a witty and fun take on life from a woman’s perspective. After running in the Philadelphia Inquirer for fifteen years, Chick Wit is now available online. These stories, along with many other never-before-published stories, have been collected in a New York Times bestselling series of humorous memoirs including their most recent, I See Life Through Rosé-Colored Glasses, and earlier books, I Need A Lifeguard Everywhere But The PoolI’ve Got Sand in All the Wrong Places; Does This Beach Make Me Look Fat?; Have a Nice Guilt TripMeet Me at Emotional Baggage ClaimBest Friends, Occasional EnemiesMy Nest Isn’t Empty, It Just Has More Closet Space; and Why My Third Husband Will Be a Dog, which has been optioned for TV.

Lisa reviews popular fiction and non-fiction, and her reviews have appeared in The New York TimesThe Washington Post and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Lisa has served as president of Mystery Writers of America and has taught a course she developed, “Justice and Fiction” at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, her alma mater. Lisa is a regular and much-sought-after speaker at library and corporate events. Lisa has over 30 million copies of her books in print and is published in over 35 countries. She lives in the Philadelphia area with an array of disobedient pets, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

 

 

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Release Blitz for Teasing You by Samantha Chase

 




Teasing You by Samantha Chase is now live! 


A Small Town, Second Chance, Firefighter, standalone romance by New York Times bestselling author, Samantha Chase.


She’s being suspected of setting her workplace on fire.

He needs to prove it wasn’t her.

Now he’s on a mission to convince the one that got away that they belong together.


Ashlynn Donovan’s life just hit rock bottom. She lost her job, there are no prospects on the horizon, and she just unknowingly flashed the hot new firefighter in town. This isn’t the first time she’s embarrassed herself in front of him, but she was prepared to react the same way she did years ago – by running away. But Reid’s persistent and isn’t ready to let her get away a second time.


Reid Baylor always hoped to return to Sweetbriar Ridge—the only place he’s felt a connection to after a lifetime spent moving from place to place. When he learns of an opening in the fire department, he jumps at the chance to return to the small town he wants to call home again. And just when he thinks life can’t get any better, he runs into the one girl he’s never been able to forget. But reminding Ashlynn of their embarrassing first meeting might not have been the best move, especially when he wants to prove that he’s the man for her.


When Ashlynn is suspected of arson for the fire at her former workplace, Reid’s dream of becoming a fire inspector is on the line—and so is any chance he had with Ashlynn. Will his chance at getting both his dream job and the girl of his dreams go up in flames?



  Download today on Amazon, Apple Books, Audible, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, and Kobo!


Amazon: https://bit.ly/47ozeHp

Apple Books: https://bit.ly/3Ske7Sb

Nook: https://bit.ly/47w9Dwh

Kobo: https://bit.ly/47AOP6L

Google Play: https://bit.ly/3vCk9Vs


Audible: https://adbl.co/3THarKS

Narrated by: Carly Robins


Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3RNuzc2




Meet Samantha


Samantha Chase is a New York Times and USA Today bestseller of contemporary romance that’s hotter than sweet, sweeter than hot.  She released her debut novel in 2011 and currently has more than eighty titles under her belt – including THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE which was a Hallmark Christmas movie in 2017 and THE WEDDING SEASON which was a Hallmark wedding movie in 2023!  She’s a Disney enthusiast who still happily listens to 80’s rock. When she’s not working on a new story, she spends her time reading romances, playing way too many games of Solitaire when she should be writing, wearing a tiara while playing with her sassy pug Maylene…oh, and spending time with her husband of 32 years and their two sons in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

 

Connect with Samantha


Website: https://www.chasing-romance.com/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1250276.Samantha_Chase

Amazon: http://amzn.to/1R1Ey8Z

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SamanthaChaseFanClub

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1034673493228089

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

X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/SamanthaChase3

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@samanthachasebooks

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/samantha-chase

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/samanthachase31/_saved/

Verve: https://ververomance.com/app/SamanthaChaseRomance

Spotlight for How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

 Castle Knoll Files #1

How to Solve Your Own Murder by Kristen Perrin

Published on March 26, 2024 by Dutton

Genre:  Mystery Thriller


Taken from Goodreads:
  For fans of Knives Out and The Thursday Murder Club , an enormously fun mystery about a woman who spends her entire life trying to prevent her foretold murder only to be proven right sixty years later, when she is found dead in her sprawling country estate... Now it's up to her great-niece to catch the killer. 

It’s 1965 and teenage Frances Adams is at an English country fair with her two best friends. But Frances’s night takes a hairpin turn when a fortune-teller makes a bone-chilling prediction: One day, Frances will be murdered. Frances spends a lifetime trying to solve a crime that hasn’t happened yet, compiling dirt on every person who crosses her path in an effort to prevent her own demise. For decades, no one takes Frances seriously, until nearly sixty years later, when Frances is found murdered, like she always said she would be.
 
In the present day, Annie Adams has been summoned to a meeting at the sprawling country estate of her wealthy and reclusive great-aunt Frances. But by the time Annie arrives in the quaint English village of Castle Knoll, Frances is already dead. Annie is determined to catch the killer, but thanks to Frances’s lifelong habit of digging up secrets and lies, it seems every endearing and eccentric villager might just have a motive for her murder. Can Annie safely unravel the dark mystery at the heart of Castle Knoll, or will dredging up the past throw her into the path of a killer?
 
As Annie gets closer to the truth, and closer to the danger, she starts to fear she might inherit her aunt’s fate instead of her fortune.

 

Add to your MUST-READ list on Goodreads

Purchase your own copy on Amazon

 


Meet the Author (Taken from Goodreads):
  Kristen Perrin is originally from Seattle, Washington, where she spent several years working as a bookseller before immigrating to the UK to do a Masters and PhD. She’s passionate about books and loves working on projects that have a mystery at their heart. She lives with her family in Surrey, where she can be found poking around vintage bookstores, stomping in the mud with her two kids, and collecting too many plants.

Find her on Instagram: @kristenperrinwrites

Monday, March 25, 2024

Cover Reveal for Left-Handed Monkey Wrench by Guilia Lagomarsino

 

Title: Left-Handed Monkey Wrench
Series: Owens Protective Services Book 18
Author: Giulia Lagomarsino
Genre: Protector Romance/Romantic Suspense
Release Date: April 22, 2024
Cover Design: T.E. Black Designs
Model: Hosea



A few days in the jungle with her changed my world.

The grumpy, angry man who used to reside in my body was gone,
replaced with someone who knew how to smile.

But just as quickly as this new man emerged, I was replaced with my former self.
And that’s when I knew I would go to any lengths to find her again.

Yet, even as I moved heaven and earth to find her, danger was lurking.
I didn’t know who was after her or why.
The urge to protect her was stronger than ever.
And with the help of an old friend, we might just get out of this alive.

I’ve always believed that something good can come out of something tragic.
But as I stood in that forest looking over the cliff, I struggled to see how that could be true.

 









Giulia Lagomarsino is the author of the action-packed series Owens Protective Services, along with four other series that feature hot men, strong women, and storylines that will leave you laughing, crying, and begging for more. To find her reading order, visit her website http://giulialagomarsinoauthor.com
or join her reading group https://www.facebook.com/groups/GiuliaLa....
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/crazybookladylo...
And if you still want to stalk me, check me out on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17…



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