Married This Year by Tracey Pedersen - five stars!

Ever been jealous of someone getting engaged? Do something about it, this girl did! A fun read!
Married This Year I loved this book! It was a fast read, one day, too much fun, a group of girls gather at the bar and one of them has a boyfriend who is there and he asks his girlfriend to marry him, of course she said yes! The others are happy for her but a bit jealous. The main character is drunk as all the girls are when she decides by New Years Eve next year she will be married! So they help her make a list of the attributes of the perfect guy, and they throw in a deal breakers. Her's is they must own a car! They put her on every dating site, but Tinder? is the first one they get her on. She must make a date with everyone who asks her and she must go on at least two dates a month. She tells them it's a deal and they agree to meet. The story that follows is great, some laugh out loud scenes (especially if you have ever dated losers) some of the losers are even worse than some I ran into......I'm married now. I can't tell you how it ends up, but I can tell you it will be a surprise, but you probably will figure it out, about the time the author is leading you in that direction. If it was summer I would say it would be a great beach read. Instead snuggle up in your bed or in front of a fire, get your hot chocolate ready and read! You'll be glad you did!

My Not So Perfect Life by Sophie Kinsella - Five Stars

This story turns out to be one of those that takes you through two peoples lives and though their lives seem to be polar opposites, each for their own reasons quietly being very jealous for what the other has, and by the end of the book they find out they have much more in common then they thought and they will hang on to their own lives thank you very much. The story woven by Sophie Kinsella is one of her better ones I really liked it. I'm not going to go into the story line the description will do that for you, the story has surprises, the characters are well developed, and the book moves along quickly after a couple of chapters then you can just lie around and read the rest of the book in a day getting nothing else done. Anyone else do that? I was given the e-book by NetGalley.com in exchange for an honest review!

Description as found on Good Reads: Katie Brenner has the perfect life: a flat in London, a glamorous job, and a super-cool Instagram feed.

Ok, so the real truth is that she rents a tiny room with no space for a wardrobe, has a hideous commute to a lowly admin job, and the life she shares on Instagram isn’t really hers.

But one day her dreams are bound to come true, aren’t they?

Until her not-so perfect life comes crashing down when her mega-successful boss Demeter gives her the sack. All Katie’s hopes are shattered. She has to move home to Somerset, where she helps her dad with his new glamping business.

Then Demeter and her family book in for a holiday, and Katie sees her chance. But should she get revenge on the woman who ruined her dreams? Or try to get her job back? Does Demeter – the woman with everything – have such an idyllic life herself? Maybe they have more in common than it seems.

And what’s wrong with not-so-perfect, anyway?

Smoke by Catherine McKenzie - 5 Stars!

I think I inhaled this book in one reading.  The fire raging through a small town in Colorado.  The main character used to be a fire fighter, but is now the towns arson investigator.  She goes out and finds out where the fire started, although the back of someone’s yard, but she doesn’t believe the home owner started the fire, she sets out to prove that.  She and her husband agree to divorce and she is working with the local fire fighters on this fire which her husband is really frustrated about. 

There are many relationships in this book, the towns people whose relationships come to light as the Smoke grows closer to their homes.  Mindy her ex-best friend is working on a charity fund raiser and she decides that the fellow who lost his home in the fire should benefit from the funds raised.  She has no idea what her kids have been up to, she is a bit disconnected from her family, her son has been going out at night and she has no idea what he’s been doing. 

The smoke, the raging fire grows closer and closer to the town, and many have to be taken from school and home to take shelter from the smoke and ash and have hopes that their homes will be there when they are allowed to go home.  Many of the towns people have relationships that are interwoven and until you get to the end of the book you don’t really know who or how.  A great read!  I loved the mystery of the “Smoke!”

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. 

The description of the book as found on Good Reads:

—A Goodreads Best Book of October, 2015 

—One of the Top 100 books of 2015 (Amazon).

From the internationally bestselling author Catherine McKenzie comes an evocative tale of two women navigating the secrets and lies at the heart of a wildfire threatening their town.

After a decade-long career combating wildfires, Elizabeth has traded in for a quieter life with her husband. Now she works as the local arson investigator in a beautiful, quaint town in the Rockies. But that tranquil life vanishes when she and her husband agree to divorce, and when a fire started in nearby Cooper Basin begins to spread rapidly. For Elizabeth, containing a raging wildfire is easier than accepting that her marriage has failed.

For Elizabeth’s ex-friend Mindy, who feels disconnected from her husband and teenage children, the fire represents a chance to find a new purpose: helping a man who lost his home to the blaze. But her faith is shattered by a shocking accusation. 

As the encroaching inferno threatens the town’s residents, Elizabeth and Mindy must discover what will be lost in the fire, and what will be saved

For The Record (Ozark Mountain Romance #3) by Regina Jennings - I gave this one five stars

I guess I didn’t, at the time I read this book, realize that it was third in a series.  That says a lot for the author that I thought this was a stand-alone book.  Deputy Joel Puckett didn’t’ want to leave the town he was working as the Deputy, he had to.  A very conniving woman made it so he was alone with her overnight and he had two choices, marry her or leave town and go somewhere that he could work as Deputy where no one would know him.  He comes to the small town thinking probably not goes on there, only to find out there is a gang of do-gooders who have taken the law into their own hands and they ride every night they feel they are needed to put things right, with bags over their heads with horns made on them and faces drawn on them…..

Betsy Huckabee has been living with her Uncle for years working on his little newspaper, and raising his kids until he remarried.  Now there isn’t really any room for Betsy there, she actually sleeps in the newspaper office.  She wants to write for a big city newspaper and get paid enough to do so that she can find her own place to live.  She decides after meeting the new Deputy to write about him and the gang that is riding only she writes a very romanticized version of the Deputy giving him a new name, she doesn’t’ want him to know she’s been writing about him.  Problem is the Deputy can’t have anyone finding out he’s working there or his trouble will come to find him.  Betsy has written so well the column makes it to the news portion of the paper she sends it to, it doesn’t stay in the back as a serial romance for the ladies to read.  Betsy seems to find trouble where ever she goes.  The Deputy likes her although she has no idea……when she does she knows she’s in hot water!! 

I really enjoyed this raucous romp and gave it five stars. I’ll have to go and read the two books leading up to it at some point although my to be read pile is piling up!

Thanks to Bethany House and Net Galley for my review copy.
For more book talk and reviews, visit my http://blog, dancealertreads.blogspot.com. 

Description as found on Good Reads:

Jennings Offers Another Delightful Blend of History and Romance
Betsy Huckabee might be a small-town girl, but she has big-city dreams. Writing for her uncle's newspaper will never lead to independence, and the bigger newspapers don't seem interested in the Hart County news. Trying a new approach, Betsy pens a romanticized serial for the ladies' pages, and the new deputy provides the perfect inspiration for her submissions. She'd be horrified if he read her breathless descriptions of him, but these articles are for a newspaper far away. No one in Pine Gap will ever know.
Deputy Joel Puckett didn't want to leave Texas, but this job in tiny Pine Gap is his only shot at keeping his badge. With masked marauders riding every night, his skills and patience are tested, but even more challenging is the sassy journalist lady chasing him.