Winter's Secret (Northern Intrigue #1) by Lyn Cote (Goodreads Author) - 5 Stars!

I loved the book!  Romance and mystery all rolled into one. Who could ask for anything more?  Sheriff Rod Durand is trying to capture the snowmobile bandit who is breaking into homes he calls him the Weasel.  Since the break-ins seem to happen any time Wendy Carey has taken a patient from their home to the clinic for an overnight stay, she seems to be linked to these burglaries.  Of course she is absolutely appalled at that idea.  She keeps feeling this pull toward the handsome new Sheriff but she is fighting that she doesn’t want to have a relationship or to get married.  Her Mom ruined all of that for her.  The Sheriff has the same thing happening to him, every time he’s around Wendy he’s super aware of all of her great qualities, and has this urge to kiss her.  He’s fighting that though even trying to stay away from her but the burglaries mean they have to work together to try and get a drop on the Weasel.  Who knows what will happen next and the biggest surprise of all is the identity of the burglar!  Buy the book and take a run at figuring it all out.  If you can you are a better person than I!

I got this book from Lyn Cote, author, in exchange for an honest review!

Here is the description of the book:

Sheriff Rod Durand is desperate to solve the snowmobile burglaries. As the one link to the crimes against the elderly, Wendy Carey is determined to risk anything to protect those she loves. As they follow the thief's trail, Rod and Wendy discover much more than they bargained for. First book in a 3-book series.

Need You Now by Emma Douglas A Cloud Bay Series - 4 Stars

This book is filled with hot sex scenes if you find those offensive this book isn’t for you.  Faith is the daughter of a Rock Star who died several years before, her Father started a music festival that takes place on a small island town of Cloud Bay.  Faith has kept the entire festival going for years since her Father passed away.  She had pretty much put any personal life for herself on hold over the years.  That is until she meets Tennis world wide star Caleb White, who has just announced his retirement and has come to Cloud Bay with a friend to stay at Danny’s home (Faiths brother.  Faith is caught up in the hot good looks and muscular body of Caleb.  She can’t help herself being drawn to him.  She never ever brings her love life to Cloud Bay, she keeps any dates or one night stands off the island.  She isn’t prepared for how Caleb makes her feel.  She really doesn’t believe that Caleb can put away a life being in the spotlight and come to her little island to live a life there.  She won’t leave the island, her life and work are there.  So what is to happen to them.  You’ll have to read the book to find out.  I enjoyed the book.  I gave if four stars.  I received this book from net galley in exchange for an honest review.

Description as found on Amazon:

Welcome to the small island town of Cloud Bay, where it’s never the wrong time to find a love that’s oh-so-right. . .

Caleb White knows what he wants out of life—and being a star tennis player is not it. After speaking to the press about his plans to retire, Caleb decides that a trip to quaint, beautiful Cloud Bay for its legendary music festival is exactly what he needs. There will be time to figure out what to do with his life without a racket in his hand soon enough. Until then, Caleb is content to be stuck on an island with Cloud Fest’s gorgeous director Faith Harper. . .

The daughter of a famous rock star, Faith knows all about fame, fortune, and hot flings that aren’t meant to last longer than a few good songs. Gorgeous, built Caleb is a temptation she can’t resist, but she’s not prepared for the way he makes her feel. . .and the dreams that they both share. What begins as a carefree distraction deepens into something real. But is Caleb ready to put his celebrity behind him and give life in the slow lane with Faith a chance?

The Lady and the Mountain Man (Mountain Dreams #1) by Misty M. Beller (Goodreads Author)

Leah Townsend, whose father had pledged her to a man for business, she hears her fiancé’ plotting to kill her after the wedding.  He wants the inheritance she’ll receive after she reaches 21.  She knows she needs to get out of Richmond and find a place to hide, and so she decides to answer a request for a bride to a God-fearing young rancher in the Montana Territory.  She sends a notice as to the date she’ll arrive, and she gets on the train.  When she arrives, she finds her intended husband was killed by a grizzly.  The other people left on the ranch are a bitter older brother and a younger sister who loves that she’s there.  Gideon Bryant who looks like a mountain man who is big in stature and has a full beard.  He is going to take her to another town so she can go back where she came from, when she has a fall and brakes her leg. He can’t make her leave then.  Everyone that Gideon has cared about he’s lost to the mountain.  They’ve died including his late wife.  He is just not wanting any woman in his life.  The longer Leah stays around the more she tries to learn how to do things in order to keep busy and to help the household.  Eventually she breaks down Gideon’s barriers and he sees that she loves the mountain, she certainly doesn’t hate it and she never wants to leave.  It isn’t her choice in the end……you’ll have to read the book to see how things turn out.  I really enjoyed this book, it’s a fast read and I received it as an e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Description as found on Good Reads:

Leah Townsend, a recently orphaned heiress, flees Richmond after discovering her fiancé’s plot to kill her after their wedding. She needs a safe place to hide, and finds herself accepting a newspaper marriage proposal from a God-fearing young rancher in the Montana Territory. But when Leah arrives at the mountain ranch, she learns her intended husband was killed by a grizzly, leaving behind a bitter older brother and a spunky younger sister.

When Gideon Bryant finds a city girl standing in his log cabin, his first thought is to send her back where she came from. He’s lost too many people to the wild elements of these mountains––his parents, his wife, and now his brother. His love for this untamed land lives on, but he’s determined not to open his heart to another person.

But when an accident forces Leah to stay at the ranch for seven more months, can Gideon protect his heart from a love he doesn’t want? Has Leah really escaped the men who seek her life? 

Bride of Paradise (Mail Order Ministers #1) by Katie Crabapple

I enjoyed this book, I liked it.  A short read, a couple of hours will polish it off.  Samuel finished his schooling and moved to Paradise, Texas, but finds there are no women there of marriageable age there.

Samuel wrote his old friend the president of the seminary he recently graduated from, telling He and his wife how lonely he is.

The wife has realized that many of their ministers that moved to small towns are in the same dilemma.  Lonely but no women in their towns who aren’t married.  She decides to find wives for these ministers.  He receives a letter from the President’s wife and from a young woman he doesn’t know asking to get to know him by letter and perhaps they will marry.

He really wants to marry and he decided to travel back to the seminary and meet the woman that has been chosen to be his wife and to marry her.

The longer he knows her after their marriage, the more he knows he doesn’t feel she is the right woman for him, as she knows that about him.

Many important things happen once they get home and Samuel decides that there must be a reason this woman was sent his way, God had to have a hand in this and he decides to wait and see how things turn out before speaking his feelings. 

The book was given to me in a kindle format, by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Here is the description as found on Good Reads:

Samuel, a lonely pastor in Paradise, Texas, writes to the president of the seminary he recently graduated from expressing his need for companionship. Just weeks later he receives a letter from the president's wife and a woman he's never met, informing him a bride has been found. Although uncertain whether he really wants to marry, he agrees, thinking she may be the one God has selected for him. He is hopeful that the woman will be the help-meet God has chosen to lift his lonely heart.

When Kristen meets her future husband, Samuel, they both find the other lacking. Will they be able to get past their first impressions of one another and become an effective team serving God together?

Pieces Of Happiness by Anne Ostby – 2.5 Stars

I don’t know why this book wasn’t an easy read for me. I felt since I had promised to read and review it that I should finish it so I kept reading.  I wondered if it were because I had a day or two when I wasn’t feeling so well that I had put the book down, and maybe I hadn’t paid enough attention when reading the beginning but as I kept reading I don’t think this was the case.  I guess this book just wasn’t for me.  It was about five friends in their sixties, who decide to live together on a cocoa farm in Fiji, where one of the friends already lives and invites them to join her.  They leave their homes and move in there.  They decide to start a chocolate business, and it’s not so much about the chocolate business but about the things they discover about themselves and each other while spending all of their time together.  There were some surprises for me, I guess that was what helped me to keep reading.  I was kind of interested in the chocolate business but that isn’t as much described as the relationship between the friends, both past and present is discovered.  There was enough to keep me reading but I think I may have stopped reading it if I hadn’t promised the review.  I’m not the most fabulous writer, I can’t break down what went wrong with the book for me, for the writer. Maybe I should stick to romance novels……  My apologies to the author.

The e-book was given in exchange for an honest review from Net Galley:

Description as found on Net Galley: 

A novel of five lifelong friends who, in their sixties, decide to live together on a cocoa farm in Fiji, where they not only start a chocolate business but strengthen their friendships and rediscover themselves. 

"I've planted my feet on Fijian earth and I intend to stay here until the last sunset. Why don't you join me? Leave behind everything that didn't work out!" 

When Sina, Maya, Ingrid, and Lisbeth each receive a letter in the mail posing the same question, the answer is obvious. Their old high school friend Kat—Kat the adventurer, Kat who spread her wings and took off as soon as they graduated—has extended the invitation of a lifetime: Come live with me on my cocoa farm in Fiji. Come spend the days eating chocolate and gabbing like teenagers once again, free from men, worries, and cold. Come grow old in paradise, together, as sisters. Who could say no?
     Now in their sixties, the friends have all but resigned themselves to the cards they've been dealt. There's Sina, a single mom with financial woes; gentle Maya who feels the world slipping away from her; Ingrid, the perennial loner; Lisbeth, a woman with a seemingly picture-perfect life; and then Kat, who is recently widowed. As they adjust to their new lives together, the friends are watched over by Ateca, Kat's longtime housekeeper, who oftentimes knows the women better than they know themselves and recognizes them for what they are: like "a necklace made of shells: from the same beach but all of them different." Surrounded by an azure-blue ocean, cocoa trees, and a local culture that is fascinatingly, joyfully alien, the friends find a new purpose in starting a business making chocolate: bittersweet, succulent pieces of happiness.
     A story of love, hope, and chocolate, PIECES OF HAPPINESS will reaffirm your faith in friendship, second chances, and the importance of indulging one's sweet tooth.

Capital Bride (Matchmaker and Co. #1) by Cynthia Woolf (Goodreads Author)

I really like to read mail order bride books for some reason. I love the old frontier stories.  They aren’t deep, they don’t take huge amounts of concentration and thought.  They don’t challenge the brain much.  I just enjoy them!  Some authors are able to make the stories very real by going into great detail on the different ways they did things.  They didn’t have our luxuries back then that’s for sure.  A woman who has a child before she is married is really frowned upon and most don’t want anything to do with her, to employ or to marry.  Sarah Johnson slept with her true love, they were to be married in the next few days.  He was going to be called up to go to war.  He did get called up and his captain wouldn’t even allow him to take a few hours that day to marry his true love.  She ended up pregnant, he died.  Her Father threw her out of his home.  A family friend took her in, but when she passed, Sarah and her daughter had nowhere to go. Her cousin wanted to marry her but she wasn’t about to marry a cousin.  She found an add about Matchmaker and Co. and decided to visit them.  She was soon on her way to marry a rancher and she sent a telegram stating when she would arrive.  Her letter and telegram arrived but it was too late, her soon to be groom had been mauled by a bear and had died.  His brother picked her up at the station with his daughter.  He absolutely was not going to marry again.  His wife had been killed during a bank robbery and his daughter was the only one to see it.  She stopped speaking then.  He lived with his sister.  He was going to take her to town soon so she could see if she could get a job, but she fell off the porch and broke her leg.  He had to get to know her like it or not.  Soon he began to like her.  Whether they end up together or she ends up working in another town is for you to find out.  Her cousin comes after her he wants to marry her still.  Read the book and find out! I received this e-book in exchange for an honest review.

Description as found on Good Reads:

Unexpectedly homeless, un-wed mother Sarah Johnson has few options. They could go live with her cousin William, but Sara believes there’s something untoward about his offer and it leaves her feeling uncomfortable. She's qualified to be a governess, but no one will have her because she wasn't married when she had her precious MaryAnn. Matchmaker & Co could be her salvation as mail-order-bride to Mr. John Atwood.

Single father, John Atwood, is raising his daughter the best he can in the wilds of the Colorado Territory but knows he needs help. No woman he knows wants to take on the raising of his daughter who hasn't spoken since she saw her mother brutally murdered during a bank robbery. Can Sarah, John and their two daughters overcome their pasts and find happiness together?

Somebody Like You by Donna Alward. 5 Stars - another favorite romance author for me!

Laurel returns to Darling (a very small town) which she left years ago, after a particularly nasty divorce.  She once kissed a boy on the towns kissing bridge at age five.  He is now the towns Sheriff Aiden.  She keeps running into him, especially after her new business is vandalized.  These two were also high school sweethearts for a minute.  The entire town is pushing for these two to reunite and get their picture kissing once again on the kissing bridge which is supposed to make your love dreams come true.  Many have.

People keep interfering with their lives, especially Lauren's who doesn't want anything to do with romance after just going through a divorce.  Town people and relatives believe the two should be together and they will push until it happens.

I love Donna Alwards books. She is a new favorite romance author for me!

I was given this e-book by netgalley.com in exchange for a fair review!

Pieces of Happiness by Anne Otsby - It was ok

I don’t know why this book wasn’t an easy read for me. I felt since I had promised to read and review it that I should finish it so I kept reading.  I wondered if it were because I had a day or two when I wasn’t feeling so well that I had put the book down, and maybe I hadn’t paid enough attention when reading the beginning but as I kept reading I don’t think this was the case.  I guess this book just wasn’t for me.  It was about five friends in their sixties, who decide to live together on a cocoa farm in Fiji, where one of the friends already lives and invites them to join her.  They leave their homes and move in there.  They decide to start a chocolate business, and it’s not so much about the chocolate business but about the things they discover about themselves and each other while spending all of their time together.  There were some surprises for me, I guess that was what helped me to keep reading.  I was kind of interested in the chocolate business but that isn’t as much described as the relationship between the friends, both past and present is discovered.  There was enough to keep me reading but I think I may have stopped reading it if I hadn’t promised the review.  I’m not the most fabulous writer, I can’t break down what went wrong with the book for me, for the writer. Maybe I should stick to romance novels……  My apologies to the author.

The e-book was given in exchange for an honest review from Net Galley:

Description as found on Net Galley: 

A novel of five lifelong friends who, in their sixties, decide to live together on a cocoa farm in Fiji, where they not only start a chocolate business but strengthen their friendships and rediscover themselves. 

"I've planted my feet on Fijian earth and I intend to stay here until the last sunset. Why don't you join me? Leave behind everything that didn't work out!" 

When Sina, Maya, Ingrid, and Lisbeth each receive a letter in the mail posing the same question, the answer is obvious. Their old high school friend Kat—Kat the adventurer, Kat who spread her wings and took off as soon as they graduated—has extended the invitation of a lifetime: Come live with me on my cocoa farm in Fiji. Come spend the days eating chocolate and gabbing like teenagers once again, free from men, worries, and cold. Come grow old in paradise, together, as sisters. Who could say no?
     Now in their sixties, the friends have all but resigned themselves to the cards they've been dealt. There's Sina, a single mom with financial woes; gentle Maya who feels the world slipping away from her; Ingrid, the perennial loner; Lisbeth, a woman with a seemingly picture-perfect life; and then Kat, who is recently widowed. As they adjust to their new lives together, the friends are watched over by Ateca, Kat's longtime housekeeper, who oftentimes knows the women better than they know themselves and recognizes them for what they are: like "a necklace made of shells: from the same beach but all of them different." Surrounded by an azure-blue ocean, cocoa trees, and a local culture that is fascinatingly, joyfully alien, the friends find a new purpose in starting a business making chocolate: bittersweet, succulent pieces of happiness.
     A story of love, hope, and chocolate, PIECES OF HAPPINESS will reaffirm your faith in friendship, second chances, and the importance of indulging one's sweet tooth.

Seeking Sarah - written by ReShonda Tate Billingsly - 5 stars!

After the death of her Father, Brooke Green discovers her Mother who was supposed to be dead since she was seven years old is very much alive!  She goes on a hunt to find her Mother, Sarah and finds she has been living in Atlanta with a great career and a brand-new family!  She is so filled with rage at her Mother who abandoned her that she goes about a very shocking plan of revenge on her.  How could she leave her at Seven years old, never came back and she got married and had another little girl a grown step son and a loving husband.  This story takes you on quite the jaunt and is shocking at how far this girl is going to go to ruin her Mothers perfect life!  Fast read, and you find out that revenge is not the best thing for your own peace of mind.

Description as found on Good Reads:

From the national bestselling and award-winning ReShonda Tate Billingsley comes this gripping and emotional exploration of the complex bond between mother and daughter.

From the time Brooke Green was seven years old, she has lived with the pain of losing her mother. Her father has done the best job he could in raising her, but a piece of her always felt empty. On the day of her father’s funeral, her grandmother breaks the shocking news: her mother, Sarah, is very much alive. She abandoned her family because she claimed she wasn’t fit for motherhood. After doing some research, Brooke discovers her mother is living in Atlanta, enjoying a great career…and a brand-new family. Stunned, Brooke doesn’t know if she wants answers or revenge against the mother who abandoned her. When she meets Sarah’s husband, Tony, Brooke sees the perfect way to make her mother pay. But her plan for revenge just may leave everyone in danger, and end up costing Brooke more than she ever bargained for. 

No One But You (Silver Springs #2) by Brenda Novak (Goodreads Author) - A must read - 5 stars!

I loved this book!  Great read. I picked it up at a garage sale for a $1.  Best $1 spent.
This is the story of Sadie Harris who is going through the nastiest divorce from Sly her mean and cruel ex husband.  He does everything he can to make sure that she won’t be able to make it on her own, with their little boy Jayden, (who he doesn’t’ seem to care about).  This guy things he’s all that as he’s wearing an officer’s uniform he feels he can get away with anything.

As she knows she needs to find another job other than waitressing, to be able to afford living on her own with her son.  He does nasty things by going everywhere that a job has been posted and warns everyone don’t hire my wife!  He doesn’t get it that she isn’t going to come back even if she has to leave town.

She finally gets hired by Dawson Reed who stood trial for the murders of his adoptive parents, the entire town believes him still guilty even though the charges showed him being innocent.  He wants Sadie to help get the house in order so that he may bring his special needs sister home from the place where she has been taken care of since the murders.

Sadie was almost afraid but she finds that he is nothing but an admirable guy, innocent of any killings, who is working so hard to take his sister home.  He even starts helping Sadie with the things her husband has been doing to her or trying to do to her.

Eventually they start to have feelings for each other even though the entire town sees him a murderer.  What lengths does Sly go to, you’ll have to read the book and see.  I was surprised at what the author was able to think up and put into the book.  She must have researched this type of thing well.  I gave this book 5 starts!  Absolutely pick it up!

Description of the book as found on Good Reads:

New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak welcomes you to Silver Springs, a picturesque small town in Southern California where even the hardest hearts can learn to love again

Struggling to make ends meet after a messy divorce, Sadie Harris is at the end of her tether. Her waitressing gig isn't enough to pay the bills let alone secure primary custody of her son, Jayden, a battle she refuses to lose. Desperate, she accepts a position assisting Dawson Reed the same Dawson Reed who recently stood trial for the murder of his adoptive parents. Joining him at his isolated farm seems risky, but Sadie is out of options.

Dawson has given small town Silver Springs plenty of reasons to be wary, but he's innocent of the charges against him. He wants to leave his painful past behind and fix up the family farm so he can finally bring his dependent sister home where she belongs.

As Sadie and Dawson's professional relationship grows into something undeniably personal, Sadie realizes there's more to Dawson than the bad boy everyone else see she has a good heart, one that might even be worth fighting for.

The Smallest Thing by Lisa Manterfield - Very engrossing read - 5 Stars

Wow!  I didn’t remember the description of this book. I opened it on my kindle started reading and had problems putting it down when it was time to go to bed!  I had to pick it up when I got back up.  I’m recovering from back surgery so I can read more often than usual……good thing because this book is just really hard to put down.  I haven’t read one like this before loved the premise, loved the book.  It pulls you in makes you love the characters and has you wanting to know what will happen to them, where this story is going to take you!  Fast moving story of a young girl living with her Father working for him in a very small village, who is planning on taking off with her boyfriend and moving to London.  Doesn’t help the boyfriend is from a family hers has feuded with for years.  Then the doctor in the village dies, and others stat getting sick.  The government forces a quarantine of the village.  Great story, pick this one up!

Description as found on Good Reads:          

The very last thing 17-year-old Emmott Syddall wants is to turn out like her dad. She’s descended from ten generations who never left their dull English village, and there’s no way she’s going to waste a perfectly good life that way. She’s moving to London and she swears she is never coming back.

But when the unexplained deaths of her neighbors force the government to quarantine the village, Em learns what it truly means to be trapped. Now, she must choose. Will she pursue her desire for freedom, at all costs, or do what’s best for the people she loves: her dad, her best friend Deb, and, to her surprise, the mysterious man in the HAZMAT suit?

Inspired by the historical story of the plague village of Eyam, this contemporary tale of friendship, community, and impossible love weaves the horrors of recent news headlines with the intimate details of how it feels to become an adult—and fall in love—in the midst of tragedy.

The Promise of Dawn (Under Northern Skies #1) by Lauraine Snelling (Goodreads Author) - 5 Stars - Wonderful Book!!

Beloved Author Lauraine Snelling Launches New Immigrant Series

I loved this book!  From the beginning I was sucked into the story.  It began in Norway with Signe and her husband Rune and their three boys.  They get a letter from her Uncle Einer and Aunt Gerd who have a farm in Minnesota.  They are in Norway where things have become rough as far as jobs, getting a home or land of your own jobs……

They travel to America by ship, go through Ellis Island, travel some more by boat, and by train and finally get to Minnesota.  They find the home in Minnesota is filthy and Gerd is in her bed unable to get up and help with anything.  Uncle and Aunt are demanding and loud and before long even the boys are doing a man’s day of labor.

Signe and Rune are run off their feet from morning til night and before too long Signe begins to think there is no God watching over them and they will never be able to have a home and their own land.

The author went into great detail telling all of the work of lumberjacks, using, original first washing machines, cooking stoves, sewing machines, working with animals on the small farm and life in general back in the early 1900’s.  I found the entire story fascinating, you are drawn in and can almost see the details of the story as described by the author.  I couldn’t believe how much work the women got done in a day and how hard they had to work at everything!  I really loved the characters of this book and really disliked the Uncle and his wife.  I found the story so very interesting!  I love historical fiction, and this one does have all of the bones of a great story.  I can’t wait until the next book comes out this being the first in the series, Under Northern Skies!

I received a copy of this book free in exchange for an honest review I believe from Bethany House.

Description as found on Good Reads:

When Signe, her husband, Rune, and their three boys arrive in Minnesota from Norway to help a relative clear his land of lumber, they dream of owning their own farm and building a life in the New World. But Uncle Einar and Aunt Gird are hard, demanding people, and Signe and her family soon find themselves worked nearly to the bone in order to repay the cost of their voyage. At this rate, they will never have land or a life of their own.

Signe tries to trust God but struggles with anger and bitterness. She has left behind the only life she knew, and while it wasn't an easy life, it wasn't as hard as what she now faces. When a new addition to the family arrives, Signe begins to see how God has been watching over them throughout their ordeal. But after all that has happened, can she still believe in the promise of a bright future?

The Marriage Season (The Brides of Bliss County #3) by Linda Lael Miller - I gave this one 4.5

Bex made a marriage pact with her friends Hadleigh and Melody.  She married for love but her true love died in a war, he never came home.  She is busy running her fitness club making a chain of them and absolutely not interested in another marriage in spite of the pact.

A new man comes to town with two young sons and she keeps getting thrown together with Tate because the sons have made friends with her nephew.  Her friends also like throwing her into the mix. 

Linda Lael Miller has been a favorite of mine for years.  I liked this book but it didn’t throw me into love with it.  I did read it pretty quickly.  It was the last of the Brides of Bliss County, and I’ll be holding out for her next book.  I give this one a 4.5.

I had back surgery and can’t tell you why I didn’t love this as much because I read it while on pain meds.  My apologies to the author. 

I did receive this book in kindle format through Good Reads in exchange for an honest review.  Not one of my best reviews but I put it off to0 long. 

 (Goodreads Author)

Description as found on Good Reads:

Will the marriage pact be fulfilled? Return to Mustang Creek, Wyoming, with #1 New York Times bestselling author Linda Lael Miller for more Brides of Bliss County! 

Since Hadleigh, Melody and Bex—the best of best friends—entered into a marriage pact, two of them have found (and married) the men of their hearts. But Bex doesn't think she'll be as fortunate as the others. Her own first love died years ago in a faraway war, and Bex has lost hope for a happy marriage of her own. She concentrates on her business, a successful chain of fitness clubs, instead. 

Then, when single father Tate Calder comes to Mustang Creek with his two sons in tow, who befriend Bex's eight-year-old nephew, she and the handsome, aloof newcomer are constantly thrown together. But is the marriage season over? Or can a man with doubts about love be the right husband for a woman who wants it all?