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Featured New Release of The Week: Wildflower Hope by Grace Greene

This week we look at the same-year-published follow on to another 2019 Featured New Release of the Week. This week, we’re looking at Wildflower Hope by Grace Greene.

This story is absolutely a sequel to Wildflower Heart, and the events of Heart – particularly its ending sequences – play heavily into the tale here. So it is fairly difficult to even hint at the overall plot of this tale without revealing spoilers of Heart. I can tell you that it follows the same general structure of that tale, as we continue to follow Kara Hart as she continues to try to rebuild her life after a horrific tragedy that opens Heart.

I can also tell you that where Heart was about surviving tragedy, Hope is more about fully recovering from it. Here, Greene does an excellent job of showing just how difficult doing this can be, particularly when one feels completely isolated in the process.

But by the end of this one, we do in fact have a bit of … hope… that perhaps maybe our protagonist may have finally turned a corner, and the planned third act of this series should be something amazing indeed. Very much recommended, though absolutely read Wildflower Heart first (also very much recommended) if you haven’t yet.

As always, the Goodread/ Amazon review:
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#BookReview: Tether by Jeremy Robinson

The Modern Day Master of Science Fiction Yet Again Breaks New Ground. I’ve been calling Robinson “The Modern Day Master of Science Fiction” for at least 5 yrs now due to the fact that there are few if any areas of science fiction that he hasn’t touched in some way. He’s done monsters (of all kinds). He’s done zombies. He’s done time travel. He’s done space opera. He’s done kaiju. Etc etc etc etc

And now he’s done ghosts. Robinson style.

Yet another wild ride that will make you question just how close to the brink of insanity this man’s mind gets, this book opens up with a giant explosion that someone leaves one survivor at its very epicenter… and doesn’t slow down from there. Seemingly set up for a potential short series, this one could just as easily play into an Avengers Level Event 2 that Robinson seems to maybe be building to – that will be far wilder than even his first such event, just given the nature of the characters he has created of late, including here.

Very much recommended, I can’t wait to see what this man comes up with next!

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#BookReview: Christmas By The Lighthouse by Rebecca Boxall

Challenged Romance. This book did an excellent job of following the standard tropes while making it seem like that might not happen – at least for someone who had never read this author before. The particular challenges this couple face could be considered insurmountable, but the author does a great job of showing the couple come together through the challenges, rather than fall apart because of them. Excellent work, and very much recommended.

This review of Christmas By The Lighthouse by Rebecca Boxall was originally written on September 19, 2019.

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Featured New Release Of The Week: The Man The Myth The Nerd by Maggie Dallen

This week we look at the exciting conclusion to Maggie Dallen’s High School Billionaires trilogy. This week, we’re looking at The Man The Myth The Nerd by Maggie Dallen.

This book was Tieg Larson’s long awaited story, and it did not disappoint. Dallen did the best friends to lovers thing in the first book in this series – Tall, Dark, and Nerdy – but honestly, she outdid herself by coming back to the same trope in this tale.

I’m not going to bother with a description of the tale other than this: It is effectively a happy version of A Star Is Born. Same romance-with-a-musician concept, but to me done so much better because it doesn’t have the depressive notes of that tale. Instead, we get a lot of angst about a three year separation, but we also get a truly epic concert scene to close the book.

And really, while the rest of the book was solid, it is that concert scene that really works to truly elevate this book into phenomenal territory. The entire series is fairly quick, fun reads, and this was one epic way to cap it all off. Very much recommended.

As always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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#BookReview: Missing Her More by Karen McQuestion

Splendiferous. This was a surprise follow up to the March 2019 release of Good Man, Dalton, where apparently this book came to McQuestion in a rush and she pushed it out rapidly. And it works well, particularly in fleshing out secondary characters from the earlier book and giving them a story of their own where they all come together, along with the lead couple from Good Man, Dalton and a few others. Not quite as intriguing in its real life commentary as the earlier book, but presents some issues some may scoff at, but that even this reader has experienced before. Excellent tale that does a great job of telling its own tale while also serving as a coda for the tale of Good Man, Dalton. Very much recommended.

This review of Missing Her More by Karen McQuestion was originally written on September 17, 2019.

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#BookReview: The Second Chance Supper Club by Nicole Meier

Sometimes It Takes Losing Everything To Find Everything. Not that I haven’t lived this before. Not at all. Yes, this story of two sisters awkwardly reconnecting 3 yrs after a major fight that left them not speaking to each other somehow managed to resonate with a guy who only has brothers. 😉 Seriously, great job from new-to-me author Nicole Meier in crafting a very readable and relatable tale, that admittedly I wanted to stop reading at one point because it got a bit *too* real and brought back some difficult memories of my own. Hallmarkies and/ or foodies in particular will get a kick out of this one, but a strong book for any crowd I’ve ever come across. This is due to Meier’s skill in focusing on the very human even while also relishing the particulars she has set in motion here. Very much recommended.

This review of The Second Chance Supper Club by Nicole Meier was originally written on September 15, 2019.

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#BookReview: Life Is Short And So Am I by Dylan “Hornswoggle” Postl

Luck O’ The Irish. It is … interesting… to read a memoir from someone just months older than my middle brother, as one typically expects a wrestling memoir to be written from someone a bit older (or maybe it just seems I’m getting old – Dwayne Johnson’s and Chris Jericho’s first books had to have come out around a similar age, 20 yrs ago). But Dylan ‘Hornswoggle’ Postl has lived more and done more than most of us outside of the wrestling world will ever do, and this is his tale. From growing up in small town Wisconsin with an addict for a mother to being part of some of WWE’s most legendary moments with two different McMahons, this is the story of the past and future of WWE’s wee Irishman. Strong memoir, both from a wrestling perspective and not, this is one everyone will enjoy but WWE fans of the last decade or so in particular will have many fond memories of. Truly excellent work from someone The Rock once thought was a Make a Wish Kid. (Read the book, you’ll get it. 😉 ) Very much recommended.

This review of Life Is Short And So Am I by Dylan “Hornswoggle” Postl was originally written on September 13, 2019.

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#BookReview: Up Ship Creek by Abigail Kade

Stormy Cruise. This was probably the fastest read of the entire Valentine’s Inc Cruises series, and one of the shortest in terms of page count. Very fun, mostly light, with a couple of solidly steamy scenes. And I really liked that it tackled seasickness and having named storms (tropical storm or higher) affect a cruise, as both do in fact happen from time to time. Yet again my first from an author involved in this project, and yet again won’t be my last. Very much recommended.

This review of Up Ship Creek by Abigail Kade was originally written on September 12, 2019.

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#BookReview: Battle Ship by Brittany Cournoyer

Quick Battles. This is an enemies to lovers tale that also happens to be a very fast read. Cournoyer does an excellent job of quickly showing just how much these two guys *don’t* like each other… and then the hijinks ensue. Great tale of one man being burned by love and another not sure what he is coming together rather explosively. My first from this author, will not be my last. Very much recommended.

This review of Battle Ship by Brittany Cournoyer was originally written on September 11, 2019.

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Featured New Release Of The Week: The Wonder Of Now by Jamie Beck

This week we are looking at the conclusion of the most recent series from a well known romance author. This week we are looking at The Wonder of Now by Jamie Beck.

I titled the Amazon/Goodreads/ Bookbub review of this one “Arrival To Earth” for a few reasons. This is a book about the journey of two cancer survivors – one who survived a personal battle with breast cancer, and another who watched a parent battle brain cancer. And while I have very little direct experience with breast cancer, I actually knew a man just a few years ago who watched his wife quickly die from an aggressive brain cancer, and I actually knew him in the couple of years after this. From what I saw of that man, Mitch seems very well defined as a character in that type of position. Peyton’s struggles here seem very real in all regards.

It combines to produce a romantic drama of intense struggle against seemingly overwhelming odds, and yet having an indelible hope that things will some day be better – exactly as the Steve Jablonsky-penned “Arrival To Earth” score, which plays in the first Transformers movie just as the Transformers are first coming to Earth. Its climax is when Optimus Prime explains the backstory of the Transformers, and it was the song playing through my head through much of the back half of this book. It doesn’t hurt that it has a near direct tie in that I’ll leave out of this review. 🙂

Truly an excellent book and one of the more stark and yet also real looks at cancer I’ve yet seen in fiction. Very much recommended.

As always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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