#BookReview: Christmas In Chestnut Ridge by Nancy Naigle

Slow Burn Hallmarkie Christmas Romance. If you like Hallmark Christmas movies and maybe the CBS show Fire Country (vs NBC’s Chicago Fire, featuring a fire dept, yes, but in a big city rather than a small town ala Fire Country), you’re likely going to enjoy this book. If neither one of those are your thing… you’ll probably enjoy it less.

This is one where the romance itself almost takes a back seat at times, it is *so* slow burn. But if you enjoy crafting, particularly Christmas related crafting, there’s quite a bit for you here. There’s also a strong tale of neighbors helping neighbors – which may be a good thing to remember in the aftermath of the Helene and Milton hurricanes and as we wind up the 2024 election and begin to get ready for the holiday season. But again, the romance itself… can seem secondary (or even tertiary) at times. So for those looking for a more hot and heavy, romance centered tale… this aint that. Instead, this is once again on the “cleaner” / “sweeter” side – which is perfectly within Naigle’s normal approach.

Ultimately a fun and solid tale of its type, and clearly a type that has a lot of fans to boot.

Very much recommended.

This review of Christmas In Chestnut Ridge by Nancy Naigle was originally written on November 1, 2024.

#BlogTour: Sleeping With The Frenemy by Natalie Cana

For this blog tour, we’re looking at a tale that is necessarily different from its predecessors in its series. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Sleeping With The Frenemy by Natalie Cana.

First, the review I posted to the book sites (Hardcover.app / BookHype.com / BookBub.com / TheStoryGraph.com / Goodreads.com):

Very Different From Previous Books. Still Solid In Its Own Right. The first two books in this series dealt with vastly different types of relationships than our MCs here have. In the first book, it was a friends to lovers situation, while in the second book it was a S L O W burn second chance situation. Here, its more of a situation situation. As in, this is a couple that has been fucking for *years* behind the backs of the siblings of one of them – one of those siblings being the best friend of the other. More on a situational level though – both were available and attracted to each other and had an opportunity, so mutual itch scratching was had. Fair enough, and that back story alone makes this *wildly* different than the other books here.

And because of that back story, this is perhaps the spiciest entry into the series. So those looking for the no sex/ “fade to black” type books… this aint fucking that. Instead, it more readily takes scenes from a Fifty Shades type environment, and that alone should tell most anyone what to generally expect there.

Still, this book and these characters have history within the series, and that is well respected here. The characters from the prior entries all show up in appropriate enough places, and indeed certain elements of prior storylines come into play heavily in this book – so absolutely read this series in order.

Overall a fun, spicy, story whose every element blends the Puerto Rican background of these characters with their current Chicago home quite well. Very much recommended.

After the jump, an excerpt from the book followed by the “publisher details” – book info, description, author bio, social links, and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: Sleeping With The Frenemy by Natalie Cana”

#BookReview: Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman

Pulse Pounding Nail Biting Thriller With Some Powerful Dusty Rooms. Wait. An author known for *airplane* tales is writing a book that takes place 99% *on the ground*? Yes. And she does a damn fine job of it to boot.

As someone who has actually worked in the nuclear waste disposal area (at the Savannah River Site, where I sat yards away from tanks containing tens of thousands of gallons of nuclear waste and worked on putting the information-and-control spreadsheet (yes, spreadsheet) online), having a *touch* of knowledge of the field only made it that much more terrifying… because I knew exactly what some of the devices Newman speaks of were. (Specifically, the dosimeter badges. Never had to wear one myself, despite going into certain areas a time or two, but remember the training all too well – the “Kiss Your Ass Goodbye” badge in particular.)

Even without having worked a touch in an adjacent area of the tale though, this is one of those disaster tales that starts off in the middle of the action… and never really slows down. After the introduction where we see the plane going down, from there the tale takes place entirely ground-based, but with a strong countdown clock that is actually calculated within the tale and is used to great effect, going down to the final moments.

Perhaps Newman’s greatest strength in this particular tale though is in *not* making any “superheroes” but instead showing everyday people in every day situations (yes, including nuclear power generation and nuclear waste management) doing their best with what is in front of them and trying to avert catastrophes big and small. Newman even manages to “humanize” her (fictional) President of the United States in ways not often done well, yet here is.

And about those dusty rooms… man, the hits just keep hitting. There are *several* points here where if your eyes don’t get misty, I question whether they *ever* do. Newman sprinkles these moments throughout the book, but in a couple of scenes are particularly strong indeed – nearly to the point of needing an audio version of the text to get through them.

Overall truly an excellent and fast read – despite being 300+ pages, you’re not going to want to put it down.

Very much recommended.

This review of Worst Case Scenario by T.J. Newman was originally written on September 13, 2024.

#BlogTour: Up In Smoke by Annabeth Albert

For this blog tour we’re looking at the latest book in Annabeth Albert’s year-long tale of MM romances set in the hyper-macho world of “hotshot” firefighters. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Up In Smoke by Annabeth Albert.

Here’s what I had to say about it on Goodreads:

Another Solid Entry In Series. This is another solid entry in the series Albert has created over the last year featuring MM romances set in the hyper-macho world of western US “hotshot” firefighters and smoke jumpers – the front lines of any wildfire containment efforts. Here, we finally get smokejumper Brandt’s story, and it is at least as good from the romance angle as any of the other entries in this series. Maybe even better, since it runs a bit smoother with lower angst, minimal separation, both equally hoping for the other’s success, etc. Has an almost A Star Is Born vibe to it at times, though without the more depressing elements of that tale. But the biggest thing that will be hit or miss depending on exactly what you feel about it is the baby stuff in particular. Even as a childfree married male who generally doesn’t like babies (older kids are much cooler, though I’m always grateful that I can leave when I need to :D), I didn’t find the baby aspects *too* detracting, even for my tastes. Because the story really did focus on the interactions of the adults, with the baby providing the realistic distractions that adults having to care for a baby would actually provide. But if you’re particularly opposed to anything remotely baby related… well, you were told in the description that this one had one. ๐Ÿ˜‰ Overall a truly solid story, and very much recommended.

Below the jump, about a page long excerpt from the very first scene of the book, when Brandt and Shane first meet. Followed by the publisher information. ๐Ÿ™‚
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#BookReview: Island Affair by Priscilla Oliveras

Very Vivid And Vibrant. This is one of those hyper-descriptive books that wants you to know the exact color of the dresser in the room where the lead couple first “gets together”. That wants you to be able to smell the exact scents around them as they first open up to each other. That wants you to be able to hear the various island sounds all around them as they go from secluded beach to downtown party. That wants you to be able to taste the Cuban inspired flavors of Key West. In other words, this is one of the most sensual – as in, the literal dictionary definition meaning “devoted to or preoccupied with the senses or appetites” – books I’ve ever read. Oh, and there is a solid romance in here too. Yes, one that perhaps wraps up a bit too tidily a bit too quickly, but eh, that is a common feature of many RWA-strict romance books. As the introduction to a new series, it introduces at least two characters what are obvious targets of subsequent books – without being overly obvious as to which is in the *next* book. And it seems to indicate that it will be a series with call it “medium” ties between the books – characters from each book will show up in other books, but you’ll still be able to read any book in any order (provided you’re not averse to hearing that a lead couple in one romance book actually wound up together – shocker, I know ๐Ÿ˜‰ ). So there really was a lot to like here overall, and only minor quibbles ultimately as far as anything at all to nitpick on. Very much recommended.

This review of Island Affair by Priscilla Oliveras was originally written on March 1, 2021.

#BlogTour: Feel The Fire by Annabeth Albert

Welcome back to yet another Blog Tour from Carina Press, the first of two this week in as many days. Both feature excellent though very divergent tales, and we’re gonna see my own reviews of each, a couple of pages from when the characters first see each other in each, and all of the relevant details to make it really easy for you to jump over to your eBook market of choice and buy the dang books. ๐Ÿ˜€

First up, we have the most recent entry (and possibly last, if it is a trilogy?) in Annabeth Albert‘s High Heat series, Feel the Fire.

Here’s what I had to say about it on Goodreads:

Feel-Good Finale. This second-chance romance tale, seemingly the last book of this year’s Hotshots series, was a solid way to go out. It is *very* loosely coupled with the previous two books – both prior couples make cameos – but can largely be read as a standalone. Fans of the MM genre will like this one, as it contains pretty well all of the standard elements of the genre. But that actually gets to one of my quibbles with the book. One of the guys here is alternatively described as both demisexual and asexual – which are both elements of the spectrum that don’t get mentioned as much, and thus it is always awesome to see. Yet in playing too much into genre expectations, to me it felt like Albert did the asexual aspect a disservice in almost making it seem that an asexual may just turn out to be a horn dog… with the right person. Similar to a character described as being comfortably childfree winding up with a kid at the end of the tale. (Note, that is just an example – in this particular tale one of the two is actually already a father.) The other quibble? Not enough actual firefighting in this book, particularly relative to the other two books in the series. Though the jobs here are actively away from the front lines, and for what they are, the jobs seem well represented in and of themselves. Still, a solid tale and a satisfying conclusion. Very much recommended.

And after the jump, a 2 page-ish excerpt from near the beginning of the book, when one of our leads learns he is about to run into the other for the first time in many years:
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#BookReview: Gunnar’s Guardian by Pandora Pine

Cops and Firemen and Arsonists Oh My! Pine has long worked with police procedurals in her Cold Case Psychic books, and she has broken away from that with her Lost Treasures books. Here, with the advent of a new series, we see Pine combining the police procedural and family elements of the Cold Case Psychic series but ditching the paranormal and replacing them with a wider look across the spectrum of First Responders. And yet again she does an excellent job crafting a compelling story and beginning a larger universe, completing the romance angles of this tale for a RWA-rule-meeting HEA while leaving other plot points open, presumably for continuation into at least one other book in the series. Which should be one wild ride. Very much recommended.

This review of Gunnar’s Guardian by Pandora Pine was originally written on May 3, 2020.

Featured New Release Of the Week: Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center

This week we look at an intriguing book about a female firefighter dealing with fires both physical and metaphorical. This week, we’re looking at Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center.

One of my favorite songs growing up and even to this day has been Garth Brooks’ Standing Outside the Fire. For me, it has always been a source of inspiration to overcome any obstacle set before me – no matter what it is, where it comes from, how hard the solution is, or anything else. But what does it have to do with a book about a female firefighter? Don’t firefighters make it a habit of standing inside fires?

Well, in this book our heroine has a problem. You see, we open up with her being awarded her city’s most prestigious award for valor for her efforts in saving a group of kids no one else could. She truly is among the best, if not the best, firefighters in her (not small) town – of any gender. But she’s standing outside the fire in her relationships. She got metaphorically burned pretty damned severely on her 16th birthday by multiple people, and a decade later she hasn’t managed to move on. She’s acted like she has, and she’s become a “model citizen”. To the outside world, she is perfectly awesome. But because she’s been outside the fire and has yet to actually deal with the burns she got on her 16th birthday… her life is about to spiral out of the tight control she’s maintained over it for the last decade.

In the process, she’ll grow. She’ll learn things about everyone involved in the dumpster fire of her 16th birthday, she’ll meet new people and learn about them, and most importantly she’ll learn things about herself.

Overall an excellent tale that uses a reliable and relatable first person narrator well. Very much recommended.

As always, the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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#BookReview: Granite Mountain by Brendan McDonough

Prepare to Cry. It really is as simple as that. McDonough’s tragic tale is told in a style that has you hanging on to every word, even if you know the ultimate story from following the news 5 yrs ago or from seeing Only the Brave, the movie based on this book, last year. Simply amazing, and heartbreaking. The *only* quibble I have is Page 270, where McDonough calls for a wildfire firefighter union. Other than that, this book is simply a phenomenal combination of McDonough’s own memories combined with clear research into the science and sequence of events of the tragedies – particularly Yarnell.

This review of Granite Mountain by Brendan McDonough was originally published on September 28, 2018.