Tag: romance

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#BookReview: Teacher’s Pet by David Johnson

Best In Series For Making You Want To Explore The Author’s Other Works. With some of the other books in this series, the authors do a great job of referencing their other books, maybe even bringing in a character or two – or at least someone connected to them who can reference them in-story – to entice the reader of this series to explore their other books. It is very well done within the stories they are telling and doesn’t feel forced at all, just a casual “hey, there’s other stuff out there that may warrant exploration, if you’re into these characters” type of vibe.

Yeah… Johnson doesn’t go that route. He’s far more in your face about it – without being in your face about it at all. Instead, he brings in one of his major characters from some of his other work and gets you invested in this character’s story even within the context of the story he is telling here as part of Dragonfly Cove… and then tells you in the author’s note at the end “Oh yeah, if you want to see what actually happens with that character, well, this character just so happens to be the titular character in these other books I wrote”.

And yet the story here itself is at least as powerful as the one with that other character, here using a retiree set in her ways as our main character and telling a compelling story of an old “get off my lawn” curmudgeon (literally, in a couple of cases, telling people to leave her yard) who has very distinct thoughts about how things should be done learning to live again in a new situation. And, maybe, through the love and dedication of her puppy… maybe she just might fall in love again?

There are several subplots to this story that all show the complexities of elder life in various forms, which I know many readers are desperate for these days as seeming so few books deal in main characters of this particular age bracket – despite it being among the larger sets of the American population at the moment.

By far the longest book of this series at nearly 300 pages, this is also one of the most complex-yet-easy-to-read stories in the series as well.

Very much recommended.

This review of Teacher’s Pet by David Johnson was originally written on January 1, 2024.

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#BookReview: Unleashed Melody by Julie Carobini

Most Hallmarkie Book In Series. In a series built basically specifically for dog lovers who also enjoy women’s fiction/ romance type tales, this is perhaps the single most “Hallmark Movie” like book in the entire series – and it actually sticks out from the series because of it. More self contained than many of the other books in the series, it really works quite well as a corporate/ office type romance that happens to involve owning and running a boutique hotel in a small beach town. But it also has some of the “problems” (according to some) of many Hallmark movies – including the seeming inevitable third act drama. Still, the tale really is quite solid in itself, and as one of the shorter books in the series it *really* packs quite a bit of story into the few (sub 150) pages it has.

Very much recommended.

This review of Unleashed Melody by Julie Carobini was originally written on January 1, 2024.

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#BookReview: Coming Home To Heel by Jodi Allen Brice

More Evidence That Strong Stories Don’t Need High Page Counts. This entire series is testament to this, but this book in particular *really* is. There’s a lot going on here – grief from a somewhat recent loss of a mother and an even more recent loss of a marriage + the son is estranged due to how the marriage broke apart *and* a potential new romance already on the horizon… all of this in not quite 17o pages! And it all works incredibly well!

Indeed, this tale in particular is arguably at its strongest when Nora is using her newfound strength -yes, thanks in part to new puppy Charlie – to handle her divorce and her son’s issues around it.

Truly an excellent and short book, again, this entire series really is great for those who love dogs and who are at least somewhat interested in the women’s fiction/ romance genres who may be looking to start their 2025 reading strong- this will easily get you 9 books potentially on January 1, as I write most of these reviews, if you put an effort in. (Ok, so at that point you’re reading around 1100 pages in a day – which *is* daunting. But 150 ish pages/ day spread out over a couple of weeks? Nearly anyone can find that kind of time. :D)

Very much recommended.

This review of Coming Home To Heel by Jodi Allen Brice was originally written on January 1, 2025.

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#BookReview: Hearts Unleashed by Tammy L. Grace

Powerful (And Short) Story. This is the book where the power of the Dragonfly Cove concept really begins to shine through. Here, we get a short story that packs a lot of story into its few pages, specifically as it relates to moving on after loss and grief. But it is the way that Grace integrates so many other characters from the other books in the series that really shows the full power of this series in showing a vibrant community, rather than just one person’s actions within a world and how they affect herself. In also introducing characters with ties to her own series (such as Lavender Bay in particular), Grace also gives the reader of this short story, who may not be familiar with her other works, reasons to want to go back and look into those other books.

Finally, as this *is* a series centered on puppies and the love of dogs, the way Grace was able to execute chapters from the dog’s perspective was both fun and refreshing – it is one thing to be *told* how hyper dogs can be, and another thing to be *shown* from “their own mind” how it is. 🙂

Ultimately a strong story yet also a quick read, this is yet again a great introduction to Grace and her style.

Very much recommended.

This review of Hearts Unleashed by Tammy L. Grace was originally written on January 1, 2025.

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#BookReview: Collar Me Crazy by Kay Bratt

Quick Introduction To Bratt’s Style. At around 1/2 to 1/3 of the length of a “normal Kay Bratt book” (at least in my experience reading them since 2019’s Dancing With The Sun), this book serves as a perfect quick introduction to Bratt’s (current) style of storytelling, with a solid small town, solid friendships, light romance elements (with about as much spice as a warm glass of milk, for those who need to know these things either direction), and with a central crime (or a few of them) based on real-world cases that Bratt largely expertly fictionalizes to work within the worlds she is creating while also (largely) faithfully recreating the crime inside that world.

In this particular text, the crime element centers around animal abuse, and it is here that Bratt can get a bit more preachy in this book than she normally gets. It is also here that certain elements bring forth wisps of the scent of James Rollins’ books involving Tucker Wayne.

Ultimately this entire series centers around a love of dogs, and dog lovers are in for a true treat as we go through this entire series of largely short story/ novella length books (largely in the 120-160 ish page range), and this is a particularly strong book to kick off the “meat” of the series after Book 1 largely used the first chapters of all of the books to introduce us to the overall town and concept of the series.

Very much recommended.

This review of Collar Me Crazy by Kay Bratt was originally written on January 1, 2025.

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#BookReview: Pick Of The Litter by Kay Bratt, Tammy L. Grace, Barbara Hinske, Ev Bishop, Jodi Allen Brice, Julie Carobini, David Johnson, and Patricia Sands

Excellent Series Introduction For New Series Perfect For Dog Lovers. This is yet another of the multi-author series that have seemingly sprung up in the last few years, mostly in the romance and/ or women’s fiction realms, where multiple authors come together to offer up stories around some common McGuffin such as every book has to feature a cruise (2024’s Sail Away series, featuring many of these same authors) or every book has to feature a snowglobe in some manner (2019’s Snow Globe Christmas MM romance series) or any other common tie in. As in most cases, this introductory book is essentially the first chapters of all of the rest of the books, though this one also has a prologue and epilogue that extend its own story a touch, which actually leads directly into my next main point.

Having now read a few of these as I sit to write this particular review, I can tell you that what sets this particular series apart from all of its predecessors that I’ve read (a handful or so) is just how well everything is integrated. Every author gets their own dog(s) and their own characters and can tell their story their way, but other than slight differences in style one could almost see this entire series written by a singular author – that is how well the storytelling and editing through 4.5 books has been so far. If you know a bit about each particular author and their style and what is going on in their “real” (non-book) lives, you have a better sense of the distinctiveness of each voice, but otherwise the stories fit so seamlessly together, even when borrowing characters from other books, that it really is quite remarkable just how well everything fits together here.

And yes, as the McGuffin for this series is that all of our central characters are getting new puppies, this series really is perfect for dog lovers of all stripes (though to be clear, these are all Labradors in these books). Sorry, cat lovers. Maybe that will be the next project for these authors or perhaps a similar group. 🙂

Ultimately a great introduction to the series, and a very quick read at barely 100 pages to boot. Perfect for those times at the end of the year holidays / beginning of the year ramping things back up when maybe you don’t have as much time to read – or maybe you find yourself like me and trying to finish the back half of this series before it releases on Jan 1, 2025… *and* read 2.5 *other* books before the calendar flips over into 2025 in just over three more days! Eek!

Very much recommended.

This review of Pick Of The Litter by Kay Bratt, Tammy L. Grace, Barbara Hinske, Ev Bishop, Jodi Allen Brice, Julie Carobini, David Johnson, and Patricia Sands was originally written on December 28, 2024.

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#BookReview: As The Sun Rises by Kellie Coates Gilbert

Emotional And Visceral Series Conclusion. This is one of those books where you *feel* everything our main character feels. From the utter despair at the situation she finds herself in to the crash and crush of the white water rapids she thrusts herself into to try to escape the emotional turmoil… while telling herself that she’s just doing her job.

While this is *technically* a romance, the romance is absolutely more of a side story here to the family and friend relationships of our primary character – so those that want a more romance-centric tale may not like this one quite as much, but those who enjoy a solid women’s fiction with a touch of romance – still in the Hallmarkie type style, but with more focus on the friends than the boy, necessarily – you’re going to enjoy this book quite a bit.

I personally came into this book having not read any of the prior three… which is probably not the best for a series concluding book, but even there, it worked well with fully fleshed out characters and a story that was easy to follow even coming in so late. Still, I absolutely recommend starting with Book 1 for anyone not reading an Advance Review Copy, as I did.

Overall a solid and emotional tale that will pull your heartstrings and have your pulse pounding with adrenaline in alternating measures.

Very much recommended.

This review of As The Sun Rises by Kellie Coates Gilbert was originally written on December 12, 2024.

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#BookReview: Pity Present by Whitney Dineen

Solid “Secret Identity” Romance Where Side Character Nearly Steals Show. This is one of those romances where there are a lot of instances of “oh, you happen to be here and look who else happens to be here” bits, particularly in the setup. Which leads to a lot of miscommunications and assumptions, and you know what they say about “assume”. Still, it totally works in the usual Hallmarkie and zany way, and if you’re down for that kind of story, you’re going to enjoy this one. If the secret identity/ happenstance/ assumption setup isn’t your bag… eh, you probably won’t enjoy this one as much.

And then… one particular side character. Not going into this character at all other than to note that this character does in fact nearly steal the entire damn book, and indeed, it almost feels like there are more “real” emotions as our main characters interact with this character than with each other. Which is probably not the best thing in a romance book, but hey, at least there are “real” and touching moments *somewhere*, right?

As to spice level… this one is far closer to a warm glass of milk than a Carolina Reaper. So there again, know that up front and read (or not) according to your own tastes there. For those that *must* have sex of some form (open door/ closed door) in their romance books… eh, I think that speaks more to you than the author, but just know that this is NOT present in this book.

Overall I think the book worked well as a continuation of its series, including having a few characters from earlier books come back and play pivotal roles (and, for those that despise spoilers of any form, absolutely read the earlier books in the series before getting to this one).

Very much recommended.

This review of Pity Present by Whitney Dineen was originally written on December 5, 2024.

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#BookReview: A Wood-Fired Christmas by Maddie Evans

Heart Filled Novella Packs A Compelling Story In Short Form. This is one of those novellas that by the time you’re finished, you’re going to *think* there *had* to be at least twice as many pages given just how much story Evans manages to pack in here. And yet because it *is* barely 100 pages, its *actual* brevity makes it a great holiday read while you’re waiting for things to cook or you’re waiting the 5 minutes of commercials between every possession in a football game or you’re needing five minutes of peace from the chaos of so many family and friends around or… you get the idea. Quick books make great books to read in limited time slices, and this is absolutely that type of tale. Also great for those looking to add a quick easy read (with a lot of heart) to help with those annual reading goals.

Oh, and Evans shows a love of pizza here I honestly didn’t know she had. This entire novella is almost as much a love story for the hole in the wall pizzeria our couple winds up working together at as it is a romance between the couple themselves. Both play off each other well in all the best ways, and along the way everyone from foodies to Hallmarkie types will be quite pleased with the results.

Very much recommended.

This review of A Wood-Fired Christmas by Maddie Evans was originally written on December 4, 2024.

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#BlogTour: The Greatest Lie Of All by Jillian Cantor

For this blog tour, we’re looking at . For this blog tour, we’re looking at The Greatest Lie Of All by Jillian Cantor.

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

Never Meet Your Heroes – You Might Find Out More Than You Wanted To. Seriously, this book takes that age old saying to heart in its basic premise… and then spins it on its head in the actual execution of the tale at hand and in showing all that has transpired in these characters’ lives.

This is one of those inventive enough tales that it seems almost completely implausible… and yet real enough that it feels all too real at the same damn time. Surely, *nothing* could be *this* convoluted, right? (Says the guy whose mother in law is best friends with her husband’s ex-wife and whose grandparents lived together on the same property – at times even in the same house – even after they divorced and remarried.) In other words… yes, life can get quite messy at times, and this book does a tremendous job of showing this to great dramatic effect.

This is one of those women’s fiction/ romance genre benders that actually has the *cajones* to walk right up to the RWA/ RNA gatekeepers and say “Really? You’re going to try to tell me that *this* isn’t a romance for the ages?”. There is even at least one element of this book that will certainly, if the book reaches enough people, prove quite controversial indeed, and while I know *exactly* what those arguments will be and who (in general) will be making them, revealing even the specific nature of that particular debate pretty well spoils what this element is, so this is about as close as I can get to noting its presence without spoiling it.

Releasing late in the year when Yankees are seemingly already snowed under and largely inside their might-as-well-be Igloos for the winter and thus needing much reading material (at least that is how this Southern boy who has never lived any further north than the Atlanta exurbs tends to look at these things), this is going to be one of those great ones to read while huddled up trying to stay warm. Yes, even for us Floridians in our heaviest Arctic gear getting ready for temperatures that begin with “5” for a few days.

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: The Greatest Lie Of All by Jillian Cantor”