Celebration at Christmas Cove

 

My review of Celebration at Christmas Cove, by Carrie Jansen, is live on the Fresh Fiction website! 

You can see it here.

Love Chronicles (Silhouette Romance No. 1749)

 

LISSA MANLEY

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Silhouette Romance, 2004.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: Connor Forbes glanced up from the medical journal he was reading at the receptionist’s counter and looked at the office window.

(For Goodreads synopsis, scroll down.)

My thoughts: I needed something light and quick to read in between a couple of review books and pulled this off the shelf at random. This is my first time reading this author.

It started out pretty great, with Sunny’s Great Dane getting away from her and rushing up to the window of Connor’s office, barking at him through the glass, then racing away again with Sunny giving chase. Connor is unimpressed with Sunny’s attempts to control the dog, and the first thing he says to her is “What’s up with your dog?”. He then sorta lectures her about how her dog needs obedience training, insulting and embarrassing her, and that was their meet cute. I love having a dog involved in a book, so I was pleased. Unfortunately the dog, whose name I can’t even remember now, ended up basically just being a plot device. There was one more cute scene with him at the park, after which Sunny struggles to put him in her van. And then for the rest of the book I think he was only mentioned three times! In passing! So that was very disappointing.

Sunny grew up in a commune, with parents who never married. Sunny spent her whole childhood terrified that her parents would split up and one of them would just leave, because to her, not being married meant they were not committed. As a result, Sunny and a childhood friend made a pact that they would marry someone and have a family and a happy life by the time they were thirty, and if neither was married by then they would marry each other. Now that friend is happily married, but Sunny is determined to still fulfill that pact, and frankly I got tired of hearing about it and tired of her internal angsty whining about her parents being unable to commit. I liked Connor a bit better than I liked Sunny, though he too had angsty issues. He’s given up on love because he’s a “failure” at it, in that every relationship he had ended in a break up. But he was a really good guy and his angst didn’t bother me as much as Sunny’s.

There was a very funny scene at a square dance, with Connor dancing for the first time in his life, and very badly. I actually laughed out loud. But other than that, the book is pretty standard category romance fare. Rufus! I just remembered, the dog’s name is Rufus.

Happily, the ending of the book was very satisfying, thanks to Connor’s realization that he loved Sunny, and finding a wonderful way to show her that. So, an okay book but with a great resolution.

Synopsis from Goodreads: SHE GOT UNDER HIS SKIN…

And besides, Dr. Connor Forbes didn't want a partner. Even if Sunny Williams was the most beautiful blonde he'd ever seen, the uptight physician knew Sunny's crazy New Age ideas -- and her irresistible lips -- would only wreak havoc on his practical, well-ordered life.

But with her sweet smile and luxurious deep tissue massages, the spunky siren had made it impossible for him to turn her away without risking the wrath of the entire town of Oak Valley...and his traitorous heart.

Maybe having Sunny as a partner was just what the doctor ordered...

Deadly Target (Rocky Mountain Courage, Book 2)

ELIZABETH GODDARD

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Revell, 2021.

How acquired: Revell Reads Blogger Program for review.

First line: For a few hours every Saturday morning, Erin Larson could forget that evil existed.

(For Goodreads synopsis, scroll down.)

My thoughts: Another winner from Elizabeth Goddard! I don’t think she could write a bad book if she tried! This is the second book in her Rocky Mountain Courage series. We met Erin briefly in the first book, as she’s a close friend with that book’s heroine. However, Erin, a criminal psychologist, lives in Washington state. Like the previous book, the action starts almost immediately, while Erin and a friend are kayaking and nearly killed. And then she gets a phone call telling her that her mother is in the hospital after a suicide attempt. So off to Montana Erin goes. Nathan is a detective in Big Rapids, Montana. His part of the story starts in chapter two, when one minute he’s fishing with his father, who’s about to tell him some big secret, and the next minute his father’s been shot. From there the action never stops!

Nathan and Erin have history, and Nathan still smarts over Erin breaking up with him and moving away. There is a lot of internal monologuing – Ms. Goddard’s books, regardless of the plot and/or action involved, are wonderful character studies, and we really get to know both Erin and Nathan. We learn that Erin has a secret in her past that was instrumental in her decision to break it off with Nathan, but we don’t learn what that secret is until the last part of the book.

I feel like anything I say about this book is just repeating myself about the first book in the series, or any of the books in Ms. Goddard’s Uncommon Justice series. I love her writing, I love her descriptions of scenery, I love her characterization. There is a lot going on in this book, with both Nathan’s and Erin’s lives in danger every time they turn around. It seems like Nathan is a target because of whatever his father was investigating, and Erin gets pulled into it, and then suddenly it appears that Erin may be a target on her own, unrelated to Nathan and his father. In fact, the plot/subplots are a bit convoluted, and yet I had no trouble keeping up with the action and what was going on. Or rather, no more than Nathan and Erin had, because it was confusing at times, they were confused, and so we are confused along with them.

There’s plenty of suspense, and the last part of the book had me sitting up past my bedtime, eyes glued to the turning pages, happy with the resolution, but sorry to leave Nathan and Erin behind.

Synopsis from Goodreads: Criminal psychologist Erin Larson's dreams of a successful career come to a screeching halt when she nearly loses her own life in a boating accident on Puget Sound and then learns that her mother tried to commit suicide. She leaves her job as a criminal psychologist to care for her mother in Montana. At least she is able to produce her podcast, which focuses on solving missing persons cold cases.

Nathan Campbell's father was investigating such a case when he was shot, and now Nathan needs to enlist Erin's help to solve the case. She's good at what she does. The only problem? She's his ex.

As the two dig deeper, it becomes clear that they, too, are being targeted--and that the answers to their questions are buried deep within the past Erin struggles to explain and longs to forget.

The race is on for the truth in this gripping and complex tale of suspense, intrigue, and murder from USA Today bestselling author Elizabeth Goddard.