The Kind Worth Killing

PETER SWANSON

Synopsis from Goodreads: On a flight from London to Boston, Ted Severson meets the stunning Lily Kintner. Over martinis, the strangers play a game in which they reveal intimate details about themselves. But what begins as playful banter between Ted and Lily takes a turn when Ted claims, half-seriously, that he would like to kill his wife. Then Lily surprises him by saying that she’d like to help.

Back in Boston, Ted and Lily forge an unusual bond and talk about the ways Ted can get out of his marriage. But Lily has her own dark history she’s not sharing with Ted. As Ted begins to fall in love with Lily, he grows anxious about any holes in their scheme that could give them away. And suddenly the two are pulled into a very lethal game of cat and mouse, one in which both are not likely to survive when all is said and done.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, William Morrow, 2016.

How acquired: Borrowed from my mom.

First line: “Hello, there,” she said.

My thoughts: While at my mom's house, talking about a book we'd both recently read and loved (LULLABY, by Claire Seeber), I commented that it made me want to read more of that genre. My mom promptly disappeared into her room and reemerged with this book in hand. I started it the next day and whizzed through it.

The chapters start out alternating between Ted, who just discovered his wife is cheating on him with their contractor, and Lily, who he meets in an airport bar. The find themselves on the same flight, and Ted spills the whole story to Lily, admitting that he'd like to kill his wife. And Lily, rather than being shocked, says she will help him do so.

As they take turns narrating, both in first person POV, we learn more about how Ted and Miranda met, and Lily's unconventional family, along with some secrets from Lily's past (although she does not share that information with Ted). They plot and plan how to murder Miranda and Brad, the contractor, and when the time is almost nigh, holy plot twist! Something right out of left field, and the twists and turns just keep coming.

This is a fast paced and engrossing book. I feel like I can't say too much about what happens without getting spoilery, but I was glued to the pages. The character's narrative voices aren't very distinctive, but that's literally the only complaint I can come up with. A brilliant and unexpected read, and I've already pre-ordered the author's next book and bought one of his previous books. 

The Texan's Forbidden Fiancée (Lone Star Legends, Book 1; Harlequin Desire #2308)

SARA ORWIG

Synopsis from Goodreads: After a century-long family feud, Madison Milan doesn't trust any Calhoun—especially Jake, the man who ditched her on the night of their elopement. But when he shows up claiming an heirloom map leads to gold on her ranch, she's swamped by steamy memories. She may not trust Jake, but she just might want him…

Jake will do anything to get what he wants—Madison's ranch. Consider it payback to the Milans. And Madison? She's collateral damage in their family feud. The confident cowboy has nothing to worry about…except falling for the forbidden beauty all over again…

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 2014.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: In the small town of Verity, Texas, when the door to the Texas United Western Bank opened, Jake Calhoun's breath whooshed out as if a fist slammed into his gut.

My thoughts: I don't think I've read this author before, but I see her name all the time and know she's written tons of books. I have several more of her books in the TBR pile. So I think I had higher expectations than I should've. A feud and digging for treasure seems like a refreshing topic for a category romance, but the book was mostly melodrama and repeated accusations of "you walked out on our wedding day" and "you wanted your father's money more than you wanted me", and then kiss kiss and lots of makeup sex.

Michael Tolliver Lives (Tales of the City, Book 7)

ARMISTEAD MAUPIN

Synopsis from Goodreads: Michael Tolliver, the sweet-spirited Southerner in Armistead Maupin's classic Tales of the City series, is arguably one of the most widely loved characters in contemporary fiction. Now, almost twenty years after ending his ground-breaking saga of San Francisco life, Maupin revisits his all-too-human hero, letting the fifty-five-year-old gardener tell his story in his own voice.

Having survived the plague that took so many of his friends and lovers, Michael has learned to embrace the random pleasures of life, the tender alliances that sustain him in the hardest of times. Michael Tolliver Lives follows its protagonist as he finds love with a younger man, attends to his dying fundamentalist mother in Florida, and finally reaffirms his allegiance to a wise octogenarian who was once his landlady.

Stats for my copy: Hardback, HarperCollins, 2017.

How acquired: Bought.

First line: Not long ago, down on Castro Street, a stranger in a Giants parka gave me a loaded glance as we passed each other in front of Cliff's Hardware.

My thoughts: I loved the first five Tales of the City books, but the sixth book was a disappointment for me. I did not like the person Mary Ann had become after being a local celebrity went to her head. By the end of the book I quite actively disliked her. But this seventh book, set twenty years later, is about Michael, and was just as enthralling as the first five books.

Unlike previous books, this one is just Michael's story, and the narrative is even in first person, his point of view. Other characters are still around of course – best friend Brian and his (and Mary Ann's) now grown daughter, Shawna, and an elderly Anna Madrigal. Thack is long gone, but Michael is still living in the same house, and is now married to the sweet and much younger Ben.

Michael tells us his story with wit and deprecation. We follow him to Florida, where he visits his ailing mother and ultra-religious brother and sister-in-law. Michael refers to them as the biologicals, and his other, more accepting and loving family, the characters mentioned above, as the logicals, a term I love.

My favorite quote in the book:

“As she fiddled with the piping on the slipcover I could see that her hands were the only place where her age was evident. I've noticed this about myself as well. We can fool ourselves about our changing faces, but our hands creep up on us. One day we look down at them and realize they belong to our grandparents.”

I had this exact revelation a couple of years ago, when I looked down one day and saw my grandmother's hand. Which overjoyed me, as I adored her and miss her.

Mary Ann is now living in Connecticut with her second husband, but she does make a brief appearance towards the end of the book, where she and Michael have an awkward and stilted reunion (and under trying circumstances), and then she breaks down and cries and insinuates that there was more to her moving away than the advancement of her career. She's not redeemed in my eyes, and I'm hesitant to pick up the next book, MARY ANN IN AUTUMN. But I do look forward to the last book, THE DAYS OF ANNA MADRIGAL, and I cannot skip a book in a series, so I'm just going to have to trust Mr. Maupin to bring Mary Ann full circle and make me like her again.

I zipped through this book in a day and a half, giving up some sleep to do so, something I don't have the energy for very often. But it was that good.

Lullaby

CLAIRE SEEBER

Synopsis from Goodreads: For Jess, the much-needed family outing with her wealthy husband and newborn Louis is a chance to get her troubled marriage back on track. But when Mickey takes Louis for a stroll, they don't come back. And the next time Jess sees her husband, he's in a hospital, his memory shattered…and he's the prime suspect in their son's disappearance. 

Amid a media frenzy and skeptical police, Jess is learning fast that disturbing secrets surround everyone she thinks she knows—her charming, unreliable brother; her envious sister; Louis's vivacious young nanny; and the elegant ex-wife Mickey won't discuss. The only thing Jess can trust is her desperate, determined instinct. For the clock is ticking down, and someone will do whatever it takes to make her precious baby boy their own…

Stats for my copy: Mass Market paperback, Worldwide Library Suspense, 2012.

How acquired: Borrowed from my mom.

First line: Later, I couldn't think whose idea it had been to visit the Tate that day.

My thoughts: I was sucked into this book from the first few pages. I probably never would've picked this book up based on the title or the cover, so I am so glad my mom recommended it and loaned me her copy! Not far in I kept thinking why had I not heard of this book before, or seen any buzz about it? Then I realized it was first published some ten years ago.

Jess and her husband, Mickey, and their eight month old son are having a rare day out together, when they get separated in a crowd, and then the husband and son just vanish. Mickey eventually turns up in a hospital, beaten and bruised, and with no memory of what happened.

The narrative is told by Jess in first person point of view, and her fear and terror at losing her son are palpable. As the search and police investigation drags on she becomes more and more desperate and unraveled. As you would when you're child is missing.

I loved Silver, the lead detective. I loved how he always called her “kiddo”, until she snapped at him to stop, and then the word still kept trying to slip out of his mouth. Jess was often frustrated with the investigation, feeling that the coppers aren't doing enough quick enough, which might be a natural reaction to the situation, but she also already had a dislike for and distrust of police to begin with. As we learn more about her background and her childhood the reason for that is slowly revealed.

A tense and gripping book, while also being a good character study. I think this is going onto my list of all time favorites, and I will definitely be looking for more of this author. 

Part Time Cowboy (Copper Ridge, Book One)

MAISEY YATES

Synopsis from Goodreads: Sadie Miller isn't expecting any welcome-home parades on her return to Copper Ridge. Least of all from part-time rancher, full-time lawman Eli Garrett. The straight-laced, impossibly hot deputy sheriff glares at her like she's the same teenage hoodlum who fled town ten years ago. But running from her demons has brought Sadie full circle, ready to make a commitment at last. Not to a man, but to a B and B. On Garrett land. Okay, so her plan has a tiny flaw…

Eli works too hard to let a blonde ball of trouble mess up his town. But keeping an eye on Sadie makes it tough to keep his hands off her. And if she's so wrong for him, why does being with her feel so right?

Stats for my copy: Mass Market paperback, Harlequin Books, 2015.

How acquired: Bought

First line: Whoever said you couldn't go home again had clearly never been to Copper Ridge.

My thoughts:  After my first Maisey Yates experience, a book I did not particularly enjoy, several members of a Facebook group I'm in recommended her Copper Ridge series. I happened to already have this book, the first in the series, in my massive TBR, so I gave her another chance. And boy, am I glad I did.

Sadie and Eli argue whenever they're in each other's company, and their bickering is almost juvenile, yet hilarious.

“That's funny, Sadie, because I feel like I end up irritated every time I'm around you.”

“I just think your irritation is contagious,” she said.

“Maybe you're so irritating you irritate yourself.”

On on the same page:

“I'm going to go now. And I'm taking the beer. And the water. Thank you. Again. I'll try not to bother you anymore.”

He snorted. “Good luck.”

“Oh, I don't need it. I don't mind bothering you. You are clearly the one who is bothered by being bothered. So...you're the one who needs the luck, not me.”

Of course, you know what all this arguing is going to lead to. I do love the enemies to lovers trope!

I liked Sadie very much, and I loved Eli. He ticked so many of my boxes: lawman, cowboy, rancher, grouchy, stoic. In control until the right woman comes along to break that control. They both have some serious baggage, and I enjoyed watching them slowly unpack it and share it piece by piece with each other. Yep, high angst level here.

I also liked Eli's sister and brother – Connor is even more of a grouchypants than Eli - and I'm looking forward to their stories. Now I understand why Ms. Yates is so popular, and I'm so glad I didn't give up on her after that first book of her I read!

The Rancher's Baby (Texas Cattleman's Club: The Imposter, Book 1)

MAISEY YATES

Synopsis from Goodreads: When a torrid, possibly dangerous scandal comes to Royal, Texas, Selena Jacobs is nearly caught in the middle. Until her best friend Knox McCoy ensures her safety—by moving in! Selena has loved Knox for years, but she’s never had the courage to tell him. Now the sparks she’s tried to smother burn out of control…and leave her pregnant. But with the pain in his past, will Knox finally take a chance on love…with her?.

Stats for my copy: Mass Market paperback, Harlequin Desire, 2018.

How acquired: BookishFirst

First line: My fake ex-husband died at sea and all I got was this stupid letter.

My thoughts: I entered to win a copy of this book on BookishFirst because I see Maisey Yates' name all the time, and my aunt is a fan of hers, and we like a lot of the same authors, so I'd been wanting to try her for awhile. I was excited to win a copy, and waited very impatiently for the book to arrive. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my expectations.

On BookishFirst, to enter for a book you have to read the first few pages, and then write a brief paragraph about your thoughts. The first page grabbed me immediately (the first line!). The book opens with Selena attending the funeral of her ex-husband, having received a letter telling her she was named as his heir. At the funeral there are several other women with the same letter. Also in attendance is Selena's best friend, Knox, who lives in another state and who she hasn't seen in a long time, and it's an awkward reunion between them. And then Will walks in. Not dead. Selena and Knox leave, but later a relative of Will's invites them to a gathering, along with everyone else who attended the funeral. At the gathering there is just a brief mention of the mystery surrounding Will's supposed death, and that someone may have been using his identity, and Knox fears that Selena could now be in danger, so he insists on going home with her and staying with her to protect her.

That mystery is never really revisited, and is never resolved, which really irritated me. Was it just a plot device to throw Selena and Knox together? The book is part of a multi-author series, so will a future book in the series feature Will and that mystery? It was as if this very interesting situation was introduced, and then just abandoned.

We learn from the beginning that Selena and Knox have been best friends since college. And the fact that they are best friends is constantly reiterated to the point of also being irritating. They kiss and then one of them marvels to themself that they just kissed their best friend! They marvel to themselves that they are lusting after their best friend! Selena becomes pregnant and marvels that she's carrying her best friend's baby!

I never really connected with either Selena or Knox. They are both damaged souls, which usually appeals to me, Selena having had a bad childhood with an abusive father, and Knox having a marriage fall apart after the death of his daughter. The angst level is mile high. The ending of course is happy and satisfying. But the journey to that ending was a bit tedius.

Halfway through the book I posted about it in a Facebook group, and several other members recommended Yates' Copper Ridge series, and I just happened to have the first book, PART TIME COWBOY, which I had picked up at a library sale. So I started it after finishing this book. And you know what? Five chapters in and I am LOVING it! I love the characters, I love the story so far, and I have laughed several times. Out loud. One conversation between the hero and heroine made me laugh so much I had to reread it twice and laughed out loud each time. If I didn't know who the author was, I wouldn't have believed the two books were written by the same person. Maybe THE RANCHER'S BABY being a category romance* and having a shorter word count meant the book had to be edited down too much, or didn't allow the author to flesh out as much detail. I don't know. But despite not particularly caring for this book, I will continue to read Ms. Yates' books, and I'm glad that I finally tried her.

*Not that's there's anything wrong with that! I've been a Harlequin fan and reader for many many years.

EDIT: After writing this review, I saw on Goodreads that the book is listed as Texas Cattleman's Club: The Imposter, and is book 1, and that the second book is about one of the other women who were at Will's funeral. So apparently that mystery will be a running theme through the series. However, that knowledge does not change my thoughts about it. 

Bounds of Passion (Bound, Book 1)

LUCIA JORDAN

Synopsis from Amazon: Popular erotica writer Lucia Jordan brings you the first short story in her new 'Bound' series. This short story (approx. 4,400 words) contains adult content, hot sex and mild BDSM themes so only check it out if you are ready to get very, very excited.

Stats for my copy: Kindle edition, 2012.

How acquired: Amazon freebie

First line: Lydia could feel the man beneath her weakening and he was silently mouthing at her to stop – wait, to give him a minute, but she couldn't – not when she was so close to her own climax.

My thoughts: A very short, quick, hot read. Some suspension of disbelief required - girl has to be crazy to meet a stranger on a BDSM website, then meet him in a coffee house and immediately go home with him - but it's fiction so I can get past that pretty quickly. Some shades of that shades book what with the contract she had to sign before they got down to business. But if you have a little time to kill and want to be tantalized a bit, this is a good choice. 

The First Kiss of Spring (Eternity Springs, Book 14)

EMILY MARCH

Synopsis from Goodreads: Spring has come to Eternity Springs in the newest installment in this New York Times bestselling series by Emily March. 

When Josh Tarkington gets stuck on a gondola with the lovely Caitlin Timberlake, he thinks his consistently bad luck might have changed. 

After their blossoming romance is interrupted, Caitlin realizes that her encounter with Josh was a sign that she needed to make a major life change. So she packs up her things and moves to Eternity Springs, opens a day care, and sets her cap for the town’s mechanic—Josh. 

But Josh is hiding a well of secrets that would ruin him, and his relationship with everyone in Eternity Springs—especially Caitlin. When tragedy strikes, Josh and Caitlin find themselves, and their relationship, tested beyond imagining. Will they be able to find their way back to each other?

Stats for my copy: Kindle edition, St. Martin's Paperbacks, expected publication date 2/27/18.

How acquired: NetGalley

My thoughts: I'm usually pretty anal about reading series books in order, but when I received an email from NetGalley that this book was available for forty-eight hours I immediately downloaded it. I've not previously read anything by this author, but I've heard good things about her, and one friend compared her to Robyn Carr, so I was excited to give her a try.

Each chapter is prefaced with a short “Journal Entry”. We don't know at first which character is journaling, but they threw me a little off kilter at first with hints of past child abuse. Once I got past that though, I enjoyed the story. And not having read the previous books in the series wasn't an issue at all. I suspect some of the supporting characters might have been the heroes/heroines of previous books, but this one can definitely stand on it's own.

Caitlin meets Josh, and his dog Penny, who is in a little doggy wheelchair, while in Telluride for a wedding, when they are trapped together in a gondola. Like Caitlin, that first meeting with Josh had me hooked on him immediately. He's good looking, he's funny, and who wouldn't fall for a man who loves a little dog like Penny?

In a lot of romance novels the hero is the dogged pursuer. He meets a woman and knows right away that she's the one, and he sets out to convince her of that, while she resists because she's been burned before. Here, it's Caitlin who decides early on that Josh is the one. The last thing he wants is a relationship, and he's not a happy camper when he learns that Caitlin has moved to Eternity Springs to be near her parents and brother.

Of course you know how it will all end, because it is a romance, after all. But the journey to that ending was very enjoyable. The writing is a bit breezy, and I especially enjoyed Caitlin's interactions with her brother. The subject matter does get a little deep, as Josh has a lot of baggage, but it was never sensationalized and was thoughtfully handled. I'm going to have to look for the first book in the series and then go on from there! 

A Basket Brigade Christmas

JUDITH MILLER

NANCY MOSER

STEPHANIE GRACE WHITSON

Synopsis from back of book: With the country embroiled in civil war in 1862, a group of women formed the Basket Brigade and boarded trains to minister to Union soldiers transferring from overflowing hospitals in the South to northerly locations. The Basket Brigade offered fried chicken, pickled peaches, pound cake, and other dainties to men who hadn't eaten a home-cooked meal since enlisting. The women of Decatur, Illinois, served nearly two thousand meals to wounded warriors.

Three bestselling authors were blessed and inspired by the words written by the actual women who organized and participated in relief efforts during the Civil War. They have penned their stories in honor of them.

Stats for my copy: Trade paperback, Barbour Books, 2015.

How acquired: Via BookCrossing.

My thoughts: Three separate stories, from three new-to-me authors. While each story is about a different woman in Decatur, Illinois, there are several characters who appear in all three books, most notably Mrs. Collins, who reminded me of a less offensive Little House on the Prairie Mrs.Oleson. In each story she was a spiteful, self-centered, full of herself woman, who then exhibited some humanity at the end of the story.

The first story, “A Stitch in Time”, by Stephanie Grace Whitson, centers around Lucy, whose deceased father left her a dry goods store and a small fortune thanks to some savvy investments. While volunteering with the Basket Brigade one day, she is appalled that the soldiers traveling on the hospital train don't have enough blankets or socks to keep warm, and she comes up with the idea to open her home as a meeting place for any of the women of Decatur who want to volunteer to sew socks and make quilts and blankets to be distributed on the trains. Jonah is the manager of her store, and has been in love with Lucy forever, but because of a leg injury that keeps him from enlisting, and the differences in their stations in life, he doesn't expect his love to ever be reciprocated. While this was a sweet story, I didn't really connect with Lucy, who was completely oblivious to Jonah and his feelings until the very end.

The second story, “A Pinch of Love”, by Judith Miller, was my favorite. Sarah's mother is one of the organizers and leaders of the Basket Brigade, and when she falls ill, Sarah has to take her place. Sarah has avoided volunteering, as she doesn't think she can deal with seeing the wounded soldiers, but she sucks it up and does her duty. Jacob wants to be fighting at the front, and is disappointed to be assigned to travel with the hospital trains to look out for the wounded soldiers. Until he meets Sarah, of course. I very much liked both Sarah and Jacob, and they slowly get to know one another and develop feelings for each other. Their growing relationship appealed to me more than the non-existent until the end relationship of the previous couple, and the obstacles they had to overcome – another young man who wants Sarah for himself and pretty much stalks her and lies to her, and Jacob's still hurtful memories of his former fiance who turned around and married someone else – were very well written and more realistic for me.

The third story, Endless Melody, by Nancy Moser, seemed to drag on too long, but I think that had less to do with the length of the story and was more because the main characters were living completely separate lives, withe him in another city, and were kept apart for most of the story. Zona and Cardiff were planning to marry fifteen years ago, when Cardiff suddenly left to fight in the war between Texas and Mexico, leaving Zona angry and heartbroken. Cardiff wrote many letters to her, but she never replied, which left him angry and heartbroken. As the story progressed, I kept waiting for them to be reunited, and in the meantime I didn't find either character particularly appealing. I was a little more sympathetic to them as the reasons behind their behavior was revealed, but they never fully resonated with me, and when they did finally meet again, the story was suddenly and abruptly over.

Despite the book's title, this isn't really a Christmas story, or rather Christmas stories, as the season wasn't mentioned that often. The third story does have Zona putting together a Christmas musicale, and some of her group of singers serenading the hospital trains with Christmas carols, but there isn't much else Christmas related. 

Second Chance Pass (Virgin River, Book 5)

ROBYN CARR

Synopsis from Goodreads: In the space of a few months Vanessa buried her husband, Matt, and gave birth to their son--breaking her heart while filling it with a whole new kind of love. But the one man she longs to share this love with now acts as if she doesn't exist. Paul Haggerty lives by the marine motto: Semper Fi. Ever faithful to his best friend, he's done right by Matt's widow as best he can...considering he's been secretly in love with her for years. Now, just as he's about to make his move, another woman has staked her claim on him--a claim that will be tough to escape.

With courage, humility and not a little meddling from the good folks of Virgin River, Vanni and Paul might just get a second chance to have the love they both desire and deserve.

Stats for my copy: Mass market paperback, Mira Books, 2009.

How acquired: Via Book Mooch.

First line: Paul Haggerty was finally back in Grants Pass after almost six months in Virgin River and there was an ache in his chest he just couldn't ease.

My thoughts: I loved the first four books in this series, giving three of them five stars on Goodreads, and one of them four stars. But this one was almost a three star. I just didn't love Vanessa and Paul the way I loved Jack and Mel, Preacher and Paige, Marcie and Ian. I'm not sure why, other than I didn't connect with Vanessa the way I did with the previous heroines. But as with the other books, while the main couple are the focus, the narrative still winds out among other residents of Virgin River, so there was plenty of Jack and Mel. In fact, I enjoyed their storyline more than Vanessa and Paul's. I was also happy that one of my favorite characters, the mystery illegal grower, made another brief appearance, and like me, Mike Valenzuela has come to the conclusion that there is more to the grower than what appears on the surface. I'm so hoping to learn more about him and that he gets a book somewhere down the line.

And then Joe came to town, and met Vanessa's friend Nikki, and oh my god I wish this had actually been their book! I loved loved Joe! I love a good grovel, and Joe groveled with the best of them. Joe singlehandedly bumped my rating up to four stars and the book is worth reading for his story alone. 

Nightsong (Song, Book 3)

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

VALERIE SHERWOOD

Synopsis from Goodreads: Living in exile on the island of Jamaica, Rye Evistock, better known as Captain Kells, and his beautiful wife, Carolina Lightfoot, are waiting for Kells to be cleared of a trumped-up treason charge in England. Kells decides to return to buccaneering one last time in order to gain enough money to settle down in peace. After anxious months of waiting for her husband to return, Carolina finally sights his ship on the horizon, but at that moment, catastrophe strikes in the form of an earthquake that destroys the harbor town and leaves Kells and his ship nowhere to be found.

Devastated, Carolina leaves for England, but her ship is captured by the Spanish at Havana and she is given to the governor's aide as a slave. To her utter amazement, the “aide” is none other than Kells, suffering from amnesia, and believing himself to be Spanish. Desperate to regain his love and convince him of his true identity before their hated enemies discover it, Carolina hatches a dangerous plot that could free them both...or seal their death warrants...

Stats for my copy: Hardback, Pocket Books, 1986.

How acquired: Via Book Mooch.

First line: Beneath a pale moon that shed its light upon Jamaica's southern coast, a slender curving sandspit cut like a scimitar into the deep dark sapphire of a night-silvered sea.

My thoughts:  I loved the first two books in this trilogy (LOVESONG and WINDSONG), so I was very much looking forward to NIGHTSONG. The first two books both started out slow for me, and took a little while for me to get caught up in. NIGHTSONG was the opposite. I was caught up right away. When the earthquake struck I was completely mesmerized. And then Carolina, believing Kells dead, finds herself in Havana, with her sister Penny, and from that point on I struggled to stay interested.

In Havana, Carolina is reunited with a very much alive Kells. As a slave bought by the governor and gifted to his friend Kells, who everyone, including Kells himself, believes is Don Diego Vivar. Normally I love an amnesia plot (Sandra Brown, THE WITNESS!). But this one just got ridiculous. Carolina tries to convince “Diego” that he is really Kells. He's insulted and angered that she would dare to compare him to a notorious buccaneer. Carolina suddenly seems convinced that he's not Kells, he's really Diego, and just looks like Kells. At which point I almost threw the book across the room. Then she realizes that he is indeed Kells, and if anyone else in Havana recognizes who he really is his life will be in danger.

Penny. In the second book I was thrilled to get to know their sister Virginia. I did not care for Penny nearly as much. And Robin Tyrell...ugh. He and Penny deserve each other.

Toward the end I seriously wondered if Carolina and Kells would ever have an HEA. And I didn't even really care. I just wanted it to be over.

Will I read this author again? Yes. But maybe not for awhile. 

Sweet Tea and Sympathy (Southern Eclectic, Book One)

MOLLY HARPER

Synopsis from Goodreads: Beloved author Molly Harper launches a brand-new contemporary romance series, Southern Eclectic, with this story of a big-city party planner who finds true love in a small Georgia town.

Nestled on the shore of Lake Sackett, Georgia is the McCready Family Funeral Home and Bait Shop. (What, you have a problem with one-stop shopping?) Two McCready brothers started two separate businesses in the same building back in 1928, and now it’s become one big family affair. And true to form in small Southern towns, family business becomes everybody’s business.

Margot Cary has spent her life immersed in everything Lake Sackett is not. As an elite event planner, Margot’s rubbed elbows with the cream of Chicago society, and made elegance and glamour her business. She’s riding high until one event goes tragically, spectacularly wrong. Now she’s blackballed by the gala set and in dire need of a fresh start—and apparently the McCreadys are in need of an event planner with a tarnished reputation.

As Margot finds her footing in a town where everybody knows not only your name, but what you had for dinner last Saturday night and what you’ll wear to church on Sunday morning, she grudgingly has to admit that there are some things Lake Sackett does better than Chicago—including the dating prospects. Elementary school principal Kyle Archer is a fellow fish-out-of-water who volunteers to show Margot the picture-postcard side of Southern living. The two of them hit it off, but not everybody is happy to see an outsider snapping up one of the town's most eligible gentleman. Will Margot reel in her handsome fish, or will she have to release her latest catch?

Stats for my copy: ebook, Gallery Books, releasing November 21, 2017.

How acquired: NetGalley.

My thoughts: I previously read SAVE A TRUCK, RIDE A REDNECK, Book 0.5 in this series. I’m not a big fan of novellas, just because I like to get more story, more characterization, than the shorter form allows. But I enjoyed it, so I was eager to try one of Ms. Harper’s full length novels and see how much deeper she can go. And she did not disappoint. 

Our heroine this time is Margot, a big city event planner who finds herself out of a job and shunned by the event planning community after a disastrous flamingo incident. We met Marianne, and her brother, Duffy, in SAVE A TRUCK. Margot is their cousin, though she’s never met any of the family. Her mother left her father when she was three years old, and her father has been completely out of her life since then. But Tootie McCready,, her father’s aunt and the matriarch of the McCready clan, contacts Margot out of the blue and offers her a job in the family business, McCready Family Funeral Home and Bait Shop. With no other prospects on the horizon, and about to not have anywhere to live, Margot reluctantly accepts.

I very much liked Margot. She’d pretty much had the rug pulled out from under her, and her whole world turned upside down. Settling down to life in Lake Sackett, Georgia, was quite a culture shock for her. Not to mention meeting her biological father, for whom she, understandably, harbors a lot of resentment. She didn’t plan to stay permanently, just until she found a job that would take her back to Chicago or some other civilized city. Watching her navigate her new life was at times eye-wincingly funny.

I loved Kyle, a widower with two young daughters. After a scorching make out session in his truck, he thereafter runs hot and cold with Margot. He doesn’t date much, and he never brings his dates around his daughters. Which is fine with Margot, for while she lusts for him she has no intention of becoming emotionally involved with him. She doesn’t know how to talk to children, and of course she plans on leaving town at the first opportunity.

The first time Margot saw Kyle, she was drawn to his sad eyes and haunted countenance. It was a great way for Ms. Harper to introduce him, because he ticked my boxes also. Of course Margot ends up spending more time with Kyle and his daughters than planned, and some of her interactions with young June were hilarious. I also enjoyed her interactions with Marianne and another cousin, Frankie, who also worked at the funeral home. I really hope Frankie will be the heroine of a future book.

As with the novella, I sometimes had a little trouble keeping all the family members straight at times, but that didn’t really impede my enjoyment of the story. There’s plenty of humor, which I love in a romance, but there was also some angst and ultimately some soul searching for Margot when she finally has an opportunity to leave Lake Sackett.

Very enjoyable, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for other books by Ms. Harper.