The Sinful Lives of Trophy Wives, by Kristin Miller

Contemporary Women’s Fiction.

Balentine Books, 2021

REVIEW

In her latest tale of mayhem, Miller introduces three friends from the tony San Francisco neighborhood of Presidio Terrace.  Meet Georgia St. Claire, the Black Widow with the dubious reputation of losing spouses.  Erin King, the slightly over-the-hill TV news anchor.  And Brooke Davies, the young, lithe billionaire’s wife and mystery writer.  The story unfolds through these ladies’ first-person perspectives of events leading to the tragic opening scene.  The reader enters the story where it ends, but just when you think you’ve got it all figured out…you don’t!  Miller hooks readers immediately, from page one, and it’s a rollercoaster ride from there, in this fast-paced and morbidly fun who-done-it.

A Highlander is Coming to Town, by Laura Trentham

St. Martin’s Paperbacks, October 2020

REVIEW

This is book #3 of Trentham’s Highland, Georgia series, joining A Highlander Walks into a Bar and A Highlander in a Pickup.  As always, the characters are hometown friendly and totally relatable.  The small town and rural farm settings lend to the plot’s comfortable pace, and the romance is slow-simmering and sweet.  Christmas is coming to Highland, and everyone is invited.

SYNOPSIS

Claire Smythe, the former lead singer of the Scottish band, the Scunners, is a bundle of secrets. She left the band months ago, preferring to lay low for a while to ponder her complicated future.  With her 25^th birthday mere weeks away, she has a lot to think about.  Highland seems like the perfect place to hide away, where hopefully, no one will recognize her.

Holt Pierson is managing his family’s farm while his parents are off galavanting about the country in their retirement RV.  While he doesn’t begrudge his parents’ well-earned freedom, he wonders if this will become an expectation, because he isn’t certain that running the family farm is his future.  But that train of thought jumps the rails when he discovers that Claire Smythe, with her quirky ways and delightful brogue, is staying at the farm next door.

Rough Creek, by Kaki Warner

REVIEW

Warner serves up cowboy romance family style, with lots of heart and humor. This first novel in her Brides of Rough Creek Texas series introduces the Whitcomb Four Star Ranch, so named for the four daughters of Coralee Whitcomb: Lennox (the stay-at-home mom, and oldest of the four sisters), Raney (the workaholic ranch manager), Josslyn (the flighty musician), and Katherine Dianne (KD for short, the West Point graduate). True to form, this one’s got it all, hat and cattle.

If you like Rough Creek and want more, try Warner’s other trilogies, which include the Blood Rose Trilogy, Runaway Brides, and Heroes of Heartbreak Creek.

SYNOPSIS

With three of the Whitcomb sisters off pursuing their own careers, the responsibility of running the family ranch falls on Raney Whitcomb, who is more than up to the challenge. Four Star Ranch is already known for its prize-winning Angus cattle, but now it is expanding to include cutting horses, and could use some expertise to help with the training. To fill this position, matriarch Coralee hires Dalton Cardwell, a Rough Creek rancher who is newly released from an 18-month prison term for a crime he didn’t commit. Raney questions her mother’s choice in hiring ex-con Dalton, but he just might be the best decision she’s ever made.

In Her Shadow, by Kristin Miller

Random House – Ballantine, April 2020

REVIEW

Miller writes exceptionally taut suspense, this one filled with lies, deception, cheating spouses, and one nasty little murder. The plot is fast paced with juicy new developments surfacing in every chapter. Suspicion bounces from character to character until there’s virtually no one left to trust. This is one of those stories you’ll want to read again just to spot the cues you missed the first time through. Crazy good.

SYNOPSIS

Michael Harris, head of Harris Financial, is in a quandary. Joanna, his wife of five years, has left him, texting that she’s moving back to Los Angeles. How cold is that? And although he can’t quite bring himself to file for divorce, he probably should. His personal secretary, Colleen Roper, is pregnant with his child. When complications arise with the pregnancy, Michael insists Colleen stop working and move into his mansion, where she’s totally out of her depth, living in Joanna’s shadow.

An Everyday Hero, by Laura Trentham

Saint Martin’s Press, February 2020

REVIEW

Trentham’s second book in the Heart of a Hero series looks at the emotional toll that war takes on soldiers and their families. The well-crafted dialog provides insight into the inner turmoil and upheaval that can occur as a byproduct of military deployment. And, for those who find and accept help with their struggles, there’s the rebirth that follows. Additional plot lines provide depth to the story in which several characters come to grips with their own personal demons. I found it both poignant and very entertaining. Book #1 in this series, The Military Wife, is also a very worthwhile read. If you’re still hungry for more Trentham, try her three other contemporary romance series, or her historical series.

SYNOPSIS

Bartender Greer Hadley’s life isn’t turning out the way she had planned. Her early dreams of success as a Nashville singer-songwriter have evaporated, the naïve aspirations of a much younger Greer. Now, she’s “performing” all right – performing court-ordered community service, the consequence of a drunk and disorderly arrest. She is sentenced to fifty hours of volunteer work at the Music Tree Foundation, using her music skills to help military veterans and their families cope with trauma. But the mere thought of playing music again has Greer’s crippling self-doubt kicked into overdrive.

Emmett Lawson is newly returned from a stint in Afghanistan where he lost a leg in an IED explosion that killed his sergeant. Like so many wounded warriors, he wonders why he was spared. What if he had done something differently? Was this his fault? Emmett sinks into a state of isolation, anger and reckless behavior that even his parents can’t penetrate.

In desperation, his mother contacts the Foundation for help, and Emmett becomes one of Greer’s music clients. He makes it abundantly clear that he wants no part of this, but his brash resistance falls flat with Greer, who has known him since high school. If anyone can get through to him, it’s her. The question is, who can get through to Greer?

The Shape of Night, by Tess Gerritsen

Ballentine Books, October 2019

REVIEW

Gerritsen conjures yet another fantastic tale of suspense, seasoned with an unexpected, mystical twist. Every chapter entices the reader forward into the next, and then the next, well into the night. The plot unfolds and details emerge with impeccable timing, right to the heart-stopping conclusion. Cover to cover wonderful. For more, check out Gerritsen’s Playing with Fire, or enjoy her whodunnit series Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles.

SYNOPSIS

Author Ava Collette travels to Tucker Cove, Maine hoping to ease her guilty conscience under the guise of researching her new book. During her stay, she rents Brodie’s Watch, a weathered old seaside estate, once the home of legendary sea captain Jeremiah Brodie.

Captain Brodie is believed to have perished in a shipwreck over a century ago when his merchant ship, the Minotaur, was lost at sea. Although no one really knows what happened on that fateful voyage, rumors abound about the captain’s demise. While his legend lives on outside the old manse, inside is another matter entirely. Ava is hardly settled before she is visited by his ghostly, beguiling presence. But Brodie’s Watch is more than just haunted. Ava soon learns it also has a dark and sinister reputation she would be wise to escape before her deepest secret costs her life.

The Bromance Book Club, by Lyssa Kay Adams

Jove Publishing, November 2019

REVIEW

Readers will find this first book in Adams’ Bromance Book Club series to be an over-the-top fun read, a total home run. The clever story premise comes with great characters and dialog, loads of humor, drama, and conflict.  And did I mention the humor?  What a fun romp!  Absolutely loved this story!

If you want to binge on this series, Book #2, Undercover Bromance is available soon, and book #3, Crazy Stupid Bromance, is due out in October.  Check them out!

REVIEW

Gavin Scott and his wife Thea have hit a rough patch in their marriage. He’s a professional baseball player who travels a lot…it comes with the job. And when he’s home, it’s difficult for them to go anywhere without avid fans fussing over him and asking for autographs. Thea sacrificed a lot for Gavin to pursue his major league dream, putting her own college aspirations on hold to become the dutiful baseball wife and raising their two daughters. But a recent revelation in the bedroom proves to be the last straw that drives a wedge between them. Gavin moves into the guest room and Thea is talking divorce.

Gavin is miserable and will do anything to save his marriage. His teammates come to his rescue with a most unexpected remedy, a tried and true solution, historical romance novels. The guys invite Gavin into their clandestine book club, supply him with novels and swear him to secrecy. Gavin has his doubts but he’s desperate enough to give it a try, and he sets his sights on winning Thea back one chapter at a time.

Unsuitable by Lavinia Kent

Random House – Loveswept, May 2019

REVIEW

Kent’s new Forbidden Cove series is off to a great start with Unsuitable. The court of public opinion plays a major role in this story, where Jordan is at a crossroads between protecting her reputation and following her heart. She has a lot to lose.  For Colin, it’s a no-brainer. He knows what he wants and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks. With loads of conflict and lots of heat, I found this to be a thoroughly engaging story.   For more Forbidden Cove, there’s also book #2 of this series, Unmanageable, or check out Kent’s other novels and series.  She never disappoints.

SYNOPSIS

When Jordan Robinson married a wealthy, much older man, his rich contemporaries labeled her a gold-digger. Their snide whispers continued, even after his death. So, with plenty of unflattering publicity already flying around, the last thing Jordan needs now is a much younger man pursuing her. But not just any younger man, this is Clay Windsor, the guy who used to date Jordan’s daughter in high school. Yikes.

Clay has been crushing on Jordan since he was seventeen. Nothing could have come of it then, the horny kid infatuated with his girlfriend’s mom. But he’d never forgotten Jordan. And now, ten years later when their paths cross again at a charity fundraiser, old feelings come roaring back, stronger than ever.

A relationship now would be complicated for them both, given Jordan’s already battered image. Tabloids and trolls would feast on this, the gold-digger philanthropist turns cougar, chasing her own daughter’s prom date. While Colin would like nothing more than to be seen publicly with Jordan, she has her charity to protect. She can’t risk more bad publicity with attacks on her character, but they can’t hide in the shadows forever. Where’s the happily ever after in that?

All I Want by Jill Shalvis

Berkley Publishing, October 2015

REVIEW:

Shalvis’ blend of humor and suspense never disappoints. In book #7 of the Animal Magnetism Series hero Parker James and heroine Zoe Stone share accommodations and try (unsuccessfully) not to drive each other crazy. Meanwhile Parker’s dangerous quarry, a murderous wildlife poacher is operating within spittin’ distance of Sunshine, where the down home hospitality is so authentic it makes the reader want to move there. Yet another great addition to a favorite series that includes Still the One (2015), Then Came You (2014), Rumor Has It (2013), Rescue My Heart (2012), and the 2011 titles Animal Attraction and Animal Magnetism.

Shalvis introduces her new Cedar Ridge Series with the 2015 titles My Kind of Wonderful and Second Chance Summer, followed by Nobody But You due out in March 2016.

SYNOPSIS:

Parker James, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is supposed to be on vacation. But the real reason he’s come to the small town of Sunshine, Idaho is to get closer to a ruthless game poacher, the man who killed his partner. While Parker’s in town he’ll stay at the home of Zoe Stone, the sister of an old college buddy who took care of making the arrangements. And Zoe’s expertise as a helicopter pilot will be particularly handy in his covert manhunt.

Ever since Zoe’s brother Wyatt and sister Darcy moved out on their own, Zoe’s been living alone in the old, hulking, dilapidated Victorian house they’d inherited from their grandparents. After practically raising her siblings, Zoe finally has time for a social life, and word is out that Zoe is available for dating. But so far things are not going well in the romance department.

When Parker first arrives at Zoe’s doorstep, he receives a very enthusiastic welcome. She mistakes him for a blind date, and plants a big kiss on him, just to break the ice – dating advice a la Darcy. Zoe is mortified when she realizes the man she’d just attacked on her front porch is really her houseguest. For Parker, well, things are looking up. Maybe his trip to the Bitterroot Mountains won’t have to be all business.

Love Somebody Like You by Susan Fox

Kensington Books, October 2015

REVIEW:

In book #5 of her Caribou Crossing series, Fox’s portrayal of spousal abuse is stark and edgy, taking the reader behind closed doors where heroine Sally’s nightmarish marriage unfolds. Hero Ben is a godsend, gently coaxing Sally out of her prison of fear, loneliness and shame. Along the road to their mutual recoveries Ben finds the love of his life. But has Sally found hers?

Other recent titles in this series include Love Me Tender and Stand By Your Man (2014), Gentle on My Mind and Home on the Range (2013). Coming up in Spring/Summer 2016 is Caribou Crossing #6, Ring of Fire.

SYNOPSIS:

Ever since Sally Ryland’s husband died three years ago she’s been struggling to keep their British Columbia riding ranch afloat. And yet, mucking horse stalls and constantly dodging bank foreclosure are far easier than her short but brutal marriage had ever been. She’s a different person now than in her professional barrel racing days when she was Sally Pantages, a fun-loving, successful, confident woman. Those days are over.

After veteran bronc rider Ben Traynor suffers a shoulder injury in competition, he travels to Ryland’s ranch to recuperate and visit his old friend Sally. It doesn’t take Ben long to notice the dramatic change in her and he wonders who could have hurt her so badly to rob her of her once vivacious spirit. What’s more, is his love enough to bring her back?