Sadie's Secret

Sadie's Secret by Kathleen Y'Barbo

Sadie Callum has had her share of out of the ordinary assignments with the Pinkerton Agents but the case of identity of which William Tucker is sitting in prison is a new one even for her. After finding out that the wrong Tucker has been imprisoned she is tasked with find out where the guilty tucker is hiding and bringing him in. However, that will have to wait until she deals with her secret past back home. However, little does she know that the case and her past will intertwine.

Jefferson Tucker has always been mistaken for his twin brother John Tucker for almost all of his life, however, it has never put his life in danger until now. Jefferson gets trapped in jail when the authorities mistake him for his brother. A year comes and goes and his hope to ever be free dims until a woman he has never met by the same of Sadie Callum steps up and helps him get free. Now that he is free the only thing he has on his mind is finding his brother and making him pay... or so he thinks until he spends more time with Ms. Callum.


My Review:

I received this book for free from the publisher and Netgalley to provide an honest and non-biased review. This is the first book that I have read of Kathleen Y'Barbo so I was not sure what to expect when I started reading this historical christian fiction but figured by the synopsis I would give it a try. Kathleen did a great job of developing the characters so you felt like you really knew the characters. In addition, at times this felt more like a not only a christian romance but also mystery. It kept me interested from the start of the story until the very end.

There were a couple parts in the story that I felt that were dragged out a little more than they needed to be and could have been shortened. However, she did a good of keeping you stumped on who the bad guys were in the story until the very end. As a reader I was very surprised by who the crook ended up being.

I think this book is a great mix of family, romance and mystery. If you like Christian fiction, romance and mystery than this is defiantly a book to read.

I am very interested in reading more from this author and more books in this series.

Three Hearts, One Town

                      

Cameron Engel leaves the only town and life she has ever known to find the brother she never met after her mother dies. However, when she gets to town finding her brother turns out to be more difficult then she thought it was going to be.  In order to pass the time waiting to meet her brother she starts working as a waitress at the local bakery.  But she gets more then she bargains for when two different type of men walk in the door of the bakery both with their eyes on her.

Jake Collins has never thought of himself as the good guy or the one-woman man, however, that all changes when he meets Cameron. Her innocence and honesty attracts him to her but he knows that he is not good for her so he tries to distance himself. However, when he sees her hanging out with the local preacher he has a hard time staying away.

Andrew has come to Lincoln County to start the church in the town he has always felt had called him home. What he didn’t expect to find was a beautiful woman whose is not afraid to show her faith.

Who will Cameron choose, the gunslinger who is fearless or the preacher who is safe? Will she be able to connect with the brother she has never met?

My Review:

This is the first book that I have read of Sarah Jae Foster’s so I was not sure of her writing style. Because of this I tried to keep an open mind as I read the first couple chapters. What I found was that Sarah did a great job of developing all of the main characters in this book. However, I felt like it was unclear on what this book was really about. Was the book supposed to lean more towards the story of Cameron and her brother or the love triangle between Andrew and Jake? I would have liked to see Sarah write more about the brother than she did. It appeared in the beginning that it was going to lean more towards that but in the end it was more of a story of love a triangle between Cameron, Andrew and Jake.

I think that if this book would have been made into one book rather than three separate novellas it would have worked better. As a reader I was left hanging at the end of book, which works sometimes, but for me it didn’t with this book.

I am interested in reading the last two books in the novella series to see how the story ends but this was not the best book that I have read this summer.

TRAPPED by Irene Hannon

TRAPPED!

When local librarian Laura Griffin finds a note from her half sister Darcy telling her that she has run away and fears the worst. Now the most important thing in her life now is to find Darcy and bring her home safe. To accomplish this she hires a PI by the name of Devlin his group of investigators to find her. Will she be able to find Darcy before something bad happens? Will Laura be able to make up for the time that has gone by since Darcy left?

Darcy has only felt like no one would miss her if she was so one day she decides to run away to Chicago to visit her friend. However, weather and life land her in a homeless shelter lonely and tired. Luckily she find a friend her in stranger she meets and a home to stay at until the weather passes. However, things aren't always as they seem and she suddenly finds her self wishing she was back home with her sister.

My Review:

This is the first book that I have read in Irene Hannon's new Private Justice series. I thought the story was very well written and the characters were very well developed. There were a couple predictable parts in the story that I new were going to happen to happen but for the most part the story kept me on the edge of my seat. I kept on wanting to know what aaas going to happen. Irene did a great job of allowing you to see the feelings of four different characters through the story which to me was unusual and I had never seen before. The only problem that it caused is that it kind of took away from the story that she may have been trying to tell. As a reader I was unsure if she was trying to tell the story of Laura and Darcy or Laura and Devlin. I think she did a good job of describing the relationships between both character groups but the story didn't focus on just one.

Lastly, I think that the book had just the write amount of religion involved. It didn't feel like it took over the story but you knew that it was mentioned. She did a great job of including it where most people in real life would think about God and look to their faith.

I think that overall this was a great book and I am very interested in reading the first book in this series and the next one that comes out. Irene has a nitch for writing romance, faith, friendship and mystery all into one book. This is a rarity to find and I am excited to see what else she can write.

Once in a Lifetime by Jill Shalvis

Once in a Lifetime 

In the 9^th installment of the Lucky Harbor series we meet Ben McDaniel a widow who for the past couple of years has been in war torn countries helping improve local communities. In addition, you also meet Aubrey Wellington, the local girl who everyone calls trouble who is trying to revitalize her Aunts old bookstore.  These two unlikely people are brought together when Aubrey’s aunt hires Ben to help finish renovating the store.  Having talked very little to each other in high school will they be able to tolerate each other enough to finish this store?

All Aubrey wants to do is make her aunts bookstore successful while adding in a little of herself to it. However, things don’t go as planned when she stumbles into an AA meeting where she realizes that she may be able to right the wrongs of her past. Put first she will need to make the people of Lucky Harbor realize that she isn’t the trouble teen she used to be.  Unfortunately she soon figures out it might not be so easy as she thought when the top person on her list to apologize to is Ben who has no idea what she did to him.

Will Aubrey be able to right her wrongs and keep herself from falling for Ben McDaniel’s? Will Ben be able to get through this carpentry job without falling for Aubrey and will he be able to forgive her when she tells him the truth?

My Review:

This is the 9^th book in the Lucky Harbor series that I have read of Jill’s. Once again Jill does not disappoint. She is able to write a great story that incorporates love, friendship and laughter.  Because Jill does a great job of describing the characters I was once again able to really feel like I knew them and the emotions that they were going through.

In addition, Jill does a great job of incorporating previous characters from other books into this book. I think this is great because as a reader you like to read about previous characters to see how their love story has evolved.

Lastly, I really loved the humor in this book. From Lucille the well-known gossip of Lucky Harbor to Aubrey’s cat who she inherited when she took over the bookstore.  Jill does a great job of combining fiction and real life things that happen in her life into a great story.

Jill once again created a spectacular book and I can’t wait to read more books from her. I think that even though this book is a part of a series it can be read individually. There are only a couple spots in the book that they refer to things that happened in previous books.

For All Time by Jude Deveraux

For All Time by Jude Deveraux

For All Time

****I received this book courtesy of Netgalley in return for a honest and non-biased review.

The second book in the Nantucket Bride Trilogy takes place a couple months after Alix and Jared Montogmery’s story ends. This particular story begins at Alix and Jared’s wedding and centers around Toby (Jared and Alix’s good friend) and Graydon (Jared’s cousin).

Graydon is in town for his cousins wedding and plans to just have a relaxing week not thinking about his royal duties back home. However, things change when his other half in the wedding gives him a dirty looks before they walk down the aisle. Wanting to know more about Toby and why she doesn’t like him, Graydon decides to sneak her away from the party and have a candlelight dinner with her.  After talking and enjoying Toby’s company Graydon works out a plan with his twin brother to stay longer than a week so he can find out more about Toby.

The story continues centering mostly on Toby and Graydon’s relationship and struggle. However, Jude also brings Toby’s roommates story in as well as Victora Madsen and her Dr.

Will Toby be able to keep her relationship with Graydon more casual or will she end up falling in love? Will Graydon decide to leave the only life he has every known to be with the woman he loves?  

My Review

This is the fourth book that I have read of Judes and the second one in this series.  I really liked the first one so I was super excited when I got the opportunity to read the second one. I thought Jude did a great job of describing the characters and their emotions. I felt like I really new them and that I was actually in Nantucket.

In addition, I really liked how Jude had the story go back in time through dreams. That was something that I had never seen in a book before. In addition, I like how she incorporated the history of the Kingsley family into this story.

Lastly, I liked that the story had the characters go through struggles. It made the story more realistic and it kept me reading to find out what would happen in the end.

I am very interested in reading the next book in this series and very interested to find out who it will be about.

Great Book. Great Read!

Jagged by Kristen Ashley

Jagged by Kristen Ashley

***I received this book for free from Netgalley for an honest, unbiased review***

This was the first book that I read of Kristen Ashley's so I was not sure what to expect. At first it seemed like it was going to be an interesting book that kept my attention. However, I felt there was too much swearing in it for my liking. It personally distracted me and I found that I couldn't continue reading. I am going to try and read the next book in the series Kaleidoscope to see if I might like it better. I would still recommend readers to try the book as it might be okay for them it just personally didn't interest me.