Review of Snowbound at Christmas by Debbie Mason

Brief Summary:

Ex-detective Cat O'Connor has always relied on one person since graduating from high school, herself. However, when she falls in love with a man who later deceives her she doesn't know who to trust. To make matters worse because of the big scam that her ex-boyfriend has gone on all her life savings and job are now gone forcing her to rely on the one person she never thought she would need to, her sister Chloe. Just when she was about to get up the courage to quit her sisters life is put in danger when some starts coming after her. But that isn't the only thing that she has to worry about, a handsome actors appears on set not only grabbing her sisters attention this time but also hers. Will she be able to find the person who is trying to hurt chloe or will she be distracted by this handsome actor? 

Grayson Alexander is sent by his CO to Christmas Colorado to protecting the one and only actress Chloe O'Connor and find out who is behind the mysterious attempts on her life. The first suspect on his list is her twin sister Cat, with her past discretions she seems like the perfect person.However, once he arrives there he finds that she isn't who he thought she was and that there is something indexing and attractive about her. Will he be able to put his mission ahead of his feelings, or will he end up falling for the one person he shouldn't?

My Review:

I received a copy of this book from the author and publisher via Netgally in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. This is the first book that I have read of Debbie Mason's. Her covers have always grabbed my attention so after reading the description of this story I knew this would be the perfect first book to read of hers.

Debbie does a great job of developing the main characters so that you truly understand their past and what makes them tick. In addition, she does a great job of introducing minor characters that will later on become more important in the story and series. I think of any books that I have read in the last month or two this by was my favorite one in regards to characters. I think I connected a lot with Cat and could understand what she was going through.

The setting of the book I think fit very well with the story and was changed accordingly depending on where you were in the book. If there was one part that I think that I would change it would have been to learn a little more about Easton as I know he will play a large part in the next story.

If I had to choose the best part of the book I would say it was the romance and mystery that Debbie had in this book. In addition to the normal romance that is in books she intermixed it with a mystery of who is the suspect trying to hurt Chloe O'Connor. The ending to the story to truly surprised me and did not see coming.

All in all it was a great book and I can't wait to read the past and future books in this series so I can learn more about the characters and the small town of Christmas, Colorado.

Review of Candy Corn Murder by Leslie Meier

Summary courtesy of Goodreads: 


Halloween is coming to Tinker’s Cove, Maine, and local reporter Lucy Stone is covering the town’s annual Giant Pumpkin Fest for the Pennysaver. There’s the pumpkin-boat regatta, the children’s Halloween party, the pumpkin weigh-in…even a contest where home-built catapults hurl pumpkins at an old Dodge! But not everything goes quite as planned…Lucy’s getting very annoyed that her husband Bill and his friend Evan have been working seemingly nonstop on their potentially prize-winning pumpkin catapult. But when the day of the big contest arrives, Evan is nowhere to be found…until a catapulted pumpkin busts open the trunk of the Dodge. Amid the pumpkin gore is a very deceased Evan, bashed in the head and placed in the trunk by someone long before the contest started.

Bill is on the hook for the Halloween homicide—he was the last one to see Evan—so Lucy knows she’s got some serious sleuthing to do. The crime’s trail seems to always circle back to Country Cousins, the town’s once-quaint general store that’s now become a big Internet player. Though the store’s founder, Old Sam Miller, is long gone, his son Tom and grandson Trey now run the hugely successful company. But whispered rumors say things aren’t going well, and Lucy finds that this case may have something to do with an unsolved, decades-old Miller family mystery…

With each new lead pointing her in a different direction, Lucy sees that time is quickly running out. If she wants to spook the real killer, she’ll have to step into an old ghost story…

My Review:


I received this copy from Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. 


This is the first book that I have read in the Leslie Meier "Lucy Stone" series. So as a reader I was not sure what her riding style was like and her character development. I found myself having a hard time connecting myself with the main character. I think because of this it caused me to have a difficult time getting into the book. I think that she did a great job describing the main characters, however, I think that a little too much time was spent on characters that did not have that much importance in the story. 




In regards to the setting of the book I think she did a great job describing the layout of the town and how everything was setup. It really did sound like a small town where everyone new each other and mostly got a long.In addition, I found that she did an excellent job of describing the murder scenes in the book. She gave you enough information to give you an idea of what the image would look like but did not make it overly gruesome. I think this is something that helped me continue to read the book. 




In regards to the pace of the book I found it to be pretty slow in the beginning. However, once you got to the middle of the book I found that the pace picked up. Once the pace picked up and they got to the juice of the story I was hooked and wanted to know who'd done it.




All in all I thought this was a decent first read of Leslie Meier's Lucy Stone series. As most readers would says about all books there are good parts and bad parts in most stories. Sometimes you just have to stick it out to get to the best part. 




One last item, if you have not read the previous books in the Lucy Stone series I would 

recommend it. I think that it would have helped me understand the characters better and probably the surrounding. This would have caused less staleness of the book in the beginning. 

Review of Light My Fire by Christie Ridgway

Brief Summary Courtesy of Goodreads:

Years ago, Rolling Stone magazine dubbed the nine collective children of the most famous band in the world “Rock Royalty.” Now all grown up, the princes and princesses are coming back to L.A.’s Laurel Canyon to discover if love can be found among the ruins of a childhood steeped in sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll.

One touch will start a fire…
World-weary band tour manager Ren Colson leaves his London business behind for a stay in Southern California, never expecting to wake up beside Cilla Maddox. Cilla Maddox—who in the years since their last meeting has turned sexy as hell. But she deserves more than a man hardened by long nights, dark roads, and too many faceless women.

One night will change her world…
Cilla Maddox not once imagined she’d see the bad boy of her dreams again. But then he’s sharing her air, her home, her bed. Though he claims he has no heart, she wants it to be hers. Can she convince him that the flames that leap between them might signify forever?

My Review:

I received this book from the author in exchange for an honest, unbiased review. Having been a reader of Christie Ridgway's in the past I knew her writing style so I had an idea of what to expect in regards to the storytelling she was going to have. I think Christie did a great job of developing her main characters. She allowed you to learn about their past all the way up to the present day. That is something you are really good at as an author or not. In addition, I felt she did a great job of setting the scene for the book. She made it very realistic of what a child of a rock star could look like and how their life could turn out. Lastly, I think the item that she did a great job of talking about was in regards to Cilla and her ex boyfriend and how he was very controlling and possessive. She did a very good job of describing the effects that could have on a woman and her ability to trust men.

In regards to the writing style of this book I would say that it was okay. Of all of the books that I have read of hers I would say that this was not at the top of the list. I think that the story line was great and kept my interested. However, I think that the sexual innuendos through out the book were over done and in someways distracted the reader from the real story of the book. I think this is something a new reader of hers could see as distracting and not want to continue reading the book.


All in all I thought that this book was very interesting and had a great storyline. Although this writing stysle of hers isn't my favorite it won't stop me from reading more books of hers and or more in this series.

Review of Brave the Heat by Sara Humphreys

Summary: 

Jordan McKenna returns to the place she once called home over 15 years ago in hopes of finding a safe and loving place for her two daughters to grow up. She hopes that she will not run into Gavin Maguire though as she broke the poor boys heart so many years ago. However, things don't go as planned as she runs into him one day after leaving the flower shop one day. 

Gavin Maguire has spent the last 15 years of his life trying to forget the one woman who he loved and eventually broke his heart. However, the moment that he thinks he put her behind him he runs in to her and realizes that she has two kids and is back in town to stay. Does she have a husband and a happy family? 

Will Gavin be able to be just friends with Jordan like his brain wants or will his heart lead him to giving in to what he really wants? 

Can Jordan open her heart once again after an unsuccessful marriage with a man who treated her just like her father did? Or will she stay closed off and alone for the rest of her life? 

My review:

I received this book from the author and publisher in exchange for an honest, non biased review. This is the first book that I have read of Sara Humphrey's so I was not sure what to expect in regards to her writing and story telling. I found that her books both contained deep gut wrenching stories but also was able to incorporate humor in the write places. Sara did a great job of developing the characters so that you felt like you really understood them and their past. She also did a great job of incorporating new characters that could be used for future books. In addition, I think she also did a great job of developing and setting the scene of the book. From what you read the town seemed just like any other small town in the US that you would like to live in.

What I really enjoyed about this book was that she didn't go over the top with things. She kept a steady pace for the book, keeping the chapters just long enough not to drag on. I found that I really enjoyed the friendships that she created between the main characters and other characters as it made the story more that just about a love story. Lastly, I enjoyed the mystery that she had in the book about the fires that were being set. This allowed the reader the opportunity to try and solve if the fires were by accident or if someone was intentionally setting them.

If I were to change anything in the book I would say I would have put more scenes of Jordan and her father interacting. I found that she talked about it a fair amount in the beginning of the book but when it got to the point of them seeing each other it stalemated after that. I think it is definitely something that was not a big loss because it wasn't a huge part of the story but something that would have definitely added more to the story and make it complete.

I am very interested to read more in this series and the author. Can't wait for the next book!

Review of All Wrapped Up by Kimberly Kincaid

Brief Summary: 

It is Christmas time once again in Pine Mountain and Ava Mancuso is on the hunt for a story that will break her away from the "Children's Pagent's" and other minimal stories that her boss is giving her currently. Her luck she stumbles on a fire at a local store and catches a local hero running into the fire to save a boy and brings him out safely. Once she realizes that this hero is the one and only Nick Brennan she realizes she will have to get him too trust her again after what happened years back. 

When Nick "Brennan" see's Ava again it is like a blast from the past and a reminder of the love of his life that got away and broke his heart. Initially he wants nothing to do with her but than slowly but surely she breaks down the hard wall he put up. Can he learn to love again and begin to forgive for the things that happened in the past? 

My Review:

I received this book from Netgalley and the Publisher in exchange for an honest non biased review. This is the first Kimberly Kincaid book that I have read and by chance the last in the Pine Mountain series. I really enjoyed this book from start to finish. I think that Kimberly did a great job of developing characters that had both depth and character. In addition, I also think she a great mix of humor, sadness and family in the story and it was well spread out. 

In regards to the scenery and setting of the book she did a excellent job of creating a small mountain town atmosphere and allowed the reader to really feel like they were in the town. If there was aspect of the scenery I would have liked to see more of is the snow. Being that it is a mountain town I thought she would have had snow and snow storms in the book. I think it was fine without it but I think it is a little bit of adventure that she could have added. 

Lastly, I think she did a great job of wrapping up from what I could tell the past several characters stories so that she could start fresh on the new series. However, I would have liked to learn a little more about Ava's past as I felt we learned more about Nick's then hers. 

All in all I thought this was an excellent book and I am definitely going to go back and read the first 4 books in the series as I want to know the whole stories on some of the characters that she was talking about earlier.