Low Country Hero by Lee Tobin McClain - #review

Mass Market Paperback: 384 Pages

Publisher: HQN; Original edition (February 26, 2019)

Welcome to Safe Haven, where love—and a second chance—is just around the corner…

Sunny, carefree days splashing in the ocean—it’s the life Anna George has always wanted for her five-year-old twins. And now that they’ve made it to Safe Haven, South Carolina, she won’t let anyone stand in her way. Not the abusive ex she’s just escaped and not the rugged contractor who caught her setting up house in the shuttered beachfront cabins he’s refurbishing. When he offers Anna and her daughters a place to stay in exchange for her help with renovations, she’s tempted. His gentle way with her girls makes her want to trust him, but she’s been wrong before…

A family is the last thing contractor and former military man Sean O’Dwyer wants right now. But when he discovers Anna and her girls, he recognizes kindred spirits. They’re survivors who’ve seen the worst of people, just like he has, and he’ll do anything he can to help them. As he and Anna spend their days bringing the cottages back to life and their nights sharing kisses in the warm bayou breezes, Sean must choose between the life he always wanted and the family he can’t live without.

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MY REVIEW

I've read a number of books set in South Carolina, that I almost feel at home there.  Unfortunately, the O'Dwyer boys (Sean, Cash and Liam) had quite a different experience with the town of Safe Haven.  When they were quite young (only Sean was over 10 at the time), they and their mother fled to Safe Haven away from a horribly abusive husband and father.  He found them, didn't give a crap about his sons, but dragged the mother off and after assaulting her, left her for dead on the side of the road.  So the boys grew up in foster care.

Flash forward to the present day, and it seems like history is repeating itself.  Anna George is hiding out with her two young daughters, holing up in a seemingly abandoned motel.  I say seemingly because Sean happens to be fixing up the place, because the owner wants to reopen the motel for business.

It seems like the majority of Safe Haven's citizens have a somewhat similar story to tell.  Maybe that is why they seem more accepting of strangers (with little background info) and if something affects one resident, it affects them all.  Of course, no small town is complete without a few 'regular commuters of the crazy train', but the other residents seem to have a way of co-ordinating counteraction on the fly, so things rarely get truly out of hand.

The unfortunate flip side of most of the residents having had trouble in some sort in their pasts makes it hard for them to trust.  It is gratifying to see how Safe Haven helps the mending of lives begin.

There is a lot of tension building with various characters during the book, and the not-to-be-missed ending had my heart in my throat. 

One thing I truly appreciated about Low Country Hero, is Ms. McClain's ability to pair a satisfying ending to one character's part of the story while also indicating that there are still other peoples' paths to be explored. 

And I want an invite to one of Ma's Friday night dinners!

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MEET THE AUTHOR

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Lee Tobin McClain read Gone With The Wind in the third grade and has been an incurable romantic ever since. When she’s not writing emotional love stories with happy endings, she’s probably driving around a carload of snarky teen girls, playing with her rescue dog and cat, or teaching aspiring writers in Seton Hill University’s MFA program. She is probably not cleaning her house.

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Click on the button above to go to the tour page, where you will find links to more reviews of this title.  You can also sign up to become a blog host for future book tours!

(Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book from the author and publisher(s) via TLC Book Tours in exchange for my honest review.)

Secrets at Cedar Cabin by Colleen Coble - #review

Hardcover: 352 Pages

Publisher: Thomas Nelson (January 22, 2019)

From USA TODAY bestselling author Colleen Coble comes the third book in her beloved Lavender Tides series.

Her mother lied about her identity and her husband wasn’t who she thought he was—can Bailey even trust herself anymore?

Running for her life in the wake of her mother’s murder, Bailey Fleming escapes to the only place she can think of—a remote, dilapidated cabin in Lavender Tides. Intending to finally get to the truth behind the lies of her past, Bailey only finds more questions when bodies are discovered near her cabin hideout along with traces of a dangerous human trafficking ring. In an unlikely partnership with FBI agent Lance Phoenix, Bailey races to understand the mystery surrounding her life and circumstances before the murderer tracks her down.

Meanwhile, Lance is determined to rescue his sister, Ava, who was abducted after running away from home as a teenager. An unexpected lead brings him to the remote cabin, and he wonders if Bailey—with her suspicious past and strange connections to his sister’s case—is really who she claims to be and if she can somehow lead him to Ava.

Filled with Colleen Coble’s custom blend of suspense and romance, Secrets at Cedar Cabin takes us back to the evocative landscape of Washington’s coast where nothing is quite as it seems.

GoodReads * Amazon * Books-a-Million * Barnes & Noble

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MY REVIEW

Oh my goodness, I feel for Bailey, lied to by the two most important people in her life, her husband and her mother.  Then, a nice remote cabin can be a nice place to relax, but it's also scary as all get out at night.  Remote though it may be, it doesn't really serve Bailey's need to hide, because there are things out in the woods in the middle of the night, including the FBI.

One of the things I like best about the author's writing is her ability to keep the romance clean and the suspense set on high.  It's a tough balance to strike, but Ms. Coble gets it just right.

Lance, the 'FBI guy', have to learn to trust each other, at a time when neither are predisposed to trusting anyone but themselves.  Bailey's troubles we already knew (mother and husband lied, mother killed, B on the run from the killer), but Lance adds his own layer to that as well.  The reason that he's out there in the wilderness is because his sister ran away some years ago and was forced into a human trafficking system.

Another thing the author 'gets right' (IMO) is in wrapping up the story.  When the tale ends too abruptly, I get almost a little let-down.  Trust me, no worries about that here.  To use a foodie metaphor,  the meal of "Secrets" was full and satisfying, but there's still a 'lee-tle' room for dessert.

Be sure to catch the two prior installments to this Lavender Tides series, The View from Rainshadow Bay, and  The House at Saltwater Point.  There's also a novella in the series, Leaving Lavender Ties.

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MEET THE AUTHOR

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Best-selling romantic suspense author Colleen Coble’s novels have won or finaled in awards ranging from the Best Books of Indiana, the ACFW Carol Award, the Romance Writers of America RITA, the Holt Medallion, the Daphne du Maurier, National Readers’ Choice, and the Booksellers Best. She has nearly 4 million books in print and writes romantic mysteries because she loves to see justice prevail. Colleen is CEO of American Christian Fiction Writers. She lives with her husband Dave in Indiana.

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Click the button above to go to the tour page, where you will find links to more reviews of this title.  You can also find out how to become a host for future book blog tours while you are there! (Disclosure:  I received a copy of this book from the author and publisher(s) via TLC Book Tours in exchange for my honest review.)

How the Light Gets in by Jolina Petersheim - #review

Hardcover: 400 Pages

Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (March 5, 2019)

“Compellingly woven by Jolina Petersheim’s capable pen, How the Light Gets In follows a trail of grief toward healing, leading to an impossible choice–what is best when every path will hurt someone?” –Lisa Wingate, New York Times bestselling author of Before We Were Yours

The Wicked City by Beatriz Williams - #review

In the first book of a breathtaking new trilogy by bestselling author Beatriz Williams, two generations of women are brought together inside a Greenwich Village apartment —a flapper hiding an extraordinary past, and a modern-day Manattanite forced to start her life anew.

Last Christmas in Paris by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb - #review

August 1914. England is at war. As Evie Elliott watches her brother, Will, and his best friend, Thomas Harding, depart for the front, she believes—as everyone does—that it will be over by Christmas, when the trio plan to celebrate the holiday among the romantic cafes of Paris.

But as history tells us, it all happened so differently…

Forty Autumns by Nina Willner - #review

In this illuminating and deeply moving memoir, a former American military intelligence officer goes beyond traditional Cold War espionage tales to tell the true story of her family—of five women separated by the Iron Curtain for more than forty years, and their miraculous reunion after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Take the Bai Road by Erika Mitchell - #review

After the events of Bai Tide, CIA case officer Bai Hsu is safely tucked away at Headquarters in Langley, Virginia. Bored and frustrated, he’s starting to doubt he’ll ever return to the field until he’s given a difficult new assignment: Track and investigate the mysterious Ghost Cartel, who may or may not already have hooks in our government.

My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward by Mark Lukach - #review

A heart-wrenching, yet hopeful, memoir of a young marriage that is redefined by mental illness and affirms the power of love.

Bai Tide by Erika Mitchell - #review

• Paperback: 244 pages
• Publisher: Champagne Books; First Edition edition (April 5, 2015)

An espionage thriller for people who like explosions and sarcasm.

CIA case officer Bai Hsu is stationed in San Diego, where his job is to safeguard the valuable emotional collateral of some of the world’s most powerful people (read: their kids). Just when he thinks he’s landed the easiest assignment of all time, an operative starts targeting the school and it’s up to Bai to figure out who the operative is after, and why. This fast-paced story will take you from the picturesque beaches of San Diego to a deadly blizzard in Pyongyang and make Bai question everything he thought he knew about working in the field, and about himself.

No Getting Over a Cowboy by Delores Fossen - #review

Series: A Wrangler’s Creek Novel (Book 2)
Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: HQN Books (March 28, 2017)

The golden cowboy of Wrangler’s Creek returns home to Texas to discover some old flames never fizzle… 

There are plenty of things Garrett Granger hadn’t counted on losing—his child to miscarriage, his wife to another man and the family business thanks to a crooked CFO. He also hadn’t counted on moving back to the family ranch, where he’s met by another surprise—former flame Nicky Marlow, who is renting his grandmother’s old house.

May Cause Love by Kassi Underwood - #review

In this powerful memoir, a fiercely honest and surprisingly funny testament to healing after abortion, a young woman travels across the United States to meet a motley crew of spiritual teachers and a caravan of new friends.

Renegade's Pride by B.J. Daniels - #review

The renegade cowboy returns 

It’s been nine years since Trask Beaumont left Gilt Edge, Montana, with an unsolved crime in his wake, and Lillian Cahill has convinced herself she’s finally over him. But when the rugged cowboy with the easy smile suddenly shows up at her bar, there’s a pang in her heart arguing the attraction never faded. And that’s dangerous, because Trask has returned on a mission to clear his name and win Lillie back.

All the News I Need by Joan Frank - #review

All The News I Need probes the modern American response to inevitable, ancient riddles—of love and sex and mortality.

Holden by Delores Fossen - #review

When a baby goes missing, a Texas marshal and a woman from his past discover there’s a whole lot more behind this kidnapping… 

Holden Ryland certainly didn’t become a marshal just to end up busting his ex, Nicky Hart, for taking files from Conceptions Fertility Clinic. But only Nicky knows just what was really stolen: a newborn being held for ransom. A newborn who is kin to both her and Holden. The missing boy is only the start of a mystery that snakes through Texas, winding its way through their families. Bad blood may linger between them, but Holden can protect his nephew back at the Silver Creek Ranch. If they can lay their past to rest to rescue this child, is it possible for them to have a future together?

An Incomplete Revenge by Jacqueline Winspear - #review

With the country in the grip of economic malaise, Maisie Dobbs is relieved to accept an apparently straightforward assignment to investigate a potential land purchase. Her inquiries take her to a picturesque village in Kent during the hop-picking season, but beneath its pastoral surface she finds evidence that something is amiss. Mysterious fires erupt in the village with alarming regularity, and a series of petty crimes suggest a darker criminal element at work. A peculiar secrecy shrouds the village, and ultimately Maisie must draw on her finely-honed skills of detection to solve one of her most intriguing cases yet.

GoodReads * Amazon

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MY REVIEW

The fifth in the series?  Where have I been all of Maisie Dobbs' life?  (I mean, if she were a real person and not 100 years old (or so), I'd probably want to have Maisie meet my son! *lol*)

Ms. Winspear scripted a delicious tension in the story from beginning to end.  There's the whole 'I'm not getting the full story here' vibe, tension between the locals and Londoners, the Roma against - well - everybody, and the townspeople against a boorish land owner.  The village, as well, has one whopping big secret that will eventually out.

I also especially enjoyed the character of the old Roma 'Auntie'.  She had amazingly clear vision while all around her saw things the way they wanted them to be, or didn't like what they did see.

And I'm going to have to find another 12 spaces on my TBR shelf for the rest of the series.  Or build a new shelf.  Because not reading the rest of the series is as unthinkable as an entire English village swearing off tea.

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MEET THE AUTHOR

Website * Facebook

Jacqueline Winspear is the author of the New York Times bestselling Maisie Dobbs series, which includes In This Grave Hour, Journey to Munich, A Dangerous Place, Leaving Everything Most Loved, Elegy for Eddie, and eight other novels. Her standalone novel, The Care and Management of Lies, was also a New York Times bestseller and a Dayton Literary Peace Prize finalist. Originally from the United Kingdom, she now lives in California.

Find out more about Jacqueline at her website, www.jacquelinewinspear.com, and find her on Facebook.

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Click on the button to go to the readalong page, where you can find revieww for many of the "Maisie Dobbs" titles.  You can also find out how to become a readalong host for future events!

(Disclosure:  I received a copy of An Incomplete Revenge from the author and publishers via TLC Book Tours in exchange for my honest review.)

Tough Justice: Countdown 1-8 (various authors) - #review

Tick. Tock. BOOM.

FBI Special Agent Lara Grant had thought that she’d put her past behind her—finally—with her last case. But now a serial bomber is targeting Manhattan’s elite power players, offering them a choice between saving hundreds of lives or seeing their darkest secrets exposed. Lara is working with the Crisis Management Unit to stop the bomber, but how will she react when she’s the one who has to choose between truth…or death?

Part 1 of 8: an explosive new installment in the thrilling FBI serial from New York Times bestselling author Carla Cassidy and Tyler Anne Snell, Emmy Curtis and Janie Crouch.

Monday Bookish Things

     

   

Thanks to Stephanie of Tynga's Reviews, Kathryn at Book Date, Ramona at Create With Joy and Janice at Mostly Blogging for hosting these respective link-ups!  (Click on the buttons to go to the respective blogs.)

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STACKING THE SHELVES

Here's some of the books that found their way to me (yeah, I know! *lol*) this week (covers link to GoodReads):

   

    

   

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IT'S MONDAY! WHAT ARE YOU READING?

Synopsis

When a baby goes mising, a Texas marshal and a woman from his past discover there's a whole lot more behind this kidnapping... 

Holden Ryland certainly didn't become a marshal just to end up busting his ex, Nicky Hart, for taking files from Conceptions Fertility Clinic. But only Nicky knows just what was really stolen: a newborn being held for ransom. A newborn who is kin to both her and Holden. The missing boy is only the start of a mystery that snakes through Texas, winding its way through their families. Bad blood may linger between them, but Holden can protect his nephew back at the Silver Creek Ranch. If they can lay their past to rest to rescue this child, is it possible for them to have a future together?

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Wow.  Stealing someone's frozen embryo (where the mom is now deceased), birthing a baby by surrogate, and then kidnapping it for ransom from the grandfather...now that's cold!  (Pun not intended, but, you know...)  That got me 'riled up' from the get go.  I just started reading this book a little while ago, so I'm still not into it very far, but far enough that the spit's just hitting the fan at the place where the baddies were holed up with the baby.

And there's just something that melts your heart about a law man who's good with babies, right? ;)

Y'all are welcome back on Wednesday, March 8th, for my full review!

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A LITTLE INSPIRATION FOR YOUR MONDAY!

(graphic is linked to the Pinterest board where I found it)

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So, what are you doing to make this day YOURS?

I'll start:

I'm going to catch up on reviews for the books I've read so far this year.  Then I'm going to reward myself by getting back to Holden and Nicky and the baby (see the book "Holden" above)!

And I'd like to extend a special invitation for all y'all to connect to me on GoodReads!  (I follow back.)  Hope to see you there and have a great week!

A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams - #review

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow (June 28, 2016)

The bestselling author of A Hundred Summers brings the roaring twenties brilliantly to life in an enchanting and compulsively readable tale of intrigue, romance, and scandal in New York society.

Depraved Heart by Patricia Cornwell - #review

Dr. Kay Scarpetta is working a suspicious death scene in Cambridge, Massachusetts when an emergency alert sounds on her phone. A video link lands in her text messages and seems to be from her computer genius niece Lucy. But how can it be? It’s clearly a surveillance film of Lucy taken almost twenty years ago.

As Scarpetta watches she begins to learn frightening secrets about her niece, whom she has loved and raised like a daughter. That film clip and then others sent soon after raise dangerous legal implications that increasingly isolate Scarpetta and leave her confused, worried, and not knowing where to turn. She doesn’t know whom she can tell—not her FBI husband Benton Wesley or her investigative partner Pete Marino. Not even Lucy.

Devil Sent the Rain by Lisa Turner - #review

Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (September 27, 2016)

Edgar-nominated and bestselling author Lisa Turner’s hard-boiled Detective Billy Able returns in this dark Southern mystery about the murder of a dazzling Memphis socialite—and the scandals revealed in the wake of her death

The heart can be an assassin. Detective Billy Able knows that from experience.

Fresh from solving Memphis’ most sensational murder case, Homicide Detective Billy Able and his ambitious new partner Frankie Malone are called to a bizarre crime scene on the outskirts of town. A high society attorney has been murdered while dressed in a wedding gown. Billy is shocked to discover he has a very personal connection to the victim. When the attorney’s death exposes illegal practices at her family’s prestigious law firm, the scandal is enough to rock the southern city’s social world.

In a tale of the remnants of Old South aristocracy and entitlement, twisted by greed and vengeance, Billy must confront the secrets of his own past to have any chance at solving the murder of the girl he once knew. But as he seeks the truth, he’s drawn closer to an embittered killer bent on revenge—and eliminating the threat Billy poses.