Book Review: THE SEA GLASS COTTAGE by RaeAnne Thayne

THE SEA GLASS COTTAGE 

by RaeAnne Thayne

ISBN: 9781335045164

Publication Date: 3/17/2020

Publisher: HQN Books

Harlequin / Indiebound / Amazon /

B&N / B-A-M / Target / Walmart /

  Google / iBooks / Kobo

From the New York Times bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne comes a brand-new novel for fans of Debbie Macomber and Susan Wiggs. RaeAnne Thayne tells the story of an emotional homecoming that brings hope and healing to three generations of women.

The life Olivia Harper always dreamed of isn’t so dreamy these days. The 16-hour workdays are unfulfilling and so are things with her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when she hears that her estranged mother, Juliet, has been seriously injured in a car accident, Liv has no choice but to pack up her life and head home to beautiful Cape Sanctuary on the Northern California coast.

It’s just for a few months—that’s what Liv keeps telling herself. But the closer she gets to Cape Sanctuary, the painful memories start flooding back: Natalie, her vibrant, passionate older sister who downward-spiraled into addiction. The fights with her mother who enabled her sister at every turn. The overdose that took Natalie, leaving her now-teenaged daughter, Caitlin, an orphan.

As Liv tries to balance her own needs with those of her injured mother and an obstinate, resentful fifteen-year-old, it becomes clear that all three Harper women have been keeping heartbreaking secrets from one another. And as those secrets are revealed, Liv, Juliet, and Caitlin will see that it’s never too late—or too early—to heal family wounds and find forgiveness.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

… she had seemed jumpier than a bag full of frogs.



Don’t make any jokes, but I really did fall and couldn’t get back up.



We’re all afraid, Olivia… You can’t make it through life without it. The trick is figuring out that the thing you need is just on the other side of that fear. The only way you can reach it is by going right through the center of it.


My Review:

While the premise of the story was interesting and topical, I struggled with this book and not that the writing wasn’t up to par, as the author’s writing style was easy to follow. My issue is more to do with my personal preference as high angst and constant discord just isn’t my jam, and this tale was heavily loaded with both internal and interpersonal conflicts as well as annoyingly stubborn characters. The storylines were relevant and relatable yet developed ever so slowly with considerable repetition and retreading of the five characters’ inner turmoil and protracted grief, which had me tapping my little foot while waiting for the tale to progress and the storylines to advance. It was at the 90% mark when all systems finally hit their boiling point and - Whoa Nelly! The secrets were uncovered and feelings were revealed at a rather furious and frantic rate as I thankfully hurdled toward that highly prized HEA conclusion.

About The Author


Author Website

Twitter: @RaeAnneThayne

Facebook: AuthorRaeAnneThayne

Instagram: @RaeAnneThayne

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/116118.RaeAnne_Thayne


New York Times bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne finds inspiration in the beautiful northern Utah mountains where she lives with her family. Her books have won numerous honors, including six RITA Award nominations from Romance Writers of America and Career Achievement and Romance Pioneer awards from RT Book Reviews. She loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at www.raeannethayne.com.

Book Review: Code of Honor (Cipher Security #2) by April White

Code of Honor, an all-new fun and flirty romantic standalone in the Cipher Security series from April White, is available now in Kindle Unlimited!

A painting, a panic room, a thief, and her lover … whose job is to catch her.

There are three things you need to know about Anna.

1) She’s a bounty hunter with adrenaline junkie habits,

2) She’s the “awkward” twin, and

3) She’s a thief – kind of.

Darius designs security systems for Cipher Security, and the strange and remarkable woman he met the night the painting was stolen is as intriguing a mystery as his hunt for the thief is.

But the lady has no filter, and she knows she can’t lie to the man who looks like a Disney Prince and kisses like fairytales are true, so she runs from the one person who may actually see her as the heroine of her own story.

‘Code of Honor’ is a full-length contemporary romantic suspense, can be read as a standalone and is book #2 in the Cipher Security series, Knitting in the City World, Penny Reid Book Universe.

Download your copy TODAY or read FREE in Kindle Unlimited!

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/2Fn0o6Y

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Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/2ubyI2n

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Add to Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2ZVjPNt

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:


How was it possible that Colette, wearing jeans and a linen shirt, could look so effortlessly female, while I looked like a confused boy playing dress-up in his sister’s closet? … We were genetically identical, and yet my body was awkwardly athletic while hers was willowy and slender. My laugh was loud and startling, and hers made fairies sigh and small woodland creatures come out and sing. She walked like a supermodel in stiletto heels while I teetered around like a drunk toddler in anything higher than Doc Martens combat boots.


… his gaze gave me sweaty butterflies. I’ve determined they’re a thing, since I don’t get simple, fluttery, girly butterflies like most straight women do when a ridiculously handsome guy notices them. My butterflies flap around so hard they make me feel slightly nauseated, which inevitably leads to a mild case of the sweats. Ergo, sweaty butterflies.


I had realized when I was a kid, choosing Honor as my D&D character, that my personal code felt a little like a mix of Robin Hood and Mulan, with an unfortunate dose of Sid, the filterless sloth.


I can be a lot of things... but shy isn’t in my repertoire. Awkward and dorky I have covered, and I could draw a map to Mortification Central, but I won’t, because that’s the kind of place you have to stumble into.


“You have a T. rex costume?” he asked as he looked over my shoulder. I snorted. “You don’t?” I shut the drawer before he could see the rhinestone tiara.

My Review:

This fun and snappily written book was chock-a-block full of smartly amusing humor that sparkled brighter than ten glitter bombs and took quirkiness to a stratospheric level. I adored, savored, and gleefully devoured each and every one of Ms. White's perfectly chosen and expertly paced arrangements of words.



Ms. White’s writing was crisp and flawlessly engaging. Her charismatic characters were delightfully idiosyncratic and deliciously filterless while brimming with uncanny and colorful nonsense as well as intelligent insights and astute observations. The intrigue and mystery were craftily scaffolded and shrewdly tucked in between and among brilliant and raucous bouts of comedy. I adore her brand of whip-smart cleverness and also learned a thing or two, as a consultation with Mr. Google was required for engineer boots and the Four Noble Truths.

About April White

April White has been a film producer, private investigator, bouncer, teacher, and screenwriter. She has climbed in the Himalayas, survived a shipwreck, and lived on a gold mine in the Yukon. She and her husband share their home in Southern California with two extraordinary boys and a lifetime collection of books. Her first novel, Marking Time is the 2016 winner of the Library Journal Indie E-Book Award for YA Literature, and all five books in the Immortal Descendants series are on the Amazon Top 100 lists in Time Travel Romance and Historical Fantasy.

Find April White online

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Book Review: You and Me and Us by Alison Hammer

You and Me and Us 

by Alison Hammer

Amazon US / UK / CA / AU / 

B&N / HarperCollins

 432 pages

 William Morrow (April 7, 2020)

“Hammer is an expert at both tugging heartstrings and keeping the reader utterly immersed in a world of hope and heartbreak. A great new voice in women’s fiction.”– Kristin Harmel, #1 international bestselling author of The Winemaker’s Wife


The heartbreaking, yet hopeful, story of a mother and daughter struggling to be a family without the one person who holds them together—a perfect summer read for fans of Jojo Moyes and Marisa de los Santos.

Alexis Gold knows how to put the “work” in working mom. It’s the “mom” part that she’s been struggling with lately. Since opening her own advertising agency three years ago, Alexis has all but given up on finding a good work/life balance. Instead, she’s handed over the household reins to her supportive, loving partner, Tommy. While he’s quick to say they divide and conquer, Alexis knows that Tommy does most of the heavy lifting—especially when it comes to their teenage daughter, CeCe.

Their world changes in an instant when Tommy receives a terminal cancer diagnosis, and Alexis realizes everything she’s worked relentlessly for doesn’t matter without him. So Alexis does what Tommy has done for her almost every day since they were twelve-year-old kids in Destin, Florida—she puts him first. And when the only thing Tommy wants is to spend one last summer together at “their” beach, she puts her career on hold to make it happen…even if it means putting her family within striking distance of Tommy’s ex, an actress CeCe idolizes.

But Alexis and Tommy aren’t the only ones whose lives have been turned inside out. In addition to dealing with the normal ups and downs that come with being a teenager, CeCe is also forced to confront her feelings about Tommy’s illness—and what will happen when the one person who’s always been there for her is gone. When the magic of first love brings a bright spot to her summer, CeCe is determined not to let her mother ruin that for her, too.

As CeCe’s behavior becomes more rebellious, Alexis realizes the only thing harder for her than losing Tommy will be convincing CeCe to give her one more chance.

You and Me and Us is a beautifully written novel that examines the unexpected ways loss teaches us how to love.

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

Puppies. Rainbows. Kittens. Unicorns. Ice cream. I cycle through the list of things that should make me smile, just thinking about them. If I can fill my head with enough happy thoughts, maybe the sad ones will go away.

“Here’s to cheating, lying, stealing and drinking,” Tommy says, catching us all off guard. “Tommy.” I look over at Abigail and then back to him. “It’s okay,” he says, before continuing, “‘If you’re going to cheat, cheat death.’” He turns slightly in his chair to face Jill. “‘If you’re going to lie, lie for a friend.’” He turns back toward me, his eyes locking onto mine. “If you’re going to steal, steal a heart.” His gaze drifts over to Abigail, who meets his stare. “If you’re going to drink, drink with me.”

Like a living page of the “stars are just like us” magazine spread, Monica Whistler is standing in front of me, a prescription bag in her hand. If there is any justice in the world, I hope it’s for herpes.

I remember reading something once— if you have a boy, you only have to worry about one penis. If you have a girl, you have to worry about all the penises.

The house feels like a museum, each room an exhibit, a memory of us.

My Review:

This poignantly written and well-crafted book hit all the feels and even managed to astound me with the realization that this was the author’s debut. Alison Hammer has found her niche as she writes with a deft hand. Her words were cleverly arranged and pack an emotive punch that managed to squeeze my cold heart, stung my eyes, and wedged hot rocks in my throat several times. She also put a smirk on my face and had me grinding my teeth and stamping my little foot in irritation with the obnoxious behaviors and selfishness of the mother and daughter characters until their “aha moments” slapped them briskly in their matching faces. And they were in dire need of such stunning alterations, and being stubborn, they required repeated applications to chisel away at their thoughtless rigidity and blossom into softer and more pleasantly humanized amalgamations of themselves. 

Although I initially had my doubts of their redeemability, I came to admire and even adore Ms. Hammer’s skill and agility with her characters’ development, which was beyond insightful and was richly perceptive and profoundly observant, with sensitive handling and thoughtful touches tucked in that added additional depth to the reading experience. This talented wordsmith is definitely one to watch and has been added to my list.

I was provided with a review copy of this thoughtfully crafted and emotive tale by HarperCollins and TLC Book Tours.

 About The Author

Founder of the Every Damn Day Writers, Alison Hammer has been spinning words to tell stories since she learned how to talk. A graduate of the University of Florida and the Creative Circus in Atlanta, she lived in nine cities before settling down in Chicago, where she works as a VP creative director at an advertising agency. You & Me & Us is her first novel.

Find out more about Alison at her website, and connect with her on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

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Book Review: For Better, For Worse by Jane Isaac

For Better, For Worse 

by Jane Isaac

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA /

Kobo / iBooks / Google Play

Stuart Ingram was once a respected local councillor...

The first time the police knocked on Gina's door, they arrested her husband.

The second time, they accused him of child abuse.

But he died a guilty man.

This time, the police are here for Gina – to tell her that her husband is dead. Murdered, just two weeks before his trial.

Gina always stood by her husband. Even when everyone else walked away. She believed the trial would clear his name. But now Stuart is dead.

And his wife is the suspect.

It's a race against time for DC Beth Chamberlain to uncover the truth – especially when a second man turns up dead.

Domestic noir meets police procedural in this pacy thriller from Jane Isaac, perfect for fans of Samantha Downing, Fiona Barton and K.L. Slater.

Previously published as Presumed Guilty.

 My Rating:

My Review:

A series of murders occurred in a rural area and it gradually became apparent that they were somehow related and a serial killer was operating in the area, but why, and who? Each kill was becoming more gruesome and violent as the killer was becoming more confident and bloodthirsty. The gripping and absorbing storylines were tautly written, thrummed with tension, shrewdly paced, and were cast with uniquely etched characters that were as compelling as the intriguing narrative they inhabited while the case was worked, observations were made, and the clues were gathered and amassed. This was my first experience with the clever scribe known as Jane Isaac and I am a total wannabe to her well-crafted squad of hardworking and under-appreciated detectives. 

In addition to assisting the police with their difficult case, I also gathered two new additions to my Brit Word and Phrases list with dog-ends – the unsmoked end of a cigarette, and nonce – slang for a pedophile.

About The Author

Jane Isaac is married to a serving detective and they live in rural Northamptonshire, UK with their daughter, and dog, Bollo. Jane loves to hear from readers and writers. You can reach her via her website at www.janeisaac.co.uk Sign up to her book club at http://eepurl.com/1a2uT for book recommendations and details of new releases, events and giveaways.

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Book Review: Beef Cake by Jiffy Kate

“I was all in with this slow-burn romance that had me laughing and swooning from cover to cover” --Author Andrea Johnston

Beef Cake, an all-new small-town contemporary romance from Jiffy Kate, is available now!

If opposites do actually attract, then Gunnar Erickson and Frankie Reeves take the cake.

Frankie Reeves is complicated, even though she won’t admit it. She fills her days working as an ER nurse, taking care of her mom, and searching for the father she never knew. Anything else has no place in her perfectly compartmentalized, purposefully simple life. Attachments? No thank you. She has no time for that.

Gunnar Erickson recently moved to Green Valley to train at Viking MMA with his brother Cage. Being the youngest of the Erickson clan, he’s always felt like he has something to prove, and now that he’s finished with college, it’s his time to shine. But before he can step into the ring, a freak accident sends him to the ER and into the care of one Frankie Reeves.

While he’s immediately smitten, she pretends to be unfazed by this six-foot-three, two hundred and thirty-pound beefcake. Gunnar sets out to prove to Frankie that, not only does she like him more than she wants to admit, but he’s not the uneducated, brute she assumes he is. To Frankie, he’s the worst kind of complication, but that doesn’t make it easy to stay away.

‘Beef Cake’ is a full-length contemporary romance, can be read as a standalone, and is book #4 in the Donner Bakery series, Green Valley World, Penny Reid Book Universe.

Download your copy TODAY!

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/38ipiAU

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/364MzVJ

Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/30tZjUD

Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/2FX2D15

AppleBooks: https://apple.co/2v1XUZN

Nook: http://bit.ly/362QLFs

Kobo: http://bit.ly/2R6dITC

Google Play: http://bit.ly/2NRZDYj

Amazon Print: https://amzn.to/2SLqHev

Add to Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2NClJxQ

My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:

“He was sexy as hell,” she muses, in one of those airy, breathy voices that says I’d happily sacrifice myself at his altar.



When I was a freshman in high school, we had to wrestle in PE class. One day, I had to wrestle a girl, which was fine by me, until she accidentally slipped her hand up my shorts and grabbed my balls. I guess you could call it my first hand job, only it wasn’t as enjoyable as I would’ve hoped… A couple of years later, I took that same girl to the Homecoming dance. I was very pleased to learn her technique had improved immensely.

My Review:

Cleverly written in my favorite dual POV, this maddeningly paced story swung from angst to sharp wit, to tragedy, to heart-squeezes, to potential peril, to amusing humor, and on to a sweet wooing romance and then back through all the cycles, multiple times. And I was rooting for these lovely characters throughout the entirety, although I wanted to stamp my little foot at Frankie’s mixed messages, and inconsiderate and snappish behaviors toward sweet Gunnar. She was an ER nurse with hard edges and a tough outer shell yet filled with fear and anxiety as well as confusion and nightmares about her past. In vast contrast, Gunnar was a hulking Viking cage fighter who was a rather anomalous character as he fought like a demon in the cage yet was well educated, profoundly insightful with people, and had a tender heart and the patience of a saint. Luckily, Gunnar didn’t back down from a challenge, and Frankie was certainly that, she was several in fact, and a total mess.



The engaging storylines were certainly original and oddly absorbing yet evolved slowly with an ever-annoying one step forward and two steps back dance while I grew increasingly fretful as I had an inkling as what was coming in the big reveal of Frankie’s repressed childhood, which was even worse than I had imagined yet handled in a stellar manner by these clever scribes. I adore the entire line of Smartypants Romances, which appear to be amassing an uncannily well-cultivated grouping of talented wordsmiths. I am well and truly hooked and plan to read each and every one of them. 

About Jiffy Kate

Jiffy Kate is the joint pen name for Jiff Simpson and Jenny Kate Altman. They’re co-writing besties who share a brain. They also share a love of cute boys, stiff drinks, and fun times.

Together, they’ve written over twenty stories. Their first published book, Finding Focus, was released in November 2015. Since then, they’ve continued to write what they know–southern settings full of swoony heroes and strong heroines.

Find Jiffy Kate online

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Book Review: Starting Over at Acorn Cottage by Kate Forster

Starting Over at Acorn Cottage 

by Kate Forster

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA / 

B&N / iBooks / Kobo / GPlay

Buying a thatched cottage in the country may not be the usual cure for a broken heart. But after Clara Maxwell finds out her boyfriend and best friend have been sneaking around behind her back, packing her bags and leaving everything in London behind feels like it's the only way forward. 

Clara knew Acorn Cottage would be a fixer-upper... Yet in person, the cottage is less charmingly ramshackle and more a real health and safety concern. When Henry Garnett, her (rather handsome) new contractor, turns up with his little daughter Pansy and a van shaped like a cottage in tow, she isn't sure whether to laugh or cry. What on earth has she gotten herself into?! 

Still, there is something strangely lovable about the people in the little village of Merryknowe, from Rachel Brown, the quiet, lonely girl who bakes magical confections for the tearooms, to Tassie McIver, a little old lady with a lot of wisdom and a penchant for reading tea leaves. And Clara can't deny that Henry and Pansy are quickly worming their way into her heart... 

With all the heartbreak of the year behind her, could Acorn Cottage be the fresh start Clara so desperately wants? 


My Rating:

Favorite Quotes:


Clara had found the evidence in Judy’s kitchen while looking for a bowl for nuts, and she had wanted to put Giles nuts in the container there and then.


‘I knew the woman who lived there. Sheila Batt. Like name, like person. She was an old bat. Died in her bed upstairs. I am surprised they didn’t find her hanging from the eves by her toes.’ Clara made a face of horror but Tassie shrugged. ‘We all have to go sometime. Better to be in your bed than on the toilet like Elvis.’


‘I did think something was in the air today, as I had a very itchy left eyebrow.’ Clara peered at Tassie’s eyebrows, which were drawn on with an eye pencil. ‘What if the right one was itchy?’ she asked. ‘Left is a lady visitor, right is a gentleman visitor. I don’t think the right one is even functioning anymore.’


You don’t get to choose if you have a baby or not really. The baby chooses you. Some women aren’t ready to have them and that’s fine and some yearn for them so much they scare them away. I yearned. Still do sometimes, even though my insides are now pickled and George has been dead for thirty years.


My Review:


How have I not read this talented scribe’s work before? I adore her! Goodreads reports twenty-six different books to her credit, where have I been? I am kicking myself for not noticing her stand-out skills sooner as I was an instant fan and an ardent devotee of her clever humor shortly after sinking into page one, and will also confess to savoring every perfectly chosen word and wittily written storyline ALL the way through. I giggle-snorted and gleefully wiggled in my chair with uncontainable delight at the unexpected nuances, captivating characters, and thoughtful little touches and perceptive insights that made this fabulous little tale a sublime and magical read. It was divine.

About The Author

Amazon
Goodreads
Website
Facebook
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Kate Forster lives in Melbourne, Australia with her husband, two children, and dogs and can be found nursing a laptop, surrounded by magazines and talking on the phone, usually all at once. She is an avid follower of fashion, fame and all things pop culture and is also an excellent dinner party guest who always brings gossip and champagne. 

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Book Review: One Dark, Two Light by Ruth Mancini

One Dark, Two Light 

by Ruth Mancini

Amazon US / UK / AU / CA / 

B&N / Kobo / GP

New Year's Eve, London.

Outside the Hope & Glory pub, a man has been left to die. A victim of extraordinary violence, he will never walk or speak again. He remains in hospital for months, until criminal defence lawyer Sarah Kellerman walks onto his ward.

Sarah barely recognises the man she once worked with – he was honourable and kind – what was he involved in? Who wanted him dead? But in her race to uncover the truth, Sarah comes to realise there are two men in her life that she never really knew at all...

From one of crime fiction's most compelling voices, One Dark, Two Light is where the personal and criminal collide, as Sarah works to bring dark secrets into the light.

My Rating:

Favorite Quote:

I’m not asking you for a favour, here, Andy. I’m asking you to be a father. It’s unconditional. There are no rewards, no prizes, no strings attached. We’re parents because we chose to be parents… I am not going to thank you for looking after your own son. If you truly believe that fathers are important enough to fuck up our lives, then stick around this time and be one!

My Review:

This was a confounding and complex plot with several complicated and well-nuanced storylines, frustrating and deeply flawed characters, and fatally compelling social issues. I was incensed and fully invested as the tale was ingeniously plotted, thrummed with tension, was maddeningly paced, and had me grinding my teeth and pulling at my ragged cuticles - yet I couldn’t put it down and huffed and hissed at any interruption to my reading. I wanted to give every character a smack to the head with my kindle at some point as no one was fully trustworthy and everyone was tainted and to blame for something, just like in real life. Except for me of course, as I have lived an exemplary life and have been a total delight to everyone I’ve ever met. ;)

About The Author

Amazon
Goodreads
Facebook
Twitter

Ruth Mancini is a criminal defense lawyer, author and freelance writer. She lives in Oxfordshire with her husband and two children. 

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