A World without You (Terms of Inheritance, #3) by Dana LeCheminant

 

With a video channel that gets millions of views, Sara Hawthorne is the authority on convincing women around the world to live their best lives. If only she was practicing what she preached… She’s never felt a part of her perfect family, and the only person who truly knows her is her best friend, Rohan, who’s in love with her.

And she doesn’t feel the same way.

After her mom kicks her out of the house with an impossible task to earn her inheritance, Sara takes a job in the family hotel and crashes on Rohan's couch until she can find her own place. The more time she spends with him, though, the more Sara starts to question how she feels about Rohan, and she's hit with heartbreak when he starts dating someone who totally deserves him.

Trapped between her love for him and her desire to see him happy in his new relationship, Sara does everything she can to hide her feelings. But doing so risks the only friendship she's ever known, and letting Rohan live his best life might mean she has to live in a world without him.

 * Amazon * Goodreads *

Yesterday was release day for book three in this Terms of Inheritance series!  I would highly recommend reading this series in order but I wouldn't say you HAVE to.  It will just make more sense and provide more of a background for the characters.  Especially since I came to LOVE Rohan in the previous books.  I was so excited to see a story with him in the very center of things.

I wasn't sure how the author was going to get me to like Sara though.  She sure doesn't make a great case for herself in the previous books and I have a really hard time liking people I think are mean.  Sara is pretty self absorbed and honestly throughout the whole time she has known Rohan (since childhood), she has always been a bit mean to him.  It was good to be able to understand Sara better through flashbacks and memories and it helped me to like her more.  Luckily, Sara has many redeeming qualities and it was easy see her growth through the book.

Rohan is really amazing.  The world would be a better place if filled with people just like Rohan.  Generous, kind, forgiving, attentive.  Rohan has a good head on his shoulders.

I'm really enjoying this series.  We get a little glimpse of the next book at the end of this one and it looks like it's going to be interesting!  One family member left.

Content:  kissing. 

- I received a complimentary copy of this book.  All opinions expressed are my own.

A Sleigh Ride Kiss (A Christmas Match #2) by Jen Geigle Johnson

 

A man she disdains and a man she loves. What happens when she finds out they’re the same person?

Odette Goodson lives with her grandmother in the beautiful Cheshire County. This Christmas she wishes for caroling, snow, sleigh rides, plum pudding, and a lit yule log, with friends and neighbors all around. Her matchmaking grandmother wishes for her to marry the Marquis of Wilmington. She’s heard only unflattering things about him. To her grandmother's consternation, Mr. Wardly shows up on a country lane, a man who seems to be everything the Marquis is not.

Henry Wardly, the Marquis of Wilmington, arrives from the East Indies in Cheshire County six months after his mother’s funeral. Mourning her loss, with a new shipping line at stake, and his own estate to salvage, responsibilities in Cheshire county frustrate him and slow his progress. But he cannot help but be jolly at Christmas time particularly after he runs into the lovely Miss Odette Goodson. Things grow complicated when she confuses him for a gentleman farmer and has shown nothing but disdain for the heretofore unknown Marquis.

Grandmother Amelie Laurent Goodson will work her matchmaking magic, but will it be enough to overcome the strong prejudice in Odette’s preconceived notions or the immediacy of Henry’s needs to be in London?

 * Amazon * Goodreads *

Are you ready to start reading Christmas books?  It's a little early for me but you will want to pick this one up, even if you just store it away for a month or so.  It's ever so sweet and will bring all the feelings of good cheer and the spirit of winter and the holidays.

Henry and Odette are great characters.  It was so easy to like them from the very beginning.  I just loved how hard Henry tried to please Odette by paying special attention to her.  It was all the little things.  And it was all Odette from the very beginning for Henry.  Sweet, sweet Henry.  Sweet Odette and a very sweet Christmas romance.

This book is on Kindle Unlimited if you have that.

Content:  sweet kisses

- I received a complimentary copy of this book.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Fire & Ash (Fate of Eyrinthia #0.5) by Heather Frost

 

When Desfan Cassian, the future ruler of Mortise, skips his fifteenth birthday celebration so he can gamble in the slums, he knows his father won't be pleased. Then again, the serjan hasn’t been happy with him in years. And while Desfan anticipates a reprimand for his latest transgression, he doesn’t expect to be thrown out of the palace and exiled onto a patrol ship for the next year.

Then from the ashes . . .

Furious to be trapped on the same sea that stole his family four years ago, Desfan is fully prepared to hate his new life. After all, the Phoenix is run by a strict captain, and Desfan's annoying new bodyguard, Karim, is his constant shadow. But when Desfan learns that a group of dangerous pirates may have been behind the deaths of his mother and sisters, he's suddenly committed to hunting down the truth—no matter the risk.

He will rise.

***Fire & Ash is a novella set in the world of the Royal Decoy series. While it is a prequel story, it is best enjoyed after reading Royal Spy.***

 * Amazon * Goodreads *

Oh Desfan.  My heart breaks for you.  Your life has not been easy and your own heart is battered.  My mama heart wanted to swoop in to save Desfan, to love him.  Lucky for Desfan, Karim enters his life.  It's a long, hard road to friendship but Karim just doesn't give up.  I loved him for that.  He is such a good guy.

It was so good to get a look into the life of Desfan and see what made him into the person we see in the previous books.  It's kind of like having "the rest of the story."  I know this is novella length but it really felt like a wholly developed story.  Maybe that's because of the previous books?  I just know that I was worried it would be too short for me but it wasn't.  I loved it beginning to end.  It was nice to have something from this world of Eyrinthia to tide me over until the next MUCH ANTICIPATED book.  😍

Content:  peril, violence, drinking and drug addiction

- I received a complimentary copy of this book.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Charming Artemis (The Lancaster Family #5) by Sarah M. Eden + Win A Copy of This Book!

 

Charlie Jonquil is mild-mannered and kind—except when it comes to his one true adversary, Artemis Lancaster. Though Charlie has a brilliant mind for mathematics, Artemis poses a problem he can’t seem to comprehend: how can one be so lovely and so infuriating? A party in London brings him into the company of the maddening young lady, and it is clear that Charlie’s disdain is mutual. But when an unfortunate incident between the pair involving Charlie’s jacket and a glass of raspberry shrub leads to scandal, the sworn enemies are left with only two options: be ruined or be married.

So it is that Artemis finds herself in a most outrageous predicament: she must wed a gentleman she’s hated for years—and she pledges to avoid him at all costs. But it is only when they enter into this mockery of a marriage that Charlie and Artemis learn things are not as simple as they once appeared. As their tentative ceasefire leads to friendship, it seems their marriage born of desperation might lead them to a love that was destined to be.

 * Goodreads * Amazon * Deseret Book * 

This book is like a big, giant family reunion.  All the characters from both the Jonquil and Lancaster families are present as well as some of the Gents.  More than half of the book is devoted to those characters as a way to bring it all to a beautiful happily ever after, blending of families type ending.  For those who follow this author and have read all these books (I've read most of them!), this book will probably be a lovely reminder of all the characters you loved and why.  If you haven't read these books, well, you are going to be very confused.  There are SO MANY characters.  You won't be able to keep them all straight.  My advice?  Start at the beginning.  😊

I did love Charlie and Artemis.  I just wish there could have been more of just the two of them.  I feel like they sort of became secondary and blended in with all the other characters.  But, it's okay.  They figured it all out with the help of many, many people who cared.  That's great too.  Charlie was the star for me.  He has such a good heart.  I adore him.

I'm not sure I completely bought into the whole Papa/Princess thing.  It was probably my biggest hang up in the book.  I won't go into details but will just leave it at that.

Content:  kissing

- I received a complimentary copy of this book.  All opinions expressed are my own.

 

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The Holiday Ex-Files by Jennifer Peel

 

Once upon a time people called me the holiday queen. But catching my husband under the Christmas tree with another woman kind of did something to me. Like make me digitally crop him out of all our wedding photos and post them online. Who knew that post would go viral? Thanks to all the requests I received to do the same for other jilted partners, I started a new business called, the Holiday Ex-Files. And I couldn’t be happier. Well . . . at least I’m not unhappy.

Then along comes my ex-husband’s best friend, Noah Cullen. Yep, like the vampires. He’s extremely gorgeous like them too. He has a plan to help me believe in the magic of holidays again. But the more I’m around him, I begin to think he’s the magical one, and that perhaps I picked the wrong best friend to begin with. Maybe, just maybe, it will be a very merry Christmas after all.

 * Amazon * Goodreads * 

You guys.  I just had THE BEST day of reading.  And man, did I need it today.

Where should I start?  With the saint, Noah?  Or Cami and her alter ego Sparkles?  (I know, but man, Sparkles is so much fun)  Okay, we're going to start with Cami.  😂  Poor Cami went through some stuff.  She lost her sparkle.  BUT, that sparkle is starting to find her voice again.  She's like Tinkerbell, raining down sparkles on Cami.  Cami tries to shake them off but you know how sparkles are, they stick and are hard to shake off.  Little by little Cami becomes more sparkly and it's an awesome things to witness.  Frustrating, but awesome too.
My inner snark was so entertained by Cami's (Sparkles) snark.

Enter Noah.  The Saint.  Saint Noah with endless patience.  He's the coolest.  I love how he loves Cami in all ways and always, always encourages her to be her true self.  Noah is worthy of my biggest romantic sighs.

This book had everything I love.  It was singing to my sweet spot.  Entertainment, emotion, chemistry and LOVE.  It just doesn't get any better than that. 

Content:  mild swearing, kissing, mild innuendo.  Triggers: miscarriage, adultery. 

- I received a complimentary copy of this book.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Heirs of Falcon Point by Traci Hunter Abramson, Sian Ann Bessey, Paige Edwards, A.L. Sowards + Enter To Win A Copy of This Book!

 

In the early days of World War II, the Lang family lost everything. Eighty years later, it’s time to take it back.

The Nazis have taken control of Austria, and wealthy widower Leopold Lang faces a difficult decision: join the ranks of the foreign power that has taken over his homeland or flee with his children to safety. Leopold makes his choice—but too late. His family is ripped apart, never to be reunited. But decades later, fate brings together the descendants of this broken dynasty in the place where it all began—Falcon Point.

Anna, Cole, and Tess have never met, each relying on fractured pieces of information to understand their Austrian heritage. But when unforeseen opportunities draw these Lang cousins to Falcon Point, they soon discover they are not alone in their quest to claim the coveted property and the fabled treasure hidden within. Unfortunately, another claimant, one with a much darker heritage, is determined to eliminate the Lang family once and for all.

 * Amazon * Goodreads * Deseret Book *

Wow, I have so much running through my head right now and so much I want to say.  Most importantly, I loved this book.  The whole concept with the four authors and a dual timeline where we start in the past and then spend the rest of the book in the present day was genius.  It was like the best of both my favorite worlds- historical fiction and contemporary.  There was mystery and adventure, danger and treasure!!.  And yes, there was love.  It all combined to give me a story that had me invested and interested from beginning to end.  The ending had me on the edge of my seat with anticipation.  I loved it so much!

Honestly, the historical loving part of me wanted more of the past.  I wanted to follow each of the Lang siblings all the way to the end.  I wanted "the rest of the story"!  (anyone old enough to get that reference there?)  We get some details filled in throughout the story but it just wasn't enough for me.  Greedy, right?  Yeah, I know.

 I'm so hopeful that these authors will do more of this.  Please let there be more of this.  Will anyone write the Lang siblings stories?  Please?  I know.  I'm greedy and I'm a beggar.  That's what book love does to you.  It makes you a greedy beggar.  😂

Content:  peril, some violence, death.  Kissing.

- I received a complimentary copy of this book.  All opinions expressed are my own.  

 

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Riverbend Gap (Riverbend #1) by Denise Hunter

 

 

When Katelyn Loveland’s car veered off a winding Appalachian Mountain road, she thought she was done for. That is until Cooper Robinson, local sheriff’s deputy, came to her rescue. And though Katie narrowly escaped her brush with death, she still fell. Hard.

She wasn’t the only one. But soon Cooper learns that the woman he’s more attracted to than any he’s ever met is his brother’s new girlfriend—and therefore unquestionably off limits. Yet, despite his best efforts, Cooper and Katie can’t seem to avoid running into each other. Or ignore the undeniable chemistry between them.

As they grow closer, Katie shares the secrets of her past and the real reason she moved to their small North Carolina town. She also wins over Cooper’s welcoming and bighearted family. But they don’t know that her feelings for Cooper keep growing—all while she’s dating his brother. Soon the stakes of their emotional connection become higher than either of them could have imagined. Katie stands to lose the first family she’s ever had, and a scandal could doom Cooper’s campaign for sheriff’s office. Suddenly they find themselves on the edge of another precipice—and they’re forced to make a decision that could change their lives forever.

 * Amazon * Goodreads * 

It's the start of a new series by author Denise Hunter!  That's something to be happy about!

The first meet between Cooper and Katelyn is a doozy and enough to spark all kinds of emotional connections.  Hanging off the side of a mountain in a car will do that to you.  Even though Cooper is all in emotionally, he knows he can't pursue Katelyn.  It's the slowest burn romance ever because nothing is happening physically or verbally for most of the book.  The attraction and growing feelings of love are all internal.  

Katelyn has a lot going on in her personal life.  Her brother's death, a move to a new town, a new job, her search for her birth mother, a brush with death.  That's a lot, right?  Katelyn has such a strong desire to be a part of a family and to belong.  To be wanted.  It really pulled at my heartstrings.  

I loved the setting of this book, the history surrounding it and how the community is such a big part of it all.  It ALMOST makes me want to hike the Appalachian Trail.  But not quite.  haha.  I'm not a hiker.

I'm looking forward to the next book!

Content:  peril, kissing.

- I received a complimentary copy of this book.  All opinions expressed are my own.

 

The Heart of a Cowboy (Colorado Cowboys #2) by Jody Hedlund

 

Brilliant scientist Linnea Newberry is on the adventure of a lifetime, traveling the Santa Fe Trail with her grandfather, Dr. Powell, on a botanical expedition to Colorado Territory. She longs to be taken seriously by the other team members, but at every calamity she faces, her grandfather threatens to send her home.

After watching his ma suffer and die in childbirth, Flynn McQuaid has sworn off women and marriage forever. Headed west to start a new life, he has his hands full not only taking care of his younger siblings but also delivering cattle to his brother. He doesn't need more complications.

When Flynn rescues Linnea from drowning during a river crossing, Dr. Powell promptly hires Flynn--unbeknownst to Linnea--to act as her bodyguard for the rest of the trip. As Flynn fights against the many dangers of the trail, he soon finds himself in the greatest danger of all--falling for a woman he's determined not to love.

 * Amazon * Goodreads *

Oh!  I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would.  Which is ridiculous to say because I knew I was going to like it.  I love this author and I liked the first book in this series so of course I was going to like it, right?  But I REALLY liked it.  Devoured it.  I had hours of uninterrupted reading time so I had minimal distractions and it was lovely.  

The characters really came to life for me throughout the course of this story.  My heart was bursting for Flynn and all he was dealing with.  What a loyal, hardworking and considerate man.  I wanted to wrap him up in a big mama bear hug with all kinds of "build him up" words.  Fortunately, Linnea is also good at building words and she uses them frequently and with kindness toward Flynn.  Beauty, smarts and kindness- the triple threat.  Flynn doesn't really ever stand a chance against Linnea.

I'm loving this series.  We get a little sneak peek at the next book and wow, I wish I could read it right now.  My heart.  The McQuaid family.  I just love them.

Content:  mild peril, mild violence, kissing

- I received a complimentary copy of this book.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Hudson's Heart by Stephanie Fowers

 

She's his heart... he just doesn't know it yet.

Hudson Slade has a lot to answer for. His brother crossed the family next door and messed them over bad, but he helped create that monster. Mimi Bridges has forgiven him, but she doesn't know the half of it. Worse, he might look like a tough cowboy, but he's got a soft spot for her.

Getting together with Mimi might be harder than Romeo sneaking in to see Juliet, and unfortunately Hudson knows exactly how that turned out.

* Amazon * Goodreads *

Ooh, I loved the tension and the attraction in this story!  Give me a good kiss right away and I'm in.  Hudson and Mimi are so good together but that Hudson sure has his hang-ups.  Good thing his hang-ups aren't bigger than Mimi's spunk and tenacity!  

There was quite a cast of characters in this book so it took a minute to get used to all of them but I think the author did a good job of helping me remember and distinguish between them all.  I was really rooting for  Hudson and Mimi from the very beginning and I love becoming so invested in characters.  Hudson and Mimi have a whole lot of family between them and most of them were also rooting for them to get together.  Some even went to some pretty crazy extremes.  All in the name of love.  (cue hayride kidnapping and cellar lock in)

This was the perfect book to read right now because fall is settling in where I live and the fall setting of this book just felt right.  Snuggle up, get a hot drink and this book!

Content:  kissing, some Christian elements

- I picked this book up on Kindle Unlimited

The Party Planning Committee (Reality Show Book 3) by Amy Matayo

 

When Charlotte Pringle Frost won The Party Planning Committee three years ago, she gained name-recognition, money, and enough wealthy clients to keep her Beverly Hills party-planning business running for months. But when her father used all her winnings to pay off his gambling debts, he left her with nothing but the clothes on her back and a damaged reputation. Now she’s living in Arkansas, was just fired from her party store cashier job, and can’t figure out how it all went wrong.

Lance Dutton hasn’t been at his mental wellness retreat in Switzerland five minutes when his mom calls to tell him his little sister is engaged. Alexandria is twenty-two, and her overly tattooed fiancé fronts an underground boy band; so much for mental wellness. It isn’t enough that Lance has spent ten years of his life starring on Dealing with the Duttons—his family’s reality show; now he’s expected to come home and oversee the wedding. With multiple product lines and new endorsement deals in the works, his family can’t afford any bad press.

When Alexandria impulsively hires some random contestant she remembers from an old reality game show to plan the wedding, all Lance sees is a disaster in the making. It’s bad enough that the wedding is in four weeks and his sister wants the whole process aired live, but this Charlotte chick is cuter than he expected, and she’s messing with his head. Suddenly he’s thinking about the future, and nothing could possibly be worse than that.

Nothing, that is, until Alexandria tells them her ridiculous wedding theme.

As the only sane people around, it’s up to Lance and Charlotte to make this disastrous wedding a success, a nearly impossible feat that soon has them both wondering…

Even if the wedding doesn’t work out, could they?

 * Amazon * Goodreads *

Are you ready for the most over the top wedding ever thought up?  You won't believe the craziness of this because who in their right mind would ever even dream up this kind of stuff?  And somewhere in the middle of the crazy is one girl, desperately trying to make her dreams come true and one boy watching her like she is HIS dream come true.

Charlotte is a character that is easy to love and easy to root for.  She is talented and she works so hard.  I loved her pluck and her determination.  I also loved that her best friend was in her eighties.  Charlotte is a kind heart and there at the end, with the wedding preparations, I knew I loved her.  And guess what?  So did Lance!!

Lance is a fun character.  He brings the lightness to the story as he watches Charlotte with growing attraction and interest and goes crazy with his sister and her waaaaaaaay over the top ideas.  He made me smile.

Yes, this a reality show theme, but honestly, the reality show part of it seemed pretty background in comparison to other reality show books I've read.  It suited this story well.  There were a few things regarding Charlotte's family and her anxiety about them finding out about her that remained unresolved and left me wondering.  I wish that would have been addressed in the epilogue or something because it seemed to be a huge focal point for Charlotte in the beginning of the book for no reason.

Overall, I really like this book.  The author is one of my favorites and I love reading her books.  This one was entertaining and endearing.  I read through it quickly and was anxious to get back to it every time I had to put it down.  

Content:  kissing, mild language

- I received a complimentary copy of this book.  All opinions expressed are my own.