Summer Harvest (by Georgina Penney)

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Women’s Fiction / Contemporary Romance

In the space of a few months, Beth’s sister dies of breast cancer, she herself is diagnosed, and after a double mastectomy her husband leaves her. She returns to live with her grandmother and withdraws into herself, only venturing out for her job as a dog trainer.

When her grandmother gives her a trip to Australia for her birthday she is reluctant to leave the austere life she has built for herself after the divorce. But despite her misgivings a week later she finds herself driving along a dry dusty road in the Margaret River wine making region of Western Australia, her destination a small cabin on a working farm.

As she settles in, she makes new friends, among them Clayton who runs a vineyard in the area. Their attraction is immediate but her scars run deeper than the surgeons knife, and for his part Clayton’s mother died of cancer and he is terrified of starting a relationship with Beth only to have her taken from him.

Summer Harvest is something of a hybrid. It combines the best elements of Contemporary Romance with what is essentially Women’s Fiction and it manages to effortlessly avoid the pitfalls of both. I wouldn’t call it a fun read, it’s serious and occasionally emotionally fraught but ultimately it’s emotionally satisfying and I loved it.

Screen Shot 2015-11-09 at 4.24.20 PMMany thanks to Penguin Books Australia and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

Orange, Red, Yellow. What it means:  YOR-Guide

Murder on Wheels (by Lynn Cahoon)

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Cozy Mystery

South Cove is in the middle of a drought and as the sun continues to beat down tempers are beginning to fray. Jill has somehow offended her best friend Amy, her Aunt Jackie has her telling lies for her, and the newly formed Water Conservation Committee is gunning for her.

Then Kacey, a new arrival in South Cove is found dead on the beach. When Jill’s last remaining friend becomes a suspect Jill steps in and begins to investigate determined to find the real killer and clear her friend’s name.

 

Cozy mysteries are one of my ‘go to’ comfort reads. I just love them, well usually I love the first couple of books in a series before the novelty starts to wear off. As a genre they really are a hard field to hoe. I mean they’re generally set in a small quaint town, the sort of place you’d want to retire or raise your kids….except for the murder rate that’s higher than Caracas.

So I read the first couple in this series and as I tend to do moved on. When I saw this book at Netgalley I wondered how the series was going and requested it.

And it’s great.

Lynn Cahoon seems to be that very rare author who can keep a series like this alive and interesting even after six books. I’m thinking I need to climb back on this horse and read some of the books I’ve missed.

Screen Shot 2015-11-28 at 6.44.49 PMMany thanks to Kensington & Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

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Who’s Afraid? (by Maria Lewis)

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Urban Fantasy

When Tommi travels to New Zealand to find her father she discovers two things. Her father is dead and she is a werewolf. And not just any werewolf, she is an alpha descended from the most powerful line of werewolves.

After being attacked by one of the local pack members she flees New Zealand and returns to her home in Scotland. But before long it becomes apparent that some of her problems have followed her home, a werewolf from New Zealand is stalking her and murdering the locals.

 

Who’s Afraid? is a little more than your typical werewolf story. It avoids the well trodden path that these books often follow, and what could have been a fairly average story actually ends up being great.

It’s not perfect. I don’t think this story really needed to be international and it might have benefitted from being set entirely in New Zealand (or Scotland). But I’ll forgive a lot in a debut and honestly Tommi is such a great heroine –– she’s the heroine that other heroines should aspire to be. She’s a kick ass confident woman who doesn’t need saving by anyone.

Screen Shot 2015-12-24 at 11.45.29 PMMany thanks the Hachette Australia and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

Orange, Red, Yellow. What it means:   YOR-Guide

Boundary Magic (by Melissa F. Olsen)

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Boundary Crossed (book 1)

While saving her niece from a kidnapping attempt Lex is stabbed multiple times. She shouldn’t be alive. Her heart stopped on the operating table. Then just as the doctor is about to call time of death, it starts beating again.

That’s Lex’s introduction into the supernatural world of vampires and witches. As a boundary witch, a witch who has power over life and death she has never received any training and the leader of the local coven wants to keep it that way. She’s just too dangerous. But she will do anything to protect her niece, even enter into a partnership with the vampires, the vampires who want to see just how powerful she is.

 

Boundary Lines (book 2)

Something is out of whack in the Old World and the vampires, werewolves and witches are all acting strangely. Someone is messing with the line and with Maven, Colorado’s ruling vampire, in a power struggle she has entrusted her most recent employee boundary witch Lex with sorting it all out.

She finds herself not just walking the line between the supernatural groups and stopping a war, but also dealing with ghosts and an ancient predator that will require the vampires, werewolves and witches to unite if they are to have any chance of killing it.

 

So much fun.  I picked up book one expecting to kill some time while I was waiting for some of my tried and true authors to release books.  This series is anything but killing time. It’s completely addictive.  Lovers of Faith Hunter and Patricia Briggs won’t be disappointed with these books.  They’re great fun and yes, Melissa F. Olsen is joining the list of authors I madly follow.

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Truth or Beard (by Penny Reid)

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Contemporary Romance

After graduating from college, Jessica returns to her home town of Green Valley, TN to pay off her student loan and save some money before following her dreams and exploring the world.

Duane is anything but subtle. He’s honest to a fault, stand-offish and of the Winston brothers he’s the wall-flower. But he’s always loved Jessica and when she returns he sees his chance, plucks up the courage and makes his intentions known.

Unfortunately, settling down is not for her and it’s all there is for him. They grow to love each other, but with different life-goals, love just isn’t enough.

 
So…I was listening to an interview with the author and I think I’m going to contradict her here. One of the things I found most interesting about this book was that the typical archetypes of male and female characters were flipped. In this book Jessica was the one who couldn’t commit, the one who was going to leave while Duane was the one who wanted to settle down and have a family.

It isn’t surprising. In a genre that is dominated by books written for the lowest common denominator Penny Reid writes books that demand your attention and honestly make you feel a little smarter. She never plays by the rules and her books are better for it.

I don’t have a problem with those by the numbers romances. Honestly, I enjoy them –– they’re a bit like an apple pie bought from your local supermarket. They taste pretty damned good. But they can’t hold a candle to a homemade apple pie. There’s just no comparing the two.

 

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Our Now and Forever (by Terri Osburn)

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Contemporary Romance

After a whirlwind romance, a Vegas wedding and two short months of marriage Snow comes to realise that marriage to Caleb is a package deal which includes his racist and malicious parents. Rather than living with people who think of her as white trash and unworthy of their son, she steals away in the night.

Eighteen months later, her life is anything but easy but she has a business in the small town of Ardent Springs, a group of friends and happiness. Then Caleb who has been searching for her ever since she ran away walks into her shop with the single purpose of taking his wife home.

She knows she can’t return to Baton Rouge and her frosty parents-in-law and she’s just as certain that he will grow bored of Ardent Springs very quickly. But Caleb is determined to win her back and is willing to do whatever it takes.

 
Contemporary Romance has been a bit of a wasteland for a couple of years. It’s been one rehashed plot after another and I’d all but given up on the genre. Then a friend told me about a new author who was writing great fiction –– this friend isn’t a particular fan of the genre and I thought, ‘if she’s impressed I definitely need to have a look’.

Oh boy.

Terri Osburn is a bright shining light in CR. She’s right on top of the mountain with intelligent well written stories and this one is another solid gold 5 star book. Favorite author. Favorite book. Honestly she could write a menu for her local Chinese Restaurant and I’d buy it. She’s that good.

Screen Shot 2015-11-09 at 4.24.20 PMMany thanks to Montlake Romance and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Orange, Red, Yellow. What it means:  YOR-Guide

Fangs for the Memories (by Molly Harper)

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Paranormal Romance

After being used and abused by her former lover, Andrea is shy of relationships. The last person on earth she wants to have anything to do with is Dick Cheney who reminds her more than just a little of the asshat who broke her heart.

For his part Dick knows Andrea is skittish and makes every effort to woo her without frightening her. However it remains to be seen if his redneck charm, his whacky t-shirt collection and his 1973 Chevrolet El Camino are enough to win her.

Dick Cheney and Andrea have been supporting characters throughout Molly Harper’s Jane Jameson and Half Moon Hollow series’. Finally after 8 books we get the story that everyone has been waiting for. How Andrea and Dick Cheney became a thing.

Fangs for the Memories is on the shorter side of novellas coming in at just under 90 pages. It has Molly Harper’s trademark snark and wit and is an entertaining though very quick read. With books this short I always look at the price before I recommend them. The Kindle version is available for around $1.40 which in my opinion is a fair price for a novella from an author as classy as Molly Harper. An audiobook version narrated by the truly amazing Amanda Ronconi is also available for a few dollars more.

So no complaints from me. A great little book, a fair price, and I’m tempted to buy the audiobook just because Amanda Ronconi really is that good.

Screen Shot 2015-11-01 at 10.26.54 PMMany thanks to Pocket Books and Netgalley for providing me with this ARC.

Orange, Red, Yellow. What it means:  YOR-Guide

Look Both Ways (by Carol J. Perry)

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Mystery / Paranormal

After buying an antique bureau, Lee finds herself embroiled in two murders that occurred years apart. Hours after buying the bureau she discovers the antique dealer who sold it to her dead and a priceless pink diamond missing.

It becomes apparent that the killer will do anything to get the diamond but with so many suspects the police don’t know where to look. Lee begins investigating, using her unique witch powers to puzzle out the crime, but the killer remains at large and knows exactly where she lives.

 

Look Both Ways is a bit of a mixed bag. There were things which were driving me to distraction. Things like the heroine would do something, then she would go home and explain to a friend what she had done in detail. Then she would explain exactly the same thing again to her boyfriend. Take out all those repeated explanations of the same thing and I’m pretty sure this book would be a third shorter.

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But then there is the ending. How the killer got his comeuppance was beautiful and creepy and perfect. And everything witchy about this book is superb. In some ways it’s like two different books. The cozy mystery part of it wasn’t great, but the paranormal parts were amazing.

I think the author needs to really forget about the mystery and just focus on the witchery because that’s where her writing moves from mundane to sublime. So, it’s a 3 Star book with some 5 Star moments.

Screen Shot 2015-11-01 at 10.26.54 PMMany thanks to Kensington & Netgalley for providing me with this ARC

Orange, Red, Yellow. What it means:  YOR-Guide

The Single Undead Moms Club (by Molly Harper)

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Paranormal Romance

Shortly after her husband died, Libby was diagnosed with terminal leukaemia. But facing her own death isn’t the worst of it, when she dies her precocious 5 year old son will go to her parents-in-law. Her rigid judgemental dogmatic parents-in-law.

The knowledge that her son’s expressiveness and imagination will be snuffed out and he will be turned into a “man’s man” forces Libby to do something she would never have dreamed of. She puts an ad on Craigslist for a vampire to turn her into one of the undead.

But if she was expecting life as one of the undead to be easy she’s in for a surprise. Not only are her parents-in-law suing for custody, she’s being hunted down by an assassin, fending off the attentions of two very different men and dealing with life errr, death as a new vampire. Not to mention that vampirism is not an excuse to get out of organising the pumpkin patch prizes and regular PTA meetings.

Molly Harper is a talented writer. Her stories are filled with snark and humour, they’re entertaining and honestly she can’t put a foot wrong in my opinion. The Single Undead Moms Club is great from the first to the last page.


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(note: I know that love triangles are triggers for a lot of people, but the triangle in this book is very much under-played and it’s hard to see it causing offence)

Murder at Redwood Cove (by Janet Finsilver)

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Cozy Mystery

When the manager of Redwood Cove Bed & Breakfast dies suddenly, Kelly is sent to fill in for him and keep the hotel running. But she quickly comes to realise that all is not as it seems and it’s possible he was murdered. With a little help from a group of elderly amateur sleuths she starts her own investigation, and as she digs she finds herself the target of a desperate criminal.

 

It’s difficult to review and rate cozy mysteries. They all follow a set of rules and authors break them at their peril. Murder at Redwood Cove is fairly typical in that sense. There is nothing in this book I found particularly surprising –– except the villain. I have to be honest, nine times out of ten, I pick the bad guy very early in the book, but not here. I was completely blind-sided.

So an entertaining cozy mystery which would normally rate 3 stars gets an extra star for keeping me guessing to the end.

Screen Shot 2014-02-15 at 8.51.33 pmMany thanks to Kensington Books and Netgalley for proving me with this ARC.

Orange, Red, Yellow. What it means:  red-orange-yellow-guide