Rancher's Wild Secret (Gold Valley Vineyards, #1) by Maisey Yates

Rancher's Wild Secret 

(Gold Valley Vineyards, #1)

by Maisey Yates 

ebook, 224 pages

Expected publication: November 5th 2019 by Harlequin Desire

Goodreads synopsis:

Listening Length: 5 hours and 30 minutes

He’s come to Gold Valley with a hidden agenda…

not to fall for his enemy’s daughter!

Emerson Maxfield is the perfect pawn for rancher Holden McCall’s purposes. She’s engaged to a man solely to win her father’s approval, and the sheltered beauty never steps out of line. Until one encounter changes everything. Now this good girl must marry Holden to protect her family—or their desire could spell downfall for them all…

***

3.75 Stars

This is the first book in the Gold Vallery Vineyards series in the Harlequin Desire line by Maisey Yates.

There are some things I really liked about this book and some things I hated. I am all about a good hate to love romance and this seemed to fit the bill. But this was really more vengeance to lust for me. I never quite believed Holden when he finally admitted his love for Emerson. That alone is what pushed it below the four star mark for me. I guess I am a happily ever after girl.

I know the Desire line is always a pretty short read but I think this story deserved a longer book in order to flesh out some of the sections. I would have liked to see more of Emerson growing into her new position in the Vineyard, the marketing stuff and her relationship with her sisters. It’s too bad books aren’t more visual. I would have loved to see the social media campaign for the vineyard. I was mega intrigued by that alone.

The love scenes and the attitude of Holden when he decided to gain the vineyard by marrying Emerson was what sold this book in the end. If you want a book with a man’s man, this is the one for you. He was all take charge and wanted his woman submissive. I thought the mind set of Emerson when she finally realized why she had never enjoyed sex until Holden was so telling. I think that might open some people’s eyes as to what is accepted in the bedroom. It doesn’t have to be all mission position.

If you enjoy your romance book with a bit of spice and naughtiness, this is definitely for you.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

Cast Iron Alibi (A Vintage Kitchen Mystery Book 9) by Victoria Hamilton

Cast Iron Alibi

(A Vintage Kitchen Mystery Book 9)

by Victoria Hamilton

Kindle Edition

Expected publication: November 5th 2019 by Beyond the Page

Goodreads synopsis:

In the new Vintage Kitchen Mystery from the author of Breaking the Mould, when an over-amorous handyman is found murdered, Jaymie will have to use every tool at her disposal to nab the culprit . . .

“I have loved this series from the first book . . . it’s like returning to a favorite nook for a cup of tea. It will delight, entice, and drive a reader to want to solve the murder.” —Goodreads on No Grater Danger

Looking forward to her girls-only college reunion vacation, Jaymie’s on cloud nine at the idea of lazy trips to the beach, dinner cruises on the nearby river, and snug sleeping in the vintage trailer she’s renovated. But no sooner does the group reconnect than her hopes turn to tension as petty squabbles and old acrimonies surface, along with tagalong friends, unexpected guests, and stalkerish ex-husbands. And when a local toolbelt Romeo with an eye for one of the women is found murdered, his home ablaze, the simmering hostility in the group suddenly shifts to secrecy.

Local law enforcement is zeroing in on the victim’s best friend and girlfriend as the most likely suspects, but Jaymie’s inquisitive instincts are telling her one of her former classmates may have been involved in the foul deed. Forced to navigate her fraught relationship with a local police detective and determined to uncover the myriad secrets her college friends are hiding, Jaymie knows she’ll have to dig deep to figure out whose alibi is cast iron, and whose is flimsy as tin . . .

***

4.75 Stars

This is the ninth book in the Vintage Kitchen Mystery by Victoria Hamilton.

This book had the perfect recipe for murder. A group of college friends meet to go over old times but there is someone in the group who is there for another reason. And that rationale turns into murder. This was just so good! I felt such a kinship to Jaymie and wanted to dive deep into the entire setting and characters. 

The death of a local lothario in a house fire looks like a random incident until facts start to trickle out and Jaymie begins to think maybe one of her girlfriends might be behind the deed! Can you imagine suspecting your friends of murder?! I had no idea where this was going the entire time I was reading. When Jaymie’s cast iron skillet winds up missing and is identified as the murder weapon, I was floored. This was looking less and less like a murder of opportunity and instead a calculated mind wanting death to appease some wrong.

I was clueless the entire time. The whodunit aspect of this really stumped me. I look forward to digging into the eight previous books in this series. Such a warm hearted read for a murder mystery! If you love a good cozy mystery, definitely check this one out!

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

A Body in the Bookshop by Helen Cox

A Body in the Bookshop

by Helen Cox

Paperback, 416 pages

Expected publication: May 19th 2020 by Quercus Publishing

Goodreads synopsis:

A PAGE-TURNING COSY MYSTERY SET IN THE PICTURESQUE CITY OF YORK. PERFECT FOR FANS OF BETTY ROWLANDS, LJ ROSS AND FAITH MARTIN.

Librarian Kitt Hartley and her friend Evie Bowes thought their life had gone back to normal after the shocking events of Murder by the Minster. Then DI Malcolm Halloran breaks some bad news: DS Charlotte Banks has been suspended from duty, on suspicion of assaulting the suspect in the burglary of a local bookshop.

Evie wants justice for Charlotte, who she is sure was not the attacker, and how could any self-respecting librarian turn down the chance to find missing rare books? The two friends team up once again to investigate the rarefied world of York's bookshops and antiques dealers and find out just who has framed their friend.

But Kitt and Evie will soon learn that there are some books people will kill for - will this story have a happy ending?

***

4.75 Stars

This is the second book in a series set in York, England featuring all the same characters but from different points of view. Book one: MURDER BY THE MINSTER featured Kitt and DI Mal Halloran’s romance and mystery. This book centers on Kitt’s friend, Evie Bowes and Mal’s partner DS Charlotte Banks.

Banks has been suspended for assault after a burglary in a bookshop of some rare first editions. We know it’s all a bunch of BS from the very beginning and Evie jumps in and tries to figure out what is really going on. In her mind, if Kitt can solve a mystery, why not her? So, the hunt is on for the missing first editions.

There is a pretty great scene at an auction where DI Mal Halloran, my favorite character of the year, sprints across chairs like Indiana Jones and tackles a suspect. Classic! There is definitely not enough Mal Halloran in this book for me. And I wonder if this series needs a name and a central focus. This could morph into a DI Halloran and DS Banks mystery series fairly easily since they are the main detectives here. Above I called it a series set in York. Maybe Picturesque City of York series would be a good moniker.

I really enjoy this series and was pretty surprised that book two came out so quickly after book one. Usually we have to wait for book two for over a year, so when this popped up, I was excited to dive into it. I am in love with this series world and characters. So ready for book three!

If you love police procedurals and detective fiction with a taste of romance, definitely check this series out.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

Spice Buzzword Readathon - Round 2 Plus Non-Fiction November and Believeathon Middle Grade Readathon.

SPICE THE SECOND ROUND

I finished my first round of reading and decided I needed a few more books to round out my Buzzword Readathon - Spice to six books total.

Pumpkin Spice and Poisoning

(Sweet Baked Mystery #4)

by 

Katherine Hayton

A bid for real estate turns as bitter as almonds.

When Holly Waterston makes inquiries to move the family bakery to a busier part of town, it ends in disaster. A poisoner strikes down her sister Crystal and five others at the neighboring restaurant. While Crystal fights for her life, the sergeant in charge of the case points the finger of blame squarely at her cupcakes.

With her sister's life and reputation on the line, Holly must involve herself in the case if she's to save either one of them. With an angry chef, two German tourists, and a landlady from hell complicating the mix, it'll be a challenge to ensure that the true culprit gets their just desserts!

This Sweet Baked Mystery is certified poison-free of the following ingredients:
No Swearing
No Gore
No Graphic Scenes
and absolutely No Cliffhangers!

Pumpkin Spice Murder

(Frosted Love Cozy Mystery #17)

by 

Summer Prescott

*This is book 17 in the Frosted Love Cozy Mystery Series*
A celebratory haunt turns out to be closer to reality than fantasy when Missy's Halloween masquerade becomes a crime scene. With few clues and only murky information about just what is going on in the spooky new town, Missy must team up with artist Kel and set a trap for the killer!

Pumpkin Spice & A Body On Ice

(Dixie Cupp Diner Mystery #1)

by 

Willow Monroe

Cupcakes and murder - a recipe for disaster!
Starla Cupp lives her life on purpose, and it shows. She owns the best diner in Virginia, has the best friends in the world, and she's the reigning Cupcake Queen of Sugar Hill's annual dessert festival, which is only a couple of weeks away. Life is pretty darn good until she finds Nadine Krump, her arch-nemesis, dead on the railroad tracks behind her diner.

Now she's famous for something besides her cupcakes, and everyone's pretty sure that Nadine's death was no accident. With the the sexy new police chief breathing down her neck and a possible killer among her close group of friends, Starla has to figure out what happened, prove herself innocent, and win a cupcake contest before the real killer gets away with murder.

A fun holiday mystery for everyone!

MORE NOVEMBER TBR ADDITIONS

There are a couple of other readathons I want to participate in this month which include: Believeathon: where they read middle grade novels and Non-Fiction November where they obviously read non-fiction books. Here are my picks for these.

Believeathon TBR

The House of Hades

(The Heroes of Olympus #4)

by 

Rick Riordan

Hazel stands at a crossroads. She and the remaining crew of the Argo II could return home with the Athena Parthenos statue and try to stop Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter from going to war. Or they could continue their quest to find the House of Hades, where they might be able to open the Doors of Death, rescue their friends Percy and Annabeth from Tartarus, and prevent monsters from being reincarnated in the mortal world. Whichever road they decide to take, they have to hurry, because time is running out. Gaea, the bloodthirsty Earth Mother, has set the date of August 1 for her rise to power.

Annabeth and Percy are overwhelmed. How will the two of them make it through Tartarus? Starving, thirsty, and in pain, they are barely able to stumble on in the dark and poisonous landscape that holds new horrors at every turn. They have no way of locating the Doors of Death. Even if they did, a legion of Gaea's strongest monsters guards the Doors on the Tartarus side. Annabeth and Percy can't exactly launch a frontal assault.

Despite the terrible odds, Hazel, Annabeth, Percy, and the other demigods of the prophecy know that there is only one choice: to attempt the impossible. Not just for themselves, but for everyone they love. Even though love can be the riskiest choice of all.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

(Harry Potter #4)

by 

J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter is midway through his training as a wizard and his coming of age. Harry wants to get away from the pernicious Dursleys and go to the International Quidditch Cup. He wants to find out about the mysterious event that's supposed to take place at Hogwarts this year, an event involving two other rival schools of magic, and a competition that hasn't happened for a hundred years. He wants to be a normal, fourteen-year-old wizard. But unfortunately for Harry Potter, he's not normal - even by wizarding standards. And in his case, different can be deadly. 

Non-Fiction November TBR

Embrace Your Weird: 

Face Your Fears and Unleash Creativity

by 

Felicia Day 

In Embrace Your Weird, New York Times bestselling author, producer, actress, TV writer, and award-winning web series creator, Felicia Day takes you on a journey to find, rekindle, or expand your creative passions.

Including Felicia’s personal stories and hard-won wisdom, Embrace Your Weird offers:

—Entertaining and revelatory exercises that empower you to be fearless, so you can rediscover the things that bring you joy, and crack your imagination wide open

—Unique techniques to vanquish enemies of creativity like: anxiety, fear, procrastination, perfectionism, criticism, and jealousy

—Tips to cultivate a creative community

—Space to explore and get your neurons firing

Whether you enjoy writing, baking, painting, podcasting, playing music, or have yet to uncover your favorite creative outlet, Embrace Your Weird will help you unlock the power of self-expression. Get motivated. Get creative. Get weird.

Don't Keep Your Day Job: 

How to Turn Your Passion into Your Career

by 

Cathy Heller

The pursuit of happiness is all about finding our purpose. We don't want to just go to work and build someone else's dream, we want to do our life's work. But how do we find out what we're supposed to contribute? What are those key ingredients that push those who succeed to launch their ideas high into the sky, while the rest of us remain stuck on the ground?

Don't Keep Your Day Job will get you fired up, ready to rip it open and use your zone of genius to add a little more sparkle to this world. Cathy Heller, host of the popular podcast Don't Keep Your Day Job, shares wisdom, anecdotes, and practical suggestions from successful creative entrepreneurs and experts, including actress Jenna Fischer on rejection, Gretchen Rubin on the keys to happiness, Jen Sincero on having your best badass life, and so much more. You'll learn essential steps like how to build your side hustle, how to find your tribe, how to reach for what you truly deserve, and how to ultimately turn your passion into profit and build a life you love.

Break the Silence (Detectives Kane and Alton #7) by D.K. Hood

Break the Silence

(Detectives Kane and Alton #7)

by D.K. Hood

ebook, 307 pages

Published November 4th 2019 by Bookouture

Goodreads synopsis:

Her head throbbed as she stumbles up the stairs. Music vibrating and the sound of partygoers fill her head as she walks into one of the dark, empty rooms. As she sits on the bed, she hears the unmistakable sound of the door locking behind her. She is not alone.

The body of college student Chrissie Lowe lies curled into a ball - long red cuts along her arms suggesting how she had met her death. Detective Jenna Alton is called in to investigate.

Purplish bruising on Chrissie's upper arms make Jenna believe there is more to Chrissie's death than others suspected, and she soon finds herself following the trail of the student's last few moments, leading her to the scene of a party that had ended just hours before Chrissie's body was found.

When Jenna hears reports that Chrissie was seen going into the bedroom of a college football star, she knows that finding out what went on behind that closed door could be the key to finding out how Chrissie ended up dead. But then another partygoer dies in an apparent accident at the campus gym just hours later, and Jenna is convinced the deaths are connected.

Facing a wall of silence from the student population, Jenna has to act fast to find the killer, but soon another student is found dead on the campus. As Jenna sends in one of her deputies undercover, she prays that she hasn't just sealed his fate. Can she find the killer before any more lives are taken?

***

5 Stars

This is the seventh book in the Detectives Kane and Alton series by D.K. Hood.

This book starts out with a bang in a bad way. A young college student is raped at a party and they make it out to be like a hazing event so that the impact of what they all had done made it seem okay in some way. The girl texts her brother who is MIA in the military just so she has someone to talk to as the horror of her experience hits her. She is found the next morning dead from an apparent suicide.

David Kane and Jenna Alton investigate this horrific happening and soon realize that this may not be a suicide at all. Then other people start turning up dead connected to the case. This book really takes you on a ride and you have to do a lot of mental gymnastics to wrap your mind around what is really going on.  You gets hints as to the killer’s identity here and there but it isn’t until the bitter end when the entire scope of what has happened is revealed.

I just loved this story. You spend the entire book wanting vengenance for what happened to this poor girl and wonder the entire time if the detectives can even make that happen.

This is another five star read for me. I gave book six WHISPER IN THE NIGHT four stars only taking off a star due to the weird dynamic between Kane and Jenna. In this book that relationship felt so much more balanced and believable to me.

If you love detective fiction/police procedurals set in the UK/Great Britain, definitely check this book out. You won’t be disappointed. 

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

Rules in Deceit (Blackhawk Security #3) Harlequin Intrigue by Nichole Severn

Rules in Deceit

(Blackhawk Security #3) Harlequin Intrigue

by Nichole Severn

ebook, 256 pages

Published November 1st 2019 by Harlequin Intrigue

Goodreads synopsis:

A misunderstanding tore them apart.

Now he’s her only chance…

Blackhawk Security’s Elizabeth Dawson believes ex-government programmer Braxton Levitt betrayed her, but now he’s the only one who can keep her safe. A killer steps ahead of them is methodically hunting the pregnant analyst to access her top-level software program. But as Braxton and Liz race to stop him, their broken trust—and most intimate secrets—could end more than their lives…

***

4.5 Stars

This is the third book in the Blackhawk Security series in the Harlequin Intrigue line from Nichole Severn.

Liz Dawson used to work for the NSA and created a security protocol entity called Oversight which used facial recognition software along with a pretty tight algorithm of streaming code. She made a name for herself in the agency with this program and it has been a huge success. Only 1 percent of the time is it ever wrong.

A man is out to capture Liz and get her to crack the Oversight code for his own ends. He feels he has been wronged and is going to extreme measures to get payback.

Her ex-partner, Braxton Levitt, gave passwords and intel to someone in order to save Liz. So, the NSA is out to capture him and put him behind bars. But he has shown up to protect Liz once again against the man who is out to harm her and who caused them both to split up in the first place.

Oh, and did I mention that Liz is pregnant with Braxton’s baby? Yep, this is an intense one. I love these Harlequin Intrigue titles. If you are a romantic suspense junkie, this is just the fodder to fill your action-oriented soul.

There are lots of fights, kidnappings and injuries in this for two books. There is a lot of everything jam-packed into this tiny book that I am sure you will come away with that satisfied grin on your face once you make your way to the last page.

Great book. Intrigue is probably my favorite line by Harlequin. Long-time fangirl here! Check it out. You won’t be disappointed.

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.

Cavanaugh Stakeout - Harlequin Romantic Suspense by Marie Ferrarella

Cavanaugh Stakeout

Harlequin Romantic Suspense

by Marie Ferrarella

Paperback, 288 pages

Expected publication: November 5th 2019 by Harlequin Romantic Suspense

Goodreads synopsis:

They watch the streets, scouring faces…

…To catch a killer in the shadows

When a civilian disappears, Detective Finn Cavanaugh catches the case. His partner-in-catching-crime? Brainy and beautiful insurance investigator Nik Kowalski, whose method of pursuing people clashes with Finn’s own—and whose charms prove all too alluring. As their missing-person case heats up, Nik and Finn race to find the killer haunting their waking nightmares.

***

4 Stars

This is  a title in the Harlequin Romantic Suspense line from Marie Ferrarella.

The prologue starts with great uncle of Finn Cavanaugh then transitions into current day. We begin from the POV of Finn which to me is just unusual enough to set this apart. You get the impression that the Cavanaugh’s are the important thing in this book. They are a family of police officers who had been separated when the great uncle and Finn’s grandfather parted ways years ago. Now they are all back together again as a big family.

Nik Kowalski, don’t call me Nicky or Kowalski, comes in looking for the daughter of a woman who asked her for help. During her investigation she stumbles across Finn and his case. The two of them work together to solve Finn’s police case. Nik has taken a leave of absence from her job as an insurance investigator to find her missing person and her case and Finn’s are soon discovered to be very closely related.

What a great book! I enjoyed the interplay between Finn and Nik. I was surprised that Finn allowed Nik to go with him to so many places in an investigation but this is a book and what might happen in reality doesn’t always happen between the pages. I found this to have an almost cozy mystery feel since Nik was not a police officer and she was working with the police to find a serial killer who had ties to her own case.

I have loved Maria Ferrarella’s work over the years and she only seems to get better with time. If you love romantic suspense, definitely check out this book in the Harlequin Romantic Suspense line. It is one of my guilty pleasure reads for the month!

I received this as an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) in return for an honest review. I thank NetGalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this title.