This Weeks New Releases

I look forward to this weekly post and at the same time I almost dread it. Why you ask? Because it reminds me of how much I want to hideaway for hours and simply read!

It's all contemporaries this week. In comments, please add any releases you are anticipating.

Sarina Bowen is a favorite author of mine. Thanks to Nath for first recommending Ms. Bowen's wonderful Ivy Years series. I have yet to start this new series but have read some glowing reviews.

Steadfast
Sarina Bowen
Contemporary Romance
True North Series/Book 2

She’s the only one who ever loved him—and the only one he can never have.

Jude lost everything one spring day when he crashed his car into an apple tree on the side of the road. A man is dead, and there's no way he can ever right that wrong. He’d steer clear of Colebury, Vermont forever if he could. But an ex-con in recovery for his drug addiction can’t find a job just anywhere.

For Sophie Haines, coming face to face with the man who broke her heart is gut-wrenching. Suddenly, he’s everywhere she turns. It’s hard not to stare at how much he’s changed. The bad boy who used to love her didn’t have big biceps and sun-kissed hair. And he’d never turn up volunteer in the church kitchen.

She knows it’s foolish to yearn for the man who returned all the heartsick letters she wrote him in prison. But the looks he sends her now speak volumes.

No one wants to see Sophie and Jude back together, least of all Sophie's police chief father. But it's a small town. And forbidden love is a law unto itself.

And... another series I haven't started yet but I have enjoyed Alice Clayton's writing in the past. She writes witty, sexy, fun contemporary romances. If you haven't ready her, give her a try.

Cream of the Crop
Alice Clayton
Contemporary Romance
Hudson Valley Series/Book 2

Manhattan’s It Girl, Natalie Grayson, has it all: she’s a hot exec at a leading advertising firm, known industry-wide for her challenging and edgy campaigns. She’s got a large circle of friends, a family that loves her dearly, and her dance card is always full with handsome eligible bachelors. What else could a modern gal-about-town wish for? The answer, of course, is...cheese.

Natalie’s favorite part of each week is spending Saturday morning at the Union Square Farmer’s Market, where she indulges her love of all things triple cream. Her favorite booth also indulges her love of all things handsome. Oscar Mendoza, owner of the Bailey Falls Creamery and purveyor of the finest artisanal cheeses the Hudson Valley has to offer, is tall, dark, mysterious, and a bit oblivious. Or so she thinks. 

But that doesn’t stop Natalie from fantasizing about the size of his, ahem, milk can.Romance is churning, passion is burning, and something incredible is rising to the top.Could it be...love?

I've read Susan Mallery's Fool's Gold series and liked the small town setting with a diverse character group and some amusing secondary characters. Daughters of the Bride sounds like a sweet romantic story.

Daughters of the Bride
Susan Mallery
Contemporary Romance

With Joy, Love and a Little Trepidation, Courtney, Sienna and Rachel Invite You to the Most Emotional Wedding of the Year… Their Mother's

Courtney ~ The Misfit ~ 

As the awkward one, Courtney Watson may not be as together as her sisters, but she excels at one thing—keeping secrets, including her white-hot affair with a sexy music producer. Planning Mom's wedding exposes her startling hidden life, changing her family's view of her—and how she views herself—forever.

Sienna ~ The Free Spirit ~ 

When Sienna's boyfriend proposes—in front of her mom and sisters, for crying out loud—he takes her by surprise. She already has two broken engagements under her belt. Should she say "I do" even if she's not sure she does?

Rachel ~ The Cynic ~ 

Rachel thought love would last forever…right up until her divorce. As Mom's wedding day draws near and her ex begs for a second chance, she's forced to acknowledge some uncomfortable truths about why her marriage failed, and decide if she'll let pride stand in the way of her own happily-ever-after.

This sounds like a fun, tropical romantic suspense. A little on the short side, 222 pages per Amazon. Which is actually a good length for a beach/vacation read. I've read some of Lauren Blakely's novels and she writes steamy romances. Not too dark but with plenty of action.

The Sapphire Affair
Lauren Blakely
Contemporary Romantic Suspense
Jewel Series/Book 1

Bounty hunter Jake Harlowe knows how to track a criminal. So when a group of swindled shareholders hires him to trail their former CEO, Jake expects a quick trip to the Cayman Islands to close another case. Until a devastatingly beautiful woman gets in the way.

Steph Anderson is visiting the Caymans for a rock climbing and dive trip—or so she tells Jake. She’s really trying to find out whether or not her stepfather embezzled money from his company. The last thing Steph needs is the distraction of a sexy, charming man whose kisses drive her wild.

Soon, the pair discover they’re after the same target—and millions in jewels. While Jake can’t be certain Steph isn’t working for her stepfather, and Steph can’t be certain Jake isn’t after the diamonds for himself, they can agree the heat between them is intense, and neither can deny the passion for long.

But the morning after, Steph discovers that she just might have slept with the enemy, and now she’ll have to outwit him to get everything she needs…

ARC Review: The Girls of Mischief Bay

The Girls of Mischief Bay
Susan Mallery
Contemporary Fiction
Mischief Bay/Book 1
Harlequin/February 24, 2015

Spoiler Alert/Warning Below Rating

Nicole Lord wants to be a good wife, but there's a difference between being supportive and supporting her husband, who quit his job to write a screenplay she's never seen. He won't even help take care of their son, leaving Nicole to run the house and work full-time at her Mischief Bay Pilates studio. Can she say enough is enough without losing the man she loves?

Sacrificing a personal life for her career is how Shannon Rigg rose to become vice president in her firm, but she wonders now whether she made the right choice. An exciting new relationship with a great guy convinces her that it might not be too late—until he drops a bombshell that has her questioning whether she can have it all. And if she can, does she want it?

Although Pam Eiland has a beautiful house and a husband she adores, she feels… restless. She wonders who a stay-at-home mom becomes after the kids are grown. Finding sexy new ways to surprise her husband brings the heat and the humor back to their marriage, but when unexpected change turns her life upside down, she'll have to redefine herself. Again.

Through romance and heartbreak, laughter and tears, three very different women will discover that friends can become family, and that life is richer with sisters at your side.

This isn't what I would consider a romance. It's a contemporary story about friendship with some romance but not in the traditional sense of following the relationship of a main hero and heroine. What it is is a story about three women, Nicole, Shannon and Pam, who through their friendship, weather some very rough seas together.

One thing about Nicole, Pam and Shannon that sets them apart from what might be called the typical friends story is their age differences and the stage that each is in their lives. Pam is the eldest at fifty. She has been married for many years and has three grown children. Shannon, closing in on forty, is single and career driven but hoping to find love. Nicole, the youngest at thirty, is married with a young son. All three have struggles in their love lives but those struggles are different because each woman is at a different phase in her life. This kept the plot moving along.

We get points of view from each of the three women which helps give insight to how they are feeling and thinking. They share a lot of their thoughts with each other but do hold back some. Also, getting the same scene from different points of view shows how perceptions of others isn't always accurate, even with close friends.

With three different women there is a greater chance the reader will relate to at least one of the women. The downside is if the reader only relates to one of the lead characters that leaves a possible disconnect with approximately two-thirds of the narration. I found myself able to relate easiest to Pam but less so to Nicole and Shannon. Nicole mostly because of how she allowed her husband to treat her. She didn't stand up for herself, but rather tried to justify his self-centered actions. This left me feeling little sympathy for her. Shannon was a little different. With Shannon there is sympathy for her situation even though she has been in control of her life and where it has lead her up until now. Her decisions were intelligent and well thought out. I actually liked her the best.

The first half of the book was enjoyable getting to know the three women and seeing where their lives were going. It was when the bad things started to happen the story took a turn that turned out to be a turn off. It was as if some terrible, life shattering event had to happen to each woman and they might not make it back from the brink they found themselves on. I found certain parts simply depressing. Yes, they did band together and overcome and pulled each other back from the brink but in the end, the trip was a little too rough for me.

Rating: C+


Mischief Bay Series ~

The Girls of Mischief Bay











Spoiler Alert / Warning

If you have recently, and that could be months or years, depending on where you on in the grieving process, suffered the death of your spouse then this might not be the book for you. One of the main characters' spouse dies and we see her go through the aftermath of his death. It wasn't easy to read and might prove to be too difficult for someone who has been there. Or, it could have a positive affect. Reading about a character going through this might make you feel like you're not alone. I felt a warning was needed because the death in the book came as a surprise. Not the blurb nor the story leading up to the death made me think this would happen.

My sincere condolences if you have suffered the death of your spouse, at any point in your life.

Review: Two of a Kind

Two of a Kind
Susan Mallery
Contemporary Romance
Fool's Gold/Book 11
Harlequin/June 25, 2013

Felicia Swift never dreamed she'd hear a deep, sexy voice from her past in tiny Fool's Gold, California. The last time Gideon Boylan whispered in her ear was half a world away...on the morning after the hottest night of her life. Her freaky smarts have limited her close friendships, and romance, but she came to Fool's Gold looking for ordinary. Gorgeous, brooding Gideon is anything but that.

Black Ops taught Gideon that love could be deadly. Now he pretends to fit in while keeping everyone at arm's length. Felicia wants more than he can give-a home, family, love-but she has a lot to learn about men...and Gideon needs to be the man to teach her.

As these two misfits discover that passion isn't the only thing they have in common, they just might figure out that two of a kind should never be split apart.

Welcome back to Fool's Gold where romance will find you whether you want it to or not.  It seems to be those who claim to not want a happily ever after are usually the people who need it most of all.  Such is the case for Gideon Boylan.

When Gideon Boylan moved to Fool's Gold he thought he could be a hermit, living alone and keeping mostly to himself with the occasional trip into town.   His friends, however, have other plans.  So they pull him out of his hermi-tude a little at a time.  When Gideon runs into Felicia, he's surprised and a little scared, not that he would admit it.  I liked Gideon's vulnerable side, how it reflected his past experiences which he also tried to hide.

Felicia Swift is a genuine genius.  She practically grew up on a college campus, raised by professors instead of parents.  Felicia hasn't let this stop her from wanting a more traditional life for herself, in fact it probably made her crave it that much more.  Felicia isn't easy to warm up to, she's full of facts and seems to have a hard time with emotions.  In a way, she's very childlike when it comes to relationships.  She says what she's thinking, not always realizing what the outcome might be.

Gideon and Felicia didn't come across as a good fit.  The attraction was strong but beyond that, it felt like they were basing their relationship on a one-night stand.  Gideon didn't want the same things out of life that Felicia did.  She wants to become part of the Fool's Gold community where Gideon wants very little contact with the population.  He would rather limit his contact to the air waves of the radio station he owns than participate in the various festivals the town is known for.

Fool's Gold is full of all types of people.  It's what makes it the type of place readers want to go back to again and again.  The problem that can occur with small town romances are those very people who make up the town.  They tend to encroach on the romance, taking time away from the hero and heroine that would be better spent showing the development of the relationship.

So not a bad romance but it simply didn't work on all levels for me.  It did however, leave me looking forward to reading the next book in the series.  So that's always a plus!

Rating: C+

Fool's Gold Series ~

Chasing Perfect
Almost Perfect
Sister of the Bride (novella in Summer Brides anthology)
Finding Perfect
Only Mine
Only Yours
Only His
Only Us (novella in Almost Summer anthology)
Summer Days
Summer Nights
All Summer Long
A Fool's Gold Christmas (novella)
Halfway There (novella)
Just One Kiss
Two of a Kind
Three Little Words
Christmas on 4th Street (novella)
When We Met (April 29, 2014)
Before We Kiss (May 27, 2014)
Until We Touch (June 24, 2014)
Yours For Christmas (September 30, 2014/novella)

Fool's Gold Cookbook: A Love Story Told Through 150 Recipes

ARC Review: Only His

Only His
Susan Mallery
Contemporary Romance
Fool's Gold/Book 6
HQN/September 27, 2011

From Goodreads ~

Wedding bells are ringing in Fool’s Gold, but not for Nevada Hendrix. Her triplet sisters are engaged, and even her mother has a more active love life than she does. Determined to make a fresh start, she applies for her dream job, only to discover that her new boss is her first love. Maybe she could overlook the fact that they’ve seen each other naked, but she’ll never forget the way he broke her heart.

Tucker Janack agrees to Nevada’s “business only” ground rules. After all, love is a trap that the construction millionaire has avoided his whole life. But when great business partners turn out to be so much more, every rule gets broken. Will either of them be willing to try again…or will their past get in the way?

I was surprised I liked all three of the Hendrix sisters but I think Nevada, with her sometimes brusque manner, intrigued me the most. She has a secret in her past that was alluded to but now we find out that secret is centered around Tucker Janack.

Nevada Hendrix is ready for a change. She works for with her brother Ethan as an engineer but has decided to apply for a position with Janack Construction. They are building a casino and resort just outside of Fool's Gold and Nevada thinks this will be a great opportunity for her. It's a surprise when she find Tucker Janack instead of his father conducting the interview. Nevada is such a dynamic heroine. Someone I can see myself hanging out with. She's so generous and giving, always thinking of others which is where I had some problems with her and wanted to just yelled are her "What are you doing?!". But I'll get to that later. Now, she's trying to move on and get the job but Tucker wants to rehash the past and it just pisses Nevada off. She's more mature about the whole thing than Tucker was - good for her! She handles the situation well and once she's cooled off, listens to advice and makes the logical choice.

Tucker Janack is used to traveling the globe for his work. He never really had a permanent home so life in Fool's Gold is a new experience to him. Nevada Hendrix is not a new experience. They have a past, although Tucker doesn't seem to place as much importance on it as Nevada does. He was too absorbed in the power of Cat, as in Caterina Stoicasescu, a temperamental artist who left an impression on both Tucker and Nevada ten years ago. Tucker isn't the same guy he was ten years ago but I still had a hard time warming up to him. I'm not sure I can say I even really liked him. He was just kind of there but the real focus for me was Nevada.

As Nevada and Tucker start working together, the attraction starts to build but fate is about to bitch slap them both in the form of Caterina Stoicasescu. Seriously, I could never figure out why Nevada was so damn nice to Cat. At first Nevada felt sorry for her but then she actually started to like the stuck up diva. This just bugged the crap out of me since otherwise, I liked Nevada. Could not stand Cat. Far too manipulative and self-centered.

Nevada has other things going on besides her annoying to me, friendship with Cat. Both of her sisters are engaged and it looks like there will be a triplet wedding for two since Nevada has no prospective groom in sight. I felt so bad for her. To have to deal with this on top of everything else. There were a few bright spots in Nevada's life, namely Heidi, Charlie and Annebelle. It was good to see Nevada branch out from her sisters and have some new girls to hang out with. I would imagine all three women will get their own stories, maybe next year.

There is also a secondary romance of Nevada's mom, Denise, and a past love. I thought it was merely okay and Denise at times acted like a hormonal teenager rather than a woman in her fifties. The town of Fool's Gold also get in on the action, as usual but it didn't feel as intrusive to the romance as in some previous books.

I did find myself laughing at some of the situations Nevada found herself in. It's a good thing she has such a great sense of humor, otherwise she probably would have gone crazy!

Only His had some good points, mainly Nevada, but I think I'm ready for a break from Fool's Gold. I hope the next group of heroes and heroines are not as marriage focused as those in the past. While it's sweet and romantic, it can become a little too sweet and unrealistic. So for now I'll say good-bye to Fool's Gold and maybe I'll see you sometime next year.

Rating: B-

Books in this series ~

Chasing Perfect
Almost Perfect
Sister of the Bride (novella in Summer Brides anthology)
Finding Perfect
Only Mine
Only Yours
Only His

Audiobook Review: Delicious

Delicious
Susan Mallery
Contemporary Romance
Buchanans/Book 1
Harlequin/February 1, 2006 (mmp)

From Goodreads ~

Menu

Appetizer
Cal Buchanan needs a top-flight chef to take over his failing Seattle restaurant, The Waterfront. He can afford to hire the best in town -- the only problem is that the best happens to be his ex-wife, Penny Jordan.

Entree
Penny really needs this opportunity, but she doesn't need the distraction of working with her ex. She's sworn off romance -- she's even having a baby on her own. But before she knows it, the heat is on . . . and the attraction between her and Cal moves from a low simmer to a full boil!

Dessert
The rest should be easy as pie, but a secret from Cal's past could spoil everything. Maybe it's true that too many cooks spoil the broth -- or maybe two is enough to make it irresistible.

I generally don't review audiobooks simply because I usually don't have a print copy to refer to while writing the review. And since my memory isn't always great and I'm often reading more than one book at a time, the need to check details happens. This time I'm going strictly from memory so consider yourself warned. :)

This is one of those second chance at love romances although through much of the story I wasn't sure the heroine should give the hero a second chance. Penny and Cal fell in love, married and had a good life or so Penny thought. Then things started to unravel and Penny walked out, thinking that would jar Cal out of his apathy. But Cal let her go. Penny still doesn't know what caused Cal to shutdown and give up but she's moved on with her life, building a good career as a chef. Now she's back in Cal's life and she's determined to make their working relationship work.

Cal Buchanan is in desperate need of a chef and the only one that will do is his ex. Lucky for him she doesn't hold a grudge and is will to work for him, on her terms. I liked Penny from the start. She knows what she wants and stands her ground with Cal, not accepting anything less than what she wants in the negotiations of her contract. Cal, well... the more I got to know him, the less I liked him. This dude had secrets up the wazoo!

The romance between Penny and Cal is slow to pick in because neither wants to pick it up. They both want a strictly working relationship and a short one at that. Cal has only agreed to the job of manager for four months, then it's back to his own business, a chain of coffee shops called 'The Daily Grind'. Penny's fine with that, figuring she can handle being around Cal for a few months. It was interesting because really, in the beginning, they both meant what they said. They didn't want to get involved again. But as they spend more time together and find that they still care about each other. The physical attraction is still there and they eventually act on it. It came as no surprise that they got together, what I did like is that Penny didn't get all crazy stupid in love. She still had her own agenda and her baby was priority number 1. Cal was busy still keeping secrets and thinking he knew what was best for everyone. Ugh!

The three remaining Buchanan siblings throw more complications into the mix in the form of marital problems, a ladies man and a war veteran. I liked the three siblings more than I liked Cal, which bodes well for the rest of the books in the series. I also liked that they still had decent relationships with Penny and didn't hold it against her for walking out on Cal.

So the question is - does our hero redeem himself by the end? Is he worthy of a second chance with Penny? This is a romance, so in the end Penny thought "Yes", Cal was worthy. Me, I'm not so sure. There was groveling and an argument could be made with the 'old habits are hard to break' theory. But Cal kept disappointing me with his constant need to protect everyone he loves by keeping secrets. Sure, he comes clean in the end but that was due more to circumstances and others finding out than to him simply revealing what he had kept hidden.

This would have worked better for me had the hero not got on my nerves so much. There were times when I found myself actually hoping they didn't get back together which is just silly since it is a romance. In the end, I still felt that Penny deserved better. I did like the setting of the restaurant - all the foodie lingo and the chaotic atmosphere of a busy restaurant. I also liked what I read about the siblings enough to continue with the series. I'm just hoping Cal's brothers Walker and Reid, are far less annoying.

Rating: C+

Books in this series ~

Delicious
Irresistible
Sizzling
Tempting