Various Reviews

NEW RELEASE

  The Dream Keeper's Daughter: A Novel by Emily Colin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I picked up The Dream Keeper's Daughter because it sounded unique and it definitely delivered on that! This was well written and entertaining and honestly headed to be a 4.5 or 5 star read until the end when things went a little sideways for me.
Isabel is a young single mother who had her own mother and boyfriend disappear. Life is rocking along for her when things start to happen that shake the very foundation of her existence. Ms. Colin does an excellent job of blending two story lines - modern day South Carolina and 1816 Barbados with a touch of paranormal and time travel.
I found myself drawn into the story and they mysteries within right up until the point when everything came back together into one story. The way the author dealt with things in the last 25% of the story left me a little flat and honestly felt anti-climatic after the build up. I could understand some of the character's motivations, but it just wasn't how I pictured things ending.

Amazon

TBR READS

Barefoot with a Bodyguard by Roxanne St. Claire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've been needing a slight change of pace and this was exactly what I needed!
Alec and Kate both have reasons to hide and when they are brought together for that to happen, sparks fly!
I genuinely liked both characters. She's a character learning to be strong after being surrounding by controlling influences for a long time and he needs to learn that his past (and the actions of others) don't mean that he can't have it all.
While Alec and Kate struggle with being forced together at first, it doesn't take long for them to form a friendship of sorts and then it's not a big leap to them being romantically involved. The relationship between these two moves quickly, but it works here, especially with the close quarters they are living in.
Ms. St. Claire does an excellent job of balancing the relationship story line with the suspense elements and including the secondary cast we will be seeing in future books. Threads of past and future books are woven into this story in such a way that you wouldn't necessarily notice if you didn't know this was part of a much larger set of series.
Definitely a good read and I am looking forward to move of the Barefoot Undercover world.

Amazon

The Anatomy of Jane by Amelia LeFay
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a book that has lingered on my TBR for a while and I am so glad I finally had a chance to read it. Menage books typically make me leery as they tend to be heavy on the sexy time and light on the actual story. The Anatomy of Jane has plenty of the steamy stuff, but that isn't the only imprtant element here.

Jane is an average, hardworking, woman looking to pull herself up from less than ideal circumstances. I genuinely liked her character! She has every reason to be hard a bitter, but she has remained generous and has a strong sense of her self worth.

Wes is a famous chef, but is a sweet and giving personality outside of his restaurant kitchen. He's in long term committed relationship with Max when they meet and are attracted to Jane.

Max is famous in his own right as a news personality, but also comes from a wealthy family that would not support his relationship with Wes.

I loved the dynamic between these three, even though I connected better to Jane and Wes than I did Max. One of the things I appreciated was the fact that the three of them took time to get to know one another before actually creating a relationship. One thing I struggled with was how Max's family treated the relationship - the idea that Max trying to please them could be used to force the three of them apart and how Wes and Jane reacted to it.

This ends in a bit of a cliffhanger in that there is more to the story, but this book felt complete. I want to know what happens next, but I would also be content to let my imagination take the story further. If you are looking for something a little different, then this would definitely be a good choice.

Amazon

Free Reads

SEAL's Kiss: A Small Town Bad Boy Romance by Vivian Wood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There were actually two books in one for this read.
In the first - A Seal's Kiss - we meet Colt and Rose. He's a retired SEAL who runs his family's business with his brothers. She is a newly graduated veterinarian who just came to town. In a cruel twist of fate, the unscrupulous developer who wants to buy us their town also happens to be the man who attacked Rose on year ago.
A quick read, we see Rose face her fears and Colt reach inside himself to really care for someone else. Unfortunately, we don't have a whole lot of character development to see how they really got there. The suspense element is what make this really interesting.

The second book focus of Kit and Rex. He's a prince and she a distant royal connection whose family was disgraced. Their high school romance ended when she disappeared. They reconnect 5 years later when she returns home.
We see them deal with pressure from the royal family, crazy parents, creepy exes (her's) and old hurts to come out stronger.

Both stories were good, but could have been stronger if more fully developed.

Amazon - Kindle Unlimited

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