New Release Book Review: The Boundary Fence by Alissa Callen

I always like returning to the town of Woodlea and in The Boundary Fence, book #7 in the series, it was wonderful to reconnect with the characters from the previous books as well as experience a new couple falling in love.

I loved meeting Ella again and learning more about her and what she had been through to cause her to swear off relationships. The same goes for Saul, a newcomer who has bought the property next to Ella’s. Both have some serious issues with relationships, but the chemistry between them means that they are both struggling to keep the boundaries they’ve spent so long building, standing.

As well as the relationship between Saul and Ella, there is a mystery involving Violet who used to own Ella’s house. Her daughter went missing many years ago and Violet has always wondered what happened to make her disappear and what happened to keep her from coming back. Violet has always left the porch light on for her daughter in the hopes that one day she will return. Ella and Saul get drawn into helping Violet try and uncover what really happened all those years ago, working together on this doesn’t help the growing attraction each of them feels.

I really enjoyed this story, and I hope to return to Woodlea again and catch up with the characters, old and new.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Australia for a digital copy in return for an honest review.

#AWW2020 32/50

New Release Book Review: Paw Prints of Love: An Anthology

I’m not a big reader of anthologies, but I’d been hearing about Paw Prints of Love wen it was still accepting contributions so I was excited to be able to get an early copy, I’m also a big dog lover and all of these stories revolve around dogs and the dog beauty parlour The Funny Bone in one way or another and are set in the south coast of Western Australia in the town of Stonecrest Bay.

The first story was All the Good Stuff by Lisa Knight and was a perfect introduction to the town of Stonecrest Bay. I thoroughly enjoyed this short story, from the opening lines where Emma is letting loose a flour bomb, I just knew I was going to love the humour Lisa Knight has imbued into this story. I’m already in love with the small town of Stonecrest Bay. This was a really fun, feelgood romance, and in such a short story, (30 minutes reading time), so much happened. I loved Chipper the dog who pulled it all together. I’ll be looking out for more writing by Lisa Knight.

Rescued Hearts by Fiona Greene I really enjoyed this one, this was definitely one of those ‘meant to be’ encounters between two lost souls.

A Barking Chaperone by Helen Walton A was short and sweet, love at first sight all down to a beagle determined to find trouble at every turn.

A Toast to Paddy by Teena Raffa An unlikely romance between two older people, I didn’t like either of the characters to start with, but as they warmed towards each other, and to Paddy, they warmed for me too.

Homecoming by Leah Kinninmont A friends to lovers story about two long time friends who finally get their acts together and see what is in front of them. I really enjoyed this one, especially seeing Harley, an employee at The Funny Bone, get the love he is looking for.

Jakes Dilemma by Susan Dunn This was another enjoyable story. I wasn’t sure where this one was going or how it was going to end up, but I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome and could easily see another story to follow on from this one.

Catching Curls by Jenny Lynch This is Abbey’s story, she works at The Funny Bone and volunteers for the weekend at a CanTeen surfing camp for teens. She meets pro surfer Travis Scott who is volunteering his time in between competitions. It’s love or lust at first sight for these two in this short and sweet romance.

For the Love of Dogs by Lisa Wolstenholme don’t judge a dog by its behaviour, at least when it’s a puppy or is a newcomer to the home. Sarah broke up her relationship months before because her boyfriend, Rick chose his dog Tobey over her, or so it seemed, now she hates dogs, but after being put in charge of her mum’s dog Daisy for a couple of weeks and running into Rick and Tobey, things are about to change.

Puddles Valentine by Carolyn Wren super short, but super sweet.

Chasing Love by P.L Harris The last story in the anthology and where the owner of The Funny Bone, Dee Chambers gets her chance at finding love. When Travis’s cousin Luke comes to town to catch up with his cousin, the last thing he expects is to meet Dee who immediately catches his interest and him hers. He’s supposed to be passing through, but maybe he should think about staying around. This was a great story to end our visit to Stonecrest Bay with, a story full of a potential future of true love.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable anthology that allowed me to dip in and out of Stonecrest Bay at leisure, I only wish I could move there myself and find my true love.

Thanks to Gumnut Press for a digital copy of this anthology in return for an honest review.

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#AWW2020 29/50

New Release Book Review: Choosing Lillian by Rania Battany

I Loved Call Me Lucy by Rania Battany and Choosing Lillian is the second in the Stolen Hearts series which follows on a little while after and this time social worker Lillian, who helped Lucy in the first novel, gets her own HEA.

For those who have read Call me Lucy, you will know that the chemistry between Lillian and the police officer Blake, was palpable, so it was no surprise that these two characters find ways to reconnect after Lucy’s case is finished.

Blake was definitely the instigator in this relationship, making excuses to catch up with her, and though shy, knew what he wanted when it came to Lillian. I really liked Blake and I was barracking for him through the whole novel, such a lovely guy, and very protective when it came to Lillian and it turns out, he has every reason to worry about her. Lillian isn’t too sure of what she wants due to the breakdown of her marriage a year before, and because of this, she sends lots of mixed signals to poor Blake, and to herself. I thought her friends and family weren’t very supportive of Lillian starting a new relationship, except of course Lucy, who was right behind her. Lillian is also still suffering the loss of a young client and still coming to terms with her inability to help when it was needed. Lillian has lots to deal with including her ex-husband who causes a few extra issues she definitely doesn’t need.

I really enjoyed the relationship that built between Lillian and Blake, I loved how the chemistry they had led to so much more, they both just had to trust and make the jump.

We meet many of the same characters in Choosing Lillian, but I changed my mind about a few of them in this story. I found Lillian’s mother to be very unsupportive of Lillian in this novel, and I didn’t like her much at all, she was constantly trying to get Lillian back with her ex, who was an asshole, and I couldn’t understand her thinking or lack of empathy. I found Gabby to be quite judgy and very naive, but I’m looking forward to reading her story and seeing where she ends up. I still am not a big fan of Leila, but she is starting to soften a bit more, I guess her relationship with Jacob from the prequel novella Letters to Leila, is softening those sharp edges of hers.

Thanks to the author for a digital copy of this novel in return for an honest review.

#AWW2020 20/50

New Release Book Review & Release Blitz: The Rich Boy by Kylie Scott

I’m a fan of Kylie Scott’s romance novels, they are all very different and you never know what you are going to get with each new book. This time she gives us a leading man, Beck who is a very likable busboy when we meet him, only he isn’t quite who he is pretending to be. He expresses an interest in Alice, a waitress at the bar where he is working. She’s a very down to earth girl who is exactly who she seems to be, and I think that is a big part of Beck’s attraction to her.

I’m not a big fan of the billionaire trope, but this is different from some of the other books I’ve read.

Alice, after going against her initial doubt about trusting Beck, falls hard and is drawn into the world he has been running from, knowing nothing about what she is about to encounter. It turns out Beck is rich, very rich, and now Alice is under the microscope of Beck’s family members.

I thought that Alice, despite initially thinking she wasn’t the right kind of girl for Beck, shows how strong she really is and how she believes in who she is and is unwilling to change too much because of this rich family’s expectations. I really liked the way she stood up to Beck when different things came to light throughout the story, I liked that she stood her ground and made him reassess what it was he wanted and who he wanted to be.

Beck was lovely, but growing up in his messed up family has left him emotionally stunted and he has no real idea what will make someone like Alice happy. If you’ve always seen money as a way of buying the people around you, you would find it hard to understand what drives a normal everyday person.

I enjoyed watching all the family relationships change, mainly due to Alice’s influence on those around her. I especially liked how she got the better of Beck’s evil old grandmother. While Alice and Beck’s relationship wasn’t an easy ride, it was an enjoyable one, there were moments I thought, she should let him loose, but was glad that she didn’t in the end.

Thanks to Social Butterfly Pr for a digital copy of this novel in return for an honest review.

About the book:

“Rich Boy takes you on a literal ride! Funny. Angsty. It’s a definite recommendation from me! – Tijan, New York Times bestselling author

The Rich Boy, an all-new slow-burn standalone with white-hot chemistry and witty banter from New York Times bestselling author Kylie Scott, is out now!

I’m the type of girl who’s given up on fairy tales. So when Beck – the hot new busboy at work – starts flirting with me, I know better than to get my hopes up. Happily ever afters aren’t for the average. I learned that the hard way.

But how can I be expected to resist a man who can quote Austen, loves making me laugh, and seems to be everything hot and good in this world?

Only there’s so much more to him than that.

Billionaire playboy? Check.

Troubled soul? Check.

The owner of my heart, the man I’ve moved halfway across the country to be with, who’s laying the world at my feet in order to convince me to never leave? Check. Check. Check.

But nobody does complicated like the one percent.

This is not your everyday rags-to-riches, knight-in-shining armor whisking the poor girl off her feet kind of story. No, this is much messier.

Download your copy today!

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About Kylie

Kylie is a New York Times and USA Today best-selling author. She was voted Australian Romance Writer of the year, 2013, 2014 & 2018, by the Australian Romance Writer’s Association and her books have been translated into eleven different languages. She is a long time fan of romance, rock music, and B-grade horror films. Based in Queensland, Australia with her two children and husband, she reads, writes and never dithers around on the internet.

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#AWW2020 14/50

New Release Book Review: Promise Me Forever by Juanita Kees

I really enjoy each journey to Bindarra Creek and this latest novel set in the small country town, full of interesting characters and people who know what community means was a delight.

Promise Me Forever (Bindarra Creek A Town Reborn #8) has a touch of magic (maybe a little more than a touch) and was a fun read with two main characters who were very easy to fall in love with and to hope they could fall in love with each other.

Jack has one agenda when he comes to town to make a report on the small town of Bindarra Creek, and that is to get out of the headlines and back into real reporting, he’s not too sure about doing what he perceives to be a fluff piece on how the locals are trying to save their town.

Headstrong Meg is determined to make the dream of her granny’s museum become a reality and help put Bindarra Creek on the map. She truly hopes that Jack is the right person to help her do this, but has some serious doubts.

As the two get to know each other and discover what makes the other tick, they get more than they bargained for. And when they go off into the outback in search of a missing friend who is under the suspicion of murder, the chemistry between them heats up.

I really enjoyed the interactions between these two and I loved the way they had the magic spark and the magic of the cards between them. I enjoyed feisty Aunty Phyl’s character, she was a good laugh with her sharp tongue and her desire to protect Meg.

I always enjoy a good romantic suspense and Juanita Kees does this genre so well. With good characters and a wonderful town to set the story in, I can definitely recommend Promise Me Forever.

Thanks to the author for a digital copy of this novel in return for an honest review.

#AWW2020 9/50

New Release Book Review: Bound by Silence by Suzanne Cass

Bound by Silence by Suzanne Cass is book #2 in the Island Bound series and while it can be read as a standalone, the two main characters, Sierra and Reed, from book #1 Bound by Truth, play a pretty big role in this novel and they will continue into the next, so I’d advise you to read book #1 first, saying that, you won’t be lost if you don’t but the first book was really good and lays some of the backgrounds for our characters.

In Bound by Silence, we meet Keira, who is living in Hawaii and who witnesses a crime, watches her house be consumed by lava and is now on the run from some seriously bad guys. I kept changing my opinion of Keira, I liked her, then I thought she was a spoiled brat, followed by feeling terribly sorry for what she’d been through with her husband and being able to understand where some of her behaviours and thoughts come from, then liking her again. I wanted her to show some of the mettle she’d shown at the beginning of the story when she starts out on the run, but now and again she slipped into complete victim mode, which annoyed me. But at the same time, she’d lived through a lot and now her life was in danger, she was allowed to act like a victim for a while.

The things that Keira went through with her husband were quite hard to read about, she suffered terrible emotional abuse at his and others’ hands and that made her trust no one, while at the same time feeling that she was worth nothing. It is hard to fathom how people can blame themselves so completely for the way other people treat them when it is those people who are to blame.

I really liked Dalton, a bounty hunter, who inadvertently ends up rescuing Keira and becomes a target for the bad guys too. He struggled with what was right, morally and by the law, but chose to believe Keira and keep her safe while finding a way to prove she is innocent of a crime she’s been set up for in order to flush her out.

Keira’s sister Sierra and her now fiance Reed turn up in Hawaii as all this is going down, and using their skills as journalist and police officer, they go about tracking down evidence to help clear Keira’s name and prove who the bad guys really are.

There are some pretty hairy moments throughout this novel, where things could go either way for all four of our good guys, and there is a surprising twist, proving you don’t always know the people you think you do.

I did enjoy the chemistry between Dalton and Keira and I liked how much restraint and respect Dalton showed towards Keira. Some of the banter was fun too.

An enjoyable sequel in this series, I look forward to book three when Keira and Sierra go looking for their brother who seems to have disappeared.

Thank you to the author for providing me with a digital copy of this novel in return for an honest review.

#AWW2020 9/50

Book Review: Winter in Mason Valley by Eliza Bennetts

This is my final review for 2019 and what a great book to end a fabulous year of reading on.

I loved the first two books in this series and I really enjoyed catching up with Dee again after she left Urchin’s Bluff for a new job position to further her career.

I have to say it makes a nice change to be reading about women my own age making big decisions in their lives, whether it is a career, relocation or love or all three. It’s also nice to think that I’m not alone in still searching for the right job and the right man and also that not all women have to have had children to be content, though in this case, Dee gets a child as part of the package, maybe that’ll happen for me too, you just never know.

Starting her new job at the paper factory in Mason Valley Dee seems extremely off-kilter in her behaviour and it didn’t entirely endear her to me, though on further reflection, I’ve started jobs where the need to impress or make a stand straight away has made me behave slightly different to the way I normally would, though unfortunately never because the men I’m working with have blown my socks off, lucky Dee.

I wasn’t overly taken with Travis in the beginning either, his behaviour towards Dee to start with was annoying. The way he was with his mother and his daughter however, showed what a caring person he could be.

Both Dee and Travis’s characters grew on me as the story progressed and I was definitely hoping they could sort things out by the end.

I didn’t like creepy, smarmy Vince, the money man, who Dee has to work with and I seriously couldn’t understand how she didn’t pick up on his dodginess (is that a word) from the get-go, instead making excuses for his behaviour (I shudder when I think of him).

I enjoyed Dee and Travis’s undercover sting, I’ve always liked a Nancy Drew operation. What they uncover made me wonder how much of this sort of thing goes on every day and how often people get away with it or for how long. I can’t imagine ever being that dishonest or needing money that badly, but I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who fit one or the other of the criteria.

My favourite character was Annie, followed closely by Travis’s mum. Annie was an absolute delight and always brought a smile to my face.

A really enjoyable read, I look forward to Eliza Bennetts’ next book in the seasons series which is Spring at Lake Grange.

Thanks to the author for providing me with a digital copy of this novel in return for an honest review.

New Release Book Review – Last Bridge Before Home by Lily Malone

I loved the first two books in the Chalk Hill series, Water Under the Bridge and The Cafe by the Bridge and have been looking forward to Last Bridge Before Home. It certainly didn’t disappoint. Where The Cafe by the Bridge highlighted male depression and the need to ask for help, Last Bridge Before Home deals with another topical issue, domestic abuse.

Jaydah for all she comes across as a strong young woman is also an insecure young woman who has been physically and mentally abused for most of her life by her father who is an absolute bastard. It’s not just Jaydah who has been a victim to this vile excuse of a man, but also her mother and her sister Jasmine. Much of Jaydah’s life has been spent protecting them from her father and taking on responsibility for keeping them all safe. I can’t imagine living like Jaydah, being so afraid to tell anyone what is going on, keeping so many secrets all to herself, huge secrets that no one in the town of Chalk Hill has any idea about.

But is that really true? Well, one secret yes, but most people in Chalk Hill had an inkling that things weren’t exactly right with Jaydah’s father, but no one wanted to step up and ask questions, then afterwards they say ‘why didn’t you say something, why didn’t you tell us?’ way to pass the blame to the victim. This happens in real life all too often, no one wants to take responsibility for what might be going on behind closed doors, maybe we should start looking out for each other and asking the hard questions ‘Do you need help? Can I do anything? Is everything all right?’. Be there and let the people/person in question know that when they are ready, you are there, no judgement, just support.

Brix, what a lovely, loyal guy he was, and no pun intended, but what a ‘brick’ of a character he was. Jaydah has always been the love of his life and he has never given up hope that one day she will be his. Jaydah has kept her secrets even from Brix who thought he knew everything about her. I’m not sure how I would have coped if I found out all of my partners secrets and had to deal with all the issues that Brix does, but the way he took it all in his stride despite his worries about how he would deal with everything was fabulous and truly showed his love for Jaydah.

Another issue that Lily Malone deals with in this novel is the aspect of caring for someone with an intellectual disability and all it entails. She also delves into the dreams of people with a disability and what they can realistically expect when it comes to freedom of choice and their future. This is a hard topic as anyone who cares for or works with a person with disabilities can attest to. I work with people with disabilities and I can’t imagine what it would be like to have the responsibility for a person day in, day out, to make the hard choices, to explain why they can’t have everything they see others around them having. Dealing with the behaviours of people with intellectual disabilities is challenging and Lily Malone has done a great job with both her character portrayal and showing the good and the bad of living with such a challenge.

There were many tense moments in this novel, there were heartbreaking moments, moments of joy, moments I wanted to take one of Jaydah’s kali sticks and whack her father across the head for her, there were ups and downs and many wonderful moments threaded through this novel making it an absolute joy to read despite its darkness.

I hope we get to visit Chalk Hill again and see how the three brothers and their partners are going, along with their extended families.

Thanks to Harlequin Mira Australia and NetGalley for providing me with a digital copy in return for an honest review.

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Book Review: Loving Lucas by Jayne Kingsley

I thoroughly enjoyed this romance novel, it had a sassy leading lady, Miranda, who has been quietly in love with one of her dad’s colleagues, Lucas, for a couple of years, but she’s decided it’s time to make him notice her. I loved the way Miranda chose to go about this, especially the help her best friend gives her.

Lucas has issues and in true stubborn male fashion, he keeps all his feelings and doubts to himself, while silently beating himself up about a past he had no control over. For such a confident business guy, he was sorely lacking in self-belief when it came to what he deserved.

Homelessness is something I’m pretty passionate about, I’ve always said if I win the lotto I will find a way to build some sort of homeless shelter, and I loved that this was something Miranda was so passionate about and used her knowledge as an architect and her dad’s company to make this happen.

At times Miranda showed her naivety, but I still enjoyed the interactions between her and Lucas and was hoping that things would work out for them, when or if Lucas finally pulled his head out of his ass.

Thanks to Jayne Kingsley for providing me with a digital copy of this novel in return for an honest review.

New Release: The Mistletoe Mistress by Maddison Michaels

Maddison Michaels has written her first novella The Mistletoe Mistress as part of a Christmas compilation Once Upon A Christmas Wedding, it is part of the Saints and Scoundrels series and occurs before book 1. I love the two novels in this series so was eager to be able to read this novella.

While I would have loved for this to be a full-length novel, Maddison has done a good job of letting us get to know the two main characters, Michael and Holly.

I always enjoy the headstrong female characters in Maddison Michaels’ stories and Holly is no exception. Holly has come up with a scheme to keep herself and her sisters safe without the help or need of a man, if society found out there would be a massive scandal. Michael is known as a scoundrel, but underneath there is far more to him than that.

Michael and his scoundrel friends make a bet that has both Michael and Holly questioning what it is they both want and what they will do with the secrets they are both keeping. I really enjoyed the push/pull relationship that they had going, especially since they’d know each other from childhood and both had feelings that neither wanted to admit even all the way back then, this same dynamic rears its head when they meet again as adults.

A really enjoyable short historical romance read.

I’m sure that all the stories in this compilation will be just as enjoyable as this one, so grab a copy today.

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