Review: The View from Rainshadow Bay

 

Synopsis:

“Prepare to stay up all night with Colleen Coble. Coble’s beautiful, emotional prose coupled with her keen sense of pacing, escalating danger, and very real characters place her firmly at the top of the suspense genre. I could not put this book down.” –Allison Brennan, New York Times bestselling author of Shattered

“…The View From Rainshadow Bay, opens with a heart-pounding, run-for-your-life chase. This book will stay with you for a long time, long after you flip to the last page.” – 4 STARS, RT Book Reviews

After her husband, Jack, dies in a climbing incident, Shauna has only her five-year-old son and her helicopter charter business to live for. Every day is a struggle to make ends meet and she lives in constant fear of losing even more than she already has.

When her business partner is murdered, his final words convince Shauna that she’s in danger too. But where can she turn? Zach Bannister was her husband’s best friend and is the person she blames for his death. She’s barely spoken to him since. But right now he seems her only hope for protecting her son.

Zach is only too happy to assuage his guilt over Jack’s death by helping Shauna any way he can. But there are secrets involved dating back to Shauna’s childhood that more than one person would prefer to stay hidden.

In The View from Rainshadow Bay, suspense, danger, and a longing to love again ignite amid the gorgeous lavender fields of Washington State.

Rating: 4.5-stars

Review:

The View from Rainshadow Bay by Colleen Coble is a romantic suspense novel readers like myself won’t forget. The characters have a way of pulling me further into their lives. I was frightened for them and hoping they would make it out fine. As with any suspense novel, I wasn’t sure of the outcome nor who the killer was.

Shauna lost her husband due to a dare competition. She never forgave her friend Zach’s for daring her husband too, far. However, it’s been a year later and now, she’s facing another loss. An older man and friend of hers dies from an explosion. But that didn’t happen until after he gaveled a box to give to his wife and his burner phone number. Shauna can’t ignore the gut feeling that the sweet older man was murdered…

Zach owns an emergency airway place in town. He and Shauna haven’t spoken since the day they loss Shauna’s husband. Now, it’s just Shauna raising her son alone and blaming Zach for the loss. Zach is torn inside about the whole situation. Out of the blue, Shauna comes to him asking him to take her son on a father-son picnic only because her son begged her. Zach is filled with hope to mend things between them. But then fate has other plans.

Colleen Coble has created a fascinating world of fiction in this book. I was impressed. The danger, risks, and romance caught my full attention. Sexy Zach and compassionate yet daring Shauna…made for a fun journey. I enjoyed reading this, and I recommend to all readers.

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Review: The Innocents

 

Synopsis:

Quinn Colson didn’t owe his hometown of Jericho, Mississippi, a damn thing. After serving for more than a decade as a U.S. Army Ranger, he’d returned, been elected sheriff, and tried to make the town and surrounding Tibbehah county a better place. He was rewarded with being voted out of office, and went back to the war zone he’d left.

Now, back in Jericho, trying to fix things with his still-married high school girlfriend and retired Hollywood stuntman father, he’s drawn to becoming a lawman again. This time, he accepts a badge from acting Sheriff Lillie Virgil, a foul-mouthed law woman with shades of Calamity Jane. But what they must confront together is something brand-new.

When a former high school cheerleader is found walking a back road completely engulfed in flames, the entire state focuses on the rural county, wanting answers. The light soon shines on several people: the girl’s father, a worthless drunk named Wash Jones; a pair of teenage thugs with grand ambitions to control north Mississippi; and a red-headed truck stop madam named Fannie Hathcock, who has her own problems – the Syndicate from down on the Gulf Coast has big plans for her neck of the woods.

As Quinn and Lillie uncover old secrets and new lies, the entire town turns against them, and they learn the most dangerous enemies may be the ones you trust most.

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

The Innocents by Ace Atkins is a well-developed story. A southern detective tale that will bring readers some humor, intrigue, and danger. After spending sixteen years in a rural community, I can connect easily with this novel. What seems to be a rural town with high priority case to solve, turns out to be more deadly than originally thought. Those that the characters trust are the ones that are their enemy. The bad guys are in plenty…then to have an entire town flip sides on the good guys is a nightmare. One I hope to never see…but inside this riveting read, the scenes play out like a movie screen. Action, adventure, and crime are everywhere. Every page is detailed, engaging, and lured me deeper into the tale. The plot is fast-paced. Sheriff Lillie is a female leader who knows how to handle people and the job at hand. Then there’s tough sexy Quinn Colson.  He was once a sheriff and wants back in…only time will tell if that happens. Both of them are in for a thrill ride…Believable and realistic. The Innocents brings drugs, sex, violence and redemption all into one stunning book. I couldn’t stop reading it until I finished it. Ace Atkins is definitely a writer that hooks readers with a suspenseful yet unforgettable story. Immediately, drew me inside…to a journey that sends both mind and heart racing.

 

Review: A Dangerous Love

 

Synopsis:

I’m the local sheriff of a small Montana town. Blue is the owner of the local pub. We have a great friendship, but I’m starting to want more. I’m not sure when Blue had become so important to me, or when I started to see her in a light other than friendship. All I know is that I want her, badly. She’s a little hesitant, at first, to get involved, but I finally convince her to go out on a ‘real’ date with me.

Soon after our initial date, she starts getting harassed and threatened. Her pub is even set on fire. Someone is after her, and we don’t know who or why, but it definitely has something to do with her involvement with me. Will our new, budding relationship survive the turmoil and danger?

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

A Dangerous Love by G.J. Cox is superb. I was immediately taken into the life of one very sexy sheriff whose beyond wealthy and a sassy lady who owns a bar. Both of these characters with their personalities, love, and life troubles had me intrigued.  Their instant hot chemistry filled the pages. Both are so crazy about each other and when they suddenly let it all out…the heat burns up…like a one-hundred-degree summer day. Jealousy, danger, and a hot romance all are on the line in this magnificent title by G.J. Cox. This was the first of her novels that I have ever read…and I was blown away by the compelling plotline and the irresistible characters. The story was fast-paced, steamy, and suspenseful. If it’s not one dangerous thing…it’s another…and the two characters…both Blue and her sheriff lover may lose each other if the criminal or criminals are not caught soon. A Dangerous Love is addictive, highly entertaining, and overall a must read for readers everywhere. I highly recommend this romance to all.

Review: Death at Breakfast

 

Synopsis:

From the acclaimed New York Times, bestselling author of Still Missing, More Than You Know, and Gossip comes the first entry in a stylish and witty mystery series featuring a pair of unlikely investigators—a shrewd novel of manners with a dark heart of murder at its center, set in small-town New England.

Indulging their pleasure in travel and new experiences, recently retired private school head Maggie Detweiler and her old friend, socialite Hope Babbin, are heading to Maine. The trip—to attend a weeklong master cooking class at the picturesque Victorian-era Oquossoc Mountain Inn—is an experiment to test their compatibility for future expeditions.

Hope and Maggie have barely finished their first aperitifs when the inn’s tranquility is shattered by the arrival of Alexander and Lisa Antippas and Lisa’s actress sister, Glory. Imperious and rude, these Hollywood one-percenters quickly turn the inn upside-down with their demanding behavior, igniting a flurry of speculation and gossip among staff and guests alike.

But the disruption soon turns deadly. After a suspicious late-night fire is brought under control, Alex’s charred body is found in the ashes. Enter the town’s deputy sheriff, Buster Babbin, Hope’s long-estranged son and Maggie’s former student. A man who’s finally found his footing in life, Buster needs a win. But he’s quickly pushed aside by the “big boys,” senior law enforcement and high-powered state’s attorneys who swoop in to make a quick arrest.

Maggie knows that Buster has his deficits and his strengths. She also knows that justice does not always prevail—and that the difference between conviction and exoneration too often depends on lazy police work and the ambitions of prosecutors. She knows too, after a lifetime of observing human nature, that you have a great advantage in doing the right thing if you don’t care who gets the credit or whom you annoy.

Feeling that justice could use a helping hand–as could the deputy sheriff—Maggie and Hope decide that two women of experience equipped with a healthy curiosity, plenty of common sense, and a cheerfully cynical sense of humor have a useful role to play in uncovering the truth.

Rating: 5 stars

Review:

Death at Breakfast by Beth Gutcheon is a highly entertaining murder mystery that delighted me from the beginning. When two women arrive at an inn to take a cooking class together their stay turns into an unexpected adventure. What was meant to test how well the two companions travel together turned into an experiment of solving a murder…first there are the celebrities who like always act like they are bigger than life and charge through places like it’s their right. The make the lives of others serving them totally chaotic…and unsettles the rest of the people at the inn. Soon, there is a room that catches fire and it’s not long until a dead body is found. The two companions both Maggie and Hope decide that it’s up to them to solve the case before the wrong person is charged. They know with high profile people involved that the pressure on the police, as well as the deputy sheriff, will prove to be a struggle. All want the case closed and solved asap. Can the two women solve it before it’s too late?

Beth Gutheon’s latest novel, Death at Breakfast, provides us readers with a pair of sleuth women and a cozy atmosphere that turns into a deadly mysterious setting. The women pair with the deputy sheriff and it’s a race against time to solve the death. The masterfully woven tale brings a lot of humor, wit, and suspense to every page. The plot moved by fast creating an urge to read faster…then there’s the intrigue of who done it and why that lured me deeper into the heart of this novel. I loved the variety of characters…their personalities, as well as careers, varied and that, too made this one highly entertaining read. Both Maggie and Hope reminded me of Miss Fletcher and Miss Marple. I can definitely see this novel becoming a big TV hit with fans everywhere. Overall, I highly recommend this thriller and crime title to readers worldwide.