Let It Melt by Margot Johnson

March 9, 2022 By 2 Comments


Let It Melt by Margot Johnson
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

How on earth did Jill, a single divorcee, land on a romantic Valentine’s Sweetheart Tour for couples? Worse, she’s paired with Jack, her daughter’s brash father-in-law, and everyone thinks he’s her valentine. Stranded in a Canadian prairie blizzard, how soon can she kiss this awkward evening goodbye?

Long divorced, Jack would love to charm Jill with his toned body and dynamic personality, but his wisecracks and obsession with fitness get in the way—especially when he nabs a post at the same school where she teaches.

Even the most romantic month of the year can’t melt their differences and sweeten Jill’s feelings….or can it?

Romance is in the air.

Jill and Jack were both well-rounded and memorable characters. One of my favorite things about both of them was that they sometimes stumbled over their words or accidentally said things that came out the wrong way and were interpreted as a little harsh instead of the playful banter they were shooting for. These missteps endeared me to them because those generally aren’t flaws that most writers choose for their protagonists. There’s something to be said for characters who can be a bit rough around the edges like that, especially once I got to know them well enough to be sure that they would soon correct themselves with what they actually meant to say.

I only have one small criticism of this story, and it has to do with Jill’s beliefs about dating again that she shared in one of the first scenes. She had recently been divorced by a man who broke her heart. Her emotions were still so raw from that experience that she didn’t give me any indication she was ready to dip into the dating pool again. I adored this character and thought her potential love interest would be perfect for her. My only hesitation had to do with the timing of their romance. It would have been helpful to have clearer indications that she was emotionally ready for such an experience as I wanted them to have the best possible chances of ending up together forever.

Some of my favorite scenes were the ones that described Jill’s struggles with her weight and body image as she attempted to create healthier habits for herself. These were topics she could be sensitive about at times, but she was also determined to make the changes she needed to in order to improve her health. It was delightful for me to discover how Jack’s own history with fitness and nutrition could be compared to hers. The author did a wonderful job of tying their backstories together and showing me how two people with such wildly different personalities could be the perfect match.

This series does not have to be read in chronological order, but I would definitely recommend going back and checking out Let it Snowball as well to anyone who enjoys this tale.

Let It Melt was a heartwarming Valentine’s Day novella.

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Let it Snowball by Margot Johnson

December 16, 2021 By Leave a Comment


Let it Snowball by Margot Johnson
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Romance, Holiday, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Divorced, empty nester Merilee is on a roll. Filled with scrumptious cookies and old-fashioned fun, her Christmas bus tours aim to add festive spirit to her hometown and new meaning to her lackluster life. Too bad her reserved driver slams the brakes on fun.

Widowed farmer Ross needs a little joy to combat his December blues. Behind the wheel, he wears a Santa suit but can’t muster a convincing ho-ho-ho. Too many memories block his road to happiness…until irrepressible Merilee sparks a snowstorm of unexpected feelings.

In two weeks of holiday tours, Ross might drive Merilee crazy…or will romance snowball inside their lonely hearts?

Christmas is the perfect time to fall in love.

Merilee’s character development was handled nicely. To be honest, I wasn’t a big fan of her behavior in the beginning due to how opinionated she was about how everyone should celebrate Christmas. Her love of that holiday was so strong that it was difficult for her to understand why someone else might feel depressed or lonely then. I did warm up to her once she began to think about the world from other people’s perspectives, though. As pushy as she sometimes was at first, I was pleased with how her attitude evolved over time. There is definitely something to be said for characters who learn from their mistakes!

I would have liked to see a bit more time spent on developing and resolving the conflicts in this novella. The storyline mentioned several of them so often in the earlier scenes that I was surprised by how quickly they were wrapped up later on. This was especially true for Merilee’s concerns that having a dour Santa on her tour might discourage her guests from recommending her services or returning for another tour. There was more space here to explore those themes, and I would have gone with a full five-star rating if the author had dove more deeply into them.

At first I was a little surprised by how long it took for the romantic subplot to show up, but that was exactly what these characters needed. Both Merilee and Ross had plenty of other things going on in their lives that needed to be balanced out with their growing interest in each other. I appreciated the slow burn of their relationship. It suited them well and left plenty of space to be explored further in the sequel after the final scene.

Let it Snowball was a heartwarming holiday read.

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Kisses and Lemon Snowflake Cookies by N. Jade Gray

December 6, 2021 By Leave a Comment


Kisses and Lemon Snowflake Cookies by N. Jade Gray
Christmas Cookies
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Holiday
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Fireman Dustin Keith didn’t realize women would be coming out of the woodwork after he posed for the local fundraiser calendar. But the one who catches his eye is a baker with trust issues. Can he scale the wall she’s built around her heart, or is fate destined to extinguish the flames of desire before they engulf his heart?

Lauren Badini came to Cedar Bend to lend a helping hand at her aunt’s bakery, not fall for Mr. July. The image on the calendar she received last Christmas fueled her fantasies, but the in-person version is too hot to handle. But if life after her ex has taught her anything, it’s okay to look…but don’t touch.

Perfection is overrated.

This novella had an excellent sense of humour. By far my favorite funny moment in it happened in the first scene after Lauren accidentally burned a tray of gingerbread men. I couldn’t stop giggling at what happened next, although I really should leave any further details up to other readers to discover for themselves. It gave me a good feeling about finding out what would happen to the characters next.

I would have liked to see more character development in the storyline, especially when it came to Dustin and Lauren. The audience learned basic facts about their occupations, but I didn’t see much personal growth in either of them. It would also be tricky for me to describe their personalities in any specific detail. I sure would have liked to have more information about that as well.

Some of the most memorable scenes were the ones that explored Dustin’s close-knit group of friends. They were a wonderful source of emotional support not only for him but also for one another. Their antics also contributed to the humorous moments in this tale as well. I loved the fact that they were such a funny and supportive group.

The two main characters both struggled with their communication skills. It was a little tiring for me as a reader to see them go through the cycle of seeing or hearing something they disapproved of and then immediately reacting to it in a negative manner without checking to see if their assumptions about those interactions were actually accurate. This was one of the biggest areas where I thought Lauren and Dustin could have both shown personal growth. I would have understood if it had happened a couple of times, but it popped up so often that it was a little bit too much for my tastes.

There was a twist in one of the final scenes involving something that happened to Dustin while he was at work that made me smile. I didn’t see it coming in advance, but it fit in with the plot quite well. It was lovely to be surprised by that moment and then wait quietly to see how everything would be resolved. This was the best portion of the story in my opinion.

I’d recommend Kisses and Lemon Snowflake Cookies to anyone who loves firefighters.

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Swiss Mistletoe and Macarons by Amey Zeigler

December 1, 2021 By 3 Comments


Swiss Mistletoe and Macarons by Amey Zeigler
Christmas Cookies
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Holiday
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Baking enthusiast Livi Hanson never misses Jean-Marc’s online videos. Hoping to save money for pastry school, she agrees to nanny over Christmas break in Switzerland for generous overtime pay.

To expand his audience, pastry chef and internet star Jean-Marc Dobrinsky scores a contract for a network TV slot with one caveat: he needs an attractive co-host who equals him in the kitchen.

When she’s invited to bake with Jean-Marc, Livi must prove she has the culinary chops, and Jean-Marc must put aside his pride. Can they rise to the challenge, or will it flop?

Change can be frightening, but it can also be the best thing to ever happen to someone.

Livi’s character development was delightful. When I first met her, she was the sort of person who would bend over backwards to help others regardless of how difficult it made her own life. Her generosity and compassion were admirable, but I yearned for her to learn how to set appropriate boundaries and take better care of her own needs, too. It was wonderful to see how she grew and changed throughout this novella.

Some of the most memorable scenes in my opinion were the ones that showed the characters making the best of disappointing circumstances. For example, Livi found ways to celebrate her favorite Christmas traditions in an unfamiliar country where it wasn’t always possible to recreate everything exactly how she’d like. Sometimes she had to make substitutions or even try new things altogether. Having such a sensible approach to the holiday season goes a long way in making it special even if one can’t celebrate with the people they miss or eat exactly the same foods they would normally enjoy.

I loved seeing how the romantic storyline unfolded, especially since Jean-Marc had such a strong and opinionated personality. His biggest strengths were often Livi’s biggest weaknesses and vice versa. This led to a few personality clashes between them in the beginning, but I could see each side of their conflicts so well that I couldn’t pick between them. Both of these characters made good points, and it was evident from the beginning that they could learn a lot from each other.

Swiss Mistletoe and Macarons was an immensely satisfying Christmas romance novel that I can’t recommend highly enough.

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Cookie Collision by Darlene Deluca

November 4, 2021 By Leave a Comment


Cookie Collision by Darlene Deluca
Christmas Cookies
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Holiday
Rating: 3 Stars
Review by: Astilbe

Before she can let up and enjoy some holiday cheer, real estate agent Alana Drake has work to do. With Christmas moving in fast, she has clients to meet with, houses to show, and cookies to bake. Every open house deserves her special touch—homemade and hand-decorated sugar cookies for a warm welcome. And she needs several dozen for upcoming holiday events and open houses.

But a poorly timed stop at the grocery store could upend more than her bag of groceries.

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When all she wanted was to bake some cookies…

Even the unluckiest accident can have a silver lining.

Some of the most interesting scenes in my opinion were the ones that showed how Alana juggled everything that was going on in her life. She had a rewarding career, a fun hobby, and a loving circle of friends and relatives to keep up with. I always enjoy reading about characters in romance novels who have already built happy and well-rounded lives for themselves long before they meet someone special. Alana definitely fits the bill here!

I would have liked to see more attention paid to a subplot involving conflict between Alana and another realtor. There was so much time spent building tension between them early on in the storyline that I was caught off-guard by how quickly the author tied everything up later on. The resolution made that early foreshadowing feel overdone to me. It would have been helpful if their mutual grudge had either not been given so much attention in the beginning or if they’d had more opportunities to address the problem later on.

The chemistry between Alana and Justin was perfect. I loved their lighthearted banter and how it revealed the many similarities they shared. They were both kind and loving people who often expressed their feelings for the people they cared about through the food they made for them. Many of their hobbies were compatible with each other as well which can also be a good sign when looking for a long term partner. The more I learned about both of them, the stronger I hoped they’d live happily ever after together.

Cookie Collision was a sweet and heartwarming read.

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The Gingerbread Lodge by Vicky Burkholder

November 3, 2021 By Leave a Comment


The Gingerbread Lodge by Vicky Burkholder
Christmas Cookies
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Romance, Paranormal, Contemporary, Holiday
Rating: 4 Stars
Review by: Astilbe

Gisele Reid returns to the Gingerbread Lodge to help her aunt, but without paying guests, she’s afraid the lodge will have to be sold. An event she vows to stop. When an old friend shows up, she is astonished to find Max has turned into a man who makes her knees and heart tremble.

Max Oakley, a developer, has a client interested in buying land around the lodge. He has fond memories of the resort, as well as the girl who left him behind. When he runs into Gisele again, she’s even more beautiful than ever. A woman who could make him forget everything—even his job.

Plumbing problems, electrical outages, and the return of Gisele’s family throw a wrench into Max’s plans to woo Gisele. But when the truth comes out, she believes he’s betrayed her trust, and it will take a Christmas miracle to make everything right again.

It’s never too late to start over again.

One of my favorite things about this novella was how it included the paranormal elements of the storyline. They were hinted at here and there without ever becoming the focal point of the plot. This was the perfect approach to the topic given how logical Gisele and Max were in their daily lives. A touch of something otherworldly was all that was needed to give this tale a little Christmas magic.

I would have liked to see a bit more attention paid to the ending, especially when it came to conflict resolution. Some of the subplots were resolved much more quickly and easily than I expected them to be based on the amount of attention they’d received in earlier scenes as well as the length of time the characters had mentioned being bothered by them. As happy as I was to see how everything turned out, it would have been helpful to see more examples of the work the characters needed to put into those issues in order to fix them for good.

Gisele and Max’s relationship was delightful. Not only did they have wonderful chemistry, their shared history explained so many about why they each behaved the way they did and why neither of them had found anyone to settle down with yet. I also liked the fact that the author gave these two characters such a slow-burning romance. Stretching out the placements of those scenes made me anticipate the next romantic moment between them as the plot moved forward.

This is part of a series, but it works perfectly well as a standalone work.

The Gingerbread Lodge was a cheerful Christmas story that I’d recommend to anyone who is counting down the days until December finally arrives.

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Red Velvet Crinkles and Christmas Sprinkles by Maria Imbalzano

November 2, 2021 By 3 Comments


Red Velvet Crinkles and Christmas Sprinkles by Maria Imbalzano
Christmas Cookies
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Romance, Contemporary, Holiday
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Competitive, work-obsessed Bella Simonetti has just been fired from her high-paying job at a Manhattan law firm. At an all-time low, she returns home and helps her parents at their small-town gift shop, but the business is failing and may not make it past the Christmas holidays.

Successful landscape architect Dean Jackson is like a son to Bella’s parents. But he’s a persistent annoyance to her—he seems to have forgotten his unforgivable blunder thirteen years earlier.

When Bella transforms her parents’ gift shop into a cookie cottage, Dean’s generosity and magnetic smile are hard to resist, and those feelings of unrequited adolescent love come rushing back. But can Bella let go of the past and accept Dean for the man he is today?

Christmas is a season of hope, forgiveness, and turning over a fresh leaf. All of these things are just a tad easier to accomplish when there are homemade Christmas cookies available, too.

Bella’s parents, Clive and Barb, were a hoot. They were in a stage of life when change was difficult for them and they often struggled to see Bella as a fellow adult instead of their child. This led to some pretty funny moments, especially when she genuinely happened to know more about a certain topic than they did or tried to give them much-needed advice about how to save their struggling shop. My favorite scenes were the ones that included them bantering with their daughter. If the author ever decides to write a sequel, I’d be thrilled to see more of that!

It would have been nice to have a little more time spent developing the subplot about Bella’s struggle to find new work after being fired. This was such an important part of her life that I was surprised it wasn’t mentioned more. She was clearly an intelligent and resourceful character. I would have loved to dig more deeply into why she made the career decisions she did. With that being said, this is a minor criticism of a novella I otherwise had a wonderful time reading.

The romantic storyline was handled beautifully. I enjoyed getting to know Bella and Dean’s backstories, especially when it came to why she was still angry with him so many years after his blunder. Their shared history gave them plenty of reasons to interact with each other despite her grudge.

Red Velvet Crinkles and Christmas Sprinkles was a heartwarming holiday read.

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Oy Vey, Maria!, a Mrs. Kaplan Mystery by Mark Reutlinger

October 27, 2021 By 2 Comments


Oy Vey, Maria!, a Mrs. Kaplan Mystery by Mark Reutlinger
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Rose Kaplan and her sidekick Ida are at it again. It’s the holiday of Purim, and almost everyone at the Julius and Rebecca Cohen Home for Jewish Seniors is in costume for the Purim play. All except one, who will instead have to be fitted for a shroud. Once again, “Mrs. K” and Ida are called upon to solve the puzzle of a mysterious death at the Home. Described by Chanticleer Book Reviews as “at times more Lucy and Ethel than Holmes and Watson, with a soupcon of Miss Jane Marple,” these geriatric amateur sleuths will keep you laughing, guessing, and maybe even learning a bissel Yiddish!

Retirement is anything but restful for these folks.

Rose and Ida were both unapologetically fascinated with the lives of those around them. They were the sort of characters who could be quickly counted on to know all sorts of tidbits of information about their neighbors like who might be sick or planning to do something unusual in the near future. I found a great deal of amusement in seeing how these two women gathered their information and what they did with it.

It would have been nice to have a little more time developing the mystery. As much as I enjoyed seeing the characters banter with each other, sometimes these scenes did overshadow their attempts to solve the murder. If a few more clues had been shared and the plot had pushed forward faster, I would have felt comfortable giving this a full five-star review.

I loved the narrator’s sense of humor. Ida had a firm understanding of what she wanted out of life and was certain she knew the right way to go about seeking it out. When things didn’t turn out how she thought they would, her reactions to those moments often made me chuckle. She had a quick wit and wasn’t afraid to show it off.

This is part of a series, but it can be read as a standalone work.

Oy Vey, Maria!, a Mrs. Kaplan Mystery was a lighthearted read.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews Tagged With: , , , , ,

The House on Crow Mountain by Rebecca Lee Smith

October 27, 2021 By 2 Comments


The House on Crow Mountain by Rebecca Lee Smith
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Romance
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Snowdrop

When her aunt suffers a stroke, New York portrait artist Emory Austen returns home to the North Carolina mountains to mend fences and deal with the guilt over her husband’s senseless death. But that won’t be as easy as she hoped.

Someone in the quirky little town doesn’t like Emory. Is it the sexy architect who needs the Austen land to redeem himself? The untrustworthy matriarch? The grudge-bearing local bad boy? Or the teenage bombshell who has raised snooping to an art form? Even the local evangelist has something to hide. Who wrote the cryptic note warning her to “Give it back or you’ll be dead? And what is ‘it’? As the clues pile up and secrets are exposed, Emory must discover what her family has that someone would kill for.

Such an enjoyable book. The kind you can’t put down. The kind that is so good you’re mad when it’s time to do any chore whatsoever. This wasn’t your everyday romantic suspense. It was full of suspense and yet only hinted at romance. My favorite kind of romance story. It also wasn’t the “trick the little old auntie out of her property” book. There were many pieces to the story, and this is what kept me glued to the pages.

This is an author who can make her characters real. I could picture everyone. A sweet helpful old woman in a nursing home, a bratty eighteen-year-old female, another totally grown up but still very bratty female, a widow, and of course a handsome man. A handsome man who seems good and trustworthy, yet a great deal of people in town hate fiercely. There were many other characters that added to this story and yet there was never a moment I had to turn back a page or two to see just exactly who someone was.

There is so much going on in this book. So many underlying subplots. But just like the author’s characters, the subplots seem to add to the story rather than confuse it. It is difficult to write a plot so intricate and yet keep it as clear as this story is.

I intend to see what else Rebecca Lee Smith has written, but I also hope she is currently writing more good stories like this one.

Filed Under: Mystery/Suspense, Reviews, Romance Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Gingerbread Men and Toad’s Wart by Daniel Kamin

October 25, 2021 By Leave a Comment


Gingerbread Men and Toad’s Wart by Daniel Kamin
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Life isn’t easy for a witch who bakes cookies instead of brews potions. It’s a lot harder for a single witch living with a cranky basilisk. But Cresella’s life is upended when a new client, Walter, comes looking for a batch of gingerbread men—and asks her to a Christmas party he’s throwing. He’s handsome, charming, sweet, but oh so human. Their worlds don’t mesh, so a relationship between a human and a witch is foolish. She’s also had bad luck in love, and with her floundering cookie business, does she have time for a romance that seems doomed from the start? But Walter offers her a tempting new world she finds hard to resist…

Christmas cookies can fix almost anything.

Cresella was such a sweetheart, and that’s not something I’d ever thought I’d say about a witch! She was the sort of character who would quietly perform a random act of kindness and then never tell a soul about it or expect any sort of reward. Knowing she’d made someone else’s life a little better was all she hoped to gain from that sort of experience. I adore characters like this and was thrilled to get to know her.

I would have preferred to see more time developing the romantic subplot of this novella. Cresella and Walter were memorable characters in and of themselves, but they would have benefitted from a few more scenes explaining why he was interested in her and why they’d make a good match. There were so many obstacles in their path that including those sorts of things would have made the plot stronger.

The world building was well done from the descriptions of the town where the main character lived to the explanations of how various magical beings and creatures related to each other. I also appreciated all of the references to the many ways in which Cresella defied social expectations of what a witch should be like. Not only did they endear me to this character, they made it easy to imagine what it would be like to live in her society.

Gingerbread Men and Toad’s Wart was a festive holiday read.

Filed Under: Reviews, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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