Friends to the End by C.L. Colyer

October 19, 2021 By Leave a Comment


Friends to the End by C.L. Colyer
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Middle Grade (8 – 12 y.o.), Sci-Fi/Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Twelve-year-old Zach is convinced he’ll never be happy without his best friend Jeremy by his side. But both of their lives changed with a bang five months ago, and as far as Zach’s concerned, it’s his fault Jeremy will never see his twelfth birthday.

When Zach moves with his family to a Chicago suburb, he quickly becomes friends with a group of thrill-seeking kids trying to find a disappearing haunted house. But Zach’s not worried. He doesn’t believe in ghosts, so he follows them into a wild, dangerous encounter that becomes a battle to decide what’s real and what’s not.

Dying with unfinished business is no laughing matter.

The spirits were well written and generally sympathetic characters. While there were a few frightening ones that I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to meet in a dark alley, I was pleased with the wide range of personalities and backstories they had in general. Getting to know characters like these and learning what might have kept them tied to earthly matters after their deaths is one of the things I enjoy the most about paranormal stories. It was utterly delightful to have so many opportunities to do so here.

I would have liked to see a little more attention paid to world building. For example, some ghosts in this world seem to be much more powerful than others. Certain beings also appeared to have some special abilities that aren’t commonly seen in this genre. As much as I liked the plot in general, all of these pieces of information never quite gelled into a coherent explanation of how the afterlife works in this universe. If it had, I would have happily chosen a full five-star rating.

The narrator had some poignant things to say about grief, friendship, and regret. These scenes did a wonderful job of rounding out Zach’s character and exposing the audience to portions of his personality that many preteens his age would probably keep to themselves in most other situations. Every time he revealed another fact about his past and the heavy grief he was trying so hard to hide from his new friends, I grew to like him even more than I already did.

Friends to the End was a heartwarming read for anyone who loves the paranormal side of the fantasy genre.

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Merry Little Wishing Spritz by Cherie Colyer

October 7, 2021 By 1 Comment


Merry Little Wishing Spritz by Cherie Colyer
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Paranormal, Holiday
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Xeranthemum

Modern-day witch Cassie Moore’s cozy life turns upside down when her friend foresees the wrecking ball that threatens to destroy Cassie’s home and workplace. But Cassie isn’t giving up without a fight. She casts a well-intended spell meant to save her apartment and her job. But magic is unpredictable, especially when her friend casts a little charm of her own that has Cassie lusting after the man she desperately wants to despise.

Jack Quinn has had his eyes on Lakeside Books for years. He has big plans for the cozy waterfront property, but he didn’t expect to care about the store or its employees. And he never imagined he’d be drawn to a certain brown-eyed saleswoman.

Almost as if by magic.

This novella is the perfect story for when a reader is short on time but needs a quick fix of romance. Merry Little Wishing Spritz made me smile, grin, giggle and thoroughly entertained me. It kind of reminded me of Samantha in Bewitched, and when Cassie spoke to her cat, Smudge, it brought to mind a fond memory of Bell, Book and Candle when Gillian, the female lead, talks to her cat, Pyewacket. The thing is with this story, it’s more upbeat, sweet and playful with a happy ever after ending that left me happy and content.

I’m of the opinion that this story would make a delightful holiday movie which could be watched not only at Christmas, because of the mistletoe, but Halloween too, because good solid romance movies can span the holidays that happen towards the end of the year. I would really enjoy watching all the little pranks Cassie played on Jack. He was a good sport about it all – not suspecting a thing, of course. The scene with the reindeer made me grin.

The supporting cast is pretty much one person, Peyton, Cassie’s best friend. She’s the heroine’s cheerleader, confidant and conspirator in getting Cassie to open up to the possibility that Jack may not be like all the other losers Cassie had dated in the past. She was a perfect best friend and I liked her personality.

It was a stroke of genius to include the topic of gift giving to those in the community that had no one to give them gifts. Cassie and Peyton dressed up as adorable elves and that’s another reason why I could see this book being made into a film. There were so many details that touched the heart, coaxed emotions and feelings, and brought to life their little part of the world.

Merry Little Wishing Spritz is a happy romance story that includes a little paranormal zing of witchy wonderfulness to spice up the fun as Cassie and Jack fall in love. I’m glad I found this little gem and I believe a lot of readers are in for a treat when they read this book for themselves.

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Cherry Red by Darlene Fredette

September 23, 2021 By Leave a Comment


Cherry Red by Darlene Fredette
One Scoop or Two series
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

This summer, ice cream entrepreneur Carly Redd’s only focus is expanding her business—until she’s coerced into attending her ex’s engagement party. Showing up without a date is unthinkable. She reluctantly agrees to be escorted by her brother’s co-worker, although doing so breaks her rule of not dating firefighters.

The daughter of the town’s fire chief should wear a Do Not Touch sign, but firefighter Noah Harding’s interest blazed the moment he saw Carly. Agreeing to be her fake boyfriend is a no-brainer, but convincing Carly to trust him with her heart is harder than extinguishing a fire.

Overstepping the platonic-only rule is as dangerous as fire and ice swirling into a tempting combustion.

Romance isn’t strictly necessary for a good life, but it can certainly make everything sweeter!

Carly was a well-rounded and fascinating protagonist. I was thrilled by the fact that she’d created such a fulfilling life for herself. She was a content, happy human being long before her love interest showed up which is always something I love seeing in romance novels. There’s nothing like meeting a main character who already has plenty going on for herself and knows exactly what she wants.

I did notice a few inconsistencies in Carly and Noah’s communication skills. They did a much better job sharing their thoughts and expressing their needs in the beginning than they did later on in the storyline. As much as I enjoyed the storyline in general, I was a little puzzled by why the communication between them weakened at such a pivotal part of the plot. It seemed like something they could have sorted out much earlier. With that being said, this was a minor criticism of something I’d otherwise heartily recommend.

The romance was handled beautifully. I appreciated the fact that Carly and Noah were given so much time to get to know each other before anything romantic happened between them. That was an excellent choice due to their personalities and backstories that showed why both of them needed to move slowly with any new love interest. It also gave this reader ample opportunity to imagine what it might be like when they crossed the line between a platonic relationship and a romantic one.

This is part of the One Scoop or Two series. It can be read as a standalone work.

Cherry Red was a satisfying and enjoyable read.

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Lover’s Leap by Kimberly Keyes

September 9, 2021 By Leave a Comment


Lover’s Leap by Kimberly Keyes
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Hibiscus

After finding her fiancé in bed with another woman, Candace, a twenty-something, up-and-coming romance novelist with a deadline, takes off for a friend’s vacation home in Tahoe. The good news? She’ll share the place with fellow house guest, Logan, her best friend Eric’s latest lover. Except…Logan, the nearly-irresistible-to-women, burned out photographer, isn’t Eric’s lover. Not now, not ever. He’s hiding out licking personal wounds, and before he’s allowed anywhere near Candace, he’s sworn off her. No problem. Except…

There’s something about Candace. She’s not simply beautiful and enticingly off-limits. It’s in the way she doesn’t flirt with him. In the way she treats him like he isn’t a shallow pleasure-seeker. In the way, somehow, she brings peace to his world-weary soul.

Too bad she thinks he’s gay. But even if he can clear that hurdle, can he really entrust Candace’s heart to his own haphazard keeping?

It is usually a book’s blurb that attracts me to it. In this case, it was how the main characters were described. Candace is an author, which intrigued me. As for Logan, the blurb mentions that he is a photographer. I would like to be a photographer, so that grabbed my attention as well.

Logan’s chivalrous side, and love, began to show when Candace started getting hate mail. He was such a wonderful man, and that type of behavior always adds to the my rating. The story had some neat twists to their slowly coming together.  I completely enjoyed their interactions. This story, through the talent of author Kimberly Keyes, made me want to take more leaps of faith.

The writing, the plot, the characters — all of that goodness came together to make a book I completely enjoyed.

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Gone Astray by Terry Korth Fischer

September 8, 2021 By Leave a Comment


Gone Astray by Terry Korth Fischer
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Contemporary
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Snowdrop

A heart attack sends detective Rory Naysmith reeling. Too young to retire, he accepts a position in small-town Winterset, Nebraska. Handed an unsolved truck hijacking case, with the assistance of a rookie, Rory sets out to prove he is still able to go toe-to-toe with younger men. When the body of a Vietnam veteran turns up, he dons his fedora and spit-shines his shoes. But before he can solve the murder, an older woman disappears, followed closely by a second hijacking. He doggedly works the cases, following a thread that ties the two crimes together. But can Rory find the mental and physical strength to up his game and bring the criminals to justice before disaster strikes and he loses his job?

Regardless of the job type or position, when we begin a new one the first thing we usually get to do is sit and wring our hands and wish for absolutely anything to do. This is the plight of Detective Naismith. New to the Winterset PD. He’s been a detective in tough places and proved himself plenty but now…he’s the only big fish in a small pond. The only big fish with exactly no cases. But sometimes, we get what we wish for, and Rory Naismith does.

I thought this started out a little slow but when I looked back on the whole story, I realized it was the nature of the story. By that I mean everything started out slow for poor Detective Naismith. He had to sit on the desk, answer phones, even deal with a bunch of little old ladies worried about their friend. Slow, right? Then, the storyline picked up. The reading began to flow and then the author had my full attention.

This is a somewhat long book. But the author seems to fill it with character description. We get to know the inner lives of our characters and their stories. This is a good mystery filled with some red herrings that kept me guessing. A mystery that I really enjoyed.

Terry Korth Fischer has several other stand-alone books published. All have good reviews. I sure did like Detective Naismith though. Hope we get to see him again.

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

Eat Your Heart Out by Shirley Goldberg

July 13, 2021 By 5 Comments


Eat Your Heart Out by Shirley Goldberg
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Women’s Fiction
Rated: 4 stars
Review by Rose

When a tyrant in stilettos replaces her beloved boss, and her ex snags her coveted job, teacher Dana Narvana discovers there are worse things than getting dumped on Facebook. Time for the BFF advice squad. Alex—hunky colleague, quipster, and cooking pal extraordinaire is Dana’s staunchest ally. So what’s with the smooching after hours? And why won’t this grown man make up his mind?

Actor turned teacher Alex Bethany craves a family of his own. Newly hotified, he’s now got the confidence to try online dating. Meanwhile he’s sending Dana mixed messages in the kissing department. After a surprising event rocks his world, Alex panics, certain he’s blown his chances with his special person. Funny and bittersweet, Dana and Alex’s story will have you rooting for them all the way to dessert.

What a fun, relatable story!  I love these characters – and can honestly say I’ve known people like all of them, the good, the bad, and the ugly. And, I think that’s what makes this book so appealing. The characters are all real. They aren’t perfect. They are just like our friends.

As a … ahem… woman of a certain age, I can definitely relate to Dana and her struggles – with dating, with food, with balancing life and work, with having friends. I want to be a part of her gal pal squad!

I also love the friends to lover trope. It has to be one of my very favorites!

This is part of a series, but it is easily standalone. I can’t wait to see what Ms. Goldberg has in store for the rest of these friends!  4 stars.

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Deadly Reunion by Linda Hope Lee

June 9, 2021 By Leave a Comment


Deadly Reunion by Linda Hope Lee
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by Snowdrop

When Richmond, Washington librarian, Nina Foster, and newspaper owner Stephen Kraslow attend his high school reunion in Parker’s Landing, Idaho, the event turns tragic when Stephen’s good friend, Mark MacTeague, suddenly drops dead at a picnic. Nina has reason to believe he was murdered and vows to uncover the culprit. Meanwhile, Stephen’s high school girlfriend, Angie Delaney, reveals a long kept secret that brings a big change to his life. Can Stephen and Nina’s relationship survive this new turn of events? Will Nina uncover the murderer before he or she commits another crime?

When you write a story and make the main character a librarian and you add a good suspenseful mystery to it, you have me reading immediately. Deadly Reunion is Book 3 in a series titled “The Nina Foster Mystery series”. This is the first book I have read by Linda Hope Lee, and I really enjoyed it. It had some elements of a cozy. You know, the small hometown they visit, she’s an amateur detective, etc. and yet this had some depth to it. The story was somewhat more involved and there were plenty of suspects to make you wonder who really killed Nina’s beau’s best friend.

Linda Lee Hope does a good job of character definition. I don’t mean description here as much as I mean definition. Throughout the story her writing and especially her dialog composition helps you begin to know the characters. Their personalities seem to develop, and you never lose track of who is who, so to speak. As you can imagine, a reunion could involve a lot of characters and yet the author keeps them all very clear. No confusion at all. I enjoyed this mystery and look forward to another addition to the series.

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Death by Sample Size by Susie Black

June 4, 2021 By Leave a Comment


Death by Sample Size by Susie Black
Holly Swimsuit Mystery Book 1
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

Everyone wanted her dead…but who actually killed her?

The last thing swimwear sales exec Holly Schlivnik expected was to discover ruthless buying office big wig Bunny Frank’s corpse trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey with a bikini stuffed down her throat. When Holly’s colleague is arrested for Bunny’s murder, the wise-cracking, irreverent amateur sleuth jumps into action to find the real killer.

Nothing turns out the way Holly thinks it will as she matches wits with a wily murderer hellbent for revenge.

There’s more than one way to make a splash in the swimming suit industry.

The pacing was handled nicely. I appreciated the fact that the author spent so much time explaining the characters, their relationships to each other, and what the swimwear industry was like in the beginning. While it did slow things down a little bit temporarily, all of these details were critical in order to understand why Bunny was killed as well as why each individual suspect might have had reason to murder her. It was also nice to see the pacing speed up after the audience knew everything they needed to about these topics and the investigation began.

This book included a huge cast of characters. So many different people were introduced in the first few scenes that I struggled to remember who they all were and how they were connected to Holly or Ditzy Swimwear in general. This was something I continued to have trouble with later on in the storyline as well due to how often new characters were introduced as the mystery deepened. While I understood why most of them were included, getting to know so many new folks over and over again did make this hard for me to read at times as I tried to keep everyone organized in my mind.

Ms. Black had a detail-oriented writing style that worked well for this genre. I especially liked the scenes she wrote that described the more unsavoury elements of the personalities of certain characters. She really knew how to show the audience who someone was, warts and all. The settings and plot were given similar levels of attention as well which made it easy to visualize everything that happened.

Death by Sample Size was a fun summer read.

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The Five Things by Beth Merwood

May 25, 2021 By 1 Comment


The Five Things by Beth Merwood
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Paranormal, Historical, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe

For nine-year-old Wendy, the summer of 1969 will never be forgotten.

Local kids have always told stories about the eerie wood on the outskirts of the village, and Wendy knows for sure that some of them are true. Now the school holidays have started and she’s going to the wood again with Anna and Sam, but they soon become convinced that someone is trying to frighten them off.

When a terrible event rocks the coastal community, the young friends can’t help thinking there must be a connection between the incident, the tales they’ve heard, and the strange happenings they’ve begun to witness. As glimpses of a darker world threaten their carefree existence, they feel compelled to search out the underlying truth.

Some mysteries can’t be solved in a single summer.

Some of the most interesting portions of this book involved the lingo of British English in the late 1960s. The main character used these terms under the assumption that everyone reading it already knew what she was talking about. I enjoyed the process of looking up the words I didn’t know and comparing them to how I’d refer to those items or types of food in my dialect of English. It was also fascinating to see how the main character’s voice changed as she grew older and certain words came into or fell out of style.

The plot was slowly and sometimes unevenly paced. As much as I appreciated all of the details the author included in order to immerse her audience in this time and place, those passages were sometimes distracting from the mystery storyline because of how much they slowed down key moments in Wendy’s exploration of what really happened on that sad day that she was never able to forget. I would have loved to choose a higher rating, but this held me back from doing so.

With that being said, the mystery itself felt incredibly realistic. The clues spilled out across many years. Sometimes Wendy reached an entirely new stage of life before she discovered the next one. Given the tragedy that occurred soon after the audience first met her, this made perfect sense. She was so young when it happened that I wasn’t surprised by how protective the adults in her community were of what they said around the children in their lives one bit. Of course she wouldn’t have picked up on certain things until she was an adult!

The Five Things is a good pick for anyone who like slow-burning mysteries.

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A Reckless Heart by Jennifer Wilck

May 17, 2021 By 2 Comments


A Reckless Heart by Jennifer Wilck
Scarred Hearts Book 1
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Rating: 5 stars
Reviewed by Mistflower

Meg Thurgood, former society girl, took the blame for her friend and paid a steep price. Now all she wants is solitude and a chance to rebuild her life. She thinks she’s found that in an isolated house she rents from a mysterious stranger.

Simon McAlter has hidden in his house on the coast of Maine since a fire left him scarred. A successful landscape architect who conducts his business and teaches his classes remotely, he’s lost his inspiration and is trying to pretend he’s not lonely.

Simon’s new neighbor is more than he bargained for. When he learns Meg’s secret, will he retreat into the shadows or will he learn to see past the surface and trust in Meg’s love?

I literally just finished this book and the first thing I want to say is, if all the other books in this series are as great as this one then I will continue to read this series. A Reckless Heart was fulfilling. I don’t recall ever using that word in any of my previous reviews and I’m approaching my two hundredth review. Why that word has popped into my head is unknown to me other than to say that is how I feel at the moment. Sometimes I’ll use the term “book glow” but in this case that term is shallow.

I can see how many readers might compare this story to the classic “Beauty and the Beast” tale. However, A Reckless Heart resonated with me. I guess there’s my answer as to why I found this book to be fulfilling. Not only did I relate to the plot but I also related to the characters. I am someone that lives with pain and deformity thanks to arthritis. I consider my hands to be hideous and yet my husband doesn’t think or see that when he holds my hands.

Meg Thurgood, the heroine, paid a price for misplaced loyalty. Something many people can relate to at one time or another. I at least have had many friends that I learned later were indeed not a real friend. Unfortunately, Meg paid a steep price for that life lesson. I had an instant connection with Meg’s personal conflict. She just wanted solitude and a chance to rebuild her life.

Simon McAlter, the hero, really hit home with me. Sometimes I want to stay hidden in my house. Society’s judgements can often be cruel to people who are different from the norm–whatever that norm is that day. Simon has been in solitude for quite some time.

A Reckless Heart is beautifully written. The descriptions of the landscapes, flowers and my favorite…the inner turmoil thoughts and feelings inside Meg and Simon’s heads. Meg’s cruel life lesson has made her a better person – one who can see past Simon’s physical appearance. Simon has a heart of gold but unfortunately a fire left him scarred physically and emotionally. The story is heartwarming as the two work through building their trust and love between each other while working on their own demons.

My interest was captured immediately and never wavered. The storyline flowed and even had a few plot twists that left me agape, but that is what made the book so much better.

There are other characters in the plot line who are relevant to the success of this book such as Simon’s business partners. I hope they are considered as future heroes in this series. A Reckless Heart’s setting is on the coast of Maine, which means it is a small town where everyone knows everyone. That can be a good thing, or a bad thing especially when there’s rumors going around. I used to live in a small town in Massachusetts so I’m all too familiar with how the gossip mill works.

The one thing that hiccupped me was how Meg’s secret was portrayed as “complex” throughout the story. I carried that weight with her. I couldn’t see a solution. Reviews are subjective; I feel bad mentioning anything negative but the collaboration it took involving Meg’s secret left me feeling as if the conclusion was rushed. However, I assure you that I still enjoyed the conclusion very much. I’m not a writer, I don’t pretend to be one. I just read and review how a book impacts me.

With that said, A Reckless Heart definitely left its mark on me. I will be adding it to my “keepers’ shelf”. I look forward to the next story in the series and highly recommend this book to be read. I’d love to discuss this novel in a book club to see how other readers were inspired by Meg and Simon’s endeavor. They displayed courage, bravery, love, humor, forgiveness and of course, chemistry. I felt their romance was an effective mixture of sweet and sensual. Overall, I absolutely loved this romance book.

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