When Bryony, Harry and Jaime step into the Five Bells, each has their own motive for being drawn into the warm glow of the pub. Heartbroken Harry can’t face his silent flat. Jaime, new to London with her boyfriend, longs to find a fun crowd. And Bryony is trying to remember the promising young woman she was, before a positive pregnancy test set her life on a different course.
When they spot the advert to join a quiz team and enter a tournament, each signs up, unaware that the organiser, Donna, has her own reason to avoid thinking about home.
After a few evenings, the strangers begin to see they have more in common than they realised. But when everyone’s secrets are finally out on the table, will it sabotage the team’s chances of making it through?
Who knew an advert for a quiz team would bring such a disparate group of characters together. Meet the Red Hot Quizzy Peppers:
Donna wants to be the love ’em and leave ’em no string girl, even with her family. Harry, who has just lost his job, his fiancée and is afraid of disappointing his ever unapproving mother. Luke and Jaime who came from the Cumbrian countryside and are coming to regret it as the London life puts a strain on their long-term relationship. Bryony the teenaged bride who became a mother of 2 and feels that life is passing her by.
From disastrous beginnings this group began to take the league by storm. As they progress in the league, we learn more about what has brought them together including overbearing parents, feeling unfulfilled and various mental health struggles, the biggest being general loneliness in a city of over 10 million people.
A heartfelt, witty and engaging story. I really enjoyed the quiz question headers at the start of the chapters. The changing POV kept the story fresh and really allowed you to see what motivates each of our MC’s. I must admit Luke was the hardest character for me to like – he just always came across as such a negative but narcissistic nellie!
The romance is off page and the most you see is some kissing, so maybe not for those who want intense romance
Unfortunately, normalcy is a luxury I can’t afford as a lowly human born into a powerful supernatural family embroiled in magic. They’ve always been quick to remind me that I have an expiration date. Imagine everyone’s surprise when it’s me standing above their graves, not the other way around.
The fire that took their lives wasn’t my fault, yet everyone is blaming me, especially the vampires. Now I have a target on my back and a bounty on my head. Without the protection of my family, I’m caught up in a tangled web of supernatural dynasties and arcane power struggles.
So when a handsome stranger and his young daughter take pity on me and offer me a ride, I don’t say no. It’s a mistake. One I hope doesn’t cost us all our lives.
Tamara has been implicated in the fire that took the lives of her family. They may not have been the closest or warmest of families but they were hers. Now with only her adopted brother Conrad to support and protect her, Tamara is sent across town and then country- always mere steps from the jaws of danger.
Paul and his daughter Diana were only visiting the grave of his late wife when they came upon Tamara. Diana opened up to the stranger and Paul felt he should at least offer the woman a life. He had no idea this would turn into a cross country adventure and see a baptism of fire into the world of magic, vampires and shifters!
There are some twists along the way, with Tamara learning more about herself and her history and Paul that sometimes it’s ok to take a leap of faith for a stranger. I loved that Tamara was well aware of her aimlessness and was determined to find her place in the world on her own terms. Paul is a great single dad figure – authoritative and playful by turns. Diana is a precocious little darling and I’m glad she finally found Plop!
That ending though…I did let out a bit of a WTAF Michelle! It’s certainly a novel approach on how to get “everything to reset” if you will. I’m secretly rather pleased that from the outset I guessed the “baddie” and they really were a complete waste of skin that I thoroughly enjoyed having a reason to hate!
Genre: Contemporary Romance Tropes: Found Family/Fake Relationship Opposites Attract/Second Chance Release Date: June 25, 2024
When Skye Callahan’s boyfriend tells her he’s been cheating with her best friend, one thing becomes clear. She’s nearly lost it all.
No family, no friends, and now, no boyfriend.
Fortunately, Skye’s got her bookshop, and she’s beginning to think that’s the only thing worth holding onto.
Unfortunately, something comes flying through the front door of her store, leaving her wondering how things could possibly get any worse.
As the head of operations at the Westwood Company, Cooper Westwood didn’t need to add another thing to his plate. But fate had other plans, and now he needs to fix Skye’s door.
He should have done his job and left.
He didn’t.
And when a situation arises, giving him the opportunity to help Skye, Cooper does just that. Unfortunately, after the most recent betrayal, Skye’s heart has been hardened, and she’s not interested in what Cooper has to offer.
But Cooper knows there’s something special about Skye, and he wants to give her everything she’s missing in her life.
A.K. Evans is a contemporary romance author of over forty published novels. While she enjoys writing a good romantic suspense novel, Andrea’s favorite books to write have been her extreme sports romances. That might have something to do with the fact that she, along with her husband and two sons, can’t get enough of extreme sports.
Before becoming a writer, Andrea did a brief stint in the insurance and financial services industry and managed her husband’s performance automotive business. That love of extreme sports? She used to drive race cars!
When Andrea isn’t writing, she can be found homeschooling her two sons, doing yoga, snowboarding, reading, or traveling with her family. She and her husband are currently taking road trips throughout the country to visit all 50 states with their boys.
Ex-MI5 operative Joe Mason is on a mission to rescue a friend who has been kidnapped. Meanwhile, ancient coins – remnants of a Chinese casino buried for six hundred years – are starting to surface in Japan’s clandestine underworld.
Mason knows the coins and kidnapping are linked. Someone has finally unearthed the long-buried ancient casino, and its riches – both financial and archaeological – are now up for grabs. But hidden forces are desperate to conceal the discovery and take it for themselves, kidnapping and killing to silence anyone in their path.
In a high-stakes battle to reveal the casino to the world, Joe and his team race across the region, from high-rise Hong Kong to Tokyo’s bustling markets to the covert gambling rings of Osaka. But they are being hunted by elite forces – and it’s only a matter of time before the target on their back catches up with them.
In this perilous quest for the world’s oldest casino, Mason must find the site before his enemies find him. But can he unearth the secrets of the gold in time?
Joe and the others from Quest are back and they’re in for a bit of a whirlwind adventure! They are on the hunt for a mysterious ancient Chinese Casino. Their only leads are a handful of old coins and the bloody trail they have left across the world.
From England to Japan to the USA and China – our plucky band of misfits are determined to outwit (and out muscle) the latest bunch of baddies. The SED are completely horrific and could be the worst in humanity that Joe and the others have had to face so far!
We get to meet another of Quaid’s paramours – that man really is the love ’em and leave ’em type. Roxy is still my favourite of the squad I think, she’s just a powerful woman, unafraid to use her strength and willing to do whatever needs to be done to quell the baddies. But that woman has some major demons and I don’t know if she’ll ever outrun them.
I really do hope we’ll see more of Luciane and Anya!
She pulled him close, in a desperate, perfect embrace. She loved him. And she would burn this world for him…
Gwen must free the Prince in Iron, before his mind is torn apart.
For centuries, Mordred ruled over Avalon and caged its magic. Now the elementals have seized power, sentencing him to an eternity of torment in his own magical prison.
Gwen accepted Mordred’s punishment to save his life. But the love that binds them cannot be denied. She vows to find him and release him, whatever the cost.
Mordred’s time is quickly running out. Trapped inside the Iron Crystal, he burns with rage and desire, haunted by shadows of the past. His sanity hangs by a thread.
Gwen will destroy anyone who stands between her and the crystal. But is she freeing the man she loves? Or unleashing a power more vicious and terrifying than Avalon has ever known?
What an ending to a great fantasy series! Be ready to let out a sob or two ‘cos not all of your secondary character favourites are going to make it to the end!
Gwen and Mordred have kept us hopping over these 4 books. They are at odds as often as they are working together. They love and hate each other in just about equal measure. Mordred is just about ready to blow up his world – talk about morally dark! Gwen just wants everyone to get out alive – neither are going to get what they want.
Mordred really was put in an untenable position and tried to do what he thought Arthur would want and then when that reveal comes alone – blam his whole reason for being in the state he is, well it’s kind of whipped from under him!
There is more than enough action and I loved that the human inhabitants of Avalon and Camelot are finally getting involved – as outmatched as they are they are saying ENOUGH! There is spice and smexy thoughts and some hates&x at times.
At times I wanted to cry and hold Mordred’s hand and others times I wanted to smack him on the head. Gwen was still quite naïve in her dealings with these duplicitous Fae – I had hoped she would have grown a few more callouses on her soft heart but then she wouldn’t be Gwen I suppose.
My favourite secondary characters remain Eod, Mae and Tim – I really loved the rickey buckets of bolts that made up Gwen’s army!
Genre: Romantic Suspense Tropes: Small Town/Opposites Attract Military Protector Romance Release Date: June 18, 2024
Dead to their pasts. Ghosts. No family ties. No connections.
Six men with a top-secret mission move to a small town where they have to navigate local life, protect their secret, and, above all, stay single.
Former Hostile Operations Team soldier Blaze “Shadow” Connolly knows what it’s like to lose everything. He’s got nobody except his job and his team and that’s the way he likes it.
But when he walks into a gas station during a robbery and locks eyes with Emma Grace Sutton, he knows he’ll do anything to protect the pretty girl with the blue glasses.
ER doctor Emma had a bright future until her ex-boyfriend became the kind of nightmare she was certain could never happen to her. With her self-esteem shattered and her confidence in ruins, she left a promising career and returned to her hometown to take over her dad’s small family practice. It’s not what she wants, but it’s what she needs to rebuild her life.
Until she gets that prickly feeling she’s being watched again. Did her ex follow her to Sutton’s Creek or is she imagining things? Is she in danger or is it PTSD? She doesn’t know, but she knows a man with the skills to find out. The ruggedly handsome sexy protector who saved her from a bullet once before.
Blaze isn’t supposed to get involved. Doing so could put the mission at risk. But how can he turn Emma away when the desperation in her eyes hints at even darker secrets? He can’t — and that might just be the final nail in his coffin.
A small town, nerdy girl, opposites attract, military protector romance from NYT bestselling author Lynn Raye Harris
“Attraction and arousal are complicated phenomenons. You have to have the right amount of sympathetic nervous system activity. Your heart races, you tingle, and feel jumpy. That’s the fight-or-flight reaction. But then you have the parasympathetic nervous system which regulates the physical signs of arousal, like genital swelling and releasing sexual fluids. Add in the dopamine hits that come from being around you, and it’s a perfect storm of need and desire.” “That’s your reason?” he asked, his voice hoarse. “It’s biological?” “Mmm,” she said, dropping her mouth to kiss his chest. God, this was so unlike her, but it was also precisely what she wanted to do in the moment. His breath hissed in, his hands closing gently around her upper arms. He didn’t push her away, though. “It’s biological, yes,” she said. “But it’s mental, too. Because you’re you, and everything about you makes me want you. Whether it’s biological, evolutionary, chemical—I don’t really care. It’s a need in my belly, in my core, that I haven’t felt before. Nothing about this makes sense to me. And I feel like, if I fight it, if I don’t express to you that I want whatever you can give, that I’ll regret it on some level. I’m tired of living scared. I want to live with the kind of wild joy that comes from choosing to get on the rollercoaster.” His hands slid around her body to cup her ass. Emma had to bite back a groan at the feel of those big hands on her bottom. “I’m a rollercoaster, now?” he asked with a laugh before he bent to nibble her earlobe. “You might be,” she breathed. “But I want to take the ride.”
AUTHOR BIO
Lynn Raye Harris is a Southern girl, military wife, wannabe cat lady, and horse lover. She’s also the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the HOSTILE OPERATIONS TEAM Ⓡ SERIES of military romances, and 20 books about sexy billionaires for Harlequin.
A former finalist for the Romance Writers of America’s Golden Heart Award and the National Readers Choice Award, Lynn lives in Alabama with her handsome former-military husband, one fluffy princess of a cat, and a very spoiled American Saddlebred horse who enjoys bucking at random in order to keep Lynn on her toes.
Lynn’s books have been called “exceptional and emotional,” “intense,” and “sizzling” – and have sold in excess of 4.5 million copies worldwide.
To sign up for Lynn’s VIP Reader List – where you’ll be kept up to date about all of Lynn’s books – go to http://bit.ly/LRHNews.
This series is an off-shoot of the ever popular HOT series and I LOVED it. This time around the team is in deep cover, giving deniability to the President. You wouldn’t think small town Alabama would be a hotbed of espionage, would you?
Blaze aka Shadow is a man who overcame his upbringing. He went from the unwanted and neglected child to an overprotective, special forces soldier. He and his team have orders to stay free and clear, no relationships to leave behind if things go pear-shaped. Sadly, fate said “screw” that and dropped the delightfully nerdy Dr Emma Grace Sutton in his path!
Emma has trauma of her own that’s she’s running home to her small hometown to escape. Now she has a hulking, protective, overbearing and slightly demanding neighbour who seems determined to protect her, even when she tries to head him off at every opportunity.
Emma is an incredibly intelligent, nerdy, determined ER doctor who made a bad choice in the romance department (who hasn’t!) but she refuses to let her skanky ex ruin any more of her life. But the attraction to Blaze is derailing her no men policy fast. Her outgoing best-friend, Rory, adds a splash of colour and humour to her life and I can totally see why these opposites are besties!
I did guess the bad guy but had a great time trying to figure out when Blaze and Co would twig to who he was. The underlying espionage storyline is flowing nicely and I’m intrigued to see what happens in book 2. Fab new story and I heartily recommend this to all my protector romance trope bookdragons!
Does an ancient coven hold the key to solving a murder?
Few tears are shed when the unpopular manager of the annual Seacastle Vintage Fair meets a sinister end. But local sleuth Tanya Bowe is thrust into the heart of the investigation when her friend, Grace Wong, finds herself under scrutiny for the murder.
When Tanya’s investigation uncovers a suspicious death in the same family, all bets are off. She navigates dark undercurrents of greed and betrayal as she uncovers a labyrinth of potential suspects associated with an ancient coven. Nothing is as it seems, and every clue adds extra complications. To solve the case, Tanya must answer one main question.
Did someone hate the victim enough to kill her, or was greed the stronger motive?
In this captivating British small-town cozy mystery, a maze of potential suspects, each with their own motives and secrets, will keep you guessing until the very end.
If you relish seaside settings, intricate mysteries, and a touch of wit, buy your copy now and join Tanya on her quest to unravel the truth.
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Tanya and the Seacastle crew are back to crack open another mystery! Tanya really is like Jessica Fletcher – she’s finding bodies everywhere she goes. At least this time it’s Grace finding the body!
It was great to finally see more of Grace and Max, learning about their backgrounds, why they came to the UK, why she is so fearful to be involved with the police. Roz is acting highly weird too. The found family vibes are strong in this series – something I love. Mouse is just so adorable for a teenager – apart from being a bit lost on the old “what do you want to be when you grow up” front, he is such a loving, intelligent and level headed lad.
Who knew the world of Antiquing could be so cut-throat! Dot really is a horrid woman and she was certainly a victim who garnered little sympathy. The storyline zipped along and as usual Tanya et al are integral to saving the day and unmasking the murderer.
I actually found myself warming to DI Antrim in this book – learning more about his backstory humanised him a bit and he certainly relaxes around the Grotty Hovel inhabitants. I must admit I did not guess the murdered this time around – my police colleagues had a hoot at that – they’ve told me it’s just as well I’m not a cop, LOL.
Plenty of humour, cosy vibes and a gentle romance (closed door/off page) between older MC’s. Absolutely adorable series and can’t wait to see what happens next!
The highly anticipated third installment of the steamy Artefacts of Ouranos series journeys deeper into the glittering fae world as Lor puts both her life and her heart on the line in this enemies-to-lovers fantasy romance.
With the Heart Crown now in her possession, Lor must navigate the dangers of being an heir on the run, knowing more than one power-hungry ruler is after her blood. When she returns to Aphelion to unlock her magic and recover her family’s legacy, it becomes clearer than ever that all that’s gold doesn’t sparkle. No stranger to battles, she continues to fight her attraction to the Aurora Prince, understanding this might be the one she finally loses. As the past mixes with the present, Lor uncovers the truth about the Artefacts and their role in shaping her destiny. Now, her future hangs in the balance, leaving her closer than ever to getting everything she’s ever wanted… or losing it all forever.
OML – I nearly broke my kindle reading this! It was about to get chucked against the wall then stamped on. Then I remembered that there is still book 4 to come and I managed to get my blood pressure back to semi normal!!!!
Lor and Nadir are like the ultimate power couple. She’s all untapped magic, pent up rage and sarcastic humour to cover her trauma and he’s the bad boy Fae, with a tender heart and a supportive streak. Nadir should be a narcissistic playboy but he’s managed to preserve his soul playing Fae politics!
Lor still has trouble taking anything or anyone at face value – always waiting for that other shoe to drop or the sleaze to ooze through someone’s personality. Her relationship with Nadir definitely suffers for it. But I love the way that Nadir and his comrades are just there for Lor and her family. They become an epic extended family. The traumatic childhood and time incarcerated has affected Lor, Tristan and Willow in different ways but they are stronger for it and refuse to allow it to define them. Willow may not have the powers of her siblings but that girl is cunning and sly and would make a perfect Spy Commander!
Gabriel actually redeems himself a bit in this book. We learn more about his backstory and just why he’s so obedient to a man he clearly hates. There is a lot of redemption being sought in this storyline. There are many POV’s in the book which adds to the complexity and pacing of the story but not so many that you get lost.
That cliffhanger is a doozy and as I’ve already said – I kind of wanted to unalive the kindle because of it!
Sheriff Bree Taggert becomes a target when she follows the twisting trail of a serial killer in a bone-chilling novel of suspense by #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author Melinda Leigh.
A pair of hikers find a tarp-wrapped body in a clearing in the woods. When a search in the surrounding area yields two more, Sheriff Bree Taggert knows they’ve stumbled onto a serial killer’s dumping ground.
With the help of investigator Matt Flynn, Bree works the case. They go to interview Jana, the best friend of one of the victims. But when they arrive at her apartment, it’s been ransacked and set on fire. And Jana is missing.
It’s clear the killer is escalating. To make matters worse, he threatens Bree’s family and a young mother vanishes. Will Bree and Matt uncover the link between the victims before more women die?
Bree and Co. have an already full plate dealing with a flu epidemic which has raged through the town and sheriff’s office. Then a body is found in a remote wooded area but on further inspection further bodies are found. There would appear to be a new serial killer on the loose – one with a predilection for small, fragile looking females but that’s not the only similarities between victims!
With overstepping reporters and the local police board representative hovering, Bree has her hands full. Dealing with mourning parents are horrible tasks but Bree and the team handle them with tact.
I love this series as it deals not only with the solving of the murder but with Bree’s family life. Living and working with Matt, parenting her late sister’s children and the beautifully portrayed relationship with her former cop partner/best friends/housemate! She is flawed, distracted and determined to be the best Sheriff she can be – despite the lackadaisical financial assistance from the police board.
This still feels as fresh and exciting as the first book in the series and even though the romance takes a back seat to the suspense, the relationship between Bree and Matt is evolving with every book.
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