Two single parents and three adorable kids are about to have a summer they’ll never forget in this sexy, heartwarming new novel of the New York Times bestselling series.
Following the sudden death of his wife, Nathan Bell spent nearly two years burying himself in work and neglecting his biggest responsibility: his daughter. Overcome with guilt, he wants to connect with little Marley, but he doesn’t know how to do it alone. And then Jenna Savage throws him a lifeline.
A single mom of twins, Jenna is more than capable of taking care of Nathan’s adorable two-year-old and wants to help Nathan however she can. As the days go by and her attraction to Nathan grows, she can’t help wondering what might happen if they became a family for real. And the closer everyone becomes, the more right it feels.
Falling in love forces Nathan to face his biggest fear, and when hearts — both big and little — are on the line, the only thing scarier than needing Jenna and her kids so much is losing them all.
I have to admit I wasn’t sure what to expect from this book. It is publicized as romantic erotica, and the cover has that sort of look to it, although the guy does have his shirt on. So I was the tiniest bit surprised when I got about halfway through it and realized that I really, really, liked this book and these characters, and they hadn’t even kissed yet.
I’m not sure how erotica is being defined these days but I tend to think of books like Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James, Bared to You by Sylvia Day, or The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure. Sex from the beginning. Sex on almost every page. But this was sweet and fun, and yes eventually it did get sexy, but the sex definitely felt secondary to the plot. At least to me. Guess I’m curious what other people think. Where is the line between a sexy romance and romantic erotica? Or are they the same thing?
Whatever kind of label the publisher wants to give this book, I give it my own label: sweet & sexy. I am going to hunt down the earlier books in this series.
11/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™
DOWN TOO DEEP by J. Daniels. Berkley (November 5, 2019). ISBN 978-1984806093. 352p.
During the Second World War, Adolf Hitler found that he could rally the German army as well as the people by selecting scapegoats to blame for the poor economic conditions the country found itself in. He was able to sell the country on the need to go to war and at the same time began the persecution of the groups that were selected as scapegoats. Among these were Jews and Gypsies. Hitler began the mass extermination of his scapegoats by sending them to concentration camps where many were killed in gas ovens as one means of destroying those groups. Both guards and supervisory personnel easily fell into the positions of both condoning the killing as well as rationalizing their own part in the murders by stating that they acted under orders from above.
The Accomplice is a hard-hitting novel telling the story of the finding of one of the medical doctors that had tortured men, women, and children to death in the name of approved experiments. Dr Otto Schramm was head of “experiments” at the Auschwitz camp in Poland and managed to elude capture when the war ended. Seventeen years after the war ended it was thought that Schramm had been killed in an auto accident and searches for him ended. But one of the foremost Nazi hunters, Max Weill, sees him walking on the streets of Hamburg and wants to go after him. Unfortunately Max is a sick man and possibly due to the excitement of the sighting suffers a heart attack and passes away. But not before he charges Aaron Wiley his nephew that is visiting from the US to continue the search. Aaron is an employee of the CIA but basically one working strictly at a desk. Knowing that Max’s wife, Aaron’s aunt was killed by Schramm he takes some vacation from the CIA and begins to chase him.
The main section of the novel is taken up with the chase. Schramm had fled to Argentina and Aaron goes to Buenos Aires to look for him. A most interesting situation develops when Schramm’s daughter is found, and Aaron meets her to obtain information about her father.
The two meet, and a love affair develops with the obvious question can Aaron take her father prisoner and bring him to justice to stand trial for his wartime crimes in the face of his feelings for his daughter?
The chase after Schramm and the very conflicting emotions of the people involved provide an excellent read pulling the readers into the plot with the changing feelings of the period shortly after WWII. This is not a story that can easily be forgotten with the emotions generated by the novel staying fresh for quite a while.
11/19 Paul Lane
THE ACCOMPLICE by Joseph Kanon. Atria Books (November 5, 2019). ISBN 978-1501121425. 336p.
Yigal Zur is not a first-time author and has published several successful novels in the past. I truly wonder what happened to this book. It reads like someone was in a great hurry to finish something before a deadline or the person translating from Hebrew into English was the one in a hurry.
The plot of the novel finds Dotan Naor, an Israeli private detective, in Tel Aviv, when he is called by his partner to fly to Bangkok and find a missing girl. Dotan jumps on a plane with no information about who he is looking for but is handed two passports by the taxi driver that picks him up at the Bangkok airport, one of which is for Sigal Bardon, the girl he is looking for.
Dotan runs helter-skelter all around Bankok, gets beat up, visits a prison to interview someone that may know where Sigal is, and runs into an old friend (now enemy) of his. Reuven was with him in Shin Bet. Due to something that happened back then, and each blaming the other, they were both dismissed from the organization. Looks like Reuven engineered the entire trip and the hunt for Sigal as a means of bringing Dotan to meet with him in Bangkok.
No surprise ending and far from an all-nighter, the novel has the saving grace of supplying a portrait of Bangkok based upon the author’s visits there.
11/19 Paul Lane
PASSPORT TO DEATH by Yigal Zur. Oceanview Publishing; None edition (November 5, 2019). ISBN 978-1608093649.
The first rule of book club: You don’t talk about book club.
Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott’s marriage is in major league trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea has always faked the Big O. When he loses his cool at the revelation, it’s the final straw on their already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the better of him.
Welcome to the Bromance Book Club.
Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville’s top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it’ll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his wife.
This was the most brilliant and original idea for a romance novel that I have seen in a very long time. The premise of men reading romance novels to learn about women was positively inspired, and made me think all men should be forced to read them! It seems to me that Adams has given the romance genre, and in particular the books being published today, a whole lot of thought. One of the men explains the rationale behind reading a Regency romance like this: “Modern romance novelists use the patriarchal society of old British aristocracy to explore the gender-based limitations placed on women today in both the professional and personal spheres. That shit is feminist as fuck.” Yep.
Beyond the feminist trope, this book had me laughing out loud and moved me to tears as well. The characters are really well developed, and I couldn’t help but root for them to find their happily ever after. Neither Gavin nor Thea are perfect, and I think that’s what makes them feel so real.
There is a sweetness here that never gets sappy, and it is tempered by some very hot sex. I loved the way “excerpts” from the historical romance the men are reading are woven into the contemporary story. This is a clever, heartwarming, fun sexy read. I can’t wait for the next book in this new series!
11/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™
BROMANCE BOOK CLUB by Lyssa Kay Adams. Berkley (November 5, 2019). ISBN 978-1984806093. 352p.
A young widow restores a dilapidated mansion with the assistance of a charming, eccentric genius, only to find the house is full of dangerous secrets in this effervescent Gilded Age debut novel.
It’s 1875, and Alva Webster has perfected her stiff upper lip after three years of being pilloried in the presses of two continents over fleeing her abusive husband. Now his sudden death allows her to return to New York to make a fresh start, restoring Liefdehuis, a dilapidated Hyde Park mansion, and hopefully her reputation at the same time. However, fresh starts aren’t as easy as they seem, as Alva discovers when stories of a haunting at Liefdehuis begin to reach her. But Alva doesn’t believe in ghosts. So when the eccentric and brilliant professor, Samuel Moore, appears and informs her that he can get to the bottom of the mystery that surrounds Liefdehuis, she turns him down flat. She doesn’t need any more complications in her life―especially not a handsome, convention-flouting, scandal-raising one like Sam.
Unfortunately, though Alva is loath to admit it, Sam, a pioneer in electric lighting and a member of the nationally-adored Moore family of scientists, is the only one who can help. Together, the two delve into the tragic secrets wreathing Alva’s new home while Sam attempts to unlock Alva’s history―and her heart.
Set during the Gilded Age in New York City, The Widow of Rose House is a gorgeous debut by Diana Biller, with a darkly Victorian Gothic flair and an intrepid and resilient American heroine guaranteed to delight readers.
Based on the marketing and publisher description of Biller’s debut novel I picked it up expecting a Gothic ghost story with a bit of romance. Instead, it is a romance with a bit of a ghost story. Although I was slightly surprised by this, it was hard to be upset when The Widow of Rose House is one of the best romances I have read in 2019. There are three main storylines at work in Biller’s novel: the romance between Alva and Sam, Alva’s continual battle to recover from the trauma of her marriage, and the haunting of Liefdehuis the mansion Alva is restoring, and Biller does a good job of balancing all three. I loved reading the development of Sam and Alva’s relationship as their banter turned into a deeper emotional connection. Each of their interactions is truly a delight to read. Sam was a wonderful romantic lead; intelligent, funny and empathetic. Alva’s character was equally fascinating. She is resilient, brave and independent. I was really rooting for her to get her happy ending with Sam. In addition to the characters and romance, I also really enjoyed the Gilded Age setting of The Widow of Rose House. The Gilded Age is not a very common setting in historical romances and each location whether it was the glitz and energy of Manhattan or the desolate beauty of the mansions of the Hudson River Valley was expertly brought to life by Biller. Then, of course, there is the haunting of Liefdehuis. This ghost story is more creepy and atmospheric than particularly scary, and for the most part the haunting takes a back seat to the romance and character development. So even if you don’t typically read paranormal stories don’t let that deter you from reading this romance.
A satisfying and emotional romance with an interesting Gilded Age setting and touch of Gothic mystery. I will be eagerly awaiting Diana Biller’s next novel. Highly recommended.
11/19 Caitlin Brisson
THE WIDOW OF ROSE HOUSE by Diana Biller. St. Martin’s Griffin (October 8, 2019). ISBN 9781250297853. 352 p.
Pike Logan and Jennifer Cahill are a couple whose usual occupations are participating in U.S. Government ordered military expeditions against terrorists residing overseas and planning threats against America. They work with a group of ex-military personnel that are highly qualified warriors whose origins are among the elite forces of the country. “Exit Fee” is a novella taking place in the United States and involving only Pike and Jennifer.
The couple are at home in Charleston S.C. with Amena, a young Syrian refugee that they have taken into their care. Amena is an orphan whose family was killed in Syria. She is having difficulty adjusting to life in the U.S. and is more than a little rebellious. After an argument with Pike, Amena uses a short walk away from him to attempt to assert her independence. She befriends a teen named Beth on her little trip. Beth is with her Serbian guardian who is, in reality, her captor and has forced her into a life of sexual slavery.
Beth’s minder likes Amena’s looks and decides to take her and force her into the horror of being a sex slave. In typical Pike Logan fashion, Amena, Beth, and other girls are rescued and justice is done. The short book is a feel good exercise with everything turning out well. No problem in reading a book and finishing it with the knowledge that good has triumphed over evil and all’s well that ends well.
10/19 Paul Lane
EXIT FEE by Brad Taylor. William Morrow Impulse (November 12, 2019). ISBN 978-0062984890. 160p.
An Unorthodox Match is a powerful and moving novel of faith, love, and acceptance, from author Naomi Ragen, the international bestselling author of The Devil in Jerusalem.
California girl Lola has her life all set up: business degree, handsome fiancé, fast track career, when suddenly, without warning, everything tragically implodes. After years fruitlessly searching for love, marriage, and children, she decides to take the radical step of seeking spirituality and meaning far outside the parameters of modern life in the insular, ultra-orthodox enclave of Boro Park, Brooklyn. There, fate brings her to the dysfunctional home of newly-widowed Jacob, a devout Torah scholar, whose life is also in turmoil, and whose small children are aching for the kindness of a womanly touch.
While her mother direly predicts she is ruining her life, enslaving herself to a community that is a misogynistic religious cult, Lola’s heart tells her something far more complicated. But it is the shocking and unexpected messages of her new community itself which will finally force her into a deeper understanding of the real choices she now faces and which will ultimately decide her fate.
I am Jewish; a Reform Jew. My parents were Jewish, my mom had little or no religion in her upbringing, my father was brought up Orthodox. He left that behind as soon as he left home. My own upbringing was sporadic Judaism at best. My son lives in Crown Heights, parts of which pits the Modern Orthodox contingent against the Lubavitch Chasidim. Growing up in NY, I am somewhat familiar with these groups. I am familiar with some Yiddish, but not to the extent used in this book. No worries, there is a lengthy glossary at the end of the book, and most of it you can figure out by the context, or it is translated on the page for you. That said, this felt like the most Jewish book yet from probably the most popular author of Jewish family fiction. According to the acknowledgments, Ragen spent a year in Boro Park doing her research and writing this book. The authenticity cannot be denied.
Just an observation: after reading the digital galley and then seeing the cover, I can tell you it is wrong on more than one level. But who cares, it’s only the cover.
Lola leaves behind her mother and her name and becomes Leah, a frum (devout or pieous) Jew. Her journey to this point is fraught, and she questions a lot. But once she starts volunteering to help this recent widower’s family, one thing becomes certain; Leah loves these children, at least the younger ones. The teenager is resentful and hateful, not a big surprise. Leah doesn’t meet their father for quite some time, and meanwhile, the local matchmakers are hard at work, setting her up on dates (shidduch) with one sad loser after another. Jakob is having the same spate of bad shidduchs. Leah is considered “Baal t’shevah,” meaning one who has returned, because she wasn’t a practicing Orthodox Jew until adulthood. There are lots of rules, and one of the most important, and most ignored, is to accept converts and those who return as if they are even better than those born to the religion. There are a lot of reasons for this, and it is explained thoroughly, as are many of the rites and rituals of ultra-Orthodox Jewish life. If you’ve ever been curious about it, this book should satisfy that curiosity.
It slowly becomes obvious that Leah and Jakob belong together, but it takes most of the book for them to get to that point. An ultra-Orthodox romance precludes almost everything typically found in a romance novel. Ultimately, this is a story about family and love, in an unusual setting. There is some humor, and lots of drama, making this a very engrossing read. Ragen fans, (and I am one,) will love it.
10/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
AN UNORTHODOX MATCH by Naomi Ragen. St. Martin’s Press (September 24, 2019). ISBN 978-1250161222. 336p.
In the next highly anticipated installment of Lee Child’s acclaimed suspense series, Jack Reacher comes to the aid of an elderly couple . . . and confronts his most dangerous opponents yet. “Jack Reacher is today’s James Bond, a thriller hero we can’t get enough of.”—Ken Follett
“This is a random universe,” Reacher says. “Once in a blue moon things turn out just right.”
This isn’t one of those times.
Reacher is on a Greyhound bus, minding his own business, with no particular place to go, and all the time in the world to get there. Then he steps off the bus to help an old man who is obviously just a victim waiting to happen. But you know what they say about good deeds. Now Reacher wants to make it right.
An elderly couple have made a few well-meaning mistakes, and now they owe big money to some very bad people. One brazen move leads to another, and suddenly Reacher finds himself a wanted man in the middle of a brutal turf war between rival Ukrainian and Albanian gangs.
Reacher has to stay one step ahead of the loan sharks, the thugs, and the assassins. He teams up with a fed-up waitress who knows a little more than she’s letting on, and sets out to take down the powerful and make the greedy pay. It’s a long shot. The odds are against him. But Reacher believes in a certain kind of justice . . . the kind that comes along once in a blue moon.
It is hard to fathom reading twenty-four books featuring the same character, and loving all of them. Yet that is the case here; maybe some are better than others, but all are really good and that says a lot. Jack Reacher has become an iconic character (despite the diminutive Tom Cruise portrayal in the films.) I can’t wait for the Amazon Prime series, but not sure when it will air. It was announced this summer and is being produced by the same companies that are behind Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series, which is excellent, so I’m hopeful.
One of the best things about this series is that each book can stand alone, so if you have resisted reading one, you can easily start now. You can always go back and read the rest, and I’m fairly confident you will want to. Reacher is a character that is larger than life. His logic is infallible. His morals and values are unshakeable. He is a modern-day hero, and we sure could use one, now more than ever.
This latest story revolves around an elderly couple with a very sick daughter. They are willing to do anything to help her, and that includes borrowing money from loan sharks. This small town where they live is divided into territories, one run by the Ukrainians, the other by the Albanians. Both are terrible, and that’s all Reacher needs to know before deciding to help them out. Of course, he meets an attractive woman and some others who can help. But it is Reacher who cleans up this town, killing so many bad guys that it doesn’t seem possible, yet somehow it is probable. Somehow we buy it.
Kudos to Lee Child for making me believe every page, and read every page, before putting this book down. Not a word is wasted. Another excellent addition to a truly remarkable series.
10/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch
BLUE MOON by Lee Child. Delacorte Press (October 29, 2019). ISBN 978-0399593543. 368p.
In a departure from his regular series, Peter May gives his readers a monumental stand-alone novel dealing with events in Cambodia and Thailand during the period of the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970s. It was a time of massive murder of the people of these countries by a group of homicidal maniacs that had taken power with unlimited self-awarded powers.
Two people are featured as central characters in order to tell two separate stories of those affected by the horrors of events in Cambodia and Thailand. First is Jack Elliot, a soldier of fortune who has been tasked with bringing out a wife and two children from the domain of the Khmer Rouge by their father who had deserted the family as they were taken away. He now expresses regrets and is willing to pay Jack to mastermind their freedom and bring them to him.
The second is 18-year-old Lisa Robinson,vwho is actually Jack’s daughter and is looking for her father. Jack does not know he has a daughter. On the other hand, Lisa has caught a glimpse of her father at her mother’s funeral.
Lisa decides to look for her father, and learning from a friend of his that he has gone to Cambodia, decides to travel there to search for him. May is able to draw in the reader with his description of Lisa’s travels, and her loss of any innocence she may have come with when faced with the reality of what she encounters.
May paints pictures of both individuals to tell the story. First Jack, assembling a small crew of himself and two others, and their trip into the interior of the area ruled by the Khmer Rouge. The author’s graphic description of the horrors inflicted on the people is probably the best I’ve read delineating the monumental excesses of a group that was admittedly more maniacal than any other such savages down through history. The reader is there looking on and in all probability, will not be able to stop following the descriptions. The period was followed by reporters of all media, but nothing they ever wrote can bring out what Peter May does.
The novel is an excellent one and even if alone as the author’s product does inscribe him into a select group of writers.
10/19 Paul Lane
THE NOBLE PATH by Peter May. Quercus; Reprint edition (October 29, 2019). ISBN 978-1787477957. 544p.
A jilted-at-the-altar bride reunites with her high school sweetheart in Lori Wilde’s sensational new Twilight, Texas Christmas novel.
Kelsey James always played by the rules and look where it got her—dumped and half-drunk in a poofy white dress, her Christmas wedding ruined. Then her best friend talks her into going on her “honeymoon” anyway, daring her to a “Christmas of Yes.” It’s about time she lets loose a little, so Kelsey agrees to say “yes” to fun, to romance, and to adventure! And adventure leads her right smack into the arms of sexy Noah MacGregor.
Noah’s never one to say no to a risk—from leading his NBA team to victory to making Christmas cookies in Twilight, he’s up to the challenge! But a lot has gone on since they were teenagers, and he knows he has to take his time to make Kelsey dare to believe that what they feel is more than just the holiday magic that’s in the air . . .
I enjoy the Twilight, Texas series and this year’s Christmas entry is a good one. Kelsey is basically a psychologically abused daughter. She grew up with a mother that constantly belittles her, “gaslights” her, and in general, keeps her self esteem lower than a hole in the ground. The mom here reminded me a bit of my stepmother, in a slightly more exaggerated way (sorry, Helena, if you’re reading this, but it’s true.) So when Kelsey gets dumped on her wedding day when her fiance runs off with his best man, she is ready for a change.
Luckily, she has a best friend, Tasha, who is there to help her pick up the broken pieces and put them back together in a stronger, more independent way. Phase one of the process involves cashing in the honeymoon plans and taking Kelsey to Twilight, where she is reunited with her high school sweetheart, her first love, the one who got away.
This whole series is based on the first love is your one true love subgenre and Wilde does a good job with it. Personally, though, I had a hard time with Kelsey. She is a real dichotomy of controlled, strong campaign manager and weak, ineffectual woman. She wallows in self-pity, not because she was left at the altar, but because of her mother. Noah, her first love, understands her though. Their history is bumpy, to say the least, but he is on board in helping her gain control of her life. Finally.
These damaged characters make for a good story, and this was a one night read for me. The Christmas magic happens in Twilight, and I bought it.
10/19 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™
THE CHRISTMAS DARE by Lori Wilde. Avon (October 22, 2019). ISBN 978-0062468314. 400p.
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