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From the publisher:

A soldier has six weeks to convince the only woman he has ever longed for to take a chance on life with him in Alaska….

Sara’s letters were the only bright spot during Gabe’s devastating tour in Iraq. With each new correspondence he fell harder, needed her more, wanted to be with her. Now, after initially rejecting his offer to meet, she’s shown up at the door of his isolated cabin in Alaska looking for…what? Gabe’s not sure what made Sara change her mind, but he knows he never wants to let her go.

Major Gabe Randall is everything Sara Ryan wants but nothing she feels she deserves. A modern-day spinster, Sara hides behind family obligations and the safe, quiet life she’s resigned herself to living. But secretly, even though she may have stretched the truth about who she is in her letters to him, she wants Gabe. Will he still want her when he discovers the real woman behind the pen?

Once they meet, Gabe asks her for six weeks in Alaska. Six weeks to spend getting to know each other, and then she’ll have to decide whether they are better together or apart.

I have long been intrigued with Alaska. I’ve never been, and I am one of those people who is always cold so whenever I mention a possible vacation to Alaska, my family just laughs at me. Whenever a book comes along that references Alaska, I’m in. Apparently, it’s as close as I’m going to get.

The story starts out with Sara, a nanny for her brother and sister-in-law’s daughter, responding to a call from a local radio station to send Easter cards to soldiers stationed overseas. Sara includes a long, rambling letter, talking about her latest embarrassment when a family member called her a spinster in front of everyone. At 35, Sara is definitely single but her life doesn’t leave her a whole lot of time for dating. Her brother and his wife take terrible advantage of her. Her mother, a recent widow, refuses to do anything for herself and relies on Sarah for way too much. Sara just adores her niece, but she is in kindergarten now, and Sara realizes she won’t be needed much longer.

Much to her surprise, she gets an email from Gabe, the soldier who received her card. That starts a correspondence that eventually moves to texting, then video chats. Sara realizes she is developing strong feelings for Gabe, and he feels the same way. Seven months in, he is getting to go home to Alaska for 6 weeks. He sends Sara a plane ticket so she can come meet him.

Sara panics, not sure how she will explain this to her family and she is really torn. Gabe realizes her family may be worried about her just up and going to Alaska to meet someone they don’t know, so on impulse, he stops in North Carolina to surprise her. Let’s just say it does not go well. Gabe gives Sara an ultimatum to come to Alaska or that will be the end but he is not really sure she will show up. Sara is quite the doormat, and her family just loves walking all over her.

I really liked these characters and wanted them to find their happily ever after. Meeting online is not new anymore, but I liked the soldier angle here. We all have some idea about the difficulties soldiers face when they are stationed in a war zone, but this brings a bit of what happens back at home, and how that affects soldiers as well. It was interesting and I always like learning something new. What I didn’t like was the beginning of the book – the letters they wrote to each other were repeated. So you read the letter as Sara wrote it, then a few pages later you read the same letter as Gabe read it. It didn’t make sense to repeat it like that, I found it annoying, and I have no idea what the editor was thinking. But once I got past that, I loved the rest of the book.

Sadly, there wasn’t a whole lot about Alaska as they don’t even get there until almost the end of the book, but I was so caught up with these characters and their story that it didn’t even matter. There was a little sex, but this read was much more about the sweet than the heat, and I highly recommend it.

3/2020 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

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Smokejumper, Book 1

From the publisher:

Willa Frank has one simple rule: never go on a date with anyone more than twice. Now that her business is providing the stability she’s always needed, she can’t afford distractions. Her two-date rule will protect her just fine…until she meets smokejumper Grady Billman.

After one date―one amazing, unforgettable date―Grady isn’t ready to call it quits, despite his own no-attachments policy, and he’s found a sneaky way around both their rules.

Throwing gutter balls with pitchers of beer? Not a real date. Everyone knows bowling doesn’t count.

Watching a band play at a local show? They just happen to have the same great taste in music. Definitely not a date.

Hiking? Nope. How can exercise be considered a date?

With every “non-date” Grady suggests, his reasoning gets more ridiculous, and Willa must admit she’s having fun playing along. But when their time together costs Willa two critical clients, it’s clear she needs to focus on the only thing that matters―her future. And really, he should do the same.

But what is she supposed to do with a future that looks gray without Grady in it?

This book felt a little like it switched things up a bit; our hero, Grady, is smart and capable, even though his plans for the future are non-existent. Our heroine, Willa, on the other hand, has some serious baggage. Willa doesn’t do relationships, hence, the two-date rule. She’ll go out with a guy twice at most. After that, she cuts them loose so she doesn’t form any attachments. She is laser-focused on her career and she’s not going to let a man get in her way. Until she meets Grady.

Grady is definitely on board with the two-date rule, after all, with his work schedule, he can’t really get involved. But their first date goes so well that he is bound and determined to keep seeing her and somehow get around her rule and his scheduling issues. Willa is pretty smitten as well and finds herself bending her own rule quite a bit. She won’t break it, exactly, and that leads to a lot of comedy. But as her life story unfurls, Grady learns why she is the way she is, and the best way to deal with her issues. Willa is a workaholic and completely obsessed with money. She lost her mom as a young child, and her childhood was heartbreaking at best.

This wouldn’t be a romance if it broke all the rules, so boy meets girl, they fall pretty quickly, then boy loses girl. Only to get her back again. But I was so emotionally involved that it felt pretty devastating when they reached their breaking point. I only kept going because I knew they had to get their happily ever after.

I had a couple of very minor quibbles with this book; the cover wasn’t great, and I felt like I missed something regarding Willa’s relationship with Grady’s mom, but all in all, this was a very good romance. I liked learning about smokejumpers, I was not familiar with that specialized field of work, and I really like how it was integrated into the story. This was my favorite book so far from Entangled Publishing. It had all the elements I love in a romance; great characters that I cared about, lots of laughs, some heat when needed, lots of drama without ever going over the top, and of course, a happy ending. Best of all, this is the first book of a new series and I am all in!

2/2020 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

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Farraday Country, Book 1

From the publisher:

Welcome to Farraday Country, a twist on the popular 7 brides for 7 brothers set in cattle-ranching west Texas, with all the friends, family and fun that fans have come to expect from USA TODAY Bestselling author Chris Keniston.

On a barren road in the pre-dawn hours, Adam Farraday, the oldest of seven siblings, happens upon a disabled sports car and an angel in white searching for a disappearing dog. What is it about this secretive redheaded beauty that intrigues him as no woman has before?

After learning her fiancé’s true nature minutes before her wedding, Meg O’Brien drives as fast and as far away from her world as she can. Stranded with no money, and nowhere to go, the city girl must learn to fit in to small town life and all its quirky trappings. Too bad falling in love with her handsome rescuer is not an option.

This was a free ebook I got through BookBub. I know I’ve mentioned this before, so feel free to skip ahead to the review. If you are not familiar or if you haven’t heard about this site, check it out. If you like inexpensive or free ebooks, it is definitely worth a visit. I think the most expensive book I’ve seen on there is about $3.99, many are $1.99 or free. You can specify the genres you like and that’s what they will send you. It’s one of the best emails I get every day.

I have noticed many of the free books are self-published, which as long as they are edited, is fine with me. I always check the reviews, and this book had over 1700 reviews with a 4.5-star rating. It is well deserved! Have you ever looked at some of the 1-star reviews? They are often rants about late arrivals, authors’ notes they don’t like, or other silly things that have literally nothing to do with the book they are reviewing. But I am digressing again, mea culpa.

This is a very short book, probably a novella, so it lacked some of the depth of character that I like. That said, it is the first book of a series, and it is well written and a good story, so I am not going to complain too much. I really liked the premise of the book, and admired Meg for taking off the way she did. That could not have been easy, from a physical standpoint (no money) or an emotional one. The Farraday family is a good one, and I am looking forward to reading more of their stories.

It looks like the Kindle book is still free, so if you like sweet love stories and fast reads with some humor, grab it. I’m very glad I did.

2/2020 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

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From the publisher:

All I’ve ever tried to do is keep the people in my life safe. That’s gotten me into hot water more times than I can count. Hell, the last time got me four years behind bars.

So when my favorite barista tells her mom that I’m her boyfriend to stop the woman’s endless criticism, I can’t stop myself from helping her out. But she’s too innocent and I’m too damaged for this to ever be the real deal.

I can’t allow myself to touch her, not when making her mine will drag her into my world and drown her in my messed up life. What I really need to do is stay away.

Except every touch and every accidental kiss breaks my control. I want her.

Then I find out her dad is the detective who put me away…and he’s trying to take down my family.

I don’t blame him. The secrets I’m keeping are big enough to destroy everything.

Paperback

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From the publisher:

Mason Christian has twelve weeks to flip something old into something new, and then he’s getting the hell out of Footsteps Bay – a tiny New Zealand coastal town. Not even his temporary secretary and personal assistant–the feisty, luscious Billie McLeod–will deter him, but there’s no denying she makes him feel alive. More alive than he’s felt in three years…

Billie has one dream: save enough money to finish her degree. That’s why she’s agreed to work for hard ass, all-business-no-pleasure Mason Christian–a man who has every intention of destroying through modernization the town’s most cherished historical home. Before she can say ‘see ya’ she’s signed on the dotted line and is contractually bound to be Mason’s forty-second assistant. But working with male perfection every day is awesome with a capital A–as long as they can stick to a hands-off policy that gets harder every day…

Entangled Publishing is on to something. I’m not exactly sure how this all works, but it seems like most of the books I’ve read from them have been written by authors on the other side of the world. They specialize in ebooks that are set in Australia or New Zealand or I’m not even sure where (I am somewhat geographically challenged) but the stories, the characters work just as well over here. I know that American authors often have their books sold to other countries, translated to other languages, but I never really thought about the reverse so much. Every now and then I read a translated book that was originally published in some other country, and I invariably enjoy them. I like learning about other cultures and reading translated books really gives an insider’s perspective that I really like, rather than an American who took a vacation somewhere and decided to set their book there. That works, too, but in a different way.

From what I can tell from my reading, and from my husband’s working in Australia back in the early 80’s, it is very much like America. Liane Moriarity (and her writing sisters) spring to mind – I love her books, and it was always sort of secondary that they were set in Australia. For TV, they moved Big Little Lies to Malibu and it worked perfectly.

So this book was sent to me by the publisher as a “second look,” which means it came out a while back. I didn’t care, if I haven’t read a book then it is new to me. This is a contemporary romance of the rich boss & his assistant variety and that worked for me.

Mason has some secrets he just doesn’t share. He has kept himself closed off, is basically punishing himself, and avoiding relationships. He is a tough taskmaster and expects his assistant to live, work and breathe whatever project is currently underway. In this case, it is a house flip in the small oceanside town. He goes through assistants so frequently that he doesn’t bother to learn their names; in this case, he calls Bilie “42”. Yep, there have been 41 assistants before her. He has her sign a tough contract, and off to work they go. But Billie, even though she really needs the money, is no pushover. And her pushing back causes sparks to fly.

This was a very quick read, I would have like to know more about what they were doing in the renovation – rooms just were magically done. But that’s me and my HGTV mentality, I guess. It probably wasn’t such a big thing back in 2013 when this book was first published. It was an entertaining read, and that works for me.

2/2020 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

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From the publisher:

All Haley Bowman has ever wanted was her One True Love. But now, with her cousin getting married and Haley back in her small town, the pressure is on. Good thing she’s got a foolproof Kiss List, full of potential OTLs. Her parents knew they were soul mates at their first kiss, so surely Haley will know the same. All she needs to do is…well, kiss each of these guys…

Enter Max Gallagher: bane of Haley’s existence, her nemesis since childhood, and, unfortunately, as a local, her way in with all the guys on the Kiss List. Max wants nothing to do with love and certainly nothing to do with Haley, but he can clear the way for her to get to know the guys on the list. Of course, he wants something in return: to be made a partner in Haley’s family’s business. One kiss for relinquishing her hold-out vote on Max.

But the more time Max and Haley spend together, the clearer it is that there’s a paper-thin line between love and hate. Max will have to decide between the job he’s always dreamed of or the girl of his dreams before his fate is sealed with someone else’s kiss.

This book sounded so cute but it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. I found the characters incredibly immature and silly, especially Haley. Max was better, and how often do you get to say a man is more mature than a woman? (Please don’t send me hate mail, stereotypes become stereotypes because they are often based in truth.) But I pushed past that because I liked the rest of the characters. The storyline was broadcast from the first page so there is not even a hint of suspense about what the ending will be, and that didn’t bother me either. It was a silly, escapist read and sometimes that is enough.

2/2020 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™