Release Day Review: 5 stars for Holidating:Three Sizzling Holiday Romances by Sarina Bowen

 

24-time USA Today bestseller Sarina Bowen's first holiday collection! Enjoy three complete holiday romances from Sarina Bowen. You’re getting:

Boyfriend: a complete holiday novel with a hilarious premise.
Rent a boyfriend for the holiday. For $25, I will be your Thanksgiving date. I will show up in a nice shirt, talk hockey with your dad and bring your mother flowers…
Everyone knows it’s a bad idea to introduce your hockey crush to your messed-up family. But Abbi really needs a date for Thanksgiving, even if she can’t say why. But when she tears Weston’s number off of a flyer, she accidentally entangles Moo U’s star defenseman in a ruse that neither of them can easily unwind.

Crossroads: a novella of missed connections, broken dreams and two hearts that just won’t quit.

Damien Rossi drives a taxi but dreams of more. Specifically, he dreams about Nicolette Overland, his favorite client, a lonely beauty who lives in an actual mansion on a hill.

Nicolette can’t stop thinking about the hunky guy with the soulful brown eyes, either. She looks forward to every Christmas holiday when she knows he’ll be waiting for her at the airport. But when she screws up her courage to finally tell him how she feels, it might be too late…

Blonde Date: a novella of hot nerds, basketball and revenge.

Katie is done with bad boys after some very poor treatment by a fraternity guy. Now, facing a holiday Greek event, she needs a date. A nice guy this time. Good thing a certain nerdy basketball player wants to audition for the role…

Note: Boyfriend (68k words) is separately available, Crossroads (35k words) is brand new, and Blonde Date (30k words) has been previously published.

Buy Links

Ebook will be at Amazon only:
https://geni.us/Holidating-Amazon

Paperbacks at:
Amazon:
https://geni.us/Holidating-paper

Bookshop.org:
https://geni.us/Holidating-Bookshop

Barnes & Noble:
https://geni.us/Holidating-BN

Books-a-Million:
https://geni.us/Holidating-BAM

Mobile friendly links page:
https://sarinabowen.com/holidating-links

ADD TO GOODREADS
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/216968586-holidating

What I thought about Holidating

Oh my! Damien Rossi! I absolutely love all the Rossi men in the True North series and was so excited to read Damien's story. It was fantastic and really had me a bit emotional there for a few pages. But it's romance, so there's an HEA, so whew! I just loved Damien's story, it was sad and sweet. The story spans a number of years and can really tug the heartstrings before giving the reader a HEA.

Boyfriend and Blonde Date are re-releases that I still want to read. Overall this is a feel-good holiday trio that hits the romance bullseye. You can't go wrong here.

This is an very nice introduction for new readers of this author and a must for fans of the True North series.

 

Release Week Review: You Can Kill (A Laurel Snow Thriller Book 4) by Rebecca Zanetti

 

Luther meets Justified combined with Profiler in New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Rebecca Zanetti's exciting Laurel Snow Thriller series, set in the Pacific Northwest, featuring FBI Special Agent and rising star profiler Laurel Snow. For readers who love their thrillers centered around dysfunctional families, and their protagonists threatened by a serial killer.

“Be prepared to stay up all night…Rebecca Zanetti takes you on a thrill-ride, pitting characters you love against impossible odds.” –CHRISTINE FEEHAN, New York Times bestselling author

A string of brutal murders is leaving a grisly trail across the Pacific Northwest—and drawing rising star FBI profiler Laurel Snow back into a treacherous case and a twisted personal drama she can’t escape . . .

The first body is torn apart, blood and flesh discovered across both state and federal lands. As the victims multiply, a pattern emerges—each is related to past cases investigated by Laurel Snow, with the assist of Huck Rivers, Washington Fish and Wildlife captain. When friends and loved ones are targeted, things become even more chillingly personal.

As Laurel and Huck team up again to navigate the gruesome and increasingly bizarre killings, they must also keep a safe distance from Laurel’s half-sister, Abigail, a dangerously clever sociopath. Ever since their father reappeared in town, Abigail has been convinced she must protect Laurel from his malignant narcissism—a scourge she’s sure they’ve both inherited. Huck is not spared either as a shocking development in the case touches his own life.

With the murders, and the suspects, multiplying around them, and the lives of everyone in their orbit at stake, only Laurel’s sharp analytic skills, Huck’s deep gut instincts, and their growing bond will enable them to face the demons within and the threats without—before they’re next on an elusive killer’s hit list . . .

Buy Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple | Kobo | Google Play

Add to Goodreads

~o~

What I thought about You Can Kill

This is one of my favorite series. I just love Laurel and her investigative skills, especially when she teams up with Huck. They work so well as colleagues and as lovers and I really like getting more information on both aspects in this latest addition to the series. It really is a series about relationships against the backdrop of terrible crimes.

This is a no spoiler review, so I'm not getting into the details of the story. I will say that the writing pulled me right into the story and I found myself close to the end before I knew it. I love a book that draws me in so completely that the pages just fly by, and this series does that. There's always a few twists and turns that keep the story moving along, and this installment of the series is no exception.

Overall, a 5 star read for this reader.

Review: I'll Be Waiting by Kelley Armstrong

Nicola Laughton never expected to see adulthood, being diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis as a child. Then medical advances let her live into her thirties and she met Anton, who taught her to dream of a future… together. Months after they married, Anton died in a horrible car accident, but lived long enough to utter five words to her, “I’ll be waiting for you.”

That final private moment became public when someone from the crash scene took it to the press―the terminally ill woman holding her dying husband as he promised to wait for her on the other side. Worse, that person claimed it wasn’t Anton who said the words but his ghost, hovering over his body.

Since their story went public, Nicola has been hounded by spiritualists promising closure. In the hopes of stopping her downward spiral, friends and family find a reputable medium―a professor of parapsychology. For the séance, they rent the Lake Erie beach house that Anton’s family once owned.

The medium barely has time to begin his work before things start happening. Locked doors mysteriously open. Clouds of insects engulf the house. Nicola hears footsteps and voices and the creak of an old dumbwaiter…in an empty shaft. Throughout it all she’s haunted by nightmares of her past. Because, unbeknownst to the others, this isn’t her first time contacting the dead. And Nicola isn’t her real name.

That’s when she finds the first body….

Buy Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple | Kobo | Google

Add to Goodreads

What I thought about I'll Be Waiting

I love this time of year. While some people like horror movies, I really like a good horror story -- one that will make me put the book down for a moment, only to grab it back up and devour the words on the page, because I have to know what's going to happen.  This requires a good bit of tension and suspense in the writing and believable enough so the reader can just sink into the story, even though it might be scary or intense.

I'll Be Waiting grabbed me right from the start.  Nicola and Anton are likable characters and their circumstances are gut-wrenching.  But this story asks -- what about the afterlife? And it answers the question with a tight horror story with ghosts and evil spirits and a whole lot of holding my breath.

I really liked this story and it will be on my favorites of 2024. The tale is believable, especially if you have a belief in the afterlife. And while a horror story, the love story between Anton and Nicola is expertly woven between past and present.  There were plenty of surprises I didn't see coming. I just loved it! Definitely recommended for horror fans. 

 About the Author

Kelley Armstrong believes experience is the best teacher, though she’s been told this shouldn’t apply to writing her murder scenes. To craft her books, she has studied aikido, archery and fencing. She sucks at all of them. She has also crawled through very shallow cave systems and climbed half a mountain before chickening out. She is however an expert coffee drinker and a true connoisseur of chocolate-chip cookies.

Kelley Armstrong's social handles: 

Facebook  | Instagram  | TikTok

Cover Reveal: Dying to Meet You by Sarina Bowen

 Coming May 2025, Sarina Bowen's next domestic thriller, 

DYING TO MEET YOU

The acclaimed USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author returns with a twisty thriller that probes how well we actually know the men in our lives.

 

May 2025

The acclaimed USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author returns with a twisty thriller that probes how well we actually know the men in our lives.

Rowan Gallagher is a devoted single mother and a talented architect with a high-profile commission restoring an historic mansion for the most powerful family in Maine. But inside, she’s a mess. She knows that stalking her ex’s avatar all over Portland on her phone isn't the healthiest way to heal from their breakup. But she’s out of ice cream and she's sick of romcoms.

Watching his every move is both fascinating and infuriating. He's dining out while she's wallowing on the couch. The last straw comes when he parks in their favorite spot on the waterfront. In a weak moment, she leashes the dog and sets off to see who else is in his car.

Instead of catching her ex in a kiss, Rowan becomes the first witness to his murder—and the primary suspect.

But Rowan isn’t the only one keeping secrets. As she digs for the truth, she discovers the dead man was stalking her too, gathering intimate details about her job and her past.

Struggling to clear her name, Rowan finds herself spiraling into the shadowy plot that killed him.

Will she be the next to die?

ADD TO GOODREADS:  

PREORDER LINKS

Amazon:
https://geni.us/DMY-Kindle

Apple Books:
https://geni.us/DMY-Apple

Kobo:
https://geni.us/DMY-Kobo

Barnes & Noble:
https://geni.us/DMY-Nook

Google Play:
https://geni.us/DMY-google

Audio:
https://geni.us/DMY-Audible

All links in one place:
https://sarinabowen.com/dtmy-links

 

 

Release Week Review: The Highlander's Untamed Tempest (The Brothers of Wolf Isle #5) by Heather McCollum

A stranger walks among the Macquarie clan. But is she their destiny…or their doom? Don’t miss the alluring fifth Brothers of Wolf Isle book from USA Today bestselling author Heather McCollum

Eagan Macquarie doesn’t believe in love—nor does he want a wife. There is an entire world beyond Wolf Isle, and mo Dhia, he will seek it out. But the Macquarie curse will continue to haunt his family unless Eagan finds a suitable bride to break the hex once and for all. Now he must choose between a marriage he does not want or abandoning his family…until a comely stranger catches his eye.

Claudette Tempest Ainsworth—known as Tessa—is a learned French midwife who’s been waiting for her father to come fetch her from the harsh winds and sea of Scotland and return her to her beloved France. But with Eagan, she finds something unexpected: a flame of desire, hot and almost terrifying in its intensity. But even the brightest fires cannot sustain the inevitable distance that’s soon to follow…

Tessa seems to have bewitched them all. But when danger threatens Wolf Isle and the Macquaries, Eagan discovers that the love he never believed in might be his clan’s salvation…or its devastating downfall.

Buy Links

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Apple | Kobo 

Entangled Publishing

Add to Goodreads

What I thought about The Highlander's Untamed Tempest

The Brothers of Wolf Isle series comes to a close with the story of the youngest, Eagan Macquarie who has the choice of either breaking the long standing curse against the family or bringing it to a happier conclusion.  This is a romance, so you know how it's going to go, but the fun is in the story and the characters, especially with this installment of the series.

Eagan is ready to leave his family when he meets Tessa, a young woman who some suspect as being a witch.  I don't want to give any more details, but the beginning of this story just pulled me in.  I've read a few in this series, and they work very well standalone, while also whetting the appetite for others in the series. 

There's plenty of steamy scenes here.  I liked that Tessa knew what she was doing in this area, and while they fall pretty hard pretty fast, I thought she was perfect for Eagan, especially since he had his life planned out until he meets Tessa and all those long term plans come into question.

What I love about this series including this book, and this author is that these stories are a perfect  escape into another time, they are fun and sweet, with just the right touch of danger and darkness to make it interesting.  

About the Author:

 

I’m Heather McCollum, writer of 16th century Scottish romance full of intrigue and sprinkled with humor, history, & spice. Brawny Highlanders with golden hearts & feisty heroines are my favorites! I’m a mom of 3, dog-mom of 1, & wife of a 6’4” Highlander. I love kilted heroes, dragonflies, watching birds, chai lattes, & eating popcorn for dinner on Friday nights.  

Connect with the Author:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Pinterest

 Instagram | Goodreads | Bookbub | Amazon

 

 

Release Day Review: The House at Watch Hill (Watch Hill Trilogy #1) by Karen Marie Moning

 

 

 

#1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Marie Moning is back with a gripping, imaginative, and seductive new series in which a young woman moves to Divinity, Louisiana, to inherit a large fortune and a Gothic mansion full of mysteries and ominous secrets...

Zo Grey is reeling from the sudden death of her mother when she receives a surprising call from an attorney in Divinity, Louisiana, with the news she has been left an inheritance by a distant relative, the terms of which he will only discuss in person. Destitute and alone, with nothing left to lose, Zo heads to Divinity and discovers she is the sole beneficiary of a huge fortune and a monstrosity of a house that sits ominously at the peak of Watch Hill—but she must live in it, alone, for three years before the house, or the money, is hers.

Met with this irresistible opportunity to finally build a future for herself, Zo puts aside her misgivings about the foreboding Gothic mansion and the strange circumstances, and moves in, where she is quickly met by a red-eyed Stygian owl and an impossibly sexy Scottish groundskeeper.

Her new home is full of countless secrets and mystifying riddles, with doors that go nowhere, others that are impossible to open, and a turret into which there is no visible means of ingress. And the townspeople are odd…

What Zo doesn’t yet know is that her own roots lie in this very house and that in order to discover her true identity and awaken her dormant powers, she will have to face off against sinister forces she doesn’t quite comprehend—or risk being consumed by them.

Buy Links

HarperCollins

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Apple | Google

Add to Goodreads

 

What I thought about The House at Watch Hill

In this first book of a new series from Karen Marie Moning, the familiar themes of good versus evil, light versus dark, and the gray in between are examined through the lens of a young woman who has everything to gain and nothing to lose. Zo Grey inherits the town matriarch's property in Divinity, Louisiana and it comes with some mind-blowing conditions. Fans of this author's Fever series will find similar themes in the Watch Hill series, especially Celtic folklore.

There's plenty of supernatural elements at the House at Watch Hill, a gothic monstrosity that is both extremely creepy and devastating beautiful.  There's a terrifically unsettling atmosphere throughout this book and I really liked that aspect of the book.  It had me a little nervous about what was to come, and yet had me turning those pages as fast as I could! Such a gothic feel to this story and I adored that. The house is a character all its own in this story.

This book lays the ground work for what is to come in this story. Zo suddenly finds out many things about herself that have her emotions all over the place. She's a sometimes-likable character with a healthy rebellious streak which gets her in trouble. There are also external forces in play as well, others in the supernatural community that want what Zo has in the House at Watch Hill.

I haven't been able to get this story out of my head since finishing it.  I thought The House at Watch Hill a solid start to what I hope will be a very exciting ride. Can't wait for more!

About KMM

Karen Marie Moning is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Fever Series and the Highlander series. She is a winner of the prestigious RITA award for best paranormal romance and is a multiple RITA award nominee, and a Goodreads Reader’s Choice Award winner. An alum of the Immaculate Conception Academy, she attended Purdue University where she completed a BA in Society & Law, with minors in Philosophy, Creative Writing and Theatre.

Prior to becoming a full time writer, she worked in the insurance industry directing commercial litigation and intercompany arbitration. She agrees with Jorge Luis Borges that paradise must be some kind of library.

https://karenmoning.com/

Facebook

Instagram

Coming this winter from Sarina Bowen: The Last Guy On Earth

 

Coming Winter 2025

One cold December day, two men are blindsided by a hockey trade; one is the most decorated goalie in the league, while the other one is the youngest coach in the majors.

Jethro Hale is the last player Coach Clay Powers wants to see on his roster, but the G.M. pulls a fast one. And it's not like he can even explain why. Nobody knows about their love affair fifteen years ago.

Cue the all-star awkwardness, the painful memories and the reawakening of deep feelings on both sides.

Unfortunately, their attraction still burns brightly. But it can never be. A player and a coach? The scandal would overshadow the team’s banner year.

If only they could resist each other…

If you love grumpy heroes, high stakes hockey, struggling single parents and smoldering kisses, grab your copy of The Last Guy on Earth.

Ebooks at:

Amazon:
https://geni.us/lastguy-amazon

Apple Books:
https://geni.us/lastguy-apple

Kobo:
https://geni.us/lastguy-kobo

Nook:
https://geni.us/lastguy-nook

Paperback, Audio, and other links coming soon!

ADD TO GOODREADS:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/217193511-last-guy-on-earth