Tuesday 19 July 2022

Trapped in Love - Danica Flynn

Trapped In Love
Danica Flynn
(MacGregor Brothers Brewing Company, #2)
Publication date: July 19th 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

When my boss forced me on vacation to think about my career at the brewery, I wanted to scream. Then my sister suggested I spend the week at our dad’s cabin in the Poconos to think about what I really wanted.

Hoping for a relaxing week of fishing, hiking, and drinking lots of beer, I didn’t expect to find my sworn enemy already there. It was clear we had been setup by my meddlesome sister.

I had no desire to work out my differences with Felix freaking Jameson. He already broke my heart twice and I wasn’t going to let him do it a third time.

I just hoped the cabin was big enough for the both of us. And that I could forget how good it felt when his mouth was on mine. I definitely wasn’t going to let him into my bed again. Definitely not.

Trapped in Love is a small-town summer vacation romance set in the Poconos. If you love enemies to lovers and forced proximity, this one is for you.

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Author Bio:

Danica Flynn is a marketer by day, and a writer by nights and weekends. AKA she doesn’t sleep! She is a rabid hockey fan of both The Philadelphia Flyers and the Metropolitan Riveters. When not writing, she can be found hanging with her partner, playing video games, and reading a ton of books.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Bookbub / Pinterest / Amazon / Newsletter



My Review

Trapped in love tells the story of Felix and Gemma. They've fancied each other from the moment that they first met, but after Felix stood Gemma up on what would have been their first date, they've been at each other's throats. When they both end up away on holiday together, it's clear that their obvious attraction is going to be impossible to ignore.
I did enjoy the romance between these two. They worked well together as a couple. The main reason that they can't be together though is because Felix is single-handedly raising his thirteen-year-old younger sister. I'm not sure exactly how hands he thinks he needs to be, she's thirteen and I'm sure that he could manage a relationship as well as his sister. Single parents with much younger kids certainly seem to manage things one way or another. I think that it was this that stopped me from giving this book a higher rating. Yes, he has a few things going on in his life, who doesn't? It's certainly not enough to make him drop all attempts at living his own life and I think that this 'conflict' was dragged out a little too long, making things slightly repetitive at points.
Overall, it was a good romance, but just not a brilliant one. Still a good read.

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Wednesday 13 July 2022

A Perfect Stranger - Shalini Boland

 Two marriages. Three little lies. Someone’s going to die…


I hold my breath as my handsome husband walks through the door. I’ve planned the perfect surprise birthday party for him. Our friends are gathered and the champagne is flowing. But when I catch the look in his deep brown eyes, I realise I’ve got this horribly wrong.

All evening my stomach is churning. And I can’t help but notice 
Danielle Baines speaking with Aiden. With her salon-styled hair, diamonds glittering on her ring finger and married to a rich businessman she has the kind of lifestyle I can only dream of. I’ve never liked her. And I know the feeling is mutual.

So why is she here and what is she saying to my husband?

Now it’s the end of the party and the man I love is confessing a secret that shocks me to the core. But it’s not what I was afraid of. It’s much worse.

He says we have to take our son and leave the place we call home because our lives are in danger.

I thought I knew everything about my husband. But suddenly he feels like a stranger. Should I trust him with my life?

From the million-copy bestselling author, this totally gripping psychological thriller will have you guessing until the last jaw-dropping twist. Perfect for fans of The Girl on the TrainGone Girl and The Wife Between Us.

Author Bio:

Shalini lives in Dorset, England with her husband, two children and Jess their cheeky terrier cross. Before kids, she was signed to Universal Music Publishing as a singer songwriter, but now she spends her days writing suspense thrillers (in between school runs and hanging out endless baskets of laundry).


My Review

A perfect stranger tells the story of two women who discover that their marriages might not be all that they first thought. Their husbands are both keeping secrets from them, and are far from being the men that they first thought them to be.
This is a gripping thriller with lots of twists and turns. At one point I thought that I'd got it figured all out. I was wrong. There was one little bit that I had got right, but I'd forgotten all about it by the end of the book and when it turned out that I was along the right track, it completely took me by surprise. I enjoyed the way that the story was told from the two women's points of view. It wasn't clear whether they were just superficially connected due to their husbands place of work or if their stories were somehow more intertwined than that, until much later in the book and then it was in ways that I really was not expecting.
This was a fairly quick read, but only because I really wanted to know how it was going to play out once I'd started and it certainly kept me guessing until the end.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.




Tuesday 12 July 2022

Unchain my Heart - Nadia Blair

Unchain My Heart
Nadia Blair
(Mephisto, #2)
Publication date: May 10th 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

What’s a bad girl to do when the world won’t let her be good …

With her thirtieth birthday looming, actress Natasha Bernard wants to reinvent herself as something other than Hollywood’s favorite villainess. When she hears rumors that a tell-all exposé reveals details of her love life with her rockstar ex, she decides to put a stop to it. Even if that means confronting his bandmate, Richard Mac—the man who let the world brand her with a scarlet ‘A.’

She’s his nemesis … his secret obsession … and the only woman who can incinerate his life …

Guitarist Richard Mac is a control freak, whether he’s working on a new album or using his custom leather toys in the bedroom. When “Hurricane” Natasha storms back into his life, he risks everything to claim her. But he can’t risk losing control and letting her guess his darkest secret … that she’s the one woman he’s always wanted and could never have …

Goodreads / Amazon


Author Bio:

Nadia Blair writes steamy contemporary romance featuring outrageous bad boys and gutsy girls who give as good as they get. She has a thing for snappy dialog, humorous situations, and swoon-worthy happily-ever-afters.

When she's not having conversations with fictional people, she enjoys summer thunderstorms, top-shelf whiskey, and rockin' out to a classic guitar solo.

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Amazon


My Review

I do enjoy a good rockstar romance and this one certainly falls into that category. Natasha Bernard used to be married to Mephisto's frontman, but despite swearing off rock god types forever, she's always been drawn to his bandmate control freak guitarist Richard Mac.
Both Richard and Natasha believe that they can't do relationships and that all that they can really have is a fling. There's also the added problem of Natasha's past with Richard's best friend. If they are going to find their way together and to the most important relationship that either of them has ever had, then they need to deal with all of this and be completely honest with one another.
I liked both Richard and Natasha and think that they work well together. Although their feelings and the relationship move fast, these two have a history, even if it is as something far from being lovers previously.
Natasha has always been seen as a femme fatal, an image that she has hated and that she feels is fake. With Richard she finds that the can really embrace whoever she wants to be and isn't at all worried about the rest of the world.
I really enjoyed this romance and would be certainly interested in reading other books in the series.

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Thursday 7 July 2022

The Lost Sister of Fifth Avenue - Ella Carey

New York, 1938: Martha pulled the door of her Fifth Avenue apartment closed, her heart thumping, re-reading the telegram she’d been dreading. Her beloved sister Charlotte needed her help. She was alone in Paris, and the threat of Nazi invasion was growing ever stronger. The time had come for Martha to make the bravest decision of her life. She needed to bring Charlotte home.


As 
Martha looks out of her bedroom window at the blossom-covered trees in Central Park, she is a world away from Europe and the threat of war. But when a telegram arrives from her sister Charlotte telling of the death of their Jewish friend Anita, Martha’s quiet life changes in an instant. With the threat of the Nazi invasion growing, Martha knows she must travel to Paris to convince Charlotte to return home.

When Martha arrives, she finds a city preparing for war. Soldiers patrol Paris’ cobbled streets and families talk of packing up and fleeing with whatever they can carry. Clutching her sister tightly, Martha knows that Charlotte has already decided to stay. Charlotte’s heart is in France, and as an American in Paris she believes she will be safe.

When the Nazis march through Paris’ streets and raise their flags over the city’s most beautiful buildings, Charlotte is determined not to give in. She works for the Resistance with a Frenchman named 
Louis, carrying messages, and hiding Anita’s family’s precious art collection from the Nazis. Meanwhile, Martha vows to help a female Jewish professor to safety in America, only to be faced with impossible odds.

But as the war rages, Martha and Charlotte’s determination will be tested like never before. And when Charlotte uncovers a shocking secret about her family which threatens her own life, can she find the strength to protect those she loves the most?

From top ten bestselling author Ella Carey comes an utterly heartbreaking novel about the strength of sisterly love and the courage of the women of the Resistance. Perfect for fans of The NightingaleAll The Light We Cannot See and Fiona Valpy.

Author Bio:

Ella Carey is the international bestselling author of The Things We Don’t Say, Secret Shores, From a Paris Balcony, The House by the Lake, and Paris Time Capsule. Her books have been published in over fourteen languages, in twelve countries, and have been shortlisted for ARRA awards. A Francophile who has long been fascinated by secret histories set in Europe’s entrancing past, Ella has degrees in music, nineteenth-century women’s fiction, and modern European history. She lives in Melbourne with her two children and two Italian greyhounds who are constantly mistaken for whippets.


Ella loves to connect with her readers regularly through her facebook page and on her website.


http://www.ellacarey.com/

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https://twitter.com/Ella_Carey


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My Review


The Lost Sister of Fifth Avenue is the fourth book in the Daughters of New York series. Although this is a series, the books are only loosely connected, with some of the same characters being mentioned. As such you can read any of these books as standalone stories.
Set mostly in wartime France, during the German occupation of the second world war. The lost sister in question is Charlotte, who remains in France after her sister returns to the US. She travels with treasures from the Louvre and from a family friend's gallery but finds herself drawn into the resistance, putting herself in great danger.
This is a gripping and heartbreaking story, with the two sisters who feature in it both suffering loss and deep challenges.
I really enjoyed this and it was a good read. I did think that there was a little too much repetition at times. I'd already gathered how a character was feeling or reacting to something and didn't feel that I needed to keep being told. I also found the number of times the phrase 'worked her mouth' was used irritating. I'm not entirely sure what it's supposed to mean, but characters were described as doing it all the time. I started to imagine cows chewing the cud. These were just minor irritations though, that didn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the story.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.