The Fixer Upper - Maggie Mae Gallagher

The Fixer Upper
Maggie Mae Gallagher
(Echo Springs, #1)
Published by: Blushing Books Publications
Publication date: September 6th 2019
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Abby Callier is more in love with Shakespearean heroes than any real man, and she’s beginning to wonder if there is life for her outside the pages of a book. It doesn’t help that her esteemed parents tend to view her as they would one of their science experiments gone wrong. On the eve of finishing her dissertation, she escapes her staid existence to live in the house she inherited from her Great Aunt Evie in the small town of Echo Springs, Colorado. Because, let’s face it, when a woman starts comparing her life to horror films, it might be time for a break.
Sheriff Nate Barnes believes in law and order and carefully building the life you want. In his spare time, he has been remodeling his house in the hope that one day it will be filled with the family he makes. But Nate doesn’t like drama or complications and tends to avoid them at all costs. And yet, when Miss Abigail Callier, his newest neighbor, beans him with a nine iron, he can’t help but wonder if she might just be the complication he’s been searching for all along. It doesn’t hurt that he discovers a journal hidden away by the previous tenant and decides to use Old Man Turner’s advice to romance Abby into his life.
Abby never expected her next-door neighbor, the newly dubbed Sheriff Stud Muffin, to be just the distraction her world needed.
The problem is she doesn’t know whether she should make Echo Springs her home, or if this town is just a stopover point in her life’s trajectory. And she doesn’t want to tell Nate that she might not be sticking around—even though she should because it’s the right thing to do, the honest thing—because then all the scintillatingly hot kisses with the Sheriff will come to an abrupt halt. Did she mention that he’s a really great kisser?

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Author Bio:
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Maggie grew up listening to Cardinals baseball and reading anything she could get her hands on. She remembers her mother saying if only she would read the right type of books instead binging her way through the romance aisles at the bookstore, she’d have been a doctor. While Maggie never did get that doctorate, she graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri-St. Louis with an M.A. in History.
Maggie is a bestselling and award-winning author published in multiple fiction genres. She also writes erotic romance under the name Anya Summers. A total geek at her core, when she is not writing, she adores attending the latest comic con or spending time with her family. She currently lives in the Midwest with her two furry felines.

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My Review

I didn't expect to read this book as quickly as I did. While there are some romance books that I fly through because they are quick and fluffy reads, this book doesn't really fall into that category. I got through it in a day because it was so well written and I didn't really want to put it down. It also had something to do with the fact that it's a rainy wet winters day here in New Zealand and I could read while also keeping an eye on the kids playing with lego.

This is the first book in the series and it's already fairly easy to guess which characters might be featuring in future books. As well as the main characters in this book, we've also been introduced to the friends of both the hero and heroine and I think it's a good guess that they will all get their own stories later. 

Set in the small town of Echo Falls, this time we focus on Nate and Abby. Nate is the local sheriff and Abby has just moved to the town while she tries to finish her dissertation and decide what she is going to do with her life. The chemistry between the two is strong and I enjoyed reading about their growing relationship. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but I will mention that there are two other aspects to the storyline. Firstly is the problem of the break-ins that Nate is dealing with. I will admit that I had a good idea who was behind them from the beginning and I was right, even if Nate hadn't a clue. Then there was the diary left in Nate's house by the previous owner. Again I don't want to give anything away, but there is a story here that also unfolds as the book progresses.

For me, this was a quick read, but as I said previously, not because it was light and fluffy and lacking substance. It was easy to get swept up in the life of the people who live in Echo Falls and I hope that I will be making a second visit there for future books. I'm certainly looking forward to reading the other books in the series.

Buy Links

Amazon ➞ https://amzn.to/2kxlB7i

Nook ➞ http://bit.ly/2wP9KUD

iBooks ➞ https://apple.co/2YImFE6

Kobo ➞ http://bit.ly/2NHFlCX

Blushing Books ➞ https://bit.ly/2kxDzGO

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Bound to the Bad Boy Series - Alexis Abbott

The Bound to the Bad Boy series is a series of three books that follows Bruno and Serena and their journey to happily ever after. Although it is spread over three books, this is a series that has to be read in order. The books aren't stand alone novels and would make little sense if you read just one or out of order.

Bound for life

Bruno: 

I sacrificed everything for her. When I saved her from the mafia, I traded my freedom for hers. I’ve never regretted it. Never looked back. I cut her out of my life to keep her safe. She never even knew what I traded for her.

I did everything I could to protect her from the retribution of the Italian Mafia, but it wasn’t enough. They’re after her again, and all that’s standing between her and the darkest fate imaginable is me.

Serena: 

It’s scary the things you can close your eyes to. Even after I was rescued from men who wanted to do the worst things to me, I went on with my life. I forgot all about the threats of the mafia, about what they forced me to do, and even the man who saved me from them.

But now, my hero has returned, and just in a nick of time. Because the mafia is coming for me, and this time, I don’t know if we’re going to get out of this alive.

Bound to the Mafia

Bruno: 

They stole her from me. I killed to keep her safe so that we can build a life together.

Now I'm rotting in prison. But these bars can't hold me. Not when Serena is on the other side of them. I'll tear down the walls with my bare hands, crush the skull of anyone who gets in my way until she's mine again.

Serena: 

I thought our pain was behind us. How am I going to survive without him? Because I have a bad feeling that this is going to get a whole lot more dangerous very soon.

Bound in Love

Serena: 

I've lost everything. He sacrificed himself to keep me safe.

But I'm not safe.

Our baby isn't safe.

Now, more than ever, I need my hero. I need Bruno.

My Review

We follow Serena and Bruno from when they are first reunited and find their way one another once again. In the first book, we find out that Bruno and Serena had fallen in love when they were just teenagers, but life and the Mafia, came in the way. Bruno found himself caught up in a life that he had tried to avoid and decided that it was best to stay away from Serena in order to keep her safe. Now, things have changed and they are thrown together once again, only to find that their attraction is stronger than ever.

By the second installment quite a bit of time has passed and Serena and Bruno have been apart again. They can't stay apart for long though and once again they find their way back together. I don't really want to give too much away, by talking too much about what happens in the second and third book.

Over all this was a good, well paced read. The characters were well written and I liked both Serena and Bruno. I did think that Bruno was slightly too good to be true, at least in what he was able to do physically at times. I thought that the reasons that Bruno had been drawn into the life he led were interesting. It helped to make him into a character that you could care about, rather than being someone who seems to be violent for the sake of it.

This was a good read and I enjoyed all three books in the series. If you enjoy mafia based romances with a bad boy who really has a soft side and a heart of gold, then I don't think that you will go far wrong with this one.