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My Three Dogs–rescue dogs
My Three Dogs
by W. Bruce Cameron
If you enjoy a good dog story, you’ll like this one. Three rescue dogs—Riggs, a miniature Australian shepherd; Luna, a Jack Russell; and Archie, a Labradoodle puppy—take center stage in My Three Dogs. Their humans are Liam, a builder, and Sabrina, a schoolteacher. Liam’s brother Brad has a major role too. He has been Liam’s rock since Brad was sixteen and is still trying to protect him. Their parents were unstable and in and out of their lives.
The author does a good job of describing what the dogs are thinking, what motivates their actions. The book gives the perspective of the dogs as they navigate life in the shelter, on the streets, and with adoptive parents. None of the options are good, and they all just really want their people back. Life changes dramatically for all of the humans and the dogs after there is an automobile accident. The dogs, unfortunately, learn that not all humans are good and kind and safe. If you are not drawn in by the dogs, which I think you will be, there are some plot twists that will keep you reading.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Fiction
Notes: 1. Contains four instances of minor swear words and is clean otherwise.
2. Cameron has written a lot of books, and most have dogs as the main characters. Humor abounds in many of his books. His website says, “Cameron is most famous for his novel A Dog’s Purpose, which spent 63 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.” That book and several others have been made into movies. Although this book is written for adults, Cameron also has several series of children’s books about dogs.
Publication: October 29, 2024—Tor Publishing Group
Memorable Lines:
Sabrina was on what she called a keto diet, though she still ate several small squares of chocolate fudge every night, and Liam had learned that to comment on this fact was considered treason.
The dogs went on full alert when the doorbell rang. It didn’t ring very often, and when it did, it was incumbent upon the dogs to alert every human in the room that there was something going on that needed their attention.
Liam wasn’t here and might never come back—a dog’s singular most dreaded fear, but one that occupies all canine minds when they’re alone without their people.
The Christmas Inn–big city or little town
The Christmas Inn
by Pamela M. Kelley
Riley Sanders left the Cape Cod area after high school graduation for the big city. After college she settled into life as a website content creator and manager in Manhattan. Her boyfriend works an obscene number of hours for a law firm. She thinks she has it all until life circumstances return her to the town of Chatham—at least temporarily. There she finds the family, friends, and community that she hadn’t realized she missed.
Her mother Beth is trying to manage a gradually failing inn with a broken leg. Riley is needed to help run the inn physically but also to expand the inn’s presence on the web to increase exposure and entice new visitors. There are lots of interesting characters in the story with several people reuniting with old flames.
The Christmas Inn is a clean, sweet romance with all the Christmas vibes. Between divorces and deaths, several people have difficult memories associated with Christmas, but they put on a happy face each year and muddle through. Riley’s former boyfriend has a sweet little boy who is excited about Christmas. He and his dad are staying at the inn while extensive repairs are being done on their house. His presence adds youthful enthusiasm to the extensive festivities in the community.
The book is replete with descriptions of the food and drink the characters consume. Everyone likes hot chocolate, and it goes well with the many cold, snowy events. The adults also enjoy a variety of wines and cheeses chosen from a local shop which is located near a bookshop in the friendly town. Riley has some big personal and professional decisions to make in this relaxing Christmas story, so grab a cup of cocoa and enjoy the plot.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Romance, Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Notes: clean
Publication: September 24, 2024—St. Martin’s Press
Memorable Lines:
“We do use some AI here, but not at the expense of anyone’s jobs. We use it to enhance what we are already doing. I don’t believe in replacing people with machines.”
It was a mix of attorneys and financial types. The traders had a certain air about them, a cockiness that swarmed around them. They were incredibly impressed with themselves and expected everyone else to be equally impressed. Riley found it tiresome.
She’d thought they were on the same page. But maybe they were reading a very different book.
The Guest House by the Sea–difficult situations
The Guest House by the Sea
by Faith Hogan
Esme, with the help of Marta, an energetic Basque woman, operates the Willows, a 200 year old guest house, following the tradition of the women in her family. The Guest House by the Sea focuses on several weeks during “the season” and the guests who abide there.
Esme is in a high state of frustration because she broke her leg and is mostly blind. So she spends her days in a dome chair welcoming guests and sharing wisdom with those who stop to chat with her. Some of the wisdom comes from the guest register that starts each page with a handwritten quote. When Esme has a guest read a quote, it always seems to apply to that person even though they were written in the book prior to the season’s start.
The cast of characters is diverse and each will tug at your heartstrings as they arrive at Ballycove hoping for space and peace in which to get a grip on their problems. Joel is a lonely engineer staying for weeks to help on expensive repairs to the church’s roof. Cora is a homemaker and teaching assistant with a husband set in routines. After thirty years together, she wonders if she has only staleness left in her future. Phyllis is watching her husband slip away in the same dementia that stole his father. Their son Rob, a widower, and his son Josh join them. As the result of a pregnancy test, Niamh comes to the Willows by herself with a pill to “take care of it” in the words of Jeremy. She is his long-time mistress and co-worker, but she learns a lot about Jeremy, herself, and their relationship through this process.
All of these guests are people you would want to know; they will pull you into their stories. Not all of them will have happily ever afters, but they are all seeking fulfilling lives and you will want that for them. Nothing in this book says that life is easy, but it doesn’t moan and whine while the characters deal with their problems either. Ballycove and the Willows are a great backdrop for their stories and their growth.
Faith Hogan is an Irish writer with lots of books to her credit. I plan on reading more by this author.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Fiction, Romance, Women’s Fiction
Publication: June 8, 2023—Aria
Memorable Lines:
Her heart had missed a beat, in the way it does when you’re young and it feels as if the simple things are absolutely momentous.
She was blessed to have a husband like him. Michael was a true blue. He’d be sleeping in that same bed until the day he died, if he had a choice. So why did she feel this heavy weight of emptiness instead, as if her marriage was some black hole and she was in danger of falling in and suffocating while life went on without her? Perhaps being out here in Ballycove would do her good, give her some perspective on things.
“Maybe, but I think you’ve attracted good people to you because you’re kind and you have a generous spirit. You have probably helped more people than you know over the years, with your wise words.”
Blueberry Blunder–Harvest celebrates with a Blueberry Bash
Blueberry Blunder
by Amanda Flower
If you need an escape from real life or from a challenging nonfiction book, I highly recommend Blueberry Blunder. Amanda Flower has once more written a cozy mystery that confounds the reader and includes a lot of humor and a tad of romance.
Bailey, a former New York chocolatier, is currently expanding Swissmen Sweets, an Amish candy shop she owns with her grandmother in Harvest, Ohio. The candy factory under construction experiences a huge setback when Bailey has to fire her general contractor and then later finds him dead in the unfinished factory. His murder is, of course, the prime focus of the mystery, but there are many other threads. Cousin Charlotte who is estranged from her Amish family because she decided not to join the church is preparing for her wedding to Deputy Little. There are lots of interactions of Amish and Englisch in this cozy, and it is a great opportunity to see that there are many differences among the various Amish districts. Aiden, Bailey’s boyfriend, resigns from Ohio’s Bureau of Investigation, and returns to Harvest to begin a business as a Private Investigator. His mother Juliet is thrilled and is anxious for him to propose to Bailey. Meanwhile, Juliet is convinced that Jethro, her polka-dotted pot bellied pig needs to frequently accompany Bailey as she goes through her day making candy and investigating crimes. Bailey is also being shadowed by an intrusive film crew of two from Gourmet Network which produces Bailey’s candy show.
There is plenty of fun to go around and lots of characters with probable motivation for murder. I very much enjoyed my return visit to Swissmen Sweets and Harvest, Ohio.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #8 in the Amish Candy Shop Mystery series, but can definitely be read as a standalone because the author does an outstanding job of filling in background without boring readers of previous books in the series.
Publication: May 23, 2023—Kensington
Memorable Lines:
“Sit.” She pointed at the empty chair at the table. I fell into the chair as if I had been shot from the sky. Graceful to a fault, that was me, I thought sarcastically.
It was a clear to me that he had some of the same anger issues as his father. He might not like how his dad treated him, but I could see him going down the same bitter road himself.
I could think of about a million things that I would rather do than spend the day with the elder Littles, such as swim with sharks and get a root canal.
Sandcastle Hurricane–joy from a hurricane
Sandcastle Hurricane
by Carolyn Brown
Two adult cousins, Tabby and Ellie Mae, with dysfunctional family backgrounds are reunited when their Aunt Charlotte decides to retire from the B&B she owns in the little beach town of Sandcastle, TX. Although she has moved away from hurricane country to snow country, she is a constant source of encouragement and advice to her nieces through phone calls and statements sprinkled throughout the book as the cousins can almost hear her talking.
Tabby and Ellie Mae have only been at the B&B for a few weeks when they find themselves boarding up windows in response to warnings of Hurricane Delilah. Aunt Charlotte arranges for her friend Alex to help them as he always helped her and for the trio to take in four residents from an assisted living center who have no family.
The story is very character driven as we learn the backgrounds of all of them and how life’s events have affected them. Tabby and Ellie Mae are both battling grief. Neither has a positive relationship with their families for good reason. The four elderly characters are a study in contrasts. The author shows how it is possible to change, grow, and stand up to overwhelming problems. Although humor is not a mainstay of this book, there are amusing situations and dialogue that lighten the tone of some serious issues and confrontations.
There are romantic scenarios for Tabby and Ellie Mae. The events at the end of the book lead to good things for the characters even though they would not have planned the turns that happen in their journey. Sandcastle Hurricane is about people struggling to do their best, misunderstandings, and family. It deals with the problems that can accompany mixed race marriages and their offspring as well as the joys of color-blind friendships.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: General Fiction, Romance
Notes: Contains about a dozen instances of mild swearing
Publication: November 8, 2022—Montlake
Memorable Lines:
Why can’t my dad and his brother get along like Homer and Frank? Ellie Mae bit back a sigh. Because they never had to go through tough times together. That builds character and teaches people to depend on each other, Aunt Charlotte whispered softly in her ear.
A woman who has lost her husband is called a widow. Children who lose their parents are orphans.. But there is no word for mothers who lose children, because the grief is too hard to put a name on it.
“We just have to believe what is happening now is for a good reason, and what brought us to this day has shaped us into the people we are.”
Harvest Moon–abandonment, guilt, and love
Harvest Moon
by Denise Hunter
Denise Hunter’s Riverbend Series seems to wrap up with Harvest Moon. Gavin and Laurel Robinson divorced after the death of their son Jesse and haven’t spoken since. Sadly, it took yet another tragic accident to bring them together again as they join forces to take care of a precious toddler Emma. How do you begin to explain to a two year old that she will not see her “mama and dada” again?
Both Gavin and Laurel have issues from their own childhoods that color their relationship with each other. Gavin is overcome with guilt. Laurel felt abandoned. Emma’s sociopathic grandmother who has never met Emma and didn’t attend her own daughter’s funeral decides she wants custody of Emma and Laurel and Gavin are determined that will not happen.
The author gradually shares what happens in Laurel and Gavin’s relationship from its high school beginnings to the disastrous end by inserting chapters about their past in the current timeline. In this way she introduces the reader gradually to the couple’s history. Then we can see what they have been through and why, and we can almost be a part of their growth. Gavin’s family, the Robinsons, are a mainstay of their community and their position causes the locals to look on Laurel with suspicion and distaste as do the Robinsons. Read this clean romance that has its share of twists and turns and serious themes to discover the power of love when directed towards a sweet two-year-old.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Romance
Notes: #3 in the Riverbend Series. I don’t recommend it as a standalone. It focuses on the Robinson family. The first two books are about the other adult children in the family, but include all of the Robinsons. Now might be a good time to catch up on this series, however, as I just discovered that a fourth book’s publication is anticipated in September of 2023.
Publication: Septemer 6, 2022—Thomas Nelson Fiction
Memorable Lines:
He’d been trying to provide her the sense of security she craved. Trying to prove he was a better man than his dad—a notion that had never been in question for Laurel. But for a man with an alcoholic deadbeat dad? Yeah, it made sense.
Fear flowed like a ribbon of poison through her veins.
A laugh bubbled from her throat. He’d always been good at breaking the tension. And there’d been enough tension between them this morning to disrupt cell tower signals.
‘Twas the Knife Before Christmas–a Christmas cozy mystery
’Twas the Knife Before Christmas
by Jacqueline Frost
I have to applaud Jacqueline Frost for ’Twas the Knife Before Christmas, the second book in her Christmas Tree Farm Mysteries. Full of the Christmas spirit, it is a fun read and a delightful cozy mystery. The story begins with an introduction to the engaging town of Mistletoe, the main character Holly, and the setting of Reindeer Games which is Holly’s family’s Christmas tree farm. Unfortunately, a murder is discovered at a very Christmasy unveiling. Holly is determined to find the murderer who is also trying to frame Holly’s friend Caroline. Sheriff Evan Gray is equally determined to keep Holly alive despite her dangerous investigative efforts.
’Twas the Knife Before Christmas is a solid mystery with interesting and well-developed characters. The plot has twists and turns, some romance, and a little Christmas magic, making it a cozy mystery you won’t want to miss this Christmas season.
I would like to extend my thanks to netgalley.com and to Crooked Lane Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Mystery
Notes: #2 in the Christmas Tree Farm Mystery Series but works well as a standalone.
Publication: November 13, 2018—Crooked Lane Books
Memorable Lines:
…she’d taught me to love art the way she loved life: voraciously and with spirit.
Unfortunately, Mom and I also shared a soft personality. We were bleeding hearts, givers of fifteenth chances, and avid avoiders of conflict, at least when the problem only concerned ourselves. Basically, we’d fight black bears with our hands for someone else, then let the bear eat us if we thought he was hungry.
The homes in Derek’s neighborhood were oversized and overpriced. It was the kind of place where people with four-car attached garages parked outside all summer just to show off their vehicles and further inflate their already out-of-control egos.
education pathways 