Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Book Review: CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH A CRUMPET by Fleeta Cunningham

 
Close Encounter with a Crumpet, by Fleeta Cunningham
Published 2014 by The Wild Rose Press 
 
About the Book:  
Her septuagenarian traveling companions quenched every flicker of pleasure Gillian Banks had anticipated during her trip to England. Then Simon the bus driver, not quite a stranger but definitely an unknown element, challenged Gill to let her own heart lead the way. And she found that a close encounter with a "crumpet" can change a life forever.
MY TAKE: 
In this short, romantic novelette, Gillian Banks is a school librarian on a vacation trip to London that isn't turning out how she planned.
 
For two weeks she's been touring damp churches and drinking tea with a group of older women, having taken her grandmothers seat on a church tour group. When the story starts, she's sitting in a cafe, damp from the rain and upset that she's missing the queen mum's birthday parade, the one event she was looking forward to. 
 
Enter Simon Dohr, the cute bus driver on the tour bus, who offers to show her the other side of London that doesn't include churches and vicars. They spend a magical a day together, seeing all the sites and getting to know one another.  And falling in love.

The author does a wonderful job in such a short amount of time introducing us to the characters and circumstances, making us care and making us believe that magical meetings like this really happen and happily ever afters are truly possible. I look forward to finding a longer work by this author and settling in for a long, satisfying read. 
 
Buy this book on Amazon
 
P.S. As luck would have it, (someone else's luck, not my own) when I went to put this post together I found a new novella by Fleeta! I'll soon be reading her new work Help Wanted: WIFE - hopefully on the beach or next to the pool!

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

#Splash into Summer tour visits author Shawna Romkey

The Splash Into Summer party continues over at Shawna Romkey's blog today!

Shawna's the best selling author of SPEAK OF THE DEVIL, a young adult paranormal angels versus demons kind of book. She's also got a new book coming out this summer! THE DEVIL MADE ME DO IT will be available July 1st - in time to stuff into your beach bag for summer vacation! You can read my review of her first book HERE. (If you haven't read it yet, you might want to grab that for your beach bag as well.) She doesn't have any mermaids in her books but there are some hot angels and a wonderfully quirky heroine full of snark and sass.

Monday, June 2, 2014

#New Release and #Review: ENTANGLED LOVE by Cait Jarrod

Entangled Love by Cait Jarrod
Romantic Suspense, Published May 30, 2014 by The Wild Rose Press
 
About the Book:
Emma James is on a mission to rebuild her life after the loss of her husband. When her childhood friend offers an innocent getaway to Santa Monica, she accepts thinking fun in the sun will be a great way to start fresh.
Retired professional skateboarder, Ryan Cross is a gorgeous, lovable, ladies’ man. With two skateboard parks and a fat bank account, he’s on top of his game. What could make him happier?
The love of his childhood friend.
Chaos and life-threatening obstacles have Ryan investigating Emma’s husband’s death. When he discovers handwritten notes made by her late husband, he learns some friends can’t be trusted. They will stop at nothing to get what they want, including putting Emma’s life in danger.
MY TAKE:
 
Cait Jarrod has created a complicated world of secrets and intrigue that will keep the reader glued to the page. As each secret reveals, the story gets more complex instead of less until everything intertwines and wraps together at the end for a satisfying conclusion.

Emma James has been widowed for a year. At the urging of her friends, she is trying to get her life back to a semblance of normality. Her best friend from childhood, the sexy retired skateboard guru Ryan Cross, might have an ulterior motive in that he's been in love with Emma since grade school but never acted on his feelings. Until now.
Nothing is straightforward, and much is not quite as it seems in this romantic suspense. I admit that at times I had to go back and reread a page because I had missed something in my haste to figure out the various questions swirling around the main characters. I loved the secondary character of Ryan's butler, with his snark and sardonic sense of humor, although I disliked the character of Warren Lewis, one of the bad guys, who came off as sniveling instead of darkly threatening, but maybe that was the author's point.
This makes for a fun beach read, keeping you guessing and invested in the characters.
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review, and I'd be happy to read more of this author's work in the future.
 
AND THERE'S A GIVEAWAY!
Enter the Rafflecopter for your chance to win some awesome summer reading!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Cait says: "As a child, I entertained myself for hours playing pretend, but not with dolls and such. I created stories and pictured them in my mind, sometimes even acted them out, my well preserved secret until now. I spent years after leaving school trying to figure out my niche. Not being a literary enthusiast, I never thought my childhood pastime would lead in this direction.

In life, one door closes and another opens, so I’m told. This was true for me. I lost my mother, my best friend, to cancer. After a year without her, I picked up her favorite hobby…reading. After one book, a romantic suspense, I was hooked. In the past, I’d fall asleep after a few minutes of reading. Now, books rank up there with a good red wine. It didn’t take long for my childhood muse to come back in adult version urging me to put the scenes in my head on paper.

Why do I write romantic suspense? I love writing and creating the meet-cue (the point where the hero and heroine meet) to the blossoming of the romance. Add a suspenseful plot or a good mystery to the equation and the perfect book is born to curl up to and lose yourself in, taking you away from reality, troubles.

I hope I have provided you with the escape similar to the ones I conjured in childhood and rediscovered as an adult, and I hope you enjoy reading my books as much as I have loved creating them."

Cait’s debut novel, Kidnapped Hearts, won awards in the categories of Best Happily Ever After and Best Suspense.

Cait lives in Virginia with her husband and three daughters.



Sunday, June 1, 2014

#Splash into Summer tour visits Danielle DeVor!

The Splash Into Summer tour continues, visiting author Danielle DeVor! (Only two weeks left to enter that Rafflecopter for all those books and swag!)

If you're into spookier reads, Danielle might have just the book for you! Her spooky tale of exorcism SORROW'S POINT had me sleeping with the lights on for a while (Read my review HERE.) Her tale CONSTRUCTING MARCUS was scary in a different way, dealing with family issues and addiction, in addition to the ghosts and ghost hunters! (My review as part of the Mythbehaving Blog Tour is HERE.) She has a new book coming out soon - I'm lucky enough to have an ARC on my TBR pile an will be sure to post a review when I'm done! Her books may not be "beach reads" but if you've got a rainy summer night and want to curl up with something spooky, Danielle's got you covered!