The Cowboy's Surprise Baby by Deb Kastner (Cowboy Country)

Hometown Reunion


After years away serving his country, Cole Bishop finally returns home—with a newborn baby in tow. As a single dad, Cole needs help. But the last thing he expects to encounter at his new job is his high school sweetheart—all grown up and more beautiful than ever. Tessa Applewhite might have broken Cole's heart years before, but she's never forgotten him. And he can wrangle her heart like no one else ever has. But Tessa rejected him when the stakes weren't nearly as high. Can Cole trust her again—and in the process, form a forever family?Series: Cowboy CountryMass Market Paperback: 288 pages

• Publisher: Love Inspired; Large Print edition (July 21, 2015)
• ISBN-10: 0373818521
• ISBN-13: 978-0373818525

My review:  The Cowboy's Surprise Baby  by Deb Kastner (Cowboy Country)

4 STARS

The Cowboy's Surprise Baby is full of good characters, charming baby and troubled teens.  Lots of drama, cute story. It is a clean read.

Cole Bishop has left the military to come home and raise his new born son Grayson. He never planned to come back and live. He was embrassed in front of the whole town.  He got a new job working as a wrangler on a Redemption Ranch.

Tessa Applewhite is a counselor for the girls who were sent to Redemption Ranch.  She broke up with Cole when she was 18 in public.  She had loved him but did not want a life in the military anymore.

Serendipity , Texas on Redemption Ranch is the setting for the book.  It is a small town.  Redemption Ranch is a mission ranch that help troubled teens with hard work and Christian values.

I liked the story it was easy to connect with the characters and want them to do well.  It deals a lot with single parenthood that is unexpected.  It also talks about prayer, love and God's plans.

I was given this ebook to read by Net Galley and Harlequin.  In return I agreed to give honest review of The Cowboy's Surprise Baby.

The Amish Bride by Emma Miller (Lancaster Courtships #1)

An Unexpected Courtship

Ellen Beachey's dreams of being a devoted Amish wife and mother are finally within her reach. But she didn't expect she'd have to choose between two brothers. Golden-haired Micah has a heart filled with adventure and a ready smile. Serious but gentle elder brother Neziah is a devoted and caring father of two. But Ellen and Neziah share a heartbreaking past that might prevent any hope of a future. Ellen never imagined an arranged union as a way to find true love. She wants to be loyal to her family, but she needs to follow her heart…if only she can figure out what it wants.

Lancaster Courtships: Life and love in Amish country

Collect all 3 book in the series!

The Amish Bride by Emme Miller

The Amish Mother by Rebecca Kertz

The Amish Midwife by Patricia Davids

My review:  The Amish Bride by Emma Miller (Lancaster Courtships: #1)

4 STARS

The Amish Bride was a cute Amish romance.  Lots of fun, drama and characters that I enjoyed and would love to see more of the other characters.  Clean inspired story of Amish life in Lancaster.

Ellen Beachey works in her family's craft store.  She is an only child.  She is in her 30's and single.  She is a fun, caring and hard worker.

Her next door neighbor a leader in her District ambushed her and told her he has been praying and thinks she should marry one of his two sons.  It would be her choice which one.

Micah is good looking and full of fun carefree and a hard worker.  He is good with his nephews.

Neziah is a widower with two sons.  Who needs a mother.  He is serious, hard worker loving father.

Ellen is not sure she should have anyone but agrees to give it a month and pray about it.

It is fun to watch the two brothers try and beat each other too asking Ellen out.  I kept on going back and forth who I wanted her with.

After reading The Amish Bride I would read more from Emma Miller in the future.

I was given this ebook to read by Net Galley and Harlequin.  In return I agreed to give a honest review of The Amish Bride.

Blog tour: Chef Maurice and the Wrath of Grapes by J.A. Lang & Gieaway link

 




Chef Maurice and the Wrath of Grapes
(Chef Maurice Culinary Mysteries Book 2)
Genre
Cozy Mystery (English Village, Culinary)
File Size: 489 KB
Print Length: 168 pages
Publisher: Purple Panda Press (July 13, 2015)
ASIN: B00WET7X64




Synopsis:

An invitation to dinner at the home of renowned wine collector Sir William Burton-Trent soon finds Chef Maurice in the middle of an all-too-real murder mystery party, when Sir William is found dead in his own wine cellar.

The guests are acting all innocent, but which one is only playing the part? The pushy Californian film director? The seductive French winemaker?
Or could it be, against all narrative decency, the butler who did it?

With the help of food critic friend Arthur Wordington-Smythe, a large kipper sandwich, and the newly formed Cochon Rouge Wine Appreciation Society, Chef Maurice must get to the bottom of matters before events turn decidedly sour…

About The Author
J.A. Lang is a British mystery writer, and author of the Chef Maurice Mysteries series.
She lives in Oxford, England, with her husband, an excessive number of cookbooks, and a sourdough starter named Bob.

Author Links

J.A. Lang’s Website
J.A. Lang on Goodreads
J.A. Lang on Facebook

Vendor links:
iTunes | Kobo | Google Play | Amazon US | Amazon UK | Nook (available on launch)

My review:  Chef Maurice and the Wrath of Grapes by J.A. Lang

4 STARS

Chef Maurice is back.  He gets him invited to dinner with wine collector Sir William Burton-Trent.

Chef likes food and wine he always seems to be eating or drinking.  During the evening Sir William has turned up missing.

Sir William is found dead in a lock wine cellar.  He has key in pocket and the other one is sealed in wax.  So he was alone in a high tech wine cellar.

Chef Maurice and Arthur Wordington-Smythe decide to solve the murder themselves.  They find out a lot about wine collecting even go to a auction.

Chef Maurice has his own restaurant.  He has a wine cellar in his restaurant and some of his customers even store some of their private wines down there.  He has a pet pig that he takes with him places.

Arthur Wordington-Smythe is a food critic and has lots of wine too.  He is good friends with Chef.

This is a fun cozy mystery.  I love the scene where the Chef gets stuck.  I thought he was smart the way he found out some of the answers while using the cat to help him.

I have never drunk any wine and still found this story interesting to learn about it and the world of collecting wine.

I was given this ebook to read for free and in return I agreed to give a honest review of Chef Maurice and the Wrath of Grapes.

 http://www.jalang.net/chef-maurice-giveaway/

TOUR PARTICIPANTS
July 14 – Book Splurge – Review
July 15 – The Ninja Librarian – Review
July 16 – readalot – Review
July 17 – Shelley’s Book Case– Review
July 18 – 3 Partners in Shopping, Nana, Mommy, &, Sissy, Too ! – Spotlight
July 19 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – Spotlight
July 20 – Carole’s Book Corner – Review
July 21 – MysteriesEtc – Review
July 22 – LibriAmoriMiei – Review
July 23 – Frankie Bow – Spotlight
July 24 – Mochas, Mysteries and Meows – Review
July 25 – StoreyBook Reviews – Spotlight

Blog tour: The Haunting of Springett Hall by E.B. Wheele

 

About the book:
Eighteen-year-old Lucy doesn’t know how she became a ghost, but the more she remembers of her life in Victorian England, the more she wants to forget. Her only hope of changing the mistakes of her past is to enlist the help of a servant named Philip—the one living person who can see her. This impossible romance story is filled with delightful period detail and plenty of mystery.

• Perfect Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Cedar Fort Publishing & Media (July 14, 2015)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1462116728
• ISBN-13: 978-1462116720

 About the author:
E.B. Wheeler grew up in Georgia and California, where she became fascinated by stories of the places around her. She studied English and history at Brigham Young University and earned an MA and MLA from Utah State University. After several years teaching and writing about history, she decided to pursue her other dream of writing fiction. “The Haunting of Springett Hall” is her first novel. She currently lives in northern Utah with her husband, daughters, various pets, and a garden full of antique roses.


My review: The Haunting of Springett Hall by E.B. Wheele

4 STARS

This was so much better than I expected it to be.  It grabs you right away with the mystery of what was going on.  Lucy did not even know who she was or where she was.  It was a ghost story like no other ghost story I have read.  It was more of a mystery suspense story.  Plenty of mystery, romance, action, paranormal, black magic and second chances.

Lucy appears in the mansion with no idea who she is or what happened to her.  She can tell the people of the manor are in mourning, but are they mourning her or someone else? No one can see her or hear her.

Philip is a servant and he can see Lucy.  He thinks he is going crazy.  He has no memory of who he was but more memories are coming back for him.  People thought he worked for the estate and he went along with it.

Lucy keeps disappearing and the next day she is back in the same room she always comes back too.
Philip and Lucy decide to work together to figure out what is happening to them themselves and to the people in the manor.  It seems to be haunted in the house.

There is a lot of talk about what love is.  Does it stop with death?  Lucy and Philip are falling for each other.  The former owner of the manor was a Baronet of Springett Hall who was determined to be reunited with his deceased wife.

 The story works.  I would have liked a different ending but that is me, but the ending does work out very well.

The pacing at times was slow to build up to answering some questions but it keeps it pretty steady.  Personally I could do without all the rats in the story. The ghosts were different.  One was scarey mean, one could not talk and was scared herself.  Lucy did not know who she was at first.  Plus something else was scaring the villagers in the woods.

The setting is Victorian England

It is well worth your time to read The Haunting of Springett Hall.  I will look forward to reading more from E.B. Wheele in the future.

I was given this book to read by Cedar Fort Publisher and in return I agreed to give a honest review of it and be part of it's blog tour.



The Haunting of Springett Hall” blog tour schedule:
July 8: Literary Timeout • The Stubby Pencil Reviews • Hope to Read
July 9: Jorie Loves a Story • Books and Benches
July 10: My Book a Day • A Casual Reader’s Blog • The Accidental Writer
July 11: Katie’s Clean Book Collection
July 12: Kimberly Griffiths Little
July 13: Bookworm Lisa • Kathryn Cooper
July 14: Book Lover Stop • Live to Read • Reading Lark
July 15: Shelli Proffitt Howells • Operation Awesome
July 16: Readalot • Mel’s Shelves • Inklings and Notions
July 17: Paranormal & Romantic Suspense Reviews
July 18: Blooming With Books • Eternal Principles Simplified
July 19: My Love for Reading Keeps Growing
July 20: Wishful Endings • Fire and Ice
July 21: Mundie Moms

Lock, Stock and McCullen by Rita Herron

Don't miss USA TODAY bestselling author Rita Heron's new miniseries, The Heroes of Horseshoe Creek…
Sheriff Maddox McCullen cradled Rose Worthington, every protective fiber of his being firing as she shuddered against him. She told him how she had been brutally attacked and had killed the man—her fiancé!—in self defense. But when Maddox investigates the crime scene, he finds nothing. No bullet casing, no blood, no body.

The deeper Maddox probes, the more questions arise, revealing a mysterious past that shatters all Rose has ever known. Caught in the crosshairs of escalating danger—and his powerful desire for Rose—Maddox vows to protect her. He'll risk his life to find a desperate enemy who will stop at nothing to keep the past buried.

• Series: The Heroes of Horseshoe Creek (Book 1)
• Mass Market Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin (July 21, 2015)

My review: Lock, Stock and McCullen by Rita Herron

4 stars

There was so much mystery, murder, violence, suspense , action and romance.  It seemed that there was never a dull moment.  I did not  know what would happen next. There was one love scene that was easy to skip.

 Rose Worthington thought she was going to get married. Instead she found out that he was planning to murder her.  She fought back and thought she had killed him.

Rose was not close to her parents and resented them always moving.  She wanted to stay in one place. She opened a antique store.

Rose when she got back to her house and called  Sheriff Maddox McCullen.  She told him what happened and where it happened but there was no blood and no body.  No proof that her fiance was who he said he was.

Maddox McCullen was also running his family ranch.  His father was dying and wanted to see his two other sons that had not been home for years before he died.  He tried to get a hold of them.

I did not want to put the story down till I had finished reading it.  I would read more books in this series.

I was given Lock, Stock and McCullen to read by Harlequin and Net Galley and in return I agreed to give honest review of it.

Murder with a Twist by Allyson K. Abbott (Mack's Bar Mysteries Book 2)

The regulars at Mack's Bar love putting their heads together to solve a good mystery. But Mack is learning there's a big difference between barroom brain teasers and real-life murder. . .

Milwaukee bar owner Mackenzie "Mack" Dalton has a unique neurological condition that gives her extra perceptive senses, and police detective Duncan Albright is convinced Mack's abilities can be used to help catch crooks. Mack may be at pro at mixing drinks, but she's still an amateur when it comes to solving crimes--and she's not sure she should mix business with pleasure by working with a man who stirs up such strong feelings in her. At her first crime scene--a suspicious suicide--she experiences a heady cocktail of mixed sensations and emotions that make her question whether police work is right for her. But when Duncan asks her to help find a kidnapped child, she knows she has to give it a shot.

• File Size: 1174 KB
• Print Length: 335 pages
• Publisher: Kensington (August 5, 2014)
• Publication Date: August 5, 2014

My review: Murder with a Twist by Allyson K. Abbott (Mack's Bar Mysteries Book 2)

4 stars

I liked this second book in Mack's Bar Mysteries.  I like how the  Capone Club all get involved solving riddles and mysteries.  Though a lot of them spend all their time it seems in a bar.

The main character is  Mackenzie "Mack" Dalton.  She owns Mack's Bar.  She also has a condition that is called synesthesia.  Which makes her senses cross-wired.  She sees and hears differently from everyone else.

Her detective boyfriend Duncan and some of the Capone gang members are helping her to be able to learn how to use them so he can use her help solving cases.  To think more like a detective also to figure out what her senses are telling her that others can't notice. Like when someone is lying, or smells at murder scenes.

Mack finds that solving things in her bar is a lot different when faced with dead bodies.  She is not sure if she wants to keep helping Duncan.

I like Duncan but he seems to always want her to help him.  He is a dedicated cop.

I like some of the Capone club members a lot and can see where different people come and go all the times can be easy way to add characters in the future.  How different talents can help solve different problems.

I have enjoyed reading all three books in the Mack's bar mysteries and look forward to reading more of them in the future.

I bought this book from Amazon.

Murder on the Rocks (Mack's Bar Mystery #1) by Allyson K. Abbott

Mack's Bar is one of those nice, friendly places where everybody knows your name. That's great when someone's buying you a round, but not so hot when you find yourself atop a list of murder suspects--with your fingerprints on the bloody knife!

Mackenzie "Mack" Dalton is a Milwaukee bar owner with a nose for trouble--literally. A neurological glitch has left her with extra perceptive senses. So when she stumbles upon a dead body in the alley behind the bar--the same spot where her own father was shot eight months earlier--she can tell right away there's something fishy in the air. The lead detective thinks there's a link between the two deaths, and he'll need Mack's help to sniff out the murderer amid the crowd of eccentric regulars. But when all the evidence points to her as the most likely culprit, it could be an early last call for Mack--and celebratory cocktails for a killer.

• File Size: 1280 KB
• Print Length: 351 pages
• Publisher: Kensington (August 6, 2013)
• Publication Date: August 6, 2013

My review:  Murder on the Rocks (Mack's Bar Mystery #1) by Allyson K. Abbott

4 STARS

The suspense of the book is hard for me to judge because I read the third book of the series In the Drink first.  So while I did not realize who the killer was I knew who was innocent because they were in the third book.  While the books can stand alone I would read them in order so you don't know stuff ahead.

I did enjoy reading Murder on the rocks and next I am going to read Murder with a Twist.  So yes I have liked her writing style.  The plot was interesting.  Mack has a unique talent that I have never heard of before.

Mackenzie Dalton owns a bar and lives above it.  She is single.  Her senses are all mixed up and more sensitive that helps her sometimes.

Mack while taking her own garbage out to the dumpster finds a dead body.  About where her father was killed 8 months before.

 She is a suspect in both murders but others who frequent the bar are too.  A police detective Duncan is undercover at the bar.  He wants to use Mack's talents to help figure out the case.  So he asks her to ask certain questions to her friends at the bar in her office.

The suspects decide that they are going to use a computer program to figure out who the real murder might be to clear there names too.

It is a clean cozy mystery series that is fun, unique and keeps you interested in the characters lives and want to know more about them.

I bought this ebook Murder on the Rocks.