Two Bloggers One Series ~ Wild Iris Ridge by RaeAnne Thayne (Hope's Crossing #6)

 

I really enjoy small town romances, and this is one of my favorite authors so it's been fun reading this series with Barb. Once you see what I thought please go over to Booker T's Farm and see what Barb thought.

Lucy Drake and Brendan Caine have only one thing in common…

And it's likely to tear them apart. Because it was Brendan's late wife, Jessie—and Lucy's best friend—who'd brought them together in the first place. And since Jessie's passing, Brendan's been distracted by his two little ones…and the memory of an explosive kiss with Lucy years before his marriage. Still, he'll steer clear of her. She's always been trouble with a capital T.

Lucy couldn't wait to shed her small-town roots for the big city. But now that she's back in Hope's Crossing to take care of the Queen Anne home her late aunt has left her, she figures seeing Brendan Caine again is no big deal. After all, she'd managed to resist the handsome fire chief once before, but clearly the embers of their attraction are still smoldering….

I really like this series it's always fun to get to know the characters in the town of Hope's Crossing. 

Lucy Drake used to live in Hope's Crossing when she was younger with her aunt and cousin Jessie but left to pursue her dreams. Now she is moving back to the home her aunt left her to try and figure out a new path because things haven't gone so well. She has managed not coming back to avoid people like Brendan who was married to her cousin who has also passed away. 

Lucy had fell for Brendan a long time ago and then he married her cousin so there is some tension there. Brendan has his hands full with two young kids and being the fire chief. He ends up spending a lot of time with Lucy where sparks fly, but he keeps pushing her away. She gets mad because of past hurts, etc. 

Hope's Crossing has a great cast of characters, as it still has the ones we already know about but adds new ones with each book. In this one I really liked the two kids, even though I am normally not that big on kids in romances. I also really liked Dermot who is Brendan's father, he has been in some other stories, but he was really fun in this one. 

Overall, this one was good though I thought at times the romance was awkward and some of the things towards the ending a bit annoying, but it ends well. 

4 stars

Week in Review #142

The Week in Review is where I combine Stacking the Shelves, The Sunday Post and It's Monday! What are you reading?  If you have never joined in on these meme's you can check them out by clicking on the meme and it will take you to the host blog.

It's been a while since I did one of these, mainly as I keep forgetting to do them on Saturdays and don't have time on Sundays before church to write one up. Anyway, not a lot has happened in the time I have been gone. :) This past week we have had a lot of rain, and I am tired of rain and could use a few dry days as I need to mow.

This week I watched a lot of killer animal type movies as I know it's strange but I find them relaxing. I watched mostly ones I have seen before like Killer Crocodile, Mega Python vs Gateriod, but I did watch a few new to me ones like Robo Croc which was pretty good, but the worst one was Bears on a Ship, that was so dumb, you could tell it was someone in a costume. This movie is newer, I think 2025, even being a indie film, I would think they could do better. I will stick with my older movies and the rubber Croc over any new killer animal films.

Well, that is all I have to chat about so hope y'all have a great week and happy reading!

What I read:

• Beast Business - This was a novella in the Hidden Legacy series and it was good.
• Last Kids on Earth and the Forbidden Fortress - Book 8 in the series and really fun.
• Night of the Vam-Wolf-Zom - Last book in a fun little series. 
• Train to Impossible Places - First book in a series and I thought it was fun.

Currently Reading:

• The Widow Spy - Historical fiction about the first Pinkerton female and it's not the greatest.
• The Captain's Clue - Second book in the Parable Port series and so far it's fun, but only around 19% in.

What did you read last week?

Two Bloggers One Book ~ Stage Fright by Wendy Parris

 So today we have a middle grade book as it's Middle Grade May and so Barb and I decided to read one together. After you see what I thought, go on over to Booker T's Farm and see what she thought. :) 

A new locked room scary story about twelve-year-old Avery, who plans a séance at a deserted theater to bond with her friends, only to realize they’re locked inside with someone—or something—else. This spine tingling read is perfect for fans of Katherine Arden and Lindsay Currie! When Avery returns to her hometown after moving away a year earlier, she is hoping to jump back into her friend group as if nothing’s changed. Unfortunately, new interests, secret crushes, and changing dynamics get in her way. To reunite her BFFs, she suggests they host a séance at an abandoned theater that was the site of a horrible tragedy. What starts as a fun outing, soon becomes a fight for survival after the group gets locked in…and discovers they’re not alone.

Avery has moved away and so she is not as close to her old friends as she was, but she is coming back to her hometown and is excited to hang out with her friends but even though it's only been a year everything seems a bit different. Her friends were all acting different, first Paige didn't even show up with the two boys to pick her up, but the two boys (I can't remember their names) didn't seem to be getting along like they use too. 

They used to have a detective club and so Avery thought it would be something to bring them back together and suggested doing a seance in an abandoned theater as a kid was killed there and they thought it might be interesting to see if they could see a ghost. 

Once they get in the theater they find more than they bargained for as not only is there a ghost but maybe something much more sinister and it wants to keep them all there! 

I thought this was a fun middle grade spooky books, not to spooky but has enough to give kids a fright. The characters learned a lot as even in that year they had grown a bit apart and started new hobbies, had other friends. The main character learned that she needed to also make new friends at her new home and she could still be friends with her old friends.

4 stars

Two Bloggers One Book ~ Bats by William W. Johnstone

Today we have a fun killer animal book! We read this in April as I participate in something called Old School April. Once you read what I thought, go on over to Barb's blog at Booker T's Farm to see what she thought. :) 

“Bats” is a fast‑paced horror thriller about a massive swarm of vampire bats invading the southern United States and developing a deadly taste for human blood.

The novel follows the terrifying arrival of bats migrating north from Central and South America. At first, they appear as scattered groups, but soon they gather into thousands, forming a black cloud of predators sweeping across wetlands and small towns. As the attacks escalate, it becomes clear that these aren’t ordinary animals—the bats have grown aggressive, coordinated, and increasingly fixated on human prey.

So I love a good killer animal book, but you never know what you're going to get when you start in on one. I am happy to say that this one was pretty decent. It's from 1993 so it probably has a few things that some people might not like but that never bothers me. 

Johnny is an ex-military man was pretty high up in intelligence and has settled down in a Louisiana parish where he has built himself a kind of fortress type house that nobody is going to get into without him knowing as he does have a few terrorist organizations that would love to get ahold of him. He kind of comes off as a man who is extremely hardened and, in a way, he is but he also has a soft spot in there too. One of the things I really liked is how well he took care of his dogs. 

One day, his dogs were acting really weird and he heard a weird noise outside. He didn't think much of it until later when heading to town he finds a dead cow on the side of the road, but it wasn't just dead it was drained and had a bunch of bites on it. A trooper was coming by, and he flagged him down and this is how Johnny gets involved with a battle with Bats. He realizes these are not ordinary bats and he goes about protecting his home, making a wire mess area outside for his dogs to do their business and the bats can't get to them. (Great pet owner!) 

Some scientists show up, and a veterinarian named Blair, who ends up staying at Johnny's. They get video of the bats when try attacking Johnny's house and these bats are not ordinary bats, they are larger, smarter and just plain creepy. Before they would find out how to kill them, they decimated several parishes, or at least those who refused to evacuate when told about the danger. 

A lot of government bureaucracy and things that would just drive you mad happened while they tried to figure out how to get rid of these bats. It was filled with a lot of blood, gore and carnage and was a medium paced book. My real big complaint about this book was that it took to long to end. There was a point when you thought oh this is the end and then it kept going and it was at this point where it was just the author doing as much damage to people and so more blood, gore and carnage. 

I really liked the characters in this one, Johnny though hardened and said he would never marry anyone, just sort of fell into a steady routine with Blair as she stayed there and you knew she wasn't leaving. A couple displaced kids also end up staying there. The cops were not stupid and worked well with Johnny in trying to get rid of the bats. Only stupid people were the ones who wouldn't listen, but they didn't last long. :) Now, there were animals killed in this book, but it was expected. It kind of gets a pass because the two dogs of Johnny's were so well taken care off.

4 stars

Blog Tour ~ Murder at the Highland Games

I was given this book to review from Netgalley and Bookouture for a fair and honest review.

When a fun day out in the Scottish Highlands turns fatal, there’s only one solution: call for Ally McKinley!

It’s the annual Locharran Highland Games and Ally McKinley has never seen her little village so busy or excited. Everyone’s enjoying the Scottish dancing, the bagpipes, and cheering the competitors on. But there’s a hitch in the proceedings when champion challenger Archie Armstrong drops dead in the middle of tossing the caber. Rushing to the scene, Ally is the first to spot that Archie’s death was no accident – this was murder!

Ally flings herself into a new investigation and soon discovers that more than one person may have had a murderous motive, including some of the current residents of her cosy little guesthouse. Patti, Archie’s glamourous wife, seems intent on acting like the perfect widow, but rumours of infidelity have been flying. Is her performance too good? Could her uncle, cranky gamekeeper Angus, have finally snapped, furious at Archie’s treatment of his niece? Or was it one of the frustrated local competitors, desperate to end Archie’s winning streak?

Determined to crack the case and fueled by more than one piece of her famous shortbread, Ally begins to narrow down her list of possible culprits, but is thrown for a loop when her chief suspect is found dead by the loch, a mysterious and threatening note clutched in their fingers. With a killer at large, can Ally finally uncover the truth? Or, as the sun sets over the highlands, will this game be her last?

I really like this series. I love the fact that the main character is a senior, but she doesn't act old. Not to say that sometimes she doesn't feel her age, but she just doesn't act elderly. She is also not overly silly or anything like that.

So in this one there are some foreigners from Canada who are visiting as one of them is a champion in the games from Canada and wanted to compete in Scotland. He is naturally hated because he isn't from Scotland, so it wasn't surprising that he ends up murder at the games, but would someone murder because he was winning? 

Of course, Ally is hosting the Canadian family at her B&B, so she is naturally curious and a bit invested in trying to figure out who might have done it from the competitors to the family. Another family member is murdered, and it seems that maybe someone has it out for the family. 

I think one of the things I liked about this one is that I felt that Ally was so busy with trying to help the family that she really didn't do a lot of sleuthing, a lot of what she found out just kind of came natural and she really didn't figure things out till it was a bit too late, kind of on accident. I really don't like when sleuths are to overly nosy or it seems like that is all they do and they are never at their actual work. So that was refreshing. I like that the detective doesn't mind her helping a bit with things by asking questions. I really like Ross her boyfriend too. 

The mystery was decent, but I figured things out even the motive so maybe it was to easy to figure out or I am just getting better at figuring them out...lol. A few times I found myself asking Ally why she wasn't thinking about this or that as it was on my mind...lol. It was kind of fun to find that I was right, so it didn't really lessen the enjoyment or anything. 

I think if you like cozy mysteries this is a fun series and I would highly recommend.

4 stars

Dee MacDonald

Dee MacDonald grew up on an isolated farm in the Scottish Highlands. An only child, she’d often get fed up of reading and listening to a crackling radio, so her mother encouraged her to draw and to write ‘wee stories’, which she’d sew together into little books.

As an adult, her working life took her all over the globe as an air stewardess, into the world of TV, where she worked in Market Research and Sales, and then into hospitality, running B&Bs for over ten years.

After first finding her love of writing as a little girl, Dee became a published author of cosy crime and women’s fiction in her seventies. She lives by the sea in Cornwall with her husband, and has one son and two grandsons.

• Mailing List: https://bookouture.com/subscribe/dee-macdonald
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week in Review #141

The Week in Review is where I combine Stacking the Shelves, The Sunday Post and It's Monday! What are you reading?  If you have never joined in on these meme's you can check them out by clicking on the meme and it will take you to the host blog.

I can't believe we are about to head into April in a few days. Time sure does fly. Hope everyone is doing well, the weather has been so crazy lately. We have gone from 90 to 40 and back up to 70 over the last few days. I would just like some nice spring weather! Well, without storms.

Nothing has happened this week worth really talking about, my life is pretty boring.

What I read:

• Murder at the Highland Games - Fourth book in the Ally McKinley series and I really enjoyed it. This is a good series.
• Outlaw Mountain - Seventh book in the Joanna Brady series and I really enjoyed it.
• Battle Ground - Finished up my reread of Dresden Files, now I am ready to tackle the new book. 

What I am Reading:

• Come Through Your Door - The latest book in the County Kerry series. This is her more gritty mystery and not cozy.
• Happy Are the Meek - This I am struggling with a bit, the writing style is very different even for a book from the 80s.

Hope you all have a great week!

Two Bloggers One Series ~ Broken by Karin Slaughter (Will Trent #4)

 So I am pretty sure that I am not as big of a fan of this series as Barb, but maybe after this one they will get better. After you see what I had to say, go on over and check out what Barb thought at Booker T's Farm.

When Special Agent Will Trent arrives in Grant County, he finds a police department determined to protect its own and far too many unanswered questions about a prisoner’s death. He doesn’t understand why Officer Lena Adams is hiding secrets from him. He doesn’t understand her role in the death of Grant County’s popular police chief. He doesn’t understand why that man’s widow, Dr. Sara Linton, needs him now more than ever to help her crack this case.

While the police force investigates the murder of a young woman pulled from a frigid lake, Trent investigates the police force, putting pressure on Adams just when she’s already about to crack. Caught between two complicated and determined women, trying to understand Linton’s passionate distrust of Adams, and the complexities of this insular town, Trent will unleash a case filled with explosive secrets—and encounter a thin blue line that could be murderous if crossed.

I left out a few details from the blurb of this book, and I suggest that if you haven't read the Grant County series yet that you read it before you read Will Trent because it will spoil something major from that series.

In this one we are going back to Grant County, and I hope it's for the last time. A young woman was murdered and the young man who was accused of it has killed himself while in custody or did something else happen. 

Sara Linton is back in Grant County to visit family, and she was brought in to talk to the young man because she was the only person he would talk to as she use to be his doctor when he was a little kid. When they get there, the man is dead and Sara wants to know what happened and ask Will Trent to look into things.

There are a lot of secrets in Grant County, especial within the police and Trent has to figure out what is going on and why Sara has it out for Lena Adams and try and figure out what happened to the murdered girl and everything else. 

So, I despise Lena with a passion, she is from Grant County series, and I hated her there and so it really lowered my enjoyment of this story. I also hate Frank so that didn't help either. I want to be done with Grant County, and it seemed like maybe this will be the last one set there. Let's get back to Atlanta and stay there. I like Will, but he is a very different type of character and there are some things about him that I don't like and some things I can't talk about because I don't want to spoil the Grant County series by mentioning them. 

I liked the ending of the story, but there was to much Lena and Frank, so I just didn't care much for the story as a whole.

3 stars