Two Bloggers One Series ~ Blackberry Summer (Hopes Crossing #1)

A few months ago I got Barb to try a  book from Haven's Cove from this author and I really enjoyed it but the characters kept mentioning Hopes Crossing so I told Barb we had to read this series before going on anymore in the other series...lol. Check out my thoughts then go see what Barb thought at Booker T's Farm.

Claire Bradford needed a wake-up call.

What she didn't need was a tragic car accident. As a single mom and the owner of a successful bead shop, Claire leads a predictable life in Hope's Crossing, Colorado. So what if she has no time for romance? At least, that's what she tells herself, especially when her best friend's sexy younger brother comes back to town as the new chief of police.

But when the accident forces Claire to slow down and lean on others—especially Riley McKnight—she realizes, for the first time, that things need to change. And not just in her own life. The accident—and the string of robberies committed by teenagers that led up to it—is a wake-up call to the people of Hope's Crossing. The sense of community and togetherness had been lost during those tough years. But with a mysterious "Angel of Hope" working to inspire the town, Riley and Claire will find themselves opening up to love and other possibilities by the end of an extraordinary summer….

I really like this author and even though at times the two Main Characters, especially the male one drove me crazy at times I still enjoyed it. 

Single mom Claire doesn't really like accepting help from anyone and now all of a sudden her shop is broke into and she is in a traffic accident. Now she will most definitly need help and she is pretty stubborn about it. 

Riley is back in town as the new chief of police and not everyone in town is on board with him filling that job. He might not have been the best teen when he lived here and then he left. He has also never gotten over the fact he has been in love with his sisters friend for a very long time. 

With the break in crime spree that is happening around town, Riley is determined to catch the culprits and this leads to a chase on some hazardous roads, though he stops the chase when he sees how bad the snow is, the thiefs end up crashing and so does an oncoming car. This care happens to have Claire and her two kids plus one of their friends. The theives have a tragedy as well which really makes Riley feel bad about what happens and blame himself. It's this and some other things that start to drive me a bit crazy. It was an accident. 

Claire, needs help and Riley is around to help as he feels bad about the accident. This leads to a few moments of some sexual tension. Claire isn't sure about being attracted to her friends brother and figures he probably doesn't feel that way and even when he does she isn't sure. She especially doesn't think he needs to help her all the time. Annoying. 

Over all, I really did enjoy this one even with the characters being dumb at times. So far I have really enjoyed all the books I have read from this author and I hope my streak with her books continue. 

4 stars

Retro Reads #1

 I have been reading a lot more of my older books that I am collecting so I have decided to start posting a review of them on here. So here is my new feature Retro Reads. 

Above Suspicion by Helen MacInnis is the authors first book and it was written in 1941. She wrote espionage novels and you can tell the time period they are written in because this one deals with Nazi's. She wrote eighteen standalone novels and one trilogy. I currently own fourteen of her standalone books in my physical collection and one from her trilogy. 

It is the summer of 1939. A young Oxford don, Richard Myles and his wife Frances are about to leave for their usual long vacation on the continent. At the request of a Foreign Office friend of Richard's they agree to serve as messengers to a man who has been involved in rescue work and anti-Nazi espionage, a man who now seems to have gone missing. Their qualifications? Next to nothing except for Richard's superb memory and the fact that they look so very innocent. Across a continent on the brink of war from Paris to Innsbruck and beyond Richard and Francis travel ever deeper into danger.

This is the cover art of the copy that I have from 1969

What I thought

Richard and his wife are confronted by a friend who seems to do some things that he can't really talk much about, but he was safe but there was something going on and he needed their help. Everyone knows that Richard and Frances take long holidays and so he needs them to just sort of do what they normally do but go to Paris and meet someone. He think because they are husband and wife they will be above suspicion if they just act natural. 

Richard has a great memory and it's what is needed because he will have to memorize anything given to him and then destroy it. They need them to follow the instructions that should take then to a different city and a different person until they track down the man on the end or find out what has happened to him as they haven't heard form that man in a while. 

Richard is all for doing this but he doesn't want his wife coming but she wasn't going to have him going alone and it wouldn't work unless they were a couple. While they are traveling they run into an American Henry Van Cortlandt and an Oxford friend Robert Thorney who will eventually help aid them in getting the heck out of there once things go a bit south. 

So I haven't really read many spy thrillers and I wasn't sure what I would think of this one. It was funny because before reading this book I picked up a bunch of her books because I loved the covers of them and they were retro but I had no clue if I would enjoy them or not. They were each 50 cents so I wasn't out much if I didn't like them but I am glad I picked them up because if the others arer as good as her first one I think I will enjoy them all. 

This is so not my kind of book because it wasn't action packed from begining to end, actually we are mostly following the two MC's from city to city as they try and figure things out. The atmostphere is pretty high but that usually doesn't do anything for me if there is no action. It's set at a time when WWII is about to break out so tentions are high, lots of German military marching around looking at everyone suspiciously and the MC's are being followed which lead to some fun and interesting things as the couple would dup them in some funny ways. 

The action didn't really actually happen till about 50 pages from the end of the book so I was surprised at how much I was invested in what was happening with no action. I think that can attest to the authors writing ability and her knowledge of what was happeningat this time because she was living through a lot of it and she also said she did a lot of research. 

I highly recommend if you are a fan of spy novels.

5 stars

Two Bloggers One Book ~ Nighwing

 So I talked Barb into this one and I am sure she will get me back...lol. It was Old School April last month so I wanted to read some creature feature books. I found this one on audiobook and was like bats cool. Well, maybe not...lol. After seeing what I have to say go check out what Barb has to say at Booker T's Farm.

Vampire bats: Evil. Clever.

Deadly.

Driven by blood-hunger across the American landscape, they bred and multiplied, unseen and unsuspected, each one a grisly messenger of death. No warm-blooded creature is safe from their thirst. Now, as darkness gathers, the sky is filled with the frantic motion, the maddening murmur of . . . Nightwing.

I will start with saying that I think the blurb on goodreads should have included some things like Native American politics and that it was mostly that and not bats. I feel a bit mislead. 

Youngman Duran is the MC of this book and he was in the military but now a cop and there are a lot of Native American politics between Hopi and Navajo which took up the bulk of this book. It's also has a lot to do with Native American mysticism and supernatural rituals. 

Youngman's old friend sort of wanted to wipe out everyone and does a ritual but ends up dead, but now we have a lot of vampire bats. Though the parts with the bats are few and far between even if gruesume kills.

Yeah that is about all I remember from this book. I think I checked out at some point while listening to it and just didn't really care much. I wanted a creature feature not a suspense thriller with Native American politics thrown in. 

This author writes a Russian crime series and I am curious if he does a better job at it since to me he didn't do very good with horror. 

2 stars

Week in Review #81

How was your week? What did you get?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.

Hope everyone is doing well. We had a few storms here last week but nothing to extemely bad, only had to go to the storm shelter once, but we have more coming and I am just over the whole rain/storm thing right now. 

This past week went by pretty quick and I don't have anything newsworthy to chat about.

Hope you all have a great week and happy reading!

Books I have added

 Nothing!

Books read last week

• Above Suspicion - I really enjoyed this one! So much I added another of this authors books to my tbr. :)
• Blackberry Summer - First book in the Hopes Crossing series and it was enjoyable.
• Middle School Bites When You're a Vam-Wolf-Zom - This was silly but cute. 
• Blue Moon - Dead City Book Two and I enjoyed this one much more than book one! Lots of zombie fighting action in this middle grade book! 
• Mission 1: All In a Day's Work - This was cute. The MC can talk to animals and she is a slueth. 

Currently reading

• Dead in the Water - I am still working on this one. It's an eARC and I am about 50% into it.
• Spellbinder - I am about 65% into this middle grade fantasy and it's cute.
• Bumps in the Night - I just started this one last night so I am about 14% into it and it's not bad so far.
• While Still We Live - This is my print book and I have just started it so only about 12 pages into it.

What might be up next

Probably more middle grade zombie books...lol.

 

Week in Review #80

How was your week? What did you get?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.

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great week. The weather is so crazy! Storm and storm and storm and I am sick of rain and storms. We have been lucky that the worst has went around us, but so many people have been hit by these nasty things. We have chances of more storms this coming week too...blah. It's the one thing I hate about Spring!

April went by so fast that it's hard to believe it's MAY! Hope May slows down a bit...lol. 

Have a great week and happy reading!

Books I have added

 Nothing!

Books read last week

• The Secret of the Mansion - The first Trixie Belden book and I enjoyed it.
• The Mystery of Locked Rooms - This was good but I really prefer her middle grade horror and was bummed to not get one this year.
• Wildfire - A fast paced survival book that was at times a bit unbelievable but still fun.
• The Seaquel - A cute zombie book.
• Fright Bite - 5th book in this really fun creature horror middle grade! This one has rats!!

Currently reading

• Above Suspicion - I am getting closer to finishing this one. I will have it done next week! On page 198 of 256. This is my physical print book. I am enjoying it.
• Spellbinders - I just started this one yesterday so I am not real far into it but so far it's not bad. It's a chunky middle grade at 400+ pages. It's my audiobook and I am 22% into it.
• Dead in the Water - Zombie Season #2 and so far I am enjoying it. This is my ebook and I am 19% into it. I enjoyed book one so hope this one continues to be good.

What might be up next

Probably more middle grade zombie books it's Middle Grade May and Zombiethon on booktube! :)