Love is a Battlefield (DreamMakers #2) by Vivian Arend and Elle Kennedy

Love is a Battlefield by Vivian Arend
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Pepper Wilson comes home to see her brother who runs the DreamMakers business with his best friend Jack, who Pepper and Parker grew up with. Now an adult, Jack can't resist her, but how to make it happen? I already #3 in the series on my Kindle, Arend's books sizzle and I enjoy getting to know these characters.

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When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson & Omar Mohamed

When Stars Are Scattered by Victoria Jamieson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Victoria Jamieson in collaboration with Somali refugee, Omar Mohamed, hits it out of the park with this graphic novel depicting Omar and his brother, Hassan's life in a refugee camp. The reader feels their boredom, anger, frustration, hope, and community as they live each day in a camp with thousands of others. Omar is a true caregiver to his brother yet he is able to attend school, look for his mother, and work to leave the camp for a better life. All students MUST read this book; highly recommended!

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Here's To Us by Elin Hildenbrand

Here's to Us by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I wanted to give this book 5 stars but the story and Deacon Thorpe’s personality made me angry. If it was up to me, this flawed man who had everything going for him destroyed all of his happiness and his 3 wives because of his insecurities he could never get over and his own self absorption. I loved Angie and Laurel and Buck and their lives were all about their love for Dean Thorpe. Loved Nantucket but in this time of COVID-19 I wanted more positive characters and ached for their loss, he who was Deacon Thorpe.

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My Calamity Jane (The Lady Janies, #3) by Cynthia Hand

My Calamity Jane by Cynthia Hand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved this audiobook so much, narrated by Sophie Amoss; her female and male voices were perfect; I could not stop listening! Cynthia Hand uses humor, and the retelling was funny, thought provoking, and the twists were just perfect. Think the history of the wild west but with the twists of garous (werewolves), history changed, and Wild Bill, Calamity Jane, and Annie Oakley trio who join forces in their shows but also chasing after garou (humans turned by a bite from werewolves). This 3rd Lady Janie was just as good as the other 2 in the series.

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The Cold Nowhere (Jonathan Stride, #6) by Brian Freeman

The Cold Nowhere by Brian Freeman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh do I love this series! Jonathan Stride, Maggie Bei, and Serena (I love Jonathan and Serena together) and this detective thriller also introduced Cat, a street kid who is running from someone who is stalking her and she has no idea why. She shows up at Stride's house because her mother was one of his cases years ago and told Cat she could always trust him. The psychological twists and turns had me turning those pages; I just love this series so much. There are usually cases that overlap, and this is how Serena enters Jonathan's life again; fingers crossed! On to the 7th book; Freeman really know how to write mysteries and delves authentically into Jonathan, Maggie and Serena's lives as police officers as fragile, tough, and relentless in their duties. A must read!

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Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Once again, Elizabeth Acevedo has written a beautiful, timely story in her signature novel in verse style. Camino and Yahaira do not know each other but they share a father and a last name, Rios. When their father dies in a plane crash on his way to visit Camino (as he does every summer) in the Dominican Republic, their lives are shattered. In prose, that is haunting, authentic, and charged, two girls discover through grief that they have each other. Highly recommended!

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Pretty Funny for a Girl by Rebecca Elliott

Pretty Funny for a Girl by Rebecca Elliott
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley, #BookJunkies, @BecElliott, Peachtree Publishing Company and Myrick Marketing & Media, LLC for the advance reader copy of Pretty Funny for a Girl by Rebecca Elliott, in exchange for an honest review. I loved irrepressible, funny Haylah who yearns to be a stand up comic. In this time of Covid-19, Haylah, nicknamed Pig, made me laugh with her sardonic wit, laugh out loud jokes and humorous monologues. But Haylah does not recognize all the good things about herself. Since she is plus size, she is very insecure about her looks and confidence, but she constantly and valiantly battles her inferiority complex making her one awesome protagonist I rooted for on every single page. Her love for her brother, Noah, and her Mom is so nice to see in a YA book. She has two best friends who have her back, but her inferiority complex has her so wrong about their motivations and sincerity. When Haylah deems her mother’s new friend (love interest?) Rueben a no go because he doesn’t wear socks and has a big beard, she jumps in and pushes him out. Haylah learns so much when she begins to slip her own jokes into awesome, popular Leo’s locker and becomes a friend, muse, and maybe something more? Readers will love this book as they see themselves in so many of the characters in this must read, laugh out loud book! Highly recommended.

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Rage and Ruin (The Harbinger #2) by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Rage and Ruin by Jennifer L. Armentrout
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh did I love this 2nd book in The Harbinger Series; the heart stopping romance of Trinity and Zayne and also Layla and Roth were beautiful in their loyalty to one another. Armentrout's book was a lengthy 608 pages but I loved every word about the Wardens and Trueborns, ghosts, angels, demons, and the Harbinger killings and the plan for ending the world's domination. As the killings increased and the Harbinger was unidentified, I could not stop turning the pages. The paranormal fantasy and action and adventure make this a must read and talk about an ending!!! It will kill me to wait until the next book in the series is written and right now there is no book title, making me very sad! But I will wait patiently and read every book she writes both YA and adult!

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The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand

The Identicals by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thank you to my daughter-in-law for passing this gem along to me! Identical twins Harper and Tabitha have quite a life and I could not stop turning the pages as we learn about their (separate) lives when their parents divorce and each take one twin! The changes in their lives and loves were scintillating, awesome, and heartbreaking (at times), highly recommended!

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The Matchmaker by Elin Hilderbrand

The Matchmaker by Elin Hilderbrand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Loved this book, the characters Dabney, Alice, Box, Clen, Riley and Nina!!! Thank you to Alicia my daughter-in-law for sharing this book, I fell in love with Elin H after I read the 2 books in the Paradise series. My daughter and Alicia read all of Elin's book and now I am beginning to read ALL her books too! My heart loved Nantucket and Dabney's family and world! She was a strong complicated woman in love with Clen (a traveling journalist a world away) even while married to Box. The other side stories of the successful matches Dabney made, and her daughter Alice's arrival one summer and all that that entails, held me captive, I could not stop turning the pages, such a great summer beach read but also filled with family drama, relationship conflict, and love of Nanticket!

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All Fired Up (DreamMakers, #1) by Vivian Arend & Elle Kennedy

All Fired Up by Vivian Arend
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh boy!!! I liked this new series so much, I have the 2nd book already on my kindle! Love is a Battlefield is about Parker's sister Pepper and his partner in his business DreamMakers! During this time of Covid 19 sometimes I needed lighter books and I was all in with Parker and Lynn in this first of the series! Their chemistry was palpable and this book did not hold back! Romances are my guilty pleasure & this book was probably the most extreme adult romance I have read (in a good way).

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The View Across the Rooftops by Suzanne Kelman

A View Across the Rooftops by Suzanne Kelman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Thanks to Pat Graham for another great recommendation! I loved this historical fiction, taking place in Denmark during WWII/Holocaust. It was a tough read as all Holocaust stories are, but the beauty and strength of the characters, plot, and words made this a favorite for me so I will be recommending it to all my reader friends! Hannah, Michael Bloom, Elka, Ingrid, and Joseph are memorable characters for their struggles, resilience, and response to the upending of their lives during the German occupation of their home, Denmark. During this time of covid-19 it was very difficult to listen to this audiobook, but Alan Medcroft's narration was stellar. Highly recommended!

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One Night of Sin (After Hours, #1) by Elle Kennedy

One Night of Sin by Elle Kennedy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I loved the perfect chemistry between Skyler and Gage! He is a bad boy and she is a good girl, this slim novella kept me turning the pages to see if these two would make it as a couple!

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The Burying Place (Jonathan Stride, #5) by Brian Freeman

The Burying Place by Brian Freeman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh do I love Brian Freeman mysteries; especially the Jonathan Stride series (but the other stand-alones and series are awesome too!!!) and this 5th book broke my heart! The case that Jonathan and Serena is working on involves the abduction of a baby, while Maggie has another case of missing women from the surrounding farms. Add to that, Maggie has a new partner Kacey who has met the killer and is now his main target. The mysteries are always taut, psychological, and I can never put them down. But I will say the Serena aspect in this book broke my heart; Joanthan is still suffering from the last book with panic attacks which he tells no one about---typical male! While I love Jonathan, I did not like his internal struggles and how he handled them, and Brian Freeman told me to read the next book in the series, I definitely will with fingers crossed!

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The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert

The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a great book; I could not stop turning the pages as I hung on every word about Alice and her mother's flights, the hazy grandmother who writes scary fairy tales about The Hinterland, and Alice's search accompanied by Ellery Finch. Alice is strong, conflicted about so much because she and her mother have always been on the run. So what is a girl to do when her mom disappears? Find her of course!!! And oh does Alice have scary adventures as she and Finch try to track down her mother while avoiding many nefarious people/creatures! I am definitely going to read the 2nd in the series!

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