Unwrapping a Guest Review by Connie Fischer of AMERICAN DUCHESS: a novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt by Karen Harper

Greetings my darling readers, I know I’ve been remiss in providing you reviews of good reads this past year and I apologize. Life has a hold on me which does not allow me much reading time. I have tried to make up for that in publishing my own good reads for you and I hope you’ve given them a try. So to make up for my neglect, I will be offering up guest reviews for you enjoy. I hope to be back reviewing for you soon but in the meantime, I hope you’ll enjoy my dear friend, Connie Fischer’s reviews to guide you to good reads. Enjoy and Happy Reading!

I present to you a guest review of AMERICAN DUCHESS: A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt by Karen Harper, published February 26, 2019.

Blurb for American Duchess: A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt:

Before Meghan and Harry, another American ‘princess’ captured the hand of an English aristocrat. Now, Karen Harper tells the tale of Consuelo Vanderbilt, her “The Wedding of the Century” to the Duke of Marlborough, and her quest to find meaning behind “the glitter and the gold.”

On a cold November day in 1895, a carriage approaches St Thomas Episcopal Church on New York City’s Fifth Avenue. Massive crowds surge forward, awaiting their glimpse of heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt. Just 18, the beautiful bride has not only arrived late, but in tears, yet her marriage to the aloof Duke of Marlborough proceeds. Bullied into the wedding by her indomitable mother, Alva, Consuelo loves another. But a deal was made, trading some of the vast Vanderbilt wealth for a title and prestige, and Consuelo, bred to obey, realizes she must make the best of things.

At Blenheim Palace, Consuelo is confronted with an overwhelming list of duties, including producing an “heir and a spare,” but her relationship with the duke quickly disintegrates. Consuelo finds an inner strength, charming everyone from debutantes to diplomats including Winston Churchill, as she fights for women’s suffrage. And when she takes a scandalous leap, can she hope to attain love at last…?

From the dawning of the opulent Gilded Age, to the battles of the Second World War, American Duchess is a riveting tale of one woman’s quest to attain independence—at any price.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Connie’s Review:

The Wedding of the Century - November 6, 1895

Miss Consuelo Vanderbilt, age 18, is miserable as she prepares for her wedding day to marry Sunderland (Sunny), the ninth Duke of Marlborough, age 24, of Blenheim Palace. Consuelo’s mother, Alva Vanderbilt, is currently divorcing her father and is insisting that she marry a titled man, thus providing him with money he desperately needs. As much as she does not want to go through with the wedding, she has no other choice.

Two Years Earlier

At age 16, Consuelo adores Winthrop (Win) Rutherford, age 29. She, her parents and brothers are sailing to Europe from New York to present her to European society. Winthrop is traveling with them along with Oliver Belmont, a friend of her parents. Her mother is a force to be reckoned with. After a short time in Paris where she receives several proposals they head to London. There, her mother, Alva, zeroes in on the Duke of Marlborough whose family is in need of money to keep Blenheim Palace going.

After the wedding, Consuelo works hard as she takes on her new role. Sunny is a tyrant of sorts, but she tries to work with him. After the birth of two sons, she feels like she has done her duty. Years ago, she had met Frenchman, Jacques Balsan. They are in love but apart from one another. Since Consuelo and Sunny have grown apart, she plans to live in London. Their separation is quickly accepted and Consuelo becomes quite involved with helping people who need it. This is a passion of her that she will follow the rest of her life.

I’ve read quite a few novels about members of the Vanderbilt family and loved each and every one of them. I was impressed with Consuelo’s strength through all of the trials she faced and her love and devotion to Jacques, her sons, and grandchildren. This is a delightful book that I know readers of this time period are going to love. Enjoy!

Copy provided by Edelweiss in exchange for a fair and honest review.

AMERICAN DUCHESS: A Novel of Consuelo Vanderbilt by Karen Harper, William Morrow, available now in ebook, print, and audio at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks.

Unwrapping a Review of THE HATING GAME by Sally Thorne

When asked if I wanted to read and review THE HATING GAME by Sally Thorne, I was a little hesitant because I thought the blurb teaser sounded a little bit blasé, but then my Avon Addict sisters started raving over how they couldn’t put it down. So I gave in, pushed back a read I’ve been waiting all summer for and gave into THE HATING GAME. I’m so very glad that I did.

***eARC provided by publisher in exchange for an honest and unscripted review

Blurb for THE HATING GAME:

Debut author Sally Thorne bursts on the scene with a hilarious and sexy workplace comedy all about that thin, fine line between hate and love.

Nemesis (n.) 1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome.

2) A person’s undoing

3) Joshua Templeman

Lucy Hutton has always been certain that the nice girl can get the corner office. She’s charming and accommodating and prides herself on being loved by everyone at Bexley & Gamin. Everyone except for coldly efficient, impeccably attired, physically intimidating Joshua Templeman. And the feeling is mutual.

Trapped in a shared office together 40 (OK, 50 or 60) hours a week, they’ve become entrenched in an addictive, ridiculous never-ending game of one-upmanship. There’s the Staring Game. The Mirror Game. The HR Game. Lucy can’t let Joshua beat her at anything—especially when a huge new promotion goes up for the taking.

If Lucy wins this game, she’ll be Joshua’s boss. If she loses, she’ll resign. So why is she suddenly having steamy dreams about Joshua, and dressing for work like she’s got a hot date? After a perfectly innocent elevator ride ends with an earth shattering kiss, Lucy starts to wonder whether she’s got Joshua Templeman all wrong.

Maybe Lucy Hutton doesn’t hate Joshua Templeman. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.

~*~                 ~*~                 ~*~                 ~*~

Lucy Hutton and Josh Templeman work opposite each other for two different bosses. Every day, they act pretty much like a couple of fifth graders with their games—mirroring each other’s moves, making snarky remarks, and one-upmanship behavior. Only when they go up against each other for a promotion that might end up costing the other his or her job…that’s when the real competition begins. They begin to learn things about each other that might turn the Hating Game into something much different, and much more serious.

I love a debut novel because it’s an introduction to a fresh new voice and it’s always interesting to see where that new voice might take us as readers. Sally Thorne is a new voice with an extraordinary knack for creating truly fabulous banter between characters. My only real complaint was that there were times when I had trouble discerning which character was saying what. Otherwise, I loved the romantic comedy nature of this story, and Lucy and Josh are perfection albeit at times, a bit corny. The story started out a little slow for me but once we reached the elevator scene, the true nature of the relationship exploded within the pages and had me hooked to the point of choosing to keep reading rather than sleep. Normally, not a good move on my part but it was totally worth it.

I highly recommend THE HATING GAME by Sally Thorne to anyone who is a fan of romantic comedies such as The Proposal or You’ve Got Mail…this is a love/hate relationship with enough sexual tension burning so hot beneath the surface that it could cause volcanic eruptions worldwide. I’m looking forward to reading more from Sally Thorne.

Happy Reading Everyone!

THE HATING GAME by Sally Thorne, William Morrow Publishing, available now in print and ebook formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks.

Q & A Promo for THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTO by Mary Hogan

THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTO

by Mary Hogan

Available now from William Morrow at

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IndieBound | GooglePlay | iBooks

From the author of the critically-acclaimed Two Sisters comes THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTO, a compulsively-readable historical novel of two young women--one America’s Gilded Age, one in scrappy modern-day California--whose lives are linked by a single tragic afternoon in history.

1888: Elizabeth Haberlin, of the Pittsburgh Haberlins, spends every summer with her family on a beautiful lake in an exclusive club. Nestled in the Allegheny Mountains above the working class community of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the private retreat is patronized by society’s elite. Elizabeth summers with Carnegies, Mellons, and Fricks, following the rigid etiquette of her class. But Elizabeth is blessed (cursed) with a mind of her own. Case in point: her friendship with Eugene Eggar, a Johnstown steel mill worker. And when Elizabeth discovers that the club’s poorly maintained dam is about to burst and send 20 million tons of water careening down the mountain, she risks all to warn Eugene and the townspeople in the lake’s deadly shadow.

Present day: On her eighteenth birthday, genetic information from Lee Parker’s closed adoption is unlocked. She also sees an old photograph of a genetic relative-a 19th Century woman with hair and eyes likes hers-standing in a pile of rubble from an ecological disaster next to none other than Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross. Determined to identify the woman in the photo and unearth the mystery of that captured moment, Lee digs into history. Her journey takes her from California to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, from her present financial woes to her past of privilege, from the daily grind to an epic disaster. Once Lee’s heroic DNA is revealed, will she decide to forge a new fate?

Q & A with Mary Hogan, author of

THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTO...

What’s the story behind THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTO?  How did the book come to be?

I first had the idea for this book 24 years ago! I’m not kidding. In 1992, my husband, actor Robert Hogan, was in an off-Broadway play called On the Bum, also starring Cynthia Nixon and Campbell Scott. The play was set in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, several years after the epic flood. The characters talked about a “lake in the sky” which piqued my curiosity. A few days later, I went to the library to read about such strange geography. That’s when I read the real story of the Johnstown disaster. Wow. I was blown away. What a great story! I held my breath for 24 years worrying that someone would write my book before I got a chance to. There are other books out there about the flood, but nothing like mine.

How did you conduct your research for the book?  Are any of the characters in the book inspired by real-life people?

While on book tour in Pittsburgh for my first young adult novel, THE SERIOUS KISS, I had a free afternoon. So, I rented a car and drove two hours to Johnstown to see it for myself. I could have stayed there for two weeks. There was so much of interest for this Californian girl. Over the years, I would visit twice more. Generously, the President of the Johnstown Heritage Association gave me a day-long tour of everything I needed to tell a compelling tale, including access to the inside of the private Clubhouse which is still standing! Aside from the very real members of the exclusive club: steel titans Andrew Carnegie and Henry Clay Frick, bankers like Andrew Mellon, U.S. Senator and Attorney General Philander Knox, all the characters are fiction.

How was the writing experience for THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTO different from your experience writing your previous novel, TWO SISTERS?

TWO SISTERS was a process of opening up my heart and spilling its contents onto the page. Inspired by the early death of my older sister, I told a tale of family secrets that I knew all too well.  Writing THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTO was a completely different experience. First, I read a gazillion historical novels. Then, I read every book I could find about Johnstown. I even read a novel called, ANNIE KILBURN that was written in 1889 to get a feel for the language of the day. Research, research, research. I was told that women who read historical fiction are fiends about accurate detail. So, my biggest fear about creating a main character who was an upper class woman of the nineteenth century was getting her many corsets right.

Both THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTO and TWO SISTERS center around female relationships.  Why do you think readers are so fascinated by the bonds between female family members?

Ah, yes. Those bonds are complicated, indeed. I have yet to meet a woman who didn’t have a knotty relationship with her sister or her mother. Even when they are smooth, they are bumpy. In my case, my mother and I were very much alike, and my sister and I were very different. So there were a lot of crossed wires. We hurt each other even when we didn’t know it. My dad and my brothers sort of kept their heads down and watched sports. :-)

For me, the best characters are flawed, striving, loving, selfish, feeling, reacting, deep, curious, furious, and worried—mostly—about their hair. In other words: women. 

Is there a particular message you hope readers will take away from THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTO?

One of the themes of this novel is: Is DNA your destiny? Are you born to be who you are? Or, can life itself mold you? I would love for readers to finish THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTO with the sense that we are all on this earth to be kind to one another. To live together. Even on bad hair days.

***My thanks to the folks at William Morrow for permitting me to share this interesting Q & A with the author with my readers, and to Ms. Hogan for allowing us a peek into the inspiration behind the story and the mind of the author - thank you, Mary. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Nappa Award-winning author of seven Young Adult novels, Mary Hogan’s first adult novel, TWO SISTERS, tells the gripping, emotional story of a family, sisters and secrets. Mary lives in New York City with her husband Bob and their dog, Lucy.

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PRAISE for THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTO:

“Mary Hogan expertly uses the tragic story of the Johnstown Food as background for a fascinating tale of two women, generations apart, who defy expectations to find their own paths to happiness and purpose. Awash in historical detail, this book is a real page-turner.”

—Melanie Benjamin, New York Times Best Selling author of THE SWANS OF FIFTH AVENUE and THE AVIATOR’S WIFE

“A fascinating snapshot of two women separated by time—each compelling in her own right - who together make for a novel so appealing you can’t stop reading. Well-researched history and modern intrigue, original and heartfelt....a thoroughly captivating novel”

—New York Times Bestselling author, MJ Rose

“Mary Hogan tells a wonderful story of two young women coming into their own…A beautiful work of historical fiction that pulls you into a distant time and place and makes it feel like home. Hogan does a brilliant job at weaving their two stories together to make one fabulous novel about growing up and discovering who you are in more ways than one.”

—NY Daily News

“…An excellent piece of historical fiction…” —Library Journal

“A great historical selection…with relatable and charming characters and an interesting historical event” —Booklist

***Having been to Johnstown, Pennsylvania and seen the monuments and tributes to those who lost their lives that fateful time in history, and for someone like me who has seen her face reflected back in old pictures of relatives generations long gone, this sounds like an exciting and intriguing read. I hope to fit it into my reading schedule soon and bring you my thoughts. - Amy

Happy Reading Everyone!

TO THE STARS by Molly McAdams Release Week Blitz with #excerpt & #Giveaway

 

TO THE STARS

A Thatch Series Novel

by Molly McAdams

Available now at

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 iTunes - GooglePlay

In the second standalone book in New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Molly McAdams’ Thatch series, Knox Alexander must convince his long-time love Harlow Evans that they’re meant to be together.

He promised to wait for her.

She told him he was wasting his time.

Not waiting for him ended up being the biggest mistake of her life.

When they were younger, Knox Alexander swore to Harlow Evans that he would wait for her to turn eighteen so they could be together. But that was two and a half years away, and Harlow couldn’t ask him to give up all the fun and thrills of going away to college for her. As the years passed, Knox remained a constant in her life but when her eighteenth birthday came around, Harlow’s heart belonged to someone else.

Every day for the last four years, Harlow has been haunted by that fateful choice. And though he may appear unaffected by what happened in their past, Knox has always tried to fill the void Harlow left. But when he comes stumbling back into her life and refuses to leave, will Harlow finally let him into her heart…? 

EXCERPT from TO THE STARS:

“Relationship,” Knox huffed. “Low, I’ve told you, you could hardly call it that. Besides, I told her about you before whatever she and I were ever started,” he said. “It’s not my fault she thought I was joking.”

“Well, it’s kind of weird, don’t you think? Telling her, ‘hey, sure I’ll be your date for this group thing, but there’s this girl I’m waiting for, and she’s my priority’, seems like a way to say you don’t want to get too attached at the beginning.”

“But I told her,” he reasoned.

“You’re horrible.”

“Not horrible. I’m just in love with you, and I have a year and a half left until I can have you.”

I gripped at my warming chest and tried to ignore it as I sighed. “I’m going to stop answering your calls whenever you get a new girlfriend.”

“There won’t be a new one, and I know you wouldn’t.”

My eyebrows rose even though he couldn’t see me. “And how do you know that?”

“Because you love me too. Through all this bullshit, you love me, and you need these calls as bad as I do.”

“I do love you, Knox,” I whispered into the phone. It wasn’t the first time I’d told him, and I knew it wouldn’t be the last. “I love you to the moon and back.” My eyes fell to my dresser where my monthly bouquet of red poppies sat. These had come just a few days ago. The card, as always, had read: I’m still waiting for you.

“To the moon?” A deep, husky laugh filled the other end of the phone. “The moon isn’t that far, Harlow.”

“Isn’t it?”

“No. Not far enough.” There were a few beats of silence before he confessed, “I want to love you to the stars.”

My mouth parted and a soft huff slipped past my lips. I closed my eyes and let his words replay in my mind and move through my body as I agreed, “Then to the stars.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Molly grew up in California but now lives in the oh-so-amazing state of Texas with her husband, daughter, and fur babies. When she's not diving into the world of her characters, some of her hobbies include hiking, snowboarding, traveling, and long walks on the beach…which roughly translates to being a homebody with her hubby and dishing out movie quotes. She has a weakness for crude-humored movies and fried pickles, and loves curling up in a fluffy comforter during a thunderstorm ... or under one in a bathtub if there are tornadoes. That way she can pretend they aren't really happening.

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TO THE STARS Goodreads | Molly McAdams Goodreads

And don’t miss the first book in the Thatch Series…

LETTING GO

by Molly McAdams

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TOUR WIDE GIVEAWAY

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Blog Tour Promo for TAKE ME ALL THE WAY, a Coral Cove novel by Toni Blake with #excerpt

TAKE ME ALL THE WAY
A Coral Cove Novel

by Toni Blake

available now from Avon Romance

You can’t go too far when you’re fighting for love…

USA Today bestselling contemporary romance author Toni Blake continues her new, heartwarming series set in the beachside town of Coral Cove. This time the town troublemaker, Jeremy Sheridan, gets his chance at love!

Tamra Day swore off men a long time ago. Her art, her friends, and her garden have always been enough…until now. Suddenly Tamra is aching for a connection. Unfortunately, Coral Cove’s most eligible bachelor is the troublemaker who’s building the mini-golf course she’s designing. Brusque and sarcastic, he’s made it a habit of annoying Tamra. But more infuriating is the fact that Tamra can’t help noticing how sexy he is.

They call him a war hero, but Jeremy Sheridan knows better. Still haunted by painful memories from Afghanistan, he’s just hoping for a fresh start. So far, the only problem is his new boss, Tamra, a control freak who’s easy on the eyes—and way too fun to tease.

Despite their differences, Tamra and Jeremy aren’t as alone as they think they are. And together, with a little Coral Cove magic, they’ll discover how good it feels to embrace a bright new future.

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Excerpt:

He was only vaguely aware of nearing a tall privacy fence, painted a weathered sort of white, before passing through the open gate. He caught sight of Tamra’s legs and tennis shoes, too, and said, “Am I about to walk into anything?”

“No, you’re good,” she said.

“Where am I going with this thing? I want to put it down once.”

“Well, I haven’t had a chance to plan for this, so it might have to be twice—unless you want to stand there holding it while I think.”

“Nope,” he said, and let it drop right in front of him on the stone.

And then he took in everything around him. It was as if he’d entered a whole new world. One of lush greenery and bright blooms. Her entire backyard was a beautiful garden. “Shit, you weren’t lying,” he said without thinking.

“About what?” she asked.

“You could be a landscaper if you wanted.” 

“Thanks.” She sounded shockingly bashful. It threw him, drew his gaze to her face.

She was actually blushing a little. He wondered why, but didn’t spend much time trying to figure it out as his attention was drawn back to the garden.

From the trees hung delicate windchimes and other pieces, all made of colored glass. He caught sight of a blue glass bird that seemed to be flying past, and numerous butterflies in yellow, purple, pink. From the ground sprung the occasional birdbath, and more pieces of glass mounted on wrought iron sticks—a green glass dragonfly, a row of glass daisies. In between it all ran the stone path—it seemed to make a circle around the yard, and near the house, where they stood, it widened to encircle a large fire pit. Wooden chairs rimmed the pit, and farther back in the garden he caught sight of a hammock that looked like the perfect resting spot.

“This is . . . freaking amazing,” he told her.

“Yeah?” she asked. Again, she sounded so much more delicate than usual.

“Yeah.” He nodded, still taking it in.

The truth was, he kind of never wanted to leave. It was. . .the perfect place to be alone, the perfect place to hide.

And then. . .he understood. The same way he liked to hide—so did she.

When his gaze returned to her, he saw her differently. He understood her better now—not completely, not by a long shot, but better. He’d sensed a certain beauty in her before—he’d witnessed hints of it wanting to creep out from around her more rigid persona—but now he really saw it. Looking down at her, here, she was…prettier. Her eyes more innocent. Her lips fuller, softer. Maybe he was crazy, or maybe the late day shadows were playing tricks on him, but she was truly beautiful here in a way he’d never seen her look before.

About the Author:

USA Today bestselling author Toni Blake’s love of writing began when she won an essay contest in the fifth grade. Soon after, she penned her first novel - nineteen notebook pages long. Since then, Toni has become a RITA-nominated author of more than twenty contemporary romance novels including her recent 2014 RITA nomination for Half Moon Hill the last installment in her popular Destiny series. Her books have received the National Readers Choice Award and the Bookseller’s Best Award, and her work has been excerpted in Cosmo. Toni lives in the Midwest and enjoys traveling, crafts, and spending time outdoors. Learn more about Toni and her books at www.toniblake.com.

Taking a journey to Coral Cove is always exciting and satisfying, and [TAKE ME ALL THE WAY] is a fan­tastic addition to the series. The romance between the characters is poignant and real, giving readers a story to get com­pletely caught up in. Blake has written another winner! — RT Book Reviews

Unwrapping a Review of THE GREAT CHRISTMAS KNIT-OFF by Alexandra Brown

I know Unwrapping Romance is all about romance especially that HEA promised us in romance novels but every so often, I read a book that just deserves a little shout out of excitement. With the holidays bearing down on us, I can’t think of a better time to give off some joy for a wonderful, delightful, and cockle-warming British chick-lit that comes as close to romance as you can get without a Happily-Ever-After. THE GREAT CHRISTMAS KNIT-OFF by Alexandra Brown is everything wonderful! Pure Holiday Joy. 

***print copy provided by publisher in exchange for an honest and unscripted review—thank you.

Blurb for THE GREAT CHRISTMAS KNIT-OFF:

Sybil has always taken comfort in her knitting, creating beautiful garments stitch by stitch. But her world suddenly unravels when her fiancé ditches her for her identical twin sister and things go from bad to worse when an incident jeopardizes her job.

Hoping to escape her woes and forget that she'll be alone for Christmas, she visits her friend in Tindledale—a winter wonderland of quaint shops and snowy rooftops. Embraced by welcoming—if eccentric—locals wearing handmade knits reminds Sybil of her own creations and her unrealized ambitions of selling them. So when the vintage boutique asks her to create a knitting display for their front window, she's thrilled. The hot town doctor has even taken an interest in Sybil, hoping to heal her broken heart.

But just when Sybil thinks she's going to have her fairy-tale Christmas after all, an unexpected turn of events threaten to unspool her happily ever after.

~*~       ~*~        ~*~       ~*~       ~*~

Life couldn’t get much lower for Sybil. Her fiancé leaves her at the altar amidst a Star Wars themed wedding and runs off with her twin sister, and now there’s a chance, a great chance she will be on the hook for a huge money error at work. Really not wanting to face anything anymore, she packs up her little dog, Basil, and heads to Tindledale, a truly quaint little English village that when she steps off the train, she thinks she’s on a set for FROZEN. She’s eager to see her best friend, Cher, who will certainly help her see to making sure her life doesn’t get any more discombobulated but Cher is out of town, and the accommodations at the Duck & Puddle Pub, which Cher and her chef husband are now running, were highly lacking. With no other choice, she ventures to the Bed and Breakfast on the other side of the village. There she meets the incorrigible, Lawrence Rosenberg, host extraordinaire, and leader of the Tindledale Players. Lawrence sets her on the right path to discovering more about herself, her life, her desires, than she ever knew, and even encourages her to take a chance at love. Taking the road not traveled was the last thing she ever expected when she began her journey to Tindledale.

With a cast of the most delightful, unexpected, funny, endearing, and simply lovely characters, I would love to live in a place like Tindledale. I fell in love with this book so fast it surprised me. Although, we are greeted with not one, but two states of despair…first with Hettie, and the prospect of her losing her precious House of Haberdashery in Tindledale, but then Sybil whose life is a complete disaster…Alexandra Brown manages to makes us smile and even laugh.

I was sick as a dog with the cold from hell while reading this but I couldn’t have asked for a better escape into a warm, loving, and cozy read to make me feel better and smile. Okay, it’s sweet, most definitely, but its also romantic comedy at its holiday best. I can see this story being made into one of those wonderful feel good holiday movies that you want to take out once a year and watch it yet again. I can see reading this every holiday season for that feel good heartwarming experience too. I’m not a knitter, and it doesn’t matter but I would taking up knitting just to be invited to one of Syb’s and Hettie’s delightful natters…that seems to be what a gossip session is called in England. Tindledale is the most welcoming place on the planet, I think. Like I said, I’d love to live there.

I highly recommend reading THE GREAT CHRISTMAS KNIT-OFF by Alexandra Brown if you’re a fan of feel good, cozy holiday stories, funny clumsy kind of comedy, and I’ll clue you in…Sybil has everything come together for her and even has a hottie town doctor a little head over heels for her. Go ahead…take a trip to Tindledale and when it’s over, you can imagine your own HEA for Sybil.

Happy Reading Everyone!

THE GREAT CHRISTMAS KNIT-OFF by Alexandra Brown, William Morrow, available now in print and ebook formats at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Kobobooks.

***click on links above or cover below for purchasing information, remember even pennies per sale using my links help keep this blog alive. Thank You.

Review Stop on the Tasty Virtual Book Tour for PERFECT TOUCH by Elizabeth Lowell with #excerpt + #giveaway

Welcome to my review stop on the Tasty Virtual Book Tour for PERFECT TOUCH by Elizabeth Lowell, releasing everywhere tomorrow from William Morrow! I am such a huge fan of Ms. Lowell’s and yet just when I think she can’t outdo her last novel, she does. PERFECT TOUCH is a perfectly wonderful read. Stick around for an excerpt from this fab book and a tourwide giveaway too!

***eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest and unscripted review.

Blurb for PERFECT TOUCH:

Sara Medina is a designer and art dealer from San Francisco. She matches her clients’ desires with fine and folk art from the world over—living up to her thriving business named Perfect Touch. She still remembers her rural childhood of hard work and poverty on the family dairy farm, but she keeps it firmly in the past as she searches out new artwork and artists that are on the breaking edge of acclaim. After she experienced the cultural riches San Francisco had to offer, she decided her life would be that of an urban career woman rather than a working mom commuting from the suburbs. With the intensive hours and travel required to grow her business to the next level, she has no time or energy left for romantic or family entanglements.

Jay Vermillion recently inherited Vermillion Sky, a ranch that nestles up to Wyoming’s Grand Teton Mountains—and the estates of the rich and restless. As a returned veteran of numerous deployments over the course of two wars, he finds himself wrestling with the demands of a ranch that has been left to run down during his father’s long illness. Between the urgent need to modernize and revitalize the Vermillion Sky, as well as an unexpected and vicious fight with his former stepmother over the custody of now-valuable paintings that were part of his father’s estate, Jay has no time for finding a wife and creating a sixth generation of Vermillions to ensure the family legacy continues.

When Jay hires Sara to appraise and market his father’s cache of paintings by Harris ‘Custer’ Armstrong, neither one expects the explosive results of their eventual meeting in Jackson, Wyoming. In addition to a mutually inconvenient attraction, they discover a double murder at the edge of the ranch lands and a potential betrayal even closer to home. All trails lead to Custer’s artworks as valuable enough to kill for, especially an unknown painted rumored to be called The Muse.

As Sara and Jay unravel the motive for the killings, they both discover that love, like murder, doesn’t wait for a convenient time. On the heels of that soul-shattering realization, Sara is targeted for murder. Suddenly, the war-weary soldier finds something he is once again willing to die for…

My Review:

Usually I recap a little but between the blurb and the excerpt, you’ll get the gist…and want to read this amazing story.

I love how Elizabeth Lowell always creates characters that capture our attention right from the start. Sara and Jay are two of a cast of characters that attract our attention from the first pages and keep our attention straight through to an action-packed, nail biting, edge of the seat finale that surprised me because I thought I knew who was the ‘bad guy’ and yet, I was caught off guard. Sign of a good suspense writer in my book.

PERFECT TOUCH is a romantic suspense, which could have been written at any place in contemporary times. Other than some mentions of technology and Jay’s being stationed in Afghanistan, the feel of this story could have been set at any time in the 20^th Century as well as in the past fifteen years. I think it was one of the reasons I was so fascinated by it. A modern story, yet with a feel of the old west with on the trail action. With murder, mayhem, theft, helicopter attacks, a bit of PTSD, some steamy sex action, and a heroine who can ride as well as any man and isn’t afraid to use a weapon, PERFECT TOUCH by Elizabeth Lowell gave me everything I want in a romantic suspense and more. I didn’t want it to end.

I highly recommend PERFECT TOUCH by Elizabeth Lowell, just as I always recommend her stories…it’s romance at its best with a thrill ride included.

Happy Reading Everyone!

Excerpt:

Even as that irritated thought crossed her mind, she hesitated. The call could be from Jay Vermilion, the man who had dozens of fine art paintings that could kick her career up to the next level. Paintings with the potential to be so valuable that they’d been the part of a hotly contested divorce settlement for more than a decade.

Maybe, just maybe, she thought, one of those paintings is the fabled Muse, the only portrait painted by Custer.

That would explain why the legal battle had even outlived the original owner of the paintings, JD Vermilion. JD had passed away several months ago, and his much-younger ex-wife, Liza, was suing JD’s estate to gain access to the art her former husband had begun collecting before she’d even been a teenager in braces. With the passing of her ex, Liza had simply turned her lawyers loose on the primary heir to JD Vermilion’s estate—his son, Jay.

Sara’s mouth curved slightly as she continued walking. I’ve never met the infamous Liza Neumann, once Vermilion. But with possession being nine-tenths of the law, I’d put money on Captain Jay Vermilion keeping his ex-stepmother’s grasping hands off the undiscovered Armstrong “Custer” Harris paintings in the future, as well.

The retired army veteran who had recently inherited the family ranch—the fruit of generations of his Vermilion ancestors—had a grit and determination to him that came right through the phone line.

You haven’t even met the man, Sara reminded herself. She fished the cellular out of her tight front pocket at last, glanced at it, and saw the call had gone to voicemail. She palmed the phone and gave a mental shrug. It wasn’t a Wyoming number calling, which meant it wasn’t the Sheriff.

Or Jay, damn it.

Think of the good Captain like any other potential client who calls you during business hours to get advice on Western art, she told herself firmly.

Impossible.

Jay Vermilion might be a potential client, but he was also the man she had been talking to half the nights for the past few months. At first, it had been all business, but somehow the conversations had quickly evolved into … more.

I don’t know how I could talk about myself and my work and my dreams like that with someone I’ve never met. And he talked to me, too, about the ranch and weather and the Western woman he hoped to find and marry and beget the seventh generation of Vermilions.

We have such different lives and goals, it’s surprising we had so much to talk about in the first place.

About the Author:

Elizabeth Lowell’s exciting novels of romantic suspense include New York Times Bestsellers: DANGEROUS REFUGE, BEAUTIFUL SACRIFICE, DEATH ECHO, THE WRONG HOSTAGE, AMBER BEACH, JADE ISLAND, PEARL COVE, and MIDNIGHT IN RUBY BAYOU. She has also written NY Times best-selling historical series set in the American West and Medieval Britain. She has more than 80 titles published to date, with over 24 million copies of her books in print. She lives in the Sierra Nevada Mountains with her husband, with whom she writes novels under a pseudonym. Her favorite activity is exploring the Western United States to find the landscapes that speak to her soul and inspire her writing.

Author Links:

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Buy Links:

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