Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Callum by Sawyer Bennett!


New Release from Sawyer Bennett Callum (Pittsburgh Titans, Book #12)

Synopsis:

Callum Derringer was hired by the Pittsburgh Titans to help rebuild the organization after a devastating plane crash left its future unknown. Now that he’s got the team back on track, it’s time to put some effort into his own life. When I accepted the job of general manager with the Titans, it was just the opportunity I needed to prove myself to the sports world. Unfortunately, my career isn’t the only area in which I’ve previously made mistakes and the past is about to come back in a big way. Juniper Ryan is…complicated. Smart, funny and insanely gorgeous, she was my first love and my first heartbreak. But my loss was my stepbrother’s gain and she’s been his wife for five years now. I’ve done a decent job of putting her out of my mind but when I’m brought home for a family emergency and see the bruises on Juniper, I’m gutted to learn that she was pushed into the arms of a monster. Vowing to put our past aside, I learn dark truths about my brother and his marriage to my first love. And to make matters worse, I’m beginning to realize the feelings I once had for Juniper aren’t tucked quite as far away as I had hoped. When things take a dangerous turn, I’m willing to put myself in the line of fire to keep my girl safe. I was a fool to walk away from Juniper the first time and I’m a man who knows better than to make the same mistake twice.

Grab your copy of Callum directly from Sawyer by shopping the Sawyer Bennett Bookstore!

E-Book and Audio (audio narrated by Jason Clarke and Lessa Lamb): https://bit.ly/STORE_Callum Signed paperback (available to US mailing addresses): https://bit.ly/Callum_PB

You can also get Callum at the following retailers:

Amazon | Nook | Apple | Kobo | Google



Not sure if you're ready to commit to Callum? Sawyer's got you covered!

READ the first three chapters | HEAR the first chapter


About the Author:

New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author Sawyer Bennett uses real life experience to create relatable stories that appeal to a wide array of readers. From contemporary romance, fantasy romance, and both women’s and general fiction, Sawyer writes something for just about everyone. A former trial lawyer from North Carolina, when she is not bringing fiction to life, Sawyer is a chauffeur, stylist, chef, maid, and personal assistant to her very adorable daughter, as well as full-time servant to her wonderfully naughty dogs. If you’d like to receive a notification when Sawyer releases a new book, sign up for her newsletter (sawyerbennett.com/signup).

 

Connect with Sawyer:

Facebook | Reader Group | TikTok | Instagram | Goodreads | BookBub | Join Sawyer's Newsletter


Thursday, February 8, 2024

Trouble

TroubleTrouble by Lex Croucher
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

I tried... I really did...
but this story is not for me.
The heroine... is not likeable... She is not shy or reserved. She is closed off and mean. The whole I don't like children but I have to pretend to be a governess bc my sister who should be here is ill.... so I am going to do a half ass job...not endearing.
But really... none of the characters are. No one is likable... everyone seems to be a robot. There are no deep emotions or layers.
Moving on.
Thank you Netgalley and Publisher

View all my reviews

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

The Women by Kristin Hannah

The WomenThe Women by Kristin Hannah


true story... I am not done with this book yet because Kristin Hannah is a very tough author for me to read.
I know... she is going to rip out my heart and I won't even be 30% in the book. My first book by Hannah was " The Great Alone" it was such a heavy book I had to stop reading it and take a break...
Then I read "Four Winds" I can still feel the atmosphere of "The Great Depression" and the "Dust Bowl" with the dry crops and starving people. Hannah is very, very thorough in her research. She seems like the type of author who counts the grains of salt in the shaker before mentioning in her story.
"The Women" is a story set during the Vietnam War . She has counted the grains of salt... She does not miss one description. I have to stop and take a breath because it is very emotionaly heavy and heart wrenching.
I have not finished reading the book yet...but I will. I just can't read her in one sitting. Hannah gives me too much to think about and ponder. I did not give this book a fiver star because I don't trust Hannah...I am hoping that she doesnt rip my heart out and does right by Fankie.

I know her fans will absolutely love this book.
Kristin Hannah (Author, Narrator), Julia Whelan (Narrator) are amazing narrators. I felt all their words, had to take deep breaths and felt every emotion in their voice. Really truly outstanding.

Thank you to Netgalley, author and publisher for a copy. These opinions are my own.


View all my reviews

Thursday, January 25, 2024

Never Blow a Kiss (Secret Society of Governess Spies, #1)Never Blow a Kiss by Lindsay Lovise

Never Blow a Kiss (Secret Society of Governess Spies, #1)Never Blow a Kiss by Lindsay Lovise
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

great pacing! The author keeps the story moving along nicely. She also balances the different plots very smoothly!

I have a list of suspects! Great pacing and intrigue Lovise!
Such a great story! I do have to say I think "too much" was going on... and at the 70/ 80 % mark it seemed that too many subplots were waying the story down... However, great pacing, fun story... and I am awaiting the second book! Lately the books I have read have not had me this excited to know what happens next!
Thank you Netgally for the audio and ebook. i was able to go back and forth ane read and listen. Narrators were excellent and true to the story.
These opinions are my own.

View all my reviews

Wednesday, January 24, 2024

The Continental Affair (Hardcover) by Christine Mangan

 I waited a long time for my library copy...so I will finish it.

But ... struggling

at 54 % I am officially done.

I am ready to jump off the train.

The final straw was when the heroine leaves her invalid father to die. Sorry... life is too short for books that make me want to jump out of a train... like the one that they seem to be on in the this story.

I loved the setting , loved the mention of the countries in Europe. Loved hearing Spain and Alhambra mentioned. At this point I am better off reading a National Geographic novel. 

This hero is so taken with a woman he doesnt know... and frankly, not very nice person. 



THE MISSING WITNESS by Allison Brennan

 1


My parking garage off Fifth was nearly a mile from where I worked at city hall. I could have paid twice as much to park two blocks from my building and avoid the rows of homeless people: the worn tents, the used needles, the stinking garbage, the aura of hopelessness and distrust that filled a corner park and bled down the streets. 

I was listening to my favorite podcast, LA with A&I. Amy and Ian started the podcast two years ago to talk about computer gaming, technology, entertainment and Los Angeles. It had blossomed into a quasi news show and they live streamed every morning at seven. They’d riff on tech and local news as if sitting down with friends over coffee. Like me, they were nerds, born and bred in the City of Angels. I’d never met Amy or Ian in real life, but felt like I’d known them forever. 

We’d chatted over Discord, teamed up to play League of Legends, and I often sent them interesting clips about gaming or tech that they talked about on their podcast, crediting my gaming handle. Twice, we’d tried to set up coffee dates, but I always chickened out. I didn’t know why. Maybe because I thought they wouldn’t like me if they met me. Maybe because I was socially awkward. Maybe because I didn’t like people knowing too much about my life.

Today while I drove to work, they’d discussed the disaster that was city hall: all the digital files had been wiped out. The news story lasted for about five minutes, but it would be my life for the next month or more as my division rebuilt the data from backups and archives. It was a mess. They laughed over it; I tried to, but I was beginning to suspect the error was on purpose, not by mistake.

Now they were talking about a sweatshop that had been shut down last week.

“We don’t know much,” Amy said. “You’d think after eight days there’d be some big press conference, or at least a frontpage story. The only thing we found was two news clips—less than ninety seconds each—and an article on LA Crime Beat.”

“David Chen,” Ian said, “a Chinese American who allegedly trafficked hundreds of women and children to run his factory in Chinatown, was arraigned on Monday, but according to Crime Beat, the FBI is also investigating the crime. And—get this— the guy is already out on bail.”

“It’s fucked,” Amy said. “Look, I’m all for bail reform. I don’t think some guy with weed in his pocket should have to pay thousands of bucks to stay out of jail while the justice system churns. But human trafficking is a serious crime—literally not two miles from city hall, over three hundred people were forced to work at a sweatshop for no money. They had no freedom, lived in a hovel next door to the warehouse. Crime Beat reported that the workers used an underground tunnel to avoid being seen—something I haven’t read in the news except for one brief mention. And Chen allegedly killed one of the women as he fled from police. How did this guy get away with it? He kills someone and spends no more than a weekend behind bars?”

“According to Crime Beat, LAPD investigated the business for months before they raided the place,” Ian said. “But Chen has been operating for years. How could something like this happen and no one said a word?”

I knew how. People didn’t see things they didn’t want to. 

Case in point: the homeless encampment I now walked by. 

I paused the podcast and popped my earbuds back into their charging case.

“Hello, Johnny,” I said to the heroin addict with stringy hair that might be blond, if washed. I knew he was thirty-three, though he looked much older. His hair had fallen out in clumps, his teeth were rotted, and his face scarred from sores that came and went. He sat on a crusty sleeping bag, leaned against the stone wall of a DWP substation, his hollow eyes staring at nothing. As usual, he didn’t acknowledge me. I knew his name because I had asked when he wasn’t too far gone. Johnny, born in Minnesota. He hadn’t talked to his family in years. Thought his father was dead, but didn’t remember. He once talked about a sister and beamed with pride. She’s really smart. She’s a teacher in…then his face dropped because he couldn’t remember where his sister lived.

Four years ago, I left a job working for a tech start-up company to work in IT for city hall. It was barely a step up from entry-level and I couldn’t afford nearby parking garages. If I took a combination of buses and the metro, it would take me over ninety minutes to get to work from Burbank, so factoring the combination of time and money, driving was my best bet and I picked the cheapest garage less than a mile from work.

I used to cringe when I walked by the park. Four years ago, only a dozen homeless tents dotted the corner; the numbers had more than quadrupled. Now that I could afford a more expensive garage, I didn’t want it. I knew most of the people here by name.

“Hey, Toby,” I greeted the old black man wearing three coats, his long, dirty gray beard falling to his stomach. He had tied a rope around his waist and attached it to his shopping cart to avoid anyone stealing his worldly possessions when he slept off his alcohol.

“Mizvi,” he said, running my name together in a slur. He called me “Miss Violet” when he was sober. He must have still been coming down off whatever he’d drank last night.

I smiled. Four years ago I never smiled at these people, fearing something undefinable. Now I did, even when I wanted to cry. I reached into my purse and pulled out a bite-size Hershey Bar. Toby loved chocolate. I handed it to him. He took it with a wide grin, revealing stained teeth.

One of the biggest myths about the homeless is that they’re hungry. They have more food than they can eat. That doesn’t mean many aren’t malnourished. Drug and alcohol abuse can do that to a person.

A couple weeks ago a church group had thought they would bring in sandwiches and water as part of community service. It was a nice gesture, sure, but they could have asked what was needed instead of assuming that these people were starving. Most of the food went uneaten, left outside tents to become rat food. The plastic water bottles were collected to return for the deposit, which was used to buy drugs and alcohol.

But no one gave Toby chocolate, he once told me when he was half-sober. Now, whenever I saw him—once, twice a week—I gave him a Hershey Bar. He would die sooner than he should, so why couldn’t I give him a small pleasure that I could afford? Toby was one of the chronics, a man who’d been on the street for years. He had no desire to be anywhere else, trusted no one, though I thought he trusted me a little. I wished I knew his story, how he came to be here, how I could reach him to show him a different path. His liver had to be slush with the amount of alcohol he consumed. Alcohol he bought because people, thinking they were helping—or just to make themselves feel better—handed him money.

As I passed the entrance to the small park, the stench of unwashed humans assaulted me. The city had put four porta-potties on the edge of the park but they emptied them once a month, if that. They were used more for getting high and prostitution than as bathrooms. The city had also put up fencing, but didn’t always come around to lock the gate. Wouldn’t matter; someone would cut it open and no one would stop them. Trespassing was the least of the crimes in the area.

I dared to look inside the park, though I didn’t expect to see her. I hadn’t seen her for over a week. I found myself clutching my messenger bag that was strapped across my chest. Not because I thought someone would steal it, but because I needed to hold something, as if my bag was a security blanket.

I didn’t see her among the tents or the people sitting on the ground, on the dirt and cushions, broken couches and sleeping bags, among the needles and small, tin foils used to smoke fentanyl. I kicked aside a vial that had once held Narcan, the drug to counteract opioid overdoses. The clear and plastic vials littered the ground, remnants of addiction.

There was nothing humane about allowing people to get so wasted they were on the verge of death, reviving them, then leaving them to do it over and over again. But that was the system.

The system was fucked.

Blue and red lights whirled as I approached the corner. I usually crossed Fifth Street here, but today I stopped, stared at the silent police car.

The police only came when someone was dying…or dead. 

Mom.

I found my feet moving toward the cops even though I wanted to run away. My heart raced, my vision blurred as tears flashed, then disappeared. 

Mom

Excerpted from The Missing Witness by Allison Brennan, Copyright © 2024 by Allison Brennan. Published by MIRA Books.

The Missing Witness : A Quinn & Costa Novel 

Allison Brennan

Series: A Quinn & Costa Thriller (#5)

On Sale Date: January 23, 2024

9780778369653

Hardcover

$30.00 USD

Fiction / Thrillers / Crime 

416 pages


About the Book:

When Kara Quinn is framed for the murder of an FBI agent, she'll have to go rogue to clear her name without putting her partner, Matt Costa, in danger in this latest thriller in the USA Today bestselling Quinn & Costa series.


A fast-paced, race-against-time thriller to wrap-up Kara Quinn’s back story…


Kara Quinn is ordered back to Los Angeles to testify in the case against David Chen & his illegal businesses. Chen is out on bail, and there is still a threat to Kara because of it. The FBI doesn’t want to provide federal protection for Kara (they believe that the LAPD should be responsible for her safety) but Matt Costa and Michael Harris accompany her to LA, knowing that Chen’s got people inside the LAPD on his payroll.


Shortly after Kara gives her deposition, someone tries to kill her. When that fails, Kara is then framed for the murder of an FBI agent—which means, if it’s discovered Matt is protecting her, it’ll be the end of his FBI career (he could be accused of harboring a fugitive). Knowing this, Kara flees, determined to cure the mess herself, but she puts her life in jeopardy. Ultimately the book reveals layers of conspiracy and corruption in Los Angeles that enabled David Chen, and others, to operate their illegal sweat shops. This book will resolve the murder of Kara’s former partner—and will leave Kara at a critical crossroads: return to her old life, or sign on officially with the MRT.


About the Author: 

ALLISON BRENNAN is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling and award-winning author of over forty novels, including The Sorority Murder. She lives in Arizona with her husband, five kids and assorted pets. The Missing Witness is the fifth thriller in the new Quinn & Costa series.


Social Links:

Author Website: https://www.allisonbrennan.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AllisonBrennan

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Allison_Brennan

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abwrites/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/52527.Allison_Brennan

Buy Links:

Bookshop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-missing-witness-a-quinn-costa-novel-original-allison-brennan/20078550?ean=9780778369653&ref=&source=IndieBound&title= 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/077836965X/httpwwwalli0f-20

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-missing-witness-allison-brennan/1143446385;jsessionid=B485531C811175E9379886DE2E4C8128.prodny_store01-atgap01?ean=9780778369653

Books a Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/product/9780778369653 


Tuesday, January 23, 2024

Accidentally His (Designing Debutantes #3)Accidentally His by Sabrina Jeffries

Accidentally His (Designing Debutantes #3)Accidentally His by Sabrina Jeffries
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The mystery was very good! Definitely did not see that coming. Romance was sweet and good. Yes, some parts were very drawn out. Overall, fun and intriguing read. Narrator was good.
Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for a copy.
The views expressed above are mine.

View all my reviews

Callum by Sawyer Bennett!

New Release from Sawyer Bennett Callum (Pittsburgh Titans, Book #12) Synopsis: Callum Derringer was hired by the Pittsburgh Titans ...