Protecting Summer (SEAL of Protection Book 4)

 by Susan Stoker

Buy Link - Amazon

This author's books are always so easy to read, the story just flows and you forget where you are.
Even through the heart racing moments of this story I knew it would all work out for them. Mozart and Summer are a great couple, she is deserving of a second chance in life and for Mozart it's time to stop being man-whore. Great sweet romance, action, suspense and love will keep you entertained, I loved it.

Felt like a re-read 2 years later, still just as good.

Sam “Mozart” Reed’s life changed the day his little sister was found abused and murdered when he was fifteen. He’s spent the past nineteen years looking for the serial killer who took his sister from him and ruined his family. Using his connections, and SEAL training, Mozart believes he’s finally tracked the killer to the town of Big Bear, California.

Summer Pack is working in a crappy motel up at Big Bear Lake until she can find something better, more meaningful, more real. Living in an unhealthy situation, she meets a man who is everything she’s ever dreamed about and who helps her see that there are some people in the world who will actually do what they say they will.

But somewhere in Big Bear a killer is waiting to strike again. Watching for the perfect victim.

Marrying Caroline (SEAL of Protection)

 by Susan Stoker

Buy Link - Amazon

I love Susan's series, I have quite a few gaps so catching up between other ARCs and Beta reading :)

Settle in and get comfy, that's me with a Stoker book. Can't put it down until I'm done. This one is a novella, we catch up with the couples and the amusement of planning a wedding. You just know something is going to happen for all these plans to flop.
This was a fun and yet emotional read, I loved it.

Caroline and Wolf had a wild start to their relationship…plane hijacking, kidnapping, attempted drowning, and a terrorist plot foiled. Now things have calmed down and a wedding is in the works for the couple. By enlisting the help of Wolf’s teammate, Cookie, Caroline is immersed in plans for her dream wedding.

Of course, with their luck, things can never go off without a hitch.

Join Alabama and Abe, Cookie and Fiona, as well as the rest of the SEAL team, as Caroline and Wolf start the rest of their life together.

**Marrying Caroline is book 3.5 in the SEAL of Protection Series. It can be read as a stand-alone, but it’s recommended you read the books in order.**

Inflamed: A Love Letters Novel

 by Kristen Blakely 

out on October 26th

buy link - Amazon

She's known in this small town as "The other woman". Such small town mentality, she's raising a son herself who struggles at school due to parents telling their kids he's bad.
Along comes a new fireman in town, he's younger with baggage of his own. Can they find happiness together? Or will circumstances drive them apart?
I really enjoyed this story, it was full of emotions and thoroughly enjoyable.

here are no happy endings; not for “The Other Woman.”

In a small town, there’s just no way to start over.

Eight years after the worst mistake of my life, my life as a single parent is a grind of exhaustion in between spikes of fatigue—an endless struggle to make ends meet.

But then Sean Orr, Havre de Grace’s newest firefighter, comes to town and shows my son and I a new and beautiful kind of “normal.”

The happiness can’t last—not for Sean who is on the run from his past. When it catches up with him, will it bring my fragile normality crashing down around me, or will I find the strength to finally define my own happy ending?

Each book in the series is a standalone HEA and can be read in any order!

Protecting Fiona (SEAL of Protection Book 3)

 by Susan Stoker

Amazon

If you love an over the top Alpha hero then you're in the right place...here with me.
No, some of the events seemed a little unrealistic, should she be more traumatised? Probably but this is entertainment not a non-fiction book.
I've loved Cookie since book #1 and I'm so glad he found the 'one' for him too.
Kidnapping, action and plenty of loving. An emotional story with great characters, I loved it.

Hunter “Cookie” Knox was good at his job, infiltrating behind enemy lines was one of his specialties. His SEAL team relied on him to do his job, just as he relied on them to do theirs. Ever since two of his teammates found a woman that completed them, their dangerous Ops seemed a bit more intense. Cookie knew if he had a woman who belonged to him, he’d never let her go. Little did he know the SEAL team’s latest mission to Mexico would change his life forever.

Fiona Storme resigned herself to the fact that it was highly unlikely she would make it out of the jungle alive. Kidnapped by human traffickers, abused, and without family or friends looking for her, Fiona knew wishing for rescue was as realistic as having a big, juicy hamburger fall from the sky. Unbeknownst to Fiona, the SEAL team, including Cookie, were on the way, but their assignment didn't consist of rescuing her.

**Protecting Fiona is the 3rd book in the SEAL of Protection Series. It can be read as a stand-alone, but it’s recommended you read the books in order to get maximum enjoyment out of the series.

Protecting Alabama (SEAL of Protection Book 2)

by Susan Stoker 

Buy Link - Amazon - for the rest of the series click on Susan's name for a complete reading list.

I read this book in 2017 and felt like a re-read in 2020.

I made a big mistake, I looked at the one star reviews and prepared to cringe. For all those readers who gave scathing reviews without even finishing the book, doesn't that make you as judgemental as the character?
Both of these characters had less that favourable upbringings, she way more than him. I can't imagine reaching 30 years of age without being loved, friended or cared about. I had many teary moments throughout this story, both happy and sad. Abe disappointed me at one stage, the explanations were plausible though. I felt he could redeem himself. The story captivated me and I look forward to reading about the rest of these SEALs.

EDIT: felt like a re-read 3 years later , still loved it. Characters came with flaws making them real, and I still cried.

Alabama didn’t have a good start to life. Emotionally and physically abused by her mama, Alabama spent her high school years in foster care. People let her down, time after time, and she’d learned to rely on only herself.

Christopher “Abe” Powers earned his nickname because he tolerated nothing less than absolute honesty from the people around him. Finding the bar scene stale and having watched his friend and teammate, Wolf, find the woman of his dreams, Abe was determined to find someone to share his life with too.

Alabama and Abe had no idea their paths would cross and their prayers would be answered, but like most things in life, nothing is ever as easy as it seems at first. Two words would change both their lives and they’d have to fight hard for their happy ever after.

**Protecting Alabama is a stand-alone love story. It’s Book 2 in the SEAL of Protection Series.**

Cocky in a Cowboy Hat (Crossroads Book 3)

 by Em Petrova

Buy Link - Amazon out on October 19

Liberty loses her bid in an auction for her dream ranch...but did she walk away with something better? In her new job the sparks are flying between her and the ranch owner. Should they cross this boundary? I liked that Aiden showed his respect by listening and following through with her opinions. Her nasty ex threw a spanner in the works here and I'm screaming just go to the bank. But the other option made for a more entertaining tale. This was a fun read with great characters, the story stands alone but you'll want to read the others to learn who the others are.

A ranch on the auction block. Two bidders. Only one can win.


Liberty Baker’s dream to raise horses and settle in the small town of Crossroads all comes down to an auction bid. Within heartbeats, her dreams crash and burn as Mr. Bulging Pockets steps in and swipes the ranch out from under her. The fact he’s a hunky bachelor—with an icy blue stare so direct she feels it in places no woman ever should—only makes things worse when he proposes that she should become his ranch hand.

She has an idea of the kind of hand he needs, and washing his dishes and picking up his dirty socks isn’t her thing. Then she remembers why she wanted the ranch in the first place…it’s a safe haven after her bitter divorce.

With a bigger cattle herd and more land, Aidan Bellamy really could use Liberty’s help. Sharing a house is just a living arrangement, right? Convincing himself will be difficult when she parades around with her toned thighs peeking out of her nightshirt and he discovers her in his Jacuzzi more than once. A self-proclaimed bachelor isn’t blind to the fact that women Liberty’s age are lookin’ for a big man to take care of them, and while he might have invited her into this deal, nobody’s sinking her hooks into him.

At least until he learns of the threats against her. No matter how hard he tries to resist, the solution’s staring him in the face.

There’s only one answer left.

It’s marry her and save her from losing it all or let her burn.

Only one look from Liberty sets him aflame. And one touch from Aidan might start a wildfire of emotions neither want to face.

Killer in the Kiwis (Lovely Lethal Gardens Book 11)

 by Dale Mayer

Buy Link - Amazon

Another amusing adventure with Doreen and her menagerie of pets, who usually help save the day. While her deck is being built she's on the hunt for the killer of these local elderly women. What's the kiwi connection all about? I'm enjoying watching her relationship/friendship grow with Mack, not really sparks flying but they are comfortable together. Do we have to wait for the Z book I wonder? There were many twists in this story, the author rode us on a merry chase trying to work out whodunnit. The ending sure had a very unexpected event, can't wait for the next story.

A new cozy mystery series from USA Today best-selling author Dale Mayer. Follow gardener and amateur sleuth Doreen Montgomery—and her amusing and mostly lovable cat, dog, and parrot—as they catch murderers and solve crimes in lovely Kelowna, British Columbia.

Riches to rags. ... Chaos again. ... Winning is important, ... at least for some!

Doreen is overwhelmed with joy when she sees all the volunteers who show up to help get her deck addition built. Most of the men are cops, friends of Corporal Mack Moreau’s, and are happy to help Mack’s special friend and the lady who has helped solve so many crimes for them with a spot of home renovation.

But before the deck improvement can be finished, duty calls, and the cops are called away on a case. Another gray-haired lady has dropped dead. Yet another heart attack victim is added to the long line of previous ones. And, of course, neither of these recently deceased women had a heart condition that would explain their sudden demise.

With her animals at her side, Doreen is determined to figure out what the ladies had in common, plus why and how kiwis keep popping up in this case. As she digs into the ladies’ lives, the things Doreen discover are shocking, … but not as shocking as the answer is to this riddle …