Victoria & Violet by Rachel Brimble

  It should be a dream come true to serve the Queen of England…

About the Book: When Violet Parker is told she will be Queen Victoria’s personal housemaid, she cannot believe her good fortune. She finally has the chance to escape her overbearing mother, a servant to the Duchess of Kent. Violet hopes to explore who she is and what the world has to offer without her mother’s schemes overshadowing her every thought and action.

Then she meets James Greene, assistant to the queen’s chief political adviser, Lord Melbourne. From entirely different backgrounds and social class, Violet and James should have neither need nor desire to speak to one another, yet through their service, their paths cross and their lives merge—as do their feelings.

Victoria’s court is not always the place for romance, but rather secrets, scandals, and conspiracies…

Our Review: Rachel Brimble is known for her lush descriptions of both setting and characters right down to their innermost hopes, dreams and plans. In Victoria & Violet the author brings all of that and more for the reader, this time adding an in-depth portrayal of fears and hesitancies carried by adult survivors of abuse and neglect. Well done!

 On a scale of 1-5, Victoria & Violet deserves a 7.

Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Reviews

The Inn on Gooseneck Lane by Delsora Lowe

 About the Book:  Nat Thomas calls Mistletoe Falls, Vermont home where summers were magical, her aunt became the parent she needed, and high school love bloomed. Sixteen years later, that love lost, Nat returns home for a much-needed break. She’s recruited to revitalize her aunt’s picturesque inn. Will the boy who broke her heart be the man who rallies to save her home and capture her heart…for good?

Brad Matthews returns home to buy Green Mountain Sports, after years as an outdoor adventure guide. He’s thrown into partnering an event to revive the town’s inn and boost his business. Can he work with the woman who demolished his heart and ran with no explanation?

In a small town where everyone knows your business and interfering relatives revive snicker-doodling, the lost art of matchmaking, Nat and Brad may not stand a chance. Can the two find enough heart to forgive and accept love again?

 Our Review: Family. The emotions, responsibilities and strings that accompany that one single word can often turn into a time bomb looking for a place to go off. No one describes the emotions linked to ‘family’ better than Delsora Lowe. BTW—the first ‘planning’ meeting between Nat and Brad is a pip. Watch the steam rise off the page.

Based on a scale of 1-5, The Inn on Gooseneck Lane deserves a 6.

Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Authors

Shattered Promises by Linda Trout

 About the Book: 

While investigating a plane crash in rural Arkansas, FBI Agent Wade Malone is stunned to find the only woman he ever loved living close by. As a hardened criminal closes in, putting Miranda in the crosshairs, he’s conflicted on how to protect her, yet keep his well-guarded emotions from resurfacing.

Miranda Johnson loves the life she has carved out as an artist, but she never expected to see her former lover again. Can they reconnect and move past the hurts each inflicted on the other, or will the secret she has kept from him all these years cost them everything?

 Our Review: Author Trout again proves her unique talent for describing small town life, right down to dialogue unique to the rural Ozarks. Additionally, this follow-up to the first book in her Rock Ledge series, showcases her ability to bring suspense and intense emotion to the reader. This is a true page turner.

 On a scale of 1-5, Shattered Promises deserves a 7.

 Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Reviews

Buried Hearts, book 4, Laurel Ridge novella series

 After an archeologist, who reads the dead from what they leave behind, meets a psychic balloonist talks to the dead, the attraction is instant and intense. But can two vastly different people meet in the middle, shed their walled-up exteriors, and expose hidden longings and buried hearts?

About the Book:  When archeologist Clint Anderson meets balloonist Gabby King, he is immediately smitten. Unexpected emotions flare when the straight-laced, hyper-organized academic finds her footloose, fancy-free lifestyle interesting.

          By circumstance, Gabby becomes involved with Clint’s current restoration project—a VW beetle that's been underwater for a decade and was recently fished out of a local lake. After she finds an expensive bracelet hidden under the floor mat, they uncover another part of a mystery and leads to even more questions.

As they get better acquainted, their emotional walls crumble and their buried hearts are exposed. Can two eccentrics handle a discovery of unexpected love and allow those walls to finally fall?

 Our Review: No one who’s read the earlier Laurel Ridge novellas would pass up a chance to spend time with the folks inhabiting the small mountain town of Laurel Ridge. And along the way, discovering new clues to the mystery behind the classic VW bug that was hauled out of the local lake just a few days ago, just adds frosting to the delicious cake. Walls start coming down for the two seriously different Clint and Gabby, right up there with the others who came before, in the delightful Laurel Ridge series. Well written with snappy, realistic dialogue, the times may change but honest emotions stay the same. No one writes emotions better than Diana Stout.

 Based on a scale of 1-5, Buried Hearts deserves a 6.

 Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Reviews

Margaritas, Mayhem & Murder

 Her ex-stepmother may be a piece of work…but is she a killer?

 About The Book: Miami travel agent Andi Anna Jones loved her father with all her heart, her stepmother…not so much. With few skills for drawing the line when it comes to the flamboyant wingnut Ruby Jones, Andi rushes to the rescue after Ruby is charged with homicide while on a Mexican cruise. Enter a cast of characters including, but not limited to, three besties who’d just as soon stick a knife in your back as blink, a rambling gambling fast-talking man who disguises himself as an attorney, and the hunkiest of cops this side of Cancun. It’s up to Andi Anna to save the day,  keep the looney tunes stepmother out of prison, and not get herself killed in the process.

 Our Review: In Margaritas, Mayhem and Murder, author Mary Cunningham has created the first in an adventure series featuring ace Miami travel agent, Andi Anna Jones. Unable to pay attention to the common sense button inside her head or the warnings of those in the know, she barges ahead in an effort to solve the murder, keep the unworthy stepmother out of jail, and often puts herself and others at risk for serious physical injury. For all that, I should not have liked this book—yet it’s filled with snappy dialogue, a variety of well-drawn whacko characters, and terrific descriptions of the cruise ship industry and tourist havens of Las Vegas and the Mexican Caribbean.

 On a scale of 1-5, Margaritas, Mayhem and Murder deserves a 4.

 Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Reviews

 

 

 

 

Jazz House by D. V. Stone

 One woman’s choices. One man’s impact.

 About the Book: After escaping a brutal husband and the minions comprising his vast criminal enterprise, jazz singer/chanteuse Jordan Vasilakis spends months on the run. Too frightened to seek haven with her family for fear of putting them in danger, she sets out on a lonely, isolated course. Surviving on wits and guts, she is ready to run at the first hint of danger. After landing in the small Northeast Pennsylvania community of Slate Quarry, she emerges from the shadows by taking a job as the featured singer at Jazz House, a retro family-run showplace. Finally feeling marginally safe, Jordan opens her mind to possibilities of normal. Enter police officer Michael Machau who, while falling instantly for the beautiful “Madeline” senses something isn’t right. She’s frightened, lonely, and in need of someone unafraid to take a chance and give Jordan the life she deserves.  

 Our Review: Employing multiple and diverse characters, complex plotting and snappy dialogue, in Jazz House author D. V. Stone has created an edge-of-your-seat thriller featuring domestic abuse, international corruption, and down-home family relations. This one’s a winner.

 On a scale of 1-5, Jazz House deserves a 5.

 Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Reviews

Derailed Hearts by Darlene Fredette

 Two lonely survivors of life altering tragedy discover reasons to trust—and love—again.

 About the Book: ER physician Ethan Marley decides to give his small daughter a chance at a new life with a large, loving family and, hopefully, recovery from horrendous trauma. While on a cross-country train trip from Alberta on the west coast of Canada to Redford Falls, Nova Scotia, he and his daughter Avery meet Jenn Martini, a talented fashion designer, herself a victim of recent physical trauma. As the days pass both adults new hope and reasons to try love and trust again.

 Our Review:  Ethan Marley is a hero any woman would want to take home and nurture. The delightful Avery is in serious need of consistent and patient nurturing. Jenn deserves a partner to appreciates her for her skills, talents as well as her true value. This is a heart-breaking as well as heart-warming story, well written with compelling goals, motivation and conflict, snappy dialogue and well-drawn, multilayered characters.

In short: this is that one story all romance writers wish they’d written.

 On a scale of 1-5, Derailed Hearts deserves an 8.

 Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Reviews