Sedona by Kerry Fryar Freeman

 About the Book: When a spunky Southern editor from Atlanta discovers her grandmother has cancer, she gives up city life to fulfill a promise to the only family she has left. The promise is Sedona, an Arizona town which draws people from around the world who seek magic and healing. Though Cal isn’t much for hocus pocus, there is no limit to what she will do for the woman who raised her after her parents died.

To make ends meet, she lands a job with the local touring company whose owner is good to look at but secretive about himself and the business. Cal senses something darker behind the bright lights of the tour company. Her suspicion is fed after her former editor solicits her to write an investigative piece on the touring company and its owner. As Cal digs, she unearths secrets that put her and those she’s come to love in grave danger.

 Our Review: Author Kerry Fryar Freeman has written a compelling mystery flavored with a cast of unique, quirky characters, influenced with the magic of crystals and healing. The mystery comes to a most satisfying—and surprising—conclusion. Well done!

 Based on a scale of 1-5, Sedona merits a 5.

Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Reviews

 

Forgive the Beast by M. Garnet

 USMC Sergeant Margaret Bloom learns early that to say no to a colonel,  or a lieutenant—or a shape shifter—only leads to trouble. Deep trouble.

 

About the Book: After scientist Margaret, Mags, Bloom joins the US Space Marine Corp. she gets to work with a brilliant professor who helps her develop a weapon that fires with the order from the mind, not the trigger finger. Therefore, she is shocked when she is sent from Earth to a faraway destination in space as part of a military unit delegated to examine a deserted ship built by aliens.

    No argument she presents convinces any of her superiors that she is not meant for fieldwork. Worse, one of the men assigned to board the deserted ship is from the planet Veld.

Veld and Earth have forged a co-operative pact to combat a greedy enemy call Trios. For Mags, the problems that arise from dealing with the men on her military team are nothing when it comes to working with the shapeshifting man from Veld. As a scientist, she has a deep bias against such a man or beast. As a woman, things are entirely different.

Our Review: Fans of both science fiction and military thrillers will appreciate author Garnet’s meticulous attention to the crisp lingo and patois common among stories involving the military. As well, her gifted imagination for creating all the gadgets and toys used by the characters to survive a brutal attack while seeking a successful mission is right out of the best of sci-fi fiction.

 Based on a scale of 1-5, Forgive the Beast merits a 4.5.

 Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Reviews

The Taken by Donnette Smith

It’s the wedding of a lifetime—until a dead girl shows up.

 About The Book: All Jenna Langley wants is the chance to marry the man of her dreams. But when the spirit of a dead girl, one only Jenna can see, appears at the wedding, it’s clear a recent brush with death has caused a heightening of Jenna’s psychic abilities. The groom, police detective Cole Rainwater, vows to do whatever is necessary to get to the bottom of his wife’s disturbing visions. Before he can launch an investigation, Jenna is abducted—and what began as a meticulously planned romantic honeymoon turns into a nightmare.

 Our Review: In this third book of the Spirit Walker series, it is a delight to see a satisfying conclusion of two strong character arcs. With Jenna and Cole, author Donnette Smith has built upon well established, compelling lead characters, then thrown them into the deep end of the dehumanizing world of human trafficking. For mystery fans, there are plenty of red herrings to keep the pages turning in order identify the real bad guys. Flavored with a boatload of dry humor and steamy sex, this is an effortless conclusion to a terrific series.

 On a scale of 1-5, The Taken deserves an 8.

 Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Reviews

 

 

 

  

Christmas at Solace Lake by Jana Richards

 It’s Christmas time at Solace Lake Lodge, but a series of thefts threatens everyone’s holiday spirit.

 About the Book: An emergency compels Drew Barnes to return to his family business, the Solace Lake Lodge, an inn deep in the Minnesota woods. Certain desperation is the only reason the family would ever allow him to fill in as their bookkeeper. No one has believed in him since a mistake got him fired from his previous job. Soon after he arrives, Drew is disheartened to discover thefts and financial irregularities. The last thing he needs is to be thrust into another crime related crisis.

After an allegation of sexual harassment led to her being fired—then virtually unemployable in her chosen profession—the only job sous chef Celeste Bishop finds is with the Solace Lake Lodge. Grateful to the Barnes family for taking her on, she’s made a good life for herself and her nine-year-old daughter in the three years she’s worked, and lived, at the lodge.

Soon after meeting, a powerful attraction ignites between Drew and Celeste. He’s all in, but she resists her feelings. She’s leery of their age difference; plus, an interracial relationship didn’t work for her parents. As Christmas approaches, the thefts escalate. Drew must stop the thief and redeem himself in his family’s eyes—as well as his own. He must also convince Celeste they deserve the gift of a happily ever after this Christmas.

 Our Review: Author Jana Richards demonstrates an in-depth appreciation for social issues by infusing them into the plot lines of her Solace Lake stories. In Christmas at Solace Lake, she has tackled the limitations faced by those with physical disabilities, the intricacies of interracial relationships and cyber crimes—how they are perpetrated as well as how their effects on businesses both large and small. Richards weaves each of these issues effortlessly into the romance between two people who have suffered due to things beyond their control. Emotions keep this story moving; the characters are multi-layered and very well drawn.

Based on a scale of 1-5, Christmas at Solace Lake, merits a 7.

Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Reviews

Love is Silent by Toni v. Sweeney

 She is hired to teach him to speak—but there are other things he wants to learn.

 About the Book: Anna Leighton is hired to help David Wood, Lord Mayfield, learn the intricacies of Sign language in order to help him communicate with and adapt to the world outside his rural family estate. A greedy relative has petitioned the courts to have David declared incompetent; Anna’s earlier success with teaching the deaf will hopefully prove the accusation a lie.

           Unfortunately, she is working against a time limit of six weeks to perform what some would consider a miracle. After breaking down the walls David has erected to protect himself from further abuse and injury, Anna is successful and he is soon Signing, then speaking in limited amounts—and even dancing. Suddenly he has a champion—and the two quickly fall in love. But societal norms are rigid and unforgiving. The two deserving people must fight more than a vicious family member in order to establish a future together.

 Our Review: In a departure from the genres Toni V. Sweeney is generally known for, with this historical romance, she offers the same loving care for setting, dialogue, and complex characters—both primary and secondary. The history behind educating the hearing impaired is spot-on as well as the minute attention to societal norms for finding love outside one’s station. Spiced with bright, engaging humor and layered characters, Love is Silent is a treat to read and enjoy.

 Based on a scale of 1-5, Love is Silent merits a 6.

 Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Authors

Sweet Slow Sizzle by Sadira Stone

 Loving him means risking the only family she has left.

 About the Book: Bangers Tavern’s hunky bouncer Jojo Williams has been flirting with server Lana Lopez for three years, but she dismisses him as a trifling joker. Determined to penetrate her prickly defenses, he plunges into the hot mess that keeps her from dating. If he screws this up, his heart and hers won’t be the only ones broken.

Orphaned by a car wreck at twenty-two, Lana must keep her teen brothers on track and together in the home they grew up in. One more slip-up, and her interfering tías will separate the boys. The last thing Lana needs is a big goof like Jojo meddling with her fragile family. But when the teens’ shenanigans land them in trouble, Jojo may be the only person who can save them from the wrath of the tías. Lana’s growing attraction to the gentle giant makes it harder and harder to shut him out, but... losing the one you love is the scariest story of all.

 Our Review: Welcome back to Bangers Tavern, the hippest and quirkiest neighborhood bar in Tacoma, Washington—where beer flows in all colors, the tater tots are the best in three surrounding states, and the staff is one big, happy family. Sort of.

          As is usual with Sadira Stone’s fabulous Bangers Tavern series, Sweet Slow Sizzle carries on the underlying theme of family, either earned through bloodlines or gathered by choice. Though, with a couple of family members featured in this story, one would never need enemies. JoJo Williams has a heart as big as his biceps and he’s willing to lose it all for the love and respect of one overworked woman who’s terrified that at any moment she might lose what little family she has left. It will take the scare of a lifetime to shake Lana Lopez down to her cut-off denims to understand the importance of trusting the family who has your back, no matter what.

 Based on a scale of 1-5, Sweet Slow Sizzle merits a 7.

Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Reviews

 

All I Need by Kathryn Ascher

 All they need is someone who will love and cherish them.

 About The Book: Hannah Murphy is over her dead fiancé. In the year since his death, she’s kept herself busy and has finally discovered who and what she wants to be. Most important: no longer will she be anyone’s doormat.

After being burned by love, Quinn Taylor focused on his career and his future. When the woman he’s secretly loved since high school flings herself at him, he’s thrown off balance. Just as his and Hannah’s relationship begins to bloom, the past comes back with an unexpected punch and old insecurities threaten their future. To move forward, each must overcome self-doubt—or remain separated forever.

 Our Review: Not only is Kathryn Ascher’s All I Need a study in what happens when the past returns with a blast of epic proportions, showing how old wounds fester under the scars, then erupt and threaten to ruin the new and lovely. An excellent study in a variety of character types. Well done!

 On a scale of 1-5, All I Need deserves a 5.

 Kat Henry Doran, Wild Women Reviews