The Asset by Kimberley Troutte
This story is about Heather who's been trained but she's in the middle of danger but she is able to summon a friend to show up and they pretend they are together as a couple. It's the only way they could get around the interrogation and it worked, this time. She is trying to find her daughter. She's also worried about her father in the hospital and she needs to bring him home to safety. She knows of a place...
Miguel is her partner and he's worried about Heather as she's gone dark. .
Love hearing about the robotic dog that detects bombs and harmful chemicals and retrieves the letter from the door stoop.
A foodie invite from Tiffany and you'd never guess how the biolab produces such tasty strawberries.
We also learn about how her father gave up so much money for her when she was kidnapped. Now she's in control of the family money.
So many mysteries, retaliation, revenge, action paced scenes, bio lab, native tribe and cultures and so much more. Something for everyone in this book.
Can't wait to read more about Heather and the team.
Received this review copy from Tule Publishing and this is my honest opinion.
Merry Everything by Joanne DeMaio
In this nice holiday read we find Eddie who stays with his grandfather and helps at the Reeds department store in town. He's a history teacher in town nearby and lives in faculty housing. He runs the elevator that only runs manually during the holiday weeks. He loves the traditional history of the store and what it really means. Everybody is so cheerful to one another.
Story also follows Nora who's laid off from her marketing job at the Country magazine and is looking for a new briefcase before she starts looking for a new job. Eddie sets her up for an instant job interview after she finds the right briefcase.
They see each other daily during the weeks til the holiday is over and she ends up with a job at the store full time there. This goes on for many years, almost 10 and she realizes and others are pushing her to wed to Sawyer. Tragedy occurs and she can't go to Eddie as she had fallen apart in front of him. She avoids him. When she's ready he is not available and has gone back to school earlier than normal.
You wonder if they will ever meet again.
love the time they do spend together and what they discusses, such festive time. Clothing, jewelry and especially the falling snow.
A Christmas to Remember by Cassidy Carter
Love the scene, mountain resort, it's Christmas and everyone is currying around to decorate, everything! Story starts with Jack who had come to the area, spent time there and invested in it. He liked the idea of the whole package.
His partner is Wayne and his pregnant wife Delaney are on board for the Winter Wonderland Festival. So many fun activities.
Her sister Ella will be heading there any day now to join the festivities and get away from her job as doctor in the city. Problem is the parade Ella gets stuck in, the snow, the slippery roads and she ends up going off the road but not before she runs into Jack. They get thrown together often as there is so much still to do and she follows her pregnant sister around making sure she doesn't do too much. One night they get stranded at cabin 13 but make the most of it. Deep thoughts arise and they understand each one much better. She had thought Jack was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, instead he earned everything he had to his name. She's not happy where she works and know if she takes the promotion she will get her loans paid off but not be able to see patients any more. It would be more research and meetings. She gets into the groove of relaxing while there. Love the idea of repurposing wood and love the item she buys with true north and #13 which turns out it was a drawer from long ago. SO wicked cool.
Events go on and Christmas is in the air and you wonder what decision they will each make....Emergences occur....
The Sheriff's Mistletoe Bride by Debra Holt
This story starts out with Ally and she lives in NYC. The older woman who took her in has passed away and she meets with the lawyer. She had specific things that had to be done when she passed on. Ally gets Teddie the dog and they head to TX, a special location her provider had spoken of to her over the years. Ally heads to Tx and almost hits a girl trying to capture her cat. Ally gets hurt and her car but the little girl, Jillie is fine and so is the cat. The sheriff, Matt comes to her resuce and makes sure things are good for her in the hospital. Jillie is his daughter and it meant a lot that she didn't die. He was raised in foster homes and followed his sister to the town along with other siblings. His wife died after 6 months so he's raised Jillie by himself along with help from the family. Ally has a spot at the family inn and she's to take Jillie to school and picl her up. She has a lot of time on her hands and takes on part time work.
Love hearing of all the things she is able to do for others as they have gone out of their way to make her feel most welcome.
Destiny is the perfect name for the town as her provider got her to stay for a bit and things add up, even teh necklace she wear.
Love how this all plays out, never thought it would go this way.
Can't wait to read more from this location and family.
Received this review copy from Tule Publishing and this is my honest opinion.
Banker's Holiday: A Novel of Fiscal Irregularity by Gary Clemenceau
Like how this one starts out where you learn all about the family and how they died and how the son takes over the bank. So technically advanced with transportation but things come to a head soon as he just can't handle the everyday of things. Love the layout of his house, museum and even the outside area. Strange things are happening with zombies and you don't know if he's just dreaming all this or it's really out there happening to him.
He learns in his adventures that cops are after him for stealing a lot of money from the company...He even made front page of Time magazine. Still getting zombie sightings and confrontations in his mind...
Therapy and others helping him out of his slump brings him to .....
Never saw it coming with everything that was going on.
Heartwarming Short Stories for Seniors: Nostalgic, Comforting, and Uplifting Tales to Relax and Restore Your Spirit by J. Lee Ander
Loew this book for all the great memories with family and friends throughoput of lifetimes. Such fun things we used to do back then. Love hearing of the letters hand written to special friends just meeting for the first time.
Loe how others just reach out and start a conversation and they become lifelong friends. Through thick and thin it's the best of times for all.
Super fun read.
Restore Your Gut Health with Kimchi: Fermented Foods and Probiotics for Women Over 40 to Improve Digestion, Boost Immunity, Balance Weight, Detox Naturally, and Reveal Clear Skin in 28 Days by J. Lee Ander
This book starts out with introduction all about the methods of reducing bloat and other stomach ailments. It discusses in detail the symptoms and then the remedy. Love learning of the Korean method and their culture and how to make the concoction that will cure your ailments. Love the history of the mixture, the time spent with others actually hand making it and how to preserve it for future additives to meals.
There are also recipes and the explanation of what to do if its not the right flavor or texture. So many helpful tips and tricks along the way. Learned so much about the gut to brain connection. 28 day meal plans are included.
Great book.
Strength Training for Active Seniors: Ultimate Guide to Enhance Muscle, Improve Mobility, and Maintain Independence with Age-Appropriate Illustrated Exercises and 10-Minute Routines by A-Step-Ahead Publishing
Love this book for the simplicity of it all. The reason we need to exercise, how to do it and being in the right mindset. Love the key takeaways at the end of each chapter. to make sure you got the key points to the chapter.
Chapters on what you will need, how to do the exercises and how to modify them for any problems you are experiencing. Set your goal, keep routines and hae fun at itt all. Love the appendixes for the exercises themselves and what parts of the body they are targeting.
Great references book to keep handy.
The Cowboy says I do by Sinclair jayne
In this western story we find Beck and he's on the rodeo trail with the events he participates in. His cousins are in some or others as well. One night, well his girlfriend Ash is away with her career he and the boys go to the bar and make a challenge. They all find a girl to take home and the goal is to marry them but the women must be aware of the circumstances. Beck had wanted to marry Ash but was just waiting a bit longer. She, on the other hand needs to find out what she really wants to do with her life as they've been dating for over ten years now...She breaks up with him, not being able to communicate with her any longer....
Then she finds out some utter news that will rock his world also. Love hearing of all the events that participate in and the theme of the town during this holiday. So festive.
Ash meets the other women and they disclose other details of the game the men are playing at...
Can't wait to read the next in this series, so fun. Adult situations.
Destination Christmas by Candice Y. Johnson
This story is about Sutton and Drew. She is an author and just wants to get away from her life, heads to snowy VT which she hates winter weather. While signing books there Drew approaches her and reads her the riot act about girls his daughters age.
After talking to her mother in MD she is able to relax. After her parents and family show up all chaos. Love the winter events and festivities around the holiday.
Love how so many were broken but were able to talk about things in the past and make amends. Oaklyn has really enjoyed Sutton and it's hard for the little girl to leave to go back home.... Love that the book continues on after they all leave the Christmas town to get back to their real lives. Love all the different generations going through the problems that arise and how they deal with them.
Received this review copy from Tule Publishing via Booksprout and this is my honest opinion.
The Swan Lake Murders: A Mary Wandwalker Mystery (Mary Wandwalker Mysteries Book 4) by Susan Rowland
Enjoyed this book because it so different from the other mystery books I have read. Mixture of magic, murder and especially like Mary's techniques and strategy to find out who did the killing. Like how the ballet is presented, learned so much about the performance and production and what is needed to get it to be big hit. Love how Mary just digests everything she hears to plug it in later with her notes from others responses. Other mysteries arise...
Love at the start the listing of who is who. Easy to keep track of them all for me.
Christmas with the Cowgirl by Justine Davis
This sstory starts out with Miles and he's heading back to Last Stand, TX. Jacksons son is having a birthday party and Riley is the woman who brings him a pony. At first sight he saw her and fell in love with her. He gets to know her a bit and sees sketches of work a relative had done, hanging in her bedroom. He heads back to CA and feels out of sorts. He has a picture from the same relative with a letter.
Story also follows Riley and how her day goes as she helps births animals, mucks down the stalls, takes car eof her invalid dad and the others in the family who are dealing with a loved on in the hospital. She lets things go as they fall.
He heads back to TX and shows the relatives the letter and they cherish it as it was from their son.
They do spend time with each other, adult situations.
Like the scenes they are together but more inspired by the ones with Jackson's son and he's just such a great kid. Miles asks her for money for a business they can run together and she takes things the wrong way and breaks it off with him. He talks to others and figures out what he had done wrong.. He heads back to TX for Christmas and searches for her and they do get to talk. You wonder if she will ever forgive him...
Great read, especially for Christmas. the town lights up the skies.
Received this review copy from Tule Publishing via BookSprout and this is my honest opinion.
Mastering ChatGPT: A Complete Guide from Novice to Expert in AI Conversations by Fredrick DePonder
Like this book because it teaches you ChapGPT actually gives you choices to make. Especially helpful to me being visually impaired.
Specializing in making lists for you with things you are not allergic to, after you tell it which items those are. It knows what's in products. References are listed after each chapter so you just learn about those, all in one place rather than at the end where everything is included. Love discussions on medical preventative patterns, screenings outcome. Like data privacy settings and how ot utilize them.
Great book to keep handy.
A Christmas Baby for the Cowboy (The Careys of Cowboy Point Book 5) by Megan Crane
This story starts with Knox, the only son who's not gotten a family to satisfy Zeke's ailment. A baby in a car seat shows up at his home when the power is out and no way to track the person who left the infant.
There is a note and birth certificate with his name on it. He doesn't even know the woman nor dated her. He calls the friend he knows who can help him, Ramona. She's a doctor and starting her practice in the town. She heads over and they end up spending 3 days together tending to the infant. After that the roads are clear and she heads back to her house/practice. Knox shows up at his family's home with Hailey, the cute little one and tries to explain who she is. He has it in his mind to track down the mother and gets help from the sheriff and his brothers. On the way back a few days later he stops at Ramona's and she's all for going with him to make sure the women is ok with abandoning her baby. They do find her....
The whole incident has made Romana and Knox even closer and they must admit some truths out loud to each other. Adult situations. Love this family and Zeke has an announcement also...
Love this series, such a fun one.
Received this review copy from Tule Publishing and this is my honest opinion.
Wrapped up in Christmas Faith by Janice Lynn
This story starts out with Sarah and she's been in Pine Hill, KY just a few weeks. She's there to recuperate from her tragic helicopter crash overseas where she was the pilot. She loves the little town and keeps reminding everyone she won't be there for very long.
Bodie is there to recuperate himself from the losses he has suffered. He's a hot jumper, firefighter for the town and they love all that he contributes to them.
They meet up with help from the Butterflies match making. She is dressed as a princess and he the prince and goes to ask for her foot to try the glass slipper on...
They meet several times and she even tends to his daughter as he works weird hours.
He wants to take things slow and gives up on her one day when she's left the area with her ex. She does return to finish judging the holiday shows and explains what she was doing and where she had gone. She's not sure he is the right one for her...
Like this story mostly to learn more about PTS and the quilts of valor and beds for vets program.
Received this review copy from Tule Publishing via Booksprout and this is my honest opinion.
Holiday on the Rocks by Mary Lee Painter
tHis story is about Allie and she's arrived in CO for the Christmas wedding of her friend. On the way to church to decorate the scene she goes off the road. Her ex Levi resuces her and they end up at the main lodge where the wedding party will be staying. They are the only ones there, for now.
She hates him for leaving her by herself, Every word out of her mouth is a swear or another form of one. HE still thinks she is the most beautiful women of all. Things get crazy whether others in the wedding party show up. One person he did not know was coming and her also, a different person she had no idea was coming.
Just whe things get interesting a medical emergency occurs and she finds out what happened when they gad first become married...
Never saw it ending as such. Lots of adult language and adult situations, lots of drama. Love the games they get to play and all the festivities in the snow and decorating.
Received this review copy from Tule Publishing via Booksprout and this is my honest opinion.
The Cowboy's Christmas Truce by Kyra Jacobs
This story starts out with Jaxon and he's working back on his family ranch. He is a rodeo bull rider and he's aging and doesn't know how much longer he can do the bull ride tour. He meets up with up Char, a girl he once loved in his younger years. Charlotte has a son now and works at post office in next town over. The townsfolk do not like her nor her family. With her staying away they like her relatives. She has a dream about a ranch of horses and they work together along with her son Hudson to make it happen. Everything is signed and she's even had dinner at his familys house one Sunday. They get some horses and spent more time alone together. Adult situations. When they are ready to go and it's moving in day she leaves after delivering her agent for bull riding to his location and she and her son leave the area. Problem is Jaxon has other plans and he makes things happen that will make all others in town what really happened when she took the fall for another and how her family lost out on lots of money for an animal being sold decades ago.
Wow like this story a lot, so unexpected things happen, in a good way.
Received this review copy from Tule Publishing via BookSprout and this is my honest opinion.
Christmas at Copper Mountain by Jane Porter
Love this book and feel so bad for Harley who's trying her best to move on. She'd lost her spouse and three children in a plane crash and it's been several years. She takes a job at a ranch to keep busy during the holidays and not think about fun and festivities she had shared with her family.
There are the men in the bunkhouse who she cooks for, and does their laundry, also Brock, the owner of the ranch. She does well to keep busy with the big house and 4 bedrooms along with the meals. She's concerned when he leaves one night o find a missing calf and it's during a winter blizzard. Hired hands also show her love for what she's done for them throughout her stay there.
Brock is a hard shell to crack and keeps rules because it means order and no fun or clutter.
What's more is the twin children of his show up and she had no idea he even had kids or they'd be there. Now she has to leave, she can't be near children and festivities.
She can't leave for at least a week so they make cookie cutters and then the sugar cookies. When Brock shows up for dinner he sees the happy faces on the children. Then the kids get hurt with snowballs and there is blood.... Harley really fits in with whole ranch scene. A medical emergency sets them into a different way of thinking: Amy his spouse had died and is taking care of her kids in heaven. She sent Harley there to take care of the children.
Faith, hope, grace and miracles can happen... love outside even when it explodes with color.
Romantic, heartache, holidays theme and everyday ranch life during the holidays.
Can't wait to read more from the author.
Received this review copy from Tule Publishing via Booksprout and this is my honest opinion.
Death of an Officer by Mark Ellis
Like this story during England wartime of 1943 and a respectable doctor is found murdered. In solving this mystery and others there are no digital things to aid them so they use paper and pen to write things down. Like how they interrogate others connected to the doctor. Other murders are mixed in also as they have a connection as well. To link this how they did was amazing. Never saw it coming nor thought the practice existed in those times. Very detailed descriptions and notes as above board how they connect everything they have.
The Magical Christmas Cottage Book 3 of Charmed Love by Aimee O'Brian
This book starts out with Alina and she comes to Hazard RI for a job as a docent. She is helping Hazel til the medical emergency and her grandson shows up unexpected. He's a design enginer and he doesn't want anything to do with the holidays. His parents had both died on Christmas day years ago. He wants to sell the house and get out of the area. He hates winter and the holidays.
She grew up with a mother and many times had no home to live in. She loves her job a the historic society. I live in RI so this had special meaning for me. Especially the museums, estates, hidden tunnel and so much more. Love the magic and the rings. So special.
Love the festivities and the things they do together to learn about one another.
Received this review copy from Tule Publishing via Booksprout and this is my honest opinion.
The Great Festive Fact-Off: A Stocking Stuffer of Quiz Battles, Holiday Trivia, and Cheeky Tactics to Win Christmas by Robin Why
This book is filled with so much to learn about. Hours of fun for the whole family.
Love history from centuries ago about how a tradition started.
Love learning how others play games at the holidays and which ones. We often played card games and monopoly for days. There are also question and answers section in each chapter.
Great book for the whole family
Brain Boost: 365 Brain Games for Adults by Brendan Quigley
What I found interesting in this book was the format of the puzzles available. I am very new to a lot of these different types of puzzles so it was interesting to figure out how they all work. There are instructions at the very beginning that explain how to put your letters into a circular motion sometimes the counterclockwise depending on the puzzle you're playing.. There are so many to choose from and there are answers to each one. There are also brain games at the back of the book that I couldn't quite Figure out.
Received this review copy from NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.
Alabama Christmas Wedding by Susan Sands
Love this book because it's around the holidays and it involves an older couple.
Book starts out with her daughter coming home with her boyfriend. They also invited his father. He arrives first and she is surprised as to who he is, they have a past but agree to NOT divulge that to the young adult children.
The younger couple is really involved with one another and the parents’ realize they could become more connected if they do marry.
Love the locations and festivities and descriptions of the scenes.
So beautiful. Never realized the story would end as it did, fantastic!
Enjoy reading this author and can't wait to read more of her works.
Received this review copy from Tule Publishing via Bookprout and this is my honest opinion.
Cowboy’s Christmas Rodeo by Mary Sue Jackson
Like having a bundle of books to read because they are so cherished and realistic.
Story starts with Axel and he's thinking of buying back the family ranch and hanging up doing rodeos. he's one step from blowing the whole thing when he runs into Ford, a competitor that irks him to no means, at a bar and by what he's saying Axel is ready to punch him out. Belle, there with her friends is on the way to get drinks for their table when she slides up to him and he feels her touch on his arm. He immediately calms down. They later talk and he wants her by his side so he won't blow the whole thing on a punch... She agrees but she needs him for things also.
Hate how her mom is always trying to find her a spouse. They couple date in public but the mother continues to do things, setting her up with other men.
Love how it goes with each helping the other out til he finds out info on a report she had written for her college class.
The whole thing has gone sideways and you wonder if he will be leaving town, if they can can get back together and if she explains it all...
Received this review copy from Tule Publishing via Booksprout and this is my honest opinion.
Crochet a Quiet Book Create a Soft Book Full of Playful Pages by Ariana Wimsett
Love the idea of this book. I can see it passed down generations to come and lasting so long it'd be a keepsake!
Starts with an intro and how to read the patterns in the book, how much yarn to use depending on the size, etc.
Each pattern starts with a title and color photo of the finished item along with a summary of the picture.
Sizes, page itself, head, hair, boy, eyes and items you will need for each along with various colors used.
Figures along with pictures explain how to do the work. math is all included also for follow along round or row by row.
So much detail on the animals expressions, makes them look so real. There are 6 different pages with their own unique characteristics.
My favorite would be the horse because of the hair. It's 3d already as others are.
Like how they connect it all together for the final book.About the author is included at the end.
Adorable book!
Received this review copy from Fox Chapel Publishing | Landauer via NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.
