Spooky's Maze Of Books: October 2019

Thursday, October 31, 2019

Monday, October 28, 2019

Title: Leave Me Breathless
follow up to her wildly popular standalone romance The Protector.
Author: Jodi Elleen Malpas
Pages:387
Genre: romance
November 5,2019
Rating: 5
Ryan Willis has spent years in the protection business, a job that requires constant vigilance and quick thinking. His only chance to truly relax is at his secluded cabin in a small town where there are never any surprises. So when Ryan returns after an assignment and encounters a beautiful stranger, he isn't only surprised, he's also instantly intrigued.

Hannah Bright is a breath of fresh air, and Ryan is soon completely consumed, unable to stop from falling for her. As the two grow closer, his instinct tells him something is amiss. Yet nothing could prepare him for what he discovers when he starts digging into her past.

Hannah spends her days painting, running her arts and crafts store...and hiding too many secrets. It's why she won't let the ruggedly handsome bodyguard get too close. But their chemistry is undeniable, and Hannah quickly finds herself caught up in a whirlwind romance with Ryan. He is peace personified, a balm to her battered soul. Yet the gorgeous, captivating man who has swept Hannah off her feet doesn't even know who she really is. And the moment he finds out, both their lives are at risk
My thoughts
Would I recommend it ?yes
Would I read more by this authour?yes
This is the first time I've read anything by this authour and after read this I can't wait to read more by her ,once again thanks to Forever for introducing me to a new author , because once I started reading I couldn't stop ,I was hooked and there was times I was laughing at the interactions of the two main character Hannah and Ryan, other than I loved was how sometimes it seemed like Hannah had put her foot in her mouth without meaning too. Other thing is how sweet they were together and that made the story even more cute and adorable. And while the story is a romance there is suspense as well that mixes well with the romance and that helps the story to come even more to life , with that said I want to thank Netgalley and Forever Romance for letting me read and review it exchange for my honest opinion ,and a big thinks to Forever for sending me a copy of it as well.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

The Surrogate

The Surrogate
Author: Louise Jensen
Genre: thriller
Pages: 336
Grand Central
December 4,2018
Rating:5
Kat and her husband Nick have tried everything to become parents, and are on the point of giving up. Then a chance encounter with Kat's childhood friend Lisa gives Kat and Nick one last chance to achieve their dream.

But Kat and Lisa's history hides dark secrets.

And there is more to Lisa than meets the eye.

As dangerous cracks start to appear in Kat's perfect picture of happily-ever-after, she realizes that she must face her fear of the past to save her family

My thoughts
Would I recommend it? yes
Would I read anything else by this author? yes
Wow what a read , and I mean Wow , it seems like everyone is keeping dark secrets from each other , and that you don't know who is telling the truth or who is lying , who to trust or if anyone can be trusted at all, it also makes you wonder if Kat is making stuff up or is there more to what is going on , is there someone really watching her or is it all part of her imagination , the twist though out this book will keep you guessing and will make you want to keep reading until the very end. With that said I want to say thanks to Grand Central Publishing for sending me a copy of it to read and review exchange for my honest opinion.

Fatal Flowers

Title; Fatal Flowers
Series: Dr Pippa Durrant #2
Author: Miranda Rijks
Pages: 312
May 16,2019
Rating: 5

Can psychologist Pippa Durrant unmask a killer before she becomes the next victim?

After a seemingly senseless murder at a garden center, the police turn to human lie detector, Pippa Durrant for help. Working alongside handsome detective Joe Swain, Pippa starts digging for the truth. But the Gower family, owners of the garden center, have deadly secrets -- secrets they want to keep buried.

After a second body is found, it’s clear that the murderer is using flowers as a sinister calling card. And when Pippa receives a black rose, there’s no mistaking who will be the next victim…

In a fast-paced investigation that takes her to Holland and back to England, Pippa soon realises that the gentle world of flowers is anything but. Using her unique skills in spotting lies and deceit, can she weed out the truth before it’s too late

My thoughts

Would I recommend it? yes

Will I read more by this author? yes

Just like the first one it pulled me into the story, and had me hooked, other than I liked about it was where the author talks about what the flowers and what they mean as well as their true name , and there's lots of characters that seem to be hindening something that has to do with the victim , and though out the story it keeps you guessing on who could of done it and why . With that said I want to say think you to Netgalley for letting me read and review it .

Meant To Be Yours

Welcome to the Meant To Be Yours Blog Tour

MEANT TO BE YOURS
Author: Susan Mallery
ISBN:9781335041494
Publication Date: 10/22/19
Publisher: HQN Books

Buy Links:

Books-A-Million

Social Links:

Twitter: @susanmallery

Facebook @SusanMallery

Instagram @susanmallery

Goodreads

Author Bio: SUSAN MALLERY is the #1 New York Times
bestselling author of novels
about the relationships that define women's lives—
family, friendship, romance. Library Journal s
“Mallery is the master of blending emotionally
believable characters in realistic situations,"
and readers seem to agree—40 million copies of her books
have sold worldwide.
Her warm, humorous stories make the world a happier place to live.

Susan grew up in California and now lives in Seattle with her husband.
She's passionate about animal welfare,
especially that of the two ragdoll cats
and adorable poodle who think of her as mom.

Book Summary:

In Happily Inc, love means never having to say “I do”…

Wedding coordinator Renee Grothen isn’t meant for marriage.
Those who can, do. Those who can’t, plan.
But she never could have planned on gorgeous,
talented thriller writer Jasper Dembenski proposing—
a fling, that is. Fun without a future.
And the attraction between them is too strong for Renee to resist.
Now she can have her no-wedding cake…and eat it, too.

After years in the military, Jasper is convinced he’s
too damaged for relationships.
So a flirtation—and more—with fiery,
determined Renee is way too good to pass up…
until his flame becomes his muse.

Renee is an expert at averting every crisis.
But is she finally ready to leap into the one thing
that can never be controlled: love?

“It might just be okay,” wedding coordinator Renee Grothen murmured
softly to herself as she surveyed the wedding reception.
She wouldn’t risk admitting everything had turned out as planned
until the last guest had left, but four and a half hours in,
things were going really well.

Jim and Monica Martinez were a sweet couple with a fun
firefighter theme for their big day.
There was a long tradition of firefighters on both sides of the
family and plenty of cute touches
in the wedding and reception.

Monica’s dress laced up the back and instead of white ribbon to
cinch her gown,
she’d used bright red. The centerpieces were ceramic boot vases
painted to look
like firefighter boots,
filled with red, orange and yellow flowers. There was even a
walk-through fountain at one end of the
reception area,
created with fire hoses, a pump and a lot of engineering.

Renee walked around the perimeter of the indoor reception space,
looking for problems
. So far, so good, she thought with cautious optimism.
The cake had been cut, the bar
service was about to end and the tone of the party had faded from raucous
to comfortably tired—
exactlyas it should. With a little luck, things would wrap up on
time and without a crisis.
This was Monica and Jim’s day—Renee wanted it to
be as perfect as possible.
While she always took care of her clients, she tended to
unleash her mother bear instincts
for her special couples and Monica and Jim certainly qualified.

She spotted Pallas Mitchell, her boss, walking toward her.
It was nearly ten on a Saturday night and
Pallas, a pretty brunette only recently returned from maternity leave,
yawned widely. When she spotted
Renee she held up her hands, palms up.

“What can I say? I’ve been home with an infant.
These wild late-night hours
are going to take some getting used to.”

“No one’s judging,” Renee told her. “As I said at seven,
at eight and again at nine, go home.
I can handle this. You’re barely back and
you need to give yourself
time to adjust to the schedule.”

“You’ve been running things for nearly six months. You need a break.”

In truth, Renee was a little ragged around the edges,
but she’d loved handling Weddings Out of the Box
while Pallas had been gone. She’d enjoyed the challenges
each unique wedding presented
and watching all the details fall into place on the big day.

“I had lots of help,” Renee pointed out.
“Hiring college students on summer break was a good idea.”
And what they’d lacked in experience,
they’d made up for in energy and enthusiasm.

“Now that I’m back, things can return to normal,”
Pallas said, covering another yawn.

“Go home,” Renee urged. “Please. I can handle things here.

I promise.”

“Okay. I will. Thanks. Don’t you dare come in tomorrow.”
Pallas’s voice was firm. “
Foronce, we don’t have a Sunday wedding. Enjoy the break.”

“I will.” Renee would probably pop in to do a
little paperwork, but she wouldn’t stay long.
“Are you coming to The Boardroom on Monday night?”

In a wedding destination town, the rhythms of the residents
were determined by weekend weddings.
Happily Inc’s workweek started on Wednesdays
as the businesses geared up
for the dozens of nuptials that occurred in multiple venues.
Which meant the town’s Friday night was actually on Monday.

The Boardroom, a local bar, hosted game nights on Mondays.
Board games ruled and
tournaments were heated and fun as friends crushed each
other at everything from Candy Land to
Risk.

Pallas shook her head. “I’ll admit to being a bit of a worrier.
When we went a couple of weeks ago
, I couldn’t stop thinking about Ryan. He’s only five months old.
It’s too soon to leave him at night.”

Renee held in a smile. “Sure. I get that.”

“I know you don’t, but thank you for pretending.
Have fun for me, too.
Oh, Jasper’s back, so tell him hi, if you think of it.”

Jasper was back? Renee hadn’t heard.
She liked knowing he’d returned
from his big book tour. Not for any reason in particular,
she amended hastily.
Sure, he was nice, but there were a lot of nice guys in the world.
There was just something about Jasper. Maybe it was because
in addition to being good-looking
and just a little dangerous, he wasn’t a forever kind of guy.

“I saw that!” Pallas grinned. “I totally saw that.
You did the predatory smile thing I was never good at.

You want to use him for sex! Did I know this?” She stomped her foot.
“Did this happen while I was on maternity leave?
What else went on while I was off having a baby?”

Renee laughed. “You’re reading way too much into my smile.
I’m happy he’s home from his book tour.
That’s all.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Jasper and I are not involved. I doubt we’ve had more than
a three-sentence conversation.”

Not that it took many sentences to ask Your place or mine?
And while the description of
predatory was nice, it gave her too much credit.
Would she stalk him and pounce?
Not even on her best day. Would she say yes if the man asked?
She smiled again.
Oh, yeah, she would. Definitely. Okay, probably. If she was feeling brave.
Because while she worked her butt off to give her
couples their perfect happily-ever-after day,
she knew it was never going to happen for her. Those who could—did.
Those who couldn’t became
wedding planners.

Avoiding relationships might be the smart choice,
but it was also a lonely one. She knew Jasper
was into the long-term, monogamous, not-serious kind of thing and
she was pretty sure she
could handle that. Assuming she was his type and he was interested.
They could have
some laughs, lots of sex and walk away completely unscathed
in the heart department.
Where was the bad?

“There’s something going on and you can’t convince me otherwise,”
Pallas said.
“You have depths. I’m very impressed. Okay, use Jasper and
then tell me the details because hey,
he’s got to be great.” She yawned again. “I’m such a lightweight.
I’m leaving now.”

“Good night. Hug Ryan for me.”

“You know I will.”

Pallas walked out of the reception hall. Renee continued to circle the space
, looking for any forgotten handbags or phones, and noting how long it would

take the cleaning service to return the huge room to order.
Doing her job and not thinking about the fact that Jasper was back—
thatwas her.

A loud whoop got her attention. She turned and saw three
teenaged guys running
through the fountain at the far end of the big, open room.
Each of them jumped, trying to touch the arc of water dancing overhead.

The younger brother, she thought as she made her way toward them.
And his friends. No doubt they were bored after so many hours
with not very much to do. Regardless, she was not going to have them
disrupt the reception when it was so close to being over.

As she approached the running, jumping teens, she saw both sets of parents,
along with the bride and groom, still dancing. They swayed in
time with the music,
oblivious to the fountain and the idiots messing with it.
Then several things happened
at once.

The younger brother started an extra long run
toward the fountain.
Jim let go of Monica and spun her out the length of their arms.
Monica bumped her mom,

who stumbled a little. Dad grabbed Mom,
moving all of them closer to
the fountain and the younger brother running, who
had to swerve suddenly to avoid them.
As he swerved, he lost his balance and slipped,
tumbling into the fountain mechanism.
One of the hoses broke free, wiggling and
spraying water everywhere.

Renee saw it all happening and knew there
was no way she was going to allow her
beautiful bride to get soaked. She lunged for the
hose, caught it and held it tightly
against her chest as the bride’s father
rushed to turn off the water to the hose. It took
only seconds, but by then the entire fountain had
spilled over and
Renee was drenched,
shivering and had water up her nose even as
she wondered if she looked
half as ridiculous as she felt.

The new Mrs. Martinez hurried over.
“Renee, are you all right?” S
he turned on her brother. “
How could you? This is a wedding, not a water park.”

Aware that end-of-wedding exhaustion could
easily lead to
emotions spiraling out of control,
Renee quickly faked a smile.

“Monica, it’s fine. Don’t worry.
Keeping you and the rest of the wedding party
dry was my only concern.”
She glanced at the water draining onto the floor
and realized part of the fountain was
still pumping out water. That couldn’t be good.
If she couldn’t get everything turned off,
she was going to have to call in one of those
companies
that took care of disasters like flooding.
“Really. It’s no problem.”

“You’re dripping and the water’s rising.
My dad went to find the main shutoff.”

Renee wrung out her hair and hoped her
makeup wasn’t too badly smudged.
Then she realized the water level in the
reception hall was
indeed climbing and hoped
Monica’s father found the shutoff soon.

She was just about to go help him when he returned.

“All turned off.” He glanced at the mini flood.
“Sorry about this.”

“It’s fine,” Renee lied, her tone soothing,
because that was part of her job.
To pretend all was well even when they
needed to be figuring out how to build an ark.

The rest of the guests were heading out.
Nothing like the threat of an unexpected flood
to get people moving, she thought, trying to
find the humor in the situation.

“I’m so sorry,” Monica told her as she held her dress out
of the water and slipped out of her shoes.

“Don’t be. You had a wonderful wedding and
reception. Why don’t you and Jim start
gathering your things? I have a spare set of clothes
in my office. I’ll get changed,
then help you make sure you have everything.”

As she spoke, she noticed the water seemed
to have settled at
about the six- or seven-inch level.
Yup, she was going to have to call someone.
No doubt she would be here all night.
Oh, joy.

“I’m really sorry,” Jim said. “We thought we’d
planned for every contingency.”
He glared at his new brother-in-law.
“Except for stupid.”
He turned back to her. “
Let us know the cost of cleanup. We’ll pay for it.”

“Thank you. I think the deposit should
take care of it but
I’ll let you know if there’s a problem.
Now if you’ll let me go get changed,
I’ll be back with you in ten minutes.”

Monica nodded.

Renee slipped out of her shoes and
walked through the ankle-deep water. When she reached her office upstairs
, she carefully closed the door behind
her before undressing, then slipped on
jeans and a T-shirt.
Not exactly professional, but she wasn’t going
to worry about that right now.
Before she returned to her bride and groom, she
looked up the local disaster cleaning service.
The number was in her files, but wasn’t one
she had had to use before.

They picked up on the first ring.

“Happily Inc CleanUp. This is Hilde.
How can I help you?”

“Hi. I’m Renee Grothen at Weddings Out of the Box.
We had a firefighter wedding
tonight with a big fountain.
There was an accident with one of the hoses and now our
main reception hall is flooded.”

There was a pause. “Um, did you say firefighter wedding?
Never mind. How much water?”

“About six inches.”

“That’s a lot.”

“It was a big fountain.”

“Give us thirty minutes and we’ll be there.”

“Thank you.”

Renee hung up, gave herself a second
to catch her breath,
then headed
back to deal with the bride, the groom,
the flood and anything else that
might happen tonight. Because with a wedding, it
was always something.