The Way Home by Cindy Gerard

The Way Home by Cindy Gerard

Description from Amazon: (I realize there is something missing, a flaw with the Amazon book uploads sometimes cuts out part of the description with the cover photo)

for a soldier’s wife. Jess Albert has been living with them for four years, since the death of her husband in Afghanistan. Finding blessed numbness in routine, she doesn’t dare to look ahead, any more than she can bear to look back. Then Tyler Brown, a former special-ops warrior, shows up at her small general store in Minnesota North Woods, jarring her back to life. Jess knows better than to fall in love with another man who places duty to his country before love of his wife- but there’s no denying the longing and the hope for a future that Ty makes her feel.

A world away, a man ravaged by years of captivity and torture, a man with no memories, finally escapes- clinging to life and sanity in a hostile land. In his darkest hour, he awakes in a lantern-lit cave to find a woman at his side. Dark-haired and dark-eyes, her touch is caring, despite the resentment he hears in her voice and sees on her face. Rabia is bound by honor to save the lost American soldier in her keeping, this broken warrior from a war that has brought so much devastation to her land. But is it honor igniting her compassion for her enemy, or is it something more?

While a Black Ops team plans a daring rescue mission to bring the solider home, two women on opposite sides of the world walk a dangerous path between betrayal and honor, and must find for themselves where to draw the lines between duty and love.

MY REVIEW:

This book contains love stories on many levels. Jess marries her high school sweetheart and becomes a reluctant military wife, hoping JR would eventually put his military career behind him. When she loses him to his patriotic endeavors, she grieves and holds strong to his memory, which makes her hesitant to love again. I don't want to spoil the story with too many facts about the plot, but the book made me feel the loss and regrets that Jess waded through, and it was a rich thought provoking experience. Did she settle down too young? Was her love for JR juvenile and not enough to withstand the years had he not been killed? Was her real soul mate yet to be discovered? Then there was JR's story. Some of the military stuff was over my head, but a lot of it was very interesting, edge of your seat kind of action. His romantic tale was heart capturing as well. So, romance, suspense, and action are all rolled into this book very well. I enjoyed it very much.
I was given a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

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It Would be Wrong to Steal My Sister's Boyfriend (Wouldn't It?) by Sophie Ranald

DESCRIPTION ON AMAZON:

You live together, laugh together, borrow her shoes and eyeliner – is there anything you can’t share with your sister?

Ellie’s younger sister Rose has it all. She’s beautiful, stylish and dates gorgeous, glamorous millionaires, while Ellie is quite happy watching TV on the sofa with her old mate Ben. But when Rose brings her new boyfriend home, it’s lust at first sight for Ellie. And although she knows it’s wrong, everything changes: she’ll do whatever it takes to get Oliver, even if it means abandoning her principles and turning a deaf ear to her friends. After all, would it be so wrong to take up running, put some highlights in her hair and make herself look a tiny, little bit more like Rose? But as Ellie follows in her sister’s stiletto-heeled footsteps, she realises that finding love could mean losing the most important thing in the world.

MY REVIEW:

I found it interesting to see the sister relationship between Ellie and Rose, and how they were so different but maybe longed to be a little more like the other. Hence, some of the transformations Ellie goes through in the book. She becomes polished and shiny on the outside, but what matters is on the inside, because it would be wrong to steal your sister's boyfriend, after all. Ellie had me holding my breath, thinking "will she or won't she", and I was afraid I would be disappointed in her character. That means I was engaged and involved, very good. The relationships and settings were very realistic, and the characters were well developed. One of my favorite characters was young Ben, and a favorite scene - he is in a fancy restaurant demanding a meal from McDonald's in no polite manner that I could repeat here. Gave me a chuckle.
I enjoyed this story. I was given a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

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FrostFire Inn by Lia Garret

Frostfire Inn by Lia Garret

DESCRIIPTION ON AMAZON:

Lauren Endicott is haunted by the injustice of a father sent to prison for a murder he didn’t commit. She never expected the novel she wrote about the case to become a bestseller, one in which a thinly disguised local senator was the actual murderer, and she certainly never expected to face the town’s outrage after the senator committed suicide. Most of all, she never wanted to hurt the senator’s son, Flynn Huntington, the boy she had loved from afar, the one she knew could never be hers. After the senator’s death, the town and the Huntingtons wanted her gone, and truth be told, Lauren was glad to go. She knew Flynn Huntington hated her, and that she would have to make a life for herself elsewhere.

Ten years later when Lauren is forced to come back to town for a short stay, she has no intention of confronting her past. She’s changed her name, colored her hair, and hopes no one will recognize her. To her shock, she immediately finds herself the focus of Flynn’s attention. He’s no longer a boy, and in any other circumstances she’d be dazzled by the handsome and sophisticated man he has become. He doesn’t recognize her, and is under the mistaken impression she is an employee at the local inn. Lauren finds herself right back where she was so many years before, dreaming of someone who can never be hers.

Should Lauren tell him the truth about her identity? Or should she walk away before she breaks both their hearts?
A novella, approximately 30,000 words

MY REVIEW:

Fast, easy, and entertaining. A smooth flowing read that was all wrapped up nicely after some unexpected discoveries near the end. I enjoyed the book, and was particularly interested in the story before the story - Lauren's novel, published when she was still a teenager that set the town on its ear - I think there was so much more to be told, and could be a whole other book setting the stage for this one, maybe? I'd read it.
I was given a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

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The Scavenger's Song by Sara Marie Hogg

The Scavenger's Song by Sara Marie Hogg

DESCRIPTION ON AMAZON:

CAN THEY MAKE THE MADNESS END? TIME IS RUNNING OUT.

The Scavenger's Song introduces us to ace homicide detectives, Angus
Carlyle and Skeeter Sherwood. The Austin PD is stumped by numerous disappearances of young women in a seedy, neon-lit area downtown. The scavenger is doing his chilling, evil deeds, but no bodies can be found. Until they can produce bodies, technically, no homicides have actually been committed. One day the disappearances end. Where is the serial killer? His absence lasts for over ten years. When the scavenger finally sings, Angus and Skeeter are confident the case is arriving at its conclusion.
Now what did he do with the bodies? Bones begin presenting themselves in
the most macabre ways. The scavenger's method of disposing of the human evidence is not to be believed. Along the twisted, torturous path, Angus is maimed and Skeeter is almost destroyed. Can they claw their way back up to be productive and sharp once again? Let's hope so--a whole new series of murders is occurring right under their noses and they are probably the only ones who can make the madness end. Good detective work, hunches, psychics, long shots, the words of a bug man--they must hurry. Time is running out.

MY REVIEW:

I thought the premise was unique. The beginning had me hopeful for an enjoyable read. But, the main characters, Angus and Skeeter, I just couldn't picture them being real. Maybe because I didn't feel like I got to know them enough in the beginning and then boom, it's ten years later. I felt the story was mapped out, I was guided all the way through, always knowing what was going to happen, and that tends to leave me restless and wanting to move on. I kept waiting for a plot twist or a surprise. Many points of the police scenarios didn't ring quite right, or seem possible. A couple examples - Skeeter saw her partner get shot in the leg and she was ordered on bed rest, house arrest, and had to be on medication? Seemed a bit drastic. Then there was "stubby" the torso, and the experiments which I can't say would never happen because I am not a forensic expert, but it seemed far fetched. I did think that making the tapes to use in later crimes was good, the way the remote control planes played into the story was interestingly creepy, and the landlord was suitably evil. I just had a hard time with this one. I honestly feel there were points of brilliance, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I am stuck between two and three stars. I didn't completely like it or dislike it. I find myself among four and five star reviews, and so therefore, the book may appeal to others more than it did to me.
I was given a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

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