Contemporary – Fiction Aficionado

Can’t Buy Me Love (Andrea Christenson) – Review

She’s not looking for love…

Housekeeper-slash-entrepreneur Ella Bradley prides herself on being ready for anything. After all, with a father who died—and lied to her—and a stepmom and stepsister who despise her, she has no one else to depend on. But on the biggest night of her life, she’s unprepared to be trapped in an elevator with the man of her dreams.

He doesn’t mean to lie…

Wealthy prince-to-a-fortune Adrian Vassos wants nothing more than to shed his reputation as a party boy and prove that he is a savvy businessman. Even, a gentleman. But when he’s trapped with a woman who knows his reputation but not his face, he gives into the temptation to be someone else—and lies…

16 April 2021

First Line Friday – No Stone Unturned (David James Warren)

Happy Friday and welcome to First Line Friday, hosted by Hoarding Books. It’s book club week for me, which means I’m currently in the middle of a race to finish this month’s book, Shades of Light by Sharon Garlough Brown, before our meeting tonight! 😬 It’s a heavier book than most, dealing as it does with depression and anxiety—and as someone who has had experience with depression, I can tell you it cuts close to the bone. I haven’t finished it yet, but if nothing else, I can tell you that this book portrays both the feelings of the sufferer and the feelings of those who are walking alongside the sufferer very well.

9 April 2021

Before Time Runs Out (Amy Matayo) – Review

Graduate student Bree Sanders is failing the one class she needs to get her degree. So when her professor gives her an ultimatum—ace her thesis or risk having to repeat her final semester—she knows she has to pull out all the stops. After scrambling for an idea, she decides to create her own Ghost Club, a club that blames ghosts for unsolved crimes, the same type of club originally founded two centuries ago by Charles Dickens.

What she doesn’t expect is to find an original copy of one of Dickens’ early works, or to be transplanted into Dickens’s actual ghost club meeting, circa 1870, the instant she picks it up.

When Bree shows up in nineteenth-century England wearing cut-offs and an old t-shirt, her only option is to hide. The London of 1870 won’t look kindly on a woman dressed like her. So, when Theodore Keyes finds her tucked behind a bookcase at the King’s College library and immediately demands to know where she came from, she knows he doesn’t belong here either. Turns out she’s right; the same book caused him to time-travel from 1947 almost three months ago and he’s been stuck in England since…

29 March 2021

First Line Friday – Shades of Light (Sharon Garlough Brown)

19 March 2021

This Life (Jennifer Rodewald) – Review

They’ve been stripped of everything but a refurbished bus and each other. And it may be the best thing that’s ever happened to them.

Jacob Murphy always felt like the invisible brother, until he fell in love with and married the woman who’d dated his younger brother. Then he became the despised brother. Driven to prove himself worthy of respect, he gambled everything on becoming the successful brother, but with his property speculation business falling apart, he’s ready to admit defeat. He’s lost nearly every worldly good, and after years of disappointments and heartache, it looks like his marriage is about to go the same way.

Kate Murphy lied her way out of life in a trailer park—a life she felt both trapped in and ashamed of. Only Jacob knows the truth about her background. But keeping up appearances has strangled her life and relationships, and even her marriage is troubled. In desperation, she makes a plan to escape from it all—ironically, in a skoolie. But there’s still a tender place in her heart for the man she married, and in a moment of compassion, she offers to take Jacob with her.

18 March 2021

Top Ten Tuesday – Autumn 2021 TBR

Happy Tuesday, reading friends, and welcome to Top Ten Tuesday, thanks to That Artsy Reader Girl. It’s a new season, which is always a good reason to revisit the TBR, particularly upcoming releases that I’m looking forward to. And here in Australia, we’re two weeks into autumn already, and it’s starting to feel like it. I put on a light cardigan for the first time in months yesterday! Sounds like perfect weather to curl up and read in, doesn’t it? And I’m looking forward to doing just that with these books!

16 March 2021

First Line Friday – This Life (Jennifer Rodewald)

Happy Friday and welcome to First Line Friday, hosted by Hoarding Books. Next week is the release date for the next book in Jennifer Rodewald’s Murphy Brothers series: This Life. If you’ve read any of the other books in the series, you’ll already be familiar with Jacob and Kate—at least, as familiar as they’ve allowed readers to be so far. They haven’t exactly been giving off warm ‘n’ fuzzy vibes! I suspect we’re about to find out why…

5 March 2021

Network of Deceit (Tom Threadgill) – Review

After her rescue of nearly fifty kidnapped children made international headlines, Amara Alvarez gets what she’s worked for: a transfer to San Antonio’s Homicide Division. Reality sets in quickly, though, as her first case, the suspicious death of a teenager at a crowded local water park, brings chaos to her personal life.

As the investigation moves forward and she increases the pressure on the suspects, Amara finds herself under attack by cybercriminals. Her every move is being potentially watched online, and she’s forced to resort to unconventional methods to find the killer. With few leads, she fights to keep her first murder investigation from ending up in the cold case files.

Tom Threadgill is back with another riveting page-turner featuring the detective who is willing to put everything on the line to see that justice is served and lives are protected.

1 March 2021

The power of fiction, the beauty of words, and the God who made us to wield them for His glory.