Malibu Rising

 Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Part one of the book sets up the history and beginning of the Riva family. 

Mick met June while she was waiting tables at her family’s restaurant. They both fall in love at that moment. Mick was just starting to build his career and June loved the idea of what that could mean for her life.  As Mick’s career was taking off, June ended up pregnant with Nina.  They got married and a few years later Jay came along.  Mick had an affair with Carol Hudson.  Carol dropped their son Hudson “HUD” off to June saying she couldn’t do it anymore.  June took Hud and raised him as her own.  June and Mick got a divorce. A few years later they got remarried and had Katherine “Kit”.  It ended in another divorce and Mick disappearing for good.  June started drinking and was forced to work at her parents restaurant to makes ends meet.  One night with all the kids at friends’ houses, June drowned in the tub.  She had seen that Mick had gotten married and started drinking.  Nina was forced to drop out of school and raise her brothers and sister. 

Nina accepted a job as a swimsuit model to have a way to provide for her siblings.  Brandon Randall came along and promised everything she wanted but no one had given her.  Expect a year after getting married, he cheated on her and left.  He did to her what she watched Mick do to her mom.

Part Two is about the Riva Party that Nina throwing every year.  It was a party where invitations weren’t sent out.  You were welcome to attend as long as you knew the address.  

Brandon showed up asking for another chance.  Nina was willing to give him one until Carrie (the affair) showed up.  She then asked them both to leave.  

There was alcohol and food provided.  The people brought weed, LCD, and Cocaine.  People were making out with anyone and everyone, having sex, and trashing the house.  

Casey showed up hoping to talk to Nina.  When her parents died, she found a picture of her birth mother that stated she was the product of a one-night stand with Mick.  

Jay and Hud got into a fight over Ashley who was Jay’s ex and the love of HUD’s life.  The fight is broken up by none other than Mick.  Kit realized she likes women not men. Mick get all of the kids (Nina, Jay, Hud, Kit and Casey) down to the beach.

Mick admits he wasn’t around because he was selfish but wanted a chance now to be part of their lives.  They all decide after the heart to heart that he doesn’t deserve another chance.  

While they were at the beach, the cops were called to break the party up.  It had gotten out of hand with people stealing, throwing items and someone firing a gun.  

In the end, HUD and Ashley get their happy ever after, Nina gets to live her live for herself, and they all accept Casey as a sibling.  

The story was overall enjoyable.  Part One was just enjoyable enough to keep you interested and Part Two was a page turner.  It kept you wanting to know what would happen next.  However, it is not one I’ll probably read a second time.

Reviewed by Shelly 

Forever Frozen

 Forever Frozen by Trinity Lemm

Forever Frozen is a follow up book to Forever Burn.  

I loved how in this book we get Axel’s point of view.  I don’t think have his point of view would have worked in Forever  Burn but it works in Forever Frozen.

Within the first few chapters, you see Tae and Axel run into his father at a grocery store.  I didn’t like how it was really wasn’t a big eventful thing; however, I get it because it doesn’t fit into the story really.  

You find out more about what happened the night Axel’s mom was murdered.  This night created his hatred for his father. 

This book is mostly about Connor and Nicole getting a divorce and him setting his sites on Tatum.  Connor is stalking Tatum even convinced her to get into his truck twice.  Axel tries his best to just love her and show her what she deserves.  

The story ends with Connor in Tate and Axel’s apartment to talk about the restraining order she took out on him.  Tate tells Archie, Axel’s father’s son, to hide in their room and lock the door. Axel walks end.  Axel and Connor start fighting where at some point Axel pulls a gun out.  Connor pulls Tate in front of him to prevent Axe from shooting.  Axel’s father, Andy, walks in dressed in uniform.  Andy is a cop.  I’m assuming Archie called him.  

The book ends with Andy firing a shot.  And I will admit I screamed saying no that can’t be the end.  I am hoping there is a third book.  

I hope Trinity is working on a third book.  I have to know what happens next.  Omg I can’t get enough of Axel and Tatum’s story.  

Field of Secrets

 Field of Secrets by Crystal Estell

The story opens with Josie and Knox trying to create a special night together.  They are two teenagers in love that have sex together for the first time. However, their special night is interrupted when cops show up to deport Josie’s father.  When they get to her trailer, he is taken away and her mom takes her and her siblings away in a cab.  Knox promises Josie if she ever comes back he will marry her.

Ten years later, you find out Josie had gotten pregnant that night.  She has been raising Cam on her own. Her sister Eva received a call from Tommy the Heyward farm manager with a request for Josie to call him. He informed Josie that he had her parents wedding rings and a bonus that was owed to her father that she would need to go to South Carolina to claim.  The rings were the reason she decided to get on the plane but the $10K bonus was a factor as well.

While on the Heyward Farm, she decides she is going to found out what happened with her father as the whole deportation doesn’t add up.  Plus the private investigator she reached out to found a rap sheet her her father when he was never actually arrested.  Indicated he was set up.

Josie and Knox need up having to spend a lot of time together.  Knox is getting the farm ready for his father’s wedding and Josie is roped in to help every step of the way.  He helps her look into her father’s deportation.  They need up picking up where they left off ten years ago when it comes to their feelings.  You slowly watch them start to fall in love all over again.

Things seems to be going well for them as a potential couple and with the investigation into her father.  Until Carl, the main suspect shows up with a gun and threatens Josie.  He is mad because he was fired since he altered Camillo’s records to show he was a criminal.

Knox finds Cam’s pictures after they had sex and knocked her purse over. This is when he finds out he has a son.  Josie never told Knox because he had big plans about becoming a big shot lawyer and she didn’t want Cam or herself to be the reason he didn’t get that.

They fly Cam to South Carolina so he and Knox could meet.  They become a family until Avery, Knox’s ex, shows up an claims him as hers.  Josie had just left Meemaw’s who told her the truth about what happened with her father.  Josie drove as fast as she could to Knox to tell him only to see Avery and hear the “news.” She decides it’s time for her to return to California.

In the end, Knox is able to fix the misunderstanding with Avery.  Cam helps him fix things with Josie. Mr. Heyward and Millie give their wedding to Knox and Josie stating they have plenty of time to get married but that is was time for Knox and Josie.  With their father’s record fixed, Mr. Hayward is able to locate him and bring him to the farm so he can walk Josie down the isle.

I absolutely loved this book.  I got so captivated in what was going to happen next that I couldn’t put it down.  If you like second chance love stories or second chance family stories, you will love this book.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and I plan to buy a copy when it available. 

Reviewed by Shelly 

They Went Left

 They Went Left by Monica Hesse

In this WWII historical fiction, you follow Zofia.  She is saved by Russian soldier Dima when the concentration camp she is at is liberated by the Russian Army.  

She was found barely alive and sent to a hospital.  She is part of a group of patients known as the nothing girls.  Zofia is only allowed to leave because she will be with Dima.  He takes her to Poland to her family’s apartment.

Zofia goes to the apartment to meet her brother.  It was where they agreed to go if either survived.  At dinner, Dima and his commander mention Foehrenwald.  It is a camp in Munich, Germany taking in displace individuals as well as survivors of the different concentration camps.

She sets out on a track to Munich to try and find her brother.  While at Foehrenwald, she meets people who would become her friends.  She also starts to have her memory of true events come back and realize some of her memories are made up.  

Zofia does find Abek, her brother.  After he is there for a while, Zofia realizes he is not her brother.  The memory of his brother being sick and not able to swallow on the train to the camp comes back to her.  She also remembers she smothered him with his jacket to prevent him from being killed by the SS Soldiers.  

The young boy admits through a fairy tale story he makes up at her request that he is Lukasz who lost everyone to the war as well.  Zofia allows him to be Abek and they create a new family and are headed to Ottawa, Canada at the end of the book.

This has to be my new favorite WWII historical fiction.  I love reading books from this time period.

Reviewed by Shelly  

One to Watch

 One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London

In One to Watch, you follow Bea who is a plus size fashion blogger.  

The book starts off with Bea preparing for a visit for “the love of her life” Ray.  While visiting, they end up sleeping together even though Ray is engaged.  

Marion (her best friend) comes over a few weeks later to water the season’s premiere of Main Squeeze.  In a drunken state, Bea uses her blog to rip the show apart for not being diverse enough.  

She ends up being the next Main Squeeze.  Just like with the Bachelor and Bachelorette you read about Bea dating 25 men and narrow it down as the book as along.  

I got to page 304 and realized I forced myself to get that far.  I lost interest somewhere around half way through.  I just honestly couldn’t force myself to read more.

With the Bachelor and Bachelorette being so popular, I can see why so many people love the book.  It’s just not my cup of tea.

Reviewed by Shelly 

Joe’s Story

 Joe’s Story A Fairytale Hunter Novella by Renee Marski

Joe’s Story was a slow start for me.  I felt it really pick up momentum once Talia was a main part of the story line.

Joe was an outsider that was found at eight years old by Snow and kept at the school.  He was trained and eventually became a part of a 5-member team.  

Talia was sent to their school from a Scotland school. The move was to protect her from her abusive husband.  We first met her in Finn’s Story.  

Joe wants Talia and agrees to marry her and pretend her unborn child is his to protect them both. It begins to appear Joe will get a happily ever after until a mission leads to him losing part of his leg.

He starts drinking and Talia leaves.  In the end, he gets clean but he has lost Talia. He can still be a father to Tara but from a distance as Talia moves to another state.

I fall more in love with this series with each book I read.

Reviewed by Shelly 

Forever Burn

 Forever Burn by Trinity Lemm

This is a story about Tatum who suffers from C-PTSD and fighting to lose herself in Axel.

I was nervous going into the story as someone who suffers from PTSD due to an abusive relationship.  The way Lemm described Tatum’s trigger moments and just her thought processes period was done in a way that truly highlights what someone goes through.  As I got further into the book, I wondered if Lemm herself or someone close to her had gone through something similar.

It was truly a breath of fresh air to see it described so perfectly to how it actually feels.  Seeing how Tatum was able to slowly work her way through her C-PTSD with the held of her friends, Axel and his brother Ash was incredible.

After Tatum decided to give Axel a chance, he screwed up BIG time.  They had gotten into a fight once she found out Ash and him made a bet that he could get her in bed.  He ended up cheating on her and she walked in on it.  It was her worst fear.  After being apart for two weeks, he saves her from Nick who thought he could get lucky while she was drunk.  He saves her again when a stalker Lucas tries to attack her.  He ends up in jail after beating Lucas pretty badly.

She realizes he laid everything on the line for her and that she could do the same for him.  I think my favorite was at the end when she confronts Connor (the ex who caused the C-PTSD).  

I loved the story and can’t wait to read book two Forever Frozen. 

Reviewed by Shelly 

The Midwife and the Money

 The Midwife and the Money by Lainey Davis

This is book 3 in the Oak Creek Series that follows the Crawford children.

In the book, we follow Archer Crawford which is the town's only CPA.  Opal recently moved to Oak Creek to provide midwife services through a grant she has received.  

Archer is immediately attracted to Opal but she only wants sex.  She only wants sex from Archer and wants it her way.  

The book opens with them meeting at a bar and Opal asking Archer if he wanted to go somewhere else and have sex.  It got a little rough with spanking and biting being involved. 

The sex occurs whenever she needs it even if it’s after midnight and she is going to his office to surprise him.  She has to be in control of when they have sex.  

Archer wants more than just sex but is willing to wait until she is ready. He sees her at her worst when he driver to the hospital to handle her drunk father.

He sees her when she’s stressed or upset from a bad day.  He slowly breaks down her defenses.  She needs up moving in with him when a skunk sprays her house and it smells horrible. Well the rest is history on that because she never moves out and they end up together.  

I have to say so far book 3 is my favorite.  It was more relatable than the first two.  I look forward to reading book 4.

Reviewed by Shelly 

The Botanist and the Billionaire

 The Botanist and the Billionaire by Lainey Davis

The Oak Creek series follows the Crawford family with each book being about a different child.

In this book, we get to know Diana Crawford better.  She is a botanist that being plants back to life for individuals in the community.  She grows marijuana in her private lab to harvest for medical treatments.  She is also brews her own beer.

Asa is a billionaire that invest in start ups and backs different types of researches.  He meets Diana when he is in Oak Creek to check on some of the research projects that he invested in by providing funding.  

Asa wants Diana but because of trust issues due to a past relationship she is a bitch to him. He tries as hard as he can to prove he is different but all she is willing to give is sex.  

In the end, she realizes he is good for her and allows him into her life.  This was a quick amazing read.

Reviewed by Shelly  

Buried in Secrets

 Buried in Secrets by Denise Grover Swank

This is book four in the Carly Moore series.

Carly set out to prove a regular at the tavern where is works had a reason for murder. 

 Pam murdering a local insurance agent for no reason didn’t make sense. She seems quite and super nice.  The fact that she could murder someone in cold blood made no sense.

Through her investigation, Carly finds out the seemingly perfect insurance agent took advantage of Pam’s son.  He thought he was gay and Jim (the insurance agent) offer to “work it out of him” only to molest him.  To protect her son, she killed Jim.

The book ends on a kind of cliff hanger.  Carly was threatened and told she needed to stop her digging into Bart Drummond or those she cares about would die.  The book ends with the death of Jerry someone Carly cares about and saved her live when she first got to Drum. 

I can’t wait for book five The Lies She Told to be released on June 8th. 

Reviewed by Shelly