✱✱Book Review✱✱ Steamy Nights by PJ Fiala

 

USAT author PJ Fiala, brings you steamy, small-town romantic suspense stories, where outside forces threaten to ruin the peace and tranquility Blossom Springs was built on.

He's convinced he's discovered an ideal paradise.

She's certain she's found her new beginning...

Together, they must fight to keep their new dreams alive.

Sid Hoffman has suffered from PTSD since his time in Afghanistan. Inner peace has escaped him for years. Attending a bachelor party in Blossom Springs is a true awakening for him. Buying a garage and spending his days working with his hands has brought him more tranquility than he ever imagined.

Grace Murphy left an abusive relationship to follow her dream of owning short-term rentals. She's self-sufficient and ready to prove she has what it takes to build a thriving business and healthy life.

When outsiders roll into town and threaten their sanctuary, Sid and Grace join forces and fight to keep Blossom Springs the sanctuary they know it can be. Falling in love is the last thing these opposites were prepared for.

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Momma Says: 4 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐

Sid and Grace may not have a lot in common on the surface except the desire to start over and the draw to do that in Blossom Springs, but their attraction is magnetic, and the chemistry makes for some swoony romance. This first in PJ Fiala's Servicemen of Blossom Springs series is an instant attraction, very fast love romance with a couple you can't help but root for. We also get a bit of suspense from a threat to the peaceful town and more specifically, Grace and Sid. I love how they handled that threat, but for me, this couple's romance is the thing I'll remember most about Steamy Nights. From their first meeting and Grace's service dog, Chiefy, coming to the rescue to the sparks between them, this couple became friends I'll visit again. This is a story about a couple around my own age, which made for a quick connection to the characters. It's a great reminder that romance isn't only for the young, and second chances do happen. I'll definitely be stopping by Blossom Springs again, and I look forward to this author's next stand-out couple.  

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✱✱Audio Book Review✱✱ Hearts Reclaimed by Ayla Asher

 

Hearts Reclaimed

Ardor Creek, Book 1

By: Ayla Asher

Narrated by: Kai Kennicott & Wen Ross

Two weary souls find each other against all odds...

Ashlyn Rivers left her cheating fiancé behind and moved to Ardor Creek to revamp her life. Done with men in general, she has plenty to focus on, like building her new business and renovating her house for the local haunted homes tour. Falling in love is definitely not on the agenda.

Scott Grillo lost his family in a tragic accident several years ago. Still processing the loss, he throws himself into his contracting business, pushing away the loneliness and heartache.

When Ashlyn blazes into Scott’s life, he turns down her request to renovate her house, vowing to squelch the desire she stirs deep inside. But Ashlyn is a force to be reckoned with and Scott finds himself longing for her embrace each day she remains in Ardor Creek.

Can these two disillusioned souls reclaim their hearts and choose to love again?

Welcome to Ardor Creek, the small Pennsylvania town where love is in the air! If you like a grumpy hero and feisty heroine, this book is your jam. As with all of Ayla’s books, there’s a slight holiday theme, and Halloween ghosts play a part! The main character is a widower who discusses the loss of his family so please take note of this before listening. Settle in and fall in love with Ardor Creek today!

Momma Says: 4 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ayla Asher isn't exactly new to me. I've seen her books and intended to check out her work, but hadn't had a chance. So, when I saw the Hearts Reclaimed audiobook and realized it was the first in a series and narrated by Kai Kennicott and Wen Ross, I decided it was time. I love that audiobooks let me enjoy a book when I don't have time to sit down and read. This book had lots going for it even before I started listening. In addition to being a series starter and narrated by two of my favorite narrators, it's also a small-town romance, which is one of my favorite tropes.

The storyline is a mix of sweet and sexy, and the feels are all over the place. I expected it to get emotional, given Scott's grief, and it certainly does. Scott is a great mix of grump and sweetheart, but he isn't much into showing the latter part of himself. Then we have Ashlyn, who has enough spunk for both of them. There are a lot of renovations being done throughout this story, and that was just fine with me. Don't ask me why, but I tend to be drawn to that particular storyline. Lord knows, I've had enough trouble with our extensive remodel here in the real world. Maybe I like seeing others have a good outcome. Anyway, that was just one more thing that appealed to me about Hearts Reclaimed.

The narration is terrific, which is nothing short of what I expected from Kai Kennicott and Wen Ross. If you've never listened to them, you're missing out, and after listening to this book, I'd say this is a pretty good place to start. The book is well-written, the pacing is good, and the narration is totally entertaining. 

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✱✱Book Review✱✱ Guarding Adelaide by PJ Fiala

 

USAT author PJ Fiala, brings you the next generation of GHOST operatives set in the small-town of Glen Hollow, Kentucky, where a long-standing rivalry is brewing into an all out war, and love comes calling even in the worst of times.

GHOST: Government Hidden Ops Specialty Team. They eliminate the threat when no one else can.

She’s a highly-skilled GHOST operative following in her father’s heroic footsteps.

He’s the driven special counsel to the Secretary of Defense.

Their roles collide as a war breaks out that neither of them saw coming.

As far back as Adelaide Masters can remember, she has always known exactly what she wanted to do with her life. She grew up surrounded by cousins and friends, her constant companions, whose parents were all GHOST special operatives. Learning from the best in the business and gaining experience working under the watchful eyes of her family has been a dream come true, but now she’s ready to set out on her own.

Rafe Martin is living his dream as special counsel for the Secretary of Defense. Brought in on some of the most confidential assignments, he's never once divulged secret information. His reputation is above reproach and a source of great pride. It’s what has propelled him to this coveted position in the fifteen short years since arriving in DC.

Rafe's boss goes dark and a crack team of special operatives are brought in to locate him. Special operative Adelaide Master’s request for information is at direct odds with his responsibility to maintain a high level of secrecy. Unfortunately, the very secrets he hopes to protect may be what gets Adelaide killed.

•••

USA Today bestselling author PJ Fiala brings you the GHOST Legacy series—heroes willing to sacrifice everything in service to their country, and for the women they love. Full length novel with no cliffhanger, no cheating, and a happily-ever-after guaranteed.

Momma Says: 5 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I've only recently found PJ Fiala's books, so I'm not very well-versed in GHOST and Glen Hollow, but I've read enough to know that I want to know more. That means my TBR has grown, and I'll be spending a lot of time in Glen Hollow, Kentucky.

Guarding Adelaide is more about politics and corruption than what I've read by this author so far, so DC is prominent. So are secrets, and the book is loaded with all the tension and danger that goes along with so many secrets. Rafe and Adelaide certainly have their work cut out for them, and the many harrowing situations kept me on the edge of my seat.

While the action and danger do create a fair amount of intensity, there's a budding romance that comes with its own intense moments. I loved Rafe and Adelaide's romantic journey. The chemistry is so good between them, and they generate a good bit of steam as their attraction grows. The main characters can make or break a story for me, and these definitely make it. And it's not just the romantic couple. The secondary characters are as richly done as the main characters.

I'll stop there and leave the book's secrets... well, I'll leave them secret, at least until each reader discovers them for themselves. There are a few things left open, but I expect those to be tidied up in the next book, and we do get our promised happily-ever-after. So, if you're looking for a romantic suspense to get lost in, Guarding Adelaide is a good bet. It's exciting, it's suspenseful, it's intense, and it's romantic. What more can a girl ask for? 

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✱✱Book Review✱✱ Protecting Everleigh by PJ Fiala

 

USAT author PJ Fiala, brings you the next generation of GHOST operatives set in the small-town of Glen Hollow, Kentucky, where a long-standing rivalry is brewing into an all out war, and love comes calling even in the worst of times.

When the job can only be handled by a team that doesn’t exist, you call GHOST.

He was raised to be a GHOST operative.

She's an Army-trained, skilled negotiator.

Together they play a game of push and pull—until she finds herself in need of his protection.

Henry Delany inherited his father’s muscular frame and his mother’s penchant for the law. Working for GHOST gives him the opportunity to use both while doing what he loves—protecting the lives of others. Determined to bring tranquility and harmony to Glen Hollow, the small-town he now calls home, he has agreed to work with a closed-off, government liaison in an effort to broker a peace deal. But Protecting Everleigh just might be Henry’s most challenging mission to date .

Everleigh Hayes was raised to be a negotiator, and Glen Hollow, Kentucky is a small town in need of a truce. She is just the woman to make that happen. Like her previous assignments, she approaches this one with her finely-tuned grace and finesse. But when Everleigh comes face to face with the undercurrent of darkness permeating this little town, she finds herself ensnared by more danger than she’s ever faced. Needing Henry and falling in love with him is a development she’s never negotiated before.

***

USA Today bestselling author PJ Fiala brings you the GHOST Legacy series—heroes willing to sacrifice everything in service to their country, and for the men and women they love. A novel with no cliffhanger, no cheating, and a happily-ever-after guaranteed.

                                                                                   

Momma Says: 4 stars⭐⭐⭐⭐

Being Kentucky born and raised, I'm usually quick to pick up books by Kentucky authors or with a Kentucky setting. Yet, somehow, PJ Fiala escaped my notice. Until now! Protecting Everleigh gave me a taste of Fiala's talent, and my TBR just got a whole lot bigger.

I'm from a small town and now live in an even smaller town, and this may be a work of fiction, but the characters and their motivations feel real. So many of the people of Glen Hollow feel like neighbors I'd run into at the grocery store or pass on my way into the tiny little post office. It's pretty easy to get invested in the characters and the town when it feels so familiar, which is what happened before I even started rooting for the romantic couple - although that didn't take long either.

Everleigh and Henry have great chemistry. I love that they seem to genuinely like each other's company. Of course, it's not all fun and games for this pair. They have some tense and dangerous circumstances to get through before they can get to their HEA.

So, I'm not gonna get into specifics to avoid spoilers, but the writing is very good, the storyline is a nice balance between the romance and suspense, and, well, I'm kind of partial to the setting. As I understand it, this is book 4 in a spin-off series, so I'm behind. I do plan to remedy that, and I plan to spend much more time in Glen Hollow, plus any other towns PJ Fiala has set her stories in. I will add that I didn't feel lost at any point in Protecting Everleigh. Fiala gives us everything we need to follow the story and any of the characters.

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✱✱Audio Book Review✱✱ The Midnight Call by Jode Millman

The Midnight Call

By: Jode Millman

Narrated by: Janel Valentine

Who would ever suspect that their mentor, teacher, and friend is a cold-blooded killer?

Attorney Jessie Martin didn't--at least not until she answers the midnight call.

Late one August night, Jessie's lifelong mentor and friend--and presently a popular, charismatic, and handsome high school teacher--Terrence Butterfield calls. He utters a startling admission: he's killed someone. He pleads for Jessie's help, so out of loyalty she rushes to his aid completely unaware that she's risking her relationship, her career, and her life--and that of her unborn child--to help Terrence.

Does Jessie's presence at Terrence's home implicate her in the gruesome murder of the teenage boy found in the basement? Why does Terrence betray Jessie when he has a chance to exonerate her of any charges? Has he been a monster in disguise for all these years?

To reclaim her life and prove her innocence, Jessie must untangle the web of lies and reveal the shocking truths behind the homicide. This quest turns out to be the fight of her life: to preserve everything and everyone she holds dear. 

Momma Says: 2 stars⭐⭐

Jodé Millman’s Midnight Call had the potential to be a gripping legal thriller, and it certainly started out that way, but its grip loosened considerably chapter by chapter. Don’t get me wrong, there are aspects of a legal thriller in the book, but it’s few and far between a whole mess of domestic drama. There is a gruesome murder, and several of the scenes involving Terrence Butterfield are rather chilling, but many of those are cut short only to go right back to Jessie and an unsettling love triangle. And that brings me to Jessie. Most of the story revolves around her, and she is a lawyer, but she’s not THE lawyer on either side of this murder trial. Like the love triangle, she’s somewhere in the middle. And people on both sides of this thing either are in love with Jessie, or they have been in the past. She’s an okay character, but she seemed like more victim than anything else, which didn’t make her all that likable in my opinion. What I mean by that is she came across as a damsel in distress way too often. One minute, she would stand up for herself, and the next, she would fall into someone’s arms. I realize she was pregnant, and there were complications, but if Jessie was supposed to be a strong woman, she fell short.
The rest of the characters didn’t endear themselves to me any better than Jessie, unfortunately. I’m not sure if it was the author’s intention or not, but I didn’t like a single character in this book except for Jessie’s dad. He’s the only one who seemed to have his head on straight. The rest were too caught up in the wrong things or thinking about the grass being greener on the other side.
I did listen to the audiobook of this story, and for me, Janel Valentine was the saving grace of this book. She gives a very good performance, and that performance, along with an excellent audio quality, is what kept me listening to the end.
The more I listened to this book, the more I felt like it didn’t really know exactly what it wanted to be. It’s a little bit legal thriller and a lot domestic drama with a love triangle thrown in. Any of those things could have made for an interesting book, but in this case, it’s too convoluted, and it just didn’t work for me. So, what it all boiled down to is I didn’t care for the story, but I will be looking for this narrator in future audiobooks.

 

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