May Wrap-Up ~ Mini Reviews

Release date: March 11th 2021
Purchase: Amazon
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My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Blurb:

This wasn't what "keep your friends close" was supposed to mean. But now that the line has been crossed, can they ever make their way back to the twenty-year friendship they've been building?

Or, better question - Is that what either of them really wants?

~MINI REVIEW~

Another entertaining short story from Ms. Jones.

While there were times I forgot who was who in regards to the side characters, it didn't affect my interest in the story.

I liked the main characters and the fact that they had years of friendship prior. It's understandable why Des would be nervous and them moving forward as more than friends, but I liked that she gave it a chance and allowed herself the romance.

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Release date: March 18th 2021

Publisher: Romig Works
Purchase: Amazon
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My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Blurb:

Stepping into the city limits, the vibes of New Orleans infiltrate the thoughts and feelings of each unsuspecting individual.

Twinkling lights.

Copious amounts of alcohol.

And

Ghost stories of lore.

As Emma waits for a business meeting, those ingredients are there, in the heavy air and circulating through her bloodstream. Until everything changes.

Everett Ramses is tall, dark, and mysterious.

He’s more than that.

According to him...he is Emma’s fate.

And he has a demand.

Will she run, or will she find out what fate’s demand has in store?

“FATE’S DEMAND” is an intriguing meeting to whet readers’ appetite for more of an all-new dark-romance world, Devil’s Deal, by New York Times bestselling author Aleatha Romig. Get ready to love and hate, to swoon and swear...Rett Ramses will bring out all the emotions.

~MINI REVIEW~

Impeccable!
Great writing and absolutely intriguing.
This short is a fantastic setup for the duet, and I cannot wait to read those books. I'm already invested in Rett and Emma.

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Release date: March 22nd 2021

Purchase: Amazon
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My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Blurb:

We’re from different sides of the tracks, but Allie James has always owned me. Heart and soul. After years of pining for her in the halls of our high school, I finally touch her one night in an open field beneath a storm, receiving a miracle I never expected—she needs me in return. Or so I think. As soon as she finds out I’m a handyman, she cuts me off. But I’m not letting the richest girl in school break my heart without consequences. She will pay…

But I’ll pay a far worse price when I find out why she really left me hanging without a word. And after unfairly bullying my sweet girl, I’ll sell my soul to win her back.

~MINI REVIEW~

So raw, emotional, and gritty!
I truly liked this short story. Every moment struck me and stayed.
Both characters endured a lot, and I was happy that they had something deep and passionate between them.
Wonderful story, Jessa!

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Release date: July 11th 2019

Purchase: Amazon
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My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Blurb:

Someone has been terrorizing my small town—a huge, horrifying beast, to be exact. He won’t stop rampaging until the villagers sacrifice an innocent. Lucky me! I’m the chosen one. I’ve been tied to a tree in a wedding dress and left as an offering to the cruel ruler of the hills. But once the beast approaches, I glimpse the lonely human beneath the wild hair and mountainous body. Yes, he’s very much a man…a man who will stop at nothing to claim me as his mate.

~MINI REVIEW~

Jessa Kane knows how to write an entertaining short story. This held my attention from beginning to end, and I enjoyed it. It's funny, wild, and steamy, and I highly recommend this if you're in a slump and in need of something quick and hot.

FOLLOW THE AUTHOR

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Paperback Release: Dawson's Fall by Roxana Robinson

Original release date: May 14th 2019
Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books
Purchase: Amazon | B&N
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Blurb:

A continuing investigation of the moral consequences of our country.

Roxana Robinson’s sixth novel, Dawson’s Fall, continues her interrogation of American morality. With each novel, Robinson has addressed the ethical complexities of contemporary life: in This is My Daughter, she explored the moral consequences of divorce; in Sweetwater, the moral consequences of stewardship of the planet; in Cost, the obligations of the family, and in Sparta the moral consequences of war. In Dawson’s Fall, Robinson investigates the moral consequences of slavery, and charts the path of its fell legacies, racism and violence. 

The great-great-great niece of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Robinson has spoken out on public issues: the environment, the rights of authors (as the President of the Authors Guild, from 2014–2017), and on war, pacifism and violence. With this book she continues to explore a central American question: the importance of ethical principles. 

In this provocative and moving novel, we see America at its most fragile, fraught, and malleable. Set in 1889, in Charleston, South Carolina, Robinson’s tale weaves her family’s journal entries and letters with a novelist’s narrative grace, and spans the life of her tragic hero, Frank Dawson, as he attempts to navigate the country’s new political, social, and moral landscape. 

Dawson, a man of fierce opinions, came to this country as a young Englishman to fight for the Confederacy in a war he understood as a conflict over states’ rights. He later became the editor of the Charleston News and Courier, forging a platform of influence in the editorial column and emerging as a voice of the New South. With his wife and two children, he tried to lead a life that adhered to his principles: non-violence, equal rights, and the rule of law. But he couldn’t control the political currents among his community. After two decades of wrestling with questions of equality, justice, and civil rights, his newspaper began to lose readership, and he was plagued by financial worries. Nor could Dawson control the personal currents among the community, or a threatening neighbor who embroiled his family in a dangerous contretemps. In the end, Dawson―who stood for his country in many ways―was felled by the violence he so vehemently opposed.

About the Author

Roxana Robinson is the author of ten books: six novels, three story collections, and the biography of Georgia O'Keeffe. Four of these were New York Times Notable Books.

Robinson was born in Kentucky, but grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. She attended Bennington College and graduated from the University of Michigan. She worked in the art world, specializing in the field of American painting, before she began writing full-time. Her most recent novel, Sparta, won the James Webb Award for Distinguished Fiction from the USMC Heritage Foundation and was short-listed for the Dublin Impac Award. Her previous novel, Cost, was named one of the five best novels of the year by the Washington Post, and received the Fiction Award from the Maine Publishers and Writers Association. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Harper's, Tin House, Best American Short Stories, and elsewhere. She was twice a finalist for the NBCC Balakian Award for Criticism and has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. She teaches at Hunter College, is a former member of the board of PEN, and was the President of the Authors Guild from 2014-2017.

Connect with Roxana Robinson

Website: www.roxanarobinson.com

Facebook: @roxana.robinson

~Praise for Dawson's Fall~

“Acclaimed writer Roxana Robinson delves into her own family history as she sets her sights on the Civil War at its very heart, South Carolina, with spectacular results. Like Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain, her own Dawson’s Fall will be a revelation to many readers in its profound and nuanced depiction of Southerners’ widely varied feelings about the Civil War and its aftermath. The past springs brilliantly to life in this tragic and compelling story, as accurate and fully realized a depiction of daily life and the extraordinary events of this time as has ever been written.”

—Lee Smith, author of Dimestore: A Writer’s Life

“Dawson’s Fall is a riveting historical account of one man’s struggle against a wave of violence and injustice during Reconstruction. The research that Roxana Robinson has done to deliver this story is nothing short of masterful and revisiting this terrifying and ugly chapter in the history of the South could not be more timely. Robinson's complex characters, her knowledge and loyalty to truth, and her rich depiction of time and place preserve not only her family story but that of American society and all that threatens humanity.”

 —Jill McCorkle, author of Life After Life

“Roxana Robinson tells the moving story of her great grand-parents, who lived in Charleston after the Civil War, her great-grandfather an Englishman and editor of the city paper. She draws on letters, journals and newspaper articles about them and adds her own novelistic grace to make them come to life. With a fine eye for detail, she describes the horrors of the post-war period of racism and violence they could not escape.”

—Frances FitzGerald, author of The Evangelicals

“In Dawson’s Fall, acclaimed author Roxana Robinson has turned her own family history into a propulsive novel. She unspools the story of Frank Dawson, a Confederate veteran struggling to redefine the South, an Englishman in a land thick with suspicion of outsiders. With complicated characters and a rich sense of time and place, this is an immersive tale about the meaning of America.”

—T. J. Stiles, author of Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America

A Letter to Readers from Roxana Robinson

Dear Reader, 

I never thought I would write about slavery: I’m from New England, and Harriet Beecher Stowe is my great-great-great aunt. The abolitionist minister Henry Ward Beecher is my great-great-grandfather. We were all abolitionists; I thought that anything I had to say about the subject would be superfluous. 

But about ten years ago I started thinking about another branch of my family. On my father’s side, my great-grandparents, Frank and Sarah Dawson, were southern. Frank was an Englishman who fought for the Confederacy; Sarah was from Louisiana. After the War, they both lived in Charleston, South Carolina, where Frank helped found the News and Courier. 

Despite his support for the Confederacy, Dawson differed from his brothers-in-arms in some fundamental respects: he believed in the rule of the law, he opposed violence and he often supported the rights of black freedmen. 

I became curious about Dawson, who seemed to embody such opposing ideals—how could you support the Confederacy and oppose violence? As to slavery, England had banned it thirty years earlier. 

Because Dawson and his wife were both prolific writers, and because the newspaper was such a rich resource, I came to learn about the place and time—Charleston during Redemption, the bloody period that followed Reconstruction. I learned that the post-War South was seething with resentment and rage. I saw that Frank Dawson, who refused to carry a gun, published report after report of shocking acts of brutality and murder, and I began to understand the way violence had become a part of the culture of the slave-owning South. I began to understand the depth and complexity of Southern resistance to the treaty at Appomattox. I also came to understand what it had been like for my southern family to suffer through a land war, which none of my northern family have ever endured. 

Writing a novel means entering into the lives of your characters. My characters, as it happened, were my ancestors, and the period in which they lived was a crucial one in our history. 

I had thought I was writing about my family; I came to understand that I was writing about my country. As I did the research for it, I came to understand how the baneful legacies of slavery, violence and racism are still flourishing in our culture today. The writing of Dawson’s Fall was my education in this dark part of our American story. 

Roxana Robinson

New Release: The Art of Us by Symone West

Release date: August 31st 2020
Genre: YA Romance
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

An interracial YA Romance with a bit of edge.

Kayla McNeil won an art scholarship to attend a prestigious academy.

She’s excited to improve her craft and determined not to let anything thwart her focus.

But Kayla never anticipated gaining the attention of the guy who ignores everyone else.

Brandon Decker hates to be touched.

His reaction is frightening to others.

Even when it’s an accident.

Brandon harbors deep pain from his past, which affects his ability to open his heart to anyone. Yet, something about Kayla allures him.

Her fearless and artistic nature can either calm the monster inside or push it further.

The more they get under each other’s skin, a connection develops that neither can explain. It brings forth an indescribable desire and the possibility of love. But monsters don’t always stay gone. They have a way of crawling out of the dark, threatening any speck of happiness.

About the Author

Symone West is the author of Dry Spell and A Very Warm Christmas. She writes unconventional sweet and sexy, sometimes dark, coming of age and adult romance.

FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | Amazon | ARC LIST

New Release: Blame the Dead by Ed Ruggero

Release date: March 3rd 2020

Publisher: Macmillan/Forge Books

Purchase: Amazon | B&N

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Summary:

In BLAME THE DEAD,  Ruggero takes us to Sicily, 1943, where he tells the story of Eddie Harkins, former Philadelphia beat cop turned Military Police lieutenant, who reluctantly finds himself first at the scene of a murder at the US Army’s 11th Field Hospital. There the nurses contend with heat, dirt, short-handed staffs, the threat of German counterattack, an ever-present flood of horribly wounded GIs, and the threat of assault by one of their own. 

As a former soldier himself, Ruggero is always intrigued by stories of soldiers, especially when they confront moral dilemmas. He is also uniquely qualified to write about this time period, conducting over 150 interviews with veterans and doing research in Sicily, where his family emigrated from in the early 20 th century. In fact, the protagonist, Eddie Harkins, is named after Ruggero’s own maternal great-grandfather. With BLAME THE DEAD , Ruggero explores a fascinating what-if mystery that touches on issues that stem from failed leadership, such as sexual harassment and sexual assault within the military, women and their roles in the war, and the real daily experience of those that served in a war that has often been “Disney-fied” by history books. 

About Ed Ruggero 

Ed Ruggero is uniquely qualified to write such a poignant tale of World War II. He is a West Point graduate and former Army officer who has studied, practiced, and taught leadership for more than twenty-five years. His client list includes the FBI, the NYPD, CEO Conference Europe, the CIA, the Young Presidents Organization, Forbes, among many others. He has spoken to audiences around the world on leadership, leader development, and ethics. Ruggero is also the author of eleven books, including Duty First: West Point and the Making of American Leaders, a study of leader development at the US Military Academy, and Combat Jump: The Young Men Who Led the Assault Into Fortress Europe, July 1943, which became a one-hour docudrama on The History Channel. Ed is also the co-author of The Leader’s Compass, a fictional story of how one leader developed a personal leadership philosophy. His most recent book is The First Men In: US Paratroopers and the Fight to Save D-Day.

www.edruggero.com | wunderkind-pr.com

New Release: Maybe (Yearning Hearts #1) by Shane Morgan

This is my eleventh novel! Each story in this series can be read as a standalone.

Series: Yearning Hearts #1
Release date: November 4th 2019
Publisher: TSW
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Sydney Bell just transferred to an elite high school. Her plan: achieve one goal in her senior year. Not attract the attention of a rich boy with a reputation.

Sydney is sure about guys like Parker.
The wealthy and entitled ones.
Players.
This one hates the way she looks at him.

Parker Prescott is determined to prove her wrong.
He chases Sydney.
She pushes him away until she can no longer fight her feelings.
The ice starts to melt.
Her defenses lower the more she learns about him. He’s not just another player.
Like her, Parker has issues he’s dealing with.
But she’s still so afraid to let him in.
And Parker fears he may never truly win her heart.

Can Sydney accept her intense feelings and trust that Parker won’t hurt her, and will she be there for him when he needs her the most?

About the Author

Shane Morgan writes contemporary romance, suspense, and fantasy. She lives in Rhode Island with her husband. Aside from writing, Shane enjoys listening to music, watching movies, and traveling.

WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

CAN'T WAIT TO READ: Slay by Brittney Morris

Release date: September 24th 2019
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pre-order: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

"A book that knocks you off your feet while dropping the kind of knowledge that’ll keep you down for the count. Prepare to be slain.” —Nic Stone, New York Times bestselling author of Dear Martin and Odd One Out.

Ready Player One meets The Hate U Give in this dynamite debut novel that follows a fierce teen game developer as she battles a real-life troll intent on ruining the Black Panther–inspired video game she created and the safe community it represents for black gamers.

By day, seventeen-year-old Kiera Johnson is an honors student, a math tutor, and one of the only black kids at Jefferson Academy. But at home, she joins hundreds of thousands of black gamers who duel worldwide as Nubian personas in the secret multiplayer online role-playing card game, SLAY. No one knows Kiera is the game developer, not her friends, her family, not even her boyfriend, Malcolm, who believes video games are partially responsible for the “downfall of the black man.”

But when a teen in Kansas City is murdered over a dispute in the SLAY world, news of the game reaches mainstream media, and SLAY is labeled a racist, exclusionist, violent hub for thugs and criminals. Even worse, an anonymous troll infiltrates the game, threatening to sue Kiera for “anti-white discrimination.”

Driven to save the only world in which she can be herself, Kiera must preserve her secret identity and harness what it means to be unapologetically black in a world intimidated by blackness. But can she protect her game without losing herself in the process?

About the Author

Brittney Morris is the author of SLAY. She holds a BA in Economics from Boston University because back then, she wanted to be a financial analyst. (She's now thankful that didn't happen). She spends her spare time reading, playing indie video games, and enjoying the Seattle rain from her apartment. She lives with her husband Steven who would rather enjoy the rain from a campsite in the woods because he hasn't played enough horror games. Brittney is the founder and former president of the Boston University Creative Writing Club, and her work has been published in The Boston University Chimaerid Literary Magazine. She is a four-time NaNoWriMo winner and a 2018 Pitch Wars mentor.

WEBSITE | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER

Guest Post ~ Samuel Wardwell on Retribution, Prison, and Adapting to Change

Release date: January 9th 2018
Publisher: MCP Books
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Marc Ransom is innocent, but after a major misunderstanding he's in prison and making...questionable company. His new cellmate isn't just a cat burglar; she's a woman, and she's ready to leave.

This is America's first co-ed prison. It's a high-tech joint where thugs rule, robot guards roam, and cameras see everything. And now, two complete opposites are trapped there together.

But life in prison isn't an option. Corrupt authorities want Marc gone. Gangs have marked the burglar, Linda, for death. Seeing no other way, the unlikely cellmates become a 'brain and brawn' duo by pairing his strength with her street smarts.

In forcing themselves to cooperate, they might just find freedom, redemption, and romance in the unlikeliest of places.

~GUEST POST~

Technological advancements and societal changes throughout history have always fascinated me. It is my belief that both have a dynamic effect on each other. 

A decade ago, I found myself locked up in a Georgia prison. I started to think about how our culture might handle the imprisonment of its citizens in the future. Because our society is moving to make everything equal, our prisons could soon be co-ed.

One of the major concerns I had during this unfortunate time in my life was being assaulted. I realized that this would become worse if a prison environment was co-educational. How would the authorities keep the men and women apart? It was while thinking about this that I started to develop the idea for the Retribution series.

With advancements in battery and GPS technologies, self-locating devices have become commonplace. In the Retribution series, the use of wrist and ankle bracelets make it possible to locate an inmate. They would create a magnetic field around the prisoner. The battery pack built into the ankle bracelet would allow me to solve the issue of inmate contact. The bracelets would stop the physical assaults that have plagued prisons throughout history. They would also prevent the members of the opposite sex from co-mingling. The wrist bracelet acts as both an I.D. and location device. The larger ankle bracelet would house a taser-like technology. With this, an electrical jolt capable of increasing its voltage would be possible. The longer the two people wearing the devices are in contact, the greater the shock the two would suffer. 

I then thought about what it might be like to live in such an environment. This is when I created the primary characters in Retribution, Linda and Marc.

The character of Marc is loosely based on myself. Many of the incidents that happen to Marc during his incarceration mirror incidents that actually happened to me while I was in prison. I also weave into the story how my arrest happened and why the legal system had completely let me down.

Linda is a different story. Linda is based on a good friend of mine from the past. She was a risk taker, and ended up getting involved in a horrible situation that led to her death. In the book, I dramatized her life; however, I kept her heritage, intellect, and acrobatic abilities as part of Linda’s character. In the story, Linda chooses to use her skills to become a very successful cat-burglar early in life.

The Retribution series is about how Linda and Marc end up meeting in Georgia’s first co-ed prison. The story follows two very different people who inadvertently save the other’s life. They develop a mutual trust and cautiously become friends. They are targets for assassination and marked for death. They choose to do the only thing that can save their lives: escape from one of the most high-tech prisons ever created.

I am an architect by training. An architect's job is to create and manage the work on buildings or structures. Computer technology has grown by leaps and bounds over the years. I believe there will soon be a need for an “architect” of sorts to manage and design complicated technology systems in various companies and organizations. In the Retribution series, this person would be a computer architect. In my story, Marc holds this coveted title.

Marc’s background and Linda’s amazing physical abilities allow them to create a plan to defeat the prison's technology. They figure out a way to trick the system into not realizing that two inmates are about to escape.

My inspiration for Retribution was to take what I already knew about the world we live in and mix it with what I believe the future has planned for us all.

Our society will learn how to the adapt to the changes and inventions that are flooding us almost every day. The challenge I tackle in the series is how our future will affect us and what we will have to do to adapt.

Marc is an idealist who believes that things happen for a reason. Because of her life’s circumstances, Linda has to be a realist by necessity just to survive. These two very different people find themselves in many incredible adventures. Retribution explores how even the most difficult circumstances can be overcome with teamwork, trust, and eventual love.

About the Author

Samuel Wardwell is an American author of crime-thriller novels. His books include themes of crime, redemption, and corruption within the legal system. Wardwell lived a privileged life; he grew up in northern New Jersey, and went to college in New York City. He worked for many years as an architect and historian, but struggled with addiction. Samuel became a functioning alcoholic and made decisions he'd later come to regret. Today, he lives in Roswell, Georgia. He has been sober for over ten years.

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK

New Release: Unpredictable by K.A. Berg

Series: Apprehensive #3

Release date: July 13th 2018

Publisher: BergBooks LLC

Purchase: Amazon | B&N

Synopsis via Goodreads:

Things are about to get...Unpredictable!

Quinn and Alex are no strangers to pain and struggle, but thankfully that's all behind them and in the past. Or is it?

What happens when life doesn't go the way they've planned? They vowed to love other through the good times and the bad, but what about through shattered dreams and harsh realities?

Is their love strong enough to endure life as it becomes unpredictable? Or will they push each other too far and lose it all?

About the Author

Kimberly is a stay at home mom to four beautiful, crazy children by day and a steaming hot novelist by night. She is a Jersey girl at heart and that's where she currently calls home with her amazing husband and children. 

Her debut release Inhibitions and the subsequent Uninhibited Series as well as the spin-off Apprehensive Duet both show her love of all things football. But not to worry, she'll still bring you plenty of steam!

When not writing she can be found curled up with a good book or watching her beloved New York Jets. Lover all things romance, including a little M/M action as well as the dark and twisted. She enjoys video chats with her best friends and always loves to hear from her fans on social media.

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM

CAN'T WAIT TO READ: Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

Release date: January 16th 2018
Publisher: Soho Teem
Pre-order: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

A searing #OwnVoices coming-of-age debut in which an Indian-American Muslim teen confronts Islamophobia and a reality she can neither explain nor escape--perfect for fans of Angie Thomas, Jacqueline Woodson, and Adam Silvera.

Maya Aziz is torn between futures: the one her parents expect for their good Indian daughter (i.e.; staying nearby in Chicago and being matched with a "suitable" Muslim boy), and the one where she goes to film school in New York City--and maybe, just maybe, kisses a guy she's only known from afar. There's the also the fun stuff, like laughing with her best friend Violet, making on-the-spot documentaries, sneaking away for private swimming lessons at a secret pond in the woods. But her world is shattered when a suicide bomber strikes in the American heartland; by chance, he shares Maya's last name. What happens to the one Muslim family in town when their community is suddenly consumed with hatred and fear?

About the Author

SAMIRA AHMED was born in Bombay, India, and grew up in Batavia, Illinois, in a house that smelled like fried onions, spices, and potpourri. She currently resides in the Midwest. She’s lived in Vermont, New York City, and Kauai, where she spent a year searching for the perfect mango.

A graduate of the University of Chicago, she taught high school English for seven years, worked to create over 70 small high schools in New York City, and fought to secure billions of additional dollars to fairly fund public schools throughout New York State. She’s appeared in the New York Times, New York Daily News, Fox News, NBC, NY1, NPR, and on BBC Radio. Her creative non-fiction and poetry has appeared in Jaggery Lit, Entropy, the Fem, and Claudius Speaks.

www.samiraahmed.com | TWITTER

Review: Stranded with the Navy Seal by Susan Cliff

Series: Team Twelve #1
Release date: November 1st 2017
Publisher: Harlequin
Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis via Goodreads:

For one navy SEAL, danger and passion are brewing in paradise 

Working on a cruise ship was supposed to be the perfect distraction for chef Cady Crenshaw. Instead, it made her the perfect target. Abducted and thrown overboard into foreign waters, she has only one shot at survival…and it comes at the hands of an irresistible ally. 

Navy SEAL Logan Starke's protective instincts were locked and loaded the moment he met Cady at the ship's bar. When a violent struggle to take down her captors leaves Logan and Cady stranded on a deserted island, he leaps into rescue mode. But the hot sand and the even hotter attraction between them can't be denied…and temptation could be the deadliest threat yet.

*Publisher approved request via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this one, from start to finish. It felt like I was reading a modern-day version of the Blue Lagoon, but with a lot more flavor and heat. And the main characters are way more interesting than the movie stars. I loved Cady's knowledge as a chef and all she offered to the story, not only with food but her cautious personality is something I can relate to and I liked how fierce and unafraid she was of speaking her mind. 

Logan's military background made him intriguing. He had experienced so much in war and his strength and protectiveness were admirable, even though sometimes it made me cringe along with Cady when he would dive into danger. 

I wouldn't say the story was suspenseful or action-packed through and through, but there were some thrilling moments, not only involving dangerous people, but the main characters' time on the island had its share of crazy. And their moments of vulnerability were both entertaining and frustrating.

Overall, great premise, wonderful writing that's fluid and fast. Both characters got on my nerves in little ways, but they still made me laugh and sympathize with them too. And I'm happy that by the end of the story they just let it all go and trust in each other. Another thing I have to mention is the setting. It was described subtly but nicely. It was as if I could smell the salty air, taste the seafood, and bathe in the waterfall along with them. It's just a good story that will certainly warm up your cold nights. I'm looking forward to learning about Logan's comrades as the series progresses. 

About the Author
Susan Cliff is a longtime romance reader, part-time writer and full-time California girl. She loves to daydream about exciting adventures in faraway places. Her Team Twelve series features strong Navy SEAL heroes falling for unique women.

www.susancliff.com | twitter.com/SusanCliffSC