Sunday, November 8, 2015

reviews + spotlight || terry spear, samantha chase, & kim redford



Title: A Silver Wolf Christmas
Author: Terry Spear
Series: Silver Town Wolves, #5
Pubdate: October 6th, 2015
ISBN: 9781492609506

IT’S A SILVER TOWN CHRISTMAS, AND THE WOLVES ARE READY TO HOWL

CJ Silver and his brothers have returned to Silver Town eager to reconnect with the pack. And with the she-wolf newcomers renovating the old Victorian Silver Town Hotel, it looks like the holidays are going to be very merry indeed.

Laurel MacTire and her sisters are excited to be living in a wolf-run town, but they have another motive— to solve the fifty-year-old mystery of their aunt’s disappearance. When CJ gets a whiff of trouble brewing, his protective instincts kick in—now Laurel has a hotel opening to prepare for, a mystery to solve, and a brawny wolf shifter underfoot. Perhaps she should have resisted the temptation to kiss him so wickedly in the snow.

USA Today bestselling author Terry Spear has written over fifty paranormal and medieval Highland historical romances. In 2008 Heart of the Wolf was named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry also creates award-winning teddy bears that have found homes all over the world and is raising two Havanese puppies. She lives in Crawford, Texas.


Buy Links:
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1gNEQ4j
Indiebound: http://bit.ly/1R2JYy6



Title: Cowboy Firefighter for Christmas
Author: Kim Redford
Series: Smokin’ Hot Cowboys, #1
Pubdate: October 6th, 2015
ISBN: 9781492621478
Rating:

Warm up this Christmas with a sexy cowboy firefighter who knows how to ignite flames as well as put them out…

He’s hotter than a wildfireTrey Duval is a rancher, proud as can be of his Wildcat Ranch. He’s also the top volunteer firefighter of Wildcat Bluff, Texas, the town that pulls out all the stops for its Christmas festivities.

City girl Misty Reynolds comes to Wildcat Bluff just in time to help Trey put out a suspicious fire, leading him to dub her his “Christmas angel.” Unfortunately, Misty’s past has left her with terrible memories of fire, and of Christmastime.

As the two are thrown together again and again, Trey finds himself wanting Misty more and more, and Misty feels stronger and braver when Trey is around. Though their trust grows slowly, their passion for each other is burning hot…

Kim Redford draws her inspiration from a Texas lifestyle of cowboys, cowgirls, horses, cattle, rodeos and small towns to create her bestselling novels. When she’s not writing steamy romances, she’s a rescue cat wrangler and a horseback rider. She divides her time between Texas and Oklahoma. A Cowboy Firefighter for Christmas is first in her Smokin’ Hot Cowboys series with Blazing Hot Texas Cowboy coming soon. Visit her at www.kimredford.com.



Buy Links:
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1jeh6Im


Title: The Christmas Cottage/Ever After
Author: Samantha Chase
Pubdate: October 6th, 2015
ISBN: 9781492622598
Rating: ★1/2

Legend has it that any couple who spends the night in the Christmas Cottage shall have love everlasting...

THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGELacey Quinn does not believe in happily-ever-after or the legend of the Christmas Cottage. But her best friend does, and she’s the one getting married. It’s Lacey’s job to make sure everything at the cottage is perfect for the newlyweds. Instead, she finds herself snowed in with the best man, and she begins to wonder if fairy tales really can come true.

EVER AFTERAva Callahan wants desperately to believe in love everlasting. But when Brian McCabe walks back into her life and upsets her carefully organized world, her commitment to perfection makes it hard to accept the love that’s right in front of her. Will it take a night in the Christmas Cottage for Ava and Brian to find their happy ending?

New York Times and USA Today bestseller Samantha Chase released her debut novel, Jordan's Return, in November 2011. Although she waited until she was in her forties to publish for the first time, writing has been a lifelong passion. Teaching creative writing to students from elementary through high school and encouraging those students to follow their writing dreams motivated Samantha to take that step as well. Stay With Me (Montgomery Brothers book 3) hit the USA Today bestseller list upon its debut. Catering to the CEO was included in the romance bundle Loving the CEO, a five-book package that made the New York Times and the USA Today bestseller lists. In March 2013, The Christmas Cottage was nominated for two Indie Romance Convention Awards—Best Indie Romance Novella and Best Indie Contemporary Romance—while Samantha was nominated for Indie Author of the Year. When she’s not working on a new story, she spends her time reading contemporary romances, blogging, playing Scrabble on Facebook, and spending time with her husband of twenty-four years and their two sons in North Carolina.



Buy Links:
Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/1FLxqdU
Indiebound: http://bit.ly/1Pl4Thl


{ reviews } .

A Cowboy Firefighter for Christmas
This story was cute in it's own right. It definitely held it's country twang and a cowboy charm. Trey's dubbing of Misty as his "Christmas angel" became annoying fast, in all honesty, and further allowed me to read this in a sickeningly annoying southern drawl, but that aside...

The story itself had it's fair amount of cute and suspense. There certainly could have been more suspense with the surrounding fires, but altogether, what Kim Redford brought was an enjoyable read.

I did find Misty's occupation a bit questionable when it came to her past and the looking into fires; perhaps it was her way of moving on.

Watching these two characters, who each had misgivings when it came to the holiday season, find a reason to find joy in the joyous season, was definitely worthy of time, though. I would be curious to pick up the next book in the series.

The Christmas Cottage/Ever After
This two-part book follows two separate couples, yes, but the underlying character is a certain Ava Callahan. When she's putting together her rushed wedding, she enlists her best friend, as her maid of honor, to put together the ever-famed family cottage. Family myth stated that couples who spent the night in the cottage would find eternal love, and Ava was banking on it.

Throughout both books, Ava's belief in this cottage bordered on childish. She pushed away a great friend and was angry at her brother. When it's time for Ava and Brian's story, it is the cottage and spending a night in it that pushes Brian away. Quite frankly, her need to experience the magic of the cottage annoyed me -- it was as if she didn't trust feelings and emotions without a fabled tale. That aside...

I loved Lacey and Ean's story. When they were younger, when age was a number you had to abide by, Lacey was in love with her best friend's brother but Ean worked to keep her at arm's length. When Ean sees Lacey again for the first time in years, he knows without a doubt that she has always been the one for him. Mix in some cottage Christmas magic, and a sister with an unwaivering belief in said magic, and Lacey has questions -- but Ean will prove to her his love for her.

Theirs was, on paper, a quick story, but insta-love it was not. My only holdback would be that while their feelings started in their teens, they didn't know one another as adults, and feel that they could have used more time.

One thing that Samantha Chase does well is novellas. Hers are ones that are well-thought out, and she does put appropriate time jumps in place if the story calls for it. This was definitely more evident in Ava and Brian's story.

{ giveaway } .

No comments:

Post a Comment