Harlequin Heats up August!

August HQN Romance Heats up Summer

Get Ready for an anthology from fave romance stars Susan Mallory, Synithia Williams, and Stephanie London

Plus a new series from Brenda Novak

Review- One Perfect Summer by Brenda Novak

Today I'm going back to my early 2020 Netgalley backlist to pick up a book that I should have read right away.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 978-0778309468
Publisher: Mira
Release Date: 4-7-2020
Length: 464pp
Source: Publisher/Netgalley for review
Buy It: Publisher/Amazon/B&N/IndieBound

ADD TO: Goodreads

Overview:

"A great book to finish off your summer reading."—Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author

Some families we’re born into
Some we find for ourselves

When Serenity Alston swabbed her cheek for a genetic test, she joked about uncovering some dark ancestral scandal. The last thing she expected was to discover two half sisters she didn’t know existed. Suddenly, everything about her loving family is drawn into question. And meeting these newfound sisters might be the only way to get answers.

The women decide to dig into the mystery together at Serenity’s family cabin in Lake Tahoe. With Reagan navigating romantic politics at work and Lorelei staring down the collapse of her marriage, all three women are converging at a crossroads in their lives. Before the summer is over, they’ll have to confront the past and determine how to move forward when everything they previously thought to be true was a lie. But any future is easier to face with family by your side.

"This heartwarming story of sisters who bond as adults is sure to please...those who enjoy books by Susan Mallery and Debbie Macomber."—Library Journal

Don’t miss Brenda Novak’s latest book, When I Found You!

#GIVEAWAY - 9th Annual Ho Ho Ho Harlequin Holiday Extravaganza - Showcase HQN Christmas novels

Welcome to day 2 of my 9th annual holiday blog blast today I'm showcasing 4 Harlequin Holiday novels, three from my beloved Special Edition series and one from another beloved HQN author.  Read all about them and don't forget to enter the #Giveaway.
Merry Christmas!

The Giveaway is a $25.00 Amazon 

Digital Gift Card US & Canada only

Please Use the Rafflecopter Form to enter

Good Luck!

Showcase: One Perfect Summer by Brenda Novak

Brenda Novak has always been a favorite and I can't wait until I read her latest, One Perfect Summer.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13:
9781488055454

Publisher: Mira


Release Date: 4-7-2020


Length:
 464 pp

Buy It: Amazon/B&N/IndieBound

ADD TO: GOODREADS

Overview:

Some families we’re born into
Some we find for ourselves

When Serenity Alston swabbed her cheek for 23andMe, she joked about uncovering some dark ancestral scandal. The last thing she expected was to discover two half sisters she didn’t know existed. Suddenly, everything about her loving family is drawn into question. And meeting these newfound sisters might be the only way to get answers.

The women decide to dig into the mystery together at Serenity’s family cabin in Lake Tahoe. With Reagan navigating romantic politics at work and Lorelei staring down the collapse of her marriage, all three women are converging at a crossroads in their lives. Before the summer is over, they’ll have to confront the past and determine how to move forward when everything they previously thought to be true was a lie. But any future is easier to face with family by your side.

#MacmillanAudio review of Face Off by Brenda Novak

Brenda Novak is a favorite author from way back so I was shocked to learn that she had a romantic suspense/thriller series that I didn't know about. And when Macmillan audio offered it up in their August review selections, plus a new to me narrator, I said yes please.
As far as the series goes I didn't feel like I missed much but I will be going back to the start because I know there is some crucial background I'll learn if I do which will make the future reads more enjoyable.
Enjoy

Face Off

Evelyn Talbot, Book 3
By: Brenda Novak
Narrated by: Therese Plummer
Series: Evelyn Talbot, Book 3
Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 08-28-18
Language: English
Publisher: Macmillan Aud

Buy it on Audible

ADD TO: GOODREADS

Overview:

From New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak comes Face Off, the next installment of Dr. Evelyn Talbot and her murderous home for psychopaths.

SHE VOWED NEVER TO BE A VICTIM AGAIN. BUT NOW A KILLER HAS HER IN HIS SIGHT. . .

Tortured and left for dead at sixteen, Evelyn Talbot turned her personal nightmare into her life’s work—studying the disturbing psychopathy of some of the world’s most vicious serial killers. Now a leading psychiatrist at Hanover House in a small Alaskan town, she tries to believe the past will never come back to haunt her—until a woman goes missing from a cabin nearby, and every clue points to the man who once brutalized her…
As her boyfriend, who is the area’s only police, begins to investigate—and finds not one but two bodies—Evelyn can’t forget that her would-be killer, Jasper Moore, was never caught. But there are no new faces in tiny Hilltop, no one who seems suspicious or potentially violent. In this twisted game of cat and mouse, Evelyn is certain of only one thing—Jasper must be hiding in plain sight. And if she can’t find him before he comes for her, she won’t be lucky enough to survive twice…

**GIVEAWAY** Showcase - No One But You by Brenda Novak

Brenda is a favorite author from way back, she writes with passion and meaning. No One But You is #2 in her Silver Springs series and just got a top pick from RT reviews.
After reading the showcase enter for a chance to win a copy for yourself, contest details below.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 9781460396636
Publisher: Mira
Release Date: 05-30-2017
Length: 400
Buy It: Amazon/B&N/Kobo/IndieBound/Audible/Publisher

Overview:

New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak welcomes you to Silver Springs, a picturesque small town in Southern California where even the hardest hearts can learn to love again… 

Struggling to make ends meet after a messy divorce, Sadie Harris is at the end of her tether. Her waitressing gig isn't enough to pay the bills let alone secure primary custody of her son, Jayden, a battle she refuses to lose. Desperate, she accepts a position assisting Dawson Reed—the same Dawson Reed who recently stood trial for the murder of his adoptive parents. Joining him at his isolated farm seems risky, but Sadie is out of options. 

Dawson has given small town Silver Springs plenty of reasons to be wary, but he's innocent of the charges against him. He wants to leave his painful past behind and fix up the family farm so he can finally bring his dependent sister home where she belongs. 

As Sadie and Dawson's professional relationship grows into something undeniably personal, Sadie realizes there's more to Dawson than the bad boy everyone else sees—he has a good heart, one that might even be worth fighting for.

Mira is sponsoring this giveaway of
One Print Copy US & Canada only
Please Use Rafflecpoter form below to enter
Good Luck!

**GIVEAWAY** Showcase - Finding our Forever by Brenda Novak

I'm so happy showcasing a new novel by an author I love. Sit back and learn a bit about #1 in her new Silver Springs series, Finding our Forever.
Brenda's publisher Harlequin (who makes the world go round) is sponsoring a giveaway of one print copy. Contest details below.
Enjoy!

ISBN-13: 9780373623389
Publisher: Harlequin
Release Date: 03/21/2017
Length: 224pp
Buy It: B&N/Amazon/Kobo/IndieBound/Audible/Publisher

New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak welcomes readers to the town of Silver Springs, where surprises wait around every
corner! 

The search for her birth mother brought Cora Kelly to the New Horizons Boys Ranch. Getting a job there was easy enough, but confiding in Aiyana, the ranch's owner, that she's really her daughter? Cora's not sure she can do that, not unless she's confident the news will be welcomed. And once she gets to know Elijah Turner—Aiyana's adopted son and ranch manager—that decision becomes even more difficult.
Although Elijah can't deny his deep attraction to Cora, he's always struggled with trust. Anyone with his past would, and there's something about the ranch's newest employee that isn't exactly as it seems. But if the feelings she awakes in his guarded heart are any indication, she might be just what he's long been waiting for.

Giveaway is for one print copy US & Canada ONLY of
Finding our Forever
Please Use the Rafflecopter form to enter
Good Luck!

Author Interview-#1NYT & USA Today bestselling author Brenda Novak-Take Me Home For Christmas

Today I'm welcoming another personal favorite of mine, an author whose romance is as steamy as her suspense is nail-biting and who really knows her way around a story. Today she's talking about her Holiday romance-Take Me Home For Christmas. 

• ISBN-13: 9780778315469
• Publisher: Harlequin
• Publication date: 10/29/2013
• Series: Whiskey Creek Series
• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Pages: 400

 

Overview:
Christmas is a time for remembering…Too bad not all memories are pleasant! Everyone in Whiskey Creek remembers Sophia DeBussi as the town's Mean Girl. Especially Ted Dixon, whose love she once scorned. But Sophia has paid the price for her youthful transgressions. The man she did marry was rich and powerful but abusive.

Read an excerpt:

Sophia DeBussi's husband was gone. As in disappeared. Nowhere to be found. At ninety feet, the Legacy was a sizable yacht—Skip never bought anything except the very best—but not so sizable that a full-grown man could easily be overlooked. The six-member crew had just helped Sophia and her thirteen-year-old daughter scour every inch of the boat.

Other than his cell phone, which he wasn't answering, Skip's things were where they should be, but he was not.

Holding back her long hair, Sophia squinted against the sunshine glinting off the water, trying to see the coast of Brazil a few miles to starboard. Could her husband have gone for an early-morning swim and somehow reached land?

That was a possibility, but it was a remote one. Why would he go off on his own? It was too windy to enjoy the beach today. And although he traveled all over the world for business, she'd never heard of him meeting anyone in Rio de Janeiro.

Besides, he'd planned this trip for their thirteenth anniversary because he wanted to spend quality time as a family. She couldn't imagine he was working, not when this vacation was supposed to be about starting over, about saving their troubled marriage. He'd said he wouldn't take one call. If he'd made that promise just to her, maybe she wouldn't have relied on it. He'd said such things before and hadn't followed through. But he'd also promised their daughter, and he and Alexa were very close. So…where was he?

Sophia gazed down at the water itself. Had he fallen overboard and drowned in the choppy Atlantic?

That thought led to a surge of relief. It was macabre to wish anyone dead, but only if Skip was gone for good would she ever escape him. She'd lived with him long enough to know he'd never willingly let her go. He'd said as much.

The moment Alexa came to the railing to stand beside her, guilt replaced the relief she'd been feeling. Her poor daughter might have lost her father. How could she be happy about that?

"What happened, Mom?" Lexi asked, her big blue eyes filling with tears.

Sophia put an arm around her child's thin shoulders. "I don't know, sweetheart." She kept going over the past twenty-four hours in her mind, but could point to nothing out of the ordinary. Skip had gone to bed with her last night at eleven, as usual. He'd demanded sex, as usual. If he was around, he insisted on some sexual favor at least once a day. She was pretty sure he slept with other women when he was traveling, especially since he was often gone for a week or longer. But she never tried to check up on him. She just did what she had to when he was home to keep the peace, to survive. She knew how he'd act if she refused him. Even if he didn't strike her, he'd sulk for days.

Except for the embarrassment of having to tell everyone, including their daughter, that she'd tripped and fallen into a door or slammed on her brakes and hit the steering wheel, she would've hated the sulking even more. Sometimes it lasted far longer than the bruises.

Alexa wiped her wet cheeks. "You really don't remember when he got up this morning?"

They'd already been over this. Sophia didn't remember. She didn't rise as early as he did. It wasn't as if he'd allow her to have a job. On a school day, she typically went back to bed after Alexa left, staying there until ten or so. Then she'd get up slowly, work on maintaining her beauty, which was all-important to Skip, and drink away the rest of the afternoon. Alcohol was the one thing that seemed capable of dulling the disappointment, not to mention the boredom, she lived with on a constant basis.

But it also gave him a club to use when he needed it. I thought I was getting something special when I married you. You were someone, remember? The mayor's only child. The most popular girl in school. Now look at you. You're nothing but a lazy drunk.

She tried to shove those hateful words into the back of her mind, where they resided. They made her crave a gin and tonic, but it was too early for that. She couldn't have one, anyway, she reminded herself. Not only had she just spent thirty days in rehab, she'd promised Skip, as part of their "starting over," that she'd really quit the booze this time. He'd threatened to have her committed to a mental institution like her mother if she didn't.

She wasn't sure what he'd use to make her seem crazy, but he'd figure it out. Her mother's condition, the fact that there was mental illness in the family, definitely wouldn't work in her favor. "Mom?" Lexi said.

Sophia pulled herself out of the whirlpool of her thoughts. "He didn't wake me, honey. I'm sorry. He didn't tell me he was leaving, either. I would've remembered."

"Are you sure? He says you forget a lot. That you'd live in a bottle if you could."

He often criticized her to Lexi. He was the dazzling father who swooped in bearing outlandish gifts. The parent who'd promised her a Porsche for her sixteenth birthday. He never had to raise his voice to insist she do chores, finish her dinner or improve her grades, because he wasn't around long enough. "I've quit drinking," Sophia said softly. "That's why I went away, remember? Why you had to stay with Grandma and Grandpa."

Alexa didn't pursue the old argument. She was too bewildered by her father's disappearance. "This is just so. weird."

"It is weird." Sophia could tell that the captain and his mates agreed. She'd heard them asking each other if anyone had seen Mr. DeBussi on deck in the wee hours. No one had. No one had heard him, either. But with the engine chugging away and the waves splashing against the sides of the boat, would anyone notice if he fell overboard?

"I keep thinking he has to be here somewhere.." Dressed in cut-offs and a white tank, Alexa leaned on the railing as her troubled eyes ran over the deck, the bar, the stairs going below. "I'm so worried."

Sophia didn't want her to have to accept the worst quite yet. She didn't want her to suffer at all. Alexa was the only reason she'd remained in her loveless marriage. Skip had told her she'd never see her daughter again if she left, and she believed him. He had the support of a rich and powerful family who lived in the same small town they did. With her own mother diagnosed with schizophrenia and her father dead, she had no one. "He might turn up."

A fresh tear rolled down Lexi's cheek. "But you heard the captain. He said there's no way Dad could've reached shore. No one could swim that far."

The captain would've been right had he been talking about anyone else. But he didn't know Skip, not like she did. Skip could do anything he set his mind to. Sophia had never met such a strong-willed individual. Or such a controlling one.

She pulled her daughter into a hug. "We've contacted the U.S. Consulate, and they've called the police. We'll be docking at Rio to wait while they check the city and the beaches. We won't leave without him. Let's not give up hope too soon."

Alexa's head bumped against Sophia's chest as she nodded, but she was obviously struggling to believe those measures would do any good. She couldn't picture her father jumping over the side in the middle of the night and swimming for shore—and neither could Sophia.

The captain approached. "I've secured a slip at Marina de Gloria, Mrs. DeBussi," he said. "We should be in port in less than thirty minutes."

"Thank you, Captain Armstrong."

His nod had the same effect as a salute. He turned away, but then he paused.

"Is there anything else?" she asked.

"I just—" he faced her again "—I wanted to warn you."

A sense of foreboding chilled her despite the ninety-degree weather. "About."

"The police. When I spoke to them on the radio, they…they asked me if…" He cleared his throat as his eyes flicked to Alexa, and she nudged her daughter toward the stairs.

"Lexi, why don't you go below and check our bedroom one more time, okay? Make sure everything of Daddy's is there, even his shaving kit."

"We know it's there," she protested.

Sophia gave her another little push. "Check again, will you?"

Reluctantly, her daughter headed to the stairs, casting a frown over one shoulder before she disappeared from view.

"What is it, Captain Armstrong?" Sophia asked. "They had questions about your marriage, Mrs. De-Bussi. If I've ever seen the two of you fight, that sort of thing."

He hadn't seen them fight. No one had. Skip kept up appearances at all costs. His reputation as the man who had everything meant more to him than something as malleable as the truth. He never grew violent when someone else was around, and that included Lexi. If he got upset, he simply punished Sophia later.

But anyone who was astute could no doubt feel the tension. Sophia was terrified of him. Even when he wasn't overtly abusive, she endured many small but vicious reprisals.

"And you told them…what?" Her heart thumped so loudly she was afraid he could hear it. Skip wouldn't like this intrusion into their personal lives, so why had he left her vulnerable to it?

"That I don't know anything about your private life. But…I want to reassure you that even if I did, I wouldn't speak of it."

She found his loyalty comforting, especially because she would never have taken it for granted. She barely knew him, had hardly ever spoken to him. It didn't matter that he was old enough to be her father, or that he was married himself. Her husband was too jealous. Any interaction would've risked the captain's job. "Thank you, Captain Armstrong."

"You're welcome. I have the utmost respect for you, Mrs. DeBussi. But…"

She pulled the gauzy white scarf she'd paired with her summer sheath dress tighter. "Yes?"

He lowered his voice. "You should be prepared. They will ask you the same thing."

Suddenly she grasped why he was telling her this. "You don't mean… They don't think I might've harmed Mr. DeBussi?" The irony of anyone suspecting her of hurting him almost made her laugh.

"They have to rule out that possibility."

She could understand why, of course. But how would she convince them? Although the U.S. Consulate was acting as a liaison, she'd be dealing with foreign police; she couldn't even speak their language. What if they arrested her?

Her face must've betrayed her panic because the captain took her elbow and led her to a chaise. It was nothing he'd risk doing in her husband's presence, but she was grateful for his kindness.

"They won't be able to prove anything, Mrs. DeBussi," he said. "You just need to remain strong and insistent."

They won't be able to prove anything? What did that mean? That he suspected her—but didn't blame her? She dared not ask him to clarify. Forcing a smile, she said, "Of course."

If only "strong" felt like a possibility. She'd been strong once, even willful and rebellious. She regretted a great many things about those days, had been paying for her sins ever since. She considered living with Skip to be part of her penance. But the one attribute she'd lost that she wished she'd retained was her fighting spirit.

Maybe it was there, somewhere. But having a child had completely disarmed her.

2 ia slipped out of Alexa's room. She was finally asleep, and Sophia was grateful. It had been a long, hard day. Although she could scarcely believe it, there'd been no word from Skip. As promised, the police had met them at noon, when they docked at the marina. While a handful of crime-scene techs went through the boat, searching for blood or any other clue, an investigator had spoken to her. In a heavy Portuguese accent, he'd asked all the questions one might expect under the circumstances.

And Sophia had lied in response to almost every one of them.

What made you decide to take a trip to Rio?

Where better to celebrate our anniversary? We've been meaning to get away for months.

Do you consider you and your husband to be a happy couple?

Oh, yes. We've never been more in love. Is there anyone, maybe a member of the crew, who might've been angry with your husband?