Heart of Stone

Author: David James Warren

Series: True Lies of Rembrandt Stone #6

Publisher: TriStone Media

Release Date: November 23, 2021

A fabulous and fitting conclusion to a fantastic series that I can’t wait to read again and again!

After traveling back and forth through time on several occasions trying to change the past and keep the present and future from falling apart, Rembrandt Stone has a hard time recognizing himself. The world he has returned to is nothing like he expected and the watch he was gifted that has helped him travel back and forth through time is no longer working. Rembrandt must rely on a friend from the past to help save the future for all of them before it is too late.

First of all, I am so sad to see this series come to an end. I loved every single book and was worried that the authors would not be able to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion. There was no need to worry, I am happy to say the conclusion is all that I could have hoped for and more! These books are short, tight, and full of just the right material with no extra “fluff”. The stakes are at their highest for Rembrandt and those he cares about, which kept me glued to the pages. I fell in love with all the characters from the very beginning and each book brought more and more tension increasing my heart rate as it looked like Rem was going to lose it all. There were a lot of loose ends to tie up with this final book, a hefty task for even the best author, but the powerhouse team of David James Warren did it with ease. This is marketed as a Christian novel, but out of all the books this is the only one that really had much mention of God throughout. These are more of a clean read than anything else, no language or anything that would keep me from recommending it to anyone to read. I recommend this book and series to anyone that is looking for a fresh, fun, and full of the best entertainment there is. These books need to be read in order and over and over again.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Gated Prey

Author: Lee Goldberg

Series: Eve Ronin #3

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Release Date: October 26, 2021

Another great installment in the Eve Ronin series; fun, engaging and just the right length!

Eve Ronin is still having to prove herself as a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s detective. Even after solving several cases and working as hard as possible, many don’t believe she deserves her position. Her soon to retire partner, Duncan Pavone, is with her running a sting to try and catch a group of home invaders and thieves in Calabasas mansions. Their trap works a little too good, leaving the thieves dead and almost costs Eve and Duncan their lives. Even though the case seems closed, Eve has many unanswered questions and continues to dig deep into the case to figure out if anyone in the department could have been involved as payback for her takedown of corrupt deputies in the department. Eve refuses to back down puts her in more danger.

The Eve Ronin series is a fun favorite of mine. The characters are fun and realistic with their animosity towards Eve and how she got her position. It wouldn’t be real for me if they all took her in and it was sunshine and roses. Goldberg did a great job of capturing Eve and her emotions through it all. Her relationship with Duncan is great and the playful banter that they have is fun to read. One of the things I love about these novels is they are just the right length, not too long, not too short. Eve is tough but she also shows emotions when she is by herself and doesn’t just try and play off the hurtful things the others in the department do to her like it is no big deal. Eve’s biggest flaw though is her inability to deal with her issues; she works too hard and tries to do almost everything herself because of her distrust of colleagues. Overall, this was a very enjoyable book, nothing stands out to make it great though. Eve needs to have some personal growth in the next book and I’m hoping that is the direction it will go. I recommend this book to those that like a good mystery that is quick and easy to read but doesn’t mind a little bit of harsh language.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Crosshairs

Author: Patricia Bradley

Series: Natchez Trace Park Rangers #3

Publisher: Revell

Release Date: November 2, 2021

Patricia Bradley’s newest installment in the Natchez Trace series is the best yet with more action, tension, and drama that keeps the pages flying!

When Ainsley Beaumont’s dream of a career in singing fell through, she joined the Investigative Services Branch and became a ranger. She is sent to her hometown of Natchez Mississippi to figure out who murdered a pregnant teenager. While she is investigating, Ainsley quickly becomes the killer’s next target and has to work with an old flame to solve the case. Lin Steele is a former FBI sniper that put his gun away after almost killing an innocent child. Linc can’t bring himself to pick up a gun again after what happened, but as the danger to Ainsley increases along with his feelings, he wonders if he will be able to help her without the use of his weapon.

Patricia Bradley has crafted an incredible series with characters that I instantly fell in love with and wanted to make sure they made it to a safe and happy ending. The plot was more intricate and detailed than past installments giving me a deeper desire to see these characters find happiness. As with most romantic suspense novels, our main characters have a history together and when they end up working together the old feelings get stirred up making things more complicated between them. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn’t; here I enjoyed the dynamic between Ainsley and Linc and how that shaped the rest of the story. The secondary characters brought out a lighter side to the story, especially Cora and the rest of Ainsley’s family, except her father, the tension between them was tighter and gave more depth to the story. This was the best of the series for me and even though it is the third in the series, each book can be read on its own without missing anything from the others to make the story whole. I recommend this book to readers that enjoy romantic suspense and want a good story that will keep them turning the pages lost in the action.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Lights Out

Author: Natalie Walters

Series: The Snap Agency #1

Publisher: Revell

Release Date: November 2, 2021

A new hit that romantic suspense fans will not want to miss! Natalie Walters is quickly making a name for herself in this genre!

Brynn Taylor is a CIA analyst who has developed a program to take down terrorists before they get a chance to attack. When one of the members of a foreign intelligence agency she invited to work on the program goes missing, she must work with Jack Hudson and the Strategic Neutralization and Protection Agency. Jack and Brynn have a history and working together is no easy task. Every clue they uncover puts them in more danger and deeper into the international plot they have uncovered. They must work together in order to stop a terrorist trying to cause a digital blackout in order to blind the US military. If Brynn and Jack can’t get over the hurt in their past, they may not be able to solve the case that leaves lives and their hearts hanging by a thread.

Lights Out was a really great book. I probably could have read this in one sitting if I hadn’t been sick and had to put it down for two weeks. This is the first book in Walters new series and it starts with a bang. There are so many secondary characters that I can’t wait to see how they develop in the upcoming books in the series. Brynn was a great lead character that kept me engaged and I easily connected with her hoping to see her succeed in both life and love. The dynamic between her and Jack kept the tension tight all the way through, along with the playful banter with Lyla and the other members of the SNAP team. I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds as the story continues with the next in the series. The story flows at a good pace and the ending was very satisfactory unlike some romantic suspense that tie things up too quickly. I recommend this book to fans of romantic suspense and fans of Walters writing will not want to miss this one.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Deadly Target

Author: Elizabeth Goddard

Series: Rocky Mountain Courage #2

Publisher: Revell

Release Date: November 2, 2021

Another great romantic suspense novel with characters readers will fall in love with and a storyline that never slows down!

Erin Larson is a criminal psychologist whose career and life are almost over after a boating accident. Shortly thereafter, she learns that her mother has tried to commit suicide. Taking a leave of absence from her job to care for her mother, she moves to Montana and focuses her attention on a podcast of missing person cold cases that go all the way back to her childhood. Nathan Campbell’s case calls to Erin when her mother is in the hospital bringing their past relationship to the surface. When his father is shot investigating a case, Nathan asks Erin to help him get to the bottom of what is happening. As they work together, they determine they are being targeted and the more they uncover the more danger they are all in.

Deadly Target started great but ended even better. I loved the turn it took, sucking me into the story even more. Each problem Erin encounters leads to another clue being uncovered about a past she wants to leave behind. Goddard did a fantastic job of creating a story and characters that I couldn’t help but root for and want to know all of their deepest, darkest secrets. The story flowed at a very smooth pace and never made me want to put the book down. I finished the story in a single day.

Erin is a strong female lead that carries the story in a way that is easy to follow and believable. This is the second book in the series but can be read on its own without missing out on much from the first in the series. There are some secondary characters from the first that make an appearance, but it won’t take away from the story itself. I love the way it wrapped up and characters we thought weren’t important played an important role by the end. I recommend this book to fans of romantic suspense and if you haven’t given Elizabeth Goddard a chance, I would pick this one up immediately.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Wolf Point

Author: Ian K. Smith

Series: Ashe Cayne #2

Publisher: Thomas & Mercer

Release Date: October 5, 2021

A fantastic thriller that kept me on the edge of my seat and reading far past my bedtime!

When the body of Walter Griffin, a prominent Black Chicagoan, is found at a watery grave in Wolf Point and ruled a suicide, the case ends up in the hands of Ashe Cayne, who knows there is more to the story. Griffin’s children come to the detective and ask him to look deeper into the case than the rest of law enforcement to find what might have been missed. They know their dad never would have done such a thing, even if it means uncovering dark secrets, they want to know the truth. Everyone is a suspect and Ashe must watch his own back in order to not end up like Griffin.

When I read this, I didn’t realize it was the second in a series and am now itching to get my hands on the first Ashe Cayne novel. The writing was smooth and the story entertaining. Even though this was the second in a series, I didn’t feel that I was missing out on a lot; readers can easily pick this up as a stand-alone and enjoy without feeling lost. Smith did a great job of crafting a mystery while keeping readers turning the pages. A few points in the story went a little slow for me but not enough to slow the entire story. It was a fun and in-depth look into Chicago that really made me feel like I was in the city and following right along with Cayne as he went about solving the crime. Lots of great secondary characters that filled the pages with little bits of humor and enough tension that kept a great pace throughout the entire story. There is a bit of language, so it is not appropriate for a younger audience but great for the intended audience. I recommend this book for readers that love a great thriller with a protagonist they will want to read more and more about.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Labyrinth of Lies

Author: Irene Hannon

Series: Triple Threat #2

Publisher: Revell

Release Date: October 5, 2021

A fabulous romantic suspense by Irene Hannon, her best yet!!!

After the disappearance of a young girl attending an exclusive boarding school and some shady drug dealings in the area, Detective Cate Reilly is asked to go undercover. As she gets to the school and does some digging, she discovers that not everything is as it seems from the outside at the prestigious Ivy Hill Academy. What she never dreamed of is that the one man she fell in love with and broke her heart years ago is also undercover at the school. Zeke Sloan is working for the DEA to uncover the source of a drug ring close to the school. The second he sees Cate his heart stops, he never forgot the woman who stole his heart, and this is the last place he expected to run into her. Together, they work to solve their two cases that become more intertwined as the investigation heats up.

I have read a lot of Irene Hannon books over the years, but I have to say this is going to take the top spot out of all her books for me. The premise hooked me right away. I loved the idea of a female detective that is always mistaken for someone much younger than they are and able to use that to their advantage to go undercover like this. Right away, I was able to connect with Cate and everything she was trying to do. I believed in her mission and her ability to pull it off, I was invested! Zeke took me a little longer to connect with, not much though, his feelings for Cate jumped off the page at me and made me want to see them together. It was difficult to identify the villain and I was pleasantly surprised with how it all played out in the end.

With romantic suspense I usually have a pretty good idea how it is all going to play out, which can cause me to lose my interest partway through, but with this book, I was invested and had trouble putting it down. By far this is my favorite Irene Hannon book and can’t wait to see what she comes up with next! I recommend this book to fans of romantic suspense, even though it is the second in a series you don’t have to read the first to enjoy this one.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Blood from a Stone

Author: David James Warren

Series: True Lies of Rembrandt Stone #5

Publisher: TriStone Media

Release Date: October 5, 2021

The next installment in the Rembrandt Stone series will leave readers on the edge of their seats and pulling their hair out waiting for the next in the series!

Detective Rembrandt Stone finds himself in trouble once again when everything he loves is in danger of being taken away. He has been across four different timelines trying to stop a killer. Rembrandt still has thirty-eight lives hanging in the balance and if he doesn’t play the hand he is dealt just right, he will lose the little he has left. All he wants is to get back to his time to find his wife and daughter safe and alive to grow old with him.

The True Lies of Rembrandt Stone is the kind of series you want to read one book right after another. The cliffhanger endings kill me!! I am so glad this is written and released in a way we don’t have to wait long for the next installment. Each time I think the tag team of David James Warren can’t get any better, I am proven wrong. The story is fast paced and tight, no fluff, just a good story. It is complex enough that requires readers to pay close attention to follow Stone as he goes back and forth between the timelines.

Rembrandt, Evie, and all the rest of the characters from this series make it one of the best I have read in a long time. With each time jump, Rem finds himself in a more complicated situation to unravel the threads that hold together his life making it easy to root for him to succeed. My heart breaks for him each time he gets bad news that shows his attempt to fix his future hasn’t worked out as well as he was hoping it would. With only one more book in the series, there is a lot to wrap up and I am dying to see how David James Warren will do it. I have no doubt it will all come together; this powerhouse team of writers is up to the challenge.

I recommend this book to readers that love a great time travel mystery with an intricate plot and characters you are going to fall in love with. It is a series that needs to be read in order and not just pick one to pick up at random.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Stalker Stalked

Author: Lee Mathew Goldberg

Publisher: All Due Respect Publishing

Release Date: September 16, 2021

Dark and twisted with a definite creepy vibe throughout.

Reality TV has become all that Lexi Mazur wants to do along with drinking and popping pills. Her boyfriend dumped her and now she spends her time fantasizing about becoming part of that inner circle of Reality TV stars. Her newest obsession is a show called Socialites and the star, Magnolia Artois, who she starts following on social media and showing up at the same places as the star. This isn’t the first time Lexi has ventured into stalking; both of her ex’s didn’t know she stalked them and manipulated them before dating. She works as a pharmaceutical rep and sneaking pills for her own use has become a daily habit. Lately though, Lexi fells as if she is being watched and wonders if the tables have turned and she is now the one being stalked. She must use what she has learned over the years stalking others to beat her own stalker.

I wanted to like Stalker Stalked, I really did, unfortunately I didn’t like any of the characters and the use of foul language was absolutely ridiculous. I know this is a mainstream book and as such isn’t expected to be clean but the over-the-top use of such crass language really bothered me. It doesn’t matter if you are writing for a Christian market or mainstream, you can write a fabulous book without that kind of language. To me it feels as if the author just didn’t want to put forth the effort to write without including that. I have also read many books with language that doesn’t bother me because it is written so well, I am engrossed in the story and the characters have connected with me. The only character I even remotely connected with was Pria, she was abused by her friend and kept trying to help anyway. All the other characters were over the top annoying and irritating. I did read this book in a single day but mainly to be done with it, so I don’t have to be annoyed or wasting time just by reading the words on the page. This is a very harsh review for me, but I was expecting something better and different and was disappointed the whole way through. If you are into Reality TV and following those on social media this might be a great one for you, if not skip it.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.

Trace of Doubt

Author: DiAnn Mills

Publisher: Tyndale House

Release Date: September 7, 2021

With a fantastic protagonist and plot DiAnn Mills sucked me in to this story and held me tight!

It’s been fifteen years since Shelby Pearce confessed to murdering her brother-in-law and spent that time in prison. After being released on parole, she moves to the small town of Valleysburg, Texas to start over, but starting over won’t be as easy as she had hoped. When she was first convicted, FBI agent Denton McClure was a rookie working on her case. Shelby might have been convicted of murder, but she was also suspected of embezzling half a million from her brother-in-law’s non-profit organization. Now, Denton moves to Valleysburg to try and gain her trust and find out what happened to the money from all those years ago. The more time he spends with Shelby, the less he thinks she was responsible for taking the money and now she is receiving threats if she doesn’t disappear or commit suicide. In a case where nothing is as it seems, Shelby is now in a fight for her life and Denton isn’t sure who the villain is anymore.

This book had an absolutely fantastic start with a wonderful protagonist and plot that intrigued me and had me cheering for Shelby. She quickly became one of my favorite characters for the year and I love the plot. At least, I love it all until about 80% of the way through the book. Up to that point the story had me, I believed it all and couldn’t wait to see what would happen. Then I felt like we went from fiction to more far-fetched fiction and while still enjoyable, it just lost its believable quality. I love DiAnn Mills writing, her last book was her best by far, and I was hoping this one was going to surpass until things took a bit of a left turn. I realize that it’s all fiction, but her stories have always had such a believable quality to them that I feel like I’m one of the minor characters throughout the book. I’ve talked about this book with several of my reader friends who have also read it and while they noticed the same thing, they didn’t feel that it took as much away from the store. I do think romantic suspense lovers will still enjoy the story and I’ll be curious to get their thoughts on the ending.

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.