Jen in Bookland

Fire at Dawn: The Firefighters of Darling Bay 2 Synopsis: Lexie Tindall knows a few things about herself. She's a great fire dispatcher. She looks good in cowboy boots. And she'll never date a firefighter. They're her family, and besides that, she knows from deep personal experience how it feels to lose a man on the fireline. But Coin is different. He's her best friend. Why, then, can't she stop thinking about what it would be like to kiss the handsome firefighter? Coin Keefe has been in love with Lexie since he first met her in dispatch when he was still a rookie. Now he realizes he can tell her everything except the truth--that he can't think about anyone else. When Lexie and Coin make a bet on love with a tropical island vacation as a reward, who will win big and who will lose everything? Review: I really enjoyed Fire at Dawn . It was a quick read, but really sweet. Even though it is the second book in the series, you don't need t...

Sarah Smile (Halos & Horns) Synopsis: Now that her abusive ex-husband is out of her life, Sarah Richard is savoring her freedom. Surrounded by people who treat her and her babies like family, the three of them are thriving. Though occasionally haunted by nightmares from her violent past, she struggles to put it behind her. With a loving surrogate family, good friends, and a new career, all she lacks is a man in her life. The question is, will she ever be able to trust another man with her and her twin daughters’ hearts?  Dr. Tanner Collins is running from his own sordid past. The man has left a trail of women from one end of Louisiana to the other, and through half the state of Texas. Even when this bad boy tries to be good, he has women throwing themselves at him at all hours of the day and night. When his admiration for Sarah turn into something stronger, he keeps his feelings in check, knowing he’ll never be near the kind of man she deserves.  When Tanne...

Beyond Control (Beyond Love Series #1) Synopsis: Everything in Gabby Sullivan's life is going according to plan--her father's plan. With a brilliant job in the corporate world, glamorous parties, and a beautiful condo overlooking Seattle, she is thrown into a world she doesn't want to claim. It's not until Jason crashes into her world that she realizes she's not really living.  Facing his own demons, Jason attempts to piece his life back together after a personal tragedy. Damaged by his ghosts, Jason finally begins to forgive himself whenever Gabby's around. She makes him feel--alive, something he hasn't felt for a long time. It's only as their love grows and secrets are revealed that they realize a devastating connection from their past might actually tear them apart. Review: Beyond Control was not my favorite book. The writing was the style where the author is way too descriptive. Way too many details that don...

RAW Synopsis: ***Author Note: This is not a love story. This is a story of love gone wrong.***  Growing up the way I did, you’d think I’d be more screwed up than what I actually am.  Soon as I turned sixteen, I left that bump in the road I called home and took my chances on the street.  Best decision I ever made.  Now, at the age of twenty six, I’m educated, employed and damn good at my job.  My friends have become my family. Like me, they know what it’s like to grow up unloved.  But the saying is true.  The world makes way for those who know where they are going.  That’s me.  I know where I’m going and I’ll get there eventually. On my own terms and at my own pace.  But then there’s him.  I feel his eyes on me. I see him hiding in plain sight. He watches me.  He makes me feel.  It’s unconventional.  But it’s real.  I’m sure you’re wondering how a person falls in love with...

Carrots (A Shelby Nichols Adventure) Synopsis: Shelby Nichols is an average woman who is married to the only guy she ever fell for. Her life is organized and predictable, revolving around her husband and two children. All that changes the day she stops at the grocery store for some carrots. As the cashier rings up her purchases, a gunman is busy robbing the bank inside the store. When a customer grabs the robber's mask, he is shot and everyone runs for cover. Everyone except Shelby, who finds herself face to face with the killer. The next thing she knows, she's lying on the floor with a bullet wound to her head. Luckily, the bullet only grazes her scalp, and she doesn't suspect any lasting affects until later, when she suddenly 'hears' what people are thinking. With this uncanny ability, her life takes on a whole new dimension. Her kids think she's bossy and too old to understand them, but that's nothing compared to her husband. He says he loves her...

Just Jane In The Middle of Nowhere Synopsis: When Jane Alton’s parents leave for a summer trip to Ecuador, she finds herself stuck at her grandmother’s house in the small community of Middleton. Worried her eccentric interests and outsider status will get her nowhere with the locals, Jane anticipates a summer of isolation in a town where nothing exciting ever happens. The one bright spot in her future is spending time with her good friend, Mark Littlefield. Jane’s summer takes an unexpected turn when she finds the remains of an ancient Native American woman on her grandmother’s porch. A normal girl would be horrified by such a thing, but Native American history is just up Jane’s alley. She and Mark search for information about the ancient woman, and in their hunt, they discover a cave full of artifacts. Then strange things start happening, and Jane finds herself in one brush with death after another. All the while, her feelings for Mark are changing from friendship into someth...

The Truth Synopsis: For the first time since his much-beloved tale Hemingway's Chair was published in 1998, Michael Palin pens a new novel featuring the warm and witty story of an everyman, a tantalizing offer, a journey to India, and the search for the truth. Keith Mabbut is at a crossroads in his life.  A professional writer of some repute, he has reached the age of fifty-six with nothing resembling the success of his two great literary heroes, George Orwell and Albert Camus. When he is offered the opportunity of a lifetime—to write the biography of the elusive Hamish Melville, a widely respected and highly influential activist and humanitarian—he seizes the chance to write something meaningful. His search to find out the real story behind the legend takes Mabbut to the lush landscapes and environmental hotspots of India. The more he discovers about Melville, the more he admires him—and the more he connects with an idealist who wanted to make a difference. But is h...

The Memory Game Synopsis: 'If there is a hell, I think maybe this is it.'  Weeks after fifteen-year-old David is killed by a speeding driver, he’s still hanging around and he doesn’t know why. The only person who can see and hear him is the girl he spent his schooldays bullying.  Bethany is the most hated girl at school. She hides away, alone with her secrets until, one day, the ghost of a boy killed in a hit-and-run starts to haunt her.  Together, they find that the end is only the beginning… Review: The Memory Game was a really simple, odd story. David is killed at the beginning and he wanders around his town as a ghost. No one can see him, hear him, feel him, anything. He cannot move things around or really do anything in our world. Then he is at school one day and notices that Bethany can see him. Bethany the weird kid who everyone hates. Bethany who *I guess spoilers, though it is obvious from the first* is obviously abused by her dad, ...

Hush (A Tangleheart Romantic Suspense) Synopsis: A romantic suspense novella from award winning author Carey Baldwin. Coming home has never been this sexy...or this dangerous. Reformed bad boy Charlie "Drex" Drexler returns to his hometown of Tangleheart, Texas hoping to make peace with his dark past and make amends to those he's wronged. He's also looking to reconnect with an old flame. But Anna won't cooperate, new questions tear open old wounds and his best friend's wife and baby disappear. Can Drex and Anna mend their broken hearts while fighting for their lives and racing to bring mother and baby home safely? Review: Hush is a novella, which normally I hate. Normally I feel like the author tries to fit an entire novel into a few pages and it doesn't work. This one was fun though. Yes, it moved quickly. Yes, the ending was a little quick and all, but I still enjoyed it. The story starts off with Charlie and Anna meeting on the way ...

Sojourner (Sojourner Series) Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Elizabeth Moon has been dreaming of her murder her entire life, and in those dreams, a dark presence is there, watching. When she returns home to Hauser’s Landing, the very place her father disappeared, she comes in contact with a gorgeous boy named Lev Walker, and it’s not long before she’s falling in love. But there’s something wrong with Lev. When she realizes he’s the eerie watcher in her dreams, she’ll have to discover the truth. Is he a guardian angel or a sojourner, an angel of death who has come to collect her soul? Review: Sojourner was an interesting read. It was alright, but not amazing. It was like a lot of books I have read recently so...maybe if I had read it first I would have liked it more. The book starts off with Elizabeth and her uncle moving back to his home town, where her mom and dad grew up. I am not sure why exactly they moved back. The uncle hates hates hates it there, and is super wo...

Surrender Synopsis: Raffaello (Rafe) Palazzo takes what he wants with no regrets. Arianna (Ari) Lynn Harlow has led a charmed life until tragedy strikes her family. He’s looking for a no-emotions attached mistress, she’s looking for redemption.  They are not a pair that should ever work, but undeniable attraction and devastating tragedies bring them together in the city by the bay where he fights to keep their relationship nothing more than an enjoyable way to meet his needs, and she battles to not lose herself in him. Spending time with Ari starts cracking the hard shell that Rafe has built around his heart, but he denies the affect she has on him until it’s too late to stop the inevitable conclusion that their relationship is headed for. Rafe once believed in happily ever after, coming from a large Italian family. He’s got the Midas touch, since every endeavor he tries turns to gold. That all ends when his wife walks out the door and leaves him blindsided. His de...

Hope's Decree (The Fated) Synopsis: When everything else is lost, there is always hope. While most teens want an epic senior year, Trinity Whitebone hoped for a normal one. Being seventeen was hard enough. Having the emotions of everyone around you in your head made life more than a little difficult. Until Blain Heros enrolled. He screamed hot-god in jeans with just his walk. His intense stare warmed her skin like a thousand suns. Unfortunately, his interest in her seemed to run from blazing to freezing in the span of moments and left her nothing but confused. She could deal with things not being normal, but when life goes from strange to dangerous… Trinity is the direct descendant of Pandora and fated to rectify the terrors released into the world by her curious ancestor. With powers she didn’t know existed and abilities she never wanted, Trinity tries to walk away from everything her life had become. She thought she could turn her back on her fate, until...

Swift (Swift Series) Synopsis: A girl totally unaware of her destiny. Two men who will stop at nothing to take her power. One family who will do whatever it takes to keep her safe. After graduating from high school, Meredith is ready to leave the place that has been a constant reminder of what happened to her as a child. She was just eight years old when her family died in a mysterious car accident, taking the secret of her destiny with them. It’s not until a new family moves to town that she realizes leaving may not be as easy as she once thought.  Meredith feels an instant connection towards the Harpers, especially the good-looking, mysterious Blake and his overly friendly sister, Abby. After a series of bizarre events that happen too often to be coincidence, Meredith begins to realize that she is at the center of something larger than herself—possibly the same thing that killed her parents and twin sister many years ago. Nightmarish visions and resurfa...

Love Me Anyway (Passions in the Park) Synopsis: There is a serial killer loose in America’s National Parks. Greyson Beauchene, Head Ranger of Alaska’s Denali National Park is certain he will never have to deal with that because his park is too ‘out of the way.’ However, Ranger Beauchene soon finds out he is dead wrong.  Greyson and his two assistants are flown by helicopter into a remote section of the park where hikers have found a casket, one of the biggest indicators the serial killer has found Denali. Greyson’s team is joined by one incredibly irritating and extremely demanding FBI Profiler and her two Agents. Very good at what she does, Aspen O’Connell sets out to take control of the crime scene and everyone involved in it, and Greyson is having none of it.  Greyson, Aspen and their teams must work together to find this killer before he kills again. Events move quickly as the group pieces together clues from the crime scene and a profile is established. A...

Own the Wind: A Chaos Novel Synopsis: Tabitha Allen grew up in the thick of Chaos--the Chaos Motorcycle Club, that is. Her father is Chaos' leader, and the club has always had her back. But one rider was different from the start. When Tabby was running wild, Shy Cage was there. When tragedy tore her life apart, he helped her piece it back together. And now, Tabby's thinking about much more than friendship... Tabby is everything Shy's ever wanted, but everything he thinks he can't have. She's beautiful, smart, and as his friend's daughter, untouchable. Shy never expected more than friendship, so when Tabby indicates she wants more--much more--he feels like the luckiest man alive. But even lucky men can crash and burn... Review: I really have no idea why Own the Wind has so many amazing reviews. I read a few of them and I feel like I read a completely different book than they did. Pretty much everything they say I found the exact opposite......

Shelf Ice (A Ray Elkins Thriller) Synopsis: It's February along the shores of Northern Lake Michigan. A heavy blanket of snow has been building up in the woods since early November and the inland lakes have had a solid covering of ice since December. Shelf ice, stacked ten or fifteen feet in places, has been building on Lake Michigan for weeks. Sheriff Ray Elkins, responding to a late-night home invasion call, discovers the brutal murder of a local artist at her home deep in the woods. Elkins works to understand complex lives and relationships as he pursues a brilliant and brutal adversary. Review: Shelf Ice was odd. It was supposed to be a thriller, mystery, whatever but it was just....well it seemed like nothing much happened. The writing was strange to me. Like I was missing pieces or something. Maybe because this is not the first book in the series? I don't know, but it doesn't seem like the missing pieces would be in the prior books. It was just a str...

In Your Dreams Synopsis: Sixteen-year-old Zara "Zip" McKee lives for three things: basketball, books, and bailing out of tiny Titusville, Illinois, where the junior high and high school are in the same building and everyone's known everyone else since birth. But when Kieran Lanier moves to town and passes out on her desk on his first day at school, Zip's life gets complicated in a way she never dreamed.  Kieran has narcolepsy, and although he sometimes struggles to stay awake, he has no trouble capturing Zip's heart and trusting her with his most guarded secret--he sees bits and pieces of the future in his dreams.  But just when Zip thinks that maybe she can handle having a boyfriend who sees things before they happen, her budding relationship with Kieran gets a jolt when Kieran's parents reveal that his sleeping disorder is not what it seems and may be putting them in harm's way. And when Zip begins to have unsettling dreams, she must dec...