Book Spotlight: The Gates of Evangeline by Hester Young (w/ link to Review)

Last Spring, at BEA, I was fortunate to pick up an advanced copy of The Gates of Evangeline by Hester Young, a book the publisher and publicists were praising. So of course, I was ecstatic when I heard it was one of the She Reads ‘Books of Winter’ selections. I read it over the summer and devoured it, and cannot wait until the next book comes out in the series.…

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Month in Review: January 2016

Here are my reading stats for January! Books read: 11 Books I read: Me Before You — Jojo Moyes Lost & Found in Cedar Cove — Debbie Macomber (e-book) The Forgotten Room — Karen White, Beatriz Williams, Lauren Willig (e-book) After the Crash — Michel Bussi Bones Are Forever — Kathy Reichs (audio) The Things We Keep — Sally Hepworth (e-book) Avenged — Elizabeth Heiter (e-book) The Storm Sister —…

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Short & Sweet Review: Bones Are Forever by Kathy Reichs (audio)

Title: Bones Are Forever Author: Kathy Reichs Series: Temperance Brennan, #15 Narrator: Linda Emond  Published: August 2012, Simon & Schuster Audio Length: 9 hours 30 minutes  Source: Library #1 New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs, a producer of the Fox hit show Bones, is back with her fifteenth “pulse-pounding” (Publishers Weekly) novel featuring North America’s favorite forensic anthropologist, Tempe Brennan—a story of infanticide and murder set in the high…

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#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in January 29

  #FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About      It was an ok week. I was really tired all week for some reason, so getting up to go to the gym didn’t really happen after Monday…not sure what’s going on there. I still have my head cold, though it is much better. I think fighting that is really taking a lot out…

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Short & Sweet Review: Flash & Bones by Kathy Reichs (audio)

Title: Flash & Bones Author: Kathy Reichs Series: Temperance Brennan, #14 Narrator: Linda Emond Published: August 2011, Simon & Schuster Audio Length: 8 hours 33 minutes  Source: Library Just as 200,000 fans are pouring into town for Race Week, a body is found in a barrel of asphalt next to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The next day, a NASCAR crew member comes to Temperance Brennan’s office at the Mecklenburg County…

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Review: The Things We Keep by Sally Hepworth

Title: The Things We Keep Author: Sally Hepworth Published: January 2016, St. Martin’s Press  Format: ARC E-copy, 352 pages Source: Netgalley via Publisher Anna Forster, in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease at only thirty-eight years old, knows that her family is doing what they believe to be best when they take her to Rosalind House, an assisted living facility. She also knows there’s just one another resident her age,…

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Book Spotlight, Excerpt & Giveaway: No Ordinary Life by Suzanne Redfearn (Giveaway Closed)

Title: No Ordinary Life Author: Suzanne Redfearn  Published: February 2016, Grand Central Publishing Suzanne Redfearn delivers another gripping page-turner in her latest novel, a story about a young mother’s fight to protect her children from the dangerous world of Hollywood. Faye Martin never expected her husband to abandon her and her three children . . . or that she’d have to struggle every day to make ends meet. So when…

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Short & Sweet Review: Lost & Found in Cedar Cove by Debbie Macomber

Title: Lost & Found in Cedar Cove Author: D ebbie Macomber  Series: Rose Harbor, #1.5 Published: July 2013, Ballantine Books  Format: E-book, 36 pages Source: Library Debbie Macomber’s heartwarming new series, set at the Rose Harbor Inn in picturesque Cedar Cove, displays the author’s signature talent for creating characters who feel like friends, and small towns that feel like home. In this original short story available exclusively as an eBook,…

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#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in January 22

  #FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About      So, this week wasn’t my best week. I was nursing a head cold, plus I spent three days at my brother’s house babysitting my nieces. I didn’t make it to the gym at all this week, but that’s ok…I did focus on watching what I eat.  My sister-in-law is an amazing cook and…

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Review: Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave

Title: Eight Hundred Grapes Author: Laura Dave  Narrator: Joy Osmanski Published: June 2015, Simon & Schuster Audio Length: 8 hours 6 minutes Source: Library There are secrets you share, and secrets you hide… Growing up on her family’s Sonoma vineyard, Georgia Ford learned some important secrets. The secret number of grapes it takes to make a bottle of wine: eight hundred. The secret ingredient in her mother’s lasagna: chocolate. The…

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Review: The Forgotten Room by Karen White, Beatriz Williams & Lauren Willig

Title: The Forgotten Room Author: Karen White, Beatriz Williams & Lauren Willig Published: January 2016, NAL Format: ARC E-copy, 384 pages  Source: Netgalley via Publisher New York Times bestselling authors Karen White, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willig present a masterful collaboration—a rich, multigenerational novel of love and loss that spans half a century…. 1945: When the critically wounded Captain Cooper Ravenal is brought to a private hospital on Manhattan’s Upper…

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#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in January 15

  #FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About        Another good week…I managed to get another 5K on the treadmill at the gym again. And I’m done with jury duty…only needed to go in on Monday – those 14k+ steps that day were from me walking to and from the train station and then walking around the city…it was a cold…

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Review: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Title: Me Before You Author: Jojo Moyes Series: Me Before You, #1 Published: July 2013, Penguin Books  Format: Paperback, 369 pages Source: Personal copy Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex-Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair-bound after an accident. Will has always…

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Review: The Muralist by B.A. Shapiro (audio)

Title: The Muralist Author: B.A. Shapiro Narrator: Xe Sands  Published: November 2015, High Bridge Company / Algonquin Books Length: 9 hours 9 minutes / ARC Paperback 352 pages Source: Audio – Library / ARC – Publisher From the author of the New York Times bestseller The Art Forger comes a thrilling new novel of art, history, love, and politics that traces the life and mysterious disappearance of a brilliant young…

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Book Spotlights: The She Reads’ Books of Winter Selections

Last week, the gals at She Reads announced the three ‘Books of Winter’ selections. I’ll be reading these, so be sure to keep an eye out here for my reviews. So without further ado…here are the Books of Winter: Title: The Gates of Evangeline  Author: Hester Young Published: September 2015, G.P. Putnam’s Sons From a unique new talent comes a fast-paced debut, introducing a heroine whose dark visions bring to…

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Book Spotlight: The 8th Circle by Sarah Cain

Title: The 8th Circle Author: Sarah Cain Series: Danny Ryan Thriller, #1 Published: January 2016, Crooked Lane Books Format: Hardcover, 336 pages A year ago, Danny Ryan lost his wife and son in a car accident. He’s still reeling from the tragedy when Michael Cohen, his friend and fellow journalist, drives into the pond in front of his house with a bullet through his gut. With Michael’s death ruled a…

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Review: A Wedding on Primrose Street by Sheila Roberts

Title: A Wedding on Primrose Street Author: Sheila Roberts Series: Life in Icicle Falls, #7 Published: July 2015, MIRA Format: ARC E-copy, 384 pages  Source: Netgalley There’s nothing like a wedding! The joy, the fun, the memories—the stress. As a wedding planner, Anne Richardson has seen mothers of the bride turn into Momzillas, and she’s determined not to do that when it’s her daughter’s turn to get married. But once…

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2016 #ReadMyOwnDamnBooks Reading Challenge

I typically fail at TBR reading challenges despite having so many of my own books sitting on my shelves just waiting to be read…Each year without fail, I sign up for the challenges, saying “this year will be different…I will read my own books…I will make a dent in those piles sitting own my shelves” and without fail, those are the challenges that I never seem to make any progress…

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#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in January 8th

#FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About        It was a pretty good week…I managed to get in my 5K – actually did 2 this week, though I did them on the treadmill at the gym, but still got them in! I am in the middle of jury duty, so I don’t know what the rest of the month will hold,…

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Review: Night Blindness by Susan Strecker

Title: Night Blindness Author: Susan Strecker Published: September 2015, A Thomas Dunne Book for St. Martin’s Griffin Format: Paperback, 295 pages Source: Publisher One October night, when Jensen Reilly is sixteen, she and her high school sweetheart are involved in a horrible accident. Ever since then Jensen has been running from her past. But when Jensen’s beloved father is diagnosed with a brain tumor, she returns to her childhood home…

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Review: 3 Truths & a Lie by Lisa Gardner

Title: 3 Truths & a Lie Author: Lisa Gardner Series: Detective DD Warren,#7.5 Published: January 2016, Dutton  Format: ARC E-copy, 52 pages Source: Netgalley Boston Detective D.D. Warren faces her most brutal adversaries yet—a class of jaded thriller writers—in New York Times Bestselling Author Lisa Gardner’s exclusive e-Book short story In Lisa Gardner’s second short story, after the New York Times bestseller The 7th Month, Detective D.D. Warren takes on…

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2016 Goals for Reading/Blogging/Fitness

I have done this the last 3 years, and it helped me set myself up for the upcoming year. I think this will be a fixed feature on January 1 (or close to) of each year I blog. BALANCE: This is going to be my word of the year. I tend to get so focused on one thing to the exclusion of everything else and I really need to remember…

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#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in January 1

  #FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About      So, at the beginning of December, I challenged myself to do 10,000 steps everyday…and I did pretty well with that goal. I ended up getting that many steps 28 out of the 31 days…not too shabby!!! Of course, I realized a few things in setting that goal – as long as I go…

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Review & Giveaway: Anything for You by Kristan Higgins (Giveaway Closed!)

Title: Anything for You Author: Kristan Higgins Series: Blue Heron, #5 Published: December 2015, HQN Books Format: ARC E-copy, 416 pages Source: Netgalley via Little Bird Publicity Before you get down on bended knee…    …you should be pretty darn sure the answer will be yes. For ten years, Connor O’Rourke has been waiting for Jessica Dunn to take their on-again, off-again relationship public, and he thinks the time has…

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2016 New Authors Reading Challenge

The 2016 New Authors Reading Challenge is hosted by Literary Escapism, and it goes from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016. The goal of this reading challenge is to read new-to-you authors.  There’s no levels to join at for this challenge – which means that we get to pick how many new authors we want to read. I join this challenge primarily to keep track of how many new…

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2016 E-Book Reading Challenge

The 2016 E-Book Challenge is hosted by Annette’s Book Spot  and it goes from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016. I’ve done this challenge for the past couple years and love seeing just how much I end up reading on the iPad at the end of the year. I’m joining at the Megabytes level, which means I need to read at least 25 e-books in 2016. I’ll keep track…

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2016 Audiobook Challenge

The 2016 Audio Book Challenge is hosted by The Book Nympho & Hot Listens, and it goes from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016. I love listening to audio books and have been doing this challenge for the past few  years. I’m joining at the Marathoner level, which means I need to listen to 50+  audio books in 2016. I’ll keep track of them here.   ***As of 8/31/16, I…

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2016 Netgalley Reading Challenge

The 2016 Netgalley Reading Challenge is hosted by Ariel Avalon, and it goes from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016. This goal of this challenge is to not only read all those books we’ve requested from Netgalley but to then review them so as to get our feedback ratio up to the recommended 80%. I’m joining at the Hard level, which means I need to read and review at…

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2016 I Love Libraries Reading Challenge

The 2016 I Love Library Books Reading Challenge is hosted by Bea’s Book Nook, and it goes from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016. I love my local library and love doing this challenge. This is my seventh year participating in the library challenge! I’m joining at the Middle Grades level, which means I need to borrow at least 18 books from the library in 2016. I’ll keep track…

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2016 You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge

  The 2016 You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge is hosted by The Crafty Engineer’s Bookshelf, and it goes from January 1, 2016 through December 31, 2016. This is a reading challenge where we are challenged to read, read, read!!! I am going to join this challenge at Level 2, where I hope to read 150 books. Me Before You — Jojo Moyes Lost & Found in Cedar Cove…

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First Book of the Year 2016

Each year, Sheila over at Book Journey makes a big deal over what the first book she’ll read will be for the new year and once again she’s asked us to join her. I joined in last year and it was a lot of fun seeing what book everyone selected. For my first book of the year, I decided to go with a book that I’m probably one of the…

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Year in Review: 2015

2015 has been another great year and it’s hard to believe that 2016 starts tomorrow!   Some of the highlights of this year include: Attending BEA 2015 – for the second year in a row. Another fantastic experience with my partner-in-crime, T from Traveling with T!!! Lots of great books, meeting other bloggers in person, networking with publishers/publicists, meeting authors and attending some of the parties! So much fun! Still…

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Month in Review: December 2015

Here are my reading stats for December!  Books read:  13  Books I read:  Flash & Bones — Kathy Reichs (audio book) What She Knew — Gilly Macmillan Rose Harbor in Bloom — Debbie Macomber (audio book) The Distance — Helen Giltrow (audio book) A Wedding on Primrose Street — Sheila Roberts (e-book) Night Blindness — Susan Strecker Smoke — Catherine McKenzie (audio book) Love Letters — Debbie Macomber (audio book)…

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Review: Smoke by Catherine McKenzie (audio)

Title: Smoke Author: Catherine McKenzie Narrator: Amy McFadden, Cassandra Campbell, & Danny Campbell Published: October 2015, Brilliance Audio / Lake Union Publishing Length: 9 hours 51 minutes / ARC e-copy 370 pages Source: Publisher / Netgalley From the internationally bestselling author Catherine McKenzie comes an evocative tale of two women navigating the secrets and lies at the heart of a wildfire threatening their town. After a decade-long career combating wildfires,…

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Review: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah (audio)

Title: The Nightingale Author: Kristin Hannah Narrator: Polly Stone Published: February 2015, Macmillan Audio Length: 17 hours 26 minutes Source: Library In love we find out who we want to be. In war we find out who we are. FRANCE, 1939 In the quiet village of Carriveau, Vianne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he heads for the Front. She doesn’t believe that the Nazis will invade France…but…

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Book Spotlight & Giveaway: The View from Prince Street by Mary Ellen Taylor (Giveaway Closed!)

Title: The View from Prince Street Author: Mary Ellen Taylor Series: Alexandria, #2 Published: January 2016, Berkley Format: Paperback, 352 pages The author of The Union Street Bakery and At the Corner of King Street returns to Alexandria, Virginia, with a heartfelt tale of reconnection. Rae McDonald was fifteen when a car accident took her sister’s life and threw her own into reckless turmoil. When she got pregnant a year…

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The Sunday Post #95 (12.27.15)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. I’m also going to link this up with Kathryn’s It’s Monday post over at Book Date.         I can’t believe this is the last…

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#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in December 25

#FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About      Still doing pretty well with my goal this month of hitting 10k every day – I’m 22 for 25 days…not too bad. I didn’t quite make it on the 24th – that was a travel day for me, plus I was visiting my sister and nieces and then Christmas Eve is our big family…

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Review: What She Knew by Gilly Macmillan

Title: What She Knew Author: Gilly Macmillan Published: December 2015, William Morrow Paperbacks Format: Paperback, 496 pages Source: Publisher In her enthralling debut, Gilly Macmillan explores a mother’s search for her missing son, weaving a taut psychological thriller as gripping and skillful as The Girl on the Train and The Guilty One. In a heartbeat, everything changes… Rachel Jenner is walking in a Bristol park with her eight-year-old son, Ben,…

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#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in December 18

  #FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About      So far I’ve managed to hit my target of 10k steps 17 out of 18 days this month…not too bad!!! The one day I didn’t do it, I was pretty close, but was so tired and had a really bad headache. Oh well!   Here’s how my week went:      Dec 12: …

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Book Spotlight, Guest Post & Excerpt: Seized by Elizabeth Heiter

Please join me in welcoming Elizabeth Heiter back to Always With a Book. Elizabeth’s new book, Seized, the 3rd book in her Profiler series,  will be published at the end of the month. This is one of my favorite series and I’ll be reviewing it in the coming weeks, but for now, enjoy this great guest post and brief excerpt!!! Title: Seized Author: Elizabeth Heiter Series: The Profiler, #3 Published:…

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Review: The Distance by Helen Giltrow (audio)

Title: The Distance Author: Helen Giltrow Series: Charlotte Alton, #1 Narrator: Rachel Atkins Published: September 2014, Random House Audio / Doubleday Length: 13 hours 27 minutes / ARC e-copy 368 pages Source: Personal copy via Audible/ Netgalley A dark, ultra-contemporary, and relentlessly paced debut thriller about a London society woman trying to put her secret criminal past behind her, and the hit man who comes to her with an impossible…

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Short & Sweet Review: Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs (audio)

Title: Spider Bones Author: Kathy Reichs  Series: Temperance Brennan, #13  Narrator: Linda Emond  Published: August 2010, Simon & Schuster Audio  Length: 9 hours 30 minutes  Source: Library Kathy Reichs—#1 New York Times bestselling author and producer of the FOX television hit Bones—returns with the thirteenth riveting novel featuring forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan. John Lowery was declared dead in 1968—the victim of a Huey crash in Vietnam, his body buried…

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Review: Tricky Twenty-Two by Janet Evanovich (audio)

Title: Tricky Twenty-Two Author: Janet Evanovich Series: Stephanie Plum, #22 Narrator: Lorelei King Published: November 2015, Random House Audio Length: 6 hours 27 minutes Source: Library Something big is brewing in Trenton, N.J., and it could blow at any minute. Stephanie Plum might not be the world’s greatest bounty hunter, but she knows when she’s being played. Ken Globovic (aka Gobbles), hailed as the Supreme Exalted Zookeeper of the animal…

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Review: Rose Harbor in Bloom by Debbie Macomber (audio)

Title: Rose Harbor in Bloom Author: Debbie Macomber Series: Rose Harbor, #2 Narrator: Lorelei King Published: August 2013, Random House Audio / Ballantine Books Length: 9 hours 6 minutes / ARC E-copy, 336 pages Source: Library / Netgalley Hailed as “the reigning queen of women’s fiction” (The Sacramento Bee), Debbie Macomber is renowned for her novels of love, friendship, and the promise of fresh starts. Now Macomber returns to the…

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The Sunday Post #94 (12.13.15)

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead. I’m also going to link this up with Kathryn’s It’s Monday post over at Book Date.      It’s so hard to believe that this is December…

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#FitReaders: Weekly Check-in December 11

#FitReaders is hosted by Geeky Bloggers Book Blog  and That’s What I’m Talking About      It was a good week – and I’m still hitting my goal of 10k steps every day in December!!! I’ve had a lot of running around to do this week, so that’s where I got a lot of my steps, but I also took advantage of the warm weather we’ve been having (weird for…

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Review: The Hundred Gifts by Jennifer Scott

Title: The Hundred Gifts Author: Jennifer Scott Published: October 2015, NAL Format: Paperback, 384 pages Source: Publisher The national bestselling author of The Sister Season shares a new novel about a woman who discovers the spirit of the season is truly in the giving…. With the holidays around the corner, empty-nester Bren Epperson realizes that for the first time in decades, she has no large family to cook for, no celebration…

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Book Spotlight & Giveaway: Killing Trail by Margaret Mizushima (Giveaway closed)

Title: Killing Trail Author: Margaret Mizushima Series: A Timber Creek K-9 Mystery, #1 Published: December 2015, Crooked Lane Books Format: Hardcover, 320 pages When a young girl is found dead in the mountains outside Timber Creek, life-long resident Officer Mattie Cobb and her partner, K-9 police dog Robo, are assigned to the case that has rocked the small Colorado town. With the help of Cole Walker, local veterinarian and a…

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Book Spotlight & Giveaway: Once Shadows Fall by Robert Daniels (Giveaway closed)

Title: Once Shadows Fall Author: Robert Daniels Published: December 2015, Crooked Lane Books Format: Hardcover, 352 pages After years of paying her dues on the force, Beth Sturgis has earned her place as a detective for the Robbery-Homicide division of the Atlanta PD. Now, she’s heading up a major manhunt for a potential serial killer who’s working his way inward from the outskirts of the city. The copycat elements in…

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