Category: Book Reviews

Latinx Month Reads

Featured ~ The Bookish Fairy ~ Leave a comment

Featured in Frolic Media

Latinx Month (AKA Hispanic Heritage Month) is making my Cubanita heart burst with joy especially since this is the ultimate year for the Latinx book community! Now with the prevalence of Latinx authors popping up all over the place especially in the YA genre and amazing readathons like Latinx-a-thon that encourages readers to read more inclusively I literally have no shelf-control!

This year is such an exciting time to read Latinx books because it used to be that the only books that were getting published were issue books and now Latinx books are featuring Latinx characters doing some really  cool things such as opening up portals to another universe, a Wiccan bringing her BFF back from the dead, and baking magical Mexican treats! Here are my TBR recs that will take you through September and all the way through October 15th! 

like water for chocolate
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel

Like Water for Chocolate catalogs the history of the De La Garza family and tells the story of Tita. Tita is gifted with the ability to cook food in a magical way where it makes others feel what she feels. When Tita meets Pedro she falls hopelessly in love with him but Mexican tradition requires her to be unmarried and to watch after her mother till she dies. Pedro’s feelings for her is very requited and he marries her sister Rosaura so that he can still be close to Tita. The pining begins in this delectable tale of love, the transformative power of food, and how love can conquer all. 

Laura Esquivel’s Mexican tale is a classic in magical realism literature. My recommendations always begin with Like Water for Chocolate for anyone that wants to get into the genre of magical realism. This novel is unique and immersive in that Tita’s broken heart is translated through the mouth-watering Mexican food that she creates. The profound connection between Tita and Pedro will give you heartache and it perfectly articulates the heart-wrenching feeling of not being able to be with the one your in love with. 

Dreaming in Cuban
Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia

Dreaming in Cuban represents a story about a family that is ultimately divided by the Cuban revolution and the complicated feelings that it ensues. This character-driven novel tells the story about each character and their unique perspectives about their bittersweet island. Christina Garcia recounts Cuba in such a lyrical fashion and perfectly captures the beloved beauty of the island and its disintegration. 

This is one of the best books that I have ever read that details the honest feelings about the Cuban revolution. When I read this story I felt that each character represented someone in my family and it made me appreciate the struggles that my family went through during the Cuban revolution. Christina Garcia’s story is an ultimate Cuban gem that is supremely underrated and needs more recognition. The writing is beautifully poetic and captures the beauty and ruin of Cuba. 

The grief keeper
The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante

Marisol has always wanted to have the opportunity to live the American dream. Although her dreams come crashing down when she falls for a girl named Liliana. Marisol is forced to leave her home in El Salvador after her brother is murdered and her sister’s Gabi’s life is threatened. When they are caught crossing the border, Marisol is presented the opportunity to stay in the United States when she is asked to become a grief keeper. In this experimental study, Marisol is taking away the grief of someone suffering to be transferred over to her. Essentially the main subjects of the study are white teen girls from wealthy families and Marisol is assigned to take away their grief.

This is the group book for this year’s Latinx-a-thon and although this book is still on my TBR, I can already see that this will be a stunning read. Villansate’s book explores many heavy and controversial subjects about immigration, the society we live in today, and I have a feeling this book is going to completely shatter me. 

Sal and Gabi break the Universe
Sal & Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez

Sal Vidon is a gifted magician who is capable of getting a raw chicken into his bullies locker and even bringing back his mom from the dead! Being the new kid in Miami, he meets the ambitious Gabi Real who has Sal all figured out and soon Sal brings Gaby into his universe of magic. Until they realize that they could potentially put their universe in danger they go on an adventure to save the universe and it is filled with ropa vieja, atomic wedgies, and many laughs along the way. 

Sal & Gabi is like a rollercoaster that I don’t want to get off of. The characters are very dynamic, relatable, and it almost feels like they are going to grab you from the page and take you through their crazy teleportals! This is the kind of novel that you can gobble up in one sitting and not even realize it!

Undead Girl Gang
Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

Mila Flores is a kickass teenage Wiccan who lives life on her terms and doesn’t care what anyone thinks about her as long as she has her BFF Riley by her side. Until Riley is involved in a suicide pact with two other resident mean girls. Mila is on a mission to find out how her best friend Riley died and she refuses to listen to anyone’s explanation. Mila puts her Wiccan skills to use and brings her best friend Riley and the other girls back to life. Together they have to unearth the truth about their death and uncover their murderer before the spell wears off in seven days. 

I was completely sold by Lily Anderson’s book when I heard that it is a clever mix of Mean Girls, Hocus Pocus, and The Craft! This is everything I want in a novel and it is the ultimate read to gear up for Halloween! 

Back to School Diverse Reads

~ The Bookish Fairy ~ Leave a comment

Back to school season is ultimately upon us whether we are ready for it or not! Even though this teacher could have used another month off I still can’t help but get excited for the fresh beginnings of a brand new school year! There is also nothing better than delving into some good back to school diverse reads to really get me into the school mode. 

Here are five essential back to school reads with diverse characters and own voices authors to add to your back to school supply list!

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo

Emoni Santiago plays by the rules but the one place where she breaks them is when she is in the kitchen. She creates the kind of food that has magical and healing properties that revives everyone around her. Emoni has been dealing with some tough choices throughout her life when she got pregnant as a freshman and has to take care of her Abuela. When her high school offers an elective to study abroad in Spain for a culinary arts program she knows it’s an opportunity she can’t pass up. Despite the lack of money and time, Emoni knows that her passion for food is one that she simply cannot ignore.

This is an inspiring back to school read for those that have a dream that seems impossible. Not to mention, reading about the food will definitely give you a hankering for some good back to school snacks.

Autoboyography by Christina Lauren

Tanner Scott’s family moved from California to Utah which is known to be a devout Mormon community. Unfortunately, this has pushed him back into the closet. The bisexual teen expects to coast his way into his last semester of high school when he ultimately falls for the Mormon prodigy Sebastian who mentors the class he is enrolled in. Now Tanner must figure out whether he wants to coast through his senior year or risk outing himself to have a chance with his new crush.

Autoboyography seems to be an adorable rom-com back to school read that I definitely want to delve into. This is the first young adult romance by Christina Lauren and I know they will deliver the kind of fluffy romance that will leave us smiling from ear to ear. I have a feeling this is the kind of book that will make us nostalgic for first love and those obligatory butterflies. 

Analee, in Real Life by Janelle Milanes

Analee Echeverria is the kind of girl who is trying to figure out who she is after losing her mother to cancer three years ago. She plays two different identities. In school, she is a shy and awkward teenager. At home, she is the online avatar elf hunter of her favorite online game named Kiri who takes no prisoners. She would much prefer to get lost in her online world and avoid the world of high school until she gets an offer from the most popular jock in school. This offer makes Analee realize that she has an inner fierceness that is slowly waiting to come out.

Analee in Real Life was the first YA book I read with the main character who is Cuban and it made my heart so happy as a Cuban American woman. This fake dating trope has the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before feels only with a clever twist.  The thing I loved about Analee, in Real Life is that it illustrates the reality of what high school is really like without sugarcoating it. Milanes perfectly depicts the journey that Analee goes through in high school and slowly finds the Kiri that is inside her all along. 

The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed

The Nowhere Girls brings together three different girls from vastly different backgrounds to vindicate the rape of a classmate. Grace Salter is the new girl whose family had to escape their community due to their mother turning from a Baptist preacher to a radical liberal. Rosina Suarez is a queer girl from a Mexican family with a pension for punk music. Erin Delillo lives for marine biology and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Together these girls create the secret group The Nowhere Girls and they combat the sexist attitudes running throughout their school and bring justice to the rape of their classmate. 

Amy Reed’s book is giving me the Foxfire girl power vibes from the nineties and this is the exact kind of book we need in our #MeToo culture. The Nowhere Girls is the perfect book that tackles serious issues that high school students face in their day to day realities. 

Moxie by Jennifer Mathieu

Vivian Carter is tired of the sexist culture that pervades through the school and she begins to take action when she hears four little words. “Make me a sandwich.” Vivian is officially fed up and she decides to create a feminist zine and names it Moxie. Vivian’s mom used to be in the riot girl crowd and this influenced her to create the Riot Girl movement in her school. Vivian brings together all kinds of girls from all different backgrounds to come together to take a stand against the prevalent sexism in their school. She meets girls like Lucy Hernandez who is the quintessential Moxie girl and she encourages Vivian to push the boundaries of Moxie. Vivian gets all the girls together to spark the Moxie movement and they learn to find their own inner Moxie girl! 

This book will teach women and girls everywhere to do what makes them happy and let go of the stereotypes and unrealistic expectations that are put upon them. Moxie is the kind of book that should be required reading in schools because it truly explores the different facets of feminism and how we view it in our society today. Not to mention, it will also inspire us to let our badass riot grrrl self out and live our best Moxie lives! 

Wedding Disaster Books

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Featured in Frolic Media

Wedding season is ultimately upon us and it’s the perfect time to delve into some wedding-themed books! It’s been two years since my wedding and especially after all the planning and stress I endured with trying to trim down the guest list, table seating arrangements, the restaurant changing the whole menu, and family drama these days I would much rather read about weddings! These are the kinds of books that teach you that weddings aren’t perfect but it is the one day that you will never forget!

Save the Date by Morgan Matson

Charlie Grant’s sister is having a wedding coming up and she is excited to escape her impending college plans and leaving her childhood home to have a three day weekend with her big rambunctious family! Her plans for a picture-perfect family wedding go awry when the wedding planner escapes due to fraudulent activity. The wedding service “Where There’s a Will” steps in as replacements to do damage control. Charlie meets Bill who works for his uncle’s company “Where There’s a Will” and Charlie teams up with him to help save her sister’s wedding. Charlie and Bill have no idea the wedding disasters that are in store for them but through the disasters, there is a sweet romance that develops between them. Charlie’s whirlwind wedding weekend helps her realize that things are not always what they seem and that change isn’t always such a bad thing.

Save the Date has been described as a “Father of the Bride meets Sixteen Candles” kind of book. It is a book that will make you laugh, drive you insane, and it will most importantly leave you with the heartfelt message of change being inevitable but the love of a family being unchangeable.

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren  

Olive is someone who has always felt supremely unlucky. Although her twin sister Ami holds all the luck in the world from meeting her fiancé for the first time in a meet-cute rom-com fashion and financing her entire wedding through Internet contests. Olive’s bad luck carries onto the wedding when she is forced to spend a day with her nemesis Ethan who is the best man. When the wedding guests get food poisoning from eating shellfish they are the only ones who didn’t get affected. And now there is the once in a lifetime opportunity for them to go on a free vacation to Hawaii. Olive and Ethan decide to set aside their hate for one another and pretend to play newlyweds until they realize that they are not pretending anymore.

I am a sucker for the hate to love romance trope and I think that Christina Lauren will create the perfect blend of hot tension that will leave me wanting more. There is just something about a romance set in Hawaii that provides the perfect summer love feels. I know I am going to enjoy cracking open this book by the beach with a margarita in hand.

Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin

Rachel is the girl that has always played by the rules. She is a successful attorney who lives in Manhattan. Her best friend Darcy throws her a birthday party for turning 30 and her best friends fiancée is also in attendance. Rachel has always harbored a secret crush on her best friends fiancée and always feels that she can never measure up to her best friend. Until that night she decides to throw the rules out the window and ends up sleeping with Darcy’s fiancée. When Darcy’s fiancée reveals that he always had feelings for her it puts Rachel in a difficult position and it forces her to choose between the love of her life or her childhood best friend.

When I was planning my wedding, I spontaneously picked up this book thinking it was a fluffy chick lit and I was completely blown away. I saw the movie before I read the book (The horror!) and the amount of emotion and turmoil that the book exhibited was so much deeper than the movie. The indecision that Rachel goes through is so well-written and believable. I love how the topic of cheating isn’t written in a way to paint Rachel as the other woman and it really explores the emotional journey that the character goes through. If you want a wedding-themed book that explores the complicated nature of the relationship between two best friends then pick up this book!

BOOK REVIEW: Hers to Protect by Catherine Lanigan

~ Erica Welch ~ 2 Comments


On Tour with Prism Book Tours

Erica here: Guys! I’ve been horrible at sharing reviews for books this year! I haven’t signed up to review very many, and yet and still the reviews keep falling through the cracks in the surface of a BUSY first half of the year. But I’m committed to bringing you more reviews (ahem…ON TIME…ahem), and what better way to back up that promise than share my review of Hers to Protect, book #11 in the Shores of Indian Lake series by Catherine Lanigan? So let’s get to it, shall we? (Please note, I received an advance Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review)

I have a confession to make. Somehow, I’ve missed the first 10 books in this series. A surreptitious search of my Goodreads shelves says I haven’t read anything else by Ms. Lanigan. I know, the rule is every books in a romance line like Harlequin’s Heartwarming line can be read as a standalone, but every time I read about a couple in this book, I wondered what happened in THEIR book. This didn’t detract from the story for me, but I figured you should know and take my perceptions with a grain of salt if you’re a die-hard, start at the beginning of the series and go straight through kind of reader like me. There’s a handy dandy “other books in the series” graphic at the end of this post in case you want to go back and read the others.

In Hers to Protect, we’re following Indian Lake rookie cop Violet Hawkins in her quest to become a detective. Up to this point, she’s done little more than hand out the occasional parking ticket, but she knows she has the instincts and skills to be a Grade A detective. She’s secured her first “real” assignment-a stakeout. She’s tasked with finding a suspect in a drug trafficking gang. Instead, she pulls over famous race car driver Josh Stevens.

Josh Stevens is week’s away from an important race when he ends up in Violet’s path. He doesn’t need the bad publicity of a speeding ticket and arrest in the final lead up to the big race. Both his lawyer and his manager advise him to lay low and find a way to get in the tiny town’s good graces. Just when he’s winning over the town, and the pretty Officer Hawks, her investigation and his past seem to place him on Violet’s bad side. Will Violet end up placing Josh under arrest again, or will her heart be the one behind bars?

I really enjoyed this book! I read it in a couple days (work and life interrupted, unfortunately). The plot was engaging and Ms. Lanigan kept the conflict strong throughout the story. The author did a great job of balancing moving both the plot and Josh and Violet’s relationship forward.

I have to admit, I didn’t like the characters right away. They both jumped to conclusions and made assumptions about each other that were a bit extreme. This doesn’t usually bother me, but these came before I felt I had the opportunity to learn their true characters. It took me a while to sort them out and grow to like and care about them.

Another thing that threw me off about them is how quickly they went from dislike/distrust to having strong feelings for each other. I was little more than 50% in when I felt like they might have the conflict resolved and race toward the happily ever horizon. Luckily, Catherine through some hairpin turns in the road to force them to slow down. I don’t have a problem with strong feelings early and often if the writer can keep the conflict equally strong, and Ms. Lanigan managed to do so.

Other than the conflict and plot, I also loved the subplot. The project Violet and Josh work on together with other members of the Indian Lake community not only brought out a bit of the characters’ backstories, it showed their commonality, yet sharpened their conflict at the same time (I won’t say how. You’ll have to pick up the book to find out!).

I would recommend Hers to Protect to anyone looking for a clean read with a compelling conflict, a light enemies to lovers angle, and plenty of small town heart.

Hers to Protect
(Shores of Indian Lake #11)
By Catherine Lanigan
Contemporary Romance
Paperback & ebook, 384 Pages
April 1st 2019 by Harlequin Heartwarming

She’s sworn to protect…

But does that include a speeding celebrity?

Violet Hawks is a by-the-books police officer—so when she catches a man speeding, she arrests him. Only, the man is famous race car driver Josh Stevens. To make amends, Josh launches a charm campaign, and it works on the small town…and on Violet. But when Josh is connected to an investigation, Violet begins to wonder—can she trust her instincts when her heart is involved?

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Other Books in the Series


About the Author

Catherine Lanigan is the international bestselling and award-winning author of over forty-five published titles in both fiction and non-fiction, including the novelizations of Romancing the Stone and The Jewel of the Nile. Ms. Lanigan’s novels have been translated into over twenty-four languages. Lanigan was tasked by the NotMYkid foundation to pen a collection of compelling and informative true stories of teen addicts. Ms. Lanigan’s SHORES OF INDIAN LAKE series for HARLEQUIN HEARTWARMING includes LOVE SHADOWS, HEART’S DESIRE , A FINE YEAR FOR LOVE, KATIA’S PROMISE, FEAR OF FALLING, SOPHIE’S PATH, PROTECTING THE SINGLE MOM, FAMILY OF HIS OWN, HIS BABY DILEMMA, RESCUED BY THE FIREFIGHTER and HER TO PROTECT (2019).

Ms. Lanigan is a frequent speaker at literary functions and book conventions as well as inspiring audiences with her real stories of angelic intervention from her Angel Tales series of books. She is an outspoken advocate for domestic violence and abuse and was honored by The National Domestic Violence Hotline in Washington, D.C. She has been a guest on numerous radio programs including “Coast to Coast” and on television interview and talk show programs as well as blogs, podcasts and online radio interview programs. She writes a monthly blog for Heartwarmingauthors.blogspot.com.

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Book Review: Romancing His Rival by Jennifer Shirk

~ Erica Welch ~ Leave a comment

If you’ve been following By Her Shelf for a while, you may remember me reviewing a book called Catch Him If You Can by Jennifer Shirk (you can find the review here). In that review, I said

This isn’t my first Jennifer Shirk book, and it most definitely won’t be my last. I have to know what happens in the next book to the next heroine. I know Jennifer is going to give her a great happily ever after as well.

Six months later, I had the opportunity to read that heroine’s book. Entangled Publishing sent me an advance copy of Romancing His Rival by Jennifer Shirk to review because I begged requested it. 

Title: Romancing His RivalRomancing His Rival

Author: Jennifer Shirk

Release Date: February 11, 2019

Review:  Hotel receptionist Elena Mason is left heartbroken months before her wedding when her fiancé dumps her, and it’s all Lucas Albright III’s fault. Her fiancé’s so-called best man talked him out of marrying Elena, and months later, she still hasn’t recovered, or stopped believing her fiancé will realize they’re meant to be together and come back. As for Lucas, Elena hopes to never see him again.

Lucas Albright is a marketing executive on the fast track to promotion. After a failed marriage, Lucas focuses all of his attention on his career, and it’s paid off. Convinced he works better alone, professionally and personally, Lucas is frustrated to find out his long sought after promotion is dependent upon him working with the one person who thinks of him as her archenemy.

Elena knows she has to work with Lucas. but that doesn’t mean she’s going to make it easy for him. She wants him to pay for breaking up her engagement. Lucas is willing to do whatever it takes to secure his promotion, even work with Elena. But the closer Elena and Lucas work together, the more each has trouble remembering they’re supposed to be rivals and not romantic partners.

I was ready to read Elena’s story from the time I turned the last page of Catch Him if You Can. The little glimpse into what happened with Elena intrigued me and I couldn’t wait to see how Ms. Shirk would pull of Elena’s happily ever after. Coming to a book with high expectations like this can be dangerous. I loved Elena as a supporting character, but how would I feel about her as a heroine? Could Jennifer make me love this character and her hero as much as Wade and Arden?

When I first met Elena in Romancing His Rival, I didn’t connect with her right away. I wanted to grab her and shake her out of her depressive funk. I wanted to say “get over it, already!” She seemed a little too whiny and was a little too eager to foist all the responsibility onto Lucas for why her relationship didn’t work out. Yet there was something about her that kept me reading.

This also did a curious thing: it immediately made me more willing to hear Lucas’s side of the story. Instead of being aligned with Elena against him, I was open to the idea there would be more to him and what he did or didn’t do than Elena knew or was willing to admit. I couldn’t love a man who went around destroying engagements for fun, but I could hear out the guy who was being unjustly blamed for the fate of an entire relationship.

Once Lucas and Elena were on the page together, things got even better. Even though Lucas is supposed to be the uptight ad exec, he’s funny and even laid back with Elena, who, although usually rainbows and sunshine, is acerbic and a little dramatic with Lucas to begin with. I liked them together from their first encounter on the page.

It’s evident from their first appearances that both of these characters have some growing and changing to do, and Ms. Shirk pulls them through it with an invisible string. Their actions, even the slightly outrageous ones, seem self-motivated and not driven by the plot. There were a couple moments I felt pulled out of the book by a bit of dialogue that felt clunky, but for the most part, I was able to immerse myself in Elena and Lucas’s story.

I would recommend Romancing His Rival to anyone looking for a sweet, enemies to lovers romance with humor liberally sprinkled in. Although you don’t have to have read them to enjoy Romancing His Rival, I would also recommend Bargaining with the Boss and Catch Him If You Can, the first two books in the Accidentally Yours Series by Jennifer Shirk.

Star Rating 3.5/5

Review: Cowboys Need Not Apply by Robert Tate Miller

~ Erica Welch ~ Leave a comment

Happy Monday, fellow readers! I’m experiencing a bit of a binge hangover after watching a full season of TV show in one evening (a show gone much too soon, by the way), but I wanted to share another review with you. Entangled Publishing sent me an advance copy of Cowboys Need Not Apply by Robert Tate Miller because I requested it. I couldn’t miss this opportunity. What romance lover wouldn’t want to read the story of a cowboy and a prima ballerina? It was only after I requested it that I realized Cowboys Need Not Apply would unique in another way: it’s written by a man. I haven’t read any Nicholas Sparks or any other big name male romance writers, so I was interested in seeing the spin a guy would put on a romance. You can get your copy of Cowboys Need Not Apply and draw your own conclusions starting today, August 13, 2018.

Title: Cowboys Need Not Apply

Author: Robert Tate Miller

Release Date: August 13, 2018

Review: Rodeo rider Matt “Mad Dog” Walker is on the fast track to being All Around Cowboy, the best bronco rider in the world when one bad ride tears his ACL. The rodeo doc is convinced Matt should retire, or at least sit out the rest of the season, but Matt is too close to achieving his dream of being the best and fulfilling a promise he made to his father before he passed to sit out the Big Ride. Matt’s uncle and manager Harry is convinced he should take the doctor’s advice, but knowing his stubborn nephew, he finds the best rehab facility in the country to give him a shot at a full recovery before his foolhardy ride.

Prima ballerina Jessica Carmichael knows something is wrong as soon as she lands a sauté in a performance. The doctors confirm she’s torn her ACL. All Jessica knows is dancing, and she refuses to miss the Rite of Spring performance where she made her debut at age sixteen. If she’s going to dance again, she has to be able to trust her knee one hundred percent, and the only way she’ll do that is if she works with the best rehabilitation clinic in the country.

When Matt and Jessica both arrive at the clinic, their competitive natures cause them to push one another in therapy to good affect. They came to heal their damaged knees and get back on top of their game, but could these two competitors win at the game of love as well?

Robert Tate Miller has crafted a Cutting Edge-esque romance that’s funny and witty, but most of all heartwarming. Jessica and Matt are both natural born competitors who love what they do. Neither one is ready to walk away from their career, even in the face of such a serious injury. Although the Manhattan born and bred ballerina and the Montana ranch owning rodeo rider live in two different worlds, they share a grit and determination, and a mutual attraction, that makes their burgeoning romance fun to watch. I also enjoyed the supporting characters of Jessica’s sister, Kat, and Matt’s uncle, Harry. They injected much needed realism and sound advice into the headstrong duo.

In addition to a man’s name being on the cover of the book, there were a couple other things that were different about this romance. The hero and heroine didn’t meet until I was about 12% into the book, and they spend a sizeable amount of time away from each other in comparison to other category romance titles. There were also a few points where I felt like the narration turned more clinical and distant than it should have been for the poignancy of the moment the characters (and the reader) were in. Lastly, if I never hear the term “in the footlights” again, I think it will be too soon.

Overall, I enjoyed the crisp, concise language and the way Miller unfolded the story. Miller does a great job of establishing the characters of Jessica and Matt in the readers’ mind and bringing the New York and Montana settings to life.  I loved the banter between Jessica and Matt, and I couldn’t wait to see how the Big Ride and the “big dance” went. I would recommend this opposites attract romance to anyone who loves their romance with witty banter, loveable characters, settings that become characters, and cowboys who can ride a bucking bronco and jeté, plié, and sauté.

Star Rating: 3.5/5

Review: Catch Him If You Can by Jennifer Shirk

~ Erica Welch ~ 1 Comment

Happy Tuesday, fellow readers! *Side note: I need a cool name for my readers. What should I call you?*  I’m still recovering from a long weekend of working, but I wanted to share a review with you. Entangled Publishing sent me an advance copy of Catch Him if You Can by Jennifer Shirk because I begged  requested it. I’d read Ms. Shirk before and really enjoyed her writing, and I LOVE a fake fiancé romance, so I had to read this one. You can get your copy of Catch Him if You Can on August 13, 2018. 

Title: Catch Him if You Can

Author: Jennifer Shirk

Release Date: August 13, 2018

Review: Veterinarian Wade Roberts doesn’t want to fall in love again. After losing his wife to cancer, he’s more than content running his veterinary clinic and having occasional relationships with women who know not to expect forever. Someone should tell that to the matchmaking ladies in town who keep sending marriage minded women his way. It’s only gotten worse since his sister’s engagement. Wade needs to do something to dissuade them before he’s buried in baked goods and his clinic becomes the set of the next season of The Bachelor.

Wedding Planner Arden Pearson has her own crisis to deal with. Her business is in big trouble after one of her grooms quit his job and moved to the Bahamas in lieu of marrying his betrothed. When Wade approaches her about pretending to be his girlfriend, she turns him down. However, meeting with a huge potential client who would prefer to have a planner with personal experience planning a wedding, Arden changes her mind. Arden does have experience planning her own wedding–the groom just didn’t show up, much like her recent Bahamas Bolter. Instead of admitting this, she approaches Wade with a deal: she’ll get rid of the matchmakers and marriage minded women overrunning his waiting room if he’ll help her land and keep the contract that could make or break her business. It’s a win win arrangement between old friends. What could possibly go wrong?

I’m a huge fan of the tropes in Catch Him if You Can: fake fiancé and friends to lovers. In Shirk’s capable hands, the tropes feel new and fresh. Usually I fall in love with the hero first. If I can identify with the heroine, I’m all in. In this book, though, I loved Arden from her introduction sassing Wade in the coffeeshop line. She was smart alecky and fun but with emotional depth that made me really root for her. Wade’s character was swoon-worthy. He loves animals, can’t bring himself to tell off the sweet old ladies who keep trying to fix him up, and he honors the commitments he makes, which is why he’s so reticent to make them. He doesn’t take commitment lightly, and that makes him the perfect guy for gun shy Arden, who, deep down, longs for someone who will follow through and commit to doing life with her.

This story got me in all of my feels. It was funny, and sweet, with shades of sadness that made the good stuff even better. The black moments were throw your book frustrating, but I couldn’t put it down until I finished it. This isn’t my first Jennifer Shirk book, and it most definitely won’t be my last. I have to know what happens in the next book to the next heroine. I know Jennifer is going to give her a great happily ever after as well.

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a sweet friends to lovers romance with a healthy dose of fake fiancé that features characters you can root for from page one and wouldn’t mind seeing again in the next book. This is the second book in a series, but it is standalone. If you’d like to read them in order, start with Bargaining with the Boss.

Star Rating: 4/5

Review: Her Lost and Found Baby by Tara Taylor Quinn

~ Erica Welch ~ 6 Comments

On Tour with Prism Book Tours
Hello, fellow readers! Erica here. Today I have the pleasure of being part of a review tour for Tara Taylor Quinn’s newest release, her first with Special Edition, Her Lost and Found Baby. I’ve reviewed  TTQ before on tour, so when I saw the opportunity to review this one, I jumped at the chance. You can read my review of The Good Father here. 
Here’s the description for Her Lost and Found Baby:

Her Lost and Found Baby

By Tara Taylor Quinn

Contemporary Romantic Suspense

Paperback & ebook, 224 Pages

August 1st 2018 by Harlequin Special Edition

Friends. Without benefits. They both agreed.

Until she stole his heart.

Tabitha Jones will find her kidnapped toddler…even if it means searching every daycare in Southern California. So when her hunky, wealthy neighbor, Johnny Brubaker, offers a deal, Tabitha sees it as an ideal way to expand her search. In exchange for working his food truck, Johnny agrees to pose as Tabitha’s husband. It’s the perfect relationship…until Johnny realizes posing as a family man isn’t enough anymore.

My review: I first encountered Tara Taylor Quinn’s emotionally gripping work when she wrote for Harlequin Superromance. I followed her to Harlequin Heartwarming and was just as happy with her work there. I expected some things to change with the transition to the Special Edition line, but I hoped Quinn’s signature style would still be evident in the shorter format story.
When I began Her Lost and Found Baby, I wasn’t sure I was going to get my usual TTQ book. The beginning felt rushed, and it took me a couple chapters to get my head around the character of Tabitha. I attribute this to the shorter length of the book and the necessity to get the scenario set quickly. I felt like I was playing catch up on how we came to be at this point in the story. 
I had no trouble connecting with the character of Johnny Brubaker. He came across like a nice guy who was helping a woman through what had to be the toughest time of her life. I loved him immediately. 
After the initial jerky start, I really got into the story. The mystery of where Tabitha’s son Jackson was served as an interesting backdrop to the developing relationship between Tabitha and Johnny. The supporting characters were well developed and acted realistically for the situation they were placed in. Even though the book was considerably shorter than I’m used to from TTQ, the pace was well set and kept. The story progressed in ways that kept me invested in the outcome. 
Tara Taylor Quinn has written a touching story about two people who set out to help each other with their “life quests” and succeed far beyond their initial expectations. More than checking off goals, they build the possibility of love after tragedy. I would recommend this book to anyone looking for an emotionally significant romance with a well-paced, well-developed plot, a hero any woman would love falling for her, and a strong heroine who will stop at nothing to find her son but still manages to care for others.
3.5/5 stars for compelling characters, a finely orchestrated plot, a perfectly paced romantic element, and good secondary characters. 
About the Author



The author of more than 70 original novels, in twenty languages, Tara Taylor Quinn is a USA Today bestseller with over six million copies sold. A 2015 RITA finalist Tara appears frequently on bestseller lists, including #1 placement on Amazon lists, and multiple showings on the Publisher’s Weekly Bestseller list. She has appeared on national and local TV across the country, including CBS Sunday Morning.
Tara is a supporter of the National Domestic Violence Hotline. If you or someone you know might be a victim of domestic violence in the United States, please contact 1-800-799-7233.
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Review: Amish Country Ambush by Dana R. Lynn

~ Erica Welch ~ 1 Comment

Full disclosure: Dana R. Lynn is one of my oldest writing friends. We were matched together as critique buddies along with Christina Yother sometime after So You Think You Can Write 2013. The first manuscript of hers I critiqued became her first published book, Presumed Guilty, in April of 2015. I’m also a part of her Dream Team, which receives free copies of her releases to review. Despite this, my review is my honest opinion about this work. Enjoy!

Amish Country Ambush LynnPolice dispatcher Elise St. Clair is trying to start over in Lamar Pond after her sister’s murder. She is raising her nephew with the help of a nanny and cleaning lady. On a shift that started as routinely as any other, Elise receives a call that throws her into a panic: the Amish girl who cleans her home calls saying someone has broken into Elise’s home and attacked her nephew’s nanny…and the attacker might still be in the house.

Elise races to her home to find the nanny dead, her nephew and the cleaning lady missing, and herself face to face with her biggest nightmare: her sister’s killer, her murderous brother in law.

Police officer Ryan Parker responds to Elise’s home. He doesn’t know Elise well, but he’s immediately drawn to her plight. He wants to help find the missing child and the young Amish teenager they believe is trying to keep him hidden, but complications abound. The biggest complication is Elise’s claim her brother in law is involved–a brother in law police believe died in a car accident before Elise moved to Lamar Pond.

Ryan and Elise are racing against time and a would be kidnapper to bring Elise’s nephew and his protector back to their families. As they work together to unravel the tangled web of suspects and motives, the alliance between them feels less like a temporary partnership and more like a lifetime proposition. Can Ryan and Elise find the boy, protect the girl, and live to see the love growing between them blossom into forever?

Amish Country Ambush is part of the Amish Country Justice series and like Ms. Lynn’s previous works, is set in the fictional town of Lamar Pond in Pennsylvania. Most of the books thus far have centered around the police force in Lamar Pond, so if you’ve read the previous books, you are somewhat familiar with Ryan Parker. You might have even been waiting to learn more of his story and see him find love. You look forward to seeing characters you remember from previous books and if you’re like me, you hunt for clues as to who the next hero/heroine might be. All of this is wonderful fun for me, but don’t let the fact it’s in a series deter you. This book can be read as a standalone.

I liked this book. Ms. Lynn is skilled at creating and building suspense. The plot is complex and has enough twists and turns to keep the reader flipping the pages to see what else will happen to Elise, Ryan, her nephew and the cleaner. There are a few threads in this book that need to be wrapped up, and Ms. Lynn does this well without showing all the work that has to be involved in the undertaking. Overall, I enjoyed the journey this book took me on.

The element that makes or breaks a book to me, especially a romance, is character. If you don’t fall in love with or become invested in what happens to the characters, the book won’t work. In Ryan Parker, Ms. Lynn created a hero you could hang a story on. Ryan is efficient and capable. He’s also gentle and compassionate. The reader can easily identify with him struggling to stay professional and focused while growing more and more concerned about protecting the woman he’s starting to love. Ryan has an unexpected grit to him; he refuses to give up or back down. He makes a swoon-worthy hero.

In romance, I have to fall in love with the hero and identify with the heroine. I have to be able to place myself in her shoes at any given time. Elise St. Clair is a woman who’s frantic at the disappearance of the nephew she raises like her own son. She wants nothing more than to find him. She’s strong and stubborn, refusing to be shut out of what’s happening or treated like any other victim. While I ended up loving Elise, it took me a while to get there. In the beginning, she was a little too frantic and acted without thinking too many times. It showed the state of mind of a woman in her situation, but it seemed to take her too long to find her feet and decide to work with the police. This stuck with me because she works with the police department as a dispatcher. She has only been there a year or so, keeps to herself, and has trust issues, but I expected her to know be willing to accept help to find her nephew a little quicker. Again, in the end, I grew to like Elise just as much as Ryan, but it was touch and go in the beginning.

I would recommend Amish Country Ambush to anyone who loves their romance with a strong faith and suspense threads, a man in uniform, a self-reliant, stubborn heroine, and a dash of Amish culture.

3 1/2 */ B