Book Review: After a Fashion by Jen Turano

Every year, Harriet Peabody prays for something special to happen on her birthday. But this year it seems that God has forgotten about that prayer. In fact, on top of not having anything special happen, Harriet has had one of the worst days ever.
After an unfortunate incident with a client pretty much guarantees that Harriet will lose her job at the millenary, it seems she has no choice but to accept the strangest offer for a new job.

Oliver Addleshaw just needed a pretty woman to help him impress a client, but when that idea seems to have blown up in his face, he quickly scrambles to come up with plan B, and plan B looks an awful lot like Harriet Peabody.

Can a hat girl really convince the elite of New York that she is part of the upper crust, and will Oliver and Harriet's fake relationship develop into something deeper?

Seriously, I LOVED this story. In fact, I've already read it twice. There is really nothing I did not like about it. I love the time period, the fashion, the humor, the characters - it was such a great read. I loved Harriet's background and how it just keeps surprising and all the hilarious and dangerous situations she manages to find herself in. I really hope that there are follow up books about her room mates because it does seem like Turano set it up so that would happen. Two thumbs up from me! It's definietly going on my "keep" shelf.

A big thank you to Bethany House Publishing for a free copy of this book to review.

Book Review: Sabotaged by Dani Pettrey

Reef McKenna is glad to back working with his family now that he has found peace and purpose in his life. He is also glad to be working along side Kirra Jacobs, though the always goody-two-shoes Kirra has a hard time believing that the wild womanizer, Reef McKenna has changes his ways.
When Kirra's uncle disappears in the middle of a sled race, she knows something is very wrong and takes off in the middle of the night to find him. But Reef catches her and will not let her track down her uncle alone.
Unfortunately, Kirra was right and something is very wrong and now Kirra, Reef and the rest of the McKenna family are working around the clock to rescue him before it's too late.

I have really enjoyed getting to know the McKenna family over this series of books. The hard thing for me is the unbelievable amount of dangerous situations one family can get into in such a short period of time. It would make me think twice about joining the family ;-)
Once you get past that, the story lines are interesting and the romance is not too in your face because there is a lot of danger involved. I also like that the people have past problems that are hard and believable that they have to deal with. It helped that it was snowy when I read this book - I was able to commiserate with the characters :-)

Thank you to Bethany House Publishers for a free copy of the book to review.

Book Review: Buried Secrets by Irene Hannon

Small town police chief, Lisa Grant, is looking forward to spending the next few years in a calmer atmosphere than her previous job with the Chicago PD. But she will be needing all the skills she learned there when a human skeleton is uncovered by a construction crew. When she calls in to county for help, ex navy seal, Mac McGregor arrives and the two go to work solving what looks to be a very very cold case.
Though both detectives have been hoping for a quieter life, this case is certainly not that. Someone does not want any secrets from the past to be revealed and will go to any length to keep their secrets buried.

I always find it nice to open one of Hannon's stories and find a main character who is not in their twenties :-) There are not too many stories out there centered around anyone over 25 so it's nice to have people in their thirties for a change. The one thing that bothers me about Hannon's stories is the instant attraction "love at first sight" romance that happens. I think she writes good mysteries and I wish more time was spent on that than on the mushy side of things, but I'm sure that's others enjoy that - I just enjoy a good thriller and want to skip the mush to see what happens next :-)

Thank you to Revell Publishers for a free copy of this book to review.