Page Turners

February

Sweet Home Carolina
By Patricia Rice
Reviewed by Julie Opdyke

Amy Warren, recently divorced mother of two, needs a home and job. She’s orchestrating the town’s purchase of the recently closed textile mill in hopes of reopening the mill and putting the town back to work, herself included. When she learns there is another bidder, she’s determined to convince the outsider to leave the mill alone. Unfortunately she keeps getting distracted by the handsome stranger’s charm and kindness toward her children.

Jacques St. Etienne has come to Northfork hoping to unearth historic weaving patters from the closed mill. He plans to buy the mill, keep the patterns and sell the equipment, but he’s drawn to the small town and in particular the very persistent Amy. I loved how Jacques, a playboy world traveler becomes Zach to everyone in the town as he begins to put down roots.

The sequel to Small Town Girl, Sweet Home Carolina brings us back to a small town in the North Carolina mountains. The town and its citizens play an integral part in the developing relationship between Amy and Zach. In Sweet Home Carolina Patricia Rice again weaves tried and true romance elements into a unique and memorable story that will resonate long after the last page is read.

Seeing Eye Mate
By Annmarie McKenna
Reviewed by Kris Anderson writing as Dee S. Knight

In Seeing Eye Mate, Annmarie McKenna combines shapeshifters and mystery in a darn sexy tail … uh, I mean tale.  Caelan Graham is the Prime (the Alpha male) of his pack, but only because he beat his twin brother, Eli, into the world by two minutes. Except for that stroke of fate, like the oldies song from the 1960s, Eli would be Leader of the Pack.

Lately, someone has been killing female mates. Though no women have been murdered in Caelan’s pack, the crimes have seriously affected pack society and could explode into full-blown investigations, threatening the security and secrecy of all of the packs.

While Eli and Caelan have a beer and discuss how to discover the killer, a woman walks into the bar. Eli sees her first and more or less calls a lustful dibs. However, Caelen scents her, too, and knows immediately she is his mate, meaning Eli has to back off. Jeez, can’t he catch a break at all?

Tieran Jones has wandered into the bar because her car broke down right outside the door. The very last thing on her mind is meeting a man, much less a male wolf. Tieran can’t shapshift, but she does have special talents: she has visions. She’s also a medium, at least as far as communicating with her grandmother, dead for ten years. Her experience with men has been painful because they see her extrasensory powers as weird instead of special.

 She doesn’t know it (though Granny tries to tell her) that Caelan is different. As her mate, he will trust and protect her with his life. The sexual pull is so strong between them, they share wild monkey sex (if a wolf can have monkey sex) before they share secrets. By then, well, who cares if a guy runs around on four legs now and then, or a lady sees murders in her mind if the sex is really good?

 Unfortunately, when Tieran envisions the killings, what she sees points to Eli as the bad wolf. Could he be jealous enough of his brother to be causing all this mayhem? Does he covet being head of the pack? Only when Tieran’s life is endangered and Caelan is rushing to save her does the truth emerge.

 I thoroughly enjoyed Seeing Eye Mate. The male characters were unabashedly Alpha, with all the machismo and attitude the word implies. Tiernan doesn’t take any guff, though. She also enjoys the sex—demands the sex, by golly—and that’s a nice change from the coy maidenly heroine we see so often.

 Seeing Eye Mate is the first in a two-part series. Look for Checkmate coming soon from Samhain Publishing.

Love in the Fast Lane
By Jenna McKnight
Reviewed by Pam Trader

When Rolex auto racing series champion Scotty Templeton picks up a passenger in the form of a ghost during a race, he’s sufficiently rattled to end up with some unexpected time off courtesy of a couple of broken bones. Even injured, the ghost, legendary race car driver Larry “Speed” Cooper, won’t leave him alone until Scotty agrees to deliver a recently purchased Hemi engine to Coop’s daughter. Between talking to ghosts and his casts, Scotty’s lost his ride for the series so he agrees to the road trip, especially since it will get rid of the ghost once and for all.

When Coop’s ghostly antics strand Scotty in St. Louis at Grammy’s house, Maggie Cooper reschedules her job interview in Chicago in order to stay home and keep an eye on things. She may be addicted to speed herself, but Maggie knows better than to get mixed up with a charming race car driver who’s always off pursuing the next championship. She's got a shoe-in job offer and a predictable boyfriend waiting for her. Good intentions never last, of course, and in due time Maggie is caught up with Scotty in the search for a valuable 1971 Lemon Twist ‘Cuda belonging to her father. What she finds along the way is love, laughter, and herself.

You don’t have to be a race fan to enjoy Jenna McKnight’s latest book Love In The Fast Lane because most of the story takes place off-track, after the TV cameras are off. If you are a racing fan (or have spent hours watching the Barrett-Jackson car auctions), you'll smile a little more at the car and racing references. Chock full of interesting characters and ghost-inspired activities, this book is a fast and fun read.  Scotty and Maggie score a first-place romantic finish while reminding us to be true to ourselves.