Readers' Isle

I often brag on Maggie Shayne and The Littlest Cowboy just gives me more to talk about. Shayne flawlessly combines all of my favorite attributes in a book. She gives us a lot of amazing characters with great personalities and physical descriptions. Then there is the deep suspense, a ton of action, and a great romance. When Shayne tells you a story, you’re there. You can feel the tension and smell the gunpowder. The book and the entire series are “romantic suspense” so my warnings for them seem obvious. There is graphic violence, a lot, in many forms. Also, it contains graphic language and some sex. The sex isn't extremely graphic, nor is there a lot of it but it is there. Last, this is not a light fun happy read. It's tense and emotion packed. I know I had a tear or two come to eye.  The Littlest Cowboy is the first novel in The Texas Brands Series. The Series revolves around the Brand family, brothers Garrett, Wes, Elliot, Adam, and Ben and their sister Jessi and a bunch ...

   I know I have been on a thriller/ suspense kick lately and Deathwatch by Dana Marton is the latest one I've read. This was a great book. It is like ice cream with all my favorite sprinkles on top such as, explosions, killers, car chases, fight scenes, and of course romance.  And the cherry on top of that, it was a free download for Kindle when it snagged it.    Marton has you hooked from the first line, literally. The first line is,  " Kate Bridges thought attending her own funeral would be the hardest part." I mean, how can you stop after that. I couldn't. I had to know what the hardest part would be. The book keeps you guessing, and turning pages through all the tension, danger and action.     Deathwatch is the first installment in the Broslin Creek series. The Broslin Creek series is a collection of books revolving around the small town of Broslin Creek, of course. Deathwatch read very well stand alone, and I'm sure the rest are just ...

            Maggie Shayne is another one of my favorite authors. I will read anything with her name on it, as soon as I get one I read it. And it seems I’m not the only one as many times as she is on the big bestsellers lists. Dream of Danger is A Brown and De Luca novel, revolving around Homicide Detective Mason Brown and author Rachel De Luca.             Dream of Danger is true to Shaynes style. It has great characters, tons of suspense, a dash of romance, and a hint of the paranormal thrown in on top all wrapped up and written fabulously. I loved this book and hope to get my hands on the rest of the Brown and De Luca novels.             My warnings for this book are graphic violence, action and language. As in the title Danger is everywhere else in the book too. There’s no sex in Dream of Danger, just the implied memories. I can’t say for s...

If you are looking for a light fun read, the books of the Laurel Heights series by Kate Perry will do the trick. I have read book 4, Looking for You and 5, Dream of you. I really liked both of them. Laugh out load funny with romance and great characters.             Laurel Heights is an upper crust community/ shopping district in San Francisco (fictionally, of course) and the series revolves around the shop owners and their crazy lives. From what I can tell, all the shop owners are bas ass females ruling the world, or well their stores at least. Perry does a great job with these girls and all the rest of the characters. You can picture them in your head and feel their distinct personalities. The books are written from multiple view points, giving you even more insight into what’s going on in the neighborhood.             My main warning for this series is graphic sex, bu...

     Heather Graham is one of my long time favorite authors. I will read anything with her name on it,  without reading the synopsis. And of course, she didn't let me down. Grave Danger is A Love is Murder short story.    Grave Danger was great. Really short story, but very well written. It has a great plot full of action and suspense, with a little love and a serial killer. Graham wraps up the story well in the end, leaving us with no cliff hangers and a happy ending. The characters aren't as well defined as in a full length novel, but you still get a pretty good sense of Ali and Greg, and Graham fills that space with some nail biting tension to make up for it.    My warning for Grave Danger is violence. There is no sex or partying. Just a serial killer on the loose with a little bit of the paranormal mixed in for fun. I didn't notice any grammatical issues either.  From what I can gather on the world wide web, Love is Murder is a suspe...

    Hot Pursuit (A Hostile Operations Team novel) by Lynne Raye Harris was a GREAT free download. I really enjoyed this book. It has great characters, both in their physical attributes and personalities. Plus, it has a great story line with lots of action and romance. And did I mention it was free?     Hostile Operations Team, or HOT, is a top secret special forces unit of the Army staffed by sexy bad-asses, of course. The guys in the team,  Matt, Sam, Billy, Kevin, Jack, Nick and Garrett each get their own book. Hot Pursuit is Matt's book and the first in the seven book series.     My warnings for the  HOT novels are graphic sex, language and graphic violence. There is a ton of action, fight scenes, shoot outs, kidnapping and explosions and it all ties together smoothly. The story line was really good as well, and it kind of rang close to home for me. Not only because I have an obsession for men in uniforms or dog tags, but because of the small...

    I have finished reading The Other Side of Us by Sarah Mayberry, and I loved it. There are a lot of intense emotions but they are covered up with humor. This book was hilarious. It took me a couple chapters to realize that the story is happening in Australia. Once I did, the characters took on an Aussie accent and the story became even funnier. We all say "LOL" so much lately, but Mayberry actually had me Laughing Out Loud numerous times through the book. Consider this fair warning before you start reading this at work, or school or anywhere else reading is probably not appropriate, you'll get caught.   Also, I loved the characters. They are very well developed. You get a very good sense of their physical attributes as well as their personalities.Which seems to be a hard thing for some writers to accomplish, Mayberry does it fabulously.  The are the two main characters, hero Oliver and heroine Mackenzie, as well as two canoodling canine co-stars who will keep you...