definitely, possibly, maybe

there is so much i love about american dreamer . 1) it's got some serious latinx cred. the author is of dominican descent and so is the main character, but all the islands of the greater antilles are represented. haiti, cuba, and puerto rico, with a hint of jamaica. listen, it's all good. 2) there's lots of food. food i grew up with. food that represents my culture and had my stomach growling. 3) it also takes place in the southern tier. (the southern what? you ask. yeah i live and work in the southern tier of new york. the tompkins county public library is a weekly stop for my family as that is where we take some community spanish lessons. there's something just fun about reading a book set in a place where you live.) i also just love nesto and jude. their story is so sweet. i love how their relationship builds and while yes it starts out from a place of intense attraction, they also develop this really beautiful friendship and it makes everything so ...

an ice age has settled over earth and the people who have survived it must scavenge for everything. food, shelter, medicine...nothing is certain in frost . when spencer saves finn from a life-threatening situation, they form a friendship that is forged in hardship. there are hints of attraction, but finn is afraid to explore things further, especially since he needs to get back to his ailing sister. if anything happens to her while he was off enjoying himself, he wouldn't be able to live with the guilt. never mind that the human connection, the burgeoning companionship is exactly what he needs. but life is too fragile, too unpredictable to waste time. as the novella ends there may or may not be hope for the world after an environmental collapse, but at the very least you know that if you find love and happiness you might as well hold on to it. **frost will publish on march 4, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgally/ninestar press in ex...

the juniper falls series is just so good. seemingly about hockey and teenagers, each book has tackled some serious issues in deep and thoughtful ways. jake and brooke are dealing with some heavy stuff in on thin ice . and what makes jake such an interesting hero is the stuff that makes him tarnished. on the surface, he appears to be the all-american boy who has it all. but he's not perfect. he makes mistakes. costly mistakes that are a result of peer pressure and stupidity. but then he tries to turn it all around. he works hard to ensure that the mistakes that were made stop repeating themselves. and because of this, he comes out on top. and it's wonderful. and brooke who is damaged and trying to find herself, in jake she finds someone who understands. someone willing to listen. someone who cares about her. i can't gush about this book enough. it's just so good. i love these characters so much. **on thin ice will publish on february 26, 2019. i received an ...

lady augusta vivers is brilliant and ahead of her time in so many ways. all she wants is to attend university and complete her studies. all her mother wants is to marry her off. forced to agree to a london season, augusta plots with her siblings a way to appease her mother while still getting what she wants. when she is introduced to lord phineas carter-wood, she meets a kindred spirit. he too is tasked with looking for marriage and children, while trying to plan an escape to europe. meeting augusta however, he sees that their interests are aligned and that marriage between them could be a success. but augusta has convinced herself that marriage would be a hindrance to what she wants to achieve. she doesn't believe that a man would allow her to go after what she wants. mostly she completely underestimates phineas and what he would do for her. she keeps thinking he doesn't love her, but it's pretty clear that he's head over heels from the get-go, ...

the heart of texas series possibly concludes with caleb harper's story—though i wouldn't be surprised if jace and cooper didn't get spin-off stories of their own—so don't quote me on the concluding thing. my favorite cowboy  finds commitment-phobic caleb entangled with equally commitment-phobic audrey martínez. thrust together when horses suddenly turn up sick, it quickly becomes clear that they are being poisoned and that audrey is the real target. as the premier equine vet in the area, it seems as if someone is out to destroy her reputation and her livelihood. caleb's protective instincts go on overdrive, and soon he finds himself breaking all kinds of rules in order to get close to the horse doctor. when caleb's past comes calling in the form of his deadbeat mother and audrey's insecurities about committing to anyone rise to the surface they both find themselves facing their pasts. but the promise of real happiness has them slaying those dem...

the apocalypse rages on in hardest fall , and bone continues to forge the weapons asked of her without picking a side. but when george the demon hunter and dommiel the fallen angel bring her a fellow demon hunter, george's cousin, who has been mortally wounded things start to change. maybe it's actually when she uses her seraph powers to stitch together xander's heart. his heart mending triggers her own sort of healing. because xander sees her as redeemable. he sees that making a choice is inevitable, and he believes she will choose good. and so he chips away at her armor. at the being she has become as bone. and he discovers who she was before. carowyn the seraph. and he uses her name and brings her back to her truest self. this crew of characters are literally battling with the demon princes of hell, the stakes are as high as ever, and somehow the swoony romance is absolute perfection. i loved dommiel and anya to pieces in darkest heart . but xander an...

there has to be a name for the sort of bad luck that would find you giving a stray dog a bath in your skimpiest bikini when you are crashing at your ex-boyfriend's home while federal agents execute a search warrant that ends up with you as a suspect. whatever the name for that bad luck is, andromeda 'andi' hardt has it. her first encounter with nick houston and his k-9 partner, saxon, does not go well in armed'n'ready . but in spite of their awkward meeting, and the fact that she's a suspect on a case that resonates on a personal level with nick's past, there's something between them. when he is posted undercover at her dog park café, the time they spend together highlights their connection. but the case and both their pasts has them running scared. this is an enjoyable romantic suspense, and an excellent book two in the federal k-9 series. **armed'n'ready  will publish on february 25, 2019. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of n...

i was excited to see moonsworn   available for review, because i have a little history with this manuscript and i wanted to see what the finished product ended up like. (full disclosure: in my other life as a literary agent, i read this manuscript and thought that there was a lot that worked, but a few key elements that didn't, so i gave the author a revise and resubmit letter. she did resubmit, but at that point she had received an offer of publication, i am assuming from wild rose press, since they are the publisher and the timing makes sense. i was happy to see that some of my recommended edits made it into the final version of this manuscript, and i really do hope to see some of the potential books the author outlined to me as part of the series make it to press. it's funny to have a backstage view of things sometimes.) anyway, moonsworn  introduces us to the pine richland and steel valley werewolf packs. kaelan o'cur and tavis alger are rival heirs to their res...

when landon wolf is asked to go undercover as a junior deckhand on a luxury yacht in the mediterranean, he only says yes when it's clear that doing so will prevent some really bad dudes from doing some really bad things. what he doesn't expect is to hook up with the chief stewardess on the yacht and want more than one night with her. skylar plays the impossible to please golddigger with her friends, but the truth is she wants nothing to do with men or marriage. a one night stand she thought she could handle bites her in the rear when she realizes he's one of the crewmembers on her ship. as hard as she tries to keep things platonic between them. there's a spark there. both skylar and landon have some baggage, and sorting it out is made more difficult because landon has that uniquely terrible ability to do the most hurtful thing possible for what he believes is the greater good. he's not wrong about the greater good thing, but he still knows how to go fo...

jake lexington is kind of a hot mess. since his brother's accident, he's been coping with feelings of guilt and trying to keep everything in his life together all alone. his best friend, chris howell, doesn't know what else to do to help him. when jake sees haley howell at a party, it shouldn't mean anything. she's his best friend's twin sister. she's the other howell. chris would kill him if he thought twice about her. but once he sees her, really sees her, he can't stop. soon he sees how she's afraid to put herself out there, afraid to take a risk. and since he's been living life on the edge, he decides to help her reach her full potential. he's still a hot mess, but he's also intrinsically a good guy. his problem with alcohol is more about self-medicating than anything, and the crush collision   doesn't go so far to say that he is an alcoholic, but jake is still walking a dangerous line. haley helps him pull back from that li...