The Darkest Corner by Liliana Hart

This was my very first Liliana Hart book. I see her all over Goodreads, and her books are rated well, but for some reason I just hadn’t taken the time to read one of her books. But then one of my favorite authors wrote a MacKenzie Family novella, and then another reviewer at Straight Shootin’ Book Reviews reviewed The Darkest Corner, so my interest was piqued. When I was able to get my hands on a review copy from NetGalley, that sealed the deal!

At first, The Darkest Corner started out confusing and slow – there were vague descriptions of who each of the Gravediggers are (which had me wondering if this was a sequel because I couldn’t quite figure out what was going on), and then there were lots of descriptions about the funeral home, of which I really didn’t care about. Get to the story already! (I may be a tad impatient that way…)

But then Tess started talking to herself – out loud – and I found her endearing and charming. And once Tess and the Gravediggers team started to interact? Game on!

The hero, Deacon, is also majorly swoony. I love a man who loves a woman from afar and then jumps at the chance to be with her when the timing is right. No hesitation, no baulking, just jumps right in and goes for it. I also really liked that when things had the potential to be bumpy (because of “another woman” – but not really, so if that is a “no go” for you in a book, don’t let it scare you away), Tess doesn’t fly off the handle and walk away. She experiences a quick bout of insecurity (which, to me, added authenticity to her character – because really, aren’t we all intimidated by a woman we perceive as being more beautiful than we are?), but doesn’t let that be the driving force of her actions. I love a nice, mature relationship. One that has conflict, but not angst. It’s refreshing to read nowadays.

One thing that did confuse me though was the family from the prologue. I kept waiting for the story to come back around to them, or at least to the daughter, Carrie. But it never did. It made me feel like there’s a loose end out there somewhere, and I don’t like loose ends! Please, tie everything up nice and tight for me, thankyouverymuch.

I ended up really liking this book. Once things got going (in the third chapter, so really I didn’t have to read long), this was a non-stop, action-packed, entertaining story. Had life not been seriously infringing on my reading time, this would have been a book that I read straight through. I loved the characters, and the dialogue was witty and made me laugh. Furthermore, I am looking forward to reading more from this series. This book has the perfect blend of humor, heat and action that I love from a romantic suspense, and I hope the rest of them follow suit!

*Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review

From the Start (American Valor #3) by Cheryl Etchison

4.5 Stars! 

Having just finished the first book in Cheryl Etchison’s American Valor series, I immediately downloaded the third book, because I just HAD to read Michael’s story! It did not disappoint. (Well, not until the very, very end…but I’ll get to that.)

Kacie Morgan is probably one of the most relatable thirty-something heroines I’ve read about in quite a while. She’s a strong, independent woman who is recovering from a dead-end relationship. When she found out her boyfriend of seven years had no plans to make their relationship permanent, she walked away. But now her younger sister – who dated a guy for only four months – is about to get married, and while she’s happy her sister has found the love of her life, she’s also feeling a little sad for herself. Not overly so, but she wants that, too. But she’s not going to ever let herself play second fiddle to a man ever again, either. I loved how she was determined to be the pilot of her own destiny, but was also real enough with herself to admit she’s disappointed with where her life has gone and maybe a little jealous of what her sister has. Don’t we all experience that in some point of our life?

Michael MacGregor is an army surgeon who lives his whole life because of his sense of duty to his family. More specifically his younger brother. Never mind that his “little brother” is now in his thirties and married, with a career in the army that he loves. It’s not that Michael isn’t happy with his life, but when he meets Kacie at a bar during her sister’s bachelorette party, he finally realizes his life is missing something. When all Kacie will offer him is a summer friends-with-benefits-type fling, he figures that’s better than nothing.

Together, Kacie and Michael’s banter is hilarious. Even though Michael comes across as arrogant and cocky, he does so in a charming and irresistible way. He talks a big game, but his actions are far different – he’s thoughtful and kind, and shows Kacie in dozens of ways how much he cares for her. It’s no wonder Kacie is willing to ignore her “no-fly list” for him. And she begins to have strong feelings for him as well.

When the end-date for their relationship comes, neither is feeling like they want it to be the end. Michael actually takes a chance to tell Kacie how he’s truly feeling and asks her not to leave. It was a scene that had me cheering because 99 times out of a hundred neither the hero or the heroine will say anything and the other person walks away, and then they’re both sad and hurt and mopey… It was SO refreshing to see a hero open himself up and lay everything on the table. Of course, Michael still messes things up and Kacie leaves. But that’s okay – because it opened the door for a grand gesture. And I LOVE a grand gesture!!!

Now, for the part I didn’t like about this book. This story ends with Kacie and Michael happy for now. I don’t like happy-for-now. I want happily-ever-after, dang it! But, I can totally see why the H-F-N ending was appropriate for this couple. There’s a promise of H-E-A, but I really would have liked to read it. But other than that disappointing-to-me ending, I LOVED this book. It had the opportunity to be cliched several times, but didn’t. The writing was fantastic (although I did see quite a few proofreading errors), and I loved the characters. I really, really liked this book!

(So, if I really, really liked this book, why only a 4 star rating? This book definitely deserves more than four, but I’ve decided that I’ll only give a 5-star rating to books that I’ll want to re-read. As much as I liked this book, I’m not sure it’s quite in the “re-read” category for me. But otherwise, this was a completely satisfying, entertaining book to read!)

Once and For All (American Valor #1) by Cheryl Etchison

There’s just something about a second-chance love story that I find myself unable to resist. Maybe it’s the scene where the man finally says “I messed up, but I’ve never stopped loving you.” Maybe it’s the moment when the woman decides to forgive the man and love him again despite how badly she was hurt before. Either way, I just can’t get enough of these stories, and Once and For All satisfied me on so many levels.

Aubrey and Danny grew up together, even lived across the street from each other. In seventh grade, Danny made his move to make Bree his, and they were together until the end of their freshman year of college. Then Danny left Bree behind to join the Army without any explanation, and no goodbye. She was devastated. And in the past ten years, while Danny has been fighting the Taliban overseas, Bree has been waging her own personal war against two bouts of cancer. She’s trying to be upbeat and positive, but she no longer has a job and is living with her parents. Seeing Danny again has her flustered and reliving the pain he caused.

When Danny sees Bree for the first time in ten years, she doesn’t look like her usual self, and he can tell something isn’t right. Their reunion doesn’t go well. But he’s never stopped loving her, and when he discovers she’s wanting a break from her life, he blurts out the first thing that comes to mind to help her out. “Let’s get married!”

I loved so many things about this book. The characters were great – the main ones and the side characters. From Danny’s older brother, who is both his best friend, but also protective of Bree (and later becomes her confidant), to Danny’s regiment, all added extra depth and color to this story. Bree was a sweet and strong heroine, and I loved how determined she was to pick herself back up after all the heartache she’d experienced the past ten years. So many times I felt her heartache, too.

I’m not a big fan of majorly angsty stories, and thankfully this book was low in the over-the-top dramatics. I was concerned there would be other woman conflict, since Danny apparently had a reputation for being quite the player (in fact, when we first meet him he’s sneaking out of a woman’s house, and he doesn’t even remember her name…), but there wasn’t. And Danny and Bree actually talked about what happened in the past. What they didn’t do a good job talking about is their feelings for each other now and what they both wanted for the future. But if they had done that, there wouldn’t have been much to the book – you gotta have SOME angst, after all.

It’s rare that I’m impressed with an author’s first book, but I am with this one. For starters, there were very few editing/proofreading errors (YAY!). The writing was really good. The plot moved along at a good pace. In fact, I started this book after dinner and read it all the way until the end – I was that drawn into the characters AND the story. The characterization was really good, and the backstory for Bree and Danny was compelling and explained enough that I could understand why they were still hung up on each other, even after ten years apart. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing them fall in love with each other again. And when an author can get me so invested in secondary characters that I want to drop everything and keep reading the series, that’s the sign of a good author. If you’ll excuse me now, I’m going to sign off and start reading Michael’s story!

The Spiral Down by Aly Martinez

O. M. G. How does Aly Martinez do it, just about every. single. time???

I have to confess, the M/M storyline isn’t my usual cuppa. But this summer I’m trying to get through some of the books that have been on my Kindle for a long time, and this one has been there for probably a year. I love Aly Martinez’s writing, so that’s why I bought the book. However, I probably passed it over because my attention can sometimes be fickle, and as I said, this isn’t a genre I usually read.

But I should probably just make a pledge to myself to automatically read anything Aly publishes as soon as it’s available. I always love her heros – they have the most tortured histories, but love deeply anyway. I always love her dialogue – it’s funny, witty, and entertaining. Her writing is engaging and flawless. I just can’t even tell you how much I love her writing. And even though the story of Henry and Evan isn’t one I’d typically read, I enjoyed them SO much.