Review: Hard Trigger by S.L. Hannah

Goodreads Blurb

“Your mother’s opiates are coming from Jose Herrera’s distribution network.” My pulse races as my stepfather speaks these words. Because taking on the Herreras also means taking on Diego.

Reckless, and hardened by a volatile past, Victoria does not see a future with Diego Herrera as a realistic option. As their childhood friendship ignites, they find themselves on opposite sides of a bloody feud between the two most powerful families in Mexico City. And she’s a Moreno now—brought up to be the secret weapon nobody suspected.

But Victoria can’t deny the attraction. Diego’s commanding muscles, the coarse, dark hair of his solid chest, that rugged scar above his sensuous lips…

Loyalty is in the eye of the beholder.

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

This story will leave you wanting more hot friction between Victoria and Diego. The cover and the title are perfect for this sweltering book. Victoria knows how to kickass to save her family, but when the hot Spanish Diego shows up, she forgets what mission she was on. I love the friction between the two families. They can’t live together but they can’t live without. Hannah knows how to light the room up. She makes you feel the raging fire between these two characters that burns a fire from just one look. It will keep you up all night before you can finish reading it.

Goodreads Author Biography

S.L. Hannah is a romance author known for writing fierce, flawed women treading unchartered territory. S.L. Hannah was born in Poland, grew up in Canada, and moved to Southern California to pursue her love of single-engine airplanes. When she’s not writing fiction she continues to solve the aviation problems of the world.

She is excited to be part of the To LA With Love anthology. Check out her short story, Special Teams, in that anthology.

Her latest release, Baller, is about a successful, divorcing woman who finds a life reset in a younger, hot professional beach volleyball player.

The Need is her first erotic thriller; a story about a woman struggling to free herself from her lover’s physical and emotional binds.

Hard Trigger, is a rogue romance about a reckless and hardened heroine who finds herself entwined with a lover on the opposite side of a bloody feud.

Review: The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows

Goodreads Blurb

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all.

Juliet begins a remarkable correspondence with the society’s members, learning about their island, their taste in books, and the impact the recent German occupation has had on their lives. Captivated by their stories, she sets sail for Guernsey, and what she finds will change her forever.

Written with warmth and humor as a series of letters, this novel is a celebration of the written word in all its guises and of finding connection in the most surprising ways.

My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars

It’s a beautiful love story to last a lifetime. Beautifully crafted with unforgettable characters that you will grow to love. Written fully in letters back and forth through characters. Could only imagine the time and difficulty it was to bring this book together. Writing a novel is difficult, but writing it with letters and being creative with each characters story brought an epic story. I loved how the story unraveled as you read. I was also impressed with the creativity of the book club at such a terrible time. This story brings people together during a time of turmoil. Books created an escape for each character. They were able to share their thoughts on the books they read, and they created a book club that brought them together. Books bring love to all.

Goodreads Author Biography

Mary Ann Shaffer worked as an editor, a librarian, and in bookshops. Her life-long dream was to someday write her own book and publish it. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was her first novel. Unfortunately, she became very ill with cancer and so she asked her niece, Annie Barrows, the author of the children’s series Ivy and Bean, as well as The Magic Half, to help her finish the book. Mary Ann Shaffer died in February 2008, a few months before her first novel was published.

Review: A Season to Celebrate by Fern Michaels

Goodreads Blurb

Make it a merry Christmas with four stories of the special way the holidays warm our hearts…

CHRISTMAS HOMECOMING * Fern Michaels
Former Air Force Pararescueman Kevin Matthews is back home in Texas, working at his family’s Christmas tree farm while deciding his next move. Or maybe he won’t move at all, if sparks keep flying with the town’s new surgeon, Kate Stafford . . .

AN UNEXPECTED GIFT * Kate Pearce
Widower Billy Morgan wishes his grown children still needed him. Good thing his longtime friend, Bella, does. She’s planning her son’s Christmas wedding and Billy is happy to help. Along the way they just might discover their own occasion to celebrate . . .

CHRISTMAS IN BLUE HOLLOW FALLS * Donna Kauffman
Attorney Moira Brogan expects her brother’s Christmas wedding to be a peaceful affair. She doesn’t expect to be cornered by an unwanted lothario, rescued by a gorgeous Aussie chef–or be swept off her feet by said chef. Nursing a broken heart, the last thing she wants is a new romance. But Hudson Walker has other ideas . . .

HOLIDAY HOMERUN * Priscilla Oliveras
Event planner Julia Louisa Fernandez dreams of a life in Chicago. But her family in Puerto Rico expects her to take over the catering business. Former pro baseball player Ben Thomas knows what that’s like–and when they meet, he might be the one to inspire a winning strategy, just in time for the holidays . . .

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Each story in this novel brings you good tidings at Christmas. All four stories bring family together and romance unexpectedly.

Christmas Homecoming had me laughing. Kate Safford is the new surgeon who meets Kevin Mathews, who was an Air Force pararescueman that returned home. The teenage romance that circled around these two was romantic. Love makes us act weird and not think straight.

An Unexpected Gift gives Billy Morgan a second chance at romance and spending time with his family. A wedding sometimes leads to another wedding for an attendee. Past friendships can lead to romance.

Christmas in Blue Hollow Moira hasn’t been having the best love life. She is an attorney, and her career hasn’t been going on how she planned. At a bar, while a fight breaks out hot, Aussie chef Hudson Walker comes to the rescue. Hudson was sent to by Moira’s brother to keep an eye on her. Well, he sure keeps his eyes on her. A wedding at Christmas is my dream wedding.

Holiday Homerun, what a lovely spanglish novel. I loved that my Puerto Rican heritage was celebrated in this story. Strongly can relate with the heritage, family values, and strict family. Julia Fernandez hit a home homerun to create a spectacular event with Puerto Rican traditions. Ben Thomas, the hot former baseball player, falls in love with Julia. They have great chemistry.

Goodreads Author Biography

Fern Michaels isn’t a person. I’m not sure she’s an entity either since an entity is something with separate existence. Fern Michaels® is what I DO. Me, Mary Ruth Kuczkir. Growing up in Hastings, Pennsylvania, I was called Ruth. I became Mary when I entered the business world where first names were the order of the day. To this day, family and friends call me Dink, a name my father gave me when I was born because according to him I was ‘a dinky little thing’ weighing in at four and a half pounds. However, I answer to Fern since people are more comfortable with a name they can pronounce.

As they say, the past is prologue. I grew up, got a job, got married, had five kids. When my youngest went off to Kindergarten, my husband told me to get off my ass and get a job. Those were his exact words. I didn’t know how to do anything except be a wife and mother. I was also a voracious reader having cut my teeth on The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames and the like. The library was a magical place for me. It still is to this day. Rather than face the outside world with no skills, I decided to write a book. For some reason that didn’t intimidate me. As my husband said at the time, stupid is as stupid does. Guess what, I don’t have that husband any more. Guess what else! I wrote 99 books, most of them New York Times Best Sellers.

Review: In Paris With You by Clementine Beauvais

Goodreads Blurb

A runaway bestseller in France, Clémentine Beauvais’s In Paris With You is a love story you won’t soon forget.

Eugene and Tatiana had fallen in love that summer ten years ago. But certain events stopped them from getting to truly know each other and they separated never knowing what could have been.

But one busy morning on the Paris metro, Eugene and Tatiana meet again, no longer the same teenagers they once were.

What happened during that summer? Does meeting again now change everything? With their lives ahead of them, can Eugene and Tatiana find a way to be together after everything?

Written in gorgeous verse, In Paris With You celebrates the importance of first love. Funny and sometimes bittersweet this book has universal appeal for anyone who has been in love.

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

It is a beautifully written novel about a love so true and strong. A story filled with words that grasp your attention. Written in poem stanza, filled with rumbling of words that send you raising after the characters’ thoughts, dreams, and reality. The characters have vivid day dreams and times where they talk to themselves, giving you a picture of their thoughts and feelings. I loved how the author would take you from the past and back to the present. Author freely threw words, phrases, and poems to bring you a love story of a lifetime. It was ironic that Tatiana was the one obsessed with Eugene. The tables turned 10 years later, and Eugene was found with regrets and true lust for Tatiana. Each character went through a phase of sleepless nights because of those strong feelings of love. A book that will send you spinning for Tatiana and Eugene to become one while you seek the same for yourself.

Goodreads Author Biography

I was born in Paris in 1989 and though I started to read children’s books pretty early, I somehow never stopped. As a result, I’ve become a writer, reader and student of children’s literature. I’ve now been living and studying in Cambridge (UK) for seven years and have become a doctor. Well, not the type that saves people’s lives. The type that scribbles ‘PhD’ after their name and rambles on about beauty, truth and the value of (all) literature. Worth striving for, I think! More about my academic work here.

The other thing I do is write books – children’s books, surprisingly enough. In fact, it’s not ‘the other thing’. It’s the first thing I ever did, really – long before I heard that you could actually analyse books for a living, I wanted to write books for a living. So I started writing, and ultimately getting published – in French first, and now in English as well. My first series of children’s books in English, led by self-made superheroine Sesame Seade, is being published in 2013 by Hodder Children’s Books!

Review: She’s Got This by Laurie Hernandez

Goodreads Blurb

Even Olympians have to start somewhere. And in this charming illustrated book, Laurie Hernandez tells the story of Zoe, a little girl who dreams of flying—and becoming a gymnast.

When Zoe sees a gymnast on TV, she realizes that gymnastics is just like flying. But when she first goes to class and falls off the balance beam, she discovers that following her dreams is harder and scarier than she thought.

Through this heartwarming and inspirational story, featuring vibrant art from Nina Mata, Laurie imparts important lessons she learned on her way to Olympic glory: You always have to get back up and try again, and you always have to believe in yourself. 

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Cute book that teaches children that falling is all part of succeeding. If you don’t try and you give up, then you won’t succeed. Practice makes perfect. Laurie learned from all her falls while she trained. It is all part of life. I loved the illustrations.

Cover Reveal: Structure of Love by AJ Sherwood

BOOK DETAILS:

Structure of Love

by AJ Sherwood

( Gay 4 Renovations, #2)

Publication date: December 26, 2025

Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance

Synopsis:

Gage has a blueprint for his life all mapped out.

First, straighten out his little brother so Gage can finally stop being pseudo father to him.

Second, expand the company to have permanent crews.

Third, avoid any more hookup dates–he wants all or nothing.

The very sexy, tatted bar owner that slides into his life? Not part of the plan.

But god, Gage can go for some red line changes to make Logan part of it.

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/241997629-structure-of-love

Pre-order: https://readerlinks.com/l/5035795 

AUTHOR BIO:

AJ Sherwood believes in happily ever afters, magic, dragons, good men, and dark chocolate. She often dreams at night of delectable men doing sexy things with each other. In between writing multiple books (often at the same time) she pets her cats, plays with her dogs, and attempts insane things like aerial yoga. 

She currently resides in Michigan with aforementioned dogs and cats. Being in snow country gives her the excuse to stay inside and watch bl dramas, which suit her perfectly. 

Author links:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18541140.A_J_Sherwood

https://www.ajsherwood.com/

https://www.facebook.com/groups/580361995783229/

https://www.instagram.com/sherwoodwrites/

@ajsherwood_author

https://www.facebook.com/ajsherwoodwrites/

Virtual Author Event: Todd W. Braisted

Join historian and author Todd W. Braisted on Thursday, December 11th at 6 PM for a virtual talk on the events that inspired his book, Grand Forage 1778: The Battleground Around New York City, which focuses on a pivotal but often overlooked campaign of the Revolutionary War.

This engaging presentation will illuminate the human stories, battlefield tactics, and shifting political calculations that defined Grand Forage 1778, offering fresh insight into the Revolution’s northern theater.

This virtual talk is FREE, but registration is required to receive a Zoom link. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/grand-forage-1778-the-battleground-around-new-york-city-tickets-1782320852649?aff=ebdsshother&utm_share_source=listing_android&sg=32ad1721accd380d361030f475063da8367b9aa2ff3122557bdb0ab9c68a4edc1d739f1b9116e8c941005f9624525afa528b15d085ada890897b4b749297cae6ad9172bc5c1ec626a1746af8

Review: Beatrice Zinker: Upside Down Thinker by Shelley Johannes

Goodreads Blurb

Hanging from trees by her knees, doing handstands . . . for Beatrice Zinker, upside down works every time. She was definitely upside down when she and her best friend, Lenny, agreed to wear matching ninja suits on the first day of third grade. But when Beatrice shows up at school dressed in black, Lenny arrives with a cool new outfit and a cool new friend. Even worse, she seems to have forgotten all about the top-secret operation they planned!

Can Beatrice use her topsy-turvy way of thinking to save the mission, mend their friendship, and flip things sunny-side up?

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Beatrice was such a fun, adventurous character. She spent most of her time upside down. She loved playing games and climbing trees and had the quirky idea of becoming a detective. She created a top secret operation on the first day of third grade with her friend Lenny. Unfortunately, her day turned upside down, and her mission didn’t go as planned. Great illustrations throughout the book. It’s a fun book with some monkey business.

Goodreads Author Biography

Shelley Johannes is the author/illustrator of the Beatrice Zinker, Upside Down Thinker chapter book series. Her buoyant debut picture book, MORE THAN SUNNY, released in May. BEATRICE ZINKER, UPSIDE DOWN THINKER was named a Beverly Cleary Children’s Choice Award Nominee, a Junior Library Guild Selection, an Amazon Best Book of 2017 (Ages 6-8), a Brightly’s Best Children’s Book of 2017—According to Kids, and is a Sunshine State Young Readers Award list book in 2020.

Shelley spent ten years in architecture, where she fell in love with tracing paper, felt-tip pens, and the greatness of black turtlenecks. She and her family live in Metro Detroit with three hilarious birds. Find out more at shelleyjohannes.com or on Twitter and Instagram at @shelleyjohannes.

Review: Judy Moody and the Right Royal Tea Party by Megan McDonald

Goodreads Blurb

Judy Moody is in a royal purple-mountain-majesties mood. Make that Majesty with a capital M! With Grandma Lou’s help, Judy has dug up proof that some old-timey Moodys (aka the brave Mudeyes) lived in merry olde England. In fact, if her grandpa’s notes are right, Judy might even be related to — royal fanfare, please — the Queen herself! Should Judy start packing her purple robe for a sleepover at Buckingham Palace? But then Judy’s family tree gets a few more shakes — thanks to her nemesis, Jessica “Fink” Finch — and some more surprises come tumbling out. Crikey! These new gems are not nearly as shiny or sparkly as the crown jewels. Now Judy has some right royal family secrets she’d like to keep hidden away in a dungeon somewhere — and especially away from Jessica, the princess in pink herself!

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Judy Moody becomes a queen for a day. It was such a cute, fun book for young children to read. They get to learn British words, some history, and a day in the life of royalty. The illustrations were wonderful. Greatly depicted what was going on in the story. I had a few laughs with the words used and Judy Moody’s funny actions. It’s the first Judy Moody book I have read and enjoyed the plot, characters, and adventures.

Goodreads Author Biography

“Sometimes I think I am Judy Moody,” says Megan McDonald, author of the Judy Moody series, the Stink series, and THE SISTERS CLUB. “I’m certainly moody, like she is. Judy has a strong voice and always speaks up for herself. I like that.”

For Megan McDonald, being able to speak up for herself wasn’t always easy. She grew up as the youngest of five sisters in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her father, an ironworker, was known to his coworkers as “Little Johnny the Storyteller.” Every evening at dinner the McDonalds would gather to talk and tell stories, but Megan McDonald was barely able to get a word in edgewise. “I’m told I began to stutter,” she says, leading her mother to give her a notebook so she could start “writing things down.”


Critically acclaimed, the Judy Moody books have won numerous awards, ranging from a PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Best Book of the Year to an International Reading Association Children’s Choice. “Judy has taken on a life of her own,” the author notes, with nearly 3 million Judy Moody books in print. Interestingly, the feisty third-grader is highly popular with boys and girls, making for a strong base of fans who are among Megan McDonald’s strongest incentives to keep writing, along with “too many ideas and a little chocolate.” And now — by popular demand — Judy Moody’s little brother, Stink, gets his chance to star in his own adventures! Beginning with STINK: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING KID, three more stories, and his own encyclopedia, STINK-O-PEDIA, Stink’s special style comes through loud and strong — enhanced by a series of comic strips, drawn by Stink himself, which are sprinkled throughout the first book. About the need for a book all about Stink, Megan McDonald says, “Once, while I was visiting a class full of Judy Moody readers, the kids, many with spiked hair à la Judy’s little brother, chanted, ‘Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink! Stink!’ as I entered the room. In that moment, I knew that Stink had to have a book all his own.”


More recently, Megan McDonald has recalled some of her own childhood with the warmth, humor — and squabbles — of three spunky sisters in THE SISTERS CLUB.


Megan McDonald and her husband live in Sebastopol, California, with two dogs, two adopted horses, and fifteen wild turkeys that like to hang out on their back porch.

Review: Batman & the Justice League Vol. 1 by Shiori Teshirogi

Goodreads Blurb

A young boy from Japan travels to Gotham City on a mission. A year before, his two parents–both scientists–were presumably killed in an expolosion that destroyed an experimental power plant. But the boy believes they may still be alive. At the very least, he’s determined to find out what actually happened. But his quest soon leads to a run-in with some powerful forces–forces that require help from both Batman and the Justice League!

Mangaka Shiori Teshirogi (Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas) creates an exciting new story, combining an authentic Japanese comics approach with the World’s Greatest Superheroes. Translated into English and collected for the Western audience for the first time, collected in standard manga size trim, Batman & The Justice League Vol. 1 is phenomenal entry point for fans of the Justice League and manga alike!

My Review: Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Justice League is done in the form of a manga book. First time I read a book in this format. It had a great plot, great illustrations, and interesting story. The Joker and Lex Luther are up to no good in Gotham City. Will the Justice League stop the villains’ plans?

Goodreads Author Biography

Shiori Teshirogi (手代木史織) is a japanese manga artist.