Kat Bellemore

This was a fun cozy mystery. Plot-wise, briefly: Maddie, divorced mother of two teenagers, moves back to her original home-town in New Mexico, where she intends to open a therapy business with a friend who is also a therapist. Of course a member of the town council dies at a dinner party right away. The rest of the book is about the process of investigation, while Maddie also settles into town, reconnects with old friends, her mother, and so forth. The narrator has a solid, likeable voice. show more One of the most interesting aspects of the book is how her children get involved in the investigation. Oh, the local sheriff is also female, newly arrived in town. Everyone has a past, and probably lots of secrets. This is the first book in a series of three, and I'm going to read the next one, which seems to pick up immediately after this ends.

This appears to be an indie publication, and well done. The writing and editing are both strong; copy-editing is excellent; I don't think I spotted any typos at all and nothing pulled me out of the story, so that's worth a golden rodent award.

Full disclosure: I obtained this as a freebie via Bookbub, from Amazon. I do not know the author. show less

This pushes Maddie's story forward in good ways with a visit to a (hot air) balloon festival, and murder occurs right off, of course. I like the way the relationships are developed, with Benji, the Sheriff Potts, and others. And the kids, too. (Yeah, the kids may not be the best disciplined lot in history, but they feel kinda pretty real to me. Heh heh.)

Again, this seems to be an indie publication. The writing and editing are both quite fine, and I spotted only one microscopic typo in the show more whole thing.

As soon as I finished this, I went out to get the 3rd book of the series so I could continue, only to find out that 'Zon doesn't think my ancient "Kindle for PC" is compatible with it. And I'm not going to "upgrade" only to get locked into something I can't take with me, so... Until I figure out how to buy a DRM-free EPUB for the next book in the series, from a reputable not-monopolistic source, I'll be stopping here. Dang, I was looking forward to the developing love interest. Sorry for now, Kat. LOL. show less

A cute and sweet story of best friends to lovers trope of Alex and Charlie.The two main characters were sweet and likeable, and I found myself rooting for them from the first chapters. Alex was adorably clumsy and found herself in many awkward situations.There was surprising depth and character growth in the novel and the overall result was a delightful high school romance.

I know one thing it took them long enough to get together. The author was unnecessarily dragging this along too much show more with Cynthia, Markus, Robbie when they could talk to each other and work out there a friendship with each other. Even though friendship with each other wouldn’t have worked anymore because they both wanted to be with each other. But they use other people for a distraction because they don't want to get hurt and ruin there friendship.. show less

Katie and Sam. Sam and Katie. Though they couldn't have been further apart, once together...you couldn't imagine them anywhere else.

Katie had a bit of bad luck growing up...okay, A LOT of bad luck, and landed herself in some sticky situations. Problem was a bad cop was pulling the strings and that made breaking free way harder than it should have been. She takes it upon herself to try YET AGAIN to cut the strings he's pulling and lands in what could only be described as paradise...at least show more to her. Grant it, it drives her CRAZY at first, along with a certain mayoral figure (ooh!), but everyone wants a place to call home, somewhere to land when things get tough, and people to care for and about...even if at first they don't realize it. Same goes for same in regards to that last sentence. He's the bachelor mayor the town never thought to want, and may not be for long (a bachelor, that is) if certain things go his way. Thing is there are more than a few surprises arriving in town along with the appearance of a certain someone beautiful that's captured more than his eye. Can two people wearing masks of their own making come clean to build a lasting future? In a town like Amor, sounds like that just might be a possibility...

It's a page turner from the start and while the story itself only transpires over the course of about two weeks, it's long enough to get a good read of the people/community, and the lay of the land. I can see future stories being released to flesh out the town, and let us catch up with the changes that came about during our short time there, and will certainly be interested to see what the author delivers. Recommended for Contemporary Romance fans of the Young Adult set as well as Adult; it's flirty without getting steamy, so you can enjoy the snow angels and your cocoa too!


**signed copy received from the author with no promise to review, but I simply couldn't help myself show less