Book and Product Reviews by Roundtable Reviews

Release Date - March 2015 Jacqueline Diamond Harlequin Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth The latest release in the Safe Harbor series finally gives Lucky Mendez, the male nurse I've been rooting for, his chance for true love. Zora Raditch is carrying twins following a last-minute fling with her soon-to-be ex-husband. She's not told him she's pregnant, nor does she want to since he's happily moved on with his new wife. With the support of her friends, she's ready to be a single mom to her twins. In addition to a tiring pregnancy, there's a lot more on Zora's plate. She's haunted by her past, she has a troublesome patient at the hospital who is becoming too much to handle, and then there is the whole issue with her ex-husband. It's not surprising that Zora has to lean on Lucky for support, but it is surprising to her that she finds herself falling for him, the last thing she really wants to do. The Baby Bonanza is the 15th book in the Safe

Release Date - January 2015 Brooke Williams CreateSpace Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth If you're looking for a quick, passionate romance, Accept This Dandelion is a good choice.  Renee Lockhart really wants the position that's opened up for a morning show co-host, but she needs to get her name out there if she's going to get noticed by the show's host. With that in mind, she signs up for a local dating show, but she doesn't expect she'll actually be chosen. When she is, she's stunned, but happy that her plan may work out. Ben McConnell is ready to show the world he's more than the playboy people think he is. This local dating show is his chance to show he's ready to fall in love and settle down. He's not just a man whose only goal is to find another woman for a one night stand. When he spies Renee's audition, he's instantly charmed by her no-nonsense, down-to-earth attitude. As the show gets underway, both Renee and Ben beg

Release Date - March 10, 2015 Running Press Kids Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth For all intents and purposes, Seed is a cult. To the women, girls, and boys living within Seed, it is a caring community where nature guides Papa S. into making the rules and ordinances the community lives under. For Pearl, her period is her transition into womanhood, something she's excited to have happen. She's ready to become one of Papa S.'s companions. That is until strangers come to Seed and she begins learning of the outside world from the teen boy, Ellis. The more she learns, the more she begins to wonder if Seed is really nature's ideal community. From some of documentaries I've watched, Lisa Heathfield does a good job at building each and every character in Seed . There's the intense love for the community leader and the two "kindreds" who are essentially the second in command. There are all the key community members - young Pearl, the woman she knows

Release Date - February 2015 Kyle Prue Barringer Publishing ---------------------- This February, Kyle Prue released the first of his The Feud series. While Roundtable Reviews simply did not have the time to fit it in for a review, we did feel it worthy of mention, especially for fantasy/sci-fi fans. Meanwhile, we have the first chapter to share with you. You'll find it below. In addition to a sample chapter, we have great news. Order your copy of The Sparks from the author's website and receive a 25% discount! Simply visit Kyle Prue's online store and enter the coupon code BLOG25 during checkout. Note that this coupon is only good at Kyle Prue's store, it will not work at Amazon or other online booksellers. ----------------------- To read the first chapter of Kyle Prue's The Sparks , a PDF file has been set up with Dropbox. Click here to read The Sparks .

Release Date - January 27, 2015 Neil Cross Open Road Media Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth I know Neil Cross best for the creepy movie Mama and the British crime drama Luther . Captured is the first novel of his that I've read, and I'm so glad I did. After he's diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, Kenny Drummond makes a list of people he needs to revisit and right past wrongs. One of the people on that list is a former classmate, Callie, who he learns has since married and vanished. Kenny makes it his number one priority to find out what the police have been unable to do. He's going to find out what really happened to her. Captured is such a powerful, emotional story. The descriptive, almost lyrical, narrative drew me in. I rooted for Kenny from the very start. From Kenny to his wife, and the P.I. to Callie's husband, each character was well developed and likable. The plot moved swiftly and kept me intrigued. With this, I'll be finding Neil Cros

Release Date - December 30, 2014 Maggie King Pocket Books Book Review by Jessica Maguire Hazel is a member of a book club whose focus is on reading murder mysteries. What she and the other members could never have imagined is that life imitates art right in front of them. Carlene Arness, Hazel's ex-husband's wife and member of the club, is murdered during a book club meeting! Even more uncanny is that the members were discussing death by cyanide, the very substance that killed Carlene. Though her death is ruled a suicide, Hazel and the others believe otherwise. So, what do the members of a murder mystery book club (and some of them murder mystery authors themselves) do? They investigate the situation themselves, of course! As Hazel and her roommate begin their inquiry into Carlene's death, they find that they really didn't know the woman. Carlene's past turns out to give more questions than it answers. And just about each member of the club could be a suspe

Release Date - November 25, 2014 Megan Hart Harlequin/MIRA Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth Her husband's being investigated for malpractice. That's enough of a blow for Mari Calder, but while he's on a hiatus from his job as a psychiatrist, he opts to rent out their home and move them back to Mari's childhood home, a place she desperately wants to forget. As a child, Mari was abused, neglected, and raised in horrible conditions by her grandmother. When she was eight, she was finally rescued and spent years becoming the woman she is today. Her kids do not know the truth about her past, will returning undo everything she's accomplished? Back in that house in rural Pennsylvania, there's a presence in the woods that many in the family sense is watching their every move. When it appears this presence is not here to welcome them, Mari must stand and fight, and that means looking back at the childhood she's spent many years trying to forget. Lovely W

Release Date - October 2014 Jason Mott MIRA Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth Thirteen-year-old Ava is just one of the residents of Stone Temple affected by the crash of a stunt plane during a festival. Ava and her best friend Wash are trapped in the rubble, and Wash is wounded and dying. It's at that moment that Ava reveals a secret, she can heal people. While she saves Wash's life, it also opens her up to people from near and far coming to her demanding she heal them. Ava's father, the town sheriff, has plenty on his plate. He's a widower, now remarried, and his wife's pregnancy is on shaky ground given her history. Above all, he is determined to keep Ava safe. Each time she heals something or someone, she puts her own life on the line. Trying to balance the public's demands with what he knows is best for his family is becoming increasingly difficult. I loved Jason Mott's first novel, The Returned , and I love the TV series that became of it. I

Release Date - February 2015 Gallery Books Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth Lulu de Longland never expects to wake up with her best friend's new husband, but that's exactly what happens the day after Josh and Annabelle's wedding. Shamed by her actions, Lulu begins looking at her friendship with Annabelle over the years, the hurt and joy Annabelle has caused, the friends she's made, and at the place she's in now. It's time for Lulu to decide what happens next. Walking on Trampolines goes back and forth between the past and present throughout the novel. You see the formations of Josh and Lulu's relationship when they are teens, the obstacles that keep them from a happily ever after, and then Lulu's current life and the decisions she faces. Realistically, the opening scene where Annabelle finds Josh and Lulu together passes very quickly, but the consequences of that night weigh heavily throughout most of the book, even if Lulu is really the main

Release Date - November 2014 Lilian Darcy Tule Publishing Group Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth Mistakes she made as a teen may weigh heavily on Gemma Clayton, but the single mom does not regret for one moment the daughter she's raised. When she overhears Bree talking about dreading telling her something, Gemma fears her daughter may have made the same mistakes. Dylan Saddler, Gemma's neighbor, is thrilled to have his son come stay with him for part of the summer. Another mysterious guest is just as thrilling, though a little harder to cope with. Needing help, Dylan asks Gemma's daughter if she'd be willing to work as a companion to his guest. One thing is clear to every child in the Clayton and Saddler households, there are sparks between Dylan and Gemma, and they may need a little push to realize they deserve a future that goes beyond taking care of others. Long Walk Home is apparently part of the Montana River Bend series. I've not read other book

Release Date - February 17, 2015 Mary Jennifer Payne Dundurn Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth There are two ways I looked at Since You've Been Gone . First, the adult part of me was horrified, engrossed, and yet curious about one aspect of the mystery. The kid at heart was engrossed with the characters, setting, and mystery. This isn't a long read, but it's one that kept me on the edge of my seat and rooting for 15-year-old Edie Fraser. For 10 years, Edie and her mother have been on the run. This latest move has brought them from Toronto to London. Things start looking up when Edie's mom finds a job and Edie makes a couple friends on her first day at school. She misses her Toronto friends and definitely misses her cat, but starting over is something Edie's had to do many times before. This move is different. After her first shift at work, Edie's mom disappears. Edie knows she cannot trust anyone, especially the police, so she needs to search for her

Release Date - January 19, 2015 Cate Masters Lyrical Press Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth Since the tragic death of her fiance, Melanie Michaels has thrown herself into death defying situations for her reality television show No Boundaries . When her next adventure has her heading to the Swedish Lapland, the same area her fiance planned for their honeymoon, she knows she must go and find out what drew him to that area. The plans are to have a musher escort them through the area to the famous ICEHOTEL. The last thing she needs or wants is to find herself attracted to her guide. Buck Wright escaped the pain of his disastrous relationship by starting over in the Swedish Lapland. He's got a new life, new friends, and doesn't want to think about his past. He works exclusively for Arctic Adventures. His team of huskies mean the world to him, and he will not let any client put them in danger, especially not some thrill-seeking reality show host. He never expects the host t

Release Date - October 2014 Sophie Littlefield Gallery Books Book Review by Jessica Maguire What do Shay and Colleen have in common? Absolutely nothing, except that their sons are missing. Brought together by circumstance, the two women, one from the wrong side of the tracks in California and the other from a wealthy East Coast background, must find some common ground if they are ever to see their children again.  Taylor and Paul are about as different as their mothers are. Taylor, outgoing, popular, and handsome, is in stark contrast to Paul's reserved manner and troubled past. Yet the two became friends while working on the oil rigs in North Dakota. And now they are missing. Were they victims of an accident and cover- up in the unsafe working conditions of the oil company? Or was it something more sinister? With no help from the oil company or the police department, Shay and Colleen must do what they can to get any information they can about their boys and that p

Release Date - February 3, 2015 Kristin Hannah St. Martin's Press Book Review by Tracy Farnsworth The Nightingale is a powerful tearjerker that I couldn't put down. It's told in two eras: present day and WWII France. Grab the Kleenex box for this one. The story begins in present day Oregon. An older woman is diagnosed with cancer for the third time, and this time her son wants her to move from her coastal home. She cannot leave, however, without a steamer trunk full of memorabilia that takes her back to a time she does not talk about. In fact, when her son spots an ID card for a Juliette Gervaise, he begins to ask questions. At this point, The Nightingale goes into the past. Two young girls are being forced to live with strangers after their mother dies and their father abandons them. One sister meets a boy and begins to fall in love, but the other sister does not thrive in her new situation and continues to get sent home to her father. This shapes their live