Books I Plan to Read August 30 to September 5 and last week's results

 

Hello to all of you,

This week I did not do much packing. My husband and I did go to the movies twice (Mutiny with Jason Statham and The End of Oak Street). I also took one day and headed to my old job to visit and catch up. I did manage to get through most of my reading and listening, only being mid way through a book and an audiobook, both of which I will complete this week.

The weather here has been a little confused (rain, sun, thunderstorms) though the temperatures were consistent, between 70's and 80's with tiny dips into the high 60's. How all is well near you.

Last week's results:

Ebooks: 

Smitty by L. Wilder - 5 stars

Life of Death by Janine Infante Bosco - 5 stars

The Brewmaster's Kiss by Leah Miles - 5 stars

Storms of Crick Road Bridge by David G. Kerr - 4 stars

Audiobook:

When the Smoke Clears by Jewel E. Ann - 5 stars

Planned Reading for August 30 - September 5th

Ebooks:

(finish) Miss Wylde and the Wynd by Jane Charles

 

Audiobooks:

(finish) Property of Vex by Kathleen Kelly

It looks light but maybe I will get more packing done. I plan to spend most of the week in the house, reading and packing. Fingers crossed that I get through my reading. It gives me a chance to relax in bed before pushing to work on that packing. I am so close, I can taste it. Take that moment to relax, enjoy your hobby or a good book.

Kia ora (goodbye in New Zealand),

Blitz: Branko: Smoke Jumper Extraordinaire by Alexandra Arneri, illustrated by Alexandra Arneri

Branko: Smoke Jumper Extraordinaire

by Alexandra Arneri

Children's Book

Date Published: March 30, 2026

Publisher: Trela Mela Press

A brave little dragon. A forest in danger. A powerful story about friendship, courage, and protecting the world we share.

Little Branko lives high above Dragonville in Zmajograd, a city of dragons controlled by rules - the Dragons’ Code. Under this code, dragons cannot put out fires and dragons cannot be friends with humans. But Branko has never understood why. Unlike the other dragons, he does not want to start fires—he wants to put them out.

When Branko questions the Dragons’ Code in school, he is told to “learn” and not “think”. When he persists, he is banished from his community. Determined to follow his heart, he travels to the human town below and dreams of becoming a firefighter. But the humans are afraid of him, too. Caught between two worlds that refuse to accept him, Branko must decide whether to give up—or keep believing that kindness can change everything.

When a dangerous wildfire threatens the forest shared by humans and dragons, Branko finally gets his chance to prove that courage is not about following old rules. It is about doing what is right.

Branko: Smokejumper Extraordinaire is a heartwarming children’s picture book about friendship, bravery, community, environmental responsibility, and the importance of questioning division. With themes of inclusion, cooperation, wildfire awareness, and respect for firefighters, this inspiring story encourages young readers to look beyond fear, challenge unfair rules, and discover the extraordinary power of helping others.

Perfect for children who love stories about dragons, firefighters, friendship, nature, and unlikely heroes, this meaningful book is ideal for family reading, classrooms, libraries, and conversations about courage, compassion, and caring for our planet.

Great for readers interested in:

• Dragon picture books

• Firefighter books for kids

• Children’s books about friendship and acceptance

• Stories about courage, kindness, and standing up for what is right

• Environmental books for children

• Climate books for children

• Wildfire awareness and forest protection

• Social-emotional learning and community-building stories

A beautifully imaginative tale for young readers who believe even the smallest voice can spark big change.

 

About the Author

Alexandra Arneri is an author, attorney, producer, and human rights advocate whose stories explore courage, connection, and the power of questioning the rules that keep people apart.

Born in Belgrade, raised in Belgrade and Sydney, and shaped by formative years in New York City, Alexandra brings a global perspective to her work. Her writing often features unlikely characters—from mushrooms and fax machines to thunder, lightning, flowers, Beeps, Honks, and dragons—who discover that difference does not have to mean division.

Her debut children’s book, Branko: Smokejumper Extraordinaire, introduces young readers to a brave little dragon who challenges tradition, reaches across fear, and helps unite humans and dragons in the face of an unprecedented and fierce wildfire. Inspired by themes of friendship, environmental responsibility, community, and courage, the story reflects Alexandra’s belief in the importance of compassion, cooperation, and protecting the world we share.

Beyond children’s literature, Alexandra’s creative work spans genres and platforms, including Gravity FM, a deep dive podcast exploring planetary health and human rights, the satirical Degenerate Carrot cartoons, and impactful storytelling through Apocryphal Pictures. She is also a practicing attorney at Cittone Demers & Arneri LLP, where she maintains a robust human rights practice, and serves as President of the Global Witness Foundation.

Alexandra lives in San Francisco with her family. When she is not writing, practicing law, producing stories, or advocating for human rights, she enjoys painting, yoga, and creating imaginative tales about the courage it takes to reach across what divides us.

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Cover Reveal and Preorder: Ripped and Rugged (#TNTNC27 Anthologies)

DOUBLE THE HEROES, DOUBLE THE HEAT

Get ready to fall head-over-heels for RIPPED & RUGGED, the #TNTNC27 anthologies packed with swoon-worthy, pulse-pounding romance from your favorite TNT authors!

And the best part? These stories cross over, so you get interconnected standalone romances and an excuse to add both incredible volumes to your collection.    

 

👀 Feast your eyes on the rough & rowdy covers!

 

RIPPED:
Cover Design: FuriousFotog / Golden Czermak
Photography: CJC Photography  
Model: Robbie Siclari

RUGGED:
Cover Design:  FuriousFotog / Golden Czermak
Photography: CJC Photography  
Model: Tony Brettman

 

If you love outlaw brotherhoods, rugged outdoorsmen, and the women who bring them to their knees, this rowdy romance collection is for you...

 

Tempted & Tantalizing is back with a brand-new, multi-author, two-volume romance anthology where the wilderness is unforgiving, the club business is ruthless, and the heroes run wild and are not to be tested.

 

Fire up your engines and dive into RIPPED, where iron-willed bikers live and love by their own merciless laws. Possessive, lethal, and fiercely loyal to their own, these outlaws will stop at nothing to defend what's theirs, no matter the cost.

 

Then scale the wild heights in RUGGED, and try not to fall for the hard-working men who brave the harshest terrain to carve out a living on their own terms. Armed with endless grit and stoic devotion, these relentless protectors know exactly how to shelter the women they love from any storm.

 

Featuring overlapping storylines, shared small towns, and crossover characters, this pulse-pounding double anthology proves that whether a man works the land or builds an empire, he will give everything he has for the one who holds his heart.

 

Includes pairs of connected romances from:

Janine Infante Bosco & E.C. Land

E.R. Whyte & Gwyn McNamee

Maria Vickers & Amy Marie

D. Vessa & M. Merin

Stephanie Dillon & Penny Anglene

Cassie Colton & April Moran

Miranda Lynn & Elle Shane

Elise Gedicke & KC Savage

BR Curry & CA Miconi

CJ Pinard & Angela Rush

 

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Audiobook Review: When the Smoke Clears by Jewel E. Ann, narrators Natasha Chandel and Sean Masters

 

Blurb: 

From USA Today bestselling author Jewel E. Ann comes a bittersweet second-chance romance about deferred love, impossible timing, and the courage of choosing happiness after devastating loss.

Everleigh Reichart and William Landry fell hard—and far too fast. Their weeklong romance ended the moment Will, a twenty-nine-year-old firefighter, learned the truth: Everleigh was seventeen. He walked away to protect them both. Destiny had other plans.

Eleven years later, Will is still running into burning buildings, while Everleigh has become a brilliant psychiatrist. When a house fire strands her on his land, their old feelings ignite like patient embers. But she’s desperate to keep concealing the childhood trauma that has shaped her life, and he’s struggling under the weight of his father’s terminal illness. Too soon, the strain snaps their fragile reunion, flinging them farther apart than ever before.

Now Everleigh must face her past to salvage a future with Will…if he can accept that loving her includes the broken parts too. But first, he needs to come and find her—this time by faith, not fate.

Amazon: Amazon.com: When the Smoke Clears eBook : Ann, Jewel E.: Kindle Store

Audible: When the Smoke Clears Audiobook by Jewel E. Ann

Bookbub: When the Smoke Clears by Jewel E. Ann - BookBub

Goodreads: When the Smoke Clears by Jewel E. Ann | Goodreads

My Review - 5 of 5 stars - 

This story had me smiling, crying, and shaking my head. There were so many secrets, denial of feelings, and steamy scenes. I loved Everleigh, even after finding out about her true past, and Will, despite his constant refusal to admit his feelings. They were a great couple though there was an age gap that Will struggled with. My heart hurt so much with the family dynamic of Will's family, but it gave me hope as it affected Everleigh to bring everything to the forefront. This was a touching story with a lot of love, family, friends, and support. It showed how different people react to the same situation. Well worth reading.
Natasha Chandel and Sean Masters were great with the story, with the emotions, and all the characters. I enjoyed listening as it added another layer to this audiobook.

I received a copy through Valentine PR, and this is my unsolicited review.

Ebook Review: Storms of Crick Road Bridge by David G. Kerr

 

Blurb: 

Eden Valley is a quiet town in northwestern Pennsylvania still healing from a dark chapter in its history. Two years ago, the community was shaken by a kidnapping and a series of murders. Tom Stallings, the celebrated town hero, solved the crimes and identified the evil demon responsible. In an effort to revitalize the town, Tom’s son, Josh, has purchased the town’s orchard, naming it The Stallings Orchard at Crick Road Bridge.

However, Tom is soon informed by the local sheriff that he and his family are the targets of a threatening letter, mysteriously signed “The Avenger.” The unknown author accuses Tom and Josh of being land-grabbers with blood on their hands and vows to seek revenge.

Against this tense backdrop, three individuals—each driven by their own pain and misguided sense of justice—embark on separate journeys of revenge. While the first merely seeks to resolve personal grievances and jealousy through minor acts of vandalism, the other two harbor far more sinister intentions, representing both physical and metaphorical storms on a path of chaos and destruction.

Through these intertwined stories, the novel explores the complexities of human nature, the burden of secrets, and the transformative power of forgiveness and resilience for both the individual and the community as a whole.

Amazon: Storms of Crick Road Bridge - Kindle edition by Kerr, David G.. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

B&N: Storms of Crick Road Bridge | Barnes & Noble®

Goodreads: Storms of Crick Road Bridge by David G. Kerr | Goodreads

My Review - 4 of 5 stars - 

I enjoyed this book, though it took a bit to get the flow of the narrative. It was interesting to see how everything actually did loop around and culminate in the end. Being in the head of such a horrific person, watching how his messed up thoughts pushed him through his crimes, definitely kept me reading. This story was worth reading.

I received a copy through RABT, and this is my unsolicited review.

Book Tour: Storms of Crick Road Bridge by David G. Kerr with my review

 

Crime Thriller

Date Published: April 8, 2026

Publisher: MindStir Media

Eden Valley is a quiet town in northwestern Pennsylvania still healing from a dark chapter in its history. Two years ago, the community was shaken by a kidnapping and a series of murders. Tom Stallings, the celebrated town hero, solved the crimes and identified the evil demon responsible. In an effort to revitalize the town, Tom's son, Josh, has purchased the town's orchard, naming it The Stallings Orchard at Crick Road Bridge.

However, Tom is soon informed by the local sheriff that he and his family are the targets of a threatening letter, mysteriously signed "The Avenger." The unknown author accuses Tom and Josh of being land-grabbers with blood on their hands and vows to seek revenge.

Against this tense backdrop, three individuals-each driven by their own pain and misguided sense of justice-embark on separate journeys of revenge. While the first merely seeks to resolve personal grievances and jealousy through minor acts of vandalism, the other two harbor far more sinister intentions, representing both physical and metaphorical storms on a path of chaos and destruction.

 

My Review - 4 of 5 stars - 

I enjoyed this book, though it took a bit to get the flow of the narrative. It was interesting to see how everything actually did loop around and culminate in the end. Being in the head of such a horrific person, watching how his messed up thoughts pushed him through his crimes, definitely kept me reading. This story was worth reading.

About the Author

 

 David Kerr grew up in the small, rural community of Enon Valley, Pennsylvania, in the '50s and '60s where the main source of employment was farming or working in the steel mill industry. Surrounded by families who struggled to maintain their middle- class lifestyle and hold tightly to the American values of God, family, and country, little did he realize that these people and places would become the inspiration for his novels.

A graduate of Georgia Southern University, Kerr served as an English teacher and school administrator for forty-four years. Following his retirement, he wrote and published two mystery novels, Secrets of Crick Road Bridge and Storms of Crick Road Bridge.

Today, he and his wife, Lois, live in Woodstock, Georgia, where they enjoy being close to their daughter Paige, son-in-law, Chris, and grandsons, Banks and Ford

Purchase Links

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Blitz: Play Along, Sweetheart by Nancy Pirri

Play Along, Sweetheart

by Nancy Pirri

Contemporary Romance

Date Published: August 10, 2026

Their relationship is fake. Their chemistry is not.

Chicago social worker, Maggie O’Hara, arrives at the Minneapolis airport where she awaits the arrival of her family to pick her up and take her home with them for Thanksgiving. She’s nervous, due to the surprise she has for them in her arms—her newly adopted baby girl from Korea. With little thought, Maggie grabs a stranger getting off the same airplane, and asks him to portray himself, temporarily, as her fiancé. She knows that her old-fashioned family will disapprove of the adoption because she’s not married. What Maggie doesn’t count on is falling in love with Dr. Nick Capra, who does more than a passable job of posing as her fiancé that day, and over the holiday week.

From the moment Maggie snags Nick, a confirmed bachelor, his gut tells him his single days are over and that she’s the woman for him. While posing as her fiancé he tells her he wants to be a permanent part of her life. While Maggie has fallen in love with Nick, she has a secret that could ruin their chances of being together, though she refuses to divulge the secret to him—until the choice is taken out of her hands.

 

About the Author

 

 Nancy Schumacher is the owner-publisher of Melange Books, LLC, writing under the pseudonyms, Nancy Pirri and Natasha Perry. Being a publisher doesn’t allow much time for the creative process of writing and publishing her own works, but every once in a while it happens.

She is an associate member of Romance Writers of America (RWA). She is also one of the founders of the RWA chapter, Northern Lights Writers (NLW), in Minnesota.

 

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Satin Romance

Preorder: Claimed by the Mountain Man (Wildwood Alphas #1) by Shaw Hart

Claimed by the Mountain Man 

by Shaw Hart 

Releases on September 2nd!

https://geni.us/ClaimedByTheMM

Read on Kindle Unlimited

I ran from one man trying to own me… straight into another who actually will.

Scout
I should have known something was up when my father started acting nice and caring towards me.
He’s never been the nurturing type. He’s never really paid me much attention at all, too busy hiding from loan sharks or drinking himself to sleep.
Still, when he starts to pay attention to me, I can’t deny that a part of me is hoping that our relationship might finally be improving.
Then he leads me into the chapel and informs me that I’m there to marry one of the loan sharks that he owes.
So, I do the only thing that I can.
I run.
When my car breaks down on the side of the road, I think that I’m screwed.
Then he shows up and I know that I am.

Carter
I’ve been enjoying the peace and quiet of my cabin when a car breaks down out front and out steps an angel.
An angel in a wedding dress.
I know right then and there that fate has brought me this girl, that she belongs to me.
I don’t know who was stupid enough to lose her, but I won’t be making that mistake.
This girl is mine.
She’s in my cabin, sleeping in my bed, wearing my clothes.
She thinks that she can’t leave because I need to fix her car. She’s about to learn that I’m never going to let her go.
I’ve found my dream girl.
Now all that’s left is for me to claim her.

 

Preorder: Cowboy's Christmas Baker (Trinity Falls Sweet Romance - Village Christmas #1) by Clara Pines

Cowboy's Christmas Baker 

by Clara Pines 

Releases on September 1st!

https://geni.us/CowboysChristmasBaker

Read With Kindle Unlimited

Can everyone’s favorite baker win over the grumpiest cowboy in town?

It's bad enough that the man Mallory Fisher crushed on for years is marrying another woman, but now she also has to bake their wedding cake. Even so, she’s not going to let that ruin her Christmas.

The irrepressible small-town baker has decided she just needs forget all about love this Christmas. And to do that, she’s going to focus on coming up with a signature holiday treat that will finally put her beloved bakery on the map.

The daily support and encouragement she receives from the kind widower she met in her online support group is a recipe for success. Only she doesn’t count on him moving to Trinity Falls for his own fresh start. And she definitely doesn’t count on the things he makes her feel when they actually meet in person.

It turns out that Harrison Law is nothing like Mal expected.

Instead of the kindly older man she’s been picturing, Harrison is the perfect picture of tall, dark, and handsome. He’s also a single dad, with a grumpy streak she never noticed during their online chats. But Mal can’t help feeling drawn to the growly cowboy, and to his quiet eight-year-old daughter, Katie, who lights up whenever Mal talks about baking.

The three quickly begin spending time together. And everyone in Trinity Falls assumes they’re an item. But things aren’t always what they seem. And Harrison and Katie have been through so much that Mal isn’t sure her love is enough to bring them back into the light.

Can these three lonely souls really make their own happily-ever-after in time for Christmas? Or will it take a village to bring them together?

Trinity Falls Sweet Romance is all about finding family – one clean & wholesome romance at a time. The Trinity Falls Sweet Romance: Village Christmas inspirational series celebrates the people who live and work in a small Pennsylvania town at Christmastime, and find love and meaning in the season. If you love no spice books with cowboys, single dads, found family, caring community, and slow burn romance that makes you smile and sigh, this is the series for you!

 

Release: A Very Grumpy Chef (Wolf Valley: Grumps #17) by Shaw Hart

A Very Grumpy Chef 

by Shaw Hart 

Available now!

https://geni.us/VeryGrumpyChef

Available on All Platforms

I didn’t mean to wake up the hottest man in my apartment building at six in the morning, but in my defense… my kitchen was on fire.

Coco
I can’t cook, can’t even boil water without setting off the fire alarm, and trust me, I’ve tried.
That’s actually how I meet my grumpy new neighbor.
He comes over to yell at me for waking him up with the fire alarm and embarrasses me in front of the entire building.
Now my new plan is to avoid that man like the plague and find some other way to feed myself.
Unfortunately for me, my new neighbor seems to have other plans.

Alec
As a chef, I value my routine.
My hours are all kinds of messed up, so having a set schedule saves me from being a royal, sleep-deprived jerk.
Or it used to.
Until I meet Coco.
Now she has me stepping way outside my comfort zone.
I’m chasing after her, trying to make up for our first meeting, but it’s no use.
She doesn’t want anything to do with me.
When she signs up for my cooking class, I know that this is my chance.
She thinks the class is about food.
It’s not.

It’s about me teaching her exactly what she’s been missing.