Review: Once Smitten, Twice Shy by Chloe Liese

 

Once Smitten, Twice Shy (Wilmot Sisters #3) by Chloe Liese

Publication Date: January 14th 2025 by Berkley

Pages: 384

Source: Publisher 

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Juliet has been burned by love and is wary of jumping back into the dating pool. Will is awkward and shy and so he has trouble navigating romance. They meet and end up confiding in each other, deciding to enter into a practice romance to help each other prepare to find love.

 

Once Smitten, Twice Shy was a sweet and spicy romance brimming with chemistry! There was a great foundation of friendship first making their connection more profound. Both Juliet and Will were likeable characters and so thoughtful with each other. It made my heart swoon! I also appreciated there was no third act breakup!

 

As a side note I love the beautiful cover! It perfectly depicts Will and Juliet in a scene from the book. The same with the other covers in the series. 

4 Stars

Book Description:

Star-crossed lovers learn that practicing romance leads to the perfect happy ending in this steamy reimagining of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.

Since heartbreak entered the scene, Juliet Wilmot, once a hopeless romantic, has sworn off love. But when she's presented with the chance to revisit romance-purely for practice-with the gorgeous, off-limits guy she keeps serendipitously running into, it feels like a sign from the universe.

Quiet, shy Will Orsino knows happily-ever-after isn't on his horizon. Problem is, for the sake of the family business, marriage is. Resigned to the inevitable, but with no confidence he can woo a wife, he can hardly say no when fate hands him the alluring, unattainable woman he keeps crossing paths with, offering to help him learn the ropes of romance.

Neither of them looking for love, Jules and Will agree they're the perfect pair to practice romance. Except that practicing to perfection leads to an irresistible attraction. Their once smitten hearts, though still twice shy, might have happily-ever-after written in the stars for them, after all.

Top Ten Tuesday & TMST

This week I'm combining two weekly Tuesday memes:

Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. For info on TMST click HERE.

This week's topic: What is your least favorite thing about winter?

I don't mind the cold, but honestly in Northern California we don't get the bitter cold with temps below zero hardly ever or at all (average high & low 53/34 for winter), so there is that.

My least favorite thing about winter is that lack of blooming flowers. The garden is sparse and a lot of trees are bare, but I know this is a time of replenishing, building snow pack, water stores, and a rest for all things growing.

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Artsy Reader where each week they post a new top ten list and ask fellow bookish folk to share their lists on that topic.

This week the theme is for Top Ten Tuesday is: 2024 Releases I Was Excited to Read but Still Haven’t Gotten To:

(Click on cover for Goodreads description)

The Outlaw Noble Salt by Amy Harmon

Into the Sunset by Mary Connealy

The Summer Escape by Jill Shalvis

Sandwich by Catherine Newman

The Wrong Sister by Claire Douglas

This is Why We Lied by Karin Slaughter

Still See You Everywhere by Lisa Gardner

The Gathering by C.J. Tudor

Daughter of Mine by Megan Miranda

House of Glass by Sarah Pekkanen

Have you read any of these?

and 

What is your least favorite thing about winter?

Audiobook Review: A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

 

A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall

Publication Date: February 4th 2025 by Macmillan Audio

Pages: 304

Audio Book Length: 9hrs 41 mins

Narrators: Karissa Vacker

Source: Publisher 

Rating: ★★★★½

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Librofm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Theodora “Theo” Scott is meeting her fiancé’s family for the first time at their private getaway nestled in a picturesque mountain setting. She’s a ball of nerves hoping to win their approval and hoping they won’t look too closely at her past. However, Theo can’t shake the feeling that she’s been to Idlewood before. When she hears about the tragic death of Connor’s father, memories start to shake loose.

 

Being at Idlewood, a remote family retreat, hard to get to and without cell service made it a sort of “locked room” kind of mystery! Very atmospheric with a sinister undercurrent!

 

I kept wondering who could be trusted! One minute I’d think this character is safe and the next not-so-much. Even Theo had her secrets, which were gradually revealed. I liked her and was rooting for her! I was outraged over her past, but happily, Theo wasn’t one to just take it lying down!

 

Oooh, this got twisty in the end, a surprise around every corner! Was some of it over-the-top? Yes. Was it an utterly fun thrill ride even so? Definitely! I listened to this in one sitting, not being able to stop! I had to know how it all turned out!

 

Karissa Vacker is one of my favorite audio narrators and she nailed the performance of both male and female characters brilliantly! A definite recommend!

4.5 Stars

Book Description:

A woman invited to her wealthy fiance’s family retreat realizes they are hiding a terrible secret—and that she’s been there before, by the bestselling author of What Lies in the Woods.

A whirlwind romance.
When Theodora Scott met Connor—wealthy, charming, and a member of the powerful Dalton family—she fell in love in an instant. Six months later, he’s brought her to Idlewood, his family’s isolated winter retreat, to win over his skeptical relatives.

Stay away from Connor Dalton.
Theo has tried to ignore the threatening messages on her phone, but she can’t ignore the footprints in the snow outside the cabin window or the strange sense of familiarity she has about this place. Then, in a disused cabin, Theo finds something impossible: a photo of herself as a child. A photo taken at Idlewood.

I’ve been here before.
Theo has almost no recollection of her earliest years, but now she begins to piece together the fragments of her memories. Someone here has a shocking secret that they will do anything to keep hidden, and Theo is in terrible danger. Because the Daltons do not lose, and discovering what happened at Idlewood may cost Theo everything.

Sunday Post #282

 

The Sunday Post is hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated reviewer book blog, and is a post to recap my bookish and non-bookish things from the last week. I'm also linking up to The Sunday Salon hosted by Deb Nance @Readerbuzz.

We've had 4 1/2 inches of rain so far today, almost 5 for this storm and we have more coming. It's been dry for a while, for here anyways. The rain is welcome, but maybe not so much at once? 

Peanut won't hardly go out, but Starla and Smokey were in and out all day. Crazy cats!

Peanut keeping an eye out for Starla & Smokey

With the rain I completed two puzzles this week. Forgot to take a picture of the last one I did before breaking it down.

The Cambridge by Charles Wysocki

I made oatmeal cookies and my husband made us homemade pizza for dinner.

I had an unpleasant/unstable patient this week, which isn't unusual, but this guy was something else. He mentioned that he worked for Door Dash. Kind of made me think about what kind of people we invite to our home when ordering in. I rarely order food delivery, so that's probably a good thing!

I finally joined Bluesky!

Read:

A Killing Cold by Kate Alice Marshall: 4.5 Stars

Once Smitten, Twice Shy by Chloe Liese: 4 Stars

The Dark Hours by Amy Jordan: 5 Stars

Head Cases by John McMahon: 4.5 Stars

I had a great reading week! The Dark Hours was my favorite read of the week and for the month of January. I listened to A Killing Cold straight through today while working a puzzle! So many twists in the end! Loved it! Head Cases was also really good and I'm looking forward to the next in the series!

Received:

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, Harper Muse, Penguin Random House Audio, Harper Audio and Hachette Audio!

Instagram:

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How was your week?

Giveaway: 3 Romance Books!

As usual my shelves are overflowing so I'm giving away three romance books! 

Prime Time Romance by Kate Robb

The Wedding Engagement by Zoe Allison

Meet Me at the Lake by Carley Fortune

The giveaway is open to US Residents only. Fill out rafflecopter for a chance to win. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: The Dark Hours by Amy Jordan

 

The Dark Hours by Amy Jordan

Publication Date: January 28th 2025 by MIRA & Harlequin Audio

Pages: 320

Audio Book Length: 10hrs 18min

Narrator: Flora Montgomery

Source: Publishers

Rating: ★★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Librofm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Retired Detective Inspector Julia Harte reluctantly agrees to consult on a new murder case that seems like a copy of a horrific set of murders committed thirty years earlier, in Cork, Ireland, when she was just a Garda. Those events haunt her even now and changed the course of her life and career.

 

Both mysteries, the 1994 case and the new connected 2024 case were riveting! Loved Julia, as a Garda back in 1994, and as the seasoned, retired Detective Inspector in 2024 trying for a life of anonymity. 

As a new Garda she was eager to become a detective, but also desperate to find the cruel killer that struck at her personally. Back then, she rushed, a little reckless, but was smart and a quick learner. Julia in 2024 is comfortable in her own skin, trusts her instincts and doesn’t take unnecessary chances. I loved the relationship with her old boss and mentor, Des Riordan, a man who treated her opinions with respect even before she made detective. Something that wasn’t always the case with her being a woman on the job.

 

Sometimes a story will stall out in places when there’s a dual timeline, but this was a tightly woven narrative, and I was on the edge of my seat wondering what would happen next! The story wrapped up in an exciting and satisfying conclusion!

 

This is my first time reading Amy Jordan. I’ll be on the lookout for whatever she comes up with next!

 

I alternately listened to and read an audio and e-copy. Flora Montgomery’s narration was excellent, bringing the character’s emotions and urgency of the story to life! I loved her Irish accent!

5 Stars

Book Description:

For fans of Tana French and Jane Harper, this debut crime thriller follows a retired police detective who must face down a vicious killer and the memories that haunt her—thirty years after bringing down one of Ireland’s most prolific serial killers.

Julia Harte has found the perfect place to disappear: Cuan Beag, a secluded coastal village on the east coast of Ireland. Home to less than one thousand residents, a popular daytrip for tourists, it has proven to be a scenic corner in which to erase a life. This corner of the world is so peaceful, at times it feels uninhabited; that’s why she chose to disappear here. But Julia knows anything is possible in the dark hours.

Thirty years ago, Julia helped to bring down the most prolific serial killer Ireland had ever seen, and while that case spurred a successful career and a bestselling book, it's also the reason she's in hiding now, all alone and haunted by the things tha happened all those years ago, without the husband she had depended upon. When a copycat killer strikes, Julia is called back to active duty, but this time, she's not the young, naive officer she was then. She knows killers like this one, who hunt for sport, and she's determined to put a stop to his plans--or die trying.

Review: Head Cases by John McMahon

 

Head Cases (PAR Unit #1) by John McMahon

Publication Date: January 28th 2025 by Minotaur Books & Macmillan Audio

Pages: 352

Audio Book Length: 9hrs 36min

Narrator: Will Damron

Source: Publishers

Rating: ★★★★½

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Libro.fm | Audible | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

FBI Agent Gardner Camden is part of the Patterns and Recognition unit, PAR that tackles challenging cold cases, finding clues others have missed. Each quirky member is gifted in their specialty: a mathematician, a firearms expert, and a computer analyst.

 

Gardner’s team is called out when DNA of a murder victim matches a serial killer thought to be dead. Soon there’s another murder that seems to be connected and the team is tasked with finding the killer. It quickly becomes apparent this killer knows of the PAR unit and is leaving them clues. With the mistaken identity of the first murder, the FBI wants the case solved quickly and quietly and they want PAR to do it. They hop from scene to scene, as more is revealed, an undercurrent of urgency threaded through the narrative, keeping me on the edge of my seat!

 

Gardner is an interesting and likeable hero; one I rooted for!  His eidetic memory and knack for connecting random details/patterns make him excellent in solving cases, but the ins-and-outs of social interactions seem to escape him. Gardner’s backstory and how he ended up on the team is revealed, but the other’s backstories are only lightly touched on. Callie, a mathematician, Shooter, a firearms expert, Frank their supervisor, and the newbie, Richie. I look forward to getting to know more about them and seeing them settle in together as a team.

 

Head Cases was a thrilling mystery that had me hooked from the start! I can’t wait for the next one!

I alternately read and listened to Head Cases and can recommend either version. Will Damron is a new-to-me narrator, and he performed Gardner with a kind of matter-a-fact tone, something that fit with his character’s personality perfectly! I enjoyed his performance of all voices and I hope he continues to narrate the series!

4.5 Stars

Book Description:

Head Cases follows an enigmatic group of FBI agents as they hunt down a murderer seeking his own justice in this electrifying—and commercial—series debut.

FBI Agent Gardner Camden is an analytical genius with an affinity for puzzles. He also has a blind spot on the human side of investigations, a blindness that sometimes even includes people in his own life, like his beloved seven-year-old daughter Camila. Gardner and his squad of brilliant yet quirky agents make up the Patterns and Recognition (PAR) unit, the FBI’s hidden edge, brought in for cases that no one else can solve.

When DNA links a murder victim to a serial killer long presumed dead, the team springs into action. A second victim establishes a pattern, and the murderer begins leaving a trail of clues and riddles especially for Gardner. And while the PAR team is usually relegated to working cold cases from behind a desk, the investigation puts them on the road and into the public eye, following in the footsteps of a killer.

Along with Gardner, PAR consists of a mathematician, a weapons expert, a computer analyst, and their leader, a career agent. Each of them must use every skill they have to solve the riddle of the killer’s identity. But with the perpetrator somehow learning more and more about the team at PAR, can they protect themselves and their families…before it’s too late?

With an enigmatic case that will keep readers on the edge of their seats and a thoroughly engaging ensemble cast, John McMahon’s Head Cases is a triumph.