It Takes One (Audrey Harte #1) by Kate Kessler

They say there are no secrets in a small town... 
Criminal psychologist Audrey Harte is returning home after seven years. She'll have to face the whispers and the rumors that have haunted her family since she left. Because when Audrey was thirteen, she and her best friend Maggie killed Maggie's abusive father. 
Her first night back in town ends in a fight with a drunken Maggie, with her old crush Jake to witness it all. Audrey can't believe it can get worse. 
Then Maggie turns up dead. 
Now, Audrey has to find out who the murderer is - before everyone decides that she is to blame. And before the murderer can set their sights on her. 

Review: I was given an ARC of It Takes One from NetGalley for an honest review and this is my review.
This book was excellent. It had me hooked from the start and kept me engaged until the very end. I absolutely loved the character of Audrey she has so much spunk and takes no bull from anyone, she is definitely a character I would love to see again. The story was also done very well because it had so many layers to it. You had the past and what Maggie and Audrey did to Maggie's father and how that affected their relationship and now you have Maggie's murder and who did it. Plus you add in Jake, the boy that broke Audrey's heart when they were teenagers and whom she has never gotten over you and have the recipe for a great book. Oh did I mention a lot a twist and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat? This is definitely a must read and a great start to a new series.
I am giving It Takes One five out of five stars.

Furious by T.R. Ragan

Faith McMann comes home to a nightmare: her husband is killed and her son and daughter are taken. Although the intruders leave her for dead, she survives. Crippling grief and fear for her children make life unbearable. Until her anguish turns to anger…and she trades victimhood for vengeance.
Frustrated with the law’s efforts, she takes action to rescue her children—and wreaks havoc on the brutal criminals who tore them from her. With her family and newfound allies at her side, Faith descends into the hellish underworld of human trafficking, determined to make those who prey on the innocent pray for mercy.
The forces she’s up against have already proven that their ruthlessness knows no bounds. And there’s nothing they won’t do to turn Faith’s crusade into a suicide mission. But they’re about to learn that nothing is more dangerous than a mother fighting for her children—especially one who’s earned the nickname Furious.

Review: I was given an ARC of Furious from NetGalley for an honest review and this is my review.
Well, T.R. Ragan has done it again with this series, she has a group of kick butt misfits that are going to work together to help right the wrongs of the world and win the hearts of her readers. I love Faith aka Furious who is searching for her children who were abducted when her house was invaded and her husband was killed and she was left for dead with a slit throat. During her quest to find her children she meets Rage and Beast in her anger management class and they agree to help her and her family search for the children.
Their search introduces Faith to the horrors of human and children trafficking in her hometown and some of the things she does to find her kids are things only a mother would do. This book deals with some very disturbing subject matter but it was handled very well and with great care. I am not going to get into spoilers but Furious leaves the reader on the edge of the seat clamouring for the next book in this new series.
Furious is definitely a five out of five star book.

Baby Girl (Memory House Collection #4) by Bette Lee Crosby

When young Cheryl Ann leaves home, she thinks her path is straight…until she’s forced to make a choice she could never have imagined. The man in her life makes it clear: either pick your baby or pick me, he says. Suddenly, Cheryl finds herself at a crossroads. She makes a decision that will change her life forever, and that decision causes a chain of events that will lead Cheryl to a completely unexpected place. 
Baby Girl is a mother’s story. It’s about the greatest sacrifice a mother can make when she wants only the best for her child. It’s about falling in and out of love, of losing and finding one’s self. It’s about the perilous journey from passionate young love to happy true love and understanding the differences between the two. 
Baby Girl is a book that readers won’t want to miss because it’s a story they won’t forget. 

From the Author:
This book is based on a true story…a story that is heartbreaking at times but will leave readers with a better understanding of what a woman will do to protect her child. When I first heard this birth mother’s story I was touched by it, so much so that I needed to know more. When I knew more, I knew I needed to write my novel. The result is Baby Girl.

 Review: I was given an ARC of Baby Girl for an honest review and this is my review.
This book took me through the entire scope of emotions with Cheryl Ann the main character. There were times I really wanted to shake her for the choices that she was making and then there were other times I felt her pain with her so deeply I wanted to sit down and hold her while she cried and that is what made this book so good. It made the reader feel everything the main character felt throughout this entire story. Her pain she felt when her boyfriend made her choose her baby girl or him and of it played a role in her life in her relationships pretty much for the rest of her life. I am not going to get into spoilers but that decision set up her the rest of Cheryl Ann's life good and bad and made her into a very strong, independent and respectable woman when all is said and done.
Baby Girl will take the reader on a journey of a young girl becoming a woman and learning what it really means to be a mother in every sense of the he word. This was a wonderfully written book that I am giving five out of five stars.

The Thing Is by Kathleen Gerard

Meredith Mancuso is depressed. Ever since the death of her fiancé, she has shrunk from the world. Even with her successful writing career, she's not motivated to work. When her sister, Monica, begs for a favor, Meredith wants nothing more than to say no. But she’s ultimately roped into pet-sitting an orphaned Yorkshire terrier named Prozac. 
Blessed with spiritual wisdom and a high IQ, Prozac is an active pet therapy dog. To heal broken-hearted Meredith, he rallies his fan club at Evergreen Gardens, an independent living facility, where he visits each week. 
Prozac and the community of resilient older folks challenged by losses of their own propel Meredith, often against her will, back into the land of the living. Meredith learns that most people carry some sort of burden, but it's still possible to find meaning, purpose, and joy—and sometimes, even love—along the way.

 Review: I was given an ARC of The Thing Is from NetGalley for an honest review and this is my review.
When I first started reading this book I kept asking myself what was I thinking? I mean a book about a dog named Prozac who is a spirit guide that comes back over and over again as a different dog to help people who are hurting I must be nuts. Well, the only thing that would have been nuts would have been not giving this book a chance because even if it sounds a bit out there it was an excellent read.
Prozac was a loveable dog that had me cracking up with some of his antics and by the end of the book he had me tears with how the book ended. As for Meredith the person that he is with I felt her pain throughout the book and kept hoping Prozac could help her. To loose the person you love the way she lost her fiance was just plain cruel. As for the rest of the characters in the book the were all special in their own way as well because they all had a story to tell that made this book all that more special. Some of those stories were for Prozac to help ease a bit of the pain from others were to help make things a bit easier for Meredith, but whomever the story related to it was beautifully written and added a deeper dimension to this story.
I would highly recommend The Thing Is because is is a beautifully written story about getting over loss and stepping out of your comfort zone. I have no choice but to give this book five out of five stars.

The Promise of Forgiveness by Marin Thomas

When it comes to family, Ruby Baxter hasn’t had much luck. The important men in her early life abandoned her, and any time a decent boyfriend came along, she ran away. But now Ruby is thirty-one and convinced she is failing her teenage daughter. Mia is the one good thing in her life, and Ruby hopes a move to Kansas will fix what’s broken between them.
But the road to redemption takes a detour. Hank McArthur, the biological father Ruby never knew existed, would like her to claim her inheritance: a dusty oil ranch just outside of Unforgiven, Oklahoma.
As far as first impressions go, the gruff, emotionally distant rancher isn’t what Ruby has hoped for in a father. Yet Hank seems to have a gift for rehabilitating abused horses—and for reaching Mia. And if Ruby wants to entertain the possibility of a relationship with Joe Dawson, the ranch foreman, she must find a way to open her heart to the very first man who left her behind.

 

Review: I was given an ARC of The Promise of Forgiveness for an honest from NetGalley and this is my review.
I absolutely loved this book. It was so heartfelt and real I was hooked from the beginning. This book draws you in and almost makes you feel like you are part of the the book and going through everything Ruby, Mia, Hank and Joe are.
The characters were all great. Ruby was a special lady who had gone through so much in her life already and I loved how she was learning to deal with her trust issues with men and how to fix things with her daughter. Mia was a typical teenager who was fun to watch grow throughout this book. Hank was really a special character because he was trying to make up for giving up his daughter and he was just a character one had to feel connected to. Then there was Joe with his pain that he had to overcome in order to more or less live life again. All four broken in some way but together make a very special family.
I also enjoyed the bit of mystery the book had going on. Even though I had parts of who wanted the land other parts where surprising.
I know my review is a bit of a mystery but I hate spoilers so I did not want to give the book away but I also wanted to relay that it has some really great things about it and it is worth reading. That is also why I am giving it five out of five stars.

Vulnerable by Mary Burton

The Smallest Mistake 

Three went in; one came out. For five years, no trace has been found of two high-school friends who went hiking in the woods near Nashville. The third teen, Amber Ryder, was discovered at the bottom of a ravine with a broken arm, head trauma--and zero memory of the horror that put her there.  

Will Put You 

What started as a cold case has become a fresh hell for forensic technician Georgia Morgan. Another woman's body is found in the woods, and it leads to the missing teens' remains. But while Georgia works with Amber to try and reawaken her memories, her gut tells her the worst is yet to come.  

At A Killer's Mercy 

Homicide Detective Jake Bishop can't be sure whether Amber is an expert manipulator or the killer's next target. Either way, he's determined to protect Georgia. Because the deeper she digs into the past, the deadlier the secrets that emerge, and a nightmare years in the making is about to come to a bloody, terrifying end…

Review: I was was given an ARC of Vulnerable from NetGalley for an honest review and this is my review.
All I can say about this book is it was totally twisted and it keeps you guessing until the end and killer in this book is one sick puppy.
With all that being said I enjoyed Georgia and Jake's story. They added another chapter to the Morgan family saga and this one was one of my favorite killers and mysteries. It was well written and Georgia and Jake were great together. I also loved having the rest of the Morgan family in the book in on way or another. It is always nice to see old characters reappear in New books.
I am giving Vulnerable four out of five stars.

No Safe Secret by Fern Michaels

From her silver Mercedes to her designer kitchen, Molly's life is gleaming and beautiful--at least on the surface. Married to Tanner, a top cosmetic dentist, she has a wonderful daughter finishing high school and twin stepsons from Tanner's first marriage. No one in her exclusive neighborhood in Goldenhills, Massachusetts, knows what living with the demanding Tanner is really like. They know even less about the life she left behind in Florida almost two decades ago. 
Back then, Molly was Maddy Carmichael, living with her twin brother and neglectful mother in a run-down trailer park amid the orange groves of Florida. After the terrible events of her high school prom night--and the act of vengeance that followed--she fled north and reinvented herself. But the veneer of Molly's polished existence is finally cracking. 
As secrets old and new are revealed, Molly must face painful truths and the choices she made in their wake--and find the strength to become the woman she once hoped to be.

Review: I was given an ARC of No Safe Secret from NetGalley for an honest review and this is my review.
I really enjoyed this book. Molly was one of those characters that the reader had no choice but to want to come out on top with everything that she had to endure throughout the book. I will admit there were times that I wanted to shake her because she seemed like she was being a doormat to her abusive husband or just too naive it was driving me nuts but in the end that is what made her such a special character.
This book shows the reader how someone can overcome almost anything and set their life into motion the way they want it to go. Fern Michaels told this beautiful through Molly's story.
I am giving No Safe Secret five out of five stars.