Colleen’s Kindle: January 2022 Reads, @ShehanneMoore, @HowellWave, @DebHarkness

I’ve been exploring the Kindle Unlimited offers on Amazon, and I’ve not been disappointed! This has become an affordable way for me to feed my voracious book reading habit. For book reviewers like me, this is an excellent way to read books. It’s also a great way for authors to up their readership and still get compensated for the read. If you have your book available through Kindle Unlimited… thank you! Now, let me introduce you to some novels I absolutely loved! ❤

I’m so behind in reviews that I’ve decided that a monthly post will be the best way to move forward in 2022.

Genoa 1820

Rule One: There will be no kissing. Rule two: You will be fully clothed at all times…

Widowed Lady Fury Shelton hasn’t lost everything—yet. As long as she produces the heir to the Beaumont dukedom, she just might be able to keep her position. And her secrets. But when the callously irresistible Captain James “Flint” Blackmoore sails back into her life, Lady Fury panics. She must find a way to protect herself—and her future—from the man she’d rather see rotting in hell than sleeping in her bed. If she must bed him to keep her secrets, so be it. But she doesn’t have to like it. A set of firm rules for the bedroom will ensure that nothing goes awry. Because above all else, she must stop herself from wanting the one thing that Flint can never give her. His heart.

Ex-privateer Flint Blackmoore has never been good at following the rules. Now, once again embroiled in a situation with the aptly named Lady Fury, he has no idea why he doesn’t simply do the wise thing and walk away. He knows he’s playing with fire, and that getting involved with her again is more dangerous than anything on the high seas. But he can’t understand why she’s so determined to hate him. He isn’t sure if the secret she keeps will make things harder—or easier—for him, but as the battle in the bedroom heats up, he knows at least one thing. Those silly rules of hers will have to go…

Amazon.com

My Recommendation:

These days I read little romantic, historical fiction, but a review from a friend convinced me I would enjoy the characters in this novel. Wow, was she right! I’ll be reading more of Shehanne Moore’s books in the future!

Imagine a young woman on a quest, searching for a man to furnish her with his services… stud services, that is! Lady Fury Shelton isn’t looking for love. This is business and emotions have no place in this transaction. Far from it. What she needs is an heir. While the Lady’s husband is rotting in the basement, she decides she must produce the Beaumont heir and secure her future.

When Captain James “Flint” Blackmoore reappears from Fury’s shadowy past, she knows she must protect herself from his charms at all costs. Flint agrees to stick to her rules of not kissing and being fully clothed at all times, but he extends his services for a hefty price. Can Fury jeopardize her heart again?

The chemistry between these two characters melted my Kindle! Their relationship is fraught with stormy passion. The intensity of their emotions and the witty dialogue kept me reading long into the night. If you’re looking for a sexy and unusual romance, this is the book for you!

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

When not cuddling inn signs in her beloved Scottish mountains alongside Mr. Shey, or spending time with their family, Shehanne Moore writes dark and smexy historical romance, featuring bad boys who need a bad girl to sort them out. She firmly believes everyone deserves a little love, forgiveness and a second chance in life. Shehanne caused general apoplexy when she penned her first story, The Hore House Mystery—aged seven. From there she progressed to writing plays for her classmates, stories for her classmates, plays for real, comic book libraries for girls, various newspaper articles, ghost writing, nonfiction writing, and magazine editing. Stories for real were what she really wanted to write though and, having met with every rejection going; she sat down one day to write a romance, her way. https://www.facebook.com/ShehanneMoore

https://twitter.com/ShehanneMoore

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James Wainwright picks up a hitchhiker and discovers two things. 1. The woman he picks up is his childhood sweetheart, only Seventeen years older. 2. He is no longer of this world.

James began a road trip alone in his 1956 Oldsmobile. He stops for a hitchhiker only to discover she is his childhood sweetheart, Sam, who disappeared seventeen years before. James learns from Sam falling asleep miles back caused him to perish in a one-car accident. He also comes to understand that Sam was taken and murdered all those years ago, and now she has come back to help him find his eternal home.

The pair visit a number of times and places and are witness to a number of historical events. The rules dictate that they do no harm to the time continuum. Trying to be careful, they inadvertently come to the attention of Lucifer who would love to have their souls as his subjects. They also find a threat to human survival and desperately need to put in place the fix necessary to save mankind.

The question becomes, will James find his eternal home in grace or lose the battle with Satan for his immortal soul and the future of human life with it? If you like time-travel, adventure, mystery, justice, and the supernatural, this story is for you.

Amazon.com

My Recommendation:

Eternal Road: The Final Stop begins with a suspenseful prologue where, years ago, a young girl named Sam was murdered. Seventeen years later, James stops along a stretch of highway to pick up a hitchhiker. Before long, he realizes this young woman is his childhood friend, Sam. The two realize they are no longer alive, but dead.

Howell’s premise is good. He takes readers on an unusual journey into the supernatural afterworld where Sam and James battle for their souls. He rewrites the rules concerning heaven and hell, leaving it up to his characters to decide their futures.

James’s old 1956 Oldsmobile drives the couple to different places and times. These elements of time travel sometimes drag the storyline along until the characters catch up. Sam acts as his angelic guide while James travels the Eternal Road toward his transcendent destiny, with stopovers at Tombstone, AZ, Las Vegas, a visit to Sam’s parents, including a scary encounter with Lucifer.

I could compare James’ trip on the Eternal Road to the Buddhist concept of the Bardo, intended to guide the newly deceased person through the death bardo to gain a better rebirth, and also to help their loved ones with the grieving process.

Howell created an alternate reality you won’t soon forget. There is plenty of romance, mystery, and paranormal events to keep you guessing. I enjoyed this read!

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

John began his writing as a full-time occupation after an extensive business career. His specialty is thriller fiction novels, but John also writes poetry and short stories. His first book, My GRL, introduces the exciting adventures of the book’s central character, John J. Cannon. The second Cannon novel, His Revenge, continues the tension. The final book in the trilogy, Our Justice, launched in September 2016 concludes the thriller series. John’s fourth book Circumstances of Childhood, launched in October of 2017 tells a different thriller story of riches to rags, football, Wall Street, brotherly love, redemption, and inspiration with a touch of paranormal to keep you riveted. The fifth book is a collaboration with the ​award-winning author, Gwen Plano titled The Contract. Heavenly bodies become concerned about the stability of the Earth and send two of their own to risk eternal salvation in order to save the planet. The Contract achieved number one status in its genre. John’s latest book is titled Eternal Road – The final stop and launched in September 2020. In search of their eternal home, Sam and James discover a threat to human existance. They also encounter the prince of darkness. The question is; can they save humankind and their eternal souls. All books are available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle editions. John lives in Lakeway, Texas with his wife and their spoiled rescue pets. Visit my blog at https://www.johnwhowell.com.

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Picking up from A Discovery of Witches‘ cliffhanger ending, Shadow of Night takes reluctant witch Diana Bishop and vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont on a trip through time to Elizabethan London, where they are plunged into a world of spies, magic, and a coterie of Matthew’s old friends, the School of Night. As the search for Ashmole 782–the lost and enchanted manuscript whose mystery first pulled Diana and Matthew into one another’s orbit–deepens and Diana seeks out a witch to tutor her in magic, the net of Matthew’s past tightens around them. Together they find they must embark on a very different – and vastly more dangerous – journey.

Amazon.com

My Recommendation:

Find my review to book one, A Discovery of Witches HERE.

Diana Bishop, a witch, and Matthew Clairmont, a vampire, haven broken the law of creatures by engaging in a romantic relationship. Moving forward from the events in the first book, Diana and Matthew travel back in time to Elizabethan England, hoping to find a teacher to help Diana learn how to control her emerging powers. As the two seek safety in the past, they find many dangers that threaten them and their relationship.

Shadow of Night: A Novel, book two in the All Souls Trilogy, is one of the best books in the series! The historical expertise of the author makes this book shine. The past feels authentic, along with the many details from the time period, where the reader is immersed into 17th century London. It is a glimpse into the uncertainties a modern woman would face in the misogynistic world where men rule and women follow. The author added more layers to the story with a trip to France, which sheds more light into Matthew’s past that later ties into Diana’s future.

I’ve enjoyed every bit of this series. Don’t judge the book by the television series. It doesn’t do the story justice. If you read one historical, paranormal series this year, make it this one.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

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After traveling through time in Shadow of Night, the second book in Deborah Harkness’s enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont, return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew’s ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from A Discovery of Witches—with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy’s final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.

With more than one million copies sold in the United States and appearing in thirty-eight foreign editions, A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night have landed on all of the major bestseller lists and garnered rave reviews from countless publications. Eagerly awaited by Harkness’s legion of fans, The Book of Life brings this superbly written series to a deeply satisfying close.

Amazon.com

My Recommendation:

The Book of Life is the third book in the All Souls Trilogy. This book is the conclusion of a well crafted and thought out trilogy. Now back in the present, Matthew and Diana must handle their grief along with the realities of becoming parents, and the complex and precarious dynamics of creature politics and vampire families. Diana must accept her weaver magic, and Matthew must deal with his blood rage.

Through it all, I could actually feel the love between Diana and Matthew. It was also a thrill when Diana comes into her own power as she courageously deals with the Congregation and with Benjamin. The ancient “discovery of witches” links in with the scientific evidence, and together the two work out the puzzle about “creatures.” It was a soul satisfying conclusion!

The author’s historical research was meticulous, and the world building—remarkable. Harkness created characters and scenes filled with imagery (without being overly descriptive) which left me wanting more. Beware if you are squeamish… there are torture scenes in this series. But I can’t image the story without those scenes. I’m glad I bought the print version of the trilogy. I’ll read this series again! It’s that good!

 ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

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