Pages & Paws

Writing, Reading, and Rural Life With a Border Collie


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‘Wrong Place, Right Time’ Hits the Mark

Wrong Place, Right Time

By E.B. Roshan

Anna Belko is your average twenty three year-old garment worker in the fictional country of Sevia. Her life in the uneasy city of Dor takes a sharp turn when a waiter at a sidewalk café accidently spills a pot of tea in her lap. Turns out the waiter’s cousin has been recently killed, an innocent casualty in the high stakes battle for control of the country. And Boris Merkovich isn’t sure he can live with the loss – or with his growing affection for Anna.

Story

Simmering tensions explode as Dor plunges into war in Wrong Place, Right Time. Rival gangs fight it out in the streets. Anna’s family decides to leave Dor for safety, but she chooses to stay behind and be with Boris. As Boris unexpectedly rebuffs her, feeling he’s unworthy, Anna wonders if she’s made a terrible mistake. Internal and external conflict soon crashes into Anna and Boris’s private world, threatening to up-end them both.

Boris and Anna have their flaws. But Wrong Place, Right Time shows readers why that doesn’t really matter, and why forgiveness is always a choice, even in the midst of a raging gang war.

Lithe and agile, this uplifting faith-based story features robust world building and sturdy writing. You can almost smell the smoke. Hear the gun fire. Taste the sugar-glazed cherry tarts.

Suspense

Meanwhile, suspense builds as personal and political antes are upped in this gentle romance. Will Anna and Boris’s love survive as Dor descends into chaos and internal war threatens to tear them apart?

Keep an Eye Out

A new author, E.B. Roshan writes like a seasoned pro. Keep an eye on this author. I’m already looking forward to the next Roshan book.

4.0


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‘No Place Too Far’ Brings Family Home

No Place Too Far

(Lake Union Publishing, September 1, 2020)
By Kay Bratt

A Maui-based book that begins with a shaggy dog named Woodrow? Count me in!

A highly engaging story with a smooth-as-silk plot, No Place Too Far is just plain fun. It snaps and crackles with energy throughout and is chockful of memorable characters like a precocious four year-old named Charlie, a scatter-brained but loveable veterinarian, Dr. Joe Starr, and a blue-haired dynamo named Juniper.

Setting

Lush tropical locations and a pitch-perfect pacing surf in and out of intrigue, danger, and triumph. Oh yeah. There’s this great dog and veterinary heroes, too. My kinda book!

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Is ‘The Lost Queen’ Worth the Hunt?

The Lost Queen: A Novel (. Book #1 of The Lost Queen. Simon & Schuster, 2018)

By Signe Pike

Set in sixth century Scotland, The Lost Queen is a retelling of the Arthurian legend via the sister of Merlin.

Languoreth is the daughter of an ancient king (or chieftain). As such, she’s duty-bound to marry for socio-political reasons and not for love. But she has an affair with a young general.

Told in the first person, the story begins with Languoreth and her twin brother, Lailoken (later known as Merlin), mourning the recent loss of their mother, a Wisdom Keeper skilled in the healing arts. (Since this is a book review, not a history lesson, I am not going to delve into the historical underpinnings of this book and its protagonist. Google is your friend.)

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Why ‘Rainbow Bridge’ Will Melt Your Heart

Rainbow Bridge_COVER

Rainbow Bridge (Mirador, 2020)

By Dan V. Jackson

I can’t put into words how much I loved this book. How much I didn’t want it to end. How I really, really ought to buy stock in Kleenex.

For example, when I’m getting ready to write a book review, I typically take notes throughout the book. I started doing that with Rainbow Bridge. Then I stopped. The story took over. It resonated so deeply, in fact, I couldn’t read it and take notes at the same time. So I put my notes away and immersed myself in this extraordinarily powerful and poignant story.

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‘A Letter to Munich’ Raises Ultimate Questions

A Letter from Munich (Black Rose Writing, 2020)

By Meg Lelvis

A wartime romance. Forbidden love. Buried secrets.

Retired Chicago detective Jack Bailey has a “missing persons” case that’s a doozie. It’s also intensely personal. Stretching back to World War II, the case involves a cryptic one-page letter to his late father. The family finds it when sorting through Dad’s belongings after his death. Can it shed any light on who he was and why?

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How ‘Chances Are’ Echoes Theseus and the Minotaur

Image result for Chances Are Russo Book Cover

Chances Are…

By Richard Russo

What happens when a trio of aging college friends meet for a September weekend of reminiscence, mystery and regret some four decades after they graduated? Well, chances are they wind up with more than they bargained for, especially in the coulda/woulda/shoulda department.

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‘An Agent for Dixie’: Snack-Worthy Historical Romance

An Agent for Dixie (The Pinkerton Matchmaker series Book 73)

An Agent for Dixie (The Pinkerton Matchmaker Series. BackLit PR, 2020.)
By Linda Carroll-Bradd

Shy and reserved Dixie Fontaine is a young seamstress. Her older sister Liana is daring and adventurous. When Dixie allows her sister to talk her into applying to be an agent with the Pinkerton detective agency in 1872 Denver, Dixie is sure she won’t make the grade. But she surprises herself – and everyone else – by landing the job.

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‘For Whom the Book Tolls’ Rings Bells!

For Whom the Book Tolls: An Antique Bookshop Mystery

For Whom the Book Tolls: An Antique Bookshop Mystery (Crooked Lane Books, August 2020)

By Laura Gail Black

It’s not looking good for young Jenna Quinn. Newly arrived at a small North Carolina town at the invitation of her Uncle Paul, Jenna finds her uncle dead in his antique bookstore. Jenna’s the prime suspect. It looks even worse when the police find out she’s just beaten an embezzlement/murder rap and is the primary beneficiary of her uncle’s will. Uncle Paul not only named her the new owner of Baxter Books Emporium, he also left Jenna a lot of dough.

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5-ish Top Books of 2020

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Wild Land, by Rebecca Hodge. Crooked Lane Books, 2020.

You know how moms are? Always wanting to get the last word? Well. Today it’s my turn.

Kimber here to tell you about one of the best books mom and I have read all year. (Hint: Juni and Tye!)

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Huck Finn Meets The Great Depression in “This Tender Land”

 

This Tender Land, by William Kent Krueger

Atria Books, 2019

A poignant coming of age novel set amid the grim backdrop of the Great Depression, This Tender Land is a Huckleberry Finn-esque type story. It’s about four children who escape a horrific Indian school by canoeing down the rivers of Minnesota to St. Louis.

And much more.

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