Cover Reveal: One Good Catch by Heather M. Gardner

My good pal Heather Gardner, from The Waiting is the Hardest Part, is coming out with the second book in her Maquire's Corner series and asked if I'd join in the love fest/cover reveal. I'm all about the love, y'all, and I really enjoyed the first book in the series so here I am to pimp book #2. Check it!

Title: One Good Catch

Author: Heather M. Gardner

Genre: Contemporary Romantic Suspense

Publisher: InkSpell Publishing

Cover Design: Najla Qamber Designs

Release Date: March 13, 2015

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Ignoring a recent trauma that is affecting her everyday life, ER Doctor Kate Maguire engages in some high risk activities, but putting herself in these dangerous situations isn’t enough to feed her edginess. She needs something more. When her brother’s high school best friend comes back to town, it’s her chance for a ‘no strings attached’ fling with the man who still headlines in all her best dreams.

Rhys MacGrath’s days of one-night-stands are long over. The pro-football player might be side-lined at rehab for a shoulder injury, but that doesn’t mean he can’t admire and desire the all-grown-up, so-damn-hot, version of the tomboy he once knew. His sudden interest in Kate might be aggravating his best friend, who doesn’t approve, but it’s her indifference that’s driving Rhys crazy.

Everything heats up when Kate’s nosy nature sets her in the line of fire of an arsonist forcing them to deal with more than just the sparks igniting between them.

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Heather M. Gardner's love of books began on the hand-woven rugs of her small town library where her mother worked. There she had a never-ending supply of stories to read at her fingertips. As a teen, her favorite genres to curl up with were romance and mysteries. When she started to create her own stories, they were the perfect fit.

Heather resides in New York with her best friend who is also her husband, plus her talented and handsome son. She is currently owned by four stray cats. Heather's a full-time mom, works part-time from home, a chocolate enthusiast, coffee junkie, cat addict, book hoarder and fluent in sarcasm.

Blog: The Waiting is the Hardest Part

Twitter: @hmgardner

Goodreads: HMGardner

Facebook: HeatherWritesRomance 

Murder, Madness, & Love by Yolanda Renée

Today I write about a romantic suspense novel by my bloggy pal Yolanda Renée of Defending the Pen. Yolanda's a sweet and tireless supporter of her fellow writers, so I have to say, the stuff she scribbles about in Murder, Madness, & Love surprised me, a bit! (Well done, Yolanda!) ;-)

Available on Amazon!

Here's the basic premise: beautiful and wealthy Sarah Palmer has been tagged a "Black Widow" by the press and some cops, under suspicion of having murdered her extremely well-to-do husband, Michael, in Seattle. Seeking peace, Sarah returns to her native Alaska, intending to go about doing the good work of setting up her husband's foundation so as to honor him, and in adjusting to her "new normal" of loss.

Here's the hitch: when she gets back home, Sarah receives some rather creepy valentines (and it's not even February!). Anyway, the heart-shaped notes aren't love-tokens, by any stretch. In fact, they're clues and connections to the murders of several blonde-haired and green-eyed women. And guess who else is blonde and green-eyed? If you guessed Sarah, then ding-ding-ding!

Ace police detective Steven Quaid is determined to catch this Alaskan killer. He's equally determined to hate poor Sarah's guts, based on the speculation of his pal Terry from the Seattle police force, who's just bent on pegging Michael Palmer's death on his "Black Widow."

Can you say massively intense romantic conflict, people? 'Cause I sure can.

*****Some Mild Spoilers Below*****

In fact, Steve's so dead set against Sarah at the start (if you'll pardon the pun), that he blindly attacks her, as Sarah rightly notes, without any concrete evidence at all. I found his prejudiced attitude and, frankly, unprofessional behavior and language toward her off-putting, so by the time he got his head out of his butt and began to look at Sarah's history with the clear, analytical cop-brain for which he's famed, I wasn't too keen on relaxing my dislike of him. But the loving care he showed Sarah eventually turned me around.

I liked the character of Sarah very much, in part because I have this thing about rooting for the underdog in any given situation. But mainly, Sarah comes off as an elegant woman who's doing her best to keep her shit together and do good work while dealing with heaps of grief. At times, I worried that she couldn't possibly survive the next big thing to hit her, but damned if she didn't. Every time. And girlfriend gets loads of abuse heaped upon her. Like, a lot, poor gal. Still, there's this thread of steel running along her spine, for which I have to say kudos. I admire Sarah for maintaining her graciousness, of both spirit and mind, and for her sheer grit and determination to bloody well survive, damn it. You go, gurl!

Renée weaves a crafty tale, so rich in the Alaskan landscape and rhythms that at times I got lulled into thinking this was a delightfully "cozy" mystery. Only then some brutal murder would flash before my eyes and I'd be all like, "Whoa!" and reaching for a drink. (Just kidding, I didn't drink whilst reading this.) (Not water, anyway.) I feel like, beneath the charming world Sarah was desperately trying to recreate, there was this Dean Koontzian edge of cray-cray that totally kept me on the edge of my seat. (And actually, there are some legitimately cray-cray characters here that made me want to shower after I understood the depths of their depraved weirdness.) (And that's saying something.)

While Murder, Madness, & Love can be read as a stand-alone story, there is a sequel due out in October, which I plan to pick up and read on my travels that month (as October's a big travel month for me at my day job). I recommend Murder, Madness, & Love to those who enjoy a layered mystery which is warmed by a lovely romance and spiced with a bit of the truly bizarre.