Book ~ "Right Where We Belong" (2017) Brenda Novak

From Goodreads ~ Savanna Gray needs a do-over. Her "perfect" life unraveled when, to her absolute shock, her husband was arrested for attacking three women. With her divorce settled, she takes her two children home to Silver Springs to seek refuge between the walls of the farmhouse where she was born. It needs a little TLC but she's eager to take control of something.

Gavin Turner understands the struggle of starting over. Abandoned at a gas station when he was five, it wasn't until he landed at New Horizons Boys Ranch as a teen that he finally found some peace. He steps up when Savanna needs help fixing things - even when those things go beyond the farmhouse.

Despite an escalating attraction to Gavin, Savanna resolves to keep her distance. She trusted her ex, who had a similarly tragic background, and is unwilling to repeat her past mistakes. But it's hard to resist a man whose heart is as capable as his hands.

When Gordon, Savanna's husband, was arrested as a serial rapist, she stood by him.until the evidence overwhelmingly proved otherwise.  Everyone in their small Utah town blamed her for her husband's actions so she moved with her two young children to a broken down house her father had left her in Silver Springs in rural California.

Gavin is Savanna's neighbour.  In addition to being a musician, he is works at New Horizons Boys Ranch, a place he spent a lot of his childhood after his father and stepmother had abandoned him.  As soon as Savanna and Gavin meet, there is an attraction.  But each is dealing with things going on in their lives so are determined to remain friends.

I liked the writing style and thought it was well-paced.  It is written in third person perspective with the focus alternating between the various characters including Savanna and Gavin.  The story was interesting with lots of twists and turns.  Though this is the fourth in the Silver Springs series, it works as a stand alone as there is enough information provided about the first one (I haven't read the first three).  As a head's up, there is swearing and adult activity.

I look forward to reading the others in this series.

Book ~ "Hello Again" (2017) Brenda Novak

From Goodreads ~ SHE CAN MAKE SENSE OF A COMPLEX CRIMINAL MIND.
Evelyn Talbot, a psychiatrist at a maximum-security prison in Alaska, studies some of the world's worst serial killers. But she’s about to meet her most elusive patient at Hanover House yet: Dr. Lyman Bishop, AKA the Zombie Maker given his fondness for performing ice-pick lobotomies on his victims. A brilliant cancer researcher, Bishop is either the most cunning psychopath Evelyn has ever encountered - or he is wrongly convicted. 

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A CRIMINAL CAN SEE INTO HER OWN? 
When a new ice-pick fatality occurs, it seems Bishop really was wrongly convicted. Except Evelyn has a personal connection to the victim and that suggests the killer may be someone from her own past: Jasper Moore, her high school boyfriend who tortured her and left her for dead when she was only sixteen. Jasper also murdered three of her friends - and was never caught. Is he trying to send a message with this copycat crime? The only thing Evelyn knows for sure is that if Jasper is on her trail, she might not be able to escape again.

Hanover House, a maximum-security prison in Alaska, opened last year and Evelyn is a psychiatrist there.  Lyman Bishop is an inmate ... he had been convicted of killing a woman named Jan, whose body hasn't been found.  Evelyn is convinced he is guilty and is looking forward to finding out what makes him tick.

In the meantime, Evelyn is still being tormented by Jasper, her high school boyfriend.  He had murdered three of her friends and raped and tortured Evelyn when she was 16 and then disappeared.  When Evelyn hears about the deaths of women in the States, she knows it's Jasper who is doing it and is afraid that he will eventually come for her (as he apparently has in the past).

Evelyn is living with Amarok, a state trooper.  He would like to get married but Evelyn is hesitant because she's not sure if she wants to remain in Alaska for the rest of her life.  But she's also afraid that if Jasper is going to come after her, will he also kill everyone she cares about (so she's protecting Amarok)?

Though this is the second in the Evelyn Talbot Chronicles series, it works as a stand alone as there is enough information provided about the first one (I haven't read the first one).  This book has a cliffhanger of sorts at the end which I'm assuming will lead to a third book in the series.  It is written in third person perspective with the focus alternating between the various characters including Evelyn, Amarok and Jasper.  As a head's up, there is swearing and adult activity.

I thought the story was interesting and there were some elements of suspense.  I found Evelyn a bit annoying at times, though, when she would dwell on her relationship with Amarok.  I could understand her concern about putting him in danger because Jasper is still on the loose and killing.  But she focused a lot on their age difference ... she was seven years older than him, which I don't think was that big of a deal.  Also, when Amarok's ex-girlfriend moves back to town, it seems like Evelyn was trying to convince him that the ex was better wife material even though he constantly kept asking Evelyn to marry him.  As the story progressed, Evelyn seemed to become more confident in his feelings for her.

Book ~ "Take Me Home for Christmas" (2013) Brenda Novak

From Goodreads ~ Christmas is a time for remembering….

Too bad all memories aren't pleasant. Everyone in Whiskey Creek remembers Sophia DeBussi as the town's Mean Girl. Especially Ted Dixon, whose love she once scorned.

But Sophia has paid the price for her youthful transgressions. The man she did marry was rich and powerful but abusive. So when he goes missing, she secretly hopes he'll never come back - until she learns that he died running from an FBI probe of his investment firm. Not only has he left Sophia penniless, he's left her to face all the townspeople he cheated….

Sophia is reduced to looking for any kind of work to pay the bills and support her daughter. With no other options, she becomes housekeeper for none other than Ted, now a successful suspense writer. He can't bring himself to turn his back on her, not at Christmas, but he refuses to get emotionally involved. He learned his lesson the last time.

Or will the season of love and forgiveness give them both another chance at happiness?

While Sophia and Ted were dating after high school, she was also dating Skip.  She got pregnant and married Skip and went on to have what everyone assumed was a pampered rich life.  Needless to say, Ted was heartbroken and never got over Sophia.

Fastforward to today.  Skip has cheated the townspeople out of most of their savings.  Being a coward, he tries to escape his life and the wrongs he has committed but accidentally dies.  Everyone assumed Sophia was in on the scam and look to her to get their money back ... except she has been left penniless and has to carry the burden that Skip left behind.

She has to support herself and her daughter.  With no other options or family to turn to, she takes the job as Ted's housekeeper.  Though still carrying a grudge, he feels sorry for her because the town has turned against her.  Gradually it comes out that Skip was very abusive to Sophia and she had turned to liquor to get through the day.  She'd recently been through rehab and it's a daily struggle to stay sober ... if she doesn't, her in-laws will use this against her and take her daughter away from her.

This is the fourth book I've read by this author and the third I've read in the Whiskey Creek series ... and I enjoyed it.  I liked the storyline and the writing style.  I thought it was well-paced and kept me interested.  The language and activity at times is for a mature reader.

I liked the characters.  Sophia had made some wrong choices, wasn't well-liked but has paid the price over the years.  She has matured and changed and was caught in a bad abusive situation.  She was happy that Skip died because it gave her her freedom and the ability to be who she really was rather than the image that Skip wanted projected.  Despite the fact that almost everyone in the town hates her, rather than give up, she does what she can to right Skip's wrong and make a life for her and her daughter.  Ted is a rich successful mystery writer who is still bitter that Sophia had broken his heart.  I found this a bit unbelievable considering it had happened more than ten years ago and they were both young ... I felt like smacking him in the head and telling him to move on!  But I liked his transition as he got to know the Sophia of today.  I liked Alexis, Sophia's daughter.  Her whole world has turned upside down ... her father has died, everything has been taken from them because of her father's scam, her friends have turned on her and she's always scared her mother's going to turn to the bottle again.

The story wraps up rather quickly for a neat and tidy happy ending.

Though it's part of a series, it works as a stand alone.  This series is built around a group of friends and acquaintances in Whiskey Creek.  My one complaint about this book (and I felt the same when I read Home to Whiskey Creek) is that I found that sometimes it seemed like the author was making too much of an effort to include the characters and their backgrounds from the other books in the series.  Despite there being a list of characters at the beginning of the book (I read it on my Kobo so it was hard to keep going back and forth), I still found it confusing keeping track since some didn't have big parts (or any part) in this book ... it was like they were mentioned just because they were part of this series, not because they added value to the story.  All I needed to know was that they were all at the coffee shop chatting ... I didn't need to know or be reminded of their details.  Or when they were at the Halloween party and Baxter, who is gay and has a crush on Noah, showed up with someone else ... it had no impact on this story (I thought that was a weird subplot in Home to Whiskey Creek anyway).  Or the big secret that Cheyenne revealed to Eve ... yes, it showed that they are close but I knew that without needing the details of the secret which had nothing to do with Sophia and Ted.

I'd recommend this book and look forward to reading the others in the series.

Book ~ "Home to Whiskey Creek" (2013) Brenda Novak

From Goodreads ~ Sometimes home is the refuge you need - and sometimes it isn't. Adelaide Davies, who's been living in Sacramento, returns to Whiskey Creek, the place she once called home. She's there to take care of her aging grandmother and to help with Gran's restaurant, Just Like Mom's. But Adelaide isn't happy to be back. There are too many people here she'd rather avoid, people who were involved in that terrible June night fifteen years ago.

Ever since the graduation party that changed her life, she's wanted to go to the police and make sure the boys responsible - men now - are punished. But she can't, not without revealing an even darker secret. So it's better to pretend ....

Noah Rackham, popular, attractive, successful, is shocked when Adelaide won't have anything to do with him. He has no idea that his very presence reminds her of something she'd rather forget. He only knows that he's finally met a woman he could love.

When she was sixteen, Addy was gang raped by five popular guys at their high school graduation party.  She doesn't say anything and leaves Whiskey Creek as soon as she graduates.

Fifteen years later, Addy moves home to take care of her grandmother's restaurant.  She hasn't been home since she graduated from high school.  Right away she is kidnapped and left in an abandoned mine and told that if she tells anyone about what happened fifteen years ago, her grandmother will be killed.  Noah finds and rescues her and is puzzled as to why she is vague about the details and doesn't want to tell the police.  They are attracted to each other but Ally resists because his twin brother, Cody, was one of guys who had raped her.

This is the fourth in the Whiskey Creek series ... I'd read the first one last year and enjoyed it.  I liked this one too.

I liked the writing style.  It was well-paced and kept me wanting to read more.

I liked Addy.  She had dealt with what had happened to her through therapy.  She just wants to put it behind her but it comes back to haunt her when she is kidnapped (though she doesn't know by who).  Noah was a nice guy, though he had commitment issues.  Once he meets Addy, though, he knows he wants her and can't understand why she keeps putting up blocks.  Milly, the grandmother, despite using a walker, was a tough gal and I wish I had a grandmother like that.

I found there was too much of an effort to tie in the other characters in the series (lots of mentions and references).  I didn't know who these characters were so it was hard to keep track of them since they weren't part of this story. 

I thought the subplot with Noah wondering whether Baxter, his best friend, was gay wasn't necessary ... it had nothing to do with Addy and Noah and I found it to be a distraction from the main story.

I found it confusing that Addy's last name was "Davis" and she just moved from "Davies" ... or maybe it was the other way around.  I don't know why the author chose such similar names.

Book ~ "In Close" (2011) Brenda Novak

From Goodreads ~ Claire O'Toole's mother, Alana, went missing fifteen years ago. That was big news in Pineview, Montana, the kind of town where nothing much ever happens. Then, last year, Claire's husband, David, died in a freak accident — after launching his own investigation into Alana's disappearance.

Is Alana dead? Or did she simply abandon her husband and daughters? Claire's determined to find out — and her former boyfriend, Isaac Morgan, wants to help. Although their relationship didn't end well, he still has feelings for her. And yet it isn't until he starts to suspect David's death wasn't an accident that he's drawn back into her life.
 
Together, Claire and Isaac search for answers to the questions that have haunted Pineview all this time. But as they soon discover, someone's prepared to kill so those answers won't be found.

This book had two elements ... a romance and a mystery.

Claire's husband, David, who had been her high school sweetheart, died a year ago in a hunting accident and Claire is still in mourning. Isaac comes back into Claire's life after someone breaks into her house. They dated when Claire and David were on a six month break ten years ago. Back then Isaac had a reputation as a bad boy and broke it off with Claire when she told him she wanted more from him than he could give at the time. Claire got back together with David and had a nice life. But Claire and Isaac never got over each other. The heat is still there but there are misunderstandings. Claire assumes that Isaac is still a bad boy and can't commit and Isaac assumes that Claire will never love anyone but David. So rather than sitting down and talking about it, they each make assumptions about the other. I'm not a fan of this kind of thing but I guess it's needed to add tension.

I liked Isaac's character. I found Claire was a bit weak in the in the beginning she was so concerned about what others thought and put them before herself. I was happy when she started getting stronger, especially with her nasty sister, Leanne. Though I had a hard time believing that they could pick up where they left off ten years ago so quickly and that Claire could flip her emotions that quickly from David to Isaac, I was okay with them as a couple.

I enjoyed the mystery part. Did Alana run away or was she killed? If she was killed, who did it? Was it Claire's stepfather, Tug, who married Roni just six months after Alana left and raised Claire and Leanne after Alana disappeared? Or was it Roni because she wanted Tug and Alana was in the way? Or was it Joe, who was supposed to be having an affair with Alana? Did David really get killed in a hunting accident or was he murdered because he was digging into Alana's disappearance? It all comes together and I was okay with how it ended.

I enjoyed the writing style. I found it a fairly easy read and will be looking for others by this author.

Book ~ "When Lightning Strikes" (2012) Brenda Novak

From BrendaNovak.com ~ Gail DeMarco left Whiskey Creek, California, to make a name for herself in Los Angeles. Her PR firm has accumulated a roster of A-list clients, including the biggest box office hit of all — sexy and unpredictable Simon O'Neal. But Simon, who's just been through a turbulent divorce, is so busy self-destructing he won't listen to anything she says. She drops him from her list — and he retaliates by taking the rest of her clients with him.

Desperate to save her company, Gail has to humble herself by making a deal with Simon. The one thing he wants is custody of his son, but that's going to require a whole new image. He needs to marry some squeaky-clean girl who'll drag him off to some small, obscure place like Whiskey Creek ...

Gail's the only one he can trust. She agrees to become his wife — reluctantly. But she isn't reluctant because he's too hard to like. It's because he's too hard not to love!

I received a copy of this ebook at no charge in exchange for my honest review.   This is the first book by this author that I've read and I enjoyed it.

It was a fairly quick read. I liked the writing style and the story was good. Gail has her own company and is doing what she has to do to save her company. Simon is tormented and just wants to get his son back. They strike a deal to help each other to accomplish both.

Does Simon get Ty back? Will Gail and Simon stay together at the end? You'll have to read it and find out!

I'm not crazy about the cover, though ... and I don't usually comment on covers. Simon is supposed to be a studly movie star, a bad boy. Even with the leather jacket, the guy on the cover is too clean cut. I wasn't buying this guy as Simon. When I was reading the book, I pictured someone like a scruffy Gerard Butler. And I can't imagine Gail standing in the middle of the road with a parasol and her leg up. She's a mature business woman, not a helpless waif from the 1900s.

This is the first book a series of three based in Whiskey Creek, CA.