Tag: Susan May Warren

Book Talk Tuesday on a Thursday: CRAZY FOR YOU

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May is an odd numbered month, so we’re back in Deep Haven! Yay!

CRAZY FOR YOU is the third offering from Sunrise Publishing and I snagged an advance reader copy. It will release Tuesday, May 25. It can be pre-ordered right now for $4.99, and the price will go up once it’s released, so grab it now!

Deep Haven Fire Chief Pete Dahlquist is related to half of Deep Haven. Which makes dating difficult. And all sides of the family want something different from him.

Former military paramedic Ronnie Morales is new to town and needs to keep her job with the newly formed Crisis Response Team. She moved to Deep Haven to get her little brother out of the big city and away from the friends and trouble he was drawn toward.

Sparks (both the good and the bad kind) fly when Pete and Ronnie meet. When tragedy strikes, sides are taken and lines are drawn. Both Pete and Ronnie have to learn hard lessons about forgiveness and humility.

Michelle Sass Aleckson has captured Susan May Warren’s characters, setting, and voice in a wonderful addition to the Deep Haven canon. I loved everything in this story. From Pete’s dilemma of choosing his family or his town to Ronnie having to dial back her intensity to show the people of Deep Haven that she can fit in.

I highly recommend CRAZY FOR YOU!

I received a free advance copy of this book, but it did not induce me to review it favorably or not. I just happened to love it!

Book Talk Tuesday: CAN’T BUY ME LOVE

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Welcome back to Deep Haven! I’m so happy to be here again!

CAN’T BUY ME LOVE is the second entry in the Deep Haven Collection from Sunrise Publishing. I reviewed the first book, STILL THE ONE, in January, and have been waiting not-so-patiently for CAN’T BUY ME LOVE. It will be released March 16, but lucky me, I got an advance copy!

CAN’T BUY ME LOVE is an updated fairy tale, a Cinderella retelling, set in Deep Haven, on the shores of Lake Superior, in northern Minnesota.

Ella Bradley moved to Deep Haven looking for a fresh start. She’s a housecleaner, soap maker, small business owner, and budding entrepreneur. She just needs to get her foot in the door with the Vassos hotel chain to make her pitch. She doesn’t expect to meet the playboy son of the founder. And he doesn’t mean to lie about who he is. Not exactly.

I loved it and highly recommend it!

CAN’T BUY ME LOVE has everything I love about the Deep Haven series. A town that treats everyone like family. (Well, except for Ella’s landlord, that is.) A gentle romance that grows organically. Chocolate chip cookies. A spiritual growth arc.

The only sad thing now is waiting for book 3, CRAZY FOR YOU, out in May.

I received a free copy of CAN’T BUY ME LOVE from the publisher. This did not induce me to review the book, favorably or not.

Book Talk Tuesday: STILL THE ONE

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I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of this book and I’m so happy I did!
I love Susan May Warren’s Deep Haven novels and this was the perfect return to the Minnesota town. Megan Carter, single mom and wedding planner, is saving every penny to buy a venue for her business. Cole Barrett, former Army Ranger is returning to town long enough to sell his grandfather’s house and tie up the loose ends of his life. Unfortunately, his grandfather’s garage apartment has tenant who refuses to budge.
Megan and Cole were childhood friends until Cole moved away. Now adults and forced to work together, memories and sparks fly.
Rachel D. Russell nailed the essence of the Deep Haven books: the charm, the characters, and the caring they show for each other.
I loved this book and highly recommend it and can’t wait for my chance to visit Deep Haven again!

Book Talk on a Wednesday: WAIT FOR ME

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I was out of town last weekend and got the chance to catch up on some reading. This one was on top of the stack I took with me.

Loyal readers have been waiting patiently to see if Pete Brooks and Jess Tagg would be able to figure out their lives and that they belong together.

WFMFinally, they’re front and center in the last of the Montana Rescue books.
Pete has spent a year trying to forget Jess and trying to move on. Jess has spent the year trying to please her mother, her family, her former (and current??) fiance Felipe, and generally everyone except herself.

At last, Pete and Jess are in the same place, at the same time. Back in Mercy Falls for Ben and Kacey’s wedding reception. However, their reunion doesn’t go well.

Shae/Esme and Ned Marshall, last seen in Storm Front (Ty and Brette’s story, Montana Rescue Book 5), are driving Jess home when their pickup is run off the road. They don’t know who is after them. The man Shae is prepared to accuse as a murderer after running for five years? Someone angry at Jess or her family? Or a random crazy person?
Jess, Shae, and Ned are on the run in the Montana wilderness, injured and cold, with someone after them.

Pete and the rest of the PEAK Rescue team are also on the hunt.
It’s a race to find the missing trio.

I love the way Warren combines faith, suspense, adventure, and romance in this series. Wait for Me is a fitting conclusion. Pete and Jess both have to work through their pasts and their mistakes before they can embrace God’s forgiveness, grace, and each other.
I highly recommend this one!
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I received an advance copy of Wait For Me, in exchange for an honest review, which I’ve done.

Book Talk Tuesday: STORM FRONT

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I look for three things in a book:

  • Characters I love and relate to
  • A plot that moves without unnecessary internal navel gazing
  • Multiple story threads that intersect
  • A satisfying ending

Why I love Susan May Warren’s books:

  • Characters who emerge from the page as real and fully developed people
  • Engrossing and exciting action that moves the story forward
  • An overarching mystery or story that ties the others together
  • The main protagonists end with a deeper understanding of themselves, God, and they usually get the love of their life.

STORM FRONT has all that and more. Much more.

Storm-Front800-768x1187The story starts about nine months after TROUBLED WATERS (the most recent book in the series) and about eighteen months after A MATTER OF TRUST (when Ty and Brette met, in Gage and Ella’s story).

Ty Remington blames himself for the helicopter accident that nearly killed his friend and mentor, Chet King, and ruined Ty’s knee. He ignores the fact that he hiked out in a snowstorm with a broken knee and saved Chet’s life. He’s been unable to fly and feels like he’s just a hanger-on and pizza fetcher for the PEAK rescue team.

For the past eighteen months, he can’t get journalist Brette Arnold out of his mind. They only knew each other for two days, but they’d developed a bond. Or at least he thought they had. He can’t shake the feeling that something’s wrong and that she needs him.

Brette ran from Ty when she got a devastating medical diagnosis. She convinced herself he was better off without her. And she didn’t need rescuing or anyone taking care of her. Except she did. She really did.

As STORM FRONT opens, Brette is on the mend and working with a crew of storm chasers. She and Ty both happen to be at the aftermath of a tornado in Minnesota. Brette’s co-worker’s younger brother is missing and so is Chet King, Ty’s mentor.

As soon as he sees Brette, Ty knows he was right. Something was wrong, terribly wrong.

Brette and Ty work together to find the missing people after the tornado. In the process, they find the spark they shared is still warm and it takes only a kiss to fan it into a flame.

But they both have some deep issues they have to deal with before they can become the people God has designed them to be.

The secondary couple in this couple is Ben King and Kacey Fairing, who we met in the first book in this series, WILD MONTANA SKIES.

The next and final book in this series will be Pete and Jess’s story.

Warning: STORM FRONT ends with a heckuva cliff hanger that leads into that final book.

I received a free copy of STORM FRONT from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.