Today’s Steals and Deals at AAR…..

Apples Never Fall is my personal favorite of Moriarty’s books.

Joy Delaney, almost 70, has vanished.

Her husband of fifty years, Stan, and their four kids–Brooke, Amy, Logan, and Troy–say they’ve no idea where’s she gone. She left no word of where she was headed and her cellphone, purse, and car are all sitting at home. Has she been killed? And if so, did Stan do it? After all, he has scratches on his face and an unhelpful manner. Do his children suspect him? Are they protecting him? What do they know–because they obviously know something–that they’re not telling the police? And how does Savannah, the mysterious young woman who stayed a few weeks with Stan and Joy earlier in the year, figure into it all?

This is the ostensible plot of the latest headed-for-the-big/small-screen novel by Australia’s best-selling author Liane Moriarty. But if Joy’s disappearance is the kernel of the film, the flesh of this story is that of the Delaney family. I couldn’t get enough of them; each is so fully formed and fallible I could have successfully bought them each a Christmas gift they’d have loved.*

The novel lays out the lives of the Delaneys-it goes back and forth in time like all Moriarty’s books–in reverent detail. We see Stan and Joy as children–they were in the very top tier of Aussie tennis players at very young ages–as young passionate lovers, as exhausted parents, as successful business partners in on of Australia’s most venerated tennis schools, all the way through to their 50th Valentine’s Day together–it’s the last day anyone heard from Joy. Their kids too are limned through Moriarty’s crisp, descriptive prose and their secrets and dreams resonate with realism.

 

It’s on sale at Amazon for 2.99 here.


If you’ve read Armstrong’s fab Rockton series, I must tell you, this is nothing like that. It’s very good, but really different. Here’s our review of A Stitch in Time.

 

Thirty-eight-year-old Bronwyn Dale, a history professor at the University of Toronto, returns to England for the first time in twenty-three years in order to take possession of Thorne Manor, the house in which she spent many of her childhood summers, which has been bequeathed to her by her recently deceased aunt.  The house holds many happy memories for Bronwyn, but unfortunately, her final memory of it is a horrific one. Aged fifteen, she witnessed the tragic death of her beloved Uncle Stan, who fell to his death from a balcony, and was so deeply traumatised by it that she hasn’t set foot in the place since.

It’s clear from the beginning, however, that this is only the barest of bones of the story of Bronwyn’s association with Thorne Manor. Ever since she was a small child, she was somehow able to slip back in time, where she met William Thorne, a boy her own age, and the son of the house.  Every summer when Bronwyn visited, she spent as much time with William as she could, never thinking to conceal the truth of where she came from (as a young child it never occurred to her to do so), and William never questioning the truth of her assertion that she came from the future.  After her parents’ divorce, she wasn’t able to visit for a decade, but when she was fifteen, she did go back – and her friendship with William started to become something more.  But their burgeoning romance was shattered by the death of Bronwyn’s uncle who, she insisted, she had seen pushed to his death by a ghost – a veiled woman all in black.  When Bronwyn was found, crying and screaming by her uncle’s body, babbling about ghosts and a boy from the past, she was whisked her away and effectively committed to a mental health facility where the doctors explained her stories as the hallucinations of a vivid imagination, and the boy she’d fallen in love with as nothing more than the desperately needed imaginary friend of an only child who’d spent her summers in an isolated country house.

Bronwyn never forgot William, even though she now accepts he – and the ghosts – were all in her head. But being back at the Manor brings back so many memories of William and their time together that she starts to wonder if it any of it had been real – a question answered when she awakens one morning to find herself in an unfamiliar bed beside an unfamiliar man with a very familiar voice.

 

It’s on sale for 0.99 here.


This is a sci-fi/paranormal romance. Our glowing review is here.

 

Solomon Juddah is an assassin with a black ops group that deals with Otherworlders. Ever since they made their presence known on Earth, things have gone pretty badly for Otherworlders and from time to time, Solo and his two partners – Blue and John – are sent on missions to protect Otherworlders. Just as the three are getting their latest mission, they are attacked and Solo is captured and sold to a circus. There, he is an attraction in a zoo. He is caged in order to be viewed for the amusement of the humans by a cruel Circus manager, Jecis. Solo vows that somehow he will escape and sees Jecis’ daughter as the best way to get what he wants, even if it means hurting her.

Vika Lukas has a cruel life. Her father killed her mother when her mother tried to escape the circus life and he forced Vika to murder her beloved pet lion when she tried to free him. In addition to these cruelties, Jecis has been abusive to Vika ever since he turned to dark magic in order to try to save the circus from financial ruin. Despite this, Vika has somehow remained a pure spirit and a gentle and loving person. She loves the Otherworlders that she is forced to care for, even though they all resent and hate her. More so than the others, the latest of her father’s acquisitions pulls at her heart. Solo attracts her as no man ever has and she feels the need to not only protect him, but to allow him to protect her. When her father steps over the line and tries to force Vika into marriage to a man as cruel as he is, Vika and Solo have little time to escape the circus and try to carve out a future that is better than both of their pasts.

In all the paranormals I read, I like the idea of a soul mate that is almost a biologically destined pull toward another person, but sometimes it is hard to see if the couple really like each other beyond their destiny. In this story, it is clear that Solo and Vika are kindred spirits that are meant to be together and that complement each other perfectly. Whether they are destined to be together by Solo’s alien pull or not, they work so well as a couple that they are impossible not to love. She gives light to his dark while he gives strength to her ambitions. They work well as a team, but they do it without losing their individuality and without resenting any part of the other’s personality. It was just a perfect relationship.

 

It’s on sale for 1.99 here.


This is book two in a beloved series. Our A review is here.

 

U.S. Navy Seal Lt. Carter “Blue” McCoy has to attend one of those dreaded family functions most of us could do without. In Blue’s case, it means coming home to Hatboro Creek, SC to watch his high-school sweetheart, the glorious Jenny Lee Beaumont, marry his stepbrother. Meanwhile, rookie officer Lucy Tait finds herself in out of control situations: her six-month-old police officer badge merits her little respect from the lowlifes in town, and just seeing Blue again makes all her feelings from years ago resurface. You see, Lucy has had a huge crush on Blue since the day he saved her from the boys who were beating her and threatening to do worse to her, simply because she had made the boys’ team.

When Blue’s stepbrother is murdered, all the evidence incriminates Blue. It’s known the two never really got along, and it’s easy to imagine a man who supposedly never stopped loving his old flame and has the training to murder in cold blood is guilty. Lucy believes in Blue, but she is pretty much the only one who does. And it looks as though there are people around who want to make sure that Blue is found guilty of the murder. Can Lucy convince the rest of the police and the town of Blue’s innocence, when everyone thinks she’s protecting Blue because of her feelings for him?

Lucy Tait has gone from looking up at Blue McCoy as the golden boy who saved her (something he does again when he returns home) to realizing that her schoolgirl crush and awe for this man have turned into love. At the same time, she must constantly fight her insecurity when it comes to Jenny Lee, the woman she believes still holds Blue’s heart in her hands. Lucy realizes that no half-hearted effort on her part will gain her Blue’s attention, so she treats him (and the readers) to a delicious hot tub seduction scene which is one of the steamiest ones I’ve ever read. Although Lucy finds herself in danger during the course of the book, she is no TSTL heroine – she fights her own battles no matter what the odds may be. Despite her heartbreak over what she believes is Blue’s indifference to her, she remains his friend, and is determined to clear his name.

It was no secret to Blue that Lucy, the little “Yankee” freshman had a crush on him back in high school. What he doesn’t expect, however, is the fact that, when faced with a grown-up Lucy Tait, his feelings go way beyond the friendship he extended to her back then. Furthermore, it’s not simply a strong sexual attraction that lurks between them. Blue can talk to Lucy, he always could, even back in high school when he found her bruised and bloodied, and that hasn’t changed – she is still someone he can talk to about anything. Blue also has to trust Lucy, something that doesn’t come easy for him, other than trusting the other SEALS in Alpha Squad, Blue is not the trusting type. In the end it becomes clear to him that he must do everything he can to convince his “Yankee” that he loves her and only her.

 

It’s on sale at Amazon for 0.99 here.


This book deals with complex topics really well. End of life, double jeopardy, who makes the decisions–all these issues are handled well.

 

Sandra Brown gently tackles the delicate topic of end-of-life rights in her latest thriller Overkill, a tale of sex, murder, and justice.

When an attractive woman shows up on his doorstep with a sheath of papers and stilettos that sink into the North Carolina mud, disgraced quarterback Zach Bridger thinks he knows precisely why she has come. A developer has been trying to entice him to sell his gorgeous mountainside property but Zack isn’t budging. He gives the woman a few choice words, attempting to send her on her way with a firm – and impolite – no.

Kate Lennon is a rising star in her field, a state prosecutor known for her meticulous work and strong ethical stances. Zack might have mistaken her for some real estate guru’s lackey, but she has no intention of letting him shake her off with his bad attitude and cold demeanor. When he tears up the paperwork she hands him, she follows it with a business card and a command for him to meet her the next day at the location written on the back. Then she leaves.

Zach, made curious by her confidence that he’ll show up, pieces the ripped letter together and realizes she has a reason for her certainty. Rather than trying to get him to sell his land, Kate is there about his ex-wife. Getting hitched to Rebecca Pratt had been one of Zach’s biggest mistakes – their ten-month marriage had taken only three months to implode into affairs, drunken fights, and drug-fueled public fiascos – Rebecca was a messy party girl who liked being in the news and didn’t care about smearing Zach’s image. Their divorce was meant to free Zach from her and all the nasty publicity she thrived on, but four years after they parted ways, Zach received a shocking call. Rebecca was the victim of a violent assault, choked nearly to death during a ménage à trois that had taken a very bad turn and left her in a vegetative state. It wouldn’t have affected Zach – except for causing him to pity her – but in typical Rebecca fashion, she had failed to remove his name from her medical power-of-attorney, and Zach was tasked with making an impossible choice as to whether or not to keep her on life support. Rebecca’s religious parents were furious at his having this kind of power over Rebecca’s life and caused a media storm to erupt around the situation. Zach ultimately walked away, letting the Pratt family have the final say, but the traumatic event left him a mess, unable to continue his stellar career and besmirched in the eyes of his once adoring fans.

That’s the past. In the present, Rebecca’s attacker, Eban, is released from prison on a good behavior proviso. Kate is livid about this miscarriage of justice and determined to see him back behind bars – only double jeopardy means she can’t retry him for the same crime. Her only hope is to have Rebecca disconnected from life support because with Rebecca dead, the wealthy, entitled Eban can be tried for murder. But Rebecca’s father won’t authorize such an act. Kate needs Zach to override him by using his power of attorney.

 

It’s on sale for 3.99 here.


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