This contemp got a DIK from us.

Two of my favourite authors teaming up to write a grumpy/sunshine “angsty rom-com” ?  YES, PLEASE – sign me up!  Total Creative Control is a captivating read and I blew through it two sittings. Featuring two complex, superbly characterised protagonists, and a small but equally well-written supporting cast, it’s full of humour, witty banter, delicious sexual tension and a multitude of feels – and I loved it….

Total Creative Control is a delightful feel-good romance full of warmth and good humour that will make you smile and hit you in the feels in the best way.  On to the keeper shelf it goes – and to the hint in the notes at the end that there may be more to come in this world, all I can say is I’m Here For It.

It’s at Amazon for 2.99 here.

This one by Phillips is a winner. (Our review is here.)

Ted Beaudine, the favorite son Wynette, Texas is engaged to be married to Lucy Jorik, the daughter of the former President of the United States. On paper this is a perfect match. Both are well adjusted children of highly successful parents, both have lived in the limelight, both are highly educated and responsible. Everything should be perfect. Except Lucy has doubts and she has had them for months. Ted is so dazzling, how can she ever measure up?

As soon as Meg meets Ted, she knows that he is not the right man for her best friend. Not too many people realize it, but Lucy has hell raising tendencies just bubbling under the surface waiting to break free. Trying to live up to Ted’s sainthood status will make her miserable. And, when Ted looks at Lucy, all Meg sees is fond satisfaction, not passion. On the eve of the wedding, Meg is not afraid to say what she thinks, even though it makes her enemies. When Lucy calls off the wedding at the very last minute, everyone shifts the blame to Meg, and she is trapped in town as a result of her parent’s new financial policy to not give her any more money. After her last credit card is declined she decides to run but only makes to the city limits when she is pulled over by the police and the mayor of Wynette, the jilted bridegroom. Barely escaping jail time, Lucy agrees to work off her bill, resulting in her spending more time in Wynette around Ted and the disgruntled town folks. Meg has always felt like she was the screw-up in the family, but her time in Wynette gives her the opportunity to discover what her family and friends have always known: That she needs to look within herself and not to the next new colorful locale.

Ted seems so perfect because he uses logic, instead of emotions. He might seem like a man who has everything under control, but he has learned to bury all his deep feelings. After being left at the altar, he puts a tighter lid on his emotions, acts as if nothing has happened, and continues his day to day responsibilities, including courting investors for Wynette. As with most of America, Wynette has been hit hard with the downward swing of the economy and the citizens are counting on Ted to find a way to bring in more revenue for the town.

It’s at Amazon for 1.99 here.

There are so many WWII historical fiction books but some are better than others and this one is very good.

Sylvie Duchene lived in France till she was fourteen, travelling with her mother’s dance troupe  and thoroughly enjoying the bohemian lifestyle Angelique provided for them. Her own intention had been to join the performers once she was old enough but her mother’s death changes all her plans. Sylvie relocates to England to be with her father, where she becomes Sylvia Crichton, a mature, responsible, respectable young lady. At least on the surface.

When the opportunity comes for her to train in espionage and return to her Nazi-occupied  homeland, she jumps at the chance to fight to free her people. The training for the experience is intense but exhilarating and Sylvie is excited as she lands in France under the cover of darkness, and then completes a complicated, clandestine journey to Nantes. But things go wrong once she reaches the city. Her contact fails to meet her and she spends anxious hours wondering what to do next. Eventually, with no way to know friend from foe, she heads to her final destination, the nightclub Mirabelle, where she had been told there would be a position for her as a dancer.

There is a spot open but because she has no idea how or to whom she should identify herself as an agent, she has to audition for the job. Fortunately, her skills are strong enough that she receives probationary employment and starts her new life entertaining the German clientele and hopefully, learning their secrets. But the position is fraught with peril; Felix, the pianist at the club, offers her the code phrase her contact had been meant to give her but he looks nothing like the person she was to meet. Is he a German spy who acquired the information by force or is he what he claims to be, a friend of the guy who should have met her and who is taking his place? Every decision, every movement will be a dance with danger as Sylvie works to save the country she loves from the vicious predators who have claimed it.

It’s for sale for 0.99 here.

There is lots to like about this historical romance. (Our review is here.)

Though Adventures of a Scottish Heiress is the first book I’ve read by Cathy Maxwell, I’m happy to say it won’t be my last. A great read, it takes the reader on a romantic, comedic, action-filled, suspenseful ride.

Ian Campion is an Irish street fighter who moved to England and must support his two widowed sisters and their families. When Dunmore “Pirate” Harrell hires him to find his missing daughter Lyssa, Ian sees this as a wonderful opportunity to earn 200 pounds, get his family out of England (where his political beliefs have gotten him into trouble), and to the States to start their lives anew.

Lyssa Harrell grew up with little money because when her mother ran off and married her father – a commoner – she was disowned. Her father worked hard and eventually made a fortune. After her mother died, he married again, for social entrée, to the widow of a Duke whom Lyssa believes married him solely for his fortune. This is not the sort of life she wants for herself. After her father insists she marry a titled gentleman and take her place in Society, she runs away. She doesn’t want to marry a fortune hunter, and she’s not all that happy being in Society anyway.

Lyssa begins her grand adventure with the idea that her mother’s family in Scotland will accept her for who she is. She hires gypsies to escort her to Scotland, but before she can get there, Ian catches up. Ian is excited to find Lyssa, but once he finds her the trouble begins. It’s bad enough that Lyssa is a termagant, but what’s worse is that somebody is trying to kill Lyssa. After a failed ambush, the two are left without horses and very little money. They know that the road to England is being watched so they decide to travel to Scotland instead, hoping her family will provide shelter and help them return to England.

Ian and Lyssa travel by foot to Scotland, encountering some interesting people along the way. As with many Road Romances, the people they encounter and things they do make for an amusing read. But their plan takes an unexpected turn after their arrival at her mother’s family’s castle, and the two are forced to turn around again – still on foot – and head back to England. Sparks fly as they admit their feelings for one another, and things heat up after they are forced to find shelter in a cabin because of rain. Will their few glorious days only be a memory after they make it onto English soil or will they find a way to be together?

It’s at Amazon for 0.99 here.

We love Zoe York. This is a series starter and it’s free!

Olivia – Liv -Minelli is still in love with her ex-husband Rafe even though their relationship has been over for the past two years.  Their marriage fell apart for familiar-to-the-reader reasons – he devoted himself to his (two) jobs to the exclusion of their time together, she felt alone in his small home town with no close friends and nothing to do when he deployed. Now Liv has to see him every single morning when he comes into the diner where she works, and that doesn’t help the endless roundelay of gossip that follows the two of them around – gossip that blames Olivia for their separation.  When he brings what appears to be a date to the diner one morning, she is less than pleased.

Rafe, a cop and army reservist, knows he’s messed up when he brings a girl to his ex’s place of work – especially because she’s wearing his shirt – but he hasn’t slept with her.  As a matter of fact, she was on the couch the night before, and though he flirted with her that’s as far as things went.  Liv is upset to think that Rafe is moving on, but he definitely isn’t over her, and neither of them are over the divorce, yet she always pushes him away when he tries to get closer.

But fate works in mysterious ways.  Olivia lands her dream job – scouting local places for a production company to shoot footage in Pine Harbour – which has the inadvertent effect of warming Liv up to the small town she’s been yearning to get away from.  But will it fully turn her heart back toward Rafe – and give her the courage to ask for a second chance?

It’s at Amazon for absolutely nothing here.

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