All Is Bright by RaeAnne Thayne – Review & Excerpt

All Is Bright by RaeAnne Thayne – Review & Excerpt

 

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Description:
Sage McKnight is an ambitious young architect working at her father’s firm who takes on her most challenging client in Mason Tucker. The former pro baseball player is still healing from the physical and emotional scars after a plane crash left him a wheelchair-using single dad, and he’s determined not to let anyone breach his emotional defenses. Sage knows her work on Mason’s new home in Hope’s Crossing is her best work yet, and she won’t let her grumpy client prevent her from showcasing her work personally.

With Sage’s gift for taking broken things and making them better, the matchmaking talent of the quirky locals and a generous sprinkling of Christmas cheer, Mason doesn’t stand a chance against the power of this magical holiday season.

 

 

Review:

All is Bright by RaeAnne Thayne is another one of her wonderful Christmas themed romantic stories. Sage McKnight, our heroine and architect, arrives home to Hope’s Crossing, to finalize her work on the special mansion she has overseen.  She is thrilled to meet her father there, and together they are amazed how wonderful everything is, and being Sage’s best work. It has been a major challenge, as her client is hard to deal with.

Mason Tucker, our hero, is a former pro baseball player, who is now crippled due to a plane crash. His daughter Grace, lives with him, and they are both anxious to move into their new house, which has many special enhancements to allow Mason to move around in his wheelchair, as well as a wonderful pool for exercising. Mason is very angry and grumpy dealing with people, and still grieving the loss of his wife and unborn child in the plane crash, though he is pleased with how the house is looking great.

Taryn is Sage’s good friend, and both have been through a lot of trauma and angst, when they were teenagers, when a car crash killed Sage’s sister Layla’ and Taryn spending a long time recovering. Both Sage and Taryn have had major hurdles to get past, with Taryn trying to convince Charlie (he was the driver of the car) to move on, but she has not been successful, and knows how much she loves him.  Will they ever find a way to be together.

All is Bright was heartwarming, delightful, great characters, a wonderful couple that we rooted hard for; which includes romance, heartbreak, tragic past, physical and emotional story throughout.  I loved everything about this story, with so many emotions, especially with Mason, who slowly comes out of his anger mode, and his opening his heart to Sage.  Loved it.   All is Bright was so very well written by RaeAnne Thayne

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

 

 

“We’re now walking into the home theater,” she spoke to her outstretched camera, “one of the more challenging rooms of the renovation. Prior to this update, the room had a series of steps leading to the different levels of recliners. Obviously, that would no longer work for the homeowner, so we chose to remove the steps completely, instead building a gradual slope with room to maneuver around each level of seating. Beyond featuring state-of-the-art electronics that will be easily upgradeable, everything in here—from the blackout window shades to the sound system to the recliners themselves—can be controlled through a single smart home phone app.”
She turned the camera to face her. “Doesn’t this look like a wonderfully cozy place to watch a movie or catch your favorite sporting event?”
She smiled into the phone camera, then moved back into the wide hallway leading to the library/office, her own favorite spot in the house.
“You can see here we have sliding pocket doors that open and close with the push of a button. We chose to replace the traditional doors in many of the spaces with these pocket doors, which gives more room for the homeowner to navigate, and we also…”
Her words trailed off as she heard a sound behind her and turned to see a large, dark-haired man using a wheelchair, framed in the doorway.
He frowned, an expression she had become all too used to seeing there, during their few in-person interactions and their more frequent video conferences.
“What are you doing?” he demanded. “You’re not filming this, are you?”
Sage dropped her phone with an inward wince and stopped recording. Technically, this was still her job site, which meant she had full permission to check on the progress of the work until they handed the finished home over to the owner, who happened to be this man, former professional baseball player Mason Tucker.
With effort, she forced herself not to show any of her dismay. Out of all the clients she had worked with during her career thus far, Mason Tucker was the only one who made her palms sweat and her stomach feel knotted with stress.
“Mr. Tucker. Um, hi.” She forced a smile, feeling awkward as hell and wishing she had waited until the contractor would be here to take a tour.
“I haven’t been here in weeks and wanted to document the progress that has been made since I visited last. I didn’t see any vehicles outside and assumed everybody was gone for the day.”
“I’m parked in the garage of the guesthouse.”
“I didn’t even know you were in town. Have you been here long?”
The last she knew, Mason had been living in Portland, where he had once played for the same baseball team as another town resident, Spencer Gregory, who was married to Sage’s friend Charlotte. Sage knew Spence and Mason had remained friends, despite life circumstances that had led to both of them retiring.
For a moment, she wasn’t sure Mason would reply, then he finally shrugged. “I wanted to be close as we started to wrap things up so I can keep an eye on things and be on hand if there are any questions or problems. My daughter and I moved into the guesthouse a month ago.”
Why hadn’t her dad or Sam Delgado told her Mason was already living in Hope’s Crossing?
Beyond that, she suddenly thought, how in the world was he making the guesthouse work? That place wasn’t at all wheelchair accessible, with three steps leading into the place, narrow hallways and no accessible bathroom like those she had designed for this main house.
Renovating the guesthouse was part of the master plan but not until all the work was finished on Wolf Ridge itself.
“That place is a mess. How are you getting around?”
“I’m managing,” he said, his voice curt. “I can still get around on crutches, as long as I don’t have to go far.”
“You shouldn’t have to go far, from one end of the guesthouse to the other. It’s tiny.” She imagined a man Mason’s size would make the space shrink to almost nothing.
“It works fine for me and Grace. It’s only a few more weeks anyway, right?”
“I suppose.”
Sam Delgado had assured her when they spoke earlier that the renovations to Wolf Ridge would be finished shortly before Christmas.
Sage had to admit, she wouldn’t be sorry to put the job behind her.
While she was thrilled with the way her designs had transformed the mountain estate, working with Mason Tucker himself was another story.
She tried to be compassionate. Whenever she grew frustrated with him, she would remind herself that Mason had endured the sort of tragedy that would have completely destroyed someone without his resilience. While she was only charged with renovating this house, Mason had to completely rebuild his life.
He had every right to be surly and uncooperative.
While she might know that intellectually, it was difficult to remember when she was dealing with yet another last-minute change order.
Still, he had superb taste and basically unlimited financial resources. In a few more weeks, when the job was finished, Wolf Ridge would meet his needs now and long into the future.
The home now featured a new indoor pool, spa and high-tech exercise room on the bottom level, two new elevators at either end of the house and heated floors throughout. Wolf Ridge also featured a kitchen that worked for people of any mobility level and wheelchair accessible bathrooms on each level, including the extensive owner’s suite on the second floor.
Sage loved everything about this house, from the skylights to the beams her dad had mentioned to the wider doorways and hallways. It was warm, luxurious, comfortable.
She wanted to show off her work to the world. The only trick would be convincing the intensely private Mason Tucker.
Faced with his glower now, Sage felt as if she faced a Herculean task.
She had to try, though, didn’t she?
Her fledgling internet show had exploded in popularity over the past year, allowing her foundation and personal pet project to help far more deserving people than she had ever envisioned.
Sage could only imagine the vast number of views—and thus ad revenue—a video featuring Wolf Ridge would bring in. People would love a glimpse inside the house redesigned for the reclusive and private Mason Tucker.
The public still clamored to know everything it could about the former professional athlete who had endured so much physical and emotional pain.
If she could showcase Wolf Ridge on the Homes for All internet channel, she would also bring awareness to some of the issues and obstacles noninclusive design presented to those with mobility challenges.
She drew in a breath, not sure where to start. Yes, he would likely slap her down but she wouldn’t know unless she asked, right?
“The progress while I’ve been overseas is amazing. I can’t believe how different everything looks, with the finish work and the new flooring.”
“Sam and his subs have put in some long hours.”
“It shows. And Jean-Paul tells me he’s going to have nearly all the furnishings ready to go in a few more weeks, except for a few custom pieces.”
“That’s what he tells me.”
“I can’t see any reason you and Grace can’t move in before Christmas. How exciting!”
A shrug was his only response, which she supposed was about as eloquent as Mason Tucker could be.
She stuck her hands into the pockets of her wool coat.
He was going to say no. She knew it and braced herself for it.
“There’s no easy way for me to ask you this so I’m going to come straight out with it.” She drew in a breath. “For the past year, I’ve hosted a YouTube channel, Homes for All, which features projects with the kind of innovative universal design elements we have tried to incorporate here at Wolf Ridge.”
He raised an eyebrow but said nothing.
“While it’s called Homes for All, we feature commercial as well as residential projects. I hope to continue raising awareness of how limiting and even discriminatory some design practices can be for those who are, er, differently abled.”
He again said nothing, only continued to look at her out of those hard blue eyes that concealed his emotions completely.
“I have poured so much energy into Wolf Ridge, and I’m absolutely thrilled with the way the house has turned out. It’s everything I dreamed and more. I feel like more people should see it. Don’t you? I would absolutely love to feature your home on my channel.”
She held her breath, hands curled inside her pockets.
As she might have predicted, he didn’t leave her waiting long for his answer.
“Hell no,” he said with blunt finality, then turned away and started to roll back down the hall so abruptly she could only stare at him.
After a moment, she pursued him. This was too important to give up at the first obstacle. “Just like that? You don’t even want to hear the details?”
He paused and maneuvered to face her. “Why waste both our time? I don’t need to hear the details. Whatever you have to say doesn’t matter. My answer will remain a hard no.”
The man was impossible. Her grandfather Harry might have called him pigheaded, but Sage preferred the more diplomatic obstinate.
And yes, how could she blame him for that? Mason was trying to rebuild a life for himself and his daughter in Hope’s Crossing, away from the prying eyes of the tabloid press. She already knew he was an intensely private man. He had made her sign a nondisclosure agreement before even talking to her about what he wanted done at the house.
She might have been more surprised if he had agreed to let her feature his house on her channel.
Still, she had never been good at taking no for an answer. She could be every bit as pigheaded as Mason Tucker. She figured she had inherited that from Harry Lange himself.
“What I love most about your home is how seamlessly we have managed to integrate the new design into the existing structure without altering the basic style and grace of the home,” she said. “I’m sure you can agree that the changes will benefit everyone who lives here, not only you.”
“Sure,” he said after a moment. “You definitely know what you’re doing. The house is exactly what I wanted. That still doesn’t mean I want the whole world peering in at the transfer bars in the shower or the damn lift I need to use so I can get in and out of my spa.”
Sage was so caught up in the first part of what he said, the unexpected praise coming from her difficult client, that she almost missed the second part.
“That’s exactly what I try to showcase on my channel. When done right, universal design can blend with the overall style of a home or commercial property, small and sometimes barely noticeable changes but enough to make a huge difference to those who need them.”
“No,” he said again. “Judging by how seldom you’re here, you must have other projects. You can focus on those.”
“I have. You can watch the videos online. We have about thirty of them up now. But Wolf Ridge is the most ambitious residential renovation I’ve ever undertaken. Most people would never have poured the kind of resources you have into making such extensive changes to an existing structure. They would have sold the house as is and built a custom home somewhere else. Because of the location and the basic sound structure of the house, you chose to renovate instead. The results are beautiful, and I want the whole world to see it.”
“And I don’t,” he said bluntly. “I don’t need to give the whole damn world any more reasons to pity me.”
A muscle clenched along his jaw, and Sage felt immediately ashamed of herself for her selfishness at wanting to showcase her best work here.
Her motives weren’t completely selfish, she amended. Yes, she was proud of her work on Wolf Ridge. This project, more than any other she had been part of, might help her begin to emerge from her father’s huge and well-earned shadow.
It wasn’t easy being Jackson Lange’s daughter and trying to find her own way in the same field as one of the world’s most brilliant architectural minds.
That was the very reason she hadn’t taken Jack’s surname, even after they reconnected. She still went by Sage McKnight, the name she’d always had. She didn’t want to be known first as Jackson Lange’s daughter, with the weight of all those expectations on her. She wanted to succeed on her own.
Beyond that, she was doing good work with Homes for All. She knew she was making a difference in people’s lives, not only by changing minds about universal design but by changing lives.
Should she tell Jackson Lange that Homes for All was also the name of her foundation, funded by the ad revenue her videos generated online? The purpose was to help people who couldn’t otherwise afford to make necessary changes to their living spaces when age or health issues impacted mobility.
No. She didn’t want to guilt him into letting her invade his privacy by showcasing Wolf Ridge.
“Will you at least think about it?” she finally said. “You don’t have to decide anything right this moment.”
He shrugged. “I can think about it from now until Christmas. I won’t change my mind. My house, my decision. You can take all the pictures and video you want for your own personal use but if you post them online, I’ll sue your ass for breaking our nondisclosure agreement.”
He wheeled away without another word, leaving Sage to gaze after him with helpless frustration.
She hadn’t really expected any other answer, but she had hoped.
Her watch alarm dinged, and she glanced down at the reminder she had set. She was supposed to be at her mother’s bookstore and coffeehouse, Books & Brew, in ten minutes.
She quickly shot a few more images then walked back out into the December twilight.

Excerpted from All is Bright by RaeAnne Thayne. Copyright © 2022 by RaeAnne Thayne. Published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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It’s Raining Men by Julie Hammerle – a Review

It’s Raining Men by Julie Hammerle – a Review

 

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Description:
Don’t drink and text.

Even on the cusp of forty, I had to learn that the hard way. After discovering my best friend, who I was supposed to grow old and single with, got engaged, I drowned my loneliness in one too many Old Fashioneds and woke up with thirty-nine responses from every available man in my phone. Yup, I even texted my plumber…and he turned me down.

Apparently, my liquor-infused text said that while I don’t need a man, maybe I’d be down for a constant sidekick for movies, plus-one invites, and dinner on the table after my grueling shifts as a concierge doctor—till death do us part…and was anyone in?

Through the absolute mortification of thirty-seven rejections, shockingly, I realize two men have said yes. Behind Bachelor Door #1 is Rob, my old high school crush: the comfortable, dependable boy-next-door. Behind Bachelor Door #2 is Darius, the exciting, flashy news reporter about to hit it big. Does this mean I’ll have to get out of my yoga pants and actually go on dates now?

Dax, the local bartender who got me into this disaster in the first place—remember the Old Fashioneds?—can’t believe I’ve given up on finding true love. What does a tattooed, broody twentysomething know about carving out a future for yourself, anyway?

Too bad the further into this hot mess I get, the less I know about who I am. And I’m going to have to figure out exactly what I need if I ever want to find a true happily ever after.

 

 

Review:

I quite enjoyed It’s Raining Men by Julie Hammerle.  It’s a fun, charming and flirty story about Annie Kyle who’s about to turn 40 with no man in her future in sight.  After a drunken night she accidentally texts all the men in her phone and the next morning the fun or chaos ensues for Annie. 

I found the characters to be very likeable and relatable with real life issues.  All the characters from Annie, to all her potential mates(Rob, Darius, and Dax) had no problem holding their own and being able to carry the story forward to make it all make sense. There were many sweet and funny moments, with enough serious ones to balance everything out and make the whole story very relatable for the reader regarding life and relationships. 

I liked Dax from the get go and wanted him to be her guy from their first scene together. I was very happy in the end when Dax did turn out to be the one, even though he’s much younger then her.  There was just something about him, and together he and Annie just had this vibe about them whenever they had a scene together. It was something that just couldn’t be ignored whenever Annie and Dax were together. Whether is was just teasing each other at the bar, or chatting about his dog, something was in the air around them.  Now don’t get me wrong, her other potential mates(Darius and Rob) were well rounded characters and generally good guys.  However, whenever Annie was in a scene with them, that vibe wasn’t there for me.  Neither of them seemed like ‘the one’ for Annie in my opinion, but that’s just me. 

It was fun and intriguing to watch Annie juggle all 3 guys and try to figure out just who was best for her in the long run.  At times I thought the story was just going to run off the rails but instead Miss Hammerle did a great job of balancing everything out all the while making sense of all 3 relationships for Annie.  It never truly got complicated or messy for anyone involved.  Miss Hammerle kept everything real, open and relatable to life’s daily issues and it made for a very enjoyable story.

If you’re you looking for something fun and easy going to pass the day away, especially a rainy day.  Then I’d say It’s Raining Men by Julie Hammerle is just what you need.

Until next time, happy reading.

Reviewed by Marcie

Copy provided by Publisher

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From Alaska With Love by Ally James – Review & Giveaway

From Alaska With Love by Ally James – Review & Giveaway

 

 

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Description:
A soldier has six weeks to convince the only woman he has ever longed for to take a chance on life with him in Alaska….

Sara’s letters were the only bright spot during Gabe’s devastating tour in Iraq. With each new correspondence he fell harder, needed her more, wanted to be with her. Now, after initially rejecting his offer to meet, she’s shown up at the door of his isolated cabin in Alaska looking for…what? Gabe’s not sure what made Sara change her mind, but he knows he never wants to let her go.

Major Gabe Randall is everything Sara Ryan wants but nothing she feels she deserves. A modern-day spinster, Sara hides behind family obligations and the safe, quiet life she’s resigned herself to living. But secretly, even though she may have stretched the truth about who she is in her letters to him, she wants Gabe. Will he still want her when he discovers the real woman behind the pen?

Once they meet, Gabe asks her for six weeks in Alaska. Six weeks to spend getting to know each other, and then she’ll have to decide whether they are better together or apart.

 

 

Review:

From Alaska With Love by Ally James is a sweet and different kind of romance.  We meet our heroine, Sara Ryan, as she attends a family function and is embarrassed by her aunt, who tells everyone she is a spinster.  Sara lives with her brother and his wife, as she takes care of her niece; and though she is beautiful, Sara has no confidence and does not believe she will ever marry.  Her family, other than her niece, takes advantage of her, and expects her to do their bidding.  During a local event, everyone is collecting Christmas cards to pass on to troops overseas; and Sara sends a sweet funny card to whomever receives it.

Major Gabe Randall, our hero, is now in his 7th deployment and when he is given one of the cards coming in, he gets a kick out of Sara’s card, and decides to respond, and a pen pal relationship begins.  What follows is a warm-hearted sweet story, where both Gabe and Sara welcome the friendship their correspondence has given them; especially with Sara’s funny posts, which were a bright light for Gabe during  his hard tour in Iraq.  With each new letter, which they now uses Facetime, they both begin to have feelings for each other; they decide they need to meet.

While in the planning stages for Sara to visit Gabe in Alaska, where he has 6 weeks before being deployed again; Gabe decides to make a surprise visit to North Carolina, which due to her brother’s comments turned into a fiasco, and Gabe leaves.  Sara is determined to fix things with Gabe, and tell him he misunderstood her brother.  She decides to fly to Alaska and spend time there as intended with Gabe, but at first, he was surprised she showed up and was somewhat cold.  In a short time, Sara learns to love Alaska, and Gabe’s army friends.  Slowly their romance heats up, and they succumb to their feelings for each other, as everything falls in place; Gabe knows he has to find a way to somehow bring Sara’s family and their lives to an acceptable arrangement.

I loved many of the characters that James created, especially Chloe, Jason, and especially Trouble the dog, who I absolutely adored.  From Alaska With Love was an enjoyable sweet romance, which was well written by Ally James. 

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher

 

 

Ally James’ publisher is offering a paper copy of FROM ALASKA WITH LOVE to ONE (1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe.

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