Tag: City Owl Press

Guest Review: Harvest Moon Homecoming by Jessie Gussman

Posted November 15, 2017 by Tracy in Reviews | 1 Comment

Guest Review: Harvest Moon Homecoming by Jessie GussmanReviewer: Tracy
Harvest Moon Homecoming by Jessie Gussman
Series: Sweet Haven Farm #1
Publisher: City Owl Press
Publication Date: November 14th 2017
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 130
Add It: Goodreads
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three-half-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

When the high school’s float explodes five days before the National Farmer’s Day parade, Principal Calvin Finkenbinder sees his chance at the promotion to Superintendent disintegrate. Unless he enlists the help of Ellie Bright, the most annoying, disorganized and kissable woman he knows.

Standing in Principal Fink’s office, again, for driving her daughter to school late, again, Ellie is given two odious choices. Either her straight A daughter receives detention for another tardy that’s not her fault, or Ellie uses her artistic skills and helps the uptight, stringent principal build a new float.

As they scramble to construct the float in time, Ellie’s chaotic life collides with Fink’s methodical plans. A tangle of arguments and decorations leads to a stolen kiss. Underneath their long established animosity is an unexpected passion that threatens to ruin more than just a school float.

Ellie Bright is a mess.  While she’s artistic, talented and hardworking, she’s also disorganized and can’t manage to get her daughter to school on time.  She’s consistently a ½ hour late and the principal has had enough.  He lets Ellie know that she either needs to work on the high school’s float (replacing the one that exploded) or her daughter will receive a daily two -hour detention for two weeks.  Her daughter, Harper, is up for Valedictorian and Ellie doesn’t want anything to get in the way of that.  She agrees to work on the float but isn’t thrilled when the principal says he’ll help.

Calvin Finkenbinder aka Fink just wants to get the float done and move on.  He’s not worried about perfection, he just wants something to show for the parade.  Of course when the President of the school board tells him that it has to be perfection he has to work with Ellie to make it great.  Fink and Ellie are like fire and water but despite their yelling matches their insanely attracted to each other and their matches usually end in super-hot kisses.

As they two of them work more closely together throughout the week, their feelings start to grow and they’re soon falling in love. Unfortunately Ellie knows that she might not be good enough for Fink as he’s shooting for the superintendent job and she’s not sure that any long-term relationship would work between them.

This was a cute, clean novella about how opposites attract and what you think you want in life may not be what you actually want.

In this book Ellie and Fink were great together.  I was a bit shocked at their shouting matches and how quickly they escalated over seemingly minor miscommunications, but it was also kind of fun to watch their passion grow while they were arguing.  It was also fun to watch Fink realize that he needed Ellie and her messes in his life and to watch Ellie realize she needed Fink and his organization in hers.

The story was well written and if you want a fun, quick Fall themed read then I’d definitely recommend this one.

Rating 3.5 out of 5

three-half-stars


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Guest Review: Bump in the Night by Elianne Adams

Posted December 17, 2015 by Tracy in Reviews | 0 Comments

Guest Review: Bump in the Night by Elianne AdamsReviewer: Tracy
Bump in the Night by Elianne Adams
Series: Deadly Whispers #1
Publisher: City Owl Press
Publication Date: September 29, 2015
Add It: Goodreads
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four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

When Libbie McMaster gets guilted into going out on Halloween night, the last thing on her mind is finding her mate. Her self-imposed seclusion has served her well over the past nine months, keeping the ghosts, goblins, and bad memories at bay. But when she meets Jay, her whole world is turned upside down.

From the moment Libbie walked into the bar, Jay can’t keep his eyes off her. Everything about her screams one thing—his. He’s willing to give her the time she needs to get used to the idea of being mated to a werewolf, but when the creatures that lurk in the shadows threaten her, he’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe, even if it means fighting her demons.

Libbie is a witch who is half daemon. She sees ghosts and can talk to spirits. There is one pestering her when our story begins and the spirit can’t move on until her grieving husband keeps his promise to her. Libbie is going out with her friends after months of seclusion and heads to the bar that not only holds her friends but also holds the grieving husband.

While at the bar Libbie meets Jay and they have an instant connection. She’d love to stay and explore their attraction but the spirit tells Libbie that her hubby’s in trouble – now out in an alley by the bar – and Libbie heads out to try to help. Jay trails along behind even though Libbie tries to get him to stay put.

Jay is a werewolf who knows immediately that Libbie is his mate. When she heads outside he’s not about to let her out of his sight, so he follows her. He doesn’t expect her to start battling demons from hell but he jumps right in to help. Thinking that they’ve saved the hubby Libbie heads home but can’t stop thinking of Jay. He shows up at her place the next day and they’re soon in bed together and wanting to stay that way for a very long time. Unfortunately Libbie’s friend, and another witch, needs her again and what they find might cause Libbie and Jay to be torn apart before they can ever start a life together.

Bump in the night sounded like a fun little paranormal read when I read the blurb. The book ended up being that but so much more. The book is a nice introduction to the world that Libbie lives in – although I definitely would have enjoyed a bit more world-building. I liked Libbie a lot and that went a long way to making the book better for me. Jay was also a great guy and seemed perfect for Libbie.

The story had me on the edge of my seat at times as well as a bit heartbroken at others. For being such a short book it packed a lot into it. I’m looking forward to reading more about this world and finding out more about the characters that the author introduced us to.

four-stars


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