3 stars 3

 

Death In A Pale Hue by Susan Van Kirk

Who knew going home could be deadly?

I will show them success. Thirty-year-old artist Jill Madison repeats this mantra when she returns to her small hometown to restart her life. Hired to manage a new community art center, she vows to make it successful so the people of her town will have what she did not have—an education in the arts. She no sooner accepts the job than a burglar makes off with an irreplaceable sculpture and an uninvited corpse is discovered in the basement. Investigating places Jill right in the path of a murderer.

How will she keep her job, run her first big event, and escape a killer who plans to paint her out of the picture permanently?

Review:

I loved the cover and the title of this book at first sight.

Death In A Pale Hue was a good read.

The story was well written, the characters were a very nice bunch, the small town depicted in all its glory and flaws, but I found the culprit and the reason of the murder pretty soon.

I've still enjoyed to follow Jill in her quest of the murderer and into her working life full of mishaps.

Summer At Firefly Beach by Jenny Hale

Hallie Flynn’s favorite place in the world is her great Aunt Clara’s beautiful beachside house, with its inviting wraparound porch and enchanting views across the sparkling turquoise ocean. For Hallie, going to Firefly Beach, filled with magical memories, feels like coming home, but in one moment Hallie is left broken-hearted when her adored Aunt Clara passes away…

As always, Aunt Clara has thought of everything. In her last letter she included a bucket list Hallie wrote as a child, for Hallie to complete. Leaving her dead-end job and predictable schedule, Hallie returns to Firefly beach and embraces Aunt Clara’s words. All the time her childhood best friend Ben Murray, with his golden charm and infuriating ability to be right all the time, is by her side.

Spending the summer with Ben, as they enjoy drinks on the pier and endless talks stretched out in the soft sand, Hallie begins to remember the things that matter most to her. But following the bucket list isn’t an easy journey. It forces her to face the pain of her past as she starts to fall for the person who has been there for her all along...

Just as her heart is healing, an encounter with a newcomer to the beach town, wealthy and talented photographer Gavin Wilson, leaves her questioning her future and shows her she has to make a difficult decision that could mean losing everything.

Will Hallie be able to fulfill Aunt Clara’s last wish and change her life? Or will a secret she’s been keeping destroy her new beginning—and the chance to experience true love?

Review:

Summer at Firefly Beach was a nice, quick read.

In this story we follow Hallie Flynn through her grieving for her late aunt, and her quest to choose the right path for a happy life, starting at Firefly beach and at the Starlight Cottage with the help of her family and her best friend, Ben.

The writing was well done, I liked the small town vibes and the characters, but there were some things that didn't sit well with me, like Hallie's stubborness to reject the best things of her life, or how she is too scared to even try to do something different, but I've still enjoyed the story.

Blush by Lucinda Race

Peyton Brien is a survivor, but it didn’t come easy. One traumatic night may have changed her life, but it also gave her a six-year-old son who’s the center of her world. She also loves her job running the tasting room at Crescent Lake Winery, even if—or maybe because—it brings her into daily contact with the one man who could tempt her into forgetting her promise never to let her heart be broken again.

Jack Price is busy managing the family winery in the Finger Lakes region of New York, but his mind is always on the one woman he never stopped loving. He’d had his reasons for running off all those years ago, but he’d been a fool to leave behind Peyton. Is there a chance he can win her back?

But just as their fragile relationship heats up, a secret from Jack’s past threatens their second chance at love. Peyton worked hard to get where she is. Is she willing to risk her heart again on a man she loves but cannot trust?

Review:

Blush was a nice and quick read.

I've easily followed the storyline even if this is the third book in this series of connected standalone stories.

Peyton and Jack were high school sweetheart, they had a nasty brokeup when all of a sudden Jack decided to leave everything behind and he went to live far. Now some years later Jack and Peyton are back at the same place, they both work at the Crescent Lake Winery, but they are not the same persons they were. Will they overcome their hurt and their pride in order to give their love another chance?

Peyton and Jack are two darlings, I rooted for them since the start.

I liked how they rekindled their relationship slowly, paying the right attention to the kid easy attachment to the man.

There is a triggering episode where it's told a r*pe, but it's written with the right sensitivity and delicacy.