Monthly Archives: October 2024

Fake Relationship, Sunshine Grumpy

#ReleaseDay #NewRelease #DualReview #FakeDating #GrumpySunshine – Text Appeal by Kylie Scott

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Love enters the chat in this hilarious, heartfelt rom com by New York Times bestselling and Audie award-winning author Kylie Scott.

Romance author Riley Cooper always dreamed of living by the water. But within a day of landing in the charming seaside town of Port Stewart to work on her latest book, she’s getting calls and texts for some dude on her new number. Weird ones. Sad ones. Sexy ones. Ones that make her want to meet him. For curiosity’s sake…if nothing else.

After years of being on-again, off-again with his high school sweetheart, all Connor wants is to move on with his life. If only everyone in Port Stewart would let him. What he needs is to be seen with someone else. So when fate puts him in the path of the new girl in town who got his old number, faking it together seems like the perfect solution.

Spending time with the gorgeous former prom king might be great research for Riley’s romance writing…if only she can keep her feelings in check. But the more she gets to know him, the harder she’s falling. Can their serendipitous meeting turn into something real and true?

Goodreads

Amazon

Review by Twinsie Angie

I received this book from the author for an honest review.

When I saw what this book was about plus it was a grumpy sunshine, I was all in.  I must admit I fell in love with the story right away.  I thought it was super funny to be getting random texts from people for another person.  I have had that happen once, not nearly as many times but still I could kinda relate.

Like all Kylie books, the banter, snark, whit, etc was totally hilarious. There were so many times I laughed out loud because it’s totally how I might react to a situation…..like getting high with grandma and her friends at the coffee shop.  Legit full laughter.   Don’t get me start on “Break up oral” because yeah totally what I would have done as well….lol…IYKYK!

I loved the simplicity of the story but the twist about Ava was one that I was so excited to see.  The karaoke was probably one of my favorites in the story.  Seeing the town fall in love with Riley was also another favorite even if they initially were all betting against her at the coffee shop.  Poor Connor seems to find the ladies that everyone loves.

It was a great fake dating turns to real emotion story.  This is one of my favorites that Kylie has releases.  I would love to see more in the series because I think there are a lot of characters who could use an HEA.

Review by Twinsie Melinda

I received a copy of this book from the author for an honest review.

I liked the plot of this story and I have to say enjoyed the side characters as much as the main characters. What could go wrong when you get a new cell number? How about the previous owner not telling anyone they changed their number and their family and friends constantly texting you.

Rylie Cooper just wanted to get away and enjoy the water. She gets into town and decides to get a new phone number. Only problem is this number used to belong to Connor who didn’t tell his family and friends he changed his number. Rylie gets texts from Connor’s ex, Ava, who is persistent that Rylie and Connor are together. Connor just wants some breathing room and not have family and friends contacting him. His ex is coming home and his high school reunion is coming up and everyone in the town has an opinion on his love life.

A small town can be a wonderful thing but small towns know everyone’s business and if they don’t know your business they will in 5 seconds.  I loved Connor’s meddling family especially his grandma. I have to say the dueling tip jars were entertaining. I enjoyed seeing Rylie and Connor go from friends to more even if it started as a fake relationship. Some of the scenes were over the top but still entertaining to read. Want to know if the town people switched from team Ava to team Rylie, then pick up this book or even the audio.

Profile Image for Kylie Scott.

Kylie is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today best-selling, Audie Award winning Romance author.

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#Twinsieoftheday – The Answers Are In The Forest (The Answers Series Book 1) by Katie Kaleski

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New town. New house. Unexplainable occurrences.

It didn’t take me long to figure out that there’s something strange about the house my mom and I moved in to.

Weird drawings, toys appearing out of nowhere, the sound of footsteps and kids giggling at night—it all points to one thing…our house is haunted.

Instead of packing my stuff and running as far away from the creepy house as possible, I decide to investigate. Risky? Stupid? Maybe. But rather than feed my fear, the mystery that surrounds the haunting leaves me wanting answers.

The pile of questions I have leads me straight to Rusck and his twin brother. Oh, and did I mention there’s a talking rabbit as well? Yup, this particular rabbit seems to be possessed by a five-year-old girl—which only raises more questions.

Desperate to piece together the puzzle of missing children, we soon realize that if we’re not careful, we might be the next victims to fall down this dark, deadly, rabbit hole.

Goodreads

Amazon

Review by Brandy

I received this book for an honest review.

this book was not what I expected. It is a mystery with some slightly creepy parts. Gabby’s new house is
haunted, and the way that the ghosts decide to communicate is a bit disturbing. As she tries to figure
out what is going on, she gets close with a local boy, whose twin brother has something to do with the
house but can’t remember anything. The ghosts need Gabby to help them, but with a mystery killer on
the loose she doesn’t know who to trust.
I did not see the twist at the end coming at all. There is an interesting mix of characters and plot twists
that kept me interested until the end. I would recommend this for older teen as there is some content
that might disturb really young readers just a bit. There is no adult content, and there is violence to
people and animals. Nothing explicit detail, but it might bother some people.

Katie Kaleski has started down many career paths and held many jobs—indie craft store clerk, pizza maker, photo developer, shoe salesperson and cashier, dental assistant in the army, daycare teacher, student teacher—but her favorite one by far is being a writer.

She’s originally from Chicago, so she says things like pop, gym shoes, and front room. Her favorite food group is sugar, and she loves writing more than anything.

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#WOTR25 #WOTRFamily Reader Spotlight on Pam James

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Hey friends! We, The Twinsie Girls (Angie, Melinda, JM, Kelly, Tenise, and Dee) talked to some of the readers attending Writers on the River to see what they had to say about the event.  As we come down from our book signing highs from July and start to prepare for 2025, YEAR 10, we wanted to see what some of the attendees are saying about Writers on the River.

Today we are chatting with Pam James aka Mama Pam aka maker of the best cashew brittle I’ve ever had in my life. If you have ever been lucky enough to win some of the stuff in the Raffle, you know exactly what I’m talking about! Pam, thanks you for all you do to support Writers on the River.  We all love you over here at Twinsie Talk. I  cannot wait to squeeze you in July! 

Was this your first WOTR? If not how many have you attended?
No I first came in 2019
How far did you travel to get to the event?
4 hours and 15 mins.
Did you go to the event with anyone? 
Yes, Helen, Tiffany and Lori Potraffke DIL, Granddaughter and Helen’s SIL
How many new books did you bring home?
About 30
Did you participate in the raffle? If yes, did you take any baskets home this year?
Yes, No did not win any. It is all about Thisle Farms tho.
Did you get a chance to hear the Dorris talk? If yes, what are your thoughts?
Not this year. Did in the past and she made me cry.
Do you have a highlight or special memory from the event you would like to share?
We broke Lori’s Event Cherry on this one. She will be back. Cytnia D’Alba made me a tea towel with Mama Pam on it. She made me cry.
Anything else you would like to add?
WOTR is one of my favorite events, As long as I can make it, I will be there every year! I Love it!
 
Well that is all for today. Check back all month long for more reader and volunteer spotlights.
 
SAVE THE DATE
Tickets for for the 10th annual Writers on the River go on sale November 4, 2024!
For event location, dates, times, list of 2025 attending authors, and other important information, please follow the link below to the event web page.

Self-Help, Standalone

#BookPromo – The 12 Hour Walk by Colin O’Brady

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“A master class in athleticism, resilience, and human potential.” —Hoda Kotb, Today

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Impossible First, an inspiring blend of riveting adventure stories and life-changing wisdom that teaches us how to embark on a transformative one-day journey that will unlock our best lives.

Millions of people dream of living a more fulfilling life, yet many settle for a life of comfortable complacency, allowing excuses and negative thoughts to invade their minds. I don’t have enough time…I don’t have enough money…I’m afraid to fail…I don’t have what it takes—we allow these limiting beliefs to control us.

Now, The 12-Hour Walk provides the inspiration—and catalyst—for getting unstuck and realizing your full potential. Featuring life lessons from explorer, endurance athlete, and entrepreneur Colin O’Brady—whose adventures in such extreme places as Antarctica and the perilous Drake Passage and on the peaks of Mount Everest and K2 have seen him establish ten world records—this book’s vivid narrative and powerful insight will show you how you can embark on your own life-changing journey.

With Colin as your guide, The 12-Hour Walk asks you to invest one day in yourself. By walking alone, unplugging, listening to the voice within, and rewriting the limiting beliefs etched into your psyche, you can break free of the patterns holding you back and learn how to cultivate a “Possible Mindset”—an empowered way of thinking that unlocks a life of limitless possibilities. The reward: being the hero of your own destiny.

One Click Here – https://amzn.to/4dgrdab

I’m going to do this walk one day!! – Twinsie Jo

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#WOTR25 Reader Spotlight on Christie Anderson

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Hey friends! We, The Twinsie Girls (Angie, Melinda, JM, Kelly, Tenise, and Dee) talked to some of the readers attending Writers on the River to see what they had to say about the event.  As we come down from our book signing highs from July and start to prepare for 2025, YEAR 10, we wanted to see what some of the attendees are saying about Writers on the River.

Today we are chatting with Christie Anderson aka Jens best friend! We love to see familiar faces return year after year. Christie we cannot wait to see you and your bestie in 2025!

Was this your first WOTR? If not how many have you attended?
3rd
 
How far did you travel to get to the event?
Cedar Rapids Iowa
 
Did you go to the event with anyone? 
Jennifer McNamara
 
How many new books did you bring home?
105
 
Did you participate in the raffle? If yes, did you take any baskets home this year?
Yes. 5
 
Did you get a chance to hear the Dorris talk? If yes, what are your thoughts?
No
 
Anything else you would like to add?
This is one of the best book signings you can go to as a reader. Everyone is so friendly and nice and will help you if you have a question.
 
Well that is all for today. Check back all month long for more reader and volunteer spotlights.
 
 
SAVE THE DATE
Tickets for for the 10th annual Writers on the River go on sale November 4, 2024!
For event location, dates, times, list of 2025 attending authors, and other important information, please follow the link below to the event web page.

Horror, Psychological Thriller, Standalone

#Review – We Used To Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

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Get Out meets Parasite in this eerily haunting debut and Reddit hit—soon to be a Netflix original movie starring Blake Lively—about two homeowners whose lives are turned upside down when the house’s previous residents unexpectedly visit.

As a young, queer couple who flip houses, Charlie and Eve can’t believe the killer deal they’ve just gotten on an old house in a picturesque neighborhood. As they’re working in the house one day, there’s a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. People pleaser to a fault, Eve lets them in.

As soon as the strangers enter their home, uncanny and inexplicable things start happening, including the family’s youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can’t seem to take the hint that their visit should be over. And when Charlie suddenly vanishes, Eve slowly loses her grip on reality. Something is terribly wrong with the house and with the visiting family—or is Eve just imagining things?

My favourite horror author, Mique Watson, posted about this book and said how it was the scariest thing he’s ever read. So I dropped everything and grabbed this book. I’ve gone in completely blind, so I have no idea what’s going on and I’ll write my review as I read this book.

10% in – I have no idea what’s going on but I feel like something really bad is going to happen. Eve is home alone and is waiting for her girlfriend, Charlie, to get home but this random family shows up. Thomas, the father, said he used to live there. Something is off about this whole situation.

20% in – What is even going on? Charlie is finally home and is acting like nothing is strange about this family showing up. She’s the type to give people the benefit of the doubt instead of assuming right away that they’re horrible or evil. Jenny, the youngest child in the random family, decided to play hide and seek in the basement and is hiding out there. Apparently, just letting her come out on her own is a thing.

30% in – Ok this is getting creepier. Also, something happened and I kept thinking that there’s no way my husband would tell me that he would deal with it in the morning and for me to go to sleep. Like, no way at all.

40% in – I still have no idea what’s going on. I have so many questions. Like what does this family want and why the heck won’t they leave?

50% – I think I’m going to be saying that I have no idea what’s going on until the end of this book. Something is definitely off. With the family. With the neighbor. With the random man living in a rundown shack in the middle of the woods. Everything is off.

60% in – I’m wondering if it’s something having to do with the house.

70% in – I have theories but they’re probably all wrong.

80% – 100% in – Yup, my theories were all wrong.

This book was so good. Like beyond good. My mind is reeling and I have no words, so thankfully I wrote this as I read. I didn’t now what was true or not by the end of the book and it was so well written. I think this is the author’s debut as well? Either way, it was chef’s kiss and I’ll definitely be checking out more by this author.

One click here

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#wotr25 Reader Spotlight on Jennifer McNamara

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Hey friends! We, The Twinsie Girls (Angie, Melinda, JM, Kelly, Tenise, and Dee) talked to some of the readers attending Writers on the River to see what they had to say about the event.  As we come down from our book signing highs from July and start to prepare for 2025, YEAR 10, we wanted to see what some of the attendees are saying about Writers on the River.

Today we are chatting with Jennifer McNamara. I always see the bright, smiling faces of Jennifer and her bestie throughout the day at Writers on the River.  Thank you for your continued support ladies! We look forward to seeing you in 2025.

Was this your first WOTR? If not how many have you attended?

My third year

How far did you travel to get to the event?
2 1/2  hours
Did you go to the event with anyone? 
Yes my best friend Christie Anderson
How many new books did you bring home?
53
Did you participate in the raffle? If yes, did you take any baskets home this year?
Yes and I won two!
Did you get a chance to hear the Dorris talk? If yes, what are your thoughts?
No
Do you have a highlight or special memory you would like to add?
I love getting to see my favorite authors and meeting new people and the after party
Anything else you would like to add?
So can’t wait for next year!!! I love seeing my book family!!!
Well that is all for today! Check back all month long for more Writers on the River Reader and Volunteer Spotlights.
SAVE THE DATE
Tickets for for the 10th annual Writers on the River go on sale November 4, 2024!
For event location, dates, times, list of 2025 attending authors, and other important information, please follow the link below to the event web page.
Fantasy, new adult, Part of a Series, Review

#review #fantasy #dragons Fourth Wing (The Empyrean 1) by Rebecca Yarros

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Enter the brutal and elite world of a war college for dragon riders…

Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—also known as her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.

But when you’re smaller than everyone else and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away…because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.

With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.

She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise.

Yet, with every day that passes, the war outside grows more deadly, the kingdom’s protective wards are failing, and the death toll continues to rise. Even worse, Violet begins to suspect leadership is hiding a terrible secret.

Friends, enemies, lovers. Everyone at Basgiath War College has an agenda—because once you enter, there are only two ways out: graduate or die

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61431922-fourth-wing

Amazon https://amzn.to/4dYMA0u

Review by Twinsie Dee

i bought this book here is my honest review

OMG so idk how much I can explain how great this book is. so, trust me if you weren’t sure about reading this book and don’t want to fall into the hype of this world DO IT. Violet wanted to go into the scribe quadrant and that’s what she had taught her whole life her dad helped her. but with her dad dead, her brother dead, her mother is the general of the rider’s wing. She has no choice and goes to the riders’ class at the beginning of the new year. So much happens that you just get sucked in, Violet isn’t in the shape to be a rider but she isn’t going to give up, she uses her brain to help take out the rivals that are out to kill her. Dragons, swords, violence, and oranges. this book is gripping from the start.

Rebecca is a #1 New York Times, USA Today, Sunday Times, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of over fifteen novels, including FOURTH WING, and is always ready to bring on the emotions. She’s also the recipient of the Colorado Romance Writer’s Award of Excellence in New Adult for Eyes Turned Skyward from her Flight and Glory series.

She loves military heroes and has been blissfully married to hers for twenty-one years. She’s the mother of six children and lives in Colorado with her family, their stubborn English bulldog, feisty chinchillas, and Maine Coon cat who rules them all. Having fostered then adopted their youngest daughter, Rebecca is passionate about helping children in the foster system through her nonprofit, One October.

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Writers on the River Reader Spotlight on Cat Crocket #WOTR25

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Hey friends! We, The Twinsie Girls (Angie, Melinda, JM, Kelly, Tenise, and Dee) talked to some of the readers attending Writers on the River to see what they had to say about the event.  As we come down from our book signing highs from July and start to prepare for 2025, YEAR 10, we wanted to see what some of the attendees are saying about Writers on the River.

Today we are talking with first time attendee, Cat Crockett. I love to see all the new faces each year. Thanks for taking the time to chat with us for a few. We really hope to see you again in 2025!

Was this your first WOTR? If not how many have you attended?
First
How far did you travel to get to the event?
About an hour and a half
Did you go to the event with anyone? 
My mom and aunt
How many new books did you bring home?
58
Did you participate in the raffle? If yes, did you take any baskets home this year?
No
Did you get a chance to hear the Dorris talk? If yes, what are your thoughts?
No
Do you have a highlight or special memory from the event you would like to share?
Getting to spend good time with my mom and aunt. Meeting cool new authors and i made multiple friends!
Anything else you would like to add?
Best vibes ever. Everyone was extremely friendly and helpful. 10-10 will be coming back to another WOTR!
Well that is all for today! Check back all month long for more Writers on the River Reader and Volunteer Spotlights!
SAVE THE DATE
Tickets for for the 10th annual Writers on the River go on sale November 4, 2024!
For event location, dates, times, list of 2025 attending authors, and other important information, please follow the link below to the event web page.
Extreme Horror, Horror, Kindle Unlimited, Novella

#Review #ExtremeHorror – Jane Doe: An Extreme Horror by Ash Ericmore

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JANE DOE

Gordon is an everyday seaside psycho, kidnapping and killing for fun, with a quality torture basement to boot. His latest victim is Jane. Sadly for Gordon, Jane turns out to be a handful of energy. Cosmic energy. And everything is about to go wrong, in the bloodiest way possible.

Jane Doe is a novella that some people might find distasteful. Actually, most people might find it distasteful. If you are of a nervous disposition, or have a weak stomach, perhaps you might want to give this one a miss, yes?

Full of blood, gore, brain matter and more, Jane Doe is an extreme horror, painted with the blackest of humour. Consider this a trigger warning for just about everything.

This was a fun quick little read that didn’t take me very long to read. This doesn’t happen often, so I really like when it does. The book starts out with Gordon who is a taxi driver looking for his latest victim. A woman gets in his cab and he convinces her to go home with him for some coffee. Super innocent right? Why, nothing could ever go wrong over some coffee.

Gordon ends up drugging Jane and places her in a room in his basement. He goes to bed and wakes up somewhere else, with no recollection as to how he got there. Things take a different turn for him right away and I was intrigued from the very start.

While reading, I really had no idea who this Jane person was and why Gordon ended up unknowingly doing the things he did. It was hard to predict and that was what I liked about it.

If you want something quick, fun and with some gory details, grab this one now!

Available in Kindle Unlimited