Long and Short Reviews

LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: Helen Johannes

August 19, 2024 By Long and Short Reviews Leave a Comment

Thanks for joining us on our 17th anniversary scavenger hunt! There are two ways to enter to win and it’s easy to play– first read the blurb below, then answer the question on the first Rafflecopter. You might win a $100 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC (along with other prizes). Follow and visit authors’ social media pages on the second Rafflecopter and you’re entered to win another $100 Amazon/BN GC (along with other prizes)!

A host of obstacles—enemies, assassins, family secrets and lies—threaten betrothed couple Raell and Naed, but perhaps the most formidable might be his mother. Princess and the Pea meets Game of Thrones in this swashbuckling romantic fantasy of love, danger, and inevitable family drama.

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Filed Under: Guest Blogs, Romance Tagged With: 2024 Anniversary, Helen Johannes

LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: January Bain

August 19, 2024 By Long and Short Reviews Leave a Comment

A gripping thriller that explores the lengths one will go to for family, and the resilience needed to stand against the darkness.

In the shadow of Alaska’s towering peaks, Anna Hale is haunted by a past painted in flames and betrayal. Marked by the tragic death of her mother and the scars of a childhood marred by violence, Anna has fought tirelessly to build a semblance of normalcy, only to have it shattered again and again. The latest blow comes when her sister, Tia Pace, vanishes without a trace, reigniting old wounds and casting Anna into a nightmare where she’s the prime suspect.

As she grapples with her stepfather’s execution and the weight of suspicion, another crisis looms: Zoe Pace, her other sister, has disappeared in an eerily similar manner. The only clue a sinister black rose and a chilling letter. When her brother Josh, now a dedicated cop in the Anchor Police Department, begs for her assistance, Anna is pulled back into the fray. Despite the agony of reopening old wounds, she embarks on a desperate quest to unravel the mystery of her sisters’ disappearances.

Faced with the unforgiving Alaskan frontier, Anna must confront a tangled web of corruption and deceit, with a copycat killer moving in the shadows. With every tick of the clock, Anna’s hope for a normal life slips further away, but her resolve to find her sisters and bring them home burns fiercer than ever. Will Anna’s journey through the cold, dark paths of Alaska lead her to her sisters, or will she find herself lost in the depths of a conspiracy that threatens to consume everything she holds dear?

Dive into this chilling tale of loss, courage, and the relentless pursuit of justice against the backdrop of Alaska’s unforgiving wilderness. Order your copy now.

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Filed Under: Guest Blogs, Mystery/Suspense Tagged With: 2024 Anniversary, January Bain

LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: Marianne Arkins

August 19, 2024 By Long and Short Reviews Leave a Comment

A feisty auto mechanic and a hunky chef cook up chaos!

Cori Weathers is a wizard with a torque wrench, but the moment she lays eyes on her cooking teacher, Micah DePalma, her lessons turn into a klutzy symphony of flying poultry and burning aprons. It makes no sense. He couldn t be less her type: tall, skinny, and born with a silver spoon in his mouth. So why is her heart sputtering like a badly tuned engine?

Despite family pressure to date only women of his own social class, something about the cooking-challenged spitfire lights all Micah s burners. Cori s a complex dish inside a deceptively simple coating, one he s willing to risk tackle football and jealous ex-boyfriends to sample.

His every attempt to crack her stubborn heart strikes sparks. Will they ignite the flame of love or explode into just another kitchen disaster?”

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SCAVENGER HUNT:

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Filed Under: Guest Blogs, Romance Tagged With: 2024 Anniversary, Marianne Arkins

LASR Anniversary Scavenger Hunt: Ann M. Trader

August 19, 2024 By Long and Short Reviews Leave a Comment

A bright and talented environmental engineer, Goldie Vreeland understands facts and figures, but Max Corda, her secret office obsession, remains a puzzle. On the eve of a business trip to a coastal island, fate intervenes, pairing her with her sexy crush. As she thinks about sharing the same space with Max for a week, her world veers dangerously off course.

Fueled by success as engineer and president of his family’s firm, recently divorced Max needs to jumpstart his life. When his father unexpectedly assigns him to Goldie’s project, his closely guarded attraction to her comes front and center. Thoughts of spending a week alone with this beautiful intelligent woman make his internal compass glitch.

Romance stirs with the island breeze, so simple when they’re hundreds of miles away from normal. But as Goldie and Max return to reality, will they discover real love is more than a game?

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SCAVENGER HUNT:

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Filed Under: Guest Blogs, Romance Tagged With: 2024 Anniversary, Ann M. Trader

Top Ten Tuesday: Boat Books

August 13, 2024 By Long and Short Reviews 52 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

I love spending time on and near bodies of water. It’s such a relaxing way not only to enjoy your free time but also, when possible, to travel around.

Here are ten books that include scenes with boats, ships, and/or other vessels you can use on lakes, rivers, and oceans.

1.Life of Pi by Yann Martel

2. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

3. Scuffy the Tugboat by Gertrude Crampton

4.The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

5. Jamrach’s Menagerie by Carol Birch

6. The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

7. The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima

8. A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes

9. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

10. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia, #3) by C.S. Lewis

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With: Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Things I Loved About Waiting for Spring

July 16, 2024 By Long and Short Reviews 26 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

I wrote a glowing five-star review for Sonya Rhen‘s Waiting For Spring from the Jelly Beans and Spring Things Series a while ago. Shayla is the protagonist, and the setting is an annual spring parade where she happens catches the attention of a handsome stranger this time around.

Here are ten things I loved about that short story:

1. Shayla’s kindness extended to everyone, including herself.

2. The romance was an unexpected but welcomed surprise in her life.

3. There can never be enough stories about parades in my opinion.

4. A plot twist that I will not go into detail about here was a delightful surprise.

5. Plenty of room was left for a sequel if one is ever written.

6. The belly dancing. I know almost nothing about that style of dance, so it was fun to learn more.

7. Procrastination as a plot device. Let’s just say that Shayla struggles with this flaw and it does play into how the parade works out for her.

8. Resourcefulness as a plot device. She is also a resourceful person, though, and I enjoyed seeing how she solved a problem of her own doing while under a time crunch!

9. The important of great body language. Parades aren’t exactly the best place for a conversation, but smiles and winks can go a long way in communicating one’s intentions.

10. The crowd’s energy. Half of the fun of parades is seeing how people react to them!

If you like contemporary romance – or even if you’re like me and only occasionally dip into that genre – I highly recommend checking out this tale. It was delightful.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With: Sonya Rhen, Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Books that Make Me Hungry

July 9, 2024 By Long and Short Reviews 46 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

This isn’t my dog, but it sure is cute!

This topic originally came from August 31, 2020 which feels like a lifetime ago to me! So much has happened since then.

Here are ten titles that make me hungry. (And I wonder if anyone else will select this same theme this week?)

1.Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa

2. Love & Gelato (Love & Gelato, #1) by Jenna Evans Welch

3. Chocolat (Chocolat, #1) by Joanne Harris

4. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (Whistle Stop #1) by Fannie Flagg

5. Pomegranate Soup (Babylon Café #1) by Marsha Mehran

6. The River Cottage Bread Handbook (River Cottage Handbook, #3) by Daniel Stevens

7. Playing for Pizza by John Grisham

8. How To Bake A Chocolate Soufflé (Cherry Harbor, #1) by Carly Ellen Kramer

9. The Truth About Twinkie Pie by Kat Yeh

10. Miss Spider’s Tea Party by David Kirk

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With: Food, Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Anticipated Books Releasing During the Second Half of 2024

June 25, 2024 By Long and Short Reviews 53 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

All of my answers are from September and October. There don’t seem to be many releases scheduled for November yet, but I do look forward to seeing what shows up for that month later on!

1. Build a Girlfriend by Elba Luz

Release Date: September 1

Why I Want to Read It: This looks like a lighthearted read.

2. Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White

Release Date: September 2

Why I Want to Read It: There aren’t a lot of books about LGBTQ+ people living in rural areas from what I’ve seen. What a refreshing change of scene.

3. Luminous Beings by David Arnold

Release Date: September 3

Why I Want to Read It: Three words – wild goose chase. What a fun thing to read about.

4. Somewhere Beyond the Sea (The House in the Cerulean Sea, #2) by T.J. Klune

Release Date: September 10

Why I Want to Read It: T.J. Klune is a great storyteller and someone I always take note of when she releases a new book.

5. This World Is Not Yours by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

Release Date: September 10

Why I Want to Read It: Scary space travel is right up my alley.

6. Graveyard Shift by M.L. Rio

Release Date: Septmber 24

Why I Want to Read It: Night shift work is so interesting to me. The fact that this is set in a cemetery makes it even better!

7. This Land Is Our Land: A Blue Beetle Story by Julio Anta

Release Date: October 1

Why I Want to Read It: The cover looks amazing. As the blurb wasn’t yet available when I wrote this post, that is all I have to go with at the moment. Isn’t it cool when a cover can do that for a reader?

(This cover is not available at the moment)

8. If I Stopped Haunting You by Colby Wilkens

Release Date: October 15

Why I Want to Read It: The premise is delightfully silly. Sometimes you just want to read something that would never happen in real life (or at least I do!)

9. Januaries by Olivie Blake

Release Date: October 17

Why I Want to Read It: I’ve built up a reputation on Long and Short Reviews as a reviewer who loves requesting anthologies. There’s nothing like reading short stories from a variety of writers. It’s such a great way to quickly get to know many authors in the same genre and see if you want to read more from them.

10. Don’t Let the Forest In by C.G. Drews

Release Date: October 29

Why I Want to Read It: This is another horror tale I think might be perfect for Halloween. I love getting scared during spooky season.

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With: TBR Lists, Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on My Summer 2024 To-Read List

June 18, 2024 By Long and Short Reviews 63 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Here are ten books I’m looking forward to checking out this summer. If a release date hasn’t been included, that title is already available to purchase or maybe even request from your local library if you have one!

1. It’s Only a Game by Kelsea Yu

Why I Want to Read It: I’m fascinated by stories about people who must assume new identities.

2. Eruption by Michael Crichton

Why I Want to Read It: Crichton has a long history of writing exciting thrillers that make great vacation reads.

3. The Ghost of Us by James L. Sutter

Why I Want to Read It: Would I ever go ghost hunting in real life? No, but it is fun to read about in fiction.

4. We Used to Live Here by Marcus Kliewer

Why I Want to Read It: Since this going to be turned into a Netflix film soon, I want to get to know the book’s version of events first.

5. How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive by Craig DiLouie

Why I Want to Read It: Fellow horror fans, don’t you wish you could give advice to some horror film characters? I feel like more of them would survive if they were aware of this genre in advance and took some basic safety precautions.

6. Saints of Storm and Sorrow by Gabriella Buba

Release Date: June 25

Why I Want to Read It: This sounds like such a playful and lighthearted read. Sometimes one needs a little of that in my opinion!

7. Hombrecito by Santiago Jose Sanchez

Release Date: June 25

Why I Want to Read It: The main character sounds like such an interesting person. It’s not easy to come out of the closet or to feel torn between two different cultures.

8. Someone Like Us by Dinaw Mengestu

Release Date: July 30

Why I Want to Read It: This sounds like an exquisite novel full of strong character development and thoughtful commentary on life.

9. Dance of the Starlit Sea by Kiana Krystle

Release Date: August 6

Why I Want to Read It: A Greek myth retelling is right up my alley.

10. A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

Release Date: August 6

Why I Want to Read It: Kingfisher is one of those authors I always check out when they release something new. Also, I love fairy tale retellings even more than Greek mythology ones!

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Musings Tagged With: TBR Lists, Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday: Scary Books With Flowers on Their Covers

May 7, 2024 By Long and Short Reviews 46 Comments

Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

All of the books in this week’s list are from the suspense and horror genres. This is a trend that I don’t quite understand as flowers feels so sweet and innocent to me.

Maybe they are being included as a juxtaposition to the frightening things that often happen in mystery or horror novels? What do you all think?