The End

When I first started Book Reviews & More by Kathy in September 2011, my plan was to post three reviews of books I owned every week. I was also going to post a couple of contests a week. Then blog tour companies and publishers came a-calling and well, the rest is history.

During the past twelve years, much has changed in the publishing world. Small, independent publishers imploded due to malfeasance and dwindling profits (such as Ellora’s Cave & Samhain Publishing). Other independent publishers ended up with major problems but they are still limping along. The New York publishing world has also changed due to the explosion of self-published authors. eBook prices have dramatically risen as has the price of hardback and some paperpacks.

The world in general has also undergone tremendous upheaval and change. The Covid pandemic resulted in a tragic loss of lives world wide. After everyone resumed their lives after shutdowns and lockdowns, “normal” looks different . It is hard for me to remember my life before all of the worrying about my friends’ and family members’ health.

In the wake of my own non-covid (I have managed to avoid catching it, knock on wood!) health problems, we moved to a warmer town in New Mexico. Due to a cascade of health issues, I gave up reviewing full-time and changed my website’s name to Book Talk & More with Kathy. I greatly enjoyed returning to reading for pleasure and no longer hosting blog tours. My health is now greatly improved and I love being “me” again.

Not too long ago when I was setting up my posts for the week, the thought “I don’t want to do this anymore” popped into my mind. I wasn’t sure if that was just a transitory feeling but when it happened again, I knew it was time to pick a date to say “The End”.

I would like to thank everyone for their support over the years. Many of you have been with me right from the beginning and my appreciation is beyond words. I wish nothing but good health and happiness for all of you in the future. And, of course, happy reading!

So, like Carol Burnett ended each episode of her show, I’ll conclude my final post with “I’m so glad we had this time together”.

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Saturday Spotlight: Samantha Jayne Allen’s Annie McIntyre Mysteries

This week’s Saturday Spotlight is Samantha Jayne Allen’s Annie McIntyre Mysteries series.

Books currently available for purchase:

Pay Dirt Road: Amazon * B&N

Hard Rain: Amazon * B&N

Annie McIntyre Mysteries on Goodreads

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Friday Feature: Snow Place Like Home by Lacey Baker

Do you love a good romance? Then you might like today’s Friday Feature!

Title: Snow Place Like Home by Lacey Baker
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Genre: Contemporary, Holiday, Romance
Length: 286 pages

Summary:

On a rare trip home for the holidays, Ella may have finally uncovered the secret to a joy-filled future by getting lost in her past.

Ella Wilson has avoided home and the holidays for nearly a decade. For her, the season is plagued by a jinx that’s brought nothing but painful memories: her mother’s death nearly two decades ago, her fiancé’s abandonment last year, and now the loss of her job as an art curator. But without work to occupy her, home is exactly where Ella has ended up. And somehow, she’s also been roped into planning the town’s Christmas tree auction—side by side with her first love.

Seth Hamil knows that home is where the heart is, and for him, it’s always been the sleepy community of Bellepoint, Pennsylvania . . . and for a while in high school that included Ella Wilson. Since then, he’s been married and widowed and has spent the year throwing himself into his career as a music teacher and trying to keep his wife’s memory alive, starting with the church fundraiser she launched to support local kids. So, despite their history, Seth isn’t about to let his wife’s vision for the event be easily dismissed by Ella’s temporary presence and big-city ideas.

To find a way to work together, the two strike a deal: Ella can incorporate her splashy ideas into the auction if she will allow Seth to show her why Christmas is about more than decorations. Soon both begin to wonder whether fate has brought them together for a fresh start—and if Christmas wishes really can come true.

A romantic holiday novel
Perfect for fans of Nancy Naigle and Brenda Jackson
Book length: 83,000 words
Includes discussion questions for book clubs

Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon * B&N

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Thrifty Thursday: Secret Heir for Christmas by LaQuette

Do you love gay romances? Are you looking for a book that costs less than $5.00? Then you might want to check out:

Title: Secret Heir for Christmas by LaQuette
An Emotional M/M Holiday Romance
Devereaux Inc. Book Four
Publisher: Harlequin Desire
Genre: Contemporary, Gay, Romance
Length: 190 pages

Summary:

Fame cost him his first love. An unassuming man next door may be his second chance at happiness…until his wealthy family puts them back in the spotlight! LaQuette stuns in this holiday romance, the latest in her Devereaux Inc. series.

Fame cost him his first love.

This holiday, will the man next door tempt him with a second chance?

Actor Carter Jiménez lived a glamorous life until he lost his wife to the dark side of fame. Now he’ll protect his young daughter by avoiding celebrity at all costs. Then his seemingly understated neighbor, Stephan Devereaux-Smith, tempts his still-wounded heart. Is this Carter’s second chance at love?

But Stephan isn’t an average man caring for a sick relative. He’s part of a billionaire family and the ritzy world Carter left behind. Torn between new love and old demons, can Carter trust Stephan with his family—and his heart?

Harlequin Desire transports you to the luxurious worlds of American tycoons, ranchers and family dynasties. Get ready for bold encounters and sizzling chemistry.

You’ll be swept away by this bold, sizzling romance, part of the Devereaux Inc. series:

Book 1: A Very Intimate Takeover
Book 2: Backstage Benefits
Book 3: One Night Expectations
Book 4: Secret Heir for Christmas

Goodreads

Purchase Links: Amazon * B&N

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eBook Contest 10/25

Here are the eBooks for this week’s Winning Wednesday contest:

Title: A Cowboy Country Christmas by Jennie Marts
Creedence Horse Rescue Book Six
Publisher: Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 336 pages

Summary:

There’s no better time than Christmas to open your heart

Holt Callahan used to love the holidays, but getting dumped on Christmas Eve would turn anyone into a Grinch. Now he hates Christmas and all the holly jolly shenanigans that go with it. When he moves back to his cousin’s ranch in Creedence, Colorado, the last thing he expects is to come face to face with the one who got away and all of her holiday cheer.

Lainey McBride is all about Christmas. Now she’s running her family’s ranch festivities while her grandfather is in rehab, and no matter how many things don’t go according to plan, she’s determined to bring her holiday spirit. But the holidays have their own way of healing, and a Christmas in Creedence just might be the merry magic that brings these two broken hearts back together again.


Title: The Christmas Cabin by Michelle Major
The Carolina Girls Book Six
Publisher: Canary Street Press
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
Length: 352 pages

Summary:

There’s no place like home for the holidays…

As a girl, single mom Lauren Maxwell hated Magnolia, North Carolina. And she thought she’d left her hometown in the rearview mirror years ago, but a message from her beloved baby brother, Brody, changes all that. He’s getting married on Christmas Eve. So a holiday at Camp Blossom, the rustic sleepaway camp that had been a haven during her growing-up years, it is. Lauren won’t even have to see her dictatorial father. Or her ex-husband, Ben…

When Ben greets her at the surprisingly decrepit cabin, he’s just as stubborn—and as irresistible—as ever. And when she discovers he’s working with her estranged father to buy the campgrounds and rebuild them as luxury housing, Lauren is furious. She won’t let the man who broke her heart win. So she and her daughter stay in town to block the sale.

But the magic of the Christmas season brings back memories Lauren tried so hard to forget: his crooked smile, their daughter’s laughter at the breakfast table, the feel of her hand in his. As the spark between them rekindles, Lauren realizes that second chances are real. And they’re worth fighting for.

Bonus Novella!

A Carolina Song

Country Western singer Walker Calloway thought he was making romantic progress with shy and lovely schoolteacher Meghan Jacobs. After all, he’d written her a love song! But she thought it was for his ex. Now it’s up to him to prove that his heart already belongs to Meghan…for keeps…


Title: Best Supporting Actor by Joanna Chambers & Sally Malcolm
Creative Typies Book Three
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Contemporary, Gay, Romance
Length: 421 pages

Summary:

Lights, camera…attraction!

When Tag O’Rourke, struggling actor-slash-barista, meets Jay Warren, son of acting royalty, it’s loathing at first sight. Loathing…and lust.

Tag’s dream is to act, but it’s a dream that’s crumbling beneath the weight of student debt and his family’s financial problems. If his career doesn’t take off soon, he’s going to have to get a real job. After all, feeding his family is more important than feeding his soul.

Luckily, Tag’s about to get his big break…

Jay never had to dream about acting; he was always destined to follow in his famous mother’s footsteps. But fame has its price and a traumatic experience early in Jay’s career has left him with paralysing stage fright, which is why he sticks to the safety of TV work—and avoids relationships with co-stars at all costs.

Unfortunately, Jay’s safe world is about to be rocked…

After an ill-judged yet mind-blowing night together, Jay and Tag part acrimoniously. So it’s a nasty shock when they discover that they’ve been cast in a two-man play that could launch Tag’s career and finally get Jay back onto the stage where he belongs.

Sure, it’s not ideal, but how bad can working with your arch-nemesis be?

All they have to do is survive six weeks rehearsing together and navigate a cast of smarmy festival directors, terrible landladies, and vengeful journalists. Oh, and try not to fall in love before the curtain rises…

Break a leg!


Wednesday is contest day on Book Talk and More with Kathy. Three lucky winners will win the eBook of their choice! Here’s how to enter:

You must do the Following:

1. Sign up for e-mail updates (below). One email daily with the day’s posts.

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2. Be or become a fan of Book Talk & More with Kathy Facebook page

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Make sure you have filled out the contest entry form:

3. To be eligible to enter contests on Book Talk and More with Kathy you MUST fill out the contest entry form (found HERE). This form only needs to be filled out ONCE. Your privacy is important to me, and I will not share your information.

And don't forget to:

4. Fill out the form below by 4 PM Mountain Time Friday afternoon:

This week’s winners of the Winning Wednesday contest won’t be selected until Sunday.

CONTEST OVER

* I am the only person who will have access to info that is submitted to me UNLESS a publisher or author has donated an eBook for the giveaway. For a prize donated by an author or publisher, I will forward your e-mail and format selection to the person responsible for distributing the eBook. Please refer to the privacy page HERE if you have questions about how your information is used. In the event the contest form is not working, please leave your book selection in the comments below.*

It’s that easy! The winners will be selected using random.org. I will e-mail the winners the eBook of their choice in their preferred format. The winners will be posted HERE on Saturday.

***The eBooks in this giveaway have been purchased by Book Talk & More with Kathy.***

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Teen Tuesday Review: The Search for Us by Susan Azim Boyer

Title: The Search for Us by Susan Azim Boyer
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult, Fiction
Length: 297 pages
Book Rating: B+

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher

Summary:

Two half-siblings who have never met embark on a search together for the Iranian immigrant and U.S. Army veteran father they never knew.

Samira Murphy will do anything to keep her fractured family from falling apart, including caring for her widowed grandmother and getting her older brother into recovery for alcohol addiction. With attendance at her dream college on the line, she takes a long shot DNA test to find the support she so desperately needs from a father she hasn’t seen since she was a baby.

Henry Owen is torn between his well-meaning but unreliable bio-mom and his overly strict aunt and uncle, who stepped in to raise him but don’t seem to see him for who he is. Looking to forge a stronger connection to his own identity, he takes a DNA test to find the one person who might love him for exactly who he is—the biological father he never knew.

Instead of a DNA match with their father, Samira and Henry are matched with each other. They begin to search for their father together and slowly unravel the difficult truth of their shared past, forming a connection that only siblings can have and recovering precious parts of their past that have been lost. Brimming with emotional resonance, Susan Azim Boyer’s The Search for Us beautifully renders what it means to find your place in the world through the deep and abiding power of family.

Review:

The Search for Us by Susan Azim Boyer is a thoughtfully written young adult novel.

Half-siblings Samira Murphy and Henry Owen find each other through DNA testing and theis lives could not be more different. Samira’s family barely scraps by and she shoulders burdens she should not be expected to bear. Henry family dynamics are complicated and he is growing increasingly unhappy with parental expectations. After learning of each other’s existence, Samira and Henry decide to find the father whose absence is felt in very different ways.

The Search for Us is a very compelling young adult novel with a refreshingly unique plot. Each of the characters are vibrantly drawn and quite endearing. The storyline is well-written and tackles heartrending, socially relevant issues. The various settings and characters spring vividly to life. The chapters alternate between Samira’s and Henry’s perspectives and this provides thought-provoking insight into their respective lives.  Susan Azim Boyer deftly handles sensitive subject matter and brings this engaging young adult novel to a heartwarming conclusion.

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Filed under Contemporary, Fiction, Rated B+, Review, Susan Azim Boyer, The Search for Us, Wednesday Books, Young Adult