The Wedding Ranch by Nancy Naigle

 

North Carolina author Nancy Naigle, known for romantic women’s fiction set in small towns, is bringing out her latest, The Wedding Ranch, in December. Ironically, the book begins with a divorce as Lorri’s cheating husband gives her a mastiff puppy and then leaves her to marry the dog trainer.

Since her life has changed with the divorce, she makes up her mind to leave Raleigh to create a new life, and she searches for a suburban home with room for her dog Mister to roam around. In her new home in fictitious Dalton Mill, North Carolina, Lorri switches to a work-from-home mode for her graphic artist profession.

She quickly makes friends with her neighbors and a farmer named Ryder who vows, like Lorri, not to get involved with anyone again after a traumatic loss. Ryder is also upset that his parents sold their farm to a developer, who built homes on 5-acre lots, one of which Lorri purchased. Fortunately, his grandfather deeded Ryder his own farm, but he remains irritated about development on farmland.

The Wedding Ranch, run by Ryder’s niece and nephew on land they rent from him, is a wedding venue booked by Lorri’s long-time friend, Cody. After a misunderstanding at the reception, Lorri and Ryder share several dances, igniting a spark that they both resist.

If readers think this sounds like a Hallmark movie, they wouldn’t be far off as two of Naigle’s previous novels have been the basis for two Hallmark movies.

Nancy Naigle, whose background is in banking, is retired and spends her time writing, antiquing, and crafting. Her books Christmas Joy and Hope at Christmas were both adapted for film on the Hallmark Channel in 2018. In addition, she enjoys riding her palomino Tooter.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting August 14, 2022.

I would like to thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective review.

 

The Prisoner by B.A. Paris

 The Prisoner by B.A. Paris, due out November 15, will hold readers captive as they experience the devastation of being held prisoner and not knowing the intentions of the kidnappers. When Amelie Lamont’s father dies in Reading, England, she is stranded with no family or roof over her head as their home was a rental. Amelie heads to London with hopes of finding a job and saving up enough money to go to college to study law.

The story unfolds along two timelines. Amelie has been making her way in London thanks to the companionship of three successful women who help her find a job at “Exclusives” magazine, which rich Ned Hawthorpe runs. After a business arrangement marriage in Las Vegas, Amelie is kidnapped and held captive with her husband Ned awaiting ransom from his rich father Jethro.

The deal Ned has made with Amelie is that she will get money for college by marrying him, which will get his parents off his back about finding a wife. In reality, Ned has more up his sleeve than meets the eye.

Each day Amelie is waking up in a totally dark room which only has a mattress on the floor and a small bathroom attached. She can hear Ned screaming below her where he is being imprisoned by the kidnappers. Amelie tries a  number of schemes to get away from her captors, but each time she fails.

Clearly Ned is worth billions but why did the kidnappers nab Amelie? Who is the mysterious silent man who brings her food a couple of times a day and a blanket when she asks for one? Why does she feel safer locked in this pitch-black room than she has been feeling lately with Ned who has made her a prisoner of her in his mansion?

B.A. Paris continues to entertain her readers with page-turning plots. I read this one in one afternoon.  The author of Behind Closed Doors, The Breakdown, Bring Me Back, and The Dilemma – I have read them all --  lives in the United Kingdom.

My review will be posted on Goodreads starting August 11, 2022.

I would like to thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in return for an objective opinion.