“The riches that are in the heart cannot be stolen.” – Russian Proverb
The Amethyst Cat Caper could easily have been subtitled, “or the Case of the Stolen Hearts,” for as much as the Gentleman Thief scarpered with said cat from the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, it was Hawk and Remi who absconded with the true treasure in this quick-fire romance wrapped within the mystery of an Ancient Egyptian statue that is mistaken for a forgery when it unexpectedly lands in Tom Winchell’s Antiquities and Oddities shop.
Stanley Hawk is the hardboiled Pinkerton’s agent with the soft gooey center who is hired to solve the case of a break in at Tom’s shop, where he discovers that Remington Trueblood may very well be at the core of the mystery. And he is, just not in the way Hawk had originally expected. It was easy for Hawk to jump to some conclusions about Remi, based on the limited evidence that’d turned up before he met the younger man. Unfortunately, it was also easy for Hawk to underestimate Remi after they met, which led to a fair share of problems between them. Remi is essentially Hawk, turned inside out, as Remi’s beautiful surface conceals the heart of a lion who is much stronger than he appears. One thing these two men didn’t get wrong, however, was the spark of attraction that lit the moment they set eyes upon one another.
In a case of lust preceding trust, Hawk makes a promise he has no intention of keeping, although he does it under the best of intentions—to keep Remi safe from the elusive and thoroughly cunning man who is set on acquiring the statue in Remi’s possession but who also seems to have a keen personal interest in Remi himself. Hawk’s betrayal, however, is one that Remi is unfortunately all too familiar with, and one that might not be easily forgiven or forgotten. Until, that is, something far more priceless than the statue is stolen from Remi, right in plain sight.
The intrigue unfolds quickly in this first book of the Birthstone series, as does the romance between Hawk and Remi. It was love at first sight for the two men, and whether there were forces far more powerful at work than an irresistible attraction, it’s hard to say; nothing is impossible where the gods are concerned, I suppose. And it seems there are far more treasures yet to be discovered in Tom Winchell’s curiosity shop, which I look forward to discovering along with Hawk and Remi, hopefully sooner rather than later so I can see their relationship grow as well.
Buy The Amethyst Cat Caper HERE.
When love walks into your life, you don’t ask why; you just take it for the gift it is, and for Bruce Shannon and Jace Scarret, it’s the best Valentine’s Day gift ever in When Love Walked In.
When one door closes, another opens, and in Jace’s case, doors have been slamming shut in his life to the point that it’s left him broke, homeless, starving and without hope. But it’s a single door that’s left open by mistake, by chance, by whatever you want to call it, that’s nothing less than serendipity for Jace because it’s the door that leads to Bruce, and it was his compassion and generosity, along with maybe a little bit of feline intervention that paved the way to romance for these two men I’d love to know so much more about.
It was the door to Bruce that allowed Jace to finally close the door forever on the past in this sweet and romantic little story that, even though we don’t get to see it, sure does promise a happy ever after.
Buy When Love Walked In HERE.
“The future is a convenient place for dreams.” – Anatole France
If ever there was a book I’ve wanted a sequel to, it’s Lost in My Waking Dream, the historical/futuristic/sci-fi/time travelling story of a man, George Fitzpatrick, who fought in and survived World War I, though he didn’t manage to come away from it entirely unscathed. George suffers from post traumatic stress episodes that he has managed to survive only because of the voice he hears inside of him, the voice of a man, Noah Baxter, who lives more than a century away from George’s present.
In the time that George is, he has a fiancé he can’t love enough to marry, and an ongoing arrangement with a male prostitute who plays Noah’s stand-in because when you can’t have the real thing, you make do with what you’ve got. In the time that George belongs, the time when his heart exists and a place where he could live and love openly, Noah is working tirelessly to find his way to the man he loves. The question is can he cheat the seemingly insurmountable triad of time, space, and death to bridge the gap that has kept them apart for so long?
George is all too painfully aware he can’t pin his hopes on an impossible dream, a life he can’t possibly grasp in a future over a century away, so he wanders the life he has, lost and wanting so desperately what he can’t have, making choices he’d never considered before and fighting a losing battle simply because Noah said, “I love you,” and tore George’s world apart.
This is a story filled with melancholy and promise, one that I’d have loved to see expanded into a full length novel, but really, I’d just be happy with a sequel…okay, a full length sequel; that’s not asking too much, is it? I felt an immediate sense of connection to George and Noah and couldn’t wait to see how Charlie Cochet wrote them out of their terrible and tragic predicament. The only sense of disappointment I felt was in the fact that their story had to end.
Buy Lost in My Waking Dream HERE.
*Note: If you’re a regular Amazon customer, avoid buying this book from that site as there are terrible formatting issues with it. I had to return it for a refund and re-purchased the book directly from Torquere, which was fine. :)
The Novel Approach Reviews 
Okay, I WANT the Cat Caper. That sounds lovely!
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