Vacations From Hell In A No-Tell Motel by Laura Hunsaker

 At this precise moment, I am sitting on a bed in a terrible motel not allowing my feet to touch the ground without shoes on. This is actually the norm for my family in a motel, but if my bare feet touch the carpet accidentally, I don't panic. This place, there is panic.

We are in beautiful San Diego, California for sports tournaments for one of the kids, and we stayed at the motel his buddy's dad recommended. The pictures online are 100% not the room we stayed in. The best we can figure is that all of the photos are from either a staged room, or from one room being renovated, or maybe just really old.

It was a dump. Look, it's a motel, I know you get what you pay for. However, we paid a whole lot of money for that room! So we all felt scammed. I feel I need to stress that it's not just me being snobby. The doors didn't fit the door jams. In one of the players' rooms, it looked as if the door had been kicked down and replaced but not actually fixed or fit. I texted my daughter who couldn't come with us for the trip, and told her how creepy this place was. She sent me a funny meme about ghostbusters and the Winchester Brothers. You guys...I cannot stress enough how I wish the room being haunted was the problem. It was more meth creepy, and less ghosts creepy.

This place was sketchy.

This all leads to what made me write about it. In some of my books, I've had the characters hiding out in a "no-tell motel" and while it's hella sketchy, with lumpy beds, and cracked walls, I don't think I really thought about how bad those places really are. 

Now to be fair, this is not actually the vacation from hell, the beach is gorgeous, I'll add some pics! However I'm sunburned, covered in beach sand, and I am going to go watch more sports on a field where we were swarmed by bees yesterday (not joking). So wish me luck, wish my kid's team luck, and cheer me up with your bad vacation stories.

And one very cool thing that happened, is one of the parents of a teammate is from Chester, CA the small town where I set my Fatal Instincts series!! (a couple hours outside of Reno, NV in the Sierra Mountain Range).  So, if you want to read about Lark and Jay in some better than this and nowhere near as creepy motels, check out Dangerous Past, coming out this summer!

www.laurahunsaker.com 

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"A thrilling romantic suspense!” —USA Today bestselling author, Katie Reus

She’s running from her past…


Lark Seawell is the daughter of a serial killer. His reputation has long been a shadow looming over her since his arrest when she was a child. Especially since she’s the one who called the police. She has spent her entire life trying to live as anonymously and quietly as possible. She is not her father’s legacy.


He wants to be her future...


FBI agent Jay Sutherland is visiting a friend in a small mountain town when free spirit Lark asks for help with her injured dog. He is instantly enamored with her, and their one night stand stays with him far into the next morning, though Lark is long gone. When his partner realizes that she is the daughter of The Highwayman, Jay refuses to believe Lark is anything like her father.


What happens when she stops running…


When a trail of dead bodies follows Lark on her cross-country drive, the FBI believes she’s the killer. How can the sweet woman who rescues injured animals and makes him feel things he hasn’t felt in years be a murderer? The bodies don’t lie. Jay knows there’s more at play. If he’s wrong, and Lark is as much a monster as her father, he may be the next target…

REVIEW OF LAUREL: BRIDE OF ARKANSAS

Laurel: Bride of Arkansas (American Mail-Order Brides Series Book 25)

Written by Carra Copelin

Reviewed by Mary Adair

Sweet Romance  5 Stars

I must say, I have developed a liking for stories about mail order brides. Laurel: Bride of Arkansas is one of my favorites. Laurel lives in a time when the women’s rights movement was in its infancy. Laurel’s aunt Lottie was Laurel’s introduction into that movement and seeing the kindred spirit in her niece, Lottie welcomed her into her home where Laurel’s spirit of self reliance flourished.

When her aunt, Lottie, was killed in a tornado, Laurel knew she could not return home to an over bearing and controlling father. She would not waiver in her determination to choose for herself the path her life would take. So, when she was faced with going home or remaining to take a job in the mill, she choose independence. Laurel was happy with her decision and the bonds of friendship she forged, but fate once again intervened when the mill burned to the ground. Laurel was lucky to escape with her life, but would forever be burdened by the sight and sounds and the fear she felt when she thought she would not escape the flames.

Once again she was faced with a decision. Would she return home or take her future into her own hands by answering and add in the Grooms’ Gazette?

Laurel: Bride of Arkansas is a sweet romance that will leave you smiling and feeling good all over. I love the way Ms Copelin developed Laurel and Griffin’s characters and how believably and humorously they played off each other. This type of character development can be the difference between just likeable characters and beloved characters. If you are busy, but love to read short books with a lot of story, Laurel: Bride of Arkansas is the perfect book for you. You won’t be disappointed.

Mary Adair is the author of the Amazon bestselling Native American Passion series. 

#REVIEW OF WINTER BRIDE -- #WESTERN #HISTORICAL #ROMANCE

By Mary Adair

Winter Bride is Caroline Clemmon’s latest addition to her Stone Mountain Texas Series.  I read this book in one sitting. Winter Bride is not a short story, it is just that absorbing! I could not put it down!

The story opens with Sheriff Butch Parrish rushing to the livery to save a woman from a brutal beating by her husband. Her husband is gone by the time Butch arrives to find a gruesomely battered Glenna Tucker. Despite the poor woman’s seriously injured condition, she manages to tell him her husband is likely on his way home where her sister and children are trapped with no transportation and without food. She begs the sheriff to help them.

Sheriff Parrish packs supplies and hurries out to the small farm the family is leasing from Zach Stone. If you have read the Men of Stone Mountain stories, you will remember handsome Zach Stone from Book Two.

 Okay… I digress! Back to the story.

The sheriff is unable to track down the scoundrel on his way to the farmhouse and is shot by the villain. In spite of his injuries, he does rescue Glenna Tucker’s sister, Kendra, eight-year-old Caleb, and his two younger sisters, Mittie, and Abby.

Every man in Kendra’s life has been no better than her brother-in-law. This lack of fatherly support, though it molded her into a strong, dependable, independent woman, sadly also caused her to have a distrust for all men. Kendra loves her nieces and nephew and is determined she will open her own business and provide for her family. Her fear is her brother-in-law will return to steal away his son and murder anyone standing in his way. Sheriff Parrish is there to give her the support she needs and unbidden her trust for the handsome sheriff grows. 

Butch Parrish still mourns the loss of his wife. He is not ready to love again. Yet the three children touch a place in his heart that he cannot ignore and his attraction to Kendra is simply undeniable. As he supports Kendra in purchasing a business and home for her family as well as watching over the family’s well-being and keeping the peace in town, his admiration and love for her grows.

I do not want to put in any spoilers, but I do have to say if you enjoy Caroline’s books, you will love this one. Ms. Clemmon’s writing style is unmistakable. Her stories are filled with a love and warmth that leaves you running to Amazon to look for more of her work, and there are many to choose from. 

Author Caroline Clemmons knocked another one out of the park with Winter Bride. This story is filled with personal growth, budding love and the hometown and family interaction that I so enjoy in her books.

I would give Winter Bride an easy 5 Stars.