What's In Your Closet? by Rhonda Gibson and Stacy Baron

Title: What's In Your Closet?

Author: Rhonda Gibson & Stacy Baron

Publisher: White Rose Publishing

Book Description:

Emily isn’t looking for love. In fact, it’s the last thing on the young widow’s mind. She’s vowed to focus solely on her daughter. With Megan’s hearing impairment, the toddler has enough to deal with without Emily bringing a new man into the picture—one who undoubtedly wouldn’t be patient with a deaf child not his own.

David doesn’t think he’s looking for love—until he meets Emily. The woman is beautiful inside and out and has a streak of determination that’s matched only by the love she pours out to her adorable daughter. But Emily won’t have anything to do with him outside of his home-decorating project…that is, until she finds an old skeleton in his closet.

Never before has finding skeletons in the closet been a good thing, but solving the mystery of David’s skeleton may just be the blessing that convinces Emily to love him forever.

Review:

Young widow and mother Emily Stuart is afraid of getting hurt if she allows a man into her life. She’s even more afraid of her three-year-old daughter, Megan, getting hurt. Because of that fear, she has resigned herself to life alone, at least until Megan is an adult.

David Whitmore recently left Arizona and the high pressure business world to buy an old farm in Oklahoma. When he hires Emily to redo the interior of his new house, he gets more than remodeling in the bargain.

As Emily works on the farmhouse, she and David discover an attraction for each other that neither is willing to admit or even accept. The discovery of a skeleton in a hidden kitchen pantry brings them together as they work to solve the mystery behind it. Though Emily finally admits David has become a friend, fear still prevents her from considering him as anything else. David respects her decision to remain only friends, but he can’t stop his attraction to this beautiful lady with an equally beautiful daughter—both of whom steal his heart no matter how closely he tries to guard it.

Throughout the book, vivid descriptions bring the characters and the story to life, making the reader a participant to the story. A lively cast of secondary characters just adds to the richness of the story. The Christian elements are included in a realistic way that encourages without preaching. With each page, I found myself hoping Emily and David would find a way to get together, and that they would solve the mystery of the skeleton in the closet.

This is a book I recommend to anyone who loves a sweet romance and an intriguing mystery. Though the authors are new to me, I would definitely read more of their books.

Disclaimer: I received a free uncorrected ARC of this book from the publisher. All opinions stated in this review are my own and based solely on the contents of the ARC and my experience reading it.

New cover!

I am so excited! My romantic suspense coming from The Wild Rose Press has a cover! Check out the shiny new cover for Riley's Mission (release information to be announced when I get it):


A huge thank you on a job well done goes to Nicola Martinez, who designed the cover. I couldn't be happier with it!

Now, I know I have talked a lot about Riley's Mission on here, mainly because my life borders on insane most days. For those of you who can't wait to find out what the story is about, here's the blurb:

Trapped in a flooded hospital, former Israeli operative Jade Rosen discovers she’s not alone. One of the other stranded patients is none other than the cold-blooded killer she'd left behind in a Syrian prison, the man who'd forced her to leave everyone she loved behind and go into hiding.

Indiana National Guardsman Riley Jackson is on a mission to locate and contain a cunning terrorist whose guards aren’t responding. He finds more than he bargained for when the woman he loves appears out of nowhere, desperately ill and once again needing his protection.

Will Jade and Riley finally find their happy ending, or will they pay the ultimate price at the hands of a man determined to see Jade dead?

Curious yet? I hope so! My lovely editor, Laura Kelly, did an amazing job of taking my okay blurb and making it wonderful. Thank you, Laura!

As soon as I receive a release date for Riley's Mission, I'll post it here. Until then, I hope you all have a great week!

Kittens and Picture Books

Yesterday, my genius kitten tossed a plastic tumbler of iced tea to the floor and somehow managed to break out a big piece of the bottom. I still haven't found that piece. Thanks to this amazing effort by him, I briefly nicknamed him the wonder twit. By the time I finished cleaning up the puddle of tea, I'd decided that wasn't a very nice nickname, so I changed it to the wonder kitten, because it's a wonder he's making it out of kittenhood without doing serious damage to himself or anyone/anything else.

Being the writer I am, the name Sergei the Wonder Kitten got me thinking about books. The name just begs for a picture book series by the same title, and Sergei in all of his mischievous wisdom gives me plenty of fodder for stories. Thinking about basing a series of picture books on my own cat also reminded me of Jan Karon's Mitford series. In those books, the character Cynthia writes and illustrates picture books about a white cat named Violet. Of course, she replaces her pet Violet as necessary. If I do write a series about Sergei the Wonder Kitten, I'm not sure if I could ever replace the little guy with another black cat named Sergei. He's one of a kind, which is probably for the best given the mischief he gets into and creates.

So, here I am in the midst of edits on one story, three manuscripts I'm determined to rewrite, another story I'm close to typing "The End" on, and I'm thinking about writing a picture book series. Am I crazy? Of course, but I've said for years that if you're not crazy when you go into the publishing industry, you will be soon.

The real question is one I'll pose to you, the readers. If you saw a picture book series called Sergei the Wonder Kitten, would you read it to or buy it for the kids in your life? Or if you're like me and love picture books, read it for the fun of it?