The Heart of Devin MacKade by Nora Roberts

Title: The Heart of Devin MacKade

Author: Nora Roberts

Series: #3 in The MacKade Brothers series

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Silhouette Special Edition (first published March 1, 1996)

Source: Purchased

Rating: ☕☕☕☕1/2

Synopsis: Sheriff Devin MacKade has always known his destiny was to serve and protect the small town of Antietam, Maryland--and for a long while he thought that future would include Cassie Conner. She's the only woman he has ever loved, but he'd never worked up the nerve to tell her. When Cassie married the wrong man, Devin did the honorable thing and kept his feelings to himself. Now that Cassie's divorced, Devin can finally follow his heart. Question is, can Cassie?

My Thoughts: I loved Devin and Cassie enough to make this 90's romance a favorite and a keeper.

The Good, The Bad, and Everything Else: OK so this is a 90's romance through and through. It is a bit dated in places with the terminology and pop culture references in addition to the Alpha-beat-on-your-chest man and the poor abused needed-to-be-taken-care-of heroine. Even though I loved Devin I was a bit irritated at him a few times in the book. He pinned away for Cassie for so long and told her he would be just fine waiting until she was ready but then a few days later he flipped the script and said he was tired of waiting for her to make her mind up. Also, Cassie, poor abused Cassie. She felt authentic to me up until I felt she was a little bullied by Devin to have sex. Technically she initiated it but as Devin was asking her the right questions but continued to go through with them having intercourse despite her thoughts on sex in general (something a woman needs to do to make her man happy and not something to be enjoyed by a woman) I was disappointed in him. She changed her mind, of course, after one night with a sex god (yes, I said it.... sorry...not sorry.)

I think this book would have held up into the 21st century if Cassie would have been less of a victim once breaking away from her abuser becoming a lioness instead of the timid mouse, she was through most of the book.

What did I like about this book to make it darn near a 5-star rating you may ask? Well, as with any book that makes my feelers feel a range of emotions, I tend to rate it higher than average. This book did make me tear up, laugh, say awwww (because let's face it those kids were adorable), and make me curious about the ghost in the Inn. Also, I tend to give Nora a half star extra just because she's Nora. It's my rating system I can do what I want!

In a Nutshell: A great conclusion to this series. I know it's not the end of the series but book 3. I read them out of order. I read this one last and the second book first. Needless to say, I read them all and I enjoyed them a lot. I will re-read them at some point...maybe even in order. Who knows?

Due or Die by Jenn McKinlay

Title: Due or Die

Author: Jenn McKiinlay

Series: #2 in the Library Lover's Librarian Mystery series

Genre: Cozy Mystery

Publisher: Berkley (March 6, 2012)

Source: Purchased

Rating: ☕☕☕☕

Synopsis: Answering tricky reference questions is excitement enough for library director Lindsey Norris. Until a murder is committed in her cozy hometown of Briar Creek, Connecticut, and the question of who did it must be answered before someone else is checked out--for good.

My Thoughts: A good cozy with interesting characters. 

The Good, The Bad, and Everything Else: I'm partial to books with a library setting so this series is right up my alley. An added bonus was to have a group within the book actually discussing books. I loved this. I've read books in the past with the same theme, yet no books are really talked about during the course of the book. It's quite frustrating really.

I thought the murderer was fairly easy to figure out, but most cozies aren't super difficult to figure out the whodunit. It would have been nice if more red herrings had been thrown in rather than one giant glaringly easy to see red herring the author used. It is sad when a mystery book has the reader more interested in the personal relationships between the characters than the actual murder plot. Of course, the murdered victim was only introduced briefly, and we definitely were not supposed to like him. For once I'd like a cozy mystery introduce us to a lovely person that we cared about and then bumped them off. Would this go against the cozy code? Probably.

I liked how Lindsey's potential relationship with Sully is moving forward and it's really sweet. However, I disliked her flippant attitude with going on a date with the new guy in the book because it's super obvious Lindsey and Sully are going to be together. Some might argue the author's way of ensuring we know Lindsey and Sully are supposed to be together is a bit clunky and lacks finesse but when an author spends more time on their characters, I spend more time enjoying it. Tis the life of a character driven reader. Plot becomes secondary (don't hate on me LOL). Anyway, back to the topic of introducing someone new as a potential match to Lindsey creates an unnecessary love triangle and I am not a fan of those (one of the reasons it's taken me so long to read past the 8th Hannah Swensen book by Joanne Fluke to tell the truth.) I hope the books don't continue with adding more love interests as the series progresses because I'm really wanted to read more of them and would have to shelve them on principle.

In a Nutshell: Of course, I'll read the next book. Potential love triangle aside...there are books, crafts, a library, an adorable puppy named Heathcliff (whom I forgot to mention until now), and a hawt man named Michael Sullivan. Yep, I'm hooked.