July 13, 2025

I voluntarily read an early copy of this book.

Sweet Thing by Kate Meader
Series: Chicago Players #1
Published by Kate Meader LLC on July 15, 2025
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My dad's teammate needs a nanny and I need a job. Sounds perfect, right? Except for my massive crush on him ... the one he knows all about.

Lars

I just found out I’m a dad.

My one-night stand dropped a baby bombshell in my local bar where I was celebrating my team’s win. Then she fled, leaving me holding my new daughter.

Thank God for Adeline. The daughter of my teammate and closest friend on the Chicago Rebels, she practically raised her little sister and knows exactly how to deal with this situation. I need a nanny; she needs a job. Problem sorted, right?

Not so fast …

Adeline

I think you’re the sexiest guy alive.

That’s what Lars Nyquist overheard me say while recounting my embarrassing crush on him. Yeah, that Lars Nyquist. Defenseman for the Chicago Rebels. Owner of the thickest thighs in the league. More than a decade my senior. Oh, and my dad’s teammate.

My only option? Leave the country, of course. Luckily, I’d already planned a round-the-world trip with my bestie and by the time I returned to Chicago a year later, I expected my blunder would be long forgotten. Shows what I know. Now I’m lying awake in the bedroom next to his while playing nanny to his surprise little girl. But I can ignore this stupid infatuation. I have to. Even though the sight of Lars learning to be a dad leaves me breathless and takes that crush to a whole other level.

One that has the potential to break my sorry little heart …

There’s nothing quite like seeing an old fan favorite in a different setting! Kate Meader stole many a reader’s heart when Theo Kershaw walked onto the pages of her previous hockey series. He’s fun, he’s over the top and he’s genuinely a good guy. This book kicks off a brand new Chicago Players spin-off series and Theo’s daughter Adeline is the heroine! We get to see how life played out for Theo, his wife Elle and their kiddos and even good ol’ Aurora! I loved every single minute of it!

Lars was befriended by Theo and brought into the family fold as his teammate and best friend. Now he’s making waves by becoming an instant dad … and having chemistry with Theo’s daughter, the temporary nanny. Uh oh!

Great character connections, lots of emotional turmoil and drama to sift through and so much steamy goodness! I highly recommend this book to hockey fans!

* Review * SHADOW ON HER GRAVE by B.R. Spangler

I voluntarily read an early copy of this book.

Shadow on Her Grave by B.R. Spangler
Series: Detective Casey White #13
Published by Bookouture on July 18, 2025
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The beads of saltwater caught on her cracked lips glitter in the moonlight, her long brown hair floating in the tide. But this beautiful girl is lost forever. And Casey’s biggest fears are realised. Someone is copying the worst of her previous cases: following her like a shadow. And they’ll stop at nothing to make sure she pays for her own mistakes…

As her soon-to-be-husband, Jericho Flynn, goes back to work as town sheriff, Detective Casey White is left juggling her work alongside her growing family. And when a spate of troubling murders hit the Outer Banks, the happy couple are stopped in their tracks…

Casey is called to a crime scene with eerie echoes to a killing she solved years ago. A young woman has been anchored to a boulder and drowned, just like in the Saltwater Graves murders.

Then a handwritten poem is delivered to Casey at the station. She immediately recognises the writing as that of a previous victim she couldn’t save. The killer is pointing them to yet another crime scene from Casey’s past. Only someone with knowledge of the original cases could recreate these murders with terrible accuracy. And the only link is Casey herself.

The team chase the lead to a now-derelict beach house, way out on an abandoned island. Casey is totally devastated when they discover the lifeless body of Jericho’s late wife, Jessie Flynn, posed in one of the upstairs rooms.

This is her most personal challenge yet. As they chase down a killer that could be closer than they ever imagined, will Casey and Jericho both make it out alive?

Fast paced and chillingly addictive! Fans of Detective Casey White will be thrilled to be reconnecting with Casey and her sidekicks as danger comes knocking close to home when a new case stirs up memories of past cases one after another. This series is always wrought with tension and danger and is highly entertaining as we try to piece together who is doing what. I love Casey and Jericho and can’t wait to see what the future holds. Tracy/Hannah is getting on my nerves with the games she keeps playing with Casey, hopefully one day soon she will straighten up and appreciate what she has. This particular plot was exciting and emotional at the same time. I highly recommend this series as a whole to anyone who enjoys a thriller with a great core group of investigators.