by Susan Roberts
Lose yourself in this new women's fiction series that revolves around friendship, love, and loss among the Archer Clan. A heartwarming family saga that has the backdrop of the Florida Keys white sand and crystal blue waters. Learn about the lives of the Archer Clan, Holly, Rina, Amy, and Randy as they try to return to their family and their family home after years of separation.
The Archer House
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| October 2020; Indie; 978-1393251866 ebook, print (198 pages); women's fiction |
This debut by Kimberly Thomas is the first book in a new series. Most of it takes place in the Florida Keys so if you are ready for a mental trip to the southernmost tip of the US - The Archer House is the book to read.
As the story begins, Holly is having her house and her office packed up and moved to storage. Not too long before she and her husband had run one of the most popular real estate companies in Miami. Thanks to her husband's illegal deals, she has now lost her husband, her job, her real estate license, and most of her friends in Miami. What she still has are two grown children, a granddaughter, a mother in the Florida Keys, and estranged brothers and sisters in Florida. When she hears from her uncle that the family inn, owned by her family for years, is struggling and that her mother needs help. Even though she hasn't been back for several years, she packs up her Jag and drives to Florida. What she finds when she gets there is a rundown hotel and a depressed and ill mother who is struggling to keep the hotel going. Since she doesn't have a life left in Miami, she decides to stay in Florida and help renovate the hotel. Her two sisters and brother want nothing to do with her or with the hotel that they grew up in so it's up to Holly to make it work. On the good news side, she also discovers old friends from high school who still care for her even though she hasn't seen them in years. Will Holly be successful in her plan to bring The Archer Inn back to being one of the most popular rentals in the area? Will she be able to patch together her family?
I really liked Holly - she had gotten into a terrible mess that she was innocent of and left her life to start a new one. It would have been very easy for her to have a 'poor me' attitude, but instead, she starts over her new life with enthusiasm. She is a strong resilient woman who never gave up.
This is a book about love and family and the importance of friends along with a bit of romance and some mystery. I am looking forward to the rest of the series to find out if Holly is successful in reuniting her family.
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Secrets in Paradise
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| November 2020; Indie; 978-1393046257 ebook, print (202 pages); women's fiction |
Rina is struggling with her life. Her beloved husband who was her best friend died from a massive heart attack six months earlier and she still grieves him to the point that she is unable to go back to her job as an event planner. Other than her two sons, she doesn't have family to help her. She left home at 18 and is estranged from her brothers and sisters and is upset when her sister Holly starts calling about a surprise birthday party for their mother. She has no plans to go home but when she meets a woman in a bar who has a shocking confession that can change her life, she realizes that she needs to get away and decides to go home. Once she gets home, she begins to realize that it isn't the awful place she remembered. As she connects with her brother and sister and begins to spend time with old friends, she begins to rediscover the beauty of the town she grew up in. She begins to forget about the shocking news that the woman told her but suddenly finds that there are situations in life that you can't run away from.
I enjoyed the second book in the series as much as the first and can't wait to read the third book which is Amy's story. I hope that this book about love and family leads to a total family reunion.
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When the Stars Align
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| Decemner 2020; Indie; 979-8598035511 ebook, print (202 pages); women's fiction |
The Archer family owned a beautiful inn for over 50 years in the Florida Keys. The family of three girls and one boy had lived their own lives away from the inn and become estranged from each other and from their mother over the years. When the Stars Align is Amy's story.
Other than a quick trip home for her father's funeral, Amy has had little contact with her family for over 12 years when she decided to return for her mother's 70th birthday party. What the family doesn't know is how great a risk it was for her to come to the party - they didn't know that she lived in a physically abusive household and that her husband had threatened to do great harm to her if she ever left him. The abuse had escalated to the point that she knew he would eventually kill her and she knew that she had to escape. Once her family found out what had gone on in her marriage, they all supported her and did what they could to help her recover. She had been trained as a chef but had barely worked since she got married so she was thrilled to become the chef at the Archer Inn and be able to use her culinary talents again.
As Amy slowly begins to regain her life with her new job and her old friends and loving family, she knows deep down that she is still in danger from her husband. He promised that he would hurt her if she left and she knows that he's just waiting for the perfect time to make her pay.
When the Stars Align is a perfect small town romance about family and the support and love that they can bring to your life. I'm looking forward to the last and final book in this series. I've really enjoyed the time that I've spent with the Archer family.
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A Family Affair
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| January 2021; Indie; 979-8598037805 ebook, print (200 pages); women's fiction |
The Archer’s only son faces the truth and fights to heal the wounds in a family haunted by the past.
A Family Affair was a light romance with a bit of mystery and a lot of love - a man for his sisters, his mother, his daughters, and finally, love for a new woman in his life. Book 4 in the series is Randy's story. For his whole life, Randy has been a non-achiever. He lost custody of this daughters, he didn't help out his mom at the family inn and he spent most of his time drinking a lot and working a little at the marina he owned. He was satisfied to leave the day-to-day business of the marina to this his best friend Dean. When Marni comes to town to write a history of the Keys, Randy is attracted to her even when she later admits that the history book is just a cover for her assignment to find more about a drug-smuggling ring in the area. As Randy starts looking at the clues, he finds out that he is closely connected to the leader of the drug smuggling ring and that he's going to have to betray a friend who was not really a friend in the first place. This was a fun series to read with lots of family love plus everyone ended up with their happily ever after!
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Now is a good time to get caught up with The Archer Inn series as book 5 The Wedding Planner comes out on April 13.
Susan Roberts lives in North Carolina with her husband of over 50 years. She grew up in Michigan but now calls North Carolina home. Since her travel plans had to be canceled for this year, she is starting to make plans for travel in 2021. She reads almost anything (and the piles of books in her house prove that) but her favorite genres are Southern fiction, women's fiction, and historical fiction. Susan is a top 1% Goodreads Reviewer. You can connect with Susan on Facebook, Goodreads, or Twitter.
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i love books that take place in my state, florida, or others that i am familiar with. anything beachy definitely gets my attention
ReplyDeletesherry @ fundinmental