A Honeybun and Coffee

Finished July 27

A Honeybun and Coffee by Sam Cheever

I picked up this one to fit one of my reading challenges regarding title and was pleasantly surprised. The cover doesn't entirely fit the novel. It almost reads as a send up of romantic suspense novels, with the wordplay on names, the near-misses, and the unlikely situations. The main character, Angie Peterson, owns a coffee and pastry shop, and one day she ends up overhearing a conversation between two of her customers where they discuss killing someone. The target has an unusual name, Alastair Honeybun, a name that conjures elderly Englishman to Angie, and she quickly looks him up and rushes to his house to warn him. 

Once there she finds him quite different than her expectations, a tall, handsome man with a dachshund named Jaws, and he finds her story hard to believe. But the two men she heard show up shortly after her and Alastair and Angie are now on the run, together. They get help from his family along the way, but things get dicey at times, and the heat between them grows.

The haplessness of many of the bad guys, the numerous and very capable Honeybun brothers, and the many narrow escapes mean that the plot moves quickly and keeps the reader surprised and amused. This is the first in a series that follows each of the eight Honeybun brothers as the risk life and love, this is a promising start for those that like the combination of suspense, romance, and humour. 

Hidden

Finished February 27

Hidden by Rebecca Zanetti

This romantic suspense novel is the first book in a series that is centered around a small unorthodox group of government agents. There are two main characters. Pippa is a woman with a past that she fears will one day catch up with her. Malcolm was an undercover cop who is drafted into the small government team early in this novel. When Malcolm moves into the house that shares a yard with Pippa's it doesn't take long for them to notice each other, but they are both wary for their own reasons. 

The team Malcolm is drafted onto is made up of misfits, people who have traumas, and many have interesting quirks. 

Pippa has a job where she can work from home and interacts with others rarely. She has one woman that she meets from time to time and we learn gradually just how they know each other. Just as we learn the life that Pippa has fled, and what she has left behind.

We also learn about Malcolm's past and why he ended up where he is now. 

There are some formulaic elements to this story, and a few things that seem unlikely as plot devices, but the story is a fast-moving one, with elements of violence and sex in small doses. 

I picked up the book to meet a reading challenge, trying out an author that was new to me.