I Picked Up This Book Because: Wanted a quick listen while waiting for my next audiobook to be available at the library

The Characters:

Chelsea O’Kane: A woman who is really good at running from her past. First she runs from her home in Maine to Florida then she runs right back after life there became a mess.
Jeremy Holland: Former best friend who never got over his real first love.

The Story:

This book reaches out and grabs you from the first sentence. A stolen car with a gun on the passenger seat! What is going on?!? But it quickly devolves into a more predictable tale. Second chance love, revenge from “the cartels and a HEA (which I wanted). Overall it was just an okay story.

The Random Thoughts:

3.25 Stars ( )

I recently discovered a new style of book. Okay, not so new since novellas have been around forever. But they are new to me. What an interesting concept, little books to tuck into a purse or backpack – that’s what I thought when I first saw these little Bookshots. I decided to try a couple and chose The McCullagh Inn in Maine for my first Bookshots read. A second chance at love/romance is what is promised on the back cover copy. The story itself is short, approximately 135 pages.

We first meet the main character, Chelsea O’Kane as she drives home to Maine. She is on the run from Miami and what we can surmise is a crime that she’s committed. Chelsea has decided to hide out in the hometown she ran away from some years earlier and where her brother still lives. We can also easily deduce that her brother, like their father before them, lives on the edge of the law. Shortly after her arrival Chelsea runs into the man she once loved as a teenager. He wants to rekindle their passion but Chelsea wants none of it. What promises to be a hopeful reunion takes a wrong turn as bullets begin to fly.

I found the story line too predictable. Anyone who watches police drama on television could have written this story. The romance – or sex scenes – were not romantic in the least. Women readers like romantic language and want to be seduced through words and thoughts as well as physicality. Like most men, the romantic scenes were trite, fast, and over with before any woman would even realize what happened. The characters were shallow as well and I could almost mouth their lines before they did.

While I realize that these Bookshots are meant for fast and light reading, a bit more description would have gone a long way to keep this reader happy. ( )

In The McCullagh Inn in Maine by Jen McLaughlin, Chelsea has led a sad life. For one, her father spent years in prison. Then, she experienced an unhappy marriage with Richard and a guy named Jeremy broke her heart. Now the cartels are following her. Trying to fix up an aunt's inn in Maine becomes quite the ordeal. We follow Chelsea, Richard, her brother, Paul, through hardships. It's not easy for Chelsea to trust again. Who is lying? Who is telling the truth? It's really not easy to fall in love again either.

I have a feeling Maine is very pretty. I wanted to read about some of the places in "The McCullagh Inn In Maine, but didn't see any bushes, hear the ocean or even a hill with blueberries. goodreads.com/authorJen_McLaughlin ( )

Title: The McCullagh Inn in Maine
Author: Jen McLaughlin
Publisher: BookShots
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Four
Review:

"The McCullagh Inn in Maine" by Jen McLaughlin

My Thoughts....

Be ready for a short, suspenseful, sexy adventurous read full of secrets, reconnections and twists that this author gives so very well to the readers. I like this friends to lovers...as was Chelsea and Jeremy had been at one time. But after Jeremy was supposed to marry someone else Chelsea leaves and would she have known that Jeremy calls off the wedding soon after she leaves. Oh well...as the story goes Chelsea leaves to get away from not only Jeremy but her strange family. As the story goes she gets the job as being a assistant district attorney but would you believe she come involved a crooked and abusive boyfriend that lead her into trouble that she finds herself having to come back home with a new identity and dyed hair. Now, this next part of the read I did find a little predictable in that Chelsea come back home [to Maine with a gun and fresh bruises] and gets involved with Jeremy and from this part I will stop here and say you must pick up the good short read and see for yourself how well this author brings it all out to the reader. Now that Chelsea is back home and Jeremy is back in her life what secrets are they keeping from each other? I liked how this author kept these secrets so well hidden. How will this play out? Will Chelsea get the help she needed fixing up her [The McCullagh Inn] that her aunt had left her from Jeremy? The problem I had with this read was that it seemed like the story comes to an end and you are left saying what? Did the action and suspense overpower the romance of the story? Oh well, it was still a good enjoyable read if you are into a short sweet friends again to lovers. ( )

Chelsea O’Kane is on the run and hiding out in an old Maine inn. Certain she can get a new start running the inn left to her by her aunt, Chelsea sets about making repairs. But running into old flame Jeremy Holland turns her world upside down and complications ensure.
When Chelsea’s brother, Paul, is severely beaten, her fears jeopardize her dream of turning the inn into a new life. Will she find happiness with Jeremy or will the past ruin her chance at the new start she so desperately desires?

Believable characters, a strong dose of suspense, and a twisty plot keep the pages turning in this quick read BookShots Flame tale.

Recommended. ( )