This book was so good!! This author is fairly new to me but she is quickly becoming a favorite. I loved the characters, I was quickly drawn into the story and invested. I love a good suspenseful story. I had it narrowed down to a couple people, and I loved that I wasn’t 100% sure “who did it”! There is some romance, family and friends. It had all the elements I enjoy. It’s a must read.

Wow is all I can say at the moment. Red, Red, Rose by Stephanie Hoffman McManus was one heck of an adventure. I thought I had it all figured out, I had my suspicions and I was still surprised! Nora owns Urban Grind coffee shop in Washington with her best friend Emily, who disappeared a month before hand. When too many things happen and its hard to pinpoint who is doing what, she is confused and starts to question everyone and everything. When the man she starts dating is suddenly brought in for questioning, she makes rash decisions and doesn't know if they're the right ones. When you start to question who you can trust, who do you turn to?
Nora owns a coffee shop in Washington with Emily, her best friend who's been missing for a month amongst all the college killings around the area. Nora has many regular customers and they all pass police questioning when some new evidence is found in the stores dumpster, including the man she just went on a date with. When Emily's brother comes home on emergency leave, he stays with Nora to keep her safe amidst all the chaos going on. When he warns her off her new man and makes a request to wait for him in December, it throws her for a loop. Even through all the craziness happening, Nora is still level headed and living her life while still doing what she can to help find her friend. When we find out who the real kidnapper is and his link to Nora, I was stunned to say the least but he was on my radar! Can Nora help save herself and her friend while she waits for her rescuer?
I can't and won't give away who the good guy is as you need to find that out on your own. But this book is a page turner. I couldn't put it down. I can't wait to read Emily's story!!

Red Red Rose is Stephanie Hoffman McManus’ debut romantic-suspense novel and wow was I sucked into this one. I'm usually pretty good at sussing out who the baddie is, but man this one lead me on a merry chase. The plot flowed nicely and the characters were well written.

Although this is "romantic" there isn't any sexy times in it, which was a bit of a bummer. I also wish the epilogue (one week in the future) would have gave a few details on how one of the characters reacted to who the "baddie" was. It seemed like a loose end, but maybe we will hear more in subsequent books. I also wasn't overly crazy about the James situation. It rode the love triangle line a little too closely, and I didn't see the need for that angle to be part of the story at all.

Overall though I was really impressed with this one and look forward to reading more books in this series.

Red Red Rose has everything a great book needs…adventure, romance, enough twists and suspicious characters to keep a reader guessing, and characters that are fun, alpha-like and even some scary characters.
This is a story about Nora. She is a smart, strong, friendly, woman who doesn’t know just how beautiful she is and how she affects other people, especially the men around her. Nora owns a coffee shop with her best friend, Emily. When Emily goes missing everyone becomes a suspect, even the customers who have been coming to the coffee shop since they opened, like Danny the techy guy who always is watching Nora. Then there’s the tall drink of water, who is mysterious and funny and smoldering hot, Shaw. Shaw is attracted to Nora and her feelings confuse her because she just ended things with Nathan, and yeah Nathan's a suspect too. Even her friends and co-workers are questioned by police. Nora wants Emily home, safe. Emily’s family obviously wants her safe too. James is Emily’s hot soldier brother who must help keep Nora safe. Lies are told, truths are discovered. Love is found for some while others feel burned. Can someone Nora actually knows be the serial killer on the lose?
McManus is awesome! I can not say enough great things about this book. I liked that while Nora wanted and needed her man she wasn’t so consumed by him that she was stupid in return. Some books let the heroine turn to mush when the alpha hero walks by. McManus made sure Nora was strong but don’t get me wrong Nora very much noticed and appreciated her man and he was the same with her.
It has been a while since I read mystery stories but I’m glad I read this one! Here’s hoping McManus has more stories to share with us!!

Wow is all I can say at the moment. Red, Red, Rose by Stephanie Hoffman McManus was one heck of an adventure. I thought I had it all figured out, I had my suspicions and I was still surprised! Nora owns Urban Grind coffee shop in Washington with her best friend Emily, who disappeared a month before hand. When too many things happen and its hard to pinpoint who is doing what, she is confused and starts to question everyone and everything. When the man she starts dating is suddenly brought in for questioning, she makes rash decisions and doesn't know if they're the right ones. When you start to question who you can trust, who do you turn to?
Nora owns a coffee shop in Washington with Emily, her best friend who's been missing for a month amongst all the college killings around the area. Nora has many regular customers and they all pass police questioning when some new evidence is found in the stores dumpster, including the man she just went on a date with. When Emily's brother comes home on emergency leave, he stays with Nora to keep her safe amidst all the chaos going on. When he warns her off her new man and makes a request to wait for him in December, it throws her for a loop. Even through all the craziness happening, Nora is still level headed and living her life while still doing what she can to help find her friend. When we find out who the real kidnapper is and his link to Nora, I was stunned to say the least but he was on my radar! Can Nora help save herself and her friend while she waits for her rescuer?
I can't and won't give away who the good guy is as you need to find that out on your own. But this book is a page turner. I couldn't put it down. I can't wait to read Emily's story!!

Red Red Rose is Stephanie Hoffman McManus’ debut romantic-suspense novel and wow was I sucked into this one. I'm usually pretty good at sussing out who the baddie is, but man this one lead me on a merry chase. The plot flowed nicely and the characters were well written.

Although this is "romantic" there isn't any sexy times in it, which was a bit of a bummer. I also wish the epilogue (one week in the future) would have gave a few details on how one of the characters reacted to who the "baddie" was. It seemed like a loose end, but maybe we will hear more in subsequent books. I also wasn't overly crazy about the James situation. It rode the love triangle line a little too closely, and I didn't see the need for that angle to be part of the story at all.

Overall though I was really impressed with this one and look forward to reading more books in this series.