Hi, I’m Judy Kentrus. I write Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense, Sweet Romance, Rom-Com, Later-in-Life Romance, and Historical Romance.
I’ve always been a romantic at heart, and I married my high school sweetheart. I make my home in the Poconos of Pennsylvania. I’m a mom with two grown children who have given me six grandchildren.
We love to travel. Many of the places we’ve visited have inspired me to use them as a storyline. I never know what will inspire me, but my mind always works.
When I’m not helping couples find their happily ever after, I'm in the kitchen baking, especially cookies. My family and friends have dubbed me the cookie queen. I post a new recipe on my website every month.
Want to find out more about my books and what’s coming? Be sure to sign up for my newsletter via my website. My stories are fun, sexy romances that will make you laugh, cry, and fall in love.
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Book 1
Title Spirit of the Winds
Author Judy Kentrus
Genre: Historical Romantic Suspense
Publisher Lady Kay Publishing
Book Blurb
Boston 1849
Cadell Leighton’s dream is about to come true. He’s worked hard to gain the knowledge to captain a new sailing ship design. Spirit of the Winds, the latest addition to Leighton Shipping, will prove its claim to deliver cargo in record time. However, wagers are heavy against him that he won’t make it back to Boston Harbor alive.
His command is contested by a Boston society chit who causes unforeseen calamity in his life. Backed into a corner, he’s forced to sacrifice his cherished freedom. The different moods of the sea won't be the only thing that will challenge his command and his heart.
Katherine Jameson hates the prim and proper life of a society maid that she’s been forced to live by. She’s being pressured into honoring a marriage contract that her mother has arranged with an undesirable clod old enough to be her father.
Her dream has always been to go to sea, following in the footsteps of her late father, a sailing ship captain. When she discovers that her father, who died under mysterious circumstances, made her part owner of a magnificent clipper, she sees it as a chance to fulfill her dream.
When these strong-willed characters are forced into a marriage neither of them wants, the storms won't only be confined to the seas. They’ll also have to work together to get answers to the questions behind their fathers’ past lives before they can have their happily ever after.
Page-turning romantic suspense.
Excerpt
Cade stopped at the sight of Katherine Jameson sitting next to his Uncle Ian.
“What’s she doing here?”
“Miss Jameson is an unexpected but very welcomed house guest.” Ian smiled and patted the back of her hand.
“I can see that. I last heard that the Dowager Jameson was tearing apart the Leighton name. According to her, stable hands have more class than we do.”
“Your first mate brought her here last night.” Ian cleared his throat. “It seems she’s in a bit of difficulty.”
Cade had become immune to Katherine Jameson's womanly wiles. Unfortunately, every time he encountered her, he found himself involved with her problems. “What kind of trouble were you creating, Ms. Jameson?”
“Cadell, you’re being unkind and rude to our guest.”
His eyes shifted from his uncle to the woman who appeared right at home. “My apologies. She’s your guest, not mine.”
“The trouble isn’t of her making. It would be better if Ms. Jameson told you what happened.”
He spread his feet slightly and covered the tip of his walking stick with both hands. “Will it be the truth?” The defiance in her eyes said she wasn’t intimidated by his sarcasm.
“Yes. I possess the virtue of truth!” she hissed. “Without going into detail, my mother arranged for me to marry Raymond Chandler. He admitted he was having financial difficulties. Once we’re married, he plans to sell my favors to his friends. I needed to protect my mother and myself, so I ran away.”
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub)
D2D – Books to Read: https://books2read.com/u/38VRl6
Author Biography
I’ve always been a romantic at heart. I married my high school sweetheart, and we
live in Poconos, Pennsylvania. We have two grown children who have given us six grandchildren.
We love to travel, and many of the places we’ve visited have inspired me to use them as a storyline. When I’m not helping couples find their happily ever after, I'm in the kitchen baking, especially cookies. My family and friends have dubbed me the cookie queen.
My stories are fun, sexy romances that make you laugh, cry, and fall in love.
Social Media Links
Website: https://www.judykentrus.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JudyKentrus
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/judykentrus/?hl=en
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jkentrus/_saved/
Book 2
Title: Key to My Heart
Author: Judy Kentrus
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Lady Kay Publishing
Book Blurb
Matilda Hennypenny is content running her B&B and raising her three adopted daughters,Faith, Hope, and Charity. Life isn't always kind, having lost her fiancé under questionable circumstances. Her life changes when she gets a special skeleton key for her birthday from herlate, eccentric grandmother, Margie.
Virginia, Ginger, and Irene, her stepsisters, will receive the same special gift in the month of their birthdays. The stipulation is that Matilda has to discover what her key opens before Virginia's birthday in June. The puzzles won't be solved until the last sister opens her gift.Does the key open a door or a box, or is it a symbol for something? She has two months to unlock the secret.
Hudson Rhoades has been living a lie for over a year. He's been staying at Hennypenny's B&B while working in Beacon Pointe. While dying, Matilda's fiancé made Hudson swear he'd protect Matilda and her daughters. The people he scammed would go after her. She has the missing key.
Page turning, romantic suspense.
Excerpt
Matilda Hennypenny and her 3 sisters, Virginia, Ginger, and Irene, received a special request from their lawyers. They’re very much in the dark about the reason for the meeting.
~~~~~
“This is all a big mystery.” Matilda traced the letter H engraved in the cherrywood box in front of her. “This box has to be over a hundred years old.”
“According to the letter left by Margie, your late, eccentric grandmother, she’s instructed her legal representative to read this.
My dear, sweet girls, I’ve requested this letter be presented to you on the occasion of my 100th birthday in 2023. You gave us so much happiness, I’ve decided to give you something in return. On your birthday in 2023, you’ll each be given a gift. Follow the instructions. You’ll be rewarded with a treasure beyond your dreams.
Matilda stared at the four-by-four treasure box of secrets. “I feel like I’m opening Pandora’s box.” Inside was a folded piece of paper and a skeleton key. “This looks like it would fit any of the thirty doors in my bed and breakfast.”
She read the message. Happy Birthday, Matilda. Life isn’t always kind, but you’re strong and will make the best of it. This is a special key. Discover what it opens, and you’ll get the next clue. Happiness is what you make of it. Love, your grandmother.
Does this key fit another box, the door to a room, a treasure chest, what?”
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Book 3
Title: A Timeless Kiss
Author: Judy Kentrus
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Lady Kay Publishing
Book Blurb
Jordan Bishop is living her dream as a US Park Ranger in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation area. While patrolling the New Jersey side of the park, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to the Delaware View House. This was once an Inn in the 1800s but unfortunately fell victim to the Tocks Island Dam project that caused widespread devastation in the late 1960s on both sides of the Delaware River. She enjoys taking pictures with her old Hasselblad camera. When she develops her latest photos, she's shocked to see what appears to be a ghost in the attic window.
Then she starts having dreams about the same young girl.
Foster Scanlon's job as a Forensic Odontologist is currently on hold. Recuperating from an injury to his rotator cuff, he moves into the former bed and breakfast he inherited from his late aunt. Milford, Pennsylvania, is on the cuff of the Delaware Water Gap, one of his favorite national recreation areas.
He discovers boxes of pictures and journals from his eccentric Aunt Daisy. The woman heavily protested the Tocks Island Dam project and made many enemies. He starts to question if her death, ruled a suicide, was accurate when he discovers threatening letters.
He also starts to have disturbing dreams about a soldier in the Union Army.
They'll have to work together to find answers, but first, Jordan will have to reveal the secrets she's been keeping from Foster.
Excerpt
“The pain, the pain.”
“Shush, Ermunaz. The baby will be here very soon.”
“You keep saying that! Something’s wrong! I can feel it. Remember, Greta, don’t let them take him.”
“You know it’s a boy?”
“Yes. Give him his father's ring when he’s old enough to understand.” She gasped and screamed.
The tormenting dream woke Jordan from a sound sleep, and she shot up, making the blanket fall away. The flat of her hand pressed against her stomach. “That was so real. One never forgets what it feels like to be in labor, but that girl’s pain was unnatural.”
These dreams were becoming more frequent and intense. The same young girl starred in everyone. Now, she was delivering a baby. Whose baby? What ring? Why now?
“Take advantage of the quiet and check out the photos you developed yesterday.” One of her favorite hobbies was taking black-and-white pictures with her old Hasselblad camera.
Her darkroom was in the basement. She’d developed the six black-and-white pictures she’d taken yesterday of the Delaware View House on Old Mine Road while she was on patrol as a US park ranger. The original Greek revival building had been constructed in 1837.
She picked up the picture she’d taken of the front of the house and stared. And just kept staring. “What’s this?” She used her Sherlock Holmes-style magnifying glass and held it up to the figure.
“There’s a ghost in the window!”
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Book 4
Title Frozen Hearts
Author: Judy Kentrus
Genre: Later-in Life, Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Lady Kay Publishing
Book Blurb:
How do you open your heart for a new love when it's frozen? That's the dilemma Margaret Taylor has faced since losing her beloved husband. Demands as a Judge and the Mayor of Laurel Heights has left very little time for being just Margaret. She signs up with a tour group to take the dream vacation she and her husband planned to go on, a land and sea tour of Alaska.
Over the year's she's received threats and has recognized them as all part of the job. When she receives three life-threatening notes, her family urges her to cancel her vacation. She refuses.Her much needed vacation takes an unexpected turn when she recognizes one of the other people in the tour group. Why is Brent Saeger walking around free? He was sentenced to life in prison for murder.
Brent Saeger believes that life was guided by fate, and one should never do a "favor" because it came with unexpected consequences. His favor for the CIA landed him in prison for murder. Fate had another undercover operative in the right time and place that proved Brent's innocence.
Working for Adams Security and Investigations, he gets a special assignment. He's to go undercover and protect the owner's mother-in-law, Margaret Taylor. She'd be more receptive to meeting an old friend. He can't tell her his real purpose for being there.
Fate once again sucker punched him. Protect his Maggie May. That shouldn't be a problem since his heart has been frozen since she fell in love with his best friend.
A romantic suspense with twists and turns that will keep you turning pages to the very end.
Excerpt
Margaret tried to shake off the feeling of jet lag. It was time to meet the other people in the group she’d be spending the next two weeks with. She gave the men and women sitting at the table a little smile.
“Hi, I’m Margaret from Pennsylvania.”
“So nice to meet you, Margaret. I’m Dawn Judd, and this is my sister Myrtle. This is our dream vacation.
“Everyone, can I have your attention? I’m Carol Timmins, your tour guide for the next two weeks. I’d like each of you to stand up, tell us your name, where you’re from and a little about yourself. Let’s start with the table to my left.”
“Hi, I’m Brent, from Erie, Pennsylvania, and I sell life insurance. Visiting Alaska is on my bucket list.”
Margaret stared fixedly at the man who’d just introduced himself. It couldn’t be! He was years older, but the face was the same. Brent Saeger. His last name came to her as naturally as breathing.
What was even more troubling was that he shouldn’t even be here. He’d been convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. How was it possible he was walking around free? She was torn between letting someone know he was a convicted killer and remaining silent.
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Book 5
Title Where Dreams Come True
Author: Judy Kentrus
Genre: Sweet, Romantic Suspense
Publisher: Lady Kay Publishing
Book Blurb:
Chelsea Townsend runs a local dancing school in Last Chance Beach. Five years ago, her partner dropped her during a performance. The resulting injury killed her chance of becoming a Prima Ballerina. Her dancing career always took precedence, but she regrets giving up a chance to have a life with the only man she's ever loved.
She's worked hard to reopen the historic Gershwin Theater. When someone breaks into her dancing school, it sets off a chain of events that reveals the untold secrets surrounding the old theater, including a twenty-five-year-old murder.
It will take a police detective, the father of one of her students, to find out who is working against her.
Zachary MacFarland, a decorated NYC police detective, returned to Last Chance Beach eight months ago. He and his partner were ambushed, and the bullet that killed his partner came from Zach's gun. He's determined to find the real killer and clear his name.
Coming home also meant being close to Chelsea Townsend. She chose her career over the happily-ever-after he offered. It will take all of his detective skills to reveal who is determined to destroy her hopes and dreams.
Last Chance Beach meant second chances. Would they find the love and happiness they once lost?
Excerpt
“Chelsea will never dance again. We had to put pins and rods in the leg.”
No! No!
Jerking awake, the pressure in her chest made it difficult to breathe. Her two hands griped her right ankle from the phantom pain that had become a permanent part of her body. Five years, five years, reliving the nightmare.
The performance of Romeo and Juliette was to be the ultimate of everything she’d ever worked for…to become a member of the American Ballet Theater. The muscle pain and frustration of perfecting each move and overcoming the back-stabbing jealousy and animosity of others had been worth it.
Five years may have passed, but she could still feel the gripping strength of Phillip’s arms lifting her up and the music's swell just before he swung her around. If she hadn’t been so lost in concentrating on the music, she would’ve been aware of the change in the way his hands had loosened, plummeting her to the floor.
Concussed by the fall, she woke up hours later in an emergency room in pain, still not fully aware of what had happened or the extent of her injury. After surgery, she’d drifted in and out of sleep, induced by painkillers in a hospital bed in Manhattan. The unfortunate accident killed her dream of becoming a prima ballerina.
Even after refusing his love, Zachary was the one to wipe her tears away.
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