#BookReview: Shadows Over Paradise by Isabel Wolff
Reviewer: Mary I received a review copy Summary: For readers of Kate Morton and Jamie Ford comes a captivating novel of two very different women,…
My Top 10 of 2010
Now that 2010 is almost officially over, I decided I just had to make a list of my favorite books of the year. As I looked at my Excel spreadsheet that listed the XXX titles that I read during the past year, I got a little overwhelmed at picking my Favorites. Luckily, I realized that I had made this task a bit easier on myself by adding a Favorites section on my blog. That helped narrow down my choices, but it was still difficult coming up with my Favorite 10 of 2010. Here are the books I chose (in no particular order).
Go Small or Go Home by Heather Wardell- 4.5 stars
A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff- 4 stars
Waxed by Robert Rave- 5 stars
Hook Line and Sink Him by Jackie Pilossoph- 4.5 stars
Good Things by Mia King- 4.5 stars
Twenties Girl by Sophie Kinsella- 4.5 stars
Reunion by JL Penn- 5 stars
On Folly Beach by Karen White- 5 stars
Georgia’s Kitchen by Jenny Nelson- 5 stars
Life After Yes by Aidan Donnelley Rowley – 5 stars
A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff
Phoebe Swift is willing to make desperate changes in her life. After the death of her best friend and calling off her engagement, Phoebe abruptly quits her posh job at Sotheby’s and opens her own vintage shop. Her passion for previously worn clothes and the stories they once told is Phoebe’s hook for running her own business, and she quickly befriends a Mrs. Bell and begins to learn her stories. Mrs. Bell is a widow dying of cancer, and asks Phoebe to sell her clothes to new owners. While looking through Mrs. Bell’s closet, Phoebe stumbles upon a child’s blue jacket, and the story behind it fills the pages with mystery and sadness, but a happy ending.
A Vintage Affair by best-selling author Isabel Wolff is a beautifully written story about the essence of friendship, forgiving oneself, and finding love in unexpected places. There are many subject matters that will pull heartstrings, and I found myself wide-eyed in many places due to the emotional intensity of the characters and their situations. Wolff did an excellent job when it came to research for this novel, and it showed when I became quickly immersed in the storyline and could not put this book down. I did think there were a bit too many sub-plots for my liking, but other than that, an excellent read and a definite recommendation from me!
Rating: 4/5
Author Profile: Isabel Wolff
Author Name: Isabel Wolff
Website: http://www.isabelwolff.com/index.html
Bio: I was born in Warwickshire, read English at Cambridge and after spells in the theatre and in advertising, I got a job at the BBC. I had twelve very happy years at BBC World Service radio where I was a producer and reporter in the Features department and in Current Affairs. I travelled widely compiling documentaries in Central America, Australia, Africa and the Far East. I also wrote freelance articles for magazines and newspapers such as The Spectator, the Evening Standard, the Independent and the Daily Telegraph who, in 1997, commissioned me to write a comic, girl-about-town column, Tiffany Trott. Within a month of the first column appearing I’d been signed up by HarperCollins to turn Tiffany’s adventures into a book. To my amazement HarperCollins then said they’d like another book, and another, and so somehow, without having set out to be a novelist, here I am.
Currently: Isabel currently lives in London with her partner Greg and their two children, Alice and Edmund. She is working on her ninth novel, due out in 2011.
Titles: The Trials of Tiffany Trott, Making Minty Malone, Out of the Blue, Rescuing Rose, Behaving Badly, and A Vintage Affair.
Bio Retrieved from isabelwolff.com
Best Male Nominees
The nominees for Best Male Character in a Novel:
Luc Martineau, See Jane Score by Rachel Gibson
Ethan, Something Blue by Emily Giffin
Luke Brandon, Shopaholic series by Sophie Kinsella
Alex, I Heart Paris by Lindsey Kelk
Dan, A Vintage Affair by Isabel Wolff
Please vote for your favorite by commenting below. Everyone who votes is entered to win!
In My Mailbox: Week of July 4th
In My Mailbox: Week of July 4th
Title: Scandalous
Author: Tilly Bagshawe
Received: Charlotte Allen- HarperFiction Publicity
Synopsis: Sasha Miller comes to Cambridge with a dream and leaves on a mission. After falling for the lies and charms of her Director of Studies ‘Theo Dexter’ she finds herself betrayed, humiliated and nursing a bundle of broken dreams. Heading to the US she is determined to rebuild her life. Years later, Sasha emerges from Harvard Business School with one thing on her mind, the downfall of the now famous Professor Theo Dexter. Meanwhile Theo’s long-suffering wife Theresa also finds herself betrayed and cast aside for a younger and prettier model. Unable to cope she returns to Cambridge a broken woman and tries to rebuild her life away from the scheming Theo Dexter. One night Sasha turns up at Theresa’s door, she wants revenge at any cost, will Theresa help her? From the deepest betrayal comes a shocking alliance. Two vengeful women, one very unlucky man…
Title: I Heart Paris
Author: Lindsey Kelk
Received: Charlotte Allen- HarperFiction Publicity
Synopsis: Angela is in the City of Love – but her own love life is heading for trouble…Angela Clark is a British girl living the dream in fabulous New York. But she’s never been to the romantic capital of the world – Paris. So when her lead singer boyfriend Alex suggests a trip there and she is asked to write insider’s guide to the hip city – she jumps at the chance! Meandering along charming streets, perusing Paris’s hot destinations – all in the name of research – Angela decides she could get used to the joie de vivre of Paris. But there’s something awry, Angela soon realises that evil forces are at work, conspiring to sabotage her big break! And when she spots Alex having a tete-a-tete with his ex in a Paris bar – without best friend Jenny to counsel her – Angela begins to crumble. With London and her old life only a train journey away – now is the time to decide if she should stay and face the music or return to the safety of home.
Title: I Remember You
Author: Harriet Evans
Received: Charlotte Allen- HarperFiction Publicity
Synopsis: The perfect book to curl up with on a long winter’s evening. Rich, witty and moving I Remember You is for anyone who likes to dream about a new life — and for anyone who still remembers their first love. Heartbroken Tess Tennant is leaving London and moving back to her picture-perfect home town to take up a teaching job. It’s time for a fresh start, one with warm stone cottages, friendly locals in oak-beamed pubs and of course Adam, her best friend since childhood. But something isn’t right in the town: Adam is preoccupied with a new girlfriend and the past is looming large again. So by the time she has to take her class on a trip to Rome, Tess is feeling reckless. Swept off her feet by a mysterious stranger, she finds herself falling in love. But her magical Roman Holiday is about to turn into a nightmare! Back in Langford, as autumn creeps towards Christmas, Adam is gone and everything has changed.Tess has to decide, once and for all, where she belongs and who with.
Title: Nancy’s Theory of Style
Author: Grace Coopersmith
Received: From Grace Coopersmith
Synopsis: Lively young socialite Nancy Carrington-Chambers has always believed an excellent sense of style and strict attention to detail are what it takes to succeed, but her own husband Todd is showing symptoms of incurable tackiness, so Nancy flees their McMansion for her posh San Francisco apartment. She knows her event planning company, Froth, is a real winner, but she must prove herself by reinventing the turgid Barbary Coast Historical Museum fundraiser. Luckily, Nancy now has the perfect assistant. Derek Cathcart is British, impeccably dressed, gorgeous, and clearly gay—so why does Nancy find him so attractive? Before Nancy can unravel her feelings, her irresponsible cousin Birdie abandons her little daughter with Nancy and takes off. Nancy, Derek, and Eugenia make an unlikely “family,” but strangely it seems incredibly right. Now Nancy’s parents are pressuring her to return to Todd, and she still has to pull off a spectacular party. For someone who’s always known exactly where she’s going, Nancy is in dangerously uncharted waters.
Title: A Vintage Affair
Author: Isabel Wolff
Received: From Isabel Wolff
Synopsis: Do fairytale dresses bring fairytale endings? Every dress has a history, so does Phoebe! Phoebe always dreamt of opening her own vintage dress shop. She imagined every detail, from the Vivienne Westwood bustiers hanging next to satin gowns, to sequinned cupcake dresses adorning the walls. At the launch of Village Vintage, Phoebe feels the tingle of excitement as customers snap up the fairytale dresses. Her dream has come true, but a secret from her past is casting a shadow over her new venture. Then one day she meets Therese, an elderly Frenchwoman with a collection to sell, apart from one piece that she won’t part with ! As Therese tells the story of the little blue coat, Phoebe feels a profound connection with her own life, one that will help her heal the pain of her past and allow her to love again.
