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Sophie’s Run Blog Tour – Guest Post & Giveaway

Come dine with Sophie and Dan: Today’s treat is… Party food deluxe and yet comfort food par excellence… Sophie’s Cheesy Fondue! Hello! *waves* My name…

Book Review: Sophie’s Run by Nicky Wells

I received a copy of Sophie’s Run in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
Her famous star remains her rock while life takes her on a little detour…

Who says that the road towards true love is straight and even? Sophie is certainly discovering that it is anything but.

So she has finally found the man of her dreams! Well…she knows who he is, even though she hasn’t actually quite met him yet. But she misses her opportunity, and then her life goes crazy. Rock star and ex-fiancé, Dan, keeps getting in the way of her new romance—even if he is just trying to be helpful. A fire, an impromptu mini-trip with Dan, and a dreaded wedding later, Sophie is still struggling to meet the love of her life. Then, just as she is getting it together with her perfect man, best friend Rachel commits an act of unspeakable betrayal.

Sophie has had enough. Confused and distraught, she decides that it is time for a radical change. Surprising herself and shocking her friends, she embarks on a secret journey and eventually gets her life back on track.
My Review:
I was so excited to catch up with Sophie once again. I highly enjoyed Sophie’s Turn, and was curious where life had taken her. But things aren’t too grand in her life. A fire destroys her flat on her birthday, she meets the man that causes her to have a thunder and lightning moment but then can’t track him down, and an act of betrayal by her best friend is the final straw. Once again, I was invested in the story right off the bat, and felt like Sophie could be one of my best friends. I was enthralled by her love life and curious up until the end how everything would play out. I enjoyed the sub-plots as well, especially with her friend Rachel, and liked the sneak peek into the minds of some supporting characters about halfway through the book. I highly recommend both these novels from Nicky Wells!
4 stars

Sophie’s Turn by Nicky Wells

Sophie Penhalligan isn’t a slapper. Or at least she wasn’t before. Before Dan came back in her life. Dan, the hunky rock star of the band Tusk, the man that made her teenage self go weak in the knees. Who knew he would still have the same power over her as a grown adult? A woman engaged to be married to another man? Sophie can’t believe she lets herself carry on an affair with Dan. But maybe if she were happier with Tim. If Tim wasn’t always so uptight. If Tim let Sophie have her wild side back. But can Sophie really blame everything on Tim? Is she a slapper, an adulteress- or just a woman confused and looking for love?
I adored Sophie’s Turn by Nicky Wells. While Sophie could have came off a lot worse- an uncaring bitch that cheats on her fiancée- she didn’t. Wells spins her story with a delicate hand that will have readers cheering Sophie on throughout the entire book. I felt Sophie’s confusion, her hesitance to spark up anything with Dan, her dismay at her betrayal to Tim. This was such a real book, with a real woman in a very confusing situation. On one hand, she has a rock star willing to sweep her off her feet, make all her dreams come true. On the other hand, she has Tim- the stable guy who will make her happy enough throughout life. How can she choose? I was pleasantly surprised when she did make her decision at the end- but no spoilers here! I will say that I thought it suited Sophie perfectly, and made for a great –and again, real- story. Overall, I greatly enjoyed this book. A definite must read for chick lit fans!
[Rating: 4.5]

In My Mailbox: Week of September 11

In My Mailbox: Week of September 11

Title: Sophie’s Turn
Author: Nicky Wells
Received: From Nicky Wells
Synopsis: This honest, funny and sometimes bitter-sweet novel tells the story of one woman’s entanglement with a rock star.

Slapper. Slut. Adulteress. These are hardly words that Sophie Penhalligan would normally use to describe herself. And yet this is exactly how she is behaving, all things considered, even if she isn’t quite married to Tim yet. Aged nineteen, she travelled halfway across the country to honour an invitation by her favourite rock band, Tusk, to join them for the last gig of their tour. And now her past is coming to tempt her… How could Tim ever stand a chance against Dan, the charming, handsome lead-singer? How could she?

Sophie, now twenty-eight and a budding newspaper journalist, is happily embroiled in a relationship with Tim, her boyfriend of two years. Until recently, she was confident that Tim would eventually propose—probably as soon as he could get his act together. But just as Tim’s persistent inaction is beginning to cast a cloud over their relationship, Dan’s sudden reappearance turns Sophie’s world upside down. Thus unfolds a roller-coaster of events including an ill-fated trip to Paris with Tim, a night of unfulfilled romance with Dan, Sophie and Tim’s engagement party gate-crashed by Dan, and Sophie’s professional secondment to accompany Dan’s band on their revival tour—at Dan’s special request and very much against her will.

And then, one fine day in Paris, Sophie suddenly finds herself engaged to Dan while her erstwhile fiancé Tim is… well, doing whatever it is Tim does back in London. What is she to do now? Who wouldn’t give anything to meet their favourite star, let alone marry him?

Find out how Sophie gets into this impossible situation, and how she turns it around, in Sophie’s Turn, a modern romantic fairy tale.

Title: The Pub Across the Pub
Author: Mary Carter
Received: From Kensington Books
Synopsis: When Carlene Rivers wins a raffle at an Ohio fair, her prize is a pub in Ireland. There she finally has the freedom to find her own voice. And in her flirtation with the pub’s charming former owner, she may learn to trust her heart—and luck—for the first time.

Title: Eat Pray Love
Author: Elizabeth Gilbert
Received: From a friend
Synopsis: Around the time Elizabeth Gilbert turned thirty, she went through an early- onslaught midlife crisis. She had everything an educated, ambitious American woman was supposed to want-a husband, a house, a successful career. But instead of feeling happy and fulfilled, she was consumed with panic, grief, and confusion. She went through a divorce, a crushing depression, another failed love, and the eradication of everything she ever thought she was supposed to be.
To recover from all this, Gilbert took a radical step. In order to give herself the time and space to find out who she really was and what she really wanted, she got rid of her belongings, quit her job, and undertook a yearlong journey around the world-all alone. Eat, Pray, Love is the absorbing chronicle of that year. Her aim was to visit three places where she could examine one aspect of her own nature set against the backdrop of a culture that has traditionally done that one thing very well. In Rome, she studied the art of pleasure, learning to speak Italian and gaining the twenty-three happiest pounds of her life. India was for the art of devotion, and with the help of a native guru and a surprisingly wise cowboy from Texas, she embarked on four uninterrupted months of spiritual exploration. In Bali, she studied the art of balance between worldly enjoyment and divine transcendence. She became the pupil of an elderly medicine man and also fell in love the best way-unexpectedly.
An intensely articulate and moving memoir of self-discovery, Eat, Pray, Love is about what can happen when you claim responsibility for your own contentment and stop trying to live in imitation of society’s ideals. It is certain to touch anyone who has ever woken up to the unrelenting need for change.

Title: Devilishly Hot
Author: Kathy Love
Received: Unsolicited
Synopsis: Annie Lou Riddle had a plan: Move to New York City. Break into the fashion industry. Work her way to the top. Nowhere in that scenario did she expect to accidentally sell her soul in exchange for a job at Hot! Magazine. Oops. Demons, it seems, aren’t big on letting mortals off the hook. Now Annie is stuck working as assistant/personal slave to Finola White – diva extraordinaire, and glamorous she-devil. Whatever Finola wants, she gets, and she wants Annie to match her up with Nick Rossi, the gorgeous detective investigating shady doings at Hot! Frankly, Annie sees the appeal. Nick is effortlessly sexy, rugged, charming – and the one man Annie should definitely not be flirting with, or kissing, or…Oops. But some loves are too devilishly hot to resist…