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Book Review: Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues by Trisha Ashley

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
When Tansy Poole inherits a run-down shoe shop tucked away in the village of Sticklepond, ‘Cinderella’s Slippers’ is born – providing the footwear to make any fairytale wedding come true…
Carrying everything a bride would want to walk down the aisle in, Tansy’s shop soon expands to carry shoe-themed wedding favours, bridesmaid gifts and even delicious chocolate shoes. It’s the dream destination for any shoe-lover!
If only everything in her personal life could be as heavenly – but with a fiancé trying to make her fit into a size 8 wedding dress, not to mention the recent discovery of disturbing family revelations, Tansy takes refuge in the shop’s success.
But one man isn’t thrilled by the stream of customers hot-footing it to Cinderella’s Slippers… Actor Ivo Hawksley, resident of the cottage next to the shop, is troubled by a dark secret in his past and has come to Sticklepond to nurse his own broken heart.
However, Ivo realises that he and Tansy have a link in their past and soon, they both find out how secrets shared can make a very strong bond indeed…
Forget the Jimmy Choos, Chocolate Shoes and Wedding Blues is the only accessory you need for spring 2012…
Summary:
I tend to find a lot of British chick lit pretty slow, and unfortunately this one fell in that category for me. While I enjoyed the story perfectly fine, it just seemed to take forever to progress through the chapters. I found so many scenes and sub plot points that didn’t seem wholly necessary, and wished it had been shorter so my interest could have been kept easier. I liked the basic storyline – Tansy taking over Cinderella’s Slippers and the possible love interest between her and Ivo. If there had been more focus on those main points I think I would have enjoyed this story a lot more. Still cute chick lit, just not my favorite.
3 stars

New Releases: November 2013

November New Releases
To me November marks the end of the harvest season and the approach of winter. In other words, it’s starting to get very chilly! So, I’m grateful that there are some wonderful (and in some cases long) books coming out this month that I can curl up with and savor after a big Thanksgiving dinner.
The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan – November 5, 2013. This novel is the latest sweeping epic by the NYT bestselling author, Amy Tam. It’s the story of a mother and daughter. In 1897 Lucia is a young American who falls for a Chinese painter and abandons her home for the intriguing and mysterious world of old Shanghai. At sixteen she makes some disastrous choices, which lead her to the life of a Madam. Fifteen years later, during the fall of the Ching dynasty, she loses her daughter Violet in a cruel act of clever manipulation. Violet is forced to become a “virgin courtesan.” Both woman experience betrayal and heartbreak, but refuse to submit to society’s expectations. Tan is expert at writing about the intricacies of the mother daughter relationship and this story, which spans forty years and two continents, will take the reader on an amazing journey.
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Marie Landry – November 5, 2013. Christmas isn’t always a wonderful time of year, especially for those who’ve lost a loved one. In the first few years after her grandmother’s death, Ginny Bailey bravely went through the holiday motions. When she finds out she’ll be alone this Christmas, she gives up the cheerful pretense. To add to her bah humbug spirit, everything in her life starts to go wrong – until Dean comes back into her life. Maybe Christmas can be wonderful again?
Wish Upon a Star by Trisha Ashley – November 7, 2013. The theme of this holiday story is the miracle that Christmas can bring. Cally is a young single mom, who doesn’t have time for love. When her young daughter Stella gets sick, she must move in with her mother to save money for surgery. All Cally wants for Christmas is a healthy child. Then the charming Jago shows up offering her hope of a different kind. Can Cally also look forward to the gift of love under her Christmas tree this year?
The Theory of Opposites by Allison Winn Scotch – November 12, 2013. Allison Winn Scotch is one of my favorite authors, so I’m very excited about her new book, a story about fate and destiny. Willa Chandler-Golden has what most would consider a good life – a great job, loving husband and a father who changed the world. Her dad wrote a best-selling self-help book that sold the notion that everything happens for a reason. Willa isn’t so sure about her dad’s theory, especially with her ever present negative pregnancy tests. When things begin to really fall apart for Willa, she finds herself on a totally different path. Can Willa tempt fate and be brave enough to change her life?
The Runaway Wife by Rowan Coleman – November 12, 2013. This is the story of a Rose, a woman who escapes her abusive husband by running away to the Lake District in England, where she seeks shelter at a small bed & breakfast. What led her there was the kindness of a stranger, whom she met long ago. Will this connection, which has sustained her, still be there? The beautiful surroundings, a nosy innkeeper and her charming son give Rose the hope to reach out to her estranged father. Can she continue to chase a dream or will she decide to face the reality in her heart?
Merry & Bright – Chick Lit Holiday Anthology – November 15, 2013. Sip your eggnog, linger under the mistletoe, and make a Christmas wish. Merry & Bright brings you six tales of Christmas cheer, featuring stories of budding romances, Southern charm, lost loves, heaps of humor, and lots of pie by authors Isabella Louise Anderson, Cindy Arora, Laura Chapman, Lauren Clark, Libby Mercer, and Nancy Scrofano. From sunny Los Angeles to the Rocky Mountains to the Deep South, Merry & Bright will take you on a heartwarming adventure you’ll love to visit again and again. Wrap yourself in holiday mirth and prepare to be swept off your feet.
The Supreme Macaroni Company by Adriana Trigiani – November 26, 2013. We wrap up the month with another family saga that spans continents. This is the third novel in Trigiani’s Valentine trilogy. Designer shoemaker Valentine is about to marry her tanner, Giancarlo, a handsome Italian who is twenty years her senior. He’s also the grandson of her grandmother’s new husband, which is complicated and probably a bit dysfunctional. Valentine tries to balance her work and private life, all the while opening a shoe factory in Brooklyn, and preparing to give birth to her first child. Giancarlo on the other hand, has very different ideas about their future – he envisions a quiet life in Tuscany. Choices, choices!

In My Mailbox: Week of November 10

Title: Vegas to Varanasi
Author: Shelly Hickman
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Anna has never been the beautiful one; she’s always been the nice one. So when the gorgeous man sitting across the table at a wedding reception remembers her from high school—and quite fondly at that—she’s taken off guard. Formerly overweight and unpopular, Kiran has never forgotten Anna, the one person who was kind to him when no one else could be bothered, and Anna’s a bit flustered as she slowly comes to grips with his intense attraction for her. In what feels like a romantic dream come true, all-grown-up, hunky Kiran invites Anna on a trip to Varanasi. But her troubled, whack-a-do ex-boyfriend starts interfering, creating drama at every turn, which begs the question, “Can nice girls really finish first?”

Title: Last Christmas
Author: Talli Roland
Review: Talli Roland
Synopsis: For Lucy, the best Christmas present is forgetting the past.

Eager to banish the ghost of Christmas past – when her boyfriend dumped her on the streets of Paris – Lucy is determined to make this the best Christmas ever. She rallies friends and family for an epic celebration that just happens to fall on the same day as her ex’s festive wedding. Furious at how she’s been treated, Lucy can’t help relishing the party v wedding smackdown.

But when the wedding is threatened and only Lucy can help, can she find the spirit inside to save the day, or will this Christmas be even more disastrous than the last?

Title: Doubting Abbey
Author: Samantha Tonge
Received: Samantha Tonge
Synopsis: Swapping downstairs for upstairs… How hard can it be!? Look up the phrase ordinary girl and you’ll see a picture of me, Gemma Goodwin – I only look half-decent after applying the entire contents of my make-up bag, and my dating track-record includes a man who treated me to dinner…at a kebab shop. No joke! The only extraordinary thing about me is that I look EXACTLY like my BFF, Abbey Croxley. Oh, and that for reasons I can’t explain, I’ve agreed to swap identities and pretend be her to star in the TV show about her aristocratic family’s country estate, Million Dollar Mansion. So now it’s not just my tan I’m faking – it’s Kate Middleton style demure hemlines and lady-like manners too. And amongst the hundreds of fusty etiquette rules I’m trying to cram into my head, there are two I really must remember; 1) No-one can ever find out that I’m just Gemma, who’d be more at home in the servants quarters. And 2) There can be absolutely no flirting with Abbey’s dishy but buttoned-up cousin, Lord Edward. Aaargh, this is going to be harder than I thought…

Title: It Would Be Wrong to Steal My Sister’s Boyfriend (Wouldn’t It?)
Author: Sophie Ranald
Received: Sophie Ranald
Synopsis: You live together, laugh together, borrow her shoes and eyeliner – is there anything you can’t share with your sister?

Ellie’s younger sister Rose has it all. She’s beautiful, stylish and dates gorgeous, glamorous millionaires, while Ellie is quite happy watching TV on the sofa with her old mate Ben. But when Rose brings her new boyfriend home, it’s lust at first sight for Ellie. And although she knows it’s wrong, everything changes: she’ll do whatever it takes to get Oliver, even if it means abandoning her principles and turning a deaf ear to her friends. After all, would it be so wrong to take up running, put some highlights in her hair and make herself look a tiny, little bit more like Rose? But as Ellie follows in her sister’s stiletto-heeled footsteps, she realises that finding love could mean losing the most important thing in the world.

It Would Be Wrong to Steal My Sister’s Boyfriend… is a warm, witty whirlwind romance. If you’re a fan of Tracy Bloom, Pippa Wright and Mhairi McFarlane, you’ll love Sophie Ranald.

Title: The End
Author: Denise Moncrief
Received: Denise Moncried
Synopsis: Sometimes the end is only the beginning.

Almost a year after her husband dies, Ellie Marston opens the file for Tab’s last manuscript, a thriller so compelling it reads like a true story. His manuscript needs an ending, so Ellie writes the obvious conclusion. The same morning she types The End, her career as an assistant district attorney falls apart. Accused of throwing the high profile Patterson case, she resigns in disgrace. The only friend she has left in the criminal justice system is Det. Paul Santiago, a man she has worked closely with on numerous cases. While she was married to Tab, she squashed her growing feelings for Paul, determined to make her deteriorating marriage work, but circumstances after Tab’s death bring Ellie and Paul together.

Ellie’s paranoia increases as she becomes convinced Patterson is harassing her, certain that someone is searching her belongings for any hidden evidence she might have that would reopen his case. It becomes clear there was a conspiracy to release Patterson. She seeks help from her former co-worker, Presley Sinclair, but soon discovers Presley is deeply involved in the subsequent cover up. Worse yet, Tab’s affair with Presley drew him into the twisted conspiracy as well.

Together Paul and Ellie attempt to uncover the conspiracy in the District Attorney’s office, the set up that forced her to resign. The key to the mystery is hidden in the pages of Tab’s manuscript. Once Paul and Ellie come to the correct conclusion—Tab’s manuscript is a true story and Ellie’s added ending is the only logical outcome—Ellie attempts to reveal Patterson’s hidden partner in the District Attorney’s office, but the co-conspirator she uncovers is not whom she suspects. Danger swirls around her as she steps further and further into the conspirator’s trap.

Title: Wish Upon a Star
Author: Trisha Ashley
Received: LightBrigade PR
Synopsis: Cookery columnist and author Cally’s world is turned upside down when her baby daughter is born with serious heart problems. Her ex disappeared when she was pregnant, and Cally has spent much of the early years of daughter Stella’s life at the hospital. When Stella’s only hope is hugely expensive life-saving surgery in the States, Cally moves in with her mother in the rural village of Sticklepond, to save money for the operation.

The village rallies round and begins fund raising with a vengeance, including the laid back and rather handsome baker Jago, who is still trying to escape the clutches of his controlling ex-fiance. With everything that is going on, the last thing Cally wants to do is fall in love, but she is also tired of going it alone. In the run up to Christmas, the true spirit of the festive season begins to show.

A warmly told tale that takes Trisha Ashley fans back to Sticklepond, with colourful characters old and new.