CLP Blog Tours Book Review: Hijack in Abstract by Larissa …
Reviewer: Samantha Larissa Reinhart is now on tour with CLP Blog Tours and Hijack in Abstract Summary: With a classical series sold and a portrait…
CLP Blog Tours Book Review: Miss Kane’s Christmas by …
Caroline Mickelson is on tour now with CLP Blog Tours and Miss Kane’s Christmas
Summary:
With Christmas only three days away, Carol Claus agrees to her father’s request that she leave the North Pole on a mission to help save Christmas. Joining single father Ben Hanson and his children for the holidays seems an easy enough task until Santa informs her that Ben is the man behind the disturbing new book ‘Beyond Bah Humbug: Why Lying to Your Children about Santa Claus is a Bad Idea’.
Posing as Miss Kane, the children’s new nanny, Carol pulls out all the stops to show Ben how fun Christmas can be, all the while struggling to understand how one man could hate the holidays so much. How could she, Santa’s only daughter, be so attracted to a man who refuses to believe her father exists?
Review:
What a cute little concept for a book! I loved the idea of a real Santa – come on, who doesn’t – and the sweet twist with him having a daughter falling for someone who so firmly believes the magic of Christmas isn’t real that he’s writing a book about it was so fun to read! This is a novella so it’s a quick read, and I had a great time devouring this in a day. If you don’t think too hard about all the logistics – how can Santa really give presents without the parents being alarmed being the biggest I could think of – and just let yourself enjoy the world Mickelson creates, I think you’ll have a blast reading this one. I’m in the holiday mood after finishing this fun and festive book!
4 stars
Author Bio:
Caroline Mickelson loves her family and loves to write. She also loves a good adventure, among her favorites thus far were attending graduate school in a Scottish castle, riding a camel around the Pyramids in Giza, and taking a best-in-a-lifetime road trip to Graceland. Caroline lives in the American southwest with her husband and their four children, affectionately known as The Miracles.
Connect with Caroline!
Website: www.carolinemickelson.com
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/CarolineM67
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorcarolinemickelson
Buy the Book!
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Miss-Kanes-Christmas-Romantic-Comedy-ebook/dp/B009SU0NVO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1384270852&sr=8-2&keywords=caroline+mickelson
B & N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/miss-kanes-christmas-caroline-mickelson/1117004957?ean=2940148746034
Kobo: http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/miss-kane-s-christmas
Book Review: The Sister Season by Jennifer Scott
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
Sometimes coming home for the holidays isn’t as easy as it seems….
It’s December 21, and the Yancey sisters have been called home. When the girls were young, holidays at their family farm meant a tinsel-garnished tree, the scent of simmering food, and laughter ringing through the house. But as the years unfolded, family bonds fractured, and the three sisters scattered and settled into separate lives. Until now. The Yancey sisters are coming to spend the holidays with their mother. They’re also coming to bury their father.
Claire, the youngest, a free spirit who journeyed to California, returns first. Then comes Julia, the eldest, a college professor with a teenage son of her own. And finally there’s Maya, the middle child, who works so hard to be the perfect mother and wife.
During the sisters’ week together, old conflicts surface, new secrets emerge, and the limits and definitions of family are tested. And as the longest night of the year slips by and brightening days beckon, the sisters will have to answer one question: When you’re a sister, aren’t you a sister forever?
Review:
I have been quite lucky with my books lately, as they all have been such page turners. The Sister Season continued that trend, and this book delivers an emotional read that left my tearing up, shaking my head, but also smiling through it all. The Yancey’s are one dysfunctional family, I don’t think anyone can argue with that. Years of abuse on all four women – Elise and her three daughters – leaves no one sad when their father passes away. But the family comes together around Christmas time for his funeral and for a final good-bye. All the sisters are in the middle of their own drama – some worse than the others – but it makes for a terrific and fast-paced read. I thought this book was very honest. Family isn’t easy. Being a mother or sister or wife isn’t easy. Their problems were thrust out there – bare and raw and at times hard to wrap my mind around, hard to understand why certain decisions were being made. I read this book in one day because I had to find out how the story ended, had to see if the sisters could stick together, and had to find out the truth about Robert’s death, which is a bit of a mystery since the beginning. Highly recommend.
4.5 stars
Book Review: Where The Pink Houses Are by Rebekah Ruth
I was given this book in exchange for an honest review
Where the pink houses are is a story about 2 women who lost their husbands and are learning how to heal from their heartbreaking loss. Brenna and her MIL Anna travel to Ireland in their effort to heal their hearts. It turns out to be a life changing experience and an amazing journey for them both. For Anna is it a story of coming home. For Brenna it is more of discovering her home.
Most of the story is Brenna’s and how she moved on from losing her husband at such an early age. She begins to really come into herself throughout the story and it was amazing to watch her grow and change.
Brenna decides to get out and work and meet people and fun enough she really starts to come out of her shell and develop her adult self. She makes friends and an enemy or two as well. She starts attending the local church and is amazed to find she wants to develop her spiritual self as well.
This story is a romance story, but it is also a well written lesson as well. There is talk about god and church, but it is not so overwhelming that you are put off from it. Mostly it’s sweet to see how during a dark time getting closer to your spiritual self can actually help you through it and help you to grow from it.
I LOVED this story; it was an amazing love story without the bedroom stuff. I believe the greatest love stories don’t need to be all about the intimate stuff and this author proves that. This is a great story for young adults and as a mature audience, it was written in a way that both can read and enjoy it.
CLP Blog Tours Book Review: Diner Impossible by Terri L …
Terri L Austin is on tour now with CLP Blog Tours and Diner Impossible
Summary:
After shunning her overbearing parents’ wealthy lifestyle, waitress and part-time college student, Rose Strickland, is drawn back into their world when she tries to prove the impossible: the innocence of the town’s crooked police chief. He’s suspected in the gruesome death of Delia Cummings, his secretary and mistress, and all the evidence points to him. While she tracks down clues with the aid of her anime-loving bestie, Rose’s pal, Axton, and his Klingon gang are feuding with their Starfleet rivals. Things get hairier than a pile of well-fed Tribbles, so Rose gets involved. In between interrogating Trekkies and quizzing socialites at high tea, she discovers the secrets Delia Cummings took to her grave. Suspects abound, but when Chief Mathers threatens to bring down Rose’s criminally mischievous and maybe boyfriend, Sullivan, she makes it her mission to find the real killer before Sullivan finds himself in prison. Part of the Henery Press Mystery Series Collection, if you like one, you’ll probably like them all! Diner Impossible is the third in the Rose Strickland humorous mystery series. In case you missed the first two, check out Diners, Dives & Dead Ends (#1) and Last Diner Standing (#2). Plus, Diners Keepers, Losers Weepers, a Rose Strickland novella, will be in the mystery anthology The Heartache Motel (December 2013).
Review:
I have been loving this series, and it was great to pick right back up and continue on with Rose’s life. The newest murder mystery she finds herself in has a bit of a twist – her mother also wants her to get involved and figure out the real murderer. Rose’s family is known to disapprove of her antics – not finished with school, working as a waitress, solving crimes, etc, – so when her mother calls on her for a favor, it throws Rose through a loop. I loved watching as she went to the country club with her mother and tried to fit in, it gave me a few good laughs. Focusing on the mystery aspect, I loved loved loved that I honestly was shocked when the murderer was revealed. When it’s obvious from the beginning (which I have read quite a few that way) it’s so hard to hold my interest. And there was another side mystery thrown in there that added another layer to the book as well. Of course Ma, Roxy and Ax are all there as well, and Ma just cracks me up and Roxy even showed a softer side in this one. This is a terrific series that I hope you’ll read!
4.5 stars
Book Review: Lies You Wanted to Hear by James Whitfield …
Summary:
Alone in an empty house, Lucy tries to imagine the lives of her two young children. They have been gone for seven years, and she is tormented by the role she played in that heartbreaking loss. You can hardly see a glimpse of the sexy, edgy woman she used to be. Back then, she was a magnet for men like Matt, who loved her beyond reason, and Griffin, who wouldn’t let go but always left her wanting more. Now the lies they told and the choices they made have come to haunt all three of them.
With shattering turns, Lies You Wanted to Hear explores the way good people talk themselves into doing terrible, unthinkable things. What happens when we come to believe our own lies? And what price must we pay for our mistakes?
A searing story that will leave you wondering what choices you would make, Lies You Wanted to Hear is a stunning debut.
Review:
I really enjoyed reading this one! What a fantastic debut novel. Lies You Wanted to Hear kept me reading late into the night. From the very beginning of the book, I knew that things were going to happen and I had to keep turning pages to find out. I was surprised and intrigued by the twists in the story.
The book alternates between Lucy’s and Matt’s point of view. The reader gets to know what both main characters are thinking and why they act as they do. Lucy and Matt both made poor decisions and told lies but you could tell that they also loved each other and their family despite their failed marriage.
Once I finished the book, the story kept coming back to me and I found myself pondering what I would have done if I was Matt or Lucy…and I still don’t know.
I would definitely recommend this book.
5 stars
Book Review: The Theory of Opposites by Allison Winn Scotch
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
What happens when you think you have it all, and then suddenly it’s taken away?
Willa Chandler-Golden’s father changed the world with his self-help bestseller, Is It Really Your Choice? Why Your Entire Life May Be Out of Your Control. Millions of devoted fans now find solace in his notion that everything happens for a reason. Though Willa isn’t entirely convinced of her father’s theories, she readily admits that the universe has delivered her a solid life: a reliable husband, a fast-paced career. Sure there are hiccups – negative pregnancy tests, embattled siblings – but this is what the universe has brought, and life, if she doesn’t think about it too much, is wonderful.
Then her (evidently not-so-reliable) husband proposes this: a two-month break. Two months to see if they can’t live their lives without each other. And before Willa can sort out destiny and fate and what it all means, she’s axed from her job, her 12 year-old nephew Nicky moves in, her ex-boyfriend finds her on Facebook, and her best friend Vanessa lands a gig writing for Dare You!, the hottest new reality TV show. And then Vanessa lures Willa into dares of her own – dares that run counter to her father’s theories of fate, dares that might change everything…but only if Willa is brave enough to stop listening to the universe and instead aim for the stars.
Review:
I am a big fan of Allison Winn Scotch, and I was crazy curious to read her latest title. Allison recently made the decision to go from traditionally published to self-published, so of course my interest was even higher for her new offering. I was pleased that the same writing and same inspiration from her characters is there. She does a great job at giving readers a meaty story and forcing us to ask ourselves some of the same questions she is asking her characters. I connected with Willa immediately, though I have to say I never really liked her husband Shawn. Her story was interesting and pretty intense, thanks in part to her “break” from marriage, meeting back up with an ex, going on a reality show, and her insane family – seriously, they are crazy! I highly recommend you check this author out if you haven’t yet!
4 stars
Book Review: Dollface by Renee Rosen
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
America in the 1920s was a country alive with the wild fun of jazz, speakeasies, and a new kind of woman—the flapper.
Vera Abramowitz is determined to leave her gritty childhood behind and live a more exciting life, one that her mother never dreamed of. Bobbing her hair and showing her knees, the lipsticked beauty dazzles, doing the Charleston in nightclubs and earning the nickname “Dollface.”
As the ultimate flapper, Vera captures the attention of two high rollers, a handsome nightclub owner and a sexy gambler. On their arms, she gains entrée into a world filled with bootleg bourbon, wailing jazz, and money to burn. She thinks her biggest problem is choosing between them until the truth comes out. Her two lovers are really mobsters from rival gangs during Chicago’s infamous Beer Wars, a battle Al Capone refuses to lose.
The heady life she’s living is an illusion resting on a bedrock of crime and violence unlike anything the country has ever seen before. When the good times come to an end, Vera becomes entangled in everything from bootlegging to murder. And as men from both gangs fall around her, Vera must put together the pieces of her shattered life, as Chicago hurtles toward one of the most infamous days in its history, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.
Review:
How I do love me a good ‘20’s era read! Dollface was one I was impatiently waiting for, eager to get this read, and I loved it! 1920’s, flappers, gangsters, speakeasies…all of some of my favorite things. I loved that the writing was able to transport me back in time, and feel as though I was seeing Capone from across the bar and that my husband was a dangerous gangster. Following Vera was breathtaking and felt so authentic. The characters and descriptions were researched and getting a history lesson while reading is a favorite of mine. If you like historical fiction or are a fan of this era like me, read this one!
4.5 stars
Book Review: A Medical Affair by Anne McCarthy Strauss
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
While under the care of her pulmonologist after a life-threatening asthma attack, Heather Morrison enters into an affair with her doctor. This affair violates the state’s code of conduct and his medical treatment violates the Hippocratic oath. Heather’s life is shattered as a result. After the doctor terminates the relationship, Heather begins research for her own healing, and armed with this information, she initiates a civil lawsuit. Although it is a work of fiction, A Medical Affair was extensively researched. A Medical Affair is a critical book for women who want to make educated decisions regarding their relationships with their doctors.
Review:
When I first started reading this one, I’ll be honest – I wasn’t quite sure I would like it very much. I didn’t understand Heather’s attraction to Jeff. It just seemed too fast to me – she goes to the hospital and two visits later she’s having sex with her doctor on the exam table even though she knows he’s married. It seemed too rushed to me and I struggled to connect with the story at that point. I will say when we moved past that part and into the meat of the story, I highly enjoyed it. It seemed fast-paced, it was complex, and it was interesting. I was holding my breath when it came to parts of the lawsuit and especially during the parts about her pending adoption. But then…the ending I didn’t love. It was fast and almost rushed again and I felt a little cheated out of a resolution. I actually had to go back and re-read parts to help me understand what happened. I can appreciate that the author tried to show how patients can rely on their doctors so quickly and start unhealthy relationships, but I think it came too late for me. If I skipped over how fast the affair started and how little care Heather seemed to have about sleeping with a married man, I think I would have enjoyed this story a lot more, and maybe not have minded the fast ending. One last point – I wasn’t sure I understood why certain POV’s came in at the end, with Heather’s lawyer and a reporter. They didn’t quite fit with the story. Other than my critiques, it’s an interesting book that touched on a subject I didn’t know a lot about and I hope more people will become informed on this topic!
3 stars
