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Blog Tour Sign Up: Geoducks are for Lovers by Daisy Prescott
CLP Blog Tours

Blog Tour Sign Up: Geoducks are for Lovers by Daisy …

Food writer Maggie Marrion is just getting back on her feet after a horrible year, or two, or three. With their twentieth reunion approaching, she invites four of her closest friends from college for a weekend at her beach cabin on Whidbey Island. What she doesn’t expect is her best friends, artist Quinn Dayton and part-time erotica novelist, Selah Elmore, to play matchmaker. The two plot a surprise that will make the weekend, and her life, a lot more interesting.

Gil Morrow, former grunge musician turned history professor, joins them as Selah’s date for the weekend. After coming face to face with the one who got away, he decides he’s waited long enough to get the girl. With the support of old friends, a few wishing rocks, the world’s largest burrowing clam, and a hot lumberjack thrown into the mix, Gil reminds Maggie that forty-something isn’t too old for second chances.

Can we learn to love the life we have and let go of who we expected to be? What happens when the generation from The Breakfast Club and Reality Bites meets The Big Chill? Come spend a weekend with these Generation X-ers as they share laughter, tears, life’s ups and downs, old stories, and new beginnings.

May 2, 2013
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Book Review: Too Close by Elizabeth Krall
Chick Lit Review

Book Review: Too Close by Elizabeth Krall

I received a copy of TOO CLOSE by Elizabeth Krall in exchange for an honest review.

Summary:

What rules would you break for the one you love? What lies would you tell?
Three weeks before their wedding day, Nicola and Greg discover that they may have the same mother. They met when Greg joined the San Francisco newspaper where Nicola is the travel editor. After six months, eager to start a life together and raise a family, they decide to marry. When Nicola finally meets his family in Seattle, and mentions the circumstances of her adoption, Greg’s horrified mother is forced to reveal the shameful secret she has kept for 36 years. As they struggle to deal with her revelation, their relationship is challenged and strained. If his mother’s suspicions are true, they will be forced into a devastating choice: break all of society’s rules and fight for their love, or break their hearts and give each other up. It will be the greatest test their newfound love has faced – and their love may not survive.

My Thoughts:

The premise of this book is both disturbing and intriguing. It has been a while since I’ve had both of those emotions evoked while reading a book and for some reason, I couldn’t put the book down. Needless to say, Elizabeth does a really good job at drawing the reader in and keeping them intrigued throughout the whole book. The book starts off just like most typical romance novels do, but that quickly changes as you find out what is really going on. I really enjoyed both Greg and Nicole and thought that Elizabeth did an amazing job at crafting such real characters with honest and raw emotions. I kept thinking, “what if this happened to me?” the entire time I was reading. Needless to say, the topic is quite sensitive, but I think it was handled very tastefully with great respect and tact. So, I must tip my hat because this book is a job well done.
Rating: 4 stars

May 2, 2013
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Future Tour: Somewhere Between Black and White by Shelly Hickman
CLP Blog Tours

Future Tour: Somewhere Between Black and White by Shelly Hickman

Shelly will be on tour July 1-22 with her chick lit/women’s fiction novel Somewhere Between Black and White Romance, humor, family drama, with a touch…

May 2, 2013
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Book Review: The Wanderer by Robyn Carr
Chick Lit Review

Book Review: The Wanderer by Robyn Carr

I received a copy of THE WANDERER by Robyn Carr in exchange for an honest review.

This story takes place in Thunder Point, a small and remote community nestled on the Orange Coast in Oregon. We met Hank Cooper (or Cooper) right away and he is the type of man who doesn’t stay in one place very long, but he heads to Thunder Point after his friend Ben dies and leaves him a piece of property on the beach. Once he gets there, he falls for the town and realizes that it is at risk of becoming developed and ironically, he holds the key in his hands with the property that Ben left. And, to top it off, he meets Sarah, a beautiful and very complicated woman full of charm. They seem like a very unlikely pair but one can not deny their chemistry. Will an emotionally unavailable man and an an emotionally scarred woman be able to overlook their past to make their love work? Or are they destined for failure? And what will Cooper do about the land and the potential threat from developers?

I really, really enjoyed The Wanderer and thought Robyn did an amazing job at crafting such amazing, honest and real characters. This story takes place in a very small town and the author does a really good job at creating a visually appealing novel so that you often times feel as though you are right there with the characters. The story opens with a mystery and I thought it did a really good job at peaking my interest early on but I found that my interest was held pretty much throughout the novel. My only complaint is that we had to wait so long to meet Sarah, but I do understand that timing is everything. Overall though, this book is a really enjoyable read and I think you will enjoy it.
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

May 2, 2013
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Book Review: Field of Schemes by Jennifer Coburn
Chick Lit Review

Book Review: Field of Schemes by Jennifer Coburn

I received a copy of FIELD OF SCHEMES by Jennifer Coburn in exchange for an honest review. Field of Schemes follows newly widowed Claire Emmett…

May 1, 2013
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Book Review: The Witch of Little Italy by Suzanne Palmieri
Chick Lit Review

Book Review: The Witch of Little Italy by Suzanne Palmieri

I received a copy of The Witch of Little Italy by Suzanne Palmieri in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
In Suzanne Palmieri’s charming debut, The Witch of Little Italy, you will be bewitched by the Amore women. When young Eleanor Amore finds herself pregnant, she returns home to her estranged family in the Bronx, called by “The Sight” they share now growing strong within her. She has only been back once before when she was ten years old during a wonder-filled summer of sun-drenched beaches, laughter and cartwheels. But everyone remembers that summer except her. Eleanor can’t remember anything from before she left the house on her last day there. With her past now coming back to her in flashes, she becomes obsessed with recapturing those memories. Aided by her childhood sweetheart, she learns the secrets still haunting her magical family, secrets buried so deep they no longer know how they began. And, in the process, unlocks a mystery over fifty years old—The Day the Amores Died—and reveals, once and for all, a truth that will either heal or shatter the Amore clan.

Review:
Ooh, a good magic story – right up my alley! I’ll admit that it took me a few chapters to ease into the Amore women and their history, but just short of halfway through the book I really started to become hooked. The mystery aspect of the Day the Amores Died was interesting, and a bit of a heartbreak to read about once it was finally time for that to be revealed. Sometimes I felt that the scenes were a bit over my head and I struggled to connect, but overall this was a really fun story filled with shaky family dynamics, the bond between mother and daughter, and the power of magic. An intriguing debut from Palmieri¸ and I hope to read more from her!
4 stars

May 1, 2013
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Blog Tour Sign Up: Adventure to Love by Bethany Ramos
CLP Blog Tours

Blog Tour Sign Up: Adventure to Love by Bethany Ramos

Bethany will be on tour in July/August with her chick lit novel Adventure to Love. I am looking for book bloggers to post reviews, guest…

April 30, 2013
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On Tour: Appetites by Karen Frankola
CLP Blog Tours

On Tour: Appetites by Karen Frankola

When Sarah suddenly hears from Harry, the Brit she almost married twenty years ago, she decides now is the time to change her life. Sarah has a great job in Manhattan, but she considers herself too fat to have a boyfriend. Harry is visiting New York in four months and she wants to turn back into the girl he fell in love with. Since she can never stick to a diet, she comes up with a drastic solution.

Sarah asks her sister Max to lock her up in her basement and feed her nothing but healthy meals. Max, a struggling waitress, agrees begrudgingly. She’s skinny, but has her own set of appetites—for drink, drugs, and great-looking losers.

Sarah thinks a summer in Max’s basement will give her a new body, a chance to reconnect with Harry, and the friendship she’s long craved from her sister. But things quickly go wrong. Max’s drinking leads her to neglect Sarah, who figures out how to get out of the basement. Sarah develops an obsession with Max’s boyfriend and manages to fulfill a sexual fantasy by pretending to be something she’s not.

Can Sarah turn back time with Harry or will she and Max kill each other first? Can either sister ever learn to say no?

April 30, 2013
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Book Review: I Should Be So Lucky by Judy Astley
Chick Lit Review

Book Review: I Should Be So Lucky by Judy Astley

At the age of 39- poor Viola has already had her fair share of bad turns with life. From two wrong marriages, to now having to have her and her daughter, Rachel, live with her mum, Viola feels like her life is stuck in a pit. After a party with friends and an unwanted meeting with her siblings, Viola realizes it’s time to take charge of her own life. Time for her and Rachel to move out on their own, and even better, for a new man to step in. Cue up Greg Fabian… a stranger she meets in the night, who’s carrying shovels in the middle of nowhere. With a little unexpected help from her outgoing mum, to her gay ex-husband and his sister, begins the journey of finding the life she was always supposed to live.

This is my first time reading a book by Judy Astley… someone I am definitely going to check out more of. (Having almost 20 more books, I think I have some good reading ahead of me.) I was timid at first about this book, as it was a little slow to start. But after only a few chapters, I found myself caught up in not only a wonderful love story, but mini-adventures with some of the minor characters. I especially loved Rachel and her trials of just trying to grow up. Some may say that parts of the story are a little predictable, but to me, that’s what made it so comfortable. It was fun and real at the same time. Sometimes knowing the outcome makes life a little easier to go through.

April 30, 2013
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