On Tour: Finding Lucas by Samantha Stroh Bailey
Samantha will be on tour September 10-October 1 with her novel Finding Lucas Can you ever really go back to the past? On her fifth…
Growing Up Beautiful by Lori Jones
Summary:
In the summer of 1986, three young American women are chosen to join a modeling agency in Europe’s fashion capitol of Milan.
United as roommates by chance, Star, Joanne and Casey soon find their dreamed-of careers as models taking paths as different as their personalities.
Star, who leaves behind her waitress job along with a handful of crumpled up dollar tips, sees her beauty as a way move to the top of Milan’s social strata.
Joanne, raised in a privileged lifestyle, is expected to continue an Ivy League education, which doesn’t interest her as much as a young photographer she meets on a casting.
Casey is a naïve seventeen year old who is ready for adventure, even the dangerous kind.
Together, these three learn the funny, unexpected and sometimes ugly truths about growing up beautiful.
My Review:
As someone who thought for sure she was destined for the runway as a little girl, I still love all things modeling, even though my height screeched to a halt at a mere 5’5. That didn’t stop me from entering pageants, modeling competitions, going on casting calls, and even though I’m sure my fantasy days about being a model are well over, I still enjoy shows such as America’s Next Top Model and learning about the industry. I was really excited to pick up Growing up Beautiful and get an idea of what life was like in the ‘80’s for fashion models. A great behind the scenes peek, and the pages are filled with insight, drama, betrayal and unlikely friendships, and I had such a fun time with this book. I think anyone with an interest for modeling will highly enjoy this book, and it’s an overall fun women’s read as well.
[Rating: 4]
Completing the Puzzle by Amanda Egan
I received a copy of Completing the Puzzle in exchange for an honest review. I have read Amanda Egan’s two previous novels, Diary of a Mummy Misfit and The Darker Side of Mummy Misfit, and enjoyed them both. This book is not in the Mummy Misfit series, but introduces a new cast of characters. Fee Crawford, a middle-aged mom to twin boys and a faltering marriage, starts to feel her life is incomplete. When her husband Hugh finally confesses why he has been distant lately, Fee’s life is shaken up, and heading for change. When she meets the vet in town, things start to look up. But with her twin boys, her father living under roof and chasing the housecleaner, and an overly-dramatic best friend constantly popping in, Fee isn’t sure her puzzle will find that missing piece.
I enjoyed the quirky humor that Egan brought to her first two books, and though I might not always understand the dialect being a US reader, it still gives me a chuckle as I Google terms. I thought the first half of the book was very solid, and enjoyed getting to know Fee and her family. I thought her twin boys were charming each in their own way, and the twist with Hugh was an interesting one. Through the second half of the book, I actually felt like I was reading a different novel. There are lot of big storylines and plot twists written in, and sometimes I felt like I was being led in all different directions, and it got to be a bit much. There also started to be a lot of foreshadowing in the second half of the book that I didn’t find in the first, so that really made it seem like I was reading two different novels. Overall I still enjoyed the story and thought Fee was a fun MC, but I think the plot could have been a bit tighter.
[Rating: 3.5]
Blog Tour Sign Up: The Seven Steps to Closure by …
Tara Babcock awakes the morning after her 30th birthday with a hangover that could kill an elephant – and the knowledge she is still no closer to achieving closure on her marriage breakup. Things go from bad to worse when she discovers that, not only is her ex-husband engaged to her cousin – Tash, the woman he left her for – but that Jake is also running for Lord Major of Sydney.
Desperate to leave the destructive relationship behind and with nothing to lose, she decides- with encouragement from her three best friends – to follow the dubious advice from a magazine article, Closure in Seven Easy Steps.
The Seven Steps to Closure follows Tara on her sometimes disastrous- always hilarious – path to achieve the seemingly impossible.
A credible and amazingly touching debut novel from Donna Joy Usher, this is a solid, light-hearted and honest read with plenty of laughs.
On Tour: The Undiscovered Novelist by Sarah Bridgeton
Sarah will be on tour September 10-17 with her novel The Undiscovered Novelist Twenty-seven-year-old Jordyn Simmons has almost everything she’s ever wanted—a sexy live-in boyfriend,…
Author Profile: Suzan Battah
Author Name: Suzan Battah Website: http://www.suzanbattah.com/ Bio: Suzan Battah is a proud Australian born author who has loved to write since her teenage years. In…
All The Truth by Laura Brodie
All The Truth by Laura Brodie follows Emma and Maggie Greene. The story starts off with Maggie away on break from teaching, living in rural solitude with her husband and Maggie, who is then only five years old. Late one night, an intruder trespasses and Maggie witnesses her mother do something that changes her life forever. The story then resumes nine years later, finding Maggie living with her now divorced father in the same rural town, entering her first year of high school and some things make her confront that lone night in her past once she has an odd encounter with a math teacher.
When I first started reading All The Truth by Laura Brodie, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. The book starts off slow … but boy does it pick up about 30-40 pages in. Laura does a wonderful job at capturing every emotion that the characters feel and she describes things in vivid detail so that it feels like you are experiencing everything first hand with the characters. My only complaint is that the big moment that I was waiting for toward the end of the book kind of left me hanging. Maybe I was expecting more of a confrontation? Either way, this book is incredibly sad but a great read. It was difficult reading about Maggie and her struggles but I couldn’t put the book down. Overall, a very memorable and captivating book.
[Rating: 4/5-5]
Challenge 2012:Post Reviews:September
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Prize for September: Three (3) winners will receive a print copy of Loving David by Gina Hummer. This will be open to US/Canada residents only. In order to qualify, you must post the link to your review in the Mister Linky below. This can be to your blog, GoodReads page, or other sources such as Amazon.
Don’t Let Me Go by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Catherine Ryan Hyde is currently on tour with CLP Blog Tours and Don’t Let Me Go. I was fascinated by this novel. The diverse group of characters, the range of Hyde’s writing skills, and a tightly wound plot equaled for a five-star review. The book switches back and forth between Grace and Billy, two completely opposite people. Grace is a nine year old girl with an addict mother, and Billy is a former Broadway dancer who is now an agoraphobic and has not stepped outside his apartment in years. When he keeps seeing Grace sitting alone outside the apartment building – day after day after day – he sums up the courage to at least make it to his porch and question the young girl. Her answer? “If I sit inside, then nobody will know I’m in trouble. And then nobody will help me.”
An eclectic group living in the apartment building bands together to help Grace. There is Billy, Rayleen the manicurist, older and quite lonely Ms. Hinman, bigoted Mr. Lafferty, and the kind Felipe. They take turns walking her to school, picking her up, caring for her in the evenings. At nine years old, Grace has an uncanny ability to understand that her mother is not doing the best job, especially when she is “loaded.” She clings to the stability and love her generous neighbors give her – but the situation takes a turn when the county is tipped off on what is happening, and comes poking around for answers.
Don’t Let Me Go was a heartwarming novel, and I loved every minute of it. The pages were filled with drama and love, and Grace just melted my heart. The unique relationship she formed with Billy was so beautiful, and I got tears in my eyes plenty of times while reading. This is a must-read!
[Rating: 5]
