Future Tour: Mary Indiana by Anneke Campbell
Anneke will be on tour October 22-29 with her novel Mary Indiana. She’s eighteen and pregnant, but with a twist–the new kid in town’s barely…
Lasik Surgery: The Day is Here!
Lasik is paid for, forms are signed, contacts have been out, no makeup is on, fiancé is by my side…and I’m ready for Lasik surgery!…
Finding Out by Sheryn MacMunn
Finding Out by Sheryn MacMunn follows Sheila Davenport who in the beginning of the book, believes that her life is on track. Then … she gets dumped by her boyfriend of seven years and shortly afterward, realizes that he nearly emptied their joint savings account. Weighed down by reality, the financial woes of the bills that she can no longer afford to pay, and a psychotic boss, Sheila loses grip and realizes that life is no longer what she once imagined it to be. Stuck with no immediate solutions to her problems, her friends urge her to date but she realizes that dating only causes more woes but she wonders what to do next. An unexpected twist brings in an elderly neighbor who shares some insight on love, loss, and most importantly, a solid perspective on living life. What will happen to Sheila? Will she be able to move on and forward with her life? Or will she continue to dwell on all that has gone wrong? You must turn the pages to find out.
Finding Out is a true eye opener and I loved every second of it. Early on in the novel, Sheila loses everything and is so lost that she doesn’t know which way is up and which is down. But, that all changes once she meets Ruth and gets a fresh perspective on life. This is a story of second chances, love found and lost, and the strength of redemption. A page-turner until the very last second, I enjoyed this debut from Sheryn immensely. Overall, a fantastic read.
[Rating: 5/5]
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…
