It’s a boy for Natalie Portman! People.com revealed that the Oscar winning actress, 30, and her fiancé, Benjamin Millepied, welcomed a baby boy into their lives. No word on the name or any other details as of yet have been released. This is the first child for the couple, who met on the set of Black Swan.
Trina Stewart hates that the famous HOLLYWOOD sign mocks her from her own home. After 10 years in the land of celebrities and out $100,000 to film school debt, Trina has still not found the Hollywood job. Instead, she works as a teacher, teaching English as a Second Language- not her dream job. But she refuses to believe that she won’t reach her dreams. Not only will she conquer Hollywood, she will also find that perfect man. Somehow, someway….
Matiu Wulf, a New Zealander, finds himself in LA only to get some real scene design experience and take a class at UCLA to make his resume look good. With more movies being filmed in his homeland, he needs something to set him apart from the other film wannabees. But when he rents the apartment upstairs from Trina Stewart and begins to fall for her, he knows that is the last thing he can do. He is only in LA to take the class, get the experience and some connections, and head back home to Auckland. But when he watches Trina fall for the wrong guy, he can’t help but intervene…
Hollywood Ending by Lucie Simone is a cute romance novel with a dash of Hollywood sauciness. The story is told in both Trina and Matiu’s view points, so readers get an understanding of both main characters. I actually liked Matiu’s character more than Trina’s, which usually doesn’t happen! But he is such a manly man and delectable in both looks and personality that I really couldn’t help myself. There were times that I thought the plot could benefit from some more action, and it was a bit predictable, but overall I thought it was good story and I will definitely be checking out more of Simone’s titles.
Rating: 3.5/5
The Gin and Chowder Club by Nan Rossiter is an eloquently written story about the dangers of an affair and the deep binds of love. The story is set in Cape Cod, and showcases two very different families. Samuel and Sarah Coleman are a happily married couple with two sons, Isaac and Asa. The family is good friends with Nate Shepherd and his much younger wife, Noelle. What the families don’t know is of a secret affair between Asa and Noelle. The pair doesn’t know what to do about their love for one another. They can’t stand being apart from one another, but understand that if the affair was brought to light, the bond between the families would be forever broken. When Asa decides the best thing for him to do would be to go off to college and leave the families at peace, he and Noelle embark on a summer fling, trying to get in all the time together that they can. But the consequences of the summer play a cruel twist of fate, with an unexpected ending for all.
I really enjoyed The Gin and Chowder Club. Even though it is told from Asa’s perspective, I was able to jump right in and form a bond with all the characters. Rossiter’s writing is beautiful, and the Cape Cod scenery made me feel I was there right along with the cast. The only thing that I had a bit of trouble with was the time frame of the story. I kept thinking something seemed a bit off, but it wasn’t until Asa went to the baseball game that I realized this book is set in the 1960’s. Other than that, I really enjoyed the book, and even shed a few tears at the heart wrenching ending. This is Rossiter’s first adult novel, and I will eagerly wait for more!
[Rating: 4.5]
Well who saw this one coming? Just four days before their much anticipated nuptials, the wedding between Hugh Hefner and Crystal Harris has been officially…
Delphine Crandall and Maggie Weldon become instant best friends at the age of nine, when life has complications such as which flavor of ice cream to choose. Delphine is a native of Maine, while Maggie’s family visits Maine each year for a vacation. Maggie’s family is well off, and she has many opportunities in life. Delphine doesn’t have the same social status as Maggie, but the girls don’t let that get in the way of become friends. Their friendship stays strong for years, and the girls even go to college together in Boston. But during college, something changes for Delphine. While Maggie gets her degree, a great career, a husband, and eventually children, Delphine slinks back to Maine to work for her family business. She cuts off her friendship with Maggie, and Maggie is devastated over the loss of her childhood friend. But after twenty years, Maggie decides she wants answers- and hopefully her friend back. She tracks down Delphine, still living in Maine and working with her family, with no husband or children. Maggie tries reconnecting with the woman who she once shared all her secrets with…but can their friendship still last despite all that’s been thrown at them?
I was a little torn while reading Summer Friends by Holly Chamberlin. While I loved the vivid scenes that paint the quaint town of Maine and thought Maggie’s character was kind, generous, and good-hearted, I could never really get into Delphine. I was a little confused at why she dropped Maggie’s friendship so quickly. It is kind of explained towards the end, but I didn’t find it to be a real powerful motive for completely shunning someone out of your life. I did enjoy the ending, I thought Chamberlin wrapped up the story of these two women nicely, but the book didn’t really move me like I was hoping it would.
Rating: 3
Kathleen Kole is on tour June 13-27 with her novel Breaking Even Meet Penelope Whittaker, an accountant. A sensible, do things the right way, soon-to-be-married…
Told through the eyes of Candace Turner, a high school English teacher straight out of college, Little Miss Teacher details one woman’s struggles through the important initial stages of her career and her life as a grown-up. While teaching her students about writing and literature, Candace learns her own lessons about life. As she worries about fitting in with the faculty and conquering piles of essays to grade, Candace also pursues an old crush. Through her endless attempts to succeed in both her job and life, she has many adventures within and outside of her classroom walls. Ultimately, Candace hopes to finish the school year with a feeling of triumph at having touched the lives of her students… and having survived.
In the vein of both Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus’s The Nanny Diaries and Lauren Weisberger’s The Devil Wears Prada, Little Miss Teacher is a story about a young woman dealing with the ups and downs of work and life. In experiences that are sometimes amusing and sometimes sad, Candace endures everything from chaperoning the prom to helping a friend deal with a problem. In her earnest, self-conscious, conversational manner, Candace gives a voice and an all-access pass to the often embarrassing life of a young educator.
In My Mailbox: Week of June 12, 2011
Title: Do Not Lick the Phones
Author: Britney Bronte
Received: From Britney Bronte/CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: The True Confessions of a TV Psychic! A sparkling romcom based on the true life adventures of Britney Bronte, hapless wannabe celebrity psychic.
Meet Britney, a girl with a pack of cards and almost no ambition, who finds herself jetset to stardom on psychic Television. Will she find fame? Inner meaning? True love?
Crazies and conmen, angels and aliens, predictions and porn, they’re all to be found in this whistleblowing romp through the New Age. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll howl… but whatever you do, remember please, DO NOT LICK THE PHONES!
Title: The D Word
Author: Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke
Received: From Crystal @ Book Sparks PR for blog tour
Synopsis: Jordan Daniels and Elle Ryan thought their lives would become less complicated when they walked away from their respective relationships one year ago. But instead, they find themselves vying for a relationship with the same divorced man.
As a spiritual counselor, newly single mother Jordan Daniels makes her living predicting other people’s futures. If only she could foresee her own. A year after filing for divorce from her husband, Kevin, he seems to be the one moving on effortlessly, while Jordan still can’t bring herself to fill his old underwear drawer. But it’s not until Jordan’s polar opposite, Elle steals Kevin’s heart, that Jordan becomes convinced she’ll be replaced both as a wife and a mother to her five-year-old son, Max.
When Elle met Kevin, the last thing she wanted was another relationship. Especially not with a man with baggage-she already had enough of her own. She left her fiancé, Chase right before their wedding to avoid the imminent D word, something she’s convinced runs in her family like a disease. But a year later, she’s no closer to becoming less skeptical about marriage. And despite her attachment to Kevin and his son, when Elle sees just how far Jordan’s willing to go to win Kevin back, Elle starts to question if she should have left Chase in the first place.
In THE D WORD you’ll walk in the shoes of Jordan and Elle as they discover that sometimes you’re not that different from the person who makes you feel the most insecure.
Title: Last Night at Château Marmont
Author: Lauren Weisberger
Received: From Cristina @ Simon and Schuster
Synopsis: Brooke loved reading the dishy celebrity gossip rag Last Night. That is, until her marriage became a weekly headline.Brooke was drawn to the soulful, enigmatic Julian Alter the very first time she heard him perform “Hallelujah” at a dark East Village dive bar.Now five years married, Brooke balances two jobs—as a nutritionist at NYU Hospital and as a consultant to an Upper East Side girls’ school, where privilege gone wrong and disordered eating run rampant—in order to help support her husband’s dream of making it in the music world.Things are looking up when after years of playing Manhattan clubs and toiling as an A&R intern, Julian finally gets signed by Sony. Although no one’s promising that the album will ever hit the airwaves, Julian is still dedicated to logging in long hours at the recording studio. All that changes after Julian is asked to perform on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno—and is catapulted to stardom, literally overnight. Amazing opportunities begin popping up almost daily—a new designer wardrobe, a tour with Maroon 5, even a Grammy performance.At first the newfound fame is fun—who wouldn’t want to stay at the Chateau Marmont or visit the set of one of television’s hottest shows? Yet it seems that Brooke’s sweet husband—the man who can’t handle hot showers and wears socks to bed—is increasingly absent, even on those rare nights they’re home together. When rumors about Brooke and Julian swirl in the tabloid magazines, she begins to question the truth of her marriage and is forced to finally come to terms with what she thinks she wants—and what she actually needs.
Title: Little Black Dress
Author: Susan McBride
Received: From Susan McBride
Synopsis: Can there be magic in a Little Black Dress? Susan McBride, author of The Cougar Club and the Debutante Dropout mystery series, answers with a resounding, unequivocal, “Yes!” McBride’s mesmerizing tale of two sisters whose intertwined lives are torn apart by a remarkable dress that opens up doors to an inescapable future is an ingenious work of the imagination that recalls the novels of Claire Cook and Jill Kargman. A sometimes heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking look into two generations of women, this Little Black Dress is something every fan of quality contemporary women’s fiction will want to own.
Karsen Woods seems to be having a great life. Away at college, she has the perfect boyfriend, a fabulous best friend, her brother nearby, and…
