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Book Review: Giving Myself Away by Grete DeAngelo

Reviewer: Allie I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Summary: In Giving Myself Away, divorced mother Adrienne Manning is…

Book Review: Pulled Beneath by Marni Mann

Reviewer: Andrea I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review through CLP Blog Tours The Summary: What happens when you…

Book Review: The Quick by Lauren Owen

Reviewer: Andrea I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. The Summary: London, 1892: James Norbury, a shy would-be poet…

Book Review: Tempting Fate by Jane Green

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
From Jane Green, the New York Times bestselling author of such beloved novels as Jemima J, The Beach House, Another Piece of My Heart, comes an enthralling and emotional story about how much we really understand the temptations that can threaten even the most idyllic of relationships….

Gabby and Elliott have been happily married for eighteen years. They have two teenaged daughters. They have built a life together. Forty-three year old Gabby is the last person to have an affair. She can’t relate to the way her friends desperately try to cling to the beauty and allure of their younger years…And yet, she too knows her youth is quickly slipping away. She could never imagine how good it would feel to have a handsome younger man show interest in her—until the night it happens. Matt makes Gabby feel sparkling, fascinating, alive—something she hasn’t felt in years. What begins as a long-distance friendship soon develops into an emotional affair as Gabby discovers her limits and boundaries are not where she expects them to be. Intoxicated, Gabby has no choice but to step ever deeper into the allure of attraction and attention, never foreseeing the life-changing consequences that lie ahead. If she makes one wrong move she could lose everything—and find out what really matters most.
A heartfelt and complex story, Tempting Fate will have readers gripped until they reach the very last page, and thinking about the characters long after they put the book down.
Review:
Get ready for an emotional read! This book gave me a range of feelings, from anger to disgust and sadness to hope. I often struggle to read books where there is an affair, most likely because I am a newlywed, and this was no exception. I think Green did an excellent job building up why Gabby let herself go down a dangerous path with Matt, and showed that she didn’t just throw respect for her husband and her vows away without any thought. But there was still times where I wanted to scream at Gabby, because her life really did seem so great. Why do it? Why risk it? There is a plot twist that I don’t want to give away because my jaw dropped when I read it, and it gives the book a whole other dimension and a lot more depth to just being a story about a wandering wife. A little on the long side, it will take you some time to read, but it’s a good and complex story that you can’t help but get lost in. I’ve been a fan of Jane Green for many years now, and her latest didn’t disappoint.
4 stars

CLP Blog Tours Book Review: Paper Phoenix by Michaela Thompson

Michaela Thompson is on tour now with CLP Blog Tours and Paper Phoenix
Summary:
First comes divorce, then comes murder…

…or at least sweet thoughts of murder. Maggie Longstreet has plenty of them after slimy, ambitious Richard trades her in for a more recent model. She’s so depressed she can barely get out of bed when Larry Hawkins, a seemingly not-at-all depressed acquaintance, commits suicide out of the blue. Suddenly Maggie goes on high alert, remembering something her evil ex said about Larry—something highly suspicious.

And from there, it’s just a short segué to a bracing new development:

“When some women get divorced they go back to school, I thought. Some do volunteer work at the hospital, or join communes and learn to birth calves. Some have affairs with inappropriate men. My new interest is burglary. Maggie Longstreet, former wife and mother, past president of the Museum Guild, now starting a career as a second-story woman.”

Fortunately, Maggie isn’t alone in her adventure—a very attractive, much younger man proves a lot more fun than Richard ever was. In fact, the real delight of this witty, sly mystery is seeing Maggie come alive again after a suffocating marriage. Set in the’70s, it has a bit of that Mad Men feel of women on the brink of something big. And completely unexpected.

You know Maggie’s going to be okay when she says: “I’d rather have had one of those cute little guns with a mother-of-pearl handle, but this (diamond pin) would have to do. I concealed it in my hand. At least now I was armed—or pinned.”
Review:
I’ve been reading a lot of mystery books lately, and I can’t say I’m sad about it. I really enjoy them, so I was eager to pick up Paper Phoenix, as it would be my first from author Michaela Thompson. The beginning started off a little slow for me, but as the chapters progressed I got more and more interested in the story. It’s a quick read without too many possible suspects to keep track of, but I was still a little surprised when the identity of the killer was revealed. There wasn’t a big bang about it, and it almost ended too quietly for my liking. An interesting read still, and if you like mystery I think you could enjoy this one.
4 stars

Book Review: Tangled Hearts by Heather McCollum

Reviewer: Andrea I received a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. The Summary: Pandora Wyatt is the most complicated woman alive.…

Book Review: Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
From the author of New York Times bestseller Garden Spells comes a beautiful, haunting story of old loves and new, and the power of the connections that bind us forever…
The first time Eby Pim saw Lost Lake, it was on a picture postcard. Just an old photo and a few words on a small square of heavy stock, but when she saw it, she knew she was seeing her future.
That was half a life ago. Now Lost Lake is about to slip into Eby’s past. Her husband George is long passed. Most of her demanding extended family are gone. All that’s left is a once-charming collection of lakeside cabins succumbing to the Southern Georgia heat and damp, and an assortment of faithful misfits drawn back to Lost Lake year after year by their own unspoken dreams and desires.
It’s a lot, but not enough to keep Eby from relinquishing Lost Lake to a developer with cash in hand, and calling this her final summer at the lake. Until one last chance at family knocks on her door.
Lost Lake is where Kate Pheris spent her last best summer at the age of twelve, before she learned of loneliness, and heartbreak, and loss. Now she’s all too familiar with those things, but she knows about hope too, thanks to her resilient daughter Devin, and her own willingness to start moving forward. Perhaps at Lost Lake her little girl can cling to her own childhood for just a little longer… and maybe Kate herself can rediscover something that slipped through her fingers so long ago.
One after another, people find their way to Lost Lake, looking for something that they weren’t sure they needed in the first place: love, closure, a second chance, peace, a mystery solved, a heart mended. Can they find what they need before it’s too late?
At once atmospheric and enchanting, Lost Lake shows Sarah Addison Allen at her finest, illuminating the secret longings and the everyday magic that wait to be discovered in the unlikeliest of places.
Review:
As I started reading Lost Lake and getting deeper into the story, I grew excited for the possibilities the plot would take me. A love a little sprinkling of magic in my books, and this seemed to be right up my alley with “could it be real?” moments that Lost Lake provides those who visit. While I did end up highly enjoying this book, it didn’t leave me with the impression I thought it was going to. I think the book was too quick to really get into the magic of the lake and how it touches everyone who believes in its beauty. While I was a little disappointed in that, this really is a great story that I think can be described as spell-bounding. I liked getting different POVs from characters, and especially loved Devin and her innocence and her love for her mom. A well-written book that I think you should read!
4 stars

Book Review: Social Death by Tatiana Boncompagni

Reviewer: Samantha I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Summary: GONE GIRL meets GOSSIP GIRL in this gripping new…

Book Review: Cider Brook by Carla Neggers

Reviewer: Kate I received a copy of Cider Brook by Carla Neggers in exchange for an honest review. Synopsis: Unlikely partners bound by circumstance…or by…