On Tour: Picture Perfect by Lucie Simone
Lucie will be on tour September 17- October 15 with her chick lit novel Picture Perfect For Lauren Tate, a high-powered TV producer, sex, lies,…
To Catch a Bad Guy by Marie Astor
I received a copy of To Catch a Bad Guy in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
Janet Maple’s stellar career ended with a layoff and her boyfriend of almost five years told her that he wants to be just friends. When she lands a job at one of New York’s premier boutique investment firms, Janet begins to hope that her luck is finally turning for the better. Not only is she happy with her new paycheck, but things also seem to be looking up on the personal front, as the company’s handsome attorney expresses keen interest in Janet. However, her euphoria is short-lived, as Janet soon discovers alarming facts about her new employer’s business tactics. When her boss dismisses her suspicions as groundless, Janet finds herself confiding to a cute IT engineer, Dean Snider. The closer she gets to Dean, the more Janet is tempted to break her rule of not dating co-workers, but what she doesn’t realize is that everything she knows about Dean, including his occupation and even his name, is a lie.
Dennis Walker is a top-notch white collar crime investigator who will stop at nothing to put culprits away. When an opportunity for an undercover assignment at one of New York’s premier boutique broker dealers comes up, Dennis jumps at the chance, adopting a persona of geeky IT engineer, Dean Snider. While he may be an ace at his job, years of experience fail him when Dennis meets Janet Maple and finds himself torn between his professional obligations and his personal desires. Will he have to choose between his feelings and duty, or will he find a way to satisfy both?
My Review:
If it’s one thing I love, it’s a good mystery novel. I thought To Catch a Bad Guy had all the elements of intrigue, and it was hard for me to put this down! I loved Janet Maple. Sometimes she could seem to be a bit of a pushover, especially when it came to Lisa, but she was smart and determined, and made for a great MC. I liked that readers got an insight on multiple characters, but there weren’t too many and too much of their inner thoughts to become overwhelming, a major kudo to Marie Astor. There was a lot of jargon with Janet’s work, like stocks and trades at that sort of thing, which sometimes I got puzzled on, but most of the time I just felt like I was in the story with the characters and it barely tripped me up. A very solid mystery yet romance novel, and I can’t wait for the second one in the series!
[Rating: 4.5]
The Brenda Diaries by Margo Candela
I received a copy of The Brenda Diaries in exchange for an honest review. Summary: Meet Brenda…A temp with a bad attitude, but an excellent…
Author Profile: Sarah Pinneo
Author Name: Sarah Pinneo Website: http://www.sarahpinneo.com/ Bio: Sarah Pinneo worked in finance for more than a decade before making the transition from breadwinner to bread…
On Tour: Last Minute Love by Romi Moondi
Romi will be on tour September 17- October 8 with her chick lit novel Last Minute Love What’s a girl to do when she meets…
Too Much Trouble in Paradise by Michelle Betham
I received a copy of Too Much Trouble in Paradise in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
Molly Parker is a DWAG – a darts wife and girlfriend. Or rather, she’s an ex-DWAG after divorcing Paul “Bad Lad” Parker, a professional darts player and the self-pronounced Geordie pantomime villain of the sport, after catching him aiming more than his arrows in the direction of more than a few very willing glamour models.
So, leaving her life – and her ex-husband – behind in their native North East of England, she moves to the Canarian island of Tenerife with her best friend Fran, putting the past behind her, determined to start a whole new life abroad.
Within months of arriving on the island she finds herself engaged to her Spanish boyfriend Antonio – a handsome Canarian bar owner – and with their whirlwind wedding just weeks away she’s the happiest she’s been in a long time with a great job at a Timeshare complex, fantastic friends, and a lovely little home in a country she’s fallen completely in love with.
But what Molly didn’t bank on was her ex-husband turning up out of the blue declaring his undying love for her and begging her to come back to him – and not just because his darts were suffering! His unannounced arrival turns Molly’s new and seemingly perfect life upside down as she suddenly has to face up to feelings she’d thought were long gone, and make decisions she never thought she’d have to make as her whole world is thrown into total confusion. Does she stay in Tenerife and marry her wonderful, romantic, drop-dead-gorgeous Spanish fiancé? Or does she give the man she’d once loved but who’d treated her so badly another chance? Days in the sun or darts – it’s the choice she has to make. Throw in a Bolton-born lounge singer and a Take That tribute act, a famous TV actor with a reputation as a shameless flirt, and a major darts tournament that throws up more than its fair share of surprises, and all of a sudden Molly Parker’s life really is ‘Too Much Trouble in Paradise’ – a romantic comedy; a story of new beginnings, second chances, sun, sea – and darts!
My Review:
I thought this was super cute and breezy read. I’m not sure if it was the dart-playing ex-husband or the island of Tenerife thing that was going on, but I thought this was a different read than a typical romance, and in an enjoyable way. Fun characters, some hilarious situations, but still a lot of heart mixed in with the storyline. Molly is a fun heroine with a struggle, and I have to admit that I was rooting for her ex a lot, even though Antonio sounded delicious! If you enjoy chick lit with romance, I would recommend this book for you!
[Rating: 4]
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…
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]
Debut Author of the Month: Cat Lavoie
Chick Lit Plus is pleased to announce the Debut Author of the Month for August is Cat Lavoie, author of Breaking the Rules! What was…
