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CLP Blog Tours Book Review: When Girlfriends Make Choices by …

Savannah Page is on tour now with CLP Blog Tours and When Girlfriends Make Choices. I have also read When Girlfriends Step Up from this series and I highly enjoyed it. I was eager to get back into the lives of six very different friends, and get to know Lara a bit better from this novel. Now, this is where the book gets tricky. I could tell something was up with Lara from Step Up¸ because she becomes a bit shady when it comes to her work. She works as an advertising executive and logs in long hours, but you could just tell there was something else going on in her life. Turns out she had been having an affair with a co-worker – a married co-worker. In Lara’s defense, when they first started sleeping together she had no idea Paul was married. He never spoke of a wife at the office and didn’t wear a wedding ring. By the time he fessed up to Lara that not only was he married but had two children, she had already fallen in love with him. But then they pick up their affair again, and Lara is fully aware that he is someone else’s. She becomes a bit obsessed with Paul, wanting to do whatever she can to make him choose her. Her friends (once she finally admits about her double life) aren’t supportive of the choices she is making, but Lara just can’t let Paul go. For once, she wants to fall in love and be happy – but at what cost?
I had so many conflicting emotions throughout this story, because as someone who is walking down the aisle in five months, I don’t want to read about infidelity. But it was really interesting to get the perspective from the mistress. And like I said, Lara had no idea Paul was married when they first got together, and I do believe her when she says she never would have welcomed his advances if she had known. So I could understand why she was already in love with him and why she didn’t want to let him go, but it was still hard to swallow. I again loved the girlfriend angle, and how close the friends are and how they support one another. Looks like the next book follows Claire, and I’m really looking forward to reading that. So even though I didn’t quite love the affair angle, Page still writes with honesty, makes the story very realistic and easy to read, and I still recommend this series to chick lit readers!
4 stars

On Tour: When Girlfriends Make Choices by Savannah Page

Savannah will be on tour April 1-22 with her novel When Girlfriends Make Choices A novel about forbidden love, the choices you make, and discovering…

CLP Blog Tours Book Review: When Girlfriends Step Up by …

Savannah Page is now on tour with CLP Blog Tours and When Girlfriends Step Up. This book is just my cup of tea, and I’m so excited to see that there will be a series following the friends. The first introduces us to Robin, Sophie, Claire, Lara, Emily, and Jackie. We follow along with Robin, who is twenty-five and works in a small publishing house in Seattle. A colossal mistake almost cost her a friendship, but her life gets even more rocked when she finds out she is pregnant from a one-night stand. Her group of girls rally around her during the pregnancy, and she even thinks she might have found Mr. Right in a co-worker.
When Girlfriends Step Up is such a good story. I love books about good, solid friendships, and this one really hit the spot. With Robin’s mistake I almost wondered if the friendships could stay intact, and it was really refreshing to read about the forgiveness between the women, because usually it’s just the opposite. I loved reading about all the girls, and I’m excited to read the next book in the series, When Girlfriends Make Choices. I highly recommend you check out these novels from Savannah Page!
4.5 stars

Book Review: Gone with the Wedding by Laura Briggs

I received a copy of Gone with the Wedding by Laura Briggs in exchange for an honest review. When Amy Pontelle is offered to have a Southern Belle wedding courtesy of a popular magazine, she has to jump at the chance. She is engaged, of course, but she is also a romance writer who happens to love anything Gone with the Wind and can’t wait to be Scarlett for a day. But the weeks leading up to the wedding aren’t what Amy envision. Now she finds herself questioning everything surrounding her big day…including her groom.
Gone with the Wedding is another wedding book that I just couldn’t say no to. I loved the idea of a period wedding, and was practically salivating myself over the dress Amy gets to wear and the corsets and the hoop skirts – I love it! Poor Amy was just a mixed up girl. It was nice to see her finally start to question something that probably should have been questioned a lot earlier. It seemed that her and her fiancé had not much in common, nor did it seem that her friends and family really appreciated them together either. I did wonder how it got to the point of a wedding at times, but that’s all right. It still didn’t take away from me enjoying the journey along with Amy.
4 stars

Book Review: Don’t Tell the Groom by Anna Bell

I received a copy of Don’t Tell the Groom by Anna Bell in exchange for an honest review. Since my wedding is only six months away, I haven’t been able to say no to a book revolving around weddings as of late. Fortunately for me, I seem to be loving them all! In Don’t Tell the Groom, our blushing bride-to-be is Penny, who finds herself in a bit of a sticky situation. Penny and fiancé Mark have been building up their wedding fund so they could afford a fab shindig. Penny took up online bingo to help pad the account – only she lost more than she won, and now the account has been cut it half. Penny doesn’t want to admit her mistake and risk losing Mark, so she now needs to figure out how to have their lavish affair on a tight budget…and make sure Mark doesn’t find out!
What a hoot of a book! I was able to relate to Penny from the get-go, and I thought the spin on her gambling addiction was unique and really interesting. Poor Penny wasn’t trying to harm anyone by her bingo ways, she really, well naively, thought she was helping. I thought it was admirable that she got help, and what I really liked is that she wouldn’t accept help from others in order to get by. She realized she made the mistake and she really owned up to it. Of course if she would have told Mark that would have been the best for everyone, but then we wouldn’t have had a fun novel to read, right? I recommend this one!
4.5 stars

On Tour: Someone Else’s Fairytale by E.M. Tippetts

E.M. will be on tour March 18-April 8 with her novel Someone Else’s Fairytale Jason Vanderholt, Hollywood’s hottest actor, falls head over heels for everygirl,…

Book Review: The Girls’ Guide to Love and Supper Clubs …

I received a copy of The Girls’ Guide to Love and Supper Clubs by Dana Bate in exchange for an honest review. What a terrific read! From page one I was hooked into Hannah Sugarman’s life. She works in a think tank in Washington, D.C., lives in a gorgeous apartment with her handsome boyfriend, and can be just as successful as her academic parents. Problems: she hates her job, her boyfriend won’t accept her as who she is, and she doesn’t want to be a professor like her parents – she wants to cook. Hannah has a dream of running an underground supper club, just another item her and her boyfriend disagree about. But when the inevitable breakup happens, Hannah decides to do what she wants for once – try to have a cooking career.
This book had me laughing, cringing, and cheering for Hannah all the way throughout. When she starts using her new landlord’s apartment as the location for her supper club I just wanted to wave my hands in the air and yell, “Danger!” But of course, the book wouldn’t have been as much fun if that didn’t happen. Hannah is down-to-earth, a loveable main character, and someone who I wanted to find happiness. I really enjoyed the romance in this book, and it actually might have been my favorite part. Right away, I thought I knew who Hannah would end up with. Then my mind changed. And then changed again. And then again. I love that! I’m also a big fan of foodie books, so with all the menu-planning, grocery-buying, and underground supper clubbing that was happening, I sure was happy. A 5 star book!
5 stars

Book Review: The School Gates by Nicola May

I received a copy of The School Gates by Nicola May in exchange for an honest review.
Summary:
At 3.10pm every weekday, parents gather at Featherstone Primary in Denbury to collect their children.

For a special few, the friendships forged at the school gates will see them through lives filled with drama, secrets and sorrows. When Yummy Mummy Alana reveals the identity of her love-child’s father, she doesn’t expect the consequences to be quite so extreme. Ex Czech au-pair Earth Mummy Dana finds happiness in her secret sideline, but really all she longs for is another child. Slummy Mummy Mo’s wife-beating husband leads her down a path she never thought possible, and Supper Mummy Joan has to cope when life deals her a devastating blow.

And what of Gay Daddy Gordon? Will he be able to juggle parenthood and cope with his broken heart at the same time?

Four very different mothers. One adorable dad. And the intertwining trials and tribulations that a year at the primary school gates brings.
My Review:
Oh, this book had me laughing out loud at times! There are so many families and key players to this book, and the pages are filled with love, deceit, friendship and betrayal. They are all brought together because of their children, who attend Featherstone Primary. Some have true friendships. Some are frenemies. Some are sleeping together – even those who shouldn’t be. The trials and tribulations of The School Gates kept me interested and happily reading, even though sometimes I had trouble keeping up with the plethora of characters we meet. A fun chick lit read!
3.5 stars

CLP Blog Tours Book Review: The Wisdom of Hair by …

Kim Boykin is now on tour with CLP Blog Tours and The Wisdom of Hair. What a charming little read! The book is set in 1983 and follows the life of Zora Adams, who leaves her home in the mountains on her nineteenth birthday to escape her man-loving alcoholic of a mother. A teacher helps her get enrolled at the Davenport School of Beauty and her own place to live. Zora befriends the boisterous Sara Jane Farquhar almost immediately, and is accepted in Sara’s prestigious family as one of their own. She also falls hard for Winston Sawyer, a young widower who is forgetting all the pain with his excessive drinking. Zora learns lessons during her time at the Davenport School of Beauty not only about hair – but about love, friendship, family … and forgiveness.
The Wisdom of Hair was a cute read but also deeply explored the subject of self-discovery. Readers meet Zora when she is pretty low in her life, and watch her as she slowly becomes less and less shy and finds her backbone. The beauty school sections were a hoot to read about, and the whole novel really embodied what I envisioned the ‘80’s to be like. I adored the friendship between Zora and Sara, and Sara’s character in general was so fun to journey with. Sometimes I felt a little disengaged with the characters, in particular with Zora and Winston’s relationship, I think just because it is so very complicated. Sometimes I just wondered what in the world she saw in the man – but I guess we can’t choose who we love, can we? Overall, a very fun and spirited chick lit book!
4 stars