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Whispers From the Heart by Heather Hummel
Chick Lit Review

Whispers From the Heart by Heather Hummel

Heather Hummel is on tour with CLP Blog Tours and Whispers From the Heart. I really enjoyed this book. It was fun, fast, and heart-warming. The main character is Madison Ragnar, a high school English teacher who is trying to forget her past. She left a bad boyfriend for a fresh start, but continually worries he is going to find her. When a man around town seems to be stalking her, her friends grow concerned. When he turns out to have a tie from Madison’s past, she doesn’t know how to react, or what to think of the twist of news he brings. Meanwhile, a tragic event rocks her high school class, and Madison tries her best to connect with her students while giving them an education. Along with best friend Olivia, Madison realizes the importance of living everyday to its fullest, and for letting fate works its magic.

Like I said, Whispers From the Heart is a shorter book, about 250 pages. Sometimes with shorter stories it can be easy to feel cheated out of character development or the plot, but I didn’t find this to be the case. I immediately bonded with Madison, and was pulled into her world. The plot twist shocked me- definitely not what I expected, and Hummel really knows how to keep readers on their toes. It was really touching to see how Madison connected with her students as well. Overall, a solid read that I have to recommend! I can’t wait for book number two from this author!

[Rating: 4.5]

October 24, 2011
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In My Mailbox: Week of October 23
Chick Lit Plus

In My Mailbox: Week of October 23

In My Mailbox: Week of October 23

Title: A Heart in Sun and Shadow

Author: Annie Bellet

Received: From Annie Bellet via CLP Blog Tours

Synopsis: In an ancient Wales that never was…

Twin brothers Emyr and Idrys are cursed to live as hounds; Emyr by night, and Idrys by day. The twins believe they will be trapped this way forever until they meet the fierce and curious Áine, a changeling woman born with Fey blood and gifts struggling to fit into a suspicious human world.
Áine unravels the fate of Emyr and his twin as all three of them fall in love. To free her lovers from the curse, she embarks on a journey to the realm of the fey where she confronts her own unique gifts and heritage. Ultimately, she must decide where her heart truly lies and what she’s willing to risk to get what she desires most.

Title: LA Commandments

Author: Gillian Duffy

Received: From Gillian Duffy

Synopsis: Joanne Kavanagh and best friend Suzie pack their bags and swap dreary, depressing Dublin for the cool Californian coast. Both are determined to start a new life in the land of opportunity, leaving behind the recession and their complicated families.
They make a pact at the airport to stick religiously to the ‘LA Commandments’, a list of ten ‘Thou Shalt Nots’ for their new life in LA, including ‘Thou Shall Not Fall in Love,’ but when Jo befriends sexy, shy musician Marc, and Suzie falls for womanizing bar-man Chris, not only are the commandments at risk of being broken, but also the girls’ hearts…
With all California has to offer —sunshine, shopping, killer nightlife, and drop-dead-gorgeous men, will the girls stay faithful to the LA Commandments?

Title: Chosen

Author: Chandra Hoffman

Received: From Chandra/Harper Collins via CLP Blog Tours

Synopsis: In the spirit of Jodi Picoult and Anna Quindlen, CHOSEN features a young caseworker increasingly entangled in the lives of the adoptive and birth parents she represents, and who faces life-altering choices when an extortion attempt goes horribly wrong.
It all begins with a fantasy: the caseworker in her “signing paperwork” charcoal suit, paired with beaming parents cradling their adopted newborn, against a fluorescent-lit delivery room backdrop. It’s this blissful picture that keeps Chloe Pinter, director of The Chosen Child’s domestic adoption program, happy juggling the high demands of her boss and the incessant needs of parents on both sides.

But the job that offers Chloe refuge from her turbulent personal life and Portland’s winter rains soon becomes a battleground itself involving three very different couples: the Novas, college sweethearts who suffered fertility problems but are now expecting their own baby; the McAdoos, a wealthy husband and desperate wife for whom adoption is a last chance; and Jason and Penny, an impoverished couple who have nothing-except the baby everyone wants. When a child goes missing, dreams dissolve into nightmares, and everyone is forced to examine what they really want and where it all went wrong.

October 23, 2011
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Blog Tour Sign Up: Stay Tuned by Lauren Clark
CLP Blog Tours

Blog Tour Sign Up: Stay Tuned by Lauren Clark

What happens when a #1 news team becomes the top story instead of reporting it?

For TV producer Melissa Moore, crisis management comes with the job. From employee meltdowns to her high-maintenance boss, there’s not much she hasn’t seen or can’t handle. But no one—including Melissa—expects a fistfight during the ten o’clock news. When sexy-but-crazy Alyssa Andrews lands a punch on her co-anchor’s face, Melissa jumps on set to help. She’s determined that WSGA’s reputation won’t be destroyed on her watch.

Both anchors are fired and Melissa agrees to fill in—but not before polishing her look from haircut to heels. While the new Melissa wows WSGA viewers, her personal life begins fraying at the edges. Melissa’s husband is away more than he’s home, leaving cryptic Post-it notes in his wake. Her mother’s antics spiral out of control at the nursing home and a stalker makes Melissa her next target.

What happens next? Stay Tuned…

October 21, 2011
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Blog Tour Sign Up: 5 Stages of Grief by Bethany Ramos
CLP Blog Tours

Blog Tour Sign Up: 5 Stages of Grief by Bethany Ramos

 Bethany Ramos will be on tour in January with her chick lit novel 5 Stages of Grief. Please use the sign up form below if…

October 18, 2011
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The Summer We Came to Life by Deborah Cloyed
Chick Lit Review

The Summer We Came to Life by Deborah Cloyed

The Summer We Came to Life by Deborah Cloyed explores the friendship between four young women- Samantha, Isabel, Kendra and Mina. Childhood friends, the girls take a trip each year to someplace exotic, and this year they are in Honduras. But this trip is different, because Mina is no longer with them. She lost her battle to cancer, and now the three friends are struggling to move forward without her. Each friend is at a different place in her life, and with her own unique problem she is trying to figure out. Also in Honduras with the group are Isabel and Kendra’s mothers, and Mina’s and Kendra’s father. The adults are also trying to find their own answers in life, and to understand about the journey they’ve taken so far.
This wasn’t a terrible book, it was well written and Cloyed takes readers on a unique journey with her characters. I struggled a bit to get into the story after Samantha drowns and goes into a different world, one where she is with Mina again. I just got lost after that plot twist, and couldn’t find the same enthusiasm that I had in the beginning of the novel. The narratives are a bit all over the place- from Samantha’s point of view to the parents, and it was confusing to keep jumping all over the place with that. I think Cloyed really wants readers to take away the lesson to never give up on life, to always keep fighting for yourself and what you believe, which is great. The four girls make for an interesting and creative character set, but the second half of the book just fell flat for me.
[Rating: 3]

October 17, 2011
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In My Mailbox: Week of October 16
Chick Lit Plus

In My Mailbox: Week of October 16

In My Mailbox: Week of October 16

Title: 5 Stages of Grief
Author: Bethany Ramos
Received: From Bethany Ramos via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Danielle thinks that the worst is behind her, but she couldn’t have been more wrong… As a beauty editor of Denver’s hot new High Life magazine, Danielle Starkey didn’t have becoming a widow on her to-do list. Then nine months after her husband’s death, she discovers he booked a vacation with another woman. Suddenly, Danielle sees Adam’s death in a whole new light and has to get over it – for the second time. Hit with the truth when she least expects it, Danielle brings a fresh, funny, and honest approach to the grieving process as she struggles through online dating, stalking her dead husband’s mistress, and, hopefully, finding the man of her dreams. With her stubborn and sassy best friend April by her side. Danielle refuses to let sleeping dogs lie. Will she finally face the truth about herself and her marriage? Or will she succumb to one of the five stages of grief?

Title: The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken
Author: Mari Passananti
Received: From Kelly and Hall
Synopsis: Zoë Clark thinks her world will implode when her fiancé dumps her on the eve of their splashy wedding. After nearly a decade with her college sweetheart, Zoë feels like a teenager about to be eaten alive by the New York dating scene. And her problems don’t end there. Zoë works a less-than-ideal job, managing other people’s careers while her own ambitions wither. To add insult to injury, she does so in the employ of a larger than life woman whose staff measures the boss’s emotional state by the zealousness of her make up application. Quitting is out of the question; Zoë’s rent doubled when her fiancé bailed. Enter Oscar Thornton. He’s handsome, charming, attentive and rich – the perfect boyfriend. But does he harbor a dark secret? Or will Zoë torpedo her newfound happiness by indulging a far fetched suspicion? The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken tells the story of a young woman who sets out to find a man to solve her problems. Instead she finds herself facing her own shortcomings, testing her oldest friendships and realizing that she has the power to make herself happy. Packed with snappy dialogue and playful wit, The Hazards of Hunting While Heartbroken will strike a chord with any woman who’s ever allowed herself to think, My life would be perfect, if I could just meet the right guy.

Title: The Sixes
Author: Kate White
Received: From Chick Lit Is Not Dead- Giveaway
Synopsis: From the New York Times bestselling author of Hush and the Bailey Weggins mystery series comes a thriller set in a college town where a student’s death sends one woman on a search for the truth and into the clutches of a frightening secret society.
Phoebe Hall’s Manhattan life has suddenly begun to unravel. Right after her long-term boyfriend breaks off their relationship, she’s falsely accused of plagiarizing her latest bestselling celebrity biography. Looking for a quiet place to put her life back together, Phoebe jumps at the offer to teach in a sleepy Pennsylvania town at a small private college run by her former boarding school roommate and close friend, Glenda Johns.
But behind the campus’s quiet cafÉs and leafy maple trees lie evil happenings. The body of a female student washes up on the banks of a nearby river, and disturbing revelations begin to surface: accusations from coeds about abuses wrought by a secret society of girls on campus known as The Sixes.. To help Glenda, Phoebe embarks on a search for clues—a quest that soon raises painful memories of her own boarding school days years ago.
As the investigation heats up, Phoebe unexpectedly finds herself falling for the school’s handsome psychology professor, Duncan Shaw. But when nasty pranks turn into deadly threats, Phoebe realizes she’s in the middle of a real-life nightmare, not knowing whom she can trust and if she will even survive.
Plunging deeper into danger with every step, Phoebe knows she’s close to unmasking a killer. But with truth comes a terrifying revelation: your darkest secrets can still be uncovered . . . and starting over may be a crime punishable by death.

October 17, 2011
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Priceless by Nicole Richie
Chick Lit Review

Priceless by Nicole Richie

Charlotte Williams is a typical New York socialite, enjoying the finer things in life and being the apple of her father’s eye. But when darling daddy is taken to federal prison on embezzlement charges, Charlotte’s charmed life is suddenly in ruins. Cheated investors are after her, and even her household staff was duped by her father and questioning her about their money. Charlotte flees New York and finds comfort in the only person that can provide it for her–Miss Millie, the woman who helped raise Charlotte after her mother passed away. Charlotte tries to settle into her temporary life in New Orleans–making a new friend in the fashionista Kat, securing a job as a waitress, and possibly finding romance with Millie’s son, Jackson. But a stalker that set up an unpleasant website about Charlotte is not letting her find peace. He is determined to bring her down because of her father’s actions, and the threats are soon out of control.
Priceless is the follow-up novel from Nicole Richie after The Truth About Diamonds. This novel seemed more fiction to me than the first, where I was able to see parallels from those characters to Richie’s celebrity life. With Priceless, I was much more invested in the story and Charlotte’s troubles, even though I’m sure Richie relied on her socialite experience for some of the scenes. But casting the celebrity bit aside, I thought this novel was a fast read that entertained me throughout. The characters were well-written and made relatable, even though I am far from that social status. I thought Charlotte was very likeable, even though her character could have gone the other way, so I was really rooting for her throughout the whole story. More books like this from Nicole Richie will definitely not be a bad thing.
[Rating: 4.5]

October 15, 2011
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On Tour: Our Eyes Met Over Cantaloupe by Anne McAneny
CLP Blog Tours

On Tour: Our Eyes Met Over Cantaloupe by Anne McAneny

Anne will be on tour October 17-November 6 with her novel Our Eyes Met Over Cantaloupe A wedding order at The Secret Lives of Cupcakes…

October 15, 2011
5 Comments
A Parfait Murder by Wendy Lyn Watson
Chick Lit Review

A Parfait Murder by Wendy Lyn Watson

When Wendy Watson asked on Facebook who wanted to review her latest mystery, A Parfait Murder, I signed myself right up. After reading the first, I Scream, You Scream, and thoroughly enjoying the delectable mystery, I knew I wanted to follow the series. I did miss the second book, Scoop To Kill, but I have that on my list to read. For the third book in the Mystery A La Mode series, Tally’s cousin Bree gets an unexpected visit when her ex-husband appears back in town. Sonny shot off seventeen years prior, after Bree got pregnant with her daughter Alice. After never making child support payments, Sonny shows up with a flashy business proposition for the town- and a stunning female on his arm. Sonny hires Kristen Ver Steeg as his lawyer, but she winds up dead- and Bree is holding the gum. Tally knows her cousin is innocent, but with all the evidence and motives pointing straight at Bree, Tally knows she doesn’t have long to clear her cousins name. Meanwhile, Tally is trying to successfully date Finn Harper, a childhood friend and sweetheart who got away, but when a complicated family secret gets revealed, Tally and Finn’s relationship is forever changed.
Once again, I had a great time diving in to this fun mystery series. And seriously- who doesn’t love these covers? They grab my attention right away. Watson brings back heartfelt characters with a lot of personality, and I really enjoyed getting to know Alice. The ending with the family secret simply shocked me, I really can’t say I saw that one coming. There were a few other plot twists that caught me off guard as well, which I love. The suspense was up there, and I think readers will have a great time reading A Parfait Murder. Be sure to check out the rest in the series as well!
[Rating: 4]

October 14, 2011
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