In My Mailbox: Week of March 4
Title: Taking Shots
Author: Toni Aleo
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Elli Fisher has never thought she was good enough. Let it be her job, her weight, her love life; nothing. She has walked through life for the past six years in a daze, never thinking that life could be good again after the abuse she endured from her ex-boyfriend. She is lonely, sad, and depressed, that is until she meets Shea Adler. After doing a promotional shoot for the NHL team, the Nashville Assassins, she meets the hunky hockey player who shoots a puck, shattering her world.
Shea Adler is tired of the life he was living outside of the rink. The girls, the money blowing, the drinking, everything had to stop and it all did when he met Eleanor Fisher. He had never met anyone like her. She is feisty, witty, shy, and simply gorgeous. When he laid eyes on her, it was as if he was taking the hardest hit of his life into the boards, and he had to have her. Elli is a little skeptical of Shea, but he knows that they are meant to be together, and he needs her in his life.
But Elli just doesn’t understand what Shea could see in her. She is overweight, loud, and not even that pretty, so why would someone so gorgeous and so amazing want to be with her? It seems that no matter how hard she tries to shake Shea off, he isn’t going anywhere, and for the first time, Elli doesn’t feel alone.
But can Elli throw her insecurities out the window and love Shea with everything inside of her? Or will she let a past relationship, and her family ruin any chance of her being happy?
Would Elli miss her shot at love?
Title: A Contented Mind
Author: Samantha Hoffman
Received: Via CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Bestselling novelist Meg Scott thought she was content traveling no further than the places she created within her mind. But when a troubled fan breaks into her home she reacts less like herself and more like a character from one of her novels. Packing up her Irish setter and violin, she leaves her secluded home behind. Soon she discovers, what’s waiting for her on the West Coast, is more than just a change of scenery.
Standing on the balcony of her new beach-front home with her violin, Meg hopes to set free forty years of sadness, but in the process creates a melody her new neighbor can’t ignore. With gentle hands on the piano he works to match her note for note.
But when her best friend Devon Hathaway uses his connections in the music industry to arrange a once in a lifetime audition for a rock band in need of a violinist for their new acoustic album, Meg jumps at the chance, and lands the gig. Shaking hands with the band’s drummer, Jadon Hastings, she finds more than just inspiration for her latest novel.
Swept away with the whirlwind of a European tour, Meg plants her feet on what feels like solid ground. Standing in the place where she can finally grasp everything she’s ever wanted it’s snatched away with one strategic move by Devon, who isn’t ready to give up hope that one day she’ll be his.
Finding her inner strength, and the courage to use it, Meg rips apart the lies that were carefully used to reshape her world, just to discover – those you trust – can’t always be trusted.
Title: Horse Play
Author: Jo Carnegie
Received: Transworld Publishers, Unsolicited
Synopsis: Churchminster village – picturesque, quaint, sleepy – OR NOT… A place where women know exactly what they want, and it’s not cream tea with the vicar. A place where anything can happen . . . so be careful what you wish for. And a place where the men had better behave . . . because the girls won’t take it lying down (well, not unless they want to!)
In Sara’s Mailbox:
Title: Cappuccino is the Answer for Job Dissatisfaction
Author: Hillary E. Peak
Received: From Hillary E. Peak
Synopsis: Jessica planned to change the world. She’s stunned to realize that job after crazy job presents strange characters and no real means to achieve her goal. Her solace from the daily insanity is found in a re-invigorating cappuccino. Moving from job to job and cappuccino to cappuccino, Jessica is certain success is just around the corner. She plots the next step to reach her goals and ultimate job satisfaction, but how to get there? Perhaps if she grabs another cappuccino, the answer will come to her . . .
Title: The Stork Reality Secrets from the Underbelly
Author: Malena Lott
Received: Cyndy Hoenig of PURE PR
Synopsis: Taylor Montgomery never intended to get pregnant—she’s got too much invested as a creative director at a top Dallas advertising company. Her husband, equally ambitious Jake, is a lawyer who shares Taylor’s priorities: “[w]ork, sex, travel,” is their happy routine. After those fateful pink lines appear on a test strip, it threatens everything: prenatal pressure drives Jake away, threatens Taylor’s job and leaves her an emotional wreck. The next several months follow the couple rediscovering their value to each other, developing more intimacy and honesty, and embracing their new lives. Unfortunately, the story does only what you expect it to, conflicts are easily smoothed over and supporting characters are strictly of the heart-of-gold variety—even the ultracompetitive lawyers at Jake’s firm and the vain womanizer Taylor works with. Lott’s attempt to engage the ambivalent “reality” of impending parenthood is too pat to carry any weight—the novel proves so sweet, you’ll end up craving a pickle whether you’re pregnant or not, just to add a little edge.
Title: Taking Charge
Author: Mandy Baggot
Received: From Mandy Baggot
Synopsis: Is going back Robyn’s only way forward?
American-born Robyn Matthers is going home. With her dad in hospital, his roadhouse in ruins and the ice hockey team slipping down the league, she needs to take charge. But does she have the strength to do it?
Cole Ryan is a hockey player on a personal mission. He’s tall, dark, hot and Robyn’s noticed! But can she trust her feelings – or his? And what will Cole do when he finds out the truth about her?
With an ill father, a trailer trash step-mom and ex-boyfriend Brad desperate for another chance, does Robyn have time to contemplate a relationship? Can she start again? Does she really want to? And can two people really fall in love in three days?
Title: The Break-Up Test
Author: Rose McClelland
Received: Laurence of Crooked Cat Publishing
Synopsis: Meet Amy, Beth and Sarah. All intelligent women with one thing in common – a bad taste in men!
Amy receives seductive texts from Gav and promptly skips round to his house for a mid-afternoon romp. She never planned it that way. Maybe one day he’ll actually fall in love with her?
Beth sits at her desk, her mobile phone propped up in front of her keyboard. Anytime soon it’ll light up like the Blackpool Illuminations, and Karl will finally get in touch about that drink. It’s been five days…
Sarah is seeing Stephen, trying to believe his claim that although he shares a bed with his ex, Kat, they aren’t sleeping together. She can’t believe it’s turned into one of THOSE stories you read about in women’s weeklies.
Then Jamie comes along with his Break-Up Test and turns their lives upside down.
Will Gav, Karl and Stephen suddenly sniff the competition and clean up their acts?
And what exactly is in it for Jamie?
Title: The Book Lover
Author: Maryann McFadden
Received: Unsolicited
Synopsis: Ruth Hardaway has had one passion all her life: books. For thirty years she’s devoted her life to her book store, trying to bury her painful past. But now the store is in jeopardy, and the past is catching up with her. Lucinda Barrett lost everything in a life-shattering betrayal. Desperate, she goes after one last dream – to be an author. Alone and broke, she embarks on a journey, eventually landing on Ruth’s doorstep. Ruth takes Lucy under her wing, championing her book and even offering her refuge at a nearby lake cabin. In return, she wants Lucy to keep an eye on her son, Colin, who’s recovering from a war injury. As the two women grow closer and begin to face the past, neither has any idea that their toughest decisions lie ahead – or that their friendship is about to fall apart because of a little white lie.
Title: Love & Marriage
Author: Patricia Scanlan
Received: Unsolicited
Synopsis: When love flies out the window married life can be hell. With an unplanned baby on the way, a newly-wed daughter whose marriage is already in trouble, a teenager who won’t eat and doesn’t think there’s anything wrong with her, and, hiding secrets from each other, Barry and Aimee are on a rocky road. When love flies in the window ex-wives can cause a lot of trouble. And Marianna is going to cause as much trouble as she possibly can to make sure that her former husband is not going to waltz down the aisle with his new love. Families in crisis, passion, tragedy, and the healing powers of love – Patricia Scanlan’s brilliant and heartwarming new novel re-introduces us to the characters in “Forgive and Forget” and “Happy Ever After”, and brings their story to a triumphant conclusion.
March 4, 2012
