On Tour: When Girlfriends Take Chances by Savannah Page
Savannah will be on tour March 31-April 28 with her chick lit novel When Girlfriends Take Chances A novel about exploring love and life’s path, and…
CLP Blog Tours Novel Spotlight: Becoming Mrs. Walsh by Jessica …
Jessica Gordon is now on tour with CLP Blog Tours and Becoming Mrs. Walsh Summary: Shoshana Thompson is 26 years old, miles from home, and engaged to…
CLP Blog Tours Sign Up: Tax Cut by Michele Lynn …
Michele Lynn Seigfried will be on tour in June with her cozy mystery novel Tax Cut. I am looking for book bloggers to post reviews, guest posts,…
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
On Tour: Pulled Beneath by Marni Mann
Marni Mann will be on tour March 31-April 7 with her new adult novel Pulled Beneath What happens when you uncover years of secrets and find…
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
On Tour: Dangled Carat by Hilary Grossman
Hilary will be on tour March 31-April 28 with her chick lit novel Dangled Carat Hilary had gotten used to dating the commitment-phobic Marc, thirteen…
In My Mailbox: Week of March 24
Title: Precious Words
Author: Leigh Fleming
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: Emberly Fallon is a smart, beautiful American attorney who goes on a dream vacation with her two best friends to the UK, where she meets the irresistible Niccolo Bartoli, an Italian tennis pro who is just as commanding off the court as he is on.
Emberly resists his advances, not wanting anything to do with paparazzi and Nico’s rabid fans.
Currently ranked number two in the world, Nico finds himself struggling with his game and his personal life. Although always surrounded by his entourage, he is lonely in his world of celebrity and constant travel. Emberly makes him feel grounded, and despite her best intentions, she does fall in love with the dashing, foreign sportsman.
Their romantic adventures take them to Miami, New York, and Rome. This whirlwind love story was not in Emberly’s future plans, but she allows herself to be happy with Nico—until she becomes the victim of threats. Someone is trying to bring Nico’s success and newfound happiness to a tragic end … and that person is much closer than they suspect.
Title: Diamonds in the Sky
Author: MA Harper
Received: CLP Blog Tours
Synopsis: DIAMONDS, LOVE, AND UFOS…
When struggling artist/shoe clerk Caddy Keyhoe stumbles across what may be a lost and untraceable diamond, her first reaction is down-to-earth: Maybe I can sell it. But how odd to be finding it in the gutter now, after last night’s dream of a UFO scattering bright gemstones. Research via Google leads her to the website of melancholy Alec Rix, semi-failed writer and newly-minted UFO authority—courtesy of his published interview with octogenarian Hatchell T. Beckham Sr., retired from farming and strangely eager to discredit the new crop circle on the Beckham property. The crop circle perpetrated by a neighborhood hoaxer. Or by those blazing diamond-shaped UFOs that just about everybody in Hopkins, South Carolina—except old Hatch—claims to have seen…?
As Caddy’s art career takes a magical turn for the stratosphere, Alec’s friendship with Hatch deepens through the old farmer’s tale of his long-lost family. Could there be a book in this? the blocked author has to wonder. But when pursuit of the story sends him blundering into radiant Caddy on the biggest night of her life, priorities immediately change. Because what can it really mean, to “follow a star”? And what does Hawaii have to do with it?
A feet-on-the-ground story with its head in the clouds, Diamonds In The Sky reports from the Unknown with quiet wit, endearing characters, and the speculation that love just might be forever—even if not all diamonds are.
Title: Keep Quiet
Author: Lisa Scottoline
Received: SHPNY
Synopsis: New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award winning author Lisa Scottoline is loved by millions of readers for her suspenseful novels about family and justice. Scottoline delivers once again withKeep Quiet, an emotionally gripping and complex story about one man’s split-second decision to protect his son – and the devastating consequences that follow.Jake Buckman’s relationship with his sixteen-year-old son Ryan is not an easy one, so at the urging of his loving wife, Pam, Jake goes alone to pick up Ryan at their suburban movie theater. On the way home, Ryan asks to drive on a deserted road, and Jake sees it as a chance to make a connection. However, what starts as a father-son bonding opportunity instantly turns into a nightmare. Tragedy strikes, and with Ryan’s entire future hanging in the balance, Jake is forced to make a split-second decision that plunges them both into a world of guilt and lies. Without ever meaning to, Jake and Ryan find themselves living under the crushing weight of their secret, which treatens to tear their family to shreds and ruin them all. Powerful and dramatic, Keep Quiet will have readers and book clubs debating what it means to be a parent and how far you can, and should, go to protect those you love.
Title: Confessions of a Paris Party Girl
Author: Vicki Lesage
Received: Vicki Lesage
Synopsis: Drinking too much bubbly. Meeting sappy Frenchmen who have girlfriends or are creeps or both. Encountering problème after problème with French bureaucracy. When newly-single party girl Vicki moved to Paris, she was hoping to taste wine, stuff her face with croissants, and maybe fall in love.
In her first book, this long-time blogger and semi-professional drinker recounts the ups and downs of her life in Paris. Full of sass, shamefully honest admissions, and situations that seem too absurd to be true, Vicki makes you feel as if you’re stumbling along the cobblestones with her.
Will she find love? Will she learn to consume reasonable amounts of alcohol? Will the French administration ever cut her a break?
Title: Second Hand Jane
Author: Michelle Vernal
Received: Michelle Vernal
Synopsis: When footloose and fancy-free Jessica, a thirty-something writer, decides to follow her journalistic instincts and trace the story of a young girl for her weekly column in a Dublin newspaper, she unwittingly embarks on a journey into Northern Ireland’s tragic past.
With her love of all things vintage, Jessica Jane Baré is known as Second-hand Jane to her friends. Hailing from New Zealand, these days she’s finding the grass is greener in Dublin and not just because of all the rain. In fact, life would be sweet if it weren’t for the reason she left home in the first place–her meddling mother. Marian views Jess’s life in Dublin as nothing more than a stop-gap until she meets Mr Right and he’s taking his time. Things look set to change, however, when Jess meets the delectable Nick, who ticks all of Marian’s boxes.
In the meantime, Jess’s latest second-hand collectible–a children’s book—gives her an idea for her column. Deciding to track down the girl whose name is scribbled inside the cover of that book, she uncovers more than she ever expected. “Amy was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” the girl’s taciturn brother, Owen, informs her. Intrigued, Jess travels to the family pig farm in County Down and listens to Amy’s poignant tale unfold through Owen. With a little help from a rather cute runt of the litter she names Wilbur, Jess is about to help put the past to rest and learn that appearances can be deceptive.
Then Marian announces she is coming to Dublin to sort her daughter’s increasingly tangled love life out and Jess’s chance of a happy ending like those in the story books she collects looks about as likely as Wilbur flying.
Title: Bridal Bootcamp
Author: Bella Bailey
Received: Bella Bailey
Synopsis: Bridal Bootcamp is a contemporary romantic comedy set in Dublin, Ireland. When Yvonne’s boyfriend Simon accepts her marriage proposal, she resolves to give her family and friends the best wedding imaginable! And if the little matter of money gets in the way…well, she’ll worry about that later.
Besides, it’s not as if she has nothing else to fret about – Simon’s twin sister Tracey is hell-bent on finding a way to stop the wedding. When Simon’s ex, Sandra, returns from the past and reveals that Simon is the father of her baby, it looks like Tracey might get her wish – especially as Sandra is demanding a kidney from Simon for their gravely ill child.
And that’s the easy part….what Yvonne doesn’t know is that her best friend, Rachel, is harbouring a deadly secret that has the potential to obliterate Yvonne’s relationship with Simon forever…..a secret that comes to light in a dramatic crescendo on their big day in front of everyone they know.
The power of this young couple’s love is put to the test again and again, and they embark on a journey of discovery about their relationship. The issues they face force them to evaluate what’s really important to them – their wedding, or their impending marriage.
Future Tour: Long Shadows by Cecilia Dominic
Cecilia Dominic will be on tour May 12-26 with her urban fantasy novel Long Shadows Being unique isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. The…
