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Review: Keeping Her: A Losing It Novella by Cora Carmack

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image2.5/5 stars

Garrick and Bliss are going to London to meet his parents. Bliss is very worried about meeting his mother. Garrick tries to re-assure that everything will be ok.

In London, Bliss meets his two oldest friends first. Then they go Garrick’s parents’ home, where a surprise engagement party awaits them. And that’s just the start. There is some more added un-needed drama. I wish the novella focused more on Garrick and his two friends, instead of the melodrama.

This novella is for hard-core fans of the series. You are not missing anything if you skip it.

Looking forward to the next full-length book in this featuring Bliss’ friend, Kelsey in October.

~Thalia

Buy It Now Keeping Her: A LOSING IT Novella

Find Out They First Met & Got Together Losing It

Review: Her Favorite Rival by Sarah Mayberry

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imageAudrey and Zach both have painful pasts. Audrey ran away from home at the age of sixteen. Although she came back home, her parents never truly forgave her. Instead they lavished attention on her younger sister while became she became the black sheep of the family.

Zach’s parents were recreational drug users. His mom became addicted to heroin after the death of his father in a motorcycle accident.

Audrey and Zach have overcome their hardships and are successful in the corporate world. They are both buyers for a large hardware chain of stores. A new CEO has come on board and they want to prove themselves in hopes of getting a promotion to category manager. Audrey has the experience. Zach has the academic qualifications.

They see each other as rivals but working together on a report allows them to get to know each other. An attraction develops. Naturally, they flirt.

“Why do men always buy manual cars?”
“Because we like to be in control.”
“Why do women always buy automatics?”
“Because we like to conserve our energy for some important things.”
“I have plenty of energy left to spare, don’t worry.”

They eventually give in to this attraction and it is Audrey who initiates this. It is Zach who insists that it goes beyond one night, who wants to start dating her.

“He didn’t care. Maybe that was because he was so tired, or maybe it was because he’d spent the night beside his sick mother, and turning his back on something -somone- who felt as good and life-affirming and right as Audrey did seemed nuts.”

It is mutual decision that they keep it quite from work for now.

As they open up about their families, they are there to console, comfort and support each other.

The category manager position does eventually open up. Both are asked to interview. No matter whom is selected, I firmly believed that the other would be proud and supportive of the other.

“All right. It’ll probably end in tears, but if you think we can handle this, I guess we’ve got to do it.”
“We can handle it.”

This is another winner by Mayberry. She writes compelling and sometimes heartbreaking stories featuring everyday, hardworking characters. It was a pleasure to see Audrey and Zach fall for each other as they deftly handled their career aspirations and difficult past.

ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley.

~Thalia

Read Clio’s review of the prequel featuring Audrey’s sister.

Buy It Now Her Favorite Rival (Harlequin Superromance)

Review: Baby Polar by Yannick Murphy (Author), Kristen Balouch (Illustrator)

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imageThis is a sweet and charming book about a baby polar bear. A huge snowstorm is coming. He wants to play in the snow. His protective mom allows him to play, but only for a little while.

The baby polar bear wanders off and seems to be lost. He’s cold and frightened. Also, it’s getting hard to see where he’s going because of all of the snow falling. Luckily, he finds a cave. It is filled with warmth and he thinks he can hear the beating heart of his beloved mother. It is his mother, surrounding him with love and protection.

This book would make a great gift for any occasion. It’s an adorable story with gorgeous illustrations.

~Thalia

Buy It Now Baby Polar

Review: An Invitation to Sin by Sarah Morgan

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imageThere’s an instant attraction when Taylor Carmichael and Luca Coretti meet at the wedding of his cousin. They end up kissing when they bump into each other later. Unbeknownst to them, photographs were taken of the embrace and sold to the tabloids.

Taylor is trying to overcome her bad girl past and become a respected actress. She has a forbidden list, which include carbs and men like Luca, that she thinks will help her stay out of trouble. When she is confronted with the photos, she blurts out they are engaged.

Luca is also trying to overcome his playboy reputation. He wants to be on the board of his fashion house while his brother is away. (The brother’s story is told in book 1, but you don’t need to read it to understand what’s happening in this book.) He learns quickly that Taylor claims they are secretly engaged. He tries to tell the board the truth but they think that since Luca is ready for such a commitment as marriage, then he is maturing and ready to be a member of the board. Thus begins this delightful tale of a fake engagement. As they spend time together as couple, they get to know each bother while trying to handle the sizzling chemistry between them. Luca helps Taylor to have fun and eat some carbs. Taylor, well, I think that is the one weakness of this book. I really didn’t see what was about Taylor that made Luca fall in love. Yes, they have amazing chemistry and he becomes very protective of her, but still I wonder a little bit.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this take on a familiar trope. The engaging couple and great dialogue make this book easy to recommend.

ARC provided publisher via NetGalley.

~Thalia

Buy It Now An Invitation to Sin (Harlequin Presents)

Review: Headed For Trouble by Suzanne Brockmann

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imageThis a thorough compilation of short stories, interviews of her characters by Brockmann, and a Q&A of the author from her popular Troubleshooters series. The Troubleshooters series involves Navy Seals, FBI and a civilian black ops organization. Included at the beginning is a timeline which lists when the short stories and interviews take place. It also lists hero & heroine of each book, brief storyline, secondary romance and timeframe. At the end is a glossary of terms. Like I said, thorough.

There is one new short story, “A Seal and Three Babies,” which feature Sam & Alyssa, Max& Gina, and Jules & Robin. The short stories mostly feature Sam, Alyssa & Jules. So if you are fan of the series & of these characters, you are in for a treat. My favorite story of the bunch doesn’t actually include any of them.

The story I love best is “When Jenk, Izzy, Gillman and Lopez Met Tony Vlachic.” It’s humorous story that involves great guy talk and a poker game.

I would only recommend this book for fans of the series. I have not read Brockmann in years. While I was reading this book, her engaging voice reminded me why I love the TS series. Chances are, I will read her new book set in the TS world that will be released next year.

This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley.

~Thalia

Buy It Now Headed for Trouble (Troubleshooters)

Review: I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella, Narration by Jayne Entwistle

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12033455I’ve read a few Sophie Kinsella books – The Shopaholic books are extremely cute and really good “chick lit”. I didn’t LOVE them, but liked them a lot. So after reading some reviews of I’ve Got Your Number it seemed this one could be really good, maybe great. It so did not disappoint!! I listened to the audible book and the narration was so good – she didn’t just read the book out loud, she became Poppy Wyatt, the main character. It’s actually been a few months since I listened to this and I still can hear her voice perfectly in my head.

Poppy Wyatt is getting married to her dream guy, Magnus. In the very opening of the book Poppy loses her family heirloom engagement ring at a hotel and immediately after loses her phone in the chaos. When Poppy finds a different phone and grabs it to be able to report the stolen ring and phone things get fun because she picked up the phone of businessman Sam’s assistant.

What follows throughout the book are email exchanges, text messages and voicemails.  Through all of these different formats Poppy gets to know Sam and feels that she has a good sense of him.  I love the use of these formats in books, to me it adds so much more because it shows how the characters communicate with others.

I’ve never shared an in-box with anyone in my life. I didn’t expect it to feel so…intimate. It’s as if we’re suddenly sharing an underwear drawer or something.

Hi-jinks ensue throughout the book while Poppy tries to get her ring back and also hide the fact she lost the ring from her fiancee. Poppy also gets involved with business matters of Sam’s since she has his phone and receives all of his work communication there as well.

I loved this book. It surprised me with the comedy, I was laughing out loud at some of the exchanges between Poppy and Sam. But it also has a touching quality to it as Poppy examines her relationships and rethinks judging people right away. Poppy’s sense of right and wrong is great and the overall sense of humor the book has made me love it.

“I have no idea what to say next. I don’t speak Japanese, I don’t know anything about Japanese business or Japanese culture. Apart from sushi. But I can’t exactly go up to him and say “Sushi!” out of the blue. It would be like going up to a top American businessman and saying “T-bone steak!” 

I highly recommend this book, it’s extremely funny and touching at the same time. All of the characters were very realistic and I felt that I know people exactly like them. This is a stand alone romantic comedy that I don’t think anyone should miss!

5 stars

~ Clio

Buy it Now I’ve Got Your Number: A Novel

Review: Stay With Me by Elyssa Patrick

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20130826-074538.jpg
Hailey Bloom has been singing and acting since she was a small child. (She was on Broadway by the age of six). She was pushed into the spotlight by her domineering mother. Hailey is giving it all up.

She’s at Green College in Vermont. She’s eager to begin a new, normal life away from Hollywood. More importantly, she wants to discover who she really is and what she wants to do.

Hailey attends her first campus party and is besieged by fans. She goes outside to escape and meets Caleb Fox.
“You know who I am.”
He shakes his head slowly. “I don’t think I do.”
“Huh?”
“I know of you, but I don’t know you.”

The spark is immediate. But Hailey is wary as she’s been used by previous boyfriends whom have dated her to gain attention. Even though it’s cold, she declines his offer to drive her home.

She literally runs into him again the next day as she is shopping at a farmer’s market. They have a “meet cute” which involves spilt tea and blackberries.

I loved seeing courtship of Hailey and Caleb develop. They banter, hang out and go on dates. It was a joy to see that attraction grow to something more.

I also loved meeting Caleb’s sister, Daphne, and his housemates, including Griff, who aspires to be a librarian. A librarian. They make a great support system for Hailey as she struggles through some her classes.

As Hailey contends with freshman year in college, she also has to deal with her mom. This is the one weakness in the book. Hailey’s mom is a one- dimensional character. You only know her through what Hailey says about her. And the mom does sound pretty evil. So when her mom drops a huge bombshell about an incident in Hailey’s past, I wanted to see a confrontation between them so that Hailey can give her the much deserved smackdown.

As for the incident, she is saved from additional embarrassment by her former best friend, Alex Randall. Alex is a bad boy actor waiting to be redeemed. I hope he gets a book.

Caleb proves to be best kind of hero and boyfriend with his response to the secret in Hailey’s past. He’s supportive and empathetic and exactly whom Hailey needs in her life.

I was ecstatic to recieve this book from the author. More so after reading it and getting to meet Hailey and Caleb and the rest of the gang at Green College. There are more books to come, featuring different characters and I can’t wait to read to them all.

Take a chance on this new author. You won’t be disappointed!

~Thalia

Buy It Now Stay With Me

Review: The Recently Deflowered Girl: The Right Thing to Say on Every Dubious Occasion by Hyacinthe Phypps

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imageI am a huge Edward Gorey fan. I ran across this book when I was searching for anything and everything Gorey produced. His charming illustrations compliment the expert advice being given.

This is a twisted book of manners for ladies who have recently lost their virginity. The scenarios in the book help the reader with what best to say after the act has occurred. For instance, if a marimba player was the person responsible for taking her virginity, this might be the conversation and the lady and her musician might have:

“I’m terribly sorry, Harold, but my parents won’t let me marry you.”
He says, “That’s all right, baby. I’ve been happily married for years.”
“How did your wife get her parents’ consent?”

Other deflowering scenarios include losing the virginity by proxy, in the doctor’s office or by the elevator operator. Hyacinthe Phypps (aka author Mel Juffe) give sage advice on how to handle it all in a ladylike manner.

~Thalia

Buy It Now: The Recently Deflowered Girl: The Right Thing to Say on Every Dubious Occasion

Musings: Why I love to read

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Obviously I love to read. It would be odd if I wrote reviews for books and hated to read, right? I get asked all the time why I love to read, or how I find the time to read.

I always read. You know how sharks have to keep swimming or they die? I’m like that. If I stop reading, I die. – Patrick Rothfuss

I’m incredibly lucky in that my awesome mother instilled in me a love of reading. I remember being very young and her reading to me, and when I got older I would read out loud to her. My grandfather built me an awesome toy chest and it was always full, but not with toys. I had that thing packed to the brim with books. It actually still is full of my childhood books in my parents attic (which I so need to move to my house lol).

I’m lucky because I was surrounded with people who loved books growing up. At my grandparents’ house there was an entire wall of built in bookshelves, which were of course packed with books. My grandpa always had a book by his chair. In our family we would go to my grandparents’ house every Saturday morning for donuts and hanging around with my cousins, aunts and uncles. I have vivid memories of reading in the corner of the living room. They had a great library of classics for children – Shakespeare, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, pretty much everything, and it was pared down to almost a graphic novel/book. Recently, when my grandpa died my cousin made sure to save some of these for me. I started crying immediately when I saw them because they’re so wrapped up in my memories of him.

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I’m lucky because growing up my Mom took me to the library all the time. I loved story time. I could never carry all the books I wanted. This continued and I remember stopping at the library after school all the way until I graduated High School. I also remember the fines I racked up…good thing I worked as a teen and could pay some of them!

I’m lucky because now that I’m an adult I can appreciate all of those things and how they shaped me into who I am today. When my guidance counselor asked what I wanted to do as a profession I told her that I wanted to read books all day. The reading comprehension and understanding I gathered helped me excel in all my classes in college- obviously in my Literature classes but just as much in Business classes or Sociology classes. It definitely helped me be able to write papers for all my classes and in particular my 25 page thesis (you do not want to know the subject lol!).

Now I can’t go to sleep without reading. I consciously make an effort to go to bed much earlier than necessary so I can read for a few hours before bed. I’m lucky that I have a husband who understands my need to read. I can’t imagine my life without reading. It would be so much more boring and gray. I’m always astonished at statistics that show people who don’t read. My entire life would be different without the thousands of books I’ve read and in a bad way, of that I’m sure.

 

A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one. – George R.R. Martin

~ Clio