novella

Review: Sarasota Dreams by Debby Mayne

Posted by

0

20140228-144652.jpg Sarasota Dreams is the compilation of three novellas. Each novella focuses on a Mennonite man and woman and their search for romance.

I like Amish/Mennonite fiction, and Debby Mayne writes it well. I appreciated that we could see what the men AND women were thinking. Abe had to figure out how to make Mary trust him. Jeremiah had to prove his faithfulness to God before Shelley would let herself fall in love, and Charles had to commit to becoming Mennonite so Ruthie’s reputation wouldn’t suffer.

Besides the romances being very well written, Mayne illustrated her knowledge of the Mennonite lifestyle without making the novellas feel like documentaries. The reader gets more than a glimpse of small business management (diner and souvenir shop), farming, and church life.

These were three lovely, realistic, fun, clean romances. The loyalty to family and community was comforting, and the food sounded delicious. Bring on some coconut cream pie!

–Calliope

New Release March 1!

Buy Sarasota Dreams

Review: The Holiday Survival Guide by Jane O’Reilly

Posted by

0

20131228-082612.jpg New Release!

This sexy novella tells the story of London tabloid writer Erica and the survival trip she signed up for in the dead of winter. Her survival guide is Nathan, whose wife she publicly, and in low tabloid style, busted for cheating.

The story was equal parts scary snow survival and steamy sex. Erica and Nathan had great chemistry and creativity. The well-written sex scenes were integrated perfectly into the plot, the dialogue was smart and natural, the characters were likable and well-developed.

I totally enjoyed this winter romp, which came with a bit of commitment and a happy ending. I’d read it again, and I recommend it even to readers who don’t usually read novellas. This is one of very few that uses its 60 pages so wonderfully!

A note to American readers: This HOLIDAY refers to vacation, not Christmas!

-Calliope

Released January 1, 2014.
Buy it now The Holiday Survival Guide

Review: Kentucky Christmas by Sarah Title

Posted by

0

20131206-230315.jpg New Release!

Kentucky Christmas is an upbeat, festive, romantic novella with pretty cool characters. Billie works in her dad’s vet office, and Andrew is a traveling salesman selling… yes, vet supplies. Only he’s a horrible salesperson. And he’s completely smitten with Billie. She returns the sentiments, and boom, romance ensues.

What I love about Kentucky Christmas is Billie’s insouciance and Andrew’s seriousness. Billie is up for anything, likes to party a little bit, and amps up Christmas with more kitsch than you can shake a leg at. Andrew appreciates Billie’s fun-loving attitude, just as she appreciates his way with electronics, his Clark Kent glasses and the way his trousers fit. 🙂

This isn’t a serious book. Sometimes you need a pick-me-up, and Kentucky Christmas did that for me, with tinsel.

-Calliope

Buy it now Kentucky Christmas

Review: On His List by Wendy Sparrow

Posted by

0

20131119-142353.jpg Remy and Owen meet serendipitously. That’s perfect for spontaneous Remy… but a little crazy for organized, structured Owen. Little does Owen know that he’s going to fall hard for Remy, and loosen up in the process.

On His List is a cute, romantic novella filled with flirtation and double entendres. Even though I am more of a list-maker myself, it was fun to see Owen want to relax and enjoy the insouciance that Remy brought to the table.

My favorite part was the end, when Owen did the most spontaneous thing in his life — all for the sake of love — and then showed how he still stayed true to himself by making the ultimate romantic list. Even Remy swooned.

3.5 stars for 77 pages of flirtatious fun.

–Calliope

Buy it now On His List

Review: Heating Up the Holidays 3 Story Bundle

Posted by

2

18283138 Heating Up the Holidays is a 3 story bundle with Play With Me by Lisa Renee Jones, Snowfall by Mary Ann Rivers, and After Midnight by Serena Bell.

I want to devote this whole review to Snowfall because I overwhelmingly loved this novella. I count myself as incredibly lucky to have read Mary Ann Rivers’ debut of The Story Guy just a few months ago. I fell in love with her intelligent and humorous writing then but hoped that it wasn’t just a one time thing. This second novella shows me that I’m not to be disappointed!

Jenny Wright moves into her new housing in Ohio where she is doing research as a Microbiologist. When she moves in she gets mail for the previous tenant which leads to online communication between herself as “Lincoln” and “C’. They begin to flirt online back and forth less and less innocently. Meanwhile Jenny is dealing with slowly losing her sight due to a degenerative disease. She’s horrified at this idea and cannot wrap her mind around this. Jenny is working with Evan Ford, her Occupational Therapist to try to make her life a little more manageable while the changes happen.

I cannot express my love for this book and this author in the right way. Yes there are scientific and technical terms throughout the book due to Jenny’s technical occupation. Halle-freaking-lujah! I, for one, was so happy to read a book, even a novella, that had an intelligent woman, with a scientific job as the main character. I’m not a scientific person but I was able to read this just fine. There are many books that tend to be dumbed down in general and I didn’t feel like this at all with this book. I was racing to get to the end of the novella, the last 20% or so I finished and then immediately re-read because I was doing my speed reading to get to the ending.

Jenny and Evan are so very real, very funny people. Jenny does not take slowly losing her eyesight very well and tends to throw fits, which I can only imagine would be the case in the real world. I just really appreciate the intelligence and humorous insight that this novella seems to have.

So obviously, I am supposed to be having some kind of therapeutic moment here, where my other senses get honed on the strap of this exercise and maybe later I’ll finger-spell W-A-T-E-R into his ginormous hand and we’ll embrace with joyous laughter.

Also there is a small piece at the end of the story that just about killed me. A very small detail which will probably stick with me for a very long time.

I absolutely cannot wait for the full length novel debut of Mary Ann Rivers, Live, coming in January of 2014. I have a feeling that she will be an auto buy for me for pretty much ever.

Buy it Now Heating Up the Holidays 3-Story Bundle (Play with Me, Snowfall, and After Midnight): A Loveswept Contemporary Romance

Review: Bridesmaid by Julia London

Posted by

0

20130928-072827.jpg Bridesmaid is a novella about Kate, who has to travel from New York to Seattle on a deadline — and with a poufy bridesmaid dress in tow. Joe, a handsome, successful IT guy who hasn’t yet found his one and only, sweetens the trip.

Kate and Joe overcome funny travel challenges together in order to their final destinations. On the journey, they notice they kind of like each other. What do they do about it? Read the book!

I’ve read Julia London before and I usually like her books. I also appreciate a really tightly written yet thorough novella. I didn’t enjoy Bridesmaid as much as I wanted. The writing wasn’t as good as I expected, the dialogue was just mediocre, and the characters were a little flat.

Bridesmaid has a cute plot and a nice, easy love story. But it isn’t quite the best you can get from Julia London.

–Calliope

Buy it now Bridesmaid

Review: The Untamed Mackenzie by Jennifer Ashley

Posted by

0

imageLady Louisa Scranton’s father, an earl, died in shame. He had swindled investors out of their money. Louisa is looking to marry well to help her overcome the scandal.

The Bishop of Hargate was one of her father’s investors. He tries to blackmail her into marrying by promising that the debt owed against him will be forgiven. Before Louisa can give him an answer, Hargate falls dead at her feet.

Sent to investigate investigate the crime is Detective Inspector Lloyd Fellows. Lloyd is the half-brother of the four infamous MacKenzie men. Louisa’s older sister married Lord Mac MacKenzie. Louisa and Lloyd shared a passionate over Christmas that neither can stop thinking about.

Hargate was poisoned. All evidence suggests that Louisa had the motive and opportunity to murder the bishop. Lloyd knows she is innocent and goes to lengths to protect her. He even re-stages the crime scene so that it appears that the killer might have quickly entered and left. By doing this, it also allows Lloyd time to discover the real killer.

All of the Mackenzies appear in this novella. They are a loving and boisterous group. They either are trying to help Lloyd with the case or trying to play matchmaker to Louisa and Lloyd. Daniel Mackenzie does both. His appearance made me want his book NOW.

The only dis-satisfaction I had was with the mystery. Much of the detecting by Lloyd and others was done off-stage. There were no real clues to track. It was all told at the end how Lloyd discovered who the killer was.

If you have not read the MacKenzie series, I would not recommend starting with this novella. Start with the first book so that you can understand the family dynamics. You can also see where it all started for Lloyd and Louisa.

4/5 stars

~Thalia

Buy It Now The Untamed Mackenzie (Mackenzies Series)

Buy Book 1 The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie (Mackenzies Series)

Review: Delectable by Adrianne Lee

Posted by

1

20130909-091341.jpg I found Delectable so refreshing! Instead of boy meets girl until happily ever after, Adrianne Lee gives us a romance about a newlywed couple who almost didn’t make it past their first two years of marriage.

With intervention from friends and family, Quint and Callee are thrown together in the kitchen of Big Sky Pie Cafe. They think about rekindling their relationship and decide against it several times. Eventually, all roads do lead to a happily ever after.

I liked how Callee made Quint work for the relationship. She refused to be a doormat even though she still loved him. I loved Quint’s efforts to save his marriage, especially his attempts to be romantic while still being his authentic self.

The ending was abrupt and could have used another chapter about Callee to bring the reader along on her mind trip, but I made the leap and enjoyed the book as a whole.

True love and homemade pies made this novella totally delectable!

-Calliope

Buy It Now Delectable

Review: Patchwork Family in the Outback by Soraya Lane

Posted by

0

20130906-070802.jpg

Poppy leaves the city and heads to a teaching position in the outback, hoping for a fresh start after her husband did her wrong. Harrison loves the land he was raised on and is determined to raise his own children there – despite his wife leaving the family for a more exciting city life.

This novella is very well-written, and the small cast of characters is nicely developed. There’s a meet-cute, the push and pull of new and unexpected chemistry, and a convenient storm that gives Poppy and Harrison a final push toward each other.

I loved the relationship between Harrison’s children and Poppy. I thought it was pretty realistic for a teacher to want to care for mother-less children. I also liked that Harrison was so rough and tough, but had a soft spot for his children.

I enjoyed reading about this Patchwork Family, and wished it was a full-length novel. For an hour or two I was transported to rural Aussie ranch country, and fell in love with Harrison’s family just like Poppy did.

–Calliope

For a quick, enjoyable, uplifting read for under $4:

Buy It Now Patchwork Family in the Outback

An Early Look: Review: Cake by Lauren Dane

Posted by

0

imageARC provided by publisher via NetGalley.

This novella is part of the Harlequin’s new Cosmo Red-Hot Reads line. (The first one, by Sylvia Day, will be released tomorrow). It definitely lives up to name of the line.

Gregori is a successful multi-media artist. He’s also very, very hot with his tattoos, nipple rings and beard. Wren, currently attending art school, is working hard to get her graphic novel published. Her job as a bike messenger helps pays the bills. Wren has been delivering packages and paperwork for Gregori for a year now.

They have slowly developed a friendship in that year. She always makes her deliveries to him last so that they can chat about his work or her art school. He provides her with scrumptious treats and hot tea.

Underlining the friendship is a super-charged attraction. When they do finally have sex, it is scorching. It scares Gregori how amazing the sex is and how at ease it is to be with Wren. He’s divorced and very wary of being in a relationship. He is the first to back away.

Wren is a fabulous, take-charge heroine. She sees that Gregori is skittish and scared but doesn’t back down from what she wants and doesn’t let Gregori push her aside. She shows him in every way that their relationship will be different than the marriage he had.

“I came here to get some distance between us. To cool things off.” She stepped closer. “I know. I came here to put an end to such silliness.”

Although, this is a short read, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything in the story. I belived in Wren and Gregori’s HEA. Wren is a fierce heroine. I adored her. She never let Gregori give in to his insecurities about their relationship.

This novella will be out Monday, September 15. Go and pre-order this! You won’t regret it!

~Thalia

Pre-order It Now Cake