Category: Romance

The Guest Book
AUTHOR: Mary Beth Whalen
PUBLICATION DATE:   07/03/12
ORDER LINKS:  Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
When Macy Dillon was five years old her father encouraged her to draw a picture in the guestbook of a Carolina beach house. The next year, Macy returned to discover a drawing by an unidentified little boy on the facing page. Over the next eleven years the children continue to exchange drawings … until tragedy ends visits to the beach house altogether. During her final trip to Sunset, Macy asks her anonymous friend to draw her one last picture and tells him where to hide the guest book in hopes that one day she will return to find it—and him. Twenty-five years after that first picture, Macy is back at Sunset Beach—this time toting a broken family and a hurting heart. One night, alone by the ocean, Macy asks God to help her find the boy she never forgot, the one whose beautiful pictures touched something deep inside of her. Will she ever find him? And if she does, will the guestbook unite them or merely be the relic of a lost childhood?

REVIEW:
I really enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. It does fall under Christian romance so there is quite a bit about God and returning to Him after a time when Macy let herself stop believing.

This is a very melancholy book. The character is still in, I think, a depression from the last few years of her life. Her father passed away and she got pregnant by a boyfriend who then ran off and she has raised her daughter on her own. Macy’s brother Max is going through a depression as well but has turned to drinking and maybe even her mother is too since she has kept a shrine to her late husband for 10 years. Most of the book is spent with Macy looking back at her father and the time they spent at the beach when she was young. And while she wonders who the artist is that has left her the pictures for years the story feels more like a homage to the father she misses. I wonder if the author recently lost someone herself to feel this melancholy and put it in writing. But what is interesting is the book is not a downer. The memories that Macy has are good memories, most of the time, so you do not feel like she has been in a deep depression just a functioning one.

I do not want to give the wrong impression. This is a REALLY good book but it is not all love and sex. It feels more like what a real person goes through after a rough time. Wanting to come around and change her life. All the characters are very interesting in the book from Brenda (mom), the neighbor (Buzz), the three men who enter her life and especially Max her brother. I really enjoyed the playfulness of Max especially when he is around Emma (Macy’s daughter). The author really writes Emma’s part well. Emma is supposed to be 5 years old and she acts it. So many times authors put in a child about this age and the child either speaks like a 2 year old or like a 10 year old. You really feel that the author has had these conversations with a 5 year old and wrote them down.

While, like I said, there is quite a bit of God and religion in the book (including a handsome pastor) it is not shoved down your throat. This is a wonderful Christian story of a woman who is ready to turn her life around and is just trying to figure it out and hoping to get led in the direction she is supposed to go. I do, however, wish we had an epilogue to this book (you will understand when you read it).

NOTE: After reading the extra note about the sculpture used in the story I went all through the internet looking for a picture. Even going to the website of the city it is located in and when one was not there I actually sent them an email telling them that they needed one because the book was coming out. I finally found it on a Pinterest site made up by the author. http://pinterest.com/marybeth6/the-guest-book-a-novel/

 The Last Good Man
AUTHOR: Kathleen Eagle
PUBLICATION DATE:   05/01/12
ORDER LINKS:  Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Savannah Stephens has finally come home to the purple hills of Sunbonnet, Wyoming, after years of living a life far different from the one she’s known. But her return has set Sunbonnet’s queen bees buzzing. Why has this successful woman returned home? And where is the unknown father of Claudia, the beautiful six-year-old daughter she brought with her?
But Savannah isn’t talking. Not to her Aunt Billie who raised her, and not to the childhood friends she left behind. Savannah’s been hurt deeply, and the worst scars of all –the ones she’s sure will never heal — are the ones that no one can see or touch. But one person refuses to let her retreat in isolation. When Savannah went east to find fame and fortune, strong, silent Clay stayed in Sunbonnet and tended his horses. But his steadfast love for Savannah never wavered, and he’s not going to give up on her now.
Soon Savannah cannot help but yield to the force of a man with the heart, soul, and grit to persist. For her heart knows that she hides from the one thing that can heal the hurt consuming her body and soul.

REVIEW:
Honestly I was not very thrilled with this book. It was so depressing it left me in a funk. Savannah is in such a depression that it is hard to enjoy her. And Clay is so love sick and wanting to take care of everything and everyone he sees that he becomes almost pathetic to me. While I can understand how some people would enjoy this book it was just too sad for me. I am the girl who likes a strong alpha male and Clay to me was not that at all. And while he may be the kind of guy you want to be in a relationship with when the going gets hard he is not the kind of guy I want to read about. He most certainly falls into the catagory of having “white knight” syndrome. and Savannah was hard for me to deal with. Yes she has gone through alot that has turned her world upside down but she has survived it but she does not act like it. She has left everything for someone else to take care of including her daughter. And I am not sure she has moved on from loving Clay’s older brother and it makes me wonder why he would fight for her at all.

As I said I can probably see why some people may enjoy it and if you were in a depressed mood and read it maybe by the end you would not be so down but having not started depressed it was hard to rally from this book. It is very slow paced and written different then I am used to (maybe because it is a reprint from 2000) so maybe that was a factor. Maybe I would have enjoyed it at another point in my life but not right now.

Only His
AUTHOR: Susan Mallery
PUBLICATION DATE:   09/27/11
ORDER LINKS:  Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Wedding bells are ringing in Fool’s Gold, but not for Nevada Hendrix. Her triplet sisters are engaged, and even her mother has a more active love life than she does. Determined to make a fresh start, she applies for her dream job, only to discover that her new boss is her first love. Maybe she could overlook the fact that they’ve seen each other naked, but she’ll never forget the way he broke her heart.
Tucker Janack agrees to Nevada’s “business only” ground rules. After all, love is a trap that the construction millionaire has avoided his whole life. But when great business partners turn out to be so much more, every rule gets broken. Will either of them be willing to try again…or will their past get in the way?

REVIEW:
Another wonderful visit to the “Land of Happy Endings”. This is the sixth in the Fool’s Gold series and the last of the Hendrix triplets stories. While, of course, you can read this as a stand alone I would not recommend it. This is a series that no one should miss and it is best to start in the beginning.

This is the story of Nevada Hendrix. She is the triplet who is the most tom-boy of the three girls so it was fun to watch her have some “girly” moments. Tucker is a interesting character. It is also interesting that the main characters knew each other before but in a different setting all together. They did not grow up together like in some romances but met for a short time in college while he was involved with someone else. As a fan of the series it was great to find out the history of Jo and to see where Denise had gone with her romance with Max. Of course we caught up with the other two Hendrix triplets s well.

The best thing about this series is it is a progressive series. The couple from book one is mentioned and we read about them having a baby, etc. We meet up with them while they attend the same festivals or even just walk down the street. It is set up so the people of the town are always evolving and like the character of Jo, who we met in the original book, we are just now learning of her past who the town as speculated on from the beginning.

I love this series and I love all novels from Susan Mallery. She is an author not to be missed!

A Secret Wish
AUTHOR: Barbara Freethy
PUBLICATION DATE:   12/08/11
ORDER LINKS:  Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Three women, three birthdays and one unforgettable night that will change their lives forever.

One night in San Francisco, three women make a birthday wish believing it can’t possibly come true. Liz is turning thirty. A successful nurse, she has a good career, but no man to share her life. All her friends are married, and she’s alone, still trying to outrun a tragedy from her past. Then she meets a handsome stranger.

Angela, a member of a large, loving Italian family, is facing thirty-five with no baby in the nursery. Eight years of infertility treatments have put a strain on her marriage. Will she have to choose between her husband and having a child? When she is mugged by an unexpected assailant, her life takes a new turn.

Carole, a corporate wife, is staring down forty candles. Having grown up poor, she worked hard to get ahead, but when her kids bail on her birthday, and she discovers her husband with another woman, she realizes that she may have nothing at all. She goes back to where it all began, the mother she left behind, and the man whose heart she once broke.

REVIEW:
This is a novella of about 100 pages that takes place on the birthday of three women who share the special day but are complete strangers. They each make a special wish and this is the story of how those wishes play out.

The interesting thing about this story is everything (except the epilogue) takes place in one 24 hour period for these three ladies and they all even have a chance encounter. They are each celebrating a milestone birthday (30, 35 and 40) and are each in different places in their lives and yet they all have something in common.

This is really a poignant and interesting read. Anyone who is feeling like life is passing them by or not what they expected should read this short story. It makes you feel like there is light at the end of the tunnel and, thankfully, it is not a train. While we have the ideal image of life in our heads it does not always work out that way and yet we find out that perfect is not always what we have but what we need and want. This is an enjoyable short book to have ready to read.

 The Harder They Fall
AUTHOR: Trish Jensen
PUBLICATION DATE:   05/01/12
ORDER LINKS:  Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Food fight, love match, or both? She’s a lovable klutz trying to save her family’s restaurant chain. He’s a stuffed shirt angling to buy it. Who will trip up and fall in love first?

Darcy Welham’s dad is ready to sell his five-star restaurants and retire, but she’s determined to prove she can be trusted to keep the family business going. Darcy’s sure it’s what her mother would have wanted. Only one problem: her life turns into a comedy show when she’s nervous. Pratfalls, spills, slips and fires—all in a day’s misadventures for Darcy. She can’t even wait on tables without dumping food into the customers’ laps. When supper lands on a sensitive area of businessman Michael Davidson’s finely creased trousers, he tries to have his gorgeous but careless waitress fired, only to discover that she’s the person he has to win over if he wants to buy the restaurant chain for his bosses. From that antagonistic start, Darcy and Michael soon find that there’s more to each other than first expected. She’s clumsy because she’s got low self-esteem. She may be a disaster as a waitress, but she’s a genius as a cook, with a talent for creating mouth-watering new dishes. Darcy begins to realize that Michael is not a stuffed shirt at heart—he’s patient, strong and brave, which any man who dates Darcy has to be, because she turns into a Danger Zone every time he makes her heart flutter.

REVIEW:
This is an adorable story about falling in love when you least expect it. This is the perfect romance to curl up on a couch with or to read at the beach. And it is not hard to fall quickly for these characters. These are the kind of characters you wish you had as friends.

The character of Darcy is just such a klutz that she is adorable. She is sweet, naive and innocent and even as a reader you worry for her and want to make sure she ends up all right. Michael is delightful. Even after meeting him in a bad situation you can see how calm and patient he is and when he begins to really interact with Darcy you know he is the perfect guy for her.

Trish Jensen is a great author. The humor she adds to her books is great and she is fun to read. This is the perfect book to have on hand for when you are not sure what you want to read but are looking for something light and entertaining. This books makes you smile and leaves you with a good feeling.

 Just A Wish Away
AUTHOR: Barbara Freethy
PUBLICATION DATE:   03/30/12
ORDER LINKS:  Amazon | B&N

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Alexa Parker and Braden Elliott fell in love when they were twelve years old. On a summer day, while searching for sea glass on the beaches of Washington State, they discovered an unusually shaped blue bottle. The ever-imaginative Alexa declared it a genie’s bottle. Popping the cork, they were surprised by a rogue wave that sprayed them with a fine, cool mist. Closing their eyes, they each made a wish …

Before their love had a chance to grow, life, family and tragedy separated the two best friends. Now fifteen years later, Alexa returns to Sand Harbor after her aunt is injured in a mysterious break-in at her antique store. Braden is also back, but he’s not the innocent boy Alexa remembers. His military service has left him with physical and emotional scars.

Can the sweet love of youth be recaptured by two now cynical souls? Can solving the mystery of the past bring them to a new future? Or will it take a wish, maybe two …

REVIEW:
This is the second in the Wish series however you do not need to read the first to read this one. It most certainly stands alone. In all honesty they have nothing to do with each other except both books have wishes made in them.

Alexa and Braden were summer time best friends when they were young. Alexa makes a wish to have Braden fall in love with her not knowing he already is. Then they are separated and years later Alexa returns to Sand Harbor and Braden is there now too. Can a wish come true 15 years later?

This book is the ultimate “you can never go home” book. Don’t we all wonder at some time what would have happened if we were still with our first love? Would we use the chance to reconnect if we had it? And if we did reconnect would it be the same now? That is what this book is all about.