Tag Archives: book recommendation

2016 Book #30 – The Winemakers by Jan Moran

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, Historical fiction by

51+6MKE8BTL._SX330_BO1,204,203,200_Title: The Winemakers: A Novel of Wine and Secrets
Author: Jan Moran
Date finished: 4/5/16
Genre: Historical fiction
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication Date: April 5, 2016
Pages in book: 369
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE:I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

1956: When Caterina Rosetta inherits a cottage in the countryside of Italy from a grandmother she’s never known, she discovers a long-buried family secret — a secret so devastating, it threatens the future of everything her mother has worked for. Many years before, her mother’s hard-won dreams of staking her family’s claim in the vineyards of California came to fruition; but as an old murder comes to light, and Caterina uncovers a tragic secret that may destroy the man she loves, she realizes her happiness will depend on revealing the truth of her mother’s buried past.From author Jan Moran comes The Winemakers, a sweeping, romantic novel that will hold you in its grasp until the last delicious sip.

My rating:  4.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book tells the story of the Rosetta family: Caterina, her mother Ava, and her new daughter Marisa. This book reminded me a lot of Kristen Harnisch’s The Vintner’s Daughter, which I LOVED. For anyone who likes this book you should also read hers, or vice versa.  The family owns a winery in Napa, California and has well respected wines that rival those in Europe. The book mostly takes place in 1956, though there are some flashbacks to 1928 and 1929 when Ava came to America. One of the things that particularly struck me about this book was the emphasis on lack of women’s rights during both of those time periods. Caterina has a baby out of wedlock and many times is told directly to her face that she’s a whore and should be ashamed of herself. Which I think is both sad that someone would speak to her that way and also just odd considering how far we’ve come away from that in today’s day and age. I would have to say it is definitely not uncommon to know several people who were either unwed when they had a child or are still unwed with a child. Society has been almost forced to accept this as a norm, so it was just interesting to see how unaccepted it was in a different time period.
Anyways, there were multiple things going on in this book. There was the budding but tragic romance between Caterina and Marisa’s father. There was the family drama that caused Ava to come to America all those years ago, which resurfaces when Caterina’s grandmother dies and leaves her a house in Italy in her will. There was the drama between Ava and Caterina over Marisa. And finally there was the struggle to save the winery (and their home) after disaster strikes. All in all there were multiple plot points all intertwined, which made for a very exciting read. I honestly couldn’t put this one down, I technically started it Sunday night late (around 10:30pm) and then couldn’t stop reading it on Monday and ended up finishing it at 12:30 am Monday morning.
Overall I really enjoyed this book a lot. The conversations were slightly stilted at times and somewhat awkward at others but it didn’t effect my enjoyment of the book. Also I thought the ending came up a bit quick and honestly I thought it was a little odd. I’m glad it had a (**spoiler**) happy ending but it just took me back a little bit that the challenge the couple had to overcome at the end was so.. different from other books I’ve read. Things I enjoyed about the book though included the description of the scenery in Italy, which was excellent, and the narratives about the wine-making process were informative and interesting. Great book and a great read, I think this one is going to be a popular one for 2016 summer.

The bottom line: Really really liked this book! I couldn’t put it down, the story line was riveting. Conversations seemed a tad stilted to me but other than that it was just a great book! I would definitely recommend!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

2016 Book #29 – Change of Scene by Mary Kay Andrews

Posted in 2016, Book reviews, Fiction, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2016 checklist, Reading Challenges, Women's fiction by

51qm6DOU2bL._SX344_BO1,204,203,200_Title: Change of Scene: A 100 Page Novella
Author: Mary Kay Andrews
Date finished: 4/3/16
Genre: Women’s fiction
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Publication Date: April 5, 2016
Pages in book: 144
Stand alone or series: Prequel to Beach Town
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

This 100 page prequel novella to Mary Kay Andrews’s bestselling novel Beach Town is sure to delight fans and new readers alike.
Greer Hennessy is a movie location scout whose latest project has literally gone up in flames. After an avocado field accidentally catches fire on the set of her new movie, she is out of a job and practically run out of town. With her feisty grandmother Dearie, a Golden Age starlet who still has a lot of vigor left in her, complicating her life, Greer needs a bit of a rest. But Greer’s own mother then drops a bombshell on her that will change Greer’s life completely, and raise questions about her own father that she can’t ignore. In desperate need of a second chance, can Greer find what she’s looking for in the one last job she can get: a movie called BEACH TOWN? But first, she needs to find the perfect spot…

My rating:  3.5 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. Also, this book will count towards my “PopSugar 2016 Checklist” reading challenge, marking off the “a book and its prequel” square. Technically I’m marking off 1/2 the square since I haven’t read Beach Town yet but I own it so I am hoping to read it whenever I have a spare moment in my reading schedule. Definitely before the end of the year. Anyways this novella is about Greer Hennessy, who is a location scout for the film industry. At the beginning of the novella, her job goes up in smoke and then she has trouble finding any more work. During this time, she finds out that her mother is sick and spends time caring for her as well as trying to find a new nursing home for her grandmother, who was kicked out of the last home for breaking a handful of rules. Luckily, Greer’s friend CeeJay has recently started dating a film producer who wants Greer to be the location scout for his next project, Beach Town.
Overall this was a good novella. The author did a good job of setting up the stage for the next book, Beach Town. The reader becomes invested in the story and in Greer’s character. If I didn’t already have a JAM packed reading schedule, I would be reading Beach Town next! I want to find out what happens next. And not having read Beach Town I can’t be sure, but I think that this novella adds a good amount of background and context to Greer’s character and her motivations in the next book. I would recommend this for any one who has read or is planning to read Beach Town. I bet these two would be great reads for the beach!

The bottom line: This was a good novella, it caught my interest and got me invested in the characters. I wish I could read Beach Town next, but hopefully will read it soon.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

2016 Book #28 – A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, Historical fiction by

51ayaswY4HLTitle: A Certain Age
Author: Beatriz Williams
Date finished: 4/3/16
Genre: Historical fiction
Publisher: William Morrow
Publication Date: June 28, 2016
Pages in book: 324
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: BookBrowse NOTE: I received this book for free from BookBrowse in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

The bestselling author of A Hundred Summers brings the Roaring Twenties brilliantly to life in this enchanting and compulsively readable tale of intrigue, romance, and scandal in New York Society, brimming with lush atmosphere, striking characters, and irresistible charm.
As the freedom of the Jazz Age transforms New York City, the iridescent Mrs. Theresa Marshall of Fifth Avenue and Southampton, Long Island, has done the unthinkable: she’s fallen in love with her young paramour, Captain Octavian Rofrano, a handsome aviator and hero of the Great War. An intense and deeply honorable man, Octavian is devoted to the beautiful socialite of a certain age and wants to marry her. While times are changing and she does adore the Boy, divorce for a woman of Theresa’s wealth and social standing is out of the question, and there is no need; she has an understanding with Sylvo, her generous and well-respected philanderer husband.
But their relationship subtly shifts when her bachelor brother, Ox, decides to tie the knot with the sweet younger daughter of a newly wealthy inventor. Engaging a longstanding family tradition, Theresa enlists the Boy to act as her brother’s cavalier, presenting the family’s diamond rose ring to Ox’s intended, Miss Sophie Fortescue—and to check into the background of the little-known Fortescue family. When Octavian meets Sophie, he falls under the spell of the pretty ingénue, even as he uncovers a shocking family secret. As the love triangle of Theresa, Octavian, and Sophie progresses, it transforms into a saga of divided loyalties, dangerous revelations, and surprising twists that will lead to a shocking transgression . . . and eventually force Theresa to make a bittersweet choice.
Full of the glamour, wit and delicious twists that are the hallmarks of Beatriz Williams’ fiction and alternating between Sophie’s spirited voice and Theresa’s vibrant timbre, A Certain Age is a beguiling reinterpretation of Richard Strauss’s comic opera Der Rosenkavalier, set against the sweeping decadence of Gatsby’s New York.

My rating:  4.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. I read a few of Beatriz Williams’ other books last year (Along the Infinite Sea and Tiny Little Thing) and I just loved them so when I saw that her new book was available on Book Browse I hoped that I would be selected to receive a copy, and my prayers were answered! First I have to say that I just love the cover of this book, its glitz and glamour and it really calls out to readers. The girl on the cover I think is Sophie, she is described at one of the parties in the books wearing a dress similar to the one on the cover. This book has a varied cast of characters but mostly centers around Theresa Marshall, her brother “Ox” (Jay), his fiancee Sophie Fortescue, and Theresa’s lover Octavian (“the Boy”). Theresa’s character reminded me a lot of Babe from Swans of Fifth Avenue and Tiny from Tiny Little Thing and I really connected with her character the most. After Jay becomes engaged to Sophie, Theresa asks Octavian to dig into Sophie’s family just to make sure there aren’t any huge skeletons that would mar the family name. Unfortunately this opens a can of worms that will end up drastically changing all of their lives.
Overall I really liked this book. The author did an amazing job of transporting the reader; her description of the scene at the horse track was so well done I felt like I was there with Theresa and Octavian. Honestly I could almost smell the horses. The characters were also very complex and interesting. I really felt bad for Theresa through most of the story. She may have been a difficult person but she was so in love with Octavian and I could just feel her sadness emanating from the book when Octavian started to fall for Sophie. The story line was riveting and had a couple of good twists and turns. I didn’t want to put the book down, the story really just draws the reader in. I’m not really sure yet how I feel about the ending. I think that it fit with the story line and it was a touching ending but it left me feeling a little empty I think. I actually feel very similar to how I felt about the ending of Along the Infinite Sea, I’m left feeling a little adrift. Really good story though and a great book. This is definitely going to be a summer must read!

The bottom line: This was a really great book! There were some great twists and turns and I’m not 100% sure how I feel about the ending but I couldn’t put it down! I would definitely recommend!!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

2016 Status Update: March

Posted in 2016, Book Riot Read Harder Reading Challenge 2016, For the love of books, Penguin Random House: Challenge Your Shelf A-Z Challenge, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2016 checklist by

Book-Update-4

YES! It is almost April, the end of tax season is in sight! March was an interesting month for me since I have been working more hours and therefore would have less time for reading. Combine that with the fact that I have requested WAY more than I can possibly manage to read on the various ARC sites, and I instituted a new “sleep budget” policy where I’m only allowed to sleep a maximum of 6 hours a night. That lasted right up until I got sick (probably from lack of sleep).  My friend at work (my day job) keep telling me to just stop requesting the books but when you see something on there that you really want to read, how can you not request it? I guess the main problem is that I really want to read a lot of books, hence the over abundance of books in the March/April TBR.
On a really positive note, I won an awesome giveaway this month! I won a giveaway on the Tall Poppy Writers site for signed books from 16 authors plus a $100 gift card to Storiarts! Stayed tuned for a separate post on this, once I receive all my books I will post about them and what I ordered from Storiarts!
Anyways, here is my status update for progress I made on reading challenges this month and some highlights of my posts for this month.

Monthly Stats:
# books read this month: 12
# pages read this month: 3,527
# books read year-to-date: 27
# pages read year-to-date: 8,320

Favorite Books I Read:

The Passenger by Lisa Lutz – 4.75 stars
Just Fall by Nina Sadowsky – 4.75 stars

Books I Didn’t Particularly Enjoy: 

I honestly can say that I enjoyed every book I read in March, therefore there weren’t any March reads that fall into this category for me 🙂

Other Posts this month:

OwlCrate February Subscription Box
Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books On My Spring TBR

Status of 2016 Reading Challenges:

PopSugar Reading Challenge 2016 Checklist – 9/20 books read
Book Riot Read Harder Reading Challenge – 1/24 books read
Penguin Random House: Challenge Your Shelf A-Z Reading Challenge – 0/26 books read

April TBR list: 

-A Certain Age by Beatriz Williams (BookBrowse) (rolled from March TBR – didn’t get to)
-Change of Scene: A 100 Page Novella by Mary Kay Andrews (NetGalley)
-The Winemakers by Jan Moran (NetGalley)
-The Rivals of Versailles by Sally Christie (NetGalley)
-You Can’t Always Get the Marquess You Want by Alexandra Hawkins (NetGalley)
-Remember My Beauties by Lynne Hugo (NetGalley)
-Amazonia by James Rollins (Fiction Lover’s Book Club)
-Dead Distillers by Colin Spoelman (NetGalley)
-The Year We Turned Forty by Liz Fenton & Lisa Steinke (Won an ARC on their Facebook!)
-The Fair Fight by Anna Freeman (BookBrowse)
-I Know What I’m Doing — and Other Lies I Tell Myself by Jen Kirkman (Edelweiss)
-The Art of Not Breathing by Sarah Alexander (NetGalley)
-Because of Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn (The Reading Room)
-Lake of Dreams by Linda Howard (NetGalley)
-Behave by Andromeda Romano-Lax (NetGalley)
-The Good Kind of Bad by Rita Brassington (NetGalley)

I’m overwhelmed just looking at this list. 16 books. So basically I need to read a book every two days at a minimum. Which I’m already falling behind at, so I guess we’ll see how this goes. I have some titles on this list that I’m really excited about though so I think it will be a good month. I’m technically already about a third of the way through A Certain Age and I love it!

So! That was March overview and my plan for April! Hoping to find more time for reading this month! Happy reading to all!

2016 Book #25 – Dreaming of Antigone by Robin Bridges

Posted in Book reviews, Young Adult by

51cVMLcFPoLTitle: Dreaming of Antigone
Author: Robin Bridges
Date finished: 3/23/16
Genre: Young adult
Publisher: Kensington
Publication Date: March 29, 2016
Pages in book: 304
Stand alone or series: There was an excerpt for the next book with Natalie as the protagonist so it seems to be a sort of connected series.
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Andria’s twin sister, Iris, had adoring friends, a cool boyfriend, a wicked car, and a shelf full of soccer trophies. She had everything, in fact–including a drug problem. Six months after Iris’s death, Andria is trying to keep her grades, her friends, and her family from falling apart. But stargazing and books aren’t enough to ward off her guilt that she–the freak with the scary illness and all-black wardrobe–is still here when Iris isn’t. And then there’s Alex Hammond. The boy Andria blames for Iris’s death. The boy she’s unwittingly started swapping lines of poetry and secrets with, even as she tries to keep hating him.
Heartwrenching, smart, and bold, Dreaming of Antigone is a story about the jagged pieces that lie beneath the surface of the most seemingly perfect life…and how they can fit together to make something wholly unexpected.

My rating:  4.25 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book is about Andria, a junior in high school whose twin sister (Iris) died six months ago. Andria is still trying to cope with the loss of her sister and also the guilt she faces in not having done more to help her. Iris died of a drug overdose and Andria wishes that she had known her sister was falling down that particular rabbit hole before she died and that she could have done more to help Iris. Also Andria’s mother has become especially over protective since Iris’s death, though she has always been a bit over protective of Andria since she has epilepsy due to hypoxia. Alex Hammond returns to town from his stint at rehab (he was doing drugs with Iris the night she died) and Andria thinks that everything will work out just fine if she can avoid him. Unfortunately he seems to be there every time she turns around lately, and she doesn’t appreciate the butterflies she gets in her stomach when she sees him either.
Overall I really enjoyed this book a lot. I loved Andria’s character and, even though she wasn’t a big party goer because of her limitations due to epilepsy, I connected with her character a lot for feeling different from the rest of her friends and peers. I think that this books deals with a lot of hard issues too that face some teens today, as awful as that is. I also loved that this story intertwined poetry and astronomy into the story, I thought the poetry verses were beautiful and really added to the angst of young love within the story line. And Andria’s interest in astronomy was different and interesting and gave her character a quirky twist. I thought the relationships in this book were well-written, there was a ring of accuracy to the teen drama with the on and off romances and ebb and flow of friendships. The story really hooked me in too, I didn’t want to put it down. I’m looking forward to reading future books from this author!

The bottom line: I really liked this book a lot, I thought it covered a lot of hard topics that unfortunately teens today might face: drugs, abuse, illness, death, loss, and love. I loved Andria’s character and thought that the relationships between the characters was well written. I would definitely recommend this one.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

2016 Book #24 – Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Posted in Book Clubs, Book reviews, Fiction, For the love of books, Terryville - Fiction Lovers by

51pWGanuqjLTitle: Little Bee
Author: Chris Cleave
Date finished: 3/20/16
Genre: Fiction, literary ficiton
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: Reprint edition 2008
Pages in book: 266
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: Purchased from Book Outlet.com

Blurb from the cover:

We don’t want to tell you too much about this book. It is a truly special story and we don’t want to spoil it. Nevertheless, you need to know something, so we will just say this: It is extremely funny, but the African beach scene is horrific. The story starts there, but the book doesn’t. And it’s what happens afterward that is most important. Once you have read it, you’ll want to tell everyone about it. When you do, please don’t tell them what happens either. The magic is in how it unfolds.

My rating:  4.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I read this book for the Terryville Library’s Fiction Lover’s Book Discussion group discussion for this month (March). I have to say I agree with many of the other reviews I read on Amazon that mentioned the blurb from the cover, its dead wrong. This book was not what I would call a funny book. There may have been a few comical jibes here and there but overall this book I would describe as powerful, sad, moving, heart-wrenching. There are a lot of things you can use to describe this book and none of them are really funny. That being said, its hard for me to say I enjoyed this book. I thought it was a powerful story and I’m glad that I read it but this isn’t the kind of book that brings enjoyment to the reader. There are a lot of dark events that the characters in this book have to deal with, and it is a hard thing indeed for the reader to experience as well.

The bottom line: I thought that this was a moving story though it was quite sad. In the US many of us are sheltered from the horrors that people face in other countries, and it is sad to read about what some of those women had to endure. I think this was a powerful story though it might be tough for some to read, I would recommend it.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

2016 Book #23 – Nerd In Shining Armor by Vicki Lewis Thompson

Posted in 2016, Book reviews, Contemporary romance, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2016 checklist, Reading Challenges by

51xCdBbrd-LTitle: Nerd In Shining Armor
Author: Vicki Lewis Thompson
Date finished: 3/17/16
Genre: Contemporary romance
Publisher: Dell
Publication Date: April 29, 2003
Pages in book: 324
Stand alone or series: #1 in the Nerd series (stand alone stories)
Where I got the book from: My personal collection! I’ve had this one since High School

Blurb from the cover:

For Genevieve Terrence it seemed like a dream come true: a weekend alone on Maui with her sexy boss, Nick Brogan. But little did she know that Nick had dreams of his own–a nefarious scheme that nearly got her killed on the flight over the Pacific. Lucky for her, brilliant computer programmer Jack Farley was on board and quick-witted enough to crash-land the plane. Now Jack is her sole companion on a remote desert island with nothing but guava trees and sharks for company. Who’d expect the shy genius–and the least alpha male she knows–to turn out to be the uninhibited stud of her wildest dreams?
Saving Genevieve’s life has made Jack a hero in the eyes of the woman he has secretly lusted after for months. Now they’re alone together in a tropical eden where they’re free to give in to their every sensual whim. But when some nasty unfinished business puts them at risk again, Gen will learn there’s nothing quite as dangerous as a fully aroused ex-nerd who’ll move heaven and earth to protect the woman he loves…

My rating: 4.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: This book will count towards my “PopSugar 2016 Checklist” reading challenge, marking off the “a book you haven’t read since high school” square since I last read this book sometime in high school. This is the first book in the “Nerd” series by this author, which became a fast favorite of mine once I discovered the existence of romance novels during high school. I had a hankering to re-read this one after my recent read A Sudden Crush had a somewhat similar story line and reminded me how much I had originally liked this type of story. This book is about Genevieve Terrence who gets stuck on a remote island with the nerd computer programmer from her firm, Jackson Farley. Jack has had a crush on Genevieve since he started at the firm and he’s never worked up the courage to tell her how he felt. Luckily for him this stay on a deserted island with her is a great chance for some one on one bonding time.
Overall I enjoyed this book the first few times I read it back in high school and I enjoyed reading it again now. The characters are all full of spunk and heart and I loved the side story with Genevieve’s mom, Annabelle. The story line is full of adventure and intrigue. This really was a pleasure to read again and I am hoping to find time to re-read more of the Nerd series soon!

The bottom line: This is one of my favorites in the romance genre, love the Nerd series . This story in particular is exciting and full of adventure. Very romantic as well.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

2016 Book #22 – Just Fall by Nina Sadowsky

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, Thriller by

41HMrAMGc3LTitle: Just Fall
Author: Nina Sadowsky
Date finished: 3/15/16
Genre: Fiction, thriller/suspense
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publication Date: March 22, 2016
Pages in book: 304
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

THEN
Ellie Larrabee’s life is perfect. She’s thriving at work, living in a fabulous apartment, and engaged to the man of her dreams. To all appearances, Ellie and Rob Beauman are a golden couple—blessed with good looks, success, and romantic chemistry that’s off the charts. Surely their future together promises nothing but happiness.
But on what should be the most wonderful day of her life, moments after saying “I do,” a shocking secret threatens to shatter Ellie’s happily-ever-after. She learns that the man she just married and loves with all her heart hides a dark past beneath his charismatic exterior. And the more harrowing truth she uncovers, the deeper Ellie is swept into a vortex of betrayal and uncertainty from which she may never escape.

NOW
On the island paradise of St. Lucia, Ellie isn’t basking in honeymoon splendor—she’s grappling with the chilling realities of her violently derailed life: Rob has blood on his hands and some very dangerous people on his trail, and only Ellie stands between him and the lethal destiny he’s facing. Rob never dreamed that Ellie would be dragged into the deadly world he’s trapped in—or used as a pawn against him. And Ellie could never have imagined how far she’d be forced to go to save the man she loves.

My rating:  4.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book is about a woman named Ellie who discovers an awful secret about her husband (Rob) minutes after the ceremony ends. While she is still in shock, a series of events occur that lead to Ellie taking some extreme measures in order to ensure her husband’s safety. The book alternates between the Then and Now of Ellie’s story, showing us glimpses of her relationship with Rob as it develops and also glimpses into both her past as well as Rob’s before they met. In the wrong hands this writing style can leave the reader completely lost and confused but Sadowsky does a fantastic job of keeping the reader on the right path and leaves subtle clues as to where we are in the timeline without having to put exact dates. I thought it was splendidly done and really increased the tension of the story.
Overall I very much enjoyed this book, the plot line was interested and the story definitely keeps the reader on their toes since it switches between the past and what is happening now. I thought that the book presented an interesting concept, what are we willing to do in order to help those that we love? Ellie and Rob both have dark pasts, events in their lives that changed them. Even though they didn’t discuss those events before they were married, they somehow knew that the other person understood their pain and emptiness. I really liked Ellie’s character, though she did some pretty screwed up stuff in order to protect Rob, I think that she was a really complex character and was just trying to do what was best for her family. There is a lot of grey area in life, decisions that aren’t necessarily good or bad but are the right decision for you to make. I thought the author did a great job of making Ellie’s decisions seem abhorrent and understandable all at the same time. I also really liked how the author was able to intertwine multiple characters and story lines all into a cohesive and (honestly) thrilling story. This was a great read, I can’t wait to see more by this author in the future.

The bottom line: Great book, the plot twists definitely kept me on my toes. Couldn’t put this one down, I would definitely recommend!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

2016 Book #21 – A Sudden Crush by Camilla Isley

Posted in 2016, Book reviews, Contemporary romance, Fiction, Pop Sugar Reading Challenge 2016 checklist, Reading Challenges by

51YnLTiTjYL._SX324_BO1,204,203,200_Title: A Sudden Crush
Author: Camilla Isley
Date finished: 3/14/16 (just after midnight)
Genre: Fiction, contemporary romance
Publisher: Pink Bloom Press
Publication Date: February 4, 2016
Pages in book: 255
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: The Reading Room NOTE: I received this book for free from The Reading Room in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Joanna Price is a city girl with the perfect life. She loves her job as a book editor, she just married Liam, high profile bestselling author and the man of her dreams, and she’s headed to the Caribbean to enjoy two weeks of paradise for her luxurious honeymoon.
Connor Duffield is a gruff, grumpy rancher from the Midwest. He is a country boy who has a no-nonsense approach to life, more scars than he’d like to admit, and he hates city girls.
So it’s just a misfortune they have to sit next to each other for a six hour plane ride. Even more so when their flight is caught in the perfect storm and Joanna wakes up stranded on a desert island with Connor, the very man she hoped she would never have to see again.
Why are they alone on this forsaken island? What happened to Joanna’s husband?
When her dream honeymoon turns into a hilarious tropical nightmare, Joanna’s first thought is survival. However, she and Connor will quickly discover just how boring paradise can be. As the days turn to weeks, and then months, this mismatched pair will have to learn how to coexist and how to resist the sparkles of an attraction they weren’t prepared to feel.
When they are finally rescued will Joanna’s marriage be saved as well, or will the life she knew and loved be in ruins?

My rating: 4.0 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. Also, this book will count towards my “PopSugar 2016 Checklist” reading challenge, marking off the “a book you can finish in a day” square since I started it yesterday afternoon and finished just after midnight. This book is about Joanna Price, who while flying to her honeymoon destination is involved in some freak plan accident and ends up on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean with one of the other plane passengers, who unfortunately was not her husband but a farmer from Illinois named Connor. Somehow Connor and Joanna manage to survive the jungle covered island for months before (**spoiler alert**) they are rescued. But after Joanna returns to her life at home, she finds out that her life isn’t exactly in the same rosy status as it was when she disappeared. From there she has to learn to find the strength to move on and forge a new life for herself.
Overall I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick and easy read and I really liked the plot line. When I first read the book synopsis I thought it was going to be a little more like one of my favorite romance novels, Nerd In Shining Armor, and while the story line was very different, they both had that whole plane crash on a deserted island thing which I enjoyed. The emotions in this book too are really powerful and really draw the reader in.  I was really rooting for Joanna when she was encountering her struggles head on and I was cheering her on to forge through whatever crap life was dealing her. I think that was one of the things that I especially liked about this book was that the romance for Joanna came after she already had her stuff figured out. She became a success entirely on her own and was really just living her dream and being her own person. Not to go too deep into feminism here but I thought that was a really important thing for women readers, and especially any younger women reading this, to see that a woman can be successful and happy without a man, that the love and companionship of finding that special person is a bonus but does not rule over your whole life. Anyways, I liked the book a lot. And with all the descriptions of the steamy weather on the island I think this would be a great book to read on the beach while lying in the sun. Make sure to check this one out!

The bottom line: This was an easy read for me and was a sweet story. Great beach read, I would definitely recommend!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page

2016 Book #20 – The Passenger by Lisa Lutz

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction, Thriller by

41sHWoA+-uL._SX329_BO1,204,203,200_Title: The Passenger
Author: Lisa Lutz
Date finished: 3/13/16
Genre: Fiction, thriller
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: March 1, 2016
Pages in book: 320
Stand alone or series: Stand alone
Where I got the book from: NetGalley NOTE: I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

In case you were wondering, I didn’t do it. I didn’t have anything to do with Frank’s death. I don’t have an alibi, so you’ll have to take my word for it…
Forty-eight hours after leaving her husband’s body at the base of the stairs, Tanya Dubois cashes in her credit cards, dyes her hair brown, demands a new name from a shadowy voice over the phone, and flees town. It’s not the first time.
She meets Blue, a female bartender who recognizes the hunted look in a fugitive’s eyes and offers her a place to stay. With dwindling choices, Tanya-now-Amelia accepts. An uneasy―and dangerous―alliance is born.
It’s almost impossible to live off the grid today, but Amelia-now-Debra and Blue have the courage, the ingenuity, and the desperation, to try. Hopscotching from city to city, Debra especially is chased by a very dark secret…can she outrun her past?
With heart-stopping escapes and devious deceptions, The Passenger is an amazing psychological thriller about defining yourself while you pursue your path to survival. One thing is certain: the ride will leave you breathless.

My rating:  4.75 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book is about a woman who runs through many different names through the story; we first meet her right after she has discovered her husband dead at the bottom of the stairs at her house. After this we learn that she has been on the run since long before that, and because of that she didn’t want the police looking too far into her background after her husband dies, so she runs again. At this time the woman’s name is Tanya. She runs to Austin, Texas where she makes a new friend, Blue. From there “Tanya” makes a series of wrong (and a few right) turns that will lead her down a dark path, away from the person she always thought she was underneath the fake names and hair dye.
Overall I thought this was a fantastic book. “Tanya” was an extremely flawed person but the reader still comes to like her somehow. And the twists and turns in this plot were outstanding, every time I thought we were settled for awhile there was another one thrown in there. It definitely kept me on my toes and I did not want to put the book down. “Tanya” also comes across a number of people in this story, most with sinister motives, but she does meet a few truly good people that only want to help her. I thought that was interesting that with so much harshness and struggle to survive in her world that “Tanya” was able to find happiness at certain moments in her life on the run. This was a thrilling, fast-paced, riveting novel with a great story line that will keep you hooked right through to the end. Everyone should pick up a copy of this one.

The bottom line: VERY good book! I didn’t want to put it down, this is a great thriller! I would definitely recommend.

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page