Category Archives: Book Reviews

Book Review | The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

Book Reviews November 10, 2015 Leave a comment

BOOK REVIEW | THE CHOICE

200709-the-choiceTITLE: The Choice

AUTHOR: Nicholas Sparks

PUBLISHER: Grand Central Publishing

RELEASE DATE: September 24, 2007

GENRE: Romance, Women’s Fiction

BUY LINKS: AMAZON | B&N | INDIEBOUND | AUDIBLE | ABEBOOKS | BOOK DEPOSITORY | ALIBRIS

Travis Parker has everything a man could want: a good job, loyal friends, even a waterfront home in small-town North Carolina. In full pursuit of the good life — boating, swimming, and regular barbecues with his good-natured buddies — he holds the vague conviction that a serious relationship with a woman would only cramp his style. That is, until Gabby Holland moves in next door. Despite his attempts to be neighborly, the appealing redhead seems to have a chip on her shoulder about him…and the presence of her longtime boyfriend doesn’t help. Despite himself, Travis can’t stop trying to ingratiate himself with his new neighbor, and his persistent efforts lead them both to the doorstep of a journey that neither could have foreseen. Spanning the eventful years of young love, marriage and family, The Choice ultimately confronts us with the most heartwrenching question of all: how far would you go to keep the hope of love alive? (Description found on Goodreads)

MY THOUGHTS

(Before reading, please be aware that this review may contain spoilers)

It had been a while since the first time I read The Choice and it was like I was reading it for the first time. I’m glad I re-read it before the movie comes out next year because it’ll make it easier to compare the two later.

The Choice contains all the great qualities of a Nicholas Sparks book; a man and a woman who fall in love, a plot twist that will leave your heart aching, and several tear jerking moments that will force you to purchase a new box of tissues.

The book is separated into two parts. Part One tells the story of how Travis and Gabby met. They met in a way that reminded me of the 1961 animated film, One Hundred and One Dalmatians. While they didn’t get tangled in the leashes of their beloved pets, it is their dogs Molly and Moby that cause them to cross paths, so somewhat similar.

Part Two travels eleven years into their future where they have a nice house, great careers, and a wonderful family together, but a terrible accident has caused Travis to question every decision he makes.

While I did enjoy reading how Travis and Gabby fell in love, Part Two is where I felt more emotionally invested. Travis has to battle with the thought of losing his wife, all while trying to be a father to his children who are also feeling like they’ve lost their mother. This is where many of the emotional ups and downs are in the book. You can tell from his interactions with Gabby, in the hospital, that Travis really adores her and may not be able to move on without her.

Overall, this is another thumbs up for me, but that’s no surprise when it comes to Nicholas Sparks. I can’t wait to see how the movie turns out. The trailers make it seem like the storyline is going to differ from the book, but I’m sure it will be a great change. Stay tuned for my Book vs Movie post next year.

FAVORITE QUOTES

“Spending time with you showed me what I’ve been missing in my life.”

“I guess what I’m trying to say is that you two make me believe that true love really exists. And that even the darkest hours can’t take that away.”

OVERALL RATING

5-gold-star-rating

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | GOODREADS

nicholas-sparksWith over 100 million copies of his books sold, Nicholas Sparks is one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. His novels include 12 #1 New York Timesbestsellers. All his books have been New York Times and international bestsellers, and were translated into more than 50 languages. Ten Sparks novels have been adapted into major motion pictures, with The Choice coming in February 2016. (About the author found on Amazon.com)

Sparks wrote one of his best-known stories, The Notebook, over a period of six months at age 28. It was published in 1996 by Warner Books. He followed with the novels Message in a Bottle (1998), A Walk to Remember(1999), The Rescue(2000), A Bend in the Road (2001),Nights in Rodanthe (2002), The Guardian (2003), The Wedding(2003), True Believer (2005) and its sequel, At First Sight (2005), Dear John (2006), The Choice(2007),The Lucky One (2008), The Last Song (2009), Safe Haven (2010) and The Best of Me (2011), as well as the 2004 non-fiction memoir Three Weeks With My Brother, co-written with his brother Micah. His seventeenth novel, The Longest Ride, was published on September 17, 2013. (Found on NicholasSparks.com)

You can see his full bio here: Nicholas Spark Biography

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Book Review | Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave

Book Reviews August 20, 2015 Comments: 2

BOOK REVIEW | EIGHT HUNDRED GRAPES

cover58262-mediumTITLE: Eight Hundred Grapes

AUTHOR: Laura Dave

PUBLISHER: Simon & Schuster

PUBLICATION DATE: June 2, 2015

GENRE: Women’s Fiction

BUY LINKS: AMAZON | B&N | BAM! | INDIEBOUND | iBOOKS

There are secrets you share, and secrets you hide…

Growing up on her family’s Sonoma vineyard, Georgia Ford learned some important secrets. The secret number of grapes it takes to make a bottle of wine: eight hundred. The secret ingredient in her mother’s lasagna: chocolate. The secret behind ending a fight: hold hands.

But just a week before her wedding, thirty-year-old Georgia discovers her beloved fiancé has been keeping a secret so explosive, it will change their lives forever.

Georgia does what she’s always done: she returns to the family vineyard, expecting the comfort of her long-married parents, and her brothers, and everything familiar. But it turns out her fiancé is not the only one who’s been keeping secrets…

Bestselling author Laura Dave has been dubbed “a wry observer of modern love” (USA TODAY), a “decadent storyteller” (Marie Claire), and “compulsively readable” (Woman’s Day). Set in the lush backdrop of Sonoma’s wine country, Eight Hundred Grapes is a heartbreaking, funny, and deeply evocative novel about love, marriage, family, wine, and the treacherous terrain in which they all intersect. (Description found on NetGalley.com)

MY THOUGHTS

Before you read this review please note that it may contain spoilers. If you want to be surprised, just know that this is an amazing book and you should definitely read it.

I started reading Eight Hundred Grapes exactly one week ago. I was so entranced by it that I read it on the train, at lunch, on the treadmill, while taking my walk, and while my husband was pumping gas at Costco. I just couldn’t put it down. It’s that good!

There are many many aspects of it that I love, so I will spare you from reading an extremely long review and give you my top three things.

The first thing I love is the cover. I’m the type of reader who ultimately decides to read a book based on what the cover looks like. I won’t even read the description if I don’t have some sort of liking towards it. Eight Hundred Grapes has a wonderfully simple cover making me wish I had purchased the physical copy. It would be a perfect addition to my bookshelf. What do you think of the cover?

The second aspect I loved is that the entire story revolves around wine. Wine tasting is a hobby that my husband and I do together. We both love our separate wines (white wines are my thing and he likes more reds), but it’s the experience that makes it worth while and finding that wine that makes you want to buy cases of it for fear of never being able to have it again.

This book made me think about wine in a different way. I know that it takes a lot of time, effort, and money to sustain a vineyard and make quality wine, but I never truly got a sense of that until I read Eight Hundred Grapes. Laura Dave created this great story with a lot of details about running a vineyard. Even getting down to the nitty gritty of what to put in the soil at each stage of the grape growing process. I wonder how much research was done to write such detailed descriptions of the vineyard and wine making process.

The third aspect I enjoyed was the family drama and boy is this book packed with it. The main character, Georgia Ford, finds out her fiancé has been keeping a very big secret from her…(spoiler) that he found out he has a child with his ex girlfriend. To top it off, it’s only days before her wedding that she sees him walking down the street, during her last dress fitting, with his ex and his daughter. He had been keeping it from her for months. That’s when she bolts from Los Angeles to her family’s vineyard in Sebastopol, CA.

What Georgia finds is that everyone she knows has something to hide; her mother, father, and brothers. I don’t want to give away too much, but there are fists thrown around, yelling, arguing, and a lot of figuring out what to do next. In Georgia’s case, she was trying to fix everyone else’s problem instead of her own.

Eight Hundred Grapes is a wonderful story about embracing where you come from and deciding what path you want to take in life. Nobody knows where their path will lead, but it’s about taking a leap of faith and hoping that you land on your feet (possibly in some well tended vineyard soil).

Overall, I would HIGHLY recommend Eight Hundred Grapes to all my fellow Women’s Fiction lovers, wine lovers, and good old family drama lovers.

P.S. I actually asked my husband (during our Costco gas trip) what he would do if he found out he had a kid while we were engaged. After giving me a look of pure terror, he said he’d definitely tell me. I gave him points for that answer.

FAVORITE QUOTES

“Maybe that was just childhood? You hurry up, pick the opposite path, try to make childhood end. Then, as an adult, you have no idea why you were running away.”

“Here’s why my mother fell in love with him, she said. She was sitting at the Chinese restaurant, hearing him talk of soil, about the importance of foundation. And she heard the rest. His belief, at the center of his winemaking, that with work, you can give something the strength at the beginning that it needs later on. Before it even knows how it’s going to need it.”

OVERALL RATING

5-gold-star-rating

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | GOODREADS | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM

Laura Dave is the author of the critically acclaimed novels The First Husband, The Divorce Party, London Is The Best City In America, and the forthcoming Eight Hundred Grapes. Dave’s fiction and essays have been published in The New York Times, ESPN, Redbook, Glamour and Ladies Home Journal.

Dubbed “a wry observer of modern love” (USA Today), Dave has appeared on CBS’s The Early Show, Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends and NPR’s All Things Considered. Cosmopolitan Magazine recently named her a “Fun and Fearless Phenom of the Year.”

Three of her novels have been optioned for the big screen with Dave adapting Eight Hundred Grapes for Fox2000. (About the author found on her website at www.lauradave.com)

Thank you to Laura Dave and Simon & Schuster for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review. Book provided through NetGalley.com.

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Book Review | Carry Me Home by Lia Riley

Book Reviews August 17, 2015 Comments: 2

BOOK REVIEW | CARRY ME HOME

Riley_Carry Me Home_E-NovellaTITLE: Carry Me Home (Off the Map #3.1)

AUTHOR: Lia Riley

PUBLISHER: Forever Yours

RELEASE DATE: May 5, 2015

GENRE: New Adult, Romance, Contemporary

BUY LINKS: AMAZON | B&N | KOBO | IBOOKS | GOOGLEPLAY

Love doesn’t have to be perfect to be true…

Years ago, Tanner Green loved Sunny Letman. She was meant to be his first kiss, first love, first everything. Then their world spun upside-down and out of control.

Free-spirited Sunny doesn’t do commitment. Sure, guys are great for a night or a week, but she always leaves first. That is, until professional skateboarder and town golden boy, Tanner Green, unexpectedly walks back into her life.

Despite their broken history, a fragile and undeniably electric connection still holds them together. Now Tanner has to convince Sunny that even though love isn’t always perfect, it’s worth sticking around for…(this stand alone novella is part of the Off the Map series) (Description found on Amazon.com)

MY THOUGHTS

I’m a huge fan of Lia Riley. Over the last year she has become one of my favorite authors, so I’m always up for reading anything new of hers. Carry Me Home is a novella focused on a few side characters in her Off the Map series.

Tanner and Sunny’s story started years ago when they were children. They understood each other and what their situations were, but drama between their mother’s pulled them apart. As they got older they grew even further apart. It’s not until later that they finally start developing that relationship again. That’s where their story begins in Carry Me Home.

I enjoyed reading the story that Lia Riley developed for these two characters from the Off the Map series, especially Tanner. They both had difficult back stories that, in the end, brought them closer together. Sunny was one of the more frustrating characters. I kept saying to myself, “Ugh Sunny! Why don’t you just give in already. You know you like him”. Her noncommittal and stubborn attitude kept pushing Tanner away, but thankfully he wouldn’t let her. I liked Tanner because he knew exactly what he wanted and was fighting to obtain it. I believe their differing personalities balanced each other out and they eventually gave into their feelings.

The only thing I didn’t enjoy was how short it was, but that’s the nature of a novella. I definitely wanted more. I wonder how the story would have developed if Riley wrote it as a full novel. I guess I’m just going to have to ask her.

Overall, I would highly recommend Carry Me Home especially if you’re a fan of the Off the Map series. Even in it’s short length it showed you how love can develop no matter how different people are or how dire their circumstances might be.

If you’re interested in reading the Off the Map series, you can check out my reviews below.

Upside Down (Book #1)

Sideswiped (Book #2)

Inside Out (Book #3)

FAVORITE QUOTES

“We’ll never be the same again. We each carry a piece of the other. The way he watches me, I know he’s in this for a long time, not just a good time. And that idea doesn’t seem so scary anyone. In fact, I can’t wait.”

“Sunny is like her name. you can’t hope to hold sunshine. You can only bask in it for as long as it’s there. But weather changes. There are storms. Night always follows day. I know what I want can’t happen, but who ever said wanting needs to be reasonable or even sane?”

OVERALL RATING

5-gold-star-rating

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | GOODREADS | TWITTER

Lia Riley_Photo Credit Kitti HommeAfter studying at the University of Montana-Missoula, Lia Riley scoured the world armed only with a backpack, overconfidence and a terrible sense of direction. When not torturing heroes (because c’mon, who doesn’t love a good tortured hero?), Lia herds unruly chickens, camps, beach combs, daydreams about as-of-yet unwritten books, wades through a mile-high TBR pile and schemes yet another trip. She and her family live mostly in Northern California.

Thank you to Lia Riley, Forever Yours publishing, and NetGalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Book Review | What You Left Behind by Samantha Hayes

Book Reviews August 12, 2015 Comments: 2

BOOK REVIEW | WHAT YOU LEFT BEHIND

cover53690-mediumTITLE: What You Left Behind

AUTHOR: Samantha Hayes

PUBLISHER: Crown Publishing

RELEASE DATE: April 14, 2015

GENRE: Suspense & Thriller

BUY LINKS: AMAZON | B&N | BAM! | INDIEBOUND | POWELL’S | WALMART

A mesmerizing new thriller from the author of Until You’re Mine

Two years after a terrifying spate of teenage suicides, the remote village of Radcote has just begun to heal. Then a young man is killed in a freak motorcycle accident and a suicide note is found among his belongings. When a second boy is found dead shortly thereafter, the nightmare of repeat suicides once again threatens the community.

Desperate for a vacation, Detective Inspector Lorraine Fisher has just come to Radcote for a stay with her sister, Jo, but the atmosphere of the country house is unusually tense. Freddie, Jo’s son, seems troubled and uncommunicative, and Jo is struggling to reach out to him. Meanwhile, Lorraine becomes determined to discover the truth behind these deaths. Are they suicides, or is there something more sinister at work? Finding answers might help Freddie, but they’ll also lead to a shocking truth: whatever it is–or whoever it is–that’s killing these young people is far more disturbing than she ever could have imagined, and unraveling the secret is just as dangerous as the secret itself.

Wicked, intense, and utterly compulsive, What You Left Behind confirms Samantha Hayes as a top thriller writer. (Description from NetGalley.com)

MY THOUGHTS

At times, I feel I need a little bit more adventure, suspense, and mystery in my life so I wander away from my usual Women’s Fiction genre books and go towards a book like What You Left Behind by Samantha Hayes. Its books like this that keeps be wanting more suspense and thriller type novels to read.

There were many twists and turns throughout the book and Hayes did a great job tying up the loose ends. This is what kept me engaged and is what I loved most about the book. I was surprised by the plot twists. At times, I can predict what twists will be, but with this book many of the twists were a mystery. That’s not to say I didn’t guess a few of them, but for the most part I was like “oh my gosh” when something was revealed.

The characters, including the minor ones, were well developed and their stories were perfectly intertwined. The way Hayes created the characters made you believe they were different than they turned out to be. I think this created a much more impactful thriller and made me second guess my predictions (commence the applause).

What You Left Behind is a riveting psychological thriller riddled with secrets and lies and is well worth staying up until 1am to finish it.

I was generously provided a copy of this book for an honest review from NetGalley. Thank you Samantha Hayes and Crown Publishing. 

OVERALL RATING

5-gold-star-rating

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

WEBSITE | BLOG | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

Throughout the years, I always strived to improve my writing. In 2003 I won a short story competition and subsequently had a novel published by a small independent press. It’s out of print now. Since 2007 I have had four novels published by Headline under the name Sam Hayes—BLOOD TIES, UNSPOKEN, TELL TALE and SOMEONE ELSE’S SON.

I am now represented by Oli Munson at A M Heath Ltd and my books are published by Century and Arrow. I have written three novels in a new detective series – set in and around Birmingham, featuring my married DIs Lorraine Fisher and Adam Scott. The first is UNTIL YOU’RE MINE, followed by BEFORE YOU DIE, and finally YOU BELONG TO ME. These are all written as Samantha Hayes. You can find details of all my recent novels by visiting the bookspage. Meantime, I’m busy working on my next novel!

About the author was found on her website and you can click here to find out more.

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Book Review & Giveaway | The Secrets We Keep by Stephanie Butland

Book Reviews, Giveaways July 14, 2015 Leave a comment
BOOK REVIEW | THE SECRETS WE KEEP

cover65070-mediumTITLE: The Secrets We Keep

AUTHOR: Stephanie Butland

PUBLISHER: Sourcebooks Landmark

RELEASE DATE: July 7, 2015

GENRE: Women’s Fiction

BUY LINKS: AMAZON | B&N | BAM! | INDIGO | INDIEBOUND | KOBO

A tragic accident, a broken heart, and a marriage drowning in secrets…

Mike always walks the dog in the evening while Elizabeth relaxes in the bathtub–but one night he doesn’t come back. Mike has drowned while saving a teenage girl named Kate, his dog standing on the bank barking frantically as the police pull his body from the water.

But despite her husband being lauded as a hero, Elizabeth can’t wrap her mind around the fact that Mike is gone–and Kate won’t reveal the details of what really happened that night.

Elizabeth finds herself facing the unfathomable possibility that she may not have known her husband at all. Does she really want to know the truth? Or will the weight of Mike’s secrets pull her under.(Description from NetGalley.com)

MY THOUGHTS

Have you ever read a book that from the very first page, you knew you wouldn’t be able to put it down? Well that’s how The Secrets We Keep by Stephanie Butland is and I was hooked right from the very first sentence. I was so enthralled by this book that my husband was having a hard time pulling me away from it. He even tried to tempt me dinner (how cute!).

Stephanie Butland wrote this book to include letters Elizabeth was writing to her husband after his death. This was one of my favorite aspects of the book because it dove into the deeper feelings of Elizabeth. These are the feelings that many people won’t discuss with anyone else and the ones they keep to themselves. So being able to feel exactly what Elizabeth was feeling helped bring the book to another level.

There was one letter in particular that really stabbed at my heart and it read as follows:

People keep offering to “clear things out” for me. They mean, “Let me throw away Mike’s toothbrush, because I understand that you don’t want to. Let me get rid of the half-used shaving foam and the nearly gone shower gel and the new shower gel ready for when that one runs out, because it will be easier for me to remove these reminders than it would be for you to do it.” But I say, “No, thank you.”

That one small paragraph instantly made me think about my husband. It made me think, would I feel the same way? Would I grieve the same way? Would I want to keep his toothbrush and shower gel just to feel as though he’s still with me? I don’t know for sure, but when anyone loses the person they love it’s one of the hardest things to come to terms with and strange things,, like keeping their toothbrush don’t seem so strange.

As I read the book, I was able to predict what each “secret” was, but that didn’t keep me from enjoying the book. It actually made me want to read it more quickly so that I could find out how it was revealed to the characters.

There were several times when I felt really sorry for Elizabeth because as each secret came to light she seemed to go back to the beginning of the grieving process and couldn’t come to terms with anything. Everything was becoming too hard for her to handle and she was cutting herself off from the world, which is not what you should do in her situation. In the end, Elizabeth did come out of the darkness and started walking a path towards forgiveness.

The Secrets We Keep is a powerfully heart wrenching novel that takes you through the different stages of grief, time and time again, as each secret is revealed.

I would highly recommend this book to my followers who enjoy reading Women’s Fiction novels.

I received a copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

GIVEAWAY

Enter here to win a copy of The Secrets We Keep by Stephanie Butland: a Rafflecopter giveaway

FAVORITE QUOTES

“Somewhere in the air around her drifts the understanding that the generations grieve differently, int he same ways that they love differently, dress differently, raise their children differently.”

“Tears fall from hers and gather on his face, and she wipes them away gently with the thumb that wears his wedding ring, and just for a moment these are his tears, and they are crying together.”

OVERALL RATING

5-gold-star-rating

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | GOODREADS

Stephanie lives in Northumberland, England, and talks and trains in thinking skills all over Europe, most recently in Kazakhstan. She has written two books on her experience with cancer, and she is an active blogger and fundraiser. The Secrets We Keep is her first novel.

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Book Review | The Beautiful Daughters by Nicole Baart

Book Reviews June 8, 2015 Leave a comment

BOOK REVIEW | THE BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS

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ABOUT THE BOOK

“Adrienne Vogt and Harper Penny were closer than sisters, until the day a tragedy blew their seemingly idyllic world apart. Afraid that they got away with murder and unable to accept who they had lost—and what they had done—Harper and Adri exiled themselves from small-town Blackhawk, Iowa, and from each other. Adri ran thousands of miles away to Africa while Harper ventured down a more destructive path closer to home.

Now, five years later, both are convinced that nothing could ever coax them out of the worlds in which they’ve been living. But unexpected news from home soon pulls Adri and Harper back together, and the two cannot avoid facing their memories and guilt head-on. As they are pulled back into the tangle of their fractured relationships and the mystery of Piperhall, the sprawling estate where their lives first began to unravel, secrets and lies behind the tragic accident are laid bare. The former best friends are forced to come to terms with their shared past and search for the beauty in each other while mending the brokenness in themselves.” (Description found on Goodreads) 

MY THOUGHTS

Nicole Baart has created a powerful story of two women running from their past and, in some ways, running from what’s right in front of them.  The Beautiful Daughters revolves around Adrienne Vogt and Harper Penny who became close while attending college. Then a tragic accident after graduation tears them apart not just from each other, but also from their families. It’s the same accident that brings them back together to face their demons and reveal their secrets.

Based on what Adrienne went through and what Harper was going through the book’s theme is based on abusive relationships. I think Baart did an excellent job with the theme of the book and didn’t make it too much for the reader.  It could have easily become too hard to read.  I personally can’t relate to abuse, but I feel that Baart really portrayed what might be going through a woman’s head when rationalizing their actions or the actions of others in those types of relationships.

There isn’t a lot of romance in the book, but that’s because both women are trying to patch themselves up. It’s really about them accepting who they are, making themselves better, and then moving forward in their lives.

The Beautiful Daughters is a compelling novel about love, loss, and fear. I would recommend this book to my followers who like to read women’s fiction and can read books with a more sensitive subject matter.

I won an advanced copy of this book through Goodreads courtesy of Atria Books.

FAVORITE QUOTES

“Sometimes he read out loud. He loved the Pslams, and sometimes the cadence of those words washed over Adri as she sliced bread or set the table around him. It was a love song that he sang to her.”

OVERALL RATING

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | PINTEREST | TWITTER | GOODREADS | INSTAGRAM

Nicole Baart wants to live in a world filled with handwritten letters, New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, and great conversation.

A critically acclaimed novelist, Nicole’s work has been featured as a Midwest Connections book pick, nominated for a Christy Award, and earned a starred and featured review from Publishers Weekly. In 2011 she co-authored a book that debuted at #4 on the New York Times bestseller list.

Nicole is also the co-founder of a non-profit organization, One Body One Hope, that partners with a sisterhood of churches and orphanages in Monrovia, Liberia. An adoption advocate and the mother of four children from four different countries, Nicole speaks on a variety of topics ranging from orphan care to parenthood to books and the writing process.

When Nicole’s not writing, working for One Body One Hope, or carpooling her children from school to hockey to gymnastics to cello lessons, you can usually find her outside. A lover of the great outdoors and a child at heart, Nicole’s favorite pastimes include playing with her kids, gardening, camping, and practicing her many hobbies including running, photography, baking, and re-teaching herself how to play the piano.

Nicole lives with her family in a small town in Iowa, but holds dual American/Canadian citizenship and considers British Columbia her second home. Since Liberia is also home, Nicole likes to think of herself as a global citizen. She and her family love to travel and hope to see the world together–before her kids are too old to consider their parents cool.

Nicole’s eight novels range from romantic to suspenseful, but she is known for her artistic prose and finely drawn characters. Her stories celebrate the triumph of the human spirit and beauty in the midst of brokenness. (About the Author from her website at NicoleBaart.com)

BUY LINKS: AMAZON | B&N | BAM!

PUBLISHING COMPANY: Atria Books

RELEASE DATE: April 28, 2015

GENRE: Women’s Fiction

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Book Review | If You’re Not the One by Jemma Forte

Blog Tours, Book Reviews June 5, 2015 Leave a comment

BOOK REVIEW | IF YOU’RE NOT THE ONE

cover55355-medium

ABOUT THE BOOK

“What if you could do it all over again?

Jennifer Wright is pretty sure her husband doesn’t love her anymore. She and Max used to be the perfect couple, but the pressures of work and kids have pulled them in opposite directions. Now , Jen is full of “what if” questions about whether her bland, suburban existence is all she was ever destined for.

When a terrible accident sends Jen into a coma, she is able to see what her life could have been if she had run off to Australia with the handsome, dangerous man she met on vacation, or if she had stayed with her workaholic college boyfriend. Would she ever have loved another child as much as she loves her daughters? Could she have become rich? More than anything, Jen wants to do the right thing for her family. But what she discovers may leave her with even more questions about the choices she made, and no easy answers about what to do next.” (Description from NetGalley.com)

MY THOUGHTS

Have you ever wondered what your life would be like had you stayed with someone else? Do you think you’d have the same friends or live in the same place? Do you think you’d be the same person? If You’re Not the One is a book that explores those possibilities through the character Jennifer Wright after she slips into a coma.

When I realized I’d be following multiple storylines throughout the book I got a little nervous, but Jemma Forte was able to keep the book from becoming confusing which is something I’ve seen in other books that have multiple layers to it.

There are four storylines to follow in If You’re Not the One: 1) Jennifer and her husband Max, 2) Jennifer and her Australian fling, 3) Jennifer and her college boyfriend, and 4) Jennifer and her boyfriend post college.  Each storyline started with how they met then progressed into where their relationship would end up.

One element of the book I enjoyed was Forte’s interpretation of what goes through a person’s mind while in a coma. Nobody truly knows, but I think many people might be thinking about things similar to Jennifer.

The final aspect of the book I want to mention is the ending. I don’t want to give away any details, but I will say that it didn’t end as I expected. Usually I’m not a fan of endings I didn’t see coming, but was pleasantly surprised and happy with what happened.  If you read the book please let me know what you thought of the ending.

If You’re Not the One is about accepting your past, learning from it, and not dwelling on what could have been. It’s about taking a chance on life even when the future looks uncertain.

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to my followers who enjoy reading women’s fiction novels and are ok with a more complex story. if you don’t like following multiple storylines this book isn’t for you.

I received a digital copy of If You’re Not the One through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.  Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark Publishing.

FAVORITE QUOTES

“I want to get out of this mire. I want to know that I’ve led my life in a positive way and that I haven’t missed out and most of all, when I ask the question ‘Is this it?’ I want to feel like if it is, then that’s ok.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER

Jemma Forte was a Disney Channel host in the UK for five years, and has gone on to host shows for ITV, BBC1, BBC2, and other channels in the UK. She lives in London with her family.

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PUBLISHING COMPANY: Sourcebooks Landmark

RELEASE DATE: June 2, 2015

GENRE: Women’s Fiction

OVERALL RATING

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Book Review | Throw Like A Woman by Susan Petrone

Book Reviews May 17, 2015 Leave a comment

BOOK REVIEW | THROW LIKE A WOMAN

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“Forty years old, divorced, with two sons on the verge of adolescence and an ex-husband who considers visitation to be optional, Brenda Haversham isn’t having a whole lot of fun. She’s also no longer qualified for the work she loves, so she’s toiling away in a cubicle instead, trying to make ends meet. Brenda is short on money, short on connection with her kids, and short on any kind of social life. The only thing Brenda has in abundance is her anger. And that turns out to be her greatest asset.

When she was a kid, Brenda’s father taught her how to throw a good fastball. That wasn’t of much use to a girl, but it is enough to astound onlookers at a “test your speed” pitching cage before a Cleveland Indians game. The more Brenda pictures her ex-husband’s face on the other end, the harder she throws. And when someone tapes her performance and puts it up online, Brenda becomes an Internet sensation and then more than that.

The Indians come calling and Brenda finds her life taking a turn in a new direction. Soon, she’s standing on the mound as the first woman player in Major League history and dealing with everything that comes with it. The money is great and the endorsement deals are even better. The fury of “traditionalists?” Not so much. And the conflicting emotions of her teammates are even harder to manage. Meanwhile, Brenda’s home life is evolving faster than she can keep up, redefining her role as a mother, a friend, and even a lover. As the season winds down Brenda will find out if she has what it takes to be a winner at both baseball and life.” (Description via NetGalley)

MY THOUGHTS

Susan Petrone has created a masterful story of a dream many girls who play softball or baseball have…a chance to play professionally. With every sentence I was imagining myself in Brenda’s shoes putting on the team jersey, tying up my cleats, and holding that ball in my hand in front of thousands of people.

I’ve never read a book, about baseball, that really touched my heart like this book did. Even in today’s society a woman playing professional baseball is unheard of and I think Petrone gave an accurate interpretation of how people might react. There were those who truly supported Brenda, but there were the “haters” who thought it an abomination having a woman play. Petrone also did an excellent job incorporating the emotions a single mother would have when taking on a job that requires a lot of travel in addition to having to deal with her ex-husband. If there was ever a Brenda to grace Major League baseball, she would change everything and be a part of something historical…something that would pave the way for others afterward.

Throw Like a Woman is about perseverance, courage, and strength.  It’s about knowing you’re part of something bigger than yourself and embracing every moment of it.  

I absolutely loved this book and would highly recommend it to those who enjoy reading women’s fiction and are baseball fans like myself.

An advance copy was generously provided through NetGalley for an honest review.

FAVORITE QUOTES

“She started to walk toward the grass then sprinted, just because she could.  Out of breath, she reached her arms up and out and spun around a few times, looking at the perfect blue sky above.  And then she screamed ‘Yeeeeeesss!’ as loudly as she could.”

“For a second, Brenda had an image of her father standing in front of her, holding a beat-up catcher’s mitt, an ancient catcher’s mask on the top of his head.  ‘If you can just make the four-seam fastball fly as it wants to fly, you could be…anything,’ he’d said to her.”

OVERALL RATING

5-gold-star-rating

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

WEBSITE | BLOG | TWITTER

Susan Petrone’s short fiction has been published by Glimmer Train, Featherproof Books, Muse, Conclave, and Whiskey Island. She is the author of the novels Throw Like a Woman (2015, The Story Plant) and A Body at Rest (2009, Drinian Press), which won a bronze medal for regional fiction from the Independent Publishers Book Awards (IPPY). Her short story, “Monster Jones Wants to Creep You Out” (Conclave, 2010) was nominated for a 2011 Pushcart Prize. On the non-fiction side, Susan’s work has appeared on CoolCleveland.com and ESPN.com, and she co-owns the Cleveland Indians blog, ItsPronouncedLajaway.com, for ESPN.com’s SweetSpot network.She holds a master’s degree in English with a concentration in Creative Writing from Cleveland State University and lives with one husband, one daughter, and far too many dogs in a little house near some medium-sized woods. (About the Author found on Susan’s website)

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Publishing Company: The Story Plant

Release Date: March 24, 2015

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Book Review | Pieces of My Mother by Melissa Cistaro

Book Reviews April 20, 2015 Comments: 3

BOOK REVIEW | PIECES OF MY MOTHER

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ABOUT THE BOOK

“This provocative, poignant memoir of a daughter whose mother left her behind by choice begs the question: Are we destined to make the same mistakes as our parents?

One summer, Melissa Cistaro’s mother drove off without explanation Devastated, Melissa and her brothers were left to pick up the pieces, always tormented by the thought: Why did their mother abandon them?

Thirty-five years later, with children of her own, Melissa finds herself in Olympia, Washington, as her mother is dying. After decades of hiding her painful memories, she has just days to find out what happened that summer and confront the fear she could do the same to her kids. But Melissa never expects to stumble across a cache of letters her mother wrote to her but never sent, which could hold the answers she seeks.

Haunting yet ultimately uplifting, Pieces of My Mother chronicles one woman’s quest to discover what drives a mother to walk away from the children she loves. Alternating between Melissa’s tumultuous coming-of-age and her mother’s final days, this captivating memoir reveals how our parents’ choices impact our own and how we can survive those to forge our own paths.” (NetGalley Description)

MY THOUGHTS

Memoirs are certainly my favorite genre and it’s because of books like Pieces of My Mother by Melissa Cistaro. It’s such a heartbreaking story and shows just how much people are impacted by their parent’s choices. When a parent makes poor choices their children might follow the same path or spend their lives worrying that they might.  That’s exactly what Melissa Cistaro was going through.

The book is formatted in flashbacks. It starts with Melissa as a young child watching her mother leave and then goes to her as an adult flying to be with her dying mother.  The story continues on like this and follows Melissa’s childhood along the way.

Growing up, Melissa had an unusual relationship with her mother. Her mother had left, but was never really gone. She’d visit randomly and Melissa would occasionally take trips with her mother. Reading the book, you can really feel that she never understood why her mother left.

This book really hit home for me. Both Melissa and I had a mother that we didn’t really understand.  We didn’t understand the decisions they made and why they continued doing what they did seeing how it effected their children. While my mother never left us like Melissa’s did, I feel that she left us mentally. I felt a lot of what she was feeling growing up. She asked why her mother wouldn’t stay while I’ve asked why my mother couldn’t stop taking her pills.

It was clear that Melissa kept her feelings bottled up…just like I tend to do. She had so much anger towards her mother, but didn’t want to tell her, fearing that her mother would run away again. I felt that in this paragraph:

“What good would it do me to unravel the anger inside me? I might hurl this heavy ceramic coffee cup across the table. I might stand up and tell her she sucks at being a mom. But that isn’t me. I’ll need to take her as she is right here, right now – fragrant, strip-searched, and full of mystery.”

There was a line in the book that also reminded me of my siblings. “We line up, three across, and stand over the grate with our legs apart until it gets too hot and the metal edge starts to burn the bottoms of our feet.” I laughed when I read this because that’s exactly what my siblings and I did when we’d get ready for school. We’d fight over it just like Melissa did with her brothers.

Pieces of My Mother is about learning to forgive even when you don’t fully understand the decisions that were made. It’s also about learning to forgive yourself and know that the decisions people make are their own.

I would highly recommend this book for those of you that love a good memoir.

FAVORITE QUOTES

“But memory is never linear. It’s as random as the wildflowers that grew behind our yellow house – a purple lupine here, a patch of California poppies there, a circle of yellow buttercups – and hidden among them, the slivers of broken glass that sliced our feet open. I was searching for the memories that could rescue me.”

“She pretends to be reading something on the page but her mind is somewhere else. I feel like she’s trying to show me that she’s okay, that she can still do the thins she’s always done. She is pretending to read and I am pretending that this does not break my heart.”

OVERALL RATING

5-gold-star-rating

PUBLISHING COMPANY: Sourcebooks

RELEASE DATE: May 5, 2015

GENRE: Biographies & Memoirs

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ABOUT MELISSA CISTARO

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Author photo © Adam Karsten

author photo © Adam Karsten

Melissa Cistaro’s stories have been published in numerous literary journals, including the New Ohio Review, Anderbo.com, and Brevity as well as the anthologies CHERISHED and LOVE and PROFANITY. She works as a bookseller and event coordinator at Book Passage, the esteemed independent bookstore in Northern California. Melissa graduated with honors from UCLA and followed her literary pursuits through the UCLA Extension Writers’ Program and the Tin House Writer’s Workshop in Portland. Between the years of raising her children, writing, bookselling, teaching horseback riding, and curating a business in equestrian antiques – Melissa completed her first memoir. Pieces of My Mother will be released on May 5th 2015. (Bio from Melissa Cistaro’s website, link above)

Book Review & Giveaway | The One That Got Away by Bethany Chase

Book Reviews, Giveaways April 2, 2015 Leave a comment

BOOK REVIEW | THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY

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ABOUT THE BOOK

Perfect for fans of Emily Giffin and Jennifer Weiner, this bright, funny debut from a fresh voice in fiction offers a delicious take on love, family, and what it means to build a home of one’s own.

“Sarina Mahler thinks she has her life all nailed down: a growing architecture practice in Austin, Texas, and an any-day-now proposal from her loving boyfriend, Noah. She’s well on her way to having the family she’s hoped for since her mother’s death ten years ago. But with Noah on a temporary assignment abroad and retired Olympic swimmer—and former flame—Eamon Roy back in town asking her to renovate his new fixer-upper, Sarina’s life takes an unexpected turn. Eamon proves to be Sarina’s dream client, someone who instinctively trusts every one of her choices—and Sarina is reminded of all the reasons she was first drawn to him back in the day. Suddenly her carefully planned future with Noah seems a little less than perfect. And when tragedy strikes, Sarina is left reeling. With her world completely upended, she is forced to question what she truly wants in life—and in love.

Full of both humor and heartbreak, The One That Got Away is the story of one woman’s discovery that, sometimes, life is what happens when you leave the blueprints behind.”

MY THOUGHTS

We all have that one person. The person you thought was the one, but ended up disappointing you. The person that’s always in the back of your mind. This person is the one you don’t truly get over. This person is the one that got away.

Sarina Mahler is a strong woman who knows what she wants…at least career wise, but in the relationship department it’s a different story. While she believes that her future with her boyfriend Noah is set, she’s sorely mistaken when a ghost from her past comes back to town. That ghost comes in the form of a tall, handsome, and charming swimmer named Eamon.

If you’ve ever been in a situation where you had to choose between your head and your heart then you will totally relate to the character Sarina.  She had to figure out what would ultimately make her happy even though each path would cause pain to someone else, but that’s the risk you take with love. You have to decide what’s best for you in the end and know that you won’t look back with regrets. This is what Sarina was going through while she was spending more time with Eamon and her boyfriend was miles away.

I related to Sarina most when it came to her family.  She lost her mother, just like I did, and I felt Sarina’s pain every time she thought of her mom. It’s a pain that never leaves you, but becomes a part of who you are. The smallest reminder could bring you back to the day she left and bring the tears along with it. This is the part of Sarina that I was most fond of while reading.

Chase does an excellent job portraying real world dilemmas when it comes to a woman’s career and finding a man that will understand her dreams and aspirations, but also understands the importance of family. That is the story that Bethany Chase created. She created a character who’s strong willed, family oriented, and full of heart and passion. I think I would get along with Sarina if in some weird universe I was able to jump into the pages myself.  

The One That Got Away is about following your heart and not worrying about what others will think of your decisions. It’s about deciding what’s important in your life.

I’m always open to reading books by new authors. I think they give a fresh take within their genre and Bethany Chase’s debut novel is definitely worth reading.

FAVORITE QUOTES

“It’s funny how, when you only get to spend a very finite amount of time with someone you wanted to know better, you find that certain details have cut deeper tracks in your memory than others-something about the way they looked, or one particular comment that made you laugh, out of hundreds of sentences.”

“Instead, it’s like groundwater. Pooling underneath my skin, seeping to the surface here and there, now and then. Endlessly replenished. Easy to forget about, until it startles me wit the depth of it.”

OVERALL RATING

5-gold-star-rating

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PUBLISHING COMPANY: Ballantine Books

RELEASE DATE: March 31, 2015

GENRE: Women’s Fiction

ABOUT BETHANY CHASE

Bethany Chase

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A native of Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, Bethany Chase headed to Williams College for an English degree and somehow came out the other side an interior designer. When she’s not writing or designing, you can usually find her in a karaoke bar. She lives with her lovely husband and occasionally psychotic cat in Brooklyn, three flights up. This is her first novel.

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