Book of the Week | Winner Takes All by Jacqui Moreau

November 23, 2015November 10, 2015 ~ Danielle Olson ~ Leave a comment

TITLE: Winner Takes All

AUTHOR: Jacqui Moreau

PUBLISHER: Potatoworks Press

RELEASE DATE: October 12, 2015

GENRE: Romance, Women’s Fiction

BUY LINKS: AMAZON

Eva Butler isn’t easily intimidated—certainly not by a stern receptionist with a disapproving scowl. Her appointment with media mogul Cole Hammond is too important to miss. As a senior associate at an auction house vying for his father’s multimillion-dollar art collection, she won’t be turned away by a specious claim that she doesn’t have an appointment. Of course she does. She made it herself!

Help comes in the form of an enigmatic executive who claims to have Hammond’s ear. Reed volunteers to take the meeting, and suddenly Eva finds herself at lunch with a charming man far too handsome for her peace of mind. She knows the sizzle of attraction she feels isn’t appropriate business behavior, and yet she can’t quite smother the spark.

But all is not what it seems—not with Reed, not with her auction house. Schemes are afoot, and before she knows it, securing the Hammond collection becomes the least of her worries. With so much at stake, including her heart, Eva realizes that the winner does indeed take all. (Description found on NetGalley.com)

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Book Review | The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

November 10, 2015November 6, 2015 ~ Danielle Olson ~ Leave a comment

BOOK REVIEW | THE CHOICE

TITLE: The Choice

AUTHOR: Nicholas Sparks

PUBLISHER: Grand Central Publishing

RELEASE DATE: September 24, 2007

GENRE: Romance, Women’s Fiction

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | GOODREADS

With 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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September New Releases

September 10, 2015September 9, 2015 ~ Danielle Olson ~ Leave a comment

SEPTEMBER NEW RELEASES

Here are the upcoming September releases I’m excited about and have added to my TBR list.

TITLE: The Sea Keeper’s Daughter

AUTHOR: Lisa Wingate

PUBLISHER: Tyndale House Publishers

RELEASE DATE: September 8, 2015

GENRE: Women’s Fiction

BUY LINKS: AMAZON | B&N | BAM!

From modern-day Roanoke Island to the sweeping backdrop of North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains and Roosevelt’s WPA folklore writers, past and present intertwine to create an unexpected destiny.

Restaurant owner Whitney Monroe is desperate to save her business from a hostile takeover. The inheritance of a decaying Gilded Age hotel on North Carolina’s Outer Banks may provide just the ray of hope she needs. But things at the Excelsior are more complicated than they seem. Whitney’s estranged stepfather is entrenched on the third floor, and the downstairs tenants are determined to save the historic building. Searching through years of stored family heirlooms may be Whitney’s only hope of quick cash, but will the discovery of an old necklace and a Depression-era love story change everything. (Description from NetGalley.com)

TITLE: Reading the Sweet Oak

AUTHOR: Jan Stites

PUBLISHER: Lake Union Publishing

RELEASE DATE: September 29, 2015

GENRE: Women’s Fiction

PRE-ORDER LINKS: AMAZON

Along the banks of the Sweet Oak River, deep in the heart of the Ozarks, a romance novel book club takes five women on stunning journeys of self-discovery.

After losing first her husband, then her daughter, seventy-eight-year-old grandmother Ruby wants to teach her risk-averse granddaughter, Tulsa, that some leaps are worth taking, no matter how high the potential fall. Tulsa loves her grandmother dearly, but she has a business to run and no time for romance—not even the paperback version. But when Ruby ropes her into a book club, Tulsa can’t bring herself to disappoint the woman who raised her.

Together with Ruby’s best friend, Pearl, as well as family friends BJ and Jen, the women embark on an exploration of modern-day love guided by written tales of romance. What they discover is a beautiful story that examines the bonds of friendship and the highs and lows of love in all its forms. (Description and photo from Netgalley.com)

TITLE: Last Night in the OR

AUTHOR: Bud Shaw, MD

PUBLISHER: Penguin Group Blue Rider Press

RELEASE DATE: September 29, 2015

GENRE: Memoir

The 1980s marked a revolution in the field of organ transplants, and Bud Shaw, M.D., who studied under Tom Starzl in Pittsburgh, was on the front lines. Now retired from active practice, Dr. Shaw relays gripping moments of anguish and elation, frustration and reward, despair and hope in his struggle to save patients. He reveals harshly intimate moments of his medical career: telling a patient’s husband that his wife has died during surgery; struggling to complete a twenty-hour operation as mental and physical exhaustion inch closer and closer; and flying to retrieve a donor organ while the patient waits in the operating room. Within these more emotionally charged vignettes are quieter ones, too, like growing up in rural Ohio, and being awakened late at night by footsteps in the hall as his father, also a surgeon, slipped out of the house to attend to a patient in the ER.

In the tradition of Mary Roach, Jerome Groopman, Eric Topol, and Atul Gawande, Last Night in the OR is an exhilarating, fast-paced, and beautifully written memoir, one that will captivate readers with its courage, intimacy, and honesty. (Description and photo from NetGalley.com)

What new releases are you excited about this month?

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Book Review | Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave

August 20, 2015August 19, 2015 ~ Danielle Olson ~ 2 Comments

BOOK REVIEW | EIGHT HUNDRED GRAPES

TITLE: 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

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

August 17, 2015 ~ Danielle Olson ~ 2 Comments

BOOK REVIEW | CARRY ME HOME

TITLE: 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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | GOODREADS | TWITTER

After 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.