An engrossing story of a deceased mother communicating with her daughter on the office Stack account. Daughter Ruby is determined to find a way to rescue her mother from an eternity on Stack. She tries all manner of things to untrap her. Her attempts lead to dating her boss-a charmer but up to something. She also reconnects with her longtime crush/friend and becomes involved in a secret plot at work. A very inviting story.
A marvelous story of the budding relationship of a burnt out ER nurse and a man seeking his own path. Mae, an ER nurse from Chicago, relocates to Pine Harbor, Maine, to find relief from her years in ER. Jonah, a Pine Harbor born, is trying to escape from his critical mother’s expectations and find his own path in life. They meet on a snowy night and enchantment draws them together.
An adorably wonderful story that takes place in a delightful Irish town on the Irish SEa. Kerryanne left Boston, her work, and her supposed fiance in a rapid departure to work out things in her life. She travelled to Sandycove, a place she had been to but never stayed. The death of her best friend plus exaggerated stipulations to marriage from her fiance has caused her to question everything. Sandycove proves to be just what she needs-new friends, a business proposition, and a chance at real love.
Cowboy Rory and nurse Millie are perfect for each other but all she wants is a favor-one night with him to free herself from her virginity. Rory is a gentleman and seeks more than one night. Amid a family mystery and lore about a silver mine and an heirloom necklace, they begin to bond. Will Millie be willing to consider more or is her mind set? A sweet and engaging romance.
This is an absolutely fabulous novel. The complicated relationship of a mother-in-law and her son-in-law undergo a journey through tremendous changes in understanding and in relating to each other when he is tasked with caring for her after a bad fall. Their preconceived and biased notions are examined under intense scrutiny during the eight days together. Some very humorous exchanges ensue.
Cassidy has returned home upon completion of college and is hoping for a job three hours away from the desires of her mother for her to stay on the ranch. She once had a huge crush on Farley but blew it royally. With the diagnosis of a sickness in one of the horses, vet Farley is the doctor they call and Cassidy is tasked with the day to day care. This puts her in often direct contact with him and she still feels so much for him. Sparks are flying but her determination to leave the ranch crimps the relationship. Career or love?
A family of three brothers wholly accepts a half-brother they were unaware of and a local horse woman welcomes him into his arms. Renn, seeking to meet the family he knew about but never met when Miranda walks into him and sparks fly. Their romance is lust and spice filled as they navigate the waters of a relationship. A spicy, good romance.
A captivating story of mothers and daughters displaying conflict and extreme dislike through four generations. Valerie is a career mathematician in an era of glass ceilings. Unwed and pregnant, she left her daughter, Shayla, to be raised by the trusted housekeeper. Shayla, a flighty girl/woman, treated her own daughter, Bess, with hatred after Valerie left her fortune to her. Bess leaves home as soon as she is able, leaving her brain-injured brother and twin sister in the care of their drug-using parents and housekeeper.
Written in duel timelines, the story moves from Valerie to Bess, recounting their decisions and the subsequent repercussions.
A sweet read of relationships, of struggles, and of second chances. The scene is a family inn on Cape Cod in desperate need of a financial infusion in order to stay open. Granddaughter Holly is given the summer by her grandmother to prove her meddle and to turn things around. Characters Greta and Linus add flavor to the story while Holl’s still loved ex-boyfriend Ben adds romance.
A definite good beach read.
The Wild West is alive in Burning Scrub, MT, a millionaire’s play set for wealthy lovers of the west. Malika was brought there by her wealthy brother to teach her a lesson. Enter handsome cowboy, Jayce, scripted by the amusement park town to be her protector. Malika ia a hoot espousing old age spousal sexual wisdom and turning Jayce’s head. A romance with western flavor and a comical roster of player participants.
An engaging story of mothers and daughters, of love and loss, and of life at it unfolds and changes over a summer on Nantucket. Lily repairs to home on the island after losing her job and her love, Henry. Rose, her mother, is ready to move on from her job by opening her own psychotherapy office. Both are in the beginnings of change bringing new love and a second chance.
A spicy romance of intense attraction between a law enforcement officer in hiding and a woman recovering from a cheating, debt ridden ex-husband. She is in Lost Lake to reclaim her life for herself and her young daughter. A mixup in her cabin reservation brings the two determined minds to odds but chemistry is hard to avoid.
An absolutely engrossing novel of fractured relationships, of pirates, island lore, and hidden treasure, and of second chances at romance. The relationship of Ben and Lucy is enchanting and from a teenage romance that ended at odds. They have a chance to recapture their love but so many problems stand in the way. Delightfully adding to the story is Lucy’s seven year old precocious daughter who fills the pages with intelligence beyond her years.
A mystery to solve combined with some great humor. An AA sponsor is receiving scary notes and turns to one of her sponsees and her crime lawyer boss to take the case. A hazy past of drugs and petty crime follows the victim and might lead to the person writing the cryptic notes. A great read with many interesting characters.
This novel was completely not something I enjoyed at all.The characters represented portrayal of emotions to the extreme: vitriolic language, vacillating reactions, over abundance of anger and the like. The ending felt over simplified and too rosy for the harsh reactions that preceded it. There was a huge lack of downtime between scenes to allow the reader to breath and to temper the harshness.
Two brothers, a sister and their father unite on their former family vacation island to remember their mother/wife, recently deceased. The siblings all carry personal baggage that overtakes their time and actions. Everything goes haywire for all of them as the personal problems cannot be avoided.
An oddly engaging novel.
Christina Lauren writes fabulous books with wonderful characters and very engaging story lines. The Romance Revival is no exception. A deeply secretive research doctor developed a compound with the power to resurrect something or someone who died within a short time period. She daringly uses it on her husband when he is killed by a hit and run driver. Their relationship unfolds anew as he has no memories of before being resurrected. A truly engaging story.
The Cowboy Point stories so far are simply wonderful. The writing is to the point expressive-emotion definitely and perfectly overshadowed by character felt fact. It was delightful to read the relationship developing between Kitty and Finn. Both are wounded souls by their childhood experiences. Kitty has a dilemma to solve and marriage to Finn should solve it. Kitty really wants Finn to hold to the marriage contract but Finn, not so much. Totally captivating story.
A sweet and touching story about starting over after life implodes. Claire was happily married to Ellis until he surprised her with a divorce request, a lover, and the lover’s pregnancy. Claire had just learned she was also pregnant. She and her teen daughter, Lily, leave Manhattan and return to Claire’s childhood home in Nantucket. Life begins to improve for both Claire and Lily as the days and months pass. A very enjoyable story.
The charming and colorful atmosphere of Valencia, Spain is center of the story of a searching for herself. Dahlia is recovering from a divorce and dealing with deep feelings of being lost to herself. She reconnects with family in Spain and finds a whole new world while still battling her new future. She meets expatt Liam and life becomes confusing yet truly enjoyable. A nice hug from a novel.
A young woman who has lost her high income job and broken up with her fiance moves temporarily to New London, CT, to start over and figure out what she really wants. She gets a job on an oyster farm, something she has no experience with. Her life swirls up and down like a ferris wheel while she vacillates between her old life and her future. A complicated story ensues as things get all mixed up.
A very engaging and wonderful story packed with sweet characters and a couple of truly awful ones. The scenes of an antique story where happiness reigns plays against two husband and wives homes riddled with strife. A chance to have a delightful outcome hovers among the pages.
An intense novel relating the possible demise of a complicated and dysfunctional family. Depression resounds throughout the story along with alcoholism and deep insecurities and feelings of being lost within the dysfunction. As situations come to a head, every character must face this reality.
The magical essence of Thornwood House is dying and all will fade away unless a new and accepted caretaker is found. Evie accepts the job and with her adopted daughter Ruby, moves to the house to begin the arduous task of finding out what is causing the loss of magic.
A creative and delightfully descriptive story of the perils Evie and Ruby face, of a village of mostly wonderful people, and of a house in desperate need.
The trials and tribulations of four generations of Black South Carolina horsemen are recounted in this poignant story. Each generation faces deep troubles, sadness, and grief amid times of joy.
The story is told in a true to form prose and dialog of the Black community. The situations, experiences, and lives of the characters will touch you on many levels, evoking deep sentiment and emotion.
An extremely moving novel that at its core is about love and dreams meshing with reality.
Letters to an Alice are delivered to another Alice. The letters from 1985 somehow convey her emotions and situation and lead her on a journey to find the author. More to the center of the story are Alice and her best friend Spence and Mike, the author of the letters, and his best friend Kate. There are similarities in the relationships that unfold as the story proceeds. It is a very stirring and touching novel.
A sweet and engaging story of a second chance after twenty years. The teen pregnancy of Sarah and Hal broke them apart, spurned on by her unforgiving mother. A broken leg forces Sarah to ask Hal for a ride to their son’s wedding in France. Hal has planned out a road trip of camping in his old VW camper which creates fun and adventures that bring them to a different reality even as doubts linger.
A lovely and captivating story of romance and family. The family is a big problem for a woman who is meeting her biological mother and three half-sisters for the first time. The romance is between her and a (unrealized yet by him) lonely rancher. Lots of tense situations to keep you engaged.
A very interesting novel of witches and the evil that invades a town once a year, of a woman tormented by her trapped magic, and of her relative witch who says she can release the woman’s magic. Confusing at times, the story leaves the reader to determine what exactly is happening. I liked the premise but the story threads were not tight enough to provide consistent cohesion.
A splendid novel of opposite sisters and a family heritage mystery. The story takes the reader to a small Irish town, rich in lore and tradition. Sisters Maeve and Therese are impelled by circumstances and their deceased mother’s request to travel to Ireland, their mother’s family’s origin. Along the way, they grow an understanding of each other and research the details of a mysterious family owned portrait.
Boy, I had a run of boring books that drove me nuts. I love getting into all kinds of books (except psychological thrillers) and actually look forward to escaping into the pages. There's nothing like leaving all the weeding in my yard to jump into a far away place, a cowboy romance, a current issue novel or whatever strikes my fancy. I know this happens and when I used to go to the library, I would check out sixteen books to give me back up for the duds. This, thankfully over, run of yawn inducing novels was painful and made me feel like I was on the path to selecting more novels of the DNF category. It even made even weeding the yard a joy and we are on a half acre of rocky soil and belligerent weeds. Luckily my terrible choices came to an end and lately I've read some good to great novels.
I don't know about you but I give a novel at least five chapters to engage me.If I'm not hooked by then, I'm out. There have been a number of novels that I have struggled through because they are advanced readers copies and I feel compelled to give the novel more time. Sometimes, I'm glad because the story turns around and becomes engaging. Thank goodness because time sure drags when I'm trying desperately to find something worthwhile for my time in the story.
Enough of the griping and on to yet another story to capture my mind and take me away.
Wonderful story of love and spicy romance. Dash, a troubled soldier who survived an incident in Afghanistan and in Service for the wedding of one of his mates. When he meets Lainey, the sister of another of his mates, he is taken by her. Unfortunately, she is his mate’s sister and hands off. That does not stop the chemistry between them. Love is not always easy but for Dash and Lainey it does, until it does not.
A novel of self-acceptance and friendship on a Greek island. Three women all seeking self-betterment meet at a wellness retreat in Greece. Their experiences will draw them close and provide revelations about their lives. An enjoyable novel.
A delightful story of love, relationships, and heartbreak. The sad life of Nelly is the result of what she calls her curse: whenever she touches anyone, the heart breaking ending of their relationship is seen in a vision. The story relates her struggles until she meets Oliver.
Two damaged souls find friendship and love amid a small Kentucky town filled with caring people. Pixie lives with her toddler son and when she meets Brogan and his baby daughter, their futures begin to fuse together.
A very engaging story of friendship, forgiveness, and love.
A sweeping novel centers on three related women, two of whom are alcoholics. Sisters Winnie and Miranda were raised on a vineyard in Napa. They have very different relationships with their mother. Miranda is the golden child. Winnie is the trouble one. While Miranda stays on the winery ranch, Winnie leaves for San Francisco during the free love and drugs era. Dawn is Miranda’s daughter and also an alcoholic who is struggling with sobriety. When she reads a fantasy novel, she is convinced it was written by someone who knew their winery intimately. Contained on the pages are the rough roads to recovery and relationship restoration.
Love Swirls around Madelyn and Cash but neither one is certain of accepting it.Both abandoned as children, love is an illusion. Unexpected baby Bronte is literally thrust upon Cash. Madelyn is AERB intern and tasked with providing the media information on Cash’s new life as a baby daddy. Change becomes the new norm for both Cash and Madelyn as their lives begin to weave around Bronte and each other.
A sweet growing into love story.
This is a not to miss novel. It is lyrical in prose, steeped in a history of music and change, and a beautiful relating of the ways people set in the rules of the ‘60s could change. For readers of a certain age, it is a book of nostalgia. For others, a tale of generations gripping hold of a new and different reality. An excellent novel all around.
This is a fabulous novel-crime thriller combined with family drama and a horrendous rain storm. The big baddie in town is ruthlessly dead set on buying up land for a lucrative government pipeline project. A hired thug along with his wife and brother in law are way over their heads. A struggling farm is caught in the middle with family members caught in the thugs' grips. Thrilling and chilling.
The story of an orphan sent to live with her drug addicted, former movie star aunt at a legendary hotel filled with depravity. It is a story recounting the Hollywood milieu circa late 1950s, a time of wanna be starlets, producers with huge egos and demands of sexual favors, teen girls and women seeking fame and fortune at any cost.
Aria Jones is thrust into the hotel turpitude when her parents tragically die. Her aunt is barely cognizant due to her drug and alcohol use and she is dismissive of Aria. Aria becomes friends with two older girls both seeking fame. Along the way, Aria grows to be a silent witness to the excess at the hotel.
Told in two times, 1950s Aria is a teen and 1960s Aria is turning 21 and prepared to leave the hotel. The effects of her experiences channel her sadness and fears as she ages.
A tale of Hollywood at its worst and of a young girl who sees it all.
Surgeon’s Surprise Baby 4
Eve Gaddy
Trust, once broken, is very hard if not impossible to rebuild. So it is for Aria when Ryan re-enters the picture. He suddenly left her with no explanation before she found out she was pregnant. She uproots her life in Denver and she with her two month old daughter move to Marietta to find Ryan and inform him of his daughter. He is shocked and all she wants is for him to know her.
In this endearing story, Ryan must work hard to regain Aria’s trust if a happily ever after will happen.
Three women connected by a Zoom book club are all at crossroads. Faye, who runs the book club, is seeking respite from the scandal her twin sister caused. Margot is finally fed up with her controlling husband and takes initiative. Bonnie is grieving her husband, a book club member. Meeting each other is the exact thing each of them needs.
A touching second chance at love happens over thirty-six years later when it all fell apart. The story relates several joys and events during a vacation two best friends take to recapture their teenage vacation to Greece. One twirled about with wild abandon, the other fell in love. When one encounters her lost love, it is time for the heartbreaking truth that drove them apart. It is a vacation of revelations and of setting new paths.
The lives of three sisters is explored over a forty year period. Once a year in May the sisters reunite in Coronado at their grandmother’s house. The joyous times and critical, complex times unfold, bringing them together or tearing them apart. Chapters rotate between the past and current. A complex family drama.
A sweet romance. Whitney and Derrick seem so mismatched and with very different ideas about Edwin Hazard, the town of Hazard’s hero. Throw in bids for affordable housing (ne bid belongs to Derrick), the town’s illustrious underground tunnels, and slow changes of the heart and you have a very engaging and magical story.
I adore books by Paige Harribison. They are filled with complex characters and plots. In this book, four former friends are called together for the funeral of a mother who wants them to reconcile and reignite their lost friendships. The story is fraught with serious misunderstandings, deep underlying anger, and a need to release the bitterness at long last.
Engrossing story that will capture you until the very end.
