Review: Sleigh Bells Ring

 

Sleigh Bells Ring

About the Book:

Ranch manager Annie McCade thought her twin niece and nephew could join her at the Angel View Ranch for Christmas with her absent employer being none the wiser. But when the ranch's owner, Tate Sheridan, shows up out of the blue, Annie's plans are upended. Soon she finds herself helping Tate make a Christmas to remember for his grieving and fractured extended family.

Sleigh Bells Ring is the latest heartwarming, festive Christmas story by New York Times bestselling author RaeAnne Thayne.

My Comments:

It's a Christmas romance.  Cute kids, horses, sweet woman, man who doesn't realize that something has been missing, and yes even a sleigh.  But this book goes a little (not much, but a little) deeper and looks at how guilt from the past can keep us from things (and people) we love in the present.  

Like most of Thayne's books, this is squeaky clean with no suggestion of sex outside of marriage.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for providing a review copy of this book via NetGalley.  Grade B. 

Book Review: The Gathering Table

The Gathering Table

About the Book:

Winsome Lake, Wisconsin, is postcard-pretty, but for chef Jessica Keaton it’s also a last resort. Fired from her dream job, Jess is starting over as a live-in cook and housekeeper. When she arrives, she finds her new employer is in rehab after having a stroke, and Jess expects she’ll be all alone in Elaine Haviland’s quaint house. A chef with no one to cook for.

But instead, she encounters a constant stream of colorful visitors who draw her back into the world. As Jess contends with local teenagers, a group of scrappy women and a charming football coach, Elaine faces some battles of her own that extend past her physical challenges. For both of them, all the ingredients for a fulfilling life are within reach, if they’re willing to take a leap. And maybe Jess will start to see that it’s not just what’s on the table that matters—it’s the people gathered round it.

My Comments:

I used to read a lot of Christian Fiction and this book exemplifies the good and bad of the genre.  The good is that because the authors can't develop a romance by having the characters fall in lust with each other, they actually need to make them talk to each other and to learn each other's strengths and weaknesses.  They have to be attracted to the personality, not the body.  There are two romances in this story and while the characters do find each other to be physically attractive, that physical attraction is not the main draw.  I also like the fact that one of those couples is "mature".  

The bad is that sometimes authors can't seem to resist putting in a "salvation scene", a scene where one character (or more) accepts Jesus which changes his or her life and then finds the problems of life in this world to be resolved.  Also, some of the plot turns seem a bit, hmmm, well, not quite likely.  In The Gathering Table Jess is hired over the phone to be a live-in cook and housekeeper for a lady who had a stroke.  Ok, I'll give that a pass.  Then, when she gets to town she is told the lady won't be discharged from rehab for a while, due to a fall, but that she is to go ahead and move in.  I can accept that.  However, never do we see Jess picking up the phone and calling her employer, or going by the nursing home to meet her.  Nope, she stays at the house and cooks for the neighbors.   

I liked the way the characters looked out for each other, the way they learned that three of them had a lot in common and the way the character with Down Syndrome was made into a real person rather than a caricature.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade: B. 

 

Short Review: A Brambleberry Summer

 

A Brambleberry Summer

About the Book:

Will the secrets of her past…

Prevent her from having the future she’s always wanted?

Rosa Galvez’s attraction to Officer Wyatt Townsend is as powerful as the moon’s pull on the tides. But with her past, Rosa knows better than to act on her feelings. When Wyatt and his adorable son become Brambleberry House’s newest tenants, Rosa finds her resolve slipping. Her solo life slowly becomes a sun-filled family adventure—until dark secrets threaten to break like a summer storm.

My Comments:

Like many of RaeAnne Thayne's books, this one is set in small towns and feature some recurring cast members.  However, I found this one to be overwritten and melodramatic.  Rosa's secret wasn't hard to guess nor was it hard to figure out why the secret would dull her attraction to men, but it doesn't dull her attraction, only makes her fight against it, which in my opinion doesn't make sense.  

The book has a couple of subplots, both of which seemed to be just tacked on.  

All in all, the book seemed much longer than what it was and I just think it is one of Thaynes weaker works.  Grade: C+

Review: When I Found You

 

When I Found You

About the Book:

After everything she worked for is destroyed, pediatrician Natasha Gray is determined to build a new life. Divorced, bankrupt and suddenly a single mom, she’s ready to start over in Silver Springs—on her own. She certainly doesn’t need help from Mack Amos, the man who’s already broken her heart twice.

Although Mack has had feelings for Tash since they first met, too many things have stood in the way. He’s always given her the support she needs, though, and he’ll do the same now. Even if the desire he wrestles with threatens to undermine his intentions…

But her heart is not the only reason Natasha wants to keep Mack at bay. More time in her life means getting closer to her son, which could lead to a revelation neither of them is ready to face.

My Comments:

Fans of Brenda Novak will know what I mean when I say this book is Silver Springs meets Whiskey Creek.  Natasha is starting over in Silver Springs, but someone else wants a new start too--Mack Amos, one of the Amos brothers from Whiskey Creek.  While the story of how Natasha got to this point doesn't really ring true, I liked her and her son.

Those familiar with the Whiskey Creek series will remember that when the Amos patriarch was released from prison, he returned home with a wife in tow--and that wife had a daughter, Natasha.  Mack's feelings about Natasha weren't brotherly then and certainly aren't now-over 10 years after the Whiskey Creek books.  

Both Mack and Natasha have been through some rough times lately, but I loved watching them move to happily ever after.  Like the other Whiskey Creek books, the extended cast plays an important part.  Mild Spoiler:  The big Whiskey Creek secret comes out.  Still, I think you could enjoy the book even if you never met any of the Whiskey Creek characters.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade: B. 

The House Guests: My Review

 

The House Guests

About the Book

In the wake of her husband’s sudden death, Cassie Costas finds her relationship with her teenage stepdaughter unraveling. After their move to historic Tarpon Springs, Florida, Savannah hates her new town, her school and most of all her stepmom, whom she blames for her father’s death. Cassie has enough to contend with as she searches for answers about the man she shared a life with, including why all their savings have disappeared.

When Savannah’s rebellion culminates in an act that leaves single mother Amber Blair and her sixteen-year-old son homeless, Cassie empathizes with the woman’s predicament and invites the strangers to move in. As their lives intertwine, Cassie realizes that Amber is hiding something. She’s evasive about her past, but the fear in her eyes tells a darker story. Cassie wonders what the woman living under her roof is running from…and what will happen if it finally catches up to her.

My Comments:

Emilie Richards is one of  the authors whose books I read when I find them, and there is a good reason for that--for the most part I've enjoyed them and found them to be my type of books.  When The House Guests came across NetGalley I missed it because the cover didn't look like the kind of book I usually read and I didn't notice the author's name.  Then I saw people starting to talk about it, so I went and grabbed it. 

On the one hand, I don't usually read suspense or mystery books, so I don't really know what normal expectations are, but this story had two major plot lines and I found the resolution of one to be unrealistic.  As noted above, the reader learns early in the story that Amber is running from something--we just do  not know what.  When we learn and when that whole plotline resolves, I just didn't find it believable.  Maybe that's because this isn't my usual genre.  

The other plotline is Cassie learning that her late husband cleaned out their retirement accounts not long before he died and trying to find out why.  I found the resolution of this plotline to be very believable.

 

Emilie Richards' strength as a writer is her characters, and that holds true in this book too.  Cassie's grandmother was my favorite.  

A lot of Richards' books have strong romantic subplots.  The romance is there in this book but it isn't a major factor  and in the end, it isn't HEA, but rather, the suggestion that HEA will happen eventually.  

 

I'd like to thank the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley.  Grade: B 

Review: The Stepsisters

 

The Stepsisters

About the Book:

Once upon a time, when her dad married Sage’s mom, Daisy was thrilled to get a bright and shiny new sister. But Sage was beautiful and popular, everything Daisy was not, and she made sure Daisy knew it.

Sage didn’t have Daisy’s smarts—she had to go back a grade to enroll in the fancy rich-kid school. So she used her popularity as a weapon, putting Daisy down to elevate herself. After the divorce, the stepsisters’ rivalry continued until the final, improbable straw: Daisy married Sage’s first love, and Sage fled California.

Eighteen years, two kids and one troubled marriage later, Daisy never expects—or wants—to see Sage again. But when the little sister they have in common needs them both, they put aside their differences to care for Cassidy. As long-buried truths are revealed, no one is more surprised than they when friendship blossoms.

Their fragile truce is threatened by one careless act that could have devastating consequences. They could turn their backs on each other again…or they could learn to forgive once and for all and finally become true sisters of the heart.

My Comments:

During your teenaged years it is tough to love a sister you've grown up with, much less a step-sister your age whose strengths are your weaknesses.  No, Sage and Daisy didn't like each other, but they both loved Cassidy and by helping her they learned that the other wasn't so bad.

Sage has lived a rough life--her mother was a woman who married for money but never managed to stay that way, probably because she never learned to love.  Sage sees that she is heading down that same road and decides to change--but then there is the BIG thing.  I'm all for forgiveness but in this case that forgiveness seemed to come awfully easily.  

I enjoyed the book and enjoyed watching these three women outgrow childhood animosities and realize that they are loveable, but some of it just seemed too easy.  Grade:  B.

Review: The Letter Keeper

 

 

The Letter Keeper 

 

About the Book:

Combining heart-wrenching emotion with edge-of-your-seat tension, Charles Martin explores the true power of sacrificial love.

He shows up when all hope is lost.

Murphy Shepherd has made a career of finding those no one else could—survivors of human trafficking. His life’s mission is helping others find freedom.

But then the nightmare strikes too close to home.

When his new wife, her daughter, and two other teenage girls are stolen, Murphy is left questioning all he has thought to be true. With more dead ends than leads, he has no idea how to find those he loves.

After everything is stripped away, love is what remains.

Hope feels lost, but Murphy is willing to expend his last breath trying to bring them home.

My Comments:

I almost quit about 10% into the book because I couldn't figure out what was happening or how the characters fit together. However, I kept reading and in the end, I can't say I wasted my time, but no, I will not be reading the next book in the series.

The story is told in the first person by Shepherd, and it follows two timelines--what is happening now, and what happened in the past to bring him into this line of work.

Based on the blurb above, I expected a story where his loved ones were kidnapped early in the book and we as readers spent most of the book watching him follow the clues and dead ends to rescue them. Instead there was a lot of exposition about Murphy's childhood and young adult years, followed by some current action, then, in the last quarter of the book the kidnapping and resolution.

What did I not like? Basically, the characters all seems so unrealistic. Murphy was a loner kid who had only one friend, but at some point he saw some trafficking victims and rescues them, and that is noticed by someone. He gets an appointment to the Air Force Academy, even though he never applied, and while there, is mentored by an Episcopal priest who is a chaplain, but who wears robes around the Academy, not a uniform. The chaplain signs him up for an online seminary and between his Academy work and the seminary program, Murphy is busy to say the least.

After graduation, instead of going into the Air Force, he goes to work for his mentor in some super-secret super exclusive group that rescues people. They set up a community for the folks they rescue where they can receive counseling, love, support, etc.--and I'm talking community, not a couple of buildings. 

 

The bottom line is that I never figured out why all these people were together.  In writing this post, I learned that this is book two in the series and reading the blurb on book one explained a few of the characters, but there is one in particular that still makes no sense to me based on the content of this book. I could never get to the point of accepting the author's world as real.

 

The book is published by Thomas Nelson which is a Christian publisher and as noted, two of the characters are priests (I think--maybe they are just pretending)but while the theme of self-sacrificing love is there, I wouldn't call this a religious book. 

 

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley. Grade: C. 

 

Review: The Summer Cottage

The Summer Cottage

About the Book:

Somerset Lake is the perfect place for Trisha Langly and her son to start over. As the new manager for the Somerset Cottages, Trisha is instantly charmed by the property’s elderly residents and her firecracker of a new boss, Vi Fletcher. But Trisha is less enchanted by Vi’s protective grandson Jake. No matter how tempting she finds the handsome lawyer, Trisha knows that if Jake discovers the truth about her past, she’ll lose the new life she’s worked so hard to build. 

Jake Fletcher left Somerset Lake after a tragic loss, but he’s returning for the summer to care for his beloved grandmother, hoping Vi will sell the run-down cottages and finally slow down. There’s just one problem: Trisha, Vi’s new employee. She’s smart, beautiful, and kind, but Jake’s job is to protect his grandmother’s interests, and his gut is telling him Trisha’s hiding something that could jeopardize Vi’s future. However, as they spend summer days renovating the property and bonding over their love for the town, Jake realizes that Trisha is a risk worth taking—if only she can trust him with her secrets . . . and her heart. 

My Comments:

While boy meets girl while they work together to renovate Grandma's property before the family talks her into selling it is a familiar troupe, Annie Raines makes her characters come alive in a picturesque setting.  Add in a cute kid, a conniving uncle and a circle of book (and wine) loving friends and you have a perfect beach (or back porch) read,  

I'd like to thank the publisher or making a review copy available via NetGalley and look forward to reading more books in the series.  I'm guessing Raines is going to marry off the book club members.  Grade:  B 

 

Wildflower Season: My Review

Wildflower Season 

About the Book:

When Emma Cantrell’s marriage imploded, she learned a fast and painful lesson about trusting her heart. Then, on a visit to Magnolia, North Carolina, to see her brother, an elegant, if dilapidated, mansion for sale presents the opportunity to start over. Risking everything on her dream of opening the Wildflower Inn, Emma buys the house…just as the storm of the century hits, severely damaging the structure. But a chance meeting with Holly, a bride-to-be in desperate need of a new venue, gives her hope…and the name of a contractor who’ll work fast and cheap, allowing Emma to repair the inn in time to host the wedding and save her investment.

A furniture builder who hasn’t picked up a tool in the five years since his wife died, Cameron Mitchell has no intention of agreeing to help this beautiful—and, he’d guess, entitled—woman insisting that he fix her inn. Until he learns that Emma was sent by Holly, the little sister of his late wife. Grudgingly, Cameron agrees to do the work, with one condition: that he be left completely alone. But the more time they spend together, the more Emma touches a part of his heart he was sure died long ago, forcing him to try making peace with his past.

My Comments: 

Like many series romances, Wildflower Season is a return to a comfortable familiar environment.  Emma is the sister-in-law of Meredith, one of the sisters in the Carolina Sister series.  She buys the sisters' father's house and plans to renovate it into a bed and breakfast.  In doing so she meets Cameron who is still mourning the loss of his wife.  They are trying to finish the renovations in time for the wedding of Cameron's sister-in-law and by working together, guess what happens?

While no literary classic, this book was a pleasant way to spend an afternoon and the HEA left me smiling.  Grade:  B. 

Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley. 

 

Review: The Summer Seekers

 

The Summer Seekers

About the Book:

Kathleen is eighty years old. After she has a run-in with an intruder, her daughter wants her to move in to a residential home. But she’s not having any of it. What she craves—what she needs—is adventure.

Liza is drowning under the daily stress of family life. The last thing she needs is her mother jetting off on a wild holiday, making Liza long for a solo summer of her own.

Martha is having a quarter-life crisis. Unemployed, unloved and uninspired, she just can’t get her life together. But she knows something has to change.

When Martha sees Kathleen’s advertisement for a driver and companion to share an epic road trip across America with, she decides this job might be the answer to her prayers. She’s not the world’s best driver, but anything has to be better than living with her parents. And traveling with a stranger? No problem. Anyway, how much trouble can one eighty-year-old woman be?

As these women embark on the journey of a lifetime, they all discover it’s never too late to start over.

My Comments:

I wonder how I am screwing up my kids and their lives.  It seems that the last batch of books I've read seem to feature young adults whose parents had been less than perfect and who caused pain to their kids. I certainly know that "less than perfect" describes me, so how am I messing up my kids' lives? 

Kathleen had been cheated on when she was young, and so protected herself by creating a life in which her job and adventures trumped her relationships, including her relationship with her daughter, Liza.  Liza in turn has created a life in which relationships came first, to the point that her family takes her for granted.  Martha has realized that what she wants in life and what her parents want for her are two different things.  In The Summer Seekers Kathleen and Martha, who are British head out on a road trip from Chicago to California.  As they travel Kathleen thinks back on her life and the choices she made.  She also realizes that her time to make changes is getting shorter.

Liza, due to some things her mother says to her on the way to the airport, decides to take some time to decide what she wants in life.  I enjoyed watching her spread her wings.  Like me, Liza was the mom of kids about ready to leave the nest.  

Usually when I think of a "road trip", I think of a trip by car where the journey is part of the fun---not just a way to get from Point A to Point B.  It's a great metaphor for life--we are all headed from birth to death--but at a lot of intersections we get to pick which way to go, and those choices, whether good or bad, make us who we are.  

I enjoyed this book and getting to know Martha, Liza and Kathleen (and yes, there are romance sub-plots but this is really a book about the women) and recommend it.  Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley.  Grade:  A

Review: Confessions from the Quilting Circle

 Confessions from the Quilting Circle

About the Book:

When Lark Ashwood’s beloved grandmother dies, she and her sisters discover an unfinished quilt. Finishing it could be the reason Lark’s been looking for to stop running from the past, but is she ever going to be brave enough to share her biggest secret with the people she ought to be closest to?

Hannah can’t believe she’s back in Bear Creek, the tiny town she sacrificed everything to escape from. The plan? Help her sisters renovate her grandmother’s house and leave as fast as humanly possible. Until she comes face-to-face with a man from her past. But getting close to him again might mean confessing what really drove her away...

Stay-at-home mom Avery has built a perfect life, but at a cost. She’ll need all her family around her, and all her strength, to decide if the price of perfection is one she can afford to keep paying.

This summer, the Ashwood women must lean on each other like never before, if they are to stitch their family back together, one truth at a time...

My Comments:

There was a lot to like in this book, which is why I stayed up to 1:00 a.m. on a work  night reading it.  Three sisters and their mother are working together to close out their grandmother/mother's estate. While cleaning out the house they find fabric for a quilt that Grandma never got around to making and through journals found with the fabric, learn about women in their family's past, including Grandma.  Each of the four women was working with a different piece of fabric and of course they all end up with the one that they really needed to see, the ancestress who had a story that for whatever reason, came close to hers.  

Lark and Hannah both left town with secrets, and Avery has now acquired one.  As they sit and sew and as they live their lives that summer, they share their secrets and gain the strength to move beyond them.  Unfortunately to me, it seemed there were just too many secrets that were just too serious to believe they all belonged to one family.  Also the book had two romantic subplots and except for the fact that the men had different names and one man had a child and the other didn't, I really couldn't tell them apart.  Either of the romance subplots was believable on its own, but having two so similar just didn't ring true to me.

 

One thing I liked about the book was that the girls' mother was a strong secondary character.  While the sisters were in their 30's, their mom was about my age and she was a doer, like me.  Like me she wanted to be closer to her grown kids but didn't quite know how to reach out.  Like I hope I'd be, she was there for her girls when the chips were down and she knew they needed her. 

 

The book has a couple of bedroom scenes--too much to make it a "clean" romance but nothing anywhere near an instruction manual.  

 

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade: B 

Review of A Song for the Road by Kathleen Basi

 

A Song for the Road

About the Book:

It's one year after the death of her husband and twin teenagers, and Miriam Tedesco has lost faith in humanity and herself. When a bouquet of flowers that her husband always sends on their anniversary shows up at her workplace, she completely unravels. With the help of her best friend, she realizes that it's time to pick up the pieces and begin to move on. Step one is not even cleaning out her family's possessions, but just taking inventory starting with her daughter's room. But when she opens her daughter's computer, she stumbles across a program her daughter has created detailing an automated cross-country road trip, for her and her husband to take as soon-to-be empty nesters.

Seeing and hearing the video clips of her kids embedded in the program, Miriam is determined to take this trip for her children. Armed with her husband's guitar, her daughter's cello, and her son's unfinished piano sonata, she embarks on a musical pilgrimage to grieve the family she fears she never loved enough. Along the way she meets a young, pregnant hitchhiker named Dicey, whose boisterous and spunky attitude reminds Miriam of her own daughter.

Tornadoes, impromptu concerts, and an unlikely friendship...whether she's prepared for it or not, Miriam's world is coming back to life. But as she struggles to keep her focus on the reason she set out on this journey, she has to confront the possibility that the best way to honor her family may be to accept the truths she never wanted to face.

Hopeful, honest, and tender, A Song for the Road is about courage, vulnerability, and forgiveness, even of yourself, when it really matters.

My Comments:

I'm writing this post a week after a man who was very dear to my girls when they were babies was buried, a few days after the mom of a high school classmate--the mom who allowed homecoming floats to be built at her house for six years straight (which meant that she had 50+ teens there every night for a week)--was buried and the day after I heard that my pastor's mom died.  Despite the fact that we are in the holiday season, despite the fact that we are no longer close to that man, that the classmate was never a close friend of mine and that I'd best characterize my pastor as an acquaintance, having three deaths touch me during this supposedly joyful time of year has got me tearful.

How awful must it be to lose your whole family is one split second?  That's what happened to Miriam a year ago, and though she has buried much of her grief for the last year, something happens and now she knows she has to deal with it--and, as noted above, finds a program her daughter designed with the idea of sending her and her husband on a road trip.  

As Miriam travels across the country we learn about her family history and why things were not exactly how they appeared to outsiders.  We "see" some attractions that are not at the top of most people's "must see" list but which are interesting and charming in their own way (I've been to one of them several times, guess which one).  

The author, Kathleen Basi, is a composer and musician, along with being a writer, and she has made music a part of the story.  Miriam's son was a composer and left an unfinished piece, and she, who has spent her adult life as a church musician, is trying to finish it.  Basi uses terms known to musicians and which brought back memories of the piano class I took one semester in college, though I hadn't a clue what they meant--I just translated those passages as "she's writing fancy music now" and let it go at that.  Hopefully the words would mean more to a musician.  Her son's music wasn't the only unfinished business in the book, and Miriam's journey leads her to confront and deal with at least two big unfinished things.     I loved watching her journey not only through the country but through her grief and into the lives of others. 

I'll be the first to admit that my opinion of the book may be affected by the fact that the author, Kathleen Basi, is someone I've gotten to know via the internet.  I've watched her kids grow up and discussed the challenges of parenting special needs kids.  I've followed the Facebook page on which she has shared her progress with this book and now I'm glad to give this book an A, because it was an engaging read that touched my heart.  

I'd like to thank her publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.       

If you click on the book title in the labels below, you can read other things I've written about the book.                                                      

Book Review: The Road to Rose Bend

 The Road to Rose Bend

About the Book:

Sydney Collins left the small Berkshires town of Rose Bend eight years ago, grieving her sister’s death—and heartbroken over her parents’ rejection. But now the rebel is back—newly divorced and pregnant—ready to face her fears and make a home for her child in the caring community she once knew. The last thing she needs is trouble. But trouble just set her body on fire with one hot, hot smile.

Widower and Rose Bend mayor Coltrane Dennison hasn’t smiled in ages. Until a chance run-in with Sydney Collins, who’s all grown-up and making him want what he knows he can’t have. Grief is his only connection to the wife and son he lost, and he won’t give it up. Not for Sydney, not for her child, not for his heart. But when Sydney’s ex threatens to upend everything she’s rebuilt in Rose Bend, Cole and Sydney may find that a little trouble will take them where they never expected to go.

My Comments:

 If you were looking for a sweet relatively clean romance, the cover of The Road to Rose Bend could make you think you'd found one, but you would be wrong.  While I enjoyed to story of Cole and Sydney, it was a very "physical" book.  The word "dick" was used 18 times in the book, and most of those references were not during bedroom scenes.  There were several bedroom scenes and they were vivid enough to serve as tutorials.  

Those looking for diversity in reading material may be interested in knowing that Sydney is Black and Cole is Puerto Rican (but adopted by a family of Irish heritage).  While his heritage is explicitly made clear early in the book, I was quite a ways into the book before I realized that she was African-American. 

I liked both Cole and Sydney and enjoyed watching them let go of old hurts and learn to love again but I didn't like all the crude references to male anatomy nor the front row seat on the bedroom action.  

Thanks to the publisher for providing a review copy via NetGalley.  Grade: B-

Strawberry Love: My Review

 

Strawberry Love

About the Book:

The arrival of fresh strawberries signals the start of summer, the time to visit pick-your-own farms and farmers’ markets to stock up on plump, ripe berries. Strawberry Love celebrates strawberry season with 45 recipes, all beautifully photographed, for enjoying this heavenly fruit, fresh or frozen. From breakfast treats (French Toast with Strawberry Syrup) to salads (Strawberry, Burrata, and Arugula Salad), main courses (Hamburger Sliders with Goat Cheese, Strawberries and Bacon), and desserts (Strawberry Creamsicles on a Stick and Strawberry Heart Hand Pies), strawberry lovers will find tantalizing new ways—along with the classics—to make the most of their summer berry bounty. The book also includes tips for picking, freezing, and making jams and syrups for enjoying the taste of summer all year long.

My Comments:

Strawberries are my absolute favorite fruit so when this beauty was offered on NetGalley I grabbed it.  It is full of fabulous-sounding recipes so that I could have strawberries for breakfast (coffee cake, danish, muffins, or waffles), lunch (gazpacho, hamburger sliders, strawberry, burrata and arugula salad) or dinner (pork chops, sautéed chicken breasts, or fish tacos) not to mention happy hour or dessert.  

The recipes are simple and generally use ingredients I have in the house and they can be put together relatively quickly.  

The book includes photos of most of the recipes as well as some general tips on dealing with strawberries.  All in all a real winner here.  Grade: B+

Review: Real Presence

 

Real Presence

About the Book:

Most Catholics don’t believe that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist. Rather, they see the bread and wine of Holy Communion as mere symbols of Christ’s body and blood. Is that disbelief just a misunderstanding or is it a blatant rejection of one of the central beliefs of the faith?

In Real Presence, University of Notre Dame theologian Timothy P. O’Malley clears up the confusion and shows you how to learn to love God and neighbor through a deeper understanding of the doctrine of real presence.

A 2019 study by the Pew Research Center found that almost seventy percent of Catholics don’t believe that Jesus is really present in the Eucharist.

O’Malley offers a concise introduction to Catholic teaching on real presence and transubstantiation through a biblical, theological, and spiritual account of these doctrines from the early Church to today. He also explores how real presence enables us to see the vulnerability of human life and the dignity of all flesh and blood.

O’Malley leads you to a deeper understanding and renewed faith in Catholic teaching about transubstantiation and real presence by helping you learn

• how the doctrine of real presence is rooted in divine revelation and how the Church’s teaching regarding transubstantiation is spiritually fruitful for the believer today;
• how to make your own the doctrine of real presence by worshipping Christ in the Eucharist and therefore making a real assent to real presence;
• how the Eucharist, although not the exclusive presence of Christ in the Church’s liturgy and mission, is crucial in growing our capacity for recognizing those other presences; and
• the important relationship between Eucharistic communion and adoration.

My Comments:

I've had an hour of Adoration--prayer in the chapel where the Eucharist is exposed--for over ten years now.  I have committed to my parish to be the person in the chapel during that hour each week.  Some weeks it is a great way to end the work week (I go on Friday nights); other weeks, I'll admit that skipping crosses my mind.  Sometimes I really feel His presence in the chapel; other times I don't.  I've always accepted the doctrine of the Real Presence in much the same way I've accepted a lot of other things I've been taught over the years--the people who were supposed to know this stuff taught it to me and I never came across a reason to disagree.  

I selected this book hoping for fodder for meditation or inspiration or something.  As I had read another book in the same series I was expecting a relatively easy read. Unfortunately I never really connected with this book.  It talked a lot about Eucharistic theology and quoted some mystics from the middle ages as well as relatively modern people like Dorothy Day.  Still, I'd read a few pages and when I thought about them, I'd have a hard time recalling what I read.  I tried reading big chunks and small and in the end I abandoned the book about 3/4 of the way through. 

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Hopefully it will speak to you more than it did to me.  Grade:  C.  

A Road Trip to Remember: My Review

 

 

A Road Trip to Remember  

 

About the Book:

 After agreeing to enter the New Life Assisted-Living Community outside of Boston, Agatha “Aggie” Robard talks her devoted, serious granddaughter, Blythe, into driving her to Florida, stopping to see old college friends along the way. She particularly needs to speak to Donovan Bailey, the man she’d thought she would marry right after graduating from college. By asking Blythe to go with her, Aggie is hoping to prove to her that life should be about having fun too. Their road trip is a great idea for both of them as long as Aggie’s son and his wife, Blythe’s difficult stepmother, don’t find out. 

While the rest of the family is away on vacation, Aggie and Blythe set off on their secret adventure. All goes well until Aggie falls while dancing on the beach with Donovan, breaking a bone in her leg. Then Blythe’s father is seriously injured in an automobile accident. Blythe and Logan Pierce, Donovan’s young assistant, do their best to step in for them at The Robard Company working together, fighting the attraction they feel for one another. 

The road trip brings about happy memories, surprises, and love as Aggie and Blythe meet others and discover new possibilities for everything they’ve ever wanted. 

 

My Comments:

Since I've been stuck at home a lot lately, I've taken to reading road trip books and when I saw this on NetGalley it looked like too much fun to pass up. 

I find myself more and more drawn to books with "mature" heroines and in that Judith Keim does not disappoint.  Aggie wants to see her old college friends before they die and decides that this is the time.  Her grand daughter becomes her partner in crime as they head for Florida.  

Some of us have people in our lives who were very important during one part of that life, but who have spent the rest of the years as happy memories.  I wasn't particularly close to anyone in my high school class, but I enjoy our reunions and am looking forward to our 60th birthday party this summer--who better to celebrate turning 60 with than the people with whom you were a teen?  Seeing Aggie with her college friends made me smile and remember mine.  

I wish I could tell you that this book touched me deeply or had some twist I didn't see coming, but I can't tell you that.  While a fun read, it was also very predictable--but that's not always a bad thing.

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  B-

Review: Home to the Harbor

 

Home to the Harbor

About the Book:

Despite the charms of Pleasant Shores, coming home is a last resort for William Gross. The few happy memories he has here all revolve around Bisky Castleman, and she’s still every bit as kind and strong-minded as he remembered. But William is reeling from loss, and seeing Bisky with her daughter is a painful reminder of his mistakes.

Between running her family’s fishing business and being a single mom, Bisky finds her days are full. Yet there’s always been room in her heart for William, her one childhood friend who never teased her about her height or her toughness. Through their shared volunteer work with local teens and rescue dogs, their feelings deepen into something much stronger. But is their growing bond strong enough to heal the past and forge a new beginning…together?

My Comments:

This was a sweet book which would be right at home with hundreds of self-published romances you can read for the price of a Kindle Unlimited subscription.  However, that's not what this is--while the $8 Amazon wants for the book isn't a fortune, I found the book to be trite and the characters to be caricatures.  The plot was unlikely, especially how different parts of it tied together.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  C+

Review: Bookstore on the Beach

 

Bookstore on the Beach

About the Book:

Eighteen months ago, Autumn Divac’s husband went missing. Her desperate search has yielded no answers, and she can’t imagine moving forward without him. But for the sake of their two teenage children, she has to try.

Autumn takes her kids home for the summer to the charming beachside town where she was raised. She seeks comfort working alongside her mother and aunt at their bookshop, only to learn that her daughter is facing a huge life change and her mother has been hiding a terrible secret for years. And when she runs into the boy who stole her heart in high school, old feelings start to bubble up again. Is she free to love him, or should she hold out hope for her husband’s return? She can only trust her heart…and hope it won’t lead her astray.

My Comments:

With a cover like this I didn't expect anything to emotionally taxing.  I was wrong. Honestly, I don't know how I would react if I was in Autumn's place.  So much of what she thought she knew about her family turned out to be wrong.  She made decisions based on information she had at the time and then that information turned out to be wrong.  Should she stick to old promises, or do what feels right today?  Those are the kinds of decisions none of us can make for others.  Honestly I disagreed with the choices of many of the characters but have to admit that I don't know what I would really do in a similar circumstance.  

Overall I enjoyed the book, but my disagreement with the choices did affect my enjoyment of the story.  

Thanks to the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade:  B. 

Review: Two Week Wait

 

Two Week Wait

About the Book:

For the last two decades, Jane has been trying for a baby. She knows all about surviving the agonising two-week wait between ovulation and test. Increasingly desperate, Jane opens her laptop, clicks, ‘TWW Forum: New Thread’, and types. ‘Anyone else starting their two-week wait? Shall we wait it out together?’

Four women respond to Jane’s message online; all strangers, all embarking on the same emotional two-week journey. All wanting just one thing. A baby.

This fast-paced, light-hearted read explores the heartache of infertility through the bittersweet stories of five women;

Mandi is young and eager. She needs all the help she can get.

Becks already has one child and is stuck in the hellish limbo of secondary infertility.

Instagram sensation, Star, is living and selling a false dream, online and off.

Finally, feisty Fern is scheduling a pregnancy in between film shoots

.

Five women, five stories, waiting to find out if it’s their turn for a baby. Love, heartache, shattered dreams and broken relationships. The two-week wait pushes them all to their limits.

My Comments:

This wasn't the book for me.  I knew I was older and at a different stage in life than these women, and luckily infertility was not the cross I was chosen to carry, when I chose to read this book.  I liked the premise of an online support group as I have (and do) belong to some, but I never really warmed up to any of the women and in the end, well, I hated the ending.

Chapters are dated throughout the 14 days between ovulation and pregnancy test.  Each chapter contains the messages on the forum, which are full of internet forum lingo (DH, TWW, etc) and then the story of what is happening in the characters' lives. 

As I said, I hated the ending.  Toward the end, one of the women tells the others she is pregnant--and we know who she is.  The others have all gotten negative tests and say their goodbyes--maybe they'll get together again in two weeks to start another TWW.    Then one posts to the forum that she too has a positive test--but no one responds and we don't know who it is.  Nope.  Not the way I like a book to end.  If you are going to get me invested in characters, tell me what happened to them.  

I'd like to thank the publisher for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade: C 

The Last Carolina Sister: My Review

 

The Last Carolina Sister

About the Book:

Meredith Ventner knows a wounded creature when she sees one. Though her temporary new neighbor may be—on the surface at least—a successful, drop-dead gorgeous doctor, she recognizes the deep hurt Ryan Sorensen is carrying, and it’s catnip to her soul. But even though Meredith is the youngest, scrappiest and single-est of Magnolia’s most famous sisters, she’s committed to expanding the animal shelter on her newly inherited farm. She can’t waste her energy on a man who’s only passing through town.

Ryan is hoping that after a month of small-town living he’ll be healed enough to return to his busy ER. His injured leg isn’t half as painful as his guilt from the tragedy he’s trying to forget. Yet somehow, helping feisty, tenderhearted Meredith care for her menagerie is making him question his career-first priorities. Here in this quirky small town another future is coming into view, but can he change his life, and open his heart, to claim it?

My Comments:

This is the third book in this series and I reviewed the second one here.  

Basically this is a sweet predictable romance set in a charming small town.  It not only features the relationship between him and her but also her relationship with her half sisters, though in this book the sisters have a much reduced role and we are introduced to the characters in Major's next book.  While there is nothing wrong with this book, there is nothing particularly interesting either.  I saw every plot twist coming and like most romance novels, the end was a forgone conclusion.  

I'd like to thank the author for making a review copy available via NetGalley.  Grade: B-