Review: The Path to Sunshine Cove

 

The Path to Sunshine Cove

About the Book:

She knows what’s best for everyone but herself…

With a past like hers, Jessica Clayton feels safer in a life spent on the road. She’s made a career out of helping others downsize—because she’s learned the hard way that the less “stuff,” the better, a policy she applies equally to her relationships. But a new client is taking Jess back to Cape Sanctuary, a town she once called home…and that her little sister, Rachel, still does. The years apart haven’t made a dent in the guilt Jess still carries after a handgun took the lives of both their parents and changed everything between them.

While Jess couldn’t wait to put the miles between her and Cape Sanctuary, Rachel put down roots, content for the world—and her sister—to think she has a picture-perfect life. But with the demands of her youngest child’s disability, Rachel’s marriage has begun to fray at the seams. She needs her sister now more than ever, yet she’s learned from painful experience that Jessica doesn’t do family, and she shouldn’t count on her now.

Against her judgment, Jess finds herself becoming attached—to her sister and her family, even to her client’s interfering son, Nate—and it’s time to put everything on the line. Does she continue running from her painful past, or stay put and make room for the love and joy that come along with it?

My Comments:

According to NetGalley, this is part of the same series as The Sea Glass Cottage. , however, unlike many of Thayne's series romances, this one does not come with a huge cast of characters who seem to have little connection to the story at hand. 

Jessica is in town partly because she was hired to help a widow clean out her house and partly because she wanted an excuse to be close to her sister for a while.  The widow has a son who becomes the romantic interest in the story.

Its funny the pictures you get in your mind about characters.  This story starts as Jess pulls her Airstream onto her client's property.  For some reason, I pictured a short-haired frumpy but pleasant woman about my age.  As the story developed I realized that like most romance heroines, Jess was much younger than me.  

Rachel is an interesting character.  She's a stay-at-home mom, a young woman who married her high school sweetheart.  She has an autistic son.  She's also a blogger and posts regularly to other social media.  She has crafted an image and trying to live up to it is crushing her.  

Back when I started this blog my big kids were beyond the uber-cute stage and I never felt comfortable telling stories of their foibles here because though I've never hit the big time as a blogger, I'm well aware that erasing a digital footprint is difficult to impossible and what teen wants to find stories his/her mom wrote about him/her shared on social media?  While paying attention to what I write over time will probably tell  you a lot about me, if you choose to put it all together, you'll have to at least run a Google search to find my name and you'd really have to hunt for my kids' names.  I've always kind of wondered how much of what we read from professional mommy bloggers is real, how much is made up, and to what extent the authors are able to tell the difference.  

I enjoyed the book and the fact that other relationships were as important to the story as the Jess/Nate relationship.  

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

Book Review: The Gift of Family

 

The Gift of Family

About the Book:

Successful, secure, and still very much in love, middle-aged couple Eugene and Rosemary Johnson have never given up on one special wish—to be parents. And while Christmas always brings happiness and a whirlwind of holiday fun, their hopes for children of their own seem further away than ever. Especially this year, when Rosemary must have emergency surgery and home help to recuperate. Wanting to lift his wife’s spirits, Eugene suddenly has an inspiration from back in the

day . . .

 

Faithful and sensible, Ethel Perkins raised Eugene and his brother. Unforeseen tragedy has left the sixty-something widow struggling with little money and two jobs to keep her great-grandchildren off the streets. She’s glad to help Rosemary back on her feet. But she can only stay until Rosemary is well enough to resume her normal routine. For Ethel, survival means keeping to her grueling schedule, being there for everyone but herself, and, as always, handling her troubles all on her own . . .

 

As Ethel’s problems go from bad to much worse, Rosemary and Eugene find themselves helping her more and more—and growing close to her lively youngsters. Soon, there’s only one way both families can salvage the season: by celebrating it together. But will their temporary family work into the

future . . . and possibly make a lifetime of happiness?

My Comments:

Christmas novels are supposed to be sweet and heartwarming and in this The Gift of Family does not dissapoint.  When his wife needs help at home after surgery, Eugene thinks of the housekeeper who helped raise him, and even though he has not heard from her in years, he is able to track her down.  It just so happens she was just laid off and is looking for a job.  As noted above, she quickly becomes more than a servant and what do you think happens at the end.

I tend to get distracted from stories by details that don't ring true and in this case, while I am no medical expert, the medical details did not ring true at all--though I just did a quick Google search and at least one thing I thought was inaccurate could have happened.  

In short, this is a quick easy read that will leave you smiling but you can pretty much guess from the blurb above how the story will end, and the road to get there isn't very twisted.  

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

The Cookbook Club: My Review

The Cookbook Club

About the Book:

Margo Everson sees the call out for the cookbook club and knows she’s found her people. Recently dumped by her self-absorbed husband, who frankly isn’t much of a loss, she has little to show for her marriage but his ‘parting gift’—a dilapidated old farm house—and a collection of well-loved cookbooks

Aja Alexander just hopes her new-found friends won’t notice that that every time she looks at food, she gets queasy. It’s hard hiding a pregnancy, especially one she can’t bring herself to share with her wealthy boyfriend and his snooty mother. 

Trista Walker left the cutthroat world of the law behind and decided her fate was to open a restaurant…not the most secure choice ever. But there she could she indulge her passion for creating delectable meals and make money at the same time.

The women bond immediately, but it’s not all popovers with melted brie and blackberry jam.  Margo’s farm house is about to fall down around her ears; Trista’s restaurant needs a makeover and rat-removal fast; and as for Aja, just how long can you hide a baby bump anyway?

In this delightful novel, these women form bonds that go beyond a love grilled garlic and soy sauce shrimp. Because what is more important in life than friendship…and food?

My Comments:

Christmas Delights: Cookbook Review

Christmas Delights

About the Book:

Savor the Delights of the Season with More than 250 Delicious Recipes!

This festive new compilation of family favorite holiday recipes is full of fantastic flavors of the season that will delight the young and the young at heart! Illustrated in full-color photographs, more than 250 recipes will inspire families with delicacies perfect for every Christmas occasion:

• Christmas Eve Celebrations
• Bountiful Breakfasts and Brunches
• Christmas Dinner (including main dishes and sides)
• Merrymaking (crowd-pleasers for parties)
• Cookies and Candy
• Giftable Treats (jar mixes, etc.)

My Comments

 One thing that comes to just about everyone's mind when you say "Christmas" is food. 

Review: Return to Virgin River

Return to Virgin River

About the Book:

Kaylee Sloan’s home in Southern California is full of wonderful memories of the woman who raised her. But the memories are prolonging her grief over her mother’s recent death. A successful author, Kaylee hoped she could pour herself into her work. Instead she has terrible writer’s block and a looming deadline.

Determined to escape distractions and avoid the holiday season, Kaylee borrows a cabin in Virgin River. She knows the isolation will help her writing, and as she drives north through the mountains and the majestic redwoods, she immediately feels inspired. Until she arrives at a building that has just gone up in flames. Devastated, she heads to Jack’s Bar to plan her next steps. The local watering hole is the heart of the town, and once she crosses the threshold, she’s surprised to be embraced by people who are more than willing to help a friend—or a stranger—in need.

Kaylee’s world is expanding in ways she never dreamed possible. And when she rescues a kitten followed by a dog with a litter of puppies, she finds her heart opening up to the animals who need her. And then there’s the dog trainer who knows exactly how to help her. As the holidays approach, Kaylee’s dread turns to wonder. Because there’s no better place to spend Christmas than Virgin River.

My Comments:

The fun of reading books that are part of a series is being able to keep up with characters as life moves on.  The downside is that if you get a long-running series, the author may feel it is necessary to to update you on "everyone's" life to the point that there are too many bit players running on and off the stage.  It is a hard needle to thread--to bring in enough old characters to make readers feel "at home" in the new book without overwhelming the book with useless details about bit characters.  Generally speaking Carr does fine with this, though if she errs it is on the side of too much information about too many useless characters, especially for someone who has not read the other books.

There is no plot carryover from the other Virgin River books.  The main plot is the relationship between Kaylee and a local artist.  His relationship with his ex is the main subplot.   Kaylee is trying to heal from the death of her mother and write a novel that has been the subject of writer's block. She is hoping that a new location will help. 

If you are not familiar with the Virgin River books you may get a little confused about who is who,or why they get named, but long-time fans of the series will enjoy visiting with old friends.   

Hurricane Season: An Audio Book Review

Hurricane Season

About the Book:

 USA Today best seller Hurricane Season is the story of one family’s unconventional journey to healing — and the relationships that must be mended along the way.

Betsy and Ty Franklin, owners of Franklin Dairy Farm in southern Alabama, have long since buried their desire for children of their own. While Ty manages their herd of dairy cows, Betsy busies herself with the farm’s day-to-day operations and tries to forget her dream of motherhood. But when her free-spirited sister, Jenna, drops off her two young daughters for “just two weeks,” Betsy’s carefully constructed wall of self-protection begins to crumble.

As the two weeks stretch deeper into the Alabama summer, Betsy and Ty learn to navigate the new additions in their world — and revel in the laughter that now fills their home. Meanwhile, record temperatures promise to usher in the most active hurricane season in decades.

Attending an art retreat four hundred miles away, Jenna is fighting her own battles. She finally has time and energy to focus on her photography, a lifelong ambition. But she wonders how her rediscovered passion can fit in with the life she’s made back home as a single mom.

When Hurricane Ingrid aims a steady eye at the Alabama coast, Jenna must make a decision that will change her family’s future, even as Betsy and Ty try to protect their beloved farm and their hearts. From the author of the USA Today best seller The Hideaway comes a new story about families and mending the past.

My Comments:

I'm usually a reader, not a listener but I had a dental  appointment this week and picked out this gem from Hoopla to listen to while my teeth were being drilled.  Of course that only lasted long enough to get me really interested in the book. I considered finding the written version so I could read it, but I was enjoying the audio, so I kept listening. Slowing down like that and letting the descriptions and feelings hit me and surround me rather than speeding past them as a read makes the book a totally different experience. 

Jenna and Betsy are sisters and were there for each other when their self-involved parents were not. Jenna got pregnant young and shelved her photography dreams to get a sensible job and support her two girls. Betsy met the love of her life, a farmer, when she was in college and gave up a promising advertising career to marry him and live on the family farm.  Betsy's life lacks only one thing--a child--and she has let her desire for a child color her life and pull her away from her loving husband.  Then one summer Jenna is offered the opportunity to attend an artists' retreat and she asks Betsy to keep the girls. 

As those of us who live on the Gulf Coast know, summer, particularly late summer, is hurricane season.  Hurricane Delta is in the Gulf as we speak and like other Gulf Coast residents, my family has been watching the news and making or breaking plans for the weekend.  We have our rituals, our chores that need to be done.  So do the characters in the book.  I think the title also refers to the hurricanes going on in the sister's lives.  For better or worse when a big storm comes through, things change.  As a result of Hurricane Laura, my daughter's boyfriend is working in Lake Charles--but he is working and collecting a paycheck, which he had not been doing since he was laid off at the beginning of the pandemic.  Because of both Laura and Delta, people in West Louisiana have suffered great losses.  Because of the hurricanes, people in west Louisiana will be the recipients of love and generosity from people across the country.  Because of the wind that blew through their lives that summer, neither sister will ever be the same.  

I'll definitely look for other books by Lauren Denton, and who knows, I may even listen to them.  Grade: B+

Review: The Merriest Magnolia

 

The Merriest Magnolia

About the Book:

Carrie Reed has always been known as her hometown Good Girl, yet she still loves Magnolia, North Carolina—after all, this is where her newly discovered sisters, Avery and Meredith, live. But Christmas is on its way and with it, her first love. Dylan Scott is back in town and planning on changing everything she’s ever loved about Magnolia with his real estate development project…but not without a fight.

Returning to Magnolia was never in Dylan’s plans—it holds too many reminders that he would never be good enough, and memories of the girl he left behind. But when a tragedy leaves him guardian of a grieving teenager, Dylan returns, ready to remake the town into something only money can buy, small-town traditions be damned. But with Carrie determined to stop him, he finds himself wondering if redeeming his teenage reputation is worth losing out on his second chance at love.

My Comments:

I enjoyed this second book in a series enough to track down the first and read it too.  

Review: Christmas at Holiday House

Christmas at Holiday House

About the Book:

A widowed young mother’s search for the perfect Christmas for her little boy leads her to Silver Bells, Colorado. Abby Powell becomes enamored with the heartwarming small-town community—with snow!—but not so much with her new client’s less-than-jolly son, Ethan Lancaster.

Ethan, a single-minded businessman, has learned the hard way that love and family are not for him. But he never counted on the lovely newcomer to town—or the emotional pull she and her son, Christopher, would have over him. As Ethan and Abby work together to restore Holiday House, the Lancaster’s historic family mansion, in time for Christmas, Ethan’s heart begins to open along with his home.

My Comments:

Abby knows she needs a change, and has decided to pick up her son and move from Arizona where she lived with her late husband, to Texas, where the two of them had planned to move.  Then her college roommate calls--her grandmother fell and needs live-in help.  Can Abby take the job?  So Abby and her son head to Silver Bells Colorado where they spend the holiday season preparing the grandmother's house for a Christmas exhibition and, of course, getting to know the grandmother's son.  Abby's friend also finds love, so this book definitely leaves you smiling.

The plot tension in this book is that both Ethan and his sister spent much of their childhood being shuttled between two warring parents and neither feels capable of really loving.  Since it's a holiday romance I'll bet you know how it ends.  Its a great book for a cool afternoon, as you snuggle in a warm blanket and sip hot chocolate (or Irish Coffee).  

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

A California Christmas: Book Review

 

A California Christmas

About the Book:

Up-and-coming TV anchor Emery Bliss can’t imagine anything more humiliating than the sex tape her ex revenge-posted online. That is, until it causes her to lose her job on top of her self-esteem. Seeking solace—and anonymity—in Silver Springs, Emery isn’t looking to get involved with another man any time soon. But when she’s thrown back into contact with Dallas Turner, she sees something that his many detractors have missed.

Review: My Husband's Daughter

My Husband's Daughter

About the Book:

Cara took a deep breath and let it out slowly. ‘She’s not just my daughter,’ she said as she turned in her seat to face Jack. This man she had once loved, but who she hadn’t seen for nearly five years. ‘Sophie is your daughter too.’

It is past ten o’clock on a cold Friday night when Rebecca and her husband Jack’s doorbell rings. Outside is a woman who introduces herself as Jack’s ex-girlfriend Cara. And she’s holding the hand of a shivering, blue-eyed, four-year-old girl. Who she claims is Jack’s daughter.

Rebecca is shocked to discover he has a child from his last relationship – even one he hadn’t known about. Because becoming parents isn’t part of their life plan. They like children, but they also love their freedom and spending time together uninterrupted; the way that, if they wanted to, they could travel the world at a moment’s notice.

But Cara needs them. Because Cara has a devastating secret that she can’t tell anyone yet. Not even her daughter. A secret with the power to change all of their lives.

A secret that will ultimately mean Rebecca has to ask herself – could she find it in herself to welcome her husband’s child into her home, and into her heart?

My Comments:

Even if you love dessert, a diet of nothing but dessert (besides being unhealthy) gets overwhelming and even the sweet addict wants something else.  Even when you prefer books to come with happily ever after guaranteed, sometimes one that makes you cry can be a nice contrast.  My reading lately has tended toward mindless romance novels but just like after eating too many of my own desserts at Christmas I wanted some flavor other than sweet. On my last trip through NetGalley's offerings, I went looking for a book that went in another direction and came upon this gem.

One by-product of the sexual revolution has been a large increase in children born out of wedlock.  While some of these children know and have relationships with both parents, plenty do not.  Sophia has never met her father until the day that she and her mother Cara descend upon Jack's doorstep.  

It is clear that Cara and Jack have lived different lives.  She's a single mom who is devoted to her daughter.  She lives in low-income apartment and has a low-income job.  Jack and his wife have decided to never have children.  They want to be free to do the adult things in life when they want to do them.  They have a nice home and plenty of disposable income.  

What would you do if someone showed up on your doorstep with a child they claimed was your spouse's, especially if the child was well past infancy?  There is never any suggestion that Jack has been unfaithful to Rebecca--this was clearly something that happened before they were together.  However, as Rebecca notes, if she had known Jack had a child, she would have never gotten involved with him.  

The relationships between the affected adults, along with the relationship with the child would make an interesting story in almost any case, but Cara's secret (which is revealed pretty early in the story) adds another dimension, and of course there is a monkey wrench thrown into the works as well.  By the end of the book I was both smiling and crying and I'm sure that was Emma Robinson's goal.  

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

Book Review: Happily This Christmas

 

Happily This Christmas

About the Book:

Wynn Beauchene has a thriving business, a great kid and a mildly embarrassing crush on the guy next door—local cop Garrick McCabe. She’s a strong, independent woman who can’t help dreaming what-if about a man she barely knows. Until he needs her help…

Garrick’s pregnant daughter will be home for Christmas, and his house needs a woman’s touch. Garrick and his little girl were tight once and he’s hoping a small-town Christmas will bring her back to him. But thawing his daughter’s frosty attitude will take more than a few twinkle lights. Maybe sharing the holiday with Wynn and her son will remind her of the joy of family.

As the season works its magic on these wounded souls, Wynn realizes it’s time to stop punishing herself for a painful secret, while Garrick remains haunted by the ghosts of past mistakes. Will he allow Wynn to open the only gift she truly wants—his heart?

My Comments:

When I went to Amazon to grab the "About the Book" copy, I noted that this was book six in the series.  I haven't read any of the others, but honestly, I wondered if Happily This Christmas was part of a series, because like much series fiction it had a lot of characters who seemed to get too much attention in the book for very little reason.  Susan Mallery took time to catch readers up with what happened in the lives of characters from other books, one of whom happens to be the ex-boyfriend of Wynn, the heroine of Happily This Christmas.  

As noted in the blurb above, Wynn, Garrick and Garrick's daughter all need to let go of past pain to open themselves to the joy of the season, and, of course, love.

I likes Garrick and Wynn and enjoyed seeing them get to know each other.  I loved Garrick's relationship with his daughter and how he was able to get his little girl back.  

Yes, its a Christmas romance.  Yes, everyone lives happily ever after.  You didn't expect anything different, did you? 

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

Review: Summer at Hope Haven

Summer at Hope Haven

About the Book

When Emily’s fiancé walks out on her while she’s still grieving the loss of her family in a terrible accident, she escapes back to Hope Haven on the remote Dune Island, where her family vacationed every summer. Emily hopes that fixing up the house will also mend her broken heart, but the cottage holds more than just bittersweet childhood memories. Emptying her father’s antique writing desk, Emily finds a letter that reveals a devastating secret about her parents.

With a head full of questions that can never be answered, it seems like returning to the island was the worst decision Emily ever made… until she meets Lucas Socorro, saltwater dripping from his dark curls after a surf session. As they take long walks on the soft sand, and talk late into the firefly-lit night, Emily wonders if Dr Luke—as the kids in the hospital call him—could be the one to help her heal. With Luke holding her hand, delving into her family’s painful past is a little easier.

Painting the gloomy cottage walls the color of seashells, and revamping her grandmother’s flea-market furniture, Emily starts to feel she might call Dune Island home for good—and that she could build that home right here with Luke. But when Emily’s family secret spreads through a network of local gossips, her fragile heart breaks all over again. Luke is the only one who could have started the rumors. Was she wrong to trust him so easily?

As the sun sets behind the dunes, Emily has a difficult decision to make. Does she pack her bags and leave the island for good? Or take a risk that Hope Haven has everything she’s been looking for?

My Comments

With a cover like that I'm sure you'd expect a feel-good beach read, and that's what you would get.  Of four main characters, three have suffered recent losses and are trying to heal and move on with life.  Emily is dealing with two losses and 

A family secret is part of the story, but frankly, I guessed it as soon as it was introduced.  It took a while for the characters to all learn it and I enjoyed watching them put the pieces together. 

The villains in the story are nice and easy to hate without ever getting too threatening.  One does throw a real monkey wrench into Emily's new relationship and shows her the need for forgiveness and mercy. 

This is a clean romance that doesn't move beyond kissing.  

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

Review: The Friendship List

The Friendship List

About the Book:

[ ] Dance till dawn
[ ] Go skydiving
[ ] Wear a bikini in public
[ ] Start living

Two best friends jump-start their lives in a summer that will change them forever…

Single mom Ellen Fox couldn’t be more content—until she overhears her son saying he can’t go to his dream college because she needs him too much. If she wants him to live his best life, she has to convince him she’s living hers.

So Unity Leandre, her best friend since forever, creates a list of challenges to push Ellen out of her comfort zone. Unity will complete the list, too, but not because she needs to change. What’s wrong with a thirtysomething widow still sleeping in her late husband’s childhood bed?

The Friendship List begins as a way to make others believe they’re just fine. But somewhere between “wear three-inch heels” and “have sex with a gorgeous guy,” Ellen and Unity discover that life is meant to be lived with joy and abandon, in a story filled with humor, heartache and regrettable tattoos.

My Comments:

I think all of us reach times in our lives when we realize that if we don't charge our life, life will leave us behind. A child-focused life is great for the mother of school-aged kids, but when those kids go to college it is time to find another focus or to focus on other kids.  When you move to "part-time" at the office, you can pack your desk and head for the golf course, library, gym or fishing hole, or you can come in every morning to see if anything is happening that they need your help on.  Which is healthier?  Unity and Ellen both realize their lives need to change and as best friends they challenge each other to make the changes needed.  

While I found some of their choices questionable, I enjoyed watching them embrace a new time in their lives. 

Ellen got pregnant the night of her Junior Prom and had to grow up in a hurry.  The baby's father signed over his rights, so she has been the only parent her son has ever known--but now the ex wants a chance to know his son--the son who is between his Junior and Senior year of high school.

Unity lost her parents when she was in high school and moved in with her best friend Ellen's family until she moved out to marry her high school sweetheart.  She followed her husband, who was in the military, from base to base until he was killed and she returned to his childhood home where she has spent the last three years wallowing in grief and depriving herself of the normal life of a 30 something--her friends are Ellen and the people in the local seniors-only community  When Unity and Ellen challenged each other to move out of their neat little boxes, it was just what both of them needed.

That being said, I'll admit I'm old as dirt, overly religious and old-fashioned but I had a real problem with Ellen's behavior.  An important part of the book takes place on a school trip chaperoned by Ellen and her best friend (male), each of whom have a child on the trip.  On that trip, where she was responsible for other people's kids, Ellen was drinking alcohol, drinking enough of it to get drunk, and then sleeping with the other chaperone.  Just no. 

One thing I found interesting was that the other chaperone had a teenage daughter.  He regularly inspected her birth control pill boxes to make sure she was taking them.  However, when he found out that she was actually "using" them, he blew his stack.  The daughter then pointed out that he had not made a rule against that activity. 

Mallery's books are not the squeaky clean type, but I found this one to be more graphic than normal, unnecessarily so.  

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

Review of The Banty House

The Banty House

About the Book:

In the fading town of Rooster, Texas, all that’s really left is a service station, a church…and the Banty House, a long-ago Depression-era brothel. For more than seventy-five years, Betsy, Connie, and Kate Carson have called their mama’s house a home. The three eccentric sisters get by just fine with their homemade jams and jellies, a little moonshine on the side, and big hearts always open to strangers. Like Ginger Andrews.

An abandoned teen with a baby on the way and nowhere to go, she’s given a room to call her own for as long as she wants. The kind invitation is made all the sweeter when Ginger meets the sisters’ young handyman, Sloan Baker. But with a past as broken as Ginger’s, he’s vowed never to get close to anyone again. As a season of change unfolds, Ginger and Sloan might discover a warm haven to heal in the Banty House, a place to finally belong, where hope and dreams never fade.

My Comments:

What is family?  Is it people who are related by blood?  People who care for each other?  Both?  These three old ladies are related by blood.  None have ever had another family, except their mother.  However, they have hearts full of love for those who need it, and in this case the two who need it are a war vet with PTSD and a young pregnant girl.  

Through the book we learn the story of the little old ladies and their lives.  We learn about their mother--a mixed race woman who had to survive the depression. While her method might raise moral eyebrows, she met a commercial desire, did it while protecting (in her own way) young women and raising her own family.  We learn how even today, young women end up used for their bodies.  

Carolyn Brown has many books, including this one, available on Kindle Unlimited, so if  you are a member, it won't cost you anything to have a look.  I got my copy via NetGalley.  Grade:  B. 

RaeAnne Thayne's The Sea Glass Cottage

The Sea Glass Cottage

About the Book:

The life Olivia Harper always dreamed of isn’t so dreamy these days. The 16-hour work days are unfulfilling and so are things with her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when she hears that her estranged mother, Juliet, has been seriously injured, Liv has no choice but to pack up her life and head home to beautiful Cape Sanctuary on the Northern California coast.

It’s just for a few months—that’s what Liv keeps telling herself. But the closer she gets to Cape Sanctuary, the painful memories start flooding back: Natalie, her vibrant, passionate older sister who downward-spiraled into addiction. The fights with her mother who enabled her sister at every turn. The overdose that took Natalie, leaving her now-teenaged daughter, Caitlin, an orphan.

As Liv tries to balance her own needs with those of her injured mother and an obstinate, resentful fifteen-year-old, it becomes clear that all three Harper women have been keeping heartbreaking secrets from one another. And as those secrets are revealed, Liv, Juliet, and Caitlin will see that it’s never too late—or too early—to heal family wounds and find forgiveness.

My Comments:

Most of RaeAnn Thayne's books focus on the romance, the building relationship between the male and female lead, but this book is much more about the relationship between Olivia and her family, and isn't that the way is should be?  Isn't it when we enter into relationships that exclude our loved ones (assuming our loved ones are healthy themselves) that we get into trouble?  

As these family members deal with each other they learn to love themselves, and then others and I enjoyed cheering for them as they learned this lesson.

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

Reunion at the Shore: My Review

Reunion at the Shore

About the Book:

Ria and Drew Martin’s chemistry had always kept their marriage together—until suddenly it didn’t. Now a single mom, hotel manager Ria is at a loss when one of her teen daughters starts spiraling. Panicked, she calls on her estranged ex-husband for backup, but she’s not prepared for the man he’s become—or the unresolved emotions that still linger between them.

After his divorce, Drew pulled away from everyone when he lost his eyesight and his job on the police force. Now that he’s realized how much his daughters need their dad, Drew is determined to make things up to them. He’s less sure where he stands with Ria. They had real reasons for ending their marriage, but they’ve both changed during their time apart. And being with her again in the place where they first fell in love brings back memories of all that they once had. Can they overcome their past to reunite their family, this time forever?

My Comments:

What Ria learns when she reaches out to Drew is that he was blinded in a work accident.  This man who has always defined himself by his job as a police officer now not only doesn't have his sight, he doesn't have his job and he doesn't have his family.   

This is the second book in a series of books about disabled police officers who come to a cabin on the shore to recover not only physically but emotionally.  Overall I think the book dealt with the inner emotions of the characters more deeply than the average romance novel does.  

I really enjoyed watching Ria and Drew navigate not only their relationship with each other but their relationship with their girls.  I also liked the scene where they were considering going to bed with each other and Drew said no, that he wanted to do it right this time.

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

Summer at Lake Haven: My Review

Summer at Lake Haven

About the Book:

Samantha Fremont has been struggling with the weight of her mother’s expectations for years. But now that her mother has passed away, it’s time for Sam to be bold and finally establish the fashion design business she’s always dreamed of. And the perfect opportunity has fallen into her lap. Her friend’s getting married and has asked Sam to create her wedding dress…if only she can avoid the bride’s infuriating brother, who’s temporarily the boy next door.

Ian Summerhill knows a sabbatical in Haven Point is exactly what he and his children need to recover from their mother’s death. His romantic relationship with his ex-wife may have ended years ago, but caring for her throughout her illness broke his heart. All he wants is to watch his little sister walk down the aisle and to see his kids smile again. And somehow his lovely new neighbor is instrumental in both. But as their uneasy truce blossoms into a genuine friendship and more, Ian has obligations in England he can’t ignore—and a secret that threatens the fragile trust he and Sam have built.

My Comments:

Returning to Lake Haven with RaeAnn Thayne is like returning to any small town where you know the people.  It is a chance to catch up on old friends and a time to make new ones, because everybody is just so nice.  Ok, I know that is only one side of small towns--that the other is that if you don't fit, there is no place for you, but of course, the characters here do fit.

Ian's two kids become the stars of the story, the reason he and Samantha end up together and of course everyone lives happily ever after.  

This is a great beach read or book for some time when you want to smile and not work too hard. 

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

My Review: What the Heart Wants

What the Heart Wants

About the Book:

“Fly free.”

For ten years those words, written on pink parchment paper in her mother’s beautiful handwriting, have been Suda Kaye Ross’s guiding star. Every year on her birthday, Suda Kaye opens another of the letters her mother penned before she passed, heeding the advice inside as she fills her life with experiences. From Italy to Australia, from Rio to Russia, she’s slaked her wanderlust. And then, on her twenty-eighth birthday, she opens the letter that sends her home.

Returning to Colorado means confronting everything—and everyone—she left behind, including her cherished sister, Evie, and her first love, Camden Bryant. Suda Kaye and Cam spent four years and one unforgettable night together. Given the way she ran out on him, it’s no surprise that he’s wary, resentful…and engaged to someone else. Evie, hardworking and überresponsible, just wants her sister to put down roots at last.

For Evie’s sake, and her own, Suda Kaye is trying to build a new life, all the while wondering whether it’s too late to come back home—or if the most important part of her never really left.

My Comments:

Once upon a time it was my dream to "fly free", to go from place to place leaving no roots behind, to see the world and experience adventure.  I went off to college rather than staying within a couple of hours of home  After college I moved from Mississippi where my family lived to New Orleans--not a huge distance, but definitely a new existence.  I saw it as a temporary step--someplace I'd get a couple of years of teaching experience before landing a job in an overseas school.  Well, turns out that teaching was not my vocation, so I headed to Atlanta to go back to school.  After three months there, I chose to return to New Orleans.  I was tired of starting over.  Then I married a native New Orleanian and I knew that meant I wasn't going anywhere, except on vacation.  

Suda Kaye had itchy feet, and encouraged by the letters written by her mother during her mother's final illness, Suda Kaye has been around the world, and has been with a variety of men, none of whom could hold a candle to her first love.  Her mom's most recent note, as stated above, sent her home, home to where those who had loved her before still love  her but were hurt by her long absence.  

With well-drawn characters, Audrey Carlan shows that you can go home again.  She also shows how living your dream isn't necessarily the best idea.  While you could say that it is a good thing Suda Kaye's mother lived her dream while she was young, she did so at the expense of two little girls who needed her to be there, and I have to wonder whether, while laying on her premature deathbed that mother felt her life was well-lived.  

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

Book Review: The Sky Beneath My Feet

The Sky Beneath My Feet

About the Book

Beth's husband won't be joining the family on vacation at the beach this year. He's not even joining them in the house. Instead, Rick has holed up alone in the backyard shed. Nobody knows exactly what he's up to. Maybe he's immersing himself in prayer. Maybe he's lost his mind. Maybe he's even the modern-day prophet or the saint the neighborhood artist imagines him to be. But while "St. Rick" waits for an epiphany, Beth will have to figure out what to do with herself and their teenage sons, possibly for the rest of her life.

What happens next is both uproarious and bittersweet: a peace march turns violent, her son is caught with drugs, and she embarks on an ambitious road trip that turns into something nearly surreal. Will Beth rediscover the idealistic woman she used to be, once upon a time? Can her marriage survive Rick's backyard vigil? Will anything ever be the same? And should it be?

Truthful, comic, heartbreaking, and magical in the very best sense of the word, The Sky Beneath My Feet gently tears the veil off our egos and expectations to reveal the throbbing, redemptive, and achingly beautiful life beyond and within us.

My Comments

Lisa Samson is one of my favorite writers. She is one of the rare ones who can touch me with her language and use of words as much as with her story.  

I've heard it said that a measure of a good story is that if it can speak to you about today even if the author had no idea about today when it was written.  Well, if you are reading this at some time other than July, 2020, let me tell you, today--this time in history--is anything but ordinary.  The country has been shut down (at least to some degree) for three months to contain Covid-19.  Lots of people, including my son, my daughter and her boyfriend, have been laid off from what were considered stable jobs.  Everyone is being encouraged to stay home, or, if they have to go out, to wear a mask.  If that wasn't bad enough, there have been several seemingly unprovoked killings of African-American men by police officers so "Black Lives Matter" is the mantra of the day and demonstrations and riots have been happening for weeks now. No, things aren't normal.

Beth is a minister's wife.  Her husband works as the "men's pastor" at a mega church.  It seems that his job is to go out with the guys--to go bowling, to ball games and to other places that men in the church gather, and to talk to them and minister to them and call them to a deeper relationship with God.  He wonders if that is what God wants of him.  Then an old friend who has moved to another town tries to hire him as pastor of their church.  To discern God's will for him, her husband, Rick, decides to do a 30 day silent retreat--in their garage, where he will not interact with family and friends. 

Beth is left holding the bag to raise their two sons--and she is trying to figure out what she wants for her life--she had plans to be an attorney before she dropped out of school after getting pregnant with their oldest son.  She's been a pastor's wife and a  mother but who is she? 

During the course of the book Beth meets a group of people who seem to demonstrate for the sake of demonstrating--some truly care about the cause of the day, others just like the process.  She also meets a woman who runs a skid row shelter and, in this book written before the phrase was cool, realized she was looking at it through the eyes of white privilege.  

The book is very much about Beth and Rick's spiritual journeys as they approach a crossroad of life, so if you don't like religion in books, this probably isn't the one for you.  However, the spirituality about which Samson writes is not a feel good sacchrine sweet version. 

This was a library book, I reviewed it because I wanted to and I'll give it a B+.

Book Review: How Lulu Lost Her Mind

How Lulu Lost Her Mind

About the Book:

Lou Ann Hunter’s mother, Patricia, has always had a passionate nature, which explains why she’s been married and divorced five times and spooned enough male patients to be ousted from three elderly care facilities. She also has Alzheimer’s, which is why she wants to spend the rest of her life surrounded by childhood memories at Sutton Hall, her family’s decrepit plantation home in Louisiana.

Lou Ann, a.k.a. Lulu the Love Guru, has built an empire preaching sex, love, and relationship advice to the women of America—mostly by defying the example her mother has set for her. But with Patricia suddenly in need of a fulltime caretaker, Lou Ann reluctantly agrees to step out of the spotlight and indulge her mother’s wishes, even if it means trading in her Louboutins and Chanel N°5 for boots and mosquito repellent.

Upon her arrival at Sutton Hall, Lou Ann discovers that very little functions at it should—least of all Patricia’s mind. And as she adjusts to this new and inevitably temporary dynamic with the help of a local handyman and a live-in nurse, she is forced to confront the reality that neither her nor her mother’s future is going according to plan.

Heartrending at times and laugh-out-loud funny at others, How Lulu Lost Her Mind is the book for everyone and their mother. Fans of Emily Giffin, Kristan Higgins, and Jill Shalvis won’t be able to forget it.

My Comments:

I'm writing this review on April 15, which just happens to be the six-year anniversary of my Dad's death.  During his last eighteen months I visited almost weekly, taking him to Mass on Saturday night and then fixing supper for him.  I started that routine when we realized it was no longer safe to leave him alone for long stretches of time.  We had hired help during the week, one brother lived next door, and another took the Sunday shift.  I live an hour and a half away so those few hours a week cost me most of my Saturday afternoon and evening, and during those eighteen months I only missed a few weeks.  Looking back on it, I can say those months were hard, but worth it.  I had to adjust my life, but I didn't have to make wholesale changes to it.  

Lou Ann is a writer, blogger, speaker--an expert on relationships, or at least she plays one on-line.  For all her expertise she has never found Mr. Right.  Her mother, on the other hand, has always found Mr. Right for now and is still looking, despite her Alzheimer's, which, as noted above, gets her kicked out of her nursing home.  Her mother wants to go home to Louisiana, and Lou Ann has enough money to make that dream come true, so they pack up their stuff and move to the old home place. 

My Dad never became hard to deal with, and kept his mental faculties until the end.  Patricia, Lou Ann's mother, wasn't so lucky.  She could be mean and, of course, she had dementia.  As they went through family treasures Lou Ann learns about relatives she never met. She meets neighborhood people who are unlike those she chose to be with in her "real" life.  Yes, one is a man. 

The book is set in southeast Louisiana, which is where I live.  While there were things that sounded familiar like Lakeside Mall and chicory coffee, the plantation is outside a small town where people speak with a Cajun accent, and honestly there aren't many (any) of those with easy access to Lakeside Mall.  

I enjoyed the book and there was one serious plot thread--Patricia wanted Lou Ann to promise to put her out of her misery when things got too far along.  Lou Ann didn't fee right about doing that, but toward the end of the book, Lou Ann made a decision about a similar issue which turned out not to be important, but which could have been.  

Actually the ending was pretty much the only part of the book that I didn't like.  For some reason it just seemed sudden, almost like the allotted number of pages had been filled and it was time to wrap things up.  But, maybe that's the way life is--we don't usually get to go out at what we consider to be the perfect time on the plot arc.  

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